Okay. Amen. All right. How many guys like Al and Kenny? Aren't they awesome? I like them for different reasons because, boy, they sure work out great for these opening jokes. What do you think, Al? Can anybody guess who's going to be on the opening joke? Oh hey, he's got you paying attention. That's right, one day Kenny's dishwasher quit working, right? So who'd he call? Al! That's awesome. And he's a Christian and all, so he calls Al over and says, hey Al, come on, take a look at my dishwasher. I can't do it today, but can you come over tomorrow? And Al, being a Christian and all, what'd he say? Of course, right? Okay. But see, again, Kenny wasn't able to be there, so he left Al with some instructions. And for the next day, he says, when you come over, he says, what I'm going to do is I'm going to leave the key under the doormat for you. Just let yourself in and fix the dishwasher. Okay, but don't worry about my Rottweiler, Al. No, no, no, no. He won't bother you. He won't bother you at all. Okay, but whatever you do, Al, do not, under any circumstances, talk to my parent. Remember that thing from a couple weeks ago? Yeah. Well, when Al arrived at Kenny's place the next day, he discovered the biggest, meanest, ugliest Rottweiler. I mean, just like Kenny saw his head. OK, but just like Kenny said, the dog just lay there on the carpet watching Al the whole time go about his business. No problem. Left him alone. But the whole time Al was there at Kenny's house, that goofy parrot drove him nuts with his incessant cursing and yelling and name calling on and on and on and on and on. Right. And so finally, Al, he couldn't take any longer. And he says, would you shut up, you stupid, ugly bird? To which Kenny's parrot replied, sick him, Brutus. How many guys would say that Al was, he was about to have a rough day there in about five seconds, you know what I'm saying? You know, rottweiler stew coming up, that's right. But that's right, folks, you know the punchline, it's always coming. Did you know the Bible says there's an even worse day coming to the whole planet, worse than being attacked by a rottweiler, with all due respect for those of you who've been attacked by one. And the Bible says that's going to happen at the rapture of the church. Okay? And the reason why it's going to be a seriously rough day, worse than that, folks, believe it or not, is because the Bible says for those who refuse to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, that they will be catapulted into the seven-year tribulation, and that is not a joke. As we've been seeing, folks, that is an outpouring, prophesied by God, specifically of His wrath on a wicked and rebellious planet, because He is going to put an end to all the evil and suffering and rottenness that goes on today. Isn't that a good thing? Of course it's praise God, but he's also praised God, a God of love as well. And because he loves you and I, he's given us so many warning signs in the scripture to let us know it's getting close. He gives us a heads up. The seven year tribulation is getting close and the return of Jesus Christ is around the corner. Therefore, in order to keep you and I here at Sunrise from experiencing the ultimate bad day of being left behind, we're going to continue our study. That's right. The final countdown is what we've been studying on. And so far, if you've been here with us, we've seen that the number 10 sign on the final countdown was Jewish people, that's right. The number nine sign was? And the silence was deadly, so let me fill in the blank. Modern technology, okay. The number eight sign was worldwide of evil. Oh, you guys are awesome. That's right. Worldwide of evil. The number seven sign was the rise of falsehood. And the last time we started a brand new one, the number six sign was what? The rise of wickedness. And what we saw, if you were here, is that when the Bible says God lovingly foretold this, he didn't have to. He says, when you see an increase of absolute, unadulterated wickedness in all levels of society, which is happening right now today all over the world, thanks in part to a wicked worldview called humanism. The Bible says when you see that happen, you better wake up with it, deal with it, like it, lump it, leave it or not, choke it down. You're in that generation. This is in the last days. And again, that's also answering the question to what we posed last time. How in the world did we fall from a great, mighty, strong, awesome Christian nation? Because we allowed this to be infiltrated into our society. But that's not all. The second reason why we've turned from a great, mighty, Christian, strong nation into this rise of wickedness we see today is by the promotion of a wicked teaching. OK, we dealt with humanism. Now we've got to deal with the other thing that goes hand in hand with that, what the humanists promote. And that is called atheism. And folks, we have to wake up and realize that this atheism, this rise of this God-hating society that we have to deal with today is being spawned by another lie that has been allowed in our schools, and that's what we've already kicked before, and that's the lie of evolution. And if you were here for those two studies, we saw it's not just a lie, hello, it's built on junk science. But it's a lie that is built upon another lie and tries to intellectualize it, that there is no God, that we have no hope, that we have no future, we came from nowhere. Woo! Isn't that exciting? No wonder our world is hopeless. And it's precisely this lie that has spawned these atheistic ideals we have to deal with today. These, listen, God-hating ideals. and is spawning all this wicked behavior we saw and are dealing with today. But don't take my word for it. God told us this is exactly what's going to happen when you as a society have the audacity to say, I don't exist. There's a phrase in here that we're going to see, folks. It's very scary. You don't want God to say this to you individually, corporately, even as a church or even as a nation. He will give you over. Let's take a look at that. Romans chapter one, verse 18, Romans chapter one. Verse 18, this is the warning from God nearly 2,000 years ago. And as we read through this, guys, think of United States of America. How do we get in such wickedness and why is it escalating so much? God tells us, here's what's going to happen when you do this. OK, it's going to spawn all kinds of rotten stuff. Romans chapter one, starting with verse 18. Here's what it says. We've read the first half of this several times in our study. OK, now we're going to read the penalty for doing this and what will happen to you as a nation. Let's take a look. Romans chapter one, verse 18 says this. The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against what? All the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them because God's made it plain to them. Well, how? Well, for since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature has been clearly seen being understood from what has been what? Made from creation, which we saw before, the argument of intelligent design. If you see design in something, that implies a designer. And that's what we see in all of creation, okay? And that's why he says, and so guess what? So you are without excuse. You're not going to get before God and say, I just didn't have enough proof. Excuse me? You've got plenty of proof right there. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him. But their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claim to be wise, haha, we're the latest science. They became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore, what? God gave them over in the sinful desires, the harsh, the sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie. Dare I say evolution? Worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator who was forever praised and because you didn't stop that Because you didn't turn from that because of this God what he says it again stage two now I'm going to give you over to what to shameful lusts even listen even their women exchange natural relations for unnatural ones In the same way, men also abandoned natural relationships with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men and received in themselves the due penalty for the perversion. And because you didn't want to stop, you still didn't want to turn around there? Guess what? Stage 3. Furthermore, since they didn't think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, what do you do? Stage 3, He gave them over again, this time to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of what? Wickedness, and here it is, evil, and greed, and depravity. They're full of envy, and murder, and strife, and deceit, and malice. Listen, they are gossips, and slanders. They're what? God-haters. insolence, arrogance, and boastful. They listen, they even invent ways of doing evil. They disobey their parents. They are senseless and faithless and heartless and ruthless, although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death. Listen, they not only continue to do these very things, but they also approve of those who practice them. And dare I say they are trying to pass laws, making the rest of us do it as well. Now, folks, here's the point, does that not sound like our society today? And here's my secondary point, where, according to the word of God, did all this wicked behavior that's mentioned there, that whole litmus list there, where did it all come from? What did it say at the very beginning? What started the chain reaction of wickedness? It came from suppressing the truth about God's existence. Even though there's plenty of evidence, you have no excuse. And that's what the live evolution does, right? As we saw before, they say there is no God. Oh, we have no proof before us. And they try to suppress this truth, just like Paul says they're going to do with this junk science in our schools, in the media, in Hollywood with their lie. And so here's the point. Bible says that when you as a nation, even America have the audacity to do that. What's he going to do to you? Give you over. I'd rather take I love you as three words, not give you over to what your wicked desires. Let me translate that for you. Fine. You don't want there to be a guy. You don't want to acknowledge me as your creator. You want to rebel against me, even though I've given you tons of evidence out of love. I didn't have to so much so that you don't have no excuse to know that I exist and I'm here. and you still purposely do that and suppress the truth to other people who could know about me? You don't want there to be a God? Fine. I'm going to show you how fast your society is going to go down the tubes when you dare do that. You will immediately, he said there, go after sexual impurity, shameful lust, homosexuality. You'll become filled with every kind of wickedness and evil and greed and depravity and murder and strife and deceit and malice. You're going to become a society of gossips and slanders and God-haters like atheists, insolence, arrogant, boastful. disobedient to your parents, you're going to become a society who is totally senseless. You're faithless. You're heartless. You're ruthless. It's going to get so stinking bad in your society. You're even going to invent new ways of doing evil. Why? Because you have the audacity to say there is no God when I gave you tons of evidence evolution. And so as an act of judgment from God, he gave you what you wanted. Fine, go for it. Have your atheistic, wicked desires and your society fell apart. Is that not America? Is that not our country? Every single one of those behaviors mentioned there, not just one, not just five out of 20 or whatever, how many there is. Every single one is commonplace in our society right now. And it stems from what? This atheistic, rebellious mindset that's spawned by the lie of evolution. And this is what's ironic. Pastor Billy, it just seems to be such a great mystery. How? We just learned a few weeks ago about our great Christian heritage and how godly we were. And we used to teach our kids the alphabet A in Adam's fall. We said, oh, see, Christ, crucified for sinners, died for hundreds of years. And how do we get like this? What the Bible say? The answer has been here the whole time. Church, we know the answer. The Bible says it's because of this, these atheistic teachings called evolution. We've allowed them to be infiltrated into our schools, into the media. We allowed it. And it is giving exactly what God said is going to happen. Your society is going to go down the tubes. I'm going to judge you and I'm going to give you over. I cannot believe you, America, the once great, mighty Christian nation would have the audacity to allow that lie to be cracked into our school systems and suppress the truth from little kids. So that even when they're in preschool, they open up a little book on dinosaurs and the lie on the very first line is this millions of years ago. Instead of God is the one who created all animals and man. He's the creator. But if you don't want to listen to God, which I do recommend you do, I mean, he told us that's the answer. This is why it's so wicked. We just read why. Let's take a look at the behavioral statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau from 1963. Okay. Onward. And you tell me, and that's when evolution was, uh, really took off in our nation. And you tell me if it's had a positive effect on our behavior of our country. If it's given rise to wickedness, let's take a look at here. First of all, back in the 1950s, the average textbook only had about two to 3000 words of evolution, but in 1963, it jumped up to 33,000 words. That's when it really began to spike and take hold of. Now, at the same time, listen to this. It just happened back then at the same time, 1963. It was also when prayer and Bible reading was taken out of the American school system, right? Coinkydink? I don't think it's not, folks. They have an agenda. And so let's take a look. What has that effect had on our country? Get God out? Put atheism in? Let's take a look. These are the actual stats from the US Census Bureau. Since 1963, sexually transmitted diseases among teenagers and young adults have increased 400%. in our society. Cases of premarital sex among teenagers have absolutely skyrocketed. Unwed pregnancies among young girls are up 553%. Unmarried couples living together is up 725%. Divorce rates are up 111%. Some states in America, it's one for every marriage. Okay, excuse me, not bad. Single-parent households are quickly becoming the norm across the United States. SAT scores have absolutely plummeted, and we saw last week why, because they're deliberately dumbing us down. Okay, we saw that. And alcohol and drug abuse and consumption have absolutely gone ballistic, as we all know. And violent crimes are up in our nation 995%. Why? Well, I think it's pretty obvious, folks. What you believe determines how you behave. And if you tell kids they came from an ape, why are we surprised when they act like an ape? Right? Folks, you take a look at the hardcore facts. You can say, oh, it doesn't matter. Oh, it's just a worldview. Oh, it doesn't have any effect on us. Excuse me? It's an anti-God worldview. It's an atheist worldview, okay? As you can see by the stats there, folks, it does have an impact on our country. Because what you believe determines how you behave. Again, if you teach kids that they came from an ape, we high, then we're shocked when they start to act like it when they get this high. Right. Is it any surprise? No wonder our world is so hopeless. If you tell kids over and over again, there is no purpose and there is no meaning to life. Why are we shocked when they so flippantly take another life? And if you drill into their heads, even from preschool, the lie that there is no God, then when they grow up to be adults, gee, why are they so ungodly? Is it really that hard to figure out? It's a direct correlation. Romans chapter one, what you believe is how you behave. That's the fruit of this atheistic lie called evolution. It's what God warned us about when you reject him for a lie. I'm going to give you over if you persist and your society is going to go totally out of control and wickedness is going to come in like a flood. Why? Why? How? God, why? America, we used to be such a great, strong, mighty, awesome Christian nation. So many missionaries have been sent from this country. And now we have this. I'm saying it's really not that hard. Why? Because we kick God out. We kicked him out like this video shows, let's take a look. Dear God, why didn't you save the school children at Moses Lake, Washington, Bethel, Alaska, Pearl, Mississippi, West Paducah, Kentucky, Stamp, Arkansas, Jonesboro, Arkansas, Edinburgh, Pennsylvania, Fayetteville, Tennessee, Springfield, Oregon, Richmond, Virginia, Littleton, Colorado, Tabor, Alberta, Canada, Conyers, Georgia, Denning, New Mexico, Fort Gibson, Oklahoma, Santee, California, El Cajon, California, Blacksburg, Virginia. Sincerely, Concerned Student. Reply, Dear Concerned Student, I am not allowed in schools. Sincerely, God. How did this get started? I think it started when Madeline Murray O'Hare complained she didn't want any prayer in our schools. And we said, OK. Then, someone said, you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbors yourself. And we said, okay. Dr. Benjamin Spock said, we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave, because their personalities would be warped, and we might damage their self-esteem. And we said, an expert should know what he's talking about, so we won't spank them anymore. Then someone said, teachers and principals better not discipline our children when they misbehave. And the school administrators said, no faculty member in this school better touch a student when they misbehave, because we don't want any bad publicity, and we surely don't want to be sued. And we accepted their reasoning. Then someone said, let's let our daughters have abortions if they want, and they won't even have to tell their parents. And we said, that's a grand idea. Then some wise school board members said, since boys will be boys and they're going to do it anyway, let's give our sons all the condoms they want, so they can have all the fun they desire, and we won't have to tell their parents they got them at school. And we said, that's another great idea. Then some of our top elected officials said, it doesn't matter what we do in private, as long as we do our jobs. And we said, it doesn't matter what anybody, including the president does in private, as long as we have jobs and the economy is good. And someone else took that appreciation a step further, and published pictures of nude children, and then steps further by making them available on the internet. And we said, everyone's entitled to free speech. And the entertainment industry said, let's make TV shows and movies that promote profanity, violence, and illicit sex. And let's record music that encourages rape, drugs, murder, suicide, and satanic themes. And we said, it's just entertainment. And it has no adverse effect. And nobody takes it seriously anyway. So go right ahead. Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, classmates, or even themselves. Undoubtedly, if we thought about it long and hard enough, we could figure it out. Surely it has a great deal to do with, we reap what we sow. Let me translate that for you. Romans. Chapter one. You have the audacity to say that there is no God. And you allow a wicked lie to permeate through your society that says there is no God, that I don't exist, God speaking. Your society is going to go down the tubes. Why? Why? How we found? Because we kicked God out. And we allowed it, church. We should have spoke up. How in the world did Madeline Murray O'Hara get even that far? Should have been shut down a long time ago. We kicked God out. We kicked him out of our courtrooms. We kicked him out of our government. We kicked him out of our schools. We kicked him out of everything. And God said, this is what's going to happen. Therefore, if there's any hope for our nation, folks, we've got to get busy kicking God back in, back into our schools, back into our courtrooms, back into our government. And dare I say back into our pulpits, if there's going to be any chance for our nation to turn around. Amen. But that's not all the third reason why we've turned from a Christian nation into this rise of wickedness. It's not just a we allow this wicked worldview, humanism, and now this wicked teaching this lie called evolution. Listen, we've allowed and continue to allow this wicked attack. There is a wicked attack by these folks upon our nation, folks. And what I'm talking about is not just atheism. I'm talking about and I'll even use their terminology that they use against us, the church militants, atheism. Right. And you see, apparently it's not enough to promote these and grab control of our schools and the media and promote these atheistic ideals in our media, in our school, in our government. But these militant atheist folks will not rest until this God-hating lie is permeated in all levels of society, utterly destroying us like Romans chapter 1 said would happen. And I'm telling you, that's a great term because they are militant about it. They will not rest until every single memory, every last aspect, every true trace of our Christian heritage is wiped out. And the Bible says that's why the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven. Their behavior that we allow to continue, according to the scripture, is inviting the wrath of God upon us. And how many guys would say that's probably not a good thing to allow to continue? Bingo. And we're going to talk about three ways that they're doing that in our nation and against God. The first attack by these militant atheists trying to erase every memory of our great Christian heritage is they are attacking first the character of God. They're out there constantly attacking the character of God. Let's remind ourselves, though, biblically, what the Bible says about God's character and why it's worthy of respect, not mockery. Let's take a look at that. Revelation chapter 4 verse 8 through 11 says this, Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stopped saying this, Holy, holy, holy. is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and who is to come. Now whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne and who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders join in. They fall down before Him who sits on the throne and they worship Him who lives forever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and this is what they say, you are worthy our Lord and God to receive glory and honor and power. Why? Because you created all things, not a cosmic accident or burp. You God created all things and by your will, they were created and have their being. And we're not talking about jelly beans, Daniel, but that's a good choice. Being according to the Bible, folks, the Bible says that God is holy, holy, holy, emphasizing that particular aspect of his character. But it clearly says right there, that's just one of the texts that he is the one who created us, right? It says there he didn't create most things and left the rest of evolution. It said he created all things. Now here's the whole point. How many guys would say that whoever in the world could create the whole world and the universe just like that, and who just happens to have a righteous, infinitely holy, without sin, spot, or wrinkle, or blemish character, they're kind of worthy of some respect. Anybody kind of getting that maybe a little bit there? Hey, but that's right, Al, thanks to this rise of militant atheism, not anymore. Believe it or not, folks, they are telling people across our nation that, listen, we now have not just turned from our Christian roots, but if you dare follow God's righteous, holy character, it's something bad for you, including our kids. Listen, folks, it's gotten so bad, they've gone so far to replace things like vacation Bible school with atheist camps. and they're encouraging the rest of us adults. Hey, why don't you, as you're at it, go ahead and get de-baptized with a hair dryer. Total mockery. Check this out. This is wild. Wake up. It may be the summer holiday, but there's no time to lie in bed at Camp Quest. 24 children, aged 7 to 17, are tackling critical thinking, rational inquiry, and a scientific approach to the world. In a range of summer camp activities, they'll also learn cooperation, tolerance, and empathy, all in an atmosphere guaranteed free of religious propaganda. Most of the parents are atheists, who want their children to learn ethical behavior, but separate from religion. I think that people are possibly getting tired of the influence that religion has in society, possibly an unearned influence, and trying to come up with alternatives. With the sun setting, it was time for a little open-air education. It's aimed mainly at encouraging children to think skeptically and not simply be told what to think. They're likely to talk about religion and be told that religious beliefs can hinder moral behavior. We'll make it all right, don't worry, you won't go to hell. And we wonder why we're under the judgment of God. Europe, America, it doesn't matter. Europe's where the Reformation happened, which came over here to America with the pilgrims and the puritans, if you know our true history. Atheist camps, atheist camps, it's one thing as an adult if you want to do that, but you're going to send your kid to an atheist camp. And then you're going to mock God like that. You're not going to go to hell and de-baptize yourself with a hairdryer. Folks, I'm not making this up. This is really what's going on. But that's not all, folks. These militant atheists are attacking God's character all over the place and they're spending oodles of cash. America founded upon the holy word of God and God's righteous character, wanting to see his blessed word spread across the planet. America. These people are spreading these billboards all across our land now. Check this out. This is absolutely insane. Atheism ads are appearing all across America. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are being spent on these billboards declaring. And these are the actual photographs. And this is just some of them. OK, quote, We are good without God or the bottom one there. Hey, don't believe in God. Join the club. Or who could forget? That's right. Praise Darwin. Evolve beyond belief. And hey, that's right. Christianity, sadistic God, useless savior, 30,000 plus versions of the truth, promotes hate and calls it love. being spread across our great nation. And we're alone. Oh, don't you dare, I'm going to say this, folks, don't you dare say anything about the crime. But you can put a billboard up in the United States of America saying that God is sadistic, the Christian God. And we say nothing. It gets even worse than that. Atheists in Florida are scrubbing away. These are the actual photographs, a Christian blessing with unholy water that Christians prayed for on a highway in Florida. Christians went out there and prayed for God's blessing protection on the highway. These guys went the actual photographs. They went out there and scrubbed it away. And here's why, because they said it made them uncomfortable and they were not going to tell every bigotry. Oh, but let's continue on. Various atheists across the country are hosting what they call rapture parties because, quote, if the rapture indeed occurs and Christians worldwide are transported to heaven, we know as atheists we're not going. And if it occurs, it's a good thing for us. We get the real estate and cheap cars and we don't have to worry about separation church and state. He won't be laughing long. OK, another one is this. I'm not making this up. Check it out if you want to. New website out there called www.ifjesusreturnskillhimagain.com where this guy, I believe that's him, atheist Darwin Bedford, the self-proclaimed atheist messiah, states among other blasphemous things, if that self-made blank, can't write that, Jesus returns again, I think we should hire some Jews to throw him off the rooftop once again. Or maybe we can hire some of Mel Gibson's extras from the Passion of Christ to punish him first. And that's allowed? We sit by? And this one, I'm not making this up, folks. Believe it or not, there's a new web filter out there they got now. It's called Godblock. And it blocks all religious content to protect kids from, direct quote, the often violent, sexual and psychologically harmful material that many holy texts and from being indoctrinated into any religion. That's right. They say the reason why they've developed this device is for parents and schools. Hey, yay. OK, was because there's been a resurgence of the fundamentalist religion. And we can't tolerate that in America. God's blocking. Wow. Why God? Why? Why is this happening? Why is everything getting so wicked? Why is our society going down too? What can we do? Is it really that hard to figure out? We have allowed militant atheists to attack the righteous, holy character of our God, and we are under his judgment. And it is high time that we, the church, speak up and speak out against this atheistic nonsense, if there's any hope for our nation. Amen? But that's not all. The second attack, I'm telling you, they're trying to wipe away every memory, every trace of our Christian heritage, guys. And make us look like a bunch of idiots. The second attack is upon the name of God, not just his character, but boy, they're going after his name. And I think I know why. OK, but let's take a look at that. What does God say if you dare mess with my name? Well, I think we need to be reminded of the Ten Commandments. And here's one of them, folks. Exodus chapter 20, verse seven. Here's what it says. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord, your God, for the Lord will wipe. He will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. Whoa, you don't hear much about that anymore, do you? What does it say there? It says that God is so holy. He is so holy, guys, that even the mention of his name is holy. And what does he say there? If you have the audacity to take my, not just my character, but now my holy name and use it, and that's what the word means, they're vain. Not just as a cuss word. We'll get to that in a second. Even as a common word, just flippantly. If you have the audacity to misuse that, what do you say I'm going to do? I didn't say God did. He will not hold anyone guiltless. Can I translate that for you? He will punish you if you do that. He will punish you if you do that. And this is what amazes me. We've talked about this before. I don't think it's my chance. Why is it that if anybody here besides me is constructionally challenged and you go to try to hit that nail with the hammer instead, Mr. Thumb rises to the challenge and you smash that thumb. Why is it you never hear from anybody? I haven't heard it yet. Oh, Buddha, Buddha, Buddha. You're driving out over to Kenny's house to fix that dishwasher. Somebody cuts you off the road. I've never heard somebody go, I'm hungry. Hare Krishna. Why is it always? Jesus Christ. Why is it always gone? I don't think it's by chance we just saw one verse. You combine this with Philippians chapter two that says at the name of Jesus Christ, every knee shall bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord over all, including Satan and the demons, you know, and the fact that there's only one name, the blessed name of Jesus Christ under heaven by which we can be saved and rescued from hell. If I was a demon, that's exactly what I get people to do. Take that name and misuse it and defame it and turn it into a cuss word. And I'm telling you, folks, that's exactly what these militant atheists are doing. They're encouraging us to mock God, misuse his name, use it as a cuss word even to our kids. And we think nothing about it and we wonder why we're being punished. Let's take a look. Hollywood's helping us out on this one, unfortunately. Let's take a look. The third of the ten commandments given to us by God warns that we should treat even the mention of his name with great awe and respect, never using it in a casual or disrespectful way. The Old Testament saints took this command very seriously, insisting eventually that scribes wash their hands and use a new pen when even writing the name of God. Many of the Jews were even afraid to say it out loud in any circumstance, choosing instead to refer to it indirectly as the name. Contrast that to our day, to a time when God has, in an act of almost incomprehensible grace and mercy, chosen to fully reveal himself in Christ as Emmanuel, God with us, and has given to us the true name of the Lord our God, the only name under heaven given to men by which we may be saved, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. God's name is degraded, blasphemed, and reduced to a cheap expletive by so many in today's entertainment industry that one wonders if it isn't a default key on their word processors. Don't worry, nobody's listening anyway. Ken Kesey, the author of Sometimes a Great Notion and the Academy Award-winning One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, provided perhaps the best summation of the pride and irreverence that characterizes so much of today's art and entertainment. The job of the artist, Kesey told one college class, is to say, F-you God, F-you and the Old Testament you wrote in on. We're gonna run the unedited version. What? And be warned for you people, you may be offended. Maybe. Watch. Now look, a lot of people come up here and they thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus. He didn't help me a bit. If it was up to him, Caesar Milan would be up here with that damn dog. If she would have said Mohammed, what would happen? Fill in the blank. Why are we under God's judgment? Why is there such a massive spread of wickedness? How could we fall? How could America go from a great... Because we're being punished by God. We have allowed militant atheists to blaspheme the holy name of God and we're being punished. Why? Because He said, I didn't. He will not hold anyone guiltless, even America. If you dare misuse my name like that, And it is high time that we, the church get motivated, speak up, stand up, speak out, do something and put a stop to this nonsense. If we're going to turn our nation around. Amen. One more to go. The third attack by these militant atheists, man, I'm telling you, they're trying to do every last aspect. They're just defaming God, including the word of God, not just his character, not just his name, but they are blaspheming the word of God. But let's take a look at the benefits of the word of God. I didn't make this up. God did. Let's take a look at that text. The classic text, just pieces of Psalm 119. Read the whole thing. It's all about God's word. It's awesome. It's a blessing. Psalm 119, verse 73, 97, 101, 105. That's right, Beverly Hike. It is football season, but let's proceed onward. But here's what the Bible says. This your hand. Speaking of God, who formed us? God, not some goo. Your hands made me and for me, give me understanding to learn your command. Oh, how I love your law. I meditate with you. I chew on this stuff, man, your word, the Bible all day long. This is good stuff. Why? Because I've kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word, your word. God, it's a lamp to my feet, a light for my path. Man, that's awesome. We should make a song about that or something. Well, there is time zone. We sing it. But do we stand on it anymore? Folks, anybody starting to get the impression that that's just a few verses from Psalm 119? Anybody getting the impression that God's trying to tell us that His Word, the Bible, is something that's good for us? Yeah. He says it right there. He says it's going to keep us from evil. It's going to light our path. It's going to illuminate the darkness so we can see what's going on. And good news is it can show us out of the way, dare I say, even the current mess we're in. Isn't that good? And so how many guys would say that, wow, we better get busy doing it. We better get busy promoting it and honoring the word of God, reading it and studying it, but not anymore. Thanks to the rise of militant atheism, and we just allow it under the guise of free speech. I wish I had time to go on the historical character of what happened in our nation's history when one guy in public defamed the name of Jesus Christ. And they put a stop to it, according to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and the great history of our nation. But listen, folks, it's getting so bad that the militant atheists They're saying, no, no, don't follow the word of God. That's not right. Are you kidding me? In fact, I tell you what, would you please bring your Bible to us and we'll give you something much better. We'll exchange it for pornography in our schools. Check this out. A program that's been turning heads and dropping jaws on the UTSA campus since Friday is in the home stretch. Through tomorrow, an atheist group is offering free pornography to people willing to give up their Bibles. It's made more than a few people angry, but the university says the group has not broken any rules and should be allowed to exercise their rights. What? America? America, our founding fathers, we saw built our nation on the holy word of God. And we allow these people to say, hey, you bring in your Bible, I'll give you some pornography. And it's allowed in school. Speaking of our founding fathers, I wonder what the founding fathers must be rolling over in their graves. Amen. I wonder what they would say to people in office who would treat the word of God like this. Let's take a look at this one. And moreover, given the increasing diversity of America's populations, the dangers of sectarianism are greater than ever. Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation, at least not just. We are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation and a Buddhist nation and a Hindu nation and a nation of non-believers. And even if we did have only Christians in our midst, if we expelled every non-Christian from the United States of America, whose Christianity would we teach in the schools? Would it be James Dodson's or Al Sharpton's? Which passages of scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is okay? that eating shellfish is an abomination? Or we could go with Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith? Or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount, a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application? We have presidents in the United States of America right now who are saying that following the Bible, specifically the teachings of Jesus Christ, would be detrimental to us. I said this before, I'll say it again. This is not about politics. It's about Bible prophecy. And you're not just going to see Democrats, you're going to see Republicans doing the same blasphemous stuff as you just saw. And that's what I call it. I don't know about you, but as a Christian, I find that offensive. That is blasphemous. I don't care what party you are from. That's what it is. And it's ironic, especially now what is in the news. You cannot say anything about the Koran or the world is up in arms or they'll kill you and we'll give you a million apologies. But you can mock the holy word of God and nothing is said. What has happened to our backbone as a church? Why is our nation going down the tubes? That's why. We used to have godly leaders in our nation who would stand on the Word of God, who would promote the Word of God, who would use the Word of God to bring revival to our nation. Don't believe me? Ask President James Garfield. Here's what he said and did with the Bible. Total, complete opposite. Let's take a look. You see the statue to the left of the door over there, that white marble statue? That is President James A. Garfield. President Garfield was one of the young major generals in the Civil War. He was a war hero. He became Speaker of the House. He became the 20th President of the United States. And by the way, that man founded Howard University. General O. O. Howard took it over after he founded it. Just a really cool guy. But what we never hear about that President of the United States is that he was a minister during the Second Great Awakening. This is actually one of his letters signed James A. Garfield, 1858. In this letter, President Garfield recounts that he had just finished preaching a revival service where that he preached the gospel 19 times in the revival. He says as a result of his preaching, he said that 34 folks came to Christ and he baptized 31 of them. Now, that doesn't seem like a typical presidential activity today. That's what we used to do with presidents in the past. Again, you'd walk through, you'd see a statue, you'd think, oh, there's a president. You'd never think there's a minister. We've so compartmentalized Christianity in such a small box that we don't realize our military leaders, our ministers, our educators, our presidents used to be ministers. That's why I say about one fourth of these statues are ministers of the gospel. What a complete, total, absolute contrast. How far we have fallen. We used to have presidents that used to be ministers, period, and they preached the Holy Word of God to bring revival to our country in times of trouble. And folks, dare I say, if it's ever going to come our way again, we need presidents like that again. We need leaders. We need congressmen. We need senators. We need people. We need the church to preach the Word of God like that again. Not blaspheme it, not mock it, not exchange it for pornography. And we need Christians who will obey it. And let me encourage you, as we close this morning, folks, as far as these militant atheists that are doing these things, you need to understand they're the ones in the minority. There's only a handful of them. It's just the media gives them the press. But they're a small minority. They are not the majority that does not make up the majority of the United States. And if there's any hope for our nation, it's high time that we, the church, speak up and speak out like our founding fathers did against this nonsense. And do something about it. Like this guy, we read before, but now in this context, here's what he said. He says life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness will not be in danger because somebody said a 30 second prayer at a football game. What's the big deal? It's not like somebody's up there reading an entire book of Acts. They're just talking to God in whom they believe in and asking Him to grant safety to the players on the field and the fans going home from the game. But what about the atheists? What about them? Nobody's asking them to be baptized. We're not going to pass the collection plate. Just humor us for 30 seconds. If that's asking too much, bring a Walkman. Bring a pair of earplugs. Go to the bathroom. Visit the concession. Go call your lawyer. Unfortunately, one or two will make that call. One or two will tell tens of thousands of Americans what they can and cannot do. But it's a Christian prayer, some will argue. Yeah, this is the United States of America, a country founded on Christian principles. According to every phone book, Christian churches outnumber all other churches 200 to 1. So what do you expect? Somebody chanting Hare Krishna? If I went to a football game in Jerusalem, I'd expect to hear a Jewish prayer. If I went to a soccer game in Baghdad, I'd expect to hear a Muslim prayer. If I went to a ping-pong match in China, I'd expect to hear a Buddha prayer. But this is America, so why are we shocked when you hear a Christian prayer? Our parents and our grandparents taught us to pray, and the Bible tells us to pray without ceasing. Now a handful of people and their lawyers are telling us to cease from praying, and what do we do? Stop mentioning the name of Jesus! God, help us! And if that last sentence offends you, sue me. The silent majority has been silent too long. It's high time we tell the one or two who scream loud enough that the vast majority does not care what they want. It's time that the majority rules. It's time that we tell them, you don't have to pray. You don't have to say the Pledge of Allegiance if you don't want to. You don't have to believe in God or attend our services that honor Him. That's your right and we will honor your right. But by golly, you are no longer going to take our rights away. We are fighting back and we will win. Why? Because we are Christians. And that's what our nation was founded on. We believe in God, and so did our founding fathers, that our rights are endowed by our Creator. It's in the founding documents. And if we're ever going to get back on track and become that great and mighty nation again, dare I say, even just a revival, one more, Then we have got to get back to putting Jesus Christ, His holy character and His holy word back into our governments, back into our schools, back into our courtrooms and our pulpits if there's any chance of turning the ship around before it totally implodes. How much worse does it have to get before we get motivated? Politics will not save our nation. It is the blessed gospel of Jesus Christ. Please vote. Please vote. Christian like. But don't forsake the true answer. His name is Jesus Christ. You get to vote once a year, but you get 365 to tell people about Jesus Christ. But if you're here today, you're not a Christian. What in the world more does God have to do? He's giving you the sign of the rise of wickedness to let you know it's getting close. The tribulation is near. The second coming of Jesus is rapidly approaching. This is why Jesus himself said this amazing statement. Luke 21, when these things begin to take place, when you see this happen to a nation falling so rapidly in wickedness. You better stand up, you better. Lift up your head because your redemption draws near. In other words, if you're not a Christian, you need to become one now. If you're not sure, you need to be sure now. Because tomorrow may be. Too late. Amen. Let's pray. Well, hi, this is Pastor Billy Crone of Sunrise Baptist Church and hope you enjoyed today's study. But before you go, let me ask you one final question. Are you sure that if you were to die today that you go to heaven and not hell? Before you answer that, let me share a couple of things with you. Did you know that the Bible says that God is holy and that we are not? And the Bible also says that the wages of our sin or unholiness is death. In other words, when we die and it's coming for each one of us. We're all marching towards the grave at different speeds, but it's going to happen. The Bible says, therefore, since the wages of our sin is death, we deserve to die and go straight to hell and not to heaven. And that's bad enough. But to make matters worse, we don't want to admit this. God already knows. He knows all of our behavior, everything, our thoughts, what we've done, what even we're going to do. He knows it all. He's gone. Even though he already knows this, we don't want to admit this. And so out of love and mercy, God gave us something called his law or the Ten Commandments. It's kind of like his x-ray into our heart to show us what he already knows, that he is holy and that we are not. And it's this unholiness or sin that separates us from him. Let's take a look at the God's x-ray, if you will, his divine law to show us what he already knows. The Ten Commandments, the ninth one says this. You shall not bear false witness. That's called lying. And if you've ever told a lie once, which we all have, myself included, The Bible says that makes you a liar. OK, but another commandment says you shall not steal. OK, and you might think, well, that's something that everybody does. Well, it doesn't make it right. And it demonstrates what God is trying to show us, that we all have sin and it's separating us from him. Even if you took a pencil in the third grade from somebody, if you did it without permission, that's stealing. And so now you've become a thief. The Bible says that you shall not use the Lord's name in vain and how interesting it is and unfortunate that the only name under heaven by which men might be saved. The name Jesus Christ has now become a common cuss word. The Bible says that God is so holy that even his name is holy. If you've taken the Lord's name in vain and used it as a cuss word, or even flippantly, the Bible calls that the sin of blasphemy. And so now you become a blasphemer. The Bible says you shall not commit adultery. And Jesus says, if you even look at another person with lust in your eye, you've committed adultery in your heart. And finally, the Bible says you shall not murder. And you might think, well, hey, I haven't done that one. Really? Well, again, the Bible says that the sin of hatred is the same as the sin of murder. The only difference is you pulled the trigger, if you will, in your heart. You wish they were dead. And in God's eyes, it's the same thing in principle. Folks, that's only just a couple of the Ten Commandments. We didn't go through all of them, but I think you're starting to get the picture. The Bible is correct. We have all fallen short of the glory of God, myself included, and that we are separated from God as a result. And so when our time comes, we're not automatically going to heaven. We are headed for judgment. We are headed for hell. Now, let me tell you the good news. The good news is that God so loved the world that he gave his one and only begotten son, Jesus Christ, to save us. Jesus Christ died on the cross. It was the death penalty of its day. He paid in full the price for our sins to be forgiven. Let me give you an analogy. For instance, even today, we could see that a person could commit a crime. They cannot reverse it. The sentence has been passed. The judge has slammed his gavel and they are ushered off into their jail cell. And in this particular crime, they are going to receive the death penalty. And so they're behind bars, just waiting for the time, waiting for the call for them to go and receive the death penalty. But believe it or not, as we know, there is a way that a person can get off a death row. And that is if the one in authority, the governor, would grant them a pardon. Now, they didn't earn it. They certainly don't deserve it. And there's nothing they could do to earn it because nothing can reverse their crime. OK, yet the one in authority has that ability to grant them a pardon. Well, can I tell you something? That's what God has done through Jesus Christ. The cross was the death penalty of the day. God sent his one and only son to die on the cross, to take the death penalty in our place. And then if we would just receive his pardon, For all of our sins, God is willing to allow us to get off a death row. He's willing to forgive us completely of all of our sins. That's the good news that I want to share with you. God loves you. The Bible says that God is not willing that anyone should perish, but everyone come to repentance. Won't you, if that's you, call upon the name of Jesus Christ right now? Won't you ask Him to forgive you of your sins? The Bible says that if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Won't you do that now, wherever you are? Please, take God up on his amazing, loving offer. I'll let you down, man will let you down, people will let you down, but God never will. He wants to adopt you into his forever family. He loves you. He's willing to forgive you of anything and everything you've ever done, past, present, and future. It's amazing. Please, call upon Jesus now. Well, this has been Pastor Billy Crone of Sunrise Baptist Church. If there's anything that we can do for you, please don't hesitate to ask. Our number and information will come up here on the screen here shortly. And remember, I hope to see you in heaven. God bless. Thank you for watching this presentation from Sunrise Baptist Church. If you would like to send us a letter or any other kind of postage, you can reach us at 1780 Betty Lane, Las Vegas, Nevada 89156. For more information you can give us a call at 702-452-8599 or email us at bcrone at getalifemedia.com or you can visit our website at www.getalifemedia.com. Billy Crone and this ministry can also be found on Facebook and Twitter. Join us for services at www.sunriselv.com.