Around the World in 88 Years -E Book - Arthur Burt

“Do you really do that?” I gasped.“Yes. We always have to do that if the sharks come.”These young men swam four miles through shark-infested watersand would swim four miles back again when the meeting wasover. They didn’t consider that a hardship or a sacrifice to cometo a meeting. I marveled at their attitude in contrast with manyothers I had known who, by comparison, had pathetic little excusesfor not gathering with the people of God.You have to own where you arebefore you can disown it.Once when I was in Montego Bay, Jamaica, the brethren therebrought a woman to me who was suffering from deep depression.She was taking heavy doses of medicine and asked me topray for her. I said, “No.” This is almost an unpardonable sin inPentecostal churches — to refuse to pray for someone.“Depression is not something cured by tablets or prayer,” I toldher. “If you are a child of God, depression is a loss of the presenceof God, and if you’ve lost the presence, you need to have truthwhere you’ve lost it. This is necessary.”Whether the people agreed with me or not, I don’t know. Theman of God said to a woodsman who had swung his ax and lostthe ax head as it flew off the handle, “Where did it fall?” (II Kings6:6) This is what I believe, if you have lost your ax-head at thelast church, you’ll not find it at this church. You’ll find it whereyou lost it.If you are guilty of unforgiveness, criticism, backbiting or judging,you are not going to put that right with tablets. Depression isa sign of the loss of the presence of God. The only way to findthe presence, is to find out where you lost it and what causedyou to lose it. It is a divine principle that you have to own whereyou are before you can disown it.In Denver. The Inexcusable JudgmentMy plane landed in Denver at 7:20 PM. The pastor was there topick me up for a meeting that began in a few minutes. We werelate so he said, “Look, we’ll go straight to the meeting.” He said,214