This is the End of the Series
Of Not Winning Souls and
Feeding Them
by Tony Alamo
Everything Godly comes through Jesus. The righteousness of God is not a character which must be initially built up or slowly trained for. It isn’t a virtue or merit, tediously worked for until it is attained, like body builders training to build their bodies, or by studying rituals, as religions do try to incorporate. Jesus is a real person, who is living and loving, a real man.1 He is Christ, our brother, our Savior, our living head of His body of whom we are members.2 He has fashioned everything out for us, and waits to give everything to us the moment we accept Him. It is not a struggle for us to do good in our own strength, but a simple act of our confidence in a loving Redeemer who not only undertakes the whole task for us, but gives to us a free gift of righteousness the moment we accept Him.
Christ is the answer for the world. He is the remedy for the world, the hope of the world, the Redeemer of the world. The only profession, the only business of the apostles, was to minister Christ to men and women, telling them of Jesus and bringing them into contact with He who is the desire of all the nations, and the remedy for all men’s wrongs. All this is without the law, even though the law must be kept, which includes the law of the Beatitudes, and by the free grace of God for obedience. “Christ is the end of the law [the condemnation of the law if we sin no more, if we win souls] for righteousness to every one that believeth” (Rom. 10:4).
When we receive Jesus, we pass from being under condemnation, from the terror of the law. We receive salvation by faith, with righteousness higher than any man could ever attain, because of Christ in us giving us the power to sin no more, the free gift of His grace. His merits become ours, and we stand before God in as good a place as if we had never sinned, in as good a place as if we had done everything that He has done and kept every commandment that He has kept. Not only so, we receive Him into our hearts as a living presence and efficient power, a divine enabling. United to Him we can relive the life He lived and be even as He was in this world. Such a salvation, so complete, so sufficient, so far reaching, so free is enough to set on fire the hearts of angels and to make us human beings who have received it burn with desire to pass it on to all the people in the world. How sad that this world, which is lost, should be another minute without this salvation. It’s up to us! This righteousness is accessible and available to all people. It is not far off, but near. It is not far away in the heavens, where sinners must, with much pain, climb to the heights to virtue and achievement before they are able to attain it. It reaches down to the level of those who are the most far gone, the most lost and helpless of men. Its terms are as simple as the language you speak or as love can provide. These are the terms: “Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:21). There is nothing so easy as to call, to utter a cry of need, and know that instantly the love and grace of God will respond. It isn’t restricted to any race or class: “There is no difference…for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him” (Rom. 10:12). It is not for moral Jew or cultured Greek or philosopher, but is for the common people, the sinful people, the “whosoever will.”3 It uses a beautiful figure of speech to express its accessibility. “Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into Heaven? (that is, who shall bring Christ down from above?) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, who will bring up Christ again from the dead?) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Rom. 10:6-9). People don’t have to climb to some elevated level or experience to know God, to become righteous, as cults teach. We don’t have to whip ourselves or do any other abasement to make ourselves worthy of God’s mercy. Anything like that is unscriptural, foolish. It is repentance right now. It is faith. You can meet Jesus now, wherever you are. We who have been in the ministry for years know, but the person on the street doesn’t know; they have to be told. All humanity is a wreck. There is in every human heart the voice of God now and then, a need, the response to the gospel, awakening a person. Exodus 20 tells of the fear of God and His mercy to all, through Jesus Christ. We know that the Word of God is Jesus.4 Jesus uttered the ten commandments. The entire nation of Israel, 3,000,000 men, not including women and children, heard the voice of God on Mount Sinai. It was so loud it filled their ears and shook the earth, awesome, and frightening. The law which was given is called the ancient law, but it is the same today and even more severe by the New Testament law in the Beatitudes. It is true that the law cannot save anyone. However, it condemns the same today as it did then. God told Moses that no one will serve Him if they don’t fear Him.5 It is good to fear God;6 it is our wisdom.7 It is God’s mercy that we fear Him and fear to break the law. Jesus said, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil” (Matt. 5:17). Jesus never came to destroy the law; it will always be. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but the law never will. “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away” (Matt. 24:35).8 It was the altar of earth where the Hebrews were to meet God to get forgiveness of sins so they could escape the fiery judgment shown to them which they saw displayed on the top of Mount Sinai (which represented God’s judgment); but the altar of earth represented the cross of Calvary and the plan of salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ. It was there that they would bring their sacrifices to bleed and die as Christ would do in order to find atonement for their sins, which the law very fearfully condemned. The altar was to be made of earth, not stone, which was the most common, least expensive material and available to everybody. Secondly, it was to be made of stones left as they found them, for God said, “If thou lift up thy tool upon it thou hast polluted it” (Ex. 20:25). This is symbolic of mixing man’s doctrine with the gospel (heresy with the truth). No works of man must mingle with the free grace which insists upon God through Christ alone saving us. There were to be no steps leading up to the altar. There is no step needed to raise any sinner to a level where God can meet Him. Of course, we fly to meet Him in prayer, but still God meets us just as we are, wherever we, in sincerity, cry out to Him. God stoops to the lowest place where sinners exist and repent. God cries out, “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; … without money and without price” (Isa. 55:1).
Another beautiful vision of the nearness of God’s mercy and grace to helpless sinners is in Leviticus 14. It is the testimony of the poor leper outside the camp, cut off from the fellowship of his brethren by his unclean leprosy. But in infinite tenderness and mercy, God is represented as going out to meet him, the sinner, there: “And the priest shall go forth out of the camp” (Lev. 14:3). God meets him where he lies in his separation and misery and supplies all that is necessary for his return and his future way.
God demonstrates His mercy in so many different ways. With myself it was in one way; with the apostle Paul it was in another way, documented in the book of Acts. Another very unusual way which I heard of was with this Chinese man. He was asked why he gave up Confucius and Buddha and accepted Jesus Christ. He said, “I was down in a deep pit into which I had fallen in my folly and sin. I was sinking in the mire, and was in vain calling for help. Suddenly, a shadow fell across the pit. Looking up, I saw Confucius. I implored him to reach out his hand to get me out, but he proceeded to calmly instruct me in the principles of his version of right living, and told me that if I had only listened to his teaching, I would have not been in the pit. He said it was vain for me to cry, ‘Help me, help me now! Your good advice will be useful after I get out, but it is useless until someone delivers me out of this pit of death.’ He was gone, and I knew Confucius could not save me.
“Later another shadow fell on the opening of the pit, and I looked up to see Buddha. With the frenzy of despair, I cried for him to save me. But Buddha folded his arms and looked serenely down upon me. ‘My son,’ he said, ‘be quiet, be patient, be still. Don’t mind your troubles, ignore them. The secret of happiness is to die to self and surroundings, to retire to the inward calm and center of your heart. There you shall find nirvana, eternal rest, and that is the end of all existence.’ As he turned to leave, I cried, ‘Father, if you will only get me out of this pit, I can do all you tell me, but how can I be quiet and satisfied sinking in this awful mire?’ He benignly waved his hand and said, ‘My son, be still,’ and passed on. And I knew Buddha would not save me. At that point, I was ready to give up hope, when a third shadow fell across my vision. I looked up and saw a man, like myself, with kind and tender countenance. Marks of dried blood were upon his brow. He spoke to me and said, ‘My child, I have come to save you. Will you let me?’ I cried out in my despair, ‘Come, Lord, help me, I perish!’ In a moment He had leaped down into the pit and put His arms around me. He lifted me up, and placed me on the brink, and took my torn and spattered clothing. He washed me and robed me in new clothes, and then He said, ‘I have come to save you from your distress, and now, if you will follow me, I will never leave you. I will be your friend and guide all the way and will keep you from ever, ever falling again.’ His name was Jesus. Need I say that I fell at His feet, saying, ‘Lord, I will follow Thee.’?” The man said, “This is why I became a Christian.” This is the same Jesus who has taken you, me, and hundreds of millions of others out of a horrible pit and the miry clay, set our feet upon a solid rock, and established our goings. He is longing to do the same for every lost and hopeless person of our fallen race.
It is very sad and needless and sinful that most people who profess Christianity allow themselves to die, perish, without ever knowing Him. How could we Christians be as cruel as Confucius and Buddha, and heartless towards Jesus, who always did “seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). This is the glorious gospel which God has provided for this whole lost world. It is our responsibility to give the gospel to the world. There are three items that must be observed in the list of our responsibilities.
Here they are: (Number one): “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?” (Rom. 10:14). Believing is the responsibility of every sinner. God calls upon every lost sinner to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, to call upon Him as Savior and Lord. If people refuse to do this, the responsibility for the loss of their souls is their own. They have had their chance, and they have made their choice. God cannot save people without their believing in Him. In the very nature of things there must be confidence, consent. There must be a response of the human will and the human heart to the call of God. Salvation is not a mechanical process but a voluntary one. Every human effort must cooperate with God. “He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18). Men deserve to be lost forever if they refuse to accept the Savior who is offered to them. This is the one deciding question for every human being. People will perish eternally for the biggest of all sins, which is the rejection of Jesus Christ. It is the question of the Son of God. Because of that, God wants the message of salvation offered to all mankind. Then the responsibility rests with them. “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:15-16).
(Number two): The second responsibility is the human agency. “And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?” (Rom. 10:14). The agency is the messenger. God has ordained the human agency as the conveyor of the gospel to mankind. He could have proclaimed it with a very loud voice, or stood in the sky with His fists doubled up and shaking it at us on earth. I’m sure if He did, everyone would have fallen on their faces, like they will when Christ comes back to earth soon in His wrath.9 He could have sent legions of angels to proclaim it among the nations. No! He has chosen to give us the privilege and honor of sharing with Him in His glorious work. “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God” (II Cor. 5:20). Therefore, Christ’s first word to His disciples is, “GO”—the call of the Heavenly voices is, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” (Isa. 6:8). He is waiting for volunteers, and He will only send volunteers. It is the duty of every one of us who doesn’t have a good reason for staying at home to go. Have we heard this call? Have we weighed our responsibility? Have we waited for our marching orders? Are we where God wants us in this war for human souls? Young men, women, mothers, fathers, students, and people of every name who are standing or sitting at the crossroads of life, listen today, while again He calls, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” (Isa. 6:8). God grant that many may answer even today: “Here am I; send me” (Isa. 6:8).
(Number three): The last link in the line of responsibility brings the responsibility home to every one of us. “And how shall they preach, except they be sent?” (Rom. 10:15). Sending is something we all can do. It is certainly God’s business to send a messenger, and the words “preacher” and “missionary” only mean “sent ones.” The twelve apostles were twelve missionaries, and every missionary will be sent by the Holy Spirit. If you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you will go. When I first was saved and Susan was teaching me the Word of God, I felt it was such a waste for my ears only to hear the wonderful words of God, so I asked her if I could bring others to hear her teaching, to hear how she was saved, and also to hear how I also came to know the Lord. Then that wasn’t enough. We got gospel tracts from the Free Tract Society in Los Angeles, and as soon as the sun would come up or when it became light outside, I was on the streets. While people were still sleeping, I was placing tracts on cars, on doorways, in shopping baskets, on shelves in shopping centers, in hallways, under the doors of apartments, hotels, motels, and houses (only the ones that the Holy Spirit told me). Then I wouldn’t wait for the sun to come out, I would start with all zeal when the sky showed the first sign of light. We, Sue and I, would pass out the tracts on Hollywood Boulevard and the Sunset Strip when the riots were going on. Needless to say, Satan didn’t like this. Then, of course, the smear campaigns began, and they have only intensified down through the years. It is our duty to win souls, train them, then send them out to lead others to the Lord as well. In the book of Acts, God began His great work of modern missions. (Before He did that), He commanded the church at Antioch to separate its two best leaders as foreign missionaries, and it is distinctly added, “So they, being sent forth by the Holy Spirit, departed unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus” (Acts 13:4). Who is to do the sending first? The Holy Spirit, then those who the Holy Spirit speaks to and through. Ask Jesus the Christ into your heart now through this prayer:
My Lord and my God, have mercy upon my soul, a sinner. 1 I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God. 2 I believe that He died on the cross and shed His precious blood for the forgiveness of all my sins. 3 I believe that God raised Jesus from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit 4 and that He sits on the right hand of God at this moment, hearing my confession of sin and this prayer. 5 I open up the door of my heart and I invite You into my heart, Lord Jesus. 6 Wash all of my filthy sins away in the precious blood that You shed in my place on the cross at Calvary. 7 You will not turn me away, Lord Jesus, You will forgive my sins and save my soul. I know because Your Word, the Bible says so. 8 Your Word says that You will turn no one away, and that includes me. 9 Therefore, I know that You have heard me, and I know that You have answered me, and I know that I am saved. 10 And I thank You, Lord Jesus, for saving my soul, and I will show my thankfulness by doing as You command and sin no more. 11
You've just completed the first step in a series of five steps which are necessary to receive salvation. Your second step is to deny yourself and take up the cross daily for the purpose of mortifying yourself, that is, for putting to death your own will, your soulful self, and the world with all of its lusts. All these must be baptized into the death of Christ.
Step three is your resurrection from the satanic life of Adam unto the sinless life of Christ. Step four is your ascension into a position of authority to reign for God on earth, and the fifth step is to reign for God on earth to the end for the purpose of bringing about the kingdom of Heaven on earth. You must learn the Word of God, then submit yourself and do what the Word says, so that the Church and the world may see evidence of your submission to God's Word, His order, and His authority in and by you.
Praise the Lord. May God reward you abundantly.
Pastor Tony Alamo
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This is the End of the Series Of Not Winning Souls and Feeding Them footnotes:
1. Psa. 48:9, Matt. 16:13-17, 28:2-15, Luke 1:77-79, Rom. 5:8, Eph. 3:19, Titus 3:4, James 5:11, I John 4:11 return
2. Matt. 1:21, 12:50, 18:11-13, 25:40, Luke 1:68-77, 2:11, 30-32, 34, 15:1-10, Rom. 12:5, I Cor. 12:27, Eph. 5:23, Col. 1:18, Heb. 2:11-12 return
3. Matt. 10:32, 12:21, 28:19-20, Mark 8:34, Luke 6:47-49, 9:24, 48, John 1:11-13, 3:14-18, 20:31, Acts 2:21 return
4. John 1:1, 14, Rev. 19:13 return
6. Deut. 6:24, Neh. 5:9, I Sam. 12:14-15, Psa. 111:10, Prov. 16:6, Eccl. 12:13 Jer. 32:39, 40 return
7. Job 28:28, Prov. 1:7, 9:10 return
8. Psa. 33:11, 102:27, 119:89-90, Eccl. 3:14, Mal. 3:6, Mark 13:31, Luke 21:33, Heb. 1:10-12, 6:17-18, 13:8, James 1:17 return
9. Rom. 14:11, Phlp. 2:10, Rev. 6:15-16 return
Prayer footnotes:
1. Psa. 51:5, Rom. 3:10-12, 23 return
2. Matt. 26:63-64, 27:54, Luke 1:30-33, John 9:35-37, Rom. 1:3-4 return
3. Acts 4:12, 20:28, Rom. 3:25, I John 1:7, Rev. 5:9 return
4. Psa. 16:9-10, Matt. 28:5-7, Mark 16:9, 12, 14, John 2:19, 21, 10:17-18, 11:25, Acts 2:24, 3:15, Rom. 8:11, I Cor. 15:3-7 return
5. Luke 22:69, Acts 2:25-36, Heb. 10:12-13 return
6. I Cor. 3:16, Rev. 3:20 return
7. Eph. 2:13-22, Heb. 9:22, 13:12, 20-21, I John 1:7, Rev. 1:5, 7:14 return
8. Matt. 26:28, Acts 2:21, 4:12, Eph. 1:7, Col. 1:14 return
9. Matt. 21:22, John 6:35, 37-40, Rom. 10:13 return
10. Heb. 11:6 return
11. John 5:14, 8:11, Rom. 6:4, I Cor. 15:10, Rev. 7:14, 22:14 return