Salt Pillars - Pastor J.D. Howell 10-14-2026

But we'll obey the Lord.

Brother Nathaniel, 2 Peter chapter number 3, verse number 9.

Brother Jesse Luke, chapter number 9, verse number 62. Good

to see my friend, Brother Chip Roy, come walking in tonight.

Praise God. Amen.

Again, beloved, our text will be found in the book

of Genesis, chapter number 19 and verse number 26. Brother Nathaniel,

would you read 2 Peter chapter number 3 and verse

number 9, my brother? The Lord is not slack concerning

His promise, as some men count slackness, but as longsuffering

to us, we're not willing that any should perish, but

that all should come to repentance.

Did y'all catch that?

The Lord is not willing that anyone perish. He gave

us His Son so that nobody would have to perish.

Praise the Lord. Brother Jesse, Luke chapter number 9. Verse

number 62, my brother. And Jesus said unto him, No man,

having put his hand to the plow and looking back,

is fit for the kingdom of God. But even though

he gave his son to us, there's been many that

have looked back and gone back. May we stand for

the reading of our golden text, Genesis chapter number 19,

beginning in verse number 22. The Bible reads as this,

Haste thee, escape thither, for I cannot do anything till

thou become thither. Therefore the name of that city was

called Zoar. The sun was risen upon the earth when

Lot entered into Zoar. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom

and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out

of heaven. And he overthrew those cities and all the

plain and all the inhabitants of the cities and that

which grew upon the ground. But his wife looked back

from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

And Abraham got up early in the morning to the

place where he stood before the Lord, and he looked

toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of

the plain, and beheld, and lo, the smoke of the

country went up as the smoke of a furnace. And

it came to pass when God destroyed the cities of

the plain that God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out

of the midst of the overthrow of When he overthrew

the cities in which Lot dwelt. And Lot went up

out of Zoar and dwelt in the mountain. And his

two daughters with him. For he feared to dwell in Zoar.

And he dwelt in a cave. He and his two daughters.

Looking at verse number 26 again please. But his wife

looked back from behind him. And she became a pillar

of salt. About 30 minutes before service started tonight. The Lord.

Spoke these words into my heart. Jeremy, preach on salt pillars.

And immediately that text came to mind.

May we pray.

Heavenly Father, we love and we praise you. We thank

you for the opportunity to be in your house. Lord,

I thank you for this group of people. They are

people of like precious faith. I thank you for every

one of these that you have given us today. this

beautiful family of God. I thank you, Lord, for the

gathering of these people. I pray that you would anoint

their ears and help them to hear what the Spirit

of God is saying to each one tonight. Would you

anoint me, help me to say the things you would

have me to say? Nothing more or less than a

guard at my mouth and a guard at their ears.

Help us, I pray.

God, help us to depart this place joyfully and not sorrowfully.

In Jesus' name, and the church said, Amen. While you're

being seated, look at your neighbor and say, Hey, neighbor,

don't become a salt pillar.

Amen.

Our text is found in an Old Testament book of

the Holy Bible. The book of Genesis is certainly a

book about beginnings. In fact, the narrative concerning the creation

of the earth is in the front of this sacred

book of the Bible. And truly, as it was with creation,

so it was with Adam and Eve. They were a

beautiful couple. They were beautiful individuals and they began this

human race beautifully. And there is no doubt that on

a scale of 1 to 10, Adam and Eve were

on a 20 to 30 level. They were the epitome

of humankind. I believe they were the perfect of God's

creative abilities. And within their very lungs is the doctrine

of pneumatology.

They are living and breathing.

They're in existence because by him they have received their breath.

For in them is the breath of life. God breathed

into Adam the breath of life, and he became a

living soul. These are not zombies, soulless creatures, but these

are living souls. This is the beginning of men and women,

boys and girls with souls. And so, Brother Ethan Rocap, Henson,

it was with Adam and Eve, and so it can

be with you and Sister Serena. This thing that has

begun with you two can be a beautiful thing, and

I believe it is a beautiful beginning for two young people.

When I look at the life of Brother and Sister Rocap,

I can tell that something beautiful began in their life

nearly 20 to 30 years ago. For Sister Howell and

I was about 35 years ago, something beautiful began.

You heard it said a.

Little while ago by Brother Jeremiah that him and Sister

Leah began life together beautifully about five years ago. Can

I tell you that the devil would love to come

in and contaminate and corrupt these beautiful lives and these

beautiful family units? I've seen a lot of pastors endeavor

to do the work of God and embrace the opportunity

to work for the king of kings within his kingdom

and begin a beautiful work for his glory. I heard

a young preacher say recently, pray for me and my

family because we have recently left our home church and

we desire to do something beautiful for the Lord.

I've been hearing that word a lot here lately, beautiful.

I remember having one particular elder sister in this church

that was always speaking of how.

Beautiful she was. Now, on the outward, she was.

Not a very comely or beautiful person, but she would

try to convince these people that she had been a

supermodel of sorts. And she tried to convince this people

that her hair was beautiful.

And it was beautiful because God had given it to her.

But we know that that woman wasn't all that in

a bag of chips because outwardly she certainly wasn't the

most beautiful person that we had ever laid our eyes upon.

But in her own mind, she felt like she was

just beautiful, in fact, gorgeous. She'd talk about long, lanky

nails right in front of these young men. And I thought, God,

this woman right here has fallen off her rocker.

She's as crazy as a loon.

The word galoot does not describe her well enough, but

in her own world.

She was beautiful.

Isn't it amazing how that wicked heart that is deceitful

above all things and desperately wicked, how it can deceive

us just like it deceived Demas and Let Demas know

that that world out there awaited him. And he felt

like that was a beautiful place of a beautiful beginning.

And he left ministry and the sight of the great

Apostle Paul and the other apostolic brethren in order to

endeavor to do things his way. And can I tell you,

he might have had a beautiful beginning because he began

with Apostle Paul and those other great brothers.

But I'm afraid that his ending was not beautiful.

And there's no doubt concerning the biblical characters within this narrative.

Abraham and Sarah had a beautiful marriage. And they had

a beautiful beginning when God spoke to them and said,

Get up from among thine own people and thine own

kindred and go into the land that I shall show you.

I'll bless you and I'll prosper you and the blessings

of God will be upon you. But if you're disobedient

and unruly, I will curse you. But we find that

Abraham and his wife Sarah wanted something beautiful to continue on.

And they are a beautiful testimony. They're beautiful examples of

heroes of the faith. And thank God their names show

up in Hebrews chapter number 11.

And they're definitely role models.

Brother Samuel Howell said tonight that no person that's non-spirit-filled

will ever be.

A hero once. or a role model appears.

What he's saying is, that's not something for me to

consider beautiful, to see a preacher or a minister get up,

non-inspired and non-anointed, and try to preach from the divine library.

Praise the Lord. But I've seen ministries begin beautiful. I've

seen people walk in the way of salvation beautifully. I've

seen God change old creatures that were ugly, dingy, despicable,

and disgusting and make them beautiful creatures. I've seen ugly

spiritual caterpillars become beautiful spiritual butterflies by the Spirit of God.

And Abraham and Sarah, they had some relatives that belonged

to something beautiful. They belonged to the tribe of Abraham.

But Lot got to looking at things wrongly. And because

he was looking at things through Lot's lens. instead of

the lens of God, Lot began to put a priority

on things that really didn't matter to Uncle Abe.

And you know what?

Old Locke got in a lot of trouble. I said

Old Locke got in a lot of trouble. And I

want to preach to somebody here tonight and let you

know you better be careful unless you find yourself in

a whole lot of trouble.

Amen.

That has begun beautiful in you. Thank God for that

new creature experience. But we're not once saved, always saved people.

We're not Calvinistic brethren. Brother Chip Roy could take you

out back at the church and school you. Wow, you

should not be Calvinistic in your theology. I thank God, though,

for the beautiful things that he's begun doing in the

lives of each individual in this building. When I think

of Israel's first king that God selected and chose, he

was beautiful because he was head and shoulders above everybody else.

All the Israeli men and the soldiers of that day

were probably five foot six tall. And Saul, he's about

six foot, six foot one, head and shoulders taller than

everybody else. It's a beautiful thing that God done for

the nation of Israel. He didn't win by a majority

in an electoral process or vote. He was appointed by

God Almighty. And God said, yeah, big tall Saul, as

long as you're little and humble, as long as you're

nothing and nobody in your own sight, you've got that

tender heart that's so beautiful.

But if you're not careful, you're going to become somebody.

And when you become somebody, you're going to take up

other people's possessions. You're going to take the best of

their flock and herds and the best of their livestock,

the best of their herdmen, even take the best of

their sons and daughters unto yourself. He said, you're going

to become selfish. If I make paraphrasing, you're going to

become ugly. Can I tell you that older woman became

ugly the more she bragged? upon herself in this beautiful

body of believers as they were assembled.

There's nothing uglier than pride.

I preached a sermon years ago titled The Ugliness of Unbelief,

and unbelief is ugly, but there is nothing as ugly

as pride. You know, pride got into beautiful Lucifer, and

Lucifer approached the throne of God, and he felt like

he should be seated there with a holy trinity. Oh,

come on now. Lucifer is not the opposite to Jesus Christ.

He is a created being.

And that that was so beautiful in the presence of God,

and that which led singing so beautifully, and that which, oh,

come on, emitted out of his body such beautiful sounds.

Things got ugly real quick, and Jesus witnessed Satan being

cast out of the glory world and dwelling in a

dominion and a principality of darkness.

Things got ugly quick, didn't they?

Apparently, he must be pretty ugly right now because the

Bible said him and his hitchmen can transform themselves into

an angel of light. So right now, in their unnatural state,

in the way God created them, they were beautiful. In

their behavior, in their ethics, in their actions, they were beautiful.

They were impeccable. They were perfect. But he let his will,

when allowed a little bit of time to have his

free will, Brother Chip Roy, he became ugly. And God

cast ugliness out of heaven. I want you to know

God's going to have only beautiful people and beautiful things

in heaven.

Come on now.

There's somebody in this building here tonight, you feel like

you can make it to heaven being ugly. God doesn't

like ugly attitudes and ugly hearts.

He saved a many ugly person.

Historians say by appearance, Apostle Paul was not exactly the

most beautiful thing to look upon.

But he had a meekness that ornated him.

And we know that salvation will beautify us.

And meekness will beautify us. Amen.

So in time, though, Adam and Eve, they got ugly

because they began to have ugly conversations with the serpent.

And that that was so beautiful in its beginning, at

that same time, they began a downward spiral that led.

Them into their watery grave.

Can I tell you that Adam and Eve lost their

salvation when they disobeyed God? Nowhere in the Bible do

you find where Adam tried his best to make repentance

unto God. Could it be that he never fully and

completely repented? We'll never know until we get there. We

can tell by the name of Seth that perhaps Eve

did try to do some sort of repentance. We can

tell that Adam and Eve did try to offer sacrificial

offerings because Cain and Abel got into their dispute.

And after their dispute, Cain.

Rose up and slew his beautiful brother Abel. That was

so beautiful turned ugly quick, didn't it? That was such

a beautiful worship service. turned ugly quick. I mean, murder

happened in the church, so to speak. Right in the

middle of a formal worship service while sacrificial offering is

going on. Somebody's a hypocrite, and somebody's trying to do

enough to get by while somebody's trying to do it

perfect and present it unto God. It seems reasonable enough,

doesn't it? A God that wants to be perfect. A

God that wants his followers to be perfect. In fact,

he's so willing to make them perfect that he'll give

them a new creature experience. If any man be in Christ,

he is a new creature. Old things have passed away. Behold,

all things have become new.

Imperfections. Come on now.

Outward physical imperfections may remain, but inward imperfections can be

healed by the ruby red blood of Jesus. I feel

the Holy Ghost in this house. Adam and Eve lost

their life. They died, and God knows whether or not

they repented. But we know there came a time though

later on when this beautiful thing had deteriorated and escalated

to such a place that God looked upon his creation.

But it began so beautiful and the Bible said God.

God repented that he had even made man. That that

he looked upon. That he said was so good. That

that was so beautiful he didn't frown upon creation. He

didn't frown upon the creature. He frowned upon the antics

and the actions and the behavior of humanity.

Come on now.

And at the end, he found these people are exceedingly wicked,

and every imagination of their own thought and their heart

is only evil continually. And God, who beholds all things,

sees all of this ugliness, and he sees all of

this filthiness. This isn't God just peering underneath the bottom

of Achan's tent floor, and God's all seeing eyes sitting

through the sand's And finding the bar of gold and

the Babylonian garment.

Hidden underneath Achan's tent.

This is an all-seeing God seeing everything that is being done.

All ugly deeds that are being ungodly committed. He sees

all this ugliness. And in the sight of God is

a tragic end to something that began so beautifully. I'm

preaching a message tonight. The Holy Ghost tied up salt pillars.

In my mind's eye, I can see Noah's wife watching

Noah navigating the treacherous waters of this corrupt humanity. All

of the waste products that are floating in those treacherous waters.

Long before the world wide flood destroyed their world as

they knew it. It wasn't a pleasant thing to think upon, no.

I feel that no other righteous man wasn't one to.

Look upon ugliness.

I feel like that man was not one to set

his eyes upon the evil thing. Even a poetic psalmist

said in poetry, he said, I will set my eyes

before no wicked thing. I will look upon no wicked thing.

Come on now. I'm preaching to somebody here tonight.

If you have no problem at all looking upon the

ugliness of this world and the wickedness of this world,

you've got an ugly heart. I feel that Noah was

not one to look forward upon sin or back upon sin.

I feel like Noah was one that had set his

face upon the goal. Whatever it was God had told

him was the goal for his soul, Noah was willing

to do exceeding and above and beyond what God had

bid him to do.

God had asked him to go one mile. Noah's willing to.

Go twain, praise the Lord. He's a holy man. He's

a righteous man. It's just how their actions grieve Him

the same way the unbelief of the Jews grieved Jesus Christ.

Noah's not pleased with the actions of the unbelievers and

the unholy. Brother Nathaniel said, we know this man was

not one to gaze upon sins. He was not one

to fixate his eyes upon sin. He was not one

that required a closer look. He was not one when

he saw sin would focus on it. If he had

been one who required micromanaging, God would have never called Noah.

if Noah hadn't have been righteous through and through, if

Noah had not been a holy man of God, if

he had not been a praying man that could hear

the voice of God, if he had not been an

obedient servant that could receive instructions, verbal instructions from God,

God would have never selected him and called him to

do what God required of him to do.

If he had been one.

Who required constant supervision, he would have never been called

upon to help deliver eight righteous people from the cataclysmic

flood which was forthcoming. Can I tell you in all

knowing God and omniscient God knew exactly how many people

would turn away from their sin.

He knew who would humble themselves and pray.

Yet that all-knowing God still required Noah to preach for

120 years and to tell people there's still time to

turn from their wickedness.

There's still time to repent. Amen. I feel the Holy

Ghost in this place.

Don't you know that God loves mankind more than the

creature of the field? God gave mankind dominion over the

birds of the air and the beasts of the field.

That if mankind had responded to their preaching at the

last minute, that God had been willing to sacrifice an

animal or two to make room for the house of

another man. Amen. Don't you believe God would have made

room for somebody else? But God knows right now whatever

choice you're going to make, God knows the choice you're

going to make right now. The same way if I

put a root beer in front of Rebecca and Renee,

I know who's going to choose the root beer. Sister

Rebecca's going to choose the root beer. She's going to

go to that A & W root beer float, and

she's going to enjoy it tonight at the church.

Mimi bought it. It's in a can.

All she's got to do is go to her bedroom,

pull that little 12-pack out from under her bed where

she's hid it, and go ahead and open one and

drink it.

Her and her Mimi love root beer.

Can I tell you, God knows who loves beautiful things

and clean things and righteousness and pure and holiness. God

knows who's going to choose the ugly. God knows who

likes ugly. God said God knows who likes ugly. The

same way these parents know their children, God knows his creatures.

I said there's people in this building tonight. The choice

is yours, yes, but God knows already whether or not

you're sick and tired of ugliness. God knows already whether

or not you're seeking truth, whether or not you're desiring

truth in the inward parts. God already knows what it

is that's inside of you. He knows what's inside of man.

He knows the frame of man. He knows that we

are but dust, but he also knows if there is

a Noah or if there is an Abraham who is

crying out with these words, I hunger and I thirst

after righteousness. He that hungers and thirsts after righteousness shall

be filled. A lot of men preaching on the baptism

of the Holy Ghost and the reception thereof like to

use that scripture all the while totally altogether overlooking the

need for right standing with God. Our righteousness is as

filthy rags, but he can put his righteousness in you

where you can say, you know what, things that I

used to be so sorely tempted to do, I no

longer have a desire to do it. I no longer

desire ugliness anymore. I no longer desire being ugly anymore.

Somebody asked me a question not long ago.

They said, why are the people of this generation tattooing

themselves from head to toe? Why are they splitting the

tops of their ears and effing their ears, pulling them

up to a point, sewing them together? Why are they

splitting their tongue in half like the serpent of the asp?

Why are they doing these things?

I said because their ugly master wants them to be ugly.

Do you know not long after I said that I

heard some people talking and they said we want people

to fear us. We want people to look at us

like we're freaks of nature. We want people to look

at us like they can't trust us. We want to

be different. Listen, if you want to be ugly, you

will be ugly. You can choose either death or life.

You can choose either good or evil. That was the test,

the litmus test in beautiful paradise. God put it right

there and plugged it in. and said, if you want it,

you can have it. If you want to corrupt and

contaminate that seed of man, you can do it. And

Eve just had to push the button of free will.

And I'm telling you here tonight, you've got a free will.

And if your heart is telling you to do ugly things,

you need to pray and say, God, change my heart. God,

I need a new nature. I need new desires. I

need to hunger and to thirst after righteousness. Your problem

is you still love ugly.

You still love things Sister Wooten hates.

I drove an hour and 45 minutes tonight only to

find 30 minutes before church. that somebody must be choosing ugly.

That's the wrong button to push. I set before you

a beautiful life, King Saul, or an ugly life. I

set before you anointing or unholy anointing. I set before

Pentecostal and holiness churches the right spirit or a familiar spirit.

The spirit of truth or the spirit of error.

I give the New Testament church an opportunity to put

parsons and pastors in pastorates. Oh, come on, that are

sheep in sheep's clothing. But I also permit the people,

the parishioners, to elect wolves in sheep's clothing to go

up on the platform and preach behind the pulpit and

to pervert the truth. I give men and women and

boys and girls the opportunity of electoral process to decide

this day who they are going to choose. Joshua finally

conceded to this fact. You can't make everybody serve the Lord.

And whenever he retreated and prayed it through, he called

for a meeting the same way Samuel Howard did with

his employees two days ago.

And said, everybody come in here.

We're going to have a come to Jesus meeting.

And Joshua said, listen.

I am sure him and his family had already discussed it,

and he had already told them the road they were

going to take. I'm sure they had already checked the

beautiful boxes, and he told them, Israelis or Israelites, he said,

you can go back and serve the ugly gods on

the other side of the flood. You can serve these

new gods that you're learning about right now in this

land where we dwell today. Whether old discoveries or new discoveries.

Old gods or new idols. But as for me and

my house, we're going to serve the Lord. I want

you to know here tonight, you can choose ugly if

you want to. But I'm trying to encourage you to

tell you, you better choose life.

And you better choose the beautiful way.

I'm preaching a little bit different tonight because God gave

me a burden. I feel that Noah wasn't going to

look back. Sister Whitney spent all them years building an

ark to the saving of his house. Sunday school teachers, preachers,

theologians alike have all estimated how many skeptics come by,

how many critics pass by and say, what are you doing,

old crazy preacher? I'm building an ark to the saving

of my house. Why don't you come go with us?

And they mocked And they laughed. And they went on

and did life their way. They went on being ugly.

I said they went on being ugly. And God's hating

it more and more and more. God's not hating that

beautiful creation. God's not hating the killer whale, the orca.

God's not hating the blue whale. God's not hating their buildings.

God's not hating on the materialistic things or the creatures

within nature. God is upset about them going against the

principles that he had established God's upset about them going

against the law and the prophets God's upset about them

going against the grain of what's been established by the

sons of God oh come on I'm telling you right

here in this building here tonight you can make your

choice and do whatever you want to You can continue

on being beautiful in the grace and the goodness of God,

or you can turn heels and become despicable and disgusting

in the sight of God.

Almighty and even your fellow man. And you know what?

You won't be able to cast blame upon one person

in the church. Everybody's just going to know that you

chose ugliness over the goodness and the grace of God.

How do good men go back? Why do good men

make bad choices? Why do good men do things that

they shouldn't do? Why? Why do good young people choose

to go back? Why do they choose to weaken the

beggarly elements of the world? Why do they do that,

Brother Nathaniel?

Why?

Because men love darkness rather than light. The majority of

mankind loves darkness rather than light. So this man of God,

He understands something cataclysmic is coming, and he begins to

build an ark. Judgment is coming. The wrath judgment of

God is flooding in. God's going to bring the waters

to the ark. There's no need to build the ark

near a port. God's going to bring the floodwaters to

the ark. And this man of God had a laser

focus on his divine assignment. I said this man of God, Noah,

had a laser focus on his divine assignment. In this

real world, the lack of focus on his assignment would.

Lead many to moral failure. Come on.

And whenever you get led to moral failure, you're going

to have mission failure. If Noah had taken his eyes

off the ark... and the work that he was doing. Mama,

if you take your eyes off your children.

Daddy, if you take your eyes off your children.

Elder, if you take your eyes off your divine assignment

at that church. Brother Rocap, you'd never do this, but

never take your eyes off your post of duty. Brother Caleb,

never take your eyes off your post of position. At

the Bethel Holiness Church, I don't feel like I'm preaching

to these two men. But by example, may they be

a testimony of men that never took their eyes off

of the divine assignment. Sweet Lamb of God, I'm telling you,

somebody better hear me tonight.

I know it's getting late.

It'll lead to moral failure, and it'll lead to mission failure.

Aren't you thankful that Noah just kept on working on

that ark? In the 19th chapter of Genesis, again, we

read of the compassion of Almighty God. In 2 Peter

chapter number 3 and verse number 9, the Bible said,

the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some

men count slackness, but as longsuffering to usward, not willing

that any should perish, but that.

All should come to repentance.

That is the Apostle Peter speaking of the compassion of God.

Peter knew all too well that Satan desired to have

him at one time. He knew that Satan desired to

have him and to sift him as wheat is sifted.

But he knew the Lord was compassionate.

He knew the Lord was altogether lovely.

He knew the Lord was holy. He knew the Lord

was forgiving. And in this epistle, Peter is telling them.

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise. Listen, heaven

is your promise as much as it is anybody's. We

do not believe in predestination. We do not believe in predestination.

We don't believe that God has sent some people to

eternal wrath, judgment, and others to eternal bliss in heaven.

We believe it's up to you and your free will

to decide what you're going to do. I don't know

that I've ever preached a message where I've been so

concerned about doctrine as I'm doing tonight, as much as

I'm doing tonight. I'm telling these young people, it's going

to be on you. The promise of sweet heaven is yours.

The promise of the promised land is yours. It will

always be as beautiful as was promised by any spies

that ever spied out the land, whether they were the

spies of Moses or the spies of God, prophets that.

Caught visions of the glory world.

I said men, orators, Oracles, seers, prophets that saw into

the growing world, being like Apostle Paul, that saw heavenly

things to tell this generation it's a beautiful place.

I said it is a beautiful place.

God is not slight concerning his promise to any member

within you meditate, but will you repent or not? He's

not willing that any should perish. So Noah's body, his person,

his existence is testimony that God loves these people. And

he's going to preach by the road cat for a hundred.

20 years. And Noah's message was the same message John

the Baptist preached when that announcer in the wilderness with

his voice, the voice of the announcer in the wilderness

announced the Son of God has been coming as Isaiah,

as Jeremiah and everybody prophesied. But the Son of God

is here. The voice of the announcer, he is here.

And you know what? Upon Christ's arrival, immediately there is

a call or a demand for repentance. When Jesus began

to preach, he preached a message of repentance. You know

what Noah's message was? A message of repentance. It takes

a righteous preacher to preach a repentance message. It takes

a righteous preacher to preach a message of repentance.

Why are there no longer many messages about repentance?

Why are preachers now more of a cheerleader than they

are of a preacher? It is because they are not

righteous ministers. They would feel like a hypocrite if they

were to preach a message of repentance. They would be

staring in a mirror and looking themselves in the eye.

So Noah's message to his generation was one of repentance.

The people of his generation had horrible and despicable thoughts

and extreme vile actions. In 2 Peter chapter number 2

and verse number 5, I'm paraphrasing here. Again, the apostle Paul,

apostle Peter, he told those who would listen that God

didn't spare the unrepentant in this old world, those who

lived prior to the worldwide flood. Again, the apostle Peter

said God did not spare those that lived in the

old world because of their sin. Again, those that committed

sin prior to the worldwide flood. I love to look

at Noah's rainbow as much as you all do. And

I'm glad that God gave us the promise that he

would never destroy the world by flood again. As South Floridians,

we've held on to that promise many a time. And

the promises of God are yea and amen. Are y'all

listening to me? But if you go over there to

an island where there's a volcano on it and it

erupts and that island submerges in the sea, you were

a fool to go pitch tent on an island of

that nature. Because nature itself was going to tell you,

I'm about to self-destruct. You go and sit in a

church on their pews where they're not preaching righteousness and

judgment and repentance, and you lose your soul. Oh, come on,

and the blind leaders lead you blindly, and you all

fall in the ditch and the muck and the mire,

and there's no good Samaritan to come and get you out.

You know who's at fault. Not the false prophet. Not

the false preacher. You know who's at fault.

You are.

Because you chose that ugly spirit. You chose that counterfeit spirit.

And can I tell you, every counterfeit spirit is counterproductive

when it comes to the things of God. Sometimes people

enjoy listening to the lying spirit more than they do

the voice of truth from a heavenly spirit. I'm aware

of the time and I'm trying not to preach too long.

There's some of you as sure as I live and

as sure as you live in the morning you'll make

a bad choice knowingly.

Amen. Not bringing your family to church, that's a horrible choice.

Not attending a church that promotes truth inward and outward

holiness is a bad choice.

It's a horrible choice.

I'm about a quarter way through what God gave me

30 minutes before church tonight.

Amen.

God sent him a message, Sister Wooten, and God brought

a flood upon the world of the ungodly. He wasn't

worried about the lions and the tigers and the giraffes.

He saved them. But he wasn't worried about that. He

was worried about that sin. Before the tides come rolling in,

God sent a preacher of righteousness. Before the fountains of

the deep erupted, God sent them a messenger with a

message of deliverance. The same for the household of Lot

in the 19th chapter of Genesis. We read of an

account where the Lord sent angels to grab the wrist

of Lot and.

His family members.

That's what I see happen every time the Spirit of

God gets to move him in our Pentecostal and holiness churches.

Every time I see a preacher, an evangelist, or a

pastor start reaching for members in that particular group of people, congregation,

in that assembly that gather the believers, Brother Jesse, I

see angels from heaven grabbing people by the wrist and

trying to pull them to repentance.

Every time I see these preachers.

Have a burden and preach and pull for your soul,

I know good and well that God has sent angelic

messengers to minister to them, to strengthen them, to encourage them,

to give them one more, one more opportunity to pull

for yourself, to keep you from plowing head low into

a devil's hell. Y'all let that sink in. Lot, who

began so beautifully, started making bad choices. Well, Uncle Abe,

I'm about to get myself in a whole lot of trouble.

You sure you should do that, Lot? You go ahead

and make the choice.

In fact.

I'm so confident you're going to make the wrong choice,

even though I'm your senior. And even though you should,

common courtesy would demand that you be respectful and let

me have first choice. Even though I raised you and

blessed you with wealth and made you somebody in my

little kingdom, praise the Lord, I deserve first choice. You

know who's going to make shipwreck anybody that hosts and

harbors a selfish spirit? Y'all know ever since I've been saved,

and I think even before I got saved at dinner

on the ground, I was never first in line. You know,

if there was ever a time that there was one

donut left, I never got the last donut. You know,

if there was ever a time that I saw the

last Diet Coke was in the refrigerator, there was no

way I was going to drink that last Diet Coke

and not try to find a 12-pack and replenish the refrigerator.

I'm telling you, you know a way to get yourself

in trouble is feed that selfish spirit.

That's what happened to Saul. He started getting ugly. And

you know what?

Sometimes we realize we're being rude. Sometimes we realize we're

being crude. Sometimes we realize we're being ugly. Are you

all listening to me? We're supposed to be beautiful. We

look good on the outside. You ever seen somebody look

so beautiful on the outside, meaning they look like they

were living right, but inside they're full of rot?

Dead men's bones.

Hey, come on, I've seen men and women before that

look good on the outside. They look like they had

a good outward standard. But when I started working with them,

I knew they weren't what I thought they were. Are

you beautiful inside and outside? Hey, come on, it's true.

Ugly is to the bone. And I'm preaching to somebody

tonight who is ugly to the bone.

Amen.

Oh, God, help us in this building tonight to see

the ugliness.

Inside of you. It's ugly. It's rude.

We call it southern charm, common courtesy, southern hospitality.

To be respectful.

To say, yes, ma'am, yes, sir, no, ma'am, no, sir.

Amen.

Some of my grandkids are literally three and four years old,

and their mamas have already taught them common courtesy.

Yes, sir. Yes, ma'am. No, ma'am. No, sir.

There's not a time that I hand something to little

old tiny Ada, who's probably only one and a half

years old, that I hand her something that she doesn't

use her words to say, thank you, Papa. Thank you, Papa.

She even puts Papa on there. She addressed me specifically.

She wants me to know I'm speaking to the man

that just blessed me. And I know she's only as

good as her parents. I said I know she's only

as good as her parents. And when I see her

have good behaviors and good manners, I see good Elizabeth

and good Philip in her. And that's what I know

about churches and parishioners. They're only as good as their preacher.

I believe it was Lester Roloff years ago said something.

The holiness of Pentecostal people hijacked back in the 80s

and the 90s about no church will ever go beyond

its pastor. And I've heard holiness men and Pentecostal men

use that for many, many years.

You know that's true. That is true.

You let the pastor start dropping the standard. You let

the first family start dropping the standard. You let the

first lady start being ugly. And then everybody's ugly. Everybody's

getting ugly real quick. The old timers used to have

this phrase, they'll go to hell.

In a handbasket.

Hey, come on now. Do y'all want me to keep

preaching or should we go to the house? There's people

out there in that world watching us and they're looking

on and they see us. They know we dress different.

They know we're supposed to act and talk different too.

And you know what?

That's how it was with the family of Noah. They

were different. And that's how it was with the family

of Abraham and Sarah. But there was something different about

Lot and his wife. I said there was something different

about Lot and his wife. And that's what I'm going

to emphasize here today. You know you're supposed to be

the lost.

Y'all ready? The lost sheep. Y'all supposed to be the

lost sheep. What do you mean by that?

You're supposed to be God's child. You're supposed to be

the few. Because everybody else claims they're sheep. Everybody else

claims they're going to church and they're under the good shepherd.

And everybody else feels like y'all falling off your rocker.

And that you're crazy. And that you're lost. And that

you've gone too far and you've become parasitical and legalistic.

You're the lost sheep. You're not of this fold. You're

not of this fold. That's right, we're not of this

worldly fold. Hey, praise God. I am not part of

the ecumenical church. I am not in the fold of

the ecumenical movement.

That's right.

They lost this sheep. I got out as soon as

I could. I got out from under the oratorical skills

of great orators. I got out of their emotionally driven services.

I got out of their entertainment driven services. And they

said they've lost a sheep or two.

And you know what?

I'm glad I'm a lost sheep person. from them counterfeit shepherds.

And I hope they never find me. And I hope

the spirits that they're of never locate me. And I

hope to never darken the doors of their fold again.

I hope to never, never, never, never graze in their

brown pastures again. I hope to never chew on bars

and sand spurs again.

Praise the Lord.

That's how people felt about Abraham and Sarah. Well, we've

lost them. I told somebody not long ago, I said, listen,

I ain't a black sheep. Just because I relocated and

moved and preached in the gospel, that doesn't make me

a black sheep.

And it doesn't make me the prodigal son either.

I'm not living in a hog pen anymore.

I'm not dwelling in a pigsty.

I'm in an independent Pentecostal holiness church tonight with about

75 clean living beautiful holiness people that love the Lord.

I'm not living in a pigsty. Amen. Praise the Lord.

Isn't that amazing? They call us lost sheep. That's what

they said about Abraham. He's left us and Tiber tried

to do everything he could do to keep Abraham with him.

And the Bible said after Terah died, Abraham was able

to get into the perfect will of God and get

in the center of God's will.

And you know what?

Old Lot, he didn't like dwelling with Uncle Abe, did he?

He didn't like dwelling with Abraham. I'm going to pick

out what I want to do.

I'm going to live where I want to live. I'm

going to get as close as I can to Sin City.

I'm preaching a message, the Holy Ghost title, Salt Pillars.

I'm getting there to what God dealt with me about.

The Bible said you are the salt of the earth.

Noah was the salt of the earth.

For his generation, he is sending forth a saver. Something

that's very pleasing to humanity and pleasing to God, but

there are those that despise those that are good.

And there are those that hate those people that do good.

But nevertheless, Noah's the salt of the earth.

And God's watching him scatter that salt upon the earth.

And then also, Lot, he's supposed to be the salt

of the earth. Abraham's the salt of the earth. I mean,

everywhere Abraham.

Goes, he's the salt of the earth. He's a blessing.

I'm going somewhere. Y'all hang tight. We're going somewhere. Y'all

hang tight with me tonight. Well, Lot and Lot's wife

decided they're going to go be the salt of Sodom.

And they're supposed to be positively, most definitely, most assuredly

influencing the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, Sin City. And

I guess I need to fast forward. I may have

lost some of you already. I can get on to

the main point of this message or we can have

some more preaching. You will be the salt of the

earth now or you will be a salt pillar later.

And there may be a salt pillar somewhere erected by

God over there in that part of the world. And

I'm sure it remains in place unto this day. But

when the eyes of God beholds the surface of the earth,

he looks upon it. And he probably sees billions of

salt pillars. For in that natural human body, there's probably

less than 16 ounces of salt. I can't remember what

they taught us in school. But I know concerning most

of the water upon the face of the earth, most

of it is salt water. And I know within that

human body, for that human body to properly function, there

has to be salt in that body.

And it may have been nine or ten ounces of salt.

I can't remember. I believe it was less than a pound.

I think I remember a chemistry teacher and a science

teacher saying it's about three to four salt shakers that's

running through your body worth of salt. That's a lot

of salt. And you get not enough of that in

your system. All sorts of crazy things start happening. All

kinds of crazy things start happening. I've seen men that

have been depleted in, what's it, sodium chloride. I've seen

them pour salt in their hand and them eat it,

knowing it was going to fix things in their body

the next day. I've seen people that thought they were

dying realize they were low on salt. Some have to

decrease their salt intake because their body acts up because

they got too much salt in their body. I'm preaching

to all you high blood pressure people. You have to

limit your salt intake right here. Some of you can't

get enough salt, Sister Elizabeth. Brother Ray Asher can't get

enough salt. I watch him every meal, pour it in

his hand and eat it. He can't get enough. But

you know what? We're supposed to be the salt of

the earth. This old, bitter, ugly earth that is so

distasteful and unpleasant to Almighty God. We're supposed to be

those little grains of salt upon the face of the earth.

You know, whenever it come time to judge Sodom and Gomorrah,

God sent them angelic messengers to Abraham. And Abraham and

God started discussing how many grains of salt was over

there in Sodom and Gomorrah. And you remember what Abraham said,

if there's 50 righteous. There's some people in this building

that don't like being righteous, Brother Jesse. I think we

have a couple of rebellious young people. They don't like

being righteous. They're embarrassed of being righteous. They're embarrassed to

live holiness. They're embarrassed about living like God would have

them to live.

You go ahead and refuse.

To be that pleasant little grain of salt that God

wanted on your job. You go ahead and refuse to

be that pleasant little grain of salt that God wanted

you to be in your community. Ye are the salt

of the earth, but if the salt has lost its savor,

what's it good for? The Bible said it's good for

nothing but to be trodden under the foot of men.

You can either.

Be the salt of the earth or be a salt pillar. Hey,

come on, I've read the Bible a lot of times through.

I don't know that I've ever seen another account where

God turned somebody into a pillar of salt.

Have y'all? I've seen people turn into worms.

I mean, just get totally enveloped and engulfed and ingested

by worms. I've seen God's judgment come upon people according

to the word of God. I've seen tragic ends, tragic,

beautiful things become ugly. I've seen people die by the sword,

people die by the fire, people die by the foot,

but I've never seen anybody else die as a pillar

of salt. You know why she died as a pillar

of salt? God dealt with me about 30 minutes before church.

Because she was supposed to be the salt of the earth.

And that was probably.

Her testimony, quite possibly.

Told Abraham, we're going to go down there to the

well-watered plains, the fertile lands. I'm going to sit in

the gate and I'm going to be salt. I'm going

to be salt.

Amen. I'm going to be what I need to be.

But you can't find it in the Bible where Lot's

wife was ever salty. And you can be salty now

or you can be salty later. Can I tell you

the entire city of Sodom and Gomorrah decided, the sister

cities of Sodom and Gomorrah decided not to be pleasant

to God. God salted her with fire and brimstone. Y'all

are starting to get it, I think. Brother, Brother Tyler,

you're the salt of the earth. There's other people in

this building. You're just the salt of the earth.

Thank God. So Abraham and God's a-talking.

We'll take it from 50 to 40 to 30 to 20.

And they couldn't find 10 little grains of salt. And

God said, it's not enough salt. It's not enough salt.

You know what? It wasn't enough salt.

Because when them angelic beings took Lot's wife by the

wrist and them daughters started walking Lot and them out

of there, you can't find in the Bible anywhere where

she had been any good to her neighbors.

You can't find it in the.

Bible anywhere where she had been good to her village

or her community. You can't find where she had been

a godly positive influence. You can't find where they needed

a train to haul all their belongings and possessions. You

can't find where they had to raid the neighbor's barn

and take the camels and the donkeys away. like the

children of Israel did under the leadership of Moses when

they exited the Egyptians' land.

They spoiled the Egyptians.

If Lot's wife had been the salt of the earth,

there would have been a lot of people who.

Would have followed her. There would have been a lot

of people who would have regarded her words. There would

have been a lot. You know what it was?

She never would stop laughing at that sin. She never

would stop looking at that sin. She never would condemn

that sin.

She never would speak against her son-in-laws.

She never would speak against her ungodly children.

She never would.

Don't it sound like some preachers today, they won't name it.

They won't preach against sin. They won't preach against the

ugliness of sin. I can tell you, preacher, you're supposed

to be the salt of the earth. You're supposed to season, yes,

with grace, but you need to say it.

Say it.

The angels told her, said, you run as fast as

you can and don't you look back. There will be

nothing to go back to anyway would be what I

would say. I'm telling you, she had not been the

salt of the earth, so she become a salt pillar.

And it has been said of Sam Kennison that at

one time he was a Pentecostal preacher. That nasty, filthy mouthed,

ungodly comedian. When I was in the world, I remember

one time mistakenly running across him on the radio station

and he was blasphemous. And he was making fun of

Jesus Christ. He was mocking Jesus Christ. I had no

idea why. whatsoever that he had been a professional, yeah,

a preacher. I had no idea that he had been

a Pentecostal preacher, a full-time evangelist, one that could play

the piano and sing. And Brother Aaron Wood, he's mocking.

He said, oh, Jesus is coming. He said, didn't that

happen 2,000 years ago? Didn't they drive some nails through

his hand and kill him? It's been 2,000 years. Yeah,

he's coming back. But you know what? That man was

in it for the money all along. I said that

man was in it for the money all along. If

he was traveling as a full-time evangelist, his motives were

impure all along. Are y'all listening to me? If he

felt like evangelizing would pay his bills, he was in

it for the wrong reasons. Hey, if he had pastored

a church, I don't know his ministerial history, but if

he felt like pastoring a church would.

Pay his bills.

Oh, come on, Hollywood would show him they could pay

his bills better. At some point, somebody realized he's been

for sale all along.

What I'm trying to tell you, if he was in fact.

A Pentecostal professional preacher, hey, the devil knew he had

a for sale sign hanging on his neck the very

first time he preached by the way he looked at the.

Offering that he received.

And they talk about how he died on the way

to one of his comedy shows. And how that album

or whatever it was, titled Live From Hell. I feel

the Holy Ghost in this place. People look at it

as though at one time he had it. I don't

have any of his obituaries. preaching tapes from the 70s

or the 80s, and I desire not to listen to it.

But I bet if you listened to it, you'd hear

him talking about money. You'd hear him talking against holiness.

You'd hear him talking against the righteousness of God. And

you'd hear him not say much about repentance and truth.

He grew out.

There in the world quick. But he fell quicker. I

said he grew quick. It might have took him a

while to grow his Pentecostal ministry. And then catapult from

that into late night comedy shows. But great was the fall.

And if people leave this church or any other church,

and whether one week later or one year later or

ten years later, you hear them being a saltpiller, it's

because they got out there in that world. Amen. This

is starting to sink in. I feel old-time, old-fashioned conviction.

Because the angels are saying, run as fast as you can.

Speedily get out of here. And in my heart, I'm thinking,

what is there to look back for? People want to

talk about how she was looking back to daughters and

grandchildren and family.

I beg to differ. She was looking back to filth.

When your own husband offers the homosexual men of the city,

virgin daughters, what did the neighbors think about that? I've

got somebody's attention right now. When you laugh at that

joke on the job, that's something I've never understood, the

so-called Christians laughing at dirty jokes. I got saved at

17 1⁄2 years old. I can't say I ever stopped

and listened to a dirty joke, much less laughed at one.

When I hear that Pentecostal and holiness people are surfing

the internet and letting things pop up on Facebook that

long since stopped making them blush. And they're afraid to

be the salt of the earth and say, brother and sister,

you ought to be reading in the Bible where Lot's

wife said, Lot, you ain't taking my daughters out there.

You're out of gas. I guess I've been gone two weeks.

I'm going to have to get you back revived. Because

I can feel what you've been playing with, two or

three of you. They can walk out of this church

all they want to in their sin. I'm going to

say it right now. Hell will freeze over before a

man that's been married four times preaches on this platform.

And he can go out there and do whatever he

wants to and fool and deceive. But I bet you

if he'd walk up to some preacher and say, I've

been married four times, he'd never preach in a pulpit again.

But if he hides it, he might sneak up there.

And he might get by with it. But I'm going

to tell you something. Come here, Brother Jonathan. This ain't

Brother Jonathan I'm talking about, but a man can become

a salt pillar in a moment. Just imagine him taking

on the appearance of concrete. When God calls you out

from among the world and tells you to be a

separate people.

You come out.

Don't you touch the unclean things And then I'll receive you.

There'll be reception after you have repented and don't want

to turn and go back. The Bible said if any

man set his hand to the plow and looked back,

they're not fit. And there's some of you right now

sitting in that pew shaking your head, amen, pastor. Some

of you saying amen, praise God. You know good and

well your heart ain't right.

I love you.

But one day when you turn into a salty pillar,

Brother Nathaniel, when God spoke that into my heart, I

saw the entire face of this earth covered with salt pillars.

That's why I said I'm preaching on salt pillars because

the Holy Ghost didn't say salt pillar. He said salt pillars.

These churches, Sister Wooten, that refuse to have outreach and

evangelism and go into the highways and the hedges and

participate in the Great Commission, they don't realize they're slowly

but surely becoming salt pillars.

Where's the growth?

And they abuse the Word of God and twist it

and say, well, this is the time of the great

falling away. We don't have to be in that number.

But when we start losing our savor, we're good for nothing.

Lot's wife sat under the tutelage of Sarah. A woman

that had dinner with Jesus. A woman that Jesus spoke to.

And although she laughed, Jesus looked her in the eyes

and said, why did you laugh? Why did the woman laugh?

I'm going to tell you something. I am thoroughly convinced

it doesn't matter who your pastor is, who your preacher is,

or what kind of moves of God we have. There's

just going to be some of you. I'm going to

use the number again, two or three of you, that

we just simply cannot help until you start to help yourself.

Because what I seen while I was preaching, I saw

four of these elders grabbing two people in this building

by the wrist and trying to pull you to pray.

And you know what? You came with them. But all

the while, You're rubber neck and looking back to something

out there. Brother Jesse, I couldn't imagine being told specifically,

receiving directive from heaven itself, don't you look back, don't

you turn back, and just have to do it. You're

going to be salt one way or another. You're going

to be scattered salt and make things pleasant and be

a testimony or you're going to just be a pillar

of wasted salt. I believe that is why, Brother Jesse,

she turned into a pillar of salt because God was saying,

you didn't turn that people unto me There was no

revival for that kingdom. All the while y'all were there,

you lost members of your own family. And Lot even

lost you. Lot was a righteous man, Brother Rocap. But

I believe his ugly half was working on him. I

wish that every spouse in this building could look at

your spouse in a better half. They're my beautiful half.

And I want to talk to the spouses in this building.

If you're the ugly half, God have mercy on your soul.

When she froze in place, I believe Lot shed a tear.

But Brother Phillip, there was something in that righteous man

that said, I will be vexed no more. I will

be tormented no more. I will be pulled no more.

Until she spawned them two girls who had the same

spirit Mama had. Zohar's not going to benefit. The kingdom's

not going to benefit. No matter how good you are

in life. You're in a whole lot of trouble now, boy.

You got your one that don't love God. You got

your one that likes to be ugly. You got your

one that likes to be nasty. You know why God

told him not to look back, Brother Jesse? Because there

was nothing of value or use to God there. And

that's what Lot's wife should have seen and felt. God said,

don't look back because there's nothing worth saving. At that point,

I done preached it for the first 35 minutes. God's

not willing that anybody should perish. God's trying to tell

Lot and his wife something they don't want to hear.

Though an angel pull them out of heaven, they don't

want to come with us. Though an angel pull them

out of hell, they don't want to come with us.

Though an angel pull them out of the pew, they

don't want to go with us. I'm being careful. And

I don't normally try to preach this long. But I

got a burden. I want to close this chapter on

my life and tell you. You'll be a salt pillar

if you're not the salt of the earth. You know

what salt is used for? One of the things it's

used for, Brother Phillip, is preservation. Preservation. Salt is used

for preservation. Do you know that Lot and his wife

and their family did nothing to preserve Sodom and Gomorrah?

Brother Richard Jacob, I believe your presence at Bethel is

helping us preserve this church and this community.

We have biblical examples of this.

I believe Sister Wooten and Sister Hammond and Sister Vicki

Smith and Sister Howe and others, their presence in this

building preserves this church and preserves this community. But God

said you didn't want to preserve. Everywhere you went, you

wanted to corrupt. You wanted to contaminate. You wanted to

be ugly. So all that sweat and all that salt

That I gave you an opportunity to be. For the

king and the kingdom. Let's just stack it up right here.

And let everybody know it's a wasted life. A wasted life.

Churches on hills. Churches on mountains. Churches in the valleys.

Churches riverside. Churches across the country. Churches everywhere. Lost a saver.

Good for nothing.