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

Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And 377. Number 377. Rescue the perishing. Hit number 377. Rescue the perishing. Care for the dying. Hit number 377. Lift it up. Rescue the perishing. Care for the dying. Smash the infinity. From sin and the grave. We poor the erring ones. Lift up the fallen. Tell them of Jesus. The mighty to save. Rescue the perishing. Care for the dying. Jesus is merciful. Jesus is merciful. Jesus is merciful. Jesus is merciful. Jesus will save. Jesus will save. Though they are sliding and still, He is waiting. Waiting the penitent child to receive. Waiting the penitent child to receive. Leave with them earnestly. Leave with them jestly. He will forgive if they only believe. He will forgive if they only believe. Rescue the perishing. Care for the dying. Jesus will save. Care for the dying. Jesus is merciful. Jesus will save. Down in the human heart. Crushed by the tender. Feelings lie buried. That grace can restore. Touched by a loving arm. Waken my kindness. Lords that are broken. Will vibrate once more. Rescue the perishing. Care for the dying. Jesus is merciful. Jesus will save. On the last. Rescue the perishing. Duty demands it. Strength for thy neighbor. The Lord will provide. Back to the narrow way. Patience leave with them. Tell of the poor wandering. Care for the dying. Jesus is merciful. Jesus will save. Tell of the poor wandering. A Savior has died. Rescue the perishing. Care for the dying. Jesus is merciful. Jesus will save. We'll get to you with one on the inside. Welcome back to our service times. Sunday mornings at 1030 is our preaching service. Sunday nights at six. Wednesday nights at seven is our Bible study. And this week we'll be in 2 Chronicles 35. We've got these soul winning times listed there below. As well as salvation and baptisms. Across the page. The soul winning event on Friday night. Actually some updated totals came in. There were a couple of participants that we didn't know about. So there were actually 12 soul winners soul winners and 12 salvations total at that event. So good job everybody who did that. And then also, we were going through, I couldn't sleep the other night and I asked for the book of the chronicles to be read unto me. And as the chronicles were being read unto me, it became apparent that actually we reached our 1,000th baptism in January. So that was kind of a cool milestone. So thank you to all of the hardworking soul winners of our church who've made that happen over the years. But we've actually had 1,001 baptisms so far, lifetime at Faith Forward Baptist Church, so that was pretty cool. And then I think that the picture here is actually the 1,000th, is that the 1,000th or the 1,001st? Who'd I baptize, him or his mom first? So that picture is the 1,000th baptism. All right, so that was kind of cool. All right, and then on the back of the bulletin, keep praying for our expectant ladies that they'll have a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery. We got a guest preacher coming up, not this Wednesday night, but next Wednesday night, Pastor Jonathan Shelley from Steadfast Baptist Church in Cedar Hill, Texas is gonna be preaching. So even if you don't normally come on Wednesdays, be sure to come on that Wednesday to hear him on February 19th. Or if you mix up the date and you accidentally come this Wednesday, well, that's great too. And so below that, some other upcoming events, and that's about it for announcements. Let's go ahead and tally up the soul winning from the past few days, going back to Thursday. Anything to report from Thursday? Okay, got it, got it. Okay, and then how about Friday? Okay, and then the 12 from the event, okay. What about outside of the event? Okay, and then how about Saturday? Anything from Saturday, gotcha. Anything else from Saturday? And then how about today Sunday? Four for the main group of Brother Scott. Gotcha, gotcha, okay, got it. Okay, all right, very good. Keep up the grip, ah, today, gotcha. All right, keep up the great work on soul winning. And with that, let's sing our next song. Come lead us. All right, you should find the insert in front of your hymnal with the hymn entitled Seek Ye First in the Kingdom of God. If you don't have an insert, you can raise your hand, you'll receive one. We'll sing it on that verse together. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all these things shall be added unto you. Hallelu, hallelujah. Ask and it shall be opened unto you. Seek and ye shall find. Nog and it shall be opened unto you. Hallelu, hallelujah. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Hallelu, hallelujah. Hey, good singing, everybody. Take your hymnals now. We're gonna go to hymn number 414, 414. Stand up, stand up for Jesus. This is the other version, not the one that you're used to singing, so it might take you a lot of catch up to the tune, unless you're already familiar with it. 414, if you are familiar with this song, please sing it out with me, help those around you. We'll sing it on that verse together, hymn number 414. Stand up, stand up for Jesus, soldiers of the cross. When high is loyal banner, it must not suffer loss. From victory unto victory, his army shall he lead. Till every flow is vanquished and Christ is Lord indeed. Stand up for Jesus, soldiers of the cross. Stand up, stand up for Jesus, soldiers of the cross. When high is loyal banner, it must not, it must not suffer loss. Stand up, stand up for Jesus, the trumpet hallow rain. More to the mighty conflict in this day's glorious day. He that art men now serve him against another host. Let courage rise with danger and strength to train the host. Stand up for Jesus, these soldiers of the cross. When high is royal banner, it must not, it must not suffer loss. Stand up, stand up for Jesus, and in history, the world. We are of the true prayer. He dare not trust your own. Put on the gospel armor, each be stood on with prayer. Where beauty calls for danger, be never wanting. Stand up for Jesus, these soldiers of the cross. Live by his royal banner, it must not, it must not suffer loss. Stand up, stand up for Jesus, and in history, the world. Stand up, stand up for Jesus, the strike will not be long. This day the noise of battle, the next the victor's song. To him that overcometh, the crown of Christ shall be. He with the king of glory shall reign eternally. Stand up for Jesus, these soldiers of the cross. When high is royal banner, it must not, it must not suffer loss. Isn't that a good thing tonight? Alright, this time we'll pass our offering plates. While the plates quickly go around, let's go to Exodus chapter number 7 in our Bibles. Exodus chapter number 7, as we always do, we'll read the entire chapter beginning in verse number 1. Follow along silently with brother Dan as he reads Exodus chapter 7 starting in verse number 1. In Exodus 7 the Bible reads, and the Lord said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. Thou shalt speak all that I command thee, and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he send the children of Israel out of his land. And I will harden the Pharaoh's heart and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you that I may lay my hand upon Egypt and bring forth mine armies and my people the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them. And Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded them, so did they. And Moses was fourscore years old and Aaron fourscore and three years old when they spake unto Pharaoh. And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron saying, When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Show a miracle for you, then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent. And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the Lord had commanded, and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers. Now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments, for they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents. But Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods. And he hardened Pharaoh's heart, that he hearkened not unto them, as the Lord had said. And the Lord said unto Moses, Pharaoh's heart is hardened, he refuseth to let the people go. Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning. Lo, he goeth out unto the water, and thou shalt stand by the rivers, brink against he come, and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take at thine hand. And thou shalt say unto him, The Lord God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto these saints, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness. And behold, hitherto thou wouldst not hear. Thus saith the Lord, In this thou shalt know that I am the Lord. Behold, I will smite the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood. And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink, and the Egyptians shall loathe to drink of the water of the river. And the Lord spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood, and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone. And Moses and Aaron did so, so as the Lord commanded, and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants, and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. And the fish that was in the river died, and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river, and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments, and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, neither did he hearken unto them, as the Lord had said. And Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he set his heart to this also. And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for water to drink, for they could not drink of the water of the river. And seven days were fulfilled after that the Lord had smitten the river. Heavenly Father and Lord, thank you for this church, and thank you for all the soul owners doing the work for you. Please fill Pastor Anderson with the Holy Spirit, so that he may preach boldly from the King James Bible, so that we can be edified by the sermon. In Jesus name I pray, Amen. Amen. Tonight we're continuing the Revelation 21 8 series. We've been going through the various things in that list, but the fearful, the unbelieving, the abominable, murderers, whoremongers, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. And the main idea behind this verse listing these sins is that really everyone is going to be guilty of one of those things, because even if you're not a murderer or a sorcerer, certainly all of us have lied before. We've all been cowards at times. We've all lacked faith at times. And so it's really a great verse when you're out soul winning just to show people, look, we all deserve to go to hell. We've all sinned. And that's why we need Jesus to save us. And if we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, our sins will be forgiven. We'll have eternal life, and so forth. But as we're going through the series, what we're mainly talking about though is that if these sins anger God so much that he has a place reserved in hell for those who do these things, then obviously even though we're saved, even though we are not in peril of going to hell, even though we have eternal life and we are secure in our salvation, we don't want to displease God as his children. We don't want to be rebellious children that are incurring the curse of God on our lives on this earth by doing these things. Because of course, no matter what we do as saved Christians, we're going to go to heaven. But at the same time, God is going to save us. And God will punish us on this earth if we are living a life of sin. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth, the Bible says. So as children of God, we'll always be God's children. He's always going to love us. We're always going to be saved. But we can still get severely disciplined on this earth. And if these things incur the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience, then we as Christians should want to do our best to avoid these things, right? One of the sins on the list is sorcerers. And that's what we're going to talk about tonight, sorcerers. What is a sorcerer? Well, if you would look down at your Bible at Exodus chapter seven, verse 10, it says, And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the Lord had commanded. And Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers. Notice some of the other words. That he uses pretty much interchangeably in this passage. Now the magicians of Egypt, so he just called the sorcerers. Now he's calling them what? Magicians of Egypt. They also did in like manner with their enchantments. What are enchantments? This is like a casting of spells or saying some kind of a magical formula or whatever. And it says they cast down every man his rod and they became serpents. But Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods and he hardened Pharaoh's heart that he hearkened not unto them as the Lord had said. So what is a sorcerer? It is someone who is using magic or witchcraft. You could call it dark arts, someone who is using occult practices, spells, whatever. Okay, that's what we're talking about with sorcery. Now here's the thing. One of the big questions that probably comes to your mind when you think about this issue of sorcery is, wait a minute, is this even real, right? I guarantee you that this world is filled with a lot of just fake sorcery and fake witchcraft and a lot of things are just fake, right? So if you go to the psychic palm reader or the tarot card reader or you call the Hollywood psychic hotline 1-900 number back in the 80s, 90s, you know, obviously a lot of that is people that are just charlatans. They're just scammers. They're just fake. But with that being said, obviously it's not all fake because obviously we know that Satan is a real entity. We know that demons actually exist. And so is it possible that someone could call upon a demon of some kind and have some kind of a supernatural experience? I would say absolutely. And here's the thing. I don't really know what percentage of it is fake and what percentage of it is actually, you know, some kind of an intercourse with Satan but at the end of the day, it doesn't matter. I don't really care because the Bible is telling us to stay away from it. So if the Bible is telling us it's wrong and it's sinful, we shouldn't be participating in a fake version of it or a possibly real version or whatever because whatever it is, it's wrong. And so whether it's real wrong stuff or fake wrong stuff, we don't care. Now obviously when it comes to like a magic show like a magician, you know, obviously everybody's under the understanding that look, this guy's not claiming to be using demons or dark arts or the power of Satan. That's just sleight of hand and we'll often call that a magician, right? And you know, he goes and does a little kid's birthday party or something and he's just kind of doing this kind of stuff or whatever, you know. Nothing too crazy. So obviously, you know, people do magic tricks and whatever, just haha and they're just doing it in fun and there's an understanding in the occult. Obviously, I realize that all of those magic shows are fake, 100% of them. So David Copperfield is not, you know, using, is that the guy's name or is that just a book by Charles Dickens or is it both? You know, obviously that guy's not using dark arts or something. He is just a really skillful sleight of hand kind of a guy. But at the end of the day, when the Bible says magicians though, it's talking about people who are really trying to do magical things, manipulate the forces of nature through spirits, through demons, we know. And so is it real? Some of it obviously has to be real. If there's a demon out there, according to the Bible, if there's a devil out there, then yeah, obviously the devil has power and in this story, the devil actually does accomplish something real. This isn't, you know, a David Copperfield that Pharaoh has on staff here but rather, you know, I believe that this is something that these sorcerers really do accomplish. They are able to turn their stick into a serpent seemingly. You know, it's, you know, you say, well, it's just sleight of hand. Well, whatever, maybe. But I do believe that the devil does have power and that he could do a miracle. And one of the reasons I say that is because the Bible tells us and if you would keep your finger there and go to 2 Thessalonians chapter two in the New Testament toward the end of the New Testament, go to 2 Thessalonians chapter two and the Bible is talking about the times and talking about the antichrist and so forth and it says in verse number eight, and then shall that wicked be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. We're in 2 Thessalonians chapter two verse nine. Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, watch this, with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they receive not the love and the truth that they might be saved and for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie that they all might be damned to believe not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. So the Bible here talks about the antichrist coming and he's coming after the working of Satan with power and signs and lying wonders. And you know you can interpret and go if you were to Revelation 13, you can interpret the lying wonders one of two ways. They're not real or you could say that they are actually miraculous but that they are leading people to lies and teaching people false doctrine and lies and teaching them to worship the antichrist because look what the Bible says in Revelation chapter 13 about the false prophet who you know is pointing people to the antichrist. It says in verse 13 and he doeth great wonders so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth and the sight of men and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image to the beast which had the wound by a sword and did live. And so we can see here that in the end times there are going to be miracles that are done by the antichrist and the false prophet. The whole world is going to be marveling at him making fire come down from the sky and so forth. And so I think when we look at Revelation 13, 2 Thessalonians 2 and then go back to the story in Exodus chapter 7 I think it is plausible that the sorcerers and the magicians actually did through the power of Satan turn their rod into a serpent but then Moses had thrown down his rod and turned it into a serpent and then his serpent ate their serpents. You know what? What a classic story here in the Bible where God's serpent swallows the other two serpents. Really sad for them. They lost their toy. But if you would jump down to verse Exodus 7 verse 20 back in Exodus chapter 7. Look at verse 20. Sorry I'm fighting a cough today. Exodus 7 20, Moses and Aaron did so as the Lord commanded and he lifted up the rod and smote the waters that were in the river in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood and the fish that was in the river died and the river stank and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. And so obviously the Nile River is super important to the Egyptians and he ends up turning it temporarily into blood. And then it says in verse 22 they turned their enchantments. So they also turned water into blood and Pharaoh's heart was hardened neither did he hearken unto them. But here's the funny thing is that it's funny how they can't turn it back into water. You know they're able to turn water into blood in order to just show Pharaoh hey we have power too. You know the power of Satan. They can't turn it back. And this is one of the reasons why I don't think that they're necessarily faking it because when we get to chapter 8 they're not able to do something. Okay well first look at verse 6. It says Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt and the magicians did so with their enchantments and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt. And again it's hilarious how they're not able to counteract what God is doing. They're not able to undo what God is doing. God turns water into blood. They can just turn a little more water into blood. Well that's super helpful guys. You know here we are trying to drink water. We're trying to bring more water into blood. Really cool. And then you know Moses brings all these frogs upon the land and then they're like oh yeah we'll bring some more frogs. But again they can't get the frogs to leave because in all of these plagues Moses is being begged by Pharaoh. Pharaoh is saying please get these frogs out of here. Get these flies out of here. You know the 10 different plagues. He's always begging for it to end because his magicians or sorcerers or enchanters or what to do what God is doing. And so in all of these stories what comes through is that God is supremely more powerful than Satan and his minions. And so Satan and his minions they're not able to undo anything that God is able to do. They can just sort of do some of the stuff that God does on a smaller scale. Kind of a cheap imitation. They have some power but not the kind of power that God has. And ultimately God's power is superior. And they did so for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod and smote the dust of the earth and it became a lice in man and in beast. All the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt and the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice but they could not. So there were lice upon man and upon beast. Then the magician said unto Pharaoh this is the finger of God. Now again if you were just faking it this is one of the easiest ones to fake if anything. And you don't see them attempting to fake this by just you know pretending that they're bringing lice out of the dust or whatever. So it seems like they were legitimately doing some miracles through the power of Satan and now they've just kind of reached the end of their abilities at that point. Now go if you would to Deuteronomy chapter number 18. Deuteronomy chapter number 18. And again like I said there are many sources of that and I'm not really interested in trying to figure out how many sorcerers and witches are you know doing anything real or how many of them are just 100% fake because at the end of the day it doesn't matter right. This is something that we are commanded to stay far away from. Look what it says in Deuteronomy chapter 18 verse 10. There shall not be found among you anyone that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire. Now this is talking about actually killing your baby. This is talking about abortion basically and so it's a murdering of a child and so he says do not do that. Or he says let there not be anyone among you that uses divination. Or an observer of times or an enchanter or a witch or a charmer or a consultor with familiar spirits or a wizard or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination of the Lord and because of these abominations the Lord thy God did drive them out from before thee. So he's telling his people look the people who do this stuff are super wicked and they're an abomination of God so don't you be like them or participate in these things. And there's a big long list here and when we think it's about something like observer of times this would be like the horoscope or something right doing astrology and reading your horoscope and and trying to predict the future of the world. Based upon the horoscopes that are in the newspaper or magazines or whatever which are obviously an absolute joke anyway and are ridiculous. Okay they're about as you know spiritual as a fortune cookie. Okay as far as actually being able to tell you anything. And then it also says you know a charmer maybe this could be someone who's like you know hypnotizing people or manipulating people through those type of means. Consultor with familiar spirits this is someone who's communicating with demons or a wizard right there's another word for sorcerer or a necromancer. Now what does a necromancer well necro that necro prefix means dead okay necrotic tissue is dead tissue right. And so a necromancer is someone who attempts to communicate with dead people. So this would be you know you get out the Ouija board or have a séance and you're trying to talk to dead people or channel dead people's spirits or whatever and this is really what we see happening with Saul and the witch at Endor right. Saul goes and consults with a woman who has a familiar spirit and he wants to pull up Samuel the prophet who's dead so he's trying to communicate with a dead person and in this case it's a man of God but that doesn't make it any better or more righteous that he's trying to pull up a man of God through those kind of dark arts. And so of course God is very angry about this and when Saul and his sons are all killed in one day God says that the reason why they're killed is because one of the reasons listed is because he sought one that had a familiar spirit so for going to the witch at Endor God is angry with Saul and that's one of the reasons why he dies on the next day as a punishment for doing that and so necromancy. Now here's the thing again if you're just open the phone book and just look up your local necromancer or whatever and it sounds funny but I guarantee you it's in there I don't know if it's gonna be under N for necromancy maybe it's under P for psychic or whatever but I guarantee you that there are people all over this city that will put you in touch with your dead loved one for a price okay obviously I'm not saying that they're actually communicating with dead people I don't think that that's even humanly possible okay I think that the situation with the witch at Endor is an anomaly which is why she's kind of freaked out I don't think she even expected Samuel to actually show up but there's really one of two options with these psychic readers or necromancers or people who run seances is that either a they're just a complete fake charlatan just making things up and just telling people a bunch of vague platitudes and then people just fall for it and there's a there's a whole book about that written by the circus guy PT Barnum he's the one that's been talking about that written by the circus guy PT Barnum he wrote a whole book about how like psychic readers perpetrate their fraud and everything because you know he he did some wild things in the circus but he really didn't like that kind of stuff and so you know either a it's just fake or B they're just talking to demons and he's just demons pretending to be your loved one or whatever but you're not actually talking to your loved one okay I think that the situation with Samuel was an anomaly that's not the norm and so again we don't care which one it is the Bible says do not consult with familiar spirits do not do this kind of necromancy do not go to these wizards sorcerers and whatever if you would flip over to 2nd Kings chapter 17 2nd Kings chapter 17 now one of the things that people will often bring up with sorcery or sorcerers in the Bible because what are we talking about we're talking about people who are using supernatural forces we're not talking about the Bible we're not talking about Christianity though we're talking about dark forces of the devil Satan you know speaking to the dead using the power of the devil Ouija boards seances those kind of things right and here's the thing they sell the Ouija board in the board game aisle at like Walmart and Target whose stupid idea was that at Milton Bradley to manufacture a Ouija board by Milton Bradley like oh yeah monopoly parcheesi Ouija board might as well just you know talk to the devil or whatever it's super wicked and you know what it's just the devil trying to get a foothold and just trying to normalize this kind of stuff and trying to get you to think it's not a big deal and I guarantee you there are probably a lot of kids that are in that board game aisle and they just grab it and say hey this is gonna be fun let's play around with this you don't want to play with that kind of stuff because here's the thing demons are real and you can invite unclean spirits into your life and you don't want to do that and especially unsaved people are susceptible because they can be demon possessed and everything else and I believe that there have been many times in my life when I have encountered people that were demon possessed obviously you don't always know for sure if people are just crazy or if they're demon possessed or both but it's definitely out there and we see it a lot in the four Gospels with Jesus running into people that are demon possessed but when we talk about this subject of the cult and and sorcery a lot of people will say well you know if you go back to the Greek they'll say you know the word for sorcery in Greek they'll say is pharmakeia and like the sorcerer is a pharmakos or pharmakeps and you know they'll say so basically you know what we're talking about is the pharmacy now here's the problem with that is that you got to be careful that you don't read things backwards into Greek from English okay so obviously our English word pharmacy is derived from this ancient Greek word pharmakon pharmakeps but it doesn't mean that it means the same thing in English that it means in Greek okay and and what's going on here is that obviously in the ancient world in Bible times there's no CVS there's no Walgreens people aren't showing up and getting a prescription so it's anachronistic to say oh that's what God was talking about he is saying you know the pharmacists are all going to the lake of fire you know that's not what he you know the fearful unbelievable believing abominable murderers whoremongers and pharmacists that's not what he's saying so we that's called the root fallacy when basically you will look at the root word that something comes up and then oh well because this word is derived from that that must be what it means okay for example you know the word for naked in Greek is gimnos which basically is where we get our word gymnasium you know so you know does that mean when the Bible says something about someone naked well if you go back to the Greek they're actually just going to the gym you know it's just stupid because obviously you know these words change in meaning over time so no the Bible is not condemning in general all pharmaceutical drugs the Bible is saying that the Bible is not saying that you can't take an ibuprofen or an aspirin or a Tylenol because you're a sorcerer now or something that's not what the Bible is saying okay here's where the connection comes in between these two words why is it that that ancient Greek word that has to do with sorcery has become our modern Greek word or modern English word for the pharmacy the reason why is simply because of the fact that a lot of sorcerers witches or whatever they deal in potions and they would sell people magical potions and whatever and again obviously a lot of it's just totally fake but a lot of it is also what mind-altering drugs and so what happens is a lot of these witches and sorcerers would use mind-altering drugs in order to somehow reach the spirit world and kind of cross over to the other side and commune with these other spirits and things they use drugs as a vehicle so you can see how drugs and sorcery could be connected now when I'm thinking about the subject of drugs and this is a big subject unfortunately in our day drug use is rampant in the United States of America I mean it's horrible I was just looking at some incredible statistics today my mind was just absolutely blown by the drug statistics for our local area here in Arizona you know different lists had different cities ranked in different orders but some websites were claiming that Mesa Arizona and Phoenix Arizona were like the number one and two places for being addicted to certain drugs and in fact there was a statistic showing that like 20% of people in Phoenix had tried cocaine or something I was just like what in the world I mean these statistics were crazy or it was like oh 30% of young people have have have you know tried an illegal drug in the last year or something you know it was just mind-blowing and all the sticks the statistics are all over the place because obviously these things are hard to measure and and some of them are talking about all drugs some are including marijuana not including marijuana some of them are just homing in on certain drugs but I mean either way numbers like 10% 14% 20% of people using these serious drugs that's insane it's crazy those numbers were just wild to me and again you know I didn't go super deep down the rabbit hole but just I was looking at a lot of websites and the numbers all seemed to be in those kind of ballparks and I was looking at like 30% of Arizonans in a certain age group were like you know using marijuana or something like that and it was you know once it at least once a year or something you know they're smoking marijuana like in the 18 to 25 bracket or something okay sounds like this is a very serious problem and I think we've all known people who committed this sin and we've all been exposed to it and we've all seen it even when I was a teenager I saw a lot of it but it's way worse now and even now that marijuana is legal you know first of all that doesn't make it right and then beyond that you've got all these other drugs that people are doing that are even going beyond marijuana and they're doing things like mushrooms and LSD and whatever now the way I look at this with drugs and again this is a big subject that's really important that we condemn this that we rebuke this that we fight against this as God's people and that we not allow this in our homes that we not allow this to creep into our church or anything like that and it needs to be preached against I think there's really like two different categories that you could almost divide drug use into right because on the one hand there's one aspect of drug use that's kind of comparable to drinking alcohol right because people go out and they drink alcohol why one of the reasons is because it just makes them feel good or something right they just they want to get buzzed or feel good or enjoy or whatever I don't know because I've never been intoxicated so I don't really know what it feels like but you know whatever they want to feel a certain way or maybe they just want to numb themselves because maybe they're just in a bad mood they can't get their mind off things they're depressed they're upset so they want to just kind of just dull their brain and just kind of drown their sorrows so to speak and use alcohol in that way or people will drink alcohol to just I guess loosen up or something and lose their inhibitions and that way they can just do stupid things that they normally wouldn't do so I think that's one aspect of drug use is kind of the same as alcohol use but maybe just taking it a little further they're basically taking something a little stronger basically they're doing the same thing that the drinker is doing wanting to feel good or wanting to forget or wanting to loosen up or party or whatever and it's like they're basically just taking it to another level maybe even mixing drugs and alcohol to get a just a more powerful effect because human beings are greedy and they're not just satisfied with a little bit of alcohol they're just gonna keep escalating until they're drinking more mixing it with drugs moving on to drugs whatever but I think there's also another aspect of drug use that is not really similar to drinking alcohol because there's another aspect of drug use that has to do with sort of opening your mind right so it's not necessarily people taking drugs for the reason that they would drink alcohol it's more like they want to experiment with drugs and and go on these journeys and whatever and look I've read some articles about this even in like mainstream news publications like you know New York Times or something right where you read these articles about how now doctors are wanting to prescribe psychedelic drugs to cancer patients to people that are dying etc because basically they give people drugs and they have these spiritual experiences and then they're not afraid of dying anymore because they you know they go to the other side and they check it out and it turns out you know it's fine and so they don't mind going there so then they can die more peacefully or whatever but it's funny because even the article even this one article I was reading in the New York Times even said well is this necessarily even really a good thing though you know and I was thinking about it as like a false sense of security like somebody's not saved and on their way to hell they take a bunch of drugs and it's just like oh man I've already been there man and it was cool you know it's like nah man you didn't go there you're going downstairs you know and that is not where that trip took you and so the point is that a lot of people out there will try to use drugs in order to reach a higher level of consciousness no pun intended right and they want to reach a higher level of consciousness and they want to commune with other spiritual entities and so forth and this is where I think drug use does cross the line into becoming satanic or becoming sorcery or becoming witchcraft when you're taking a drug in order to commune with other spirits or go to some other higher level of consciousness and so forth then yeah then I can see where the overlap of sorcery and drug use is there with that kind of drug use versus like the guy who's just smoking some pot I just want to mellow out with some pot or whatever just be a loser pothead or whatever that's one aspect sort of like the guy who just gets drunk and he's a drunken loser and then oh I don't think you should talk about drunk people that way well you know what drunks are losers and so are drug addicts so put that in your pipe and smoke it actually don't smoke it because you'll get too high but the point is that yeah you know I'm not gonna sit here and say that you're wise or that you're smart or that you like drugs hey the Bible says that you are a fool the Bible says whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise wine is a marker and strong drink is raging and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise right the Bible says it's foolish to be a drunkard it's foolish to be a wine bibber obviously these things are not leading you to wisdom or down a right path okay and beer doesn't make you cool beer doesn't make you physically fit you know that's why there's not a beer dispenser down at the gym you know it's like oh here's all the protein shakes and here's a glass of beer now I mean I'm sure there's some gimmick gym that has that but at the end of the day nobody who knows anything about nutrition thinks that beer is is good for you you know oh yeah every time you know every time I have a big math test to take you know I just I just drink a few beers before that calculus exam and then it just really just opens my yeah just do some mushrooms right before the big you know differential equations exam or whatever that's it's stupid it's not making you smarter it's killing brain cells this stuff is poisonous it's toxic it's bad for you it's bad for your health it's bad for your brain it's not making you smarter is making you dumber stay away from it and so these are two aspects I think of drug use there's sort of the the one that could be compared to alcohol use in the Bible because because let's face it the Bible doesn't talk about drugs but the Bible talks about alcohol and I think half of drug use you could kind of just take the alcohol versus and apply them and then I think the other half of drug use you could take the sorcery versus and apply them you know the the the magic sorcery enchantment wizardry kind of versus because of the fact that you're trying to reach some higher consciousness through the use of drugs now here's the thing about that what it comes down to is that people are trying to exceed the boundaries that God has placed upon mankind right God has created us and he has given us certain abilities and he's given us certain mental power and certain physical prowess and we don't want to go beyond where God wants us to be and look this goes all the way back to Adam and Eve in the garden you know they felt like God is withholding some important knowledge from them because they're not allowed to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and then Satan tempts them to eat from that tree of the knowledge of good and evil and they're going beyond the bounds of what God has allowed and if you think about it human beings in their sinful condition also kind of have this desire to go beyond the natural to the supernatural and say like oh well I want to know the future so therefore I'm going to go to the psychic reader or I'm going to read the horoscopes or I'm going to use these enchantments or whatever I'm going to take these drugs or whatever so that I can go beyond a normal human consciousness instead of just being a humble servant of God learning actual wisdom from the Bible the things that God has provided for us like in the Garden of Eden God had provided all these wonderful trees but then there's the one tree that they're not allowed to have that's the one Satan entices them with look God has given us all this wonderful knowledge in the Bible and there's better knowledge in the Bible than all that the occult bookstore has to offer right because we could go to one of these like downtown areas and go to this like weird creepy little occult bookstore and we've all walked by places like this hopefully you didn't enter them but you know man in New Orleans Louisiana it's like every other business was like a Satan worshipping store but you know I'm sure we have them down in Tempe or Phoenix or whatever and you walk by these places and they have all this witchcraft and occult stuff maybe even just I don't know just vanilla bookstores probably even just have a little section you know for this stuff I you know I wouldn't be surprised if you could find a little nook in Barnes and Noble or something where you can find a lot of this weird stuff but here's the thing all of that occult information everything first of all it's coming from who the father of lies Satan is literally the father of lies right he's a liar from the beginning and the Bible says he's the father of it okay so you're gonna go to the father of lies bookstore in order to find occult knowledge what does occult mean occult simply means hidden so you're gonna go find hidden knowledge by going to the father of lies bookstore here's the thing I'm sure that there is some hidden knowledge in there that's legit but for every piece of hidden knowledge that's in that occult bookstore there's probably a hundred just outright lies coming up bogus fake things and so by reading that stuff you're just filling your mind with a bunch of garbage and it's lies and even the part of it that's true is probably some off-limits knowledge that you're not even supposed to have because look we don't need to know about every single thing in this world there are certain things that I'd rather just never know about and the Bible says that we should be wise concerning that which is good and simple concerning the evil okay go if you would say Acts chapter 19 Acts chapter number 19 but here's the thing I've got the Bible right here and this book is just packed with wisdom and knowledge information and it's all true like everything in the Bible is true and it's got all this wisdom all this advice all the mysteries of the universe are explained the answers are all in here you can spend your whole life reading this book and you're never gonna get everything out of it you know I've been reading it for decades I'm still constantly learning new things we all are and so you got everything you need right here but then what the wickedness of man says oh well this isn't enough for me this is boring give me apocryphal books you know give me the book of Enoch give me the book of witchcraft and and give me all this occult knowledge and all this other stuff the voodoo stuff so instead of being satisfied with the truth that I've given you which is enough for you to chew on for the rest of your life you're never gonna run out of information to learn you want to reject that and go to the father of lies and learn from him and get all his occult knowledge from the occult bookstore doesn't make any sense now also God also has power available right because there's the power of the Holy Spirit and the Bible talks about how we could be filled with the Holy Spirit and what's going to be the fruit of the Holy Spirit love joy peace I mean isn't this the kind of stuff that people want in their life I mean I would think that everybody should want to be filled with love filled with joy filled with peace long suffering gentleness goodness meekness temperance faith these are all wonderful virtues that come through the power of the Holy Spirit hey that's the power that I want to tap into I want to get that power in my life I want to be you know not just indwelled by the Holy Spirit and I want to have the power of Christ resting upon me as it says in 1st Corinthians right so there's power to be had here with the Holy Spirit but then people instead of that they want to go get some special powers through black magic and dark arts and things like that so they're rejecting the real power for something that a lot of times is fake anyway and even if it's real it's coming from Satan it's inferior to what God has to offer it's not going to bring you real joy and peace and happiness in your life oh you know we just got to give people you know psilocybin or LSD or whatever you know on their deathbed so they can have peace and you know what I'm gonna have peace on my deathbed and no drugs required amen I mean look we as Christians we already have peace on our deathbed we oh death where is thy sting Oh grave where is thy victory not because you're dead but because we went to some weird orange and purple mushroom land and found out everything's gonna be okay we know it's gonna be okay because in Christ Father's house as many mansions and if it were not so he would have told us and he went to prepare a place for us and he's gonna receive us again unto himself that where he is we may be also that's the peace that we need and look God can supernaturally imbibe us with power to preach the Word of God boldly right through the fullness of the Holy Spirit we can have boldness see I don't have to drink up my courage with booze I pray up my courage with the power of the Holy Spirit so I want the Holy Spirit not the spirits not the drugs not the magic chant right oh you can chant this mantra and say this spell and go through this no my friend I would rather stick to what God has to offer and I'm satisfied with what God has to offer I don't need to go to the devil for additional power knowledge etc now in Acts chapter 19 we have a major book burning in the Bible and it says in Acts 19 19 many of them also these are people that believed on Christ so it says in verse 18 many that believed came and confessed and showed their deeds many of them also which used curious arts okay and and curious here is a word that's used throughout the Bible to mean very like complicated intricate or whatever that's what it typically means like the curious girdle of the ephod in the Old Testament it's talking about the fact that it was elaborately embroidered so it's it's very intricately woven okay so when the Bible says here that they used curious arts what we're basically talking about here is witchcraft or dark arts that's what we're talking about here we're talking about people who use magic or something like that so it says many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together and burned them before all men and they counted the price of them and found it 50,000 pieces of silver right so this is a lot of money you know as far as how much exactly you know we don't really know the size of the pieces of silver whatever but you could think you know maybe a one ounce silver coin or something right is what we kind of tend to think in today is worth about like $30 right now you know I didn't check the silver price today or in years but it seems like it's always around like 30 bucks am I right can I get a witness ah about 30 bucks nobody here owns precious metals all right there we go I see that God bless you I see that ahead so basically you know if it's like third let's just say it's an ounce and it's you know $30 and it's 50,000 of them right so that'd be what 1.5 million dollars or something right some huge amount of money maybe was less than that but either way it's a ton of money you know even if this was just even if it was even if each piece of silver was just a dollar which there's no way that'd be a really small piece of silver to be only worth a dollar right even just like $50,000 is a lot but this is probably like hundreds realistically it's probably hundreds of thousands of dollars possibly even over a million dollars maybe a million and a half dollars or something now part of the reason for this is because of the fact that books are very expensive in the ancient world because this is before the printing press so every book is written by hand so every book represents you know a human being working for weeks or months or even years just to produce one volume could be like you know a year of your life just to produce one long book or a month of your life or something so we're talking about expensive books but either way no matter how expensive the books are 50,000 pieces of silver this is a huge pile of books this is a lot of books and you know what that tells me is that if people who used curious arts brought their books together and burned them and they counted the price of them and found it to be 50,000 pieces of silver sounds to me like a lot of people are into witchcraft to have that many books to burn these are just the people that repented from it and they got saved and they're like oh we're saved now we don't need this stuff anymore let's just burn it let's get rid of it and it's just a huge amount and so that shows me that this is pretty common and I guarantee you that human beings have this tendency to want to kind of know more than they're supposed to know or this kind of curiosity no pun intended with the curious arts there is a different meaning of curious but this kind of curiosity that says hey you know I really want to know what it's like to take these drugs or experience these other things or or you know I want to know if there's anything to this witchcraft or whatever you know I want to see if it's real you know well you know it's not that I love Satan or anything but you know I just kind of want to experiment with it to see if it's real folks that's super wicked and you know what now we're back to unbelieving why don't you just believe the Bible that it's real and that it's evil and that you should stay away from it right I don't need proof that the devil exists I don't need proof that demons exist and I heard somebody say well you know well yeah but if the devil exists that means God exists well I already know God exists I already believe in God I already believe in Jesus I'm not a doubting Thomas over here that needs to actually physically see I don't need to go to some house and see you know things like whirl around the ceiling or something in order to know hey the devil's real ergo God is real too I don't need that and God doesn't want us to have anything to do with that kind of stuff okay and again some of it's just made up stuff and but some of it has to be real because demons exist they must be doing something right and so if you would flip back to second Kings chapter 17 second Kings chapter 17 so again I think that at the root of this thing of sorcery is a desire to go beyond what God has for us to know things that are outside the realm of what we're supposed to know to have power outside the power that God has given us and that God has provided for us to seize that power ourselves and to be able to go further than where God wants us to go and you know the big colossal difference between magic and a miracle of the Bible right like what is difference because isn't this what atheists will claim like oh you know you believe in a magical sky daddy or something you know they say these stupid things but they kind of try to equate religion with magic don't they and one of the colossal differences between what we see in the Bible with miracles and you know God granting people power and ability versus magic is that when it comes to the power and ability that God grants in Scripture where you see people doing miracles like the apostles or the prophets or something is that they are carrying out the will of God right so they are doing things according to God's will they're fulfilling his plan they're not just using quote-unquote magic willy-nilly just to basically impress their friends or punish their enemies or to gain things for themselves right and this is sort of what Jesus is tempted with when Satan says oh you're hungry command that these stones be made bread right what he's just basically trying to get him to use spiritual power as like a magic trick or something to just kind of satisfy his craving right then and there like oh I'm just gonna turn these stones into bread or whatever you know I'm just gonna walk on water for the fun of it or something you know that's not the point anytime miracles are happening in the Bible these are people that are in the will of God doing things according to God's will praying according to God's will and having the ability to do things according to God's will and here's the thing even today in 2025 obviously God can still work miracles right and we you know someone could be sick and we could pray for that person and that person could be miraculously healed through our prayers absolutely that is possible but the difference is though that we don't just have this ability that we decide whether this person gets healed or not because we have this little enchantment and it seems like a lot of magic is almost like forcing these spirits to obey you like well if I say this spell then this you know spirit has to obey me I can summon this genie and he's got to give me his three wishes you know that's a little different than praying to God and saying look God you have the power to heal here and you're asking God to do it if it's according to his will you see the colossal difference between God supernaturally doing something versus just oh I'm a magician I'm a sorcerer so I can just make people's heart explode you know just by just going like this or something you know and that people think I have that power that's why they got really mad when I preached that sermon where I did that in a sermon they thought that I was actually gonna hurt someone but it turns out I actually don't have that ability or power I'm not trying to get that ability or power I don't have the power to strike people dead and just be like BAM BAM you know they're like you're threatening you know by praying imprecatory praise you're threatening people it's like no man because I don't have that kind of power I've never had that kind of power you know I can't even reprobate anyone you know whatever that means but the point is that you know magic is sort of like this this desire for you to have all this power so that you can wield power and manipulate the forces of nature and and do stuff versus someone who's just living for God and then God gives them the power when they need it to accomplish his will and whatever and at the end of the day you know what we'd all rather have if we're smart than having some power to I don't know levitate things or something you know to punch and then like the candle goes out or whatever you know more than that I think we'd all rather just have love joy peace in our hearts so you know I'm much more interested in what God has for me and the blessing of God and walking with God and just being a humble servant of God then just kind of putting on some hood and being some like super powerful level 99 sorcerer or something you know just casting all these spells or something right but apparently that appeals to people I mean this is what this is what a lot of human beings desire and fantasize about hence all of the fantasy novels and books and movies and all the different things that really glorify this type of stuff it's a whole genre right of now obviously there's like I said at Barnes and Noble there's probably the section of like actual witchcraft sorcery occult section but there's a whole nother section of just fantasizing about having all this power and doing all these things and again it must be that human beings have some desire within them and really what this desire boils down to is actually wanting to have the power of God and we're not God and we're not we're not supposed to aspire to be God we don't want to be like Satan in Isaiah chapter 14 where he said what I will be like the most high I want to be like the most high you know it's not my desire to take the place of God or to be on par with God or to be on the same low I just want to be a humble servant of God for all eternity I'm just gonna humbly serve God for all eternity I don't need to be able to read minds and know the future and make things levitate and walk on water and things I just don't need to do that I'm not interested in that but I think that there is a desire within human beings to want to do that kind of stuff and so that's where they go seek all these things and and and get into all this stuff where did I have you on the first Kings second Kings 17 it says in verse 16 and they left all the commandments of the Lord their God and made them molten images even two calves and made a grove and worshiped all the hosts of heaven and served Baal and they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire and use divination and enchantments and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight there was none left but the tribe of Judah only now look if those things angered God back then do you think that anger him now you think God looks down and sees the abortion clinic and he's angry you think God looks down from heaven and sees a bunch of kids with a Ouija board you think he's pleased with that when Christian kids decide to fool around with a Ouija board Christian kids decide to experiment with mind-altering drugs in order to reach some higher plane of consciousness folks that is garbage it's wicked it's not making you smarter whatever experience you're having by taking those drugs it's lying wonders it's it's it's garbage it's not gonna make you a better Christian you're not you're not gonna come back from some LSD trip and be like you know what now I understand the Bible you know now I can really break down the Gospel of John in a way that I've never been able to understand before I took those mushrooms I mean does anybody that stupid but yet we have a bunch of 18 19 20 look at the statistics it's through the roof you got a bunch of young people out there oh there's got to be more out there let me take these drugs yet there is more out there it's right here yeah there is more to life than just your little eat drink and be merry life it's called walking with God it's called the Holy Spirit it's called prayer it's called church it's called soul winning and you know what they're looking for a shortcut though they're looking for something easy because here's the thing you take the drugs you know just immediately the fact is right away whereas in order to reach the heights of what God has for you spiritually it's gonna take effort of years of reading your Bible going to church oh man you know I don't want to do that but here's the thing the reading your Bible praying going to church so it's all gonna pay off and you will tag spiritual summits that the drug addict down the street has never tagged you know it's it's just like it's a guy he's gonna feel something but it's a fraud he's gonna communicate with spirits but they're evil spirits I'd rather communicate with the Holy Spirit and look maybe someday I will observe some kind of a miracle in my life or so you know maybe I'll see God perform a miracle or something and and see something really miraculous where I could say hey this is the finger of God but you know what even if I never see something in my life like that that doesn't bother me at all because you know what the Bible says that John the Baptist was the greatest man to ever live Jesus said among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist and you want to know what else they said about John the Baptist the four Gospels John did no miracle how about that John did no miracle and yet all things that he said concerning this man are true this man being Jesus so here's the thing if John the Baptist could be the greatest man who ever lived and he didn't perform any miracles I don't feel like I have to perform miracles to be a man of God okay you know obviously we read about a lot of miracles in Scripture but we also read entire lifetimes of people who had no miracles I mean how many miracles did Josiah perform how many miracles did Hezekiah perform right I mean look you can go through the Bible and there are a lot of people in the Bible that didn't perform any miracles and yet they live great Christian lives for many many decades and and there are probably a lot of people who never saw any miracle in their whole lifetime and again I'm not a doubting Thomas that has to go see a miracle you know blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed but at the same time I am not satisfied with a carnal existence of just eating and drinking and sleeping and working and not a carnal existence of just eating and drinking and sleeping and working I want something more I want more than that I want spiritual communion with God I want to know the mysteries of the universe but it's all found in the Bible yeah I do want to go beyond what's earthly here but you know what I'm willing to put in the work and the time and the effort to be pure in heart so I can see God and not have to take a shortcut and then of just here, smoke this, snort this, shoot this up, whatever, and then, boom, immediately you'll be in the spirit world. And look, here's the thing, oh, but man, it opens your mind to all this creativity. You know, you take these drugs and then, you know, you can write all this great music or whatever. But here's the thing about that, is that we all kind of go on a drug trip every night, if you think about it, it's called going to sleep at night. Because, let's face it, I don't know how well you remember your dreams. Some people remember their dreams better than others. Sometimes I go through phases of remembering a lot of dreams, not remembering. But I guarantee you that my dreams are weirder and wilder than any drug trip that anybody's ever been on. I mean, we've all had those wild dreams. Amen? I mean, dreams are weird. Things don't make sense, things are crazy, things are strange. And here's the thing, that's a lot of the same thing that you're doing when you're taking drugs. When you're taking drugs, your brain's just kind of going crazy all over the place. It's called just being a crazy person. But see, here's the thing, when we're at bed at night and we go crazy every night and go into all these weird dreams and stuff, here's the thing, is that our bodies are paralyzed. You know, our bodies are designed that while we're in bed having all these crazy dreams, we're paralyzed. Which is why we're not sleepwalking all over the place and doing a bunch of crazy things. Some people, when they do sleepwalk, it's because that thing that's paralyzing them is broken. And so they get out of bed and start acting out their dreams and stuff and the problems ensue. But the normal thing that you do at night is you go to bed, you lay down, you're asleep, you're paralyzed. So it doesn't matter if you end up robbing a convenience store in your dream or something. And I'm not saying I've ever done that dream because I've never had a dream like that. Okay? I'm just throwing that out there. You know, if I had some dream where I'm robbing a convenience store, no harm, no foul because I'm just laying in bed. All I did was just twitch my eyeballs a little bit. Right? But then what happens is people that are taking drugs and people that are, you know, drinking and getting high and stuff, they are like in a confused wild dream state in a sense. And then they will go out and do these things in real life. They're out committing adultery in real life. They're doing robberies in real life. I talked to this one guy that was drunk and he just, he blacked out while drunk. And when he came to his senses, he was just walking down the street with like an armful of electronics equipment. He had just broken into a store and stolen it. And he was being arrested by the police, just red handed with a bunch of stolen equipment. He's like, how did I get this stuff? Where did this stuff come from? Then, you know, when he tells the cop, I don't know where this came from. They're just like, yeah, right, buddy. But he really didn't know where it came from. So look, every single night we go on, we're seeing pink elephants on parade every single night in our sleep. We don't have to take drugs to do that. Right? I mean, look, we got all the creativity we need right here. You know, no drugs required. You know, we can read our Bibles and learn the truth instead of going to the father of lies from the occult bookstore. We don't need drugs. We don't need witchcraft. We don't need sorcery. We don't need spells. We don't need the psychic reader. We don't need tarot cards. We don't need a Ouija board. We don't need a seance. We don't need any of this stuff. Right? We need to just be patient, study our Bibles, walk with God. And look, you say, well, I just really want to experience something supernatural. Well, you know what? Why don't you read your Bible and pray to God and pray to be filled with the Holy Spirit and go out and serve God and sing praises to God and, you know, win souls to Christ. And you know what? I guarantee eventually you're going to feel something. You know, you're going to have a supernatural experience. You're going to have a spiritual experience. You know, you're going to have something that's real. And God will supernaturally give you love, joy, peace, et cetera. Which is way cooler than whatever the devil is offering you. Whatever drugs are offering you. Because, oh, I felt so high when I took those drugs. Yeah, but how did you feel afterward? Low. Isn't it funny? The same people that are experimenting with drugs are the same people that are attempting suicide. Same people that are experiencing, experimenting with drugs are the same people that have to go to counseling and therapy because they're so depressed because the drugs, I guess, didn't fix it, did they? No. Because drugs are not going to provide lasting happiness or joy. The Holy Spirit provides real joy. And that's the supernatural power that I want to tap into is actually being happy. Actually having love in my heart. Actually having peace. And you know what? I have hope in my death, as the Bible says. You know, when I die, I'm going to be at peace knowing that I'm going home to be with the Lord. And when the doctor's like, hey man, you know, would you like some LSD to make you feel better? I'm just going to be like, no thanks. I'll skip it. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord. And Lord God's sorcery is something that is frowned upon in scripture. It's super evil, abominable. Your wrath came upon the children of Israel for sorcery. Lord, help us never to go beyond what you have appointed for us. And Lord, help us never to try to use drugs to do that. And Lord, help us never to try to use, you know, black magic or curious arts or white magic, for that matter, to try to achieve those things. Lord, help us to go through the proper channels. And the only spirit that we should deal with is the Holy Spirit. And Lord, we thank you for everything. And thank you especially for salvation through Jesus Christ. And it's in His name we pray. Amen. All right, everybody, take your hymnals, please. Go to hymn number 343, hymn 343. We'll close out our service tonight. Hymn 343, revive us again. Hymn number 343. We praise the O God. Hymn number 343, sing it out now. We praise the O God for the Son of our God. For Jesus who died and lives now, God above. Hallelujah, light the glory, hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, light the glory, revive us again. We praise the O God for thy spirit of life, who has shown us our Savior and scattered our night. Hallelujah, light the glory, hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, light the glory, revive us again. All glory and praise to the Lamb that was slain, who has borne all our sins and has cleansed every stain. Hallelujah, light the glory, hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, light the glory, revive us again. Revive us again, fill each heart with thy love. Name soul be rekindled with fire from above. Hallelujah, light the glory, hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, light the glory, revive us again. Amen. Good things tonight we are dismissed. Thank you.