(You will need to know that the "Mxxxx" in her story is someone who has been very dear to Sister Nannie for many years, but who now has erred from the faith and is wandering in the darkness of confusion and self-will. Now, let us hear her testimony concerning her vision which Jesus graciously gave to her.)

"Many times I have been to bed and prayed that God would reveal Himself to me, that He would give me a dream or vision that I could not wait until the day to tell about, that I would have to wake someone up to tell them. Wednesday night at prayer meeting, I went up for prayer and was slain in the Spirit. It was so wonderful, the love and the warmth that followed me. Thursday night I dressed for bed and sat down on the side of the bed and picked up The Broadcaster, a letter from our pastor. I lay down and my eyes fell on these lines: There are commandments to be kept if those who are in covenant with Christ would be saved from the coming wrath of God. Suddenly, my eyes filled with tears and my spirit cried out, `Mxxxx! Mxxxx!' I knew that if Mxxxx had kept the commandments and loved God with all his heart he would not have left and gone where they do not preach the truth. Then, suddenly, I felt a tap on my forehead. And a voice said, `I don't need Mxxxx, but he needs me.'"

"Then I was not on my bed. I was out in a field at the edge of a woods. It was late in the afternoon. Dusk was falling. Everything was quiet. Then I heard a voice that spoke directly in my heart. It said, `Here I am.' I turned my head slightly to the left and saw Jesus, standing within a few feet of me. He did not look at me or speak to me again. He was looking straight ahead. He didn't open his mouth, but his voice, or word, was speaking to a group of people. The voice said, `I don't need you. You need me. I can give you peace, comfort, and protection from the wrath of God that's coming.' I felt great fear and tried to fall down at his feet. I knew that I would be safe there, but I couldn't move. I couldn't pick my feet up. I tried to push myself. I was so close. Then I was aware that I was back on my bed, holding The Broadcaster up in the air."

What are we to gather from this wonderful vision from the Lord to Sister Nannie? She received from it three distinct impressions.

First, in her own words, "I know that if we receive anything from God, we have to come to him with all our hearts, with nothing between us."

The spirit of humble, fervent supplication is being driven away from the heart of the Church by wrong ideas about God that are being taught them. The "name it and claim it" teachers belittle the notion of earnest supplication, supplication which pioneers of the pentecostal faith used to call "praying through". But, my friends, surely we cannot be far wrong to follow the example of Jesus, "who in the days of his flesh...offered up prayers with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death . . ." (Heb. 5:7). Every righteous person in the Bible prayed "fervently" for God's intervention in their lives. Hannah prayed so fervently that Eli, the high priest, thought she was drunk. It was righteous Elijah's fervent prayer that caused a drought on the earth for three and a half years, and it was his fervent praying that ended it.

Christian ministers who reject the baptism of the Holy Ghost teach people not to pray fervently and seek the face of God for that holy blessing but to claim that they have received it, based upon the minister's (mis)understanding of the Scriptures concerning it. Oh, how very much easier on the flesh it is simply to claim to have something from God than to deny one’s self and pay the price to receive it! Oh, God, help us escape the snares of our own stubbornness and vanity, and to humble ourselves before you in sincerity and in truth, that we might truly possess the things that are freely given to us in Christ. We must, as Sister Nannie was taught buy God, seek Him with our whole heart, but I am convinced that in order to be able to seek Him with all our heart, God must give us grace not to be deceived by Christian ministers into stopping short of the goal.

Sister Nannie's second impression was, "We have to receive before we can give to others. We can't even give a birthday present until we purchase and receive it first. Oh Lord, have mercy on your people."

Before there is any real saving ministry, there must be a receiving from God. And before there is a receiving from God, there must be an earnestness in asking, an humble seeking for God, and a persistent knocking on His door. Why are there one thousand Christian sects which call themselves after the name of Christ? Because about a thousand different groups didn't "pray through", didn't seek God, and didn't receive from God before they began to teach others how to serve God. We absolutely must hear from God or we have nothing edifying to say to the Church. The Church is plagued with many who have received no commission from God, yet insist on attempting to speak for Him. But Peter wrote, "If any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth." Paul asked, "How shall they preach except they be sent?" And John wrote, "He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God." If the originators of the multitudes of sects within Christianity had heard from God, they would all be speaking the words of God and be "perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment."

Thirdly, Sister Nannie's clear impression which resulted from her vision was that "We must come to this place, or he will replace us with someone who will."

Jesus doesn't need me. I need Jesus. Jesus doesn't need a man to preach his gospel. Men need the anointing of Christ Jesus, in order to be able to preach his gospel. Jesus doesn't need the Church to be the light of the world. The world needs the Church to be the light. And the Church needs grace from God, that it might be able to be a light to the world. Jesus has no need of the Church's tithes and offerings. The Church desperately needs Jesus to anoint men to receive her tithes and offerings in his name, so that she can cease from financing the enemies of the Lord, thinking to do Him service. Jesus doesn't need us, our talents, our money, our plans, our buildings, our organizations, our many members. We altogether need Jesus, his power, his wisdom, his goodness, his correction, his Spirit. He is our life! We are not his. Without him, we are hopeless. Without us, he lives forevermore.