Third session of the call. Bear with me, I'm a Nephite at teaching, so please pray for me. Let's also open in a word of prayer, shall we? Our Father and our God, we ask that you might bless this time as we look into these things. We pray that we may glorify the Lord Jesus Christ in your word. We also pray that you instruct us in the ways that others have fallen into, and may we have compassion and love for these people. Father, we pray that your will be done today. We also pray that your will be done as far as outreach goes, Lord, to not only the cults, but others who are lost in darkness. May Jesus Christ be glorified today, we ask in his precious name. Amen. We have a couple of handouts here. One before and one after. And I would say that as I dug into the topic of Jehovah's Witnesses that we'll be covering today, there's a tremendous amount of material, and it was deliberate to leave some things out. It's just by necessity, I wanted to get everything into one page, and as it is, we have a two-sided page. I could have easily built six pages, so you probably will be thinking of things that aren't covered in this, but please be free to bring them up. I'm going to just go through, starting at the top, very, very rapidly, a very brief history of the Joe Witnesses. It was established by Charles Taze Russell in the 1870s. He started with the Seventh-day Adventists, and when he discovered or understood the idea of eternal punishment, he decided to leave that group and started his own. That had been an attraction to him as well. I believe that that group taught that. There was that people would be annihilated and he was attracted to that group, but then he left and started his own thing, which became the Jehovah Witnesses later. His first publication, Herald of the Morning, later on other things, it morphed into what's now Awake, when you have the Jehovah Witnesses knocking on your door, they're handing out their little publication, I believe it's called Awake, as mentioned here. rejected hell, the idea of the eternal torment, and later also rejected the Trinity and the immortality of the soul. A fellow named Judge Rutherford picked up the teachings after that organization split in 1916. Russell had been involved in a number of lawsuits with a very zealous Baptist minister, if my memory serves me correctly, and I believe he was in the New York area. He was proven multiple times to be a perjurer. I thought that was outside the purview of this study this morning, but you can look it up if you like. Walter Martin's book on the Kingdom of the Cult has a very detailed aspect on that. Gosh, it goes on for pages and pages, and I didn't think there was a way to include that today. The name Jehovah Witness was picked up in Columbus, Ohio by Rutherford to separate his group, Jehovah Witnesses, from the original followers of Russell, which shrunk and at this point is irrelevant because Russell and Rutherford are basically following the same teachings. The Jehovah Witness organization, as typical cult, condemns any dissension, criticism or doubt on the part of its members and their headquarters are quite large and they are in Brooklyn, New York. At this point, what we'd like to do is have some interaction. I'm going to pose these doctrines of the Jehovah's Witnesses not as questions to you, but as statements, and I would like some interaction from the Scriptures. And if you'd like to cite a chapter or verse, that's good. Otherwise, we'll just go with the doctrines. But I'm going to throw out a number of these things that the Jehovah's Witnesses teach their people. The first one, Jehovah, is the only proper name for God. He should not be addressed in any other way. Is this biblical? I am who I am. I ain't stoppin'. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Certainly any name is one. Sure. Yeah, there's many names. Yeah, many names. God that is with us. his wife, Jehovah Jireh. How about Jesus, the name of which every knee shall bow? Father. That's probably why they don't want another name. They don't want to create a new God. No. Well, here's another aspect of the same thing. The proper use of God's correct name, according to them, Jehovah, is essential to salvation. In other words, when you pray, you have to use the name Jehovah, God. Is this biblical? See Charlie back there. If A, then B. That's right. The Holy Spirit. The word Trinity isn't in the Bible, so the doctrine can't be true. Is that doctrine true? Right? Well, they do, but they don't believe in a Trinity. It's interesting that, and I'm cheating because I studied a little bit on the background of the cults, but the Jehovah's Witnesses claim that this is where Constantine brought Roman polytheism into the church and the whole concept of the Trinity they blame on Constantine because of this idea of the Sun God and all these other gods but in actuality the Trinity started showing up in the writings of the Church Fathers in the early 2nd century well before Constantine and there's obviously evidence of it as well even as early as Genesis let us make man in our image etc. Are we recording? In Exodus, the angel of God appears in the burning bush and speaks with the authority of God. You can't say definitively that that's Christ in the burning bush, but certainly Certainly a lot of good arguments in that favor. Yes, and I'm trying to think of what that word was for a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. Well, a theophany would be a visible visitation of God, generally. A Christophany would be a visitation of Christ, particularly the second person in the Trinity. So, there's no doubt that Bernie Bush is a theophany. The only question is, is it a Christophany or not? So, if you want to use the nice theologian terms that makes us sound a lot smarter, we can say that. As Al just mentioned, they believe the Trinity is a pagan doctrine, and one of the arguments is that there can't be three gods in one god, or three gods in one person. How would a good Trinitarian come to that? What do we believe as Christians? One passage that comes to my mind is where Jesus is talking to his disciples, and he says, show me the Father, and he says, don't you know me? Well, that's pretty straightforward. He's clearly the Son of God, but he's also saying, you know the Father, because you know me. I don't pretend to understand how you can have three in one, but just because I can't understand it, doesn't mean it's not so. There were some teachings in the second century called modalism. I don't know if he came upon that. Or the idea was that it was one God, but he existed in the form of the Father, then he existed in the form of the Son, and then he existed in the form of the Holy Spirit, but not all three existing in one. Which, you know, you can find many, many texts in the scriptures that talk about let us go down and create, or where Jesus talks about it's good that I go because the Holy Spirit can come. But there's only a couple of texts. There's one in Hebrews, and I can't quite place it in my mind, where all three are in the same verse, but that all three existed at the same time. Jesus obviously prayed. to the Father when he was on the earth, so this idea of modalism is false. Right, and I think there's a Pentecostal sect I think that still believes that, and I don't recall which one it is. Which, by the way, one of the appealing metaphors is really modalism. Water, ice, steam analogy for the Holy Spirit, to try to understand it, actually describing modalism. throw that out there, be aware of that. That's not that doesn't quite grab it. So that's a nice illustration, but it's just wrong. It's just wrong. You know, I you know, you hear it in part of the appeal of it is just because you're trying to explain something that is just really unique. You know, that's why over the years Christians made up a word, Trinity, that was a made up word, tribe meaning one, unity meaning one, so we get three, one, so this is a three, one God. Let's look at Matthew 28, 19, there's a passage in the New Testament that tells us, if somebody could read that, and could somebody else take 2 Corinthians 13, verse 14 for me? Matthew 28, 19 and 2 Corinthians 13, 14. Does someone have the Matthew passage? Judy, do you have that? Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Thank you. There's clear reference to the Trinity in the Gospel of Matthew. Does someone else have a 2 Corinthians passage? 2 Corinthians 13 verse 14. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Another teaching from the New Testament. A blessing in the name of the Trinity. Let's see. By the way, The Jehovah Witnesses also believe that the Holy Spirit is not a person, but an impersonal force, and that's not necessarily unique. Where I really wanted to land was on the person and work of Christ, so I have a lot more for that. As I say, there are many things I wanted to bring up and couldn't, but I thought the work of Christ was important enough that we have quite a few here. one of their teachings. Christ was the firstborn of all creation and created billions of years ago. Is this biblical? Yes. Christ always existed. Can someone look up Colossians 1 verses 15 and 16? Colossians 1, 15 and 16. This is speaking of the person of Christ. He is speaking of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, who died and rose again to be created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, with a throne for dominion, for rulers, for authorities, all things. were created through him and for him. Good. And also John 1-1. Yes. They like to twist that passage, and so I've stayed away from that temporarily, at least for today. Their shabby translation says the word was Agod. And they have done that in a number of areas. They've inserted the name Jehovah into a number of passages in the New Testament as well. But I just say that's out of the preview of our study this morning. So anyway, the second bullet point, through this created angel become Jesus, all things were created. So they believe that Michael, the archangel, he was created as the... I'm sorry, did I skip one? I did, I'm sorry. That Christ Jesus was originally created as the archangel Michael. Is this difficult? Do you know the verse? I don't remember. Do you know at least part of the passage maybe? That's the one. Charlie? So I have heard so many times in the diverse manners and kinds of paths spoken to the Fathers by the Prophets, having these last days spoken unto us by the Son of God, Whom we have created, the Heir of all things, by Whom also we made the world, and who gives us the brightness of His glory and the expressed image of His person, and who upholds all things by the word of His power. And it goes on, talking about the importance of this business, doesn't it? I think so, yeah. Right, right. So they teach that this created being the Archangel Michael, when he came to earth became the Christ, and then created all things. So Jesus in their theology is a mighty God, but not God Almighty like Jehovah is. It's just biblical. A mighty God, notice the way it's spelled. The third bullet point down, Jesus is a mighty God, but not God Almighty like Jehovah is. Could someone look up for me Isaiah 9, 6? And someone else, Isaiah 43? And then the last one would be Isaiah 45, 5. Okay, and did someone have Isaiah 9-6? Katie, you want to get Isaiah 9-6 for us? Isaiah 9-what? 9-6. And then someone else, Isaiah 45-5? I got that. Okay. Hang on a second, let me just get there too. I'm at a point of needing, I think not tripopals, but what would the word be for quadpopals? Transitions. I need an eye transplant. Too much looking at things. Okay, Isaiah 96. Am I doing that right? Yes, please. I'm sorry. For to us the child is born, to us the son is given, and the government shall be upon his children, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Good. Notice that part there at the end of the sixth verse, Mighty God in capitals, Everlasting Father. Isaiah 43? Which verse? I'm sorry, I said that a little too fast. Isaiah chapter 40 verse 3. 40 verse 3? Ah, okay, because I found a great verse in Isaiah 43. Go ahead. You can share that too, we don't mind. It doesn't have to be limited to what I dug out. Isaiah 40 and verse 3. A voice is calling. Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness. Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. Speaking of Christ. In Isaiah 43 verse 10, you are my witnesses declares the Lord and my servants whom I have chosen in order that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me there was no God formed and there will be none after me. So this idea of Jesus becoming God, there was no God formed before me and there's no God formed after me. So this idea of the evolution of man to angel to God, and it's also going to apply to another cult that we'll study in the near future. It's just, it's not biblical. By the way, too, an interesting verse as well, just after that, verse 11, I, even I am the Lord, and apart from me there is no Savior. So we have Christ Jesus, our Savior, as we all know, but here's God saying, apart from me, there's no Savior in the Old Testament. So this idea of identity, you know, it's all throughout the Gospel of John, particularly the Gospel of John chapter 5, the identity that Christ and God are equal. Steve? Isaiah 45.5, I am the Lord and there is no other besides me. There is no God. I have put you, though you do not know me. No other God besides me. So there you get the oneness of God, right? Another one of their doctrines is that Jesus is a lesser God than Jehovah, for he said the Father is greater than I. They pull that out of context. Did the Saints have any response to that? What reference is that? Let's see here. It's the fourth bullet point down, but we have a scripture reference as well. That's Philippians 2, chapter 2, verses 6 through 11. I was wondering what they're citing. I know it's a familiar author's grade, isn't it? Yeah, I'm going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I believe. Isn't that from John? Well, I think that what you have in the revelation of Jesus, in the person of Jesus the Christ, is God in a state of humiliation. And what happens is if your only experience with Christ is the 33 year period that he lived on this earth as a man, he was in fact subject to the authority of God the Father because he was the perfect man in subject to God the Father so this is called his humiliation and Philippians chapter 2 text says he thought it not robbery a thing to be or a thing to be held onto that he was equal to God but became man emptying himself became a servant emptying himself of all deity and that's another area for opportunity, for error, the big bang. The kenosis theory, where he wasn't really God when he was man. So we get these bookends in scripture that help guide us on these various ways of falling off the road. Good way of putting it. As we read before, Colossians 1 verse 16, perhaps someone can read that again as a response to some of these things. Colossians 1 verse 16. I'll read it, because I have it right here. For by Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers, rulers or authorities, all things were created by Him for Him. So He is indeed the Almighty God. Because Jesus didn't know the day or the hour of His second coming, He could not be God in the same sense as the Father Jehovah God was. Is this biblical? Now, I would mention at this point in the discussion that the cults are experts at twisting scripture, throwing surprises out, or shifting meanings. It's subtle. It's a subtlety. And so, this one's a little more subtle than some of the other ones. Well, he said he didn't know. Yeah, times are not for you to know and I don't know, only the Father knows. Right, but I mean, again, there's an important interpretation principle that Scripture interprets Scripture. So that you don't take one sense of a thing and pit it against another thing in Scripture. You have to have them all together. So that would be an example that here is that there's a sense in which there's a distinctness between the Father and the Son. That the Father could possibly know something that in some way the Son doesn't know. But there's also that unity that they're all on the same planet and completely the same. That just, I mean, that bothers me. illogically understand incarnate God in Christ. It's impossible. So that's a good starting point. Because in Hebrews chapter 5, where he talks about how he learned obedience through the things that he suffered. So there is a sense in which Jesus was laying in the manger as an infant. He wasn't articulate. He was a real man. He didn't come out of the womb saying, let me tell you about Isaiah 53. He grew up as a human being and as such his brain developed. Yeah, so it's just a healthy dose of mystery there. But what you can do is then say, I get this one little thing that's confusing to me, therefore I can't get across this other theory to you. Yeah, that's a good point, basically. There are profound mysteries in scripture, and woe to us if we think we can figure everything out. I don't think it's intended to be that way. Let's look at a couple of scriptures in response to this doctrine of the JWs. Matthew 17, Luke 5, verses 4-6. Lucy, can you read for us John 2.25 and someone else take Matthew 17.27. We'll start with Matthew 17, verse 27. I've got that. Not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself. Here is Christ the man on earth in a sea full of fish. Go catch the first one you get and take that coin out of its mouth. Christ had certainly had some unusual knowledge, did he not? Luke 5 verses 4-6 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, Put down into the deep water, and let down your nets for a catch. And Simon answered, Master, we have worked hard all night, taught nothing. But at your bidding, I will let down the nets. And when they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break. He knew where to find the fish. The fisherman didn't. That's divine knowledge, is it not? John 2, 25. Let's see. Nope. He did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man. That's speaking of the Son of God. That reminds me of the other references where he knew what was in their hearts even though they hadn't spoken. Or was the fellow he saw under the tree? Following Jesus's crucifixion, this is another JW doctrine, he was raised an invisible spirit creature. Following his crucifixion, Jesus was raised an invisible spirit creature. Is this biblical? We have the Doubting Thomas passage where Jesus tells Thomas, it's okay, go ahead and touch me. Put your hand in the hole in my hand. And also, we sat down and had fish. Which ones do we have? I see some intentional, yeah. I wonder how one of the invisible creatures could sit down and have fish. He's so married after claiming him. Right, he's not yet. He's gone to the Father. Luke 24, 38-42, Luke 24, let's see here, I'll read this one. And he says to him, why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your eyes? See my hands and my feet, there is I myself. Touch me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, if you see that I have. And when he had said this, he showed me the Samson's feet. And while they filled the grave for joy and remodeling, he said to them, have you anything here to eat? They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate for them. OK. true evidence of a resurrected body, Christ the firstfruits of all who believe, and one day we will all be like Christ, with resurrected bodies to live forever with Him. This was again just a build on the era of Gnosticism. This is where people have taught repeatedly, not just the JWs, but others. that the body is evil and that the risen Lord is just the spirit. There's a sense of that, I think, even now in our society, right at this point in history, in our culture, isn't that true? Well, in that very instance, they have, who first walked through the walls, or just came through, so maybe they're just blinded and they see the spiritual path as not the bodily path, you know? When you eat the fish. Well, obviously the resurrected body apparently is not confined to the things that our earthly bodies, which are fallen, are confined to. John 20, verses 24-28. John Milliken, would you like to read that for us? Verses 24-28. John 20, 24-28. John 12 was one of the 12 called the twins. It was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, we have seen the Lord, but he said to them, unless I see his hand and put it under the back of the males and place my finger into the back of the males, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe. Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. While the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you. Then he said to Thomas, Put your finger here and see my hands, and put your hand and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe. Good. Thank you. That's great, isn't it? The last point for today in the person with Christ would be the last bullet point. Christ's second coming was invisible and spiritual and took place in 1914, according to the Jehovah's Witnesses. He has been ruling since then through the Watchtower Society. Is this biblical? Certainly not. Scriptures say that a prophet is not a true prophet if it doesn't come true. Well, we'll cover that in a little while here. It does speak authority to authority, doesn't it? It does. In fact, all these things do. If it's not biblical, then on what grounds do you make these claims? Speaking of Christ's second coming, from Matthew 24 verse 30, At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. and one more in the same theme. In the Old Testament, the book of Daniel, verse 13 in chapter 7, In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like the Son of Man, coming in the clouds of heaven. He approached the ancients of days and was led into his presence. Coming in the clouds of heaven. That's our God, Christ. Every eye will see. In this day and age, you can believe it now. But before, none of us. How would you know where the cloud was? But now, everybody will see it on satellite. You'll see. We'll all see it. If we can do it, you've got to figure, if we can do it on satellite, God can do it any way He pleases. We'll all be focused on the same cloud. Considering what Charlie just brought up, we're down to the next section now. Some Jehovah's Witnesses false prophecies concerning end times. The Watchtower Society predicted that Christ would come back in 1874. And by the way, I've also found some conflicting verse that says, or I shouldn't say verse, but information that said that they believe he began ruling invisibly in 1874. So I did want to throw that out there as two things. Your book said one thing that my references said another. We're going back a little way. So I want you to know that. It's one of those two. Either way. And they contradict each other. The Watchtower predicted that in 1914 the end would come, human government would be overthrown, and the kingdom of God would be established on earth. Then they predicted 1915 for the same thing, then 1918. It's interesting now that the claim is that in 1914 he did show up and just none of us knew it. On the top of your back half of your sheet, the Watchtower Society predicted that in 1925 select Old Testament saints would rise from the dead and come to live in San Diego. We moved to San Diego in 2000, we couldn't find any of them. The Watchtower predicted that in 1975, human history would end and a thousand year reign of Christ would begin. What would be your assessment of these prophecies? False, false, false. What does God think of the false prophet? Not much. Could somebody take Deuteronomy 18 verses 21 and 22, and there we will get a little bit of what the mind of God is towards the mouth of the false prophet. You may say to yourselves, how can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord? If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message that the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him. Their own literature understands all these false prophecies and tries to soft pedal it. And frankly speaking, not cults, but some Christians have given a number of false prophecies as well, and that also haven't come to pass. What was God's standard, though, for prophecy? Perfection. Yes, and what would happen if you prophesied wrongly? You had a bad day. A very bad day. You perhaps woke up with a pile of stones over your body. How is one saved in the Jehovah Witness organization? That's our next topic. Salvation depends on works. Grace, the grace of God, is just considered an opportunity to earn salvation. by total obedience to the Watchtower Society. Some of their doctrines for obedience would be the things listed below here at the bottom. Jehovah Witnesses must belong to, be loyal to, and serve God's one true organization, being the Watchtower Society. They must work toward perfection in this life and throughout the thousand-year reign of Christ. However, at any time they may fail and risk annihilation. And just for the record, annihilation would be their belief that when a person dies without being saved, they are destroyed by God and disappear. And frankly speaking, some Christians believe that as well. But that's their teaching. So, does that sound like the grace of God to anyone here? You work, work, work. Maybe you'll get in, maybe you won't. You work for a thousand years after that. Gee, I might screw up in the 999th year and be destroyed and cease to exist. Does that sound like the grace of God to us? What is the teaching of the grace of God? There is forgiveness would be that thou mayest be feared. How many sins and blasphemies will be forgiven then? And when you finish that, you can start all over again. The Watchtower teaches that only 144,000 Jehovah's Witnesses go to Heaven, and that those Witnesses are born again. All the others will live in a paradise on earth, but they will never see Christ, nor will they see God. Is this biblical? You know, it strikes me though, and probably dipping into your next week's talk, but when you consider this, if you buy into this, certainly on a human level, you're going to be much more motivated to be obedient. And in fact, that is the accusation of the throne of Paul, the Apostle Paul, and Saint throughout church history, when they grab hold of the genuine gospel is, that's going to lead to disobedience. Well, you're forgiven at everything, then on what possible motivation do I have to be Christ-like? What shall we come on sinning so that the grace of God may be shown abroad? Exactly right. Come on in. Come on in. I'm finishing up the Sunday school class. Right, the grace of God is free and it's a great motivation for love for Christ and for holy living. The fallen mind makes no sense. True, true. I have a few little miscellaneous things here at the bottom. It looks like we're going to be in time, which gives me great joy. Oh, by the way, I almost forgot. I wanted to mention this too. How did Jehovah's Witnesses get their name? I forgot to mention that earlier before this escapes me. The original Old Testament Hebrew manuscripts had no vowels. Probably some of you know that. So when scholars added vowel points, they didn't know where to put them in the Hebrew text. For the English words for the name of God translated capital YHWH. So the Jews kept God's name holy by saying Adonai, Lord, instead of pronouncing it. So then scholars afterwards chose to insert certain vowel points into the name of Adonai, rendering it capital Y, small a, capital H, small o, capital W, small a, and then capital H again, which being translated is Jehovah. So that's how they got that idea. A few of the many miscellaneous topics on Jehovah Witnesses at the bottom. Their publications are written without author credit. They say to preserve the humility of the writers, but detractors would say to prevent evaluation of the author's credentials. They have been proven to be frauds previously in the lawsuits in New York and in other things as well, so they don't want people to know who's writing, who's changing the words in the New Testament to get their standard, which is the New World Translation. Those two things are their standards. Their version of the scripture, the New World Translation, and their organization, the Watchtower. A few other miscellaneous things. Joe, when this is up front... I'm trying to interject here. Sure. Is it that the New World Translation is the scriptures with the redaction and editing by Ariadne? Yes, there's a tremendous amount of editing that I believe, if I remember correctly, the word Jehovah is translated pretty much throughout the Old Testament, but they also insert it into the New to fit their doctrine, which is typical of cults. They'll change things to suit their ends. They've changed a number of other scriptures too. I really should probably try to get some of that information for you for next week. Next week, what I'm hoping to do is to do a little section on what we call scaling the language barrier. In other words, how to communicate to cultists who have twisted scriptures and poured their own meanings into phrases of the word. And the other thing would be the psychological structure of cults. Why do people join? How do you reach people in these cults, trapped in the cults? And as Al said before, some people who are deep into them, perhaps they're not reachable, but there may be many who are. So it's up to each Christian individually to figure out how they're going to reach people, what they're going to do. But anyway, Jehovah's Witnesses won't salute the flag, fight in wars, get involved in politics, or vote. They don't celebrate birthdays, national holidays, or religious holidays. So my wife found out this morning that they... Celebrate their own wedding anniversary. Thank you. The reason they doubt it is because the Bible says that only Jesus' death was to be suffered. Right, and I also believe that they thought that because John the Baptist was beheaded on Herod's birthday, they believed it would be wrong to celebrate birthdays. They also prohibit blood transfusions, believing it to be similar to intravenous feeding. And they believe intravenous, I'm sorry, blood transfusion would be similar to eating blood. because intermediate feeding is eating. With that being said, we have a little thing here. That's some scripture references to a number of the things we've talked about today. Yeah, I'm surprised. I wasn't sure if we'd get through all that or not. So I don't know, but do we close in prayer typically? Yeah, would you close us in prayer, please? Alan? Sure, let's pray. Father, we thank you for this opportunity to study again your Word, to find what is true, and I pray again that you would give us hearts of compassion, that we might best know how to speak to folks that are buried in these kinds of delusions and lies. Again, we are grateful for your kind attention to us today and for revealing your son to us. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.