In this sermon, the preacher discusses the dangers of idolatry and how it can lead people away from God. He emphasizes that idols can take many forms, such as sports, entertainment, and lustful movies, and that people often become obsessed with these idols without even realizing it. The preacher warns that allowing idols to capture our hearts can lead to a loss of the fear of God and a turning away from His commandments. He urges the congregation to turn to God and seek His forgiveness, emphasizing the importance of prayer and the ministry of the word in staying faithful to God.

This message is one of the Times Square Pulpit Series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tips are available by writing to World Challenge PO Box 260, Lindale, Texas 75771 or calling 214-963-8626. None of these messages are copyrighted and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to your friends. I want to take you to Jerusalem years ago, under King Solomon. Now, Jerusalem at the time was a very prosperous city. In fact, it was one of the most prosperous cities of the world at the time. The gold was so numerous that silver was not even treated as anything but stones. He made silver stones in Jerusalem at the time. Gold was proliferating everywhere. There was a mighty zoo in Jerusalem at the time because the ships of Tarsus, Solomon was bringing in peacocks and apes and all kinds of serpents and he had a great zoo. In fact, when he pulled out of his palace, he had 1400 chariots at his disposal. He had 12,000 charioteers. He had an army of plumes and helmeted soldiers in gold and crimson. It was incredible. In fact, the Queen of Sheba saw the way he lived and the luxury and the way he went to church in his chariots. It took him breath away, the scripture says. It was quite a scene to see him go through all the parks that he had built and the fountains and the gardens and the orchards, summer homes, winter homes. This man was the richest man on the face of the earth. He'd been king of Israel for quite a time and now he's in his later years and he's on his way to church. He's on his way to his house of worship. And I see him pulling out in his entourage. The President of the United States doesn't travel in one limousine. There's usually five or six and they've got bodyguards. Can you imagine how the King of Solomon traveled? The Bible said that his throne was of ivory covered with gold. He had 12 lions, six on each side, out of ivory covered with gold. He had six stairs, golden stairs, that led to his throne. This man traveled in style. He's going to church on this particular Sabbath. Can you picture that chariot? All gold and gilded black. Steeds from these great horses out of Egypt that he imported. In fact, he imported so many horses, he sent them over to the kings of the Hittites and Amorites. He had caravans going constantly bringing back these horses. He had 12,000 stalls for his horses. And 1,400 chariots at his disposal. Can you imagine the entourage? Tell me when he went to church, at least 12 chariots. With his bodyguards and heads of state. You can be sure, just like the President of the United States, they warn before they go to church so the people are aware and the bodyguards are in place. And what a sight it was as he comes out of his great palace and he gets into the cage. And they go down through the streets of Jerusalem opposite the palace and they pick up Pharaoh's daughter. And she gets in the chariot and they're going to church and she's got a smirk on her face this Sabbath. She's got a grin on her face. She's going to church with King Solomon. You see him pick up this Pharaoh's daughter and head off for church. What a sight it must be. They head toward the temple. But you know, this Sabbath the temple is quiet. There are no priests out there to represent. There are no people, no crowds. There are no sacrifices. There was a time in one week when he brought this temple to Jehovah. He sacrificed 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep in one week. But there are no sacrifices on this Sabbath and there are no world priests waiting and there are no hundreds of trumpeters announcing that the king is giving honor to the Lord. In fact, his chariot pulls up to the temple and he's not even looking. He turns left, east, to a mountain. The mountain of disgrace. And I see Pharaoh's daughter with that smirk on her face because she was not her day. She was not her day. Solomon, I don't think, even turns to look at the temple again. He's not going to the temple of Jehovah. Where's this man going? And I see on his face now in my mind a blank expression. This man is wasted. He's got wrinkles on his face. Solomon is a wasted man because he had all of these wives and pointed bones. He's a man of sensuality. He's lost the touch of God. He turns left, he goes east, as Scripture says, of the temple. East. And he goes on the mountain. The mountain of disgrace. And a huge boulevard opens before him and the streets are full of people in all their frownery. The temple of God lays vacant there. Now up and down these streets are the shrines of the idols Solomon has built. Solomon goes up this avenue and the crowds are falling into all of these temples. There's the temple of Seamus. There's the temple to the god of the Syrianites. There's the temple of the Amorites. The Hittites. The Hittites. Up and down MBC Road. And the crowds are there. And they're hailing the king as he comes. The king is looking as a blank expression on his face. It's the most incredible sight in all the Bible, that Sabbath probably. It's one of the most incredible sights a man can think of. This man that was so touched of God. This man that was so anointed. That we still read his words in this book. And the Bible said, holy men of old. As the anointed in the Holy Spirit wrote this book. And that man was anointed because we still read his words. This man had been visited by God in dreams and visions. This way. This time in his life. An older man. He's not going to the temple of God. He is pulling in to the temple of Baal. And suddenly the trumpets blast. The people are spilling out in the streets. Because Israel followed him. Into worship of idolatry. This king now is an idolater. Look at him as he walks in. And all of the orange robe priests of Baal. The god of Egypt. Look at them as the trumpets sound. And they are about to roast pigs and mice on the altar. Unclean animals. Surely the king is not going to go into that temple. And you see the queen of Egypt get out. And she takes the hand of Solomon. And down the aisle of the temple they go. The man of God is sitting there. While the trumpets blow. And those orange robe priests begin to chant to their god. There is the man of God sitting in the front seat. Next Sabbath he'll be in another chariot. With another one of his wives. At another idol temple. It's happened that this man so quickly turned away from God. And becomes an idolater. One of the great idolaters of all time. This man said his wives turned away his heart. 14 about when Solomon was old. His wives turned his heart away unto other gods. And his heart was not highly devoted to know his God is the heart of David his father had been. For Solomon went after Asterith the goddess of the Sidonians. And after Milton the detestable idol of the Amorites. He went after the detestable idol of the Amorites. And he looked at that man near. These two sacrificing unpaid animals. That a Jew would not even consider looking at let alone sacrificing. And just one generation. This man who had dedicated the great temple to Jehovah. He once had kneeled humbly before the Lord. On a platform that he constructed in front of the temple. And he had stretched out his hands to Jehovah. And this man of God had prayed this prayer. Oh Lord. Whatsoever prayer is made by any man. Or by all the people of Israel. Each man knowing the prayer in his own heart. And when he spreads out his hands toward this house. Fear thou in heaven. Thy dwelling place and forgive. All whose hearts thou knowest. For thou alone Jehovah. This mother heart of all the sons of men. That they may fear thee all the days that they live. This same man at one time had commanded Israel. Let your heart therefore be wholly devoted to the Lord your God. To walk in his statutes. Keep his commandments as at this day. Let it happen to this man. That in such a short time his heart is turned away. God said he turned aside. Now the Lord was angry with Solomon. Because his heart was turned away. His heart was turned away from the Lord. The God of Israel who had appeared to him twice. His wives, his concubines had turned his heart away. And this man's story is so important to us today. Because so many are turning away from the Lord. A lot of people not in this church tonight that were here a year ago. They're gone. Their hearts have been turned away. I want to know what happened to Solomon. I want to know the steps that lead to idolatry. I want to know how a godly man, so afraid of their Holy Ghost, called of God to build this great temple, ends up a man absolutely vain and lost. I want to know. I've heard people say, Solomon went to heaven. Solomon never did go to heaven. Solomon went to hell. Solomon was damned. He was lost. I want to list three things that happened to this man that are awareness to us. First of all, Solomon lost the fear of God. Solomon lost the fear of God. There was not a wiser man other than Christ ever born on this earth. And God gave Solomon wisdom, understanding exceedingly much. And wiseness of heart. He was wiser than all men. And he spoke 3,000 prophets. His sons were 3,003. And all the kings of the earth came to hear his wisdom. In fact, Solomon himself said, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of our wisdom. Out of his own lips, the fear of the Lord. And it was when he was walking in the fear of God that he penned these awesome words. The strange woman, her feet go down to death. Her steps lay holding her. He said this, Why should you embrace the bosom of a famine? You will be held with the cords of your own sin. And you will die for lack of instruction. He also warned of the smooth tongue of the adulteress. The strange woman, let she trap you with her beauty and her eyelids. It will cost you the substance of your house. You will groan in your latter days. You will end up groaning in your final days. Out of his own mouth, this man answers the reason why he turned aside. The Bible said he chose to reject and throw off and drown the fear of God that the Lord had planted in his heart. Listen to him. Listen, God. I made my words known unto you. This is the first chapter of Proverbs. Just listen to it. I made my words known to you. Speaking to Solomon Tate. You sat on my counsel. You hated my knowledge. You did not choose the fear of the Lord. You despised my reproof. Therefore, you eat the fruit of going your own way. You eat the fruit of your own way because you've chosen not to fear me anymore. It was Solomon who wrote, the fear of God is to hide evil. That's his message from Proverbs 8.13. Solomon said, the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life to depart from the snares of death. And incredibly, he wrote this. By the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil. By the fear of the Lord, men quit their evil. Be thou in the fear of the Lord all your days. Be in the fear of the Lord all day long all your days. Proverbs 23.17. Solomon deliberately put the fear of God right out of his mind. He chose instead the riches, the pleasures and the lusts of his day. Solomon loved many strange women. I don't understand. How does he do when he's in the embrace of one of these strange women? Was there never a time that these words come back home to him? The strange woman, her pale face holding breath. At the end, he would grow. Did it never occur to him all that he'd preached? How is it that an evangelist can preach holiness and turn right around and embrace a prostitute? How is it that so many people can come to the house of God and worship and praise his name? Go right out and commit adultery? Fornicate? You see, there's something happened in this man's heart. And it's been the history of God's people from the very beginning. God's people have always been inclined to idolatry and lust, the scripture says. People want to play, rather than to pray and to hold on and retain the fear of God in their hearts. There's something in the flesh that rises up to want to pray. Especially when you're in a relaxing mood. It's easy at night when you have the fear of God and you're in church and you're laying up a funny quote. It's easy to walk in the statues of the Lord. It's something else the next day when the sun is shining and the flesh begins to rise up inside. It took only 40 days for the children of Israel to shake off the fear of God. Remember God appeared to them in Mount Sinai? There was thunder and lightning, in fact the Bible says the ground began to rumble. They trembled and Moses said to the people, Don't be afraid, for God is come in order to test you. In order that the fear of Him may remain in you, so that you may not sin. Moses said, you are experiencing the fear of God for a reason. This awesome display of the power of God. This lightning thunder, this piercing trumpet sounds you hear. This is God putting His fear in your heart that you may not sin against Him. Can you hear and receive it today for yourself? That the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin. Brother, sister, the one great thing which we have, the one great barrack against sin in our life is the fear of God. I have that in my life every waking hour. I have that dread and fear of God. I love Him as a heavenly Father, but I know He is a righteous God. I have that fear in me right now as I preach. I have that fear that I dare not say anything but that He is sin. He is the conscience of sin in your heart. And appease you and make you feel good in your sin. You can go somewhere else and find that, you won't find it in this church. And Nadab and Abihu and 70 others just before this had come down from the mountain. And they had seen an awesome sight. They went up in the mountain with Moses and they saw the God of Israel. And under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire. And it was clear as the sky itself. Yet God did not stretch out His hand against them. And they beheld God and they ate and drank in His presence. Now that is something. Seventy elders and Nadab and Abihu and Aaron. They are eating. I don't know who spread the table. I don't know if the angels spread it or not. But it is an awesome sight. There is some kind of an appearance. There is a theophany of some kind. And there is a sapphire, suddenly a bright sapphire path. And God appears and they eat in the presence of God. And the scripture says God didn't stretch out His hands and kill them. You say if I ever saw God and ate in His presence that would put such a fear in me. The rest of my life I would never have said. Well that awesome experience lasted 40 days for Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and those elders. It lasted 40 days. That awesome sight of thunder and lightning and God piercing His divine trumpet lasted 40 days. All Israel had pledged faithfulness to the Lord when that fear was upon them. And all the people answered together and said, Oh all that the Lord has spoken we will do, we will do. That is when the thunder and lightning was there. And Moses brought back the words of the people to the Lord. I want you to go to Exodus 32 please. Exodus 32. 40 days. How quickly we turn aside. How soon will you turn aside. Go ahead and turn aside. Exodus 32. Reading verse 1. I'm going to read 9 verses. And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron and said unto him, Up make us gods which shall go before us. Now this was 40 days later. Aaron had just eaten in the presence of God and seen the sapphire staircase. Isn't this something? He said unto them, Up make us gods which shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we want to know what has become of them. And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings which were in the ears of your wives, your sons, your daughters, and bring them to me. The people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. He received them at their hand and he fastened them with a graving to it. And verse 5. And when Aaron saw it, he brought it all to be fair. And Aaron made proclamation and said, Tomorrow is the feast of the Lord. They rose up early in the morning and offered good offering and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and to drink. And they rose up to what? They rose up to pray. The Lord said to Moses, Go and get your dam for thy people which you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. What have they done? They have turned aside quickly out of the way. They have made them a mountain calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed thereto. And said, These be the gods of Israel which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. The Lord said to Moses, I have seen this people, and behold, what a stiff necked people. How they have quickly turned aside. The psalmist said, It was because they lost the fear of God. I'm reading from Psalms 106.13. They quickly forgot his works. They waited not for his counsel. They lusted exceedingly in the wilderness. And then Paul goes on to say, Now these things are written for our example to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they are so lusted in the wilderness. Now look at me please. How is it that a man or woman, how is it that a Christian, how is it that Solomon jettisoned the fear of God? How is it that we drown out the fear of God in our lives? It's because we turn to something else. Israel got weary of the straight and narrow road. They got weary of the call of holiness. They got weary of the fearful warnings of judgment. They wanted to pray. They wanted to dance. They wanted to fornicate. Some of them had roving eyes. Some of them had their eyes on other women. They wanted to rise up and satisfy their lust. Solomon lusted after beautiful women. He loved luxury. He had a lust for material things. Listen, when we turn aside, it's not nothing we turn aside. There's always something there. It's another thing entering in. And I want to tell you something. If you allow someone or something to take your heart, the first thing that's going to happen, that thing that takes your heart, captures your heart, will go right after the fear of God. It will go right to the fear of God and try to put you at ease. And so God can't be that angry. God is not like that. And the first thing you do is have your eyes smeared. You lose your discernment. Then you run after a gospel. You'll heap yourself, preach as heaven, itch and itch. You'll run to some church where someday they'll make you feel comfortable in your sin. You're sitting here tonight and you're having an affair. You're having an adulterous affair. You've got fornication. You've got a lust for homosexuality. You have a lust for alcohol. You've got a lust for drugs, whatever it may be. The reason we preach like we do in this church is that you come to God by the power of the Holy Ghost and ask Jesus to put it at God's roots. Lest you lose the fear of God. The most gracious thing God can do for you is to keep the fear of God alive and burning in your heart. Our hearts become fleshed with power and prosperity and then hell no longer becomes a reality. We don't want to hear anything about hell. We don't want to hear anything. They say, I don't want to hear gloom and doom. And I know there are many preachers that have accused this ministry of being gloom and doom. And I know why. Because there's sin in the camp. There's been sin in the camp. And they don't like to hear it because it's a reproof. It's a judgment to their lifestyle. There was a young man who attended this church for a while, about a year and a half ago. He was on drugs and the Lord saved him. The Lord dealt with him time and time again about his cocaine habit. And one night, in fact, he was sleeping at the church. He had no place to sleep. He was wondering if he needed to land a theater. And one night, the Lord gave him a vision of hell. He got an incredible vision of hell. In fact, he woke up pale and ashen white. He could hardly speak. For two or three days, he lived in the absolute fear of God. He said, Brother Dean, I've been to hell. God let me see hell. I can't even begin to describe it. And God told me that if I go back to my old ways, He'd like me to see what was waiting for me. He loved me so much, He didn't want me to go. And he said, Brother Dean, I've never turned back. I've seen hell. Thirty days later, he's back on the streets. Right back on the streets. Because he couldn't give up what was in his heart. And he lost, totally lost the fear of God. There's no more fear of God within the heart of the transgressor. Psalms 36.1 There's no more fear of God within the heart of the transgressor. Those who really love the Lord, love holiness preaching. Because it produces the fear of God in their hearts. You say, do you want to produce the fear of God in my heart? Oh yes, yes. I want to produce the fear of God in my heart as I preach and pray. And I want to see it produced in your heart as well. Secondly, Solomon forsook the written word of God and relied instead on dreams and verses. And now we come to continue where Pastor Bob just added a few exclamation marks that we heard this morning about false prophets. The Lord appeared twice to Solomon in dreams. And twice he heard the clear voice of God. That verse encouraged him and the verse warned him. In 1 Kings 3.5, in Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night. And God said, you read also 1 Kings 9.2, the Lord again appeared the second time to Solomon. And the Lord said to him, and you'll find it over and over again in Chronicles and Kings when you see God coming to Solomon. And God said, and God said, and God said. You'll hear it over and over again. This man read from God in dreams. He heard verses from heaven. The fact did not keep him from his iniquity. Solomon did not read and heed the written word of God. Every king, I want you to read. I want you to go to Deuteronomy 17. I want to show you something. It's so very, very vital. And God is trying to say something to this church. This church is going to be founded on the word of God and not on some preacher standing up and giving you a warning. Never. I want to show you something from the word of God. Deuteronomy 17. Folks, we are foolish shepherds if we don't get you driven to the word of God and make you afraid of every false prophet on the face of this earth. Deuteronomy 17, beginning to read verse 14. Do you have it? When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shall possess it, and shall dwell therein, thou shalt say, I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are about me. Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the Lord thy God shall choose, one from among the brethren, shall thou set king over thee. Thou must not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother. But he shall not mow the poor horses to himself. How many horses did, say, Absalom had? Twelve thousand stalls. Nor caused the people to return to Egypt. Where did he get his horses? Out of Egypt. And to the end that he should mow the poor horses, forasmuch as the Lord hath said unto you, ye shall not henceforth return no more that way. And he said, don't ever go back to Egypt for anything. Not even a mouse, let alone a horse. Neither shall he mow the poor wives to himself. This man had man-headed wives a thousand times the price. But his heart turned not away. Neither shall he greatly mow the poor to himself silver and gold. It shall be when he is seated upon the throne of his kingdom that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests, the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life, that he may learn to feel the Lord his God to keep all the words of this law and these statutes to do them, that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment to the right-hander, to the left, so that he may prolong his days in his kingdom and his children in the midst of Israel. Now listen to me, folks. Solomon, had he been a student of the written review book of God, he would have read, he would have learned, he would have been careful to observe. If he had been a student of God's word, he would have read this from Deuteronomy 28. Do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today. Don't turn to the right or to the left to go after other gods. And if you do not obey, if you do not observe this, I charge you that all these curses shall overtake you. The Lord will send on you curses, confusion, and rebuke, and all that you undertake to do. This is the end of side one. You may now turn the tape over to side two. Do you know what happened to Solomon? He was a man who depended on dreams and voices, but never once picked up the written word of God. In fact, it was hidden. It was not found. It was hidden in the temple. It was not found until Helkiah found it, the high priest under the dead Josiah. He went in, found it, and brought it to Josiah. Josiah saw it, heard it, and when he read it, he went his clothes. He said, you're not keeping this. And revival came to Israel because a man read this book. My Bible predicts the last day there's going to be a great fighting away. It predicts the love of many are going to grow cold. Let me tell you why it's going to happen. All the kings are depending on voices and dreams and prophecies. They want a prophetic word from some prophet. This Bible says it's the sure word of prophecy right here. This is the sure word. Nothing else but this I hold in my hand is the sure word of prophecy. We have people running all over the United States to get a word. They are not like Daniel. They're not like Jeremiah, shut in with the word of God and in prayer, hearing from the Lord themselves. None of these men were shut in with the book, and they could say, thus saith the Lord, because they had the law and the list of the prophets in their hands. Daniel studied Jeremiah. He studied every prophet that went before him. He was out of the book of Jeremiah, but Daniel counted the 70 years. That's how he could prophesy as he did. We've got charismatic strikes, he told, over the United States today. Johnny Carson had a man named the Great Christian, and the Great Christian could stand, I don't have television now, but when I used to, it was amazing. He could tell you what you had in your pocket, he could give you your name, your address, he could tell you you're a doctor, he could tell you all about your life. There's nothing unusual about that, that's psychic. We've got charismatic psychics who go around trying to read people's lives. If you want that, go to Gene Dixon. Go to a psychic of the Lord. If you want to hear from God, you'll get on your knees and you'll get this book out, and get the pure word of prophecy in your heart. You see, we're not students of the Word of God, we're not a foundation anymore. I'm shocked at the letters I get, and I'm shocked at the material that's being sent to me from all over the United States, books and records and tapes and writings, and some of it is off the wall. These are prophecies by so-called prophets. And they're sent to me, and people are writing saying, this sounds so good, could you tell me, is it all right? Now folks, that's fine. There are times that you need a shepherd to help you discern. But I'm so shocked when I turn on my tape recorder, and I listen to this incredible foolishness. It's foolishness, it's gibberish. And they've been saying, it sounds so good, because there's a little God, there's a little Jesus, and it's so new, it's ecstatic, it's so different. And I say to myself, if they only knew the fundamental tensions of this book. Suddenly there are a thousand scriptures commencing to my mind, one after another, that knock it all down. And I say, what's happening in the church? Where's the foundation of the Word of God? Why should God reveal to you something when you won't take the time to study what He's already revealed? Solomon lived on this past dream. God had spoken to him. I want to tell you, the truth of the devil didn't use this last day. He's going to try to put something in your mind and make you hear a voice and make you think it's God. He'll chase you all over the world with that voice. He'll make you do dumb and stupid things. You'll think it's God. Because you haven't tested it. You haven't tested it by this Word. Hold steady, folks. God said it this morning, and I'll say it again. Test it. Put it through the fire there. Glory be to God. You know, there was a prophet that came to Paul. His name was Agabus. The Bible says he came down from Judea. And he took Paul's belt and he bound his own feet and hands and said, this is what is going to happen, the Holy Spirit says. In this way, the Jews and Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt. And this true prophet of God ties his hands and feet and he said, this is what's going to happen, the man who owns this belt. And everybody knew Paul owned the belt. Very dramatic. And everybody is weeping. They're crying. You heard the prophet, Paul. Don't go to Jerusalem. But you see, Paul only had one prophet. His name was Jesus. And he'd been with him. Paul believed in true word of God. There is a word of knowledge. But you see, the word of knowledge, as I see it, works to the sinner. It works to those who don't know how to touch God. The word of knowledge is primarily for those who have lost their way, their lost feet. It should not be for those who claim to know the Lord. And they're crying and they're weeping and they say to Paul, you've heard what the prophet said. Paul was unmoved. There's not a thing any prophet could say that could move him once he heard from God. Paul said, what are you doing weeping and breaking my heart? For I'm ready not only to be bound but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because I'm ready to die. Let Him bind me. Hallelujah. Paul didn't need a confirmation of something God told him. I heard someone say, they're into prophecy, their direction of prophecy. In fact, their meetings now with prophets are all lined up. You get in line to get your word. And they acknowledge now they're only 30% accurate. I want to tell you something folks. That's the most dangerous thing I've ever heard in my life. God doesn't play with the emotions of His children. He does not play games. 70% of people are hanging on the walls of the man they believe is a prophet and worrying and waiting their lives. That's 70% wrong. Folks, don't go to some prophet. There are true prophets of God. Brother Bob explained the parameters of that. How to tell a true and false prophet. God's not going to play with your heart. Solomon turned aside because he had no foundation of the written word. He could not say as Jesus did, it is written. Had he been able to stand up and say it's written he could have fought off this onslaught of the devil. Hallelujah. Solomon heard all kinds of voices. He had all these voices he attributed to God. Voices told him that it was alright to take strange rides. Voices told him to build luxurious mansions. Voices told him to erect shrines to false gods. Those voices saying you've got to be a king to all the people. You've got Hittites, you've got Moabites, you have to be king to all of them. You have to keep unity. And that's what the devil told him. God wants unity. So for the sake of unity you have a temple for the Moabites and the Hittites and the Amorites and you allow all of this to happen. Brother, sister, I tell you I have been driven to the word of God. I so love this book now. When I want to know what God's saying to my heart and He won't hide it from you. God's made a statement and I agree God's not hiding. You want to know what God has for you, you want to know what the future is. Get shut in with the Lord. Be willing to do and say and do anything that He asks you to do. Be willing to lay anything down. And I promise you the Lord will not hide. He'll speak His word to your heart. Hallelujah. You still here? There's one other. By the way, you know where the apostles wound up? Do you know what their final statement was to the church of Jesus Christ? We will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. Hallelujah. What is the ministry of the word? It's not reading some people's life and giving them their fortune. This is the ministry of the word right here. What the Lord has said. He has spoken to us in these last days through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. Now finally, Solomon turned aside because he did not share God's hatred for idols. He didn't share God's hatred for idols. First of all, he began by thinking the idols were harmless. Then he permitted them in His presence. Then he became intrigued by them and finally he served them. And those were the four steps that lead to idolatry. God appeared to Solomon personally and warned him of the dangers of idolatry. If you turn away from Me, God said, and serve these other gods, this house will become a heap of ruins. You wonder why some people's house are a heap of ruins? Idolatry. All who pass by will say, What has the Lord done thus to this man and to this house? And they shall say, because they forsook the Lord, and they adopted other gods and served them, therefore the Lord has brought all this adversity on them. Listen to this. You allow an idol in your life and in your home, the end result is that your house becomes a heap of ruins. Nothing could be clearer, 1 Kings 9, 6-9. Solomon married these heathen wives, these strange women of Egypt, Moab, Ammon, Sidon, and the Hittites. And everyone brought their idols with them. They all brought their idols. At first I'm sure Solomon was amused when he saw them, healing damnified idols. I'm sure he was absolutely amused, and he would say to himself, These poor dumb heathen. Who could be so stupid? Who could be so blind as to think that there's any merit, there's any life in those dead idols? First of all, he said, I have no time for this foolishness. Let them have their idols. I've heard many parents say that. I have no time for television. It's just there. It's there. I have no time for that foolishness. You know where I'm about to head, so just follow me. You see, Solomon had his chariot, you've got your chariot. It's your couch. I'm talking about the electronic chariot. I've heard people say, My television is not an idol. You're right, it's not an idol. It's more than that. I'll tell you what it is. It's the boulevard of shrines. It's that great boulevard that Solomon built with all the temples on every side. Now, let me explain what I'm talking about. All right, get on your chariot, your couch. Get your potato chips and your root beer. You see, the devil made it easy now. You don't have to go outside your palace. Every man's home is his castle. You just sit there in your chariot, and you push the remote control. Is your idol sports? Now you are on the front row of your shrine of sports. Right there. That's not an idol because you see, you're on the boulevard now. This is the wide, wide boulevard. That's not your idol. Your idol is prime time soaps. You like Larry Hagman, and you like Joe Collins, and Dallas, and Dynasty. Push your button. You don't have to move from your chariot. You're right in the front row of your temple. Oh, that's not your shrine. That's not your temple. You like sexy movies? You like lusty movies? Just press your electronic button. You don't have to move. Suddenly, you're right there on your temple corner. You're right in front row R and X. No, it's not an idol. It's the mall of idolatry. It's the corner of shrines. It's the doorway into almost every temple of idolatry known to man. Now, you say, well then, please don't get on television anymore. I can't help it. I get on my face, and I hear God by His Holy Spirit over and over again telling me and my inner man that God's people are losing the fear of God. God's people are turning aside. You say, there are other idols. There are other idols. Food can be an idol. All these other things can be idols in our lives. Careers and so forth. Yes, but why talk about any other idol when you won't even talk about the obvious idol? You won't talk about the number one idol. Why talk about any other? If you won't deal with the obvious, why deal with anything else? I have never heard it so quiet in this church. Your chariot going to take you anywhere you want to go now. You don't even have to leave your home. You can go to any shrine you want to. You can go to any idol you want to with the press of a button. That's how close we are to hell. Brother Phillips made it very clear this morning that the true prophetic word that comes forth always gives you the hope. And there is a hopeful side of all this, thank God. You know what it is? In these last days, the Lord's going to have a Josiah company. There's going to be a Josiah company. Josiah, the moment he saw the word of God, he trembled at it. He said, oh, we're not living up to that standard. He gets immediately, he gets a hold of the idolatry of that man and begins to tear it down. Josiah tore down and defiled the high places which were before Jerusalem, which were on the Mount of Destruction or the Mount of Disgrace that Solomon had built. In fact, he said, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtaroth, the abomination of the Sidonians, and Shamos, the abomination of Moab, or the Noakom, the abomination of the sons of Ammon. And Josiah removed, removed. I don't have to tell you what to do. Let the Holy Ghost tell you. He removed. I'm giving you a Bible word. He removed. You pick it up, you remove it. Why do you make it so complicated? And Josiah removed all the abominations from all the lands belonging to the sons of Israel and he made all who were present in Israel to serve the Lord their God throughout his lifetime. They did not turn from following the Lord God of their fathers. Look at that. Throughout his lifetime, they did not turn. That's my prayer. Oh God, in my lifetime, all my lifetime, I don't want to turn back. I don't want to turn to the right. I don't want to turn to the left. I don't want any idolatry in my life. I want Jesus. I want the Lord in my life. I want Him. My prayer is that as long as we're shepherds of this congregation, as long as we're shepherds of Times Square Church, as long as these men exist with us here, and we stand and preach the gospel that there it will be said of the church, there are people who through their whole shepherdhood, through their whole lifetime, through the whole time they ministered, here are people that turn either to the right or to the left, they serve the Lord God with all their hearts their whole lifetime. Oh, there's so many backslidden churches. That is the YMCA. The YMCA used to be street preachers. Now it's a nest for homosexuals. Do you know what? Yale University used to be in Harvard. Those were divinity schools started by preachers. They were full of the Holy Ghost. Columbia University was started by a preacher, a man of God. Every one of those board members, those seven board members, I read their history. They were all men full of God and His Spirit. They prophesied of Columbia at one time. Now look at it, a debt of iniquity. All turned away. There was a time in this city, the churches in this city were on fire for God. The tabernacles were built all over this city that were bringing to the presence of God and the people turned aside. I remember when I first came, and I'm going to close in just a few moments, when I first came to New York City, I came as a broken man. I wept and I cried. I couldn't stop crying for weeks. I had such a broken heart and so in love with Jesus. And suddenly the center got filled with drug addicts, alcoholics, and by the way, it doesn't take more than ten years usually for an organization to backslide and turn aside and become something else, become a social agency. There are a number of teen challenge centers that ought to be shut. I'm standing for my heart to be shut down because they don't have the fire of God anymore. They're taking money from the government. They've turned aside. They've turned to society. They've turned to psychology and psychiatry and the Holy Ghost isn't there anymore. Now they shut the doors. And that's the very program that God had me found years ago. So those doors ought to be shut. And I pray the one here in New York City, never lose the fire of God. Never lose it. I've never turned to psychology or psychiatry. But I used to burn in my soul. Folks, there were times that I would preach in this city and I couldn't preach ten minutes until the orders were through. People would come running down. I'd go to camp meetings. I remember one camp meeting. I preached four minutes and the power of God came down and everybody was on their face. The Spirit of the Lord was upon me in such a power that then I got so busy trying to raise money to feed. And then the cross in Switzerland was written and then I was on all kinds of television. I remember one week being on 25 television shows. I was running all over the nation. I've been wined and dined and then traveled all over the world preaching to thousands of people. And I got dizzy and I got away from my knees. That's when I got away from the book. And I used to finally, I wound up going to the club without even my Bible. I had a few little notes and I told stories for half an hour. And I baptized in my heart. I didn't go into adultery. God kept me from those things. But there was no fire. I wasn't preaching life. There was no life in my message anymore. I was living in the past. And I turned aside from the way that God had called me. And it didn't take but ten years until my wife one day looked at me and then somebody went and said, David, you're not the man that came to New York. And I wasn't. And I tell you now, I thank Him for the day He set me down and said, you get back to this book. You get back to my face. You get back to my heart and you come and stand and represent me and you forget. If you do that, I'll take care of the money. And from that day on, I've never had to worry about money. I've never been in debt. God's taken care of me. He's been faithful for His word. And I'd rather die than ever turn away like that again. I'd rather God take me home. I don't ever want to be in that place again where I'm in the flesh. I want to walk and move and live in the Spirit of God. Hallelujah. Have you been turning away? You're sitting here tonight and your heart's not what it once was. You're just a shell of what you were. And your heart's been blown away by an idol somewhere. When are you going to take the stand? When are you going to hear it in the Spirit inside where God says, in these last days with the things that are coming, they're going to be so awesome. You're going to have to be shut in with me. You're going to have to get rid of all your idols. When are you going to hear that in the Spirit and obey God? I'm not going to glory in your flesh. I'm not going to say, hey, I told you so, that those who are looking for people are going to pay a price. Get rid of all the idolatry and say, Jesus, I want you. Do you want Him tonight? Stand, please. Beloved, look at me for just a moment. You see the three paths of this church standing here and our associates. We're not some great men, but we're broken men. We know what it is to have been in the flesh. We're not talking about a dog here fornicating. God's kept these men as He's kept me. There were times that there were temptations, but God's been faithful. But there's one thing that we've got to see. And that's the people who are going to go all the way, all the way, and hold nothing back from Him, who want nothing more than to say, I want to be full of Jesus. I want Him. You know, we have people that come here and they say, I'd like to move to New York and be a part of what God's doing here. And some of them are in the Spirit, and we thank God for that. But see, we're not interested in having people move here from all over the country and be a part of some new thing. We're not even looking for some new thing. Actually, we're looking at what Bob said this morning, the eternal, all things that God has done, the eternalness of God, the greatness of God already revealed to us. And we can just catch a glimpse of that. We're not looking for some great new thing. And we're not looking for people who want to come to a church where there's just excitement and where there's some great new move of God. All we want is to see a people who love this book. And I believe you do. We've got people who just can't wait to get to this church to hear. And they bring their Bibles. There'll come a day, and I've seen it in the vision, there's coming a day there'll be so much turmoil in this city, this church may have to be closed for a month at a time. We won't even be able to get to the church. You better know it. Your heart, we won't even be together for a few weeks maybe, but our hearts will be one because we'll be right here. We'll be all drawn together about the Word of God. You're not going to have to call Brother Bob and Donna, Pastor Dave, and say, Oh, give me a word, give me a word. You'll have it, you'll have it, you'll have it. Glory to God. Lord Jesus, we're so hungry for you. We want a church where Jesus reigns supreme, where no man is glorified, where Christ is exalted, where we truly praise you with everything there is within us. And Lord, we deal with our sins. We don't play games with you. We don't flirt with idols. When you say lay them down or remove them, we lay them down. When we move them, we obey God. Lord, help us to obey you. Lest our house become a heap of ruins. Maybe that's the reason so many have destruction in their home. They're not dealing with their idols. Lord, take all the idols. Take them all and leave us Jesus. Hallelujah. This is the conclusion of the tape.