Alright, it's a great blessing to be with you tonight. The Lord is good, and he's only good. I really enjoyed the music tonight. Everything God gives us, everything we have in Christ is good. And life is good in Christ. And it's just going to get better. Forever. This part of the trip was expected and planned because I had planned to come here and teach the course on archaeology this week, but being in the States for a month was not planned. I got kicked out of Nepal, actually, at the end of November. I had to come to the States earlier than I expected, stay longer than I expected, because I couldn't go back until January 1st when we could start getting our new tourist visas. You can only get five months of tourist visas out of any calendar year in Nepal, and since we had lost our other visa, that was the only way we had been staying there this year. But my wife stayed there to continue to work on the business visa. My wife is the greatest missionary I know, and she's a pioneer. Her parents homesteaded in Alaska when she was a toddler, moved from Colorado went out into the boonies in Alaska and homesteaded, built a cabin and whatnot. And her dad was a paratrooper in World War II, got his leg shot off, so he only had one leg, but he was a tough guy. Never got saved. And she grew up there, and then as a single girl, she went to Nepal and was there before we were married. We got engaged by mail. And it worked out good. But she's quite a pioneer, and she loves Nepal. You say, your wife's there and you're here? Yeah. See, there's hardly anything in Nepal I personally like. All the things I like the best are here. Cheeseburgers and other things. Just about anything I like the best is here. But I'm there of my own free will and as a commitment to the Lord to be fruitful as long as I can. Because that's probably one of the hardest places in the world to live physically. One of the darkest places in the world spiritually, but the potential for fruit today, compared to anywhere I know in the world, is great. And we're equipped for that. So at 63 years old, I'm committed there. But it's not easy for me to live there. It's easy for her to live there. And she delights in it. But she's there, and so God blessed us this week, and she sent me word by email that our business visas were approved. It was a great miracle. It looked more impossible every week. But I thank the Lord for that. I thank the Lord for the prayers. Many, many people have prayed with us about that so we can stay there and preach the gospel. And we thank the Lord for this church's help to us in that work. It's a great encouragement. The archaeology course starts tomorrow morning, and if you have an opportunity to attend, I hope you would. It's not just about old rocks. It's a matter of spiritual protection. We need to fortify the next generation. We need to fortify our kids and grandkids against the onslaught of skepticism that is in the very air we breathe today. And we're not doing a very good job of it, for the most part. We need to educate ourselves in these things. And it's enlightening. I don't believe that anything I have studied, other than the Bible itself, anything outside of the Bible, has enlightened the Bible to me more than the studies in archaeology in the ancient kingdoms, such as Assyria and Babylon and Persia. And to open the Bible with the kind of research I've done now, to open to Ezra and Nehemiah and the second kings, or even the prophets, it's just, you see that world in your mind. And I can help you do that. I've been to museums all over the world, the Louvain in Paris, the British Museum, and I could go on and on. all across Turkey and Israel and Greece and Europe. And I'm going to take you with me through the pictures in this course. So if you have an opportunity, I hope you'll come and be praying for that. Tonight, I'd like you to look with me at two texts as we begin. Proverbs. I've got my mini iPad tonight, which is smaller than the old iPad and much more portable and a lot cooler. Proverbs 22, 3, everything we have in Christ is because of the cross. On this trip, first stop out in Seattle, I got to witness to a hippie girl named Rachel. She's about late twenties, thirties. And I went on a little rafting trip. I love photography. And so this time of the year, the eagles congregate on the Skagit River north of Seattle. World-class eagle viewing time to feed on the salmon. And I took a two-hour float trip down there. And these old hippies are up there operating that venture. I got to witness to them. And Rachel is seeking up there in the boondocks of northwestern Washington, seeking. And she started talking about the great spirit and this and that, you know. But she's studying the Bible also. I said, you're making it way too complicated. God's a person. And he has revealed himself in a person. Jesus Christ. And we are sinners. We've broken his laws. We deserve his punishment. But he himself came down into this world, born of a virgin. And he died, suffered on the cross in our place, taking our full deserved punishment upon himself. He died. He rose from the dead the third day. And he invites us to eternal salvation in him. But it's all in the cross. It's all in the cross. And it'll always all be in the cross. I thank the Lord for that tonight. That's our foundation. All the good things that we enjoy and that we're enjoying even tonight. We should pray for Rachel, I think she's very close to being saved. A prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself, but the simple pass on and are punished. One of the blessings of being a Bible believer is you can see the future. Not only in prophecy, but your own life as to what you're doing now, where it'll lead. What a church is doing, how it'll turn out. We can see the future. It's amazing. Amazing. In Acts 17, verses 10 and 11, God tells us about the Bereans and God commends the Bereans. In Acts 17, verses 10 and 11, God commends the Bereans. I've been a Berean ever since I was saved. The man that led me to Christ taught me to be a Berean. to test everything by the Word of God. He showed me that the Bible is the infallible Word of God. Gave me, bought me a King James Bible. And I took that as my sole authority for faith and practice from the first day I was saved. Because that's what he taught me. And that's what I saw in the Bible. Now Berean. And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea, who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews, These were more noble than those in Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness of mind. That's where it's got to start. You've got to receive it. Nobody's going to be saved, by the way, if they're not willing to listen. This manipulation stuff and trying to sneak the gospel in, you know, somebody that won't even listen, that's ridiculous. Everybody that got saved in the Bible was at least willing to listen. So go find some people willing to listen and pray for the others. They received the Word with all readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures. Now, who was teaching here? Paul was teaching here. Paul's the apostle. Searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Therefore, many of them believed. And they're committed to us as being noble people to search the Scriptures, to test things by the, not their own opinions, by the Scriptures. Test things by the scriptures. Is that what you do in life? Is that your way of life? Is that the way of your family, our churches? We're witnessing a collapse of strong spiritual conviction in Bible-believing churches in America. A collapse! The America I was born into in 1949 does not exist. And the independent Baptist movement I joined after I was saved in 1973 does not exist. The character, oh they exist, but the character is dramatically different. Dramatically different. Some say we've seen great downfalls. I was reminded tonight in the music, in the singing of Highland Park Baptist Church in the 1970s, where I went to Bible college, Tennessee Temple. Oh, it was huge. There were thousands of people there every service. Thousands. The singing was glorious. They loved to sing that song that we sing tonight. I just forgot the name of it. But, oh, it was glorious. Dr. Faulkner would lead the singing. He was not a dynamic leader, but there was something about him that really drew the best out of the crowd. Great voices. Oh, it was glorious. Truly, it was glorious, the music in those days at Holland Park Baptist Church. It no longer exists. It's all gone. You say, I thought Tennessee Temple was still there. It's still there. It's a shell of itself. But spiritually, it's gone. Southern Baptist rock and roll, nothing today. And some say, well, it's because, and I could go on and on of the churches that have changed that once stood where you stand tonight that are And some say, well, it's because the founders stepped down, you know, new people came in. Yeah, sometimes that's the reason, but I don't believe it was the reason that Harlem Park was a church. The seeds were sown by the founder. And we should not be afraid to test any man by the Word of God. Not critically, not with a bad spirit, not without proper respect. God teaches us respect of men in a proper way. Not hypercritical, not so that you never can get along in any church in the world. There's people on my mailing list that just love separation. They can't get along in any church in the world because they really, at heart, they're proud people. They cannot submit to pastoral authority. And eventually, they always get upset at me too. Not like that. But with a godly spirit, with a right spirit, with a love for Christ and truth, testing everything by God's Word and exercising wisdom. When I look at what is happening today among independent Buddhists, I see some reasons why these collapses are happening. And I am convinced that within twenty years, most Independent Baptist churches will be emerging churches. Moses, my pastor, disagrees because he doesn't think it'll take that long. And here's some reasons. These are my reasons. Number one, quick prayers. Number two, biblical shallowness. Number three, unquestioning loyalty to man. Number four, following the crowd. Number five, ignorance about important issues. Number six, soft separatism. Number seven, lack of real discipleship. And number eight, carelessness about music. I think the Lord there's a church like this I can stand up and preach this message without getting jerked out of the pulpit tonight. I think so. I'm serious. Quick prayerism I coined that term because it seemed the best way to describe what I was trained at, how I was trained in evangelism at Tennessee Temple, and what I've seen and what has frightened me so much through the years. Quick prayerism is an evangelistic methodology. The only problem with a mini iPad is it's small. It's an evangelistic methodology that is quick to get people to prayer, sinners to prayer. After a shallow gospel presentation, one, two, three, five minutes, it's quick to pronounce people saved and give them assurance and to try to baptize them, even if they barely show any interest in the presentation, even if they give no evidence whatsoever that they've been born again. Quick prayerism is characterized by grossly exaggerated soul-winning reports. This will always identify it. county fair ministry. I have a pastor friend that followed up on the county fair ministry. Now, county fair ministry is a good idea. You go out to the county fair, you set up a booth, give the gospel to people. That's great. Good idea. But not the way they work it. Because they try to get those decisions. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. People they don't even know. Five minutes. Well, they get them. One of them, they got 100 one summer, just a few years ago. And so, my pastor friend in Kentucky followed him up, got the cards. They don't follow up anything because they're not a church. But they followed it up. Not one person interested. OK, now figure this out with me. A hundred people prayed a prayer. Not one person interested beyond that. How many got saved? I hope you said zero. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things have passed away. except for those hundred. Well, I went to First Baptist this morning, Hammond. A bit of research. And so, one of the stories that was told, there's always a bunch of stories, but one of the stories that was told about a recent thing, there's a man in the church that drives around a group of college girls, prays with them like a chaperone, I guess. You know how many there were to Christ? A little group of college girls recently? Twenty-five thousand. And friends, that's a lot. Isn't it, Greg? That's a lot. See, that's quick prayerism. I'm trying to identify what I'm talking about. Quick prayerism neglects our misdefines repentance. That's ridiculous, folks. 25,000 people didn't get saved by that little group of college girls. In the same sermon, the preacher said, salvation will change your life. Well, he's schizophrenic. Quick prayerism neglects or misdefines repentance. Jack House is a big, and Curtis Hudson are the ones that did this in the writings. Yeah, they believe in repentance, but they've redefined it so that it's not scriptural, so that it's not necessarily something that changes your life. It's just turning from unbelief to belief, or redefining repentance as believing. If repentance were the same as believing, then Paul, the apostle under divine inspiration, would not have said that repentance and faith are two different things, because we repent toward God and we exercise faith toward Jesus. It can't be the same. closely connected, both required for salvation, but Acts 20, 21 teaches us that they are not the same. Except you repent, Jesus said, you'll all likewise perish. That ought to settle the repentance deal. Quick prayerism neglects or mystifies repentance. Quick prayerism ignores the necessity of spiritual conviction and conversion. I think that's the essence of it. So, my objective when I try to deal with people about Christ is not to get them to pray a prayer. I want to see them saved. I want to see a new life in Christ. I want to introduce them to Christ, and that's going to change their life. And that's an issue of spiritual conviction and conversion, that process. I hope you've experienced it. If you do, you understand it. There was conviction, and then there was repentance, there was faith, there was a conversion experience. A student in a Bible college I preached in two or three years ago was talking to me about this issue of evangelism, and he said, I'm just very confused. I said, well, how many? I don't remember the period of time, but I asked him how many people he'd led to Christ in his Christian life, and he said, 200. That's a lot. And I said, well, how many of those, just think back, do you think are maybe serving the Lord today? He said, I don't think there's any. I said, OK, you've got good prayers and going there. What I do, I try to work with him, I try to give the gospel to him, I try to be careful. It's not it's not a technique. You're looking for God's working in that person's life, and if it's not there, there's nothing you can do. If God's not moving, there's nothing you can do. I talked to three hippies at one time in that van out there. earlier this week. Three hippies were there in that band, listening to the same message, my own testimony. I was a hippie, a hitchhiker. I was telling them that. I was telling them how I came to Christ. Only one was listening. Only Rachel was listening. The other guys were full of their opinions. See, you can't force anybody to do anything, but we can look and watch and learn how to look for God's dealings. Is this difficult? Who changed all this. Some independent Baptist did. Look at church history. This kind of nonsense is not there among Baptists. Why. Numbers. It was all about numbers in the 70s. Impressing one another. Here's a quick present. A real-life case recently. A friend, pastor friend, went out soul winning at a big church out in California. Has a Bible college. Called West Coast. We went out with their staff on Saturday morning for soul winning. This is a pastor friend. He's been in the ministry. He's overseas. He's not American. We were immediately pardoned up with some of the veterans. And by the way, it was the biggest gun they had, the biggest gun they had, BIMI, former missionary to Japan. We immediately partnered up with some of the veterans. The first door we went to, we spoke to a friendly Catholic guy, and to my surprise, the guy got saved before my very eyes. As they took him from a few scripture passages to the sinner's prayer so smoothly, I was called off guard. While they were recording this man's contact details and writing it down, I asked the man whether One, he believed that he's a good person. And two, that it's possible to go to heaven by being a good person. This man that just got saved said, yes. He's a good Roman Catholic. He's never gotten saved. I looked around. The other two men beside me said nothing, did nothing. We went to a few more places and eventually reached the home of the Roman Catholic young lady who came to the door. She said she was professing Christian. Even though she said all the churches are the same, they gave her assurance of salvation by quoting 1 John 5, 13. That's damnable. That's damnable. To give a lost person who says all churches are the same, I'm Roman Catholic, who doesn't have a clue about the gospel, to give them assurance is damnable. To tell a man he's saved when he still thinks he's good enough to go to heaven is damnable. This stuff is damnable. Quick prayerism is careless. What does this have to do with the downfall of churches, though? Well, here we are. Quick prayerism is careless about receiving church members. Children, visitors. Too quick to receive them without knowing The only church members we want in Nepal are saved church members. You don't have to go to Bible seminary. Go to seminary to be a church member. We don't want you to jump through a whole bunch of hoops and show that you've got a perfect Christian life. None of that. Just want some idea that you're saved. Now that comes very slow in Nepal. We have a men's meeting every weekend now that I just cycling a group of men and. We went around the circle recently. Several weeks ago and one by one asked him how long it took him. These Hindu men former Hindu men from the time they started seeking became interested enough to start tending church and such. To the time they got saved in the average was over a year. Now, there's no quick prayerism in Nepal. You come over there with that junk, you're not going to last. But even in the States, doesn't it usually take time? Unless you meet somebody that's just totally prepared, you know, of course it does. But we just want to make sure people are saved before they join the church. But quick prayerism destroys the spiritual character and biblical stance of a church because it produces a mixed multitude. Quickly, people are quickly received in the membership. Now, children grow up within that environment. It's hard enough when the church is careful about salvation and the families are taught to be careful about salvation to deal with children properly because every kid that grows up in a Baptist church believes in Jesus. Have you ever, can you conceive of going up to an eight-year-old boy in a Baptist church and saying, son, do you believe in Jesus? And he says, no sir, I've thought it out, I'm an atheist. But that's not salvation. Not that long. You've got to be born again. There are no second-generation Christians. I sat across from the head of a Bible Society in India in the 1980s, the head of the Bible Society. I said, Sir, when were you saved? He said, I'm a third-generation Christian. No, you're not. You're not a third-generation real Christian. You've got to be born again. You have to be born again. See, and the church becomes a mixed multitude. Many unsaved people there can pretend, can act, know all the words, everything. But there's no reality. No spiritual reality, no spiritual and personal relationship with Christ. It's not there because they're not saved. And I think that's why somebody like Dave Howes could go to a church and have affairs with 19 women in one church. Think about the women, folks. Yeah, Dave is, I guess he's still alive, but what a reprobate. But 19 women? Open to that kind of proposition from the pastor? What kind of church is this? This is an independent Baptist church, folks. You say it was very unusual. I don't think so. I don't think so. I don't think it was very unusual. Not if you know anything about the plague of that kind of immorality that's been evident in independent Baptist churches. But why would independent Baptists be like Catholic priests? Same reason, not saved. Not saved! See Henry Ford. I love to read biographies of great people, Americans, influential people. It's very enlightening. I read a biography about Henry Ford recently He was a man of principle. He loved the McGuffey readers because of the morality in them. He promoted McGuffey readers. He would start a McGuffey reading school, put them back into print. He loved that. He sat at his mother's feet, but he never was born again. His mother was a Christian of some kind, but Henry Ford was never born again. And all that morality and everything he loved, it didn't make him a real moral man. He had a child out of wedlock. You got to be born again to have the spiritual power and true moral power and integrity. So this issue of quick prayerism is not a side issue. And with each generation, the church becomes more spiritually weak. You can't disciple lost people. You can't discipline lost people. The spiritual program has to be kept on a very low level. because of carelessness about salvation. Salvation and evangelism are fundamental issues. We're talking about fundamentals of the fundamentals. Well, that's just a methodology. No, we're talking about fundamentals of the fundamentals when we talk about salvation and evangelism. This lies at the very heart of church life and missionary work, the heart of it. A ministry established on such a corrupt foundation is destined to collapse, even if a lot of other things are right. So the first reason I am convinced tonight, as I stand here, December 2012, and through the Scriptures look at the future, Most independent Baptist churches will be emerging within 20 years. It's because so most of them practice quick prison. But the second reason is because of the widespread biblical shallowness. I've been an independent Baptist for 40 years. And the second reason is biblical shallowness. We read in Hebrews chapter 5 verse 12. I love this passage. This passage greatly challenged me as a new Christian, challenges me today. I've often used it to try to challenge other of God's people. Hebrews 5.11, of whom, Hebrews 5.11, of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God, and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. Every one that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a baby. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." This is what God wants of His people, real discipleship, that we become teachers, that we help others, that we grow and mature in Christ. And that's so exciting. And that God can use you as a channel of blessing. Every one of God's children are different. Every member of every church is different and has different gifts and everything. We've got men in our church there in Nepal that cannot read, and we've got a couple old men that cannot read. They're illiterate. But they learn their memory verses. We learn memory verses every week. And God can use them in ways that people, I can't possibly read. It wouldn't listen to me. Every person different. Having a ministry for the Lord. But you've got to grow, you've got to become strong, you've got to, especially strong in the Word of God. And then strong in the exercise of the Word of God in the Christian life. Exercising the senses day by day. As we go through life, and that's like working the physical muscles that makes the spiritual life grow, having their senses exercised to discern both good and evil, that constant, not hypercriticalness, but that constant weighing everything by the Word of God is the spiritual process of growth. It's wonderful. It truly is. It's a wonderful thing. It's an amazing thing. And it's a reality that any born-again child of God can experience. But how many do? The question is, are you a teacher? Can you teach the Word of God at some level to somebody? The average preaching, independent baptist, I've listened to so much preaching, but I think the average preaching, I think I can say average, it's just so shallow, biblically shallow, biblically shallow. It might be motivational, it might want to make you jump up and work on the bus ministry, and there's nothing wrong with that, and that has a place. But there's got to be some depth, spiritual depth under that. Motivationalness. Biblical. Growing, just constantly growing. What an exciting book this is. It's endlessly exciting. At every level, it satisfies every part of man. Spiritual, intellectual, moral, everything. History's here. The future's here. God is here. You can learn a lot about God from creation. I love to study creation. But you can't learn the heart of God from creation. But here you can look into the depths of his heart. What a book! So I've got to read the Bible every day? No. But you can read the Bible every day. But the enthusiasm and the excitement has got to be there. A sermon this morning at Pablum It was Pablum. That's one of the biggest independent Baptist churches in the world and certainly one of the most influential. It was Pablum. I'd hate to try to have to survive spiritually on it very long. Pablum. You know what Pablum is, don't you? Baby powder food. I was surprised that some people don't know what Pablum is. Well, it's Pablum. No serious exegesis of the passage. I don't believe we have to exegete every passage all the time, but there's just nothing biblically solid there. It's all motivational, no spiritual depth. It was all about working, and we're supposed to work. God's Word has a lot to say about working for the Lord. But if you read the book of Romans, you read the book of Ephesians, you read the book of Colossians, you read the book of 1 Peter, where all those works are talked about, There's a solid spiritual foundation under those works, understanding of your relationship in Christ, Christ in me, that it's all about grace and conversion and all of those powerful things and justification, regeneration and propitiation and all those realities that have to underlie the proper kind of works that God wants us to have. And that will keep your Christian life going. I'm talking about biblical solidness. in the church's ministry, dwelling Christ. So many Sunday schools I've attended. Oh, man, I think mostly Sunday school classes I've attended bored me to tears. I like to be bored to tears. Because they were taught by people that don't know what they're doing and more properly prepared. And I hate that. Look, if you've only got one... This is a big church. We're talking about other churches. If you've only got one Sunday school teacher that can teach, then only have one Sunday school class. Please. Don't just appoint a bunch of people because you need a bunch of people appointed. Some churches seem to pick the most unlikely people for the positions. My wife and I have noticed that. It's almost a rule of independent medicine. Okay, we need a Sunday school teacher. Let's get Joe over there. He doesn't like kids. Let's get Martha. She never reads her Bible. Well, I'm exaggerating a little bit. But biblical shallowness, I think, is rampant among independent biblists. And that leaves the people perpetually weak, biblically weak. Are we Bible people? I thought we were Bible people. We're Bible people. That means our lives are built on the Bible. Our minds are full of the Bible. We're Bible people. We love to study the Bible, don't we? You love to study the Bible? Bible people, that'll build a strong church. The Bible is built on Christ in the Bible. I'm convinced, now listen to me, I'm convinced that The equivalent of a Bible Institute education is the beginning point to have any kind of level of proper discipleship that you ought to have in this world. The beginning point. I mean, without a knowledge, a survey of the Bible and an understanding of each book and how that fits into the whole and Bible prophecy and the interpretation and methods of study Bible study and principles of interpretation and all the things that go into a Bible Institute education, let's say a two-year education. That's just fundamental foundational beginning stuff to give you some tools so you can really study the Bible on your own. Without that, I don't know how you could possibly get much out of the Bible. Now, if you've only been saved a year, you can't expect that. But if you've been saved 10 years and you still don't have the equivalent of that kind of education in a church like this, shame on you. That's what I say. Because it's so exciting once you get the tools. This is not a little book and this is not a new book either. It's old. It takes some work to start cracking it. It takes some work. Oh, the benefits, the rewards. Biblical challenges! I know in many churches, even good churches, the churches I love the best, and I'll go and they'll have a conference And it'll be on some very important subjects. A lot of the people don't come. That's not for me. Who in the world is it for? Every church needs to be a serious Bible-training institution. I thank the Lord for this church. It is. I'm talking about the independent Baptist churches in general. God's people have to have a passion for truth. A lot of people buy my encyclopedia, for example. I wonder how many use it every day. Well, I'll share it with my wife. Why not have your own? Have your little place there and you've got your own little Bible library that you use every day. I almost wore out a Strong's Concordance the first year I was saved. I almost wore one out. just because I was so hungry for the Word of God. I want to learn it. I want to build a foundation. Biblical shallowness. If churches are biblically shallow, they're not going to stand. And I'm sure this is one of the major reasons for the great downfall we're seeing, the collapse we're seeing. Number three, unquestioning loyalty to man. I believe it's another reason why most independent Baptist churches will be emerging Within 20 years, not allowing biblical reproof to be given. See, Proverbs 29, verse 24 says, not allowing biblical reproof. Biblical reproof. I say, what is your authority, Brother Cloud, to give some warning about some other preacher who's none of your business? Well, how about 2 Timothy, 2 Timothy 4, 2? Preach the word. BSN in season out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. Except for those guys over there. Does it say that? That's the authority. That's all the authority. Any preacher needs to preach the word. But Proverbs 29 says, Brother twenty nine or twenty four to twenty seven very important. This is who's always partner with the. Haters his own soul. He that hears cursing and the riot that not because he hears cursing. He's in that crowd. He hears it. But he's not going to say anything against it because then they would kick him out. So he hates his own soul because he's sinning his own soul because he's not speaking out against and separating from the evil. See, the fear of man, verse 25, what's the issue here? The fear of man. The fear of man bringeth a snare. But whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe. That's the only cure for the fear of man is to put your trust in the Lord. Holy. Because man is fearful. Men can do things to you. The only solution to not have the fear of man and to conquer the fear of man, because every man has the fear of man, potentially, is to put your trust solidly in the Lord. Many seek the ruler's favor. See, that's human nature. Many seek the ruler's favor, but every man's judgment cometh from the Lord. I've got to remember that that man is not going to, I'm not going to stand before him in judgment. Got to give account to the Lord. An unjust man is an abomination to the Lord, to the just. An unjust man is an abomination to the just. And he that is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked. That's a very important passage for preachers. But seeing that the Pentecost did not allow, I'm speaking in general, you to examine certain men It's always been that way since I've been a part of it, such as Jack House, whoever it might be at the time, Lee Robertson. I still think I'm the only person who's ever said a negative word about Lee Robertson in the world. They're just beyond that. Curtis Hudson, John Rice, Claire Sexton, Paul Chappell, they just keep holding on. It's all the same principle. the abuse of Matthew 18. Matthew 18 has nothing to do. Matthew 18 is talking about personal issues. Somebody sends against you in your own church. You have to deal with it. You have to work it out. It can lead to a disciplinary matter in your own church. Has nothing to do with regular relationships between me and some preacher some other place that is producing materials and has a public ministry influencing people all over the world beyond the borders of his church. So I believe public ministry can be critiqued publicly, and in fact must be. Or how else can God's people be protected? You say, well, the God's people will find out. No, they won't. They need leaders. They need shepherds. I say, well, you're not the shepherd of them. Where does the Bible say a preacher can only preach in one church and that's the only ministry he can have? Where does the Bible say that? I know we need to be careful about influence, but the Bible doesn't say that anywhere. When Paul rebuked Peter, they were not members of the same church. Peter was the first Pope, folks. I figured if you can rebuke Peter, you can rebuke anybody. I'm kidding, though. I've been to Rome. See, when I tried to advertise the sword of the Lord, for example, it's just something this small. I wrote a book called For Love of the Bible, and it traces the defense of the King James Bible for the past 200 years. the defense of the King James Bible. Men have taken a stand for you, and they've received texts underlying the King James Bible. And so I documented a little bit about John Rice and E.L. Bynum, who had a little controversy on that subject, just in passing through the book. And I didn't really even take a side, I don't think, in the book. I just documented it. And E.L. Bynum, you know, got after John Rice a little bit on that issue. Most of you probably don't have a clue what I'm talking about, but it happened. And I wrote about it. That's all in the book. So I tried to advertise that book in the Sword of the Lord. Turned down. Why? Had something a little negative to say about John R. Rice. Now give me a break. Was John R. Rice God? I loved John R. Rice. I heard him preach many times and loved him. A lovable man. He's a man. I respect him for many things. I'm not going to blindly follow anybody, folks. See, the biblical builder in Australia. I understand that Pastor Jeff's going to Australia soon. I hope he rides a kangaroo. The biblical builder, Lighthouse Baptist Church, Rockham in Australia, December 2011. It's immoral and ungodly to condemn and criticize each other. Well, it can be. Depends on what your basis is, what your attitude is, and many other things. But see, just a blanket statement. Man, if I were the devil, I would want to promote this view. Because you can never protect yourself if you believe this nonsense. If you can't judge anything by the Word of God, you can't protect yourself. Go join the Mormons, folks. Scott Wendell. Valley Forge Baptist Temple, Ministry 127 blog. Now that's Paul Chapel's blog. June 13, 2011. Should I separate from fellow independent Baptists? No, let's start praying for our independent Baptist brethren. Nobody said we shouldn't be praying. See the smoke screen changing the subject? Rather than separating from them, just pray for them. Who knows, God may bless you now and reward you later for this wise decision. Well, I believe in prayer and I believe in a lot of other things, too. Because the Bible doesn't only talk about prayer, the Bible says, Reprove, Rebuke, Exhort. Doesn't it? The Bible says a lot of things. See, this is the opinion, this is the philosophy. Always has been, there's nothing new here. Most, I think this is why, most independent Baptist schools, to my knowledge, don't properly warn the students about, in fact, don't warn at all, hardly, about independent Baptist compromise. See, if there was ever a day. To stand up and say some things are wrong among independent badness, it would have to be today. And yet this very day. I don't buy it, folks, you're not selling that to me. Everybody knows that. This is not scriptural, folks, this is heresy. I'm not going to count on this heresy. I don't care how big the name is that preaches it. Paul stood up against Peter. They say, well, yeah, okay, you can do some reproving, but it's got to be private. Come to me privately. Well, there's many private issues. There's private issues and public issues. I have private issues with people off and on. You got to work them out privately. But when a man is preaching, like me, and influencing people, as the pastor said, all over the world through various means, then that's a public ministry. And I write something, I put it into print, now you might want to call and check and say, did you really mean to say that or something? But man, if it's there, it needs to be tested by the Word of God. And if it's wrong, God's people ought to say so, in the same forum where it's being preached, out there on the Internet, wherever it is. I don't see how that is unscriptural, what I'm saying here. But this is 180 degrees contrary to the independent Baptist philosophy that is so typical today. See, if you only allow public or private correction. You're a big influential man, influencing people literally all over the world, but you only allow private confrontation. Nothing can be done about what you're doing to help the people you're influencing. Nothing, because you're going to go to that person. These are dynamic men, folks. You're going to go to that person and you're going to talk to him. And you're going to be convinced in your mind that you don't need to say anything. Human relationships are powerful. Personal relationships. A man wrote to me recently. A man I really, really respect. And he, a preacher, has been in ministry for many years. And he said, I knew Jack Hiles personally. And I listened to thousands of his sermons. And all this personal experience. And I wrote to him and said, well, that's probably the problem. I didn't know him. I could just stand back and say, the man was nuts. Or whatever. You see? Sometimes it's good to know people and sometimes it's good not to know people. But nowhere does the Bible say that I have to personally know a man before I can test his ministry by the Word of God. It's a public ministry. The question is, is the Bible the sole authority? Is Christ the only Lord? Number four, the reason I believe that most independent badness are going to be emerging within twenty years is that most follow the crowd. Are you a crowd follower? Why are you here? Who are you following? The fear of man. Proverbs 29, 25, the fear of man bringeth a snare, but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe. John 19, 39, after this Joseph of Arimathea. of Arimathea being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews. Galatians 2.12, for before that certain came from James, he, Peter, did eat with the Gentiles. But when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. Peter feared the man. But it's an idolatrous to fear man more than God. This is serious business. We're talking about idolatry. But I'm convinced that most of the Adventist preachers follow a crowd. I'm talking about preachers. They don't think for themselves. They follow their associates in some fellowship or mission board or group. They follow their fellow graduates of some school. They follow some good old boys network or some group of conference speakers. They follow the fellow admirers of some influential preacher. That's what I believe. But this explains something to me why there's so much inconsistency and change. Why all the change? We're King James. Well, we're not King James. We're against Christian rock. Well, we use it now. We've got the arrest centers. We don't care about that anymore. What's happening? Well, I believe this goes a long way in explaining it, this follow the crowd deal. Instead of following Christ, the Bible, following man, the convictions are only as deep as the crowd allows. What danger for crowds? And when the mood changes, a change always begins with the mood, and it's hard to nail down. Changing mood. And when the mood changes in regard to various issues, the preacher in that crowd must change to get along. Just standards. Contemporary Christian music. Fifteen years ago, The vast majority of independent baptists plainly, boldly, clearly said contemporary Christian music is wrong. We're not going to do it. Fifteen years ago. That is not true today. See, now the biggest schools, independent baptist schools are using it. Why? Following the crowd. My friends, please don't follow the crowd. The crowd's never been right. The crowd wasn't right in Noah's day. If you are going to stand today for the truth, you're going to have to be willing to stand in a lonely place. You're going to have to! If you're a big crowd person, you might as well throw the towel in now. But God can give you courage. And it's exciting to stand for the truth. God likes that. He really does. The Spirit of Truth, four times the Spirit of God, is called Spirit of Truth! God is the God of Truth! God loves those in this dark, foolish world, compromised world that will stand up for His truth. He loves that. But you've got to be willing to stand alone if necessary. Number five, the reason I believe most independent Baptist churches will be emerging in 20 years is such widespread ignorance about important issues that we're facing. Hosea cried out, God Himself, through Hosea, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. I'm convinced that's true today among independent Baptist. There are thousands of independent Baptist churches, but what is the character? How solid is the foundation? How well grounded and properly taught are the people? Such widespread ignorance. about contemporary music. And you prepare materials for education, serious education materials that are even interesting to watch a little bit, full of pictures and stuff. You don't even have to read it. You can look at it on a video. And I tell you, there's such little interest. There's such little interest! I don't know about this church. I'm talking, I'm speaking very broadly tonight. Yeah, but there is such little interest. You set up a table of really serious Bible study materials, like I have. They are serious materials. And the interest is so, percentage-wise of a congregation is so small, I would bet even here, Percentage wise, a lot of people buy it, but percentage wise, I've always marveled. In fact, you know, one of the most difficult, the sorriest places to sell good, solid Bible materials and an independent Baptist preacher's fellowship. That's been my experience, Pastor Jeff. There's exceptions. I'm talking about my experience. Pastor Unger used to try to sell our materials at Southwide. That was probably pretty dumb. Bless his heart. He loves the materials. He's the one that put Way of Life into print. I was living at that time out in Washington, selling firewood for a living. I finished that encyclopedia. I didn't have any money. And Pastor Unger borrowed the money to put that encyclopedia into print. And I paid him back. He loves it. He tried to take the materials down to Southwyde and sell them to hundreds of preachers many years ago. No interest at all. I don't know what you'd have to sell. A funny book, I guess. Comic book. Romance novel, maybe. You think preachers read romance novels? I don't know what they read. I'm trying to figure it out. Get a market seat. Know what to carry on my table. Angelic visitations, I bet that will work. I met an angel. No, I didn't, but hey, nobody else did either, so. I went to heaven and saw many wonderful things. New Evangelicalism! You know, I bet the average Independent Baptist Church member can't even define New Evangelicalism. It's one of the most fundamental things to understand what's happening today that there is. Could you? Do you even know what evangelicalism is? Hey, there's tremendous books. They're pretty interesting, too, written on it. But you've got to put down your romance novel. The Southern Baptist Convention. Reformed theology. Reconstructionism. Charismaticism. Oh, man. Neo-Orthodoxy. Darwinianism. theistic evolution, contemplative mysticism. You say, contemplative mysticism? I don't need to know about that. You'd be surprised what you need to know. It's frustrating to me because I've tried to produce the materials on this and the interest is so pathetic. So pathetic among God's people. I know not everybody needs to be a scholar and not everybody needs to know everything. But we're talking about just learning enough to know what's happening in it and to help your family and help somebody. And if we turn the TV off and we would prioritize our time and if we'd have some kind of hunger for education and learning, it's exciting to learn stuff. We could we could be so much we could be so stronger, we could be so much stronger in our homes, so much stronger in our churches. It's so much stronger as preachers. If a preacher is not educated, if a preacher is not educated himself, if a preacher is not staying ahead of his people, he shouldn't be a preacher, as far as I'm concerned. No, he doesn't need to be a scholar. But to stay on these things, how can you protect the sheep from the wolves that are there if you don't know anything about these particular wolves? I'm talking about education. I'm talking about serious study. I remember a missionary, before I sold the library to this school, my personal library, 6,000 volumes or so. Well, it was down in Alabama, and a missionary went through the library, and the only comment he had was negative. about maybe I spend too much time with that. Are we all supposed to be ignorant, folks? I mean, is every preacher just supposed to be ignorant and do nothing but knock on doors? Man, I've been hugely involved in evangelism from the first day I was saved. I'm hugely involved in evangelism. Anywhere you go in my Christian life, every year you're going to find me involved I go out every week these days, 300 to 500 tracks, personally, every week there at the bus park. It's exciting. Those buses go off of those tracks out into the mountains. Yeah, I believe in evangelism. I believe it's a huge thing. It's a hugely important thing for any preacher to stay involved in evangelism. But are we all supposed to be just ignorant? Preacher wrote to me about that the other day. I constantly say, what are you saying about this? Well, that Brother Cloud, you know, he's got some good materials, but he doesn't know any soul in him. Are we all supposed to be ignorant? Number six. The reason I'm convinced I mean absolutely convinced that most churches are going to be emerging within 20 years in soft separatism. It's churches that believe in separatism, but it's ineffectual. The separatism that they have, it's just ineffectual. To protect the people from the spiritual dangers that we are facing today, folks, They profess to believe in separation, but actually they do many things that make separation ineffective, such as avoiding negativism. How in the world can you practice separation and avoid negativism? That's schizophrenia, folks. That's facing two ways at the same time. Separation is extremely negative. It's supposed to be. And avoid criticism. How can you practice separation and avoid all criticism? That's nuts. That's wrong. I like that word. That's wrong. It's wrong thinking. Avoiding personalities, preaching in generalities, not giving clear warnings about what is happening among independent Baptists. Refusing to separate from those who are headed in the wrong direction in order to cut off the limit of compromise for my personal life and family and for my church. Soft separatists. Let me explain this. Soft separatists are more concerned about the danger of fragmentation. More desirous of getting along with the brethren than about standing for the truth. I'm a slow learner. And this is a very influential man, folks. I'm a slow learner, but I finally realized that not all truth is of equal value. Let's decide who the enemies of the cross are and divide from them. Then let's decide who the friends of grace are and tolerate them. Now, there's your recipe for spiritual disaster. Show me the biblical authority for that one, folks. Oh, I know what it is. Prove some things. Clayton Reed who co-wrote a book with Paul Chappell called Church Still Works on his paper on the Internet, Ecclesiastical Separation. I noticed that title one day and read it. He said we should not separate over non-fundamentals. He said things like disagreeing on baptism, tongues, prophecy, election, association with the Southern Baptist Convention. Those should not be issues that we separate over. He said, we ought to join every willing, warm-hearted Christian in advancing our Lord's kingdom while it's day. He's 100% New Evangelical. That's 100% New Evangelical principle. Do you understand that? Do you? Well, Kevin Bauder, see, we go on and on. The self-separatism, the building the bridges, building the bridges out to these dangerous waters that lead to end-time apostasy, the One World Church. I learned many good things at Tennessee Temple in the 1970s that helped me to this very day that I'm very thankful for. But it was what I did not learn that was the problem. that largely resulted, I believe, in the downfall of that institution. The deacons themselves were not properly educated on issues. And that's why that they appointed a very weak man. Very quickly, the school and the church became Southern Baptists. The preacher preached Dr. Robertson's funeral with Southern Baptists. The man that wrote his official biography with Southern Baptists. I want to mention one more thing tonight. Well, I am convinced that most independent Baptists will be emerging within 20 years. How many of you think you'll be alive in 20 years? You know, just normal law of life. Most of you probably. But that's carelessness about music. I could have started and ended with this one, actually. I mean, any of the dramatic changes you see in independent matters today, you're going to find contemporary music in the midst of it. I don't know any exceptions. Messing around with this music. You see, there's been a great change in philosophy in the last few years about music. Great, but subtle. And the new prevailing philosophy is that music is a personal, local church matter rather than a biblical matter. That is what I'm seeing, and I get a lot of feedback. That's what I'm sensing and seeing in the big schools, among men, the biggest leaders even. It's a personal, local church matter rather than a biblical matter. A pastor wrote to me and said, As far as music is concerned, I see it as a local church issue, not a way of life issue. Now, if you're saying it's not a David Cloud issue, that's fine. But see, this is the way of life. It's a great change. It's dramatic, and it's going to have a lot of implications. It's change in thinking. You see, Contemporary Christian music, contemporary worship music, including the kind they're using at West Coast now, Pensacola, different places, even Bob Johnson, has transformational power. It's not just music. You can take somebody like the Marshall family, you know, a little bluegrassy stuff. People ask me about that. Well, what about that bluegrassy stuff? Well, you know, I don't know. I don't care. See, the bluegrassy stuff, personally, I don't like it much, but it's not going to turn an independent Baptist church into a raging evangelical church. It doesn't have that kind of power to it. It may do a jig or something, I don't know. But it doesn't have a transformational power to change the character of the whole church. It's a different thing. And then they say, well, yeah, but we use Luther's hymns and Protestant hymns. Yeah, but do you know one independent Baptist church that ever became Lutheran by singing Luther's hymns? No, seriously, we ought to think a little bit. And I don't believe in using any unscriptural hymn. There's hymns in the hymnbook you don't sing because they're not scriptural. But they don't have the kind of transformational power to change an old fashioned Bible believing church into a rock and roll emerging thing. But contemporary worship music does. It does. And it's intended to. And that's their objective. Nothing is building the one world church like contemporary worship music. Nothing. All of those people are one. You name them. I don't care. And I know their names. And you say, well, I don't know much about it. We've written a whole directory and given it away. I mean, this is 40 years of research, folks. Serious research. The Directory of Contemporary Worship Musicians to help preachers know who these people are, what they're doing, what they believe. And it's free. We give it away on the Internet. Don't make a dime. And I keep it updated constantly. A lot of work to give the information. But all of these people, all of these names in contemporary worship, you name it, they're all One World Church people. They're all tolerant of wrong at work. And most of them are hand-in-hand with wrong. Could there be more dangerous waters than the One World Church? Than the Pope himself? But that's what that music's all about. I've tried to give a warning as best I can. I think God's given me a certain level of understanding about it that's unique, of the power of that music and the character of it and why it does have transformational power. I think some of you have seen that video. But it's free. We put it for free online. I just wish that every independent Baptist family and church in the world would just listen to it. Just take the time to listen. Weigh it by the Word of God. I don't want anybody to just follow me. Listen, though, and weigh it by the Word of God. Transformational power! You've got schools, huge schools like West Coast out there. You know where I became concerned about West Coast? In Australia and the Philippines. Seeing their influence there. Is it a local church issue? No, it's not. Not when you're influencing people all over the world. It's not. They're using that music, and now they've got the backup. They're not going to change. They're not going to change. Won't even listen to the warning. My friend, I hope your spirit is different than that. We're living in some interesting times. Quick prism, biblical shallowness, unquestioning loyalty to man, following the crowd. Ignorance about important issues, soft separatism, lack of discipleship, carelessness about music. What is to keep our churches from going the same way as Highland Park, Southline Baptist Fellowship, Baptist Bible Fellowship International, General Association of Regular Baptists. They were pretty strong when I was a young Christian. They were more real separatists than a lot of independent Baptists, true independent Baptists were then. Totally rock and roll. You see, I believe in separation. I believe it's biblical. I believe it's an essential, a fundamental doctrine. Separation's not the gospel, but it's the divinely ordained wall of spiritual protection against apostasy and the world. Spiritual protection. Me and I like protection. I was at a big, the first time I ever went to a big ecumenical conference with prescredentials, 1987. I was talking to this Lutheran there. It was rock and roll. It was Catholics. There were 20,000 Roman Catholics there, speaking in tongues. One Catholic priest fell on the floor, shlain. I thought he was dead. I mean, he felt like an oak tree. He was a big guy. And I was talking to a Lutheran. And I said, man, how can you be comfortable in the midst of this apostasy? He said, oh, you need to lighten up. He's smiling. They always smile. They're the smilinest people. Just lighten up. You're so uptight spiritually. You know, and I thought to myself, a verse came to my mind. Be sober. For your adversary, the devil. As a roaring lion. Walketh about seeking whom he may devour. You better be careful. You better not lighten up. You better not follow that voice of Satan. Lighten up. Just lighten up. That's the voice of the devil today. God says be sober. Be vigilant. For your adversary, the devil, is a roaring lion, walking about, seeking whom he may devour. Would you stand with me tonight? I've gone long. The pastor said I could preach, and that was the message I wanted to preach. I thank the Lord for the opportunity. Folks, what do you need to do today? Where are you and your family going to be in 20 years? Where is this church going to be in 20 years? A lot of that's going to depend on each one of you. Pastor, would you come?