seem to lay down. There are certain things that never seem to quit. They just continually to rear their head up. And especially when you have new people that keep coming and going because of how they've been taught. And apparently the Lord wants attention brought to it because He even comes to the book of Revelation and brings it up again. Revelation 19 verse number 20 the Bible says the beast was taken and with him the false prophet. But notice this words here, that wrought miracles before him, which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast and them that worshiped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. Father, we pray now that you might bless your words. We thank God for this time to be gathered here together. Thank you for those that are here already and those that are on the way. Ask Lord, you might give them safe passage on the wet roads. We ask now, Lord, through the power of the Holy Spirit, you might open our eyes to these things. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. All right, now I want to draw your attention to this in Revelation 19 verse number 20. Notice the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him. And notice that he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast. The reason they take the mark of the beast is because they're deceived. Come, if you will, please, to 2 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. And I'm going to go over this again. Now, most of you, if you've been here for any amount of time at all, You're very familiar with these passages, but it's important for you to understand that you can never get enough doctrinal things. Doctrine is your foundation. If your foundation isn't right, then the bricks that you lay on them are not gonna be right. In other words, if the foundation's wrong, then the bricks aren't gonna lay in the way they're supposed to lay in. So one of the things you have to guard against in these last days, apparently, according to what the Bible shows you, and I'll show you in a minute, is a rehash of what happened in the nation of Israel at the Lord's first coming. So that thing which shall be hath already been. During this past week, I've been inundated with questions and stuff about signs, wonders, and miracles. I've been inundated with stuff about tongues and healing, anointing oil, all these kind of things. That seems to kind of go on a regular basis. comes around regularly. And you think, well, once you put it to bed, once you put it to rest, it'll never rise up again. But it rises back up again. Some has to do with new people are coming in, and they're bringing with them the theology that they had before. Or they know someone who's had, quote, an experience, end quote. And because of that experience, they go by the experience as opposed to what the Bible says. And let me just say this. The experience is real. You understand, it's real. Sometimes it's because they're emotionally diswrought, and there's something wrong with their brain. Sometimes it's, you know, they just do it in the flesh to try to mimic something. But oftentimes, it's a very real experience, and it is a spiritual experience, but it's not the Holy Spirit, if the Bible's right. Now the problem is, is that here's where you have to let the Bible override your feelings, and override your experience. You don't go by experience, we walk by and not by... Now it's important you never forget that. That's a doctrinal foundational stone that you don't ever get past during this age. If you don't rightly divide your Bible, you get all twisted up in that kind of stuff and you say, well, it's in the Bible. It is in the Bible. But the question remains is, is it for you? I believe firmly it is not for you and will not show up again until the time of the great tribulation period. But if you don't lay that out, what'll happen is somebody's gonna be coming up to you and say, well, I was over here the other day and such and such happened and I really felt the anointing of the Holy Ghost and I had the baptism of the Holy Ghost and I had the initial evidence of the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Now, every time I bring this up across the board, it is always offensive to somebody. And I always get the goats that show up, the ones that go, yeah, but, yeah, but, yeah, but, yeah, but, yeah, but. And that sheep don't but. goats but yeah but yeah but I know but but my auntie she had but my and she yeah but my uncle he be a button but my own my great uncle was a preacher and and he you know okay but that's where you gotta anchor in the Bible when you come to the doctrines of the Bible no friends no family no foes you don't use the Bible just beat down your enemies That's a danger you can get into. Well, they don't do it like we do it. So you take a verse, and the next thing you know, you're attacking somebody. And in the meantime, everybody out there is going to hell, or you got people going, that's exactly why I don't come to church, because he spends his whole sermon talking about somebody that ain't doing what he would do. Now, let me say that, to say this, to say that, I'm gonna talk about Joyce Myers and Joel Osteen and other false purveyors of the gospel, because they teach contrary to the Bible, not contrary to me. I don't believe in speaking in other tongues and those kind of things, and I'm going to show you why in a minute. Now, in the last days, the Bible says people are deceived into taking the mark of the beast, in other words, damning their soul to hell, because they go by what they see. They go by miracles. And they say, well, that must be God. Look at the miracle that was done. Well, it must be God, because I, you know, oh-sh-la-ba-ha-la-ba-ha-la-sh-ba-la-ba-la-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba- You say, you've got the initial evidence of the baptism of the Holy Ghost. No, I don't. I just let my tongue run away with me and made up a bunch of different things, a bunch of syllables. I'm gonna show you in a minute, every time tongue shows up in the Bible, there is an unbelieving Jew present, one, and number two, it is a language that somebody understands. So this hyper-spiritual... Junk that people are saying to you. It's not biblical Yeah, but they're not I didn't say they weren't nice people and kind people but it'll usually be women You say why because in the Bible, there's no woman that ever speaks in tongues. Not one find it for me You can't find it with a flashlight. It ain't in there. I You say, well, yeah, well, yeah, and it's, let me get to that in a minute. 2 Thessalonians 2, I don't mean to get upset about it, but I am beginning to realize that certain things just have to be repeated on a regular basis. It's going on now in Baptist churches. I never thought I'd see the day. I mean, I realized that there would be a day where there'd be drinking in Baptist churches, and that's accepted. You know, what would Jesus brew and that kind of a thing. That's really not a, that's not a shock to me. I'm not surprised. Baptists have been drinking for years. You keep it in your cabinet for special days. You know, Christmas and Easter and Groundhog Day and my acorns hurt and all that other kind of stuff. Closet drinkers. Well, a little bit for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities. Okay, if you're so sick that you've got to have it to clear yourself, okay, fine. Anybody that sick didn't think so. What you got it in your cabinet for? Baptists have been drinking for years, thinking, well, you know, it's okay, quoting scripture in order to do it. So it doesn't surprise me at all that nowadays they're replacing their grape juice with liquor nowadays, buying wine in the name of Jesus. Not just the Catholics, Baptists! The people used to be diametrically opposed. Your people led the charge against prohibition behind Billy Sunday. Not anymore. Nowadays, you preach on drinking and most Baptist churches, you make half the crowd mad. Two things that a congregation of Baptists upset, money and drinking. You know, well preachers, just a little social sip and all that kind of stuff. Have your social sip and go on and do whatever you want to do with it. Just a little bit of drinking, preacher. I don't really see the problem with it. Okay, well then help yourself. Ask God to bless it and go ahead and have at it. And then you're going to wonder why your kids and your grandkids wind up drunks, alcoholics, and drug addicts. Because what you do in moderation, they do in excess. That's why. The wages of sin is death. Sin reproduces sin. It gets bigger and bigger and bigger. You just don't want to accept responsibility for it. That's why your nation's in the mess it's in. Well, you know, premarital sex is really okay. You know, you got to try them out, take them around the block a few times to find out whether or not you want to marry them. Okay, good. Welcome to AIDS and STDs and every other kind of thing you can possibly imagine. And young girls in their early teens winding up, you say, why? Oh, you kept them in the closet in your generation. But the same stuff went on. You ain't fooling me. You just kept them hid away somewhere. But it's all quiet, so you act like, oh, we never did that. Yeah, you did. Yes, you did. Yes, you did. What happened now is out in public, just like in your generation, going back, say, oh, 50 years or so, queers weren't out of the closet. They're sure out of the closet now. You say, why? Well, you know, if you get it out in the open, you know, where everybody can see it, it's not so bad. Really, and then you get these altered personalities. Well, I'm one person at church, I'm another person at work, I'm another person at home, and I'm another person in my internet personality. Really? Well, what you're doing is not so bad, what are you changing your name for? You're putting up stuff about what you were 25 years ago. Y'all are getting real quiet on me. It's this Sunday school, Signs, Wonders and Miracles. You let it slip. And preacher gets up and talks to you anything at all about some kind of a standard. You get mad about it. And then you give me this, you just don't understand. You don't know what's going on. And you know, you give me that, I've got one foot out the door. You just keep talking and I won't come back anymore. Okay, well, it doesn't change the truth. We want the truth. We want the truth. We want the truth. Yeah, you do until it rests on your doorpost and kicks your door in. And then it's like, yeah, well, you know, I don't really see that as a necessary issue. OK, well, you know, flush it down the toilet. You still got a free will. My opinion don't matter to you. It shouldn't. What does the Bible say? Well, why would you get upset with me for telling you that? Oh, preacher, in the current world that we live in, I realize there's repercussions for the current world we live in, but let's also take responsibility for the mess we're in and admit that we've let it slip. We just kind of, you know, well, I'm kind of getting tired with it, more out with it, and shot out with it, and I'm just sort of getting tired of holding the standard, and I, well, you know, a little drinking every now and, well, a little smoking every now and, well, a little dancing every now and then, well, just a little bit of porn every now and, well, just a little bit of, well, just a little, you know, it's just a little, preacher, you know, in the world we live, what are you looking around at each other for? You're living in a generation where when you get faced with facts, you just duck it every time. Well, I don't wanna, you know, you all talk about responsibility and you get these people on TV that say, I would like to accept full responsibility for my actions. You're not accepting responsibility. You're just coming out of the closet and saying, okay, it's out in the open, so I'm gonna let, I'm gonna get ahead of it. That's the new issue. I'm gonna go ahead and get ahead of it and tell everybody I did what I'm being accused of. But then what did you do to fix it? Nothing. You just got it out in the open and said, okay, well, I did it. I'm gonna go check into a place somewhere and get some help. And then everybody's like, OK, well, you can still be in office. You're good, as far as we're concerned, as long as you're getting help. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. That Bible says in Revelation chapter number 19 he says that that beast shows up with signs, wonders, and miracles. Now I told you that this is going to offend somebody. I really don't care about your grandpappy who had some experience where he flopped around on the floor and his eyes rolled back in his head and he said something and he jumped up and prophesied something or whatever and I don't care what Edgar Cayce or anybody else or Nostradamus or any of the rest of them said. Now, if you want to care about it, you can. When I make that statement, I'm saying, I personally don't care. You don't have to agree with me, but the Bible says that's how you're deceived because you go by what your eyes say. All right, now look at this thing in 2 Thessalonians 2, verse number 7. For the mystery of iniquity, death already worked, currently working, present right now. Only he who now letteth will let until he gets out of the way, and the Bible says, until he be taken out of the way. In other words, he can't show up until that guy comes in. When the Lord's ready for it to happen, then that guy will be taken out of the way and then the devil's gonna come in. And then shall that wicked be revealed, verse 8, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. Watch how he comes. Even him who's coming is after the working of Satan with all what? Power and signs and what kind of wonders? Now how about that? You know what the Bible says? The Bible says His platform is power, signs, and lying wonders. So if that's the case, ladies and gentlemen, let me ask you a question. Why are you so enthralled with that? Take your Bible and come over to the book of Acts. This is where I've been this week. Look in the book of Acts. And the reason I've been here is, is, well, I've started going to church. Praise the Lord. I'm glad. Hallelujah. The strange thing is, is that every time somebody starts going to church, some cotton-picking charismatic Pentecostal, or Babtocostal, nowadays they're called, grabs ahold of them and runs them off into the ditch. And now what they're trying to do is to say, well, if you're really saved and if you really mean business with God, you need to go down to the altar and hold on. No let go. No turn loose. No ball of that. Well, then, you know, just ask God, practice speaking in tongues, and eventually you'll speak in tongues. Then you'll know you're saved. I know I'm saved and I have never spoken tongues. I'm saved because I did what the Bible says. But you're always looking for something extra. Can I say this about the Christian life? Sometimes the Christian life is like Chronicles. The hardest thing for a Christian to understand is sometimes a Christian life is just routine duty, just day in, day out, the same monotonous thing. Isn't that how life is? You know what the hard thing about kids is nowadays? They're always looking for something to punch it up. You can't get them to walk into work and punch in and punch out, that kind of thing. You're always wanting to do something faster, make it quicker, make it harder. Hey, let's go, man, let's go, let's get something going, let's get something going. Hey, get up, go to work, come home, do your stuff, eat your meal, go to bed. Why? To get ready for the next day. That's a drag, man. Really, that's a drag. It takes character to do that. Amen. That's not an easy thing to do. Some people never learn to do it. But the Christian life is the same way. You get the wrong idea that you think the Christian life is always like sticking your fingers in a 220 volt electric socket where every time you come to church it's gonna be, oh man, I really felt the Holy Ghost today. I can give you the same feeling. Just keep reaching around behind the TV when you go to touch the TV and hit the wires. It'll give you a good feeling. You're looking for a feeling. Sometimes the fact is you go through difficult things and you're just as flat as mud. You're just wore out. And that's when it's dangerous. You're looking for something called extra-biblical revelation, something outside the norm to jack you up again to make you know God's real. God's real whether you're in the storm or not in the storm, whether you're on the mountain, whether you're in the valley, whether it's dark and He ain't saying nothing, or whether it's wide open and live if you're shouting and hollering or you're quiet as a mouse. God's still real. You're not affecting His personality. And He don't owe you all of a sudden a manifestation of going up before you and lighting the bush on fire and going, how you doing? Just wanted to prove to you I'm still alive. God didn't die, but what happens, you get in a dangerous spot, and the devil says to you, well, if God's really real, how come you hadn't felt him in a while? Felt him in a while? I know sometimes you get feelings and things like that, but you gotta watch that stuff, man. That'll get you in some serious trouble. You come to church looking for a feeling all the time, you might get your feelings hurt. All right, look in Acts chapter, amen. How come that's not God? How come when you get under conviction, that's not God? One of the greatest ways to know you're saved is you still get convicted when you do wrong. You ought to thank God when you come to church and the Holy Spirit speaks to you and you feel guilty about it. Good, praise the Lord, good evidence you're saved. You're out there lost, you do stuff, you get to a point where your conscience gets seared with a hot iron, you do stuff, it don't even bother you at all. But you get saved, man, you can't enjoy it like you used to. Maybe you can, I can't. And the Bible says this in Acts chapter number 2. Now where are we? We're in Acts chapter 2. Well, who's present? Well, let's look and see. Verse number 1, the day of Pentecost was fully come. They were all with one accord in one place. So you know it's not a bunch of Baptists. You say, why? They're of one accord. That's funny. And suddenly there came a sound as of a mighty rushing wind. There came a sound and it filled the house where they were, what? You mean they weren't up in there and swaying back and forth and having their hands up and doing all this? No, they were just sitting there. Watch what happened. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire. It wasn't fire. It's not the baptism of fire. You don't want the baptism of fire. Some of you have been taught pray for the baptism of fire. That's hell. He that cometh after me has both the locus and the honey. That's the judgment and the sweetness of God. He that cometh after me, he talks about you being baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire. If you get saved, you get the Holy Ghost. If you don't, you get fire. It's not the same thing. I want to make sure you get that. It don't light you on fire. Come on, baby, light my fire, my foot, man. That ain't the way it works. Cloven tongues like fire. Tongues sitting up here. Why? There's certain ones that it's sitting on so that everybody clearly understands who the anointing is falling on. and it's not everybody. Except the Bible says everyone. Okay, but let's get the rest of the Bible. I just got that this week. It says everyone that was sitting there got the gift of the Holy Ghost. Alright, watch. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. Well, amen. Praise the Lord. Everybody got, but we got to get the rest of the passage. and began to speak with other tongues, that the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem, there they are, Jews, devout men out of every nation under heaven. Now when it was noised abroad, the multitude came together, they were confounded, because every man, oh, not spoke. Every man heard them. Who's the them? The one with tongues that are sitting on their shoulders, the ones that are speaking. And now he's gonna show you who all of them were that was filled. It is not all of them that were seated in the upper room. It is all the ones that the Lord anointed, and that's his apostles. Verse number seven, let the Bible speak. And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, behold, are not all these which speak, what? It's just the apostles. It's not everybody sitting there. Turn the page and go a little bit further here and you'll notice all these Jews that come from all these languages. Verse number 8, how here we every man in our own... not speak in a tongue, but how here we every man in our own tongue. So what does that tell you that tongues are? It ain't a prayer language. It's not a language between you and God that only God understands. It has nothing to do with that at all. You know what it is? It's a language. So you got 12 guys sitting up here, and they got these people that are sitting out here, and a guy said, well, I heard him say this in my language. And the guy says, I heard him say this in my language. And the guy said, I heard him say this in my language. And they're amazed that everybody, they're all together speaking different languages, but they're all hearing their language spoken by one of the 12 apostles. How do you know? Read just a little bit further. The Bible says in Peter, standing up with the 11. So how many people are speaking in tongues? Twelve. And they're speaking to those individuals out there in a language. You say, what's the purpose of them preaching or speaking? They're preaching the gospel of the kingdom to them. Tongues is given to them not to edify the one speaking in tongues, but to propagate the gospel. It's for the purpose of giving that sign to confirm the word with signs and to pass on the gospel. It's never given as an initial evidence of the baptism of the Holy Ghost for spiritual edification of that individual going, boy, aren't they spiritual? They can speak in tongues. It's never given in the behalf of an individual to prove salvation to somebody. It's for the benefit of somebody else. It's not to edify the guy speaking in it. It's the same way with preaching. Preaching is not to edify a preacher. Teaching is not to edify the teacher. It's to edify the saints. The purpose is to help you, to encourage you. It's not to say, oh, he's more spiritual than I am. Oh, look at her, man, she's really, that's not for the purpose of it at all. It's fruit for somebody else. That's where the benefit comes. Now what you gotta watch is, is that's the first thing, the first thing the devil used to try to mess some of you people up, because it's the easiest thing to counterfeit. Yeah, it is, it's the easiest thing to counterfeit. You wanna find out if a guy's speaking in tongues and if he's doing it right, take your Bible and come to 1 Corinthians chapter number, oh, let's go to chapter one, first of all. 1 Corinthians chapter number one. Now, again, I realize we're studying the book of Revelation. Well, how'd you wind up in the Pauline epistles? Because you're in the last days. And in the last days, this signs, wonders, and miracles thing, you folks, you're driven. Current age, I say you folks, I don't mean to be offensive, but people in this day and age are driven by emotion. and they're driven, they're visually stimulated. You watch more television and mess with more computers and do all that stuff at a faster pace than ever anywhere before in the time of my, that's just how life is. I get it, I understand that, I get that, but I'm saying that it creates a problem because that visual stimulation, you're always looking for something spiritually to go along with it, and it don't go like that. The next thing you know, you run off into a ditch and you're looking to speak in tongues or to be able to go somewhere and get yourself healed and have somebody sling some 40 weight on you or to drink some poison or to handle snakes and all that kind of stuff. They make mockery of that stuff on TV now. You know, they got these people with 10 or 15 people in a congregation and they're up there running around like a bunch of fools handling snakes and, you know, well, I just believe, you know, that God gave me this and that and the other. Okay, buddy, let me ask you a question. How come when that snake bits you, your finger rotted off? The snake bit Paul over there on the island of Melita. He didn't lose nothing, including his life. That was like a two-step mamba or something that hit him. They all said, well, he's dead now, I guarantee you. And they got to watching him and said, well, he ain't died yet. Paul slung the snake off in there, went on about his business. You got the signs of an apostle? Well, how come your finger fell off? I'm not gonna, I'm just gonna trust God to take care of me and all that. Okay, what's God, halfway and you can't heal your finger? or your thumb, and people are sitting there watching that stuff. They're making a mockery of that, saying, well, I was in the Spirit. You're in the Spirit, all right. You're not supposed to handle snakes. Big ones, little ones, live ones, and dead ones, they're all bad as far as I'm concerned. But you're not a snake handler, and that thing has nothing to do with handling a snake in a worship service. In the Old Testament you got Moses coming up there. They lift the serpent up on the stake there. They look at that thing. It's a type of Jesus Christ over on Calvary. It's a type. They don't know what they're looking at. Look at it and live. You know what some of them guys were? They were so rebellious they wouldn't even look at the snake, even at the cost of their own life. There's a whole sermon there on pride. Well, you're dying, aren't you? Yeah, I'm dying. Well, here, look upon the snake and you'll live. They bit you, didn't they? Yeah, well, just look up there. I ain't looking. I don't want to do it that way. Well, the Lord said, look on the snake. I'm not looking at that snake. He bit me. I'm not looking at him. The Lord says, look on it. You're going to die. Fine, I'll just die. And they did. Just pride. But the other one's looked and lived. That's the Lord's not willing, then he should perish, right? He's not willing, but the people aren't willing. Why do people go to hell? They're not willing to be saved. He wants them to be, but they're not willing to be. No chosen ordination for the foundation of the world foolishness and that kind of a thing. None of that. Choice. So here's what happens here. Somebody says, well, I'm supposed to be handling... They're never handling a worship service. Not once. Where'd you get that? that's trying to prove to somebody I'm anointed because I can handle a snake. You give me one and I hold it behind his head long enough, I guarantee I can hold him long enough. You think, well, look at me, he's holding a snake. He must be, you know, but I ain't gonna hold the thing by the tail. Don't you know you're not supposed to tempt God? I'm not gonna let the thing pop me just to try to prove that I'm spiritual or something. Can you find for me in the Bible where it's a worship service? Well, how come it was turned into it? That thing comes out of Africa and comes up through to your American Indians and runs through and has to do with invoking other spirits if you do the study on it. 1 Corinthians chapter number 1. You want to remember this. A rehash again for some of you, I realize. Verse number 22, 21. After the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. So I don't know why the Lord did it that way, but it pleases God to do it that way. So that's what he does. Verse 22, for the Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom. Is that what it says? Who requires a sign? All right, come to 1 Corinthians 14. Bless you. 1 Corinthians 14. Look at verse 22. 1 Corinthians 14, 22. I don't mean to be so dogmatic about this stuff, ladies and gentlemen, or appear to be harsh with you, but it's a doctrinal position and we believe it and we're not changing it. You try to get where you accommodate everybody. No, I'm not accommodating everybody. If you believe in speaking in tongues, you're going to have a hard time here. You're probably squirming in your seat right now, and you're probably butting all the way. Yeah, but I know. Yeah, but I was there. Yeah, but I saw. Yeah, but I did. I know, but what does the Bible say? Watch what the Bible says. Verse 22, wherefore tongues are for a what? Sign. All right, now who requires a sign? Jews. Are you a Jew? Well, see, all of a sudden it went down. Now, I thought we were spiritual Jews. Can you find that for me in the Bible? You're parroting, you're aping what somebody else has taught you or said to you. You're not a spiritual Jew. You don't get the Jew's inheritance. You're called a Christian in the Bible. There's neither Jew nor Gentile, bond nor free, male nor female in the body of Christ. You're a Christian now. You're not even called a Gentile anymore. You're a Christian. You're a saved individual. You wouldn't think that this would upset anybody any more than you would think preaching on drinking in a Baptist church, but it does. It bothers them. Wherefore, Jews, it were not to them that believe. Do you believe? Okay, then what are you having to worry about it for? But to them that believe not. Why? Jews go by sign, so the Lord would use the sign to confirm it. All right, now, here comes, let's take all that away for just a second. Let's say tongues are for you today, okay? Let's say that they are. All right, let's see how we do it. Verse 23, if therefore the whole church come together into one place and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned or unbelievers, will they not say, you're mad? Yeah, I think they will. walk in the door and everybody's jumping up and hollering and speaking in tongues and saying all kind of stuff and you got some woman with her head kicked back and her hands in a certain way there and they get them like this or something like they're catching something I guess. I believe in raising your hand, praise the Lord and all that kind of stuff. I'm not making fun of you. I raise my hand sometimes. I stand up sometimes. I shout sometimes. I've been known to run sometimes. But there's a way that head gets back and kind of tilted and that hand goes up like this and they're like this and all of a sudden somebody walks in and everybody over here is speaking in a different language, nobody understands nothing. And it's women initiated. Now I'm not saying you're second class, but you're emotional creatures. Even if you're not hormonal. Amen. When you're hormonal, it's just your emotions on steroids. Thank you, sister. I'm not feeling the love now at all, man. It's like the devil knows, doesn't he? Can I remind you of something? Genesis chapter 3. When the devil gets ready to mess up Adam and Eve, where does he start? Law of first mention, ma'am. You've got to watch it. The devil will do more through the women in your life. Mothers, daughters, granddaughters, wives, than he'll ever do directly to you. Use them to hook you up. Something in a man that wants to protect that woman. Something in a man that wants to lay his life down for that woman, to sacrifice for that woman, and the devil knows it. You better get comfortable with that. And you better realize that yes, the devil can even use your family members to get you going in the wrong direction. Hallelujah. All right, watch it now. For the whole church come together and speak with other tongues. They are not unlearned. Are they mad? Yeah, and so on and so forth. But if all prophesy, there come in one that believeth not or is unlearned. He's convinced of all. He's judged of all. What's prophesying? They're talking about coming events, heaven and hell, second coming of Jesus Christ, the rapture of the church, eternity, that kind of thing. He gets under conviction about it. Notice the Bible says this. How is it then, brethren? Verse 26. When you come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto the edifying. Corinth had become this place of spiritual competition. And no order to anything. They come in there and they're all getting together. They had already messed up 1 Corinthians 11. They'd already messed up the Lord's Supper. And now they're in here and everybody's got, well, I think it should be this way. I think it should be this way. I think we ought to be doing that. Well, I got a tongue. Well, I got a prophecy. Well, I got a special gift. Well, I got this. Well, you got so many things. The program will be 14 miles long. Nobody can get nothing done to make sure everybody gets in. Doesn't sound familiar, does it? No, that's what the Bible says. So many stars in the church nowadays, you can't see Jesus. Verse 27. Amen. Just everybody drawing attention to themselves. Verse number 27. If any... Can you read this with me? Are you reading it? If any what? Ladies, did you see that? Now, we know for a fact that when your King James Bible is written, when the Lord wants to use woman or girl, He does, right? So that's not a gender, a non-gender specific statement. It's man. You know why? It's male. You know why? It's intended for the male gender. Because it has something to do with order. Well, preacher, in the Old Testament, you know, okay, I'll give it to you, they prophesied, but they didn't prophesy in a church setting as a preacher or a deaconess. How in the world is a deaconess going to be the husband of one wife? Everybody else wants to use that to say, oh, see, you can't be married more than one time because you can't serve God. If you've been married more than one time, bless God, we'll let you take out the trash and clean the toilet and all, but you can't, you can't serve God. You can't preach in a pulpit or nothing like that. Bless God. How come, you know, the Lord didn't put that thing in there to say, Hey, I'm just letting everybody know that individual right there that has to be married, has to have a husband and one wife. So we don't have females in a position of authority in the church. God love you ladies. I do love you. I'm not mad at you. I'm not saying you're second class to anybody else, but why don't you accept what the Bible says about your position and be happy about it instead of trying to be something God never intended you to be. The world's teaching you to be in charge. It's trying to subvert that authority thing is what he's trying to do through women. I love you. We all have one thing in common. We all got a mama. Verse 27, If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at most by three, and that by course, and let one interpret. Stop. If any man, number one, speak in an unknown, who's it unknown to? It's not unknown to everybody. It's unknown to the person doing it, or it wouldn't be a gift. I can speak a little bit of German, so if I spoke in some German, I might kind of understand the context of what I was saying. But if I were to speak Chinese to you right now, I'd know somebody had to give it to me, and some person that knows Chinese would have to say, here's what you just said, because I don't know nothing about it. That means it's the Holy Spirit giving the language, so it would be unknown to me. Do you understand? Unknown tongue doesn't mean nobody understands it, because he's fixing to say, you've got to have an interpreter or keep your mouth shut. Okay, so I've told you before, jokingly or not, if somebody ever does stand up and start that, you know, Osh to Lashonti, B economy, Honda, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, whatever it is, I'll say, thank God I got the gift of interpretation, they're gonna pay off the note. Sure, man. They don't know what they're saying, right? It's unknown to them. Oh, that's not what I said. Well, then it wasn't an unknown tongue. What did you just say then? And if you know what it was, why don't you speak it in English? You're under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost? I don't know how you're going to do it, but I just heard you say you're paying off the mortgage. Really? Preacher, you know, you wouldn't ever question... Yes, I would. I would question them. I certainly would. So you shouldn't confront people like that. No, you shouldn't confront people like that. That's dangerous stuff. Notice what he says here, if any man speak, let it be by two, notice the order, and at most by three, and that by course, and let one interpret, all right? So by course, that means you got three that are there, right? One speaks, one interprets, and one's a witness. At least two are present every time somebody speaks in tongues. A tongue speaker and an interpreter. Never ever was it intended for him to say something that nobody understood. ever, anywhere. You say, well what about Cornelius? You know, he rolled his head back there and yeah, unbelieving Jew present. Peter, he didn't believe the Holy Ghost had gone over to the Gentile and the Lord got him over there and got him to do that and he spoke in a language Peter understood. Cornelius didn't know what he was saying. He wasn't trained in Hebrew. Unbelieving Jew present. Peter didn't believe it had gone. So they got it. So that's the evidence that we need that shows that Gentiles are allowed to speak in tongues. My, my, my, who's the interpreter there, Peter? He said, my goodness, man, that guy's got exactly what I got. I remember speaking in a language I didn't understand, and this guy's speaking in a language he doesn't understand, and he got the same thing I got, and he had to be given by the Holy Ghost, because it's the same way it was given to me, and Pete got it just like that. A little further. But if there be no interpreter, let him, see that? Now you get a non-gender specific Bible and it will use a word there that can be applied to male or female. Or they'll say when he uses he, him and that kind of thing that what he really means is that that can refer to the female also. That's a real nice way to keep everybody happy, but that ain't what he does. You say, why? He's fixing to talk over here in just a minute about women being quiet and so on and so forth when it comes to do with tongues and all that and them not to be in charge in the church service and them not to take over in a church service and to be the preacher or the one running the church service. I know that's hard in the day and time you're in, but still the Bible. The Bible said, why would you want that pressure anyway? It ain't easy as you think it is. If we get up and start talking all the time, you know what you do? You open yourself up. And everybody's not gonna be as happy about you talking as you think you are. Some of them will cut you to ribbons. And you might say something for 20 years and they find one thing you said after 20 years and all of a sudden you're the devil. And they've been deceived, you know, and all that. Because you do it all the time. Why do you want to do that, ma'am? You know what gets us in trouble more than anything else? Anything else. You say drugs and drinking and alcohol and television. That little tiny thing right there. Watch it. There be no interpreter. Let him keep silence in the church and let him speak to himself and to God. It doesn't say let him speak in an unknown tongue to himself. That's not in the passage. If there's no interpreter, what's he supposed to do? Talk to himself and talk to God. That's praying. You ever pray? You ever just sit in your pew and pray? asked God to do something, and what are you doing? You're talking to yourself. You're not standing up and broadcasting it to everybody. All right, so here's the rules of engagement, if tongues were for you. Now, tell me what charismatic Pentecostal church goes by these rules. Nowadays, Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, every other kind of religion, Presbyterian, they're all involved in it now, but tell me this. Number one, men. Number two, at least an interpreter, and at very most, a witness with the interpreter, and only one speaking at a time. And if there's not an interpreter, you keep your mouth shut and you just pray and talk to God. Is that how you see it done? I watched a television broadcast the other day. A guy got ready to get up there to preach and got all these people standing out there and he said, you know, give the Lord a round of applause. You know, I guess that's this way or something like that. But it's funny. Give the Lord a round of applause, you know, give Jesus the hand clap of praise, that kind of stuff to get everybody, you know, doing this kind of a thing like that and get them involved in the service. And then the next thing you know, he said, tell Jesus about it in your language. And buddy, that thing just broke out and people are over there saying stuff. It sounded like a bunch of wild animals in the jungle somewhere just, you know, saying all kinds, you couldn't understand nothing they were saying. And they thought they're having a worship service. Well, they invoked something, I'll guarantee you that. And it counterfeited the Holy Ghost, I'll guarantee you that. And I got scared and turned it off. I'd rather watch a horror movie than watch that. You say, why? Because the devil's religious. Comes in a religious service. You get the wrong impression that the devil's, you know, down at the bar somewhere or something like that. He's at the movie theater. He's already got them. Where's he come? Church service. My goodness, man, I'm about to run out of time. All right, now watch. He sets the thing up. He starts talking about prophets speaking by two. Notice he says of two or three. And of course, that's in by course. It's one at a time. Everybody can't talk at the same time. There's nothing more irritating than for people to be talking while you're trying to talk. You ever sit down with your kids, and you're trying to talk to them, and they're talking to somebody else? Nowadays, you're trying to talk to them, and they're texting while you're talking to them. Maybe, maybe that don't bother you. Maybe you're like, oh, well, it's no big deal. You know, they can do two things at once and all that kind of stuff. I was raised in this generation. Boy, you better look at me when I'm talking to you. There's nothing more frustrating. Used to have a guy that worked for us, you know, every time you go to talk to him, he's looking over here and he's talking over here and all that kind of stuff. You could never get him to eyeball you. There's something about looking into a man or a woman's eyes that tells you a lot about them. Kids nowadays, you know, you sit down to talk to them and they're wanting to look at something else or turn on the box while you're trying to talk to them. The Lord's a God of order. You can't have everybody talking at one time. You can't understand anything. All right, now watch it. For you may all prophesy one by one, and all may learn, and all may be comforted. And the Spirit's prophets are subject to the prophets. So the Lord says, you've got the ability to cut it off. You ever seen these people get up and start crying and they can't quit crying? The spirit of the prophets subject to the prophets. Just laughing stuff that went around for a while and they couldn't quit laughing and getting stuck to the floor and all that kind of a deal. The spirit of the prophets subject to the prophets. That's the devil. that does that uncontrollable stuff. And then God's not the author of confusion, verse number 30, but peace as an altar. Isn't it interesting that has to do with the situation when it comes to tongues? Look at the context, let your women keep silence in the churches. That doesn't mean you can't sing and praise the Lord and testify the Lord and all that, let everything have breath, praise the Lord. But in the context, you're not supposed to be, notice he says, under obedience, that means a woman's not to usurp authority over a man. She doesn't get up and say, well, God gave me the ability to speak in tongues and so therefore I'm gonna speak in tongues and a man's gonna interpret for me and I'm gonna, no, you're outside the Bible now. I didn't set up the order, the Lord did. Come to Mark chapter 16. I only got a couple minutes. I'll cover more of this later. Mark chapter 16. Does this help you at all? Hey, preacher, it's in the Bible. Okay? I gave you what the Bible says about it. It's pretty clear. Question, did John the Baptist ever speak in tongues? If he did, it's not recorded. Did Jesus Christ ever speak in tongues? Well, if it's so important, wouldn't you think the greatest preacher ever walked on the face of the earth and his sidekick, John the Baptist, wouldn't you think they would have spoken in tongues? Well, why didn't they? That thing don't even show up, ladies and gentlemen, until after Calvary. Because it's for the purpose of propagating a Jewish gospel to people that had not ever heard it in their own language. There's no difference in that. You put your Bible into a different language. That's all it was. They didn't have a Bible back then. So what did they do? He used men to propagate the gospel. But how are you going to propagate the gospel if I'm speaking English and there's a Spanish fellow sitting down here and I'm telling him how that Jesus Christ died for your sins according to Scripture, buried and raised again the third day, and he sits there and nods his head and he knows I'm talking, but he got no idea what I'm saying. So what the Lord said is He gave the apostle the ability to speak in Spanish so that guy can understand the gospel. How are you going to take it to the far eastern countries and the middle eastern countries? How are you going to take it to Europe? How are you going to take it down into Asia and all that stuff? Over in the Philippines, there's like 13 different dialects. Well, how are you going to do that? Well, you've got to be able to put it where they can understand it. That's all it is. It's not for the purpose of puffing the guy up. I've got the gift of tongues. I must be spiritual. I'm saved. No. If you had the gift of tongues, what would you do with it? You better go to the nation where you're speaking their language so you can propagate the gospel. But it's just used every week, week in and week out, for the purpose of showing an individual how spiritual they think they are. Mark chapter number 16. I gotta pass this passage quickly now. Mark chapter 16, verse 14. Afterward he appeared unto the, don't overlook it. How many? 11. Okay, would you agree with me when I say that's the apostles? Yes, sir. All right, now watch. Now there's one missing right now, right? that would be Judas. Went to his place, soon to be replaced in Acts chapter number one by Matthias, who had been with them the entire time and fulfills everything. Paul's not the one that replaces him. Paul's the thirteenth apostle. It's a whole other story. Watch it. And he appeared unto the eleven that sat at meat, and upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. Now watch. And he said unto them, Who would the them be? The 11. Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Can I ask you a question? What gospel would that be? Can't be the Paul's gospel because the Apostle Paul hadn't even got the gospel yet. Paul hadn't even been saved yet. Somebody just used that to put you in bondage. Why don't you use a Pauline epistle for it instead of using something that's written to the Jew? Because you don't rightly divide your Bible, that's why. Now, if you're gonna use that, I'm gonna show you the danger, because if I'm supposed to preach the gospel to every creature, then I'm fixing to have to apply the context of the passage. And the context of the passage shows baptism is connected with it, and signs are connected with it. So now, in the interest of trying to build a big church and getting the rest of the world saved and stuff, and I've said, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel, I've now put an individual that says, well, if that applies for me, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Well, there you go, Acts 238. Repent and be baptized to everyone in the name of Jesus Christ and you shall receive the Holy Ghost. There it is. But the Apostle Paul says you're damned if you preach that. Watch. But he that believeth not shall be damned and these signs shall follow them that believe. Well, if you're a believer, how are you going to know it? You're going to cast out devils. You're going to speak with new tongues. You're going to take up serpents. You're going to drink deadly things. It shall not hurt them. He lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. Well, how about that? So if I'm going to go and preach the gospel to every kingdom, I've got to baptize them in the name of Jesus and that kind of a thing. I get the signs that follow them. And then verse number 20, and they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them. Watch the wording, confirming the word with signs following. Who are signs for? They're confirming that they're teaching and preaching the right thing by doing signs, wonders, and miracles. So when somebody hears them speaking in another tongue, you know what they go? Wow, they got God on them. It confirms it because they didn't have a written word. I'll have to finish that later. We got more people coming in here. But if you let the Bible speak for itself, that's the danger in taking that thing. Now I believe in preaching the gospel to every creature. Don't go out here and say the preacher said you don't have to preach nothing. I believe in witnessing. I believe in testifying. I believe in all that. But I don't believe in using that passage for it. Because it sets you up for believing baptism is a part of your salvation and speaking in tongues and having all these gifts is part of it. If you're really saved, well, that's what this lady said to me this week. She said, well, if you're really saved, then you got these things. And I said, they're talking to 11 apostles. And they're talking to Jews who are going out to other Jews. That has nothing to do with you. Can I give you something real quick? Brother Donnie, let them in back there. Can I show you something just real quick please? Come to 1 Corinthians real quick. 1 Corinthians chapter number 2. I'm in chapter 15, I'm sorry. Well, let's make it verse 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 1. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand, by which also you're saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. In other words, you're believing works are added to it, or works are proof of it. Verse number three, for I delivered unto you first all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to Scripture, was buried, and rose again the third day according to Scripture. And then he talks about being seen of that. Can you find for me a place in here anywhere? You want to scan the passage now here. He talks about preaching and it not being in vain and be no resurrection and so on and so forth. Can you find for me a place where that gospel is preached and signs or baptism is added to it? Come, if you will, please, to 1 Corinthians 1. Now, if you're visiting with us, forgive me, but we're kind of on to something here, and I just don't want to cut it off. So while I'm bored with it, okay, take a nap and join us a little bit later on. It's no problem. I don't blame you. Chapter 1, now watch. You see, you're a Baptist preacher. You believe in baptism. I do, as an ordinance, not connected with your salvation. Watch it. Verse number 14. 1 Corinthians 1.14. I thank God that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius. So Paul did baptize, right? So there are individuals now we call them dry cleaners. They don't believe in any baptism. Paul baptized. but he didn't baptize his purpose. Watch it. And I baptized also the household of Stephanas. Besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. Paul says, I don't keep a record of how many I baptized. I'm not figuring, oh, well, it was this guy and this guy and this guy. So obviously Paul baptized, but watch what he's saying here. Verse number 17, For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of the word, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. In other words, the Apostle Paul says, I baptized, but it was never for salvation. I baptized, but I only baptized people that were already converted to Jesus Christ. Galatians chapter number 1. Now, nowhere in here does the Apostle Paul say that your initial evidence of the baptism of the Holy Ghost is you're going to break out in tongues or you're going to handle a snake or drink some poison or any of that other kind of stuff. It's no record. But he does tell somebody that, but not Paul. That's Jesus talking in Matthew 28. That's Jesus talking in Mark 16. Do you know what the signs of an apostle are for you nowadays? Suffering. That's what Paul said. You see in my body the marks. That's your sign, which we'll talk about a little bit this morning. Just a little bit. Not enough to make you nauseated, but a little bit. The Bible says, verse number eight, Galatians 1.8, but though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. That's a Catholic word for anathema. That's the word for damned. Let him be accursed, put in hell. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that which you have received, let him be accursed. So the apostle Paul says, what is my gospel? I read it to you, 1 Corinthians 15. It's the death, burial, and resurrection. It has nothing to do with signs, wonders, and miracles. There is a gospel in there that includes signs, wonders, and miracles. It is in the Bible. It's not for you. That's a trick of the Antichrist, of the devil, the Antichrist platforms, a trick of the devil to get you into doing something that's not for you. Right thing, wrong time, wrong place. That's the greatest trick of the devil that there ever was. Gets you to take a true doctrine and apply it in the wrong place. So I hope that helps you to not get whacked out with that stuff. In the meantime, that's the reason some churches are going to contemporary stuff and all that other, they're trying to put excitement in it. So preacher, you gotta change with the times, okay? Chapter and verse. You say, well, people won't keep coming. Preacher, you gotta entertain the kids. Chapter and verse. They'll grow up one day, and maybe one day they'll put away childish things. I'm sorry that your kids and my kids are going after other things. I'm sorry. I really am. I'm very sorry. I'm heartbroken over it. I'm sad some kids are getting involved in some horrible things nowadays. I'm sad about it. But that doesn't mean what you're doing is wrong. You don't let the wrongdoing on their part change your approach to things. You stick with the Bible. It'll all come out okay when God's done with it. But you don't change horses midstream because all of a sudden you've had a personal affliction in your life and it's caused you to rethink your position. Not doctrinally, you don't rethink your position doctrinally. Well, doctrinally, you know, you may be, no, no, uh-uh. You may learn some things along the way, but doctrinally, that's that foundation I told you about. You want your bricks to come out right, you gotta lay the right foundation. Father, bless your word. Thank you for the patience of your people here this morning. I pray you'll bless the upcoming service. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.