Reader, the spiritual condition of the United States is critical, the need so urgent, and the time so short, that I am going to be very blunt with you. There has never been a generation since the ascension of Christ which was so WILLFULLY AND INEXCUSABLY DECEIVED AS OUR PRESENT GENERATION! I realize that such a statement sounds incredulous to some of you, perhaps most of you, but it is absolutely true..... and YOU could know it to be true if you had enough concern to READ YOUR BIBLE!

Spiritual conditions were bad (very bad!) before the great Western European Reformation of the sixteenth century, but there is a very important difference between then and now. Folks then had no Bibles, and they would not have been allowed to use them if they had them. They were under the imposition of a religious creed and practice contrary to the Scriptures. In a word, they were in bondage to a demonic system of religious deception.

The great deception of this generation is upon peoples who not only have ready access to God's Word, but have the precious freedom to read it, study it and discuss it openly. THEY JUST WILL NOT READ THE BIBLE! It seems that folks today are just too busy to pick up the Bible and search out the truth for themselves. They seem to prefer paying someone to do their reading for them, their studying for them, and their praying for them. Some who are reading this article will find the following poem applicable to themselves.

"Mother, I found an old dusty thing

High on the shelf-just look!"

"Why, that's a Bible, Tommy dear;

Be carefull - that's God's Book!" "God's Book!" the child exclaimed;

"Then Mother, before we lose it, We'd better send it back to God,

For, you know, we never use it!"

There are others reading this article who carry their Bible to church when they go, but are not actually any better off than those who "never use it". They seldom read the Bible in private and never seriously study it at all! Let me put before you a verse from God's word, a verse which your preacher probably does not want you to consider. "Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth

(Romans 9:18). Did you know those words were in the Bible? Do you have any idea what they mean? I urge you to study these words in their context. Study them for yourself. I warn you, dear reader, if your concept of God is as most folks in this generation, then your concept is plainly, according to the Scriptures, a soul-damning delusion! (II Thessalomans 2:10-12). You had better find out who and what God is before it is too late! "Woe unto them who are at ease in Zion!" (Amos 6:1).

The above verse means exactly what it says! It means that God might effectually call and draw you to the Lord Jesus Christ; then again, He just might not! It means God might quicken your soul to life, giving you faith in His Son (John 5:21; Ephesians 2:1); then again, He might pass you by, leaving you in your sin and deception to perish in hell! It means God "hath mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth." Translated into practical exhortation, it means that you and I had better ignore most of the preachers of this generation and ask God for a heart like the publican, a heart to cry out in desperation of soul, "GOD BE MERCIFUL TO ME A SINNER" Luke 18:9-14). READ YOUR BIBLE!!