A Call to Anguish by David Wilkerson

a call to anguish would you open your Bibles to the first chapter of Nehemiah please Nehemiah the first chapter and would you please just leave that open on your lap we'll get to it in the course of my message tonight I would have a hard time preaching this if I I believe my own flesh telling me that I I preached too much of a heavy message there have been times I've been to the Lord and past months saying Lord can't you give me a happy but I can now God may be speaking to me this may not be for you but it's a call to anguish Lord if you don't help me I can't get through this I can't learn I'm too old for games foolishness and I'm tired of rhetoric meaningless rhetoric that never changes things Lord just help me folks I'm tired of hearing about revival I'm tired of hearing about awakenings the last day outpourings of Holy Spirit I've heard that rhetoric for fifty years just rhetoric no meaning whatsoever I'm tired of hearing about people in the church who say they won't throw unsaved loved ones saved I'm tired of hearing people say I'm concerned about my troubled marriage when it's just talk rhetoric I don't want to hear any more talk about how immoral America has become how godness our society how corrupt our business I'm tired of hearing about Islam taking control and Christians losing power how did the church has become because that too is rhetoric meaningless away with all of our how-to conferences because they accomplished nothing it's how to cope how to build a bigger Church how to reach the lost how to improve your people skills and how to impact the world in this computer time and I look at the whole religious scene today and all I see are the inventions and ministries of man and flesh it's mostly powerless it has no impact on the world and I see more of the world coming into the church and impacting the church there other than the church impacting the world I see the music taking over the house of God I see entertainment taking over the house of God and obsessing with entertainment in God's house a hatred of correction and a hatred of reproof nobody wants to hear it anymore tell me now how many churches have you visited recently how many churches you know when you walk in the Holy Ghost is so strong that every one of your sins are brought up before your face and the loving grace of God when is the last time you've been to church where you've seen young people under such conviction because the people of God have been on their face and there's such a concern and there's such an agony that young people are falling on their faces and calling on God because a spirit of conviction is called down from heaven upon them how many churches have you been lately where you hear a word comes for that so burns in your soul you know it comes from heaven you know it comes from the heart of God I hope you hear it here whatever happened to anguish in the house of God whatever happened to anguish in the ministry it's a word you don't hear in this pampered age you don't hear it anguish means extreme pain and distress the emotion so stirred that it becomes painful acute deeply felt inner pain because of conditions about you in you or around you anguish deep pain the sorrow agony of God's heart we've held on to our religious rhetoric and our revival talk but we've become so passive our so-called awakenings are stirrings last but a short time and when the last one the short-lived reviving zin awakenings come from the hand of God they are so short-lived and in those times we promise God will never return to our passivity but it's not long it's just weeks or months and we're back and this time we slip further back into passivity than when we started I speak from experience then we say this time Oh God you've touched me for life I'll never be the same and it's like fireworks a loud bang a lot of noise and then it dies all true passion is born out of anguish all true passion for Christ comes out of a baptism of anguish you search description you'll find that when God determined to recover a ruined situation he would seek out a praying man and he'd take him down into the waters of anguish he would share his own anguish for what God saw happening to his church into his people and he would find a praying man and he would take that man and literally baptize him in anguish you find it in the book of Nehemiah Jerusalem is in ruins this is the center of God's interest on earth at the time his holy city and it's wasted in its full of iniquity mixed marriages with the heathen they were enslaving their own people making slaves out of the poor the house of God was polluted with filth the high priest was in league with Tobiah heathen reprobate and how is not going to deal with this how is not going to restore the ruined how does he do it what does he do you see we face a similar situation except ours as many times worse the time when men according to prophecy of Jesus relax worse and worse than that is happening the church that's defiled with pedophilia child molestation incest adultery a nation in a moral landslide that's inundated with pornographic filth that the whole world blushes at and now out of con Film Festival according to the York Times the a new movie about to hit the shores of the United States with 13 14 year-old kids having unspeakable kinds of sex with adults and they said that the Kahn Film Festival nits they boast of confessed of all that we have not only pushed the envelope we've gone over the edge and America is now right for it to Royal the ruin and moral chaos is corrupting the house of God also how else do you explain that multiplied numbers of Christians go home and watch HBO a program I've never seen I don't have television but I read about it in the newspaper today in the New York Times called The Sopranos this is a mafia bunch that kill and murder and may return to sex cheating lying mafia and we have millions of Christians now in the United States getting together and talking about the next show and they're addicted to it addicted some of you hearing me now that's your favorite show no laughing this is life and death did you come here tonight did you raise your hands and sing and shout and have a good time and you know you've been watching this filth I believe in the love of God I've preached mercy grace and love covenant love I believe in preaching the goodness and long-suffering of Christ but multitudes today are being saturated with your ok messages we've got people now that are turning the grace of God into lasciviousness we've become like the children of Israel who said the right words but here's what God said I've heard the words of this people they have well said all that they've spoken all that there was such a hardened them that they would fear me and keep my Commandments always that it might be well with them and with their children forever so you have the right words you sing the right songs but your heart is not right Nehemiah verses 1 through 3 the words of Nehemiah the son of Hokulea it came to pass the month of chisel ooh and the 20th year I was in Shushan the palace that Anne and I one of my brother came he and certain men of Judah and I asked them concerning the Jews that escaped which were left of the captivity and concerning Jerusalem they said unto me the remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach the wall of Jerusalem also was broken down and gates thereof are burned with fire they came to pass when I heard these words i sat down and wept and mourned certain days and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven here was the word here it was a delegation from the ruined city of Jerusalem coming to Nehemiah it said Jerusalem is broken down the walls are down there's rule and nothing but ruin now these I'm sure were godly men these were good men but they they had no concept of how God was going to deal with the situation how he was going to bring about a recovery there's no concept of what God was going to do and no call they could see was ruin and brokenness and despair and hopelessness verse 4 when I heard the words I sat down and wept and mourned certain days and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven you see God found a praying man and he takes him down into the waters of baptism of anguish this man goes down into anguish and it verse 6 I prayed before the now day and night confessing the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against thee both I and my father have sinned the folks look at Nehemiah was not a preacher he was a career man he was a king's cup bearer he was in comfort he was in royalty he had made so to speak but this was a praying man and God found a man could not just have a flash of emulsion not just some great sudden burst of concern then let it die he said no I broke down and I wept and I'm Lord and I fasted and then I began to pray night and day when I heard I wept why didn't his brother Nannini why didn't these other man who apparently were godly men because later named in that name was given the rule of the city why didn't they have an answer why didn't God use them in restoration why didn't that have a word because there was no sign of anguish no weeping not a word of Prayer it's all ruined so they could see does it matter to you today does it matter to you at all that God spiritual Jerusalem the church is now married to the world that there's such a coldness sweeping the land so many people I know that where my friends and I see the go one by one the husbands our wives into such passivity going to churches where they can find smooth messages no longer want to be here anything of Wrath of correction some of my closest friends I see them falling by the wayside and he stand is the cries is it nothing to you closer than that does it matter about the Jerusalem that's in our own hearts the sign of ruin that slowly draining spiritual power and passion flying to lukewarmness blind to the mixture that's creeping in you see when spiritual blindness comes very few recognize it it's the last recognized thing that happens to a child of God if I as a pastor knew you personally and I was watching your life and it's one of the fastest Church I come to you and say hi I love you but I have to tell you the truth you're changing you know what you were something in the world has got in your heart I don't know if it's television I don't know what it is and it has your heart but I see changes in you I I don't see the brokenness I don't see that compassion you had once for your family I don't see concern for your unsaved loved ones you're changing little by little something's happening to you would it bring you to your knees when the ruin that you are not even aware of a sudden leap right before your eyes and to tell you the truth I thank God for the anointing and the singing tonight I thank God for the praises that came from so many sanctified hearts living and covenant with the Lord but the truth of the matter is in all honesty there are numbers among us that are changing and they don't know it you've lost your fight you see when you're when you read the book of Joshua it's almost a book of failure because they lost their heart they lost the fight that's all the devil wants to do is get the fight out of you and kill it so you will labor in prayer anymore you won't weep before God anymore you can sit watch television your family go to hell let me ask you this is what I just said convicted you at all did you just let that go in one ear out the other when a pastor tells you right now hey and I don't know who you are but the Holy Ghost is speaking through me you're changing little by little you're losing the love of God the love of Christ little by little these things are making inroads folks why do you think your pastors cry out against television do you think we get any pleasure out of the flesh this is no place you're in somebody coming say I heard your mess and I threw away my television that doesn't give me any pleasure then give any pastor pleasure we have given account because we watch for your soul these things I don't know where it is on the job things we listen these things that creep in and suddenly this Jerusalem the walls go down ruin sets in does it really matter to you that you're unsaved loved ones are dying and we're getting closer and closer to the end it doesn't really concern you they could die go to hell even though you're a lover of Christ where's the anguish where the tears where's the morning where is the fasting how many of you fasted many of you pray broken before the Lord I'm talking about the body of Jesus Christ in general where's the getting up in the middle of the night you see he said night and day I began to pray where's the confessing your sins and of your children confessing your children sends me for the Lord or your mate sin before God because this is exactly what Nehemiah does he confesses his sins of the sins of all the people and then he says we have sinned I have sinned then he said we have sinned see when Nehemiah heard of the ruin and destruction he never asked why why can a holy just God allow his city to go to ruin why were so many dispersed why were so many killed and murdered he didn't ask the question - were asking America today why did God allow the towers to fall in over 2,000 people died in the affair in the crash how could a loving God and folks just I said what pastor Carter said today the holy anger that arises in my heart when I hear preachers on television or on radio or hear that they've said on television Oh God had nothing to do with it God had nothing to do with it don't put it on God once you go to Daniel 9 and I wanted once and for all tell you that this was God allowing America to be wakened [Applause] God didn't do it he didn't stop the plans of the enemy because he had a greater purpose because it was love for America that was about to slip into everlasting hell I'm going to lower my voice so you won't think I am angry Daniel 9 chapter verse 5 beginning to read we have sinned and have committed iniquity they have done wickedly could you say that about America and we have rebelled even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments neither have we hearken to the servants the prophets which spake in the name in thy name to our Kings our Prince's and our fathers and all the people and in other words the government has been warned by righteous men O Lord righteousness belongeth unto thee but unto us confusion of faces is at this day men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem all Israel that are near that are far off through all the countries whether thou has driven the because of their trespass and they have trespassed against thee O Lord to us belong with confusion of face to our kings to our princes our fathers because we have sinned against thee why because we have sinned against thee to the Lord our God belong with mercies forgiveness that we've rebelled against him neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God to walk in his laws which is set before us by his servants the prophets they all Israel have transgressed the law even by departing that they might not obey thy voice therefore the curse is poured upon us the old that is written in the law of the Moses law of Moses the servant of God because we've sinned against him and he hath confirmed his words which he spake against us and against our judges that this by bringing upon us a great evil for upon the whole for under the whole heaven hath not been done has been has been done upon Jerusalem verse 14 therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil and brought it upon us for the Lord our God is righteous and all his works which he doeth for we but don't be not his voice now let me get back to the my message there's a great difference between anguish and concern that's been dealing with me about this concern is something that you the biggest interest do you take an interest in a project or a cause or concern or a need something that gets ahold of your attention and usually it comes through some emotional stimulus you know you can hear like like we heard last Sunday from South Africa and all of the hundreds of thousands dying with AIDS and the children and you can hear what we heard from sister Hilda maintained this afternoon of the thousands upon thousands of children dying in Calcutta and India you can get all stirred up about it and you can get emotional and you get very concerned but folks is the difference between concern and anguish because you see you can tie yourself to a cause you can get excited about it there's some project you can talk it up you go public with it you can advertise it you can support it organize it put a lot of effort into it I'm going to tell you something I've learned over all my years and 50 years of preaching if it is not born in anguish if it has not been born by the Holy Spirit where when you saw and heard of the ruin their job you do your knees took you down into a baptism of anguish where you began to pray and seek God books this church was born in anguish six months of anguish cares little country town in Pennsylvania we're a pastor of a small church cried out Oh God I'm dry and I meant and there's more to it than this and if this is all the Holy Ghost news I don't want it in such a desperation weeks and weeks of calling on the name of the Lord confessing my own deadness and dryness then finally coming for Street rallies here in the city and walk in the streets and then wind up in 42nd Street and see them selling a kind of Herald would kill you so I've got the good stuff it'll kill you and I remember breaking down and it didn't matter the crowds going by I set on a fire hydrant tape on outside of a building and wept and I was in anguish I was in anguish four blocks from here but Broadway weeping and crying and wailing I wasn't looking for a ministry I wasn't looking to build a church I was feeling God's played for a lost city the same agony I felt years before when he started Teen Challenge and I've never had anything that's been any work to God and my 15 years that wasn't born in agony never never it's all been fleshly the one bless and folks I've been around the world getting listening to the cry of pastor's dead empty some treating their wives like animals and here I haven't prayed in months and prayed in six months and I know the sermons won't do it I know that a new revelation won't do it covenant won't do it I know now oh my god do I know it until I have been anguished over time preaching sermons preaching sermons then I said no it's too late I don't have that much time and all our projects all our ministries everything we do where are the Sunday School teachers that weep over kids they know I'm not hearing it go to hell no everywhere I go somebody got a project somebody's got a plan or a dream that's all is its my dear then you come to me from a broken heart they didn't come to me after hours of fasting and praying and mourning not a broken heart it should idea I'm just sick of it you see a true prayer life begins at the place of anguish a place where lifetime decisions are made you see if you set your heart to pray God's going to come and start sharing your heart his heart with you he going to open up his heart can I tell you there's pain in his heart but he sees and so few to hear he going to show you the condition of his church he can show you the condition to your own heart and he's been ask you a question what is it to you what is it and that anguish servant has to make a decision and everyone hearing me now you're gonna have to make this decision I have to make it you either get up from your anguish place you walk out of the baptism waters of anguish yes I can't handle this I can barely make it as it is I don't want it God I have enough I just want to be an ordinary Christian I don't want to carry this kind of a burden I don't want to have to weep over my family anymore alarm to go take it by faith see you have to make the decision you're gonna come and he says now if you're going to bear my burden if you're going to be an instrument of restoration if you are expecting somebody else to be an instrument to win your family or to do this work you're mistaken I've burned your heart I've given you my heart and I've opened up my anguish to you and I'm letting you feel it and share it so that it would bring you to your knees because it is there that I'll speak to you the word of direction and that's what happened to Nehemiah he came eventually out of the waters the language with a clear word that nobody could reject he the city and nation to its knees you find that in the Amaya chapter you see you you you either walk away and go back to your passivity and say I'm just going to be an ordinary Christian and there's no such thing or your heart begins to cry out old God your name is being blaspheme Holy Spirit's being mocked the enemy is out trying to destroy the testimony of the Lord's faithfulness and something has to be done he can't go unchallenged let's go back to these words when I heard the Jerusalem was broken down you see if he believed this theory that the need represents the call you know what you've done he said gentlemen if you'll just wait I'll pack my bags just give me a day or two this is the kind of challenge that's my meat I love it let's roll let's do it no anguish no fasting no prayer no brokenness doing nothing would have been done the walls would have never been rebuilt anything you tried to do without this baptism of anguish it's going to falter and fall it's not going to work here's what a sister wrote to me this past week it said brother Dave I'm so hungry for the Lord I'm so tired of how to meetings it's all spiritual fluff I was told of a woman's conference that was going to be a great spiritual experience so I went with a group of sisters there were 15,000 women I was horrified first night when they opened the conference with a comedy sketch it went from bad to worse these we were hoodwinked by the leaders there was not a single prayer not one mention of Prayer it was a farce and I'm as empty as I've ever been prophet Amos cried out to such woe to them that our ease in Zion eating chanting their music but then I grieve for the affliction of Joseph and in the original Hebrew root word they are not agonizing in prayer over the ruin in the injury and Joseph Israel they're not agonizing they're not in anguish about the conditions comedy yes happy singing yes eating fellowship good time yes weeping anguish praying fasting no no no not have it folks let me tell you something out of this baptism of anguish comes a marvelous thing that happens to those willing to submit to it marvelous thing it's the instant prompt knowing of God's voice instant now see if you don't have a history of prayer if you don't have this willingness to share God's heart and you get it by asking him for he said I'll give I'm more gonna give you are to receive this is something you ask oh god I I want to step out now and I want to know your heart and when you begin to seek his face you allow him to melt and break you you come into this communion with the Lord out of that experience you see God has called us to live in anguish this is the birth this of the womb of something God is stirring God wanting to accomplish and bringing out of ruin stationed in your family whatever it may be he bring you down into this baptism now just like the baptism waters you come up you come out but you'll come out with this instant knowing of God's voice because you see Nehemiah he'd been fasting he'd been praying he'd been mourning and left a mark on his countenance and the king noticed it he was a cup bearer and one day he brings the wine to the king and the King says why are you so down why your countenance nehemiah didn't have time to go and boost him his heart to the Lord he didn't have time now to go and say give me three days to fast and pray no he had evidence that word while you sad countenance nehemiah said I was very sore afraid so I prayed to the God of heaven and I said to the king in other words instant prayer instant direction knowing God's voice their times you're not going to know what to do you have no time to run to the closet you have to hear his voice this is the way walk in it instant that is a glorious result of the baptism of anguish the servant who willingly takes on the mantle of gods pain is the only servant who has the authority and the right to hold God to his covenant promises we have preached covenant here but only those who've known his heart and in those times have allowed God to bring healing he's allowed God to go down deep in the souls oh god I can't do this on my own but I'm not gonna let my kids go to hell I'm not gonna let my husband my wife Oh God I'm not gonna live in this death I'm not gonna live in this lukewarmness and this coldness anymore God change me and when you get desperate before God you set your heart to seek Him then you can hold God to his covenant promises look look at first chapter verses 8 9 remember I beseech thee the word that thou commandest thy servant Moses saying if you transgress I was gather you brought among the nations now he he holds God this covenant now but if you turn unto me and keep my Commandments and do them though there were most of you cast out from the outermost part of the heaven yet will I gather the them from thence and bring them into this place that I've chosen to set my name there he calls on the covenant made to Moses he said here's what you promised God and folks when you allow God to lead you into this place beyond concern beyond just fleeting emotion you said god I'm going to sit in my heart then you have every right to hold God every one of his covenant promises you see and I'm going to close in just a minute we have a nation a church today full of diagnostic experts point justifying anybody can tell you what's wrong with the church now and now they're coming out with statistics and polls think they can tell you how many heathen there are in China that give you polls and charts but not the slightest idea they have all these how-to books now you won't hear one word about anguish tears and brokenness they won't hear that in my closing thoughts I want to ask you why why did Nehemiah of all god-fearing men that were left in Israel why did God share his anguished heart with Nehemiah because he was a man of Prayer he was already in prayer now I want to tell you something I believe in I believe in destiny I believe that God chooses men but God can choose a man and he can abort it just like that Nehemiah could have said look I I'm I have more influence right here I have the ear of the king I need to stay right here and God I'm sure has I'll agree with you that God will raise up somebody no he said Oh God this is my burden open your heart to me I know now it's gonna take more than preaching more than a new revelation there's gonna be no renewal no revival no awakening until we're willing to let him once again brakish I don't know why you don't know if it's something it's coming the other pastors are shared with you what they feel about some very very troubling difficult times just ahead and and comes not only from the pulpit it comes from politicians coming from all over the world but I have to tell you the God's calling me personally to a baptism of anguish I don't know what it's all about right now but I told God I will not I'm supposed to go and press his conferences in May in Scotland and Wales and Ireland and then to Minsk and all over the world only going out two or three times a year but I said god I'm not going anymore I won't take another meeting until I know your anguish or pastors I can't go just because there's a need I can't go just because I've wanted and accepted no one and I don't when I preach sometimes like this everything gets so quiet and I get defending the Lord I wanna make people happy it's getting late and it's getting serious please don't tell me don't tell me you're concerned don't tell me that you want your unsaved loved ones saved when you're spending hours in front of internet or television come on don't know how to end this Lord help me I have a sense that though this may not be for the whole congregation that he's speaking to some very deeply speaking to your heart like he's speaking to mine maybe you don't need prayer along this line but I beg give you I plead with you I need prayer Lord I just have to pray I don't know what else died I just a priest Lord what you put on my heart and I don't know how to end it you end it you do what you want to do Lord you speak to us Lord there's some need to get this altar and confess I am NOT what I was I'm not where I'm supposed to be God I don't have your heart or your burden I've been I wanted it easy this one be happy but Lord true joy comes true joy comes out of anguish that's where the joy is when we see the results of our laying hold of your heart and then you give us direction and then we see the results than the last thing we we see a whole city come to repentance and then Nehemiah stands up and he says now is the time to rejoice that's the joy of the Lord be your strength but that joy came out of seeing the victory that came out of the anguish Oh God I'm not chastising this church I'm not trying to bring woe on anybody but Oh God if you do it for anybody do it for me I want my heart broken again but I want you to take me into your heart and I want to feel the hurts and the needs of this people too so the one I stand in this pulpit I preach your mind in your heart where you stand Nehemiah eighth chapter you can still come while I'm talking they read in the book the law of God distinctly gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading and the people says they all said a man they lifted up their hands they bought their heads they worship the Lord with their faces to the ground the folks this is the result of this baptism of anguish now God's dealing with all the families of Israel he's dealing with the princes the leaders and Ezra Nehemiah have now gathered the people has ruined a book in the sight of the people when he opened it all the people stood up they read the book of God distinctly gave this sense and caused them to understand the reading and Nehemiah and Ezra the priest the scribe and Levites the taught the people said unto all the people this day is holy unto the Lord your God more not weep not for all the people wept when they heard the words of the Lord he said to them go your way eat the fat and drink the sweet send a portion for this day is holy unto the Lord neither be sorry for the joy as the Lord is your strength you see that's the result of taking on the heart of God the ultimate joy is seeing God fulfilled his word and his covenant promises in your life there's nothing of the flesh we'll give you joy I don't care how much money I don't care what kind of new house there is absolutely nothing physical could give you joy it's only what is accomplished by the holy spirit when you obey Him and take on his heart it gives you the knowing of his voice that instant knowledge God's saying this is the way walk in it and then the wonderful joy of seeing God answer heal prayer build the walls around your family build the walls around your own heart make you strong and impregnable against the enemy god that's what we desire would you lift your hands would you just tell them what's in your heart right now right out loud just telling what's in your heart tell them there's a reason you came up here tell him why just tell him why Lord here's why I'm here I want to hear everybody just speak it out tell him why you're here tell him why you're here tell them what you have to do tell him right now Lord forgive me wherever you're at all over this building listen to me closely now all we can expect God to do is begin to work in you tonight a very special work or even you go home tonight and say Lord I'm not gonna lay my head on this pillow folks there's a discipline to this there's a discipline you have to will to do it when God sees you set your heart who gave you all the power and authority follow through but there has to be something in your heart right now so god I'm going to give you no rest from now on until I see my family saved I I have to do that for I've got for my family I'm praying this desperately and if I want to tell you something when a man comes up to me as he did recently said on this vial of pornography I said you had better baptize herself in prayer he Mercer self in the Word of God and you better get deadly desperate before the Lord and that's what he wants from us he wants that heart that set if you do that he will give you he will balance that with a peace and joy like you've never known before and the joy that you have then will not dissipate when you get out it'll be an eternal joy his peace if he gives you his Burt and he's going to give you his peace to accompany you never let your heart be broken without all the oil you need for totally healing [Music] never before in my lifetime if I want to be broken before him because when I stand now before four and five thousand pastors at the time know what ever know and folks it's the same thing you face when you go to job tomorrow you face all the powers of Hell you've got to know that you know that you know you've got to have his voice I can't say any more than I can preach another sermon but I want us to sing that and I want you to seal the Holy Spirit and I want you to set your mind now if God tells you you're either television said do it quickly do it quickly if the internet you got to get rid of your computer do whatever God tell you he'll give you directions not nobody gonna have to tell you there won't be some legalistic thing that we established for you to be something born in your heart out of God's own desire for you would you just now set your heart and say Jesus I'm willing to follow you all the way I'm one day I want to know you and I want to know your heart come Holy Spirit you do it holy

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Keywords: David Wilkerson, David Wilkerson Sermons, Revival, Character Of God, Free Sermons, Video Sermons, Jesus Christ, What Is The Gospel, SermonIndex, What Is The Truth

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Length: 56min 2sec (3362 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 05 2012