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Josh Howerton. Pastor Josh Howerton. Well worth following, Pastor Josh, ladies and gentlemen. But notice, as he points out, this young man was targeting Christian children. He was asking, where is your God? He was saying that Israel must fall. Also notice that he's targeting the land and lineage of the Lord. As Josh pointed out, angels and demons are not gendered. In fact, do you know what angels and demons do? Well, particularly demonstration. They sometimes use the plural pronoun we. They. And notice that this man was using the face of Jesus for target practice. He was tormented. He didn't want to do, apparently, what this demon was telling him to do. When is this going to end? He has a demon. He's drawing a picture of a demon looking back at him from the mirror. Help me. I don't want to do it. And then Satan says, kill yourself. Or the demon says, kill yourself. Where does this come from? Satan is a liar and a murderer. That's what Jesus himself told us. Now, before we delve into this a little bit further, I want to point out that this is not to say that all people who struggle with transgenderism are demon possessed. But it is to say that all of us, no matter how we identify, all of us who believe in lies, all of us who believe in delusions are succumbing to lies and deception, which is what Satan and demons do. Satan is a liar and a murderer, and only the truth can set any of us free from the bondage of these lies. The worst thing we can do is an affirm a lie, affirm a delusion, and we're going to get into that here in a minute, but let's do a summary from 10,000ft over who Satan is, what Satan does, and what are demons. Just looking at it from the New Testament perspective, first of all, Satan, the word means adversary, okay? And you can look at Matthew 4:10 for that. That's where Satan is tempting Jesus. The word devil means slanderer. That's Matthew 4:1. Satan, another name for Satan is the evil one. Look at Matthew 13:19, or the prince of this world. That's John 12:31, or the God of this age. That's another title for Satan. That's 2 Corinthians 4. 4, or the accuser of the brethren. That's Revelation 12:10. That's the center of the book of Revelation. By the way, remember we talked about this a month or two ago with Dr. Warren Gage and Dr. Chip Bennett, that Revelation is chiastic in nature, that the center of Revelation is the focal point and the center of the book of revelation is chapter 12. That's where the accuser of the brethren is dealt with, and of course, dealt with at the end of the book as well. What is the nature of Satan? Satan is a fallen angel who rebelled against God. You can look at Luke 10, or 2nd Peter 2, or even Jude 6. Of course, there's only one chapter in Jude 6 means the sixth verse. He is powerful and and created. But he's not equal to God. He is a fallen angel. And he's deceptive and murderous from the beginning. That's John 8. We're going to dive into that in just a minute. Those are some of the titles of Satan. What does Satan do? He tempts and deceives, like he tried to tempt Jesus in Matthew 4. Also, Luke 4 has that he seeks to bind unbelievers or blind unbelievers, not buying blind unbelievers to the gospel. That's 2nd Corinthians 4:4. He disguises himself as an angel of light. That's 2nd Corinthians 11:14. How are lies sold, ladies and gentlemen? How are you deceived? How is anyone deceived? You're deceived through lies. You think it's true, but it's not. It's a delusion. And again, you can't be deceived unless you're blind to this. As soon as you see the truth, you're no longer deceived. The biggest problem with deception is you don't know you're being deceived. And he disguises himself as an angel. Of light. Why? Because you're not going to buy evil. In most cases for the sake of evil. You only buy evil. What I mean by that? Accept evil and think it's good. Because you think it's good. Because it's told to you as a lie. It's told to you as a solution, but it's really a lie. Oh, the way that you're going to feel better about the puberty you're going through is if you try and transition to the other gender. That may sound good. Why? It's a solution. It's a delusion sold as a solution. And you think that's the solution to your problem, but it's really still a delusion. You. It's impossible to change your gender, your sex. You can't do it. And yet we're told we can. And we're told it's the solution to the pain we're experiencing when in fact it's a dead end. In fact, people who go through it have higher rates of suicide than people who don't. It is not the solution to the problem. Ladies and gentlemen, it's normal to feel odd when you're going through puberty because you are transitioning. You're transitioning from a child to an adult to an adult. That is a transition. It's normal to feel odd. Don't try and interrupt that process thinking that that process or interrupting that process is going to help you. It's not. It's a delusion. It's a lie. Also, Satan accuses believers. He. He does so before God. If you go back to the Old Testament in Job 1 and in Revelation 12, but Christ intercedes for us. That's Romans 8, 33. Of course Satan opposes the church. He plants false teaching. That's 1 Timothy 4. He stirs persecution. That's Revelation 2. He tries to outwit and ensnare. That's 2nd Corinthians 2:11. So he tempts and deceives. He accuses believers. He opposes the church. And what about demons? In the New Testament, they are fallen angels aligned with Satan. Matthew 25, 41, Revelation 12:4. And what do they do? They possess and torment people. Look at Mark, chapter 5, verses 1 to 20, or Matthew chapter 9, verses 32 to 33. They cause physical and mental affliction. Matthew 17 talks about that. They promote idolatry and false religion. First Corinthians 10. But I want to go back to this idea that demons and Satan deceive and they lie. In fact, we got to go to one of the most amazing chapters in the entire Bible. That's John chapter eight. Let's go to John chapter eight. And Jesus in verse 31 of John chapter eight is talking to Jews who believed in him. And here's what it says to the Jews who had believed in him. Jesus said, if you hold to my teachings, you are really my disciples, then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Now, ladies and gentlemen, if the truth will set you free, what does that imply? It implies if you don't have the truth, you're in bondage. You need the truth to be set free from bondage. So lies, deception, delusions are keeping you in bondage. Jesus is saying, if you know the truth, the truth will set you free. Now, these Jews who had believed in him, now remember, this is, this is John chapter 8. In John chapter 6, a lot of people were following him. But when he said, if you want to follow me, you must eat my flesh and drink my blood, many of them said, hey, we, we can't follow this guy anymore. This is a hard teaching. We can't follow him. So many of the Jews who were following him left. Now, I assume these are probably the same people now who now are opposing him because of this hard teaching about eating flesh and drinking blood. And they answered him, we are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free? And Jesus replied, very truly, I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Let me stop right here, ladies and gentlemen. Everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Let me ask you a question. Think about this. If you're addicted to pornography, are you free or are you a slave? If you're addicted to alcohol, are you free or are you a slave? If you're addicted to drugs, are you free or are you a slave? If you're addicted to sexual conquest, are you free or are you a slave? If you're even just addicted to recognition from other people, maybe even just on your Instagram account, you got to get likes or you're just having a bad day. Are you free or are you a slave? No, you're not free. And Jesus is saying, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Sin does not lead to freedom. Sin, in the worst case, leads to addiction, which is a kind of slow suicide by pleasure. Kind of slow suicide by pleasure. You're not free, you're a slave. True freedom is not doing whatever you want, whenever you want to do it, with whomever you want to do it. True freedom is having the power to do what you know you should do. And that will lead to an abundant life, not us, not a life that that moors you or anchors you to your passions. That prevents you from doing what you really should do. That's not freedom. Freedom is doing what you know you should do despite any passion you might have. Now Jesus goes on to say in verse 37 again John, chapter 8, he says, I know that you are Abraham's descendants, yet you are looking for a way to kill me because you have no room for my word. And in verse 41 he says, you are doing the works of your own father. And they say back. They protested back. We are not illegitimate children. The only father we have is God himself. And then Jesus really lowers the boom on him. Here's what he says. He says, if you were your father, you would love me, for I have come here from God, but I have not come on my own. God sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are not able to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth. For there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native native language. For he is a liar and the father of lies. He is a liar and the father of lies. He's a murderer from the very beginning. This is what this young man did, this trans shooter. He's murdering people, Christian children. He's targeting the Lord in target practice. A picture of the crucified Lord. He says, Israel must die. He is doing the work of Satan. He's a liar and a murderer. That's who Satan is. And he influences people. Jesus goes on to say, yet because I tell you the truth, you did not believe me. Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? Has, by the way, ladies and gentlemen, if you asked any, anybody that knew you reasonably well, could you ever ask that question, can any of you prove me guilty of sin? Oh, sure I can. I got plenty of examples. If I don't have any, I'm sure that your family has some. Ask your brother, your sister, or your mom, or your dad, or your husband or wife. Oh, they'll have a whole list long of all the sins you commit. Only Jesus who was sinless can save us from our sins. And he's the only one who wasn't guilty of sin. And the Jews said to him, aren't we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon possessed? Isn't this ironic? The people opposing Jesus are claiming Jesus is demon possessed. And what does Jesus say? I am not possessed by a demon, but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. I'm not seeking glory for myself, but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. Very truly, I tell you, whoever I b. Whoever obeys my word will never see death. And then he goes on. This is probably one of the most famous passages in the entire Bible down to verse 56. He says, your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day. He saw it and was glad. And they said, you're not even 50 years old and you've seen Abraham. Jesus said, very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was born, I am. At this. They picked up stones to stone him. But Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds before Abraham was born, I am. What's he saying? What does I am mean? I am means the self existent, eternal one. The being that had no beginning, the being that had no end. What is this a quotation from? When he says, before Abraham was born, I am. What is that from? That's from Exodus 3:14. The burning bush. Do you remember when God appeared to Charlton Heston? Yeah, when God appeared to Moses. And Moses says, hey God, who should I tell the Israelites you are. And God says, tell them I am sends you. The being that had no beginning. The being, it will have no end. The being that just be the ground of all being, the source and sustainer of all things. In fact, ladies and gentlemen, if you have a problem with the word God, first of all, God is not the name of Yahweh. Yahweh is his name. It's just a word we use to. Just to reference the God of the Bible. But if you, if you have a problem with the word God, it's got connotations that, you know, you're thinking of an old man in the sky or that kind of thing. A false view of God. I want you to erase that from your mind for just a second. And I want you to think about this question. Who is the source and sustainer of all things? Who is the source and sustainer of all things? Whoever that is. That's what we mean by God. And in reality, that being is spaceless, timeless, immaterial, powerful, personal, intelligent, a creator and sustainer, who's moral. In fact, that being you can show exists without any reference to the Bible. You can use the three arguments that I use when I go to college campuses to show that God exists. The argument from the beginning of the universe, the creation of the universe, the argument from the design of the universe and the design of life, and the argument from morality, the fact that there's a moral law out there that we're all obligated to obey, that that moral law is God's nature. If God doesn't exist, nothing's ultimately right and wrong. But we do know that God exists, or we do know that certain things are right and wrong and therefore this being must exist. It wasn't just a matter of opinion that it was wrong to shoot children in that school in Minneapolis last week. It's not a matter of opinion. It's really objectively wrong. And if it's really objectively wrong, there has to be a standard that's objectively right beyond us that we're obligated to obey. That standard can only exist if God exists. If there is no God, everything's just a matter of opinion. Now those three arguments can show you without reference to any religious writing, that there is a spaceless, timeless, immaterial, powerful, personal, intelligent creator who is moral and sustains all things to this very moment. In other words, there's a creator and a sustainer of all things. That is what we mean by God. Now, how do you know it's the Christian God? You don't. Just from those three arguments. It could be the Christian God, but you don't know unless you discover whether or not Jesus predicted and accomplished his own resurrection, resurrection from the dead. And for that you need some historical information, you need some testimony from other people. And that's what you get in the New Testament documents and even non Christian writers that talk about Jesus existing and that he was crucified and that his disciples believed he rose from the dead. And then you also look at history and you see the amazing impact that Jesus of Nazareth, an itinerant preacher from a remote corner of the Roman Empire, has had on on civilization since he came to earth and died 1,992 years ago. And it's really hard to explain how he is the center of the human race, this itinerant preacher from a remote part of the Roman Empire, unless he also predicted and accomplished his resurrection from the dead. When you see that Jesus rose from the dead, that then you can say that the source and sustainer of all things is Jesus of Nazareth, who in his human nature came to earth, but in his divine nature created the universe and sustains the universe. That is what we mean by God and by his authority. We believe in other aspects of the spiritual realm, like Satan and demons. And we can also see evidence of that as we saw last week, that these beings actually exist. Now this, as Jesus points out to us, Satan is a liar and a murderer. He's a liar and a murderer from the very beginning. By the way, I need to mention one other thing related to this. We are going back to college campuses and in fact, let me give you an update date on when this is going to be this semester. The first event we're going to do is at Western Carolina University. Lord willing. I say Lord willing, James says, you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. Don't say you're going to do all these things you, your, your life can be, can be asked of you or taken from you at any minute. But as the Lord gives us continued grace and, and continues to sustain us if he does, we'll be at Western Carolina University on September 17th. We're going to do if God why Evil? We're not doing. I don't have enough faith to be an atheist. We were there last year doing that. We're going to do if God why Evil? That would be broadcast live, Lord willing, on our YouTube channel and on, on X and our other, our other social media platforms on the 17th of September. Then we're going to do Lord willing, McNee State University, that's in Louisiana on the 23rd of September. 7:00pm I believe is what? Well that's 7:00pm Central, so that'd be 8:00pm Eastern time. Then the next night will be at Little Cypress, Maurice High School. We're going to do a high school event that's in Orange, Texas, I believe. Same time, I think, if not all these times are on our website. The next night, Beaumont, Texas, Lamar University, 25 September. Check all that out on our website. And then we head off to Israel on October 3rd. We're going Jordan, Israel and Egypt. And there's only a month to go. If you want to be a part of that trip, you need to get on it like now. All right, go to our website and sign up@crossexamine.org click on Events. You will see it there. You will see what's going on. You'll see the entire itinerary of the trip. It's going to be a VIP trip. It's going to be amazing. We're gonna have Ellie Shukron as our guide. The top of the top archae archaeologists in Israel discovered the Pool of Siloam and excavated most of the City of David, which you'll see that is going to be October 3rd through if you go all the way to Egypt with us, it's a two week trip because we're going to start in Jordan, go to Israel and then go to Egypt for four days. Just love Egypt was just there in December. Oh, by the way, we just dropped another video yesterday on nine more evidences from Egypt for the Exodus. Go to YouTube and check it out. It's getting a lot of play. It's only been up as I record this here on September 2nd. It's only been up for about 15 hours and it's doing quite well on YouTube. Check all that out. Also want to mention we got a couple of courses coming up next week. One is digging up the Bible. 22 hours of evidence from archaeology that we have put together in this brand new course called Digging up the Bible. And Titus Kennedy will join us for one of the zoom sessions. If you take the premium version. As you know, Titus Kennedy is a great archaeologist, written a number of books. A couple of them are required for the course Digging up the Bible. Also, if you've got a young person, sixth to eighth grade, fifth to ninth grade is probably fine too. You want them to take let's Get Real with Shanda Fulbright. I'll also assist Shanda that begins September 8th. And that is basically, I don't have enough faith to be an atheist for kids. In fact, we'd have Shanda on the program, I think, this coming Friday to talk more about how to help your kids get grounded in the faith and a little bit about that course. So check all that out at our YouTube channel or on our website, I should say cross examined.org all right, let's go back to the topic at hand. Jesus is pointing out that Satan is a liar and a murderer. And that is exactly what took place in Minneapolis just last week. Now notice Jesus in the New Testament has authority over demons. He cast them out in Mark chapter one. And he in his second coming is going to be displacing Satan's reign. That's Luke 11, 20, 22. Apostles also have the power to cast out demons in his name. That's Acts 16. And so the future, of course, is that Satan is one day going to be completely quarantined in a place called hell. In the meantime, what do we do here? Well, Paul lays this out, as Josh Howerton pointed out at the end of that video we played earlier, that we have the power to resist Satan and his demons. And Jesus did the same, by the way. Notice that when Jesus was tempted, he did not pull rank in the Sense that he used some sort of supernatural power to overcome Satan. What did he do? He used the word of God properly. Satan quoted it out of context and Jesus quoted it in context. And he prayed, he fasted, he prayed, he used Scripture. He is our example. We have to do the same thing. Now, what are the practicalities of this? Well, Paul uses imagery of a soldier in Ephesians 6 to display what we ought to do or to instruct us on what we ought to do in order to resist Satan. Here's what he says in Ephesians 6, verse 10 and following. Finally, be strong in the Lord and his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. Let me stop right here. You've probably heard people say, well, you know, Christians can't be possessed by Satan. Okay, maybe can't be possessed, but certainly influenced. If not influenced, why would this passage be in the Scriptures if Satan and his demons can have no impact on Christians, why even have this in Ephesians chapter 6? Paul goes on to say, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Ladies and gentlemen, if you don't think murdering school children who are praying is dark, then you are being influenced by Satan and demons. That's dark, that's evil. It doesn't get much darker or more evil than that. Paul says, therefore, put on the full armor of God, so when that day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground. And after you have done everything to stand, stand firm. Then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, why you need truth? Because Satan is a liar. He's a deceiver. He's going to try and get you to believe things which are evil. He's going to try and get you to believe that they're good. He's going to whitewash evil and make it sound good. By the way, you only need to whitewash things that are evil, that are dirty. He's going to use words like love and equality and equity and reproductive justice. All of these words that sound so good and are good in the right context, but actually turn out to be deceptions in the wrong context. He's going to try and get you to think that your solution is to mutilate your own body and to try and get your body to do things that it wasn't designed to do. If you're a. If you're a. A Boy. Biologically, you're always going to be a boy. And trying to get it to become a girl just will not work and is actually going to degrade your body to the point that you're going to jeopardize your health. To a great degree, the same thing is true. A girl cannot become a boy. It is impossible. And we all know this. And yet somehow people believe it. Somehow people believe men can get pregnant. How do people believe this stuff if there's no rational explanation for it? It can only be demonic activity. It can only be lies and deception that people believe, delusions that people believe. So stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate, breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up this shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Again, if Satan can't affect you at all, why is this verse in the New Testament? If he can't shoot flaming arrows of evil at you, why would Paul say that you need the shield of faith to extinguish those arrows? And then he finally says, take up the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. John in First John, chapter four says this. Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. Because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize recognize the spirit of God. Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. But every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. The spirit of Antichrist. Notice that didn't say the Antichrist. The spirit of Antichrist. You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them. Because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. So fear not, ladies and gentlemen, if you stay in the Word, if you stay close to Jesus, if you put on the full armor of God and you concentrate on the truth and take up the shield of faith, then you can extinguish the flaming hours arrows of the evil one. But if, as C.S. lewis pointed out, you ignore demons and say they don't even exist, you're going to be vulnerable to their deceptions. You're going to be vulnerable to their lies. Notice that trans activists say that a person's trans identity is literally the most important thing about them until they pick up a gun and murder school children. Then suddenly, transgenderism had nothing to do with it. Their identity had nothing to do with it. Ladies and gentlemen, it is a delusion. And about 2/3 of people that have this gender dysphoria have other mental health issues. This is part of the problem. It's not something that you can just discount. You just can't say that transgender identity is everything except when somebody does something wrong, then it has nothing to do with it. That's inconsistent. It's a delusion. And we don't help people by affirming their delusion. So in the end, ladies and gentlemen, we need to respond by putting our trust in Jesus. Peter said, your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion. You got to be aware, but not terrified. Do not give the devil a foothold. Paul says in Ephesians 4, you need to stand firm in Christ's power. James says, resist the devil and he will flee from you. That's James 4, 7. And as I just mentioned, put on the full armor of God and overcome by faith in Christ. That's 1 John 4, what I just read. And also Revelation 12:11. Because Satan's destiny has already been determined. He was defeated at the cross. He's going to be bound in the future millennial kingdom. That's Revelation 20. And it's going to be cast forever into the lake of fire. That's Revelation 20, verse 10. So, ladies and gentlemen, demons are not a delusion. You know what is a delusion? You thinking demons are a delusion. Don't follow these cleverly devised tales. Don't follow what appears to sound good, but really is evil. Follow Jesus. Stay close to Jesus. Demonic activity is all around us. And it can affect you, it can affect your friends, it can affect your family, it can affect your church, unless you follow what the Scriptures tell us to do. And when we do that, ladies and gentlemen, we will ultimately overcome and extinguish these flaming arrows. Let's pray for everybody involved. Let's pray for the families of everybody involved, including the shooter's family himself. It's a tragedy that this young man, obviously it's tragedy what he did. It's a tragedy he's dead. It's tragedy he killed himself. He was deceived. And many people are still being deceived by false ideologies, by delusions. And we don't help them by affirming them in their delusion. We help them by tactfully revealing the truth and showing them that the truth will set them free. So let's do that, ladies and gentlemen. Let's stand firm in the truth and gently but firmly point people to Jesus. All right? Great being with you. Lord willing. We'll see you here next time. God bless.
