Saturday, June 27, 2020
Saturday, June 13, 2020
06 14 2020 - HALL Wesleyan Church Message - Pastor Dan - Matthew 9:35-38
Matthew 9:35-38
HALL Wesleyan Church
Pastor Dan
06 14 2020
“Try to pick up this Pencil” exercise.
Verses for Today: Matthew 9:35-38 & on into Chapter
10
Would you agree with me
• That it
is Probably Not a Good Idea
o To
speed-read through the Bible?
If you did speed-read the Bible,
• You may
get the overall story
o And you
may even improve
Your
comprehension of it
• BUT IF I
was a betting man
o I bet you
would miss a Great Deal.
God has put so much into His Word.
• That Even
the smallest of the Details
o Is So
Packed with Meaning
o Which we
Need to Understand.
And for Example
The Reading for Today
• Matthew
9:35-38 and On into Chapter 10
o We find A
Great Amount of Details
And the
Least-Of-These
• Are As
Important
As the
Whole Story
• Of events
themselves.
God Is In The Details!
We Begin with having a Scene
• Where
Jesus looks out
o And His
Heart just breaks.
There are just so many
• Way Too
Many who need healing!
Vs 36; When He saw the crowds,
He had compassion on them
because they were confused and helpless,
like sheep without a shepherd.
I believe we all Understand
That the Lord is ALWAYS in Control
BUT right here;
I believe this Is One of those times
When we See Our Jesus
Flustered,
Rattled,
And Anxious.
There are just too many of Us
Who are
Lost and Without HOPE!
Then we hear He speak to the disciples in vs 37:
“The harvest is great,
But the workers are few.
38 So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest;
ask Him to send more workers into His fields.’”
Right Here – (It Is So B-E-A-Utiful
Jesus - Our Lord - Our God
Is Asking for Help from US!
And then, Jesus went on and
He Commissions the 12 disciples
• And they
are Commissioned to do WHAT?
o To HELP
the People!
We don’t see it here too much
But let’s take a look at Luke 6:12-16
6:12 “One day Jesus went up on a mountain to pray.
He prayed all night to God.
13 In the morning He called His followers to Him.
He chose twelve of them and called them. 14 There were…”
Have you Ever Noticed a pattern of Jesus’?
• BEFORE
Jesus does ANYTHING,
• He Prays
So, what should we gain from this?
Think About It Some!
I mean,
• Isn’t
Jesus the Son of God?
• Isn’t
Jesus GOD?
But – Yet – HE PRAYS - FIRST!
BEFORE DOING ANYTHING – HE PRAYS
Do you believe there May Be a Lesson Here for US?
• Do you
think – IF GOD PRAYS FIRST BEFORE…
o Who are
we to Do Anything Different –
BUT – How many of us DO First and then
• When
something Goes Wrong –
o Then we
Pray?
Jesus Prays First
• And Then
- He picked the 12 Disciples
o And they
are Named in Chapter 10 for us.
• And in
the Rest of Chapter 10 -
o It Lists
their Instructions for their Mission
o And their
Ministry
• And, as
Christians
o This is
Our Instructions for Our Mission
o And Our
Ministry
But when we are reading this –
• What is
Our First Reaction?
o Do we not
Read-On
o Maybe
Even in Haste
o Because:
We want
to hear what happens.
What are
their challenges?
What are
their successes?
BUT – It doesn’t offer us that information,
• Does it?
Within Our IMPATIENCE:
• All we
hear is some lengthy instructions
• And we
NEVER-Ever Hear – of what Happens.
And JUST Maybe Even Worse than that,
• Is that
We Fail to see
o What Our
Lack of Having Patience
o Has
Really Done to us.
So - EVERYONE – STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING
• &
CLOSE YOUR EYES
o TAKE A
DEEP BREATH - IN
o HOLD – IT
And PRAY
o THEN –
LET – IT - OUT
o BREATH -
IN
o HOLD – IT
And PRAY
o THEN –
LET – IT - OUT
NOW – You can Open your Eyes
SEE - We Need to Slow Down
And Then – We need to look at the details.
"When Jesus saw the crowds,
He had “COMPASSION” for them." (9:36)
Compassion is ‘The Word Of the Week’ in your Bulletins.
The True Meaning of the Word is:
• A
suffering with another;
• Painful
sympathy;
• Having a
Sensation of Sorrow
o Which is
excited by the Distress
Or
Misfortunes of another;
• Having
Pity for another;
"Compassion."
• It is
used a lot these days.
BUT Did You Know,
• Within
the New Testament
o The Word
‘Compassion’
o Is almost
always used
When
explaining a feeling
Of God
(and of Jesus).
HOWEVER - There is One other time (ONLY ONE)
• And that
is When it is used
o To
describe another human being
o And that
one -- appropriately enough –
Is the
Good Samaritan.
THIS should Alert us
• It should
Tell us
o That HERE
Is an Important Detail.
The Whole Reason for the Mission
• This
Ministry
o Which the
disciples are sent out upon
o Which We
are Sent Out Upon
• Is for
The “COMPASSION” of the Son of God
And This Is Very Important
God’s Mission,
Always Starts with a
Compassionate Heart!
The Compassionate Heart of God.
"Compassion" in the biblical languages,
• Literally
means "to feel in Your innards"
o To feel
in Your Gut,
o In Your
Entrails, or in Your bowels,
But – Today,
• We clean
this up some
o And we
say, It is In your Heart!
It Is In The DETAILS Where we find Jesus.
He Has Compassion for His People of Israel
• They are
“Confused and Helpless”
o And He
Feels for them,
He hurts
for them,
He aches
for them.
His people are Being:
o Harassed
o Confused
(NLT)
o Helpless
(NLT)
o Fainted,
(KJV)
o Scattered
(KJV)
o Troubled
(NLV)
And WHY?
WHY Was This?
• Because
they were "like sheep without a shepherd."
(Story of the woman in Mexico)
Is this person being Harassed
o Confused
(NLT)
o Helpless
(NLT)
o Fainted,
(KJV)
o Scattered
(KJV)
o Troubled
(NLV)
Of Course NOT!
But
most of the time, these are the people who we think about!
Do these People say they are “In-Need” YES
• BUT,
• Who
DOESN’T NEED Something?
• But when
you come to the idea of
o ‘TRUE –
NEED’,
There is
a difference.
(Story of the young boy who was at camp)
These are the Ones Jesus is talking about.
• The Ones
who have no Hope to reach for.
o The Ones
Who are Truly Lost!
Jesus is talking about those who are:
• Depressed!
• Sick!
• Oppressed!
• And/Or
Discouraged!
o Those Who
Are Broken!
They Are the Ones Who Need HOPE!
They Need A Good Shepherd!
• A Good
Ruler.
• A Good
Master.
• God!
This is a
• Much
Larger
• And
Deeper
• And Even
a Much Messier Type of ‘Need’
o Then what
we normally think of
When we
think of ‘The Needy’.
Jesus is speaking of the
• Most
Profound Sort of Need
o Which
people have.
And the CURE for such a Profound-Need
• Is NOT
o A Pay
Raise,
o Or a new
health care plan that includes Dental,
o Or maybe
even Therapy,
o Nor is it
time away – on a Fabulous Vacation,
That Isn’t the Cure that Jesus saw.
They needed a True and Good shepherd
And See – It is in the Details
It is Within the Details of His Word.
ALL OF THIS Was Offered within Just One Verse.
We should Never be in a Hurry
• when we
Read His Word.
Because, IF we Do,
Then We Will Miss Out on Meeting God
Within His Details in His Word!!!
Is Your ‘Compassion’
“Tuned-in” Correctly?
What happens to our,
• To your
Compassion
o When you
are confronted
By a HUGE
NEED?
We All Know What Huge Needs Are:
Right?
• Earth
Quakes
• Tornados
• Tsunami
• Hurricane
• Flooding
• Fire
• Volcano
• Drought
•
Now – that Was NOT Very Fair of me.
Those are Not ‘NEEDS’.
Those are some things which can causes
‘Huge Needs’!!!
BUT - Some Great NEEDS are:
• Massive
Starvation,
• Displacement
& Disfigurement as a result of war,
• Homelessness,
• High
Rates of Divorce
• Out-of-wedlock
births,
• But what
is even worse – Abortion,
• Out of
Control Diseases,
• And a
Loss of All Hope – Suicide.
When we speak of these things,
We usually Call them Tragic! or Catastrophic!
But Jesus looks at these types of needs as Opportunities!
"The harvest is plentiful" 9:37
Jesus compares these Great Needs
As to a Bumper Crop!
The Wheat in the Fields is Ripe
And it Needs to be Harvested.
BUT – HERE IS THE THING
Usually - When We Talk About Missions!
• I Mean –
o When we
Talk about
Working Outside
of the Church!
You Can Usually See
• The
Attention,
o The
Interest of the Group - Just Slip Away
There is
the Rolling of the Eyes,
The
Lowering of the Head,
The Shift
in the Posture,
And The
Wondering Looking Around the Room.
I get it.
I hear the Moans For our Attention!
I hear the Groans For our Moneys!
And I hear the Pleas For our Time!
BUT - There are so many Great Causes out there,
• How can
we Help Everyone?
And I am not for sure if this is Just a Scam.
• You know,
there are just so many out there.
Do You Hear those Voices TO?
BUT THAT IS
JUST THE EVIL TALKING TO US!
Some will become Overwhelmed
• To what
is happening!
Some will become Cold Hearted
• And Turn
from the Calling!
And some will have their hearts turn “Hard”
• And will
walk away!
But for some – They See What Our Lord Sees.
And this Means an Opportunity for them.
• There are
people who Need to Hear
o The Truth
of the Gospel!
‘YES – To Those who Sees the Opportunity
• The
Harvest is Plentiful.’
SO – What is Needed?
• Laborers.
• Workers.
• We NEED
MORE WORKERS
o To Do
What?
To Bring
In the Crop.
OK Then - What do you say?
• In your
bulletins this week,
o You will
notice a loose...
BUT – Wait a minute!
• This is
NOT what Jesus Did!
DID Jesus Ask for Volunteers.
Let us Look More Closely
• And SEE
the Details of What Jesus Did.
SEE – There are 3 Main Points Here!
What Did Jesus Say?
37 “He said to His disciples,
‘The harvest is great,
but the workers are few.
38 So, PRAY to the Lord
who is in charge of the harvest;
ask Him to send more workers
into His fields.’”
YES - The Need is Great,
That Is for Sure
So, What Should We do About It?
Pray,
Pray to God –
• And ASK
HIM to Do something about it.
You know,
• This is
so - un-American
o And It Is
So Impractical!!!
BUT We NEED to Take Note Here!!!
• WE DO NOT
o MAKE
o Or
APPOINT OURSELVES
o Into
Being Missionaries
o Or Into
Any Other Co-Worker of God.
NO!!!
We are to ask God To Do It.
This is so Hard for us to Understand!
We Must Remember –
• It is NOT
Our Mission!
o It is
God's.
And He-Is-The-One-Who-Is-In-Control!
Do you Ever Find yourself saying something like:
“All I
can do is to Pray?”
Tell Me – What Value
• Do You
REALLY
o Place
Upon Prayer?
Have you Ever Wondered
• Why do
some people seem to just float through Life?
• I am Not
saying that things don’t happen to them.
• Of
Course, they do.
• But it
Just Does Seem to Affect Them.
• It is
almost like water on a duck’s back.
Why do some CHURCHES Grow and others do not?
• We are
not saying that within the non-growing churches,
o That the
People don’t pray.
• But for
some reason, there are certain Churches
o That Just
seem to continue to be prosper
In ways
that others do not.
Have you Ever Wondered
Of Those WHYS?
NOW - I am sure that there are lots of reasons
• Which we
can grab at and use for Reasons,
o BUT THE
BIBLICAL ANSWER WOULD BE:
That
These People PRAY!
Have you ever heard of this saying?
Where there is Little Prayer,
there is Little Mission.
Prayer is what gets our Wants
• In-Line
with God's Will.
That is absolutely necessary –
• It Is
Essential
o IF God
o Is going
to give us
Any
Authority over Anything.
#1 is: We Must Pray!
And Here is the 2nd Item which we need to Catch Ahold of!
We Need to Listen!!!
See Jesus is speaking of Laborers, or Workers.
Are Not
• “Laborers”
& "Worker",
o Aren’t
They both very “Modest” Words.
But We know from Jesus’s Prayer
that He Did Not Pray For:
• And We
Should Not Pray to God to send:
o The
Heroes!
o The
All-Stars!
o The
Experts!
o Nor the
Innovators!
But Rather – He prayed for God
• To send
“WORKERS”.
We are often So Quick to Pray for God to ACT
• But we
are So Stubborn when it comes to
o Us Acting
on what we Hear from God.
We say things like:
• I am not
sure if I heard Him correctly!
• Or –
Maybe I miss-understood what He was saying!
• Or – I
Just Don’t See HOW I can do what He is asking!
When we Pray –
• We Need
to Listen!
o Of Course
–
You don’t
know HOW it will all work.
o His is
God and You Are Not!
o It is
supposed to be that way!
You have 2 Ears for a Reason.
“LISTEN TO HIM”
SEE – Way-Too-Often
The Main Reason WHY we fail –
• Is
because
o We are
‘Doing’ the Wrong JOB!
#1 – We Pray
#2 – Then We Listen
#3 – We Need to Follow the Instructions
It just makes since
And IF We Begin with the Wrong Job!
• IF We
Take-Up the Wrong Job!
• How Do We
Expect to be able to Fulfill it?
OFTEN …
We see a Need
• So, we
‘Fill’ that Need!
But The Thing Is:
We May Not Be
o The Right
“PERSON”,
Who is
Best for that JOB!
This is the WHY we get so Confused & Frustrated
It Is Because - We Started Out Wrong!!!
IT Is So Simple –
• ALL TOO
Often,
o We are
doing the WRONG JOB!
SEE - We Must Understand:
Jesus Is Not Praying for:
• Those who
would Till the Ground.
• Or for
those who would Remove
o All of
the Rocks from the fields.
• Or even
for those who would Fertilize the Ground.
NO!
Jesus Is Not Praying:
• For those
who Plant the Seeds.
• Not Even
For those who Water the Seeds.
He Is Not Even Praying for:
• Those to
come along and Pull the weeds.
But Rather
Jesus is Praying for
• Those Who
Will Harvest!!!
That is who Jesus Is Praying For:
• People
Who Are Willing to HARVEST for the Lord.
Allow me to break this down some.
Have you ever Heard of this Saying:
• You can
lead a horse to water
o But You
Can’t Make Him Drink?
Well, the same is True of Bring People to Christ.
We are called:
• To SHARE
our Testimony with others.
• To
“OBVIOUSLY” LIVE a Life of God.
• To visit
with others Sharing WHAT God is DOING in Your Life.
• To Pray
for Them.
• To Invite
them.
BUT – We are NOT the Converter!
That is the Holy Spirit’s Job.
He Is Best at That.
We are to Just be their Friend
And to
always have our Door Open to them.
BUT – What Good Is It IF we just hang around those who are
Not Thirsty?
10:7 “Go and announce to them that the Kingdom of Heaven is
near.”
10:12 “When you enter the home,
give it your blessing.
13 If it turns out to be a worthy home,
let your blessing stand;
if it is not, take back the blessing.
14 If any household or town refuses to welcome you
or listen to your message,
shake its dust from your feet as you leave.
Jesus is telling us –
We are the Harvest Crew!
So, Harvest!
And Harvest Well!!!
Jesus is looking for the Harvest Crew!
• To Drive
the Combines.
• To Drive
the Grain Carts
• To Walk
with those who are Looking for Him
• And to
Help and to Love upon those
o Who are
Ready
And when you Begin to do the RIGHT JOB
Hold On – Because God is Ready to Go!!!
#1 Pray
#2 Listen for your Calling –
#3 Follow the Instruction
And then Harvest!
Saturday, June 6, 2020
06 07 2020 - HALL Wesleyan Church Message - Pastor Dan - Part 2 of 2, "False Teachings"
Part 2 of 2 Parts
False Teachings and False Religions
06-07-2020
Pastor Dan
Last week: We talked about knowing IF Our Ideas and
Actions are of GOD!
And NOW: How do we know IF Our Ideas and Actions Are Not
of God?
Our First Scripture:
1) 1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV
“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you
do, do all to the glory of God.”
We should Live our whole lives in the face
of God.
Meaning, we
should not live it under a Veil of Secrecy or of Darkness.
But rather as
it should be done in the full Presence of God! Under the Authority of God! And to
the Honor and Glory of God!
2) Colossians 2:8 ESV
“See to it
that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to
human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not
according to Christ.”
Possibly, the best sense of the phrase to: “Take
you Captive” or to “cheat you”
Is to think of it as “leading you away as
prey.”
It also includes the ideas of robbing
and plundering. Your “goods’ - which Satan wishes to steal IS “Your
Salvation” which you have received from Christ.
Satan and his followers, they want to deprive
you of these, by perverting your mind, and by leading you off Track from
the Truths of Christianity.
3) 1 John 4:1-6 ESV
“Beloved, do
not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from
God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this
you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has
come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not
confess Jesus - is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which
you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 4 Little
children, you are from God and have overcome them, for He who is in you is
greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world;
therefore, they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6
We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does
not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of Truth and the spirit of error.”
Things Become Very Sneaky HERE! One of the deceptive
things about lies is when we think that a false prophet is going to
be False in everything he says.
SEE - OFTEN, a false prophet will tell the
Truth 90% of the Time! That is what makes them So Deceptive - Misleading. It is
because - They talk a lot and much of what they say is the truth. But that 10%
is enough to Steal Your Soul!
Listen to Satan’s words when he tempts Eve:
“Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of
any tree in the garden’?”
“We may eat of the fruit of the trees
in the garden,
but God said,
‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the
tree
that is in the midst of the garden,
neither shall you touch it, lest you
die.’”
“You will not surely die.
For God knows that when you eat of it
your eyes will be opened,
and you will be like God,
knowing good and evil.”
And now, let’s take a look at when Satan tempts
Jesus:
“If you are the Son of God, throw yourself
down, for it is written,
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
And “‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
“Again, it is written,
‘You shall not put the Lord your God
to the test.’”
SEE Here – Satan doesn’t only know the
Scriptures and he uses it but he also uses them out of context. He
twists them around so that they say what he wants them to say.
Beware of false prophets.
BUT - How can we tell who is a false
prophet? Basically, it comes down to: What is their witness or testimony of
Jesus Christ? And what is the Fruit of their ministry?
There's a lot of false doctrine out there, and
there are many of false prophets. And unfortunately, there are a lot of people who
ARE and Have Been Led Away by following these Lies and False prophets.
4) Matthew 7:15 ESV
“Beware of
false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are Ravenous
Wolves.”
There is an abundance of Scripture regarding: False
teachers, False prophets, Cults, & the Followings of the devil.
The Scriptures show clearly of just how
skillful these can be.
5) 2 Corinthians 11:13 ESV
For such men
are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising (or transforming) themselves
as apostles of Christ.
They Often Appear to be Pure and Holy
·
As well as Looking
Really Good on the Outside.
They Often look like True men of God;
However, Jesus tells us that "within
(they are) full of Dead men's bones, and of all Uncleanness."
Within, these cults and False Teachings, THEY
ARE DEAD And they Lead many of Us to our own spiritual death—I am
talking about - hell.
6) 2 Corinthians 11:15 ESV
So, it is no
surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of
righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.
The cults, these False teachers, these False prophets,
and These False religions, OH-YES - They look like the real thing. They
appear to be ministers of righteousness. BUT – They are Not!
Yes – We started this week’s message by
looking at the wonderful Prayer of Jesus as it is record in John 17, and at the
close of last week, I was planning on going back to it this week but I was
redirected.
It was THE HOE Jesus started His Prayer – That is what haunted me. That is what
hung on to me. That is what Broke My Heart this week.
6 “I have revealed You
to the ones You
gave Me from this world.
They were
always Yours.
and they have kept Your Word.”
I know when Jesus says “and they have kept Your
Word”, He is NOT saying that “They Sinned No More”! No, Of Course Not - That
would be untrue. But what He Meant by that was that They Kept Trying. He
Means – If We are Of His that we keep applying ourselves to His Ways.
Meaning: That when we Fail, that We come back and ask for Him to
Cleanse Us and then, we continue to walk with Him. But That is NOT What I
Always See!
I see way to Many People Who Call themselves
Christians, Their Walk Is Not this way!
As I said earlier in this message, we focus on
Our Own Victory in God and We Fill Our Glass Up – of what We Want from God! And
then – we go on – living like the world.
Let me share an example of this:
I heard a “Christian” woman talking the other
day, barely stopping between words, long enough to get another breath but her
voice was just full of gossip. However, she did ‘Her Christian Thing”, before
starting on a new topic, she would pause, just Long enough to say, God Bless
her or him” and then, she would take of running of the mouth as she shared all
of the latest juicy tales.
Sometimes, I think we forget that the evil
one is out there. He is shaking Hands. And he is Taking Names. And he is Destroying
Lives. And many don’t even know of it!
You know, it is hard to grow up without having
any of his influence upon us. And one of the most disturbing as well as fast
growing cults among our youth and it is just melting across this Great Country of
Ours, it is this so-called religion / a Cult called Wicca.
Should this be a concern? YOU tell me.
Let me share some numbers with you so we can
get a better understanding of this problem.
Here are the figures
WICCA
From 1990 –
2008 = increased 231% in US
From 2008 –
2017 = increased 45% WW;
That is in 2017, ending
with a whapping - 3 million!
Wesleyans
2014-2015 =
increased 93% WW; ending with only 1 million
So, The HOW Sticks out to me.
HOW Does this stuff get it’s start?
Well, let’s take a look at maybe how it
started.
Starting in the 50’s, we have: The “Wizard
of Oz”, The Good Witch vs. the Bad Witches.
But even Here- Right here at the beginning, do
you know how much that movie has influenced our culture? When you see someone
running to get out of the rain, what do you often say?
Or what do you often hear being said?
“What’s wrong, - Are you afraid that
you are going to melt?”
There are many of these – For many of us - It
began with the “Wizard of Oz” then it grew into the “Bewitched” show:
Were even just a subtle influence of witchcraft was displayed. And it was a
Gigantic Hit – Even with the two Darwin’s.
And Then, – lets Fast Forward our journey to
our Today’s World: And this is When the evil one just Seems to Kick it into
high gear and he develops an even Richer and Darker side
We have the movies like ‘The Craft’, And
TV Shows like: “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch”, “Merlin”
And Books that turn into Block Buster Movies
such as: The Harry Potter Series.
And have we talked about the Video Games yet? But
the evil one just keeps counting up his victories.
He is at work, but – I ask you - Should
we be surprised?
Magic – It is Intriguing! Fascinating! It
is Interesting! And it is Exciting! And with the word which is almost
taboo to say in church - It is Very Sexy!
You know – It is of NO ACCIDENT that the devil
is The Top of his game. This is the “WHY” that Our Towns and Cities; The Youth
from the Very Heart of America, the once called “Bible Belt”, Where
we once were known for the Heart of Our Country’s Christianity, but Now –
We Are Different! We have allowed this evil IN Not only our backyards But Even Through
our Front Doors of our Homes!
And now – it is becoming so bad that where we
live this Once recognized Holy Ground is being known for the evil-one’s Own
Playground. Yes – This rather newly formed following of the evil is Called the Worship
of Wicca.
You may not know much about the Wiccan
following. So, allow me to explain - just a
little.
The Supreme Ethical Rule of Wicca is the Wiccan
Rede: ‘If it harms none, do as ye Will.’
Now – Tell me – Where and How many
times Have you heard Advertisement Campaigns Which uses wordage such as
that?
IF IT FEELS GOOD – Then Just DO IT!
While the Wiccan Rede tries to set this
‘Craft’ apart From the Nasty Notorious Activities of Satanists. The so
Called “White” Wiccan And “Dark” Wiccan Worldview, Still Remains the same.
All 3, Satanists, ‘White’ and ‘Dark’ Wiccan
teachings Still Stand in Direct Opposition or Disagreement to the Biblical Truths
Of Absolute Moral Truth And Exclusive Salvation Through the Lord,
Jesus Christ.
With Jesus Christ alone being:
“The
Way and The Truth and The Life”
(John 14:6)
Finally, we come to what is the attraction. Wiccans
practice magick.
It is spelled with a ‘k’ (magick). They do
this to separate themselves from the Illusion or Trickery ‘magic’ from the entertainment
field.
It’s Magick is in an attempt to manipulate the
natural world and to alter Mental and Material Conditions.
As such, Wicca is a mysterious occult practice
which is designed to manipulate reality in concert with the Wiccan’s will.
The tools of the Craft include Swords, Spell Books,
Chalices, Censers, Cords, and Crystals.
Now – Tell Me: How many of those features are
in the video games that our youth play?
Regardless of whether the motivation, whether
it is directed towards being compassionate or malicious, the Lord’s Scripture Clearly
and Plainly – Condemns all occult practices! They are detestable to the Lord.
(Deuteronomy 18:10-12; Acts 13:6-11; Acts
16:16-18; Galatians 5:19-21).
Deuteronomy 18:10-11 says, " For example,
never sacrifice your son or daughter as a burnt offering. And do not let your
people practice fortune-telling, or use sorcery, or interpret omens, or engage
in witchcraft, or cast spells, or function as mediums or psychics, or call
forth the spirits of the dead.”
BUT – HERE IS THE THING! Do You See the – “WHY”?
WHY are there so many young people being attracted
to this Witchcraft and/or Wicca?
Here are some thoughts from a Christian author
Steve Russo.
He has written extensively on this topic and he
is suggesting that by us understanding the “WHY” our youth are drawn to
witchcraft, that - becomes the “KEY” to addressing this problem.
Our Young people are looking for Power
and Fantasy and Wicca is a belief that promises them Supernatural Power Over their environment.
YES - Wicca is the “Problem” BUT It
Is NOT the Reason for the Problem!
SEE - ALL TOO Often – Our Youth see you and
me, us adults, us Christians – Living a way of Life in which we have: One-Foot-In
and One-Foot-Out of or with Our Own Walk with the Lord.
So – Tell Me – Can we blame this upon them? Absolutely
– NO!
Tell me if this is not true: For this analogy,
you are back in school and you are out for track. Your coach has you down to
run the 880 (yards) or as it is now called, the 800 (meters). There are 5
others from your same school who are also signed up to run the same race. You
practice with your fellow teammates. Now let’s just say that you are the
fastest runner of your classmates and you can run the 880 in 3 minutes flat
which is a Good and Above Average time. You feel good about yourself. But then,
when you go to your first track meet, you run against
another runner who runs it in 2 minutes and 35
seconds.
Now WHY might be a Good Reason that you lost
that Race?
Is It Not because you are used to
running Just faster than those whom you practiced with?
But if you practiced with the 2 minute – 35
second runner? Do you not think that your time may have been better?
See – Our Children watch us more than you
know! They watch their parents – Yes, that is True, but they also watch all
of us who are around them.
If we cuss – they will cuss.
If we Cheat others – They will Also Cheat others.
Often during my marriage counseling, when I
have those who choose to “Live Together” before marriage, I explain to them that
what they are doing, I call: ‘Playing House’
And now today, I would like to use that same
type of reference to our faith.
But – I want to Address those of us Who ‘Just
Come to Church’, Just to mark it off our To Do List and by going to church, it
has Zero affect Upon us and HOW we live our lives. To Me, this is
the same as ‘Just Playing Church.’
But our children are hungry. And JUST – Maybe,
They are hungrier than ever before. And if they can’t find Someone to follow or
Something to believe in, if they can’t find those around them:
Who Actually –
Really - Believe in God
And Who – Actually
- Pursue God’s Will,
Then they will
look elsewhere.
We are presently – Losing the War with our
kids.
But That Can Change! But it will take every – one
of us to act.
NOW - Here is a thought that I want to leave
you with today!
How many times did Jesus say things like:
“If anyone follows Me, then ….”
“If you Love Me, then ….”
“Just Believe, If not in the Father,
Then in the Son. And if not in the Son, then in what the Son has done.”
WHY IS THAT! Why did Jesus Have to say those
Words?
Are we not Following Him? Do we not Love Him? Do
we not Believe in Him?
Why did Jesus Feel He had to say: “IF ANYONE”,
‘IF YOU”
Do we have
One Foot In / And One Foot Out?
Are
we a Good Role Model for our youth?
Are we ONLY
After what We Want from Christ?
How Deep does Your Faith Run? Are You ONLY
Running as fast as the other Fastest Runner?
Yes – Indeed – We are the Reason of the
“WHY”.
But it isn’t too late. Not Yet Anyway! Or Is
It?
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