(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.) It's the greatest night of the year. It's the greatest night of the year. It's the greatest night of the year. It's the greatest night of the year. It's the greatest night of the year. It's the greatest night of the year. It's the greatest night of the year. It's the greatest night of the year. It's the greatest night of the year. It's the greatest night of the year. It's the greatest night of the year. It's the greatest night of the year. It's the greatest night of the year. It's the greatest night of the year. It's the greatest night of the year. It's the greatest night of the year. It's the greatest night of the year. It's the greatest night of the year. It's the greatest night of the year. It's the greatest night of the year. It's the greatest night of the year. It's the greatest night of the year. It's the greatest night of the year. It's the greatest night of the year. It's the greatest night of the year. It's the greatest night of the year. It's the greatest night of the year. It's the greatest night of the year. Let the sun shine again in my heart. Let my sweet word, the scripture, this hope to be gave me. How they guided my sense, but my zeal did not last. Let this be place of prayer where I met with my Savior. I neglected and so soon my joys were all past. Let the sun shine again. Let the flowers bloom again. Sir, the embers of love in my heart. Holy Spirit, make room. Embrace me again. Let the sun shine again in my heart. Oh, I love well to walk in the way with our children when we met with them hard in a fellowship sleep. When the whole of the flesh and soul worldly companions in the paths of sin's pleasure attracted by me. Let the sun shine again. Let the flowers bloom again. Sir, the embers of love in my heart. Holy Spirit, make room. Embrace me again. Let the sun shine again in my heart. Oh, I love now again for forgiveness and blessing as I've been in it while I am seeking Thy peace. For the blood made my bed and Thy Spirit live in me. If you come to my Father, I want rain to cease. Let the sun shine again. Let the flowers bloom again. Sir, the embers of love in my heart. Holy Spirit, make room. And embrace me again. Let the sun shine again in my heart. At this time, we'll look at our announcements together. If you don't have a bulletin, slip up your hand nice and high. We'll get to you with one. On the inside, we have our service time. Sunday mornings at 1030 is our preaching service. Sunday nights at 6. Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study. And tonight, we're going to be in Ezekiel chapter 8. We've got the soul-winning times listed there below, as well as salvations and baptisms. Across the page, the Mount Graham camping trip is tomorrow. And the information is there. And so I heard that there was a mass exodus from the trip after I made that announcement about the weather. And so I guess it's a good thing I made that announcement so that, you know, from that time, many of his disciples followed, not with him any longer. And so I guess it's a good thing I made the announcement so that people knew what they were getting into. And so it's going to be, it looks like it's going to be a great time, but just as long as you're prepared. And that is going to be tomorrow. So I'm sure you're already thinking about that. And then below that, the yearbook portraits are going to be starting up. And so definitely sign up. We want to get every single person included in this. You get a beautiful family portrait for free. You get the high quality electronic format for free, and you get to a copy of the yearbook when it's done. And so we've been doing this for years. We love it. And that's going to start up this coming Sunday. So be sure to sign up toward the back of the building for a slot to get photographed. And then as the weeks go on, we'll start increasing the pressure on that. I'm pressuring you to get your photo taken for the yearbook. And then the Sierra Leone mission strip is coming up as well on October 6th. And then on the back, there are going to be no small town soul winning trips during the month of October. That'll start up again in November. Keep praying for the ladies in our church that are expecting. And then if you want to help out with a meal for the Ventura family, then please speak to Mrs. Amanda Wright. That's about it for announcements. Let's go ahead and count up the soul winning from the past few days. Going back to Monday. Anything from Monday? Okay. Got it. Is that a four back there? Okay. For the surprise group. Anything else from Monday? What about Tuesday? Okay. Got it. Anything else from Tuesday? What about Wednesday today? Anything from today? All right. Keep up the great work on soul winning. And with that, let's sing our next song. All right. You should find the insert of Psalm 24. If you don't have one, please raise your hand, and we'll sing out Psalm 24. And who shall stand in this holy place? We that hath clean hands and of your arm, with love lifted up his soul, come to man and team, your sport is complete. We shall receive the blessing from the Lord. Come to man and team, your sport is complete. Come to man and team, your sport is complete. Come to man and team, your sport is complete. Come to man and team, your sport is complete. We shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the Godly salvation. This is a generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, no jade, no seal of. Lift up your hands, oh ye gates, and ye lift up the everlasting voice, and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is this King of Glory? A Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your hands, oh ye gates, and ye lift up the everlasting voice, oh ye gates, and ye lift up the everlasting voice, and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is this King of Glory? A Lord of Hosts, He is the King of Glory, sing of. Amen, your hymnals now, please turn to hymn number 380. He was not willing that any should perish, hymn number 380. Let's sing it on that first verse, hymn number 380. He was not willing that any should perish, He is the God of the glory of God. Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Sorrow, sorrow, or failure, Alright, this time we'll pass the offering plates around. As the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles to Ezekiel chapter 8. As we always do, we'll read the entire chapter, starting in verse number 1. Ezekiel chapter 8, follow along silently with brother Hester as he reads. Ezekiel 8, starting in verse number 1. Ezekiel 8, the Bible reads. And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord God fell there upon me. Then I beheld in low alikeness as the appearance of fire, from the appearance of his loins even downward fire, and from his loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the color of amber. And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head, and the Spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north. Where was the seat of the image of jealousy which provoketh to jealousy? And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw on the plain. Then said he unto me, Son of man, Lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold, northward at the gate of the altar, this image of jealousy in the entry. He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, Seest thou what they do? Even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? But turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations. And he brought me to the door of the court, and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall. Then said he unto me, Son of man, Dig now in the wall, and when I had digged in the wall, behold, a door. And he said unto me, Go in, and behold, the wicked abominations that they do here. So I went in and saw, and behold, every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about. And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense went up. Then said he unto me, Son of man, Hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? For they say, The Lord seeth us not, the Lord hath forsaken the earth. He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do. Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord's house, which was toward the north, and behold, there sat women weeping for tammuz. Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these. And he brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house, and behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east, and they worshipped the sun toward the east. Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah, that they commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger. And lo, they put a branch to their nose. Therefore, will I also deal in fury. Mine eyes shall not spare, neither will I have pity, and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them. Father in heaven, thank you for the opportunity we get to gather and get the edification of your word, Lord. Thank you for sending Jesus, your son. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Amen, Ezekiel chapter number eight, the Bible reads in verse number one, And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord God fell there upon me. So presumably, the elders of Judah have come to Ezekiel to inquire of him. Obviously he has a reputation of being a prophet, and if we go back to the beginning of Ezekiel in chapter one, as far as the timeline, it talks about how in the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of King Jehoiachin's captivity, and then he talks about, you know, the visions that he had at that time, and then basically jumping forward now, it's in the sixth year. So this is like, you know, over a year later. And basically, the elders of Judah have come to him to inquire of him, to see what God says. That's pretty much the context here. And it says that while they're there, the Spirit of the Lord comes upon him, the hand of the Lord fell upon him, and he sees this vision, starting in verse number two, Then I beheld in low a likeness as the appearance of fire, from the appearance of his loins even downward fire, and from his loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the color of amber. And he put forth the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my head, and the Spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem. And we'll continue there in a moment. But we see that this figure stands before him, that looks somewhat human, but from his loins upward, he's like this appearance of fire, and from downward it's fire, from upward it's amber, which also kind of invokes fire, or the same kind of color that you would think of with burning flames, like reds and yellows and oranges and so forth. So this is kind of a surreal figure here, and that's why it says it put forth the form of a hand, because it's like a hand, but it doesn't quite look like a person, because it's kind of this flaming image here. And so he's picked up by his hair, and this has always cracked me up as I've read this over the years, just how he literally picks up Ezekiel by his hair, and lifts him by his hair, and carries him by his hair. Now that's kind of a strange image, isn't it? You know, of this messenger or angel, or whatever this is, grabbing Ezekiel by the hair, and picking him up. And the way that this has always struck me is that God is really trying to get his attention. It's almost like you would scold someone. You know, you kind of like grab him by the ear, and drag him over here. You know, there's probably a gentler way to do this than to grab him by the hair, and lift him off the ground. So it's a very aggressive gesture of almost, you know, grabbing an ear, grabbing the hair, and bringing him. And not that Ezekiel's the bad guy here, because obviously Ezekiel's a man of God, he's righteous, but he's sitting with the elders of Judah who are super wicked. They've come to talk to him, and we're going to see in the next few chapters that Ezekiel, he's constantly trying to intercede for them. Like, he wants God to back off a little bit, and show some mercy, and show some grace, and that's why at the end of this chapter, he says in verse 18, therefore will I also deal in fury, mine eyes shall not spare, neither will I have pity, and though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them. This is something he's going to tell Ezekiel over and over again over the next few chapters, and Ezekiel's going to intercede, and try to talk God down, and God's going to explain why he has to bring such severe judgment. So with all that in mind, my take on this, you know, why is he grabbing him by the hair and lifting him up, is that he's basically grabbing him, and kind of shaking him in a sense, and saying, you know, you don't realize how bad these people are. You don't realize how wicked the leadership of your country is. You don't understand how wicked these elders of Judah are, the elders of the house of Israel. They're literally worshiping Satan. They're so bad, and Ezekiel doesn't get it, and so he's grabbing him by the hair, and just showing him how bad things are, really trying to get his attention with this aggressive gesture. So he picks him up by a lock of his head. A lock of his head means hair. You know, you think of a lock of hair. So he grabs him by the hair, lifted me up. We're halfway through verse 3. It says, The Spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north, where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoceth to jealousy. So the first thing that God shows Ezekiel after grabbing him by the hair, and dragging him over to Jerusalem, is the first thing he shows him is just this idol that's set up in the house of God, and God's calling it the image of jealousy that provoceth to jealousy. He's just saying, look, you know, this is my house. This is the temple that's supposedly built for my glory, and you've got this competing false god here, this graven image or molten image that people are worshiping, and that's why he's so angry. Now, what does jealousy mean? We use the word jealousy in 2021 to be synonymous with what the Bible calls envy. You know, the Bible calls it envy if I look at what someone else has, and I wish that it were mine. If I were covetous like that, that would be envy. Or if I look at advantages that someone has, or, you know, privileges, or a position that someone has, and I wish that I had that, then I am envious of them. I envy them. But today, we use the word jealous interchangeably with that. We'll just say like, oh, you're just jealous of him. You're jealous of her. But that's not really how the Bible uses the word jealous. The Bible would call that envy. So what is jealousy then? Well, jealousy has to do with being possessive of something that belongs to me. So these are two very different things, because envy is when I'm, and we're talking about the Bible's definition, envy is when I'm looking at someone else's stuff and wishing it belonged to me. That's ungodly. That's covetousness. That's a wrong way to feel. Whereas, jealousy can often be very legitimate because I want to rightfully possess that, which is rightfully mine, not trying to get something that belongs to someone else. But like, for example, and we do still use the word jealous in that way as well, because sometimes we'll talk about someone being a jealous husband. What does that mean, he's a jealous husband? It means that he doesn't want to share his wife with other people. Okay? He wants it to be his wife. He doesn't want her going out to lunch with other men and hanging on the phone to other men and being really close with other men. He's a jealous husband because he wants his wife to be for him only, okay? Or a jealous wife would be the same way. She wants her husband to be solely for her, not palling around with other women and spending a lot of time or money on other women. She wants to be the only one, okay? That is jealousy. Now, is that bad? Is that wrong? Absolutely not, because, you know, as husbands, we have every right to demand that our wife keep herself only unto us as long as we both shall live. I mean, it's in the vows, for crying out loud. And so every wife has the right to want her husband to be exclusive to her, and every husband has the right to demand that the other way. And so both of those are legitimate things. So there's nothing wrong with being jealous of that because, you know, it belongs to you. Now, obviously, this could go too far where you see men or women becoming paranoid and just thinking that every single person of the opposite gender that gets around their spouse is just a threat to their relationship, and they start imagining things. And we've had some situations like that over the many, many years. You know, I've been passed for a long time. I've seen a lot of things. And sometimes you'll have women just panicking and thinking that everybody's after their husband, and nobody is. It's just not a thing. But in their mind, that's how it is, and they just, you know, it's just become a paranoia with them. So obviously, this can go too far, especially because you have to understand that men go out in the world and work for a living. So we have to go out in the world and work for a living, and so we're going to interact with people, including women. And so obviously, we have to go out and interact and deal with people. And so obviously, there's a difference between professional dealings with people versus just, you know, some close female friend or going out to eat all the time and hanging on the phone and doing stuff. You know, in our professional life, we're going to deal with people of the opposite gender, and so you don't want to get overly paranoid or overly jealous. And another thing is that, you know, when it comes to the ministry, we've had certain situations where there were guys that we would want to send on a missions trip or want to send them to go preach somewhere, but basically, his wife could not allow him to go anywhere without her. You know, he can't go anywhere without her, and that is just not going to work, obviously, just logistically with a lot of situations, and so, you know, you don't want it to get too out of hand. But that being said, obviously, you know, we want to involve our wives as much as we can in our professional lives, but sometimes that's just not going to work out. And so there's a balance here, but in general, I would say being a jealous husband is a good thing, especially as the world defines it, because I remember one time I was at the doctor with my wife, and there was a sign on the wall saying, you know, hey, these are some red flags that you could be in this abusive relationship or something because, you know, your husband's telling you that you can't be friends with certain people, or he tells you that you can't wear certain clothing, and I'm just saying, I'm like, check, check, check. You know, I was just like, you know, so, you know, though obviously the world is going to look at a traditional marriage and say like, ah, it's so horrible, you know, you need to get liberated or whatever. Obviously, they're going to look at a biblical marriage where the husband's the head of the wife or where the wife obeys the husband or where the husband says, hey, I'm your male friend. You know, you don't need these other male friends, and you're like, well, you know, me and John at the office can really talk, you know. And obviously that's just a recipe for adultery when a husband starts getting close with other women or when a wife starts getting close with other men. And again, this goes back to the sermon that I preached on Sunday, or maybe it was the Sunday before, where I preached about the fact that we don't want to put ourselves in positions where we're opening ourselves up into temptation. You know, lead us not into temptation. We should avoid these situations and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof and not see how close we can get to the line without going over. How close can we get to adultery without committing adultery? We should want to stay far away from these things. And so it is legitimate for a husband to be jealous over his wife. And you know what? The apostle Paul used this term. He said, I'm jealous over you with a godly jealousy. So there is a godly jealousy. Now, envy is not godly. Envy is covetousness. Envy is sin. But a godly jealousy is me saying, no, that's my wife. And she doesn't belong to you. She belongs to me. Or her saying, no, that's my husband. He belongs to me. He doesn't belong to you. That's my husband. You know, that's a godly jealousy. And in fact, I would say if you don't feel that way at all, if you're just like, well, I don't really care, you know? I mean, that would just make it seem like you don't really love your wife that much, or you don't really love your husband that much if you're just willing to just share them with whoever. And you don't even care. Now, it's one thing to trust your husband or trust your wife. That's good to trust them, because you built trust and you have a rapport. I get that. But saying like, well, I just don't really care if she's with other people. I don't care if he's with other people. That just shows that you just don't care, period. OK? So there is a godly jealousy. Well, here's the thing. God is a jealous god. And this is a key attribute of God that comes up over and over again in scripture. In fact, there's even a scripture that says that his name is jealous, like with a capital J. He's like, that's my name. All right? So God is very jealous. That's why when he gives the 10 commandments, what's the first commandment? Thou shalt have no other gods before me. That is a commandment that is motivated by jealousy. Right? It'd be like if I said, thou shalt have no other husbands before me. Or she said, thou shalt have no other wives before me. Right? It's the same type of a thing. He's saying, thou shalt have no other gods before me. And that word before has a double meaning. It can mean in the sense of in my presence or along with me. You're not going to have any other gods in addition to me. And then it could also have a meaning of other gods that take preeminence over me. But it's both. We're just to have no other gods, period. OK? Because the Lord is a jealous God. And so this image that was set up in the house of God is an image that provokes God to jealousy. And what does it mean to provoke? To provoke means to make angry. If I provoke someone, I am making them enraged or furious or angry. Now the word provoke can sometimes be used in other ways like provoking someone to good works. But when provoke is used by itself, it's talking about anger. OK? And the Bible talks about in the book of Hebrews how the children of Israel provoked God in the wilderness. And they provoked him when they made the golden calf because they're making this false god. They're making this image. And then God swears unto them in his wrath that they shall not enter into his wrath. So notice his wrath is provoked by idolatry. His wrath is later provoked by their unbelief and not having the faith to enter the promised land. But, you know, when they make that golden calf, what does God tell Moses at that time? He says, you know, get out of my way and I'm just going to destroy everybody and make a great nation out of you, Moses. Now Moses at that point could have just said, cool, let's do it. But he interceded for the people. He had a heart for the people, just like Ezekiel, you know. But it's good to have a heart for the people, but Ezekiel needed a little bit of a wake-up call here about how bad the leadership is. So he's dragged by the hare and shown this great big idol and it's an image that provokes God to jealousy. It's an image of jealousy. This makes God angry. This is an abomination. And it says in verse 4, and behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw on the plane. So Ezekiel, he gives that big description in chapter 1 and then throughout Ezekiel he just keeps kind of dropping that, like, hey, remember that stuff from chapter 1? It was there again. I saw that same vision. So look at verse number 5. It says, then said he unto me... I'm sorry, we just read that. Look at verse number 6. It says, he said furthermore... No, we didn't read that. I'm sorry. Let's back up here. Verses 3 and 5 are similar, so I got confused for a second. Look at verse 5. Then said he unto me, son of man, lift up thine eyes. Now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes toward the north and behold, northward at the gate of the altar, this image of jealousy in the entry. He said, Furthermore unto me, son of man, see as thou what they do, even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary, but turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations. So we see here that this image that provokes God to jealousy, it has the effect of driving God away from his house. He's saying, it makes me want to go far away. And I preached a sermon a few months ago about the presence of God. And there's a sense in which God is omnipresent because God is everywhere and fills all things. But then there's another sense of God's presence, of God being with you, as in God's on your side. And like, for example, when the Bible says where two or three are gathered together in Christ's name, there he is in the midst. So there's a special presence of God, not just his omnipresence, but when we gather together in his name, there's a special presence of God there. And then also there's the presence of God going with us where when we get into sin and we start doing things that are an abomination unto him, then basically God's presence isn't there like it is when we're actually right with him, okay? So there are three different types of God's presence, and I did a whole sermon on the three different aspects of God's presence that are different in Scripture, so I'm not going to re-preach that sermon. But the point here is that when there's idolatry or other things, God's Spirit departs from that place, okay? So you've got a church, and the Word of God's being preached, and they're serving God, but if idolatry comes in, then that could drive away the presence of the Lord. And what was once a church where God's presence was there and the power of God was upon that church, it could be called Ichabod, where the glory of the Lord has departed because they brought in idolatry or something. So if I were to go into, say, a Roman Catholic church or even many Protestant churches, they can oftentimes be filled with idolatry. And you look at that and just say, well, God's presence is far from this place because of the fact that God's presence departs when you've got this image of jealousy, when you've got these abominable images. And you know what's funny is that if you study the history of the ancient Greek temples and ancient Roman temples, what happened to them when those peoples converted to Christianity, as they converted to what we would call Roman Catholicism or the Eastern Orthodox Church it is now, when they converted to these pagan imitations of Christianity, what you'll find is that they often took a lot of these old Greek temples and Roman temples to all their false gods, and they converted them over to churches. But they did not completely destroy the images that were there. Some of them they destroyed, but they would keep around a lot of imagery because this could be instead of some goddess, this could be Mary, this could be baby Jesus, this could be Saint so-and-so and Saint this and Saint that. And so you'll have all this imagery of the Virgin Mary or Jesus or the apostles or all these different saints, but it's really not that different from pagan idolatry. It's still a graven image, it's a molten image of a person, and they are still worshiping at those idols. Now, they will claim that, no, no, no, we're not worshiping it, we're just venerating it. But you know what? If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck. I mean, when you're getting on your knees and praying to an image, that's idolatry. Okay, the word idolatry, just breaking down the etymology of that word, it comes from the roots meaning image and serving that image, right? So idolatry is serving or worshiping an image. And remember, God said, when you were in Mount Sinai, you saw no image. So don't corrupt yourself and make an image of God. And don't make an image of humans, don't make an image of animals, don't make an image of birds or animals that creep on the earth or under the earth. Do not make these molten images or these graven images of these things because they will actually lead you toward worshiping the whole host of heaven and just worshiping a bunch of pagan gods. And you see Roman Catholics today and they are pagan in so many ways. And you know, what does the Bible say? It says there's one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. You know, we were out soul winning today and we talked to a guy who basically said that he is gonna go straight to God for salvation because Jesus, he claimed, was created by God. So I'm just gonna go straight to the source. Well, first of all, that's a lie because Jesus is not created by God. Jesus Christ was in the beginning with God and he was God. The Bible says in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. And of course, the word was made flesh and dwelled among us and we beheld his glory, the glory is of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth. So Jesus Christ was in the beginning with God and he was God. And in John chapter 17, he talks about the fact that the Father loved him before the world even began. So God eternally exists as Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Jesus did not come into existence as a created being either 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem or sometime, you know, before he created the world that Jesus was somehow created. No, no, no. Jesus was already there in the beginning. He was with God. He was God. Jesus is from everlasting, the Bible says. And so this guy was totally wrong about that but then he's also wrong to wanna cut out the middle man and just go straight to God and say, I don't need Jesus, I'm gonna go straight to God but the Bible says that Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. He says, you're not coming to the Father unless you go through me. No man cometh unto the Father but by Jesus. And so you've got to go through Jesus but here's the thing about going through Jesus. He's the only mediator. The Bible says there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. And so there's this one mediator. You must go through that one mediator and you don't go through any other mediator. What do they call Mary in the Roman Catholic religion? The mediatrix which is a female version of the word mediator. She's the mediatrix they claim but the Bible says there's only one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. But also when you go to the confessional booth, that's a mediator. When you go to the Catholic priest and he's gonna absolve you of your sins, that is a mediator and when you pray to Saint Anthony and Saint Michael and Saint Christopher and Saint Nicholas and all these different saints, when you pray in Santa Barbara and San Diego and Santa Clarita and all the other cities in California, when you pray to these saints, what are you doing? You're praying to them as an intermediary, as a mediator. And you're basically saying like, oh, Saint Anthony, intercede for us. Saint Nicholas, pray for us. Mary, pray for us. What are you doing? You're going to them as a mediator. The Bible says there's one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Where does this come from? All of this praying to saints and all these different images and you go to the Dollar Tree and you can get a candle with that saint on it and you can light that candle and it's like, oh, Saint Michael. But here's the thing about that. When you're lighting a candle to the Virgin Mary, you know what you're doing? You're serving the Virgin Mary. You know what you're doing when you light the candle for Saint Michael is you're basically serving him. You're worshiping him. You're using him as an intermediary. You're worshiping him is what you're doing in a word. And you say, well, it's not worship. But here's the thing. Why isn't it worship? Just because you say it's not? I mean, what if I just started just slapping you and say, I'm not slapping you. I'm not slapping you right now. This is me not hitting you. Does that mean I'm not doing it because I say I'm not? I'm not bowing down to the pope right now. This is me not worshiping, not bowing down. I am not worshiping. There's no worship going on right now. I'm not bowing down. I mean, you can say that. Catholics can just say that. And I guess we're just supposed to go like, oh, OK. Oh, OK. Because I saw you bowing down to a picture and lighting incense and crossing yourself and making all these gestures where you're, you know, abasing yourself before this edge. You know, I could have sworn you were worshipping it. It's such a relief to hear that you're not. Like what? You just say I'm not doing it? And what does the Bible say, my friend? If we go to scripture, we see people bowing down to Peter or bowing down to the apostle Paul and Barnabas. And you know what? It makes them very uncomfortable. It makes them upset. They're grabbing people and picking them up and saying we're men like you. Don't bow down to us. So why would they want us to bow down to them after they're dead? Should we be praying to Peter now? Should we pray to Paul right now? Should we pray to Barnabas right now? They didn't want it when they were on this earth. You know, what about in Revelation when John fell down to worship at the angel which showed him these things? And the angel tells him, see thou, do it not. I'm of thy brethren. I'm of thy fellow servants, the prophets. You know, worship God. Worship God. Not like, hey, let's venerate Mary together. It's like, no, worship God. OK? The closest thing to Mary worship in the Bible is when this woman yells out. She's the first Roman Catholic. This woman yells out in the crowd, blessed is the womb that bare thee and the paps which thou hast sucked. That was the first Mary worshiper. And what does Jesus say? He says, yea, rather blessed is he that hears the word of God and does it. That's how he answers that. He doesn't say, hey, good job. Yeah, go mom. Team mom. That's not what he did. He rebuked that and said, no, you know. And what about like, oh, you know, your mother and your brethren are standing without desiring to see you. Oh, well, you know, I got to do what Mary says. I mean, you know, the mediatrix. I mean, the queen of heaven's here. He said, who is my mother? Who are my brethren? He stretched forth his hand toward his disciples and said, behold my mother and my brethren. Whoever do it the will of my father, which is in heaven, the same as my mother and sister and brother. And notice why he didn't say the same as my father. He didn't say that. Right? You know, God's the father. Call no man father upon the earth. Oh, did we just nail the Catholics again? Because they call the priest father. Pope means father. It's like pop. Hey, pop. That's what it is. The same word. It's just pop is pope. And so, you know, call no man father upon the earth. But he said, you know, whoever does the will of God, that's my mother. That's my sister. That's my sister. That's my brother. And so there's no mariolatry going on in the word of God. That is a pagan belief of worshipping goddesses. Anybody who's studied any archaeology of either, you know, ancient Crete or ancient mainland Greece or Asia Minor knows that goddess worship is a huge thing, these ancient goddesses. And that's where this mariolatry is coming from. It's coming from this pagan worship of a goddess, which probably goes all the way back to the Tower of Babel or that time period because of the fact that, you know, it's all the way in India. You know, it's everywhere, you know, because it probably started and spread from that point. And so idolatry is a major abomination in the sight of God. He keeps talking about, oh, man, I'm going to show you stuff that's even worse. Wait till you see what I show you next. But the stuff he shows him is he kind of just keeps showing him the same stuff in Ezekiel 8. What does he keep showing him? Idolatry. So we might not think idolatry is a big deal, but it's a pretty big deal to God. He doesn't want us praying to images, bowing down to images. And, you know, last time I checked, lighting incense is a way to serve God because in the Old Testament, that was a form of worship, was lighting incense. And in fact, you know, God was so serious about the incense and different fragrances in the Old Testament. He even said, hey, if somebody tries to make this particular mix of fragrance and incense, you know, cut them off from the people because, you know, this is how God's house is going to have this special incense. Don't be lighting that at home or something. So it seems to me that if you have an altar in the Old Testament tabernacle called the incense altar, then it seems to me that incense is a form of worship toward God in the Old Testament. Now, you know, let me ask some of you former Hindus, are Hindu gods ever served with incense? Always. Always. Yes. So it's a frequent part of worship. So if you're going to go worship a Hindu god, you're going to light some incense. Okay. But suddenly when I'm lighting incense for St. Michael or St. Anthony, all of a sudden it's not worship now. You know, I'm lighting a fragrant candle for him. Oh, Michael, pray for us. Why are you lighting that candle? You got to get his attention or something? Like a pagan god? Because that's how pagans are. Get the god's attention. Like the Hindus, you know, you got to ring the bell and get the god's attention because he's not like our god, is he? Because our god's everywhere. Our god, you know how we pray to our god? Sometimes we just do it in our head. We don't even move our mouth. We don't even move our head. We don't even move a muscle. We just pray in our heart. And we don't have to ring a bell or yell or, Hey! Hey! Like, well, I better drive down to Faithful Word and maybe get on the roof or something to get God's attention. You know, Nehemiah, when he's standing before the king in chapter 1, he prays in his heart to God right before approaching the king with his request. He prays in his heart to God. And God heard him, no problem. Now, you know, I think it's great to open your mouth and pray out loud to the Lord. But, you know, even if you just pray in your heart, he still hears you because he's all-knowing. He's not like these pagan gods that you have to light a candle or something and it's like, oh, whoa, light just came on. Let me go check that out. Oh, what's that smell? Oh, somebody's praying. Oh, I better, you know. That is a pagan practice of worshiping false gods. You got to light that candle. You got to have a smell. You got to have a noise. You got to do something to get the god's attention. But now it's just so-and-so. But don't worry, we're not worshiping him, even though we're doing exactly what pagans do when they worship their false god and we're doing what people are commanded to worship the Lord in the Old Testament with incense and bowing and these things. Folks, it's worship. It's idolatry and it's an abomination to God. And God is far from that place. You know, oh, you just felt the presence of God in the Catholic Church. You felt something else. It was either your imagination, you got worked up, or it's another spirit, but it's not the Holy Spirit that's going to lead you to a den of idolatry. Because that's what it is. And he says in verse number 7, He brought me to the door of the court, and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall. Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall. And when I had digged in the wall, behold, a door. And he said unto me, go in, and behold, the wicked abominations that they do here. So I went in and saw, behold, every form of creeping things and abominable beasts and all the idols of the house of Israel portrayed upon the wall round about. And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jeazaniah, the son of Shaphan. With every man his censer in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense went up. Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? For they say, The Lord seeth us not, the Lord hath forsaken the earth. So notice, he says, this is the stuff that goes on behind closed doors. You're not necessarily going to see this. Because the image that provoked the jealousy was out in the open. But then he's like, here, let me show you something even worse. And he had to like dig in the wall and find a secret door. And he opens the secret door. And then he finds the really, you know, they keep the really wild stuff in the back. And then he goes through the door and the chamber of imagery. And they've got all these abominable images. And there's seventy men of the elders of Israel, including this guy Jeazaniah, who's going to get what's coming to him. But this guy Jeazaniah and a bunch of other guys. And they've got, they're just hotboxing the place with incense. You know, the thick cloud of incense is there. And so, you know, if you think about this, think about our leaders today. You know, our leaders in America, they claim to be Christians, many of them, most of them. They claim to be Christians, but they're not Christians. And I firmly believe, and, you know, this might sound kind of wild on the surface or sound a little crazy or something. But, you know, I believe that many of the people running our government today in the United States literally worship Satan. That's what I believe. I believe that if my hair were long enough, that God would be able to grab me by the hair and take me to Washington, D.C. and show me some really satanic stuff going on. I think there are people literally having, you know, communication with demons and literally worshipping Satan in our government. Because the Bible says we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world. Watch this. Against spiritual wickedness in high places. So do you have any doubt, according to that scripture, that there are rulers of the darkness of this world and that spiritual wickedness exists in high places? You can't really get much higher than the U.S. government as far as power. Obviously, there are other financial powers, you know, the billionaires and people that control a lot of power that way. But, you know, the U.S. government is pretty powerful and I believe that there's a lot of literal just worship of Satan and demonic activity in our government. And then people wonder why we won't trust our government. You know, why don't you just trust the drugs that they're telling you to take or why don't you just trust their judgment and why don't you just listen to their advice and trust the experts. Well, because they've been caught lying so many times and they've been caught hurting people so many times and experimenting on people and doing all these unsavory things. You know, it's like after a while, you're going to get a little bit shy about trusting someone with that kind of a track record. OK. And so our government is filled with people literally worshiping Satan. And it's always been that way. Now, America historically has been a Christian nation, but that's the people. The people have historically been predominantly Christian. But what about the leadership? There's always been that spiritual wickedness in high places. Otherwise, how do you account for the way that our capital looks? You know, the Washington, D.C. capital doesn't glorify God. If you walk around that capital and, you know, much of that goes back to what in the early eighteen hundreds is when a lot of that stuff was built. And I mean, even back then, it's just a complete pagan place. It's based on temples to Zeus and Athena. It's based on all of these ancient Greek and Roman styles of architecture. And it's all these pagan deities. It's all these statues of naked dudes. And, you know, it's the same type of stuff that you'd see if you visited Greece or Turkey or, you know, and looked at some of these things. It's the same type of imagery, same type of statues and artwork. And if you look at, for example, you know, the seal of the state of California, just for an example, you know, who's on there? It's a pagan goddess. You know, you could call it Athena or Minerva, the Roman name. But that's that's who's on there. You've got a pagan goddess right there. And then, you know, what's the symbol of our country is a great big graven image of the Statue of Liberty. What I mean, what is that? The Statue of Liberty. It almost looks like a dude in drag. First of all, not to get all conspiracies out on you. But I mean, you know, you wouldn't you want to take her home to mama. Look at her. I mean, if you look at Statue of Liberty, it looks like a dude. What is that? What's this giant statue of, you know, with the torch and whatever? You know, a lot of people have drawn comparisons that between, you know, the Statue of Liberty and like Prometheus. Who, you know, stole fire from the gods to give humans and, you know, picturing also Satan. Because Satan is Lucifer, the light bringer, the one who carries the light, right? Because what did the devil do in the Garden of Eden? He's going to bring knowledge to them. And they're going to be like gods knowing good and evil. So he's bringing some new revelation that they are being withheld. You know, that the Lord doesn't want you to eat of that fruit because he knows that in the day that you eat thereof, you'll be as gods knowing good and evil. So basically, you know, Prometheus in ancient Greek mythology, you know, he tricks Zeus and helps out the humans. And that's kind of what the serpent is doing in the Garden of Eden. Like he's going in and helping out the humans, quote, unquote. But obviously we know that he actually brings death and destruction and so forth. But I mean, what is that Statue of Liberty? What does that symbolize? I mean, is that symbolizing the gospel, you know? Lighting a candle. You don't want to, you know, you don't want to put the candle under a bushel, right? You want to put the candle up on a candlestick. So let your light shine before men so that they'll see your good works and glorify your father with seven. That's not what that is, my friend. It's not, hey, it's a candle and it's the candle of the Lord. And it's the gospel. Let's shine the gospel to the whole world. No, it's a pagan god. It's a molten image, graven image type of a picture of something that looks straight out of Greek or Roman mythology. Something like a Prometheus or Lucifer figure. And that's the symbol right there. Why? You know, why is it that if you look, all you have to do is just go on Google Earth. And look at Washington, D.C., Google Earth, and what is it? It's a pentagram. It's an upside down star is the street light. Like some gothic out satanic chick would wear like some upside down star with a circle around it. Or like some satanic heavy metal band would put that all over their drum kit or all over their album, right? I mean, that's a universal Satan symbol is an upside down star. And that's the layout of the streets. Why? Why is it like that? Why is it an upside down star? Why are there all these pagan gods and goddesses and statues and things? You know, why is it not glorifying the history of scripture or, you know, the Old Testament, the New Testament, Jesus Christ? Why aren't these the things being emphasized in our capital? If our country was founded supposedly by Christians and, you know, the population was for sure predominantly Christian back then. I mean, overwhelmingly Christian. So why is the capital not reflecting of those Christian values? I'll tell you why. Because you've got spiritual wickedness in high places that are worshiping Satan. And a worshiping pagan gods is worshiping Satan. The Bible says the things which the Gentiles offer and sacrifice unto idols, they sacrifice unto devils. And I would not that you should have fellowship with devils. And so the same type of things that Ezekiel is seeing here, we have all that same type of imagery at the Capitol. But I would go a step further and say that there are people running our government that are probably literally using dark arts and praying to Satan and praying to demons and dealing with these things. And look, it's been exposed many times over the years, different rituals that they do. Like, for example, the Bohemian Grove, where they go and worship a giant owl statue and they actually do like a mock human sacrifice. They don't actually do the human sacrifice, but they go through the motions of doing a human sacrifice in their cremation of care ceremony. And, you know, in the Nixon, the Richard Nixon tapes that were released after he died, he said, you know, you know, I went down to this Bohemian Grove thing in California. And he said it was the most faggoty thing that you've ever seen. You know, he said it was a faggoty thing and that there was queer stuff going on at the scene. And, you know, I mean, Richard Nixon, I mean, we're talking about a long time ago, well over 40 years ago, he's talking about this and saying, hey, they're going to the Bohemian Grove. It's the most faggoty, blankety blank thing you've ever seen. Not going to repeat the part where he takes God's name in vain there. But who's heard that audio of him saying that? All right. We're among friends here. So, you know, Bohemian Grove, bowing down to a giant Molech statue, mock human sacrifice. What's going on? It's weird. And I guarantee you that whatever you see on the surface is just the tip of the iceberg because Ezekiel didn't see any of this stuff. And that's why God's saying, I'm going to show you even greater abomination. Here, let me show you what's really going on. Look what's going on behind the closed doors. Here are the séances and the voodoo and the worship of Satan and the idolatry. It's way worse than what you see on the outside. It's sort of like if you see one cockroach, it doesn't mean like, oh, we have a cockroach in our house. If you see a cockroach in your house, you have 100 cockroaches, right? Because the one that you see is indicative of an infestation. So when you see one Bohemian Grove, there's a lot of other stuff going on. And you know what's funny is that like, you know, you talk about this stuff and some people act like it's some wild conspiracy there, but most of the stuff is admitted on the record now. I mean, I remember I was in the airport one time and Time magazine had like a special on secret societies or something. I was like, oh, let me grab that for the plane. So I grabbed it and I read it on the plane. And it's talking about the Skull and Bones Society at Yale University. And I had seen a documentary about it as a teenager on like, I don't know, the History Channel or A&E or something. And I had watched a documentary about it. And then I'm reading about it in the Time magazine. And I'm not even going to repeat the things it said because they were so bad. It was just these evil, weird, satanic, perverted type stuff. But the Time magazine is just like, oh, it's just, you know, college fun. You know, just having fun in college. No big deal. Nothing to see here. Like they were admitting, yeah, you know, yeah, you know, they abduct them in the middle of the night, strip them down naked. They lay in a coffin and then, you know, say all this weird stuff. But, you know, it's just, you know, it's just like a, you know, fraternity thing. You know, it's just like an initiation, you know, lazing or whatever. It's like, that ain't normal. And I mean, it just went into all this weird detail. And they're just admitting it in Time magazine, but they're just like, yeah, it's no big deal. You know, George Bush, you know, was a member. What a godly, you know, evangelical Christian from the heartland. You know, he was a member of Skull and Bones. And John Kerry was a member of Skull and Bones. So it was like two guys running for president. Hey, do you want to vote for the Republican from Skull and Bones or the Democrat from Skull and Bones? And here's the thing. I'm not saying Skull and Bones is some secret organization running America. But, you know, what it is, is that these organizations like Skull and Bones or the Freemasons or these other different groups, what they are is they're like recruiting grounds to go deeper in. You know what I mean? It's like the Skull and Bones is initiating you into that world and then you go deeper and you go deeper and you go deeper. So obviously, Skull and Bones is a lower level deal, but it's, you know, it's on that path of darkness and evil. And these organizations, there are obviously people that are the rulers of the darkness of this world or else what's the Bible talking about? If you're just going to reject and just say, I don't think that's all conspiracy, I don't believe any of that. OK, then explain to me who are the rulers of the darkness of this world and where's the spiritual wickedness in high places? If it's not, if it's not people in our government, if it's not the pope, if it's not people, you know, running false religions and false and evil people running the government and billionaires and people with all this power. I mean, somebody's got to be in a smoke filled room doing this stuff. OK. And here we see a literal smoke filled room. What's the end of verse 11 say? A thick cloud of incense went up. And then said he unto me, son of man, verse 12, has thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark? Every man in the chambers of his imagery, for they say the Lord seeth us not the Lord forsaken the earth. He said also unto me, turn thee yet again and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do. Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord's house, which was toward the north. And behold, there sat women weeping for Tammas. And this is a character from some ancient pagan mythology. You know, all these gods and goddesses, they all have mythologies surrounding them. And so, oh, we got to cry about what happened to Tammas or whatever. Again, it's just more idolatry, more false gods, more worship of someone other than the Lord. Verse 15, then said he unto me, has thou seen this, oh, son of man? Turn thee yet again and thou shalt see greater abominations than these. And he brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house. And behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar were about five and 20 men with their backs toward the temple of the Lord. And their faces toward the east and they worshiped the sun toward the east. Then said he unto me, has thou seen this, oh, son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? He's saying, like, is this not a big deal to you? You think this is okay? Because some people would probably look at it and just say, oh, what's the big deal? But God's saying, surely Ezekiel, you know that this is a big deal. Is this a light thing to you, these abominations? And not only is there all this idolatry that he shows him, but he says, also, for they have filled the land with violence and have returned to provoke me to anger. And lo, they put the branch to their nose, therefore will I also deal in fury. Mine eyes shall not spare, neither will I have pity. And though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, yet why not hear them? Now, that's pretty chilling when you're crying out to God with a loud voice and he will not hear you. That's a scary place to be, right? But there's a point where God is done with people. Where people push God too far and they are reprobate and they cannot be saved and they can cry out to God and it's too late. He will not hear them. And that's where these people have gotten and he says, because of that, he will deal in fury. And he says, mine eyes shall not spare, neither will I have pity. I'm not going to feel bad about it. I'm not going to back off. I am going to come down on these people like a ton of bricks because of these wicked abominations. This should show us how much God hates idolatry, how much he hates false religion, how much he hates sharing his glory with some other God or some other mediator, some other saint, some other image. And how much he hates violence because he talks about they filled the land with violence. God hates violence. God hates idolatry. And these are not small things to him. These are big things to him. And he is not going to spare. He's going to just basically unleash all of his fury. And that's what we're going to see in the next chapter is that he is not kidding. And so we need to understand that idolatry is wicked inside of God, which is why the Bible says, flee fornication. Right? And we all get that, right? Yeah, like flee fornication. Fornication is a big sin. But you know what else he says? Flee idolatry. Not just flee fornication, flee idolatry. Run screaming in the other direction from idolatry. Because if you want to have God's presence, you don't get God's presence by building a little shrine with some kind of an image. Because God says, I'm going to go far from that place. God's presence is there where his word is being spoken, where God's word is being heard, where his word is being read, and where people have gathered together in his name. It's about the name. It's about Jesus. It's about the gospel and the word of God and the truth. That's where God's presence shows up in a powerful way. The power of the Holy Spirit comes through singing praises to God and speaking the word of God and having God's word in your heart, not through an image or lighting this candle or burning this incense and doing these pagan rituals. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you for your word and we thank you for the power of the Holy Spirit and the power of your word and the power of the preaching of your word, the power of the gospel, the power of soul winning, Lord. Help us to realize that that is where the power is, not in candles and incense and images of saints or images that are supposedly of you, Lord. Lord, help us never to get mixed up in idolatry. And Lord, help us to win as many Roman Catholics to Christ as we can and get them out of that pagan imitation into real Christianity. And in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. Let's take our song books and turn to hymn number 140. We have an anchor, hymn number 140 begins, Will your anchor hold in the storms of life? Hymn number 140. Will your anchor hold in the storms of life? When the floods unfold, there seems a strife. When the strong tides lift and the gables shrink, Will your anchor drift or firm rain? We have an anchor that keeps the soul. Stand fast and shore while the billows blow. Fasten to the rock which cannot grow. Round him firm and deep in the Savior's love. Give it safely, Lord, till the storm will stand. Yours is well secured by the Savior's hand. Oh, the tempest rage in the wild is low. Longing great waves shall our hardcore flow. We have an anchor that keeps the soul. Stand fast and shore while the billows blow. Fasten to the rock which cannot grow. Round him firm and deep in the Savior's love. Let our eyes behold through the gathering night. The Savior pulled our heart for pride. We shall anchor fast by the deadly shore, When the storms all pass forevermore. We have an anchor that keeps the soul. Stand fast and shore while the billows blow. Fasten to the rock which cannot grow. Round him firm and deep in the Savior's love. Thank you for watching!