 Amen. Keep your place there in Ezekiel 28. We're taking a break from the Roman series tonight. And I'll try to preach a little bit shorter sermon tonight, but we're taking a break tonight because, you know, it's October 31 on a Thursday night and you're sitting in church and it's Halloween is what the world is celebrating. And I feel like, you know, I would do you a disservice. We're not participating in Halloween in any way, but I'd do you a disservice if I didn't tell you, you know, what the Bible says about what's happening in our world and this is happening today. And so we're going to talk a little bit about what I feel is becoming an obsession in our country with the occult. I feel like it's getting worse and worse as we go on and this country is absolutely obsessed with the occult. And I want to talk to you tonight about the dangers of this. And I want to talk to you about what the Bible says and I want to talk to you about why this is something that should not be taken lightly. Because it says the world is going to tell you that it should be taken lightly. But I'm going to show you that the Bible says otherwise. Ezekiel 28 is the quintessential chapter in the Bible about Satan and the fall of Satan. There's a parallel meaning with the king of Tyrus here and it's talking about, you know, Satan's fall from heaven. Who Satan is and who he was and what, you know, some characteristics about Satan. So if you're there in Ezekiel 28, take a look down at verse number 13. And we see a clue to this in verse number 13. The Bible says, Thou hast been an Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was Thy covering. The sardias, topaz, and the diamond, the barrel, the onyx, the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold. The workmanship of Thy Tabaret. So we see that Satan was someone who was very vain and covering himself with very vain ornaments and gems and things like that. He was apparently very concerned about the outward appearance of himself. And then we see in the second half of the verse where it says, The workmanship of Thy Tabaret and of Thy pipes was prepared in the day that Thou was created. You know, this is the verse where you will get people saying that, you know, Satan was the angel of music in heaven. You know, and the Bible doesn't say that, but it definitely says here that he had, you know, musical instruments built into his body. We don't know how that worked, but he was something, he was a musical being is what the Bible was telling us here, okay? Now, you know, we see a number of other things, but in verse number 17, we see some more characteristics of Satan that kind of back up verse 13 where the Bible says, So, I want to talk to you today about, you know, Satan, the Bible says, walks among us. The Bible says that Satan is on this earth. The Bible says it right here. Satan is a very vain creature. You know, the Bible says here that he was made for music. It talks about how he was into beauty. He thought he himself was very beautiful. You know, these are, you know, if you want perfect examples, very easy examples for me to see about Satan's influence in this world is the worlds of art and music. If you look at those two worlds. Now, the art world is something, art is very interesting to me because people that have a gift for being an artist or a painter or a sculptor or anything like that, they've definitely been given a gift from God. I mean, there's a, there's a gal up at Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento and she can paint the most beautiful pictures you've ever seen and she can just see a picture and she can just put that onto a portrait. Now, that is something that you could never teach me to do. She just has something in her mind that she was gifted with that allowed her to be able to do that. Okay? Now, if you've ever walked around any large city in the U.S. in the downtown area where there's many sculptures and by the way, Fresno's no different. Where there's many sculptures and artistic things are put out for people to see. What you will see is Satan's influence over the art world. You will see people that have been given this gift to be able to sculpt things or paint things and you will see these dark images and these dark figures that they use their gift for. Because Satan has influenced that world. You can see that is part of Satan's personality. It's, you know, it's his, it's his trade, so to speak. Music is very easy to see. But the sculptures, I mean just two blocks this way when you're driving to church on Sunday morning just look up in the corners of those buildings on those apartment buildings and you will have some twisted demon with wings holding some baby out with wings. I haven't gone and looked up close enough to see if the baby's a demon too or whatever. But it's a twisted mind that obviously has been born with a gift. Somebody was born with a gift to be able to sculpt and create something and has been twisted by Satan to be able to use it in that sort of manner. It's no different any other, you know, many other sculptures. I mean I remember we would walk around downtown Sacramento or in downtown whatever city and you would see these images and these sculptures and you're just like what in the world? You know, I mean somebody obviously created this or painted this or whatever but somebody has a twisted mind to be able to make something like that or even imagine something like some of these sculptures. So you can see Satan's influence very clearly in these areas. Music, we're not even going to get into music but music, I mean just look at music there's hardly any good music out there. Music is very similar, you know, you have a talent, I mean you can't teach me to be a singer that people would want to listen to. You couldn't teach that to me. People are given a gift and this gift is Satan's trade. It's Satan's, you know, he's involved in everything but the bottom line is you can see the influence of Satan in art and music today. Okay? Satan has totally corrupted these fields. Turn to Revelation chapter 12. So we see that Satan's influence that Satan is on earth and we can clearly see it. That's the point that I'm trying to get across to you with art and music. We can clearly see in our country today and in the world today the influence of Satan which shows us that he's real. Okay? In Revelation chapter 12, look down at verse number 4. The last book in the Bible, Revelation chapter 12, look down at verse number, let's start at verse number 3. And the Bible reads, and there appeared another wonder in heaven and beheld a great red dragon that's Satan having seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns upon his heads and his tail drew a third part of the stars of heaven and did cast them to the earth and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered for to devour her child as soon as it was born. Now, there's a lot in those two verses, but what I want to get you to understand is that this verse is teaching us that a third of the angels of the stars followed Satan when he was cast from heaven. Okay? That's a third of the, now turn to Revelation chapter 5. Revelation chapter 5. So you say, how many angels are there? Or, you know, how many are there? And the Bible gives us an estimate. I think that this is probably just a rough estimate, but the Bible kind of mentions it. And if you look at Revelation chapter 5 and look at verse number 11. And the Bible says, and I beheld and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders. And the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands. So if you take 10,000 times 10,000, you get 100 million. And then there's thousands of thousands. So this is just an estimate. There's probably many more angels than this. But if you take a third of 100 million, you end up with about 33 million. So if 33 million angels that we would call demons today followed Satan and were cast to the earth and are dwelling amongst us now, we basically have, you know, at least tens of millions of demons on this earth along with Satan. There, you know, that's a lot of people working, a lot of beings working for Satan. This is what drives the occult today. Is this influence of Satan and his demons, which are real? It is not fake. I'm going to read for you 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse number 8. The Bible says, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. Satan is here on earth with these 33 demons, 33 million demons. The danger is real. So I want to talk to you today. That was all just a matter of introduction. I want to talk to you today about this occult nation that we live in. This is just another thing that I have looked into in preparation for a sermon that I just couldn't believe how bad it's gotten since I remember looking at it last. When you look at the occult, our obsession with the occult and the religion of occultism today, it's shocking. Witchcraft. Witchcraft today. Did you know that witchcraft is the fastest growing spiritual identification or religion in the United States? I didn't know that four days ago. In 1990, there was 8,000 people who identified as practicing the Wicca or the Wiccan religion. Today, there is 1.5 million. That is 0.5% of the United States population. That means that literally one out of 200 people out there is a witch. That's where it's at today, folks. So you think that Halloween and these harmless things are a joke? They're not a joke. It's very serious. I mean, turn to 2 Thessalonians 2. 2 Thessalonians 2. New Testament. Find those T books. First and second, Thessalonians 2. I mean, that is shocking today to hear that one in 200 people, that is not that few. That's a lot of people. That means in a city like Fresno, there are, you know, thousands of witches is what it means in Metroplexes across the United States. Look at 2 Thessalonians 2 and 3. But no man deceive you by any means. For that day shall not come except there come. He's talking about the end times, you know, the tribulation, the end time events. That day shall not come except there come a falling away first. In a society where the fastest growing religion or spiritual identification in the nation is witchcraft and one in 200 people at this point, imagine in 10 years that would be much worse. I mean, if that's not a falling away, I don't know what is, folks. But teenagers especially are being sucked into this occultism. It's a promise of power. You know, it promises power, especially young girls. By the way, when I was reading into this, young girls are really getting drawn into Wicca, the Wiccan religion and different religions that are tied into it, or I don't even want to call them religions, but occultism. You know, they're made light of. You know, the Bible says in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 14, and no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. That's why all these things will be made light of. If you don't celebrate Halloween, oh, it's just fun. It's just harmless fun. You know, just think of the TV shows and the movie industry in pop culture today. You know, back in the 60s and 70s, I dream of Genie, Bewitched, all these funny shows. You say, oh, you're so serious. You're taking it so serious. But that's how it starts, because Satan is transformed into an angel of light. And all these things target kids, by the way, the Harry Potter books. Witchcraft, it's fun. It's a joke. They're all a bunch of kids having fun. It's made light of. Sabrina the Teenage Witch, I had to look some of this stuff up. But then you get a little bit more serious with things like the Twilight series, where it's a little bit more serious. It's not quite the joke, but it's glorifying, you know, occultism like vampires and werewolves and things like this. Horror films, we already talked about horror films. You know, horror films today would not be allowed in movie theaters 15 years ago. They're so gruesome and disgusting. They wouldn't have been allowed in the America of 15 or 20 years ago what's being watched by teenagers today. And these people that make these movies and all these TV shows and write these books, they're ashamed at saying they are targeting kids. They are targeting kids. Look, folks, they're gateway drugs. It's a gateway drug to the dark side of the occult is what it is. Turn to Romans chapter one. Another place it leads is, you know, Earth worship. Earth worship. We read about, you know, we learned about this in Romans chapter one. All this wicked religion, all these different druidism and these occult things, they all come down to worshiping the sun, the moon, the trees, the earth, whatever. And they have roots tied into rabid environmentalism as well. Look at Romans one verse 25. What the Bible says, who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator who has blessed forever, amen. We are to worship God, not His creation. Period. That doesn't say we should throw trash everywhere, but when you're starting to worship the earth and the moon and the stars and the sun, this is where it leads. It's based in the occult. There's actually an earth religion now. Let me just read you a definition. The earth religion is a term used mostly in the context of neopaganism. Earth-centered religion or nature worship is a system of religion based on veneration of natural phenomenon. It covers any religions that worships the earth, nature, fertility deity which is a female deity and it's tied directly to wiccanism and druidism. It's all tied together. It's all the occult. So, here's the thing. Turn to Leviticus 19. What is the attraction? What is the attraction? Turn to Leviticus 19. I'll tell you what the attraction is for young kids. It's real. That's the attraction. It's real and there's power there and it's real. It's not fake. Satan's goal is to conquer as much of God's creation as he can because the Bible says his time is short. So, he is going to make light of it and he's going to draw people in closer and draw people in closer. Look, you can read testimonials of people that have gone down these roads. I don't recommend it. I don't even recommend looking into this stuff, by the way. For kids, the occult is like playing with a loaded gun. And where does it end? Look at Leviticus 19, verse 31. Look what God says where it should end. Regardless of them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards nor by them, I am the Lord your God. In Exodus 22 and verse 18, the Bible says, God put the death penalty on it. That's how serious God takes it. He put the death penalty on witchcraft. Turn to 2 Kings 21. 2 Kings 21. 1 2 Samuel. 1 2 Kings. 2 Chronicles. 2 Kings 21. A king of Judah. And we learned a little bit about him a few weeks ago, but let's read verse number 6. Where the Bible says, And he made his son pass through the fire and observed times and used enchantments. So I want to first point out that first part of the verse where it says he made his son pass through the fire. So the answer to where the occultism ends is always murder. That's where it ends. It ultimately ends in hell. But it ends on this earth in murder. We see Manasseh was sacrificing his children. He sacrificed his son. And he made his son pass through the fire. What else was he doing? And observed times and used enchantments and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards. And he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. And the occult leads to murder. Look, you look into serial killers, a lot of them were tied up in the occult. They will tell you that they were possessed by demons, that things took over their bodies. All these mystical creatures that you've heard of, like werewolves and vampires, a lot of those are based on actual stories of demon-possessed people that just went on murderous rampages and did gruesome, disgusting things. That's where these stories came from. From real events of people that were influenced or possessed by demons that did all these horrible things. And this is what's glorified today. It's disgusting. Even in small-town America, I grew up in small-town, Nowhereville, North Dakota. And I'll tell you this, Satanism is real there too. There was not a rancher or a cattleman that did not know somebody who found a mutilated, who didn't have a mutilated cow, who had lost a cow or a bull at one point in their career. And they found that it was mutilated and certain organs were taken from it in a satanic ritual. Small-town North Dakota. There was a town like 20 miles from where I grew up where there was some hills and things and it was just kind of known that there was like Satanist activity in that area. It's real. That's the Midwest. What do you think is going on here? My wife and I were walking in Sacramento in our neighborhood like two years ago and we took a walk at night. We lived in a nice neighborhood and we walked down this cul-de-sac and there was a pentagram spray-painted on the street that said the witches are here. I mean, it's everywhere. I mean, it's everywhere. It's real. And it's growing in America today. I mean, if it's in rural North Dakota, it's everywhere. Everybody's heard of it. So what's the application? The application is, you know, first of all, this is another reason you need to get your kids out of public school. And I was talking to somebody the other day about, you know, that this is a homeschooling church and that we're always going to promote homeschooling here and we're always going to say that you need to get your kids out of the home, the public school and we're going to promote homeschooling and we're going to build homeschooling families here and you're going to get sick of hearing about homeschooling for me. Because it's a real serious danger. There's just too many dangers to even list in public school. Look, when I was in school, I remember kids experimenting with this stuff. And if you've been in public school, you remember it too. And I'm glad that I was a church kid and I was like, whoa, and I kind of lived out in the country away from all this stuff where I couldn't like hang out with the kids in town. But I remember that there was kids and they were going out and they were going to the wherever they were going to experiment with the occult stuff and Ouija boards and all this stuff. And you know what? You know why it was such a big deal to them? Because it worked. Because the stuff moves. Because they're playing with demons. And it's not fake. I remember one girl that was involved in this. She was terrified. She wouldn't even talk about it. Whatever she saw happened. And she was messed up the whole the whole I mean, this was like junior high. And she was never normal. It's real. And these people these kids are playing with fire. And these are not saved people. I mean, they could be possessed, they could be killed. All this stuff. Look, it's not fake. That's the problem with Harry Potter. You say, oh, you're not you're a helicopter parent. You don't let your kids read Harry Potter or whatever. No, it's it's real. And it's not to be made light of. Let's talk about Halloween. Halloween, I remember 10, 15 years ago there was nothing in their yard for Halloween. It's getting way worse. I've been going to Home Depot. We just moved into our house. I've been going to Home Depot. I mean, the stuff is it's crazy. These big werewolves, skeletons and all this kind of stuff. I mean, it's not some pumpkin jack-o'-lantern that someone's setting on their doorstep anymore. I mean, I mean, what's it going to be in 10 years? I mean, there's already stories about neighbors complaining that people are hanging bodies and making all these, like, bloody scenes in their front yard and all this kind of stuff. That will be normal. Soon. It already is. Look, I mean, it's just if you're saved, you're sealed. Okay? Don't misunderstand what I'm saying. Turn to Ephesians 1. Ephesians chapter 1. If you're saved, you're sealed. Well, I just want to let's look at that. Ephesians chapter 1 in verse number 13 the Bible says, After that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation in whom also that after that you believed you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of His glory. Look, you can't be demon possessed. I believe that if you're saved. But don't, you can do damage to your family. You can enter into the chastisement of God for siding with Satan instead of God in things that you think are harmless. God doesn't think it's harmless. You know, whose side are you on is what it comes down to. All these Christians engaging in all this stuff. You know, turn to look at Jesus, I'll just read it for you. Jesus said in Matthew 20 30 Jesus was black and white on this stuff. Jesus hated the lukewarm. There was no grey zone with Jesus. You know, this isn't sheep Jesus. This is the Jesus that says He that is not with me is against me and He that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. Jesus says you're with me or you're against me, period. And by the way if you don't go soul winning you're scattering abroad. That's what he just said. Jesus is very clear on this. Now turn to Exodus 32. Exodus 32. So it really comes down to whose side are you on? Because there's a war going on and if you're looking at the numbers folks it's not going well for our side. And as far as who gets the most souls, it's not looking good that we're going to get more than Satan. Look at Exodus 32. This is a story when Moses goes up to the mountain to get the law from God and the people don't know that they think he's not coming back so they have a party. So they basically they convince Aaron to build a golden calf this satanic idol which represents Baal, Beelzebub, Satan. They make a satanic idol. They dance around you know it says they're dance around naked committing fornication doing all sorts of wicked things. Sounds a lot like a Halloween party actually. Let's see how God you know what God thought of it. They're just having fun. They just want to have some fun. Look at verse number 26. Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said who is on the Lord's side? Let him come unto me and all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him and thousands of people were killed. Thousands of people. That's how funny God thought it was. He had these people killed thousands of people with a sword and then he sent to plague to kill even more. Funny. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. That's how harmless God thinks it is. They're just blowing off some steam just having some fun. It's the same thing. This is why God takes it so seriously. 1 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse number 20. Right here. The Bible says therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God's. You are bought with the blood of Jesus Christ. Amen. We are not to be anywhere near this garbage out here because you are purchased with the blood the most precious blood that there ever could be. The blood of God's son. Just think of the betrayal that God thinks that that is. If you're saved and you there was a Halloween lunch party thing at work today. You think I'm going to be anywhere near that? It's just pumpkin pie and somebody was wearing like a Jack in the Box costume and you know I don't know what other costumes there was a whole floor above us where they all dressed up. I didn't even go anywhere near that floor. I'm dead serious. Because you think I'm going to first of all I'm not scared of anybody in this room but I'm scared to death of God. When I took this this opportunity to come here I'm afraid of God. You think I'm going to go up and participate even a little bit in something like that even if I don't dress up, don't do anything to try to just network with people? No, I'm afraid of God. First of all he paid for me with his own blood and I'm not going to stab him in the back like that. That's not the kind of man that I am. What kind of man are you? It's not funny. And I take it seriously. So I went home. I took like an hour and a half lunch today just to be out of that thing but I came in early to make up for it. It's serious. It's not something to take lightly and once again your kids if they see you in this type of stuff taking it lightly what you do matters a lot more than what you say. You're sending a very clear message there. Turn to 2 Kings chapter 6 and I just want to leave you here. 2 Kings chapter 6 but the occult is a serious and growing problem in this country today and it always begins with harmless fun. Always. So many sins by the way begin with harmless fun but it's not harmless. There's Satan and millions of demons that want to they want to drag people to hell with them and you Christian they want to make you worthless. They want to ruin your family they want to destroy your kids that's the goal. The spiritual world is very real. Look down at 2 Kings in chapter 6 Here we see the Assyrian army is looking for Elisha because he keeps telling the king of Israel where they're camped so they're trying to find him and they're trying to kill him. And the Bible says in 2 Kings chapter 6 and verse 15 and when the servant of the man of God was risen early and gone forth behold and host compassed the city with both horses and chariots and his servant said unto him Alas my master how shall we do? He's saying what are we going to do? They found us! And he answered fear not for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And the servant's like what in the world? And Elisha prayed and said Lord I pray the open his eyes that he may see because Elisha already saw this in the eyes of the young man and he beheld the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. So the good news is this the good news is this I don't want to just depress you tonight the good news is this they that be with us are more than they that be with them. So whose side are you on? And I know you're all in church tonight I'm really preaching to the choir here but the bottom line is that we need to take these things seriously we need to be just like Jesus in seeing that this is very clear there's no gray here we need to be solidly behind the Lord and we need to stay far away from all of these things that Satan is trying to make light of because they're against our Lord Jesus Christ and he paid for us he paid our way so let's be loyal and let's protect our families from these things that people will tell you are no big deal today but it is a big deal folks let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer Dear Heavenly Father we thank you for today we thank you for all these people Lord that would come to church on a Thursday night Lord and hear your word preached Lord we ask that you just strengthen us in a wicked world Lord we ask that you just bless this church and protect all the families in these church Lord because we know that you are much more powerful than any of the dark forces that Satan has in this world Lord we thank you for your word we thank you for our salvation we love you in the name of Jesus Christ we pray Amen