The video titled "Transformations" was produced in 1999 and quickly gained popularity worldwide. It showcases four cities where the alleged presence of God has transformed not only the churches but also the entire communities. The video presents undated film footage and interviews, emphasizing the power of prayer and spiritual warfare to bring about revival. It suggests that if Christians unite and practice these principles, revival will break out, churches will grow, and communities will experience positive social and moral changes. However, the speaker cautions against fascination with the spirit world and emphasizes the need to focus on Christ and the teachings of the Bible.

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold. You are welcome to make copies for your friends and neighbors. If you would like additional messages, please go to our website for a complete listing at www.charityministries.org. If you would like a catalog of other sermons, please call 1-800-227-7902 or write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, EFRA PA 17522. These messages are offered to all without charge by the free will offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. Amen. Well, God is good and we're sure, I'm sure enjoying all of you. It's just too bad that there are so many of us that we can't get around to meet all of you and talk for a few minutes at least. Guys, let's praise God for the spirit that I sense here. I'm very, very grateful that you have come and to see so many, I feel, and to sense your burden and vision, I feel like I'm in the midst of an army with soldiers keeping rank in these last days. That's how I feel, and I'm glad to be allowed to be one among you. I told somebody last night, you know, I'm glad I'm here. I'm allowed to be here. It's just I don't know what I would have done. I would have wept and wept and wept if I could have attended something like this in my struggling years in my late 20s and early 30s. So, thank God. Well, shall we just bow our heads for prayer? Father in Heaven, I just want to thank You and bless You for Your goodness to us today. Thank You, God, for this session. Break the bread of life. Give us the truth. Guide us into truth, Lord. May the truth liberate us and set us free like You have promised. And we pray, Lord, give us doctrinal and spiritual truth in these confusing days in which we live. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. Got a little bit of a late start. Kind of a bad morning for that for me. But I would like to speak on the subject this morning again of discernment. However, today and tomorrow, it is my desire to actually go into a little bit more of actually exercising some of our tools for discernment that we have identified in the last three days. We have listed a number of tools. We have talked about the Word of God. We have assumed a true conversion and having the Holy Spirit within and therefore having the illumination of the Spirit of God in our lives. And then we have gone to many other tools in which we need to use and need to have as a foundation for our spiritual discernment. So this morning it would be my desire now that we could look at some of the I tried to discern one of the major ones that I am going to talk about today is the matter of spiritual warfare. The title of my study this morning would be Discernment or Discerning Spiritual Warfare. Probably the most popular subject in the bookstores today. One of incredible infiltration and influence into the Christian church. Like I told our ministering brethren yesterday, and I am sure you probably think about it occasionally and then maybe forget it again, but if you stop and listen to your prayer meetings, you would be shocked if you would know how much of the lingo and how much of the phraseology that has been adopted right out of the books of spiritual warfare that has come down here through the last 25 years especially through many various influences of Mark Bubeck and Frank Peretti and Neil Anderson and many other men like that. And the tremendous influence that they have had in the Christian world and have brought all these new concepts to us. Many others that could be mentioned. I may mention a few more as I identify some of these things today. Let us turn for an opening scripture to 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 1. Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith. Brother Denny is identifying day by day this week the faith. And here Paul is warning Timothy that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith and they will give heed to seducing spirits, spirits that are designed to seduce us as Christians. This is not written to the heathen. This is written to the Christian church. And there are seducing spirits designed to seduce us and doctrines or teachings of devils or teachings concerning demons is the way I would like to identify that. It says doctrines of devils and we might think it says doctrines from devils but I believe it is also doctrines about devils and demons. And especially so when I will share with you some of the things that I am beginning to see. Now I want to make it clear here at the beginning and those of you who know me through the years and have listened to some of my tapes know that I believe in spiritual warfare. I believe that we indeed are encountering an increase of demon activity and devils, that activity on the face of the earth in these last days. And therefore I know and it is not at my heart to somewhere put it on a shelf and say we will deal with that like many other churches have and run from it and wash our hands of the whole thing and turn the people over to the psychologists and psychiatrists in order to deal with these with medicine only to suppress them or only to hold them back. But rather that we take the responsibility as God's people to work with these things. However, I would also like to say that very, very little. We are in a terrible state of imbalance and a swinging of a pendulum here. As I told the ministers, if I can just give you a few things that I mentioned there yesterday. What we have through church history and through men of God through history is the attention used to be on the devil, the world, and the flesh. And specifically the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. That was considered the spirit of the world and our specific enemy. And all through the years here and all through these ages, that has been the focus of songwriters and palm writers and preachers and teachers and evangelists and prophets and whatever have you. That were men of God who rose up. But in these last days, we all at once forget the flesh and all of our focus is over on the devil. And something isn't right. Something isn't right here, brethren. And I do not say that my studies are all conclusive, but I will reveal to you some of the things that should cause you to send your antennas up today and at least if I could just begin to bring the question to you and you could get a grip on the question, what is going on? What is going on? And begin to discern and to think and to consider this whole matter. Spirits. Evil spirits are mentioned ten times, I believe, somewhere around there in the New Testament. And the flesh is specifically addressed fifty times. But when you read these books, we hear nothing anymore of the flesh and virtually nothing of the world. But everything is attributed to the devil and his demons. Today's spiritual warfare is all about man, not God. Bill Randles writes in his analysis of the spiritual warfare ideology, it is man's attempt to elevate himself to the God level and to intervene in the plans of history. Mark that down in your minds. As for Satan, he is mocking all these human attempts to pull down strongholds. He knows full well that his finest hour is yet to come. And he and his cohorts will not be cast down, will not be bound until the appointed time. Now the Bible does say that he will be bound, but it's not by you and I. It's not by the church age. He will be loosed until the angel will come down with a great chain in his hand in Revelation chapter 20 and bound him and shut him up for a thousand years. And then we're going to have rest. That's what the Bible says. But then he will be loosed for a short time too and end up in the lake of fire where he will be for eternity. Satan waves his red flag and the Christian church charges. Like a Spanish bullfighter in Mexico or in Madrid, Spain. He puts out his red flag and the church is charging the flag and he is on the side probably laughing and having a good time because they're missing the mark. By all modern standards of these new things that we have here, Paul failed at spiritual warfare. He never researched or talked about territorial spirits. He didn't rebuke strongholds of pagan religion. He didn't try to take cities for God. Yet in truth, Paul didn't lose in spiritual warfare. He won. And that was he won by the preaching of the anointed gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That was his commission and it is ours. We are called to preach the gospel of grace and forgiveness, turning men from the darkness of this world's vain philosophies to the light of truth and the light of the gospel. And we wage war against Satan most effectively when we allow God's anointed word to go forth to touch unbelievers' hearts and souls, convicting them, converting them and opening them up to God. Many of you know, if you stop and think long enough, that the gospel, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ can penetrate walls 20 foot thick. And as we experienced in Manitoba and South Dakota, can penetrate locked up, closed colonies where there are hundreds of ministers dead set against you along with crooked lawyers who write threatening letters of lawsuits and what have you, along with the local police and the sheriff's department. And they can't stop it. Therein is the strength of the church and the power of the Holy Ghost, not in what we're hearing it is today. I tell you, I debated for a while what I want to call it, my message, the deception of spiritual warfare. And I guess I'll let you come to the conclusion of what you want to say there, but I know personally it would be my conviction, I didn't want to make it too strong, that there is some deception definitely going on around here on that. I've got a copy here from Lake Hamilton Bible Camp in Arkansas. Let me read a bit of it to you. This is on the binding and loosing taken from Matthew 16, 19 and Matthew 18, 18. In the authority of Jesus Christ, I bind the strong men over your state, county, township, city, area, block and business. Over each president, owner, board of directors, each employee, treasurer, and the finances of this business, each customer, all of my property and the bank. I cast out the spirits of mismanagement, poverty, lack, failure, bankruptcy, stagnation, and I loose into each category, just mentioned, wisdom, inventiveness, aggressiveness, profit, of course, service, fairness, truth, honesty, and the spirits of the Lord, and prosperity through the Lord. Quoting Scriptures on top of it in Deuteronomy 8, 18, 2 Corinthians 8, 9, and Mark 10, 24. I loose the authority of Jesus Christ, the angels, over each state, county, township, city, area, block, business, and employee. I ask you, Lord, to send your angels out to create favor for this business, and so on down the line. Either this is wrong, or the Bible is the most partial book we have. If this is right, then our Lord and his disciples and the writers of Scripture sure left us set without the right knowledge and the right tools for spiritual warfare. Here is another one just from the same place. Calling all believers to join with us to continue waging a successful battle to further Satan's and block Satan's influence from America. Here is the prayer. Father, we ask you to send warrior angels and to totally protect the President and his family from all harm. In the name of Jesus Christ, we break all charms, hexes, vexes, spells, jinxes, psychic powers, fetishes, curses, bewitchment, and sorcery sent by voodoo or beamed by witchcraft upon the President of the United States. We cancel all assassination plots against the President and cancel Satan's plans for the President and the United States. We bind the strongman over the President's official and unofficial advisors. And on down it goes. Spiritual warfare is the provision that God has given to us as Christians whereby through faith and spiritual fortitude we can triumph over Satan. Now, we are daily engaged against the enemy, and the enemy is real. I don't doubt that a bit. The question is where, what are the tools that God has given us, what is our position in Christ, and how do we use them? God has given in Ephesians chapter 6, incidentally, this is the chapter where the verses are clearly written that in verse 12, that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, and against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. But in that chapter and the subsequent verses is the armor of the Lord upon the believer with a helmet of salvation, a breastplate of righteousness and holy living, right? Loins skirted about with truth and the feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Do you know that a sufficient and right part of the armor of the Lord is the feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace? And then having the sword of the Spirit and the shield of faith, we go into battle and we stand, having done all, we stand and we resist the enemy and quench all the fiery darts of the wicked with it, all of them. But we are made to think that that's not the case. We have a whole new strategy of warfare that has come upon us. We have a whole new spiritual language. And one of my questions to you throughout this today will be where, and I want to ask that to you at different times. Where is the authority and the power of the gospel in these things? One of them is the blood for protection. We treat the blood like it is a magic salve to protect us, our wives and our children and our vehicles and our property against evil spirits. The blood was shed as an atonement for men's sins. Nowhere in the Bible will you find that the blood is applied to a wife or to a child to protect it from evil spirits. Think, where does that come from? We are constantly pleading the blood and asking the blood to cover as if it is a salve of protection. While millions of Christians are binding the devil, we are plunging into apostasy and aligning ourselves for or with the new world order or the cosmic Christ. Let's see here. Today, spiritual terms and concepts are used in spiritual warfare discussions that never were used prior to in the church. We have what is known as prayer walking, prayer journeys and prayer expeditions. Let me explain. One of our groups represented here, I believe, was out on the street witnessing the other night. Not from local here, one of the other churches. And they ran up against a group of young men who were on a prayer walk. What's going on here? Well, what they do is walk around town, up and across and over and all that, praying over the territorial spirit of the city, wrestling in prayer to bind the strong men or to bind the principality that is over the city, thinking that when they have that done, the whole city, the people, will just come to Christ and they will just accept the Lord and get converted by the droves. What is missing? The old-fashioned preaching and witnessing and testifying of a gospel. We have spiritual mapping. That is, taking a city and finding the northernmost, southernmost, easternmost, westernmost part of the city, going to that area and kind of claiming the area and so on. And then you map out the city. And then you try to declare that area for Christ. The same goes with territorial spirits. We have identificational repentance. And I'll give a little bit more on that spiritual mapping maybe later. We have identificational repentance. A few years ago, the President of the United States, Bill Clinton, fell in the sin. Shortly thereafter, as the whole thing was rolling around, Pat Robertson rose up and forgave him his sin in the name of Jesus. Identificational repentance without an ounce that we know of true repentance from our President. What is he? A priest? What is he? A pope? He has absolutely no authority to do such a thing and neither do you or I. To forgive someone's sins in identificational repentance. This is a deception. Jesus' marches, strategic level intercession, confronting demons is the rule and not the exception. Paul didn't know anything about that when he went into Athens and saw the whole city given to idolatry to confront the demon over the city of Athens, did he? He must have missed it somehow. But what he did do was stand up on Mars Hill and preach the gospel. And men repented and found repentance one by one. And that's the method that God has designed from ages past to change cities if they're going to get changed. But I mentioned something about prayer journeys and prayer expeditions. Prayer journeys and prayer expeditions are now a group of you men traveling to a foreign country, a foreign country in Africa or Asia or the Orient, and doing the same thing there, traveling to the northernmost, southernmost, east and west, and maybe taking a couple of wooden stakes with you and all that with Bible verses written on, and pounding them in and declaring that country, that city, that town, that township, that area for the gospel, that tribe, and trying to deal, to wrestle with the stronghold, supposedly be the principality or the demon over it, and therefore expecting that the whole tribe will give itself to God. As these frontline troops advance bodily in these targeted geographic areas, tens of thousands or thousands of prayer warriors pray around the globe providing air cover because they know demons can come by air. And they try to reclaim the land from Satan. Well, I've had the privilege to work in a country that's dedicated to Satan some in the last six years. And what a blessed privilege it is to see the effect by a dear missionary couple down there having so much love for a witch doctor that they go stand in public with their arm around them and just pouring mercy and love upon them and praying for them. And I had the privilege of laying my hands upon her head and praying for her likewise. And to this day, at least two of her children got converted, and she actually wants all of the rest of her children to follow the Lord and not her. But she thinks she's bound for life in the commitment she made to the devil. But that is the way to overcome witch doctors. With the love of Christ, with the gospel, with compassion, with putting your arm around them perhaps and showing them love instead of thinking, Oh, they're going to throw a curse at me. You know, and the Christians are cowering and constantly trying to cover their bases. And this is the next door neighbor. And the Christians can live there without fear. That's what God teaches. And I'll tell you, this new stuff has us covering ourselves and carrying on like we're a bunch of scared Indians of these things. And something is out of order again, I'd like to say. What they're trying to do is to try to open up the veins somehow that the course of the gospel can flow freely. But the Scriptures make no reference ever of strategies by which we would move against the spirit world. None. In fact, we see quite the opposite. In John 3, verse 8, it tells us that the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Colossians 2 tells us that in His death and resurrection, He spoiled principalities and powers, that He made a show of them openly, and He did what? Triumphed over them in it. This work's already been done, brothers. We don't have to redo the redemption plan. It's already been done. When are we going to believe it by faith and move out and not be afraid of it? In Mark chapter 3, verse 27, Jesus stated the purpose for coming to earth. No man can enter a strong man's house and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man, and then he will spoil his house. Now, that was given on the heels of an accusation by the Jews that He was casting out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of devils. And Jesus just simply said, now wait a minute, fellas. You surely know that I can't cast out devils by the prince of devils. I can't spoil his house if I don't bind the strong man first. And what He was simply saying is, my ministry here on earth and the redemption plan that I'm about to bring is going to spoil it for the next 2,000 years, and finally it will spoil it for eternity. And that's exactly what He did. He wasn't giving some kind of a strategy there in order to wrestle against the strong man. He was simply clearly saying that He was entering Satan's domain there with the authority of God, and He was in the process, and it was a process. Some happened immediately, and some is going to happen yet in the future. What did He say when the 70 went out preaching the gospel when He came back? What did He say? I saw Satan fall as lightning from heaven. Wow! What were they doing? Taking territorial domain? No. They were preaching the gospel. We agree that during Jesus' time on earth, His earthly ministry, that Satan's power was limited. When the gospel of Jesus Christ came in its fullness there, Jesus, that was also a prophetic statement, I believe, with the 70, when the gospel was preached, I see Satan fall from heaven. I think that there was some prophecy in that for the church age, because it was in the preaching of the gospel that has penetrated the worst of Satan's kingdoms, the darkest of religious strongholds. It's the preaching of the gospel that has penetrated and has set people free. But He was also saying, and did say, that He was going to deal with Satan yet more. Now, the Pilgrim's Progress gives us a beautiful picture of the whole thing, although I'm not sure if He finished it quite like it should be finished, according to the Word of God. But when Pilgrim was on his journey, he heard the roaring of lions, and it rarely shook the earth. But when he got up close, he noticed they were tied and could not reach Him if He would walk a straight and narrow road right through the middle of them. And that's a beautiful picture, my brothers and sisters. But the Bible and three places in the Word of God allows us to resist Him in 1 Peter 5-9, James 4-7, Ephesians 6-13. All three of those scriptures tell us how to do it, and it is by submitting ourselves unto God. We resist the devil, and he will flee from us. So, a pilgrim could have said that I can get up there, and by resisting him, they don't only run at the chains to try to get me, but they run away from me. That's what he could have said. And I think he believed that too. And if you read the entire story there, it's been a while since I read it, so it's not so familiar in my mind. But Jesus was manifested to destroy the works of the devil. And what He came for, what Jesus came for, is to release, He came to set the captives free, and to deliver those that are bound, and set at liberty those that are bruised, and to have, eventually, have the acceptable year of the Lord. And He came to bring authority, take authority again, and provide a way back for all of mankind to find deliverance from those chains which Satan had brought on mankind through the fall. Now, let me read another scripture. I think this is in Ephesians chapter 3, verse 8, 9, and 10, talks about this. To the intent that now, under the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. And if those principalities and powers are the same that we wrestle against in Ephesians 6, 12, then the church of Jesus Christ, and the work of the church, and the power of the church through the Holy Ghost, God wants to show her off to the demons, to the devils, of the prince of the power of the air, and his followers. Because it says, to the intent that now, under the principalities and powers in heavenly places, might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. He really gave them a scene, didn't he? When he displayed the church in Acts chapter 2 in front of them. I Peter 3, 22 reiterates this conquest of Christ. Christ is gone into the heaven and is on the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. Incidentally, since demonic hosts do not reproduce the same angels of darkness which Christ divested of authority and spoiled, are in our world today. And they must be subject to Christ, they must be subject to his name, and subject to his word by the finished work of the cross and his resurrection. So that individual Christians can live overcoming lives, and so that the gospel can flow freely to all nations. And then furthermore, in John chapter 8, verse 31 and 32, as ye shall know the truth, the truth shall make you free, is another one that is a powerful verse. This strategic level prayer movement is not only unscriptural, not only an unscriptural agenda, its strategies of military aggression against Satan is erroneous. The scriptures never instruct us to deal and to move into Satan's kingdom and to work with him personally or his demons in that way. Rather to submit ourselves therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from us. The Bible does not tell us to take on the devil. It does not tell us to take on the demons. And I don't know if you know what's behind all this, but it's not good. It's not good at all. The whole thing comes out of Dominion theology, which believes that the devil stole the earth away from God in the Garden of Eden when they tripped up Satan, Adam and Eve. And that where we're at now, especially, I don't know what they figure out about the last 2,000 years, how the church has been so powerless and anemic. But anyway, they believe that we're here to take over the world again. And we're here to establish an earthly kingdom in this world. In fact, the radicals of the movement believe that Jesus has already come. We are the incarnate Christ. We have come. The church is Christ. Christ is not going to come again. He's already here. And that's why they chant for who knows how long, You are gods, you are gods, you are gods. Because we are now in control. And we're taking over. It's Dominion theology. And when you read all this aggressive military strategies and words and all that, that's what's going on. You know, it's the witch doctors, the medicine men, the occultists, the shamans of the world that communicate with evil spirits. We need not to. We need not to. Jesus did not suffer them to speak. We have deliverance ministries today that dialogue with them for hours and taunt them and try to insult them and try to get information. We have catalogs of demon names that come out of former Satanists and come out of deliverance ministries where you get them to identify them and they write them down. And now we have hundreds and hundreds of demon names floating around on the Internet and on periodicals to help you deal with these things, with those names. Many former Satanists are actually sent to only destroy the church. Where is one? Where is one? And I'm not saying there aren't any, but there are a few that are faithful for a ten-year period. But most of them come in and take their rounds and later on are found to have been a child molester all the time. Those kind of things are taking place. Or to give their testimony in churches for a couple of years and then find out they're a lesbian. Many of the books that are written are just simply filled and are written to sell. They are a dupe on the Christian world to take their money and sell them on sensationalism and fascination with the spirit world. Watch out for them. Watch out for them. Christ said, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And we must look to Him and search out the old path and walk in them. Yes, well, a few other things here that I would like to talk about. Let me give you some reflections here on the transformation video. How many have ever heard of that? Okay, thank God there's not more. But in 1999, a video called Transformations was produced in the United States. Within a matter of months, it was sweeping the world. This video is a graphic presentation of four cities across the world in which the alleged presence of God has transformed not only the churches, but also entire communities. A man by the name of George Otis, Jr., another one of those fuller theological think tank men from the Sentinel Group down there in Tennessee, I think it is, presents this hour-long documentary where largely undated film footage is interspersed by interviews and various church leaders in their respective cities. The message that the video seeks to put out is, as George Otis said, learn how the power of prayer can deliver similar results in your own neighborhood. The video taken at face value seems to confirm that revival is about to break out in cities all around the world and in tribes and in countries and take the world back to Christ. That's the way it is designed, it seems. And you'll notice that they're teaching basically to confirm that revival will break out, churches will grow, communities will change their social and moral characteristics, bars will close, prostitutes will quit their business, and the mafia will stop its work, and on and on this goes. But they say in there, George will say, if Christians unite. You see the serpent's head? Pray and practice spiritual warfare. That's the qualifications to get this job done. However, when one simply seeks to compare what is shown in the video with the truth presented in the Bible, you come up with a very different picture. Now, I don't know how much of this to quote, but anyway, one of these areas is in Cali, Columbia, another one in Hemet, California, another one in Kenya, and then there's one somewhere else yet. And the idea is given that, I think I have a few of those facts written down or marked here, in Kiambu, Kenya, it is said that the problem of the town was in the principalities and powers. There was a spirit of witchcraft ruling in that town, and that the spiritual power over the town had to be broken. One of the two pastors interviewed, well, that's in another city. According to George Otis, a persevering and committed leadership amongst the Christians is needed as well as a visible unity in the churches. You see what he's doing with it? It is the full-fledged ecumenical movement in disguise here. The transformation video presents faith in prayer and faith in the power of prayer rather than faith in the Lord. Another subtle thing. While narrating the events of Cali, Columbia, George Otis said, the kingdom of God has descended upon Cali. This is a totally unbiblical concept which betrays a very dangerous understanding that it is in man's power to bring the kingdom of God down. Much flag waving, jumping, shouting, displays of emotion, costume dancers, exuberant worshippers, noisy music, etc. was seen. It was as a razzmatazz, a South American carnival. You'll see a sign in the background that says intoxicated or intoxication in Jesus. This is exactly the kind of worship that the prophets of Baal performed in Elijah's day. Why were there so many scenes of costume dancers? What were they doing? War dances? Also, what do the flags represent? A little more about flags. In one of the new, latest spiritual warfare techniques is the use of flags and banners as spiritual power tools. And these things are colored. They're termed worship and warfare flags. It's to coax the Holy Spirit to respond to us and to our needs. We now have flag ministers in church that determine when to wave the right flag in the service. Red stands for the blood of Christ, purple for authority, blue for revelation knowledge, and white for purity. Would you believe there's a Hutterite colony in Manitoba that has these flags on top of their houses? Because their people have been deceived into this thing? That's right. A person can hardly keep up. But now we have transformations too. And we have four more villages and cities in Wales and another one in the 1040 window, I think, and different ones, another one in Africa, perhaps. Let me tell you about another one. It's called the Baltimore Stakeout. And all this is based on the same theology. You can trace it right down and smell it a long ways off. But this is called Gatekeeper's Rituals in Baltimore. In February of 1998, the Rock Church of Baltimore, pastors by the name of Tommy Tenney, or Tommy Tenney and Pastor Bart Pierce, explained how to secure the borders of Baltimore and to reclaim the city to the glory of God. Tommy explained that what you need to do if you buy a property in Baltimore is take stakes out there and get the pastors out there. The gatekeeper men of the city should come out and take a hammer and drive some stakes in the four corners or so of your property. Furthermore, in April of 1998, they decided to get a large group of pastors together in the city of Baltimore, take wooden stakes that were about a couple of feet long and made to a point in one end, and drill a hole in the top, about a half-inch hole, and roll up a piece of paper with some verses on it and stick it in the hole and put a cap on top, some kind of a furniture cap to keep the rain out. Then you anoint the stake with oil, olive oil, to make it give it a nice tan look or a nice color to it. And then these pastors were gathered at the Orioles football or baseball stadium and drove the first one, and then they were to go out to the interstates and to the airports and to the various inroads or the perimeters of the city and drive these stakes. And these pastors were supposed to, I guess, chant a certain prayer or say a certain prayer as they took a sledgehammer and drove them in. And that was supposed to affect the city of God. Well, that's six years ago, and I'm not too far away from Baltimore, and I haven't heard of anything yet. But I perceive that somebody is deceived and is wasting their time trying to wrestle a demon over Baltimore down so that the people will respond to the gospel and nobody is preaching the gospel. And you know what I mean by nobody. Hardly anybody is preaching the gospel. Hardly anybody is passing out tracts on the streets. Hardly anybody is standing up in the middle of Baltimore and preaching against homosexuality, preaching against murder, preaching against drunkenness, and shacking up and fornication and divorce and remarriage. Nobody is preaching on the sins of the city anymore. This is a whole different ballgame, I tell you. And I think I know where it comes from. It's a diversion. It's a diversion. I think in some of these stakes they write repentance, revival, reconciliation, renewal on the four sides of the stake. Out in Oregon, Portland, Oregon, they had another service out there and did the same thing out there. They're going around the area. Now, I just want to remind you. I just want to remind you to see if anything clicks in your mind, but it does a bit in mine. If you would examine the ceremony of a Tibetan monk, it would be described a little bit that way. He would trample down. He would recite as he goes through his ritualistic dance, turning successfully to the four quarters. He recites, I trample down the demon of pride, the demon of anger, and the demon of lust, and the demon of stupidity. He rearranges his toga, which trailed on the ground, and having put aside his damaru and the bone trumpet, he spread the tent, seized the peg in one hand, the stone in the other, and drove home the pegs while chanting the liturgy. It seems like something is going on here. Let me see here. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 3, In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. Now, I quote this in light of the idea that it is demons that keep everybody's minds shut, that they can't believe the gospel. But the Bible says here, the war is in the mind, and it does say if our gospel is hid, it is hid to them that are lost. But that the God of this world has blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest, or saying, this is what really happens, the light of the gospel, of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. Whom God hath commanded the light to shine out of the darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And we have this treasure in earthen vessels. If we further go back to Romans 1.16, where it says, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for if the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, we are being diverted away from the power of the gospel. And while all this stuff is going on, these people, these churches, are not preaching the gospel. They're preaching warfare strategies. They're preaching against territorial spirits. They're preaching the Alpha Course. If you know what that is, you don't have time to go into that this morning. They're preaching Baltimore stakeouts. They're planning trips like that into other countries. And many missions, many of the missions, have fallen into spiritual mapping and strategic warfare rather than giving the people the gospel. Another trick that has come along right along with this whole thing is that the gospel must be contextualized into the heathen culture. And so, if you do happen to get a Muslim that believes in Jesus, this is what these missions teach, not one of them, but I believe hundreds of them, that he should still go to the mosque and still bow down and do his prayers so as not to cause any ripples, you see, in the town and not to get persecuted and get everybody upset at the fact that he is believing in Jesus. And they put that Muslim practice and rituals and religion together and add a little Jesus to it and you have total confusion. And the gospel is not preached. Now I know there is some truth in some contextualization. You know, you can't throw it all out that you try to make the gospel relevant to a people's culture. And I believe that there needs to be some cultural flexibility when you go out across the world with the gospel. But that's not what's happening here. That's not what's going on here. This is an undermining of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And these people are willing to win the world for Christ in a matter of a few years. That's their goal. But they're doing it without preaching the gospel. They expect that by strategic level warfare they'll tackle the demons and the people will turn to Christ in a great revival in the end times by the millions, will turn to Christ. You know what the Bible says? The end times are characterized by apostasy, not by revival. And I'm sorry, but I do not believe in a worldwide revival in the end times. I believe that few shall be saved. I believe the masses will be deceived. I believe in a cosmic Christ where an Antichrist is going to rise up and the men are going to believe Him and follow Him and do obeisance to Him. And they have traded the truth, the gospel, the reality of a born-again life for a cosmic Christ of some kind. And they will follow Him. And His ways and His doctrines are already on the scene. And the people are teaching and preaching it. And they don't have any idea. They still think they're serving the Jesus. If there ever was a time when the words in Galatians are true, that we have another Jesus and we have another gospel, and they'll still call Him Jesus and they'll still call Him Christ, but they have the audacity to even put in words the cosmic Christ. And it is another gospel that is being preached out there. My plea is discern, brethren. Wake up. And look this thing square in the face. Examine it in the light of God's Word and God's prophecies. See the signs of the times that we are in and recognize what a dangerous time it is in the Christian world. Look this stuff square in the face and test the spirits and try them. And look at it historically through Christianity. And look at the deviations that are coming in all kinds of ways to take away the idea that churches are nothing but an entertainment thing. You know, I was so blessed with dear old brother Spurgeon when I just read that he smelled this thing coming. And he preached the message one time on what was it? Edifying something. Ah, let me see. I forget the first word that he used there. But yeah, it was like feeding sheep or entertaining goats. And I believe what the people are doing is they're entertaining goats today instead of feeding sheep. And I think it is high time that we hunker down and lift up the Word of God and believe it with all of our heart and preach the Gospel that is able to save men's souls, turning men to repent from their own sins, crucify the flesh, separate from the world and live in the old time Gospel way. May God add His blessing.