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

The leaven of Herod. The Bible says in verse number 14, Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, neither had they in the ship with them more than one loaf, and he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the leaven of Herod. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, Oh, it's because we have no bread. And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, Why reason ye because ye have no bread? Perceive ye not yet? Neither understand? Have ye your hearts yet hardened? Having eyes, see ye not? And having ears, hear ye not? And do ye not remember? When I break the five loaves among 5,000, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? They said unto him, 12. And when the seven among 4,000, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? And they said, seven. And he said to them, How is it that you do not understand? Now, he doesn't really give the explanation here in Mark, but if we flip over to Matthew chapter 16, go back just a few pages in the left of your Bible, Matthew 16, the title of the sermon is the leaven of Herod. What does he mean by that? He said, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the leaven of Herod. They didn't get that. So they basically just thought, Oh, we didn't bring any bread. We got to watch out for the bread that they have, which doesn't make any sense, which is why Jesus kind of chewed them out there. But in Matthew chapter 16, verse five, it says, and when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus said unto them, take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. So here he's mentioning the Pharisees and the Sadducees and Mark, it was the Pharisees and Herod. And then if you jump down to verse number 11, he explains it, how is it that you do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread that you should be aware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees, then understood they, how that he bade them not be aware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. So when Jesus tells the disciples, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, what is it that he's telling them to be aware of? He's saying, beware of the doctrine of the Pharisees, beware of the teachings of the Pharisees, beware of the teachings of the Sadducees. Don't get sucked into their doctrine. Now, what does leaven mean? Well, today we don't really use the word leaven, we call it yeast. But what we think of as yeast in the kitchen is what in the past was known as leaven. And leaven in the Bible pictures corruption, it pictures decay, it pictures sin, or it really just pictures anything that spreads and contaminates the whole. The thing about leaven is that a little bit of leaven, leavens the whole lump. And many of you ladies have probably done this sort of Amish bread that just kind of goes on forever, where you have a little bit of dough, it's the starter dough, and it has the leaven in it. And you take a little bit of it, and you mix it with the flour and whatever else goes into bread, because I don't do anything in the kitchen. But you make the bread and it rises, but then you still have the little bit of starter left and you keep feeding the starter and the starter keeps growing, because leaven is of course bacteria that just keeps multiplying and reproducing. So once you have that colony of bacteria going, it'll go on forever. And it's sort of just this never ending supply of leaven. You don't ever have to go buy yeast because you're just breeding it in your fridge in the dough. Who knows what I'm talking about? Who is that? Yeah, virtually everyone, very good. We have a church of connoisseurs because that's good bread too, that kind of fresh bread made in that way. So leaven is that which contaminates or spreads. So because of that, often it's used in the Bible as a picture of sin. He warns them that if they have someone who's called a brother in the church who's a fornicator or a drunkard, that could contaminate the morals of the church. Other people will start thinking that it's okay, and that will spread. So leaven is that which contaminates and spreads. Now, if you would flip over to Mark chapter six, and while you're turning there, I'm gonna read for you from Titus. The Bible reads in Titus 2 seven, in all things showing thyself a pattern of good works, in doctrine showing uncorruptness, in doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity. He's saying don't let your doctrine, don't let your teachings or beliefs get corrupted. Show uncorruptness. Don't let leaven come in and contaminate them and make them impure. Beware of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees, Jesus is saying. But not only did he say to beware of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees, that makes sense because those are religious denominations. Those are religious groups. You know, the Pharisees have a certain set of false doctrines, and the Sadducees have a certain set of false doctrines. But he also said, beware of the leaven of Herod. Now what's interesting about Herod is that he's not a religious teacher. He's not a pastor. He's not a preacher. He's not a priest. He's not teaching the word of God. He is not a denomination or a religious sect leader. He is a political leader. He's a politician. And yet the Bible says that we should not only beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, but also to beware of the leaven of Herod. So let me tell you what that means. That means that we should not just beware of false doctrine picked up from false religions and bad false teachers. We should also beware of false doctrine that we could pick up from politicians or from political movements. The leaven of the Pharisees is an issue, but the leaven of Herod is another issue. Now let's see what is Herod like from the book of Mark itself. Because in Mark chapter eight it said, beware of the leaven of Herod. Well let's see what Herod's like. Herod is introduced to us in Mark chapter six. So look at Mark chapter six verse 17. The Bible says, for Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John and bound him in prison for Herodias sake, his brother Philip's wife, for he had married her. So what do we see here? Right away we see that Herod is an immoral guy. John the Baptist is preaching against him because of the fact that he married his brother's wife. His brother Philip had a wife, he wanted Philip's wife, so he ends up marrying her and taking her for himself. John said unto Herod, it's not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife. You know, he's calling it out as sin. Verse 19, the woman gets offended, the woman that went from Philip to Herod. Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him and would have killed him, but she could not, for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and unholy, and observed him, and when he hurt him, he did many things and hurt him gladly. And when a convenient day was come that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains and chief estates of Galilee, and when the daughter of said Herodias came in and danced and pleased Herod well, or and pleased Herod, and then that sat with him, the king said unto the damsel, ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it to thee. So we can see how trashy this guy is. Just one thing after another about this guy that shows what a rotten person Herod is. I mean, first of all, there's just the immorality of marrying his brother's wife. Then, even though he's married to his brother's wife, it seems like he's kind of into the stepdaughter. You know, she dances and pleases them, and he just makes this outlandish oath where he's just gonna give her anything she asks for under the half of his kingdom. Whatever she wants, he'll give it to her. This guy is obviously very worldly, he's very immoral, he's very carnal, he's not a godly man at all in his personal life, is he? Not at all. And so he makes this foolish oath, and then when it comes to John the Baptist, he knows that John the Baptist is a man of God, he has great respect for John the Baptist, but he takes sort of a middle of the road approach where he doesn't wanna kill John the Baptist, which is what his wife wants, but, you know, he can't just sit there and just let it go, so he takes this compromised position of, well, I'll put him in prison, but I won't kill him. I'll try to protect him, but, you know, he still has to go to prison. So it says in verse 24, after he makes this foolish oath that he'll give her whatever she wants, she went forth and said unto her mother, what shall I ask? And she said, the head of John the Baptist. And she came in straightway with haste unto the king and asked, saying, I will that thou give me by and by, and remember we just learned what that word meant, it means immediately. I want you to immediately give me in a charger the head of John the Baptist, basically his head on a platter. And the king was exceeding, sorry, yet for his oath's sake and for their sakes which sat around him or sat with him, he would not reject her, and immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded his head to be brought, and he went and beheaded him in the prison and brought his head in a charger and gave it to the damsel, and the damsel gave it to her mother, it's a real sweet family. And when his disciples heard of it, they came and took up his corpse and laid it in a tomb. So he's carnal, he's worldly, he's immoral, he's a complete hypocrite where he says, oh yeah, John's a godly man, but then he turns around and puts him in prison. He respects Christianity, but he doesn't do anything spiritual himself, he's unsaved himself, but he sort of respects, the Christian institution, John the Baptist, is a good guy or whatever. So what are we supposed to be aware of here? Beware of the leaven of Herod. I believe that the way that we would apply this today in 2021 is to not let conservative Judeo-Christian culture replace actual Bible-believing Christianity. Let me say that again. Let's not let conservative Judeo-Christian culture promoted by our politicians replace actual Bible-believing Christianity. We should never let politics trump the word of God, no pun intended there, okay? The word of God is our final authority. The word of God is where we get all our beliefs, all our teachings, all our doctrines. And let me tell you something, there's another competing view of Christianity besides biblical Christianity that's just sort of a mainstream America, Judeo-Christian, Republican Party, apple pie eating, flag-waving kind of religion. We need to make sure that we have a pure Bible religion that's not corrupted by the leaven of Herod, where we don't let politicians become our spiritual authorities. Politicians become our spiritual leaders and role models because they aren't. They're ungodly people, just like Herod. Even if it's our guy, they're still a lot like Herod, aren't they? Don't let conservative talk radio replace the preaching of God's word and the reading of God's word. That's where we need to be getting our doctrine from. Go if you would to Luke chapter 13. Luke chapter number 13. Luke chapter number 13. And by the way, I don't really care who this offends because I was preaching this over a decade ago. Donald Trump's a lot like Herod because he's immoral in his personal life in a lot of the same ways. Constantly swapping wives, making obscene references to women, talking about grabbing them by the whatever and all the filthy things that he has said and that he has been a part of. In fact, what's the difference between Herod with the daughter of Herodias dancing and pleasing him and doing all this? What's the difference between that and one of Donald Trump's beauty pageants that he ran for all those years where he's got a bunch of women parading their bodies across the stage in bikinis and he's got his Trump casinos and he's just for the love of money and greed. And by the way, let me tell you something. Donald Trump is one of the most prideful people on the planet. I don't care if you're a Trump fan or not. I don't care if you're a Republican or not. And don't even think for one second I'm a Democrat. The Democrats are just fully of Satan. Okay, so get out of this false left-right paradigm that the leaven of Herod has taught you. Oh, if you're not a Republican, you must be a Democrat. I'm not a Democrat. I'm not some demon-worshipping, Satan-worshipping, baby-murdering, fag-loving idiot. But let me tell you something. I'm not gonna sit there and let the Republican Party be my Lord and Savior. Jesus is my Lord and Savior. The Bible is my final authority. And Donald Trump is a womanizing, wicked, perverted, greedy, prideful, arrogant jerk. And I don't want any of my kids idolizing Donald Trump. And I don't want your kids growing up thinking that Donald Trump is somehow an ideal for leadership or an ideal for living or what America stands for. He's not. When he's waving a sodomite flag around, saying, I've done more for the LGBT than any president. Well, that just gives me another reason to think that you're trash, Donald Trump. Fag-loving idiot, Republican Party, with their compromised morals, with their wickedness, all they are is the Democrats of 30 years ago. The Democrats of 30, look, Bill Clinton in office was more conservative than the Republicans of today. And then the Democrats have just become fully socialist or commie or whatever they are. I know this isn't popular, but I'm telling you the truth today that you should not idolize and look up to people who are immoral in their personal lives the way Donald Trump is and people that are prideful. I mean, what does the Bible warn us about? He said, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loved the world, the love of the Father's not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away in the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. He that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Trump's yesterday's news. He's done, he's over, he's a thing of the past. I'm still here, you're still here. We're gonna be here 20 years from now. We're gonna be here 1,000 years from now because he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. But this prideful, arrogant, blowhard jerk who's into the love of money and the lust of women's bodies, he's but for a moment. He's just like a vapor that's gone. He was just here, you know, Mr. Popular, and now all of a sudden he's a pariah. Now all of a sudden nobody listens to him. Now all of a sudden nobody cares. And you know what? 100 years from now, many people won't even know who he is. They won't even know his name. And a million years from now, no one will know his name. And no one will care. Period. Beware of the leaven of Herod. Beware of the leaven of a guy, where a guy like Trump, a guy like Herod comes in, and all of a sudden now he's teaching you what you're gonna believe, what's right and wrong, what the truth is. Now what else was Herod like? Did I have you turn to Luke chapter 13? Luke chapter 13 verse 31, the Bible reads, the same day there came certain of the Pharisees saying unto him, get thee out and depart hence, for Herod will kill thee. And he said unto them, go ye and tell that fox. So what is Jesus calling Herod? He's like, you know what, he's like, don't threaten me how Herod wants to kill me. Go tell that fox. See, he's not scared of Herod. He's not worried about what Herod thinks. He has disgust and disdain for Herod, calls him a fox, and by the way, eventually Jesus is gonna stand before Herod. And you know what Jesus does? He refuses to talk to Herod. Herod asks him a bunch of questions, talks to him, wants to hang out with him, wants him to do a miracle. Jesus doesn't even open his mouth. He doesn't even say a word. I mean, at least he talked to Pontius Pilate. At least he talked to the high priest. He won't even talk to Herod. He's so disgusted by Herod and has such disdain for him. Now what do we make of this when Jesus calls Herod that fox? What is a fox like? Well, the fox is known for being clever, cunning, crafty, subtle, slipping in the side gate, coming in through the back door. And you know, this is exactly what politicians are like, aren't they? They don't just come right out and tell you what they believe. And if you would, go back to Ezekiel chapter 13, and don't get mad at me this morning, because I'm preaching the truth to you. I'm not here to preach what you want to hear. I'm here to preach what you need to hear. Go to Ezekiel chapter 13. And if I'm wrong from the word of God, then by all means, correct me, and show me Donald Trump's godliness from the word of God. Show me the godliness of the Republican party from the word of God. And I will be glad to change my views. But you know what, last time I checked, everyone that is proud of heart is an abomination to the Lord. Except Donald Trump. Is that true? God hates pride. Six things does the Lord hate, and guess what? A proud look is one of them. And he says that everyone that's proud and heart's an abomination to the Lord. Can anyone even begin with a straight face to say that he is not super proud, super prideful? I mean, have you seen those montages where he goes on for like five minutes? Like, well, I know more about X, Y, and Z than pretty much anybody. He lists like every topic. Oh, I know more about nuclear power than anybody. I know more about money than anybody. I know more about politics than anybody. The other side? I know the other side better than anybody. Yeah, that's because you've done both sides, because you're a fox, because you're clever, sly, cunning, crafty, and don't actually have any core values. That's why you do both sides. That's why you'll be a Democrat when it's convenient. That's why you'll be a Republican when it's convenient. That's why you'll go back and forth on your views. That's why you'll promote trannies if that's what they want you to promote. You'll promote abortion when it's convenient. You'll be pro-life when it's convenient. That's Donald Trump for you, a fox, cunning, crafty. Now, the sad thing is that many disciples of Christ have been corrupted by the doctrine of Herod, have been corrupted by the leaven of Herod, right? Beware of the leaven of Herod. Look what it says in Ezekiel chapter 13, verse one, And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, hear ye the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God, woe unto the foolish prophets that follow their own spirit and have seen nothing. O Israel, thy prophets are like foxes in the deserts. You've not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord. And so we see today that preachers have become like foxes. Preachers have become clever and cunning and crafty, and it's no wonder when their role model is Herod. I mean, if they're following Herod, if they're in love with Herod, if they're following the cult of personality of Herod, when they're following after political leaders, when they spend more time in talk radio than in the word of God, when they're a pastor of a church, and they're spending more time on the news, more time on Fox News, more time listening to this stuff than they do reading their Bible or listening to Spirit-filled preaching, it's no wonder that they start to become fox-like as well. What am I talking about? I'm talking about preachers, they won't tell you what they believe. They won't come right out and answer a straight question with a straight answer, they answer like a politician. They play all these games, they beat around the bush, they say all these ambiguous things that can be interpreted two different ways so they can kind of please both sides and string along both sides. Folks, I don't want to please both sides. I'm on the Lord's side. And you know, the other side, nuts to them. We're on the Lord's side, we're promoting one side here. We're not trying to fill our church with as many people as we can, no matter what they believe. We don't want people who actually believe the Bible to come to our church. And we want to actually preach clear things from the Bible, not these vague statements that can be interpreted all these different ways, being subtle and clever and cunning. You know, I like what Daniel chapter three records of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, where they just said, well, we're not careful to answer thee concerning this matter. You know, what's the deal? Why aren't you bowing down to this idolatry? Well, you know what? First of all, let me just say this. We're not careful to answer thee concerning this matter. Like, okay, I'm not going to sit here and try to give you an answer that you like. I'm not going to try to talk my way out of this and say something that's going to placate you. I'm just going to tell you right now that our God is able to deliver us from the fiery furnace. And if not, if he doesn't deliver us, we'd rather burn than bow. So, you know, we won't do it. We're not going to bow down to your image. Just go ahead and throw us in the fiery furnace. And that's what I say today in 2021 to our government, go ahead and throw me in the fiery furnace, but I'm not going to accept homos. Throw me in the fiery furnace. Go ahead. I don't care what the Republican party does. I don't care how many queer ambassadors Trump sent to Germany and everywhere else. You know, hey, I'm not interested. I want nothing to do with that death style. And so I'm not going to be come a fox of a preacher. This is not pastor Fox up here. Okay. We are to be steadfast and unmovable. And there's no reason to be all tricky and crafty and hide what we believe. You want to know what I believe? Just ask me a question. I'll give you a straight answer exactly what I believe because I'm not a politician. And I'm sick of pastors acting like politicians. The prophets have become like foxes in the desert. I am in the desert, but I'm not like a fox there. So don't get sucked into the fake religion of political conservatism. It's not real Christianity. It's a fake Christianity. That's the mainstream view. Don't put political views over the word of God. Let's go through some specific views and step on some more toes. How about some specific views where people get their views warped by politicians instead of going with the word of God. You know, how about in the area of warfare? You know, what does the Bible teach? You know, the Bible teaches that we should be peaceful. And the Bible says in James chapter four, verse one, from whence come wars and fightings among you, come they not hence even of your lusts that war in your members? You lust and have not. You kill and desire to have and cannot obtain. You fight and war yet you have not because you ask not. You ask and receive not because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your lust. According to the Bible, warfare comes from greedy people wanting to have things that aren't theirs. You lust and desire to have and you fight and war and kill to get those things. But yet today, many Christians in America, they get all riled up and they want to literally bomb and kill women and children, civilians. Because they get all riled up from the leaven of Herod, they get on Herod's program, they get on Herod's agenda. You know, Jesus Christ came not to destroy men's lives but to save them. Amen. And it's not our job to be caught up in the affairs of this life and to be so worried about who's in charge of some piece of ground over in Europe or the Middle East. Who cares? Hey, we need to be fighting in the Lord's army. We need to be pushing for the things that further the kingdom of God, not just the American empire, 150 bases all over the world, or I'm sorry, bases in 150 countries all over the world, our empire all over the world, and we gotta go seize the oil over here and we gotta seize the opium over here and we've got to just get involved in every fight and every conflict. No, my friend, we should not be pro-war as Christians, it's garbage. I'm all for defense, I'm all for defending ourselves but going to the other side of the world and fighting preemptive battles against our enemies is wicked. It's not, and by the way, killing civilians is wicked too. There, I said it. Killing civilians is not righteous. That's not what the Bible teaches. How can we as New Testament, Bible-believing Christians just get, become these bloodthirsty war hawks that just want to bomb Iran into the Stone Age and kill them all and let God sort them out? That's not a Christian attitude. We should, you know, we should fantasize about evangelizing Iran and not fantasize about nuking Iran. Amen? And by the way, speaking of Iran, you know what? Israel is a nation of Antichrist because the Bible says, who is a liar but he that denies that Jesus is the Messiah. He's Antichrist that denies the Father and the Son. That's what the Bible actually says. So why would we sit there and say, oh, they're God's people. Well, that's because that's what the politicians are telling us. That's what all the Republicans are telling us. You got all the Republicans going over there and putting their hand on that wall and doing their little autistic motion there up against the wall. And let me tell you something, that's not a godly place. That's not a godly practice. That's not a Christian thing to do. Judaism is a religion that denies that Jesus is the Messiah. It's wickedness. But yeah, we're supposed to believe that we're Judeo-Christian. Nope, I'm not Judeo-Christian, just Christian. Amen. Just Christian. Gentile Christian, if anything. Okay, I'm not a Judeo-Christian. Don't tag that on there. Well, you know, we're all kind of worshiping the same God, except them Muslims. Well, hey, you know what? The Muslims aren't worshiping the same God and neither are the Jews. Because you know what the true God, you know what sets them apart? The Trinity. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. If you're not worshiping the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, you're not worshiping God. Because if you deny the Son, you don't have the Father. But he's acknowledged that the Son has the Father also. And so if it's not the Trinity, it's not God. If it's the God of Islam, that's not the Trinity. The God of the Jews isn't the Trinity. If it's not Father Jesus and Holy Ghost, you got the wrong God. It's that simple. But yet today we're taught we must support Israel. We must fight against other nations to protect Israel, to serve the interests of Israel, give money to Israel. Folks, we shouldn't have anything to do with Israel. That's none of our business. That's their problem. Let those people go fight on the other side of the world. We should not get involved in another man's strife. We should not seek to dominate the entire world. That is not our place. But Christians get caught up in this, don't they? At the same time, they also get caught up in the idea that America is better than everyone else. Because that's what the Republican talk radio has been telling them. The American exceptionalism. You know, last time I checked, God doesn't make exceptions and God's not a respecter of persons. And here's what the Bible says about that. All nations before him are as nothing. Wait, that's not strong enough statement. And they're counted to him less than nothing and vanity. So when God looks at America, he doesn't give it a zero. To him, it's like negative one. It's not even a zero. How much does God care about your patriotism? How much does God care about what nation you're from? Or what your skin color is? Or what ethnicity you are? Or what tribe you're from? How much does God care? He doesn't even care zero. He cares in the negative. That means he's like passionate about not caring. You know what I mean? It's not even like he's just like, eh, I don't care, it doesn't matter. He's like, no, it doesn't matter! You know what I mean? He's positive about how negative he is. He said all nations before him are as nothing except the United States. So let's wave the American flag in the church building and sing God bless America and praise our leaders and praise our politicians and praise our nation. Folks, that is not something that belongs in the house of God. Amen. God's house is a place where we exalt the Lord and him alone. We don't exalt a political party. We don't exalt a nation or politics. That is not God's house. We exalt the Lord. We're not gonna let the leaven of Herod come in here and get us all whipped up into a pro-Israel frenzy, get us all whipped up into a pro-war frenzy, get us all going soft on the Sodomites because that's what the politicians do. And after all, I mean, if you wanna get votes in 2021, you can't get up and really rip on the homos, can ya? And get votes in 2021. Guess what? I'm not running for office. I'm not worried about getting votes. Folks, if I were to run for office, I don't care how much money I was given, how much time I got on the TV and I could buy, be like Ross Perot, buy like 30-minute blocks on TV and stuff. Folks, I will not win. I cannot win. I could not win. I would never win. Why? Because of the fact that I'm preaching God's word and the broad is the way that leads to destruction. And so, look, you say, well, that's what they have to do. They're politicians. They have to pander to Sodomites. You know, I've seen inside Donald Trump's heart and he hates queers, believe me. How do you know that? But even so, even if you're gonna make that argument and say like, well, you know, the Republicans, they have to basically pretend to be a little bit degenerate because we're living in a degenerate country. So they have to pretend to be a little bit degenerate too. Okay, fine, but then why don't we keep that world separate from the world of church? Because what you're telling me is that that world has to be corrupt. Politicians have to be corrupt. That's the only way they can get elected is by cheating and lying and stealing and being corrupt and all the dirty money and all the lobbying. That has to be that way. Okay, fine, then it has to be that way. Then you know what? I think I'll just stay out of it because I'm only gonna live on this earth for like 70, 80 years anyway. So I might as well just keep myself pure, just keep myself on the right path and just serve God and worship the Lord and do right. I don't have to get into all this nasty now and now of the political world if it's for sure just has to be, well, it just has to be corrupt, but I don't have to be corrupt because where did God ever command me to be involved in politics? Where did God ever command me to get involved and even have an opinion about many of these things? You know, I'd rather just keep myself pure and just take heed of the leaven of Herod and not let these worldly politicians teach me you know, what to believe about war, what to believe about peace, what to believe about Israel, what to believe about the Sodomites, what to believe about immoral leaders. You know, it's like I was preaching against Donald Trump before he even ran for office. I preached against Donald Trump. You can find sermons of me preaching against Donald Trump from like 2007, but then it's like, oh, well, I better, well, gotta change my beliefs now that he's running for office, right? Folks, I'm not here to please the crowd. The Bible says in Galatians 1.10, for do I now persuade man or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ, yet people like Herod and the politicians of this world please man for a living. It's their job to please men because their goal is to get reelected. So they have this huge people-pleasing element to them. Well, guess what? That's not how pastors are supposed to be. I'm not, if I please men, I'm not supposed to be the servant of Christ, the Bible says. And by the way, go to 2 Corinthians chapter six, if you would, 2 Corinthians chapter six. Let me just unload the whole truck while I'm here. 2 Corinthians chapter six, how about this? Don't team up with or promote false prophets because you like their politics. Don't team up with or promote false prophets because you like their politics. You know, there's something wrong when we just basically drop all boundaries of separation so that we can all rally and unite for politics, especially when it happens in the church house. Let me bring up some examples of this. You know, it's funny, but I was in a great big giant independent fundamental Baptist church for years. And this church was always schmoozing with all the politicians. So they'd always bring in like the mayor and the chief of police and the fire chief and the congressman and the governor. They'd bring in all the worldly politicians into church on Sunday morning and give them awards and honor them and praise them and give them chances to make speeches behind the pulpit in church on Sunday morning, Sunday night, in the house of God, you know, bringing in all these worldly, unsafe politicians. I remember they brought in the mayor of the town and he was Roman Catholic. And he got up and he's telling, I'm sorry, it was the chief of police, because he was talking about how he was in his police car and he flipped over his police car and he almost died. But he said, you know, but if I died, I'm pretty sure I would have gone to heaven because every night I pray this prayer. He unfolds a piece of paper and reads a Catholic prayer. I think I would have gone to heaven because I pray this every night. First of all, number one, if you pray that every night, you wouldn't have to read it off a paper, would you? You big, fat, lying politician. If you pray it every night, why do you have a script? If I prayed something literally every night, that's 365 times for 10 years, that's like 3,650 times and you're still reading it off a script. But number two, if you don't know for sure that you're going to heaven, you know, it sounds like you're not fully trusting Christ because if Christ did everything, if it's all paid for by Christ, how come you're not sure? You're not sure if Jesus really died? Are you not sure he rose from the dead? You know, but typically when people say, well, I think I'm going to heaven, I hope I'm going to heaven, why is it that they say that? It's because they're wondering, am I good enough? Yeah. You know, I've done good, I've done bad, I think I would have gone to heaven. This guy's like, well, I've done a lot of bad stuff, but I pray this prayer every night. I'm in, I made it. You know what that's called, vain repetition. The Bible says, when you pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. You know what that means? They're not going to, they think they're going to be heard. You know what it means when he says they think they shall be heard? What does that actually mean? God's not, is God listening? Hail Mary, full of grace. God's not listening. Our father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. God's not listening. Because if you're just vainly repeating things, you're just chanting, he's not listening. And by the way, if you're not saved, he's not listening. The only prayer that he'll hear from an unsaved person is one either seeking the gospel or confessing that Christ is their savior. You know, he's not gonna, he just hear all your prayers and you're not his child, you got to get saved. This guy's a Roman Catholic. Why is he promoting a false gospel on Sunday morning in an independent Baptist church? But you know, there's another church that's the same way. Out in California, Pastor Jack Treiber. And you know, for decades, they've brought in the politicians and schmoozed them and the police chief and the mayor and the governor and praising the Congress and the city council and oh, they have such a good relationship with all of their local officials. And when I was in Bible college, they taught me, you got to make good relationships with all these local officials. Which okay, I mean, I can see if somebody said, hey, take them out to breakfast or something and try to get along. Okay, I get that. But you know what? Bringing them into the house of God has gone too far. When you're bringing unsaved people and honoring them in the house of God, giving them awards in the house of God, we need to honor Christ. This is God's house, not a political house. But anyway, so he did this for decades. And then during the whole coronavirus thing, when California was saying that churches can't meet or they can't meet indoors or they have to be socially distanced or whatever. And this is a church running thousands of people. So Pastor Jack Treiber gets up and says, you know, I think he didn't meet for a while, but then he gets up and says, we're meeting anyway. We're doing it anyway. We tried to slow the spread and we shut down for a while, but you know what? It's time for us to get back to church. We're just gonna do it anyway. Okay, his local officials that he'd been schmoozing for the last 30 years, right? All of the wining and dining and awards and praising them and how wonderful they are, guess how they repaid him. Does anybody remember the dollar amount? Somebody remember or no? It's like $50,000 a service. They find him like 50 grand in the morning and 50 grand at night. And then he's making all these videos like, please let us have church. We need to have church. They charge us 50 grand in the morning, 50 grand at night. It's like, well, you know what? Here's the lesson to be learned. Guess what you get for desecrating God's house, bringing in all these worthless, ungodly, wicked corrupt politicians and praising them and exalting them and lifting them up in church. Guess what you get for that? You get precisely nothing for that. You get nothing, you receive nothing. And you know, isn't that kind of a poetic justice? Now let's talk about our church. All of our local leadership hates me and hates our church. Pastor Roger Jimenez, his local leaders hate him and hate Verity Baptist Church. He had the police chief of Sacramento screaming at him over the phone, literally screaming at Pastor Jimenez. I mean, and then talk about Pastor Bruce Mejia in El Monte, they basically ran him out of town literally because basically the sodomites blew up his church building. And then basically they wanna go in and fix it and make it structurally sound so that they can have church again. And basically the government gave him a list of stuff that he has to do to meet in that building. It was literally impossible to perform. It was a list of things that were literally impossible. They said like, give us the history of the occupancy of this building for the last 30 years. Tell us about every church that's ever met in this building. It was just like, it was these bizarre requests that were just pages and pages and pages. It was like something that no one could ever achieve. No one could ever get done. So he ended up just moving to another town. Because basically, and this is what I was talking about on the phone, he said, look, it's just the leadership of our city just wants us in a different town. They just want us gone. They just want us in a different city, right? But think about this. You know, here we are faithful, but here's the, it's a blessing anyway cause now he's got a better building, a better gig. That building had issues anyway. There's no parking lot. Now he's got a parking lot, a better building, better setup. All things work together for good to them that love God. But here's the thing, you know, our politicians hate our goods. Our politicians have literally done press conferences in our parking lot where they're like, we're gonna stop this guy. You know, one of our congressmen's like, this guy every six months or so says something hateful. It's like, well, you're not listening to enough of my preaching, okay? But he's like, you know, we're gonna stop him. We're, you know, here we are seven years later or something, six years later and they haven't stopped us. They've called, our city councilman has called our landlord and tried to get him to throw us out of this building. And our landlord said, as soon as you're willing to rent 11,000 square feet from me, let's talk doctrine. But until then, I don't want to talk theology with you. That's how, you know, because it's, you know, but he's like, and he's like, by the way, they signed a five-year lease. I can't just put them out because I don't like his preaching, it's nonsense. That's why I always sign a five-year lease, by the way. It's like, you want to renew? You know, how about three? How about five? How about 10? How about till Jesus comes? But the thing is, you know, the politicians don't support us here. They don't support Pastor Jimenez, but yet, you know, Pastor Jimenez and I are doing just fine. I mean, here we are just preaching away, doing just fine. Do I have any regrets? Not about that at all, because you know what, why should I have schmoozed a bunch of politicians? When the chips are down, they're not going to do anything for you. They're only going to serve themselves in their own interests. Oh, hey, Jack Treiber learned a really powerful lesson the hard way. Politicians don't tell the truth. They're not loyal to you. See, some of us already knew that when we were like knee high to a grasshopper, but he had to get to be like 60 years old or something to figure out politicians aren't honest and they don't stand up for you and they don't have any loyalty to you. They only are loyal to themselves. What a lesson. What does the Bible say? 2 Corinthians 6, verse 14, be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. See, that's what the Bible says, doesn't it? For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness and what communion hath light with darkness? What concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. And God had said, as God had said, I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you and will be a father unto you and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. You know, the Bible says, come out from among them, be ye separate. Don't yoke together with unbelievers. And you know what I'm seeing constantly is basically people promoting pastors who teach a false gospel, who deny the blood of Christ, who teach out of modern corrupted versions of the Bible. But oh, look at the wonderful sand they're taking on corona. And by the way, while I'm making people mad this morning, I just, can we quit whining about corona now that every business is open, there's no masks required in Arizona anymore, every business is open, and guess what? Shock, you didn't have to take the vaccine, it was never mandated. Despite all the people who fear-mongered and said, you're gonna have to get mandatory, they're gonna go door to door to vaccinate you. Did that happen? No, it was never going to happen. I always knew it wasn't gonna happen. I made very few predictions about this, but I said, they're not gonna force you to be vaccinated. Okay, some experimental vaccine. Yeah, I'm sure you, oh, and where's the vaccine passport? Not happening, didn't happen. So is it all right if we go back to things that actually matter now, like the blood of Christ? Or are we still teaming up with the guy who denies the blood of Christ, cause he's right on COVID? Or are we still teaming up with the Ray Comfort guy that believes in a Lordship salvation because he took a sand on COVID? It's not even a biblical issue, by the way, it's not even a biblical sand. Well, you're on the wrong side on coronavirus, you're on the wrong side about COVID. Where in the Bible does it even say which is the right side on that issue? Does the Bible also tell me whether I need to eat at Chipotle or Qdoba? Is that also a biblical issue? Does the Bible define whether Coke or Pepsi is the choice of this generation? Since when is coronavirus a biblical issue? It isn't. It's not, okay? Yet you have people putting aside the things that matter, like the blood of Jesus, like salvation by faith, like the King James Bible, but it's like, let's just line up with this guy who cares if he's a holy roller, tongue talking, lose your salvation guy. Hey man, we need more pastors like this guy. Really? So we need more Charismatics, we need more Lordshippers, we need more phony pastors that deny the blood. As long as they'll go to bat for us on corona. It's baloney is what it is. You can like it or lump it, but it's true. That's not a biblical, that's not a stand that God has commanded us to take. That's not some teaching that God has, and let me prove it to you right now, okay? Let me just leave no stone unturned right now. Let me just prove to you that that's not a biblical issue. Okay? What if, and I understand that coronavirus didn't turn out to be near as deadly as it was initially thought to be. Initially, it seemed like it was gonna be way more deadly. I erred on the side of caution and said, hey, let's just play it safe, better safe than sorry, let's take reasonable precautions, because nobody knew how deadly it was gonna be, and it seemed to be deadlier than it actually turned out to be. So it turned out to be less deadly than I initially thought than a lot of people initially thought. Yeah, did a lot of people die? Yeah, they did, and it's a tragedy, but it was a lot less deadly than what it was originally thought. It was blown up a little bit in the beginning, bigger than what it really was. But here's the thing about that. Let me ask you this. What if, let's do a little thought experiment, shall we? What if there were a virus that was killing, say, one out of three people? What if it had like a 33% mortality? One out of three people who get it die, and it's spreading like wildfire. It's spreading like the flu. It's spread as much as corona. Stop and think about that. Everybody thinking about that? So what if there were, I know corona wasn't like that, but what if it was like some kind of a smallpox or black plague coming through that kills one out of three people? Everybody following me? Everybody got this? Okay, now let me ask you this. Would it be okay to have church from home in that situation and livestream while we're waiting for the plague to be over? Would it be okay to quarantine and lockdown and do all that? Yes or no? Or would you be like, church is essential? Which one is it? Who here thinks in that case, if it were really that bad, yeah, I'd stay home. I'd bolt the door. I mean, dude, I'd be putting plastic in my windows. I'd be spraying Clorox every, would you? If it's like, well, a third of your family is probably gonna die if you don't. Well, church is essential. Government's not gonna tell me what to do. Is that what you would do? Or you'd say no. So then the question is, and I'm not saying that I agree with how the government handled this at all. The government messes up everything they do. Is that, are you also just now figuring that out? But the point is, here's the point though, where do you draw the line? How deadly does it have to get before it becomes okay to say, okay, I'm staying home? Okay, we're livestreaming church. Okay, let's play it safe. Isn't there a point, what if it were 80% deadly? What if it were 90% deadly? I mean, anyone who's not a complete imbecile would agree that at some point you stay home. Am I right or not? Okay, so here's my question then. Then how can this be some biblical issue if it's a big gray area? If nobody knows where the line is, nobody knows where the cutoff is, then how can this be a moral issue? Church is essential. Okay, well, what happens 20 years from now when a real serious plague comes through and then now all of a sudden you're gonna have to eat crow on that? Well, I know I said it was essential, but I'm locking down. Okay. Right? So how can you get up and say, this is a Bible issue, this is a moral issue? You don't even agree with it yourself. You don't even know what you believe. You don't even know where you would draw the line. You don't even know where, why? Because of the fact that it's not a clear-cut Bible issue. And by the way, I preached a sermon on March 1st, 2020 before any of this even got big at all, I preached a sermon called Coronavirus and I laid out biblical principles and I stood by my biblical principles because biblical principles don't change based on the circumstances. I laid down biblical principles and I said what I believed and what our church stood for and I stood by those beliefs. But what I was supposed to do is change my beliefs based on the circumstances, change my view of the word of God and jump on a bandwagon and get all fired up and get all Republican-ed up and get all riled up about corona and the lockdown and things that I have no control over. You know, I've had a pretty happy last couple of years. I had a pretty good week. I had a good month. And the thing is, I don't really care what happens out there because you know what? God blesses me through all of it and God's gonna bless you if you love the Lord. It's all gonna work together for good. You know, can we stop whining about corona now that it's pretty much over in Arizona as far as we know? Now if it starts up again, then I'll give you permission to start whining again if you wanna be a sniveling, annoying whiner. But here's the thing, but as of right now, what in the world is happening to you right now in Arizona because of coronavirus to make you whine about it right now? Anything? I mean, because like, I'm going to the gym and I'm not wearing a mask and I'm lifting weights, I'm swimming, laps in the gym, no mask, nobody cares. You know what the worst thing that happens to me when I go to the gym? They take my temperature on the way in. It's horrible, it's abuse, it's abusive. They point a gun at me. They put a gun to my head every time I go to the gym. It's like, beep, okay, you're good. You know, I'm going to restaurants, not wearing a mask, doing whatever, going out to eat, going to the gym, riding my bike, going soul winning. Soul winning is no issue. Church is no issue. Here we are, we're having church, everything's good. But darn that coronavirus. And don't you know that there's a pastor in Timbuktu who preaches a false gospel who's being persecuted right now over corona? And I can't believe more people aren't saying something about it. Don't you know there's a false teacher, a false prophet, a guy who's preaching a false gospel in another country is being persecuted right now because of corona? Where are you on this, Pastor Anderson? Number one, I don't team up with unsaved false prophets. Number one. Number two, I don't promote the videos and YouTube channels of unsaved false prophets. Because to me, I would rather that whatever good thing they have in that video is not worth promoting someone who teaches lies about salvation. Because I don't wanna be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Now look, I understand people do this ignorantly, but if I know that somebody's not saved, I can't team up with that person. But the leaven of Herod says, let's all unite because it's all about the cause. It's all about the politics. It's all about getting Trump elected. It's all about getting Republicans in office. It's all about fighting the corona scam, the corona hoax. Yeah, you know, it's funny how almost every week somebody comes up to me and tells me of a loved one that died of corona. And you know what I say to people sometimes when they come to me if I know that this won't offend them? When people come to me and tell me that a loved one died of corona, I often say to them, well, didn't you just tell them it's a hoax? Then they wouldn't have died of it. How could they have died of corona? Corona's a hoax. It's the flu. Folks, when you are getting all into that issue and now all of a sudden you're against men of God, and by the way, I can't even count how many people have said I'm never listening to Pastor Anderson again because he's on the wrong side of the corona issue. It's all over YouTube, it's all over Facebook. I'm done with Pastor Anderson. He's on the wrong side of corona. Well, you know what, bye. Bye. Because you know what, I don't care about that issue. I've never, that's never been a big issue for me because it's not a clear issue in the word of God. You're gonna have a hard time proving to me that it's a mask mandate. Where does the Bible say not to wear a mask? Where does the Bible say that? But you have people making this some kind of a hill to die on or a Bible issue. You know, last time I checked, people who had leprosy in the book of Leviticus were supposed to cover their upper lip and say unclean. Well, guess what, they're covering their upper lip that's talking about basically putting on a mask. And you say, well, that's because they had leprosy. They weren't well people, they were sick people. Okay, okay, right? Okay, fair. Sick people, right? But what's the purpose of the mask? Well, that's impossible because the mask doesn't work. Because YouTube told me that the mask doesn't work. Facebook said the mask doesn't work. Haven't you seen the memes about how the mask doesn't work? The mask does completely nothing. It does absolutely nothing. No, no, no, the mask doesn't work! Can't prevent anything. Okay, then why did God tell lepers to wear it then if it doesn't prevent anything? Can you explain that? Hmm? Because guess what? Yeah, obviously the virus can get through the mask. But less virus gets through the mask. And if you could come up and see my pulpit right now, I could show you spit all over my pulpit right now. There is literal spit on my pulpit right now. There is a bubbly spit right here. And let me tell you something, if I were wearing a mask, that wouldn't be there. You know, it keeps the snot and the spit from flying. And you say, well yeah, but where do you stand on the mask mandate? I don't stand on it at all, I lay on it. I don't stand, I sit down. I don't stand on it because I don't care. Where do you stand on the rivalry between the White Sox and the Cubs, huh? Where do you stand? I don't, I don't care. Hey, I'm not in charge of the city, I'm not in charge of the state, I'm not in charge of this country, so I don't care. If they say that we have to wear the mask, I'm just gonna wear the stupid mask because it's not a sin. If they tell me that I can't preach against sodomites, I'm gonna go tell them to jump in a lake. They tell me I can't do soul winning, I'm gonna tell them to jump in a lake. But if they tell me some health thing, I'm just gonna do it because I don't care. Now look, I'm not here to preach what's popular or what people like or jump on the band. This would be a much more popular sermon if I were just railing on the government and just ripping on the mask mandates and whatever. But you know what, I am not going to let politics and social media and the Republicans tell me what to believe. I'm gonna get what I believe from the Bible. And so if you wanna know what I believe about coronavirus, I believe the exact same thing I believed before the pandemic, which I preached on March 1st, 2020. So you could always go back and listen to my sermon from March 1st, 2020, you can get all my beliefs and that's still where I stand. Now look, you say, yeah, but you admitted you were wrong about the pandemic, it wasn't as bad. You know what, you're right, I was wrong about how deadly it was, I was wrong. And as a result of me being wrong, no one died and no one got hurt and everything's fine. Because I erred on the side of caution, I played it safe. I have no regrets. I wouldn't go back and change it because I like to take a stand on stuff. It's not the stand that maybe you wanted me to take, but it's the stand that I took on biblical principle. And so I kind of went off on a tangent there, but I don't regret that either. So let me just close with this, the Bible says, he charged them saying, take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the leaven of Herod. In doctrine show uncorruptness, make sure your doctrine stays pure and you never let politicians lead you away from sound biblical doctrine. Don't let politicians or a political movement or your libertarianism or your republicanism or conservatism, Christianity must trump all that. Christianity, the Bible is number one. And so, you know, I'm not against you participating in a political movement as long as it's always in the backseat to the word of God. And you beware of that, don't get so into supporting Herod that all of a sudden you find yourself, I mean, have you ever found yourself in a conversation defending Trump's perverted statements or defending his lifestyle or defend, and then I haven't, but I'll bet some of you have been in that, you found yourself defending sinful things cause you're just so loyal to Trump or you're so loyal to whatever. And I'm telling you everybody, I'm just gonna come right out and say it. Everybody who is saying that this pandemic is some kind of a stand for God and a biblical issue and whatever, you know, is a hypocrite because if it were a black plague, they would all be singing a different tune. And last time I checked right and wrong doesn't fluctuate with statistics. It's either right or it's wrong. And so if different people draw the line at different points of what they're gonna cooperate with, what's reasonable, that's just a matter of personal opinion. That's a preference. That's not a conviction. It's not a biblical doctrine. So let's parades and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord. Help us all to be aware of the false religions that are out there, the leaven of the Pharisees, but also Lord help us to be aware of the leaven of Herod. And Lord, there are so many voices out there to get us riled up about this issue or that issue. Help us always to keep the main thing the main thing and to remember that your house is about you and your word and your doctrine. Help it not to become a thinly veiled political rally or a thinly veiled conspiracy club. Lord, help it to always focus on the word, even when we are maybe involved in political movements or exposing fraud and conspiracy. Lord, help it always to take a backseat to biblical doctrines and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.