you
All right. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Verity Baptist Church.
Welcome to Verity Baptist Church.
Galatians chapter 3, verses 1, verse 16.
Please say amen if you are there.
Amen.
Galatians chapter 3, verse 1.
O foolish Galatians, what bewist you, that ye should not have made it true?
Before it was obvious Christ had been evidently set forth, crucified among you.
This is only what I have learned of you, to receive you by the spirit and the works of the law,
or by thy hearing and faith.
O be so foolish, having begun the spirit,
are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
If ye have suffered so many things in vain,
would ye be yet in vain?
Be therefore the finishers to you in the spirit,
that were the paracles among you.
Do what ye hit by the works of the law,
or by thy hearing and faith.
Even the day that I believed God,
that it was a countenance for righteousness.
Know ye therefore that the day which art of faith,
know ye therefore that the day which art of faith,
the same are the children of Abraham,
in this scripture,
who are seeing that God would justify the heateth through faith,
preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying,
Indeed shall all nations be blessed.
So that the day which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
For as many as are from the works of the law are under the curse,
where it is written,
The curse that is every one,
that continueth not in all things,
which are within the book of the law,
but that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God,
in his evidence.
For the just shall live by faith,
and the law is not of faith,
but the man that doeth them shall live in them.
Christ that redeemseth from the curse of the law,
being made a curse for us,
for it is written,
The curse that is every one,
that hangeth on a tree,
and the blessing of Abraham might come on the gems of Jesus Christ,
that we might receive a promise from the spirit through faith.
Brethren, I speak after the manner of men,
though it be but a man's covenants,
yet it be confirmed,
that no man is another,
or rather thereto.
Now to be a remnant seed,
where the promise is made,
and sayeth not,
and to seed as many,
that is one,
and to thy seed,
which is Christ.
Blessed be God's word,
let us pray,
that in heaven,
take the word of his name,
to give it to us,
and for it should be thus,
for it is they,
and give it to me,
by the power of his name,
and of thy heart,
and of thy death,
and of thy soul.
Amen.
All right, we're here in Galatians chapter three,
and the name of the sermon is
The Alphabet of False Religions Asatru.
The alphabet of false religions Asatru.
Now, right off the bat,
you're wondering like,
what is Asatru?
I've never heard of that,
and so that's not the most,
that is the most used name for this religion.
It's probably not the most known name,
though, by people that are not part of this religion.
And when we're saying Asatru,
Asatru, you're talking about the ancient Viking religion, Norse mythology, the Avengers that
you love to watch, Odin, Loki, and Thor, and paganism is a name. And one of the common
names, they call themselves heathenry. So they willingly accept the title heathenry
saying we're the line of people, our culture rejected Christianity, we rejected Judaism,
Islam, and all of that. We are the heathens. So we look at the term heathen as a very bad
term. People that are barbaric, that have no morals, and they willingly take that title
saying we are the heathens. That is their religion. And so another one, not just the
Avengers, but the Chronicles of Narnia and Lord of the Rings, most of that is coming
from Norse mythology. Don't sit here and tell me that Chronicles of Narnia, where they have
an animal that is like a picture of Jesus Christ, is a good and godly thing. When they
mix mythology and, you know, mix Roman paganism and Greek paganism, but honestly mainly Norse
mythology with the giants and the elves and things like that, it comes from this false
religion. Now, when it comes to this religion, the primary part, this is primarily in more
ancient religion, but let me just give you a bit of a background here. This is primarily
in the world of Scandinavia. So it's over in Europe and it's mainly in Scandinavia and
Germany is where it kind of has its roots. And if you think of the world today, you think
of Europe in general, what is the most atheistic, god-rejecting place in Europe? Scandinavia.
Sweden specifically, Norway, Iceland, these areas in Scandinavia, and this is the area
of the world where Norse mythology came. What is interesting to me, and I'm going to give
you my opinion about this, when you look at Europe, Europe as a whole went completely
Catholic. They were basically forced to convert to Catholicism all over Europe and then what
would take place in certain countries is they would adopt it as their culture. We're basically,
I'm born a Catholic, I'm raised a Catholic, I'm going to die a Catholic. We've been Catholic
for generation after generation. The Scandinavian part of the world, though they converted to
Catholicism, I don't believe that was ever really part of their cultural roots. They
would say, yeah, we're Catholic because we don't want to be killed, but then these Norse
tales of Odin and Loki and Thor, that's really what the people embraced. They never really
fully adopted Catholicism. That is why what area of the world converted to Lutheranism?
Scandinavia, Germany. The area that had Norse mythology and they did convert to Catholicism,
they so easily converted to Lutheranism. Now you would think Lutheran is closer to the truth
than Catholic, right? And yet that part of the world is the part that became atheistic.
It wasn't really about really adopting faith alone, which Luther wasn't faith alone anyway,
but it was really just like, hey, our cultural roots is Norse mythology. They really just didn't
want to adopt Catholicism, but like I said about the Philippines, you never really go away from
your roots. It's like, wow, this is actually who we are and they have always embraced Norse
mythology. So even though most people in the world today would not say they're Norse mythology,
that is part of their roots and it's become part of their culture. And today there is a rising
back of this religion, but this is the religion of the ancient Vikings. It's the part of the
world that became Lutheran and the part of the world that today is very atheistic and they
completely reject the idea of God. So we're here in Galatians chapter three and notice what it says
in verse seven, know ye therefore that they were shown faith, the same are the children of Abraham
and the scripture for saying that God would justify the heathen through faith preached
before the gospel unto Abraham saying, in me shall all nations be blessed. See the Bible talks about
preaching the gospel to the heathen and we hear the word heathen and we think these are people
with no morals that reject the idea of God, but they, they take the title heathenry. That is how
they call themselves. Aside from Asatru, they also say we are the humans. We're the people that reject
Jesus Christ. We completely reject the Bible because most cultures around the world, they
believe Jesus was a prophet, right? Now they don't believe the right thing about Jesus, but they
believe he was a prophet. Islam says nice things about Jesus. The Hindus say that Jesus was a
Hindu. The Buddhists say that Jesus was a Buddhist, but they say good things, but this part of the
world, this religion of Norse mythology, Asatru, they say we are the heathens. We reject it
completely and they completely reject the idea of Jesus Christ. They would not say he's a great
teacher. They would not say he's a great prophet and they certainly would not say that he's God in
the flesh or the savior of the world. They completely reject that. And the Bible says here,
preaching, justifying the heathen through faith. And so people like this, they would say we are
pagans, we're heathens, we are barbarians. They can also get saved if they believe on Jesus Christ,
but they must reject their culture and believe on Jesus. You know what I found from soul winning in
different countries and different locations in the US, for example, there are a ton of Russians
in Sacramento, in West Sac, it's the area of the Russians and they do not accept the gospel at all.
Now they would say that they're Orthodox. That's the religion of Russia primarily,
which somehow in West Sac, they've got a big independent fundamental Baptist Russian church
that completely rejects everything about being an IFB, but it's like we get a Russian church. That's
what people will say. But when you talk to a Russian, there's two problems. One, they've got
the false religion. And the other thing is they've got to reject their culture as well to be saved
because a lot of people say, no, no, no. You know, you're attacking our culture and our religion when
you preach the gospel to us. Or there are a lot of people from India in Sacramento. And the problem
is it's the religion and the culture. It's like by you saying Jesus is the only way to heaven,
you're rejecting our Indian culture. And it makes it a lot harder for them to get saved because of
that, right? But you must be willing to reject everything false that you've been taught and say,
I put my full faith in Jesus. It doesn't matter what time period Christianity spread to all part
of the world. It's the truth and I believe on Christ. And it will justify the heathen through
faith, but they must reject the false teachings they've heard. Go to your Bible to Romans one,
Romans chapter one. I mean, it's interesting because the word heathen is such an insult,
right? If you call somebody a heathen, you're really insulting them. But then other people
would say, well, that's our culture. Yeah, we reject Jesus Christ. And that is our roots. That
is our culture. You're right. We're the heathen. And they take it as a badge of honor saying,
Hey, we are our heathen. Romans one. Let me show you another term. Verse 14. I am dead of both to
the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise. So as much as in me is,
I'm ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. From that shame to the gospel of
Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth to the Jew first and
also to the Greek. In verse 14, we see this term barbarian. And if you were to call somebody a
barbarian in 2023, that is a major insult, right? That's what you'd say to your friends growing up.
If they would like, if they didn't wash their hands before they ate, what are you a barbarian?
Right? What are you a heathen? Like it's like a joking insult that you make, but it would be a
real insult if somebody said you're a heathen or a barbarian and yet they take this title upon
themselves and say, yeah, we are the Christ rejectors. We do not believe on Jesus Christ.
We do not believe in the religion of Abraham. Our culture, our area of the world, we have a
different religion, a different culture. And guess what? Today in Scandinavia, it's the most godless
place on the planet. Just such a wicked place. Cause there's countries that are false and they
have wicked false religions, but they would say that they believe in God. And yet over in Europe,
especially that part, I mean, if you talk to somebody and say, Hey, do you believe in God?
It's just like, well, that's a tough question, especially in the Scandinavian part of the world,
completely rejecting. I mean, I think it's in Sweden where it's like over half of people say,
no, I don't really believe in God. It's like, what? Over half of people would say they don't
believe in God. And look, I don't believe that over 50% deep down really don't believe in God
because you're born with that innate belief in God, but they're so godless and so wicked as a
society that they say, no, we don't accept any God in our life. Go in your Bible to Deuteronomy
chapter 18, Deuteronomy 18, Deuteronomy chapter 18. Let me give you six quick points about this
false religion, Asatru. And this may be something that the Avengers didn't teach you. By the way,
if you want to get anything out of the sermon, quit watching the Avengers, quit watching Lord of
the rings, quit watching Chronicles of Narnia and Baptist quit telling people that Chronicles
of Narnia is a good thing. It's wicked. It's got magic. It's got sorcery. I mean,
and it's mixing in all of these false religions. And if you want to listen to those guys,
JRR token, who was good friends with CS Lewis, JRR tokens, the one that did Lord of the rings.
And when I was a kid, I read all of those books. I always thought the movies were garbage,
but when I was a kid, I read those books. I thought they were interesting. It's false religion.
It's wicked. It's sorcery. It's magic. And when you tell people about these really tall giants,
you know what? It's not that hard to convince them that Genesis six is about like 500 foot
tall giants too. You start telling them about elves are like half animal, half humans. And
then Baptist pastors will be like, yeah, even what, mermaids are real. And it's like, and
literally someone from our church told me that, that their Baptist pastor said, yeah,
mermaids are real. And it's like, what fairy tales and Disney movies have you been watching?
The little mermaid was a movie, my friend. It's not real. And in the Bible, you want to know a
mermaid in the Bible, Dagon, half man, half fish, right? Or a merman, if that's a word,
I don't know. But it's like, look, when you look at false gods in the Bible, aren't they always
half human, half animal? Let me give you an application. Quit watching Batman. Quit watching
Spiderman. Quit watching movies and shows that give God-like attributes to human beings. That's
wicked. And when you are teaching your kids and allowing them to watch that at a young age,
you are desensitizing them to how wicked false religion is. It's not a joke. It's not a game.
And if you've got a problem with that, read your Old Testament and explain to me those gods you
see in the Bible. Those false gods are half animal, half human, and it is wicked to teach
kids that is an okay thing. But these shows and Disney and things like that, they are desensitizing
people at a young age to how wicked false religion is. It's not just the movies and the shows,
it's also the video games people love to play. Well, magic is just a little joke. It's no big
deal. No, it's not a joke. And look, yes, I watch those shows. I watch those movies growing up. I
play those video games. Well, let me tell you something. It's wicked. It's not of God. Don't
sit here and tell me that God, if Jesus was here today, would be right beside you watching that
same Avengers movie with you and watching that same Chronicles of Narnia, right? You cannot tell
me that. Pray number one, when it comes to this false religion, one of the big things that's part
of this religion, also true, is human sacrifice. They killed human beings to appease their gods.
They killed human beings so God would bless them. Yeah, I mean, that's what I would say is a heathen,
a barbarian. And in our modern day, is this religion's reviving? People think it's cool to
say, hey, I'm also true. They killed human beings. How is that a good thing? They killed them in that
part of the world in Scandinavia as part of their religion and their culture to appease their gods.
Here's what it says in Deuteronomy chapter 18, verse nine, when thou art coming to the land
which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those
nations. What do false religions do? There shall not be found among you anyone that maketh his son
or his daughter to pass through the fire. Sacrificing your child to make God happy. That
is what false religions do. I mean, and as a Christian that's saved, you're like, why would
you ever put your child in the burning fire and think God would be happy with that? Why would you
kill your son or your daughter? And yet that's what the heathen nations have done. That's what
these societies have done all around the world that have rejected and going back all the way to
the Old Testament, rejecting the Ten Commandments, rejecting the God of the Bible, and this is what
these nations do instead. Instead of accepting God who died for them, they just kill their own
children to make their gods happy. The Bible says this is what these nations do. It's not just in
this part of the world with Asatru, but you look at a lot of these native tribes around the world,
the Aztecs were famous for it, a lot of the tribes in South America, and they would kill
their children and kill people to make their gods happy. So basically, if you're having a drought
and there's no rain, well, we better kill a human being, and then God's going to be happy with us.
I mean, this is madness, but this is what these nations do. It says, or that use a divination or
an observer of times or an enchanter or a rich. So sorcery is often linked with sacrificing human
beings or a charmer or a consulter with familiar spirits or wizard or a necromancer. For all that
do these things are an abomination on the Lord. And because of these abominations, the Lord by
God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shall be perfect with the Lord by God for these
nations which thou shall possess, hearken unto observers of times and unto diviners. But as for
thee, the Lord by God hath not suffered thee to do so. Let me just, and actually turn your Bible to
Exodus 7, Exodus 7. And let me just read you about this ancient practice. They would call this Blot,
B-L-O-T. I mean, I'm assuming it's pronounced Blot. Maybe they pronounce it blow up, but Blot
is what they would do. And it says it is a ritual in which offerings are made to the gods. And it
says here, there's evidence the Vikings also sacrificed human beings. Because you've got these
people that study ancient history, and these people will try to tell you that all cultures
are equal. No culture is better than another culture. They don't want to insult anyone. But
they never deny the fact, yeah, there's a lot of evidence that the Vikings killed human beings.
Because there's historical evidence, and there's also the battle wounds of those that were killed.
And what is horrible about this false religion, they didn't kill people in a humane way either.
They tortured them to death. And it was like a group thing where everybody in the community
would take turns torturing these people, and these are people that are them. Well basically,
you draw the short straw, you're the person who gets tortured to death. I mean, this is insane.
Is it any shock that today Scandinavia is so godless when this is the roots of Scandinavia?
I can't really think of something much worse than killing human beings. And yet,
that was part of their religion and their culture. And it's interesting because today,
at least in the US, when people talk about the Vikings, they say a lot of nice things. Man,
they're a really tough group of people. They sacrificed their own people. They didn't just
kill the enemy, they sacrificed their own people. I mean, this is insane. Imagine if they were doing
that here in the Philippines in 2023. It's in your barn guy, and then all of a sudden they're
announcing who gets to be killed this year, so that way you can have a lot of rain for your
vegetables. And it's like, your name comes up. You're the person that gets tortured to death.
That's what was going on in their society. Let me also read you from this article. And it said,
Blot is the pagan ceremonial feast best known from the written record. This Blot was also called
Dasablot and was dedicated to the female fertility deities. This year, some sources mentioned Blot
dedicated to Freyr during the winter nights. And this was done around October 20th, right around
this time of year, I guess a little bit after that. And let me just read you, this is from the
German chronicler Adam of Bremen. He wrote about Blot at the temple at Uppsala, at old Uppsala in
Sweden. This was in 1070. So he wrote about this almost a thousand years ago. And he says,
Thor was the most powerful god and ruled over thunder and lightning, wind and rain,
sunshine and crops. He sat in the center with a hammer in his hand and on each side were Odin,
the god of war and full armor and Frey, the god of peace and love. Attributed with an enormous
erect phallus, all the pagan gods have the priests who offer them the people's sacrifices. If there's
disease or famine, they sacrifice to Thor. So if there's a disease or famine, you sacrifice a human
being to the false god Thor, right? The hammer of Thor, which is really famous. And if weddings,
if war to Odin, so if you're going out to war, you got to kill some of your own people first.
And if weddings to Frey. So for example, if somebody's getting married in the community,
we got to kill somebody first. This is what they were doing. I mean, this is, this is hard to
believe, but it's backed up historically. There's plenty of writings about this. And if somebody was
getting married in the community, you had to kill somebody first. Otherwise you're not going to have
a good marriage, right? So you got to kill somebody to get God's blessing upon that marriage. And it
says every ninth year, there's a blot of nine days, a common feast for everyone in Sweden.
Then they sacrifice nine males of each species, even men. And the bodies are hung from the branches
of a grove near the temple. And of course you think of, you know, the, the false gods of the
groves in the Bible, right? Now I'm not saying this is the exact same religion, but all these
false religions are pretty interconnected. And it's like, it mentions they would hang males,
nine males they would kill by the groves right outside, you know, a temple to some God. No one
is exempt from this blot and everyone sends gifts to the shrine, even the Kings. So you got to send
gifts on this occasion of killing human beings in Sweden. Those who are Christian have to pay a fee
not to take part in the blot. So basically your tax in that day as a Christian, it's like, okay,
I'll pay, you know, 20% of my money. So I don't have to watch. I don't have to participate and I
don't have to kill somebody else. That is what was taking place in Sweden. And Sweden is arguably
the most godless place on the planet in 2023. Statistically, I believe they believe less in
God than any place in the world today. Well, it's not really shocking when you look at the roots of
their religion and their society, they completely reject God. Just even in general, human sacrifice
point number two, a large part of their religion was magic. A large part of their religion was
magic. Notice what it says in Exodus seven verse 10 and Moses and Aaron went in on the Pharaoh and
they did so as the Lord commanded and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before servants
and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers. Now the magicians
of Egypt, they also didn't like manner with their enchantments for the cast down every man is rod
and they became serpents, but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods. So here we see that Moses and Aaron
performed miracles through God. But then you see the sorcerers, the wise men, the religious leaders
of Egypt, guess what? They had power to do supernatural things. They had power to turn it into snakes also.
And if you go on, you're going to see their power to do some of the 10 plagues. Look, magic is not a
game. It's not something to be messed with. And look, when you look at famous magicians in this
world today, I do believe that some of them do things where there is no answer. It's like, well, how
do they perform this trick? It's not a trick. Some of what they do is a trick. Some of it is demonic.
They do something impossible. They do something supernatural. The devil gives them the power to do
that. You look at famous magicians like David Blaine, is that his name? I mean, look, the man is a wicked
reprobate. He's an evil person. Oh, you know, he has fun little tricks I can watch. He's a sorcerer. He's just
like the false sorcerers in the book of Egypt. He's a sorcerer and he does things by the power of the
devil. And yeah, I do believe that some of his tricks are not tricks. There is no answer. He does
things by the power of the devil and no Christian should have part in this. And you look at false
religions all around the world and they are often mixed with magic. And also true, Norse mythology,
it is no exception. Magic is part of their religion. It's interesting because a lot of people that would follow
also true would say they don't really believe in God. And yet you can go to Amazon, maybe you can go
to Shopee too, I don't know, and buy a lot of their magic books. And it will teach you how to do various
different spells. So you reject the idea of God, but you believe in magic. Explain how that works.
But anything that they're able to do, it's by the power of the devil. It is demonic. It's wicked and
Christians that have nothing to do with this. Not only don't buy the book, how about not watching the
stuff, the movies and the video games that are promoting magic. It's not a game. It's not innocent.
I get it. I grew up on Disney, but you know what, and it seems innocent. But you know what's majorly in Disney
is magic. Is that not true? It's all about magic. It's all about sorcery. That is not something for
Christians to mess with at all. Exodus 7 verse 20. And Moses and Aaron did so as the Lord commanded,
and he lifted up the rod and smote the waters that were in the river and the sight of Pharaoh and the
sight of his servants. And all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. And the fish that
was in the river died, and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the
river. And there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. And the magicians of Egypt did so with
their enchantments. They turned the water to blood. And Pharaoh's heart was hardened. Neither
did he hearken unto them as the Lord had said. So what you're seeing is these religious leaders in
Egypt, these wise men, they would call them wise men in their society, these sorcerers, they were
able to perform some of the same miracles that Moses and Aaron did. Now, let me say this. They
had magical powers that the devil gave them the ability to do and God allowed. But I will say this,
that these sorcerers were very dumb people. You say, what are you saying, Brother Stuckey? Moses
and Aaron turned the water to blood? And they're like, well, we can turn water to blood, too. Why
don't you turn the blood back to water, you moron? Right? It's like, well, we think that's impressive.
We're going to do the same. Hey, you made frogs. We're going to do the same. It's like, uh, dummy,
why don't you get rid of the blood in the water and turn it back to water so you can drink it?
So they had powers. They just weren't that smart. Okay. Go to Exodus chapter eight, Exodus eight,
Exodus chapter eight. And let me just read you from this about Asatru. As with most neo-pagan
religions, Asatru posits a belief in magic in the spiritual realm. However, people must remember
that the bedrock of Asatru is faith in the gods and magic is but a part of our customs and folklore,
not a substitute for faith or something separate from it. Practicing magic, even magic of a
northern type does not make one Asatru nor is the practice of magic a requirement to be an Asatruar
or to perform rituals in honor of our gods. The most common type of magic found in the Asatru
tradition is that of the runes. The runes are magical alphabet, which in various forms was
found throughout the Germanic world. I didn't delve too much into this, so it says out in the
Germanic world, I guess we can ask brother Mateus after the sermon if he knows what this is. I don't
know. I don't know what this magic is. I don't think it's a smart thing for any of us to even
look into it too much. You know, be simple concerning evil. I'm just kind of giving you
a bit of an overview, but, but they have magical spells. They have magical books online that are
bought and they teach people at a young age. Hey, you know what? Say these things and do these
things and then you'll be able to perform whatever magic. Exodus chapter eight in the Bible reads in
Exodus eight verse six and Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt and the frogs
came up and covered the land of Egypt and the magicians did so with their enchantments and
brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt. As I said, they are not the brightest person,
people in the world. They're not the sharpest stick out there. It's like you, you, you created
frogs. Let us do the same, right? Just create frogs out of nothing. It's like, let's just add
more frogs, right? I mean, if they really want to do something impressive, they would have gotten rid
of the frogs. And look, I don't personally have a problem with frogs. I think they're kind of a cool
animal, but that's because there's none in my house. Right? I mean, I personally, I think the
gecko and some of those lizards are kind of cool, but then all of a sudden when you see him crawling
around your house, it's like, yeah, you're a cool animal outside the house. I don't really want you
inside of my house though. Right? Exodus eight verse 18 and the magicians did so with their
enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not. So there were lice upon man and upon beast.
Then the magician said unto Pharaoh, this is the finger of God and Pharaoh's heart was hardened
and he hearkened not onto them as the Lord had said. So they did have the ability to do some
things, but of course God only allows so much and then they are not able to create the lice. They're
not able to recreate all the other miracles that you see out of the 10 place, but they did create
the first couple. So look, magic is not just a joke. It is demonic. And as Christians, look,
don't teach your kids that it's an okay thing. And I get it. All the movies and the TV shows,
it's just, it's just a joke. It's a joke. I mean, and this goes back a long time. This is not just
a new thing. It's in Disney. There's a famous show like 60 years ago called bewitched where
there's like the good witch doing these things. Look, this stuff is demonic. And if you would
look at people that are Albaradios or voodoo priests or whatever, they do have the ability
to do things that are unexplainable. You say, why? Because it's demonic and it's by the power
of the devil. They're doing these things by the power of Beelzebub. The thing they accused Jesus
of, they're actually doing by the power of Beelzebub, these false sorcerers. Turn your Bible
to Romans one, Romans one, Romans one. And by the way, this isn't even in my notes,
but it shouldn't be shocking that when you look at this part of the world and then the ancient
religion of Asatru and these people, they are hardcore pro abortion, hardcore LGBT, very godless
people. Well, it's just a different religion. Now with other false religions like Islam,
they'll say things like, well, we believe the same things. We believe in the 10 commandments,
but you can't even say that about Asatru. They don't even believe the 10 commandments.
They have just a very godless and wicked part of the world. And you look at Scandinavia today,
it said it's a wicked and godless place. I mean, literally the part of the world that's probably
the most wicked and the most godless for just the average person living. It's probably right
over there in Sweden and in Scandinavia and that part of the world. It's funny because,
and this isn't necessarily a sermon against Scandinavia personally. Okay. But another
thing about Scandinavia, they say this is the happiest area of the world. Statistics,
whatever charts they've done have proven, supposedly it's the happiest area of the world.
And they're also number one in the world in antidepressant pills.
Explain to me your logic, how the happiest area of the world takes more antidepressants than any
other part of the world. But if this was my culture and this was the religion and people
are so godless, yeah, you can understand why people are depressed and miserable in that part
of the world. But number one, they practice blot, which is killing human beings. Number two,
they practice magic. Number three, they worshiped nature. They worshiped nature. And, you know,
for sake of time, I'm not going to read from this article, but when you look at that part of the
world, like one of their gods is basically nature itself. So if you were to talk to people from that
part of the world, they would explain to you that when they're out in nature, it's like, you know,
they're not really religious. They don't really believe in God, but when I'm out in nature,
I kind of get that same feeling. And to them, that's kind of like being in church. I mean,
there's this phrase there and I forgot the phrase where it's something like, you know,
the forest is my tabernacle or the forest is my temple, right? Or in the woods or my church or
something. I listened to someone who's like a religious teacher online and he's actually from,
I think it's Sweden, but it's in Scandinavia. And he talked about these phrases in that part
of the world. And he said around this part of the world, people, they look at nature as like being
their church. So now I don't go to church. I'm not really religious, but then I go out in nature and
take a walk. And then all of a sudden I feel connected to God. Now, part of that makes sense
because when you're seeing God's creation, you're like, wow, isn't it amazing what God made,
but that is certainly not a substitute for church in any stretch of the imagination.
And they worship nature in that part of the world. Romans 1 verse 17.
Romans 1 verse 17. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from
heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness,
because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God hath showed it unto them. For the
invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the
things that are made, even as eternal power and God had said that they are without excuse.
And see, here's the thing. The things God has made, the mountains, the stars, the sun,
the sky, when you see those things, I mean, it shows you the beauty of God. It shows you there's
a powerful God that created this. And some people, they see these things and instead of worshiping
the creator, they worship the creation. Another version of this, not even just nature itself,
but you think of idolatry. Instead of worshiping God, they worship the statue they've made with
their own hands. But instead of worshiping the creator that made everything that is so amazing,
they worship the river. They worship the mountains. Right? It says in verse 21,
because that when they knew God, they glorified him, not as God, neither were thankful,
but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened.
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Look, if you look at the sun outside
and you're like, isn't this amazing how this created itself? You are an idiot. You are a fool.
Professing yourself to be wise, you think you're so intelligent. No, you're a moron.
And with these famous evolutionists, I don't care how high they score on a calculus test or
whatever, they're some of the dumbest people in this world. They're so arrogant in their own
intelligence that then they try to come up with some other way rather than just looking at the
obvious and saying, you know what, isn't it amazing what God created? Isn't it amazing what God did?
But they profess themselves to be wise. And in reality, when they speak and we listen,
they sound like the dumbest people you could imagine. They think they sound so intelligent.
Well, 18 billion years ago, this star, it's like 18 billion. Are you an idiot? Do you realize that
each one of these zeros is like multiplying by 10? Oh, it's just a few more zeros. Yeah. You, you,
you add three zeros, you're multiplying by a thousand, you idiot. That's a lot of time.
18 billion. It's like, are you kidding me? I mean, isn't it amazing? This wicked and godless society
is so scared that the world is going to destroy itself in a few years due to global warming and
things like that. You think this world lasted billions of years and it's going to be destroyed
in a couple of years? Are you an idiot? Doesn't make any sense. You think this world lasted for
four and a half billion years, this earth, 4.5 or 4.6 billion years ago, you think that this
world is, this universe is 13.8 billion years ago and it's just going to destroy itself in five
years. If we drive cars too much, it's like, are you an idiot? Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools and change the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like
to corrupt the man and the birds and four foot of beast and creeping things. And by the way,
and also true, they do have idolatry as well. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness
through the lust of their own hearts to dishonor their own bodies between themselves who changed
the truth of God into a lie and worship and serve the creature more than the creator who's blessed
forever. Amen. Go back to Deuteronomy 18. Deuteronomy 18. Deuteronomy chapter 18.
And you can kind of understand how they worship nature because even though they have temples to
their false gods, they didn't, they didn't have their religious services inside of the temple.
They have their religious services out in a forest. They would literally have their services.
The services they do today are out in the wilderness. It's like, come to our church
in the world, right? Just out in the woods, out in the forest. And that's where they're going to
do all of their rituals to their false gods. It's just like, you know, why don't you just do it
indoors? But they worship nature so much. They held their services outdoors and that's what they
do today. You look at people that follow us at true and most of their services are done outdoors.
You say, why? Because they worship mother nature, right? As they would, would call it.
Point number one, they did human sacrifice. Point two, they practiced magic. Point three,
they worship nature. Point four, they worship ancestors. Ancestor. I mean,
it's really like the worst of every religion put together is this old Viking religion,
Norse mythology. And let me just read you from this article here in Deuteronomy 18. It says,
ancestor worship was an element in pre-Christian Scandinavian culture.
The ancestors were of great importance for the self image of the family and people believe they
were still able to influence the life of their descendants from the land of the dead. Contact
with them was seen as crucial to the wellbeing in the family. If they were treated in the ritually
correct way, they could give their blessings of the living and secure their happiness and
prosperity. Conversely, the dead could haunt the living and bring bad fortune if the rituals were
not followed. It is not clear whether the ancestors were seen as divine forces themselves
connected to other death related forces like elves. So elves were actually very evil in their
false religion. So they worshiped ancestors and in ancient Asatru, if you watch videos that explain
this religion, they have this weird concept of this world and the spiritual realm because they
believe in these two realms, but they believe they're kind of interconnected and that there's
a world going on right in front of us, but we don't fully see, but if you do various rituals,
then you're able to experience these things that are happening right in front of you.
And let's go back to Deuteronomy chapter 18 and notice what it says in verse number 11,
or a charmer, or a consultant with familiar spirits. Remember, you know,
we were talking about magic. We see that in verse 10 and 11, or a wizard, but notice this,
or a necromancer. What is necromancy? It is communicating with the dead.
All of this is in this religion. So all these abominations of these nations, Asatru has them
all. They killed human beings, that's mentioned in Deuteronomy 18. They practiced magic, that's
mentioned in Deuteronomy 18. And they would try to communicate with the dead. See, a lot of false
religions don't get all of these things together, but this religion is basically like,
let us take every single false thing about religion against the things of the Bible and
combine them together. Everything that God says not to do, we're going to do it.
And you can see why this is the most godless place on the planet. I mean, what a wicked religion. I
mean, killing, killing human beings is what they would do. I mean, and as I said, they didn't just
kill humans. They tortured people to death. You know why they know that they did this besides all
of the historical records of what was written? Because they see a lot of people that have all
of these scars in that part of the world where they were tortured to death and a very violent
and bloody and wicked, disgusting way. And even today in this religion, they will have people
that will dress up and they don't actually do it today, but they will basically kind of do a
mock thing of what they used to do where they would torture their own people to death to appease
their false gods. Go to 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter chapter 1. 1 Peter chapter 1. You say, man, I didn't know
this. I thought first seemed pretty cool from the movies. It's wicked false religion. And this is
not extreme preaching. I mean, it's like all of this is right here from the Bible. I'm sorry,
but Christians in 2023, I think we need to clean up what we watch and what we listen to. I think
we need to clean up the movies and the TV shows we allow our kids to watch or that we watch.
And we need to clean up the things that we listen to. But you know what takes place?
We see it so much. It's in the billboards. It's everywhere that you become desensitized.
And somehow we think that because it's all around us, it's no longer that wicked.
It doesn't matter if the Avengers got what, 1 billion or whatever at the box office
and everybody knows about it and all your coworkers are talking about it.
It doesn't change how wicked it is. It doesn't change what the Bible says about it. And it's
not just a wicked movie. This is a false religion and it's training people to think this stuff is no
big deal. And I get it. You know, I'm preaching about a religion that's not really that common
in this part of the world, but you can still make an application based on the things people watch.
And I'll tell you what I've been a part of a Baptist church that would do like a Chronicles
of Narnia event where basically, Hey, let's do this Christian thing after church. We're going
to all watch Chronicles of Narnia together. Look at that magic. That's so great. But I mean,
but it's a battle of good versus evil. Let me help you understand something. It's all evil.
Harry Potter. It's all evil. There's not a good side and a bad side. Well,
there's the white magic in the black. It's all bad. There's nothing good about it.
It's all evil. Right. And you know, here's the thing. And I've watched videos from Al
Bellario's talking and they will say they perform the good magic. And what they primarily do is
uncast voodoo spells. And the voodoo does the bad magic. You know what the voodoo people say
when they explain what they do? We practice the good magic. They'll say they do the white magic.
And then the Al Bellario will say, well, we do the white magic.
Guess what the true perspective is? Actually, you're both just demonic sorcerers doing black,
white, whatever color magic. You can call it orange. You can call it blue. I don't really
care. It's all wicked. It's magic. It's sorcery. And it's not something for Christians to have
anything to do with. Point number five, they have ungodly gods. And if you know anything about the
Prose Edda or the Prose Elder, which is the two primary books that have combined all of their
fairy tales together, the gods in their religion are wicked. Now look, I don't know how they show
their gods in the Avengers. I have no idea, but let me help you understand what the gods are like
in their books. Odin is wicked. Loki is incredibly wicked. Thor is wicked. And basically their gods
are not holy, but they do good things and bad things. And so in some of their stories,
they're cross-dressing as women. And some of their stories, the gods are sleeping with women.
And some of their stories, the gods are sleeping with men. Male gods sleeping with other men.
And they exhibit everything that human beings do. And so they do good and bad. They lie. They deceive.
I mean, they do some good things and then they get drunk. Then they just kill people because they get
mad. That's pretty different than the God of the Bible, isn't it? You don't see the God of the
Bible just losing his temper for no reason. And then just, you don't see the God of the Bible
just sleeping with other men, but that's what you see with the gods, Odin, Thor, Loki, and the gods
of Norse mythology and the gods of the Avengers that you allow your kids to watch. 1 Peter 1,
verse 15. But as he which hath called you is holy, so be holy in all manner of conversation.
Because it is written, be holy for I am holy. Now you might think the word conversation is
referring to what you say, but that's not really the meaning in the Bible. Your conversation is
everything that you do. It's your lifestyle. Pammamuhay would be a better way to describe it.
And so here's the thing. In all manner of conversation, that includes what you say.
It also includes what you watch. It also includes what you listen to. And God says,
hey, I'm telling you to be holy. Why? Because I am holy. But in this religion, it's like, well,
their gods are not holy, so he doesn't command them to be holy. He just commands them to do
these rituals. It's like, kill a human being to make me happy. Practice this magic to make
me happy. Not holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty like the Bible says. But actually,
their gods are very wicked. Turn in your Bible to Jeremiah 10. We'll close up. Jeremiah 10.
Number one, I talk about human sacrifice. Number two, I talk about magic. Number three,
worshipping nature. Number four, worshipping ancestors. Number five, they have ungodly gods.
And lastly, number six, I'll just quickly mention their effect on holidays. And this false religion
of Asatru has very much affected holidays that we celebrate today and very much including
Christmas. Okay? I'll just read you from this article. Now, let me say this, because I don't
want to forget this. I do not think it's wrong to celebrate holidays. I celebrate Christmas. I think
Christmas is a great holiday. And if you disagree, well, let every man be fully persuaded in his own
mind, the Bible says. And that's fine. You don't have to celebrate. Here's the thing. The way I
celebrate Christmas is remembering the birth of Jesus Christ, not Santa Claus. Now, if you
celebrate by talking about Santa Claus, yeah, you know, quit celebrating that way. But there's
nothing wrong with remembering the birth of Jesus Christ. And to understand this, realize in the
Old Testament, they had holy days. Now we have the word holiday, which is a combination of holy and
day. And so their holidays were holy days. The holidays we should have are good holidays, things
of something that's godly. Right? So, for example, isn't the birth of Jesus Christ one of the best
things to remember? Isn't the resurrection of Jesus Christ one of the best things to remember?
Those are the two big ones. What I would say is I would not deprive your kids of celebrating
holidays, because I think inside of us we want to celebrate events. And these are great events for
your kids to remember. Now, for example, today is the celebration of, what is it, Diwali, the biggest
Hindu festival about some false god? Yeah, don't celebrate something wicked like that, but celebrate
holidays in a good way. But with Christmas, you know what? Santa Claus or Satan Claus, as they like
to say, kind of stole Christmas, didn't he? It's not about the birth of Jesus Christ in 2023. Where
does this come from? It comes from Asatru. It says here, the Norse god Odin was said to be the father
of all gods. Described as a bearded old man wearing a hat and a cloak, Odin would often ride his
eight-legged horse Sleipnir across the midwinter night sky delivering gifts to those down below.
What does that sound like to you? Sounds like Santa Claus to me. Some people try to say, no, no, no,
I mean that's not where Santa Claus came from, because they try to justify Santa Claus. I'm sorry,
that sounds very similar to Santa Claus. Flying through the midwinter's night sky and then a
bearded man giving gifts to children, and I get it, Santa Claus probably changed a little bit in
various cultures. I mean, the way Santa Claus is perceived, I mean, not all societies is he fat,
some societies he's thinner and changes and stuff, but this is deriving from Odin, okay? And it says
here, although it can be argued that our modern Father Christmas, Father Christmas, it's like Santa
Claus is known as Father Christmas, old Saint Nick. What about God the Father? Instead of Father
Christmas, why don't you remember God the Father, who sent God the Son to be the savior of the world?
It's a fusion of ancient myths, legends, and folklore. The resemblance and connection of the
Norse god Odin as many historians believing he was the original Santa. Yeah, including me,
because it's pretty obvious. Let me give you another example of this. The elf. Once again,
we have Norse mythology to thank for another of our well-known Christmas stall, what's the elf?
Referred to as the Alfa, where our word elf comes from, or hidden people, these supernatural human
like beings were often described as tall, pale, and beautiful, and equipped with magical powers.
Well, it's just an elf, it's an innocent thing they do for Christmas and movies and Lord of the
Rings and all that stuff. Actually, it's part of a false religion and it's wicked, right? Now,
let me say this, that they would also, as they worship nature, they would worship trees and they
would make idolatry and stuff like that. I personally, and you can agree or disagree,
I do not have a problem with having a Christmas tree because there's nothing inherently sinful
about a tree. There's something wrong with an elf because that's something with magical powers,
something wrong with Santa Claus that is supposedly all-knowing. There's nothing inherently wrong
about a Christmas tree, so with my family, we have a Christmas tree at Christmas. But I'm just
being honest, it does derive from Norse mythology and Asatru where they would worship trees. And it
says here, the Vikings worshiped trees, especially the evergreens of the Scandinavian forests,
which they believe were the special plant of Baldur, the sun god, since they remained green
throughout the winter. The trees came to represent the promise of new life, a reminder that spring
was just around the corner. In ancient Germanic and Norse tradition, the evergreens were often
decorated with small carvings of the gods and food in the hope of encouraging the tree spirits
to return to bring about the new spring. As I said, I don't have a problem with Christmas trees
because I don't worship a tree and there's nothing inherently wrong with a tree. I would say that if
I lived in this part of the world, maybe I wouldn't have one because I wouldn't want people to
associate me with it. But in this part of the world, I don't think anybody's going to associate
a Christmas tree with Norse mythology because nobody knew anything that I preached about today
until I just preached it. Nobody knows anything about Odin until today, I guess. They just know
what the avenger says. So for me personally, I don't feel like it would be wrong for me to do
that, but as I said, let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. There are Christmas
traditions that are bad and should not be done by anybody. Then there are Christmas traditions
that I think are good, like we should celebrate the birth of Jesus regardless of how you celebrate it.
That's a good thing to celebrate. Then there's traditions that are just traditions, and a lot
of traditions are not right or wrong. It's just a tradition. I personally, our family likes to have
traditions. I think traditions are a good thing to have with your kids and your family, but let
every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. It is perfectly fine if you agree or disagree with
that. But let me just show you Jeremiah 10 because people turn to Jeremiah 10 to try to tell you why
we should not celebrate Christmas. Let me show you the context of Jeremiah 10 about this tree.
Jeremiah 10 verse 1, Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you, O house of Israel. Thus
saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen. Right? This religion of Asatru that says heathen
is their religion. They willingly take that title. And be not dismayed at the signs of heaven, for
the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain, for one cutteth the tree
out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workmen with the axe. They deck it with silver
and with gold, they fasten it with nails and with hammers that it move not. They are upright as the
palm tree, but speak not. They must needs be born because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them,
for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good. For as much as there is none like
unto thee, O Lord, thou art great, and thy name is great in might. So people show you verse four,
and they say well there's the Christmas tree. You're decking it with silver and with gold. But
when you read verse five, why is he saying they don't speak? Because of course a tree does not
speak. He's referring to idolatry. He's referring to they cut down a tree, they put a necklace on
it, they put eyes and a mouth, and God's like hey dummy, you can put a mouth there, it still doesn't
speak. You can put a doughnut in front of it, it's not going to eat the doughnut. And he's saying
that's vain, idolatry is dumb. And then he says in verse six, for as much as there is none like
unto thee, O Lord. Why? He's making a comparison between idolatry and a true God. Then we go down
to verse number 10, but the Lord is the true God. He is the living God and an everlasting King. At
his wrath the earth shall tremble and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation. Thus
shall he say unto them, the gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, that is all of
your idols, even they shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens. So what he's talking
about in Jeremiah 10 is not about a tree that you put presents underneath. He's referring to the
fact that a lot of idols are made out of wood and people that worship the natures would cut down the
tree and they would put a mouth on it, they would put eyes, this is the heat and this is what they
do. So for me personally, I don't have a problem with Christmas trees because I don't bow down to
a tree in the morning and pray to it. And here's the thing, this might seem strange to you, but
here's the thing, our family moved recently, but at our old house that we were living in, our neighbor
that is, you know, I believe they're Hari Krishna, in the morning sometimes I would see him bowing
down and praying in front of this small little plant. I mean, he's literally praying to it and
they would deck it with stuff. I mean, this is literally what the people do that reject Christianity
completely. That's what they do. That's not referring to there being anything wrong with
having a flower. Well, I'm not going to buy my white flowers because I don't want to, you know,
I'm not in idolatry, right? No, you're just making excuses, right? I'm not going to do plants or
whatever and you can do whatever you want and that's fine. I'm just telling you that in Jeremiah
10, this is not referring to having a tree that you put presents underneath. By all means, if you
celebrate Christmas, make sure you make it about Jesus Christ. But I think having family traditions
is a good thing personally. It's up to you what you want to do. But regardless, one thing that's
undisputable is quit watching the Avengers. I don't know what version of the Avengers is going
to come out, Avengers nine, seven, eight, nine or whatever, you know, Batman 10 or whatever,
but just quit watching them. It's wicked. It's sorcery. It's not of God. And look, just look at
the fruit of this religion. Look at Scandinavia today. Brother Matthias used to live in Scandinavia.
Ask him if it's a godly place. It's a very godless place in 2023. And you know what? It derives from
their stupid religion that was from thousands of years ago. Let's close in word of prayer.
Your heavenly father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and allow us to see the
sermon and what the Bible says about this. And obviously none of us believe in us. It's true,
but, but help us to realize how wicked every false religion is. And that as Christians,
we should have nothing to do with this. We should not make light of it. We should not let our kids
watch these things. We should not desensitize ourselves to how wicked false religion is. God,
we pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.
For the last song, it's certain to be number four, five, six,
page number four hundred fifty-six. Let's sing this song, all your anxieties.
Is there a heart or bound by sorrow? Ready on first, everybody sing.
Is there a heart or bound by sorrow?
Come, then, once we lay no longer.
We do this living kind and sweet.
You need not fear a disappointment.
All shall find peace at the mercy seat.
All your anxiety, all your care.
Bring to the mercy seat living there.
Never a burden he cannot bear.
Never a friend like Jesus.
Let's pray, dear Heavenly Father. Thank you for your word, Lord.
God, thank you for allowing us to be in your house today.
We pray that you would bless the second service, Lord.
Bless the fellowship and also the soul meeting this afternoon.
And pray this in Christ's most precious name. Amen.
Amen. Let's have a short break.