Brother Varian, will you pray?
Father in heaven, thank you for this church.
I pray that you please bless Pastor Anderson with the power
of the Holy Ghost as he preaches your word,
and help us learn from your word,
and help us obey your word, Lord.
In Jesus' name, I pray, amen.
Man, tonight I'm preaching on this famous story that's
often known as The Witch at Endor, this woman who
has a familiar spirit that Saul visits.
And this is really just such a great story in the Bible.
And I absolutely love this story.
And there's so much that we can learn from it.
But starting on verse number 1, it says in chapter 28,
verse 1, it came to pass in those days
that the Philistines gathered their armies together
for warfare to fight with Israel.
And Achish said unto David, know thou assuredly
that thou shalt go out with me to battle, thou and thy men.
And David said to Achish, surely thou
shalt know what thy servant can do.
And Achish said to David, therefore,
will I make thee the keeper of my head forever.
Now, at the beginning of this chapter,
even though it's not about David,
it's about Saul visiting The Witch at Endor,
the reason that these two verses are here at the beginning
is to sort of set the stage a little bit just
about how bad Saul's situation is.
Because I want to get the idea that Saul is really
in a bad place.
He's up against the wall.
He has no options.
And just as sort of the icing on the cake,
David now has defected over to the Philistines.
And David is saying at the beginning of the chapter
that he's actually going to go to battle against Saul
with the Philistines.
And of course, whether or not he was actually really going
to go through with that, we will never
know because he ends up being sent home
and not being allowed to go to battle with the Philistines.
So the reader is left wondering, you know,
is David just saying this?
Was he really going to do it?
I mean, it seems like he's going to do it.
But it's very ironic what Achish,
the king of the Philistine, says to David when he says,
I will make the keeper of my head forever.
Because if you stop and think about it,
David's original claim to fame was removing the head
from a Philistine, OK, because he killed Goliath.
And after he hit him with a slingshot,
he took Goliath's own sword and chopped off Goliath's head
and brought his head to Saul.
So now things have kind of reversed a little bit.
And instead of David bringing the head of a Philistine
to Saul, now David is actually the protector
of the head of the Philistines from Saul, OK?
So these first couple of verses are just to kind of just
add to Saul's predicament and just
to add to his problems that he already has.
His greatest warrior is on the opposing side.
It says in verse 3, now Samuel was dead.
And all Israel had lamented him and buried him in Ramah,
even in his own city.
And Saul had put away those that had familiar spirits
and the wizards out of the land.
And the Philistines gathered themselves together
and came and pitched in Shunem.
And Saul gathered all Israel together,
and they pitched in Gilboa.
And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines,
he was afraid and his heart greatly trembled.
So not only is his greatest warrior
over on the other side with the Philistines,
but also his mentor, his spiritual leader, Samuel,
the one who anointed him as king in the first place,
it says in verse 3, Samuel's dead.
He's buried.
He's gone.
The Philistines have gathered themselves together.
And when Saul sees this great mighty army
of the Philistines gathered against him,
he was afraid and his heart greatly trembled.
So he's absolutely terrified to face this army.
And it says in verse 6, when Saul inquired of the Lord,
the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim,
nor by prophets.
So all the different ways that Saul would seek the Lord,
he's praying, he's begging God to answer him,
and God is just simply not answering him.
Now, you know, God could have answered him through a dream.
God could have sent one of the prophets
unto him with a message.
That's typically how God would speak in these times.
You know, God who at sundry times in a diverse manner
spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets.
And so Samuel was one that would have brought him
the word of the Lord, other prophets.
But no prophet has anything to say to him.
He's not having any kind of a dream that's
giving him a revelation.
And it also says that he sought by Urim and got no answer.
Now, what does this mean, Urim?
I think there's a little bit of misunderstanding about what
this is.
So let's look up the scriptures that talk about this
and get to the bottom of it, OK?
So let's back up in our Bible.
We'll be back here, but go back to Exodus chapter 28.
Exodus chapter 28, there's something
in the Bible called the Urim and the Tumim, all right?
And these two objects, it's uncertain exactly what
they are.
And this is why they're not translated into English.
Sometimes you'll be reading the King James Bible,
and everything's in English.
But every once in a while, there will
be a word that just remains untranslated.
Like, for example, when you're reading in Psalms,
you'll have the term Silah or Higeon.
Or when you're in Habakkuk, there's
a verse that says, the prayer of Habakkuk the prophet
upon Shigionot.
Nobody knows what that is exactly.
That's why it's just left untranslated.
It's just an old word.
The meaning has been forgotten.
And so we're not really 100% sure what that is.
That's one reason why things would stay in Hebrew
and not come into English.
Like, for example, when Noah built the ark out
of gopher wood, OK, that's not an English term.
There's no such thing as gopher wood.
That's a Hebrew word, gopher, that has just
been brought into English because we
don't know what it means.
So just gopher, it's just a kind of wood.
And it's anybody's guess exactly what species of tree
we're talking about.
At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter,
does it, what kind of wood the ark was made out of.
So another reason why things could be left in Hebrew
is just if it's such a special word that there's just no way
to express it in English.
So it's just left in Hebrew.
I don't think that's the case here.
I think it's more of a case of it's a little bit uncertain
exactly what we're talking about here
with the urim and the tumim, which are both plural words,
by the way.
So it says in Exodus 28, this is when the high priest
is getting his outfit.
Verse 29, Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel
in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart.
When he goeth into the holy place for a memorial
before the Lord continually, and thou shalt put in
the breastplate of judgment the urim and the tumim,
and they shall be upon Aaron's heart when he goeth in
before the Lord, and Aaron shall bear the judgment
of the children of Israel upon his heart
before the Lord continually.
And it just goes on to talk about the rest of his outfit.
So whatever the urim and the tumim are,
they were put into the breastplate of the high priest,
the breastplate that Aaron wore,
and this is specifically referred to as
the breastplate of judgment, the breastplate of judgment.
Now with that in mind, flip over to Numbers, chapter 27.
Numbers 27, while you're turning there,
Leviticus 8, verse 8, because I just want to show you
every time these objects are mentioned in the Bible.
Leviticus 8, just says, and he put the breastplate
upon him, also he put in the breastplate,
the urim and the tumim.
Numbers 27, 18, and the Lord said unto Moses,
take thee, Joshua, the son of Nun,
a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon him,
and set him before Eliezer the priest,
and before all the congregation,
and give him a charge in their sight.
And thou shalt put some of thine honor upon him,
that all the congregation of the children of Israel
may be obedient.
So this is a transition in leadership from Moses to Joshua,
and Moses is ordaining Joshua,
and putting some of his honor on him,
and letting people know that they need to obey
and follow Joshua as the next leader.
It says in verse 21, and he, referring to Joshua,
shall stand before Eliezer the priest,
who shall ask counsel for him,
after the judgment of urim before the Lord,
at his word shall they go out,
and at his word shall they come in,
both he and all the children of Israel with him,
even all the congregation.
So the idea here is that Joshua is not supposed
to just lead the children of Israel,
however he feels like it,
and just kind of do what he thinks is best.
He's supposed to ask counsel of the Lord,
and he seeks that counsel from the Lord
through the high priest.
And the high priest, at this time Eliezer,
but obviously it's gonna be different people
throughout history, the high priest
is going to ask counsel for him,
basically ask counsel of the Lord for him,
after the judgment of urim before the Lord.
So the breastplate of judgment is that garment
that basically contains the urim and the tumim,
and here it says he'll ask counsel for him
after or according to the judgment of urim before the Lord.
So now we understand what that judgment is referring to.
It's not referring to judgment
like punishing bad guys judgment,
but it's judgment as in making a decision
or deciding or judging something, okay?
So the high priest, he wears this garb
that contains these objects,
and I believe that these objects are simply symbolic,
and that obviously it's just the high priest
is inquiring from God, and God is giving him the answer.
He's the man of God that communicates with God
and receives the answer from God,
but he is supposed to follow a certain protocol,
just like they would offer certain sacrifices
and enter the tabernacle at certain times
and go into the holy place,
and into the most holy place only once a year.
One of the protocols is that he is supposed to wear
the breastplate of judgment,
and it contains these two objects,
which I think are simply symbolic of the fact
that the high priest is the one that you go to
to ask counsel of the Lord,
and he has a special relationship with God
that is different than that of other people.
If you think about the Lord Jesus Christ
is our high priest,
and what does the Bible say about Jesus Christ?
That we have such a high priest
who has passed into the heavens.
We can boldly enter the throne of grace
through Jesus Christ.
Jesus said, no man cometh unto the Father but by me.
So just as the high priest in the Old Testament
was something of a mediator
between the people and the Lord,
in the New Testament there's one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
who is our high priest.
We do not have a high priest that cannot be touched
with the feeling of our infirmities.
We don't have a human, earthly high priest.
We have only Jesus Christ as our high priest
in the New Testament,
and he is the one who has the answers for us.
We inquire of God by him.
We pray to the Lord in Jesus' name in order to reach him.
And so I don't believe that these objects
were some kind of a magical object.
Some people have speculated that, you know,
these objects are basically objects of divination,
like dice that would be rolled or something,
or some kind of a lot that would be cast,
and they're like a magic eight ball
that's gonna give you answers.
Okay, I don't believe that.
I believe that simply the high priest
is speaking by divine inspiration
because he's the high priest,
just like even in the book of John,
the high priest prophesized,
Caiaphas prophesies about Jesus dying
for the sins of Israel,
and it's through divine inspiration that he speaks that.
So I think that we don't wanna make too much of a deal
about the objects themselves.
I don't think they matter.
You know, if they mattered,
then God would have allowed their meaning to be preserved,
and we would know exactly what they are if they mattered.
And God specifically says not to use divination.
So that's why I don't believe that that's what this is.
I believe that when the Bible says of Saul
that the Lord answered not neither by dreams nor by Urim
nor by prophets is that he sought the high priest
who wore that garment,
who had the Urim in his breastplate,
and that high priest did not have an answer for him,
just like the prophets did not have an answer for him,
just like he didn't get answered in any other possible way.
Okay, now there's one more scripture on the Urim
that we should look at.
Go to Ezra chapter two, verse 62.
Ezra chapter two, verse 62.
Just to leave no stone unturned,
we're actually looking at every single Bible verse
that mentions the Urim.
Deuteronomy 33, eight,
this is when Moses is blessing the 12 tribes,
of Levi he said,
Let thy two Meme and thy Urim be with thy holy one,
whom thou didst prove at Massah,
and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah.
So there's really no additional information there.
Ezra 2.62 is talking about some priests
who couldn't really prove that they were legitimately
of the priestly family of the tribe of Levi,
the sons of Aaron.
And so they didn't have the genealogy to back that up.
So it says in Ezra 2.62,
These sought their register among those
that were reckoned by genealogy,
but they were not found.
Therefore were they as polluted put from the priesthood.
And the Tirshathah said unto them
that they should not eat of the most holy things
till there stood up a priest with Urim and with two Meme.
Basically saying, you know,
we can't prove that these guys are legitimate as priests
because we don't have the genealogy to back that up.
And so they should not eat of the holy things.
They should not act or function as priests
until we have a high priest with Urim and with two Meme,
basically a high priest that could inquire of God
and perhaps God could give an answer
about whether or not these guys are telling the truth
or legitimate.
So anyway, back to what we're talking about here
in 1 Samuel 28, okay?
So that's what that is.
God didn't answer him by Urim.
So it says in verse number seven.
So 1 Samuel 28 verse seven,
Saul's in a bad place.
God's not speaking to him by the high priest,
not by prophets, no other way.
His back's against the wall.
Then said Saul unto his servants,
seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit
that I may go to her and inquire of her.
And his servant said to him, behold,
there's a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor.
Now back up just a couple of verses
and remember the fact that Saul,
look at the end of verse three,
Saul had put away those that had familiar spirits
and the wizards out of the land.
So he had banned this.
He had made this illegal.
He had gotten it out of Israel.
No women with familiar spirits, no wizards.
He got rid of all that stuff
as he was supposed to do according to the law of God.
But now he's in such a jam.
He doesn't know what to do.
He's so desperate that he's actually being
a total hypocrite now
because he's made this practice illegal.
But now he wants to ask a woman
with a familiar spirit what to do.
Now it's kind of interesting that his servants
just happen to know exactly where
the nearest palm reader is or whatever.
So they say, well, there's this,
we forgot to tell you,
but there's this woman that has a familiar spirit at Endor.
Now what does this mean?
A woman that hath a familiar spirit.
What does that mean?
Well, just at first blush, just kind of glancing at this,
you'd think to yourself, there's the Holy Spirit
and then there's my spirit, your spirit,
just the spirit of man within him.
But when you've got some spirit that's not your spirit
and it's not the Holy Spirit,
it's a demon is what we're talking about.
I believe that that's what this is.
This is referring to that which is demonic, a devil.
Because what other spirits are out there?
This is obviously not of God.
God said that these kind of people should be put to death.
So it's not any kind of a good angel
that this woman is dealing with.
She's dealing with some kind of a cult,
dark arts, demonic stuff.
Now what is the familiar part?
Well, if you would keep your finger there in 1 Samuel,
but go to Isaiah chapter eight.
Isaiah chapter eight to shed a little light on this.
While you're turning there,
I'll read for you some of the verses
from God's law about familiar spirits.
It says in Leviticus 19, 31,
regard not them that have familiar spirits.
That means don't pay any attention to them.
Don't listen to what they have to say.
And when it says, regard them not to me,
that has the implication that they're full of baloney.
Because if it says, don't regard them,
it's saying, you might hear something that they say,
disregard it.
Disregard what you hear from the woman
that has a familiar spirit.
So regard not them that have familiar spirits,
neither seek after wizards to be defiled by them.
I am the Lord your God.
Leviticus 20 verse six,
and the soul that turneth after such as
have familiar spirits and after wizards
to go a whoring after them.
I will even set my face against that soul
and will cut them off from among his people.
So if you seek after the woman that has a familiar spirit,
then the Bible says that God will become your enemy.
God will set his face against you
and cut you off from among his people.
So stop and think about the seriousness of this.
Because some people today, even Christians,
they might be tempted to fool around
with something like this and say,
you know, we're gonna go to the psychic reader just for fun.
We're gonna do a seance just for fun.
We're gonna use a Ouija board just for fun.
We're gonna go to the palm reader.
We're gonna go and get our tarot card reading.
But you know, the Bible says that if you seek after that,
you know, God is going to set his face against you.
God's going to punish you.
God's gonna be against you.
I don't know about you, I want God on my side.
Last thing I want is for God to be against me.
Now, Saul's already got God mad at him,
and now he's going and seeking this.
Now he's gonna be in really big trouble.
Leviticus 20, verse 27 says,
a man also or a woman that hath a familiar spirit,
or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death.
They shall stone them with stones,
their blood shall be upon them.
So this is a very serious crime.
But look at Isaiah 8, 19.
Because it's kind of a strange word there, familiar.
You know, what does that mean?
What's that a reference to?
Well, look at Leviticus 20, verse 27.
It says, I'm sorry,
Isaiah 8, 19, and when they shall say unto you,
seek unto them that have familiar spirits.
So this is plural,
because people can be possessed
by more than one demon, by the way.
Seek unto them that have familiar spirits,
and unto wizards that peep and that mutter,
should not a people seek unto their God
for the living to the dead,
to the law and to the testimony,
if they speak not according to this word,
it is because they have no,
it's because there is no light in them.
And so one of the clues that we can get here
as to what the Bible's talking about
when it talks about a woman with a familiar spirit
is the idea that these people are seeking those
that have a familiar spirit
to go from the living to the dead.
And isn't that exactly what Saul is trying to do
when he goes to the witch and door,
because he says, I want you to bring me up, Samuel.
I want to talk to a dead person, okay?
And so what the Bible means by familiar spirit,
it's sort of like ancestral spirits.
You see, throughout the world,
there are people who worship their dead ancestors,
or they practice necromancy or communing with the dead
or worshiping the dead.
So there's a worship of dead ancestors
that takes place all throughout the world.
It's part and parcel of the demonic idolatry
that fills this world in pagan cultures.
You know, this is taking place all over Asia
and it took place among the Native Americans and so forth.
And so this type of ancestral spirit
is what we're talking about
when we talk about a familiar spirit,
because think about the root word there is family.
Okay, so the word familiar, it's not like,
oh, you look familiar, or it's kind of familiar to me.
It's more like familiar, like related to family
in that sense, okay?
Now, obviously, I do not believe for one second
that any of these wizards or women with familiar spirits
are actually communing with their dead ancestors whatsoever.
I don't believe that anyone on this planet,
I don't believe any of these psychic readers
or shamans or gurus are actually talking to ancestors.
But isn't that what they say they're doing?
Isn't that what they think they're doing?
Isn't that what they convinced their customers
that they're doing?
You know, oh, you wanna talk to grandpa?
You wanna talk to your dead aunt or whatever?
That's the type of things that they do in these seances.
They're communing with these dead relatives.
I don't believe they're actually doing it.
I believe they're actually communing with demons.
So the familiar spirit, it's called a familiar spirit,
but what is it actually?
It's actually a devil, okay?
You can call it a familiar spirit.
In fact, the Bible says that there are many entities
that are called gods and lords,
but we know that there's only one God.
There's but one God.
Before him, there was no God formed.
Neither shall there be after him.
But don't we find the word gods plural sometimes
in the Bible?
What's it talking about?
False gods.
All the gods of the nations are idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
But the things that the Gentiles offer
and sacrifice unto idols, they sacrifice unto devils.
So when you're worshiping an idol,
you're not just worshiping a chunk of metal or stone.
You're actually worshiping a devil.
You're worshiping a demon is what you're doing.
And so that's what's actually going on
with these people who mutter and peep
as the Bible says, they are claiming
to be able to seek from the living to the dead,
which is why they go by this title of,
oh, I have a familiar spirit.
That's what they're calling it.
You know, that's what they say it is
because it's like, oh, this is a spirit
that is associated, you know,
with your family or something, as it were.
You know, it's familiar to your family
and it's really just some random demon.
And that's why you should disregard what they're saying
because they're full of baloney.
You're not actually talking to your dead relative.
Does everybody understand?
He says, you know, you should seek to the law
and to the testimony, you know, seek the word of God,
pray to God, seek the Lord,
don't seek to use these mediums to speak to a dead relative
or a dead guru, speak to the Lord in prayer
and seek the law and the testimony.
And anybody who doesn't tell you that,
anybody who gives you other advice than that,
it's because there's no light in them, right?
They speak not according to this word,
it's because there's no light in them, the Bible says.
So everything that people say
should line up with the word of God.
We should seek the word of God
to give us the answers to our problems.
Now, elsewhere in Isaiah,
we'll get a little more of this kind of muttering
and peeping idea.
Go if you would just quickly to Isaiah 29 four,
Isaiah chapter 29 verse four,
because it said that the people who have familiar spirits
are those that mutter and peep.
But look at Isaiah chapter 29, it says in verse four,
and thou shalt be brought down
and shalt speak out of the ground,
and thy speech shall be low out of the dust,
and thy voice shall be as one
that hath a familiar spirit out of the ground,
and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.
So the person who has a familiar spirit,
they speak in a voice other than their own,
and they speak in a way that's deeper, a lower voice.
So you go to this woman who has a familiar spirit,
and instead of just having a normal woman's voice,
she's like talking like this or something,
talking in some weird deep voice
that's not her own, and muttering and peeping,
basically making a lot of like unintelligible sounds.
So like Charles Manson or something
where he'll just be talking,
then he's just kind of like,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
You knows what I'm talking about.
Who's seen Charles Manson do that?
Who's seen the Pentecostals do that?
Yeah, muttering and peeping
and speaking from the ground in a low voice,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
You know, all this weird stuff.
Okay, a bunch of familiar spirits down at that church
that teaches you a workspace salvation,
down at that church that teaches you a bunch of lies
and garbage and teaches that,
oh, you're gonna lose your salvation
if you don't live right,
and you gotta work your way to heaven
and all the garbage
that all of these Pentecostal churches teach.
So, sorry, but the Pentecostal church,
not a scriptural church.
And when you see people foaming at the mouth
and slobbering and rolling in the aisles,
it's because they're demon-possessed
or they're just an idiot.
It's one of those two things.
All right, beloved, back to 1 Samuel 28.
And so he goes to this woman that has a familiar spirit
and it says in verse eight,
and Saul disguised himself.
You know, he's embarrassed, right?
I mean, if you went to the psychic reader,
you'd probably disguise yourself too, right?
You don't want anybody to see you going in there.
And so Saul disguised himself and put on other raiment,
that's other clothes,
and he went and two men with him,
and they came to the woman by night and he said,
I pray thee, divine unto me by the familiar spirit
and bring me him up whom I shall name unto thee.
And the woman said unto him,
behold, thou knowest what Saul had done,
how he has cut off those that have familiar spirits
and the wizards out of the land.
Wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life
to cause me to die.
She says, look, are you guys undercover cops or what?
You know, are you here to entrap me
and to pretend that you want to inquire
of the familiar spirit?
You know that this is illegal and whatever.
And so Saul swear to her by the Lord saying,
as the Lord liveth,
there shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing.
Then said the woman, whom shall I bring up unto thee?
And he said, bring me up Samuel.
And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice.
Now, I believe 100%, I have no doubt about the fact
that Samuel actually shows up in this passage
and communicates because the Bible says that he showed up.
You know, the narrator of the Bible is never wrong.
Okay, it's the word of God.
And when it says, Samuel said, X, Y, and Z,
Samuel said, Saul said, Samuel said, Saul said.
I mean, that stuff's really coming from Samuel
or the Bible wouldn't tell us that it's coming from Samuel.
Because some people have tried to explain this away
and say, oh, this doesn't really happen, it's fake.
She doesn't actually communicate with Samuel.
But the Bible is saying that Samuel is speaking.
Also, if you look at what Samuel's gonna say
in this passage, this is clearly what Samuel would say.
And it's clearly a message from the Lord.
And it's all true and it's all biblical.
This witch at Endor wouldn't come up with this,
nor would some demon, okay.
But I will say this, I don't believe that this woman
typically has the power to actually do this.
I don't think that this woman is just constantly, you know,
bothering dead people and bringing them up.
You know, and just, you know, it's like, doggone it.
You know, that witch at Endor, I'll be bad, guys.
You know, like people are just constantly
being pulled out of, you know, their afterlife
in order to go back and just, you know,
be at the beck and call of some witch.
I don't believe that for one second.
I believe that the reason why she cries out
with a loud voice is because she's probably shocked
and terrified that it actually worked.
She's used to dealing with demons
and being demon-possessed.
And I'm sure that she's dealing with some real forces
and some actual entities.
I don't believe that she's just a complete fraud.
I believe that she actually is dealing with Satan
and dealing with devils, but I think she's just
a little terrified when Samuel actually shows up.
That's pretty bizarre because she's not used
to that actually happening.
And I believe that's why she cries out with a loud voice.
And here's the thing you have to understand
about this passage is that you have to read
between the lines a little bit,
because there's obviously a little bit being left out here
just because, you know, the Bible for sake of time
is obviously condensing events a little bit here.
So you have to read between the lines a little bit
in this story and you'll see what I mean in a moment.
Also, I think that some things in the Bible
are purposely kind of left ambiguous
where you can kind of read this passage
a few different ways.
But we have what we need in the passage
as far as what God wants us to learn from it
and that's really what matters.
And so as we read this, she cries out with a loud voice.
When the woman saw Samuel, she goes, ah!
You know, when she sees Samuel, it freaks her out, okay?
And she calls out with a loud voice.
Because this is a surprise to her.
That's why she cries out with a loud voice.
And the woman spake to Saul saying,
why hast thou deceived me for thou art Saul?
And what I mean about reading between the lines
is that if all she did was just see Samuel,
how would she just automatically know, oh, you're Saul?
So, you know, it's possible here.
And again, this is me reading between the lines.
It's not actually in the text.
But I would say most likely what happened is
that Samuel has told her that this is Saul.
Because how else would seeing Samuel
just make her instantly know,
you're Samuel, so you must be Saul?
She already knew that Saul wanted to talk to Samuel.
Who do you want me to bring up?
Bring me up, Samuel.
Samuel comes up, oh, you're Saul.
There's really no logical reason why that would cause her
to automatically know that it's Saul.
Does everybody see what I'm saying?
But she says, you know, you've deceived me,
why hast thou deceived me for thou art Saul?
Verse 13, and the king,
it's funny how it's been calling him Saul this whole time.
Now all of a sudden it calls him the king
because of the fact that, you know,
now he's been recognized.
So I guess he's, you know, now he's acting as the king now
because now she knows who he is.
The king said unto her, be not afraid.
For what sawest thou?
This is kind of a strange sentence.
The grammar's a little strange.
Don't be afraid for, for means what?
For means because.
So he's like, don't be afraid because what did you see?
Like, don't be afraid
because I want to know what you saw basically.
So just quit panicking and do your job
for a minute here, okay?
So basically he says, be not afraid for what sawest thou?
And the woman said unto Saul,
I saw gods ascending out of the earth.
And he said unto her, what form is he of?
That's a very strange exchange, isn't it?
Because stop and think about what's going on.
First of all, Saul's sentence
is a little grammatically sketchy.
And it's not that there's,
there's nothing wrong with your English Bible.
That's the way, that's what it says in Hebrew.
It just says the same thing in English.
They're just translating it, okay?
It's just kind of odd the way he says this.
Like, well, don't be afraid because what did you see though?
And then she says, I saw gods, that's plural, am I right?
I saw gods ascending out of the earth.
And he said unto her, what form is he of?
So it doesn't really seem like Saul's question
really matches what she just said, does it?
She says, I saw gods plural coming out of the earth.
He's like, what'd you see?
Now, what did she actually see?
What did the Bible say that she saw?
Because remember, we can only trust
what the narrator is telling us.
We can't always trust what characters in the Bible say
because characters can lie or deceive or twist things.
They can be an unreliable character.
I mean, Satan talks in the Bible
and we know he's always lying, right?
So we gotta go by what we actually know.
What do we know?
We know that she saw Samuel.
We know that for a fact.
We know that's what Saul's interested in.
What's Saul interested in?
God's coming out of the earth, is that what he's into?
No, he wants to talk to who?
Who'd she see?
Samuel, she freaks out, why'd you deceive me?
You're Saul, calm down, shut up
and tell me what you actually saw.
Oh, I saw gods coming up from the earth.
It's almost like he rejects that answer.
Like, Bologna, what form is he of?
You know, it's like somehow maybe he sees through her
that maybe what she's saying is not legitimate
when she says, I saw gods coming out of the earth,
that that just is something bogus.
And so he kind of rejects that answer
and asks a question, bringing it back on point,
what form is he of?
And again, it's possible that maybe we have to read
between the lines a little bit
because maybe some of the dialogue isn't really here
and God's just giving us the basics of the story,
but you could wonder something somehow caused Saul to know
that this answer, I saw gods coming from the earth,
isn't really the answer that he wants or is looking for
or is meaningful and it might just be a bunch of Bologna.
The thing that is reliable is what God tells us,
which is that she saw Samuel, she cried out,
and we know that there's going to be some conversation
between Samuel and Saul
because the narrator's telling us that.
Does everybody see how we kind of break that down
and maybe take what this witch is saying
with a grain of salt?
She's scared, she's panicking,
she might just kind of go into autopilot
and people like to hear about gods coming out of the earth
or something and he's just like, shut up
and tell me what form he's of.
So what form is he of?
And she said, an old man cometh up.
Now all of a sudden she's telling him
what he wants to actually know.
And he's covered with a mantle.
And watch carefully here, Saul perceived that it was Samuel.
What I want to point out here
is that Saul does not actually see Samuel.
He perceives that it's Samuel
simply by the description that she gives
because it doesn't say Saul saw Samuel.
It says he has to rely on her, like what did you see?
And then she's telling him it's an old man
and he is covered with a mantle.
And Saul perceived that it was Samuel
and he stooped with his face to the ground
and bowed himself.
So he basically bows down
because he realizes, okay, this is Samuel.
Now, why is this enough information, old man, mantle?
Well, the mantle is sort of Samuel's signature garb.
It's funny because even at the very beginning
of 1 Samuel, when we first meet Samuel,
as a little child, he receives a coat
from his mother every year.
And that's basically his signature garb.
It's like he keeps wearing these coats and mantle.
And a lot of times prophets wear a mantle,
like the mantle of Elijah,
that same wording is used.
And so somehow through her telling him this description,
old man, mantle, whatever, he perceives that it's Samuel.
He bows down to the ground as a sign of respect
toward Samuel.
But he doesn't actually see Samuel.
He's before this woman who's talking in a low voice
and muttering and peeping or whatever.
Now, it says in verse 15,
and Samuel said to Saul,
why has thou disquieted me to bring me up?
And Saul answered, I'm sore distressed,
for the Philistines make war against me,
and God has departed from me and answerth me no more,
neither by prophets nor by dreams.
Therefore, I have called thee that thou mayest
make known unto me what I shall do.
And again, because of the fact that it's clear
that Saul does not see Samuel,
my opinion here is that I don't think
that Saul actually hears Samuel either.
It's probably all going through this woman.
You know, basically this woman is basically speaking
for Samuel or telling what Samuel says, basically.
Samuel says it to her.
She relays it to him.
And the Bible's probably not just belaboring us with,
and then she said that Saul said,
and then she said that Samuel said,
and then she said that Saul said.
It's a little more likely that probably
the Bible's just cutting to the chase
of what the characters are saying to one another.
But the fact that it says,
Samuel said to Saul leaves zero room
for this interpretation that says,
oh, it isn't really Samuel talking.
Well, the Bible said it's Samuel talking.
So it's Samuel talking.
I'm satisfied.
You know, so why did you disquiet me to bring me up?
You know, Saul answered, I'm sore distressed,
and you know, I'm in this situation,
and we already know all that.
Look at verse 16.
Then said Samuel, wherefore, why,
then dost thou ask of me,
seeing the Lord has departed from thee
and has become thine enemy?
And by the way, even just by seeking the woman
with the familiar spirit,
God said, I'll set my face against that man.
And the Lord hath done to him as he spake by me,
for the Lord hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand
and given it to thy neighbor, even to David,
because thou obeyest not the voice of the Lord,
nor executest his fierce wrath upon Amalek.
Therefore hath the Lord done this thing unto thee this day.
Moreover, the Lord will also deliver Israel with thee
into the hand of the Philistines,
and tomorrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me.
The Lord also shall deliver the host of Israel
into the hand of the Philistines.
Then Saul fell straightway all along on the earth
and was sore afraid because of the words of Samuel,
and there was no strength in him,
for he had eaten no bread all the day nor all the night.
So again, it's not the words of a demon,
not the words of the witch,
but the words of Samuel, which clearly have come from God.
They jibe with what God has said.
He's terrified.
So he's already, he's bowing down before this witch
who's delivering this message from Samuel.
And then when he hears this,
he pretty much just collapses along the earth,
meaning like now he's just laying down,
just like, oh, he just falls over.
And he's just like, I'm done.
I haven't eaten or drunk all day, all night.
He just got this horrible news.
He just collapses and he's just, I'm done.
He's completely distressed.
He's at the end of his rope.
This little meeting has done precisely nothing for him.
Oh, God's not answering me.
I'm going to go to this woman that has a familiar spirit.
What good did it do him?
It's just a message telling him, sorry, buddy, you're doomed.
You're screwed.
It's over for you, game over, man.
I mean, what good did it do?
Obviously not, God's not going to bless this.
Now you say, well, why would God allow Samuel to, you know,
because God's just taking this opportunity
just to rebuke Saul once more for his wickedness.
And so that we could see Saul being rebuked for this.
And he says, moreover, the Lord will also deliver Israel
with thee into the hand of the Philistines
and tomorrow shall thou and thy sons be with me.
Now this is an important phrase
that we should pay attention to in verse 19.
Thou and thy sons shall be with me tomorrow.
Now let me ask you this,
is Samuel burning in hell at this moment?
Absolutely not.
Samuel is in heaven.
And by the way, I didn't say Abraham's bosom.
I said heaven.
Okay, a lot of people will say, you know,
all people in the Old Testament didn't go to heaven.
You know, they just, they went to a holding tank
in the center of the earth, you know,
hell's kitchen or hell's back porch or something.
And it's like a side room of hell
or it's a compartment within hell.
Folks, that is not a biblical teaching, okay.
And in fact, some people,
when they want to teach this doctrine
that people in the Old Testament didn't go to heaven,
some of them would even point to this passage as proof.
And they'll point to this passage
and they'll point to the part where
the witch says, an old man cometh up
and they're like, ah, cometh up.
Now first of all, this woman's not reliable.
She just told us she saw gods coming out of the earth.
Were there any gods coming out of the earth?
Are there any such thing as other gods?
No, they're not.
Number one.
Number two, let's say she really did see gods
coming up out of the earth, right?
We know that those are false gods or demons
and so she sees devils coming up.
Well then, maybe this woman is just used to dealing
with stuff coming from that direction
so when a dude shows up and appears in front of her,
she just assumes he came from downstairs
because everybody that she's ever talked to
came from down there.
Okay, but again, this is not authoritative.
This is not how you build a Bible doctrine
based on what some witch says.
Okay, you go by clear statements in scripture.
And you know, the Bible talks about, in Ecclesiastes,
it talks about the spirit of man going upward
and the spirit of the beast going downward into the earth
and it also talks about the spirit returning
to the god that gave it.
Or what about the fact that Enoch walked with God
and he was not, for God took him,
he was translated that he should not see death.
You know, Enoch is caught up to heaven.
What about the fact that Elijah goes up in a whirlwind
in a fiery chariot to heaven?
So you can't really say that nobody went to heaven
in the Old Testament.
Well, I can tell you right now that Elijah went to heaven.
You know, the book of Ecclesiastes indicates
spirits going upward to heaven,
returning to the god that gave it and so forth.
So this idea that no one can go to heaven
in the Old Testament because Jesus hasn't died
on the cross yet is absurd because Jesus Christ
is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
So to sit there and say no one is saved
in the Old Testament is false because David talks
about being saved and look at the Psalms.
You know, blessed is he whose iniquities are forgiven
and whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
And all these verses in the Old Testament
about people being saved and you know,
Isaiah 53 describes the crucifixion
as if it already happened.
Because for God it already has.
Because God dwells outside of time
and Jesus is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
It's not like we have to wait until Jesus died
on the cross in history to know, okay,
he's really gonna go through with it.
You know, people are saved in advance in the Old Testament.
They're looking forward to the cross.
We're looking back to the cross.
But salvation is by grace through faith
and it's Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection
that saves everyone Old and New Testament.
And they didn't have to go to a holding tank, you know,
until it was actually done.
Because it was already as good as done.
Because God already saw it happen.
God speaks about the things which be not as though they were
because God knows the end from the beginning.
God dwells outside of time.
Everything has already happened.
You know, the book of Revelation tells us how it all ends.
That stuff in Revelation, that's not just a prediction.
That happened.
Now for us it hasn't happened yet
because we're not God.
We're living in time.
It's 2022 for us.
But for God it's not 2022.
For God it's every year all the time
because God is God and lives outside of time.
And that's a whole nother sermon in and of itself.
But there's a mountain of scripture that we could use
to talk about God, you know, being outside of time
and not bound by time.
But the point is that even if,
even if you were to believe that Samuel's
in some kind of a good place holding tank
in the center of the earth,
he still says you and your sons
are gonna be with me tomorrow.
Now that wouldn't really be true if Saul weren't saved.
That means Saul is going to the good place.
Even if you have a wrong belief
about what that good place is,
Saul's going to the good place
because he says you and your sons tomorrow
are gonna be with me, okay?
Now you say, well, why is that bad news?
Well, you know what?
If I said, oh, by the way, thus saith the Lord,
you're dying and going to heaven tomorrow,
you probably wouldn't take that as good news either.
Especially if I told you you're gonna go to battle
and be slaughtered in battle tomorrow with your kids.
The fact that you're all going to heaven,
you still might fall on the ground, okay, and be upset.
Now look, you cannot lose your salvation.
And the reason that you can't lose your salvation
is because Jesus Christ died on the cross
for all of your sins, it's all paid for,
and you don't get to go to heaven by being good.
You go to heaven by believing on Jesus, okay?
In the Old Testament, they didn't know the name of Jesus.
They saw through glass darkly,
but they called upon the name of the Lord.
Just as we, when we get saved,
call upon the name of the Lord.
They, Saul is going to heaven
because he called upon the name of the Lord.
Now, the fact that he committed murder,
the fact that he went to a woman with a familiar spirit,
that did not make him lose his salvation
because his salvation was never based on works
in the first place.
His salvation was based on the fact
that he called upon the name of the Lord.
Now, another stupid belief that people sometimes have
is that, well, in the Old Testament,
there's a works component to salvation,
but in the New Testament, there isn't.
Folks, that makes absolutely no sense
because all righteousnesses are as a filthy rag to God.
So if a filthy rag can't save me in 2022,
can you explain to me how a filthy rag
saved somebody before Jesus died on the cross?
Like the, well, they just weren't that filthy back then.
Hey, the filthy rag verse is from the Old Testament,
and it says all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.
Hey, if a filthy rag can't save me now,
how could it save Saul?
How could it save anyone?
No one has ever been good enough to go to heaven.
Nobody has ever gone to heaven by works.
Abraham believed God,
and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
David describes the blessedness of the man
unto whom God impudeth righteousness without works.
So if Abraham's saved by faith,
if David is saved by faith,
everybody in the Old Testament is saved by faith.
Nobody's saved by works.
If you could be saved by works back then,
then why not be saved by works now?
In fact, Jesus, don't even worry about dying on the cross
because we're fine here.
We're all doing all these wonderful works,
and we're so good,
we're gonna go to heaven because we're a good person.
Folks, if righteousness comes by the law,
then Christ is dead in vain.
Don't frustrate the grace of God.
And so this verse right here,
this is not the witch talking.
This is Samuel, the man of God,
speaking from heaven,
speaking, even if you don't believe that,
speaking from the good place,
whatever you want to call it.
And he says, you and your sons are tomorrow
gonna come be with me.
And that's exactly what happened.
Saul is not in hell.
Saul is in heaven right now.
Not because he was a good guy,
not because of his works,
not because of his deeds,
but because he had called upon the name of the Lord,
he's a saved man.
And so Saul's in heaven for the same reason
I'm going to heaven,
because of Jesus.
Now I know a lot more about it than he did,
but we both called upon the name of the Lord
and we both have our faith and trust in the Lord
as our savior, not in ourselves.
Okay, so I want to point that out
because that's important doctrine here.
Tomorrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me.
And the Lord also shall deliver the host of Israel
into the hands of the Philistines.
It's bad news for him for a few reasons.
He's getting killed.
His sons are getting killed.
Obviously he wanted his throne to continue.
That's why he's so mad at David.
Obviously he worries about his legacy, right?
The leaders, they want to go down in history
as a good leader.
He goes now as a bad leader,
which is why this is not a popular baby name.
Is it?
Now, you know, if anybody here is named Saul,
you know, forgive me,
but it isn't a popular name.
I mean, I think Jews name their kid that sometimes,
but I mean, I've never met a Christian who was named Saul.
I mean, I'm not saying it's not out there.
I'm sure it is out there,
but it's not as popular as David, is it?
David is a little more popular.
Why?
Because Saul ends his life miserably like this
and he ruins his legacy.
He started out as being a great guy, a powerful leader.
The spirit of the Lord came upon him.
In fact, you know, the Bible says
the spirit of the Lord came upon Saul.
It says that more about Saul, I believe, than anybody else.
It's like Saul and Samson, I think, are tied.
Well, when I looked up the references
for the spirit of the Lord came upon him.
He starts out, you know, a pretty cool guy.
He's powerful.
He's used by a guy.
He starts out very humble,
but he ruins his life in the end
and then that's kind of what he gets remembered for.
Now, verse 21, let's just finish out the story quickly.
The woman came unto Saul and saw that he was sore troubled
and said unto him, behold, thine handmaideth,
obey thy voice and I've put my life in thy hand,
or excuse me, I've put my life in my hand
and have hearkened unto thy words,
which thou spakeest unto me.
Now therefore, I pray thee,
hearken thou also unto the voice of thy handmaid
and let me set a morsel of bread before thee
and eat that thou mayest have strength
when thou goest on the way.
But he refused and said, I will not eat,
but his servants together with the woman compelled him
and he hearkened unto their voice.
So he arose from the earth and sat upon the bed
and the woman had a fat calf in the house
and that's pretty much the best thing
you can offer people, right?
In the Bible, killing the fatted calf.
That's what you do for the best guests.
She hasted and killed it, took flour, kneaded it,
did bake unleavened bread thereof
and she brought it before Saul and before his servants
and they did eat.
Then they rose up and went away that night.
Now, here's what I love about this part of the story
is that the witch in Endor kinda comes off as a nice person.
I mean, she seems like a pretty nice lady, right?
I mean, even after everything,
even after Saul lies to her and tricks her
and she's worried and scared or whatever,
she actually has compassion on him
and worries about him like, oh man,
you're getting this bad news,
you're falling on the ground
and when you look at the story,
you realize that he's not gonna return this favor.
It's not like, well, if I help Saul, he's gonna help me.
Saul's dying tomorrow, right?
It's not like, oh man, maybe if I do a favor for the king,
I can get some back.
He's not gonna be the king tomorrow.
He dies tomorrow.
His servants die, his sons die.
It's all over tomorrow, okay?
She does this out of the goodness of her heart.
She just has compassion on him, cooks him food.
He doesn't wanna eat it.
He's just like, no, I'm leaving, bye, get me out of here.
She's like, no, no, no, sit down, have something to eat.
You see, why would the Bible do that?
Why would the Bible tell us that this woman is feeding?
You know, you could obviously draw out
different symbolic teachings here
and read it as an allegory and come up with other symbolism
and things that this represents.
I'm sure there've been a lot of sermons
that have done a good job of pulling out those meanings.
But as we close the sermon,
I just wanna focus on just the surface.
Because sometimes we miss what's right on the surface,
right?
Which is that this woman who is a bad person.
In fact, she's such a bad person
that the Bible says she should be put to death.
Is that what the Bible says?
Woman with familiar spirits, wizards, sorcerers
shall surely be put to death.
This woman should be put to death according to God's law,
yet she's kind of a nice person.
She seems a little bit generous with her stuff,
compassionate or whatever.
Let me explain something to you.
This is the way the world actually works
in real life.
Bad people sometimes come off as nice.
And sometimes they even legit do nice things.
That doesn't change the fact that they're a bad person.
It doesn't change the fact
that they're communing with the devil.
It doesn't change the fact that they should be put to death.
It doesn't change the fact
that you have no business inquiring of them.
Now, one of the things that Muslims
will sometimes criticize about the Bible,
which is so ridiculous,
for a Muslim to have anything to say about the Bible
when their book is such a worthless piece of trash,
the Quran, okay?
But here's what they'll say about the Bible.
They'll say, oh, the Bible's so bad
because the Bible has David committing adultery
and the Bible has Lot being violated by his daughters.
The Bible has Noah getting drunk.
The Bible has Moses murdering the Egyptian.
You know, the Bible has all this stuff.
The Bible has Saul killing the priest of the Lord.
Because to them, just every prophet of God,
peace be upon all of them,
is just so perfect it never makes a mistake
because they're all just so wonderful, godly men.
You know why?
Because the Quran was probably originally written
with a crayon.
Because it's written by a bunch of illiterate buffoons.
It's the stupidest book I've ever read.
It's so boring because it's just garbage literature, friend.
Because you know what, you wanna read the Quran,
why don't you just go buy a stinking comic book?
Because a comic book is gonna be way better than the Quran.
You know?
I mean, if you lock me in a room and say,
you gotta read the Quran for the next 100 hours
or you're gonna read comic books,
I'll say, give me that old vintage, you know,
Marvel stuff, you know, from when I was a kid.
Give me the good stuff, give me the original stuff.
And you know, I'll take the Quran
in case I need any toilet paper in the latrine.
Because it's worthless, my friend.
And let me tell you something.
Any idiot who knows anything about literature at all,
anybody who actually knows how to read,
knows that every single good book on this planet
has complex characters, and that when you have
these cartoony, one-dimensional characters
where the good people only do good things
and the bad people only do bad things,
you're reading something that is at such a low level,
it's not even literature.
You know, maybe the Quran can just call the bad guys like,
Dr. Evil, Dr. Bad Guy, Mr. Good Man, Manly Man.
But Muhammad couldn't even write it with a crayon
because Muhammad can't even write or read.
And in fact, when you talk to the Muslims of this world,
they will brag to you about how Muhammad is illiterate.
They brag to you.
I can't even count how many Muslims have looked at me
and told me how Muhammad could not read or write,
and like that was a good thing.
Like that was just, they're so proud of that.
Well you know what, the disciples not above his master
nor is the servant above his Lord.
If you're following an illiterate prophet,
what does that make you?
I can't even call you the crayon brigade
because that's giving you too much credit
because at least using a crayon,
you know, you could actually write something.
But Muhammad is so stupid and illiterate
that he can't even write even basic literature
that's worth reading.
He doesn't even understand character development.
He doesn't even understand the fact
that if all the bad guys only do bad stuff
and all the good guys only do good stuff,
you've written a comic book.
In fact, even a comic book probably
has more complex characters than that.
I'm probably being rude to comic books right now.
I mean, let me tell you something.
Have you noticed that in real life it doesn't work that way?
Have you noticed that every good person
that you've ever known in your life has done something bad?
And have you noticed that every bad person
does something good?
So don't be duped into this weird way
of looking at the world that good people
never make mistakes and bad people.
It's like, come on, 1.6 billion Muslims.
Really?
Are you really that foolish that you really think
that, oh, none of the prophets of God would ever do that?
But meanwhile, their prophet is sleeping
with just girl after girl after girl,
but that's okay because, you know,
it was all good when he did it.
God told him to sleep with those 11 women.
Peace be upon him.
Piss be upon him.
You know, oh, you know, how dare the Bible
say that David committed adultery?
Because he committed adultery, that's why.
Because Noah got drunk, okay?
And you know what, the witch at Endor
is kind of a nice person, okay?
And you know what, this kind of not understanding
what I'm saying right now,
it leads people into false doctrine too
because like, you know, the Bible will sit there
and talk about the homos and say how they're so wicked
and they're vile and they're brute beasts
and they're full of all unrighteousness
and it's like, oh, that's not true
because I knew the sodomite
and he did something nice one time.
Okay, who here thinks that sodomites
sometimes do nice things?
Who thinks they might do something good?
Yeah, who thinks they should all die?
Amen.
So there you go, friend.
You know what the Bible reflects?
The Bible reflects real life.
The Quran doesn't reflect real life.
Quran doesn't reflect reality.
The Quran's not even a good book.
You know, I've read a lot of books that I like
that weren't the Bible and they weren't inspired by God
and they weren't the Bible and I just read a book
and I was like, I like that book, that was a good book,
I think I'll read it again.
The Quran is just pain to read
because it's just so boring, nothing happens.
And then when it tells a Bible story,
it just butchers the Bible story.
Look, the author of the Quran thinks
that Mary the mother of Jesus
and Miriam the sister of Moses are the same person
even though they lived approximately 1,600 years apart.
They live like 1,500 years apart
and he thinks they're the same person in the Quran.
You say, how could he make such a mistake?
Because he's never read the Bible
because he's illiterate.
And let me just tell you something right now.
Anybody who's illiterate, unless they have a disability,
obviously, you know there are people
who are developmentally disabled,
I'm not being down on them.
If you are not developmentally disabled
and you're illiterate, you know what that tells me about you
is that you're a lazy person.
And you know what, here's another word
for somebody who's lazy, wicked, wicked.
The Bible calls the slothful wicked.
If you're lazy, you're wicked.
Laziness is wickedness.
And you know what, if you are illiterate,
if you don't know how to read and write
and there's nothing wrong with your brain,
then shame on you.
You need to learn how to read and get your butt in gear
and get to work learning how to read
and don't be an imbecile.
Don't be a buffoon.
Don't be another Mohammed.
And isn't it interesting, Brother Raymond Cooper taught us
a few months ago in his sermon
about how he listed the 11 most illiterate countries
in the world and they're Muslim countries.
And he talked about the literacy rates in Sierra Leone
of the Christians versus the Muslims.
Christianity brings literacy.
Christianity brought literacy to the Native Americans.
They had no written language until Christianity
brought them that written language.
Okay, the Native Americans in Arizona
got their written language around the 1930s.
That's why they use our alphabet
because it came from missionaries.
What does Islam bring?
Illiteracy.
Come follow our illiterate prophet.
Folks, one of the reasons why I love this story
is because I can read this story a hundred times
and you find all these different nuance.
It's super interesting.
It's a very, you know, I hope tonight you found
the story a little bit interesting.
It kind of defies expectation, you know?
And the Old Testament is constantly defying
the reader's expectation.
So many, I mean, you want to talk about twists and turns.
I mean, the Bible's got some twists.
Because the Bible, even by worldly, unsafe people,
is considered great literature.
Unlike the Quran, which nobody gives a rip about
unless they're unfortunate enough to be a Muslim, okay?
But you say, well, you're really being hard on the Muslims.
Well, somebody needs to shake these people
because they need to get saved.
They're going to split hell wide open.
You know, it's like, oh, you're being mean to Muslims.
Well, I wonder how it's going to feel
when they get thrown into hell for all eternity.
I wonder how that's going to feel.
Yeah, but I mean, you think they're going to be
burning in hell someday?
Like, I can't believe Pastor Anderson was mean to me.
I think you're going to be a little more worried
about being on, I think they're going to be a little,
who do you think they're going to be madder at
in hell someday, me or Mohammed?
I think they're going to be,
I think Muslims are in hell right now cursing Mohammed.
And, you know, I don't know how things work down there,
if they're able to kick his butt down there or what,
but you know what I mean?
Like, I don't know if it's like going to prison
as a pedophile or something, you know?
Like Mohammed goes to hell, he's got to face everybody
that he's been lying to all the time.
Every second a new Muslim's going down there like,
you know, I'm not claiming to know how things work
down there, but I know they're all on fire,
I'll tell you that.
And I'll tell you right now that Mohammed is leading people
to hell right now and people need to wake up to the fact
that he's this illiterate pedophile idiot.
And you know what I like about this story
is that it's a great read.
There's spiritual truth here and I bet I'm over time,
so I'll just give you the spiritual truth real quick.
You know, the spiritual truth is that if you're not getting
the answer from the word of God,
if you're not getting the answer praying to the Lord
and opening your Bible, then you know what?
There's no place else that's worth looking for an answer.
If you can't find the answer here,
if you can't find the answer seeking to the law
and to the testimony, you know what that means?
That maybe you're just not going to get an answer.
And you know, we're not going to know everything.
We're not necessarily going to know about what the Urim
and the Tummim or what some of these words mean.
You know what, I don't have to know everything.
But I will say this, that if God doesn't have
my spiritual answers, then I'm just going to have
to just be satisfied with what God has revealed.
And if something has not been revealed,
then you know what, I don't need to go to the devil
to try to get the answer from him.
Or from her, that woman who's a familiar spirit woman.
That's the moral of the story.
And it's a great story because when God writes the book,
you know it's going to be awesome.
And you know it's going to have that reread value
where you'll go back and read it again and again and again.
I mean, I don't understand,
why would you keep reading the Quran?
It's so one dimensional cardboard cut out.
I mean, you've read it once, it's like,
that was too many times.
That's probably enough word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord.
Thank you for the story.
Let it be a warning to us not to mess with the occult
and to only go to your word, Lord,
to find the spiritual answers that we're looking for
and to make things right with you
instead of trying to seek answers elsewhere.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen.
Amen, take your psalm books and let's go to number 397.
397, little is much when God is in it, number 397.
397.
In the heart of this field have I been,
there's a word for all to do.
Hark, the voice of God is coming
to the harvest calling you.
Little is much when God is in it,
labor not for wealth or fame,
there's a crown in you who can live,
if you'll grow in Jesus' name.
Does the place your hopes and labor
cease to fall and live alone?
It is great if God is in it
and will not forget his own.
Little is much when God is in it,
labor not for wealth or fame,
there's a crown in you who can live,
if you'll grow in Jesus' name.
Are you great aside from service,
body born from toil and care?
You can still be in the battle,
in the sacred place of prayer.
Little is much when God is in it,
labor not for wealth or fame,
there's a crown in you who can live,
if you'll grow in Jesus' name.
When the conflict here is ended,
and our race on earth is won,
he will say to all the faithful,
help them hold what shall be done.
Little is much when God is in it,
labor not for wealth or fame,
there's a crown in you who can live,
if you'll grow in Jesus' name.