The Prophet Jeremiah Part 11

Okay, let's do this then. We're going to pray, and then we will get started, and then we'll dive into our study.

Lord Jesus, again, as we open up your Word, we ask through your Holy Spirit that we would rightly understand what you have revealed there, so that we may rightly believe, confess, and do according to your

Word, and bear fruit in keeping with repentance and love towards neighbor. We ask in Jesus' name.

Amen. Now, last week, we embarked back onto our study of the book of Jeremiah.

And in our study, I pointed out a text in Jeremiah chapter 10, talking about the gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.

And I tried from memory to remember how the book of Abraham and the

Pearl of Great Price in Mormonism works, and I found the text and wanted to share it with you, because when you see this, it's kind of crazy.

So, a text called the book of Abraham that is found in the Pearl of Great Price.

Listen to this, all right? Chapter 4. And the Lord said, let us go down.

And they went down at the beginning, and they, that is the gods, organized and formed the heavens and the earth.

And the earth, after it was formed, was empty and desolate, because they had not formed anything. But the earth and darkness reigned upon the face of the deep, and the spirit of the gods was brooding over the face of the waters.

And so you're going to note something. Mormonism teaches straight out polytheism. Now, what's interesting is that when you go on the

Mormons, you know, the LDS websites, they readily admit that they not only believe in gods, they believe in goddesses.

And this is all a big part of something called Gnosticism. And much of what

Joseph Smith taught, he ripped off and then twisted.

The best way I can put it, he stole some concepts from Freemasonry and put his own little spin on it.

And people who are Freemasons claim that the temple services within Mormonism look like either straight plagiarism of certain initiatic rites within Freemasonry, but that's where he got a lot of this stuff from.

And this idea of gods and goddesses, because, you know, this is the idea of Gnosticism.

And which is part of the big problem that we see presenting itself in the book of Jeremiah. And that is that God is speaking against the polytheism, the idolatry of Judah, the tribe of Judah.

And so we now continue then with Jeremiah chapter 11. So the word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, So shall you be my people, and I be your

God, that I may confirm the oath that I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day.

And then I answered, So be it, Lord. And Yahweh said to me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem.

Hear the words of this covenant and do them. For I solemnly warned your fathers when I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, warning them persistently, even to this day, saying,

Obey my voice. And isn't it fascinating, you know?

Nothing's really changed, you know, the difficulties we have in our life. And the apostasy that's running rampant in so many sectors of the visible church, you know the voice they don't listen to?

The voice of God in the scriptures. I mentioned this in one of the

Bible studies. I think it was a men's Bible study. In order for me to see certain heretics on social media,

I have a research account that I use. I don't really make any comments or anything like that, but I use it because there's this weird thing that happens, and that is a lot of people who are heretics, they block me.

You know, it's strange. I mean, even heretics I've never even covered on my podcast or on my

YouTube channel. When I look them up, especially on Twitter, I get the notice, you have been blocked from seeing this account.

And I'm all, I never said anything about you, you know, yet. And so what's really interesting is that, so there's a group of super ravaged feminist theologians that I follow on Twitter.

Holy guacamole, these ladies are rabid. But one of them is an ELCA pastor.

And it's not Nadia Bowles -Weber, it's somebody else. And she's been going after any conservative male pastor who favorably quotes biblical texts that talk about, you know, how we're male and female, that we're complementary, we complement each other and we're different and we have different roles.

Oh, she loses her mind. And she recently was going after a fellow by the name of Owen Strachan.

If you remember, what did I say? Strand. The guy who spoke on our conference.

Okay, Owen Strand. He, get this, he was guilty of committing this sin. Favorably quoting, are you ready?

Titus 2. Gasp! He did what? Okay, and I'll show you the text because it's kind of interesting.

In Titus 2, talking about sound doctrine,

Paul writes, As for you, teach with accords with sound doctrine.

You know, sound doctrine, right? Okay. Speak truthfully, don't lie about God, don't break that commandment, you shall not misuse the name of the

Lord your God. That kind of stuff, right? And then he gives some practical advice for the congregation there.

Older men are to be sober -minded, dignified, self -controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness.

Watch this. Older women, likewise, are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, and there's a reason why that has to be in the list so high up there, slaves to much wine.

They are to teach what is good and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self -controlled, pure, working at home, kind and submissive to their own husbands, and the word of God may not be reviled.

Okay, this lady, I mean, she went on at least 15 -tweet rant.

Okay, lost her ever -living mind. Okay. Okay. And her main argument as to why this text needs to be rejected, well,

I'll show you further in the context. You can kind of see already, well, this just seems like good old wholesome, biblical womanhood, right?

That's the thing she hates. But I'll give you an example, though, of why we should reject this passage is because starting at verse 9 it says bond servants, which the

Greek word is douloi. These are slaves, people who are slaves. Slaves are to be submissive to their own masters.

You see, it says slaves have to obey their masters, therefore women don't have to do this. The reason why is because apparently the fact that Paul would dare to tell a slave to be submissive to his master, that shows

Paul's evil understanding of things. He should have told the slaves to rise up and revolt against their masters and stuff like this, right?

And so since Paul quotes, basically quotes slavery, and the solution to slavery at the time is if you're a slave and you don't own yourself, be a good one.

Be a good one. That somehow discredits this whole passage. Right? Crazy.

Crazy when you think about it. By the way, all right, you'll note that when the scriptures say things like slaves obey your masters, that Christianity first and foremost solves the problem of our slavery to sin, death, and the devil.

And in this cursed creation that we live in, under the fall, slavery is a thing.

It still is to this day. And I would note there are certain portions of sub -Saharan

Africa where it's a real problem. It's bigger now than anything. Yeah, it's bigger now than anything, right?

And you'll note then what happens if you are a

Christian and you are absconded. Is that the right verb?

You're Shanghai, taken against your will to a sub -Saharan third world hell hole and you are sold into slavery.

How are you to do your good works? What are you to do? Because gone are the days of you thinking that you're going to make a big difference in the world.

Okay? Yet so much for having a big purpose, right? What do you do? How do you do your good works?

Answer. Be the best slave ever. Be a model slave.

Are you out of your mind? Jesus says that that's a good work. So you can do your good works as a free man.

You can do your good works as a slave. And you'll note that ultimately Christianity does not exist to get rid of human slavery.

Human slavery is a consequence of sin. And I absolutely abhor it. I do not defend it as an institution.

And what took place in the United States as slavery is strictly forbidden by God. Okay?

You'll note that in Scripture it is contrary to God's law to actually enslave people.

Okay? Whereas slavery in the ancient world, in the biblical theocracy of Israel, was a means by which somebody who was bankrupt could work their way back to solvency.

And it was always temporary. You know, not to be longer than six years and every slave had to be set free at the

Jubilee. You get the idea. So all of that being said, when liberal progressive pastrixes, which, by the way, there's no such thing.

If you believe in pastrixes, I ask do you believe in flaming snowflakes? Do you believe that gravity is one of these things that doesn't apply to you?

Things like this. Pastrixes are not a thing. But when pastrixes basically dismiss wholesome words given to us by God on the grounds that, well, it favorably quotes slavery, no, you're kind of missing the whole point, lady.

And you don't even, you know, and you'll note what she's trying to do is attack Scripture. Because then why is she offended by this one?

Because what's described here as a godly woman is the exact opposite of what she is. Let's be blunt.

Okay? So all of this then, in the context of what we are reading in Jeremiah, and that is that the person who casts the words of God behind them, they're cursed.

You're not dealing with somebody who's sound of mind when they are attacking the Scriptures.

You're dealing with somebody who is the opposite of it. God says, Obey my voice.

Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart.

You know, like today. Therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which

I commanded them to do, but they did not. You'll note when you read the

Mosaic Covenant, the last part of the book of Deuteronomy has some horrifying consequences for persistence in rebellion.

Remember, the Mosaic Covenant is a land lease agreement. In order to stay in the land that God gave them, there are certain obligations that they need to fulfill.

And disobeying God's voice and worshipping false gods is, well, that's straight up the first thing on the list you're not supposed to do.

And there are ever -increasing consequences, including, but not limited to, being exiled out of the land.

That was one of the consequences. So again, Yahweh said to me, A conspiracy exists among the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

A what? Oh no, God's a conspiracy theorist. No, He's not.

He knows for a fact that human evil, people like to work together for the purpose of overthrowing and working against God and His word.

So a conspiracy exists among the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused, here we go again, to hear my words.

They have gone after other gods to serve them, the house of Israel and the house of Judah. They have broken my covenant

I made with their fathers. Therefore, thus says Yahweh, Behold, I am bringing disaster upon them that they cannot escape.

Though they cry to me, I will not listen to them. Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry to the gods to whom they make offerings, but they cannot save them in the time of their trouble.

So note here, and this is another one of the themes, and you'll see this. You see it in Isaiah.

You also see it in Jeremiah, very bluntly. This idea that God will send calamity, disaster, and judgment for their impenitence, and then when it arrives, the prophet will say,

Well, why don't you call out to Baal? I'm sure he'll save you. If he can hear.

If he even exists. It's only God who can deliver from calamity.

Only God. For your gods have become as many as your cities,

O Judah, and as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars that you've set up to shame. Altars to make offerings to Baal.

It's horrifying. Their gods have multiplied multitudinously.

And if you think about the pantheon of deities that existed for the Greco -Roman world, they had a deity for pretty much any ailment that you had.

Do you have mold in your house? Well, there's a deity. You can make an offering to that deity for the purpose of that deity then getting rid of and eradicating the mold in your house.

You have mice and vermin. There's a deity for that. It kind of sounds like the saints in Roman Catholicism.

You need to sell your house? A St. Joseph statue buried in your yard will do the trick. It's crazy when you think about it.

Therefore, do not pray for this people or lift up a cry or prayer on their behalf.

I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble. What right has my beloved in my house when she has done many vile deeds?

Can even sacrificial flesh avert your doom? Can you then exult?

Yahweh once called you a green olive tree, beautiful with good fruit, but with the roar of a great tempest, he will set fire to it and its branches will be consumed.

Yahweh... Here we go again with that word savah. This is the armies. Yahweh of armies who planted you, he has decreed disaster against you because of the evil that the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done, provoking me to anger by making offerings to Baal.

Now, a little bit of a note here. In our day and age, you'll know that there are a lot of people who are visible in the church who shouldn't be.

And they've been taking a look at the COVID pandemic, now endemic.

They've been looking at everything going on in the Ukraine and they are prognosticating proliferously, right?

Is that the right word? Profusely? And in their prognostications, they are all saying that the devil is the one sending these things.

I see what's going on and I sit there and go, I think we need to get on our face and repent of our own sins.

That's kind of how I see it. And what's really interesting, I read an article in The Atlantic, and don't ask me why

I was even reading that. But it was an article in The Atlantic and it had to do with the similarities between the

COVID pandemic and what's happening in the Ukraine compared to 100 years ago with the flu pandemic.

So in 1918, Americans and people around the world were locked up and they were required to mask up.

And this went on for several years. And the flu pandemic basically came to an end because people were despairing.

They were absolutely just exhausted from having to wear a mask at this constant threat.

And there was an actual novella written about a young woman who lived during that time.

And it kind of captures in the novel format the anxieties that this young woman was going through because of the flu pandemic as well as the outbreak of World War I.

And the two were strung together in such a way that it was very much a thing for the younger generation at that time that they were despairing and just thinking that they'll never be able to experience normal life again.

That was a thing back then. And I'm thinking, dang, the parallels between then and now are eerie.

And we're only like a couple years off to the 100 -year synchronization of all of that.

But all of that being said, again, when we see what's happening in the world, we need to pause and reflect on the fact that it's absolutely possible.

In fact, I would give even biblical evidence from the Book of Revelation that the outpouring of diseases and wars and pestilences when you read the

Book of Revelation, these are God's judgments on idolatrous, rebellious, sinful humanity.

And that these are designed for the purpose of getting our attention so that we sit there and go,

Lord, this is truly what we deserve. I'm sorry, please forgive me.

And what's frightening for me in all of this is that 100 years ago, people were calling out to God to have mercy.

Today, yeah, not so much. And so much of the messaging within the visible church has more to do with, you need to take your royal authority and decree and declare the end of the pandemic in your region and weird stuff like this.

It's just crazy. And then don't even get me started on just how far off everyone is regarding all these bizarre conspiracy theories.

One fellow I saw on social media was saying, that God chose

Putin for the purpose of undoing a Luciferian plot in the

Ukraine. And that this was just weird stuff. And you're sitting there going, what am

I watching? And this guy is, you know, he's vocally a Christian. And it's like, okay, just we've lost our minds, all right?

So the Lord of hosts who planted you has decreed disaster against you because of the evil that the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done, provoking me to anger by making offerings to Baal.

Then Yahweh made it known to me and I knew. Then you showed me their deeds, but I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter.

I didn't know it was against me. They devised schemes saying, let us destroy the tree with its fruit.

Let us cut him off from the land of the living that his name be remembered no more. But oh, Lord of hosts,

Lord of armies, who judges righteously, who tests the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance upon them for to you

I have committed my cause. So in the midst of all of this, Jeremiah is made known to him that as part of the conspiracy that God was speaking against here, that people wanted to unshackle themselves from God altogether, that Jeremiah was top of their list to do in, okay?

I always find it fascinating when people believe they're doing the work of the

Lord and the work of the Lord includes murdering somebody they don't like, you know?

How does that work exactly? Okay, I don't like what you're saying.

I'd kill you in the name of God, okay? It seems a little off to me.

I'm not sure where the disconnect is. I'll have to ruminate on that a little bit more. It just seems odd to me.

All right, so we continue. Therefore, thus says Yahweh concerning the men of Anathoth, who seek your life and say, do not prophesy in the name of Yahweh or you will die by our hand.

You preach the truth? I kill you, kill you, death to you, right?

Wow, okay. Therefore, thus says Yahweh of armies, behold, I'll punish them. The young men shall die by their sword, their sons and daughters shall die by famine.

None of them shall be left, for I will bring disaster upon the men of Anathoth the year of their punishment.

So Jeremiah's complaint. Righteous are you, O Yahweh, when I complain to you, yet I would plead my case before you.

Why does the way of the wicked prosper? You know, if you've asked this question, you're in good company.

And who of us hasn't asked a question like this of God? Why is it that it seems like the people who believe in Christ, who really trust

Him, who they care about sound doctrine, they are careful to obey

His commands, and when they sin and they err, they repent and cry out to God to have mercy on them.

Why is it that they don't do so hot in this lifetime? But you look at like the rank evil.

They are bazillionaires. Just absolute bazillionaires.

And then, you know, you think of the Russian oligarchs right now, right? I saw a video on YouTube, and it was an interview with a hotel, former hotel employee who worked in a five -diamond resort, you know, a hotel that could only be, you know, to stay there for one night was like 2 ,500 bucks.

Could you imagine paying 2 ,500 bucks to stay at a hotel for one night?

All right? He was telling, talking about in this video, the absolute debauchery of the uber wealthy.

On several occasions, they would rent out the entire hotel.

And in order to do that, we're talking, you know, for one evening, you know, half a million bucks, right?

And that the parties that they would engage in, the drugs, the sex, and all this kind of stuff that the uber rich, you know, do amongst themselves.

And the stories he told was like, what on earth? Completely different lifestyle altogether.

And then he talked about, and when that happens, the hotel staff, they're lucky if they get 20 bucks in tips, you know.

And you sit there and you go, how is it that the way of the wicked prospered?

Think of Jeffrey Epstein, right? Horrifying. Horrifying. And we know because of the conviction of Ghislaine Maxwell that what was put out in the media about that fellow, true!

Trafficking in young women, and the guy was a bazillionaire, hobnobbing with presidents and senators and major corporation heads and stuff like this, people in Hollywood.

Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive?

One potential answer has to do with what the devil offered Jesus, bow down and worship me, and I'll give you all these things, right?

But Jeremiah says, you plant them, they take root, they grow and they produce fruit, you are near in their mouth, far from their heart.

Note that the people he's describing, they talk about God with their mouth, praise the

Lord, brother, and pass the cocaine, right? Weird stuff, okay?

But you, oh Lord, you know me, you see me, you test my heart towards you. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, set them apart for the day of slaughter.

How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field wither? For the evil of those who dwell in it, the beasts, the birds are swept away because they said he will not see our latter end.

So you're gonna note here, Jeremiah is making note about the fact that even the animal kingdom, nature itself is being horrifically and adversely impacted by the wicked.

Yeah, pay attention. Somebody says, well, my sin is between me and myself and I, you don't need to be involved in it.

It's a private thing. Yeah, well, the earth is being destroyed because of it, right? So the

Lord answers Jeremiah, if you have raced with men on foot and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses?

Okay, and if in a safe land you are so trusting, what will you do in the thicket of Jordan?

Yeah, where it's not safe. For even your brothers in the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you.

They are in full cry after you. So note who's also against Jeremiah, his father and his brothers.

Oh man, how many of you have experienced family angst as a result of your confession of true saving faith in Christ, right?

What's the church you guys go to again? What's a Kongsvinger? What's that cult leader teaching over there?

Salvation by grace through faith alone, what? No, he's teaching the Bible. We can't be, you're in a cult.

You gotta get out, right? And this is family members saying that.

Even they have dealt treacherously. They are in full cry after you. Do not believe them, though they speak friendly words to you.

Oh, it's so good to see you. Let me go find my knife. Okay, I have forsaken my house,

God says. I've abandoned my heritage. I've given the beloved of my soul into the hands of her enemies.

My heritage has become to me like a lion in the forest. She has lifted up her voice against me, therefore

I hate her. Is my heritage to me like a hyena's lair?

Are the birds of prey against her all around? Go assemble all the wild beasts. Bring them to devour.

Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard. Here we go again. Who's destroying the vineyard of God? Shepherds, right?

Again, this is using pastoral language. It's not talking about actual shepherds.

Yeah, the reason why there's so much evil in Judah is because of them shepherds out in the fields keeping their flocks by night.

No, that's not the reason. Okay, here the shepherds are being used as a term for those who are supposed to be teaching the

Word of God. The pastors, the rabbis in the synagogue, they're the ones destroying my vineyard.

Yep, they've trampled down my portion. They have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.

They have made it a desolation. Desolate, it mourns to me. The whole land is made desolate, but no man lays it to his heart.

Whole land is desolate and everyone goes, huh, so what? All right. Upon all the bare heights in the desert.

By the way, if you want to think about this, you want to know the real cause of global warming, not that I'm a believer in it?

Sin. It has nothing to do with carbon emissions.

It has to do with sin emissions. Upon all the bare heights in the desert, destroyers have come.

The sword of Yahweh devours from one end of the land to the other. No flesh has peace. They have sown wheat and they have reaped thorns.

They have tired themselves out, but profit nothing. They shall be ashamed of their harvest because of the fierce anger of Yahweh.

Crop failures as a result of sin. Right? And God's lamenting the fact that even then they're not going to take it to heart.

Oh well, I guess we lost another one. In this context, no,

I think this is actually talking about real kind of sword type of judgments. Verse 14,

Thus says Yahweh concerning all my evil neighbors who touch the heritage that I have given my people

Israel to inherit. Behold, I'll pluck them up from their land and I'll pluck up the house of Judah from among them.

And after I've plucked them up, I'll again have compassion on them. So God here, this is a prophecy about what's going to happen to the

Babylonians who God is going to call for the purpose of putting Judah under judgment, put them into exile, and then

God's going to punish Babylon for their evil. And after I've plucked them up again,

I will have compassion on them. I will bring them again to his heritage and each to his land, and it shall come to pass if they will diligently learn the ways of my people to swear by my name as Yahweh lives, even as they taught my people to swear by Baal, just flip the script, then they shall be built up in the midst of my people.

But if any nation will not listen, then I will utterly destroy, pluck it up, and destroy it, declares

Yahweh. I'm beginning to think that God has more to do with disaster than the devil. Just beginning to think that.

Chapter 13. Now let me check questions here. Before we dive into chapter 13, let's see if there are any questions.

All right. Okay, Boston drivers are demon -possessed. I'm sorry to hear this, Rachel. Let's see.

But can anything good come from Boston? I mean, you know, thinking Red Sox, you know, this is...

Not that I should talk about baseball at all, because it's not happening right now. It's the fact that baseball can't even happen.

That's a judgment of God right now. It's, you know... Don't you know that every time we get to April and it's opening day, everything is right with the universe?

Okay. This is how this works. Okay. Now, I understand that's hard to believe, because, you know, the

Minnesota team is... Can't even talk about that. The one that plays in Target Field.

But, you know... Never mind. Okay. What was that?

All right. Vikings first. Sorry, sorry, sorry.

All right. Let's see here. Jen says, I want to see the Dakotas, Montana. I want to see an

Aurora Borealis. You know, so here's the interesting thing, Jen. Those can happen any time of the year. And they are a finicky thing.

It took me a few years before I was here, before I was able to actually see it spectacularly.

And I had to go out on several occasions and kind of deal with weak Auroras before I actually saw it in all of its glory.

But, yeah, it's worth seeing. It's a finicky thing. And it does happen technically in the summer. It's just that you have less darkness to actually potentially see it.

Huh? You've seen... Yeah. More darkness. Yeah. Well, here it's...

No, there's less darkness in the summer. Because the sun doesn't go down until 10, and you have blue hour until like midnight.

You know? Yeah. You know, it's just... It's annoying. Okay. Anyway, whatever

I said backwards, just flip it. I don't care. I've just gotten to the point.

I'm just old. I just don't care. All right. Okay. All right. Karen says, all right, maybe the

New Earth can just explore these areas. You know, I'm going to go fishing for the first thousand years myself.

I won't be around for a while. Okay. Wisconsin's beautiful. All right. We've got like travel advice in here.

If you guys are looking for... If you want to see the Dakotas and Montana, come to the homecoming on the prairie in the summer, you know, and then do a little driving trip around.

So... Second job out of college was a traveling job. I made it over to half the states. Okay. Let's see here.

Let's see. You know, pastor, you don't have to... Okay. Preemptive blocking. Yeah, that happens to me. What about servants who threw

Jezebel out the window? Was that a good work? Okay. Okay. Okay.

Okay. So let's talk about the death of Jezebel for a second because it's so cool.

So the answer to the question is yes, actually, it is a good work. And here's the reason being, is that God actually promised, prophesied her demise.

And rather than repent, which is really weird because her husband Ahab actually had a legitimate turnaround and he repented.

Jezebel did not. And it was prophesied how she would die and what would end up happening to her body.

And the person who killed her did so after being anointed king. And so he acted within his royal office.

So we're going to note that when it comes to Jezebel, this was not some mercenary action on the part of some person who took it upon themselves and made themselves a deputy.

This was actually a royal action on the part of the rightful king of the northern kingdom.

So keep that in mind. How timely this Jeremiah study is in light of how the sermon and listening to God's voice alone.

So Karen, I always like it when it works out this way, but I'll be blunt. And that is that so many texts in Scripture are overtly or even kind of as a subtext telling you listen to the voice of God.

Listen to his voice. And yet how many of us on a day -to -day basis have the struggle to do that?

So it's always demonic or from the devil. It reminds me of Todd White and his sickness, heart condition.

He said that it was from the devil, the demonic. What if it's from God giving him a chance to repent and believe?

I personally believe that what happened to Todd White is an opportunity for him to repent because it was again, it showed the duplicity of his lies

You know, Todd White who flies around the world lengthening legs. And here's the thing.

You cannot engage in that parlor trick innocently.

Okay. I assure you every time I do this, are you ready?

Here we go. Okay. Keep your eyes on this. Every time I go. I know the truth of what's happening here.

Okay. So every time Todd White takes somebody's ankle and manipulates the angle of their foot in order to make it look like it's lengthening, he knows what he's doing.

You can't do that innocently. You can't. In fact, the whole point of magic tricks is they are intentionally illusions.

It's a form of deception. Being a good magician requires you to be a good liar. Okay. And Todd White is engaging in parlor tricks and he has been telling everybody that what he's been doing are real miracles and then he twists

God's word for the purpose of telling everybody that God wills that everybody be healed.

Yeah. So what did God do? He gave him a pretty serious heart condition and one has to wonder if that's not associated with the steroids that he's been taking while he's lifting weights because he's been bulking up for years.

One has to wonder. And so here's the thing. God was merciful to him. Gave him a heart condition rather than just kill him outright.

Gave him a heart condition. Struck him down with COVID for a little bit and he's been unable to work really productively for months now.

The right thing for him to do is basically say, God was merciful to me. I've been a liar and a deceiver and I've been twisting

God's word and I'm stepping down and I'm going to be attending

Kongsvinger online. Yeah, he'd be welcome.

Absolutely he'd be welcome here. So you get the idea here. Or he can attend any church where somebody is faithfully preaching

Christ. Okay. All right, so yes, I think Romans. Benny Hinn's Holy Ghost Machine Gun.

What? Yeah, about that one. I remember years ago when

Walter Martin was showing Benny Hinn to be the flim flam scam artist that he was. Benny Hinn on TBN basically said that God was going to kill all of his critics.

That God told him that he was going to strike down those who were speaking against him. Through natural causes?

No, through unnatural ones. And what's really sad in that regard, it was a few years later that Walter Martin died.

And he died kind of an untimely death. But basically he had an aneurysm pop in his brain and that was the end of him.

All right, let's see here. Watching my time. We have a few more minutes. Chapter 13. So thus says

Yahweh to me, Go and buy a linen loincloth. I'm glad they don't sell these anymore. Put it around your waist.

Do not dip it in water. I bought a loincloth according to the word of Yahweh. Put it around my waist.

And the word of Yahweh came to me a second time. Take the loincloth that you have bought, which is around your waist.

Arise and go to the Euphrates. Hide it there in a cleft of the rock. That is a field trip and a half.

Okay, because Judah and the Euphrates, that's a little bit of a journey.

So I went and I hid it by the Euphrates as Yahweh commanded me. And after many days,

Yahweh said to me, Arise and go to the Euphrates and take from there the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there.

Hope you made a map. Okay. So then I went to the Euphrates and dug and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it and behold the loincloth was spoiled.

Oh good, you won't have to wear it again. Okay. It was good for nothing. Okay. Believe me, if I even had a loincloth today that was actually in good condition, it would still be good for nothing.

All right. Maybe use it as a dust rag or something. All right. So then the word of Yahweh came to me. Thus says

Yahweh, Even so I will spoil the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.

This evil people who refuse to hear my words, here we go again, who stubbornly follow their own hearts, there's your problem right there, and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth which is good for nothing.

So you know that God sometimes uses object lessons. The object lesson of the spoiled loincloth is for the purpose of demonstrating, this is what's going to happen to the pride of Judah.

For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to me, declares

Yahweh, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory. But they would not listen.

You shall speak to them this word, thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, Every jar shall be filled with wine and they will say to you,

Do we not indeed know that every jar will be filled with wine? Then you shall say to them,

Thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will fill with drunkenness all the inhabitants of this land, the kings who sit on David's throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

I will dash them one against another. Fathers and sons together, declares the

Lord, I will not pity or spare or have compassion that I should not destroy them.

So here you're going to note drunkenness. This is really kind of hinting at the fury of the wrath of God, oftentimes described as a cup that people are being made to drink.

You're going to drink to the dregs, the cup of the fury of the wrath of God. That's kind of what's being invoked here.

And you'll note, nowhere in Scripture is drunkenness ever spoken of favorably.

And I say that because you think of the so -called Toronto Blessing when you had

Rodney Howard Brown, the so -called Holy Ghost bartender. They claimed it was a manifestation of the

Holy Spirit, that they were drunk in the Spirit. I remember, it was probably about a decade ago,

Phil Johnson actually did a short video with Rodney Howard Brown at the so -called

Toronto Blessing. And in the video, he showed that Brown's Bible on that day remained closed on the top of the pulpit, if you can really call it a pulpit.

But it remained closed. He looked like he was going to open it, and then he remained closed. And he said a few crazy, bizarre things and said that the bar was open and the whole place just erupted and people going, just acting like they were drunk.

And over and again, drunkenness, here in this context, this is the drunkenness of God's wrath.

And you think of 2 Thessalonians talking about God sending a strong delusion on people, right?

Exile threatened. Hear and give ear. Be not proud. Yahweh has spoken.

Give glory to Yahweh, your God, before he brings darkness. Before your feet stumble on the twilight mountains, and while you look for light, he turns it into gloom and makes it deep darkness.

But if you will not listen, my soul will weep, in secret for your pride. My eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears, because Yahweh's flock has been taken captive.

Listen, open your ears. Stop hardening your hearts against God's word. Say to the king and to the queen mother, take a lowly seat, for your beautiful crown has come down from your head.

The cities of the Negev are shut up, with none to open them. All Judah is taken into exile, wholly taken into exile.

Lift up your eyes and see, those who come from the north, where is the flock that was given to you, your beautiful flock?

What will you say when they set as head over you, those whom you yourself have taught to be friends to you?

Will not pangs take hold of you, like those of a woman in labor? Here we go again. So when

Jesus talks about the end times, describes them in terms of a woman in labor, these are labor pains.

This is a picture of God's judgment. Labor pains, was that a natural part of the creation?

No, it's part of the fall. So if you say in your heart, why have these things come upon me?

It is for the greatness of your iniquity, and that your skirts are lifted up and you suffer violence.

Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good, who are accustomed to do evil.

I will scatter you like chaff, driven by the wind from the desert. This is your lot. The portion I have measured out for you, declares

Yahweh, because you have forgotten me and you have trusted in lies. All the people claim to be prophets today, they are spewing lies, utter nonsense.

And yet how many hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people, believe those are words from God.

They trust in them, right? I myself will lift up your skirts over your face and your shame will be seen.

God's going to expose their nakedness. Now here, nakedness is shown as a sign of sin. I have seen your abominations, your adulteries, your nayings, your lewd whorings on the hills, in the field.

Woe to you, oh Jerusalem. How long will it be before you are made clean? And I think it's such a depressing text, right?

We'll take any last questions and we'll wrap up for the day here. Sobering when you consider it.

I've yet to hear Joel Osteen preach on these texts. How would he?

How could he? All right, like Benny Hintz. There we go. All right, so no other questions.

All right, so here's what we'll do. We'll leave off here and next week we will pick up at Jeremiah chapter 14. Lord willing, peace to you.