Wandering Stars (Part 2)

Sermon Transcript

First of all I would like to take the opportunity to thank Pastor Stucky and brother Christian for the opportunity to come before you all and preach the word of God again.

Last time I preached, the title of my sermon was Wandering Stars — Part 1. We looked at false prophets, and the term wandering stars is found in Jude, where it speaks about the false prophets as wandering stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

Just to recap what we went through last time. Point one was that false prophets — wandering stars — are wrong on the gospel. We talked about how they changed the meaning of grace from something that is undeserved to something that is going to cost you basically your whole life. Point two was that wandering stars teach that you can lose your salvation. And we saw clearly from the Bible that to actually be saved, you need to believe that you have eternal life in the present tense and that there is nothing you can do to lose that salvation.

So now coming into Wandering Stars Part Two, we have three points. Wandering stars teach repentance of sins. Wandering stars are hypocrites. And wandering stars are the authors and founders of the Pentecostal and charismatic movement.

Point 1: Wandering Stars Teach Repentance of Sins

Point number one is that wandering stars teach repentance of sins. What I mean by this is that they teach you need to repent of your sins and stop sinning in order to be saved. They teach some form of you changing your life and your actions to prove that you are saved.

While this teaching has always been around — because at its core it comes from the pride of man, man's always been proud enough to say to himself I am good enough, I am doing enough good, looking within himself from the very beginning, from Cain who looked at what he brought forth, his hard work, and said this is enough — in today's day it is very much pushed forward by all the modern translations of the Bible that have corrupted the text. I used to read the New Living Translation. In all the places where it says repent, the NLT actually adds on repent of your sins.

And what I would like to mention about modern translations is that the Romanian VDC is also a modern translation that has been corrupted, because it is a thought-for-thought translation rather than a word-for-word translation. That is the reason why we are King James only — because the King James is a word-for-word translation. If you want to hear the pure, unchanged, uncorrupted word of God, you open your King James Bible and you will find a word-for-word translation where we can find the truth.

One thing worth mentioning about the VDC because there are a lot of people from the Romanian community who use it — the man Dumitru who wrote the VDC received heavy criticism a few years after it came out for having departed so far from a word-for-word translation. So 10 years after coming out with his VDC, he himself came out with a new translation called the VDCL, which not many people know about because unfortunately nobody adopted his newer translation — where he himself corrected a lot of the mistakes he made in his first translation. Most Romanians do not even know the VDCL exists. And it is not somebody else bringing the VDCL — it is Dumitru himself saying hey, this is a better version because it is more accurate. So to anyone Romanian that is listening, just be mindful that the VDC is corrupted. Even the VDCL is not perfect. What we need to look at to find the pure word of God is a word-for-word translation, and we find that in the King James Bible. And thank God that since 2015 there is also a Romanian word-for-word translation called the Bibla Fidela.

Let me just give you two examples from the NLT — the Bible I used to read — so you can see the corruption.

I used to believe I had to repent of my sins because I was reading the NLT. I remember there were probably two or three times I tried to give the gospel to someone, and I remember vividly that every time I got to the point where I was telling them you have to repent of your sins, in the back of my head I was thinking I hope they do not ask me what that means, because I do not even know what that means or how to do it. So I would quickly skip past that point. But I was reading a corrupt Bible. The NLT should be thrown in the bin.

Luke 13:3 in the KJV says: "I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." The NLT says: not at all, and you will perish too, unless you repent of your sins and turn to God. How wicked is that? They are condemning everybody to hell unless they repent of their sins — which nobody can actually do.

Matthew 4:17 in the KJV says: "From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." The NLT says: from then on, Jesus began to preach, repent of your sins and turn to God, for the kingdom of heaven is near. So even Jesus is being made to say repent of your sins according to the NLT — which is completely false.

Go to Luke chapter 13.

Repentance of sins just begs the question — what sins? Which sins? How many sins are we supposed to repent of? Are we supposed to repent of all our sins? We saw clearly from the word of God that "if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." So if we say we have repented of all our sins, we are actually making ourselves out to be liars according to the word of God. Repentance of sins just begs the question — how many? And who can answer it? You will talk to one person and he will give you his list. You will talk to another person and he will give you a different list.

In Romans 7, Paul the Apostle said: "O wretched man that I am." Not that I used to be — that I am. Paul had not repented of all his sins. In that chapter he clearly says the evil that he does not want to do, he does.

Now some wandering stars might say well, you do not have to completely stop sinning — you just have to stop the big sins. Or you have to at least try and stop the little sins. Or you have to feel bad if you sin. If you feel bad after you sin, it means you are saved. They tie it all to emotions and all these different things. But first of all, the Bible does not say that. And secondly — I believe that if trying not to sin, or if feeling bad for your sins was good enough, then Adam and Eve would still be in the Garden of Eden right now. What was their sin? Did they murder? Did they start hating God? They just ate of the fruit. And that was enough for God to say hey, you have fallen, you are no longer at my standard. Because God's standard is perfection. There are no tiers to God's standard. As soon as you do not reach perfection, you are not good enough. That is what the Bible teaches.

Go to Galatians chapter 3.

Now just because somebody says they believe salvation is by faith alone — and you hear a lot of people saying that nowadays — it does not mean that is what they actually believe. When you go deeper into a conversation with them, you can find out whether or not they really believe salvation is by faith alone. And most of them do not. What they usually say is you are saved by faith alone, but if you are truly saved there will be evidence of works, you will have a pattern of good works. But again, this just begs the question — how many good works? Which works? Which sins will you stop? I see a pattern of good works in Muslims. Does that mean they are saved? I see a pattern of good works in Jehovah's Witnesses — at least they are going out and preaching their damnable heresies, at least they are doing something more than most Christians. Does that mean they are getting to heaven? Mormons do the same thing. So instead of coming up with our own subjective opinion on this matter, let the Bible tell you.

Galatians 3:10: "For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." So anyone that claims works are a byproduct of genuine faith is just backloading works into salvation. It might sound really good at face value, but it is not biblical. The Bible says cursed is anyone that continues not in all things written in the law. So if you want to look for a pattern of good works, what you really need to be looking for is someone that is doing all of the good things. And if they are not continuing in all of them, they are just as bad as the next person.

Galatians 3:11: "But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, the just shall live by faith." God does not look at a man's repentance of sins and his pattern of good works to justify whether his faith is genuine or not. So why are these false prophets doing it? Because that is what they are doing — they are looking at other people and saying yeah, that guy is not a Christian because he is not living like a Christian, each to their own subjective thoughts and their own subjective standard.

Matthew 22:37–39: "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Is anybody doing that? Is anybody loving the Lord their God at all times with all their heart, with all their mind, with all their strength, with all their soul? Is anybody loving their neighbour exactly the same way as they love themselves? That is the standard. That is God's standard, and it is made clear in the word of God. And these wandering stars come and bring you a different standard, a different gospel with a different standard.

James 2:10: "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." The Bible goes together and ties in together in every single aspect, especially in salvation. It clearly teaches us that if you try to keep the whole law, as soon as you see one thing someone is not doing, the Bible condemns them of all the law.

Point 2: Wandering Stars Are Hypocrites

Point number two — wandering stars are hypocrites. And I would like to draw your attention to a particular sin that is brought up quite a few times in the Bible but that up until being saved and moving to a fundamental Baptist church, I had never heard preached at church ever in my life.

Acts 20:27: "For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God." Paul said he did not shun away from teaching everything that the word of God says. Even if it means it offends somebody, even if it means you get your toes stepped on, Paul said he has not shunned away from that. And praise God, we are in a church that believes the same thing. Paul said follow me as I follow Christ. So if Paul did not shun away from anything, that is what we are going to do. May God help us as a church to continue doing that no matter the cost. If it is written in the word of God, we are going to speak about it and bring it up.

The sin I am talking about is gluttony. There are three different words used for this sin in the Bible. The word gluttony means overindulgence of food or drink. Another word used in the Bible for gluttony is riotous, which means a wasteful, wild, and uncontrolled lifestyle. And the third word used is surfeiting, which is the act of overindulging in food or drink to the point of sickness or disgust.

Proverbs 23:20–21: "Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh: for the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags." What you will find with this sin is that a lot of times in the Bible it is tied together with drunkenness. You will see gluttony and drunkenness together.

Proverbs 28:7: "Whoso keepeth the law is a wise son: but he that is a companion of riotous men shameth his father." Again, that lifestyle of just being uncontrolled.

Luke 21:34–35: "And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth."

Romans 13:13–14: "Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof."

Philippians 3:18–19 is talking about false prophets and says: "For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things."

Matthew 11:19: "The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children." Even Jesus was accused of being a glutton and a winebibber — obviously these are false accusations, but that is what they were trying to pin on him.

Matthew 23:25: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess." Excess. Just like all these other words we have brought up — glutton, surfeiting, riotous, excess. Just overindulgence. The Pharisees were full of excess.

So from looking at these verses, I think we can all agree that gluttony is a sin.

Now you might ask — why am I bringing this up? I am bringing up the sin of gluttony to expose false teachers and wandering stars. And here is why. If you have a fat pastor teaching you repentance of sins for salvation, you are being led by a heretic and a hypocrite. He is telling you to repent of your sins, but he is not applying the same rules to himself. Nobody develops a big belly by accident. Nobody develops a big belly because one day they ate some food and the next day they have this massive belly. That does not happen overnight. You know how it happens — day after day, meal after meal, indulging and overindulging, surfeiting in excess.

Now one thing I will mention is that just because somebody is overweight, it does not necessarily mean it is because of gluttony. Women get pregnant and there are definitely hormonal imbalances that can happen. But in the majority of cases, the reason people have put on weight is because they have eaten more energy than they are burning. So gluttony is sinning in a wilful and active way. It is not an accident. There are many sins that you can commit on a regular basis in secret and nobody will know about them. But I am so glad that God made our bodies in such a way that if you are living in and practising the sin of gluttony, you cannot hide it. It is there for everybody to see.

So I am going to say it again using the terms they like to use. If you are listening to a wandering star teach you that you must repent of your sins while he needs to tuck his belly into his pants — if he is well-rounded, he is practising a wilful sin and not repenting of it. And to that, Jesus says: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites."

These wandering stars are condemning themselves with their false repent-of-your-sins doctrine. Titus 3:11: "Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself." Romans 2:1: "Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things." That is what these hypocrites are doing. They are committing their own sins and condemning other people. Would you take advice from someone that has been married and divorced five times? Would you sit down and say can you teach me how to love my wife? Would you listen to a homeless man with no money tell you how to get rich? So why are we sitting here listening to these false prophets tell us to repent of our sins when they cannot repent of their own sins?

Turn to Proverbs chapter 25.

At the heart of this sin, the reason people fall into it is a lack of self-control. One of the fruits of the spirit is temperance, which means self-control. The Bible tells us to be led by the spirit. Do you think self-control and a big belly go hand in hand? These overweight wandering stars are not being led by the spirit. They are being led by the flesh.

Proverbs 25:28: "He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls." A city that is broken down and without walls — back in the day every city had walls to protect itself. The Bible is saying somebody that lacks self-control and does not have rule over his own spirit is like a city with broken-down walls. That tells me that any attack will go straight through to him, any temptation will destroy him and make him crumble. And you will find if you study gluttony that it is always tied to other sins — it is never just gluttony. Gluttony leads to laziness. When you overeat on a regular basis you are not going to have energy. It leads to a lazy lifestyle. Gluttony is tied to so many other sins because people who have a lack of self-control end up getting into other sins and just making a mess of their life.

Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 21.

Now some people might say do not be so extreme, this is just a small sin, do not be so legalistic. Well, the Bible says the wages of sin is death — the wages of any sin is death, not just some sins. But regardless, let us see how big or small of a sin gluttony really is.

Deuteronomy 21:18–21: "If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; and they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear and fear." So here is a son that is going to be put to death — because of his disobedience to his parents, because he is a glutton and a drunkard, because he has continued in his sin. The parents take him to the elders to be stoned to death. Gluttony is not such a small sin after all.

Turn to Psalm chapter 78.

This psalm recounts the story of the Israelites when they were in the wilderness and sinned against the Lord. As we read these verses, focus on the words used to describe their sin.

Psalm 78:17: "And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness. And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust." They were getting sick of the manna they were receiving and they wanted meat. And this craving that they had is described as the lust in their heart.

Verse 27–30: "He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea: and he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations. So they did eat, and were well filled: for he gave them their own desire... They were not estranged from their lust. But while their meat was yet in their mouths, the wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel." Notice — God gives them what they asked for, he did not estrange them from their lust, he let them have it. But while the meat was yet in their mouths, the wrath of God came upon them and he slew the fattest of them. Not all of them — the fattest of them. So it is pretty obvious that God does not take this sin lightly, and he is willing to put people to death for it.

Gluttony is the lust of the flesh. Lust of the flesh is not just lusting after men or women — you could be lusting after food. Verse 18 says they lusted after food. These are temptations we face every day. We know there are things we should not eat or drink, but we do it anyway. I am the first person to raise my hand and say I am guilty of this sin. I am not perfect. I fall into this sin more often than I would like to. To a degree we are all in a sense hypocrites — we all get dressed up, come to church, and in various ways pretend everything is great in our lives. But at least we are not like these hypocrites that are pointing to various sins while suffering from the same exact thing themselves. They have not repented of their own sin and yet they are going to tell you that you are not going to get to heaven unless you do.

It is exactly like what it says in Matthew 23: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in." These people are not going in themselves because they are preaching their damnable heresies. But they are also not letting anybody else in — telling everybody they have got to repent of their sins.

Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 6.

Did you know that bad diets kill more people each year than tobacco? 7 million people die from smoking tobacco every year. 11 million people die from bad diets every year. Is it not funny that these false prophets love pointing at someone that is smoking and saying that person is not a true Christian, there is no way he has the Holy Spirit in him — all the while they have this massive belly? It is insane.

1 Corinthians 6:19–20: "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." That is what God wants us to do — glorify God with our bodies as well as our spirit. But to all the wandering stars out there listening to this — how about you stop pointing the finger at somebody that is smoking or drinking, and you turn around and point the finger to your own belly? Realise that you are not fulfilling what you are preaching. Remind yourself that your body is the temple of God and you are the one who defiles the temple on a daily basis. If you think repentance of sins gets you to heaven, at least lead by example. But they will not even do that.

Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 9.

1 Corinthians 9:27: "But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." I am pretty sure Paul was a lean and slim man. Imagine Paul was this massive overweight obese man and he is saying I keep under my body and bring it into subjection. He would have been like — what are you on about? The only thing that man would have been keeping under subjection is chocolates and lollies. And what does he say? Lest that by any means — any means, including gluttony — when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

Now some people interpret this verse and think oh, you lost your salvation — that is not what it is talking about. Paul is talking about his ministry, and he is saying after all his preaching and everything he has done, if he has got something people can point to and say oh look at that guy, look at his sin, look at what he is doing — he is going to be a castaway. Nobody is going to take him seriously. Like that homeless man who is trying to teach you how to get rich. Nobody is going to sit and listen to that man. His testimony is equal to nothing. Who is going to take him seriously? That is what Paul is saying. He is making sure he keeps his body under subjection and disciplines himself in spirit and in body so that people are not going to say man, I am not even going to listen to this man, look at him.

And that is what we all need to strive for. We need to strive to be right and doing the right thing in every aspect of our lives. Not to get into heaven, but to be a good testimony to others. You want to be the light that shines on the hill that everybody can see. And you are going to get there by having a disciplined spiritual life and a disciplined physical life.

Turn to Proverbs 11.

People might say why are you being so mean, where is the love? The Lord is angry with the wicked every day. That is why I am angry. I am angry because these false prophets over the years have condemned anyone who has had a drink or a smoke. They say you cannot be a drunk Christian, you cannot be a smoking Christian — but for some self-justifying subjective reason, you can be a fat gluttonous Christian. That is why I am angry. Because they have pushed so many people away from Christianity, away from getting to know Christ, because of their false doctrines.

Proverbs 11:1: "A false balance is abomination to the Lord: but a just weight is his delight." What is that false balance? It is the false balance that wandering stars have where they look at somebody's sin and say that is not good enough, that is not going to get you into heaven — but they do not look at their own sin and say hey, I am in the same boat. They think they are good enough and these other guys are not. And to the Lord, that is an abomination.

Proverbs 11:9: "An hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbour: but through knowledge shall the just be delivered." A hypocrite with his mouth destroys the people around him. He is making sure none of them come to the true knowledge of Jesus Christ and salvation.

Like I said, there are a lot of sins you can commit in secret and nobody would know. But the sin of gluttony cannot be done in secret. In the majority of cases this sin exposes itself in the bodily appearance and is made clear for all to see. Because what many wandering stars say is that the only sins they commit are mistakes or accidents — when really these wandering stars that are teaching you must repent of your sins to be saved are committing the sin of gluttony on purpose. Daily, consistently, for years, not by accident, not by mistake. They are practising the very thing they are condemning everybody else for, while preaching that you need to stop sinning.

Now look — I am not condoning smoking or drinking or gluttony. I believe they are all sins. I believe they all need to be put out from among us. We should strive not to smoke, not to drink, not to be a glutton. We should strive to be more disciplined. But biblical repentance for salvation is not turning from sin. It is simply changing your mind, realising who the real Jesus actually is, and trusting in him and his work alone for your salvation — apart from your works, apart from stopping sin. And understanding that once you have trusted in Jesus, you receive eternal life and can never lose it. A genuine Christian in God's eyes is not someone who tries not to sin — it is someone who has put their faith on Jesus Christ.

Romans 4:5: "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." Titus 3:5: "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, through the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost."

When I first heard the gospel, I did not believe it. I had the NLT. You can ask the boys who are here today — they came and told me hey, the Bible does not actually say repent of your sins. I said what do you mean? Let me show you heaps of verses. And it took me a while. But then I did not go into the word of God to see what it actually says — I went in to prove them wrong. I was going to show them that what they were telling me is heresy, that you actually do have to repent of your sins. And that is where my journey started, reading through the Bible and writing down all the verses for eternal security and all the verses against it. I thought I was going to have a whole bunch of verses against eternal security. I ended up reading through the whole New Testament and at the end I had two lists. I had over a hundred verses for eternal security and I had 10 verses against it. And even just with that I was thinking to myself, I am going to go to these guys with that. But then I picked up the KJV and looked at those 10 verses against it, and I crossed one out after another. They were not even saying what these corrupt modern translations were saying. So then I was faced with this reality. What am I fighting? What have I got? What am I standing on? Standing on nothing.

But besides over a hundred verses in the New Testament that teach salvation alone, let me encourage you with just two examples from the Old Testament, where we have a lot of foreshadowing of Jesus Christ.

Numbers 21:8–9: "And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived." God's judgment came upon them and he sent snakes to bite them, and many people died. But then he told Moses, lift up this brass serpent on a pole and anybody that looks at that pole will get healed of that venom and will not die. This was a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ. John 3:14–15: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." What did those people have to do? Did they need to reform their lives? Did they need to repent of their sins? They just had to look upon that brass serpent and it was enough. Just looking upon it was enough.

Exodus 12:13: "And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt." This is the story of the Passover — that is a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Passover lamb. 1 Corinthians 5:7 says: "For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us." God sent the angel of death and that angel went house to house. And it was sufficient for him to see blood. He did not need to look inside and see what you had changed in your life. He did not need to see that you had reformed your whole life and repented of your sins. He just needed to see blood on that door, and it was enough for him to pass over. That was a foreshadowing of what Jesus Christ has done for us. All we need to do is believe. We do not need to repent of our sins and change our lives and be good enough — because we can never be good enough. There was only one that was good enough and it was Jesus Christ.

Of course we believe and teach that a saved Christian should strive to keep God's law and walk in the spirit. Nobody is saying go do whatever you want — that is the biggest false accusation we get. I believe we are trying harder than anyone to get sin out of our lives. We will call out and condemn any and every sin, including gluttony.

Proverbs 27:6: "Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." At Soulwinning Baptist Church, we are going to tell you the truth even if it becomes a wound. We are going to be that friend that points out sin and tries to help you get rid of it. We are not going to go around flattering people, telling people they are good enough, just making each other feel good. I would rather tell you the truth even if it makes you feel bad, and I would appreciate the same in return.

Point 3: Wandering Stars in the Pentecostal and Charismatic Movement

Turn to 1 John chapter 4.

1 John 4:1–6: "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error."

Just as 1 John 5:13 teaches us we can know we have eternal life, 1 John 4 teaches us we can know the spirit of truth from the spirit of error. This is still talking about false prophets — that is what he says at the start. Many false prophets are gone out into the world. So we can know these false prophets. As it says in Matthew chapter 7, you will know them by their fruit. You will know a false prophet by his fruit, by what he produces, by his disciples. And this verse also tells us that these false prophets, these people who are leading others — we can know whether they have the spirit of truth or the spirit of error. If they are hearing and doing what the apostles said, you can say yeah, they are from God. If they are not hearing and not doing what the apostles said, you can say that is a spirit of error in that person.

Turn to Romans 16.

I spoke with brother Chris about a month ago and he told me someone was saying to him — look, fair enough, you have started up the church and you are preaching, but can you not just leave the Pentecostals out of it? Can you not just not preach about them? I have had the same thing come up to me — people saying hey, preach anything and everything else, but do not point people out, do not point sins or doctrines out.

Romans 16:17: "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them." How would we know who to avoid unless we first mark them and point them out? How are we going to know if nobody is pointing them out? Remember Matthew 23 — Jesus made sure everyone knew the Pharisees were hypocrites, blind, fools, serpents, vipers, children of hell. He made sure everyone knew that. You say that is not loving. Where is the love? Go tell that to Jesus. He did not sit there and say you hypocrites, come here, I love you. That is not what he did. Read the Bible. And before you make these comments, read the Bible cover to cover multiple times, and then come tell me how this preaching is not Christlike.

But apart from all that — I will tell you why I will not sit quietly about this. It is because I grew up in the Pentecostal church for 30 years. I have lived that roller coaster of a life where one day you are up on the hill, the next day you are in the valley. One day you think you are good enough, you have done enough good deeds, you have read the Bible enough and you are going to go to heaven. And for the next three years you condemn yourself and say man, I am going straight to hell, I am not living a good enough life. I have lived that life. I know what it is like. I know the struggle. And I thank God every day that my wife and my kids do not have to go through that. And I praise God that in spite of all the emotion and all the anxiety, God kept me in the church and God saved me. But I grew up with a lot of people that just walked away from the church and never came back. They walked away with a hatred towards church, a hatred towards God. It is because of these evil wandering stars with their damnable heresies. That is why I will not stay silent about it. That is why I will preach it as long as I have breath in my lungs.

Turn to Proverbs 31.

If you are tuning in online, you might hear us preach with more emotion and volume than what you are used to. But it is because of the love I have for you — the love I have for the people from Philadelphia, my old Pentecostal church. I wish every single one of them would come to the true saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and put their faith in Christ alone and rest in him. That is my hope. That is why I am doing this. I do not want to lift myself up. I could not care less. But I do care about the word of God and what the word of God says. And for that I am willing to make a stand no matter the cost.

Proverbs 31:8–9: "Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy." I hope that is what we can all do — open our mouths for those that are appointed to destruction, those that are on their way to destruction, and bring them the truth, the word of God, the blessed assurance of salvation.

Anyone listening online, I encourage you to be like the Bereans. Acts 17:11: "These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so." I hope anybody listening that does not agree will just cancel out the noise and open the word of God and study these verses. I have given the verses, repeated myself with every verse. It is going to be on YouTube. You can rewatch it. Take every single verse and look at it in its context. Study it for yourself. And receive it with readiness of mind. Instead of straight away condemning it — because that is what you are going to hear from everyone around you, oh those guys from that Baptist church, they just hate preach, whatever — just give it one chance. Hear the word. Receive it with readiness of mind. Look in your Bible to see if those things are true. The Bible says: "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." That is what we should all do.

It is unfortunate how many times I have heard people throw accusations at us, and when I ask them where did you hear that, or who told you that, or how do you know that — they say somebody told me, that is what everybody is saying. You have not even been to our church, you have not even watched our sermons, but you have got this massive opinion about who we are and what we preach, because everybody is saying it. But everybody was saying Jesus is a glutton and a winebibber. Everybody was saying Jesus is a heretic. Everybody was saying crucify him. That is what everybody was saying.

Now we are running out of time, so I will just give an introduction into the history of the Pentecostal movement, and there is going to have to be a part three.

The History of the Pentecostal Movement

Before we dive deeper into specifics and test the spirits as 1 John 4 tells us, I did some research and I think it is important to have a good idea of the conception and history of this movement. Growing up, we were always taught that we were blessed to be born in the Pentecostal church. Well, here is the history of the movement that turned into the Pentecostal and charismatic churches of today.

It all started around the early 1900s. Charles Fox Parham was basically the main figure from where the Holy Spirit manifestations like speaking in tongues and healing started. As a boy, Charles started conducting his first religious service at the age of 15 in a Methodist church in the US. He left the church because he was not allowed to preach by divine inspiration — he wanted to preach something other than the word of God, thinking he was getting something beyond it. He was never ordained by anyone as a pastor. But in 1900 he started his own school and church named Bethel Bible College. On 1 January 1901, at an evening service, Agnes Osman asked to be prayed for to receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit. This is where she first spoke in tongues.

Keep Agnes in mind because we will get back to her. At this point, Charles's church and following had grown considerably. He would get his members to purposely dress very stylishly when they went out in the streets to preach so that people would be attracted to this new Christian movement. Sounds a bit like the prosperity gospel.

In 1906, Charles sent out a woman pastor, Lucy Pharaoh, to Los Angeles to spread their doctrines. Something to note is that around this time many of Charles's former students from Bethel started calling him out as a fake. He was also considered a racist and a sympathiser of the Ku Klux Klan — a gang of white men who hated black people and were putting them to death. But here is where the sheep's clothing really came off this false damnable heretic. On 20 July 1907, Charles Fox Parham and J.J. Jordan were formally charged with sodomy before Justice Ben Fisk. The preliminary examination was waived and both were committed to jail with bonds set at $1,000 each. Parham initially confessed but later chose to contest the charges.

Following his arrest, his church members — named Parhamites after his last name — started going to extremes with violent exorcisms and healing rituals, killing three victims in the process because of the brutality of these rituals they were performing. I will spare you the details of how they died because it is horrific what these people were doing to disabled people and young children. There could have been up to 12 more deaths in Charles's churches, but the coroner at the time was trying to suppress information about the Parhamites. How is that for a movement founder?

Now back to Agnes, who was the first to speak in tongues — even before Charles himself. When she received this so-called gift, they say she spoke in Chinese, and after that for three days she could not speak English and was only able to write in Chinese characters. Here is a quote from Agnes herself: for a while after the baptism, I got into spiritual darkness because I did, as I see so many others doing these days, rested and revelled in tongues and other demonstrations instead of resting alone in God.

Should we even need to analyse these people with the Bible to see if they are doing what the apostles taught? I do not think we need to. But one thing I would like to point out from Agnes's experience is a recurring theme I see in so many testimonies from the Pentecostal movement — this temporal loss of control when people are supposedly baptised with the Holy Spirit and they start speaking in tongues. It is a very popular testimony where they say when they received it they just lost control of their body, they did not know what they were saying, they could not control their mouth, they were just praying for hours detached from their control. And that is the same thing we see with Agnes — for three days she could not speak English and could only speak Chinese.

Does that sound like what the Bible says? Galatians 5:22–23: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." Temperance means self-control — not loss of control. So if someone is claiming they were baptised with the Holy Spirit, but the fruit of what they were baptised with is the complete opposite of what the word of God says — God says the Holy Spirit gives you self-control, and they are telling you they could not speak English for three days — that is just contradicting the word of God. And what are we going to go by? Are we going to go by the word of God or by somebody's experience and feelings?

William J. Seymour and the Azusa Street Revival. William was a follower of Charles who continued to teach Charles's doctrines — only he stepped it up a notch. While Charles believed speaking in tongues had to be a human language, William was the one who introduced angelic and heavenly tongues. William planned a ten-day fast and prayer for people to receive the gift of tongues. The church meetings went from morning to midnight, seven days a week. That plus no eating — you can imagine the hallucinations and trances these people would have entered into. And this, my friends, is where divine tongues came from. This is who the practice of tarrying for the Holy Spirit came from. They would just go and scream aloud. That is what you see today in modern Pentecostal churches. They get everybody together, get a false prophet from overseas — who has a big belly — and he comes and tells them hey, you have got to pick a word and just blast it out of your mouth repeatedly. Just keep saying hallelujah, keep saying blood, keep saying this, keep saying that until you get tongue-tied and then you are going to receive this gift. Is that what the Bible teaches? No.

Look at Luke 11:5–13: "And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?"

Jesus here is transitioning from one example to another, building up to his main statement. It is foolish to use the earlier example of the man going to his neighbour at midnight — the Holy Spirit is not three loaves of bread. You do not need to constantly ask and constantly importune for this.

Acts 2:38: "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." You will receive it. Not you might receive it — you will receive it. Ephesians 1:13: "In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise." The moment you believe in Jesus Christ is the moment you are sealed with the Holy Spirit. And Ephesians 4:30 says you are sealed with the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption. That is what the Bible teaches.

Like I said, in Luke 11 Jesus is making this comparison, showing that even a friend and a neighbour will give his mate what he wants if he is just constantly asking for it. But then he says ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find. And then he finishes off saying look, even you being evil — if your son asks for a piece of bread you are not going to give him a scorpion. And then he says how much more is God going to give you the Holy Spirit. So it is this progressive buildup. The Holy Spirit is not something that needs to be importuned or tarried for. God freely gives his Holy Spirit to those that ask. It is not the method of constantly crying out that we need to follow from that earlier example. The point is the contrast — there is a difference between a neighbour reluctantly giving his neighbour something and God the Father freely giving you his Holy Spirit when you believe.

Matthew 22:29: "Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God." This is why the Pentecostal and charismatic movement has departed so far from reality and the Bible. They are a movement that was started by wandering stars that place their emotional experiences on a higher level than the word of God. Charles left his church because they were not letting him preach by divine inspiration — he wanted to preach something other than the word of God. These people's feelings are their authority. It is not what the word of God says — it is what they feel. And to some of these people you cannot even talk to them. You cannot even show them the Bible. They will read it in plain black and white and say I just do not feel that that is right. That is what they give you.

I pray that God will open the hearts of everybody in the Pentecostal and charismatic movement. Because what does the Bible say about feelings? Jeremiah 17:9: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" So how do they know that their manifestations and experiences are real and from God? It is all based on their deceitful heart. That is how they know — based on whether some miracle happens. But is that how John teaches us to test the spirits? Did he say if it comes to pass it means it is from God? No. He said if they do what the apostles say.

Mark 13:22: "For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect." Jesus warned us about these false prophets and even told us what they would be doing — signs and wonders. They are not going to be pretending to do signs and wonders. And this is not talking about magic tricks — it is the real deal. The Antichrist himself will receive a fatal wound and then come back to life. How are you going to know if he is from God or from the devil? I know how I am going to know, because it is written in the word of God. But if you are trusting in emotions, you will be deceived.

So in conclusion — wandering stars teach repentance of sins, which is not even possible. It is not even possible for fallen humans to repent of all their sins. Wandering stars are hypocrites, pointing out other people's sins and not holding themselves to the same standard. Gluttony is a sin and it is a lust of the flesh, and the reason people fall into it is a lack of self-control. And finally, wandering stars are the authors and founders of the Pentecostal and charismatic movement. They should be marked and avoided according to God's word.

Dear Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you Lord that you have given us something that is steadfast, that has lasted the test of time, that is pure and preserved. I pray that you help us to apply this message to our lives. Help us to notice according to your word who has the spirit of truth and who has the spirit of error. And I pray that you help us all to let the word of God be our authority in our lives. I pray that you bless the rest of this day. Bless the soul-winning. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.