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

All right, we're here in Exodus chapter 9. We're looking at the fifth plague here tonight. I'll just say up front that my family's been sick the last few days. They're doing better now. The kids got sick, but then on Sunday night when I got back from Cavite, it's a long trip from Cavite back here to Pampanga. I was feeling like a headache. I couldn't sleep well. Also, yesterday I wasn't feeling well, so I feel better now. My voice is a little bit sore, but probably not going to be planning to yell too much. I'll try to shorten the sermon. You know, I'd probably prefer that. We'll see. But regardless of how dynamic I am, I think there's a lot of great information here we can learn from the fifth plague here in Exodus chapter 9. We're looking at the death of the livestock here in Exodus chapter 9. I would say this is the first plague that really has major financial implications. You know, the water turning to blood would be a very scary thing. Then the last three plagues, we looked at frogs and lice and flies. For the most part, they're more of an annoyance. They're more just disgusting. But the death of the livestock, especially back in these sorts of times, people did not have jobs working at computers, right? People had jobs basically having farms and there weren't these mega stores like we have today. So basically a lot of people were producing their own food. So when your livestock are destroyed, it's going to be a massive financial implication. What we're going to be doing is quickly looking through these first seven verses and then we're going to be looking at a lot of different things, looking at a lot of Bibles as well. But let's just quickly go through these first seven verses. Then the Lord said unto Moses, going on to Pharaoh and tell him, thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, let my people know that they may serve me. For if I refuse to let them go and will hold them still, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep. There should be a very grievous marine. And here in verse number three, we see six different animals mentioned. It says the cattle, it says the horses, it says the asses, it says the camels, the oxen, and the sheep. I don't think this means these are the only six animals that there are. I think it's basically giving you the six main animals because it's basically any animal that's out there in the field. And of course, in an entire country, you're going to have a lot of different types of animals. Those would be the primary ones that are mentioned though. So here in verse number three, it mentions six different animals, but notice the shift of focus after verse three. And the Lord shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt. And there shall nothing die of all that is the children's of Israel. And the Lord appointed at that time saying, tomorrow the Lord shall do this thing in the land. And the Lord did that thing in the morrow and all the cattle of Egypt died, but of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one. And Pharaoh said, and behold, there is not one of the cattle of the Israelites dead. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened and he did not let the people go. Now, is this only upon the cattle? Well, of course not, because he mentioned six different animals, but the only thing it actually brings up once the plague is actually poured out is what? The cattle. And he makes a comparison, the cattle of the Egyptians and the cattle of Israelites. Now, of course, this would also apply to the horses, the asses, the camels, the oxen, the sheep, and any other animal, but it specifically mentions the cattle. Now go to Exodus chapter 32, Exodus 32, Exodus 32. Now, if we're trying to boil this down to one specific God that this is really an attack on, this would probably be the God or false God, Hathor from ancient Egypt. And it says, Hathor was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion who played a wide variety of roles. As a sky deity, she was a mother consort of the sky god Horus or the sun god Ra, both of whom were connected with kingship. And thus she was a symbolic mother of the earthly representatives, the pharaohs. She was one of the several goddesses who acted as the eye of Ra, Ra's feminine counterpart. And in this form, she had a vengeful aspect that protected him from his enemies. Her beneficent side represented music, dance, joy, love, sexuality, and maternal care. And she acted as the consort of several male deities and the mother of their sons. These two aspects of the goddess exemplify the Egyptian conception of femininity. Hathor crossed boundaries between worlds, helping to see souls in the transition of the afterlife. Hathor was often depicted as a cow, symbolizing her maternal and celestial aspect, although her most common form was a woman wearing a headdress of cow horns and a sun disk. She could also be represented as a lioness, a cobra, or a sycamore tree. Now, when we're reading about ancient Egypt, I mean, it just seems bizarre to me, worshipping all these animals. And you look at religions today, specifically Hinduism, and you look at it and it's like, what is going through the minds of people that you have all these animals that you're worshipping and all of these gods? Because here in the Philippines, you come from a Christian or Catholic background, and it's a completely normal religion. Now, Catholicism is a false religion, but it's a normal religion. It's not just out there, you know, just some crazy bizarre thing like Hinduism. I came from the US, which is a country with a background of Christianity. I grew up as a Protestant Christian, which obviously I have a different gospel than we teach, and I get that, but I'm saying it's normal. Yet you come from some of these other countries like a Hindu background or a Buddhist background, and it's like, what is possibly going through the minds of these people? And I want to take some time to try to help us understand this a little bit better, and I don't think we can fully understand this unless you grow up in these cultures and these religions, but I want to give you a comparison between ancient Egypt and Hinduism, because there is a lot of similarity between ancient Egypt and India today or Hinduism. It can kind of help us understand what is actually going on as the worst thing is how in ancient Egypt. Now, let me just give you a little bit of a background on Hinduism here and the ancient Egyptian religion. In Hinduism, there are basically three types of main gods or classes of gods that you worship, maybe four, depending on how you look at this, and I'm not saying Vishnu, Shiva, or Brahma. We'll talk about that later, but the Ganges River was basically one sort of god that they worship in India. I mean, the Ganges River is like a magical river. Like, you dip in that river, and you have cancer, and it will heal you of your cancer, and it is literally the dirtiest river in the entire world, and yet they look at it as some magical river, because in the Vedas, it says, the Vedas are some of the Hindu scriptures, that the Ganges River was brought down from the gods, and it's the eternal river that was brought down to the earth, and it has these magical healing powers. Well, that's pretty similar, though, to ancient Egypt, because what were they worshiping? The Nile River, and they looked at that as being the source of life, and in many ways it was, because God had provided that river, and that is what made them such a rich culture, but the Ganges River, just like in ancient Egypt, they worshiped the Nile River. What is another thing they worshiped in? They worshiped in India. They worshiped animals. You got the rat temple that they worshiped. You got the cows. You got the elephants. You got all these animals that they're worshiping, and guess what? In ancient Egypt, they did. They worshiped animals, right? Very similar, and of course, then you have the gods that they worshiped in India, Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, Krishna, all these different ones, and in ancient Egypt, they also had the gods as well. Now, of course, some of their gods are like half animal, half human, which is the same with ancient Egypt, but ancient Egypt, India, same thing. The other thing you also see is sometimes in India, they worship people as gods. People are some sort of avatar or manifestation of their gods, and in ancient Egypt, Pharaoh was an example of that as well because he was basically god on earth, right, even though he was a human being, but the number one animal that they worship in India is clearly the cow. I think everybody's aware of that. We've all heard lots of jokes. I've said a lot of these jokes about the cow worship they do in India, but it's also true in ancient Egypt as well that the cow was their primary god that they worshiped. Exodus chapter 32 verse 1. This is why I like in America, and I don't use this phrase. I don't think it's an expression you should use, but it's like you have the expression holy cow. Well, that comes basically from India because they looked at cows as being holy, so that's an expression that for whatever reason originated. I don't think we should say that as a part of our speech because of the fact cows are not holy. They're just an animal that tastes good, right? But Exodus chapter 32 verse 1, it says this, and when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mouth, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron and said unto him, up makest gods which shall go before us, for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we want not what has become of him. Meaning, we do not know what happened to Moses. And Aaron said unto them, break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them on to me. And all the people break off the golden earrings which are in their ears and brought them on to Aaron. And he received them at their hand and fastened it with a graving tool after he had made it a molten calf. And they said, these be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. Now, one thing I'll say is Aaron's pretty talented to make a molten calf out of what they threw in there because I would imagine it's pretty hard. So maybe he could have had another job that he could have gone into, but it's interesting he makes a molten calf. And of course, this is a major slap in the face of God, but even more so when you realize this was the number one animal that they worshiped in ancient Egypt. So essentially what he's saying is, well, the god of the Egyptians is correct, whereas our God is false. Now, obviously, Aaron didn't believe that, but he's just giving into the people. He's just doing what they want, right? Now, let me just read you from this article in ancient Egypt. It says, the holiest of all animals in ancient Egypt were cows and bulls. The ancient Egyptians were not the only people to worship cattle. For example, in ancient times, bulls were worshiped on the Greek island of Crete, the home of the bull god, the minotaur, and cattle are sacred to Hindus to this day. And perhaps you know the story of Moses from the Bible. He and his fellow Israelites escaped from captivity in Egypt and crossed the desert. And the way they passed, while Moses climbed up Mount Sinai to fetch a stone tablet on which were written the 10 commandments or laws, like thou shalt not kill. While Moses was away climbing the mountain, some of his followers lost faith in God and began to worship a golden calf. Now, the question that ought to come to your mind is why a cow, right? Why is it that a cow is like the chosen animal of worship above any other animal? Because there's no question that's the case. I mean, is it because cows are a very beautiful animal? I don't think most people would say that, right? They're pretty ordinary, kind of an ugly animal, I think. Nothing really special about the way they look. They don't really have any sort of special skill. It's not like they're incredibly fast or they're like a dragon that flies or breathes fire. So why would you possibly pick a cow to worship, okay? Well, let me just read you a little bit more here about Hinduism. I think you're going to understand the answer to this question here a little bit. But in Hinduism, they basically divide God up into three categories. It has a lot of subsets. And so Brahman is like the totality of God. And in a way, they're monotheistic. In a way, they worship a billion gods. It's really kind of the way you look at it. It's just very different than what we would look at from a Christian perspective. But basically, Brahman is made up of Brahma without the N, Vishnu and Shiva. These are the three gods that basically make up Brahman. And then after these three gods, there's like avatars of these gods, which I don't really understand what that means. But they basically like manifestations or avatars. I think Krishna is like the seventh avatar of Vishnu. And then, you know, Kalki will be the eighth or something like that. I'm not sure. But basically, you have these three ones. You have Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. And basically, these are known as the Hindu Trinity or also called the Trimurti. The supreme spirit or universal truth called Brahman is represented in three forms, each corresponding in one cosmic function. So the basic roles that these three gods play, Brahma is the creator. Vishnu is the preserver. And Shiva is the destroyer. So you've got the creator, the preserver, and the destroyer. And then underneath these gods, you basically have subsets underneath them. And then there's other gods underneath that sort of crossover between these different three in some way or some form. And what's basically being formed is ways of worshipping gods. So for example, if you're going to worship Shiva, who is the destroyer, what are you worshipping? You're worshipping an angry god. You're worshipping a god of judgment. Whereas if you're worshipping Vishnu, he's not really a god of judgment. And so basically, you're worshipping god as a preserver. So basically, the idea is you can worship god however you want. And of course, they've got every single possibility under the sun, depending on how you want to worship god. So basically, you can worship god however you want. And it's like, okay, and my understanding, if you grow up in India, where basically, they'll figure out what your personality is, and they'll try to fit you, okay, this is the god that you should worship. Right? And it's so bizarre. But this is what they do with Hinduism in India. Basically, with your personality, this is the way you probably want to worship god. But if you decide, you know, you're 10 years old, you know, I kind of want to worship god this way. It's like, hey, just learn about this god, then just worship him like this. Right? And of course, when you have 300 million gods, you have every possibility under the sun. So basically, you say, well, I don't really agree with you. I think God is more like this. Like, no, no problem. You can worship God differently. I mean, that's another way to look at God as well. Worship him like this. Instead, you don't have to worship him like this. You can go to this temple and worship them as this angry god or whatever. Right? This is the way Hinduism works. Now, there are not a lot of temples dedicated to Brahma the creator. There's actually very few. In fact, in a lot of the scriptures of Hinduism, Shiva destroys Brahma. And so he basically destroys one part of God. Of course, Shiva is the destroyer. He's always the angry god. So if you look at the mythology of India, one of their common gods that is worshiped is Ganesh, you know, the elephant god. Ganesh was actually the son of Shiva. And so the story goes that Shiva was married. And, you know, Shiva was gone on a journey. And all of a sudden, his wife decided, you know what, we should have a son. And she just created a son out of thin air. And then she ended up going to the bathroom. And I guess I think she was taking a shower or something like that. And then she's like, guard the door, because it's like, I want to be in there for hours or whatever. I don't know. But guard the door and don't let anybody come in. And then all of a sudden, their son that they created, Ganesh, is guarding the door. And all of a sudden, Shiva comes home from his journey. And then all of a sudden, this little kid's like, you're not allowed in. It's like, get out of my way, or there's gonna be problems. It's basically what Shiva says. And, you know, then Ganesh is like, no, my mom, I can't remember exactly what he said. You know, there's a lot of variations in the story. But you're not allowed to pass, no one's allowed to pass. And Shiva's like, leave or I will cut off your head. And then what ends up taking place? Well, Shiva cuts off his son's head, but he doesn't realize it's his son. Then all of a sudden, his wife steps outside, she gets done. And then all of a sudden, she's like, what have you done to our son? This is our son? And then all of a sudden, he's like, I've got to fix this. And he runs around. And the only thing he can find is an elephant. So he cuts off the head of an elephant. And he puts that on the head of his son, Ganesh. And that's where you get the elephant dog. Now, I can see why kids like this. These are entertaining stories. You don't need Disney or, you know, fairy terrace or mythology. I mean, this is very entertaining. How you could look at this as reality, I don't really understand that. But Shiva's known as being very angry, very short-tempered. Basically, he gets mad. It's like, move or I'm going to cut off your head. And he cuts off the little kid's head. The idea would be that if you're worshiping a God of thou shalt not, don't do this, that's a sin, that's wrong. Underneath Hinduism, you'd be worshiping a Shiva variant, either Shiva himself or one of his variants because you're worshiping a God with judgment and rules. Okay. Now, when it comes to, and when it comes to Hinduism, Vishnu is really the one that's popular to worship and he's becoming more popular. The avatars of Vishnu are far more popular than the avatars of Shiva because most people don't really want to worship God as an angry God. They just want to worship God as a preserver. Now, in ancient Egypt, they didn't really worship an angry and wrathful God. If you read anything about ancient Egypt, that's just not the way that they generally view God. Now, go to Proverbs 1. Proverbs 1. I'm going to tie this all together. It's going to make sense. Proverbs 1. To some level of degree, I think it's going to help us understand what is going on in India and what's going on in ancient Egypt because it seems pretty bizarre. I mean, it's like they're living in a fairy tale or an alternate reality. It's like watching some sort of movie. And it's funny because if you were to talk to people that are Hindu and you were to ask them about their holy scriptures and say, do you really believe these things happened? And they'll be like, well, yes and no. It's like, yes, it's literal in some sense, but it's like, of course, they can't really justify that these stories actually took place in their life. But they think that it teaches some sort of symbolic truth to them. Now, what the truth is, well, that's very much up for interpretation, why she was cut off the head of the sun. A lot of different opinions that various like Hindu scholars would have, why or what the stories actually teach. Now, I'm not going to get into the perverted stories in Hinduism, but make the mistake about it. In the Hindu scriptures, it is filled full of perversion. I mean, it's disgusting, horrifying. A lot of things I would never repeat from the pulpit because they're just not appropriate. But even just stories about getting angry and cutting off your son's head, it's like, that's, you know, the, because I mean, obviously we believe that, that God is a God of wrath. You know, God is a loving God. He's also a God of wrath that pours out judgment. But here's a big difference between Shiva and the actual God. Shiva in the stories is very quick to anger and then his anger can be appeased very easily. Whereas God is very slow to wrath, but when he pours out his wrath, his wrath is going to be coming out. It's not like, I'm sorry. It's like his wrath is already being poured out. He's not going to stop at this point, right? So Shiva is not by any means, nor am I saying this, I'm not saying she was kind of like the judgmental side of God. No, it's actually a more perversion of that because of the fact God is actually slow to anger. Whereas Shiva is very quick to anger in the Hindu scriptures. Proverbs one verse seven, the Bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. The Bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. You know, when somebody gets saved, why are they getting saved? Or what makes them really think about these things and contemplate and be motivated to get saved? They're afraid to go to hell. That's why everybody gets saved. It's like, you know, what makes you think about salvation is it's like, I mean, I was scared for a couple of years, like every night when I went to bed, it's like, I'm scared I'm going to go to hell. I thought I'm trying to do good, but I keep messing up. I was like, God, I hope you'll forgive me. I was scared to go to hell. And I'd say everybody in this room would say the same thing, that it's like the reality of hell scares you. And it scares you into believing on Christ. Now, of course, I'm not saying fear can be the only thing that gets you saved, because you have to actually believe the gospel. But fear of hell is what really drives you, right? Go to Ecclesiastes chapter 12, Ecclesiastes chapter 12. And look, fear of God is a good thing, not just fear of going to hell, because once you get saved, you don't have to fear that. But you still should have a healthy fear of the God that does send people to hell, because he can judge you in this life. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 12 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 and judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. The Bible says here in Ecclesiastes 12 that we need to fear God and keep his commandments. Why? Because of the fact God sees every single thing that we do. Now, it's not saying fear God, because he might send you to hell, but God will judge you in this life. And it's like if you're and this is why we need preaching that motivates us and scares us a little bit. We do need to have a healthy fear and respect for God and say why? Because God will hold us accountable based on the knowledge that we have and he will punish us in this life. Go to Galatians chapter six. Galatians chapter six. Galatians chapter six verse seven. Galatians six verse seven. Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatsoever man sowed, that shall he also reap. For he that sowed to his flesh shall the flesh reap corruption. But he that sowed to the Spirit shall the Spirit reap life everlasting. The Bible says, you know, don't be deceived and think you can just get away with doing whatever you want and no big deal because you will reap what you sow. That's what the Bible teaches here in Galatians chapter six. Now, as I said, ancient Egypt did not really fear God by and large. Why would they? I mean, they're the most powerful country in the world. They're the most powerful country in the world. They can defeat anybody. They're the richest country in the world. They don't really have much of a reason to fear God in their own minds. Now, they should fear God. But what I'm saying is you can easily see them getting very lifted up. And why is it America is becoming worse and worse as a country? Because they're so powerful and they realize they can defeat anybody. I mean, literally, countries could just send a bunch of missiles at the US and then all of a sudden it's like the people that are leading the country can just sit back and watch the missiles get destroyed midair by all the technology the US has. Literally, there's no reason that in the US they're going to be afraid of other countries because they're so powerful, right? In ancient Egypt, that's the way that they looked at it. They were so powerful. It's like, why would we fear some God? And so when they, and here's the thing, ancient Egypt was a very religious culture, but not really in the sense of a God-fearing God. That's not the way they viewed God. Now, obviously, there'd be some people in the country that did follow their conscience because they're born with a conscience and be like, man, I don't think this is right. I'm afraid what God would do to me. But by and large, it was taught in ancient Egypt. And any article is going to tell you this to be the case in terms of what the animals they worshiped and what they believed, that they just did not fear God much in ancient Egypt. And in fact, the first time you really see them fearing God is later in Exodus 9. Finally, you're going to actually see them when one of the plagues is being poured out. It says the servants of the Egyptians that feared God did this. That's the first time. I mean, we're through like five plagues and no sense of a fear of God. Now, I'm sure that there were some Egyptians that did have, but by and large, the country did not fear God at all. Well, how are they going to get saved if they don't fear God? It's not going to happen. And so, you know, when it comes to all these plagues being poured out, God really had to pour out everything to get people to wake up in the country like, hey, you better wake up and realize that there is a God that will judge this world. Now, if you were to come to a God-fearing aspect in Egypt, then the animal you'd probably be worshiping was the crocodile God so badly. The reason why you would worship the crocodile God is because the crocodile was by far the most feared animal in ancient Egypt. You say why? Because the Nile River accounts for about 90% even today of crocodile attacks on humans in the world. So the vast majority. And the Nile River runs through a lot of countries, but Egypt's the primary one. And when it comes to animals that would attack in the Egyptian culture, it was the crocodile. Other parts of the world, it's other animals. But in the Nile River, it's like as people would go to, because in our world today, most people have indoor plumbing. They can take showers or baths inside. Whereas in ancient Egypt, only the rich and the elite had that. The average person is going down to the Nile River to get a shower or a bath. And every time you went down, it's like, I hope that a crocodile does not just come out. Because if you've ever seen videos of crocodiles, I mean, they're very scary because you can't see them at all. It's like the water is calm. And then you've seen animals that get attacked. And all of a sudden, the crocodile comes out of nowhere. It's like every time you'd be taken aback by the Nile River, it's like he'd be praying, please, please, please. And so there would be some that would have a fear because they really looked at the crocodiles. And that was kind of the aspect of the fearing aspect of God. Here's what it says about the crocodile god Sobek. Sobek was an ancient Egyptian deity with a complex and elastic history and nature. He is associated with the Nile crocodile or the West African crocodile and is represented either in its form or as a human with a crocodile head. Sobek was also associated with pharaonic power, meaning power from Pharaoh. Fertility and military prowess preserved additionally as a protective deity with apotropaic qualities, invoked especially for protection against the dangers presented by the Nile. Now, when you're thinking of cultures that have an aspect of, you know, kind of like angry gods, voodoo is a great example of this. And voodoo is the primary religion of Haiti. I mean, technically they're Catholic and Protestant, but they're voodoo by night. And in voodoo, they don't believe the gods are good. And in fact, if you were to actually read what people in Haiti believe, they believe that the gods sent the earthquakes to destroy them. That is what they believe. So when people get mad at Christians for saying the same thing, it's like, well, that's what they believe in Haiti. The difference is we believe that, or what I believe is that God sent those earthquakes because of their voodoo. What they think is it's because they were not worshiping their voodoo enough. So that's the difference. But we both agree it's, I say the God, the almighty God, they say the gods that destroyed Haiti with earthquakes. Now, when you look at this from a Christian perspective in terms of fearing God, because when you look at the religion of like Pentecostal and non-denominational, the Pentecostal movement and the non-denominational movement is this movement where basically doctrine does not matter. You don't really preach hard sermons, preaching against sin and make people feel bad. It's all about feeling good, being close to God. It's certainly not a God fearing God because the sort of mindset people have growing up, it's kind of like you can worship God however you want. Isn't that the sort of mindset people have? Where it's like, why do you go to this church? Is it because it's the doctrinally sound church? Nope. Is it because it's the church that lines up with the works that they're doing? Nope. It's because they make me feel good. I mean, that's why people go to church. It's like, why do they go to church with rock music playing? It's not because they think that that is the pattern from the Bible. It's just to make me feel good. Makes me feel close to God. Makes me feel great. And basically they're deciding to worship God however they want. It's like, well, it doesn't matter how you want to worship God. What matters is what does, how does God wants you to worship? What is the God of the Bible? And as you're reading in the Bible, is there the aspect of the preserver and loving God? Of course the Bible mentions this, but when you're looking at God, what are you really finding? The holiness of God, the righteousness of God. Be holy for I am holy, the Bible says. And so if you were to look at this from a perspective of, as I said, when it comes to Shiva, I mean, she was very short tempered. And so back is the aspect in Egypt, Egypt of a God and fear, even though it's a more personal, what the Bible says, we can kind of look at like hell fire and brimstone freedom, right? As like God, you know, basically preaching the fear of God. Of course, at our church, we preach the fear of God, you know, obey God's commandments, do what God says, right? This was not a major aspect though, in ancient Egypt. Why is it they pick the cow and not the crocodile to worship? Well, what does a cow provide? A cow is the primary source of meat. A cow provides milk. A cow provides butter, cheese, ice cream, whatever. I mean, because a cow is quite literally the most valuable animal in the world in terms of like having animals that you have on a farm in terms of animals that you're going to sell for the food that they provide. And even if you don't sell the cow as meat, you've got the resources of the milk on a regular basis. And milk is a very precious commodity. And so why is it they worship cows in ancient Egypt? Because the cow was a symbol of royalty and money and being rich. I mean, milk and everything it provides. Why is it? I mean, you can read articles that explain why this is in India, why they worship the cow, and that's the exact reason. And even people that are Hindus will say this. I mean, even the people that are the leaders and Hindus will say, because the cow represents, you know, basically what it provides to us. You know, the milk, I mean, is something that's very valuable. Even though they generally will not eat cow meat, I mean, the milk is very valuable. And even though they don't eat cow meat, India is by far the number one exporter of cow meat. So they don't eat it themselves, but if they're like, well, this cow doesn't provide any more milk, we're just going to basically send it to another country to be chopped to pieces, right? And so the cow is a very precious animal in terms of financially, it's very lucrative. And so when you think of India today, why are they worshipping avatars or variations of the preserver Vishnu? Well, the same reason why they worshiped the cow. Because of the fact the cow basically keeps them going, it preserves them, it makes them rich, and Vishnu is the preserver. That is the reason why Vishnu is the primary god they worship. That's the reason why the cow is the primary animal they worship. But here's the thing, it's not like people in India are any different than the people anywhere else. I mean, they have messed up religions that they're growing up in, but people on the inside, we all struggle with bitterness, we all struggle with cabbagesness, we all struggle with pride. It's no different no matter who, I mean, biologically, genetically, I mean, we have different skin color, but we're the same, we have the same sorts of things. I mean, everybody struggles with having anger problems and all these things. Well, here's the thing about this, in a Christian culture, of course, we're not worshipping like the Hindus do, worshipping a cow literally. But you still see the aspects of this because as I said, the non-denominational Pentecostal movement is just skyrocketing. Why? Because people are worshipping God the way they want to worship God. Now, I mean, the thing is, you could just read the Bible and see what God's like, but do many Christians actually read the Bible? Now, in the past, people actually read the Bible, so they had some semblance of basically how we should worship God. So if you were to go back hundreds of years ago, and you had a lot of Protestant churches, though the Protestants would be wrong on a lot of stuff, they would be very old-fashioned in their music, they would be known, I mean, as hellfire and brimstone creatures, even all the Protestant churches, but not in 2024. Because the Protestants are trying to become like the world, trying to reach the people that the Pentecostals and non-denominational are reaching, and basically you're seeing this aspect in the Christian world as well, where basically we're worshipping God in the same way the Hindus worship God, the same way in ancient Egypt they worship God for the same reasons. That's reality. Now, what's sad is we would expect this from unsaved people, but when people are saved and then they go to these lame churches, it's like, what's wrong with you? Why not just worship God the way he's meant to be worshipped? Instead of just going to a church that makes you feel good and it's all about the love of God, but they're doing the exact same thing the Hindus are doing. They're doing the exact same thing they did in ancient Egypt. They're worshipping God and it's in the same specific way. Why? Because it makes them feel good. Why? Because of what it provides them. It's like, we're going to worship the cow because it makes us, you know, basically all this money, it makes us good, it makes us feel good, it makes us rich, all these things. Same thing with Pentecostal. Turn to Matthew chapter 19. And, you know, that's my perspective when I'm looking at it because I've thought about this a lot because I've watched a lot of documentaries on ancient Egypt, even more specifically on Hinduism and India and trying to understand this philosophically because I remember, you know, when I was a kid, it's like, you know, Indians like worship cows and it's like, why? It's like, that's the first reaction you have is like, it doesn't make any sense. It sort of makes, I mean, it makes sense to me from what I explained. It still doesn't fully make sense to me, but it doesn't really make sense to me why people go to these non-denominational fund centers either when people do it. But it's the same sort of concept that is taking place. So here's the thing about this. Would ancient Egypt have been receptive to the Gospel before these events occurred? Absolutely not. Because the way they're worshipping God is not a God-fearing God and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. I mean, even if you're in a false religion, at least if they're teaching you the fear of the Lord, you're going to be closer because at least they're trying to teach you to follow the commandments and do what's right. You still have to hear the Gospel. But when you're like way away from even fearing God, obviously every unsafe person is equally unsafe as any other unsafe person. But some people can just be way away from the truth where it's kind of like you try to show them anything in the Bible. You try to show them, well, for all of sin it comes short of the glory of God. But I just don't look at my... you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you