(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, welcome back everybody to the second service of Sure Foundation Baptist Hawaii. I hope you guys had a good week and everything went accordingly, that everyone had all their ducks in a row and thanks for finding time throughout your week to be able to come to church to hear the word of God preached and let's just start out by a word of prayer really quick. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for everything you've done for us. Please help us to never lose sight on serving you. Please help me with the Holy Spirit to be able to preach a word that it could edit by someone and that someone could use this throughout their life to help them further the gospel. In Jesus Christ's name we pray, amen. I do want to start off and apologize that, yeah, that was a long chapter to read out of nowhere and a lot of people may be thinking as they're reading this passage, where are we going to go with this? You know, Psalms 68 has a lot to say and there's a lot of like, I wouldn't necessarily say cryptic teachings but it covers a lot of information and where I derive the title of this message is actually found in verse 4 but let me tell you, the title of this message this afternoon is What is Rastafari? Now you know and I know, we've heard a lot of who are Rastafari or Rastafari, where they come from and what are they and that's what I want us to know to better our chances when we go preaching the gospel, if we come across someone who claims to be a Rasta, how to be able to help get them saved because make no bones about it, there's about a million people that adhere to the faith of Rastafari and I do say the faith, the belief, the religious belief. You know, some arguably say that it's not a religious belief but it's a philosophical thought and the reason why they say that is because Rastas have never come together and created a statement of faith to say if you accept all these things then you yourself are a Rasta. So because they've never done this, they would never classify themselves as a religion but really they are. I mean the UN in I think it was the 1950s classified them as a religion and on the subject of Rastafari, you know living here in Hawaii, if you grew up here in Hawaii you know a lot about Reggae music and Rasta theology and stuff like that and maybe in New York, I mean you guys are from New York, there's a lot of Rastas that are in New York and in the East Coast and the Caribbean states that are nearby and being that a million people are deceived by this religion, we need to show emphasis on this. You know, some people think that's like, oh it doesn't really matter because that's not a lot of people in the grand scheme of the planet, 7.2 billion some people, 1 million, that's not too bad but you know that's a million people who are being deceived by the devil himself through the lens of Rastafari. So what is Rastafari, well the word Rastafari comes from the Ethiopian language which is American ultimately and if you break up the parts of speech, it's Rasta which simply just means head or authority structure and we say Rastafari but it's actually mis, we're saying it technically incorrectly, it would be pronounced Rastafari and the word fair is similar to where we get the word for Pharaoh, you know, a governing person of a place or in this context it would be a high priest. So Rastafari, the I right there or the Roman numeral one is just explaining that, he was the head high priest who was first, that's what the word Rastafari even means but we just say the word Rasta referring to them, right? The people of Sada were known as Sadamites so we just say that they're Sadamites and Rastas are ultimately people who believe in the religion of Rastafari and with that being said when I got saved, you know it's very strange about this subject to me because like I said if you grew up here in Hawaii you understand, this is maybe even dear to you, that I used to listen to a lot of Reggae music, I used to, I mean if you turn on the radio today in Hawaii you're going to hear a lot of island Reggae music or Hawaiian Reggae music and there truly is a big impact of Rastafarianism in Hawaii so when I got saved I don't know what was in me or why, I saw it important to just write a paper on the subject of Rastafarianism and I didn't, I wasn't in a church, I wasn't you know thinking of being a pastor one day or an evangelist, I just simply thought you know what, I want to write a paper on this subject and you know in that time in my life I was really big on debate and I was following like Kent Hovind's ministry on like creation science and against evolutionary science so I wanted to be able to combat Rastas and their belief and if you don't know what Rastas believe I'm going to help explain this to you. Parts of my paper that I written were you know cross reference with other sources but a lot of this information I'm going to explain to you simply comes from Wikipedia. Wikipedia a lot of people say is a bad source of information but it's not okay if and if you truly do your legwork and do the research you're going to find that a lot of these statements that I bring up from Wikipedia are true and as a matter of fact I'll venture to say this before I move into this, if you get 10 Rastas in a room and you ask them one question you're going to get 20 answers. The reason is because they do not have a centralized statement of faith like I said. They do not professionally call themselves religious but nevertheless just because they don't have a statement of faith doesn't mean they don't all adhere to a practice that they all agree to because what is a religion? Religion is a belief system of where you came from where you are going and things like that and they have a belief system of these things and we're going to see what and why they believe. What is a Rastafari? So first things first let's define it. What is a Rastafari? Like I said parts of this is my own paper mixed in with Wikipedia's information but it's mainly Wikipedia just so you know. Rastafari is a racist religious philosophical worldview developed in the 1930s of a geo geopolitical system teachings that the African people are the original 12 tribes of Israel. Rastas beliefs are based on a specific interpretation of the Bible. So let's pause there really quickly. What is a Rasta ultimately is someone back in the 1930s right and we're going to go into where they came from but ultimately who are the people of the Caribbean right? Pre you know New World you know before the Columbus and the people came over to the New World Native Americans lived in America right and in the Caribbean islands Spaniards made their way over to the Caribbean islands and conquered that that group of people. When the slave trades were going on in America a lot of African people found themselves running from slavery and found themselves in the Caribbean islands. This is why when you go to the Caribbean why do we see a bunch of like African people everywhere it's because they're running away from slavery from America and when you look at the landmass of Jamaica we're in a sense a melting pot of Spanish religion which is derived from the Roman Catholic Church, Native American paganism and African paganism. This melting pot of ideology that all come together and because the Roman Catholic Spaniards came and conquered that landmass that's why they adhere to some parts of Christianity and that's why it's phrased here a specific interpretation of the Bible. Let's keep reading. Central is a monotheistic belief in a singular God referring to as Jah. That's why I had you come to Psalms 68. This is the only time in the whole Bible we find the word Jah and make no bones about it Jah is referring to the God of the Bible but they are misunderstanding who that really is. Who partially resides within each individual. Rastafari also maintained that Jah incarnated in human form as Jesus Christ. Rastas accord Haliselassie the Emperor of Ethiopia between 1930 and 1974 central accordance many regarding him as the second coming of Christ through reincarnation while others see him as a human prophet who fully recognized that the inner divinity in every individual Rastafari is an afrocentric, Rastafarianism is afrocentric and focuses its attention on the African people which it believes is oppressed within Western society or also known as Babylon. Many Rastas call for the resettlement of the African people to Africa referring to this continent as the promised land or Zion. So like I said the starting point of this introduction of what Rastafarianism is it is a religion based on race. It is the people in the Caribbean island who are ethnically of Africa who are trying to ultimately make a square peg fit into a round hole. They are taking passages in the Bible and twisting them and when it comes to people who would twist or rest scriptures Rastas in my opinion are the pinnacle essential group of people who do this obviously Catholics do this obviously Pentecostal do this and obviously a lot of people try to make the Bible say whatever they want it to but Rastas are some and you'll see here are some of the worst at this because they're not even necessarily saying they're misinterpreting it they're clearly explaining that they have a different understanding of it. Notice that it uses terms like reincarnation right? That came from the Bible? Did ever the term reincarnation from the Word of God? No ultimately what Rastafarianism is is Catholicism means Hinduism or pagan practices because there's nothing new under the sun right and every false religion with tracing of its origin will find itself into other similar religions like Hinduism. The word reincarnation obviously comes from Hinduism we can see examples of that and we're going to as we move on but they claim that a man named Holly Selassie who was the emperor of Ethiopia in 1930 was a biblical prophecy of Jesus Christ's second coming. Where did they get this from? Why do they think that? Psalm 68 is their primary proof text to prove that Holly Selassie was Jesus Christ reincarnated even though the word reincarnation is never mentioned this is what they point at and notice if you would look down at verse 4 it says sing unto God sing praises to his name extol him that rises upon the heavens by his name Jah and rejoice before him so this is why they call God Jah it is true that the Bible says Jehovah is simply also known as Jah but notice this is a song this is a song that is to be sung from the people of Israel they're ultimately taking what's known as the texture grammaton four letter name of God in the Hebrew which we know in English is Jehovah in Hebrew some say Yahweh or Yahweh or whatever the how they want to pronounce it they just took the first letter and they're making a song about that letter because he's known as Jehovah they're saying he's Jah that's what they claim to be God of the Bible we're gonna go into that but they're saying if you would look down in your Bible in verse 31 this is their biblical prophecy of Holly Selassie I being Emperor of Ethiopia becoming the second reincarnated Christ it says princes shall come out of Egypt Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God how that says Holly Selassie I his Jesus Christ reincarnated blows my mind and I have no idea why they drew that connection but nevertheless this is their primary proof text to prove that and we're gonna see more about where these people come from we get it David Rasa's are a people group of the Caribbean that believe in parts of Hinduism and parts of Catholicism ultimately they're an Afro centric group of people who are based on their race that you have to in a sense be of African or Ethiopian descent because they keep pointing to an Ethiopian ruler to be their king to be their Messiah to be their Rasa far I ultimately but let's see more of where this came from Rasa far I originated among impoverished and socially disenfranchised Afro Jamaicans that's important because it's not everyone of the Caribbean is of African descent there are people that are a Spaniard descent there are people that are native Caribbean descent but it says communities in the 1930s Jamaica is Afro centric and like I said this word keeps getting brought up I'm not making it Wikipedia brings this term up a lot because this is the key essential part to their faith it's Afro centric it's about ultimately getting back to Africa it's Afro centric ideology was largely a reaction against Jamaicans then dominant British colonial colonial culture it was influenced by Ethiopians and the back-to-africa movement for both promoted by black nationalists figures like Marcus Garvey the movement developed after a man named Leonhard Howell proclaimed that Holly Selassie is crowning as ever in 1930 fulfilled biblical prophecy Leonhard Howell pointed at this passage and said that man that we see in Ethiopia is the reincarnated Jesus Christ they didn't get that from the Bible they're truly straining at an act to swallow a candle to make it say that but notice it also speaks up figures like Marcus Garvey and I'm not going to go into a history lesson on Marcus Garvey or Leonhard Howell but Marcus Garvey was professively a Christian he claimed to be a believer in Jesus Christ and he went around at the time telling people that you African people were still stolen from your land and arguably that's true okay but nevertheless they're saying why don't we Africans have an African king that we adhere to and then at that time Marcus Garvey was known amongst Rastas to be a future John the Baptist they looked at him in a sense as they looked at John the Baptist in the Old Testament or in the New Testament you know the people said that John the Baptist would prepare the way of the Lord and Marcus Garvey is asking these African people where is your king why is it that we're here in America why are we doing this and then when Holly Solaschiai was promoted as Emperor Leonhard said yep that is fulfilling a biblical prophecy look Psalm 68 verse 31 princes shall come out of Egypt Ethiopia shall soon stretch out our hands into God that is not what it's ultimately saying and I'll before I move forward and on this start of who they are and where they came from Holly Solaschiai look there's a lot of documented information of the Emperor of Ethiopia in the 1930s Holly Solaschiai professing Lee said constantly throughout his reign on earth that he is not God he is not Jesus Christ he believes in the Lord Jesus Christ and that he does not want to be worshipped but you know what the Rastafarians said to that only God would make a claim like that only God would say he's he's being humble you know they look at this the story of the rich young ruler right and the rich young ruler comes to Christ and says good master what must I do to have eternal life and he says why call us down me good there's none good but God so the jdubs walk away saying oh see he's not claiming to be God so when this man said that he's not God they're walking away saying oh see he's just humbling himself now obviously there's more to it than that but ultimately I just want you to know that Holly Solaschiai did not ever claim to be Jesus Christ reincarnated they expected that of him they forced that hand in a sense and Marcus Garvey is also a grandfather to the movement of the black Hebrew Israelites another sermon another time but we can see how these stem from the same parent Marcus Garvey teaching an afrocentric worldview of Christianity it's about race it's about your people group it's about you know what people look at us and what the Bible clearly teaches on replacement theology and they say that's wrong God really truly cares about the nation of Israel right now even though it clearly says the kingdom that will be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof even though it says we're not once the people are now the people of God as we heard earlier in Ephesians 2 from brother Ryan you know that people became citizens according to the promise by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ all right David we get it what are they they're an afrocentric half Christian half Hindu belief system where they come from 1930 Jamaica ultimately right what do they believe what what okay we know where they came from what they are but what do they believe well let's just first bring up the Bible right because like I said they are misunderstanding what the Bible says and a lot of them adhere to the Bible as their faith and practice like I said but there are two stems of the Rasta faith ones that mean less Christianity and ones that mean more Christianity but nevertheless they both have a dual understanding of whatever it is that they're getting their beliefs from and the ones that lean more Hinduistics may point at biblical prophecy and say no that's misunderstanding and the ones that need more Bible prophecy they'll look at the Hindu and say no you just need a better understanding like I said if you get ten Rastas and ask them the one question they're not going to all agree on what is being said or things like that but let's just see the Bible what do they believe the Bible is what is this to them well contrary to scholarly understanding of how the Bible was compelled so against what the we know where the Bible came from against that information Rasta is commonly believed it was originally written in stone in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian language of Arabic or American they also believe that the Bible's true meaning was lost both through mistranslation into other languages and by deliberate manipulation by those seeking to deny black Africans their history they also regarded as cryptic meaning that it has hated meetings they believe that the true teachings can be revealed through intuition and meditation with the book within as a result of what they regard as the corruption of the Bible Rastas also turned to other sources that they believe shed light on black African history common text used for this purpose includes books like the holy pithy and the royal parchment scrolls of the black supremacy so like I said it's very obvious what they're trying to do it's great they're not trying to hide this and you could go I mean did you go to Jamaica you were there in Jamaica right the mission is true okay and obviously if you go to the Caribbean there's a lot of people who adhere to the Rasta faith they believe in Rasta far-eye things like this and when it comes to pinning them down on any one subject you ask them why do you believe what you believe what is the Bible to you you don't even professingly say this is preserved they believe that it's been tampered with they believe that it's been mistranslated throughout language they believe that it's been you know manipulated to hinder black African history I mean the Bible says in Isaiah you know these words that I said to you I will preserve from this generation for now and forever Jesus Christ when he came under this earth said in the law there shall not one job or one tittle be passed to all be fulfilled Christ himself said heaven and earth shall pass away but my word shall not pass away we understand that the Bible clearly is teaching and the preservation of God's Word this book the King James Bible that you hold in your hand today is what God is saying we're not saying it's kind of it's like it's an understanding this is the words of God in English but this is what God said period and we believe that and what's funny is Rasta's tend to grab the King James Bible knowing that they don't accept it to be completely divine but tampered with yet they say they have to use the book that is within to understand the Bible that is literally textbook Hinduism you know if you go around the world and when you go out soul winning I know with me so much ask someone what do you believe it takes to go to heaven I have to do this I have to do this I have to do that whatever the case may be right and what's interesting about that is I had a friend recently that I spoke with who unfortunately I don't want to count my eggs before it has but I think he may have lost his mind through drugs and drug abuse and stuff like that but whenever asking him questions on like heaven and hell and things like that he always says well to me and what I think and blah blah blah the Bible teaches that the heart is desperately wicked and who can know it you know we understand that when it comes to understanding God we cannot look within we need to look without and find the words of God the Bible teaches that God is not inside the hearts of the unsaved he can use the Holy Spirit to steer up their hearts but the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit and neither can he know them so these people are literally blind people leading the blind and if both fall into the ditch what good is that really so they're using the interpretation of the book that is in their heart Rastas believe that the 66 books of the Bible the Canon is not completed there is more that needs to be revealed and it's in the hearts of Rastas not in your heart it's not in the heart of the Chinese person or the Mexican person it's in the Ethiopian Rasta's heart we're gonna go into more how we can get those truths out of their heart this is why they don't all agree on things but you know what they also believe in what's known as subjective morality we believe in absolute morality meaning that there are rights and wrongs and truths outside of our understanding if David Kiefer was never born Jesus Christ is still the Lord and Savior you know that whether I was ever here is irrelevant to this book has always been here in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God we know that to be true but they're saying that they need more hence why they turn to other passages so we get it David they do not believe in the preservation of God's Word they take bits and pieces to make it say whatever they want and they're gonna use their own heart to explain these things but who is God to them and who is Jesus Christ to them well remember they call him job now stop to say this really quickly I believe that the jaw that the Rastas are believing in is a false god now don't misunderstand what I'm saying I'm not saying jaw is a false god I'm saying don't people profess to believe in Christ isn't the Christ of the Bible is it the jaw of the Bible is it the Jehovah the Lord God himself that they're believing it no they've created a God in their own image and this job that they're believing in is someone in their own image so who is job to them or God Rastafari are monotheistic worshiping a singular God who they call job the term jaw is a shortened version of Jehovah the name of God in English translated from the Old Testament as well as regarding jaw as deity Rastas also believe that jaw is inherent within each human individual this belief often cited by Rastas is called God is man and man is God or also known as I and I I don't know how much Reagan music you've ever heard in your life and I don't suggest you listen to Reagan music but you often hear a lot of Rastas speaking about I and I this is I God that is in me you can see I God that is in you this is textbook Hinduism when when Hindus walk around and yoga instructors walk around don't they always say terms like namaste for their greetings and leaving what is namaste I acknowledge the delight that is in you is also in me your divinity that is in you that is in me that's not what the Bible teaches the Bible teaches in John 1 12 to then gave me power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name so not everyone has the Holy Spirit going in them but they like to use terms like I and I and you know Rasta lingo that if you ever go to the Caribbean you know the the quintessential yeah man how's it going they like to say me say me sell you this man and so on and so forth right it's because they actually and just recently when I was prepping the sermon I looked into some Rasta belief so what they believe and there's this man on the internet named proof I this is what he calls himself because he's proving I is in him ultimately and he likes to talk simply about the the letter I how important it is to them you know they taught us they indoctrinated us when the colonials came to tell me a before II and I before II except after see ABC but there cannot be no ABC until I can see and he goes on to their simple stupid logic of what they believe and why they believe it you know and it's like I said you can't even pin them on a point on this matter but they believe that God resigns in every single human now the Bible does say that God breathed in the man's nostril the breath of life but not everyone has eternal life we all have life we are all alive and animals alive in the sense that it is moving and it's functioning but it has no soul you know we have souls as human beings and just because no one has a soul their soul may be dead their spirit is dead the Bible teaches that when we understood sin we died spiritually Adam and Eve were born into this world and were perfect until they sin then they died physically no their spirit died so no God is not in the hearts of every single person but that's what they believe and this is why they look to themselves for answers as Hindus do as other pagan faiths do but let's keep going on and let's see what it says it says Ross to speak of knowing God rather than simply believing in him and seeking to narrow the distance between humanity and divinity Ross's embrace mysticism they just professingly say that we're mystical we're all about Eastern mysticism and things like that and they say we don't necessarily believe God we know God but what does the Bible say the Bible teaches for instance in Hebrews 11 6 but without faith it is impossible to please him for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that seek him diligently I only know who God is through the lens of faith faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God you know I know that I am a child of God and I know the voice of the shepherd how my spirit beareth witness with his spirit that we are the children of God when we get saved and born again it is this week have to worship him in spirit who anyone that wants to come to God has to believe that he is you know too much today the world is trying to prove God logic God explain God you know apologetics and creation uh science and stuff like that look at the end of the day we believe in faith the words of God that when it said thus saith the Lord we say that is the voice of the shepherd but they're saying no we know God but do you believe in him well it's more than belief now I will say this knowledge is important in the aspect of knowing eternal life you know we we go out and preaching all the time you know these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the son of God faith comes first we know faith is the substance that things hope for the evidence of things not seeing you know the believe on the name of the son of God that you may know that you have eternal life I know that I am saved you know that you're saved once you've believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and God so that's what the Bible is teaching or not I'm sorry not the Bible that's what Ross says believe that's no I didn't that's what Ross is believing so they believe God is inside of every single person and that you know that's why they can grab the Bible and make it say whatever they want it to say because God's in them but who is Jesus Christ to these people because here's the thing right they adhere to holy salas I being the reincarnated Christ so they acknowledge Jesus is the Christ well notice this it says Jesus of Nazareth is an important figure in Rastafari however practitioners reject the traditional Christian view of Jesus aka the Trinity do not accept the Trinity they believe that when the nation of Israel was brought into captivity the Babylon they adopted paganism from them and remember they're African in their perspective so they adopted the Trinity in Babylon that's what they think that's not what the Bible teaches but it says practitioners or I'm sorry traditional Christian view of Jesus Christ particularly the deception of him as a white European I would agree that Jesus was not a white European I imagined you know it's very likely he was not believing that this perspective or this perspective is not true they believe that Jesus was a black African and that he was a Rasta many Rastas regard Christianity as the creation of the white man they treat it with superstition out of the view that the oppressors the Europeans and the oppressed black Africans cannot share the same God many Rastas take the view that the God worshipped by white Christians is actually the devil and recurring sayings among Rastas is that the pope is Satan saying that the pope is a minister of Satan but he's not himself Satan Rastas therefore often view Christian preachers as deceivers in regard Christianity as being guilty of further oppression of the African people often referring to them as having created mental enslavement like I said the questions on who is Jesus all of a sudden it's about race to them what does it matter what color Christ was what does it matter what pigmentation the people of Israel were but they're fixated on this thought and they do not believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God they say that he's the son of God in the sense that God dwells in him as he dwells in everyone and so on and so forth but nevertheless they're saying that most Christian people believe in a devil now Rastas who make this claim which mind you a lot do are ultimately blaspheming the holy ghost they themselves are reprobate what did Jesus tell the Pharisees when he was on this earth they said you cast out devils by Beelzebub and he tells him you are going to have the imparable sin put upon you by saying that the son of man Jesus Christ has an unclean spirit in him when these Rastas look at Christians today saying you are not worshipping God as a matter of fact you're worshipping the devil they're blaspheming the holy ghost they themselves are reprobate who would make claims like that and a lot of them are reprobate but not all of them and we're going to go into that in a moment I just want us to understand who they are what they are and what they believe why they believe what they believe so we get it David they're these African Caribbean who created this smorgasbord religion that they take parts of Christianity parts of the bible parts of Hinduism and they believe what they believe through these things we get it well one last thing I want to go into before I get into their practices because like I said this is a faith they believe in a lot from the twisting of scripture and other things but what is heaven to them what is the afterlife Rastas do not believe that there is a specific afterlife to which human individuals go following bodily death they believe it is impossible that it is they believe in the possibility of eternal life and that only those who shun righteousness will actually or I'm sorry those who would show righteousness will actually die one Rasta view is that those who are righteous are believed to undergo reincarnation with an individual's identity remaining throughout each of their incarnations like I said they didn't get that from the bible what does the bible say it's appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgment for Christians it says to be absent in the body is to be present with the Lord Paul says I have a desire to be depart which is far better but it is needful for you that I be here with you so to say and they're not necessarily saying that heaven is a physical plane they're saying it is spiritual because of these groups of Rastas that split in two the ones that adhere more to the bible they're saying that Holly when he died because mind you he died you know he died in the 70s he died some say that he exists in the plane of existence waiting for his second coming but in their perspective that'd be a third coming because him coming would be second the next one would be third and they're saying he's waiting to bring the African people back to Ethiopia because that's Zion and heaven to them is here on this earth there is no afterlife there is no heaven and hell in their perspective but some would say that it's not that he's in a plane of existence but rather the spirit undergoes a retransfering into another person and he remains his identity and so on and so forth that's what they believe and it's through righteousness how they get that remember they are basing their belief on themselves their righteousnesses is how they adhere to a heaven on this earth to them heaven is Ethiopia and what's funny about that to me is if that's heaven to you buy a plane ticket and fly to Ethiopia I mean is there something stopping you today as a as a an African in Jamaica to go get a plane ticket to Ethiopia like hello that's not impossible to do but see that's what I'm trying to say they're trying to create a heaven on this earth and and that is ultimately what they believe the bible is not inherent God is not triune Jesus Christ is not the son of God they are God they will tell you the mysteries of the kingdom and because of that they all have a different understanding of what that is and there is no heaven and hell they believe in reincarnation all right David we get it that is what they are that is where what they believe well what are some practices of the Rastas I mean they have rituals that they do all the time right and the biggest ritual that we all could uh account to a Rasta is reggae music and I'm gonna get to that one last because we all know about reggae music but the first one I want to go into wearing of dreadlocks you know this is quite essential I mean it's stereotypical if you see some guy with dreadlocks you kind of come to your conclusion maybe he's a Rasta you know maybe he's from Jamaica or something like that and there's a reason for that they want to be known they want to assimilate dreadlock wearing to Rastafari it says for instance Rastas believe that dreadlocks are promoted in the bible specifically in the book of Numbers 6 5 through 6 referring to the Nazarite vow and uh regard them as a symbol of strength linked to their hair of the biblical figure of Samson so let's pause there really quick Samson was a Nazarite from birth right and Samson did have long hair arguably how long it was I mean it was a lifetime of growth but pointing to Samson as your spiritual leader may not be the best person to point to as your spiritual leader you know Samson throughout his life did a lot of wrong things now him growing out his hair was not one of them because he was told by God the parents of Samson told him not to put a razor to his head because he's a Nazarite from birth Samson's pictures Christ the Nazarite vow is a picturing of Jesus Christ's suffering the Nazarene the Nazarites who would grow their hair long you know also they were not supposed to partake in the drinking of juice they weren't supposed to indulge in in things that are pleasurable they're trying to suffer in a sense that if you saw um Israel like back in the day with long hair they're kind of trying to be shameful and and sanctified has Christ ashamed for us that is what that's symbolizing but with that being said not most Nazarite vows weren't a lifetime Samson's was it was ordained of him Samson was told you will be a Nazarite all the way through but most Nazarite vows don't last that long they also point at figures like Absalom because remember it says Absalom grew his hair out once a year and cut it and he pulled his hair and his hair weighed so much once again not the best character to be basing off your understanding of wearing of long hair Absalom was doing horrible wicked things murdering his brothers trying to overtake his dad as the king Absalom not the best person to point at Samson not the best person to point for why you would wear dreadlocks but nevertheless there's more to it they argue that their dreadlocks mark a covenant that they have made with Ja and reflect their commitment to the idea of naturalists they also perceive the wearing of dreads has a symbolic rejection of Babylon and a refusal to conform to its norms regarding grooming and aesthetics sometimes this dreadlock hair is then shapen and styled often inspired by a lion's mane symbolizing Holly Selassie who is regarded as the conquering lion of Judah how blasphemous Jesus Christ is the lion of Judah Jesus Christ was the one who came and died for the sins of the world not Holly Selassie but you notice they said that they do this in rebellion to the not practicing the groomings of Babylon which you know like I said I don't know what they were doing in Babylon but I will say this before I knew of a lot of truths in the Bible and Christianity and in the end times and things like that a truth that the Rosses have always had right is that they point at America and they say that's Babylon and you know it's funny Faithful Word Baptist Church came out with a documentary called Babylon USA which when I first saw that I said that's what the Rosses have always known that America arguably today if the Lord Jesus Christ comes is probably Babylon we are the the world emperor or empire that is conquering all these other places yeah I get why they're not trying to conform to American norms but let me tell you this was America founded on praying pagan rituals was founded on Christianity the Bible says that Christ is there is liberty the early founding fathers of our countries were blue-colored men who were trying to run away from religious persecution of the Roman Catholic Church and starting a Christian nation so they actually did the wrong thing and not following what Americans did by cutting your hair I mean the quintessential American that most people think of when it comes to men is a man with short hair with a briefcase walking doing his job but you know what men in the Bible were shepherds with short hair doing their regular day-to-day living so they're doing this in rebellion of colonial norms or to fight against Babylon to be naturalistic but what does the Bible say in first Corinthians 11 14 did not even nature itself teach you and if a man has long hair it is a shame unto him nature itself teaches us that if a man has long hair that's a shame but they're trying to be naturalists with having wearing dreadlocks what a joke what a stupid understanding what the passages really are truly saying pointing to Samson pointing to Absalom trying to represent the lion of the tribe of Judah back to the understanding the resting of scriptures they're twisting what it is truly saying what else do they believe or what else is another practice that Rasta is well the biggest one or another big one that we all know is the smoking of ganja the smoking of marijuana you know too much today you see especially a long-haired guy with dremel smoking weed you're going to either call him a hippie or a Rasta because that's just what they're known for the uh Wikipedia tells us the principal ritual of Rastafari is the smoking of ganja or cannabis among the names that Rastas give the plant are called illy the herb holy herb the grass the weed in addition to smoking it Rasta is also ingest cannabis and tea has a spice and cooking I've never heard of that one that's kind of weird and as an ingredient in medicine cannabis is usually smoked during ground roundings this is like their church grounding is what they call it some Rastas smoke it almost all the time they view that other practitioners regard as excessive however not all Rastas use ganja explaining that they have already achieved a higher level of consciousness and thus do not require it Rastas argue that the use of ganja is promoted in the bible they regard it as having healing uh properties praising it for uh introducing feelings of peace and love and calm their uh and to calm themselves and that it's ultimately uh that the allowance of smoking of ganja is discovering the inner divinity so remember like I said they're trying to know what the bible says from within so how do they say how do they get close to I and I they smoke marijuana they see this as their form of meditation you know this subject and I'm not going to quote the passages they go to because it's laughable what they like one of which is referring to god's anger and smoke coming out of his nose and they're like see smoking ganja what in the world how does that have to do with smoking a marrow they're going to genesis when it says all herbs are to be consumed see well so poison ivy consume it right you know you look at revelation when it refers to the new heaven and the new earth and the tree of life is there oh it's for the healing of the nations they're pointing at these passages that are laughably have nothing to do with marijuana and cannabis and smoking of ganja it doesn't matter of fact we see the opposite that the bible truly teaches but they must have discarded this part because it doesn't fit their bill of what they think is right you know the bible says for instance in titus 2 turn if you went to titus 2 because i have loved ones today to this day still and they're saved genuine bona fide saved believers in the lord jesus christ smoking marijuana and you know i can't necessarily try them away from this because if i try to it'll make them revert to it more you know i am a third generation marijuana farmer my grandparents grow marijuana to this day my parents did it when they were of age when i turned 18 i went and grew marijuana and i was that person who just points to marijuana to be the the miracle plant that heals everything and it's it's there's no wrong to it god gave it to us so on and so forth and you know those people we all know that person who smokes weed and says this is given to us of god and this is not bad it has healing properties blah blah blah but they are foolish and thinking this they're not understanding that the bible is never teaching us to be influenced or intoxicated in any way shape or form you know the bible says that if we tarry long into wine or even look at it that's considered sinful so if i can't look at alcohol why on earth would he tell me to consume or ingest a drug that is mind alternating or would hurt me in the long run and of course all these marijuana smokers want to point to all these healing properties which mind you there is some arguably yes there is but you know what there's also psychoactive problems to it as well you know there are things that it takes away brain cells and this is not a sermon on marijuana i'm just saying this is near and dear to me because i was fooled into this and sort of plenty of other christians today right now probably insured foundation baptists or one of our churches who are sitting down justifying the smoking of marijuana now what does the bible say in titus 2 look down at your bible at verse 1 and said but speak out of the things which become sound doctrine that the aged man be sober grave tempering sound in the faith in charity in patience first mention of sobriety the aged women likewise that they be in behavior as becoming holiness not false accuser not given them much wine teachers of good things there's another aspect of sobriety and some would say not giving them much meaning they can no that's not going to go into that for right now it's not saying at all because the next verse tells us that they may teach the young women to be sober that they love their husbands that they love their children to be uh discreet chase keepers at home good obedient to their own husbands that the word of god be not that's me young men likewise exhort to be sober minded and all things showing thyself a pattern of good works and doctrine showing on corruptness gravity and sincerity the bible is hammering the point of sobriety being sober thinking clearly do you truly think that these baked out high hippies rostas are in their right mind when they're smoking marijuana you are high yourself if you think that don't think for any second that smoking marijuana is good for you at all horrible it truly is the gateway drug and so much people are like no it's not i gotta get off marijuana because i'll get you look there's another sermon that is gonna come to you about marijuana and soon at a theater near you it'll come don't worry but we gotta understand what are the practices of Rastafarians they wear dreadlocks they smoke marijuana but the biggest thing that i want to point out the last thing that i want to point out in the the practices of Rastas is reggae music raise your hand if you've heard reggae music wow okay well that's cool i mean if you grew up here in the states you know i'm sorry if you grew up here in hawaii it's everywhere all the time and with that being said i obviously like i was saying do not suggest you listen to reggae music because it's horrible it's damnable and it's blasphemous i'm going to show you but you and i standing here sitting here today only even know about who Rastas are because of the spreading of reggae music we would have never known what a Rasta is had reggae music not promoted and pushed the ideology of Rastafari had specifically a man that we can look to that arguably is the most influential person when it comes to reggae music is Bob Marley Bob Marley himself truly was the patriarch that brought Rasta music into the world let me tell you this i do not believe Bob Marley is saved some said that on his deathbed he died and professed Jesus Christ as his lord and savior you know that's like saying Kanye West is saved and that he's on his way to heaven you know i have more chance that Kanye saved than Bob Marley being saved why because of some of the lyrics and even though Kanye West i don't believe saved and a lot of Kanye's lyrics are blasphemous some of Bob's music Bob Marley's music was extremely blasphemous what is reggae music reggae music developed as developed as reasoning season as further events where drumming chanting and dancing are all uh presented Rasta music is performed to praise the commune with Ja and to reaffirm the the rejection of Babylon Rastas believe that their music has healing properties with the ability to cure colds fevers and headaches many of these songs are sung to the tune of older Christian hymns but others original Rasta creations and like i said they're kind of as Satan has done you know yea hath God said you know every good lie has a little bit of truth in it so they're gonna stick some hymns they're gonna stick some even songs into their music if you listen to some of the older music of Bob Marley some of the songs are actually put in there but obviously it's a twisting of it as Satan himself twisted the word of God you know Satan in the book of Ezekiel was known as the cherub that was adorned with music he was the musical creature and through music Satan can deceive the minds of people and by throwing in a verse every now and again throwing in a Christian term every now and again and people are just like oh yeah that's it must be of God kind of like with Kanye West and his music right now i'm not going to go into that and i'm just trying to let us know that it's blasphemous it's horrible how do you know i'm going to give you one example of one of his songs that arguably is one of the most damnable music and it's not like bad cursing words but it is something for you to understand that reggae music is not something we should ever be partaking in you know i don't want Christians to take hymns and try to patter them after the world so to say i don't want Hawaiian musicians and there's people who have island reggae music or Hawaiian reggae music if you are truly a musician you should be avoiding the the melody of reggae music like the play Bob Marley's song get up stand up is one of his most popular new songs out there it's all about once again bringing African people out of you know slavery and into their promised land Ethiopia and i'm not going to do the whole entire song for you for sake of time but i'm going to skip all the choruses but i'm going to show you the primary verses to show how blasphemous this man really was and ultimately it says this preacher man don't tell me heaven is under the earth i know you don't know what life is really worth it's not all that glitter is gold and half the story has never been told so now you see the light stand up for your right so the first thing he says preach your man don't tell me because remember he has god in him right and it says heaven's under the earth this is referring to a spherical planet some Rastas are flat earthers because you know on the planet if you're out here and there's heaven down here you're referring to a spherical planet they're saying don't tell me there's a heaven under the earth because they believe some of them in a flat earth preach your man don't tell me heaven's under the earth i know you don't know what life is really worth not all that glitter is gold half the story's never been told because remember it's in his heart the other half of the book he believes in his heart right and then it goes into the course it goes into the next passage it goes most people think great god will come from the skies and take away everything and make everybody feel high but if you know what life is worth you will look for yours on earth so now you see the light and stand up for your right what a blast don't let anyone tell you god's coming from the sky dude in revelation it says all eyes will see him they which pierce them shall see him don't let anyone tell you god's coming from heaven that's what he's telling you right now and he says also uh take is he gonna make everyone feel high do you think god is trying to get people high and inebriated and intoxicated you think that's god's plan because they get you out of your mind that is ridiculous see even though bob is a little high and strung out doesn't mean i want to be high and strung out neither should any of us you know we are to be sober as we earlier learned the last passage is probably one of the most worst passages it says we're sick and tired of your isms and schisms pause there right there really quick what's a schism what's an ism remember when the orthodox church separated from the catholic faith that's what's known as the great schism elsewhere in history we look at the second awakening of the church that's what's known as the second schism so they're saying we're sick and tired of your isms and schisms what's isms how about rastafarianism how about judaism how about catholicism there's no christianism it's christianity that's the fact that's the true religion christianity all these isms are ultimately pointing to their false religion you are you practice rastafarianism they don't like that they don't like to be put in an ism because like i said they don't have a statement of faith and they don't want us to classify and categorize them as a religion as they are they're sick and tired of the isms and schisms right but it goes on to say die and go to heaven in jesus name lord we know what we understand almighty god is a living man you can fool some people sometimes but you can't fool all the people all the time so now you see the light and stand up for your rights there jet he just said you will not go to heaven in jesus name for there is none other name given among men whereby we must be saved wherefore god also has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that at the name of jesus every knee shall bow and thinks in heaven and things in earth not holly salas jesus christ jesus of nazareth the lord of lord and kings of kings he's telling you don't think you're going to go to heaven on jesus name wherefore god is highly exalted and given him that name we are saved by the name of jesus christ these things have i written unto you that believe on the name of the son of god that you may know that you have eternal life we know that what we understand almighty god is a living man they're referring to the living man holly salas they're not referring to jesus christ because jesus christ is alive make no bones about it jesus christ is i.d which was dead and i'm alive forevermore and the keys of death and of hell so what is a rastafari it is a smorgasbord religion basically that is catholic and hindu that came from the caribbean in jamaica primarily in 1930 they don't believe that the bible is inspired and let alone preserved they do not accept that there is in heaven and hell odds built in with them every one of them they're dreadlock burnt out hippies singing reggae music because that's all it's about to them is getting high and going to africa that's that's heaven on their earth you know what this is the conclusion to the matter you know rastas will be saved i like an arasa sometimes until like a catholic now the reason why i say that is because clap catholics have some sort of adherence to the bible to christianity to jesus they have some sort of adherence to it right but the leaders that are in the rasta movement are most likely reprobated just as the leaders in the roman catholic church are most likely reprobated and when you go door to door soul winning and you come across you come across the joe catholic you know they're very likely to be saved because they at least say this is what god says and then whatever this says i'll accept some rastas will do the same thing we know that and specifically the king james bible as a matter of fact which is interesting because if it's tampered why would if it's tampered then why are you using it to to believe what they believe but when you hit the door of a rasta if bob marley was saved which i don't believe or accept then that would mean any rasta can be saved their their main guy bob marley if he did put his faith in christ then that means any rasta can be saved and how do we get the rasta saved just like you would get anyone saved preaching them the gospel the plan of salvation we don't give a different gospel to a different group right but i will say this just like black hebrew israelites just like people who are fixated on the abrahamic line do not get into genealogy the bible teaches us in first timothy 4 1 4 neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies with ministered questions rather than godly edifying which is in faith so do but this is what my approach is to the rasta whenever i go to get uh preach them the gospel if they take me out on the tangent and say god was a black man jesus was a black man the people of israel are africa you know what i go okay what does that have to do with salvation because the new testament clearly teaches us right there is no difference between the jew and the greek for the same god is rich upon all that call upon him as it says in the old testament which they like to adhere to right they want to prove that blood line right what does it say abraham will be a father of many nations for he is not a jew which is outwardly and that of the flesh but he is a jew which is one inwardly and that of the spirit so you play the devil's advocate and tell them okay yeah let's say jesus was african and the tribes of israel are african which i don't believe they are but assuming they are can't the gentiles be saved can't we preach into the gentiles can't we didn't the new testament authors go into all the world and preach the gospel that's what we're here to do is to show you that the plan of salvation is for everyone and god does not care if you're red and yellow black white or brown or anything like that god only cares if you are a child of god by grace through faith and the rasta if giving him the opportunity wants to get into this we avoid it don't get into genealogy but if anything just say either way whatever color you are whatever people group you've come from as it says in revelation all nations of the earth shall be their great right thrown judgment and this is the last thing i want you to know it's fine romans 1 16 for i am not ashamed of the gospel of christ for it is the power of god unto salvation to everyone that believe it to the jew first and also to the greek and it also means the rasta all right and have a word of prayer dear god thank you so much for allowing me to preach your word and to help others to see the severity of this false religion to help maybe pull them out of the fire have compassion on them and to preach them the true biblical plan of salvation by believing alone in your son jesus christ and help us throughout our week to just always bring you honor and glory to never stop seeking that above everything in jesus name we pray