The Fruit Of Their Thoughts
Introduction
Over the past four decades, Brother George L. Pike has preached thousands of messages concerning the Revelation of Jesus Christ. By means of audio, video and publication facilities, he has also blessed the lives of people all around the world, not to mention the innumerable times when he ministered the deep things of God to little groups of brethren, here and there, that were not recorded on audio or video tape, but recorded only in the hearts of those who were fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of that other world.
For us, it is difficult to choose which sermon we most would like to be transcribed and put into book form. It’s like going through a beautiful art gallery of masterpieces, and deciding, at that moment, which one you would want to share with those outside who may have never seen such things.
“The Fruit Of Their Thoughts”, was preached by Brother Pike in March of 1968, and is a dynamic sermon that points us to that place of perfection, which can be obtained if an individual is willing to conform to God’s Word.
“Commit your works unto the Lord, and your thoughts shall be established!” This verse of Scripture from Proverbs 16:3 is the keynote to this message, as Brother Pike unveils the written Word and shows us the necessity of bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" casting down imaginations, and every high thing that would dare to exalt itself against the knowledge of God.
Did you know that without knowing evil, we could never have comprehended good? Did you know that unless a person is first ignorant, they will never receive true wisdom and understanding? Don’t fail to read, “Out From Under The Curse,” as the author, Brother George Pike, unfolds the answers to some of life’s most perplexing questions.
With this, it is our great and utmost pleasure, to bring forth and share with you these divinely inspired messages from the man of God, who has been, along with his wife, Betty, the greatest examples of walking charity in our day. Read this sermon book with an honest and sincere heart, and discover the true results of serving God in every thought, which is the faith of Jesus Christ.
The Fruit Of Their Thoughts
I want you to turn with me over to the book of Proverbs, and I want to read just a little bit. Now the Bible says to give the more earnest heed to the things that you’ve heard, lest at any time you should let them slip. Seeing that the angels received a just recompense of reward for every transgression, the Bible says, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?” If God did not spare the angels that sinned, but the Bible says He cast them down to hell and bound them in chains of darkness reserved unto that great day of judgment and fire, then we know that He’s not going to spare us. So, we want to give the more earnest heed to these things that we hear, lest when we want to remember them, God can’t bring them back to our remembrance. The Bible says that the Holy Ghost will bring to your remembrance whatsoever I have taught you. Now, if God doesn’t teach you anything, then the Holy Ghost can’t bring it to your remembrance, because His job is to bring it to your remembrance. So if you want God to bless you, then give the more earnest heed to the things you’ve heard, lest you let them slip.
We want to read from the book of Proverbs, and I want you to remember this one thing, that the virtue is in the temple. Many people pressed in around Jesus, but there wasn’t any of them that caused Him to feel the anointing except the little woman that touched the hem of His garment. When the little woman got close to Him, she was not looking at Jesus, but she was looking for that heavenly Father, that Spirit of power that He kept talking about, and she lifted up her faith in the words that He spoke, which words, Jesus said, were Spirit. When her faith went up to God, there came a virtue and an anointing out of that inner part of Christ and it went through His blood genes and through the cells of His body. That was when He declared He felt the anointing. If you feel the anointing of God, or if I feel the anointing of God, there is only one way to do it, and that is to get in the mind of Jesus Christ, which is the Bible, the Word, and to get interested in it, to hunger and thirst after it, and desire it with all of our heart, and He’ll never fail to come down. I’ve never seen it fail. So pay close attention to the Word, listen to it, give the earnest heed to it.
The Lord prepares our heart, and the Lord is the one that directs our steps, and the Bible says, “He created the good and He created the evil,” and He even created the wicked for the day of judgment. It would take a long time to explain to you just what Christ was saying, but here in the book of Proverbs, the great man Solomon gives us some idea of what the blessings of Christ are, and what the wisdom of God is, and he tells us, in the book of Proverbs, “Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established.” He also says, “If thy ways please the Lord, He maketh even thine enemies to be at peace with you.”
I want to discuss with you just a little bit on this verse of Scripture: “Commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established.” Now then, do you know that the reason people of today have so much trouble with their thoughts is that they don’t have any Christian works? The reason their joy is gone is because their Christian works have gone off and left them. When we fail to do the works of God, then the Bible tells us that our thoughts get scattered, and we can’t control our thoughts. When people’s thoughts begin to get scattered, then their tongue gets loose because their thoughts are not established. When you see a person with wandering thoughts, they’ve also got a loose tongue. It’s like I heard a preacher say one time: You can always tell the trail of a serpent because he leaves a crooked trail, and you can always tell when you meet the serpent because his tongue is always going. Have you ever seen a snake? His tongue just rattles all the time" it never stops, it goes all the time.
Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established. Now, if we could learn the secret of established thoughts, then we would be men and women of faith. Did you know that? If we could learn the secret of established thoughts, then we’d be great people of faith, because the Bible says to ask God for anything that we desire, and to ask in faith without wavering, for he that wavereth is like a ship on a sea that’s just tossed to and fro by the waves and by the wind. Solomon says here that the secret of it all is to be able to control our thoughts. Did you know that when David of old was out on the hillside watching after the sheep, that he would be singing and praying and making melody unto God within his heart, and while he was out there, he was learning to establish his thoughts, that he might eliminate fear and become a man after God’s own heart? When we take time to meditate, when we take time to get away with God, and take time to pray and fast and study the Word of God, then we find ourselves becoming richer in God, because we find our thoughts becoming established, and we find that we’re no longer tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, but we find peace and happiness and joy and long suffering and kindness, which God said would arise within our hearts. Solomon said, “If ye shall commit your works unto the Lord.”
David was out there on the hillside watching after the sheep, and he was meditating and talking to God, and David was establishing his thoughts. The nation Israel was over in another place, wandering around, desiring houses and lands and chariots and things of the world, and when the great testing time came, they were not able to win the battle because they had a wandering mind.
You know, man’s mind is a wandering mind, but Christ’s mind is an established mind. Do you know that the Old Testament says, “I will give them the fruit of their thoughts?” They shall eat the fruits of their thoughts. Did you know that people today are eating the fruits of their thoughts? Did you know that the people that’s been in the years gone by, that they ate the fruits of their thoughts? Did you know, if there’s a generation to come, that they’re going to eat the fruits of their thoughts? If that is true, then we see why it is necessary to have established thoughts. If God is going to feed us the fruits of our thoughts, or if my life is going to consist of what I think, then I need to get my thinking right.
Everything that I have in this life is going to be just what I think, and I don’t mean what I think up here in my head" but the Bible says, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is.” He’s just what he is according to his thinking down here in his heart. Now, I might try to tell you that I’m some great fellow with my head, and I might try to convince you I’m many things with my head, but down deep in my heart, whatever I really truly believe that I am, that’s what I am. Somebody will say, “Well, that means if I believe I’m a millionaire, I’m a millionaire.” Now, if you can really believe in your heart the same way a millionaire believes, you’ll be a millionaire. Did you know that? You say, “Well, if I think I’m a millionaire, that makes me a millionaire.” No, it doesn’t. You say, “Well, I think I’m a doctor, I’m a doctor.” No, it didn’t say that. It said, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is.” If you think in medical terms, that makes you a doctor. If you think the same thoughts the doctor thinks, that makes you a doctor. If you think the same thoughts the millionaire thinks, that will make you a millionaire. If you don’t believe it, try it. Just stay around the rich man all the time and learn all his gimmicks, and it won’t be long before it’ll rub off on you, and you’ll be making money, too.
If you think the thoughts of a preacher, then that makes you a preacher. If you think the thoughts of a pauper, that makes you a pauper. If you think the thoughts of a defeated person, that’s full of sickness and fears and frustrations, that makes you a defeated individual that’s full of fears and frustrations, and you’ll never triumph in God. Why is that? Because He said, “I will feed them the fruits of their thoughts.” They shall feed upon the fruits of their thoughts. Did you know that if you think about being sick all the time, you’re going to be sick all the time? Did you know that? If you think about sickness, you’re going to be sick.
The first thing the devil does to you is prog at you. He can’t get in you, if you’re a child of God, until he progs at you, and breaks down your resistance on the outside. He comes around and he oppresses you, and he progs at you, and keeps on progging at you, until after awhile he finds a weak spot. They’ve got a little old saying: Everybody’s got a weakness, according to human beings" but there’s no such thing in the Bible as that. We don’t have to have any kind of weakness. The Bible says, “Till we come to the fullness of the stature of the perfect man, Christ Jesus,” and Christ never had a weakness. Amen! You don’t have to have a weakness. Why? Because we’re in the fullness of His stature. We have the mind of Christ. That’s our goal in life, and we’re ordained to be gods in this world, and we don’t have to have a weakness. When the devil tells you that everybody’s got a weakness, all he’s trying to do is set something in your heart to where he can cause a weakness. But I tell you, we don’t have to have a weakness.
He said, “Commit thy works unto the Lord.” If we want to think right, then we’ve got to work right. If we want to think right, we’ve got to do the right things. If I go down here and I sell whiskey to everybody that comes along, there’s a good possibility that I’m going to think that I’m going to die and go to hell. You say, “A lot of people don’t think that.” Well, if they’ve ever heard the gospel, and if they’ve got any good common sense, they think that. If I go out there and shoot a man, if I’ve got any kind of understanding, I’m going to think that they’re going to take me to the electric chair, because that’s what they said they’d do with me. So then, if I think on sickness, if the devil can come around and cause me to think about sickness, then that means that I’m going to be sick. If he can ever get my thoughts into a channel to where he can spiritually bind them, then that’s what I will become.
When I come up to the sacred desk, and I call you to pray for you, the thing that I try to do is get the anointing of God to come down. And it will come down if you use your faith. People have got the cart before the horse. They come waiting for the anointing so they can believe. Paul said, “We believe to see the anointing.” We don’t wait to see to believe, but we believe to see. That’s the way the gospel is. If you don’t believe first, you’ll never see anything. It takes faith first to get it. Somebody said, “I’m just waiting around to see what’s going to happen.” It’s a wicked, sinful, adulterous generation that’s seeking after a sign. We come to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. You need to get right with God. I have people to sit in my congregation when their faces are as hard as an adamant stone: No spiritual reflexes, no faith, no nothing. The Lord said, “Son of man, prophesy, and don’t fear their countenance and don’t fear their flesh, for they’ve made it as hard as an adamant stone.” He said, “I’ll make your face harder.”
Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established. If my thoughts ever become thoughts of faith, I’ve got to do some kind of works. Somebody said, “All you have to do is believe.” I’ve said before that you can believe a lie and be damned. You can believe a lie and go to hell. There’s more to it than that. I’ve got to establish my thoughts by my doings. If my world is going to consist of what I think" if everything that I have while I’m walking in this life is according to my thinking, I’ve got to get my thoughts right. It’s imperative that I get my thoughts right. A lot of people say, “Well, Brother Pike, it doesn’t matter about our thoughts.” The Bible says to cast down imagination and every high thing that exalteth itself against God, bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ Jesus. The trouble with the church world today is that they’ve never learned to control their thoughts. They need to get in and learn to control their thoughts. If they ever plan to have faith, it’s going to take more than saying, “Lord, Lord.” It’s going to take more than coming to church. It’s going to take more than reading the Word. It’s going to take some action for God! Praise God!
He said, “I’ll give them the fruits of their thoughts.” But, He said, “If they’ll commit their works unto me, I’ll establish their thoughts.” When Peter stepped overboard, and started walking on the water, the Word of God spoke to his thoughts, and the Word said to Peter’s thoughts, “Peter, come to Me,” and the Bible says Peter, having his thoughts fastened upon the Word of God, stepped overboard, and while his thoughts were established in the Word, he walked on the water. But, the very minute that his thoughts began to waver, and his thoughts began to look down at the waves, the very minute that he took his thoughts off of the Word, he began to sink. I promise that if you ever learn the secret of establishing your thoughts, you’ll be successful in God. This is one Scripture that God spoke to me many years ago. I was having a hard time, and I couldn’t seem to do anything and God said, “It’s your thoughts.” He said, “If you will just think right, things will be right.”
Somebody said, “Now, Brother Pike, I’ve tried to think right.” I didn’t say with your head. I told you awhile ago, you can think anything up here in your head, but I’m talking about in your heart. I can convince my head of anything if I offer enough truth and enough reasoning, but the thing is, I’m speaking of your heart. As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is. He needs to get right in his heart. He needs to think right in his heart. He has to do something to persuade his heart that he might be able to have established thoughts. You’ve got to get something down in here, folks. It takes an establishing down here. It takes a moving of God down in here. Just trying to tell yourself something is not good enough. You’ve got to have your thoughts right in your heart. With the heart man believeth unto righteousness. It’s with the heart that man learns to believe. It’s with the heart that faith comes up. It’s with the heart that we believe unto righteousness.
We’ve got to do something about our subconscious thinking. But you know, the average church member of today lives in a dread. They live under expectation. You say, “How do you know, Brother Pike?” Because I go around them" thousands of people, and day after day, in discernment I see the condition of their spirit. And their spirits are full of lust, it’s full of envy, it’s full of hatred, it’s full of malice, and full of covetousness, and I’ve seen their spirits, and their spirits are weak and weary, because they have a continual dread. They’re expecting the worst. They say, “God, I love You, and God I want to serve You,” but, deep down in their subconscious mind, they’re expecting the worst. Is that right? They’re expecting Satan to rob them of their sanity" to rob them of their loved ones" to take that which God has given to them, that inner peace of God. It’s just expectation. You say, “What is that?” That’s their believing. That’s their thinking. That’s what they are, and that’s what they’ll continue to be. As long as they have that dread, and as long as they have that fear" as long as they have that continual expectation of the worst, it’s going to happen to them because He said, “I’ll feed them the fruits of their thoughts.” Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
Now you say, “Well Brother Pike, I already know that.” Well, I’m not talking to you that already know that. You know, you always have somebody in the congregation that already knows all this, so that when I preach the gospel, I’m not preaching to them that already know this, but I’m talking to them that don’t know it. Amen! Jesus sent me to preach to them that don’t know it. Peter said, “Even though you know these things, I feel a need to stir up your pure minds while you’re in this tabernacle.” But the thing is, if you know them, that’s your business. If you don’t want to listen, that’s your business. But, I’m here to preach the gospel to them that don’t know it, to tell them of Jesus Christ, to tell them of the love of God, that they might be able to have established thoughts and believe and have the things that God has in store for them!
Somebody said, “Well, what good are established thoughts?” Have you ever been fearful? Have you ever been tormented? Have you ever been depressed and down in the valley to where you couldn’t get out" where you would give your right arm if you could just get your thoughts to believe and be satisfied in God that everything was going to work out right for you? If you never have been along there, then you don’t know what I’m talking about, but if you’ve ever experienced the things I’m speaking of, then you know what I’m talking about. I believe that we’re going to have to cast down imagination. That’s one thing that God said to cast down. If we ever get anywhere with God, we’re going to have to get rid of our wild imagination. Somebody came to me not long ago and they said, “Brother Pike, do you think it’s wrong for the children to sit around and watch television?” I said, “Well, what are you talking about?” They said, “Well, just the little old comics, and little old things, you know, that they have on television that’s harmless, and those kind of things.” I said, “Well, according to my understanding, the Bible says to cast down imagination, and that’s wild imagination. It came from some sinner’s carnal mind out in Hollywood or somewhere else, and it’s wild imagination.” I said, “The Bible says it’s enmity with God, and you don’t want it.” So, it’s not as innocent as you think it is. It’s wild imagination, and it’s the devil’s work, and I’ve said this, and I still say it, a man that will let his children watch any such thing needs to be born again. Now, that might hurt, but I want to say it again. The truth is worth repeating. If you let your children do it, you need to be born again! It’s proof that you’ve never been born again! Somebody said, “Now, you wait a minute, preacher.” I said, “That’s proof that you’ve never been born again!” Amen! The nature of Jesus Christ wouldn’t let His children do such things. The same yesterday, and today, and forever. Somebody says, “What are you talking about?” I’m talking about thoughts being established.
He said, “I will feed them the fruits of their thoughts, for as a man thinketh in his heart, so he is.” Jesus thought deep down in His heart that He was a Son of God, and He was the Son of God. Somebody said, “Well then, if I could just think I’m God on the inside, then I’ll be God.” I’ll tell you how strong it is. The Bible says Satan set his mind as God, and do you know what God said about it? He said, “Because thou hast set thy mind as God, nothing shall be hid from thee.” He said, “Thou art wiser than Daniel, because you’ve set your mind as God.” Did He say that? He said, “But though thou climbest up to heaven, and make thy nest among the stars, from thence I shall cast thee down to hell.” How powerful is it? Because Satan set his mind as God, what can he do? He’s troubling an entire world. Because he set his mind as God, it caused him to believe that he was God. He believed that he was God, and he became the god of this world. That’s right. The Bible says he’s the prince of this world. Jesus acknowledged it. Faith caused him to believe that he was, and so he was. Hallelujah!
We see then how powerful it really is. Satan himself set his mind as God, and because he set his mind as God, he’s able to work miracles and signs and wonders. It’s no wonder to me that the half backslid preachers of this age are able to work signs and wonders and miracles. It’s no wonder to me. They said some would be able to call fire down from heaven. Why? Because they’ve set their minds as God. You talk to them and they’ll tell you that they’re a son of God. They can set their mind to believe they’re all right. How did they do it? The Bible says that His Spirit beareth witness with our spirit that we are the sons and daughters of God. In this day of grace, God is pouring out of His Spirit upon all flesh, whether it’s a drunkard, whether it’s a harlot, whatever it may be, and because they feel that Spirit, they’ve convinced themselves by faith in the Word that everything is right between them and God, their faith works and they work miracles. Is that right? You say, “I don’t believe that, Brother Pike.” All right, then tell me this. Did God say or did He not say that Balaam loved the wages of unrighteousness? Did He say that? Did not the king say, “Balaam, whoever you bless is blessed, and whoever you curse is cursed?” Did he do it? Was Balaam able to work miracles? Was he able to do it? Why, he almost did more than the whole church world put together. The Bible says he could fall into a trance with his eyes open and just see the heavens. Did he do it? But the Bible says that he loved the wages of unrighteousness.
I’ll tell you something, folks. It’s a good thing for the heart to be established, the Bible says. We’re not to be carried about by every wind of doctrine. We’re not to be carried about with signs and wonders. You’re not to put your faith in signs and wonders and miracles, but place it in the Word of God. Hallelujah! Signs, wonders, and miracles will deceive you, but God’s Word will not deceive you. Hallelujah!
He said in the third verse, “Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established.” If you’ve got worries today, your thoughts are not established. If you’ve got a deep embedded expectation in your subconscious mind that something is going wrong, your thoughts are not established. That’s where the trouble is. David said, “I sought the Lord, and He delivered me.” Isn’t that what he said? “I sought the Lord and He delivered me from all my fears.” Peter said, “God has given us all things that pertain unto life,” and Paul said, “All things work together for good to them that love the Lord, and those that are the called according to His purpose.”
The reason the joy of the Lord is not in our hearts is because our thoughts are not established. We haven’t done any works. Why? It says here, “Commit thy works unto the Lord.” Somebody said, “Well, I gave Him my ways.” He said, “Thy works unto the Lord.” They said, “What must we do to work the works of God?” He said, “There are some works. Commit thy works unto the Lord.” What kind of works? He said, “Put away from you all jesting.” Did he say that? That’s part of the works. Don’t be joking. Don’t be cracking jokes, you know, little things that are supposed to be cute. He said to put that away from you.
A lot of us wouldn’t do anything that we feel was wrong, but we’ll get in a crowd and crack a little filthy joke, or hear somebody else crack a little filthy joke, and we’ll just laugh and laugh and laugh. Why? It is because our thoughts are not established, that’s why. You say, “What do you mean, Brother Pike, established?” Established in the Word. Where else could you establish it? I’ve said before, I was preaching over in California and I was telling a sister in the Lord, “Sister, obey your husband. You can’t get to heaven any other way.” I said, “The wife can’t be saved except through the husband, because the Bible says he’s the savior of the body. He’s the head, and you’re the members.” The essence of it was that, just as we’re translated into oneness with Christ, you’ve got to be translated into oneness with him. That’s the only way you can get into heaven. So then, she didn’t like it, and she rose up against it, but it wasn’t long before her boy fell right on his face and went crazy. He was a great big boy, about thirteen or fourteen years old. He fell down and went crazy. He lost his mind right there in the living room. She began to cry, and the boy was going wild, and they didn’t know what to do. So they went over and got the boy. I saw what God was doing. God was confirming His Word. He wanted His Word to be received and He confirmed it right there. I went over and laid my hands on the boy, and I prayed and the boy shook himself and he was still talking crazy, and he went over and sat down in the chair and they couldn’t figure out what happened to him. He just went completely crazy, and I said, “Let us have faith" don’t doubt, just have faith. God’s done something.” So, it was a little while, and after that, everything just went away, and the boy said, “Where am I at, Mama, Daddy, where am I at? What happened?” And God confirmed His Word.
I was saying to them that they had to live right and had to have established thoughts in the Word of God, and I said the wife has to be saved through the husband. You know what kind of an answer I got out of the man? He looked over at my wife, and he said, “Sister Betty, don’t you know that he’s just using that to keep control?” I looked back at him, and I said, “Why sure, that’s what I’m using it for.” I said, “Did you ever try to keep a woman under control without the Word of God?” If you never have, you try it some time. That’s why we do it, to get her under control. I’d love to see you keep her under control without it. You try it on your own sometime and see where you wind up. Well, he didn’t know what to say when he looked at me, you know, and I answered him like that. But, it wasn’t long before this man got his thoughts established. He went all the way from California down to the Rio Grande River, just this side of Mexico, to wash away his sins in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to get his thoughts established in the Word! And today, he comes almost with a regularity to see us. Why? Because he got his thoughts established. He’s happy. He’s found something. He’s got his wife under control. Something he never could do. But, he learned to establish his thoughts in the Word of God.
I say again, that as Peter walked on the water, and as long as Peter’s thoughts were established in the Word that said, “Come to Me, Peter,” he was all right. But brother, when he got his mind off of that, he had troubles. When David came out from on that hillside and faced that giant, he had established thoughts. You believe he did? Why, Israel was so fearful and Saul was so fearful" their thoughts were jumping up and down like Mexican jumping beans. Saul was so afraid that he couldn’t do anything. He looked at the giant, and he said, “Well, we’re just defeated, that’s all there is to it.” David went over there and talked with Israel, and they said, “We just can’t do it.” And David didn’t understand why they couldn’t do it.
Did you know that a man that’s got faith, he doesn’t understand why you can’t get rid of cancer? Why, you take a man of God. You go up to Elijah, if Elijah was here today, or go up to Peter, James and John and tell them, “Well, we just don’t see how we can get rid of this cancer.” Do you know what they’d say? They’d say, “Why, your thoughts need to be established. Haven’t you heard about the Word of God?” Faith is in the Word of God. Established thoughts are in the Word of God. Solomon said, “Establish your thoughts.” Well, what did it do for him? It made him a rich man. It made him the wisest man that ever walked the earth, because he had established thoughts. What are established thoughts? Established thoughts are not wandering thoughts.
You know, the Bible speaks of wandering spirits. They wander through dry places, seeking rest and can’t find it. Did you know the church world today, as a whole, is wandering through dry places, seeking rest and can’t find it? But did you know, the Bible says there is water, wells of water, rivers of water, that’s present that God will give you to drink of if you’ll get your thoughts established? Do you believe that He’ll do it? There is water. There are wells of water. There are rivers of water. Hallelujah! And we can have them! So then, He said, “I will feed them the fruits of their thoughts. I will let them eat the fruits of their thoughts.”
I want you to ask yourself this question. I want you to say, “Lord, what am I subconsciously thinking right now? What am I subconsciously expecting right now? Where are my thoughts today?” You know, the Bible says he that hath no control over his spirit is like a city with a broken down wall. The Bible says Satan takes the children of this world into captivity at his will. Where are your thoughts today? Are they wandering? Why? I can look at some of the little children and tell that their thoughts are on bubble gum. Well, you say, “It’s a good thing you’re talking about little children.” Well, there are grown-ups in worse condition with what they’ve got their minds on. Where are your thoughts today? Is it on God’s Word? Is it concerned about the things of God? If it’s not, friend, there’s something wrong. You say, “Well, I’ve got my mind on my job.” Well, that’s why you’re failing God. “I’ve got my mind on my house.” Did you know, there are people that will be building a house out here, and they’ll come to church, and the whole time the church service is going on and the preacher is preaching, they’re over there figuring out how they’re going to put the frame work together. That’s the truth. Some of them will have a fuss with their wife, and the whole time the service is going on, they’re sitting back there with bitterness in their heart trying to figure out whether he’s right or she’s right, or whether he ought to have done it or ought not to have done it. The whole service passes them by, and other folks have similar things. Some people sit around and begin to think of how smart they are, and how smart the preacher isn’t, you know, how much they know, and how much he doesn’t know, and they out reason themselves, and lose the blessing of the service and go away without anything. They were not so smart after all. All they did was out smart themselves.
Yes, that’s why the Bible says that God chose the foolish and abase things of the world to confound the wise. A lot of times, I’ve noticed when we give the altar call, that somebody will sit back on the bench, and they’re so smart, and so wise, and so full of understanding, that they’ve figured out how to get around all of it, because there wasn’t much to it anyway. The Bible says, “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God,” so He looks down and says, “There is a fool.” You see some little foolish person over here that said, “Well, I don’t know what it’s all about, but, glory to God, I want it, I want somebody to do something for me.” God says, “There’s somebody with wisdom over there.” So you see, God doesn’t look at things the way we look at it, does He?
He said for our thoughts to be established, folks. Our thoughts need to be established. Hallelujah! When we get to the place where we can have established thoughts, God will do something for us. I want to remind you again, that you will eat the fruits of your thoughts. As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is. You’re going to eat the fruits of your thoughts. It doesn’t make any difference what it is, you’re going to eat the fruits of it. If you go around expecting something to happen to you subconsciously, you might as well get prepared, because it’s going to happen to you.
Did you know the one thing that happened to Job? The Bible says that he looked all the time for God to do something bad to him. The whole time of Job’s life, he expected something to go wrong. That’s right. He had a fear. He even confessed it. He said, “I just had a fear that something bad was going to come by here one day, because God was looking down on me, and because of the sinful flesh, and because of the surroundings, I just had a fear some day He’d turn His wrath on me.” Did He do it? He turned His wrath on him. He said, “The thing that I greatly feared has come upon me.” Did he say that? Why? It was his subconscious expectation. Job was a righteous man, but being a righteous man doesn’t keep you from eating the fruits of your thoughts. Folks, he was a righteous man, but subconsciously, Job had a fear. You say, “Brother Pike, why did Job have a fear in the first place?” Do you want me to tell you why? Because he had some wicked wretched children, and every day of his life, he went to offer sacrifice and atonement for those children. He just had a feeling that someday God wasn’t going to put up with that mess anymore. Someday, He was going to pour His wrath on those children over there. And when you touch a man’s children, you might as well take everything he’s got. You’ve already touched the apple of his eye anyway. That’s exactly the reason that God let Satan come down against Job like He did. He said, “I’ve got to do something about those children.” And as long as they were young, God could take care of them through the prayers of Job, but when they got old enough, they had to answer for their own sins. God had to deal with them. God knew that if He touched the children, if He did anything to the children, He knew there wasn’t anything else that He could touch of Job’s that would be any worse. So, He figured if He was going to touch the apple of his eye to begin with, that He’d just go ahead and do away with all that Job had, and really put him through the mill, and then drive the devil away from Job once and for all. Do you believe that’s right? That’s right! He knew that if He touched those children, that was the apple of Job’s eye. If He had to come and do that, it was going to break Job’s heart.
It doesn’t make any difference how perfect you are, if your children are wretched, God’s going to get a hold of them. He’s going to get a hold of mine, He’s going to get a hold of yours. I went to pray for a woman one time, and she was over in the bed. She was sick, she was pining, moping, and just dying. She was in bad condition. I went to talk with her, and God spoke to my heart, and when I went to pray for the woman, I said, “Sister, you want me to tell you what’s wrong with you?” She was there in bed dying. I said, “You are upset with God because He won’t save your wretched children and your wretched relatives, and you’re finding fault with God, and grieving yourself to death.” You say, “Did you tell a woman something like that?” I told her. I said, “Of all the absurd things for a person to do. You’ll lay there in the bed dying, because of your wanting God to save somebody that’s not worth saving. They’re trampling the blood of Jesus Christ under their feet, doing everything contrary to the Word of God, going on in sin, and you still demand that God save them, or you’re going to grieve yourself to death.” You know what? We prayed for the woman and she got up out of the bed, and she was all right. You know why? She got her thoughts established. She needed somebody to establish her thoughts. She reasoned with me, and she admitted that she didn’t realize what she was doing. Did you know that some people pine and mope, and go around blaming God and finding fault with God and literally kill themselves, spiritually and physically, because God won’t save somebody out there that’s just trampling over the blood of Jesus Christ, and doesn’t care anything about God?
Now, I’m going to tell you something, folks. I love my children. God knows I love my children, but I’ve told God this one thing, and I still stand by it. I may have to look at one of them in a casket. I may have to do it, I hope I don’t have to do it. If I do, Job had to do it! He was a perfect man, but he had to do it. I’ve told God one thing: “Lord, save my children at any cost, but Lord, I don’t ask his soul above anybody else’s soul. I know You’ve got to deal with this man as a sinner out here, and if my children won’t hear the Word of God when I’ve preached it to them, You’ve got to deal with them the same way.” I went to another woman. She was sitting in the chair. I went into the house, and she was bawling, she was broken up. They had called the doctor and the doctor couldn’t do anything with her. She was in a fix! Her family didn’t know what to do. The man, that had been watching her life for years, was completely bewildered. He was a son-in-law. He said, “Brother Pike, this is the thing that I don’t understand, this is the thing that hinders me in trying to live a Christian life. This lady has been living a Christian life for many years. Now look at her!” You can imagine how he felt. He said, “Now, will you give me an answer?” Well, how could I answer him? I didn’t know how to answer him unless God spoke to me. Why, I couldn’t figure it out. The doctors had been out there, and the family had done everything they could" the woman was still sitting there crying and just staring off into space.
I walked in, and I took a look at her, and I didn’t know what to say, and I didn’t know what to do. They had done everything they knew to do. As I started over toward her, God spoke to my heart, and then I walked over to her, and I took a look at her, and I said, “Sister, you want me to tell you what’s wrong with you?” “Oh yes, Brother Pike!”, she said. I said, “You’ve lost your faith.” I said, “I’m going to pray for you, and I want you to get up from there.” I prayed the prayer of faith, and God be witness to it, it was, I believe, the very next night that the woman came to church and sat and played the piano for us, then went off to Atlanta, Georgia to visit with her sister. She had not done anything but lost her faith. What was the matter with her? She needed her thoughts established, folks. She had let the devil uproot her thoughts, and cause her thoughts to get bewildered, and start wandering. That’s where fear comes from. That’s where trouble comes from.
He said, I will give you the fruits of your thoughts. Ye shall eat the fruits of your thoughts. You say, “Well, if I believe I’m a millionaire, that will make me a millionaire. If I believe I’m a doctor, that will make me a doctor. If I believe I’m an Oral Roberts, that will make me an Oral Roberts. If I believe I’m a William Branham, that will make me a William Branham.” No, it won’t. It’ll just make you a fool. That’s what it’ll make you. The Bible says, “You can believe a lie and be damned.” It’ll just make you a fool, that’s all. But the Bible says as a man thinketh in his heart, so he is. If you can get to the place to where you think the same thoughts that a doctor thinks, the same medical terminology, then folks, you’ll be a doctor. If you can think the same identical thoughts that Oral Roberts thinks, you’ll be Oral Roberts. If you can think the same thoughts that Elijah thought, then you can be the Elijah of our day. If you think the same thoughts that Jesus Christ thought, you can become one with God. Do you believe it? A woman’s place is to learn to think the same thoughts that her husband thinks, until she becomes translated into oneness with him. That’s right. We are ordained to learn to think the same thoughts that God thinks until we become translated into Him. If we can get our thoughts established in His Word, the Bible says, we’ll have the mind of Christ.
How many of you would love to think the thoughts of God, the mind of Christ? This is the thoughts of the mind of Christ. If I can think the thoughts of the mind of Christ, I can do the same things that Christ did. Do you believe it? If Christ cast out devils by thinking these thoughts, I can cast out devils by thinking these thoughts. If Christ gave sight to the blind, and gave strength to the cripple, and unstopped deaf ears by thinking these thoughts, I can do it if I think these thoughts. Amen! Whatever you think, that’s what you are.
Every great man of God ought to stay with a great Bible scholar. Oral Roberts said that he had read the New Testament through alone over a hundred times. There is no telling how many hours of study that he had. There is a man that I know of, that the last time I had contact with him was many years ago, and at that time he had a hundred thousand hours in Bible study at that time. I’ve made mention how Brother Gayle Jackson, they say, that when he comes to town, it’s just like a return to Pentecost, so many people get the Holy Ghost. I heard him many years ago make the statement, “I use my Bible. I’ve laid on my face and wore out many a Bible on the floor.” Why? He learned to think these thoughts, folks. He learned to think these thoughts.
Satan learned to think the thoughts of God. Did you know that? You say, “I don’t believe that, Brother Pike.” Satan got his power by thinking the thoughts of God. You want me to prove it to you? He took Jesus up on a mountain. He took Him up on a pinnacle in the city, and he used the mind of Christ against Him. Did he do it? He said, “Cast Yourself down from here, for it is written.” Is that what he said? “He shall give His angels charge concerning thee, and they shall bear thee up in all of thy ways, lest that at any time thou should dash thy foot against a stone.” He took it out of its original setting. He took it away from the anointing of life, and it became the words of death. The letter killeth without the Spirit. But you know what, Jesus did not deny it, did He? Did He deny it? No! He looked back and said, “Satan, it is also written" thou shall not tempt the Lord Thy God.” Oh, Hallelujah! That’s why the Lord said to Satan, “Because thou hast set thy mind as God, thou art wiser than Daniel.” He was able to do great things.
This is going to be shocking to some of you, but I want you to hear it. When the sons of God came to present themselves before God, Satan came also. Isn’t that right? Today, under your big tents, in your big cathedrals around the world, in your great campaigns and revivals and crusades, Satan is presenting himself. Do you know what Satan is doing with his ministers? Paul said, “Be ye therefore transformed by the renewing of your mind.” They are renewing their minds with the Word" and by transformation, they are transforming their minds into the Word mind without the garment of righteousness, which is the wedding garment of the saints. Transforming themselves into the ministers of the Word of light. Is that right? They can minister light to you. And they are working miracles and signs and wonders. Can they do it? They are doing it! What is it? He said, “Thou hast set thy mind as God, Satan. You’re wiser than Daniel.” Did He say it? And they’re doing things in the day in which you’re living, that’s right! But, what did He say? He said, “A wicked, a sinful and adulterous generation, seeking after a sign.” But, He said, “The children of God seek after the Word.” He said the signs would follow them that believe, not for them to be following after the signs.
So then, I want to conclude by saying this. These men are the body of the beast, and they’re the body of Satan, working these great miracles and signs. Not real miracles. Not real signs. But lying signs and wonders. All around the world, they transform themselves into ministers of light. They came to present themselves also. They made their minds as the mind of Christ, in this day of grace, when nothing is required except grace. You say, “Brother Pike, you just preached to us that we are to commit our works unto the Lord.” You are to commit your works unto the Lord, and He’ll establish your thoughts in heaven, folks, but these other people are not doing any works of God. They’re not committing any works of righteousness unto God. You say, “Well, Brother Pike, how can they get into these great revivals?” How many of you know this great revival is the supper of the Lord? How many of you know that? This is the spiritual supper. All the church world that was invited didn’t come, did they? So, He rejected the denominations, and sent out into the highways and hedges and got the nondenominationals. Didn’t He? He got the drunkard, the harlot, and the sick, brought Him the lame, and He’s healing them. They’re coming into the supper, because it’s the evening time of life. Is that right? Sure, they were at the supper. That’s the reason we’re preaching Jesus name for the wedding. You say, “Can people actually get into this supper, can they actually climb up into heaven another way? Brother Pike, is there actually another way that you can get into heaven?” The Bible says they did. The Bible says that you can climb up another way. There must be another way.
Jesus said, “I am the way,” which is the Word, and by translation of your thoughts, you get into His Spirit and get into the translation of light. But He said, “There is another way.” He said, “If you climb up the other way, you’re the same as a thief and a robber.” Did He say that? Did they really get in? The Bible says they came into the supper, and He looked at them and said, “Friend, how is it that you came in here? How did you get in here without the wedding garment?” That’s why I said, “Commit thy works unto the Lord.” See, they got in" but they drank, they smoked, they rebelled, they watched filthy things in the movies and television and magazines and everything else. He said, “How is it you got in here without a wedding garment?” What is the wedding garment? He said that it was the righteousness of the saints. Did He say that? It’s their works. He said, “I will reward every man according as his works shall be.” He said their garment is their works of righteousness. They got in. What did He say to them? He said, “Bind them hand and foot and cast them into the outer darkness, and there shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.” Did He say it?
Oh, friend, there’s people that are getting bound with such things that have never got bound in their lives before. They’re getting bound with cancer, and bound with TB, and bound with paralysis, and bound with spiritual powers, and bound with fears, and bound with insanity, and bound with hatred, and bound with bitterness, and bound with prejudices and desire of worldly things. They’re getting bound hand and foot, and they’re cast out of this mind and world of light, out of the mind of God, into the outer darkness of the carnal mind of lust and greed. That’s right? They’re wandering through dry places, seeking rest and they can’t find it.
It is all because of this religious age and because the blood is on the mercy seat. In this dispensation of grace, mercy allows for their misdemeanors of life, so they can still hear the Word of the Lord, go to church, and profess Christianity, or go through their religious rites of ritualistics of whatever religious activity that they choose" but God is pouring out His Spirit on the handmaids in the latter times, upon the sons and daughters, and the tares are getting the water and rain just like the wheat, feeding off the Lamb of God’s supper in this dispensation of grace.
We have to remember one thing, folks: the thoughts of foolishness is sin. That is why I am opposed to your TV comics and all of your fanaticism and make-believe that this life offers. The Bible says that foolish thinking is sin, and I am opposed to anything that does not put their complete trust in God. Jesus said, “Take no thought for what you shall eat, drink or wear. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these other things will be added unto you.” Cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ, remembering that the Word is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Let us acknowledge the Lord in all of our ways, leaning not to our own understanding, but trust in the Lord with all of our hearts, and He will direct our paths. He has given unto us all things that pertain unto life through Christ.
So let us follow after righteousness, commit our works unto God that our light may so shine, men may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven, where all things work together for good to them that love the Lord, and all His paths are peace. They that keep their minds on Christ Jesus shall have perfect peace.
By Rev. George Leon Pike Sr.
Founder and first President of Jesus Christ’s Eternal Kingdom of Abundant Life, Inc.
Holiness Unto The Lord