A Tale of Two Sorcerers - Pastor Bruce Mejia

This morning is a tale of two sorcerers, a tale of two sorcerers this morning.

I want to go over the stories of these sorcerers that we find in the Book of Acts.

Of course we have one here, Simon the Sorcerer in Acts chapter 8,

Acts 8 · chapter mention

and then we have the second sorcerer in Acts chapter 13 known as Elimus the Sorcerer.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

And I want to go over both of these stories in the Book of Acts

and extrapolate some principles that we can learn from them.

Now before we get into that, let's start by way of introduction talking about the sin of sorcery.

What exactly is the sin of sorcery?

This is something that is mentioned consistently throughout the Bible,

a large portion of it, percentage of it is actually mentioned in the Old Testament.

What is it exactly?

Well, sorcery is used interchangeably in the Bible to describe that which is witchcraft.

And most of us know exactly what witchcraft is.

If we were to define what sorcery is,

it's essentially referring to the so-called supernatural power

that someone derives from an evil spirit.

That's typically the connotation that we carry with it.

We say that's what sorcery is.

It's magic.

It is supernatural capabilities that someone gets from some sort of entity,

satanic entity and so forth.

But sorcery in the Bible is also referring to just deception.

Referring to that which is lies.

And in fact in the Bible, God often associates sorcery with false preaching,

false prophets, dividing that which is false.

Now, when we think of the word sorcery,

we often associate it with that which is negative, that which is evil,

and obviously rightfully so.

But when you actually look at the underlying word to sorcery,

it actually comes from a word that we commonly use today known as pharmacy.

The Greek word there is pharma kea or pharma kon,

which is referring to what we would consider today to be medicine and so forth.

Now, a lot of times people will think that and say,

well, you know, this is why we got to be careful what kind of medicines we use,

and I agree with that 100%.

But let's talk about where that term is being used in the Bible.

How is it being used when we talk about pharmacy?

What is that exactly referring to?

Well, pharmacy in the Bible or the sorcery as we have it in our English Bibles

is referring to medicine.

But in general, we can often associate it with medicine

that actually helps you to get better, you know, medicinal medicine,

medicine that actually improves your health,

medicine that actually improves your immune system and so forth.

It's just referring to that which aids the body and its recovery and so forth.

But you also have, you know, pharmacy in the Bible,

sorcery that is being used in a negative way, okay?

So the pharmacist in the Bible is actually referred to the apothecary

if you've heard that word in the Bible.

The apothecary is the person who essentially is an expert in skilled

and compounds of medicine in order to help you.

You know, they use, you know, natural remedies, things of that nature

to kind of help you to get better if you're sick,

to help you to recover and so forth.

Now, when we think of sorcery in the negative connotation,

it's referring to sorcerers who use that knowledge for evil, okay?

They use the knowledge of medicine.

They use the knowledge of compounds in order to use it for wicked means.

Now how so?

Well, let me just put it to you in a very basic manner, okay?

You have the, you know, the apothecary who says,

hey, don't touch those mushrooms because if you do,

you're going to see some weird stuff, okay?

You're going to freak out or you're going to see weird visions and stuff.

Use these mushrooms for pizza.

I don't care what you guys think about mushrooms on pizza, by the way.

I'm for mushrooms on pizza.

It's delicious, okay?

So the apothecary says these are good for mushrooms.

This is good for soup.

This is good to enhance the taste,

but stay away from these because these are really bad for you.

These can kill you.

These can give you hallucinations and so forth.

Well, the sorcerer comes by and says, excuse me,

what did you say about the whole visions thing?

They hijack the knowledge of the apothecary

and use that knowledge of medicine for evil, okay?

They use the wisdom of the apothecary in order

to carry out wicked means to have visions.

You know, this is why people know what to do with peyote, okay?

And all these mind altering drugs, psychedelics that people use

in order to experience these visions, these hallucinations

and associated with that, which is spiritual, okay?

So that is essentially the difference between the apothecary

and the sorcerer.

The sorcerer takes the knowledge of the apothecary

and uses it for evil.

And just a side note here, the apothecary not only is an expert

in skilled in, you know, medicines,

but he's also the one responsible for making compounds

for perfumes, you know, herbal treatments and so forth, okay?

And that is found in the Word of God.

But here's the thing is though, when you think about the sorcerer,

they're the ones that use the wisdom for evil.

They're the ones who essentially pervert the truth.

They're the ones who take the knowledge of things

that are meant for good and they corrupt it

for their own godless means in order to corrupt others

and so forth, okay?

And another side note here, this is why you should not be smoking marijuana.

You should not be doing any mind altering drugs.

The Bible commands us to be sober.

The Bible commands us to walk circumspectly,

not as fools, but as wise.

You see, the apothecary says, hey, they're marijuana leaf,

this makes for good pants, you know,

during the summer days, right?

It makes for good clothes

in order to keep you cool during the summer.

The sorcerer says, yeah, but if you smoke it though, you know,

you know, that's good stuff right there or whatever, you know,

and then you can hallucinate and see all kinds of things.

But that would obviously contradict what the Word of God actually says

that we ought to be sober.

And this is something that people will often bring up like,

well, if marijuana is bad, then why did God make it?

You know, well, first of all, you know,

yeah, he made marijuana, but nowhere in the Bible does it say

that he told you to roll it up and smoke it.

Pretty simple, right?

You know, by the way, God made the tree of knowledge and good and evil

and he told Adam and Eve not to take of it.

So how about that?

So just because God creates something doesn't mean he tells you explicitly

or doesn't mean he gives you permission to actually use it

for selfish means or whatever it may be.

Sometimes things are just created

and you're not supposed to do anything with it, okay?

You know, God made great whites.

He didn't tell you to jump in the ocean and swim with them either.

Understand?

So it's important for us to make this distinction

to understand why things are created and so forth.

Now, when we think of sorcery, again, as I mentioned,

it's often used interchangeably with witches and wizards, okay?

So it's often used with witchcraft, witches, wizards, sorcerers.

These are all kind of used interchangeably in the Bible.

Now, let's go to Leviticus chapter 20 real quick.

Leviticus 20 · chapter mention

Let's look at a couple of verses here.

Leviticus chapter 20.

Leviticus 20 · chapter mention

This is all introduction.

Leviticus chapter 20, look down at your Bibles at verse number 27

Leviticus 20 · chapter mention

of Leviticus chapter 20.

Leviticus 20 · chapter mention

It says this in verse 27,

a man also or a woman that hath a familiar spirit

or that is a wizard, the Bible says,

shall surely be put to death,

they shall stone them with stones, their blood shall be upon them.

So the penalty for being a sorcerer, a wizard,

a witch in the Bible was the death penalty.

These are people who were not only corrupting knowledge,

but they were corrupting knowledge with the intent to corrupt others.

Now, I want you to notice the word wizard there, okay?

This isn't referring to, you know, Hogwarts or anything like that, okay?

This is not referring to Harry Potter.

You know, a wizard in the Bible, you know,

the etymology of the word wizard comes from the word

that basically means a wise man, okay?

So a wise man, you can see that, you know,

wizard, wizard, that's kind of how the word evolved.

But it carries the connotation of someone who takes the wisdom

of the wise man and corrupts it, you understand?

They use the wisdom of God and they corrupt it,

they destroy it, and obviously we can give all types

of secondary and tertiary applications

where people take the wisdom of God's word

and they corrupt it to teach a false gospel,

they corrupt it to teach heresy and so forth.

These are examples of wizardry in the Bible.

So you have the witch, you have the wizard.

Now under that, you have essentially different branches

of practice under sorcery, okay?

For example, you have enchantments,

the Bible talks about enchantments,

which is synonymous with charmers.

You have soothsayers, you have necromancers, okay?

You have, for example, you have diviners,

those who practice divination,

and by extent you also have astrologers

and you have those who observe times, okay?

So all of these abominable actions that the Bible talks about

are under the canopy of sorcery.

Why? Because sorcery in general is referring to deception

and all of these practices essentially foment that deception.

They're different ways of deceiving people.

Now what is an enchantment?

What is that exactly?

Well think about the word enchantment.

The word in there is chant, right?

This is referring to incantations

or people who repeat things repeatedly

in order to get a certain result,

supernatural result, okay?

You have this in Buddhism.

You have it in Hinduism.

You have it in Catholicism.

And the Bible calls it vain repetition, okay?

Where someone repeats a word,

they repeat a phrase over and over and over again,

meaninglessly, vainly thinking that they're going to receive

some sort of supernatural result because of it.

But the Lord Jesus Christ specifically says

not to use vain repetition.

And people are like, well, you know,

with Catholics it's different.

Okay, then you explain to me what that verse means exactly.

How is that applicable then?

You know, when he says you do not use vain repetition,

it's basically saying no matter what phrases you use,

don't repeat it vainly thinking that God's going to

hear you for your much speaking.

You know, God wants us to speak to him

as though he actually exists and he's listening

and you're conversing with him, okay?

Now, why does God forbid vain repetition?

Well, because it's a form of enchantment.

It's a form of charming others.

And again, this is something that is practiced

in Eastern mysticism with Buddhism and Hinduism

where they were literally chant these mantras

in order to put people in a certain trance

so they can be deceived by the teacher,

by whatever teaching is being given to them,

whatever institution that they're in.

They often refer to it as the altered state of consciousness,

okay?

And a lot of charismatic churches will use things like this

but they'll just use like praise and worship music.

This is why a lot of the CCM has the same repetitious

statements in order to put you in a trance

and he's like, I just feel like there's God in this place.

You know, why?

Because you repeated the same phrase 50 times.

You know, we don't determine if God's presence

is in, you know, a church based upon the music.

We base it upon what's being actually

issued forth from the word of God.

What's being preached from the pulpit, right?

You know, the Bible is the determining factor

whether the institution is of God or not.

And so, you know, this is why God says,

hey, you know, refuse those who practice enchantments,

those who are charmers, those who are used,

these incantations, these spells so to speak

in order to be with you,

put you into an altered state of consciousness

in order to deceive you with false ideologies and so forth.

So this is why he says, hey, the sorcerers who practice

enchantments, charmers, get away from them.

How about the diviners? What is a diviner?

What is divination?

Well, divination is the practice of a person

seeking to know the future outside of the boundaries

of God's word.

Now, none of us can tell the future.

We can generally predict what is going to happen

in the future based upon the cause and effect

of what the Bible teaches, right?

We could also tell you what the future holds

based upon Antioch's Bible prophecy.

But none of us can actually accurately, specifically,

depict what's going to happen tomorrow, right?

Because we know not what a day may bring forth,

the Bible says, okay?

You know, sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Part of the evil of this life is not knowing

what's going to happen tomorrow.

That's just how life is, okay?

But diviners, on the other hand,

will claim that they can tell you

what's going to happen tomorrow,

who you're going to marry, how much money you're going to...

Are you going to get that promotion?

You know, we often think of those who are psychics

or claim to be psychics, the palm readers.

These are all different examples of diviners, okay?

Now, let's go to Ezekiel chapter 20, if you would.

Ezekiel 20 · chapter mention

Let's look at an example of this.

Ezekiel chapter 20.

Ezekiel 20 · chapter mention

Ezekiel chapter 20.

Ezekiel 20 · chapter mention

So you have the charmers.

You have the enchanters.

And then you also have the diviners.

Look at Ezekiel 20.

Let's see here.

Actually, go to 21.

I think it's in 21.

Yep.

Ezekiel 21.

So a diviner is someone who claims to be able to know the future.

Look at Ezekiel 21 and verse 21.

It says here,

Well, let's explain a couple of these things.

First and foremost, the king of Babylon is not a Bible-believing person.

This is not someone who is of God.

He is of the Mesopotamian culture.

He practices paganism.

He adheres to the heathen theology of this world and so forth.

And he's using divination in order to tell the future.

And he gives us three specific things that he looks into in order to tell the future.

He talks about, it says in verse 21,

He made his arrows bright.

There's not necessarily a whole lot of information of what exactly that means.

But these last two, we know for sure.

It says here,

He consulted with images.

What does that mean?

It means he goes to his false gods that are in his house,

the statues that are in his house,

the images that are in his house,

and he consults them to figure out what to do.

This is the equivalent of someone going to the Virgin Mary today

in order to say like,

What should I do?

To go to some saint or whatever,

that they claim to be a saint,

of some image in their household at their church

in order to be able to tell what the future holds.

And this is exactly what the king of Babylon is doing.

So he's using images.

He says he consults with images,

and then he looks into the liver.

What is that?

Well, this is actually called hepatoscopy.

Hepatoscopy is the pagan practice of killing an animal,

opening the animal,

and looking inside its entrails,

specifically the liver in order to tell the future.

How that works, I don't know.

The devil is just, I don't know,

just tell him to look in the liver.

They'll fall for it.

And you know the Babylonians weren't the only ones

who practiced this.

Romans practiced this.

The Gauls practiced this.

There was a major practice in the ancient world

where they would use the entrails of an animal

in order to tell the future.

It's completely nonsensical,

but you know people believe in stupid stuff today though too.

People have always believed in nonsensical things

because the deception is so strong

because they are bewitched by the enchantments

and the charming of these sorcerers

that would come to these people and say,

hey, look inside the entrails of the lamb here

and see what the future holds.

But you know as Christians,

we don't believe in that nonsense.

What do we do?

We look within the Word of God.

The lamb of God who should take away

the sins of the world, okay?

Jesus said, you know, search the scriptures.

For in them you think you have eternal life

and they are which testify of me.

So if we want to know the future,

we've got to go to the Bible, right?

We don't need to go to the stars.

The Bible tells us in Jeremiah chapter 10,

Jeremiah 10 · chapter mention

you know, be not dismayed at the signs of heaven

for the heathen are dismayed at them, the Bible says.

We're not to learn the customs of the heathen.

No palm reading, no looking into the entrails.

This is what divination is.

Divination are these heathen practices

in order to be able to tell the future.

But you know what?

This is why us as Christians,

we need to make sure that we just have faith in God,

that we walk by faith, not by sight.

We don't have to worry about

what's going to happen tomorrow.

We simply have to walk circumspectly,

not as fools but as wise,

understanding what the will of the Lord is,

Ephesians chapter 5.

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

You see, if you are a Christian

and you are reading the Word of God,

you're not going to worry about anything.

If you're going according to what God says,

you don't have to be bewitched

by the sorcery of this world

known as social media,

known as, you know,

the social media platforms of X

and Instagram and Facebook,

because you're just worried what's going to happen.

How about you actually look at the entrails

of the Word of God and recognize that,

you know, we know who holds tomorrow.

Okay?

And so we have the king of Babylon

looking into the entrails of an animal

in order to divine.

But there's also another practice of divination

that's alluded to in the Bible

and that is the practice

of looking inside of a cup

in order to look at the tea leaves.

This is a practice that they would often use.

You know, they would drink the tea

and the tea leaves would sink to the bottom of the cup

and they would look at the structure

or how the tea leaves were pointing

and they would be able to tell the future,

supposedly, based upon that.

Now there is an example in the Bible

that it alludes to this

but it doesn't explicitly say and that's with Joseph.

Okay? If you remember the story of Joseph

when he's in Egypt

he tricks his brothers and they take what?

His cup of divination.

And he specifically says,

don't you know that this is the cup that I used to divine?

Now obviously I think he's just being sarcastic here.

He's just trying to trick his brothers.

We know that God gave him dreams and interpretations.

He didn't need a cup to do so.

But this is obviously something that he's saying

because it's a common practice

in that particular region in Egypt.

Okay? Point being here

we don't have to look into a cup.

We don't have to look into the entrails.

We can simply look into the word of God

in order to determine what the future is.

So you have enchanters,

you have charmers,

you have diviners

and you also have

necromancers.

Now what is a necromancer?

This is used interchangeably in the Bible

to describe those who consult with

familiar spirits.

They talk to demons

or whatever.

These are people who talk to demonic entities.

They think they're talking to their family members.

They're using the Ouija board.

They're trying to consult with entities,

supernatural entities

in order to get certain answers.

Now there is an instance in the Bible

where God permitted

someone to actually communicate with someone

who had gone beyond.

They were already in heaven.

And that is Saul.

Saul was able to commune with Samuel

and he used a witch in order to do so.

Okay?

And obviously the reason God allowed that

is because Samuel was going to

tell Saul that he was going to die.

Because

God wanted to kill Saul.

Because Saul had gotten him so far away from God

he wanted to destroy him.

But here's the thing though, that's another form

of sorcery.

People who try to communicate with the dead

try to communicate with those who have passed on.

And again, this is something else

that falls under the category of Catholicism.

You know, praying to those who have passed away,

have passed on, praying to saints.

That is an example

of consulting with familiar spirits.

That is an example of

necromancy.

And nowhere in the Bible does it teach that

any disciple, any apostle

communicated with anybody who had gone beyond

other than the Lord Jesus Christ.

And it's interesting that they want to

pray to everyone except for Jesus.

They want to pray to

Saint So-and-so and Saint Joseph

and Saint Mary and Saint whatever.

But they never want to go to the actual source

which is the Lord Jesus Christ.

And any religion that pushes you away

from communion with the Lord Jesus Christ

runs screaming in the opposite direction.

And so that is a form

of necromancy.

That is a form of consulting with familiar spirits.

And obviously there's

various branches of this too.

You have this in Hispanic

cultures where they will

try to communicate with

their lost love ones

or the ones who have passed away and so forth.

It's all demonic.

And you know what? That's why it's important for us

to recognize that we

cannot communicate with those who have gone

beyond. The only time we're going to be able

to communicate with them is when we go there too.

And the only way you can go there is if you believe

on the Lord Jesus Christ exclusively for salvation.

So you have divination. You have

enchantments. You have charmers.

You have those who are consultants with familiar spirits.

You have the soothsayers.

What is a soothsayer?

This is someone who is a sorcerer

who just preaches lies to you.

He's very soothing.

You know, it's the opposite of what I'm

doing to you right now.

You know, the soothsayer is just all

exhortation. He's like the

Joel Olstein. He is

the pastor who just wants to tell you what you want to hear

in order to take advantage of you.

This is the person that has

men's persons in admiration because of advantage.

This is the person with great swelling

words of vanity.

This is the person who just preaches lies

to you. That is the soothsayer.

They don't care about your spiritual

well-being. They don't care if you

destroy your life. All they care about

is your pocketbook.

All they care about is what they can get

from you. That is the soothsayer.

That is the false prophet.

And then lastly,

under the canopy of sorcery

is you have the

astrologers

and those who

observe days, those

who observe the stars and so forth.

These are the individuals that will

look at the stars in order to determine

the future.

You know, oh I'm a Scorpio

so I got to look at this particular

constellation or something like that.

They're the ones who literally use

the constellations. They'll use all

these things, the horoscope type people

in order to determine the future

but that's all nonsensical. You're like

well you know, I saw this one

horoscope though. I'll look it into

and I feel like it was just about me. Yeah, because

it was saying all good things and you want

people to say good things about you.

So you're like, oh this is all good.

Yeah, I'm definitely successful.

Yeah, that's me right there.

Oh yeah, I'm definitely trustworthy.

I'm definitely loyal.

Oh yeah, I'm really passionate.

Yeah, this is called soothsaying.

They give you all the good qualities

because they know that you're so narcissistic

when it comes to yourself. You're just like, yep

I fit all these. I must be a

whatever, a Capricorn or whatever they call it.

Okay,

and you know

I hope no Christian is struggling

with this and believes in this crap

because that's exactly what it is.

Okay, because at the end of the day

the Bible says we're to be conformed to the image

of Christ.

Not to just revel in how

we are and our characteristics

and our attributes.

The Bible tells us to put off the old man

which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust

and be renewed in the spirit

of your mind, which is created after

righteousness and true holiness

to put on the new man the Bible says.

So it's just like, well

I just really want to know who I really am.

You're a sinner.

Okay, plain and simple.

You have a corruptible body

your mind is not subject to the law of God

neither indeed can be

therefore you need to be filled with the spirit

and transcend the flesh to be spirit filled.

You need to put on the new man

the Bible says.

So stop looking at the horoscope

to figure out why you know

I just don't know why I am the way I am

it's called the sin nature that's what it is.

Okay, and you know what

even if the horoscope gets like 50% of it

right 50% of it you got to get rid of anyways.

God's not

pleased with that 50% anyways

and you know what don't use that

as an excuse as to why you're such

a sinful person.

How about you get the word of God inside

the Bible tells us that word of I hit in my heart

that I may not sin against thee.

Okay, and God expects us to transform

ourselves on a day to day

to live a sanctified life

to live a life that's pleasing unto him

and if there's characteristics and attributes

and ideologies that we possess

that are contrary to God's word

God says change it.

It doesn't care what the horoscope says

why this is just me

I'm just a selfish person

I'm just this is just me

yeah but you know what if it contradicts the Bible

you know you got to change it

okay you got to be renewed in spirit of your mind

you got to conform yourself

to the image of Christ

you got to transform your mind

by the word of God and not be that way

understand.

And so we have too much of this in society

where it's just like you know

you just got to really embrace who you really are.

No.

The heart is deceitful above all things desperately wicked

who can know it?

You should want to be less like you

that's what you should try to be like

well I kind of like the way I am

yeah but if who you are

is completely contrary to the word of God

and you're a Christian

you're a Bible believing Christian

then you need to change

it's called the process of sanctification

okay you need to crucify

the flesh with the affections and lust

that's what the Bible literally says

you know the last time I checked Jesus said

if any man come after me let him

deny himself

take up his cross and follow me

he didn't say embrace yourself

he that loves his life shall lose it

the Bible says

whoever shall lose his life for my sake

the same shall save it

so the Bible is constantly talking about us

leaving the old man

crucifying the old man

let not sin therefore reigning your immortal bodies

that you should obey and the lust thereof

and put on the new man

which after God has created righteousness

and true holiness and so forth

now let's go back to Acts chapter 8

Acts 8 · chapter mention

that was my rant

some of you needed it though

so it's all good

that was all introduction just to kind of explain to you

what sorcery is

so now you know

sorcery, witchcraft, wizardry

these are all used interchangeably

and a wizard

a witch is simply someone who takes the wisdom

of God and they corrupt it

they turn it into lasciviousness

they use it for evil means

they're wise to do evil the Bible says

and so not all wise men

in the Bible are bad

obviously it's

often used to describe both categories

but we need to read it in its context

we know that the wise men came to seek

Christ

the Bible also says that

when it's wise

wisdom is not bad

just like subtlety is not bad

being a subtle person

is actually a Christian virtue

but we obviously know that there are instances

where people use subtlety

to their advantage in order to deceive

i.e. Satan

he was more subtle than any beast of the field

the Bible says

and so this is simply an example

of that

so you have sorcery

now in Acts chapter 8

Acts 8 · chapter mention

with that in mind

you have the story of Simon the sorcerer

now it doesn't explicitly say

what type of sorcerer he was

if I were to guess

and kind of infer my interpretation

of what type of sorcerer he was

I would say that he was probably an enchanter

and a charmer

okay

he probably wasn't a diviner

he probably wasn't an enchanter or a charmer

or a soothsayer

why is that? well let's look at the story here

let me give you some

introductory statements regarding the chapter

in chapter 8

the apostle Paul is not yet an apostle

simply referred to as Saul

and he's persecuting Christians

okay

he's like single-handedly persecuting

the churches

to the point where they're literally just scattering

in all different regions of the known world

because he's so passionate about the Jews religion

he's persecuting Christians

and so you know a lot of the Christians

in Jerusalem are forced out of

Jerusalem and they go into various cities

now one of the reasons for that

is because God didn't want

you know believers to just stay in Jerusalem

you know the apostles were just

sticking around in Jerusalem

and they weren't reaching the known world

they were only reaching Jews

and you say what's the problem with that

well the problem with that is that God specifically commanded them

to go into all the world

he said to Samaria, Judea, Samaria

and the uttermost parts of the world

but they were disobeying that command

so God allowed

Paul, Saul

which is their use interchangeably

he allowed Saul to go in

and persecute them and cause them to scatter

the only difference is the apostles still remain in Jerusalem

okay

so he's wreaking havoc

well Philip goes out and he's preaching the word of God

look at verse number 4

it says therefore they that were scattered

abroad went everywhere preaching the word

then Philip went down to the city of Samaria

and preached Christ

unto them

the people with one accord gave heed

unto those things which Philip spake

hearing and seeing the miracles which he did

so we have Philip

he was one that actually did go

into different regions

the Bible specifically says that he went down into Samaria

down doesn't mean that he went south

of Jerusalem

Samaria is actually north of Jerusalem

but elevation wise it's lower

than Jerusalem which is why it says that he went down into Samaria

so he goes there

preaching the gospel look at verse 6

and the people with one accord gave

heed unto those things which Philip spake

hearing and seeing the miracles which he did

for unclean spirits

crying with loud voice

came out of many that were possessed

with them and many taken with palsies

and they were lame or healed

so you know an incredible works being done here

Philip obviously has the supernatural

capabilities of healing people

he is performing exorcisms

he's leaving people of demonic

possession he's healing people

of physical infirmities

but he's also simultaneously preaching the word of God

okay now how does that work

well the reason God allowed

these supernatural miracles to occur

in the first century AD

is in order to lend veracity to the

message okay because you gotta keep in mind

this is the beginning stages of the

New Testament churches

you know they're kind of transitioning out of the

Old Covenant and they're getting away

from the stigma

of the synagogues and the

Pharisees and the Jews religion

okay so in order to kind of set

them apart make them distinctly different

from them God enabled them

to supernaturally perform

these miracles of healing

in order to give them the rightful

credibility so people are like okay these guys

are men of God

these guys are sent by God because they're

performing these miracles which only God can do

right

so that obviously sets them apart from the Pharisees

because they can't do anything

all they can do is steal clip coins

that's the only thing they can do

so these guys

people are getting saved

people are being exercised of their

demons and so forth

great works being accomplished

verse 8 says there was great joy in that city

but there was a certain

man called Simon

which before time in the city

used sorcery

and bewitched the people of Samaria

giving out that himself

was some great one

so there's a guy there's a prominent character

in this city known as Simon

and it seems as though

he has a big reputation

of being just like the goat

okay he's some great one

apparently but you know

it's kind of like if you're to walk in there

into Samaria and someone told you

like hey that's the goat right there

this guy knows everything

he has the power of God

in his life but then you're looking at all these

sick people

people who are possessed by demons

people who have the palsies

they have all these physical infirmities

you would kind of be like what is he doing

you know

how is it that he's the great man of God

how is it that he has all these

supernatural capabilities but you have all these

sick people

now it's kind of like today right

you have these so called faith healers

which I call them fake healers

okay

in the charismatic movement that they claim

to be able to heal people by touching them

well why aren't they lined up at the hospital right now

just healing people on mass

if you have that power

why don't you do that

why is it that you can only heal people

of minor things right

of just like you know

oh make my leg a little longer

you know

keep my leg a little short

you know

you know

oh make my leg a little longer

just things that you can't really see

but they never heal

just major infirmities

okay and obviously

today we would say that this person is a

charlatan

and that's what Simon is, he's a charlatan

because he's a great one supposedly

but he ain't healing nobody

okay

you know where are all

where are all the faith healers doing

COVID and you know when people

have cancer

they're gone, they can't heal anybody

it's all fake, they are

enchanters and charmers

who make you think they have that ability

but there are a bunch of phonies is what they are

Benny Hinn and the like

him and his street fighter

you know little

show that he puts on

and the bible specifically said

that he bewitched them

what does it mean to bewitch them

it means like he puts them under a spell

okay and not pixie dust

he's just by the stuff that he's saying

he's causing people to believe

like oh man are people really that dumb

I mean look at the people in the movement

within the faith healing community

people will literally

watch this on TV

send hundreds of dollars

just to get a hanky

that's touched by one of these prophets

you know thinking

that that's somehow going to help them

or something like that

they're bewitched

they've been deceived by a sorcerer

by an enchanter

by a charmer

you say yeah I'll never fall for that

but you know there's false prophets who use the same

exact tactics on you

there's plenty of churches out there

that are being bewitched by false prophets

and false doctrine

and heresy

and zionism

and dispensationalism

and teachings that you could lose your salvation

and teachings about the gospel

these are sorcerers

from a different category

that are simply bewitching people

in heretical things

and sometimes you're like how is it that you can believe this

despite the clear evidence that's presented

I'll tell you how because they're bewitched

a person who's bewitched they're under

listen to this a strong delusion

have you ever heard that word

someone who's delusional

it's like no matter how much evidence you give them

how much truth you provide

they're just like

I don't see it

I just don't see it

I just still think they're gospel people

you're delusional

and you can like literally just like

throw the Bible at them

just show them every verse in the book

and it's just like they don't get it

why because they've been bewitched

now we'll say that in order to prevent being bewitched

you've got to love the truth

and when you love the truth

you're not going to be bewitched by heresy

and false doctrine and so forth

but if you love fairy tales

if you like exotic doctrines

if you like things that are contrary to the word of God

just because you think it's a great thing

then guess what you will be bewitched

God will allow you to come under that

strong delusion

in order to be deceived

so you have Simon here

apparently he's deceived his people

for a very long time

it says in verse number 10

to whom they all gave heed

from the least to the greatest saying

this man is the great power of God

they're just like

this man is the great power of God

he's just like how

you're not even healed

like what has he done for you

what exactly has it done for you

I'll tell you what he's done

he's deceived them

by his sorceries into thinking that

he's some great one

and they all gave heed

so the whole city is like oh yeah we know this

we know Simon that's Simon

that's the go this is the great one

he's the one with all the power

he's the one who's capable of doing all these miracles

he's the one who's just like but you guys are all sick

no one's healed

it says in verse number 11

and to him they all had to regard

because that of a long time

he had bewitched them with

sorceries but when they believed Philip

preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God

and the name of Jesus Christ

they were baptized both men and women

so this shows us that the truth

can always

destroy and cause

the lie to collapse

truth is powerful right

the gospel

the preaching of the cross

it's to them that perish foolishness

but into us which are saved

it is the power of God

it can cause someone to come out from under

the spell of this world

the bible says that the God of this world

has blinded the minds of them

which believe not

lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ

who is the image of God

should shine unto them

so when you bring the gospel to someone

it doesn't matter how deceived they've been

if they're looking for the truth they'll get saved

and it's like the scales fall off

and I think many of us could attest to the fact

that when we got saved it's just like whoa

like I know the truth now

I believed on the Lord Jesus Christ

I know I can't lose my salvation

and now when you read the bible you read these clear verses

you're like man all this makes sense

all this is like

crystal clear now

now I get the bible and look I remember

not being saved

I remember people giving me verses about eternal security

and salvation

and I remember listening to it

but I also remember not understanding it

but I remember after I got saved

I'm just like the light bulb went on

and it's like I get it now

and you're kind of like kicking yourself wondering

how did I not understand this before

because the bible calls it the simplicity

of the gospel

the gospel is very easy

getting saved is easy

and yes I believe in easy believism

because it's easy to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ

because Jesus Christ did all the hard part

he did all the hard stuff

he did all the work for us

well no I think you gotta give your life to God

in order to be saved

no the gospel is the fact that he gave his life to you

not the reversal of it

now does he command us

to live a life that's pleasing unto him

absolutely he commands us to serve him

he commands us to do good works

but not for salvation

and if you never do any of those works after salvation

you're still saved yes you heard right

because the bible says to him that work is not

to him that work is not

but believe it on him to justify

the ungodly his faith discounted for righteousness

that's what the bible says

not by works of righteousness which we have done

but according to his mercy he saved us

and you always have this hyper spiritual statement

yeah but you know

don't you love him though

of course I love him

you think you or I love him

100% of the time

no

none of us love God 100% of the time

I'm a pastor this is literally my job

24-7 and I'm gonna tell you right now

I don't love God 100% of the time

why because I'm a sinner

my love wanes it goes like this

and no one in this room loves God 100% of the time

either the only person

who's ever loved God

the father 100% of the time is the Lord Jesus Christ

and that's not you

you know

we have to work we have to grow in our love for Christ

and you know what no you don't

you don't get saved by loving God

it's not the way it works

you get saved by receiving

the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ alone

and let me just make it very clear

you get saved by believing on Jesus Christ

exclusively for salvation

let me explain to you what that means

at the exclusion of everything else

no sacraments

no Mary

no works

no church

no moral

uprightness exclusively

upon Jesus Christ

because he Romans 11-6 says

by grace then it is no more of works

otherwise grace is no more grace

showing us conclusively

that salvation is by grace

and it's not of works and if you add works

then you cannot be saved

and so

you know we have here

a demonstration of how powerful the gospel is

is that it can

relieve even a sorcerer

right we're going to see this later on

that he gets saved

it relieves those who are under the sorcery

but also the sorcerer from the deception

of this world

then Simon himself believed also

and when he was baptized he continued

with Philip and wondered

beholding the miracles and signs which were done

I love this because you know sometimes

we may think like oh man

that guy was a sorcerer

they're a magician they're involved

in all kinds of weird demonic

things they can't get saved well Simon

did and this is like

his profession

he was the one responsible for deceiving people

he was the enchanter

he was the charmer yet he believed in the

Lord Jesus Christ and guess what he got saved

and he got baptized

and he followed Philip

so he's kind of going through the whole

entire process there

he got saved he got baptized and then he

just started following Philip which is exactly

what God wants us to do as well

and this shows us that

there's people out there

they might be out there

they might be into horoscopes

and what are those things called the stones

the crystals they might be into crystals

you guys know what I'm talking about

people who believe like in crystals and stuff

you know hyper crystals

they're into all kinds of

weird mystical things

and they just have these

weird ideas

and doctrines

but you know what if they actually get saved

if they love the truth

they can come out of that

because that's what Simon did

now I love the story of Simon because

he comes out of that

but he's still envious and he covets

the ability of the Apostles

let's read on here

verse 14 says

now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem

heard that Samaria had received the word of God

they sent unto them Peter and John

who when they were come down

prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost

for as yet he had fallen upon

none of them only they were baptized

in the name of the Lord Jesus

then laid their hands on them

and they received the Holy Ghost

and what is this talking about

receiving the Holy Ghost in the book of Acts

and throughout the Bible is simply referring to the fact that people become

emboldened through the Spirit

when you're filled with the Spirit

the major connotation of the Bible

is that they become

bold to preach the word of God

that's the major effect of being filled with the Spirit

well they just had the supernatural

capability of kind of transferring

that to these new believers

so you know

Simon is viewing this

he's seeing this ability and then it says

verse 18 and when Simon saw that

through the lane on of the apostles hands

the Holy Ghost was given

he offered them money

saying give me also this power

then on whom server I lay hands

he may receive the Holy Ghost

so he saved

he got baptized, he's following Philip

but he still has that old nature about him

right

and it's kind of letting us know

that prior to his salvation

when he was the so-called great one

why was he bewitched into people

for money

right because he wanted to

he's probably making money off of this

and so he sees that all the attention

is going to the apostles because they're legitimate

you know men of God

they're the legitimate goats

and what do we have here he says

hey how much money you charge for this

I want this ability too

and you know what this shows us

is that just because you're saved doesn't mean

you're not going to sin

doesn't mean you're not going to have carnal desires

you're not going to have sinful desires

it's going to happen why

because your old nature stays with you

there's no such thing as sinless perfection

this side of eternity

that is a nonsensical doctrine

oh if you get saved you just will never

desire to sin

wrong because if that were true

then why are there so many commandments in the Bible

that tells not to sin

if batteries come included

if once we get saved it's just the hardest

completely correct

we're righteous before the Lord

and we just have no sinful desires

whatsoever then why are there so many commands

for us to walk in the spirit

and not in the flesh if it just comes naturally

the reason those

commands are there is because God knows we have the propensity

to sin

this is listen to this

this is the battle for every Christian

and you will not

stop fighting this

until you go to heaven

and here's the thing you're like oh I know

someone who stopped fighting well you just knew

you just know someone who's losing

that's what it is

someone who's saved

someone who believes the right gospel

and they're living a worldly life

they're fornicated like are you saying that they're saved

well if they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ

yeah they're saved

and you know what we need to get away from this

hyper spiritual

this holier than now

doctrine that says well

because a Christian is backslidden

because he's involved in sin

because he's out there living a wicked life

somehow that just means that they're not saved

really you want to tell that to David

who

committed adultery

and conspired to murder a man

yeah but he wrote song 51 where he repented

yeah a year after

meaning for an entire year

he was involved in adultery

and conspiring

he conspired to murder someone and he was involved in adultery the whole time

you're trying to tell me that he wasn't saved

during that time

of course he was saved

no student of the bible would say that he wasn't saved

everybody knows that he was saved

it's a demonstration that people are carnal

they're fleshly

and you know what if you allow

if you continue to feed the flesh

you don't walk in the spirit

you'll be a horrible person too

you will be a horrible person too

if you don't do so

this is why the bible commands us to walk in the spirit

not fulfill the lust of the flesh

this is why the bible says that we're in a spiritual warfare

the weapons of our warfare

are not carnal but mighty

through god to the pulling down the strongholds

he's constantly telling us to put on the armor of god

to take a stand

to fight against the wiles of satan

to do all these things in opposition to satan

why would he tell us that if we just

we're good to go

I'll tell you why because we all sin

now the goal should be that every day we sin less

but you're never going to get to a point

where you don't sin anymore

and here's a great example

Simon still has that envious

feeling within him

he still has that covetous feeling about him

even to the point where he thinks he can

purchase the power of god

it says in verse number

19 verse 20

but Peter said unto him

thy money perish with thee

because thou hast thought that the gift of god

may be purchased with money

thou hast neither part nor law in this matter

for thy heart is not right in the sight of god

repent therefore of this thy wickedness

and pray god if perhaps the thought of thine heart

may be forgiven thee

for I perceive that thou art in the gall

of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity

so what is Peter saying

I feel like you're bitter

because we took away all your revenue

we took all your customers

now no one thinks you're a hot shot anymore

you're not the great one anymore

and I think you're in the gall of bitterness

because you are once the preeminent

one here in Samaria

and you're not anymore

and you know what you better ask god

to forgive you for these things

so that judgment doesn't come upon you

leading me to my next point

and that is that just because you're saved

doesn't mean you won't suffer punishment here on this earth

the bible specifically says

whom the lord loveth he chastened it

and scourged it to every son whom he received it

the bible says

vengeance is mine sayeth the lord I will repay

and the lord shall judge

his people

you know just as I spanked my children

yes you heard right

I spanked my children

I wilt my children

yes when they are disobedient

if they're rebellious and disrespectful

they get a chastisement from dad

yes

and no

I don't give them timeouts either

or make them stand in the corner

facing a wall

oh man I just don't think that's right

then you better start reading the bible

because the bible is for chastisement

all over both Old and New Testament

you know

I just don't think that's right

because you probably weren't whooped as a child

that's why

mom and dad never whooped you

that's why you're a spoiled brat

that's why you just question authority

you just do whatever you want

you just mouth off to mom and dad

because they never give you a good whooping

but you know why I'm still respectful to my mom

even though I'm 40 years old

it's because she whooped me

oh man that can traumatize

oh yeah I could make a person like

a Christian and then I'm a pastor now

and now I'm just leading

a ton of people to Christ and just live

and now I'm married with six children

it's just such a blessed life

I can't believe this has happened to me

look what you did to me mom

you made me a functioning member

of society mom

you know bring back spankings again

bring back talking about spankings again

yeah

the point being here is the bible talks about

God chastening his people

even to the extent where he kills his people

that's a theme in the bible

right right

and in fact it's a theme in both old and new testament

right

the new testament specifically says

who served to father the temple of God

him shall God destroy

yeah interpret that for me

well in the greek that means

it means that he'll kill ya

that's what it means

so don't defile your temple

because God can just destroy you

and take you home early

so he tells simon repent

verse 24 then answered simon

and said pray ye the lord for me

that none of these things which ye have spoken come

upon me

and the story ends with simon there

it's a great story because it demonstrates that the sorcerer can be saved

but it also demonstrates

that even after salvation

he can struggle

with past sins

of wanting to have the admiration

the acclimations of the crowd

he can still struggle with envy

and covetousness because it's a part

of his sin nature therefore he has to repent

of these things

now let's go to ax 13

so we see simon the sorcerer

and for the next hour

I'm going to talk about elimus the sorcerer

so let's give you a little bit of an introduction

to ax 13

in ax 13 you have the apostle paul

on his first missionary journey

so he's in his first missionary journey

he goes to antioch

and then he goes to the island

of cyprus with barnimus

and they're out trying to preach the gospel

do work and they're doing a great job

this is his first trip

look what it says in verse number 4

it says so they being sent forth

by the holy ghost departed unto salutia

and from then sailed to cyprus

and when they were at salamis

they preached the word of god

in the synagogues of the jews

and they had also john to their minister

and when they had gone through the isle of paphis

they found

a certain sorcerer

a false prophet

a jew

whose name was bar jesus

so god's trying to specify here

he's like

just let you know what you're dealing with here

okay

verse 7 says

which was

with the deputy of the country

a prudent man who called for barnimus

and saw a desire to hear the word of god

but elimus the sorcerer

for so is his name by interpretation

withstood them

seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith

alright so what do we got going on here

well elimus literally means sorcerer

he goes by the name bar jesus

bar is the aramaic term

that means son

so it's like his name is literally like

son of jesus

or son of josh or would be another way of saying it

and this guy is a false prophet

he's a jew

and he's hanging around with the

these political leaders

serges paulis and serges paulis

wants to hear the gospel

he wants to hear the truth

he wants to know how to be saved

and what better person to preach the gospel to them

than the apostle paul and barnimus

right

but the problem is

that elimus is there

and he is withstanding paul

and he's trying to turn away the deputy

from the faith

now here is a distinct difference between

elimus and simon

there's no indication that simon

tried to stop the apostles

stop philip or anybody

from preaching the gospel to those in samaria

in fact he joined them

elimus on the other hand

what is he doing

he's actually trying to stop the

preaching of god's word

now here is the major difference

look sorcery is evil

it's wicked

it's godless it's an abomination

but you know what

if you're a person who's a sorcerer

and you're trying to stop the preaching of god's word

you're doubly wicked

you're a false prophet jew

child of the devil according to the bible

and god

looks down on you far more

than simon

because simon we can say

simon would fall under the category of being a false prophet

who did it ignorantly

in unbelief

who's another false prophet in the bible who's like that

how about paul

paul was a false prophet

wasn't he a part of the jew's religion

wasn't he a Pharisee of the Pharisee

wasn't he persecuting the church of god

does not the bible say that he was

injurious that he was a persecutor

and a blasphemer

what's the difference

the bible says that he obtained mercy

because he did it ignorantly in unbelief

demonstrated that there's false prophets out there

who are wrong

but they're actually sincere

they think that they're doing right

you say then you know

what happens to that person

well a philip needs to go to that person

preach the gospel and lord willing to get saved

but if they don't get saved

then they'll become an alimus

because the alimus is someone who knows the gospel

he knows the truth

and he wants to fight against it

that's a major difference

you know it says here

that he stood them seeking to turn them away

from the deputy from the faith

this is evil

you know and all of us have experienced this

to a degree or another when we're out souling

and we're literally talking to someone

who is receptive to the gospel

and then you have some

knucklehead friend or family member

who's just literally just being

annoying, obnoxious

trying to turn this person away from the truth

and you just kind of want to knock them out

don't do it

I'm just saying you just kind of want to

because it's just like why are you being so evil

let this person listen to that

I'm not talking to you

if you don't want to hear it it's fine

but don't try to distract and disrupt

the gospel presentation here

you're saying well

you know you're being kind of rough there

you know seriously

you know maybe he is sincere

maybe

you know we just need patience

he just needs love

he needs a little bit of grace

need to pray for him

that's why you know you're going to turn people away

from the faith like this

by that kind of preaching

well let's see what Paul did

verse 9 then Psalm

who's also called Paul

filled with the holy ghost so is he in the flesh

no

filled with the spirit

set his eyes on him and said

all full of all subtlety

and all mischief, thou child of the devil

thou enemy of all righteousness

wilt thou not cease to pervert

the right ways of the Lord

so he looks at the line

and says like you're a child of Satan

you're an enemy of

you know I think you overreacted Paul

it's a bit of an overreaction

no he's legitimate in his assessment

of this person

why because a person again who tries to stop you

for preaching the gospel is evil and wicked

according to the bible

now obviously

this guy is doubly wicked because he's a Jew

and the bible said

that's why it's calling him the child of the devil

Jesus said the same thing

in John 844

but this guy is like

I was going to say quadruple

but it's quadruple

wait yeah quadruple

quadruple

I almost did it again quadruple wicked

why because

he's a false prophet

he's a Jew

he's a child of the devil

he's an enemy of all righteousness

and he's perverting the right ways of the Lord

so this guy

is just like on an agenda

to just destroy the truth

and what happens look at verse 11

and now behold the hand of the Lord

is upon thee

and thou shalt be blind

not seeing the sun

for a season

and immediately there fell on him a mist

and a darkness and he went about seeking some

to lead him by the way

so you know Paul

strikes him with blindness

why because spiritually

you know false prophets

children of the devil

are spiritually blind

they're spiritually blind

and they're trying to withstand the truth

this is why the apostle Paul says in 2 Timothy chapter 3

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

that they're when talking about false prophets

he says ever learning never able to come to the knowledge of the truth

now as Janice and Jamborees

which by the way are sorcerers

the magicians

now as Janice and Jamborees withstood Moses

so do these also

resist the truth

men of corrupt minds

reprobate concerning the faith

well what does he do he's trying to withstand the men of God

trying to stop them from preaching the gospel

and therefore they are

reprobate according to the Bible

this is evil

this is godless this is wicked

and you know if modern Christians

were there back then

and this happened

Paul would get condemned 100%

you could have handled that differently

I don't agree with this

why did you do that

why didn't you invite him in

to pray to Satan

you know why didn't you just

you should have just invited him in

you went about that the wrong way

you're wicked I can't believe you do something like that

I would never go to a church like that

you know what I tell people when they say that

yeah don't ever come to my church

I don't want someone like that to ever go to my church

you know

and this is something I got a lot

when I kicked out the Muslim dude

okay and the homeless guy

you know

you say why didn't you like

win them to Christ

well the reason I didn't try to preach the gospel to the homeless guys

because number one he was trying to burn the place down

kind of hard to

you know

and two he's taking a swing at me so you know

I mean I could do I could multitask

but I just don't know if I can preach the gospel

well you know what

oh but you candle right

the person who's condemning me like

oh you should have just preached the gospel

well first of all you would have gotten knocked out

number one okay

but number two there's a time and place for everything

and you know what the Bible tells us

listen to this listen to me this is what Jesus said

okay give not that which is

holy unto the dogs neither cast you

your pros before swine

that means give the truth to the people who actually want the truth

not the people who hate the truth

not the people who are aggressive

and angry against the truth

we're not to try to go out and give the gospel

to people who don't want it

now look folks we don't pick and choose

what doors we knock we're going to knock on every single door

that we're given

but if there's someone at the door who is aggressive

we move on to the next we wipe off

the dust of our feet and move on to the next

you know

oh why didn't you invite

the Muslim to come in because he's praying

to a false God that's why

because Islam is a

false religion

that's why and I'm not going to have some

guy coming into our building praying to Allah

since Jesus Christ

is the God of this church

and what fellowship

has righteousness with unrighteousness

what concord has Christ with

Belior or with Allah

oh man

I just think you should have

you're trying to tell me that this guy rolled up

Saul first works Baptist church and said

this is a good place to pray

when there's like mosques all around

don't give me that nonsense

you're like oh man you just

you're going to cause people to just like

you know just get away from the truth

not so not so

we've had a lot of people come to church because of that video

number one but number two my brother in law

kicked out a Muslim from a church just recently

because of that

there's a Muslim who's trying to come in do the same exact thing

you know

pulled out his rug his little

his little rug there to try to pray

my brother in law caught him he said

are you a Muslim he said are you going to pray here

he's like get out of here

we don't pray to Allah here

so not only is it causing

people to find the truth but it's causing

other Christians to be emboldened

to do something like that

why because they're sick and tired of pastors

oh yeah just come in yeah just pray

it's all the same God right

we all pray to the same God right

Allah means God doesn't it

we don't want no trouble give me trouble

I want trouble

you know the Bible teaches us here

that we need Christianity is not

a pacifist religion

okay the Bible tells

us that we are to

that the gates of hell should not prevail against it

it is a spiritual battle and look

I'm not looking to fist fight anybody

okay that's not my thing

but you know what here's the thing is that I'm not going to permit

just godlessness from entering

to the church false religion from entering

to the church and you know what no amount of criticisms

or comments will convince me otherwise

oh I can't

believe yeah I know you can't believe it

you can't believe a lot of things

I will never go to the church

I'm glad you wouldn't

because church is for believers

which is something that you're apparently not

what do we have here we have

Elimus the sorcerer getting rebuked

and being struck with blindness

because he's a godless reprobate false prophet

who's trying to stop the preaching of the gospel

okay and we've had this happen multiple times

where you know

whether here we've had this happen

we had this happen in Belize

where someone literally hindered us from preaching

to like thousands and thousands of students

a coalition of pastors

literally hindered us from going

to preach to thousands of students

at a convention because we were preaching

that you can't lose your salvation

you know these are the Elimuses of this world

what's the point the point is this folks

is that sorcery is a real thing

and you know sorcery we look at it now

and we're like oh yeah you're talking about like

sorcerers today like palm readers

you're talking about the people

who look at the crystal ball

and you look at the people who you know

those Mexican stores

your Mexicans out there

what is that called Marcos

you know what that's called

they go into these stores

they got the candles

botanica

there you go

they go to the botanica

okay

you know they go in there

and it's just like you got

the Santa Muerte here

you got Jesus over here you got candles

you got all types of spells

yeah that's a form of sorcery for sure

but let me explain to you

one of the biggest

okay institutions of sorcery

in the world it's called the pharmaceutical industry

how about that

where they accumulate two to four

trillion dollars globally

by literally keeping people

on drugs

right you know

keeping people on anti-depressants

causing you know bewitching them

into thinking that they're getting better

or that they're maintaining their sanity

when really they're just getting worse

like how do people fall for that

they're sorcerers

pharmacaya

go to Revelation 21

Revelation 21

and that's the major culprit today

when it comes to sorcerers

we would call them sorcerers

but you know that's exactly what they are

they're basically performing

enchantments and charming

these are the

evil apothecaries of this world

who are using the knowledge of good

in order to make money off of it

of the misery of others right

people are struggling with anxiety

they're struggling with depression

you know they're struggling with whatever

whatever mental problems that they have

here's drugs to fix it

okay

you know oh you're struggling with depression

you feel sad

and look there's even an anti-depressant out there

that's even they're starting to coin as the divorce

drug

because women who are going through these hormonal

changes end up taking these anti-depressants

and then they're just like

I want to leave my husband this is literally something

that's been trapped and proven

you know because it messes with your mind

messes with your mind

it's all these psychedelics and drugs

that are being used and causing you to

think that you're getting better look we

need to just go back to just eating good

food

you know exercising

and the majority of people who are like

on these drugs is like you've never seen a gym

in your life my boy

like

you don't make any gains on

you've never touched a weight in your life

you know have you do you know what the sun even

looks like have you touched

grass have you ever ate

a t-bone steak

I eat chicken tenders you know

they're the ones who just eat chicken tenders all the time

you know and then it's just like oh I'm just depressed

yeah you're depressed because you're just gaming

all night

you're just gaming all day all night

drinking energy drinks

all day long you're not eating

any healthy dose of protein

you're not lifting any weights you're not

getting outside you're not socializing with others

you're doom scrolling

and then you're like I need pills to make me better

I feel depressed

and I don't know why

and look obviously we know that there are seasons

when hormones just you know

they kind of go crazy on women

men we don't know that

and if you know that

you better

change that

there's women who you know that's a fact right

women go through

hormonal changes throughout the month

right and you know

even with pregnancy

it's just skyrockets

okay so husbands you know be patient

with your wives when they are pregnant

you're just like

you know who are you

you know she's just crazy

I just don't want to do

she's making a human being

you know she's making an eyeball

she's making two

making elbows and stuff like

you gotta like be patient

alright it takes a lot of work

and you're like dinner's not ready

well you're sleeping all day

you know they go through a lot of changes

and let me just prepare you

they cry a lot

it's just what they do

let them cry

and you're like what's the problem

and they're just like nothing

believe it

it's true

100% true

you know they just cry

and you know what

I'm cool with that

what I'm not cool with is when a dude does that

you know

if you are a man

and you're just crying for no reason

and I ask you why are you crying

you say for no reason I'm gonna sock you in the gut

and give you a reason to cry

we can't have that slide

can't have that slide

I'm doing you a favor

so when other people see you

like why are you crying like the pastor just sock me in the gut

you know it's normal for women to do that

it's normal for women to feel that

okay and here's the thing folks

is that sometimes people think oh man

I'm going through these hormonal changes

I need to go to the doctor and get some drugs

in order to fix my you know how I'm feeling

just no

this is just part of life

and let me just be very frank with you

it's part of the curse

it's part of the curse

and you know what it's wrong

to resort to

you know drugs

in order to take away

the institution of what God said

forth in the body

okay God wants you to wait it out

now look if you are on antidepressants right now