complete idolaters of sports, how sports has just absolutely consumed them. They are absolutely consumed with sports and with this age. It's unbelievable. But it's so true how people are captivated by it. But I want to give you a little bit of a history lesson here before we get into today, common day. But take your Bibles and turn to Romans chapter 13, please. Romans chapter 13. You know, if you're listening and paying attention to this, you'll be able to take this stuff out to the street with you when you deal with people one-on-one and you're talking, or even when you're preaching, Brother Paul, some of these things, you'll be able to deal with it, put it into perspective for some of these people that are born again, Christians even, some of them out there, that are totally given over to this mentality of sports and this sports mindset. And believe me, it has taken people away from God. It has stolen their hearts away from God. We're going to go through and look at some of these fans, fanatics. I think it's the one thing I don't struggle with. Amen. Brother Paul's like, I'm going to enjoy this sermon tonight because I don't struggle with it. So I'm going to enjoy it. It's going to be good tonight. Go home and feel good. When I announce it, people are like, he ain't picking on me tonight. It's gonna be good. Oh, don't worry. The Holy Ghost always seems to land one of those missiles to you. No matter what in the sermon, it always seems like he goes like this. It's not for me either, it's him that does it. But always, it has this heat-seeking missile, right? And it seeks, and it finds the target, and it nails, and God nails you with it, amen? That's how it works, that's how preaching works. You don't even have to be preaching on something that somebody has a problem with, but God'll, lead the preacher in a way that'll help you. All right, Romans chapter 13, verse number 11. And that knowing the time that it is high time to awake out of sleep. For now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent. The day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness. and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. Let's pray. Father, Lord, I pray you'd just bless this message. Help us, Lord. Give us what we need tonight, Lord, and help us to learn about this so we can help others with it. Help it to wake some people up out there, Lord, that are sleeping. They're in a slumber. They're hypnotized with some form of idolatry. Lord, they're saints. They're saved folks. And Lord, they're putting sports and other things before you that are causing them to neglect the things of God. Or maybe they're more of a fanatic, Lord, over sports than they are Jesus Christ and His Word. God, use us in our lives, I pray. Holy Ghost of God, Lord, please, Help us in Jesus name we pray, amen. I like this quote from a man named Juvenal in ancient Rome. He said this, already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the people have abdicated our duties. For the people who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, and legions, everything now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things, bread and circuses. He said he was lamenting the fact that the Roman Empire, which was before it was even an empire when it was actually a republic, more like a republic, that the Roman Empire had become nothing but bread and circuses. That the people had just sunk into this mindset. And we're not even going to really focus on the state agenda in that, because I believe there is one, by the way. It was in the Roman Empire. We'll touch that a little bit. But the real focus is on sports idolatry, the fact that it's not new. It's been around a very long time. It's part of the problem that killed the Roman Empire and its power. It turned the Roman Republic into an empire and then destroyed it. America went from a republic to an empire and will eventually be destroyed. It will be. You mark it down, friend. It's going to be. We have a nation that is completely hypnotized. Many of God's people in this nation are hypnotized too. You know, as we've preached outside of sporting events and parade events, I've realized just how much American Christians are given over to bread and circuses. What does that mean exactly? Well, idolatry is what really is, and we're gonna talk about that, but idolatry is excessive attachment or veneration for anything or that which borders on adoration. I like a few questions that a commentator said online. He said, how does your passion for your favorite team compare to your passion for God and sharing the gospel? If someone were to show a clip of you at a large sporting event next to a clip of you at church, which would we say you are more into? Is it easier for you to memorize batting averages or how much a linebacker can bench press than it is to memorize a measly line of scripture? How much time comparatively do you spend watching and reading about sports online compared to reading about and acting out your faith? Do you think that Jesus' teachings should be considered at all when it comes to competition in athletics? Wow. Something to think about, isn't it? Good questions. Well, what is this bread and circus term? You're going to have to bear with me. It's going to take me a little while to set up this history, so this part won't be as interesting as the last part. But I promise you, I will pound it out the last part, and it'll be hard, and you'll get it. But I've got to give you a background. I want you to understand, this is not a new thing. Everybody thinks that what goes on around here, like it's a new thing. No, it's not. If you study history at all, you will realize that everything that happens to every empire is happening to America right now. America is nothing more than bread and circuses today. That's what it is. It is a bread and circus mentality. What does that mean? Well, let me give you some history. The plebeians were average working citizens of Rome. Farmers, bakers, builders, and craftsmen who worked hard to support their family to pay their taxes. Sound familiar? Now, as I read this, you're going to... You know how your computer, when you get a notice or something, goes ding? Well, you're going to hear all these dings about the American country, about America, when I read this to you. Because you're going to be like, wow, that's happening. Wow, that's happening. Wow, that's happening right now. Wow, that's happening right now. Yeah, it is. It's almost like you would think that we're actually almost modeled after that in some ways. The Roman Empire. That would be weird, wouldn't it? Just a little bit. Okay. They worked hard to support their families and pay their taxes. Over the course of this period, early forms of public welfare were established by Titus and Trajan, and in the difficult times, the Plebeians could ask Roman administrators for help. For over 400 years, Rome was the world's greatest republic. And then in a matter of decades, it was gone, replaced by an empire. Instead of representative leaders elected by citizens, an emperor ruled with supreme executive power. Huh. Would that be like an executive order? Yeah, you hear that ding? Yeah, there you go. It went off, didn't it? What happened in between the two periods is a mess of political wrangling for power and influence. After Rome vanquished Carthage in Greece to consolidate power in the Mediterranean around 130 BC, she was threatened by internal unrest. Noble plebeians and patrician families allied to consolidate power in the Senate and to exclude all others. At the same time, large numbers of indebted farmers lost their land and flocked to Rome. Listen. They became a mob with the right to vote and little interest in politics. And ding. What do we have now? We have a lot of people that they own no land, right? They really have no interest in voting, but they have the power to vote. Do you understand how this can be? So what are they going to do? Well, you're going to read about it, and it's happening right now, too. They became a mob with the right to vote. The ground was laid for a class-based struggle for power and the collapse of the republic. Soon, conflict flared between the aristocracy, led by Sulla and Marius, leaders of the popular party. Sulla marched on Rome, bringing legionnaires into Rome for the first time. It was a turning point. From then on, Rome's republic was at the mercy of the leader with the strongest army. As these leaders vied for political control, they bought off public approval through welfare provisions of bread and occasionally wine, as well as huge gladiatorial competitions. Wait a minute, you mean they offered free food and welfare? Yeah, they offered them bread and circuses. What do most people do today? What do they care about most? What is really on their minds if you go talk to them? Sports, entertainment, and beer, and wine. Why does it go so hand in hand? You stand outside of a liquor store and you'll see where they go. And they're grabbing their six pack, their 24 pack, or their case, or whatever they got. And they're going to go home and they're going to watch a game. All the bars are full of people on Friday nights, on different nights. What are they doing? They're watching a game. They're stuck watching a game. Sir, where's their head at? Bread and circuses, bread and circuses, bread and circuses. It's not a new thing, friend. From then on, Rome's republic was at the mercy of the leader of the strongest army. The policy has since become known as bread and circuses. Despite the speeches of Cicero and others, over time, the people of Rome lost interest in governing themselves and were content to slip quietly into the roles as subjects of an emperor. What? That sounds familiar. The Emperor Augustus was well aware of the risk and was keen to keep the poorest plebeians happy enough and reasonably well fed so that they would not riot. He began the system of state bribery that the writer Juvenal described as bread and circuses. Free grain and controlled food prices meant that plebeians could not starve. Oh. Yeah. Controlled food prices? Rome in the first two centuries AD faced a yawning gulf between rich and poor. The mighty empire built on tribute reached its geographical limits. Its economy created few exportable goods. Oh. Slaves acquired by conquest built most of its bridges, roads, and aqueducts and took jobs in farming, mining, and construction. What, okay, what's this bill that's coming up right now? Or what is Obama and his executive and what is he trying to do? What is the Congress getting ready to do to bring millions of illegal immigrants into this country and flood this country? Roman Catholics, by the way. Because it was the Pope's plan long ago. It was the papacy's plan long ago. It's the New World Order plan. It's the Jesuit plan long ago to flood this country with Roman Catholics. Its economy created few exportable goods. Slaves, acquired by conquest, built most of its bridges. As this cheap labor replaced Roman citizens, idle, unemployed, hungry people filled the capital. The Caesars created make-work and part-time jobs, subsidized housing, and doled out grain. Well, that sounds familiar, doesn't it? What did we have here the last three years? When Obama took office, what did he do? He had all these makeshift jobs for people. Oh, we're going to build all these roads. So they just broke up a bunch of roads and started building them. That's what they did. What are they? They're makeshift. They're not real. It's not real work. It's phony, right? Slaves acquired by conquest. They did all that. Okay, the Caesars created those makeshift jobs. Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom. Pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters. Neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. Ezekiel 16, 49. What happened? Same thing in Sodom, right? They became proud. They became idle. They had nothing to do. So what did they have to do? What did the Caesars have to do? Well, we got to entertain these people. Do you realize, how much do you think of the American life is full today of entertainment? It's an obsession with entertainment. If I can keep people happy with bread and circuses and the things of survival, they will not try to succeed, but I'll be able to get away with whatever I want in America. Just keep their stomach full and them happy and entertained. As long as older people can get Medicare and food stamps or Social Security or anything else, and they can put a man on that, they'll be pacified and there'll be no uproar. But I promise you this, if you end that and you take away that, you'll cause the biggest uproar you've ever seen in your life. By the way, I understand when people have to go on Social Security and do that and they paid into it their whole life. I'm not picking on them. It's a dirty, rotten, wicked government that did it. So it's a wicked people. We were co-opted a long time ago. When the Federal Reserve moved in, all those other things, and FDR had the plan long ago to do that, because his little wicked Jesuit-led staff had it already taken care of. When the Federal Reserve came, all those other things were going to come in to compensate for that. That wasn't the people. They wouldn't have had a decision. They wouldn't have voted anyway. They were going to do it no matter what, because they wanted to steal the wealth of America. They wanted to steal poor people's money. Anyway, we're talking about sports, so I've got to keep going. So the government can go on and have their wars, and you can have abortions, and you can live in wickedness, and have all those things. Why? Because bread and circuses. Man, we want to know what the halftime show is this year. That's what's important. We don't care about, I mean, you do, I watch these guys do these man on the street interviews and they go off and they ask these people questions. They don't know anything about their government. They don't know anything about any of it. They don't know who the vice president is. They don't know who, and by the way, when you see that guy acting goofy on there and acting like he doesn't know what he's talking about, that is the biggest act in the whole world. Don't you ever get fooled and think that Joe Biden doesn't know what he's doing, and he's just some goofy, crazy uncle up there. He's not. He knows exactly what he's doing. It is a plan. It is planned out. He is a handler, and he's doing exactly what he's told to do. Don't ever kid yourself. Anyway, that was free. It didn't cost you anything. I do take tips though. All right, so basically, what do they do? They fed them with those ... Basically, ancient Rome was a society that completely revolved around war and where compassion was considered a vice rather than a virtue. Do you understand that today? Oh, what are you, some kind of a sissy because you don't want to do that? No, I don't want to see people get their brains blowed out. No, I don't really want to do that. I don't think it's a good idea. I don't have a good idea to go trample people on foreign soil and trample across people's countries and go kill them. Well, these people, they did 9-11, so we have to go over there. Well, who did it? Which people? Which country did that? Wait a minute. Iraq didn't have anything to do with that. In fact, there weren't even terrorists in Iraq before you entered it. See what I mean? But what do we have? Bread and circuses. Bread and circuses. That's what we have. We don't have men that think anymore. We just have bread and circuses. All right, anyway, the Romans saw a gladiatorial contest, not as a form of decadence, but as a cure for decadence. And decadence to the Romans had little to do with sexual behavior or lack of decent work ethic, but a lack of military style, honor, and soldierly virtues. To a Roman, compassion was a detestable vice, which was considered both decadent and feminine. So see, if you care about people and you love them, then you're feminine. If you don't want to kill your neighbor or you don't want to kill your brother, then there's something feminine about you. If you don't like watching people bash their brains in, then there's something wrong with you. If you don't like the UFC and watch people kill each other and beat each other half to death, then you're feminine, that's why. No, that's not feminine. That's called compassion. That's called loving your neighbor. That's not right to see. I used to love it, and I'll get to that in a little while. All right. Which was considered both decadent anyway. So watching people and animals slaughtered brutally in the arena was seen as a way to keep the civilian population from this weakness because they didn't see combat. So you weren't over in the war, right? So what do they bombard kids with? All their video games are what? About war, and blood, and big guns, and fighting, and killing, and slitting throats, and zombies, and blood, and murder, and guts. What do they show you on TV? Blood, and murder, and guts, and people shooting guns, and killing people, and destroying them. No, I'm not against guns. I own a bunch of them. I'm not against defense either. is you're not supposed to see that bloodshed. Why do you think they put all these grotesque videos on YouTube of people cutting each other's heads off and all that other stuff? That stuff has no business. God's people should not watch that. Don't watch those videos with that disgusting garbage in it. It's wicked. You're not supposed to see things like that. You're not supposed to put those images in your mind. They don't leave it. People that have been through war, they understand that. People have seen people die. They know what that does to your mind. They're not happy about it. The emperors added holidays until eventually the Romans spent half their days attending gladiator games, public executions, and chariot races. Does that, I mean, that's what we have now, isn't it? I mean, people spent, they added all these holidays and eventually, you know, everybody was spending their days. What do people do when they have holidays? What are they watching? And what else? What is like the biggest thing to do on these Thanksgiving, these other days? They watch sports and all the new movies are released on those days. Why? Bread and circuses. Let me tell you something, friend. God has called you to be sober minded, not to spend your days acting like a kid. He has called you to be sober minded, to stand up, and that's all nonsense and garbage. Who cares who wins a football game? Who cares? Really? Who cares? What are the eternal ramifications of some guy getting up? Nevermind, I'll get to it in a second. I'm going to stop, because I'm really going to hammer that in a minute. So I'm going to keep going. The emperors added holy days. They called them holy days, didn't they? The Romans did nothing. oh excuse me, disgusted the satirist juvenile accused his fellow citizens of selling out for bribes and bread and circuses. The Romans did nothing to prove him wrong until two centuries later the empire was divided forever and Rome was sacked. by the Visigoths. It was Juvenal that coined this system, a mechanism of influential power over the Roman mass, Panem en Circusensis. Literally, bread and circuses was the formula for the well-being of the population, and thus a political strategy. The formula offered a variety of pleasures, such as the distribution of food, public baths, gladiators, exotic animals, chariot races, sports competitions, and theater representation. It was an efficient instrument in the hands of the emperors to keep the population peaceful and at the same time giving them opportunity to voice themselves in these places of performance. You know what most poor people have? Take a guess. I mean poor. I mean like near welfare. You know what most poor people have? Cable television. Why? Because it keeps them busy. It keeps them busy, they're happy then, they're pacified then, and they will continue, and the Democrats or whoever else will pick them up in a van, bring them to the voting booth, and they say, hey, you're gonna keep giving us our bread and circuses, and I'm gonna keep voting for you. But it's not just a Democrat thing, it's Republican too, because all these Republicans are the same way. They're completely captivated by sporting events too. Obama phone, yeah, exactly. All right, here we go, this is gonna get interesting, okay, then we're gonna get to the preaching, and I mean, I'm just giving you the background. Before the construction of the relative buildings that functioned as the city's central administration, the forum area was the theater for the gladiator combat. These gatherings began at the rise of 122 BC. Huh, I wonder why. Who were they killing at that time? Mm-hmm. That's who they were killing, Christians. What are people being set up for now? What are they going to do when a beast and an antichrist shows up and calls for the public beheadings of people? And what are the people going to do with that? Bread and circuses! Bread and circuses! Hunger games, that's right. I was going to mention that. Same thing, hunger games. Same exact philosophy. What are they setting you up for? To watch people get slaughtered and have no impact, just like it's every day. It's like it's the same thing every day. All right. Reserved stands for respected spectators were constructed around the piazza or the square of the Roman Forum, excluding poor classes. What are those? What are those today? Box seats and what else? VIP box seating. And what else? Front row seats. Poor people can't afford those. We'll put the dignitaries up front. Celebrities. The organization of games, an occasion to climb up the ladder of the political popularity. This mechanism degenerating their performances so magnificent that they became folly. described as such by Livio. During his youth, Caesar was famous for the magnificent games he organized, as he had hundreds of gladiators fighting each other. His political opponents were worried about the ambitions of this new rival, but he still established a reputation as a generous friend of the public. Caesar organized these games by borrowing a lot of money that was in turn well invested into propaganda, earning him important positions in office. Consequently, these positions enabled him to pay back every cent that he had borrowed. With time, the public became more demanding and began organizing performances that were even more costly and magnificent. Octavian Augustus, Caesar's adopted son, Prince of Rome, organized extraordinary games where 10,000 men battled against 3,500 wild animals from Africa. Also in 107 AD, Trajan, on occasion of a victory against the Dacians, organized battles of over 10,000 gladiators that lasted 123 festival days. And in it, 11,000 wild animals were killed. This record was never to be exceeded since Trajan walked away from these battles with a sum of 10 million kilos of gold, 20 million kilos of silver, and 500,000 slaves. See the circuses? See the comparison? We have to keep the masses busy with Miley Cyrus performance. that are occultic at these sporting events by many others so they can keep their wicked agenda. The games were too violent, abusive, like the time when Caligula in AD 37 sent innocent people from the public to battle against the gladiators who were being killed off because the gladiators were being killed off too fast. The unfortunate thing was that their tongues were cut out so they couldn't yell for help. But think, now listen to me, the people cheered and they screamed and they hollered and they loved it. Do you understand they were seeing death? Now I want you to think about something. What are you watching on television? When you watch those movies that are showing the same thing, you're doing the same thing they are. And you're being set up, your mind is being prepared to accept that wickedness and that evil and it's going over and over in your mind. Why don't you get sober and get serious about life and grow up? Why don't you put away those childish things and stand up and be a man? The Colosseum or Flavian amphitheater was constructed in 70 AD in 10 years. That's an interesting year, isn't it? It was the largest and most magnificent monument dedicated to the games, with 50 meters on four floors, a diameter of 188 meters, constructed with 100,000 cubic meters of Travertine marble and 300 tons of iron, and a capacity with over 50,000 places to sit. Oh, that sounds about right. It sounds like the monstrosities that are built today on taxpayer money. I don't even watch stupid football. I don't watch it. Why do I have to pay for your stupid stadium? When you're a billionaire, pay for your own stadium. Take your billions or we're going to leave. Leave. Good. Go. Who wants here anyway? Bread and circuses. The Circus Maximus, the Circus Maximus, what a name, was the most grandiose building for public performances ever constructed. Adorned with statues and decorated with noble medals, this place was used for chariot races. 650 meters long by 125 meters wide, it initially had 150,000 places to sit. After the reconstruction that Trajan wanted between 100 and 104 AD, available seats expanded to 350,000. What? I know, but we've evolved. We're so much better than they were. Kidding me? You think you can construct that today? Many businesses and stores were located in the Circus Maximus. Really? The races that took place had precise rules that resulted in violence, much appreciated by the public. You had to be violent. You had to kill. You had to maim. You had to destroy. What do you think these football players like when they see these people running down the line? You got a 300-pound guy running after you, and they just, and they sack him, or they take him out, and their heads, and their necks are broke, and they run out in a stretcher. Everybody's excited to see that guy just Pounded and hammered down or how about a boxing event or a UFC event when somebody breaks their leg or or gets knocked out or gets injured or gets hurt you want to know one thing when I first started watching UFC and I trained in it and I did a lot of work with some of the I worked without with champions and everything else I know those guys I know some of the the the big founders back in the 90s that all those guys that ran around there I I ran around with a group of them and and let me tell you something You know why they had to change the rules No. And you know why they changed the rules? Because Hoist Gracie came in and he had a uniform on. Okay, and he would grab people and he would choke him out and he would arm bar him. But you know what Americans wanted? They wanted to see blood and beating and guts and they wanted to see people hurt. They wanted to see fists go. They didn't want to see technique of how to control somebody, how a 200 pound man could take somebody and choke them without hurting them and even a bruise on them, but could choke them out like nobody, like quick, or could put them in an arm bar so it didn't damage them. No, they wanted to see people's eyeballs bashed in. Americans had a desire, so what'd they do? They stripped all their clothes off and made everybody naked so only bruisers could get in there and box people. It's just the new boxing is all it is. And then the mob moved in and it controls it. Don't ever kid yourself. You think these things aren't fixed. You're nuts. Every single one of that, all that garbage is fixed. I didn't say they don't really fight, they don't really get hurt. I'm telling you, if they want somebody to go down, they're going down. That's just how it is. Why? Because it's worth, it's a billion dollar industry, that's why. And people are gonna go down if they're told to. Otherwise, they're gonna go out like Mike Tyson did. Think about that for a minute. Many businesses and stores were located. All the violence, that's what they wanted. There weren't only violent and cruel performances. The theater was one of the preferred places of the Romans, especially for those looking for a companion. Such was written in 2 BC by Ovid in the Art of Love, an audacious and somewhat obscene book about the tricks for finding a fiance or fleeing from a jealous husband. Oh, you mean it was like soap operas? Oh, I thought we invented soap operas. No, they've been around for a long time. The first ones were about Horus, Isis, and Osiris. Those were the first ones that were around. That was the first play ever told. That was the first thing that ever made. Guess what, friend? Nothing new under the sun. This evil's been going on a really long time. It's just that American Christians have just been so dumb, they fell for it. I was one of them, so I'm not gonna say I wasn't. I'm just trying to wake you up. See, God called me to be a voice, a loud voice, to scream really loud and holler and tell the truth. And I know it makes people mad, and I understand, because sometimes it makes me mad. But I'm just going to tell you something right now. I got to keep doing it. As long as God gives me breath in these lungs, by the grace of God, I've got to keep doing it. If I could back off, I can't. I can't even say it. And not by me, but by the grace of God, because I know what he's called me to. I know where I'd be if I gave in. In the second century BC, mimes performed in later were the first playwrights. Tragedies, panto mimes. and Kanzanet's songs. Therefore, much like today, the phenomena of stardom, critics, and scandals became part of life. All the same things without the cameras rolling and the TV, live in plays right in front of you. All the scandals, all the gossip, all the stuff, all the same, just no technology with it. Do you understand? It's not new. We have been duped and we have fell for it, but it's not new. Bread and circuses. Why is Hollywood and why are all these entertainments, football, sports, why is it all so big? It's so big because people want to be entertained and there's an element of evil mixed into it. It's there for a purpose because it's all being engineered. Now fast forward to the sports idolatry of today. Now we're going to get into some stuff. Try talking to Americans today in most churches about things of the Bible. You know how many people have told me that have called me on the phone or sent me emails or moved here that said, you know, we couldn't even talk about things in church. We couldn't even talk about Bible. If I went and hung out with people from church, they didn't talk about the Bible. They didn't want to hang out, first of all. They didn't want to fellowship together. They didn't want to be around each other. But they didn't want to talk about the Bible at all. They talk about sports. They'll talk about things in this life, but they don't want to talk about the Bible. David Cloud had some good information on his website about this. An extensive survey commissioned in 1983 found that seven in every 10 Americans watches, reads, or talks about sports every day. That was back in 1983. Now you can get sports on your phone. Now, let me tell you something. This sportscaster guy just died, some guy from ESPN. I don't know who he is either. But some guy, and I mean these people are all lamenting. I don't even know who the guy is. I mean, you know, I'm sad to say he probably died and went to hell. That's why I'd be weeping. You're weeping because you won't hear him on, dun-dun-dun, or ESPN or whatever. So that's why you're weeping and you're sorry. Come on, give me a break. Who cares? I mean, I care about a guy dying, but I'm not going to make a big deal about a guy and honor some guy that's probably a wicked devil in the first place. It's ridiculous. This shows you the worship of people that are on television. There's like this worship and idol and idol and adoration for them. This study, the most comprehensive ever undertaken in America, attachment to sports, found that almost 35 million people are ardent sports fans who watch sports events on television at least once a week and in some cases every day. That was back in 1983. It's funny though, listen to what Howard Cosell said. You guys remember Howard Cosell? All right, listen to this. There was not a single name on the list that was not an entertainer or sports figure. They had this World Almanac, Book of Facts in the 2000, they asked 2008 graders. And they all listed sports people as their heroes or whatever. Anyway, in 1982, the famous sports announcer Howard Cosell, while viewing the largest Sunday football game attendance in Texas history, said the Cowboys are more than a football team in Dallas. They are a religion. He exclaimed, look at the loyalty of these people. Look at the signs they've made. Truly, the Cowboys are a religion in Dallas. He was right. Professional football has become a religion all across America. On Sunday, December 27, 1987, 75,000 Denver Broncos fans battled blizzard conditions to reach Mile High Stadium by 2 p.m. kickoff. The airport was closed at 12.30 p.m. the Sunday. That Sunday and remained closed until 6 a.m. Monday. Thousands of people were stranded at the airport, but those extreme conditions did not stop the football mad crowd. Scores of people. You know, it's interesting. Listen to me. Scores of people write and call and say some of these same things that we've heard from the idolatry and the things that people are into and what this world is into. I mean, you can read it on websites everywhere talking about sports idolatry. But let me tell you something. You know what I find is funny? Brother Paul, we have some signs we hold up, don't we? What do we have people say to us? What's wrong with you? Why do you guys... Look at that sign! Why do you have that sign? What are you, some kind of fanatic? Yeah, I guess so, for Jesus Christ. But those same people will walk into a football game, put makeup all over their body, act like a bunch of weirdos, and scream, and holler, and yell for their team. But there's, you know what, I have a lot of Christian point, professing Christian's point fingers at us saying you're doing it wrong. But they go into that, they go into that football stadium or that baseball park and what do they do? They go scream and holler and stand next to people that are boozing it up and drinking beer and drunk and nasty and dirty and defiling right next to them and they don't care. Yeah, that's just it, isn't it? Isn't that something? Why don't you play sports at home with your kids? You can play baseball with your kids. You can play soccer with your kids, football. Why don't you do that? Why do you got to watch some guys do it? You know, I think it's funny, though, because these people will hold up signs and dress and wear certain clothes, all modeled after what? After their fans, after their favorite football team. Think about it. Well, let's look at the things that accompany sporting events and see if they're righteous and holy in the sight of God, or if they compromise us and hurt our conscience and bring sin into our life and needlessly fill our eyes and hearts with wickedness. That was a loaded statement right there, wasn't it? Number one, do pro sports pass the test of not purposely setting wicked things before mine eyes? Well, one needs only walk into a stadium and what do they have on and everything? By the way, boxing, what does boxing have? Let me ask you a question. Brother Paul, now you've probably done a little bit of boxing, right? A little bit of punching around and stuff like that. I did martial arts for 10 years. Never did I feel the need or see the need for a girl that is half naked to bring a scorecard in and that had anything to do with boxing. What does that have to do with boxing? What do cheerleaders on the side that are half naked have to, what does any of that have to do with boxing? And let me ask you another question. Would that be acceptable for you as a Christian? Would you like your daughter to be out there dressed like that with her pom poms and being half naked like that? Would you find that acceptable, dad, Christian dad out there that hears this? Is that acceptable for you, for your daughter to do that? Would you want men gawking at her and lusting after her as she stands there half naked? Would you want that? Would that be acceptable? No. Well, you're a hypocrite because you really don't care if your daughter does that because you're watching other men and you're gawking at the same women that are doing the same thing like that. And your daughter's watching you gawk at those girls. What do you think that tells her? Well, dad don't take that very seriously. I mean, that's no big deal. And if your daughter grows up and starts dressing a little risque like that, well, then you're going to, what are you going to say to her? Well, dad, I mean, you watched them, you watched them TV or you watched them at the game and they were dressed like that. I know. And I can hear it now. Pastor Cooley just doesn't want anybody to have any fun. Just don't want anybody having any fun. Well, I don't want men having fun at your daughter's expense, and I don't think you ought to be gawking at other men's daughters. I don't think you ought to be doing that. I don't think you ought to be supporting an industry that puts women out there like a piece of meat. Amen! Is that too raw? How about commercials? You ever see, I mean, Don't watch the Superbowl commercials. I'll tell you that. I was going to say, have you ever seen it? You should see, no, you shouldn't see it. They're rotten and wicked and disgusting and they make it as vile as they possibly can. They slip homosexuality in there. They split, they, they, they, they slip sensualism in there. They slip wickedness in there. Why? Because commercials work. Don't you know, America is full of fornication and wickedness. Hey, if commercials didn't work, do you think billionaires would be investing in them? If they didn't work, would billionaires be spending money on them? Commercials work. And they defile people. Isn't that Mercedes, somebody selling souls to the devil for a car. Isn't that great? That's wonderful. Then not to mention the prostitution and the wickedness that is sold on there with it. When I say prostitution, I mean the fact that if it ain't for sale, don't advertise it. Television does nothing but violate our conscience and set unclean and wicked things before our eyes. Commercial self-fornication. And you know it to be true. By the way, go back and listen to the sermon on mind control. If you don't understand that, how your mind is being set up when you watch those, your mind, some of the Hollywood satanic root series or Hollywood series, um, mind control, how your mind is being set up at the rate of clicks and everything. You're being set up to receive that information. Your critical thinking is shut off and you're not critically thinking. It's just dumping into your brain garbage that is going to bring up in images later into your mind. Don't believe it. Guy, don't lie to me. You'd have been saved out of a life of wickedness and watched pornography and everything else. Sometimes you'd just be sitting there and that image comes popping up into your brain. So don't lie to yourself and sure don't try to lie to me. And don't lie to God because it won't work. How about the actual games and the cheerleaders we talked about? They think it's Christ honoring for that. Would you find that behavior acceptable? How about the UFC and the WWE and all those? How could anyone watch such things with women parading themselves naked on screen? That WWE sells nothing but homosexuality, fornication, wickedness. They introduce every wicked thing into society you can imagine. Because they're paid to. They're doing it on purpose. They're being led by the antichrist spirit. They're being led by the devil. Take it from a guy who watched wrestling for a very long time. Watched it ever since I was five years old. Seen all of it. It is the male soap opera, believe me. It is the redneck trailer park male soap opera right there, okay? Some of you will get that. Some of you won't and that's probably a good thing. about the men being naked as well? Do you think it's Christ honoring for a lady to watch men fight each other with no clothes on, just in their little bitty underwear they're wearing in Speedos and Spandex? Do you think that's Christ honoring to do that? Do you think any lady ought to be seeing that? By the way, I don't know any guy you think you ought to be seeing that either. Really, I mean, I know it doesn't do anything for you, but I mean, really, it's kind of disgusting. When you start to think in biblical terms, I'm trying to get you to think in biblical terms. Go back and see and watch or listen to that sermon I did on the naked truth. See that sermon and go back and listen to it and soak in that scripture and understand it. You think that that's Christ honoring for ladies to see that? for men to see that even? By the way, don't you find it weird that all these people are fighting for a fake title that really doesn't exist? I'm talking about in anything. They make up a national title in any sport, and it has no relevance on life whatsoever. Only in a bubble of fake money that is thrown at these people. Is it right to revel in people bashing each other's brains out? You think about that. And I'm all for training, you know, train your kids to box or whatever, or self-defense and all that. There's nothing wrong with that. Keep out the mysticism and the martial art mysticism and all that. And you can do just the moves and everything and learn a lot of things. There's nothing evil about protecting yourself or anything like that, or being, knowing how to take care of yourself. But all that mystical garbage, all that other stuff is wicked. But let me ask you a question. Do you really think it's Christ-honoring to watch two men get up there for money to beat each other's brains in? Is that what the Apostle Paul was talking about? No, he's talking about beating his fist against the air. He didn't talk about, I went to the... Nowhere will you find the scriptures where Paul went to the Colosseum and watched people bash their brains out or kill people. Paul, if he went to the Colosseum, he probably would have been in there being killed. Actually, you've got the verse right here. Go ahead, brother. Right, he talks about fighting with beasts at Ephesus. That's right. So, I mean, if you think about that on those lines, I mean, it's foolish just to think that, well, Paul was for sports. Would Paul be for this sports idolatry? Grow up. Stop trying to use the Bible as an excuse for you to get away with something. That's ridiculous. I know it's hard, and I know people all get a lot of hate mail, probably, and a lot of people mad at me, but that's okay. Once you get right with God, you'll be happy. You really will be once you see that you can get sober and serious and start living life. Hey, your kids are growing up, right? Your kids are growing. They need to be trained to be men and ladies that honor Jesus Christ. Do you think you're going to be able to do that by being a sports fanatic out there? You know, I know Christian schools that have all these same sporting worldly events. I just listen to a preacher, an evangelist that travels around the world and tells stories half the time, and doesn't even preach the Bible. But anyway, people love it because he rhymes like a rapper. But, sorry, I can't help it. That stuff just annoys me. Anyway, but you don't know who I'm talking about. It's like, who's he talking about? I'm not telling you who I'm talking about. But anyway. The point is what the point is he tells stories about how he was in football and how the school had football and and how you know They were the teams were and they were manly and they were doing this and and they're they're bragging about it What does they have to do with Jesus Christ? You just don't want to why can't you why don't you find your pleasure in things of the Lord I Man, there's a war going on out there, friend. We need soldiers on the front line going out there and battling, and too many are sitting at home with the remote being entertained to death and lulled to sleep. A fake war, that's right. Is it godly to watch men do that, do you believe? Do you really believe it's godly to watch that? You think the apostle Paul would condone that? No, he watched his friends die from beasted emphasis. He watched people murdered. He lost his head by that same government that was playing what? Bread and circuses. Bread and circuses. By the way, how about all these men? Do you think these men aren't on steroids? Really? Listen, I, You might kid some people, but I hung out with a lot of shady people. I had somebody tell me the other day, well, you must be lying about that. You probably didn't hang out with any of these people. I was like, I wish it wasn't true. I wish I didn't. I wish I grew up and didn't hang out. But I'm going to tell you something right now. I ain't lying about it. I don't have to defend it, I'm just telling you, I ain't lying about it. I'm gonna tell you what, I know what young people do, and I know what steroids do, and I know how bodies look when they lift weights, and I know how bodies look when they lift weights on roids, and they're jacked up, and I know the difference in the two, okay? And I know the rage that goes along with it, and I know these athletes like, oh, what's his name? Yeah, he was a Canadian wrestler. The crippler, Chris Benoit, and he killed his wife and his child because he went into an absolute insane roid rage and he murdered them. And it's all over. How long do these people live? Half of them don't even see their fifties. Go get a list, go online and look at a list of wrestlers and people like that and athletes that have died and look at their age. Why did they die? Two things, steroids, cocaine, mixture, lethal cocktails, they mix up together and it pushes and it pumps their heart and it blows it out. Yeah, the ultimate warrior just died. There's another one that just died. Why? Because they try to make it back again and they try to do it. So they pump roids and cocaine in their body. Why? Because the roids, the roids gives them that strength and the cocaine. What it does is it keeps them up and live and active until it blows out their heart because it mixes together and they mix it with alcohol and they die in hotel rooms and women die in there. and their friends die on the road in a hotel room somewhere. Man, you're not gonna kid me. But all the while, these athletes and everybody's looking up, they're a bunch of, many of them are rapists, many of them are disgusting, adulterers, guys like Will Chamberlain that slept with hundreds and thousands of women, and people are cheering their names on in arenas everywhere, and God forbid, God's people are cheering them on. Oh yeah, the guy for the Patriots convicted of murder. There's so many of these cases. Why? And they're lifted up. Oh, well, not everybody's like that. The industry produces it. It is defiling and wicked. Pro sports has no integrity. I see people get more fired up about watching a man in yoga pants run down a field with a ball in his hand and a whole bunch of other men chasing him in yoga pants. 300 pound man in spandex and what I call yoga pants running around and you're getting excited over what? He's carrying a ball in his hand. Is that too literal? Grow up. Who cares? Oh, you're just married because you can't do it. No, really I'm not. I promise you I'm not. Number one, I ain't putting those on. All right? Never. That's good. That's right. Never. And number two, I don't want to see you wearing them either. Because man, I'm going to tell you something. If I saw you wearing those, I would get my belt out and start switching you. I'm going to tell you that right now. Because those belong as underclothing, not over, OK? But I see people get more fired up about that. 300-pound men in yoga pants chasing each other, and people going crazy, screaming and yelling, getting mad and fighting and arguing, wanting to kill refs and sending death threats to people and everything. Over what? Sports! Really? Over guys? I mean, I see people over... You should hear... It sounds like an epic battle. You should see them on Facebook talking. until the new the cowboys are good gold but they're good just just or you know it is that they sound like the debbie debbie up on my call code in an alternate warrior battling right you're going to tell you and i mean it's it's like it's a plan so i think one of my friends joshua johnson got on the phone with the person said that it goes How old are you, anyway? Grow up, will ya? Lookit, this is ridiculous!" And I just started laughing. It was funny. I liked his comment. I was like, that is hilarious. But it's true! Men! Men screaming at their television! But you sit them down in the pew at church when the preacher starts preaching, and they're quiet as a church mouse. Why? Because it's not what they love. What's in their heart is sports. What's in their heart is the carnal nature that has taken over, that carnality that has taken over. And that's what drives them, and that's what makes them happy. I've got to hurry up. I've only got a half an hour. I'm telling you, you guys have been sitting a long time. I'm going to get scared now. What do they get excited about? A man running with a ball. But hey, how about preaching? Why don't you go out? Hey, you know how loud you scream at your television? How loud? You know what? Well, me and Brother Paul would love for you all to come and scream and yell and holler the gospel of Jesus Christ out in the cold temperatures or out when they can, or even in the warm weather. We don't care. We'll wait for you to get here. Just get here when it's warm then, and come out and scream like you do at that television. Scream at that like you do about that little man in tights running down there and you're screaming at him while they're all slapping their behinds. You go ahead and do that, right? Why don't you do that? Why don't you come and scream at them like you're screaming at that man in tights running down the football field. Am I making somebody mad here? I have people online screaming right now. Shut up! Preacher! I'm kidding. Good. Over what? Bread and circuses, that's what it is. But how about you be out preaching with me and raise your voice and see these same men that scream at football players? You're scaring my children. I had a guy stand up that was an Iraqi vet that walked out of a pizza parlor downtown in Minneapolis. He came out and said, he's scaring people. He's scaring my customers. Wait, didn't you just come back from Iraq? I'm not sure you scared a lot of people over there. He's scaring, he's scaring them. I'm like, really? Well, of course he is, listen to what he's saying. It ought to scare you. But what do we have? We've got a bunch of men, it's all, listen, let me tell you something. Brother Paul, brother Nate, brother Ryan, all you guys here, and listen up street preachers, don't start believing their lies. Back when I was in sales and I was training, I had an old, that the managers used to tell me one thing, buyers are liars. Ask for the sale 10 times. Now we know we don't do that. We don't have any one, two, three, pray after me salesman tricks here. My point is, is that people are liars. They're lying to you. That's scaring my kid. They're lying to you. They're not scared. Their kid just watched something turn into a werewolf and eat somebody's face off and suck blood out of their body and laugh and smile and joke about it. They just went to the theater and watched people die, okay? They're not scared at what you're saying. They want to shut your mouth and get you to stop preaching. They're the same preacher that will stand up and scream. They're the same people that will stand up and scream at a football game. They'll scream at their kids. They'll scream at the ref, and families will get into fights. On YouTube, you watch families get fights over kids' games. Don't let them fool you. They are liars. Don't let them fool you. That's not very nice. No, that's just understanding the human nature, OK? That's all that is. I get a kick out of it. Let me put it another way for you. I've got to slip this in here, OK? You got Steven Anderson and his buddy Alex Jones, right? And he can take a megaphone and stand outside of the Federal Reserve, and he can scream with a megaphone outside the Federal Reserve, but he's against preachers going out preaching the gospel, doing the same thing out in front of sinners. Now, why is it that he's for that guy doing that, but he's against us preaching the gospel out there like that? Huh, I have to wonder about stuff like that, don't you? I don't see him standing up against Alex Jones and saying, we need to quit protesting the Federal Reserve. What a joke. Again, don't believe people's lies. Just preach the word like God told you to and stop listening to their lies. Amen. That's good advice. How about I give you another, how about riots? Let's talk about riots. Is it me or is it the dumbest thing in the world to riot over some guy running with a little ball? Seriously, you start townwide, citywide riots over a dude with a ball? but you won't even stand up for the truth and the righteousness of Jesus Christ or stand up for your civil rights. But you'll stand up, but hey, don't mess with that guy with the football now. We're gonna riot. It's just so foolish, but it's not new. Listen to this from 532 AD. in what is known to be one of the first forms of sports rioting, supporters of the chariot racing team, Greens. I'm sorry, it's so lame, isn't it? He hath a green one and he hath a blue one, so we're gonna fight about it. I'm sorry, it's just, it's just, it's like when you put a perspective, grow up, will ya? Come on. Get in the fight for Jesus Christ. Quit playing games out there. I know, I just done made everybody mad at me. Anyway, I'm gonna finish this. The Greens revolted against the Byzantine Empire's leader and supporter of the Greens' rival blues. Justinian, at least half of the empire's capital of Constantinople, now Istanbul, was burned by the rioters, and 30,000 people were killed. Over what? Over a race. Bread and circuses. Yeah, NASCAR, people run each other down. That one was for PJ. When I used to watch it, everybody used to wait for the accident. Everybody waits for the accident, right? They want the tragic. All right, the 2011 Vancouver Stanley Cup riot was a public disturbance that broke out in the downtown core of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. On Wednesday, June 15, 2011, the riots happened immediately after the conclusion of the Boston Bruins win over the Vancouver Canucks. in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, which won the Stanley Cup for Boston. At least 140 people were reported as injured during the incident, one critically, and at least four people were stabbed, nine police officers were injured, and 101 people were arrested that night. As of July 2013, police have recommended 1,204 criminal charges against 352 suspected rioters. Over a hockey game? over a game where you put a puck on ice and you skate like a bunch of glorified figure skaters in jerseys and you take your little stick and you, boo, and you're seriously on, you're like, you're like Disney on ice or something and you're out there and you're just, phew, and okay, I know they're tough, big deal, I know, they like to beat each other up and I question how smart it is to lose teeth and everything over a puck a little, little bitty puck just, and we're going to war and fight because we got to win the cop. You know, I'm going to get, you know, I'm going to get emails and people are going to say, you could have said that a lot nicer. No, I couldn't because to me it's just so ignorant. It's just, it's so bread and circuses. Our minds are just so captivated with garbage. And I was there too. I had somebody say to me, well, you were wrong about things too, so they're not that big of a deal, so you were just wrong. No, I repented. I came before people, I said, you know what, I was wrong about wicked Hollywood, and I watched that disgusting stuff, and there's no excuse for it. I didn't make any excuses. I repented towards God Almighty. I didn't sit there and take it easy on my sin. It's a bunch of garbage. People like that say that because they're still in it and they can't get out of it, because they won't give over to Jesus Christ and let Him do a work in their life. The riot began to take shape as the game came to a close at 7.45 p.m. with some spectators throwing bottles and other objects at the large screens in the viewing area. Boston Bruins flags and Canucks jerseys were set afire and soon some rioters overturned a vehicle in front of the main post office. According to one eyewitness, a group was heard chanting, Let's go riot! Let's go riot! As early as the first period of the game, we're among those responsible for being the first car. Fist fights broke out when people standing on porta-potties fell when others tipped the porta-potties over. That's not very nice. That's not funny. That's not nice. People began jumping on the car that had been first overturned and then it was set afire. With a crowd of onlookers chanting, burn the truck, a second vehicle in the same area was lit ablaze. Firemen were able to put it out, but the truck was again set afire after it was overturned in a nearby parking lot. Two Vancouver police squad cars were later also set on fire. In total, 17 cars were burned, including police cars. Windows were smashed in a bank and various businesses along with the West Georgia corridor, some of which were also looted. Looted riot police eventually managed to push the rioters away from Georgia on to Granville Street and Robinson Street where the rioters then caused further substantial damage, breaking the windows of several shops and looting. Some of the stores affected were future shops, Sears and Chapters bookstores. One man was sent to the hospital in critical condition after he attempted to jump from the Georgia Viaduct onto another platform and fell. Listen to the satanic frenzy that's here. Do you understand that? I know people are like, I can't listen to this. You're yelling too much. Yeah, I know, but I can't help it. It's just the way I am. Um, you, you see the satanic frenzy though, how these people that they're worked up so much, they're up in a spirit over it all. And it's like they're pushed and they're led. Why over what? Remember what this is all over, right? Remember some guy, has a funny looking golf club, he's on ice, and he's skating, and he goes, pew, and he's better at it, pew, and he's better at it than somebody else. Well, that's the reason to riot. Do you realize how much nonsense and foolishness this is? You know what I had somebody tell me one time? About 10 years ago, they said to me, You know, you better like sports. I said, Oh, yeah. He said, Yeah, because you'll never be able to relate to your people if you don't. So you have to be a big sporting fan. You have to get into sports and like it. Well, I want people to get right with God not to relate with me. Okay, I could care less if you relate to me from that standpoint if I have to compromise something for you to relate to me What we all should be relating to is Jesus Christ and crucified if my ministry is going to be built on sports and What a joke. Oh, you're gonna relate to those men. I'll relate to them. Get out there and preach on the street with me and go suffer through some things and suffer the reproach of your savior out there. That's how you can relate to me. We'll pray together. We'll weep together. We'll serve God together. Let's relate like that. We'll raise our families together. That's what we'll do. But I ain't gonna relate to some guy in tights running down the field with a pigskin in his hand and everybody act like a bunch of school girls. Uh-oh. Well, that was a little too much. Okay. They were showing a Broadway musical called Wicked. Hey, help. Seems to fit the time, doesn't it? But were trapped and remained inside the Queen Elizabeth Theater, which, oh, that's funny, which was situated in the riot zone. Transit authorities diverted or halted. Anyway, basically, these people went nuts, okay? And they continued to go nuts, and they went through everything and got nuts. But did you know that sports are the most common cause of riots in the United States? Sports. Not somebody raping somebody, not somebody murdering somebody, not somebody dying at the hands of wickedness or evil, not because police kill somebody or murder somebody, or not because of atrocities of the government. Sports. They riot because some guy can throw a round ball into a basket. Wow. And that's really not oversimplification. That's just the truth. Plain and simple, that's the facts of it. It's ridiculous. Sports accompanying more than half of all the championship games or series as riots do, by the way, almost all occur in the winning team's city. So experts believe that any riot would occur in Boston, not Vancouver. The riot is consistent with the past Stanley Cup riots in Canada. Anyway, yeah, a bunch of nuts. Let me ask you, I got to get moving here. How about the fact that most Christians know more about their favorite team than they do about the scriptures? How about they know more about stats than they do about everything else? Do you think that's godly that you could explain a football game? I don't even really know all the positions of football players. I don't really know them all. I don't know them. I never have because I never liked it. I thought it was kind of boring. but they can't explain the doctrines of the Bible. They can explain to you all the players of their favorite teams, and when they were recruited, and what school they came from, and what their batting average was, and all those other things, but what can't they explain? The Scriptures. They can't explain to you Bible doctrine. They couldn't sit down and have a discussion. They're not ready to give an answer to every man that asketh you the reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. They don't have that. They can't do that, but they can talk about sports. I know churches that suspend their services for the Super Bowl. Well, now they quit doing that and they just bring the big screen TV in and they just show it there. That's idolatry. That is wicked. Do they teach their children the statistics of the Bible or the truths of the Bible? No, but they sit down and they fellowship with their kids by watching sports. That's the way they fellowship. We're going to watch sports. What is the conversation of a sports fanatic? Are they more ready to strike up a conversation about sports than they are the words of God? Does the concentration and time spent on sports bring me closer to Jesus Christ? Does it cause me to know more of Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering? Does it help me become conformable unto His death? We need some men that are addicted to the ministry. We need some men that love their wives and love their children and are not too busy because of sports. Most of sports is nothing but pride. People are pretty much staring at talent and saying, my, look how good that is. It's also a corrupt system. How about the child trafficking that was going on in the college sports? Do you know that they didn't turn that coach in that was molesting those little boys? By the way, that is satanic to the core, that is Luciferian Illuminati garbage. Don't you ever kid yourself, those high-end people right there, they do that, they take the innocence, they have witches ceremonies, everything else off of all that garbage, they gain power. power through those. And that's exactly what they're doing. Okay. That's all connected to the, to the wickedness of this world. Child trafficking is connected right to Luciferianism. Don't you ever forget it. Luciferianism, the new age religion coming to a city near you. That's exactly what's going on. That's exactly what it is. Don't you be fooled by that. Why are they innocent little boys that they're doing? Because that's the whole game. That's what Lucifer does. That's the way the Illuminati works. That's the way that they do things. and they're rich and powerful, and a guy watched it, and he watched a coach do that, and did nothing to defend that boy. See, now if that was my kid, well, I'll leave it at that. I'll leave it at that. Right, any kid, exactly. Then, yeah, anyway. I would have to protect that child, so I would have to do I would have to immobilize the situation. I would have to deal with it very swiftly. I would fear for my life at that point. I would have to do something. How wicked is that? When you think it's an accident, no, it's called trafficking. How about the Super Bowl? The Super Bowl is when people try to dispute those, oh, it's not really high trafficking. I've seen all these reports of people trying to say, well, there's no proof into that. Really? Then why is everybody talking about it all the time? We know it's true. There are various reports of human trafficking. When the Lord comes back, do we wish to be about our father's business or in a snare? The Bible says, no man that warth and tangle himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. You know soldiers don't play games. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. When I became a man, I put away childish things. Amen. Amen. How many people are so hypnotized by sports as if they're children and they get more passionate and excited about that, but have no idea what's going on in their own country. They have no idea about the Bible or evangelism or the fact that they've compromised their standards that they preach and live. Thousands of pastors across the country have already compromised their preaching and compromised what they believe by indulging in sports. Well, you don't believe in girls dressing like that, do you? But you watch it. Think about it. They're already compromised, but go ahead, try to bring something holy out of the profane. But if you can't miss a game, you know, I'm not saying everybody's an idolater that they're hooked on it, but it's like, it's not everybody is like that. But I will say this, if you can't miss a game, but can easily miss church or preaching or fellowship with the saints, you definitely have a problem. Can we watch these things without compromise or defiling ourselves? Do we not seem to have a childlike fascination with these things? Is this not the old stories of the gladiators? What is this society turning into? Like I said, when I was a kid, I watched WWE. I watched all that stuff. You know what I've seen with it? I've seen people hitting these people with chairs in the head and just violence and fake blood or whatever it was. You've seen all these things. What do you think that does to the psyche of a person? It makes you violent. Those men unload all their passions that every man in their most carnal nature want to do. So you vicariously live through those characters that are doing all those wicked things. With the women parading around half nude, you are living inside of that world and you are thinking that's you and you are gaining pleasure. What does Romans 1 say? And they that revel in such things, Right, take pleasure in those things. It's wicked. We don't even watch those things because we're taking pleasure in wickedness and evil. The UFC is the same way. These sporting events are designed for you to vicariously live through these people, and they're a major distraction. I know people that are addicted to it. They'll spend like $100 a month or $50 a month on pay-per-view to watch every single one of those pay-per-views all the time, but half of them won't give a dime to the Lord or they'll complain about giving something to the Lord. How about the halftime shows? We're just about done with this. But the halftime shows lately, such godly names as, oh, I don't know, Tina Turner. This is going back 10 years. Christina Aguilera. Disney produces them. Oh, there's some wholesome for you. How about Janet Jackson? Anybody remember the Janet Jackson fiasco, right? Some of you ever watch it. Do you remember that? where she showed her body nude and they did it on purpose and they act like it was an accident. Yeah. Kid Rock, Nelly, Justin Timberlake, Black Eyed Peas, Usher, Slash. How about Madonna and her absolutely wicked Illuminati show that she did where she is showing you she's a Kabbalah high priestess and she's, I mean, she's just doing everything right. I mean, it's so open satanic. I hate Jesus Christ right there. And then how many people watched it? How many Christians, how many born again believers sat there and watched that show, watched her do that wickedness and mock the Lord and savior Jesus Christ. How about Beyonce? Open Luciferians, open Illuminati, open rebellers against God. How about Katy Perry? And all these people support it, just watch it and support it like it's okay. What does 1 John 2 say? Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. What is sports? Look at it. It's the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. That's what it is. Why? Because it's the biggest, strongest, best athlete. It's lifted up. Do you teach your children that? I hope not. I hope you teach them that they need to walk close to Jesus Christ. And that winning at all costs is not what God's people do. God's people follow a strict set of guidelines found in the Scriptures. and winning is obedience to Christ. That's what winning is in the Christian life. It is obeying the commands of God. It is not seeking to get ahead at any cost, like sports show you. For all that is in the world, and the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof. But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Let me ask you a question. Let me ask you a question. Would you rather be the guy screaming with the makeup on and the fanatic fan that's in there holding signs up? Or would you rather be the guy on the outside with me and the other men of God preaching on the outside, warning every man? Because I know churches that will bus loads of people into places that we're going to be preaching outside of. And we're going to see them there, by the way. We're not better than them, no. But they're going to be having activities where they bus people into pro-sporting events. I'm not saying they're wicked or they're rotten, evil people. I'm just saying they're going to bus them in and we're going to be on the outside calling men to repentance. And that drunken mess and fiasco is going to be going on on the inside. So which do you want to be, the one warning against sin or the one joining in it? The reveling in it with those around you. Hey, hey, guess what, friend? Lot didn't do no drinking either. The Bible doesn't say he did any drinking or he did any reveling either. But remember Lot's wife? Remember his daughters? Lot was just in the midst of it all. He just didn't take his strong stand against it. He lived righteous. He was a righteous man, the Bible says. He was a saved man. He lived right, but his wife and his daughters didn't. Why? You think it was because, oh, Lot didn't show the difference between the holy and the profane, didn't stand up and thunder out the truth in Sodom? No, I'm going to tell you what. If Lot would have been that street preacher, he should have been that evangelist that he should have been, they'd have kicked him right out of Sodom. There wouldn't have had to been two angels go get him. They'd have kicked him right out of Sodom. They'd have been delivering him right out the door. Ooh, you get out of Sodom. We don't want you here. What do they do to the preachers that preach outside? You get out of here, preacher. We don't want you here. But everybody on the inside, man, they love, man, everybody's all good. But you start talking about Jesus Christ, boy, they don't want you there. What's wrong? You're just trying to take everybody's fun. There's nothing evil about this. Just keep moving. You can't stand still. You know, people will paint their faces up and run around for autographs and follow these men for their talent. How about the drunken booze that goes along with it? Should we support such things? Have you ever seen people that get frenzied up over these things? They're fanatics. But you know what they tell me? Oh, preacher, you're taking it too far. Preacher, you're preaching it too loud. Oh, you're just drawing the line. You're just making it too narrow, preacher. No, I don't make it narrow enough. I'm guilty of not making it narrow enough. I need to make it more narrow. According to the scriptures, I need to follow it. More. I need to follow it more. Do you know what? We're the fanatics. Why? Because we have the signs. But then I look at the sporting fanatics and I think, you know what? We don't go far enough. Brethren, we don't go far enough. Look at what they'll do for their entertainment and for their idol. Let me ask you, the Bible says, my little children, keep yourselves from idols. Is sports idolatry? Are you stuck in idolatry? Do you know more about sporting events and everything else? You know, I get a lot of people, they will stand there and they will, on Facebook and everywhere else, and they'll advertise sporting events, sporting events, politics, politics, sporting, politics, politics, sporting. But you get a man that stands up and says, you know what? That garbage ain't from Christ right there. You know what they'll do? They'll war against you. You don't believe Alice Cooper saved? Well, you're just a terrible guy. But I'm looking at all the fruit of what you're producing, and I'm thinking, I'd rather stand where I am by God's grace than stand on the side you are, right in the middle, where the world agrees with you. Because you're right, friend, about one thing. He's a Christian to some people, and it's called the world. It's called Hollywood Christianity. It's called movie star Christianity. Or guess what? We just have to say we're one. We don't have to be one. Father, thank you, Lord. Thank you for your words. Lord, I pray some men see the earnestness of this message and the seriousness of it. I pray they get right with God about this. Help us all, Lord, to put down and cast down idols. You gave that instruction to the people of God. You said, my little children, keep yourselves from idols. That's to the children of God. We're to war against idols. We're to break down every idol in our life. Dear God, help us do that. We're all guilty of rearing up things in our life that are wrong in our minds and our hearts. Help us to repent of them. Help us to break in them and smash them down to the ground. And just like they did in the Bible, break them and dump them into the brook of Kidron. Lord, help us to do that in our own lives. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.