Pitfalls the Bride of Christ Must Avoid

Well, I hope that we all really enjoyed this program and thought about this program. It would certainly be worth watching again. You know, the human agenda, the hidden agenda, secular humanism. And when people ever begin to think that humans are the center of the world or the center of the universe, and anything that helps them goes, and God's law and God gets shoved out of the picture, well, that's humanism. And it's very deadly. I'm not going to be giving necessarily a sermon on it today to follow up, but it is a trap.

It is a pitfall that we must be very careful of. It's really hitting our young people very hard. But the title of my sermon is, Pitfalls that the Bride of Christ Must Avoid. Pitfalls that the Bride of Christ Must Avoid. Revelation 19, verse 7, Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb, and he said to me, these are the true sayings of God. So I do want to talk then about the fact that we are the potential bride of Jesus Christ.

And as a potential bride, there are certain pitfalls that we need to avoid. Now, as I was preparing this sermon, I realized, obviously, I'm going to step on some toes. It reminds me of what a minister one time said when he was preparing a sermon. And he said, well, if I give this sermon, I will offend this group of people.

And if I give that sermon, I'll offend that group of people. So I think he tried to pick a sermon that would offend nobody. Well, that really doesn't work very well. If you have the need to preach the Word of God, then the Word of God takes precedent over wanting to be nice to everybody. And of course, I always want to be nice to people. And I'm going to be nice to people. But there are certain pitfalls that we've got to be very plain about.

And if I do step on anybody's toes, well, I'm not going to say I'm sorry, but what do I say? Well, at least you're listening. That would prove that you're listening. 1 John 2, verse 15, the first pitfall is loving the world too much. Loving this world too much. 1 John 2 and verse 15, Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves 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 is not of the Father, but it is of the world.

And the world is passing away, and the lust of it. But he who does, the will of God abides forever. He who does, the will of God abides forever. Do we love the world? One way to kind of measure our love of the world versus the love of God is to ask ourselves, how much time in the week do we spend in prayer, Bible study, listening to good hymns, Christian music, versus watching the craziness that's on television?

How much time do we spend on television, and how much time do we spend in the things that are of God? So that would be maybe one gauge, one way to gauge all of this. In 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 9, Be diligent to come to me quickly, for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world.

Demas gave up on Paul because he wanted to go back into the world, and has departed for Thessalonica, Crescens for Galatia, Titus for Dalmatia. Sounds to me that these, what is it, one, yeah, two, three men left for the present world, and only Luke is with me, said Paul in verse 11. So loving the world will take some people out, even as the end of the age approaches.

The solution, I don't want to just give the warnings, but I want to give the solution as well. And the solution to loving the world is to maintain that humble attitude, that repentant surrender to God's will. God's will is a merciful will, we understand that, but it's very hard sometimes for us to surrender to the will of the great God. Christ was willing to do this to the point of His death. Luke 22 and verse 42.

Let's go back to Luke 22, 42. Father, He said, Father, if it is your will, remove this cup from Me. Nevertheless, not My will, but Yours be done. This perhaps, I don't think perhaps, it certainly is the primary verse, the primary scripture in all the Bible as far as submitting to God's will. And this is the attitude that we should have. Father, if it is your will, remove this cup from Me. Nevertheless, not My will, but Yours be done. In the outline prayer we pray, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

The solution again to loving the world too much is to maintain that humble, repentant surrender to the will of God. Let's turn to 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 31. Paul had a thought here, 1 Corinthians 15. Paul was a very loving man. There's no doubt about it. You can see his love through the Scriptures. But he was always fighting the foe. The foe was often, usually, always really, the invisible foe, Satan the devil. He came on pretty strong at times.

He had to. I affirm 1 Corinthians 15, 31, by the boasting in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. I die daily. So Paul always found something, maybe on a daily basis, in his human nature that was revulsive, repulsive to him, and that he could repent of and ask God's forgiveness. He kept working on himself, and he would die daily.

He continued to work on himself until he became that perfect man, under the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. So, that is number one warning, Pitfall, loving the world. The second Pitfall, I have titled, Signs and... Okay, you know the Bible. Fill in the blank. Signs and... Okay, let's go to Matthew 24. Is it Signs and Wonders? We'll see. We'll see. Matthew 24 verse 29. Jesus Christ is giving some of the correct and true signs.

Immediately after the tribulation of those days, Matthew 24 verse 29, the sun will be dark and the moon will not give its light. The stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn. And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And the whole debate of secular humanism blows up in their face when they see the Son of Man coming with clouds.

And He will send His angels with the great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. And then He talks about learning the parable of the fig tree when you see certain signs that God has predicted coming to pass. Will all the signs, though, be the right signs? Can we discern, brethren, between the signs of the Bible and then what's being warned of here in 2 Thessalonians 2? Will we escape the trap of deception? Signs and what? 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 8. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.

The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders. Signs and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved.

And for this reason, God will send them strong delusion that they should believe the lie. This is a warning, brethren, to every one of us in this room. Watch out for the signs and lying wonders. People will believe lies, and they won't necessarily know they're believing a lie. They're thinking they're going to be believing the truth.

Revelation 13, verse 11.

Revelation 13, verse 11.

Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and it had two horns, or he had two horns like a lamb, so he tried to portray himself like the Lamb of God, Christ, and he spoke like a dragon. He might have looked good. He might have looked handsome, but he spoke like the devil. Because Revelation 12, 9 says that Satan is the great dragon.

He was granted to do the sight in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. Well, brethren, the solution, the plan of action for the signs and lying wonders is prayer. Prayer. Much prayer. Just because somebody has a sign or a wonder, pray and ask God, is this a lying wonder or not? So the solution is to maintain an ongoing, active prayer life. The third pitfall that the Bride of Christ must avoid and be aware of right now, that third pitfall is false ministers. Let's go back to 2 Corinthians 11. Maybe I didn't go there. Let's go to 2 Corinthians 11 here, and we'll look at chapter 11, verse 1. Oh, that you would bear with me in a little folly. See, they thought Paul was overreacting. They thought he was a spiritual hypochondriac. They thought he was overdoing it. So just put up with me, he said, in a little folly. For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I betrothed you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest somehow as the serpent deceive Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. Paul gave 18 months of his life in preaching and speaking, and God used him to raise up that church he left for other areas. And now the false ministers were coming in to deceive. For he who comes preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you may well put up with it. You're just jumping right in. You're just accepting those who preach another Jesus. You're accepting a different spirit. And you're accepting a different gospel. Now these words are as true today as they were back then. So, false ministers, then he says in verse 13, For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no wonder for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Satan tries to look like a good guy. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into the ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.

He warns very strongly in verse 20, For if you put up with it, if one brings you into bondage, if one devours you, if one takes from you, if one exalts himself, or if one strikes you on the face.

He says you're putting up with false teachings, false ministers, false prophets, that are actually bringing you into bondage, devouring you, taking the truth from you, exalting himself and punching you in the nose, spiritually speaking. You're just taking it all in. He warned the Corinthians. How to recognize false ministers? Matthew 7.

We'll start in verse 15. Beware of false prophets, says Jesus, who come to you in sheep's clothing. Oh, they look so nice! But inwardly they are ravenous wolves. After the sermon this morning, a man came up to me and said that he was listening to some kind of a messianic Jew, and he's in the messianic something or other, and it says that the Ten Commandments were, what was that word? Not irrelevant, but inoperative for today. And this is supposed to be a minister saying that the Ten Commandments are inoperative. Inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits, do men gather grapes from thorn bushes? You can't pluck a grape from a thorn bush, or figs from thistles. Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, neither can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them. Matthew 7, 20. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father, and nevertheless not my will, but thine be done, the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name? And what done wondrous, many wondrous in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me you who practice lawlessness. Therefore whoever hears these sayings of mine, of Jesus, not of a man, but of Christ, and his Father, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it did not fall. For it was founded on the rock. Now everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man, who built his house on the sand, and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it fell, and great was its fall. So Jesus Christ is explaining how to recognize false ministers. Isaiah chapter 8, and let's look at verses 19. Well, let's see, Isaiah 8 and verse 16, first of all.

Isaiah 8 and verse 16, bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. And so this is a prophecy that God's law, God's revelation, would be wrapped up by Jesus' disciples, and the verse by the apostles, plus Paul, who was also an apostle, and was taught by Christ, it says, in the desert himself. So the Bible, the law of God, is to be wrapped up, bound up, and sealed by the New Testament apostles, not by men or women who come centuries later claiming that they've got as much inspiration as the Bible. They don't. They don't have as much. The Bible is complete now, been complete for 2,000 years. Somebody can claim they had some kind of a divine revelation, and something fell out of the sky, and they know all about. They can make that claim, but God said He would seal up the law among His disciples, the New Testament church. But then verse 19, and when they say, do you seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter, in other words, séances, trying to contact the dead, should not a people seek their God? I mean, why try to contact your dead ancestors? Just seek God. That's what He's saying here. Just seek God. Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? Well, that's a very popular thing, and some people in high office have done that. No, the answer is, of course you don't seek the dead on behalf of the living, to the law, to the testimony. Verse 20, if they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. Now, you can't get more basic of the word than the Ten Commandments. So, if you find someone that's preaching this great, whatever it is, and he's not keeping the Sabbath day, well, that ought to tell us something. Because, you know, the Sabbath, as I said last week, there is no mention of Sunday being blessed and sanctified like God said He blessed. Well, let's just go back to that. You can't find Sunday ever having this kind of a blessing. It's just not there. He talks about remembering the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Verse 8, for in six days the Lord made heavens and earth. Verse 11, the sea and all that is in them and rested the seventh day. God rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. And the Sabbaths are the only days that God blessed and hallowed. You can't find any other day being blessed and hallowed like the Sabbath. Mark 13, 5 and 6. I'll just read this to you. Mark 13, 5 and 6. And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed, lest any man deceive you, for many shall come in my name, saying that I am Christ and shall deceive many. Many will claim to be followers of Christ, preachers of Christ, and they'll use His name, but they'll use it, according to Mark 13 and verse 6. Mark 13, 6, they will use it to deceive many. Romans 16, 16 and verse 18. Romans 16 and verse 18.

But those who do such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple. Now, by and large, God's people are simple people in the sense they're trustworthy, they're faithful, they're people of trust. And sometimes we can make the mistake that everybody else is trustworthy, and not everybody else is trustworthy. And they can deceive the hearts of those trustworthy, simple believers in God, if we're not careful. I do want to give a couple of examples I have before on this, but it's so important. I feel like I must repeat it. How ministers deceive people. I've got some examples right here. I've given them before. But one example of how ministers can deceive people is not reading the context of the Scripture. Taking a verse here, taking a verse there, putting them together, coming up with new truths, and leaving out the middle part, which explains the whole passage. And this was done very effectively to the ruin of the church back in the 1990s. And this is the example I'm going to turn to Hebrews 8. Hebrews 8. Was it half of the church? 40% of the church just forgot to read the context. They would say in verse 7, speaking of the First Covenant, Hebrews 8 and verse 7, for if that First Covenant had been fought less, then no place would have been sought for a second. So all of a sudden, they're going to focus on the First Covenant was not fought less. The First Covenant had fought. Oh, First Covenant had fought. Then they jump over to verse 13, and they did this back in the 1990s. And in that he says, And he has made the first obsolete. Now, what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. So you say, they say, well, you see that? The Ten Commandments? That was, you know, the Old Covenant? They're not faultless, they said. Besides that, they're obsolete, and they're going to vanish away. And 40% of the congregations, or maybe 50, believed it. And the big mistake was, dear brethren, that they did not read the context. So let's go back and read the context.

Hebrews 8 verse 8, because finding fault with them, not with God, you know, finding fault with them. He says, Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Not according to the covenant that I made with her fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out to the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant. And I disregarded them, says the Lord.

For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their mind and write them on their hearts, more permanent even than the tables of stone, because if God's laws are in our hearts, they go wherever we go. And I will write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, Know the Lord.

For all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins, and their lawless deeds. I will remember no more. So God is saying, I give you my law. I give you my law with mercy. I write it on the tables of your heart. So when you read the context, it's not doing away with God's law.

But if you just take verse 7 and verse 13, and if we get the context, again, thousands of brethren got confused on that. So, and sometimes a minister and I do it too. I grab a verse here and there, but I'm going to assume that you're going to read the context, you see. Maybe I'm working with a theme on patience, and so maybe there's other things there. So, I know a minister can read every single chapter that we're covering in during the sermon, but we expect you to always follow up and read the context.

Now, the second, and I brought this up last week, the second big mistake was reading the New Testament without looking into the Old Testament. Reading the New Testament by not looking into the Old Testament. So much, and I've got statistics, I can't rattle them off right now, of the New Testament is actually the Old Testament, either directly quoted. By the way, all of what we read here is an italic, so as you see, verses 8 on down, which means it was copied or quoted from the book of Jeremiah, the Old Testament. But a big mistake that was made was not looking at the background by going into the Old Testament.

The example I used last week was 1 John 5 and verse 3. For this is the love of God that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome. And so the lie came out in the 1990s, oh, these can't be the Ten Commandments. They can't be the Ten Commandments.

And people fell for that one. Well, if our brethren only had gone back to the source of John's quote, they would have seen it again in context. Because the source of John's quote here, the love of God and the keeping of His commandments, the source of that quote is bound back again in Exodus. Let's turn to Exodus 20 and look at verse 6. God says He will show mercy to thousands, Exodus 20 verse 6, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

Loving God, keeping His commandments, as 1 John 5, 2 and 3, John was talking about the Ten Commandments. That's the source of this verse, these verses here in John. So the Old Testament forms the foundation for the New Testament. The Bible starts out with the law of God. That's what it starts out with. The first five books are the law of God. And so we must, whenever we read the New Testament, we must understand it, the background of it, what's backing it, which is found in the Old Testament. The third point of what I call the One Passage Wonders. You know, the One Passage Wonders.

They build a whole theology on just one verse. Now, there's plenty of other verses on the subject, but they don't go there. They just go to one verse, one passage, a wonder, and they build a theology and confuse people. Second Timothy chapter 4 verse 3. Second Timothy chapter 4 and verse 3. For the time will come, God says, in 2 Timothy 4.3, when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires or their own agenda, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers.

You ever meet anybody that just had itching ears, they just, just, just itched for that little off step, that little misstep, and they will heap up for themselves teachers, and they will turn their ears, so it's their own fault, they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables.

God's warning that this is going to be an end time pitfall to the bride of Jesus Christ. First John 4, 1. Just one verse to emphasize here. First John 4 and verse 1. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. Just because a person says, well, I have the spirit, and just because maybe they're charismatic, and just because they have their own personal view of things, and just because it might sound good, test it.

Test it. What day do they keep holy? Well, if they keep the Sabbath holy, they believe in the Ten Commandments. That's the place to start. Brethren, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God. Many false prophets have gone out into the world. So, what do these people actually believe? What do they practice? Just because they're bombastic, and they're making many bombastic prophecies, don't give them heed. Jeremiah chapter 5, verse 30. Jeremiah 5, verse 30.

Jeremiah 5, verse 30-31. An astonishing and horrible thing has been committed in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely. The priests rule by their own power, and my people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end? People love to be told how nice they are. They love to be told it's not your fault. They love to have it so. From the Bible reading program, For among my people are found wicked men, God declares. Extremely evil people who will do anything to anybody for personal gain, usually for money. And that's found in verse 27. They become great and grown rich. So usually for money. But the root cause of the evils is false religion. It is a horrible thing to God that prophets prophesy falsely. Priests rule by their own power, not by God's Spirit. And my people love to have it so. So they're right in there with them. What a sad indictment. People would rather listen to lies than the truth. We especially see it today in the name of tolerance. Anyone who would label the behavior of others as wrong is looked upon as a bigot and a hate-monger. And when criticism is silenced, there is soon no fear of consequences. The last verse asked a critical question, What will you do in the end? That is, when the hammer of judgment falls. The apostle Peter later asked a similar question. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness?

We should all be asking ourselves such questions. Jeremiah 6 and verse 16. Therefore, back up here, that's chapter 7, chapter 6 and verse 16. Thus says, The Lord, stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths where the good way is, and walk in it. And you will find rest for your souls. But they said, we will not walk in it. Also, I said, Watchmen, or were you saying, Listen to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, we will not listen. How many people in America and around the world will actually really listen to that program on secular humanism, on the so-called hidden agenda? How many will really listen to the sound of the trumpet that they heard in that message? How many people will? God reminds his people of the old paths and the good way, the laws he revealed long ago that expressed his way of life. And frankly, God's very character. The Jewish Tanakh renders it this way, Stand by the roads and consider, inquire about ancient paths, which is the road to happiness. Travel it. Find tranquility for yourselves. But they refuse to walk that way. God sent watchmen who trumpeted warnings, but they would not listen. And God says, I will certainly bring calamity. Let's go to Jude 1, verse 16. Jude was the half-brother of Jesus Christ. It's the book right before Revelation. So, Jude, these are murmurs, chapter 1, verse 16. These are murmurs, complainers, walking according to their own lusts. And they mouth great swelling words, flattering people, flattering people, to gain advantage. To gain advantage. I'll just read Isaiah 30, verse 11 to you. Which say to the seer, see not, and to the prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits. People want to be told how good they are. They don't need to repent. I'd like to go to Isaiah 5, verse 30. Isaiah 5, and I should say verse 20. This is the life we live now. This is where we are now. Isaiah 5, verse 20, woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. I heard a sermon in Troy a couple weeks ago where they said the new word is if it's really a nice new truck, then you say, well that truck is sick. And that means the truck is really awesome. But they don't say awesome, they say that truck is sick. So they've kind of changed the words around a little bit. Maybe it's just to confuse old people. I don't know.

But woe to those who call evil good and good evil. And like they say, you stand up for the truth and you're a bigot, or you're intolerant. Those are the days that we live.

Revelation 11 and verse 1.

Then I was given to read like a measuring rod, and the angel stood, saying, Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will trod the holy city under foot for forty and two months. And I will give power to my two witnesses.

And they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth. If anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth, and devours their enemies. If anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner. And they have power to shut heaven so that no rain falls on the day of their prophecy. And they have power over waters to turn them to blood, to strike the earth with all plagues as often as they desire. But wait a minute, we just read a couple chapters ago that this false prophet will, you know, verse chapter 13-13. He'll make fire come down from heaven. And he'll work miracles and signs. So, what's the guy supposed to do? What's the lady supposed to do? Which of the two are you going to believe is the true people of God? How are you going to figure it out? The one that speaks God's word. In context is the true minister of Jesus Christ. And the two witnesses will be speaking the word of God in context. Not just a little here, a little there, and twist it all around. They'll just lay it out in context. That will be the difference.

Now, so the solution, again, I've already suggested it to all of this false ministers, is that we must maintain an active, ongoing Bible study life. We must read and reread and reread the Bible and make sure that we know what it says.

I guess I've told this story before, I don't know, but when my wife and I, it was our first pastorate there in eastern North Carolina, and there was a lady, she was, I think, in her late 80s, early 90s when we got there.

And she, her name was Zeta. I'll never forget that. She plowed with a mule. That was, that was, that was, you know, her, her, you know, her activity. She was a farmer. I don't know how she could ever plow with a mule because she was like 85 pounds herself, but she, you know, back in her day, she was retired by that time, and her son, I guess, had some tractor by them. But she, and so someone told Zeta that Zeta was a Bible name.

Zeta was a Bible name. And so Zeta said, I'm going to find it. And so she read through the Bible, and didn't find it. And then she read through the Bible. I mean, every word, all those genealogies and chronicles and so-and-so begat, so-and-so, so-and-so begat, so-and-so. And, you know, everyone, she read it through seven times. And she says, you know what? Zeta is not found in the Bible. She read every word seven, you know, the Bible seven times.

Then she heard a man preaching from the Bible coming out of a radio station in XEG, something like that, Mexico. And she said, wait a minute. That man is preaching what I've been reading! She knew her Bible so well that when she heard Mr. Armstrong, she says, he's preaching. I know he's preaching the truth.

I mean, she did not use Strong's concordance to look up Zeta. She read every word seven times. So I think it's a good lesson for all of us. Maintain an active, ongoing Bible study life, and we will know the true prophets of God, the true minister of God, from the false ministers. From the false ministers.

I do want to give a warning about the Hebrew Roots Movement. Again, it's not my wish to step on people's toes, but I, Dave Wells and I were talking about this. I may not have it with me here. Great. I don't have it. But that's even better because I kind of have the general idea in my brain.

So there's this fascination with Hebrew roots, and there's some kind of a loose connection, or maybe not so loose, with sacred names. Yeshua. Yeshua. One man told me that it was not Yeshua. It was Yeshua, and he broke away from His Yeshua group and tried to start his own church. And the point I'm saying is it's a very divisive movement. It's just simply divisive. And so anyway, the Hebrew Roots Movement, according to this article, came out of some people who left the worldwide Church of God back in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, and started this own movement.

So the Church has had its challenges with sacred names, Hebrew roots. And Dave Wells, we were talking about this, and he said, you know, we need maybe we should do a Beyond Today program on this. You know, what are you missing? You know, what's missing in the Hebrew Roots Movement? Because if former worldwide Church of God people are now following this, maybe we can reach out to them.

Maybe we can help them, you know, to see where those items, those things are wrong. So I did write or email Daris McNeely, and I told him a little bit about what, you know, what's going on. He said, well, this is a good idea. So he's going to try to do a Beyond Today, a BT Daily, and maybe later on a Beyond Today program on that. But one of Mr. McNeely's comments was, every year here at ABC, when I go through the fundamentals of beliefs, I strongly emphasize we are not Jews. We are Christians that believe in the Old Testament. We are Christians that believe the Old Testament is God's Word, as well as the New Testament.

We are not Jews. Now, the United News has had to write articles, a couple of articles, on such things as tassels, prayer shawls, and phylactries. Because some people get fascinated with that, and they miss, you know, the bigger picture, as Christ said, judgment, mercy, and faith. So why is there that fascination with tassels, prayer shawls, phylactries? You know, we have God's Holy Spirit. We don't need to focus on, you know, the borders of our garments and so on like that.

We have God's Holy Spirit. But I just thought I would give an admonition, a warning about that, because some people get fascinated with that and begin to miss the forest for the tree. The solution is the big picture. Another pitfall that we must be warned against are negative websites against the church. Negative websites. And there's a bunch of them out there. Not just against United, but against living, and against, you know, who knows what all.

And these, I can just say as almost of a surety that these negative websites will eventually succeed in putting negative doubts and negative fears into our minds. If we keep going to those negative websites, they will work what they are cunningly wanting to do. You know, the solution to the negative websites is to be reading the positive things about the church.

The e-newsletter, very positive. The Beyond Today blogs. How about our own website that we have on St. Louis? There's an article from Markolas Lecia on that website. So, positive things. The podcasts, they're all upbeat.

They're all positive. Why not that? Because they tell stories of men and women trying their best to get God's work done. Negative websites will bring you down in time. Psalm 68 and verse 11. Psalm 68 and verse 11.

The Lord gave the word. Great was the company of those who proclaimed it. Now, it's not that we're great. You know, we are the weaker of the world, the Bible says, but it's a great work that God is allowing us to do to preach an end-time message. So, great was the company of those who proclaimed it. I'd rather watch out for that. The fifth one I have here, the fifth pitfall, is sensationalism instead of Scripture. We don't want to be like the Athenians here, Acts 17, verse 21. We don't want to be like the Athenians that said this, for all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing. If it's new, it's got to be improved, you know, and it can be very titillating to us. It can be very itching ears about all of that. So, can we discern the difference between something which is sensational and sounds exciting, but is it really scriptural? And do all the Scriptures match up with that? Now, I will tell you of the conspiracy theory that, and it's not really a theory, it's a fact. And, you know, that is found in the Bible. The Bible warns us of this conspiracy. And over here in Revelation chapter 12 and verse 9, so the great dragon was cast out that serpent of old called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was cast to the earth and his angels were cast out with him. So that's the conspiracy. That's the, you know, the great deceiver, the great deceiver. Satan is the power behind the throne. Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 10, 11, and so on. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord. Ephesians 6, 10, and the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. So that's our fight. Our fight is against the invisible forces, against the principalities, the powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age. Satan is the power behind the thrones of men. He is the power behind the thrones of men. Now, I've been going through a history book on American history, and there's a whole big chapter on Adolf Hitler, because America had a lot to do with defeating Adolf Hitler. But I can tell you, Adolf Hitler was directly inspired by the devil. That's where he got his inspiration from, the devil. He was clearly taking his orders from Satan, the principalities, the powers, and so on. So anyway, the solution to sensationalism is be sure you can tell the difference between sensationalism and Scripture, and then focus on the Scripture. It may be exciting, it may be fantastic, but if it's sensationalism, hopefully we can discern that that's what it is. And it's not the plain, simple milk of the Word that God wants us, both the milk and the meat of the Word. So in conclusion, let me turn to where I kind of started, and that would be 2 Corinthians 11, and 2 Corinthians 11. Again, verse 2, For I am jealous for you, said Paul, with a godly jealousy. I betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. Dear brethren, God's ministers are also jealous of God's people with that same godly jealousy.