The Tremendous Value of Biblical Education

2 Peter 3:18 and the Call to Grow in Grace and Knowledge

Well, if you take out your Bibles and turn with me to the book of 2nd Peter and we're going to go to the last chapter of that book and we're going to look at the last verse. 2nd Peter chapter 3 verse 18 is going to be the focus of tonight's lesson.

2nd Peter chapter 3 verse 18 says this, But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. The title of tonight's lesson is The Tremendous Value of Biblical Education.

This coming Sunday I'm going to be preaching on the tremendous value of gospel preaching. 1 Corinthians 9 .16 the Apostle Paul says, Woe to me if I preach not the gospel. He says a necessity or a compulsion has been laid upon me.

And woe to me if I do not preach the gospel. And I've really been thinking a lot about that statement over the last few days and even the last few weeks. Because I knew that it was coming. I've actually had some conversations with some other ministers and even men in this church who preach.

And it really is an interesting statement that Paul makes when he says, Woe to me if I preach not the gospel. That's a statement of judgment on himself. The word woe is very powerful in scripture when Jesus pronounces a woe on Corazon and Bethsaida.

You know, woe to you. It's a pronouncement of judgment and Paul pronounces judgment on himself if he preaches not the gospel. He says a compulsion, a necessity has been laid on me. And that's going to be the focus of Sunday.

The value of gospel preaching. Not the preacher. I'm a dime a dozen. The preacher doesn't matter. The messenger doesn't matter. But the message itself, gospel preaching, is tremendously valuable. And it has been relegated in our day to second class status.

Everything else is more important than the preaching of the word, even in the church. And if I don't watch myself, because I've been writing this sermon all day, I'm going to start preaching that sermon.

So let me stop, because that's where we're going Sunday. But as I was thinking about Sunday, and thinking about the fact that next Wednesday night we're starting Vacation Bible School, I was anticipating the message in VBS, and I got to thinking there's another thing that's also tremendously valuable.

And that is a biblical education. And so what I wanted to do tonight is to talk about the tremendous value of a biblical education in conjunction with the tremendous value of gospel preaching, which we're going to do Sunday.

When we get back from our break in August, we're going to embark on a series of studies of Bible doctrines. We're going to look at and increase our knowledge of foundational biblical education. And I hope, as I said earlier, I hope many of you will come next week, at least one of the nights, and see how we're trying to provide biblical education to the young people through Vacation Bible School and families.

Hopefully I will have a lot of folks here of all ages to increase their education of the subject matter that we're going to be dealing with. But when it comes to the issue of biblical education, I've said often, and you've probably all heard me say it at least once, that I believe that the church is an institution of higher learning.

You ever heard me say that? That I believe that the church is an institution of higher learning. Certainly we gather first and foremost to love one another, love God, and love each other, and to minister to one another.

But we are also gathered to increase our understanding of God and to grow in our knowledge of God. We don't come together just to hold hands and sing Amazing Grace. We don't come together to sit in circles and sing Kumbaya.

We come together so that we will grow. And I know one of the things Jack and I have talked about over the years, we do have to concern ourselves with the amount of people that are here, but our more bigger concern is the growth and the people that are here.

You know, we've said, is it about the numbers? No, it's about growth, but not numerical growth necessarily. We're going to preach to whoever God brings us. The growth is in the individuals. The growth is in the people.

The growth is in the desire to know more of Christ. Charles Spurgeon said this, he said, He who does not long to know more of Christ knows nothing of Christ. Hear that again. He said, He who does not long to know more of Christ knows nothing of Christ.

If you know Him, you want to know Him more. If you know Him, you want to be closer to Him. If you know Him, you want to draw closer in your fellowship with Him. And if you don't, you probably don't know Him.

Actually, Spurgeon said, you don't know Him. If you don't want to know more of Him, you don't know anything of Him. So as I was thinking about the subject matter for tonight, I got to thinking about the book of 2 Peter.

Not just this one verse, but the book itself. And I note that in the last verse, Peter says, Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And earlier in the book, he talks about some other places where he addresses the issue of growth.

But I want to start here in the last verse, and then we're going to go back to the first chapter in just a moment. Let's look here at this last verse. It says, But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

And after this, he gives a doxology. To Him be glory both now and to the day of eternity. The word grow there means to become greater or to increase. It's the same in Greek as it is in English, to grow.

And in this passage, the word grow is in what is called the present active imperative. In the Greek, you have verbs, and the verbs are in moods, and they tell you how the verb is being used in a sentence.

And the present means it's now, it's going on right now. Active imperative means it's something that you are commanded to do. Imperative. It's a command. It is a responsibility. So when the text says to grow, that's a command.

When the text says to grow, that is an exhortation. It is a plea. It's an entreaty. It means the responsibility is being laid on you. Now, we know that we need to grow. And we know that we're called by this passage to grow.

But there's a little bit of confusion because sometimes we wonder, well, is growth my business or is growth God's business? And the answer is yes. Some of you remember this, and it's in your notes, the difference between monergism and synergism.

We've talked about this several times. If you don't remember, I'm going to redefine it for you. But you have monergism and synergism. That's in your notes, right? I put those two words. Monergism, mono means one.

Ergos is the word for work or worker. So monergism means that there is a single active participant who is working alone. Monergism, a single active participant working alone. Synergism, the prefix S-Y-N means together.

So if monergism means a single active participant working alone, synergism is two or more participants working together. Two or more participants working together. When it comes to salvation, the Bible clearly teaches, and this is going to sound like a big 50 cent word, but I will explain it just in case there's confusion.

The Bible teaches monergistic salvation. Monergistic salvation means this. When it comes to your salvation, God does all the work. We neither aid Him nor even do we guide His hand. How does the Bible describe us before we're saved?

Dead. Not sick. Not partially alive. Not on life support. You've all heard the analogy. They say salvation is like a man who's drowning and somebody throws him a life preserver and he's got to reach out and grab the life preserver and the life preserver is Christ.

That's an analogy. It's used by thousands of evangelists. I have a problem with that analogy because in the analogy the drowning person is still alive. The picture of salvation is not that I'm drowning and someone throws me a life preserver.

The picture of salvation in Scripture is I have already drowned. I've already sunk into the bottom of the lake. I have already begun to decompose. The animals at the bottom of the lake are eating my flesh and my bones are starting to deteriorate and God breathes life into my dead corpse and I come alive.

The Bible says you were dead and your trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world but God who is rich in mercy made you alive together with Christ. By grace you are saved.

That's a paraphrase of Ephesians 2. You were dead, now you're alive and you didn't have any participation except at the moment you were made alive you believed. But even then that was a gift of God because prior to that you were not able to believe.

The Bible says we are not even able to believe unless God gives us the ability to believe. So all that being said, salvation is monergistic. It is a single active worker. But when it comes to growth in our faith, we find ourselves, or rather growth in our knowledge, growth in our faith, we find ourselves as active participants because now we've been made alive.

We're no longer dead. By the way, who is worse off when they sin, the believer or the unbeliever? I believe it's the believer in the sense that the believer has the ability, this Holy Spirit within him, to know that it's wrong and to battle.

Right? Whereas the unbeliever is dead in his trespasses and sins. As I've said before, wretches wretch. And that's what wretches do. But if you have been saved, you have the Holy Spirit of God living within you.

And the Bible says no temptation has befallen you that's not common to all men. And with every temptation you are given a way of escape. So when you sin, you choose to sin. That makes it kind of worse, doesn't it?

Yeah, it really does. So we talk about the subject of growth and we see, OK, we have some part in this. We play a part in this. Now, some people say our growth, also known as sanctification, if we're going to talk about that word in a minute, but our growth in Christ, some people say is synergistic and other people say, no, it's not.

And there's sort of this battle in the Reformed community. Right? There's a community. Yes, I'm somewhat a part of the community. You know, I do get on and read articles and things. And there's somewhat of a debate.

Because this word synergism for Reformed people is sort of like kryptonite. You know, we hear that word, you know, because we want, you know, we know God is the author and the finisher of our faith. And so we don't want to put anything off of him.

All right. But at the same time, there is some argument to the reality that we do have to play a part in our growth. You don't just sit down and close your eyes and hum and God makes you spiritual. And he doesn't zap you with some kind of knowledge or maturity the moment you become a believer.

In fact, what are we called when we become believers? Babes. Right? Babes in Christ. And what's the goal? To get off the milk and move to the meat? Isn't that the goal? To grow up? Right? What was Paul's problem with the Corinthians?

That they were still behaving as if they were unsaved. They were still behaving like immature believers. Or they were acting in some senses like unbelievers. Now I want you to go back to chapter 1 of 2 Peter.

Because if chapter 3 tells us to grow, chapter 1 says more about that same subject. And I think chapter 3 is. I think it's that imperative language to grow in grace and knowledge. Chapter 1 verse 5. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue.

And virtue with knowledge. And knowledge with self-control. And self-control with steadfastness. And steadfastness with godliness. And godliness with brotherly affection. And brotherly affection with love.

For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Think about what he said. He says, make every effort.

That's a participle. The word make is participle. And the active imperative verb is supplement. Make every effort to supplement. That's what you're supposed to do. Supplement what? Supplement your faith.

You see, God gave you that faith, but what do we supplement it with? Virtue. Knowledge. Self-control. Steadfastness. Godliness. Brotherly affection. And love. We're commanded to supplement our faith with these things.

Because if we don't, what does he say happens? We become ineffective and unfruitful. We become ineffective. What's another word? Does anybody else got a different word? Translation there? Verse 8. If these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being, any other word than ineffective?

Barren. Okay, what's it? Unproductive. Unfruitful. Yeah. You get the idea of what he's saying. He's saying if we're not growing, we're stagnant. We're not doing what we're supposed to do. We're either growing or we're stagnant.

And we become ineffective and unproductive. Make every effort to supplement your faith with these things. John Calvin, in his commentary on this passage, says this. As it is an arduous work and of immense labor to put off the corruption which is in us, he bids us to strive and make every effort for this purpose.

He intimates that no place is to be given in the case of sloth, and that we ought to obey God's calling, not slowly or carelessly, but that there is need for alacrity or speedy desire to do this, as though he had said, put forth every effort and make your exertions manifest to all.

And Calvin is basically simply saying this. He's saying, this is actually work. In his comments on 2 Peter 1 .5, what we just read, he said, Peter's calling you to do something. He's calling you to actually work on something.

When you get saved, God gives you a new heart, right? With that heart comes new desires. Andy and I were talking about this a little while ago. About when you got saved, brother, and I want to just tell your story for you, but when you got baptized, you wanted to preach the day of your baptism.

Right? The new desire is there. But you said you didn't know anything. And I've been there. The new heart is granted regeneration, and with the new heart comes new desires. But not automatically new knowledge.

Not automatically new maturity. I've told story after story of how when I first became a Christian, I was very immature. And I still fight battles with growth. I want to grow. I want to be better and more like Christ.

We should all want to be more like Christ. But I look back and I say, wow, the level of maturity was so... I didn't understand anything. All I knew was I needed Christ. And I wanted Christ. But growth takes effort.

And I tell you, this is unpopular. Because we live in a society today where everything comes in a can that's ready to open and ready to go. But sanctification and growth doesn't come that way. In fact, R .C. Sproul said this.

He said, sanctification includes our efforts. We say it is synergistic. By the way, he wasn't afraid to say it was synergistic. One of the most prominent Reformed theologians. He said, we say it is synergistic because both God and we are doing something, yet we aren't equal partners.

God wills and works in us according to His good pleasure so that we progress in holiness. But as He works in us, we work as well, pursuing Him in prayer, relying on the means of grace, the Word and the sacrament, seeking to be reconciled to those who we have offended.

So R .C. is saying this. He's saying, yes, we participate, but it's not an equal partnership. It's not like God gives 50 and we give 50%. It's more like this. God is working in us and we are being obedient.

And in that obedience, we're growing. God is the one who's doing the work in us, and we are participating in that work. And on your sheet it says, regeneration is blank. The answer there is birth. Regeneration is birth.

But sanctification is growth. Regeneration is birth. Sanctification is growth. If you ever have difficulty in your mind, just understanding what those words mean, hopefully that will help you. When you got saved, it was because God regenerated your heart and He gave new birth to your soul and you were born again.

And you didn't have anything to do with that any more than you had to do with your first birth. Your first birth was done without your consent. Your first birth was done without your okay. You came into this world without helping at all.

You were pushed out. You were here. You were brought to this world without any part of your own. But your growth, you have participated in. Even though God has been the one who has been making your body grow and your heart beat and your blood flow and all those things, you participated in things like learning.

You made a decision whether or not you were going to study in school. You made a decision whether or not you were going to go to school, after school, go to college. You made a decision about these things.

So you did participate in your growth as an active partner. Not a senior partner, not even an equal partner, but as an active participant. And when it comes to your growth in your faith, you're also a participant.

You kind of get that's the goal of my getting you to understand tonight? Because I really think that there are people out there who just, they don't concern themselves with growth and they're not growing.

They don't concern themselves with this and so they are either laying dormant, they're going backwards, or they're not saved at all. Because they just don't care. How do you pursue growth? If we're commanded to grow in 2 Peter 3 .18, if we're commanded to grow, how do we grow?

Well, let me ask you this. If you were going to grow in any kind of a skill, you would have to pursue education in that thing. Mike, if you wanted to be a welder, what would you have to do? You wouldn't get a job at McDonald's, right?

You'd go to welding school, right? If you wanted to become a welder, you'd go to welding school. If you wanted to become an accountant, you'd have to go to a university that taught accounting classes.

If you wanted to become a hairstylist, you'd have to go to cosmetology school. And the list goes on and on. We understand. Likewise, if you wanted to build your body up. I mean, I'm an Adonis. If you want to build your body up, you take up bodybuilding.

If you want to firm up or slim up, you might take up running or swimming or something. Something that's going to participate in growth in that area. What's the avenue for growth as a Christian? Did you know Paul compared Christian growth to athletics?

Think of the Bible. Paul describes a Christian life as running a race, as boxing in a boxing ring. That's in 1 Corinthians 9 .24. He says, Do you not know that in a race all runners run, but only one receives a prize?

So run that you may obtain it. Verse 25. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Verse 26. So I do not run aimlessly. I do not box as one beating the air, but I discipline my body, and I keep it under control.

Lest after I preach to others, I myself am not disqualified. Now, that's a big verse, and I don't have time to unpack it tonight, but that is in line because we're in 1 Corinthians in our study. That's actually in a couple weeks.

Paul actually says, I treat my faith like an athlete treats his work because an athlete goes out and actually trains, and I train, I focus on this so that when I preach to everybody else, I don't turn around and become disqualified.

That doesn't mean he's losing his salvation, by the way. Some people have taken it that way, and I'm going to explain when I preach the passage what he means by being disqualified, but the point is he's saying, I actually work toward this.

You say, Pastor, are you teaching salvation by works? Listen to the first few minutes of this lesson. I told you, you didn't have anything to do with your salvation, and you don't have anything to do with keeping yourself saved, but you sure enough can become unproductive in your faith, can't you?

And he says, work out our salvation with fear and trembling. And then he says, For it is God who works in you both to will and to do His good pleasure. That's the balance. We're working it out as God is working within.

Right? Paul uses the athlete as the example. Why? Because he's diligent in training. He's diligent in training. Just because the work of God in sanctification is supernatural, it does not mean there will not be a process.

There is a process, and we are participants in the process. On your sheet, it says this. There are those who think that either there is no need for growth because blank. You see that? The first one. There are those who believe there's no need for growth because it's automatic.

And the second is there are those who believe there's no need for growth because it's unnecessary. So what are you talking about, Pastor? There are some who believe that as a Christian, growth is not something we should care about.

You say, what are you talking about? Are you, are you the largest? I have to be careful because I don't want to say the guy's name. I'm going to quote a preacher. I'm not going to say his name, but he has one of the largest churches in America, and in one very prominent denomination has the largest church in the denomination.

And this is what he said. Direct quote, I heard him say it. And then read this in a book. I heard it, it was on a video, but I heard it come out of his mouth. He said, quote, We don't teach from books of the Bible because it gets in the way of evangelism.

We don't offer different kinds of Bible studies because it gets in the way of evangelism. We don't teach doctrine because it gets in the way of evangelism. If you want to be fed God's word or have the Bible explained to you, then you are a fat, lazy Christian and you need to shut up and get to work or you need to leave this church because we only do evangelism.

End quote. That was a direct quote from a sermon, saw him preach it. Not an exaggeration. I didn't add a word to what he said. He said, we don't do Bible studies. We don't teach doctrine. We don't feed people God's word.

The only thing we do around here is get people saved. And once you're saved, this church isn't for you anymore. We're only here to get people saved. It's a huge church. It's a mile wide and an inch deep.

It's the world's largest puddle. You understand what I mean now, though, when I say that some people say growth is unnecessary. Some people would hear what I'm saying tonight and say I'm a heretic. Because I'm telling you, you need to participate in your growth.

Because they would say the only thing you need to do is let go and let God. Exactly. There's so much that I could point to text wise that go along with what we're saying. And that we do study, we do, we are called to be diligent.

Absolutely. Growth is a command and thus it is a participatory responsibility. Is it all of us? No. Is it most of us? No. But do we demonstrate obedience in it? Yes, we must. But how? How are we to be obedient in our growth?

How do we pursue growth? R .C. Sproul makes a good point. I keep quoting Dr. Sproul because he said a lot about this subject. And he made this point. He said the key to growth is not in the Bible. He said the key to growth is the Bible.

He said the key to growth is not in the Bible. The key to growth is the Bible. And what he meant is this. The secret to successful growth is not found on one page or in one passage. It's not found in twelve easy steps or six days to a better spiritual you.

The secret to spiritual growth, the secret to growth in grace and knowledge is the growth in the Word. A biblical education is the foundation for the growth of the believer. It's the sod out of which a healthy Christian grows.

Does that make sense? A biblical education gives birth to healthy growth. It's the food. It's the nourishment. We are told to be fed by the Word. So for the rest of our time, that was all introduction.

For the rest of our time, I want to outline three truths regarding a biblical education. Because if we're commanded to grow, and we are, and if the foundation for growth is a biblical education, which I believe that it is, what are three things that we should know about a biblical education?

Three truths regarding a biblical education. Number one, all believers should pursue a biblical education. Pursue a biblical education. All believers should pursue a biblical education. I'm going to say something that might sound kind of weird.

But everyone in the world, even unbelievers, can benefit from a biblical education. Now, somebody might say, but didn't you say earlier unbelievers are dead and trespasses and sins? How are they going to benefit from a biblical education?

Well, if we didn't believe that unbelievers benefited from a biblical education, we wouldn't teach our children because they're not believers yet. And if we didn't believe that unbelievers can benefit from a biblical education, we wouldn't invite unbelievers to come and hear the Word.

You see, what we know is this. We know that when we get the Word into their minds, God can use that to get into their heart. The Bible says faith comes by what? Hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ, right?

So it's in hearing the Word that the mind becomes inundated with this truth, and God uses that to affect the heart. So there's all kinds of value in a Christian education. But believers in particular should be in pursuit of a biblical education because in learning the Word, we are literally learning God.

See, that's the thing. When you guys come here on Wednesday night, and when you come here on Sunday morning, come here to Sunday school, you're literally learning, not just learning about God, you're learning God.

What do I mean by that? Well, we're in a relationship. I don't talk about this a lot, but we are in a relationship with our Creator. He has revealed Himself to us in His Word. And so how we learn Him, sort of like when I first got married to my wife, I had to learn her, and she had to learn me.

And there was a lot of time when we tripped over one another because we didn't know, we had both spent more time apart up until that point than we had together. And so there was a lot of learning that was required.

Now, we're just now at that point where we've been together more than we weren't. We're just now about to hit our 19th anniversary. We got married at 19. So this is our first year of being able to say we've been together longer than we were apart.

Still tripping over each other, sometimes. But I certainly know her now better than I did then. It's nice to be able to say I love her more now than I did the day we were married because I know her better now than the day...

Yes, sir. That's right. And that's what a biblical education is. That's why we should pursue a biblical education because a biblical education is not just learning a book. It's learning the Author. It's learning Him.

God invested 1 ,500 years in the Bible. Now, to God, 1 ,000 years is as a day, and a day is as 1 ,000 years. But looking at it purely from the perspective of what all God invested, 1 ,500 years to give us this Word.

And He's preserved it for us for 2 ,000 years so that we would have it. I was thinking about, when I was writing the lesson, I was thinking about when a man goes off to war. I've never been off to war.

By God's grace, I've been protected from that. But many of you men have been in military and been off to war. And when a man goes off to war, he's often disconnected from everyone that he loves. He's disconnected from family.

He's disconnected... His only friends he has are his brother and sisters-in-arms. If they're there, he's got... His only line of communication is maybe mail. And so he gets a letter from home. Maybe it's from mom.

Maybe it's from dad. Maybe it's from a spouse. Maybe it's from a child. And that letter, to him, becomes a treasure. And he puts it in a place where it's safe. And he protects it because... And he pulls it out and he reads it often because this is the reminder of the love that he has at home.

Right? That letter is a reminder of what he has... What he's fighting for. The letter reminds him that when this is over, there's something better to go home to. Right? And the Bible is very much that same way for us.

This is God having given to us 1 ,500 year investment of a written word from Him to us. And we read it and we're reminded that this life isn't all there is. We're reminded that we have a Father who is in heaven, who loves us.

We're reminded that there's coming a day when this life and the sufferings of this life will be no more. And there will be a heaven that awaits us and God will be our God. And there will be no more separation of sin.

There'll be no separation. There'll be no more tears. There'll be no more suffering. All of the former things will pass away. And that's what the Word of God gives us. The Word of God gives us God. The believer should pursue a knowledge of God.

How do we get that? Through a knowledge of His Word. A biblical education should be a priority in the life of the believer. A pursuit in the life of the believer. Can a person grow without the Word? I really thought about that question.

Because, you know, there have been times in history where people didn't have access to Bibles. There have been times in history, even today, where certain people in certain countries can't have a Bible of their own.

But I'll tell you this. Whatever growth they have without the Bible, if you've seen the video of that Chinese church where the Bibles were delivered and they literally tore into the boxes and they were holding them, clutching them to their chest because they never had a Bible before and now they have one.

And it's theirs. And it's theirs to own. And it's theirs to read. And they began to pour over the pages of the book. Oh, how much we have been spoiled. Absolutely. Absolutely. It was a letter from the living God.

And they held it. And they loved it. And they cherished it. So can a person grow without the Word? I don't know that a person can grow without some understanding. I don't know what level they could grow.

But I know this. When they get a chance to go... A person who's saved, they get a chance to have the Word. They want it. Because they want God. And He is known in His Word. So that's number one. All believers should pursue a biblical education.

The Church Must Prioritize Biblical Education

Number two. The church should make biblical education a priority. The church should make biblical education a priority. Notice. I did not say the pastor. I did that specifically because biblical education is a responsibility of the church.

I can't learn for you. I can't force you to come and learn. If I could, Sunday morning and Wednesday night, we'd have the same amount of people. Yeah, I said it. I can't make them come. I can ask them.

I can encourage them. I can tell them that they should be here. I can say you're missing out. It's not the same when you listen to it on sermon audio. It's not the same as being here and being with God's people and loving each other.

It's just not. But all we do as elders is facilitate an environment where solid information is taught, and then it's the church's responsibility to make that education a priority. That's why I say the church should make biblical education a priority.

The elders just facilitate it. The preacher, the teachers facilitate it. But we can't make it a priority. We can't give you the desire to learn, but the desire to learn should permeate the community, the church.

Too often, churches are focused on so many things other than growing, other than learning. They're concerned about programs and dynamic experiences. And I tell you what, I get tired of that word experience.

I start getting kind of off subject. That word experience really bothers me. You know, what was it, Henry Blackaby's book, Experiencing God? Hugely popular about 20 years ago. Here's the issue. People have replaced knowledge of God with experience with God.

And here's the problem with that. You can have knowledge which leads to an experience, and you should if you know God. You should experience fellowship with Him, love with Him, all those things. But if you're seeking experience first without knowledge, then your experience is based on ignorance.

And a lot of people mistake experience for knowledge. They think because they felt good in a service one time, that they drew closer to God. You understand where the problem with that is? There's a guy, I talked about him in Sunday school class, you guys will probably remember this.

There's a guy named Darren Brown. He's a hypnotist. Darren Brown is an atheist hypnotist. He's over in Europe, and he does shows. A church allowed him to come in. I don't know why the church would allow this, but they allowed him to come in and provide a revival service where he pretended to be a preacher.

And he's a very educated man when it comes to manipulating emotions. He's a hypnotist. He knows how to get people to behave a certain way and talk people in, produce suggestions and things that cause...

He got atheists in the room to believe in God, and he didn't believe in God. He got atheists in the room to believe they were feeling the Spirit course through them, and he didn't believe it was happening.

It's on video. You can go watch it for yourself. It's amazing. These atheists are crying. And at the end he goes, it was all fake. It was a manipulation of your emotions. It was a manipulation of your mind.