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All right, we're in Colossians chapter number two. Colossians chapter number two, look at verse number six, it says, As he have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him, rooted and built up in him, established in the faith as he have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit. After the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. And the title of the sermon this morning is Spoiling Christians. Spoiling Christians. Now, what does the Bible mean when it states, Beware lest any man spoil you. Well, when we think of something that is spoiled, automatically, the definition that probably comes to mind is when, you know, milk becomes spoiled, it becomes rotten, right? It's made rotten, it's damaged, it's impaired, it's not useful anymore. When you leave food out from the refrigerator for too long of a period of time, it spoils itself. Another definition that probably comes to mind is when you think about the kid who's at the grocery store who gets everything that they want and then they start throwing a tantrum if they don't get it. We call that a spoiled little brat, right? Now that's not what this is actually referring to when the Bible says spoiled, okay? And you're like, whew, good, because that's probably me, right? No, I'm just kidding. Now, what is the Bible talking about when it says spoiled? Well, when the Bible uses the word spoiled, it's more, it's often describing the act of plundering, right, or robbing someone of their goods and of their values. And in fact, this is the most common context that we find it in in the Old Testament of this matter of spoiling. For example, when nations would engage in war, the conquering army would then spoil the defeated nation of their goods, their silver, their gold, their clothing, yeah, even their children and their women, and that would be considered as spoiling them. Let me read to you from 1 Chronicles chapter 26 and verse 27. It says, out of the spoils won in battles that they dedicate to maintain the house of the Lord. So what do we see there? The spoils that were won in battles, these are the things that were dedicated to maintain the house of the Lord. This is referring to the valuables, the silver and the gold. Another example is when the children of Israel came up out of Egypt, what does the Bible say? That they spoiled the Egyptians. They took all their goods, all their valuables with them. So the spoils simply means to take that which is valuable from an opposing enemy. Now we understand that in the New Testament, we're not in a physical battle, man. This is not a physical war, I don't care what Fox News says, you know, we're not going to war with other nations in the physical realm, we're Christians. But that's not to say that we're not in a spiritual battle. The Bible says that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, we're in a spiritual battle. And so the principle still applies in that regard. You see, we as Christians are not necessarily concerned with being, you know, physically spoiled by a foreign nation, because the Bible tells us that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rules of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. You see, that's the real enemy. The Bible tells us to be vigilant, be sober for your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour. Our enemies are not necessarily the Muslims coming over to the United States to kill us and chop off our heads, as the media likes to portray them to do. Our enemy literally is Satan. It's the principalities, it's the powers, this is the spiritual warfare that we are involved in. And in fact, in the New Testament, we aren't necessarily concerned with losing physical valuables, okay? We're not necessarily concerned with gold, silver, physical possessions. Why is that? Well, it's because the Bible says, lay not up for yourself treasures on earth where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. The Bible says to lay up for yourself treasures in heaven where moth and rust doth not corrupt, neither thieves break through nor steal. The Bible says, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and these things shall be added unto you. You see, in the New Testament, our focus is not money, what is it? It's the spiritual treasures that God provides to us through his word and other avenues of winning souls, obeying the Lord and his commandments, etc. And here's the thing, a lot of Christians, they get that kind of mixed up, don't they? They value the physical things of this world. They value the physical possessions of this world to the point that they negate the spiritual aspects of this world. Whereas God says, hey, our focus should be on the spiritual. The Bible tells us that godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into this world and it's certain that we can carry nothing out. If you don't believe me, look at King Tutankhamen's tomb. He still has all his treasures there. He didn't take it with him. All the rubies and jewels and gold and silver and treasures stayed in the tomb when he went in there and he didn't take it with him into the afterlife. He's burning in hell today. So you say, well, what are the treasures then? You know, what are the treasures that in the New Testament, well, look at Ephesians chapter number five. Go to Ephesians chapter five, if you would. Cuz remember, we're talking about the spoils. And in the Old Testament, the spoils were silver, gold, clothing, children, women, unfortunately, at times, right? So in the New Testament, it hasn't really changed just the perspective of it has. Because at the end of the day, our wives and our children are still valuable, amen? Now look what the Bible says in Ephesians 5 verse 25. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he may sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. Look at chapter six and verse number four. And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. So what are the treasures in the New Testament? Well, the spiritual well-being of our families. The fact that we can lead about our wives and teach them the word of God, and love them as Christ loved the church. The fact that we have children, but their souls are the most important aspect, that we would raise them to be mighty arrows in the hands of God. That we can raise them in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. That is valuable. Because what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? You know, what shall it profit you if you have a child, but this child grows up to learn the ideologies of this world, the philosophies and the evolutionary system of this world, and completely negate and neglect the things of God? It's not valuable. What shall it profit a man if he has children, but they're not even saved? Right? You see, the most valuable thing is their souls. The fact that we know that they are 100% sure that if they die today, that they would go to heaven. And then beyond that is teaching them the word of God, teaching them the principles and the doctrines of the Lord, helping them to love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. That's valuable. Now, go back to Colossians chapter two, if you would. Cuz we're talking about the spoils here, right? Our wives, our children. Look at verse number two, it says that their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding. So notice they're the riches, right, of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hid all the what? Treasures of wisdom and knowledge. So what do we see here? What's being spoiled? The treasures of wisdom and knowledge. You see, the threat lies in Satan, rendering God's people ignorant and stupid. What is Satan trying to do? Trying to steal knowledge from you, trying to steal wisdom from you, trying to steal your ability to be able to discern between good and evil, to understand the truth, what is the real truth, not this fake truth of the world. Not to, so you don't understand and know what are the actual truths of the word of God. But not just of the word of God, but just of life in general. The threat is that Satan is trying to come here to try to render you stupid and ignorant. That's what he's trying to spoil. Go to Proverbs chapter number three. Cuz remember, he's using the word spoil. And what is that in reference to? Treasures. What does the Bible say in the New Testament that treasures are? Well, it's the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge. You see, ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance is bliss. No, it's not. It's not good to be simple minded. Why? Because the Bible says that the simple are passed on and are punished. You see, if you're simple, you're ignorant, and you don't know anything about life, you don't know anything about the word of God, guess what? You're gonna suffer the consequences of that. You'll suffer the same consequences as the fool who neglects the word of God, who scoffs at the Bible. You will basically have those same consequences in your personal life. Even if you're simple, I just don't wanna know about it. If I don't know about it, if I just ignore it, if I don't know what's going on, I'll be fine and dandy. No, you won't, you're gonna be destroyed. Because the Bible says, my people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. Hebrews chapter four, or Hosea four verse six. Look at Proverbs chapter three and verse number 13. Happy is the man that findeth wisdom and the man that getteth understanding, for the what? Merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies and all things that thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. Length of days is in her right hand and in her left hand riches and what? Honor. So what does God do? He's elevating wisdom. He's elevating knowledge and understanding. He's not saying, hey, don't know anything. Just know the Bible, don't know anything else. No, know the Bible as your foundation, but anything outside of that, you should basically study it through the filter of the word of God. There is knowledge outside of the Bible. There is wisdom outside of the Bible, but we need to make sure that it's basically proven through the word of God. That it's not some foolish wisdom of this world that's gonna take us away from the principles and the foundation of the word of God. It's gonna cause us to sin and live a life that's dishonoring unto the Lord. Go back to Colossians chapter number two. So what's the foundation that we're talking about? You know, Satan wants to spoil us. Obviously, he wants to damage us. Obviously, he wants to destroy us. But when the Bible says that he wants to spoil us, he wants to rob us of knowledge and wisdom. Look what the Bible says in verse 18 of Colossians chapter number two. It says, let no man beguile you of your reward. In a voluntary humility and worshiping of angels, intruding in those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind. And not holding the what? The head from which all the body, by joints and bands having nourishment, ministered and knit together, increases with the increase of God. Wherefore, if you be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why is the living in the world that you subject to ordinances? Touch not, taste not, handle not, which all are to perish with the using after the commandments and doctrines of men. So what is it telling us here? Hey, if it doesn't have the head as its foundation, if it doesn't have the head as the focal point, you need to trash it. Now obviously there's knowledge in this world that does not hold Jesus Christ as the head, but at that point we recognize if it's knowledge, we recognize if it's science of what? If it can be proven and tested. If it can be examined, proven, and tested, guess what? It's fact. But if they tell you, well no, just believe this because millions of years ago this is what happened. You know, just believe this because we found a couple bones and we were able to tell how many babies this thing had by the bones. You know, that's false. That's not something that can be examined. That's not something that can be proven. That's not something that can be tested. That's something that you have to believe by what? By faith. So at the end of the day, it's not science. What is it? It's a religion. And I'll get into that in just a little bit. You see, these are the treasures that our enemies want to spoil from us. The spoils of treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And they use what? The principalities and powers and the rules of the darkness of this world. Spiritual wickedness in high places in order to do that. I.e. the school systems. Right. Television. Okay? These principalities and powers that are working tirelessly to inject their false doctrine into the minds of even Christians to render them useless to spoil them. All right? Now, the Bible tells you not to turn there. Proverbs chapter 1 and verse number 20 says, Wisdom crieth without. She uttereth her voice in the streets. She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates, in the cities she uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity, and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge. You see, the Bible says that a fool is the one who hates knowledge. I don't want to know about all these things. Don't be a fool. Don't hate knowledge. No, oh, you know, I just love simplicity. No, don't love simplicity. You know, God has given you a brain. He's given you the capacity to learn. He's given you a great foundation of the word of God. We have the Holy Spirit of God living within us, which is the unction of God to teach us all things. We need to take advantage of that. We need to make sure that we're capitalizing on the resources that God has bestowed upon us to learn and to be knowledgeable and not to be spoiled by these principalities and powers. The Bible says in verse 25, I will laugh at your calamity. So this is the person who is hating knowledge. This is the person who loves simplicity. You know what God is saying? I also will laugh at your calamity. Oh, I'm just hoping to get mercy from God and grace. No, no, no, he gave you the mercy and grace when he commanded you to learn these things and not to hate knowledge. But guess what? When you hate knowledge and you love simplicity, you suffer the consequences of the fool. Guess what the Bible says? I also will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh. When your fear cometh as a desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, when distress and anguish cometh upon you. God says, I'm gonna laugh at you. Do you know what that tells me? That tells me, hey, I need to start learning some knowledge. I need to stop being an ignorant Christian and start gaining knowledge and wisdom, not just of the Bible, but just life in general. We need to learn certain things. The Bible says, then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer. They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me, for that they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, they would none of my counsel, they despised all my reproof. Okay, now go to Matthew chapter seven, if you would. So let me just remind you that the Bible is the foundation of knowledge, okay? The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. And when it comes down to it, we need to recognize that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. You know, if you truly wanna find true truth, guess what, it starts with Jesus Christ first. The Bible says, ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free, right? Look what Matthew 7 24 says, therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a, what, a rock. And who's the rock? Well, according to 1 Corinthians 10, that rock is Christ. And so that foundation is the word of God. The foundation is the rock there. But then when we start building upon that rock, you know what, that's knowledge even outside of the Bible. That's wisdom even outside of the Bible. You see, we as God's people need to learn to love to read. Amen. Amen. Amen. We need to learn to love to read. Whether books about history, science, things that will increase your knowledge as a human being. Now, don't get it backwards. Don't elevate the knowledge of this world to the point where you completely neglect and downplay the knowledge of the word of God. This is the foundation. This is where we filter everything, prove all things, hold fast that which is good. You see what I'm saying? The Bible says despise not prophesying, and that's referring to the word of God. That's referring to the preaching of God's word. But when you go outside of the scope of that, we filter and prove everything from the Bible, okay? But the Bible's not the only source of knowledge, okay? In fact, though the Bible says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, it's not the only source. We have to filter all sources through this. And go back to Colossians chapter two. And look, we're getting closer to the end. It's obvious. You look at the world around us and the things that are taking place in the world, you can obviously see that the love of many is waxing, cold. You can see that, you obviously hear of apostasy's taking place in different churches. We see so many things taking place in this world that would lead us to believe, hey, the end is coming. The end is soon. It's right around the corner. It's coming down the pipeline. And here's the thing. Satan is doing his very best, okay, to render Christians stupid, just ignorant, docile even, to the point where they just can't even think for themselves, okay? They're just concerned with the pleasures of life, the riches of this world, the day-to-day hustle and bustle of life, and they completely neglect the fact that we're in a spiritual battle, that we need to be sober and vigilant, understand, be like the children of Issachar who had understanding of the times, understanding of knowledge. Why? So we're not fooled and duped into believing this false agenda of this world, okay? Look at Colossians 2, verse 8. It says, beware lest any man spoil you. Through what? Philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world and not after Christ. So let's look here, because he gives us a list of how Satan will spoil us if we're not careful. The first thing we see there is philosophy and what? Vain deceit. Now, if you look at a definition of what philosophy is, it says, the rational investigation of the truths and principles of being, knowledge, or conduct. And that doesn't really even sound that bad, because we're supposed to investigate the truths. We're supposed to know the principles of being, knowledge, or conduct, and obviously, the main philosophy we receive is from the word of God. But in the Bible, in Colossians chapter 2, it couples philosophy with what? Vain deceit. You see, the Bible states philosophy and vain deceit, these are principles that are purposely given with deception. These are things that people tell you, no, this is fact, but in actuality, it's false. In actuality, it's deception. In actuality, it's lies. And how do they validate that it's supposedly true? They get a bunch of people to say that it's true. They get the media to say that it's fact. They get the school systems to say that it's true. Everyone knows, we all know that the world is millions and millions of years old. We all believe in the big bang theory. No, we all don't. I got a bunch of people in here that don't. You see, that is Hitler's way of propagating a lie. You tell a lie loud enough and long enough, the people will believe it. You tell someone, hey, this is true, this is true, this is true, and provide no evidence for it, people are going to believe it. What is that? That's philosophy and vain deceit. Go to 1 Timothy chapter number six. So it's a purposeful deception to promote a wicked agenda. The Bible also refers to this as science falsely, so-called. You see, we're not against science. The Bible's not against science. But the Bible's not a science book. The Bible's not a history book. The Bible is the word of God. But it does have hints of history. It does have hints and elements of science within it that basically shows us and it validates that the word of God is true because of these things. But we're not against science. Science is real, science is true. But science has to be examined, it has to be proven, it has to be tested. It's not something you say, well, just believe it because that's what all of these scientific theologians of these universities say is true. Just because they have all these degrees, okay? Look at 1 Timothy six, verse 20. Oh, Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust. Avoid profane and vain babblings and oppositions of science falsely so-called, which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee, amen. So science is something that can be observed, tested and proven. Science falsely so-called eliminates those requirements and replaces it with what? Profane and vain babblings. You know, and honestly, it ticks me off. When they mock us because we believe that God created the heaven and the earth. They say, how can you believe that God created the heaven and the earth? Don't you know we all came from primordial soup? It's like, look in the mirror, idiot. You came from primordial soup. You sound like you came from primordial soup. You sound like you came from an ape. You think I'm crazy because I believe that an almighty, omnipotent, omnipresent, God created the heaven and the earth and yet you're telling me that we came from monkeys? You're telling me that we came from a rock? You got rocks in your head if that's what you believe. But what is it? That's science falsely so-called. You find me someone who's millions of years old, right? Find me someone who's millions of years old or you say, well prove to me scientifically that God created the heaven and the earth. I never stated that it was scientific. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Here's the difference between science falsely so-called and Christianity. We actually admit this is by faith. They claim it's scientific but they believe it by faith and they try to propagate it as though it's science although these are facts. No, you're a liar. You know, who am I talking about? Well, Richard Dawkins. This promoter of pedophilia. Oh, I'm sorry, mild pedophilia where he says, oh, you know, mild pedophilia. No, no pedophilia is right. It's all wicked and reprobate. Richard Dawkins who said the God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction. And I find it interesting that all these atheists and phagnostics, they wanna spend their entire life fighting against God whom they don't believe in. It's like, what are you doing fighting against someone who you don't think even exists? Sounds to me like you do believe he exists. Sounds to me like you just hate God is what it is. You got Richard Dawkins, Bill Nye the Science Guy. Bill Nye the Science Guy, yeah. Who remembers that? Anybody watch Bill Nye? I watched him. Christopher Hitchens who's burning in hell today. Lawrence Cross who literally said, who wrote a book called A Universe From Nothing. He says, nothing came from nothing. Everything came from nothing. We're nothing. What in the world? Talk about vain imaginations. Michio Kaku, this 11 dimensional universe believer who literally believes in three stages of aliens. You got stage one who can manipulate stars and hurricanes, or excuse me, they can manipulate hurricanes and weather and planets. You have stage two, this is like Star Trek he says. These are the guys who can manipulate solar systems and stars, but then you have level three, this is like Star Wars. I'm not saying this, this is what he said. He said, this is like Star Wars, these are like the galactic, this is like the galactic empire of Star Wars, like Darth Vader. He said, we need to work on getting to stage one. No, you need to work on getting to reality. This is reality here. Come on. You know, they base their scientific studies off of George Lucas. Ask George Lucas if these things are real, he'll even tell you they're not. It's science fiction. But they promote it as science fact. And this is his entire ministry. I mean, literally, he goes around the world giving these dissertations about Star Wars. Lightsabers and the Galactic Republic and the rebellion and Chewbacca and all the like. It's foolishness. That's why the Bible says professing themselves to be wise, because they're so wise, they think they know everything, they became fools. That's what the Bible says. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. You know why? How do they become fools? Because we listen to the foolish things that are coming out of the mouth and say, you're an idiot. That sounds retarded. Stephen Hawking, who talked about spontaneous creation, who's also burning in hell today. Neil deGrasse Tyson. All these are the prophets, the false prophets and false teachers of science falsely, so-called. And people wanna lift these people up as though they're like these intelligent men who know all kinds of things. Well, what about you? You don't have a degree. You know what? I don't need a degree to know what they know. I just need to watch Star Wars, the entire trilogy. I just need to watch a couple seasons of Star Trek and I can basically say the exact same thing that he's saying. I don't need to go through 10 years of university to learn that, I just get it on YouTube. Because that's exactly what they're doing. Go to 2 Peter chapter three. The Bible says in Psalms 14, verse one, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. Amen. So don't esteem these people as being smart or wise. No, according to God, who's the source of all knowledge and everlasting wisdom, he says, no, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt. They have done abominable works. There is none that do with good. So you say, why are they promoting this? Because they hate God. Because of their abominable works, they are these people we find in Romans chapter number one and verse 28, these are reprobates who turned the truth of God into a lie, okay? And their foolish heart was darkened, the Bible says. The Bible tells us in 2 Peter chapter three and verse number three, knowing this verse that there shall come in the last days, scoffers walking after their own lusts. So does it say that they're walking after scientific studies and evidence? No, it says after their own lust. You know, what they, the vain imaginations that they've imagined within their hearts because of so many hours of watching the trilogy of Star Wars, their own lusts and saying, where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. And let me just let you know that even evolution has believed in creation. What we differ on is who created it. You know, there's people out there who actually believe aliens created us. Go to the hollow earth doctrine who believe that there's reptilians in the center of the earth and this different world and a different sun and oceans and all these things, even though no one's gone down there. You know, you say, well, you know, is hollow earth really that unbiblical? Yes, because what is in the center of the earth? Hell. So what is the agenda of the hollow earth doctrine, false doctrine to basically negate the teaching of hell? Because they're saying, oh no, there's no hell in the center of the earth. It's just a different civilization. And look, they're trying to take everyone to the hollow earth. And people who believe there's garbage, that's exactly what they're gonna do. The only difference is is that they're gonna find that it's not hollow at all. They're gonna find out that it's filled with fire and brimstone where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched, okay? It says there, verse five, for this they are willingly ignorant of that by the word of God, the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the water and in the water. So what does it mean to be willingly ignorant? That means la la la la, don't tell me I don't wanna hear this, la la la, that's willingly ignorant. In other words, here's like the modern phrase of this. I just rather be stupid. I don't believe it. I just rather be ignorant of it. And the Bible says that they are willingly ignorant. For this, they are willingly ignorant of that by the word of God, the heavens were of old. Now, what does the Bible tell us in John chapter one? In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. So the word of God is the one who created the world. Jesus Christ was the one who created the world and they know this. But the Bible says here that they are willingly ignorant of that, okay? And it says in the earth standing out of the water and in the water, that's a reference to the flood. And it's interesting that the two major things that evolutionists attack today is what? Creation and the flood, okay? And so, you say, what does that have to do with the sermon? Well, that's how people get spoiled. Even Christians will get duped by stuff like this. They're getting spoiled from true knowledge and true wisdom, things that can be tested and proven, things that can increase your value as a human being, things that can help your brain to grow. And what happens? They go to the philosophies and the vain deceits of these teachers, science, falsely so-called. You're not gonna find anything there. The Bible tells us in Exodus chapter 20, go to Genesis chapter one, Exodus chapter 20, verse number 11. For in six days, the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day. Wherefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. You see, the Bible tells us that God created the heaven and the earth in six literal days. You know, and by the way, there is no gap between verse one and verse two. The person who created the gap between verse one and verse two is this person who was spoiled by Satan to learn the knowledge of this world and wanted to fit the world's theology into the Bible. I mean, literally, grab a Bible, for example, grab a Schofield reference Bible. And after you grab it, read it, and then throw it in the trash. You grab a Schofield reference Bible, and literally, verse one of Genesis chapter one goes right into verse number two. We know how to count, right? One, two, and what do they do? They fit an entire event in between verse one and two called the gap theory, where the earth was destroyed. I mean, all kinds of nonsense. They have more commentary between verses one and two than verse one and two have. There's more commentary on what's taking place in verse one and two than what's actually taking place in verse one and in verse two. Look at Genesis one, verse 23. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day, and God said, let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind, and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind. And God saw that it was good. You see, that debunks evolution, the evolution theory, so-called, okay? Where they say, well, no, no, no. You see, this chicken was once a dinosaur. They're not the same kind. They claim that these, you know, that crocodiles came from a rock. That a croc came from a rock. But the Bible tells us here that God created animals after their own kind, okay? And kind can be used interchangeably with species. You say, well, how do you do that? Well, there's different kinds of dogs. You have the useless dog, referred to as a chihuahua. Okay, sorry for those of you who have chihuahuas out there, all right? Just kidding, I'm not sorry. I'm sorry for you, no, I'm just kidding. Then you have a pit bull, okay? But guess what, they're both dogs! Did you know that? I know they look different. I know one's more annoying than the other. I know they're different sizes, but guess what? They're both dogs. They're just different types. And that goes to show you, because then they'll use it, well, what about Noah's flood and Noah's ark? How do they fit every kind of animal into Noah's, well, here's the thing. You leave the chihuahua and you take the pit bull. If you're smart, right? You leave the chihuahua in the flood and you take the pit bull into the ark. Why, because eventually you can breed that pit bull with something else. And I'm just giving an example, I'm being facetious here. But you take the kind, which is a dog, and you allow it to breed with a different kind of dog, and guess what, it's gonna produce another type of dog. That's how people even got chihuahuas to begin with. You know, that thing did not exist in times past. They bred it so much to the point where it just became this rat-looking animal. But it's not a rat, it's a dog. Okay? It's a different kind, so that's what Noah did. It's not difficult to understand, okay? But the Bible tells us that the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolishness the wisdom of this world? For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. So what is the Bible telling us? That when it comes to God, he doesn't esteem the wisdom of this world. He doesn't esteem the evolutionary charts and their so-called evidence that they have for the missing link and all these other things. By the way, research that stuff, you will see time and time again that they lied. They lied. They found one bone, smoothed it out, you know, a bone of a pig, and they smoothed it out to fit the jaw of a human being. They said, there's the missing link. You know why? Because they wanted the funds to keep coming. I mean, they threatened, hey, if you don't find anything we're gonna take the funds away from you, so guess what they did? Deceit. They used their philosophy and vain deceit. Why? Because of the love of money. That's why. Okay? And people eat this with fork and spoon. No, no, no, no, no, no. There is museums. Haven't you seen the museums with all the bones and all these other things? It's false. Amen. Yeah. You know, you obviously understand that when you're watching a movie and there's all kinds of CGI graphics and things taking place, that it's fake. Amen. They're CGI-ing you is what they're doing. All they do is they display something that's basically bones that looks real and they tell you this is real. You know what people do? They eat it with fork and spoon and they just believe it. It's philosophy and vain deceit. It's science falsely so-called. I don't care how, look, the Bible doesn't, the Bible tells us that the Earth is only a couple years, a thousand years old. Not millions of years old. Give me someone who's actually gone back in time to be able to observe that the Earth is millions of years old. It's impossible. Amen. Go to Colossians, go back to Colossians chapter number two. You know, let's not be the type of Christians that the world can come to, the principalities and the powers and the rules of darkness of this world can come and spoil us of true knowledge. You know, don't be the type of Christian that just sits back and says, well, I just wanna read the Bible and only the Bible. Hey, that's great, but you know what? You need to start gaining some knowledge. You need to start learning some actual facts of the world around us. And look, don't be a hater of reading. Right, Brother Eddie? Reading is great. Have a conversation with Brother Eddie and you'll see that reading is great. Okay, you know why? Because our foundation of how we become godly, how we know God, is through reading. You need to learn to love to read, to gain knowledge. And look, oh, you know, I just got YouTube. No, don't go to YouTube. Don't watch a two-hour-long documentary on the flat Earth. By the way, that's another science falsely so-called. Where they try to pin that on the Bible. To say that we believe that the Earth is flat. No, retards believe that the Earth is flat. Okay, and go ahead, blow up the comments section and all these things. I'm not changing on that. You're an idiot if you believe the Earth is flat. I don't care if you listen to all my sermons and this is the only one point that you disagree with me on, it's a stupid doctrine. Okay. Look, why doesn't the flat Earth society, as big as they are, why don't you pay for a plane ticket or something that can validate what you're saying to take a trip up to space and prove to us that the Earth is flat, supposedly. You had enough members in your cult. You know, start a GoFundMe page. Start a GoFundMe page. This is for all the, commercial break. Start a GoFundMe page. And I'm sure there's a lot of people who are willing to put money into that. So to buy yourself a plane ticket and whatever it is that you need to prove that the Earth is flat, try that. But you know what, they're not gonna do it. You know why, because the proponents and the source of this stupid doctrine are people who don't believe that the Earth is flat. They're people who are propagating this wicked agenda to disprove and try to make the Bible look stupid. So what do they do? They spoiled people in our society from true knowledge to believe that stupid doctrine and then they become the proponents of that doctrine as well, okay. Now look at Colossians chapter two. So we talked about philosophy in vain deceit, but look what it goes on to say in verse number eight. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy in vain deceit after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, not after Christ. Now what is a tradition? Well, a tradition is something that's handed down, or excuse me, the handing down of statements, beliefs, legends, customs, information from generation to generation by word of mouth or by practice. That's what a tradition is. Go with me if you would to 2 Thessalonians chapter two. And look, traditions are not bad. Not all traditions are bad, should I say. Look at 2 Thessalonians chapter two and verse 15. Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word or our epistle. So what do we see here is that the apostle Paul is telling those at Thessalonica, he's saying look, you need to make sure you hold fast the traditions that we've taught you by what? By word or by our epistle. So what is that? He's referring to the word of God. So we need to make sure that the traditions that we hold to as Christians, that we can find them based upon the word of God. For example, door to door soul winning is a tradition that Faithful Word Baptist Church of Omani holds to. This is something that we've learned from Christians who have gone before us. This is something that we learned from even churches that we have come from. But at the end of the day, we find the source of this tradition in the Bible. And this is something that we need to hold fast to. Another example would be singing hymns. That's a great tradition. This is a tradition that we need to hold fast to. Because why? Because the Bible tells us in Ephesians chapter five, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts unto the Lord. The Bible tells us, even in the gospels, the day before Christ died, that they sang a hymn when they ate together. So the Bible tells us that we ought to sing spiritual songs and the book of Psalms is filled with commandments to make a joyful noise unto the Lord. So hey, if you can't sing and hold a tune, you're in good company because the Bible says to make a joyful noise. Amen. Look at 2 Thessalonians chapter three. Now we command you brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly and not after the tradition which he received of us. By the way, one thing I neglected to mention, hey, Christmas is a great tradition. And all of God's people said, amen. Okay, that is a tradition based off of the word of God. Now, if you believe otherwise, well, I don't believe you should celebrate Christmas and it's heathen, haven't you read Jeremiah and you know, the tree and all these things, they carve it out and deck it and all these things, you know, no, you just haven't read the Bible. Read that portion of scriptures referring to an idol. Someone came here last week. They came here and these are the same people that are against Easter, they're against celebrating birthdays, they're against anything, you know, that YouTube says is wrong. And this person came and off the bat, right off the bat, look, I've been saved for 11 years, so sometimes I can read people, sometimes I can't, but sometimes I can and those who I can read the best are those who just kind of just don't, they don't, they just don't shut their mouths. They just tell you everything they believe right off the bat. And this person came to our church and you know, we have our Christmas CDs in the back. By the way, help yourselves to the Christmas CDs in the back, they're all free. Take them as gifts for your family, they have Christmas songs under their hymns, you can take as many as you want, spare not. And, but this person came and he looked at the shelf, he's like, Christmas, you guys celebrate Christmas here? Red flag number one, right? And I was like, yeah, of course. You go, you guys don't put a Christmas tree here, do you? I said, well, you know, if I could, I would. I said, I just got a Christmas tree for my house. It's great. He's like, what? I'm like, yeah, we celebrate all the biblical holidays here. Easter, I threw that in there because automatically I already knew. He's against Easter. And I made sure to call it Easter. Not Resurrection Sunday or anything like that, I called it Easter. I was like, Easter. Hey, today we're celebrating birthdays, right? And he's just like, just kind of like, and I'm like. Yeah. So the same guy, after the service, starts talking to the guys, turns out he's this charismatic Pentecostal tongue-flapping weirdo, you know? What? Yeah, yeah. I want to hand him a serpent, see what happens to him, right? Mark chapter 16. And he's like, he's trying to like, validate speaking in tongues. And he's like, you know, the Bible says, speaking in tongues, speaking in tongues. And I said, no, the Bible says, speaking with tongues. Correction. The new versions of the Bible, I said, do you know that the new versions of the Bible say speaking in tongues? Well, I don't read the new versions of the Bible. I'm like, wow, that's weird, because you're quoting it. Because it says speaking in tongues in the new versions. I said, I speak with tongues, because I speak Spanish. And I'm learning a new tongue, Greek, amen. These are tongues, it means language. In fact, in Spanish, they call it linguaje, or idioma, which is like, what, tongue. And so he comes up with all these weird reasons as to why we should have the spiritual gifts and all these things. And then, you know, it just falls apart. And we get into the conversation about the tongues of men and of angels, 1 Corinthians 13. And he, I mean, he thinks he has me, right? Tongues of men and of angels. I said, you know the Bible records angels speaking in the Bible? Right, yeah. I said, and you know every time that an angel speaks in the Bible, it's talking in a known language. Right. Men. Men. Right? I was like, can you find me a time in the Bible where an angel is speaking in some like, challah, challah bala, and a six-pack dalla? How about an Lisa and I should have bought a Honda? And he would do this, he would. I said, you can't, right? You know why? Because tongues is a known language. That's why. So it kind of just falls apart. You know, but what is a person trying to do when they come in with that type of doctrine? They're trying to spoil us of true knowledge and wisdom with what the Bible says. Hey, it's good to celebrate Christmas. Now look, if you celebrate Christmas today, that's up to you. I'm not against that. You can celebrate in the middle of summer if you want. We just choose to do it on the 25th. Why? Because it's a good tradition. Oh yeah, but we should just celebrate, not give gifts. No, you know what? I like giving gifts because that's a good tradition. Because it reminds us of the gift of God that was given to us through Jesus Christ. It's symbolic of that gift of eternal life, okay? And so look at 2 Thessalonians 3 verse six. It says, now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. By the way, that guy didn't come back. That you withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly and not after the tradition which he received of us. Now go to Colossians chapter number two again. So it says here that we need to withdraw ourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly. What is disorderly? In other words, they don't walk according to our traditions. You see, this is not a CCM church. We're not gonna have the purple lights and the smoke machines and the smoke and mirrors and the magicians and whatever other hoochie mamas up here and dancing and all these things. That's not our tradition. Our tradition is biblical music, biblical hard preaching, biblical fellowship, and we're just gonna go ahead and stick to that. And any person who tries to come in and change that is walking disorderly, not according to the tradition that we have been taught. Look at Colossians 2, verse number four says, in this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. For though I be absent in the flesh, yet I am within in the spirit, joying and beholding your order and the steadfastness of your faith, as you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walking in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. You see, we don't wanna just come up with something new. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. When it comes to the things of God, right? Now obviously, we'll modify certain things based upon if it helps us to be more effective, more efficient, but at the end of the day, the main things that we hold as our traditions, we're not changing those things. The Bible says in 1 Peter 1, verse 18, for as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation, received by tradition from your fathers. You see, there are people out there who also have traditions, but they're not traditions based upon the word of God. Okay, for example, you have the Hebrew Roots Movement. Who they try to, it's these people, these Judaizers, who are trying to come and proselytize Christians to hold the traditions of the Hebrew Roots Movement, of the Old Testament, to bring New Testament Christians back into Old Testament law. That is not a good tradition, why? Because the Bible says that the old waxeth the way. That the Old Testament is done away with. We're not to adhere to the meats, drinks, and diverse washings and cardinal ordinances, which was imposed upon them until the time of the Reformation, according to Hebrews nine. These are things we're not supposed to adhere to anymore. It's not a tradition. In fact, look at Colossians chapter two. Let's see here. Look at verse number 14. By the way, this is a good, these are some good verses. If anybody ever comes to you and say, hey, you need to be keeping the Sabbath. Why aren't you keeping the Sabbath? Why don't I wanna keep the Sabbath? Why aren't you keeping the Sabbath? Well, this is why I don't keep the Sabbath right here in Colossians two verse 14. Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us and took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross. And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. So when the Bible says in verse 15, he made a show of them openly, I used to believe that what that's referring to is that he made a show of the principalities and powers, right? But that's not what it's saying there. What is it saying when he says he made a show of them openly? Them is referring to what we see in verse 14, where it says the handwriting of ordinances. You see when Christ was nailed to the cross, he made a show of the ordinances openly. Look what it goes on to say verse 16. Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of an holy day or of the new moon or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come, but the bodies of Christ. You see, Jesus Christ is the culmination of these ordinances. So when he was nailed to the cross, he made a show of those ordinances. Why? Because his blood is drink indeed, and his flesh is meat indeed. He's the fulfillment of the meats, drinks, of the holy days, of all these things. He is the fulfillment of those shadows. Therefore, when someone said, hey, you need to make sure you keep the Sabbath. Well, it says right there, not to judge me and me drink in respect of a holy day or of the new moon or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come, but the bodies of Christ, the Bible says. Jesus Christ has already showed that on the cross, okay? So anybody who tries to come and spoil us of true tradition, don't let anybody be guided with enticing words. What is enticing words? It's a good argument. But that's why it's important to educate yourself in the word of God. You know, make sure you know what you're talking about. Make sure you know doctrine. Make sure you're not spiritually ignorant. Make sure you're reading the Bible. Let me say this. We're in, we're going on year two of Faithful War Baptist Church of Omani. You know, and if you had some setbacks this year in reading your Bible, you need to kick those to the curb and read through your Bible this year. No excuses. You have 365 days to read the Bible. It's not like a little bit of time. You know, and if you have not read through the Bible cover to cover, then shame on you then. You say, why is that? Because, and look, we're not saying read through the Bible in a month. Yeah, even in three months. We're not even saying to read the Bible in six months. 12 months is enough time to read the Bible cover to cover. Let me show you how to do that. Turn off YouTube. Turn off Facebook. Turn off Instagram. Turn off whatever is distracting you from reading the Bible cover to cover. If you just spend 10 minutes to 15 minutes a day, people spend 10 to 15 minutes a day doing stupid stuff all the time. Just replace it with reading the Bible and you will finish it. And in fact, on the week before we celebrate, you know, January 31st of the new year, we're gonna pass out some Bible reading calendars, amen? And one's gonna have, you know, the Bible reading schedule for a year and another one's gonna be for six months. Because, you know, maybe you've read the Bible in 12 months already and you said, I've already accomplished that. Well, here's the new goal for you. Try to read it twice in one year. Once every six months. It's doable. Make it a priority. Gain some knowledge of the Bible. Get out of the book of John. Get out of Proverbs. I mean, you'll get back into it, obviously. But don't just use that as a means to just clear your conscience. You know, I just read the book of John. No, why don't you get into Leviticus and Deuteronomy? There's some good stuff in that book, okay? You know, why don't you get into the Old Testament passage? Well, I'm just scared. Well, you know what? You're gonna be even more scared in 10 years when you haven't read it at all. And people are just surpassing you left and right. And you're not growing in wisdom. You're not growing in knowledge. You need to bring something to the table of our church. Because look, at the end of the day, you're gonna be able to influence someone in our church, but you're not gonna be able to influence anybody if you don't grow in knowledge. And look, we can only talk about, I mean, salvation is an important doctrine. And that is a common doctrine that we teach here at Faithful Word Baptist Church. But you know what? We need to learn some other doctrine outside of that. Amen? Where it's like, repenting your sins is heresy. Yeah, amen. But let's talk about other things too. Because the Bible is filled with other doctrines other than that. And we will always reinforce salvation. We will always reinforce once saved, always saved. We will always reinforce that it's by faith. But you know what? There's things outside of that that we need to get into when it comes to the Word of God. Okay? And I don't know how I got off on that. But look, it's important to learn the Word of God. Don't let anybody spoil you from those things. And lastly, and I'm done, look at Colossians, or you're in Colossians two. Look at verse number eight. It says, beware lest any man spoil you with your philosophy in vain to see after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. Now what are rudiments? Rudiments are simply like the first principles. And so, the Apostle Paul here is saying, hey, you need to make sure that you're not carried away with the principles of this world. Okay? You know, what's right and what's wrong according to society. The moral values of society. You know why? The moral values of society are vastly different from the moral values of the Word of God. Okay? And it's gonna get crazier out there in society. It's gonna become more militant in our society. It's gonna become far more godless out there. But you know what? We need to stick to the old paths. Stick to what the Word of God says and not go according to the rudiments of the world. Hey, the principles that the world tries to teach you on how to raise your children. You need to trash that. It's no good. Don't tell your children no. You know, only tell them yes. Don't tell them no. So if my son decides to put his hand in the fire on the stove, oh, I can't say no. Go for it. You know? If my son runs into the middle of the street, so I'm not supposed to tell him no for any reason. Even if it harms my son, no, you got rocks in your head. No is a good word. No with an explanation of why, when they grow older, is good, right? Say no because of X, Y, and Z. You see, that's the philosophy of this world. Oh, time out. There is no such thing as time outs. You see, time outs, it stems from Catholicism purgatory. Purgatory doesn't exist in the Bible. Only heaven and hell. And guess what? Time outs, as far as disciplining your children, doesn't exist either in the Bible. You understand that? So we can't go according to the rudiments of this world. Doesn't matter how fancy the books look. Doesn't matter how many subscribers that person has on their channel. Doesn't matter how renowned those people are in the eyes of the world. We need to go according to the rudiments of the word of God, okay? Go to 1 Corinthians chapter two, and this is the last verse we're gonna go on to. The Bible says here in 1 Corinthians chapter number two, in verse number four, and my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power. Verse five, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God, how be it we speak wisdom among them that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor the princes of this world that come to naught. No, look, I'm not saying that every book out there is bad, because there's books out there who are not even Christian books, but they have Christian principles that are good. What we need to learn how to do is how to filter and prove those books according to the word of God. Prove that knowledge according to God's word, and not elevate it above God's word. The Bible says to cast down imaginations in every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. You see, what happens? You say, well, man, I've been spoiled. Satan has spoiled me, and I have all these false ideologies, and he's taken captive these spoils. Well, guess what? Bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Take those things back. Get into the Bible. Get into the word of God, and beware lest any man spoil you. Don't let Satan, the principalities and powers, rob you of true knowledge and wisdom. Oh, man, I just come from a family who just, we didn't graduate high school, and well, maybe, you know what? At times, that's a good thing. Right, here, right? Nowadays. Nowadays, it's a good thing. Oh, yeah. Okay, I just, my mom and dad, they didn't even learn how to read. Okay, but you know what? You're a different generation. Amen. Right. And if you're saved, you have the Holy Spirit of God living within you. You have the potential to be a very intelligent person. Amen. Take advantage of that. Right. Oh, you know, I just come from a family of failures. Yeah, but you know what? Now you're in the family of God, amen? Amen. You're a child of the King. Amen. You ought to behave yourself as thus, and become knowledgeable about the things of God. And look, there's people in our church who are extremely intelligent. You know, it would do you well to have a good conversation, lengthy conversation with those people. You know, to learn from them. To be inspired, to want to learn more, to become more effective, so that Satan does not spoil you in this spiritual battle. Amen? Amen. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Thank you for the warnings of the Bible. And God, I pray that you'd help us to esteem the riches and the wisdom and knowledge of the word of God. But not just that, but to esteem true knowledge found outside of the word of God. Knowledge that we can prove and test and filter through the principles found within your word. I pray, God, that you'd help us to do so, and help us to be aware, to beware lest Satan, through principalities and powers, through the school systems, through news, media, whatever it may be, that they would not spoil us. There's so much garbage in social media that tries to teach knowledge, but they're not teaching knowledge. They're deceiving people and spoiling them of true knowledge. And I pray, God, that you'd help us to be leery of that. And in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.