Part of the chapter that I'd like to focus on is beginning there in verse seven where the Bible reads, "If you endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not. But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons." The title of sermon tonight is this, Iceland, a nation of bastards. Let me start out by just giving you the dictionary definition of the word, bastard. Dictionary.com has this as definition number one, a person born of unmarried persons, an illegitimate child. When we use the word bastard, and I'm not using it as a slang word tonight. I'm using it as its literal meaning of being a person who is born to parents that are not married to one another, an illegitimate child.
I have an article here in my mind called, Is Marriage Outdated in Iceland? This is from CNN. What would a society look like without marriage. The question popped into my brain after I stumbled across a list of countries with the most unwed mothers, with 40% of its babies born out of wedlock. America sits near the middle of the global pack in this category. Conservative Turkey brings up the rear with a scant 3%. The nation at the top of the list, the world leader in single moms, Iceland. More than two thirds of Icelandic babies, 67% are born to parents who are not married. That is why I call tonight, "Iceland, a nation of bastards," because 67% of children in Iceland are being born to unwed mothers. The United States is not far behind with 40% being born to unwed mothers.
Listen to article as it continues. This might be a shameful distinction in many spots around the world. In the land of the Vikings, it's a point of pride. They are proud of it. They are proud to be in it. You say, "I think it's offensive that you're preaching a sermon called, Iceland The Nation of Bastards," but they're proud tonight to be a nation of bastards. If you would look in the Bible Zachariah chapter 9. I'm going to show you a few other places where Bible uses this term bastard that so many people are uncomfortable with. I'll tell you why we're uncomfortable with it, because it's 40% of our nation. That's why we are not comfortable with it. We need to get back to the old path weren't as the good path. We need to get back to the biblical morality and biblical preaching so that we don't become like Iceland, a nation of Bastards.
You say, "Well I find that offensive." Then you find the Bible offensive and if you don't like hard preaching, you're in the wrong place tonight. This is what the Bible is going to preached without apology, uncensored, uncut. This is what the Bible says. Look at Zachariah chapter 9, verse 5. "Ashkelon shall see it, and fear." Let me just mention to you that these places that are being named are the five cities of the Philistines. He says, "Ashkelon shall see it, and fear. Gaza also shall see it, and be very sorrowful, and Ekron; for her expectation shall be ashamed; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited. Look at verse 6. " And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines."
Let me ask you this ... According to Zachariah chapter 9, verse 6, is a bastard something to be proud of? No. He said, "If a bastard dwells there, the pride is cut off from that place." Look if you would at Deuteronomy chapter 23. It's another place in the Bible that used the term Bastard, Deuteronomy chapter 23. The Bible says in verse 1, "He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord. A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the Lord."
Obviously we're not living in the Old Testament with the tabernacle of the congregation, and the holy place, and the most holy place where certain people were allowed to enter and not enter because of various reasons. The principle is here though, that being a bastard is not a good thing. If God said that in the Old Testament congregation, the bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the lord even under the 10th generation. That's a pretty serious prohibition. It's a point of pride they say. This reminds me of Philippians Chapter 3. You don't have to turn there. The bible reads, "For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things."
Did you hear that? Their glory is in their shame. The Bible is talking about people who are actually proud of things that they ought to be ashamed of. They ought to be ashamed of the fact that all these women are getting knocked up without being married and committing the sin of fornication with is condemned over and over again in the New Testament. They say, "No, it's wonderful to be a nation of bastards. It's wonderful to have 67% of babies born to a single mother." Not a mom and a dad, not a normal family situation but a bastard situation.
Here is another bit of the article here. They have this Icelandic woman being interviewed. "You have this horrible term in English, broken families," Brandice [inaudible 05:52] daughter says over coffee. Which basically means, if you get divorced that something is broken. That's not the way it is in Iceland at all. We live in such a small and secure environment and the women have so much freedom. You can just choose you life. Brandice has three kids with two partners and not a drop of shame or regret. The Bible talks about people who commit sins and commit abominations and they have no shame. They don't even blush. That's what we see today in the nation of Iceland.
Turn if you would to Isaiah chapter 13. Many people have found it bizarre that I sometimes will preach whole sermons against certain countries, right? They think it's weird or crazy like, "What in the world are you thinking when you preached the sermon against France or what in the world are you doing preaching a sermon against Iceland? This kind of preaching is crazy. Where did he come up with this sermon idea. He is the thing. People who are barking at this or surprised by this, it just shows that they don't know the Bible. Because if you read the Bible, this is a genre of preaching in the Bible. In fact look at Isaiah chapter 13, verse 1, the burden of Babylon with Isaiah the son of Amoz did see. Then we proceed to have an entire sermon against Babylon.
Now flip over to chapter 15, the burden of Moab. There is a whole sermon against Moab: all the sins of Moab, all the judgement that God is going to bring. He explain what's wrong with Moab. Then go to chapter 17, the burden of Damascus. The old Damascus is taken away from being a city and it shall be a ruinous heap. Look, this is just one book of the Bible. This is just Isaiah. Let alone Jeremiah, let alone Ezekiel, let alone the minor prophets. You'll find the same thing. People who actually read the Bible know this to be true. Look if you would at chapter 19, verse 1, "The burden of Egypt." Here is a sermon against Egypt. Look at chapter 23. "The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in: from the land of Chittim it is revealed to them."
We could go on and on and show you all the sermons in the Bible that were directed at this nation, that nation, this city. You say, "Why does Iceland get its own sermon though when it's such a small place? There is only 330,000 ... Listen, there are more people living in Iceland today than were probably living in Damascus when the book of Isaiah was written or were living in Tyre. Why? Because everybody can learn from these sermons against these different places because these sins are common to man. Like I pointed the United States is following in these footsteps in some ways. We need to take heed and preach and make sure that our country doesn't go down this path any faster than it already is.
This sermon is about the wickedness of Iceland today, the burden of Iceland, a nation of bastards. A feminist hell is another way I would refer to this nation. Go if you would 1st Timothy chapter 5. I'm sorry to confuse you with the Bible tonight. The Bible is not a book that just condones of everything and doesn't want to hurt anybody's feelings. We're just going to act like it's okay to go sleeping around when you're not married. We're just going to act like it's okay to have kids out of wedlock and everything. Look, you're wrong if you think that's what Christianity is. You say, "Well this is the old testament. What about Jesus?" Jesus preached the same types of sermons. "Woe unto the Chorazin. Woe unto the Bethsaida." He preached against the places in his area. He said, "And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell." That's what Jesus preached about the cities of wickedness in his day.
Look at 1st Timothy chapter 5, verse 14. The Bible reads, "I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully. For some are already turned aside after Satan." The Bible teaches that you get married and then you bear children. That's the biblical order. You don't have children when you're not married. You don't commit the act that causes children when you're not married. You're supposed to be pure when you get married. You're supposed to be a virgin when you get married. That's what the Bible teaches. "I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house."
There is a movement today all over Europe where women just want to have kids and they don't want to be married. I watched a documentary about Germany. They were interviewing all these women in Germany that were saying, "We have no desire to get married. We don't want to have a husband. We just want to have kids." I just want to have a child, I just want to be a single mother. That's wicked. That is godless. That is not a biblical philosophy and that is not something that our society should accept as a normal way to live your life. Flip over the page, a few pages to the right in Titus chapter 2. You say, "Let people do whatever they want." Okay, I'm not going to stop you from producing bastard children tonight. You go out there and open you feet under everyone that passes by as the Bible says and you know what, go ahead and do it. It's no skin off my back, but I'm going to call a spade, a spade tonight and I'm going to preach what the Bible says about it.
People are free to do whatever they want. They're free to live a miserable foolish life. They are free to commit all kinds of sins and abominations. They're free to face the punishment of God for their actions. The Bible says in Titus chapter 2, verse 4, " That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children." Notice the order there: love their husbands, love their children. What's the priority? Their husband comes first and then the children. They love their husbands, they love their children. "To be discreet, chaste," what does chaste mean or chastity? It refers to keeping yourself pure where you're only having that physical act with the person that you're married and not people that you're not married to.
Says that they be discrete, chaste, keepers at home. What does keeper at home mean? It means housekeeping, taking care of the house. It's not saying that they never leave the house, but it's saying that they take care of the house, sort of like where God put Adam in charge of the Garden of Eden to dress and to keep it. What did it mean when God told Adam to keep the garden? It meant that he's supposed to take care of it. If we were to talk about a ground's keeper, we're talking about somebody who keeps up on the landscaping. A housekeeper is someone who takes care of the house. The keeper at home is one who maintains the affairs of the house. The Bible says that there to be discrete, chaste keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
The Bible teaches that wives that obey their husbands. The Bible teaches that women are supposed to be married to their husband, and love him, and honor him, and produce children with him that grow up in a home where there is a mother and a father in the home and where they raise that child in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Anything other that model is sin. It's sin. In contrast to what the Bible teaches, we have the so called feminist movement. Now the feminist movement claims to be a movement about exalting women, but it actually destroys the lives of both men and women. It also destroys the lives of children that grow up in broken homes and have all kinds of problems and issues as a result of growing up in that type of situation.
I went to Wikipedia and I typed in, feminist movement to Wikipedia. Here's what I found. "The women's movement effected change in western society including women's suffrage, the right to initiate divorce proceeding, no fault divorce, the right of women to make individual decisions regarding pregnancy, including access to contraceptives and abortion and the right to own property." These five things are listed as the accomplishments of the feminist movement. When they want to brag about what they've accomplished and the wonderful things that they've brought to our society, here's what they've brought us. They brought us number one, suffrage which means the right for women to vote in the elections. Then they brought us the right to initiate divorce proceedings and no fault divorce.
Why is the feminist movement responsible for bringing us the no fault divorce? Why would women want to bring about this no fault divorce where women can just divorce their husband for no reason or husbands can just divorce their wives for no reason? It also says that the feminist movement has brought us the right of women to make individual decisions regarding pregnancy. Translation, it gave them the right to murder their own baby which they call abortion. The Bible calls it murder. Of course, the right to own property. I'm not against women owning property unless by that that they mean that they can somehow own property apart from their husband like that they would get married to their husband and their husband has no access and control over their property. I don't believe in that.
I believe that when people get married then it should be community property with the husband as the head of the home which is the way it is in Arizona by the way. It's also led to broad employment for women at more equitable wages and access to university education. This is what women have accomplished for themselves. They've accomplished easy divorce. Isn't that something to be proud? We can murder our babies and we can have easy divorce. It's all feminist. It's feminism. It's so wonderful. It's so uplifting to women. No, it's not. It's disgusting. There is no fault divorce. Remember what I read in the article about Iceland. What did she say, "You guys act like something is broken when divorce happens." Yay, divorce, Yay, bastards. Yay, we are bastards. It's great. Yay, it's great to be a whore.
Here it says, "No, divorce is great." Divorce is cool according to this woman. There is nothing broken about it. Listen to this, did you know ... Most people don't even realize this no fault divorce is new. Did you know that the first no fault divorce law in the United States was in 1969 in California only, 1969. Before 1969 you couldn't just divorce your wife because you're sick of her. You couldn't just divorce your husband because you're sick of him or just because you don't like him. You had to go to court. If you were to divorce your spouse before 1969, you had to go to court and say, "My spouse committed adultery or my spouse is whatever." Then you have to prove that there was a reason why you were getting a divorce and it had to be a serious reason. A judge had to decide, "Okay. That's a good enough reason." He would just say, "Well no. You can't just get a divorce because you're not compatible." Are you a man? Are you a woman? Then you're compatible.
Listen to this, a lot of people don't realize that in 1968 the Soviet Union came out with their no fault divorce law, in 1968. And then in 1969, California followed suit with the law that was almost worded the same way in many places, following suit. After California had the easy divorce law, the no fault divorce then other states followed suit after that. We today as Christians have lost sight of the fact that it wasn't always like this. That this is a new thing that you just get divorced. It used to be that when you got married, it's still death do us part. That was the normal thing. Marriage used to mean something in this country. By the way, marriage is designed to protect both husband and wife. Marriage in not this anti-woman institution.
Where do people come up with this? They're feminist. Then they say, if you don't agree with their femi-nutsy agenda, then they call you misogynistic. If you actually study the morphology of the word misogynistic, meaning if you break it down into its individual parts, the miso at the beginning means I hate. Then the gyni is the same word or the same root from which we would get the word gynecologist. Basically misogyny means that you hate women, hatred of women. Basically if you teach what the Bible says that women should obey their husbands or that women should be a keeper at home, that women should actually get married and raise children, and keep the house, then you supposedly hate women. That's preaching hate. You are misogynistic. You're hateful tonight.
People don't even realize that no fault divorce is a totally new thing and that historically everyone understood that marriage is a protection for both people. For example, if I get married and even if we're not talking about the Bible, because even in our society in the United States, even people that weren't even Christians got married. Do you think only Christians got married before 1969? No. All people in the United States practiced marriage and it was just a normal part of our western society. Obviously it's influenced by the Bible and Christianity, but even non-believers understood what the purpose of marriage is.
You see even just from a non-scriptual standpoint, marriage protects both husband and wife because if I marry a woman then basically I have the assurance that she is only for me and that I'm not sharing her with other men. Illegally it used to be against the law for my wife to commit adultery because she's married to me and that's part of the deal, that's part of the contract. You get married, you have to be ... It protected women from their husband being out and sleeping with other women because of the fact they don't want him bringing home STDs and they don't want to share their husband just like husbands don't want to share their wife. It's this voluntary agreement between two people to keep themselves only unto that person where the husband and wife will only be physical with each other and have each other to have and to hold till death do them part. That is what marriage is.
Also think about how marriage protects women because what if a woman stays at home and raises the kids her whole life while her husband's out building a career, building a business, making money? What if all of a sudden the husband gets to be 50 years old and just decides, "I'm sick of you. I want to go marry a 25 year old"? Then he just left the woman high and dry. Wouldn't that be shame? Wouldn't that be a terrible thing to put the woman in that position where now all of a sudden she doesn't have a career, she doesn't have any livelihood, she doesn't have any way to make money. Here she is just left high and dry at age 50 with no one to take care of her. It protects both husbands and wives because the husband, he provides, he pays the bills and he stays faithful. The wife, she stays faithful to him. It's an agreement where they both come together into this union.
The reason that it is enforced by law is because even the Bible said that the adulterer should be put to death. Even God had a civil law where it was a crime to commit adultery. This is an agreement that was entered in by two people that is enforced by society so that if a woman just got sick of her husband, she can't just leave. If a husband gets sick of his wife, he can't just leave. Why? Because it's not fair to the other person when you invest your life in somebody for 10, 20 0r 30 years for that person to then just walk away from you. You make a life long commitment. That's what marriage is. If you don't want that type of life long commitment then don't get married. That's what marriage is where you make a commitment and where you make an agreement that is mutually binding.
Today that's not how Christians see marriage today. Marriage has been destroyed in this country. The institution of marriage means very little anymore. Even Christians today are accepting of divorce now. A perfect example of this is what's going on right now where Dr. Kent Hovind's wife is divorcing him. Who's heard about this? How Dr. Kent Hovind's wife is in the process of divorcing him right now? How wicked? She's taking advantage of this feminist, no fault divorce, this feminist ... Because if you look at the filing for the divorce, there is no reason given. It's just I'm divorcing you because I can. This wicked Soviet styled no fault divorce ... Even Christians are taking advantage of it today. She's divorcing her husband not because he's committing adultery or beating her up or anything. Nothing like that is even listed not that those are even necessarily excuses to get a divorce because divorce is never right. God hates divorce the Bible says. No, she's just divorcing him because she can. How wicked?
By the way this is what's going on. He got out of prison about 9 or 10 months ago ... Dr. Kent Hovind. He was in prison for 9 years because of some stupid tax thing. The IRS came after him and put him in jail for not giving them enough of his money. Anyway, he got out of prison. He gets home to his wife. He'd been preaching the Gospel for decades and preaching the Bible. He's not exactly doctrinally like us, but he's a brother in Christ. He did a lot of good teachings on the creations and a lot of good biblical videos and things that he put out over the years. Many of you have watched his videos and profited from them and enjoyed them. He gets out of prison after nine years of being in prison and he gets home to his own house and he walks into his own house and his wife takes him down the hall and says, "Here. This is where you're sleeping tonight." Dictating to him where he's going to sleep in his own home, what kind of feminist crap is that?
This is Christianity today. The goal to do that to somebody after they've been in prison for 9 years suffering ... A man of God suffering in prison for 9 years and that's what he comes home to. Here is what happened, Kent Hovind went to prison basically his wife found another man to take care her, her son Eric Hovind. Let me tell you something, this Eric Hovind is one of the most wicked people out there. I don't understand how anybody can say, "I love Kent Hovind. I also love Eric Hovind. I love to watch Eric Hovind and Kent Hovind. I think they're both great." Look, I don't see how you can feel that way when you understand what Erick has done and is doing to his dad right now.
This is the day that we're living in where children rebel against their parents and don't honor their parents and where wives rebel against their husbands and don't honor their husbands, where there is no respect or honor for the guy who is the breadwinner, who worked to make it all happen. He's just thrown under the bus now as an older man. He's just cast aside now. After he paid for his wife for decades, he supported her, he took care of her, he nourished and cherished her for decades, kept himself faithful to her for decades and he's just thrown under the bus. His son Erick that was raised and taught and brought up by him has nothing done but respect him and cast him aside. The son is as wicked as hell.
Here is why Eric Hovind is wicked as hell tonight. Number one, he preaches a false Gospel. He doesn't preach that you're saved just by believing on Jesus Christ alone. He teaches that you have to do all these other repenting of our sins and turning over a new leaf. It's a total lordship salvation, Allah ray comfort, hardcore. Not even a little bit lordship salvation, hardcore lordship salvation. Not only that, but after his dad went to prison and Erick stepped in to kind of take care of things and run it while he's gone, he took it from being King James only thing to embracing all these modern perversions of the Bible: The NIV, The New Living Translation, all these other junk. He brings in James White and praises James White and praises everything that his father stood against.
Then he raises all this money and says, "Hey, we're going to save Dr. Hovind's ministry." Hey, raised all these money in the name of Kent Hovind and uses Kent Hovind's mailing list and then he basically just stole everything from his dad. He literally stole everything. It might be legal sort of, kind of, barely legal what he did but that doesn't make it right. Here is what he did. When the IRS was going to come in and seize all of his dad assets, what he did was, he had the company sell it all to him at pennies on the dollar. He bought like $2 million of merchandise in equipment for like 6000 bucks. He buys everything for like 6000 bucks or something, just some thing on paper so that he could transfer it to his own God Quest Ministries which more like a role playing video game than a baptist church or a baptist ministry not that Eric Hovind even claims to be baptist. I think he's probably more of a non-denom kind of a type.
Anyway he plays this game of shuffling things around where he basically steals everything that was his dad's. "Dad, I'll just watch it for you. I'll just take care of it for you while you are in prison." His dad gets out of prison and Erick's living in his house, sleeping in his bed, eating out at his bowl of porridge and basically his dad comes out of prison to nothing. He is in prison for nine years. He comes out, he has nothing. Dr. Hovind even brought up the fact he had a pocket knife that he'd had for years. He held it up to his son and he said, "Son, who does this pocket knife belong to?" His son said, "It belongs to God Quest Ministries." He said, "No, this is my pocket knife." "No, it was purchased by God Quest Ministries." All of his tools, all of his personal items, his own house and even his own wife has been taken away from him. Everything was taken from him.
He comes out of prison and nothing is there because his son Absalom took all of it away. It's exactly like the story of Absalom in the Bible. This fraud, this joke, this loser ... Listen to me, Erick Hovind is a loser tonight. His preaching sucks. Nobody listens to it. Nobody wants to hear it. Nobody cares. Everything that he does and produces is riding on his dad's coattails. His ministry would be nothing without all of his dad's money, his dad's infrastructure, all the equipment that he inherited "stole" from his dad, all of the gear ... When you start a business, there is a big startup expense. Hovind spent decades building up all the warehouse and the inventory and all of the stuff, and Eric comes in and rides on dad's coattails. Nobody would ever even give a flip about Eric Hovind if his last name wasn't Hovind. Nobody wants to listen to that moron, that loser.
Have you ever heard him talk? He's an idiot. He's a fool. He's not a man of God. He's not spirit-filled. He doesn't preach with boldness. He's a loser. It's all riding on daddy's coattails, but then he takes his dad and throws him under the bus ... No honor, no respect. Now he enables his mother to divorce her own husband with Kent Hovind's own money and resources, the infrastructure that he stole from his father. I can't even understand how anybody would follow that ministry or care anything about that ministry. It's nothing like even what Kent Hovind even put out in the first place. He continues to make money off of and profit from Kent Hovind ministry and his work.
Last week, he evicted Ken Hovind from his own house. He wasn't even man enough to come and tell him, "Dad, get out." He just posted an eviction notice so that when Ken Hovind woke up in the morning and stepped out, there is an eviction notice, "You have 15 days to leave your own house." Listen to this, he's been paying rent ... Are you listening to me? Ken Hovind has been paying $600 a month every month since he got out of prison to rent a small room in his own house down the hall from his wife. He's paying 600 bucks a month to rent and now he's being evicted from his wife. "We don't want you around David. Go cross [inaudible 31:34] David. Absalom is in charge now." Then that fat slug Paul Taylor, that disgusting Bible corrupting false prophet that he brings in to replace Kent Hovind, unbelievable. It's wicked.
This is world ... But it's so wonderful. It's so modern. It's so feminist. You go girl. You go Jojo. You just drop your husband. You drop that zero and get you a hero. It's wicked. It's garbage. You say, "But he went to prison and she had to go to prison for a year and whatever." You know what, it's for better for worse. You know what, she loved all the good times with him. She loved it when things were going good for decades, when things were going great, when things were awesome and then things go bad and then all of a sudden, let's just throw your husband under the bus now. Let's just throw your mom and dad under the bus. Let's just throw your wife under the bus. Isn't that so wicked?
It's just as wicked for a husband to discard his wife. You don't discard your wife. You don't discard your husband. It's for life. You love them. You honor and keep them till death do us part. That's what we swear on an alter when we get married. That's the commitment that we make toward marriage. Let me tell you something. You think that I or any other godly person would have their mother living with them in their house as she divorces her husband. "Come live with me mom while you divorce dad. Come here." What in the world is wrong with this people? This is evangelical Christianity today. This is just one example. Divorce is being accepted and completely normalized all over the churches. I've been in a church, I was in an independent fundamental baptist church where people were getting divorced every single year.
Literally people in the church would get divorced from one another and then they would remarry other people in the church. Think about tonight, look around at the husbands and wives. Can you imagine coming back two years later and different husbands are sitting with different wives because they've divorced each other and married someone else? That's what it was like in a church that I've been in. I can point the situations like that that I've seen in my own life time. But it's so wonderful. It's not a broken home. It's wonderful. Take pride and be ... Why don't we make a t shirt with an Icelandic flag that says, "Bastard pride. Divorce pride." It's wicked. I got a little off on Eric Hovind, but I need to get back Iceland.
You say, "Pastor Anderson, Scandinavia is the happiest place on earth." Now first of all number one, Disney Land is the happiest place. No, I'm just kidding. People will constantly say, "Scandinavia is the happiest place on earth." Who's heard this about Denmark, and Iceland, and Norway, and Sweden being the happiest place? Haven't you heard it? Before we get into that, let's go to God's happiness index. Go if you would to Psalm 144. We're going to get God's happiness index from the Bible. I'm going to get into the so called happiness of Iceland and Denmark in a moment, but let's look at God's happiness index first. The Bible says in Psalm 144: 15, " Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord."
According to the Bible the nation that's the happiest place is the one whose God is the Lord. Look at chapter 146 right next to it in verse 5, " Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God." Turn if you would to John chapter 13. The Bible says in Proverbs 16:20, "He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good: and who so trusteth in the Lord, happy is he." Happy is he that trusteth the Lord. Happy is the people whose God is the Lord. Happy is the nation where the God that they have is the God of Jacob, the God of Abraham. John chapter 13, verse 14 says, "If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet," this is Jesus speaking, "Ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them."
According to the Bible, happiness comes through serving others, not being selfish and arrogant and just going around and sleeping around for your own fun and producing bastard children for your own little ornament or your own little puppy something, not realizing that you're bringing a life into this world that has the right to be raised by a mother and a father. Happiness comes through service. It comes through serving others. When you say, "You're enslaving women." No, women serving their husband is a happy life. That's a happy life for women. That's not a negative anti-woman thing. James chapter 5 ... You don't have to turn there. " Behold, we count them happy which endure." You know who's happy tonight? The people who endure the ups and down of marriage and they stay married. That's who's happy. "We count them happy with endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy."
1st Peter 3:14, "But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled." 1st Peter 4:14, "If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified." See according to the Bible, happiness is enduring. Happiness is serving others. Happiness is loving the Lord. Happiness is having God and salvation and Jesus. That's what makes you happy, living a godly life. Glorifying God, having the glory of God resting on you brings happiness according to the Bible.
There were some men of God in the Bible who doubted this happiness index. Flip over if you would to Psalm 73. There were times when great men of God in the Bible, they doubted God's happiness index that said that happiness is through loving the Lord, worshiping the Lord, serving others, enduring for Christ. There were people who doubted this. One of the men who doubted God's happiness index was Jeremiah. Jeremiah 12, verse 1 he said, "Righteous art thou, O Lord, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?"
Jeremiah in chapter 12, verse 1, he kind of questioned God. He had doubt enter in. He said, "God, why are people that don't obey you, why are they happy Lord? Why are these wicked people happy?" Asaph in Psalm 73 where you are, he felt the same way. He went through the same thing. Psalm 73, verse 1, "Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart. But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped. For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked." What's Asaph saying? He's saying, "I looked over at Iceland and I looked over at Denmark and Sweden and Norway, and you know what, I was envious of their prosperity. I envied them. I thought that they lived a happier life." "There are no bands in their death, verse 4. "But their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men."
These people have been listening to all these idiot liberals who told them like, "Scandinavia is so wonderful. It's like this paradise, this socialism. It's so good over there." They saw the little memes on Facebook telling them how cool it is to live in Denmark and how cool it is to live in Norway, and Sweden, and Iceland. It's wonderful over there. We're screwing it up over here, but man over there, it's just like rainbows, and unicorns, and socialism. It's so wonderful. "Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness." Man, over in Iceland, they have more than heart could wish. "They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth. Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them. And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High?"
What do we need to get married for? What do we need to obey the Bible for? Believe in God, go to church, what? We're Iceland, we're Denmark, we don't need that religious junk. "Behold, verse 12, "these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches. Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning. If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children," so he says. Man, I feel bad saying this though because I don't my kids to hear this. When I start talking about how cool Iceland and Denmark are and how the wicked are prospering, I feel like, "Man, I got a bum deal living the Christian life." That's what Asaph's saying.
Watch what he said, "When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me, verse 17, "Until I went into the sanctuary of God; and heard the sermon about Iceland then understood I their end." I went to church, I went to the sanctuary and the preacher straightened me out, and I learned about their end. It's hell. Hell is their end, but they are already live in a hell right now. See, they're going to literal hell someday if they reject the Lord Jesus Christ their savior. Even know they live in what I call the nation of bastards or what I call the feminist hell. They're already there in some sense.
Let's keeping reading. "Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image. Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee." How could I have been so stupid to think that Iceland is a role model? I was like a beast to think that Denmark is some wonderful place. I was ignorant. I was foolish to think that the ungodly wicked nation of bastards is the better than living a Christian, godly life.
You say, "Wait a minute Pastor Anderson, it's been to be the happiest place." Here is where this comes from, this idea of Denmark, and Sweden, and Iceland being the happiest place. I think Iceland is like number two right now on happiness. It comes from the Organization for Economic, Cooperation, and Development. This is who puts out this happiness, the OECD, the Organization for Economic, Cooperation, Development. We've seen God's happiness index. Let's get the world's happiness index. The OECD has used these factors for calculating the happiness. You say, " How do they calculate who's the happiest? What's the happiometer? Well here's how they measure it. These are the factors: housing, income, work, community, education, environment, civil engagement, health, life satisfaction, safety, and life work balance. Let me translate life work balance, sitting on your butt and working as few hours as possible ... 35 hour work week or 37 hour work week.
Here is what they're basically saying that in order to be happy you just get everything you want. That's what they're saying. If you have money and everybody gives you what you want and you don't have to work a lot, and your healthy, that's going to make you happy. Is that really what makes you happy? Because if that were what made you happy, you know who would be the happiest people in America right now? The Hollywood stars because don't they ... Let's go through the list. Do they have nice housing? The rock stars, the Hollywood stars, do they have nice housing? How about income? How are they doing on income? How about their work? Do they enjoy their work? What about community? What about education, environment, civil engagement, health, life satisfaction, safety, life work balance? You know why they are not happy is because that's not what brings happiness? You know what brings happiness? The Lord.
The joy of the Lord, the Holy Spirit, living a godly life. You know what provides happiness? Staying faithful to the same wife for decades, staying faithful to your husband for decades. That gets you happy. That's a happy life. You know what makes you happy? When children honor their parents and when wives and husbands honor one another and stay faithful to one another. You know what makes you happy? Going to church with your family and worshiping the Lord and singing praises to God, and reading the Bible, and living a clean and godly life. That makes you happy. According to these worldly people, happiness is based on housing. Housing is what makes you happy. No, it's income, it's money that makes you happy according to these people.
You know what, there are people who have bad health that are happy today because the joy of the Lord is their strength. There are people today who live in poverty and own nothing that are very happy. Jesus said, "Blessed are ye poor." No, it's only the rich that are happy. Oh really? Then why are all the Hollywood stars constantly getting drunk, getting high, committing suicide, shoplifting, drunk driving, on their fourth spouse? Because they're not living the happiest life after all. Listen to this, you're not even going to believe this. The happiness index says, "Iceland man, they're number two." I think right now they have Australia as number one. Then it's like Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway. All the Scandinavian countries are in like the top 10 or maybe even the top 7, but Iceland is like number 2 on this index.
The same exact organization for economic, cooperation and development has also put out a study on anti-depressant use worldwide. You want to know who the number one consumer of anti-depressant is, how many doses per day? 101 daily doses of anti-depressant for every 1000 people. Think about that. 101 doses of anti-depressants for 1000 people. That's more than 10% of people are getting dosed anti-depressants. You know who's number one? It's Iceland. Iceland is number one, not number two, not number three. Iceland is number one for anti-depressants. The same organization, these idiots that say, "They're the happiest. Iceland is the happiest place on earth. Denmark is so wonderful and sweet. Iceland is number two." You know where they rank as far as taking anti-depressants? They're number one.
If they're so happy, why do they have to take so many anti-depressants? Why the suicides? You know why? Because living in a nation of bastards isn't all that it's cracked to be and being an unwed mother isn't all that it's cracked up to be, and being a whore and a whore monger and discarding religion, and discarding Jesus Christ, and discarding the word of God, and discarding marriage, doesn't make you happy. It makes you depressed tonight. God makes you happy. I'm not on anti-depressants tonight. Look, I'm not going to ask for a raise of hands of who is on anti-depressants tonight. I don't wan to embarrass anyone. I guarantee you that 99% of the people in this room are not on anti-depressant. I'm here to tell you that God gives joy and happiness. The world's happiness index is a lie and fraud. God is the one who makes us happy.
Turn to Proverbs 14 and I'll close on this scripture, Proverbs 14, verse 12. Title of the sermon tonight is Iceland, the nation of bastards. "Foolish Christians today, foolish Americans are saying, "We need to get rid of all the liberty, and freedom, and free market economics. We need to go to a model more like Scandinavia." Have you been hearing this lately? Is it just me? Am I the only one who's heard this? Oh yeah, we need to be more like Denmark. "Look at Norway. Look at Sweden." Hey, I wouldn't live in that feminist hell for any amount of money. I don't care what kind of house you give me, I don't care what kind of car, I don't care about the beautiful scenery, I don't care about the education, environment, and life to work ratio, and where I can go and sit on my butt half the week and only work a few hours. I would never want to live in that feminist hell.
I want to live in a place where at least there is some semblance of men being men and women being women. I know we don't even know which bathroom to use anymore in this country. At least we're not as bad as Iceland. Why do we look at them and say, "Let's get even stupider. Let's get even more fagoty as men. Let's get even more manly as women. Let's get even more godless. Let's get even more unchristian so we could be like Denmark." None of these people have been to Denmark. They've never been to Iceland, or Sweden, or Norway, or any of these places. You say, "Have you ever been there? Yeah, I've been there. I haven't been to Iceland, but I've been to Scandinavia. I've been to 13 countries in Europe. I know what it's like over there. You know what? Anybody who says that's so much better over there, just probably hasn't been there.
Because honestly all together if you add it up the times that I've gone to Europe, I've probably spent about four and a half or five months there. I experienced all different phases of life over there. I went to school as a visitor. I went for a school for a week in Germany. I traveled around. I got to live in people's homes. I understood their lifestyle. I spoke the language. I spoke German. I spoke Norwegian. I understood what was going on over there. Let me tell you something, you know what it taught me? Wow! We really have it a lot better over here in the United States of America. Obviously our country has serious problems but you don't want to be like them. It's way worse over there.
When I came home from Europe, when I was a teenager and I spent three months there when I was 18 years old, I felt like, "Wow! America is such a Christian nation." It's so godly here just because in comparison it seemed godly because it was so much more wicked over there. Here is the conclusion tonight, Proverbs chapter 14, verse 12, "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth is heaviness." It's easy to look at people and say, "It seems so great. They seem so happy." Look at that woman on CNN telling us how great it, "I got three kids with two different partners and I don't have any shame. Who needs marriage? We're so free. You just kind of choose you life." You know what? In her heart she's miserable. She finished up that interview and she popped an anti-depressant.
"It's so great. I just love being a whore. I don't want to get married. I want to be a whore ... Just so I can get through the day." "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth is heaviness." You know what heaviness means? What does heaviness mean? Depression. Heaviness is the old word for depression. What is depression? Pressing down heaviness ... Depression. The end of that math, and that fun, and that ... "Yeah, we're single mothers." It's depression. It's misery. You say, "I'm never coming back." Good, I'm glad you got the whole thing while you were here then. Good, I'm glad you got it here while you you hear about the feminist hell and the nation of bastards.
You say, "I don't think we should talk this way in front of children." Hey, I want my children to know what the word bastard means. I want my children to grow up and say, "I'm going to produce children within the bounds of marriage." You say, "I don't want my kids to hear this kind of preaching." Then you go to the watered down, limp wristed church down the street and you won't ever hear this kind of preaching and you can grow up and raise your bastard grandchildren. You can raise your bastard grandchildren, but my children are going to hear this kind of biblical preaching. You know what? We need to get the hard edge back in Bible preaching because the Bible is a hard edge sharp as a two edged sword cutting book in the Old Testament and the New Testament. Iceland tonight is a nation of bastards.
Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer. "Father we thank you so much for your word Lord, and we thank you for preaching Lord that I heard growing up that kept me on the right path. Lord this kind of preaching is happening in almost no churches in America today. If we were to listen in to the sermons across America today Lord, I know that virtually no church is preaching this way or maybe just less than 1%. I know that there is still 7000 that haven't bowed the need to bail, but it's a small minority Lord and that's why our country is in the condition that it's in Lord. Please help God's people to wake up and understand the need for your word. Your word in the answer. Your word is the cure. Your word will fix everything Lord. Help us to preach it, and proclaim it, and to live by it. He that hath an ear, let him hear and in Jesus name we pray. Amen."
