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

Now, this morning I preached a sermon about science fiction religion and we talked a lot about how a lot of the atheists of this world, especially the really evangelical atheists, the ones who really push and promote atheism in the media and through their books and through media appearances, etc., how basically they're not really following science because they like to hide behind science and say, well, we as atheists, we're just really logical, rational people. We're just going where the evidence leads us. And the evidence is showing us that there's no God and it's all based on science, it's all based on fact. But we showed this morning how it's not science, it's science fiction is what these guys are really into. They start out by hating the Lord, start out by rejecting the God of the Bible and then setting out with that agenda mixed in with a whole lot of steady diet of science fiction. They come up with all this crazy nonsense and we looked at that all this morning. But I had a lot of stuff this morning that I didn't get to and so I wanted to continue the sermon tonight. But really, I kind of just want to focus on one thing tonight that was in my sermon this morning, but it kind of needs its own sermon and I was out of time. And the title of the sermon tonight, you know, you could call it Sci-Fi Religion Part 2 or you could call it Star Wars in Light of the Bible, would be another title for this sermon. Okay, now, here's the reason I bring this up. It's not just the atheists who are heavily influenced by science fiction. It's not just the atheists. In fact, a lot of Christians and a lot of just Americans in general have become heavily influenced by science fiction to the point where they have ideas and beliefs that are not biblically based and in fact, they contradict the Bible, but they're coming from science fiction, where science fiction and other things that they see on TV and are taught in the media in general overrides what the Bible says. It supersedes what the Bible says. Now, this shouldn't really surprise us when you think about the fact that your average American and your average Christian spends more time watching TV, watching movies in the media in general, than they spend in the Word. I mean, would anybody really argue with that statement? I mean, would you really tell me that people today amongst your independent Baptist churches, your evangelical Christian churches, you think most people in America today are spending more time in the Bible or more time watching TV or watching movies or other media outlets? You know it's true. Therefore, we cannot help but speak the things that we've seen and heard the Bible says, and so there's this constant influx of wrong philosophy and then just a little trickle of the Bible that gets in when we're gracious enough to give God a minute or two of our time for a little Bible devotion, and then you wonder why people's ideas are so different than what the Bible teaches, and then you wonder why you get up and preach hard from the Bible and people just think you're nuts and they're so shocked. It's because they've got their mind on a whole other program, okay? And obviously Star Wars is just a small part of that, okay? But I want to focus on this tonight because of the fact that this is a really popular movie, obviously. It's huge. I mean, I remember I saw my first Star Wars movie when I was probably five or six years old. I remember I was just a little tiny kid and I was Return of the Jedi and I was watching in my living room and I fell asleep toward the end, but I swore to my parents I was just resting my eyes. You know, it's one of those, you know, kids never want to admit that they fell asleep during a movie, so I was just resting my eyes. But anyway, you know, this is a really popular film and also because of the fact that it's a rated PG, family-friendly type of a film, this is something that Christians really rally around and they say, well, you know, we love Star Wars. Well, I want to point out a major philosophy that's taught in Star Wars that seems to have permeated our culture and permeated Christianity, and it's not coming from the Bible. It's actually coming from Buddhism and other false religion, but one of the major themes of Star Wars is this idea of the Force and that there's the dark side of the Force, you know, beware of the dark side. You know, so I went on to a website that had the transcript of all the movies where it's just the text, you know, so I sit and watch the movie. So here's all the text and I just searched the word dark side and I found some of the quotes about this that I remembered. Listen to this, this is gonna be from Yoda, okay, and I'm not gonna do the Yoda voice because I know everybody wants it. I don't know, I do a lot of impressions, all right people, but I don't, I can't do this one, I'm sorry, but he said, you know, Yoda says, a Jedi's strength flows from the Force, but beware of the dark side. Anger, fear, aggression, the dark side of the Force are they? So, you know, according to Star Wars, oh man, just stay away from anger, stay away from fear, that's a ticket to the dark side, okay. Then, you know, Obi-Wan Kenobi came out, he said, Luke, don't, don't give in to the hate, Luke, that leads to the dark side, all right, and then, you know, the Emperor, here, this is from Return of the Jedi, you know, the Emperor, when he's dealing with Luke Skywalker, he says, you know, good, I can feel your anger, take your weapon, strike me down with all your hatred and your journey toward the dark side will be complete. So, according to Star Wars, basically, if Luke Skywalker, you know, kills the evil Emperor who's, like, blowing up whole planets or whatever and just killing billions of people, then he's giving in to the dark side, because any anger, any fear, any hate, oh, that's the dark side, and honestly, you know, there's the other quotes that are kind of just the same thing, fear is the path to the dark side, fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering, okay, but here's the thing, this is not what the Bible teaches at all, but yet, this is what most Christians believe, most Christians that you talk to would tell you, all hatred is wrong, don't preach hate, hate's not a family value, and oh, we should never hate, it should be all love, you know that what I'm telling you is the truth right now, they also have this idea that all anger is sinful, we should never be angry, we should never have fear, we should never have these different emotions that are perfectly natural, normal emotions that are part of our lives, and there is a godly hatred, there is a godly fear, and of course, there's a righteous anger, a righteous indignation, but in America today, we're taught that we should never have these negative emotions, it should be positive only, the Joel Osteens of the world promote this positive only gospel, and over and over again we're told that we should never experience negative feelings, I mean to the point where literally I talked to someone whose child died and a few weeks went by and their doctor was trying to put them on antidepressants, oh you're still upset, you're still depressed about your child dying, your only child, here take these pills, because we should never feel any negative emotions, let's see what the Bible says on these particular subjects, turn if you would to Ecclesiastes chapter 3, and let me just point out to you this is Buddhist teaching in Buddhism, and if you listen to my sermon, Buddhism in Light of the Bible, they have this idea where everything that's positive is good and everything that's negative is bad, this whole dark side type philosophy, and even when the Hindus are meditating and when they go to the yoga class, you know they're breathing in everything that's positive and breathing out all the negative, but you know what, the Bible teaches that there's a time for the negative and a time for the positive, just as our battery in our car needs to have a positive and a negative terminal in order to operate, so is life, and God in the Bible has positive portions of scripture and negative portions of scripture, and in fact there's more negative in the Bible than positive, honestly if you look up for example when the children of Israel are going into the promised land and they're going to give the blessings and the cursings upon Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, there are more than double the curses as there are the blessings, there are way more negative commandments than there are positive commandments, and in fact if you look at the longest book of the Bible, it's pretty much the book of Jeremiah, a lot of people say Psalms, but if you look at how many words are in the book, it's right there neck and neck with Jeremiah and in fact by some measures Jeremiah is just a hair longer, Jeremiah is a very long book even though it's only 52 chapters, chapters and verses are long, and that's probably the most negative book in the Bible, if you read the book of Jeremiah, very negative, why? God is a God of love, but he's also a God of wrath, he's a God of vengeance, he said vengeance belongeth unto me, saith the Lord, I'll repay, and people today they just want to keep saying over and over again how God is love, but that's true, but also what about holy is the Lord, what about God is angry with the wicked every day, so is God on a path to the dark side? Now look what the Bible says in Ecclesiastes chapter 3 verse 1, to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven, look at verse 8, a time to love and a time to hate, a time of war and a time of peace, there's a time and a place for love and there's a time and a place for hatred, I mean the Bible said in Psalm 139 and you don't you can turn to Amos 5 15 and I'm not going to spend all night on this point although I could because there's so much scripture on this, the scripture that we read in Psalm 139 said do not I hate them oh Lord that hate thee and I'm not I grieved with those that rise up against thee, I hate them with perfect hatred, I count them mine enemies, that's what David said in the book of Psalms and that's not just his word, that's the word of God, that's the inspired word of God from the mouth of the prophet David, the Holy Ghost speaking through him according to Jesus Christ in the book of Psalms and he says I hate them with perfect hatred, perfect means complete, he's saying I have complete hatred for them, nothing but hatred is what he means by that, he says those that hate the Lord I hate them but according to this new Christian mentality then that would be hate speech and that would be actually the dark side and that would be un-Christian and unloving and un-Christlike but wait a minute this is the Holy Spirit talking and even the man David was the man after God's own heart and so this idea of hatred always being wrong or bad or we should never feel hatred is a false doctrine now the Bible does condemn hating your brother without a cause you know obviously the Bible does teach love and he says to love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you but here's the difference with that the Bible says love your enemies but he explains what he means by that those who do you wrong love them be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good but what about when the Bible says do not I hate them Oh Lord that hate thee so the Bible is not saying we should hate those who hate us he doesn't say hey if somebody hates you hate them back that's not what the Bible teaches no the Bible says we're supposed to love those who hate us we're supposed to do good under those that persecute us but when someone is a hater of the Lord that's a person that we should hate and there's a difference between hating our personal enemy and hating the Lord's enemy you know there have been a lot of people over the years that have been personal enemies of mine in the sense that they've done me wrong they've been enemies at the job or enemies in other situations like school for example and I've had people lie about me and and curse me and and and persecute me in school at work just in every area of life and God commands us to turn the other cheek God commands us to love them pray for them and hopefully eventually they can get saved and honestly there have been people in my life that have gotten saved and they were an enemy and then they became a friend now that's not always the way it's going to work obviously some people are never going to come over to your side but often you can turn your enemies into friends by loving them by praying for them and often it's not that they're bad people it's just that they're misguided and you know if we would show them the love of Christ we could be a blessing and turn them around and be a good testimony but then people will try to take that teaching of Scripture which is a beautiful teaching in Scripture about loving our enemies and they'll try to twist that to love pedophiles love serial rapists love Mao Zedong love Joseph Stalin love mass murderers and they'll try to twist that doctrine to love everybody it's not love everybody it's bless those that curse you love your enemies and so forth but there's a scriptural teaching here that says do not I hate them Oh Lord that hate thee you say well that's not a command yeah but in Second Chronicles 19 2 there's a king who's rebuked by the prophet of God and he says to him shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord so he actually rebukes him for loving those who hate the Lord in Second Chronicles 19 2 so this teaching is consistent in multiple places in the Bible it's not like it's just one verse that we're misunderstanding or something no there are multiple verses we could turn to a lot of scriptures about hate you're in Amos 5 15 this is a good verse it says hate the evil and love the good and establish judgment in the gate it may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious under the remnant of Joseph Psalm 97 10 says ye that love the Lord hate evil he preserveth the souls of his saints he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked so there is a place for hatred in our life you know we should hate those that hate the Lord and we should also just hate evil in general David said I hate every false way in Psalm 119 we should hate false doctrine we should hate sin we should hate perversion okay these are the things that destroy people's life how could you sit here and tell me that God wants us to love a child molester I mean think about how wicked of a person a child molester is how they take that sweet innocent child and defile it and corrupt it and ruin their life I mean who thinks that child molester should be taken out and killed as the punishment I do man too bad we're not some kind of a governing body here because right now it's a revolving door where they arrest these horrible filthy perverts and they'll be put away for a few years and it's a revolving door no they ought to be taken out like a dog and shot that's the biblical teaching of what should happen to these people we study God's law and yet Christians today have been duped into this thing and by the way homosexuals are pedophiles wake up wake up people it's not like they show you on TV they're not reproducers they're recruiters and they're after your children that's a whole nother sermon of itself turn if you would to Proverbs chapter 28 Proverbs chapter 28 according to Star Wars according to the media according to science fiction according to that which people are spending hours and hours and hours watching and very little time in this book and then they say oh pastor I said you don't know what you're man we shouldn't be hateful we should never hate people hate is the dark side it's like that's Yoda talk that's not the Bible talk I'm serious tonight they all it's a silly sermon silly sub you know what's silly is that Christians get their doctrine from this and I know it's not just Star Wars but Star Wars is just another brick in the wall of this continual brainwashing that's been taking place for decades now of just love everybody accept everything tolerate everything I mean if people are gonna be transgender transvestites that's all fine and dandy I mean this is the agenda today Christians are accepting things that you never thought they would accept they're putting up with things that you never thought that they would have put up with and it's simply because the devil has controlled their mind instead of the Lord having control their mind and it would be solved by spending time in the Bible not hour after hour in front of the hella vision in front of the tell lie vision in front of movies that are put out by people who reject the God of the Bible and they prefer Eastern mysticism Buddhism Hinduism these satanic counterfeit religions now a lot of people would say well you know come on Star Wars a good clean movie it's good clean fun and you say well what about all the religion though what about all the religious overtones of stores and here's what they'd say yeah but we just ignore that part right we ignore that part but here's my question that if you're ignoring that part then why do you believe all hate is bad if you ignore that part then why do you believe that fear is bad if you ignore that part then why do you believe anger is bad I mean people will hear a preacher get up and get angry and scream about sin and say oh he's angry that means he's not filled with the Spirit that's what they say anytime a preacher gets up and gets mad at sin and preaches are they'll say that preacher is not filled with the Spirit I can tell by the anger because if he were filled with Spirit he'd be peaceful and calm that's what they say but but that's not what the Bible says the Bible says that when the Spirit of the Lord came upon Saul he was filled with anger that's what it says Spirit Lord came upon Saul and he was filled with anger and he took oxen and chopped him up and mailed him out to everybody and says this is what I'm gonna do with your oxen if you don't get in the Lord's army okay I mean I'm just telling you a Bible story tonight is that okay oh you want me to tell you about long ago in a galaxy far far away why don't I just tell you about a few thousand years ago in this galaxy on this planet in reality something that actually really happened when a man became filled with the Holy Spirit he became angry at the Lord's enemies he became angry at oppression you know that's biblical but yet today because Oh peaceful come yeah because let the force flow through you Luke when you're peaceful and calm and passive just let go and let the force flow through you don't get angry don't hate that's the dark side so you know it doesn't jive so which one do most Christians in America believe the Star Wars mentality or the biblical mentality you already know the answer to that question but no we just watch it it doesn't affect us because we know what the Bible teaches we're not gonna get into Eastern mysticism funny how you agree with obi-wan Kenobi on all these points if but it doesn't affect you fear look at Proverbs 28 13 the Bible says he the cover at this sin shall not prosper but who so confess it then forsake at them shall have mercy happy is the man that fearth always now how does that fit in with this whole fear is always wrong mentality happy is the man that fearth always but he that hardened at this heart shall fall into mischief flip over to Ecclesiastes chapter 12 the next book in the Bible there while you're turning there I'll read for you Revelation 14 verse 7 saying with a loud voice fear God and give glory to him for the honor for the hour of his judgment has come and the and worship him that made heaven and earth and the sea and the fountains of waters so the Bible commands us over and over again to fear God fear the Lord the fear of the Lord's beginning of knowledge the Bible says the fear the Lord's the beginning of wisdom and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of understanding that's where it starts that's level one you're not even to level what you're a type zero you know as Michio Kaga you know you haven't even made it to level one until you learn to fear the Lord Ecclesiastes 12 verse 13 let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man that's it in a nutshell fear God and keep his commandments now many people will try to say well fear doesn't really mean fear in this situation it just means respect well then let me ask you this why is it several times mentioned in the Bible fear and trembling you don't just tremble out of respect the Bible says in Ephesians 6 5 servants be obedient to them that are your masters according to flesh with fear and trembling in singleness of your heart is unto Christ Philippians 2 12 wherefore my beloved as you have always obeyed not as in my presence only but now much more in my absence work out your own salvation with fear and trembling Psalm 2 verse 11 serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling God says that we are to fear and tremble before him now the Bible does say there is no fear in love but perfect love casted out fear because fear hath torment he that feareth is not made perfect in love here's the thing as we grow in our walk with the Lord we move away from fear and toward the love of God but it begins with fear why do we even get saved in the first place to escape hell fear fear the Lord causes man to depart from hell because of the fact that they are scared of that and they put their faith in Jesus Christ as a savior because they first realized that there's a danger to be saved from which is the punishment for their sins and so our life starts with fear now a child that's born into their family and they start to grow up and they get a little older and they start committing sins and and doing wrong they need to be disciplined the Bible teaches that we must not spare the rod and that we must chase in our son while there is hope and so forth that child in the beginning is going to obey out of fear because a two-year-old or a three-year-old isn't going to come to grasp the concept of you know I just love my parents so much I don't want to disappoint them so I'm not gonna throw this temper fit right now I'm actually gonna obey and go to bed when I'm told they don't think you know what what gets them to obey in the beginning is fear then as they get older they grow in love for their parents and they get the character to do what's right and they move more toward love as opposed to fear but there's nothing wrong with the fear of the Lord no the fear of the Lord is only praised only praised in the Bible it's only positive fear of anyone or anyone else is always negative in the Bible if we fear man if we fear you know what man could but when we fear the Lord that's great so there is a place for fear isn't there so can we just say hatred's bad no hatred can be bad or it can be good it depends on what we hate and why anger is anger always bad there are a lot of Christians who think so they look at a man who's angry and they say he's not filled with the Spirit well let's see what the Bible says I already pointed out one scripture to you but if you would go to Mark chapter 3 verse 5 Mark chapter 3 verse 5 I already pointed out the scripture that they said you know Saul was filled with the Holy Spirit and his anger was kindled as a result that's not the only story like that but Jesus Christ himself and the Bible says of Jesus that the Spirit was not given by measure unto him I mean in in him dwelled all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and the Bible says that he was anointed with the oil of gladness above all his fellows so he had the ultimate Holy Spirit anointing on his life while he walked and talked on this earth and why did he have that ultimate Holy Spirit anointing the Bible says because he loved righteousness and hated iniquity therefore God anointed him with the oil of gladness above all his fellows that's why Jesus Christ had such anointing he was filled with the Holy Spirit 24-7 he walked in the Spirit in the power of the Holy Spirit the Bible is clear on that but look at Mark 3 verse 5 about Jesus it says and when he had looked round about on them with anger being grieved for the hardness of their hearts he saith unto the man stretch forth thine hand and he stretched it out and his hand was restored whole as the other did Jesus have a right to be angry here absolutely was he filled with the Spirit was he godly in this anger what about when he preached in Matthew 23 you can feel the anger in that chapter I mean he is rebuking and harshly criticizing the Pharisees the Sadducees the lawyers and there's anger there but it's a righteous anger it's a godly anger in fact there's even a command in scripture Ephesians 4 26 that starts out with these words be ye angry be angry and sin not now if anger were a sin that verse wouldn't make any sense because how could you be angry and sin not if all anger is sinful obviously it's possible to be angry and not sin then he explains how let not the Sun go down on your wrath so we're not to harbor anger we're not to hang on to anger and be angry from day to day there's a time to get angry but then it's time to put that aside go to bed at night wake up and start a fresh morning and not to just be a person who dwells on past grievances the passages about forgiveness and Ephesians 4 he says we need to forgive others and not be angry with them today about what they did unto us yesterday but it's not wrong to be angry and there's a verse in the Sermon on the Mount Matthew chapter 5 verse 22 if you want to flip back there where in the modern versions they change this verse to make it out that anger is always wrong because in this scripture it says but I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment in the modern versions the NIV the ESV scriptures like that they take out the without a cause so now it's just well if you're angry with your brother you're in danger of judgment that would make Jesus a sinner because he was angry with his brother so it's very important of course that we have a King James Bible accurate Bible not these new modern Bible of the Month Club Bibles that they keep changing all the time and that kind of seemed to fit in with what's popular this doctrine of you know no anger no no hatred no fear look I'm not saying that all three of these things can't be sinful there are times when all of them are sinful fear can be sinful anger can be sinful hatred can definitely be sinful but it's not always sinful it's not some dark side it's not like oh let's only have positive positive positive sweetness and light and no dark side nothing negative ever which is what these films are teaching which is the mentality that they portray which is not unique to them it comes from Buddhism ok now here are some other things about Star Wars from a religious standpoint first of all just the fact that Darth Vader is born of a virgin should raise a red flag with you that there are some weird religious undertones in this film who knew that put up your hand if you already knew that I remember I I you know I saw this is back when I was going to the movies and I watched the episode one when it came out back in 1999 or whatever was and I walked out of there and I said to somebody I said that was pretty weird about how they're making Darth Vader be born of a virgin and the person I said that to say what are you talking about I don't remember that in the movie but it's there in the movie it's right there in the movie because you know the guy asked her so who's the father she's like oh there was no father and it was it was conceived by the force ok which the force is like a replacement for God in this movie series so flip over you went to Daniel chapter 11 so Darth Vader is born of a virgin according to episode 1 and also Darth Vader comes to fulfill prophecy there's a lot of talk about the prophecies and and things that this guy would come and he's going to bring balance to the force ok and then of course eventually Darth Vader sacrifices his life and brings balance to the force this virgin born Darth Vader ok but when we think of the force you know again this calls to mind Buddhism Eastern mysticism Hinduism and if you think about it in the movie there's a lot of meditation that goes on and I'm not talking about biblical meditation see biblical meditation is when we meditate on God's Word day and night that's actually where we memorize scripture and then think about the scripture that we memorize kind of run through verses in our mind and think about what they mean that's what meditation is biblically that's a good meditation to sit and dwell on God's Word but the meditation that we see in Star Wars is basically like unto Buddhist and Hindu transcendental meditation and this is a very dangerous practice and you know Christians get mixed up in some of this stuff they get mixed up into yoga and they say well it's just great stretching but here's the thing though just you could probably just stretch on your own without yoga or you could probably find a different stretching program not one that came from a Satan worshipping false religion called Hinduism you know I mean find a different plus I think stretching is overrated anyway I know I don't stretch before I run so you know some people can overdo stretching anyway you know you see these people bending themselves into a pretzel I'm not sure that's even totally beneficial because your muscles are like rubber bands and if you stretch them too much it's like a rubber band that's been stretched too much you know it doesn't have as much strength but anyway that's a fitness discussion that has no place in the house of God so I'm not gonna go into that so the bottom line is that Christians can sometimes get into these meditative type practices and this type of yoga influence where they're doing these breathing exercises and all this stuff and a lot of it seems pretty benign on the surface but when they talk about making your mind blank this is what you have to be aware of because one of the big things about Buddhism is just completely emptying your mind where you're just thinking about nothing and you're kind of in a trance and you know you're in this state of what they call in Hinduism dreamless sleep where you just have no thoughts and your mind is just empty because they teach that when you do that then enlightenment will come in and according to these hardcore Buddhists and Hindus that go through these processes of you know fasting and vegetarianism and meditating and all this stuff then basically these spirits will come in and commune with them and we know what that is that's demonic when you're sitting there and opening yourself up right Luke let go let the force flow through you just be passive right just kind of sit back and let it come to you and let it come in this is actually demonic and a lot of people have demonic experiences through Hindu and Buddhist style meditation this is not biblical meditation we're to meditate on God's Word not to just blank out our mind and just oh you know and try to sit there and levitate objects and let look this is all straight out of Eastern religion and it's it's wicked religion it's not something that we should be influenced by this idea of God being an impersonal force no man is made in the image of God God is a he God is a person God has personality God is not just this impersonal force in the universe but look if you would at Daniel chapter 11 and I'm going to show you the force in the Bible it says in Daniel 11 36 and just to give you the context this is a scripture that has to do with the Antichrist is a prophetic of the Antichrist putting himself above all gods and it says in verse 36 the king shall do according to his will and he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every God and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished for that that is determined shall be done neither shall he regard the God of his father's nor the desire of women nor regard any God for he shall magnify himself above all but in his estate shall he honor the God of forces and a God whom his father's new not shall he honor with gold and silver with precious stones and pleasant things so notice he's not going to honor a personal God but he will honor the God of forces and the reason that that's left capitalized there God of forces is because it's a name of a god so you capitalize a proper name there the God of forces is according to the Bible the God of the Antichrist because of the fact that the New Age movement is part and parcel of the Antichrist and his religion a lot of this stuff comes from the Kabbalah from Antichrist Judaism and the God of forces is going to be something that the world accepts and they're being prepared for it with all of this Eastern mysticism coming into our Western culture through things like Star Wars the force and so forth this whole the good and the dark side think about the symbol of the false Chinese religion Taoism the yin and yang right and think about how it's that black and that white swoosh thing with the circle about how there's a little bit of good in that which is evil and a little bit of evil in that which is good and how they both work together you know it's the force right the good side the dark side you know there's still some good invader you know it's like there's never too late for anyone right that's not what the Bible teaches the Bible teaches absolute good in God God is light and in him there's no darkness at all and the Bible says of Satan there is no truth in him he's absolute evil Satan is absolute evil God is absolute good that yin yang symbol has no place in Christian theology or with the God of the Bible but the world has that philosophy the force teaches that philosophy not only that but you know the thing that stood out to me as a little five-year-old boy or however old I was I was a really small kid when I saw my first Star Wars movie Return of the Jedi you know the first thing that stood out to me was when Luke Skywalker first comes on in that particular movie he looks like he's a Catholic priest or something because he has like this collar turned around backward it's like when he became a Jedi he gets a backward turnaround collar at the beginning of Return of the Jedi did anybody ever notice that it was just me am I the old couple people yeah I saw that as a little kid I was like whoa is this dude a Catholic priest because I was always taught and I teach this to my kids I've taught this in when I used to be a Sunday school teacher back in the day I always taught that any preacher who has his collar turn around backwards a false teacher always taught that I I remember when I was in South Chicago there were a lot of the Baptist churches there that were not Baptist in doctrine they were charismatic Pentecostal churches and they would call themselves missionary Baptist but they were not Baptist at all and I remember I would draw a picture in my Sunday school class in South Chicago and hold up a picture of a guy with a collar turn around backwards say this is the bad preacher because a lot of these missionary Baptist false teachers that taught a workspace salvation that I could lose salvation would turn their collar around backwards so you look like a Catholic priest hey I don't want to look anything like a Roman Catholic priest and that's why I would never turn my collar backwards I'd rather abstain from all appearance of evil but that just seemed a little weird they're trying to put a religious overtone on this with the virgin birth well you know Luke gets the backwards collar at the beginning of return I hope I'm remembering that right a couple other people said they saw it too so I think I'm remembering it right it's been a while but anyway these are some of the things in Star Wars now let me say this this philosophy of a positive only which is what Star Wars teaching you know any negative emotion any fear any anger any hatred is the dark side has crept into Christianity and we see a positive only movement in the likes of people like Joel Osteen but you know another guy that was really well known for this doctrine of positivism and positive only type of thing was a guy by the name of Norman Vincent Peale who knows what I'm talking about this guy Norman Vincent Peale all right it was only the older crowd you're dating yourselves now I'm just kidding but back in in the previous generation you know this was a big name Norman Vincent Peale the power of positive thinking he was on the bestseller list with his book for a couple of years straight and he sold millions of copies of this book now this guy was a Protestant pastor but this guy taught a lot of false doctrine and guess who grew up going to this guy's church power of positive thinking Church his pastor was Norman Vincent Peale Donald Trump yeah so lately Donald Trump has been saying how oh man I'm a Christian I'm proud to say said I'm Presbyterian and he said I grew up going to listen to my pastor Norman Vincent Peale and he said oh I loved he was the great Norman Vincent Peale wonderful man of God and oh so great now this doctrine of the power of positive thinking has to do with a lot of just praising yourself and kind of looking at yourself in the mirror and you know I'm I'm a great person you're gonna succeed today and it was all about sort of using God to gain a lot of success in life that's how you know Trump interprets it too is like oh yeah you know it's all about succeeding and and making money and being successful in the world's eyes and this power of positive thinking is how you're gonna basically climb the ladder in the corporate world and succeed and make money and all this worldly achievement that you're gonna get through tapping into this energy that is God now what does that sound like you know God as the force God you know use the force Luke like using God for your own gain using God if I can just tap into these secrets of Christianity then I can make money and be successful it doesn't they suppose that gain is godliness as it says in first Timothy 6 from such withdraw thyself but I got to tell you this and and I have to cover this in the sermon night I don't think that there's a more prideful arrogant person on this planet than Donald Trump I mean the guy is like a caricature he's like a it's like a parody or something it's almost like a joke like it's almost like a comedy or something how prideful and arrogant this guy's where does it come from it comes from this preaching that only ever builds you up and puffs you up and it's all positive and the power of positive thinking and builds you up and you walk out with an ego as huge as Donald Trump that's the product of this type of Christianity this positive only Christianity maybe if Norman Vince appeal would have had a little more anger and got up and ripped some face on sin maybe Donald Trump would have grown up to be a more godly person maybe if Norman Vince appeal would have a little more hatred in his heart for sin and ungodliness and wickedness he could have done some real preaching that could have influenced young Donald to grow up and have a little bit more of a modest humble view of himself what does the Bible say about pride the Bible says in Psalm 10 verse 3 for the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire and blesseth the covetous whom the Lord abhorth the wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God God is not in all his thoughts recently Donald Trump was asked do you ever ask the Lord for forgiveness if you ever ask God for forgiveness he just said well you know I mean I just I just do the right thing and I don't have to ask forgiveness I mean I don't I can't remember asking forgiveness because I mean I just do right I just do the right things I mean it's bizarre to list this guy duck he literally just talks about man I'm such an awesome guy man everybody loves me everywhere I go man I'm the richest guy all the most famous people I say jump and they say how high on the way up I you know I've controlled all the politicians with my money I know I hang around with all the biggest people I'm the most successful guy I'm a cool I'm a good looking guy I'm an awesome guy I mean it's weird has anybody else is it just me it's weird I mean it's crazy it's like what now you expect politicians to praise themselves right you kind of just come to expect that politicians are gonna get up and praise themselves and say look at my wonderful track record look at all the wonderful things I've done my record speaks for itself and I've done this and I've done and when I get an office I'm in a clean house these guys don't know what they're doing but my businesses have all succeeded and I'm number one and I'm you expect that but he takes it to a whole new level that I've never even seen I've never seen it it's like a parody it's weird that anybody could not just be revolted by listening to this guy talk what does the Bible say the fear of the Lord is to hate evil okay well where does that lead us does it lead us to the dark side no the Bible says that when we hate evil he says pride and arrogance and the evil way in the froward mouth do I hate see I hate that froward mouth I hate that pride that arrogance II that's what the Bible says we should hate the Bible said when pride cometh then cometh shame but with the lowly is wisdom pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall everyone that is proud is an abomination to the Lord let me just back up and say that again everyone this is Proverbs 16 5 everyone that is proud is an abomination to the Lord though handjoin in hand and I'm sure he's had handjoin in a lot of hands he shall not be unpunished better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud I bet some of his ex-wives would probably agree with that too and hi look and a proud heart and the plowing of the wicked is sin proud and haughty scorner is his name who deal with and proud wrath a man's pride shall bring him low but honor shall uphold the humble and spirit go to Daniel chapter 4 Daniel chapter number 4 Bible says in James chapter 4 verse 6 but he giveth more grace wherefore he saith God resisted the proud but giveth grace unto the humble what am I trying to say tonight I'm telling you this positive only religion that we see today this positive only Christianity this your best life now mentality this God is not mad at you mentality I mean there's a book out by Joyce Meyer called God is not mad at you no matter who you are no matter what you know the Bible says God is angry with the wicked every day but see Oh God's not mad at you oh it's just the power of positive thinking just everything's gonna go great they say peace peace when there is no peace what is the result of this positive only Christianity that we see an imbalance where it's all love no hate you know all boldness no fear it's just all positive and no negative the result is people who are proudful and arrogant people why because nobody's ever telling them that sometimes you're not doing that great sometimes you're being an idiot and somebody needs to rebuke you and tell you that sometimes you don't need a pat on the back sometimes you need a swift kick in the pants and people who never get that swift kick in the pants they grow up to be arrogant prideful self-glorifying boastful people the Bible says in Daniel chapter 4 verse 28 all this came upon the King Nebuchadnezzar at the end of 12 months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon the king spake and said is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the power by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty is not this the great Trump tower that I've built it's not this the great business that I've built while the word verse 31 was in the king's mouth there fell a voice from heaven saying Oh King Nebuchadnezzar to thee it is spoken the kingdom is departed from thee and they shall drive thee from men and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen and seven times shall pass over thee until thou know that the most high ruleth in the kingdom of man and giveth it to whomsoever he will the same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar and he was driven from men and did eat grass as oxen and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hairs oh oh oh Donald Trump if not maybe the process has already started till his hairs were grown like Eagles feathers and his nails like bird goes I wonder if that hairdo is the curse of God on Donald Trump he did it to Nebuchadnezzar but you say well come on pastor Harrison Donald Trump's our guy you know what I don't have a guy my guy is Jesus I don't have a guy you say well you're preaching about the election I'm not even voting in the election let alone preaching I don't even care about the election oh but Donald Trump's our guy no because God said that everybody who's proud is an abomination that old sorry to confuse you with the Bible but everyone who's proud as an abomination I'd be shocked if even the most staunch fan of Donald Trump would say well he know he's very humble I mean it's just it's a joke to even suggest that right but these are the type of people that are produced from a Norman Vincent Peale type Christianity from a positive only type Christianity it's it's not a pretty sight literally and figuratively it's not a pretty sight you know when you hear this guy praising himself and it you know you expect it from politicians but I mean it's just to the point of where it's just a joke I mean it's unbelievable you know maybe you haven't heard this guy talk and that you know what great if you haven't because it's great to just unplug from any of this but I just recently I hadn't I hadn't been hearing him because I I don't really pay any attention to these things because I you know I kind of know that it's all controlled and everything and I'd rather just you know focus on that which is spiritual but recently I sat down and just watched this guy talk about Norman Vincent Peale and I watched that and it was just like in ten minutes he praised himself like a hundred times it was bizarre it was sick it made me want to throw up and I don't like being around people like that where they just look how great I am you know and it's just like Nebuchadnezzar and it's just like so many other people in the Bible who are destroyed by pride you know you want to talk about the dark side it's pride yeah that's taking the dark side you know when you start exalting yourself to where you say I don't even need to receive forgiveness from God he said well I go to you know I go to church I eat the little cracker I I drink the little wine you know it's you know you sound like you're not discerning the Lord's body you know what I mean and that didn't God say something about that in 1st Corinthians 11 sounds like you're eating and drinking damnation on yourself buddy being blasphemous and making light of the Lord's Supper you know and just yeah you don't need forgiveness well you know what don't worry cuz you're not gonna get any because you what it you know what do you need it for right you don't make mistakes at least not big ones that haircut was a big mistake or whatever whatever you call that thing but anyway the moral of the story is this we need to spend more time at God's Word and we've all and here's the thing look I'm guilty because I grew up rotting my brain on the television probably more than most people I mean I grew up watching TV all day long going watching all the movies playing video games and spending little time in God's Word you know it was only when I was about 16 or 17 that I actually got serious about reading the Bible we all have picked up wrong philosophies and wrong mentalities from this world and we need the washing of water by the word in our lives and you know for somebody to get angry at this sermon that's the dark side no I'm just kidding but for somebody to get angry for somebody to get angry at this sermon I don't know how you can get angry at the sermon because honestly I'm just telling you read the Bible and get your get your beliefs from that because we're all being influenced by the prince of the power of the air you know we've all seen enough of this stuff and it's time to shut it off and turn this on is this gonna do you wrong is this gonna give you the wrong doctrine no this is gonna fix thing and honestly people would stop thinking that real preaching is so crazy if they'd actually read the Bible they'd realize that it's just what the Bible says and they're just not used to it because they're more used to what the world dishes out so let's get in the word let's study to show ourselves approved unto God let's meditate on this book they let's skip the yoga class and meditate on this book day and night it's power Ides never word of prayer father we thank you so much Lord for the the word that you've given us that we can have a spiritual meal every day we can meditate on your word Lord we can be filled with the Spirit we can ingest these truths Lord we've all had a lot of junk put into our mind and a lot of ideas that are contrary to scripture and Lord if someone disagrees with me on any of the subjects that I preached tonight on the subject of hatred the subject of anger the subject of fear subject of pride Lord I hope that they disagree with me because they read their whole Bible cover to cover multiple times and decided that what I'm saying is not scriptural and not that they just disagree with me because they were in church their whole life and they've just never heard this before and that isn't what I think is right Lord help us all to use your word as the measuring stick and and not what the world tells us is right and wrong and not to listen to some green puppet tell us what's right and wrong instead of listening to the eternal Word of God and in Jesus name we pray amen