And it says in Revelation chapter 3 verse 9,
Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan which say they are Jews and are not, but do lie.
And the Bible's telling us there are people that claim to be Jews,
they say they're Jews, but they're not.
They're phonies, they're frauds, they're liars.
And I would submit to you today that there are people that say they are Baptists,
but they're lying, they're phonies,
they're frauds, and they can have Baptists on the sign,
they can say they're Baptists, but they're lying about it,
they're frauds, they're phonies.
Because it's not about the name, it's not about being born into a Baptist church,
it's actually what you believe that makes you a Baptist.
And look, I'm going to show this to you historically and from the Bible.
And I want you to remember in your minds the sermon series I preached on the Protestant Reformation,
and we showed how the Protestant Reformation is a big hoax, it's a big fraud,
they were not like us at all.
I want you to remember the sermons I preached against the Catholic church
and the history behind it, the dark history of the Catholic church.
I want you to remember these sermons that I've preached and I want you to realize something
that just because there's a church here in the Philippines that says they are a Baptist church,
that does not mean they are Baptists.
Turn to Jonah chapter 3.
One very common doctrine in so-called Baptist churches here in the Philippines
is the doctrine that you must repent of your sins to be saved.
Now there's a problem with this.
That's not a Baptist doctrine.
That is a Catholic doctrine.
And if you look at this historically, it's not Baptist, it's Catholic.
When it comes to the Bible, John the Baptist did not preach repentance of sins for salvation.
Paul the apostle did not preach repentance of sins for salvation.
Jesus Christ did not preach repentance of sins for salvation.
What does it say in John 3, 3 16?
Whosoever believeth in him.
So the person that does not repent of their sins, but they believe, guess what?
They receive everlasting life.
Jesus Christ preached faith alone.
The same chapter, John 3 36, John the Baptist said,
he that believeth on the son hath everlasting life.
And he that believeth not the son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
What did Paul and Silas say?
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and now shall be saved.
And when it comes to what we believe, if you say, I'm a Baptist,
what you mean by that is you believe that the people in the Bible,
they taught the same things we teach today.
And if you don't think that, if you think that the Orthodox teach the same thing,
then you would be an Orthodox.
If you think the Catholics teach the same thing, you would be a Catholic.
But if you say, I'm a Baptist, what you're saying is John, the Baptist, Jesus Christ,
Paul, the apostle, Peter, and even those in the old Testament that worship the same God
we do today because God has not changed for I am the Lord.
I change not.
What you're saying is that the people in the Bible, they believe the same thing as us.
Okay.
But there are churches here in the Philippines that are teaching false doctrines,
like repentance of sins.
This is not a Baptist doctrine.
Here's a quote from the Catholic church.
The saving grace won by Jesus is offered as a free gift to us.
Now that sounds good.
A free gift.
I mean, what is it?
What does a free gift mean?
I mean, we'll uncouple it, right?
Well, I'm biased.
We're on condition.
No strings attached.
If it's a gift, right?
But then it says this is offered as a free gift to us accessible through repentance,
faith, and baptism.
Well, I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound like a free gift to me.
It sounds like you got to do something, right?
See, the Bible says the gift of God, not of works.
And so according to the Bible, a gift means there's no work involved.
But see, the Catholic church says, well, you got to repent of your sins.
Now, this is not something you see in the Bible.
So you must understand repentance of sins for salvation is a Catholic doctrine.
The church started around the 310 to 312 AD with Constantine.
And that came from the roots of those a few hundred years earlier that were heretics,
that were not preaching what the Bible said.
Repentance of sins is a Catholic doctrine.
It's not a Baptist doctrine.
And so if you're at a church that's teaching repentance of sins, it's work salvation.
You say, I don't know, brother Stuckey.
Well, notice what it says in Jonah 3.
Jonah 3.
It says in Jonah 3, verse 9,
who can tell if God will turn and repent
and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not?
Now, in verse 9, it uses the word repent,
and it talks about God turning and repenting.
Is God a sinner?
No.
So if repenting means to turn from your sins, why would God be repenting?
And why is it that the one who repents the most in the Bible is God?
God, though, repents because he says, you know what?
I will change if the people change.
He says, I'm going to destroy Nineveh.
But since the people of Nineveh actually got rid of their wickedness, he says,
you know what?
I've changed my mind now.
I would have destroyed you.
But since you got rid of your sin, you know what?
I'm not going to destroy you.
Repenting does not mean turn from your sins because God's not a sinner.
Verse 10, and God saw their works that they turn from their evil way.
The Bible says that God saw their works that they turn from their evil way.
They turn from their sins.
And the Bible says, you know what?
That is works.
Did you know it takes work to quit drinking?
Did you know it takes work to quit smoking?
Do you know it takes work to just start reading the Bible every day and start praying every day?
Did you know it takes work to be a nice person and not to get angry and to be a patient person?
Did you know it takes work not to be envious and bitter?
Look, that takes work, and if you had to change your lifestyle in order to be saved,
that's work salvation, according to Jonah 3 10.
This is what the Bible teaches from Old Testament to New Testament.
God saw their works that they turn from their evil way.
So look, if we're preaching to people, they must turn from their sins to be saved.
That's a work salvation.
That's not salvation by grace through faith.
And then it says this, and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do
unto them, and he did it not.
God does not destroy them.
Why?
Because they got rid of their sin.
Repenting does not mean to turn from your sins.
It just means to change or to turn.
Now realize this, that repenting can be in reference to repenting of sins.
But that has nothing to do with salvation.
Of course, you ought to get rid of the sin in your life.
And I might preach to you and say, Hey, you know what?
You need to repent.
Not for salvation, though.
Just to live for God, though.
Of course, you must get rid of the sin in your life if you want to really serve God.
But you don't have to really serve God to be saved.
All you have to do is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what the Bible says.
It's as simple as just putting your faith in Jesus Christ.
The Catholic Church said,
The saving grace won by Jesus is offered as a free gift to us,
accessible through repentance, faith, and baptism.
They also say this, we turn away from our sins, we are sorry for them,
and we believe in Jesus Christ in the gospel.
Repentance shows our willingness to turn from things that keep us from God,
and baptism renews us, filling us with the grace necessary to have faith and to live it.
Does that sound like a free gift to you?
I mean, can you imagine if your boss says, You know what?
You know, it's Christmas time.
I got a gift for you.
You've been such a good employee this year.
You know what?
I'm going to give you a thousand pesos as a gift.
All you have to do is work overtime for 20 hours this week.
Does that sound like a gift to you?
It sounds like work you're doing.
And they say it's a free gift.
You know, then they add all of these things, right?
You know the religion that is the most famous for saying salvation is by grace through faith?
I mean, they always say it's salvation by grace, salvation by grace.
It's the Mormons.
They're the ones that always repeat that.
But we know that's a lie because we know that they add works to salvation.
I believe it's second Nephi.
I can't remember the exact verse in the Book of Mormon
where it says grace comma after all that I can do.
They redefine what grace is and say, you know, basically do as many works as you can.
And God's going to cover the rest.
But you know, the Mormons say salvation is by grace.
And we say, Well, that's false.
They don't really believe that.
But you know, when a Baptist says salvation is by grace,
people just assume, Well, they're Baptists.
They're just misunderstood, even though they added all these works to salvation.
No, they're not misunderstanding.
They're preaching a false gospel.
Just because they say they're Baptists doesn't mean they're Baptists.
You have to look at what they're actually teaching, not just this memorized phrase.
Yeah, we believe salvation is by grace through faith.
The reason why they repeat that is that's what the Bible says.
But then they redefine what the Bible says.
And we would never let a Mormon or Catholic get away with it.
But a Baptist?
Well, I mean, they're Baptists.
They're just a little misunderstood.
No, they're preaching heresy.
They're preaching a false gospel.
And this is Catholic doctrine.
In fact, I found a website with a big Baptist church here in the Philippines.
And this is probably just copy and pasted from all of these churches.
But this is what they say about repentance.
We believe that repentance and faith are solemn obligations and also inseparable graces.
Inseparable.
You cannot separate repentance and faith, even though John 3 16 separates repentance and faith.
Whosoever believeth it doesn't mention anything about repenting of your sins.
I mean, this is what they'll say.
Well, I mean, there's two sides to a coin, right, brother?
You can't have one side of the coin unless you got the other.
Hey, those examples really sound cool and everything,
except when there's no Bible to support what you're saying.
I mean, you can repeat all these fancy phrases.
And you know what?
Sometimes fancy phrases make a lot of sense, and they're biblical.
But you can make fancy statements that have nothing to do with what the Bible says.
Well, there's two sides to a coin.
That has nothing to do with repentance and faith being inseparable.
The Bible says salvation is by grace through faith alone.
We believe that repentance and faith are solemn obligations and also inseparable graces.
This is a Bible Baptist church in the Philippines.
Wrought in our souls by the quickening spirit of God,
thereby being deeply convicted of our guilt, danger, and helplessness,
and of the way of salvation by Jesus Christ,
we turn to God with unfeigned contrition, confession, and supplication for mercy,
at the same time heartily receiving the Lord Jesus Christ
and openly confessing him as our only and all-sufficient Savior.
Does that sound like a free gift to you?
It sounds like they added a lot of things.
I mean, it said we turn to God with unfeigned contrition.
You have to be really, really, really sorry.
It can't be fake.
It can't be feigned or fake.
You must really be deeply sorry.
You must really feel really, really sorry,
like you're a despicable wretch that deserves to burn in hell or you can't be saved.
Well, let me explain something to you.
Somebody who's an adult who maybe did a lot of mistakes,
maybe they would feel that way,
but you know a five-year-old is able to get saved.
And you know what?
Five-year-olds haven't murdered anyone.
Five-year-olds haven't been drunk.
Five-year-olds aren't, you know, addicted to cigarettes.
So like where would this unfeigned contrition be?
You know, salvation is simply by faith alone,
and the Bible compares it to a child just believing.
You can preach the gospel to a child and they can get saved
and they don't have this wicked life that they're turning from.
I mean, do you have to wait until you've committed a million sins
before God's willing to save you?
It's like you're not ready to be saved
because you don't have some sin that's so despicable
that would make you feel like a wretch.
It's like salvation is by faith alone.
Repentance of sins is not a Baptist doctrine.
You're not going to see it from Paul the Apostle.
You're not going to see it from Jesus Christ.
You're not going to see it from Peter.
You're not going to see it from John the Baptist.
You're not going to see it from characters in the Old Testament either.
Salvation has always been by grace through faith
and repentance of sins historically,
this is coming from the Catholic Church.
It is a Catholic doctrine.
Turn in your Bible to Titus 2.
So one reason why a lot of these Baptist churches
say they're Baptist but they're not and they're lying
is because they're teaching repentance of sins for salvation.
It's not a Baptist doctrine.
That's a Catholic doctrine.
It is a Catholic doctrine.
Another reason why these Baptist churches that say they're Baptist
but they're not really Baptist and they're lying about it
is because they're teaching Calvinism.
And Calvinism is a Protestant doctrine, not a Baptist doctrine.
And look, I preached through that sermon series.
We did not come from the Protestants.
And those are fighting words to me because I was raised in a Protestant church.
Baptists did not come from Protestants.
Calvinism came from the Protestants, okay?
Here's a quote from that same website.
We believe that repentance and faith are solemn obligations
and also inseparable graces.
Pay attention to what I'm saying here.
Rot in our souls by the quickening spirit of God.
If you're paying attention to what's being said,
because this is how Calvinists are very slick, aren't they?
What it's saying is this, that that repentance and faith,
it's not a free will choice that you're repenting of your sins.
It's not a free will choice that you're putting your faith in Jesus Christ,
but it's actually wrought by the spirit of God.
Apart from your free will is what they're saying.
This is why Calvinists can get away with saying,
no, we believe salvation is free.
Completely a free gift.
You don't do anything for your salvation.
Why?
Because the Holy Spirit's the one that's regenerating you.
It's not that you're putting your faith in Jesus.
It's not that you're believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.
No, the spirit of God just, boom, regenerates you.
It puts that inside of your heart, okay?
Now, the Bible says that the spirit quickens us,
but it's based on what we believe.
He doesn't do it against our will.
It's like, oh, I don't believe this.
I don't want to believe.
Oh, wait a minute.
The spirit got me.
Okay, I believe now.
It doesn't work that way, okay?
They say wrought in our souls by the quickening spirit of God.
Then it also says this, thereby being deeply convicted of our guilt,
danger, and helplessness, and of the way of salvation by Christ,
we turn to God with unfeigned contrition, confession, and supplication for mercy.
Does this not sound more extreme than just teaching repentance of sins for salvation?
I always tell you Calvinists believe in a work of salvation is just far more extreme.
It's repentance of sins on steroids.
You want to figure out what do Calvinists believe?
Repentance of sins on steroids.
When you're reading this, it's not just that you felt bad and you're like,
man, I'm sorry, God, you repented of your sins,
and then you believed and asked him to save you.
No, you're just turning your entire will and life over to God,
and you just feel like you're a wicked wretch and a miserable person.
That is what Calvinism teaches.
Then it says at the same time, heartily receiving the Lord Jesus Christ
and openly confessing him as our only and all sufficient savior.
Now we understand that there is no new thing under the sun.
I understand that you can go back to the way of Cain 6,000 plus years ago,
and they're teaching a work salvation.
And I am sure that back then people were teaching a repentance of sins for salvation.
But if you want to track back the repentance of sins, go back to the Catholics.
They've been teaching that for 2,000 years.
I understand Calvinism, although it's named after John Calvin,
which has been around for, you know, less than 500 years.
At the same time, obviously 6,000 years ago,
I'm sure there are people that believe this, right?
Because everything that's false, it's repackaged.
Okay.
I mean, the Protestants will pull up quotes from these church fathers
from the second century AD, like Augustine in the third century AD.
And I don't deny, yes, they're teaching Calvinism too.
In fact, one man who taught Calvinism before John Calvin was Martin Luther.
He came roughly 30, 40 years before John Calvin and Martin Luther,
I don't care what Baptist defend him, he believed in Calvinism.
There's no question about that.
Okay.
Here's some information about Martin Luther.
He's the man who kicked off the Protestant Reformation,
which was in around, you know, the early, you know, it's really 1519, I think,
is the 500-year anniversary they celebrated or 1518, somewhere around there.
And what the Protestant Reformation is, is they wanted to reform the Catholic Church.
These are people that said, well, I'm Muckaloomong Catholic.
I'm an old-fashioned Catholic and the Catholics went south.
They changed their doctrines.
So, hey, I believe in Catholics and that lineage,
and that's the true church built on Peter.
It's just they went south.
Okay.
And so the Protestants were Catholics.
And what they did is they mixed Calvinism in with this Catholicism and said,
you know what, that's what the church used to teach.
Okay.
In 1525, Martin Luther wrote a book called On the Bondage of the Will.
The Bondage of the Will.
And I have happened to spend about 15 hours reading through that book.
I didn't finish it because it was very boring
and because it was the same heresy and I just didn't make it.
Maybe one day I'll be able to finish that book.
It's a long book.
On the Bondage of the Will.
But listen to the title.
Does that sound like he believes in free will?
On the Bondage of the Will?
In fact, the reason why Martin Luther wrote that book,
it was a response to Erasmus who wrote a book called The Freedom of the Will.
Erasmus, who was a Catholic who also wanted to reform the Catholic church,
but he didn't want to reform it as much as Martin Luther.
He wrote a book on the freedom of the will, that we have free will.
Martin Luther responds and blasts Erasmus saying we don't have free will.
And he wrote a book called On the Bondage of the Will.
And then Baptists will tell you, Martin Luther didn't believe in Calvinism.
I mean, it's like, why don't you educate yourself before saying stuff?
Make sure you know what you're talking about.
Because I happen to have read a lot of that book on the Bondage of the Will.
And look, there's quote after quote after quote.
He doesn't believe in free will.
What Martin Luther was if he lived today is he would have been a four point Calvinist.
He would have believed in the first four points that you're forced to get saved,
but then you have the free will to throw it away and then burn in hell.
Now that doesn't make any sense.
But look, I'm not claiming Martin Luther was very smart.
I'm claiming he was the most bobo, you know, religious leader that ever existed.
Because that doesn't make any sense.
Calvinism is an all or nothing thing.
And when you go in between, it doesn't make any sense.
It doesn't line up.
Okay, here's a quote from Martin Luther.
Because that's how people defend it.
They say, well, Martin Luther, he didn't believe in Calvinism
because he thought you could lose your salvation.
Are you going to defend somebody for saying that they can believe you can lose your salvation?
Here's the proof that he's not a Calvinist.
He taught you can lose your salvation.
And that's why we support him.
It's like, what in the world?
Because what we teach is I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish.
And yeah, I agree with you.
There are quotes when you read and look, I've read all of Martin Luther's commentary
on the book of Galatians, the book of Romans.
And yeah, you know what?
You go to Galatians 5, he teaches you can lose your salvation.
I don't deny that.
He wasn't a Baptist, but he believed in the other four points of Calvinism.
Here's a quote from the book.
Look, I frankly confess that even if it were possible,
I should not wish to have free choice given to me.
What he's saying is, you know, we don't have free choice,
but you know, if we could have free choice, you know, I don't want that.
I want to be forced to believe and wish to have free choice given to me
or to have anything left in my own hands by which I might strive for salvation.
He says, I don't want to have free will.
I want to be a robot.
And you know what?
That sounds good if you're one of the elect.
It's like, hey, I'm perfectly happy that God forced me to get saved
because I don't care about everybody else going to hell, right?
Every Calvinist will tell you that they're one of the elect.
Show me the exception of that.
This is not a Baptist doctrine.
This is a Protestant doctrine.
And they go back to the early church fathers, other Catholics say,
you know what, also taught this doctrine.
This is coming from the Protestants.
It's not coming from the Baptists, okay?
It's not coming from the lineage of our faith.
Here are some of the Protestants, and I'll prove this to you.
The Anglican church split off from the Catholic church
because King Henry VIII wanted to divorce his wife.
The Pope wouldn't let him because he was being held hostage
by the leader in Spain at the time.
You don't need movies to be entertained.
I mean, this stuff's entertaining if you just read history, right?
So he couldn't grant him the divorce even though he wanted to, okay?
Because King Henry VIII, he was married to this woman,
I can't remember the name, but her nephew was the leader,
King Charles of Spain.
And basically he was holding the Pope hostage.
So basically the Pope, if he granted the divorce,
you know, he's allowing King Henry VIII to divorce, you know, his aunt, right?
King Charles' aunt, okay?
Very strange, okay?
You don't...
I mean, reality TV back, you know, 500 years ago.
That's what you're seeing, okay?
But he split off and he formed the Anglican church.
And really, it was not a doctrinal thing.
He just wanted to split.
So the Church of England or Anglican church he formed.
Now, what split off from the Anglican church were the Puritans.
The Puritans get their name because they wanted to purify the Church of England.
They say it's good that the Church of England split off from the Catholic church,
but they didn't purify it enough.
How did they want to purify it?
By adding Calvinism.
That is what the Puritans were all about.
They're famous for just being Calvinists.
They're also famous for going to their death beds.
And these people that knew they were one of the elect,
they get to their death beds and they are scared to death of dying.
You say, why are they scared to death of dying?
Because Calvinists don't know if they're going to heaven.
Of course, you're going to be scared because you look at your life
and you look at all these mistakes you made.
It's like, man, I was supposed to be more godly with each passing year.
The Anglicans, you see Calvinism branching off from that.
The Presbyterians were largely formed from John Calvin and John Knox,
which were Calvinists.
The United Methodists, even with them, George Whitefield split off
and formed the Calvinistic Methodists that split off from John Wesley and Charles Wesley.
And then, of course, we have the Reform Baptists,
which are just trying to reform the Protestants.
And they teach a Calvinist doctrine.
Titus 2, verse 11.
Notice what the Bible says.
Let me show you a couple quick verses on this topic.
Titus 2, verse 11.
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to some men.
Is that what your Bible says?
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation
hath appeared only to the elect.
Is that what your Bible says?
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.
Well, how do you know the word all means all?
Okay, well, look, the next verse will prove the word all means all.
Notice what it says.
Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust,
we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.
What Paul the Apostle is doing is he's drawing a distinction
from hath appeared to all men to teaching us.
He's saying salvation's appeared to all men,
teaching us that are saved, that we should live soberly, righteously, and godly.
Not that you will, but that you should.
Okay, he's drawing a distinction between all men and teaching us.
That shows you the all men is not referring to just to save people.
Because the teaching us is just to save people.
And grammatically, that's different from teaching all men,
or hath appeared to all men.
Okay, turn your Bible to 2 Peter 3, 2 Peter 3, 2 Peter 3.
I mean, isn't it true that according to the Baptists here in the Philippines,
they're a new religion, right?
They say they've been here for what, around 150 years or 130 years?
I mean, it's not even 200 years, right?
Does anyone know the year?
It's like 130 years or something, right?
They have the big Baptist day that they celebrate,
you know, once a year of how Baptists first came to the Philippines.
First off, that's wrong because they were saved people here before they came.
And look, being a Baptist is not about the name of the church,
about what you believe.
Because you have the same beliefs as John the Baptist, Paul the Apostle, Jesus Christ.
So they were here long before that.
But in terms of organized churches,
hey, maybe they were the first one that called themselves Baptists.
But then, you know what you have to do?
Let's go back in time before that and see where the Baptists came from.
Because they bring this religion over and say,
we're Baptists and they teach different doctrines.
But what do the Baptists actually believe?
Just because they came here and said we're a Baptist church,
that doesn't mean they're Baptists.
You have to look at what do the Baptists actually believe historically.
And guess what?
It's not the doctrines that are being pushed by these Baptist churches here in the Philippines.
Because Baptists historically did not teach Repentance of Sins.
They did not teach Calvinism, okay?
Second Peter three, verse nine.
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness.
But his longsuffering to us were not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance.
When it says not willing that any should perish, what it's saying is this.
It's not God's desire for anybody to burn in hell.
And doesn't that make sense?
It's not, I mean, because you remember John 3 16, you know,
who so ever believed them should not perish.
So perish here is saying dying and going to hell.
Doesn't it make sense God doesn't want people to burn in hell?
I mean, do you want people to burn in hell?
No.
The Calvinist God wants people to burn in hell though, right?
Because only certain people, and you know,
it's for God's glory that he chooses certain people to burn in hell.
What kind of a wicked God is that that you're serving, right?
But the Bible says here he's not willing that any should perish.
It is not God's will or desire that anybody goes to hell.
He wants everybody to be saved, but people go to hell because they don't get saved.
They don't believe on Jesus Christ and their sin condemns them to hell,
but that all should come to repentance.
It is God's will here in passing and in all Metro Manila and in all glues on
for every person to hear the gospel and to believe on Jesus Christ.
But they have free will.
See, if God was the one pulling the strings, everybody would be saved
because he's not willing that any should perish.
If God was pulling the strings and forcing people to believe, guess what?
Everybody would believe because he's not willing that any should perish.
So according to the Bible in 2 Peter 3 verse 9,
God says God does not want anyone to perish.
He wants everybody to come to repentance,
to change their mind about what they believe and believe on Jesus Christ.
Go to Ecclesiastes chapter seven.
Well, that's just New Testament.
Well, I'm pretty sure Ecclesiastes chapter seven is Old Testament.
Ecclesiastes chapter seven.
You say, Brother Stuckey, I'm a lifelong Baptist.
Are you?
Brother Stuckey, I've been a Baptist since I was born.
I grew up in a Baptist church.
Was it really a Baptist church or were they teaching repentance of sins?
Look, I'm not trying to offend you.
I don't claim to have grown up in a Baptist church,
but some of you might want to really look at it and say, you know what?
I really didn't grow up in a Baptist church either
because it might have said Baptist on the name,
but what was that church teaching?
You might have grown up in a repentance of sins church or Calvinist church, right?
It's not Baptist.
That is not historically what Baptists believe.
I'm not just quoting you Bible verses historically.
And I don't have time to go through that whole series again.
I'm just giving you some certain things here.
These didn't come from the Baptists.
So they can put Baptist on the name and it sounds cool and everything.
And I get it.
Other real Baptist churches for some reason
link up with these Baptist churches in the Philippines
that are teaching different things.
And they just assume, hey, it says Baptist on the name.
I mean, we donate a hundred thousand pesos every month, you know,
to these churches to do this great missionary work.
You're donating to Catholics.
You're donating to Protestants.
You're not donating to Baptists.
And look, I understand there are some exceptions here and there
and praise the Lord for exceptions.
But you know, if there's a church that's an exception,
they would be saying, praise the Lord of this sermon
because they believe the right things.
I have no problem linking up with people that are real Baptist.
But you know, I have a problem linking up with people that are not real Baptist,
that are phonies, that are frauds.
Ecclesiastes chapter seven, verse 29.
Ecclesiastes seven, verse 29.
Lo, this only have I found that God hath made man upright,
but they have sought out many inventions.
The Bible says, you know what?
I made man upright, but they invented things.
They came up with things, things that didn't even come into God's mind
in another verse in the Bible, it says.
I mean, God made man upright and man just becomes rebellious and wicked.
And it's like, how can we rebel against God?
And the crazy things that are being done out there.
You got men dressed up as women out on the streets.
I mean, people are dressed.
I mean, it's ridiculous the world we live in.
They've invented ways to be an abomination onto God.
God didn't make them that way.
You say, well, you know what?
I mean, every little child gets to determine what gender they want to be.
What in the world?
It's like, what do you mean you get to determine?
I mean, God's the one who determines whether you're a man or a woman.
It's like, you know, I mean, and a five-year-old is going to make a choice
about what gender.
It's like, oh, my son like to wear a dress.
And so, you know, we're just going to like change him into a woman.
It sounds like that kid needs a spanking.
It's like, it sounds like you need to teach your kids how to be a man if they're a boy.
Teach them how to be ladies if they're a girl and a man if they're a boy.
It's like, oh, my little four-year-old, you know, he likes to wear, you know,
these high heel shoes.
So we're going to just, you know, give him a gender change.
What in the world kind of world do we live in?
And if celebrities do this with their children and then people just praise it,
like it's the greatest thing.
It's like, my son wants to be this.
And we're just letting him decide for himself because we're just loving parents.
Right?
I mean, you got these celebrities that do that.
Like Will Smith's son is always dressing up as a woman.
And Dwayne Wade, exactly.
Dwayne Wade's little son.
And so you got one son who's going to be a pro basketball player.
Another one's going to be a drag queen.
It's like, good job.
Right?
Great job they're raising your kid.
Right?
They've sought out many inventions.
That's what the Bible says.
Turn to Jeremiah 19.
Jeremiah 19.
It does not matter how often you see or how many times you see men wearing dresses.
It's not normal.
It's never going to be normal.
It wouldn't matter if 95% of guys here in the Philippines wore dresses.
That doesn't make it normal.
What it makes it is common.
You remember that sermon series?
It makes it common, not normal.
And there are a lot of things in today's world that are common.
That doesn't make it normal.
I mean, the United States just elected a pedophile as the president.
And people are okay with that.
And it's like, why?
Because we live in a really perverted world, and it's a very perverted country.
You know, it's very common to be perverted.
Is that normal, though?
I mean, what kind of world are we in?
And it's just going to get worse and worse and worse and worse with each passing year.
Look, the other candidate wasn't any good either.
Most prideful person you've ever met.
This is the world we live in.
Notice what it says in Jeremiah 19, verse 5.
They have built also the high places of Baal.
Jeremiah 19, verse 5.
They have built also the high places of Baal to burn their sons with fire for burn offerings
onto Baal.
I mean, they're burning their children alive.
I mean, who would burn their child to death as an offering?
To burn their sons with fire for burn offerings onto Baal.
The God they worship requires them to sacrifice their child?
What in the world?
Do you think that's something that God wanted man to do?
No, I mean, it's condemned throughout the entire Bible.
They were burning their sons with fire for burn offerings.
They're learning that from the heathen world.
The Bible says, learn not the way of the heathen.
And the next verse after that talks about burning your children to death.
This came from the heathen, my friend.
They're burning their sons with fire for burn offerings onto Baal, which I commanded not,
nor spake it, neither came it into my mind.
It didn't come from God's mind.
Man sought out many inventions.
God made man upright, and they have sought out many of it.
They weren't forced to do these things.
And look, you hear some of these Calvinists.
James White.
You can pull up the clip on YouTube, one of the most famous Calvinists in the world.
And he's asked directly about pedophilia.
And he is asked by the interviewer, did God decree pedophilia?
Basically, was it God's choice?
Tries to avoid the question.
Now, look, I wouldn't have to try to avoid that question because the answer is no.
God didn't decree it.
He tries to avoid the question, and they push him a little further.
And he's like, you know, if God did not decree it, then it would be a meaningless action.
And there's no such thing as a meaningless action because it's all part of God's scheme.
Translation.
Yes, God wanted that child raped.
That is what he said.
Look, that's what Calvinists believe.
I mean, people say, why do you preach so hard against the Calvinists?
That's literally what all of those preachers believe.
I mean, talk about being wicked.
That is not something that came into God's mind.
No man sought out many inventions because people rebelled against God and the reprobates
of this world.
They hate God, and they're trying to come up with ways to make God mad.
Turn in your Bible.
Turn your Bible to Ecclesiastes chapter 12.
Ecclesiastes 12.
One reason why many Baptist churches here in the Philippines are not Baptist is because
they teach repentance of sins, and that is historically a Catholic doctrine.
Didn't come from the Baptist.
You can go back 300 years ago, 400 years ago in the US or before that in England, because
England was the country sending out the missionaries way back.
And guess what?
When you're reading the writings, you read about the doctrinal statement of these Baptist
churches right on the money with salvation.
They didn't teach repentance of sins.
Now, in today's world, though, being a Baptist doesn't mean that much.
You knock on the door, they say they're Baptist.
They're probably not saved.
That's true in the US as well, but even more true here.
It's like, oh, we're Baptist, too, right?
It's like, Tagavari Baptist Church, Pocomino.
Oh, we're Baptist, too.
It's like, that doesn't mean much.
Praise the Lord when you do run in to save people.
But is it not true that most times when you knock on the door, even if they say they're
Baptist, they're not saved?
Why?
The Baptist churches here are teaching repentance of sins.
It's a Catholic doctrine.
They're teaching Calvinism.
That's a Protestant doctrine.
And you know what?
They're obsessed with money, and that is a Pentecostal doctrine.
That is not a Baptist doctrine.
You say, well, why do you say that, Brother Stuckey?
Well, let me give you a couple of examples of this.
In 2018, because realize that this country was a Catholic country, and the religions
that are here came from other countries, largely from the US.
A lot of these religions sprang up in the US, and then they came over here.
The Pentecostals, they started in the US.
Now, we understand there's people that were possessed speaking in tongues 1000 years ago,
2000, 3000, 4000, but it really became big, you know, just over 100 years ago.
Okay.
It was somewhere in the Susie Street Fire Revival or something in California, I think
it was, or Los Angeles.
But in 2018, the Waco First Assembly.
This is in the US, Waco, Texas.
And first assembly is the first assembly of God.
These are Pentecostals, tongue talkers.
In 2018, Waco First Assembly, they hosted the First Fruits Conference at 6701 Bosque
Boulevard, Waco, Texas, 76710, in case you want to verify this.
In 2018, they hosted the First Fruits Conference.
That's Pentecostal.
It's not Baptist.
You say, well, the Baptists here are different.
No, wait a minute.
The Baptists here are kind of late to the party because there was Baptist churches in
other countries before this.
So you got to go before this and figure out, hey, are the Baptists that have been planted
here, are they real Baptists?
That's Pentecostal.
That's not Baptist.
Look, I was shocked at all these money conferences that are being hosted here and people calling
themselves Baptists.
They don't do that in the US.
And I'm not saying that there aren't money grubbers trying to steal money and Baptist
church in the US, but hosting a conference on money, it honestly was shocking to me.
I mean, the doctrine of the First Fruits.
I'm like, what in the world?
Giving one month salary.
And look, I'm not against preaching sermon.
I mean, in a month I'll preach a sermon on tithing.
I'm giving you the heads up and the warning, and that's a biblical thing.
But look, you know, one month salary from people.
Where does the Bible say that?
This is a Pentecostal tradition.
It's not a Baptist tradition.
In 2019, you say, well, that's just an anomaly one year.
Well, in 2019, Cornerstone Church, which is a church in Columbia, Maryland, which are
also tongue talkers, they hosted the First Fruits Conference.
Pentecostal, it's not Baptist.
When you see pastors that are obsessed with money, that's the Pentecostals.
I mean, that's the things you laugh on.
Like that Kenneth Copeland guy in the US, you laugh at it.
Where it's like, he's praying a curse against COVID, right?
He's like, you know, the breath of God, I blow on you or whatever.
It's like, what?
And it's like, touch this screen, donate this money.
Hey, you give God $1,000, he'll give you $10,000.
That's Pentecostal.
That is not Baptist.
It has never been Baptist.
That comes from the Pentecostals, not the Baptists.
In Ecclesiastes 12 verse 13, Ecclesiastes chapter 12 verse 13.
And look, I didn't spend a lot of time researching, but look, Pentecostal churches all over the
US, they host conferences like this.
All about money, all about money, all about money, all about money.
The Baptist churches don't do that.
It's the Pentecostals.
But what do the Baptist churches here do?
All about money.
I mean, literally, almost every single one of you said, hey, the church I came from before,
they always talked about money.
That shows what is inside of their hearts.
That's not a Baptist church you came from then, my friend.
That's a Pentecostal church.
Ecclesiastes chapter 12 verse 13.
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.
Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
The Bible says the whole duty of man is to fear God and keep his commandments.
What does God command you financially?
He commands you to give the tithe.
I'll preach on that in a month.
I'm not shy from that.
I mean, that is something the Bible teaches.
He does not command you to give one month's salary.
He does not command you.
And I mean, they have lots of like four different types of givings that you're expected to do
during the year and everything like that.
He doesn't command that.
Fear God and keep his commandments.
This is the whole duty of man, which means if you give 10% exactly, you know what?
You kept God's commandments.
You're not required to give 10.1%.
You're not required to give 10.2%.
You say, how do you know that?
Well, go to Leviticus 27.
Leviticus 27.
And I don't want to go too much into this because I'll preach on it in a month and show
you what the Bible says about tithing.
We'll go in depth and everything like that because I do believe tithing is biblical.
But look, what you're commanded to do is just follow the commandments God makes.
Not man-made rules that the Bible does not teach.
Look, I've literally had people message me.
Not from our church, but in other churches where they say they feel guilty about not
giving.
Am I required to give the first fruits offering?
I've had people here in the Philippines that are like minded people message me and they
feel guilty because they're being pressured by their pastors.
It's like they have to give this first fruits offering one month salary.
I said, no, you don't have to do that.
The Bible doesn't say that.
And look, if the Bible is so clear about that, then why don't those pastors pull out very
clear verses about that subject?
They don't have any clear verses.
And look, I've listened to whole sermons on the topic because I was trying to figure out
what is their argument.
Oh, they don't have one.
It's like listening to a sermon on the pre-trib rapture.
It's like, all right, what's your argument?
What's your argument?
They didn't even mention one.
It's like they just completely didn't even mention an argument.
It's like, look, that's smart strategy.
If you don't have any good arguments, it's better just not to give one.
Right?
Just command it, not give it.
Just like the Catholics would do by force throughout history and the Orthodox and all
those other false religions.
Leviticus 27 verse 30.
Leviticus chapter 27 verse 30.
And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the
tree, is the Lord's.
It is holy unto the Lord.
So mentions in verse 30 the tithe.
Okay, now I don't want to cover verse 31 today.
It's going to be two in depth, but go to verse 32.
Verse 32.
The Bible will define what the tithe is.
And concerning the tithe of the herd or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under
the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord.
According to the Bible, the tithe is the tenth.
Okay, now this is something that we still keep in today's world because the tithe was
given in order for the operation and the work of the Lord.
You know, it was paid for the Levites and everything who were just full time in the
service of God.
And look, for a church to operate today, you still need money as well.
So this is something that is a New Testament thing.
I'll talk about that in a month.
But what the tithe is, is the tenth.
One tenth, ten percent.
That's what it means.
Okay, this is what God requires.
Ten percent.
Okay, there's a lot of gray area situations, especially if you're a business owner and
things like that.
I'll talk about that in a month.
But what I'm showing you is the tithe is ten percent.
Now look, if you give the first month's salary, one out of twelve months is eight point three
three three percent, right?
Repeating three.
And then all of a sudden you give ten percent on the last eleven months and it's just like,
you know, you're above fifteen percent.
You're like at seventeen, eighteen percent of your money.
That's a lot of money that you're giving.
God doesn't require that.
What he said was the tenth.
And look, when churches are always preaching about money, that's not a Baptist thing.
That's a Pentecostal thing.
Turn in your Bible to Matthew twenty three.
Matthew twenty three.
Because, look, there are people that literally they're like, yeah, you know what?
I should come to this church.
This is the best church and everything.
But, you know, they still go to churches that are, you know, other sorts of Baptist churches
and they can kind of justify by saying, well, it's also a Baptist church.
They're wrong on some stuff.
It's not a Baptist church.
It's a Catholic church.
It's a Protestant church.
It's a Pentecostal church.
It's not a Baptist church.
And look, praise the Lord for the exceptions to this.
But the churches that are exceptions, they would be agreeing with everything I'm saying
in this sermon.
They would agree with it.
Why?
Because they're not teaching these things.
They're not teaching repentance of sins and Calvinism and being obsessed with money.
The churches that are doing that, they're not Baptist churches.
They might put you say, why do you have to preach this?
Because if somebody gets back and wants to quit our church one day, I want you to realize
there's no alternatives.
Look, and look, praise the Lord.
Look, if there's a church 30 minutes away that starts this preaching the truth and everything,
hey, praise the Lord for that, right?
There's plenty of people to reach.
I'm not competing with anyone.
I think it'd be great if we have more great churches so people don't have to travel a
long distance to come to church all the time.
But look, I want you to realize that, you know, most of these Baptist churches in the
Philippines, they're not really Baptist.
They just put that on the name.
Okay.
That doesn't make them Baptist because if you go back historically, this is not what
Baptist believe.
Matthew 23 verse 23.
Matthew chapter 23 verse 23.
It says, woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you pay tithe of mint and
anise in common and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith.
These ought you to have done and not to leave the other undone.
So the Pharisees made it a big point.
The scribes and Pharisees, they pay tithe of everything.
Anise, common, any gifts they got and everything like that.
And God says, that's a good thing.
You ought to have done that.
Okay.
That's something I'll preach on here in a month.
You did a good thing by doing that, but you know, there's more important things than
that.
You've omitted the weightier matters of the law.
And it's like, you know, they were tithing and that looked good.
He's like, yeah, you know, you ought to have done that, but you left the other undone.
You have the wrong balance.
It's like the Bible says we need to fear his commandments.
Do what he says.
That's the whole duty of man.
Fear God and keep his commandments.
What God commands is a 10%.
And look, they were doing the 10% and that's all they were doing.
You say, why?
Because they were obviously making it a show to show, Hey, we gave her 10%.
We didn't obey anything else because we just want to look good in front of man.
That is what they were doing.
And look, when these churches are always talking about money, they're like the Pharisees and
scribes who are obsessed with money.
We're going to make sure we tithe on everything and don't make any mistakes.
We're going to get it down to the penny.
Look at us.
We're tithing.
Others aren't, and they've omitted everything else.
Why?
They're obsessed with money.
That's what we're seeing here.
Now turn in your Bible.
Turn in your Bible to Exodus 18.
I got to hurry.
Exodus 18.
I'll skip a few places here for sake of time.
Exodus 18.
Exodus chapter 18.
And look, you know, in the US, there are Baptist churches that teach repentance of sins.
It's something that's come into the Baptist false doctrine and everything.
And, you know, even now there are Baptists that are Calvinists, especially the reformed
Baptist and everything, which are clearly not Baptist and everything.
And that's infiltrated the Baptist in the US.
Something that is not infiltrated the Baptist in the US is this obsession with money.
And I'm not saying there aren't pastors that maybe over preach it or whatever, but it's
like this obsession with money hosting a conference of money that is bizarre.
And that is Pentecostal.
And what those conferences are in the...
This is what they are in the US.
They'll have some faith healer up here, a Kenneth Copeland or a Benny Han, and there
will be some woman that they pay to come up here to the front and quote unquote, she'll
be healed, which is just a lie.
It's just a mockery.
It's just a joke.
And she's like, look, I haven't been able to walk for 20 years.
It's like, look at me now.
I can walk.
And it's just a show.
It's fake.
And people see that and it's like, hey, if you donate to God, if you give money, God's
going to bless you too.
And you know what?
People fall for that stuff and they donate a lot of money.
It's a faith healers and Pentecostals that do this sort of stuff.
Hey, you donate $1,000.
You know what?
God's going to bless you with a new Ferrari, right?
In the next six months, he's going to bless you with a new car and everything like that.
And it's just like, that's what they're teaching.
Okay, look, this is not a Baptist doctrine.
This is Pentecostal.
There's no Baptist in America that are going to host conferences like this, at least not
now.
And look, when it does infiltrate in the US, I'd preach the same thing.
It's not Baptist.
Because look, historically, Baptists have the same lineage we have.
The John the Baptist, the Paul the Apostles, the Peters, they teach the same things we
teach at this church.
Exodus 18 verse 20.
And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws and shalt show them the way therein they must
walk and the work that they must do.
Verse 21, moreover, thou shalt provide out of all the people able men.
So he says, you must have able men.
These are going to be people that are leaders.
And if somebody is going to be an able man, a leader, there's requirements.
What you're going to notice is it's not a requirement to be someone who's a great speaker.
It's not a requirement to have all of these talents.
What he says is this, able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness, and
place such over them to be rulers of thousands and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties,
and rulers of tens.
The Bible says hating covetous.
Look, these pastors that are obsessed with money, they're not fit to be leaders because
the Bible says you must hate covetousness and they're not fit to be leading churches
and running churches when they're obsessed with money.
Why?
The Bible says you need to hate covetousness to be a leader.
Go to Jeremiah six, Jeremiah chapter six, Jeremiah six.
I mean, you say, Brother Stuckey, how do you know that they're covetous just because they
talk about it?
Well, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh and realize covetousness is
one of the sins that can get you kicked out of church.
There has to be a way to determine if somebody is covetous.
How do you determine that?
Well, if they're always talking about money, right?
That's how you determine it, right?
I mean, it's like that with anything you want to figure out if somebody is a pervert.
Well, what's the stuff coming out of their mouth?
They're saying a bunch of crude and perverted things.
Oh, I'm just joking.
It's like, yeah, I don't think so.
Yeah, they keep saying it.
It's obviously not a joke.
You can tell based on the things that they say.
And look, sometimes people hide this sort of stuff, but then you'll see it come out.
And look, when there are pastors that are always talking about money, that shows what's
in their heart.
It shows their covetous.
I mean, it's common sense, right?
You say, Well, I don't know, Brother Stuckey, how do you know this is really not a Baptist
thing and everything?
Well, I'll prove it to you in Jeremiah chapter six, because this is the context of the old
paths, okay?
Jeremiah 6 verse 13.
For from the least of them, even onto the greatest of them, everyone is given a covetousness.
And from the prophet, even onto the priest, everyone dealeth falsely.
They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people, slightly saying, Peace, peace,
when there is no peace.
They're liars.
They're frauds.
They're phonies.
Why?
In verse 13, they're covetous.
Verse 15, were they ashamed when they had committed abomination?
Nay, they were not at all ashamed.
Neither could they blush.
Therefore, they shall fall among them that fall.
At the time that I visit them, they shall be cast down, sayeth the Lord.
Thus, sayeth the Lord, standing in the ways and see and ask for the old paths.
Where is the good way?
And walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.
But they said, We will not walk therein.
Now, people quote verse 16 all the time, and they'll go back 100 years and say, Well, that's
the old paths.
This was written thousands of years ago.
You have to go back before the time of Jeremiah to figure out what the old paths are.
And what I always say is we teach the same things they taught 4000 years ago before Christ.
Now, obviously, they look toward the coming Messiah, and we look back at the Messiah who
did die for us.
But look, we teach the same things they do.
You could walk into a church back then.
You could walk into an area of the house of God, and the preaching would be very similar.
Very similar.
They could walk into a church here, and they won't know all the gypsies and vehicles and
everything.
But you know what?
They're gonna say that preaching sounds like what we're used to.
One thing hasn't changed in the 4000 years, right?
It says, Ask for the old paths.
And these Baptist churches will say, Hey, let's go back to our roots here in the Philippines.
Go before that, my friend, because the Baptist came before that.
And look what it said in verse 13 is they're given to covetousness.
And he's saying, You know what?
That is not the old paths.
That is a false path.
So go back to the old paths where the leaders are not covetous.
So look, when these leaders are preaching all about money, it shows their covetous.
That's not the old paths.
That's not Baptist.
That is not Baptist.
That is Pentecostal.
That is not Baptist doctrine.
Turn your Bible to Malachi 2.
Malachi 2.
You say, Brother Stuckey, aren't you excited about the Baptist day?
I mean, I had people that were well intentioned people, good hearted people.
They messaged me.
Hey, Brother Stuckey, are you going to be going to the Baptist day celebration?
I'm just thinking I'd be more likely to be stoned, you know, accepted into the congregation.
Right.
I mean, a lot of these Baptists don't really like me here in the Philippines.
You say why?
Because I'm actually preaching stuff that other Baptists don't have the guts to say.
That's the reality.
It's like, no, I know it's nice.
I mean, I was just like, Yeah, you know, I'm probably not gonna be able to make it right.
It's like, I don't think I'd be accepted, my friend.
And look, I mean, literally, they probably ask you on the way in,
Hey, what church are you from?
Verity Baptist, get out of here.
Right.
They wouldn't even let you in.
That's the reality.
Okay.
But look, it's just like, you know, these churches that are always talking about money.
That's Pentecostal.
It's not Baptist.
It's not the old past, because in the context of Jeremiah 6,
the covetous ones are the opposite of the old past.
And look, the Baptists here, and I don't know, going back 125 years,
maybe some of the first Baptists here, maybe they did have the right doctrine.
But the Baptists here that are left from that, it's garbage.
It's false.
They're teaching repentance of sins.
They're teaching Calvinism.
They're always obsessed with money.
And you know what?
They're using a lot of modern methods that are not Baptist methods, not Baptist doctrine,
not what we've taught.
What are some of the modern methods?
Because these modern methods are stuff you'd see at Victory and CCF, these megachurches, okay?
Older calls are a modern invention.
Now, were there people that were doing some semblances of this in the past?
I'm sure there were, but they became very common in the last 150 years.
I'll prove this to you.
Now, what does it say in Malachi 2, verse 13?
Malachi 2, verse 13.
And he says in Malachi 2, verse 13,
And this have ye done again, covering the altar of the Lord with tears,
with weeping, with crying out,
insomuch that he regardeth not the offering anymore,
or receiveth it with good will at your hand.
And he says, you know what?
You've done this again.
You're coming down to the altar and you're crying.
He's like, I'm sick of it, not receiving it.
I'm sick of you coming to the altar and whining and crying.
I'm so sorry I did this.
I'm so sorry.
He's like, I'm sick of it.
And look, the modern day altar that they have,
look, if you look up altar in the Bible,
I mean, they're sacrificing animals.
It's like, what in the world?
But they say people come down after a sermon.
Where is that in the Bible?
It's nowhere.
And if you ask Baptist pastors about this, they say,
well, yeah, it's not the same as in the Old Testament,
but it's still a good thing to do.
It's like they have no Bible verses for it.
But what it says in Malachi 2 verse 13,
if the altar was the same that they do today
as in the Old Testament, which it's not,
this is what God would say.
You know what?
I'm sick of you coming down to the altar.
I mean, they'd have the altar call here.
Somebody would try to come down.
Oh, you came down last week.
You came down last week.
It's like, you're not going to come down here every week.
They would restrict people.
It's like they try to come down.
Oh, wait a minute.
A couple times per year at the most, right?
If you're going to be biblical,
and this is the altar from the Old Testament,
they would stop people from coming.
Why?
God is sick of people crying at the altar.
And it's the same people every week,
always crying at the altar.
Oh, I'm so sorry, man.
I never read the Bible.
The next week, oh, I'm so sorry.
I never read the Bible.
I'm so sorry.
I never read the Bible.
You know why I don't have to whine that at the altar?
Because I read the Bible.
And it's like, I get it.
Those people look real spiritual.
They come down.
They put on a show.
Everybody loves them and everything.
But it's like, you know what?
The altar call, it's all for show.
It's vain.
And the Bible says, you know what?
I'm sick of people coming down to the altar.
Go to Matthew 5.
Matthew 5.
And look, if I ever backside,
and we start having an altar call or whatever,
that's what we're going to do.
We're going to have a sign up sheet.
You're going to have to sign up.
And it's like, I got to look here.
It's like, wait a minute.
You came down to the altar a couple of weeks ago.
It's like, get that sin right before you come down again.
Okay.
Matthew 5 verse 23.
What's really funny is that these churches
where the pastors will really try to get people to come down.
And part of it, they'll even say this in Bible college.
It's meant to encourage you as the pastor
that you feel like you're doing a good job.
So they encourage you to ask questions
so you can get everybody to raise their hand.
So basically you'll start off and say, you know, something.
It's like, you know, this, whatever in your life,
you need to make this change.
Please raise your hand.
So if nobody raised their hand,
they start asking questions that are a little bit softer.
I mean, if there was anything you agreed with in the sermon,
raise your hand.
God bless you.
I see that hand.
Everybody who raised their hands,
it's now time to come down to the altar.
It's like, you know what?
And, you know, honestly, I'll be honest with you.
If you're not from a Baptist church,
if you're not used to altar calls,
it's very strange to you.
It's very bizarre.
I remember the first time I was at a church
that had an altar call.
I was very confused with what's going on.
And it wasn't a bad church I was at
because I'm not saying every church
that has an altar call is a bad church.
Okay, don't misunderstand me.
My church was a decent church in West Virginia,
although this is very unbiblical.
But I remember they had an altar call.
It's like, bow your head and close your eyes.
I'm like, what in the world?
That's like, is this a cult?
What are you doing?
It's like, is somebody going to come around?
And like, you know, it's kind of scary
when you're not used to it.
I mean, if you're used to it, it's no big deal.
But I just remember just being like,
you know, what in the world?
So guess what I did?
Well, I mean, every 30 seconds I looked up to see,
okay, are we supposed to look now?
Because I was afraid I was going to be
the guy with my head down
and everybody's already walked down.
It's like, oh, whoops.
I was supposed to raise my head up a long time ago.
It was weird to me.
I mean, it was literally,
I'm just like, what is going on?
It's strange, right?
And guess what?
It's not in the Bible.
Matthew 5 verse 23.
Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar
and there rememberth that thy brother hath
ought against thee.
So this is someone who brings a gift to the altar,
but they remember that their brother,
they've got a problem with.
They've got a fight or a problem with their brother.
He says, leave there thy gift before the altar
and go thy way.
First be reconciled to thy brother
and then come and offer thy gift.
You know what the Bible says is this?
Get right before you come to the altar.
First, get reconciled with your brother.
Don't get right at the altar.
Get right before you come to the altar
and then bring your gift.
That's what it's saying in Matthew 5 verse 23 and verse 24.
First, get things right with your brother.
So here's the thing.
If somebody's gonna come down to the altar after a sermon,
they better first make sure that they're right
with all their brothers at church.
And if they got a problem with someone
before they're even allowed to come down to the altar,
biblically speaking,
if this was what the altar was like they claim,
because the altar that we have today,
this modern day altar is completely different
than in the Old Testament.
But if this is what it is, the word altar,
then guess what?
You have to get right with everyone
that you got a problem with first.
And if you're not, you're not welcome at the altar.
That's what it's saying.
Now turn in your Bible to Nehemiah chapter 8, Nehemiah 8.
And I'm gonna read you from this article on Wikipedia.
Because people talk about altar calls
and oftentimes the pastor will say,
come on down to a good old-fashioned altar, right?
The good old-fashioned altar call.
Well, I mean, let us see if the altar call
is good and old-fashioned, right?
The Makalumong altar call, right?
It says this from Wikipedia,
altar calls are a recent historic phenomenon
beginning in the 1830s in America.
In the 1830s in America.
During these, people approached the chancel rails,
anxious seat, or mourners bench to pray.
One of the most famous 19th century revivalists,
Charles Grandison Finney, popularized the idea
of the altar call in order to sign up as converts
for the abolition movement.
And so Charles Finney, he's like a precursor
to the Pentecostals.
And this is what some churches started to adopt.
They'd have like a bench up here on stage.
And so if you got touched by the sermon,
you'd come up during the sermon and it was like a technique
to make people feel really guilty.
Like, oh, I gotta get saved, right?
And so it was like a technique to get like a lot
of quick conversions and everything like that.
And so they'd have this anxious bench
where basically you'd sit there
and you'd like feel really uncomfortable sitting on the bench.
I mean, this is weird.
This is Pentecostal stuff.
This is strange.
And then it says in many churches,
the Wesleyan Armenian theology,
the altar call, in addition to being an invitation
for people to experience the new birth,
is also often used to implore believers
to experience the second work of grace
known as entire sanctification.
Notable examples in history of using altar calls include
Billy Sunday and D.L. Moody.
And these are these great men of the faith,
Charles Finney, which is like a Pentecostal guy,
D.L. Moody, Billy Sunday, who were not like-minded at all.
They were not Baptists.
And people use them as a great example.
Yeah, this is what the mega churches do.
These preachers were mega church preachers.
They had thousands and thousands and thousands
of people in the churches.
They weren't preaching the old paths.
It's like, yeah, you gave an example.
Guess what?
You could give Billy Graham as well.
Give any of these people that have thousands
and thousands of people and they have this altar call.
Yeah, it's effective to draw a big crowd.
It's not effective to draw a big crowd
of people that actually love God, though.
Amen.
It's a recent historic phenomenon beginning in the 1830s.
Nehemiah chapter eight.
One thing that is a mega church thing is not a Baptist church thing is older calls.
Okay.
And I want you to understand how dangerous the older call is for a saved person,
because I want you to understand my goal when you leave church is that you walk away and say,
you know what?
I've got changes to make that you walk away and you do not feel like because, look,
there's no way that you could adequately walk away from the sermons, preach and always to say,
you know what?
I'm perfectly right with God.
If you're actually paying attention and if you actually have an honest heart with yourself,
my goal is not for you to walk away and feel like you're the greatest Christian in the world.
My goal is for you to walk away and say, you know what?
I've got changes to make.
Same with myself.
I've got changes to make.
See, the altar call is really dangerous because people, they feel guilty.
Then they come down to the altar and instead of leaving, say, man, I got to make some changes.
They feel like they've already made the change.
Nothing's changed, though.
I mean, the altar call literally destroys the purpose of the entire sermon because the
entire sermon is based on the fact that you walk away and say, man, I got to make changes
in this and this and this practical, applicable preaching.
But you destroy it all if you have an altar call, because people will feel like they're
right with God when they're not.
The altar call is very dangerous for saved people.
It destroys the purpose of a sermon.
Another thing that is a modern invention that megachurches do are children's churches, junior
church and Sunday school.
This is not an old fashioned thing.
It is a modern thing.
Okay, Nehemiah chapter eight, verse three.
And I understand this first sermon is going to be longer.
The second sermon we'll make shorter.
Nehemiah chapter eight, verse three.
And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning
until midday, before the men and the women and those that could understand.
And the ears of all the people were attentive onto the book of the law.
Everyone that could understand the ears of all the people that were attentive onto the
book of the law.
It's referring to everybody.
Everybody's there to hear the preaching of God's word.
And according to the Bible, you know, we can, as people, be attentive to God's word because
they'll tell you that the perfect length for a sermon has been proven scientifically to
be 21 to 23 minutes.
That's a short sermon, my friend.
It's like, you know, people can pay attention more than 21 minutes.
I think the problem is your sermons are boring.
That's why they don't want to listen for more than 21 minutes.
Because we're actually preaching the Bible and showing people what the Bible says.
People are interested.
They're like, man, I'm learning stuff and everything.
And it's like, literally, a sermon can be an hour long.
And people are like, man, I feel like it just started.
I wanted more.
Right?
And so verse four.
And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose.
So here we go.
According to the Bible, they do have a pulpit.
Okay, so look, we base things based on the Bible.
This is the old paths right there.
They have a pulpit.
And it logically makes sense because especially if a big congregation, people can see you
better if you're elevated.
So I mean, when it comes to Baptist Church, a true Baptist Church, they do things based
on what the Bible says.
And that is biblical.
And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose.
And beside him stood Mattathiah and Shema and Anniah and Uriah and Hilkiah and Messiah
on his right hand.
And on his left hand, Padiah and Mishael and Malchiah and Husham and Hashba-dana, Zechariah
and Maeshelem.
And Ezra opened the book on the side of all the people, for he was above all the people.
You're speaking to a lot of people.
Just what do you do?
You get an elevated position.
Okay.
And when he opened it, all the people stood up.
You say, why did they stand up when he's reading from the book of the law?
Because they had reverence for God's holy word.
Because they love God's word.
I mean, isn't that what people do at sporting events?
They see somebody do a spectacular slam dunk they've never seen before.
And then all of a sudden their reaction, they just stand up.
Like if you've ever been to a live sporting event, you know, in the US, I've been to basketball
games and football games.
When somebody does something that's just amazing, your natural reaction is you stand up.
You're like, wow, it's amazing.
This is what they did when the word of God was opened.
That is how serious they took the word of God.
Verse six, and Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God.
And all the people answered, Amen.
Amen.
With lifting up their hands and they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their
faces to the ground.
Also, just Jeshua and Beni and Cherubiah, Jaman, Achaab, Shabbathai, Hodijah, Messiah,
Kelita, Azariah, Joseph, Hanan, Paliah, and the Levites caused the people to understand
the law and the people stood in their place.
So they're reading from the book of law, but then they're explaining it.
They're causing them to understand.
Verse eight, so they read in the book of the law, then the book in the law of God distinctly
and gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading.
What you're seeing is everybody's there together for the word of God.
What you do not see in this passage is, well, here are just the adults that they get to
hear the word of God, but we're going to shove the kids in Sunday school and they're going
to be singing all these goofy songs and everything and just playing all these games and everything
like that and just goofing off.
No, they're actually hearing the same word of God.
That's why in our mother baby room, you can hear the audio.
You can see the video.
You say, why?
I want my son and my daughter to hear the word of God.
I want them to hear the same thing that we're hearing.
I want everybody to hear the word of God.
You say, why?
It's good for all of us.
And look, even if my son cannot understand everything I'm saying, he's going to learn,
hey, this is the sort of style that you have at church.
It's going to come natural to him.
Why?
Because that's what he's used to.
People tend to go back to what they remember in their youth.
And look, if we raise these kids on just goofing off and fun games, guess what kind of church
they're going to go to when they're 18 years old and 19 and 20 making their own choices?
Victory.
CCF.
That's where they're going to go.
And so when you have these children's churches in these modern games, you are preparing them
to be great members of victory, preparing them to be great members of CCF.
That's not my goal for my kids.
My goal for my kids is they're going to be soul winners that love the word of God.
We don't have children's churches.
This is a modern invention.
You say, brother Stuckey, I don't know if it's a modern invention.
Well, think of the term Sunday school.
Did you ever think about where that term came from Sunday school?
When it first originated in England, it was actually school.
There were these orphans on the street that couldn't read.
They couldn't do math.
And a church actually said, you know what?
We're going to create this program to teach them how to read and do math.
So they actually have a chance to be successful in life.
And what ended up taking place.
And I'm not saying that we would do that.
I'm just telling you the origins of this.
And then other churches saw that and said, man, we can double our church attendance.
All these kids are showing up.
So guess what?
And what was taking place is these people from the church were volunteering their time
to teach math to these kids.
There were orphans on the street on Sundays to give them a chance at a life.
Other churches saw this and they said, man, this is effective.
We're going to do the same thing.
And somehow it morphed into Sunday school being singing all these goofy games.
But it was Sunday school because they were actually being taught school.
These were kids that didn't actually have a public school.
I mean, I hate to give you actual history of where this comes from.
That's a modern thing.
It originated in England.
Okay.
Turn to Revelation three.
We'll close up here in a second.
Revelation three.
And now a lot of Baptist.
Look, this is something in the US the Baptist church are guilty of.
These children's churches.
But this is what megachurches do.
This is what the non-denominational crowd does.
This is not a Baptist thing.
This is a modern invention.
And look, I don't know that situation.
I didn't live there at that time.
Maybe there would have been a good place to teach those kids math and reading.
Maybe it was a good thing that they were doing.
I'm not preaching against them.
I wasn't there.
I wasn't in that time period.
But what we have now in churches is just ridiculous.
I mean, they would be better off teaching math to these kids.
I mean, I used to be a math teacher.
Look, these kids would be better off learning math than all these goofy games.
And I'm just saying, I mean, I could go on a rabbit trail here.
But it's like, you know, kids that are in high school and you tell them,
hey, what's four times six?
It's like, oh, let me pull out my phone and figure that out.
I'm just like, what in the world?
And then the school I was at said, hey, next year we want you to teach calculus.
It's like, who am I going to teach calculus to?
It's like, they don't know their multiplication tables.
It's like, but that's the world we live in.
In today's world, people should be smarter.
And yet this is the dumbest I think people have ever been in the history of the world.
That is the reality in today's world.
So when it comes to altar calls, children's churches, those are modern ventures.
Another thing I don't have time to go into is modern music.
When they change the music and, you know, Baptist churches are doing that.
Why?
They're trying to build a crowd.
They're trying to bring in people that don't love God.
You know what?
You know how we bring those people in?
We get them saved.
And this is what we do at this church.
And this is our philosophy.
We do not conform God's word to meet the people.
We expect people to conform to God's word.
And look, we had 60 people in Pampanga yesterday at church.
I mean, this room is not a small room.
It's not like there's five people here.
There's plenty of people here in the word of God.
It's not like we're struggling for members.
It looks like there's people in this area that actually like to hear the word of God.
We're not going to conform God's word to meet the people.
It's like, and look, I used to go to a church where their version of door to door soul winning
is you'd fill out this questionnaire.
What type of music do you like in church?
How long do you think the sermon should be?
It's like the first church I went to after I got saved.
And it's just like, so we're going to change to just figure out what I mean.
That's I mean, we're going to change to meet the people here.
No, no, no.
We expect God to conform people to conform to God's word,
not for God to conform to how the world is.
And look, if we were going to conform to the world, man,
we would be going crazy right now with the way the world is.
I mean, you'd have to change everything.
The world is getting more and more wicked every single day.
What are the four things we mentioned?
Well, repentance of sins is a Catholic doctrine.
It's a Catholic tradition.
It's historically Catholic.
Calvinism is Protestant, not Baptist, Protestant.
Being obsessed with money is Pentecostal.
And these modern methods are from mega churches and the non-denominational crowd.
And the reality is that for most of you, you say,
Brother Stuckey, I've been a Baptist my whole life.
For most of you, though, many of those points were your old churches.
Yeah, they had Baptists on the name.
That's not historically what a Baptist is, though.
And I'll tell you what, I do take seriously my Baptist heritage and my Baptist tradition.
That's why I preach a whole sermon on the Protestant Reformation.
I've read books on the topic.
You know, it's a very interesting topic to me because, you know,
there are people that died for what they believe 500 years ago.
We don't have to die for what we believe today.
We can freely go soul-winding and we have free reign to preach the gospel.
We have great freedom in today's world.
But just because these churches are saying they're Baptists,
it doesn't mean they're really Baptists.
Revelation 3, verse 9.
Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan,
which say they are Jews and are not, but do lie.
And look, there are many Baptists that say they're Baptists, but they're not.
They're lying about it.
What's going to be the end result of this?
Behold, I'll make them to come and worship before thy feet.
And to know that I have loved thee.
And look, I'm not trying to say that to be arrogant.
It's reality though.
If people are at Baptist churches teaching a work salvation,
one day they're going to be told, I never knew you.
We've done wonderful works in thy name.
I never knew you.
Depart from me.
They work in equity.
It's like, I mean, I was preaching in your name.
I never knew you.
That's what it says in Matthew 7.
They are going to literally come and worship before our feet.
You say, why?
Because the God they're worshiping is not the God of the Bible.
And look, you don't have to be a Baptist to be saved,
but what you must believe is salvation by grace through faith.
And I'll tell you what, are there saved people in these Baptist churches?
Yes, they are.
Yes, there are.
Even in these churches that are preaching a false gospel,
there are saved people in those churches,
but the majority of people in those churches are not saved
that are preaching a false gospel.
Now, if there's other Baptist churches here
that are preaching the same things we are about salvation,
I guarantee if you ask the members,
hey, what do you have to do to be saved?
Most of them are going to be right on the money.
But look, if there are these churches that are preaching repents of sins and Calvinism,
the majority of members in those churches, they're not saved.
And look, it's sad.
I wish this weren't true,
but one day they literally are going to be worshiping before our feet
and finding out, you know what, we were never really saved.
All the times we mocked this kind of preaching
and hated this church and everything,
it turns out that they were right about salvation,
that you do not have to repent of your sins.
And look, that is why when we go soul winning,
the vast majority of Baptist we run into,
are not saved.
And look, if you go soul winning, you know that's true.
And look, I wish that weren't the case.
Look, I wish that Methodists were saved.
I wish that Lutherans were saved.
I wish that Episcopalian and Catholics,
I wish all these cultures,
I don't want people to go to hell.
I'm not a Calvinist that takes enjoyment
and other people burning in hell.
I want these people to be saved.
That's why we go soul winning every week.
But this is reality.
There are Baptist frauds.
They are phonies.
They are not like us at all.
And they might have Baptist on the name.
That doesn't make them a Baptist.
Look, you could walk around and say you're a doctor.
That doesn't make you a doctor.
It's like, what do you do for a living?
I'm a marine biologist, right?
I'm an astronaut.
Just because you say you're an astronaut,
that doesn't make you an astronaut.
And just because churches say they're Baptist,
well, what are they actually teaching?
And look, there are churches that say they're Baptist
in the US that speak in tongues.
There's not a lot of them, but there are some.
Would anyone say they're Baptist?
No, they speak in tongues.
But look, repentance of sins is not a Baptist doctrine.
Calvinism is not a Baptist doctrine.
They're not Baptist.
The reality is that, you know what, to be saved,
you have to put your faith on Jesus.
It's by faith alone.
That's what the Bible teach.
And the Bible is not confusing on these topics.
And look, you know, wouldn't a God,
we can get a lot of people saved
and we can spare them from these churches,
preaching a false gospel.
Let's close in a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father,
thank you for allowing us to be here today
and just getting to see this sermon
and what the Bible says about this God.
And help us to get as many people saved
as we can in this area.
And, you know, the sad thing is
there's a lot of saved people in these churches
and they're even getting confused on things like salvation
because of what's being preached behind the pulpits, God.
And help us to reach people in this area,
to help them realize, you know what,
there's a church here that is very clear on salvation,
is clear on what we believe,
and is preaching the old paths.
We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.