Participants: David Down
Series Code: DUTP
Program Code: DUTP000015
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00:11 This is the first time I've ever clamed to the top of a Minaret.
00:15 The view is absolutely spectacular! 00:17 But the climb is very steep. 00:20 This is where the Muezzin called the faithful to prayer 00:23 five times a day. Let's just listen to him for a moment. 00:27 He's saying, Allah Akbar, God is Great. 01:35 We are on the top of Mount Tabor, and looking down here, 01:40 you can see beyond the line of trees, the plain of Jezreel. 01:44 And in the background, the mountains of Gilboa. 01:49 Now this was the scene for a very remarkable battle, 01:53 which was fought between King Saul and the Israelites, 01:57 on one side, there on the mountains of Gilboa, 02:01 and the Philistines, who were over in this direction. 02:04 Saul was naturally anxious about the outcome of this battle, 02:08 and so he made some inquiries from God, hoping to get some 02:13 direction, or some answer, some assurance. 02:15 And so we are told here that he asked of the Lord in 02:23 in 1 Samuel 28 and verse 6, Saul inquired of the Lord. 02:26 The Lord did not answer him. Now that's a bit strange, isn't it? 02:30 Because most people think, All you got to do is pray 02:32 and God will give you an answer. 02:33 But it says, The Lord did not answer him, either by dream 02:36 or by Urim or by the prophets. So, you might think, Well, 02:41 That's being tough when a man prays and God doesn't answer. 02:44 But there was a good reason for this, you see. We're told here 02:48 Then Saul said to his servants, Find me a woman who is a Medium, 02:52 that I may go to her and inquire of her, 02:55 and his servants said to him, In fact there is a woman who is 02:58 a Medium at Endor. Now Endor is down at the foot of this 03:02 mountain. And you see the reason that God hadn't answered him 03:06 was because he was living in disobedience to God. 03:09 And you can't expect God to answer you or do anything 03:12 for you if you are living in direct violation of 03:14 His known will. And so now, Saul decides that he'll go to 03:19 this Medium at Endor. Now this is the first recorded 03:23 Spiritualistic Séance in history and so here is Saul going off to 03:27 this Spiritualistic Medium. And so away he goes. 03:31 So Saul disguised himself, put on other clothes, and he went 03:34 and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night and 03:36 he said, Please conduct a séance for me, and bring up to me one 03:41 I shall name to you. So this is a real Séance, you see, 03:45 Spiritualistic Medium and everything. 03:47 Then the woman said to him, Look, you know what Saul has 03:49 done, how he has cut off the Mediums and the Spiritists 03:52 from the land. Now you see, God had given specific 03:55 instructions that Mediums were not to function. They were to be 03:58 put away. And here was Saul, going to the very person 04:02 who was condemned by God. However Saul swore to her 04:07 by the Lord, saying that as the Lord lives, no punishment shall 04:09 come upon you for this thing. Then the woman said, 04:12 Whom shall I bring up for you? You'll notice it wasn't bringing 04:15 down but bringing up. And that's not a good place to come from, 04:19 is it? And he said, Bring up Samuel for me. 04:22 Now Samuel was the prophet; but we're distinctly told 04:26 in verse 3, Now Samuel had died and all Israel had lamented 04:30 for him, and buried him in Ramah. So Samuel was dead 04:33 and buried. We've already noticed in a previous program 04:37 that the dead know not anything. And yet here was Saul wanting 04:42 to speak to Samuel who was dead and could not communicate 04:45 with him. Well, did anything happen? Yes, it did. 04:48 Because it says, He said to her, What is this form? 04:55 You see, something came up, seemed to come up out of the 04:57 ground. And he said, What is this form? And she said, 05:00 An old man is coming up and he is covered with a mantle, and 05:02 Saul perceived that it was Samuel. And then it says, 05:06 Samuel said to Saul, and goes on to say what the conversation 05:09 was. Now, here was an apparent conversation between Saul 05:13 and the dead Samuel. And how are you going to explain that? 05:17 If the bible says that Saul had inquired of Samuel, 05:23 and that Samuel was dead, you can take it. But Samuel was dead 05:27 It was not Samuel. Who was it then? The bible teaches that the 05:33 devil is a very real person. and he has a lot of ability. 05:38 He has the ability to impersonate the dead. 05:41 He has the ability to take on the same sort of voice and 05:45 mannerisms so that when Saul saw this figure or heard this 05:50 voice, he thought, That's Samuel for sure. But it wasn't. 05:52 I'll tell you. It was the devil impersonating Samuel. 05:57 So the devil is a very real person, and when Jesus Christ 06:02 was tempted of the devil in the wilderness of Judea, it was a 06:08 very real and personal devil that appeared to him. 06:11 >From the wilderness of Judea the devil whisked Jesus up 06:16 to Jerusalem to the temple. You never want to underestimate what 06:20 the devil can do. Its incredible when God allows, just what power 06:24 the devil has and what he can do. And so he brought Jesus up 06:28 here to the pinnacle of the temple and he said, 06:30 If you are the son of God, cast yourself down from here. 06:35 Because it is written, He shall give his Angels charge 06:39 over thee and in their hands they shall bear thee up. 06:43 You know, its incredible, even the devil knows how to quote 06:45 scripture when it suits him. But Jesus came back with 06:49 another scripture. He said, It is also written, You shall 06:53 not test or tempt the Lord your God. That's the best way to 06:57 beat the devil, you know, just to use the bible. 06:59 For the third temptation, the bible says, Again the devil 07:08 took him up on an exceedingly high mountain and showed him 07:12 all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory. 07:14 Now we don't know just exactly which mountain this was. 07:17 But, in front of you there, is the traditional mount 07:21 of temptation. And on the side clinging to the side of the 07:24 mountain, you can see is a great monastery. 07:27 And that's where we're going to go now. 07:50 >From up here, I have a magnificent view, looking out 07:56 over the Jordan valley and Jericho. And this conflict was 08:02 a very real thing. Matthew 4: 9 says, 08:06 The devil said to him, All these things I will give you 08:10 if you will fall down and worship me. 08:12 Now this wasn't a make believe. It really happened. There was 08:16 Jesus Christ confronted by the devil in person. 08:20 Well now, you might say, Well where did this fellow come from? 08:24 And why didn't God blot him out if He is giving so much 08:27 trouble. We need to understand the issues behind this conflict. 08:31 You see, God has a big universe. In Revelation, chapter 5, and in 08:38 verse 11, it says, Then I looked and I heard the voice of many 08:43 angels around the throne. And the number of them was 10,000 08:47 times 10,000, and thousands of thousands. Well, you've got to 08:52 a little pocket calculator there that you can figure that out? 08:55 Work it out. You'll find that we're talking about a hundred 08:59 million angels and thousands of thousands besides that. 09:03 A lot of angels, and the bible says that one third of the 09:08 angels rebelled against God. Now if there's a hundred 09:12 thousand left, that means that there must have originally been 09:15 at least a hundred and fifty thousand millions and so you've 09:20 got to figure here of some fifty million devils at least 09:24 that have rebelled against God. Now these were pure and holy 09:28 angels who decided to rebel against the Creator. 09:31 Well, how did it all begin? How did it get started? 09:34 We're told in Isaiah, chapter 14 where it says, 09:40 How you are fallen from heaven O Lucifer, son of the morning. 09:45 For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, 09:49 I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will ascend 09:52 above the heights of the clouds I will be like the Most High. 09:56 Now apparently Lucifer was the head angel. And he rebelled 10:02 against God. There's no reason. You say, Well why did he do it. 10:05 Wasn't he contented? He should have been. There's no reason 10:08 you can give. Otherwise you can justify him in doing it. 10:11 But for some reason that we do not understand, he just said, 10:15 Well, I'm not satisfied with what I've got. And so he said, 10:19 I want to be like the Most High. And so he rebelled against God. 10:23 Now he was a very beautiful angel. In the book of Ezekiel, 10:27 it says here, Son of man take up a lamentation for the 10:31 king of Tyre. Now this is apparently symbolic of this 10:35 rebellion because it says, You were the seal of perfection, 10:40 full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, 10:43 the garden of God. You see, the king of Tyre wasn't in the 10:46 garden of God, in the garden of Eden. So it must be referring 10:49 to this head angel, Lucifer. You were the anointed cherub who 10:54 covers. You were perfect in your ways from the day you 10:57 were created till iniquity was found in you. So also you see 11:01 he was created. He wasn't a born creature. He was created 11:05 and so this beautiful angel apparently became filled with 11:10 pride and decided to rebel against God. 11:12 Well, apparently he was very subtle and succeeded in getting 11:18 a lot of the angels to sympathize with him. 11:20 And what was the result? Well there's only one conclusion 11:23 that could happen and that's brought to light in Revelation, 11:26 twelve, and in verse 7 where it says, And war broke out in 11:30 heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon 11:34 and the dragon and his angels fought. So the great dragon was 11:37 cast out, that serpent of old called the devil and Satan 11:41 who deceives the whole world. He was cast to the earth, 11:44 and his angels were cast out with him. Well, why didn't 11:48 the Lord destroy him? You see he was apparently very subtle 11:53 and if God had wiped him out, there and then, there may have 11:56 been some lingering questions in the minds of the loyal angels 11:59 and so God had to let this controversy develop just to see 12:03 where it was really leading to. I think we can see it now. 12:06 Well, what was the result of all this? What was the result of 12:09 these angels being cast out? Do you see that cave in the 12:14 hillside up there? I want to tell you an interesting story. 12:17 We're actually standing here at a place called Kurisee and it is 12:24 thought that that was the ancient Gariso. Now in the bible 12:29 we read a story about two men who came from Gariso or actually 12:33 the biblical record in some manuscripts says the Gadarenes. 12:36 Well, this is what happened. Over there is the lake of 12:40 Galilee and one morning Jesus came, arrived here in his boat 12:43 with the disciples, and no sooner had they landed, 12:47 than two demon possessed men came running down from these 12:51 caves, and approached Jesus and the disciples. 12:54 And the disciples apparently were scared to death. They fled. 12:56 But not Jesus. He stood his ground. And so when they 13:01 approached him all fierce and threatening, Jesus simply 13:05 commanded the devils to go out of them. And the devil put up 13:10 some resistance. These were demon possessed men, you see. 13:12 And is says in Luke, chapter 8, Jesus asked him, saying what 13:18 is your name? And he said, Legion, because many demons 13:24 had entered into him. Now we need to realize, 13:27 There's an awful lot of devils around in this world. There are 13:30 millions of them. In fact you probably got one in personal 13:34 attendance on yourself. So you need to be on your guard. 13:38 And so these people said they were legion or many devils. 13:42 And so Jesus cast out these demons. And these men were 13:48 so grateful. They just flung themselves at Jesus' feet. 13:51 The next thing we have a record of they were sitting at Jesus 13:55 feet, clothed and in their right mind. That's what Jesus 13:58 can do for demon possessed people. And demon possession 14:02 is a very real thing. It really happens. And don't make any 14:05 mistake. These demons have some real power. 14:08 For instance in Revelation chapter 16, and in verse 14, 14:13 it says, For they are spirits of demons performing signs 14:18 or miracles, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the 14:22 whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of 14:24 God Almighty. You see, the devil can work miracles, and all his 14:28 evil angels can work miracles. So just because you see a 14:31 miracle, don't jump to the conclusion that it must be of 14:34 God. The devil and his evil angels are out to deceive 14:38 people and they have the power to perform miracles. 14:42 And even people who preach in their name have the power to 14:46 work miracles. Even in the name of Christ. So while they're 14:50 actually serving the devil, Listen, Matthew chapter 7 14:52 and verse 21, Not every one who says to me, Lord, Lord, 14:57 shall enter the kingdom of heaven. But he who does the will 15:01 of my father in heaven. Now here people who actually call 15:05 Christ, Lord. And yet it says, Many will say to me in that day, 15:09 Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, 15:13 cast out demons in your name and done many wonders in your 15:17 name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. 15:21 Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. 15:25 So its not a case of whether you work miracles or not. 15:27 Its a case of whether you do the will of God. 15:34 Now I want to take it a step further. You realize that there 15:38 are spiritualist churches in the world today? That is churches 15:45 that claim to believe in the bible, claim to believe in Jesus 15:48 Christ and yet they have Séances? They have Mediums, 15:52 they have spirits appearing out of the darkness and all the 15:55 rest of it. And these spirits profess to have faith in Christ. 16:00 they profess to be the spirits of people who have died. 16:05 And yet they have faith in Christ. Listen, this just 16:08 does not work. Its absolutely contrary to the bible. 16:11 It just can't be. And it just must be that its the devil 16:15 impersonating those who are departed and who are trying 16:19 to make out that they're still alive. Its a false sense of 16:22 security. And there are just millions of people being swept 16:26 into this. I don't know whether you noticed this a few years ago 16:29 in the Time magazine. You see what it says here? 16:33 Occult revival. Down to the bottom here, Satan returns. 16:38 You know, even the Time magazine gets it right sometimes. 16:41 And, it's right on there. And so there is great revival of the 16:48 occult, Satanism. And these spirits appearing to people. 16:54 And so, if you haven't had any confrontation with this sort of 16:58 thing yet, well, just know what its all about; because you 17:01 might be called upon to face up to something like this. 17:04 The bible makes it very plain that we ought to keep right 17:09 away from this sort of thing. Listen, I'm reading from 17:11 Isaiah chapter 8, and in verse 19. And when they say to you, 17:16 Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter, 17:22 should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead 17:28 on behalf of the living? Isn't that just what they're doing? 17:30 Seeking the supposedly dead on behalf of the living. 17:34 They're not talking to the dead at all, they're in communication 17:38 with evil spirits. Now this is what it says, 17:41 To the law and to the testimony, If they do not speak according 17:46 to this word, it is because there is no light in them. 17:50 Now some people think, Well, there is a little light here. 17:52 Listen, if its darkness, there is no light in them. 17:57 And its dangerous. And if you are involved in this sort of 18:01 thing in any way, I want to advise you to get right out of 18:04 it. Its dangerous. Keep away from it altogether. 18:07 Well, some people might be disappointed in this. 18:10 Actually, I guess I should tell you that my mother and my 18:14 grandmother was a spiritualist. She had a weekly séance, 18:17 went along and talked to her so called dead husband 18:20 once a week. So I know a little bit of what I'm talking about. 18:23 And I want to tell you, It's dangerous and keep away from it. 18:25 There is a marvelous alternative Listen. Jesus said in John 10 18:31 and in verse 10. I have come that they may have life, and 18:37 that they may have it more abundantly. 18:39 Look, if you want life, there's a place to get it, from Jesus 18:44 Christ. Don't go looking for it in dead people. Jesus Christ is 18:49 the one who is able to give you life, real, good, wonderful life 18:54 in this world and eternal life in the world to come. 19:00 Standing here in the ruins of Garesa where those demons 19:04 possessed men might have come from, gives one quite an eerie 19:08 feeling. Have you ever wondered why God gave such specific 19:12 instructions regarding the building of the sanctuary, 19:15 and why He required so many animals sacrifices? 19:19 Why would a God of love need to be plactated 19:22 by the death of so many animals? We'll explain and answer these 19:27 puzzling questions in our next program, when we visit Shiloh 19:31 where the Israelites first erected the sanctuary 19:34 when they arrived in the promised land. |
Revised 2014-12-17