In this sermon, the speaker addresses the audience and informs them that there are books available for purchase. However, these books are specifically made for the audience and not for the general public. The speaker then mentions a specific Bible verse, Ephesians 6:11, which encourages believers to put on the whole armor of God to stand against the devil's schemes. The speaker also references a story from the Bible where a woman communicates with the spirit of Samuel. The sermon concludes with a mention of horoscopes and how some people rely on them for guidance.

As our brother Mr Carson said, the whole king of demons will be around us this evening. Let's begin in Ephesians, chapter six, please. Ephesians, and we're at the sixth chapter. And Paul, writing to these saints in Ephesus said, in verse eleven, put on the whole armor of God. Saints need to learn how to dress for battle. Put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities. And the word principalities there, the Greek word, is the word archi. And it's translated in the New Testament by the word prince, by the word captain, the captain of all salvation. And again and again it's prince that comes out. It's someone out in the front. The captain, the prince, the archer, the same word all the time. And when we examined these princes, these are demon princes of course, we found that this was a part of Satan's army, and this part of his army works in the political realm. We found there was a prince of Persia, a demon prince over the realm of Persia. We found there was a prince of Grecia, and I'm sure there's a demon prince over this province of Ulster. And we looked up these demon princes working in the political realm. Then we went on to look at powers, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers. You see how the Spirit divides this. Against the rules of the gods, against. So that he's dividing this great diabolical army up for us, and we can see these demon princes. And they work in the political realms, and they need demon powers to work in the mental realm. And there are folks in my lifetime I've seen oppressed by the devil. Remember our Lord went about doing good, healing all who were oppressed by the devil. Remember the woman who came and coming and saying, my daughter, life at home greedily ducks, and depression and vexation belong to the mental realm. And then we looked up the rules of the darkness of this world, because this is another battalion here. They don't work in the political, and they don't work so much in the mental. They work in the evangelical realm. They're determined to keep the light of the glorious gospel from entering in. We found that they not only tried to stop it from getting in, but if it did get in, they'd try to steal it, then come of the devil and take it away, the word out of their mouth. And if they can't stop it and can't steal it, then they'll try to smother it, so that the young believer will never get his feet properly on it. We've got along now to where we're looking up wicked spirits. And we wrestle not only against these demon printers in the political, and against these demon powers in the mental realm, and against these rules of darkness in the evangelical, but these wicked spirits, they work in the moral realm. We saw wicked spirits working in the days of law, until it seemed the whole world was tainted with the wickedness. When God looked down, he saw that the wickedness of man, he held man responsible for this wickedness of man, was great. In fact, these wicked spirits worked so much in the days of law, that God said, every thought is only evil continually. What a world it was, with everyone on the face of the earth, every thought only evil continually. And God had to destroy that world. And he went on to look up these wicked spirits in the days of law, and these wicked spirits in the days of Christ's flesh, and then he went on to look up these wicked spirits who will be in the world again in full force, in the days of the Antichrist, when people will be tormented by these same wicked demon powers. So, that's where we've got to. And we're going to look at God's commandments tonight, concerning contact with wicked spirits. I want everyone to learn the word contact with you for the moment or two. You see, right from the fall, right from the very days of Adam, you'll find that in fallen man there is a curiosity to know something about the future. That's in every one of us, and it has to be watched very carefully. We're always trying to make contact with what's going to be tomorrow, and the next day, and the next. That's why if there is a good prophetic teacher of the prophetic words, we can always gather a crowd round him, because people long to know. And it's quite right for the prophetic teacher to go to the prophecies that God has given to him, and let the folks see things to come, and happenings ahead, and so on. And there seems to be a curiosity inside us that just cannot be satisfied. Therefore, that's where we get spiritism on the up-grade of these spirit mediums. They say they can get us into contact with spirits who can tell us something about the future. That's where voodoo gets going, and black magic, and fortune-telling, and hand-reading. If I asked everybody to stand up and shout a hand-reader. Don't be afraid, I'm not. I'd like to do it, but I won't do it. Well, you see, all this is sort of a curiosity that's in me. And you want to know something. And the young girls, the seventeen and eighteen, they want to know what the man's like that they're going to marry. You know, that's a bit of a hand-reading. And you know this horoscope that's in the papers. Some of them nearly eat the paper to get it open to see what it says about me. Young girl is in the meeting now, and I told you, bless her, they'll catch you on. She said to me some time ago, she said this morning, it was my birthday. Her eyes were shining. She said, you know, I looked at my horoscope this morning. It tells me about a dark-haired man who's tall, who's good-looking, who's got plenty of money, who's going to marry me. She said, oh, what's that about this, you know? I said, do you see that feeling that's in you now? She said, yes, I said, I would for that. She said, what is it? I said, daft. I said to her, you know, if you had any sense at all, you would know that there's thousands, yay, a million young girls born on this very day. A million footballers in the same league as me, you know. And there's some of them Chinese, and there's some of them Japanese, and there's some of them Italians, and there's some of them Germans, and there's some of them this, that, and the other. Do you think if we all look at this horoscope today that there's a black-haired man for each one of them? She says to me, you've just spoiled it for me. And I think to give her credit, she's talking to her the other night, she says, I've never looked at it since. It's no use. Now I know, you see, I know that while we must get into the depths of this subject, and we're certainly in the depths when we're talking about witches, and wizards, and divination, and necromancy, and all the rest of it. And when you come to voodoo, you're into the very depths. And black magic. Oh, I know that there's top-reading, and hand-reading, and horoscopes, where I think of sorts of amusement. Now let me just say to you that you're having amusement with something you would be better not to have amusement. A young man came to see me the other day, says he's going to talk about this charismatic movement in tongues. Well, I speak in tongues. Do you? Where? He says, I wouldn't do it in the church or anything. I'd just do it upstairs at night in my own room. And I says, tell me what you do. He says, just get down on my knees, and something comes over me, and a whole lot of words come out. I says, do you know what you say? I says, don't know what you say, but enjoy it. I says, could I use the word amusement? You're not trying to tell me that God gives this bit! Say amusement! Do this! For pleasure the devil's talking to you. It isn't amusement anymore. He doesn't know a thing about it. I don't think you should be playing with something. You would need to know what you're doing, wouldn't you? But we'll come across this. In fact, bring your Bible and we'll find it for you, shouldn't we? The truth must be in this book. Well, that's what we're going to do. Now, for a moment we're going to look at God's commandments concerning contact with wicked spirits. Now, we're beginning in the book of Exodus, chapter twenty-two. The book of Exodus, chapter twenty-two. Now, God says one of two things here, and it might shock you, but then, if it's in the book, I can't have shock in you, and I'm not going to try not to shock you. We're at Exodus twenty-two, verse eighteen. God says, thou shalt not, that's the commandment of God, thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. Now, God meant every witch in the land to be put to death. Now, when God puts such a judgment upon someone who's a witch, then you must know it's wicked of some sort. There's a great wickedness there. In fact, when you go through these directions and commandments that God gave to Israel, and not everything that God said, thou shalt put to death. Look at the next one, verse nineteen. Whosoever lieth with a beast shall surely be put to death. Oh, it's a terrible statement. Somebody said to me, one says, nobody would lie down sexually with a beast. You don't even know the world you're living in. And me saying to you just bluntly, that I've had a dozen folks in my own room in this town who confessed to me that they lay sexually with beasts, both men and women, is that enough for you? And if you're ignorant of it, you can go home and bless God for your ignorance. You don't think God put something in this book that could never happen? And I assure you it's happening today. Well, you see, when a man or woman gets so sexually excited that they have to go and lie with a beast, there must be some wicked spirit working in them. This is not normal, ordinary sexual impulse. God says, I'm not putting up with that. Every one of them, I'll have them. You see, God's going to blot out all the riches. And God's going to blot out all the folks who would lie sexually with a beast. See, verse twenty, he that sexually applies this unto any god, save unto the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed. Mind you, that's a tremendous thing. Because I have known of young men who have come to Queens, from Pakistan and from Japan and from China and so on, and they not only do well at their lectures and not only do well at their exams, but they leave Queens with honors and go back and bow down to idols because education doesn't just mean that you're spiritually evil. There are some folks who profess to be wise. They're the greatest fools in the land. And I can tell you that when a man or woman bows down to a wooden stick and calls it God, there are demons on the hook. God says, I'm not putting up with it. I'm not putting up with it. I'm utterly destroying it. So that you can see when God comes out into the open and said, Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live whosoever lieth with a beast shall surely be good to death. He that sacrifices unto any god, he shall be utterly destroyed. This is one of God's commandments, Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. Let's go to the book of Deuteronomy just for a moment or two. We go back to the 18th chapter, Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 18. I'm commencing to read at verse 9. God's teaching is so here. When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God bitterly is, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. You know, God didn't want them to even listen to some of the things that were going on. A young fellow came to me once and said, You know, I would really like to go to a spiritualist meeting. I would really like to do this and that, wouldn't you? Well, I'll tell you this, son. This book says you to shun! That's a very wonderful word. All these profane and vain babblings. You to shun it! You're not to go in among it. You're to get out from it! And don't forget it. The word shun will do you. You're not to learn these things at all. And I'll show you why in a moment. This is the commandment, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. They said, there shall not be found among you anyone that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire. Now, that's again a familiar thing. You see, there was a fire god in the land of Canaan when Israel entered into the land. And this idol, it was among the Ammonites, it was called Molach. Molach means the fire god. You can find a picture of it in one of the museums. It was made of brass. It had a face like a calf. And it was bowed down with two arms of arms of a man. And it said that underneath these arms of this idol bowed down was always placed firewood. And sometimes a mother came and offered her firstborn baby there. And she made her son or her daughter to pass through the fire. It burned. That went on. Some people wonder if it's going on still, and on still. When they got the carcass of the little boy McDermott, who was murdered some time ago, remember the carcass was burned. I don't know if many of you here know where Giant's Ring is. I would think a great number of you would know. Isn't there many in this place that's ever been to Giant's Ring? Good now, that's not too bad at all. Quite a fair audience. Oh, I know where Giant's Ring is. And I've been up the little lane and went into the middle. And you know the big stones that are there. And there's one on the top. Now, according to the history of this country of ours, these stones were there before the birth of Abraham. It's gone back a bit too, isn't it? And it seems that that big stone in the centre that's placed on the top of the others, that that was an altar where they offered living sacrifices. Now, I'm not allowed to say too much. There are policemen here all around me. But I know that the police are secretly keeping their eye on this day of night now, with the little fellow McGermud going out there. We're beginning to think, aren't we? And this old world can worry about this. Let's come to the second book of Kings. Second book of Kings, chapter twenty-one. Second book of Kings. Take your time and find the place. Now, this is telling us about Manasseh when he came to the throne. Verse one, we're at second Kings twenty-one, verse one. Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign. And reigned fifteen, five years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Sisheba. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, after the abominations of the heathens, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. He would batch up those abominable justices. For he built up again the high places, which Hezekiah his father had destroyed. And he reared up altars for Baal. And Medagor outdid Ahab king of Israel, and worshipped all the hosts of heaven, and served them. And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord said, In Jerusalem will I put my name. And he built altars for all the hosts of heaven in the precourse of the hope of the Lord. And he made his sons cast through the fire. Yes, he did, he offered them in sacrifice. And observed tribes, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards. He wrought much wickedness, as you know. Because it was wicked spirits that was ending up. He kept the twenty-two. That's a new man coming to the throne. He was just a lad, of eight years old, Josiah. And he did that which was right, in the sight of the Lord, and watching all the way of David his father, and Frank not less, and so on. And when you come on into twenty-three, you'll see some of the things that he did. Verse five says, He put down the idolatrous priests. Verse six says, And he brought out the gloom from the house of the Lord. Verse seven says, He broke down the houses of the Sodomites. Verse eight says, He brought all the priests out of the city of Judah, and destroyed the high places where the priests had burned incense. And verse ten says, And he defiled, or destroyed is the other word, Tulfeth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech. Molech was the god of the Ammonites, and the word means the god of fire. And do you see that word Tulfeth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom? That word Tulfeth means the king's god. And do you know this fellow Manasseh, he had not only brought all these abominations into the house of the Lord and into the court of the house of the Lord, but he had set up this fire god in his own garden where children were burned. Why should you get that? My god is talking. It's good luck to dribble on them in the evening. Why should you get these commandments read before we begin at all? They shall not, verse ten, they shall not defend among you anyone that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them, that is, the nations up from before thee. Here's what he said to Israel. He said, verse fifteen, The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee of thy brethren, like unto me. It's Moses that's talking, the Lord's talking through. Unto him shall ye hop. Says in verse eighteen, I will raise them up a prophet from among thy brethren like unto me, the Lord's talking to Moses now, and will put my words in his mouth, and they shall speak unto them all that I shall command them. You see, we're at the spot now where the prophet has arrived. He went to Calvary, and he died, and he rose again, and we're honoured down this night to listen to the Lord. We don't need to go down from these abominable temples. You and I are honoured down to listen to the Lord. It's one of the things we're going to stress as we do these studies, that we must have everything from the book. If I stray from this book, and take speculation, and think it should be like this or like that, you can rub it up. I assure you I'm too afraid to stray from the book. If I stray from the book and these subjects, the devil will strangle me. But if I keep the sword in my hand, I'll be able to manage it. You'll find I won't stray. I'm too old-fashioned for that. I've got a very hard battle to fight this night, and I can only fight it holding on to the book. Now, I think you can see these commandments that God gave concerning contact with wicked spirits. Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. Thou shalt not learn the abomination. Thou shalt not cast thy sons into the fire. Thou shalt not be found among you a wizard, and so on. Now, we want to have a look at God's catalogue, not only God's commandments. And the catalogue is clear in contact concerning wicked spirits. We are here in Deuteronomy 18, and it says, verse 10, Thou shalt not be found among you anyone that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire. All that uses divination. Now, what do we know about divination? What is divination? A fellow came round to me a long time ago, and he said, you know, it's these old fellows with three hazels that's divining water. I looked at him, I thought he was out of a comic book. My dear friends, it's got nothing to do with the hazels. The powers you shall see in a moment. Some of the godliest men I've ever known have been diviners of water. This church had an old elder here called Mr. McGill, and I'll tell you that this church owes more to him than it will ever pay back. For there were times he told me, he told me that he opened the boxes at night sometimes, and there was seven and six of them in the box. And he had to put his hand into his own pocket to keep this priest going in his early days. And there were some times he wept as he went through the park, and once he stopped and said, oh God, I'll shut the doors. But the Lord didn't allow him to shut the doors. And he lived to see this place cut the way it is tonight. And he used to say to me, thank God I never gave in. Oh, that old man divined water all his days. You're not telling me that he was demon. I have a school out in the country, a lovely place away in the hills. We have thirty boys and girls out there. And we have to get water, and have to get the water diviner. And you know who divined the well out there? Dr. Posworth. When we do things, we do it well. And we have a medical doctor out there, and he said to me as he was going up and down, he said, I don't believe this thing. I said, I don't know very much about it, but I know he can do it. And he got to a spot, and this old stick began turning round and round. He said, I've got it, Willie. Right down here, come do it. I said, I just called the doctor down here. I said, down here, he doesn't believe you. He says, well, you just come over here. And he got the doctor to hold one of the legs of this little stick, and he held the other one. And the stick turned so much round in the doctor's hand, and he tried to keep it back, that it took a spin of itself. Well, you've got your education, I don't. No, I don't think there's any demon possession about Mr. Posworth. I know he shook the devil out of his knees the other day. No, that's not what divination means at all. I don't know what made her read this book. Oh, no, this is something entirely different from that sort of thing. This is going to a wicked spirit, and getting in contact with that spirit, so that that spirit can teach you something about the future. That's what this divination is all about. Now, that's not speculation on my part. Let me show you that in the Scriptures, and then you'll get it all right. Come to 1 Samuel 28. And we'll be coming back here tonight, but I'll just show you this bit now. 1 Samuel 28. Now, this is the way at the end of the days of King Saul. Verse 5, 1 Samuel 28, verse 5. And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled. And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not. A terrible moment in any man's life when God becomes silent to him. The Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, because in the old economy God used dreams, nor by urine. And that was one of the stones in the best place. Sometimes it was used for giving judgment or counsel. Neither by dreams, nor by urine, nor by prophets. God was silent. Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit. Now, I don't want you to get mixed up in this. When he talks about a woman that hath a familiar spirit, he's not talking about the woman's spirit. He's not talking about the spirit of the angel. He's talking about a woman who knows a wicked spirit in the spirit world, and she's on familiar terms with it. She has talked to it more than once. That's what he's talking about, in case you get it all muddled up. So he said, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her and inquire of her. And he said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor, a place called Endor. And Saul disguised himself, put on a garment, and he went to two men with him, and they came to the woman by night, and he said, I pray thee, divine unto me. Did you get the word? Divine unto me by the familiar spirit. This divination was not by a heathen's stick. This divination was by a wicked spirit that this woman knew. Have you got that now? Just in case you're in this meeting and you're sort of half stupid. Have you got it now? Because I get a lot of fools to deal with sometimes. They come round and talk to me about little stuff, so I read the Bible. We wanted divination. Divine unto me, he says, divine unto me. Now this is what divination is. It's the woman who has contact with the wicked spirit. Remember, this is possible. And we wanted this woman to get in contact with this wicked spirit because there are certain things he wanted to know about tomorrow. If you want to know about tomorrow, you ask the Lord Jesus. He leaves the future in the Master's hands. Would you be going to get your hand read? He's got the Lord and he understands. He knows about your future. He's a knock-out for you. You shouldn't be walking in the council of the ungodly. But there's more to this divination than that. You see, sometimes some of these men and women who use divination, they use the wind. And I'm taught that there's good fishing with us and if the wind was coming from the left, then the days ahead are good for them. But if the wind was coming from the right, then the days ahead are evil for them. Sometimes these divinators didn't only get in touch with evil spirits on the wind, but they watched the birds. And as the birds muttered in groups in the sky, you heard the starlings of them in their clothes, and did nothing. They could read them. That's all they said. Of course, this book talks about lying divinators. Yes, they told lies at times. You see, we want to be very careful when we talk about fire. Ah, the devil has used it. We want to be careful when we talk about a rushing mighty wind. Because the devil has used it. We want to be careful when we talk about mutterings. Ah, don't talk to me about mutterings. I don't think I'll have mutterings. Oh, yeah, we're beginning to wake up, aren't we? We're going slowly. Oh, we've got a long way to go. Let's go back to Deuteronomy 18. I hope you have your tea with you tonight. It's one of those moves tonight. All right. Verse 10, you're at school. They shall not be found among you, any one that misseth his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times. What does an observer of times mean? This is somebody that tries to read the stars. You know what an observer of times is, don't you? There's a good one down there at Armagh. Well, I can tell you that we are not to look at the stars for guidance. We've got a book here, the Lord's book. The prophet has come, you're to hear him on. Don't tell me you've put a horoscope in front of me. Oh, God, not for that. Oh, not for that. That's not where you get your messages from. Oh, God help you if you do. One that useth divination or an observer of times, or an enchanter. That's a great word, isn't it? You know, that simply means someone who can put spells on someone else. That's an enchanter. And I thought that in the heart of Africa, this turned us on, an old missionary who had been there for thirty years told me this. He said, well, one of these old witch doctors started to chant, and the actual word that he used here is muttering chanting. Because he would stomp up and down, and he would mutter, and he would go on, and then he would point at a certain man. I said, the man knew that he was putting a spell on. He said, down in the compound where we once were, the witch doctor suddenly appeared and started chanting and started muttering, and then he got the hold of this man. And this fellow was raped. He said, oh, die. And our brother Bennington said to him, you'll not die. He'll look after you. He said, I immediately got him into the house, put him to bed, put a guard on him, told him I'm a special Christian to cook the food, because they would poison him. And he kept saying, you know, inside seven days I'll die. He said, you'll not die. He said, we will depend upon this. And he says, when he got over the first day, he began to hope he should have never lived as long as this. He said, you're not going to die. But that night, as the guard was watching him sleeping, calmly sleeping, nobody near him, his breathing stopped, his death. Don't let's forget there is a pattern upon a real devil. And if God allows it to be so, it can be so. I tell you that these mutterings, of these encounters, are not to show they don't get a lot of around about us. Now, you know that. You've never read this passage before. You've read psalms that know everything. Only you've never seen them before. Okay. Let's have a look at the rest of it. It shall not be found among you anyone that makes it his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that uses defamation, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch. We'll be looking at the witch of Endor in a moment or two. And the word that's there for witch, this is very interesting. It's the very same Hebrew word that's rendered cultural again and again. It's the very same word that's rendered cultural. Now, I want to say this, that the word witch and the word wizard are very closely related. You see, the witch is the female. Evil spirit comes. The wizard is the male. It's the man that's up this game. Now, the word sorcerer can be either man or woman. Well, at least three will go together. In fact, there's another one that's here that goes, listen, leave witch for a moment. You see the word charmer. You know, that's this magic. You remember that you could never have these magicians with this. You remember he called him the astrologers, and he called him the magicians, and they called him. Oh, well, these were the charmers. Now, I want you to get this. Or a constructor with familiar spirits. Surely you can see that the wizard and the witch and the constructor with familiar spirits are all very closely related. And so is the next word, or the necromancer. Actually, I have the Bible at home, and the word necromancer has a number at it, and then there's a word in the margin. Here's what it says in the margin. One that inquires of the dead. That's what the word actually means. It means one that wants to get in touch with the dead to get news. He's got the whole of that. We need to be very careful with certain things. Fire. I know that God is a consuming fire. I know that God has used the wind. I know that God has used the tongue. I also know that the devil has used the fire. Didn't he do it on third street? I know that the devil has used the wind. Who do you think created the storm and the lake? Somebody said to me, wouldn't it make a being God to be careful with tongues? Now, we're just reading us, aren't we? Let's have a look at this, which if I may for a moment, we're 1 Samuel, and we're at chapter 28. And I think that you'll see things in the story tonight that you never thought were there. I think the way we read at times is disgraceful. Let's start it all over again. Verse 4. Or we'll go to verse 3. 1 Samuel 28, verse 3. Now, Samuel was dead. The old prophet was dead. And all Israel had lamented him, and rightly so. Then he came in Ramah, even in his own city. And Saul had took away those that had familiar spirits and the wizards. It was a time in his life when he was against all that, out of the land. And the Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and pitched in Shalom. And Saul gathered all Israel together, and they pitched in Gilboa. And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid. And his heart greatly trembled. And when Saul inquired of the Lord, and he's done, and he's praying, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by urine, nor by prophets. And when God was silent, he said this. Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her and inquire of her. It's a shocking thing when a man of God has to do this. His servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor. They knew she was there all the time. And when he was destroying the witches and the wizards, they never told him. They were sort of superstitious about it. They were afraid to let her be known. They say. And Saul disguised himself, and put on a garment, and he went to men with him. They came to the woman by night, and he said, I pray thee, design unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me him up, whom I shall name unto thee. He wanted to get in contact with the dead. This is necromancy. He wants to inquire of the dead. He's using a witch. He's using a woman that hath a familiar spirit. The woman said unto him, Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done. You see, he was disguised. For he hath cut off those that have familiar spirits, and the wizards out of the lungs. Wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life, to cause me to die? And Saul swore to her by the law. And I think she knew that when a man of Israel swore to her by the law, she was quite a saint, saying, As the Lord lives, there shall no punishment happen to thee for this sin. Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel. Now, the woman never got started into getting into contact with the familiar spirit, if you're watching the book right. The moment that Saul said to her, Bring me up Samuel, the next phrase says, And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice. She'd never seen anybody from the dead before. She'd just been in contact with a spirit that was up there, and the spirit had talked to her, but she'd never seen the spirit. But before she can get started doing anything of the witchcraft, there's somebody appears. It's Samuel. She never brought him up. Not for a moment she didn't. She wouldn't have been scared, if she had. The woman cried with a loud voice, a squeal. And the woman spoke to Saul, saying, Why have thou deceived me, for I am Saul? You see, she had seen Samuel all the days of her life, and she knew this is Samuel. He just appeared all of a sudden. No talk about her familiar spirit at all. Samuel suddenly appeared. And then she knew this must be Saul. The woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice, and the woman spoke to Saul, saying, Why have thou deceived me, for I am Saul? And the king said unto her, Be not afraid. For what Saul saw, I can tell you that he never saw Samuel. Or just the woman saw. He said to her, What sawest thou? And the woman said to Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the air. And he said unto her, What form is he of? She said, An old man cometh up, and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel. He knew now. She is just describing what she saw. She is scared. She is standing absolutely frightened. Frightened both of what she saw, and now of what she knew, that Saul was there. And Saul perceived it was Samuel, and he stood with his fist to the ground. He sat down on his knees, and bowed his fist right to the ground, and he knew that Samuel was there somewhere. And then Samuel spoke. Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me? It wasn't the woman that did it, nor it wasn't the evil spirit to bring me up. Saul answered, I am so distressed. For the Son of God is making war against me, and God is departed from me, and unsure of me no more, neither by prophets nor by dreams. Therefore I have called thee that thou mayest look known unto me what I shall do. This is the whole thing about looking at the future. Why not look to the Lord? Now the Lord has left, and my dear friend of the Lord leaves you. I'll tell you, you needn't start to call him anything. If God becomes silent to you, you're damned. You can't get saved except God talks to you. And if God's not going to talk to you any more, you're damned. You might as well be in hell. No man can come except the Father. Oh, that was the witch of Endor. You can see the apparition and the consternation. Let me hear the condemnation. The sixteen men said, Samuel, wherefore then dost thou ask of me? Seeing the Lord is departed from me and has become thine enemy. And the Lord hath done to him, or the margin says, the Lord hath done for himself, I think that's the right rendering, as he spake by me. And the Lord hath rent the kingdom out of thine hands, and given it to thine neighbour, even to David. Because thou obeyest not the voice of the Lord, nor executes to see it wrought upon Amalek. Therefore hath the Lord done this thing unto thee this day. Moreover, the Lord will answer, deliver this fear with thee into the hand of the sinners. And tomorrow shall thou and thy sons be with me. Some people come round and say, was Samuel saved? Of course he was saved. Oh, I knew he was a black sledder. I knew he got away from God. I knew that God was fed up with him. I'll tell you, he was going to be with Samuel. He wasn't going to be damned or anything. Hope you got that. Very important little bit. The Lord shall deliver the host official into the hand of the Philistine. Let's have a look at this sorcerer over here, in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 8. Don't we need to do that before we stop this evening? This is Philip going down to Samaria, Acts chapter 8. Verse 5, Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria. Now, I want you to get this story right. He's preaching to the Samaritans. They were a sort of mongrel crowd. They were neither Jews nor Gentiles, a sort of mixture. You know, the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. When the temple of the Lord was in Jerusalem, the Samaritans had a temple of their own, way up in the hills of Samaria. I was up in that temple once and wandered round and did lots of things. And if you could see the Samaritans today, I think if I'm right, there are only 200 of them left. They have married through each other. They have never gone outside their own families. And you should see them today. They're all just half-dust looking people. And this is where Philip came to preach the gospel to the Samaritans. We must keep that in mind, of course. And he preached Christ unto them and there was a sort of revival here. Verse 8, at the same time, there was great joy in that city. Verse 9, But there was a certain man called Simon, which before time in the same city used sorcery. You see, he was a wizard and bewitched the people. You can see the connection between witchcraft and sorcery and the man that's a wizard. It's all the same thing, almost. He bewitched the people of Samaria, just the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one to whom they all gave heed from the least to the greatest, This man is the great power of God. It's just what the devil likes to hear, that the power that he energizes in some creatures, that it's recognized as God's power. He wants to be like God all the time. I have a feeling he's got a lot of fools in this country. Yes, he was all pleased and so. Verse 11, And to him they had regard, because that was long time he had bewitched them with sorcery. You see, they were bewitched for a long time. All the time they thought this fellow was under grasp by God. Oh, you can be bewitched, all right. But when they believed, Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus, they were baptized. When were they baptized? When they believed. What do you think? It isn't David that's getting baptized here. It's believers. When they believed, both men and women. Simon himself believed also. Now, that's something that has to be taken very carefully. I think that I should prove to you before the fools this story that he made a profession of belief. It was a profession. And, of course, Philip just couldn't detect the profession and he was also baptized. And even if you're baptized by a nation, by a man like Philip, you can still die and go to hell if you're not saved. Mere profession isn't everything. You'll have to have more to it than that, but you'll see. And Simon himself believed also and when he was baptized he continued with Philip and wondered. Here's where his eye was, beholding the miracles and signs. This is the sort of thing he'd prayed to God with all his life. Now he's seeing it in reality, which is God that's in this man. There were miracles and signs. We'll come to these signs one of these nights. Verse 14, And now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, the gospel, they could hardly believe it that the Samaritans had accepted the Lord Jesus and that they were rejoicing. They sent unto them Peter and John. Peter and John were back at Jerusalem there, two or three apostles, you know. I don't think they were thought altogether keen about this, you know. It meant them going down and making contact with Samaritans who, when they were condoned, condoned with Samaria, prayed for the Samaritans that they might receive the Holy Ghost. Now I want you to get this. Some people make a whole story out of this that's not true. You see, God, for once in the history of the church, withheld the Holy Ghost coming on the Samaritans because if the day they believed the Holy Ghost had come, they would have established a church of all, just like they had established the temple of all. Only God in His wisdom is not around this. These fools in Jerusalem and these Samaritans in Samaria must be brought together. And for Peter to put his hands on a Samaritan was a big death. It was the day that the Lord had longed for. But seventeen men laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost. The young fellow said to me, not so long ago, you know, the bishop laid his hands on me and I received the Holy Ghost. Where did you get that out of? Exactly, sir. I said, well, as far as I can see, what can you do? You're not a Samaritan. And as far as I know about your old bishop, he's not an Apostle. These were Apostles and these were Samaritans. I don't fool yourself. Just keep it in next door. In case you take it out of its context and make a new doctrine out of it. You follow what I'm saying? Now watch this. Verse 18. When Simon saw that food laying on of the Apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, knowing how he had told me, he offered the money saying, give me also this power. He was running around Phillip's skirts. He was looking for power. That on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. He wanted to enter into business with him. No need to charge him a pound or two before this would be over. But Peter said of him, now Peter was no fool. Peter saw this fellow through and through right away. Phillip business. Peter did. Now watch what Peter said. Thy money perish with thee. He refused the money right away. He was a funny Pope, wasn't he? To tell me he was a false Pope. Never saw a Pope refusing money in Malaysia. He said, thy money perish with thee. Because thou hast taught that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast made a pot no less in this matter. That's what I believe. He made a profession. He had made a pot no less in it. I believe what Peter believed. You can make a profession, you know, and get baptized and have made a pot no less. If they come, that's what you'll be. And bless yourself. Here's what Peter said to him. Thou hast made a pot no less in this matter. For thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Isn't that it? He wasn't right at all. Well, he was just fiddling around because he thought he could set up a business over this. Here's what Peter said to him. Repent, therefore, of this thy wickedness. Ah, yes, there was a wicked spirit in this man and it was still working. Pray God that perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven me. Sometimes we come down and tell me that Peter has the keys and that he can forgive you. Why did he say, pray God that perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven me when he could have done it? For not a bit of him he could forgive nothing. Oh, no. Did he just pray that perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven me? For I perceive, that's what Peter had, this gift of perception, that thou art in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. That's where he was. Then answered Simon who said, pray ye to the Lord for me. He's beginning to get broken down now. None of those things which ye have spoken. He was a sorcerer, you see. There was a wicked spirit working with him and he bluffed the people. In fact, the spirit worked to bluff himself and to bluff Philip. But you can never truly bluff God. Now, we have sort of laid the foundation now, and we'll have to see about these tongues and these mutterings and these evil spirits that keep on muttering. So we have a lot on our plate for next week. Now, let me talk to the clerks. I want you to come early, because I want you in. They're going to get the lot of charlies coming along next week, creeping in. They'll have no bother filling the seats. And we're looking for them. They're looking for you. You're my people. Now, it's a good notion to stand there and keep your ears open, get in. Now, I'm just asking you to just come that moment or two earlier. Well, there'll be a couple of weeks on this. They'll have these books ready for you. They're for you. Somebody rang me the other day and said, can you give me 500 of these? No chance. We're not making them for the world. We're making them for you. You're my client. For you. If you buy one or two to give to somebody else, bless you, that's okay. But they're for you. So you'll come early. Bring your peach with you, so you won't have to stay late. All the rest of it. I don't know where they are. What are we seeing there? Seven hundred and six. Seven or six. But just sing the first and the fourth verses. The first and the fourth verses. Seven hundred and six, please. Omnipotent Christian soldiers marching on to war. And remember, the offering tonight is for the wheelhouse. She's given her life to the Lord. Why wouldn't we help her? Seven or six. First and fourth, please. Dear Lord, part us in our fear. And with our blessing, take us to our homes in safety. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.