Participants: Pr. Kenneth Cox
Series Code: GMTB
Program Code: GMTB000017
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00:19 Today in Southern Illinois it was one of those steel grey
00:24 wind-swept rainy days 00:26 that sort of irritates you and 00:28 rearranges your plans 00:30 and maybe tests your Christianity just a little bit. 00:34 I spent the day on my roof patching and in my basement 00:38 baling and watching the weather report... 00:42 which thankfully says tomorrow will be a better day. 00:46 It will be better tomorrow. 00:48 And I was thinking about that because we as humans have this 00:51 fascination with tomorrow. 00:53 We always think about tomorrow. 00:56 We wax rhapsodic about tomorrow. 00:59 We write songs about it; we have poems about it. 01:02 Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you, tomorrow... 01:04 you're always a day away. 01:05 Many things about tomorrow I do not understand, 01:08 but I know who holds tomorrow, 01:10 and I know who holds my hand. And yet... 01:13 the truth is: tomorrow is not promised to us. 01:17 We have no assurance about tomorrow. 01:20 Tomorrow is beyond our reach. 01:23 Yesterday has slipped from our grasp, 01:26 and all that we have been given custody of is today. 01:31 We only have today. 01:33 "Choose ye THIS day whom you will serve. " 01:36 Hebrews 4:7: "Today, if you hear His voice, 01:40 harden not your hearts. " 01:41 Allow me to perform a little bit of sanctified surgery 01:45 on that text and say: "Today, when you hear His voice, 01:49 harden not your hearts. " For truly you will hear 01:52 the voice of God from the man of God, 01:54 the Word of God, on this day as we heard on last night 01:57 and we will in subsequent meetings. 01:59 We've been talking about that important day... 02:02 the day that we call the Sabbath. 02:04 That day of days. That day that humankind has chosen to 02:08 forget and God has asked us to remember. 02:11 So as you hear the Word of God today, make a decision 02:15 to accept God's Word today. 02:17 Because if you take care of today 02:20 God will take care of tomorrow 02:23 and all the tomorrows until that great day 02:27 when Jesus comes. My name is C.A. Murray. 02:29 And again we welcome you to 02:31 really a wonderful set of meetings that we are calling 02:34 Give Me The Bible. 02:36 Tonight's subject is an intriguing one... 02:38 Baptized Paganism. 02:40 Now I've heard about baptized pagans, 02:42 but this is Baptized Paganism, 02:45 and I'm curious to hear what the man of God, 02:47 our friend, our evangelist, our teacher 02:49 Elder Cox has to say on this particular subject. 02:52 But before he comes to us, 02:53 Joe Pearles is here singing a wonderful song 02:56 Beautiful Life. 03:05 Each day I do 03:07 a golden deed. 03:11 By helping those 03:14 who are in need. 03:17 My life on earth 03:20 is but a span. 03:23 And so I'll do the best I can. 03:30 Life's evening sun 03:33 is sinking low. 03:37 A few more days 03:39 and I must go 03:42 to meet the deeds 03:45 that I have done. 03:49 Where there will be 03:52 no setting sun. 04:01 While going down 04:04 life's lonesome road, 04:07 I'll try to lift 04:11 some traveler's load. 04:14 I'll try to turn 04:17 my night to day. 04:20 Make flowers bloom 04:24 along the way. 04:26 Life's evening sun 04:30 is sinking low. 04:33 A few more days 04:36 and I must go 04:39 to meet the deeds 04:42 that I have done. 04:46 Where there will be 04:49 no setting sun. 05:03 Thank you, Joe. 05:05 Thank you very much. 05:06 Always, always enjoy having Joe here. 05:09 Did you enjoy that? Amen! That's great. 05:12 Well, welcome to you. We're very happy to have you 05:14 here tonight for the second part 05:17 of this series on the Sabbath. 05:19 And we're just glad that you're 05:22 here in spite of all the rain we've had. 05:26 But we're thankful that you're here. 05:28 We'd like to welcome all those that are watching by television 05:32 and also those that are listening by radio. 05:36 Welcome to this series. 05:38 What says the Bible, the blessed Bible? 05:41 This should my only question be. 05:45 The Lord gave us His Sabbath to bless and remind us. 05:51 What says the Book of God to me? 05:54 That's what we need to know 05:55 and that's what we need to find out. 05:58 And so we're taking a look at the question of the Sabbath. 06:02 Tonight this takes two sessions to cover... 06:08 two presentations. And so tonight 06:10 we're talking about Baptized Paganism I. 06:14 OK? And then tomorrow morning we'll take a look at 06:18 Baptized Paganism II. 06:21 So it takes both those to cover this subject. 06:24 And they're very, very important because it helps you see things 06:28 that are happening and taking place that you wouldn't 06:31 pick up otherwise. And so we hope you'll 06:33 follow carefully as we take a look at this subject: 06:37 Baptized Paganism II. 06:40 What are we looking at there? 06:42 We'll be talking about some things that paganism has done 06:46 that affects your life. 06:48 I mean in a very, very real and definite way. 06:52 So you'll want to be sure and take a look at that. 06:55 Tonight on Baptized Paganism I 06:59 what are you looking for there? 07:02 Want you to see basically the conflict 07:06 that has gone between paganism and God's people. 07:11 And how that has entered and how you see it 07:13 all the way through the scripture. 07:16 It's not just a little bit. 07:18 All the way through the scripture you find that. 07:20 And we'll see how that fits together and all works together. 07:24 So we hope that you'll follow carefully as we take a look 07:28 at the Word of God. 07:29 And when you get home 07:32 you might take your Bible and sit down 07:34 and just try to trace some of these things 07:37 that I have talked to you about 07:38 so that you can see there in God's Word... 07:41 what God's Word has to say about it. 07:43 So we hope you will do that. 07:46 It's always a great, great delight 07:49 to have Joe come and sing for us. 07:53 I know you are being blessed in a special way, 07:55 and I know that I am being blessed. 07:58 So Joe, we're happy that you're here. 08:01 He's going to sing for you a beautiful song entitled 08:03 Because of Calvary. 08:18 Today I went back to the place 08:23 where I used to go. 08:28 Today I saw that same old crowd 08:34 I knew before. 08:40 When they asked me what had happened 08:45 I tried to tell them. 08:51 Thanks to Calvary 08:54 I don't come here anymore. 09:02 Thanks to Calvary 09:05 I am not the man I used to be. 09:13 Thanks to Calvary 09:17 things are different than before. 09:25 While the tears ran down my face 09:30 I tried to tell them... 09:36 Thanks to Calvary 09:39 I don't come here anymore. 09:47 Then we went back to the house 09:52 where we used to live. 09:58 My little boy 10:01 ran and hid behind the door. 10:11 And I said "Son, oh son, 10:14 don't be afraid because you've got a brand new daddy now. " 10:19 Thanks to Calvary 10:24 we don't live here anymore. 10:32 Thanks to Calvary 10:35 I am not the dad I used to be. 10:43 Thanks to Calvary 10:46 things are different than before. 10:55 While the tears ran down my face 10:59 I tried to tell him... 11:04 Thanks to Calvary 11:09 we don't live here anymore. 11:16 Thanks to Calvary 11:20 we don't live here 11:23 anymore. 11:53 Gracious Lord, 11:56 thanks to Calvary we have life. 12:02 Thanks to Calvary 12:05 there's hope. 12:07 Thank you, Lord, for what You did for each one of us. 12:13 We pray that tonight 12:16 that our hearts may be open. 12:20 That we may be given insight. 12:25 May Your Spirit come and dwell among us. 12:28 Give us understanding of Your Word. 12:31 May we understand well enough, Lord, 12:34 to make sure that we place ourselves 12:38 squarely on your side 12:41 and that we'll walk with You and follow You. 12:44 Bless us tonight in a special way we pray. 12:48 In Christ's name, Amen. 12:55 Well to begin with tonight 12:57 we're going to take a look at a quotation from a history book 13:01 on church history by Worley, 13:04 and it simply says this: 13:23 And so tonight what we want to do is 13:27 we want to look at the conflict 13:30 that has gone on between God's people and paganism 13:34 and how that plays out. 13:36 All the way through the scripture you see that going 13:40 back and forth, back and forth. 13:42 So to begin with, 13:43 we're going to go right back 13:45 to the beginning to the book of Genesis. 13:46 And in the book of Genesis it talks about 13:50 a tower that the people built 13:52 referred to as the Tower of Babel. 13:55 Now, I'm sure that over the years if you've seen 13:58 pictures of it it always pictured it 14:02 as being round... but that's really not the way it was. 14:05 This is a model of it. 14:08 And the Tower of Babel was built after the flood, 14:13 and the people hoped that by building this they could 14:18 make some way that if it ever flooded again 14:21 they could be saved... some of them at least. 14:24 And so it says: 14:44 So it tells you clearly what they had to work with. 14:48 They had the bricks that they made 14:51 and they had the asphalt as mortar. 15:08 Now here everyone at that time 15:11 all spoke the same language. 15:14 Everyone did. 15:16 God looked down, saw this... saw what was going on. 15:20 And it says: 15:31 God confused the languages 15:34 so that they had trouble talking to one another... 15:37 and because of this they stopped building on the Tower of Babel 15:41 and were scattered across the nations. 15:58 Now this was the Tower of Babel. 16:00 This took place basically because of one man, 16:06 and this one man is mentioned in the chapter just before this. 16:11 One man that did this... it says this about him: 16:30 Nimrod was a mighty hunter before the Lord. 16:35 Now that has great significance, folks. 16:38 Goes on and says this about him: 16:45 So he's the one that basically started this. 16:50 Let me tell you a little bit about Nimrod. 16:52 It says that he was a mighty hunter before the Lord. 16:55 Back then as sin entered 16:59 and man became more corrupt 17:03 the animals also became more vicious. 17:09 And anybody who was a great hunter 17:12 was highly revered because he protected the people. 17:17 They placed great reverence on this person. 17:20 Nimrod was a mighty hunter before the Lord. 17:23 Not only is he a mighty hunter before the Lord 17:26 but he is known in history as being the one who started 17:30 building walls around cities to protect the people. 17:35 And so he became very, very revered 17:39 as a special person by the people. 17:42 And as time went on, he died. 17:47 When he died, his wife Semiramis 17:51 told the people that her husband had gone to the sun 17:56 and was now the god of the sun. 18:00 What she told the people. And thus you find 18:04 these symbols of Nimrod as you go different places. 18:09 The picture you are looking at now is a shot 18:11 that I took in Europe over in Berlin 18:15 at the Pergamon Museum. 18:18 And as you can see it, you have the god there, 18:21 rays of the sun around his face. 18:25 The four horses represent the four directions, 18:28 and this is Nimrod, the god of the sun. 18:32 Or they gave him many other names... 18:35 but one of the most common that we'll read in the Bible 18:37 was Baal. 18:39 And this was the god of the sun, the great, great god. 18:44 And they worshiped him as a god. 18:47 OK. Let me just tell you a story, show you what happens 18:53 in regard to this. There's a good king in Israel... 18:56 or in Judah, I should say. 18:58 His name is Hezekiah. 19:00 Hezekiah loved the Lord, served the Lord, 19:02 has tried to follow the Lord. 19:04 And the Lord sent the prophet Isaiah to Hezekiah 19:07 and said: "Hezekiah, set your house in order 19:10 because you're going to die. " 19:12 Well, Hezekiah didn't take that very well. 19:16 And it says he crawled in bed, turned his face to the wall, 19:21 and cried... and pled with the Lord to not let him die. 19:26 And so the Lord said: "OK, Hezekiah. 19:28 I'll give you 15 more years. " 19:33 Uhh. Probably would have been better of to have listened 19:36 to the Lord to begin with. But anyhow, when Isaiah told him... 19:41 he said "the Lord's going to give you 15 more years, " 19:43 Hezekiah said: "how can I know this for sure? " 19:47 And Isaiah said: "Well, " said, "you want the sun dial 19:51 out in the courtyard... you want it to go forward 10 degrees? 19:54 You want it to go backwards 10 degrees? " 19:56 And Hezekiah said: "Well, it wouldn't be too much for 19:59 it to go forward 10 degrees. " 20:01 He said: "Send it back 10 degrees. " 20:03 Well you can read in your Bible. 20:05 The sun stood still... went back 10 degrees. 20:10 Now, that was a wonderful sign to Hezekiah, but folks, 20:14 you've got to understand the implications of this 20:19 because down in the city of Babylon 20:23 they worshiped the sun. 20:26 The sun is the greatest god that they have. 20:30 I mean, he is the god of conquest. 20:35 He doesn't fail. 20:37 And all of a sudden their god stopped and went backwards. 20:42 That was... that was totally... they couldn't put that together. 20:46 And thus you read this text in the Bible 20:49 here in II Chronicles 32:31: 21:03 They said: "Who is this God? " 21:05 "Who is this God of yours that can stop our god 21:09 and send him backwards? " 21:11 That they wanted to know; they came asking Hezekiah 21:15 "Who is this God that you worship? " 21:16 You see, Baal, or the sun god, 21:20 was the god of conquest. 21:23 He was the god of victory. 21:25 He always went forward, never went backward. 21:29 And that's the reason you see these kinds of statues 21:31 as you travel across Europe where these people worshiped 21:35 the god of the sun. 21:37 And it was the greatest of all their gods. 21:41 They worshiped him, believed he was the greatest god. 21:45 So you have that incident taking place there in the Bible. 21:51 Nimrod's wife, Semiramis, 21:55 after he died she lived there in Babylon. 21:59 This is a picture that was taken there at the museum 22:04 in Berlin of Semiramis. 22:07 Very significant because Babylon is being sacked. 22:11 It's being destroyed, and you can see her looking out 22:15 the window. She does not want to be taken, 22:19 and so you can see her reaching for the sword 22:22 to take her life. 22:24 And which she did. 22:27 And she told the people to tell the people that 22:31 when she died that she went to the moon 22:36 and was now the goddess of the moon. 22:40 And she became known as the goddess of the moon 22:45 or known by other names other than Semiramis. 22:48 She became known as Diana. 22:51 She became known as Venus, the goddess of love. 22:56 These were all the different goddesses that they had. 22:59 And she also gave birth before she died 23:03 to a boy. And she told the people that she had conceived 23:09 this from her spirit husband in the sun. 23:12 And she gave birth to a boy 23:15 who she named Tammuz. 23:19 This was her son. And since the people believed 23:22 that Tammuz was the result of the god of the sun 23:27 and Semiramis, they also worshiped him, Tammuz, 23:32 as a god... a god of fertility. 23:37 A god of reproduction... this is what they worshiped him as. 23:41 And so you have these people or these gods 23:44 all figuring into this, and you find them affecting 23:49 all the way through the scripture God's people. 23:53 So watch as we begin to go through and take a look at it. 23:58 Now folks, we are only... listen to me. 24:03 We are only 62 years from Solomon. 24:09 This is 62 years later. 24:13 The king of Israel now 24:16 is Ahab. 24:18 Listen to what it says. This is only 62 years... 24:21 Watch what they've done: 24:30 And... and if you go back... And there were, by the way, 24:33 there were six - six other kings in Israel - between 24:37 Solomon and Ahab. 24:40 And if you go back and read their story, 24:42 it's not very nice. 24:45 Not very nice at all. 24:47 In fact, Israel had 19 kings 24:52 and it didn't have one good one in the bunch. 24:57 This is Ahab. 24:59 He's worse than all that were before him. 25:02 OK? 25:21 So it says that he married Jezebel. 25:25 Jezebel's father, Ethbaal, 25:28 is the priest of the temple of Baal. 25:30 And when Jezebel got through with Ahab, 25:33 he forsook the Lord. 25:36 And through Jezebel and Ahab 25:39 they turned all of Israel against the Lord. 25:44 Sixty-two years, mind you. 25:48 All of Israel now has forsaken the Lord 25:52 and they're serving Baal. 25:56 Because Israel... in fact, they have so completely 26:04 left the Lord that God sends a prophet by the name of Elijah. 26:09 Elijah thinks he's the only one. 26:14 It's that bad! 26:16 And He sends Elijah and He told Elijah... He said: 26:20 "You go and see Jezebel and Ahab and you tell them 26:24 that if they do not change 26:28 it will not rain for 3-1/2 years. " 26:34 And it says: 26:51 And he showed up there and said that and was gone. 26:55 And when he left I'm sure that Ahab 26:58 and Jezebel thought this was just some crazy old man... 27:01 because they didn't pay any attention to what he said. 27:05 But a year passed and there was no rain. 27:10 And after a year passed and there was no rain, 27:14 they said: "Has anybody seen Elijah? " 27:18 Looking for him, see? 27:20 No rain. 27:23 In fact, the scripture says it became so bad 27:26 that they sent out envoys to all the nations around 27:30 and said: "If you're hiding him, 27:32 we're going to go to war with you. " 27:35 I mean, they were... they were looking for Elijah. 27:38 Hunting him. God had hid him, 27:40 so they weren't going to find him. 27:42 I mean, the Lord had taken care of that, see? 27:45 But for 3-1/2 years... 27:48 3-1/2 years it never rained one drop. 27:54 And folks, you go back... 27:56 If you really want to have an interesting study, 27:58 you go back and read it. 28:00 That part of the country was beautiful. 28:04 I mean, this was... this was lush 28:07 area as you go back and read it. 28:10 By the time 3-1/2 years was over, it was a desert. 28:16 Finally the Lord said: "Elijah, go see Ahab. " 28:24 Elijah said: "I don't want to go see Ahab. 28:26 He's looking for me, 28:27 I don't want to see him. " 28:30 The Lord said: "Go see him. " 28:33 And so Elijah went to see him. 28:36 Ran onto one of Ahab's servants. 28:39 And he said: "Go tell your master I'm here. " 28:42 And he said: "Not on your life. " 28:44 He said, "Cause while I'm gone to tell him, you'll leave. 28:48 Then he'll come here and you won't be here, 28:50 and he'll kill me! " 28:51 And he said: "No, I'll be here. " 28:54 And so he went and told Ahab, 28:57 and Ahab came driving up in his chariot 29:00 and he spoke to him. 29:01 And this is what he said to him: 29:12 Said: "Are you the one here 29:15 that's troubling all of Israel? " 29:32 Said: "I'm not the one that's troubled Israel. 29:35 You're the one that's troubled Israel. 29:38 You've forsaken God's commandments. 29:40 You now are serving Baal. " 29:42 And he told Ahab, he said: 29:44 "Gather all of Israel 29:47 and bring them up on top of Mount Carmel. " 29:50 And he said: "There we'll find out who is God. " 29:56 So all of Israel came up on the top of Mount Carmel. 30:00 Not just all the people alone. 30:04 Four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal 30:08 and four hundred prophets of the groves. 30:14 And Elijah said to them: 30:16 "Build an altar. Put a sacrifice on it 30:22 and pray. And if Baal sends down fire 30:26 and burns up the sacrifice, 30:28 then he's god. 30:31 If he doesn't, I'll build an altar, 30:34 put a sacrifice on it and pray, 30:38 and if God sends down fire from heaven 30:41 then He's God. " 30:43 And they said: "OK. " 30:47 And they got up there. The prophets of Baal 30:50 and the prophets of the groves they built their altar there. 30:53 They put wood on it and they put a sacrifice on it. 30:56 Everything ready except for the fire, 30:59 and they start praying. 31:01 All morning long they prayed. 31:07 No fire. 31:09 About noon Elijah said: "You know, 31:12 you might outta yell just a little louder 31:15 because maybe Baal is taking a walk. 31:19 Or he... or he could be taking a nap. " 31:22 And they began to shout. 31:25 They worked themselves into such a frenzy, it says 31:29 that they took knives and cut their bodies 31:31 and the blood ran out on the ground. 31:34 Finally about 3 o'clock 31:37 in the afternoon he said: "that's enough, " 31:41 and went over to where the altar of God stood. 31:44 And he re-built the altar of God. 31:48 Placed wood on it. 31:50 Put a sacrifice on it. 31:53 Then he had them dig a trench 31:57 around the altar. 32:00 And they had them bring up 12 barrels of water. 32:09 Dumped it over the altar, 32:11 sacrifice, stones, till it filled up the ditch. 32:16 And then he knelt and he said: 32:20 "If Thou be the God of Israel, 32:23 send down fire and burn up this sacrifice. " 32:27 And the scripture says fire fell. 32:51 Elijah took all of Israel 32:55 and brought them back to following the Lord. 32:59 Over and over and over 33:02 you find God sending messengers, prophets and all 33:07 calling the people back to following the Lord. 33:10 One of the prophets that pled with Israel, 33:14 worked with them all his life, 33:16 referred to in the scripture as the weeping prophet, 33:19 was the prophet Jeremiah. 33:22 And Jeremiah has prayed and prayed and prayed 33:26 for these people. I want you to listen to God's conversation 33:30 with him. This is what God said to him: 33:37 "Jeremiah, don't pray any more for this people... " 33:47 Said: "Don't pray any more for them; 33:50 I'm not going to hear you. " 33:58 He said: "Can't you see what they're doing? " 34:05 That doesn't sound too bad... 34:09 That doesn't sound bad... 34:23 Here they were making cakes 34:27 and offering them to the queen of heaven: 34:31 to Semiramis, to Diana, whatever you want to call her. 34:35 They were offering this as an offering to her. 34:46 Over, over and over the children of Israel are doing this, 34:51 you find, even as you move into the New Testament. 34:56 Paul is over in the city of Ephesus. 35:00 In the city of Ephesus there's a silversmith 35:06 by the name of Demetrius. 35:08 Demetrius just makes little statues 35:13 of the goddess Diana. 35:16 She's a goddess of fertility, 35:19 and they worship her as the goddess of fertility. 35:22 Paul preaches against that, and his preaching is so effective 35:29 that it began to hurt their trade. 35:33 And it hurt it so bad that they rioted. 35:37 It says here: 35:51 They stood there shouting 35:52 "Great is Diana of the Ephesians. " 36:17 They all worshiped it, believed it. 36:20 You find that over and over. 36:22 When you go to the book of Ezekiel, 36:25 it gives you an insight into how much it affects our lives 36:30 in a very, very definite way. 36:52 Now folks, they've gone in here to the Lord's house, 36:59 and here on the walls they have all their different images... 37:05 beasts... that they worship as gods. 37:09 That's what's happening here. 37:12 They've got them there on the wall all the way around. 37:31 So they're in there worshiping these pagan gods... 37:37 gods of wood, gods of stone... 37:42 and they have forsaken the God of Israel. 38:01 Said: "The Lord doesn't see what's going on. 38:03 We worship whoever we want to. " 38:06 Now watch: 38:16 And He said: "Worse than worshiping these idols 38:20 that they have portrayed on the walls all around 38:22 you're going to see worse than that. " 38:37 The son of Semiramis and Nimrod. 38:41 The one they believed to be a god of fertility. 38:45 Let me tell you a little bit about Tammuz. 38:47 You see, they believed that Tammuz was a god of fertility... 38:53 reproduction. 38:55 They believed that Tammuz died 39:00 every fall when the grass turned brown 39:05 and the trees lost their leaves 39:08 and all of nature went dormant. 39:10 This was a sign that Tammuz 39:13 was dying. 39:15 And so he died every fall. 39:18 They believed that every spring 39:22 he could come back to life. 39:25 And so every spring, 39:29 40 days before the sun reaches the vernal equinox 39:35 that began spring, they had 40 days of weeping 39:40 for Tammuz. 39:42 They were weeping, afflicting their souls 39:46 for Tammuz to come back to life. 39:49 Forty days of weeping for Tammuz. 39:54 Well, how does that affect us? 39:56 Well, have you ever heard of 40 days of Lent? 40:02 You see the 40 days of Lent 40:04 come directly from that custom. 40:08 When they... 40 days... that's when it takes place. 40:11 Forty days before the sun reaches the equinox... 40:14 that's exactly when it takes place. 40:16 And 40 days of Lent for them to afflict their souls. 40:20 What are you going to give up for Lent? See? 40:26 This was what went on. 40:28 You see, folks, these were gods that they worshiped: 40:31 gods of fertility, gods of reproduction. 40:39 If you ever wondered... how did Easter eggs 40:45 ever get involved in the resurrection of our Lord? 40:51 Or how did bunny rabbits 40:54 get involved in the resurrection of our Lord? 40:58 Because they're gods of... they were symbols of fertility 41:03 to the pagan Jews. 41:05 And so what we did is we just reached out here and took these 41:09 pagan customs and brought them in. 41:12 And brought them in to our own belief. 41:16 And so today people use them. 41:18 Now, don't misunderstand me. 41:23 There is nothing... there is nothing wrong 41:28 in remembering the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 41:32 Says: 41:49 We find that Christ came forth from the grave and dear friend, 41:53 there is absolutely nothing wrong in remembering 41:57 the resurrection of our Lord and of our Savior. 42:01 But it is not right 42:03 that we should take pagan customs 42:07 and mix it with that. 42:09 That is what we're not to do. 42:12 It's not wrong for me to be... say: 42:16 "Yes, this is when my Lord was resurrected. 42:18 This is when He died. This is what He did for me. " 42:21 That's not wrong. 42:23 But for me to take and mix it 42:26 with paganism? NO! 42:29 That isn't what we should do. 42:31 It affects our lives. It affects what we do, 42:35 what we believe, in a very, very real and definite way. 42:41 But it goes on and says: 42:52 He said: "Now worse than these women worshiping Tammuz... 42:57 worse than that you're going to see. " 43:26 Said: "Worse than all this 43:28 here these men of Israel were in God's house 43:31 worshiping the sun as the sun god. " 43:36 Over and over and over 43:42 God has tried to do away 43:45 with the worship of paganism. 43:49 It's been there; it's interfaced over and over in God's Word. 43:55 And you'll find that as you read through the Word of God 43:58 it crops up time and time again. 44:00 I... I've just barely scratched the surface tonight, folks, 44:04 of what it says about paganism there. 44:08 But it was there, and Israel 44:13 constantly turned away from God 44:16 and went and worshiped these pagan gods. 44:19 This went on until they were carried off 44:24 to captivity... the Babylonian captivity. 44:28 When they spent 70 years of Babylonian captivity, 44:32 when they came out of that 44:34 never again did they worship pagan gods. 44:37 That cured them, and they didn't do that any more. 44:43 But worse than that, 44:45 Israel and the Jewish nation 44:50 became... how should I say... 44:54 they didn't share what they had. 44:57 They... they kept it to themselves. 44:59 They wouldn't go out and they wouldn't share what they had... 45:02 what they believed. 45:03 God had given the children of Israel clear instruction 45:07 that they were to go out and they were to share 45:11 what they had with the Gentiles. 45:13 That the Gentiles were to find salvation in them. 45:17 But the Gentiles were pagans, 45:20 and so the Jewish people considered them dogs. 45:26 And they wouldn't share the gospel with them 45:29 or the plan of salvation. 45:31 They didn't think they deserved it or had right to it 45:34 and so they kept it within themselves in a special way. 45:39 That all went on for 400 years 45:44 until Jesus Christ showed up. 45:47 And when Jesus Christ showed up, 45:50 the whole paradigm changed. 45:54 I mean, completely changed. 45:57 Because up until then the pagan nations... 46:03 You see, since the Jewish people kept the gospel to themselves 46:08 and they didn't share it and they didn't tell 46:11 other people about it, the pagan nations could contain them. 46:15 They just put them in subservience to them. 46:20 They overthrew them. They made them subjects of Rome 46:24 and they contained them, 46:26 and they just could hold it like that. 46:29 But something happened because when Jesus Christ showed up 46:33 He told them this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached 46:36 in all nations. And all of a sudden... 46:40 all of a sudden the gospel was no longer territorial. 46:45 No longer was it held within confines. 46:49 Now any nation could accept it. 46:51 Now any individual could accept it. 46:53 Now it didn't make any difference if you were Roman 46:56 or if you were Greek or if you were Jew, 46:58 you could accept Jesus Christ. 47:00 It didn't make any difference what your color was. 47:02 It didn't make any difference whether you were male or female, 47:05 you could accept Jesus Christ. 47:07 And all of a sudden the whole paradigm changed 47:10 and paganism didn't know what to do 47:15 because they couldn't contain it. 47:17 Couldn't hold onto it; they couldn't keep it localized 47:21 and it spread like wildfire everywhere. 47:25 The only thing that paganism knew to do 47:29 was to persecute. 47:33 Because now any person, any individual, 47:37 could accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. 47:42 Those people went out and they preached 47:45 and they offered it to kings, they offered it to servants. 47:49 They offered it to prisoners; they offered it to soldiers. 47:54 They offered it to anybody they came in contact with. 47:58 They could accept Christ; they could have the gospel. 48:01 And it spread across the whole country. 48:06 Only thing that paganism knew to do 48:09 was to persecute. 48:13 No longer could she contain it. 48:17 Therefore you find some of the worst persecution 48:21 that ever took place was poured out upon Christianity. 48:27 That came down. 48:31 The Jewish people were in revolt 48:35 against the... Rome. 48:38 And they would come down 48:40 and they would absolutely 48:43 slay the Jewish people. 48:45 The problem with that was 48:47 they couldn't tell any difference between the Jew 48:52 and the Christian. 48:53 And so many, many, many of the Christians 48:58 lost their lives. 48:59 You see, Rome did not care... 49:03 Rome didn't care what god you worshiped. 49:07 They were polytheistic. 49:10 They had lots and lots of gods. 49:11 You could worship any god you wanted to. 49:13 What the DID care 49:16 was that you were... that they DID care 49:20 about having your allegiance... that you were loyal to Rome. 49:24 And so they had their goddess Roma. 49:28 Once a year you were required to come in 49:33 and take a little incense and to offer it 49:38 before this goddess as a sign of your allegiance to Rome. 49:44 And then you were free. 49:46 You could go out and you could worship anybody you wanted to. 49:49 But the Christians wouldn't do that. 49:53 They would worship only the Lord. 49:57 No one else, just the Lord. 50:00 And thus, many, many - 50:05 untold thousands - 50:08 gave their lives because they said they were Christians. 50:13 They followed the Lord. 50:16 These people died by the thousands 50:19 and their blood was like seed 50:25 because I mean the gospel moved and spread. 50:29 And they went out and they took a stand 50:32 and they said: "We will worship Jesus Christ and Him only. " 50:36 And by the time you reach 300 A.D. 50:42 half of the Roman Empire is Christian. 50:48 Christianity has spread with great rapidity. 50:52 Paganism could not longer contain it. 50:57 300 A.D. something happened. 51:02 Something happened 51:04 that changed the whole situation. 51:10 Something that you and I need to understand, 51:14 we need to know about. 51:16 For you, each one of us, need to make sure 51:20 that we belong to Jesus. 51:26 Jesus my Lord, 51:30 I love you forever. 51:36 There is no power 51:39 of evil can sever. 51:43 He gave His life 51:47 to ransom my soul... 51:52 Now I belong to Him. 52:01 Now I belong 52:04 to Jesus, 52:09 Jesus belongs to me. 52:17 Not for the years 52:21 of time alone, 52:26 but for 52:28 eternity. 52:38 Let us pray. 52:40 Heavenly Father, we come to You this evening 52:44 sensing the conflict that is going on 52:49 for the souls of men and women. 52:52 Lord we pray that we might 52:55 give ourselves to You and to You alone. 52:59 That we will worship You. 53:01 That we will not permit any idol 53:06 to come between us and You. 53:09 That our hearts may be open 53:13 to Your guidance and Your direction in our life. 53:16 That we might walk as You have told us to. 53:21 That we might follow You. 53:24 Might keep Your commandments. 53:27 Might love You with all of our heart, 53:30 with all of our soul, with all of our mind. 53:35 For this we ask in Christ's name, Amen. 53:42 300 A.D. something drastically took place 53:48 that changed a lot of things that are happening 53:53 in the world today. 53:54 That's where we will pick it up 53:56 on our next presentation 53:59 on Baptized Paganism II. 54:02 We're going to pick up there and begin to see 54:04 what happened and what took place 54:06 that affects our lives in a very very real and definite way. 54:12 So we hope you'll continue to be with us. 54:15 Follow as we study God's Word. 54:18 And we're going to see in our next presentation 54:22 what happened about 300 A.D. 54:25 and we are going to trace it right on down to our present 54:28 day... the present time that we live in. 54:30 Appreciate you watching by television, 54:32 listening by radio. 54:34 We hope that you'll be true to the Lord. 54:36 Follow Him; stay close to Him in all that you do. 54:39 Thank you to each one of you for being here. 54:42 God bless you, and we hope that you'll have a great day. 54:46 Take care. Good night to each one of you. 54:50 Thank you very much for being here. 54:52 God bless you. 54:56 Jesus said in Luke chapter 8 54:58 a sower went out to sow his seed. 55:00 And as he sowed, 55:02 some fell by the wayside 55:04 and it was trampled down 55:05 and the birds of the air devoured it. 55:08 Some fell on rock 55:09 and as soon as it sprang up it withered 55:12 because it lacked moisture. 55:13 And some fell among thorns 55:16 and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. 55:19 But others fell on good ground, 55:22 sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundred-fold. 55:26 Jesus Christ came to sow the seed of truth 55:29 into this world. 55:31 And just as every seed has life in it, 55:33 the Word of God is also life. 55:36 Jesus said in John 6:63 55:38 "The words that I speak to you, they are Spirit 55:41 and they are life. " 55:43 But sadly in this day and age 55:46 many professed ministers of the gospel 55:48 don't accept the Bible as God's inspired Word. 55:51 Because its plain teachings condemn their practices 55:55 they have tried to make it appear mysterious 55:58 and obscure in order to excuse their own transgressions 56:01 of God's law. 56:02 There are those who try to make everything seem 56:05 pleasant and positive. 56:06 They gloss over or ignore the warnings of God, 56:09 and thus they strip the Bible of the power to convict 56:13 sinners of their need of salvation. 56:15 But no matter how brilliant and how pleasant they sound 56:19 their message cannot satisfy the spiritual hunger 56:23 of a true seeker. 56:27 The truth is that ever since the fall of man 56:30 Satan has been busy sowing the seed of error. 56:33 But friends, when the Word of God is preached 56:36 in simplicity and sincerity, 56:38 it's powerful. 56:39 Instead of pointing out the errors of others 56:42 or seeking to combat the opponents of the gospel, 56:45 we must follow the example of Christ 56:47 and simply sow the seeds of truth. 56:50 Oh, yes, there will be seeds that will fall by the wayside, 56:55 be eaten by the birds. 56:57 Other seeds will sprout in stony soil 57:00 only to dry up for the lack of water. 57:03 Still others will fall among the thorns, 57:05 but many will spring up to bear an abundant fruit. 57:10 The sower's job is to sow seed. 57:13 And believe me, there is no greater joy 57:16 than to see the lives transformed under the influence 57:20 of the Holy Spirit. 57:21 It's an experience all of us can have, 57:24 and it's the only goal we have as a ministry team. 57:28 We have a marvelous opportunity 57:30 to sow by broadcasting these wonderful seeds of life 57:34 to the whole world. 57:36 Jesus gave all of us the gospel commission. 57:39 Won't you join us in this effort? 57:42 Please consider what you can do 57:44 for those who still don't know about Jesus. 57:47 As the Holy Spirit impresses, 57:49 you may send your tax-deductible gifts to: 58:03 Thank you for helping us to bring the Blessed Hope 58:06 to millions all around the world. |
Revised 2014-12-17