Participants:
Series Code: AAO
Program Code: AAO000002A
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00:09 Believe me, it's good to see everyone here again,
00:13 and we're going to pick up where we left off on our last, 00:18 you know, look at spiritual formation. 00:22 I encourage you as you're able to take notes. 00:25 This is something that is... 00:27 It's sweeping the Christian world right now 00:30 and few people realize the roots of this movement, 00:35 where it came from. 00:37 I know, you know, once we get through this 00:39 and we start in on our next part of the presentation, 00:43 you're going to be really startled 00:45 because we're going to bring it home to now, 00:48 to modern day. 00:49 So let's open with the word of prayer, 00:54 Father in Heaven, 00:58 our lives are in Your hands, 01:01 and, Father, we thank You that when You are in charge, 01:06 everything falls exactly where it's supposed to. 01:12 Father, teach us each day to trust in You, 01:16 keep us in perfect peace 01:18 because our minds are stayed and anchored in Thee. 01:24 Send Your holy angels, Lord Jesus Christ, 01:28 surround, protect, and strengthen us. 01:31 Reveal Your power and Your love in our lives. 01:35 In Jesus' name, we ask believing 01:39 and we thank You because You cannot lie. 01:42 Amen. 01:45 So we ended our last session 01:48 talking about Dr. Kellogg's wife, 01:52 Ella Eaton, and... 01:57 Her greatest spiritual influence was the Director 02:02 and President of the university, 02:05 Alford Center. 02:07 His name was Dr. Abram H Lewis 02:10 and Ella introduced this man because she held him 02:16 in such high regard to Dr. Kellogg. 02:19 She was anxious for the two of them to meet 02:21 because Kellogg was a brilliant, 02:24 you know, physician and this man was, 02:27 you know, in her eyes a very brilliant man of God. 02:36 Dr. Lewis who lived from 1836 to 1908 02:40 was an accomplished speaker. 02:43 He was also known as the voice 02:45 of the Seventh-day Baptist Church 02:47 and the author 02:49 of the denomination's leading periodical 02:51 called The Sabbath Recorder. 02:54 And when I was putting this presentation together, 02:57 I went online, that paper is still being produced today. 03:02 But back then, I don't think it's that way now, 03:05 but back then, it was known that 03:09 The Sabbath Recorder was steeped in pantheism, 03:13 in the doctor of pantheism. 03:16 Pantheism is the belief that God is in all things. 03:22 Some believe He's only in living things like, 03:26 you know, fruits, and vegetables, 03:27 and animals, and humans. 03:30 But others go even farther and they say that God 03:34 or deity is actually in everything, 03:37 whether it's alive or not alive, 03:39 it makes no difference. 03:42 According to Lewis, 03:43 he had experienced his own shaking of faith 03:48 while he was yet 17 years of age. 03:53 While he was yet only 17 years of age, 03:56 when under the influence of a brilliant skeptic 04:00 and physician, and through the rationalism... 04:05 I'm sorry, let me start that again. 04:07 And through the rationalism of this dangerous span, 04:10 the young Lewis reported 04:12 that he nearly lost all faith in the Bible 04:15 and Orthodox Christianity. 04:17 So Lewis's own writings, 04:20 he said this is what happened to him. 04:23 At 17 years of age, 04:25 he was introduced to this physician 04:27 and because of this physician's influence, 04:31 Lewis almost gave up God. 04:33 He actually had written 04:34 to the Seventh-day Baptist denomination 04:36 and asked them to remove his name from their books 04:39 because he said, 04:41 "I can't even profess to believe in God anymore." 04:44 And there was a pastor in the church who saw, 04:49 you know, God did not want to give up on Lewis 04:52 even though Lewis was about to give up on Him. 04:55 And he refused to remove his name from the books. 05:00 Dr. Lewis and his wife Melissa visited 05:03 and joined the Battle Creek Sanitarium 05:06 after hearing of the success of its many patients 05:10 in regaining their health. 05:12 And in 1895, Lewis and his wife Melissa 05:17 became honored guests at the Kellogg home. 05:20 I don't know how extensive the stay was, 05:23 if he was only there, you know, for a few weeks 05:26 or if they stayed for a prolonged visit, 05:30 but they regularly began visiting 05:32 and spending time together. 05:37 Kellogg greatly admired Lewis 05:39 and it is said that over the next two years, 05:42 he received and read every issue 05:45 of Lewis's publication, The Sabbath Recorder. 05:49 Now remember, that publication was steeped in pantheism. 05:55 But it was worded in such a way 05:59 that you couldn't put your finger on it. 06:02 And there's a reason why Ellen White even said, 06:04 she said, "We have got to be very careful 06:07 when we're talking about pantheism." 06:10 She said, "Because..." 06:11 And I had to learn this, 06:13 there were many things I was doing 06:15 where I would wind up quoting all of these pantheists, 06:19 and then I would sit back, and I would realize, 06:22 I've got to go get on my knees and pray 06:25 because as I was quoting these people, 06:27 when I was writing, 06:30 the influence that had influenced them 06:33 began to try to influence my thoughts. 06:36 And I would have to step back and say, 06:39 go open God's Word and claim the blood of Christ. 06:43 So even in these presentations and these messages, 06:46 I'm trying to be very careful on what we quote. 06:52 Although Dr. Kellogg had been entertaining 06:55 the potential of these 06:57 pantheistic theories as new light, 07:00 since before James White's death in 1881, 07:04 it was not until the pre-conference talks 07:07 held at the Ministerial Institute in Lincoln, 07:11 Nebraska in 1897 that he made these views public. 07:16 At this conference, at the pre-conference talks, 07:21 he and some of the other men were having discussions, 07:24 and he began to publicly come out in the open 07:28 with what he believed. 07:30 And unfortunately, because of arrogance and pride 07:34 that had somehow found its way into his life, 07:38 he was unwilling to yield even when Sister White 07:43 and other men and women of God had warned him 07:47 that the path he was on was dangerous. 07:51 His first presentation 07:53 that was given at that conference 07:55 was given on February 16th 07:57 and it was titled God in Nature, 08:00 in which he drew heavily upon the statements 08:03 from the pen of Ellen White, 08:05 taking them out of context in order to lay a foundation 08:08 for the messages that followed. 08:11 There's places where Ellen White 08:12 will talk about how God's power 08:16 can be seen in every created thing, 08:20 that the law of God, 08:21 His character can be revealed in every created thing. 08:27 But it doesn't say that God was in every living thing. 08:31 So Kellogg under the influence of the enemy 08:36 began to see these statements in a false light 08:40 and he quoted extensively from her 08:43 in that first presentation. 08:45 Kellogg's second message was titled God in Man. 08:49 And it was here that the first hints 08:52 of an iceberg were revealed. 08:58 This is a quote from Kellogg, 09:02 "Gravitation acts instantaneously 09:05 throughout all space. 09:07 By this mysterious force of gravitation, 09:11 the whole universe is held together 09:14 in a bond of unity. 09:16 We have here the evidence 09:18 of a universal Presence, 09:24 an intelligent Presence, an all-wise Presence, 09:29 and an all-powerful Presence." 09:32 He's talking about gravitation. 09:34 You jump off the house, you fall. 09:37 He said, "There's a presence 09:39 there within this law of gravity." 09:44 "A presence by the aid of which 09:47 every atom of the universe is kept in touch 09:53 with every other atom. 09:55 This force that holds all things together, 09:58 and that is everywhere present, 10:01 thrills throughout the whole universe 10:03 and acts instantaneously throughout boundless space. 10:09 This intelligence can be nothing else than God Himself." 10:14 And then Kellogg went on to say, 10:17 "What a wonderful thought that this same God is in us 10:22 and in everything." 10:30 William Spicer, he was a missionary, 10:34 did not even know he had any involvement in this, 10:37 and I bought one of his books recently 10:40 and great missionary stories. 10:45 He was serving as a missionary in Southern Asia 10:48 and he was the Editor of our publication 10:50 called The Oriental Watchmen. 10:53 He had been well acquainted 10:55 with the Hindu teachings of pantheism 10:57 through his work as a missionary there in Asia. 11:01 A lot of people don't realize this 11:03 but when I was in the martial arts, 11:07 I began in the Chinese art of kung fu. 11:10 And in my mind, growing up in those arts, 11:14 you know, from the age 14 onward, 11:17 I had in my mind that, 11:20 you know, the grandmasters, it's all about China. 11:23 And the last grandmaster I trained under, 11:26 I remember the first time 11:27 that I went to visit him at his home, 11:29 he had a training facility there at his home. 11:32 And I remember after we finished training, 11:35 he asked me to come in, 11:36 if I wanted to get something to eat. 11:37 And we went into his home 11:39 and on almost every wall in that home, 11:44 there were these huge tapestries. 11:48 And I expected to see Chinese everything 11:52 'cause this man was a grandmaster 11:54 in Shaolin Kung Fu. 11:56 When I got inside there, every one of the tapestries... 12:01 were of Hindu gods. 12:05 And it was like, I remember going home that day 12:07 thinking Shaolin Kung Fu, 12:10 Hinduism, why does he have these Hindu gods 12:14 on all the walls of his house, if he's a Shaolin grandmaster. 12:18 At that point, I still had not done enough research 12:21 to know that everything in China came from India. 12:26 India is where Hinduism spread out. 12:30 When it went to China, they had to modify Hinduism 12:35 because the Chinese people, their culture was different. 12:39 So it's like Christianity 12:40 but you've got all these different denominations. 12:43 That's what happened to Hinduism. 12:45 Hinduism became Buddhism in China 12:49 and they called it Chan Buddhism. 12:52 In Japan, they called the same art Zen Buddhism. 12:57 But all of its roots go back to the Hindu god of India, 13:02 the Hindu religion. 13:06 It says, he had become well acquainted 13:08 with the Hindu teachings of pantheism. 13:11 However upon returning to Battle Creek in 1901, 13:15 he was shocked to discover that the same religious principles 13:21 and errors that were now being espoused 13:25 and advocated by Dr. Kellogg and his followers. 13:29 He was hearing Kellogg and some of the men 13:32 that had fallen under Kellogg's influence 13:34 and he was thinking, 13:36 "I just got back from India, this is the same thing 13:39 their religion is saying." 13:44 Writing of a conversation which he and Dr. Kellogg held 13:48 after his return to America, Spicer writes, 13:51 and this is a quote, 13:53 "By any understanding I had of language, 13:56 I was listening to the ideas of the pantheistic philosophy 14:01 that I had met with in India. 14:04 In fact, I was told by Kellogg that pure pantheism 14:11 as the early teachers conceived it was indeed right. 14:21 That God was in the things of nature, 14:26 a personality was in every blade of grass 14:33 and every plant." 14:38 It's important to make a note of this. 14:40 I don't have this quote on screen. 14:42 But Sister White made a statement. 14:44 She said, "We are not to concern ourselves 14:49 with identifying 14:55 or understanding the presence 14:59 and personality of God." 15:02 She said, "Silence is eloquence." 15:06 It means, we know God has a form 15:09 because we were made in His image, 15:12 we know He was in heaven, His Son, 15:15 His only begotten Son was in the water in Jordan 15:19 and when Christ came up out of the water, 15:23 and the heavens were opened, and God spoke, and said, 15:27 "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." 15:31 God sent His Spirit upon His Son 15:36 in the form of a dove. 15:39 We have never been told that we need to comprehend 15:43 or understand that. 15:45 Ellen White said, "It's a matter of faith." 15:49 Right now within our own church, 15:51 and I'm not even going to get into this, 15:53 but there's a huge conflict going on over the personality 15:58 and the presence of God. 16:00 Let me tell you something... 16:02 And I didn't have any intention even bringing this up. 16:06 Every Seventh-day Sabbath keeping Christian 16:09 in the world is going to have conflict soon. 16:16 The entire world is going to come against us. 16:19 We don't need to be divided over things 16:22 that God said are not essential for our salvation. 16:28 And that means... 16:29 And I've got friends that are on one side 16:31 and I've got friends that are on the other 16:33 and I'm like, "Guys, 16:35 this person is addicted to drugs, 16:37 this person's addicted to pornography. 16:39 This person's got a father that beat him 16:42 when they were a child. 16:44 This person was abused by their uncle 16:46 when they were a child. 16:47 This person's about to go through a divorce. 16:51 Why don't we focus on setting the captives free? 16:56 Why don't we put our focus on the things 16:59 that matter the most?" 17:07 We just read that quote from Kellogg 17:12 and what Elder Spicer said, now listen to this quote. 17:16 This is a Hindu guru. 17:19 He says, "Each soul is potentially divine." 17:23 And I'm going to be careful 17:25 'cause we know the Bible says in 2 Peter 1:4 17:28 that "By God's promises, 17:30 we are made partakers of," what? 17:34 "The divine nature." 17:37 Remember that word, I told you, make a note of that, 17:40 that's important, that word "nature." 17:43 Nature doesn't mean just character. 17:47 It's not the same word. 17:49 Character and nature... 17:52 Nature can include parts of character, 17:56 but they're not the same. 17:58 You could have two dogs, 18:01 brother and sister or two brothers, 18:05 they were born from the same mother dog. 18:09 One of them lives over here across the road, 18:11 they have to keep him caged up, he's mean, and vicious, 18:15 and angry, and ugly. 18:17 This one over here would go home with the mailman, 18:20 if you let him. 18:23 They both have canine nature. 18:27 But they have two different characters. 18:30 Do you understand? 18:31 Nature and character are not the same thing. 18:39 I want to throw this in 18:41 because this is something 18:42 we're going to talk about at the end. 18:45 The Bible says, "God alone has immortality." 18:49 Right? 18:51 What does immortality mean? 18:53 You can't die. You can't die. 18:57 The word God in Greek is Theos. 19:00 That's the Greek word, in Strong's Concordance. 19:04 Do you know what the definition is? 19:05 It has two definitions, only two, deity and divinity. 19:14 The 144,000, they won't die, will they? 19:20 Will they? 19:23 Do you know why? 19:26 Because they have been made partakers of the divine nature. 19:31 Through faith and obedience, 19:33 death has no dominion over them. 19:39 They perfectly reflect the character of Christ 19:45 and they have been made by faith partakers 19:49 of His very nature, not just His character. 19:58 He says, "Each soul is potentially divine." 20:01 You see how two paths running side-by-side? 20:05 She said, "You can hardly distinguish 20:07 the truth from the error until you get to the end." 20:12 Because the farther you go down that path, 20:14 it starts one inch off here but a 100 yards out, 20:18 it's 25 feet off. 20:20 Do you understand? 20:22 "The goal is to manifest this divinity 20:26 within inwardly by controlling nature, 20:32 nature, external nature," 20:35 that means your flesh, "and internal nature. 20:40 Do this either by work, or worship, or psychic control, 20:47 or philosophy. 20:49 By one or more or all of these, and be free... 20:54 This is the whole of religion." 20:56 That's what the Hindus say. 21:01 Now let me show you the same Hindu teaching 21:04 in a modern context. 21:07 How many people here have ever heard of the movie, 21:09 the film series, Star Wars? 21:12 Disney just bought all the rights, 21:14 you know, two years ago, I think, three years ago. 21:18 George Lucas, 21:19 those movies have done more to affect people 21:23 for unrighteousness than probably any other thing 21:27 that's ever been put out. 21:29 Because originally, he said they were supposed to be 21:32 children's movies but now it's like, 21:35 there's a whole generation since 1970 21:38 something when the first film came out, 21:40 that they're enthralled by the story. 21:44 This is out of episode five, 21:46 listen to what it said here by this little green creature, 21:49 who sort of looks like a demon, to his apprentice. 21:53 He says, "My ally is "the Force," 21:56 life breeds it, makes it grow, its energy surrounds us 22:01 and binds us. 22:03 Luminous beings we are, not this crude matter." 22:08 And then he tells Luke, 22:11 "You must feel the force around you, Luke, 22:15 between you and me, 22:18 the tree, the ship, the rock." 22:23 He was saying the exact same thing. 22:26 And when you watch some of the other series 22:29 that we've done on this, we quote Lucas. 22:31 Lucas got every bit of this from Hinduism and Buddhism. 22:36 He said, "This is what I was trying to teach." 22:43 "The first printing of Kellogg's Living Temple 22:46 was in 1903, 22:48 and of this danger 22:49 God's people had been warned..." 22:53 Ellen White says, 22:54 "There is a class of literature, 22:56 more defiling than leprosy, 22:59 and more deadly than the plagues of Egypt, 23:02 against which our publishing houses 23:05 need unceasingly to guard. 23:10 In accepting commercial work, 23:13 let them beware lest matters 23:16 presenting the very science of Satan 23:19 be admitted into our institutions. 23:23 Let not work setting forth the soul-destroying theories 23:28 of hypnotism, spiritualism, Romanism, 23:33 or other mysteries of iniquity 23:35 find a place in our publishing houses." 23:39 Now I'm going to introduce something here, just a thought. 23:43 It says hypnotism. 23:45 Most people think of hypnotism of, 23:48 you know, I'm dangling some trinket on a chain 23:52 and I get you to fall into a sleep 23:54 or I flash a light or something in order 23:57 to take over your conscious mind. 24:02 The first case of hypnotism, Ellen White says, 24:07 happened in Eden. 24:10 And she said, "Satan sought to exercise 24:15 that same power 24:18 over our Savior in the wilderness 24:21 when he was tempting him." 24:23 And when I read that, I thought, my first thought, 24:27 I hate to say it, it was ignorance. 24:29 I thought, "How in the world did the devil think 24:32 for a moment he was going to hypnotize Christ?" 24:34 I mean, really? 24:37 And then the Lord spoke to me and He was like, 24:39 "Eric, don't forget about NLP." 24:42 And we're not going to do a session on that 24:44 but NLP, it's Neuro Linguistic Programming. 24:48 I heard about that 20 years ago. 24:51 People were really warning people in our church 24:54 as well as other churches, this is coming in. 24:58 I didn't realize that almost 25:00 every college and university in America, 25:04 secular colleges, you go online and find out 25:08 almost every one of them offer courses in NLP. 25:12 Do you know why? 25:14 Because they're teaching corporate America 25:17 to use NLP to influence all the workers 25:21 in their corporation and then their... 25:24 whatever their business is. 25:26 They are teaching pastors how to do it, 25:28 to influence their congregations. 25:31 They are teaching professors how to use it, 25:35 so that they can influence a 150 students in a class 25:39 without having to dangle something. 25:44 NLP works because you get the other person 25:49 into dialogue and conversation. 25:53 And then you take what they're responding with, 25:57 and you turn it just a little bit, 26:00 and then you lead them to say things 26:03 that they never had any intention of saying. 26:06 You enter into their mind. 26:09 For that reason, Ellen White said, 26:11 "Christ would not enter into conversation with Satan. 26:16 When Satan came to tempt Him," 26:18 she said, "He knew he's trying to use that same power on Me 26:24 that he did on Adam and Eve." 26:27 So he would not enter into conversation. 26:29 Do you know what He did? 26:31 "Thus saith the Lord. 26:34 It is written." 26:35 Period. 26:37 Not written in a book, 26:38 I'm not saying that the book doesn't matter, 26:41 but where does the Bible say God's Word 26:42 is supposed to be written? 26:45 And that promise he has given us, 26:48 "I will write My law 26:50 in your hearts and in your minds, 26:52 not with ink 26:58 Not on tables of stone 27:02 but in the fleshly tables of your heart," 27:04 2 Corinthians 3: 3. 27:07 A lot of times we look at God's law and we say, 27:10 "It was written on tables of stone 27:12 'cause it will stand forever." 27:13 It didn't stand for 40 days. 27:15 Have you ever thought about that? 27:18 God wrote it with His own finger 27:19 on tables of stone, 27:21 how long did it last before it was broken? 27:24 Forty days. 27:25 Moses came down, they were already in apostasy, 27:29 and he broke them, and God was like, 27:31 "Bring them back up, 27:32 you know, I'll come back up here, 27:34 I'll write them again." 27:36 Zechariah Chapter... 27:38 I think it's Chapter 7, 27:39 actually it says why God wrote them on stone. 27:42 He said, "Because you had made your hearts 27:44 like an adamant stone." 27:47 That's why Ezekiel 36 says, 27:49 "I'm going to have to take out your heart of stone, 27:52 and give you a heart of flesh, 27:54 and then I will write My law on a heart that is surrendered 28:00 and loves Me." 28:02 That's what changes you. 28:09 "Today, they are coming in to educational institutions 28:13 and into the churches 28:14 everywhere spiritualistic teachings 28:17 that undermine faith in God and in His Word. 28:23 The theory that God is an essence," or an energy, 28:27 "pervading all nature is received by many 28:31 who profess to believe the Scriptures. 28:34 These beautiful representations are similar to the temptation 28:39 that the enemy brought to Adam and Eve in Eden. 28:44 But however beautifully clothed, 28:47 this theory is a most dangerous deception. 28:55 This theory surely tends not only to mislead, 29:01 but to debase men. 29:04 Darkness is its element, sensuality its sphere. 29:08 The result of accepting it is separation from God. 29:14 And to fallen human nature this means ruin... 29:20 Living Temple contains the Alpha of these theories. 29:25 The Omega would follow in a little while, 29:28 and I tremble for our people..." 29:34 She said what was revealed to her in Living Temple, 29:39 what Kellogg was writing about was the Alpha, 29:43 the beginning. 29:45 It contained this idea that God was in everything. 29:50 And she said, "This was dangerous enough," 29:55 she said, "What would come in the end 29:59 was even more dangerous." 30:01 She said, "I tremble for our people, 30:03 the deception is going to be that great." 30:07 I want to show you a little bit of how that's about to happen, 30:11 how it's happening now. 30:15 "Satan has long been preparing 30:18 for his final effort to deceive the world. 30:21 The foundation of his work was laid by the assurance 30:25 given to Eve in Eden, 'You shall not surely die...' 30:30 for 'in the day ye eat thereof, 30:33 your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods..."' 30:38 Give me another word for your eyes shall be opened, 30:43 enlightened, enlightenment. 30:46 That phrase "enlightenment," 30:48 you can find in all the occult societies, 30:51 all the Eastern mystical religions 30:53 and philosophies. 30:55 To enlighten someone. 31:00 He says, "For the day ye eat thereof, 31:03 your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as gods," 31:08 knowing both good and evil. 31:11 I used to think Satan was telling Adam and Eve, 31:14 "You're going to be gods," 31:16 literally, and that was as far as it went. 31:19 And it hit me, 31:21 how much more like God can you be 31:23 than Adam and Eve was. 31:26 What was it like the day that Adam first opened his eyes 31:30 after Christ had formed him 31:32 with His own hands out of the dirt and the clay? 31:37 And then Christ did mouth-to-mouth, 31:40 if you want, you know, to look at it that way. 31:43 He breathed into Adam, the breath of life. 31:48 And Adam opened his eyes. 31:52 What did Jesus say to him? 31:55 Do you know what Luke says when it speaks about 31:58 the lineage of Jesus? 31:59 It traces it from Jesus all the way back in Luke 32:04 through Mary's lineage, 32:06 all the way back from Jesus to Adam. 32:11 The last statement it says is, 32:13 "And Adam was the Son of God." 32:18 Adam... 32:20 And this is my sanctified thoughts, okay? 32:23 These are my thoughts. 32:25 Adam opened his eyes and he's like... 32:27 What do you do when you wake up? 32:28 'Cause he woke up as a full-grown mature man, 32:32 not as an infant like we do, right? 32:36 What thoughts were going through his mind? 32:39 Can you imagine that? 32:42 And there's Jesus. 32:44 And He said, "You're My son. 32:49 I created you. 32:52 I'm your elder brother. 32:57 You are a son of God 33:00 by creation." 33:04 How much more like God could you be? 33:08 But Satan said something, "If you eat of this fruit... 33:12 if you taste 33:15 of what I'm telling you and you try it, 33:19 you can't just look at the food, 33:21 you've got to taste it. 33:23 If you'll try what I'm telling you to do, 33:26 you will be as gods." 33:28 And then he said, "Knowing both good and evil." 33:32 The word "knowing" means discerning for yourself. 33:36 And I went back and I read Patriarchs 33:38 and Prophets Chapter 1. 33:40 And do you know what Satan said? 33:44 He said, "I don't need God's divine influence, 33:49 I don't need you whispering in my ear 33:51 what's right and wrong. 33:53 You made me holy, 33:55 I can no more sin than you can sin. 33:59 Let go of my hand, daddy, I can do it for myself." 34:03 That's what Satan said, 34:06 "I can decide for myself what's right and wrong, 34:09 I don't need you telling me what's right and wrong." 34:13 That's the same thing he told the children of Israel, 34:16 "You don't need God's law 34:18 to tell you what's right and wrong, 34:20 you can decide for yourself. 34:22 I mean, you all are grownups, you can make your own mind up." 34:26 He's telling the world the same thing. 34:30 "Little by little Satan has prepared the way 34:34 for his masterpiece of deception 34:37 in the development of spiritualism." 34:40 His masterpiece of deception, 34:44 the greatest deception 34:45 that mankind is ever going to face. 34:50 "He has not yet reached 34:52 the full accomplishment of his designs 34:56 but it will be reached 34:59 in the last remnant of time." 35:04 That's where we're going with this. 35:07 You want to know what's at the end of the story, 35:10 that's where this is going, 35:12 that's where we're going to go in these messages. 35:15 We're going to show not only what Satan is going to do 35:18 through this last great deception, 35:20 but we're going to show what God is going to do 35:23 among His people. 35:25 Amen. Amen. 35:29 "The period of Christ's personal ministry 35:32 among men was the time of greatest activity 35:35 for the forces of the kingdom of darkness. 35:38 New life, and love, 35:40 and power from heaven were moving 35:43 upon the hearts of men." 35:47 Now I want you to think about this for a moment. 35:50 In Proverbs, God tells us, 35:52 "My son, My daughter, give Me your heart." 35:57 He doesn't say, 35:58 "Just give Me your mind, your intellect." 36:01 Yes, He wants the intellect but He says, 36:03 "Give Me your heart." 36:05 That means your affections, your loyalty. 36:10 I want this, this is the throne. 36:18 "And the prince of evil was aroused to contend 36:21 for the supremacy of his kingdom. 36:25 Satan summoned all his forces, 36:28 and at every step he contested the work of Christ." 36:33 Ellen White says, 36:35 "He was instilling 36:36 within men doubt," doubt. 36:43 "So it will be in the great final conflict 36:46 of the controversy between righteousness and sin. 36:50 While new life and light and power are descending 36:53 from on high upon the disciples of Christ, 36:57 a new life is springing up from beneath... 37:02 energizing the agencies of Satan. 37:05 Intensity is taking possession..." 37:10 That's not just... 37:12 She didn't use these words 37:15 just because they were good words. 37:18 There's a meaning there. 37:20 "Intensity is taking possession of every earthly element. 37:27 With a subtlety gained 37:28 through the centuries of conflict, 37:30 the prince of evil works under a disguise. 37:35 He appears clothed as an angel of light, 37:39 and multitudes are 'giving heed to seducing spirits, 37:43 and the doctrines and teachings of devils."' 37:48 Now I want to look at a quote, 37:50 and I know most of you are familiar with this. 37:54 "When Protestantism shall stretch her hand 37:57 across the gulf to grasp the hand 38:01 of the Roman power. 38:04 When she shall reach 38:05 over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism... 38:12 When, under the influence of this threefold union, 38:15 our country shall make provision 38:18 for the propagation," or spread, 38:21 "of papal falsehoods and delusions... 38:23 Then we may know that the time has come 38:27 for the marvelous working of Satan 38:30 and that the end is near." 38:33 Growing up as a Seventh-day Adventist, 38:37 I can see the Protestant churches of America 38:40 clasping hands with Rome. 38:42 Our own church has done that for years. 38:45 I mean, you can see it. 38:48 You see leaders in our church going and shaking hands 38:53 with the UN director, 38:54 and shaking hands with the Pope, 38:57 and shaking hands with, you know, 38:59 different papal leaders. 39:01 So I could see us shaking hands... 39:04 That's literal. 39:06 But I thought spiritualism, 39:09 my mind says spiritualism 39:11 is the state of the dead, right? 39:13 That's how I grew up being taught, 39:15 spiritualism is... 39:17 Grandma really died, she's really dead, 39:19 the dead know not anything. 39:22 That's spiritualism. 39:24 And I thought, "How do we shake hands 39:26 with spiritualism?" 39:28 Because even in the churches that are in apostasy, 39:31 I haven't yet seen a Seventh-day Adventist Church 39:35 that's teaching that when grandpa or grandma die, 39:38 they go straight to heaven or hell. 39:40 I haven't seen that yet. 39:41 I've seen some really bad stuff, 39:43 but I haven't seen that one. 39:46 How do we shake hands with spiritualism? 39:52 It hit me. 39:54 Here we see modern Protestantism, 39:59 evangelicals shaking hands with Rome. 40:03 Here we see Rome 40:07 shaking hands with spiritualism. 40:11 The dragon in Revelation, yes it represents Satan. 40:15 But on a physical level, 40:17 it also is the symbol of Eastern mysticism. 40:22 If you go to a Chinese restaurant, 40:24 I guarantee you're going to see a dragon over the doorway, 40:28 somewhere in the house. 40:29 Do you know why? 40:30 Because when they put that over the doorway, 40:32 it's like it's being put upon your head, 40:34 your forehead. 40:36 They're saying this is who empowers 40:38 and blesses this business. 40:40 If you go into any martial arts school, 40:42 you're going to see a dragon, almost guaranteed, 40:45 either a painting, or a picture, 40:47 or on a t-shirt, or on a uniform 40:50 because that is the highest power known 40:54 in the martial arts world, the dragon. 40:58 In Chinese Qigong and Chinese Bagua, 41:02 in Tai Chi, 41:04 the dragon is known as the spirit power, 41:09 the greatest spiritual power. 41:11 So how do you get if we... 41:15 If I was Rome, if I was the symbol for Rome 41:18 and I get all of those Protestants 41:21 to come on board with me 41:22 except for that little remnant of people 41:24 that are keeping the Sabbath, okay, so fine, 41:27 you got the Christians, 41:28 what about the Buddhists and the Hindus? 41:31 They outnumber the Christians unbelievably. 41:35 How do you get them to come to Rome? 41:37 I mean, they could care less about the Pope, right? 41:41 How do you get them there? 41:43 What about the Muslim world? 41:45 How are you going to get all those Muslims back to Rome? 41:48 Well, that's a little easier than the Buddhists and Hindus. 41:52 You have to find common ground. 41:57 Spiritualism saying that God is in everything 42:02 is common ground with the Buddhists, 42:05 and the Hindus, and the Taoist, and the Shinto religion. 42:09 It's common ground. 42:12 Rome is joining the world together. 42:21 Revelation 16 says, 42:23 "I saw three unclean spirits like frogs..." 42:29 What is the common thing 42:31 that you think about with a frog? 42:32 If you ask a little child, 42:34 "Show me what a frog does or what they look like," 42:36 what's the child going to do? 42:38 They stick their tongue out. 42:39 That's like common. 42:41 They hop and they stick the tongue out. 42:45 The tongue is tongues. 42:48 When you say you speak in tongues, 42:50 we know that is words, languages, right? 42:56 "I saw three unclean spirits like frogs," 43:01 tongues, languages, words, 43:05 Jesus said, "The words I speak unto you, 43:07 they are spirit and they are life." 43:11 When the devil speaks words, 43:14 there are spirits that are inspiring those words. 43:20 "These spirits came out of the mouth of dragon," 43:24 out of the mouth of the dragon, spiritualism, 43:27 "out of the mouth of the beast," 43:28 Roman Catholicism, 43:30 "and out of the mouth of the false prophet," 43:33 apostate Protestantism. 43:36 These three powers are all speaking 43:40 under the inspiration of Satan and his fallen angels. 43:45 "For they are the spirits of devils working miracles, 43:49 which go forth unto the kings of the earth 43:51 and the whole world to gather them 43:54 to the battle of the great day 43:57 of El Shaddai, God Almighty." 44:02 He's gathering them together to make war with him 44:06 that sits upon the horse. 44:11 Spiritism, it means the study of communication 44:15 with spirit entities. 44:16 And we talked about this in our last session. 44:19 It was introduced into the Christian West 44:21 by a man named Allen Kardec, 44:24 who lived from 1804 to 1869. 44:29 Spiritualism, which Ellen White uses these two phrases 44:34 interchangeably many times, 44:38 the practice of communicating with the dead, 44:42 usually through the use of a medium or channel. 44:47 Now I want to interject something, 44:50 just some food for thought 44:51 'cause we can't pass over these things lightly. 44:55 When my wife and I first got married, 44:59 we were on fire for sharing the gospel, 45:02 for helping people to know Christ is coming. 45:05 So we would, you know, we would meet somebody 45:07 and invite them over for Bible study 45:09 or ask if we could come over and they'd say, 45:12 "Oh, I would love that, you know, I'm a Christian too." 45:14 And so we set up a time, 45:16 we could have dinner or whatever, 45:18 and my wife and I would go home, 45:19 and we would pull out our list, 45:21 "Okay, what Bible studies do we do?" 45:25 Okay, here's one, two, three, four, five... 45:26 Here's ten of the things they don't know about. 45:30 Well, within those top five, 45:32 it's always the state of the dead, right? 45:35 That's common. 45:36 You hit people with that. 45:39 What I have realized over the last few years is, 45:44 if that person is struggling with sin in their life, 45:48 what difference does it make now 45:51 where grandma is at? 45:54 I'm not saying that it's not important, 45:56 but this person's got a bigger issue. 45:58 This woman, her husband 46:00 just left her and their children, 46:03 and I come, and I'm going to give her 46:04 a Bible study on the state of the dead. 46:06 And she's thinking, "My husband's gone. 46:10 I need help with that." 46:13 I'm not saying that the truth is not important. 46:16 Do you understand? 46:18 But there's a greater truth. 46:21 Ellen White said that every doctrine we have, 46:25 Christ should be the center of it. 46:27 And I was like, "So how do you do that?" 46:30 And then I read some sermons by WW Prescott 46:34 that he gave in Australia in 1895, 46:37 and it changed my life. 46:39 Ellen White was there. 46:40 He spoke more than 30 times at that one camp-meeting, 46:43 more than 30 messages. 46:46 And she said, "I have never seen 46:48 the Spirit of God upon a man like this since 1888." 46:53 And do you know what he did? 46:54 He presented every truth and doctrine 46:57 we have without ever telling you 47:00 he was teaching a doctrine. 47:02 He presented Christ. 47:04 And I'll give you an example. 47:06 State of the dead. 47:10 If I tell someone, 47:11 "You were crucified with Christ," 47:13 and they say, "Yeah, but I wasn't even alive." 47:15 "Yeah, but you were in Him, you were crucified with Christ, 47:20 you were buried by baptism with Christ, 47:24 you are risen to newness of life in Christ." 47:29 And they say, 47:31 "Well, yeah, but I've got this sin problem 47:33 that I can't get rid of." 47:34 And you go, "Well, the Bible says, 47:36 'If any man or woman is in Christ, 47:39 they are a new creation."' 47:42 Old things are passed away, 47:48 that's dead. 47:50 Grandma passed away, grandpa passed away, 47:53 rest in peace. 47:55 And the dead know not anything. 47:58 That means, 48:00 if I'm still talking to the old man, 48:04 the one that had left his wife and children 48:07 and done all the terrible things I had done, 48:10 if I'm still communicating with him, 48:12 that's spiritualism 48:15 because he died with Christ. 48:19 Paul says, "Forgetting those things 48:22 that are behind, 48:23 we are to press forward." 48:28 We have to reckon ourselves 48:30 to be dead indeed unto sin 48:34 but alive unto God through Christ Jesus. 48:39 When you share that with someone who's struggling, 48:42 then all of a sudden they're excited and they go, 48:45 "Man, I never thought about that. 48:48 I did die with Jesus, the Bible says..." 48:50 "Yeah, but I don't feel dead." 48:51 It doesn't matter how you feel, 48:54 believe it and walk in newness of life 48:58 because God's called you to do so. 49:01 And then you can go, 49:02 "Oh, yeah, by the way, if you're worried about 49:04 what happened to your son or daughter, 49:06 you know, look this is what the Bible says." 49:08 Then it becomes important to them. 49:16 "As we near the close of time, 49:18 there will be greater 49:20 and still greater external parade 49:23 of heathen power." 49:25 External, that means you're going to see it, 49:28 of heathen power. 49:31 "Heathen deities," pagan gods, 49:36 "will manifest their signal power 49:39 and will exhibit themselves 49:41 before the cities of the world." 49:43 When I first heard someone preach on this 49:45 and I thought that can't... 49:46 but Ellen White didn't say that. 49:48 And I had to go look it up. 49:50 And then I was like, "Oh, wow, it's there." 49:53 And I was like, so there's actually... 49:55 we're going to see demonic spirits 49:57 physically manifest. 49:59 And then I read a little bit farther. 50:02 "And this delineation," what she just described, 50:06 "has already begun to be fulfilled." 50:10 And I thought, "How are people...? 50:13 Where? 50:15 Where are these demons 50:16 manifesting themselves physically, 50:18 where we can see them with our eyes?" 50:21 And then she says, 50:23 "All need wisdom carefully 50:26 to search out the mystery of iniquity 50:30 that figures so largely 50:32 in the winding up of this earth's history." 50:35 There are two mysteries spoken of in Scripture. 50:40 Two mysteries. 50:41 I should say there may be more 50:43 but there's two that are prominently 50:45 brought before us. 50:47 The first one is the mystery of godliness, 50:52 talks about that in first Timothy 3:16. 50:56 The mystery of godliness 50:58 is that God was manifest 51:02 in human flesh. 51:05 The next mystery, Paul talks about and warns, 51:09 it's called the mystery of iniquity. 51:11 So if the mystery of godliness 51:14 is God manifests in human flesh, 51:17 the mystery of iniquity 51:19 could it be Satan manifest in human flesh? 51:30 This began to make sense to me. 51:32 There's something else I want to share here 51:34 but I'm going to save that. 51:35 Let me show you what we have found. 51:39 Paul says, 51:40 "Let no man deceive you by any means. 51:43 For that day of Christ's return, 51:45 shall not come 51:47 except there come a falling away," 51:51 an apostasy, 51:53 "first and that man 51:56 of sin be revealed," 52:00 that word in Greek means unmasked or unveiled. 52:05 Do you remember Christ veiled his deity 52:09 with humanity? 52:12 He put us on, right? 52:16 Does the Bible not say 52:17 that we are to put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ? 52:23 So just like Christ stepped into a human flesh and bone, 52:29 he tells us, 52:31 "Put me on and don't make provision 52:34 for your flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof." 52:38 That means don't buy an insurance policy 52:41 in case of failure, 52:43 don't make provision for the flesh. 52:46 Well, what if we fail? 52:47 That's what happened at Mount Sinai, 52:50 God said, "These are promises." 52:53 I promise, every command is a promise. 52:57 Ellen White said that in Education page 126 53:01 and I remember reading that I thought 53:03 how can the commandments be promises. 53:06 God said, "Read it out loud with your name in it. 53:12 Don't read it for somebody else." 53:14 This is written to you personally. 53:17 Make the Bible a letter that God has written to you. 53:23 And I was like I still don't understand, 53:25 God said read it out loud, I said... 53:27 Okay, I'll give you an example, the one I fell at the most, 53:31 "Thou shalt not commit adultery," 53:33 God was like, "Now read it again 53:35 with your name in it." 53:36 I was like, "Thou," okay, all right... 53:40 "Eric William Wilson, 53:42 I promise you won't commit adultery." 53:47 And I was like, "Oh, wow!" 53:51 That changes everything. 53:54 I used to hear this as a young man growing up, 53:58 "Thou shall not commit adultery or else I will kill you." 54:04 That's how I saw God. 54:07 That's how God wants people to see Him. 54:11 God said, "I promise, if you will surrender 54:16 and let My Son come and live inside you 54:19 and if you will abide in Him, 54:21 I promise, you won't commit adultery, 54:23 even in your heart." 54:26 Let this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus. 54:31 He never consented to sin, even in his thoughts. 54:36 All of a sudden it began to make sense. 54:39 Christ said, 54:40 "Don't make provision for failure, 54:43 don't buy an insurance policy." 54:45 "Well, what if I fail, God?" There is no what if. 54:48 Ellen White said, 54:50 "Christ's life demonstrates to us 54:52 that humanity united to deity 54:57 does not commit sin. 55:01 You can read that in 1st John 3:9. 55:04 Look it up in Ellen White's writings. 55:06 That's a powerful promise. 55:09 We've got to be united to Him. 55:14 "And that man of sin will be unveiled 55:18 as the son of perdition, 55:21 who opposeth and exalteth himself 55:24 above all that is called God, 55:27 or that is worshipped, 55:29 so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, 55:34 showing himself that he is God." 55:38 I want to show you something 55:40 and I want you to make a note of this. 55:42 I want you to go home tonight or tomorrow 55:44 and read Desire of Ages page 160 to 161, 55:49 Desire of Ages, page 160 to 161. 55:52 Paul tells us in 1st and 2nd Corinthians, 55:55 "Know ye not that you are the temple of God, 56:00 and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" 56:03 Right? 56:05 "He as God sitteth in the temple of God." 56:10 I'm not denying 56:11 that one day we may see something 56:13 over in the Middle East. 56:15 I'm not denying that. 56:16 It's very likely that we could see 56:18 Rome possibly move, 56:22 you know, their headquarters there. 56:25 But let me tell you something, 56:26 that's not near as important as knowing 56:28 that Satan wants to take the throne 56:30 of your heart personally. 56:34 "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God 56:38 and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. 56:42 If any man defiles the temple of God, 56:45 him shall God destroy. 56:48 For the temple of God is holy, which temple we are." 56:53 I used to think 56:55 God's going to be so angry at me, 56:56 if I mess up, He's going to kill me. 56:59 God said, "I want to come and live inside of you 57:02 and I am a consuming fire. 57:05 I'm a consuming fire. 57:08 If you keep bringing those things into my temple, 57:11 I'm here, and I'm a consuming fire. 57:16 I don't want to burn you." 57:22 Does that make sense? 57:25 When we come back tomorrow evening, 57:27 we're going to really, really open this up. 57:30 I can't wait till tomorrow evening. 57:32 So I look forward to seeing you all then. |
Revised 2019-02-18