"But draw near here, you sons of the sorceress, you seed of the adulterer and the harlot. Of whom do you make sport? Against whom do you make a wide mouth and stick out the tongue? Are you not children of transgression, a seed of deception... Also behind the doors and the posts you have set up your memorials; for you uncovered yourself and went up to those other than Me. You enlarged your bed and made a covenant with them; you have loved to EXPERIENCE THEIR BED FIRST HAND." (Is57:3-4,8)

"take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow [the pagan world]... and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise. You shall not do so unto Jehovah your God;" (De12:30-31a)

Like the hippy saying from that era, "If it feels good, do it!"

If somebody was to balk at doing something, like drugs, booze, illicite sex, or whatever was being pushed upon the uninitiated: You won't know what you're missing until you try it. Awe, just try it!

True Believers into Jesus Christ, who stand separate from charismania and its emotions-based demonic 'manifestations', have also been taunted by the charismatic crowd: Don't condemn it unless you've experienced it. A Believer who would stick to the Foundation of God's Word, and reject the "doctrines of demons" (1Ti4:1), would be castigated as "not knowing what they are talking about" because they have not had actual FIRST-HAND EXPERIENCE with the phenomenon.

Oh, this LSD? Just "give it a try"; you'll get 'high'. And so the person tries some, and jumps out a high-rise window, thinking they are flying "like a bird". That's the last thing they'll "experience" as they 'splat' on the ground.

The excitement of "Swingtown"? Get in the hot tub: are you into trying new things? and do some swinging? Next thing you know, you've got an STD! Incurable. You're dead.

The Believer goes to a meeting of 'manifestations', seeking to -experience- the phenomenon known as being "spirit-filled". They open up their heart, contrary to God's Word, the spirits come in, and GOTCHA! And since a person who deliberately turns their back on the Lord, if they were truly saved when they started investigating the experience, cannot be RE-saved (Heb6:4-6), they are dead... forever. "The wages of sin is death" (Rom6:23a); they threw the "gift of God" back in His face, for the sake of an "experience".

Water cannot be UN-flowed past the bridge. The nail cannot be UN-pounded. You cannot UN-have sex. You cannot UN-take drugs. A person who is 'high' on drugs cannot UN-jump from that window. And when a person has been demon-possessed and thrown their Salvation away, they cannot be UN-filled. If a person tells a lie, those words cannot be UN-said. If somebody hears, those words cannot be UN-heard. If you play with snakes and get bit, you cannot be UN-bitten. You cannot be UN-poisoned. And if the result is a fatality, a person CANNOT UN-DIE!

All these things are a ONE-WAY TRIP with NO RETURNS!

But there is the allure of the unknown. The lust -to- know. The tree was called the Tree of the 'Knowledge' of Good and Evil. (Gen2) And when the temptor comes: Wouldn't you like to know the experience, what it is like to be as God? (Gen3:5) C'mon! Give it a try. TRY NEW THINGS.

The hymns (with Biblical themes that honor and glorify God Almighty) we have sung Sunday after Sunday... they are getting somewhat 'stale'. This morning Brother So-n-so brought along his guitar, which he is going to strum (softly), and introduce us to some (new) choruses. Let's try this "new thing". You see, there is a phenomenon going on "out there", outside our own (stifling) walls, where people are getting all -excited-. It is a "wave" of "revival fires". People are being "ignited" in this "outpouring". It is a "second pentecost". They are experiencing the supernatural. And people are flocking to it by the thousands. And look at our tiny group of 50 here!

So... in ten years come back to this same church: the organ and piano are gone. The pulpit is gone. Those hard pews have been replaced by padded folding chairs set up in semi-circle. There is the place for the drums and rock band. And instead of having preaching of the Word and Bible studies, they now spend their time dancing, meditating, being spirit-filled, and behaving sensuously and lasciviously.

Our opening passage (above) uses language the equivalent of what 'polite' people don't say. But if we understand that God, to the "perverse" shows Himself "twisted" (2Sa22:27, Ps18:26), and speaks to the sinner in terms he understands; and as we observed John and Jesus using labels, calling their hearers "vipers" (Mt3:7, 12:34) But to anybody who has been amongst the angry explosion of unregenerate talking, and knows what people say to each other angrily, that's exactly what God is doing to Israel.

You "sons of the sorceress". And take the very next phrase, translate it into modern colloquial gutter talk, you "sons of b------" Yes, that is exactly what God is calling Israel! As if to say: Get over here, you [piece-of-work]! Why? Why is God so angry with Israel?

Israel is making fun of God (making sport). You know how when children are taunting one another, they stick their thumbs in their ears, flapping their hands, while sticking out their tongues. Or they will pull sideways on their mouth, stick their tongues out, and make derogatory noises. Not only are they 'sneaking' around in their idolatry, they are 'thumbing their noses' at God about it. They are not ashamed of their nakedness as they go to the pagan beds to experience idolatry "first hand".

"Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, nor did they know how to blush; therefore they shall fall among those who fall. At the time that I punish them they shall be cast down, says Jehovah." (Jer6:15)

God is the Existing One. He proclaims "I AM, THAT I AM" (Ex3:14) And to His people He exhorts "You shall have no other gods before Me" (Ex20:3) And He punctuates this declaration,

"you shall not bow down to them nor serve them; for I, Jehovah your God, am a JEALOUS MIGHTY GOD, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me," (vs5)

When True Believers engage in 'conversation' with others, that is like 'flirting'. And when a Believer engages their own heart in "synthesis" with others, that is adultery. You know: the "dialectic" that has been going on for decades. The 'thesis' is God. The 'antithesis' is satan's counterfeit "doctrines of demons" (1Ti4:1) And when the 'conversation' and 'dialog' of the dialectic is complete, mixing the two together in the common 'consensus' bed of adultery, it is 'synthesis'.

When the True Believer sticks with the "thus says the Lord" of Scripture, the antithesis sticks their tongue out at the Believer and labels them as "judgmental". The True Believer is said to be uttering "hate speech". Such terminology is intended to make the Believer 'feel bad' for being "unloving" (as the Bible says we are to be), just like the playground taunts of "nya, nya, nya!" at the one being bullied.

But in truth, the Believer is being all-loving...-TO- God. And yes, there is hate. Does not a spouse tend to hate the enemies of their spouse?

"Do I not hate them, O Jehovah, who hate You? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies." (Ps139:21-22)

But how do we stay away from idolatry? God exhorted Israel to "take heed to yourselves" (be careful, WATCH OUT!) to not be "ensnared" to follow satan. Don't go looking and inquiring. The world says "inquiring minds want to know". But God exhorts,

"Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not go in the way of evil. Avoid it, do not pass by it; turn from it and pass on." (Pr4:14-15)

God says "do not inquire after their gods". Because, at what point, after inquiring and digesting all the information, do the jaws of the trap snap shut, "GOTCHA!" And like Eve, lusting after that "knowledge" the serpent was promising towards god-hood, it is so enticing, the person makes the leap to "do likewise". (De12:30-31) At what point is "information" not enough, but the lust becomes strong to "experience" it "first hand". They excuse that it was for "informational purposes", of course! But in truth, through their investigation, they have gotten to the place where they desperately -WANT- it!

Once you have experienced a burn, you cannot UN-scar your flesh. Once you experience "first hand" a broken bone, that bone can never be UN-broken.

Yes, satan's ways might be 'new' and 'different'. And he makes it look enticing with -fun- music, dancing, and sensuality. It "feeeeels...oooh sooo gooood! Ooooh, moooan, grooooan! Bark! Growl! Laugh hysterically"

!! GOTCHA !!

To the wayward shameless "sons of b------" God says

"Stand in the ways and see, and ASK FOR THE OLD PATHS WHERE THE GOOD WAY IS, AND WALK IN IT, AND YOU SHALL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS." (Jer6:16)

"We will not walk in it." (vs16b)

"Also I set watchmen over you (rising early and sending Jer25:4), saying, Listen to the sound of the shofar."

"We will not listen." (vs17)

"Hear, O earth; behold, I will bring evil on this people, the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not heeded My Words, nor My Law, but rejected it.... Therefore thus says Jehovah, Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall stumble on them; the neighbor and his friend shall perish....

Rejected silver they call them, because JEHOVAH HAS REJECTED THEM." (Jer6:19,21,30)