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Intohispath
View more presentations from georgecduke.
GUNS TO THE GOSPEL PART 4 ACTS FULLFILLED
ACTS 28:31 Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.
When we arrived in the UK in June 1966, we were to stay with my wife’s family as it had been around eight years that we had been away from them. They had assured Carol that they had plenty of room and would like for us to stay the whole time we were there with them. Since we had limited money and a return ticket that did not allow us to return till September we felt this would work out well because of finances and we would give them some money to help pay the bills. Well everything went well for awhile till they found out that we had got religion. It was not very long after they realized we had changed that they asked us to leave. There we were Myself, Carol, and our four children who they asked to leave and we suddenly realized we had no where to go to. Well we knew who could help us so we headed toward London to see if the missionary there would put us up. I stopped on the way, telephoned him and related my dilemma. He very quickly let me know I needed to find somewhere in the area where I was, a hotel or a bed and breakfast to stay in. I am sure he was not wanting a family of six to suddenly drop in on him. Well we found a B&B and it was not very long before I began running low on funds. I had placed an ad in the paper asking for someone to rent us a house. I remember a man coming to the B&B and let us know that he had a house in Rushden that he wanted to rent. Well we barely had enough money to put down on the rent and quickly moved into the house. There was just one problem! We had no more money, I had a passport that said I could not work, and we were out of money.
Well God does know how to take care of his own. Pastor Robert Glass heard that we were in a dilemma and took up an offering in his church and sent it to us. Carol saw where a lady wanted someone to clean house and she was able to make a little cleaning house. There was a shop just up the street from where we were living that allowed us credit. When I first entered the Uk and had a stamp on my passport stating I could not work in the UK paid or unpaid I wrote to the British Immigration and asked them for permission to work unpaid as I wanted to be able to preach if anyone asked me while I was in the country. I did not know it at the time but that would eventually be what God used to deliver me. After a few weeks all money dried up, the shop was asking for payment, the rent was due. The man that had rented us the house had planted potatoes in the back garden and I was digging them up where we could have something to eat. We prayed and asked God to help us but things seemed to just get worse and worse. One night our baby Rebecca who was still on the bottled milk began to cry to be fed. The problem was we had ran out of milk for her and I had nowhere to go. Also potatoes does not substitute for milk. Hearing her cry caused me to get down on my knees and pray like I had never prayed before. I began to cry out to God and weep at his feet. I remember that night and Rebecca going to sleep crying wanting to be fed. Well the next morning when we got up I looked down on the floor inside the front door and there was a letter from Carol’s Grandmother. She opened it up and out dropped a 10 shilling note. Leaping with joy we ran to the shop and got milk for our baby. But that was not the only miracle, later in the day the post man came again and dropped a letter in the mail slot. I looked down on the floor and picked up the letter. It was from the British Immigration department. I opened it up and lo and behold they had given me permission to be able to work in any capacity that I wanted to. I ran and got the newspaper and looked at the ads for employment. I instantly saw where the United Counties Bus company needed bus conductors. I headed for their office and filled out a application. After filling out the application I was told to report to work the next day. The next morning I was in a class room learning how to do bus conductor work. After the schooling I was placed with an Irish bus conductor who they called Paddy. He took me with him to show me the ropes on how to work the ticket maker and how to determine fares on the routes. I remember one night we got to the end of a route and he and the driver was going to the pub for a break. He asked me Duke would you care for a drink with us. I at that time would not go to a pub but I did not want to tell him that so I said No I better stay here and look through the book to learn more about the fare structure. I remember after a few times of his inviting me to go out for a drink and my refusals suddenly one day he looked at me and said Duke I take it you are a Christian man. I said Yes Paddy I have had a most wonderful experience in Jesus Christ. I was able to share with him that experience.
After taking on the bus conductor job and being able to pay the bills Carol and I opened up our home for prayer meetings. Also we began to run an ad in the local newspaper inviting people to come and join us.
I remember Brother Miller letting me know about a church conference in Germany and now that I had some money coming in I was able to join with them in travelling over to the conference. It was a great time. On the train I had met Pastor Charlie Price who had a small work going in London where he reached out to the poor. He would invite the down and out to his Gospel meeting and then feed them after the meeting. Charles played the accordion and I told Charles why don’t we give out some leaflets when the train stops at the stations along the way. Well we asked Brother Miller and there were a few Gospel tracts that he had. When we would stop Charlie on his accordion would play and we all would sing gospel songs. Charlie did not play really great and we probably did not sound all that good singing but we had a lot of people to gather to listen to us while the train was stopped at the station. Even though we sang in English and they spoke German they still seemed to enjoy the music and singing. I really think they were great connoisseurs of music. I do not know if we did any good but God knows.
The conference was great, I met a German young man by the name of Werner Johannsen. He, I, and Charles got together at the conference and made a trio and sang Give me that ole time religion.
After the conference was over we travelled back to England. On the way back Brother Charles and I spoke about our prayer meeting we were having in our home. He let me know that he would be willing to come up and help us out if I would like. About a week later Brother Price came and also brought a black Brother with him. We all got together, prayed, and went out door knocking. Carol would take the baby buggy with her pushing Rebecca and we would knock on the doors. If no one answered the door we would drop leaflets in the door mail slot inviting them to come to our prayer meetings.
There was a hall located across from the bus depot and we rented it and decided to have some meetings there to see if we could get people in. When we had our first service we had a lady to come with another couple that we found out was the Barker family. They let us know that they had received a leaflet and had wanted to come to our prayer meeting at our house but when they would get to our door they would keep going rather than coming in. Now that they saw we had the hall they wanted to find out what we were like. I remember all of us singing and me preaching and when I gave the altar call Brother and Sister Barker came to the front. Brother Barker would pray for a little while and stop. Sister Barker though would pray and pray. I remember her praying and she got really close to receiving the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. Everyone got rally excited when she began to have stammering lips. I was there praying with her when all of a sudden she collapsed on the floor. She fell and you could hear the bang when she hit the floor. I looked down at her and she did not move. I dropped down beside her and realized something was desperately wrong. I felt for a pulse and there was none. I checked her heart and could feel no heart beat. I tried to see if she was breathing and could not find any sign of breathing. I looked at Brother Barker and said Brother Barker she’s not breathing. He was terrified and said Pastor Duke she has a bad heart and was only given a month to live about two months ago. I began to pray and ask God over and over again Lord what am I going tyo do? What am I going to do? Thoughts begin to rush through my mind. What will I tell the Police when they come? That she was praying for the Holy Spirit and just fell over and died? That thought scared me more. I said Lord this will hurt your cause when I tell them this, I said what shall I do what shall I do? All of a sudeen his voice spoke to me and said lay your hand on her and pray for her. I did and when I said in Jesus name she shot up off the floor began to praise the Lord and then began to speak in tongues as the Spirit of God gave the utterance. To Go be the Glory.
When I saw her receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost I remembered Luke writing of the Gentiles receiving it in Acts 10:45 And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. 10:46 For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God.
Well When Sister Barker came up off of that floor speaking in tongues a glow set upon her countenance that radiated throughout the hall. Brother Barker’s eyes grew larger and looked like they were bulging out of their socket as he kept going round and round her as she worshipped the Lord in the Spirit. He looked over at me and he said I want that! After the service had ended that night he came up to me again and related his desire to have that wonderful experience his wife had received. He said I am going to get it on Wednesday night.
When Wednesday night came I remember him coming over to our house for the prayer meeting. He walked in the front door headed for the room we used to pray in, dropped on his knees and began to pray. To my astonishment he almost instantly began to speak in tongues. I saw him I heard him but as I prayed with him I felt nothing from the Spirit. I looked over at Carol and with a questioning look asked her if she could feel anything. She shook her head and said no? I let him go on and on speaking in tongues and finally he stopped, looked up at me and grinned a big look I got it grin. I looked down at him and the Spirit seemed to speak through me and asked, Brother Barker do you know another language? The grin faded, he dropped his head down and shook it for a yes. I asked him, what language do you speak? He replied I was speaking Arabic. I said Brother Barker that’s not the Holy Ghost! When you receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost you speak in a tongue you have never known as the Spirit gives the utterance. That is as the Spirit speaks through you. He was so embarrassed that he got up, we prayed for him and he went home. Well the good news is he did in the coming weeks receive the real genuine experience of the Holy Ghost. God is great!
After Brother and Sister Barker received the Holy Ghost they began going out on visitation with us. They also invited friends to come and be with us in the meetings on Sunday. Brother Charles worked with us for a few weeks and then he left to return to London. That left us without a musician and it was the week after he left that we had our Sunday service in the hall. Just before we were to start the service a lady walked in and we met her at the door. We soon found that she played the piano. I ushered her to the piano and asked her to play for our meeting as we had no musician. She sit down and I started the servive. We had a great time singing, worshipping and praising the Lord. The Spirit of God was very strong that night in the service. At the end of the service after I had preached my sermon I noticed that she had left very quickly without saying goodbye. I thought that she had not enjoyed the service. Well after closing the building we walked home and lo and behold there in front of the house was standing the piano player with her daughter. She quickly related to me that in the meeting as she played the piano she felt God moving all over her. She had felt tingling and shivers running up and down her spine and arms. She said I could not wait to run home and tell my daughter and to bring her over here where you can pray for her. Apparently her daughter had been ill for a long time and could not find any relief. We prayed for her and God really touched her in a mighty way bringing healing to her and delivering her at the same time. To Jesus our God be the glory.
I was unable to stay in the U.K. after my plane ticket and my 90 day visa expired. I had been granted permission by the government to work after a long delay and worked as a bus conductor on the double Decker busses while having meetings in Rushden, Northamptonshire. God had blessed us but now I was to return to the USA. We did try and to remain in England. I contacted Brother Mervyn Miller and he and the UPC representative came to visit with us. After I explained my burden and desire to them they told me that the best thing for me to do was to return to the USA, eneter bible school and get some experience in the work of God enabling me to get a missionary appointment. I l remember looking at them and telling them that I felt like this was the best thing to do also. I promised them as soon as I got back I would follow their instructions. Sadly we turned the work over to the missionary there in the UK and left to return to New York.
Arriving back in New York we picked up our car and began the long journey driving back to Florida. Our car had set up for the three months that we had been away and after driving for about 200 miles I heard a bang and it began to smoke. We prayed all the way back to Florida for it to make it. Well it did but it emitted Holy Smoke all the way. People would laugh as they passed us chugging along with smoke coming out the tail pipe, Some would turn on their windshield wipers and wave their hands back and forth in front of their face as they went by.
Returning to Florida I now had no job and our Pastor Robert Glass put us up in the Evangelist quarters in the church. We stayed there for some number of weeks until I was able to afford a house. I wound up working with Rev Billy Adams in the wholesale car business. Later I opened up a car lot near the home that I rented. Instead of doing what I had promised by enrolling in bible college I had done my own thing. Well I found out that when you are a called of God individual and you do not obey what God has shown you then nothing is going to go right for you. Nothing went right and after 2 attempts to do a business I came to the end of my road. I remember going to my mothers house to eat with her and all of sudden in her living room God spoke to me again about going to bible school. I had picked up a church magazine and there on the front page was an article on the bible school in Texas. The Spirit moved upon me and with tears in my eyes I looked at Carol and said we are out of the will of God. She looked at me and said I know! I said if we are right I will call the bible college and will be able to enroll. I called and they told me I had just a few more days to enroll. After going to the VA to fill out papers for my G.I. bill for college the next day I loaded up my car and headed for Houston Texas to enroll in Texas Bible College.
I arrived in Houston, found a room at the local YMCA and began looking for a job. Finally I found one working at a filling station pumping gas. I enrolled in bible school, worked at the filling station, and as soon as I had enough money I went back and got Carol and the kids and brought them to Houston. We loaded everything in that car. On top was a baby high chair, a baby pot and all kind of things. We looked like the Beverly hillbillies as we travelled back to Houston.
After a month working in the Phillips gas station I finally was able to get a job that paid better at Hughes Tool company. I took their test, passed it, and was able to start working the 3 till 11 shift. That allowed me to go to school at 7:35 in the morning and my classes lasted till around 3:00 P.M allowing me to get out of school and go to work. I really enjoyed working at Hughes and was able to meet other Apostolics that worked there. One of these that really became a friend of mine was Johhny Wilhoite who pastured a work in Highlands Texas just east of Houston. Johhny was not in my department but would come to my area when he could and we would fellowship on our breaks. Johnny asked me one night, Brother Duke what are you planning to do in your ministry? I told him I had been looking for a place to start a new church. He looked at me and asked me if I had heard of Galveston Texas? I said No. he then told me it was about 45 miles from Houston and was a Islaand where a lot of people went to for the beaches. He said there has been a lot of preachers to go there and try to start a church but they have all left and there is not one there. He told me of some of the hardships that they had and how some had been placed in jail for having services that were too loud. After all his negative statements about Galveston I thought to myself I am not interested in that place. Well about a month later at work I had Johnny to come to my area and the first thing he asked me was have you been to Galveston yet? I said no and actually I had not thought any more about it. He looked at me and said it won’t cost much to go look and they really do need a church there. Feeling a little bad about it I looked at him and said well I will drive over there on Sunday after church and see what it looks like.
On Sunday after church I, Carol, Jim and Betty Lenning got in the car and we drove to Galveston Texas. I remember looking in front of me just before I reached the city and there was a very high bridge that was so high that large ships could pass under it. As I drove across the bridge, I reached the highest point of the bridge and there before me was a full view of the Island of Galveston Texas. As I looked over the city I suddenly felt the awesome Spirit of God moving all over me and tears began to fill my eyes. I looked over at Carol and said this is where we are going to build a church.
After returning to the U.S.A., attending Texas Bible College Carol and I started a church in Galveston, Texas. As I was still in a dilemma in regards to Standards I started off being as hard as nails on every standard still thinking that standards were salvation issues and how one dressed was holiness. It would take me years to get rid of some of the stinking thinking that I had accumulated from others. It was just a simple fact that I believed everything that the old timers taught and I never questioned anything. As years went by slowly I would here a little and there a little drop some of the non biblical ideas that were taught to me. One of the first was wearing a wrist watch. Before I came to Texas I remember taking care of the Church in Jay Florida after the Pastor had left kind of suddenly. He had been trying to build a larger building and financial problems arose and the people began to leave him with all the bills. It became too much for him that he finally tossed the towel in. As soon as I arrived one lady saw my wrist watch on and asked me if I did not preach against jewelry. I told her I was a hell fire preacher on standards but never thought the cheap wrist watch I wore was jewelry. I was set straight by being reminded that jewels were on the inside used for the watch movements. I am sad to say that this was one standard I never adhered to. I did remain there for 6 months toeing the line making sure I preached what was expected of me till they were able to vote in a new Pastor.
In 1972 after being appointed as a missionary I traveled the U.S. going from church to church raising my partners in Missions. I soon found that I had to find out what each Pastor felt was sin and not allowed in their church. Some would not allow slides, others overhead projectors, and video or films about the field you were going to. There were also many that would not allow the Organization slides on Partners in Missions to be shown. As a result of all this I began to further question how far one should go in teaching the doctrine of man.
Reaching the field and going into my first area to pioneer a church I made up my mind that I was not going to make Pharisees out of the people that we won to the Lord. Well my prior teachings did not allow me to stay away from some of the things that I held to still be a outward standard of Holiness so I did teach these. One of the problems I had in the British Isles was that the West Indian Churches believed in wearing a hat or a veil for a covering instead of believing that long uncut hair was the covering. I ended up instructing our people to comply with their teachings when they visited their church as it would not hurt to have two coverings. I surely did not want a division.
The first church that we pioneered in England was in the city of High Wycombe Buckinghamshire, It was here that I had met Sister Hilda Allen and her family. Hilda had a son and a daughter by the name of Larry and Kim. Brother Charles Price had taken me to their home about a year before we finally arrived in the UK after our tour of raising partners in missions. I can say this without hesitation. Sister Hilda was a real blessing and inspiration to me and our family. She was a real prayer warrior who had works to go along with her faith. Much of my success in the British Isles could be attributed to Sister Allen and her family. When we first got started in High Wycombe we were able to gain the children that Brother and Sister Roy Lindo from the church Calvary Temple in London had coming to a Sunday School that they held in the Irish Men’s club. Some of the kids that he had attending would later grow up and become members of good standing in the church. Some of these were Sandra and Bernadine who was sisters. Also was another your Lady by the name of Sonia. All of these girls were beautiful young people that received the Holy Ghost and went on to continue living for God from the Sunday School meetings. It was in the club that we started having our first services. The Irish club would use the building on Sunday till around 1:00 P.M. We would go in around 2:00 to have our meetings. Many times we would arrive and the room we used was reeking with the smell of beer, alcohol, and cigarettes. Immediately after starting our meetings there I began to look for another building for our services. I was able to finally rent the downstairs hall Townfield House from the Conservative club and we held meetings there until about a year later the United Reform Church rented us their premises. During our meetings in the Townfield House we saw God move in a mighty way filling many people with the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. During some of these powerful meetings the conservative club would sometimes have something going on in their bar upstairs and I know we must have upset them because sometimes they would bang on the floor or roll barrels on the floor to make noise to upset our meetings.
One of the men that came into the church while we were at the Townfield House was a Salvation Army Lieutenant by the name of Billy Graham. The whole family of the Graham’s were filled with the Holy Ghost Baptism and when I asked Billy about being Baptized in Jesus Name he said he would like to discuss the matter with me. Well he and his wife came over to our home and he pulled out a clip board where he had wrote down many questions regarding the Baptism in the name of Jesus. I answered all his questions and he then looked at me and said me and my family would like for you to baptize us in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of our sins. I had built a portable baptism tank and we filled it up and all of the family went down in the water in the name of Jesus.
Brother Billy went on to become a minister of the truth. I would tell people later that I had baptized Billy Graham in Jesus name. They would look at me in awe until I explained he was not the one they were thinking of.
Another young man that became a great inspiration to me was Michael Joules. Mike was a lay preacher in the Methodist Church. Mike would attend his church services and then would come to ours. One Sunday I saw him ministering at the Methodist Chapel across from our home in Radnage and about a week later I was baptizing him in the fiberglass tank in Jesus name. I almost gave up on Mike receiving the Holy Ghost. He was so quite. But he kept on coming and one night we had a meeting in Reading and there God filled him with the Holy Ghost. Later Brother Mike told me it was easy to receive. I told him I wish he had felt that way a long time ago.
Our church began to build up and finally we moved into the United Reform Church’s building. It was here that God began to really add to the church. We were across from the park named “The Rye” and it was in this park where we would put up a tent yearly and have a tent crusade. We had some great men of God to come over and preach for us there. Among them were Johnny Godair, Don Johnson, Brother Morgan along with David and the Giants, and many others that came from the United States churches to help us with these meetings. The tent would hold around 175 people and it was filled during most of our crusades. Many received the Holy Ghost in these meetings. We had a great church going that was a great mixture of West Indians, a few English, a few Americans, and a few Africans. I believed that I had some of the finest from all ethnic groups. I was really proud of all of them. I use to think now I can really sing Jesus loves the little children of the world, red and yellow black and white they are precious in his sight, Jesus loves the children of the world. I had sung that song in my Baptist Church in Alabama but we only had white kids coming to the church. Now I had seen children from all walks of life that were coming to a church that welcomed them all. I remember what Jesus had spoken through the Apostle Paul in Collosians 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: 3:11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
But as it always does Satan raised up his ugly head and began to work among some of the young people in the church. As we had now a lot of West Indians in the church but a few English people I suggested to our church maybe we needed to do something to reach more English people. I had seen where it was very hard for us to get English people to come to the services and suggested even having a special meeting designed to what I felt they might accept. The Charismatic churches were reaching them and they were lively meetings but not as boisterous as ours. Well the devil started working through a young girl that we had cast a demon out of. I remember when she started coming to the meetings that we one Saturday had a special meeting in the Guild hall. That night the place was filled with unsaved visitors. Well the demon began to act up in her because of the danger of casting it out with so many sinners there I commanded it to be calm. She was screaming and writhing all over the place with her eyes all out of focus. When I commanded it to be calm I looked at her eyes which was rolling around like a roulette and suddenly she stopped screaming and like the wheels on a slot machine they came back into focus. In the following meeting in the church she was delivered from the evil spirit. After she got in the church her dad who looked like Goliathcame in one Sunday and caused a uproar. He was mad and wanted to get the preacher. Well the preacher he wanted was me and I happened to not be there that night. They finally got him calmed down and escorted him out the building. Well the young girl must not have stayed free from her spirit because some time later she began to spread that I was a racist. She convinced some of the other young people of this and they tried to get me in trouble with the district. It created a bad spirit in the church and I had to end my desire to use them to reach and hold a special service for the English. Some of these young people were so precious and sung in the choir. They would come to our home and practice. We were shocked that one person could be used by the enemy to defeat the progress of God and his purpose for us in the church. It left me really heartbroken that a Christian could be blaming someone else as a racist while it was they that was so prejudiced. I had noticed that after we had gotten many in from different areas of the world that there was prejudice among the people from Granada and the people of Jamaica as well as the West Indians that did not like the Africans. I can truthfully say that I loved them all. How could I do that? One that had been raised to dislike and hate people from other races. Well Jesus had came into my life and that should make a change in our lives. We should go from hate to Love.
One of the ideas that has caused a lot of division over the years is prophesy. There have been numerous amounts of people to leave the church over someone else not believing their thinking on the subject. I was pretty brain washed on this when I arrived in England and soon found my self at odds with many there because they believed in the Historical interpretation of the scriptures regarding revelation. I found myself arguing with them and at times I would feel a real evil spirit rise up within my insides. One day God spoke to me and told me that I needed to study the teaching. I did and I found that they had much truth on the subject that was not just interpretation but founded on historical and archeological facts. I then felt like God revealed to me that there was a possibility that both interpretations had truth in them. I looked deeper into what God had said and found that there has been many duel fulfillments to scripture and asked myself why are men arguing over these matters if both could have a measure of truth. I began to study in great depth and realized that there is so much truth that can be opened up to you if you did not shut truth out. I also found that many of the hardliners on different prophetical interpretations did not even know where the teachings had originated. I later did a in depth study and put together a power point bible study on the different interpretations of prophesy in order to teach people the differences.
In 1985 I assumed the pastorate in Fort Walton Beach Florida where I spent many years teaching and preaching. The congregation was small and it seemed like we would never reach 50 in the congregation. Well in 1988 a book was printed titled 88 Reasons the Lord would return in 1988. Well I read the book and it really sounded feasible but I still held to the scripture that no one would know the exact day that Jesus would come back. But I decided that after much prayer and thought that I would not take a hard stand against the book. I begin to see some of our Ministers that either came out strong against the book , others that used it to get attention and then there was those that believed the book altogether. After realizing how much effect the book was having I decided to use the book for discussion groups. As a result of this I saw a lot of people began to come to the Lord. I began having a revival nightly and contacted Evangelist Brian Kinsey, a friend from his coming to the British Isles over the years that I was there. I preached the first few services and on the night before he was to arrive to minister I lost my voice from preaching and praying with seekers. A great revival with many receiving the Baptism of the Holy Spirit or returning back to the Lord resulted. The church saw close to 50 new people come in. Even though I did not say that the Lord would come on the date specified in the book, as a matter of fact I clarified before each of my messages that I did not set the date and felt that the Lord could come at any time, their was those that really believed he would come on that date. One lady came to me just before the day and told me she was going to keep her kids home that day where they would all be together when he came. I instructed her that if she did this and the school found out why she had not sent the kids to school she would be classified in a bad manner if it did not happen. Well he did not come on that day and I was really glad as to how I had handled the situation. After the date had come and gone there were a few that stopped coming but most of the ones that really loved the Lord and had received that real personal experience of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit continued on with him.
Through the years we saw many people come to the Lord and walk with him. Our church built up to around 125 average with many services seeing over that. I recall there was a military family in the church that became very close to me because of their support for the church. The wife became my Ladies Leader and he became the secretary of the church. I found out through time that even though they loved the Lord they had a lot of teaching placed in them by former Pastors that was not what Jesus had revealed to us in his Holy Word. In one of my sermons I brought out how on my traveling as a Missionary to churches to raise my P.I.M. s that I had preached for a minister in Indiana that had questioned me about what I preached in regards to women wearing sandals. I was taken back by the question and looked him in the eye and told him I could not preach against something that my Lord had worn. Well after the service this family came to me and told me that they had been members of this Pastors church. Soon I began to find out that former teachings of this sort could really cause problems. I remember one day that she came to me and wanted to talk to me in the office. She set down and looked me in the eye and said pastor Duke I have a problem with you using people for different jobs that do not measure up to the standards of the Church. I apologized to her by saying that I would need her to forgive me for this but that I had been a pioneer preacher in all the former churches and when I started a church from scratch that I would use anyone that I could. After giving her my reasoning she left and it seemed that she was satisfied by my answer. As years went by they finally moved away from the area and I felt a great loss of their leaving as I had a real love in my heart for them. As time went by though I found that they had returned to a church that was divided on issues of standards between the Father and the Son. It was not long after this that I heard that the church had split and they had gone with the “Holier than thou” crowd. I thought to myself that well at least I will not be involved in their dilemma, I would soon find this to be erroroneous. If I could close this chapter with a helpful suggestion it would be that we all should search the scriptures. Listen Jesus is the most merciful and loving Saviour there could ever be and if he was able to forgive us for all we have done he can forgive anyone.
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