PLEASIN' GOD, NOT MEN




Song: The Old Rugged Cross [755k .wav file, 35 sec]. Praise the Lord Jesus. Praise you, Lord. Praise you, Lord. When I came in here, and we were shakin' hands before we started tonight; many of you men came up to me and shook hands and said, 'Tell Paul and Jan Crouch we say 'Hi'. And we've seen you on Trinity Broadcasting Network.' How many of you men have watch TBN? Praise the Lord God. So, it's gettin' in, isn't it? I'm gonna do somethin' that's very unorthodox, right now. But I want all you men that want to stand up and say 'Hi' to 47,000,000 people, to stand up. Those of you who want to remain seated, can remain seated. I want you to put the camera on us right here. And on the count of three we're gonna say, 'Praise Jesus for TBN.' One-Two-Three, 'Praise Jesus for TBN!' Praise God.

I want the people to see what God is doin' in this place, in the Walls Unit here. I want people to see, I want some of these religious spirits out there to get convicted. Some of these people that have been allowin' religious spirits on them to see the Spirit of the livin' God fallin' upon us in this place tonight.

I want to bring you a couple of praise reports. One is, I had a man in this place here, when I went behind the walls over in there. I had a man come up to me and say, 'Have you ever heard of Helter Skelter?' I said, 'Yeah, I have.' He said, 'Well,' Then he told me a few things about himself. Some people think that the devil is 'bad'. Let me tell you somethin', I know somebody who is 'badder'. His name is Jesus. He's the King of Kings.

Charles Manson has been writin' to me. And he's invited me to come in. He's been seein' me on television. And I'm goin' in all alone. I'm goin' in with no tapes, no cameras, no nothin'. I'm goin' in, and I'm goin' in for one reason; on January 6th. [1992] to bring him the good news that Jesus is alive, and Jesus loves him, and loves everyone of us. I'd like you men to be prayin' for him, and prayin' for that meetin'. If for no other reason, I believe God would send me in to give him a chance. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

There was me, who was filled with hatred; filled with drugs; filled with death, man; filled with money. Some of you guys been lookin' at the watch, and some of this stuff. Yes, I've been a wealthy man since I was a teenager, or whatever. I've lived in the biggest homes; I've slept in castles, literally castles, in Spain; I've owned big houses; driven Rolls Royces and Mercedes Benz; and all the garbage that the world can offer. And I tell you, in all sincerity, that it's all garbage without the blood of Jesus. If you don't know Jesus, all thr riches in the world aren't gonna matter. Can I buy my way into heaven? No. I can buy my way into a bed with some nice lookin' girl; and you could say that's heaven. But, I'll guarantee you, it wears off awful quick the next day. And sometimes you wish it would. :) Some guys have to go visit the doctor, and they wish it had worn off a lot quicker. Maybe, I'm gettin' a little rude here for television, maybe we'll have to cut some of this. But you know what I've found in my rock bands? When we'd be out on the road, it wasn't the girls that were comin' in that were the normal lookin' girls that were givin' the guys the disease, it was the beautiful ones. They'd say, 'Stay away from the really pretty ones, man.' You know, it's just like the devil, come in and wrap you a package; and say, 'This is gonna be really happenin', man. This is really what you need. Do a little of this, and you can forget your troubles. Just a little toot. [snort] Yeah, see.' And then the next thing you know, you're not comin' down. Next thing you know, you see somebody bangin' their head on the window, [scream], out of their head. It's just like the devil, isn't it? The devil comes to kill, steal, and destroy. But Jesus comes to give us life, and life abundantly.

He's delivered me out of drugs. I've been delivered off, and I have not done drugs for ten years. I'v been clean. I wish I could say I've been sober for ten years, but that took a little more time. But, I haven't had anything to drink, I have not been drunk since, probably, 1984. That's a long time comin' from my background. I've been faithful to my wife, and I haven't had sex with anyone other than my wife, since 1983.

And yet, since we've been saved, since we've been saved; you and me, since I've been out there witnessin', we're gettin' called names. Yeah, we're gettin' called names in the world; and we're gettin' called names in the church. We're gettin' called names inside the walls, even sometimes. I've had people, I had a guy callin' me names. Two weeks ago two men called me names right in front of my three boys, man. And I'm tellin' you, that got to me. I didn't like that, I didn't like that. And I even thought, Man, I had to swallow this. But I'll tell you what I did, I pleaded the blood of Jesus over them, and bound the devil on them, and they took off. But I have not failed to notice that inside the church, there's a hierarchy. There are religious leaders in the Christian body in the United States of America. About 80% of the people in the United States claim to be Christians. And yet, are they truly servin' the Lord? Some of them are still doin' Ouija Boards, still into witchcraft, still into this, still into that. There's one Lord and one Savior, and His name is Jesus Christ. That's it.

I believe the Lord has given me a short word for us tongiht, to the point. I tried to elaborate on it, I tried to read on, I never said that I was an eloquent speaker or preacher. But I believe there's a reason for everything. Tonight I'm not in real good voice to sing, but I believe God's got me to bring you a word. The word is simply and very succinctly, very to the point. It is this, in I Thessalonians 2:4, We are not tryin' to please men, but God who tests our hearts. We are not here to please men, but God, who tests our hearts. After I got saved, I thought, What a relief. You see, I had been in the world, tryin' to please the world; tryin' to sing the right songs; tryin' to wear the right stuff; tryin' to do the right concerts.

Then after I got saved, I went into the churches. I remember some of the first churches I walked into. Let me tell you the first one I ever walked into. It was before I was saved, and I tried to give my heart to the Lord; and, they kicked me out. They threw me out of the church. They said, 'No man that looks like you is comin' into our church, and gettin' saved, and givin' their heart to Jesus.' They said, 'You've got long hair. You look like a girl. And you ain't comin' into our church.' And I looked at that man; and I said, 'If I look like a girl to you, man, you must be hangin' with some real ugly women. Do you know that? 'Cause I don't look like the women I'm hangin' with, man.' :) But I got kicked out of the church.

Then I went on with my life. Do you know why so many of the Hollywood stars are not interested in Jesus? Because they want to live in sin. They want to be able to do drugs; they want to be able to go naked on the stage; or they want to be able to live their lives in lust or in greed. So, they find somebody that will tell them what they want to hear. And, if they join a religion that is of the world; then, they are pleasin' men. You can still be a person that is pleasin' men; and say, you have some kinda faith when you follow Buddha, or Mohammed. But I'll tell you, Buddha and Mohammed never raised from the dead. Jesus raised from the dead. Jesus is our Lord and Savior.

I want to turn to Titus 3:4, When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we have done; but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth, and renewal by the Holy Spirit; whom He poured out on us, generously through Jesus Christ our Savior. So that having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs, having the hope of eternal life. Again it says, He saved us not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. God said, I will have mercy upon those that have not obtained mercy; I will say to those that are not my people, thou art my people. And they will turn to Me and say, Thou art my God.

I don't care about religion. I don't care about your denominations. I belong to a church that is of a denomination, but I do not worship my denomination. I don't care about my denomination. All I care about is, people who worship God in Spirit and in truth. They are my brothers, they are my sisters, they are my mother, my father. One of the coldest times I've ever had was when I was in a church. And there was a weddin' goin' on in the church. As I walked through the corridors on a Saturday afternoon [I was goin' to be speakin' at the church that night], one of the men with me said, 'Would you mind goin' in and singin' for this banquet, for this weddin'. Because these people love you that are gettin' married. And we would like for you to come in and sing, would you do that?' I said, "Sure, I'll do it.' And I walked in; and I sang a song. Then they said, 'Sit down and have some coffee and some cake. And we're gonna put you at the best table., because we are going to honor you for comin' in here and singin' for the bride and groom.' And the bride and groom thanked me; and said, 'Praise God for you.' So, they sat me at the best table at this giant banquet hall in the church. And the best table is where all the men, who were the heads of denomination of the church for the whole northwestern region were there, with their wives at the table. This was a big Pentacostal denomination. And one of the relatives of the bride, I guess, was involved in this denomination very heavily. So, they had the heads of the denomination there. I walked in and I sat down at the table. When I sat at the table, a cold chill came over the whole table. The woman that I sat next to, who was married to the head of the denomination for that whole region, turned her back to me at the table. Everybody stopped talkin', just like you see in the westerns when the guy walks through the saloon door with a gun. :) All of a sudden it's dead quiet. I looked at them; and I said, 'What's the matter? You get some bad news? You know, what's the action?' :) And I looked across and I saw this woman, with beautiful white hair, grandmotherly-type. And she was sittin' there with a very pained expression on her face. And I knew that I had shaken them up, so I figured, well let's roll it. So I said, 'Hey, baby, what's the action?' :) And the head of the denomination for the region looked over at me; and he said, 'Are you saved?' I looked at him; and I said, 'Yeah, are you?' :)

Then I go out on the street. I'm dealin' with people too many times in the pulpits that are, 'Look at me. Look at what I have done here. Look at what I have built here. Look at our denomination. Look at who we are. Look at the money we have. Look at the cadilacs in the parking lot. Look at the pews, look at the walls, look at the stained glass windows, look at everything.' But they never say, 'Look at Jesus.'

My Deepest Love,
Jeff
Prison, November, 1991


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Created: 7/24/97