No Man Will Stand Before You All the Days of Your Life
I was called by God sometime around 1947-48. Near the end of the seven months of personal face to face talking with Jesus Christ, He sent me to preach the gospel. He gave me a blank check. He said to me, “Whenever you need Me, call Me and I will be there. Ask whatever question you want and I will answer it.”
One time they had called me into Champaign, Illinois, with the intention to destroy me. They told the people in the congregation that I was a sorcerer and they were going to confound me that night with the power of God. I didn’t know about this. One Brother opened his mouth and tried to tell me, “I don’t know what or how to tell you this…” I just stopped him. I didn’t want to know what he had to say.
I went into the meeting and stood up before a crowd of people. The power of God moved so mightily and the Word went forth! At the end of the message I invited them, “Brethren, I want anybody in this congregation to tell me if they feel that I am speaking a wrong word or if there is anything where you feel that I am wrong.” I actually invited the attack without knowing it!
Believe me, you could drop a pin. Men sat in their chairs and trembled. Finally, a sister spoke up. You know, I always admired this sister for her boldness, even though she was sometimes out of order. She was a precious being who loved the Lord, yet had a very bold spirit, which sometimes got her into trouble. This time, she got up and said, “What is this? You men sitting down here! You told us that this man is of the devil and now you just sit in your seats! Can’t you talk? What has happened to your tongues?”
The man, who they claimed to be an apostle, finally got the courage, jumped up and said to me, “All right! I command you to say, ‘Jesus is Lord!’”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Brother,” I said, “Don’t you know that in the Bible, when Jesus met the demoniac who lived in tombs at Gadara, the demons said, ‘What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?’ (Matthew 8:29) If demons can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ why couldn’t I say, ‘Jesus is Lord?’ It has no meaning! You are so childish to test me by telling me to say, ‘Jesus is Lord.’ The real test is in your heart: ‘Did I speak the Word of God?’”
That night those men wept! They wept, because the power of God was there.
It was God who sent me to preach His Word. For us to come from Jamaica, not even speaking English the way Americans speak it and be able to do what we did here in thirty years, it simply means that God must have been with us. No man has been able to confound us, exactly according to the Word God spoke to me as I was getting out of Jamaica, “No man will stand before you all the days of your life.” It hasn’t happened yet and it will never happen, for God will see to it that His Word is kept.