Our scripture reading for this evening and one of the passages that will be referred to is Deuteronomy chapter 18. I'm going to be reading verses 9 to 14. If you're here this evening and you don't have a Bible, we can get you one. Just come to me and later and say, hey, I didn't have a Bible. I couldn't follow along and I'll be glad to get you a Bible. Now in our tremendously blessed nation. We have so many different versions of the Bible. If your particular English translation that you're holding doesn't match mine, that's fine. We'll go check the Hebrew when we're done. Right, brother? But I'll be reading from the New American Standard Bible, those verses, verses 9 to 14 of Deuteronomy chapter 18. The book of Deuteronomy, that Greek title has come into English. There weren't two laws. This is the second time that Moses gave the law to the new generation that was about ready to enter the land. So as they were on the east side of the Jordan River preparing to enter at Moab, he delivered five messages to the new generation that make up the book of Deuteronomy. In chapters 1 through 11, he says, God was faithful. He brought us here. And in chapters 12-24, he says God is faithful. He's going to take us there. One of the things that we learn, don't we as believers, that God is faithful. And all His people said, Amen. Verse 9, Deuteronomy 18. When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead, For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord. And because of these detestable things, the Lord your God will drive them out before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God. For those nations which you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice witchcraft and to diviners. But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do so. May the Lord bless the reading of his word and brother come and share the word with us. Well, it's good to see all of you tonight. I hope that you have come desiring to look into God's word. The real frustrating thing for me, obviously, is that there's so much I'd like to talk about that we don't have time to talk about. We could have a like a six month conference and meet every night and we probably would still just be scratching the surface because this is a very big book. But it's exciting to study God's word. And we're living in the last of the last days, I'm convinced of that. We don't know when the Lord's going to come and snatch his church out. We call that the rapture. But the materials we have back on the table back here all give the indication that our world is being prepared for that unique period of time that we refer to as the tribulation. And those of us who've studied the scriptures very carefully believe that we are going to be taken out supernaturally in what we call the rapture before that seven year period comes. And so I just want you to know that if you go back here and pick up some material, it's always what is presented in the DVDs, the CDs, all the prices are marked, the books and so forth. I want to just say that tonight's message, Sorcery in the Last Days, has been pre-recorded. It's available back there in DVD and CD. And also, that's nice. Also, anything that we publish in-house in our ministry, that is, if it has our name on it. Thank you very, very much, brother. That means that you have our permission to copy it. You can make as many copies, DVDs, CDs, newsletters, whatever, because we do not look at this as an opportunity to make money. That's not what it's about. It is a ministry to reach out with God's Word and to win people to Christ and disciple believers. and teaching them, first of all, what the Scriptures have to say, and then understanding the current events and the light of God's Word. If you want to purchase something and make a credit card purchase, the way you can do that is simply choose the items that you'd like to purchase. You can add to it every night if you like. And there's a sheet back there that says, order form to make a credit card purchase. And you simply write down the items on here, share it with the person at the table, they'll look at your items, and they'll help you total it up. And with that total, then you will simply call the number that's listed there, and the hours, and give them your credit card information, and they will put it on your credit card for you. So that's the way you do that. Otherwise, if you're gonna make a purchase, you can make out a check, make it to PTM, which is Prophecy Day Ministries, or you can, the cash, and there's a little box you can put in there, there'll be someone there to help you if you need to make change. As Pastor said, there is a newsletter back there, the Current PT News. It's an eight-page newsletter. We publish this in-house in our ministry ten times a year. We do not have an official subscription fee. What we choose to say is that it's made available to you on an annual donation basis. So the choice is up to you, whatever donation you'd like to make to help us offset our costs. Just to let you know, it's costing us about $25,000 a year to print and mail our newsletter. And the newsletters are free on the table back there, so please feel free to pick one up and take it with you. If you want to be a regular subscriber to the newsletter, you can take this envelope, fill it out, and just put it in the little basket that's back there. So we'll have more to say about the other items and things each evening. If you have a question after the service about anything you see back there, please feel free to ask. Okay, thank you very much. We live in an incredible hour. I believe we have the greatest privilege of the church and the entire church age before us as we anticipate the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am entering my 40th year of the ministry, and I must tell you that I'm more excited about the Lord's work and especially the prophetic word of God than ever before. Because when I read this book and I look at our world and I believe that this is very legitimate, because you see, the disciples asked the Lord Jesus some questions during his earthly ministry and Jesus never backed away from their questions. He said they asked him, what is the sign of your coming and the end of the age? Jesus gave them many indicators, political, geological spiritual indicators of a special period of time that's coming. We call the tribulation period. And the one we're looking at tonight is one of those those indicators as you look at all the things that's happening simultaneously at this particular hour, especially the events in Israel, worldwide events, the coming together of a one world government. Uniquely, in Ezekiel 38 and 39, the scriptures speak of several nations, Islamic nations along with Russia, Russia, Iran, Turkey, Libya, all those names, those countries have been in the news of late. And all these things tell us that we're living in a very unique hour. The subject matter tonight, it is not by accident that we're watching here in the United States and around the world, an incredible resurgence of what we call the occult. And we're going to understand what that is in just a few moments. But one of the aspects of the occult is sorcery. And it's very important for us to understand what the Word of God has to say about this subject tonight. I want to say that I've been preaching this message for probably about 10 years now, and I have found that there are many people that do not agree, not with me, but with the Word of God. There have been young people, teenagers, and even adults that don't like what the Bible has to say about the subject of sorcery. And I just want to warn you that we all need to be in agreement with this book, amen, because it is our only source for authority and truth. And God has our interest at heart. He wants the best for us. And so as he gives us his truth, it is the best for us to warn us to turn away from a path, as the Bible says, the wages of sin is death and to turn from a path toward death to a path toward eternal life. Let's have a word of prayer and get right in the message tonight. Father, I praise you and thank you for the opportunity we have now to turn to your word. And I pray that tonight, Lord, that our hearts will be receptive to your word. that we will not bring with us the ideas that the world has about the subject. But Lord, we know that the subject of sorcery is one that is being very widely received and is part of the entertainment industry. It is part of games and so forth that children play, that teenagers play, that adults play very frequently. And so, Lord, we pray tonight that your Holy Spirit will enable us not just to hear the truth, but to receive the truth. And then Lord, also to help us understand that we're living in an incredibly spiritually dark hour and that that should drive us to our only source of light. And that is the the correct interpretation of your scriptures, of your word and the power of your Holy Spirit and its application in our lives. Well, thank you, Lord, for what you accomplish here tonight. In Jesus name. Amen. I'd like to direct our attention, first of all, tonight to a passage in the book of Isaiah. You see it on the screen. I want to begin by saying that Satan is preparing his realm of darkness for its finest hour. I think that I want you to begin in this message to begin to understand that we are living in a world that is spiritually getting darker by the hour, by the day. We have to understand that as we look at the flow of all of history in light of God's word, that what controls the physical realm are the powers in the spiritual realm. When you look at the scriptures, the Bible, of course, speaks of our God, the triune God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And of course, the Lord Jesus is directing all of the affairs on this earth, all nations, all people, all things. And the reason that we believe that is because he's given us he's told us that truth, that truth in his word, but also that is the reason why we have so much prophecy in God's word. It's not because the Lord's able to guess what's going to happen so well. It's not that he just simply is able to look down to the pages through the quarters of time and to see what's going to happen and then pre-record it. No, it's because he is in control. But we also understand that that he has an adversary, a very highly organized, powerful adversary called Satan or Lucifer and his fallen angels called demons. The Bible teaches that Shortly after the beginning of the creation that this powerful angel Lucifer decided he would ascend above God, desire to ascend above God, to be greater than God, to usurp God. And of course that was the fall of Satan. It was the beginning actually of sin in heaven. That was the beginning, hear me out now, the beginning of a spiritual war that the Bible tells us about, beginning in Genesis all the way to the last book of the Bible, a war in the spirit realm. If we had spiritual eyes tonight to look into the spirit world and we have not been given that ability or privilege, we would note that there are both angels and demons here with us tonight. They are real, they're just as real as you and I are, although we cannot see them. And the scriptures teach us That it's the spiritual realm. It's this spiritual war that's being manifested on the physical playing field of the earth. That is, among the nations and our churches and our families. And this is really brought to light in the subject matter we're going to look at tonight. But what I want you to try to understand as we begin this message tonight is this. That the seven year tribulation period is the final phase of this spiritual war that's been going on probably for about 6,000 years. Now, guys, you can relate to this and gals, too, if you like to watch football. You know, if you watch the football game and you get down to the last two minutes and they, you know, they... They give the two minute warning and then all of a sudden the players, the coaches, go into a different defense or a different offense. Why? Because it's the final two minutes of the game. They want to win the game. If they're not winning, they have got to change something and they've got to pull some other plays out of the playbook. They've got to do something desperate because they don't want to lose the game. The scriptures tell us that Satan and his demons, as a matter of fact, not even the angels of heaven know when The end time is actually the end time in the sense of the rapture of the church and the tribulation period of seven years which follows. They do not know when that's going to begin. However, when those developments do take place, Satan will realize and according to Revelation chapter 12, the Bible tells us he will know that he has just a little time left and he will feel with a rage. Therefore, we understand That Satan is preparing the world, as it were, with his deception for that final hour. It's his desire to deceive as many people as he can, to use as many people and nations as he possibly can at his disposal to attempt what we know is impossible. That is to defeat the Lord Jesus Christ when the very end of this age comes. And that's why in Isaiah chapter 60, Isaiah writes about the beginning of the kingdom which the Lord Jesus Christ will return to this earth and establishes his kingdom. He will be ruling and reigning upon this earth. It will be a time of incredible spiritual light. Isaiah writes several times in his book, in that great prophecy, that the knowledge of the Lord will be as great as the waters that cover the earth, as the oceans. But prior to that will be a time that is prior to the tribulation period will be a time of great spiritual darkness. Listen to what he said as he speaks to the Jewish people. Arise, shine, for thy light is come. And the glory of the Lord has risen upon thee, speaking directly to the Jewish people. Remember that the Bible tells us that during the course of the tribulation period that the Jewish people will be turning to the Lord Jesus so that when the end comes, every living Jew who is upon the earth will have placed their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Paul says very clearly in Romans chapter 11, and all of Israel shall be saved. So the Lord is simply saying, arise, shine, for the light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon thee. Then he says this, for behold, the darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people, but the Lord shall rise upon thee and his glory shall be seen upon thee. In other words, prior to this time of incredible spiritual light in which, think about it, I mean, Jesus was here upon this earth in the flesh for thirty three and a half years. Yet it was a time of great spiritual darkness, even while he was here, although he himself was a beacon of light in that time of great spiritual darkness. However, when he comes back at the beginning of his kingdom, everyone who is alive at the inauguration of that kingdom will be saved. Not one center, not one center. will enter into the kingdom. And so the kingdom will begin at a time of incredible spiritual knowledge and light, understanding of God's truth, worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ. But what Isaiah is warning us in this passage is this, that prior to that, it will be a time, as he said, that darkness, gross darkness, will cover the earth. For several years now, we have been witnessing a growing fascination with demons and witches and ghosts and angels. I will never forget when I was in the process, this happened back in 97, when I was leaving the pastorate and moving to Virginia, where my family and I live now, and we made several trips and moving things. And I was still pastoring and my family had already moved to Virginia. They got jobs at individual, you know, at the interval of times. And so I was moving some things up a little bit of a time. And so I was on Sunday night after I was done preaching, I would get in the car and I would travel up to Roanoke where they were. It's about a four hour drive. And one night, I'll never forget, it was about 11 o'clock, maybe 1130. And I pulled into a service station, a little convenience store to get myself something to drink and sort of perk myself up a little bit. I was getting a little tired. And I walked in and here was this lady behind the cash register and she was there all by herself. I walked over and I got a candy bar and I got myself a pop. I thought they'd give me a good charge, keep me awake for another two and a half hours. And I walked up and I said, aren't you afraid to be in here all by yourself at a time like this? She says, not as long as I have her. What? And she pointed to a little angel statue. Hanging on the wall. Behind the cash register. I said, what do you mean? And for the next 15 minutes I had an incredible opportunity to talk to this lady about spiritual things. But I could not believe what she was telling me. It was like a superstitious kind of rabbit foot in your pocket or something like that. She thought that that little statue of the angel on the wall was going to protect her from evil and harm. And that was only just a little window for me into understanding where so many people are as they think about this fascination with the spirit world. However, I believe nothing has revealed the hunger and craze that the world has to offer, craze that the world has for what Satan has to offer like the Harry Potter series of novels. The global impact of these novels, and these statistics are from several years back, They sold over 100 million books in 120 countries, translated into 46 different languages. Someone said, again, this was several years ago, that there's only been one other book in all the history of humanity that has sold more copies than the Harry Potter series of novels, and they said, that's the Bible. When I read that, I thought, that is very enlightening in light of God's prophetic word. We're going to see tonight. In 1 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 1, the Bible says, now the Spirit, that's the Holy Spirit, speaks expressly that in the latter times, some shall depart from the faith. That is, the doctrines, the systematic teaching and belief of the doctrine of the apostles, that is, what the Scriptures teach. They're going to depart from that, turn away from that, apostatize, and they're going to cling to seducing or deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons. In other words, Even where there is a little light in the world, like the United States of America, even where there is a little light in the world, when the end comes, the last of the last days, there will be a turning away from the doctrines of God's Word to the doctrines of demons. Now, let's look at a biblical description of sorcery tonight before we go any further. First of all, it's nature. Sorcery is a part of what we call the occult. The occult is man's attempt to acquire supernatural knowledge about the future and to manipulate it for selfish reasons all without the God, the Bible. It is motivated by desire to penetrate the future and influence its events. Now, let's think about this a minute. The Bible says in 1 Timothy 4.1 that when the end comes, they will be turning away from the doctrines of God to the doctrine of demons. Do you know in the last, going on almost 15 years now, as I've been traveling and speaking in the area of the last days, events and things, prophecy, eschatology, as I've been doing that, I'm finding that there are a lot of pastors, a lot of churches that don't like Bible prophecy at all. As a matter of fact, it's almost like they detest it. And what is so amazing is that that's exactly what the Scripture said would happen. Because you see, when you're looking at prophecy, what you're doing is you're looking at what God has told us in His Word is going to happen in the future. It is what God has ordained will come to pass in the future. And what we're hearing is that there are a lot of people who reject that, but at the same time they're rejecting that, they're accepting sorcery, witchcraft, astrology, all forms of the occult. Now, the occult has many manifestations. Let me just briefly mention some of them. Divination, or fortune-telling is one. Black magic, that is really not just someone with a sleight of hand performing little magical tricks, but people who are desiring to have to have power with Satan so that they're really performing supernatural things. Witchcraft. And when we talk about witches, you know, sometimes people are like, well, you know, there's no such thing as witches. Well, there are literally hundreds of thousands of people around the world that claim to be witches. I've made several trips down to New Zealand, four times to be exact, And I was shocked after I made my first trip to New Zealand when the missionaries who sponsored me to go and to speak in seven churches in three weeks told me after I arrived that you have arrived in one of the spiritually darkest places in what is called the Western world, in a civilized world. They said, New Zealand has more witches per capita than any other nation in the Western societies. And I actually saw individuals in New Zealand while I was there who claimed to be witches. As a matter of fact, it is an officially recognized, quote-unquote, religion in the United States, Wicca. And let me move on. Astrology is another form of the occult. That is, read the stars and planets to find some message about the future. Sussane, or hypnotism, is another. And mental telepathy, that's the supernatural control over objects and people by mental concentration. And, of course, sorcery, what we're looking at tonight. The art of casting spells and performing supernatural feats with the help of evil powers. Now, let's think for a moment about the source of sorcery. Physically, according to Scripture, we can trace the historical roots to the Tower of Babel or the city of Babel. We won't take time to turn there. You have the notes. You can check it out yourself when you get home. But Isaiah chapter 47, You may remember going all the way back to Genesis chapter 11. The Bible tells us that when all the world was speaking one language, the people came together. They said, let us make a name for ourselves. And they came together and they built the high tower. What was the purpose of the tower that they built? It was from the top of that tower that they would chart the stars and the planets. In other words, this was the beginning place for what we know as sorcery. all the magic, the witchcraft, it all has its roots that go back to this place in Genesis chapter 11. Spiritually, sorcery is the desire for supernatural powers that can be traced back to the Garden of Eden. Take your Bible, please, and turn with me to Genesis chapter 1. In Genesis chapter 1, remember, in verse 28, that the Lord said, this is the Trinity speaking within itself, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, verse 28, excuse me, verse 26, God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion or authority over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air, over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. Verse 28, God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply replenish the earth and subdue it and have authority over these creatures, the fish, the birds and every living thing that moves upon the earth. So God gave them authority and God created them in His image. But then go over to chapter 3 and notice that when Satan comes to Eve to tempt her, Look at the area of the temptation. He says to her as he's causing her to focus on that fruit that God told Adam and Eve they were not to eat. He says in verse 5, For God does know that in the day that you eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. Notice that the area that Satan was attacking Eve was in the area of a desire. That is a desire that you want to become like God. You want to become a god. And I really believe that this is at the heart of people seeking out the occult. It's the rejection of the God of the Bible and His truth. And it is to accept the lie of Satan that we can somehow ourselves, we can find our, we can make our own path, we can make our own future, we can be in control of our own destiny. And we can be gods. So, you know, they call this a part of the New Age movement. It's nothing new about it. It's an old age lie that goes all the way back to the beginning of the temptation of Eve in the Garden of Eden. Merle Unger says in a book that he published a number of years ago, as a matter of fact, I put this book in my library back in the 70s when I graduated from Gray Seminary, Demons in the World Today. I don't know if it's still in print or not, but let me give you some quotes from his book. Page 80, he says this. The desire and drive for knowledge and power in opposition to the command and will of God constitutes the essence of magic. Magic is another form of rebellion as man turned his allegiance from God and aligned himself with other gods, that is, demons. He not only worshipped them, but enlisted their help in his search for knowledge and power that would enable him to live without God and in active opposition. Now listen to this. The choice has always been the same. Either man accepts God's salvation and submits to God's will, or he rebels and attempts to subdue the earth with the help of the devil. In the light of divine revelation, it is futile to dispute the evil nature of magic. It is definitely immoral because it violates the moral law of God. To praise it as a gift from God displays ignorance of God's Word. We're going to see that in just a moment from Scripture. Think with me about these biblical warnings concerning sorcery. You won't go back to Deuteronomy 18, the passage that Pastor Ike read just a few moments ago. And if you go home and read this again and reflect upon it, the one thing I want you to understand is that in essence, this passage, God is speaking to Israel before they're to go over the Jordan and to conquer the promised land. They are to displace the inhabitants of that land. Very clearly, God spoke to Abraham 400 years before the children of Israel would come out of Egypt and would go into that promised land. And you know what God said to Abraham in Genesis 15? He said, you cannot occupy this land now because the sin of the inhabitants has not reached its full maturity. In light of that statement in Genesis chapter 15, what God was saying is, in my infinite patience, I'm going to wait until the inhabitants, the Canaanites, the Amorites, all those other ites that were in the promised land, I'm going to wait until they reach the ultimate point of rebellion against me. And when they reach that ultimate point of rebellion against me, then I will cause you to go in the land and displace them. And it's very clear from Deuteronomy chapter 18 that the measure of that full rejection of God and the rebellion against God was expressed in what we call the occult. Now turn to Isaiah chapter 8 please and examine with me a page from the history of Israel at a very dark spiritual hour for Israel. Remember, in Isaiah chapter 1, the beginning of this book, and you can join me in chapter 8, God tells Isaiah the spiritual condition of his people. He said that they're spiritually sick from the top of their head to the bottom of their feet. He said they're like Sodom and Gomorrah. If they were not for remnant, God says, I will destroy them. And so this is at the very low point for Israel's spiritual history. And when it reached that point, notice chapter 8, verse 19. He says, And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep and mutter, should not a people seek unto their God for the living and the dead? To the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. And they shall pass through it, distressed and hungry. It shall come to pass that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward. And they shall look unto the earth, and behold trouble and darkness, dimness and anguish, and they shall be driven to darkness." Do you catch what Isaiah was saying, what God was saying to Isaiah? When people come to a point where they openly embrace the occult, when they openly embrace sorcery, when they're looking for the wizards, the sorcerers, he says it's because there's no light in them. There's no biblical truth in them. And then he says two things about them. He says it will be a land full of distress and famine. You know, what's very enlightening is to study the history of the continent of Africa. And understand Africa has not always been a land of famine. But when you study the history of Africa and you understand from a biblical vantage point, from this text and several others, why Africa, which could be and should be a breadbasket, a land with a lot of food, why it's not? is because of the curse of God, because of the rejection of God's truth and not only the rejection of God's truth, but the acceptance of Satan's deception, the occult. Merle Unger also says in his book, magic is opposed to and at complete variance with the revelation of God in Christ. Christianity cannot tolerate magic only as Christianity becomes corrupt. Listen carefully. Magic can exist in the cults and perversions of Christianity, but not in unadulterated Christian faith. Since magic operates in the sphere of the diabolical miracle and deception, the Bible condemns it and forbids it. In other words, what we're consistently seeing is when people are openly embracing the truth of God's Word and the light, It will expose the deception, the lies, the darkness of Satan and his demons so that people will will reject it. They will flee from it. They will turn from it. But when they begin to. close this book and reject this book, they reject God, they reject His truth, they turn from the light, and they go into the darkness. At the ultimate point of departure away from the Word of God is always the occult and sorcery. Now, before we go any further, let's just mention also something else that's sort of related to this. Demon possession. Not everyone who is involved in sorcery, obviously, is demon possessed. When we talk about demons, biblically, there are two things we need to understand. Either demons can oppress us, that is, oppress people, or possess people. I personally believe it's impossible for a demon to possess a believer because of the Holy Spirit living in them. But I do believe, and we can see it from scriptures, that demons do oppress. and can oppress believers. But when we talk about people who are not believers, people who have not prayed to receive Christ, people who are not saved, they can be oppressed by demons. What's the difference between oppression and possession? Oppression means that as an external force, working through deception, playing with our minds, so to speak, that demons can oppress us. They can influence us. But when demons take control, they actually live inside the person. They possess them so that the person actually becomes a slave of that demon or number of demons. Now, there are four ways to be demon-possessed. First, it can be hereditary. It can often be traced through four generations. In Exodus 20, verse 5, the Bible says God says He will visit the sins of the fathers unto the third and fourth generation of those who hate him. Those who've studied this and I haven't studied as much as obviously as some people get a great deal of their life to studying these matters. Say that people who are witches many times have children who who continue in that witchcraft. And also a transference to the cult ceremony of laying on of hands and acts chapter eight we read of a sorcerer. who, when Philip came to Samaria, the sorcerers following Philip around, he saw the miracles that were coming from Philip, who was associated with the apostles. And then many people were being saved. And the sorcerer, it tells us, he also, it appeared externally, that he was saved. And then when the apostles heard about this in Jerusalem, they just asked Peter and John to come up to Samaria to check things out. And when they got there and they were convinced that these people had truly committed their life to the Lord Jesus and were saved, as it was uniquely in the book of Acts, the Bible says that they prayed and the power of the Holy Spirit was manifested, you know, physically at that time. And as it was physically manifested, the sorcerer, when he saw that through the laying on of hands, he thought that because he had seen it perhaps in the other realm, the demonic realm, this demonic power was passed on through the laying on of hands, that he asked for the same thing for himself. So this seems to be another indication of one way a person can become demon possessed. Also through making a covenant with the devil. Believe it or not, I've actually read a couple of accounts Or a person can come to a point in such rejection of the Lord and His Word and to openly accept Satan that they make a covenant with Satan and they prick their flesh and sign their name in their own blood as a covenant to Satan. And through occult experimentation and magical powers, like Ouija boards and that kind of a thing. In other words, You don't play with sorcery. You don't you don't involve yourself with horoscopes, the occult. You don't dabble in these matters because it is these are not just little weird things that people do. This is dealing with the demonic realm. And we, as we're going to see tonight from scriptures, have been commanded not to dabble in these things at all. Now let's look at some biblical prophecies concerning sorcery. First of all, sorcery in the tribulation. Take your Bible and turn to Revelation chapter 9. In Revelation chapter 9, remember we looked at earlier that when the tribulation period comes, it will be a time of great, incredible spiritual darkness. We know that the Lord is going to have his messengers here speaking. There are going to be some people that will be saved after the tribulation period. Primarily, God will be working through the Jewish people. There will be two witnesses described in Revelation chapter 11. There's going to be 144,000 evangelists from the 12 tribes of Israel described for us in Revelation chapter 7. But primarily in the time of the tribulation period will be a time of great spiritual darkness. And even as we come to chapter nine, which is the midpoint of the seven year tribulation period. In other words, we're three and a half years in chapter nine into the tribulation period. At the end of three and a half years where one half of the world's population collectively have died. Now, listen to me. One half the world's population has died as a result of the judgments of God. The wrath of God has been poured out upon the earth. And one would think there would be a time of great repentance, a turning to God. But notice in Revelation 9, verses 20 and 21. What the Scripture says, and the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues, yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons and idols of gold and silver and brass and stone and of wood, which neither see nor hear nor walk. Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. Now, the word sorcery is the word pharmaki, of which we get our word pharmacy, or drugs, or in this case, illegal drugs. And it's very interesting that when you begin to study the occult and you look at the Far Eastern religions, that it was not unfamiliar at all that mind-altering drugs played a large role in all of that. I find it interesting that if you go back to the 60s, with the introduction of the heavy metal rock music, That that is, in essence, in earnest, when our culture began to be influenced by the occult, by my altering drugs, by all these these Far Eastern New Age concepts and so forth, all began to come into this country. And it was at the same time, I believe personally, that the church, the professing church in the United States, began to turn away from the word of the Lord. But as we're going to see, collectively, in some other texts we're going to visit, without question, this verse here, verse 21, when it mentions sorcery, this is not just to be limited to mind-altering drugs, to illegal drugs. It is speaking of the occult in general and sorcery in particular, and we're going to see why. In Revelation 18, 23, when you look at that chapter, chapters 2, chapter 17 and 18, it's talking about a harlot. A harlot in this case, symbolically, is speaking of a false religion. This false religion is a religion that I believe is in the Middle East. Let me describe this religion for you. It says in verse 3, she's in the desert. It tells us that she's killing believers in Jesus Christ and by decapitation. It also tells us in chapter 18 that she has a resource that's being transported by sea that's making the merchants rich, that's making the kings rich, and making the transporters of this resource rich. So you answer for me, what religion in the world fits this description? It's in the desert, it's decapitating believers in Jesus Christ, and it has resources transported by sea that's making people rich. There's only one religion in the world that fits all that description, and that is the religion of Islam. And he says in chapter 18, verse 23, if you look at it, that end of verse 23, for by your sorceries were all nations deceived. It's interesting that in Revelation 17, 18, these two chapters that John is quoting primarily four chapters in the Old Testament. And one of them is Isaiah 47. And it's interesting because he's quoting from Isaiah 47, which if you remember earlier, we talked about the fact that sorcery, the occult astrology, had its beginning at the Tower of Babel, which ultimately gave way to the city of Babylon, which now is geographically the part of the world we know as the heart and center of the religion of Islam. And in chapter 21, verse 8, He says that all who practice the occult will be in the lake of fire. In chapter 22 and verse 15, he says that the people who are sorcerers will never enter the New Jerusalem. Now let me just stop and say in case someone is questioning what I'm saying. When the scriptures are adamantly telling us anyone who endorses and practices The occult will not be in heaven. They're going to be in hell. That's that's pretty hard evidence that this is something that a is not approved of, God, and B. Can can deceive a person and certainly be an indicator that they're not a person who's following the Lord, but is rejecting the Lord and his word. Now, what's very interesting now is to begin to apply all of this to the person we know as the Antichrist. Take your Bible and turn to 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2. Now, just in case someone here tonight doesn't know who I'm referring to when I refer to the Antichrist. The Bible says that when the end times come, after the church has been raptured, we've been snatched out of this world in the presence of the Lord Jesus. The Bible is very specific, both Old Testament and New Testament, to describe for us and delineate in time seven years. We call it the tribulation period, in which the Lord will pour out His wrath upon this earth. It'll be a time of the great contest, the final contest, war between heaven and hell. Now, on this earth in the last half of that seven-year period, the Bible tells us that Satan uniquely will indwell a person, a very evil man, who in the last half of the tribulation period will be directly controlled as a puppet of Satan. He is one evil person. This person will display Satan's signs and wonders. A look at 2 Thessalonians please, chapter 2, and we'll begin with verse 8. And then shall that wicked one, or lawless one, be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and destroy with the brightness of His coming. Verse 9, Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, listen now, with all power and signs and lying wonders. And read on, "...and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved." Notice, the people who are deceived are the ones who do not have the love of the truth. They've stepped away from the light. They have stepped purposely, as an act of their own will, into the deception, into the darkness. It says that he will display this power of Satan with signs and wonders What does this mean? Well, let's look a little further in Revelation chapter 13. I turn over there He will revelation chapter 13 Where again, this is speaking of when the when the Antichrist takes over the world middle of the tribulation period And verse 4 revelation 13 says I Speaking of the people who are worshipping Satan and worshipping the Antichrist, they worshipped the dragon, that's Satan, which gave power to the beast, that's the Antichrist here, symbolically speaking. And they worshipped the beast, that is the Antichrist, saying, who is like this, the beast, who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth, speaking great things. In verse 7, and it was given unto him. Notice, who is giving this man these powers and authority? Well, according to this text here, it is Satan himself. And verse 11 tells us there is a second person that shows up. We call him the false prophet. Verse 11, John says, I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon, and he exercised all the power of the first beast, that's the antichrist before him, and caused, listen, caused the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed. Verse 13, and he does wonders so that he makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. and deceive them that dwell on the earth by means of those miracles which ye have power to do in the sight of the Antichrist." So look up here. So we have two figures. We have the Antichrist and the false prophet who both are performing supernatural feats with the power of Satan. What is very interesting is when you go to Daniel 8, verse 23. Speaking of the Antichrist, Daniel says that he will have the ability to, quote, to understand dark senses or riddles. Arthur Pink says in his this is considered by many people a classic on the Antichrist, he says, quote, This indicates that the Antichrist will be a master of all the secrets of occult science. This will be one of his most alluring attractions. His mastermind will captivate the educated world. His marvelous store of knowledge, his acquaintance with the secrets of nature, his supernatural powers of perception will stamp him as an intellectual genius of the first magnitude." In other words, let me put it to you this way. When the Antichrist comes on the scene, he will be a real Harry Potter. If you think of what this generation has done in receiving the Harry Potter novels, their toys, the movies, the craze with all of this. And I challenge you to find anyone who has a craze for all of that at the same time has a hunger and thirst for the Word of God. They don't go together. Therefore, we must conclude that the final book of the Bible repeatedly warns us that sorcery will have a tight death grip upon the world's inhabitants in the last days. This obsession with the occult will lead them to eternal damnation. In light of these warnings, it is evident that the current craze over the Harry Potter series is revealing that Satan is preparing the world for this final hour. Without question, he's behind the obsession over the Harry Potter novels and movies, toys, etc. I want to end by saying we must warn our children. Let me put up here, first of all, read the scriptures to them. And if you're a parent who has a child or knows someone that is struggling with this, I highly encourage you to write down this information, a book that has been written about the subject, a video. I highly recommend these. You can go to jeremiahfilms.com if you want to find out more information about it. But let me say, parents and grandparents, the greatest treasure God's given to us, outside our own personal relationship with Jesus Christ, are our children. Would you agree, man? They are our greatest treasure. I want to remind all parents. There's a reason why parents are called guardians. Not simply because you were to physically guard your children, but most importantly, to guard their conscience, to guard their soul. In Proverbs chapter 4, I think it's verse 23 and following, the Bible tells us that we're to be very careful about the gates that lead to our mind, our ears, our eyes, where our feet, where we go. And I really believe that parents, even Christian parents, fail at understanding that first of all, we must protect our children from the evil one, And that means we must guard for them the kind of music they listen to, the kind of books that they read. And if they have a television set in their own bedroom, that can be very dangerous. You must monitor that very carefully, because what goes into your children's heart and mine goes to the gates of their ears and eyes. And Satan has a strategy. And that strategy is being carried out at every level in public education. With the movie industry, the Hollywood industry. In television. We're living in an anti-Christ, anti-God world. Here's some scriptures to consider. Ephesians chapter 5, verses 8 through 11, which in essence warns us to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. God says we have no association with that at all, none. 1 Corinthians 10 verses 14 through 22 again says, tells us not to have fellowship with demons. When people play with Ouija boards or they read Harry Potter novels or they go to the movies or they play the games, they are playing with demonic stuff. God says that we're not to do that. Acts 19, 19 gives you an example. The Bible tells us that when the believers, these early believers in Acts chapter 19, when they heard the message of the apostles and they received Christ, they understood the difference between darkness and light and Jesus Christ and Satan. And the Bible says that when they got saved, they brought all of this occultic paraphernalia and they made a bonfire and they burned it. And the Bible even tells us that it was a great sacrifice monetarily. I was preaching in Florida about four or five years ago. I was preaching this message. And the following night, right before the service was to begin, a woman came in and she come running up front and almost knocked me down when she hit me and hugged me. She says, I just want to tell you, we went home after the service last night. And my son, without asking, my son went to the room and he got all of the Harry Potter stuff. He says, come on, Mom, we're going to have a fire. And she says, we're having revival in our home. And I said, praise the Lord. 1 John 3 tells us that Christ came to destroy the works of Satan. Turn with me there to that passage, please. 1 John 3. 1 John 3 and verse 8. He that commits sin, that is, he who continues to practice sin habitually, is of the devil. For the devil sinned from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil, of Satan. Do you understand that when you dabble with the occult, in essence you are playing with the stuff that Christ came and died for so we would have power over Satan, the demons, and all of his trickery, all of his deception. At the very heart of his deception is the occult. That is the ultimate form of rejection of God's truth. And the light is the occult. And Colossians 1 13 of course tells us that Christ came to deliver us from the powers of darkness I'd like to end by reminding us all there is a war for your soul Jesus said the thief comes not to steal and to kill destroy, but I'm come that they might have life that they might have it more abundantly There is a war for your child's soul. There's a war for your soul. I And Satan's got a lot of tools. And there's only one way to be set free. And that is through Jesus Christ and His Word and His truth. Let me give three final sobering observations. The occult or spiritual darkness cannot flourish in the light of God's Word. If some form of the occult is prevalent in your home, It's because the word of God. Is not prevalent in your home. There will be a hunger for the occult when there's little or no power of God manifested in the church. The scriptures teach very clearly that when the end comes, that the professing church, it will be a time of apostasy and apathy. You see, when the rapture happens, it's not going to be at a time of glorious revival where there's going to be this incredible global turning to God. It's going to be at a time of global apostasy and apathy. And whenever you have that spiritual vacuum where the light is getting dimmer and dimmer, it is always historically, biblically replaced by the occult, by Satan's darkness. The acceptance of the occult in every society is followed ultimately by divine judgment. In Deuteronomy 18, remember, the Lord said to Israel, as He said to Abraham 400 years prior to that, I'm going to wait until the sin of these people has reached its climax. It's ultimate expression of rebellion. And then in Deuteronomy 18, he spelled it out, the occult. And God said, when you go in, kill them all. That's what He told Israel. Isn't it interesting that what will move God in heaven in that last seven years of this age, the tribulation period, will be to remove all the wicked from the earth. so that when the kingdom begins, all of the wicked have died and only the remnant, a righteous remnant, will inhabit the kingdom. Three soul-stirring questions let me leave you with. Are you in the Word of God daily? Is the light of God's Word in you? Are you walking in the light and displaying the power of God? Let me share something with you that stirs my heart greatly, and I believe it grieves our Father greatly. Let me ask it in the form of a question. Do you want the power of God manifested in your life? Think about that a minute. Do you, for the glory of God, do you want people to see the power of God manifested in your life? That is, they see answer to prayer. They see a person who is an overcomer, who's victorious, a person who has joy, a person who can face trials and tribulations and still have the joy of the Lord. See, that's the kind of power we're talking about. Do you want that? I believe it's a very sad day that most Christians could care less whether they're controlled by the Spirit of God and they have the power of God manifest in their life and their church. They're satisfied with the status quo. Are you ready for the judgment of God to fall upon our nation and our world? Not just because of the subject matter we looked at tonight, but I believe that the heavy hand of the judgment of God already is resting upon America. Before I left home this morning, I was reading an article which was expressing a person's study of natural disasters and showing in the last 15 years there's been a very dramatic increase in natural disasters in the United States of America. And do you know who controls natural disasters? The Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that God's hand of judgment already is upon America. The ultimate judgment for America and the world is just around the corner. Let's pray. Father, I pray this night that Your Holy Spirit will remind us that only Jesus can set us free from Satan's darkness, from his deception. Lord, I am praying that there's someone here tonight that did not recognize the warnings that we've given tonight through your Word about the Harry Potter series of novels. Lord, I pray that they will turn from their attraction To the occult, their desire to look into the occult or to be fascinated or entertained by it. Lord, I pray that they'll be filled with. With the desire to serve you and to turn away from that. And to live for Jesus Christ and surrender the life completely and totally to Jesus Christ. That we may desire to be salt and light in this world. Instead of adding to the spiritual darkness of this age. Lord, if there's one person here that has not received Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, I pray that they will understand that the way that they come to Jesus is through the cross of Calvary and believing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. That he died for them. That he shed his blood. For their forgiveness of their sins, because your word says for you, Father, So love the world that you gave your only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And that they can be saved by simply calling upon the Lord Jesus Christ, because the Bible says that if they confess with their mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in their heart that God has raised him from the dead, they shall be saved and whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And that they need to repent of their sins, they need to turn from that sin and they need to surrender. Their life to Jesus Christ. And they need to confess him. Lord, I pray tonight. That you'll bring us all to place of greater surrender and open our eyes. To see the darkness, the context of the darkness that's all around us. And motivate us to share our faith with others with the little light and a little time that we have left. Well, thank you in Jesus name. Amen.