LIKE FATHER LIKE SON

I held a meeting for a fellow once who was just a little bit older than I was. I was only about twenty-eight years old at the time, and he was about thirty. He was married, had two children, and was the pastor of a good church that was doing well. But I could see that something was wrong and that if he kept walking like he was walking, he was going to get into trouble. His wife and his children would come to the table to eat dinner, and they'd be almost shaking, they were so afraid of him. The fellow would get mad and begin to abuse his wife. Finally she developed stomach problems because she was so nervous. Those little kids would come to the dinner table, and they were so scared of him, they were almost shaking.

The fellow would throw mad fits and go through the house knocking things over. If something didn't suit him just right, he'd knock dishes off the table. This man was a pastor! I stayed in the parsonage with him and his family, so I tried to talk to him about it. I said to him, "You're going to ruin your wife's health if you keep this up. You're going to ruin your children's lives, and if you keep on, eventually you'll lose them. If you keep going like this, you're going to cut your own days short." I said, "Your children have the impression that God is like you are. And they're going to grow up and act like you do." He never would listen to me, and he wouldn't judge himself and walk in love toward his family. In the course of time, this pastor's oldest boy grew up and got married. He was saved and filled with the Spirit, but he began acting just like his daddy did. He'd get angry about something, and he'd throw those mad fits. His wife wouldn't put up with it. She left him and went back home to live with her parents. Well, he got mad about it and decided that he was going to go over to her parents' house and get her. So he went to his daddy-in-law's house. He pounded on the door, and said, "She's my wife, and I've come after her."

His daddy-in-law wouldn't open the door. He just talked to him through the door because he knew how he got when he threw those mad fits. His daddy-in-law said, "She's not going with you!
Her health is ruined, and her nerves are shot. She may be your wife all right, but until you learn to act like a man and a gentleman, she's staying right here." "No! She's my wife, and I'm coming in to get her. I'll knock the door down if I have to!" He knocked the door down and his daddy-in-law emptied both barrels of a shotgun right into his face, killing him instantly. Well, I'd told that pastor, this young man's father, that his children were going to wind up that way. Also, in the course of time the pastor's wife's health was ruined. He ended up quitting the ministry when he was just in his mid-50s because he was in such bad health. Then some people said, "Here this preacher who had that good Full Gospel church is sick and in bad health.
That just proves that healing is not for everyone." Yet that had nothing to do with it. If only he had judged himself and walked in love! That was the last church he ever pastored. This man just wouldn't judge himself and put away sin. He wouldn't walk in love toward his wife and his children. God didn't have anything to do with his bad health or his children turning out that way. The fellow did it to himself because he wouldn't judge himself, change, and treat his family right. I don't know about you, but I'm going to judge myself. And when I see I've missed it, I'm not even going to wait until I get to church! I'm going to judge myself right then and there and straighten up anything that needs to be straightened up, so I can enjoy God's healing and health and all of His best blessings in life. I want to prolong my days, not cut them short. (Kenneth E Hagin)