Pastor-Evangelist R. W. Schambach ministers faith to one of those who came in a wheelchair.

GOD SPEAKS TO THE PASTORS

R. W. Schambach

And ye my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord God.—Ezekiel 34:31.

1975

SCHAMBACH MIRACLE REVIVALS, INC. P. O. BOX 1 ELLWOOD CITY, PENNA. 16117

And the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?

Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed; but ye feed not the flock.

The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.

And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered.

Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord;

As I live, saith the Lord God, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock;

Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord; Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, l am against the shepherds.

—Ezekiel 34:1-10

GOD SPEAKS TO PASTORS

I call your attention to the Gospel of St. Matthew, chapter 10.

Jesus had called twelve men around Him, and He gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. (See verse 1.)

Starting with verse 2, we have a list by name of the twelve men that Jesus had called and chosen, men who were destined to be the foundation upon which He would build His earthly church. In this chapter, He gave those men their commission as His pastors over the flock that followed Him.

That commission includes the same elements of the shepherd's care for the sheep that are found in God's indictment against the shepherds of Israel in Ezekiel 34. Because the Old Testament shepherds had not fulfilled that commission, God said, "I am against you shepherds."

Why?

"Because you clothe you with the wool. You eat the fat, you kill them that are fed."

Is that the reason God was against the shepherds? No!

The faithful shepherd had the right to be clothed and fed. Why was God against them?

"You feed not the flock. The diseased ye have not strengthened." But there was more!

The same indictment, in the same words, could be brought to the door of those who call themselves shepherds (pastors) of God's flock today.

1.    "Neither have you healed that which was sick."

2.    "Neither have you bound up that which was broken."

3.    "Neither have you brought again that which was driven away."

4.    "And neither have you sought that which was lost."

INDICTMENT NOW

These were the things that God had called the Old Testament shepherds to do. Because they had not done them, God said, "Woe be to the shepherds!"

In our New Testament text, we find the same commission given to the disciples.

He not only gave them the commission, but He also gave them power to carry it out.

But they didn't get very far before they came running back, all upset because they had found somebody else healing the sick and casting out devils. They said, "What shall we do? Shall we call down fire from heaven and destroy them? Lord, they are casting out devils in your name, and they don't follow us! They don't belong to the First Church!"

Jesus said, "Let them alone! No man can lightly cast out devils in my name. He that is not against me is for me."

If they are getting the devil cast out, I'm not worried about what church they belong to! It's the so-called pastors who are not casting out any devils or healing any sick folks that I am concerned about!

I want you to know that the commission was not given just to twelve disciples. It was given to every man and every woman that God calls to do His work. God calls you to do something more than stand behind a pulpit and preach His Word.

Listen to me, Preachers!

That twenty minute sermon you preached Sunday morning is not all God called you to do! There was something more, and if you don't do it, you will have to answer to Him.

He said, "Preach the Word and say, The kingdom of heaven is at hand."

You are responsible to do that, but don't stop there.

He also said, "Heal the sick. Cast out devils, Cleanse the leper. Raise the dead. You have freely received it; now, freely give it."

Somebody says, "But, Brother Schambach, not every preacher is doing this!" Don't tell me! Tell the Lord!

If God has called them, and they are not doing what God called them to do, God says, "I am against you shepherds."

I don't want to ever find myself in the precarious situation of having God against me for not doing what He commanded me to do!

SENT OR WENT?

The reason some preachers are not doing these things is that many of them have not been called of God.

True, some of those that God called are not doing what God called them to do, and they will have to answer to Him.

But I want you to know that just the fact that you graduate from a seminary is not going to mean that you will graduate a minister of God. It takes more than that.

Some of you precious little grandmothers are at fault.

Just as soon as that little baby boy was born, you began to rock him and croon, "You're Grandma's little preacher!"

Grandma laid aside a nest egg for your education—and there was only one way that you could get that money, and that was to go to the seminary and study for the ministry. So you graduated, and you were ordained, and you are going to spend the rest of your life being "Grandma's little preacher!"

Not God's preacher!

Grandma's preacher!

When God called me to preach, I rebelled. I stiffened my neck. I said, "Not me, Lord!" I had ideas of my own about what I was going to do with my life. I ran away, and joined the Navy. Right away, I was assigned to a destroyer and headed for Bermuda.

When I got to Bermuda, God was there ahead of me. I went to Panama, and I found Him down there. I went on to Pearl Harbor, and I found that God was there. Wake Island, Philippines, Iwo Jima, Okinawa—and He was there.

At last I was in the Japanese Sea, and still I found that God was there.

I said, "I give up, Lord! I'll do what you called me to do!"

I knew that He didn't just call me to preach. He called me to heal the sick, and cast out devils, and all the rest of it. Answering the call of God is serious business!

Jesus hand-picked twelve men. He took some of them from their fishing nets, and one from the tax collector's office. He chose them where He found them, and called them to leave whatever they were doing and follow Him and become fishers of men.

Twelve hand-picked men—and one of them turned out to be a devil.

Some people are always looking at the bad ones.

Remember this: for every bad one, God has got eleven good ones going around.

I am not going to waste my time looking for a Judas when there is a Jesus in the crowd! Why waste time with a counterfeit when I've got hold of the real thing?

After Jesus was raised from the dead, He told the disciples to go back to Jerusalem and sit there and wait for the promise of the Father. He said, "I have to go, but I will send the Holy Ghost to you. Then, after He has come upon you, you shall receive power to be witnesses unto me, first in Jerusalem, and in Judea, and in Samaria, and then to the uttermost parts of the earth."

What did Peter do?

No sooner did he get to Jerusalem than he called a business meeting.

Some people can't just sit and wait. Some people can't just pray. They have got to do something!

Peter said, "Now, folks, Judas is gone. You all know that the Lord hand-picked twelve of us, and now there are only eleven.

We had better vote someone into office to take the place of Judas, so that there will be twelve!"

Peter was taking responsibility upon himself that he had no business taking. If one of the twelve that Jesus picked was Judas, who does Peter think he is, calling somebody?

But he proposed two names, Matthias and Justus. If Peter had the mind of God, why did he have two names? He couldn't quite decide, so he gave the people a vote. The lot fell on Matthias and he was the one they chose to be an apostle—and that is the last you ever find about Matthias. There is nothing in the Word of God to indicate that Matthias ever truly became an apostle of Christ. Why?

That was man's choice.

CHOSEN OF GOD

God already had his hand on a man. He had chosen that man from his mother's womb.

That man was a killer, a murderer, a persecutor of the church.

His name was Saul of Tarsus.

He was arresting every child of God that he could find, and throwing them into jail. He held the coats of the men who stoned Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Armed with letters from his attorney buddies, he was on his way down to Damascus to search out the Christians who had fled there.

Suddenly, a great light shone out of heaven, brighter than the noonday sun. The voice of God spoke out of heaven and said, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?"

Saul, that proud Pharisee, went down in the dust of the road, crying out, "Who art thou, Lord?"

"I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. It is hard for you to kick against the pricks. Every step you take is goading you closer to me. I have called you from your mother's womb. Saul, I've got a job for you to do. You are going to stand before kings and before governors, and you are going to declare the glory of God."

It wasn't easy for the church to accept him.

He wasn't even a candidate for Apostle.

Man didn't choose him. But all the world knows that Saul of Tarsus became the great Apostle Paul!

That is the trouble with the church today. There are too many men standing behind pulpits who have been called and ordained by man, not called and ordained by God.

When God calls you to preach, He gives you credentials. He gives something more than the ability to stand behind a pulpit and speak in flowing, persuasive words. He gives you more than homiletics.

Somebody says, "Oh, Brother Schambach, So-and-So would make a wonderful preacher! He certainly has got the gift of gab!"

Don't tell him, please! There is too much gabbing going on already!

I would rather hear a preacher that God picked up who didn't know how to talk, a person who was slow of speech, who had to rely on God for every word.

God says, "I will put words in your mouth!"

Some preachers just went.

What I want to hear is a man—or a woman—that God sent! DO THE WORKS

There is more to it than just saying words.

The Pharisees stood erect before Jesus in their beautiful, flowing robes and said, "We are Abraham's seed."

I love the way Jesus preached. He didn't mince words. He told it like it was.

He looked those Pharisees in the eye and said, "No, you are mixed up. If you were Abraham's seed, you would be doing the works of Abraham. I can look at your works and tell who your daddy is! Your daddy is the devil!"

When a man calls himself a preacher today, I can tell right away if he is a God-called man by looking at his works. If he is a God-called preacher, I expect to find him doing the works of God.

What are the works of God?

"Preach the Word. Heal the sick. Cast out devils. Cleanse the lepers. Raise the dead."

Man has got it all messed up by trying to take over the calling of young people to the ministry. They have them coming out of the seminaries like chickens hatching out of eggs in an incubator. All they are doing is filling pulpits, doing the works of man that man has called and trained them to do. Not a sign of any of the works of God about them!

Oh, the church is run beautifully, like a piece of machinery.

God doesn't anoint machinery. He anoints men and women.

God doesn't anoint an organization. He anoints individuals.

It is about time that we let God raise them up.

He can reach down into the factories, into the plants where people are working, and put a call on them and equip them to do His works.

"Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me, first in Jerusalem then in Judea, then in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth."

Oh, we have our church program!

But I dare you to call your preacher and tell him to get his oil bottle and come over to your house and lay hands on you and pray for you because you are sick!

He would say, "What is wrong with you? What are you calling me for? Call the doctor!"

The Bible says, "Is any sick among you? Let him call for the pastor—the elder—of the church, and let him anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up." (James 5:14.)

God says, "I am against you, shepherds. You clothe you with the wool."

Every time you want a new suit, you cut off some wool. You take some of the tithe, the offering, and buy that new suit. You need a new car. You cut off some more wool.

God is not against you, preacher, because you clothe yourself with the wool. God said, "I am against you because you are not feeding the flock. They get sick, and you send them off to the doctor. As a pastor, as a minister of God, called of God, you are supposed to do what God calls you to do!"

What are the churches doing?

They are having soup suppers, chicken dinners, watermelon cuttings.

The church is sending people out two by two, to go knocking on doors. But they are saying, "Hello. Do you have any old hats for Jesus? We are going to have a rummage sale at the church. We are raising money for the building fund."

Now, something new has been added. Now, the church is putting on fashion shows to raise money!

What kind of mess are we in? The church has detoured so far away from the road God called us to walk!

God said, "Go out two by two and heal the sick. Cleanse the leper. Cast out devils. Raise the dead."

Today, the church says, "Is there any sick among you? Let him look in the Yellow Pages under physicians. Is there any sick among you? Let him go to the nearest clinic."

Why do you do it?

God said, "Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church."

It is time that the church get revived and begin to do what the Lord called it to do!

Somebody asks, "Do you pray for the sick?"

I say, "Of course! I am called of God!"

Preachers who don't pray for the sick either are not called of God or else they are shirking their duty. Every man that God calls is called to lay hands on the sick.

Some preacher says, "But I am not a healer."

Of course you are not a healer! He is! All He called you to do is to lay your hands on them. It is the Lord who will raise them up!

There was a time when I didn't do this. I could preach homiletically. I didn't take my coat off, or loosen my tie. I didn't play a tambourine. I would stand properly behind the pulpit, and come out every ten minutes on one side and then step back. Ten minutes later, I would step out on the other side, and then back. I could put gestures in at the right places. I preached point number one, a, b, and c. Point number two, a, b, and c. Conclusion, and recapitulate. Oh, yes! I knew how to preach!

But one day God set me free.

I don't preach very properly any more, but I found out that God had called me to do more than preach. He had called me to heal the sick and cast out devils, and to bring deliverance to His people, the sheep of His pasture. I set out to do it, and thank God, people are being healed and delivered and set free.

Instead of fire in the upper room, too many churches have a fire in the kitchen now.

Hear me, church!

Why don't you leave the chicken to the Colonel? Why don't you do what God called you to do? God didn't call you to go into competition with Colonel Sanders or Church's Chicken. God called you to heal the sick.

God called you to put that altar rail back into your church, where souls can come and get saved and set free, delivered by the power of the living Christ!

Because you are not doing it, God says, "I am against you, shepherds!"

God said, "Behold, I am against the prophets that use their tongues, and say, He saith." (Jeremiah 23:31.)

God said, "I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name." (V. 25.)

God said, "They ran, but I didn't send them. They are speaking, but I have not spoken to them."

The Word of God is true. Let every man and every devil be a liar.

When you speak God's Word, you don't need to worry that He will not honor it. He said it, He will do it. If He spoke it, He will bring it to pass.

It is only when a man speaks on his own the things that he dreams up in his own mind that he needs to worry about how to make it happen!

POWER

Every one of those men that Jesus called and commissioned had power.

Peter and John were walking into the temple at the hour of prayer, when they saw a lame man sitting by the gate called Beautiful. He was begging for alms. That man had never taken a step in his life. Peter and John walked right past him, on their way to church.

All of a sudden, John said to Peter, "Hold it, Pete! What is this thing we got from the Lord?"

Peter said, "Holy Ghost!"

"Didn't He tell us that the same works He did, we would do the very same works?" Peter said, "Yes."

"What about that man we just passed? Why don't we go back and deliver him?"

When the man saw them coming back, he thought, "Now I'm going to get a good contribution. People don't turn around and come back to drop in two mites!"

He held up his cup, and rattled it. "Alms for the poor!"

Peter said, "Silver and gold have I none. I'm broke. But such as I have give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!"

That man didn't even move. I can picture him sitting there, looking up at Peter and John. "Do you think I am crazy? Man, I've never taken a step in my life!"

But Peter reached down and got him by the hand. And when Peter got hold of his hand, the power that was in him transferred itself into the body of that lame man. Peter said, "I said, rise up and walk!" And he began to pull. He pulled that man right up onto his feet.

Then something happened. The Bible says that immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength, and he, leaping up, stood, and ran into the temple, leaping and shouting and praising God.

He broke up the prayer meeting!

I wish to God more prayer meetings would be broken up like that!

The people began to worship Peter, but Peter yanked them up and said, "I am nothing but a man. My power or holiness didn't heal this man, but the power in the name of Him whom you crucified has given him this perfect soundness. You killed Him with wicked hands. You buried Him, but He came out of the grave. His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong in the presence of you all."

BALM IN GILEAD

Thank God, there is still a balm in Gilead!

Thank God, there is still healing power in His church!

Healing belongs to the church. It shouldn't have to be out somewhere under a tent. It should be in the church!

There is an Episcopal church in Philadelphia, Pa., where people are coming from near and far. Every Friday afternoon, the bishop of that church has a healing service. He anoints the people with oil in the name of the Lord, and God is healing the sick, there in that Episcopal church!

It is about time that the churches of America wake up to what God has called them and empowered them to do.

Get rid of the chicken. Get rid of the rummage sales. Get rid of the fashion shows.

Go shout it on the mountains! God is here! God is in His church! The elders of the church are anointing the sick with oil in the Name of the Lord! The sick are being healed! God is raising them up!

Signs are following them that believe, just as Jesus said they would!

Every believer is supposed to have signs following. How else can we know he is a believer?

Jesus said, "In my name you shall speak with new tongues. You shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."

You, as a believer, can transmit that power of God that you have in your body into the body of the sick person, and see the sickness go!

I'll never forget, when my children were very small. I traveled all over the country, working with Brother A. A. Allen. My family traveled with me, living in a trailer house. Bobby was about five years old, and Donna was four. One day while I was in the service, Donna was complaining with a stomach ache. (My wife told me about this later.) Bobby heard her complaining. He walked up to her and said, "Donna, put your hands up! I am going to pray for you."

Five years old! He must have been watching his Dad!

He said, "Now, close your eyes!"

She shut her eyes and put up her hands, and Bobby put his hands right on her tummy. He said, "Devil, in the name of Jesus, take your hands off my sister!" Then he said, "Now, Donna, it's done. Go ahead! Thank the Lord, now! Praise Him for it! Say it out loud! Say thank you Jesus!"

Donna began going around saying, "Praise the Lord! Thank you, Jesus!"

By the time I came back from the service, she was out in the yard, playing with the other kids in the trailer park. She was saying, "Praise the Lord! Thank you, Jesus!" Simple, childlike faith!

The trouble with us big folks, we want to examine it, study it, analyze it, doctrinalize it. We want to be sure. We want to live with it for a week, and test it out. Then, if headquarters will go along with it, we might accept it.

I would rather take God at His Word. I would rather say, "Lord, if you said it, I believe it. If all I have got to do is lay my hands on the sick and pray the prayer of faith, I am going to do it."

Below: They come for blessing, and find it.

"The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise them up." No ifs, ands, or buts! Hear me, saints!

Any pastor that is taking your wool—any pastor that is taking your tithe and your offering—but doesn't heal you when you get sick, God is against him.

That's pretty strong, isn't it?

I didn't say it. He did!

God said, "I am against the shepherds who are not feeding the flock. The diseased have they not strengthened. Neither have they healed the sick."

I preached a revival in New York City, right next door to a hospital. God gave me one of the greatest revivals I ever had. It got to the point that great miracles were taking place. The doctors there at that hospital were bringing their patients over for me to lay hands on them!

There are doctors in Chicago right now that are calling in pastors who believe in the laying on of hands, doctors who believe in divine healing. When they can't reach the case, they call for the preacher! They are not afraid to call for a preacher who will lay hands on the sick in the name of Jesus!

God said, "The diseased have you not strengthened."

Who?

The shepherds!

How can you strengthen the diseased? By giving them something to eat!

FAMINE

What are you going to give them? For the weak, the milk of the Word. Strengthen the diseased by feeding them God's Word. We need a revival today of good, old fashioned Bible preaching, like we haven't had in many a year. Hear me!

The time will come in our country when the Bible will be banned in the churches. Somebody says, "Oh, no!" It is already banned in the schools. We said, "Oh, they wouldn't do that!"

But they said, "No more Bible reading in the schools," and meek as lambs, we Christians closed the Book. Not one fought; not one protested.

All except one little black girl in Chicago!

The day after the Supreme Court declared NO MORE BIBLE READING, she picked up her Bible and went to school. She said, "You don't have to read it to me. I can read it myself." She stood up and read the Bible in front of her class, and they arrested the girl! Her picture was on the front page of every newspaper in Chicago. Do you know what happened?

Those kids in Chicago that were on drugs, shooting dope, saw this one girl that everybody was against. They came and listened to her preach, and they got saved and filled with the Holy Ghost.

The devil may try to ban Bible reading, but God put living epistles, written in the hearts and lives of His own little children, on the inside of the school.

Two teachers got saved and filled with the Holy Ghost. They belong to my church in Chicago.

Those teachers have a Bible study, and five hundred students attend it every morning before they go to school. They come together and read God's Word, and pray, and talk in tongues!

God said that in the last days there would be a famine in the land, not a famine of bread and meat but of hearing of the Word of God. That famine is coming. It is a time to treasure that precious soul food, hide it away in your heart. Read it, and digest it, and practice it. Make it a part of your life.

You need it now, and you are going to need it even more as we go into the last days, the end of the age.

CREDENTIALS

We preachers are all alike. We like to let people know we've been educated. We like to impress people, so that they will think we are worth listening to! "I've been to Seminary. I've got my BA, my PhD, my LLD, my DD, my DDT..."

All you need is your BA and your BHG!

Born Again, and Baptized with the Holy Ghost!

But, you see, we like to be accepted in the community.

The church used to heal the sick. The Christian Missionary Alliance Church was the church that introduced divine healing at the turn of the century. Dr. A. B. Simpson—I've got his whole library of books, the most thrilling and inspiring things I ever read, other than the Bible—was a man who believed the Word of God and saw great miracles performed.

Every Pentecostal denomination had its origin and roots in divine healing.

Now, even the Pentecostal churches are sending their sick people off to the doctors.

If they pray for them at all, they start it off with, "Lord, if it be Thy will..."

What a slap in the face of God!

You know it is His will, when you read His Word!

The Bible is God's divinely appointed Will!

A leper came to Jesus one day and said, "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean."

Jesus said, "I will. Be thou clean."

It is His will!

Hallelujah!

He says, "I am against you shepherds. You clothe you with the wool, but you are not feeding the flock. The diseased have you not strengthened. Neither have you healed that which was sick."

I had my tent up in Washington, D.C. when Lyndon Johnson was president. That man had the whole burden of Vietnam on his shoulders at the time. The Baltimore Sun had an article that said that on Sunday morning, the president went to church, to try to find some spiritual comfort and release. The Sun printed the entire text of what the preacher said that morning, and when I read it my heart broke. Here, a man gets Vietnam seven days a week, and when he goes to church, what does he hear? The preacher stands up and says, "Mr. President, I want you to know that I agree with your Vietnam policy." And then he preaches an entire sermon on Vietnam. And the President has to eat it again!

Some of you know just what I am talking about. You go to church on Sunday morning, and all you get is a warmed over hash of what you have seen all week on television news.

When I come to church, I want to see the Bible open. I want to hear "Thus saith the Lord."

We need a revival of the reading of what God has said.

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word.

When you preach God's Word, you are preaching faith alive in the hearts of God's people.

This is the reason why there are not many sick being healed in the churches today. God's Word is not being preached.

Preach the Word!

Faith will come alive, and will grow in the hearts of God's people.

BIND UP THE BROKEN

"Neither have you bound up that which was broken."

Psychiatrists couches are loaded today. If you tried to make an appointment today, you would probably have to wait weeks or even months to get in.

Some churches even have full-time psychiatrists on the staff.

Millions of people are tormented in their minds. Frustrated. They live on pills. We are living in a pill age. To go to sleep, we have to take a pill. When we wake up, we take a pill to stay awake. Then, you have to take another pill to make it through the day. Uppers. Downers. A pill to get you going, and another to help you relax. Then it's time to go to bed again, and you wouldn't think of trying to go to sleep without your pill!

To get through the day, you have to have about six different pills.

Nervous tension.

Frustration.

I am talking about conditions here in America—and the church is not doing what God called it to do!

We live in a society which is broken.

God says, "You have not bound up that which was broken!"

You send them off to the psychiatrist, when God has given you power to loose the bands of wickedness, and to let the oppressed go free.

He said, "Whatsoever you loose on earth, I will loose it in heaven, and whatsoever you bind on earth, I will bind in heaven."

This is His indictment against the shepherds. "I am against you.”

Too many preachers are binding the people and loosing the devil, instead of the other way around!

I would rather have the church against me than to have God against me.

I don't mind Old Slewfoot being against me, but I don't want God being against me.

You can criticize and find fault with me all you want, but I know that one of these days I am going to stand before God, and you will, too. It is then that I am concerned for the words that I will hear. I am waiting to hear Him say, "Well done!"

Not medium well!

Well done!

"Well done, thou good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joys of thy Lord!"

DRIVEN AWAY

Somebody says, "Why so much emphasis on healing? You ought to be more concerned about getting souls saved, instead of healing sick bodies."

I challenge you! How many souls are you bringing to Christ?

God's indictment against the shepherds: "Neither have you brought again that which was driven away."

Hear me, Preacher!

How many times have you said, "Let them go! The church is better off without them! I'm glad to be rid of them!"

God said, "I am against you. You are talking about a sheep —one of the sheep of my pasture."

There are so many carnal people in the church today. They drive the sheep away, and the pastor sides with the carnal ones. After all, they are the ones who pay his salary—and they aren't going to let him forget it! If you don't do what they tell you to do, you are going to be looking for a church someplace else!

Why don't you just beat them to the draw, and leave? Go do what God called you to do!

A deacon in my church came to me one time and said,

"Brother Schambach, we would like to put Mr. _____on the Board." (He didn't even say, Brother.)

I said, "Who is he? He doesn't come here to church, does he?"

He said, "No. He's an attorney, and he's an influential man in the city. If we had his name on our Board, we would have a good name in the city."

I said, "I would rather have a bad name in the city! That man isn't even saved!"

God help the church when they don't even care what kind of people they put on their Board! They are ready to let sinners run the church—the boozers, the cocktail drinkers, the liars and the cheats—anybody who has climbed the social ladder, and has some power in the city. They are not a bit spiritual. They can't even stay to hear a twenty minute sermon. They've got to go outside for a few drags on a cigarette, and then run in to cast their vote in the business meeting!

It's about time the church gets revived.

God said, "Neither have you sought after the lost."

Most churches are concerned today only about their own little thing, their own little group, the new carpet, the new organ, stained glass windows, new paint every year.

And souls are dying and going to hell—but they wouldn't give a dime to missions.

The preacher wants to build a bigger church, but they stiffen their necks and say, "Let them go someplace else. Our church is big enough."

God says, "I am against you, because you have not sought after the lost."

A preacher in Oregon wanted to build a bigger church. His church was bursting at the seams. People were standing in the aisles. He came to his Board with a plan for a $90,000 addition to the church. One man stood up and said, "No! you are not going to do it! Let them go to some other church!"

He was the richest man in the church, and he was afraid that he might be asked to contribute $10,000. He didn't want to give it. He persuaded the other members of the Board against the plan to build. But he went out in the country and built a $125,000 house for himself, so that he could raise his two little daughters in high class society.

It isn't wrong for a man to build a good home for his children. What is wrong is refusing to build the house of God, a place where souls can find Christ.

God let him build it. The shrubbery was being put in, the landscaping completed. The carpet was laid, and the new furniture all in place. Now, it was the time for the house warming. A great party was planned, and everybody who was anybody was invited. He took his two little daughters to the best store in town, to get them outfitted for the party.

On the way home, they said, "Daddy, can we stop for an ice cream cone?"

He stopped beside the road, and let them cross over to the ice cream stand. He said, "Be careful, crossing the street!"

They went across and bought the ice cream, and started back. Just when they were in the middle of the street, a young man in a souped-up jalopy came roaring around the corner, and buried both those little girls in the grillwork of his car. He dragged them two blocks down the street before he could stop. That father ran down the street after them. There was a shoe here, and a sock there. He pulled his little girls out of the grillwork, and cradled them, broken and bleeding, in his arms. They had been killed instantly. As he sat there in the street, covered with their blood, he heard the voice of God. "You built them a house, but you wouldn't allow my people to build me a church! Now, they will never even move into that house!"

He went down to the bank and wrote a check to the church. He built one of the biggest churches in the state, in his denomination, and paid for it all himself. But his little girls were gone, and nothing could bring them back!

God said, "I am against you, for not going after the lost." COME ... HELP US

I have a lovely wife, a beautiful wife. I would love to be at home with my family.

I've got some wonderful people in my church. They could spoil me. I could enjoy just settling down there, eating the fat and clothing myself with the wool. It could cause me to backslide.

But I hear the Macedonian call. God says, "Go seek out the lost." I have to go.

I gave an altar call in New York City, and I saw over two thousand people stream down the aisles, coming to get saved.

I preached in the Philippines, in Cason City, and saw thousands come to Christ.

I preached in Indonesia, in three cities. Throngs came to give their hearts to Jesus. The sick were healed. Blind eyes were opened, deaf ears unstopped.

I preached in Europe—in Holland, in Germany, in Rome. Going into all the world to preach the gospel.

Why?

I don't want God to be against me!

In Fort Worth, Texas, last spring, a minister from Barbados came to me and invited me to come to Barbados, Trinidad, St. Kitts, St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Vincent, and Antigua to preach the gospel to hungry souls.

I said, "I am on my way!"

The entire month of February 1975 was set aside for those meetings. I took my staff with me, and shipped 400,000 copies of POWER magazine to pastors there for free distribution to every home in the islands, in preparation for huge, open-air meetings there. God gave me assurance that He was going to do a mighty work in the islands, honoring His Word with signs following and stretching forth His hand in healing and miracles.

I went there to seek the lost!

God said, "I am against the shepherds for not going out to seek the lost."

I refuse to allow myself to get in a position where God is against me!

A SHARE OF THE WOOL

I love to read God's Word. It tells me what God wants me to do.

As long as I know that I am doing what God called me to do, I can take anything that anybody else may say about me. I can take any criticism, and condemnation of the people, as long as I know that I am doing what God called me to do.

God said, "I am against you shepherds, who clothe you with the wool..."

But I am going to bring this message to a close by clipping some of the wool. I am going to cut deep, right down to the fat.

Did you ever take a ride through sheep country? I've seen it, out in the Dakotas. You ride along, and you see great batches of wool hanging on the barbed wire fence. Just hanging there, ripped right out by the barbs.

Why?

Because some sheep got mad when it was time for clipping. Just like some of you sheep! When it's time for the offering, you get up and leave!

Go ahead! Leave!

If you are not willing to get it clipped, the barbed wire will pull it out!

All right, don't give it! The thief will break through and steal it. The storm will come and carry it away. Just one accident, one hospitalization, one illness can flatten your bank account!

Hang onto it, if you can! But what are you going to do if God is against you?

If I am doing what God called me to do—healing the sick, bringing deliverance to those in bondage, binding up the broken, bringing back those that were driven away, and going into all the world as God leads me, seeking the lost—then I believe that I have a right to clip the wool.

When you get sick, you run over to the doctor, and leave part of the wool there. But you still put your tithe into that church that doesn't feed you, doesn't strengthen you, doesn't heal you!

God said, "I am against you."

You say, "I am not responsible for what happens to it after I give it."

That is where you are wrong!

You are a steward of all that God places in your hands. You are responsible for where it goes. You are responsible for the tithe, and for the offering.

Some of you are putting it into a rat hole. God said, "Bags with holes." Your money has no business going anywhere where the sick are not being healed, where demons are not being cast out, and where souls are not being saved.

Are you putting your money into a church that has taken out its altars because nobody is praying through there any more?

God said, "I am against you shepherds, because you clothe you with the wool and feed not the flock."

Are you putting your money into a church that God is against?

I know that I am saying a hard thing. But I have a responsibility to the people who come to hear me preach. I recognize it.

I pray that every one of your churches will be revived with an old fashioned anointing of the Holy Ghost. I wish that every one of your churches would become a hospital for its community, where the sick could come with full assurance, and be healed. I would like to see every hospital emptied, all the sick made well, all the bound set free.

I would like to see every one of you find a partner, and go out two by two, taking healing and deliverance from door to door in your community.

Knock on every door. Get people saved. If there are any sick in the house, heal them. If they don't want anything to do with you, kick the dust off your shoes and go next door.

We are hiding in the church. "Bless us, Lord! We are the only ones that have got the truth. We are the real bride of Christ. Some of the others may make it in—but they are just going to be the bridesmaids! We have got a little corner on the truth. We are the Bride!"

Jesus said, "Other sheep have I who are not of this fold."

He gave his disciples power to heal the sick, and sent them out. They didn't heal one person. Do you know why? They got mad because they saw somebody out there doing it, and he didn't belong to their group! They came running back, saying, "Master, there's somebody out there casting out devils in your name, and he follows not us."

Jesus said, "Leave the man alone! If he isn't against me, he must be for me."

The same thing is going on today. People that God has called and given power to heal the sick and cast out devils are wasting their time criticizing somebody else instead of doing what God called them to do!

Be sure that you are not one of the failures!

Are you a believer?

Then be sure that you have the signs following you. I am not talking now to preachers alone. I am talking to believers.

"These signs shall follow them that believe. They shall speak with new tongues. If they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them. They shall take up serpents. In my name, they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover."

If God is against the preacher who doesn't do these things, then He is against the believer if He can't find any of those signs following him.

The Word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two edged sword. I trust that it has cut right down into the abscess, and found you where you are. Can you say amen?

Father, don't ever let me get into the kind of situation where God is against Schambach!

I am not in this because I wanted to be! I ran from it, but You said that the works Jesus did I should do also. I can only do it with Your anointing!

Father, send a Holy Ghost revival to our land! Make us one, even though we belong to different churches, with different names. Unite us behind the signs that you have ordained for every believer. Use us in this last day, as a living testimony to the power of the Living God!

R. W. Schambach

Pastor of four MIRACLE TEMPLE churches, in Brooklyn, Newark, Philadelphia, and Chicago.

Evangelist, bringing the message of POWER to America and the world in our day, with signs following.

Missionary, preaching the gospel with demonstration of God’s power in many parts of the world, and providing for the support of full time missionaries in Africa, Indonesia, New Guinea.

Writer of a number of faith inspiring books and articles.

Radio and Television minister.

The message of this book is taken from tape transcriptions of a series of radio and revival sermons.

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