God and Carnality

And I am continually amazed that God has been so patient with me. I am literally amazed that He would tolerate things in me so long. And let me say, I have never been guilty of adultery, or immorality, or fornication, or drunkenness, or misuse of funds, all the things that people think about when a minister speaks about sin. That’s not where it was. In fact, I feel I’m led—God wants me to tell you this—the thing that God convicted me of most was carnality.

I was lying there sick, and I thought to myself, “Here I am, I’ve preached healing for sixty years, fifty years. And I’ve seen multitudes of people healed. And I believe what the Bible says,

“‘By the stripes of Jesus we are healed.’”

So, my problem was not really I was afraid of death. My problem was intellectual. How can I relate my present condition to my beliefs in the Bible?

And about 2:00 a.m. one night, or one morning, on the day in which I ended up in hospital—now I didn’t know I was going to be there—the Lord woke me and very graciously and gently showed me how much He hated carnality. You know that God has got strong feelings. Do you know that? God loves, and He hates. And He says in Malachi,

“‘Jacob I loved, and Esau I hated.’”

And Esau is one of the biblical types of carnality. And God showed me that carnality is absolutely hateful to Him. He didn’t say I was hateful. He reaffirmed His love. Now, I’m not going to—He showed me certain scenes from my past. Some of them in restaurants, let me say that. And if I were to be—I’ve wondered how I would explain to others what He showed me. Because, I mean, lots of people do things I never did, and I do things that they never did. And this is my definition of carnality, as far as I’ve been able to see it.

The writer of Hebrews saying,

“‘Here we have no continuing city, but we look for one to come.’”

And anytime we begin to think and act and live as if this world was our home, and we had something permanent here, that is carnality. Doesn’t need to express itself in any big or ugly sin. But once we lose the vision of eternity and are not living in the consciousness of eternal issues, that is carnality. And I tell you, God hates it. He doesn’t hate you. He doesn’t hate me. And He’s infinitely patient, but He wants to deal with it.

Afterwards, when I was recovering physically and getting better, the Lord told me that it would take time. That He was going to do it, but it would take time. And then He said something so sweet. He said, “Be patient with Me as I’ve been patient with you.” I couldn’t argue with that. Still, I’m still being patient. I want to testify I’ve come a long, long, long way. I am really flourishing. I’m not totally as strong as I was before I became sick.