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Amen. Okay, so we're down, we're here in Exodus chapter 22. Moses is on Mount Sinai here and he's receiving commandments from God as to how he wants his people to behave, how he wants his holy nation of his to be governed. Because it's one thing knowing that something's bad and we know when things are bad usually, but it's another to know how a righteous nation should punish it. How it should be punished, we're not always so wise about those things. For example, we know that stealing is bad, but is cutting off someone's hand a suitable punishment for someone stealing something? Well, you'd have to be mad to think it was, right? But then is a slap on the wrist some sort of police caution, a suitable punishment, and then you've got to try and reclaim it from your insurance company or something else and get your premium go up for whatever got stolen? Again, we don't think that's suitable either. God's punishment for thieves is to have them pay back a multiple of what they stole depending on the situation, depending on the circumstances. We've just seen one particular circumstance at the beginning of that chapter there being double. And if they can't pay the debt, what happens if they can't pay the debt? Well, they'd have to work the debt off. They'd have to work the debt off and sometimes that would be by basically being a servant therefore until they paid that debt off. And what if they refuse to work? Well, pretty simple. Second Thessalonians 3.10 says, for even when we're with you, this we command you that if any would not work, would not work, not can not work, if any would not work, neither should he eat. That's someone refusing to work and unable to, okay, by the way. But what would be the situation? Well, they don't get to eat then. They don't have any food. They'd have to pay everything they have to that person if they still can't pay. Now that's a good, that would put you off thieving, wouldn't it? I would hope that would put off most people from thieving. Well, does anyone think that when Moses was in that mount amongst all that smoke and fire, that God's commandments were a bit poorly thought out? Anyone think that? God just didn't really think it through properly and he didn't really kind of really sit down and work that one out and have a good kind of discussion about it first. If only he'd had some savage Muslims to advise him how to deal with thieves. If only some savage Muslim had told him actually you need to start cutting hands off and God thought, yeah, I did go a bit lied to me, I just didn't get the advice. I don't think anyone here, if you're a Christian, you believe the word of God, you're not going to think that. If only he had some posh liberals with sociology degrees to show him how, in fact, you know, you don't really need to punish wrongdoing, we just need to educate them. We don't think that either, do we? No, Psalms 19, 17, you don't have to turn there, says the law of the Lord is perfect. Converting the soul, the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. And when it comes to law and order, to governing a nation in the best way possible, that would be by the law of God, wouldn't it? That is the best way possible to govern a nation, by the law of God. Not the meats, drinks, divers, washings and carnal ordinances, okay, they were only until the time of reformation according to Hebrews 9.10, but the moral law, the do's and don'ts, the punishment of wrongdoers, that was all commanded by God. And just to let you know, he hasn't changed his mind about any of that. That would be the perfect way of governing a nation, would be how God tells you to govern a nation. Now yeah, we live in a secular society, we can't expect them, we don't expect them to do things God's way, but if they did, it would be the perfect way of doing it. And just to make it clear, we as a church aren't called to punish evildoers, okay, so when you preach sermons like this, you've got to kind of make that clear just in case anyone wants to take you out of context, or in case we have anyone who's maybe a little bit too zealous in here and starts seeing this stuff and thinks it's time to go out and start, you know, punishing those wrongdoers out there. No, we're not called to do that, okay, that's not the battle that we're in, we're in a spiritual battle and we're not a nation, we're not here to punish any evil doing ourselves, other than by church discipline in a church, and again in case anyone's wondering, we don't flog, we don't do any stuff like that, there's no stoning going on in our church, okay, it's just by kicking people out of church, right? And that's pretty, you know, usually few and far between. However, aside from that, let's just say, okay, let's say, you'll see where my wild imagination went with this in a second, okay, let's just say that King Charles's friendship with Jimmy Saville was circumstantial, okay, that he just didn't realise, okay, he didn't actually describe him as his mentor, that was just a complete lie, okay, that none of that happened, he didn't have him as his marriage counsellor when he was in the middle of going through these problems with Diana, just say that none of that happened, right, okay, and he wasn't what we all think he probably is, right, okay, and he wasn't beyond hope, and suddenly he just kind of, maybe got saved, and maybe started getting convicted by the word of God, and he's like, I'm going to start seizing power back in this country, yeah, it's time to get things sorted in the UK, and he said, this nation is an absolute cesspit, let's get those strong tower boys to sort it out, so next thing you know, he turns up here, we see all the racing and all those silly motorbike things going ahead and cutting off the road, we're like, what's going on, and the ushers are like, okay, yeah, make sure that the ladies are dressed properly please, and they come on in, right, and he says, right, we need like, we need some law and order in this nation, we need some godly guys to sort this out, we need the strong tower Baptist Church to start taking control, right, and he's like, right, we need someone to sort out the finances, so I'm like, right, okay, get some of those counters in, we've got brother Neil, we've got brother Lucky, brother Patrick, guys, you need to start sorting out the finances in this nation, all right, and then we're like, right, we need some homeland security, so we start talking to brother Clifford and brother Andre, brother Adam, some of the ushers, you know, brother Ben Beller, we're like, guys, we need some law and order, right, we need some homeland security. Past the tavern, he says, you're the overseer, okay, he says, I need you to do things properly, I need you to wield the sword, you see, I've been thinking about this a bit, okay, what am I going to do, but just say that happened, just say, crazier things have happened in the world, just say, I've got a call for Prince Charles, sorry, King Charles, and he said, right, it's time to take control of this nation, what am I going to do, am I going to go, right, let's get some, I need to get some liberal professors of law around and try and help me to work things out, what am I going to do? I'm going to go to the book, aren't I? I'm going to go to the book, I'm going to go to the boss, I'm going to say, right, I need to know how to run a nation, right, don't worry, I'm not really having dreams of running a nation, all right, but just say, he was like, right, I need you to sort things out, I'm going to go to the book, right, I'm not going to get a load of liberal, God-hating professors to tell me how to do things, am yeah, because we want to do things properly, we know the only way you could really do it successfully would be God's way, right? So I'm going to go to the boss, the word of God, and I'm going to say, how do you want this nation run, yeah, and I'm going to open this book of the law, aren't I? I'm going to go, right, it's all here, I don't have to, you know, just think, well, how, maybe he's going to light up a billboard and tell me what to do, no, it's all here, every single bit's here, I'm going to say to the brother, I'm going to say to Brother Lucky, I'm going to say to Brother, I'm going to say to my counters, to my money men, I'm going to say, you need to cut out a usury in this nation, right? Say cut, you need to, you need to get that junk out of this nation, get, start arresting all these usurers, you need to change this nation, we need to have a 50 year jubilee to cut out all that fat cat stuff, right, we need to start resetting things every 50 years, we need to start doing things properly, time to shake up the benefits system, right, we need to do a lot of different stuff round here, I would say to my homeland security guys, I'd say to my ushers here, yeah, I'd be like, look, look, guys, you can start rounding up some false prophets, yeah, you need to get out there and start rounding up the false prophets, round up the sodomites, you know what, let them have the pride parades because you can just stand at the end of the parade with a net, and just round them up, right? We could say, we could, I would say start shutting down that prison cage system, because what on earth is that all about? And I'd say start bringing back biblical punishments, time to start, you know, giving people the lashings and restitution when there's theft and things which God told us to do. So what do we do about witches? What do we do about witches? What do we do about the witchcraft shop down the road there? What do we do about that? What do we do about Halloween? We'll look down at Exodus 22 and verse 18. Exodus 22, 18 says, thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live, and the title of my sermon today is, thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. The AK47 tie clips out, we're witch hunting. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word, thank you, well for the law, the law of the Lord is perfect, we know that, and help me to just preach this sermon just clearly and accurately, Lord, and boldly, Lord, and fully your spirit and preach a sermon that sadly you're not going to hear much around this nation, but a sermon which needs preaching with what we're seeing out there, just more and more just wickedness when it comes to witchcraft and all this sort of stuff. Lord, help me to preach it just fully your spirit, Lord, and help everyone to have a tent of peace, in Jesus' name we pray, Amen. So when God was telling Moses how his nation should be governed, he said in Exodus 22, 18, thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. So the translation when you go back to the Hebrew is, put them to death, okay, that's basically what he's saying, put them to death, okay, no I'm not a Hebrew scholar, I don't need to be, I've got the King James Bible. Capital punishment for witches is what he's saying, right, but aside from God's prescribed law and order, there is another truth in this short verse, okay, so aside from just yep, okay, put witches to death, and truth number one is that there is such thing as a witch. There is such thing as a witch. The title is thou shalt not suffer a witch to live, point number one, there is such thing as a witch. In Exodus 22, 18, he said thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. Now that tells me there's such thing as witches, right? What was he referring to? This is the first use of the word, by the way, and it's a bit of a standalone command here as well. These are single standalone commands in this part of Exodus 22. Well, according to Webster's 1828 dictionary, and I would say this is consistent with what we see as we go through this sermon, you'll see that, a witch is number one, a woman who by compact with the devil practices sorcery or enchantment, number two, a woman who is given to unlawful arts, and number three, a winding sinuous bank, okay, completely unrelated. Witchcraft, number one, the practices of witches, sorcery, enchantments, intercourse with the devil, number two, power more than natural. So whether or not there are pointy black hats, warts on long weird noses and silly voices, it's a woman practicing devilry, sorcery, or enchantment, okay? So what sort of things are we talking about, sorcery, enchantment? What exactly is that? Well, turn to Deuteronomy 18 to see a list of these type of things. Deuteronomy chapter 18, in Deuteronomy 18, Moses is preparing them to enter into the promised land, okay, in Deuteronomy 18, and it says in verse 9, so Deuteronomy chapter 18 and verse 9, it says, when thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after, notice a word here, the abominations, the abominations of those nations. So these are, this is a word saying they're objects of extreme hatred to the Lord. Said in verse 10, there shall not be found among you anyone that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire or that useth divination or an observer of times or an enchanter or a witch or a charmer or a consultor with familiar spirits or a wizard or a necromancer. So what are these things here, what are these things? Well first thing here, he said, there shall not be found among you anyone that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire. Okay, this is child sacrifice. This is talking about child sacrifice, they're basically killing their babies, killing their children for some sort of bizarre worship practices. You say what on earth, fortunately we don't see that in this nation now, maybe you don't see it in many, well you do see it in this nation now, and they sacrifice their unborn babies to the idols of wealth, the idols of body image, the idols of popularity and many other things through the wicked abortion industry. But let's continue, divination, the act of, which is the act of divining, of foretelling future events or discovering things secret or obscure by the aid of superior beings or by other than human means. Observer of times, that's some sort of magic arts okay, this is like full moon stuff, Venus aligning with Saturn, all that sort of stuff. An enchanter is one who enchants, a source for a magician, one who has spirits or demons at his command, one who practices enchantment or pretends to perform surprising things by the agency of demons. We've looked at a witch, the definition of a witch. The charmer we've got here is one that charms who has power to charm, one that uses or has the power of enchantment. We've got a consultor with familiar spirits, that's someone that claims to talk to dead people. A wizard, which is a conjurer, an enchanter, a sorcerer, a necromancer, one who pretends to foretell future events by holding converse with departed spirits, a conjurer. Now the reason I went through those quickly is have you noticed how a lot of these seem to overlap? Anyone notice that? Just by those descriptions? Some it was like, oh was that the enchanter or was that the necromancer or was that the consultor with familiar spirits, etc. Well basically a lot of them do overlap because do you know what he's saying here? Do you know what he's saying in this passage? He's basically just listed all of that sort of stuff and said keep away from all that devilry. That's what he's saying, just keep away from the whole lot of it. You don't need to follow which one's which and is it okay this, no, keep away from the whole lot of it. Keep away from the devilry, whether it's the medium, the magic healer, the spiritualist, keep away from the whole lot of it. Keep away from the hocus pocus catholic priest with his transubstantiation and his praying to dead saints. He's saying just keep away from all that magic, yeah get away from it, keep away from it. For all, verse 12, for all that do these things, plural, are an abomination unto the Lord and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God for these nations which thou shalt possess hearken unto observers of times and unto diviners but as for thee the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee to do so. So we've got another couple here, diviners, this is one who professes divination, one who pretends to predict events or to reveal occult things by the aid of superior beings or of supernatural means. You go well what exactly, think horoscopes for example, think horoscopes and how popular have horoscopes been in this nation, massive, right, massive. And I'll tell you what, okay, this nation, it's not just the horoscopes, has hearkened to all of that stuff. This nation that we live in has hearkened to the whole lot of it. Horoscopes, like I said, lottery predictions with Mystic Meg, anyone remember that, that old witch? She was all over the TV when I was growing up, she was one of, she was like the most famous witch probably in the UK at one point because she was facing the national lottery and standing there with a crystal ball, honestly they used to have this woman on prime time live national TV where people are all just going please I need to get rich, I need to get rich and like watching the numbers come in and before it came in she'd be like stroking this ball and going I think there's going to be these numbers and these numbers and these numbers and of course she never predicted the lottery numbers, right, but otherwise everyone would have got the right ticket, yeah. Because they were all looking and hearkening to her, wow, you know, this was acceptable. This was acceptable in a nation which was meant to formally be a godly nation and now we've got witches going out to the nation doing so-called witchcraft on live TV. But it wasn't just Mystic Meg, there are various famous witches, horoscope witches, witches all over the TV, witches all over the movies, witches in all the cartoons, good witches, bad witches, in between witches, mediums, what about mediums? I'm sure most of you here know people that have seen mediums, maybe some people have seen mediums in the past, it's massive. Something that it's big in as well is in the whole sort of recovery 12 step programme, so many of those people get suddenly pushed into all this spiritualism and mediums and everything else. These people like they go to try and sort out their addictions and they come out seeking witches and it's not just there, it's all over the place. Who goes past, who's seen the signs? Outside pubs and other places, psychic fair this Saturday or Sunday or whenever it is, some night, what is that about? Just openly advertised, all over the place. Tarot readings, that's like the tarot card stuff, again it's like Future, all this sort of stuff. Ouija boards, a lot of people have got involved with that stuff when they're young, oh isn't it fun to sit around and try and talk to people, what on earth, right? Parents who even let their kids do that stuff, probably join in with them. The same people, and this is a funny thing but it's not funny, the same people that would mock us for talking about witchcraft, that would mock us and mock the old witch hunts of the past and everything else, would go and try to talk to their dead relative and familiar spirit. The same people who would mock you and say, oh I really believe in witches, go to witches and know people that go to witches and just like, oh no it's only a medium, it's a witch, it's a witch, it's just a type of witch. They would mock you and then go down to the health food shop for their healing crystals. They'd be like, oh what the King James barber, they probably believe in witches as well, those Christians. Right, let's go and see what those healing crystals can tell me about my body. Honestly, honestly. Now some will go, they'll just go, well it's all a load of old nonsense, I don't believe in the crystals, I don't believe in the mediums, I don't believe in any of that, they're all just blaggers or crazy. It's all harmless therefore, right. Well turn to Exodus chapter 7. There are some blaggers, admittedly. There are some crazy types, there are some crazies, right. But there is real dark power out there too, there really is. In Exodus 7 Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh who's not listening to them, okay. So God tells them to do a miracle, we're in Exodus chapter 7 and from verse 8. Exodus 7 says this, and the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron saying, when Pharaoh shall speak unto you saying, show a miracle for you, then thou shalt say unto Aaron, take thy rod and cast it before Pharaoh and it shall become a serpent. And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh and they did as the Lord had commanded, Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants and it became a serpent. Now this is the power of God through Aaron, okay. Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers, this ain't the power of God, now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. What on earth? The magicians of Egypt, the wise men and the sorcerers turned rods into serpents. That's amazing, isn't it? Notice the interchangeable words by the way, the wise men are the wizards, okay, the wise men are the wizards. He said in verse 12, for they cast down every man his rod and they became serpents but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rod. So they cast down their rods, these wise men, another word for wizards, the sorcerers, they're magicians, they did their enchantments, they cast down the rod, they become serpents. And by the way, it's not just what's turning into serpents, okay, they managed to also turn water into blood, the next miracle. They also bring frogs upon the land as well, I mean what on earth? I mean forget turning someone into a frog, they're bringing frogs all over the place. But they couldn't do the lice or the flies by the way, they couldn't do the lice or the flies, they have some power but it's nothing compared to the power of God. It's nothing and just in this verse here, they became serpents but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods. Their power is nothing compared with God's but they still have power. And just quickly, if you're saved, okay, you don't have to fear any of this stuff. So if anyone's sitting here going, this is a real Halloween service, you know, the kids are getting excited here, witchcraft, wizards, demons, well turn to Acts chapter 19. All of these so-called Christians battling with demons, witches, etc, indwelt by spirits are unsaved. They're unsaved. If you're saved, you have the power of God, yeah? You don't have to fear any of this stuff, all right? Psalm 91 verse 13, you turn to Acts 19, Psalm 91 verse 13 says, Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder, the young lion and the dragon shout thou trample under feet. Okay, you don't have to worry about this lot, trample them, laugh at these, they don't scare you do they? I hope they don't scare you. The devil is our adversary, he's not really God's, okay? God's not like, I just can't battle the devil, no, he's our adversary, okay? God could destroy him like that but he serves a purpose. He serves a purpose, he gives a choice in life, basically. He gives a choice and he also can be used for the punishment of people where needed as well. But he serves a purpose, it's not that he somehow got some power compared to God. But we're in the New Testament now and that same almighty or powerful God indwells you. And if you're saved, 1 John 4 says you're of God, little children, 1 John 4, you turn to Acts 19, 1 John 4 says you're of God, little children, and have overcome them because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Greater is he that is in you, you have the Holy Spirit indwelling you if you're saved. Are you scared about witches, witchcraft, all that stuff? You've got the Holy Spirit in you. God, God almighty, he, the Holy Spirit. Jamie preached a sermon last week, it's not just like, oh well he got this little bit of pattern, no, it's God, he's God and he indwells you if you're saved. We don't have to fear this stuff, right? These so-called exorcist Catholic priests, anyone ever seen that sort of stuff, right? The Pentecostal demon slayers, there's a lot of them about, right, etc, shall I tell you what they are? They're devils. They're devils themselves. They're devils themselves showing so-called signs and wonders to deceive people, to keep them in their grip, to carry funneling the money into them and everything else. They're clowns, they're jokes, but anyone being legitimately overcome by devils is not saved. You can't be overcome by devils if you're saved because you have the Holy Spirit in you. In Acts 19 and verse 13, Acts 19, 13, is a really interesting story where it's where the Apostle Paul is doing these great miracles, it says, Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits, the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. So do they know Jesus? They don't know Jesus. And there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jew and chief of the priests, which did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus, I know, and Paul, I know, but who are ye? Maybe I should have done like a creepier voice for that. Some of you are like, it's creepy enough. And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them and overcame them and prevailed against them so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. He's basically saying, I don't know who you are. He's like, who are you? Because there's the Holy Spirit there, OK? He's just like, what? And he jumps on them. He overcomes them. He prevails against them. And this is the weirdest bit. They fled out of the house naked and wounded. I don't know. I see some freakiness in that. That is weird, isn't it? And you know what? It just goes to show what all this devilry and wickedness and everything also combines with as well. But we're not going to go off on a tangent there. And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks, all the joining of Ephesus, and fear fell on them all in the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. Why? Because these guys couldn't do what Paul was just doing because they weren't saved. They didn't have the power over it. And many that believed came and confessed and showed their deeds, many of them also which used curious arts. Yeah, this is New Testament. People were using curious arts. Brought their books together and burned them before all men and they counted the price of them and found it 50,000 pieces of silver. So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed. So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed. The word of God in spirit filled men of God prevails against evil. But the evil is still legitimate evil. Okay, so it's not, well, okay, we don't have to worry so it doesn't exist. It still exists though. It's still out there. And when it comes to witchcraft and all of the crossover arts of sorcery, it's all just merged into one really. It's all the same stuff. This is real stuff. That's why there's a witchcraft shop down the road. And when I say witchcraft shop, I don't mean it's like somewhere with fancy dress where you can go and get like some silly like, you know, black and white wands. I've walked past there and in the window they've got like these engraved wands that are like, I didn't see the price of them, but for me they were expensive stuff. Like they were trying to sell them as legitimate wands. They have a sign on it saying readings by appointment. Okay, this isn't just some joke thing. These people are real. These people are out there. Now you might go, well, they're liars. They're blaggers. Yeah, but some aren't. Some, it seems, according to the word of God, according to back in Exodus with Pharaoh in many other places, these people do have power. They can have power. I know people that have been to mediums and come back with information that had to have come from somewhere. No, it didn't come from their dead relative. It came from a devil. It came from a familiar spirit because it is familiar, right? And they're around a long time, these devils, and they'll tell them stuff like, I remember a lady I knew who told me that she'd been to a medium and the medium told her basically about her mother's, I think it was a stillborn child from, she'd never heard it, never known, told her. She came back, asked her mum. Mum burst into tears. Couldn't believe it. You can't make that stuff up. And that's someone I know well. I don't believe she was lying to me. And she's trying to advocate this stuff and I'm just like, what on earth? You know, this is before I was saved, just thinking, what on earth, right? But I'll tell you what on earth, that's devilry. That's devilry. And the Bible warns against all of it. It's like, well, is that bit all right? Well, it's only really talking to a dead spirit. No, it's all wickedness, right? Go back to Exodus 22. The title is Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. Number one, there is such thing as a witch. And number two, the only good witch is a dead witch. The only good witch is a dead witch. Exodus 22.18 says, thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. Now, he didn't differentiate here, did he? He didn't specify which type of witch. He didn't say, well, apart from the white witches, apart from the good witches, apart from the witches which kind of try and do some good for people, apart from the witches which are like your fairy godmother witch or something else. He said, thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. Because a lot of time and effort has been spent over the decades and maybe centuries trying to normalise, trying to glamourise, trying to minimalise witchcraft. Like, it's all the kids' shows, it's just full of this stuff. Magic fairy godmothers, magic this, magic that, white witches, good witches, just funny witches, comedy witches, comedy shows with witches. It's massive, isn't it? And what's the whole point is to basically normalise it, to desensitise you to it over many years so it stops being an issue. Because what should have happened the second that place opened up, what would have happened not that long ago, a century or two ago, is a place should have got burnt down, really. Not by us, just in case anyone's wondering. But normal people would have done that, wouldn't they? People that didn't know that God tells us not to do that stuff, right? But heroines in movies, like I said, comedy witches, magic grandmas, all that sort of stuff, let alone the wizards. I mean the wizards have been promoted and pushed as well everywhere, haven't they? But God said that a government should put them to death. So what about if they're not referred to as a witch, then? So he said, thou shalt not suffer, a witch shall live. Well turn to Leviticus chapter 20 now, Leviticus and chapter 20. We just saw the whole lot of it is banded together in Deuteronomy 18 and referred to as abomination. The whole lot, all together, the whole lot of it is an abomination. And in Leviticus 20, God uses some of this interchanging terminology, okay? He says in Leviticus 20 and verse 27, Leviticus 20, 27, a man also, a woman, that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death. Same thing again, familiar spirit, dealing with spirits, you know, has a familiar spirit, possessed by a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death. They shall stone them with stones, their blood shall be upon them. That's God telling them to deal with it by them being beaten to death by stones chucked at them by the congregation of people. That's how he wants them dealt with. He wants everyone involved. It's not like, right, let's get someone who's really hardened to the death penalty to deal with this. A guy who's maybe made it a career, he's like, you know, just one of them people that can kind of look at blood and gore and death and not really bat an eye. No, I want a whole lot of you to do it. I want every single one of you to get involved, pick up stones and stone them till they die. How barbaric. No, what, what a way to help people understand how serious this stuff is. What a way to make people hopefully never want to ever dabble in this stuff. How medieval. No, how godly. How godly. That's godly. That's what, that's how God wanted his nation to deal with it. Oh, we're not reading the Bible here. Anyone think we're not reading the Bible? No, no, we're reading the Bible. We're reading the preserved inspired words of God and he said to stone them to death. And for me, by the way, that includes the palm reader. That includes the tarot card reader. That includes all the mediums at the seance night down at the pub or wherever else they hire out some function room to do it. And you might be sitting there thinking, well, why? Why do all these people need stoning to death? And one angle is that they are basically akin to false prophets. They are akin to false prophets. What they're doing is similar to a false prophet. They're lying, for example, that the dead Christ rejecting relative is hanging around in the spirit life somewhere. They're lying. They're pretending that the spirit they're talking to is basically your Christ rejecting relative who really, the reality of it is, is that, well, it's not just that. They also, by the way, claim that your future is pre-decided, a lot of the time. So it's kind of already pre-decided, this is what's going to happen, everything else. That your future is all rosy. By the way, the Calvinists wouldn't argue with part of this, right, with the pre-decided future stuff. No, it's all wickedness, yeah. It's all purposeful lives. That your future is all rosy, you know, they like that one, don't they? I think it's going to be all right. Because what would a genuine fortune teller be telling the majority of people? You're headed to hell! That's what, if they were genuine, they'd be like, I see flames. I see burning. I see torment in your future. Not, I see, you know, oh, just, just, you know, great times ahead, you're going to see someone from your past that you haven't seen for many years. Oh, funny that, because that generally happens at some point in your life. But they would genuinely beg you out, and they'd go, what about, you know, nanny Martha? Nanny Martha's in hell! She doesn't want you to go there, she's saying, please, please, someone, show them the gospel! That's what a real fortune teller would be saying, wouldn't they? If they were really, really telling you the truth, they'd be going, old nanny's in hell, your auntie's in hell, your uncle's in hell, and they're begging someone to come and preach you the gospel. That would be the truth. But instead, it's like, oh, they're just floating around, flying around, going, I found your ring somewhere, or whatever other stuff they can't, it's lies, and it's really, it's not, it's not any different to the false prophet telling you you've got to repent of your sins, or telling you, because they're giving you lies, they're telling you a false way, they're pretending that these people are in heaven. And that's without all of the wickedness, the risks of communing, of opening the door to devils in all these weird ways, and aside from all that stuff, right, the possession, the wickedness that goes hand in hand with this sort of devilry, because a lot of people, look, they go to that stuff and it changes them, because a lot of them, they're just opening themselves up to this stuff, right? They're just saying, come on in, here I am, ready for you. That's why God said, thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. He made it clear, didn't he? Now there's a famous case, by the way, when we're talking about witches, that I just feel like mentioning, a decade ago in Cornwall, anyone hear about this case? It was in the news a while back, it was from about 2012 in Cornwall, when it eventually went to court and they got convicted. These two monsters got convicted of historic, ritualistic child abuse at a witch's coven. And when I say historic, ritualistic child abuse, they weren't the only two involved. One of the guys who was involved had been hacked to pieces, you know, kind of years late, like all sorts of, just frequently, and this was a popular witch's coven. Now when I say witch's coven, I don't mean these two weird guys in there doing horrific stuff to poor children, I'm talking about, like, loads of people in and out of this place. And they were having witnesses coming in saying things like, one female friend also described him as a gentleman, and this guy was guilty of, like, the worst stuff you can imagine, right? But they were all in this witch's coven, and they were doing ritualistic, like, horrific stuff, and yet, they described him as a gentleman. Because these people do try and fool you, don't they? And they're not there with the pointy hats, and all of that weird stuff, and the wizard outfits, I mean, some of them are down in the Catholic Church and other places, but a lot aren't. And a lot of them are just trying to appear like normal people, yet behind closed doors they're meeting you up in a witch's coven, and doing all sorts of strange satanic rituals. Like, this stuff is real. It's real stuff. And interestingly, previous rulers of our nation weren't so fooled as the female friend who described him as a gentleman. Apparently, 513 witches, this is from Parliament UK, 513 witches were put on trial here between 1560 and 1700, though only 112 were executed. The last known execution took place in Devon in 1685. The last trials were held in Leicester in 1717. Overall, some 500 people in England are believed to have been executed for witchcraft. Oh, they're all nuts, they're all crazy! Really? In 1736, Parliament passed an act repealing the laws against witchcraft, but imposing fines of imprisonment on people who claimed to be able to use magical powers. In 1824, Parliament passed a vagrancy act, under which fortune-telling astrology and spiritualism became punishable offences. The act was repealed in 1951 by the Forgulent Mediums Act, which in turn was repealed in 2008. So it got to the point now, where it doesn't even matter if you're faking it, it's like, yeah, just fair game, right? And now you knock on a door, and I've had this, and they'll tell you, yeah, I'm a wicker witch. And they're a wicker witch. I mean, I've had that, anyone else had witches, yep, got a few soul winners here, quite a few soul winners in fact, who have knocked on doors at people and said, yeah, I'm a witch. I'm into either wicker witchcraft or some sort of pagan witchcraft or something else. I mean, she was the biggest freak, zoned straight in on one of my children, in some freaky way, and had all the dallions and all the stuff, and all the stars, and she was a witch. Some of them have it all over the door frames and stuff, don't they? I mean, that's where we're at now, let alone the psychic fairs, the witchcraft shops, the medium events, all advertised, all over the place. If you have your eyes open, you're going to see stuff everywhere. The spiritualist churches, I mean, what on earth is that about? Actually, go to their version of church and talk to evil spirits claiming to be their dead relatives. Oh, but it's much better here now, isn't it? Oh, thank God that we got rid of all that prejudice stuff from the past, you know, that must have been really rough, right, when they were rounding them up. Oh, crazy witch hunters. Yeah, much better now, record high divorce rates, record low marriage rates, record unemployment, record fornication, record drug use, record child sacrifice, record probably child abuse as well. Now, it's not all because of witchcraft, but it is a reflection on our society, isn't it? What a wicked society we live in now, and what a surprise, in our wicked society is just witchcraft everywhere. Witchcraft, witchcraft shops, witches, people just openly at it. But how laughable was it that they hunted witches? What a joke, right? Because that's what they try and act like, don't they? What a joke. In fact, one of the articles I saw was like, oh, it was met with laughter, one of the kind of, one of the laws that they had apparently in parliament. Do you know what the difference was, that at least King James, at least King James, who ruled England from 1603 to 1625, was, it seems, saved and believed the word of God. And they were trying to clamp down and hunt, and then it slowly, over time, things just went completely downhill. The word of God is what he believed in that says in Exodus 22 and verse 18, thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. The title is thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. Number one is there is such thing as a witch. Number two, the only good witch is a dead witch. And number three, celebrating witchcraft is wickedness. Celebrating witchcraft is therefore wickedness, isn't it? We've just seen that they're not just some mythical make-believe characters, yeah? We've seen that God's laws commanded the death penalty for anything that basically you could constitute really as witchcraft. So how do you think God sees Halloween? Turn to Leviticus chapter 19, Leviticus 19, and while you turn now, I'm just going to give you a couple of stats. Apparently, 69% of Brits celebrate Halloween. Now, they don't all have those ridiculous front drives and everything else that some of you saw yesterday, but to some degree, whether it's a Halloween party, whether it's going out trick-or-treating, whether it's having treats for people that come trick-or-treating. And that's gone up a lot, by the way. When I was young, this was a real small thing, and it's gone up more and more. In 2022, Halloween sales statistics in the UK were up to a total of £687 million. In 2001, UK spending was only £12 million. Now, of course, there's inflation as well, but that's a big difference, right? £12 million to £687 million in the space of 21 years, illustrating how the popularity of Halloween has risen immeasurably over the years. One estimation was over a billion pounds will be spent this year for Halloween, a billion pounds spent on this junk. In the US, Halloween spending was around £8.6 billion in 2021. Now, maybe you're wondering, well, what even is Halloween? Because some people do. Some people are still like, what even is it about? What is it all about? What's the point of Halloween? And I'm going to just read to you what Wikipedia claims Halloween is about, and you can take that for what you want. Seemed quite interesting, at least to me. Halloween or Halloween Halloween or something, less commonly known as All Halloween, All Hallows Eve or All Saints Eve, you might have heard that, especially if you're from like Catholic nations and things like that, is a celebration observed in many countries on 31st October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints Day. It begins the observance of All Hallowed Tide, the time the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints, hallows, martyrs and all the faithful departed. Other Halloween activities include trick or treating or the related guising and souling, apparently it's called, attending Halloween costume parties, carving pumpkins or turnips into jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, divination games, all sounds fun doesn't it, playing pranks, visiting haunted attractions, telling scary stories and watching horror or Halloween themed films. Some people practice a Christian observance of All Hallows Eve, including attending church services and lighting candles on the graves of the dead. By the way, there's nothing Christian about this stuff, in case anyone's wondering, right? Although it is a secular celebration for others, some Christians historically abstain from meat on All Hallows Eve, wickedness just keeps coming doesn't it, a tradition reflected in the eating of certain vegetarian foods on this vigil day, including apples, potato pancakes and soul cakes. I don't even want to know what a soul cake is. History, Christian origins and historic customs. Halloween is thought to have influences from Christian beliefs and practices. The English word Halloween comes from All Hallows Eve, being the evening before the Christian holy day of All Hallows Eve, like we've seen, and All Hallows Day, all saints down 1st November and all souls down 2nd November, right. Since the time of the early church, sure, major feasts in Christianity such as Christmas, Easter and Pentecost had vigils that began the night before, as did the Feast of All Hallows. These three days are collectively called All Hallowtide and there were times when Western Christians honour, now listen to this, all saints and pray for recently departed souls who have yet to reach heaven. Something sounds a bit un-Christian to me there. Commemorations of all saints and martyrs were held by several churches in various states, most in springtime. In the 4th century Roman Odysseus, it was held on 13th May 609. Pope Boniface IV rededicated the pantheon in Rome to St Mary and all martyrs. This was the date of Lemuria, an ancient Roman festival of the dead. So according to Wikipedia, it started with some Roman Catholic hocus pocus with their grand wizards well involved, yeah, basically, and now look at it. And what a surprise, the wizardry of so-called Christianity, the Roman Catholic Church is well involved in this rubbish, right? In fact, funnily enough, yesterday, one of the most ridiculous driveways I walked up, and when I say ridiculous, I mean some of these people are just full-on sick freaks. They've got so-called bits of limbs and stuff all over the floor as you walk over the most gory, disgusting, just weird stuff that you've got to be walked in your mind to think that that's funny, amusing, whatever else it is. They try and go, yeah, it's for the kids, for the kids, you've got like plastic chainsaws on the floor and bits of limb everywhere, I mean, what on earth? But seriously, you know, I'm walking up there with my kids, it's just like, what on earth? And one of the worst ones I knocked on, the guy was a Catholic, right? He told me he's a Roman Catholic, seemed to think he knew the Bible, but he didn't, but seemed to think he was, you know, he's knowledgeable and everything else in his whole house. And when he answered, he's like, hey, because he thought he was going to be some kids, you know? And we were like, yeah, we come from a Baptist church, and he's just covered in all that stuff. But he's kind of, it shouldn't have surprised me, because it seems like the whole thing was probably started by the Catholics and some of their magicians. But even without all the other witchcraft stuff, the Catholic worshipping the dead stuff should be enough for even a nominal Christian to just say, yeah, this stuff isn't right. Yeah, a normal, just someone who's like, yeah, I think I believe, I think I'm a Christian, you know, the types that you kind of knock on the door that say they're a Christian, but don't believe in heaven or hell, or something else. Just the worshipping the dead stuff alone, or just any of that should be like, yeah, this isn't right. You know, maybe not those, or maybe the ones who know slightly more than that. However, it isn't just the Catholic dead stuff. It's all about the undead, witchcraft, divinations, all of that stuff. And back in Deuteronomy 18, he called it all abominations, stuff he hates. And in Leviticus 19, did you turn to Leviticus 19, verse 31, another list of commands says this. Leviticus 19, 31, he says, Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards to be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God. He said, keep away from them because they defile you. Which means they make you dirty, foul, polluted, soiled, corrupted, violated, or vitiated, which means depraved. Now, you might say, look, I'm not seeking after real witches and wizards, it's just a bit of fun dressing up, yeah. Just the kids going trick-or-treating. I mean, what's the harm, right? We just got invited to a Halloween party, it's all a good laugh. Kids love dressing up and stuff, yeah. Or would you dress up as someone else that God hates? Would that be okay? Dress up as some sort of Satan worshipper? Dress up as a sodomite or something? No, it's all just a bit of fun. It's like the sodomy party. Just kind of dress up as someone that's an object of extreme detestation. That's what an abomination is. Would you do that? And what does it all do? What does it all do, though? Because you go, yeah, but it's still like, is there much harm? What's the point in even preaching this stuff? Because it desensitizes, doesn't it, to all this stuff. It makes kids less likely to raise an eyebrow to, for example, the smiling health food shop witch. Just to make it clear, I like health food shops. They have some nice stuff in them. But they're so often full of witches. They come up to you and start going, I can feel an aura in you. All this stuff, you know. Well, I just wanted some gluten-free bread, I mean. What's my aura got to do with it, you know? Oh, you should speak to the person upstairs, because they'll like, ooh, over you. There's a lot of them. Because they latch on to certain movements and certain things like that, don't they? It will desensitise and make you less likely to raise an eyebrow when those people are just coming. And they will. In life, they'll start telling you all about chakras and auras and everything else. And you just kind of, because it's so heavy, you're like, well, that's not that bad. Because they don't have a pointy hat on and all that weird stuff, right? The whole point is just to normalise this sort of stuff. It makes them more likely, whether it's you or your kids, to think it's all fun and games, harmless, just a cool medium. Eh, it's just a little medium, you know. Talk to dead people sometimes. It's all right. You know, they just believe that. Just a white witch. It's just a new healing technique. It's just a new healing technique which involves, you know, swinging something in front of you. Like, they're hypnotising you. It's just healing. Oh, what could be the harm? You know, if it makes you better, if it makes you healthy. Well, turn over the page in Leviticus to chapter 20 and verse 6 where God said this to Moses in Leviticus 20 and verse 6. And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul and will cut him off from among his people. He will cut him off from among his people. He will set his face against someone that goes whoring after those things. He said if you start dabbling with that stuff, he's going to cut you off. He's going to turn his face against you. No, obviously not about salvation. But you know what, he's saying, for example, we could translate that to today, you're out of church. Yeah, you're out of God's will. Like, God's not going to be blessing you. God's not going to be, oh, well, they're just doing a little bit of, you know, weird witchy woo stuff, but, you know, they're all right. And we'll kick you out for idolatry. How about that? You start worshipping that sort of stuff, getting involved with that crap. It's idolatry, isn't it? And look, that's not a place you want to be. You don't want to be where God's got his turning his face away for you, where God wants to cut you off from your people, from your church people, from your brethren. Said in verse seven, sanctify yourselves therefore and be ye holy, for I am the Lord your God. Clean yourselves up, get holy. And I'll tell you what, when he says that, get holy, don't you think he probably means things like, for example, cut that Harry Potter junk out of your life? How about get that junk out your kids' lives as well? That stuff is wickedness. It's basically making a hero out of a wizard. And it's not just a hero out of a wizard in one movie that they happen to see. It's a hero out of a wizard in, I don't even know how many movies there are, and books and everything else. It's filth, absolute filth. And do you know what? And I don't know if it's true, but they claim that a lot of the so-called spells and abracadabra abracady stuff they do, and obviously they didn't say that, but I don't know, maybe that stuff is real. Apparently the stuff that he was saying, a lot of it was actually so-called real words to spells and things like that. And people literally will sit their kids down to watch that filth, to go to Harry Potter experiences and stuff. The guy's a wizard. The guy's a wizard. And if he lived under God's law, he would be rounded up and stoned to death. Oh yeah, great. Harry Potter. No, it should be Harry Potter. Stone the TV that's showing that stuff. And again, don't go out and stone him if anyone bumps into him. How old is he now? Is he a sodomite? Is he a sodomite? Is he? Will we believe we've got a problem? Yes or no? Anyone give me a yay? Nay? Maybe not. Okay, sorry Harry if I got that wrong. What's his name? Daniel something. Is that, have I got that right? Daniel Radcliffe. Anyone know? No? No? Okay, we've got no takes on that one. Okay, maybe he's not. He looks like one. He acts like one. He sounds like one. But because a lot of the time it all goes hand in hand, doesn't it? And joking aside, really, look, that stuff's wicked, isn't it? And we shouldn't be into that stuff. And it's not just that. Kids making heroes out of all this sort of stuff. The witches, the Halloween jungle. Look, none of that stuff's okay. You don't want to get your kids involved with that stuff. Celebrating witchcraft is wickedness, isn't it? It's wickedness and at this time of year, what we're going to see a load of people... Now, just a reminder, like Brother Adam preached last week, look, we don't need to start, you know, reprimanding people as they go past us on the street with that sort of stuff when we knock on the doors and it's full of all the gruesome, weird witchy woo stuff and everything else. We want to get people saved, all right? But you know what? If you're a Christian, if you're a believer, you believe the word of God and you're celebrating that stuff, you're part of that stuff, you're putting that filth in front of your kids, you're encouraging them into that stuff, shame on you. Shame on you and you need to get right with God because that stuff is abomination. It's abomination. The title is I shall not suffer a witch to live. Number one, there is such thing as a witch. Number two, the only good witch is a dead witch. And number three, celebrating witchcraft is wickedness. And that we're going to finish in prayer. Father, thank you for your word, Lord, and how clear you make things, topics that we deal with even to this day, to this day of people that seem to think they're so rational and so scientific, yet they seem to be celebrating some of the most wicked stuff out there, Lord. We thank you that your word just applies to us. It will always apply to us and just how clear it is about this topic. Lord, help us to get right in this area when it comes to all of the different forms of witchcraft and wizardry and all that sorcery. Just help us to just put it all away, make sure it's nowhere near us, Lord, and help us to just focus on pleasing you, serving you, living for you, Lord. Help us to get out this afternoon and find people that want to hear your word, Lord, and get some people saved, Lord, in return for this evening's service. And Jesus' name, pray all this.