New Age - Cults & The Occult Lesson # 1

So tonight we're going to begin our study of world religions, more specifically the cults and the occult. We're going to begin with the new age movement. So how many of you have heard somebody say something to the effect that I'm spiritual, but I'm not religious.

Have you heard anyone say that? Or they're not really interested in organized religion. They are interested though in spirituality, but they don't think that any one religion is correct. Or maybe they have a coexist bumper sticker on their car.

Well, if you've heard that, you've heard people say those things that could be an indicator. It's not proof, but it could be an indicator that that person at least has been influenced by the new age movement.

Some of you who are older will remember this back in the 1960s, I guess it was 1970s where there all of a sudden was this talk about the age of Aquarius. Well, that is the new age. The new age is the age of Aquarius.

So it was around that time in the sixties, uh, the thing started to change. People's ideas about religion started, uh, started to change. People were less dogmatic, more open to new ideas. Proselytizing became, um, taboo.

Like you're not supposed to convert people. All of a sudden that became offensive doctrine and absolute truth was starting to be pushed out the door and people just were just a little more free, a little more open-minded.

They didn't believe that any one system of religion was the truth. Everyone has their own path. And now that's just the way most people think. So you know, you need to be true to yourself. These are all familiar things that we hear.

They're very closely associated with this new age movement. So let's turn to first Thessalonians chapter five. So what is new age? You can't really call it a cult since it's not really an organized faith.

Uh, there's no centralized leadership, so it's kind of hard to pin down, but the most famous new age leaders, uh, the, the names that everyone would know are Shirley McClain, right? The actress Oprah Winfrey, everybody knows Oprah and then Deepak Chopra.

So these are probably the most well-known names in new age. There are not really any officially defined doctrines. It's sort of, sort of a mixture of spirituality, um, social trends, political forces that all mixed up together.

But we're going to go through some of the defining marks of the new age movement. This term new age has been around for about 50, 60 years and it's described as a utopian vision where we are entering in or beginning to enter into the new age, the age of Aquarius, where there is going to be more harmony, basically human progress.

People are going to become enlightened. Before we look at the scripture, just some statistics. Over 12 million Americans are involved in the new age movement and another 30 million are avidly interested.

Just in comparison, there are 8 million Mormons in the United States and 1 .3 million Jehovah's witnesses. So think about that. Jehovah's witnesses, 1 .3 Mormons, 8 million. How many new age 12 with another 30 interested and much more again have been influenced by it.

So look at 1st Thessalonians 5, 21 through 23. This really describes why I'm doing this study, what my approach is going to be, what this is all about. 1st Thessalonians 5, 21 through 23 says, test all things and hold fast.

What is good abstain from every form of evil and now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So just that first statement, test all things, hold fast that which is good. That's what we want to do. We want to test the new age movement and look at it, see what people believe, what they're saying and compare it to what the Bible says.

So test all things, hold fast that which is good. I think it's important that local churches talk about this stuff so that you are equipped so that you have the information so that you know some of the arguments against it.

Okay. This is what they say, but here's what the Bible says. I mean, we could continue our study in Matthew and I, we will at some point, but most of you have heard, you've read the gospel of Matthew.

You've heard preaching from the gospel. Some of you for 50 or 60 years, maybe you've never heard a study on this. So I think this is important instead of just kind of going over things that you've heard before.

We need to, we need to test all things. So let's go through some of the defining marks of the new age movement. Number one, religious syncretism. So this is the blending of all faiths together. So here's the thing.

A new ager can take Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, you know, just kind of blend it all together and pick and choose what they, what they like. New age thinkers are open to all sorts of different things, but one thing they are not open to is a truth claim of exclusivity.

So if you want to talk about your faith, that's fine. As long as you don't say Jesus Christ is the only way to God that they don't like. You can pretty much believe what you want, but if you say, Hey, we have the truth.

Jesus said he's the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes unto the father, except through me, John 14 verse six, that's something they would be against or they would redefine it that well, yeah, Jesus, he's a way, but he's not the way.

Okay. So number one, religious syncretism. And if you have any questions, just raise your hand as we go along or anything you want to contribute. Just let me know. Another defining mark of new age is the concept of monism.

I don't want to get too much into philosophy, but there's monism. There is a dualism. Basically, this is the idea that reality is not made up of material and immaterial, you know, physical things and spiritual things.

New age people believe that all is one, all is one and one is all, which would mean that there is no God out there who's distinct from his creation. What do we believe as Christians that there is a God.

And there was a time when all of this didn't exist. So we believe that God exists and that he is separate from his creation. God isn't me and I'm not God. That seems pretty basic, right? But in new age thought, everything is everything.

All, all is one and one is all. So they see no distinction of body and spirit. Everything is one. And this closely connects to the next mark of the new age. Their concept of God is what? What is it, Mark?

Their concept. They're not monotheists. They are what? Pantheists. God is everything that exists and everything is God. Right. So God is in everything. God is everything, right? All is one. One is all.

Does this sound confusing to you? Like this, this, this just isn't the way people in the Western world typically think. We don't think of it that way. We sometimes can't even really comprehend what's being said.

But yeah, pantheism basically is I'm God, you're God. You know, this, this computer is God. The trees are God. The rocks are everything is God. Well, if everything is God, then nothing is God. That's what I would argue.

But this is, this is the concept of monism and then pantheism. And of course, that leads to the next mark, the deification of humanity. So if God is pantheistic, if God is everything, then you are what?

Yeah, you are God. So the deification of humanity. So if God is everything, then we are divine. We are divine beings. So we just need to realize that you just need to realize you're divine. Come to that, um, you know, that divine consciousness and then you can unlock your potential.

And since the mind and the body are one, you know, if you're sick, well, it's like mind over matter. Well, they're one. If you think and believe that you're well, there is healing, uh, from your mind.

Say, I see some confused looks and, uh, I don't, I don't get it. And that doesn't make sense. Well, but this is just a totally different way of viewing reality that everything is connected. But sometimes you hear preaching that sounds a lot like this, you know, that you are little gods.

And if you just speak the word and believe it hard enough, you know, you can kind of create your own reality and you can be healed if you just believe. And so there are parts of the Bible that they can kind of twist and manipulate to make it sound that this is new age, but it actually sounds Christian and Christian sounds new way and it can kind of go back and forth.

So the idea is that people can tap into the same awareness in grand consciousness of life so that you reach this place, place of self actualization, which psychologists say that only 10 or less of people on earth have reached this level where all your emotional needs, physical needs, spiritual needs, all your needs have been met.

You come to this place where you are completely fulfilled and at peace and you reach that sort of higher level. It's like a state of enlightenment. Okay. So some of you probably looked up new age during the week.

Is this sounding familiar? Is this the type of thing that you found? Okay. Uh, who's ever seen a picture and there's a lot of Christian, um, it's not art, but, um, memes, I guess. But, uh, who's ever seen a picture of somebody standing in front of the ocean or standing, you know, on a mountaintop and they're like this, right?

You probably see, and I'm not saying if some Christian posted something on Facebook and there's some guy like this and there's a Bible verse that they're secretly new age. Not saying that because this stuff is everywhere, but that's, that's kind of a symbol of that person on the mountaintop in front of the ocean with their arms outstretched, uh, that they've kind of realized that they are connected to, to everything.

And they have kind of realized that there's this connection and they are, they are almost, well, they are divine. Well, the biblical teaching of course is contrary to this. Um, somebody asked me, is this new?

Is the new age movement new? And I said, no, these are all ideas that have been around a long, long time. There's like this idea that you are divine. Well, what was the first temptation in the garden?

The devil said to Eve, if you eat of the fruit, you shall be like what? Yeah, you will be like God. So whatever it is we see here, the Bible addresses it somewhere. So none of this is actually new. And of course the concept of salvation, uh, salvation for the new ager is where found in Jesus Christ.

Who's in heaven. No salvation is, is within you. So let's turn to Hebrews chapter nine. So in Christianity, we believe God is a personal being. He is separate from his creation. We are not God. We are below God.

Are you, are you comfortable saying that? Yeah, we are. We are way below God. We believe that mankind is corrupt, but the new ager, they find that offensive. No, you're, you're divine. You just need to realize that.

So when somebody comes along and teaches the Bible that mankind is actually sinful and corrupt, what does the scripture say? Let God be true in every man, a liar. See, that's what they would be against.

So they're pretty much open to all sorts of different ideas, but biblical truth, they're very much against it. All right. So the next mark of new age is the belief in heaven and hell. No, you need to get rid of that thinking.

New agers typically believe in what? Yeah. Reincarnation. The idea that you will come back in another form. After all, you're part of the divine. So everything is connected. Reincarnation comes from what religion originally?

Well Hinduism and then Buddhism, but Hindus, there's a difference. So again, new age is, is not new really, but they take old ideas and just put a new spin on it. Hindus who originally believed they were the first ones to believe in reincarnation, Hindus are taught to deny self and to deny the things of this world.

New agers on the other hand, affirm self and they affirm and glorify some of the things of this world. So they're similar, but not the same. So what does the Bible say about reincarnation? You might say, well, it doesn't really address reincarnation specifically.

Look at Hebrews 9 27. The scripture teaches that it is appointed unto man once to die. And after this, you come back as, as a dog or a cat or whatever, no, it's appointed unto man wants to die. And after this, the judgment.

So I know Christians have been affected by new age because when people preach the Bible and what the scripture says about the final judgment, God having wrath. I know there are people in churches who react negatively against that.

And I've heard Christians say things like, you know, if somebody is talking about God's wrath or, you know, the final judgment, and I've heard even pastors say this, that that person has a religious spirit or that they, when they talk about religion, they're very down at religion is bad.

So if somebody is talking about God having wrath, that person just has a, a religious spirit. So the idea is with new age, if you say things that are negative, that's bad. That's, you know, typical religion, they reject it.

And let's face it, death, judgment, like that is negative. Isn't it? So new agers tend to be very positive, or they try to be very positive. Everything they say, typically when you listen to them, it's not positive only because they do react negatively towards, you know, Christianity and claims of absolute truth.

But they, they typically try to sound at least positive. It was around this time, the new age movement started that you saw this trend in Christianity, the power of positive thinking, who remembers that?

Yeah. And that is kind of morphed into today with evangelicalism. The most popular ministries are basically positive only preachers, and they have some new age ideas, the, the, that were little gods, if you are preachers, this was a big thing 20 years ago.

Or if you make declarations, you know, I decree or I declare, and you, you say things that are not actually happening yet, but you speak these words of faith over your life in words are containers of power.

So you can kind of create your own reality. You know, TV preachers are famous for that. Be positive, speak what you want to come to pass, believe it, and it will take place. Well, I mean, that is similar to new age.

So some of the televangelists, in a sense, they're like, they're like gurus and they're those same people have a very inclusive attitude towards other religions. You will never hear them preach against other religions because I would argue they're influenced by new age thought.

So here's the thing to watch out for just as a Christian, the positive only preaching that can be a gateway into new age because there's a lot of overlap. And speaking of Oprah, as one of the kind of new age gurus, if Oprah is that if you ever seen Oprah promoting a Christian or a preacher, I mean, that kind of tells you something.

All right. Any questions or comments so far? Any of this sound familiar? All right. Another thing that's common in new age is the use of crystals. Now I want to be careful just because somebody maybe wears a necklace and a crystal or they have crystals, that doesn't mean that they're wrapped up in the new age.

Okay. Uh, but crystals supposedly in new age thought attract and store spiritual energy. I remember I used to work with a guy and he told me how, you know, his wife, she had back problems and she put these crystals under the mattress and like the next day her back was healed and then they were, they were into new age.

Although I don't know if they use that, that term, but new age believers think that to harmonize ourselves with the universe that can be done through the vibrations created by crystals. And if this sounds strange, I'm just reading what, what I discovered, uh, crystals are used for a number of things like psychic healing, uh, getting in contact with spirits and reaching a higher consciousness.

So the idea is the energy from crystals they say can be released by holding them, meditating upon them, or simply wearing the crystal around your neck. Just being close to it can have that positive effect.

All right, let's turn to Deuteronomy chapter 18 and again, some people might just wear it for a fashion statement, but it doesn't prove anything. Just like if somebody says, well, I'm spiritual, but not religious, that doesn't mean that they're into new age religion.

I mean, they may be, they might not be, but these are things that are common, uh, to new age. I personally know somebody who got mixed up with crystals and these rocks, and this is just what they told me.

Uh, they said they were using crystals to communicate with the spiritual realm. And they told me they did get in contact with a spirit and whatever happened to them that caused them to leave the new age movement.

Now that they're out of the new age movement, they recognize that that spirit was a demon and they personally believe they are possessed by a demon. Again, I don't know that that actually happened. I'm just telling you what the person told me.

Uh, now obviously within new age, new age people would not identify these spirits as demons, but as Christians, if we believe the Bible, we don't believe in ghosts like in a haunted house. When somebody dies, their ghost remains.

We don't believe that. Uh, but we do believe in angels and demons. The scripture does teach angels and demons. So any spirit that you would contact, um, would be, if you do contact the spirit, presumably that would be a, what, what the, what the scripture calls an unclean spirit or a demon.

All right. Look at Deuteronomy 18, nine through 12. So the new age is very open about contacting spirits and this spirit can act as a guide. The Bible does directly address that. Deuteronomy 18, nine through 12 says, when you come into the land, which the Lord, your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations.

There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire or one who practices witchcraft or a soothsayer or one who interprets omens or a sorcerer or one who conjures spells or a medium or a spiritist or one who calls up the dead.

Another term for calling up the dead would be necromancy. You remember the, uh, king of Israel, Saul, he went and visited the witch at Endor and he wanted to contact Samuel. What was the problem with that?

Samuel was dead and the witch at Endor contacted a spirit and up came, well, it says Samuel, but we don't know that that was actually Samuel. It could have been a one-time event where he actually contacted Samuel, but it's also possible that Saul encountered a demon either way.

The next day he was dead. Okay. Deuteronomy 18 verse 12. So all those who practice soothsaying, necromancy, witchcraft, what does the scripture say? And this is the Lord speaking for all who do these things are what an abomination to the Lord.

So for that reason alone, the new age movement would be completely incompatible with biblical Christianity. You know, and if there's anyone here or watching online, I realized that people in churches, probably people in this room have in the past dabbled with things like this and we believe in forgiveness and we would encourage people obviously not to do that.

And if, especially with young people, uh, don't get involved because the idea is, well, witchcraft, you know, it's like Harry Potter, it's not real and it's just fun and make believe. Well, the stuff in the movies is make believe, but people who actually dabble with this stuff in real life, I've heard many, many people say, no, I actually experienced something very dark and it was real and this is something we want to avoid.

But there is forgiveness of course, if, if a person would turn away from it. Okay. So hopefully at this point you can see that new age and biblical Christianity are completely at odds with one another.

Any questions so far? This next one I really find interesting. The next mark of the new age is belief in the new world order. Who's heard of the new world order? Yeah. I think everyone's heard of it now because the past two years there's been a lot of tights kind of the idea has kind of gone mainstream.

If you talked about the new world order 10 years ago, people would have thought, you know, you're one of these crazy conspiracy theorists, but now it's talked about openly. So new agers believe in a coming new world order.

One author wrote this, a cosmic evolutionary optimism is taught that there is a new age coming. There will be a new world order, a new world government. New age thinkers believe that there will eventually be a progressive unification of world consciousness.

So they believe the whole world is going to come together. There will be one governing body. There will be one world religion. And then we believe as Christians in the one world economy, because let's turn to revelation chapter 13, because the Bible talks about this, the new world order.

The whole idea of a coming utopia is nothing new. These are just old ideas being repackaged. I did a sermon a couple of years ago titled Babylon and the new world order, and that's all it is. It's the spirit of Babylon member Nimrod, the tower of Babel.

He wanted to build, uh, make a name for themselves, kind of have a one world religion, just bring everybody together around the tower of Babel. And what did God want? God said no. And he spread people out.

God wanted different nations, uh, different languages, but they want to bring everyone together. And now that sounds good, right? Yeah. Let's, let's all come together. Well, the world will come together according to the Bible, but it will be under the leadership of who?

No. Well, that will happen one day, but before the world comes together, yeah, under Christ, it's going to come together first under, uh, antichrist. Okay. So let's look at revelation 13 verse, uh, one.

The apostle John writes, then I stood on the sand of the sea and I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and 10 horns and on his horns, 10 crowns and on his heads, a blasphemous name.

So this beast that comes up out of the sea is most commonly referred to by Christians as the antichrist or the beast or the antichrist. And then in verse 11, you see another beast who is identified as the false prophet and revelation 16 verse 13 is specifically talks about the beast, the false prophet, and who's the third member of this satanic Trinity, if you will, the dragon.

So it's the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet. What did the apostles of Jesus teach and second Corinthians four, four, they said that Satan, they believe that Satan is the God of the sage, right?

Satan is the Prince of the power of the air. So who is in control of the world right now? Yeah, this is the devil's kingdom. If you will remember in the temptation of Jesus, the devil offered Jesus the kingdoms of this world, if he would bow down and worship him and the devil could offer that because they are under his control.

So this world is under the control of Satan right now. So at the end of days, the new world order will be brought in. There will be a one world government along with a one world religion. I would argue the one world religion in a sense is already here.

It's called ecumenism, or we talk about the ecumenical movement. But basically the idea that all religions are equal. So all religions can come together. You know, you can have your headscarf, you can burn your incense, you can have your holy day.

Everyone can do their own thing, but we're all on the same level. We all have many paths to God. So let's all come together and get along. I think that's the new, the new age religion, the new world order religion.

As long as you don't say that my way is correct and you need to convert. That's the one thing they will not tolerate, but you can believe what you want as long as you don't say that. All right. So you're in Matthew or excuse me, Revelation 13 verse three says that the world marveled and followed the beast.

So the whole world is following who the beast or the antichrist. Verse four says that the whole world worships him. So that's one world government, one world religion. And then you see the one world economic system in verses 16 and 17, he, the false prophet says causes all both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads that no one may be able to buy or sell except the one who has the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name.

Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding, calculate the number of the beast for it is the number of a man. His number is, and you've heard this before, his number is 666. We don't know exactly what that's going to look like, but when the time comes, people will be able to identify what the mark of the beast is.

So this is the coming new world order. And it's just interesting that now you have world rulers and you have people in the new age movement openly admitting that, Hey, we want the new world order and new age.

People believe that it will come in sometime in the middle of this century. So they're predicting the new world order in the next, what, 20, 30, 40 years. Does that prove that it's going to happen? No, but this is the belief out there.

All right. Do you understand that the whole concept of the new world order?

There's a summit going on right now in Davos and they're talking about the new world order.

Right. Who's heard of the world economic forum Davos? Is it Switzerland? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And they're the, they're sort of the architects. They say by the year one, one campaign they put out last year is by the year 2030, you will own nothing and you'll be happy.

One of their people just last week, it came out that they said, you know, the average citizen does not have the right to own a car, you know, because of climate change and whatever. So there's all this pollution.

So people shouldn't own their own car. They need to take the bus. So what they want is they want to organize a, a governing body that will dictate to the world what you can do and what you can't do. I mean, that is happening.

Whether or not they accomplish it, whether or not that is the new world order. I mean, that remains to be seen, but the point is, this is not conspiracy. There's like, this is happening in the open right now.

People are talking like this. So it's just a matter of time before one day it actually takes place. But it would, that kind of thinking would be in line with, with the new age because now we're entering into this new era and people are more enlightened and there's a select few who really get it.

And you know, everybody else, you just don't understand. We know what's best for you. So we're going to create the rules and you're going to do what we say. That's the way it kind of works. Any other comments or questions on that?

Okay. So just to recap, in the new age movement, there is no one faith that is correct. Everybody has the spark of divinity. So Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, that's fine. You can believe what you want as long as you don't say one religion is the true religion.

They believe that God is what? God is whoever you want him to be, or whoever you want her to be, or whoever you want it to be. God is basically a, a concept. God is everything. Everything is God. So God is more of an impersonal force or a divine principle.

Does that contradict the Bible? Obviously. Why? Because Jesus was a person. God, the father is a person and God, the father is referred to by the masculine pronouns, he and him, and the Holy spirit is referred to as he and him.

So when you hear someone talking about God as a her, they don't actually think God is a woman. They're just rejecting the old way of thinking. So that is more new age, new age thought. So the truth is what?

It's what you want it to be. You can have your truth and I'll have my truth. Doesn't that sound great? We can all have our own, our own truth. New age teachers say that salvation depends on you. Here's one quote that I found.

The tragedy of the human race is that you don't realize that you're divine. People are trapped by their own misconceptions. So what you really need, you need transformation. You need a new consciousness.

Can you understand why people are attracted to this? I can totally see it. You know, there's, here's a Christian preacher and he's teaching to all have sinned and have come short of the glory of God. You need to repent and you need to believe on Jesus because there's a, you know, people hear that and they're turned off.

Like, I don't want to hear this. But when someone says, you know, you, you are a God, you are good. Salvation is within you. You know, you can have your own truth. You basically, Hey, that's the temptation of the devil.

You will be like God. You will decide what's right and wrong. You have your own path. See, this is what people want. This appeals to the flesh. So the new age movement, probably even though it's kind of flying under the radar, one person compared it to an onion that it grows underground and has many layers, you know, and the snakes probably is another way, but it is, it's flying under the radar.

Most people, maybe they heard about it somewhere, but you don't realize how much of an effect it's having and how many people, you know, this mindset is capturing. So what if somebody is teaching new age religion and I'm just going to use Oprah because every article I read, every book, you know, every internet website, wherever I looked about new age, Oprah is always the one mentioned.

Like, I think she is probably the most well-known person. So what if you come across someone like Oprah Winfrey and Oprah talks about religion a lot and Oprah, maybe you know this, maybe you don't. She identifies as a Christian.

Yeah. She's, I'm a Christian. I watched one video where she was, I thought about playing one and maybe we'll play some clips with some of the other topics, but you know, she was talking about how I'm a Christian and she's like, if you're interested, you can come to me and I'll tell you.

And I'm like, no, she's the last person you want to go to hear about Christianity. But she's like, I'm not talking about religion. She got really stern. I'm not talking about religion. What's she saying?

Like the Bible, like doctrine, like actual concrete things that you can point to, like Jesus died for your sin, the resurrection, the 10 commandments, like real stuff you can sink your teeth into. Oh, she doesn't want any of that.

She just wants to retain the label to appear spiritual and then suck you in. It's like a bait and switch. Well, I'm a Christian. And then here, here's a new age pill. Why don't you swallow that? That's what's happening.

I, what was my point about Oprah? I brought her up for a reason. Um, okay. Yeah. She, she would be one who is teaching new age thought. So what should we do? Let's turn to Roman 16. What does the Bible say about our response?

How should we respond, react to someone who is teaching this? You could probably guess, you know, the, the common attitude is, well, you know, you can, you can listen to what she has to say or Deepak Chopra or one of these other people.

They have some good things to say. So, you know, you, you eat the meat and spit out the bones. So take the things that she says that are good. And then the things that are off base, just kind of ignore that, but you can listen to her with the good stuff.

Is that what the apostle Paul would recommend? Do you think the apostle Paul would recommend that you get your religious teachings from Oprah?

I kind of doubt it. Let's look at what she had to follow me. Yeah.

Yeah. And again, there, some, some of you might, maybe you watch Oprah and I'm not saying, Hey, you've been deceived by the new age, you know, but you need to be careful because sometimes we can be influenced by something and not even realize it.

Here's our response. Here's what it should be to new age teachers. Paul says in Romans 16 verse 17. Now I urge you brethren, note those who cause divisions in offenses, contrary to the doctrine in which you learned and do what?

Avoid them. So if somebody is teaching things contrary to what the Bible teaches, Paul says, note that person recognize who they are and avoid them. So that should be our stance towards new age teachers.

Just avoid them. Don't listen to them. Obviously that's a decision you need to make personally, but that's, that's the command of scripture mark and avoid. So that's, that's a teacher though. What about your cousin?

What about your neighbor? What about your coworker who maybe is influenced by the new age is dabbling in the new age? Our response towards them is totally different. So Shirley McLean. Okay. She can be, she's a talented actress maybe, but you know, don't read her books on spirituality, but your neighbor or your coworker who's being influenced by new age, we need to be kind to them, right?

We need to patiently teach them what the truth is. So we need to patiently come alongside them and guide them into what we're hoping to do is to guide them into a personal relationship with Jesus. Don't be harsh with them.

Don't tell them what they believe is stupid and you know, don't react like that. Be patient because you know, there was a time where you were thinking wrongly. There's a time maybe you were mixed up and whatever it is.

So we want to be able to come alongside people and, and gently guide them in the right direction. That's where you come in. That's where the church comes in and to share with them the truth. The gospel of Christ crucified and risen.

Human beings are not divine, right? Human beings have been made in God's image. That'll be how they twist it. Well, we're all made in the image of God. Well, that's true, but we're not all divine. The scripture says we have all sinned in a fallen short of the glory of God.

So that's the starting point. And then we lead them into the truth of the gospel. So I'll close with what Jude says in verses 22 through 25, he says, and on some have compassion, making a distinction, but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.