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Healthy pregnancy and delivery. Got some soul. Can not be man seen, beside the golden shore. Oh, there, he's no sweeter than he ever was before. Amen. Good singing, everyone. Go in your hymnals now to hymn 175, hymn number 175. It's just like his great love. Hymn number 175. Let's sing it out nice and strong on that first hymn, number 175. A friend I have called Jesus, whose love is strong and true. 175, sing it out. A friend I have called Jesus, whose love is strong and true. And never fails now with his love, no matter what I do. I've sinned against his love of his, but when I yell to pray, confessing all my guilt to him, the same I roll away. It's just like Jesus, to roll the clouds away. It's just like Jesus, to keep me day by day. It's just like Jesus, all along the way. It's just like his great love. Sometimes the clouds of trouble within the sky above. I cannot see my Savior's face. I doubt his wondrous love. But he from heaven's mercy see, beholding my despair. In many births the clouds be sweet, and shows me he is there. It's just like Jesus, to roll the clouds away. It's just like Jesus, to keep me day by day. It's just like Jesus, all along the way. It's just like his great love. When sorrows, trials o'er take me, and break upon my head. When life seems worse than useless, and I were better dead. Do I take my grief to Jesus then, or do I go in pain? For that we hope he gives that cheer. Like sunshine after rain. It's just like Jesus, to roll the clouds away. It's just like Jesus, to keep me day by day. It's just like Jesus, all along the way. It's just like his great love. Oh, I could sing forever of Jesus, the Divine. Of all his care and tenderness, for this whole life of mine. His love is in and over all, and waves and waves obey. When Jesus whispers peace be still, and blows the clouds away. It's just like Jesus, to roll the clouds away. It's just like Jesus, to keep me day by day. It's just like Jesus, all along the way. It's just like his great love. Amen. Amen. Amen. All right, now we'll pass the offering plates around. As the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles to Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter number 6. As we always do, we'll read the entire chapter, beginning in verse number 1. We'll follow along silently with brother Nick as he reads Matthew chapter 6, starting in verse number 1. Matthew chapter 6, the Bible reads, Take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of them, otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore, when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thine alms may be in secret, and thy Father, which seeth in secret himself, shall reward thee openly. And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray, standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet. And when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them, for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him, after this manner therefore pray ye. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth, and earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Moreover, when ye fast, be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face, that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. He cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body more than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin. Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first, and ye shall be clothed. For after all these things do the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Father in heaven, thank you for your son Jesus Christ and the earnest of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of your children. Thank you for faith for Baptist Church, and I pray that you please bless Pastor Anderson with the fullness and the power of the Holy Spirit so that we your children would grow in the faith and in your word so that we can be better servants for you. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Amen. The title of my sermon this morning is Trash Wednesday. Trash Wednesday. This Wednesday was a fake bogus Roman Catholic hocus pocus holiday known as Ash Wednesday where hellbound hypocrites went and got a little ashen cross painted on their foreheads so everyone would see how godly they are as they fast their way straight to hell worshiping in a pagan idolatrous cult. Now the Bible says in Matthew 6 verse 16 Moreover when ye fast, be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance for they disfigure their faces that they may appear on demand to fast verily I say unto you they have their reward but thou when thou fastest, anoint thine head and wash thy face that thou appear not unto men to fast but unto thy father which is in secret and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. My friend, the Roman Catholics disregard everything, literally everything that Jesus Christ taught. They are not Christians. They do not follow the Bible. They don't care what Christ taught. They are in love with themselves and their faggot pope. You say why are you called the pope of faggot? Because these Catholic priests are a bunch of faggots and then they basically just whichever one they decide gets to go to that top position and be the blasphemous vicar of hell on earth. The Bible says in verse number 5 and when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets that they may be seen of men verily I say unto you they have their reward but thou when thou prayest enter into thy closet and when thou has shut thy door pray to thy father which is in secret and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. Catholicism is all about this fake outward show of religiosity even as within they are full of hypocrisy and dead men's bones. It is an evil satanic cult. The pope is an anti-Christ. They are worshipping idols. They are worshipping Satan. They are worshipping demons when they pray to the saints. They are worshipping a demon when they pray to the queen of heaven so called praying to Mary. No, they are praying to a female demon is what they are praying to. And let me tell you something. I'm sick and tired of Christians somehow thinking that Catholics are okay or that being Roman Catholic is okay or that it's not a big deal. You know I've been in a Baptist church where they said the pope was saved. I know evangelical Christians say well you know yeah they're wrong about stuff but the churches are so pretty and oh you know it's so they've done some good things over here about abortion or whatever. No my friend, they're trash. Okay, it is a wicked satanic evil religion. Is it funny to burn people at the stake for translating the Bible into the common language because that's what the Roman Catholic Church did. The Roman Catholic Church burned men at the stake for just trying to put the scripture in people's hands because if the scripture would get in people's hands they'd realize what a load of garbage the Roman Catholic Church has been telling them. And let me tell you something. The thing that's bizarre in 2024 is that people can actually read and write and they're still Catholic. Like you have to be a special kind of stupid when you actually have the Bible in your language and you're still Catholic. You can literally open the Bible and read. Don't fast openly like a public hypocrite. Call no man father upon this earth for one is your father which is in heaven. You can actually read that the Bible says for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast. And then you're still Catholic? Why? Because you don't care what the Bible says. Because you don't care what Jesus Christ said. Because you don't care what the truth is. Because you like that satanic evil idolatrous cult. It's going to take you straight to hell. How can anyone still be Catholic in 2024 in the age of the internet? How can anyone be a Mormon in the age of the internet? How can anyone be a Jehovah's Witness in the age of the internet? Because they hate the truth and they love lies that's why. Catholicism is an outward show. When thou prayest enter into thy closet. That's why we don't have a prayer room. That's why we don't have a prayer hallway. That's why we don't get together and pray together for hours because we pray by ourselves. Because you know what? Praying by yourself is where the majority of prayer is supposed to take place. That's the real prayer. Not like, oh we're just going to kind of leave the doors of the church open 24 hours a day so people can just kind of come in and light a candle and pray that way everybody can see that they're praying. Or do you think that God lives in temples made with hands? Last time I checked heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain the Lord God Almighty. God doesn't dwell in temples made with hands. And so no, you don't have to go visit God at his house to go pray to him. You can pray to God literally anywhere. The purpose of going to a house to go pray is so you can be seen by everybody doing it. That's why. And look, I'm not against praying publicly. I'm not against praying for your food or praying in church. But you know what? The majority of prayer takes place somewhere else. When you pray, you go enter into your closet and pray to your Father in secret. You don't just keep showing up at the building to just keep praying over and over. Hey, look. I mean, can you imagine somebody just coming here say between the morning and evening service just on their knees up here just praying for hours? You know what? I'd say they're a big time hypocrite. Because if they wanted to pray for a few hours they could do that anywhere but they're doing it here just so that we'll all see them. Or because they have some kind of a voodoo superstitious hocus pocus feeling about the building that we're sitting in right now or any building. And you know what? This building in a strip mall with fluorescent lights and a low drop tile ceiling is every bit as holy as some stone stained glass cathedral from the dark ages. You know, that's why the Bible says beware of the scribes. This is Jesus talking. Beware of the scribes which love to go in long clothing. They love to go in long clothing and they love salutations in the marketplace. Don't they love to go in long clothing? Their flowing robes, their long clothes. Why can't they dress like a normal person? They wear long clothing because they're evil. Because they're hypocrites. Because they're fake. And you know, any religion that puts on a wizard suit it's because they're a sorcerer. Sorcerers wear a wizard suit. That's why they're wearing that outfit. That's why they go in that long clothing. Because they're a literal Satanist. They're a literal sorcerer. And when they're not molesting little boys they're praying to Satan. Literally. Luke 20 verse 46. Beware of the scribes which desire to walk in long robes. And when thou hast shut thy door pray to thy Father which is in secret and thy, or sorry I skipped a verse there. Beware of the scribes which desire to walk in long robes and love greetings in the markets and the highest seats in the synagogues and the chief rooms at feasts. They love to go in long robes. They love to go in long clothing. And then pray tell me this. Why are Baptists having Sunday School materials with Jesus in long robes? Can somebody explain that to me? When Jesus literally rebuked the prophets rebuked the teachers rebuked the preachers rebuked the scribes the Pharisees and the Sadducees for wearing long clothing for wearing long robes. And then you're going to show me a picture of Jesus in a long robe. Jesus in long clothing. Sounds to me like you don't care what the Bible says. And quit showing Jesus with long hair when the Bible says it's a shame for a man to have long hair. But then you're going to portray the Son of God, Jesus Christ as a man with long hair in a long robe. No, it's because he was portrayed that way or painted that way or drawn that way by a bunch of pagan idolatrous Roman Catholics who want to have Jesus in the long robes because they desire to go in long robes. And they put him in long hair because they are effeminate. And long hair on men is effeminate. So why don't you get a haircut and look like a man? You say, well, how long is long? Well, you know, I'm not trying to see how effeminate I can be before someone calls me out. Just keep getting my hair longer and longer until somebody finally says, bro, you're starting to look like a girly man. I don't need to wait for that to happen. I'm just going to get a haircut. But back to Matthew chapter 6, the Bible says in verse 7, but when you pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Vain repetitions are what the heathen use, chanting the same words over and over again. They become meaningless. Be not ye therefore like unto them. Look, why would I want to do anything to resemble this evil pagan idolatrous cult, the Roman Catholic Church? You say, well, how is it a cult? Well, I don't know. Anytime you put a human on this earth and put him as the supreme authority, that's a cult, isn't it? I mean, isn't that what makes Mormonism a cult? Isn't that what makes the Seventh-day Adventists a cult, right, with Ellen G. White and the Mormons? They've got their prophet Joseph Smith that trumps whatever the Bible says. Islam's got Mohammed that trumps whatever the Bible says. Well, you know, the pope can just stand up in the middle of the 20th century and say that Mary ascended into heaven when the Bible says Jesus ascended into heaven, and we're all supposed to just believe that, because it's a cult, that's why. It's a cult where you go every Sunday or every day and eat human flesh and drink human blood. That's what they say. They claim that they are literally eating human flesh and drinking human blood, and they're following the pope as the supreme leader on earth, what he says trumps the Bible. Oh, but they're not a cult, right? It's funny, if I had a group of 400 people and we said, all right, we're going to get together, eat human flesh, drink blood, and what I say is from the mouth of God, people would say I was a cult, but I guess you just get a billion of them and all of a sudden it's not a cult anymore. Don't use vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them, for your father knoweth what things you have need of before you ask him. Look, you don't have to be long-winded in your prayers to God. God knows what you have need of before you ask him. You just get on your knees, you pray to God, you say what you need to say, you tell him what's on your mind, you tell him what you need. In Jesus' name, amen. You don't have to repeat yourself over and over again. If you have more to say, say more. If you have less to say, say less. But there's no reason to chant like a pagan, like a Hindu. And you know what's funny is that the Hindus, they have their little beads too. They have little prayer beads that they go through and everything, why? Because Roman Catholicism is pagan, so they borrowed a lot from pagans, including Hindus. Your father knoweth what things you have need of before you ask him. After this manner therefore pray ye, our father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Now notice, after this manner therefore pray thee. What does that mean after this manner? It means in this way, in this style. Here's the way that you pray. He just finished saying not to use vain repetitions, but to pray in this style. And here's what they do. They chant this exact prayer as a vain repetition. And they just say, our father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, and earth is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. For thy eyes the kingdom and the glory, the power and honor, amen. It's garbage, my friend. And then they have their other little prayer. Hail Mary, full of grace. Swing those beads all over the place. Swing them high, swing them low. Swing them Mary, go, go, go. You say that's sacrilegious. Oh what is Mary God? Did you stumble into the wrong church this morning? Because we don't worship Mary. We don't care. She's just a person. She's just a human. We worship God. We worship the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. There's one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. They're not praying to Mary, the mother of Jesus. Mary, the mother of Jesus, up in heaven is disgusted by the trash that they're doing on this earth. She doesn't want you praying to her. They're praying to some Babylonian, Ashtoreth, queen of heaven is who they're praying to. Some demon. The Bible says after this manner, pray ye. Don't pray this exact prayer enchanted. Over and over again. Now turn if you would to 1 Timothy chapter 4. So Ash Wednesday, which I call trash Wednesday, is where people on this Wednesday, many weeks before Easter, they go to have a sorcerer put a little ashen cross upon their forehead so that everybody can know how they're fasting. And this is what their fasting is. They give up something for several weeks. You know, they give up social media or they give up, you know, worldly music or they give up chocolate or they give up ice cream or they give up, I don't know, watching sports or something. You know, they just give up some random thing, okay? Video games or something. But then also during this time, they every single Friday abstain from meat. Now, so I googled this Meatless Friday. Before I read for you the first result that popped up when I googled Meatless Friday, let's go ahead and read the scripture in 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 1. The Bible says, Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter time some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. You say, Pastor Anderson, I think you're going a little overboard. I think you're a little carried away saying it's satanic. And yet the Bible literally says that these are doctrines of devils. Now the of there is a source. It's saying these are doctrines that have come from devils. Devils have taught these doctrines. These are demon-motivated doctrines. But I'm exaggerating to say it's satanic. I'm exaggerating to say that it's wicked, that it's evil, and that the Pope is the vicar of hell on earth. It says in verse 1, The Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. So forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats. Forbidding to marry, that's your celibate priesthood. Right? When the Bible says the bishop must be the husband of one wife, they say the bishop cannot be the husband of one wife. Why? Because they believe exactly the opposite of what the Bible says. The bishop must be the husband and wife. They forbid the bishop to be married. And they command to abstain from meats because they have this meatless Friday, no eating meat on Friday. So I googled meatless Friday and this is the first result that came up and this is an official Roman Catholic website, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and this article is from 2024. So this is up to date, current, this year from a Roman Catholic website. Here's what it says. Catholics abstain from flesh meat on days of penance such as Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and the Fridays of Lent. In recognition of Friday as the day of the crucifixion, canon law calls for abstinence from eating meat on all Fridays of the year. Did you hear that? Canon law requires abstinence from meat on all Fridays of the year, every single Friday. The bishops of the United States have determined that outside of the Fridays of Lent, Catholics may choose to substitute another penance that is particularly meaningful to them, although they continue to recommend abstinence on Fridays for all Catholics. Abstinence from meat is required for all Catholics age 14 and older and has no upper age limit. So, what is the problem? Commanding to abstain from meats. 1 Timothy. Abstinence from meat is required. Commanding to abstain from meats. Abstinence from meat is required. Commanding to abstain from meats. Abstinence from meat. Abstinence from meat. Commanding to abstain from meats. Abstinence from meat is required. Required. Commanding to abstain from meats. Abstinence from meat is required. Like, everybody understand the point? Now here are three things wrong with meatless Friday. Number one, Jesus wasn't crucified on a Friday for those of us who can do math because the Bible says that he was dead for three days and three nights. And if you can, you don't have to get past first grade to be able to figure out that it is literally impossible to find three nights between Friday and Sunday. I don't care how you count this. You got Friday night and Saturday night. Are you going to include Sunday night? That's not going to work. Are you going to include Thursday night? Not going to work. If Jesus Christ died on Friday, it is literally impossible to even get one second or one minute of a third night. And yet Jesus Christ repeatedly made this statement about being dead, being in the grave, being in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. But yet the Roman Catholics teach this false doctrine that Jesus Christ was crucified on a Friday, number one. But then again, since when would they care about what the Bible says? Number two, abstaining from meat is not a virtue. Unless you're some vegan lip-tard, when did not eating meat become a virtue? When did it become more righteous not to eat meat? Are you Hindu? What in the new age wizardry are we talking about here that it's somehow godly not to eat meat? You know, last time I checked, the godly man Abel was a keeper of the sheep and he ate animal products. He ate meat. And don't give me this stuff about nobody ate meat before the flood because it's wrong. I've already debunked that in other sermons. The bottom line is Cain is the one who's all vegan-ed out with all the fruits and vegetables. All throughout history, all throughout the Bible, there were lots of examples of God's people being pastoral people taking care of sheep, goats, cattle. Look at Job's wealth. Job's the most righteous man on the planet. You think he's eating a little bit of meat with that list of animals in Job chapter 1? Folks, the children of Israel are commanded to eat meat as a Passover lamb. They literally were commanded to eat that lamb. So where does this idea that abstaining from meat is a virtue? It's not in the Bible. So number one, Christ wasn't crucified on Friday. Number two, abstaining from meat is not a virtue. And number three, commanding to abstain from meat is a literal doctrine of devils. It's literally something that is taught by demons. So why would I want to have a demonic doctrine in my church? Hey, Lutherans. You listening, Lutherans? Because you know what the Lutherans are? They're doing Ash Wednesday all the same junk. You know what they really are? They're Lutheran Catholics. There's Roman Catholics. There's East Orthodox Catholics. There's Lutheran Catholics. There's Anglican Catholics. And you know what? That's what they are. And why would they want to celebrate this weird Ash Wednesday or Meatless Friday or any of this stuff when the Bible says to abstain from all appearance of evil? Like, why would we want to have some Baptist version of Ash Wednesday? I looked it up online. There are Baptists doing Ash Wednesday. Baptists are doing Ash Wednesday. Well, you know, it's just something different for us. No. We're not going to do Ash Wednesday because we don't want to be like unto them. The pagans, the idolaters, they chant and they do these things and we don't want to be like unto them and so we're going to abstain from those things. So I found four mentions of ashes in the New Testament. Let's look at all of them. If you would, flip over to Luke chapter 10. While you're turning to Luke chapter 10, I'll read for you from Matthew 11 verse 21. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Zidun, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. So Jesus is talking about these cities where many great sermons had been preached and many great miracles of Christ have been done and he's saying, man, if those mighty works would have been done in Tyre and Zidun, they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes, unlike you guys. Verse 13 of Luke chapter 10 is very similar. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Zidun, which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented sitting in sackcloth and ashes. So sackcloth and ashes has to do with extreme sorrow. And of course, repentance and sorrow go hand in hand. Why? Because if you repent of something, it means you're going to change what you're doing or change the way that you think or change. So basically, obviously, in order to change something, often you're saying like, oh man, I wish I hadn't have done it this other way or man, I really screwed up and maybe you feel bad about it because it's sad that you were doing it wrong. You know, think about how many times people have come and made something right with a loved one and maybe they're crying, oh, I'm so sorry I offended you, I'm sorry I hurt you and you know, I'm going to do better now, I'm going to change or whatever, right? So you can see how repenting in sackcloth and ashes is not only are they going to repent, meaning they're going to change their mentality or change their course of action, you know, depending on the context. Not only are they going to change, but I mean, they're also emotional about that. He's saying, man, they would have, he's basically using this to show how their repentance is really extreme. Like, man, not only would they repent, man, they would have been repentant in sackcloth and ashes. Like, they would have been emotional about it. They would have been really, really repentant. Does everybody understand the idea here? But what does this mean, though, to repent in sackcloth and ashes? Well, let me read for you some Old Testament scriptures to shed some light on this because this is something that happens throughout the Old Testament. Jeremiah 6 26, O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth and wallow thyself in ashes. Now, what does the word mean to wallow? This is what a pig does in the mud, right? Rolling around and getting really dirty. O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth and wallow thyself in ashes. Make thee mourning as for an only sun, most bitter lamentation, for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us. So the idea here is that basically someone loses their only sun and they're so upset that they're literally rolling around in the dirt because they're just so upset. Does everybody understand? And the reason ashes are chosen is because ashes make you look dirtier than anything else, right? Because they're going to make your skin literally black, okay? And so if you roll in ashes versus rolling in dirt, the ashes are going to make you way dirtier than any mud bath because, you know, you could get out of the mud and just quickly hose off, but the ashes, man, you're going to be scrubbing because you're going to have all that black and soot, it's going to stain you. And so there's a total disregard for hygiene, disregard for appearance, disregard for clothing, just putting on the most uncomfortable garment, getting as dirty as possible because basically you're mirroring how you feel on the inside onto the outside. You're just, you're so upset that you don't want to look all nice and, you know, so you're wallowing in ashes and covered in dirt and wearing the most uncomfortable clothing imaginable because what is sackcloth? It's just what it sounds like, sackcloth, so like a potato sack. If you've ever done a potato sack race, it's that very rough, coarse material, it's cheap, it's durable, and so putting that on is uncomfortable, it's scratchy, it's ugly, it's just something that is not pleasant. And so you're just so upset, you're showing how upset you are on the inside by mirroring that on the outside by literally wallowing in ashes. Listen to Jeremiah 25, 34, howl ye shepherds and cry. Now what does it mean to howl and cry? Basically these people are so upset that they're literally wailing, screaming, you know. I remember one time I was in South Chicago and someone was shot and their loved one was just wailing and screaming and over the corpse of this one who had just been shot because they just lost a loved one and they're just shrieking and howling and wailing. And that's what God's talking about here. Howl ye shepherds and cry, wallow yourselves in the ashes ye principle of the flock, for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished and ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel. So notice, howl, cry, wallow yourselves in ashes. Listen to Ezekiel 27, 30, and shall cause their voice to be heard against thee and shall cry bitterly, watch this, and shall cast up dust upon their heads, they shall wallow themselves in the ashes. Jonah 3, 6, for word came unto the king of Nineveh and he arose from his throne, he laid his robe from him, his nice clothes, right, and covered him with sackcloth and sat in ashes. Now what happens when you sit in ashes? You're going to get dirty. I mean imagine going to the campfire after it's been put out and it's just an ash pit and you go sit in it. You're ruining your clothes, you're getting dirty, it's gross. And then how about you wallow around in it for a bit? That's what the Bible's talking about. Is the Bible talking about just, oh, hey, let me just paint a cute little cross on your forehead out of ashes? You repentant little thing, you. That's not repentance at all. Hey, I have an idea. Why don't you repent of idolatry? Why don't you repent of disregarding everything that Christ says in the Bible? Because you know the Bible says, who so turneth his ear away from hearing the law? Even his prayer is an abomination. The Bible says your prayers to God are an abomination if you don't listen to the Bible. If you disregard what the Bible says and then you go pray to God, your prayers are an abomination. God's not listening. He doesn't want to listen. He hates your prayers. He hates your solemn feast, your solemn assemblies. He hates your Fat Tuesday, your Ash Wednesday, your Good Friday, your Palm Sunday, all of your fake trash. Oh, and by the way, the ashes? Well, I'm getting ahead of myself because the ashes that they use aren't even the right ashes. Not even the right ashes. Let's go forward here and look at Hebrews chapter 9 because we want to look at the last mention of, actually we have two more mentions of ashes, I believe, in the New Testament. We want to talk about all mentions of ashes. So the first mention of ashes was, you know, they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes twice. They would have repented in sackcloth and ashes. And we saw that's a sorrow for sin where you're wallowing in the dirt, wallowing in the ashes, because you're so upset, you're so scared of God's judgment, and you're so upset about what you've done that you just have an utter disregard for yourself and your clothing and you just get dirty like someone who's mourning for their own son or something like that. Then the third mention of ashes, it says in Hebrews chapter 9 verse 12, Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctify it to the purifying of the flesh, how much more should the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Now notice here that the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean is lumped in with animal sacrifices. Right in the Old Testament, they had a ritual system of animal sacrifices, people being clean, people being unclean, Levitical priesthood, all those things in the Old Testament that are done away in Christ. Now specifically, here's what the Bible says about that the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean. You know, if you want to look that up in the Old Testament, you're there in Hebrews 9, but back in Numbers 19 it says that if someone is unclean from touching a dead body or a bone of a man or a grave, they're unclean seven days, and then it says in verse 17, and for an unclean person they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification for sin, and running water shall be put there into in a vessel, and a clean person shall take hiss up and dip it in water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and so on and so forth. And so what they do is, as part of our ritual of purification, they would kill a heifer, an animal sacrifice, which pictures the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ dying for our sins. They would do a burnt offering, they would burn this heifer, they would do an animal sacrifice, they would burn the heifer, and then they would take the ashes from the burnt heifer, and then they would sprinkle that as a symbol of a person's purification. Okay, so, there's literally no way to try to connect this to Ash Wednesday. Like somebody's unclean in the old- if you were to try to say, oh well we should still be doing this, then at that point you're just a total Judaizer trying to bring us back under the law, you want to do animal sacrifices and so forth. Because they don't use of course burnt ashes from an animal, they use burnt palm branches. You know, because of Palm Sunday. So then they just burn the palm branches for next year's Ash Wednesday, and put these, again, plant-based ashes upon the forehead, as opposed to an animal-based ash, which is what was prescribed in the Old Testament for purification of not people so that they could get saved, or go to heaven, or be spiritually pure, but if they were physically impure from touching a dead body, touching something gross, then they would have to go through a process of cleaning, and then symbolically they would get sprinkled with these ashes to symbolize their purification from that uncleanness. And so it says in verse 13, if the blood of bulls and of goats, let's talk about animal sacrifices that are done away in Christ, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctified to the purifying of the flesh, see we're talking about cleansing the flesh because you touched a dead body, you touched a human bone, you touched something gross. It says, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. So Christ's blood replaces the blood of bulls and of goats, right? In the New Testament we don't do animal sacrifices, we don't sprinkle the ashes of a heifer. That's been replaced by faith in Christ's blood shed once for all. Jump down to verse 24. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us, nor yet that he should offer himself often as the high priest enterth into the holy place every year with blood of others. For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world, but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And you know the Roman Catholics, they believe that Christ is being crucified over and over again and that Christ is being sacrificed over and over again. Every time they perform the mass, it's like another sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It's blasphemy, it's pagan, it's of the devil, other than that it's wonderful. But it says, as is appointed unto men once to die, verse 27, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. We don't need a continual process of Christ dying for us, or Christ being sacrificed, or Christ somehow atoning for us. It's already done. It happened 2,000 years ago. He suffered and died once for our sins, and we are eternally saved. He procured eternal redemption for us, the Bible says. Eternal salvation. Saved forever is what that means by faith in Christ. That's what the Bible says. And now let's go to the fourth mention of ashes in the Bible, 2 Peter 2, sorry, in the New Testament. So, New Testament, I mean look, New Testament Christianity. Where's Ash Wednesday? I looked up every time ashes are mentioned. It talked about some cities that would have repented in sackcloth and ashes, literally meaning that they're going to go out and roll in the dirt, not saying that they're going to paint some little, hey look at me everybody, I'm a Hollywood actor, and I'm going on a talk show, talking about my faith, worshipping Satan over here. And let me tell you something, every single Roman Catholic is going to hell. Every last one of them. Now look, it's true that somebody could attend a Roman Catholic church and be saved if they're just a total compromised, total, I don't know, just whatever, just to please someone else, they're just going through the motions, but anybody who's a Roman Catholic in their heart isn't saved. How can you be saved if you're a Catholic? Catholicism teaches works for salvation. How can you be saved trusting in your own works? So anybody, and look, I knocked on the door of a lady a couple weeks ago, and she said that she's Catholic, and then she gave me all the right answers on salvation and whatever, and she's saying that she believes in Christ, and that it's not of works, and that you can't lose it. I said, you're not Catholic. And she's like, yeah, I don't ever go, and I listen to, she listened to evangelical Christian radio all day, which is not Catholic. She doesn't go to the Catholic church, but once in a blue moon, she says, oh, I don't agree with the Catholics on this, I don't believe in their doctrine, then you're not Catholic. So somebody might say they're a Catholic, but you know, when I say Catholic, I mean somebody who believes in Catholicism. I mean, what did you think if somebody said, I'm Buddhist? What would that mean to you? They believe in Buddhism. What if somebody said, I'm Baptist. What would that mean? I believe in the Bible. What if somebody said, I'm Methodist. They believe in the Methodist religion, right? I'm Presbyterian. They believe in Presbyterianism, right? Isn't that what you would interpret that as? It's not like a race, it's not an ethnicity, right? So if somebody says, I'm Catholic, you know, then you'd expect that to mean that that's what they believe in, and that's why I would say, no one who's Catholic is going to heaven, because Catholicism is not salvation. Trusting in your own works is not going to get you to heaven. You can't go to heaven by confessing your sins to a priest, genuflecting, crossing yourself, putting ashes on your head, and going through all of these rituals and all of this junk. That's not going to save you. And look, we talk to Catholics every week, and you know what they typically say is, when we ask them, do you know for sure you're going to heaven, they say, I hope so, I don't know, I'm trying. What do you think it takes to get there? Be a good person, go to church, follow my Catholic faith. They don't say, oh, well, I'm going to heaven because I believe in Jesus. He died for all my sins. And when they do say that, then you dig a little deeper. It's like, oh, I haven't been in years, I don't really believe in it. I got my own beliefs that I get from the radio. And so my friend, Catholicism is not Christianity. Let's just say it like it is. This church will never look at Catholics as our brothers and sisters in Christ. Catholics are the mission field. Catholics are not saved, they need to get saved. And listen to me, I do not hate Catholics, but I do hate the Pope. And I do hate the architects and the preachers and purveyors of Catholicism. They are evil, satanic ministers of Satan, false prophets. But 99% of Catholics are just deceived, they're just victims of the Catholic cult, and they need to be saved. And let me tell you something, Catholics are some of the most receptive people to the gospel. I mean, if you go out soul winning, and you win people to Christ, I would say probably more than half of the people I've won to Christ in my life were Catholic. More than half of them. So you say, oh, Pastor Anderson, you're so hateful. Well, you know what, if I'm so hateful to Catholics, then why don't you come to me with your number of how many Catholics you've won to Christ, and then we'll compare it to the number of Catholics that I've won to Christ, and then we'll see who hates Catholics. Because you want to know who really hates Catholics? The one who says, you're my brother in Christ. You're my sister in Christ. Folks, it's not loving to pretend that this false religion is Christianity. In fact, here's what I've noticed over the last 20 years of soul winning, is that when I ask someone, are you a Christian, if they're Catholic, they'll typically say no. Who has experienced that out soul winning? Yeah, so are you a Christian? No, I'm Catholic. I'm just thinking, you got that right. There's one thing you got right. You're not Christian. You're Catholic. Folks, many of our founding fathers believed that Catholicism should be illegal in America. Literally. Because they said it's so evil, it's so malignant, it's so pernicious. I'm not saying it should be illegal. If people want to go there, then more power to them, and you know what, I believe in religious freedom, but I'm just telling you that this has historically not been viewed by real Christians as another branch of Christianity. It's been seen as the Antichrist. It's been seen as the great whore of revelation. Are you there in 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 6? This is your last mention of ashes. If Ash Wednesday is going to pop up somewhere, it better be now. And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah verse 6 into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example to those that after should live ungodly. There we go. There's no Ash Wednesday in the Bible. We just went through the whole New Testament, it wasn't there. Go to Revelation chapter 17. Revelation chapter number 17. Today we have this ecumenicalism that wants to join together and say, hey, we're all Christian, we need to put aside our differences, and you know what's funny is that I had witnessed to a guy who was Catholic, this is an acquaintance of mine, and I had given this guy the Gospel and preached him, whatever, and then I hadn't talked to the guy in a really long time, he leaves a voicemail on my machine inviting me to some Catholic service. How I could hear real life chanting of Benedictine monks and whatever. He's inviting me to this beautiful Catholic service. And I'm just thinking to myself, like, dude, I already preached to you that Catholicism is a false religion, you know, and obviously I didn't preach it to him like I'm preaching it from the pulpit. This is our turf. And the reason that I get up and scream and yell and holler about it, is that I'm trying to impress upon you, because I'm telling you, evangelical Christian churches out there, they're not preaching like this. And half their members think Catholics are saved. Half their members think Catholicism is fine. Because nobody got up and did hard preaching against Catholicism in their life. Say, well, your sermon offends me. Yeah, but you know what, you're probably not going to forget it. And if you go out of here and keep saying Catholics are Christian, well then you're just willfully ignorant. Because I'm proving it to you from the Bible. But you know, obviously when we're talking to Catholics, want to speak the truth in love, be gentle, be kind to them. I'm trying to shake my fellow Christians and say, look, friend, this is evil, it's wickedness. Don't be like them. Don't borrow their doctrines. Don't borrow their theology. Don't look to them for right theology. Don't look to them for right teaching. And you know what, everything that's wrong with Protestantism is because they're too Catholic. You want to know what's wrong with Protestants? They're too Catholic. You want to know what's wrong with Presbyterians? Too Catholic. You know what's wrong with Reformed Baptists? They're too Catholic. You know what's wrong with Methodists? They're too Catholic. You know what's wrong with the Church of England? They're too Catholic. They're too Catholic. We as Baptists don't want to be Catholic at all. We don't want to have any appearance of evil. We're not going to dress like them, act like them, talk like them, have rituals like them. No, we're not interested. We're doing our own Evangelical Christian thing and we don't want to be patterned after the great mother of harlots, the Catholic Church. But it's like I told this guy, hey, Roman Catholicism is a false right. I showed him all the verses that I'm showing you. I showed this guy. I showed him the long clothing. I showed him the praying in secret, fasting in secret. I showed him call no man father. I showed him that we're saved by grace through faith. I showed him all these. I showed him the bishop must be the husband of one wife. I showed him and I showed him and I showed him and I showed him. I gave him the gospel. I gave him the gospel. Then he calls me up years later and wants to invite me to a Catholic service because it's so beautiful. Well, you know, Satan is probably the most beautiful creature that God ever created. Lucifer is probably the most beautiful of all God's angels. In fact, the Bible says his heart was lifted up within him because of his great beauty. But you know what? It's sort of like a jewel in a swine's snout, the Bible says, is when you have a beautiful woman who's without discretion. She can't control her mouth. She doesn't know what's appropriate when and where. It doesn't matter how good she looks. She becomes gross. She becomes ugly unto you like putting a jewel in a swine's snout doesn't really make up for everything else that's there in that pig. And the same thing with the Roman Catholicism. You know, those windows or that artwork or whatever, it's a jewel in a swine's snout. It doesn't change the ugliness and the hypocrisy and the evilness of that institution. I mean, look, the Roman Catholic Church, of course, has been physically violent, literally burning people at the stake, torturing people to death, ripping their bodies apart limb from limb. Literally, all these medieval torture devices, they're used by the Roman Catholics on heretics, right, when they're the biggest heretics in the world. They're the heretics. And so they have murdered person after person, not to mention just all the warfare that they've been behind and fomented warfare and just murder and killing and just literal violence and bloodshed. Not only have they done that, but they've also persecuted God's people. They've taught lies. But most importantly, they've just sent people to hell with their lying false doctrine. They've been wicked. They've been ungodly. They've kept people in ignorance. You know, a lot of the problems of Mexico are due to the Roman Catholic Church, keeping people illiterate until recently, you know. And thankfully now, of course, literacy in Mexico is very high. But you go back to like 100 and some years ago, like early 1900s, you'd be shocked how low literacy was. Because why? Roman Catholic Church wants to keep people in ignorance, keep them dumbed down. The Dark Ages, my friend, making it illegal to read the Bible in your own language. It's wickedness. Revelation 17 says in verse number 1, And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither, I'll show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters. Of course, the many waters are many nations, the Bible tells us, where the woman sits. With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit in the wilderness, and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast full of names of blasphemy. How about names like the Pope, when the Bible says call no man father, Holy Father, the Pope, oh, they say the Pope's the first among many brethren. No, the Bible says Jesus Christ is the first among many brethren. Calling Mary the Mediatrix, when the Bible says, there's one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. So he carried me away in the spirit in the wilderness, I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. You see, the Roman Catholic Church throughout history has committed fornication with the kings of the earth, had all kinds of these political alliances and been in bed with this kingdom and that kingdom in order to put forth their evil empire of Catholicism, outlawing in many cases true Christianity, outlawing the baptism of adults, outlawing people reading the Bible in their own language. And so they've promoted this garbage and in the process they've enriched themselves, which is why they're so decked in scarlet and gold and precious stones and pearls. And the Bible says that within it's just abominations and filthiness. And you know what, there's a reason why these Catholic priests are as effeminate as hell. I'll tell you why. Because the Bible in the New Testament, I'm not making this up my friend, the Bible in the New Testament says that false prophets defile the flesh like Sodom and Gomorrah. That's what the Bible says. I didn't make that up. 2 Peter chapter 2 says there will be false prophets among you teaching damnable heresy and it says as Sodom and Gomorrah gave themselves over to fornication and went after strange flesh, it says likewise do these also defile the flesh. What does likewise mean? Same way. Just like Sodom and Gomorrah, it teaches this in 2 Peter chapter 2 and in the book of Jude, it says that just as Sodom and Gomorrah defiled the flesh, so do these false prophets and false teachers. That's why they're so effeminate. That's why they're constantly getting caught being pedophiles. They're literal homos. They're literal sodomites, okay? Just part of why they don't want to get married like a normal person. Now look, there's nothing wrong with being single. There's nothing wrong with spending your whole life being single. As long as you're not imposing that on other people. As long as you're not commanding that to other people and you should never make a vow to be single. You should never make a vow to be celibate. The Bible says to swear not at all. You should not make those kind of oaths as prohibited in the New Testament. Any kind of vows or oaths like that, we shouldn't be making those kind of oaths. And the Bible teaches that every man should have his own wife. Every woman should have her own husband. Now obviously there's an exception of people who remain single and spend their lives being single serving God. Obviously that's all fine and dandy, okay? But in many cases these Catholic priests are closet homos. It is a perfect lifestyle for them. Just being around a bunch of dudes, being effeminate, and whatever. And that's part of the filthiness of the fornication of the Roman Catholic Church. And a potter for it was a name written, Mystery Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. So Mystery Babylon is a spirit that actually transcends the Catholic Church. Because obviously Mystery Babylon even existed before the Catholic Church, right? Mystery Babylon is a pagan kind of idolatrous spirit. It's a demonic spirit. But let me tell you something, that spirit is what animates the Roman Catholic Church. Because the Roman Catholic Church is a continuation of that same Babylon spiritual cult that's passed down from the Babylonians to the Persians to the Greeks to the Romans. And that's why they're called the Roman Catholic Church. Because they are Roman pagans. In fact, if we keep reading here, it says in verse 6, I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. Just drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. And the angel said unto me, wherefore didst thou marvel? He's saying, look, don't be sucked in, don't be enamored by the magnificence or physical outward beauty of what you're seeing. Don't be impressed by the stained glass. Don't be impressed by the Michelangelo artwork here. Understand that this woman is going to be destroyed by God. The angel said unto me, wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. Jump down to verse 9. Here is the mine which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth. And by the way, Rome has always been known as the city of seven hills. Why? Because the author of Revelation here, the Apostle John, is indicating to us that we're talking about Rome. Okay, that's the signal that it's Rome because he says it's on seven mountains where the woman is sitting. And listen to me, Rome, what was their religion like? Idols, chanting, pagan rituals, and praying to this god, that god, and that other god. Now it's just been replaced with praying to all these different saints. And it's a continuation of that same mystery Babylon religion that's all about money enriching oneself, filthy fornication, and persecuting God's people. This is what we see in scripture. My friend, the Roman Catholic Church is wicked and it is of the devil. Okay, and you know what, Protestants are screwed up because Protestants are trying to be half Christian and half Catholic. That's what they're trying to do. They're trying to hang on to a lot of this weird stuff that they got from the Catholic Church that has no basis in scripture. Like how about sprinkling babies? You'll never find in the entire Bible a baby being baptized, ever. And of course, people who want to believe lies, they're always going to have some argument and say, well, you know, over here a whole household got baptized so we could just assume, we could just assume that there are babies. Well, you could assume if you want to make an ass of you and me, you could assume that. That's what assume spells. I mean, we could just assume that there's babies there, right? No, wrong! Who here lives in a household without any babies in it? Put up your hands. If in your house there is not a baby living in your house, put up your hand. Nice and high. Keep it up. High. Look at all these households. And you know what, my friend, this church probably has more babies than any church in America per capita. Where they don't, you know, that's where they practice monogamy. Let's limit it to monogamous people. Hey, we got babies. Who here does have a baby? Put up your hand. Yeah, but let me tell you something, even in the most prolific baby producing church in America, more than half of households don't have a baby in it. But, you know, I'm just supposed to believe the Philippian jailer for sure had a baby, ergo, baby baptism in the Bible. No, my friend, if you want to find baby baptism in the Bible, of course you're going to find it. If you want to worship Satan, you're going to find a justification to do so. If you want to teach lies, if you want to be influenced by the mother of harlots, if you want to put ashes on your forehead and go through all this horse and pony, dog and pony show, then you know what, you can always find a way to justify it. But for those of us who actually care what the Bible says, we know that just in the book of Matthew alone, we don't have to get very far in the New Testament before the book of Matthew is just condemning Catholicism on almost every page. Almost every page is speaking against Catholicism. And we need to understand where we stand as Baptists with respect to Catholicism. We are against it. It is not Christianity. It is of the devil. They are not saved. We need to witness to them and we need to get them saved. Now look, obviously we want to be kind and gentle and gracious. Let me tell you how I witness to Catholics. The first thing I do is I present the whole gospel to them. Before I start criticizing their religion, I first present the whole gospel to them. But at the same time, I hope that some Catholics out there listening and is scared straight and falls on their knees and gets saved after hearing this sermon. Some people you do have to save with fear, pulling them out of the fire. But in general, you know, I don't just start out going after their religion because a lot of times then it just becomes an argument and they're not going to listen and they just blow you off. So this is what I do. When I'm witnessing to a Catholic, the first thing I do is I just ask them, just like I would anyone else if they know for sure they're going to heaven, they're almost always going to say no. Did you know that Roman Catholicism literally teaches it's a sin to know for sure you're going to heaven? Yeah, they do. It's called the sin of presumption. And they say it's a sin if you believe that you're for sure going to heaven. That's the sin of presumption. So we're all in sin today because we all know we're going to heaven as Baptists. But here's the thing about that, okay? I will ask them if they know for sure. When they say they don't know for sure, then I ask them if I can show them for the Bible. I just go through the Romans road, right? Romans 3.23, I go through Romans 6.23, I show them all of the basics of how to be saved. Then when I get to the very end, after I've already given them the whole gospel and they're seeing it, they're understanding it, when I get to the very end I say, now, you mentioned that you were Catholic. Just so you know, the Roman Catholic Church does not teach what I just explained to you. They teach that you do have to do works to be saved, that you can lose your salvation. They teach that believing in Christ is not enough, but that you also have to go to church, confess your sins to the priest, and go through all these works. So that's what they believe. Here's what I've shown you from the Bible. Which one do you believe? And I'm not rude about it, I'm not mean about it, but I present a choice. Why? Because a lot of times if you just give the gospel to a Catholic, they'll just smile and nod and go along with you, and then you just ask them to pray. Sure, because they're used to repeating and chanting prayers all the time. Anyway, might as well chant another one. No reason not to chant one extra. So I want to make sure that they're actually getting saved. Now when I do that, when I get to the end and I say, Which one do you believe? More than half the time they'll say, Well, I believe what the Bible says. And then I will pray with them and help them receive Christ as Savior. But a significant amount of the time, maybe a third of the time, or maybe even 40% of the time, they'll say, Well, you know, I do believe that, you know, you do have to do this other stuff. You know what that tells me? That everything I said just went right over their head. And at that point, what I do is I just consider it a seed planted. And I just tell them, Well, that's not what the Bible said, but I appreciate you talking with me. You know, hey, watch this video or, you know, I try to give them like some homework to, hey, check out this video, check out this DVD, check out this YouTube video, whatever, so that hopefully the seed can be watered, and I move on. But I'm not going to pray with somebody who says, Well, I'm still going to stay with the Catholic teaching and believe in Jesus. No, you can't have both, my friend. Catholicism is not Christianity. In order to be saved, you have to stop being Catholic. You just do. Just like you have to stop being a Hindu. You got to stop being a Buddhist. You got to stop being Jewish. You got to stop believing in a false religion in order to believe in Christ. That's the true biblical repentance. You turn to God from idols. You know, you can't be worshipping a different God and Jesus at the same time. It's got to be all Jesus. You got to put all your faith and trust in Jesus. And so Roman Catholicism is trash and Ash Wednesday is trash Wednesday, and we should have nothing to do with it. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord. Thank you for the free gift of salvation through Christ. Thank you so much that we are able to worship, Lord, without being arrested or without the Roman Catholics getting violent with us because we live in America, Lord, and not in the dark ages. Thank you, Lord, that we have the word of God translated into our language, Lord. Help us to take advantage of that and actually read it and not be like these Roman Catholics who, now that the Bible's in their language, they still don't read it. Lord, help us to not only read it, but to actually believe it, follow it, and not ignore the words of your son, Jesus Christ. And it's in his name we pray. Amen. Men, take your hymnals if you need. 133, safe wherever I go, hymn number 133. We'll sing it twice. Be dismissed. 133. Safe wherever I go. Safe wherever I go. Peace, oh, what can I know? Safe, oh, what can I know? I'm safe wherever I go. Safe wherever I go. Peace, oh, what can I know? Safe, oh, what can I know? I'm safe wherever I go. She sang a good thing in this morning. You are dismissed. Amen.