TWO TYPES OF SPIRITUAL BABIES (NEPIOSES)

I'll illustrate the difference between a genuine baby Christian and a spiritual baby who's been a Christian for years. There was a fellow in the last church I pastored who was a businessman. He was a contractor by trade. His wife was one of my Sunday school teachers. This man wasn't a Christian, but he never missed a service — Sunday school, Sunday morning, or Sunday night. And during revival meetings, he'd come every night and bring his family.

Finally, this man said to his wife, "Talk to Brother Hagin for me. I know I'm not saved, but ask Brother Hagin if the church would accept my tithes." This man and another fellow were in business together. The other fellow belonged to another church; he wasn't a Christian either. This woman's husband told his business partner, "Our business is in bad shape financially. We're just about bankrupt. I know we're not Christians, but I believe if we'd honor God by paying our tithes that God would honor us." Of course we accepted his tithes! And so he started bringing his tithes from his part of the business. Then he bought out his partner, and within ninety days' time, his business was out of the red and in the black, and it was prospering. Then he needed to hire other folks to help him in his business. And so he'd hire people from the church to work for him.

Even before he got saved, this man said to me, "Before I hire anybody, I ask them on a questionnaire, 'Do you pay tithes?' My older employees who have been with me can stay with me. I wouldn't fire a man for not paying tithes. But I don't hire anybody who doesn't pay tithes. This is a tithe-paying organization. I've proved it out, and it works!" That's a pretty good attitude for a sinner man. But then this man came to the altar one night in a service and was gloriously saved. He continued to hire people from the church to work, including the young people for summertime help. I checked up on the finances of the church and found that during a certain month, two thirds of the support of our church came through his company or through those working for him.

About two weeks after this man had gotten saved, I was shaving one morning and getting ready to downtown to buy some groceries and go to the post office to pick up our mail. While I was shaving, the Spirit of God spoke to me, on the inside of me, in my spirit. It wasn't audible, but it was the inward Voice of the Holy Spirit, and He said to me, "Before you go to town, go out to ___ 's house and pray for him" (talking about the businessman who had just gotten saved).

The Lord said, "He got mad on the job, lost his temper, and cursed. I want you to go restore him." So I said to my wife, "The Lord told me I've got to go see _____ . The Lord just told me he lost his temper on the job, and he's home sick in bed over it. The Lord told me to go see him and restore him." Oretha said, "Go ahead then. The errands can wait. We're not in any hurry." So I finished shaving and started putting on my tie when I heard a car drive up in front of the parsonage. I looked out the window and saw this man's wife.

She came in and said, "Oh, Brother and Sister Hagin, please don't tell ____ that I came here. He'll have a fit if he knew. But he got mad on the job and lost his temper. He said he was so mad, he didn't remember it, but some of the men said he cursed. He told me, 'If I did, I don't know it.' "But now he says, I've backslidden. I'm never going to church anymore.' He had injured his back working awhile ago. And now that back injury's come back on him, and he's home in bed sick. Will you go see him? "But don't tell him I came by here. If he asks you, 'Have you been talking to my wife?' I don't know what to tell you to do."

"Well, I know what I'm going to do," I said. "You just ask my wife. I told her less than ten minutes ago that the Lord spoke to me and told me to go over there and see your husband. So I can tell him truthfully that the Lord sent me, because He did." So I went to the man's house. His wife told me where he was, so I went around to a side door and knocked. He hollered, "Come in," but when I opened the door and looked in and he saw me, he jerked the bed covers up over his head. He was embarrassed, bless his heart. But you remember he was just two weeks old in the Lord. I'll tell you, sometimes we folks who are older in the Lord forget what it's like to be newly saved. Somebody gets saved Sunday night, and we expect them to be living as good a separated and holy life as we are now (but when we first got saved, we didn't do that in our own lives either!).

And so he jerked the cover up over his head. I just got on my knees beside the bed, and I had a time doing it, but I finally managed to pull the covers off his head! I wasn't but a boy then, just twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old. This man was in his forties. But I took him in my arms and began to cry with him. He was crying, and I just began to weep with him. I said, "Brother _____ , I was shaving, the Lord spoke to me and sent me over here. We're not going to let the devil have you. You may have missed it, but we're not going to let the devil have you." "Oh, Brother Hagin," he said, "I'm just so embarrassed.

I did get mad, and I lost my temper. I know that. But I don't remember anything I said. I was so mad, I don't know what I said. And some of the men said I cursed." A person can get so mad he doesn't know what he's doing. I know — I've been there, but not since I was a Christian. I've got as much temper now as I ever had before, but I control it. I've never let it get away from me since I've been a Christian. Before I was a Christian, I could get so mad at someone, I'd knock him in the head before he could say scat! And I'd get so mad, I didn't know what I was doing sometimes. I've been just that mad before. "Well," this man said, "I had that back injury, and it seemed like I was over it pretty good. But it's come back on me, and I'm in misery and pain." This man was a genuine spiritual baby. I laid my hand on his back and said, "Dear God, now You love him, and I know You do. I know he's failed. I know he's sinned, but he's ashamed of it and has repented of it. Lord, just prove to him right now that You love him. Heal his back."

And I remember the man looked at me, and just as fast as you could snap your fingers, he was healed. He looked startled and jumped like you'd shocked him with electricity. He said, "You know, it's all gone. The pain left." He was instantly perfectly well. He broke down and began to cry and said, "You mean the Lord loves me enough to heal me?" I said, "He loves you enough, and He's restored you." Well, this man came on back to church. We didn't let the devil have him. I had to go one other time about a month or so later to restore this man. He got mad again on the job. But I didn't have to go anymore after that. But, after all, what do you expect out of a baby? They can't do too much for themselves. Somebody's got to carry them. We're going to have to give account unto God for what we've done with the babies who've been born in our midst into the Kingdom of God.

The second time the Lord spoke to me to go and restore this man, the minute it happened and he lost his temper at work, the Lord spoke to my heart and told me what had happened. I went out and restored him, and twenty-five years later, he was on the church board and working for God. He was paying his tithes and living right. I could carry this man on my own faith while he was a genuine spiritual baby. But let me show you something about those who have been babies for years and have not grown spiritually. I had a deacon in my church who lived close to this man I'd restored twice. This deacon was the head deacon. He'd always testify that he'd been saved and filled with the Holy Ghost for nearly thirty years. This deacon was nearly thirty years old in the Lord, and he came to me one day just a crying. He said to me, "I told somebody, 'Brother Hagin doesn't love me. I saw him twice in the last two months out there at Brother ____ 's house, and he never comes to see me.'" I said, "Yes, and I'm not coming either. You're a big baby. You get up and testify in church that you've been saved and filled with the Holy Ghost for nearly thirty years. You don't need anybody to visit you! You're thirty years old in the Lord — you ought to be out visiting others. "Brother ____ is a baby Christian. He needed some body to help him. You don't need anybody to help you.

You ought to be helping me take care of the spiritual babies. But instead, you want to be babied yourself. "So just go ahead and bawl if you want to," I continued. "I'm not going to sympathize with you or have one bit of compassion on you. You don't need it. "And while I'm at it, I want to say something else to you. If you don't quit running around sticking your nose into other people's business, you're going to draw back one of these days, and you're not going to have a nose. Somebody's going to cut it off!" I didn't mean someone was going to literally cut off his nose. But sometimes folks get the idea that God sort of ordained them and called them to run everybody else's business in the church!

I just told this deacon the truth. And he appreciated it. Actually, he got a little huffy right then, but he thought about it, and he came back and thanked me. He shook hands with me and said, "Brother Hagin, thank you. One thing I like about you is I understand you. I see what you were talking about. "You're exactly, one-hundred percent right," he continued, "and I'm one hundred percent wrong. I'm going to get out there and help you a little bit more. I don't need anybody to visit me. I ought to be visiting some of the babies and seeing about them and helping you out. I see that. And not only that, but I see I've tried to poke my nose in too many people's business around here. So I'm quitting it right now." You see, as long as people are really genuine spiritual babies, you can carry them with your faith and get things from God for them. It's the easiest thing in the world to get somebody healed who's a new Christian. Not only that, but it's comparatively easy, as a usual thing, to get Christians healed who have never heard about divine healing. They haven't been taught. So very often you can make your faith work for them. But God expects a little bit more out of those who know about divine healing and have been taught the Word. (Kenneth Hagin)