W. B. Godbey - Enter His Rest
W. B. Godbey - Enter His Rest
W. B. Godbey - Enter His Rest
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Then as I pass along,<br />
I'll sing a Christian song;<br />
I hope to live forever.”<br />
We should never condemn people for a mere cognomen. God saves truly humble, penitent, believing souls, in<br />
spite of the devil and doctrinal error.<br />
The Mormons, like the Campbellites, preach baptism in order to the remission of sins, which is a, very<br />
dangerous error. Yet we find some clear, bright witnesses to experimental salvation among those people, whose<br />
testimony is not to be discounted for their doctrinal errors. God is so anxious to save people that He never<br />
misses a chance. He is infinitely more merciful than we are. Certain sins if committed blacken the name of the<br />
poor victim with eternal infamy, and people never do forgive them. Yet it is not so with God, who gladly<br />
forgives the vilest sins, when He sees the real and genuine fruits of repentance. King Manasseh succeeded his<br />
sanctified father Hezekiah, the great leader of the holiness movement in his day, and, closing his eyes to the<br />
light of his father's example, not only led the Jews back into idolatry, but even polluted the temple with idols and<br />
worshipped them there. Yet, when a captive in Babylon, amid awful tortures, he repented in sackcloth and ashes,<br />
with a true and genuine repentance; God heard him, delivered him from the captivity and restored him to his<br />
kingdom in Jerusalem, where he spent the remnant of his life, faithfully proving to the whole world the<br />
genuineness of his repentance.<br />
There is but one problem in the salvation of every soul, and that is the really genuine work of repentance,<br />
wrought in the heart by the Holy Ghost, so changing the subject that if he had a thousand opportunities to<br />
commit the same sins again, he would have his head cut off rather than yield. That is all God wants, I. e., the<br />
real, radical change of heart, which means a change of life forever.<br />
Without this real and genuine change of heart, the soul going to Heaven would commit sin there and have to be<br />
cast out like Lucifer and his followers. (Revelation twelfth chapter.) In 1884, when Bishop McTieyre took the<br />
bridle off and turned me loose to go to the ends of the earth and preach the unsearchable riches of Christ, I<br />
immediately darted away to Texas, the great Lone Star state, and began in Texarkana on the Arkansas line, as the<br />
name implies. When I began in the Methodist Church, I found but few people, as religion over the city was at a<br />
very low ebb, and the churches deserted.<br />
Looking round over the city, going from house to house and praying with people, I of course looked at the<br />
different church edifices, as they were pointed out and designated by name. Near the Episcopal Church, on the<br />
same lawn, I recognized a very large building, and upon inquiry was informed that it was the dancing and<br />
skating hall, where the people thronged and participated in those recreations that it was the property of that<br />
Church, and the frolickers paid their money for those amusements, which money was used for the support of the<br />
Church. The Presbyterians had also been renting it, and conducting similar amusements in the financial interest<br />
of their Church.<br />
I found for the above reason that the Episcopal Church was the leader of the city, to which the young people en<br />
masse rallied and there held their membership. I found that Satanic institution had actually built their Church,<br />
till numerically it stood at the front, the leader in popularity and influence. God laid it on my heart to attack<br />
Satan in his citadel without mercy. Therefore I waited till Sunday night, as I was satisfied that novelty and<br />
curiosity would at that time give me a congregation; having antecedently preached to naked walls and empty<br />
seats. Sure enough the house was packed on Sunday night to hear the new preacher. God blessedly saved me<br />
from all modesty, so that I positively specified the very thing I was striking at and preached my sermon on<br />
Satan's church, by which I designated that dancing and skating rink, which was owned by the Episcopal Church,<br />
and used to popularize and support it financially. I literally dissected the matter before the crowded assembly,<br />
and unhesitatingly consigned all the people identified with it to the devil, to whom they belonged, preachers,<br />
officers and members, and showed them plainly by the Word of God that they were all on their way to Hell as<br />
fast as they could go; thus showing up the appalling state of wickedness in their city; recognizing Satan's church<br />
in the lead. No wonder the outside world was so desperately wicked, which was a notorious fact to all the<br />
people. I availed myself of the opportunity to give them a horrific sermon on Hell, showing up those churches in<br />
the awful responsibility of actually leading the people to the extent of their ability right down to Hell; thus<br />
cunningly and audaciously attracting them to the devil's church, in which they were encouraged to dance and