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We are only
going to be here a little while. One of these days you will come
to your last Sabbath service here. In a very short time Gods people
are going to be scattered all over the world because of persecution.
We know that from the prophecies and we can see it developing all
around us. And so, when I was thinking about what we should study
in our worship service, one of the things that is on my mind is,
How are we going to help Gods people to be prepared for the great
crisis that is coming in the world at the close?
I want to study
with you about the great crisis that is coming in the world at the
close. Our first text--if you have your Bible--I would invite you
to open it to John 8 and we will read the words of Jesus. Jesus
has just forgiven the woman who was caught in adultery and told
her not only that she was pardoned, but also that she was to go
and sin no more. And then He makes this statement: John 8:12. "Then
Jesus spoke to them again, saying, 'I am the light of the world.
He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light
of life." Jesus said, I am the light, I am the true light of
the world, and anybody who will follow Me, will obey Me. That is
what a disciple is, they follow, they obey. Anyone who will follow
Me will . . . what will happen? He will not walk in darkness but
he will have the light of life.
The Jews did
not like this. In the next verse they started arguing with Jesus
about it. They did not like it. One of the things they did not like
about it was that Jesus told them that they were in the dark and
they said, "We are not in the dark. We have the light of truth."
Notice how Jesus explained that to them in John 12:46. Always remember
that the experience of Gods people at the first advent is spoken
of by Ellen White as a representation of the experience of Gods
chosen people at the time of the second advent. Here in John 12:46
Jesus says, "I have come as a light into the world, that whoever
believes in Me should not abide"--that is, should not remain--"in
darkness." In other words, Jesus is telling the Jews, "You
are in the dark, but if you will look to Me, you will come out of
the dark and you will not stay in the dark, you will have light."
Now in the last
days of the worlds history, the bible predicts that the earth all
over will be dark. Lets read that in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah
60:2. It says, "For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,
And deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you,
and His glory will be seen upon you."
The prophet
says, and he is talking about the last days, he said that darkness
will cover the earth, and deep darkness will be upon the people.
Now what is this darkness that is going to cover the earth and the
deep darkness the people? Let us read just a few texts in the book
of Revelation to get started. Look at Revelation 12:9. It says,
"So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called
the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to
the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." Notice,
he deceives the whole world.
Notice Revelation
16:13, 14. It says, "And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs
coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast,
and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are spirits
of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth
and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great
day of God Almighty." So the earth is going to be filled with
darkness, spiritual darkness, as a result of the deceptions of the
devil. How much of the world does mystical Babylon cover? It covers
the whole world. Let us read that. Revelation 18:23 is talking about
Babylon. It says, "The light of a lamp shall not shine in you
anymore, and the voice of bridegroom and bride shall not be heard
in you anymore. For your merchants were the great men of the earth,
for by your sorcery all the nations were deceived." How many
nations? All the nations were deceived by your sorcery.
So the Lord
says, I am even going to take the physical light out of you. And
that is one of the plagues on Babylon. Babylon is going to be filled
with darkness. It has spiritual darkness already and in the fifth
plague the Lord says, I am going to give you physical darkness.
You can read that in Revelation 16:10. Babylon, mystical Babylon,
is full of darkness. The devil deceives the world, all nations.
Sorcery is contact with evil spirits, that is what sorcery is. And
through sorcery all nations are going to be deceived. They are going
to be in the dark.
Now let us read
from the book The Great Controversy what this
masterpiece of deception is that is going to deceive all the nations
and is operating in our time. Do you believe we are living in the
last days? If we are living in the last days, then what we just
read in Revelation is happening and we should be able to see it.
Now what is it that is the masterpiece of deception? It says, "As
spiritualism more closely imitates the nominal Christianity of the
day, it has greater power to deceive and ensnare." The
Great Controversy, 588.
What is spiritualism
going to do? It is going to imitate what? Christianity. So the last
great deception is going to appear to be a Christian teaching but
it is actually going to come from the wrong spirit. She says, "Satan
himself, is converted after the modern order of things." The
devil himself is a Christian! That is what it says here. He professes
to be a Christian. He is converted to Christ according to the modem
order of things. "He will appear in the character of an angel
of light. Through the agency of spiritualism, miracles will be wrought,
the sick will be healed, and many undeniable wonders will be performed.
And as the spirits will profess faith in the Bible, and manifest
respect for the institutions of the church, their work will be accepted
as a manifestation of divine power." Ibid., 588.
So the spirits
will be professed Christians. Is that what it says? They will be
professed Christians. They will go to church. They will profess
faith in Christ. But it is a deception, it is a master deception.
"The line of distinction between professed Christians and the
ungodly is now hardly distinguishable. Church members love what
the world loves and are ready to join with them, and Satan determines
to unite them in one body and thus strengthen his cause by sweeping
all into the ranks of spiritualism. Ibid, 588
The devil plans
to sweep how many people into the ranks of spiritualism? All. Everybody.
Does that include the Roman Catholics? Well, she talks about them,
yes, she says the papists will be readily deluded because there
is going to be miracles. But how about the Protestant churches?
Are they going to be deceived, too? "Protestants, having cast
away the shield of truth, will also be deluded. Papists, Protestants,
and worldlings"--that is people who do not go to any church--"
will alike accept the form of godliness without the power, and they
will see in this union a grand movement for the conversion of the
world and the ushering in of the long-expected millennium."
Ibid, 588,589.
Do you hear
any talk about the millennium today? Do you hear any talk about
2000? People are talking about it all over. Christians are talking
about it, churches are talking about it, and Ellen White says the
devil decides that through spiritualism he is going to get all the
Roman Catholic Church, all the Protestant Churches, and all the
people who do not go to any church and he is going to sweep them
all into one big church. And they are going to say, "This is
the greatest religious revival there has ever been, we are now going
to have the millennium of peace, the world is going to be converted.
Christianity is finally going to triumph." That is what they
are going to say. And the whole world is going to be swept into
this thing.
Now, I read
that thirty years ago. And when I studied those things, I thought
to myself, Well, that is all the other churches and the worldlings.
That is not the Seventh-day Adventists. But, I want to tell you,
friends, as I have studied recently, I have found that Ellen White
gives warning after warning after warning to Seventh-day Adventists.
Do not think that because you are a Seventh-day Adventist, that
you cannot be taken in by spiritualism. Do not think that.
Spiritualism
has more than one form. Now there is one form of spiritualism that
Adventists cannot be taken into that the rest of the world can be
taken into--or most of them. Because most other churches and the
Roman Catholic Church do not understand what happen to a person
when they die. They think that when you die, you do not really die,
there is some part of you that goes on living. And so, if there
is some part of you that goes on living, why could not that part
of you contact somebody who is still living in the world? And through
that method, the devil will deceive millions and millions of people.
But the Bible
says that the dead know how much? Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6. How much
do the dead know? They do not know anything. The dead are asleep.
They are unconscious. That is what the Bible says dozens and dozens
of times. Jesus spoke of death as a sleep. John 11:11-14. And the
dead are not up in heaven praising the Lord. Let us just read that
quickly. Look in Psalm 115:17. It says, "The dead do not praise
the Lord, nor any who go down into silence." The dead do not
praise the Lord. They are not conscious. They do not know anything,
the Psalmist says. Their anger, their hatred, their love, their
envy has all perished. They are unconscious. But most Christians
today do not know that.
And so, when
an apparition comes to them and says, "I am the Virgin Mary
and I have a message for you from the throne of God," they
believe it. But now friends, both Roman Catholics and Protestants
have acknowledged for many years that Mary did die. They both have
acknowledged it. Well, if Mary died, then she cannot be talking
because when a person dies, (look at Job 7) they cannot communicate
with anybody until after they are resurrected. Notice what it ways
in Job 7 about the one who dies: Job 7:9,10 says, ". . .So
he goes down to the grave does not come up. He shall never return
to his house, Nor shall his place know him anymore." The one
who dies, his place will not know him anymore, he cannot go back
to his house, it says. Well, how long is he going to be in that
condition? Look in Job 14:12, "So man lies down and does not
rise. Till the heavens are no more, they will not awake nor be roused
from their sleep." So until the heavens are no more, when is
that? When are the earth and heavens going to pass away? When Jesus
comes. Jesus said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My
words shall not pass away." Matthew 24 :3 5.
So one way that
the devil deceives people is through spiritualism is by appearing
as their relatives or friends who have died or as one of the apostles
or as the Virgin Mary and giving them messages. You might like to
know, incidentally, that these Virgin Mary apparitions are encouraging
people to keep Sunday which is directly contrary to the commandments.
That shows you right there, it is not from the Lord. It is contrary
to Gods law because the Bible says concerning spirits that if a
spirit does not teach you according to the law and the testimony,
there is no light it. Thatislsaiah8:20. Remember what we started
out talking about? Light and darkness. And if the spirit does not
teach according to the law, there is how much light in that spirit?
None.
I want to study
with you this morning for a few minutes about the foundation teachings
of spiritualism. We have already looked at one. It was the first
lie that the devil told. TurnbacktoGenesis3 where the devil tempted
Eve. She was deceived and fell and enticed her husband to fall.
We read here the first lie that the devil told through the serpent.
It says, "Then the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not
surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes
will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
Genesis3 :4,5. This was the first lie. It involved the
lie that Eve could sin and not die.
Is the devil
still telling that lie today? That you can sin and not die. Sin
is disobeying God, disobeying His law. That is not all. I want to
go underneath that and show the fundamental lie that is involved
in all the devils teachings and all of spiritualism. The fundamental
lie underneath it is right here in verse 5. The devil said to Eve,
If you will sin (if you disobey God), then your eyes are going to
be what? Opened. Now what does that mean, your eyes are going to
be opened? You are going to see something. You are going to have
light on something you do not have light on now.
Was that true?
Well, the Bible says that their eyes were opened to see that they
were naked. And so, what did the devil do? You see, he persuaded
Eve, this is the way Eve was deceived. He said to her, If you do
this, something wonderful is going to happen to you. You are going
to have this wonderful revelation of light and knowledge such as
only God has. You do not have it now, but if you eat of this fruit,
you are going to become like God. You are going to be able to see
things that you have never seen before. And that was a delusion.
He said, in other words, there is going to be this great wonderful
experience, this great light that is going to come into your life.
And she believed it.
But after she
ate of that fruit, did she have more light or less light?-- She
was covered with a garment of light and so was Adam. So when she
ate the fruit, were her eyes opened to see more light? No, she had
less light and her mind was darkened by sin and they had to go out
of the garden and that began the experience that the Bible calls
the darkness, the blackness, the awfulness of sin. Now notice what
the devil did--and this is what he still does. He took something
that actually was dark and he called it light. It is dark, but you
put a label on it. You say, "This is light. This is wonderful."
And Eve was deceived.
Let us read
what the Bible says about that. That did not stop right there in
the Garden of Eden. That was just the first experience where you
took something that was dark and you called it light. Let us read
a few texts on that. Look first of all in Isaiah 5:20, it says,
"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;" Notice
there is a progression. First they call evil good and what happens
eventually? Then they call good evil. "Who put darkness for
light." Now that is what the devil did to Eve. He took something
that was darkness and he called it light. That is the first step.
If you take
something that is dark and you call it light, eventually, do you
know what will happen? Your whole definition, your whole frame of
reference will get all confused and you will take something that
is light and you will call it dark. In fact, it talks about that
right here. "Who put darkness for light," that is the
first step. And the next step is to put light for darkness. That
is the underlying principle of all spiritualistic teachings. You
take something that is dark and you call it light.
What does the
Bible talk about when a person dies and goes into the grave? Is
it dark or is it light in the grave? It is dark and it is silent.
The person is unconscious. Now they do not know it. To them when
they close their eyes in death, it will just seem like that quick
and they will open their eyes again, they will be raised. They will
either be raised at the beginning of the millennium or they will
be raised at the end of the millennium. And when they are raised,
they will not know the difference, because when you are dead, it
is just that quick--you do not know passage of time.
But the grave
is dark and the devil said, It is light. You will not really die.
There is some part of you that goes on living. When the most famous
Mongol emperor died, there is a legend that they killed fifty virgins
to be with him in death. What in the world were they doing that
for? He did not know it. Well, it is because they put darkness for
light and they say that in the grave you are going to need all these
things. So the Egyptian rulers took food and clothing and chariots
and all kinds of things and put them in the grave. Why? Because
they put darkness for light.
Now, so that
we understand exactly what we are talking about, we need to look
and see what the Bible says about spiritual darkness and spiritual
light, because we are talking about spiritual darkness and spiritual
light. We are not talking about the physical, primarily. So let
us see what is spiritual darkness and what is spiritual light. Then
you will understand right away, whatever is dark, the devil calls
it-- what? Light. Let us find out what spiritual darkness is.
Turn in your
Bible to the book of Proverbs. (We are not going to get done this
morning, I will have to finish it tonight.) I will show you tonight
that this spiritual darkness that the devil calls light, that it
is not only in all the other churches, it is right inside the Adventist
Church and most of us do not even know it. It might be right in
your family and you do not even know it.
We are going
to find out now, what is this spiritual darkness? Proverbs 4:19
Here are people who are in the dark. Who are they? It says, "The
way of the wicked is like darkness; They do not know what makes
them stumble." The way of whom? The wicked. Are the wicked
in the light or are they in the dark? They are in the dark. Well,
now, what is wickedness anyway? If you are trying to find out elementary
fundamental principles, one of the books of the Bible you always
want to check in is the book of Genesis. Almost all the fundamental
things are defined in the book of Genesis and what is wickedness
or evil?
Look in Genesis
50 and the Bible will tell you what evil or wickedness is. That
is what the spiritual darkness is. Genesis 50:17, "Thus you
shall say to Joseph: 'I beg you please, forgive the trespass of
your brothers and their sin; for they did evil to you. 'Now, please,
forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of your father.
And Joseph wept when they spoke to him."
They came to
Joseph and they said, "We have done evil to you because we
have trespassed; we have sinned." So what is evil? It is trespassing
against the law; it is sin. That is what evil is. And the people
who are evil are wicked. The Bible says in Proverbs 4 that they
are where? They are in the dark. They do not know what they are
stumbling at. They are in the dark.
Now, what is
sin? Sin is the transgression of Gods law. So what is evil or wickedness
or spiritual darkness? It is breaking Gods law. That is what it
is. If you are breaking Gods law, if you are living a life in which
you are breaking God's law, you are in the dark-- spiritually. You
cannot see. And people in this world are just going along, living
in sin and they are in the dark and they do not realize that at
the end of the line, they are going to get destroyed. Why do they
not know that they are going to get destroyed? Because they are
in the dark. The devil has told them, "You can keep on sinning
and still live." That is the basic, fundamental lie of spiritualism.
You take something that is dark and you call it light.
Now, let us
look by contrast, what does the Bible say is spiritual light? If
you are in the dark and you want to get out of the dark, and you
want to get in the light. You want to turn on the light. How do
you turn on the light? Look at Proverbs 6:23. It says, "For
the commandment is a lamp, and the law a light; Reproofs and instruction
are the way of life." So when you study Gods law, what does
it say it is? It is alight. Now Jesus said, (we read the text at
the beginning), "l am the light of the world." Did Jesus
show us how to keep Gods law? Did He give us an example of how to
keep it or how to break it? Which did He do?
He said, "I
have kept My Fathers commandments." John 15:10. Why is Jesus
the light of the world? Because He is an example of a Person who
perfectly kept Gods law and in Him we have an example of a human
being who perfectly kept Gods law. If we look to Him and follow
Him, we will be in the light. Jesus said to the Jews, John 8:46,
"Which one of you convicts Me of sin?" And what did they
say? They did not say anything. There was not anything to say.
Jesus is the
light of the world because He perfectly kept the law. The law is
the light and in the life of Jesus we have an example of perfectly
keeping Gods law. The devil says you can break God slaw and go ahead
and live. The Bible says if you break Gods law the result of that
is going to be death. Look at Psalm 119:105. It says, "Your
Word is a lamp to my feet And a light to My path." The Bible,
Gods Word, is spiritual light and if you follow it, you will be
in the light. Look at Psalm 119:130. It says "The entrance
of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple."
You do not have
to have a college education or be highly educated. You can study
Gods Word and if you have a simple mind, you are still going to
be in the light. A child can understand which way to walk out of
this Book. Now, the light then is the truth of Gods Word, the truth
of His law. If you are following and obeying Jesus, Jesus said,
"If you follow Me you will be in the light. You will not be
in darkness. You will not stay in darkness." He said to the
Jews, "You are in the dark, but if you follow Me, you will
not remain in the dark."
And the devil
comes to people and what is the basis of all that he does? He takes
something that is dark and what does he call it? He calls it light.
People are fooled and they say, "This is great light!"
And it is dark. Let us read what Jesus says about the devil in Luke
22:53. This is what Jesus said about the devil. "When I was
with you daily in the temple, you did not try to seize Me. But this
is your hour, and the power of darkness." Who is the power
of darkness? That is the devil. He is the one who is in charge of
all the spiritual darkness. What is this darkness that we read is
going to cover the whole world and deep darkness will be upon the
people? What is the darkness? It is the deception that you can sin
and still live. That is the darkness.
But what does
the devil do with this darkness? Look at II Corinthians 11:14. It
says, "And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself
into an angel of light." He is really the prince of the power
of darkness, but he transforms himself and he puts a label on himself
and he says, "I am an angel of light." And people today
are fooled, just like Eve was fooled. And we read in the book of
Revelation that this deception is going to cover the entire world.
All nations are going to be deceived by these sorceries.
Now, we have
covered the foundation principles. People like it when you just
talk about foundation principles and it does not get too close to
home. But I am telling you, friends, that is not good enough preaching
for today. We have to understand how these principles of light and
darkness get worked out in our lives and in our families and in
our churches. Otherwise we are going to be deceived by spiritualism.
Last night I
was doing a little checking. I was amazed. Did you know that almost
one-fourth of Volume 8 of Testimonies for the Church, almost
one-fourth of the book is warnings to Seventh-day Adventists against
spiritualism. Do you think we have any danger in regard to spiritualism?
Evidently. The book Ministry of Healing contains
some of the same warnings, over sixty pages. And then there are
other scattered references throughout the writings of Ellen White.
Are there any dangers? Are Seventh-day Adventists in any danger
of spiritualism? Evidently. You see, we thought we were not in any
danger because we knew the state of the dead, so we just assumed
we were O.K.
But, I want
to tell you, when you are dealing with somebody who is a master
at taking darkness
and calling
it light, unless you know and understand the principles from God's
Word, you will be deceived and not even know it. As I studied this,
I tell you, I realized that I myself was in danger! Danger of being
deceived. Tonight we are going to go into some more practical principles,
but we are going to get started this morning.
What are some
of the practical ways that this works out so that people take darkness
and they want to be in the dark and they do not want to be in the
light? I want to tell you, friends, if you want to be in the dark
on something instead of being in the light of Gods Word, the devils
influencing your mind and you do not even know it. lam going to
get very practical. Turn in your Bible to Revelation 18:1. It says,
"After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven,
having great authority, and the earth was illuminated. . . "What
does that mean? It was lightened up. Is this light or dark? What
does the Bible say? This is light.
It is such a
great light that the whole world is lighted up. What is this angel
saying that lightens up the whole world? He is telling the world,
"You are in the dark and if you do not get out of there, you
are going to burn up." Look what it says. Verse 4: "And
I heard another voice from heaven saying, 'Come out of her (that
is Babylon), My people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you
receive of her plagues." See, if you are in the dark, you think
you can go on sinning and you can still have eternal life. But the
Bible says, if you do not come out of there and you keep sinning,
you are going to go to eternal destruction. And that is the light.
The Bible says that is the light.
The devil says
you can go on sinning, breaking Gods law and you can still have
eternal life. But the Bible says, if you do not quit it--did I read
it right? Is that what your Bible says? If you do not quit it, you
are going to endure the seven last plagues. This is the light and
this light is going to cover the earth. Now, we studied this in
the Pastors class this morning. The word that is translated "angel"
-- the Greek word angelos, is where we get the word angel.
It means "A messenger." That is what the word angel in
Greek means, a messenger.
When God says
an angel is going to come down from heaven, the angel is going to
come down from heaven all right, there is no question about that.
But how is that angel going to speak? How do the angels speak? You
know how they speak? They speak through men, through human messengers.
So if you are on the earth in the last days and the Lord is going
to speak through you, what message are you going to give to the
people who are in Babylon all over the world? What are you going
to tell them?
Well, you had
better come out. You had better get out of there, because If you
stay in there and you share in her sins and you keep on sinning,
you are going to suffer the seven last plagues. And the whole world
is deceived, according to Revelation 18:23, by this sorcery that
you can keep sinning. It is the darkness that is called light.
Now, that is
the real light. Remember, we read it in Isaiah 60:2 that in the
last days that darkness was going to cover the earth and deep
darkness the people. And what is this darkness? Oh, it is the
devils lie that he told to Eve. That is the foundation of spiritualism.
You can sin and go on and live-- the devils lie. It is his masterpiece
of deception.
Now, I have
a question for you. This is going to be hard, so get ready. Just
put your seat belt on. If somebody comes and they start preaching
this message to come out of Babylon and to keep Gods commandments
and to keep His law and quit sinning, is that the light or darkness?
Are they preaching light or darkness? They are preaching light.
Now, if you
were the devil, what would you do about it? What does the devil
want to do? He wants to keep people in the dark and tell them that
the darkness is light. And so, the devil would want to stop that
preaching. He would want to stop people who are preaching that way
and say, "No, do not do that." You know how the devil
works, too. He gets representatives in Babylon to complain about
the people being brought out of the darkness, saying, "Do not
do that. We want them to stay where they are. We want them to stay
in the church where they are. We want them to stay in the darkness."
Now who does
the devil use to try to stop the people who are preaching the light
and to keep the people in darkness? Who does the devil use? Well,
I want to tell you, friends, in New Guinea the people that the devil
used were the Seventh-day Adventists! It was a Seventh-day Adventist
church organization that came to the street preachers and said,
"Stop preaching this."
I want to tell
you, when you have somebody preaching the light and somebody else
is trying to keep the people in the dark, they are under the control
of supernatural forces of evil. And our church organization in New
Guinea which is under the control of our church organization in
Australia, which is under the control of our church organization
in Maryland, tried to stop the preaching of the light.
What does the
devil do? He calls darkness light. When you have things like that
going on, you have spiritualism right in the Adventist Church because
you are trying to put out the light and turn on the dark. That is
exactly what you have. You think that the Seventh-day Adventist
Church is not in danger of spiritualism? Our whole organization
is permeated by the influence of demons who are trying to stop the
preaching of the three angels messages all over the world. I just
gave you an example in New Guinea
I am going to
give you a few more in the few minutes we have left--at least two
more. Look up Ephesians 5:11. Now, perhaps someone will say, "Pastor
John, you are not smiling enough this morning." You know, I
do not usually do a lot of laughing at funerals. Do you? And I want
to tell you that what I am talking about is taking the Adventist
Church and the world down to destruction because we are putting
darkness in the place of light. It is not something to smile and
laugh about, although I believe in being pleasant and cheerful.
Look at what it says in Ephesians 5:11. We are talking
about spiritualism and spiritualism is the forces of the power of
darkness. Ephesians 5:11, "And have no fellowship with the
unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them." Paul
says, "Do not have any fellowship with the works of darkness."
Turn back to
I Corinthians5:11-13 "But now I have written to you not to
keep company with anyone named a brother" (that is a member
of the church), "who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an
idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner - not even
to eat with such a person. For what have I to do with judging those
also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But
those who are outside" (that is outside the church), "God
judges. Therefore, put away from yourselves the evil person."
What does the
Apostle Paul say is supposed to happen in the Christian Church?
If the Spirit of God is in the church and there is light in the
church, he says, do not have any fellowship with the unfruitful
works of darkness. Expose them if somebody continues in sin. Now
we are not talking about somebody who slips and falls into sin and
repents and wants to come back to the Lord. We are not talking about
that. We are talking about the person who insists on living a life
of sin, like this man who decided he was going to live with his
fathers wife. He talks about this in I Corinthians 5.
He says, "Put
those people out of the church." Do you believe what the Bible
says? The Bible says you are not to have fellowship with the unfruitful
works of darkness in the church. If somebody refuses to keep the
law of God and they are living in open sin, they are to be disfellowshiped.
You are not to have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.
But now, what
does the devil say? What does the devil do? The works of darkness.
What is that? Those are the people who are living in sin. And what
does the devil call that? He calls it light. He says, "You
can accept them all together. They are all the same. Everybody is
a sinner." Well, everybody is a sinner all right, but If you
become a Christian, you have decided to repent and follow Jesus
and not walk in the way of sin any more.
And so, the
devil says, "Just accept everybody together." He uses
the parable of the wheat and the tares to persuade people on this
point. People do not know what a tare is. A tare is not somebody
who is living in open sin. We do not have time to discuss that subject
right now, but I can explain that to you another time. A tare is
somebody whose heart is not right but on the outside they are living
according to the commandments.
The devil uses
and misrepresents the parable of the wheat and the tares to try
to convince people that you have to let ALL the sin stay in the
church. Do you know what will happen to the church if you allow
sin in it? This is what has happened in Adventism and it is the
result of spiritualism. It is spiritualism that teaches people to
have the darkness and light and just mingle it all together. If
you took half a cup of sewer water and half a cup of pure water
and poured it together, would you be willing to drink fifty percent
of it? Well, that is what spiritualism teaches. You just mingle
it all together.
The Bible says
do not have anything to do with it. What will happen if you do?
Look at I Corinthians 5 again, verse 6: "Your glorying is not
good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens"--how much?--"the
whole lump?" What will happen to the church? It will ruin the
whole church if you allow sin in. The people who are living in open
sin, just allow them in the church. You know what that is doing?
That is calling darkness light. It is the result of spiritualism,
and it completely wrecks the church.
Now, do you
know what the devil also does in addition to saying to people to
let all the sin in the church? If there is some preacher who stands
up and complains and says, "I do not believe we should have
this sin in the church." You know what the devil will do? He
will have all those people who do not want sin in the church disfellowshiped.
That, my friends,
in a simple sense is what happened in Hungary. The reason that you
have over one thousand people disfellowshiped in Hungary was because
there were a few preachers who said, "There is open sin in
the leaders of the church here and it needs to be dealt with."
And they said, "We are not going to deal with that, we are
going to deal with you and get you out." What is that doing?
That is putting darkness for light. That is a spiritualistic teaching.
That is the way that the devil gets control of the professed people
of God .And we have it all over the world. We have it right here
in Wichita. That is one of the main reasons why Marshall was fired.
People said,
"Just preach love. Do not deal with these things." And
when you turn on the light, people want to stay in the dark. It
is an evidence that evil spirits are at work in our churches all
over the world because we are putting darkness for light. And I
want to tell you, friends, that is the reason why we exist here,
because we have decided and I have decided lam not willing to put
darkness for light. How about you?
We are out of
time. I have about ten more things to show you, everyone of them
just as practical as the two we have just covered and they all show
that spiritualism--the powers of spiritualism and of the devil--are
working, not just in the Papacy, not just in other Protestant Churches,
they are working in Adventism. What are you going to do about it?
Turn to II Corinthians6:
14. "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For
what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion
has light with darkness?" You cannot mix light with darkness.
You cannot mix a half a cup of sewer water and a half a cup of pure
water and drink fifty percent of it. Paul says, What communion has
light with darkness?" If you put darkness for light, you are
just going to be in the dark and you are going to eternal destruction.
Here is what
the Lord says, II Corinthians 6:17,18 "Come out from among
them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean,
And I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, And you shall
be My sons and daughters, Says the Lord Almighty."The world
says, "Let us get everything together. Get all the sinners
in the world, all the people who are living in all kinds of sin
and let us just get them all into one great big church." And
God says, "Get out from that. Righteousness does not have any
fellowship with lawlessness. Light does not have any fellowship
with darkness. Get out from that and be separate." And the
Lord says, "If you do, you will be my child and I will be your
Father.
Is that what
you want to do? Where are you headed, friend? Are you with the mass
of people in this world who are breaking Gods law? It is called
light, but it is really darkness, the Bible says. Or are you willing
to come out and be separate and say, "Lord, I am going to follow
you all the way.
Whatever you want me to do, that is what Jam going to do. And whatever
you do not want me to do, that is what I will not do.
The Lord says,
"Come out from among them and be separate, and I will be a
Father to you.
Come out from
the darkness. Choose to follow the light. You cannot mix light and
darkness. You cannot mix obedience and disobedience. As soon as
you mix them, it is disobedience. As soon as you
mix it, it is dark.
Do you want
to be one of those who is not having fellowship with lawlessness
and darkness and unrighteousness? Do you want to say, "Lord,
I am willing to be separate. I am willing to be all by myself, if
I have to." There are a lot of Gods people all over the world
by themselves right now. But they are acknowledged as Gods children
because they will not join with the wickedness, Do you want to be
one of them? It is a big group, but they are all separated right
now. You will find out that it is a huge group
at the end of the world. I want to be part of it, do
you? Do you want to be part of the group that God will say, when
He comes, "These are My people. They are not walking in lawlessness,
they are keeping My law, they are doing the Fathers will."
Do not accept
or believe the devils big lie. Watch. The labels have been misplaced.
Darkness is not light no matter how many times the devil says so.
God says, "Be separate. Come out and I will be a Father to
you and you will be My child, really, not just by profession, but
in reality." Oh, friend, if that is the decision you want to
make. Friend, if you are troubled in your spiritual life or in your
home life, please come tonight. I am going to show you how spiritualism
is attacking the Adventist home today and just about destroying
it.
The spirits
of devils are at work in Adventist families and churches today.
I will prove it to you. I will read it
to you right out of inspired writings. But, friend, you
need to make a decision, God will honor your decision. If you say,
"Lord, I want to follow the light and I am willing to forsake
all the darkness and obey You." Jesus said, "He that follows
Me will not stay in darkness but he will have the light of life.
Do you want to be in the light? If you want to be walking in the
light, I want to invite you to kneel down and pray with me before
we go, that the Lord will work this miracle out in our lives.
Father in Heaven,
You have promised us that if we would choose to follow Jesus, we
would not stay in the dark, but we would come into the light, and
that all would be light around us. Oh, Father in Heaven, we pray
that You would deliver us from the prince of the power of the air,
from the prince of darkness. Help us to follow Jesus in obedience.
Help us to live the way He lived so that we will not be in the dark
anymore but understand the light of truth. We pray for each family
represented here. Oh, Lord, there are so many people that are in
the dark, They do not know what they are stumbling over. I pray
that your Holy Spirit will reveal to them the Light of Life. Help
us to follow Him in perfect obedience so that we will be acknowledged
as His children in the day of judgment. We pray in Jesus name, Amen.
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