words on that fourth verse. No condemnation. Now I dread. That's amazing, isn't it? Amazing love.
Would you sing that fourth verse? Really lift it up. No condemnation. Now I dread. Sing it out.
And here's what I want us to do.
I want us just to listen, take it in.
And when we get to that chorus as a response,
let's lift up our voice as we praise the Lord tonight in songs.
So Brother Yeager, you come take your time on this last verse
and then let's join all together on that last chorus
and sing to the King of Kings tonight.
Brother Yeager.
Shirley
Good afternoon everyone and welcome back to steadfast baptist church. We're gonna go ahead and get started
It's like everybody's pretty much seated
We're gonna start in song number 419
I know you guys know this one, so I expect you to sing it out really loud song were 419
sound the battle cry
souls that were one out soul winning today. We ask Lord that you guide them, help them to get
into a good church if not this one Lord. And we ask Lord that you fill Pastor Shelly with the Holy
Spirit and help them to preach an edifying sermon unto us so we can fill the week with
understanding and growth Lord for your honor and glory. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
All right next up we have song number 374.
three hundred and seventy-four, send the lion.
Thanks for coming to St. Baptist Church.
If you didn't already get a bulletin and you need one,
just lift up your hand nice and high
and whatever ushers can come by
and get you guys a bulletin.
On the front we have our passage, Jude one.
And so, if you, Jude one verse 24.
Service time, soul winning times are there on the inside.
Church stats, make sure you're submitting
in your soul winning information into our group chat.
On the right is a list of expecting ladies.
Please be in prayer for them.
We have the results from our Tyler, Texas sowning marathon and then upcoming events
We have a sowning seminar this Saturday at 12 30. It's here at the church
There's a sign-up sheet in our welcome area our welcome table
Please sign up if you are planning on participating so we can have an accurate count
We're just gonna have a lunch and a quick little some sowning tips for them
Ourself is gonna be leading for us. And so if you'd like to participate, we'd love to have you
You can learn a little bit more about giving the gospel and how to be really efficient in your presentation.
We have our missions trip coming up pretty soon, October 6th through 11th, to Nassau, Bahamas.
Just pray that the trip will go smoothly and that we can see a lot of people say it because it's a great opportunity when you're out there.
And it's kind of a once in a lifetime experience, a lot of times, to go out there because the people out there are very receptive.
work really efficiently and get a lot of people saved out there.
Also, Pastor Bruce Mejia is going to be coming and preaching October 19th.
Fall swap is October 26th. Texas Chili Cookoff, October 31st.
One of our friends, Faith Ward Baptist Church, is hosting a missions
conference November 5th to the 9th. I'm going to be preaching that
Thursday about our Bahamas trip, God willing.
And there's gonna be some other great sermons out there.
I know Pastor Bruce Mahia's gonna be preaching out there,
I think for, I think he's talking about Mexico.
I could be wrong, but I know there's a lot of other people
that have traveled to different parts of the world
and so it's always cool to hear different testimonials
and hear about different missions, trips,
and events that people do.
Also,
We have the Anchor Baptist Church is having their anniversary November 23rd
and I'm gonna be out there preaching for them. We have our turkey bowls so if you
haven't you missed out on the football for the the FBBF you can join us for the
Thanksgiving turkey bowl should be lots of fun. Our ladies Christmas party is
gonna be December 5th that evening or Christmas Caroling December 8th Cookie
On the back is our prayer list.
Please be in prayer for our church family
throughout the week.
That's pretty much all I have as far as announcements.
We'll sing our hymn of the week,
where the spirit blows, where the spirit blows.
All right, so we're gonna do things
a little bit different than we did this morning.
So at the end of every verse, we've been shouting out, go, I want you to hold on to that.
I know you kiddos really want to sing it out loud, but we're going to save it for the last go.
It's going to be really loud. All right. Where the spirit blows.
As the offering plates are going around please turn your bibles to second Peter chapter number one
second Peter chapter number one
Second Peter chapter number one
The Bible says Simon Peter a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ
To them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ
Grace and peace be multiplied unto you
through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
According as His divine power
hath given unto us all things
that pertain unto life and godliness,
through the knowledge of Him that hath called us
to glory and virtue.
whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature
Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust
And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge,
and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to
godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity.
For if these things be in you and abound they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord
Jesus Christ, but he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off and have forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
Wherefore, the rather brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure.
For if you do these things, ye shall never fall.
For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though
ye know them, and be established in the present truth."
Yea, I think it meet as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you
in remembrance, knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord
Jesus Christ has showed me.
Moreover, I will endeavor that ye may be able, after my decease, to have these things always
in remembrance.
For we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,
but were I witnesses of His majesty.
For he received from God the Father honor and glory when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory
This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased and this voice which came from heaven
We heard when we were with him in the holy mount
We have also a more sure word of prophecy where unto ye do well that ye take heed
As unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation.
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
Let us pray.
Dear Heavenly Father, I want to thank you for this day. Thank you for blessing our soul-winning.
Please bless us on our trip to the Bahamas.
Please let it be very fruitful and protect us, Lord.
I pray that you would turn our attention to your word
and help us to focus on it.
Please help Pastor Shelly as he preaches your word.
Fill him with the Holy Spirit in Jesus' name, amen.
Amen.
The Bible says in verse 20,
knowing this verse that no prophecy of the scripture
is of any private interpretation.
For the prophecy came not an old time by the will of man,
but holy men of God's spake.
as they are moved by the Holy Ghost.
Now this particular passage of Scripture is kind of giving us an indication about the Bible itself
and it's telling us specifically that the Bible
is not just some kind of a private document or a private understanding,
but rather it's actually coming from God.
So it's not like just someone's opinion, it's not just some man created the Bible,
but rather the prophecies of the Scripture and the Word of God.
They came to us from the Holy Ghost.
That's what it's saying in verse number 21.
It's not by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved.
by the Holy Ghost. So we believe the Bible is inspired,
meaning that the Holy Ghost is giving the words
unto men and they were speaking
under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost and that the words of God
are really the words of God. Now he used men
to give us those words of God, but
We don't believe that those words were just coming from the man.
They were coming from the inspiration of the Holy Ghost.
Now, when it comes to the word inspiration...
You know, I kind of lean towards this idea of explaining this as kind of an organic inspiration.
You know, there's this idea called mechanical dictation.
Some people would believe that essentially the guy came under so much inspiration that
he's just kind of speaking like a robot, like almost like God's taking over their body and
they're just like, you know, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God.
dictation, mechanical dictation, that they really weren't in the driver's seat almost.
I don't really believe that. I don't really think that that's how the Bible was delivered.
I kind of believe and tend to think that it's more of an organic inspiration
that men were feeling genuinely led to speak and they were kind of speaking of their own fruition
a little bit.
But the Holy Ghost was the one still giving them those words
and guiding them to the words that they used,
but they were fitting the situation,
they were fitting the circumstance.
They were coming from an organic situation in general.
Of course, the letters written by Paul seemed to be just him
kind of wanting to communicate messages to the church
and that the Holy Ghost is kind of coming alongside of him
and giving him the right words, giving him God's words
still also delivering that particular message.
So it's kind of like an organic way of the words being delivered.
You know, when Caiaphas is speaking the word of God in the Bible,
you know, I don't think that he got over, like,
is a robot just speaking things.
He genuinely is saying what he's wanting to say,
but at the same time, the Holy Ghost is guiding him
to say those words because that's what God has ordained
for him to say in that moment.
Now, Caiaphas is not an author of the Bible.
He's not one of the people that pinned down the Bible.
He's just speaking, and the Holy Ghost is kind of guiding
him to say those words at that time.
I don't even believe he was saved, personally,
but even an animal is able to speak in the Bible.
So we have people in the Bible speaking.
and sometimes their words are divinely inspired in a sense,
but I don't think that we have to attribute them as being saved.
I think anybody could just say the word of God.
But the people that pinned the Bible down,
I believe all of them were saved.
All of them are saved men of God,
and they're just accurately recording history and God's word
through the divine inspiration of God.
Now, that's an important doctrine, that's an important idea,
and I think it also helps us to kind of understand
where we even got the Bible.
Now, I want you to go to Matthew 13 if you would, go to Matthew 13.
I kind of came to this sermon idea from something interesting because...
Sometimes I engage with just the world
and just the hive mind of ideas by going online
and doing these things called spaces.
This is a thing on like X or Twitter called spaces.
And on these spaces, you can just basically interact
with anyone and everyone.
Sometimes I just join conversations
and it's really just a big conversation.
And sometimes you just kind of stuck in this space
listening to some random person talk, right?
And what I've noticed is that there's certain individuals
that will just kind of start deconstructing the Bible
and deconstructing everything.
They'll say, you know, I don't really think
you'd trust the Bible.
The Bible's written by man.
The Bible's been corrupted.
And then they just kind of start spouting off their beliefs.
They start spouting out like what they believe and what they think is right and their philosophies
and how to be happy and how to be successful and how the government should run and like
should we have this style of government and should we have this style of life and you
know just philosophy on getting married or just basically anything and everything you
could think of, right?
They just start spouting off their ideas.
And I remember I was listening to this guy speak and he said kind of the same thing.
I don't think it's accurate, this is my views on like the world and how to be happy and stuff.
And so I started taking some notes because if I was going to respond I wanted to kind of remind myself
of some of the things he said and just kind of like respond in how I believe and what the Bible teaches.
But as I was taking notes I was kind of thinking about this, you know, there's kind of this question
I would like to ask this person, not just this person, any person that's saying this.
Okay, well where did you come up with your ideas?
Where did you get this information because if you got this information from a book or a collection of books
I would like for you to just tell me hey
What are the books that gave you all these ideas so I can read them myself and I can take the time to study and
I can decide if that's right or wrong
And if you say well, I didn't you know no book right and I don't know what this guy's answer would be
But let's just say it's not, it's not necessary from a book, okay?
So he didn't learn it from somebody else or from some other book.
Then he would say, I learned it, right?
I just know it, or I have this information.
Well, if you believe in a God or some kind of variation of a deity, then you have to
say, so are you like a spokesperson for God?
Is this new information, is this new revelation that has come to you from God that we need?
Because if you're speaking and we don't have this information anywhere, it's not written
down, this is a new idea and this is the best idea, then we should probably write it down.
And we should write this thing down and and and then we can go back and we look at it
We can reference it. We can see if there's a contradiction
We can try to figure out like what you're saying and we can apply these things to our life
Because if someone is speaking to this brand new idea that's not been recorded and nobody knows it
There's not a book I can reference then boy. We need to write this thing down
So that we can have it right?
And ultimately, you know, you have to think about it, this is how we actually did get the Bible.
Because what is the Bible?
The Bible is a collection of books that were given by men where this information did not exist,
and they were divinely given by God.
And when Jesus Christ came on the scene, and he starts speaking, they said,
So, what did men do?
Well, men like Matthew, Mark, Luke and John wrote down what Jesus said and wrote down
Gospels and wrote down His messages and then we could read what they wrote and understand
and study and have that information for ourselves.
But they asked this question to Jesus and I feel like this is an important question.
This is kind of the question I would ask this person.
Matthew 13, look what it says in verse 53.
And it came to pass that when Jesus had finished these parables,
he departed fence, and when he was coming to his own country, he taught them in their synagogues
in so much that they were astonished, and said,
Wince, hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works.
So they asked this question, Wince. The word Wince is an older word, but it just means where.
They're saying, where is this guy getting his information?
Because if he's getting his information from a book or a text or a teacher or whatever,
then we want to have that source.
We want to see that source.
We want to study it for ourselves.
We want to have that information.
We don't want to, you know, be limited in that.
Or if he's getting it from God, then we want to know, hey, is this coming from God?
Or there's a third alternative.
God, he's a deity, he's better than us, he's a supreme being, he's more intelligent than
every other person and he's the unique person to these ideas and this information and we're
kind of asking this question, are you getting it from someone else?
Are you getting it from God or are just you God?
Are you just a supreme being?
Are you the intellectual mind that this is coming from?
And that's really an important question when you think about it.
If there's information that's being delivered,
where is this information coming from?
Where is this idea coming from?
And ultimately, as a Bible-believing Christian,
we put all of our ideas and thoughts to test with the Bible.
We say, hey, you know what, we believe this is true.
This is accurate.
And this is our ultimate source of authority, okay?
Whereas other individuals, they give that to someone else.
If you don't believe the Bible, you have to ask this question.
Where is your ultimate source of authority?
Because at some point you have an ultimate source of authority.
Everybody has an ultimate source of authority.
You have to ask yourself this question.
Which is yours though?
Is it coming from another book?
Maybe it's The Cron, maybe it's some book that you read
that isn't even necessarily religious
or some kind of other spiritual book.
And you just basically take that as,
this is where I get my ideas,
this is where I think is the best idea.
Or a particular person, is there a particular person?
You just say that this person, everything they say is right.
Or, here's what a lot of people don't realize they're doing, but the reality is they themselves
are the source of truth and what is ultimately right or wrong.
And I would argue this, if you are not King James only, you are your ultimate source of
authority.
because at the end of the day what most Christians are doing
is they say well all the Bibles are just generally right
but I get to pick and choose which verses are the right verses. You know
when I read the NIV I get something out of it over here, the ESV over here
and they get to basically cherry pick, well
I like the NIVs reading in this verse but I like the ESV in this verse and the NASB in this verse
well if that's right why don't you collate them all together and give us your
version so we can have the real Bible.
And you know what, I don't need that because the King James Bible is already the right Bible.
It's already been collated, it's already authoritative, it's already something that I can trust.
And you know when it came to Jesus Christ, well they were supposed to realize as hey,
whence came this wisdom, it's coming from the Word of God, it's coming from God Himself.
That's why this information is trustworthy.
That's why this information can be relied upon.
That's why we believe it is the source of where this is coming from.
And any information you hear, you should always ask yourself this question.
Where is this information coming from?
And sometimes you'll realize, okay, well this information is coming from this person,
but really all they're doing is repeating Andrew Tate.
And all Andrew Tate is doing is regurgitating something that's in the Quran.
And all the Quran is regurgitating is something that the Prophet Muhammad said.
And what the Prophet Muhammad is doing is he's regurgitating something that a demon told him.
And this demon is regurgitating something that Satan told him.
And it's ultimately just all a lie.
So we're tracing the origin of where is this information really coming from.
And I would even submit to you this that I don't even really believe that original ideas
even exist at really at this point anymore.
Like anybody that comes up with an idea or thought, someone's already thought that, somebody's
already believed that, somebody has already, you know, dreamed this up somehow.
Okay, you know and I pretty much always held to this the one time I was challenged on this though
It's kind of recently. It was when Tom Mcmurray said that Jesus Christ was in temple zero during the flood
But I had a debate with this guy and
If you actually listen to the bait was hard to watch because it was just it was weird
But I asked him I said did you learn this from someone else or did you figure this out yourself?
And he said, oh, I figured it out myself.
And I said, is there anyone else on the world
that believes this?
And it's like, he's like, I don't think so.
You know, I don't know how he answered exactly,
but he's basically eluding like,
I don't know anybody else that believes this.
He's the sole person in the whole world
that believes this idea.
Now, what is that look like?
That's what you call a cult.
A cult is when there's one person who believes something that no one else believes and we
have no attributable source to that particular information.
This is what a cult actually looks like is when someone is spouting ideas and beliefs
that are unique to that individual, okay, that are coming from this particular person,
they're not coming from some other information that can be tested, relied upon, understood.
And that's what these people are doing on spaces.
They're getting and saying, the Bible isn't necessarily authoritative.
I don't really believe that.
And then they just start spouting their ideas, their beliefs.
Well, here's the thing. How do I get this information?
There's no text for me to read.
I can't use the Bible.
So what I have to do, I have to constantly go to this person.
They become a guru.
and now I need this guru to tell me what's right and wrong
because I can't use the Bible, I can't trust any of that,
I can't trust these things.
And look, this is a dangerous philosophy that exists in our world.
And not just in spaces, it even exists in Baptist churches.
And I'll explain, this is how it works in a Baptist church.
Well, I know the Bible says that your women are not permitted to speak,
but if you go back to the Greek...
What it really is saying is that women are on this side of the church and men were on this side of the church
And they were yelling at the cause that doesn't it doesn't say that in the Greek
You know what it says in the Greek what the King James Bible says that women are not permitted to speak in church
That's what it actually says. Okay, and
But think about it. You don't speak Greek. I don't speak Greek
You know, I studied a little bit, but I'm just saying in general, I'm not fluent in
Greek or something like that.
I can't just read the New Testament in Greek.
You can't just read the New Testament in Greek.
So we just have to trust someone else to tell us what the Greek even means.
Why don't we have 54 brilliant scholars tell us what the Greek means?
Okay, we already have them telling us exactly what the Greek means.
And in fact, these 54 brilliant scholars, you know, they didn't even start off with the
Greek.
You know what they started off with?
The Bishops Bible, which is 99.999 percent, whatever this is anyways.
So it's like they were just dialing it in okay
There's been hundreds and hundreds of years people studying the Greek and going back and comparing the English and they got it dialed in
So I can just trust this as hey, this is the word of God
This is an accurate translation of the Greek and I don't need some guru to come and tell me what the Greek really means
What the Hebrew really means or many churches they they're not King James only
who just cherry pick all these verses.
Well actually you need to use the NIV on this one
or you need to use the ESV on this one
or you need to use this version or that version
and then they become what?
A guru or a cult leader.
And that's really what I wanna preach on this evening
is just cult leaders, cult leaders.
What's a cult leader? Well, I looked it up just online like what the definition is of like a cult or a cult leader
online and and I kind of want to give you like my
Interpretation of the facts or whatever on what that would be, but sorry forgive me. I just want to pull it up again
Just make sure I get this accurate
This is a cult according to this online dictionary. It says a religion
That is generally considered to be extreme or false and it says it's followers often living in an unconventional manner
under the guidance of an authoritarian or charismatic leader. It's basically saying it's following a particular person
that's doing things that are not
conventional not according to that religion not according to what you know would be the standard or the beliefs of that religion
It's unique to what the person?
And really, I would probably summarize it the same way, I would just say a cult is when you're following a man
above the text, when you're following a person above what the Bible says, that's where it's a cult.
Now obviously, you know, when we think of a cult, I'm thinking something extreme like Jim Jones or something like that.
can be a little off or a little wrong
or have their own little unique ideas or something.
And I'm not saying that they're necessarily a cult.
They're just a weirdo, potentially, you know?
If you believe that Jesus Christ is surfing
in Temple Zero at the flood, you're just kind of a weirdo.
I don't know that you're necessarily a cult.
I wouldn't go that far. I wouldn't make that label.
But it's a cult-like tendency.
It is somehow in that same vein, that same idea.
And we have to test ourselves.
Go to Proverbs 3. Go to Proverbs 3.
You know, how do you know what's right or wrong?
We just trust the Bible.
The Bible is what's right and wrong,
and that's how we know what's up and up
and what's down is down.
Not what the news says, not what the public school says,
not what the history book that was written by the winners
and the Jews says, but whatever the Bible says.
Hey, you know, sometimes even people try
to give you revision assistance and say,
oh, the Bible's been tampered with
and the Bible's been corrupted
and the Bible's been changed a lot.
I could show you a 1611 exact reprint or an actual 1611,
and it says the same thing as this I hold in my hand.
Not only that, you can see the Greek underlying scripture, and they've found Greek manuscripts
going way back.
Let's say the exact same thing.
We have Hebrew text that date beyond the time of Christ that say the same thing.
You know, it's the same book, it's the same Bible, it's lasted for centuries.
You know, it's pretty much just an established fact of reality that the Bible has not been
tampered with the way people want you to believe.
Obviously, there's been corrupted versions, they've always existed, but we've also had
the pure versions and the pure words of God for every generation, just like the Bible
says.
Therefore, we can then trust in something other than our own selves.
We can trust in something other than our brain.
And the Bible commands us in verse 5,
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart
and lean not under thine own understanding
in all thy ways acknowledge Him,
and He shall direct thy past.
The Bible says that we should trust God and not ourselves.
How can I do that?
Because I have a text.
that is the Word of God and not just the Word of God is God.
The Bible says in the beginning was the Word and the Word is with God and the Word was God.
So I can actually trust in God by trusting in the Bible, by trusting the Word of God
and as an English speaker, trusting the King James Bible as my sole final authority
in all matters of faith and practice.
And if I think something and the Bible says something different, the Bible's right and I'm wrong.
But here's the cool thing about it, is not only that, if I say something different, you
can read the Bible and say, hey, I'm going to trust the Bible over Pastor Shelley.
Not only does Pastor Shelley, the guy that's sitting next to me.
Not only the guy next to me, every church, every person, because ultimately the Bible
is good, the Bible is right, and let God be true and every man a liar.
Because we should only trust the Bible.
That makes us safe to all have the same text and the same book,
and there's no private interpretation.
It's not in a foreign language that we can't understand.
It's in a language that we all understand,
a language that we all speak.
It's something that we can all read,
we can all memorize, we can all check,
and we can all hold each other accountable.
and saying, we got to believe what this says.
And when any of us is off,
hey, we can hold ourselves accountable to that.
Whereas if it's just, hey, whatever this guy says is right,
no matter what, and we don't have any text,
we have no way to verify anything that he said,
well, then now you're in a cult.
And that's what cult leaders want to do, is they want to discredit the Word of God in
all texts and say they're the ultimate source of authority, they're the ultimate guru,
they're the ultimate brain child and you have to trust them.
Go to Psalm 119, go to Psalm 118, but at the end of the day many people are just making
themselves their own cult leader.
because they're the ones that have the ultimate say they think everything they think is right and in fact
That's what the Bible teaches the Bible says the the ways of man are right in his own eyes and
And men just think that they're always right think everything they think is right
But that's a silly attitude because you and I both know that we've changed our minds a lot
We've all grown a lot.
We've all had ideas at one point in our life
and changed our mind and realized we were wrong.
So if we've realized we've been wrong thousands of times before,
why would I now think that I've magically arrived?
or that I've got all of the information and understanding.
You know, I feel like I'm growing all the time
and I'm learning all the time,
but you know what, the Bible stays the same.
The Bible is the same and the Bible's always right
and the Bible's always consistent.
And every time I've ever tested the Bible
or tried the Bible,
it's always found to be right, accurate and true.
and I found myself to not always be accurate right and true,
but the Bible is always accurate right and true.
And we use the Bible in verse 105,
Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
We use this to make our decisions.
Where do I go? How do I live?
What I should eat? Who I should marry?
How church should look? Is church important?
You know, what kind of ideas should I have?
How should I work? How should I behave?
You know, every single thing is coming from the Bible at the ultimate sense,
and that's how we know what's right, what's wrong, what's good,
how to live my life, how to make my decisions.
Proverbs chapter 30, if you want to go back to Proverbs chapter 30,
I'll just quote a few verses for you for sake of time.
Luke 4.4 says in Jesus' answer to Him saying,
It is written that man should not live by bread alone,
but by every word of God.
Men should not live...
By just physical things they should live by the word of God and not just the word of God every
word of God
Well, if Jesus wants me to live by every word would it be silly for me to believe that we don't have every word?
Why would Jesus say you should live by every word and then not give me every word?
Why would I think that God
Says the word of God is more important than bread and he's obviously given me bread. I love bread
but then he didn't give me the Bible.
He didn't give me the living bread, the Word of God.
You know, that would be silly for me to think
that God could allow bread.
You know what I'm saying?
Oh man, he's gonna screw bread up.
We're not gonna plant it right one year
and we're gonna waste the whole crop and not have seeds
and then we're gonna lose bread.
And you say, well, there's some corrupt bread out there.
Yeah, there is, it's called wonder bread, you know.
Right?
Isn't there some bad bread out there?
But does that mean that all bread is bad?
No.
And you know what, as silly as it would be to just reject bread, I think all bread is
bad.
Would be the same.
I just think there's no good Bible, all the Bibles are wrong.
I know God says that it's more important than bread, but we have bread, we just don't
have the Bible.
No, no, we have the Bible.
And we have the perfect Word of God.
We have the non-GMO version.
They didn't put any modifiers in there they're not putting in the chemicals in there
They're not putting the poison. They're not taking the nutrients out, right? We have that good healthy
Bread that's perfect and been preserved and we could eat it. It tastes like it tastes like that outbreak bed
You know, I don't know what it is. It's like that honey bread. It's that manna from heaven. You know what I mean?
It's the Cheesecake Factory bread right? I don't know what you like. It's just it's so good
It's here. Here's what it is. It's the Texas Roadhouse rolls. Okay, you know what I mean with the cinnamon butter
I don't know what it is with this restaurant. It is busy every hour of the day
Like I every time I've ever driven by Texas Roadhouse the parking lot is completely full
It's like always a wait list. It doesn't matter when and I know why it's because of the bread
Because nothing on the menu is that great, but it's just the bread is just fantastic, okay?
And, you know, really a good church is one that's going to have that kind of a bread.
You know, the bread, which is the King James Bible, which is the Word of God.
And there's no substitute for something like that.
There's no substitute for the King James.
I'm never going to go to a church that's not King James,
because at the end of the day, I don't want that kind of bread.
I want the right kind of bread, and we need to have it delivered, okay?
Even if the meal wasn't that great, you know, even if the sermon wasn't that great, if it's King James, you know,
the bread made up for it. You know what I mean?
And you know, I've been to church services where the sermon wasn't that great,
but they still read some King James Bible verses, and it was still just, you know, I still enjoyed it.
I still liked it, you know, because at the end of the day,
it's like the bread is just what carries me through in the meal, and the Bible says in Proverbs 30 verse 5,
every word of God is pure.
He has a shield under them that put their trust.
Notice that the tie here is trust is to the word of God because that's how we trust the word of God.
So what makes something a cult? I would argue that something that's not...
Using the text and saying this is the authority. This is right. Trust it. It's trust the person
It's trust some person above the Bible
And that's what a real cold is looking like and it exists everywhere even outside of churches
Just go on spaces just talk to other individuals. They'll say the Bible is not right. This isn't good. It's like okay
Well, then what's the final source?
What is right who does have the information and ultimately they're really pointing at themselves without even realizing it
But there's something greater than ourselves. It's the word of God
Good word to 1st John chapter 4
Also quoted and it's basically the same but in Matthew 4 for it says but he answered and said it's written mansion
I live by bread alone but by every word that preceded out of the mouth of God
So we believe that the words of God have been contained for us in scripture
And it makes perfect sense because if someone came along is actually speaking for God if he was giving us a new message
That we don't have written
and it's coming from the mouth of God.
Then wouldn't we want to write that down?
And look, that is exactly how we got the Bible.
Jeremiah just started speaking the word of God
and someone scribed that down, wrote that down,
and then we backed off and we looked at it and we said,
This isn't just Jeremiah speaking.
This is the Holy Ghost speaking by the mouth of Jeremiah.
David is writing songs and writing down
words that are speaking them and someone's writing them down.
And then we step back and we look at it and say,
wow, that's not man.
That's the Word of God.
The Apostle Paul is dictating and Tertius is writing it down.
And then we back off and we look at it and we all observe it
and we all get a copy of it and we all read it.
And we're like, this isn't just the words of Paul.
This is the Word of God.
And that's how we got the Word of God.
We have different men of God who's spake by the Holy Ghost
and we have a collection of all of those books
and it's called the Bible.
And that's how we got the Bible.
But these gurus are trying to come along
and they're trying to add to it,
like the Book of Moron, I'm sorry, Book of Mormon.
And they're saying, no, no, God's speaking by me
and we wrote it down.
But then you read it and you're like,
this isn't God's Word.
Right.
You read the Quran and you're like,
this isn't God's Word.
You read other apocryphal books, the Gospel of Thomas,
these other Maccabees and whatever,
and you're just like, this isn't the Word of God.
The Book of Enoch.
You know, and I knocked on this guy's door a few weeks ago,
and he's just like, yeah, I don't really trust the Bible,
but the Book of Enoch.
And I'm like, well, the Book of Enoch says that
there was babies born 450 feet tall.
And he's like, yeah.
Have you heard about the bones you know found in Kansas City or whatever?
And I'm like, number one, you didn't find a knee bone
or some shin bone that equals to 450 feet tall, okay?
You're delusional.
Number two, even if you did, which you didn't,
do you believe that came out of a woman at birth?
I mean, I'm like, and that's more reliable than this.
Right? It's like you don't want to tell me you're like I don't really like that, but I like the book of Enoch, man
You know, that's a bad. That's a bad spirit. Okay, and that's someone. That's kind of like often
Cuckoo land weirdo lit and look when you start listening these people to say well
You can't really trust the Bible trust me. They start saying things that are cuckoo land
Cuckoo weird revisionist history all kinds of crazy ideas and beliefs and look it's everyone in it now
It's like an explosion of stupidity on the Internet, more than there's ever been before.
Just the weirdest things I've ever heard, the strangest beliefs, crazy ideas.
You can't trust anything.
And look, people that are just saying, you can't trust anything, you can't trust history,
you can't trust any book, you can't trust...
Beware of all those people.
Be afraid of all those people.
Oh, I can't trust anything?
Where do I learn this?
Where did you learn this?
Where did you realize that you can't trust the Bible?
Where did you realize that you can't trust these things because you know there's somebody in the Bible that said you couldn't trust the Bible?
You know what his name was Satan that old serpent in the garden and saying yeah, I have God said
Yeah, you really say that is that really true, you know
Where are you getting this information because I know where your source is. It's the devil
And ultimately, the devil's influencing you to have this idea.
And what we're supposed to do is we're supposed to try the spirits.
We're supposed to test people and figure out what they actually believe.
Look at 1 John 4 verse 1.
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits,
whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
Now the Bible doesn't use the word cult leader.
It's not a term found in your Bible.
But I would liken it unto a false prophet.
That is typically what we're seeing when we see,
what is a cult leader? They're a false prophet.
It's pretty much hand in hand.
When someone's calling you a cult leader, they're calling you a false prophet.
Okay, it's pretty much one in the same false prophets are
lifting themselves up and elevating their knowledge and their wisdom above the Bible
teaching lies and trying to draw away disciples after themselves.
Let's go to Acts chapter 20 in fact and we'll just read that Acts chapter number 20
the apostle Paul warns of this that there would be men
that would rise up and teach these kinds of things that should be little cult leaders.
Acts chapter number 20
Look what it says in verse number 26.
Wherefore, I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God,
take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers, to feed the church of God which he had perched with his own blood,
for I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
Are they drawing away disciples after the Bible or after some of their texts?
No, they're drawing it away after them because they're the guru, they're the knowledgeable
one, they're the holy one, they're the special one, they have all the right ideas and they
elevate themselves above the word of God and say, you can't trust the Bible, you have to
trust me.
You know, this is the dangerous philosophy and this is what people want to do, is they
want to draw away people after them and not after Christ, not after the Word of God.
That's why we have to try the spirits and test the spirits and say, hey, is what you're
saying what this is saying because if you're saying something different, you're wrong.
You're wrong.
It sounds like you're trying to draw me away from the Scripture, away from Christ, away
from the Word of God.
Good preachers draw you to this.
Go to Acts chapter 17, go to Acts chapter 17, you're really close.
John 5 says this, search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, and
they are which testify of me.
You know, Jesus was challenging the Pharisees of his day and challenging the leaders of
his day.
Hey, search the Scriptures, Jesus wasn't even saying just trust me, he's saying trust
the Bible.
Now, he was saying trust me, but he's also saying don't just trust me, trust the Bible
because you should trust me because I'm saying what the Bible says.
And you know what?
A good pastor will say, hey, trust me because I'm preaching the Bible.
But you know what?
Check me with the Bible.
And I'm not afraid of you checking me with the Bible because, hey, I'm saying what the
Bible is saying and if I'm not, hey, I'm wrong anyways, right?
Trust the Bible because I want to believe what the Bible is saying and I'm trying to
teach what the Bible is saying.
But obviously a good preacher, a good pastor is going to be 99% of the time right on with
Scripture, right what the Bible is saying.
or an errant, but if someone believes the Bible and is filled with the Holy Ghost
and is trying to follow the Scripture, they should be dialed in.
And they should have no fear of being tested, tried, or challenged with the Bible on anything.
You know, it's scary when you hear these stories, people say, oh, I was trying to ask my pastor
about this doctrine or this passage or this, and they won't talk to me.
They won't explain it.
They don't want you to ask that question.
They won't let you, you know, do that.
Look, I've had people come into our church that believe anything and everything.
They come up to me and ask me.
People come up, you know, it's funny like in other churches, you go ask them about post
We've had people come in here asking me about the pre-trib or asking it's like yeah, here's what I believe
Here's what the Bible says choose for yourself
You know someone came to our church said hey, I'm pre-trib. Can I come and be like sure?
You're wrong
You'll feel uncomfortable if if you know you don't change your mind
Potentially that's the worst thing that's gonna happen worst thing's gonna happen as I say that you're kind of dumb for believing something stupid
But if you can handle that, you know, you're welcome to come
You know, it's not about the preacher rapture is about anything that we think is dumb, right?
You know, I used to believe in the preacher rapture and if I could go back if I just
Went back in time and I was standing I was talking to myself. You know what I would say. Hey, you're stupid. You're wrong
And I'd have been like, really?
Show me.
And then I would have showed myself
and I'd be like, you're right, I was stupid, I was wrong.
And I would just change my opinion.
Because at the end of the day, I just want to be right.
I don't care about if I am wrong.
I just want to become right.
I want to get right.
Who cares if you're wrong?
Because if you're wrong, you should be willing
to be called out to be wrong.
If you're being stupid, you should want someone
to tell you that you're being stupid.
If you look like an idiot, you want someone to say
you're looking like an idiot, bro.
You know, that's the person that loves you, the person that doesn't love you will not
tell you what's right.
And the person that doesn't believe the Bible and isn't adhering to what the Bible says
is afraid of being challenged with the Bible because they become a guru.
I've heard pastors say, you know, we believe in the pre-trib rapture but I can't explain
it so we had to bring in this guy to come in here and explain it to us.
How can you not explain it?
How do you have the Bible and the Holy Spirit and you can't even explain this pre-trib rapture
that you supposedly believe in?
You know, that's a scary doctrine when you need a guru to come in and teach something
that you yourself can't explain when you have the Bible.
Now think about this in the light of this verse because, you know, if a pastor can't
understand it, then how is the congregation supposed to understand it?
But I would challenge you and say this, there's nothing the Bible teaches that every person
can't understand.
that every person can't realize.
And we should all be willing to check the Scriptures ourselves
and make sure that's what the Bible teaches, Acts 17, verse 11.
These are more noble than those in Thessalonica
in that they receive the Word with all readiness of mind
and search the Scriptures daily
whether those things were so.
This is what we know as the Bereans, right?
This group of people that lived in Berea
and it's saying these people are better,
better Christians than those in Thessalonica, why?
Well, they're ready to listen,
but they would always make sure to search the scripture
and make sure that everything that was being taught
was biblical and was right.
Because we should always be testing, always trying,
always making sure that what we're hearing is right
so that we don't follow a cult leader.
Now, I'm not gonna go into a big diatribe
about cult leaders.
But there is one cult that I wanted to talk about for a second and it's the called the Catholic Church
Okay, now the Catholic Church is a cult because it follows the Pope and the Pope is a cult leader
Now what do you mean by a cult leader? He elevates himself above the word of God and teaches things that are not in the Bible and
He has this thing called speaking ex-cathedra. Who's ever heard of this speaking ex-cathedra is Latin for from the chair
Okay, from the chair. What does that mean? Well, it's saying they teach the Pope isn't necessarily perfect
He can still mess up or say things that are wrong, but when he's sitting in his chair
as the vicar of Christ, as you know, the representative of Christ on earth,
and he declares some doctrine or declares some statement,
it is to be believed as infallible. Like it is just right,
he could never make a mistake, he could never say anything wrong. And so
they're always like locked in, anytime a pope gets up and just
makes this ex-cathedra from the chair statement or whatever.
It's always funny when they have to use a foreign language to say it because in English it doesn't sound as cool
You know, it's like the Pope spoke from the chair. You're like, okay
I thought we're supposed to speak from the pulpit or something, you know
Like or standing he can't even stand when he's gonna speak the word of God
He has to do it sitting down, you know, but it's like ex-cathedra and you're like whoa
Is that like a cathedral or like what's going on? You know
It's always cooler. It's like, it's not like, hey, I'm a law-observing Christian. It's like, no, I'm a Torah-observing Christian.
Ooh, you know, it's the Torah, you know. It's, you always have to do something fancy or something special.
It's like a foreign language just makes it cooler. Now, it makes sense with Spanish restaurants, okay?
Because if you had all of our Spanish restaurants in English, you would think it was weird.
Okay, actually, just Spanish named anything.
because there's like an apartment complex that we would go to, it's called Las Ventanas, okay,
that means the windows, all right, and then it's like you go to the Mexican restaurant,
it's called, it's called the Buelos, it's grandparents, okay, but think of it as all in
English, it's like hey we're gonna leave the windows and go to the grandparents,
and then of course they have restaurants called like La Mesa the Table, it's like hey we left
the table, went to grandparents and later we're gonna go back to the windows.
Like, what in the world?
But it's like abuelos, you know, it's las ventanas, you know.
It's like, oh, this is so special
because it's in a foreign language or whatever.
It's like, don't let people throw one over on you, you know,
just because they use some kind of a foreign language,
you know, or they have some Hispanic things
would be like el orbol, you know, the tree, you know.
It's just so funny because it's like,
they say it in Spanish, it's somehow special, right?
Same with the Catholic Church.
The Catholic Church, you would come to service.
and it wouldn't be in the language you speak, it would be in Latin.
So everything would be like,
ex cathedra, you know.
And it's like, oh man, the servos are so great.
But they don't realize that they just said junk.
They just said things that were nonsense and not the Bible and not legitimate.
So what the Catholic Church did is they didn't allow people to actually have the Bible
in Latin even,
or in their mother tongue.
They could not go home and read the Bible and search the Scriptures
and check what the guy just said.
You just, whatever that guy says is right.
You can't test it. You can't check it. You can't do it. That's called a cult
But then people would actually go home and read the Bible and check it out and they'd be like hey the Catholic Church is wrong
We need to separate from the Catholic Church
so what the Catholic Church did is they started making laws making it illegal to have a Bible or to translate the Bible or have
access to the Word of God because it was going to expose them for the cult leaders that they were and
One thing and sorry in 1229 CE or AD I like to use AD
So this is in the 1200s the Council of Toulouse said this and of course they didn't say it in English
English isn't even invented yet. I get it. This is a translation, but this is a translation of what they said
This is one of their laws
We prohibit also that the laity should be permitted to have the books of the old and new testaments
Now the laity just means someone that's not on staff at the church.
Basically the lay person is what some people call it,
or just everybody that's just not a priest basically.
Everybody that's not a priest or involved in the church,
saying no one can have the Old or New Testament.
I mean, what in the world?
How is that?
Also, it said, we strictly forbid anyone having
a translation of these books.
So no one could have the Bible or in any translation.
This was a literal law.
And if you understood Europe, especially at this time,
the church is basically the government.
So it's like a law.
This is like what they enforce.
And they would kill you if you violate these things.
It's not like a slap on the wrist.
It's not like they take it away.
The Council of Tarragona in 1234 AD said no one may possess the books of the Old and New
Testaments in the Romance language.
Now again, at this time, English doesn't exist, but this is talking about French, this is
talking about, I think, early versions of Spanish, these Romance languages that we have
in Europe.
So you can't have the Bible in these translations.
Why?
Because then everybody realized this is a cult, y'all are cult leaders, y'all are wrong, and they'd all leave the Catholic Church.
They wouldn't have money, they wouldn't have control, they wouldn't have power.
So that's why they're killing people that are opposing them.
Because they're going to lose all power, authority, control over the state, over the country, over the laity.
So they have to forbid them from having the Bible because it is a literal cult.
Antipope Alexander, it's a weird name. I don't know, it's called antipope.
In 1409, he issued a proclamation against Wycliffeism because of what John Wycliffe had written.
Now I'm not reading a quote, this is just kind of a paraphrase of what happened,
but essentially he ordered the surrender of all copies of John Wycliffe's writings,
which advocated for lay people to have Bibles, and he also discontinued the ability to have free preaching.
This is something that directly targeted John Huss.
John Huss was a kind of a reformer,
early reformer against the Catholic Church
and he was burned at the stake.
He was killed for being against the Catholic Church.
He was a famous martyr.
In 1413, the Council of Rome,
condemned Wycliffe's writings and ordered them to be burned,
extending to the ideas about lay interpretation and vernacular access that influenced later
persecutions. So John Wycliffe is well known for the Wycliffe Bible, having translated the
Catholic scripture, the Catholic Latin Bible, into English.
It wasn't from the Greek, it wasn't from the Hebrew, it was from the Latin.
So the Latin was supposedly from the Greek and Hebrew, it's once removed, then into English.
So it's basically one time. One time in the Latin, from the Latin, to the English.
That's Wycliffe's Bible.
And it's still very similar to what we have in our hands today.
It's not exactly the same, but it's very similar.
But again, what is the Catholic Church afraid of?
English people reading this, realizing the Catholic Church is wrong.
realizing the Catholic Church is wicked and so they want to kill and destroy people for this.
Throughout this whole period of time,
the Catholic Church is killing Christians,
killing anybody that opposes them,
and of course some of them might have been heretics,
I don't know,
but also there could have been good people in that mix,
probably a lot of good people
that were just opposing indulgences,
imposing transubstantiation,
which is eating of the Eucharist,
claiming that it's the literal blood of Jesus,
saying that you have to be baptized as an adult
once you believe in Jesus, not as a baby.
These type of simple doctrines
that we had hold to as Baptist today.
And so they're killing people in mass.
We, of course, know the King James Bible is translated in 1611.
In 1655, this is what's interesting.
In 1655, there was this edict coming from the Catholic Church,
coming from Rome, and of course that's in Italy.
And it was against a specific group of people called the Waldensians.
Who's ever heard of this group of people?
A few people, you may have heard of the Waldensians.
I don't, not an expert on their beliefs,
but at some base level, they basically just oppose what I just said.
They don't like the Catholic Church, they don't really believe in the Pope's infallibility,
they don't believe in transubstantiation, they believe in baptism by immersion, after faith.
Are they like us? I don't know.
Some people try to act like they're just like us.
Some people point out they had some weird beliefs.
doesn't really matter.
For the point of what I'm describing though is this,
that they just didn't want this cult leader.
They didn't really agree with them.
They're reading the Bible on their own.
They're saying, I don't really agree with this.
Well, the Roman Catholic Church ordered
all of these Waldensians,
and this is like kind of a translated quote of this edict.
So an edict comes January 25th, 1655.
It says this,
that every head of a family,
with the individuals of that family,
of the Reformed religion,
of what rank, degree, or condition, so ever,
none except that inhabiting and possessing estates,
and then it gives a list of all the locations,
should within three days, after the publication thereof,
withdraw and depart and be withdrawn out of the said places
and translated into the places and limits
tolerated by His Highness during His pleasure.
And then it gives an area where they can go.
And all this to be done on pain of death
and confiscation of house and goods
unless within the limited time they turned Catholics.
So the Catholic Church said, if you're Protestant, it doesn't matter how Protestant you are.
If you're just against the Catholic Church in any way, shape, or form, then you have
to either convert and become a Catholic in three days, or you have to completely leave
Italy, just abandon everything and leave Italy, and if we find you in the next three days,
we will kill you.
That's what the Catholic Church said.
This is extreme, okay?
That's so wonderful
Now this is mostly targeted towards this group called the Waldensians. Okay, but it's just anybody and this particular group
So in January 25th, all these people just leave thousands and thousands of people just leave a
Few months later April 24th is Easter that year
They decided to march with their armies on Easter and
Slaughter all of these people even though they had left just like they told them on Easter
It's called the Piedmont Massacre.
The Piedmont Massacre, where they just slaughtered thousands and thousands of people.
Now, they killed all of them. They killed all the wives, all the women, all the children, all the babies,
and the most brutal and savage ways imaginable, probably in a worse way than you can even imagine right now.
They killed all these thousands of people, just because they wouldn't be Catholic.
They just slaughtered all of these different people and just murdered them brutally, thousands and thousands of people because they wouldn't be
Catholic, because they opposed indulgences, purgatory, transubstantiation. That is what you call a cult and not just called a dangerous cult
where they will kill you if you don't believe exactly like they did. And then you have people like Matt Walsh getting up and saying,
you know, I think that the differences between the Protestant and the Catholic just have misunderstanding.
And you kind of wonder like oh, I wonder why people left Europe to come to America and then made laws saying you can't be Catholic
Maybe it's because they saw people brutally murdering.
I mean we're talking about ripping babies in half and all kinds of just gruesome horrible
Shocking things you would never want to hear about in your life. It's like hey
I think we don't want to be Catholic and then it's again
You remove yourself a couple hundred years and then Americans forget why we ran away from the Catholic Church
Why we ran away from the cult why we didn't want to be around these people why we didn't like these people
I mean this why why do we have the Dark Ages because people couldn't read
People were not allowed to read the Bible.
People were not allowed to give the Word of God.
There was no light in the world because it was kept
and it was hidden and it was not allowed to have
because of these cult leaders keeping everyone in the dark.
You know what gives you freedom?
Where the Spirit of the Lord is there as liberty.
This is the light. This is the lamp and this is the light.
And you know why America was prosperous and why it succeeded
is because the Bible was being championed as the ultimate source of authority.
I mean, you went into a courtroom, the Bible was considered the law of the land.
The laws were based on the Bible.
Men were supposed to put their hands on the Bible
if they were going to be in public office or fulfill anything in this world.
The Bible was the supreme authority, not the pope, not some man.
Now I asked the internet, and this is just kind of fun for the end of the sermon, but I asked the internet
You know what is a cult leader and this article came up with 50 50 things that describe a cult leader
Okay, so this is dangerous cold is this called the psychology or psychology today comm and it's so funny because people always are like
You guys are cold you get your coat and I'm like it's just so funny when I actually read what cults are like
When I when I think about that, right?
But this is what a cult is, according to online.
This is what the world thinks a cult is.
And really, I mean, honestly, when I read this,
I, for the most part, agree that this is what a cult is, okay?
Most of these are just kind of a repeat,
and I'm not going to necessarily dwell on all of them.
I'm just going to kind of read through them,
and we'll look at a couple of verses.
If you want, go to Matthew chapter number five for a second.
Go to Matthew chapter number five.
Here's number one...
like kind of indicator or one of the ways you can identify if it's cult.
It's if the person that's leading has a grandiose idea of who he is and what he can achieve.
So he's just a grandiose idea of who he is.
Number two is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power or brilliance.
Number three demands blind unquestioned obedience.
Sounds like the Pope.
Blind? What is blind?
There's no way to test it.
Well, you know what? Every church is not a cult
because they're saying, hey, test me. This is the Bible.
This is our ultimate source of authority.
What a cult would be is, hey, you can't trust the Bible.
You know, you can't look at any text.
You can't test what I'm saying.
That's a cult where it's blind.
You just have to trust whatever they're saying no matter what.
You should never be in a situation
where you're in a church where there's unquestioned obedience.
You know, what is our ultimate authority?
The word is a lamp in my feet and a light on my path.
And again, I get nervous when I'm in a church service even though,
and they're like, hey, you have to go back to the Greek.
What the Greek really says, now they start to sound like a guru.
And then I just have to trust them.
I just have to believe whatever they're saying is just right.
That's scary.
Number four, they require excessive admiration
from followers and outsiders.
Has a sense number five and it has an a sense of entitlement
Expecting to be treated as special at all times
Isn't the isn't the Pope treated pretty special at all times number six exploits others by asking for their money
Or that of relatives putting others at financial risk
That's kind of a funny one. I didn't really think about this
It's like the guys is always asking you for money like I need a loan
I need some money. Will you buy me stuff or whatever?
There was a person that actually ran one of our church plants
Jacksonville. I don't know if you can guess who this is or not but there is this guy that
ran a church plan, Jacksonville, and I had multiple members come up to me and say this
person would just walk up to them and just demand like financial things from them. In
fact just say, oh you know other churches they always take their leader or their pastor
out for dinner and I wanted to go to this restaurant. It's like that's weird.
And it's not like, hey, I want to take you to dinner
when you go to dinner with me.
It was like, no, you're going to buy me dinner
at this restaurant.
It's like, that's weird, OK?
It's Adam Fannin, by the way.
OK.
Oh, yeah.
And also, it says here about them,
he is arrogant and haughty in his behavior and attitude.
Now, you know, arrogance and haughtiness are kind of like synonyms.
I looked up in the dictionary, I'm sorry,
arrogant according to the dictionaries, having or revealing an exaggerated sense
of one's own importance or abilities.
So it's basically just thinking you think you're better than you are.
You think you're more important than you really are.
Having an elevated self-worth.
Haughty is kind of in the same vein.
Here not only thinking better than your other. I this is another idea that I have about being haughtier again
Is it's it's also thinking that you're smarter than God?
because it's like, well, I know the Bible says that,
but this is really, this is actually a better idea.
This is what I think, this is how I would do it.
That's arrogance, that's haughtiness,
and that's what we really see of the atheists
of these world, they say, oh, well,
the Bible can't be true because I have a better morality
than God, or I'm more kind, or more loving,
or more thoughtful, or smarter, or whatever.
Insert something, that's arrogance, that's pride,
that's being haughty.
It's thinking that you're smarter than the Bible.
Number eight has an exaggerated sense of power and entitlement that allows him to bend rules and break laws
Number nine, and I'm not going to use the exact word they say but it says takes
Fornication and adultery advantage of members of his sect or his cult so he's in constant fornication and adultery with members
Also fornication or adultery is even a requirement as a part of a ritual or right to be a part of the group
And look, if you study a lot of these groups,
I mean, Joseph Smith of the Mormons,
Muhammad, the prophet Muhammad of Islam,
if you look at all of these type of really big cults,
I mean, even the Catholic church with their altar boys
and all the weird stuff they're doing,
it's a common pattern.
False prophets today, you know,
are constantly involved in adultery and fornication
with their members and all kinds of weird stuff going on.
Ask TD Jakes about those Diddy Parties or whatever.
He was just the he was just like the defensive driver. Okay, don't don't worry about that
Number 11 he is hyper sensitive to how he is seen or perceived by others
Number 12 publicly devalues others as being inferior in cable or unworthy
13. Makes members confess their sins or faults publicly subjecting them to ridicule or humiliation
while revealing the exploitable weaknesses of the penitent.
So it's just like having you come up here and just say every horrible thing that you've said or done or whatever.
That's scary.
14. Has ignored the needs of others, including biological, physical, emotional, or financial needs.
So he's helped zero people.
No one.
is frequently boastful of accomplishments.
Now, I had you turn to Matthew 5 about this
because here's the thing.
You know, as a church, we do celebrate some of our accomplishments, but as a leader of
a church or as a person in a position of authority, you shouldn't necessarily be going around
singing your own praises.
You know, the Bible does teach in Matthew 5 verse 16, look at this, it says,
Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father
which is in heaven.
We love to celebrate the soul winning that we do as a church, as a group.
But it would be weird if I'm just going around talking about,
well, I got this many people saved the day,
and I did this today, and I'm doing that.
That would be weird, and that would be kind of a cult-like...
tendency or a trait that someone would be exhibiting.
But you know, there's nothing wrong with us as a church
celebrating, hey, we're getting people saved together
and this is the works that we're doing and, you know,
we count numbers as a group and as a collective
to basically just have some idea of what's going on.
But it is a little weird when someone's just super obsessed
with what they've done and what they're,
you know, this is about them and me and I.
Verse, chapter 6 of verse 1 says this,
take heed that you do not your alms before men,
that they may be seen of them,
otherwise you have no reward of your father
which is in heaven.
I think there's nothing wrong with us
talking about getting soul saved.
I mean, the Bible brings it up.
3,000 saved, and the Bible says 30, 60, 100.
But you know, it's not right or appropriate when someone's like,
hey, I give $100 to this person.
Or hey, I'm giving this person this money.
Or I'm going to, you know, if you help people,
it should be kind of discreet.
It should be between you and them or the parties involved.
It shouldn't be something that you're going around
just telling a whole bunch of people that had no business
in knowing it or being involved.
They're like, hey, I gave this guy my code,
or hey, I gave this guy my guitar,
or hey, you know, I did this for this guy or whatever.
inappropriate and that's someone doing something to be seen of men not because they actually love
people. You know look at this million dollar check that we gave to this establishment or whatever
you know. Sometimes obviously as a church you could give a gift to somebody and the church
might know about it but going on singing the praises of it is just wrong biblically.
You should be careful with that try to use discretion and only let the people know that need
Says they need to be the center of attention and they do things to distract others to ensure that he or she is being noticed
Examples arriving late
Using exotic clothing over dramatic speech or making theatrical entrances
Now I'll admit sometimes I'm late. Okay, but it's not to be noticed. All right
One day I had I was late because I'm soul winning and I sprinted all the way back
and I couldn't catch my breath.
I think people were kind of weirded out.
It was not because I was trying to get attention.
I just genuinely couldn't get my breath.
But I'm definitely not using exotic clothing, okay?
But you look at these cult leaders, Benny Hinn,
wearing these weird white outfits.
How about the Catholic priest?
Have you ever met anybody in your life
that wears that weird garment that's not a Catholic priest?
That's what you call exotic clothing.
Have you ever met a guy just wearing a normal black suit?
Yeah, everywhere.
Okay, this isn't exotic clothing.
What's exotic clothing is what the popes wear, what the Catholic church wears, what
Benny Hinn wears.
You know, there's a lot of churches where the pastor is dressed up, special, unique
from everybody.
Now, the Bible is saying that's wrong, that's the false prophet, going in long robes and
long clothing, beware of those type of people.
And you know, this article is saying the same thing.
Beware of this guy that's trying to just show off or get excessive attention for no reason by their clothing.
Theatrical entrances.
This sounds like you're not in the Nomsday where they're coming in from the ceiling or like on a rollercoaster or whatever.
This is like, what in the world?
It says that the cult leader is always insisting on having the best of everything best house car jewelry clothes
Even when others are not allowed to have the same faculties amenities or clothing
So only they can have the the nice house or car or jewelry or clothes. No one else can have it
He doesn't seem to listen well to the needs of others communication is usually a one way
It's in the form of dictates. So he's never caring about what you want. It's only just what he wants
Go to 2 Peter 2, go to 2 Peter 2, I just have a few more verses, I think just two.
Is that one or one more?
He's haughty, grandiosity, and the need to be controlling are part of his personality.
20 behaves as though people are objects to be used, manipulated and exploited for personal gain.
And really as we keep, as I keep reading this, it really just starts to repeat a lot.
It's basically just they think they're better than everybody else, they're special,
they commit a lot of fornication, adultery with everybody,
they're in it for the money, they're not in it for the people,
and it's just, I, I, I, I, I, it's just kind of repeating.
But it's interesting because look what it says in 2 Peter 2 verse 14
about false prophets having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin.
beguiling unstable souls and heart they have exercised with covetous practices, cursed children.
And it even says that they love the wages of unrighteousness in verse 15
and that they're mad in verse 16.
So,
Really, when we see the false prophet lined up in the Bible, it's perfectly a description
of what these cult leaders are like, where they're obsessed with money and covetousness.
They're full of adultery, they're full of fornication, all kinds of weird stuff, and
you study any actual cult that's ever existed, they follow all of these models.
The Manson family, Jim Jones, all of these things, they're just these sexual predators,
these perverts, these weirdos.
It's all about them.
You have nothing to test them by, nothing to scrutinize them by, and they can't be questioned.
Here's some other things they mentioned in this article when the person's criticized he tends to lash out
with anger and rage
22 anyone who criticizes a question him is called an enemy
23 refers to non-members non-believers as the enemy enemies. You are my enemy
Alex Jones, right?
24 acts imperiously, meaning that he's domineering or arrogant at all times,
not wishing to know what others think or desire.
So he doesn't care what you think, it's only about him.
25 believes himself to be omnipotent.
Now that's scary, because that means all powerful.
And look, some of these cult leaders do think they're all powerful.
26 has magical answers or solutions to problems.
27, he is superficially charming, so he's just...
Outwardly, just so amazing.
28, habitually puts others down as inferior, only he is superior.
29, has a certain coldness or a lufeness about him that makes others worry about who this person is or whether they know him.
So he kind of keeps people at a distance because he doesn't want anybody to actually know who he is or what he's like.
30, is deeply offended when there are perceived signs of boredom being ignored or slighted.
31, treats others with contempt and arrogance.
32, he is constantly addressing, I'm sorry,
assessing people to determine those that are a threat
or those that refer him.
Now, I wrote down a verse, you don't have to turn there,
but the Bible does say,
be diligent and know the state of thy flocks.
Look what are there.
I think it's important to understand the health of your flock,
the health of a congregation.
But if you're just constantly just worried about enemies
and all this stuff, it could be a bad sign
if they just are always afraid of every single person.
33 says, the word I dominates his conversations.
He is oblivious to how he often references himself.
34 hates to be embarrassed or fail publicly
when he does he acts out with rage.
That one I was kind of like,
I think everybody hates to be embarrassed or fail publicly.
I'm like, who really enjoys that, you know?
But I guess it just, this guy just really explodes, right?
35, he doesn't seem to feel guilty
for anything he's done wrong.
He never apologizes for his actions.
I was like, well, that's just like being married to a wife.
And I'm just kidding.
It's just a joke.
They just haven't done anything wrong.
36, he believes he possesses the answers and solutions to world's problems.
37, he believes himself to be a deity.
So he thinks he's God.
Now, I could think of someone like this.
Oh yeah, Tyler Doca.
Who did think he was magical and special and had all this unique knowledge and when you showed up
He's like, you know, you guys are you know lucky to be here today or whatever
I don't know I started that says a weird sermon about the Flat Earth or something
But it was just like, you know, he's this basically you all are y'all are just so so lucky to be here for me to teach
You all this wisdom, right?
38, he's rigid, unbending, and insensitive,
describes how this person thinks.
39, tries to control others in what they do read,
view, or think.
When it says control others in this,
I mean, this is like literal.
They will not let you have cell phones.
They will not let you have other books.
They will not let you have other information.
How about the Mormon Church?
They do not allow you to have access to the Internet.
They do not allow you to talk to other people.
They shut down any other communication.
Why?
Because it's so easy to prove that the Mormon Church is a cult.
So, they're afraid of you reading, doing, viewing, or thinking anything, talking to other people.
Fordy has isolated members of his sect from contact with family or the outside world.
So, you're not allowed to talk to mom, dad, cousins, uncles, aunts, or friends.
You have complete isolation from them.
But it says you can he does monitored or restricted contact with family others
So it's like all right, none of you can ever talk to your parents or family ever again unless I'm on the phone with you
You have to FaceTime them with me, you know, that would be a cult
Okay, that would be weird and psychotic and strange like why do they have to have?
monitored visits
You know anybody that's doing that is not your friend does not
Caring for you. Okay, and they're after the monitor everything you're doing
42 works the least, but demands the most.
That's kind of interesting how they're lazy.
They're actually lazy people.
They don't do anything.
They don't do any work.
They're the least hardworking person.
43, they have stated that they are destined for greatness
or be a martyr.
44 seems to be highly dependent on tribute and adoration
and will often fish for compliments.
So they're always fishing for compliments.
45 uses enforcers or sycophants to ensure compliance from members or believers,
sees themselves as quote, unstoppable and perhaps is even said so,
conceals the background or family from which would disclose how plain or ordinary they are.
You know, I love that Jesus Christ, you know,
he didn't hide it and you know what, he was from a plain or ordinary background.
But you know what, you know why he was God?
Because he is God, not because of his background, not because of his origin or his ancestors.
It's not like, oh, if I'm in the lineage of Kim Sung-Wool or something, or Kim Jong-Wool or something,
then I'm Deity.
You know, if you live in North Korea, you are in a literal cult.
Because you have to worship their leader as God,
and the next God is just whoever is born of that particular deity, of that particular leader,
and they're just God.
And you can't question it.
And you know, if you go to North Korea, you can't have a Bible.
Can't talk to buddy can't have the internet can't have any information. I wonder why and if you do you get killed
Sounds like a oh, yeah the Catholic Church
Sounds like all cults are the same. Hey, you're a Mormon. You can't read anything
You can't question leadership and if you do will kill you
Catholics you can't read anything you can't question anything if you do will kill you North Korea
You can't question anything you can't look anything up or we'll kill you
It's like, steadfast Baptist church, you can leave whatever you want.
Read anything you want. Go do whatever you want.
I mean, it's like, oh, you're a cop. Look, you don't even know what a cult is, bro.
We'll kill you if you leave. You know, this is silly, right?
Now, this says, doesn't think that there's anything wrong with himself and sees himself as perfect.
I guess, you know, it sounds like the ex-cathedra thing. Anything that Pope says is infallible.
49, he has taken away followers' freedom to leave, to travel, and to pursue life and liberty.
You cannot travel. You cannot leave. You cannot pursue life.
That's extreme. You cannot pursue liberty. 50, has isolated the group physically, moved to a remote area, and
they avoid being observed. It's a good thing we live-stream everything.
It's like, hey, you know, can can I this is what I still think so funny like we'll put our inner sermons online
Like can I share this? It's like please
You know, it's like am I allowed to tell other people about this and I like it's like yes
It's like hey, we want the information out there because we're the light
The darkness doesn't want the light to come in. It's a Freemason building where there's no windows
They don't want you to film. Beware of the place that says no cameras, no film, no anything.
It's like you can't ask any questions, no live streaming. How about the Mormon, the ceremonies?
You can't bring a camera in there, can't film what's going on in the Freemasons, you know, area.
Can't film, no windows. We block everything. You know, think about this.
In certain states when we had the election there were states where they were literally boarding up the windows and didn't want people to look in them counting the ballots.
Why? Why would you conceal people counting ballots in public?
Because the way they're supposed to count ballots is supposed to have a neutral person or a Republican and a Democrat and they all count together and they all agree.
That's not supposed to even be done. Why would you not allow people to look inside and see that?
Maybe because there wasn't three people counting.
Maybe because they're pulling suitcases out from under tables and just scanning the same documents over and over and over and over and over again
Maybe that's why
And look I added a couple others go to first to be one this last place will turn we'll finish
It's just funny to me, you know
Cuz and why preach a sermon on this cuz you hear it and I hear it all the time. You're a cult you're a cult
You're a cult. It's just so funny. It's just like okay. Well, let's see what a cults like
Because if we're a cult then I think we're just gonna be reading a list about ourselves, but I read these things
I just think it's funny. It's just so funny. It's just like, okay. Yeah, Pastor Shelley's gonna kill you if you leave
Pastor Shelley can't do anything wrong Pastor Shelley's wearing weird outfits, you know or whatever we're so isolated now
I look you can't make a call while you're in the building
It's not because I did on purpose is this stupid metal building or whatever is that kind of blocking the calls?
I'm not over here like hey if you call anybody I have to be on the phone, you know
I had to check it, you know, I want to see
Now look at someone who say oh one time you checks people's messages or yeah
There was a spy in our church like doing deceitful things and I just wanted to catch him and I did and you know who got mad about that
The spy not anybody else
Everybody else is like sure whatever
You know, it's like the one person that's offended is the person that was the spy, you know what I mean? Oh, man
But I even asked I like got a sample of people and I asked I said hey
Would you would you be offended if I checked?
You know people's information to catch a spy or would you be offended if I didn't and they were like
I'd be offended if you didn't
Because they'd rather just get checked and not have spies amongst them then just not get checked
Right because at the end of day
It's like what I rather live with someone that's trying to stab me in the back or figure out who it is
It's like let's figure out who it is. You know what I mean, and that what the shepherd's supposed to do
Check and look underneath the hood and be like are you a wolf or are you still a sheep?
You know is this glued on or is this Trump hair or what is it? You know, I don't know
It's a reptilian underneath. I'm just kidding. It's not real
Here's one. Here's the other one that I would say is the cult leader believes unique doctrines
They believe you need doctor they get up and they say oh no no Baptist pastors ever taught that there is flat. There's a reason
Because you're an idiot
Okay, you're a freak and you're not even a Baptist
Because you're an antichrist. Okay, so still zero Baptist have taught that all right
When you start teaching that Jesus is at temple zero in the flood. You're a weirdo man
When you say this is something I only believe and no one else believes this that's scary
You should always question that
But what does it say in 1 Timothy 1, verse 5?
Now, the end of the commandment is cheered
out of the pure ardent of a good conscience
and a faith unfaithful, from which some having swerved
as hernicide unto vain jangling,
desiring to be teachers of the law,
understanding neither what they say.
Nor where have they affirmed and what you'll learn about these people is they they just want to be clever
They want to be cool
So they just start teaching wild weird stuff because they want to be like oh wow I've never heard that before oh wow
This is so cool or oh man this person is a guru and oh I've never heard this and whatever
They have to be unique so they start saying weird things perverse things so that you'll think they're special
But at the end of the day
If someone is a true minister of God, they don't want you to think that they are special.
They want you to think that this is special.
because this is what's special.
You know, it's not about me.
It's the Word of God that's special.
That's what we should...
Our hearts and our love and our affection
should be towards this, and towards Christ,
and towards the gospel, not towards the leader.
And of course, we should love our leaders.
We should love each other.
But at the end of the day, our ultimate affection,
our ultimate loyalty, our ultimate adherence
is to the Word of God, is to the bishop of our souls,
is to Jesus Christ.
And you'll notice that these false teachers,
these cult leaders, whatever,
They always have weird views, weird ideas, strange beliefs,
because they're trying to be special.
And you know, whenever someone has a little bit of weirdness,
I always can tell there's gotta be a lot more under the hood.
When someone starts teaching weird stuff about Temple Zero,
there's other stuff under that hood, I'm telling you.
There's other weird ideas, weird beliefs, strange things.
Heresy breeds heresy.
You know, there's not this guy out there, there's a super normal and there's...
It's like, this guy is flat earth, or there's a lot of weird stuff under the hood.
That's the tip of the iceberg.
And then what was under the hood? Antichrist.
And look, when you start noticing these patterns, you start saying, oh, this guy, I know he's
a little off here.
You're just like, I don't want to even have anything to do with him.
He's a little off on that.
I want nothing to do with that guy.
That's the tip of the iceberg where this guy's headed.
That's the tip of the iceberg.
Oh, this guy started deconstructing.
He just thinks, you know, he's just kind of gotten away from, you know, women's clothing
standards.
And he's just gotten away from, you know, the definition of sanctification.
He's just gotten away from, you know, rewards.
That is the tip of the iceberg where these people are going and why they do this because they want to be special
They want to be unique and they're a cult leader
They're a cult leader
When you can't trust the Bible you have to trust the guru. You have to trust what they're saying. I don't have time to explain it now
What are we doing here?
I mean we set aside an hour or whatever
It's important. Why don't you teach us and why don't you show us in the Bible so we can go home and study ourselves and figure it out ourselves?
You know that's that's where it gets really dangerous and look what's the point of this sermon?
Point of the sermon is this we should really just think where is the information coming from no matter who we're here from our
Pastor from our friend from our spouse from our parents from this world from the government from the president
We should all ask this question whence came this wisdom whence had this man this wisdom
Why where is this coming from?
What's the source of this because if we identify that the source of Jesus Christ's words are coming from God and coming from the Scripture
Then we would be forced to believe them
When we realize they're coming from lies from
Heresy or from this person's imagination, or I'm the only person that believes this. Oh, okay, then I don't want it
I don't want to hear that anymore. I'm not interested in that. I'm not following a cult. I'm not following a guru
I want to follow the word of God
And when ultimately, the source is rotten,
we want to reject the information.
And that's how we prevent ourselves from becoming a cult
and going down a cult road.
And you know what, I think it's important
that we learn the history of cults,
like the Catholic Church.
So we don't go down that same road again.
That we don't have this idea of like,
Catholics aren't that bad, they're that bad.
Mormons aren't that bad.
I mean, I've had family members tell me,
oh, I think Mormons are saved, they're cool.
It's like, dude, they're in a cult.
People are like, oh, I know he's a Freemason, but...
But what? Oh, I know he's involved in this you know secret society or it's like I know he goes to behemian grove
But he's a good guy. It's like no
You know, tip of the eyes, look, we need to be leery of these people, we need to stay
away from these people, we want to stay away from anybody that's trying to get you to learn
something that you can't learn for yourself.
We want to emphasize with the Bible's teaching.
Try to be careful with the cult leaders out there.
Let's close in prayer.
Thank you, Heavenly Father, so much for giving us the Bible so that we can understand.
what to do, that we could have a lamp for our feet, that we could have a light into our path,
that we know which ways to go in our lives, that we could trust something,
so that we could put our affection in something. I pray that you would help us to put more trust
in the Bible, more trust in the Word of God, that we would be Bereans and we'd search the
Scriptures ourselves. We wouldn't allow someone to start speaking perverse things or weird things
But rather, we would stay firm on the Word of God and we'd hear only to the Word of
God and we'd allow the Word of God to be our final authority and all matters of faith
and practice.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
For our last song, we're going to go to song number 375.
Work for the night is coming.
So in 375, sing it out on the first.
Work for the night is coming.