Removing the High Places — Don Currin

Solomon’s Reign and Spiritual Decline

You know, as you study the life of Solomon, you find that in those days that he reigned as king in Jerusalem, it consisted of 40 years, and if you were to break down those 40 years, you'd find that the first four years, approximately, were characterized by blessing.

The next 20 years were characterized by busyness or building, and the last 16 years were characterized by spiritual baroness, as he became an adulterer and an idol worshiper. And I want you to notice, I love the structure of the old King James, for the first word in chapter 11 is a conjunction, that big, bold, pronounced transitional conjunction.

The Holy Spirit says,. But King Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zinnians, and Hittites, of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go into them, neither shall they come in unto you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.

Solomon claimed unto these in love. And he had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. And it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods.

And his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. And Solomon went after Astereth, the goddess of the Zinnians, and after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites.

And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord. Now underscore this next phrase. And went not fully after the Lord. And went not fully after the Lord, as did David his father. Then did Solomon build a high place for Shemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon.

And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods. And the Lord was angry with Solomon. The Lord was angry with Solomon. My family and I recently toured the Museum of Art at Bob Jones University.

Solomon’s Apostasy and the Question of Conversion

It's quite a display of various paintings of various religious stories in the Bible. And in one room in particular, I was quite taken by a painting entitled Solomon's Apostasy. The painting has Solomon there, surrounded by three wives, who were pointing toward an idol that had been erected in his home.

And you look at the countenance of Solomon, and his eyes are riveted on that idol, on that idol. You know, it's interesting here in the text, there are certain things that you see as a spiritual digression in Solomon's life that led to his apostasy.

You know, brethren, I look at Solomon's life, and there is a tendency for me to wonder if the man was converted. Now, before you react to that, I believe he was saved. But it's interesting that he is not in the Hall of Faith.

There are two reasons why I believe that he was converted. First of all, you see to some degree his repentance and brokenness in Ecclesiastes, as he says there at the end of the book, Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

But a second reason I believe he was converted was Peter says that the Bible was given to us as holy men of old were moved by the Holy Spirit. And I can't see God using an unregenerate man to give us His word.

So I believe that he was saved. But his salvation in looking at his life and considering his idolatry and his apostasy is somewhat suspect. Well, there's some things that you'll notice here that I believe contributed to this terrible digression.

The First Cause: Sensual Desires Over Spiritual Appetites

Look in chapter 11 and verse number 1. You find first of all that his spiritual declension began when he allowed the sensual to prevail over the spiritual. The Holy Spirit says,. But King Solomon loved many strange women.

I believe that when we allow our sensual itches to be catered to more than our spiritual appetites and desires, we may indeed be on the high road to apostasy. Listen, one person said,. The world is littered with the debris of what flesh has promised but been unable to provide.

This man allowed his sensual desires to prevail over his spiritual desires. And at any time in our life that we are more concerned about catering to our own drives, to our own desires, than in feeding upon God's word and ministering to the spiritual man within us, friend, we may be on the threshold of apostasy.

Divided Affections and Partial Obedience

There's a second thing that you'll see, and that is in 1 Kings 11 and verse number 6. His affections were divided between two masters. It says there that he went not fully after the Lord as did David his father.

He went not fully after the Lord. Listen friend, someone has said that he that is abandoned to God will never be abandoned by God. There are many people today that are dabbling with sin, who have divided affections.

Their hearts, their desires, they've allowed to be divided between two masters. They're trying to get the best out of both worlds. And the Lord Jesus said, if a man puts his hand to the plow and looks back, he is not fit for the kingdom of God.

Someone has said that partial obedience is total disobedience. Amaziah was such a man. You recall in 2 Chronicles 25 that the Bible said he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart, not wholeheartedly.

Solomon is following the Lord, but he is not going fully after the Lord as did David his father. What is God's desire for each one of us? What does God delight in in mine and your lives? Colossians chapter 1 and verse 10 says that she might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing.

He wants thorough obedience, not partial obedience. Partial obedience is total disobedience. But thirdly, you find another element in this digression, and that is in verse number 7, his desires constrain him to make provision for the flesh.

High Places as Provision for the Flesh

It says there, Then did Solomon build a high place for Shemash, a high place, a provision for Solomon's flesh. He still desired to serve two gods. And now his secret homage, his secret devotion is being manifested outwardly as he constructs a high place, an altar, a place of worship to express his devotion and affections to this God.

Surely the prophecy of the Lord was fulfilled when God said, These strange wives will turn away your heart from me. But Solomon clathed unto these in lust. You find here in the text that there are tragic consequences for serving two masters.

First of all, in verse 9, it says the Lord was angry, angry with Solomon. Secondly, it caused a loss of privilege for his own son, Rehoboam. Look at it in verse number 11. Wherefore, the Lord said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenants and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant.

Notwithstanding, in the days, I will not do it for David thy father's sake, but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. Men, how many of us, if we are content to follow two gods, try to get the best from two different worlds, could we deprive our own children of glorious privileges that God has intended for them?

They may lose the honor and the privilege of experiencing greater depth and spiritual height with the Lord Jesus Christ. But there's a third thing, another repercussion, and that is God raised up adversaries against Solomon.

You'll notice in verse number 14, it speaks there of the first adversary, Hadad. And then in verse 23, there was Rethan. And then in verse 26, there is Jeroboam. These three adversaries were constantly badgering.

They were a thorn in Solomon's side. Now, I want you to look with me, if you would, and here's a message today. I want to speak to you for the next few moments on the danger of high places. The danger of high places.

Or maybe a subtitle that would be very appropriate is how to maintain victory over sin in your walk with God. What can we do to experience sustained victory in the upcoming days? You come to a prayer van, you go to a revival conference, and God profoundly, significantly works in your heart.

You are cleansed, you experience the fresh bathing of God's grace, you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you leave with a fresh expectation, and then you go home. And how quickly do we go back to the old way of living.

How quickly do we seem to gravitate to certain things in our life that causes a loss of enthusiasm toward the Lord and consequently is replaced with a spirit of disillusionment. And so this afternoon, I wanted to share with you some thoughts, once again out of God's Word and out of my own heart, in this matter of how to maintain victory in the days ahead.

Defining High Places in Israel

Well, first of all, you find there in verse number seven that Solomon built a high place. What was a high place in the life of Israel? Listen carefully. It was a ridge, a plateau, or elevated platform where cultic objects were placed for the purpose of pagan worship.

Let me repeat that. It was a ridge, plateau, or elevated platform where cultic objects were placed for the purpose of pagan worship. It was an altar where both Baal and God could be worshipped. Now, there's some interesting side notes in regard to high places, and if you'll permit me, I'm just laying a theological foundation here.

Six things I would mention to you concerning these high places. Number one, you find that oftentimes kings were rated by their attitude toward high places. You know, we look at politicians today, and many times we assess them on the basis of how they look at the budget, whether they're for a balanced budget or foreign trade, or we consider their morals regarding abortion, or maybe even our national defense, the military.

But in those days, the people who put these guys in control and leadership, many times these men's lives were gauged, they were evaluated by how they looked, how they related to high places. Secondly, these, or they were foundations of mental images.

For example, if a person had a problem with worshipping another god, and say God moved upon their life, if the high places were not level there in that kingdom, in that country, many times they would pass a high place on the roadside, they could look at it, and their mind would immediately flash back at the god or gods that they had worshipped there.

It was a foundation of mental images. Thirdly, they were known for immorality. Both spiritual and physical adultery were performed there. Do you know to worship any god is to commit spiritual adultery?

The Apostle James says, ye adulterers and adulteresses, know you not that friendship with this world is enmity with God. He that would be a friend of this world is an enemy of God. Spiritual adultery is the product of worshipping another god, another idol.

Number four, something else that's of extreme importance about high places is children were sacrificed there. And even in our present day, I wonder how many kids have been sacrificed on the altar of high places in Christian homes?

And we're going to look at that in a moment. But children were sacrificed there. Number five, these high places presented the temptation to serve another master. There was always that enticement to be drawn away, to bow down, to worship, to follow after another god.

And then number six, they provided always the potential of apostasy. The potential of apostasy. I have two boys in my home, Nathan and Aaron. They're 17 and 18 years of age. The warning that I've pressed upon their mind in the last few years, I said, boys, you have been raised in a Christian home.

You've traveled with me all over the country. You've heard me preach. You've heard me in far greater than myself preach the Bible. You have been subjected to a Word-centered homeschool curriculum. You've rubbed shoulders with some of God's choicest servants.

High Places and Apostasy

But I said, I'm here to tell you, if you turn your back upon those good graces of God and go into the world, and you live in the world, and you love the world, and you forsake God, and you spurn the truth of God's Word, and you walk in the imaginations of your own heart, number one, it's going to prove that you did not have a saving faith.

You had a human faith. And secondly, you're going to run the risk of being an apostate. You will lose even the potential of ever being converted. Now, nobody knows but God when a person crosses over that line.

But friend, if you renounce, if you cast off these good graces of God that are conduits that God works through to bring conversion to the soul of men, and you go your own way, knowing the light, but yet spurning that light, you run the risk of becoming an apostate.

And if we allow high places to continue in our life, indeed friend, while we may have had religious experiences, yet ultimately, if they turn away our heart from God, we may ultimately go after these things and follow these worldly gods, and only show that we were never genuinely born again, and we may run the risk ourselves of being an apostate.

Losing our soul forever and ever and ever. I love the comments of one man who addressed these high places. Listen to this. He said the basic problem with high places was that they easily provided areas where the religious practices of Canaan could creep into Israel's worship experience.

And friend, if there are high places in our lives, in our homes, in our workplaces, how easily can they draw our heart away to other idols? Now here's some thoughts to consider. Do you know if you study the kings of Jerusalem and Judah and Israel, you find that there are only two kings that went all the way with God.

And what do I mean by that? They not only removed the idols, they not only leveled the groves, they not only purged from the land the sodomites, but they removed the high places. Only two kings, the Bible says, removed the high places.

In one man's life and reign, a significant reformation and revival occurred. In the other, while the curse of God, the judgment of God, was still upon the land, yet he himself was blessed tremendously by the Lord.

What were the men's names? Hezekiah and Josiah. Study it for yourself. Listen to this though. To prove the point, just to give you a little insight or preview into these kings that maintained high places.

It says in 1 Kings chapter 3 and verse 3, Solomon sacrificed and burnt incense in high places. In 1 Kings chapter 14 verses 21 through 24, Rehoboam the son of Solomon and his people built high places.

You find in the context there that it provoked the Almighty to jealousy. In 1 Kings chapter 15 and verse 14, Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, but the high places, the Holy Spirit says, but the high places were not removed.

In 1 Kings chapter 22 and verse 43, Jehoshaphat walked in all the ways of his father Asa, doing that which was right in the eyes of the Lord. Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away, for the people offered and burnt incense yet in the high places.

In 2 Kings chapter number 12 verses 2 and 3, Jehoshaphat did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all his days, but the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.

Notice that conjunction once again. But the high places were not taken away. But the high places were not removed. In 2 Kings chapter 14 verses 3 and 4,. And Amaziah did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, howbeit the high places were not taken away.

In 2 Kings chapter 15, or excuse me, chapter 15 verse 34 and 35,. And Jotham did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, howbeit the high places were not removed. The high places were not removed.

And then in 2 Kings chapter 21 in verse 3,. And Manasseh did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, after the abominations of the heathen, for he built up again the high places. The high places.

Once again, let me reiterate. There were only two kings that took away the high places. And a significant reformation and revival occurred under one man's reign and great spiritual blessing occurred in the life of the other.

Hezekiah and Josiah. Now, let's make it practical. How does this relate to you and I? Well, I want to give you, first of all, a definition of a contemporary high place. A contemporary high place. It is in the area, thoughts, or relationship, that I permit to remain in my life as a provision for the flesh.

As a provision for the flesh to satisfy the sinful desires of my heart. I want to repeat that. It is in the area, thoughts, or relationship, that I permit to remain in my life as a provision for the flesh to satisfy the sinful desires of my heart.

Contemporary High Places: Media, Thoughts, and Relationships

Now, brethren, a high place may not necessarily be a sin. But in that high place, if we're not careful, we are drawn away with our own lust and enticed and can commit sin. What am I talking about when I speak of these evil areas?

I'm talking about television. I'm speaking of music. I'm speaking of video. I'm talking about books or magazines, sports, materialism. You see, most of these things, in and of themselves, may not be bad, may not be evil.

They can be, but maybe we have an innocent video in our home, but yet it's just got a little part to it that in that is provided a high place. The psalmist says in Psalm 101 and verse 3, I will set no wicked thing before mine eye.

And the word wicked there means thing of the liel, literally thing of the evil one. I said not only areas, but there are thoughts. Isn't it interesting in 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verses 4 and 5, that I believe to be the most potent passage on spiritual warfare in all the word of God, when he says, For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God, to the pulling down of strongholds, listen to this now, casting down imaginations, that denotes mind, and every high thing, high place, that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

What am I speaking of when we talk about high places in the area of thought? I'm talking about unrealistic dreams. Some of us, we dream at times, resort to thinking about what we could have done athletically.

What sexual conquest that we probably could have had if we would have pursued a relationship. Sexual fantasies. Regarding past experiences, we draw in our mind from past experiences with members of the opposite sex, things that we did before our conversion or even after our conversion, before we took to ourselves a wife, or maybe even after that.

There's revengeful thoughts. Maybe someone has harmed you or offended you, and you have bitterness in your heart, and you take delight at times during weak moments of going back in your mind and picturing and drawing pleasure of what you'd like to do to that person.

These are mental high places. But I also mention relationships. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 33, Be not deceived, evil communications corrupt good manners, good morals. I don't know if you have a relationship right now with someone that is not honoring for the Lord.

Maybe it's someone that you work with, another woman, and she ministers to you emotionally, and she'll listen to you, and during weak moments in your relationship with your wife, you go to work, and this lady will affirm you, and she speaks kindly and graciously to you.

Friend, listen, if you cultivate that relationship with that individual, if you allow that high place to remain in your life, it may spell doom for you. It could cause you to lose your testimony. It could cause you to lose your family.

And worst of all, as we said a moment ago, it may result in the loss of your own soul, a high place. It could be in the area of a wrong influence. Maybe someone in your own church. That every time you get around this person, you cannot help but be critical about the authority in your church, because they're so critical.

I mean, there may be a relationship of sedition. They can't submit to authority, and you find yourself having a more difficult time submitting to authority and praying for the authorities in your own local church when you're around this particular individual.

Accountability and Dangerous Relationships

I was just up in Blaine, Maine. Later, her husband came to the church one day, and we sat down together. She said, I have a real problem with authority, especially in the church. I found out that they had gone to a number of different churches around Presque Isle, Maine, and they were in an evangelical church at that moment, and they were having a hard time with the leadership there.

And as she talked, she shared with me that she was corresponding with a young minister on Grand Manan Island in Canada that he, too, had a problem with authority in the church, the spiritual leadership of the church.

And so he was trying to do a ministry independently of that authority. And I said, ma 'am, I am not promoting a dictatorial leadership. But I said, you are deceived if you do not submit to the authorities that God has placed over you.

And if you have a problem with that authority, you need to lovingly appeal to their conscience and share with them what your feelings are about these issues. And even though you may not be able to reconcile some things, you still need to learn to graciously submit to them.

I said, ma 'am, I believe you need to quit calling this man, and he needs to quit calling you, because all you're doing is fueling one another's fire in this area of sedition. It was a high place. I think of a friend of mine who told me that in Bible school, he was in a seminary, he had a wife and one child, how he was working for a newspaper.

And he was sort of an errand boy. He would go from business to business and place to place running errands for this newspaper. And one day they put a girl with him, college age, very attractive, very shapely young lady.

She came on to him. She was very kind and would listen to him, focused upon him, made him feel so important, so great. And this went on for weeks and months. They traveled together in the car and they would talk and they got real open with each other.

And he said, Don, I misinterpreted her intention. That was just her personality, to be friendly. But I thought that she really had an attraction for me. He said, One day, he said, I failed an examination in seminary.

He said, My wife and I had a major argument before I went to school that morning. And after I left the school, I went to work. And he said, I had a purpose in my heart. I was going to run off with this girl.

And he said, We pulled over on the side of the road there. I was driving. And I said to her, I'm ready to leave everything. I want you to go with me. He said, I told her how much I loved her and cared for her.

And this girl looked at me in shock and said, I cannot believe what you're asking me. Do you mean to tell me that you would leave your ministry, leave your marriage, leave your own child for just a few minutes of pleasure?

She said, I don't think you know what you're asking. Friend, if you've got any type of relationship with that in your church or in a place of employment, better to leave that place of employment, leave that church than to lose your testimony.

It's a high place. Listen, what are some of the consequences of you and I allowing high places to remain in our life? Can I give you four? Number one, it provides during a moment of weakness an easy opportunity to yield to temptation.

Some of us, we may have a rough day at work or in the ministry, and it's easy to go back to the motel room or back to the privacy of our own home and turn on the television. And then as one brother said in a prayer advance, channel thirst.

And look for something to feed upon our sensual desires to draw off us. And the deception is we think we can handle it. Secondly, another consequence of a high place remaining is it provides a source by which another idol can draw away our affection.

Friend, if there's any high place in your life, in an arium, in thoughts, in relationships, it always provides a place for your lust, your temptation, the temptation to come, for your lust to be drawn away to another God, to another idol.

John Wesley asked his mother on one occasion, Mother, what is sin? And she pondered that for a moment and she said, John, whatever increases a desire for more of itself and less of Christ, to you that is sin.

Now friend, that is a good definition of idolatry. Whatever increases a desire for more of itself and less of Christ, to you that is sin. High places. Thirdly, it provides an occasion for others to sin.

You know, if you study these kings' lives, even the best of kings that did not remove the high places, it says that the people still worshipped on those high places. It causes others to sin. How about in our homes at this present hour?

You have a magazine. You have a video. You have high school annuals where the girls were in modestly dressed. They wrote romantic messages in the annual. What if your kids get a hold of that? You've got medical encyclopedias.

Maybe you've got some Christian pornography in your home. How to carry on a biblical sexual relationship. Friend, listen to me. No reflection on this man, but I had to get rid of the act of marriage. Because some of the diagrams, some of the pictures and that, if my son's got a hold of, it could do nothing but defraud them spiritually.

Sadly, our children are sacrificed on these high places. I believe one of the worst things we can do is to leave our children unattended in front of a television set. Number four, it also provides the potential of apostasy.

Apostasy and Perseverance

Forsaking the Lord. Look in 2 Peter chapter 2 if you would. 2 Peter chapter 2. Friend, when we speak of apostasy, we're not talking about losing your salvation. We're talking about a person who is religious and has an understanding of spiritual truth that casts off that understanding to go after the gods and the sinfulness of this present evil world.

And Peter gives us this very stern warning in 2 Peter chapter 2 and verse number 20, For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, notice, they only had a knowledge.

It was not a saving knowledge. It was not a heart knowledge. They only knew it academically, intellectually. But they escaped the pollutions of the world through that knowledge. They are again entangled therein and overcome.

The latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, the way of salvation, than after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.

But it has happened unto them according to the true proverb, the dog is turned to its own vomit again, and the sow that was washed to its wallowing in the mire. Here's the message. Persevere or perish.

Persevere or perish. If we do not persevere in grace, we will perish. You say, well, Brother Curran, is there not a legitimate backsliding? Yes, friend, I believe we can drift. Yes, I believe that we can become dull.

Yes, I believe that we can compromise elements in our own conscience. Yes, at times we can neglect truth and walk in our own way. But listen to me, to live in sin and to love sin and to practice sin, he that is born of God doeth not continue in sin.

That's what the Scripture says. There's something else, and I just share these thoughts with you on how to remove high places. Maybe the Holy Spirit during these few moments has revealed to you a certain high place.

It may be a video. It may be a relationship. But how can we go about in the wisdom of the Lord removing these high places? Let me suggest a few things to you. Number one, deal with them ruthlessly. Deal with them ruthlessly.

Removing High Places Ruthlessly and Thoroughly

I mean, friend, dig them up by the roots. Cast them from your place of residence. Eradicate them from your life. Recently, as we went through our very small home video library, there was one video that the Holy Spirit had put His finger on for a long, long time in this preacher's life.

I remember we got it very cheap through McDonald's. But it was Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Oh listen, when we would watch it with the children, we always made sure that we were there with them.

And when we would come to certain parts where they would use hell in a derogatory way, in a flippant way, or when they would take the name of Jesus Christ in vain, we would always make sure we muted that.

There was one scene where it was implied that this man had a sexual relationship with a woman. We would always make the kids turn their head. But the Spirit says, that needs to go from your home. And so I took it out in the garage one day and took a hammer to it and put it in the trash can after I destroyed it.

It was a high place, brethren. A high place. We need to deal with these things ruthlessly. William Grinnell the Puritan says, what lust is so sweet or profitable that it's worth going to hell for. Secondly, we need to deal with them thoroughly.

Thoroughly. Not only ruthlessly, but thoroughly. 2 Corinthians 10 verses 4 -6. I just quoted you verses 4 and 5. But he goes on to say, and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled, complete.

Brethren, we're not in a position to really deal with sin until we're willing to go all the way with God. Until we're willing to be thorough in our obedience. Listen, a man called me one night from Zebulon, North Carolina.

We at the time were living in Goldsboro. He said, is this such and such that was holding meetings over at such and such Baptist church? And I said, yes sir. I said, I'm he. He said, during the course of your ministry, when I heard you a few years ago, you talked about demonic activity.

And I remember just sort of a hit and miss thing, you know, just in passing. I shared that in some messages. And he said, I really believe that I've got a demon. This was 1130 at night when he called.

And he said, I was just wondering, would you mind if I come over to your home tonight, which was an hour away from Goldsboro, Zebulon to Goldsboro. He said, would you mind sitting down with me and I'd like for you to exorcise this demon out of me.

My friend, I didn't tell him this, but there was no way I was going to bring him or that influence into my home. But I talked to him and you could tell he was desperate. But he wouldn't tell me what the sin was.

And normally when someone's that desperate and they won't disclose to you what the problem is, you know it's a problem with lust and sex. And I said, you've got a lust problem, don't you? And he said, yes I do.

I said, listen, let's deal with this thing objectively rather than subjectively. I said, you really want victory over this problem? Yes. He had told me that he'd been seeing a girl who was lost. He said, through our relationship, I'm trying to bring her to the Lord, but yet he told me that he had defiled her.

He had committed fornication with her. And I said, you think God's going to override that to use you to reach that girl for Christ? I said, sir, you're deceived. As we talked on, I said, you really want victory in this area?

Yes. I said, well listen, I'm not denying the fact that you may have a demon. But I said, if you really want victory and you want sustained victory, I said, I would suggest two things, just in my brief conversation with you, two things that I would recommend that you do.

What is it? I said, number one, get rid of your television. Get rid of your TV. You cannot have victory, consistent victory over moral impurity if you allow your television in your home. And then I said, secondly, break off your relationship with this girl.

Don't see her anymore. You know what his response was? Much like what we would glean from the rich young ruler when Christ said, but one thing thou lackest, go and sell everything that you have and give to the poor.

I sense grief. I sense an unwillingness to repent. He wanted a quick fix. He wanted this demon, if there was such a thing, a being in his life, eradicated. But listen to this, he wasn't willing to deal with it objectively by repentance.

And that's where so many people are today. They want a quick fix, but they don't want to daily die to these sinful areas of their flesh. They don't want to repent. We need to deal with it thoroughly. You know, I had a youth pastor in Pennsylvania tell me, he said, Don, if I had to do it all over again, he said, I would have been a lot more conservative in what my children wore.