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

And the part of the chapter that I want to focus on is there in verse number 9 where it says, O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thine help. And the title of my sermon tonight is Ways to Destroy Yourself. Ways to Destroy Yourself. You see, we as Christians, we can really only destroy ourselves. No outside force can really destroy us. Greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. We're more than conquerors through Jesus Christ that loved us, even in all the things that could happen to us, whether tribulations, nakedness, peril, famine, sword. We can't really be defeated. We're on the winning side, but we can certainly destroy ourselves. And here it says in Hosea, O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thine help. Now, in this particular verse, there's still a little bit of hope extended here because he says you've destroyed yourself, but in me is thine help. But if you would flip over to Proverbs 29, because sometimes when we are destroyed or we destroy ourselves, sometimes there's no remedy. There's no help. Sometimes there's no way to fix it. Look what the Bible says in Proverbs 29, verse 1. He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy. So some types of destruction we can recover from. Other types of destruction we will never recover from will be destroyed without remedy. The Bible tells us there's a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. The Bible says, my son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. Do not be enticed into the sinful ways of this world because you're very likely to destroy yourself, to be destroyed. Go if you would to Deuteronomy chapter 28, the first aspect that I want to cover tonight of destroying yourself. I'm going to cover three different ways to destroy yourself. Aspect number one is destroying your brain. The first way that you can destroy yourself is by destroying your brain. You only get one brain and it has to last you for the rest of your life. And there are many people today who through sin have or are going to destroy their brains. Look what the Bible says in Deuteronomy 28. And I'm first of all going to show you where God actually brings up your mind being destroyed as a punishment for sin in Deuteronomy 28. Look what the Bible says in Deuteronomy 28 15. But it shall come to pass if thou will not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day, that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee. Let's jump down to verse 27 and see what are some of the consequences of disobeying God's commandments. It says in verse 27, the Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt and with the emirates and with the scab and with the itch whereof thou canst not be healed. But watch the next verse. The Lord shall smite thee with madness. What is madness? Insanity. It's losing your mind. It says the Lord shall smite thee with madness and blindness and astonishment of heart. That astonishment of heart also has to do with not being mentally sound, being paranoid, being crazy, being confused. The Bible says in verse 29, and thou shalt grope at noonday as the blind gropeth in darkness and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore. And no man shall save thee. Now this is giving some serious warnings about the consequences of sin and about not obeying God's commandments. And it talks about how the Lord's going to smite you with these things. But many times God doesn't have to use a supernatural act to smite you with these things because sometimes these things will come just as a natural result of the sin that you're committing. Right. If you go out and commit fornication, for example, you could pick up that STD that would give you what the Bible here talks about, the itching and the burning and the inflammation and all those things. But look at Deuteronomy 29 verse 19. Here's a warning to those people who would say, oh, that'll never happen to me. Not me. He's preaching about someone else. Look what the Bible says in verse 19. And it shall come to pass when he heareth the words of this curse, talking about a wicked person, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of my heart to add drunkenness to thirst. The Lord will not spare him. But then the anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke against that man. And all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him. And the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven. And the Lord shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law. So here's a guy who's puffed up and thinks, oh, that'll never happen to me. I'm just going to go out and get drunk anyway. Do you see that in verse number 20? Or I'm sorry, the end of verse 19. He says, I'll walk in the imagination of my heart to add drunkenness to thirst. And none of these bad things are going to happen to me when I go out and get drunk and live a foolish, wicked life. You would flip over to Job chapter 12. Job chapter 12, the book of Job. You'll find something similar to what we just read. Job chapter 12. And as you turn there, let me say this. One of the primary ways to destroy your brain is through drugs and alcohol. It's one of the number one ways. Because we're talking about destroying yourself tonight. Ways to destroy yourself. Number one, destroying your brain. And one of the primary ways to destroy your brain is through drugs and alcohol. Look what it says in Job 12 24. He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, and causeth them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way. They grope in the dark without light, and he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man. And this is the exact wording that he used back in Deuteronomy 28 about the people that he struck with madness and astonishment of heart. How they're going to grope around. They're going to stagger to and fro like a drunken man. Drugs and alcohol will destroy your brain, okay? Let me give you some examples of this. This is known as drug-induced psychosis. And I have personally known people who have suffered from this. I've seen this with my own two eyes. I've had many other friends and loved ones tell me about people that they knew who suffered from drug-induced psychosis. I had a neighbor right across the street from me. He was a completely normal guy. He was a nice young man. He was friendly. He was polite. In fact, one day he came to me and virtually asked me what must I do to be saved. He just came right up to me. He knew I was a pastor and he wanted to be saved. I went through the gospel with him and I want him to Christ. And then I gave him a Bible. And I tried to get him to come to church. He came from a horrible background. His family and the people he was staying with and everything was a really bad background. But he said, I want to be different. He said, I don't want to be like them. I'd rather be more like you and your family. Get married, have kids, and live a righteous life, what he said. Just, I don't even remember how long later, but it was days or weeks later. It wasn't that far off in the future from that point. Do you remember, honey, how long it was that went by? I believe it was just a short time, like maybe a week later. I see the guy out in the street acting like a madman. In fact, I didn't even recognize him at first. He kept coming up to even on my porch and up to my front door. And he was scaring my wife. She didn't recognize him. She didn't know who is this crazy guy who's coming on our porch, coming up to the door. And so I went over to confront the guy and say, hey, buddy, you need to stay away from my front door. You need to stay off my property. You're scaring my wife. But right when I walked up to the guy to confront the guy, I recognized this is someone that I know. But he was just so different. I didn't even recognize him. And his mind was completely fried. You couldn't even talk to him. I tried to talk to him again the next day. And he still had the Bible I gave him. He's carrying around the Bible with him, just completely out of his mind. And I tried to ask him, what happened? What's going on? What's wrong with you? And he said, you know what? All I did was just smoke a joint. It was just, you know, it was supposed to be just marijuana. But he said, I think it was laced with something else. I think something else was put in there. And I ended up taking a more hardcore drug. His brain was fried. Hey, a week later, I talked to his sister and said, hey, how's he doing? His mind's completely gone. It's been a week. And he's still psychotic. And they said, we don't know if his brain will ever come back. You know, that's the last I heard. Eventually, he moved away. I never heard from him again. Last I knew, his brain was permanently fried. I don't know. Hopefully, he recovered from that. But you know what? You say, well, why didn't getting saved fix it? You know what? Getting saved put him in a position where if he's going to continue to walk down the path of sin, God would chastise him. God was going to hold him accountable when he gets saved. And he's got a Bible in his hand. He's being given the choice to go to church. And what did he do instead of coming to church? He went out. He smoked that joint. He did whatever else. He went out and partied and went down that path. And his brain was destroyed. He was like 20 years old. He's a young man. Whole life ahead of him. But he destroyed himself. All because he wanted to smoke a stupid joint. He wanted to smoke a stupid marijuana cigarette instead of coming to church, doing right, living a godly life. But psychosis, it happens all the time to people who take drugs. The drugs that we would most often associate this with would be like cocaine or meth. But they're all manner of drugs that can bring this on. Let me give you some examples of drug-induced psychosis. And I think the best way to explain this to you is to understand that all of our brains have a pretty wild imagination. Because think about when you dream at night. Don't you have some really crazy dreams at night? Who remembers your dreams frequently? Yeah, I remember my dreams virtually every single night. And we've all had some pretty wild nightmares. Some pretty crazy bad dreams. I don't really mind having nightmares. Because if I wake up from a bad dream, it just makes me really happy that my life is so much better than that dream was. If the dream was too good, you'd want to just roll over and go back to sleep, right? So we've all had these horrible nightmares. Well, here's what happens a lot of times. When people fry their brain on drugs, they start to just live a nightmare all day, every day, even when they're awake. Their life is just one big nightmare where they hallucinate. Just like in your dreams, you're seeing things that aren't real. They hallucinate and they have delusions. Here are some of the most common delusions that people can have. A hallucination is when you see things that aren't even there. And a delusion is when you see things that are there, but you interpret them in a strange way. Here's one of the most common, what's known as Coke bugs or cocaine bugs. But people can get this taking all manner of drugs, not just cocaine. And even marijuana is connected with psychosis. And even people who drink are more susceptible to psychosis. Even just people who drink alcohol. Did you know that drinking alcohol makes you eight times more likely as a man to suffer psychosis? Three times as likely as a female because alcohol acts differently upon men and women. But one of the common psychotic hallucinations or delusions that drug addicts will often have is the feeling that they have bugs all over them. Right? So they just have bugs everywhere. Just bugs and they're itching and they can't get out. They'll go in the shower and just shower for hours and hours and scrub and scrub. And they can't get rid of the bugs. They'll even sometimes go to doctors and specialists and bug experts to try to tell them what kind of bugs. There aren't any bugs. But it's all just this nightmare that they've concocted in their own mind. Can you imagine just being tormented day and night by having bugs all over you? Because whether the bugs are really there or not, it's just as bad if you think they're there. Another common psychosis that people have is they get this strange belief that all of their loved ones have been replaced. Their wife is not really their wife. Their parents are not really their parents. Their brother's not really their brother. There's this elaborate scheme to replace their loved ones. Okay. Now, delusions are categorized into four types by the medical profession. Okay. Because they recognize this as psychosis. It's a chemical thing in the brain that causes this. And it has to do with dopamine and serotonin levels in the brain. There's a reason why drugs are called dope. You know why taking drugs is called taking dope? Because it releases dopamine in your brain. What it does is it releases chemicals in a part of your brain known as the reward center. And it doesn't matter what drug you're taking. The reason it makes you feel good is because it's releasing a chemical in your brain to the reward center. And that chemical that's involved is called dopamine, hence the name dope. That's why someone who's an idiot is a dope, right? People who take drugs are taking dope. It's short for dopamine. Okay. Which is a chemical in your brain. Well, people who suffer psychosis, the reason why they're having this is because they have too much dopamine in one part of their brain and not enough dopamine in another part of their brain. And pretty soon they're having all these hallucinations and delusions and all these psychotic episodes. There are four types. Number one type is the bizarre delusion. Okay. Because there's bizarre and then there's non-bizarre. Okay. So the bizarre delusion are deemed bizarre if they're clearly implausible and not understandable to same culture peers. And do not derive from ordinary life experiences. Translation, the bizarre delusions are things that don't make sense to anyone except them. Okay. So here's an example of that is, for example, the belief that someone has replaced all of one's internal organs with someone else's internal organs. And there's no scars from the surgery. Whereas a non-bizarre delusion would be something that's false, but at least it could happen. Like, for example, where people believe that they're under constant police supervision and they're constantly under surveillance, all their phones are being tapped, even though there's no reason why that would be. Then there's a mood-congruent delusion. This is any delusion with content consistent with either a depressive or manic state. So here's an example of this. A depressed person believes that the news anchors on television highly disapprove of him. Everybody on TV is mad at him. Every time he turns on the TV, people are frowning on him and angry and disapproving of him. Now, look, it sounds stupid. It makes you laugh. But how would you like this to be your life? Every time you turn on the TV, everybody's mad at you. You turn on the radio, the host disapproves of you. You know, you go to bed and you're covered in bugs and whatever. I mean, it's just people have their own personal nightmare. None of this is positive. It's all bad. Here are some other common themes for delusions. The false belief. These are the most common. Like, 3% of people are going to deal with this. 3% of people are going to deal with this in their life in America. 3%. That's a lot, though. You know, out of 100 people, 3 of them. That means that there's 300 people in our church. You know, 9 of them. Statistically. You know, if they were idiots and went out and do drugs and get drunk and do all this stuff, you know, are more likely to go down this path of losing their mind like this. The false belief that one does not exist or has died. They think they're dead already. Delusional jealousy. The false belief that their wife or husband is committing adultery with no proof to back up that claim. The delusion of their mind being read. They get this feeling where every single person can read their mind. Okay. How about this one? And you're going to think this one's silly. Erotomania. The false belief that another person is in love with them. Usually a celebrity. Now, listen. There's a guy who has been to our church multiple times whom I know personally who fried his brain on drugs. His brain is fried on drugs right now. Okay. And he has a couple of these. He has the erotomania. He believes that Mariah Carey is in love with him. And he hangs out with Mariah Carey all the time. That's what he says. I mean, he's completely lost. He's been to this church. You say, why would you preach on this? Look, there are people in this church, and I know it's a small minority, but there are young people in this church that if they don't hear hard preaching, they could be stupid enough to go out and get into drinking, which is going to lead them into smoking pot, which is going to lead them into taking drugs. And next thing you know, they're hanging out with Mariah Carey, except it's not really happening. And their mind is fried. Not only does he have this erotomania, he also has the next one on the list, grandiose religious delusion. Now, the grandiose religious delusion is the belief that the affected person is either God or a God or an important religious figure. And this guy has that, too. And let me tell you something. I get letters from people like this all the time. I just got a letter this week from Elijah. This week. I'm talking about Elijah the prophet. And I mean, it's like it was a page and a half long letter written by hand. It's not a joke when somebody writes it in their own handwriting for a page and a half. I've gotten letters that are 30 pages long. 40 pages long, right? You've seen them. Handwritten 30, 40 page letter. Pastor Anderson, I'm one of the two witnesses. I'm Elijah. You know, I've gotten letters from Moses. I've gotten letters from the second coming of Jesus Christ. I've gotten letters from people saying, I believe I'm the Antichrist and I don't want to be the Antichrist. How can I know? How do I check? I've gotten phone calls from people who thought they were the Antichrist. I mean, the two witnesses is the most common. At least 10. And they can't all be telling the truth because there's only supposed to be two. All right. But the grandiose religious delusion is a common one. And then, of course, we already kind of touched on this. Delusional parasitosis. The delusion in which one feels that he's infected with, infested with insects. Bacteria, mites, spiders, lice, fleas, worms, or other organisms. Infected individuals may also report being repeatedly bitten. In some cases, entomologists are asked to investigate cases of mysterious bites. Sometimes physical manifestations may occur, including skin lesions. Because they scratch themselves so much that pretty soon their skin is all tore up. Even though the bugs weren't really there. And look, it isn't just cocaine. It isn't just meth. You can listen to all the junk you want about everybody telling you how safe marijuana is. You know what? There's a whole bunch of video content on YouTube from potheads telling you, oh, don't listen to anybody who tells you that marijuana is dangerous. It's completely safe. Of course, every idiot pothead is going to upload that to their YouTube channel. But you know what? It's documented people who have gone into psychosis. And the only drug that they did was to smoke pot. And it wasn't even laced with anything. Even drinking alcohol. And look, obviously, yeah, there are tons of people who smoke pot. And they don't lose their mind. I get that. There are tons of people who drink beer. And they don't lose their mind. And they don't get psychotic. But your chances go up eight times when you start drinking alcohol for you to lose your mind like this and become psychotic. And obviously, when you're taking cocaine and methamphetamine, it's almost just a matter of when, not if, when you start taking those kind of hardcore drugs. And when you're taking heroin and whatever else is out there, LSD, whatever. And yeah, of course, drugged out idiots are going to tell you that it's fine. It's safe. But that's funny because we all know people who got burned by this stuff. OK, in fact, let me just ask you tonight, any men tonight who want to just tell a quick story about somebody that you've known that fried their brain on drugs. Anybody know anybody like that tonight? And don't give any names or anything. Just stand up and tell me. Yeah, he'd remove all his eyebrows. Did he say why? Yeah, he's just like trimming it. He keeps trimming them until he has no eyebrows. Who knows what he thought that was going to do. So what were some of the symptoms of being fried brain? Just can't talk to him? Just crazy? Yeah, just totally crazy. Who else? You know somebody? Yeah, so the guy got killed because he's high on drugs, punches the neighbor lady in the face, steals her car, but then tells the lady, call the police on me and report me. Like what sense does that make? The guy's obviously completely crazy. Then the police respond. I'm just repeating for those who couldn't hear what Ramon was saying. Then the police respond. They chase him. He drives the car into a lake and then they end up tasering him when he's all wet and he ends up dying right there on the spot from the taser. Killed, yeah. Yeah, just walking around saying crazy things. Nobody even knows what he's talking about. I remember there was a guy who would walk around Sacramento. I saw this guy all the time with a CD, looking at his reflection in a CD, screaming and cussing himself out just all day, walking up and down the street. I mean, look, you ever tried to give the gospel to homeless people? And sometimes they are psychotic. I tried to give the gospel to a homeless guy and he started bowing down to me and my soul winning partner and he was kissing our shoes and worshiping us and everything. I mean, it's weird stuff that's out there. Anybody else? Real quick, just a quick, yeah. Yeah, so he's talking to imaginary friends and stuff like that. Somebody else have their hand up? Yeah, see that? He's just only smoking weed, but one day his weed is laced with heroin. Next thing you know, he's a heroin addict. Next thing you know, his brain's fried. You know, my dad had a good buddy and I remember when I was growing up, seeing this guy, he was successful. He had money, he was smart, he was a nice guy. He ended up becoming an alcoholic and just completely destroyed his brain with just alcohol. No drugs, just alcohol to the point where my dad went to see him. He's living as a homeless person. My dad picked him up at his dad's house and brought him back to the house just to spend some time with him, catch up on old times. The guy went into my dad's bathroom, sober and just urinated all over the floor in my dad's bathroom. I mean, is that what you wanna do, kids? Is that what the Budweiser commercial's gonna show you? Is that what the kids are gonna tell you when they offer you marijuana and they offer you weed? It's gonna open your mind, man. You're gonna be so creative, man. It's gonna open up a whole new avenue of seeing the world and you're gonna be so creative and all this stuff. No, you're gonna end up urinating on your buddy's bathroom floor and he's not gonna want you back. You're not gonna be invited back. And he was sober when he did that. Why? Because his mind is gone. Because he has destroyed his brain. He's destroyed his mind. Look, you'd have to be a fool and that's why the Bible says wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. And look, you can tell me about all the people who drank and didn't have any problems and all the people who smoked pot and everything was fine and all the people who snorted cocaine and everything was fine. But let me tell you something. When you are a saved Christian and you do those things, you are way less likely to get away with it because unto whom much is given, of him shall much be required. And if you grow up in a Christian home where your parents have taught you and where you've heard preaching that told you all the warnings and where you sat in a sermon that told you, hey, you can lose your mind. You can get psychosis. You can fry your brain. You know what? If you go out and you harden your neck and you bless yourself in your heart, oh, that's not going to happen to me. I'm going to add drunkenness to thirst. You know what? You're very likely to have God bring these curses upon you. You're very likely because it's happening to somebody if 3% of people are getting it. You know what? It's happening to somebody and it's probably happening to people who God is allowing it to happen to for whatever reason, like maybe they were warned. Maybe they should have known better. They angered the Lord. You can destroy yourself. I have other points. So I don't want to spend a whole lot of time on this, but there is a scripture even. Go if you would to 1 Corinthians 6, but there is a scripture even that uses the word delusion. You know, I just looked up the word delusion in the Bible. It's used a couple of times, but it says in Isaiah 66, they've chosen their own ways and their soul delighteth in their abominations. This is the Lord speaking. I also will choose their delusions. So God says, look, they're delighting in wickedness. They're going their own way. I will choose their delusions and will bring their fears upon them. Because when I called, none did answer. When I spake, they did not hear. But they did evil before mine eyes. And they chose that in which I delighted not. That's a pretty powerful warning when God says, hey, you want to be wicked? I'll choose your delusion. You don't get to choose whether you believe that Moriah carries in love with you, whether you believe you're Elijah the prophet, or whether you're covered in bugs that are biting you all day. You don't get, he'll choose the delusion and he'll bring your fear upon you. Because these people, when they get all paranoid and freaked out, it's whatever they're afraid of. That's what they dream up. Obviously, these people that think they're covered in bugs, that's probably the worst thing to them. That's why they even thought of that in the first place. That's why they even had nightmares about that, because it was something that they didn't like. And God even said in the New Testament that he would send a strong delusion in the end times that people would believe a lie. That they all might be damned to believe not the truth, but had pleasure and unrighteousness. So both Isaiah 66 and 2 Thessalonians 2 bring up delusions. Isaiah 19, 14, you don't have to turn there, but the Bible says, The Lord hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof, and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit. So you can see again, God sending a delusion. God mingling a perverse spirit. God sending astonishment of heart. God sending madness as a punishment. That's pretty scary stuff. But number two, you can destroy your body. So we talked about number one, destroying your brain. Primarily, we talked about drugs and alcohol as a way to destroy your brain. There are other ways to destroy your brain. And I don't want to spend the whole night on that point, because I'm running out of time. But pornography also destroys your brain. It will destroy your brain. And I've talked to many people who came to me, and they said, they can't even find their wife attractive anymore, because they've destroyed their brain on pornography. And they can't even find just a normal physical relationship with their wife anymore, because of the fact that they've destroyed their brain and body. It also destroys your body. Pornography, to where they cannot function normally as a man, because they looked at so much pornography. To where they messed up their brain, and their reproductive system, where they can't function properly, because of that. But number two, destroying your body. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 6 18, flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body. But he that commiteth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which you have of God, and ye are not your own. For ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God. So sin can cause you to destroy your brain, and it can also cause you to destroy your body. Go to 1 Timothy 6. 1 Timothy 6. One of the ways mentioned here of destroying your body is through fornication. Why? Because there are all kinds of diseases out there that you pick up when you commit fornication. When you stay true to your spouse, you're not going to get an STD. But when you go out and commit fornication, when you're a whore or a whoremonger, you're very likely to destroy your body through disease. The Bible says he that commiteth fornication sinneth against his own body. Look at 1 Timothy 6 verse 6. But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment, let us be there with content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare. And watch this next phrase. And into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in what? Destruction and perdition. There are a lot of ways to destroy yourself. The Bible says that those who want to be rich, they desire to be rich, they fall into temptation and a snare, and they fall into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. Foolish and hurtful lusts, like how about like taking drugs? It's stupid, it's foolish, it's something that people lust after, it's harmful, it destroys you. I think of the Hollywood stars when I read 1 Timothy 6.9. Because why are these Hollywood stars where they are? Because they want to be rich. Right, they go to Hollywood, they want to make it big, they want to make money, and they're willing to do pretty much anything to get to the top. They're willing to allow themselves even to be groped and to be assaulted, as we've heard about lately over the last few weeks, all this stuff's coming out like, oh wow, what a surprise. You're kidding. But why? Because people will subject themselves to that environment just because they desire money. Hollywood pays a lot of money. It's a big temptation to work in Hollywood. And so they desire to be rich and they fall into many foolish and hurtful lusts. That's why so many of the Hollywood stars are on drugs. So many of them are drunk. So many of them have lost their minds and so forth. Charlie Sheen comes to mind as being someone who's completely lost his mind and completely fried his brain. And there are many other examples. But there are other ways to destroy your body, other foolish and hurtful lusts that can destroy you besides just fornication, besides just drugs, alcohol as well. And alcohol doesn't just mess up your brain. It doesn't just make you stupid. And by the way, it shouldn't be called Budweiser. It should be called Bud Dumber. And it doesn't just mess with your brain. It destroys your body. It destroys your body. Alcohol destroys your liver. Your liver is one of the most important organs that you have in your body. It's very significant. It's working all the time. Every time you eat food, your liver is involved in processing sugars and so forth. Well, alcohol is similar to sugar in certain ways in the sense that it goes straight to your liver and it's one of the worst possible, besides what it's doing to your brain, it's one of the worst possible carbohydrates that you could be ingesting is ethanol. So it doesn't matter whether it's beer, the wine, the hard liquor. It doesn't matter what it is. If you're drinking alcohol, you're ingesting pretty much the most unhealthy possible carbohydrate imaginable. And it goes to your liver and destroys your liver. People get cirrhosis of the liver or they get what's called a fatty liver. So we all know that there's junk food out there and simple carbs and refined sugars. And we were scared of the high fructose corn syrup. But you know what? Alcohol is doing the exact same thing that the high fructose corn syrup is doing. And you say, well, it's not hurting my body because look how thin I am. But did you know that it's possible to be thin on the outside and yet have your organs and your liver covered in fat? And that's what people who drink have on the inside of their bodies. They might even be thin on the outside. They usually aren't. But even if they're thin on the outside, that doesn't mean that their liver is not being destroyed by alcohol and they're getting this fatty liver and other fatty internal organs that are slowing down their organs, destroying their body. Not only that, but there's the, of course, beer belly. Right? Where a man will look completely thin, but he just looks like he's pregnant. Right? Like the rest of his body, he didn't just grow normally everywhere. It's just that belly. Right? Or the man breasts. This is a result of drinking alcohol. This is a result of drinking beer. It has a feminizing effect on men for multiple reasons. Number one, because beer is made from hops, which contain phytoestrogen mimickers, which cause feminine attributes in men. But even the alcohol itself has a feminizing effect. This stuff is not good for you. It's the worst junk that you're doing to your body. And that's why I'm so sick of these stupid beer ads where they show all these ripped dudes with the six pack abs and they're so buff, right? And all the bikini babes. It's a lie. Everything that's advertised is a lie. That stuff makes you super unhealthy. Have you ever seen what alcoholics get on their nose? Right? Their nose becomes, I don't even know how to describe it. It's just the nose of an alcoholic. You can look at somebody's nose and tell this person is or has been an alcoholic just because they have that nose. I don't know how to describe it. It's not cool or anything. It's not, it's just, it's bad. It looks bad. Okay. It's not good. They get that characteristic nose. Who was the Bible say? Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath redness of eyes, right? Or their eyes will even get yellow sometimes. Jaundiced, right? Because their body is toxic with this toxic poison of alcohol that they're putting into their body. Ways to destroy your body. Fornication, drugs, alcohol. Also eating junk food and sitting around and being lazy is also destroying your body by the way. Especially sugar. Eating a bunch of sugar and then sitting on your rear end. That's another way to destroy your body. Gluttony and sloth. But not only that, even prescription drugs. Today, people are taking prescription drugs at just insane rates. And I'm not saying all prescription drugs are bad. Sometimes they're necessary. But I'm talking about people are taking prescription drugs instead of fixing their lifestyle. They just destroy themselves with prescription drugs. And you know what? I talked to some people before the service who said, yeah, I knew people who fried their brain on drugs. Prescription drugs. Hardcore prescription drugs. People can't go to sleep at night. What do they do? They take a prescription sleeping pill. They're all excited and worked up and anxious. What do they do? They take something to mellow them out. Oh, it's my anxiety medicine. They get sad. They get depressed. They take antidepressants, right? Oh, you have high blood pressure because you're fat and lazy. So you have two choices. Lose weight, exercise, quit eating junk food, or take this pill. Oh, I'll take the pills. That's a conversation that's happening every day in America in doctor's offices, probably 100 times a day. Are you listening to me? Where people, look, I know people who told me, yeah, I went to the doctor and he put me on blood pressure medication. He said either that or I have to change my diet. So I took the pills. I've had people tell me that to my face. Now, what did I say to them? I was kind. And I said, well, have you thought about changing your diet? Think about that. I mean, look, people today are destroying themselves. And instead of fixing the problems in their life, you know why you can't sleep at night? Because you didn't do any work. You know why you can't sleep at night? It's because you played video games for four hours. You know why you can't sleep at night? It's because you're staring at an electronic screen for three hours before bed. Why don't you actually go out and do something physical, do a physical job, or if you don't have a physical job, go get a workout, go run or lift weights or swim or do something, and you'll fall right to sleep. And instead of staring at a screen or a video game or a TV before bed, read a book before you go to bed. You know, whenever I can't sleep, I pull out a book and read it, and then I fall asleep. And when I was a kid, I struggled bad with insomnia because I played video games all day, because I watched TV all day, because I wasn't doing any real work, because I wasn't getting any exercise, because I was eating a bunch of junk food, staring at a screen, and then I'd go to bed at night and just lay there and can't sleep for two or three hours. You know, you go out and put in a hard day's work, you'll sleep, you'll fall asleep. The Bible says the sleep of a laboring, you say, preach the Bible, this is your pain. Oh, well, the Bible says the sleep of a laboring man is sweet. That's what the Bible says. Daniel said, my sleep was sweet unto me. Why? Because he's exhausted, that's why. You got to get tired, and then you'll go to sleep. But no, no, just take a sleeping pill. Oh, blood pressure's too high? Well, tone down the fast food, or take this pill. Give me the pills. Give me the sleeping drug. Oh, you're depressed? Here, take an antidepressant. No, you need to find a natural way to fix that by changing your lifestyle so that you're not depressed. Get some joy in your life. You know, follow God's commandments. Follow God's plan for your life. Go out and do something wholesome with your life that can bring some joy into your life. The joy of the Lord will be your strength. And that's a whole sermon in and of itself. But we need to just not follow the path of destruction that our generation is on of just drugs. Just everything's just pills, drugs, and just a cocktail of medicines instead of fixing our problems. I mean, when you get a headache every day, there's probably something wrong with something about your lifestyle. And look, I know there's somebody out there who's doing everything right and they've got a headache, OK? The exception proves the rule. I'll tell you this. 99% of headaches are caused by either not eating right, not drinking water, and not sleeping. Every time I get a headache, I pretty much check those three things. Did I eat? Did I drink? Did I sleep? And if I eat, drink, and sleep, headache goes away. But there are people who every single day, every day, they have a headache. Every day. And then they, look, I worked with a guy like this. Every day, he's got a headache. Every day, we stop at the gas station. He buys an extra big gulp of Diet Coke, the giant-sized Diet Coke, a little pack of processed garbage donuts in a package, and a little pack of aspirin or whatever the pain, et cetera, in the headache medicine. Every day, he'd eat the pack of donuts, drink the Diet Coke, and swallow the Excedrin for his headache every day. I thought that the guy would die in my presence, because he never drank any water. It's like 100, it was almost as hot as Phoenix in Sacramento in the summer. It's like 110 outside. The guy's just drenched in sweat, Diet Coke for breakfast, Diet Coke for lunch. I'm like, do you ever drink water? Oh, I got a headache. Take these pills. If he drank water, he wouldn't have a headache. He's dehydrated. Look, I'm not saying that somebody might not have a headache for some other reason, but I'm saying a lot of your headaches are from being dehydrated, because you're drinking a bunch of beer and soda and other things instead of water, and you're eating a bunch of processed junk and no real food, and then he says, I'll take a pill to fix it all. This is America today. This is what we've become as a nation. You say, oh, you're mean. You're harping on me. Hey, I'm trying to save your life. Literally. You're going to die. And you say, well, you know, my grandma lived to be 100, and she ate junk for her whole life. That is a lie, because the junk that you're eating today didn't even exist in your grandma's day. It hadn't even been invented yet. This is the first generation on the planet who's even experimented with these Frankenfoods. We don't know what they'll do. No, grandma didn't eat that way. It hadn't even been invented. The GMOs didn't even exist. High fructose corn syrup wasn't even invented when she was a little girl. They didn't eat the way that you're eating. And you know, there was no 44-ouncer back then of Coca-Cola. The original Coke bottle was like eight or nine ounces. It was small. OK, they weren't going and just downing for breakfast a 44-ounce Diet Coke. Those diet things hadn't even been invented yet. Look, the eating and the drinking and the lifestyle that people are on right now in America didn't even exist until now. And it's going to have devastating effects. Illness is going through the roof. Friends, it's problem reaction solution. It's the Hegelian dialectic in full swing. The devil wants to destroy all of our health so that we'll clamor for government health care, right? Obamacare. And then what? So that we can just have big, overarching, socialistic government. Because if the government's paying for our health care, then they're going to want to regulate our lifestyle and tell us that we can't have any more kids and we can't do this and we can't. And then they'll have the death panel for grandma and grandpa and whatever. Look, the socialist health care is a result of people destroying their health. Because if people had actually taken care of themselves and weren't just trashing their bodies, then there wouldn't just be everybody clamoring, we've got to have our prescription drugs. Because everybody's on a cocktail of so many of them, they literally will die without them. Because they're so addicted to them. All right, I better get off that point. All right, number three. Last point. We're talking about destroying yourself tonight. This is an important sermon. You young people, you children, you need to get some brains. I'm talking to those that are eight years old, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13. You teenagers, 14, 15, 16. Look, you're the ones that are going to be offered the alcohol soon. You're going to be offered drugs soon. And pretty soon, mom and dad aren't going to be there to make you eat your Brussels sprouts and make you eat your fruits and vegetables. And you know what? If you go out of the house when you're 18, and it's just nothing but junk food, and corn syrup, and trash, you're going to destroy your brain with that stuff. You're going to destroy your body with that stuff. You need to start making some responsible choices now when you're eight, nine, 10, 11, and decide right now, hey, I'm going to listen to the preacher, and I'm not going to destroy my brain, and I'm not going to destroy my body. And number three, the third way to destroy yourself is to destroy key relationships in your life. Number one, destroying your brain. Number two, destroying your body. And number three, destroying relationships in your life. And by the way, drugs will do all three. Alcohol will do all three. Destroying key relationships. What key relationships am I talking about? Number one, your spouse. You know, you mess up your relationship with your spouse, that could destroy your life. Mess things up with your wife, mess things up with your husband, that would destroy your life. But number two, how about destroying your relationship with your parents? That's a key relationship that you don't want to destroy. And you know what? Today, everybody's looking to the government for the safety net, right? They're looking to the government to fix their health. I mean, these idiots in government think, oh, everybody's going to be so healthy with all this health care. None of it's preventative. None of it's nutrition. None of it's exercise. But, oh, the government's got to provide that safety net for when we get down in our life. You want to know what my safety net is when I get down on my luck? Number one, it's the Lord. But number two, it's my parents. Number three, it's my brothers and sisters in Christ. Number four, it's my physical brothers and sisters. Number five, it's my children. Number six is my friends. You know, that's supposed to be our safety net, is relationships in our life. You know what? If I got into a jam, if I got into a bind, you know who would be there to help me? My dad would. I would call my dad and say, Dad, I need help. And my dad would help me. I would call my mom and say, Mom, I need your help, Mom. And she would help me. You know, I would call my brother. I would call my sister. And if I said to them, please, I need help. You know what they would do? They would help me. And I'd call my friends and say, I need help. I'd call pastor friends. I'd call church members. I'd call people I know all across America. And just say, I need help. Will you help me? And you know what they'd say? Yes, we will help you. Right? I don't even know. Who would help me right now? I'm just kidding. Just kidding. That's my safety net. No, I'm just kidding. Look, people, why? Why? Because I haven't destroyed key relationships in my life. That's why. You see, these people out there that are holding a cardboard sign, oh, and nobody's helping me. I don't have any help. What about your mom? What about your dad? What about your brother? What about your sister? What about your pastor? What about the people in your church? What about your children? What about your aunt? What about your uncle? You know what? They've already burned all those people in their life. And now there's nobody to help them. You know, is that what you're going to be, young person? Go ahead and burn your parents. Go ahead. Burn everybody in your life. But then, you know what? When you need help, you're not going to have anybody. Because you've destroyed key relationships in your life. They watched you go into drugs. They watched you go into alcohol. You've said horrific things to them when you were under the influence of the same. You've hated them. You spat in their face. You burned them. You borrowed money already. You didn't pay it back. And now they say, we can't help you anymore, son. We can't help you anymore, brother. We can't help you anymore, sister. Look, this is reality today. Don't destroy key relationships in your life. Let's look at the Bible. Look at Proverbs 27. Proverbs chapter 27. Proverbs chapter 27. Look at verse 10. The Bible says, thine own friend and thy father's friend forsake not. You see that? Thine own friend and thy father's friend forsake not. Neither go into thy brother's house in the day of thy calamity. For better is a neighbor that is near than a brother far off. What's the Bible saying? You need to have people that are within range of you that can help you out when you're in a jam. Does everybody see that? When you're in a jam, you know, your brother, because back then, your brother afar off, you can't even write to him in time. You know, they didn't have the phone. They didn't have internet. So if your brother's afar off, you know, if you're in a jam right now, he said, hey, you better have a friend that sticks closer than a brother. And your father's friend and your friend don't forsake them. Why? Because you might need them someday. Don't forsake your friend. Don't forsake. Why? You do favors for people. And when they need help, you help them. Why? Because then when you get in trouble, they're there to help you. See, this is called society. This is called church. This is called family. This is called Christianity. This is called a normal life. But today, we've destroyed all the relationships in our life. We're in generation self. Generation me, me, me, where we go live by ourselves, and we do our own thing, and we don't care about our parents. We don't care about our friends. We don't care about our brothers and sisters. We barely ever go to church, or we don't go to church at all. And then all of a sudden, we wonder why there's nobody to help us. Because your buddies that you party with aren't there to help you. But your mom would have been. Your dad would have been. Your brother, your sister, your church. I mean, look, you're not going to die of starvation while being a faithful member of Faithful Word Baptist Church. It's just not going to happen. Somebody's going to feed you. Somebody's going to help you. Somebody's going to get you a job. Somebody's going to, look, people in this church are constantly doing things to help each other out. And you know what? If you're faithful to church, church is going to be faithful to you. You know what? If you honor your father and mother, they're there for you. And you're there for them. And then when they get in a jam, and when they're in a bind, you take care of your parents. Right? It's a two-way street. Don't destroy key relationships in your life. Keep your relationship right with your spouse, with your parents, with your brothers and sisters, with your church. Why? Because those people will be there for you. And that's your state. Not the government. And then you'll be ready to tell the government to go jump in the lake. But everybody's clamoring for socialism and big government, because they've just worshiped themselves and burned all their friends and burned everyone in their personal life. So now the government's their only hope in their calamity. I don't need the government. I've got plenty of family and friends that would help me out. And I would do the same for them. That's a better way to live your life. The Bible says in Proverbs 17, 17, a friend loveth at all times and a brother is born for adversity. So when you go through adversity, when you go through hard times, that's where your brother is there for you. That's where your friend is there for you. And that could be a physical brother or a brother in Christ. Don't burn either one of them. You know, don't destroy key relationships in your life. And especially not your spouse, especially not your parents, especially not your brothers and sisters in Christ, your physical brothers, you know. And look, obviously there are going to be times where you have to separate from people. But do your best to honor those people and be good to those people and treat those people right. These are how not to destroy your life, okay? So if you want to go through life without destroying your brain, without destroying your body, and without destroying your key relationships, you should follow the advice that we found the Word of God tonight. Stay away from drugs. Stay away from alcohol. Stay away from fornication. Prescription drugs should be a last resort after you've tried to actually fix what's wrong with your lifestyle. Okay. And then stay away from the fornication, the partying, adultery, disrespecting your parents and all these things that are just going to destroy your life in three ways. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your Word to warn us and teach us, Lord. And God, I just pray that everyone who's here tonight would take these warnings seriously, Lord, and that none of them would go out and waste their brain on alcohol or drugs or make any of these stupid mistakes, Lord. I pray that people would think about what they're putting into their bodies, the garbage and the poisons and the drugs and the chemicals, Lord, and just, God, just give wisdom to the people that are in this auditorium tonight, Lord. And I just pray that you would help us not to destroy ourselves, but help us to honor the temple of our bodies that we might serve you for many years to come. And in Jesus' name I pray, amen.