Thank you very much.
Thank you.
And 377.
Number 377.
Rescue the perishing.
Hit number 377.
Rescue the perishing.
Care for the dying.
Hit number 377.
Lift it up.
Rescue the perishing.
Care for the dying.
Smash the infinity.
From sin and the grave.
We poor the erring ones.
Lift up the fallen.
Tell them of Jesus.
The mighty to save.
Rescue the perishing.
Care for the dying.
Jesus is merciful.
Jesus will save.
Though they are sliding and still,
He is waiting.
Waiting the penitent child to receive.
Leave with them earnestly.
Leave with them jestly.
He will forgive if they only believe.
Rescue the perishing.
Care for the dying.
Jesus will save.
Care for the dying.
Jesus is merciful.
Jesus will save.
Down in the human heart.
Crushed by the tender.
Feelings lie buried.
That grace can restore.
Touched by a loving arm.
Waken my kindness.
Lords that are broken.
Will vibrate once more.
Rescue the perishing.
Care for the dying.
Jesus is merciful.
Jesus will save.
On the last.
Rescue the perishing.
Duty demands it.
Strength for thy neighbor.
The Lord will provide.
Back to the narrow way.
Patience leave with them.
Tell of the poor wandering.
Care for the dying.
Jesus is merciful.
Jesus will save.
Tell of the poor wandering.
A Savior has died.
Rescue the perishing.
Care for the dying.
Jesus is merciful.
Jesus will save.
We'll get to you with one on the inside.
Welcome back to our service times.
Sunday mornings at 1030 is our preaching service.
Sunday nights at six.
Wednesday nights at seven is our Bible study.
And this week we'll be in 2 Chronicles 35.
We've got these soul winning times listed there below.
As well as salvation and baptisms.
Across the page.
The soul winning event on Friday night.
Actually some updated totals came in.
There were a couple of participants
that we didn't know about.
So there were actually 12 soul winners
soul winners and 12 salvations total at that event.
So good job everybody who did that.
And then also, we were going through,
I couldn't sleep the other night
and I asked for the book of the chronicles
to be read unto me.
And as the chronicles were being read unto me,
it became apparent that actually we reached
our 1,000th baptism in January.
So that was kind of a cool milestone.
So thank you to all of the hardworking
soul winners of our church
who've made that happen over the years.
But we've actually had 1,001 baptisms so far,
lifetime at Faith Forward Baptist Church,
so that was pretty cool.
And then I think that the picture here
is actually the 1,000th,
is that the 1,000th or the 1,001st?
Who'd I baptize, him or his mom first?
So that picture is the 1,000th baptism.
All right, so that was kind of cool.
All right, and then on the back of the bulletin,
keep praying for our expectant ladies
that they'll have a safe and healthy
pregnancy and delivery.
We got a guest preacher coming up,
not this Wednesday night,
but next Wednesday night,
Pastor Jonathan Shelley from Steadfast Baptist Church
in Cedar Hill, Texas is gonna be preaching.
So even if you don't normally come on Wednesdays,
be sure to come on that Wednesday to hear him
on February 19th.
Or if you mix up the date
and you accidentally come this Wednesday,
well, that's great too.
And so below that, some other upcoming events,
and that's about it for announcements.
Let's go ahead and tally up the soul winning
from the past few days, going back to Thursday.
Anything to report from Thursday?
Okay, got it, got it.
Okay, and then how about Friday?
Okay, and then the 12 from the event, okay.
What about outside of the event?
Okay, and then how about Saturday?
Anything from Saturday, gotcha.
Anything else from Saturday?
And then how about today Sunday?
Four for the main group of Brother Scott.
Gotcha, gotcha, okay, got it.
Okay, all right, very good.
Keep up the grip, ah, today, gotcha.
All right, keep up the great work on soul winning.
And with that, let's sing our next song.
Come lead us.
All right, you should find the insert
in front of your hymnal with the hymn entitled
Seek Ye First in the Kingdom of God.
If you don't have an insert,
you can raise your hand, you'll receive one.
We'll sing it on that verse together.
Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
And all these things shall be added unto you.
Hallelu, hallelujah.
Ask and it shall be opened unto you.
Seek and ye shall find.
Nog and it shall be opened unto you.
Hallelu, hallelujah.
Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
Hallelu, hallelujah.
Hey, good singing, everybody.
Take your hymnals now.
We're gonna go to hymn number 414, 414.
Stand up, stand up for Jesus.
This is the other version,
not the one that you're used to singing,
so it might take you a lot of catch up to the tune,
unless you're already familiar with it.
414, if you are familiar with this song,
please sing it out with me, help those around you.
We'll sing it on that verse together, hymn number 414.
Stand up, stand up for Jesus, soldiers of the cross.
When high is loyal banner, it must not suffer loss.
From victory unto victory, his army shall he lead.
Till every flow is vanquished and Christ is Lord indeed.
Stand up for Jesus, soldiers of the cross.
Stand up, stand up for Jesus, soldiers of the cross.
When high is loyal banner, it must not,
it must not suffer loss.
Stand up, stand up for Jesus, the trumpet hallow rain.
More to the mighty conflict in this day's glorious day.
He that art men now serve him against another host.
Let courage rise with danger and strength to train the host.
Stand up for Jesus, these soldiers of the cross.
When high is royal banner, it must not,
it must not suffer loss.
Stand up, stand up for Jesus, and in history,
the world.
We are of the true prayer.
He dare not trust your own.
Put on the gospel armor, each be stood on with prayer.
Where beauty calls for danger, be never wanting.
Stand up for Jesus, these soldiers of the cross.
Live by his royal banner, it must not,
it must not suffer loss.
Stand up, stand up for Jesus, and in history,
the world.
Stand up, stand up for Jesus, the strike will not be long.
This day the noise of battle, the next the victor's song.
To him that overcometh, the crown of Christ shall be.
He with the king of glory shall reign eternally.
Stand up for Jesus, these soldiers of the cross.
When high is royal banner, it must not,
it must not suffer loss.
Isn't that a good thing tonight?
Alright, this time we'll pass our offering plates.
While the plates quickly go around, let's go to Exodus chapter number 7 in our Bibles.
Exodus chapter number 7, as we always do, we'll read the entire chapter beginning in verse number 1.
Follow along silently with brother Dan as he reads Exodus chapter 7 starting in verse number 1.
In Exodus 7 the Bible reads, and the Lord said unto Moses,
See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.
Thou shalt speak all that I command thee, and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh,
that he send the children of Israel out of his land.
And I will harden the Pharaoh's heart and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.
But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you that I may lay my hand upon Egypt and bring forth mine armies
and my people the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.
And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt
and bring out the children of Israel from among them.
And Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded them, so did they.
And Moses was fourscore years old and Aaron fourscore and three years old when they spake unto Pharaoh.
And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron saying,
When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Show a miracle for you, then thou shalt say unto Aaron,
Take thy rod and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent.
And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the Lord had commanded,
and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent.
Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers.
Now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments,
for they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents.
But Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods.
And he hardened Pharaoh's heart, that he hearkened not unto them, as the Lord had said.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Pharaoh's heart is hardened, he refuseth to let the people go.
Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning.
Lo, he goeth out unto the water, and thou shalt stand by the rivers,
brink against he come, and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take at thine hand.
And thou shalt say unto him, The Lord God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto these saints,
saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness.
And behold, hitherto thou wouldst not hear.
Thus saith the Lord, In this thou shalt know that I am the Lord.
Behold, I will smite the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river,
and they shall be turned to blood.
And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink,
and the Egyptians shall loathe to drink of the water of the river.
And the Lord spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod,
and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt,
upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds,
and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood,
and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt,
both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.
And Moses and Aaron did so, so as the Lord commanded,
and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river,
in the sight of Pharaoh, and in 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,
and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, neither did he hearken unto them,
as the Lord had said.
And Pharaoh turned and went into his house,
neither did he set his heart to this also.
And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for water to drink,
for they could not drink of the water of the river.
And seven days were fulfilled after that the Lord had smitten the river.
Heavenly Father and Lord, thank you for this church,
and thank you for all the soul owners doing the work for you.
Please fill Pastor Anderson with the Holy Spirit,
so that he may preach boldly from the King James Bible,
so that we can be edified by the sermon.
In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
Amen. Tonight we're continuing the Revelation 21 8 series.
We've been going through the various things in that list,
but the fearful, the unbelieving, the abominable, murderers,
whoremongers, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part
in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone,
which is the second death.
And the main idea behind this verse listing these sins
is that really everyone is going to be guilty of one of those things,
because even if you're not a murderer or a sorcerer,
certainly all of us have lied before.
We've all been cowards at times.
We've all lacked faith at times.
And so it's really a great verse when you're out soul winning
just to show people, look, we all deserve to go to hell.
We've all sinned.
And that's why we need Jesus to save us.
And if we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
our sins will be forgiven.
We'll have eternal life, and so forth.
But as we're going through the series,
what we're mainly talking about though
is that if these sins anger God so much
that he has a place reserved in hell
for those who do these things,
then obviously even though we're saved,
even though we are not in peril of going to hell,
even though we have eternal life
and we are secure in our salvation,
we don't want to displease God as his children.
We don't want to be rebellious children
that are incurring the curse of God on our lives
on this earth by doing these things.
Because of course, no matter what we do as saved Christians,
we're going to go to heaven.
But at the same time, God is going to save us.
And God will punish us on this earth
if we are living a life of sin.
Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth,
and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth, the Bible says.
So as children of God, we'll always be God's children.
He's always going to love us.
We're always going to be saved.
But we can still get severely disciplined on this earth.
And if these things incur the wrath of God
upon the children of disobedience,
then we as Christians should want to do our best
to avoid these things, right?
One of the sins on the list is sorcerers.
And that's what we're going to talk about tonight, sorcerers.
What is a sorcerer?
Well, if you would look down at your Bible
at Exodus chapter seven, verse 10, it says,
And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh,
and they did so as the Lord had commanded.
And Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh
and before his servants, and it became a serpent.
Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers.
Notice some of the other words.
That he uses pretty much interchangeably in this passage.
Now the magicians of Egypt, so he just called the sorcerers.
Now he's calling them what? Magicians of Egypt.
They also did in like manner with their enchantments.
What are enchantments?
This is like a casting of spells
or saying some kind of a magical formula or whatever.
And it says they cast down every man his rod
and they became serpents.
But Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods
and he hardened Pharaoh's heart
that he hearkened not unto them as the Lord had said.
So what is a sorcerer?
It is someone who is using magic or witchcraft.
You could call it dark arts,
someone who is using occult practices, spells, whatever.
Okay, that's what we're talking about with sorcery.
Now here's the thing.
One of the big questions that probably comes to your mind
when you think about this issue of sorcery is,
wait a minute, is this even real, right?
I guarantee you that this world is filled
with a lot of just fake sorcery and fake witchcraft
and a lot of things are just fake, right?
So if you go to the psychic palm reader
or the tarot card reader
or you call the Hollywood psychic hotline
1-900 number back in the 80s, 90s,
you know, obviously a lot of that
is people that are just charlatans.
They're just scammers. They're just fake.
But with that being said,
obviously it's not all fake
because obviously we know that Satan is a real entity.
We know that demons actually exist.
And so is it possible that someone could call upon
a demon of some kind
and have some kind of a supernatural experience?
I would say absolutely.
And here's the thing.
I don't really know what percentage of it is fake
and what percentage of it is actually, you know,
some kind of an intercourse with Satan
but at the end of the day, it doesn't matter.
I don't really care because the Bible is telling us
to stay away from it.
So if the Bible is telling us it's wrong
and it's sinful, we shouldn't be participating
in a fake version of it
or a possibly real version or whatever
because whatever it is, it's wrong.
And so whether it's real wrong stuff
or fake wrong stuff, we don't care.
Now obviously when it comes to like a magic show
like a magician, you know,
obviously everybody's under the understanding that
look, this guy's not claiming to be using demons
or dark arts or the power of Satan.
That's just sleight of hand
and we'll often call that a magician, right?
And you know, he goes and does a little kid's
birthday party or something
and he's just kind of doing this kind of stuff
or whatever, you know.
Nothing too crazy.
So obviously, you know, people do magic tricks
and whatever, just haha
and they're just doing it in fun
and there's an understanding
in the occult.
Obviously, I realize that all of those magic shows
are fake, 100% of them.
So David Copperfield is not, you know,
using, is that the guy's name
or is that just a book by Charles Dickens
or is it both?
You know, obviously that guy's not using dark arts
or something.
He is just a really skillful sleight of hand
kind of a guy.
But at the end of the day,
when the Bible says magicians though,
it's talking about people who are really trying
to do magical things,
manipulate the forces of nature through spirits,
through demons, we know.
And so is it real?
Some of it obviously has to be real.
If there's a demon out there,
according to the Bible,
if there's a devil out there,
then yeah, obviously the devil has power
and in this story,
the devil actually does accomplish something real.
This isn't, you know, a David Copperfield
that Pharaoh has on staff here
but rather, you know,
I believe that this is something
that these sorcerers really do accomplish.
They are able to turn their stick
into a serpent seemingly.
You know, it's, you know, you say,
well, it's just sleight of hand.
Well, whatever, maybe.
But I do believe that the devil does have power
and that he could do a miracle.
And one of the reasons I say that
is because the Bible tells us
and if you would keep your finger there
and go to 2 Thessalonians chapter two
in the New Testament toward the end
of the New Testament,
go to 2 Thessalonians chapter two
and the Bible is talking about
the times and talking about
the antichrist and so forth
and it says in verse number eight,
and then shall that wicked be revealed
whom the Lord shall consume
with the spirit of his mouth
and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.
We're in 2 Thessalonians chapter two verse nine.
Even him whose coming is after
the working of Satan, watch this,
with all power and signs
and lying wonders
and with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness in them that perish
because they receive not the love
and the truth that they might be saved
and for this cause God shall send them
strong delusion that they should believe a lie
that they all might be damned
to believe not the truth
but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
So the Bible here talks about
the antichrist coming
and he's coming after the working of Satan
with power and signs
and lying wonders.
And you know you can interpret
and go if you were to Revelation 13,
you can interpret the lying wonders
one of two ways.
They're not real or you could say
that they are actually miraculous
but that they are leading people
to lies and teaching people
false doctrine and lies
and teaching them to worship the antichrist
because look what the Bible says
in Revelation chapter 13
about the false prophet who
you know is pointing people
to the antichrist.
It says in verse 13
and he doeth great wonders
so that he maketh fire
come down from heaven on the earth
and the sight of men
and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth
by the means of those miracles
which he had power to do
in the sight of the beast
saying to them that dwell on the earth
that they should make an image to the beast
which had the wound by a sword
and did live.
And so we can see here
that in the end times
there are going to be miracles
that are done by the antichrist
and the false prophet.
The whole world is going to be marveling
at him making fire come down from the sky
and so forth.
And so I think when we look at
Revelation 13, 2 Thessalonians 2
and then go back to the story
in Exodus chapter 7
I think it is plausible
that the sorcerers and the magicians
actually did through the power of Satan
turn their rod into a serpent
but then Moses had thrown down
his rod and turned it into a serpent
and then his serpent ate their serpents.
You know what?
What a classic story here in the Bible
where God's serpent swallows
the other two serpents.
Really sad for them.
They lost their toy.
But if you would jump down to verse
Exodus 7 verse 20
back in Exodus chapter 7.
Look at verse 20.
Sorry I'm fighting a cough today.
Exodus 7 20, Moses and Aaron did so
as the Lord commanded
and he lifted up the rod
and smote the waters that were
in the river in the sight of Pharaoh
and in 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 so obviously the Nile River
is super important to the Egyptians
and he ends up turning it
temporarily into blood.
And then it says in verse 22
they turned their enchantments.
So they also turned water into blood
and Pharaoh's heart was hardened
neither did he hearken unto them.
But here's the funny thing is that
it's funny how they can't turn it back into water.
You know they're able to
turn water into blood
in order to just show Pharaoh
hey we have power too.
You know the power of Satan.
They can't turn it back.
And this is one of the reasons why
I don't think that they're necessarily faking it
because when we get to chapter 8
they're not able to do something.
Okay well first look at verse 6.
It says 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.
And again it's hilarious how
they're not able to counteract
what God is doing.
They're not able to undo what God is doing.
God turns water into blood.
They can just turn a little more water into blood.
Well that's super helpful guys.
You know here we are trying to drink water.
We're trying to bring more water into blood.
Really cool.
And then you know Moses brings all these frogs
upon the land and then they're like
oh yeah we'll bring some more frogs.
But again they can't get the frogs to leave
because in all of these plagues
Moses is being begged by Pharaoh.
Pharaoh is saying please
get these frogs out of here.
Get these flies out of here.
You know the 10 different plagues.
He's always begging for it to end
because his magicians or sorcerers
or enchanters or what
to do what God is doing.
And so in all of these stories
what comes through is that God
is supremely more powerful
than Satan and his minions.
And so Satan and his minions
they're not able to undo anything
that God is able to do.
They can just sort of do
some of the stuff that God does
on a smaller scale.
Kind of a cheap imitation.
They have some power but not the kind
of power that God has.
And ultimately God's power is superior.
And they did so for Aaron stretched
out his hand with his rod
and smote the dust of the earth
and it became a lice in man
and in beast.
All the dust of the land became lice
throughout all the land of Egypt
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.
Now again if you were just faking it
this is one of the easiest ones to fake
if anything.
And you don't see them attempting
to fake this by just you know
pretending that they're bringing lice
out of the dust or whatever.
So it seems like they were legitimately
doing some miracles through the power
of Satan and now they've just kind of
reached the end of their abilities
at that point.
Now go if you would to Deuteronomy
chapter number 18.
Deuteronomy chapter number 18.
And again like I said there are many
sources of that and I'm not really
interested in trying to figure out
how many sorcerers and witches are
you know doing anything real or how
many of them are just 100% fake
because at the end of the day it
doesn't matter right.
This is something that we are
commanded to stay far away from.
Look what it says in Deuteronomy
chapter 18 verse 10.
There shall not be found among you
anyone that maketh his son or his
daughter to pass through the fire.
Now this is talking about actually
killing your baby.
This is talking about abortion basically
and so it's a murdering of a child
and so he says do not do that.
Or he says let there not be anyone
among you that uses divination.
Or an observer of times or an
enchanter or a witch or a charmer
or a consultor with familiar spirits
or a wizard or a necromancer.
For all that do these things are an
abomination of the Lord and because
of these abominations the Lord
thy God did drive them out from
before thee.
So he's telling his people look the
people who do this stuff are super
wicked and they're an abomination
of God so don't you be like them or
participate in these things.
And there's a big long list here and
when we think it's about something
like observer of times this would be
like the horoscope or something right
doing astrology and reading your
horoscope and and trying to predict
the future of the world.
Based upon the horoscopes that are in
the newspaper or magazines or
whatever which are obviously an
absolute joke anyway and are
ridiculous.
Okay they're about as you know
spiritual as a fortune cookie.
Okay as far as actually being able to
tell you anything.
And then it also says you know a
charmer maybe this could be someone
who's like you know hypnotizing
people or manipulating people
through those type of means.
Consultor with familiar spirits
this is someone who's communicating
with demons or a wizard right
there's another word for sorcerer
or a necromancer.
Now what does a necromancer well
necro that necro prefix means dead
okay necrotic tissue is dead tissue
right. And so a necromancer is
someone who attempts to communicate
with dead people.
So this would be you know you get out
the Ouija board or have a séance
and you're trying to talk to dead
people or channel dead people's
spirits or whatever and this is
really what we see happening with
Saul and the witch at Endor right.
Saul goes and consults with a woman
who has a familiar spirit and he
wants to pull up Samuel the prophet
who's dead so he's trying to
communicate with a dead person and
in this case it's a man of God but
that doesn't make it any better or
more righteous that he's trying to
pull up a man of God through those
kind of dark arts.
And so of course God is very angry
about this and when Saul and his
sons are all killed in one day God
says that the reason why they're
killed is because one of the reasons
listed is because he sought one that
had a familiar spirit so for going to
the witch at Endor God is angry with
Saul and that's one of the reasons
why he dies on the next day as a
punishment for doing that and so
necromancy. Now here's the thing
again if you're just open the phone
book and just look up your local
necromancer or whatever and it sounds
funny but I guarantee you it's in
there I don't know if it's gonna be
under N for necromancy maybe it's
under P for psychic or whatever but I
guarantee you that there are people
all over this city that will put you
in touch with your dead loved one for
a price okay obviously I'm not saying
that they're actually communicating
with dead people I don't think that
that's even humanly possible okay I
think that the situation with the
witch at Endor is an anomaly which is
why she's kind of freaked out I don't
think she even expected Samuel to
actually show up but there's really one
of two options with these psychic
readers or necromancers or people who
run seances is that either a they're
just a complete fake charlatan just
making things up and just telling
people a bunch of vague platitudes and
then people just fall for it and
there's a there's a whole book about
that written by the circus guy PT
Barnum he's the one that's been
talking about that written by the circus
guy PT Barnum he wrote a whole book
about how like psychic readers
perpetrate their fraud and everything
because you know he he did some wild
things in the circus but he really
didn't like that kind of stuff and so
you know either a it's just fake or B
they're just talking to demons and he's
just demons pretending to be your loved
one or whatever but you're not actually
talking to your loved one okay I think
that the situation with Samuel was
an anomaly that's not the norm and so
again we don't care which one it is the
Bible says do not consult with familiar
spirits do not do this kind of
necromancy do not go to these wizards
sorcerers and whatever if you would flip
over to 2nd Kings chapter 17 2nd Kings
chapter 17 now one of the things that
people will often bring up with sorcery
or sorcerers in the Bible because what
are we talking about we're talking about
people who are using supernatural forces
we're not talking about the Bible we're
not talking about Christianity though
we're talking about dark forces of the
devil Satan you know speaking to the
dead using the power of the devil Ouija
boards seances those kind of things right
and here's the thing they sell the Ouija
board in the board game aisle at like
Walmart and Target whose stupid idea was
that at Milton Bradley to manufacture a
Ouija board by Milton Bradley like oh
yeah monopoly parcheesi Ouija board might
as well just you know talk to the devil
or whatever it's super wicked and you
know what it's just the devil trying to
get a foothold and just trying to
normalize this kind of stuff and trying
to get you to think it's not a big deal
and I guarantee you there are probably a
lot of kids that are in that board game
aisle and they just grab it and say hey
this is gonna be fun let's play around
with this you don't want to play with
that kind of stuff because here's the
thing demons are real and you can invite
unclean spirits into your life and you
don't want to do that and especially
unsaved people are susceptible because
they can be demon possessed and
everything else and I believe that there
have been many times in my life when I
have encountered people that were demon
possessed obviously you don't always know
for sure if people are just crazy or if
they're demon possessed or both but it's
definitely out there and we see it a lot
in the four Gospels with Jesus running
into people that are demon possessed but
when we talk about this subject of the
cult and and sorcery a lot of people will
say well you know if you go back to the
Greek they'll say you know the word for
sorcery in Greek they'll say is pharmakeia
and like the sorcerer is a pharmakos or
pharmakeps and you know they'll say so
basically you know what we're talking
about is the pharmacy now here's the
problem with that is that you got to be
careful that you don't read things
backwards into Greek from English okay
so obviously our English word pharmacy
is derived from this ancient Greek word
pharmakon pharmakeps but it doesn't mean
that it means the same thing in English
that it means in Greek okay and and
what's going on here is that obviously
in the ancient world in Bible times
there's no CVS there's no Walgreens people
aren't showing up and getting a
prescription so it's anachronistic to say
oh that's what God was talking about he
is saying you know the pharmacists are
all going to the lake of fire you know
that's not what he you know the fearful
unbelievable believing abominable
murderers whoremongers and pharmacists
that's not what he's saying so we that's
called the root fallacy when basically
you will look at the root word that
something comes up and then oh well
because this word is derived from that
that must be what it means okay for
example you know the word for naked in
Greek is gimnos which basically is where
we get our word gymnasium you know so
you know does that mean when the Bible
says something about someone naked well
if you go back to the Greek they're
actually just going to the gym you know
it's just stupid because obviously you
know these words change in meaning over
time so no the Bible is not condemning
in general all pharmaceutical drugs the
Bible is saying that the Bible is not
saying that you can't take an ibuprofen
or an aspirin or a Tylenol because you're
a sorcerer now or something that's not
what the Bible is saying okay here's
where the connection comes in between
these two words why is it that that
ancient Greek word that has to do with
sorcery has become our modern Greek word
or modern English word for the pharmacy
the reason why is simply because of the
fact that a lot of sorcerers witches or
whatever they deal in potions and they
would sell people magical potions and
whatever and again obviously a lot of
it's just totally fake but a lot of it is
also what mind-altering drugs and so
what happens is a lot of these witches
and sorcerers would use mind-altering
drugs in order to somehow reach the
spirit world and kind of cross over to
the other side and commune with these
other spirits and things they use drugs
as a vehicle so you can see how drugs
and sorcery could be connected now when
I'm thinking about the subject of drugs
and this is a big subject unfortunately
in our day drug use is rampant in the
United States of America I mean it's
horrible I was just looking at some
incredible statistics today my mind was
just absolutely blown by the drug
statistics for our local area here in
Arizona you know different lists had
different cities ranked in different
orders but some websites were claiming
that Mesa Arizona and Phoenix Arizona
were like the number one and two places
for being addicted to certain drugs and
in fact there was a statistic showing
that like 20% of people in Phoenix had
tried cocaine or something I was just
like what in the world I mean these
statistics were crazy or it was like oh
30% of young people have have have you
know tried an illegal drug in the last
year or something you know it was just
mind-blowing and all the sticks the
statistics are all over the place
because obviously these things are hard
to measure and and some of them are
talking about all drugs some are
including marijuana not including
marijuana some of them are just homing in
on certain drugs but I mean either way
numbers like 10% 14% 20% of people using
these serious drugs that's insane
it's crazy those numbers were just wild
to me and again you know I didn't go
super deep down the rabbit hole but just
I was looking at a lot of websites and
the numbers all seemed to be in those
kind of ballparks and I was looking at
like 30% of Arizonans in a certain age
group were like you know using marijuana
or something like that and it was you
know once it at least once a year or
something you know they're smoking
marijuana like in the 18 to 25 bracket
or something okay sounds like this is a
very serious problem and I think we've
all known people who committed this sin
and we've all been exposed to it and
we've all seen it even when I was a
teenager I saw a lot of it but it's way
worse now and even now that marijuana is
legal you know first of all that doesn't
make it right and then beyond that you've
got all these other drugs that people are
doing that are even going beyond
marijuana and they're doing things like
mushrooms and LSD and whatever now the
way I look at this with drugs and again
this is a big subject that's really
important that we condemn this that we
rebuke this that we fight against this as
God's people and that we not allow this
in our homes that we not allow this to
creep into our church or anything like
that and it needs to be preached against
I think there's really like two different
categories that you could almost divide
drug use into right because on the one
hand there's one aspect of drug use
that's kind of comparable to drinking
alcohol right because people go out and
they drink alcohol why one of the reasons
is because it just makes them feel good
or something right they just they want to
get buzzed or feel good or enjoy or
whatever I don't know because I've never
been intoxicated so I don't really know
what it feels like but you know whatever
they want to feel a certain way or maybe
they just want to numb themselves because
maybe they're just in a bad mood they
can't get their mind off things they're
depressed they're upset so they want to
just kind of just dull their brain and
just kind of drown their sorrows so to
speak and use alcohol in that way or
people will drink alcohol to just I guess
loosen up or something and lose their
inhibitions and that way they can just do
stupid things that they normally wouldn't do
so I think that's one aspect of drug use
is kind of the same as alcohol use but
maybe just taking it a little further
they're basically taking something a
little stronger basically they're doing
the same thing that the drinker is doing
wanting to feel good or wanting to forget
or wanting to loosen up or party or
whatever and it's like they're basically
just taking it to another level maybe
even mixing drugs and alcohol to get a
just a more powerful effect because human
beings are greedy and they're not just
satisfied with a little bit of alcohol
they're just gonna keep escalating until
they're drinking more mixing it with
drugs moving on to drugs whatever but I
think there's also another aspect of drug
use that is not really similar to
drinking alcohol because there's another
aspect of drug use that has to do with
sort of opening your mind right so it's
not necessarily people taking drugs for
the reason that they would drink alcohol
it's more like they want to experiment
with drugs and and go on these journeys
and whatever and look I've read some
articles about this even in like
mainstream news publications like you
know New York Times or something right
where you read these articles about how
now doctors are wanting to prescribe
psychedelic drugs to cancer patients to
people that are dying etc because
basically they give people drugs and they
have these spiritual experiences and then
they're not afraid of dying anymore
because they you know they go to the
other side and they check it out and it
turns out you know it's fine and so they
don't mind going there so then they can
die more peacefully or whatever but it's
funny because even the article even this
one article I was reading in the New York
Times even said well is this necessarily
even really a good thing though you know
and I was thinking about it as like a
false sense of security like somebody's
not saved and on their way to hell they
take a bunch of drugs and it's just like
oh man I've already been there man and it
was cool you know it's like nah man you
didn't go there you're going downstairs
you know and that is not where that trip
took you and so the point is that a lot
of people out there will try to use drugs
in order to reach a higher level of
consciousness no pun intended right and
they want to reach a higher level of
consciousness and they want to commune
with other spiritual entities and so
forth and this is where I think drug use
does cross the line into becoming
satanic or becoming sorcery or becoming
witchcraft when you're taking a drug in
order to commune with other spirits or go
to some other higher level of
consciousness and so forth then yeah then
I can see where the overlap of sorcery
and drug use is there with that kind of
drug use versus like the guy who's just
smoking some pot I just want to mellow
out with some pot or whatever just be a
loser pothead or whatever that's one
aspect sort of like the guy who just gets
drunk and he's a drunken loser and then
oh I don't think you should talk about
drunk people that way well you know what
drunks are losers and so are drug addicts
so put that in your pipe and smoke it
actually don't smoke it because you'll
get too high but the point is that yeah
you know I'm not gonna sit here and say
that you're wise or that you're smart
or that you like drugs hey the Bible says
that you are a fool the Bible says
whosoever is deceived thereby is not
wise wine is a marker and strong drink
is raging and whosoever is deceived
thereby is not wise right the Bible says
it's foolish to be a drunkard it's
foolish to be a wine bibber obviously
these things are not leading you to
wisdom or down a right path okay and
beer doesn't make you cool beer doesn't
make you physically fit you know that's
why there's not a beer dispenser down at
the gym you know it's like oh here's all
the protein shakes and here's a glass of
beer now I mean I'm sure there's some
gimmick gym that has that but at the end
of the day nobody who knows anything
about nutrition thinks that beer is is
good for you you know oh yeah every time
you know every time I have a big math
test to take you know I just I just drink
a few beers before that calculus exam
and then it just really just opens my
yeah just do some mushrooms right before
the big you know differential equations
exam or whatever that's it's stupid it's
not making you smarter it's killing brain
cells this stuff is poisonous it's toxic
it's bad for you it's bad for your health
it's bad for your brain it's not making
you smarter is making you dumber stay
away from it and so these are two aspects
I think of drug use there's sort of the
the one that could be compared to alcohol
use in the Bible because because let's
face it the Bible doesn't talk about
drugs but the Bible talks about alcohol
and I think half of drug use you could
kind of just take the alcohol versus and
apply them and then I think the other
half of drug use you could take the
sorcery versus and apply them you know
the the the magic sorcery enchantment
wizardry kind of versus because of the
fact that you're trying to reach some
higher consciousness through the use of
drugs now here's the thing about that
what it comes down to is that people are
trying to exceed the boundaries that God
has placed upon mankind right God has
created us and he has given us certain
abilities and he's given us certain
mental power and certain physical prowess
and we don't want to go beyond where God
wants us to be and look this goes all
the way back to Adam and Eve in the
garden you know they felt like God is
withholding some important knowledge from
them because they're not allowed to eat
from the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil and then Satan tempts them to
eat from that tree of the knowledge of
good and evil and they're going beyond
the bounds of what God has allowed and
if you think about it human beings in
their sinful condition also kind of have
this desire to go beyond the natural to
the supernatural and say like oh well I
want to know the future so therefore I'm
going to go to the psychic reader or I'm
going to read the horoscopes or I'm
going to use these enchantments or
whatever I'm going to take these drugs
or whatever so that I can go beyond a
normal human consciousness instead of
just being a humble servant of God
learning actual wisdom from the Bible
the things that God has provided for us
like in the Garden of Eden God had
provided all these wonderful trees but
then there's the one tree that they're
not allowed to have that's the one Satan
entices them with look God has given us
all this wonderful knowledge in the
Bible and there's better knowledge in the
Bible than all that the occult bookstore
has to offer right because we could go
to one of these like downtown areas and
go to this like weird creepy little
occult bookstore and we've all walked by
places like this hopefully you didn't
enter them but you know man in New
Orleans Louisiana it's like every other
business was like a Satan worshipping
store but you know I'm sure we have them
down in Tempe or Phoenix or whatever and
you walk by these places and they have
all this witchcraft and occult stuff
maybe even just I don't know just vanilla
bookstores probably even just have a
little section you know for this stuff I
you know I wouldn't be surprised if you
could find a little nook in Barnes and
Noble or something where you can find a
lot of this weird stuff but here's the
thing all of that occult information
everything first of all it's coming from
who the father of lies Satan is literally
the father of lies right he's a liar from
the beginning and the Bible says he's the
father of it okay so you're gonna go to
the father of lies bookstore in order to
find occult knowledge what does occult
mean occult simply means hidden so you're
gonna go find hidden knowledge by going
to the father of lies bookstore here's
the thing I'm sure that there is some
hidden knowledge in there that's legit
but for every piece of hidden knowledge
that's in that occult bookstore there's
probably a hundred just outright lies
coming up bogus fake things and so by
reading that stuff you're just filling
your mind with a bunch of garbage and
it's lies and even the part of it that's
true is probably some off-limits
knowledge that you're not even supposed
to have because look we don't need to
know about every single thing in this
world there are certain things that I'd
rather just never know about and the
Bible says that we should be wise
concerning that which is good and simple
concerning the evil okay go if you would
say Acts chapter 19 Acts chapter number
19 but here's the thing I've got the
Bible right here and this book is just
packed with wisdom and knowledge
information and it's all true like
everything in the Bible is true and it's
got all this wisdom all this advice all
the mysteries of the universe are
explained the answers are all in here
you can spend your whole life reading
this book and you're never gonna get
everything out of it you know I've been
reading it for decades I'm still
constantly learning new things we all
are and so you got everything you need
right here but then what the wickedness
of man says oh well this isn't enough
for me this is boring give me apocryphal
books you know give me the book of Enoch
give me the book of witchcraft and and
give me all this occult knowledge and
all this other stuff the voodoo stuff so
instead of being satisfied with the
truth that I've given you which is
enough for you to chew on for the rest
of your life you're never gonna run out
of information to learn you want to
reject that and go to the father of lies
and learn from him and get all his occult
knowledge from the occult bookstore
doesn't make any sense now also God also
has power available right because
there's the power of the Holy Spirit and
the Bible talks about how we could be
filled with the Holy Spirit and what's
going to be the fruit of the Holy Spirit
love joy peace I mean isn't this the
kind of stuff that people want in their
life I mean I would think that everybody
should want to be filled with love filled
with joy filled with peace long
suffering gentleness goodness meekness
temperance faith these are all wonderful
virtues that come through the power of
the Holy Spirit hey that's the power that
I want to tap into I want to get that
power in my life I want to be you know
not just indwelled by the Holy Spirit
and I want to have the power of Christ
resting upon me as it says in 1st
Corinthians right so there's power to be
had here with the Holy Spirit but then
people instead of that they want to go
get some special powers through black
magic and dark arts and things like that
so they're rejecting the real power for
something that a lot of times is fake
anyway and even if it's real it's coming
from Satan it's inferior to what God has
to offer it's not going to bring you real
joy and peace and happiness in your life
oh you know we just got to give people
you know psilocybin or LSD or whatever
you know on their deathbed so they can
have peace and you know what I'm gonna
have peace on my deathbed and no drugs
required amen I mean look we as Christians
we already have peace on our deathbed we
oh death where is thy sting Oh grave
where is thy victory not because you're
dead but because we went to some weird
orange and purple mushroom land and found
out everything's gonna be okay we know
it's gonna be okay because in Christ
Father's house as many mansions and if it
were not so he would have told us and he
went to prepare a place for us and he's
gonna receive us again unto himself that
where he is we may be also that's the
peace that we need and look God can
supernaturally imbibe us with power to
preach the Word of God boldly right
through the fullness of the Holy Spirit
we can have boldness see I don't have to
drink up my courage with booze I pray up
my courage with the power of the Holy
Spirit so I want the Holy Spirit not the
spirits not the drugs not the magic
chant right oh you can chant this mantra
and say this spell and go through this
no my friend I would rather stick to what
God has to offer and I'm satisfied with
what God has to offer I don't need to go
to the devil for additional power
knowledge etc now in Acts chapter 19 we
have a major book burning in the Bible
and it says in Acts 19 19 many of them
also these are people that believed on
Christ so it says in verse 18 many that
believed came and confessed and showed
their deeds many of them also which used
curious arts okay and and curious here
is a word that's used throughout the
Bible to mean very like complicated
intricate or whatever that's what it
typically means like the curious girdle
of the ephod in the Old Testament it's
talking about the fact that it was
elaborately embroidered so it's it's
very intricately woven okay so when the
Bible says here that they used curious
arts what we're basically talking about
here is witchcraft or dark arts that's
what we're talking about here we're
talking about people who use magic or
something like that so it says many of
them also which used curious arts
brought their books together and burned
them before all men and they counted the
price of them and found it 50,000 pieces
of silver right so this is a lot of
money you know as far as how much exactly
you know we don't really know the size
of the pieces of silver whatever but you
could think you know maybe a one ounce
silver coin or something right is what
we kind of tend to think in today is
worth about like $30 right now you know
I didn't check the silver price today or
in years but it seems like it's always
around like 30 bucks am I right can I
get a witness ah about 30 bucks nobody
here owns precious metals all right there
we go I see that God bless you I see
that ahead so basically you know if it's
like third let's just say it's an ounce
and it's you know $30 and it's 50,000 of
them right so that'd be what 1.5 million
dollars or something right some huge
amount of money maybe was less than that
but either way it's a ton of money you
know even if this was just even if it
was even if each piece of silver was just
a dollar which there's no way that'd be
a really small piece of silver to be only
worth a dollar right even just like $50,000
is a lot but this is probably like
hundreds realistically it's probably
hundreds of thousands of dollars possibly
even over a million dollars maybe a
million and a half dollars or something
now part of the reason for this is
because of the fact that books are very
expensive in the ancient world because
this is before the printing press so
every book is written by hand so every
book represents you know a human being
working for weeks or months or even
years just to produce one volume could
be like you know a year of your life
just to produce one long book or a month
of your life or something so we're
talking about expensive books but either
way no matter how expensive the books
are 50,000 pieces of silver this is a
huge pile of books this is a lot of
books and you know what that tells me is
that if people who used curious arts
brought their books together and burned
them and they counted the price of them
and found it to be 50,000 pieces of
silver sounds to me like a lot of people
are into witchcraft to have that many
books to burn these are just the people
that repented from it and they got saved
and they're like oh we're saved now we
don't need this stuff anymore let's just
burn it let's get rid of it and it's just
a huge amount and so that shows me that
this is pretty common and I guarantee you
that human beings have this tendency to
want to kind of know more than they're
supposed to know or this kind of
curiosity no pun intended with the
curious arts there is a different meaning
of curious but this kind of curiosity
that says hey you know I really want to
know what it's like to take these drugs
or experience these other things or or
you know I want to know if there's
anything to this witchcraft or whatever
you know I want to see if it's real you
know well you know it's not that I love
Satan or anything but you know I just
kind of want to experiment with it to see
if it's real folks that's super wicked
and you know what now we're back to
unbelieving why don't you just believe
the Bible that it's real and that it's
evil and that you should stay away from
it right I don't need proof that the
devil exists I don't need proof that
demons exist and I heard somebody say
well you know well yeah but if the devil
exists that means God exists well I
already know God exists I already believe
in God I already believe in Jesus I'm not
a doubting Thomas over here that needs to
actually physically see I don't need to
go to some house and see you know things
like whirl around the ceiling or
something in order to know hey the
devil's real ergo God is real too I
don't need that and God doesn't want us
to have anything to do with that kind of
stuff okay and again some of it's just
made up stuff and but some of it has to
be real because demons exist they must
be doing something right and so if you
would flip back to second Kings chapter
17 second Kings chapter 17 so again I
think that at the root of this thing of
sorcery is a desire to go beyond what
God has for us to know things that are
outside the realm of what we're supposed
to know to have power outside the power
that God has given us and that God has
provided for us to seize that power
ourselves and to be able to go further
than where God wants us to go and you
know the big colossal difference between
magic and a miracle of the Bible right
like what is difference because isn't
this what atheists will claim like oh you
know you believe in a magical sky daddy
or something you know they say these
stupid things but they kind of try to
equate religion with magic don't they and
one of the colossal differences between
what we see in the Bible with miracles
and you know God granting people power
and ability versus magic is that when it
comes to the power and ability that God
grants in Scripture where you see people
doing miracles like the apostles or the
prophets or something is that they are
carrying out the will of God right so
they are doing things according to God's
will they're fulfilling his plan they're
not just using quote-unquote magic
willy-nilly just to basically impress
their friends or punish their enemies or
to gain things for themselves right and
this is sort of what Jesus is tempted
with when Satan says oh you're hungry
command that these stones be made bread
right what he's just basically trying to
get him to use spiritual power as like a
magic trick or something to just kind of
satisfy his craving right then and there
like oh I'm just gonna turn these stones
into bread or whatever you know I'm just
gonna walk on water for the fun of it or
something you know that's not the point
anytime miracles are happening in the
Bible these are people that are in the
will of God doing things according to
God's will praying according to God's
will and having the ability to do things
according to God's will and here's the
thing even today in 2025 obviously God
can still work miracles right and we you
know someone could be sick and we could
pray for that person and that person could
be miraculously healed through our prayers
absolutely that is possible but the
difference is though that we don't just
have this ability that we decide whether
this person gets healed or not because we
have this little enchantment and it seems
like a lot of magic is almost like forcing
these spirits to obey you like well if I
say this spell then this you know spirit
has to obey me I can summon this genie
and he's got to give me his three wishes
you know that's a little different than
praying to God and saying look God you
have the power to heal here and you're
asking God to do it if it's according to
his will you see the colossal difference
between God supernaturally doing
something versus just oh I'm a magician
I'm a sorcerer so I can just make people's
heart explode you know just by just going
like this or something you know and that
people think I have that power that's why
they got really mad when I preached that
sermon where I did that in a sermon they
thought that I was actually gonna hurt
someone but it turns out I actually don't
have that ability or power I'm not trying
to get that ability or power I don't have
the power to strike people dead and just
be like BAM BAM you know they're like
you're threatening you know by praying
imprecatory praise you're threatening
people it's like no man because I don't
have that kind of power I've never had
that kind of power you know I can't even
reprobate anyone you know whatever that
means but the point is that you know
magic is sort of like this this desire
for you to have all this power so that
you can wield power and manipulate the
forces of nature and and do stuff versus
someone who's just living for God and
then God gives them the power when they
need it to accomplish his will and
whatever and at the end of the day you
know what we'd all rather have if we're
smart than having some power to I don't
know levitate things or something you
know to punch and then like the candle
goes out or whatever you know more than
that I think we'd all rather just have
love joy peace in our hearts so you know
I'm much more interested in what God has
for me and the blessing of God and
walking with God and just being a humble
servant of God then just kind of putting
on some hood and being some like super
powerful level 99 sorcerer or something
you know just casting all these spells
or something right but apparently that
appeals to people I mean this is what
this is what a lot of human beings desire
and fantasize about hence all of the
fantasy novels and books and movies and
all the different things that really
glorify this type of stuff it's a whole
genre right of now obviously there's like
I said at Barnes and Noble there's
probably the section of like actual
witchcraft sorcery occult section but
there's a whole nother section of just
fantasizing about having all this power
and doing all these things and again it
must be that human beings have some
desire within them and really what this
desire boils down to is actually wanting
to have the power of God and we're not
God and we're not we're not supposed to
aspire to be God we don't want to be like
Satan in Isaiah chapter 14 where he said
what I will be like the most high I want
to be like the most high you know it's
not my desire to take the place of God
or to be on par with God or to be on the
same low I just want to be a humble
servant of God for all eternity I'm just
gonna humbly serve God for all eternity
I don't need to be able to read minds and
know the future and make things levitate
and walk on water and things I just don't
need to do that I'm not interested in
that but I think that there is a desire
within human beings to want to do that
kind of stuff and so that's where they go
seek all these things and and and get
into all this stuff where did I have you
on the first Kings second Kings 17 it
says in verse 16 and they left all the
commandments of the Lord their God and
made them molten images even two calves
and made a grove and worshiped all the
hosts of heaven and served Baal and they
caused their sons and their daughters to
pass through the fire and use divination
and enchantments and sold themselves to
do evil in the sight of the Lord to
provoke him to anger therefore the Lord
was very angry with Israel and removed
them out of his sight there was none left
but the tribe of Judah only now look if
those things angered God back then do you
think that anger him now you think God
looks down and sees the abortion clinic
and he's angry you think God looks down
from heaven and sees a bunch of kids with
a Ouija board you think he's pleased with
that when Christian kids decide to fool
around with a Ouija board Christian kids
decide to experiment with mind-altering
drugs in order to reach some higher plane
of consciousness folks that is garbage
it's wicked it's not making you smarter
whatever experience you're having by
taking those drugs it's lying wonders
it's it's it's garbage it's not gonna
make you a better Christian you're not
you're not gonna come back from some LSD
trip and be like you know what now I
understand the Bible you know now I can
really break down the Gospel of John in
a way that I've never been able to
understand before I took those mushrooms
I mean does anybody that stupid but yet
we have a bunch of 18 19 20 look at the
statistics it's through the roof you got
a bunch of young people out there oh
there's got to be more out there let me
take these drugs yet there is more out
there it's right here yeah there is more
to life than just your little eat drink
and be merry life it's called walking
with God it's called the Holy Spirit it's
called prayer it's called church it's
called soul winning and you know what
they're looking for a shortcut though
they're looking for something easy
because here's the thing you take the
drugs you know just immediately the fact
is right away whereas in order to reach
the heights of what God has for you
spiritually it's gonna take effort of
years of reading your Bible going to
church oh man you know I don't want to
do that but here's the thing the reading
your Bible praying going to church so
it's all gonna pay off and you will tag
spiritual summits that the drug addict
down the street has never tagged you
know it's it's just like it's a guy he's
gonna feel something but it's a fraud
he's gonna communicate with spirits but
they're evil spirits I'd rather
communicate with the Holy Spirit and
look maybe someday I will observe some
kind of a miracle in my life or so you
know maybe I'll see God perform a
miracle or something and and see
something really miraculous where I
could say hey this is the finger of God
but you know what even if I never see
something in my life like that that
doesn't bother me at all because you
know what the Bible says that John the
Baptist was the greatest man to ever
live Jesus said among them that are born
of women there hath not risen a greater
than John the Baptist and you want to
know what else they said about John the
Baptist the four Gospels John did no
miracle how about that John did no
miracle and yet all things that he said
concerning this man are true this man
being Jesus so here's the thing if John
the Baptist could be the greatest man
who ever lived and he didn't perform any
miracles I don't feel like I have to
perform miracles to be a man of God okay
you know obviously we read about a lot
of miracles in Scripture but we also
read entire lifetimes of people who had
no miracles I mean how many miracles did
Josiah perform how many miracles did
Hezekiah perform right I mean look you
can go through the Bible and there are a
lot of people in the Bible that didn't
perform any miracles and yet they live
great Christian lives for many many
decades and and there are probably a lot
of people who never saw any miracle in
their whole lifetime and again I'm not a
doubting Thomas that has to go see a
miracle you know blessed are they that
have not seen and yet have believed but
at the same time I am not satisfied with
a carnal existence of just eating and
drinking and sleeping and working and
not a carnal existence of just eating and
drinking and sleeping and working I want
something more I want more than that I
want spiritual communion with God I want
to know the mysteries of the universe
but it's all found in the Bible yeah I
do want to go beyond what's earthly here
but you know what I'm willing to put in
the work and the time and the effort to
be pure in heart so I can see God and
not have to take a shortcut and then
of just here, smoke this, snort this, shoot this up, whatever, and then, boom, immediately you'll be in the spirit world.
And look, here's the thing, oh, but man, it opens your mind to all this creativity.
You know, you take these drugs and then, you know, you can write all this great music or whatever.
But here's the thing about that, is that we all kind of go on a drug trip every night, if you think about it, it's called going to sleep at night.
Because, let's face it, I don't know how well you remember your dreams.
Some people remember their dreams better than others. Sometimes I go through phases of remembering a lot of dreams, not remembering.
But I guarantee you that my dreams are weirder and wilder than any drug trip that anybody's ever been on.
I mean, we've all had those wild dreams. Amen?
I mean, dreams are weird. Things don't make sense, things are crazy, things are strange.
And here's the thing, that's a lot of the same thing that you're doing when you're taking drugs.
When you're taking drugs, your brain's just kind of going crazy all over the place.
It's called just being a crazy person.
But see, here's the thing, when we're at bed at night and we go crazy every night and go into all these weird dreams and stuff, here's the thing, is that our bodies are paralyzed.
You know, our bodies are designed that while we're in bed having all these crazy dreams, we're paralyzed.
Which is why we're not sleepwalking all over the place and doing a bunch of crazy things.
Some people, when they do sleepwalk, it's because that thing that's paralyzing them is broken.
And so they get out of bed and start acting out their dreams and stuff and the problems ensue.
But the normal thing that you do at night is you go to bed, you lay down, you're asleep, you're paralyzed.
So it doesn't matter if you end up robbing a convenience store in your dream or something.
And I'm not saying I've ever done that dream because I've never had a dream like that.
Okay? I'm just throwing that out there.
You know, if I had some dream where I'm robbing a convenience store, no harm, no foul because I'm just laying in bed.
All I did was just twitch my eyeballs a little bit.
Right? But then what happens is people that are taking drugs and people that are, you know, drinking and getting high and stuff,
they are like in a confused wild dream state in a sense.
And then they will go out and do these things in real life.
They're out committing adultery in real life. They're doing robberies in real life.
I talked to this one guy that was drunk and he just, he blacked out while drunk.
And when he came to his senses, he was just walking down the street with like an armful of electronics equipment.
He had just broken into a store and stolen it.
And he was being arrested by the police, just red handed with a bunch of stolen equipment.
He's like, how did I get this stuff? Where did this stuff come from?
Then, you know, when he tells the cop, I don't know where this came from.
They're just like, yeah, right, buddy.
But he really didn't know where it came from.
So look, every single night we go on, we're seeing pink elephants on parade every single night in our sleep.
We don't have to take drugs to do that.
Right? I mean, look, we got all the creativity we need right here.
You know, no drugs required.
You know, we can read our Bibles and learn the truth instead of going to the father of lies from the occult bookstore.
We don't need drugs. We don't need witchcraft. We don't need sorcery.
We don't need spells. We don't need the psychic reader.
We don't need tarot cards. We don't need a Ouija board.
We don't need a seance. We don't need any of this stuff.
Right? We need to just be patient, study our Bibles, walk with God.
And look, you say, well, I just really want to experience something supernatural.
Well, you know what? Why don't you read your Bible and pray to God and pray to be filled with the Holy Spirit
and go out and serve God and sing praises to God and, you know, win souls to Christ.
And you know what? I guarantee eventually you're going to feel something.
You know, you're going to have a supernatural experience. You're going to have a spiritual experience.
You know, you're going to have something that's real.
And God will supernaturally give you love, joy, peace, et cetera.
Which is way cooler than whatever the devil is offering you.
Whatever drugs are offering you. Because, oh, I felt so high when I took those drugs.
Yeah, but how did you feel afterward? Low.
Isn't it funny? The same people that are experimenting with drugs are the same people that are attempting suicide.
Same people that are experiencing, experimenting with drugs are the same people that have to go to counseling and therapy
because they're so depressed because the drugs, I guess, didn't fix it, did they?
No. Because drugs are not going to provide lasting happiness or joy.
The Holy Spirit provides real joy.
And that's the supernatural power that I want to tap into is actually being happy.
Actually having love in my heart. Actually having peace.
And you know what? I have hope in my death, as the Bible says.
You know, when I die, I'm going to be at peace knowing that I'm going home to be with the Lord.
And when the doctor's like, hey man, you know, would you like some LSD to make you feel better?
I'm just going to be like, no thanks. I'll skip it.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord.
And Lord God's sorcery is something that is frowned upon in scripture.
It's super evil, abominable.
Your wrath came upon the children of Israel for sorcery.
Lord, help us never to go beyond what you have appointed for us.
And Lord, help us never to try to use drugs to do that.
And Lord, help us never to try to use, you know, black magic or curious arts or white magic,
for that matter, to try to achieve those things.
Lord, help us to go through the proper channels.
And the only spirit that we should deal with is the Holy Spirit.
And Lord, we thank you for everything.
And thank you especially for salvation through Jesus Christ.
And it's in His name we pray. Amen.
All right, everybody, take your hymnals, please.
Go to hymn number 343, hymn 343.
We'll close out our service tonight.
Hymn 343, revive us again.
Hymn number 343.
We praise the O God.
Hymn number 343, sing it out now.
We praise the O God for the Son of our God.
For Jesus who died and lives now, God above.
Hallelujah, light the glory, hallelujah, amen.
Hallelujah, light the glory, revive us again.
We praise the O God for thy spirit of life,
who has shown us our Savior and scattered our night.
Hallelujah, light the glory, hallelujah, amen.
Hallelujah, light the glory, revive us again.
All glory and praise to the Lamb that was slain,
who has borne all our sins and has cleansed every stain.
Hallelujah, light the glory, hallelujah, amen.
Hallelujah, light the glory, revive us again.
Revive us again, fill each heart with thy love.
Name soul be rekindled with fire from above.
Hallelujah, light the glory, hallelujah, amen.
Hallelujah, light the glory, revive us again.
Amen. Good things tonight we are dismissed.
Thank you.