WEBVTT

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All right, come on with questions. Why is it

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that a sinner gets his healing and a saint sometimes

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doesn't? Well, sometimes I think we think some

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folks are saints who aren't. You know something?

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I've learned this a long time ago. There are

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an awful lot of people who put on an awful good

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front when they go out of the house. But when

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the doors are closed and the blinds are drawn,

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they're devils. Yes, ma 'am. It's just like that.

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You ask the question why so many good people's

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children turn out bad. You know, Ralph, you have

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to really, if you're a man, you have to live

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with a woman to know her. Amen. And you know,

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Mrs. Wilkerson, You really have to live with

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a man, don't know him, right? Uh -huh. And it's

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like that. And it's just like that. All right,

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there's number one. You see, you would be amazed

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how much spiritual pride there is in the heart.

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A many a professing Christian. I shall never

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forget. I'll never. In a little town in Idaho.

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And this is one of my very first experiences.

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When I first began preaching the gospel. It was

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a Methodist church in Idaho. And they asked me

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to preach the morning sermon. And there was an

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old codger in that town. who was really a reprobate.

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Now, I'm telling you, because they told me when

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I first came to town. And I wasn't any more than

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16 years of age. And they had gotten him to come

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to that morning service. I gave an altar call.

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When I gave that altar call, here came the old

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cotcher. He came down to the altar, because my

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personal work in those days... If I thought there

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was a sinner in the place, I'd lock the doors

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and let him out until he got converted. And so

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when we got him down the altar and God really

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saved him, it was glorious. When I look back

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on it now, I'm wondering whether he was saved

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and filled with the Spirit at the same time because

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he really got a double dose of something. I didn't

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even know enough about the baptism of the Holy

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Spirit to know. And his hands were up and he

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was crying and he was rejoicing. And oh, it was

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glorious experience that he got. And his wife

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came to the front of the church and she looked

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up and she said, it isn't fair. It isn't fair.

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It isn't fair. I've been the president of Ladies

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8 for 26 years and you've never done this for

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me. And here comes my old husband and look what

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you do for him and you left me out. You see,

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we don't know the heart. It's still a matter

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of what's on the inside here. It's still inside

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here. Not here. That's the reason I say to you,

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you know, it makes no difference whether you're

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Catholic, whether you're Protestant, whether

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you're Jew, whether you're Gentile, whoever you

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are. It isn't your church membership. It isn't

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what you profess. It's still a matter of what

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you have on the inside of you, right in here.

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Here comes somebody into a service who probably

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hasn't been to church for 25 years. somebody

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who doesn't have a lot of preconceived ideas

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up here. I'd give anything, so help me, I'd give

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anything in the world if I had the ability to

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take the ministers in our nation today, take

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them, turn them upside down, and just shake them

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real good. And shake them so hard until I had

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all of the algae shaken out of their heads. Just

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shake out all. I'll tell you something about

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your preachers up here. I can't work on them,

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but I can sure work on you because you're here.

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And if I could just take you. You see, you've

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been through seminary, and don't you think for

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one minute that I'm decrying education. Don't

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you. I'm only sorry. God bless you. I'm only

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sorry that I don't have a better education. For

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years, I suffered with that complex. For years,

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I've suffered with it. But sometimes, I think

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it was a good idea he called an ignorant person.

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Because, you see, I don't have to hurdle all

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these things the two men have to hurdle. You

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who've been to seminaries. You see, you've been

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educated low these years. And you've got so much

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up here in your mind. So much up here that now,

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and you've been so brainwashed with a lot of

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this stuff, that you've got to get it all out

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of your mind so that you can come again as a

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little child and come back. If I could only take

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it. You see, that was the reason. Sit down, Ralph.

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You see? That is the reason, beloved. Why? The

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Lord said he had to put new wine in new bottles

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because he couldn't take these old skin bags

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and fill them with the new wine. Do you understand

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that? Hear the scribes and the Pharisees. They

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knew the law. They knew the letter. They knew

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it well. Oh, they knew it well. They too were

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educated. We're not the only folks educated beyond

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our intelligence. They were educated. You'll

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talk about... They were educated. They knew the

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law. They knew every letter of the law. There

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isn't a person living today who knew the law

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better than they knew the law. And yet when it

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came to this one... to fly praying the holy spirit

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when jesus came and and left uh the church's

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wonderful gift of the holy spirit you see they

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were so steeped in the law mentally they were

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so formed that this this hardening process had

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so taken place that they were no longer a pliable

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vessel. And if you put this new wine, you can't

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do it, into a bag that is hardened almost to

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the consistency of stone, it would burst the

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faith. That is the reason He knew that they were

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so formed in their ideas and their thinking.

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That's why today, back there, who did he choose?

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Did he choose the priests? No. He chose the most

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unlikely. He took the fishermen. They set the

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dirty hands. He's not looking on that. He was

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looking for pliable, yielded material. Uh -huh.

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Pliable, yielded material. Couldn't use the old

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skin bags. But he wanted yieldedness. into which

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he could pour the new wine. And I'm frank to

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tell you, here's a secret. My mind is closed

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to everything else but what's in this word. I'm

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not a liberal thinker. I may look modern. You'd

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be surprised. You'd be surprised, you know. Oh,

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don't tell me you're Catherine Coombe. A preacher.

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But watch. My mind is closed to everything except

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this word. You couldn't pay me. If somebody came

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and offered me $50 ,000 cash to study false religions,

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$8 ,000 cash. To take a course in psychology,

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I'd say you keep your money. I'm not going to

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endanger that which I have. You couldn't do it,

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you couldn't do it, you couldn't do it. I don't

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read everything that comes my way. I don't read

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everything that comes in my mailbox. You load

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me with books. I might just as well tell you

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I don't read them. I've got enough right here

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to do me. I've got enough right here to do me.

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Let me give you an example. Watch. When you take

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your marriage vows, And you stand there and take

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your marriage vow and you promise to be a faithful,

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a loving husband to that wife of yours, that

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one who's going to be your wife. Brother, you

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close your mind to all other women. You're on

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danger. dangerous ground as quickly as you open

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your mind. Little lady, watch something. When

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you take your marriage vows, marriage is a sacred

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thing. And when you take your marriage vows and

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promise to be a faithful wife to that husband.

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That's the reason. It's like somebody, now, well,

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I'll tell you, she's a nice girl. I'll marry

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her now, but I'll still keep looking around and

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playing the field. It'll never work. It'll never

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work. And when it comes, we are members of the

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bride of Christ. He is our coming bridegroom.

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I stopped looking. I'm not going to get all tangled

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up with something that's not the spirit. I don't

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have to take all kinds of things in my mind.

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I'm not going to look upon things that might

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rob me. of a deeper experience with the Lord.

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And you'll find out, beloved, when your mind

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is so completely saturated with the things of

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God, it's a... You think it. You live it. You

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eat it. It's a life. This thing of being a Christian

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isn't something that you take... off and hang

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it in the closet until you want it again and

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then put it on. It doesn't like that at all.

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It's a day -by -day proposition. Don't you misconstrue

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anything that I've said today. If you do, you

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might go off and be a religious fanatic. I'm

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not talking about that. I'm not talking about

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that. But if there's something... That is contrary

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to the holy word of God. Burn it. Don't go out

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exploring. And you know it's contrary to his

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word. We forget this. He is the very Word of

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God. He speaks to us. Do you want God to speak

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to you? He's speaking today through His Word.

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This is what you need. If there's something that

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comes into your hands, if there's something that

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you know is contrary to His Word, burn it! The

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mind is a delicate machinery. Be careful how

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you treat it. Be careful how you use it. Be careful

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what you do with it. A thought makes a deed.

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A deed makes the life. And the life brings the

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destiny. But it all goes back to the mind.