tonight and come to 1 Samuel chapter 18. What's prompting this study tonight is we're going to forego the tabernacle for just a service tonight because I got a email from Sister Kay Qualls. I believe it was either yesterday or today and I got that from her and I thought it's such a great Bible question. She sometimes she'll email me and she'll have a Bible question and will correspond back into you know me answering her questions and all and she asked this question and the Lord just impressed my heart. Today, while I was down here at the church doing some studying, I was preparing to teach on the tabernacle tonight. But then after praying and asking for God's direction, God impressed me to teach the answer to her question to the entire assembly tonight. It is such a great question and such a complex answer that to answer her by email it would take a good bit of typing and probably get confused and bogged down with it. It's hard to explain what we're going to go through tonight. But I want to read her email to you and read her question. And I'm sure maybe some of you have even wondered the same thing. It's a great, like I say, it's a tremendous Bible question. And you run across this in the scripture, it might stump you and you might wonder the same thing that she wondered. And I want to read this to you. It says, Reverend Dale, I hope your week is going well. I had a question about something I read yesterday. Praise God for some members that's reading the Bible. Amen. It said, and the same thing came up today, so I thought I'd see if you could tell me more about it. She said, 1 Samuel 18.10 and 19.9 both use the phrase, the evil spirit from God. Please give me more insight on that as we've always been taught that God has no evil or sin. Tremendous question. I mean a tremendous question. And I'm sure that if you're a Bible reader, I'm sure that you've run across that in your reading. And maybe you've wondered why an evil spirit from God troubled Saul. And so I started to write you back, and I did reply to you, Sister Kay, but I let you know that I was going to be dealing with it tonight. And so I started looking at it, and I thought, man, this is just so so heavy and so complex that I need to teach it to our entire assembly. So, I want you to look in 1 Samuel chapter 18 tonight. We'll look at these two passages of Scripture, and I want to give you a biblical answer on why is it that an evil spirit from God is even mentioned in the Word of God. I know that some say, well, God can't sin and He can't sin. We'll go into that in just a little bit. But you're going to be surprised at how God operates. There's a lot about God, like I was saying about the Lord, there's a lot about God that we don't really fathom. And there's a God out there that's being portrayed and preached to people that's really not the God of that Bible. But the God of that Bible will amaze you. He will simply captivate you when you get to studying Him and to find out how He operates. And we're going to look at some things about the unseen world tonight. We're going to look at some things about how God operates, and we never see what's going on, but this is how God operates in the spirit world. And I want you to look in 1 Samuel chapter 18 tonight. We'll read just one verse of Scripture. And it said, verse 10, it came to pass on the morrow that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul. And don't that just strike you as odd? that that evil spirit from God came upon Saul. And he prophesied in the midst of it. Now he's prophesying with an unclean spirit, an evil spirit. And he prophesied in the midst of the house, and David played with his hand as at other times, and there was a javelin in Saul's hand. Look in chapter 19. Again, this same thing is brought out again. It said, verse number 9, it said, And the evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his javelin in his hand, and David played with his hand. And we know that whenever David would play the harp, that it would appease that evil spirit. from the Lord in Saul's life. But the fact that an evil spirit from God came upon Saul brings up many questions in our minds about why did God do this? Why did God allow that? God didn't just allow it. God did it. I mean, an evil spirit from God came upon Saul. As far as God Himself, yes, it is true, Jesus Christ, God, manifest in the flesh, cannot sin. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21, it says, "...for He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin." There's no sin in God. Not any sin whatsoever. 1 Peter 2, verse 22 said, "...who did no sin." He knew no sin. There was not one evil thought that went through the mind of Jesus Christ when He was down here on earth. And he did no sin. There was not one motive, one action that came from his body that would even hint at sin. He never even came near sin. He was completely sinless. Now that in itself is a wonderful study. And it's mind-blowing to us because we are so accustomed to sin. We're sinners by nature. But God is not. God is holy. Hallelujah. I'm glad my God is holy tonight. I'm glad to know that God is far above sinners. I'm glad He's not affected by sin whatsoever. But we are. But God is not. Now listen to what James says about temptation with evil or with sin. It says, James 1.13, it says, Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. It says, For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man with evil. The context of the verse. So God does not tempt with evil. But we're reading in the Old Testament that an evil spirit from God came upon Saul. Well, what is going on? Why did God operate that way? Why did God allow that? Why did God cause this evil spirit to come upon Saul and this evil spirit tormented him? and caused him to sin even greater in his life than he would on his own. Well, let's first establish this. Where did evil come from? Well, take your Bibles and come to the book of Ezekiel chapter 28. I want you to look at this from the Scriptures tonight because this is such a I don't want to mischaracterize God or the Scriptures at all, but this is such a complex, that word just keeps coming to my mind, such a complex thought and study tonight. I want to give you as much Scripture concerning this as we can. Look in Ezekiel 28. Now, what's going on in Ezekiel 28? He's talking about the fall of Lucifer. And he's talking about how Lucifer was the anointed cherub that covereth. Look in verse 14 of Ezekiel 28. God's speaking directly to Lucifer. He said, Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth. When you get to the book of Revelation, you read about four cherubim. There were originally five cherubim. When you get to the book of Revelation, there's four cherubim around the throne. They each have a face of a lion, a face of a man, a face of an eagle, and a face of an ox. And so those four faces, but notice that fifth cherub was the one that was over the throne. He covered the anointed cherub that covereth. He covered the throne. And you find out from studying Isaiah 14 and passages like Ezekiel, that out of him flowed all of this music. He was a built-in, he had a built-in orchestra in him. That's why Satan uses music the way he does. So, whenever you looked at God sitting on His throne, above the throne of God was this light bearer. That's what the word Lucifer means. And this music radiating over the throne and proceeding from the throne. And He was the anointed cherub that covereth. And by the way, There's all four of those cherubim around the throne now represent the domestic beast, the wild beast, man, and the flying beast, but there's one form of beast that is not named, and that's the reptilian class, the serpent class. He was over the throne, but he fell. Now watch this. He says in verse 15, Thou wast perfect in Thy ways from the day that Thou wast created till iniquity was found in Thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned." So where did evil come from? It came from Lucifer, Satan himself. In God, God did not create evil. God did not create evil in the sense that He made Lucifer sin, but Lucifer had a free will. And Lucifer chose to sin against God. In Isaiah 14 it says that he said in his heart, I will ascend above the stars of God. I will be like the Most High. I will sit in the congregation on the sides of the north. He wanted to be back over that throne. He wanted to exalt himself above God and show the world that he is God. Well, he's not God. That's nothing but pride. The condemnation of the devil was pride. And so iniquity was found in Lucifer. That's where we get evil from. That's where wickedness comes from. Who was it that stepped into that garden and tempted Eve to sin? It was not God. It was the serpent. Who was it that stepped into the desert after Jesus had been fasting 40 days and 40 nights and tempted him to sin? It was Satan. Evil comes from Satan. Now, I want you to watch this with me. How does God deal with evil? Well, the Bible says that whenever Satan fell, There was a host of angels that fell with him. Satan got him a third part of the angels. They chose by their free will to follow with Satan, and he caused a rebellion in heaven. You know why we have war today? Because there's war in heaven. Because there's evil against God. There's Satan against God. That's why we have wars on earth today, because of the difference between evil and good. So, how does God deal with this thing called evil? When we sin, we sin on our own. Can I get an amen right there? Some say, well, I didn't mean that. That was an unwillful sin. Every sin I've ever committed was willful. We make a choice and we sin against God. And so, we sin and do evil on our own. But once a man, listen to me, once a man hardens his heart toward God, God gets involved. God always gives a person an opportunity to repent. If a person sins against God, and they harden their heart against God, God will deal with that individual. And He'll give that individual or a group of people the opportunity to repent. Let me give you an example. Come to the book of Jonah. Come over here to the little book of Jonah. If you have trouble finding it, just get to the back of the Old Testament and start flipping back into the Old Testament until you come up on Jonah. The book of Jonah. I want you to see how God operates and deals with evil tonight. Look in Jonah, chapter number 3, and we need to read the entire chapter of Jonah 3 for you to understand what's going on here and to see what God is doing. In Jonah chapter 3, verse number 1, it says, And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee." So how does God get a message to somebody? He uses preachers. So now notice what happens. So Jonah arose, went unto Nineveh according to the Word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was the exceeding great city of three days' journey. And Jonah began to enter into the city of days' journey. He's just been vomited out of a whale's belly. He was getting on with it. He was moving. I mean, after graduating from Well University, he figured he better mind God. Amen? And it said, And Jonah began to enter into the city of Days journey. And he cried and said, Yet forty days, and none of us shall be overthrown. That was the message God told him to preach to them. So the people of Nineveh, watch this, so the people of Nineveh believed God. Now get this, a man preached, but yet they believed God. A man preached, but yet they believed God. But listen, preacher. But pay attention to preaching. So the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he rose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him. Wouldn't it be wonderful if our politicians did that? Democrat and Republican and Independent alike. Wouldn't it be wonderful if they got right with God? Amen. It said He put His robe from covering Him with sackcloth and sat in ashes, and He caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the King and His nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed nor drink water. He put the animals on a fast. I mean, this guy is repenting. He's getting right with God. He's believing God. All right, now watch it. But let not man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God. Yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his... Have you ever thought about God repenting? The Bible speaks often of God repenting. It says, Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from His fierce anger that we perish not? Now watch it. And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way, and God repented of the evil that He had said that He would do unto them, and He did it not. Now, I want you to understand this, that God could have operated either way. But it all depended on Ninevites. It all depended on what they did with the message that God sent to them. And when they believed God and repented, God says, okay, I'll repent. I won't do what I said I would have done. And He did not cause evil to come upon those. God is sovereign. He is so sovereign that it does not matter which way man goes, he still can operate and still be God. It does not matter what the Ninevites would have done. If they had not repented, He would have done what He said He would have done and still been God. But yet they repented and it did not change who God was. He was still God. He was still sovereign. God was in control of the evil. Do you see that? He gave them opportunity. They were committing sin. They were sinning violently against God. He sent a messenger. You're going to be destroyed. And they believed God, repented, and he said, OK, that's what I was looking for. Aren't you glad God lets us repent? Praise God for repentance. Do the church a good, healthy dose of good if we repent. We always say that the last message that Jesus gave the church was the Great Commission. That's not the last message that God gave the church. The last message He gave the church was repent, or I'll remove your candlestick. Lord have mercy. They left out the book of Revelation. Well, anyway, here we go. So that's how he dealt with the Ninevites. He repented and he did not send judgment upon them. But watch this. Come back to the book of Exodus. Let's look at Pharaoh. You remember good old Pharaoh? You remember how Pharaoh responded to God? Look in the book of Exodus, chapter number 5. I want you to look at this with me. We'll make it chapter 4. Let's look at chapter 4 first. Exodus chapter 4 verse 21. Now watch this. God is dealing with evil. That's our study tonight. How does God deal with evil? Exodus 4 verse 21, And the Lord said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand, But I will harden his heart that he shall not let the people go." Now, doesn't that strike you as odd? Some people say, well, it's almost like Pharaoh had no say-so in the matter whatsoever. That God just hardened his heart and Pharaoh had to sin against God. Therefore, God is the creator of sin and evil. Isn't that how that verse would make you think? But notice that God foreknew something about Pharaoh. Look back in chapter 3. Now, the Lord is telling Moses to go, verse 17 of chapter 3. He's telling them to go before the elders of the land, and they're going to hearken to your voice. Verse 18, And thou shalt come down, the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt. And he shall say unto him, The Lord God of the Hebrews is met with us. Now let us go. We beseech thee three days' journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. Now, but watch verse 19. This is God speaking about what He knew about Pharaoh's heart. And I'm sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand. You see, God knows the hearts of men. God knows, as a matter of fact, He knows what's in our heart tonight. He knows what you're thinking right now. He knows. The Bible says over in the gospel, John said, he did not need that any man testify a man for he knew what was in man. So he knew that Pharaoh would harden his heart. So what did God do? God said, OK, if you're going to harden your heart against me and not repent, I'm going to get involved. And I'm going to harden your heart. You've heard that saying, sin will take you further than you want to go. Sin will keep you longer than you want to stay. Sin will cost you far more than you'd ever want to pay. You know why? Because when we willingly sin against God and harden our hearts against God, God gets involved. God gets involved with that heart and He'll make that heart even harder than you meant for it to go. And that's exactly the way that God dealt with Pharaoh. Pharaoh hardened it. Look in chapter 5. I told you to look there, but look at this. Chapter 5, and Pharaoh said, verse number 2, Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. You see him harden his heart. That's what God said in chapter 3, verse 19. That's what he knew about Pharaoh. He says, Okay, Pharaoh, you harden it. I'm going to make it even harder. You see how God's dealing with evil? God dealt with the Ninevites. They were committing evil. They repented. He repented. He dealt with Pharaoh. He was living wicked. Had the people of God up under bondage. He wouldn't repent. God got involved with the evil. Now let's go on. A man's heart. I've already established this. A man's heart is known by the Lord. And God deals with people individually. Now, let's look at something. I've got to show you this tonight. Y'all okay? Everybody okay? Look in Ezekiel 14 with me. Ezekiel 14. We're going to wind up in a passage of Scripture that a lot of people read over and they don't really understand what's going on. And it's going to just put all of this together for you tonight. Ezekiel 14, notice how God deals with a man. Chapter 14, verse 1, Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me, and the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face. Should I be inquired of all by them? God says, hey, these guys are sinning, they're willfully, they've hardened their heart against me. Why should I even bother answering them? They don't care what I have to say about anything. God is – can I say this reverently? God is God. You don't pull His string. You don't mess with Him. Notice verse number 3, I read that, verse number 4, Therefore speaking to them and saying to them, Thus saith the Lord God, every man of the house of Israel, that sitteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the summing block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet, I, the Lord, will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols, that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are estranged from me through their idols. God's saying, look, this is how I'm going to deal with them. They don't care what I've got to say. Therefore, I'm going to let them have their own way. That's exactly what God's doing in America today. They don't care what God says. He says, OK, I'm going to let you pass legislation to make homosexuality legal. Go ahead. Set those idols up in your heart. It's going to come back on you. And God says, that bunch of people don't want me to involve. They don't want me. So I'm just going to let them have their own way. All right, now watch this. Therefore, verse number 6, say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God, Repent, turn yourselves from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations. For every one of the house of Israel and the stranger that sojourneth in Israel which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth a stumbling block of iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to inquire of him concerning me, I the Lord will answer him by myself. You know what God is saying. He's saying, and this is so important that we understand this, because across this land is false prophets all across this land today. You want me to name one? Joel Osteen? False prophets all across this land today. And God said, if you're going to set up those idols in your heart, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll give you a prophet. And I'll give you a prophet that'll just say exactly what you want said. You know why Joel Osteen is called the pastor of America? He ain't my pastor. Because America wants that kind of man. They don't want the truth. And God says, I'll give you a prophet. I'll let him say just what you want said. Now watch this with me. Come to Isaiah 45. Isaiah 45. Now, this is going to blow your mind. This is just going to totally blow your mind about God. In the book of Isaiah in chapter 40 through about chapter 45, 46, God starts talking about Himself. He starts saying some things about Himself and explaining Himself in ways that He does in no other of the Scriptures. In Isaiah 45, the Lord begins telling us, look with me in verse number 2 of Isaiah 45, I will go before thee and make the crooked places straight. I will break in pieces the gates of brass and cut and center the bars of iron. I will give thee the treasures of darkness and the hidden riches of secret places. Notice verse 5. I am the Lord, and there is none else. There is no God beside me." God said, I've been looking around. He said, I've looked all around eternity, and there is no other God. I am it. You know, when you're God, you can talk like that. He said, I'm God. There's no other God. And he said, I have girded thee, though thou hast not known me, that they may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else." Now watch it. God's talking about Hisself. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace, uh-oh, and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. An evil spirit from the Lord troubled Saul. God says, I'm responsible for that. Why? Because of man's heart toward God. Now, I want you to come to 1 Kings 22. Do you remember some time back we studied out of the book of 2 Thessalonians, and we were doing a study on the Holy Spirit And we were talking about the last days and how that the Holy Spirit right now is restraining or holding back the work of the mystery of iniquity. And He said, the mystery of iniquity doth already work, but he that letteth will let until he be taken out of the way. What He's saying there is that There's already evil in the world. The mystery of iniquity is already working, and we can look around and see that. But it's God that's holding it back from being full-blown. But one day God's going to take the leash completely off, and it is going to be full-blown. And then shall that wicked be revealed. God's involved with evil. Don't think that what's going on in this world that God's just sitting back with His hands crossed like this. God's involved in this thing. 1 Kings 22 is one of those chapters that when you read it, you'll read through it and you won't understand what's going on. You'll go right over it and you won't really see. But 1 Kings 22 takes us into the realm of the spirit world and shows us how God deals with evil spirits. I want you to watch this with me, and I want to take my time with this chapter to show you this, because I don't want you to miss what's going on. This is so eye-opening and just faith-producing and just so wonderful to see how God operates in this spirit world. 1 Kings 22, you'll also find this same passage, 2 Chronicles 18, but watch this with me. And they continued three years with that war between Syria and Israel. And it came to pass in the third year that Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, came down to the king of Israel. Now, that would be Ahab. You remember Ahab? He sold himself to do wickedly. His wife, Jezebel, was one of the most wicked women that's ever lived. We use the word, she's a Jezebel. I mean, she was wicked, buddy. And Ahab was wicked, wicked, wicked, wicked Ahab. You remember, he's the one that asked Elijah, he said, are you the one that's troubling Israel? And Elijah looked back at him and he said, it ain't me, it's you, buddy. He said, it ain't me that's troubling you, you're the one that's sinning against God. And you remember the great confrontation they had on the mountain and Elijah called down fire and Ahab had all of his false prophets there? And Elijah the one true prophet stood there, and God showed who was God. Now watch this. And the king of Israel Ahab said unto his servants, Know ye that Ramoth and Gilead is ours, and we be still, and take it not out of the hand of the king of Syria. And he said, this is Ahab speaking, he said unto Jehoshaphat, Will thou go with me to battle at Ramoth Gilead? And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I am as thou art, my people as thy people, my horses as thy horses. And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, Inquire, I pray thee, at the word of the Lord today. Now, Jehoshaphat's kind of concerned about this war that they're about to go in, and he tells Ahab, he said, Hey, Ahab, would you mind getting your prophets together and let's make sure that God's in this thing before we go to war? Now, watch what happens. Then the king of Israel, Ahab, gathered the prophets. Remember, they're false prophets now. He gathered the prophets together, about 400 men, and said unto them, Shall I go against Ramoth-Gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up, for the Lord shall deliver thee into the hand of the king. Now, here's Ahab getting all of his false prophets together, and he believes that every word that comes out of their mouth is of God. And he says, I want to know something. Should I go up to Ramoth-Gilead and take that? I mean, it belongs to me. And all 400 of these false prophets say, go up, God's with you, sick'em boy. Watch what happens. Jehoshaphat still troubled about this thing. Verse number 7, Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides that we might inquire of him? And the king of Israel, Ahab, said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah, the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him." At least he's honest. Why does he hate him? For he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Are you kidding me? Don't let the king say so. You don't mean. Nobody would really say anything bad about you, King Ahab. Now watch this. Then the king of Israel called an offer and said, Hasten hither my care, the son of Imla. And the king of Israel said, And Jehoshaphat the king of Judah sat each on his throne. had him put on the robes in a void place in the entrance of the gate of Samaria. And all the prophets prophesied before them. And Zedekiah the son of Canaan made him horns of iron. And he said, Thus saith the Lord, with thee shalt thou push the Syrians until thou hast consumed them. And all the prophets prophesied, so saying, Go up to Ramoth Gilead, prosper, for the Lord shall deliver it into the king's hand. And you hear what he's hearing? Get them, boy. God's with you. Go, go, go. God's going to deliver this. And the messenger that was going to come, Michael, spake unto him, saying, Behold now the words of the prophets declared good unto the king with one mouth. Let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word of one of them, and speak that which is good. And Michael said, As the Lord liveth, what the Lord saith unto me, that will I speak. Praise God for one true prophet. Praise God for one preacher that ain't scared of people. Now watch what happens. So he came to the king, and the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go against Ramoth Gilead to battle, or shall we forbear? And he answered him, Go and prosper, for the Lord shall deliver thee unto the hand of the king. Now he's being facetious. Micaiah is just He's been told to say what the others are saying. He says, okay, go on. I mean, you're wanting to go, take it, go. You've already made up your mind you want to go, go. Sometimes people come and counsel with me and they don't come in the room to ask nothing. They come in there to tell me what they're going to do. I say, praise the Lord. Go on. Now watch this. And the king said unto him, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou tell me nothing but that which is true in the name of the Lord? And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, and sheep that have not a shepherd. And the Lord said, These have no master. Let them return every man to the house in peace. And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he would not prophesy no good concerning me but evil? He said, He won't tell me what I want to hear. He's telling me not to go. I want to go, but he's telling me not to go. He's against me. If he had listened to this one true prophet, he got killed. Now watch this. Beginning in verse 19, the Bible carries us into the heavens, into the throne room of God and shows us what just went on that we just read. Watch this, verse 19. And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord setting on His throne. See, we're in the heavens now. We're not down here on earth. We're up in the third heaven. And all the hosts of heaven standing by Him on His right hand and on His left. And the Lord said, Who shall persuade Ahab that he may go and fall at Ramoth Gilead? And one said on this manner, another said on this manner. And there came forth a spirit. Did you get that? There came forth a spirit and stood before the Lord and said, I will persuade him. And the Lord said unto him, wherewith?" In other words, how are you going to do it? And he said, the Spirit said to God, I will go forth, I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets, all 400 of them. And he said, thou shalt persuade him and prevail, also go forth and do so. Now watch this. Now therefore behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee." Wow! Wow! You know what God just did? What we just read at the beginning of this chapter, all 400 prophets prophesying go up We just read how God got that accomplished. An evil spirit came and said, God, I know how I can do this. God says, how can you do it? You're wicked and evil. How are you going to get this accomplished? He said, I'll go and I'll be a lion spirit in all 400 false prophets. He said, go on. And I want you to know this, that I did that. Wow. And God is still sovereign. How does God deal with evil? How does God handle people living wicked? God gets involved. And He gets involved by letting them believe what they want to believe if they won't believe Him. And God said, I'm the one that put that lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets. But Zedekiah the son of Canaan went near and smoked Micaiah on the cheek and said, Which way went the Spirit of the Lord for me to speak in thee? And Micaiah said, Behold, thou shalt see in the day when thou shalt go into a... He said, When you go into a fallout shelter, you're going to find out, buddy. because God is going to make it happen. Notice what happens, verse 37. So the king died and was brought to Samaria, and they buried the king in Samaria. Had he listened to this one true prophet, he would have never died. But he wanted to go to Ramoth Gilead no matter what God said about it. So God sent him a lying spirit, and God used evil to get evil accomplished. Did that help you, Sister Kay? That was so complex and so involved, but that's how God works in the spirit world. So, when you read that an evil spirit from the Lord came upon Saul, you can believe what you read. It really happened because Saul hardened his heart against God. Moral of the story, keep your heart right with God. Let me say that again, moral of the story, keep your heart right with God. It's important that you do.