The Power of Purity — Shane Idleman

Purity as the Direction of the Heart

The power of purity is the topic of my message. The power of purity. And I think acts could have been written along the lines of if it needed an introduction, it would be the acts of the Holy Spirit using pure vessels.

And what I mean by that is God asks us, commands us often to be pure in heart and pure in action. So my heart needs to be pure and my actions need to be pure. Now, many of us think on this topic, we think, okay, wait a minute, I'm not 100 pure.

There's some things that I'm dealing with, there's things that come up, and Shane, I can't, I can't get this, I can't hit that mark 100%. Well, you're in a good company because nobody can. It's not, I think it was John MacArthur who said, God's not concerned about perfection but direction.

The direction of our heart. And there is a difference. I noticed it this week when my son was near the curb and there was a little bit of curb water running down. And I thought of that choice, a child might have of drinking or sink water.

What would you prefer your child had a drink of? The curb and gutter water that's just coming off the neighbor's lawn and property and up the street and all the oil and all the things or the sink? Go to the sink, please, right?

Of course. But even in our sink water, we have 100 parts per million or 10 parts per million or different things of different contaminants, different pollutants. But that water is still living water. You can get by drinking sink water.

I don't know how long but it will be much better than curb water. And that's the imagery there I really wanna leave you with is many times we have that curb water. We're just so full of pollutants from everything from wrong attitudes to wrong behaviors to wrong this and God is wanting to remove those things so we can be pure vessels that he can use.

The Holy Spirit’s Power and the Call to Witness

And it's really the book of Acts we've been going through. You can turn to Acts chapter five verse 12 and I'll get there in a minute. Acts chapter five verse 12. But the power of the Holy Spirit makes all the difference in the world.

The power of the Holy Spirit makes all the difference in the world. And it dawned on me, I was able to lead somebody to the Lord at one of our hospital homes a few days ago and she's dying, she's got HIV and she was just anxious and really in a bad way.

But after she gave her heart to the Lord and prayed and repented and tears of joys followed, they said she's doing wonderful this weekend, praise God. But as I was leaving there, it dawned on me that for the first 18 years of becoming Christian, starting at 12 years old, I didn't lead anybody to the Lord.

I rarely talked about God unless I was asked. Oh Jesus, of course, but 18 years? From 12 years old to 29, 30? 18 years of nothing. I'd say a couple prayers, I would go to church now and then but I was loving the world, the things of the world.

I had no power of the Holy Spirit in my life. I didn't really want to talk about Jesus and the reason is because I hadn't experienced Him. Because it's like for many people, talking about Jesus is like talking about the news.

Well, I guess if I have to. I mean, that's what we're supposed to do. It shouldn't be that way. When you're filled with the Holy Spirit, it's an all-consuming, it drives who you are. It drives how you want to raise your kids.

It drives how you spend your time in the morning, how you spend your time later. It drives your conversations, how you schedule things. Everything, when you're filled with the Spirit, talking about Christ is a byproduct.

You try to find that in almost every conversation without being irritating. Like, okay, I've got it, Shane, I got it. And there's people right now I've backed way off of, friends in high school, they know where I'm coming from, when I'm coming from, and how I'm coming from.

And they just stay away. I know what you stand for, and those you gotta do. But for the most part, when you're filled with the Spirit, it comes out of you. So I wanna just throw that question out there this morning.

When was the last time you seriously talked about Christ and walked through the steps and participated and led somebody to the Lord? And now the Bible talks about confessing and repenting. And you don't have to say a quick little prayer.

You don't have to force the will. But if the Holy Spirit's operating, I believe he gives us opportunities that we can point people in the direction of God. And if it's been months, if it's been years, if it maybe hasn't happened, we have to ask ourselves some hard questions.

God, am I full of your Spirit? Am I a pure vessel that you can use? Have I removed pollutants out of my life that allow the Holy Spirit to work through me? And what I like about this topic is, I can liken it to in the physical realm as well.

Spiritual Disciplines and Breaking Polluted Habits

When you eat, you know, have you ever dieted before? And said, I'm stopping that. After Thanksgiving weekend, I'm back on track. And then it goes good for a few days. And you're like, but after Christmas, when New Year's comes, I'm back on track.

And we just, it's just so hard. But I've noticed that once you fuel your body with the right things, juicing and eating good food, you want more of that good food. And you want more of that good food.

You have a good, healthy breakfast, you want a good, healthy lunch, a good, healthy snack, and you're feeding that body the same thing with spiritual principles, the same thing applies. When you start feeding on the right things, on the Word of God, on the church, on worship, on fasting, on all these things, it's an all-consuming passion that forces you, and you want to keep consuming those healthy spiritual things.

So the difficult thing is, it's hard to break that cycle. It's hard to break the cycle when we're caught in not wanting to do the right things, not wanting to remove the pollutants, and we get in the rut.

It's like, I just can't break out of this. I've been this way for months or years, Shane, and I've fallen off the, I've fallen in this area, fallen in this area, and thank God, he just says, return to me, and I will return to you.

I believe in a covenant-keeping God, when he says, if you return to me, I will return to you. I know you've drifted, but get back on course. Let me clean your heart, and you can be a pure vessel that I can use, and the interesting thing about purity, and I wish I might have to do part two, because there's a lot the Bible says about purity, but as purity increases, so does spiritual power, and unity in the body of Christ.

Purity grows the church. Faith is increased, and demonic strongholds are obliterated when purity is in our lives. I'm leading right into Acts 5, 12, and what, just see, writing purity, this or that, purity basically is, God talks about a defiled conscience in the Bible, a defiled temple, a defilement.

When we give over to those things that are not glorifying to Christ, those things that pull us down, we are defiled, and we love the Lord, and we're caught in this, but we can't see through because of all the pollutants, and a pure vessel, somebody with true repentance who removes these things that are holding them back, and they say, Lord, I'm coming to you.

I need to get back on track. I need that restoration. I need to be filled with the Holy Spirit again, and they start to remove those pollutants. A lot of pollutants are what the eye gate sees, what we allow into our mind, what we allow into our thoughts, and we're not taking those captives, and we're not pure vessels that God can use, and we see this powerful move of God in Acts 5 .12, so let me read that.

Signs, Wonders, and the Debate over Cessationism

And through the hands of the apostles, those people who are following Jesus, called by Jesus, commissioned by Jesus, many signs and wonders were done among the people, and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch, yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly, and the believers were increasingly added to the Lord.

Multitudes of both men and women, so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them, and also a multitude gathered from surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.

Now, I will make a public confession. I've talked about this before. I don't know why we don't see it like that anymore, and everybody has their opinion, and so do I, but the bottom line is that God was clearly moving in a powerful way, and a lot of times, there's different groups.

There's a group that believes that the gifts and the power of the Holy Spirit in this area have ceased, and it's where the word cessationist comes from. They believe that those miraculous, Holy Spirit -inspired gifts were done away with, and they use this as a proof text.

We don't see any of this anymore, and that's true to this degree, but I believe the closer you walk with Christ, the more you will see things like this. You will see people set free. You will see demonic influences leaving.

You will see healings take place. The closer you are to Christ, the more you know God's will. The closer you are to God, and being that pure vessel, He can use you in a mighty and powerful way, so obviously, we don't see this to the degree they saw it there, but I also wanna remind you that the book of Acts was written over about 30 years, so we think things were happening every day, every day for a week or a month, but it was a 30-year period, and sometimes, there'd be weeks or months or years.

I'm not excusing it. I think the church is lacking power today, but I also believe we don't wanna pay the price. He told these men, these believers, go in an upper room and wait until you receive power, and then they receive that power.

They went out and did the work of God, and I brought this illustration up last night, and I'll bring this up to you again this morning, but do you think that we would've saw these guys walking in this tremendous power if they just bought a case of Shock Top the night before and a whole bunch of pizzas and decided to watch Ouija Board movie, the Ouija?

Do we really think they would've, and you're like, what is that? It's beer. There's other kinds. Let's just, man, Peter, I've got a hangover this morning, and I can't, I don't know. Let's just go out and talk.

Do you think that God would've moved in that type of, of course not. So the closer we draw to Christ, and we see it on the mission field. Why do we see it on the mission field? Because often they don't have Facebook.

They don't have the media. They don't have all these distractions. They don't need to know what's going on in 50 different states and 100 different things, and they don't need to see all the, I mean, I'll look at articles, and you go down, and you go, where are these pictures coming from?

That's how the devil traps you. And wonderful article, terrible pictures. And we wonder, well, God, why aren't you using it? You've gotta be a pure vessel. And the message this morning is come out from among them, be separate.

Yeah, you're gonna look a little different. There's gonna be a little distinction about you. These guys were not normal people. To have the power and presence of God, you will look odd in many cases. Don't go out and search it.

Don't say, you know, I'm very odd, and aren't I full of the Spirit? Not necessarily. Being odd is not full of the Spirit. But you will look odd to the culture by what you view, and what you listen to, and what you watch, and how you conduct yourself.

So I truly believe a few different things are happening. Number one, that God is using pure vessels set apart for Him. These guys were on fire for God. They were up in an upper room in a prayer meeting, not for two hours, for 10 days.

Did they leave and come back? I don't know, but they were seeking God. God filled them with His Spirit, with His power. They went out, and they did ministry. There was no distractions. There's no lust to the flesh, to lust to the eye, the pride of life like we have today.

They purified themselves. They walked out in the pureness, and righteousness, and holiness of God. See, they used to preach about those topics 100 years ago. They used to preach about the fear of God, and the holiness of God, and the righteousness of God.

But now it's all about love, and mercy, and grace, and thank God for that. Thank God for His love, and His mercy, and His grace. But that's only some of His attributes. He's also holy. Actually, the angels cried, holy, holy, holy is our God.

The temple shook, and Isaiah said, I'm a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people with unclean lips. God, I'm not worthy to see your face. And they cried, holy, holy, holy is our God, and the righteousness of God, and the fear of God, and the judgment of God.

See, we've gotta wake the church up. Those are all characteristics of God, the attributes of God. We'll be the person who just hangs on the love of God so they can continue in sin, or the grace of God to continue in sin.

Paul said, should we sin more so grace abounds more? Absolutely not. So the call to holiness, and righteousness, and purity, that's when you're gonna see God move in your heart. That's when you're gonna see God move in your life, is the closer you get to that flame, the more you feel the heat of the fire.

Try this at home. Build a fire, go walk out in the garage, and see how warm you stay. What's the difference? You've gotta sit next to the fire. You've gotta sit next to that heat to fill that fire, and make a difference.

Trust me, I've seen people filled with God's spirit everywhere they go. Just the store, Trader Joe's, the movies, the this, the that, that God's working through them. So I don't believe that the gifts of the Holy Spirit in this area has ceased, but I think a lot of the power has left the church, because we're not going back to the basics of prayer.

Likely we have prayer before service now, many things, but the prayer, and the fasting, and the seeking God. I just, I'm browsing through a book I like to do every other year or so. It's written by the Pastor Cho, who leads the largest church in the world in South Korea.

Seven Sunday services, 800 ,000 members. It's interesting, there's no gimmicks, there's no marketing campaigns, there's no demographic studies. It's Friday night prayer meetings all night. It's fasting.

It's seeking God with all their heart, broken before the Lord. That's all that ministry is. There's no marketing. How do you get that many people? I don't have any idea. I'm sure it's a populated area, but the point is, God will bring the people to where his word is being preached, and taught, and going back to the basics.

So that's what we are seeing here. They had power because they had the purity. Also, they were very young in the faith. So you young adults, or those who haven't been a Christian very long, be very encouraged.

These guys were not, well I've been a Christian 20 years, and I know how to handle this. They hadn't been a Christian very long at all. A Christ follower, filled with the Holy Spirit. You might be talking, well I don't wanna get technical here and somebody call me on it, because I don't know exactly.

But it's been weeks, and weeks can be months. So it's been some time there. They haven't been a believers very long. If you look at the day of Pentecost, you look at going through Acts 1, 2, 3, Peter's first sermon, Peter's other sermon.

Now you see this, there's not a lot of time that has passed by. So God can use, see God doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called. He doesn't care if you're 40 years in the faith, if you're not broken, humble before him.

I would rather take a teenager, 18, on fire for God than somebody 68 years old, who's hard and legalistic and rigid. Because God will work in that person who's pure and flexible, and not going to mold to certain things.

They wanna be fully used of God. And I also think that there are different seasons of outpouring. God will use certain, if you go back and read revivals from 300 years ago, and work your way up, they always started in a prayer meeting.

They always started when God poured out, it's amazing, people would be a mile from church and feel convicted, fall on their face and give their hearts to the Lord, be healed, be set free, be at the store, bars would close down, homes, they would be singing worship.

When God was a season of his, they would call it manifestation, his presence was there. That's why people say, why do we sing about the Holy Spirit, you're welcome here, isn't that obvious? Yeah, but so is the other part where Moses said, show me your glory.

God, show me your glory. I see the rocks, I see the trees, I see the river, but God, I wanna see the manifest presence of your spirit. Lord, show me your glory. And God says, it's too great, no man has ever seen this and lived, but God, show me your presence.

And when his presence comes, and you feel the power of God, you will be radically changed. It's like me saying, hey, I just about, I barely got to church. My truck went down, all the way down, go to heal, I almost died, and I had to walk here.

You'd say, Shane, you're either a liar, or you're deceived. And many people, they're either lying that they don't have a relationship with God, or they are living in deception, that they're filled with the spirit.

You are radically changed. You're radically changed. But Shane, I want that. Well, then get on your face before God at home, or come to the prayer room later today, or just say, God, I need that, I don't have that.

Because there's a clear difference, there's a distinction. Now, this is also an encouragement for those who are trapped, and they say, Shane, I want that, but I don't feel that, I'm not making a difference.

And there's something that is clogging the line, there's something there that is not allowing that purity to go through. And we know what those areas are, and God's convicting them of you during the sermon.

That's how he works. I don't have to list 20 ,000 things, we know exactly what might be clogging that line, from unforgiveness, to bitterness, to certain besetting sins. God wants to come out from among them and be separate.

Biblical Commands for Purity and the Unity of Believers

Well, Shane, why are you spending so much emphasis on this? Because the Bible does. I mean, it gets pretty dramatic when Paul says, make no provision for the flesh. Don't make any. Paul, I can't plan ahead to sin, no.

Can I dabble in sexual immorality? No, you're supposed to flee. Can I think about certain things? No, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who humbled himself. Well, what about this, what about this?

Finally, brethren, whatever things are pure, and noble, and honest, and upright, and just, meditate on these things. Put on this, take off that. Why? Because God wants us to be filled with his spirit, the power of purity.

So the closer we draw to God, that's where that power comes from. And then we also see unity here. They were of one accord, the Bible says, and they were all with one accord. And David Gusick said this, let this sink in.

The fact that God's people are all together with one accord is a greater display of the power of the Holy Spirit than any particular sign or wonder. Our hearts and our minds can be harder to move than any mountain.

And I didn't think about that this week, because that's true. When you can get a group of believers united, that's the Holy Spirit. Because the Holy Spirit, if I've got a problem with you, and you've got a problem with me, the Holy Spirit doesn't have a problem.

Does the Holy Spirit have a problem with himself? The Holy Spirit's never divided. Well, Shane, come on, we're getting, yeah, you have to take the lesser road. You humble yourself and say, it's not worth it.

We're just, we're here on the essentials. It's not worth bickering and complaining. It's not worth, it's putting your self-interest aside, and your needs aside. That's how the Holy Spirit works. If two people just put their selfish needs aside and focus on others, oh, marriages will be restored.

You don't need a counselor. You don't need a therapist. You need broken and humble men and women submitted to God. He will, and the Holy Spirit brings the two back together. So we see the power of unity.

Unity is a wonderful thing, because you can have mortal enemies, and once they come to know the Lord, they are united. Nothing will keep you away from that unity. And it was interesting, very interesting.

I didn't know it was happening, but last night, I've only lost about one fight in my life that I can remember. I was 17, it was about 30 years ago, and the guy who did it was here last night. He came to the service.

He's like, unbelievable. But I gave him, his name is Roman Santos, and they have a boxing, and he went on to be an Olympic boxer on the Olympic team. I'm like, no wonder, my goodness. And I still remember that night.

I got hit about 15 times before I knew what even hit me. But anyway, I see him, and I can't believe he's here, and we give each other a hug, and he comes back for prayer, and he wants that fire of God again, and just the unity, all that was, who cares, who cares?

I don't remember the black guy and the bruised lip and the bloody, you know, it was unity bringing the reconciling. God is reconciling the world through his Son. That's the only reconciliation. That's the only peace we're ever going to know is reconciliation through his Son.

So you see tremendous unity. You see tremendous power. But then it says, none of the rest dare join them. Why is that? Well, right before this, do you remember what happened from last week? A couple people died because they lied to the Holy Spirit, and the whole church was filled with fear.

The people were filled with fear. See, that kind of fear is a very good thing. It's a very good thing. I don't feel like driving off that mountain road. I fear that mountain road, don't you? So I'm gonna stay on this side and a little slower.

I fear it can be a wonderful gift from God, because when you fear something, you respect it. You have reverence for it, and I'm concerned that many people are walking around as if God is a doting grandfather or a cosmic ball of love.

He's just up there, look at that, just floating around, and God just loves me and winks at my sin. So the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

I fear God. It'll change the way you preach. It'll change the way you treat your spouse. It will change the way you live your life when you fear God, because you've got to answer to Him. That's why, and I know these types of messages make people feel uncomfortable, and that's good.

I think it's a good time to remind you that if you don't like what I'm saying, it's because you need to hear what I'm saying. This is always the case. When you don't like to hear what I'm saying, it's because you need to hear it.

God is convicting us, but there is a cost to pay. None of the rest dare join them. And I read a quote this week in a book, and it really, it's one of those quotes I just put down, and I said, God, this is unbelievable, but it's true.

And the author said, the price of being chosen, the price of being called, and the price of being used by God is often suffering. And I didn't like that. I didn't like that one bit, to be honest with you.

Suffering as the Cost of Following Christ

But I started to think of the children of Israel. I started to think of Moses. I started to think of Joshua. I started to think of all the different people used by God, there was tremendous suffering.

Did Jesus suffer? Well, Shane, what about Paul? Oh, don't even get me started. He suffered great. Shane, what about John? I heard he was one of the disciples that didn't die. Yeah, tradition holds that he was boiled in oil and exiled to the island of Patmos.

Shane, Jeremiah, no. Weeping prophet thrown in a pit to die. The people never turned back to God, as far as we know. And he was called the weeping prophet, giving his life for the cause of God's law, and the people didn't respect him.

They would mock him. They tried to kill him a few different times. Isaiah, I just read Isaiah, Shane. History records that he was sawn in two by Wicca King Manasseh. What about John the Baptist? The greatest forerunner, the greatest preacher.

Beheaded. And this really started to sink in for me this week, because we get focused on the comfort and the cozy and the blessings of God. And I said, it woke me up. I'm like, God, we might need to suffer.

And we do suffer, but now it's, I didn't get a good parking spot. The mall's crowded. I mean, if you have people spit at you and wish that you were dead and curse you, you will suffer, you will be hated, for Christ's sake, if you're truly following him.

See, if you're not, you can fool a lot of people. You can be that closet Christian. I'll post this little cute stuff on Facebook. Nobody really know what that is. But then I can keep this other group happy.

I can go and do this with the boys and then go to church on Sunday. Nobody will really know. See, most men would rather be seen leaving a bar than leaving a church, if the truth be told. If the truth would be told, I'm walking out of Schooners on Avenue L, hope everybody sees me.

Hey, but don't see me coming out of church. That's embarrassing. Why is that? Because we're not filled with the Spirit of God. There's no power. There's no purity. We don't see these things. Of course we don't see these things because we want to live like hell.

We want to rejoice on Sunday, but live like hell on Monday. And the reason God, I believe, speaks these types of messages into our lives is because he loves us. If you have kids, you know. Your little two-year-old, three-year-old, I love, don't go out and play in that street.

Please, come back. Well, now I can grab them now. But you know, if you couldn't, let's say you couldn't, and you would plead with them, come back. Come back in. Please come back in. Please. And it's a loving Father.

It's a loving Father. The price of being chosen and called is suffering. Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I've already come. Well, that sounds familiar. Yeah, now you'll know the rest. It's grace that's brought me here thus far, and it'll be grace that takes me home.

See, that author knew. John Newton owned a slave trade. And William Wilberforce led him to the Lord, and he's broken before God. And then he could say, I was blind, but now I see, oh God, you saved a wretch through many, many, many dangers, and toils, and snares.

I've already went. It's grace that's brought me here thus far, and it'll be grace that takes me home. Yes, there'll be suffering. Yes, there'll be difficulty. Yes, there'll be challenges. But you hold on to God's grace.

That's why I often say, and I mean it from the bottom of my heart, that the Joel Osteen-type sermons are not gonna get us through these dire times. It's not about positive thinking. It's not. And I always get emails, why do you put them down?

I'm not, I'm just saying, it's not gonna cut it. Positive thinking, and having lots of money, and thinking your way to health, wealth, and wisdom is not gonna work when ISIS is declared to come across our border, and now we're seeing cops killed at the alarming rate.

Folks, you better wake up. You better wake up. Trump's not the answer. I hate to burst some bubbles this morning, but he's not the answer. Only Christ is the answer, and guess what? He might bring a lot more persecution than many people are thinking.

Right now, those who are in the electoral college that will be making a vote are getting death threats. If you go through with your vote, we will kill you. Are you kidding me? I mean, don't even get me started on that topic.

But folks, we are facing real evil. The enemy is ramping it up a little bit. Law officers can't even go on a call. A normal and routine stop, and somebody's gonna pull out an AK -47. You think that's gonna help or hurt crime?

You think, well, they're gonna, there's cities, there's areas now they won't even go into. Shane, you're scaring us. No, I'm giving you a reality check. Because suffering is a mark of a believer. Stop trying to run from it.

Don't run to it, but understand that it will come. That way, you can teach your kids, yeah, you might suffer a little bit. You might be made fun of. You might not make a lot of money. You might have a disability.

You might, you might, you might, but having done all, stand. I'm just gonna stand. That's why I love that song. It's grace that's brought me here this far, and it's grace that takes me home. So be careful in this area.

Separation, Spiritual Warfare, and Faith

There is a cost. There is a cost to purity. There is a cost. You will pay a price. You will have to watch what you watch, and be very careful. Be very careful who you associate with, who you hang out with, what you allow into your mind, what you allow into your body.

What you allow, come out from among them, be separate. Well, everybody else is on Xanax, okay? Well, be careful. Everybody else is getting drunk. Well, be careful. Be careful, because many times, you have to come out from among them and be separate.

Oh, just that statement's gonna get me in trouble. I know it. You have to fight to be filled. You have to fight to be filled with the Spirit of God. It's a fight. It's a battle, and here's how the enemy usually wins.

You get angry. You get upset. I've had it. I've had it. I'm done with this, and you fall right back into it. He uses discouragement and disappointment. Not too many people are gonna fall right after the service.

We're filled with the Spirit of God. I come Monday, it's a whole new game, and there's a cost. There's a fight. We see also the church growing and added to the Lord and added to the Lord. It's God's church, and then we see tremendous faith.

The shadow of Peter. What, now, how does this work? The shadow of Peter just falls on people, and they're healed? Well, a couple thoughts, and when the lady touched the hem of Jesus' garment. Many of you know the story that she just fought through the crowd and said, if I can just touch, if I can just touch the hem of his garment, I will be healed, and he felt the power leave him, and this woman was healed, and it's not necessarily in a shadow or in a little piece of cloth.

It's faith being engaged. When people engage their faith, and also there was so much power in this area. I believe that God's manifest presence was there. There were people being healed, delivered, set free, so it wasn't here comes Peter's shadow.

Let's get under it. It was God moving in a powerful way among his people and among unbelievers. Let's not forget that. We forget about that group of people, but all were coming to him and being healed and being set free.

Think about this. Faith has to do something. Noah had to build a boat. Moses had to lead the children of Israel. Joshua had to enter the promised land, but what happens is we use all these little scriptures, and we make some weird doctrine out of them.

You'll see these guys on TV. Just send me $100, and I'll send you a prayer cloth. I bet you will. It's a little one-inch by one-inch. You just go like this. Just pray, and I'll pray with you, and just send me 1 ,000 for a bigger one.

Church History, Reformation, and the Authority of Scripture

John Calvin, who was part of the Protestant Reformation, if you don't know what that is, the, boy, quick history lesson. The church started out like this for about 300 years. It was called the Catholic Church.

Don't get offended. Catholic just means universal. It was a universal church, and you have people like Constantine coming to power, and you have the power of Rome, these emperors of Rome now joining with the church and being the head of the church and the head of Rome, so that's where the word Rome and Catholic Church come from, and there's different break-offs of that, but now you have this marriage of power and church, and that's not good because you have this secular type of mentality, and there's so many things.