jul02



		July - August 2002
	Word of Prophecy NEWSLETTER

		IN LOVING MEMORY Bro. Ray Pringle, Sr. October 22, 1921 - July 4, 2002




			Taken 1958				Taken 1994

		HOW ART THE MIGHTY FALLEN! Written by Bro. Ray Pringle Jr., and read at Bro. Pringle's graveside service.
		How can we describe the greatness of a man that has been chosen of God? We are mortals, and to understand the importance of how God chooses to empower a man, to me, is mind-boggling. This man was born with a great storm arising, known as the "1921 Storm", and three days after his birth, the storm struck with a terrifying vengeance. This same man passed away July 4^th, and has left us to face the terrifying storm of God's judgments that are looming on the horizon. This man survived the "1921 Storm" in the face of overwhelming odds. Being born prematurely, at



	seven months, he could fit in a coffee pot and, in those days, there was nothing but God to rely on. The floodwaters of that storm enveloped that small fishing town of Cortez, and he and his mother had to be taken out to safety in a small fishing skiff, right in the midst of the terrifying wind and rain. That man's dad kissed his wife and baby goodbye, fearing that the small boat would not make it to safety. When those fishermen put a mattress over that baby boy and his mother, to protect them from the storm, it was dark and hopeless; they had to go four miles through some very treacherous waters to reach safety. However, the glory of the Lord lit up that darkness, and they survived the storm. The body of this man, God's man, lies here before us today, but he has left us a legacy to follow. The thundering storm of God's judgments is looming close on the horizon. But, if we stay in the boat, that old Gospel Ship, we can survive and reach safety. We will have to go through some perilous waters, but the legacy this man has left with us will guide us to that wonderful place he is already in. How art the mighty fallen! Do we know, or can we comprehend the passing of this mighty Man of God? I think not! The world does not even know that a great Man of God has left us; but they will know. How art the mighty fallen! And no one takes it to heart. The legacy that he left us, by God's grace and help, will live as a testimony to this Great Man. Known as "Daddy Raymond", "Papa", and "Bro Pringle", he truly was a Mighty Man of God. How art the mighty fallen! With confidence, this great man could say, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing." II Timothy 4:7-8. July 10, 2002

	THERE WERE GIANTS IN THE LAND By Bro. Ray Pringle, Sr., excerpted from April - June 1984 Word of Prophecy Radi-O-Gram
	"There were giants in the earth in those days … mighty men which were of old, men of renown." Genesis 6:4. The pages of history past are filled with biographical records, the heroics of "giants" that once inhabited our earth and our once great nation _ spiritual, patriotic, and intellectual! But alas, where are they now? No generation in the history of man has ever needed "giants" so desperately as our own, but our eyes and ears only see and hear the blundering, compromise, and retreat of weaklings _ not giants! FREEDOM OR SLAVERY? We are aware that the giants of history in Genesis 6 were men of great physical stature. However, our Holy Bible and secular history reveal the exploits of patriots and spiritual leaders whose heroics and

	*"I Believe the Bible* *is the best gift God has ever given* *to man."* *Abraham Lincoln*



	valorous leadership in fierce conflict with oppressors have given us the personal and religious liberty we enjoy and cherish. One of these "giants," Patrick Henry, with an indomitable, uncompromising, and inflexible spirit of resistance to British oppression, in 1775 before his peers of the Virginia convention sounded the battle cry: "Gentlemen may cry peace, peace, but there is no peace. The next gale that sweeps from the North will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms. Our brethren are already in the field. Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? *Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?* Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death." In "The Deserted Village", Oliver Goldsmith prophetically declared: "Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, where wealth accumulates, and men decay." And men have decayed in our sick society! Patrick Henry's speech, fired up from a heart of fearlessness and courage, bent to the necessity of sacrifice, suffering, and even death in conflict against tyranny, started a current of bold, fierce resistance to the British occupation forces that swept the enemy into defeat and surrender, bringing about the birth of these United States: "One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." Praise God! Those liberties, hard-won by dedicated giants of our past, are eroding away. Few indeed are the patriots, statesmen, spiritual leaders today who will stand as the giants of old and defend our heritage, In God We Trust. *The spirit of the oppressor is in the land, and men are resorting to détente _ compromise! Don't resist the crowd _ find out the popular opinion and be with the crowd!* However, the crowd and the popular opinions are always wrong. It is always easier to compromise or retreat than to fight _ you might get hurt or killed! This is why giants are so rare in our land today! A GIANT AMONG ORDINARY MEN! Samson, God's mighty deliverer, a "giant" among men in his generation, confided to Delilah (Judges 16:17): "*If I be shaven* [break my dedication], *then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man."* The secret of our strength in church, home, and nation is not the compromise of our principles of complete dedication to Bible morality and "In God We Trust", but in being true to the faith of our fathers who trusted in God. As it is written: *"Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them."* Psalms 22:4. Samson compromised and sacrificed his dedication that demanded obedience to God for pleasure, and, Israel's giant among men fell before God's enemies _ just another man! Giants of spiritual courage, skill, wisdom, strength, morality, and fearlessness are a rare breed in our land! I know of many men and women, professing Christians, who are gifted with rare mental gifts and delicate spiritual sensitivity, but their faint hearts rob them of their courage, reducing them to "just another person." No wonder Jesus warned, "Many are called, but few are chosen." Matthew 22:14. *God said, "What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return unto his house!"* Deuteronomy 20:8. WHERE DO WE LOOK…? God found a "giant" once crouched behind his father's barn, hiding from the enemies of God and Israel's oppressors _ Gideon! Judges 6:11-16. "And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour … Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save



	Israel from the hand of the Midianites; have not I sent thee … *Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man."* Judges 6:12-16. God's giant was being groomed for the conflict in the deliverance of the church of old! *But wait _ there were conditions he must meet for God to use him:* "And it came to pass the same night, that the Lord said unto him, Take thy father's young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it: and build an altar unto the Lord thy God … and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down." Judges 6:25-26. Praise God! God required Gideon to destroy the idolatry out of his own house and get his family under subjection to the Lord before he could be God's spiritual giant and deliverer. Gideon obeyed God, and he became a "giant" in the land during his generation that delivered the church of old from oppression. … FOR GOD-FEARING & VALOROUS MEN! *"Jepthah, the Gileadite, was a mighty man of valour* and he was the son of a harlot." Judges 11:1. In his day the Amorites oppressed Israel and made war against them. Judges 11:4. Now Jepthah had been rejected by his brethren in the church of old until this terrible crisis arose, but there was no "giant" left in their midst to deliver them. Now the Lord had rebuked this idolatrous church saying: "Ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more. Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; *let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation …* and they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the Lord: and his [God's] soul was grieved for the misery of Israel." Judges 10:13-16. "But where do we look for a deliverer from our oppressors?" Israel's elders counseled. "The elders of Gilead went to fetch Jepthah out of the land of Tob: And they said unto Jepthah, Come, and be our captain, that we may fight with the children of Ammon. And Jepthah said unto the elders of Gilead, Did not ye hate me, and expel me out of my father's house? And why are ye come unto me now when ye are in distress?" Judges 11:5-7. This history will be repeated in this end-time as God's people turn to this message and ministry in the distresses of the darkening, rising Gathering Storm! Jepthah arose to the challenge, and as God's giant, led Israel to victory! GIANTS OF THE PAST *A giant for God cannot compromise even to save his life.* Jesus said, "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it." Luke 9:24. Our warfare with the devil is only won by bravery in mortal combat, not cowardice. As the scriptures declare: "And they overcame him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; *and they loved not their lives unto the death."* Revelation 12:11. It is difficult to find someone old enough in our generation who can remember a giant in their lifetime among statesmen, patriots, or professed men of God. Their places have been filled with cheap politicians, pleasure and popularity seekers, and soothsayers _ i.e., men-pleasers! Saul, the mighty king of Israel, became "just another man" among his brethren because he could not stand up against the crowd that was wrong _ and God's giant lost his stature of greatness. *God rejected Saul! But Why?* Let his own mouth testify with this sad lament: "I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words: *because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice."* I Samuel 15:24!



	Martin Luther was a giant for God in his generation as he defied fate to its worst. He stood in the gap for God against a corrupt church, which held millions in its powerful talons of superstition, and defied its power, proclaiming freedom to those it oppressed. Leviticus 25:10. Through Luther the Lord wrought a great victory for millions _ all who are justified by faith! *Man to be great with God must be self-reliant. This self-reliance is not self-sufficiency of conceit; it is daring to stand alone!* Be an oak, not a vine. Be ready to support, but do not crave it; do not be dependent on it. God's giant does his very best in every visible moment of his life _ no trifle in his life can be too insignificant to reflect his principle of holy and godly living. All great men of God through history reflect self-reliance! THE CHURCH NEEDS GIANTS DESPERATELY! *God's church today is Laodicean _ worldly, lukewarm, blind, and wretched.* Revelation 3:16-17. There is a deadly drift into modernism, sorcery, libertinism, and debauchery! God needs giants _ men of Strength and Holiness to stop the drift _ men like iron pegs driven into a frozen ground, immovable _ uncompromising and unafraid! America's greatness lies in the hands of preachers _ not politicians! During the 1830's, Alex de Toqueville wrote of this experience: *"I sought for the answer to the greatness of America.* I sought for her greatness in her cities, her factories, her rivers and lakes, her mountains, her waterfalls, her seaports and halls of government. I did not truly understand the greatness of America until I visited her churches and witnessed her pulpits aflame with righteousness." Then he continued with this prophetic observation: *"America is great because she is good _ but, if America ever ceases to be good, then she will cease to be great."* What has happened to our goodness, O America? Preachers have failed God and America. Remember beloved: There *were* giants in our land! RESTORATION! GIANTS ARISING! Restoration and restitution of all things to the church of our Lord will be effected by a few spiritual giants whom God is raising up right now to heal the divisions among God's people, and bring them into the unity of the faith. Here is the revelation: "For first of all, when ye come together in the church, *I hear that there be divisions among you;* and I partly believe it. For there must be also heresies among you, *that they which are approved [of God] may be made manifest among you."* I Corinthians 11:18-19. God will soon manifest two or three spiritual and moral giants in our land to heal divisions by revealing the heresies that divide God's church. These will be openly manifested, men that walk with God, standing at His right hand to heal the breaches. God has promised a restoration to the end-time church of the real love, the real power, the real holiness, the real gifts and fruit of the Spirit, the real divine unity as Christ's early church possessed. *They were of one heart and of one soul _ and, in one mind, and of one accord in all things!* Acts 2:44-46; 4:32! Such unity has never been experienced in Christ's end-time church, *but it will be our experience in the rising persecution of God's true saints, before Christ's coming!*



	The Apostle Peter prophesied this restoration before Christ's second coming: *"And he shall send Jesus Christ,* which before was preached unto you: *Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution [restoration] of all things,* which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began." Acts 3:20-21. Wonderful! As for me, a true prophet of God, I don't know what course of action other men and women of God may take in the church's gravest crisis ever, or what turn the battle may take _ but, I'm going to preach the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so long as I shall live, so help me God. Amen.



	THE WORD OF PROPHECY FELLOWSHIP: THE NEXT GENERATION By Bro. Ray Pringle, Jr.

	This article was inspired by an excerpt from a sympathy card that Bro. Bob Bark sent to me after the death of my dad. The Word of Prophecy Fellowship has been in existence for over 25 years, and was founded by my dad, Bro. Ray Pringle Sr. He has been the only leader of this ministry since the ministry started, and now Dad has passed on to Glory. We that are left are the next generation that will keep this fellowship going. Paul said in Colossians 1:23, "If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;" continuing in Verse 26 and 27, "even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: [verse 27] To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." Please read Psalm 33:11. We are God's people and I believe that God will be with this generation just like he was with Dad. God has not changed, neither has His Word been weakened. Jeremiah put it succinctly in Jeremiah 14:9: "Why shouldest thou be as a man astonied, as a mighty man that cannot save? yet thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us not." David said in Psalm 37:25, "I have been young and now am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." Malachi 3:6, "For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." Please read Ezekiel 34:11-22, and Jeremiah 30:17-24, also. I want all to know that I miss my Daddy, but I also know that God will not leave us or forsake us,
			HOME HAS NOT BEEN REACHED When the late Dr. Henry C. Morrison came home from one of his many travels, we are told that he arrived in the city of New York at the same time and on the same ship that brought the famous "Teddy" Roosevelt from one of his hunting trips to Africa. Literally thousands swarmed the docks to greet the noted hunter, but not a soul was there to welcome Dr. Morrison. Dr. Morrison relates how Satan, the accuser, whispered to him, "Aha, see how they greet the men of the world? And you, one of God's preachers, are without a single soul to greet you." Dr. Morrison admitted that in the loneliness of his heart, there could have been place for a hurt, but the heavenly Father sweetly whispered, "Yes, but Henry, you are not Home yet."



	neither will He leave us comfortless. Please read Matthew 28:18-20, and John 14:12-21. We have been taught by Dad's anointed books, magazines, radio broadcasts, audiotapes, videotapes, and by hearing him in person, and he never taught us to be fearful or fainthearted. Dad has also taught us that when we are being tried we will do one of three things; we will break down, break out, or break through. God's word has taught us to "occupy till I come." Luke 19:13. In the past, Dad was only a phone call away, but that was then and this is now. Are we going to be a generation of weaklings that will tremble every time the Devil or one of his surrogates sneezes or snarls at us? I say, "Forbid it Almighty God!" The Holy Scriptures tell us in Psalms 45:16-17, "Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth. I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise thee forever and ever." We cannot afford to forget what we have been taught. Please read Psalm 46:1-5. Our generation is charged with just what our Brother Paul charged Timothy in his generation, II Timothy 2:1-5, "Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please Him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. And if a man strive for the masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully." Please read II Timothy 4:11-16 also. We have the legacy of a great man of God that would want us to continue in the things that we have been taught. I want all the people of God to know that I write this with fear and trembling. I do not feel worthy to be doing this, but all of us are going to be made to put our best foot forward and do the best we can with the knowledge and abilities that God gives us. I cannot stress to all that are reading this article, just how much I miss my Dad! Thank God His mercies are new every morning and His mercies are on us, the Next Generation. In the book of Luke that promise is for us to grasp! Luke 1:50-55, "And His mercy is on them that fear Him from generation to generation. He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away. He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy; as he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever." Read Acts 8:30-33; 13:32-39. Beloved, we are the next generation whether we like it or not, and I am going to do everything in my power to keep the word of God and Dad's voice on the radio until Elijah shows up to take the place of Dad's voice. Dad has been teaching us that Elijah is coming, "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord." Malachi 4:5. Please read Matthew 17:10-11. We are the Next Generation of the Word of Prophecy Fellowship and Word of Prophecy Broadcast! One of my favorite scriptures in the Bible is Isaiah 50:7, "For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed." We all are partners and together we will prevail!

		*"It is impossible* *to rightly govern the world* *without God and the Bible."* *George Washington*



	ONWARD, CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS! By The Office Staff

	One of the first scripture passages Bro. Pringle instructed newcomers to this ministry to memorize was II Timothy 2:1-5, verse 3 of which says, "Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." We ladies in the office were not in the service, but from what we've heard, Bro. Pringle was very much like a Drill Instructor in some respects. His mission was to "make ready a people prepared for the Lord," and there is no way to do that without being somewhat rough and tough. The training of soldiers is hard, unpleasant, and absolutely necessary. All of us in this ministry have undergone a training period; we just didn't realize that we would be called upon to use it so soon. As the soldier goes to basic training and his Drill Instructors pour all they can into him, then turn him loose, so Bro. Pringle poured his heart and soul into teaching us, to fill us with all the knowledge he could. As he has graduated from this life, so we have now graduated from our Basic Training, and have been given our assignment. As Bro. Ray, Jr., has stated, that assignment is to preserve that message God gave Bro. Pringle, and to continue to spread it out over this nation. We pray that we will, with God's help, "walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye [we] have been called." "The harvest is great, and the laborers are few." Through it all, we know Bro. Pringle is looking down on us from Heaven and cheering us on, "Onward, Christian soldiers! On to Victory!"

	*IF YOU WERE BUSY* *If you were busy being kind, before you knew it you would find,* *You'd soon forget to think 'twas true, That someone was unkind to you.* *If you were busy being glad, And* *cheering people who were sad,* *Although your heart might ache a bit, you'd soon forget to notice it.* *If you were busy being good, And doing just the best you could,* *You'd not have time to blame some man, Who was doing the best he can.* *If you were busy being true, To what you know you ought to do,* *You'd be so busy you'd forget, The* *blunders of the folks you've met.* *If you were busy being right, You'd find yourself too busy, quite,* *To criticize your neighbor long, Because he was busy being wrong.* *Author Unknown*