Behind the Cloth

By Jimmie Dismuke

What has happened to the church? Remember how you felt when you first accepted Christ into your lives, is that feeling still there? Is the drive still in you for wanting to snatch people from hell by being an example and leading them to Christ? This book has been inspired by God to hopefully help us all get back on track by doing the things God called us to do. Behind the Cloth touches the very soul of people who have given their hearts over to God, fighting the good fight of faith as well as those that have been hurt by the church. There are times when we all have to do some soul-searching by examining our own selves to see what God sees in us. None of us are beyond correction - even you. We are in a Spiritual warfare fighting against the evil things that are going on in this world. We currently are living in a world where right has become wrong and wrong has become right, and yet we close our ears, eyes, and mouth and do nothing. This is a world of lawlessness; we are living in the last days. It is time to PUT ON THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 19, 2018
• ISBN: 9781642980967

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Behind the Cloth

Jimmie Dismuke

Copyright © 2018 Jimmie Dismuke

All rights reserved

First Edition

Page Publishing, Inc

New York, NY

First originally published by Page Publishing, Inc 2018

ISBN 978-1-64298-095-0 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64298-096-7 (Digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Idedicate this book to my mom, Bertha, my dad, Tully, and my brother Gregory who were very inspirational in my life and the lives of my siblings. I truly miss them a lot.

I also dedicate this book to my father-in-law, Booker Sr., who I have never met, but I see him through my husband Allen Sr. I can tell that he was inspirational in his life. I know he truly miss him a lot as well as his brother Lee.

Introduction

The Vision

God gave me a vision over twenty-five years ago regarding the church. He showed me in the vision how the spirit of greed would fall on the church on the third leg of the race. He showed me how the pastors and Christians would get caught up in the worldly possessions to the point that they would eventually be unrecognizable. He showed me how greedy they would become, self-centered, and selfish. We are on the third leg of the race, and it will be the fourth leg that will usher the Lord in, and I believe the fourth leg has already started getting in position. They are the ones that will have to clean up the mess that the pastors and Christians of the third race left behind before the return of Jesus Christ.

In the vision I saw pastors hustling and pimping God’s people and using the congregation for the love of money to help support their worldly lifestyle. It is sad when you have to tell people that you are saved now days. In the past, people would look at you strange and say, There is something about you, you are different. Are you saved? In Proverbs 10:2, Ill-gotten gain has no lasting value, but right living can save your life. Matthew 16:25–26: If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life. And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process?

Second Vision

About ten years ago, I was lying on my bed watching television, and eventually, I fell asleep. At some time, I woke up having a vision and found myself looking at two huge things on what looked like a table, At that time, I did not recognize them. I then found myself at a doctor’s office where a nurse was trying to give me a shot, and I told her no, with authority. After I resisted, I then myself caught looking down at the things that was happening on earth. As I looked down, I saw the world in shambles. People were killing each other as this had become a way of life. I saw people leaving to go to work, stepping over dead bodies without flinching. People were having sex with one another in the open, and it had become no big deal—as a matter of fact, it had become the normal. I looked up and saw some winged creatures that were attacking the people on earth as they screamed and ran for cover. All of a sudden, I saw what looked like a tornado. The difference with this one was that the wind went the opposite way instead of taking things up, it began to come down and open up the earth. Then the people of different nationalities and all walks of life began to fall in this tremendous hole with screams, tears, and fear—then they realized it was too late. I heard some of the people saying they had messed up. I looked inside the hole, and it was a bottomless pit with different layers with no bottom to it. Then I saw the hand of God slowing closing the hole, and the light was gone. It was then that I realized what the two things that I did not recognize earlier were: one was the book of life and the other one was the book of death. At that point, I began to weep for the lost souls. It seemed that there were millions who didn’t make it. When I did get up, I was still crying for at least two hours nonstop. It felt so real.

Chapter 1

Falling by the Wayside

Some of the pastors preach for profit to maintain a certain lifestyle. They teach their congregation on how to live holy, and yet they don’t practice what they preach. You can’t tell them from the people living in the world. What happened to the powerful messages about heaven and hell? Those messages would scare sinners straight. Today, we live as though these two places are nonexistent even though they are both real. We are no longer taught or reminded about how much Jesus loves us unless it is on Easter Sunday, and that is when people that normally don’t go to church during the year make it a point to attend on Easter. A lot of them come to the church on Easter Sunday to show off their new outfits. The women flatter each other on how good the other one looks although they won’t see each other again until the following year on Easter Sunday. It is so amazing how we are busy complimenting the outer appearance of the body while being blinded from the truth about what is going on the inside.

There are members as well as visitors that attend church on a regular basis who end up being treated as though they are part of the furnishings in the church. Women have a problem when other women don’t look, dress, or act like they think they should, and they gossip about it. They never have a decent word to say to them.

When I look back at the first two legs of the race, the pastors then were involved in the lives of the members, their family, and the community. The youth looked up to them. When they were going through some personal things that they were afraid to talk to their parents about, they would talk to their pastor, who would guide them in the right direction. They taught a lot on heaven and hell. They were concerned about people that were sick (spiritually, physically, mentally, and financially); they prayed, trusted, and believed what the Word of God says. Before your very eyes, you witnessed people’s lives change and people were healed right away. The church had shut-in intercessory prayer they would pray until they saw the hand of God move. They always had altar call for anyone wanting to join the church get saved or healed in their body. Lives were be restored, and people were on fire for the Lord. Men and women of God would tarry for those that wanted to be filled with the Holy Spirit; they were patient and on one accord. They were hungry for the word of God. Fasting and praying were done on a regular basis. They praised and worshipped God with all their heart. They trusted God and believed what the Word of God says. Isaiah 53:4–6: Yet it was our weaknesses He carried; it was our sorrows that weighed Him down. And we thought His troubles were a punishment from God for His Own sins! But He was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. He was whipped and we were healed! All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on Him the guilt and sins of us all.

There used to be a time when the pastor would take the time to check up on the members in their congregation with a simple telephone call or a visit if a member was sick and did not attend church services. They were concerned about the sheep. The