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

Tonight I'm going to be preaching to you a slightly different sermon than maybe what we're used to here. But I'll be going over a little bit in depth on Hinduism and what Hindus believe. But I'm going to start off giving you some of the things they believe, but more importantly how it's had an impact on Christians in general and the influence that Hinduism has had on other things that you might not even realize is sourced from the Hindu religion. This is something that we don't generally deal with a whole lot in the United States. It's not as common as Christian denominations or even some other religions, but it's definitely important. There's about a billion people in the world that are in some way, shape, or form a Hindu. So there's tons of people that are on this planet that are deceived by this false pagan religion. Like I said, we're not going to go super far in depth into their doctrines, we don't need to do that. But I am going to give you a little bit of an understanding of what they believe and what they teach just so you know where they're coming from and what to look out for and different ways to speak to people who might be caught up in the Hindu religion. I have some information, I was kind of studying up on this a little bit. I know real basic information about Hinduism, but I never really got that in depth into what they believe. So I did a little bit, I just want to make sure that I'm saying the right things. I don't like to misrepresent anybody. I don't like it, I don't appreciate it when people misrepresent my positions on things and they just have no understanding at all about what I'm saying. And I'm not going to do that for anyone else because you're going to lose your credibility if you just automatically misrepresent what someone believes. So I found I'm going to be reading some excerpts from various sources just to give you, you know, this is what they're saying about themselves and it wasn't from Christian websites or anything like that, it's from Hindus themselves. So it's not, you know, I'm not trying to build a straw man, if you will. So a little bit about their religion. I got this information from hinduismtoday.com. I don't know who owns it, but they're pro-Hindus, right? That's all about their religion. So they say Hinduism, also known as Sanatana Dharma or eternal way, is our planet's original and oldest living religion with over one billion adherents. Today it has four main denominations. Now, right off the bat, that's incorrect. We know from biblical history that there is one true religion that is the oldest, but it's not the religion of Hinduism. We have a genealogy tracing all the way back to Adam and Eve and their relationship with God. It had nothing to do with the Hindu religion. Now different religions will kind of have their little, some points that they like to make to draw people in. In the Christian world, you have the orthodox church that always tries to say, well, we could lie, you know, we could go all the way back to the apostle Peter, and that's kind of one of their claims and one of their big talking points to convince people to join up with orthodoxy is that, well, we could trace our roots all the way back to the beginning. And that's, you know, and again, that's false, and you could look back, well, yeah, you could trace the roots through all the deception and the being taken over by non-believers, and you continued along that path, but I'm not going to get into that. It's a whole other sermon of itself. I am going to be preaching a sermon on orthodoxy, but not tonight. And Hinduism is using their, it's the oldest religion, right, and that's kind of one of their deals. Say, well, we've been around longer than any other organized religion in the world. We are the oldest, and that's just simply not true. It's the Bible religion. You might say that they've had the same name, but they haven't even had the same name for that long. I mean, they have changed names over the years, even though it is the same religion. Well, people want to say, well, Christianity is a new religion. No, it's not. True Christianity is not. You could say, well, it started with Christ. The name did, maybe. They were called Christians first at Antioch, but the religion hasn't changed. Jesus Christ didn't invent a new religion. It was the religion of Jehovah and the Lord, and, you know, if you want to call it Judaism back then, okay, you can call it whatever you want, but it's the same true religion of God and the Bible. So you could have various names. It doesn't mean that it's brand new when you relabel it. So anyways, that's one of their claims, and they have four main denominations. They also state that all Hindus worship one supreme reality. Now, they are polytheistic. And this is where, you know, I don't believe I'm misrepresenting them, because they do have deities. They have gods. It's just their understanding is that there's one supreme reality, which is kind of like their God of gods. And it says, though they call it by many names, there is no eternal hell, no damnation in Hinduism, and no intrinsic evil, no satanic force that opposes the will of God. This is another thing that they believe, and this is a damning doctrine to believe that, that there is no evil, no intrinsic evil. And see, that's just kind of like, I don't know how people could get involved in this. You look around at the world, and you see some of the extremely wicked evil things that people do, and to say that there is no intrinsic evil, I mean, it's almost like giving these people a pass, and saying that that's okay with, you know, these monsters that, you know, pedophiles or, you know, serial rate, you know, people that do these wicked things that you could never imagine a person even doing. To say that that's not evil is stupidity. But they say that there is no eternal hell, there's no damnation, and of course, why would you want to believe in something like that if you're making up your religion? So it is truly a satanic religion, but they claim to believe in one supreme reality even though they have these other gods. And then one other statement here I'm going to read, it says, Hindus believe that no religion teaches the only way to salvation above all others, but that all genuine paths are facets of God's light, deserving tolerance and understanding. And what's interesting about that statement is that they're supposed to be very tolerant and open about their religion, and they pride themselves on that. But even in the very statement, it's no religion teaches the only way to salvation above all others. Well, Christianity does. Jesus Christ himself said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. That is extremely exclusive. That is a religion that says all these other gods, all these other idols, all these other religions are false. You need to repent. You need to believe on me, and I am the only way to the Father. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. That's exclusive. So what they're automatically rejecting then is the Christian religion. Even though they want to say that they're wide, oh, there's all these different religions, we're tolerating and everything else, as long as you're not claiming to have the only way to salvation. Then it's fine with them. And you can see how satanic, I mean, especially, you know, obviously to us, knowing the truth of the Bible and having God's Word, we can see right off the bat how patently evil this religion actually is. Don't get deceived by the exterior, by the front of, oh, we're tolerant, we're accepting, and there is no hell and everything's great. So many people fall into that trap, but it's just simply not the truth. If that was the truth, I'd be all for it, but it's simply not true. They believe in reincarnation, which is after a person or a soul dies here, that they're reincarnated. And they believe in reincarnation not just for people but animals and everything else. So they have kind of a different view, to put it mildly, on life in general with not as much of a difference between humans and animals as we would see in the Christian religion. Now, we started off in Psalm 135, because one of the big things, one of the major problems with Hinduism, and there's a lot of problems with it, but the biggest one is their idolatry. Hinduism is chock full of idolatry. I mean, they have all these various gods and all these statues, all these graven images and all these things that they worship and they use as part of their ceremonies, and the Bibles couldn't be clearer about idolatry is probably, and I mentioned this in a previous sermon not that long ago, idolatry is probably one of the worst sins in God's eyes. It's one of those things that God can't stand, and yeah, it was just a couple of weeks ago on 1 Kings, just about two weeks ago, I think, 1 Kings 9 is when I preached on that, just showing how God is a jealous God. God doesn't want any other gods before him. We're in Psalm 135, look at verse number 15. The Bible reads here, the idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths but they speak not, eyes have they but they see not, they have ears but they hear not, neither is there any breath in their mouths. They that make them are like unto them, so is everyone that trusteth in them. One of the things that's interesting here, and people don't like, we kind of have too much of a pussy-footed type of religion these days in Christianity where people don't like to hear the truth spoken clearly and plainly and that everything needs to be sugar-coated. Now, what's interesting about Psalm 135 is that this isn't sugar-coated at all. When it's describing idolatry and those who are involved in idolatry, it says the idols of the heathen, these gods that they make for themselves, they're silver and gold in their works of men's hands. It's just man-made, it's man-created, they make this image, this thing, this mix of a man and a beast or whatever their idol is. They cover it with gold and silver and try to make it look real beautiful and ornate. They have mouths but they can't speak because it's an object. They have eyes but they can't see anything. They have ears but they can't hear, neither is there any breath in their mouths, right? So you're saying basically these things are dumb, they can't do anything, they're inanimate, they have no intelligence, they have no life, they have no, you know, nothing works. And then he says, they that make them are like unto them. Basically what he's saying is that the people are just as stupid as the idols that are falling for this to say that this is a god, that this object that you just created is a god. That's blunt. I mean he's putting it very bluntly and, you know, not dancing around the issue and saying, well, they're just a little bit mixed up. He says, they that make them are like unto them, so is everyone that trusts in them. Laying it out there. That's why I love the word of God because there is no, there is no room for doubt in the Bible. God makes things very clear. It's us, it's people that want to twist scripture and make it say things that it doesn't actually say. God made things very plain. Exodus chapter 20, you can turn it if you'd like, Exodus chapter 20, we're going to see the 10 commandments. Of course, the very first two commandments have to do with God being the God and God not wanting you worshipping and making any idols or having other gods before him because he's a jealous God. Exodus chapter 20, verse number 2. Now again, one of the reasons I bring this up, I'm not worried that you're going to get mixed up in Hinduism. I'm not. That's not my concern tonight. You say, well, why are you preaching this, Pastor Burzins? We're all Christians here. We're not Hindus. Well, part of it is so that you can hopefully be able to just understand enough about it to be able to show maybe you have a Hindu friend. Maybe you know. I mean, there's a billion people in the world that are Hindus. Odds are you're going to be running across somebody that's a Hindu in your lifetime and just having this little basic knowledge could be useful. You might be able to identify a stumbling block for someone else. You might be able to show people these scriptures. I mean, even someone, look, the word of God is powerful and it's quicker than any, it's more power, it's quick, it's more powerful than any two-edged sword, okay? Dividing together the soul and spirit. So, dividing us under the soul and spirit. God's word is what's powerful. When we go out and preach the gospel, we're preaching and using God's word because our own analogy, our own reasoning, it only goes so far. We need God's word to have the power. So you can use verses and passages of scripture to show people that are involved in idolatry how dumb it is, really. Because this makes perfect sense. We read in Psalm 135 and it makes sense. It's not even, you know, you don't even have to worry about them, well, they're not going to accept the Bible because they're Hindus. Give it to them anyways. I mean, every unbeliever you can say, well, they're not going to accept the Bible because they're an unbeliever. Well, they need to hear it and then become a believer, right? They're not going to become a believer without hearing God's word. So we use God's word without just withholding it from people thinking, well, they're not going to believe it anyways. No, this is where the power is to begin with. So this is what we're going to use to provide people the information where they could, the light could come on and say, wow, that makes perfect sense. Exodus 20, look at verse number 2, the Bible reads, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them, for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children under the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing mercy on the thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. Now, this wasn't in my notes, but what we see here in Exodus 20 is that he doesn't want you to make a graven image or to bow down and worship them. One, and how this can apply to you, Christian, is don't be involved in the making of graven images even if you're not going to be the one worshipping them. These Hindus, there's a lot of money to be made in building up these idols and these false gods. And there are lots of businesses, even in the United States, of people that will go and create these things. Why? Because they know that they could sell them to the billion people who practice the Hindu religion. Well, in the Ten Commandments, God said not to even make them. So I believe it's a sin and it's wickedness if you are the Christian to be involved in making these idols, even if you don't ever plan on worshipping them, that we need to stay away from them and not decorate your house. Don't take a trip to India and then come back with one of these idols and say, well, I know it's not really a god. Look, God doesn't want them even being made. Don't bring that garbage into your house. And at the very least, stay away from the appearance of evil. Say, I don't ever worship it. Get rid of it. God hates idolatry more than just about anything else. Literally. I mean, this is such a big thing. And I brought it up in the 1 Kings 9 sermon, it's worth repeating. We see in Romans chapter 1, when people are given over to reprobate mine, it's because they didn't want to retain God in their knowledge and they worship and serve the creature more than the Creator who is blessed forever. Amen. What started their downward path is that they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, became vain in their own imaginations, their foolish heart was darkened to the point to where they become rejected. And it started with their idolatry, it started with their rejection of God and just making up their own gods and building their own idols. We see the idolatry in the very first 2 commandments of the 10 commandments of God saying, look, I'm a jealous God, don't have any other gods. We see the history of the children of Israel, the nation of Israel, of them being punished and taken captive, why? Every time they turn to idols. Every time. It has to do with their leaving the worship of God and then look, they've been involved in various sins as a nation and many times throughout their history without receiving that full judgment until they just completely turn away from God and just start lifting up these other idols. That's when it becomes too much and that's when God judges them. It is a very, very serious sin and something that is just foundational to God that it needs a proper rebuke. Now, one of the Hindu, so the Hindu religion, there are various gods and goddesses, even though they have their one supreme reality, whatever that means, it means God's just kind of everything and everywhere and is reality. But there's many gods and goddesses that they worship. One of the Hindu goddesses is actually a cow. And the name of that goddess, turn if you will to 1 Kings chapter 12, the name of that goddess is Kama-denu. Now I may not be pronouncing that right but I wanted to have the actual name here for reference and Kama-denu is a divine bovine goddess which is described as the mother of all cows. If you know anything about the Hindu religion, they hold animals and specifically cows in very high regard. You've heard of holy cow, right? The holy cows and all these various things come from the Hindu religion. Now they claim they don't worship the cow, okay, whatever. They have this goddess that is the mother of all cows, that herself is some form of a cow. If you want to say they worship a cow, then again that's a semantic game, I think more than anything. But here's a statement from the Swami Bhaktivedanta Varaha who's a very high religious leader in the foundational to their scriptures that they use for the Hindu religion. He said this, one should never show disrespect for cows in any way nor should one feel any repugnance towards the urine and dung of a cow because these things are also pure. When cows are grazing or laying down, relaxing, one should never disturb or annoy them in any way. Cows should never be killed in any type of sacrifice or slaughtered in any way for food as the killing of cows constitutes the most heinous of all sins in existence. You could see for many aspects of that the attack on Christianity, on God's word, on the laws of God coming from their, even on something as simple as just you say well it's a cow, it's a big deal. Well you know in the Old Testament God required sacrifices. There was bull sacrifices, ox, you know sheep, lamb, there's various animals that God used as a sacrifice and it was all a picture of the atonement, the blood atonement that needed to be paid for our sins because there is no other absolving of sins other than through the blood. It needs to be shed and they're rejecting that and denying that and they're actually elevating the status of a cow specifically to that of a human. I mean saying you know a cow's laying down and don't disturb, now look there's a line to be drawn where I'm not, because I'm kind of ridiculing this a little bit of not bothering a cow when it's sleeping like I think that's ridiculous. Obviously we know we shouldn't just go and be torturing animals and doing weird things like that but you also don't need to have this type of elevation of the status of a cow either. That's weird and that's part of this pagan religion. So the reason why I'm bringing up this whole cow thing, why are you bringing up this cow thing? Because there's nothing new under the sun. They claim to be this oldest religion but you know this worshipping of cows and calves we find in the Bible and I don't know why cows have stuck so much through humanity of looking at the cow. I understand the symbolic references. The Hindus will say well the cow is a very passive animal, it gives milk, it provides sustenance, it's a great provider. So that's why they hold cows in high regard. It's a symbolism for all those things. But throughout history we see even in the Bible people who have made these golden idols that are calves or cows. In 1 Kings chapter 12 we see Jeroboam creates the golden calves. It says in verse 26, and Jeroboam said in his heart, now shall the kingdom return to the house of David if this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their Lord even unto Jeroboam king of Judah and they shall kill me and go again to Jeroboam king of Judah. Whereupon the king took counsel and made two calves of gold and said unto them it is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem behold thy gods O Israel which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt and he set the one in Bethel and the other put he in Dan. Now, to us it might seem kind of silly or ridiculous, why are you bringing this up? I'm not involved in idolatry. The children of Israel had the word of God and they actually had righteous kings just prior to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. They had a history of King David and King Solomon and God's word being preached unto them and knowing who the Lord was and knowing these things before the kingdom was rent from Rehoboam and Jeroboam established a kingdom, you can say these people had the word of God, why would they even fall for this idolatry? I don't know, why would they do it? It may have taken a little bit of time over years to get this set up but all the more important because we see the kingdom of Israel then, that sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat establishing those idols, those calves, those golden calves for people to worship, he has declared these are your gods and how many people went with that? They're like okay, we'll just go here and worship, we'll just worship this golden cow when they already had the Ten Commandments, they had Exodus 20 like we just read for themselves to understand this stuff. The reason I'm bringing up is the importance that even Christians need to be aware of idolatry and to not let it start to creep into your house and you become so tolerant and accepting of all these various religions that all of a sudden you're bringing idols in, the next thing you do you're going to be worshiping and you say that will never happen. Well, it happened to the children of Israel. Prior to that, to these events here with Jeroboam the son of Nebat, you remember the story of Aaron and Moses. Talk about a people that should know better. When the children of Israel were taken out of Egypt, they saw the plagues upon Egypt. They were there when the Red Sea was parted and they walked through on dry ground and then God collapsed the sea on top of the Egyptian soldiers that were coming after them. They saw the pillar of cloud in the day and the pillar of smoke by day and the pillar of fire by night. They were witness to these things. I mean, God was present with them. What happened when Moses went up into the mount to hear from God and to get the Ten Commandments? He took a little bit longer than they expected. He was there for a month, 30 days. And they start saying, and I'm going to read, if you go to Exodus 32, we'll just read from this here. Exodus 32, starting in verse number 1, we'll see what happens in the Bible. When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron and said unto him, make us gods, which shall go before us, for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we what not what has become of him. So, so quickly they're just turned away. This guy that literally brought us up out of Egypt, well, we don't know what happened to him, so just make us some gods. Verse 2, and Aaron said unto them, break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And the people break off the golden earrings, which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf. And they said, these be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it, and Aaron made proclamation, and said, tomorrow is a feast to the Lord. And they rose up early on tomorrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings, and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. So right away they get involved in idolatry. Now jump down if you would to verse number 19, we're going to see Moses' reaction when he comes down from the mount. Verse 19 says, And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing. And Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and braked them beneath the mount. And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. And Moses said unto Aaron, what did this people unto thee that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them? And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my Lord wax hot, thou knowest the people that they are set on mischief? For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us. For as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we what not what has become of him? And I said unto them, Whoso hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me. Then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf. So he's explaining everything that happened. Now look at verse number 25, because we didn't get this earlier in the chapter. And when Moses saw that the people were naked, for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies, then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the Lord's side? Let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. And he said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor. And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses, and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. And what I want to point out there is that not only did they, you know, they made these, they made these idols, these gods, right, this golden calf for them to worship, and they started to make a feast, and they rose up to play, and they were naked. It says that Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies. And what I'm going to point out here is it's interesting that in the course of the idolatry being set up here with the golden calf, with that cow, and the people celebrating, making a big feast, and becoming naked, that I believe that there's definitely throughout cultures and even in the Hindu religion there is an association of idolatry with nakedness. And this was kind of, this was definitely news to me, I had never heard of this before, but the Hindus have their Kumbh Mila, which is something that happens every twelve years in four various locations. And so every three years it's held at a different spot according to the information I read. And this is covered by many news outlets. So I'm reading an article here describing the event. And here's what it says, it said, millions of devout Hindus, led by naked ascetics, with ash smeared on their bodies, plunged in the frigid waters of India's holy Ganges River on Monday, in a ritual they believe can wash away their sins. The religious spectacle, starkly different from the method that other faiths use to cope with personal sin, is a massive gathering. So in the Hindu religion there is this ritual that's performed where the religious leaders, these men, are completely naked. And they just cover themselves with ashes and they go out and lead the people into this river to wash away their sins by bathing in the river. And we know that the Hindu religion is heavily idolatrous. We think about even just the various African tribes that still worship idols and things like that. What's the big thing with them? They're always naked, right? We see the National Pornographic is displaying these videos of these people who are very idolatrous in their religion. There's always nakedness associated with that. We see that in the Bible as well. I think it's pretty interesting that there's a correlation there between the two. But not only are these Hindus now, well look at, before I even get into that, God's response to the idolatry when Moses came down from the mount was severe. Again, to underline and underscore the importance that God puts on this and the seriousness of the sin of idolatry and how quickly the children of Israel were just removed from the Word of God that He said, Moses said, thus saith the Lord God of Israel. He was speaking the words of God that God had given Moses. Put every man his sword by his side and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp and slay every man his brother and every man his companion and every man his neighbor. He said, they need to be killed. That was the death penalty on what they had done at that time with their idolatry. Pretty serious and that's from the mouth of God. This is in the Bible. This is God's Word. Now I didn't make that up. So we see the correlation here between the idol worship and the nakedness coming through in the Hindu religion and there's also their own perversion of baptism because that's really what it is. They're going in this water, in this river to wash away their sins and they say it's washing away their sins of previous lives and everything else and trying to get rid of all that. One other point I didn't mention here and I didn't, you can look this up if you want to. I don't necessarily encourage it but if you want to verify this is that these ascetics, there's what they're called, these Hindu religious leaders, an ascetic means that they've basically renounced all the cares of this world, all the things, all the distractions are like monks and that's why you know the materialism of this world. So that's why they're naked because they don't even have clothing, right? There's just all material stuff. They don't need any of that stuff but one other thing that's involved with this is that they get high, they smoke marijuana because that's supposed to help them get closer to God or understanding or help them to meditate or whatever. Again it's one of the fruits of that religion, no pun intended, right? The fruits of the Hindu religion is these naked men who are high leading a group of people in the river supposedly to wash away their sins. That's Hinduism. Now again, I'm preaching this for various reasons, I'm going to start getting into now the different influence that Hinduism has had on Christian cultures and on Christians in general. One thing to be aware of though, with the understanding of how wicked idolatry is and how much God hates it, we turn to 1 Corinthians chapter number 10. Still something for us to be aware of today. Not very common yet in our culture but when you know Hindus, just be aware of this. We know, you can read 1 Corinthians 8 and 10, we're just going to look at it real briefly here in 1 Corinthians chapter number 10, that we know that the idol really is nothing. It's not a god. It's just a piece of wood, it's gold, whatever. However they made it, that's all it is. But Christians should not knowingly eat any food that has been offered in sacrifice to an idol. That is something that is a sin for us and maybe one day you'll be invited to an event where a Hindu invites you in some gathering. You might not know very much about it, maybe you have a boss or someone else, some friend, and you go to this thing. The Bible tells us how we ought to deal with this. That basically, you don't have to just be finding out, hey, asking all these questions to see if they did it. But if you're aware of it and if you know about it, you need to reject it. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 10, let's start reading here in verse number 25. Whatsoever is sold in the shambles that eat, asking no question for conscious aid. So you don't have to ask about it. Go ahead, you're buying your food, you're buying your meat, go ahead and eat that. It says, for the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. Verse 27, if any of them that believe not bid you to a feast and you be disposed to go, whatsoever is set before you eat, asking no question for conscience' sake. So this is exactly the scenario I'm talking about, some Hindu that you know invites you to feast and you're disposed to go, so you're going to go over there. Whatever they set before you, go ahead and eat it. You don't have to ask questions about it and worry about it. It says, but, in verse 28, but if any man say unto you, this is offered in sacrifice unto idols. So as soon as you find out, someone tells you, hey, this is offered in sacrifice to idols. He says, eat not for his sake that showed it and for conscience' sake, for the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. Conscience I say, not thine own, but of the other, for why is my liberty judge of another man's conscience? For if I by grace be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks? Whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give none offense, neither the Jews nor the Gentiles nor the church of God, even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own prophet, but the prophet of many that they may be saved. We need to maintain a good testimony and say, God is not for this. God abhors idolatry and I am not going to partake in your ceremony, in this food that's been offered to a false god, to an idol. Second Corinthians 6, 14, you have to turn there. Turn if you would to, turn if you would to Deuteronomy 21, Deuteronomy 21. First Corinthians 2, verse 14 reads, be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with darkness, and what concord hath Christ with Belial, or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel, and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God, as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people, wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord almighty. And I think that's very applicable to, again, receiving food that's been offered and sacrificed unto idols. Hey, there is no communion, there is no concord. That is a devil that's being offered unto. That's what idols are, really, they're devils. And if you're of Christ, you should have nothing to do with that. Now, let's look at some of the Hindu influences and modern practices that are tied in with Hinduism that you might not even be aware of. There's a term that's thrown around a lot these days that people don't even know where it comes from, I think, anymore, unfortunately, in the younger generations, especially, and that's the word karma. You've heard karma, oh, that's bad karma, this is good, I had bad friends back in high school, bad karma, and all this other nonsense, right? And I'm sure most of them probably had no clue where it even comes from. This has become popular, right, that's what the TV stars and the musicians and stuff, they're always talking about karma, so what do they do? The brainwashed people that just follow all this stuff and they follow their idols and their heroes on the TV screen, they just repeat what they hear. And this concept of karma, I'm reading here now from some sources on Hindu, I don't have it cited, but there's a source, it says, Hindus believe in karma, the law of cause and effect by which each individual creates his own destiny by his thoughts, words, and deeds. The most similar thing that would be a biblical principle is in Galatians 6, 7, be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. They use this concept of karma, and see, there's always going to be things that are, in all false religions, that are going to be close to the truth. In many areas, you're going to find things that, oh, that's pretty close, oh, you say karma, but I say you reap what you sow, well, it's still not exactly the same thing. As Christians, we should avoid that language altogether. Not have anything to do with it, don't be talking about karma, that is completely a Hindu word and made up for their religion. As Christians, that same principle is that, you know, you're going to reap what you sow in this lifetime, but it's still not exactly the same as karma, because they have karma follows you through all of your multiple lives and reincarnations and stuff until all the karma has been balanced out. That's what their wicked religion teaches, is that everything is balanced out in the end and everybody goes to heaven and there is no damnation. One of the other things that they teach in their religion, you're in Deuteronomy chapter 21, they believe in cremation. You say, what's the big deal with that? And even a lot of Christians, I think, are not understanding what we should do when it comes to burial versus cremation. And you could hear people saying, oh, well, I don't want to take up any space in the ground or I don't want to spend the money on it or whatever, I'm just going to get cremated. What does it matter anyways? Because this body is just a vessel, right? But it does make a difference. There is a lot of symbolism behind the burial of the body and it is not Christian, it is not a Christian belief to do cremation. That is something that the Hindus believe and this is their attempt to detach the soul from the body. A couple of biblical, and I preached a lot of Bible verses on this one subject in my series in Genesis, I forget which chapter it was in, but we're going to look at two passages right now, Deuteronomy 21 and we're going to look at 1 Corinthians chapter 15 of why it's even a thing. Why is it important? Why should Christians be buried as opposed to cremated? Why does it matter? Well, Deuteronomy 21 verse 22 in God's law said, and if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day. He didn't say cremate him and destroy him, he says, thou shalt bury him that day. For he that is hanged is accursed of God, that thy land be not defiled, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance. And one of the reasons why this is so important is that there's a general principle, a concept being taught that is intrinsic in the Christian religion is that of sowing and reaping. Sowing and being born. When the body dies, it's buried in the ground just as someone who's planting seeds would throw a seed into the ground and get planted. That seed dies but then brings forth new life and comes up out of the ground with a new life being brought. The picture that's being demonstrated here in terms of 1 Corinthians 15 is that our physical bodies get buried into the ground just as a seed would, but when Jesus Christ comes back, our physical bodies are going to rise again with that new life to be reunited with our soul and spirit and to join Jesus Christ in the air. That is an important teaching, and throughout the Bible you're going to find that there are various institutions, there are various things that God has made and designed and set up that teach doctrine through the action. So one of those would be, I feel like I'm not explaining this very well, but marriage. There is symbolism in marriage that God applies to the church in Jesus Christ. He says, this is the way it ought to be, you're with the marriage, you're not supposed to get divorced, you're with each other, till death do us part. Well that's a symbolic reference also of Jesus Christ in the church. You're faithful to one another, you're not to depart from one another, and that's the way that God designed it. There's other things as well that God is using to teach. All of the various animal sacrifices were showing us pictures and symbolism, were showing them, at least at that time, we're not alive during that time period anymore, there's no more sacrifices, but it was showing those people how there was going to be a Savior, there's going to be bloodshed to pay atone for the sins of all the world through Jesus Christ. Now 1 Corinthians 15, look at verse number 42, we're talking about cremation versus burial. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 42 explains this concept, so also is the resurrection of the dead, it is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption, it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory, it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power, it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body, there's a natural body and there's a spiritual body. So this is the concept that's being taught. Now look, if somebody's body is cremated, is that going to mean they're not going to have a resurrection at the end? No. They're still going to have a resurrection, it doesn't have this eternal loss or something like that, but we're trying to provide a good testimony. This is why Christians should get buried as opposed to being cremated is because it's an illustration of what's to come. It's an illustration of Jesus Christ and his resurrection from the dead. When his body was buried in a tomb and then raised again from the dead. Let's look at another thing here that the Hindus teach and that is in regards to meditation. Now I'm going to be very clear here, turn if you would to Psalm 1, Psalm 1. The Bible teaches meditation also. Many places, and I'm not going to go to all places, I've just got two references here that I'm going to read from Joshua chapter 1 and Psalm 1, but there's a big difference in the practice of Hindu meditation versus biblical or scriptural meditation. They're not even quite the same thing. They're two different things, even though it's the same word. The Hindus teach a meditation that is a clearing of your mind where you're eliminating all thought and they use these chants to completely black out your mind and have zero thoughts whatsoever. This is not the meditation that's defined and spoken about in the Bible. They're two completely different things. So I'm going to read for you from Joshua 1.8. Joshua 1.8 says, this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have good success. So the meditation of the Eastern religion, I can tell you just blank out your mind in order to clear yourself, then you'll have good success. The Bible says you need to meditate in God's word day and night, and that is a huge difference in this clearing your mind. You're actually focusing in on God's word. Psalm 1, 2 basically says the same thing, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night. Now I looked up all the various references to meditation and meditate in the Bible. Almost every reference is referring to meditating in God's word, meditating in God's laws and focusing and studying that and chewing on that in your mind, if you will. That's what the meditation is. It is not a clearing of yourself and a clearing of your mind, which is what's practiced today. And be aware of that. Be mindful of that. Don't think that, oh, I'm going to go to this meditation class because the Bible talks about meditating. There's a lot of sneaky people out there that are deceiving because of the ignorance of so many Christians that haven't studied, haven't looked at it, that don't understand and are easily fooled into thinking, oh, meditate is the same exact thing. It's not. Now this meditation that's being offered, especially in our culture and our society, became very popular in the 60s with the hippies and the hippie movement. That was a big thing and especially a lot of the rock bands in the 60s and 70s, they all got into this transcendental meditation and they would see these gurus and it was all from this Hindu religion. This is where it came from. So look at where the rock and roll and the drug culture and the hippie movement in the 60s and 70s got us. Look at the fruits of that movement. And that is really a fruit of the Hindu religion, a lot of that. I mean, I'm not going to blame everything on the Hindus, but a lot of what they were believing and teaching lines up perfectly with the Hindu religion. So here's a statement from the World Hindu News. And this is again in, I believe this is in regards to that same ritual I was talking about. It says, observers spend the days leading up to the holiday, praying, fasting, and making holy offerings such as smoking marijuana from clay pipes. Marijuana and hashish are symbols of religious devotion and it said Shiva, Shiva is one of their gods, one of their main gods, use the substance to relax and focus on meditation. And another quote from NPR, again, they're covering this event that I told you about before where the naked guys go into the river and they lead everyone else to go bathe in the river and wash away their sins. NPR said, it's scenes like this that made Kathmandu famous among hippies. They're stating, NPR is coming out and saying, this is why this was so popular in the hippie movement. I mean, it's a fact that all this meditation and everything else gained a lot of steam in America through the hippie movement because of these types of things. So they see in Kathmandu this thing going on and you see these guys, oh man, wow, they're really free. They're naked, man, who cares, yeah, that's natural, that's how we were born and they're out there smoking dope and they thought it was real cool. It's scenes like this that made Kathmandu famous among hippies. Indeed, a few days before Shiva Ratri, I can't even pronounce this, Pashupatinath had the vibe of a relaxed music festival. This is the ritual going on in the Hindu religion. This is the ritual going on and that's the place where it's taking place. He's saying that, NPR is reporting that basically it's the same vibe as a music festival during their Hindu ritual. It's a little more like Bonnaroo by the time over a million devotees have arrived for the big day. Now, I have no idea what Bonnaroo was. I had to look it up because I kind of felt stupid. I'm like, what's Bonnaroo? Never heard of it before. Basically it's like a Lollapalooza, basically it's a Woodstock, it's a big musical event. It's one of the new names for this now modern times where you have all kinds of different bands and they play all this music and you probably have a whole bunch of people doing drugs and basically a continuation of that whole hippie lifestyle is going on. That's the way NPR reported this event, this ritual in the Hindu religion. But it's coming infiltrated over here and most people now probably don't even realize that. You know the Beatles that you love to listen to? The Beach Boys? The Doors? They were all into this stuff. They were all into this stuff and now you're going to let those people get into your head and teach you. Just because you like the music, right? Beware of this stuff. Another aspect of Hinduism that's gotten into our culture is this, and now again I'm not going to say that they're solely responsible for this, but vegetarianism. One of the tenets of their Hindu religion is that all animals are sacred and you have to honor all forms of life so it's basically a sin to be killing any animals. Now I'm going to read for you for what Satguru Sivaya Subramanayaswamy's book, I'm doing my best up here, there's a lot of letters in that name, Dancing with Siva, and again that's one of their gods, Siva. This question is addressed as following, Hindus teach vegetarianism as a way to live with a minimum of hurt to other beings. For to consume meat, fish, fowl, or eggs is to participate indirectly in acts of cruelty and violence against the animal kingdom. Which is completely contradictory to the word of God and what God has established. God has made man to have dominion over the earth and over all the creatures therein. God has provided animals for our sustenance. God is the one that said, hey take Peter, slay and eat, right, slay, kill the animal. Why? Because you are of much more value than many sparrows is what Jesus said, right, when people try to take thought, he said look at the birds, God takes care of them, look at all these other animals, God takes care of them, you're of way much more value in the eyes of God, the Creator, who created the animals and created you, you're way more valuable than these animals are. Romans 14, you can turn there, we'll just look at this real briefly here, when it comes to vegetarians. Now look, if you're a vegetarian, I don't hate you, and I'm not even saying, I'm not saying it's a sin to be a vegetarian, okay, you can eat what you want to eat. You don't have to eat meat if you don't want to, okay, and if you say it's rather fine. What I'm trying to show here though is that there's definitely an influence from the Hindu religion pushing the vegetarian diet. Now I'm not saying they're solely responsible, so I'm trying to be reasonable here, but it is a big impact of pushing this agenda of getting people just to be vegetarians. Now the Bible says in Romans 14, in verse number one, it says, him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputation. So we're talking about someone who's weak in the faith, someone who doesn't have as much knowledge, they're a little bit weaker in the faith, we receive those people, amen, we love them. Verse number two, it's going to describe that person. For one believeth that he may eat all things, another who is weak eateth herbs. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not, and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth, for God hath received him. So we're seeing here, and this isn't, I'm not trying to separate from people or anything like that, I'll receive the, you're a vegetarian, fine, go ahead and eat your vegetables, but what we don't want to have happening is that you have this attitude like the Hindus that says, well you're harming animals, you know, you shouldn't be eating cow, you shouldn't be eating fish because you're hurting those poor animals and that's not right. This is the attitude that we're trying to, and this is what the Bible's saying, no, you can't do that, right? And the Bible's telling us who's the weak one and who's not. And the weak one's the one that eats herbs and doesn't understand that we're allowed to eat all things. But like I said, we're not going to make a big issue out of that particular thing, whatever your diet is, fine. But I'm trying to teach the truth and I'm just trying to show you how Hinduism has been pushing a vegetarianism which has taken place in our culture. Now one other thing, one last thing that I'm going to cover tonight that many people I think are unaware of its influence is, which it's kind of interesting to me how many people didn't realize this, but yoga. Yoga is completely, and there's no disputing it, it's sourced from the Hindu religion. And I've seen churches, churches that say come to our yoga classes, I mean literally taking place like supposedly in the house of God. I've seen it with my own eyes. I took a picture of one, I don't know if I still have it in my phone, I was just like, now I mean granted this is a completely apostate church, but they're calling themselves Christian and they're bringing in yoga and most people are practicing and doing this without even knowing what they're getting themselves into. I'm going to read, again this is from hinduismtoday.com. This is one of the popular questions apparently that they answer from that website. The term yoga actually refers to a wide range of Hindu practices, so it is important to specify what kind of yoga is being discussed. In common modern usage, yoga typically refers to hatha yoga, and that is what mostly is popular today, this is right. The performance of yoga postures or asanas, which are drawn from ancient Hindu scriptures. Hatha yoga has always been performed by Hindus as a preparation for meditation. Today especially in the west, its health benefits commonly supersede the spiritual. So they're saying that the people doing it in the west are doing it more for the health benefits than anything spiritual, but they're still doing it. It says hatha yoga is just one facet of a broader body of knowledge and practice known as ashtanga yoga, which consists of eight stages. And it also states here it is sometimes argued that yoga is not Hindu per se, only the roots are Hindu. The fact that yoga is pursued by many non-hindus is irrelevant to its validity as a Hindu practice. This is from the Hindu website. So he's saying it doesn't matter whether you are a non-hindu and doing this stuff. He said that that's irrelevant, it doesn't matter whether you think they're not, because it is completely a Hindu practice. He says the roots of yoga, its scriptural origins are Hindu. The stem of yoga, its practice is Hindu. And the flower of yoga, mystical union with God, is Hindu. Yoga in its full glory is entirely Hindu. Practice at your own risk. I couldn't have said that much better myself. This is coming from someone who's not a Christian, this is coming from someone who's a Hindu. And flat out saying yoga is definitely derived from and comes from and intrinsically Hindu. In its origin and in its practice. What business do you have as a Christian? Now if you're ignorant of it, I understand, but that's one of the reasons why I'm preaching this tonight. If you're ignorant of something, okay, well when you hear the truth, repent and move on. You say, well, yeah, but I need to exercise. Okay, there's plenty of ways to stretch and exercise, it doesn't have to be yoga. There are many, many, many, many, many, many other things you could do out there that have nothing to do that didn't spawn from another false religion that literally doesn't have its roots in idolatry. And there is, you know, they claim that there's a big spiritual aspect to all the various stretches and things that you're doing. It is intrinsic in what you do. You think, oh, but there's a good way to stretch. It's like messing around with witchcraft. I mean, do you really want to get involved with that? Oh, it's not that big of a deal. Oh, let's go to this, you know, stay away from it. That's my advice to you. Do what you want to do. But you've heard the evidence, you can look it up for yourself. Last place we're going to look at, Jeremiah chapter 10, we're done. Jeremiah chapter 10, I'll just read this for you, verse number 2. Bible says, Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are in vain, for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workmen with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold, they fasten it with nails and with hammers that it move not. They are upright as the palm tree, but they speak not. They must need to be born because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good. He's talking about idolatry here, he's saying, look, don't learn the ways of the heathen, don't get involved in their idolatrous practices, don't get involved in, you know, Hinduism, I didn't even mention this, they also are into astrology. So their ceremonies I was talking about, they wait for the proper positioning of like Jupiter and the sun and the moon and they look to the stars that's incorporated in their religion. It's a wicked religion, it's an idolatrous religion, we need to be aware of it and we need to make sure that we're not allowing the ways of the heathen to infiltrate our very lives, that we're not doing things, even unintentionally, that are wicked from a false religion. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you so much for the instruction of your word. God, I pray that you would please help us to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves, dear Lord, wise in your word, wise in meditating on your scripture, dear God, and knowing what your word says so that we can make the best decisions in our lives regarding the things that we're going to participate in and what we're not, whether it be participating in some feast where there's food offered on idols, whether it be practicing yoga or doing any of these other things, dear Lord, that have kind of crept into our culture, help us to understand the source of these things and that we ought to separate ourselves and come out from among them, dear Lord, and be holy in this world because you're holy, dear Lord. Help us to have that understanding, and I pray that you please help us to reach the Hindu people, God. Help us to preach the gospel of Christ to them that they could receive and get saved. We don't hate Hindus. We hate their religion. It's an antichrist religion. It's an idolatrous religion, dear Lord, but we want those people to get saved because we love those people, God. I pray that you please help us to do so that some bit of knowledge that we learned tonight might be helpful or useful in converting the soul of one of these people who have been deceived, dear Lord. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.