Considering Your Latter End — Michael L. Brown

Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Father, this truth, this message is so powerful and so explosive, Lord, the message of your word. God, I pray that I would adequately and faithfully deliver what your word says, and that there might be supernatural spiritual penetration, that all the walls that people have unconsciously put up would fall, that any resistance, any hardness, any pull towards the flesh and the world would be broken this morning by the power of your word.

May your word come, O God, as a piercing sword that will wound the heart and bring great healing. May it produce death to the flesh and life in the spirit. May it bring out for you, Lord, a people wholly dedicated, free, O God, from the wiles of Satan.

Overcoming the works of darkness by the power of your word. May Jesus and his truth be exalted in our midst. Lord, may your Holy Spirit anoint these words to the changing of lives eternally. In Jesus' name, amen.

I want you to open up to the book of Proverbs, the 19th chapter. It's a real blessing to me to see the love that you people have for the Old Testament. Because of the history of this church, there's also love for the Hebrew language.

I was blessed to meet people last night, several that tell me they subscribe to the Jerusalem Post. Well, this is a life and death message, but it starts with a Hebrew lesson. And I want you all to repeat one word with me.

It's the Hebrew word, acharit. Say it with me, acharit. Once more, acharit. What does acharit mean? Well, I'm going to give you a Hebrew lesson first. In Hebrew and the Semitic languages, many of the words having to do with direction, prepositions, and different things like that, can come from parts of the body.

For example, the word for beginning in Hebrew comes from the word for head. Because the head is what's on top, or the head from the top down is what comes first. And if you want to talk about the top of a mountain, in Hebrew and the Semitic languages, you talk about the head of the mountain.

We do that with a class. Being at the head of the class means being at the top. If you want to talk about somebody being right next to you, you would literally say it's by the hand. If you want to talk about someone being right before you, you'd speak of them as at the face or to the face, facing you, right before you.

Well, the Hebrew word acharit comes from the word for back. What's the principle? Now, I look fine here this morning. I've got my jacket and tie on. I look fine, but you can't see what's behind me. You can't see what's on my back.

Now, I don't know if you kids have ever done this, or you can remember doing this when you were younger, but you ever have something that you stick on somebody's back, some sticker, and the person's walking around, and everybody's laughing at you, and you don't know why.

Well, there's something on your back, but you can't see it. And when I'm walking towards you, you can't see what's on my back, because that is that which comes after. But it's hidden from this side. And it's only if I turned around, and let's say the thing was splattered with mud or ripped, everyone would, I guess, but you don't see it from this side.

It's only from the other side. So, the Hebrew word acharit literally means that which comes after. But the principle is you can't see it from this vantage point. So, for example, this word can refer to the after effects of something.

This word can refer to offspring of parents, because it's the next generation, that which comes after. And then it comes to mean the end. When the prophets would speak of the end of days in Isaiah, the second chapter, it'll come to pass in the end of days.

It's in the acharit of days. And you see, one of the principles of God's wisdom is He shows us that which comes after, which we cannot see from our present vantage point. He shows us the final consequences of sin and righteousness, but we, from our own vantage point, can't see them.

And the word acharit occurs about 65 times in the Old Testament, but 13 of those times, it's found in the book of Proverbs. In other words, it's out of all proportion in the book of Proverbs. 20 of its occurrences are found there.

Because it's the whole purpose of Proverbs, and look in Proverbs 19, verse 20. Proverbs 19, verse 20. Listen to advice and accept instruction, so that in your acharit you will be wise. Listen to advice and accept instruction, so that you will be wise in your acharit.

That's the whole purpose of the book of Proverbs. The problem is that this world and the devil, with all of his guile, are constantly presenting to us that which you can see, instead of that which comes after.

The devil is always trying to present things to you in the most appealing, attractive way, so that you need it, so that you have to have it, so that you can't live without it, and at the same time blinding you to the consequences.

And the whole message of Proverbs is to open your eyes to that perspective that you can't possibly see. Open your eyes to the divine perspective, so that you will live right in the here and now, and in your acharit, in your final end, you'll be wise.

I want you to turn back to the fifth chapter of the book of Proverbs. As you're turning there, I want to tell you a tragic story that I read about years ago when I lived on Long Island. There was a 15-year-old girl, lived on the island, attractive young girl, looked older than she really was, was having real problems and hassles with her parents, and finally decided that she was going to run away.

She couldn't take the fighting anymore. So she and her friend decided to hitchhike from New York down to Texas. And they were picked up by a trucker. And this trucker paid them money to perform a sexual act with him.

On a certain level, it was fairly minor. But they were so ashamed of it, when they got out of the truck, they just cried in shame. Well, the one girl gets down to Texas, the 15-year-old. Family doesn't hear much from her.

Then they hear that she's a waitress and this and that. Well, little by little by little by little, her life was getting more and more caught up with sin. Little by little by little, she was depending more and more on her good looks and sexuality to get along.

Before long, she ended up becoming a prostitute. Now remember, this is the same girl that had cried after being paid to do something by this truck driver. She didn't let her parents really know what was happening, but she worked in this place that was just the lowest of the low.

There were porno movies on a huge screen in this restaurant. And then the waitresses would just come out and men would pick who they wanted, go to bed with them. And she became the most popular in the whole place.

Although she was young, she looked a lot older, she became the most popular. And soon she noticed that the other ladies were starting to get jealous. Finally, she realized that her life was in danger and she was going to try and make a run for it.

But she got caught by the pimp and his wife. And a policeman that had been involved in fishing her body out of the river said that when they pulled her naked body out of the river, it was the most brutally tortured body they had ever seen in all their experience.

She had cigarette burns from head to toe, her jaw was broken. She had been shot through the mouth and then thrown into the river. Now I want you to understand something. If for one split second she could have seen her Aharit, if for one split second she could have seen herself being tortured and abused and screaming out that her life would be spared, if for one split second she could have seen her body dragged out of that river, she never would have left her parents' home.

If she could have seen her Aharit, no temptation would have been so great to pull her down that path. She would have rather sat home and been cursed and abused by her parents every day of her life than to step out of that home.

Yet the thing is, she did not see her Aharit, she did not see her final end. And that's the whole seductive way of the devil, to show you how good the thing is, to show you how nice it's going to feel, to show you how much you need it, for that pull to come in the flesh where you feel like you can't live without it and to completely blind you to the consequences.

Years ago I realized that one of the great incentives in my life to keep me from sinning was if I could remember how I felt after I sinned. If I could remember that and then the next time temptation came, say, wait a second, remember how miserable you felt, remember the destruction that it brought, remember the conviction, remember the shame.

If you could remember how you felt after you sinned, before you sinned the next time, you wouldn't do it. But you see, we know better. Oh, we're smarter than all that. I remember being junior high, high school, before I fell into drugs, I should say dove into drugs, and this police sergeant came into our school and he had all this drug paraphernalia that he was showing off.

You know, and they had all these things from, you know, showing you what, you know, a joint looked like, or, you know, smoking pot to all the way, you know, all things having to do with shooting dope.

And he had all this stuff up there and he began to talk. He said, now you see it starts with a marijuana joint. You know, and all this terminology seems so stiff to me, you know. Starts with this, he said, but it leads to this.

And if you start smoking pot, you'll end up shooting heroin. I said, right, come on, give me a break, man. I mean, I knew plenty of people that were smoking pot that never in their wildest dreams would shoot heroin.

Man, this guy didn't know what he was talking about. Well, sure, most of the friends that I knew and most of the friends that I hung out with in high school did certain drugs and never ended up shooting dope.

But for me, the one that sat there and mocked and laughed and said he's stupid, within a year or two, I was doing that very thing. Stealing money from my own father, breaking into a doctor's office. Just for the fun of it, see what we could find.

Shooting every possible thing I could into my veins. Coming within an inch of death numerous times, several times at least. For me, one thing led to the next, led to the next, and all the while, the devil was there saying, hey, look, it's not so bad.

I mean, look, so you do this drug, you're never going to do this real bad. I mean, you're never going to shoot heroin, you're never going to become a junkie, but it's not so bad if you do the next thing.

And then you go to the next thing. Well, you're never going to shoot heroin and become a junkie, but it's not so bad to go to the next. And before you know it, I remember right before God saved me, you know, shooting dope and doing every drug I could, I thought, hey, that wouldn't be so bad to just be a junkie and totally addicted, and it wouldn't be, it's so bad about that.

Something that would have been totally unthinkable, totally impossible in my mind. Little by little by little, the devil had pulled me in. Now, look at what it says here in Proverbs, the fifth chapter.

My son, pay attention to my wisdom, listen well to my words of insight, that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge. And there are more warnings in the book of Proverbs about adultery, sexual immorality than anything else.

The sections are so long and full. Look, this is why I'm telling you, this is what Proverbs is saying, this is why I'm telling you these things. Because the lips of an adulteress drip honey. And her speech is smoother than oil.

Listen to me, nobody looks as good as they're presented as looking. You see all these pictures, you know, all these displays, you know, magazines and pornographic stuff, some cities just in open view, newspaper stands and this and that.

Oh, man, all the women look so beautiful, all the men look so perfect. If only you could have that. Think of how unsatisfied you really are, if only you could have that. Think of how much more fulfilled you would be, if only you could have that.

Boy, that speech, that seductive speech, that seductive look, oh boy, it just draws you right in. You need it. The lips of an adulteress drip honey, her speech is smoother than oil. But her acharit, the final end associated with her, the final consequences of consorting with her are bitter as gall, sharp as a double-edged sword.

Her feet go down to death, her steps lead straight to the grave, she gives no thought to the way of life, her paths are crooked, but she knows it not. Listen, you never see the picture of the people wasting away with VD.

You don't see the picture of the people who've been infected with AIDS. You don't see the picture of the marriages who've been destroyed and the little kids crying because they can't see daddy anymore, they can't see mommy anymore.

You don't see the people looking for forgiveness, but they can't find it because the husband or wife has been totally betrayed. No, the devil doesn't show you that. Just some beautiful, seductive picture.

Just something that you have to have. And he puts within you this spirit of dissatisfaction. You know, the whole problem that we have with divorce in the United States is certainly coupled with this notion that there's someone better out there, that there's something better, that there's a better experience, that there's something more fulfilling, that there's someone who'll love you more faithfully or who'll serve you more or who'll be a better partner.

It's out there as opposed to being content with what God has and letting God's blessing be the thing that fulfills. I remember when I worked teaching in New York City, teaching Korean students, training for ministry, that there was a Christian bookstore down the block.

But in order to get to that bookstore, you walk past all these porno movies. And on one side of the street were all these ungodly, despicable things. Lives, sex acts, girls, girls, girls. And on the other side was the exact same thing except it was all male.

It was all homosexual. And I remember saying to myself, if the devil can get you in this one place, soon enough he'll get you in the other. That constant degeneration. And then before you know it, the ones that he's got in the homosexual place are going to be seeking out child pornography.

And if they give themselves over to that, then all types of violent pornography. And if they give themselves over to that, soon you'll be reading about them in the newspaper headlines. Serial killer. Child molester.

Oh, the devil doesn't show you that. The devil doesn't show you some sick, demented human being withering away in a prison cell for life with a tortured memory of all the people's lives they destroyed.

No, he just shows you this beautiful woman or this gorgeous man. And he doesn't show you the Akharite. One time I was going into the city and I found a newspaper on the train. When I lived on Long Island going into New York City and I opened up the paper and I read a story.

I'll tell you, that whole day my stomach was in knots. That whole week, I couldn't get over it. The memory of it just kept shaking me. There was a rich businessman on Long Island. And this group of people got together and they were going to kidnap him and get a ransom.

What happened was they set it up. They knew there was one way they could get to him. This attractive young woman invited him over to this house and that was the bait. Boy, he was married but he was some young girl.

He really wanted it. He went into the house where she was and next thing got attacked by the rest of the people. They kidnapped him. Then they brought him to this apartment in a desolate area that was specially made.

It had thick boards so that he couldn't be heard screaming. And they abused him and they tortured him. Unbelievably. Every type of thing you can imagine. He was a grown man. They made him relieve himself in a diaper.

And then they got his wife to agree to give the money but they were so demented that they beat him to death before they even got the money. In the last five days when they did an autopsy they found he hadn't had food in his body at all for the last five days.

And you think, if he could have seen the Aharith? I mean, look, you may say, well, that's extreme. That doesn't happen every day. Well, this is nothing compared to the Aharith of hell and destruction and being cast out of the presence of God forever.

If he could have seen it, if he could have heard his tortured cries, if he could have seen the fear in his eyes, if he could have just one glimpse, just one split second of that, there could have been ten million gorgeous women.

He wouldn't have gone near them. It wouldn't have been worth it. It wouldn't have been worth it for all the pleasure in the world. Not with an Aharith like that. The lips of an adulteress drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil but her Aharith is bitter as gall, sharp as a double-edged sword.

I want you to look down. Let's keep reading. Verse 7,. Now then, my sons, listen to me. Do not turn aside from what I say. Keep to a path far from her. Do not go near the door of her house. Lest you give your best strength to others and your years to one who is cruel.

Lest strangers feast on your wealth and your toil enrich another man's house. And in your Aharith you will groan when your flesh and body are spent. You will say, How I hate it! Discipline! How my heart spurned correction!

I would not obey my teachers or listen to my instructors. I have come to the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the whole assembly. Drink water from your own cistern. Running water from your own well.

Should your springs overflow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares, let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers. May your fountain be blessed and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth, a loving doe, a graceful deer.

May her breast satisfy you always. May you ever be captivated by her love. Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another man's wife? For a man's ways are in full view of the Lord and he examines all his paths.

The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him. The cords of his sin hold him fast. He will die for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly. You know, there was a man that traveled internationally.

People referred to his ministry as apostolic. From what I heard, God used him, planted churches in some other countries. I don't know what happened. I don't know what discouragement set in. I don't know what the factors involved were.

But he ended up completely falling into sin, at least one night. He went to New York City. He got drunk and he ended up in a homosexual orgy. One night, years later, he found out that he contracted AIDS.

You tell me you're going to have faith for healing when you know how you brought that on? You tell me the devil's not going to play mind games with you all the time to condemn you and say you'll never be healed?

Well, he wasn't. He died. Not only did he die, but before he died, he infected his wife. Not only did he infect his wife, but the baby that she bore was also infected by AIDS. In your aharit, you will groan when your flesh and body are spent.

You will say, how I hate it. Discipline. How my heart spurned correction. I mean, look, you have to understand, and young people in particular, the devil has nothing good planned for you. His only goal is to destroy you.

And to the extent that you will go his way and yield to the lust of the flesh, that quickly will he destroy you. That quickly will he make your aharit ugly. But you see, we don't see it from this perspective.

From our vantage point, we can't see that which comes after. That's why the Word of God has to warn us and tell us. That's the purpose of divine wisdom. I remember growing up, they used to have commercials for Marlboro Country.

You know? Get on this horse. You know, big macho cowboy. Get on this horse and ride off into the beautiful horizon. And all you need to make that dream come true in your life is a Marlboro cigarette. I mean, they don't show you.

You know, they should have showed you Marlboro Country and going to a lung cancer ward in the hospital. There's somebody withering away. There's the family at the grave site mourning, you know, the wife and four children as the husband's being buried dead of lung cancer.

But they don't show you that part. No, the devil lies. Oh, sure there's some pleasure in sin for a season. You know, I tell people, listen, especially with drugs, they used to call me drug baron Iron Man.

I used to put such huge quantities of, you know, doses of things into my system. I mean, the fact of the matter is, I did everything that I could possibly figure out how to do. You know, the pleasures of sin, especially, you know, with this drug abuse.

And when I met the Lord, I mean, it went instantly. Do you understand? I didn't go through some up and down battle for months and months and months. I had a couple of weeks of wrestling it through. And when I surrendered, that was it.

God freed me. And I've never for a split second since I've been walking with the Lord, never one time regretted abandoning all that or wished I could have it back. Sure, there's pleasure. Sure, there are things that cater to the lust of the flesh.

But if you don't give in to the lie, if you yield to God, you find out that God's blessing is the only thing that fulfills and brings life and true satisfaction. And the other stuff may stimulate for a bit, but it destroys.

I'm not saying that if somebody did the drugs that I did, that there wouldn't be some pleasure. I'm not saying that when I shot heroin, it was misery. No, the sin or the pleasure of sin is not the misery.

It's the consequences. And there are always consequences that destroy. Sin is never the right thing. Sin is never the good thing. Sin is never the helpful thing. Sin never benefits you or benefits the kingdom.

Look at what it says in Proverbs 6. It starts in verse 23. For these commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the corrections of discipline are the way to life, keeping you from the immoral woman, from the smooth tongue of the wayward wife.

Do not lust in your heart after her beauty, or let her captivate you with her eyes. For the prostitute reduces you to a loaf of bread, and the adulteress preys upon your very life. She may look beautiful.

She may look tempting. It may look like what you want, but don't be drawn after it. In the end, it's going to reduce you to nothing. Young women, in the clearest possible way I can address you, do not ever make yourself into a temptress.

Do not act and dress and walk and live in such a way so as to draw attention to your flesh, or so as to make other men desire your body. You be godly, you be holy. Actually, there's a beauty that excels words for anyone who will be beautiful and holy in the sight of God.

And God will bring into your life the one He pleases to bring into your life. But I'll tell you something, you may have blood on your hands if you find out that you have willfully made yourself into an object of lust for other men.

Sisters, maybe you're struggling in your marriage. Maybe your husband is really not being a husband and a man in your home. Don't play games with flirtatious friendships. Don't play games with your eyes and draw other men in.

Or just satisfy your ego by knowing that somebody else would want you. Don't play games. Before you know it, the thing that's just an impossible thought in your mind might become reality and you might find yourself trapped.

Jesus said, yes, there are going to be stumbling blocks. Yes, there are going to be things that cause offense, but woe be to the man or woman that causes the people of God to stumble. Do not lust in your heart after her beauty.

Go over to Proverbs, the 23rd chapter. I want you to see something amazing. Proverbs, the 23rd chapter. We'll start in verse 29. The writer says, don't lust after some prostitute's heart. Don't lust after her beauty in your heart.

Don't be drawn after her. Look at what it says here. Proverbs 23, 29. Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? Those who linger over wine, who go to sample bowls of mixed wine.

Now look at what it says. Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly. Same thing. Don't lust after the prostitute's beauty in your heart. Don't lust after that drink.

Boy, just glistening in the cup. You know, I don't know if it's still the case now, but as long as I can remember anyway, it was illegal for beer and wine commercials on television, whatever was allowed on television, it was illegal to advertise it in such a way that the person would actually drink.

Remember my father, who was a lawyer, told me that years ago and I'd notice it. Here's a beer commercial. You know, in the days when I had a television, here's a beer commercial and I'd see this and they'd pour that beer in and boy, that ice cold looking glass and that beer comes in and that foamy head just comes and pours over the side and they take it to their mouth but they don't drink.

They weren't allowed, I don't know if it's still the case, but they were not allowed to show the person actually drinking it and an advertisement. So what you had a highlight on was how this thing looked in the cup, how it looked in the mug and the same thing you may see some commercial.

I remember getting on the train one day and there was a poster. You know, this gorgeous couple, I mean the most perfect looking male and female you'd ever seen, sipping some liquor together and the message was to you, I mean you could be sitting on that train, you could weigh 400 pounds and have warts from head to toe.

You can be the type that no matter how crowded the train is, nobody will ever dare sit next to you. But if you can just get that drink in your hand, you'll be just like that couple. I mean male you'll get a woman like that, woman you'll get a man like that.

And what do they do? I mean they show that scene and they show that drink, that wine, that liquor just sparkling, just sparkling in the cup. And I remember as a youngster that I'd see those commercials and the idea of drinking beer really appealed to me.

Please stop your machine at this point and turn the tape over. And I remember as a youngster that I'd see those commercials and the idea of drinking beer really appealed to me. And even in the days of just real sin in my life, I would not get drunk as much because I didn't enjoy drinking.

I'd do it every so often, but I didn't enjoy it. But I'll tell you, I remember being younger and I'd see those beer commercials and the idea, you know, that beer with some big fat pretzel just appealed to me.

And I don't know how old I was, my friend and I were over at my house and my parents were going to be away and my dad used to have some friends come over and play cards with him and he didn't drink beer much really, but he'd have some in the house every so often for some of the guys and we just got this brainstorm.

I mean we'd plan it out, all right, they're going to be away and we're going to go out and we're going to play ball and we're going to get real, you know, work up a real sweat and a real appetite and we're going to come back and we're going to get some of that ice cold beer and we're going to pour it in there and we're going to have some of those pretzels, you know, and we'd sit there and we couldn't wait and we'd take a sip and go and that was as far as it went.

It didn't live up to the expectations. But look at what it says here though. I mean that's laughable. But not when it leads to alcoholism. Look at what it says. Don't gaze at wine when it's red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly.

In the end. It's after effects. Bite like a snake and poison like a viper. Look at this description. Your eyes will see strange sights and your mind imagine confusing things. You will be like one sleeping on the high seas, lying on top of the rigging.

They hit me, you will say, but I'm not hurt. They beat me, but I don't feel it. When will I wake up so I can find another drink? You know, there are people in the streets of our cities, winos, alcoholics, laying on the streets, sleeping on the streets at night and you can go talk to them and some of them used to be doctors with, you know, practices in the hundreds of thousands, happily married and alcohol came in and destroyed them and now, I mean, you look at that person and say, what a wretch.

And you find out here's some well-educated person now they're doing everything they can just to, you know, drinking the most despicable things just because there's a little alcohol content in it to just try and get high.

You mean that they would have given up everything to be laying in the streets somewhere? You tell me one alcoholic that is thrilled to be bound by alcohol. No, you don't see the Akhirite, you don't see the final consequences.

And let me tell you something. It's real important to hear this. A lot of times we're smarter than I'm making it out to be. We're fully aware of the consequences of sin. We know what's down the pike. We know the danger.

We know what could happen. There have been times when I've prophesied over somebody I didn't know just had a word for some teenage girl and it was a word of warning and, you know, it's happened a few times so I've learned, you know, exactly what it's about.

Here's some word of warning. Put down the idol in your life. Or here's some word of warning that I know is just clear that this person's involved with an unsaved guy or it's just clear that they're flirting with the world.

And I remember the first two times God gave me words like that. Shortly thereafter, all the people heard one time the girl cried but neither of them fully received and repented. Shortly thereafter, they were both pregnant at a wedding.

And I think that a lot of us are wise enough to know just one minute of sin can destroy a life. Now all of a sudden, there's a whole blemish on you. Now there are these things you're going to have to live with the rest of your life.

But what happens is the way the enemy gets a lot of people is really simple. He gets a lot of people by slowly putting them to sleep. You see, the standards of the world have fallen so far we hardly realize it.

So we as the people of God set our standards a little higher. You know, let's say 50 years ago the standards of the world were 6 and the standards of the church were 8. Now the standards of the world drop to 4 and we adjust ours.

You know, we look around in our society we've got to be a little bit more holy so we set ours at a 6. And then it goes on. The standards of the world go down to a 2. You know, we set ours a little higher.

We go to a 4. Before you know it, our standards are far lower than the world used to be. But we don't realize it. You know, it's like this notion that I talk about in How Saved Are We with the standards dropping, dropping, dropping, dropping at our beaches, you know, through the decades, through the century.

Now you get people going to the beach in a modest bikini. You know, that's being godly. You know, the question came up to me when I began to think that in other parts of the world and some parts of the states, you know, there's nude bathing and in certain parts of this nation it's recognized and not prosecuted.

So, in all effects, legal. Now I wonder, what if nationally nude bathing was legalized? Would the believers come up with a modestly nude look? But see, we don't realize it. See, we adjust our standards.

We adjust our standards. And the clearest illustration I can give of this, and please, especially younger folks hearing me, you know, I know your hearts are after God and some of you here and there are struggling, but remember, I'm not some 80-year-old preacher that was raised in a monastery somewhere, you know.

I'm not speaking to you as some old fogey who has no understanding of what's going on in the world. You know, I messed up my life for a period of time more than I hope and pray most all the rest you'll ever dream of doing.

So, you know, don't say, well, that's just some old-fashioned warning. Listen, I'm right. You don't heed this message, you'll destroy your life. I'm right. I'm just telling you what the Scriptures say.

I've kept my eyes open now for 20 years in the Lord and I've seen people's lives destroyed. I've warned people. I've warned people in ministry. I've warned others to get their lives in order. Destruction was coming.

I've seen friends fall into adultery. I've seen people in ministry that I work with, that I prayed with, that I laughed with. I've seen them destroy their lives. But listen to me. The devil's goal is to put us to sleep.

The clearest illustration I can give you is, and not to glory in this, but I just want to explain it. Before I was saved, I told you, I used to be really sicko. And I would love to just do as much of a drug as I could to see what would happen.

To see how far I could go to the edge without overdosing. I'm serious. I did it all the time. And if a friend would say to me, how much should I do of this particular drug, I would always give them too much.

Always. Thank God I didn't kill myself and kill anybody else, but it could have happened. One time it should have happened, if not for the mercy of God intervening. Well, this friend came over and he had never done this particular hallucinogenic drug and wanted to know how much he should do, so I gave him a big overdose.