This morning is a tale of two sorcerers, a tale of two sorcerers this morning.
I want to go over the stories of these sorcerers that we find in the Book of Acts.
Of course we have one here, Simon the Sorcerer in Acts chapter 8,
and then we have the second sorcerer in Acts chapter 13 known as Elimus the Sorcerer.
And I want to go over both of these stories in the Book of Acts
and extrapolate some principles that we can learn from them.
Now before we get into that, let's start by way of introduction talking about the sin of sorcery.
What exactly is the sin of sorcery?
This is something that is mentioned consistently throughout the Bible,
a large portion of it, percentage of it is actually mentioned in the Old Testament.
What is it exactly?
Well, sorcery is used interchangeably in the Bible to describe that which is witchcraft.
And most of us know exactly what witchcraft is.
If we were to define what sorcery is,
it's essentially referring to the so-called supernatural power
that someone derives from an evil spirit.
That's typically the connotation that we carry with it.
We say that's what sorcery is.
It's magic.
It is supernatural capabilities that someone gets from some sort of entity,
satanic entity and so forth.
But sorcery in the Bible is also referring to just deception.
Referring to that which is lies.
And in fact in the Bible, God often associates sorcery with false preaching,
false prophets, dividing that which is false.
Now, when we think of the word sorcery,
we often associate it with that which is negative, that which is evil,
and obviously rightfully so.
But when you actually look at the underlying word to sorcery,
it actually comes from a word that we commonly use today known as pharmacy.
The Greek word there is pharma kea or pharma kon,
which is referring to what we would consider today to be medicine and so forth.
Now, a lot of times people will think that and say,
well, you know, this is why we got to be careful what kind of medicines we use,
and I agree with that 100%.
But let's talk about where that term is being used in the Bible.
How is it being used when we talk about pharmacy?
What is that exactly referring to?
Well, pharmacy in the Bible or the sorcery as we have it in our English Bibles
is referring to medicine.
But in general, we can often associate it with medicine
that actually helps you to get better, you know, medicinal medicine,
medicine that actually improves your health,
medicine that actually improves your immune system and so forth.
It's just referring to that which aids the body and its recovery and so forth.
But you also have, you know, pharmacy in the Bible,
sorcery that is being used in a negative way, okay?
So the pharmacist in the Bible is actually referred to the apothecary
if you've heard that word in the Bible.
The apothecary is the person who essentially is an expert in skilled
and compounds of medicine in order to help you.
You know, they use, you know, natural remedies, things of that nature
to kind of help you to get better if you're sick,
to help you to recover and so forth.
Now, when we think of sorcery in the negative connotation,
it's referring to sorcerers who use that knowledge for evil, okay?
They use the knowledge of medicine.
They use the knowledge of compounds in order to use it for wicked means.
Now how so?
Well, let me just put it to you in a very basic manner, okay?
You have the, you know, the apothecary who says,
hey, don't touch those mushrooms because if you do,
you're going to see some weird stuff, okay?
You're going to freak out or you're going to see weird visions and stuff.
Use these mushrooms for pizza.
I don't care what you guys think about mushrooms on pizza, by the way.
I'm for mushrooms on pizza.
It's delicious, okay?
So the apothecary says these are good for mushrooms.
This is good for soup.
This is good to enhance the taste,
but stay away from these because these are really bad for you.
These can kill you.
These can give you hallucinations and so forth.
Well, the sorcerer comes by and says, excuse me,
what did you say about the whole visions thing?
They hijack the knowledge of the apothecary
and use that knowledge of medicine for evil, okay?
They use the wisdom of the apothecary in order
to carry out wicked means to have visions.
You know, this is why people know what to do with peyote, okay?
And all these mind altering drugs, psychedelics that people use
in order to experience these visions, these hallucinations
and associated with that, which is spiritual, okay?
So that is essentially the difference between the apothecary
and the sorcerer.
The sorcerer takes the knowledge of the apothecary
and uses it for evil.
And just a side note here, the apothecary not only is an expert
in skilled in, you know, medicines,
but he's also the one responsible for making compounds
for perfumes, you know, herbal treatments and so forth, okay?
And that is found in the Word of God.
But here's the thing is though, when you think about the sorcerer,
they're the ones that use the wisdom for evil.
They're the ones who essentially pervert the truth.
They're the ones who take the knowledge of things
that are meant for good and they corrupt it
for their own godless means in order to corrupt others
and so forth, okay?
And another side note here, this is why you should not be smoking marijuana.
You should not be doing any mind altering drugs.
The Bible commands us to be sober.
The Bible commands us to walk circumspectly,
not as fools, but as wise.
You see, the apothecary says, hey, they're marijuana leaf,
this makes for good pants, you know,
during the summer days, right?
It makes for good clothes
in order to keep you cool during the summer.
The sorcerer says, yeah, but if you smoke it though, you know,
you know, that's good stuff right there or whatever, you know,
and then you can hallucinate and see all kinds of things.
But that would obviously contradict what the Word of God actually says
that we ought to be sober.
And this is something that people will often bring up like,
well, if marijuana is bad, then why did God make it?
You know, well, first of all, you know,
yeah, he made marijuana, but nowhere in the Bible does it say
that he told you to roll it up and smoke it.
Pretty simple, right?
You know, by the way, God made the tree of knowledge and good and evil
and he told Adam and Eve not to take of it.
So how about that?
So just because God creates something doesn't mean he tells you explicitly
or doesn't mean he gives you permission to actually use it
for selfish means or whatever it may be.
Sometimes things are just created
and you're not supposed to do anything with it, okay?
You know, God made great whites.
He didn't tell you to jump in the ocean and swim with them either.
Understand?
So it's important for us to make this distinction
to understand why things are created and so forth.
Now, when we think of sorcery, again, as I mentioned,
it's often used interchangeably with witches and wizards, okay?
So it's often used with witchcraft, witches, wizards, sorcerers.
These are all kind of used interchangeably in the Bible.
Now, let's go to Leviticus chapter 20 real quick.
Let's look at a couple of verses here.
Leviticus chapter 20.
This is all introduction.
Leviticus chapter 20, look down at your Bibles at verse number 27
of Leviticus chapter 20.
It says this in verse 27,
a man also or a woman that hath a familiar spirit
or that is a wizard, the Bible says,
shall surely be put to death,
they shall stone them with stones, their blood shall be upon them.
So the penalty for being a sorcerer, a wizard,
a witch in the Bible was the death penalty.
These are people who were not only corrupting knowledge,
but they were corrupting knowledge with the intent to corrupt others.
Now, I want you to notice the word wizard there, okay?
This isn't referring to, you know, Hogwarts or anything like that, okay?
This is not referring to Harry Potter.
You know, a wizard in the Bible, you know,
the etymology of the word wizard comes from the word
that basically means a wise man, okay?
So a wise man, you can see that, you know,
wizard, wizard, that's kind of how the word evolved.
But it carries the connotation of someone who takes the wisdom
of the wise man and corrupts it, you understand?
They use the wisdom of God and they corrupt it,
they destroy it, and obviously we can give all types
of secondary and tertiary applications
where people take the wisdom of God's word
and they corrupt it to teach a false gospel,
they corrupt it to teach heresy and so forth.
These are examples of wizardry in the Bible.
So you have the witch, you have the wizard.
Now under that, you have essentially different branches
of practice under sorcery, okay?
For example, you have enchantments,
the Bible talks about enchantments,
which is synonymous with charmers.
You have soothsayers, you have necromancers, okay?
You have, for example, you have diviners,
those who practice divination,
and by extent you also have astrologers
and you have those who observe times, okay?
So all of these abominable actions that the Bible talks about
are under the canopy of sorcery.
Why? Because sorcery in general is referring to deception
and all of these practices essentially foment that deception.
They're different ways of deceiving people.
Now what is an enchantment?
What is that exactly?
Well think about the word enchantment.
The word in there is chant, right?
This is referring to incantations
or people who repeat things repeatedly
in order to get a certain result,
supernatural result, okay?
You have this in Buddhism.
You have it in Hinduism.
You have it in Catholicism.
And the Bible calls it vain repetition, okay?
Where someone repeats a word,
they repeat a phrase over and over and over again,
meaninglessly, vainly thinking that they're going to receive
some sort of supernatural result because of it.
But the Lord Jesus Christ specifically says
not to use vain repetition.
And people are like, well, you know,
with Catholics it's different.
Okay, then you explain to me what that verse means exactly.
How is that applicable then?
You know, when he says you do not use vain repetition,
it's basically saying no matter what phrases you use,
don't repeat it vainly thinking that God's going to
hear you for your much speaking.
You know, God wants us to speak to him
as though he actually exists and he's listening
and you're conversing with him, okay?
Now, why does God forbid vain repetition?
Well, because it's a form of enchantment.
It's a form of charming others.
And again, this is something that is practiced
in Eastern mysticism with Buddhism and Hinduism
where they were literally chant these mantras
in order to put people in a certain trance
so they can be deceived by the teacher,
by whatever teaching is being given to them,
whatever institution that they're in.
They often refer to it as the altered state of consciousness,
okay?
And a lot of charismatic churches will use things like this
but they'll just use like praise and worship music.
This is why a lot of the CCM has the same repetitious
statements in order to put you in a trance
and he's like, I just feel like there's God in this place.
You know, why?
Because you repeated the same phrase 50 times.
You know, we don't determine if God's presence
is in, you know, a church based upon the music.
We base it upon what's being actually
issued forth from the word of God.
What's being preached from the pulpit, right?
You know, the Bible is the determining factor
whether the institution is of God or not.
And so, you know, this is why God says,
hey, you know, refuse those who practice enchantments,
those who are charmers, those who are used,
these incantations, these spells so to speak
in order to be with you,
put you into an altered state of consciousness
in order to deceive you with false ideologies and so forth.
So this is why he says, hey, the sorcerers who practice
enchantments, charmers, get away from them.
How about the diviners? What is a diviner?
What is divination?
Well, divination is the practice of a person
seeking to know the future outside of the boundaries
of God's word.
Now, none of us can tell the future.
We can generally predict what is going to happen
in the future based upon the cause and effect
of what the Bible teaches, right?
We could also tell you what the future holds
based upon Antioch's Bible prophecy.
But none of us can actually accurately, specifically,
depict what's going to happen tomorrow, right?
Because we know not what a day may bring forth,
the Bible says, okay?
You know, sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Part of the evil of this life is not knowing
what's going to happen tomorrow.
That's just how life is, okay?
But diviners, on the other hand,
will claim that they can tell you
what's going to happen tomorrow,
who you're going to marry, how much money you're going to...
Are you going to get that promotion?
You know, we often think of those who are psychics
or claim to be psychics, the palm readers.
These are all different examples of diviners, okay?
Now, let's go to Ezekiel chapter 20, if you would.
Let's look at an example of this.
Ezekiel chapter 20.
So you have the charmers.
You have the enchanters.
And then you also have the diviners.
Look at Ezekiel 20.
Let's see here.
Actually, go to 21.
I think it's in 21.
Yep.
Ezekiel 21.
So a diviner is someone who claims to be able to know the future.
Look at Ezekiel 21 and verse 21.
It says here,
Well, let's explain a couple of these things.
First and foremost, the king of Babylon is not a Bible-believing person.
This is not someone who is of God.
He is of the Mesopotamian culture.
He practices paganism.
He adheres to the heathen theology of this world and so forth.
And he's using divination in order to tell the future.
And he gives us three specific things that he looks into in order to tell the future.
He talks about, it says in verse 21,
He made his arrows bright.
There's not necessarily a whole lot of information of what exactly that means.
But these last two, we know for sure.
It says here,
He consulted with images.
What does that mean?
It means he goes to his false gods that are in his house,
the statues that are in his house,
the images that are in his house,
and he consults them to figure out what to do.
This is the equivalent of someone going to the Virgin Mary today
in order to say like,
What should I do?
To go to some saint or whatever,
that they claim to be a saint,
of some image in their household at their church
in order to be able to tell what the future holds.
And this is exactly what the king of Babylon is doing.
So he's using images.
He says he consults with images,
and then he looks into the liver.
What is that?
Well, this is actually called hepatoscopy.
Hepatoscopy is the pagan practice of killing an animal,
opening the animal,
and looking inside its entrails,
specifically the liver in order to tell the future.
How that works, I don't know.
The devil is just, I don't know,
just tell him to look in the liver.
They'll fall for it.
And you know the Babylonians weren't the only ones
who practiced this.
Romans practiced this.
The Gauls practiced this.
There was a major practice in the ancient world
where they would use the entrails of an animal
in order to tell the future.
It's completely nonsensical,
but you know people believe in stupid stuff today though too.
People have always believed in nonsensical things
because the deception is so strong
because they are bewitched by the enchantments
and the charming of these sorcerers
that would come to these people and say,
hey, look inside the entrails of the lamb here
and see what the future holds.
But you know as Christians,
we don't believe in that nonsense.
What do we do?
We look within the Word of God.
The lamb of God who should take away
the sins of the world, okay?
Jesus said, you know, search the scriptures.
For in them you think you have eternal life
and they are which testify of me.
So if we want to know the future,
we've got to go to the Bible, right?
We don't need to go to the stars.
The Bible tells us in Jeremiah chapter 10,
you know, be not dismayed at the signs of heaven
for the heathen are dismayed at them, the Bible says.
We're not to learn the customs of the heathen.
No palm reading, no looking into the entrails.
This is what divination is.
Divination are these heathen practices
in order to be able to tell the future.
But you know what?
This is why us as Christians,
we need to make sure that we just have faith in God,
that we walk by faith, not by sight.
We don't have to worry about
what's going to happen tomorrow.
We simply have to walk circumspectly,
not as fools but as wise,
understanding what the will of the Lord is,
Ephesians chapter 5.
You see, if you are a Christian
and you are reading the Word of God,
you're not going to worry about anything.
If you're going according to what God says,
you don't have to be bewitched
by the sorcery of this world
known as social media,
known as, you know,
the social media platforms of X
and Instagram and Facebook,
because you're just worried what's going to happen.
How about you actually look at the entrails
of the Word of God and recognize that,
you know, we know who holds tomorrow.
Okay?
And so we have the king of Babylon
looking into the entrails of an animal
in order to divine.
But there's also another practice of divination
that's alluded to in the Bible
and that is the practice
of looking inside of a cup
in order to look at the tea leaves.
This is a practice that they would often use.
You know, they would drink the tea
and the tea leaves would sink to the bottom of the cup
and they would look at the structure
or how the tea leaves were pointing
and they would be able to tell the future,
supposedly, based upon that.
Now there is an example in the Bible
that it alludes to this
but it doesn't explicitly say and that's with Joseph.
Okay? If you remember the story of Joseph
when he's in Egypt
he tricks his brothers and they take what?
His cup of divination.
And he specifically says,
don't you know that this is the cup that I used to divine?
Now obviously I think he's just being sarcastic here.
He's just trying to trick his brothers.
We know that God gave him dreams and interpretations.
He didn't need a cup to do so.
But this is obviously something that he's saying
because it's a common practice
in that particular region in Egypt.
Okay? Point being here
we don't have to look into a cup.
We don't have to look into the entrails.
We can simply look into the word of God
in order to determine what the future is.
So you have enchanters,
you have charmers,
you have diviners
and you also have
necromancers.
Now what is a necromancer?
This is used interchangeably in the Bible
to describe those who consult with
familiar spirits.
They talk to demons
or whatever.
These are people who talk to demonic entities.
They think they're talking to their family members.
They're using the Ouija board.
They're trying to consult with entities,
supernatural entities
in order to get certain answers.
Now there is an instance in the Bible
where God permitted
someone to actually communicate with someone
who had gone beyond.
They were already in heaven.
And that is Saul.
Saul was able to commune with Samuel
and he used a witch in order to do so.
Okay?
And obviously the reason God allowed that
is because Samuel was going to
tell Saul that he was going to die.
Because
God wanted to kill Saul.
Because Saul had gotten him so far away from God
he wanted to destroy him.
But here's the thing though, that's another form
of sorcery.
People who try to communicate with the dead
try to communicate with those who have passed on.
And again, this is something else
that falls under the category of Catholicism.
You know, praying to those who have passed away,
have passed on, praying to saints.
That is an example
of consulting with familiar spirits.
That is an example of
necromancy.
And nowhere in the Bible does it teach that
any disciple, any apostle
communicated with anybody who had gone beyond
other than the Lord Jesus Christ.
And it's interesting that they want to
pray to everyone except for Jesus.
They want to pray to
Saint So-and-so and Saint Joseph
and Saint Mary and Saint whatever.
But they never want to go to the actual source
which is the Lord Jesus Christ.
And any religion that pushes you away
from communion with the Lord Jesus Christ
runs screaming in the opposite direction.
And so that is a form
of necromancy.
That is a form of consulting with familiar spirits.
And obviously there's
various branches of this too.
You have this in Hispanic
cultures where they will
try to communicate with
their lost love ones
or the ones who have passed away and so forth.
It's all demonic.
And you know what? That's why it's important for us
to recognize that we
cannot communicate with those who have gone
beyond. The only time we're going to be able
to communicate with them is when we go there too.
And the only way you can go there is if you believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ exclusively for salvation.
So you have divination. You have
enchantments. You have charmers.
You have those who are consultants with familiar spirits.
You have the soothsayers.
What is a soothsayer?
This is someone who is a sorcerer
who just preaches lies to you.
He's very soothing.
You know, it's the opposite of what I'm
doing to you right now.
You know, the soothsayer is just all
exhortation. He's like the
Joel Olstein. He is
the pastor who just wants to tell you what you want to hear
in order to take advantage of you.
This is the person that has
men's persons in admiration because of advantage.
This is the person with great swelling
words of vanity.
This is the person who just preaches lies
to you. That is the soothsayer.
They don't care about your spiritual
well-being. They don't care if you
destroy your life. All they care about
is your pocketbook.
All they care about is what they can get
from you. That is the soothsayer.
That is the false prophet.
And then lastly,
under the canopy of sorcery
is you have the
astrologers
and those who
observe days, those
who observe the stars and so forth.
These are the individuals that will
look at the stars in order to determine
the future.
You know, oh I'm a Scorpio
so I got to look at this particular
constellation or something like that.
They're the ones who literally use
the constellations. They'll use all
these things, the horoscope type people
in order to determine the future
but that's all nonsensical. You're like
well you know, I saw this one
horoscope though. I'll look it into
and I feel like it was just about me. Yeah, because
it was saying all good things and you want
people to say good things about you.
So you're like, oh this is all good.
Yeah, I'm definitely successful.
Yeah, that's me right there.
Oh yeah, I'm definitely trustworthy.
I'm definitely loyal.
Oh yeah, I'm really passionate.
Yeah, this is called soothsaying.
They give you all the good qualities
because they know that you're so narcissistic
when it comes to yourself. You're just like, yep
I fit all these. I must be a
whatever, a Capricorn or whatever they call it.
Okay,
and you know
I hope no Christian is struggling
with this and believes in this crap
because that's exactly what it is.
Okay, because at the end of the day
the Bible says we're to be conformed to the image
of Christ.
Not to just revel in how
we are and our characteristics
and our attributes.
The Bible tells us to put off the old man
which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust
and be renewed in the spirit
of your mind, which is created after
righteousness and true holiness
to put on the new man the Bible says.
So it's just like, well
I just really want to know who I really am.
You're a sinner.
Okay, plain and simple.
You have a corruptible body
your mind is not subject to the law of God
neither indeed can be
therefore you need to be filled with the spirit
and transcend the flesh to be spirit filled.
You need to put on the new man
the Bible says.
So stop looking at the horoscope
to figure out why you know
I just don't know why I am the way I am
it's called the sin nature that's what it is.
Okay, and you know what
even if the horoscope gets like 50% of it
right 50% of it you got to get rid of anyways.
God's not
pleased with that 50% anyways
and you know what don't use that
as an excuse as to why you're such
a sinful person.
How about you get the word of God inside
the Bible tells us that word of I hit in my heart
that I may not sin against thee.
Okay, and God expects us to transform
ourselves on a day to day
to live a sanctified life
to live a life that's pleasing unto him
and if there's characteristics and attributes
and ideologies that we possess
that are contrary to God's word
God says change it.
It doesn't care what the horoscope says
why this is just me
I'm just a selfish person
I'm just this is just me
yeah but you know what if it contradicts the Bible
you know you got to change it
okay you got to be renewed in spirit of your mind
you got to conform yourself
to the image of Christ
you got to transform your mind
by the word of God and not be that way
understand.
And so we have too much of this in society
where it's just like you know
you just got to really embrace who you really are.
No.
The heart is deceitful above all things desperately wicked
who can know it?
You should want to be less like you
that's what you should try to be like
well I kind of like the way I am
yeah but if who you are
is completely contrary to the word of God
and you're a Christian
you're a Bible believing Christian
then you need to change
it's called the process of sanctification
okay you need to crucify
the flesh with the affections and lust
that's what the Bible literally says
you know the last time I checked Jesus said
if any man come after me let him
deny himself
take up his cross and follow me
he didn't say embrace yourself
he that loves his life shall lose it
the Bible says
whoever shall lose his life for my sake
the same shall save it
so the Bible is constantly talking about us
leaving the old man
crucifying the old man
let not sin therefore reigning your immortal bodies
that you should obey and the lust thereof
and put on the new man
which after God has created righteousness
and true holiness and so forth
now let's go back to Acts chapter 8
that was my rant
some of you needed it though
so it's all good
that was all introduction just to kind of explain to you
what sorcery is
so now you know
sorcery, witchcraft, wizardry
these are all used interchangeably
and a wizard
a witch is simply someone who takes the wisdom
of God and they corrupt it
they turn it into lasciviousness
they use it for evil means
they're wise to do evil the Bible says
and so not all wise men
in the Bible are bad
obviously it's
often used to describe both categories
but we need to read it in its context
we know that the wise men came to seek
Christ
the Bible also says that
when it's wise
wisdom is not bad
just like subtlety is not bad
being a subtle person
is actually a Christian virtue
but we obviously know that there are instances
where people use subtlety
to their advantage in order to deceive
i.e. Satan
he was more subtle than any beast of the field
the Bible says
and so this is simply an example
of that
so you have sorcery
now in Acts chapter 8
with that in mind
you have the story of Simon the sorcerer
now it doesn't explicitly say
what type of sorcerer he was
if I were to guess
and kind of infer my interpretation
of what type of sorcerer he was
I would say that he was probably an enchanter
and a charmer
okay
he probably wasn't a diviner
he probably wasn't an enchanter or a charmer
or a soothsayer
why is that? well let's look at the story here
let me give you some
introductory statements regarding the chapter
in chapter 8
the apostle Paul is not yet an apostle
simply referred to as Saul
and he's persecuting Christians
okay
he's like single-handedly persecuting
the churches
to the point where they're literally just scattering
in all different regions of the known world
because he's so passionate about the Jews religion
he's persecuting Christians
and so you know a lot of the Christians
in Jerusalem are forced out of
Jerusalem and they go into various cities
now one of the reasons for that
is because God didn't want
you know believers to just stay in Jerusalem
you know the apostles were just
sticking around in Jerusalem
and they weren't reaching the known world
they were only reaching Jews
and you say what's the problem with that
well the problem with that is that God specifically commanded them
to go into all the world
he said to Samaria, Judea, Samaria
and the uttermost parts of the world
but they were disobeying that command
so God allowed
Paul, Saul
which is their use interchangeably
he allowed Saul to go in
and persecute them and cause them to scatter
the only difference is the apostles still remain in Jerusalem
okay
so he's wreaking havoc
well Philip goes out and he's preaching the word of God
look at verse number 4
it says therefore they that were scattered
abroad went everywhere preaching the word
then Philip went down to the city of Samaria
and preached Christ
unto them
the people with one accord gave heed
unto those things which Philip spake
hearing and seeing the miracles which he did
so we have Philip
he was one that actually did go
into different regions
the Bible specifically says that he went down into Samaria
down doesn't mean that he went south
of Jerusalem
Samaria is actually north of Jerusalem
but elevation wise it's lower
than Jerusalem which is why it says that he went down into Samaria
so he goes there
preaching the gospel look at verse 6
and the people with one accord gave
heed unto those things which Philip spake
hearing and seeing the miracles which he did
for unclean spirits
crying with loud voice
came out of many that were possessed
with them and many taken with palsies
and they were lame or healed
so you know an incredible works being done here
Philip obviously has the supernatural
capabilities of healing people
he is performing exorcisms
he's leaving people of demonic
possession he's healing people
of physical infirmities
but he's also simultaneously preaching the word of God
okay now how does that work
well the reason God allowed
these supernatural miracles to occur
in the first century AD
is in order to lend veracity to the
message okay because you gotta keep in mind
this is the beginning stages of the
New Testament churches
you know they're kind of transitioning out of the
Old Covenant and they're getting away
from the stigma
of the synagogues and the
Pharisees and the Jews religion
okay so in order to kind of set
them apart make them distinctly different
from them God enabled them
to supernaturally perform
these miracles of healing
in order to give them the rightful
credibility so people are like okay these guys
are men of God
these guys are sent by God because they're
performing these miracles which only God can do
right
so that obviously sets them apart from the Pharisees
because they can't do anything
all they can do is steal clip coins
that's the only thing they can do
so these guys
people are getting saved
people are being exercised of their
demons and so forth
great works being accomplished
verse 8 says there was great joy in that city
but there was a certain
man called Simon
which before time in the city
used sorcery
and bewitched the people of Samaria
giving out that himself
was some great one
so there's a guy there's a prominent character
in this city known as Simon
and it seems as though
he has a big reputation
of being just like the goat
okay he's some great one
apparently but you know
it's kind of like if you're to walk in there
into Samaria and someone told you
like hey that's the goat right there
this guy knows everything
he has the power of God
in his life but then you're looking at all these
sick people
people who are possessed by demons
people who have the palsies
they have all these physical infirmities
you would kind of be like what is he doing
you know
how is it that he's the great man of God
how is it that he has all these
supernatural capabilities but you have all these
sick people
now it's kind of like today right
you have these so called faith healers
which I call them fake healers
okay
in the charismatic movement that they claim
to be able to heal people by touching them
well why aren't they lined up at the hospital right now
just healing people on mass
if you have that power
why don't you do that
why is it that you can only heal people
of minor things right
of just like you know
oh make my leg a little longer
you know
keep my leg a little short
you know
oh make my leg a little longer
just things that you can't really see
but they never heal
just major infirmities
okay and obviously
today we would say that this person is a
charlatan
and that's what Simon is, he's a charlatan
because he's a great one supposedly
but he ain't healing nobody
okay
you know where are all
where are all the faith healers doing
COVID and you know when people
have cancer
they're gone, they can't heal anybody
it's all fake, they are
enchanters and charmers
who make you think they have that ability
but there are a bunch of phonies is what they are
Benny Hinn and the like
him and his street fighter
you know little
show that he puts on
and the bible specifically said
that he bewitched them
what does it mean to bewitch them
it means like he puts them under a spell
okay and not pixie dust
he's just by the stuff that he's saying
he's causing people to believe
like oh man are people really that dumb
I mean look at the people in the movement
within the faith healing community
people will literally
watch this on TV
send hundreds of dollars
just to get a hanky
that's touched by one of these prophets
you know thinking
that that's somehow going to help them
or something like that
they're bewitched
they've been deceived by a sorcerer
by an enchanter
by a charmer
you say yeah I'll never fall for that
but you know there's false prophets who use the same
exact tactics on you
there's plenty of churches out there
that are being bewitched by false prophets
and false doctrine
and heresy
and zionism
and dispensationalism
and teachings that you could lose your salvation
and teachings about the gospel
these are sorcerers
from a different category
that are simply bewitching people
in heretical things
and sometimes you're like how is it that you can believe this
despite the clear evidence that's presented
I'll tell you how because they're bewitched
a person who's bewitched they're under
listen to this a strong delusion
have you ever heard that word
someone who's delusional
it's like no matter how much evidence you give them
how much truth you provide
they're just like
I don't see it
I just don't see it
I just still think they're gospel people
you're delusional
and you can like literally just like
throw the Bible at them
just show them every verse in the book
and it's just like they don't get it
why because they've been bewitched
now we'll say that in order to prevent being bewitched
you've got to love the truth
and when you love the truth
you're not going to be bewitched by heresy
and false doctrine and so forth
but if you love fairy tales
if you like exotic doctrines
if you like things that are contrary to the word of God
just because you think it's a great thing
then guess what you will be bewitched
God will allow you to come under that
strong delusion
in order to be deceived
so you have Simon here
apparently he's deceived his people
for a very long time
it says in verse number 10
to whom they all gave heed
from the least to the greatest saying
this man is the great power of God
they're just like
this man is the great power of God
he's just like how
you're not even healed
like what has he done for you
what exactly has it done for you
I'll tell you what he's done
he's deceived them
by his sorceries into thinking that
he's some great one
and they all gave heed
so the whole city is like oh yeah we know this
we know Simon that's Simon
that's the go this is the great one
he's the one with all the power
he's the one who's capable of doing all these miracles
he's the one who's just like but you guys are all sick
no one's healed
it says in verse number 11
and to him they all had to regard
because that of a long time
he had bewitched them with
sorceries but when they believed Philip
preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God
and the name of Jesus Christ
they were baptized both men and women
so this shows us that the truth
can always
destroy and cause
the lie to collapse
truth is powerful right
the gospel
the preaching of the cross
it's to them that perish foolishness
but into us which are saved
it is the power of God
it can cause someone to come out from under
the spell of this world
the bible says that the God of this world
has blinded the minds of them
which believe not
lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ
who is the image of God
should shine unto them
so when you bring the gospel to someone
it doesn't matter how deceived they've been
if they're looking for the truth they'll get saved
and it's like the scales fall off
and I think many of us could attest to the fact
that when we got saved it's just like whoa
like I know the truth now
I believed on the Lord Jesus Christ
I know I can't lose my salvation
and now when you read the bible you read these clear verses
you're like man all this makes sense
all this is like
crystal clear now
now I get the bible and look I remember
not being saved
I remember people giving me verses about eternal security
and salvation
and I remember listening to it
but I also remember not understanding it
but I remember after I got saved
I'm just like the light bulb went on
and it's like I get it now
and you're kind of like kicking yourself wondering
how did I not understand this before
because the bible calls it the simplicity
of the gospel
the gospel is very easy
getting saved is easy
and yes I believe in easy believism
because it's easy to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
because Jesus Christ did all the hard part
he did all the hard stuff
he did all the work for us
well no I think you gotta give your life to God
in order to be saved
no the gospel is the fact that he gave his life to you
not the reversal of it
now does he command us
to live a life that's pleasing unto him
absolutely he commands us to serve him
he commands us to do good works
but not for salvation
and if you never do any of those works after salvation
you're still saved yes you heard right
because the bible says to him that work is not
to him that work is not
but believe it on him to justify
the ungodly his faith discounted for righteousness
that's what the bible says
not by works of righteousness which we have done
but according to his mercy he saved us
and you always have this hyper spiritual statement
yeah but you know
don't you love him though
of course I love him
you think you or I love him
100% of the time
no
none of us love God 100% of the time
I'm a pastor this is literally my job
24-7 and I'm gonna tell you right now
I don't love God 100% of the time
why because I'm a sinner
my love wanes it goes like this
and no one in this room loves God 100% of the time
either the only person
who's ever loved God
the father 100% of the time is the Lord Jesus Christ
and that's not you
you know
we have to work we have to grow in our love for Christ
and you know what no you don't
you don't get saved by loving God
it's not the way it works
you get saved by receiving
the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ alone
and let me just make it very clear
you get saved by believing on Jesus Christ
exclusively for salvation
let me explain to you what that means
at the exclusion of everything else
no sacraments
no Mary
no works
no church
no moral
uprightness exclusively
upon Jesus Christ
because he Romans 11-6 says
by grace then it is no more of works
otherwise grace is no more grace
showing us conclusively
that salvation is by grace
and it's not of works and if you add works
then you cannot be saved
and so
you know we have here
a demonstration of how powerful the gospel is
is that it can
relieve even a sorcerer
right we're going to see this later on
that he gets saved
it relieves those who are under the sorcery
but also the sorcerer from the deception
of this world
then Simon himself believed also
and when he was baptized he continued
with Philip and wondered
beholding the miracles and signs which were done
I love this because you know sometimes
we may think like oh man
that guy was a sorcerer
they're a magician they're involved
in all kinds of weird demonic
things they can't get saved well Simon
did and this is like
his profession
he was the one responsible for deceiving people
he was the enchanter
he was the charmer yet he believed in the
Lord Jesus Christ and guess what he got saved
and he got baptized
and he followed Philip
so he's kind of going through the whole
entire process there
he got saved he got baptized and then he
just started following Philip which is exactly
what God wants us to do as well
and this shows us that
there's people out there
they might be out there
they might be into horoscopes
and what are those things called the stones
the crystals they might be into crystals
you guys know what I'm talking about
people who believe like in crystals and stuff
you know hyper crystals
they're into all kinds of
weird mystical things
and they just have these
weird ideas
and doctrines
but you know what if they actually get saved
if they love the truth
they can come out of that
because that's what Simon did
now I love the story of Simon because
he comes out of that
but he's still envious and he covets
the ability of the Apostles
let's read on here
verse 14 says
now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem
heard that Samaria had received the word of God
they sent unto them Peter and John
who when they were come down
prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost
for as yet he had fallen upon
none of them only they were baptized
in the name of the Lord Jesus
then laid their hands on them
and they received the Holy Ghost
and what is this talking about
receiving the Holy Ghost in the book of Acts
and throughout the Bible is simply referring to the fact that people become
emboldened through the Spirit
when you're filled with the Spirit
the major connotation of the Bible
is that they become
bold to preach the word of God
that's the major effect of being filled with the Spirit
well they just had the supernatural
capability of kind of transferring
that to these new believers
so you know
Simon is viewing this
he's seeing this ability and then it says
verse 18 and when Simon saw that
through the lane on of the apostles hands
the Holy Ghost was given
he offered them money
saying give me also this power
then on whom server I lay hands
he may receive the Holy Ghost
so he saved
he got baptized, he's following Philip
but he still has that old nature about him
right
and it's kind of letting us know
that prior to his salvation
when he was the so-called great one
why was he bewitched into people
for money
right because he wanted to
he's probably making money off of this
and so he sees that all the attention
is going to the apostles because they're legitimate
you know men of God
they're the legitimate goats
and what do we have here he says
hey how much money you charge for this
I want this ability too
and you know what this shows us
is that just because you're saved doesn't mean
you're not going to sin
doesn't mean you're not going to have carnal desires
you're not going to have sinful desires
it's going to happen why
because your old nature stays with you
there's no such thing as sinless perfection
this side of eternity
that is a nonsensical doctrine
oh if you get saved you just will never
desire to sin
wrong because if that were true
then why are there so many commandments in the Bible
that tells not to sin
if batteries come included
if once we get saved it's just the hardest
completely correct
we're righteous before the Lord
and we just have no sinful desires
whatsoever then why are there so many commands
for us to walk in the spirit
and not in the flesh if it just comes naturally
the reason those
commands are there is because God knows we have the propensity
to sin
this is listen to this
this is the battle for every Christian
and you will not
stop fighting this
until you go to heaven
and here's the thing you're like oh I know
someone who stopped fighting well you just knew
you just know someone who's losing
that's what it is
someone who's saved
someone who believes the right gospel
and they're living a worldly life
they're fornicated like are you saying that they're saved
well if they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
yeah they're saved
and you know what we need to get away from this
hyper spiritual
this holier than now
doctrine that says well
because a Christian is backslidden
because he's involved in sin
because he's out there living a wicked life
somehow that just means that they're not saved
really you want to tell that to David
who
committed adultery
and conspired to murder a man
yeah but he wrote song 51 where he repented
yeah a year after
meaning for an entire year
he was involved in adultery
and conspiring
he conspired to murder someone and he was involved in adultery the whole time
you're trying to tell me that he wasn't saved
during that time
of course he was saved
no student of the bible would say that he wasn't saved
everybody knows that he was saved
it's a demonstration that people are carnal
they're fleshly
and you know what if you allow
if you continue to feed the flesh
you don't walk in the spirit
you'll be a horrible person too
you will be a horrible person too
if you don't do so
this is why the bible commands us to walk in the spirit
not fulfill the lust of the flesh
this is why the bible says that we're in a spiritual warfare
the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal but mighty
through god to the pulling down the strongholds
he's constantly telling us to put on the armor of god
to take a stand
to fight against the wiles of satan
to do all these things in opposition to satan
why would he tell us that if we just
we're good to go
I'll tell you why because we all sin
now the goal should be that every day we sin less
but you're never going to get to a point
where you don't sin anymore
and here's a great example
Simon still has that envious
feeling within him
he still has that covetous feeling about him
even to the point where he thinks he can
purchase the power of god
it says in verse number
19 verse 20
but Peter said unto him
thy money perish with thee
because thou hast thought that the gift of god
may be purchased with money
thou hast neither part nor law in this matter
for thy heart is not right in the sight of god
repent therefore of this thy wickedness
and pray god if perhaps the thought of thine heart
may be forgiven thee
for I perceive that thou art in the gall
of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity
so what is Peter saying
I feel like you're bitter
because we took away all your revenue
we took all your customers
now no one thinks you're a hot shot anymore
you're not the great one anymore
and I think you're in the gall of bitterness
because you are once the preeminent
one here in Samaria
and you're not anymore
and you know what you better ask god
to forgive you for these things
so that judgment doesn't come upon you
leading me to my next point
and that is that just because you're saved
doesn't mean you won't suffer punishment here on this earth
the bible specifically says
whom the lord loveth he chastened it
and scourged it to every son whom he received it
the bible says
vengeance is mine sayeth the lord I will repay
and the lord shall judge
his people
you know just as I spanked my children
yes you heard right
I spanked my children
I wilt my children
yes when they are disobedient
if they're rebellious and disrespectful
they get a chastisement from dad
yes
and no
I don't give them timeouts either
or make them stand in the corner
facing a wall
oh man I just don't think that's right
then you better start reading the bible
because the bible is for chastisement
all over both Old and New Testament
you know
I just don't think that's right
because you probably weren't whooped as a child
that's why
mom and dad never whooped you
that's why you're a spoiled brat
that's why you just question authority
you just do whatever you want
you just mouth off to mom and dad
because they never give you a good whooping
but you know why I'm still respectful to my mom
even though I'm 40 years old
it's because she whooped me
oh man that can traumatize
oh yeah I could make a person like
a Christian and then I'm a pastor now
and now I'm just leading
a ton of people to Christ and just live
and now I'm married with six children
it's just such a blessed life
I can't believe this has happened to me
look what you did to me mom
you made me a functioning member
of society mom
you know bring back spankings again
bring back talking about spankings again
yeah
the point being here is the bible talks about
God chastening his people
even to the extent where he kills his people
that's a theme in the bible
right right
and in fact it's a theme in both old and new testament
right
the new testament specifically says
who served to father the temple of God
him shall God destroy
yeah interpret that for me
well in the greek that means
it means that he'll kill ya
that's what it means
so don't defile your temple
because God can just destroy you
and take you home early
so he tells simon repent
verse 24 then answered simon
and said pray ye the lord for me
that none of these things which ye have spoken come
upon me
and the story ends with simon there
it's a great story because it demonstrates that the sorcerer can be saved
but it also demonstrates
that even after salvation
he can struggle
with past sins
of wanting to have the admiration
the acclimations of the crowd
he can still struggle with envy
and covetousness because it's a part
of his sin nature therefore he has to repent
of these things
now let's go to ax 13
so we see simon the sorcerer
and for the next hour
I'm going to talk about elimus the sorcerer
so let's give you a little bit of an introduction
to ax 13
in ax 13 you have the apostle paul
on his first missionary journey
so he's in his first missionary journey
he goes to antioch
and then he goes to the island
of cyprus with barnimus
and they're out trying to preach the gospel
do work and they're doing a great job
this is his first trip
look what it says in verse number 4
it says so they being sent forth
by the holy ghost departed unto salutia
and from then sailed to cyprus
and when they were at salamis
they preached the word of god
in the synagogues of the jews
and they had also john to their minister
and when they had gone through the isle of paphis
they found
a certain sorcerer
a false prophet
a jew
whose name was bar jesus
so god's trying to specify here
he's like
just let you know what you're dealing with here
okay
verse 7 says
which was
with the deputy of the country
a prudent man who called for barnimus
and saw a desire to hear the word of god
but elimus the sorcerer
for so is his name by interpretation
withstood them
seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith
alright so what do we got going on here
well elimus literally means sorcerer
he goes by the name bar jesus
bar is the aramaic term
that means son
so it's like his name is literally like
son of jesus
or son of josh or would be another way of saying it
and this guy is a false prophet
he's a jew
and he's hanging around with the
these political leaders
serges paulis and serges paulis
wants to hear the gospel
he wants to hear the truth
he wants to know how to be saved
and what better person to preach the gospel to them
than the apostle paul and barnimus
right
but the problem is
that elimus is there
and he is withstanding paul
and he's trying to turn away the deputy
from the faith
now here is a distinct difference between
elimus and simon
there's no indication that simon
tried to stop the apostles
stop philip or anybody
from preaching the gospel to those in samaria
in fact he joined them
elimus on the other hand
what is he doing
he's actually trying to stop the
preaching of god's word
now here is the major difference
look sorcery is evil
it's wicked
it's godless it's an abomination
but you know what
if you're a person who's a sorcerer
and you're trying to stop the preaching of god's word
you're doubly wicked
you're a false prophet jew
child of the devil according to the bible
and god
looks down on you far more
than simon
because simon we can say
simon would fall under the category of being a false prophet
who did it ignorantly
in unbelief
who's another false prophet in the bible who's like that
how about paul
paul was a false prophet
wasn't he a part of the jew's religion
wasn't he a Pharisee of the Pharisee
wasn't he persecuting the church of god
does not the bible say that he was
injurious that he was a persecutor
and a blasphemer
what's the difference
the bible says that he obtained mercy
because he did it ignorantly in unbelief
demonstrated that there's false prophets out there
who are wrong
but they're actually sincere
they think that they're doing right
you say then you know
what happens to that person
well a philip needs to go to that person
preach the gospel and lord willing to get saved
but if they don't get saved
then they'll become an alimus
because the alimus is someone who knows the gospel
he knows the truth
and he wants to fight against it
that's a major difference
you know it says here
that he stood them seeking to turn them away
from the deputy from the faith
this is evil
you know and all of us have experienced this
to a degree or another when we're out souling
and we're literally talking to someone
who is receptive to the gospel
and then you have some
knucklehead friend or family member
who's just literally just being
annoying, obnoxious
trying to turn this person away from the truth
and you just kind of want to knock them out
don't do it
I'm just saying you just kind of want to
because it's just like why are you being so evil
let this person listen to that
I'm not talking to you
if you don't want to hear it it's fine
but don't try to distract and disrupt
the gospel presentation here
you're saying well
you know you're being kind of rough there
you know seriously
you know maybe he is sincere
maybe
you know we just need patience
he just needs love
he needs a little bit of grace
need to pray for him
that's why you know you're going to turn people away
from the faith like this
by that kind of preaching
well let's see what Paul did
verse 9 then Psalm
who's also called Paul
filled with the holy ghost so is he in the flesh
no
filled with the spirit
set his eyes on him and said
all full of all subtlety
and all mischief, thou child of the devil
thou enemy of all righteousness
wilt thou not cease to pervert
the right ways of the Lord
so he looks at the line
and says like you're a child of Satan
you're an enemy of
you know I think you overreacted Paul
it's a bit of an overreaction
no he's legitimate in his assessment
of this person
why because a person again who tries to stop you
for preaching the gospel is evil and wicked
according to the bible
now obviously
this guy is doubly wicked because he's a Jew
and the bible said
that's why it's calling him the child of the devil
Jesus said the same thing
in John 844
but this guy is like
I was going to say quadruple
but it's quadruple
wait yeah quadruple
quadruple
I almost did it again quadruple wicked
why because
he's a false prophet
he's a Jew
he's a child of the devil
he's an enemy of all righteousness
and he's perverting the right ways of the Lord
so this guy
is just like on an agenda
to just destroy the truth
and what happens look at verse 11
and now behold the hand of the Lord
is upon thee
and thou shalt be blind
not seeing the sun
for a season
and immediately there fell on him a mist
and a darkness and he went about seeking some
to lead him by the way
so you know Paul
strikes him with blindness
why because spiritually
you know false prophets
children of the devil
are spiritually blind
they're spiritually blind
and they're trying to withstand the truth
this is why the apostle Paul says in 2 Timothy chapter 3
that they're when talking about false prophets
he says ever learning never able to come to the knowledge of the truth
now as Janice and Jamborees
which by the way are sorcerers
the magicians
now as Janice and Jamborees withstood Moses
so do these also
resist the truth
men of corrupt minds
reprobate concerning the faith
well what does he do he's trying to withstand the men of God
trying to stop them from preaching the gospel
and therefore they are
reprobate according to the Bible
this is evil
this is godless this is wicked
and you know if modern Christians
were there back then
and this happened
Paul would get condemned 100%
you could have handled that differently
I don't agree with this
why did you do that
why didn't you invite him in
to pray to Satan
you know why didn't you just
you should have just invited him in
you went about that the wrong way
you're wicked I can't believe you do something like that
I would never go to a church like that
you know what I tell people when they say that
yeah don't ever come to my church
I don't want someone like that to ever go to my church
you know
and this is something I got a lot
when I kicked out the Muslim dude
okay and the homeless guy
you know
you say why didn't you like
win them to Christ
well the reason I didn't try to preach the gospel to the homeless guys
because number one he was trying to burn the place down
kind of hard to
you know
and two he's taking a swing at me so you know
I mean I could do I could multitask
but I just don't know if I can preach the gospel
well you know what
oh but you candle right
the person who's condemning me like
oh you should have just preached the gospel
well first of all you would have gotten knocked out
number one okay
but number two there's a time and place for everything
and you know what the Bible tells us
listen to this listen to me this is what Jesus said
okay give not that which is
holy unto the dogs neither cast you
your pros before swine
that means give the truth to the people who actually want the truth
not the people who hate the truth
not the people who are aggressive
and angry against the truth
we're not to try to go out and give the gospel
to people who don't want it
now look folks we don't pick and choose
what doors we knock we're going to knock on every single door
that we're given
but if there's someone at the door who is aggressive
we move on to the next we wipe off
the dust of our feet and move on to the next
you know
oh why didn't you invite
the Muslim to come in because he's praying
to a false God that's why
because Islam is a
false religion
that's why and I'm not going to have some
guy coming into our building praying to Allah
since Jesus Christ
is the God of this church
and what fellowship
has righteousness with unrighteousness
what concord has Christ with
Belior or with Allah
oh man
I just think you should have
you're trying to tell me that this guy rolled up
Saul first works Baptist church and said
this is a good place to pray
when there's like mosques all around
don't give me that nonsense
you're like oh man you just
you're going to cause people to just like
you know just get away from the truth
not so not so
we've had a lot of people come to church because of that video
number one but number two my brother in law
kicked out a Muslim from a church just recently
because of that
there's a Muslim who's trying to come in do the same exact thing
you know
pulled out his rug his little
his little rug there to try to pray
my brother in law caught him he said
are you a Muslim he said are you going to pray here
he's like get out of here
we don't pray to Allah here
so not only is it causing
people to find the truth but it's causing
other Christians to be emboldened
to do something like that
why because they're sick and tired of pastors
oh yeah just come in yeah just pray
it's all the same God right
we all pray to the same God right
Allah means God doesn't it
we don't want no trouble give me trouble
I want trouble
you know the Bible teaches us here
that we need Christianity is not
a pacifist religion
okay the Bible tells
us that we are to
that the gates of hell should not prevail against it
it is a spiritual battle and look
I'm not looking to fist fight anybody
okay that's not my thing
but you know what here's the thing is that I'm not going to permit
just godlessness from entering
to the church false religion from entering
to the church and you know what no amount of criticisms
or comments will convince me otherwise
oh I can't
believe yeah I know you can't believe it
you can't believe a lot of things
I will never go to the church
I'm glad you wouldn't
because church is for believers
which is something that you're apparently not
what do we have here we have
Elimus the sorcerer getting rebuked
and being struck with blindness
because he's a godless reprobate false prophet
who's trying to stop the preaching of the gospel
okay and we've had this happen multiple times
where you know
whether here we've had this happen
we had this happen in Belize
where someone literally hindered us from preaching
to like thousands and thousands of students
a coalition of pastors
literally hindered us from going
to preach to thousands of students
at a convention because we were preaching
that you can't lose your salvation
you know these are the Elimuses of this world
what's the point the point is this folks
is that sorcery is a real thing
and you know sorcery we look at it now
and we're like oh yeah you're talking about like
sorcerers today like palm readers
you're talking about the people
who look at the crystal ball
and you look at the people who you know
those Mexican stores
your Mexicans out there
what is that called Marcos
you know what that's called
they go into these stores
they got the candles
botanica
there you go
they go to the botanica
okay
you know they go in there
and it's just like you got
the Santa Muerte here
you got Jesus over here you got candles
you got all types of spells
yeah that's a form of sorcery for sure
but let me explain to you
one of the biggest
okay institutions of sorcery
in the world it's called the pharmaceutical industry
how about that
where they accumulate two to four
trillion dollars globally
by literally keeping people
on drugs
right you know
keeping people on anti-depressants
causing you know bewitching them
into thinking that they're getting better
or that they're maintaining their sanity
when really they're just getting worse
like how do people fall for that
they're sorcerers
pharmacaya
go to Revelation 21
Revelation 21
and that's the major culprit today
when it comes to sorcerers
we would call them sorcerers
but you know that's exactly what they are
they're basically performing
enchantments and charming
these are the
evil apothecaries of this world
who are using the knowledge of good
in order to make money off of it
of the misery of others right
people are struggling with anxiety
they're struggling with depression
you know they're struggling with whatever
whatever mental problems that they have
here's drugs to fix it
okay
you know oh you're struggling with depression
you feel sad
and look there's even an anti-depressant out there
that's even they're starting to coin as the divorce
drug
because women who are going through these hormonal
changes end up taking these anti-depressants
and then they're just like
I want to leave my husband this is literally something
that's been trapped and proven
you know because it messes with your mind
messes with your mind
it's all these psychedelics and drugs
that are being used and causing you to
think that you're getting better look we
need to just go back to just eating good
food
you know exercising
and the majority of people who are like
on these drugs is like you've never seen a gym
in your life my boy
like
you don't make any gains on
you've never touched a weight in your life
you know have you do you know what the sun even
looks like have you touched
grass have you ever ate
a t-bone steak
I eat chicken tenders you know
they're the ones who just eat chicken tenders all the time
you know and then it's just like oh I'm just depressed
yeah you're depressed because you're just gaming
all night
you're just gaming all day all night
drinking energy drinks
all day long you're not eating
any healthy dose of protein
you're not lifting any weights you're not
getting outside you're not socializing with others
you're doom scrolling
and then you're like I need pills to make me better
I feel depressed
and I don't know why
and look obviously we know that there are seasons
when hormones just you know
they kind of go crazy on women
men we don't know that
and if you know that
you better
change that
there's women who you know that's a fact right
women go through
hormonal changes throughout the month
right and you know
even with pregnancy
it's just skyrockets
okay so husbands you know be patient
with your wives when they are pregnant
you're just like
you know who are you
you know she's just crazy
I just don't want to do
she's making a human being
you know she's making an eyeball
she's making two
making elbows and stuff like
you gotta like be patient
alright it takes a lot of work
and you're like dinner's not ready
well you're sleeping all day
you know they go through a lot of changes
and let me just prepare you
they cry a lot
it's just what they do
let them cry
and you're like what's the problem
and they're just like nothing
believe it
it's true
100% true
you know they just cry
and you know what
I'm cool with that
what I'm not cool with is when a dude does that
you know
if you are a man
and you're just crying for no reason
and I ask you why are you crying
you say for no reason I'm gonna sock you in the gut
and give you a reason to cry
we can't have that slide
can't have that slide
I'm doing you a favor
so when other people see you
like why are you crying like the pastor just sock me in the gut
you know it's normal for women to do that
it's normal for women to feel that
okay and here's the thing folks
is that sometimes people think oh man
I'm going through these hormonal changes
I need to go to the doctor and get some drugs
in order to fix my you know how I'm feeling
just no
this is just part of life
and let me just be very frank with you
it's part of the curse
and you know what it's wrong
to resort to
you know drugs
in order to take away
the institution of what God said
forth in the body
okay God wants you to wait it out
now look if you are on antidepressants right now
I'm not telling you to get off
cold turkey it's the worst thing you could possibly do
you know you need to
you know talk to someone
to help you to get off that
I would recommend that you would event
gradually very gradually
depending upon whatever doses you're taking
I'm talking about those who are tempted
to take antidepressants in order to fix themselves
okay mentally or whatever
maybe because a lot of the times folks
we're Christians and you know what we need to deal with
things in a spiritual way okay
and I'm all for just eliminating
what possibly
may be the problem
you know naturally through
exercise eating red meat
getting your vitamin D from the sun
taking walks socializing with people
you know get off the video games
stop doom scrolling
people message me all the time they're just like oh man
I feel so anxious I'm just so fearful
I'm like how much time do you spend on social media
they're like well I'm only on social media
yeah that's why
you know if you're constantly on social media
and you're constantly
putting in the narrative
of politics
and all that stuff that's going on around the world
it's going to drive you crazy
yep
it's going to drive you mad
this is what you got to do
delete instagram if you have to do that
delete twitter delete x delete facebook
delete whatever and you know what start living
just a normal life
read the bible pray
go to church strengthen yourself spiritually
and physically as well
you know don't fall prey
to the sorcerers of this world
who are just trying to drug
you up and keep you dependent on them
don't fall prey to the
simon the sorcerers of this world
who are bewitching you
through drugs they're bewitching you
through the pharmaceutical industry
trying to keep you dependent on them
it's like oh man I need a higher dose for what
you know and now you have
like young kids were on these drugs
young kids were
on antidepressants and they just got
social anxiety deal with it
we had social anxiety growing up too
we just had to deal with it this is how you get over it
go socialize
increase your confidence
you know you know lower the caffeine
intake if that helps
if you come into a crowd and you have
so much social anxiety
you know obviously you need to
reduce some of that caffeine intake
but also just practice how to socialize
as well okay and
look you say well it's easy for you to say
you just you know
you're a social person and
yeah but I actually talked to people who had
social anxiety
they were major introverts and they're not like that anymore
because they actually put themselves out there
they put these things into practice and they're not like that
they're a little weird still you know
can't get rid of the whole thing
you know
can't fix them 100% but hey they
you know
now people don't think they're autistic or anything like that
you know they're just like hey
this person you know and often just what it
is and you know everyone thinks that they're autistic
I get that and it's true that that does exist
okay I'm not trying to
look at anybody you know it is
it's a it's a legitimate thing
but some people just want to say that only
because they're just not social at all
okay and
you know what church does for you it normalizes
you
okay like am I not normal well if people are
accusing you of being autistic and you're
not
you know
socialize put these things into practice to
eliminate the possibility if you are
not
I know it's funny but it's true
you're not going to get this anywhere else
you're not going to get this advice anywhere
else because everywhere else is a soothsayer
who just wants to tell you what you want to hear
and you know you're like I'm visiting town never coming back
go
back to the soothsayers
go back to the charmers
go back to the enchanters
go back to the sorcerers
that just got you under their spell
and tell you everything is okay
you can leave your spouse
you can continue taking this
continue doing drugs
God's not mad at you
good God, good devil, good hell
that's your choice
but you know what we want
we want Simon the sorcerer
who actually was given the truth
get saved and even after salvation
he fixed himself
he said you know I repent
he wanted to get right with God
and he did
what's the sermon today
let's read one more verse here
I don't have notes
I don't have really a structure here
look at Revelation 21 verse 8 it says here
but the fearful and unbelieving
and the abominable and murderers
and whoremongers and I want you to notice this
and sorcerers
and idolaters and all liars
shall have their part in the lake
which burned up with fire and burnstone
which is the second death
look folks this is not an exhaustive
list of sins that take people to hell
this is a minor list
but you know what he adds in this minor list
sorcerers
it's kind of demonstrating to you and to me
how God views this thing
it's a sinful thing
it's an abomination
don't be a sorcerer but also don't be deceived
by the sorcerers of this world
Father we thank you so much for your word
and I pray that you Lord
you'd help us to gird up the loins of our mind
and not to be susceptible
to the deception
of the sorceries of this world Lord
the witches, the wizards, the so called
wise men of this world
we know that even social media is filled
with gurus who claim to know
the truth in a specific
niche Lord and they can
often operate as those who are
soothsayers trying to convince us
that if we do it their way that we'll be a lot happier
more successful, have more
money or whatever it is that we're trying to
obtain. Help us to trust in you
to acknowledge you in all our ways
to go to the word of God and not allow
ourselves to be spoiled by the
philosophies and vain deceits of this
world and I pray that Lord
you help us to be grounded and rooted
in the word of God we love you we thank you
pray these things in Jesus name amen