The Nature of Apostasy

Well, we're moving at breakneck speed.

! We're in chapter 4, 1 Timothy, lesson 18, if you're keeping score.! And last Monday night we talked about apostasy, Today, from the faith, and we need to be clear on the subject, an apostate is someone who has been exposed to the truth of Christ, may have even embraced, to an extent, the teachings about Christ, and then for whatever reason, or a multiplicity of reasons, or different reasons, they walk away from the faith, either rejecting religion, and I have those in quotation marks and italicized, rejecting religion altogether, or they go out and they look for a substitute, something to take its place.

In this regard, an unbeliever or someone who has never heard the gospel would not be an apostate.

They're an unbeliever, but not an apostate. They are unsaved, but they are not apostate because they've never had a faith, a legitimate faith, to walk away from.

And remember that apostates originate within the ranks of the church. We're not talking about the tribal guy in Africa or Asia who's worshiping a wood carving or something of stone and has never heard the good news of Jesus Christ.

Paul, in his admonition to young Timothy, told him, and he was very forceful when he said this, some will fall away from the faith.

And he was certain of that, and of course he's speaking with the authority of the Holy Spirit of God. He went on to mention some who had actually fallen away and became apostate.

He named them last week. And he identifies six features of apostasy. None of these are original with me. The predictability of apostasy, the chronology of apostasy, the source of apostasy, the purveyors of apostasy, of apostasy, the content of apostasy, and the error of apostasy.

And we're going to look at these in sort of bullet point fashion, starting with the predictability of apostasy. And we'll read in chapter four, first part of the first verse, but the spirit explicitly says, I'll be chopping up sentences here.

When apostasy occurs in a church, the true believers should respond with profound sadness.

It's a sad day for the church. I said last time that something like 265 people leave the Southern Baptist Convention every day for a cult. It's a sad day.

But apostasy occurring in the church should neither surprise nor shock us. The Holy Spirit of God predicted that it would occur.

The Holy Spirit spoke through Paul and say, you know, apostasy is coming. He spoke through John. He spoke through others. The prophecies are clear and even very clear because they say that in the end times, many will fall away from the faith.

And I assure you, under the authority of scripture, we're in the end times. I'll prove that here in a moment. The Lord himself warned us that in the end, there would be a rise in false Christs and false teachers whose goal was to deceive many.

Paul told the Thessalonians that there would be a wholesale departure from the faith during a time of tribulation. You can read about that in 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 3, I think to 13.

I have to verse 132. That sounds more like the, yeah, Psalm 119. It's not 132.

Diane didn't catch that. And in fact, she didn't even correct my lesson, but I wanted to bring that up. But Peter and Jude said there would be mockers, both Peter and Jude said there would be mockers in the end time that would depart from the faith.

John said in the last days there would be the rise of Antichrist. And then in that same verse, he said, and many Antichrists, plural, by the way, an Antichrist is anyone who rejects the Lord Jesus Christ.

And I guess I could say it tonight because Oscar's not here. I think we have a president who would fall in that category. Wouldn't say that with Oscar. Wouldn't do it.

He then went on to tell the apostates that depart the church. He tells of these apostates that depart the church because they were never part of the church.

They were never part of it. The writer of Hebrews warned not to fall away from the living God. Hebrews 3.12. Paul knew that the church at Ephesus faced difficult days ahead.

And it really did. And if you don't believe that, just in your quiet time, look at Revelation chapter 2 and read about the church at Ephesus. I was within 30 miles of Ephesus.

I kicked myself for not having gone down there, but it's ruins. It's just the church is in ruins. Difficult days were coming for the church at Ephesus.

And Paul knew this. He knew that many of the people would depart from the faith that had been once divinely delivered to them.

Paul, in fact, gave a farewell message to the Ephesian elders. And in that address, he said this. This is out of Acts chapter 20, verse 29-30.

I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you. You know, there's wolves and there's savage wolves.

And these are savage wolves. Not sparing the flock. And from among your own selves, men will arise speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them.

That's Paul's warning through the Ephesian elders to the church at Ephesus. Beautiful sunset out there. The Holy Spirit in both the Old and New Testament says that apostasy is both predictable and inevitable.

There will always be those who make a false profession of faith in Christ. It's happened in this building. I dare say it's happened in every evangelical, conservative, reform, whatever label you want to put on there, church across America.

There are people who make false professions of faith. And usually they give an appearance of having responded to the gospel.

But they do not possess genuine saving faith. Of them, John said this. And this is really kind of one of...

This is a dynamic verse of Scripture. 1 John 2.19. He says, For if they had been of us, they would have remained with us.

But they went out. Then he adds this. And I tell you, this to me is the heart of this verse. They went out. In order that it might be shown that they are not of us.

And I haven't run this out in my mind, or I haven't done additional study. I haven't talked to the experts at this table on that verse. But you almost think that the Holy Spirit may have driven them out because they were false.

We're not to pull up tares because we might pull up wheat. But the Holy Spirit knows who's genuine. But in order that it might be shown to prove that they are not of us.

And then we have the chronology of apostasy. There's a chronology there. It says that in the latter times, or the later times, Paul says that apostasy will occur in a period called later times.

And it's important to understand just when the later times will or have occurred. You know, what's the timeline here? And we tend to think that later time is a reference to some eschatological future period.

And let me add this, and this is not in the notes, but I'm not going to charge for it. I don't know when Jesus is coming back. I know he's coming back. He promised he would.

He may come back today. He may come back in 5,000 years. I don't know. I think we're closer to today than we are 5,000 years.

I believe that fully. But when is this latter time? The reality is that the later time or latter time initiated with the first coming of Christ.

That started the clock ticking. It's been ticking for 2,000 years. It might tick for another 2,000. Although I don't think so.

I've always believed Jesus has come back in my lifetime. It will not be the first time I was wrong about something. If he doesn't, let me assure you. The period of time we live in is called the latter times or the messianic era.

John told us in his first letter, 1 John 2, 18, it is the last hour. And he's obviously not referring there to 60 minutes.

But it is the last hour. In 1 Peter, we read these words. Christ has appeared in these last times for the sake of you.

1 Peter 1, 20. Apostasy has occurred throughout the church age. We mentioned some apostates last week. I think that lesson is up here somewhere.

In the end, it will escalate. Just as it says in the end, false teachers, false prophets, savage wolves are going to come in. I believe we are in the escalation phase.

And let's face it, guys. We have seen entire denominations depart from the faith. Not just individuals in a church.

Not just individual churches. We have seen denominations depart from the faith. And it's sad and it's frightening and it's exciting and there's just all kinds of stuff going on.

I think that is why Jesus gave the sobering words in Matthew 24, 12, talking about the end. And he said, and I love, you know, just look at his choice of words, the God of the universe.

Most people's love will grow cold. Wow. That's God in human flesh. Who knows everything, past, present, and future.

Most people's love will grow cold. Matthew 24, 12. Well, what about the source of apostasy? Again, I'm chopping up sentences in 1 John 4, 1 toward the end of that verse.

Paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons. So we see two things there.

Deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons as the source of apostasy. Apostasy, my brothers, is generated by demonic beings, unseen forces.

Paul speaks of this powerfully in his letter to the church at Ephesus where demonic activity was intense. You know, it's so interesting. On Sunday morning, I'm teaching the book of Acts.

Paul is dealing with Ephesus. We're dealing with Ephesus Monday night. We're in a personal Bible study, book study, and we're dealing with all these topics.

And I wake up at 3 in the morning and say, okay, now which class did I teach that in? They're all running together. Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Again, apostasy originates, which is generated by demonic beings. And that's what Paul is talking about, all that rulers and powers and world forces of darkness and spiritual forces of wickedness.

The word translated from the Greek into paying attention is much stronger than its English counterpart. In the original language, it means to assent to, to devote oneself to, or to cling to something.

In this present tense, meaning that apostates cling to demonic teaching. They cling to demonic teaching. Now, who are these people called apostates?

Who are they? They are the ones who infect the church with their impurities. They're the group that might whisper in the hallway, has God really said.

One of my pet peeves is the guy that will say, well, God, as I perceive him to be. I don't care how you perceive him to be. What do the scriptures say?

You know? They understand the gospel to an extent intellectually. They may outwardly identify with Christianity, but their heart is not right.

Being unsaved, they do not have the dwelling Holy Spirit to teach them, to protect them. And because of this, they are lured away by deceitful spirits.

And let me just add another free thought here. I am convinced that a true believer can never be possessed by a demon. Because righteousness cannot dwell with unrighteousness.

The Holy Spirit comes in the life inside a true believer, never leaves you, never forsakes you. And, you know, darkness and light can't dwell together. But I do think true believers can, through sin and being exposed to all this, can be oppressed by demons.

I believe that can happen. So who are these guys? Being unsaved. They don't have any protecting device. And they are lured away by deceitful spirits.

And there's an interesting something here. I had no idea on this. That word deceitful here is used elsewhere in Scripture to describe a planet. A planet.

Isn't that interesting? Planets were referred to as wandering bodies. And, you know, those guys were smart back then.

They knew that the stars were pretty much fixed. But they saw these bodies that wandered. And we're not talking about meteors. But planets. They're closer to us.

They go faster. They, you know, those stars are billions of light years. And we don't see any change in them. Although there is change. So planets were referred to as wandering bodies.

I think Jude used that term. Wandering bodies. Deceitful spirits. Deceitful spirits cause men to wander from the truth of the gospel and lead others to do the same.

The Holy Spirit leads people into saving truth. And unholy spirits lead them into damnation. So it is truly light and darkness at war here. Unbelieving college professors, false religious leaders, clever speakers, even family members can be a great influence on someone that is leaning toward becoming an apostate.

But remember, ultimately, they are victims of demonic spirits. Paul talks about it in Ephesians 6. They tell lies.

These demons tell lies. But they use human agents to do that. They'll use human agents to do that. False teaching ultimately is nothing less than doctrines of demons.

Demons. It is not teaching about demons. It is teaching by demons. Demons don't want you to know that they're behind that guy that's trying to tell you, well, you know, Islam and Christianity are the same.

You've probably heard that many times in your travels or Hinduism or Buddhism or anything else. We had a president who said, Allah is the Christian God.

And he does not sit in the White House right now. I voted for him. But, you know, politically correct, Allah is the Christian God.

This is a doctrine of demons. To sit under a false teacher that contradicts the truth of Scripture is to sit under and be exposed to demonic activity.

And, guys, you don't have to travel very far to sit under apostate pastors or teachers. You can do that in Bartlesville.

I could take you there. I won't. But they're alive and well here. Never expose yourself or family to false doctrine.

I had an uncle. Bless his heart. He's gone now. But his family was being exposed once to false doctrine. He said, well, you know, we all just kind of believe differently.

But they believe that we're all going to be okay. But my other uncle went nuts on him. You know, Uncle Bruce. You've met Uncle Bruce. He didn't like that. Don't expose yourself, your family to false doctrine.

Listen to John, 2 John, verses 7 to 11. For many deceivers have gone out into the world.

Those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.

Watch yourselves that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God.

The one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house and do not give him a greeting.

For the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds. It's interesting. In those days, there were traveling itinerant preachers and many apostate.

And John says, don't, you know, they didn't have hotels. A preacher would come. I mean, if Don shows up at our doorstep, he's going to have a place to stay. You put pastors up.

But don't put a false teacher up. Don't admit them. Jude says we are to rescue such people out of darkness and into light. And he compared that, how we would snatch a stick out of the fire.

That was the comparison he used. When we do that, we want to keep the person from getting burned first. But there's another also deal here.

And we don't want to get ourselves burned. When you're snatching sticks out, you don't want to be lured into the fire of false teaching. In the Old Testament, the Lord was very serious about apostates and apostasy.

Let's see how serious he was. I think it's Deuteronomy. Chapter 13, verse 12 and on. If you hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you to live in, anyone saying that some worthless men have gone out from among you and have seduced the inhabitants of their city, saying, let us go and serve other gods whom you have not known, then you shall investigate and search out and inquire thoroughly.

If it is true, and I had an investigation, if it is true and the matter established that this abomination has been done among you, you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword.

Wow. Utterly destroying it and all that is in it and its cattle with the edge of the sword. Then you shall gather all its booty into the middle of the open square and burn the city and all its booty with fire as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God.

And it shall be a ruin forever. It shall never be rebuilt. Nothing from that which is put under the band shall cling to your hand in order that the Lord may turn from his burning anger and show mercy to you and have compassion on you and make you increased, just as he has sworn to your fathers, if you will listen to the voice of the Lord your God, keeping all his commandments, which I am commanding you today, and doing what is right in the sight of the Lord your God.

Well, if that was applied to the church, the roles would be much less, you know. If I go to church today, I may get struck dead. I may get the edge of the sword. We wouldn't have near the numbers, but we would have great faith.

God obviously views apostasy very seriously, very seriously. It was to be cut out of Israel as you would cut out a cancerous tumor.

And that can be a very painful process and a very necessary process. How can true believers keep from succumbing to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons?

Ultimately, it is through the mercy of God extended to us. What can I do on the human level? What can you do? Ground yourself in the Word of God. The old cliche, it's an old story, but it's a true story.

You know, how does the Secret Service know when they have a counterfeit bill? Because they go to their academy, much like I went to the FBI academy for 15 weeks. They go to their academy.

And they don't learn what counterfeit money looks like. They learn what real money looks like. Once you know the real thing, it's easy to identify the counterfeit.

You get to know the real thing. Grounded in the Word of God. When the counterfeit comes, you'll be able to say, whoa, whoa, whoa. That does not square with Scripture.

Now, I'm going to have to, you know, let's go look at this. Be a Berean. They heard Paul. They went home and opened up the Scripture to see if what he said was true or not.

Be a Berean. I'd love to call this class a Berean class, but I think we have one, or we used to anyway. Some of the old men in this church had a Berean class years ago. I don't know if they copyrighted it or not.

What about the purveyors of apostasy? By means of hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron.

How do demons teach false doctrine? They do so through human agents. The source is supernatural, but those who carry it out are not.

And, by the way, you can see them all over, quote, Christian TV. They are everywhere. And, you know, one of the worst apostates, I'm going to, oh, Peter Popoff.

How many of you guys have heard that name before? If you haven't, you're good. 20 years ago, Peter Popoff would put on a crusade.

Thousands of people would show up. His wife would walk the lines outside and go up to see somebody and go up and say, How are you doing today?

Oh, fine. What's your name? Neil. Okay, Neil. What's the problem here? Well, you know, I've got stomach cancer. Oh, wow. Okay. Go up to Mary.

What's the matter, Mary? Well, I've got whatever. I've got gout. And the wife then, crusade starting, Peter Popoff says, She's got a transmitter.

He's got a receiver. And she's saying, The guy on row three in the orange shirt, he's got stomach cancer. And this woman over here named Mary, she's got gout.

There's a man here named Neil that's got stomach cancer. Is that you, Neil? Are you the one? You know, and the people just forked over their money, you know. You know the name Randy?

Does anybody remember Randy? He used to go on Johnny Carson all the time. He would debunk those things. He's a rank unbeliever. He brought in a piece of equipment that would block the transmission.

They now can't communicate. And Peter Popoff's eyes were about this big. And they can't talk. He's blocking the transmission, interfering with it.

And he was exposed. And I mean, he fell. He crashed to earth like Satan getting tossed out of heaven. But time heals all wounds.

If you get up at three in the morning, he's on about 15 channels on cable. And bringing in bucks. He's back. That's the other thing.

These guys keep, they keep surfacing. Who are these hypocrites that tell lies? Well, they can be just about anyone in a Christian circle.

They could be pastors. They could be teachers, college or seminary professors, authors and speakers, to name a few. They appear to serve God. But in truth, they are serving Satan and his demons.

Ultimately, they are blasphemers of God. False teachers are blasphemers of God. False teachers are able to pull this off because they themselves have had their minds seared with a branding iron.

They're seared from the truth. In the time this was written, by the way, slaves were branded with their owner's mark. False teachers are branded with their owner's mark in their minds.

And their owner happens to be Satan. And he brands them. Since their consciences have been seared, they feel no guilt, no remorse, as they purvey their false documents.

Doesn't bother them. What about the content of apostasy? Paul uses a really interesting couple of examples. Because there's so many things he could have done.

But, of course, he's writing the words of the Holy Spirit. The content of apostasy. Men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods. You know, why are those, Paul?

How do demons entice us into error? The entry point is by misapplying, misquoting, or misinterpreting Scripture.

That's why you've got to be grounded. You have to be grounded. We would probably expect this to be quite overt. Satan or his demons try and convince us that the Trinity doesn't exist.

That the atonement cannot secure eternal life. But remember, Satan is subtle. He was designated as subtle in the Garden of Eden.

Remember that? He is subtle. He is a subtle being. And he's been so in his dealings with humanity ever since the Garden. So an example that Paul gives us, gives what was being taught in Ephesus.

The human instruments of demonic deception were focusing on two really minor issues. Minor teachings. The false teachers were saying that people should avoid marriage and abstain from foods.

Don't get married. Watch out what you eat. Years ago, and I meant to look this up, but Diane and I were on a trip back east.

We were going to go see Vince and Cynthia Smith. That means something to a couple people in here. And in North Carolina. Driving through Tennessee, we saw this sign.

This was this museum. And I think, I think it was the Shakers. I think it was the Shakers. And we went up there and they had the ruins. I mean, there was a building and had the museum in there.

It was the history of the Shakers. And there was a large group of people that lived there, 1,500 people. But they abstained from physical relations.

Men and women. They couldn't figure out why they were dying out. And they died out. They're gone.

Well, the false teachers at Ephesus said people should avoid marriage and abstain from foods. There's something that will help us as we deal with satanic deception.

Remember that his teaching usually will contain a measure of truth. The truth is, there is nothing wrong with being single if that is the life God has called you to.

We have some very strong believers in this room who are single men. Never been married. Never been married to this point.

And yet God has called them powerfully to service. First, fasting is not wrong as long as, one, you're not doing it as a diet because a fast is not a diet.

And number two, it is accompanied with prayer. Pray and fast. Prayer and fasting. But the deception enters when false teachers convince us that those elements are essential to salvation.

See how subtle it can be? Hey, there's nothing wrong with being single. And if you really want to be truly saved, you've got to be single and abstain from food. The very hallmark of false religion is convincing people that humans can achieve salvation through some external means as opposed to depending on Christ.

That sounds weird to Southern Baptists, but that's the majority view probably in, quote, well, I won't call it Christianity. I'll call it Protestantism today.

That we achieve salvation. How do we do that? Well, you've got to pray the right prayer, say the right words, go forward in the right church, raise your hand at the right time, depending on the denomination, speak in tongues or give all your money away or, you know, there's any number of ways.

People teach you that you can achieve salvation. Over the centuries, men have come along and taught that certain forms of self-denial were essential to true spirituality.

That's been a great false teaching over the centuries. Getting men to rely on externals to gain something internal, which is salvation, has always been Satan's preferred method.

And that is the hallmark of the world's religions. I don't care. You look at any religion. It is a works theology. You look at any religion, and it is based upon human effort.

The whole definition of religion, well, the original definition of religion is a return to bondage from a Latin word. But religion is always man's efforts down here to reach God or a superior being, and they always fall short.

Christ, Christianity, is God reaching down to man. Whole different deal. But the very hallmark of world's religions is a works theology. And whole denominations within, quote, Christianity are based on works.

They have a works theology. All of these things are mere shadows. Christ, only Christ, is the substance.

Only Christ, is the substance. Listen to Paul as he counsels the Colossian believers in chapter 2, verse 16.

Therefore, no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. Things which are a mere shadow of what is to come.

But the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, not holding fast to the head from whom the entire body being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments grows with a growth which is from God.

If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees such as, do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, which all refer to things destined to perish with use.

In accordance with the commandments and teaching of men, these are matters which have to be sure the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion, self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.

They are meaningless. And I'm telling you guys, there's all kinds of stuff that in churches and denominations that are meaningless.

Let's list all the Southern Baptist. No, we're not going to do that tonight. We're not going to do that. Fortunately, I never knew how to dance anyway. I never knew how to dance anyway.

I danced with my wife at Rob's wedding three years ago. That was the first time we ever danced. Now, I made a mistake one night.

I heard an old song and I said, boy, I remember dancing to that. She said, we've never danced. I said, you weren't there. I shouldn't have gone there either. What is Paul saying there? Believers, I could dance.

I grew up in the independent Christian church. Believers are complete in Christ. You want to be complete? Be in Christ.

We do not need, nor are we called to practice physical self-denial to gain salvation and right standing before God.

I'm going to write a hymn today just as I am. It's going to be a good hymn. And finally, we come to the last feature. We've only been here 40 minutes.

The last feature of apostasy. The error of apostasy. 1 Timothy, verse 3, second part of verse 3 to verse 5.

The hallmark of apostate false teaching is its denial of truth.

Apostates reject the truth and they deny the truth. It may be subtle, but there is a denial of truth in what they say.

Apostates deny divine revelation. All false teaching is a denial of God's word. The operative word there is all.

There's no better form of false teaching. There's no gentler form of false teaching. It's true or it's false. How do we know it's true? Know the word of God.

Or go to the pastor. If we examine closely Paul's pastoral epistles, we discover that they are primarily a confrontation directed at false teachers and how they handle scripture.

This was huge with Paul. And let's face it, he gave us the blueprint for the church in his epistles. Think in terms of our previous example.

God created both marriage and food and said they were good. God made marriage and food for the same reason he made everything else.

To bring his children joy that we might bring glory to him. That we might glorify him. The problem in Ephesus was false teachers.

They taught that not everything created by God was good. Paul said that was not true. Nothing created by God is to be rejected as long as it is received with a grateful heart.

We are to receive those things given to us by our gracious creator with a thankful heart. People say, well, what has God given me? What has God done?

You can't take another breath without the grace of God. He holds your very breath in his hands. He holds your breath in his hands.

Elsewhere, Paul has said, for from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen. Romans 11.36 From him, through him, to him are all things.

To him be the glory forever. Amen. If you get into a dry spell in your prayer life, pray that. We all ought to be praying the scriptures anyway, right? Pray that.

Apostasy, I believe, and false teachers infiltrating the church, is the greatest danger facing the church in the 21st century.

It has always been so, but I believe it is magnified in this day of instant communication. Where things can go out with lightning speed.

Well, the speed of lightning. The speed of electricity. So how do we avoid false teachers that feeds and breeds apostasy? What he told you.

We immerse ourselves in the word of God. You know, I've been thinking lately. I'm 66 years old. My prayer, in fact, last night.

I was up at 3 this morning. I get up a lot, 2 and 3, and I go back to sleep at 4. My prayer of repentance was the wasted years. The wasted years.

Well, how did I waste them? You know, watching television or, you know, doing something else. This wasn't overtly sinful, necessarily. If I was engaged in those things, I wouldn't tell you guys.

I'd take it to the Lord. But what I am saying is, you know, just, I could have been in the word of God. And I'm 66 years old. I don't know how much time I've got left.

Immerse yourself. Young fellows back there, immerse yourself in the word of God. Externalism never pleases God, and it does not promote genuine spirituality.

We please God by leaning upon the teachings of Christ, meditating upon him who is true truth, and applying those teachings to our daily walk in a darkening, sin-laced world.

You know, how sinful is this world? Today, it was revealed that hospitals in England are heating their buildings with aborted and miscarried babies.

They are burning aborted and miscarried babies to heat the physical plant. That story broke today. Guys, that is worse than Baal worship.

You talk about the prophets of Baal that Elijah killed, 450 of them. Can you, I mean, Jesus come quickly.

When a society can get to that point, you think it is apostate and following doctrines of demons? And you watch the pundits will be justifying it.

In fact, I read some of the comments, and one of them said, well, you know, they cremate them anyway, so they were cremated. Can you imagine sitting in that hospital saying, oh, boy, this is nice.

It's cold outside. This feels, it's warm in here. It feels good. Wow. Wow. I haven't told my wife yet. I don't know how she's going to react to that. She may get on a plane to London.

We live in a sin-laced world. Anything less robs God of the glory and praise due Him.

We would do well to heed the words of the book of Hebrews, chapter 13, verse 9. Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings.

For it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods through which those who were thus occupied were not benefited.

Didn't do any good. We are to be strengthened by grace.