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.

I    The Government—On Whose Shoulders?

II    Counselor

III    The Mighty God

IV    The Everlasting Father

V    The Prince of Peace

"And of His Government and peace there shall be no end."

CHAPTER I

THE GOVERNMENT—ON WHOSE SHOULDERS?

All over the world, governments are in trouble. City governments, state governments, the governments of nations. They are facing financial crises, political crises, moral crises. Heads of nations have fallen with alarming regularity, and have been replaced, some only to fall again.

We are in a time of change. To a greater extent than ever before, people are concerned about the government.

It costs too much. In an economy where the price of everything is soaring, the one cost that is rising faster than any other is taxes!

Decisions that affect your life and mine are made by bureaucrats who were never elected to any office and imposed upon our lives with no regard for the will of the people.

We have elections, yes. But the choices we are told are choices between tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum. They pose for campaign battles on opposite sides of issues of their own choosing and avoid the issues that really matter. Then, when they are elected, they all do the same thing. We wonder if it really made any difference which candidate was elected.

I want to talk to you about a government that will make a difference.

I want to encourage you to cast your vote for a candidate who can and will keep His promises.

The time will come when He will rule over all the earth. Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that He is Lord.

But for now, the choice is yours. You can let Him rule over your life and bring blessing and prosperity in it, or you can cast your vote from some other ruler and take the consequences.

As a nation, America, you can choose blessing!

"Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord." (Psalm 33:12.)

There is no need for me to go into detail about the troubles of the nation in this time. You are all too familiar with them. You can't look at a newspaper, listen to the radio, or watch the news on TV without hearing about crime in the streets, corruption in law enforcement and lawmaking, wickedness in high places, with no one to watch over the morals of our highest officials except others who have reached their high offices by the same devious routes. It's like setting the fox to watch the hen house!

Two hundred years ago, our nation was founded upon the principles of the Word of God. "One nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all."

Today, they want to force God into a back closet and shut the door. They think they can run it themselves! Don't let His name be mentioned in the public schools. It might offend some atheist!

If He is recognized in some public manner, get it over quickly and formally, and get on with the business at hand.

I want to tell you something.

God hasn't changed. He has spoken through His Word, and His Word is eternal.

Presidents and congressmen, governors and legislators, mayors and councilmen may think that the government is on their shoulders. God says it is not.

"For unto us a child is born; unto us a Son is given;

And the government shall be upon His shoulder;

And His name shall be called Wonderful,

Counsellor, The mighty God, the Everlasting Father,

The Prince of Peace. And of the increase of His government and peace

There shall be no end."

(—Isaiah 9:6, 7.)

The government shall be upon His shoulder, and there shall be no end to it! Kings and presidents and prime ministers exercise their authority only by His permission. But He has great patience. He will stand by and wait while we prove to ourselves that we aren't big enough to solve our own problems.

New York City has faced a financial crisis when it couldn't pay its bills. Garbage has piled up in the streets because the sanitation workers wouldn't work without increased pay. But there wasn't enough money in the city's treasury to meet the costs of government, without raising pay scales and pensions and fringe benefits. And how can the people who vote the pay raises refuse to vote "cost-of-living" raises for themselves?

But New York finds a way out. She turns to Washington.

The Federal Government is billions of dollars in debt, and going in deeper every day. The budget rises every year, and so does the amount by which expenditures exceed the budget. To avoid any problem of taking the matter to the people, Congress votes itself an automatic "cost-of-living" pay raise which comes right out of the taxpayer's personal budget. Congress goes in debt a little deeper, accepts an unsecured note from New York City, and bails her out! But there seemed to be no other way!

The nation's problems get deeper.

I wouldn't say for a moment that the men at the head of our government aren't trying. I wouldn't think of saying that they aren't doing their best. But they are only men. They are struggling in a maze. If they turn one way, they are faced with one disaster. If they turn the other, another disaster stands waiting.

There is a way out, but Washington is not the way!

Jesus is the way out!

New York's problem is not unique. The same blight is in various degrees of development in every area of our beautiful land.

Drugs, debauchery, violence, poverty, corruption is everywhere.

But there is a way out!

Jesus is the way!

I have been preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ for about twenty-five years now, telling drug addicts, alcoholics, people bound by every kind of sin and degradation that Jesus is the way out. I have been telling the sick and afflicted that Jesus is the way out. I have been telling the deaf, the blind, the lame that Jesus is the way out.

Jesus has never failed to be the way out for those who come to Him.

For the individual, Jesus is the way out.

Now, trouble has come to our cities. Trouble has come to the government. Trouble has come to our nation.

I want to shout this message to the entire nation, to its officials at every level of government, to its citizens who elect those officials and to those citizens who have decided that voting isn't worth while and you'll just let someone else be responsible for what happens—I want to shout this message, "There is a way out! Jesus is the way!"

After two hundred years of trying to run the government our way, we in America need a revival!

We need to humble ourselves and return to the foot of the cross. We need to admit it is too big for us, and that we cannot handle it. We need to ask God to have mercy on our own souls, and upon our nation. As Isaiah did, we need to cry, "Oh Lord, I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips! Cleanse me, Oh Lord! And cleanse this nation! Wash away our sins!"

Can you do it? Can you make that the cry of your heart, not just of your lips? Can you start with yourself, with heart-searching repentance? Are you willing to stand proxy for your city, your state, and your nation— to take all their sins upon your own shoulders and bring them as your own to the foot of the cross?

Then, He says, "All these blessings will come upon you!"

Jesus is the answer!

This old world has been plagued with so many religions.

One person says, "I am of Mohammed."

Another says, "I am of Buddha."

Sad to say, some of those who are bound by religion even say, "I am of Christ," and know not what spirit they are of! How heart wrenching it is to hear on the news that the Christians have shelled the camp of their enemies today!

I want to tell you that Mohammed is not the way! Buddha is not the way! The Virgin Mary is not the way!

I am going to go a step farther.

The church is not the way!

JESUS IS THE WAY!

"Unto us a child is born. Unto us a Son is given. And the government shall be upon His shoulder!"

He is not a statue in a niche, nor a glowing figure in a stained glass window. He is not a painting with a bleeding heart. He is not a writhing figure on a cross hanging around your neck or secured to a wall above an altar.

Jesus is alive! He is at work in the world today, and in the hearts of men. At the same time, He is making intercession for us in heaven. And He is able to meet every need.

The name of Jesus is a powerful name, a beautiful name, a wonderful name.

But we as a nation have lost our grip on the power that is in that name. We have turned away from the principles of the inspired Word of God. We have set up a new set of standards of our own. We have stiffened our neck and become proud in our own conceit, and we have gone in our own way.

Then when God is "honored" with a prayer of "invocation," we ask God to bless what we have planned and call ourselves His people!

Why are our cities failing? Why are our social programs failing?

Because we are trying to take the government upon our own shoulders and run it our own way!

Two thousand years ago, the world was in a mess, and the land of Israel was no exception. The situation was growing worse. But God heard the cry of His righteous remnant, and He sent His only begotten Son into the world. And Jesus said, "I am the way!"

Jesus is the way where there is no way!

"I am the way, the truth, and the life!"

Because Jesus came and took upon Him the form of human flesh, because He humbled himself to be born in a manger and grow up in the home of a carpenter, and be baptized with repentant sinners—because Jesus spent three and a half years preaching the gospel of the Kingdom that conquers the hearts of men—that is the reason that the world celebrates Christmas every year. But the world still has not understood the message of Christmas.

"Greater is he that ruleth his own spirit than he that taketh a city."

But we would rather take a city!

Now, I don't know whether Jesus was born on December 25 or not. But I do know that he was born— born in a manger, born of a virgin, and angels came down from heaven to sing a glad song of peace on earth and good will to men. The universe itself declared His coming, as a bright star beamed down upon the lowly stable where he lay. Wise men came bearing rich gifts and humble shepherds from the Judean hillside came to worship Him, their wonderful counselor, their mighty God and everlasting Father, their Prince of Peace!

He didn't come to a king's palace. He didn't even try to set up His kingdom on the throne of David. He didn't attack the authority of the Roman tyrants. He said, "The kingdom of God is within you." His throne was the human heart.

I know that He was born again in my heart, and when that happened I was a new creature. I can never be the same again. I was destined to die, but now I have eternal life. He picked me up out of the mess that I was in, washed me clean in His blood, put a robe of righteousness upon me, and wrote my name in the Lamb's Book of Life. And now He calls me Son!

I was lost and hopeless, but I have found the way out!

Jesus is the answer to your problem, too!

Have you accepted Him?

Have you placed the government of your own life upon His shoulder?

That is where it all starts.

Only a nation of Christians can ever be a Christian nation.

Hear me, America! It is time to wake up!

In our time, we have seen the Supreme Court of the United States rule the Bible out of our public schools.

For our third hundred years, we need to see God's Word brought back into its rightful place in the center.

We need to see it back in our schools as the basis for our standards of faith and conduct—not merely as literature, not as history, not as one of a variety of text books on "comparative religion."

We need to recognize that there is an absolute in the matter of right and wrong, and that that absolute is the expressed will of the God who created us, and who loves us too much to deny us anything that is good for us. We need to wake up to the fact that "doing our own thing" is only another name for wandering in the dark without a compass and without a guide. We need to conquer the pride that refuses to accept guidance for our feet and light for our pathway. That light, that guide is the eternal Word of God!

Radio, television, books, magazines, professors in our institutions of higher education are calling good evil, and evil good. Purity of life and thought is scorned and laughed at. It is called "bondage." They've got it all backward. The libertine actions that they promote destroy true liberty!

The only person who is truly free is the person who is living the way his Creator intended for him to live! When the government of your life is upon His shoulder, then you are truly free!

Governors, mayors, senators, judges, presidents— you may think that winning an election or winning an appointment gave you a mandate to run the government the way you want it run.

I've got news for you!

The President isn't running the government. The Senate isn't running it. The Supreme Court may be the court of last resort in these United States, but the Supreme Court isn't running it, either.

The government shall be upon His shoulder! He knows how to knock a man down off the president's chair and raise up another in his place. He knows how to depose a king and set someone else on his throne. He knows how to take a man away from his victory banquet, as soon as he has won an election or a primary. You who think that you have found the pathway to power, you have no idea how fragile you are, and how quickly your kingdom could collapse like a house of cards!

It's about time for a little genuine humility before the King of Kings! It's time that we acknowledge God in everything that we do!

God is concerned about the people on this earth. He is concerned for us here in America. He wants to bless America as He did in the days of revival in days gone by. If we here in America will yield to Him and live by His commandments, God has promised His blessings, and He will keep His promise. He said, "I will bless you going out, and I will bless you coming in. I will bless your basket, and I will bless your store. I will bless your seed, and I will bless the fruit of your womb. I will bless you in the city, and in the country." (Deuteronomy 28.)

Did you hear that Mr. Mayor?

God said, "I will bless you in the city!"

It's God's promise, but there are conditions. Have you met the conditions?

No?

Then don't expect the blessings!

He says, "Everything you set your hands unto, I will bless it. I will make you the head and not the tail."

He isn't just talking about spiritual blessings. There will be such spiritual blessings that you can't contain them all, and they will be spilling over. But this promise is about material blessings. This is about your basket and store, and about the work of your hands.

"You shall lend and not borrow."

How about that!

But God said, "... If you walk in my ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, and observe to do all that I have commanded you to do, these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you."

Ah, He is wonderful!

I tell you, the name of Jesus is more than just a word.

That name is wonderful! The mighty counselor! The mighty God! The Everlasting Father! And He is the Prince of Peace!

He is concerned about your trouble. He will make a way when there is no way. If your back is against the wall and there is no way out, Jesus is the way. If the doctor shook his head and said, "There is no hope," I want you to know that against hope, I have hope! Jesus is the way!

In this troubled world, my faith isn't resting in Washington, D.C. My faith isn't resting in New York City, or Philadelphia, or Chicago! My faith isn't resting in presidents and courts and legislatures, in parliaments and kings. My faith is built upon the eternal foundation of God's unadulterated Word!

If He said it, He will do it!

If He spoke it, He will bring it to pass!

His name shall be called Wonderful. And the government shall be upon His shoulder!

I tell you, this is the best news you ever heard for any government. It's the best news you will ever hear for the citizens of any nation. The trouble today is that our politicians have forsaken the Word of God. Oh, they may quote it when it suits their purposes, but they are not making it the guide for their personal and political lives. If they were, you would see the results in God's blessing upon them.

"For unto us a child is born, and unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder ... And of the increase of His government and power, there shall be no end!"

"And his name shall be called Wonderful."

What could possibly be more wonderful?

He loves me! He cares for me. He made me a new creature. He guides my life. He blesses my basket and store, the work of my hands, my going out and my coming in. He blesses my children and my grandchildren. The government of my life is on His shoulder. I don't have to worry about it, because He is taking care of everything!

What could be more wonderful?

He will do the same thing for you, if you will let Him. He wants to bless you more than you want to be blessed. He wants it so much that He gave His only begotten Son to guarantee it for you. All you have to do is accept it.

What could be more wonderful?

He will bless our entire nation if we will meet the conditions! He has done it before. He has not changed. He wants to do it. He has set out the conditions very simply. A nation as well educated, as intellectual as ours can't possibly be incapable of understanding!

"If my people that are called by my name will humble themselves and repent, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will heal their land!"

(II Chron. 7:14.)

CHAPTER II

COUNSELOR

Now we go to the next word in this beautifully homiletical message.

"His name shall be called Counsellor."

That word has two meanings.

First, a counselor is somebody that you can sit down and talk it all out with when trouble comes—somebody you can turn to in your hour of need.

People—even church people—are turning to counselors of all kinds today. There never was a time when so many people suffered with so many kinds of nervous disorders. Frustration has moved in. There is no peace. Psychiatrists' couches and calendars are full. You can't just decide that you will go to the psychiatrist tomorrow. You have to set up an appointment a long time in advance. Marriage counseling, personal counseling, all kinds of counseling are listed in the Yellow Pages. Signs are sprouting on lawns all over America: "Mother So-and-So, Spiritual Advisor!"

When you take your problems to any of these counselors, you soon find that they really don't care about you! Right off, they want to be sure that you can pay the fee, and you don't get much help for the problem!

When you go to a man (or woman) with your problem, he will shrug it off and keep right on moving. He's got troubles enough of his own! Or worse! She may listen hungrily and ask probing questions—and then tell it with added flourishes to every one that will listen.

There are even some preachers you don't dare talk to when you are in trouble. You talk to them in their office about some personal and private thing, and they will bring it out in the open from the pulpit!

I want you to know that my Counselor is Jesus. He is a Counselor that will never break a confidence. Not only will He listen to your trouble; He will make a way for you to get out of the mess you got yourself into!

Hallelujah!

"His name shall be called Counselor!"

My message is to the church. We are children of God. We have no business being troubled. We have no business being frustrated, even though we are living in a world of strife. The world is full of trouble and strife and frustration, and we are in the world; but we are not of the world. We are looking for a city whose builder and maker is God! We don't have to run off to a physician, or a psychiatrist, or a "Spiritual Counselor" when we need counseling. We have a Counselor that the world doesn't know anything about and that the world cannot match!

Jesus said that when the Spirit of truth is come you will not have need for man to guide you, because He shall lead you into all truth. When you need to make a decision, He will guide you. You have a Counselor who has said,

"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering."

(James 1:5, 6.)

Have you come to a fork in the road, and you don't know which way to turn?

Thank God, you have a Counselor. His name is Jesus.

Hallelujah!

Now, the second meaning of the word counselor.

When somebody sues you, and you have to stand before the court, you need an attorney to defend you. Another expression for attorney is counselor at law.

I want you to know that Jesus is our attorney—our counselor—before the judgment seat in heaven.

You may have, sometime, hired the services of an attorney, or had one appointed for you by the court, and then found that he was working against you, trying to pad his own pocket.

I want to introduce you to a Counselor who can be trusted to work on your behalf. He's already got His name made! Jesus! His name shall be called Counselor! And He is admitted to practice law before the supreme court of heaven, at the very bar of God. He is your intercessor. He says, "Whatsoever you ask the Father in my name, He will give it to you!"

Did you ever wonder at the disciples? When Jesus was here in the flesh, they didn't have to pray to the Father. When they needed something, they came running to Jesus.

Peter needed to pay his taxes—and you all know that you are soon going to have to pay yours! What are you going to do? Run to the bank and borrow it?

Come on! Run to your Counselor!

Peter came to Jesus, and he said, "Master, Caesar sent me this tax notice. You know I'm not fishing any more. I haven't got any money to pay this thing. What am I to do?"

Jesus said, "Take your pole and go fishing!"

Peter said, "What?"

"Yes. Go fishing. And the first fish you catch, put your hand in its mouth."

That fish must have been a whopper!

"Put your hand in its mouth, and you will find enough gold in that fish's mouth to pay your taxes, and mine too!"

Aren't you glad you've got a counselor like that, who cares about your problems and is powerful enough to do something about it?

Jesus is your attorney!

"His name shall be called Counselor!"

CHAPTER III

THE MIGHTY GOD

"Unto us a child is born. Unto us a Son is given. And the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called wonderful, counselor, the Mighty God."

What a mighty God we serve! His name shall be called the Mighty God! That name is Jesus! Shout it!

There is power in that name! Oh, hallelujah!

But the church in the world today is living like it is a powerless name. They say, "He was a good man." They don't know Him as the mighty God.

We publish a magazine every month, and we call it POWER.

I like the word power, because it represents a mighty God. His power is so great that He's got the whole world in His hands.

You that are born again, washed in the blood of the Lamb, and have your names written in the Book of Life, I want you to understand that you have a mighty God— a God that still performs miracles!

Hallelujah!

Some people get upset about that word miracle. They don't like for us to use it in our campaign advertising.

Now, I guess it isn't really the word itself that upsets them. They advertise Miracle Whip Salad Dressing, Miracle Oil, Miracle Mile, Miracle Margarine, Miracle Fabrics—any kind of miracle except the real miracles, God's miracles!

When Jesus was born of a virgin, that was a miracle. His life on earth was one long series of miracles. He told his disciples that after he went away they should do even greater things.

Why?

"Because I go to my Father."

Then what makes people think that miracles ceased when He went to the cross?

When God brought His ancient church—Israel—out of bondage in Egypt, out from under the whiplash of Pharaoh, He resorted to miracles, again and again.

The angel of death passed over them. Old, life-long slaves and toddling infants, there was not one feeble person among their tribes. When they were faced with the Red Sea, with Pharaoh's chariots thundering toward them in a cloud of dust—with the mountains on one side and the desert on the other—they were in need of a miracle. There was no way out!

Perhaps right now you find yourself in a situation where there is no way out.

Perhaps you are facing bankruptcy. You've opened up a business, but it hasn't prospered. You are in debt up to your neck. You say, "Preacher, what am I to do?"

Maybe the divorce papers have already been served. You say, "It's too late now!"

Or the doctors may have already given that loved one up to die. She is in a coma, and has been in a coma for weeks—maybe months.

Is all hope gone?

No!

It is never too late for our Mighty God! He is the same God that rolled the waters back!

The children of Israel said, "Now what are we going to do! There's no way out!"

Moses fell on his face and cried out, "Oh, God!"

God said, "Get up off your face and keep moving! The devil is on your trail, and you haven't got time to stop!"

Moses said, "But Lord! The Red Sea ...!"

God said, "Moses, what is that thing I put in your hand?"

"Why, it's just a rod!"

God said, "Use it! Stretch it out over the water!"

I'm talking about church folks. There is all that great big puddle of trouble, and you can't see any way around it, over it, through it. You say, "But I haven't got any rod!"

Don't be a knuckle-head! You may not have a rod, but God has given you something that you can use. He has given you that Name! That name that is wonderful!

Don't tell me you don't know where to turn! He has given you that name that is Counselor. What if you don't know? He knows!

That name that is THE MIGHTY GOD!

Moses stood up and stretched that rod out over the sea, and the waters rolled back like a scroll. God made a way where there was no way!

I want you to know that it doesn't matter what kind of trouble you are having. Child of God, you can invoke the mighty name of Jesus. He said, "Whatsoever you ask of the Father in my name ..." He said, "These signs shall follow them that believe." Read it! Mark 16:16.

Mother, if you have someone in your home that is sick, you won't need to call the preacher to come and lay hands on him. You can lay hands on him yourself! That name is yours, just as much as it is mine! You can say, "In the name of Jesus! I am a believer!" When you come in that name, sickness has got to go!

Why do I see people dying of cancer rise up off stretchers in my meetings? Why do the lame walk at my command, in the name of Jesus? Why are blind eyes opened, and deaf ears unstopped?

It isn't because of any power or holiness of my own. It is because I am a believer, and Jesus said, "These signs shall follow them that believe; In my name ... "

In that name that is above every name! Jesus!

The Mighty God!

There is power in that name, and He is showing Himself strong today as never before. What a wonderful day to be alive! What is your need? Join me in this prayer:

Father, in the name of Jesus, the Mighty God, cause your power to come alive in my soul and mind and body today. Fill me with the power that is in that name and use me to manifest that power to others in need around me. Thank you, Jesus, my wonderful counselor, my Mighty God, for what you have done in my life today. Amen. ”

“Our fathers’ God,

to Thee,

Author of Liberty,

to Thee we sing.

Long may our land

be bright

With Freedom’s

holy light.

Protect us

by Thy Might,

Great God

our King!

CHAPTER IV

THE EVERLASTING FATHER

"And His name shall be called ... the Everlasting Father."

If you could only get a picture of Jesus as your everlasting Father! He is called so many things. He is called the friend that sticketh closer than a brother. He is our good shepherd, our great shepherd, our chief shepherd. His is our great high priest, our counselor, our soon coming king. He is our bridegroom. He is our mighty God.

But I want to drive home this thought. He is our Everlasting Father.

You men, you were a son. Many of you are fathers. There was a time when it was wonderful to share that relationship, the father and son relationship.

Father, big and strong, and able to protect you from anything. Able to provide everything you needed. Able to fix anything that was broken. How you did admire that big, strong man and want to be just like him. (Yes, father. If you smoked, that little boy wanted to smoke, too—just like Dad! If you drank, he wanted to drain the beer can. If you swore, you could hear the echo of your words in his piping voice. Father, which direction did you lead?)

And there was the son, trusting, adoring, admiring. What a thrill for a man to be the "big man" in that little fellow's world!

But that father-son relationship is only for a little while and then it is finished.

You may have a very happy memory of your father, or you may have a very disturbing memory of him.

Regardless of what kind of memory you have of your earthly father, when you become a child of God you are going to have a wonderful father, and that relationship is going to last forever and ever, from everlasting to everlasting!

Your Everlasting Father!

Your earthly father loves you when you are doing good. "A wise son is the joy of his father." But when you aren't doing so good, you may see a different side of him.

In Luke 17, there is a beautiful story of a relationship between a father and his two sons. This is a story Jesus told to illustrate our relationship with our everlasting father.

"His name shall be called ... the Everlasting Father."

Jesus! The child that was born, the Son that was given!

Not that He is taking the place of God the Father. That eternal creator-God who spoke out of the heavens when Jesus was baptized in Jordan and said, "This is my beloved Son; in Him I am well pleased."

Jesus taught us to pray, saying, "Our Father which art in heaven ... in Jesus' name."

No man cometh unto the Father except by Him. No man hath seen the Father at any time; we know the Father by knowing the Son. And to us, that child that was born in Bethlehem—that Son that was given—is everything. He is wonderful. He is our counselor. He is our Everlasting Father.

Like a little child, we can come to Him for whatever we need, and Jesus will supply that need. He will even grant the desires of our hearts.

Now the story from Luke 17.

There were two young men, living at home and working with their father. One of them came and said, "I want my inheritance now". The other stayed on by his father's side.

So many people who are saved have wandered away from home. America is full of backsliders—those who once tasted the good things of God but have wandered away. They have not been faithful in their relationship with the Father. The glitter and glamor of the world has lured them away.

But I want to tell you that Jesus is an Everlasting Father. He is constantly trying to woo you back to the family relationship where you belong. He will never give up on you, so you might as well quit your rebelling. Make up your mind that this is the day that you will surrender and come back home!

That unwise and rebellious son said, "I want what's coming to me, now!"

And he went out and spent his fortune in riotous living. He "lived it up." He spent it on wine, women, and song. He was intoxicated with the joy of it—while it lasted. But it wasn't long until it was all gone. Among the new friends who had been so happy to help him spend his money, he couldn't find one that would stick by him now. They were out looking for a new big spender.

He couldn't even find a job. He had to sell his fancy clothes to the "Nearly New" store and pawn his rings and jewels to feed himself while he looked for work.

Until the day came when there was nothing left to pawn!

In the last rags of tattered satin, he finally found a job—feeding pigs!

Imagine a Jew feeding pigs!

When you turn your back on the Father and go after your own pleasure, it's hard to imagine when you are flying high, just how long you can go! When you start backsliding there is no way to go but down, down, down!

But thank God, he came to himself.

While he was feeding the pigs, his stomach was gnawing with hunger. He was so hungry that he suddenly found that he wanted to eat the pig slop. He said to himself, "I feel like I could eat this horrible stuff if they would let me! Back home, my father's table is spread with all the good things the earth produces. All that could have been mine, but I threw it away. Why even the servants at my father's farm eat better than this! I will arise and go back to my father's house. I know I can't go claiming the inheritance of a son, but I'll just ask to be hired as a servant. Maybe he will at least give me a job. Any job there would beat sitting here watching these pigs eat and wanting to eat with them!"

I am telling you this story to let you know that there is a way back!

If you have had enough of it, if you have come to the place where you are sick and tired of the condition you are in, all you have got to do is get up and get moving, back toward Father's house!

That's all right to come with repentance. You don't have to knock the door down and say, "Here I am, Father, come back to claim a new inheritance!" It's a good idea to come thinking of service, offering to take whatever job he will give you.

But I've got good news for you! He is an Everlasting Father! If He loved you years ago, He loves you now. No matter what you did while you were away. No matter what crimes you committed against God and man, and against yourself. All you've got to do is arise and go to your Father! When you get there, you are going to find Him waiting with arms outstretched, waiting to put shoes on your feet, the robe of righteousness around your shoulders, and a ring—his signet ring—on your finger. You are going to hear him say, "Kill the fatted calf! This my son was lost and is found! He was dead and is alive again! Help yourself, son! everything is ready and waiting for your return!"

This makes me want to shout!

Come on home!

Everything is ready!

You've gone so low, but there is a way back!

He is an Everlasting Father. He cares about your soul. If you will just come back to Him, you will find those arms outstretched, welcoming you home. He will restore the years that the locust, the caterpillar, and the palmer worm have eaten. He will restore everything that you have lost!

CHAPTER V

THE PRINCE OF PEACE

"And his name shall be called ... the Prince of Peace."

"For unto us a child is born ...”

I'm so glad He didn't stop there. A child is sweet and innocent. I love little babies. But a child can't help you. A child is only a promise of things to come.

He also said, "Unto us a Son is given."

That little baby in the manger grew up into manhood, into sonship, and all that was said in those verses from Isaiah 9 appeared in and through Him.

"And the government shall be upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called wonderful, counselor, the Mighty God, the everlasting father."

Now, Mr. President, I'm going to preach to you!

Congress, legislature, Secretary of State, you can cry peace and safety, but there is no peace.

Mr. Kissinger is not the prince of peace.

Jesus is the Prince of Peace!

A peace settlement was negotiated in Paris, France for South Viet Nam—and North Viet Nam took it over by force.

For the Middle East, agreement after agreement has been negotiated in Geneva, and still there is no peace.

This old world will never know peace until Jesus comes.

Jesus!

His name shall be called ... the Prince of Peace!

I'm not only talking about global conditions. I want to bring it down closer to home.

There will never be peace in your own heart until Jesus comes into your life and takes up the reins. Until you place the government of your own life upon His shoulder, your heart will remain a battle ground. Tormenting spirits, driving you almost to the brink of insanity. Frustrations and fears haunting you. Troubles within and problems from without. You may have sought the services of a psychiatrist. You've turned to psychologists, counselors, the medical profession, but when you think you've found a way out it turns out to be a dead end. You have spent a fortune trying to find rest, peace—and have almost given up hope.

There is only one way out. His name is Jesus, the Prince of Peace!

He is the one who said,

"Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

You that are troubled, you that can't sleep, you that are tormented by fears and frustrations, I would like to see you be able to face the rest of your life with peace in your heart and rest in your soul.

You can't work it out by yourself.

You can't find the solution through the union.

You can't work it out with your boss, with your bishop, with your husband or your wife, or with your children.

You have to work it out with Jesus. He is the Prince of Peace.

Not long ago, a young man was brought to me who had spent some time in a mental hospital. All night long he was hearing voices. The devil told him to kill, even to commit suicide. Three times he tried. He has scars on his wrists to prove it. He had no peace—no rest, day or night. But Jesus came in and gave that young man peace.

He is the Prince of Peace!

Jesus said,

"The thief cometh to kill and to destroy, but I am come that you might have life, and have it more abundantly."

I invite you to come to Christ, the Prince of Peace.

Do it now.

Don't put it off. Don't wait for an altar call in a church. Don't wait for everything to be just right. Now is the accepted time. Right now, say, "I have been wallowing in the filth of the world long enough! I will arise and go to my Father!"

I want you to know, right now, that God is interested in doing a work in your life.

You may find yourself, now, in the most difficult of circumstances, in the worst possible environment. You can have gangsters on one side of you and dope pushers on the other. You can be surrounded with harlots and rum runners, but God can come into your life and give you perfect peace. He can build a wall of protection around you and, inside your own life where He dwells, He will make the world go away, and get it off your shoulder. He is the Prince of Peace. Regardless of the circumstances, you can have rest, peace.

You can't find it in transcendental meditation— standing on your head somewhere.

You won't find it in Buddha—Zen or otherwise.

You won't find it in Mohammed, because it was Jesus who said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life."

You won't even find it in the church. Church is good, and when you have found peace through Christ, I encourage you to find fellowship in a good church. But the church can't give you peace. Only Jesus Himself can give you peace. He is the Prince of Peace. You can't reach the Father by using the church as intermediary. Jesus said, "No man cometh to the Father but by me."

Come to Jesus, to the foot of His cross. Don't try to clean yourself up first; you can't do it. He will take you just as you are. He will take away the stony heart that is getting harder every day, and put a heart of flesh in its place. He will cleanse away the filth of the pig pen and put upon you a beautiful robe of His own righteousness. He will whisper peace to your troubled soul, and call you son!

I'm not going to waste time telling you what Jesus delivered me from. That isn't important. I am telling you what He became to me.

He became my peace.

Bills may be piling up, and it looks like there is no way out. But Jesus is my peace. He has promised to supply all my need—and all your need—according to His riches in glory.

I'm not worried about what Jesus is going to bring you out of. You may be the vilest of sinners. That isn't the point. What I'm interested in is what Jesus is going to become to you. He is going to be wonderful to you. He is going to be your counselor. He is going to be your Mighty God, your Everlasting Father. Depressed? Restless? Frustrated? Tormented by fears? Suffering physical and mental agony? He is going to be your Prince of Peace!

The same Jesus who spoke to the tempest on the raging sea and said "Peace, be still," is going to speak to the tempest in your soul. And the wind and the waves that threaten you are going to obey His voice, because He is the Prince of Peace!

Father, those that are disturbed, frustrated, nervous, I come to you in their behalf. I come against sin, against sickness, against infirmity.

In the wonderful name of Jesus, I command you, Satan, to release your hold on God's property, now! In Jesus' name!

Accept it now!

Claim it now!

It is yours, in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God!

Table of Contents

The Government—On Whose Shoulders?

Counselor

The Mighty God

The Everlasting Father

The Prince of Peace