Lightly edited for readability while preserving the speaker’s meaning and substantive statements.
Always good to worship the Lord, amen. Hallelujah. Good to have everyone here this morning. Those of you listening, we welcome you to Fire and Grace Church in Auburn, Alabama. Hope you hear something that helps you, amen. Hallelujah. Well, I want everybody to take your Bibles out this morning and turn to Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 56. Now, this church, we believe that all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for instruction, for correction. All scripture, that means Old Testament and New Testament. There's some people out there that are anti-Old Testament. I don't understand that cuz uh you know, I wonder what they would have done in the first century when Paul and Peter and the rest of them were preaching out of the Bible and the only Bible that existed was the Old Covenant, amen. The Old Testament. Most of the Old Testament can be found in the New Testament. Uh so, anyway, we won't get on that discussion, but uh this is still the word of God that the prophet Isaiah spoke and um we're going to look at it this morning. Um the title of my message this morning's kind of is changed a little bit, but uh it's called Blind Shepherds. Blind Shepherds. Now, I've talked a lot about this um but not not the same thing this morning, amen. There's some very strong indictments in the word of God in both the Old Testament and the New Testament about leaders uh religious leaders, spiritual leaders, pastors, shepherds. Uh they could profit, sometimes they're called priests they're called, but spiritual leaders, shepherds that are blind, leaders of the blind. Amen. Jesus said that. He said if the blind lead the blind, then both shall fall into the ditch. Right? We may turn to that in a second, but that's in Luke 6. But, you know, and of course Jesus looked at the Pharisees and the Sadducees who were the religious spiritual leaders of Israel at the time. And you know, a lot of people think they were they were all the bad guys. But if you remember correctly, and again we may look at this in just a second, but I'm just kind of giving you an introduction. In Matthew 23, Jesus said to the people, he said a multitude was in front of him, and when he was about to rebuke the Pharisees, he he said, "You know what?" He said, "They sit in Moses' seat, and what they say, listen to them." Why? Because, you know what? The Pharisees and the Sadducees were teaching the scriptures and the truth about Jehovah God, the heavenly Father. All right? They believed the Messiah was coming. Their only problem was they just didn't believe Jesus was the one,
even though he's right in front of their faces. But the thing about it, he said, "You know, listen to what they say from the scriptures, but don't do what they do." And he said that, and he said because they're blind leaders of the blind. So, there are, according to the Bible, Old Testament new, there's such things as priests, prophets, pastors, shepherds that are blinded. They're blinded by something, and they're leading people in the wrong direction. And I'm I'm going to tell you, of course Jesus said that, you know, we would have wolves in sheep's clothing come to us, but sometimes it's not that the person is a wolf that might lead us astray. They might actually be a shepherd called of God, anointed of God. They might even be a prophet, called of God or anointed of God, and something has happened and they've allowed something in their lives or they've compromised and that compromise or that pride or whatever has come in and blinded their eyes and now they're blind leaders of the blind. And in most of them really honestly believe that what they're doing is good and that they're leading people in the right way, but God says that they're ignorant and they're leading people in the wrong way. I want to show you what Isaiah said. Now, Isaiah was a true prophet of God who had discernment. And he talked here about watchman and about shepherds. He called them both watchman and shepherds, but Isaiah uh 56, we're going to start reading at verse 10. Here is Isaiah the prophet exposing blind leaders and he didn't mince words here. Here's what he said, verse 10, Isaiah 56:10. He said, "His watchman are blind. They are all ignorant. They are dumb dogs. They cannot bark. Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough. They are shepherds that cannot understand. They all look to their own way, everyone for his own gain, from his quarter from his little territory. Come you say they, I will fetch wine and we will fill ourselves with strong drink and tomorrow as this day and much more abundant." So, he says here that there are watchman. Now, let me just share this with you. One thing about watchman, if you look that word up, a watchman is somebody who is observing the times and also observing what is coming. A watchman is someone that's called to to to look ahead or that God reveals or shows what's coming. Or we should know from the word of God to be able to look at the word of God
and to know the things that are coming and watchmen are supposed to watch those things, be observant of those things, and warn people. Shepherds are supposed to care for the flock and part of caring for the flock is being a watchman. Okay? Nancy just wrote an article about that, kill them with kindness. If you hadn't read that, you ought to read it. It's about this watchman concept. Being a watchman and and and let me just say that truly all Christians are supposed to be watchmen. Okay? But even more so, the shepherds, the pastors, the leaders are supposed to be watching what's going on. We're supposed to be watching, attentive to what the word of God says. And in What's amazing is that this really has a connotation to it about the coming of Jesus Christ and about the judgments that are going to come. Matter of fact, there's warnings in the Bible about prophets and priests and pastors and leaders who who may even see the sword coming but won't blow the trumpet and won't warn the people about what's coming. Those are blind shepherds. Notice what he says here. This is interesting because he says his watchmen are blind. They are all ignorant. They are all dumb dogs. Boy, that's amazing right there. They cannot bark. Let me just say what that means right there. What it What you know, if you've got a dog in your backyard, I think y'all had this experience this weekend. But, you know what? If somebody comes in your yard you've got a dog there, a good dog, a watchdog, right? It's going to bark at this intruder of this stranger to give you a warning, to alert you that something's not right, that there's someone who shouldn't be around here or something. And that's what he's saying here. These These guys are dumb dogs. They're worthless. The word dumb there means not able to speak. They're not able to warn you of danger that's coming. Why? Because they are blind. They've turned their heart from it. They don't want to hear. They all want to be positive. Oh, we can't be negative, brother. No. Just like we talked about last week, it's got to be all Dr. Feelgood Willy Wonka Land, right? Chocolate rivers and candy flowers and everything else. It's what's the way it's got to be, right? And you know what? Let me just say that's why these watered-down, seeker-sensitive, seeker-friendly, lukewarm, compromised, worldly, ashamed of the gospel churches fill up. You know why? Because it's hard to attract children to meat and vegetables when there's a carnival across the street, amen, with a bunch of cotton candy and fun and games.
But, let me just say one of them gives you diabetes and one of the one of the symptoms of diabetes is blindness. Neuro- and and and nerve damage and you're not able to feel and you're not able to see and eventually it kills you. That's what happens when you feed on sugar all the time. When everything's got to be sweet and nice and we can't say anything that might be scary or bring fear or bring trepidation. We can't bring any warning. We can't cry out about sin. We can't talk about hell. We've got to make it nice and sweet so the unchurched will come to our church. This concept has destroyed the American church and really what we have in the bunch of these mega churches, they are not they are not filled with sheep, they are filled with goats. Amen. I'm not going to name the particular mega church, but I remember, you know, these mega churches they'll go out and they'll buy land when they're about to build a bigger, you know, place and it'll say future home of such and such church, right? And so one day me and Kevin were were riding out in the country on our way to a job site and I saw this huge field full of goats. And I said, "They'll put a sign out there." Future home of such and such mega church. Because they're goat farms instead of a sheep farm. And sheep are to be looked after by a shepherd and sheep reproduce sheep. Goats reproduce goats. I don't understand a true man of God who doesn't want to see the miracle transformation of goats turning into sheep. And that cannot happen unless you preach the gospel. Amen. That cannot happen unless you preach repentance. If any man what? Be in Christ, he is a new creature, a new creation. That means he goes from being a goat to a sheep. That's miraculous, my brother. Right? But he says a new creature all things are passed away. Behold, all things become new. So that means when the goat becomes a sheep, he turns away from all things, old sins, old habits, old ways, and because of that turning away from sin and and letting Jesus come in and wash the sin away, there's a born-again experience and you you're you're born a sheep. YOU'RE DONE WITH GOATHOOD. RIGHT? But for some reason this concept is lost. Let's fill up a church with goats. Let's feed them. You know, a goat will eat anything. Sheep won't.
Sheep are very finicky and picky. Right? That's why they That's why they stray a lot of times cuz they're always trying to stick their neck through the fence and taste that little bit of greener grass over there. But sheep are very picky. Sheep are very nervous. I remember one of the greatest books I read when I first got saved was uh I can't remember if it was the guy's name was Keller, Philip Keller, or her. I can't remember the name, but it was A Shepherd Looks at the 23rd Psalm. You find out from what you got who was a true shepherd of real sheep who was also a pastor. And the comparisons and he went through Psalm 23 and and shared things about sheep I didn't know. It's an amazing concept, but sheep are very skittish. Uh when it That's why it says he leads me beside still waters cuz if it the water's real noisy and they won't even drink. Says he makes them to lie down and that's because sheep are very nervous and if they get fearful or skittish, you know, they they won't eat right and they'll get skinny and they don't produce their wool and and if they have young, they'll lose their young. I mean, they're very sensitive creatures. Uh any pastor, real pastor, I'll know that, right? Skittish creatures. Goats will eat anything. They'll eat a tin can. They'll eat a Styrofoam cup. I remember I took my my girls, Caitlin and Bethany, when they were little we went to the zoo. Or no, where was No, it was the In Montgomery, the Alabama State Fair. We used to go every year. And I remember we went over and they bought the little cup of food to feed the goats. It blew I because I told my girls little stories about goats, you know, when I make up little stories about pigs and goats, the whole Arkville thing I've made up for them back then. And they were just amazed because the goats ate the food in the cup and then ate the cup. Right? But goats will eat anything. Now, some sheep can be led. These days, Christians seem to be led to eat anything as well. Right? It's quite scary. But I want you to see that. They're greedy dogs. They can never have enough. See, let me tell you what motivates what what when When you get a shepherd who becomes blind and ignorant and unable or chooses to stop warning or preaching the truth, the motivating factor usually is what he says, greediness. They're looking for their own gain. They're either looking for money or they're looking for success. See, this success-driven Christianity around numbers, how many people's in my church, is really what motivates everything. Now, Amen. Amen. It's sad. But if you want to know why the church in America and in Europe and most places in the West is dead, it's because this mentality has taken
over. Every one of these shepherds, instead of being watchmen and barking and warning of danger and preaching the word and sticking to the truth, they've watered it down, they refuse to bark, they refuse to warn, they refuse to be watchmen, they refused to see the cloud of judgement and persecution that's on our horizon. They refused to warn people. They want everything nice, they want the cotton candy carnival. And because of this, God shows us their motivating factor is they want everybody to like them, they want people to love them, they want to attract people to their personalities and to their sweetness and to their little drop of Christianity. See, there's a dangerous thing here that you can go to, you know, get your inoculation or your Christian fix. You get just enough to take off the edge, so you think you're okay when you're really not. I remember Steve Hill at the Brownsville Revival, he used to always say it this way. He used to say, "You know what? Christianity, most of Christianity today is hanging around the cross, but it being a true disciple is getting on the cross, crucifying the flesh, crucifying your own will, crucifying your own plans, letting Jesus be Lord of your life. You don't direct it, you don't order it. You know you're bought with a price. You don't deserve to be forgiven, you don't deserve this grace and love and mercy and great salvation that Jesus paid for on the cross. And because you understand that you were worthy of death, that you were blind, that you were headed to an eternity in hell, you are grateful to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords that he died for you on the cross, that he rose from the dead and and gives you the the promise of eternal life. You're so grateful and you're so excited about that THAT YOU DON'T WANT TO do anything that would hurt him or offend him or or cause you to be separated from him. Amen? Ooh, come on now. This is good stuff. I want to give you a few verses. Now, the reason, one of the reasons I'm I'm talking about this, and you can be turning to John 10. But one of the reasons I'm talking about this is because this week I've been very disappointed in some preachers that are rather well known and I think have stood for some good things, and have preached some good things, and have taught some good things. And even have had fruit in their lives and ministry, but for some reason they're afraid. I don't know, for some reason they're backing off of of obvious things that are wrong in the body of Christ. They're too They're They're a little too worried to offend. Um and I'm going to share this. I posted this on um my Dino Odle Ministries page this week, and this is just because this was the the thought that just rose up in my heart, and it just blew up and went everywhere all over Facebook. But um Oh, let me see if I can find it here. Well, I thought I could find it easy. Oh,
wait, there it was. Here we go. This is what I wrote. And I know most of you saw it, but of course there's some listening that may not have. But I said, "This generation has far too many gutless, man-pleasing preachers, even some that I thought would stand up against false prophets and and and uh and false doctrine." I said, "But these teachers wimp out when it comes to their famous preacher buddies or the idolatrous, Mary-worshipping mother of harlots, the Roman Catholic Church." I said, "Some of these guys might even cry out against homosexuality, which is admirable, but then they will ignore their famous preacher friends' toleration of involvement or involvement in things like, you know, occult techniques like visualization and astral projection." I said, "Some of them talk a big game, and then they gush like a schoolgirl over the new Pope like he is not the Mary-worshipping false prophet that he is." I said, "We need some true prophets who are more impressed with God's holiness and truth than they are with each other's celebrity. There's a but listen, there is a there is a Pentecostal charismatic Baptist evangelical celebrity preacher backslapping club. And they they they they cheer each other on. They say, "Hey man, preacher." They have each other on their TV shows. They invite invite each other to to their churches and it seems like they got a little click going on and if you don't have a big ministry or a big name, you don't get in the circle. Trust me, I know. And I know some of them and I've talked to some of them and some of them I love dearly, but I am losing respect for some of them more and more every day because of stuff like this. They wimp out. And I said, "Where are the prophets who hate all traces of sin and false teaching that might damn a soul to hell?" Listen, let me tell you something. God hates sin not only because it cost him his son's suffering and life on the cross to pay for it, but he hates sin because he knows that it destroys us. And I don't understand Christians and especially shepherds who are people who call themselves pastors or ministers of the gospel who don't have a holy hatred for sin and want to warn people of the danger of continuing in sin. I don't understand that. I mean, it's like a doctor who doesn't want to help anybody. They want to sit around and talk about your disease, but they don't want to treat it. They want to sit around and fellowship with you and laugh, but you're dying of cancer. And they don't want to tell you you have cancer. And they don't want to tell you it's going to take some terrible treatment and some terrible issues and some some
fierce going after it to to try to deal with this problem. See, that's the problem is we don't look at sin like it's cancer. We don't look at compromise and idolatry and lukewarmness as things that are going to destroy us because we believe THESE FALSE DOCTRINES OF these blind guides. THAT OUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN PAST, PRESENT, and future. WHO SAID THAT? WHAT scripture says that? No, but Charles Stanley says that. So, thousands believe it. Joseph Prince says that. So, thousands of people believe it. You know, I'VE SHARED THIS A COUPLE OF TIMES, but Joseph Prince teaches. I heard it myself. I read it myself on his webpage. You don't have If you're a Christian, you don't have to ever confess sin again. You don't ever have to repent again. Not what I've seen. And what about CHRISTIANS WHO FALL BACK into sexual immorality? That fall back even into homosexuality. They don't have to confess their sin and ask Jesus to wash them and clean them when THEY WHAT IS WRONG WITH US? THIS MAN, Joseph Prince, sells millions of books. People millions of people love him. I get I make mention of him teaching something false and I GET MY MY FRIEND list starts dropping off. And I'm SITTING HERE GOING, "WHAT IS WRONG WITH CHRISTIANS TODAY?" They do NOT KNOW THEIR BIBLES. THEY DO NOT KNOW THE BASICS. AND WHAT'S SO SAD IS IT'S NOT JUST your average Joe Christian. IT'S THE SHEPHERDS ARE BLIND. THE SHEPHERDS ARE DUMB. THE SHEPHERDS WON'T BARK. THE SHEPHERDS ARE WORRIED about their own success and gain. It's disgusting. It's sickening. And I'm sick and tired of these weak, wimpy preachers WHO WON'T EVEN STAND UP AND SAY THAT THE POPE IS AN IDOLATER. I'VE SEEN J. LEE GRADY WHO used to be the editor at Charisma who who does SOME GREAT STUFF PUT POSITIVE THINGS ON ABOUT THE NEW Pope and the Catholic Church this week on his Facebook page and in Charisma magazine. LUIS PALAU WHO IS KNOWN AS THE HE'S an he's an Argentine minister but he's kind of known as the Billy Graham of South America and the Latin community and he's buddy-buddy with the new Pope AND I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND THAT THEY DON'T have a problem with this man who first order of business on his first day of being Pope when he wakes up goes to pray to a statue of Mary. Oh, and by the way we found this out this morning the the new Pope Francis pulled an Illuminati move. Here's what he said, quote just a little side note. Here's here's a here's another blind deceived shepherd or maybe he's not so blind maybe he just is the wolf that he is.
But here's what he said. He said, "Anyone who does not pray to the Lord is praying to the devil." As he goes to pray to Mary. Do you catch that? He just told you, "I am praying to the devil." This if this statement you take it to its logical conclusion he just told you "I know it's not Mary. I know it's not the Queen of Heaven. I know it's not the mother of God. I know it's the devil. And I'm going to work with the devil." Because you know we know the Bible tells us this last Pope's going to work with the Antichrist. It says he's going to be like a lamb. But what's going to come out of his mouth is that of a dragon. From the devil. In the same week, we have a picture now that we found that he goes to one of the Mary shrines and there's a statue of Mary and he is standing there bowing his head in front of the statue of Mary who's lofted up on the wall. And he's bowing there. You know what? I agree with Pope Francis. If you pray to anyone but the Lord God Almighty, Jehovah, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, God in the flesh, the almighty God, if you pray to anybody else, you're praying to the devil. You're praying to a false god. You're praying to a demon spirit or the devil himself. I don't understand these preachers. Oh, another one that was congratulating the new Pope and believing that the new Pope is going to bring great great uh unity between the evangelical community and uh the Catholic world. Rick Warren. Let me just say this. Luis Palau. Rick Warren. The rest of these hireling hacks are blind guides. The blind leading the blind. And a whole bunch are going to fall into the ditch and the ditch, my friend, is hell. It's hell. Eternity. Look what it says in John 10 about Jesus and it talks about the sheep the shepherd the good shepherd versus a hireling. Let's look at that. You with me? Stay with me. John 10 verse 6 through 13. Here's what it says. This parable speak Jesus unto them, but they understood not what things uh were which he spake unto them. Then
Jesus said unto them again, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. The thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. But he that is a hireling and not the shepherd, whose own sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. The wolf catches them and scatters the sheep. The hireling fleeth because he is a hireling and he doesn't care for the sheep. See, hear me clearly on this. Hear what Jesus is saying. The hireling and what the word hireling is there in the Greek is misthoo misthoots or misthotos. And it means a wage worker, good or bad. A hired servant. So, what he's saying here is, you want to know who's doing it for money? You want to know who's doing it for fame or for success? Is when the wolf comes, the false prophet, the false teacher, the false shepherd, the blind shepherd, whenever the wolf comes, the the hirelings retreat. They don't warn the sheep. They don't try to protect the sheep. No, they run away and hide. Gutless, spineless wimps. And they let the wolves destroy the sheep. I don't comprehend. I've always felt as a minister of the gospel ever since God saved me and called me that my primary job is not only to try to get goats to receive that born again experience and repent and be have that supernatural salvation experience and be born again, but my job after that, my greatest job after that is to protect the sheep from the wolves. Even if it cost me my life. You understand? I'm not in this for my gain. If if if I had to and I'm not I am not exaggerating. If I had to get killed to keep one of you from being taken away from Jesus and and deceived and I would do it. I'm not in this for me and no shepherd and no pastor is supposed to be in this. Listen, pastors won't say the things that I say because they know their offerings will go down, attendance will
go down. They may not be able to pay the the mortgage on their building. But here's the sad thing. That's just that's just some of the shepherds, some of the hirelings. There's other ones that really have now they've been blind for so long they believe their own delusions. Amen. I remember seeing a Seinfeld one time years ago. It was hilarious cuz Costanza, you know, he was a habitual liar. When Jerry had to go take a lie detector test and he goes, "I know you can beat it. You can teach me how to beat it." And George looked at him and said, He said, "That's like trying to teach you to sing like uh whatever his name is, Sinatra." He said, "But I'll tell you this, it's not a lie if you believe it." And I thought, "There it is." That's American preachers for you. They don't believe it's a lie. They don't believe they're lying or deceiving people anymore because they believe the lies. They believe this stuff. You don't have to repent. You don't have to live a holy life. You don't have to obey God. That there's no demands in the New Testament. You're free to do whatever you want. They really believe these things. It's sad. But the hireling, listen. Find me a Find me a preacher who won't warn his sheep about sin, about hell, about judgment coming, about the last days we're living in, about idolatry, about the false cults out here like Roman Catholicism and Mormonism and Jehovah Witnesses, that won't warn about Islam. And I'll show you a pastor or a shepherd who is either blind or a complete hireling and doesn't care about the sheep. He's going to let the wolves rip them up. And y'all know at at one point or another in here, I've risked every one of y'all's almost with except maybe from some of the new folks that are here, your friendship and you even being a church member to stand for something that's right and to try to protect you and try to get you where you need to be. Amen? Y'all know that. I don't understand. It's It's a sad state of affairs. It's a real sad state of affairs. I I'm going to read a few verses. Turn to Jeremiah 2. And see, I think Jeremiah is probably one of the most pertinent um prophets speaking to our time.
That just like Jeremiah's time, we're in that time now again. There's nothing new under the sun. You know, God gave Solomon wisdom, and Solomon said, "You know what? What has been will be again." We've entered into that time. Judgment is at the doors. Destruction of God's people, destruction of nations. The things that Jeremiah prophesied. And if you'll notice throughout the book of Jeremiah, he's crying out against not the wicked, not the heathen. He's crying out to God's people, the children of Israel, the children of Judah. He's crying out to even the prophets who say they're prophets of the Lord and to the priest, and to the pastors and the shepherds of God's people. HE'S CRYING OUT AND he's rebuking them, and he's calling them, and he's trying to warn them. A COUNTRY FROM THE NORTH IS COMING TO BRING GREAT DESTRUCTION BECAUSE OF YOUR SINS, AND MEND your ways. I mean, he's crying out the whole book. He's crying out until it finally hits. HE STARTS CRYING OUT AS A YOUNG MAN, and by the time he's an older man, it's it's it's it's irreversible. Judgment coming. He's just trying to get people to get out of their sin and repent that maybe the Lord will have mercy on them in in midst of judgment. But listen to some of the things that he says about the pastors and the shepherds and the priests and the prophets. He says in Jeremiah 2:7 to his people, to the people of Israel said that and the Lord speaking, "I brought you into a plentiful country to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof. But when you entered it, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination." What does that sound like the United States? He says the priest said not. Now the priest Well, we can say, you know, in the New Testament ministry, we don't have priests. We're all priests. But we do have apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. But let's just include the Catholic priest in this. The priest said not, "Where is the Lord?" They that handle the law knew ME NOT. THE PASTORS ALSO transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Bale and walked after things that do not profit. Oh my God, do you hear that? The those that have the law, the Bible, the scriptures that handle it, that are supposed to teach it, don't even know me. The prophets that are saying they're prophesying in the name of Jehovah, these weren't These weren't false prophets from another religion. These are prophets that said in THE NAME OF JEHOVAH and were prophesying by the spirit of Bale, by Satan. We got some of those. Listen, this whole kingdom now dominion theology crowd that thinks the world is
getting better and better and that that the church is going to take over the world and and make it perfect so Jesus can come back. Those people are talking from the mouth of Satan. That is not what the scripture says. I could go through scripture after scripture that says the world's going to get worse, worse, worse, worse, worse, worse, worse until it looks like that Christians are going to be exterminated from off the face of the earth and Jesus has to come back and stop it. Completely two different worlds. And if you don't believe me, let's let's look at uh turn to Jeremiah 6. We'll be in Jeremiah for a minute. Jeremiah 6. Are you there? Verse 13 through 17. Let's read that. He said, "For from the least of them, even unto the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness." What is covetousness? My own the lust of my own desires, what I want. I want a big church. I want a big I want to be a New York Times best seller. I want to be this. I want to be that. I want to have a mega church. I want to be the fastest growing church in America. You hear me? This mega church dream that pastors have is an idol. As much as Pope Francis praying to Mary. It's an idol. Okay? Just speaking truth. Look what he says, "From the least of them, even unto the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness. For and from the prophet, even unto the priest, everyone deals falsely." And look what he says. He said, "They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace." The mark of a false prophet, of a blind shepherd, is they're saying peace, peace to the people of God. They're trying to comfort and console the people of God and tell them everything's going to be all right, WHEN IT'S NOT GOING TO BE ALL RIGHT. JUDGMENT IS AT THE DESTROY DESTRUCTION AT THE STEPS. PEOPLE ARE FALLING OVER INTO HELL BY THE MILLIONS. People are being deceived by THE MILLION. IT'S NOT OKAY. AND THIS IS NOT A TIME OF PEACE. WHEN Jesus comes back and sets UP HIS KINGDOM, THERE WILL BE A THOUSAND YEARS OF PEACE. BUT RIGHT NOW WE'RE IN A TIME OF WAR against wolves in sheep's CLOTHING AND FALSE PROPHETS AND TEACHERS. WE'RE IN A WAR FOR THE SOULS OF MANKIND. And the two greatest deceivers ARE ABOUT TO STEP UP ON THE SCENE, the Antichrist, that Muslim Antichrist, and the false prophet that is the last pope. And they're ABOUT TO DO SIGNS AND WONDERS to deceive even the very elect. And here's WHAT'S SO STRIKING, THAT THING THAT THERE SHALL ARISE FALSE CHRISTS AND FALSE PROPHETS AND DO GREAT signs and wonders that JESUS WARNED ABOUT, IT'S HERE. CHRISTIANS ARE FOLLOWING THE POPE.
EVANGELICAL PROTESTANT Christians are falling FOR THIS JESUIT POPE. And when the Antichrist steps up and the two of them start doing miracles and have a peace treaty and manage to get peace between Israel and the Arabs. When all THIS HAPPENS, THE GREATEST SEASON of deception is going to come on the world and everybody's going to think it's wonderful. Peace, peace. And God says, "There is no peace. It's a time of great tribulation coming on the world that's never been since there ever was a nation." And these guys, these cats are going to be going, "We're going to bring in world peace." Peace, peace. But here's the thing, Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, Joseph Prince, Luis Palau are going to be right behind those two false Christ. Mhm. You know why? They love to be seen of man. They love the fame, the notoriety. I'll prove that to you in a second. Let's keep reading. Verse 15 there. Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? Nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush. Therefore, they shall fall among them that fall. At the time that I visit them, they shall be cast down, saith the Lord. Look at where they ashamed when they committed abomination. Look at the scandals within the Roman Catholic Church with sex abuse. It was proven that Benedict knew about priests that were abusing kids, covered it up, sent them to other churches so that they could go on and start a new season of sexually molesting kids. The man should be in prison. And yet he could get up there and talk about the Lord. He wasn't even ashamed. But this is not only within the Catholic Church. Now there's an epidemic of it. You know I read it Let's just go back to the Catholic Church for a second. Do you know that I read last night that even Catholic people and Catholic researchers and Catholic people are saying that within the Catholic priesthood, they admit that anywhere from 33 to 58% of priests in the Catholic Church are practicing homosexuals. And that even during the 1980s and and early 90s, that priests were dying of age-related illnesses six times higher than even in the secular world in America. Oh, yeah. They're not ashamed.
They go to confessional and go back and do it again. No, not ashamed when they get And what does God say? See, here's the thing. There's only going to be you when this judgment falls and he says, "When I visit them, they're going to fall." When I visit and visit he means that word. Just look it up. It's not a good visit. Amen. Let's Let's read on. He says this, but he says this to his people. Verse 16. "Thus saith the Lord or Jehovah, stand ye in the ways and see and ask for old path, where is the good way and walk therein, and you shall find rest for your souls. But they said," the people of God said, "We will not walk therein." "Also, I set watchmen over you saying, 'Hearken to the sound of the trumpet,' but they said, 'We will not hearken.'" What's God saying? "I will have watchmen." But for the most part, people will say, "Not listening. Not listening to you. You're a doom and gloomer. Not listening to you. You're just using fear. Not listening to you. You're just being sensational. Not listening to you. We need to be positive. Peace, peace, brother. If you'd be like me, you'd have a big church. Yeah, probably would. Don't want one. I'm a watchman. I'm not a goat farmer. Amen. Could care less about all that. Let's go to Go to Jeremiah 10. We're going to go to Jeremiah 10 then Jeremiah 12. Look at Jeremiah 10. And I I I love Jeremiah. He's so honest and and I'll be honest with you. It It broke his heart and it breaks my heart to see so many being led astray following blind shepherds and wolves in sheep's clothing and they don't even know that their soul and their spirit's being ripped to shreds by by all this idolatry and covetousness and permissiveness and we you can call it licentiousness and I just we we are living in the the time that that Jesus warned, the greatest time many false prophets will rise and deceive many. Matthew 24. Second Peter 2. He said about false teachers, many will follow their destructive ways. We are there, folks. Hear what Jeremiah said. Chapter 10, verse 19. Woe is me for my hurt. My wound is grievous, but I said, "Truly, this is a grief and I must bear it." My tabernacle is spoiled and all my cords are broken. My children are gone
forth of me and they are not. There is none to stretch forth my tent anymore to set up my curtains. And this is God talking about setting up his tabernacle and having his presence. He said there's just nobody who wants my tabernacle anymore. They don't want to set things up the way I want it. He's referring to the tabernacle of Moses and that was the way they set up the tent and they could enter into God's presence and that's the way they had God as the pillar of cloud by day and the fire by night and his presence was in the camp. He said, "Nobody wants to set things up or do it the way I want to do it. Nobody wants me. They don't want my presence." The only way to truly get the real God is to do it his way. You substitute anything, you add anything, you take away anything, it's not him anymore. You're going to get a spirit, all right, but it won't be the Holy Spirit. Be a seducing, deceiving spirit. Look what he said. 10:21, Jeremiah 10:21, he said, "For the pastors are become brutish." That's the the stupid. "They have not sought the Lord." "Therefore, they shall not prosper and all their flock shall be scattered." It's only two ways to seek the Lord, folks, prayer and in the word of God. They've not sought the Lord. Prayer is not a priority. The word of God is not a priority above all else. And so, what does he say? He says, "They shall not prosper and all their flock shall be scattered." Look at Jeremiah chapter 12. Y'all are okay with this, right? You learning something? Jeremiah chapter 12. He says this. Look at this. And this is where we are. My God, this is probably one of the the the greatest indictment that he makes here. One of them. He says, "Many Jeremiah 12:10. Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard. They have trodden my portion underfoot. They have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. They have made it desolate and being desolate, it mourns unto me. The whole land is made desolate because no man lays it to heart. The spoilers are come up upon all high places through the wilderness. For the sword of the Lord shall devour from from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land. No flesh shall have peace. That's what's coming. They have sown but shall reap thorns. They Wheat is interesting means wheats are representative of the word of God. Means they've preached the word. They preached scriptures, just not all of them.
Or correctly. Said they've sown wheat, but they're going to reap thorns. Thorns represent the curse of the Lord. They're going to reap the curse. And he says, they have put themselves to pain, but they shall not profit. Meaning they've worked hard to build their goat farms. But they shall not profit. And they shall be ashamed of your revenues because of the fierce anger of the Lord. See, the terrible judge is coming. Preachers and shepherds and blind guides are going to give the greatest account. Listen. That's why I say this thing. Show me where a man of God, a minister, a woman of God, show me where they stand on the Roman Catholic Church, and I'll tell you whether they're a real man or woman of God or not. Frankly, if they can't see through that mess, they're not qualified to be a preacher or teacher or leader. And God's going to deal with it in a not-so-nice way. I want you to go to Matthew 23. See, y'all, sometimes I know you think, "Well, Pastor Dean, you sound angry." And I know I do sometimes. But I'm not angry at at you. I'm not angry at the sheep. I get angry when I think about these shepherds, these leaders, these priests, these popes leading hungry people. And let me just say, while y'all are turning there, I know that there are some wonderful godly, spiritual, starving, longing for God people in the Catholic Church. I know that. A lot of them have no idea. They don't know the scriptures well enough. They're just babes. They don't know the scriptures. They don't know even some most of them don't even know what their church believes fully. So, I'm not saying that God is not moving in the Catholic Church. If he wasn't moving and there wasn't true people who were truly had somehow found Jesus in spite of all that mess, how could Jesus say in Revelation 18 after he after he identifies the great as the Roman Catholic Church, how could he say, "Come out of her, my people" if none of his people are in it? Right? But see, that's the message to his people.
Not stay there. Not compromise. Come out of her. And why does he say come out of her? Because her judgment is coming. And if you're in it, you're going to be a partaker of her plagues. Come out of it. You can go read it yourself. Amen. But listen to me. The Roman Catholic Church is not the only thing that makes up the great You hear me? It says she is the mother of harlots. Her daughters are coming home. The Anglicans, the Orthodox, the Greek Orthodox, the Russian Orthodox. And here we go. Saddleback Community. You speak favorably of that that means you're in bed with her. Or you came from her. You're one of her daughters. She's had some rebellious daughters, but they're coming back now. But notice it says, if you go read about this about her in Revelation 17, it says the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her. Some people think, well, that's just talking about earthly kings. That's true. It's talking about earthly kings. But you know what? Christians are called kings and priests of God. In the book of Revelation, we're called kings and priests. There's some of us sleeping with her. I'd hate to be caught in that bed. Ooh, wee. But there's some of them enjoying it. Are you in Matthew 23? Quoted this a little earlier, but I wanted to show you this about the Pharisees and some things Jesus said to these religious leaders. Some people think, you know, I've been accused of not showing love because I just speak bluntly about these false teachers and and that whole huge false church that's out there, the the Roman church, and I'm willing to say what it is. So, I've been accused of not being loving and all this here, but here's what Jesus said to the blind leaders of his day, to those who had the word of God but weren't teaching it the whole thing. Those who didn't recognize him and what he was doing in the spirit. Those who made an idol out of success, their success in religion, and their degrees, and their education, and all the things that they made idols. Here's what Jesus said to them. It says verse 1, Matthew 23. Then spake Jesus to the multitude. Oh, this was a public, folks. This was in front of everybody. Then spake Jesus to the multitude and to his disciples. So, everybody is a multitude around, and his disciples were there saying, "The scribes and the
Pharisees sit in Moses' seat, or his place of authority. All therefore, whatsoever they bid you observe, that you observe and do. But do not after their works, for they say and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, they lay them on on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their little fingers. I mean, there's there's people out there, you know, these guys will tell you, "Do right. Be moral. Be good." But they don't. Right? But all their works they do for to be seen of men. This is the key. Once religion becomes about being seen of men and being praised by men, and being looked up to by men, once that becomes the motivating factor, you become a blind guide. A deceived leader. This is why we have so many pastors that are blind and won't warn the sheep. They're blind because really deep down their motivation from from sometimes very early on in their call and their walk in the ministry has become they want everything they do to be seen of men. They want to be praised. They want to be looked up to. They want to be admired. They want to be followed. They want to have a big following. And that's the motivation. When it should be like this. Do what God tells you. Preach the word. Preach the whole gospel. Preach it strong, unashamed, not worrying who you offend. And if the crowds follow you, they follow you. And guess what? You should have enough wisdom to know that the crowds will follow you one day and want to crucify you the next. You don't even get impressed by a crowd. Amen. And that's what Jesus That's the way he was. It said, you know, he knew the crowds were following him for the miracles. He said, "You follow me for the miracles. You don't You don't repent." You follow me for miracles. He said that all these people were following Jesus, but he said he wouldn't trust any of them because he knew they were fickle. It's one of my favorite quotes from the Gladiators. When Lucilla tells Commodus, "The mob is fickle, brother." Yeah. They'll turn on you in a heart. One day they're chanting your name, and the next day they're dragging you to a hill to throw you off. Or nailing you to a cross. Amen. If you truly preach the gospel, you're going to be dragged to some hills. You're going to be stoned. You're going to be beaten. You're going to be rejected. I I The scripture just comes to mind in Luke 6 when Jesus Jesus said, "Woe unto you when all men speak well of you. For so did they the false prophets which were before you." The false prophets always had the big following.
It's always been that way. Always always always always. WHY ARE WE SURPRISED? RIGHT? LET'S KEEP READING. Just We're going to close with this. He He verse 5, "But all their works they do to be seen of men. They make broad their phylacteries. Their Their garments they make them big." Well, we know what church that sounds like. They enlarge the borders of their garments. Boy, the humble Pope's got some fancy clothes, right? He ought to you know If he's humble, he'd come out there in jeans and a and a shirt, right? You'd think, but no, it's laced in gold. Probably got on gold laced underwear. Right? But look at what it says verse six, "They love the uppermost rooms at the feast and the chief seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplace and to be called of men Rabbi Rabbi or teacher teacher." Do you see what I'm saying? They They want these things. They They want these more than anything. That's why it's the easiest Listen, it's so easy to tell the difference between a true shepherd and a blind one. Or between a true man of God or woman of God and a wolf. The man of God, the woman of God doesn't care if they they don't care if they offend you. They don't. They're going to give you the truth. They're going to give you what's right. They're going to give you the judgment that's coming if you don't. They're going to tell you the whole truth and say, "I love you, but here it is." The wolf, the blind shepherd, they're going to try to soften the blow, water it down, run away from the wolves. They don't want to get into controversy. "Oh, no, we can't debate." We can't debate in public. Jesus in front of the multitude, uh you guys, you're a bunch of hypocrites. You're blind leaders of In front of a multitude. Somebody Amen right there. Since when are we supposed to shy away, They away, and privately rebuke these PEOPLE WHO ARE PUTTING OUT THEIR ERRORS TO THE PUBLIC. I SAY THIS, YOU DO IT IN PUBLIC, YOU CAN GET CORRECTED IN PUBLIC. AMEN? I've been CRITICIZED BY CALLING PEOPLE OUT WITH THEIR FOOLISH, UNSCRIPTURAL, false doctrines on Facebook. But I say you do it IN PUBLIC, DON'T TELL me to message you in private. No, you put it out there for everyone to see. Those people who saw that lie, that deception, that foolishness, need to see the truth. And if you don't like it, you know where the defriend and block buttons are. So, go for it. And I've told them that, too. All right? You know where the button is. Adios, amigo. All right? Let's go on.
So, they love the greetings, verse 7. They love the greetings in the markets and to be called of men rabbi, rabbi. But be not called rabbi, for one is your master, even Christ. And all And you're all brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth. So, you know what to me is one of the greatest blasphemies in the Roman Catholic Church IS WHEN THEY CALL HIM HOLY FATHER. FOLKS, THAT TERM IS FOR one being only. God almighty, Jehovah. If one of you guys called me holy father, we're going out to the woodshed. In the South, that means you're getting a whipping. Do not do that. I would ask you what kind of crack rock you were smoking. All right? Lord, help us. Look at verse 11. He says, "But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased and and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. And look at this, in public Jesus said, "But woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, for you don't go in and neither do you allow them that are trying to enter into go in. You stand in the way. You got the scriptures, you know what the truth is, you've been to seminary, you got your doctorate, you got your THDs. You you know the scriptures and yet you still won't go in to the kingdom and walk with Jesus in righteousness and in truth and in the power of the Holy Ghost. And there ARE PEOPLE WHO WANT TO but you stand in the way with your big fluffy robes and your education and your big fancy church and you stand in the way and you say, "No." Just like my dad, when he got saved as as you know when when I was young and he was on fire for God. He truly got born again in that little Baptist church on the other side of Opelika. He really got saved. And he was reading his Bible. God forbid that we should read the Bible and and believe it. And my dad was reading Acts chapter 2 and he read about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, speaking in other tongues and the gifts of the Spirit. And he went to his Baptist preacher and HE SAID, "WHAT ABOUT THIS?" AT A TIME THAT MY DAD desperately needed to be filled with the Holy Ghost. He desperately needed to take that next step. He needed power. He was going through a rough time. And that preacher, you know what that preacher said? He that preacher had been to the school, he stood in that place of authority and he tell he told my dad, "We don't talk about that." That's what he told me. And my dad respected this man as a spiritual leader. And from that point on my dad's walk began to go downhill because he was following the right direction. He was going toward the next thing Jesus wanted for him. But no, we can't speak in tongues. We can't receive that baptism of the Holy Spirit because that's just not That's just not dignified enough for us.
We figured out that that was done away with with the apostles when they died. Really? You, sir, are a blind guide. The children of God, the people of God need every ounce of power they can get from God, because it's tough to live this life. It's tough to fight this war. It's tough to stand strong and endure until the end, to go through trials and tribulations and deceptions and deceivers and all the demons that come at us and all the lust that's in this world. We need the word of God. WE NEED ALL OF IT. WE NEED EVERY SCRIPTURE. THAT'S WHY JESUS SAID, "MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, BUT BY EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE EVERY WORD IS PRECIOUS and important. Everything in there If Jesus told his own apostles they needed to be baptized in the Holy Ghost and speak IN TONGUES, IF THEY NEEDED IT, BOY, DO I NEED IT. BUT RELIGIOUS BLIND GUIDES HAVE BLOCKED THE DOOR and talked people out of it and given them false things to keep them away from the gifts of the spirit and the power of God. Oh, Lord. And don't even get me started talking about there's going to be a charismatic Pentecostal revival in Rome. No, it'll be deceiving spirit. Listen, the Holy Ghost leads you into truth. You don't get baptized in the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues, the true gift, and keep worshipping Mary. I'm sorry. Uh-uh. No, no, no. No. If you get baptized in the Holy Ghost as a Catholic, you're leaving. Right? Can I just preach a little bit? Verse 14. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you devour widows' widows' houses. Oh, boy. For a pretense make a long prayer. Therefore, you shall receive greater damnation. That means eternal damnation in hell. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You compass sea and land to make one proselyte or make one convert to your little religious club. And when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. Jesus said, "You are a child of hell, and the people you're converting to your religious club, you're making them twice the child of hell than YOU ARE BECAUSE THEY THINK THEY'RE OKAY NOW." OH. Did you hypocrites He called them hypocrites. Remember, this is in front of a multitude. Do y'all get my point? He said, "Let's go on." Verse 16, "Woe unto you, blind guides, which say Whosoever shall swear by the temple." And I don't even want to get that. He just called them blind. Go on down.
Go on down to verse 24. Or verse 23, he says, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. These all you have to have done and not to leave the other undone. You blind guides, which strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. Could I spend some time on that? Strain at a gnat and swallow the camel. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. You blind Pharisee, clean first that which is within the cup and the platter, then that outside may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, for you are like unto whited sepulchers or whitewashed tombs, which indeed appear beautiful on the outside, but are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so, you outwardly appear righteous to men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. I mean, we could keep going. You appear on the outside pious and righteous. But you're full of dead men's bones. You're a whitewashed tomb. Nothing but death is in you and nothing but death comes out of you. I think that's why the Popes love to hang out in these buildings and these grottos and these shrines full of the bones of saints and dead Popes. It's sickening. It's morbid. I think it's because they're so into necromancy, praying to the dead, talking to the dead, they feel mighty comfortable among the dead. Then it interesting that the man who was fully demon possessed, where did he live? In a cemetery among the dead. I mean, they got heads of nuns and mummified heads that they worship. They call relics. They There's a vial of supposed vial of Pope John Paul the second's blood touring the world and people are crying and bowing down and worshipping THIS VIAL OF BLOOD. YOU PEOPLE ARE FREAKS. JESUS NEVER SAID TO DO THIS. It is It's satanic. It's pure satanic and it's just wild that the Pope admitted it. And yet Rick Warren Oh, let's follow the Pope. We're going to change the world through my peace plan. The Pope and I agree. Isn't it wonderful? Oh God.
And it's all going to be done in the name of helping the poor. They're going to come around talking about helping the poor. And people like me and you they're going to try to ship off to concentration camps. Cuz we got their number. Got to silence those folks. Cuz they might just start a revolution of truth. We can't have another America born like it was in the beginning. Can't have that. So They know the power of truth. The power of proclaimed truth. Where the spirit of the Lord is is liberty. That's why the world this antichrist spirit now is trying to take freedom from the whole world. And they're going to do it in the name of the poor. Helping the poor and in the name of world peace. And they're going to come in and they're going to rob everybody's freedom. Folks, the antichrist it says about the antichrist by peace he destroys many. Same thing. These blind guides, these blind prophets, these blind shepherds, they all talk about peace, peace. Everything's going to be okay. You're okay. I'm okay. Everybody's okay. Jesus died on the cross for our sins. It doesn't matter. Peace, peace. Be at peace, brother. There's no rest in trying to be righteous and trying to obey God and trying to be close to God. No, just rest. Rest in your pornography. Rest in your adultery. Rest in your idolatry of Mary. Rest. Rest. Be at peace. It's all going to be okay. No, you're in trouble. You listen to that same song, you're in trouble. Not many watchmen left. Sound the trumpet. Amen. I need to be quiet. All right. I hope you learned something tonight. Blind shepherds, they're all over the place, y'all. And I know I named a bunch on the national scene and the international scene, but we got them here in Auburn and Opelika, too. Folks listening, you got them in Kentucky, you got them in West Virginia. Certainly got them in Texas. California's full of them. Amen. And just about on any channel you want to flip on the TV. Yep. Let's pray. Hallelujah. Heavenly Father, we thank you for everything. We thank you for your word. I I pray, Lord, that you just ingrain this down in people. Lord, I hope some of these people I named today end up hearing this podcast.
Lord, I believe it's never too late. A blind guide can can run to Jesus and Jesus can give sight to the blind. A false prophet can fall on their face and ask for forgiveness, and Jesus can forgive them, and they can start walking in truth. A Catholic can come out of that system and be be set on fire and filled with the Holy Ghost and walk in truth. I believe the Holy Ghost can move in the Catholic Church. The Holy Ghost can move anywhere if he's allowed to move. If we get out of the way, if we yield to him. Lord, help us all to yield to what you're saying, to the spirit of truth, to the word of God. Help us to yield. To listen, to hear the sound of the trumpet, the warnings. To amend our ways, to make sure we're getting our life right. And that we're ready for whatever may come. Because it's coming. It's coming soon and it's coming quickly upon us. Lord, I pray that everyone who hears this, everyone who heard this today, and those who will hear it, will surrender to the Lord Jesus. That they'll repent, they'll turn from sin. They'll turn from lies and deception and false religion, idolatry, homosexuality, fornication, pornography, adultery, murder, abortion, all the stuff that's in this world. They'll turn from evil and wickedness. They'll let Jesus Christ, the blood of Jesus, cleanse their sin away and they'll they'll put their faith and trust in him before it's too late. Because there are great deceivers in the world and there are greater ones coming. I pray people hear this and get to know Jesus in truth before it's too late. Lord, we pray it this morning in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.