Gods War on Drugs

Talk to you tonight about God's war on drugs. As you know, this past week, the President of the United States declared war on drugs, declaring that we're fighting for the soul of America. Now, I'm not here to criticize any effort the government's trying to put on, put forth about the drug problem in America, because it's just about time the government recognized we had a problem.

The last five presidents of the United States talked about doing something, didn't do it, and now they're going to spend $8 billion to declare war on drug lords and pussies and abusers of drugs. $8 billion sounds like a lot of money, but when you think of $200 billion to bail out the savings alone, that's not even 5% of what we're going to do for the bankers of America and give about 5% of that to save our young people from drugs. I want to tell you something.

The war on drugs by the government of the United States is doomed. It's absolutely doomed to disaster. We had a poverty program by Lyndon Johnson, and I remember at the height of that, they would call our Teen Challenge Center, they were douching out money to pastors in the inner city, and we would have pastors say, could you send us five or six boys down so they could whitewash the basement and make money.

They had money to give away, they whitewashed the basements 40 or 50 times. The same basements. Because they had the money to spend.

This was a war on poverty. They declared war on poverty and poverty got worse. Never did solve the problem.

Now we have a war on drugs here in the United States. Let me tell you what it's going to be. It's a cosmetic war.

You're going to see a lot of hype, a lot of public relations. You will hear of a few drug lords being extradited from Columbia. They'll be put on trial, it'll be a showcase trial.

They may even get some years out of it. You're going to see pictures on television and newspapers of Colombian or Laotian or Cambodian troops going in, burning out some of the plantations of the drug lords. You'll see pictures of great big heaps of heroin and cocaine being confiscated, and it will look like there's some progress being made.

We're going to try to seduce or induce the Colombians to grow oranges instead of coca beans, from which comes the cocaine and the heroin. That's going to be something. You're going to see a lot of this, and it's not going to stop anything.

And I'll tell you what, even if they were able to stop, every ton of heroin, every drop of crack, they stopped all of these drugs that are pouring in from all of our borders, they could stop them, and overnight, the forces of wickedness would come up with designer drugs, synthetic designer drugs, like Fenator that's on the streets right now, and Fenator can be made in a laboratory, and $1 billion worth can be put in one box. And it's 2,000 times more powerful than crack. So the war on drugs cannot be won by the government because it is not a physical war, it's a spiritual war.

It's a sin problem, and all of the power of the United States government, all the power of our military might, cannot take the desire for drugs out of their hearts. How can a program be successful when they can't change the heart of man? A few weeks ago, I spoke at the T. Johns Farm in Pennsylvania, 200 converted drug addicts. What a night it was, they all came up on stage and began to sing the chorus, I'm free, I'm free, Jesus set me free.

And I looked at those 200 drug addicts, former drug addicts, and saw the joy of Jesus just radiating from them, and I thought, there is the real war on drugs. It's the changed heart. No amount of money can do that.

Last night, Friday night, I spoke in Manchester, New Hampshire, for another drug program, New Life for Girls. And they had the drug addict female choir, they're all converted drug addicts. And government officials were there from the state of New Hampshire, the mayor and some legislators, and people from various groups of psychology programs and local colleges and college students.

And I'll tell you what, some of them seemed so skeptical when they sat there with their hands folded. But I watched as those girls began to get up and testify, one after another. One girl said, I was bound by drugs, had no hope, Jesus set me free.

And now I have a job, and out of eight applicants, I was accepted because they saw something special in me, they said. They began to tell of being restored to their families, they began to talk about the desire of drugs being left. They were beautiful women, they'd been prostitutes, alcoholics, and addicts, and now clean, lost and pure by the blood of Jesus Christ.

There's the war on drugs. Scripture said, all that my people had hearkened unto me, I would have seen subdued all their enemies. I want to make some simple observations about what's happening in America and what God intends to do about it.

First of all, I want to pose a question. Why do we have in America this dreadful, frightful plague of drugs and alcohol, especially among our young people? Why is it happening with such intensity? Where did it come from? Now, I came to New York City some 30 years ago, and in 1958, heroin dropped like a bomb on this city, New York. And some estimated that 30,000 got hooked in one year here, became, instead of sporting, became mainliners.

Vicky Cruz, sitting here with me tonight, was a part of that scene. And we've always had a measure of a drug problem, but in those days, these were alcoholics turning to drugs. These were people who had lost jobs.

There was a recession at the time. And they were not teenagers, they were not young people. It was almost unheard of.

The only thing you heard, a few musicians smoking pot. Other than that, we didn't have the kind of drug problem in any way near what we have in intensity today. But why? What's happening? How is it that the world's richest, most powerful nation on earth has become a slave to drugs? What's happened? We now wake up to the awful truth that hundreds of thousands of babies are being born to drug-addicted mothers.

They're being born premature. They're born skinny and frail, and that's a sign that many of them are going to die young. They die sick.

They die frightened. Even nine and ten-year-old kids here in this city are pushing drugs. You heard of the little eight-year-old boy, in fact, up in Harlem.

They found him in a paper sack with 400 vials of crack he was selling. Eight years old. Teenagers from the inner city now who are less penniless.

They now turn around in their fancy Porsche cars, their Jeeps, their four-wheelers. They're equipped with $3,000 stereos. They're blasting up and down the streets.

Haven't you seen them? They're everywhere now. $3,000 blasters. And they take the top down and blast all over the streets.

They wear gold chains. They have fancy $5,000 wristwatches. And they pull out big wads of $100 bills.

And these are kids who were penniless just a few months or years or months ago. And the problem is that death doesn't even scare them anymore. Try going up to any of these teenagers now that are using the drugs they sell.

And you tell them you're going to die probably very soon with a bullet in your head in the gutter. And they'll say, so what? I was dead anyhow. My dad's an alcoholic.

My mom's drunk. My mother doesn't care. I lived with my grandma.

I didn't have any money. Dropped out of school. If I'm going to die with a bullet in my head, I'm going out in style.

I'll have some money in my pocket. I'll be driving a nice car. If I go to hell, I'm going to hell in a Porsche.

I've heard it. Not in that way, but exactly what they were trying to say. So what? See, death is no longer a deterrent.

You know that's why kids laughed at that cliché, just say no? And even kiddie clubs say, just say no? To all my gold chains and this $5,000, just what? Say no to these designer clothes? And go back to what? Ah, one boy said, I make $2,000 a day. Just say no. And yes, something gets much worse are the parents.

And some of them even suburbia. Turning to selling coke and crack to pay off their mortgages and keep up with their rich neighbors. I had a mother stop me two weeks ago behind stage.

She brought a 16-year-old boy to me and she said, my boy's pushing drugs. And this boy had one of his best friends just been killed. Shot by somebody that he owed money to.

He couldn't pay for his drugs. And that boy said, I really can't give it up. He said, I hope I never use it.

But he said, I've never had so much money. And he was absolutely addicted, more so than some to drugs. He was addicted to the lifestyle, the money that was flowing.

16 years old. I couldn't touch him. And what's behind this? Oh, by the way.

Did you read in the paper yesterday or the day before yesterday here? In the Daily News? A mother in Queens who was pushing. She had financial pressure and she saw all of her neighbors driving these nice cars. Wondered where they were coming from.

And they said, easy. And introduced her to one of the pushers. And she became a contact.

And she finally started using it and owed her supplier a lot of money and couldn't pay it. So what she did? She gave her 13-year-old daughter to the pusher to take to his rowdy crowd of men to rape and molest that girl. And they abused her for a week.

What's behind this curse on America? First of all, America has rejected the Lord as its source of help. You know, we have legislators, we have Supreme Court judges, we have humanistic people in the United States who do not even consider God as an option anymore. They would rather see America die than turn to God.

They would rather the country go down the tubes than to admit that we need God as our source of help. You see, this week the President of the United States called the President of Germany, the Prime Minister of Germany, he called France, he called Colombia, he called most South America, he called the leaders of Peru. And he's asked them to please help America save its soul.

See, we'll turn to world leaders. The President's made a call to the Pope, begging for help. Look what we're doing, we're reaching to world leaders, we're reaching to our experts, we're reaching to the Pope, we're reaching all around the world, everyone but God.

We've pushed him out of our schools, we've pushed him out of our courts, we've designed him out of our laws, and he's been pushed out of many of our churches. We have said God is not even an option. And then we wonder why we're under a curse.

You see, when we denied God and rejected him in our society, we left ourselves morally, spiritually bankrupt. We created a vacuum into which the devil has moved with all of his henchmen. In all of history, any nation that relied on God to fight their battles, every nation that turned to him with all of their hearts, they were absolutely invincible, and no enemy could come in with their borders, and no enemy could withstand them.

You know, there was a time in America, there was a time in America not too many years ago, in my lifetime, in your lifetime, there was a time that the world feared and dreaded the military and moral rights or power of the United States of America. Twenty-five years ago, there would no one dare to take an American hostage. Never, because they knew the full weight of this government coming.

Our troops, our navy, everything would move in because the nation had a will, God was still fighting our battles. Up to that time, we hadn't lost a battle. America never lost a war.

This was before Vietnam and Korea. God had promised Israel that if they would fear him and walk in his truth, God said, I will put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon all the nations that are under the whole heaven. Who shall hear reports of thee, and they shall tremble and will be in anguish because of thee.

Now, we had that once. We had that. The whole world dreaded and feared our moral integrity.

They feared the military might of America because we still had a measure of fear of God in this land. We still called on him. They still prayed in our courts.

They prayed in our schools and publicly and in the courts of our nation, we still had a measure of confidence in God. But when, I'm going to tell you what, when the nation is right with God, the Bible said no one can stand before them. Your enemies that rise up against you shall be smitten before your face.

They shall come out against you one way, they'll flee before you seven ways. That was God's message to America at one time. You just walk in humility before me, you seek my face, you turn your righteousness to me, you humble yourself before me and trust in me and let me be your help.

Look to me for your salvation. Look to me to fight your battles. God said your enemies will flee seven ways before you.

But let me show you what happens when a nation sins and rejects God. Just as Israel did, they turned to the arm of the flesh. And here's the result.

The Lord shall cause me to be smitten before thine enemies. Thou shalt go out one way against them and you will flee seven ways before your enemies. Your carcass shall be meat to the fowls of the air.

Those are the demon powers of hell. The fowls of the air. Your carcass shall be meat.

They'll chew on your bones. And that's exactly where we are in America right now, saints. That's where we are in America right now.

Did you remember? Have you remembered the pictures when we had to escape from Vietnam? We not only ran seven ways in front of the North Vietnamese. We ran 25 ways. They went by helicopter.

They went by jeep. They went by boat. They went by plane.

They ran. We evacuated before the enemy. It was pitiful.

Fulfilling the scripture right to the letter. Secondly, we are in America under the rod of God's chastening for our rejection of the Lord. God permits wicked enemies to serve as his rod of correction, his rod of chastisement.

I'm telling you now, America is under the rod of God. We're passing under the rod right now. He said, I'll cause you to pass under the rod.

He said, as I pleaded with your fathers, so I'll plead with you. He said to the Lord God, and I'll cause you to pass under the rod. Violence has risen up like a rod of wickedness.

The scripture says if we forsake his law, and if we break his statutes, and we keep not his commandments, then will I visit your transgressions with the rod, and your iniquity with stripes. Do you know when God judged Israel, he sent the Assyrian army to be his rod? To do his correcting of Israel? Oh, Assyrian, you are the rod of my anger. You're the staff in the hand of my indignation.

God said, I'm angry at you. I'm going to let these Assyrians come in. I'm going to let them invade your land.

I'm going to let them move in among you, and I'm going to use them as a rod. That's exactly what's happened. The drug lords, and the drug pushers, and the pimps, and the prostitutes in America have become the rod of God to chastise America.

We're under the chastening rod of God. Now, there's a good part to that, because about whom the Lord loves, he chastens. If God was still not pleading and pleading for this nation, he would not send the rod.

He would not permit the rod. He said, spare the rod and damn the child. God's trying to bring us to our knees.

And thirdly, the drug invasion is a plot of Satan himself against the righteous. Now, let me show you what the Holy Spirit's revealed to me. Now, I want you to listen closely.

All day yesterday, the Holy Spirit was driving this to my heart. The Scripture says, the wicked plot against the just. And, God, I want you to go to Psalm 37.

Psalm 37, and keep it up, because we're going to go into a lot of Scripture there in just a minute. Psalm 37. And I want you to look at Psalm 37, verse 12.

37, verse 12. The wicked plotted against the just and gnashed upon him with his teeth. Now, follow me closely, please.

America has always been a missionary nation. You can go to the hottest jungle of Africa and you'll find American missionaries. You can go to Alaska.

And all but before the Communists closed the doors, missionaries from America were in Manchuria, Inner and Outer Mongolia, China. All over the known world, you'll find American missionaries. Our blood, the missionary blood of martyrs is spread around the world from America.

For years, we were the number one missionary nation. And the devil tried to close the doors through Communism. And he couldn't do it.

Right now, the doors of Communism are swinging wide open. The God-fearing movement into China and Russia, Perestroika, whatever you want to call it. God will have a way to get us in.

But you see, he's out now. The President is right. This is a battle for the soul of America.

The devil wants the soul of all of our young people, all our potential missionaries, all potential wealth of this nation. Because you see, America stood with Israel. And now, the devil is trying to create social problems here of such magnitude and so costly that there might be a dollar left to help Israel fight its battles.

There'll not be any will left because we're so focused on our own wars at home. And we're not even thinking of defending Israel. He's out to destroy Israel.

But he's also out to destroy the missionary vision that God gave this nation. To absolutely destroy it so that our kids are not giving themselves any more to be volunteers to go to some foreign field. That they'd be stoned out of their mind and become spiritual zombies.

It's an absolute design of the devil. The wicked plotteth against the righteous. And masses against him with his teeth.

And the devil's massing against America right now because we have brought the peace of Jesus Christ to many parts of the world. He's trying to absolutely destroy the mission work of this nation. But the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the rod of the righteous.

Lest the righteous put forth his hands to iniquity. Alright, let's go on. God is going to take matters into his own hands.

Now listen closely please because this is a prophetic word that the Lord's put on my heart. The government's war, I don't care if it's on poverty, I don't care if it's on drugs, the government of the United States has helped us now. But God's war is going to be something awesome.

Absolutely awesome. That God's going to do. Now, if America truly repented and returned to the faith of their fathers, here's what we could pray from God.

Deuteronomy 3.22 You shall not have to fight, for the Lord your God shall fight for you. Do you know that if we were really what we should be with God, overnight God can solve these problems? Within one week, God can do what he did with one angel with the army of Sennacherib when the Assyrian army came against Israel. You know what the scripture says? I'm going to read it to you.

Whom have you repulsed and blasphemed? This is the enemy coming against Israel. Against whom have you exalted your voice? Even against the Holy One of Israel. But I know where you live.

And this is God's message to every drug lord in Colombia, Laos, and Cambodia, wherever he may be, and even here in the United States, every drug pusher. God says, I know where you live. I know, I'm going to listen to it now.

I know where you live. I know you're coming in and you're going out. And I know your rage against me.

Your rage and your tumult has come up into my ears. Therefore, I'm going to put a hook in your nose. And I'll put a bridle on your lips.

And I'm going to turn you back by the way which you came. For I'm going to defend and save my people for my own sake, and for the sake of my servant David. You know what God's saying? He was saying to King Sennacherib, He said, I know all your secret plans.

I know you're coming in and going out. You know what God did in the middle of the night? He sent one angel out, and in one night, he slew 185,000 soldiers. Israel came out the next day, and there were dead bodies everywhere.

You know that if America was seeking God with all of its heart, and there was true repentance in this land, I don't know how he does it, that he confuses the enemy. He makes them fight among themselves. They die of cancer.

They disappear. And I'll tell you what, in just 30 days we'd look around and they'd be gone. They would be gone.

He would cleanse the land of all iniquity. Now, I'll tell you what, I've been preaching lately, that I believe America has reached what I call the dread release. It's past the point of no return.

Judgment's already on the land. There comes a time, God says, when even if these three men, Noah, Job, and Daniel were in it, they would but save their own souls. God said I would not hear their prayer, because there's a line that's being crossed, and God's pathetic time clock, the Lord said that's it.

There is a time when God has to move on, because he's building a church, he's bringing in his kingdom. The day of the Gentiles has to one day end. The Lord has to one day come.

And we're getting near to that. Hallelujah. But, you see, God is not going to let drug pushers, and pimps, and prostitutes, and the wicked reign as though God wasn't concerned, as though God was asleep.

The Lord's not going to come letting the whole world think that he's asleep. He's not going to come and let drug lords sit down in Columbia in their multi-million dollar mansions. One man in Mendeley, down in Columbia, has 1,000 prize horses on his ranch.

1,000. He's got helicopter. There's a general in Cambodia that's got 18,000 personal soldiers pushing drugs.

And they laugh at God. They laugh at America. But God's going to say, one of these days, that's enough.

And he's not going to do it because it's simply compassion on a nation that's turned its back on him. He's not going to do it because America's worthy. He said he's going to do it for his own namesake and the glory of his own name.

Let me read it to you. For I had pity for my own holy name, which the house of Israel hath profaned among the heathen, whether they were it. Thus saith the Lord God, I do not this for your sakes.

He's talking about bringing forth an awakening and tearing down the strongholds of the enemy. He said, I'm going to do this not for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for my own holy namesake, which you have profaned. I will sanctify my great name and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord God.

I don't know what he's going to do. I don't know if it's going to be a short revival that happened under Finney when so many people got saved in Rochester and they shut all the bars down. There were bars going out of business when the revivals hit early America.

I don't know how he's going to do it. My Bible said evil men are going to wax worse and worse. There's not going to be a time in America where all the sin goes away.

No, there's a prophecy that's going to come worse than ever. But there's going to be a season when God takes matters in his own hands and he said, not because America's worthy, not because there's been repentance. I see no sign of widespread repentance in America.

There are not more than 5% of Americans. Out of 200 million, there wouldn't be more than 200,000 of the most evangelicals praying or seeking God in any measure. It's only a small remnant.

But he said, not because you're worthy, not because you suck my face, but because I want the heathen to know something about my holiness. I want them to know they cannot, they cannot trample my righteous name. Psalms 37, 9 and 10.

Let me show you God's war on drugs. Do you want to see God's war on drugs? Psalm 37, verse 9. Folks, look at me. You live here in New York City, you pick up your newspaper, and all you're seeing now are pictures of young drug addicts, drug pushers, laying down next to their car in a pool of blood.

Bullets in the back, bullets in the head. Some of them, yesterday, I showed a friend of mine the paper yesterday, New York Times. Did you see it? Floating down the Peru River, 30 headless bodies, floating down the Peruvian River, all connected with drug sales.

Here in the United States now, we're having dismembered bodies. And you, you, you, you, Mickey Cruz, sitting here tonight, I had lunch with him today, and he's been in this city as a gang member years and years ago. Gang leader.

Knows this city better than I do. Been here many, many times. This time he came in, he said, Brother Lucas, last night I tried to reach you.

I was in New Hampshire, just got back. But he couldn't reach me, he said, I struggled with demonic attacks all night. Others, I heard today, who've just come into this city, said, Brother Lucas, what's happened? I feel like running, I can't.

There's a spirit. You know it, if you live here as we do. There's something happened this past year.

Satan has had to come and set up his headquarters right here, in this city. This is crack headquarters, of the United States is coming in here, and spreading and building all through the United States, and Canada, and around the world. There's a spirit, demonic spirits are loose in this city, everywhere we go.

But I want you to know something. There's some things that God showed me out of the 37th Psalm. God, one of these days, I don't know when it's going to happen.

It's probably going to happen overnight. God says, that's enough. And God said, I'm going to take this war into my hands.

Look at chapter 37, verse 9. For evildoers shall be cut off, but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. They're not going to push us off our inheritance, no way. Verse 10.

For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be. Yea, you shall diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. You can look around and find, where are they? What happened to them? They're gone.

Is that in your Bible too? Look at verse 17. Verse 17. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken.

Now, if you want to take that literally, that means Uzi machine guns. That means all of their radar equipment, all of their fancy equipment to sell and distribute drugs. Their sword shall enter, in verse 13, their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be broken.

The end of side 1. You may now turn the tape over to side 2. The arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the Lord will uphold the righteous. Look at verse 20. But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs.

They shall consume, and the smoke shall they consume away. Look at me, folks. Do you understand what God's saying through His Word? This brought such hope to my heart yesterday, when the Lord greeted God ahold of me on this.

Now, I'm going to show you where that's going to lead us, in a way of hope, in just a moment. God's got this hook in the nose. He said, I'm going to pull them out, I'm going to send them back where they came from.

In just one sweep. I want you to listen to this. I've seen the wicked in great power.

In fact, you read it. Look at verse 35. Verse 35.

I've seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and lo, he was not. Yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.

Look at me, please. Remember a number of years ago, when I was a young preacher, the number one power force in America at the time was Jimmy Hoffa, the Teamsters Union leader. He made the Kennedys tremble.

This man had such power, and there was a strike in America, some of you are not old enough to remember it. He paralyzed Washington, D.C., he paralyzed some of our cities with a massive strike of truckers. They were choking our cities.

And I have it marked in one of my old Bibles, and I put his name right by this, because at that time, he was spreading himself like a green bay tree, and he was in great power, and I said, Oh God, how long do these men go flaunting their power like that? The whole government is trembling. And a few years later, Jimmy Hoffa goes to a restaurant, and he disappears. They've never found him since.

He just disappeared. And I remember marking the date on my Bible by that, and the Lord was giving me an illustration. There it is.

I've seen the wicked in great power. By the way, where is Hitler? Where is Khrushchev, who took his shoe off and banged it and said, We'll bury you! He's been consumed by worms. He's gone.

One of these days, every one of these will flaunt their power. The Bible said they're just fat for the fire. God says, I'm going to move, and I'm going to consume them like smoke.

All right, now I'm getting to the point of my message. Listen closely now, please. What are we to do as Christians? What does that have to do with this church tonight, and believers? All right.

In the time of turmoil, when everything is going crazy, our papers are full of it, there's panic on all sides, the government panic. The Bible makes it very clear that you and I as a church of Jesus Christ are to stay calm and not get hot under the collar. Read Psalm 37, verse 1. Fret not yourself because of evildoers.

You get your stars from chords, look up the word fret. It means don't get hot under the collar. Don't grieve.

Don't panic as though God weren't on the throne. God has everything under control for the church of Jesus Christ. He always has.

We are to be concerned. We're to reach out and help the lost, but we're to stay calm. We're not to react to all these devilish crises as though we had no God who knew what was happening.

God's not been surprised by any of it. The church of Jesus Christ is never to cringe in front of anything the devil tries to flaunt at us. We're not to cringe.

The church never has and never will. You know, there's nothing the devil is doing today that's going to stop God's eternal purpose. Nothing.

The devil has decided to take over the whole nation of Columbia and Panama. Noriego is a known drug dealer. And now he's decided he's going to just declare war on all the judges.

Did you read in the paper that there are 30,000 bodyguards in Columbia who make a full-time living as bodyguards? 30,000. A whole army being paid as bodyguards. That's war the devil declared on that nation.

But you know, in spite of that, Team Challenge is opening a drug center in Columbia New Life for Girls has just opened a center in Columbia. And I got a report recently where the churches are starting to get on fire for God. They're going right into some of these cocktail centers and they're witnessing and preaching to the drug lords.

And the church is growing in spite of all the drug lords. The devil's trying to keep the gospel out of certain countries. Now, Team Challenge has two centers.

One center opened already in Poland. Another proposed center in Hungary. And I think it's going to spread all over the communist world eventually.

Even in China because they have alcohol and drug problems too. Especially opium. And I'll tell you what.

There's no work of the devil that's going to hinder anything that God has purposed in his mind to do. The devil decided to take over Times Square. He decided to bring every person in this city and end up down here somewhere to make their connection.

He decided to bring the pimps and the prostitutes and the pushers and just flood this area. And he carved out Times Square and the devil said, This is my seat. Nobody.

Nobody comes near Times Square. Ha! Do you understand the significance tonight of us sitting here as a church of Jesus Christ worshipping in the holiness of Jesus right at the seat of Satan? Do you understand the spiritual significance of that? God is saying to his church, You don't have to be afraid. You don't get upset.

You don't panic. Others can panic all around you. He said, Don't fret because of evildoers.

Don't fret because of pushers. Don't fret because of this battle around you. Don't get upset.

Don't get hot under the collar. Boy, God, I was getting hot under the collar. I was asking God to give me some kind of invisible rake gun and go out and mow them down.

You know, you feel that anger. You say, How long, oh God, can they destroy our young people? You feel that anger. Which he said yesterday, I hit the city and I wanted to fight.

Well, he wanted to fight the devil. Look at this. Verse 1, fret not thyself because of evildoers.

Neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. Don't be jealous. Now listen to me, please.

You know, there's a point here I'm trying to make and God wants it. You may think it has nothing to do with this church, but it does. I heard a man who once attended this church, who told me he was truly born again a Christian, claimed to be filled with the spirit of God.

And we were sitting in a restaurant one day and he said, I see these young people with all this money and I see them drive these cars and I have to work so hard for every dollar I get and sweat. He said, It makes me so mad I get red. Don't be envious.

Don't be envious. And there's an envy. There are a lot of American housewives and other so-called sane, intelligent citizens who would push drugs that they wouldn't get caught if they could just get the money.

They say, I work so hard and these kids come along and they live like kings. It's not fair. My Bible says in verse 16, The little that a righteous man has better than all the riches of many wicked.

They shall be cut off in just a little while. Yea, the wicked shall not be. You will diligently look for him.

You will not be finding him. He's gone. Hallelujah.

Verse 19. They shall not be ashamed in the evil times. And in the days of famine they shall be fed.

Now, before I close, I want to give you a scripture that blessed me. Go to verse 24. Psalms 37 verse 24.

Do you have it? Verse 24. Though he fall. Verse 23.

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. And he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down.

For the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. I had a young lady stop before service. Or after service this morning.

She was a former drug addict. Her name is Mary. She's sitting here tonight.

She was smiling from ear to ear. I had announced in the service this morning that I was going to preach from Psalm 37. She opened her Bible and pointed to these two verses.

She said, Brother Wilkinson, when I was on drugs, and got saved, I said, Oh Lord, how do I know I won't fall? How do I know I won't go back? And she said, Brother Wilkinson, I'm so glad you're preaching from Psalm 37. Because, look, I got it marked, these two verses. The steps of a good man.

See, when God showed me that, he proved to me that even if I took one fall, he would not forsake me. I don't have to be afraid of a fall. I don't plan it, but if the devil should trip me up, I'm not going to stay down.

But the Lord will go and pick me up. The point is, while God declares war on all the workers of iniquity, and he fights against them, he's going to be simultaneously fighting for you and me. I'm glad I'm on his side.

Read again, verse 23. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not utterly be cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand.

I'm going to close in a minute, but I've got to say something. Hallelujah. While God's declared war on this iniquitous system, something's happening in the heavens for you and I right now.

The devil stands against you and me, is the chance of Jesus Christ to accuse us. And he stands there, especially when you fail God. When you have stumbled, or you have fallen, and he stands before the throne of God as an accuser and says, All right, he has sinned.

The wage of the sin is death. That's your own law. Justice stands before God, and justice has a voice.

And justice says, it's true. They have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And justice declares that there has to be a penalty for sin.

And so here's the devil accusing you, saying, You'll not make it. I have every right to claim that soul now. That soul is mine.

Can't make it, there's an inbred lust that'll never be rid. And justice stands there, and justice has to speak truth. And justice says, the law says this.

And it's almost as though it was a second. Because in truth, the devil is not lying about some who stand before him. There has been a failure, there's been a stumbling.

But you see that my Bible says that Jesus is before the Father as an intercessor. He's an intercessor. He is not on his knees.

He stands in authority through the sprinkling of his own blood on the mercy seat. And the devil stands and accuses you. And justice says, yes, the penalty has to be paid.

And Jesus, this is his intercession. He stands before the Father. Yes, there's been a failure.

Yes, there's been a fall. Yes, the law says the penalty has to be paid. But here I present my blood.

I've paid the penalty. This child is mine. Hallelujah.

That's not all. That's not all. I saw my Jesus as an intercessor before the throne of God.

And all God's wanting out of the intercession, all God wants out of the intercession, is that we realize, we must realize that we're accepted in the beloved. Not for our own merits or any good in us, but what Jesus has done. Jesus stands before, listen to me now, he stands before the Father, and he says, this child is in my hand.

This child has been sprinkled by the blood of the Lamb. Wait a minute. Now, Holy Spirit, this is my son, this is my daughter.

He, she is going through a struggle. But I've never loved him more than I love him now. Now you go and comfort and strengthen and guide and bring him through.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glory to God.

Let's stand. Please stand. Hallelujah.

Glory to Jesus. Glory to Jesus. Thank you for your blood.

Jesus is not kneeling before the Father begging. He's just showing the whole world, he's showing justice, he's showing the devil. This is mine.

God sakes, I don't care what you're going through. You heard it this morning from Pastor Bob. You heard it last Tuesday, you'll hear it again Tuesday night.

The message, it goes forth here now. The only war, the only people God's mad at is the devil and his henchmen. He's not mad at you.

He's not mad at me. If you could just see the love that he has for you tonight in your struggle. If you're going through a terrible struggle and the devil's just trying to strip you and rob you of your confidence in the Lord.

Some of you are going through hell in your home. Some of you, the devil's whispered to your heart, you're going to fall so bad, you'll never make it. Or just tell the devil, Jesus is praying for me.

Jesus is praying for me. You know what the devil would like to say? Well, he prayed for Peter, but his faith failed not, and Peter failed. God didn't answer his prayer.

Oh no, his faith didn't fail. It faltered, but it didn't fail. You may falter, but in the end, you're going to come back like Peter, hallelujah.

Glory to Jesus. Let's pray. Oh, we love you, Jesus.

We love you, Jesus. You've absolutely snatched us out of the devil's hands. You've snatched us out of his kingdom.

We belong to you, Jesus. We belong to you. You're our Lord.

You're our King. You hold us in the palm of your hand, and no man's going to pluck us out. No man will pluck us out of your hand, Lord Jesus.

Oh Lord, even now you're interceding for this body. For everyone in this house, you're interceding. Lord, break the chains of doubt and fear tonight and anxiety.

Break it, Lord, and give us confidence in Jesus. If you need confidence, if your faith has been shaken, you're going through a terrible, terrible time, the enemy trying to destroy you, why don't you come and let us pray for you tonight while the choir is ministering, and let's believe the Lord. Up in the balcony, go down any stairs and come down any aisle, and we're going to believe God to break the chain.

Break the chain. Hallelujah. Has the devil tried to put fear on you and tell you that you're just not going to make it? Jesus is praying for us right now.

He's interceding. Come on. Let's believe the Lord for a miracle for you right now, tonight, right at this altar.

Up in the balcony, on the main floor, you need a miracle. Step up. He watches like a soul He watches like a soul Lord of God, of Jesus Lord of God, of Jesus Oh, the blood of Jesus He watches like a soul You that are up here, look this way please.

Isn't it wonderful to know that you're not standing up here all by yourself? That the Holy Spirit has been sent by the Lord. He sent the Holy Ghost to you. Will you receive the Holy Spirit right now? Will you let the Holy Spirit remind you of the faithfulness of Jesus? Would you let the Holy Spirit come in right now and speak to your heart the comfort of the Holy Spirit when you're ready to lay down all sin and all compromise and say, Jesus, you're going to keep me from falling and present me faultless before the throne of God with exceeding great joy.

Hallelujah. We don't ever look sin. We lay it down.

And then the door is open. The door is open. Holy Spirit, come in to strengthen, quicken.

Raise both hands to the Lord right now. Raise both hands. You that came forward, just raise both hands to the Lord.

Pray this right out loud from your heart. Jesus I'm here to surrender. I give up all my self-efforts and I trust the Holy Ghost.

Touch me, Jesus, and let me see you praying for me, standing with me, helping me, forgiving me, cleansing me, and putting your joy in me. The devil doesn't have me and he can't get me because I want a wall of fire around me. And I claim that wall right now.

Now, thank him for it. Just thank him. Thank you, Jesus.

Lord, I thank you for that wall of fire. That wall of fire. Glory to Jesus.

Glory be to God. Hallelujah. Now, Jesus, break all power of the enemy.

Destroy the works of the devil tonight in the hearts of these who stand here. Jesus, destroy the works of the devil now. Break through in a mighty way with encouragement, with faith, and hope, and trust, and confidence in you.

Look at me, please. I'm going to believe the Lord's going to take you all the way through to glory. Raise your hand.

Listen. Listen. The only power the devil has on you is his lies.

Jesus sees you standing here right now with your heart open. Do you think he's going to turn you down? No. If your heart's open, you've got a repentant heart, say, Jesus, take it.

I want you now to take a step of faith and believe the Holy Spirit to come right now and remind you that when your battle gets hot, when you leave this altar, you go back home or back out in the street where all the demon powers are, the Lord's going to let you walk right through it untouched because he's going to fight your battles. Hallelujah. He's going to fight your battles for you.

You trust on him. As we heard this morning, if you walk in harmony with Jesus and come under his yoke, surrendering to his love and his will, you have nothing to fear. Lord, take out all fear now.

Remove all fear in Jesus' name. How many of you that are up here, you came forward tonight for the first time in this church. Would you raise your hand, please? It's your first time to come forward in this church.

And we'd like to meet you in the prayer room here so we can pray with you one-on-one. Will you come this way, please? Go right through this door. The ushers will show where to go.

You don't sign anything. You don't join anything. We'd like to pray with you for a miracle in your life.

We want God to really change you. God, really put fire. We need every counselor tonight, please.

All counselors, we need you tonight. The Lord bless you. Get ready.

We're going to rejoice. Amen. Hallelujah.

No, Nicky's not speaking tonight. By the way, Nicky has agreed. I tied him down.

He's agreed to come back for the two big nights in April. We're going to have a Saturday night youth rally. We talked about it with the pastor before.

And also a Sunday night. So a Saturday night, Sunday in April. Nicky, mark it down.

Praise the Lord. We're going to have a great time in the Lord. Now, the rest of you that are up here, do you believe God's answered your prayer? Amen.

It doesn't take God all night when you're ready. It doesn't take God all night when you're ready. I tell you what, why don't you just shake hands with two or three others that came up and said, I'm going to pray for you.

I'm praying for you. If you're under the blood of Jesus, and you know that Jesus is interceding for you, I want you to get happy and rejoice. We're going to have a rejoicing service in the Lord now.

Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. This is the conclusion of the tape.