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All right, well here in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, we find a prediction of the coming Antichrist and it tells us that this man will operate after the working of Satan. And the working that it's referring to there is the power and signs and lying wonders. And the Bible explains to us that it's by these means that he will succeed at deceiving the nations and subdue them under his rule. Look down at your Bibles at verse number 8, it says, And then shall the wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming, even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And what I want to preach on this morning is signs and lying wonders, signs and lying wonders. Now when we think of signs and lying wonders or just wonders in general, this is actually synonymous what we would refer to also as miracles, okay? And let me just start off by saying that I believe in miracles. I believe God is in the business of doing miracles. I'm not saying that miracles do not exist, but let me say this is that often people will seek to pervert that or, you know, you have Satan, his principalities and powers who can also perform miracles. They can also do signs, but you know what the Bible tells us is that they're actually not just wonders, they're lying wonders. These are wonders that are meant to or have the agenda to deceive the recipients of those miracles. And so what is a miracle? Well, a miracle is the suspension of the laws of nature. It's when God suspends the laws of nature in order to show himself strong on our behalf. And this is a good thing, obviously. But what this is telling us is that the Antichrist and his false prophet, they're going to possess the power to also suspend the laws of nature in order to basically accentuate their claims that he is God. Now some people would say, well, yeah, but I don't really believe they're going to have these supernatural abilities in the end times. They're probably just going to have access to technology to be able to perform those miracles. But the reality is, I believe that this is actually referring to the fact that they're able to do supernatural things, occurrences, miracles, wonders, and signs. And I believe God allows it, okay? I believe God allows them to perform these miracles and these wonders for a specific purpose. Now, as I mentioned, God performs miracles in order to show himself strong on our behalf. You know, you're in need of something, you pray about something, and God miraculously provides for you in a special way. That increases your faith in God, amen? You know, you see God do something great where it can only be explained by the supernatural hand of God. That increases your faith in him. That's the purpose of miracles. Now, Satan will seek to do miracles in order to deceive the masses. And as I mentioned, this is a lying wonder. It's basically a miracle that maybe has supernatural elements to it, but the agenda behind it is to deceive the person who's actually the recipient of that miracle. Now I'm not preaching on the antichrist this morning, but I wanted to use him as an example to show us that this tactic will be used in the end times. But let me say this, it's being used today as well. I mean, you have the charismatic movement, the charismatic churches that are filled with pastors, filled with preachers who claim to have supernatural abilities, and they are able to heal people and slap them on the forehead and cure them of all diseases. They're kind of absent during this time, by the way. I don't see them really doing anything about the coronavirus. It's like, what's up with that? If they have so much power, if they have so much authority over these diseases, why aren't they filling up the hospitals looking for people that they can heal? Because they're phonies, right? Now look at verse number 11 of 2 Thessalonians, because let me say this is that, as I mentioned, God allows them, even those false prophets of today, I believe, to perform certain miracles in order to harden the hearts of people who already hate God, okay? Look what it says in verse 11, it says, and for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believe not the truth but have pleasure in unrighteousness. So we see here that God permits these signs, power, and lying wonders in order to what? To bring them a strong delusion in order to get them to believe a lie, and let me say this, this is not just your run of the mill sinner person, this is a person who's already believing in a lie. This is a person who potentially is already trusting the antichrist, they love the antichrist, they love unrighteousness, and God has basically kind of just given them over to that, okay? By giving them these strong delusions. Now go to Revelation 13, I don't want to spend too much time on the antichrist but, you know, all of these signs and wonders that we will see today that are lying wonders is simply a foreshadowing of the signs and lying wonders that we're gonna see in the end times. Matthew 24, Revelation 13, verse 24 says, for there shall arise false christs and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. So is this saying that the miracles and the wonders that these people perform are just like your lame, kind of low budget type of a miracle? It's not, it's not a hologram, it's something that is so powerful, something that is so convincing that if it were possible, those who have the Holy Spirit, which is the spirit of truth dwelling within them, you know, if it were possible, it can deceive the very elect. You know that it won't, but it's telling you the extent of its persuasion, the extent of the influence of that wonder, it could potentially, if it were possible, deceive the very elect. This is showing us that this is not your low budget miracle. This is not, you know, they're swinging their hotel around and slapping them and then they receive the Holy Ghost or something like that. This isn't the nonsense that you see with these televangelists, right? This is legitimate miracles, wonders that they are able to perform and they have credibility, so to speak. This is why people are being deceived. Look at Revelation 13, let's look at an example of this in verse 11. It says, And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb. Now, the first beast that comes out of the earth is referring to the Antichrist himself, okay? And we see that in the very beginning of the chapter. But the second beast that's coming up out of the earth has two horns like a lamb is referring to the false prophet. And the reason it says that it has two horns like a lamb is because the lamb is the animal that is associated with Jesus Christ. So the implication here is that this person is a religious leader who's able to deceive the masses by means of saying that he is some sort of religious leader. He's coming in the name of Christ. He is like a lamb. But look what it says, and he spake as a what? Dragon. So he looks like a religious leader. He may look like a Christian, but when you see, when you hear the words that are coming out of his mouth, you quickly conclude that this person is a wicked person. He's a serpent. He's a viper. He's a dragon. He's a false prophet. And it says in verse 12, And he exorciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed. So what is the responsibility of the false prophet? His responsibility is to bear witness of the Antichrist and to cause that the whole world should worship him, right? Verse 13, And he doeth great wonders. What type of wonders? Is he slapping people on the forehead, healing them of their diseases? Is he taking up serpents and dancing around and speaking in tongues and prophesying? No, it says here, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. Wouldn't you say that's a great wonder? I mean, that's not something you see every day. In fact, I've never seen anything like that. Fire come down from heaven. The only time I've even seen it is in my imagination when I read about Elijah calling down fire from heaven, right? So we see here that he has this ability to suspend the laws of nature and even manipulate them in such a way that he's able to call fire down from heaven. Wouldn't you say that that would be something that he can use to bring a strong delusion upon the people? So as he's telling the masses and the earth, worship the beast, he's calling fire down from heaven. What does that do? That confirms his message, so to speak, okay? So he's doing this, and I believe God is allowing it, okay? Verse 14 says, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles, which he had power to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword and did live. Now, here's the interesting thing is that he's doing this during a time when Elijah himself is in the world, because I believe one of the two witnesses, the two olive trees that we see in the end times is Moses and Elijah, and Elijah is known as that prophet who was capable of calling fire down from heaven. He did that in the Old Testament to validate the message that he was the man of God. Well, in like manner, this is exactly what the false prophet is going to do. He's going to call fire down from heaven. He's going to perform these great miracles in order to deceive the masses. So we see that miracles has its place even in the end times. Wonders, lying wonders, signs, power. And what I want to say is that I believe in the end times, we're going to see a resurgence of these things, of miracles, signs, and wonders that are carried out by Satan and by God himself. Now, go to Acts chapter 2, if you would, Acts chapter number 2, Acts chapter number 2. You see, we mock and we ridicule the Pentecostal movement, the charismatic movement, but quite frankly, they're setting the platform and they're conditioning mainstream Christianity into accepting signs and lying wonders. You see, these people who, you know, they believe in these signs and they believe in these lying wonders are the same people that are causing the masses to trust in those wonders rather than the word of God. You see, we as Christians, we don't base our decisions. We don't base our beliefs off of signs. The Bible tells us that a wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. And Jesus said, there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. And that was in his time, but in like, man, nothing's changed today. You know, who is it? Who are the people? Who are the churches that are seeking for a sign? Wicked and adulterous people. You say, why does it say wicked and adulterous? Like, what is adultery or being adulterous have anything to do with seeking a sign? Well, an adulterous person is a person who's given over to the flesh. We would say he's a sensual person, you understand? And this wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish, the Bible says. So the person who is sensual, the person who's adulterous is a person who goes about his feelings, you know, obeys his inhibitions, obeys his feelings, his desires. Therefore they're seeking after a sign. You see, the things of God are those things that are to be accepted by what? Faith. Without feeling, right? You know, you wake up in the morning, you read your Bible, you pray. And you walk in the spirit and you don't feel anything sometimes. You know, and by the way, I'm not saying everyone's like that, but I'm saying the vast majority of us, you know, we wake up and we don't necessarily feel a burning fire in our bosom when we read the Bible. There's some times when we may, you know, where the word of God is resonating with our spirit. We're going through a trial, a difficulty and the word of God speaks to us and it creates an emotion within us, but not all the time. Why? Because God tells us that we walk by faith and not by sight. The word of God is something that we're supposed to believe, not because of signs or wonders, but because it's God's word. And what do we want to do? We want to instill faith in people using the Bible because faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Even if there is a wonder, even if a miracle is performed, we need to see, does that line up with the Bible first and foremost? Yeah, but the mere fact that there's a miracle shows that it's of God. Not necessarily. Not necessarily. Okay. And we'll get into that in just a bit. So we see miracles being performed throughout the Bible, especially in the New Testament, you know, the Gospels, the Book of Acts. But you'll notice that God will permit an abundance of miracles during special intervals of events. You know, you think of, you know, the plagues in Egypt. I mean, that was an interval, a segment of time where God just allowed a lot of miracles and wonders to be performed. You see them throughout wars. How about when Jesus Christ first came? I mean, he's performing miracles left and right. He's healing the deaf, the blind, he's resurrecting the dead from the grave. You know, he gives power unto the apostles to also do the same types of miracles. But let me say this, today it's non-existent. I'm not saying miracles are non-existent. I'm not saying wonders are non-existent. But the window of time where those miracles were precipitated by people is non-existent. You understand? And these days, those miracles were precipitated by men. The Apostle Paul, you know, the Apostle Peter, these men could perform miracles even to the point where their shadow would heal people who are lying on the ground. You know, people can't do that today. And sometimes people will hear me like bash on Charismatics and bash on Pentecostals, and they literally say this, oh, what are you trying to say, like miracles are not real or something? I was like, that's not what I said. I'm saying you can't perform miracles. And this is the challenge that I always give to anybody who claims to be able to do miracles. If you believe you can do miracles, take the black mama challenge, right? Why don't you take the black mama challenge, and if you can't find a black mama, go look for a cobra or some sort of poisonous snake. Go take it up. Oh, yeah, it's not going to bite me. Well, let it bite you. And let's see how that works out for you. Because the powers that the apostles had was that serpents would bite them. You have the Apostle Paul being bitten by a viper, and he just shakes it off. Nothing happens to him. You can't do that. No one can do that. Benny Hinn can't do that. All these lame Charismatic preachers, these charlatan phonies can't do that. They can claim to have all types of miracle and power, and they can perform all these signs and lying wonders. But at the end of the day, not a single one of them can take a bite from a deadly snake and survive. Fact. Okay. So we see miracles, you know, they're special. And you know, the Bible refers to them as special, right? Special miracles. What does special mean? It means it's rare. It's not something you see every single day. You know, if God were to perform miracles in our lives every single day, you know, they wouldn't mean much to us, right? You know, if God were to just do miracles every single day and just provide in miraculous ways where it's just like, you know, you know, it's the hand of God where he suspends the laws of nature. He does these things that just have no logic to them. You know, it wouldn't necessarily, you know, be special to you anymore because you would expect it. Miracles are special because they come at a time when you don't expect it and they don't come very often. You understand? And look, thank God that it doesn't too, because look, we need to just obey the Bible, right? We need to just be the recipients of our obedience to God's word. You know, if God just performs miracles after miracles, then there's no need to obey God's word. Well, guess what? God provides for us. He leads us. He strengthens us through his word, okay? That's what I'm saying is that we need to make sure that the word of God is the most important. It's preeminent in our lives. So they don't happen every day and especially, you know, every Sunday, which is interesting, isn't it? Some churches have miracles that happen every single Sunday within an hour's time, you know, they start at 10 and they end at 11 or something, you know, it's like, man, these guys are orderly. When the Bible says do all things decently and in order, they took that, you know, to the T and they, even to the point where miracles only are performed and executed during that interval of time, it's false, okay? Now as we approach the end of the world, you know, deception will increase, okay? And guess what? People will become more sensual. People will become more adulterous. People will become more dependent on their feelings rather than what the Bible says. And look, I know Christians who are like this, I'm talking about saved people who in spite of what the Bible says, they just go with their feelings instead. And look, I'm not saying that feelings are not important. Feelings are very much important. God gave us emotions, God gave us feelings, but they're to be in subjection to the Spirit of God. They're to be in subjection to truth. The Bible says that there are many devices in the heart of a man, but the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand, the Bible says. I mean, you could agree that each and every one of us has had different devices in our hearts, different imaginations, different thoughts, different opinions, but at the end of the day, we need to realign ourselves with the Word of God and say, well, if the Word of God does not agree with my opinion, I need to go with the Word of God. If my feelings does not line up with the Bible and his precepts, then I need to put my feelings aside, cast down imaginations, every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, bring it into captivity to every thought to the obedience of Christ. And look, it takes maturity to do something like that. Because you know what? Some of the most immature Christians are those who are just led by their feelings, led by their emotions. Make foolish, stupid decisions based upon how they feel, rather than on the Word of God. You're not going to get very far as a Christian if that's who you are. You're not going to succeed. You're not going to go forward. In fact, you're going to fail as a Christian if all you do is make your decisions based off of your feelings. Now look, again, I'm not against feelings. If you put your hand on the stove and you start feeling this burning sensation, don't say I'm just going to trust in the Word of God. You know, no, obviously emotions, pain is there for a reason. There needs to be a balance, okay? But there is going to be an increase of deception and a lot of it is because of the fact that people are going to be led by their feelings. I mean, you have liberal churches today, for example, these liberal fund centers, where they're not like the charismatics, but they're just as feely as the charismatics. You know, they're just as sensual as the charismatics. Oh, the Spirit is just leading me to divorce my husband. What? That's not in the Bible. Oh, the Spirit is just leading me to leave my wife and just, you know, leading me to this other woman. It's not the Holy Spirit. You know? And they'll say this, you know, you preach on sin or you call out sin. It's like, well, that's what the Spirit is talking to you about, but it's not what the Spirit is talking to me about. And you know what? They're right. Because the Spirit that's talking to me about that is the Holy Spirit. My words that I speak into their spirit and their life and the spirit that they're referring to is an unclean spirit, you understand? But they're just as guilty of that same stupidity of just believing in signs and lying wonders where the lying wonder is this, depends on how I feel is how I act. You know, what is God leading me to do today? You know, instead of seeking out what God is leading you to do, why don't you just do what God, what you know God wants you to do? Why don't you just stick to the basics first, right? You know, stick to the basics and God will lead you the rest of the way. It's better to just stick with the basics and the foundational things first so you can place yourself in a position where God can lead you, right? But the Bible tells us that the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times, some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. Well, what is the purpose of a lying wonder? It's to seduce people. It's to lie to them. It's to deceive them. Now turn with me, if you would, to go to Deuteronomy 13. Let's turn on the AC. I don't know if the AC is on. I'm going to read to you from 2 Corinthians 11, 13. It says, For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works. So look, don't be fooled by people who have a Christian label. Don't be fooled by churches who have Baptists on their church name. Don't be fooled because they say they believe in the Word of God, or they say that they're Christians, or they have the same Christianese as we do. That doesn't mean anything. Let's see what they actually teach, right? Let's listen to what they actually believe. And look, any church that holds feelings and emotions above the Word of God, not a good church. Not a good church. Any pastor who would do such a thing is not a good church. And look, you say, well, how do I know if it's that type of a church? Well, let me just give you a really practical way to be able to discern if this is a good church or not, okay? Just check out their music. That's a good way. You know, if they have the worship band, you know, and they worship for like an hour or 45 minutes, and it's just the drums and the electric guitar, and they're doing all these things. And look, if they're putting their hands in the air, like they just don't care, and they use 1 Timothy 2 as a means to prove it, you know, lifting up holy hands, it's not a good church. How dare you say something like that? How dare you judge them? Let me explain to you why before you bite my head off. Because churches like that are sensual churches. And they're churches that are focused on sensuality. That's why they have the hoochie mama up there with the miniskirt, shaking her rump to attract the attention of the people. Folks, this is fact. This is why they have to use sensual means to get people to come back to church. Is it for spiritual matters? No. It's for reasons of inciting the flesh to cause people to make emotional decisions, folks. Not good churches, okay? The music sucks anyways, okay? CCM sucks, and I don't care what anybody says, it's not Christian, you know? It feeds the flesh is what it does. Now, it doesn't feed my flesh, because I was never into like CCM, it just, that's not a struggle of mine, okay? For me, it was just like CCM is just queer music. It's queer, okay? It's effeminate queer music. I like the hymns, folks. I'm not prompted to dance to the hymns, you know what I mean? We have some people in our church sometimes, or Alex Berea, he's probably gonna watch this, I remember he used to play, you guys remember? And he should just kinda like, you know? That's okay, because, you know, I don't think that's sensual, because the boy ain't got no rhythm, you know what I mean, I'm just kidding. Just kidding, Alex. He's a good friend of ours, okay? You know, but what I'm saying is, you know, you're not gonna dance to And Can It Be. It's like, and can it be, you're not gonna, that's not what you're gonna do. What you're, you know what's gonna dance is the spirit, the inward man. And when I'm talking about dance, I'm not talking about like, it's stacking, okay? What is it gonna do? It's gonna leap for joy, okay? It's gonna rejoice, it's gonna leap for joy, why? Because it's feeding the spirit. That's what hymns do. They feed the spirit. So go to a church where they sing the old-fashioned hymns, where they sing it before church. Why do we sing hymns before church? Before the preaching, excuse me. Because of the fact that it prepares your heart for preaching. When you listen to the words, you listen to, now I belong to Jesus, you listen to, I'd rather have Jesus, these words resonate with the inward man, which is exactly the person that we wanna feed. Not the old man, we don't wanna feed the old man, we want the old man to die. We wanna crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts, not strengthen him, not give him a reason to have a resurgence in our lives. We want to feed the inward man. The outward man perishes, but yet the inward man is renewed day by day, right? We want him to be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. But it comes as you're in an environment of spirituality, not sensuality, okay? And the reality is, is that these CCM churches, non-denom churches, charismatic Pentecostal churches, they're all sensual. And I'm not saying there's not sincere people within those congregations, I'm sure there's sincere people who think that they're serving God. They think that they're doing right, and maybe they're just deceived. But they're sincere, but they're sincerely wrong at the end of the day. And so we need to make sure that we keep the atmosphere spiritual, and that is through music. Obviously the preaching is spiritual, but I'm talking about just the music in general. And look, sometimes you have churches that preach right, but they have the wrong music. And that's why people are bored with the preaching. Because they spend 30 minutes, 15 minutes or whatever, singing sensual music and doing all those things. Well now the flesh is like in control. And look, the Bible tells us that the old man is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be. It's the inward man that delights in the law of God, the Bible says. But if you're spending all this time listening to sensual music, getting the flesh riled up, you're not going to want to hear the things of God. If you roll into the parking lot listening to worldly music, you're not going to have a desire to listen to the preaching of God's word. So what I have here in Deuteronomy 13, now let me give you two types of miracle workers. And the reason I'm saying this is because obviously to the regular person who's in our church who attends faithfully, we obviously understand these things. But sometimes safe people can get caught up in this stuff. And then what I've seen and what I've observed is that we've had people come into our church who I don't think they're even saved. They come under the cloak of Baptist and Christian, they say that they're saved, but they believe in these things, I mean, ardently. Where they believe in signs and line wonders and they kind of regard that more than the Bible itself. I've had conversations with people who have said they've seen visions, they've dreamed dreams and I'm like, okay, well, what was the dream? What was the vision? And it was something that was just completely sinful, just completely sinful, completely outside of God's will, completely contrary to the Bible. And it's just like, well, guess what? That's not good. And they're just like, yeah, but God gave it to me. No, he didn't. What are you talking about? And let me just give you an example. I had a guy come and tell me, I had a guy come and tell me that the reason he's fornicating with his girlfriend, the reason he's fornicating with his girlfriend is because he believed God led him to go do that. And that the fornication was proof of their marriage. I'm like, did you go to the court? Did you get married? Well, no, we just, you know, we came together. Oh, no, no, no. You use the right terminology, you fornicate it. Well, yeah, but I believe God's the one who kind of like brought that together. No, no, it wasn't. And this is the kind of nonsense that I'm talking about. And look, I hear that I'm just like, facepalming. I'm like, do you seriously believe this nonsense? This is garbage. And I'm like, and I'm trying to get him to understand like, hey, this is fornication. This is sinful. God does not lead people into fornication or adultery or any sin. Let no man sin when he is tempted of God that God's the one who tempted him, right? James chapter one. But that's exactly what this person was doing. And look, he might have had a dream. He might have had a vision. He might have had a wonder in a miracle where some Joseph Smith type angel came to him. It might have looked convincing. And look, a lot of these people who see visions and dreams and all that stuff has to do with that, has to do with psychedelic drugs, has to do with smoking pot, marijuana and drugs. And this is why they're seeing these things, okay? But even if not, let's say you take that out of the picture. Take that element of drugs out of the picture, alcohol and these psychedelic drugs that give them these delusions. Let's say you just remove that element completely out. And let's say they do have a legitimate vision, but that vision is of God telling them to commit a sin. We know off the bat that's not God. That's some devil, that's some demon. But it actually happened. I'm not saying it didn't. I'm just saying it was the devil who told him to do that, not God. And this person came to me and they were trying to, he was trying to try to convince me that this was like a legitimate marriage because he fornicated. And look, the signs that he saw that led him to this point was that, you know, he, it's going to sound stupid, don't like be mad at me, that he saw rocks the shape of hearts on the floor. Boy, I can find that anywhere. I can find rocks the shape of squares and circles and I can find clouds that make shapes. I can make, I can make horses out of clouds, animals, that doesn't mean a thing. And he literally said, him and his girlfriend said this, and they might be listening to this and good, they need to listen to this because it's stupid and it's nonsensical and you're not going to convince anybody in our church and stop contacting people in our church trying to validate your so-called visions. Go to some charismatic church if that's what you want the pastor to believe. They'll eat it up with fork and spoon. Not here. He said that he saw rocks the shape of hearts and that was like there, you need to go to the rock, the shape of a rectangle. That's what you need, nonsense. And look, I'm not saying like if you're going through a hard time or whatever, maybe you're questioning the love of God, you look up in the sky, you see a cloud the shape of a heart and that kind of helps you to remind you that God loves you, okay, go for it. If that helps, then go for it. I'm not going to criticize you for that. But don't tell me that that's leading you to commit some wicked sin as if you're like the exception to the rule. Like yeah, well I believe that, yeah, fornication of sin, but when it comes to this though, I mean this was God. This was God. Let me just say this, God allowed you to see that. He allowed that devil, that demon to show you that sign and that lying wonder, okay. And I'm going to explain to you why in just a bit. So we need to be careful with that and look, I ridicule it because it's stupid is what it is. It's nonsense, it's stupid and no one in our church should be carried about with every wind of doctrine of miracles and signs and lying wonders. And I'm not saying you're not going to see things or have certain dreams or have visions, but you better make sure, first of all, if you're having them every day, you just need to cut out the onions of the burger and then, you know. But if you have a vision or a dream, you better make sure that it lines up with the word of God. And look, you might have a dream where it's just like you had a dream of leading someone to the Lord and it prompts you to get back into soul money or something, legitimate. I think God can do that, right? You know, you may have a dream that lines up with the Bible and at that point, yeah, legitimate. But you know, these are things that you should be doing with or without dreams, right? So there's two types of miracle workers in this world today. I'm talking about the wicked ones. First of all, you have those who manipulate the environment or the mind of the recipient in order to manufacture favorable results and convince responses, and convincing responses. So in other words, these are your charlatans, okay, the ones who use sleight of hand. So these are the ones who claim to do miracles but they're phonies, they're fakes, they're charlatans. They have zero powers whatsoever, okay? And in fact, they don't have supernatural powers, they just have manipulative powers to be able to manipulate people. A good example of this is Wayne Bent in New Mexico who had like this Christian compound. He claimed to be the Messiah. He's sleeping with all kinds of women. And he was literally, he would literally take his group out and say, hey, the heaven is going to open up and they're going to come down in the desert and we're going to see this. And there's a camera crew that followed him because they said, on this date, we're going to go out to the desert and we're going to be able to see this great sign, right? And you can look it up. They go out there and the camera crew is like, there's nothing out here. Nothing's going to happen, right? But they walk out there and they're just like, oh, wow, whoa, and he's like, what are they wowing about? It's an empty desert, there's nothing there. And they're just like looking out in the emptiness of the desert and just like amazed with, you know, their delusion. And then they finish and then they just went back home, they're like, wasn't that great? That was awesome. I don't think he had the power to create something in order for them to see. What I believe is he just manipulated them in such a way that he made them believe that there was something there, okay? But you have people like this all the time. Chris Angel, I believe, is like one of these people, okay? Which he's been debunked over and over again through videos. By the way, folks, you know, they have these TV shows, you know, where they show these guys doing these magic tricks and stuff and it's just like, you understand that they have to edit all this, right? And they take the footage and then they take it back and you understand there's something called actors and, you know, B-roll and editing where he can make it look like he's doing these things, okay? So those are, that's the first group right there, those who manipulate the environment or the minds of the recipients in order to manufacture favorable results. The second one, the second category group of people are those who perform signs and miracles by means of demonic possession. And I believe this is real, okay? This doesn't make me charismatic because the Bible literally teaches that people do these things. Let me give you a prime example, Janus and Jambres, who withstood Moses when Moses came and he was doing his great signs in the sight of Pharaoh in order to cause Pharaoh to release the children of Israel, you know, Pharaoh had his magicians, what the New Testament refers to as Janus and Jambres. They were able to turn the stick into a snake. They were able to basically duplicate the same miracles that Moses was doing. And I don't believe it was some technological ability that they had. I believe they were just possessed by devils. And the Bible tells us they were devils because it tells us in the New Testament, now as Janus and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth. Men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. And what is a reprobate? It's a devil is what it is. So these are people who are demonically possessed. They can legitimately conjure up signs and wonders supernaturally because they are possessed by devils. They are enabled by demons to perform these things. And God permits it for a reason because you wonder like, why would God allow that? Why would God allow these human beings who are just wicked people to be able to perform these signs, these wonders, these miracles? They're able to cut themselves, they're able to pierce themselves through with a sword all the way through. How many of you have seen something like that? I've seen that. This guy in Russia, but maybe it's just because he's Russian, huh? No, I'm just kidding. You know, he's literally piercing himself through with a sword all the way through and just nothing happens. That's a miracle. But it's not from God. It's from the devil. This guy was just possessed by Satan himself. Maybe not by Satan himself, but by a devil, okay? Why would God allow that? Look at Deuteronomy 13, verse one, it says, if there arise among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams and giveth thee a sign or a wonder and the sign or the wonder come to pass. So what does it mean when it says come to pass? In other words, he performs a miracle and the miracle actually happens. The wonder actually manifests itself. His dream, his vision actually comes to flourish. The sign of the wonder come to pass whereof he spake unto thee saying, let us go after other gods which thou has not known and let us serve them. Thou shall not hearken into the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams for the Lord your God proveth you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. So is it saying here that this is just completely impossible for these demon possessed people to be able to perform these miracles? No. And in fact, he says, when it comes to pass, when means it's gonna happen. He tells them, don't follow them because I'm testing you, I'm testing you. Verse four, ye shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice. So someone who performs a sign and align wonder is trying to get you to obey their voice. God says, I'm gonna allow it to see if you're gonna obey my voice. Obey his voice and ye shall serve him and cleave unto him and that prophet or the dreamer of dreams shall be put to death because he had spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of bondage to thrust thee out of the way which the Lord thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee. So here is strong proof. In fact, here is instruction from God that signs and lying wonders absolutely exist. And sometimes God allows people who are demon possessed to be able to perform these things in order to test you. You know why? Because when you see a sign and a wonder, you wonder like, whoa, is this guy sent from God? Who's this guy? What's this guy all about? Well, listen to the message that he has first and foremost. And if he's trying to get you to serve another God to disobey the Lord, that guy needs to be put to death. I don't care how many miracles he performs. I don't care if he's able to resurrect people from the dead. I don't care if he's able to heal people of their diseases. I don't care what he claims to be able to do or if he even does it. That is the message that he's preaching. So it goes to show us that God allows these things to prove us, okay? The word of God should have preeminence over signs and wonders. Now let me give you a couple of things here. Go to Mark 16. And look, don't we have an example of this in 1 Kings where the old prophet comes to the young prophet and he tells him that he hears of the angel as well, right? And then the young prophet follows him. And what happens to the young prophet? God slays him because he disobeyed the word of the Lord. And in fact, he allows the old prophet to hear of an angel to basically tell the young prophet, hey, you disobeyed me, now you're going to die, okay? So let me give you just a couple of things here, practical things. The purpose of signs and wonders in the Bible. And this is something that I preached on many times already, but just to reiterate, reinforce this doctrine here. Number one, what is the purpose of signs and wonders in the Bible? To validate the message as well as the messenger, okay? This is why originally he gave ability to the apostles to be able to perform these miracles in order to validate their message. Mark 16 verse 15 says, and he said unto them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. These signs shall follow them that believe. In my name they shall cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them, they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. Now it's funny that these charlatans of today only want to focus on the very last one, which is they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. Because that's the only thing you really can't test and prove, right? What's going on in the body? They have these, what's that guy's name with the dreadlocks, the guy who looks like a predator? Where's Milan at? Todd White. This is a predator, okay? This is a perfect example. He goes to people in the street and one guy has one leg shorter than the other, right? And then he just like, he pulls on the leg and he pulls on it and he pulls on it and he pulls on it and then he's just like, how about now? And he's just like, oh man, both of my legs are the same size now. Or this other guy, you know, he comes up, he's like, he comes up, he's like, what's wrong with your hands? Oh, I broke it, I broke it. You're punching some guy in the face. Hand looks completely, by the way, a broken bone, when you break something, it swells up. It's like purple and black, it swells up. Hand looked completely fine. He touches it and he's like, wow, I can punch again. He's like, what's the phony? And Todd White looks like this marijuana just smoking junkie. The guy looks like predator, okay? And he's a joke. He is such, he's such a wicked, false prophet. When that guy dies, he's going to burn in the lowest hell, okay? He's evil. But it's funny, he wants to lay hands on the sick and want to recover people, but he doesn't want to drink any deadly thing. He doesn't want to take up serpents. Why? Because at that point he'll be exposed. Look, the apostles were able to do this. God, Jesus gave them the ability to be able to drink deadly things and not die, to take up serpents and scorpions and not perish. They were able to lay hands on the sick and recover them. They had these special abilities. Look what it says in verse 19, oh, by the way, let me just stop there. Verse 17 says, and these signs shall follow them that what, believe. So those who believe will see these signs and it'll confirm to them that these guys are from God. We had some guy in our church who tried to teach that, you know, people can lay hands on people and recover and do all these, you know, these miracles. And I kept telling this guy, I was like, do you, do you believe in this? I was like, are you, do you believe like in that you have the ability to like heal people? And he's like, I believe in Mark 16. I'm like, you need to answer my question. Wrong answer, buddy. Wrong answer. Do you believe you can lay hands and heal people? He's like, I believe what it says here. I'm like, strike two, you're giving me the wrong answer. And after about the 20th time, he finally gave in and he agreed with me. But look, let me just say this. It shouldn't take 20 times. It shouldn't even, it should just take the first time. He's like, do you believe in that you have the ability to heal people? Nope. I don't. I believe in miracles, but I can't do anything. He wanted, he was skirting around the issue, skirting around the issue because he did believe it. He just didn't want to say it to me because he was going to get his face ripped off. Verse 19 says, so then after the Lord had spoken into them, he was received up into heaven and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs, following, amen. So what were the purpose of these signs? To confirm their message, to confirm their apostleship, okay? So the apostles were given this ability and guess what? The apostle Paul was the last apostle. And at that point, churches were already established. The word of God had already permeated into many places. It already gained traction and momentum. There was no need for miracles. The Bible says in Luke 10, verse 15 and 70, return again with joy saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan, his lightning fall from heaven. Behold I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you. And look, this is something you see today, right? Where they try to cast out demons and do these exorcisms and stuff. That's easy. You pay a guy to foam out the mouth and shake uncontrollably, you know, and there you go. There's your exorcism right there. That doesn't validate anything. And this happens all the time in churches. I remember I went to this charismatic church as a little kid. I went to my aunt's Pentecostal church and people were like dropping and they're laying hands on people and like, you know, convulsing and stuff. And my aunt's like, you need to go up there, you know, because you got demons and stuff. I was a bad kid. And I was like, all right. And I went there and the guy literally laid his hand on me and he's like started speaking in tongues, whatever. He's like holla shawla bala and six pack dollar and all that. And he's like, but then he starts pushing me. He starts like, his hand becomes heavy and he starts pushing me. And then he's like, you're supposed to fall. I was like, why am I going to fall? I wasn't going with the program. I got to tell you the story. I've told the story before, but it's super funny. There's this guy at our old church and you know, he got saved at our old church. He became a Baptist. But he said he went to like a Pentecostal church and he's like, man, it's so weird. Everyone's speaking tongues there and they're saying all kinds of crazy stuff. And then he goes, one of them came out to me and said, man, come on, come, come on up to the front. You got to speak in tongues too. You can do it. And he's like, no, no, no, I can't. I don't know how to speak in tongues. He's like, no. Yeah, you can. The Spirit's going to lead you. Come on, just come on up. And he's like, man, I don't know what to do. So he said, he said, I went up there and I literally just did the Street Fighter. So he goes, I went up there and I was just like, and they believed it. He used Street Fighter. But you know what, the Street Fighter sound effects makes as much sense as what they typically would say. There's like virtually no difference between the two, okay. By the way, tongues, his language is not gibberish, okay. Let me see here. Go to 1 Corinthians 12, 1 Corinthians 12. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 12, verse 12, it says, truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience and signs and wonders and mighty deeds. So we see there it's referred to as the sign of an apostle. It's referring to the fact that these signs were subject unto them. They're the ones who particularly were able to do these things. Look at 1 Corinthians 12, verse 7, it says, but the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit with all. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another diverse kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But all these worketh that one in the selfsame Spirit dividing to every man severally as he will. Notice that people are giving diversities of gifts. This is not what we see today. We see today, churches, everyone is able to speak in tongues. And in fact, women are permitted to speak in tongues in the church, in these churches. When the Bible actually teaches, the women are to keep silence in the church. You see what I'm saying? And by the way, if they're speaking in some demonic language, it's probably real, but guess what? It's still not Bible. It's still not biblical because the Bible teaches that women are to keep silence in the churches. Verse 27, look at verse 27, now ye are the body of Christ and members in particular. And God had said some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. But look what it says, are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers, are all workers of miracles, have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? What is the answer? No. Not everyone's capable in this church was capable of speaking in tongues. Not everyone was capable of healing, but what do you have today? You have Pentecostal churches where everyone's able to do these things. Even if it violates the ordinance of God, that women are to keep silence in the churches. Even if it violates the commandments of God where it tells us that things are to be done decently and in order. But people believe it because it manifests itself. Well, I don't care if it manifests itself, does it align with the Bible, right? But covet earnestly the best gifts and yet shall add unto you a more excellent way. What is the more excellent way? Preaching. That's what God says is actually better. By the way, Pentecostals, they're lame at preaching. Because they're earnestly coveting the ability to speak in tongues and prophesy, to see visions because that's what they mean by prophesying. But they're not actually preaching the word of God. So what am I saying? The purpose of signs and wonders is to validate the messenger as well as the message. But you know what? Now, going into thousands of years later, we don't need those signs and wonders to validate any message. It's the word of God. We have 66 books. We have the King James Bible. We have enough miracles in here to last us forever, to prove to us that God is able, to prove to us that God can show himself strong on our behalf. We don't need some person to come up to us and heal us of our disease because we're going to get a resurrected body. We've already experienced the greatest miracle, which is salvation. But another reason for this is to symbolize a spiritual truth. So a lot of miracles were done. If you read the gospels, you see a lot of miracles that have a close connection or they're intricately bound to the message of salvation, the message of provision. You see the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 and what does it do? It causes us to increase our faith to know that God can provide for us. God's going to be there for us. He's going to provide for us. He's going to show himself strong on our behalf. And then lastly is to determine a decision. You had in the Old Testament, even a little bit in the New Testament, the casting of lots. And the Bible tells us that the casting of the lot that, let me quote it here, the law is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. So often lots were cast in order to make a decision. But the Bible tells us that God is the one who was responsible for the results of the casting of those lots, right? We see them doing that to make a decision who is going to be the 12th apostle. You see them doing that even for gambling purposes, who is going to take Jesus' garment. You see, even in the Old Testament, they would cast lots to see who would get the inheritance or what inheritance they would receive. But today we don't need that anymore. We don't need to draw sticks. We don't need to cast lots. We don't need to flip a coin to figure out a decision. Why? Because now we have the Bible. Now we have the Holy Spirit, which is the Spirit of truth. And we have access to unlimited wisdom because the Bible says that if any of you lack wisdom, let them ask of God who give it to all men liberally and abradeth not, the Bible says. So you can ask God over and over again for wisdom and every decision you have to make and the Bible says that he'll give to you liberally. What does that mean? Generously. We don't need a miracle. And the reason I say this is because I literally knew a pastor back in the day who would base every single decision off of a sign. And it was some ridiculous signs. I mean, like, he's like, God, if you want me to go to this place, just allow the sun to rise today. Like the sun rises every day, bro. You know, it's like allow, you know, it's like the things that he already predetermined, he already knew that were going to happen. You know, it's like, God, if you want me to do this, just allow me to wake up today or whatever, you know, allow me to have three meals today and that'll be the confirmation that you want me to do this, this thing or go to this place. It's nonsense. So what I'm saying is this is that this is going to be a comedy. I'm pretty much done. You know, signs and lying wonders are wonders that are legitimately real manifestations of demonic forces, but we can't base our decisions, our beliefs, our faith off of those signs and lying wonders. Or even if they're legitimate wonders, you know, we need to be led of the, of the Lord through his word and recognize, Hey, the Bible is all I need. And look, if God performs a miracle, amen to that. And even more so if it aligns with God's word, and again, I believe in miracles. I believe in wonders. I believe God can still do those things, but let me say this. I can't do those things. You cannot do those things. And anybody who says that they can is a liar. You're either a charlatan, if you come to our church claiming that you can heal people, lay hands on people. Number one, you're either a charlatan, you're a fake and you're a phony, or number two, you're demon possessed. And that's all I'm giving you. There is no number three. You're either a charlatan or you're a demon possessed. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. Lord, thank you for the miracles in our lives that you've performed, Lord, before starting with salvation. But even thereafter, I could attest to many miracles that I've seen in my personal life where you've provided for me and my family. And even me as a single young man, years ago, you've provided for me and, and strengthened my faith. But quite honestly, my faith has been strengthened so much more just through the Bible, because faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the Word of God, and we're so thankful for the Bible itself. Help us, Lord, not to be tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine, not to be sensual, to depend on our feelings and our emotions, but rather to depend on the rock, the Word of God, that's always steady, it's established, it's tested and proven. And I pray, God, that you bless us as we go on our way, in Jesus' name we pray, amen.