All right, Acts 14.

Let’s see, could somebody — would you get me that, brother, that map back there, those three maps, you know, in that broken up those three sections? It’s of Asia Minor and Palestine and, you know, it’s orange and green — three sections.

> 14:1 And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed.

> 2 But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil affected against the brethren.

> 3 Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands.

> 4 But the multitude of the city was divided: and part held with the Jews, and part with the apostles.

> 5 And when there was an assault made both of the Gentiles, and also of the Jews with their rulers, to use them despitefully, and to stone them,

> 6 They were ware of it, and fled unto Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and unto the region that lieth round about:

> 7 And there they preached the gospel.

"And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed." BUT...

"But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil affected against the brethren. Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands." Now this makes Barnabas apostle. Look at verse 14. So Barnabas has the apostolic signs. And, in the Book of Acts, when a man is converted under an apostle, then the apostolic signs follow them that believe — them that believe the apostles. So Barnabas here is classified an apostle, and in verse 3 he has the apostolic signs and wonders, which are signs to Israel.

And notice Israel is involved. 14:1: "The Jews." 14:4: "The Jews." So Paul’s ministry is not confined to Gentiles — not by a long shot. And when Stam and Baker and O’Hare and those people try to kid you into thinking that Paul’s ministry is only to Gentiles, they’re pulling your leg. It’s not. It’s to the Jews also.

Now, the way they get out of that eventually is run Paul clear out of the Book of Acts. You can’t begin with Stam without winding up with Bullinger. And, in plainer words, once you start making Paul what these fellows want him to be, you’ve got to get clear out of the Book of Acts to get to the Body of Christ — thank you — the Church beginning. Because, as long as you stay in the Book of Acts, the Jew is there. And, as long as the Jew is there, the apostolic signs are there. And, as long as you’re in the Book of Acts, you’re still baptizing converts.

So, the only way you can ever get rid of water baptism eventually is to make the church begin after Acts 28. And that’s what Bullinger does. I know Stam takes the halfway position and says, "Well, the Church begins in Acts chapter 9," and they try to, you know, bluff their way through with that kind of thing. But you can’t bluff your way through; once you begin with the Church any later than the time of Christ or Acts chapter 2, you’ve got to run slap out of the Book to get rid of it.

Now, they’re up in Iconium. They’ve gone up in here; where he’s preaching at right now is here. This first missionary trip, he’s going to Salamis and Paphos and Perga and up through here through Lystra, and up here to Iconium. And he’s now to Iconium in Asia Minor.

Verse 4: "But the multitude of the city was divided: and part held with the Jews, and part with the apostles. And when there was an assault made both of the Gentiles, and also of the Jews with their rulers, to use them despitefully, and to stone them, They were ware of it, and fled unto Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and unto the region that lieth round about." That’s back down this way. They’ve come in here, and gone up here; now they’re coming back down this way — Lystra and Derbe — down here. The trip has gone west, and then north, and then south — and it’s coming back down to Iconium.

"And there they preached the gospel."

14:8 And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked:

9 The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed,

10 Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked.

11 And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.

12 And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker.

13 Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people.

14 Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out,

15 And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:

16 Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways.

17 Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.

18 And with these sayings scarce restrained they the people, that they had not done sacrifice unto them.

"And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet." Impotent. No power.

"Being a cripple from his mother’s womb." This matches Simon Peter’s miracle in Acts chapter 3.

"Being a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked: The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked." Now that shows that Paul is the replacement for Peter. Or, as the Romans say, "Robbing Peter to pay Paul." But the Holy Spirit is the one that does it.

Peter is the central character in the first twelve chapters of the Book of Acts, and Paul is the central character in the last sixteen chapter.

Now, verse 9 is the verse used by all the healers to prove that if you don’t have faith to be healed, it’s your fault and not the healer’s fault. Now, notice how these rascals here have taken Acts 14:9 and tried to imply by that that if you don’t have faith to be healed, you can’t be healed.

Now, come back to Mark and notice your faith, as far as healing goes with Christ, Mark 6, has nothing to do with faith. Christ healed them right and left. Mark 6. Mark 6:5. If you have the apostolic signs, you can touch a guy, he’ll get up and begin to move. But what they’re forgetting here is Paul is dealing with a Gentile — not a Jew. And he’s dealing with a Gentile who knows nothing about Moses, nothing about the signs, nothing about the wonders, nothing about the ministry of Christ. He’s dealing with an unsaved Gentile out in Asia Minor. That’s not the kind of thing you run into in the Gospels.

Mark 6:5: "And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. And he marvelled because of their" what? "Unbelief."

All right, back to Acts 14:9. So, to take this verse here and put this on somebody getting healed now and going around and singing, "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever," is blasphemy. If they’re really going to be "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever," they get healed no matter how they believe.

Now, this thing here is a case where, here’s an unsaved Gentile in Asia Minor, and Paul looks at this fellow, and looking at him, he just sees it. Says, "That fellow there, he’s got faith."

And so he "Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked."

"And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men."

QUESTION: Was that faith that that guy had — was it like, hoping that the guy could heal him?

ANSWER: Yep. It’d be something like that. Look at verse 9: "The same heard Paul speak." See, you can tell the guy is believing. He’s believing what he’s saying.

Now, when you get to verse 11 — and this passage here, with one in 19 — is information on the Bible on the "chariots of de gods." And the Lord never puts something like this in the Bible just as a side note, or just as a historical note or accident. There’s nothing in the Bible that’s accidental. There’s nothing in the Bible without significance.

And, when you read a bunch of heathen people saying, "The gods are come down," then you read in Psalm 82, "I have said, Ye are gods," then you read in the Book of Exodus, "Ye shall revile the name of the gods," then you read in 2 Corinthians, "As there are other lords, many lords, many gods," and then you read over there in Genesis 6, "The sons of God came down," you read in Job 1, Job 2, Job 38, "The sons of God came before the Lord with Satan," you not just throw all of that out.

I mean, some guy comes along here and says, "Well, just what’s this little incident over here in Iconium? What’s that got to do with what you just said?" Well, Scripture with Scripture. Scripture with Scripture.

Now, we gather a number of things here. Number one, we gather the heathen are expecting God to come down — right? Sure they are! They say it: They "are come down." I mean, all ready to go. All right, the heathen are expecting the gods to come down.

All right, two: The next thing we know is, they’ve been here before. They’ve been here before — Genesis 6.

We know they’ve been here before. We’ve got their names: Apollos, Venus, Adonis, Pegasus, all this business, Minerva, Juno, Jupiter, Thor, all this business. All right, they’ve been here before, and the heathen are expecting them. And, if they’re expecting them, then they should come again.

All right, you get to Revelation chapter 12, and it says "the devil took his tail and drew a third part of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth." Then, you read in Revelation chapter 1, "the stars are the seven angels." All right, then, if you know a third of the angels are yet to come down to this earth, and you know they’ve been here before, then you know these things are connected. They’re not just, you know, just flopped in there someplace.

So, you’ve got angels who are called "sons of God" who have been here before, and they’re coming again — and the heathen expect them to show up. And when they show up, the heathen expect them to have signs...and wonders...and be able to heal folk.

The last thing on the flying saucers down in South America was, after they had passed over the house, the lady grew a new set of teeth. Now, if they passed over the house and shot down the ray, the old boy who had arthritis got over his arthritis. And, so the last one was, when they got setting up this UFO station to contact them, like they’ve got it going now, all the people waiting in the contact group are wearing uniforms with a flying serpent wrapped around a pole. They’ve got the medical corps insignia on the uniforms. And the reason they put that thing there is because those old boys down in Pascagoula said when they got on that UFO that those things had an insignia there, and it was a serpent wrapped around a pole with wings on top of it.

So, what you’ve got, you’ve got — what you’ve got is a bunch of people waiting for something to show up from outer space that can benefit mankind by healing — signs and wonders. And, since tongues "are for a sign," the Charismatic Movement is the preparation. They’re getting ready.

QUESTION: You know, over there in the Revelation, where it talks about the spirit that went out working miracles, it was like a spirit like a frog. I’ve got a study by a Seventh-day Adventist on the Charismatic Movement, and he’s talking about that there, about the way a frog gets its prey. A frog catches his prey by his tongue.

ANSWER: Very appropriate. Wonk — wonk — wonk!

QUESTION: On that expecting him back, last week’s Grid newspaper, there’s an article there about a woman that bet four thousand dollars that visitors from outer space are going to come to California, and this woman — along with some guy in England — betting that they are going to show up. And if they don’t show up, they’re going to lose their money. They say they are visitors that are going to help us.

ANSWER: They’re "really going to help you"? You remember all this stuff about the princess kisses the frog — and the frog turns into this beautiful prince. That thing — I like Mad’s variation in it — where they’re riding off, and a fly goes by, and the prince goes — WONK — and pulls in the fly, you know. Or, the princess kisses the frog, and he becomes a prince, and then sinks in the marsh because he can’t swim. Or, the princess kisses the frog and he becomes a prince and he takes one look at her and goes, "Yuck!" and turns around and walks off! And all that stuff is an animal-man thing, an animal-man thing, and animal-man, animal-man. And it’s manifest in that. And all this "Planet of the Apes." And then you’ve got ol’, of course, King Kong falling in love with the girl, you see. All that stuff is right in force.

QUESTION: I have some friend up in Detroit who thinks this is wrong, that because it’s from the original Greek, the gods’ names should be Greek names.

ANSWER: Of course. He thinks they think should be "Zeus" and "Hermes." Right. That’s A.T. Robertson and the New A.S.V. And that’s the devil’s bible, to cover up the devil, so you won’t find the devil when he shows up.

QUESTION: What’s the deal with that?

ANSWER: The deal with that is that Jupiter and Mercurius are the Roman Catholic, Roman-Latin names for the words, while Zeus and Hermes are the Greek terms for the words. So, the thing of it is, if they’re in Asia Minor, they have to be Greek instead of Roman. And naturally, if you’re Roman Catholic, you’d much prefer the Greek terms. Because, who wants the devil connected with the Roman Catholic Church?

Now, to show you how — does anybody got a commentary on Acts here? Brother, would you run in there and get me a commentary on the Book of Acts? Thank you, brother. Boy! It comes to pass before they call out here! Now, here it goes. "You see, wherever you hit one of these ‘visitors from outer space’ places, an hysteria siezes the faculty members of conservative schools, along with the orthodox commentators and liberal revisers. These people to see the ‘gods’ on ‘The Late, Late Show’ in their living rooms — not in the Bible. Whenever the subject is brought up anywhere in the Bible, every strategem known to man is resorted to in order to get rid of the text. It was almost as if some invisible force was at work in the minds of the scholars, so that whenever they hit one of these passages, they go into a passive state and begin to jerk like automons controlled by an electronic switchboard. All is perfectly clear in the English text, but not one recent discovery or a better manuscript or a scientist’s textual criticism has ever given any light from the text that wasn’t in the 1611 text. As a matter of fact, the great discoveries of 1800 to 1980 are what prevented you from finding out what the text says. The two gods the heathen are looking for are a supreme god called Jupiter — from the largest planet in the system — and interpreter, Mercurius, who can speak for the supreme god. These gods from outer space have priests on the earth to serve them, and then bull — look at verse 13 — and the bull — verse 13 — and the bull is prominent in their worship. They’re gods who are male; they’re looking for a god to have a prophet to herald his coming. Now, all this is manifest from the Bible and it’s perfectly clear to anyone who studied Exodus 4 or Isaiah 40. The Antichrist does come from outer space when he comes, and he is heralded by a prophet — Revelation 13. The gods have been here before; they will certainly show up again. With all this evidence on the face of the text, and no background in Hebrew or Greek being necessary to understand, what do you suppose the godly fundamentalists do? One: It isn’t Jupiter; it is Zeus. Wuest, the New A.S.V, the R.S.V., the Common Bible, Vincent, Bartlett, and Gloag). Although Ladd, Dummelow and Robertson will tolerate "Jupiter" in the text, they quickly substitute the word "Zeus" for it when they discuss the text! The thinking here is that the Greek equivalents (Zeus and Hermes) should have been used instead of the Latin (Jupiter and Mercury). But what man who believed Revelation 17 (Rome) and knew the part that Rome played in Matthew 2, Luke 2, Matthew 27, Luke 23, Acts 28, Daniel 2, and Church History would use any designation but the Roman designation? It is the Western text itself (the Latin text) that reads ‘the priests of the local ZEUS propolis’ — that is, the Latin text had tried to cover up the truth on the passage. The Byzantine text did not read this way. The word ‘dios’ and ‘dia’ are related to the English deity, and the deity of the heathen in this area was not a local Greek god Zeus. To the contrary, Jupiter was the supreme God, and he was related to ‘Jove’ (from ‘Jehovah’!).

"Bruce cites some nonsense from an inscripture found on some altar near Lystra which he thinks might have referred to Zeus. Confirmation is supposed to be found in the fact that one inscription mentions priests of Zeus. However opposing this rinky-dink exposition is the formidable statue of Jupiter himself — the guardian god of Lystra — seated on a chair right in front of the city, with the wing-capped Mercury on his head, and the inscription, "Jupiter Custos" plastered right on him!"

Now, what you gonna do with that? Outside that city is a statue of Jupiter — not Zeus — and he has the winged cap on his head like Mercury — ever seen a picture of Mercury, little ol’ wings sticking up here?

"But the wildest stroke is the Lockman Foundation’s suddenly dciding that the word for ‘Jupiter’ meant Heaven. This abortion of the English text was done in what Dr. Custer, Bob Jones University, called a ‘word-for-word translation of the Bible.’ The last time these lummoxes — what a way to talk! ‘Lummox’ — the last time these lummoxes hit ‘heaven’ they translated it ‘sky,’ and they would not translate it as ‘heaven’ until they read ‘Jupiter.’ Right on, man, right on! Some stump-jumper is very anxious for you to lose the cross-references which deal with somebody coming down from Jupiter.

"The New A.S.V., with the old A.S.V, R.S.V., R.V. and New R.S.V., has added the word "temple" to verse 13. This was done on the basis of the recommendation by Ramsay, who was stupid enough to believe the authenticity of the phrase "Zeus Propolis" found in the Western text. This text is not given in Nestle, Aland, or Metzger, but the Mickey Mouse expositors who followed Nestle, Aland and Metzger insert the word.

"But the most remarkable thing about all the ‘brethren’ — including Ladd, Knowling, Rice, Robertson, Ironside, Newell, Blaiklock, Bullinger, Dummelow, Jamieson, Fauset, Ellicott, Brown, Knowling, Roberts, Vincent, Thayer, the Cross Reference Bible (with 20,000 cross references), Earle, Carter, Vincent, and the Hyper-Dispensational Williams — is that all of them, without one exception, failed to find ONE verse of scripture to match what they had been reading."

Now I listed every major Bible commentator alive who is a fundamentalist; and not one man, when he hits the verse, could give you a verse to compare it with.

Don’t you find that rather significant?

"Every last one of them ran to a secular authority or a lexicon before before their gums in an exposition of the passage. How could all of them, 100 percent, miss Acts 19:35, when both passages, written by the same author, dealt with the same man in the same kind of situation? How can anyone justify or explain a 100-percent defection from the Bible 100 percent of the men who spent their lives commentating on it?"

How do you explain that?

A hundred percent of the Bible-believers couldn’t find a verse of Scripture to explain a verse with. Those sons, every one of them, had twenty years of formal education, and some of them more than that. Couldn’t find it! The guy wrote a lexicon and wrote a concordance, and couldn’t find one verse of Scripture to explain a verse of Scripture.

You know why? Because they’re demon-led. They’re led of the devil. They’re led of the devil.

QUESTION: Do you think the Charismatic Movement, and all this flying saucer stuff, are unclean spirits that precede the Antichrist?

ANSWER: Yes. John says there are many antichrists. The one is preceded by many. The one is preceded by many.

QUESTION: Does verse 11 imply that gods came down in the likeness of beasts?

ANSWER: You mean before? It could. It could. However, the gods — when they showed up in Genesis 6 — are in the likeness of men.

QUESTION: Does that indicate that the Bible says these beings will show up before the Rapture?

ANSWER: I hope not. The trouble is, with the defection from the Bible, every Christian university in America — I say, every one; yeah, every university, and every college, and every institute but maybe about five now — about four or five now that have come on the right track. But with that defection, the trouble is, if they showed up, they would be accepted by the leaders of 90 percent of the fundamentalists.

QUESTION: Would they know a lot of Bible?

ANSWER: Well, here’s the trouble, brother. If they were sons of God, if they were sure-enough angels, they’d know more Bible than any of us know. These things that have been showing up — these UFOs — are not angels. You have to be careful on that. I keep getting letters on it all the time. They say, "How do you explain this-and-that about the angels and the UFOs?" I’ve never said the occupants of UFOs are angels. Matter of fact, I not only believe they’re not, I know perfectly well they’re not. No angel has to fly around in a machine.

QUESTION: Well, will they deceive the people?

ANSWER: Well, the trouble is, they’d have to deceive the people by their appearance. There wouldn’t be any point in that; they’d get a lot more done if they appeared as 33-year-old men than if they appeared with long ears and webbed feet and, you know, electrodes on top of their heads.

QUESTION: What would the fundamentalists say if somebody in the likeness of angels came down in one of these UFOs? Everybody would be accepting them. What would they have to say other than go along with it?

ANSWER: Well, they’d have to go along with it, or just look ridiculous. So they’d look ridiculous. They’d undoubtedly say it’s a demon, see? They’d say it’s a demon — which makes it even more ridiculous. The maniac of Gadara had a thousand demons in him — and a thousand 33-year-old males can’t get inside one man.

In plainer words, once you depart from this text, you’re just exposed.

QUESTION: These things that are flying around — they are the seed of the devil?

ANSWER: I’m just guessing, see. I don’t really know. So I can’t sit in judgment. I’m just guessing. But if I were just to guess, I’d say the reason why all the animals were drowned in Noah’s day, and the reason why the Lord prevented — had prohibition bestiality, a relationship between men and animals — and the reason why David houghed all those chariot-horses that he captured from the Syrians — was because they were offered to the sun in some kind of immoral rights — I would say that those things, and in those saucers, are some kind of result of co-habitation between fallen angels and animals. Of course, I’m just guessing.

And I’d say this. I’d say that at West Florida University, they’ll be teaching in awhile, that to get, to bridge the evolutionary gap between King Kong and his mate, and the ape-man, and the Planet of the Apes, that somebody had to come down here from outer space and give the animals a boost to boost them over from the ape line to the man line. And so they’ll give those beings credit for it, and that will make bestiality a divine act of creation for the progress of the race, and will make you — if you will not commit fornication with animals — against the advancement of the human race. Thank you!

That’s how it’ll be done. It’ll be done like that.

Now, you may think that’s wild, but it’s a pretty wild Book!

QUESTION: How would did they escape the flood?

ANSWER: Well, I’m just guessing, see, I don’t know. I just don’t know how they did it. They might have got off the earth till it was over and come back. They might have gone under the earth and stayed down. I know this. In the white throne judgment, it says, "The sea gave up the dead which were in it." And they’re a separate class from those in hell. Something there. There’s sumding on de bottum!

QUESTION: Nowadays the evolutionists won’t say that we came from the apes any more. Now they say that man is a mutation, and it’s a direct line of mutations. Like, modern-day apes were not mutated. That we’re just a mutation. And man is going to mutate to a perfect form one of these days.

ANSWER: With a little help from outer space.

QUESTION: Just that word you said, "hough the horses" — what’s that mean?

ANSWER: "Hough the horses," he cut their ham hocks, cut the ham string on the rear leg of the horse, so they’re all crippled — they can’t run any more.

All right, Acts 14:11: "The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men. And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker." Now, those two names are not accidental. Jupiter is the largest planet. And the chief god, then, is near to Jupiter. So you can bet your bottom dollar that Jupiter has something to do with the second advent of the devil. Now, there’s just no way you can get around it.

Come to Acts 19, and look at it come again in verse 35. Nineteen:35; here it is twice in one book: "And when the townclerk had appeased the people, he said, Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess..." there’s the female god "...Diana, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter?" Now, those heathen legends; they have some root in fact. They’re bound to have some root in fact. They’re not just arbitrary. And if it was arbitrary, the Lord wouldn’t put it in there arbitrarily. The Lord twice mentioned Jupiter. Both times He mentioned it, He mentioned it in connection with something from outer space coming down here. And the first time He mentioned it, it was a male god with a prophet — a forerunner — and the second time, he had him a bride — he had a goddess. That’s over in Revelation chapter 17 and 18.

QUESTION: Somebody told me that the gasses that are going around Jupiter are gasses that would be formed from some dead matter, and he was talking about those gasses would be formed from some living matter that died.

ANSWER: It’s got a big red spot on too, doesn’t it?

QUESTION: Is that passage in 19:35 the one that you’re talking about, coming about in the image of men?

ANSWER: Oh. No, the one in Acts 19 is an image of Diana. The one I read over here is the image of Jupiter, which is made. Well, that’s a different place. That’s Ephesus in Acts 19; it’s Lystra in Acts chapter 14. So it’s not the same place. But I see what you mean. Oh, yeah, I see. Yeah, it could be a reference to an image of something else beside Diana. Now, I take it to be Diana because in Acts chapter 19 it says, Acts chapter 19 verse 24, "shrines for Diana," and 19:27, "the temple of Diana," and there was an image of Diana in the temple, and little shrines were made to put the image in. So I took for granted it was Diana’s image, but it could be another.

QUESTION: You said that Jupiter was the major god? What was Mercurius?

ANSWER: Mercurius was the equivalent of the Greek Hermes, and interpreter, a speaker or interpreter. And he’s always drawn with wings on his feet and a winged cap on his head, and his two fingers up like this, and he’s got — I think — a rod in hand with a snake around it. Doesn’t he have that? A rod in his hand with a snake around it.

"And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker." Thirteen: "Then the priest..." they got priests "...the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen." The devil is called "the anointed cherub that covers." He has a split foot like an ox calf. He said about the devil in Genesis 3, "Ye are cursed above all cattle. And that papal decree is called a papal bull. And they never get tired of watching the cowboys. The cowboys have been running everything — the first movie they ever made was called "The Great Train Robbery" — the cowboy show. They still run.

QUESTION: What is a garland?

ANSWER: A garland is a round reef made out of flowers and branches and things. The nearest thing to it would be the reef you see on these doors around Christmastime. Around a funeral parlor, a reef of flowers is sort of like a garland.

"Brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people. Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul,..." clearly indicating that Barnabas is an apostle; he’s not one of the twelve, but neither is Paul one of the twelve" "...heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out, And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein: Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways." Here, in the sense of idolatry. In Acts 17 he said, "The times of this ignorance God winked at." God allowed the Gentiles to go on in idolatry for years. He wouldn’t allow Israel. But He allowed the Gentiles.

"Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless..." even though he did "...he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness." Now, Dr. Edward Hills has perhaps one of the best notes on that I’ve ever read. And his note says this. Edward Hills says a scientist who wants to be a true scientist keeps bragging about how neutral he is. In order to impress with how much they can trust him, he’s always trying to prove he’s objective. The idea being, if a fellow is subjective, you can’t trust his opinion. But if the plan’s objective and mathematical, then surely he speaks of the oracles of God, because he’s giving you nothing but cold, clear facts. So, all the scientists want to be what they call neutral. And the idea of "neutral" is, "I won’t give opinion. I won’t be biased. I’ll present the evidence just the way it is without any feelings toward it."

Well, as soon as any scientist takes a neutral position, he is no longer neutral, because if a man takes a neutral position and begins to comment on just air or some sky, sea, atmosphere and universe and all this from just an unbiased, objected standpoint, they’ll have to leave out God. And when he does that, he’s not neutral — he has rejected the revelation of God. And you can’t trust anything he says. So, when these fellows take what they call a neutral position, they’re not in a neutral position. When one suddenly begins to comment about the sun, the moon, the stars, and the clouds, the birds, the beasts, the man, the animals, the trees — and leave God out — they’re no longer neutral. They’re anti-God. And you cannot trust what they say.

Now, the evidence that God is there is given in verse 17. The Lord did not leave Himself without witness. And, once you begin to treat the blessings of life as part of the material universe, then you are no longer neutral, you’re a revelation-rejecting fool. And that’s what scientists have done. They’re trying to push God out, and get Him further out so He won’t interfere with nothing.

Verse 17 says if you have good crops, that’s the Lord. Verse 17 says that if you get a good rain, it’s from the Lord. And verse 17 says if you have a good meal, it’s from the Lord. See that thing? And verse 17 says if you have a good, happy time and laugh yourself sick and enjoy yourself, verse 17, it’s the Lord. See that thing? And what they try to do is, they try to say, "Well, it’s just, you know, the material universe is just a thing, see, there’s no God connected with it." Well, if the material universe is just a thing, then you are just a thing. See? And your reasoning, your rational powers — they don’t mean anything, they’re just a thing, see. Now, once you get in a mess like that, you’re no longer neutral, you’re about half crazy.

QUESTION: The Bible says, "He that findeth a wife findeth a good thing."

ANSWER: That’s right, brother! He that findeth a wife findeth a good thing. But he said, "A prudent wife is from the Lord." So, you can’t leave God out. Once you get going there, once you get going there where you try to cut God and cut God out, you know, and you’re in neutral, you’re in reverse.

All right, 17: "Nevertheless he left not himself without witness." I get put out with the Lord about those things. I mean, I keep wanting to see the Lord. I appreciate the good, fruitful season, and the flowers, and the gladness, and the good meals, but don’t you ever get tired of getting stuff secondhand? I mean, don’t you sometimes really? I’m not knocking prayer, and thank God you’ve got it. But I get, there are times in my life I just sick and tired of my family, and sick and tired of my house, and tired of cars, and tired of airplanes, and tired of drawing boards, and tired of the school, and tired of you — that’s right! And tired of myself, and everything else. And I appreciate beautiful scenery probably more than anything, probably. Just beaches and groves and waves and forests — and I get tired of that sometimes. I mean, people are going around there looking around there; and, there it is. But, you know, I mean there must be more to it than that, you know. I mean, the Lord! It’s the Lord!

And the Lord, He’s always just hiding His face. He’s always got kind of a shade pulled down there, where you just are kind of going through like a blind man backing your head against things. And what I want to see, I want to see the Lord, see? I mean, I appreciate seeing His handiwork. I see His handiwork. But it’s kind of secondhand.

Seventeen: "Nevertheless he left not himself without witness,..." that’s His witness "...in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. And with these sayings scarce restrained they the people." They just barely stopped them. "That they had not done sacrifice unto them."

Now, watch how quickly human nature changes here. People are fickle. Look at how quick they change:

> 14:19 And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead.

> 20 Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.

> 21 And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch,

> 22 Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

> 23 And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.

> 24 And after they had passed throughout Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia.

> 25 And when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down into Attalia:

> 26 And thence sailed to Antioch, from whence they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled.

> 27 And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.

> 28 And there they abode long time with the disciples.

"And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium." They’d been up in here, see. They went across here, and came up in here, and started down this way. Now, they’re down at Lystra. And these Jews from these places have followed them down.

And they follow them down, and they come down, "...who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead." Look how quick that thing happened. Eighteen, they’re ready to sacrifice. Nineteen, they’re persuaded in less than one verse — BAM!— liked to have knocked his brains out! That’s how people are.

"And, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead." The Bible says it’s vain to trust in man. "Cursed is he who trusts in man, whose heart departs from the Lord." "In vain is the help of man." And all that kind of thing. Boy, if you ever get your life worked out to where you’re dependent entirely upon your popularity and what people think of you, you’re in a mess, man. You’re in a mess. They’ll blow hot coals up and down, back and forth.

QUESTION: How come Paul was singled out here?

ANSWER: Stone Paul? I guess because he’d been doing most of the talking. Verse 12, he was the chief speaker. The preacher got stoned, but songleader got away! They like these fellows to sing, you know. They don’t get upset with anybody when these fellows sing.

QUESTION: Could Barnabas have healed Paul?

ANSWER: Heal Paul? I don’t know. He got healed, verse 20. He got up. Whether he did it or not.

All right, 19: "Drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead." So they liked to have killed the old boy after they were getting ready to sacrifice to him. That’s the way people are. You want to love people, and you have to trust people with certain things. You’ll have to trust them somewhat, you know. But don’t lean on them with your whole support. Lean on the Lord. Trust in the Lord. Lean on the everlasting arms. Never lean on people.

Verse 20: "Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city." Which is a wild stroke! He’d just been stoned, they threw him out of the city, verse 20 he rose and came into the city. Now, I have taught you — and I believe I’ve taught you right — he’s trying to get killed again. Now, you can’t explain that construction there; they stoned and threw him out of the city; when he comes up, he goes right back into the city, where he was almost stoned.

Now, come to 2 Corinthians 14, and this is about the only place you can place this. And, it looked like, whatever happened to him, when they thought he was dead, 2 Corinthians 12, he was out of the body, went up in glory. And, when he came down and got in that old stoned, bruised body by those stinkin’ camels, and got up in that dirt, he said, "Well, I’ll fix this!" And went right back into town.

Second Corinthians 12: "It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago." And you run that out with a timetable in the Book of Acts, you come out about right. Writing this Corinthian epistle after Acts chapter 19.

I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such an one will I glory: yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities." In his sicknesses.

Now look at 12:12, and notice the context. And then go back to chapter 11, and look what he’s been talking about, 11:23, 11:24, 11:25, 11:26 — look at that thing! That was the evangelistic itinerary, or "union campaign" in America’s largest cities, with the follow-up crusade and the prayer committees! Twenty-three, 24 and 25: beaten, shipwrecked, stoned, imprisoned — now, I don’t see how any man who’s trying to be careful could get in that much trouble. And I don’t think Paul was being careful; I think he was reckless. I really do. I can’t see how in the world how a man can get in that much trouble in one lifetime — if he’s trying to be careful. And he’s not being careful. The guy is just going there.

I read in 2 Timothy, he said, "At my first answer, no man stood with me." You know what that thing meant? That meant when he was up before that inquisitor, before the king, and that Roman fellow said to him, asked him a question, he said, "Blah—blah—" And when he did that, all the Christians with him left. And he said, "Now, only Luke’s the only one with me. Demas has gone here, Barnabas gone here, Trophimus gone to here." They took off for the woods. I don’t know what he said. I don’t know what he said. You know, "Go stick your head in a bucket three times and pull it out twice" — I don’t know what he said — but that’s the last thing he ever wrote was 2 Timothy 4. A little bit later, he was dead.

Now, I’m not accusing him of being sinful, you know. And I don’t mean reckless in the sense of not having a good testimony. I mean he said he is all things to all men, and by all means careful in those respects. But, as far as his personal life goes, that guy was warned four times not to go down to Jerusalem. Did he go? He went.

All right, Acts 14. So I think he said, "Well, the Lord made me get out, but I know how to get back up!" And he goes back into that town — and they don’t stone him! Must have been a terrible disappointment.

Twenty: "Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe." They’re there a whole day, where they tried to stone him.

"And when they had preached the gospel to that city,..." Can’t you see him walking out the door, saying, you know, "Rats! Better luck next time!" But, did you ever stop to think about it? If you’d seen what he’d seen, wouldn’t you get kind of reckless? People don’t think about these things. They just read the Bible and fly through there, and I’m just going to suppose here a minute. I’m going to suppose here tonight, at about the end of this class, say, eight o’clock, I got off this platform and tripped and slipped, and fall down there and make the wrong step and crack my head on the side of that chair, and come over backwards and hit the back of my head on the cement and get a brain concussion. And I’m lying there, you know, you’re all fooling around, "Give him air," you know, "Give him water! Stand by! Get a doctor!" And, whoop! whoop! whoop! whoop! whoop! whoop! and all this stuff.

And I’m up there in glory, see. Up there, and the Lord’s saying, "Now, look at this. Look at this. Look at this," you know. "There’s your mansion. And here’s so-and-so. Here’s so-and-so. Here’s Bob Jones. Here’s Dr. Bob, you know. Here’s Beauchamp Vick over here," you know. "He’s So-and-So over here. And here’s So-and-So over here. And this is the water of life, and this is the tree of life,..." And you hear that, inside that thing, you know, you hear 150 million voices singing, "Alleluia! Alleluia!"

And you get that thing going, and about that time the Lord says, "OK — back down!"

And you say, "Back down??!!!"

And the Lord says, "Yeah. It’s more important that you abide in the body and bear more fruit."

You say, "Well, now, wait a minute. I mean, let’s make some kind of a deal, ok? How about a month? A month? How about a month?"

The Lord says, "Down! You’re going back down."

You say, "How about a week? Two weeks? Two weeks?"

"Right now — out you go!"

Boy, don’t you know you’d be arguing with the Lord. And the Lord’s saying, "You get out before I kick you out!"

And down I’d come. And here I’d be lying on the floor, down on the floor, dirty old clothes, cement dust on them. Blood running down the side of my face, you know, a bunch of folks standing around. Somebody comes from the hospital, come down and pick you up; I get up and brush myself off and look around this place.

AWWWWEWWWWW!

You talk about a change of pace, man! That would be a change of pace, wouldn’t it? You know what I’d be thinking about ever after that? Ha ha ha ha! I’d be thinking, "There must be some way to work this thing out to where it doesn’t go down as suicide — just an ‘accident’!" You’d get wild, man! You’d get wild!

Boy, you go down to the Red Lobster, you know, on Sunday afternoon and stand at the table. And say, "No hope in the Pope! Take ‘em to John chapter" — you know, just start going like that, you’d get victory, yeah!

QUESTION: Someone said, "Preach and then run away, and live to preach another day."

ANSWER: Yeah, there’s some truth in that. Sometimes, discretion is the better part of valor. Yeah, sometimes it’s wise to back off. You have to know what kind of person you are; if you’re the kind of person who tends to crawfish and retreat all the time, then don’t ever retreat! But if you’re the kind that’s always in the lead and always charging and pushing it, then consider the virtue of retreating; it may be what the Lord wants you to do.

OK, we’ll take a break.

We’re about halfway through the Book of Acts as far as chapters go. Chapter 14. It has 28 chapters. But we’ve covered the bulk of the material now. The bulk of the material is in chapter 2 and chapter 10 and chapter 7. So, from here on, with the exception of just one or two places, there’s not a great deal of doctrinal things in the Book of Acts; it’s the Book of Acts, historical commentary on people moving, acting.

Chapter 15 has a lot of material in it. And chapter 17 and chapter 20 — that’s about it. And chapters 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 and 28 — it’s just a running account. But we’re on schedule. But we’ll have to have a quiz next time on some of these stuff, a short quiz.

Your final — does it take you through chapter 12? It went through 13. Well, then, we’ll wait another week then for a test.

All right, 14, beginning at verse 20. Now Paul has just had his brains knocked out, gone home to glory and come back again. And 21: "And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch." So they’ve gone in a circle; it’s a circuit.

"Confirming the souls of the disciples." They went across there and led them to Christ, and then came back and dealt with them after they led them to Christ.

"And exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God." Now notice how the kingdom of God is used here; it’s used like the Millennium. Like you found it in Acts chapter 1. And it’s not that they’re not born again into the kingdom of God. When they’re born again, they’re in the kingdom. But they’re talking about there, the kingdom of God’s coming when Christ comes, and if we suffer with Him, we shall reign with Him. Notice in Acts chapter 1 — the reference I gave you — in Acts chapter 1, verse 3, in Acts 1:3 Christ, alive forty days, spoke of things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Now, He’s not talking about things pertaining to the mystery of the body and the mystery of the Church, he’s talking about the kingdom of God, when it comes when He come. So this thing over here in 22 has nothing to do with you, through much tribulation, getting born again. It has to do with you going through the Millennium, through much tribulation.

"Through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed." Now there are two things here that are done. You lead the man to Christ, you confirm him, you exhort him — and then you set up a local church. That’s the Bible pattern. They ordained them elders, prayed, then commended them to God. And Paul’s work is mainly the work of a missionary. You may call him an evangelist, but he’s a missionary, is what he is. And what he does, he goes out there and leads them to Christ, and then teaches them and confirms them and exhorts them, and then ordains elders and establishes local churches and prays with them, and then turns them over to God and leaves them. Now, that’s the work of a missioanry.

Now, a real missionary, that’s his work. And we have a lot of variations of it these days. And the average missionary will go to a place and stay on the field, oh, ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five years and pastor a church there. And that’s not the best way to do it. That’s one reason why the Red Communists got ahold of China so quickly, was because the interdenominational missions that set up churches there didn’t set up local churches with indigenous pastors. The way they to have a work last in a country is set up a local church. If you’re going to set it up in Mexico, then you have a Mexican pastor. Now, you may go down there to help him for awhile — two or three years, sometimes four or five years — but not forever! Not forever. Sooner or later, they have to stand on their own feet. And when you get to studying the local church next year and Baptist missions, we’ll talk about that more in detail. But Paul’s way of doing the thing is to go out and ordain elders from that part of the country and leave them in charge — and he goes on. He doesn’t stay there and pastor. He goes on.

The strongest Japanese churches will be the Japanese churches where the pastor is Japanese, not American.

QUESTION: What do you do then? Ordain elders and let them pastor?

ANSWER: Yep. That’s what you have to do. Now, in Europe, it won’t be too hard. But, boy, you get down to Mexico and Africa, it’ll be rough. You won’t be able to ordain elders in a matter of two or three years. Some of those fellows, you have to train them eight or nine years, slow. Slow. Over in Africa, really slow. Over in Africa, boy, before you can go off and leave them and trust them with that thing, man, you’ll be in agony, man. If you like to teach people deep and heavy in the word of God, I’m not saying the Lord hasn’t called you to some field like that. But if you like to get into the real deep, heavy things and the intellectual things from the word of God, the Lord will undoubtedly not call you to a mission field like Africa. When you get in to the South Seas and Africa, your work is going to be sitting down with a fellow, two or three hours a day, and saying, "Now, He died. You see, He died. You see, He died for us. He died for us. In your place. That means, in your stead. That means, well, like, uh..." And then you think up something, and then you think of something else. And the next day you come back and say, "Now who did He die for?"

And the man says, "Well, He died for us."

"Well, how did He die?"

"Well, He died like, uh, like, uh, I tell you’ve been telling me the other day, but I forget what you say."

And then you start again, see?

And that’s why, when you get missionaries into countries like South America and Mexico and Africa and the South Seas and get down there... Now, the Mexican people and the Spanish-American people, they’re much more industrious and they’re much more independent. They really don’t want the government to support them. They’re a proud people. But, you take those people there — they’re slow, and they’re fatalistic, and "manana." I mean, tomorrow will take care of itself. And the sun comes out at noon, you know, after you’ve had a big dinner of rice and refried beans, brother, there ain’t any point in getting in a hurry about anything. You lay down and take a siesta.

And you get down there and get to working with those people... The best kind of people for missionaries are the fellows who are slow and solid and balanced and stable and not flashy and not sensational. They make the best missionaries.

All right, Acts chapter 14, verse 23: "On whom they believed. And after they had passed throughout Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia." Going down the circuit.

"And when they had preached the word in Perga,..." coming down toward the coast, "...they went down into Attalia: And thence sailed to Antioch." So they made the complete circuit. They’ve gone from Antioch to Cyprus, from Cyprus up to Perga, into Asia Minor, back down the coast, back home to Antioch.

"From whence they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled. And when they were come, and had gathered the church together." Notice the "church" is people: "gathered the church." Not a building.

"Had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles." Now, it’s an old English use — "rehearse." When we say "rehearse," we mean to go through a thing before you do it — which really is not the proper meaning of the word, because when you "re" a thing you do it over, see? And when you return, you come back. When you "re-fry," you "fry over." When you "return," you come back. When you "rehearse," it should be something you did before, you see?

So the King James has the words right, and the dictionary has them wrong. So, when it says they rehearsed, it means they "re-heard," they told it again so it could be heard again. See? See that "re-hear"? "Re-hearsed." "Re-heard all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles."

"And there they abode long time with the disciples."