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

So, of course, whenever you turn to Romans 1, people get excited about what's going to be preached. Hopefully that remains true tonight. I won't be preaching on the reprobates, which is typically what you would preach on. Often when you turn to that passage, of course, that's the definitive chapter, talking about those that are being given over to a reprobate mind. But there's also another great truth in that chapter that I kind of want to look at. And what I'm preaching to you tonight is the value of human life. The value of human life. And I think it's an important subject to remind ourselves of, because of the fact that we're living in a society today that has devalued human life to a great degree. We're living in a society. We're going to look at several different examples of a society that has devalued the value of a human life. And they have it completely backwards. The thing is that God values human life very highly. Every single person on this planet, God values. Of course, when we read Romans 1, we read about those that are being given over to a reprobate mind, and we understand that. But even those people, at one time, God loved them. Before they rejected Him, before they decided to not retain God in their knowledge, God even loved those people at one time. And of course, we understand that as they rejected Christ over and over and over again, that eventually He turned them over to reprobate mind and no longer loves those people. They are haters of God and He hates them as well. But let's not let that diminish from the fact that there are people, a vast majority of people, in fact, that God cares about. And it's something we have to remind ourselves, again, because society has been influencing us to be very cynical or maybe even dismissive of human beings. Whether that be a whole group of people, ancient people, we see that in history, how human beings can be classified as subhuman. That even in certain political arenas, people will say, this certain people group isn't even considered a human being and therefore it's okay how we treat them. I've been reading a bit about the Native Americans lately, and that was something that they had to go to court and fight for, was the right to be considered a human being. So this is something that man has in him. It's a tendency to want to just make other human beings less than what they are, less valuable. They want to devalue human life and society, and we see that. And society has it very backwards. Look here in Romans 1, verse 21. It's telling us about a particular group of people. This can apply to Old Testament Jews, but this also could apply today. Verse 21, it says, Because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imagination, and their foolish heart was darkened, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image-made life unto corruptible man, and to birds and to four-footed beasts and creeping things, wherefore God gave them up to uncleanness to the lust of their own hearts. And we see that human beings will devalue people so much to the point where they will even devalue God. I mean, it should not come to us as a surprise to us that human beings would look at another human being saying that there's no value in that person, they're not worth anything, that they would value something else above them. And we'll talk about specifically what it is that often people today are putting above human beings. But it should come to a surprise to us because we see here that people are even willing to bring God down and bring them below even the creation itself. They'll actually worship the creation more than the creator. So if we're living in a society that is even willing to take God down from his high and lofty position and bring him down to lessen the creation that he created, it should not come to a surprise to us that they would devalue human beings. So one way that we see them doing this is when they start to, you'll see people nowadays even valuing the existence of an animal over a human being. They will put more value on an animal, they think that animals are worth more than human beings, and this is something that's out there. This is an attitude, this is a culture in our society that is out there. You have your proverbial cat lady or dog person with the stupid bumper sticker that says, you know, people suck. Excuse my language, but you know, dogs are awesome or something like that. I have cats because I can't stand people. Well, you know, I'm sure you're just a nice person to be around. I'm sure you're just a real pleasant individual. Maybe that's the problem, maybe you should take a look in the mirror. But this is a society that we're living in where people are valuing even animals above human beings. And there's several examples of this. If you would, turn over to Romans chapter 14. Romans chapter 14. You know, one example of this is veganism. That would be one example. We're living in a society today where it's becoming more and more popular to be a vegan. Now when I was growing up, you know, vegetarianism was a thing. I'd never even heard of veganism until recently. This is a fad, I think it's kind of been catching on more and more. It's becoming very cool. But a lot of people are motivated by veganism not... And by the way, if you're a vegan, that's fine, that's not necessarily a sin. We'll look at some scripture here that tells us that it's not God's ideal that people would not eat meat. But some people get into veganism because of the fact that they don't want to harm an animal. They want cruelty-free and everything. And what they're doing is that they're even putting an animal's needs above their own. Because the thing is, we need animal to eat. We need animal protein, we need animal fats. There are nutrients that are going to be found that you can only find in animals that we need to live healthy lives. And now we have people today that are saying, no, we don't want to eat like that because we don't want to bring harm upon these animals. You know, we don't want to eat... You know, if it has a face, I don't eat it, you know, is what I've heard vegans say. You know, they just... And it's foolishness. And what it is, it's the result of a culture and a society that is devaluing human life. And, you know, it's not that they're just going to devalue one thing and that's it. They're going to put... when you devalue human life, you know, you increase the value of other things. And so now they're saying, you know, these animals need to be treated with respect and these animals need to be loved. And they certainly don't need to be, you know, chopped up and put in a sandwich. And we reject that out of hand. And again, if you want to be a vegan, that's your business. Go ahead. But please don't tell me it's because you are so concerned about the well-being of an animal, okay? And we're looking at other examples where it's just getting out of hand. It's getting out of hand in the society where people are just putting animals so... above the very existence of human beings, the well-being of a human being. They're more concerned about how an animal is being treated or an animal's reputation than they are about an actual living, breathing human being. So, you're there in Romans 14. I'll read to you from 1 Timothy 4. Why do we reject veganism and vegetarianism? Because it says in verse 3, forbidding to marry, and he's talking about the perilous times in the last days. You know, these false prophets, they're going to rise because of the things they're going to teach. You know, it says they're going to be forbidding to marry, commanding to abstain from means. You know, commanding that they don't eat these things, which God has created to be received with thanksgiving, which they believe and know the truth. Verse 4, for every creature of God is good and nothing to be refused. The Bible tells us that every creature is good and not to be refused. You know, and I understand that we have our own cultural qualms about eating this animal or eating that animal, but in some societies, you know, they don't pet the dog. They eat it. And I'm telling you what, the more I'm around dogs, the more I hear and see dogs, I'm thinking we need to start eating some of these dogs. You know, these pit bulls that got all this meat on them, there might be a use for them yet. You know, let's feed them to the poor. Let's feed them to the bums on the side of the street. Let's start rounding up all the rez dogs and all the, you know, and I've kind of got a personal vendetta with dogs now. I mean, I remember, you know, don't get me wrong, I'm not promoting cruelty to animals, you know. The Bible does say that we should not be cruel towards animals. But here's the thing, if somebody wants to be cruel to an animal, that's their business. You know, if somebody wants to mishandle an animal, I'm not going to suggest that that person spends any time in jail over that. You know, if that's their property, they can do whatever they want with it. I really don't care. It reflects on them poorly, you know, sure, and I'm not going to trust them to dog sit or horse sit or whatever sit. Many of my animals, that's the way they treat their animals. But, you know, I'm not suggesting cruelty. You know, in fact, you know, if you were to, we had a little audio, an audio tape from years ago when I was just a little boy. And my sister had made, and she was interviewing us, you know, when tape recorders were all the rage, right. You had the big thing, those shoebox-sized tape recorders, and she was interviewing her siblings. She just came to me and said, what's your favorite animal? I said, a dog. You know, and I still, I do, I love dogs. But I'll tell you what, the more I'm in this society, and some of these dogs are absolutely worthless. You know, and maybe we should start eating them. You know, because every creature is to be received at Thanksgiving. You know, here we pet the cat. You know, some countries, they'll eat the cat. I think. Do they eat cats anywhere? Probably. You know, where? In China. Well, see, there you go, eat the cats. Maybe they're good, I don't know. And camels, too, right? Like cattle. Oh, like cattle? They round up the free-range cats. And where are they grazing? They have catboys, not cowboys. So, you know, free cats. But yeah, so we, I mean, the thing is, every creature is good, in the Bible sense. And nothing can be refused. So, you know, the Bible is not a vegan, does not promote veganism, does not promote vegetarianism. In fact, it promotes the exact opposite. Look there in Romans chapter 14, verse 1. Him that is weak in the faith receive thee, but not to doubtful disputations. For one believeth that he may eat all things. Amen. That's us, hopefully. And another who is weak eateth herbs. So the Bible does not cast veganism, vegetarianism in a good light. In fact, it says to people that are weak eat those things. And you know what? I find that to be true. People that I've known who have practiced veganism or vegetarianism usually have health conditions. You know, and if you go on YouTube and you can even find, I remember watching a guy put together a montage of all these famous vegan, vegetarian YouTubers. And put on a montage like the before and after. You know, when they first started into their journey of veganism or vegetarianism. And they looked, you know, somewhat, for the most part, healthy people. You know, they had meat on the bone, they had some color in their face, their teeth were in good shape, their hair was in good shape. And then, back and forth five years later, they look like they're on meth or something. They look dried out, they're skinny, you can see ribs, their hair is falling out, they even admit to teeth breaking. There's even, in one of these montages, a vegan has a tooth fall out while he's talking. You know, yeah, it's gross. But that's, you know, they don't tell you about that, you know, when you read in Us Magazine or People Magazine about the newest movie star that's practicing, you know, veganism or whatever. They're not going to tell you about all the nasty side effects that come along when you stop eating animal fat, when you stop eating saturated fats, when you stop eating animal products. I mean, those are things in that food that we must have. The Bible says it's not to be refused. You know, it's not, you shouldn't refuse it. You should receive it and you should eat it because you need it. We're designed to be eating those things. That's why it says that, you know, who is weak? You know, one who is weak, he deserves. You know, so if you want to practice that, go ahead. That's your business, I'm not going to judge you in that, but prepare to be weak. Prepare to have health problems. Prepare to not be in the best physical condition you can be in. You know, and so on and so forth. So that's one example of we see a society that is devaluing human life. That is saying, you know what, I would rather, you know, let my body suffer physically and refuse those things that I need to have to maintain a healthy existence so that, you know, I don't end up, you know, save the tuna. So I don't end up netting a dolphin somewhere. You know, and they always want to save the cute ones, right? Right. You know, you never see save the tuna, right? I mean, the dolphins are getting saved and the tuna are like, well, I guess. You know, what's wrong with us? Well, you're not cute enough. You know, you have to have a certain IQ. You know, I guess dolphins are so intelligent that we can't eat them. But, you know, I'm not going to put myself through that. I don't think people should be devaluing themselves and letting their health suffer for the sake of an animal. You know, but that's where we're living in. We're living in a society that promotes that and devalues that. What's another example of this when it comes to animals? And, you know, really that's what I'm focusing on is that the fact that people are now valuing animals equal to, or in many cases, greater than a human being's existence. Whether they realize it or not, they value the human beings or dogs or a cat or an animal or whatever have you, they value that animal's well-being over human beings. And it's wicked, friend. It's wrong. And it's not right. And God is not pleased with that. That's not how God sees things. Right. You know, God does not care for oxen, Bible says. What's another example of that? PETA. Right. Which stands for, what does it stand for? People eating tasty animals. People eating tasty animals. I'm pretty sure that's not what it stands for. Right. That's the kind, no, that's a PETA I could get behind. You know, fill that PETA pocket with tasty animals and we'll have a meal. Right. It's people for the ethical treatment of animals. Right. They want animals to be treated ethically. You know, and they go on their website, which I did, and they'll have some horrible picture of a cat with its head shaved and some kind of micro-electronic device wired to their brain for laboratory testing and things like that. And they're all about saving bunnies from things, you know, from being experimented on. You know, I don't, personally, I wouldn't be able to participate in that, you know, just because I'm squeamish. You know, I don't like seeing animals, anything suffer pain. But I'm not against that, especially if that research leads to some kind of a cure. Right. You know, what if that research or whatever leads to some child being helped or some medicine being developed. You know, I'm all for it. You know, and again, even if it was just to like make a better perfume, you know, if that's what people want to do, that's their business because it's just an animal. You know, it's just, it's a thing. You know, just because it, you know, well now it has a nervous system and can feel pain. Well, you know, that's too bad. You know, and those people that are protecting these animals, you know, they want to, they're all, they get all worked up over an animal. And I'm not saying everything that's happening to these animals is great, that I'm for it. You know, in many instances it is sad. It is shameful the way that some of these animals are being kept and treated. But you know what, that's their business. And there's a lot more important things to get worked up about than some poor bunny getting droplets of whatever in its eyes. Right. You know, we need to petition late night talk show host Jimmy Fallon and help him to understand that elephants are not meant for entertainment. Who's with me? Right, this is on their website. You know, we need to develop a more humane cockroach repellent. Okay, I made that one up. But you can say that one. That is probably something that's out there. You know, we should be killing, you know, don't use raid on a cockroach. Quickly, don't let that animal suffer. You know, this is the kind of nonsense that's out there. You know, I should have wrote down some of the other ones. I thought, well, I can remember these. These are so ridiculous. But, you know, just go on Pina's website and look at what they're petitioning, what their what their great cause is in life. You know, the torch that they're carrying, you know, it's laughable in many cases. And it's all about animals, the ethical treatment of animals. And it's nonsense, you know, and there's, you know, you say again, some of the things are probably, I would say, man, that is terrible that some company is profiting off of make, you know, torturing animals or making them suffer. But you know what? I'm not, that's not going to be, that's not the cause I'm going to champion in life. And, you know, there's more things to get more worked up about. And here's the thing, you know, the Bible does talk about animals and how they ought to be treated. You know, the Bible, and it doesn't talk about it in length. There's not a lot about it. But there are certain principles that we can see in the Bible about treating animals, you know, not without, we shouldn't be cruel to animals without, with no reason, you know, sometimes, you know, might have to do, you know, go work on a dairy farm, you know, you're going to have to put those animals through some pain in order to get the milk. You know, there's certainly not, it's not a continual existence of pain, you know, but there are some times in that animal's life when you have to castrate them. Not a pleasant experience for that animal, you know, and I've helped with that. You know, believe me, that's not anything that I would want done, you know. It's not a pleasant experience for that animal. Or dehorning an animal. You know, a cow, we have to remove the horns when they first pop out with a hot iron, you know. And there are ways to do it that you can make it less painful, but, you know, here's the thing, you know, no pain, no gain, right? Sometimes you have to inflict a little pain on the animal to make it produce and to make it do what you need it to do so that you can, what, feed other human beings? You know, they're not raising cows because they think they're pretty, you know, and some people think cows are pretty. You know, I had a fifth-grade teacher who thought cows were the most beautiful animal around. I never, I didn't buy it. I thought that was odd, right? Mrs. Clatter, my fifth-grade teacher, goes to Park Elementary. So, in case you ever run into her. But, you know, here's the thing. Sometimes you have to, you know, raise a cow and these things, you have to put them through that, these farm animals, and do things so that you can feed human beings. I mean, what if PETA ran the world? Do you think there'd be any dairy farms? Do you think there'd be any pig farms? Do you think there'd be any turkey farms or anything like that? No. They would want, they would, they'd let those animals run wild and be free and we would all be eating, you know, tofu or something. We'd all be eating soybeans, which we're already eating enough of, but that's another sermon. You're putting that soy in everything. But the Bible does say, and if you would turn over Deuteronomy chapter 22. We're going to be in the Old Testament for a minute. Deuteronomy chapter 22. So, let me not, let me just come out and say, you know, I'm not promoting animal, you know, cruelty and violence towards animals. But what I am saying, if an animal needs to suffer to make a human, a human being's existence better, by all means do it. Amen. You know, I'm not going to lose any sleep over that. Some animal has to even die so that a human being can live a life without pain. Right. Or a human being can have his life better for that animal's death or suffering. I'm all for it. I'm not saying we should just be torturing animals, you know, we should be out there with, you know, every boy can go through the phase where he gets the magnifying glass and roasts the ants. Right. But at some point, you know, we need to put that away. And some of you, no, I'm just kidding. I don't know. But, you know, we all go through that, you know, we all catch the spider, pull its legs off, or take a fire, never mind. But I don't want to give anybody ideas. Right. Talk to me after the service. But the Bible says, you're going to Deuteronomy 22, Proverbs chapter 12, it says, a righteous man regardeth the life of his beast, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. It says he regardeth the life of his beast. That's what a righteous man does. He looks at his animal, he looks at its beast, and he regards its life. You know, why? It's not because he's in love with that animal. It's not because he has deep, you know, seated emotions, and that animal, you know, just needs so much to him, and he only wants that animal's best. He regards that animal's life and says, you know, how can we treat this animal so that we can profit from it? And he confuses, they contrast it with the wicked, which are cruel. You know, they're cruel. You know, really, what this verse is teaching is the fact that, you know, the righteous man can even regard an animal's life, but the wicked can't even regard that. Their tender mercies are cruel. You know, they can't even look on an animal and have any kind of mercy for it. But, you know, a righteous man does. He regards the life of his beast. It doesn't say that he exalts it. It doesn't say that he considers it. You know, a dairy farmer looks at his cow and says, I need to treat these animals well so that I can profit from them. You know, and here's the thing. Some of those animals are living better than some human beings on this planet. They have a nice place to stay. They are kept out of the weather often. They always have food. You know, they've got plenty of fellowship. They're surrounded, right? You know, but here's the thing. At the end of the day, it's just a big, dumb animal that you probably can't remember more than what happened two minutes ago. So I just don't want us to get the idea that I'm just saying, well, just treat an animal however you want. You know, that you can, but, you know, the Bible does teach us that we should regard the life of our beast. You know, if you're going to own an animal, you should take care of it. You know, if you're going to have a pet, you should take care of it. You know, and a perfect example is this is horses. You know, if you go on some of these res trips, you can tell the condition of their reservation when you look at the animals they own. And you'll go to some of them, and you'll see they'll have horses that are just gaunt, ribs sticking out, hip bones. And then you can say to yourself, well, this must be a poor community. They can't even take care of their animal here. You know, and horses are expensive. Like, I don't know what anybody who can't, you know, some people, they can't even, in these reservations, they can barely support themselves, and yet they want to own a horse. It's kind of backwards, but you'll go to another one where the horses are very well kept. You know, you go up on the Apache, horses are very healthy looking and things like that, and you can form an impression that these people are taking care of their animals. Now, Deuteronomy chapter 22 verse 6, you know, the Bible even addresses conservancy, you know, conserving nature. It says if a bird, verse 6, if a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way of any tree or on the ground, whether they be young ones or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young eggs, or upon the young or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dame with it with the young. But thou shalt anyways let the dame go, and take the young to thee, that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days. So God's teaching here, he says, hey, if you're just walking and by chance you come across and you look up at the tree and you see a nest with a bird in it and think to yourself, there might be some tasty eggs up there, and you're going to go help yourself, he says that's fine, but don't take the bird with it. Now, why does he say that? Is it because he loves the bird so much? That poor bird? I mean, that bird's going to have a broken heart. He just took its young. Maybe you should put it out of its misery, right? No. What he's teaching there is that, so next year, there's more eggs. So that bird can go out and make more eggs for who? For you. That way it'll be well with thee and your days will be long upon the earth. You'll get those homemade three fatty acids that you need. And you'll get those eggs every morning that you need. So God's teaching here, you know, conservancy. He's teaching that we should conserve the wildlife so that we can have it there for our use. So, again, don't get me wrong, you know, when I start ripping on people who wanted to, you know, the PETA people and all this other thing and say, and get me, and take, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater and say, we're going to just promote, you know, all out cruelty to animals and poaching and everything else that goes along with it. You know, quite frankly, I'm against poaching. And some people, I understand, they don't agree with that. And they think that we should be able to go out there and shoot every animal at any time of season. But here's the thing, you know, see, we've got one here tonight. How long do you think you'd have those animals for? They'd be gone pretty quick. And that's a fact. You know, a couple few years wouldn't be long. There wouldn't be anything left to shoot. You know, and I like to remind those people that, whoever they are, that it was, in fact, sportsmen that petitioned the government to put those laws into place. Because we all understand that that's what happens. I mean, just look at the buffalo herds when they came through here in the frontier. I mean, they just decimated almost to the point of extinction with just a few decades. You know, massive herds of millions of animals just gone. So, you know, I believe the Bible promotes that. I believe the Bible teaches that. And that's something that we should practice. You know, so we see, again, what we're talking about tonight, the fact that God values human life. And we're living in a society that is devaluing human life to the point where they're even putting animals, the welfare of animals, an animal's life above that of a human being. And it's wrong. You know, and a big one, of course, if you were on Facebook recently and saw me ranting and raving over there, you know, I'm glad I had this puppet to get these things off my chest. It's these pit bull apologists. Okay? And, you know, I don't want to spend a lot of time on this because I know I've talked about this in the past. I'm not going to break out all the damning statistics on this breed. Damning. Okay? You can't go read the statistics on this animal and its history and its origins and come back and tell me that it's a safe and friendly dog to have. You know, and if you have one, that's your business. You know, go ahead and have one. Do what you want, but you better make sure to understand that you're dealing with a lethal animal. You're dealing, as I have so fondly appreciated the phrase, the reprobate of the dog world. Right? It's the truth. These animals and every owner says, no, not mine. Mine's a sweetie. Here's the thing. Nobody goes out looking for a vicious pit bull. Everyone that has a pit bull has a sweet, precious pit bull until that dog is no longer sweet and precious and they trigger like that. You know, and terrible things, horrible things that I don't even like to repeat happen. These terrible news articles. You know, go to dogsbite.org and read the stories, horror story after horror story after horror story of dogs and not just pit bulls, other dogs as well. I understand that are mauling, killing children, elderly, men, women. It's just nonsense. And people still want to have these animals around and act like there's nothing wrong with them. They ought to be exterminated. You know, they ought to be, they ought to be destroyed. And in fact, you know, if we own animals like this, we have to understand something that you are responsible for that animal and what it does. Did I have you go to Exodus 21? Go to Exodus 21. I mean, this is a good example of God saying, showing us that God values human life. Look at verse 28. If an ox, gour, man, or a woman, that they die, the ox shall be surely stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall be quit. Meaning, they're not going to hold him responsible. He shall be quitted. You know, he's going to suffer the loss of his animal and he's not going to profit from its flesh. He's not even going to be allowed to eat it. He's just going to die. It's going to go to waste. But he's not going to be held responsible. But, verse 29, because that happens, doesn't it? Animals lash out. And things happen. And people need to know better. I mean, that same dairy farm I'm talking about. When I first went there, they said, that's the bull. When you're in the yard with the bull, keep your eye on the bull. Stay on the tractor. Look out for the bull. You know, they were warning me. Okay? And it wasn't because they had bulls in the past where people quit paying attention and they come around the corner and they find their farm worker unconscious with the bull standing over him. Because they got hit by the bull. And if you've never, I mean, you don't appreciate these animals until you're near them. A Holstein bull is like at the shoulder like this. We're talking a 2,000 pound animal that can push a tractor. I've been on the tractor and have it push the tractor. Huge, right? And it happens. You know, I'm telling stories. Mine as well. I remember one night, I went out and took the tractor to go out and put the silage in the manger for the animals to eat. And I said, where's the bull? The bull was, you know, probably somewhere out in the, approximately where the parking lot is. I said, and I had to jump off and chain a gate. And it was dark and I said, well, there's the bull. I'm fine. So I get down and I start chaining this gate and it's dark and I'm kind of working the chain. And all of a sudden I hear behind me, and I turn and that bull is looking at me right here. This huge bull. And I said, nice bull. And I just took, very slowly got the tractor between me and the bull and I got in. And, you know, that could have gone very badly for me. And I think the bull was just coming by and just saying, hey, good at it. So it reminded me. And that, you know, I used to, here's the thing. I worked for this guy. His name was Don. He owned the farm. And the guy was in his, I think, 70s at the time. You know, he'd been doing it his whole life. He just kind of hunched over for milking cows. Just, you know, in his older age, he got a little frail, small man. But he had this little stick and he would just, he would tap that bull. Because when you go to milk them, they all come in to feed in the parlor. And you'd have to chase the bull out. And Don would just walk up to that little bull and just tap him on his hip all the way out. You'd just see this great big bull. And here comes this little old man just tapping him on his hip. Anyway, enough of the storytelling. But, you know, the point is, is that I was warned about the bull. Right? So now I'm responsible for what happens. If anything happens, you know. He says in verse 29, But if the ox were wont to push with his horn in time past, and it hath been testified to his owner, and he hath not kept him in. Right? He didn't take precaution. He knows he has a dangerous animal on his hands and he hasn't taken the proper precautions. He's been warned and said, Look, this animal's dangerous. You need to be careful with it. And he hath not kept him in. But if he hath killed a man or woman, the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death, men. That's a harsh punishment. Can you imagine having that's how you went out in life? That's how you died. I had to die because my animal killed another human being. I mean, that is the punishment that God doles out. So if you own, you know, you could apply this. Does God have to name every animal for us to apply this? Does God have to go through every animal in the world that's potentially lethal and say, No, if it's this animal, same thing. If it's this animal. I mean, if it's a lethal animal, why would God make an exception? You know, say, Well, unless it's a pit bull. You know, if the pit bull kills somebody, you know, just kill the animal. It's the same punishment, friend. And you watch how quickly people quit having these animals if this was enforced. Right. And when people, and you say, Well, that's mean. Well, you know what? Go ahead and let's go ahead and try it out. And let's also watch not only how many people, you know, how many people quit owning those animals. We'll also, in turn, watch how many people are stopped being killed by those animals. I mean, I don't know how the numbers in front of me, I read them briefly recently. And if I recall correctly, pit bulls, you know, make up 80 percent of all, you know, maulings. Like one third of all dog bites in the U.S. that require medical attention are inflicted by one breed of dog. And we think it's a good idea to own them. I mean, they're banned in certain countries. They're banned within certain city limits in America. You can't own them. Certainly, you know, I've had more than one person recently tell me that if you have one, certain insurance companies won't insure you. Because they don't want to get sued when your dog freaks out and kills somebody or damages somebody else's property. They don't want to pay the medical bills. So don't tell me that this breed is safe. It's not. Just look at the facts. I don't care how sweet and precious your little pity is, you know. That dog, I know somebody even in our church in Phoenix that owned a dog like this. The dog never had any problems. You know, and then they had a child. The child started to get to about two or three years old and the dog started to feel, you know, like it wasn't the top dog anymore, I guess. And they had another little dog. So instead of taking it on the kid, thankfully, first of all, I took it out on the smaller dog. But you know what my friend didn't do? He didn't make excuses for that dog. He took it out in the backyard and shot it in the head. Called the cops and said, hey, I discharged a firearm. And the city limits cops came over and said, good job. Because he had enough sense to know that this animal, it could be my child next. And unfortunately today, there's so many horror stories where it is somebody's child. It is somebody's baby. It is somebody's 18 month old. The dog's jumping in the crib or just there in the living room. You could be present with it and just all of a sudden. And by the way, if a pit bull latches onto anything, I don't care how many people are there. You're not going to pull that dog off or whatever it's got in its jaws. It's not going to happen. You're going to have to kill that animal or beat it severely. And most people aren't prepared to do that. So you say, well, that's a harsh punishment. Well, that's because God values humans above animals. Because God is more concerned about human beings not being killed by some lethal animal than he is your feelings for some animal. He says if that animal kills somebody, you know what, then the owner knew about it, then it's the same for them. Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. And the reason why that is is so that these things would be, people would be a lot more cautious. And a lot less people would have to suffer at the jaws of these vicious animals that are out there. So go ahead and own the pit bull. I don't think it's wise. Hopefully if you do, you don't have any kids or you keep them far away from them and make it impossible. I mean, maybe they do serve a purpose. It ought to tell you something when people who use pit bulls are involved in the mafia or the military. I mean, yeah, the animal has a place, doesn't it? Yeah, it's used to inflict violence on other people and to ward off other people. So if you want to have the pit bull on the big, fat chain, you better make sure it stays on the chain and it can't get out and it can't get its hands on anybody because it's known about those animals. You know, people ought to consider themselves warned today. As it says there, it hath been testified to the owner that this is a vicious animal. The statistic speaks for themselves. So every person who knows that is now on the hook for what that animal does, in my opinion. Of course, we don't live that in that society. We don't have a government that enforces these laws, but maybe they should. It might be a good idea. Maybe God's law is perfect after all and has mankind's best interests in mind. God doesn't just write these things down because he's bored. God writes these laws down because he values human life. He doesn't want to see people suffer at the hands of animals. You know, we talk about how this society is devaluing human life. We've talked about it in the context of the fact that we see them placing the well-being of animals above that of human beings in many instances. You know, the veganism, PETA, condoning and apologizing and making cases for vicious animals and breeds of dogs and things like that. And there's other examples of that. You know, I had a friend years ago that thought it would be cool to get a pet alligator. They're cool when they're this big. I said, you know that's going to get bigger, right? It's not going to stay that small, you know. He said, oh, I know, I'm just going to get a bigger aquarium. You know, I was just like, you're an idiot. He ended up giving it away. I mean, first of all, it's illegal to have that, I'm pretty sure. And an alligator isn't going to fare well in northern Michigan. You know, it's going to be an indoor alligator. Good luck with that, right? There's just certain animals you should know because they're lethal, right? You know, so we talked about that, but how about what's another sign of a society devaluing human life? Well, you can't really talk about this about bringing up abortion, can you? Right. When you have 3,000 babies being aborted in this country every single day. Right. Or approximately, you know, on average. You know, that's a big tale-tale sign that we're living in a society that is devaluing human life. Where they're willing to go, you know, to the lengths of exterminating that child in the womb before it even has a chance to breathe. And, you know, that deserves a whole subject or a whole sermon in and of itself. You know, and you say, and here's the thing, it is murder. Right. It's murder for an end to do that because God considers that a life. You know, he says that. What you want to call, you know, a tissue, a blob of tissue, an embryo. God calls it life. Amen. God calls it a child. And there's biblical evidence for that. Go ahead and turn over to Isaiah chapter 7. Isaiah chapter 7. Isaiah chapter 7, we probably know the verse. Verse 14. Therefore, the Lord Himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall what? Conceive. Right. So he's saying, look. He's talking about the Virgin Mary and what is going to happen. She's going to conceive. Right. That's what we call conception. She's going to be pregnant. Okay. Matthew chapter 1, if you want to turn there, where it quotes Matthew 7, verse 14. It quotes this, but it quotes it a little differently. And it's interesting how God, and nothing is an accident in the word of God. God purposely did this so that we can understand what God considers conception. In Matthew chapter 1, verse 22. Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child. So Matthew 7, he calls it conception. She shall conceive. Right. So he's saying conception, when she conceives, she shall be with child. So when does life begin? It begins at conception. Right. It begins when the seed meets the egg and that's it. That egg. From that point forward, that is a human being. And people say, well, it's not a human being until X amount of months. It's not a human being until X amount of weeks. That's nonsense because you know what that embryo is going to turn into. Right. You know, they're not going to give birth to anything else except a human being. So how is that not a human life? Absolutely. Would you say that's not life? When cells are multiplying and dividing and growing and DNA and the body is starting to be built, you're going to tell me that's not life? You know, if you found that same organism on Mars, you'd say, it's life. Right. We found life on Mars. Right. We found a single cell organism. And then you have this multi-celled organism in a woman's womb, but you're going to say, well, that's not life. It's wicked. It's wrong. It's wicked. It is life. The Bible defines it as life. It calls it a child because you already know what it's going to be when it's born. It's going to be a child. So that's why we would say that abortion is murder. And that's why we know we're living in a society today that is devaluing human life. It's devaluing human life. It's saying to the point where now they're even putting animals above life. And that's the one thing these people that want to sit there and argue and whine about these people that would say such horrible things is that all people should be exterminated. And they'll stand up for that and they'll forget that there's people out there that have lost children to these animals. Right. You know, and I don't care how you feel about it, a public forum is probably not the way for you to, it's pretty tactless to go out there and object to somebody feeling that way. You know, if I lost my child to an animal like that, and I know I'm kind of going back on this and taking a step back and going on tangent, but this is something I wanted to get out there. You know, if I lost my child like that, and then I saw somebody post on social media somewhere how they hate footballs, I'd say, amen. I hate them too. You know what I really wouldn't appreciate? Is somebody going on there and trying to make excuses for these animals. It's like they forget that the reason why that person doesn't like that animal is because it's a baby killer. It's because it's a mauler. Because it's inflicting pain and death on people. You know, that doesn't cast you in a good light to start defending animals like that when that's what they do. But that's where we live. That's where peoples are. That's where their heads are at in society. Even Christians, even so-called Christians, that are exalting animals, they're devaluing human life, you know, and abortion is probably the greatest example of that in this nation. You know, I've said it before and I'll say it again, I don't think abortion will ever become illegal in this country again. Because it's politicized. You know, and one of the big problems is, and this will probably get me in hot water, but I don't care, is that women are voting. You want to end abortion? End women's suffrage. And watch how quickly abortion goes out the window. You know, go look at the stats. Vast majority of men are not for it. It's a woman's issue. That's why women are some of the most politically active people is because they want that one thing. My body, my choice. And, you know, they can say what they want, but at the end of the day, it's murder. At the end of the day, that's what they're promoting. That's what they want. And that's a society that we lived in. And there's, you know, other verses, you know, if you want to, you can go read Psalm 139, verse 13 and onwards, and you can see how God even knows us when we are in the womb, how He's the one that knits us in the womb, how we are the, you know, the fruit of the womb is God's reward, you know, their blessing. But we're in a society today that is devaluing human life in all these different forms to the point, you know, where they're even worshiping animals, as we saw in Romans 1. Where they're even bringing God down below His level and worshiping animals. Say, you're crazy. It happens. People are bringing animals to be blessed in the church. People are, you know, they're just exalting animals way beyond measure. But here's the thing, God values the well-being of men, of mankind over that of animals. You know, that's the fact. Go ahead and turn over to Luke chapter 8, we'll wrap up here. A familiar story. You know, we expect this kind of attitude, you know, this kind of attitude, as crazy as it is, you know, it shouldn't shock us too much when we see it coming out of the lost in the world. It's when Christians start to fall into this, start to slide down this slope of, you know, devaluing human life and exalting the life of an animal and caring more about animals than they might a human being. You know, that's really when it's getting sad. I mean, as crazy as it sounds, you can kind of expect it from the world, especially given the world that we're living in. Because we're just being bombarded with it all the time. You know, they're just bombarding this all the time. Look at Luke chapter 8, verse 26. And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee, and when he went forth to land there met him a man out of a certain city, which had devils long time, and were no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs. So here he finds this man, this guy's not living a very good life. I mean, he's got many devils, long time he's been suffering with this, possessed with devils. He's naked, he wears no clothes, and he's abiding, he didn't live in a house, but in tombs. So he's in the graveyards. You know, this guy is in a sad state. But when he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God Most High? I beseech thee, tort me not, for I command the young spirit to come out of him, honor the man, for oftentimes it had caught him, and he was kept bound with chains and fetters, and he'd break the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness. And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion, because many devils were entered into him. And they besought him that he would not command him to go out into the deep, and there was an herd of swine feeding on the mountain. So there's these pigs there. And they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into them, and he suffered them. You know, he could have sent them into the deep. They're saying, No, no, don't do that. And he's like, Well, go ahead and go into the swine then. He sends them into the swine. And what happens? And he suffered them, verse 33, And then went the devils out of the men, and entered into the swine, and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake, and were choked. So Jesus, I believe he did this just to show us how little animals matter. I mean, they begged him not to go into the deep, meaning this. He could have sent them there. I mean, could he have sent them into the deep? Sure. I mean, that's why they're saying, Don't do it. And he even grants them their request and says, Okay, go ahead, go into the swine. And you'll think he knew what was going to happen. They ran headlong into the lake, and they choke. They drown in the lake. You know, all these swine. I don't know how many swine were there, but, you know, it was a herd, and it wasn't being raised so that they could write a cute story about it. You know, Charlotte's Web. It wasn't the prize paid that they were going to take home and put a hat on it and give it a name. They were raising these animals for food. They were valuable. The people there were probably depending on them and saying, Hey, we need to eat these animals. You know, these are going to be our sustenance. We need to have these things. Somebody's going to make some money off of them. But God, Jesus, in his wisdom, to show us what he thinks of an animal compared to that well-being of a man, a man that you would look at and say, What prophet is there in this man? Possessed of devils, living in tombs. You have to bind him in chains. He's a pain in the neck. I mean, we see what happens in these stories. Later in the story, the multitude shows up. They see what happens, and they beseech Jesus to leave. They say, Get out of here. You're ruining our livelihood. We don't want you around. Most people might have even been to the place where they would rather see Jesus cast that guy into the sea and get rid of him. So we have to deal with him every time we have a funeral. Every time we go to the funeral up there, we've got to go to the tombs. There's that maniac, you know, causing trouble. Jesus shows us that he values that guy, that one person more, than this herd of swine. You know, but we're living in a society today that doesn't think that way. You know, and even if you were to find somebody that was, let's say you found somebody that was not taking care of, was treating animals poorly. People would like to see that person. There's people that would want that person swinging from a tree. They'd say, Oh, I can't believe they would do that to these animals. I mean, there's people that would, if they could get away with it, would probably lynch another human being for the way they treated an animal. Again, I'm not condoning the way some people treat animals. It's their business. It's their property, and at the end of the day, I would rather that person not get lynched. You know, I would rather see them continue on, you know, doing whatever it is they're doing to these animals, and to see them suffer harm or, you know, end up in hell. Maybe they're not saved. I mean, and God shows us in scripture that he values the well-being of one human over any amount of animals, and that's the attitude that we have to have. We cannot let ourselves get brainwashed by the society that wants us to think that, you know, animals are just these, you know, the arms of an angel, you know, the little puppy. Right. I can't remember the commercial that well, but I remember there was that cheesy song, you know, and they show all the poor little animals in the cage, and won't you help save these animals? You know, meanwhile, there's some kid in a ghetto somewhere with nothing to eat, right? But you're feeding that dog, you know, make some puppy stew, and let's feed these Ethiopian kids that are starving or wherever they are. You know, I've got a great use for those animals. Let's get them out of the cages, and let's get them in the pot, and let's take care of some human beings, because that's what God values, you know. That's what God, that's where he puts the emphasis. He said in Luke 12, Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? So God, he knows about the animals. He knows every one of them. The hairy hairs of your head are all numbered. You're not, therefore, for you are more value than many sparrows. We're more valuable than animals. That's the attitude that we have to have, and not allow ourselves to get brainwashed by Disney and all these other movies that want to free Willie and so on and so forth, you know, and the PETA and everybody else that wants us to convince us that animals are just, you know, to be valued more than they should be, you know. So, the point of the sermon is pretty simple, and I don't think anyone here is struggling with this, but again, it's preventative because of the fact that we're living in a society that is going to promote this kind of philosophy, and we don't want to fall into it. You know, God values the spiritual over the physical. You know why human beings are more value to God than an animal? Because an animal doesn't have a soul. Because there is no spiritual aspect to an animal. The only people that think that are heathens. Every heathen culture, they start to worship animals and consider them deity and things like that. We don't believe that it's Christians. Honestly, there's no difference between an animal and the chair you're sitting in, except the fact that it has a nervous system and eyeballs in most cases, you know, and it's animated. It's just an animated object. That's all it is. It doesn't have a soul. It's pre-programmed to behave in certain ways. And yes, you can train them and things like that. We enjoy them and we can get fulfillment out of them and pleasure, and that's fine. But at the end of the day, it's not a spiritual being. And it doesn't even come close to the value of a human being. Not even close, friend. And God values human beings because they're spiritual, because they have eternal souls. An animal does not. And so we should seek the spiritual well-being, which would include the physical well-being of people over animals. We should seek their well-being and not get wrapped up in this culture that's going to teach us that the animals are on the same plane or off the case is better. We need to not let society devalue human life. Let's go ahead and break.