Narrator 1: Hinduism is the oldest living religion in the world and the third largest. More than one billion Hindus live in 150 different countries, mostly in India. The United States alone is home to over two million Hindus.
Narrator 2: Currently about 15% of the world's population subscribes to Hinduism, with roughly 99% of Hindus residing in India and Nepal. By 2050 Hinduism is expected to grow by 34% to about 1.4 billion at [inaudible 00:00:40] Global.
Nat Geo: So it's February 2013, I'm here on the shores of the mighty Ganges River to be witnessed to one of the greatest and biggest human gatherings on the planet. It's actually a Hindu religious festival that takes places every twelve years and they call it the Maha kumbh mela.
There they come wave upon wave of spiritually charged naked warriors. Look at this. Whoa. It looks like an army, it's amazing.
Narrator 3: For a Hindu the Mandir is the home of God on earth, so for a Hindu to visit a temple it's like visiting God. And the reason why a Hindu would go to a Mandir or a temple is because he wishes to catch sight of the deity of his choice. He wishes to see God. You might wish to announce your presence to God. So, sometimes the bell is rung to say that "I am here, oh Lord, please look at me, I've come here to visit you."
And as soon as he goes there of course his main attention is drawn toward the deity of his choice, the central deity, the key deity in every temple, and the temple that we are visiting today is devoted to the idea of God is female, is the mother Goddess. So he will immediately be drawn to the central shrine and pay his respects by bowing down to the image in the center of the temple.
And the Hindus are not apologetic about using images to worship God because this is the best way, the symbolic way of reaching out to God.
Pastor: Idolatry is worshiping devils. Are you there in Revelation 9? What does it say? "They repented not of the works of their hands that they should not worship devils and idols of gold and silver and brass and stone and of wood." That's what it is to worship devils. It's worshiping carved and molten images.
Paul: "What say I thee that the idol was anything or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is anything, but I say that the things, which the gentiles sacrificed, they sacrificed to devils and not to God. And I would not that she should have fellowship with devils."
Pastor: So what he's saying is that it's easy to look at the idol and to think of itself as just a hunk of wood, a hunk of stone, it really isn't anything. It's an inanimate object, but Paul is saying here that it goes deeper than that because when they're bowing down to an idol it's not that they're just worshiping an inanimate object, but that literally they are worshiping devils he said.
Paul: The Bible says "The rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils and idols of gold and silver and brass and stone and of wood." And the Bible said in that verse that when they worship those Gods of gold and gods of silver they're actually worshiping devils, they're actually worshiping demons. The Bible says that the things which the gentiles offer in sacrifice unto idols they sacrifice unto devils and I would not that you should have fellowship with devils.
Pastor: But Mark Chapter 5 is I think the best example in the Bible of someone who is demon possessed. And I think that by looking at this passage we can see what it looks like to have fellowship with devils and we can identify other practices in our world that are demonic.
Let's get a hint here in Mark 5:1. "They came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes, and when he," Jesus, "was come out of the ship immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains. Because that he had been oft bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces. Neither could any man tame him. And always, night and day he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones. But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshiped him."
Let's look at some attributes of this man who's possessed of devils. First of all he has his dwelling among the tombs. He loves the graveyard, the cemetery, the cremation ground. Whatever is associated with death, that's where this guy's hanging out
Narrator 5: They eat leftovers from human dead bodies. They drink in a bowl made of human scalp and they wear ash from a human buyer. Known as the followers of Lord Shiva these are the Aghoris. A place considered dreadful by others is home for Aghoris, the Hindu cremation ground. Followers of Lord Shiva, the most powerful of all Hindu Gods and considered the destroyer. These Aghoris follow occult practices dating back to the 5th Century AD.
Speaker 10: [foreign language 00:06:32].
Narrator 5: The Kamakhya temple situated on top of the Nilachal hill in Guwahati in North East India is the center of widely practiced powerful tantric of black magic cult in India. Legend has it that the temple of Kamakhya Devi consort of Lord Shiva, came into existence when the Lord was carrying the corpse of his wife. And her yoni or the female genitalia fell to the ground at the spot where the temple now stands.
The Ambubachi Mela, the second largest religious congregation of people in the world is held at the temple every year during monsoon as the devotees believe that the Goddess Kamakhya goes through her menstrual cycle at that time. Therefore the temple remains closed for three days. On the fourth day the temple reopens and thousands of devotees and sadhus of all sects make a mad rush to receive the unique and highly powerful prasad, which is small bits of cloth supposedly moist with the menstrual fluid of Goddess Kamakhya.
Many of the Aghoris come here during this time before starting their initiation for the blessings of Goddess Kamakhya. The life of an Aghori sadhu is not easy. To become like them one has to meditate for about 12 years and complete certain rituals under the guidance of an Aghori guru in order to enhance one's spiritual strength. Aghoris use wood from piers, clothes from dead bodies, ash of burnt bodies and the like in their rituals.
There are certain rules one must follow to become an Aghori, firstly an Aghori must find a teacher and do what the teacher tells him to do. An Aghori must find a human skull known as the kapala and use only this as his food bowl before initiation. An Aghori must apply the ash of a buyer to his body during meditation. The final part of the ritual requires eating of rotten human flesh, and also meditating while sitting on a dead corpse symbolizing the rise from shava to Shiva. He should live his entire life at the cremation ground and eat and drink only through the kapala.
Pastor: Because he's possessed with devils, the Bible says "All they that hate me love death." The second thing that we see is that no man can bind him, no, not with chains and the Bible uses the word at the end of verse four, "Neither could any man tame him." This man is acting wild, like unto an animal. He's living like a beast not like a human being. He's uncivilized and savage. We are to live civilized and clothed. And by the way, did I mention this guy's naked?
They come to Jesus and see him that was possessed with he devil and had the legion, sitting and - what? - clothed. Why was that a shock because he'd been naked previously. He's sitting clothed and in his right mind and they were afraid, so the next attribute about him was that he was naked.
Narrator 5: Many of the Aghoris roam around naked, representing the true human form and their detachment from this world of mortals who according to them live in a world of illusion or maya. Through this they transcend human feelings of love, hatred, jealousy and pride.
There are many Aghoris walking the streets of northern India with their own kapala or human skull cap. These Aghoris eat things like rotten food, leftover food from garbage dumps, animal feces and animal urine. They regularly perform the rituals to attain the highest level in Aghoratva, the Enlightenment. Aghoris believe that God exists in everything, whether it is cow dung or food. Nothing is unholy or inauspicious for them. Everything is sacred.
They gain their powers by doing things that are considered unholy or unclean by society. The more they blur the line between clean and unclean, holy and unholy, good and bad, the more powers they get.
Pastor: And then another attribute in verse five is that he's very self-destructive. In fact, he's cutting himself with stones.
Narrator 5: Aghoris follow the simple rule that the universe resides in them and they try to attain enlightenment by self-realization.
Pastor: See, these were the example of their wonderful enlightenment. This one guy, he had his arms stuck up in the air like this.
Speaker 9: Hello [foreign language 00:11:51].
Nat Geo: As I'm being accepted in this community, I'm privileged to meet one of the most sacred sadhus here. He's taken extreme self-sacrifice to the next level.
How long has he had the arm raised like that?
Narrator 7: His arm has been raised more than 40 years.
Nat Geo: More than 40 years? And so, he never cut his nails for 40 years, right?
Narrator 7: For 40 years it's been like that. He raised his arm and never put it down.
Nat Geo: Is it something you needed to do for yourself or for someone else?
Speaker 9: [foreign language 00:12:24]
Narrator 7: This is the ancient yoga.
Nat Geo: So, I'm sure if you told people in California that this is yoga, they'd faint. You know, all these girls or guys who do yoga over there.
Pastor: His arm was all withered. It looked like a tree branch. His arm was stuck that way and his arm was like dying. And his hand was all contorted. And his fingernails were grown just into spirals, okay? The guy who's there interviewing him from the National Geographic or whatever is like, "Oh, this is really cool, you know?" Being self-destructive to your body is demonic.
Congregation: Yeah!
Pastor: What difference is there from cutting yourself, sleeping outside under the do of heaven, not grooming, not cutting your nails, letting your nails grow like bird talons, letting your hair become like eagle's feathers, look, that isn't right. That's savage. That's uncivilized. That's wicked. That's demonic. That's not how God ... God said your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. Anoint your head and wash your face, that's what the Bible said.
You see, we need to have respect and honor for our bodies and not abuse our bodies, not to misuse our bodies. See the Bible says, "Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you and that you're not your own, but you're bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's." So, our body belongs to God. When we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is our savior, we're purchased with the blood of Christ and we belong to him. And we need to not abuse our body.
This book right here, which is one of the main Hindu scriptures, probably the most famous of the Hindu scriptures, known as the Bhagavad Gita. I'm going to use this book to show the false teachings of Hinduism and I'm going to use this book to show what the truth is from God's word, the Bible. I'm going to make six points tonight about the false teachings of Hinduism that come from this book, the Bhagavad Gita, which is just another language for the Song of the Lord. That's what this means. It's Sanskrit.
Number one, the Lord, because remember it's called the Song of the Lord. The Lord of the Bhagavad Gita, the god of this book is not the god of the Bible.
Congregation: Right.
Pastor: Okay? A lot of people just think, "Well, hey, as long as you're worshiping God, as long you're worshiping the creator, there's only one God. So, we're all worshiping the same god." This is the philosophy that's out there with people, especially as we approach the end times and we get into kind of a one world religion new world order type of a thing. So, this book teaches about a god that is not the God of the Bible. And in fact, the teachings of Hinduism are contrary to the teachings of the Bible. So, you're turning to Revelations 12. Let me read for you some excerpts from the Bhagavad Gita where the Lord talks about himself. And you tell me if this is the God of the Bible.
Narrator 6: "I am Kamadhuk, the cow that fulfills all desires. I'm Kandarpa, the power of sex. I'm Vasukhi, the king of snakes. I'm Ananta, the cosmic serpent. I am Yama, the god of death. I am Prahlada, born among the demons."
Pastor: That's what the Lord is saying that he is the king of snakes, the cosmic serpent, the god of death and that he is born among the demons. He says, shortly before that, "Among words, I am the syllable Om." Listen to this quote from the Bhagavad Gita and tell me if this is the same god as the God of the Bible.
Narrator 6: "Oh Lord, I've seen within your body all the gods and every kind of living creature. I see Brahma, the creator seated on a lotus. I see the ancient sages and the celestial serpents."
Pastor: Now let me ask you something. Does the Bible teach of us celestial serpents? Is God ever called the Lord of the snakes and the cosmic serpent and the God of death? Now, the Bible says in Revelations 12:9.
Paul: "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world. He was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him."
Pastor: So, the Bible calls the devil a great dragon and a serpent. According to the Bible, the great serpent is the devil. It's Satan. In the Bhagavad Gita, the Lord says, "Well, I'm the cosmic serpent. I'm the God of Death. I am the king of snakes," and so forth. The god of the Bhagavad Gita is not the God of the Bible, but he's actually Satan himself is what we get from that.
The second false teaching of the Bhagavad Gita is the teaching of reincarnation.
Narrator 3: Reincarnation is the central Indian belief that the soul Atman is reborn in a new body time and time again to grow and mature through all the experiences human life has to offer. Eventually, every soul achieves salvation by realizing its oneness with God and is no longer reborn. Hindus do not believe in a Satan or an eternal Hell.
Pastor: Now let me just start out by explaining this book to you just a little bit. The backdrop of this book is that there's a character named Arjuna and he has to fight in a war against some of his own cousins and relatives and uncles, and some of his former teachers from his childhood because he's involved in a civil war in ancient India. Sort of like in the American Civil War they say it's brother against brother and father against son.
So, at the beginning of the book he is expected to go to battle to fight to put the proper heir upon the throne and get rid of the guy who's the wrong king that shouldn't be on the throne. So, he has to go to war, but he's very upset about this because he feels terrible about going into battle against his own friends and relatives and loved ones. He says, "Man, it would almost be better to die than to go out and kill these people who I know and love." So, he's very conflicted about killing these people. So, this is how the book starts and that's sort of the backdrop and the theme that's underlying the book.
What's interesting is right at the beginning of this book, as the explanation of why Arjuna should go into battle and fight and not really worry about killing these people. It's not really a big deal to kill them is because they're going to be reincarnated anyway.
Narrator 6: "You speak sincerely. But your sorrow has no cause. The wise grieve neither for the living nor the dead as the same person inhabits the body through childhood, youth and old age, so too at the time of death, he attains another body. The wise are not deluded by these changes. Therefore, Arjuna, fight in this battle. One believes he is the slayer. Another believes he is the slayed. Both are ignorant. There is neither slayer nor slayed. As one abandons worn out clothes and acquires new ones, so when the body is worn out a new one is acquired by the self who lives within. Death is inevitable for the living. Birth is inevitable for the dead. Since these are unavoidable, you should not sorrow.
Pastor: Basically, what he's saying is, "You know what? If you kill people, so what? They were going to die anyway. And it's just pretty much like changing clothes because they die and then they just get a new body." Now you can see how dangerous this teaching is because it could lead people to easily have no respect for human life by thinking to themselves, "Well, you know, if I kill somebody, I'm just moving them on to the next stage. It's like here, let me change your clothes for ya."
Now this is not what the Bible teaches about life. The Bible teaches a great sanctity for human life. Here's what the Bible says, "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this, the Judgment." A lot of people believe in reincarnation. But the Bible says there is no reincarnation. The Bible says it's appointed unto men once to die and after this, the Judgment. And after you die, you're either going to go to Heaven or you're going to go to hell.
Gandhi, when people brought up to him the fact that, "You're saying the Bhagavad Gita is your main scripture," because Gandhi said, "This is my spiritual dictionary. This is the book that I live by every day, the Bhagavad Gita." Not the Bible, not the New Testament, but rather this book. People brought up to him the fact, "Well, you know, if you're so into non-violence, why is this book your main teaching when chapters one and two is all about how, hey, going into war and killing people is not even a big deal because it's just like changing clothes? No big deal."
Here's what he said to that. He said, "Well, don't get stuck in chapter one. It gets better. And don't get too hung up on that. If you read the whole book, it totally takes a different direction after that." But here you can go way forward into the book into chapter 11 and it says the same thing. Listen to this.
Narrator 6: I am time, the destroyer of all. I have come to consume the world. Even without your participation, all the warriors gathered here will die. Therefore, arise, Arjuna. Conquer your enemies and enjoy the glory of sovereignty. I have already slain all these warriors. You will only be my instrument. Kill those whom I have killed. Do not hesitate. Fight in this battle and you will conquer your enemies.
Pastor: So, what's he saying? Well, everybody's going to die eventually anyway. Time is going to eventually kill everybody, so you might as well kill them now. I mean that's a pretty weird philosophy. That's a pretty weird teaching. But when you have this attitude that Hinduism teaches, well, that you're just going to be reincarnated and you're just going to keep coming back, so what's the big deal? If you die, someone else dies, if you kill someone. Whatever. They are coming back anyway. Don't sweat it.
Is that what the Bible teaches? Look at Revelations 20:10.
Paul: "And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and forever. And I saw a great white throne. And in that sat on it from whose face the earth and the Heaven fled away and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. And the books were open and another book was open, which is the Book of Life. And the dead would judge out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead, which were in it. And death in Hell delivered up the dead which were in them. And they were judged, every man, according to their works. And death and Hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire."`
Pastor: Now according to verse 10 of this chapter, the lake of fire is a place where when people go there they're tormented day and night forever and ever. Do you see that, at the end of verse 10? That's what happened to the antichrist and the beast. And that's what happened to the false prophet who went there. They're tormented day and night forever and ever. And then we go down a few verses. And whosoever's name is not found written in the Book of Life, they are cast into that same lake of fire. So, the Bible teaches an eternal punishment of hell. The Bible teaches that those who die without Jesus as their savior, they don't just switch clothes and do another body and get reborn. There is no reincarnation. They go to Hell and they stay there for all eternity. That's what the Bible teaches.
Whereas those who believes on Jesus Christ, Jesus said, "Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." So, yeah, if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, sure, then you do just discard this body and you go to be with the Lord and eventually you receive a new glorified resurrected body. But that's not for everybody. We can't look at a battlefield of soldiers and say, "Hey, no big deal. All these people are coming back. All these people are just changing clothes. No big deal if they just transitioned a little sooner rather than later." No, no, we need to understand that death is serious.
Congregation: Yeah.
Pastor: They teach that the thing that brings you back is that when you die, all of your desire and all of your emotion and all of your love and hate and feelings lives on after and goes into the next body. But what does the Bible teach? The Bible says in verse 4 of Ecclesiastes 9.
Paul: "For to him that's joined to all the living, there is hope. For a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they shall die, but the dead know not anything. Neither have they anymore reward for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love and their hatred and their envy is now perished. Neither have they anymore apportion forever in anything that is done under the sun."
Pastor: They're never coming back. They're done. Even their emotions die with them, the Bible teaches.
But number three, according to the Bhagavad Gita, the entire goal of our lives, the entire goal of our existence, why we're even here, is self-realization. Okay, this just comes up over and over again on scores of pages in this book. Self-realization, that's our goal according to this. Now let me read for you some of the excerpts from this book right here, the Bhagavad Gita, about the self. I'm just going to pick a few things because there are so many places in here that talk about these things.
Narrator 6: They are completely fulfilled by spiritual wisdom and self-realization. In the still mind, in the depths of meditation, the self reveals itself. Beholding the self by means of the self, an aspirant knows the joy and peace of complete fulfillment. The practice of meditation frees one from all affliction. This is the path of yoga. Wherever the mind wanders, restless and diffuse in its search for satisfaction without, lead it within. Train it to rest in the self.
Pastor: This is what meditation is all about. This is what yoga is about. Hinduism teaches us to worship the self, which they call in Sanskrit the Atman. And they basically teach that the self is God. That the Atman is God. Well, the Bible says, "He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool." We shouldn't look within to find God. We need to look outside ourselves to find God because guess what? You're not God.
If you go to Isaiah chapter 14, you'll see that it's actually Satan who teaches us that we can be as gods or liken to God. Now this goes all the way back to the garden of Eden where the devil comes, the serpent comes in Genesis 3 and what does he say? "You shall be as gods if you eat of this forbidden fruit, if you commit this sin." He says, "You shall be of gods knowing good and evil." That was the temptation.
Well, in Isaiah chapter 14 we see where Lucifer wanted to be like god.
Paul: "How art thou falleth from heaven, O, Lucifer. Son of the morning. How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weakened the nations? For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the most high. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit."
Pastor: So, it's Lucifer who wants to be like the most high. And even, in the beginning, he's tempting them. "You shall be as gods." So, this idea that you're god or that you become god or that you will merge with god, this is satanic teaching. It's demonic. It's of the devil.
Narrator 5: There is an end to the cycle of death and rebirth. It's called Moksha. It's reached by always trying to be the best we can be.
Speaker 15: if you get to Moksha, you will be one with god. And you feel really good.
Speaker 16: It just tells me that I should always do good and I'll improve. And my next life will be better.
Speaker 17: We believe in rebirth and reincarnation. And eventually, once we have become perfected, we'll achieve Moksha where we'll merge with god. Our soul is essentially one with Brahman already. We just don't know it yet. We have this veil of maya or illusion, which gives us the idea that we're separate from God. Once we have achieved enlightenment, then we will merge with God like a drop of water into the ocean. Since we are essentially God ask yourself, why are you here?
Speaker 18: Because it's fun.
Pastor: I mean, look, I don't see how anybody could read this book and walk away with any other conclusion than "I'm God." When I read this book, and if I actually believed in this garbage and didn't believe in the Word of God and wasn't anchored in the Holy Bible, I would walk away from this book saying, "I'm God."
Narrator 7: Other Hindu scriptures, such as the Upanishads, teach the exact same thing that "You are the self and that the self is God." For example, here in the Mandaka Upanishad, part three verse two, "As long as we think we are the ego, we feel attached and fall into sorrow. But realize that you are the self, the Lord of life, and you will be freed from sorrow. When you realize that you are the self, supreme source of life, supreme source of love, you transcend the duality of life and enter into the unitive state."
So, notice, he's telling us to realize that we are the lord of life. We are the supreme source of light, supreme source of love. Once you realize that you are the self and that you are the lord, you'll reach the unitive state, which is referred to unity with God. Notice, here, on another page, the self is not someone other than you. It says over and over again. The self is not someone other than you. But then over and over again, the self is related to their God.
Also, here in this Upanishad it says, "Those who deny the lord deny themselves. Those who affirm the lord, affirm themselves." And over and over again, you'll find this teaching in the Upanishads that you are the self and that the self is god.
Pastor: I am not God. I am not going to become like God. I am not going to merge with God. You say, "Well, it's obscure teaching." But here's the thing. Even branches of Christianity have become influenced by this false teaching of Hinduism, most notably the Orthodox Church. And listen, don't fall for this lie that Russian Orthodox Church isn't that bad. Or that Romanian Orthodox or Coptic Orthodox, that it isn't that bad. A lot of people are being sucked into this now. And listen to me: the Orthodox Church has a lot in common with Roman Catholicism, but they have one doctrine that's even weirder than Roman Catholicism. They have a doctrine in the Orthodox Church called theosis or deification where you can become deified, you can merge with God and basically become like unto God.
Narrator 3: God became man that men may become Gods.
Speaker 19: Section 460 of the Catechism is a beautiful synopsis of what the Church teaches by deification. That Jesus became human so we could become gods.
Pastor: In fact, one of their saints that they look to as their spiritual forefather St. Athanasius said this, "God became man so that man might become gods." That's what the church father ... The Church fathers, what are they? I don't care what the so-called Church fathers say because the Bible says not to call any man upon this earth Father.
Congregation: Yeah.
Pastor: But people in the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, they look to these so-called Church fathers instead of scripture. All I care about is what this book says, but the Church father St. Athanasius said, "Well, God became a man so that man might become gods." That is a blasphemous statement and I don't care how you sugarcoat that or what context you put that in, that's blasphemy. Men do not become gods. And we do not merge with God. We do not become deified through theosis. That is a very bad false religion orthodoxy. Don't sugarcoat it and say, "Oh, it's not that bad. It's sort of halfway Protestant or Baptist." No, it isn't.
The last point that I want to make tonight is that according to this false scripture of Hinduism, the Bhagavad Gita, it says basically that as long as you do good works you'll be fine. So, it gives a false hope that as long as you do good deeds in your life you're going to be okay. You might not make nirvana this time around, but you'll be okay.
Narrator 6: "Krishna, what happens to one who has faith but who lacks self-control and wanders from the path, not attaining success in yoga? Arjuna, my son, such a person will not be destroyed. No one who does good work will ever come to a bad end either here or in the world to come. When such people die, they go to other realms where the righteous live. They dwell there for countless years and then are reborn into a home which is pure and prosperous. Or they may be born into a family where meditation is practiced. To be born into such a family is extremely rare. The wisdom they have acquired in previous lives will be reawakened, Arjuna, and they will strive even harder for self-realization."
Pastor: So, what is he teaching? Hey, as long as you do good work, you're fine. No harm's going to befall you. Don't stress about it. Don't worry about it. Just do good works, do your best. And isn't this what people in America think? Hey, just do good, do good works, and on Judgment Day you're going to be fine. You're going to Heaven for a little while and kind of benefit from some good karma. Then you're going to be born into a really happy prosperous home. You might even be lucky enough to be born into a home where your parents are hippies who are into meditating. I mean that'd be really good for you. Or Hindu or whatever home.
But does the Bible teach that as long as you do good deeds and good works there's nothing to worry about? Is that what the Bible teaches? No, the Bible actually says in Matthew 7, "Many will say to me in that day, 'Lord, lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have we not cast out devil? And in thy name done many wonderful works?' And then will I profess unto them, 'I never knew you. Depart from me ye that work in equity.'" You see, if Jesus Christ doesn't know you and your name's not in that Book of Life, you're doomed.
Congregation: Yep.
Pastor: The Bible says, "He that believeth not is condemned already." And the context is believing on the Son of God. It says, "He that believeth not is condemned already" because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. No matter how much good work you do, if you have not believed in the Name of the Son of God, you're doomed, you're damned.
So, we need to realize that the Hindus are not saved. They're not Christian. Even sometimes, they'll even say, like, "Well, we also believe in Christ also." So, sometimes you'll run into people who think that they can be Christian and Hindu, that we're all worshiping the same God. No, my friend. Make no mistake about it. This is of the devil. This is demonic. This is evil.
That's why I don't want anything to do with its teachings or philosophies. I don't want to quote Gandhi on spiritual things. I don't want to do yoga. I don't want to talk about things from a Hindu perspective. Through Star Wars and other movies and TV shows a lot of this mysticism becomes a part of who we are. We grew up with the teachings of Hinduism, whether we know it or not of anger, hatred, this is the path to the dark side.
Star Wars 1: How feel you?
Star Wars 2: Cold, sir.
Star Wars 1: Afraid, are you?
Star Wars 2: No, sir.
Star Wars 1: See through you we can.
Star Wars 3: Be mindful of your feelings.
Star Wars 4: Your thoughts dwell on your mother.
Star Wars 2: I miss her.
Star Wars 1: Afraid to lose her, I think, hmm?
Star Wars 2: What does that got to do with anything?
Star Wars 1: Everything. Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. I sense much fear in you.
Pastor: This stuff is all just lifted from eastern mysticism straight into pop culture. And it becomes a part of people's beliefs. The Jedi, if you look at what they're saying, it's Buddhism and Hinduism, which are by the way very similar to one another.
We need to make sure that all of our philosophies, opinions, political ideas, religious ideas, cultural ideas, everything that we believe should come from this book. Why? Because a lot of what we think of as worldly philosophy, worldly wisdom, the wisdom of this world, it actually came from somewhere. Where the worldly stuff come from? I'll tell you, a lot of it came from whether you realize it or not, it came out of Hinduism and it came out of Buddhism. It came out of eastern mysticism and falsehood.
A lot of weird stuff in the Catholic Church came out of Hinduism. It came out of Buddhism. And I proved that in my sermon on Catholicism and Buddhism where I showed all the similarities where they're borrowing from the Buddhists. And we need to make sure that we get all of our beliefs about everything from the Bible. Why? Because we're constantly being bombarded with quote worldly philosophies, which really are the philosophies of the devil. Because if they're coming from Hinduism, they're coming from the devil.
Congregation: Yeah.
Pastor: They're coming from the cosmic serpent. Right? They're coming from the god of death and the lord of the snakes. That's where they're coming from.
But not only that, I'm hoping that as you hear this sermon, you will be stirred up in your heart to want to reach Hindus with the Gospel.
Congregation: Amen.
Pastor: Because these people are blinded. They're born into this. It's not like they all just chose to just go worship Satan. No, they're born into this false religion. They're taught this from the time they grow up. They are blinded. They are deceived. And you know, Joel Osteen said, hey, they are really nice, kind people. I'm sure they are. I'm sure they are very peaceful, nice, kind people, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions. And someone needs to bring them the Gospel and shine the light of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ so that they might be saved, but if our Gospel be hid, it's them that are lost. And whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of them that believe not.
One of the cool things about soul winning in the Caribbean is that you've got people that are Muslims, you've got people that are Hindus, but they're usually always willing to listen to the Gospel. And because they are willing to listen to the Gospel, we were able to get some Hindus saved. We were able to get some Muslims saved. Look, the Hindus can be saved. The Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword has power to save. So, even in these last days, we can see a great harvest of souls coming for the Lord.
Think about India today. It's predominantly Hindu, especially in northern India, but look, I believe that in the last days leading up to the second Coming of Christ, I believe we can win Hindus to the Lord here in the Caribbean. And I believe that we will go to India someday and win Hindus to the Lord in India itself. And I believe that great exploits can be done, that one billion Hindus can hear the Gospel.
You say, "Well, I just don't know a special presentation for Hindu." Look, you don't need a special presentation of the Gospel for each religion. You know the same Gospel saves everybody? You know, you can just through that show them that they're a sinner, and show them Hell, and show them the life of Christ and his death, burial and resurrection, and show them that it's a free gift, and show them that it's by faith. And maybe some of the things that you heard in this sermon might show you a few things that you might want to point out to them at the end of your Gospel presentation.
But I always start out by giving everybody the Gospel the same way. Instead of getting all complicated, why don't you give them the Gospel? Because you know what? It's the power of God and the salvation to everyone that believe it. To the Jew first and also the Greek. And also the Hindu. That Gospel of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ is the power of God. No matter who you're telling it to.
Congregation: Amen.
Pastor: So, you don't have to show up with some customized Hindu plan of salvation. No, you just show up and you give the plan of salvation. But then at the end of the plan of salvation, once you've gone through the whole Gospel and made it plain, then at the end maybe you can just emphasize that "Wait a minute, all of the faith has to be on Jesus. You have to renounce these other gods. You have to renounce other gods that you're worshiping and acknowledge that this is the true God. Jesus."
Now a lot of people think that they're going to Heaven because of how good they are. If we go around and ask people, "Do you know for sure if you die today you'll go to Heaven?" A lot of them would say, "Yes, because I'm a good person" or "Yes because I keep the Commandments" or "Yes, I live a good life." But that's not what the Bible says.
The Bible actually says that we're not saved by our good deeds or our good life. It says that we're saved by the Gospel, which is the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. The reason why it's important to understand that we're not saved by how good we are, the Bible says in Romans 3:10, as it is written, "There is none righteous. No not one." So, none of us is righteous. I'm not righteous, you're not righteous. And the Bible says, "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Every single one of us has sinned before and because of that sin we come short of the glory of God.
The Bible says there is a punishment for our sin. It says for the wages of sin is death, but not only are we going to die physically one day, the Bible talks about a second death. It says, "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire." Now what would we normally call that lake of fire? What would we refer to that as?
Congregation: Hell.
Pastor: Right. And the Bible actually has a list of people that are going to Hell. It says the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and sorcerers and whoremongers and idolators and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
Now this doesn't really look like a room full of murderers to me. I don't see a lot of murderers. Probably not a lot of sorcerers. Anybody in here into black magic and witchcraft? Probably not. So, you may not be a sorcerer or a murderer or anything like that, but you know what the Bible does say, "And all liars." I know I've lied before. Who here has lied before? Yeah, every single person. The Bible says, "Ye let God be true, but every man a liar." Unfortunately, we've all committed that sin. We've all lied before. But the Bible said, "All liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." So, according to the Bible, that's where we all deserve to go, to the second death, to the lake of fire because we've all sinned, we've all lied.
Let's be honest, we've done other sins too. There are times where we've disobeyed our parents, which is a sin. There are times where we may have stolen something. Or even the Bible says, just the thought of foolishness is sin. Even just thinking a stupid thoughts and we have thousands of thoughts every day. I'm sure many of them are foolish. I'm sure many of them are stupid.
So, we've all sinned, but the good news is that God loves us. And if God loves us, of course, He does not want us to go to Hell. But was he just kidding when he said that the lake of fire is where we're going if we've lied? No, that's no joke, but that's why Jesus Christ came to this earth to save us. The Bible says, "But God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." And Jesus Christ was God in the form of a human being, right? Because there's the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. And so, God himself came down to this earth in the form of a human being. He was born as a little baby, born of a virgin, and he was just a little baby. And he grew up and he lived a perfect life. He never sinned one time. He was tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin.
Now Jesus performed a lot of miracles, didn't he? Does anybody remember some of the miracles that Jesus performed? Anybody remember one? Your hand popped up. Who's got one?
Congregation: [inaudible 00:48:38].
Pastor: Yes, there was a deaf man that he healed. What else did he do?
Congregation: [inaudible 00:48:41].
Pastor: He healed a blind man.
Congregation: [inaudible 00:48:44] turned water into wine.
Pastor: He turned water into wine. Great. Anybody else got one?
Congregation: He raised Lazarus.
Pastor: He raised Lazarus from the dead. Wait, did she take yours? Anybody else got one? What about when he fed 5000 people with five loaves and two fishes. You remember that? He did a lot of miracles. What about when Peter, remember his disciple Peter, actually whipped out a sword in the garden of Gethsemane. And Peter swung a sword and chopped off one of the servants of the high priest's ear, and Jesus picked up the guy's ear and put it back on and healed it, right? You remember that story?
So, Jesus performed a lot of miracles, but he also preached the Word of God. He also preached the Truth. And a lot of people are offended by the Truth. They get angry when they hear about the Truth. When they hear the Bible preach, it offends people, it angers people sometimes. And so, Jesus had a lot of enemies.
So, eventually, Jesus got arrested and they arrested Jesus at night, and they took him down at night, and they actually put him on trial and then they beat him. They spit on him, they hit him in the head with a stick, and they also whipped him. And after that they nailed him on to the cross. And the Bible says that when Jesus was nailed to that cross, that he himself bear our sins in his own body on the tree. That means that every sin that you've ever done and every sin that I've ever done, it was as if Jesus had done it. He was basically being punished for our sins. And then, after Jesus died on the cross, they buried his body in a tomb of a rich man named Joseph of Aramathea. They put him in that tomb and put a big, giant stone over the door of where his body was laid. And his soul went down into Hell for three days and three nights, and three days later what happened?
Congregation: [inaudible 00:50:32].
Pastor: He rose again from the dead, right? And when Jesus rose again from the dead, he showed the disciples the holes in his hands and the holes in his side just to prove that it was really him. Now Jesus died for everybody in this whole world, but everybody's not automatically going to go to Heaven because the Bible's teaching that there's one thing that we must do to be saved. And it asked this question one time is "What must I do to be saved?" And they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." And that's it. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved.
So, it does not say that you have to join my Church to be saved. It doesn't say join your Church to be saved. It doesn't say to join any Church to be saved. Church is important, Church is good, but when it comes to being saved, the one thing that we must do to be saved is believe on Lord Jesus Christ in order to be saved.
Now, there are lots of things that we should do, right? What are some things that we should do? I mean, we should read our Bibles. We should pray. We should go to Church. We should keep the Commandments. We should do a lot. We should be a good student at school. We should obey our parents, obey the teacher. Those are all good things that we should do. But when it comes to what we must do, what we must do to be saved is one thing: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved.
See, John 3:16 says that, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever, whoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life." So, notice it doesn't say whoever's good enough. It doesn't say stops any ... it says whoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life. The Bible says, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. Not of works lest any man should boast." So, salvation is the gift of God.
Let me ask you this. If I were to give you a gift today, would you have to give me money for that if I'm giving you a gift?
Congregation: No.
Pastor: You're going like this, but now you're going like this. All right. Yeah, if somebody gives you a gift, it's free. If I said, "Hey," what's your name?
Congregation: Hakim.
Pastor: Hakim? If I said, "Hey, I'm going to give you this Bible as a gift, Hakim, but you got to give me $5000." Is that a gift? What if I said, "Okay, Hakim, I got this Bible for you. It's a free gift, but my car's outside. I need you to clean it out and wash it and then I'll give it to you." Is that a gift?
Congregation: No.
Pastor: What if I said to you, "Hey Hakim, I'm going to give you this Bible as a gift, but you're going to be my servant for the rest of your life, so you have to obey everything, whatever I tell you." Is that a gift?
Congregation: No.
Pastor: No way. Okay, what if I said, "Here, Hakim, I'm going to give you this Bible as a gift. It's yours for free." And then I came back two weeks later, and I come in to class, I say, "Hey Hakim, I need that back." Is that a gift?
Congregation: No.
Pastor: no. The thing about a gift is that a gift is free and once you receive it, it's yours forever. You get to keep it, right? So, let me ask you this, if God gives us the gift of eternal life, is he going to come back and take it away from us?
Congregation: No.
Pastor: Is he going to break his promise and take it away? The Bible says this is the promise that he had promised us even eternal life. So, if God promised us eternal life, is he going to break his promise and take it away from us? So, once he gives you that gift it's yours.
That's why the Gospel's called Good News because that's good news. The good news is that it's easy to go to Heaven. You think a loving God would want to make it hard to go to Heaven or easy to go to Heaven? If he loves us, right, it's easy. He wants us to be saved. He did the hard part when he died for us. That was the hard part, being crucified, being buried, rising again. All we have to do is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, it's that easy to be saved.
And then once we receive that free gift of eternal life, there's nothing we can ever do to lose that because Jesus promised us, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." Jesus said, "I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." Once we're saved, we have eternal life for God's children. He will never leave us or forsake us.
Now if we go out and break the Commandments after we're saved, we're still saved but he will punish us on this earth. You will reap what you sow. What goes around comes around. And just as your parents will discipline you when you disobey, they'll punish you, but they're not going to throw you out of the family, are they? I mean, if you break a rule at your house ... Tell me a rule that's in your house. What's one of the rules at your house.
Congregation: [inaudible 00:54:58].
Pastor: There's no running in the hallway. Okay, and what's your name? Kelly?
Congregation: I'm Kellyanne.
Pastor: Kellyanne? So, let's say Kellyanne goes home today and just starts running through the hallway, just running through the hallway, just running up and down the house, do you think her parents are going to say, "You know, Kellyanne, you can't be our daughter anymore. You must leave home. We cannot have a daughter like you in our house. We're sending you away." Do you think that would happen?
Okay, but do you think they're just going to smile and say it's okay? "Just keep on running, Kellyanne." Do you think they're just going to be like a pit crew, giving her water and a Gatorade and tell her to keep running? No, they're going to make her stop, right? They're going to discipline her and say, "Hey, you break the rules, you're going to be punished." But they're not going to throw her out of the family. Over here, it's the same thing with God. If we break God's rules, he'll punish us on this earth, but he's not going to kick us out of the family. Okay.
That's probably a small rule. There's probably other bigger rules where she'll get a bigger punishment. So, let's say she breaks a huge rule, she's going to get a huge punishment. If she breaks a little rule, she's going to get a little punishment, but no matter what she does, she's still going to be their daughter. They're still going to love her, right? They're still going to give her food and a place to sleep. It's the same way with God. Once we believe on Jesus Christ, we're his children. He'll never leave us. He'll never forsake us. If we break the rules, he'll discipline us, but he's not going to throw us out of the family.
Does everybody understand what I'm saying today? Who believes what I'm saying today? You believe that Jesus died for your sins and rose again and that you're saved by believing in Christ, who believes that? Okay, well listen, I want to pray with you real quick before I go, okay? I'm just about done. I just want to pray with you and help you to tell God that that's what you believe right now and just confess that to God right now. Let's bow our heads and pray. You can just repeat this after me and say this to God.
Dear Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner. I know I deserve Hell, but thank you for dying on the cross for me, and rising again from the dead. Please save me right now and give me the gift of eternal life. I'm only trusting you, Jesus. Your death, your burial and your resurrection. Amen.
Now who just prayed that prayer right now and you meant it? Put up your hand if you meant that. Yeah. So, here's the thing, here's what the Bible had said. It said that "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth to Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised him from dead thou shalt be saved." He didn't say you might be saved. He said you shall be saved. Isn't that great news? So, you already know the last chapter in your life. You already know that you're going to Heaven when you die, but the question is how you're going to live your life in between, right? Do you want to just keep getting disciplined, like if Kellyanne just ran through the hall everyday? Do you want to keep getting disciplined or do you want God to bless you and please God and you want to love God and show him your love by obeying his commandments?
