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He said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, the rain will stop thee not. And it came to pass in the meanwhile that the heavens was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain, and Ahab rode and went to Jezreel. And in the hand of the Lord was an Elijah, and he heard the darkness' noise, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel. Let us pray. Our Heavenly Father, thank you for your word, thank you for the Bible. Please bless the message we may learn from this film of truth, from the truth of your word here, God. Please bless the brothers that be at sea. We choose your word with truth and wisdom, and in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, we're here in 1 Kings 18, and let me just move this real quickly. All right, we're here in 1 Kings 18, and the name of the sermon is Magdarame Exposed. Magdarame Exposed. And as I mentioned in the opening, magdarame is a Kapampami word explaining the crucifixions and the beatings that take place every year. Now let me just say off the top of my head, I know this is not exclusively with Pampanga. Obviously all throughout the Philippines. I know in Bulacan there's a lot of this event going on as well. People crucifying themselves and beating themselves. And there's other areas in the Philippines as well where they're doing this. And so I thought about having a really long title, The Crucifixions and Beatings in the Philippines, but it would just be kind of too long. So we'll just call it Magdarame Exposed. Let me say this though, that this is pretty much specific to the Philippines. These sort of beatings and crucifixions do not happen all over the world, but they do happen all over the Philippines. This is very common. Here in 1 Kings 18, verse 19, the Bible reads, Now therefore sin, and gather me all Israel unto Mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel's table. So they have sinned unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto Mount Carmel. And so this is one of the most famous chapters in the Bible, where you have the famous story of all the false prophets of Baal and of the grove against Elijah. And you have 850 false prophets, and you have one true prophet. You say, well that seems pretty outnumbered. It's pretty big, 850 to one. But you know, if you were to look at all the true prophets here in the Philippines in today's world, it's probably pretty accurate. 850 to one. There's honestly not a whole lot of good prophets out there. Good churches that are preaching the truth. Here in verse number 21, the Bible reads, And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him, but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not of word. If there was one verse that I wanted all the Baptists in the Philippines that are saved to know, it would be 1 Kings 18, 21. Because that's the same question I have. How long are people going to halt between two opinions? Where you have a church that's obviously not doing the work of God, they're not preaching the truth, and yet they're kind of going in between. It's like, man, I love the preaching, I love the soul winning, I love this movement, but I'm still kind of at my old church. It's like, how long halt ye between two opinions? Just pull off the band-aid and go to a real church. That's the truth. That's the verse I'd really like people to kind of figure out here. Because it seems like a lot of Baptists in the Philippines, they haven't figured this out yet. In verse number 22, the Bible reads, Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I, only remain a prophet of the Lord, but Baal's prophets are 450 men. And so from Elijah's perspective, he says, I'm the only prophet. Now, the truth is that there are a lot of people out there that have not vowed their knee to Baal. The Bible talks about 7,000 that have not vowed their knee to Baal. But honestly, we're very outnumbered in this world. There are not a whole lot of Baptists that are preaching the truth. There are not a whole lot of Baptists going soul winning. It's very rare. It's very scarce. Now, I'll be honest with you. We're not the only church in the Philippines that is preaching the truth. There are other churches that are preaching the truth. There are other churches that are going soul winning. But if I'm honest with you, one thing I don't understand is how there aren't a whole lot of Baptist churches that are putting their sermons online for everybody to hear. That's what I would like to see some of these pastors in. And I love these men. They're great men of God. But look, when the persecution comes, it's only coming to our church. Why? Because we're the only ones that are just putting the word out there and preaching against this stuff. And look, I understand we're never going to get the views that faithful word Baptist church gets or very Baptist church. And that's fine. At least people know in the Philippines, hey, here's a church that's bold and willing to preach the truth. And I'd love to see those other churches put their sermons out so we're not the only ones that are going to get persecuted one day because we have our material out there. Look, we're not ashamed of what the word of God says. We're going to put our sermons out there. We're going to preach the truth. So at least people know in this area, in Metro Manila, that if they want to go to a church that goes soul winning and preaches the truth, here's a church that's not afraid, that's not going to back down. Yes, we're preaching the truth. We're not going to back down from it. Go down to verse number 27. And it came to pass at noon that Elijah mocked them and said, cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is talking or he is pursuing or he is in a journey, for peradventure he sleepeth and must be awake. And so here, Elijah is mocking a false god. Now look, don't be mad at me if I mock the god of Catholics. Don't be mad at me if I mock the god of that church just down the road. Don't be mad at me if I mock the god of the Muslims because it's a false god and apparently their god is just sleeping or in a journey. They can't get a hold of their god. That's what we see in 1 Kings 18. Look, Elijah was a man of god and he mocked the false gods. And look, I don't think there's anything wrong with mocking the false gods and the false religion that's out there. That's what Elijah does. And he's doing it to prove a point to people that are paying attention. Obviously their god's not real, but the god of heaven is real. Verse number 28. And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their manor with knives and lancets till the blood gushed out upon them. And so basically Elijah mocks them and their reaction is, hey we really want to get a hold of god. This is what we need to do. Let's just cut ourselves. Now notice how it says after their manor. This was not something they just did one time. This was their manor. This was their pattern. This is what they did. When they couldn't get a hold of their god, they just cut themselves with knives and lancets. Now when you read this story, it almost seems impossible. Why in the world would somebody cut themselves and torture themselves to get a hold of their god? But you know, when you live in the Philippines, you're like, wow, I see this every single year. This is madurame every single year. This is what's happening at 1 Kings 18. They think that if they need to get a hold of their god, let's just torture our bodies. Let's cut ourselves with knives and lancets. That's exactly what we see here in the Philippines every single year. There is no new thing under the sun. The same things happening today are the same things that happened thousands of years ago before the time of Jesus Christ. Verse 29, and it came to pass when midday was passed and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice that there was neither voice nor any answer nor any that regarded. And so it really sounds like they're cutting themselves quite a long period of time. Now that seems pretty crazy, but quite honestly, there's people that do that every single day here in the Philippines for a week. They beat themselves all day long and then they take a break at night to get drunk and they wake up the next day and they get drunk before they do it again. And then they beat themselves all day long and then they get drunk again every single day. That's what takes place every single year here in the Philippines. Turn to Proverbs 31. It was just about a month ago that Pastor Anderson, our friend in Tippie, Arizona, preached a sermon called, It's Worse Than You Think. Now who heard that sermon, It's Worse Than You Think? Some people in this room. And he basically pointed out and proved biblically that the sin of the world is worse than we really realize. That's the truth. Back in the Old Testament days, it's the truth today. And I'll be honest, I knew the beatings took place. I knew the crucifixions took place. But when I was in Kampanga there for a couple days of unholy week, I realized, you know what, it's worse than I thought. It's a lot worse and it's a lot more common than I realized. It's a really satanic and wicked tradition. It's very common. Now the first thing, the first point we have is this. They commit sin for their religious festival, Magda Robin. What do I mean by they commit sin? They get drunk before they beat themselves and crucify themselves. You say, why do they get drunk? Because it's really painful to crucify yourself. It's really painful to beat yourself. So if you want to do something for God before you do something really spiritual like crucify yourselves, you've got to get drunk first so you can take the pain. That is what they do. You say, well I didn't know that. Well that's the reality. They get drunk in the morning in order to dull the pain before they beat themselves and they crucify themselves. What does the Bible say about drinking alcohol? Proverbs 31 verse 4. Proverbs 31 verse 4. It is not for kings. It is not for kings to drink wine nor for princes strong drink. And she gives her son advice here. She says, you're not to drink wine, you're not to drink strong drink. It's not for you. Look, the truth is that in this room all of us are too good to drink alcohol. That's the truth. It's not for us. That's what she's telling her son. Basically, you're too good to drink. It's not for you to drink wine. It's not for you to drink strong drink. Look, it's not for any Christian to drink wine or strong drink. You say, well how do you know that? Well the Bible says it's not for kings or princes. Did you know that as a believer the Bible calls you a king and a priest? You say, where does it say that? You don't have to turn there, but in Revelation 1 verse 6 the Bible reads, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Us as believers, he's made us a king and a priest the Bible says. So what advice do I give you? Look, you are too good to drink alcohol. Why? You're a king and priest unto God. It's not for kings and priests to drink alcohol. That's what the Bible says. Verse number 5 on Proverbs 31. Why is it that we shouldn't drink alcohol? Verse 5. Lest they drink and forget the law and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted. See the Bible says that if you drink alcohol you'll forget the law and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted. Now when it comes to forgetting the law, there's kind of a couple aspects to that. One, you're going to forget God's law if you drink alcohol. Why? Because your spiritual side is going to be dulled by all the alcohol. Be not drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit. The more alcohol you have in your body, the less you're going to be able to be filled with the Spirit. You cannot be drunk with alcohol and be filled with the Spirit. It's one or the other. And the truth is that when you get drunk, all of a sudden God's law is not going to seem that big of a deal. You say, what could you do when you get drunk? You know, I've heard stories of people getting drunk and committing adultery on their spouses. Something they would never do if they were sober. What happens? Well, they forget the law of God. Look, it's not illegal in our country to commit adultery. You can commit adultery, but I'll tell you what, it's a pretty wicked sin in the sight of God. And look, people might say, well it's not part of the law. It doesn't matter. It's really wicked in the sight of God in adultery. But the truth is that if you get drunk with alcohol, it doesn't seem like that big of a sin. Now we don't have time to go to every single verse that talks about alcohol, but the Bible talks about your eyes beholding strange women. And so when you're sober as a married person, you wouldn't look on somebody of the opposite gender and just lustfully look upon them. But when you're drunk, your eyes will behold strange women. Why? Because sin does not seem that bad when you're drunk. That's what the Bible teaches. You forget the law of God. But you also forget the law of the land. People do a lot of stupid things when they're drunk. They break laws that they would never break if they weren't drunk. You know, in America, people drive drunk all the time. Now look, driving drunk is illegal. And if you get caught driving drunk, you're going to be paying, depending on where you live, probably $5,000 or something. That's a lot of money. That's like 260,000 pesos. That's a lot of money. And that's a lot of money no matter where you live. I don't care if you live in the richest country in the world. If you live in Saudi Arabia, or whatever the richest country in the world is, that's a lot of money to pay back. And it's a permanent mark on the record that makes it hard to get jobs. And you know it's illegal, but when you're drunk, it's like, well, you know, it's not that big of a deal. I probably won't get caught. Well, the truth is that, you know what, maybe you won't get caught. But if you do get caught, it's going to destroy your life. And when you get drunk, you forget the law of the land as well as God's law. Verse number six. Now let me say this, that this passage I'm preaching on right now is actually used by people to say drinking is not a sin. And I'll show you why they say that in a second. And my question is, first off, have you not read the entire Bible? Because when the Bible commands you to be sober, let me ask you a question. If you have one beer, are you drunk? No. Are you sober? No. See, one drink of alcohol, you're not drunk. That's their argument. Yeah, but you're not sober. And God commands you to be sober, be vigilant. Doesn't it? Because your adversary, the devil, walked in the battle's roaring lion. Look, if you have one glass of wine, one glass of beer, you might not be drunk, but you're not sober. So your argument's gone to say it's okay to drink a little bit of alcohol because you're breaking God's commandment, which He says over and over and over again of being sober. But I'll show you the argument they have here in verses six and seven of why they say it's okay to drink. Verse six, give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. Let him drink and forget his poverty and remember his misery no more. And so what people try to argue is this, that, well, you know, if your life's really bad, then you need alcohol. You know, if your health's really bad, if you're in serious pain, you need alcohol. Hey, give alcohol to those people that are really struggling. Hey, for us, yeah, our lives are good, we don't need alcohol. But if you're really depressed in life, you just need a little booze to get rid of that depression. That's what they're basically saying. Now, I want you to keep in mind that in verses four and five, what his mom said is you're too good to drink alcohol. That's obvious in verses four and five. And so first off, even if they were right, it's like, okay, I agree, I'm not a loser. That's why I don't need to drink alcohol. If you're saying you're such a loser that you need to get drunk, then whatever, you're not really complimenting yourself while you're trying to justify drinking. But here's what's being said in verses six and seven. When it says give strong drink on to him that is ready to perish, it's not condoning alcohol. It's basically mocking alcohol. Basically what she's saying is, hey, you know what, those people that are about to perish because they're drunks, that's the context. Because they're drunks and they're about to perish due to their alcohol, hey, give strong drink on them. Go ahead and drink away your miseries. You're miserable. You want to get rid of your miseries. Hey, go ahead and get drunk and try that method. Us as believers, we're not going to try that method. We know it doesn't work. She's not condoning alcohol. She's mocking it. She's saying these people that are drunks are miserable. Their health is being destroyed. They're miserable. Their marriages are a mess. Their children hate them because they're always getting drunk. And it's like, well, go ahead and drink your alcohol. Now, look, at this church, I have influence in sermons I preach to people in this room. But the person that gets drunk out on the streets, what can I really say to them? Go ahead and drink away your miseries if that's the life you want to live. I'm not condoning it. I'm just saying, hey, go ahead. Now, in America, this is really easy to understand because every homeless person is basically a lazy drug addict in America. There's very little exception to that. And so when you see somebody who's out... I mean, in our own church, Verity Baptist, we are right by a methadone clinic and there's the welfare office. And there's a lot of homeless people that are out and about. And so every single morning, you're looking around at people that are just stumbling around because they've been drinking alcohol. And then it's like, okay, that makes sense. They're drinking their alcohol. They're ready to perish due to their alcohol. They're miserable. And yet every single day they just seek it yet again, as the Bible says. That's not condoning alcohol. It's just saying, hey, us in this room, we're too good to drink. You guys that are lazy derelicts and lazy drug addicts, go ahead and drink away your sorrows. Go ahead and do whatever you want. We're not going to do that as God's people. Verse number seven, let him drink and forget his poverty and remember his misery no more. When it says forget his poverty, why do you think these drunk people are poor? Because of the fact they drink. Because when you're a drunk, you're going to be a terrible employee. And because of the fact alcohol is expensive. And it's like, go ahead and just drink and forget about your poverty and your misery and they do it every single day. Look, the Bible says to be sober. That's pretty simple. To try to use this passage, which is mocking alcohol to justify drinking, it's like even if what they were saying was right, you're basically making fun of yourself by saying you're a loser and you need alcohol. This passage is showing that there are two people that are too good to drink alcohol. And us that are believers in this room and we know God's commandment is to be sober, we are too good to drink alcohol. It's not for us as kings and priests on to God. Now turn to Ephesians 5. Isn't it amazing when you come to false beliefs that they always use verses that actually go against what they say, but they don't understand the Bible? It's like she specifically said, hey, you're too good to drink alcohol. And then she's basically saying, hey, let the homeless bum drink away his sorrows and destroy his life. And she's mocking alcohol. And they say, well, see, if you're miserable, you get to drink booze. No, you're miserable because you're drinking booze. That's why your life's terrible. Drinking alcohol isn't going to make you happy. You're going to wake up, you're going to feel guilty, you're going to have a headache, you're destroying your health, your marriage. You're going to be a terrible father or wife or mother, and yet they just keep drinking. Well, go ahead and try that method. We as God's people, we're peculiar people. We're different. And we can't control the actions of the unbelievers out there. They really need to just get saved and hear good Bible preaching, but they can go ahead and do whatever they want. Now, in Ephesians chapter 5, the Bible says, verse 18, and be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. Now, once again, this is a verse that people that like to drink, they use to say it's okay to drink. You say, why? Well, they say, it says don't be drunk with wine wherein is excess. So it's okay to drink a little bit of alcohol as long as you're not drunk. Once again, if you drink a little bit of alcohol, you're not sober. God's commandment is to be sober when he's very specific. But they try to use this verse in Ephesians 5, 18 to say, well, you know what? You can just drink a little bit of alcohol as long as it's not in excess. Let me say a couple things about this. Sometimes people will say this, what if you have to go to a bar and drink with others in order to win people in the Lord? Who's heard that foolishness before? I've heard people say things like that, what if you have to go to a bar and just get a little bit of alcohol in your system in order to win someone in the Lord? Okay, now the person that would make that statement has never gone so winning in their life. Because guess what? Show me the drunk person that ever gets saved. You can't get drunk people saved. And look, I've given the Gospel to drunk people and they've even prayed, but quite honestly, I don't think they got saved. And it's like the more alcohol they have, in fact, I've given the Gospel to people that have had just a small amount of alcohol. And it's really frustrated me, just that one container, one can of beer, which is not that alcoholic. Why is four more alcoholic than beer? It's like three times as alcoholic. And they have one can of beer and you're explaining the Gospel and it just doesn't click with them. They don't get it. Why? Because if you're filled with alcohol, you're not going to be able to be filled with the Spirit. You're not going to be able to get saved and dwell with the Spirit. And so if you have to go to a bar and preach the Gospel to someone, it's a waste of time because they're not going to end up getting saved anyway. Not only that, if you're drinking alcohol, how are you possibly going to be able to preach the Gospel to someone? That is just absolute foolishness. Well, what if you just went to a bar and pretended to drink alcohol and you actually had a cup of water? And you're pretending to drink alcohol and you're just downing, but it's actually just water. So you can still preach the Gospel. You can still preach the Gospel of staying from all appearance of evil. When you go into a bar, people are going to assume you're getting drunk and you're drinking with everybody else. And you say, well, that's what all my friends do. Why don't you get different friends? Because the people in this room, they don't go out to bars every Saturday night to get drunk. Why don't you find friends that don't drink alcohol? And when you're at a godly church, it's not that hard to do. Throughout this room we don't drink alcohol. You don't have to be friends with the world. If you want to try to win them, hey, win them at work during your lunch break. But don't try to win them at a bar while you're drinking. But let's go to 1 Peter 4. Because once again, their argument is, as long as it's not excess of wine, it's okay. A little bit of wine is okay as long as you don't have too much. Well, let's see when we cross-reference spiritual things with spiritual. 1 Peter 4, verse 3. And so once again in verse 3, it says excess of wine. And they'll say, well, see, you can have a little bit of wine as long as it's not too much. Well, let's see what it says in verse 4. Speaking evil. The Bible says excess of right. What does it mean by right? If you said somebody was a rightist person, it's the sort of person that would just throw a rock at a window to break it and just kind of break the law for the fun of it. Just burn down a building if they want and just be kind of a rebel and a bad person. So here's my argument. Hey, I don't think it's wrong to riot as long as it's a little bit. As long as you only burn down one house. As long as it's not excess of rioting, I think it's okay. A little bit of rioting, I guess, is okay. Because if only excess of wine is wrong, and that means a little bit of wine is okay, that means a little bit of riot is okay as well. Isn't that foolish? To say it's okay to break just some of the laws as long as it's not too much? Hey, you know, when you're young, you just like to have some fun, you know, just goof off and destroy a few things and no big deal. Just steal one thing from Robinson's grocery store. Not a big deal. I mean, it's only one loaf of bread. It's only a little bit of riot. Surely that's not wrong. Because the Bible says excess of rioting is wrong. That is foolishness. And see, that's the foolishness of just looking at one verse and not cross-referencing. That's why we compare spiritual things with spiritual. Okay, Mr. Calvinist that might be listening, that's why you compare spiritual things with spiritual. You don't go back to the Greek. You do what the Bible says of comparing spiritual things with spiritual. And so if you look up the word excess throughout the Bible, it doesn't mean what people think it means. They say, well, what is implying is you can just drink some, but as long as it's not too much, well, that's not what is implying. If you look here at 1 Peter 4 verses 3 and 4, and obviously just a little bit of riot is wrong. Obviously the more you riot, it's worse. Look, a little bit of riot is wrong if you get drunk that's worse than drinking a little bit of alcohol. Two cans of beer is worse than one. Three cans of beer is worse than two. Four is worse than three. But look, one is still wrong. The Bible says to be sober. Now turn to Matthew 6, Matthew 6. And so the first point, the first thing that's wrong with this Mon Derame celebration of being yourself and crucifying yourself. Well, the first point is this, that they sin in order to do their religious festival. Look, all those people that are beating themselves, they're getting drunk beforehand. And you say, why do they do that? Because it's painful to beat yourself with a bamboo stick all day. I mean, who would do that in their right mind? Obviously, you know, they're not really in their right mind, but they're also dulling the pain by getting drunk ahead of time. If there was ever something you felt you had to get drunk to do in order to do something spiritual, like maybe take communion in the Catholic church, you're obviously doing something wrong, okay? Because God tells you to be sober. And in Matthew chapter 6, verse number 1, the second point is this, the people that are beating themselves and crucifying themselves, they are doing works to be seen of men, okay? Matthew 6, verse 1, take heed that you do not your alms before men to be seen of them. Otherwise, you have no reward of your Father, which is in heaven. So the Bible talks about if you do almsgiving, then the Bible says that if you do it to be seen of men, then you lose your reward in heaven, okay? Look, it's great to donate to church. It's great to do good things. It's great to do almsgiving. It's great to do soul winning. But if you're doing your works to be seen of men, then you have no reward for it. And you might have done something good, but you lost your reward for it, because you may need a point to let everybody know how great you are, okay? The Bible says you have no reward of your Father, which is in heaven, if you do that. Verse number 2, therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say in you, they have their reward. And so the Bible speaks about people sounding a trumpet in the streets. Now, hopefully this is being kind of figurative. They weren't literally that bad. But, you know, quite honestly, there's a lot of people that make sure to let their works be known by everybody else, okay? Now look, us as believers, let me just say this, that you don't have to tell everybody your good works you do on Facebook. If you spent an hour praying this morning, hey, praise the Lord for that. Don't let everybody know. You say, why? You just lost your reward in heaven. If you spent an hour reading the Bible, then hey, don't tell everybody about it. Why? Because you're going to lose your reward in heaven. If you make it a point to let your works be seen of men, you're going to lose your reward in heaven. That's what the Bible says. Now, I understand sometimes, you know, we go sowing and we like to take pictures and videos to encourage one another. We do need to be careful about that. Now, like I said, for this Cavite marathon, I think it would be a good thing as a special trick. We take pictures and things like that and maybe have a video so people see the excitement. But we've got to be careful that we don't just always do this. If every time you go out sowing and you take pictures and a selfie with everybody and get saved, look, you're going to lose your rewards in heaven. We should not do that according to Matthew chapter 6. We can do good works without letting everybody else know about it. Verse number 3, but when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth. Now, obviously, he's being figurative here because obviously we know our left hand and our right hand. But what it's basically saying is if the offering plate goes around and you give, let's say, a lot of money, hey, you know what you do? You kind of do it discreetly and don't let everybody know about it. You don't make it a point to say and slowly drop it in the offering plate. You're 50,000 pesos, so everybody seems like it's really thick and you're like, ugh, and you slowly drop it in so everybody's aware of it. No, you know what? You just kind of do it silently. You know, you don't let your left hand know what your right hand doeth is what the Bible says. Verse number 4, that thy alms may be in secret, and thy Father receiveth in secret that himself shall reward thee openly. And so here's the thing. If you make sure to get your reward openly, then you know what? You won't get rewarded by God. But notice how it says the Father shall reward thee openly. You know the truth is that when you're a spiritual person, people will find out about it. Look, if you're someone that knows the Bible because you read the Bible a lot, people will end up being aware of it. But the truth is if you visit this church and you're new to this church, when you first visit this church, you're not going to know everybody. And everybody here, we love the Bible, we talk about the Bible, we go soul-winding. But over time as you get to know people, you're going to be able to tell when certain people know the Bible and certain don't know the Bible. Say, what's an example of this? An example of this is when we named our son Zephaniah, and then people at church are like, that's such an interesting name. Where did you ever come up with that name? See, people are going to find out whether or not you know the Bible. People are going to find out whether or not you're a godly person. People are going to find out whether or not you really live in for God. Now it is true that somebody can always just pump themselves up and talk about how great they are. And they might be able to fool us. And it can turn out that they're a complete phony. Sometimes people make it a point to say how great soul-winners they are, and then it turns out they're like this big heretic in a room and everything. And it's not even necessarily that they're doing more soul-winding than others, it's just the fact they let everybody know every single time they go soul-winding. The truth is, the Bible says the Father will reward the open. We do not have to just talk about how great we are. God will make it a point to give us any reward we deserve. And truthfully, if everybody talks about how great we are, it's a good chance it's going to get to our head and it's going to destroy us. It's not always good that everybody thinks you're the greatest thing. And every time they meet you, they're like, man, it's so great to meet you. You're like the greatest Christian in the world. Look, if you hear that all the time, it can make you prideful. It can get to your head. So look, it's not the end of the world if people don't realize that you're some great Christian. The truth is, if you are some great Christian, you wouldn't care about being known as a great Christian. Verse number five, and when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. And see, the Bible talks about people that will pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, they make it a point to be seen of men. You see, with false religions, false religions like to dress really weird, don't they? They like to wear dresses at the airport and dresses on the streets, you know, men wearing dresses. And you say, why? Because they want to be seen of men? And people say, well, there's a Catholic priest. There's a Buddhist monk. Wow. And they think that they're spiritual because they're dressed like a woman, okay? They like to do things to be seen of men. They like to, you know, find some homeless person on the streets and then, you know, just help get a haircut, get him money, get him new clothes and take a selfie and put it on Facebook and say, look at me, I'm the best Baptist in the Philippines. They like to do works to be seen of men. The truth is, with the people beating themselves in the Philippines, they're doing it to be seen of men. And you say, well, Brother Stuckey, how dare you say that? How do you know that? Here's the reason why I know it. Because if I really believed that beating myself was godly, do you know what I would do? I would beat myself at home when nobody saw me. You're not supposed to do your works to be seen of men. I mean, if you think it's okay to crucify yourself, why don't you just, you and your friend, just do it at your house? Why is it you make it a point to do it in front of everybody? Why? Because you want to be seen of men. Amen. That's the truth. And it might not be popular preaching, but the truth is these Catholics that are beating themselves and crucifying themselves, they're the worst Catholics out there. Amen. That's the truth. They're arrogant, they're prideful, they're sinful, they're getting drunk to do this, and they're doing it to be seen of men. Amen. You say, Brother Stuckey, are there any exceptions? The only exception I can see is the fact that if someone at a young age, it becomes part of their culture and they just mindlessly do it because that's what they're taught at the young age. And the truth is they are being taught that at a young age. When we were in Pampanga, we were waiting at a restaurant to eat dinner with a couple of families, like-minded families, and I kind of went for a walk, and I walked toward an area that was kind of a squatter area, and I just kind of walked around, seeing the town and everything, and I saw these little kids with their shirts off, five years old, six years old, just beating themselves. Now, they weren't doing it to the degree of adults, but look, they are training them at a young age to beat themselves and crucify themselves at a young age. That's sad. Yeah. It's not only just they're harming their body, but it's also making them have a misunderstanding about salvation, which we'll talk about here in a second. But look, when these people do this and they beat themselves in the middle of the streets, they're doing it to be seen of men. Otherwise, they would do it at home. You say, Brother Stuckey, what about the ones that have the masks on and nobody knows who they are? Look, those people are even more arrogant. You say, why? Because they're making it a point to look like they're humble. They're making it look like they're not doing it to be seen of men. But the truth is there are people that know exactly who that is. And what they want to do is get lifted up to their closest friends. Even if the average person on the street doesn't know them, they want their closest friend to realize, you know what, I'm beating myself because I'm really spiritual. That's the truth. Look, when we were in Pampanga, I saw people whose backs were just permanently scarred. Like people whose backs were just completely pink. And it was just permanently like that because they beat themselves for so many years that their back just looks weird. They're harming their bodies. They do this all day long, day after day after day. That's not healthy on your body. And they're beating themselves. They're harming themselves. And look, our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost, the Bible says. We're supposed to take care of our bodies. And to beat yourself and to nail yourself to a cross. Look, you're harming your body. You're doing exactly what the Bible tells you not to do. Turn to Matthew 23. So yeah, I understand there's people that pretend to be humble about putting on a mask, but they're not humble. They're doing it to be seen in men. And look, honestly, this in a lot of ways can be my most controversial sermon. Because I'm sure most people out here would be like, how dare you criticize those people that are crucifying themselves. They're so holy. But here's the thing. Those people that want to crucify themselves, I won't praise them from the pulpit if they actually do it like Jesus did. They're not doing it like Jesus. You say, why? Because of the fact they're just not suspended in midair on their cross with really thick nails like Jesus did. No, they're doing all the precautions to not harm their body as much as Jesus did. Look, when Jesus was on the cross to die, they are making it a point to make sure that they lessen the pain. Usually they have something underneath their feet so they're not supporting all that weight. The nails they use aren't as much. Look, I've seen people fall off the cross before. There's videos where people are up there and they fall off and say, well, how do you fall off the cross? Because those nails weren't really in there that good. So if you really want to crucify yourself, go get the thick nails. Do exactly like Jesus did and guess what? You're going to have permanent damage to your body. And you're not going to do that because you don't want to completely destroy your body. You just want to do it a little bit to be seen of men. That's the truth. Matthew 23, verse 4. But all their works they do for to be seen of men. And so this is a common practice that you see with false religions where they're doing works to be seen of men. And they torture their bodies and they think it's spiritual. They think it's God. I watched a documentary recently on Islam. And once in a lifetime, every Muslim person is supposed to make the pilgrimage to Mecca. And honestly, I didn't know a whole lot about it, so I was kind of curious, taking notes. Because eventually I'll probably preach a sermon against Islam. And it showed them that when they're actually there at Mecca, they basically just torture themselves every day. They just go on these, it's almost like an obstacle course. They go on this hike back and forth up a hill to the point where they're like, exhausted. Almost to the point where they're going to die. They're basically harming their bodies. Not as bad as the Catholics are here, but the same sort of principle. And for some reason, false religions think that if you harm your body, then God will be happy with you. Where is that in the Bible? I mean, where are they getting that? And so they're doing works to be seen of men. And as I said, this is not just here in the Pampanga, but it's also all over the Philippines. Primarily in Pampanga. Now turn to Hebrews 10. The truth is that I didn't think it was that common until I was actually in Pampanga. And I was just, you know, on the streets. I look over there and just hear the noise of people beating themselves. And there there are people beating themselves, and someone was crucified, just carrying their cross. And I'm like, what in the world? I thought it was just a small amount of people. I mean, that's what James White told me. I thought that very few people were beating themselves. It's actually a lot worse than what you realize. It's very common. And I promise you that people that don't live here, they don't realize how bad it is. It's really bad. It's very common. And it's also very satanic. It's very wicked. The third point we have here this morning is this. That they are rejecting the payment of Jesus Christ with their celebration. Hebrews 10, verse 6. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin now has to have no pleasure. And so God doesn't have pleasure in the burnt offerings and sacrifices. Obviously they did that in the Old Testament, but that never granted them their salvation. Salvation has always been by the blood of Jesus Christ. But what those things did is they pictured how Jesus would one day die for us. He would be sacrificed. You say, why does it say burnt offering? Because Jesus went to hell. It wasn't the point of all those offerings. Why did they always burn him? Because Jesus went to hell for three days and three nights. That's as clear as day throughout the Bible. Verse number 7. Then said I, lo, I come, in the volume of the book as it is written of me, to do thy will, O God. Above when he said sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldst not, neither had his pleasure therein which are offered by the law. Then said he, lo, I come to do thy will, O God, who taketh away the first that he may establish the second. And so when he says the first and the second, he's basically talking about the Old Testament. And the New Testament. Instead of the burnt offerings and sacrifices, Jesus Christ was sacrificed once for all. Verse number 10. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. So 2,000 years ago, Jesus was crucified and what happened three days later, he rose again. Look, he already rose again. I mean, Catholics have their idols with Jesus still on the cross. He already rose again. I mean, you don't have to beat yourself to get forgiveness from God. He already paid for all your sins. It doesn't make any sense to beat yourself and crucify yourself and torture yourself. That's the reason why he did it for us. So we don't have to. We don't have to pay for our own sins. And quite honestly, you can't pay for your own sins. We can never pay for our own sins, so we rely on Jesus Christ who did that once for all. The payment's already been made. And so look, this celebration, you say, well, isn't it just kind of a fun celebration or whatever? No, it's not fun because it's making us have a misunderstanding of salvation. And that is always a big deal throughout the Bible. It's making people have a misunderstanding of salvation. Turn to 1 Corinthians 15. And so when kids are seeing this at a young age, people crucifying themselves and beating themselves, what it's teaching them is that the payment for salvation has not been made yet. And I must work and earn my way to heaven. And it's very dangerous because it's getting programmed into their heads and they're not even realizing it. Basically, subliminally, it's teaching them worse salvation. Basically, subliminally, it's teaching them worse salvation. And so when it comes to these Catholics and all their celebrations, they're subliminally teaching people worse salvation at a very young age. And it makes it harder when we try to win them to the Lord. Okay? Look, this is a very wicked, wicked celebration. It's very ungodly. God condemns drinking alcohol. He condemns you harming your body. Your body is in the temple of the Holy Ghost. And it's causing people to misunderstand salvation. That's a big deal, okay? 1 Corinthians 15 verses 3 and 4. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. And so once a year, we celebrate Easter. And Easter is a celebration of the fact that Jesus rose again and already came for our sins. And what the Catholics in our country are doing is they're basically saying, well, our Easter celebration is the fact that the payment hasn't been made. We're just going to crucify ourselves rather than believing that Jesus died and paid for our sins. It's giving people a misunderstanding of salvation. And look, when it comes to these Catholics doing this, you know, I understand that in our country, people think it's normal. They don't think it's that big of a deal, okay? Look, my wife, growing up, she told me she thought it was normal. And she thought it was kind of cool when she saw the people crucifying themselves. Like, oh, here these people are. Why? Because at a young age, they're being taught that they're really spiritual and godly. And people at a young age, they don't realize how wrong it is, okay? My job is to help make you realize how exceedingly sinful this sin is. This is wicked. It's not just that, well, this is a fun celebration. It's a tourist attraction. People are coming to see it. No, it's wicked. It's extremely wicked in the eyes of God. And when it comes to these people beating themselves and crucifying themselves, yes, there's a lot of ignorant Catholics out there that don't realize why this is wrong. And those people, we can win those people to the Lord, and then they can learn what the Bible says. The people that are beating themselves and crucifying themselves, good luck winning them. It's going to be next to impossible. You say, why? Because they're very prideful and arrogant people that are making everybody see their good works. And look, I don't care if every other Baptist pastor would say, no, the people beating themselves and crucifying themselves are just deceived. I don't really care if they would all preach that. What I'm preaching is they're arrogant fools. And they're doing works to be seen of men, and I don't care if nobody believes it. That's what the truth is. Turn to Philippians 3. What big misunderstanding people need to realize is this. There is a difference, and I'll preach a sermon about this sometime. There's a difference between something being common and normal. It's very common in the Philippines that people beat themselves. It's not normal though. And see, when you're around something that's very common where you live, it seems normal because you're getting programmed. It doesn't seem normal to me because I've never seen this in person. It's very strange because it's not common in America. When you're around something that's common, it seems normal. You're around idolatry all the time in this country. It doesn't seem like that big of a deal. Why? Because you see it all the time. You become desensitized to it. It's not normal. It doesn't matter if every country was doing it. It's not normal to beat yourself. It's not normal to crucify yourself. It's bizarre, it's wicked, and it's coming from the Catholic religion that is destroying our country. That's the truth. Philippians 3 verses 18 and 19. The last point we have before our conclusion is this. The other big problem with the Mokderame celebration is this. They are glorying in their sin. So basically the process is this, in case you're not aware. In the morning, they get drunk. Then the people that beat themselves, they get somebody to take a sharp object and they basically spike their back all over the place and they start to bleed. So when they hit themselves with the bamboo sticks, it causes that blood to keep flowing. Now look, if you've ever seen this on YouTube, it's pretty nasty. I don't know what they call it, but a sharp little object. They just spike themselves and the blood starts to flow. When I was in America, and other people might think this, I thought it was just red paint. I didn't realize they actually were... Because I was like, how would a bamboo stick make you bleed? I didn't realize that beforehand, they just spiked their body all over the back and the blood starts to flow. So every time you hit yourself, the blood keeps coming down. So first thing they do is they get drunk in the morning, they harm their body, they beat themselves all day, and then what do they do at nighttime? They celebrate by getting drunk again. That's what they do. That's the reality. And if you're familiar with this, you know that's the truth. They celebrate by getting drunk again. Why? Well, they don't go to a church where the pastor or the priest preaches against alcohol. They don't realize it's wrong to get drunk, and so they get drunk again and they celebrate. Well, what does the Bible say about luring in your sin? Because drinking alcohol is wrong, it's sinful, and what does it say in Philippians 3, verses 18 and 19? For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose endless destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, whose mind burns through things. Look, I would be ashamed to beat myself and to crucify myself. I wouldn't go around bragging about the fact that I beat myself. I mean, why would you brag about that? But their glory is in their shame. They look at something that is shameful, it's disgusting, it's not something to be proud of, and they go around and brag about it. I mean, how bizarre is that? The Bible speaks about people luring in their shame. Okay? Turn to Ephesians 5, Ephesians 5. And the Bible says, Rejoiceth not in iniquity, 1 Corinthians 13, 6. Look, we should not rejoice in iniquity. It's not something to be proud of. You should just say this, because a lot of repentance preachers, they do this, and you need to realize this is wrong. You'll hear repentance of sins preachers brag about how they used to be drunks. Isn't that the truth? Man, I remember, I was the worst of sinners. I used to go to the bar every single night and get drunk, and then I turned from all my sins and gave my life to God. Bless God. Do they not say that? That's the reality. It's like, whoa, you know what? I was never drunk. Should I be ashamed that I was never a drunk? No, they're luring in their shame. They're bragging about how they were drunks. And look, if you used to be a drunk or you struggle with that, I'm not making fun of you, because you're not bragging about the fact, and that's why I don't know that you used to be a drunk, because you're not bragging about it. But what repentance of sins preachers and Calvinists do is they brag about how they were these terrible sinners. Why in the world would you brag about that? We should be ashamed of the sins we've committed. And look, we've all made mistakes and done things wrong. Don't go around bragging to people about it. It's not a competition. Who was a bigger sinner before they got saved? I mean, that's ridiculous. I mean, what a weird thing to celebrate in. Ephesians 5, verses 11 and 12, And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather approve them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. See, the Bible says we should have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. I want to make it very clear at our church, we don't support this at all. We are approving this. This is wicked. It's ungodly. It's one of the strangest things, and yet they are glorying about this, and they're bragging about this. You say, is God mad about this? Look, when you're getting drunk, God's mad about it. When you're presenting a false view of salvation with your Christian celebration, yeah, he's mad about that. When you're glorying in your sin, yeah, he's mad about that. When you're doing works to be seen of men, you know, if you were to just pray in the middle of the street for everybody to see that, yeah, he's mad about that. That's why he preaches against it. You say, well, how mad is he? Well, let me just say this in conclusion, okay? And, you know, I preach a sermon. I'm not going to share with you any other verses, but, you know, obviously we had the earthquake this past week. It was six days ago on Monday, okay? Now, this earthquake took place very close to the main crucifixion spot in Pampanga, okay? And it was the day after Easter, just the day after, just a few days after when they were crucifying themselves and beating themselves. Now, my first reaction, my wife's first reaction is maybe there's a correlation with what they're doing in Pampanga and the fact that God might be mad about it. And so out of curiosity, I went back and I typed in, you know, when was Easter in 1991, when Mount Pinatubo exploded? And Easter was on, I think it was March 31st. Yeah, March 31st, 1991. And so I looked up Mount Pinatubo and it said Mount Pinatubo on April 2nd, two days after March 31st, it started to slowly erupt. Now, it was two months later when the big eruption hit, but it started two days after Easter. Okay, you say, is that a coincidence? I don't think it's a coincidence. That in 1991, it was right afterwards. Now, look, if you have a different opinion than me, if you have a different opinion than me, that's fine, because everything I've preached so far is directly from the Bible, you can't deny it, it's clear, I gave you scripture, I proved every single point. What I'm doing now is giving you my opinion. I am okay if you have a different opinion than me. But my job is not just preach hard against sin and warn you about sin, but also, I can look at a situation and warn about the potential danger in another way. Now, look, I'm not saying that Mount Pinatubo is gonna blow in a couple months. Honestly, I don't believe that's gonna happen. But I am saying we should be ready for it, okay? Because the earthquake took place just a day after their Easter celebration, basically the same spot at the same time. That's a big coincidence, and that's the same thing that happened in 1991. And you say, Brother Stuck, do you sound like a conspiracy theorist, that sounds crazy? Well, if it sounds so crazy, why is our government afraid about it? Why are they closely monitoring Mount Pinatubo? Why are they going there? Because the fact they're worried is gonna explode. That's the reason why. It's not just me. Other people are worried about it as well. Now, look, I don't want it to explode. Look, my wife and I have family in Pampanga. We have family that was affected by that earthquake and also the earthquake a couple days later, which we didn't feel here, at least most of us. We didn't feel where we are. But they felt it in Pampanga just a few days later. My wife's family felt another one which wasn't as strong because it's happening in that location. Look, I don't want it to explode. We have church members from Pampanga. We have families of people we know from Pampanga. But the reality is that this celebration of the Catholics, God's pretty angry at. Now, you might have a different conclusion of whether or not this is the judgment on God. My opinion in 1991 is it was the judgment of God upon our country. And quite honestly, he was very merciful because very few people died in Mount Pinatubo. Really, the only ones who died were the natives that just worship nature and just figure they pray the volcano wouldn't erupt and then just erupted all over them. Those are pretty much the only people that died. Very few people died considering how massive Mount Pinatubo was. And so, look, not that many people died in the earthquake. I think the last number was 16. That was the last number I saw, 16 people that died from the earthquake on Monday. Not that many people died, but you know what? If there is a big explosion again, there could be a lot of people that end up dying. Look, like I said, I don't think that's going to happen this year. But I'll tell you what, we need to be ready for it. There is a potential, and there's a religious and spiritual reason why it might blow. Because this Magdarame celebration is extremely wicked. And you say, well, who is God mad at the most? I'll tell you the two religions God is mad at the most for this celebration. One's pretty obvious, that's the Catholics. They're the ones doing it. As far as I know, they haven't started this joint evangelism crusade of everyone beating themselves. As far as I know, the other churches aren't joining them and beating themselves. As far as I know, they're not having events for CCF or Victory. Like, hey, let's join in and crucify ourselves as well. As far as I know, this is just a Catholic thing. But the other group God's mad at is the Baptists. You say, why isn't he mad at all these other false religions? Well, for one, the other false religions aren't doing it. But look, we don't expect the false religions to preach against us. We expect the Baptists to preach against us. Especially the Baptists that live in Pampanga. Now, this is not exclusively to Pampanga, which is why I'm preaching on it. This is a thing in the Philippines. But look, every Baptist pastor should be preaching against us. They should make it very clear to the church how bad it is and how wrong it is. And the truth is, I don't think too many Baptists are doing that. I'm not saying every church needs to preach a whole sermon against it. But they ought to at least mention it. I mean, this is a pretty big celebration. You say, is this something fun? It's a tourist attraction. This is an embarrassment to our country. It's shameful. It's embarrassing. If people talk about it and say, hey, is that that area where they crucify themselves? We should be ashamed. We shouldn't think it's cool. It's not cool. It's an embarrassment to our country. That is the truth. That's the message that should be preached from the pulpits. And look, I hope we don't have a big disaster. Because it doesn't benefit us. Throughout the Old Testament, when prophets of God preach against their country, people get mad at them for preaching against their country. Here's what they fail to remember. It doesn't benefit that prophet. Look, if a volcano explodes or a massive earthquake, it's not going to help our lives out. It's only going to make our lives harder. Even though we're a long ways away, it will still affect us in some ways. It doesn't benefit us. I hope it doesn't happen. But it is a possibility. And we should be ready for it. And whether or not there's some big disaster, and whether or not this most recent earthquake correlates to the Maghrami celebration in Kampaga, even if it's unrelated at all, it doesn't change the fact, this celebration is wicked in the eyes of God. We should have nothing to do with it, and we should make it a point to reprove it. Let's close in a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here in your house today. And I ask you just to help us to apply this sermon to our lives. Help us realize how bad and how wrong this festival is. And hopefully if people talk to our members, we'll be able to give them a couple reasons why, about how wicked this celebration is and what God's thoughts are on it are. Help us to always reprove sin and just be bold to preach the truth to God. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you.