Right Judges chapter 17 and Judges chapter 17 and 18 is this sort of bizarre story of wickedness from pretty much everyone involved
and there's one verse in the middle of it which explains all of this craziness and it's Judges chapter 17 verse 6
and the Bible says in those days there was no king in Israel but every man did that which was right in his own eyes
Now what's interesting is that statement is also made in the last verse of the book of Judges
and there are some wild stories aren't there in the book of Judges?
Anyone that's read through the book of Judges before knows there's some pretty crazy stories in there
but this truth seems to especially need reinforcing right here in case you're reading any of this
and thinking that any of this is ordained of God, any of this chapter and obviously the chapter that follows it afterwards
Now again in those days there was no king in Israel but every man did that which was right in his own eyes
Now what's going on here? So you've got Micah admitting to stealing a small fortune off his mother
His mother claiming she had dedicated the money to the Lord to make a graven and a molten image
I mean absolutely ridiculous straight away there isn't it? Obviously Exodus 24 says
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above
or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth
but she seems to think she's dedicating that to the Lord
She then uses just 200, remember in verse 3 she said that she'd wholly dedicated it
but she then uses just 200 of the 1100 pieces of silver to make these graven and molten images
Micah then, he's made some sort of false church in Ephod which is basically a sacred top for priests
Teraphim which are some sort of images and idols
and in verse 5, if you have a look at verse 5 there, he's made these things and consecrated one of his sons who becomes his priest
So this is basically a ceremonial dedicating of one of his sons to become his priest
Basically Micah, he's just getting it all wrong isn't he? He's getting it all wrong
He's obviously had some guilt at the beginning hasn't he? He's had some guilt to admit to his mum
He's tried to make things right with her but now he's doing home church with images, making his son the priest
and remember we just read verse 6
In those days there was no king in Israel but every man did that which was right in his own eyes
Okay, now have a look from verse 7 here and we're just going to read over it again
There was a young man out of Bethlehem Judah of the family of Judah who was a Levite and he sojourned there
and a man departed out of the city from Bethlehem Judah to sojourn where he could find a place
and he came to Mount Ephraim to the house of Micah as he journeyed
and Micah said unto him, whence comest thou?
and he said unto him, I am a Levite of Bethlehem Judah and I go to sojourn where I may find a place
and Micah said unto him, dwell with me and be unto me a father and a priest
and I will give thee ten shekels of silver by the year and a suit of apparel and thy victuals
so the Levite went in and the Levite was content to dwell with the man
and a young man was unto him as one of his sons
and Micah consecrated the Levite and a young man became his priest and was in the house of Micah
then said Micah, now know I that the Lord will do me good seeing I have a Levite to my priest
and now you've got this wicked unqualified mercenary calling himself a priest
Okay, and the title of my sermon today is
Salam Kamara is unqualified and a thief
Who is Salam Kamara? Most of you probably know who he is, some of you might not
Salam Kamara is a former pastor in inverted commas of Nyoth Baptist Church which was in New Cross London
Okay, why am I preaching about this clown, and he is a clown
because Salam stole upwards of £40,000 from God and God's people
upwards of £40,000 by everyone's reckoning who was there so far from God and God's people
and some believe that Salam will one day have another shot at pastoring and pilfering
Okay, some believe who know him think that when the dust is settled he'll be back trying to pastor and pilfer
because Proverbs 26 and 11 says as a dog returneth to his vomit so a fool returneth to his folly
and you've got to be some special kind of fool haven't you, to steal from God
Haven't you? Some special kind of fool. Now a bit of background to Salam
He was at Community Baptist in Chelsea where he already had his sights on pastoring
Okay, shortly after marrying he put himself forward for the vacant pastor role at Community Baptist
Now the congregation rejected him and he left, quite upset I think, and joined Downham Baptist
He was then at Downham Baptist where there was this bizarre situation which wouldn't have seemed out of place in Judges 17
After a few months at Downham, Salam preached at the first UK Soul-winning mega-marathon back in 2018
Okay, he then gained some respect amongst people and a growing group were joining him at Downham Baptist
Now the pastor at Downham called Travis Snowed, Pastor Travis Snowed, wanted to get these people out of the church basically
so there's this growing group, a similar situation we've seen before at churches
and now there's two different stories as to what happened next
Number one is that he prayed over Salam and the group, gave them some hymnals and made it clear that he was not ordaining him
He was cutting ties and basically kicking him out in a non-confrontational way, he's quite a non-confrontational guy
knowing that Salam was starting a church though
Number two is that the pastor ordained Salam so that he would leave peaceably and start his own church
but again with no ties from Downham, not being sent out by Downham
Now you might be thinking, well if number two is true it sounds okay doesn't it?
That's not so bad is it? He got ordained by a pastor
Well there's one little problem, like the Levite in Judges 17 who wasn't of the sons of Aaron
and therefore not qualified to be a priest, Salam failed to meet the clear biblical qualifications to be a New Testament pastor
He failed. Now I don't care if this pastor Snowed ordained him or not because there was a debate about it, it doesn't matter
None of that matters because I'm sure that my wife could go and find someone to ordain her
In fact I'm sure probably somewhere in the world, probably my daughter Ella could find someone to ordain her
Would that make her a pastor? Would that make my wife a pastor if she found someone that agreed to ordain her? No
Okay it wouldn't. And this isn't just a little technicality, well it's just a little thing there
He actually failed on multiple points, multiple parts of the qualifications
Now turn to 1 Timothy 3 which along with Titus 1 are the two clear passages setting out the qualifications for an elder or bishop meaning overseer
Okay and the titles are used interchangeably in Titus, the elder and bishop
Let's have a look at 1 Timothy 3 and we'll just read part of it quickly anyway
This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop he desireth a good work
A bishop then must be blameless, a husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach
Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler, not covetous
One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity
For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?
Not a novice, less being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil
Moreover, he must have a good report of them which he'll without, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil
Okay, let's start with the obvious one there
So the clearly most obvious one, not subjective at all, from verse 4
One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity
For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?
Okay, now keep a finger there and just turn over to Titus chapter 1 and verse 6
Talking again about a bishop or elder
If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of right or unruly
So in both passages it's a given isn't it that he has children, both passages
Not if he has children then they need to be in subjection, Titus 1.6 is the clearest
It says if any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of right or unruly
Right, why is that important? Well firstly because God said so
Yeah, God said having faithful children, okay
I mean that should be enough for us shouldn't it, having faithful children
I don't care who ordains you, you're not a pastor by God's criteria if you don't have children
Okay, for starters, what does the F stand for in IFB? Anyone?
Fundamental, we believe in the fundamentals of this book don't we?
Okay, and when it clearly sets out something in this book, we should be following it shouldn't we?
What business have you pastoring, calling yourself a pastor if you can't even follow the most basic part of the qualifications for being a pastor
Okay, but why else is it important? So not only because God clearly said that's what it must be, why else is it important?
Anyone can have children, isn't that easy, anyone can have children
Yes, but a pastor must also rule well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity
Okay, all gravity, faithful children not accused of right or unruly, why?
Okay, verse 5 says if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?
And for you fathers here, ruling, leading a home has many challenges doesn't it?
Doesn't it have many, many challenges, leading a home, it's not only a test of your leadership abilities, it's also training as well isn't it?
Isn't that training, ruling a home, leading a home, that has a lot of challenges and you'll get different challenges coming up over the years
Now, it didn't say perfect children, these aren't perfect children but these are faithful, trustworthy, loyal, dutiful, in the faith
In subjection is, as you know, submitting, gravity is dignity here, not accused of riot or unruly
Okay, now I would say here, just on a quick side note here, that to fulfil these, those children can't all still be toddlers can they?
Okay, so you have a couple of twin babies, I don't think you're qualified to pastor
Okay, because here they're faithful, trustworthy, loyal, they have to get to a certain age for you to be able to judge that don't they?
Surely, now I'm not saying all your kids have to be that age but I would say that you need to at least have a couple of children that are showing that, that's how I see that
If you don't even have kids, how on earth have you fulfilled that criteria?
No way
You can't, it's impossible
Okay, oh but he eventually had one child, he's got a second on the way
Okay, but if this fool wants to return to his folly he fails on another qualification doesn't he?
Titus 1.6 said if any be blameless
1 Timothy 3.2 says a bishop then must be blameless
Whether or not he was before, Salam cannot claim to be blameless anymore, ever again can he?
He can't
Okay, go back to Judges 17, let's see what happens in Judges 17 with this unqualified priest
So in Judges 17 Micah is in the wrong isn't he? His mum's in the wrong
And on that, in the same way, anyone going to that church was in the wrong
Okay, let's call it what it is, anyone who went to that church was in the wrong
Now you might say, oh but the other churches in London would preach you a false gospel
Don't go to them either
No one said you had to go to those churches
Look newsflash, God never promised you a church within an hour of your house
God never promised you a good church
Okay, but he never promised you a church within an hour of your house did he?
I didn't read that in the Bible, anyone read that in the Bible?
No
And look, I know it's hard to travel long journeys to rubbish churches
Okay, but at least they're churches
Okay, if they're churches, if they preach in the gospel and they've got the Bible
and there's some form of outreach, they're still a church aren't they?
Okay, they're still a church
Now I'm not saying that you have to go to repent of your sins Baptist
Don't go there, I agree
Soon as it's clear and 100% and don't just cast every church under the bus
because you just assume they must be
and obviously we don't have that problem now do we?
But that doesn't mean you go to an unqualified church does it?
Okay, you've got no business
And I hope that no one here and I hope no one who watches this is still justifying it
Okay, but a lot of people were new Christians then weren't they?
A lot of people were immature Christians, were young Christians
and hopefully they've learnt from this
Well hopefully at the end of this they will have done anyway
So 1 Samuel 15 23 says
For rebellion is as a sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry
because as rejected the word of the Lord he hath also rejected thee from being king
Okay, and anyone who's still stubborn enough to say well no it was a right decision
No, you know, well there was nothing else
Well no, you're wrong
You're 100% wrong, you should never have gone there
Okay, but with Micah, with Micah in Judges 17
maybe there was nothing nearby in Mount Ephraim either
We don't know how far it was, we don't know what that journey was
But what happens when we do what's right in our own eyes?
Now in this story though who do you think God holds to a higher account here?
Who do you think he holds to account here more?
I would say 100% it's that Levite isn't it?
This unqualified Levite, he's a Levite
He surely has or could have gained some knowledge of the law
the qualifications etc, surely
You had to be of Aaron, of one of Aaron's sons
Remember, for unto whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required
And that's the same with this psalm isn't it?
I'm assuming that he had some Bible knowledge to have had a following in the first place
He must have had something to have had some people follow him
What's his motivation? What was his motivation?
What was the priest's motivation?
Well have a look at Judges 17 10
Judges 17 10
And Micah said unto him, dwell with me and be unto me a father and a priest
and I will give thee ten shekels of silver by the year
and a suit of apparel and thy victuals
So the Levite went in
It's the money isn't it? It's all about the money
All comes back to the filthy Luca
Verse 11
And the Levite was content to dwell with the man and the young man was unto him as one of his sons
So he's gone in and he's content isn't he?
Despite the graven and molten image, the teraphim
Because once compromising starts it doesn't finish does it?
Once you start compromising on the word of God it doesn't finish
Verse 13 says
Then said Micah, now know I that the Lord will do me good seeing I have a Levite to my priest
How misled
But also what's his motivation?
What's Micah's motivation?
He's seeking prosperity from God
Instead of God's will
And again I'm not going to go
This will be the last time I hit on the people that were at that church
But was their motivation really seeking God's will to go to church?
Or was it some sort of blessing from being at a church?
Were they seeking the prosperity of going to a church?
Because if they were seeking God's will they wouldn't have gone to a church with an unqualified pastor
Okay
Do you think the Lord did him good?
Do you think the Lord did Micah good?
No, anyone who's read this story sees 100% no
Turn forward to Judges 18
Okay
So in Judges 18
The children of Dan have sent out five scouts to search for more land to conquer
Okay
They stop at Micah's house and recognize the priest
So have a look at verse 3 here
It says
So the unqualified priest is starting to buddy up now to others isn't he?
So he's starting to buddy up to others
Now why are the Danites still looking for land to conquer?
Well in Judges chapter 1 verse 34 it says
Now the Amorites were meant to be conquered to gain land
But they were so weak, they were like your weak liberal worldly Christians, the Danites
Who were basically chased off by the world up into the mountains
And now the unqualified priest is now speaking flattering words to your worldly liberal Christians
Which is interesting as apparently Salam started watering down his doctrine
More recently to appeal to the worldly Christians
Okay, claiming that Leviticus 20 is no longer applicable
That Leviticus 20 is no more applicable to New Testament Christians
No, a righteous government would instill Leviticus 20 wouldn't it?
Okay
The seemingly now more and more fashionable subtle digs that the NIFB passes
That got him his church in the first place really wasn't it?
Because he claimed to agree with NIFB, what we call NIFB doctrine
And then all these guys go, once they get their following
They then start to get uncomfortable that their following listens to pastors that are 100 times better than them
So then they start whispering and then they start giving little digs in their sermons
And little things about pretentious pastors, one of the names of one of his sermons
I listened to some of that here on the way here
I don't know how anyone sat in that church, it is bad
Okay, regardless, now the Danites return with 600 men
Okay, about to invade a quiet village
So have a look at verse 13 now in Judges 18
And they pass thence unto Mount Ephraim and came unto the house of Micah
Then answered the five men that went out to spy out the country of Laish and said unto their brethren
Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod and teraphim and a graven image and a molten image
Now therefore consider what ye have to do
And they turned the other wood and came to the house of the young man of Levi even unto the house of Micah and saluted him
So remember he's already earlier been speaking flattering words to them and now they're saluting him aren't they
You know and that's it, you start to appeal to the world
And that's what these pastors do
Is they get their following and then they start trying to appeal to the world
And then they start trying to pull their following away from the people that got them there in the first place
And just on that, I don't know if you know, any of you ever read the comments of this stuff
I mean a lot of the pastors that we love, a lot of the pastors that we have learnt so much from
And have gained so much from, everyone we spiritually
A lot of them get really attacked by these anonymous, these anonymous YouTube accounts
Who seem to be spending their lives, because there's a lot of time spent on their attacking men of God
Under the claim of well they're this, they're that
But these guys, let's put it by the world standard, they're preaching to what
A few hundred people in a church, maybe what a couple of few thousand max on YouTube
Maybe some of those sermons eventually get a few more viewings
Why aren't they on Joel Osteen's pages?
Why aren't they on TD Jake's or Creflo Dollar or the rest of these clowns?
Why aren't they there?
Well we know why don't we, because we know what really their motivation is
But they claim it's because they're just so upset about the behaviour of NIFB pastors and everything
It's just ridiculous
And in the same way he was just little preaching, little subtle digs at them and everything else
Why aren't you going on about the rest of them?
Anyway, verse 16
He stood in the entering of the gate with the 600 men that were appointed with weapons of war
So he's standing with them now, isn't he? What a turncoat
Verse 18
He didn't tell them to stop though, did he? Just asked them what they're doing, didn't ask them to stop
Verse 19
Lay thine hand upon thine mouth and go with us and be to us a father and a priest
Is it better for thee to be a priest under the house of one man?
Or let thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel
So basically you can get more money and acclaim with us, yeah?
Now have a look at verse 20
And the priest's heart was glad and he took the ephod and the teraphim and the graven image and went in the midst of the people
His heart was glad because he's a mercenary, he never had respect for God's way, did he?
He never had respect for God's way
And don't miss that in that verse, who's got the ephod? Who's got the teraphim and the graven image?
Yeah, the fake priest, the unqualified priest
He ends up stealing from Micah and joining the worldly liberals
An unqualified thief, well he's qualified as a thief but he's unqualified and a thief
And that's where Salah will likely try to end up, won't he?
Some watered down non-denom church having stolen multiple tens of thousands of pounds from misled Christians and ultimately from God
And that's probably where he's going to end up, isn't he?
But the thing is with that, you might think, well how does that affect us?
Because he'll still likely, unless he is a full on false prophet, he's still likely going to appear to have the King James Bible, have the right gospel
Maybe even claim to go soul winning and everything else
And there are going to be people around the country like there already were
That are going to look in for a church who have got saved, maybe online or through someone else
Maybe people, you and I and other soul winners have got saved who are going to look for churches at some point in the future and find this clown and end up there
We read earlier, Titus 1.6 said if any be blameless
1 Timothy 3.2 says a bishop then must be blameless
He can never be considered blameless again, can he? Never
Being a pastor is different, being a pastor is different
As a brother or sister in Christ, even after church discipline, you can be restored, can't you?
You're repentant, you seek forgiveness, you can be restored, you can be restored to fellowship
But as a pastor you're permanently disqualified
You're permanently disqualified if you've ever stolen money as a pastor from a church
Let's make that clear, you are no longer, you can never be considered blameless again, can you?
He is permanently disqualified
Like I said, you could be restored into fellowship, he could be restored into fellowship with people
Again, if he was truly repentant
But, and that's assuming he's not a covetous reprobate
That's assuming, and that's a big assumption that he's not a covetous reprobate
But you'll never be blameless again, will you?
You will never be blameless again
And just to make it clear about this, Siloam had a small church of less than 20 members
With little outgoings and some faithful tithers
They had some soul winning flyers and that was pretty much it for their outgoings
No Bibles, no other things, just a few flyers that were on a deal from someone he knew
Now after a few months at his home, they rented a cheap community hall
And eventually compacted the two services into one long service with a half hour break in the middle
Basically I think to get cheaper rent of the community hall
So they basically had a service with a little 30 to 40 minute sermonette
Then they had a break for food, then another service
He started the church whilst in other full time employment
And was never meant to be getting a wage from the church
There was never any agreement that he was being paid by the church
It was a church of 15 to 20 people and he had a full time job
And like I said, the outgoings were nothing
He wasn't really doing much other than a couple of little sermonettes
Without anyone's knowledge, he was transferring money from the church bank account into his own
And there also seems to be no record of the cash offerings
No one can find any record of all the cash offerings from every week
And he also had early on big bulk payments paid by I think Donnie Romero
What a surprise there that he was a supporter
And a couple of other guys gave some big cash donations
So far he has admitted to taking £12,583.93
But the real total is way higher
Way, that's all he's admitted to
Way higher, it's calculated about £40,000 is a bare minimum so far
Right, they've calculated £24,278.56 from October 18 to April 21
Which, like I said, doesn't include any of the early large offerings
As he claims that he lost those records
The PayPal account for online donations was closed by him too
So no one can have any record of what online donations ever came in
Now this wasn't an isolated incident
This wasn't some moment of madness
Where Salaam just had this crazy kind of thought
And just cleared out everything from the church, had been saving up or anything else
No, this was consistent from the beginning of his ministry
From the beginning of his ministry he was just siphoning off the money for himself
Now he was eventually forced, forced?
Not that he owned up and was repentant
He was forced by the men of the church to step down
Like I said, unrepentant
And Proverbs 2017, you don't have to turn there
It says, bread of deceit is sweet to a man
But afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel
And his mouth will be filled with gravel
Absolute pond dwelling scum, isn't he?
He is scum, absolute scum
And he will never be qualified to pastor again
But Salaam, it's not just the kids bit
Salaam was already unqualified in other areas
And we can learn a bit from this
So go back to 1 Timothy chapter 3
1 Timothy chapter 3 and from verse 1
This is a true saying, if a man desires the office of a bishop he desireth a good work
So there's nothing wrong with wanting that role
But there's a difference between desiring and forcing it at all costs
There's a big difference
Desire is to wish for the possession or enjoyment of with a greater or less degree of earnestness
To covet
And that's covet in a good sense here
It expresses less strength of affection than longing
Desire it sure, but if you're longing for that job
You've got to question the motives, don't you?
If you're longing for it
He'd already gone for the role at a previous church
That was already his goal from early
Whilst unqualified still
And Salaam, he didn't seem fussed at all about the small issue of qualifications, did he?
He was longing for this job
He wanted this job no matter what
Verse 2 says a bishop then must be blameless
The husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach
So whether or not he was before
Like we said, since stealing the money from God, he is no longer blameless
OK
Of good behaviour
Well you can decide about that now, can't you?
But given the hospitality
What about this one?
Now I heard this terrible story
Where Salaam had invited a pregnant sister in Christ to stay for a few months at his house
As the husband was out of the country
And said that they would feed her
OK
He said that she could stay, we'll look after her
Nothing was mentioned about rent at this point, yeah
Then suddenly, when it was all agreed, no going back now
He then suddenly charged her an extortionate rent, yeah, to stay at the house
£800 per month
OK, £800 per month to stay at the house
Which eventually, because then he was real tight for cash, went up to £1100
At some point during the three month stay at his house
Then he didn't feed her
Didn't feed her either
So this lady's then having to withdraw money out
To go and buy food for herself because she's not getting fed
For her rent of between £800 and eventually £1100 a month
Given the hospitality, eh
Wow
What a scumbag, eh
Apt to teach
Well he's managed to teach everyone how not to be a pastor, isn't he?
On the plus side
We'll give him one here, he was apt to teach
Verse 3
You can see why God has these rules, can't you?
You can see why God has these rules
And I don't know if the signs were there before he started pastoring
I don't know
I don't know the guy
But that's why ordaining pastors isn't something you do on a whim, is it?
Because you've got to know, haven't you?
Before you ordain someone as a pastor and send them out
You have to know for sure that they are not covetous
They are not greedy and filthy lucre
OK
It's not something you just send someone out
Oh well, yeah, they've got some kids, out you go
You know
It's not something you do to get someone out of your church
If that really did happen, and I don't know
I don't know what the real truth is there
But if he really did, ordain him as a pastor
And get him out of the church
Without having a row
And really because you don't maybe have a biblical reason to kick them out
Then that is wicked, isn't it?
Because look what you're causing there
But I don't know if that's what happened there
OK
But what was the result?
Well, look at the result for Micah
Like I said last week, you have to hate covetousness, don't you?
Hate it
Not just, well, I don't think I'm very covetous
Yeah
No, you've got to hate it
Absolutely hate it
Because look, there could be so many temptations, can't there, as a pastor?
All that money, you're looking at bank balances, cash is coming in
The rest of it, you have to absolutely hate it
There has to be no sign of it at all
For someone to be ordained as a pastor
OK
And look
There can be many signs, can't there?
There can be many signs
And a pastor, that's why ideally, and we're in a weird situation in this church
But a pastor should be analysing people that eventually
And not just constantly making a checklist on them
But they should be getting an idea
If that person who eventually I might send out in the future
If there's any sign of covetousness
Any sign of greed or filthy lucre
Then they have no business ever sending them out, do they?
And ideally that happens over a time period in a church
That's why churches should be sending out from their own churches, shouldn't they?
And it's not just to kick someone out of your church
OK
And there are many signs, I think, long before the Judas money bag thieving starts
It's not just, oh well, can they take the collection and not dip their hand in or anything else
No, there are many, many signs of covetousness, aren't there?
And again, if that's something that you maybe suffer with
That's something you need to pray and get out of your life, don't you?
Especially if you ever wanted to go into the ministry
OK
Verse 4 then
So back over
Sorry, sorry, let's stay in 1 Timothy here
So chapter 3 and verse 4
It says
For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?
So if you're covetous, you won't rule well your own house, will you?
Because if your focus is on money, is on gaining, is on filthy lucre
Are you really going to rule your house well? I'd say you're not, are you?
Because your kids, your family, your house should be of a big, big priority to you
Not just getting rich
Verse 6 says
Now I don't care how long, because apparently he'd been listening and involved in YouTube stuff for a long time
I don't care how long you've been listening to good preaching
Everyone I've spoken to says he was full of pride and ego
Everyone I've spoken to said it was oozing off him
Pride and ego
And he might have been hearing the word for a long time, but for how long was he doing it?
James 1.22 says
I don't think he was ever doing the word
If he was at that point still just full of this ego
I mean someone was telling me about a video
That he was apparently in front of a punch bag going on about the strength of young men
And he'd vest on the punch bag and put it up on YouTube
Like this guy was trying to teach
He tried to write a book on relationship advice
Having been married for several months
I mean it just beggars belief doesn't it?
Full of pride, full of ego and that's a novice
You can be saved for 20 years
You can listen to sermons and know what to model yourself on
Because I'm not convinced by this guy at all that he even is a man of God
You can model yourself on sermons for years
But it's your behaviour that counts isn't it?
Your behaviour is a sign, not what you preach
Not if you sound like you've got the doctrine right
Anyone can copy doctrine
Verse 7 says
Once they heard the facts
I don't think even the unsaved world wouldn't be disgusted with his thieving would they?
He again will never have a good report of them which are without will he?
Turn over to Titus 1 though for a few more failed qualifications
Titus chapter 1 and from verse 6
Not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy Luca
He's sounding pretty self-willed to me isn't he?
Selfish being another word
How selfish do you have to be?
From the beginning how selfish do you have to be
To basically force yourself into a pastor position when you're unqualified
And was it for the people?
Are these people just saying no it wasn't?
It was for himself
For his own ego, his own pride, his own pocket
Really was what it was
Selfish, self-willed
Verse 8
Well he loves hospitality when they're paying rent doesn't he?
He loves hospitality when they're paying rent
A lover of good men
Now, Salaam did love good men
He did love good men as long as they were black
Okay that's the truth
He loved good men as long as they were black because Salaam was a racist
No doubt about it, Salaam was a racist
And again like I said before newsflash
It's not only white people that are racist
Salaam was a follower of the communist false prophet Martin Luther King
He used to do videos with a poster of him in the background
Imagine if I had that on the back here while I was doing my sermons
He used to do videos from his YouTube with Martin Luther King in the background
If you don't know much about him I'd recommend you go there
I think there's a good documentary by Pastor Anderson on him as well
He was also an open advocate of the BLM movement
You know the Black Lives Matter movement
You know that one? Anyone looked into that at all?
Well, in case you're not aware in 2013 Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi formed the Black Lives Matter network
Oh I'm sure what lovely, courageous, bold women of colour they were
Cullors identifies as a queer
In 2016 she married Janaya Khan, a social activist who co-founded Black Lives Matter Toronto
In 2004, Alicia, this is Alicia Garza, came out as a queer to her family
In 2008 she married Malachi and took the name Garza, settling in Oakland
What an abomination to be called Malachi as well
What sort of man of God supports these sick, vile perverts?
What sort of man of God gives any lip service to this joke, disgusting movement?
Just amazing isn't it? And I'll tell you the sort of man that preaches that as God looked after his people Israel
There's nothing wrong with Salam looking after his people
Yeah, that was one of the things that he preached
Nothing wrong with him looking after his people
So who exactly are Salam's people?
Is it people from Africa?
Asia maybe?
Do we have Pacific Islanders in there?
Southeast Asian maybe?
Mixed race?
South Americans, do we have them in there as well?
Is it anyone basically with any colour in their skin?
What if I get a good tan?
Do you think I'll become one of his people then?
No?
Yeah, I don't know
Maybe if I was down, maybe if I was in a Mediterranean country I was getting the sun all year every year
Maybe I might qualify for one of his people then, will I?
Because that's how ridiculous it is, isn't it?
Because you notice these guys, they never go, my people, just the nation they were born in or whatever that is
Or just however many years they could go back
It's always then it comes down to colour, doesn't it?
Always comes down to colour, what's that got to do with it?
How are the Asians his people then?
Or how are the Africans?
Whatever, it's absolutely ridiculous
Turn to Colossians 3
Colossians chapter 3 and from verse 8
But now ye also put off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth
And that's what all this racist stuff is, isn't it?
It's anger, wrath, malice, propagated by a divisive media, isn't it?
That's what it is
It's just pushed on people, they're encouraged to be angry, wrathful, have malice towards people of a certain colour
Based on something that their claiming has happened thousands or maybe hundreds or maybe tens of years
Verse 9
Stop lying about your so-called genetics
You all go back to Noah
Stop lying about it
You're lying about it, it's nonsense, you're one people
Verse 10
Which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him
Now although that's speaking about the new creature in Christ
Let's not forget that we are also made in the image of God, aren't we?
That's every single person
Everyone here is made in the image of God
Genesis 1.27 says
That's all of us
That's all of us, therefore you shouldn't care what skin colour Jesus is, should you?
Does anyone care what skin colour Jesus was?
Who cares?
Because we're all created in his image
And if we're all created in his image
I don't think there's any importance about the skin colour
Because it's not down to that detail, is it?
Absolute nonsense
And I'm so sick of this stuff
And it's so pushed on people, isn't it?
And you've got to be an idiot to get sucked into that
You've got to be an absolute fool as we know he is and was
And still will be a fool
Verse 11
So which people are your salaam?
Which ones are yours out of those?
Because there's none of that if you're in Christ
There's none of that if you're in Christ
You can get on with that with the world if you want
If you're not in Christ
Have your little squabbles about who's who
And decide what criteria
What shade of brown fits your people
What shade of white
It's just ridiculous, isn't it?
Verse 12
As the elect of God, holy and beloved
Bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind
Meekness, long suffering
Mercies and kindness
That's to all people, isn't it?
Mercies and kindness to all people
Not just to the people you claim are yours
Okay, not just the people you claim are your people
Forbearing one another
Verse 13
So also
Do ye
So if you feel that someone's great-great-grandfather
Was mean to your great-great-grandfather
Try forgiving them, you racist
Try forgiving them
You absolute racist, you hypocrite
Verse 14
Okay, that's putting others first, not your racist propaganda salaam
That's putting other people first
Verse 15
Yeah, you might finally have some peace from that
And stop getting brainwashed
Back to 1 Timothy 3
And verse 8
Sober, just, holy, temperate
Okay, he seems to be failing on all points here, doesn't he?
But temperate, that's self-control
You know, the self-control not to dip your hand into the money bag
That sort of self-control is one of the qualities, temperate
The self-control not to just jump on the worldly, fleshly
racist, Black Lives Matter propaganda
That sort of self-control
Yeah, and what an idiot
How do you get pulled into that?
As a man of God, how do you get sucked into that?
It's one thing when you're new, when you're a babe in Christ
But come on, you only have to read through the Bible once
To see that it's completely unbiblical, all of that
What an absolute, absolute idiot
Okay, verse 9
Okay, so as well as holding fast to the faithful word on key doctrines
Something that Salaam started to water down and change on
There could also be an application of soul winning here too, couldn't there?
Okay, you don't have to turn up at 2 Timothy 4-5
He says, but watch thou in all things, endure afflictions
Do the work of an evangelist, make foolproof of thy ministry
So a pastor should at least do some evangelising, shouldn't he?
Yeah
Shouldn't he?
Okay, now as a voluntary pastor with a full time job
It's tough to go multiple times in the week, yeah?
I'd give him that, yeah?
Writing sermons, believe it or not, takes a long time
And there is many other parts of being a pastor
It's not just writing sermons, reading your Bible
But there is a lot of time, and if you're voluntary, if you're not full time
Then I'd understand that going multiple times soul winning might be difficult
But you would expect maybe once a week, wouldn't you?
At least
Once a month? You'd think you'd get away once a month, wouldn't you?
Yeah?
Well no, Pastor Salaam, and pastor, I use the term loosely there
It's just what he calls himself, went a handful of times during his near three year ministry
A handful of times
Right, what's that about?
A so-called soul winning church, what happened to being an evangelist?
Well no, Pastor Salaam went only a few times
And I think probably most of those times, when he went regularly, was before he condemned everyone to join his church
Okay, a handful of times
Turn back to 1 Timothy 3 again
For the last few failings here
In qualifications
Now, from verse 8, Paul starts giving the qualifications of a deacon
Okay, or a cistern
Now, within this there's some criteria for a deacon's wife
Which she should fulfil
Now, this would obviously apply to the pastor's wife as well, okay?
So let's see what it says, 1 Timothy 3.11
Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things
Now, grave is honourable
Slanderer is someone who defames others, sober is watchful, cautious
Faithful in all things is trustworthy, loyal, dutiful, and full of faith
Now, when you think of a woman with those qualities
You don't think of a worldly model who still attends a Pentecostal church on the Saturdays
During his ministry
So she's going to the Pentecostal church on a Saturday
I don't know what sort of church is running Saturday services anyway
And then on a Sunday she was going to Nyoth
But she was actively pursuing a career as an actress
And was also a worldly model
And she wasn't modelling knee-length skirts
Yet again, another fact
I mean, it's like I said, Judges 17 was really apt for this, wasn't it?
Because it wouldn't be out of place there, it's just ridiculous
It borders on the comical, doesn't it?
It is comical if it wasn't so serious that he's abusing that position
That he's stealing off God's people
Okay, and back to Titus 1
If we just flick over to Titus 1 here
Titus 1, sorry guys, yeah, Titus 1
And from verse 10
For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers
Especially they of the circumcision
Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses
Teaching things which they ought not
For filthy lucas' sake
And there you have an apt description of psalm, don't you?
An unruly and vain talker and deceiver
Now I'm hoping that this sermon will hopefully stop his mouth for good
And I want to add five people here as well
And we're going to talk about that in a second
But I hope for one, this sermon, if anyone ever wants to look him up
This sermon we're going to make sure will always be on YouTube
Even if they cancel our page, we'll have a back-up
We'll just keep going with this sermon
So that guy should never be behind a pulpit ever again
And have to find another way of ripping people off
He has already subverted whole houses, hasn't he?
There are people that went to that church
And like I said, whether or not they were misled, misguided
And yeah, they were in error
But there are people that have gone there, they've tithed money
I mean, how sick must they feel now?
And what other stuff was he teaching?
I mean, I tried to sit through one sermon and that was hard going
Okay, and how, I mean, who knows what he's taught over those couple of years
Whatever it was
Teaching things which he ought not
And why? For the money
Was it for the money?
He started watering down, I believe, his doctrine
Because his church never grew
So he had 15, whatever it was, people at the end of his ministry
Similar to the beginning of his ministry
And I think he just wanted to start getting more and more people in
But what he forgot is that God builds the church, doesn't he?
And God isn't going to build a false church like that
Until he goes full off in a false doctrine
Then the devil will build his church, won't he?
Okay, Psalm 119 verse 127 says
Therefore I love thy commandments above gold, yea, above fine gold
If only Salaam had the same love for God's commandments as the Psalmist did there
Above gold, above fine gold
Because the first clear instruction on a qualification, wasn't it?
Was having children, having faithful children
Husband of one wife
Okay, so what can we learn from this whole mess ourselves, though?
So firstly, and again you don't have to turn there
Famous scripture, Matthew 4-4, but the answer said it is written
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word
That proceedeth out of the mouth of God
Okay, the word of God isn't a pick and mix, is it?
Okay, the word of God is not a pick and mix
Man's wisdom will always fail if it goes against God's, won't it?
It will always fail
And we see that, we've seen that with this church, haven't we?
An unqualified pastor, now it's just all been destroyed
It's all come out in the wash, what was really going on
And as we grow as a church, we will eventually, I hope, if things go well
We'll be planting churches in the future, won't we?
We'll be planting churches in the future
And we must ensure that we don't cut any corners either, yeah?
So anyone that decides that I want to be involved in ministry, take heed
That it's not just having kids, okay?
There's a list of qualifications that men who want to go into the ministry
Should be striving towards
Striving towards to qualify one day to pastor
Okay, because it's not just a pick and mix
Well I like that one, well okay, well I'm a bit covetous
Well I've got a few things, I've got a few problems on that list
But hey ho, at least I've got the kids
Or maybe with him it wasn't I don't even have the kids, you know?
No, we should be striving to fulfil every qualification if you want to eventually pastor
And that goes in other areas as well
We should be striving our utmost to follow every single commandment, shouldn't we?
Every single one, we should never, never cut corners
Because eventually it will fail, won't it?
It will fail
And that goes for every area of our life, doesn't it, as well?
That goes for every area
If you're thinking, well I know I should be doing this at home
I know I should be doing this with my kids
I know I should be doing this at work
I know I should be doing that in whatever other area outside of the church
If there's clear commandment from God
And you are disobeying that commandment
It's going to fail, isn't it?
It's going to fail and it's going to come back to bite you
And when there's clear commandments, follow them
Let's turn to...
Turn to Ecclesiastes
I think I've written down the wrong note here
But I think I wanted to go to Ecclesiastes
Yeah, in chapter 12 and from verse 13
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter
Fear God and keep His commandments
For this is the whole duty of man
For God shall bring every work into judgment
With every secret thing
Whether it be good or whether it be evil
On that, let's pray
Heavenly Father, I thank you for this church
I thank you for your word
I thank you for just the clear, clear instructions that you give us
Instructions that we should all strive to follow
I thank you that you've made this manifest
It took a couple of years and eventually it all came out, didn't it?
And I thank you that you've made that clear
I hope that you'll help this sermon to warn others
To stay away from this man, to stay away from this charlatan
And I hope that you'll also...
That we'll all here be edified by this sermon
To all learn from this, to all learn from these errors
To all apply it to our own lives as well
And pray now that you'll just bless the rest of our day
Help us to get lots of souls saved this afternoon
And to continue to build this church
In Jesus' name we pray, Amen