Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Jude, verse eight.
[00:00:02] Last week, we learned that in spite of what liberal church members may think, the Bible is very clear that there's coming a day when sinners without Christ will have to face the judgment of an Almighty God, and they will be tormented in a place that burns day and night. In verse seven last week, Jude said, even as them and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh are set for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
[00:00:39] That's where we left off last week. Jude reminding us that God's fiery judgment isn't just reserved for the angels that sinned, but also for the creepy clergy that have snuck into our churches and perverted the truth of God. Jude says, the unbelieving Israelites who left Egypt were judged. The angels who rebelled against God were judged. And verse eight. Likewise, also, these filthy dreamers. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your precious word. And I pray, Father God, that your holy Spirit will teach us with power from on high.
[00:01:22] Feed us with your precious word. We thank you for it. In Jesus Holy name, amen.
[00:01:30] Likewise. Also, Jude said, these filthy dreamers. Now, when Jude says these filthy dreamers, Jude is referring to these creepy clergy, these false Bible teachers who have snuck into the church unnoticed. He's calling them filthy dreamers. And the word filthy here, our English word filthy is actually not in the original Greek manuscript at all. And that's why if you have a King James version, it's italicized in your Bible. The translators are letting you know that word's really not in here, but we believe by supplying it, it will help you understand the text a little bit better. They thought the word filthy would help explain the verse because these dreamers, Jude said, defile the flesh. So they put in there filthy dreamers to help set that off. But I believe it probably would have been better had the translators just left the verse alone and let Jude speak. Because a lot of people read that and they get the wrong idea and they misunderstand. So I believe it ended up being a stumbling block more than a help, Jude said. Likewise, also, these filthy. So concentrate on the last word, dreamers.
[00:02:56] Jude is not saying these people have dirty dreams, as one commentary I read suggested. He's saying they are dreamers who happen to be spiritually unclean people. Makes sense. They are dreamers who happen to be spiritually unclean people. So now the question to ask ourselves is this, why would Jude call these people dreamers?
[00:03:27] Well, I believe Jude is referring to prophets whom God has revealed himself to in times past through dreams, and I believe, will again in the future reveal himself to people as well as we near the return of Christ, as the prophet Joel told us in the Old Testament. In fact, on the day of Pentecost, when people began speaking in other languages, you remember that the apostle Peter told the people, if you want to write down in your margin outside this verse, eight filthy dreamers, write down acts chapter two, verse 16.
[00:04:08] There, on the day of Pentecost, Jude explained to the people as they were speaking in tongues, speaking in foreign languages, earthly foreign languages, that is, that people knew, but not everybody understood at the time. Naturally, he explained that miraculous phenomenon. He said, this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. There's that same Greek word again that's in the book of Jude.
[00:04:56] So we see from this verse, which is the only other time this Greek word is used in the New Testament, that the dreams being given here, as the apostle explained, Apostle Peter explained, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. Your old men will dream dreams. So these dreams were the result of God's Holy Spirit being poured out on his people in the last days, and how he was poured out on the prophets in the days in the past.
[00:05:30] The creepy clergy, though, they don't have the Spirit of God, if any man have not the spirit of God, he's none of his.
[00:05:39] And these creepy clergy, they don't have the Spirit of God. If they did, they'd be speaking the words of God. They wouldn't be creepy clergy. They'd be an ordained clergy.
[00:05:51] And so instead of having the clean spirit, they prophesy how? By an unclean spirit. Whatever they speak, they speak from the imaginations of their own flesh, from an unclean spirit or whatever it is that prompts them, but it's from the imagination of their own unclean flesh.
[00:06:16] And that's why ThEy are filthy dreamers that make sense now, unlike the prophets of God, who have been made clean through the blood of Christ. Now, also in your margin, write down Jeremiah, chapter 23.
[00:06:32] JeReMiah, chapter 23.
[00:06:38] And in this 23rd chapter of Jeremiah, the Lord spoke against the same people the Prophet Jude is speaking about here in the New Testament. Okay, so the prophet Jeremiah in the Old Testament, the spirit of God is speaking through him, condemning creepy clergy in the Old Testament say, well, were there creepy clergy back then? Who was the first creepy clergy? The devil in heaven, the snake in the garden. And yes, there's been creepy clergy all throughout the word of God. And in JEReMiaH 23, God speaks against these creepy clergy in Jeremiah's day who were religious on the outside, but who were wicked charlatans on the inside. And Listen to how God, through the prophet JeReMiah described them. In JeReMiaH 20 311, God said, for both prophet and priest are profane. Or you could say unclean, right?
[00:07:35] Yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the Lord. So these were definitely creepy clergy, the prophet and the priest, in the sense that they occupied holy positions but were leading people astray. Now, listen carefully to what God said about these religious leaders once again in JereMiah 23. This time, in verses 25 through 27, God said, quote, I have heard what the prophet saiD, that prophesy lies in my name. See, they didn't deny God in the sense they said, oh, we don't believe in God or don't follow God. They didn't deny him like that. Had they done that, they wouldn't have been creepy clergy if someone got up in the pulpit this morning and said, nobody believe in Jesus. Nobody believe in God. Close your Bibles. None of that's any good anymore. You would say, blasphemy. Get that man out of here. Right.
[00:08:36] So God said, I've heard what the prophet said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, quote, I have dreamed. I have dreamed. You hear what the prophets, the creepy clergy, were saying back in Jeremiah? They said, I've dreamed. I've dreamed. How long shall this be? In the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? Yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart.
[00:09:05] God's saying, I haven't given them a dream. They're prophesying to you from the imaginations of their own filthy, profane heart, he says, which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams.
[00:09:23] Isn't that amazing? They prophesy in God's name, but through their dreams seek to make people forget God's name. How clever is that?
[00:09:37] They prophesy in the name of God. I come from God.
[00:09:41] Now listen to my dreams.
[00:09:44] And in so doing, they get them to listen to their dreams and forget the name of God altogether. It's a distraction. It's a bait and switch. In the pulpit, he says, which think to cause people to forget my name by their dreams, which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers have forgotten my name. For Baal, in other words, there's no difference if you forget the word of God in the name of God, you have forsaken God.
[00:10:14] Doesn't matter. You don't have to say, oh, we don't worship Jesus anymore. Now we worship Buddha. You don't have to do that.
[00:10:22] You can worship a false God in Jesus'name.
[00:10:26] In God Jehovah's name. They do it all the time.
[00:10:30] They were filthy dreamers. They prophesy, but they prophesy lies from their own filthy hearts. I remember a couple of years ago when COVID started going around, some of y'all may remember, there was a charismatic preacher from Indiana. Tammy knows him.
[00:10:52] Tammy knows him. Charismatic preacher from Indiana.
[00:10:57] And he went viral on Facebook. And someone here, I don't know if it was the Lasky's or someone else, somebody sent me his video and wanted me to listen to it and give my opinion on it. And I usually don't. I usually don't have time to listen to videos. But because of the COVID going around and the magnitude of what this man was prophesying, I felt I needed to address it, and I'm glad I did.
[00:11:26] But it went around on Facebook and it was going viral and on YouTube and everything. He was prophesying about the fallout of the virus.
[00:11:36] And I remember someone again asking me to listen to this video. And I did. And the man was Pastor Dana coverstone. Anyone saw his video back then when he was prophesying about what all was going to happen? Anybody?
[00:11:51] Somebody did. They sent it to me. It was going around.
[00:11:57] And Pastor Dana Coverstone said that he had dreamed a dream.
[00:12:04] He called it once a vision. And he said in his dream that God gave him. He said he dreamt of a calendar. He was very dramatic when he was explaining this, a calendar with a hand pointing to the month of March, like this. And he points at the month of March. And then he begins to give explicit detail about things that we already knew happened in the month of March. That's what the pastor did.
[00:12:36] It was past March when he released the video.
[00:12:41] He said, last year I had a dream and a finger was pointing to the month of March.
[00:12:49] And this is what God told me was going to happen. He said, I saw face Mask, I saw riots in the streets, I saw schools closing. All the things that we know happened when the COVID came out.
[00:13:03] Well, my goodness. And he said, and I did not publish the dream back then, but I did share it with some members in a prayer group, some men of prayer group. And I can verify that I shared it, didn't give the people's names.
[00:13:18] While you're listening, you're thinking, well, my goodness, what an incredible prophecy, prophetic dream this man had. It came to pass absolutely exactly like it said.
[00:13:30] But he then said, after he showed that he was a prophet from the dream, he never prophesied and never published before it occurred, but now published after it occurred, it says it all came true. He then told us that he had another dream about something that's going to happen at the end of the year 2020, now this 2021.
[00:13:57] So he said back then, at the beginning of 2020, after March, he said he had another dream about something's going to happen at the end of 2020. And he said that he again dreams this dream.
[00:14:12] And there is a calendar in this dream.
[00:14:17] And the voice telling him, brace yourself, brace yourself. Anyone remembering the dream now, remember that. No one, brace yourself. You can go look them up online. I don't suggest you do, though. I don't. I don't suggest you do.
[00:14:35] Be careful when you toy with false prophets.
[00:14:39] Kept saying, brace yourself.
[00:14:42] And then he said there was a November, and the finger pointing three times at November as to say it's going to be significant. And there's numbers, dates flying off the calendar.
[00:15:01] And he said that he saw a white calendar, and he believed that the white calendar represented God's Holy Spirit. And a voice telling him, part two, part one was the first one. This is now part two.
[00:15:19] He then said that he saw a hand tap the month of September 3 times, but a fist hitting the month of November. Bam.
[00:15:32] Numbers flying everywhere.
[00:15:34] He then said that he saw Washington, DC, on fire in Russian soldiers, telling Chinese soldiers to go round up certain people here in the United States.
[00:15:48] He said that they were divvying up certain quadrants of our nation's capital, and Russia was telling China, you go get them over there, we'll get these people over here. Now, first of all, I tell you right there, that's a false prophecy. Russia is not going to tell China anything.
[00:16:07] Anyone's going to be telling it's going to be China.
[00:16:11] China, but it'd be China.
[00:16:16] He said he also saw no sign of President Trump or leadership in Washington in that month. No sign of him couldn't be found. He said he saw vultures that looked like gargoyles and they were devouring people.
[00:16:36] He also said that he knows God's voice and when God speaks to him. So that's why he was sharing this information with the people he knew. It was the voice of God.
[00:16:48] But you know what happened?
[00:16:50] November last year has come and gone. And y'all happen to see the gargoyles eating people up? Nope.
[00:16:59] There were no Russian soldiers in the United States rounding people up. There were no Chinese soldiers in the United States rounding people up. President Trump was there the whole time on TV, leading our nation.
[00:17:15] He said there would be United nations soldiers patrolling the streets of America with blue helmets on. Never happened.
[00:17:28] And when I was asked for my opinion on this video back then, this is before it came to pass, before November and September came to pass, I told the people who asked me, I said, I doubt that this man's dreams are true for one reason. He is a charismatic preacher, simply a God pastor. And they fall for everything. Those people fall for everything. But anyway, they're renowned for making false prophecies and falling for all kinds of deceptive tales and false doctrines. But I told them and my wife that the real test to this man's prophecies will come when? In November.
[00:18:14] It'll come in November. And when November came, it proved that man to not be speaking on the behalf of God.
[00:18:26] He said, I have dreamed.
[00:18:28] I have dreamed. Now, this pastor got a lot of attention for making these prophecies, these predictions.
[00:18:38] And when he made these predictions again, he was basically saying what the prophets in the Old Testament said, I have dreamed. I have dreamed, just like the people in Jeremiah 23. But his dream clearly wasn't from God, because what he said did not come to pass the way he said it would.
[00:18:55] So where did his dream come from?
[00:18:59] It came from the same place the prophets that God spoke about in the Book of Jeremiah came from. It came from the deceit of his own unclean heart.
[00:19:11] And if a man will make something like that up and speak Authoritatively as a religious leader, then I believe that man loses all credibility as a man of God when what he says does not come to pass.
[00:19:29] But here's the really amazing thing, and this is why Jude is addressing this situation, because you may be thinking right now, oh, why even spend all the time on this, Brother Richard? Why stick with just one verse in verse eight? Why not just move on? We can all see the guy was false. Now it's because of this. After this man's dream didn't come to pass, instead of people turning him off, they are now listening to him more than ever before.
[00:20:09] He has 23,000 followers on Facebook, and there are actually prophecy programs online right now where prophecy teachers, get this now are actually teaching and expounding Pastor Coverstone's latest dreams as they come out as he publishes them.
[00:20:35] And now he's publishing his dreams in written form, and they're teaching them line by line or verse by verse exposition.
[00:20:48] I've watched it with my own eyes. I've listened to the teaching with my own ears. They're teaching instead of having a Bible, they're taking his dreams. They're reading them line by line. They're expounding upon them. They're giving their interpretations of the dreams and teaching them just like they're teaching from the Bible itself. And by teaching his dreams as if they are scripture, they are setting aside the actual scripture. And that's pretty sneaky.
[00:21:20] So this man is a false prophet.
[00:21:23] And the most dangerous thing about him is that he professes the deity of Christ and the need to be saved by grace through faith in Christ. But his ministry is actually leading people away from the word of God by putting his dreams on the level of Scripture, because that's what they're doing.
[00:21:47] I went to this man's website, and I could find very quickly a place to donate money, and I could find a place that tells me how he's had dreams and visions since he was a child.
[00:22:02] And he has been heard by millions of people now around the world.
[00:22:07] But I could find not one scripture citation or any presentation of the Gospel whatsoever.
[00:22:18] Not even on his church web page, either.
[00:22:23] Now, that's important, and we'll get into why that's so important to Jude's message in the coming weeks as we move forward in this study. But filthy dreamers, Jude said, look back in your text. They defile the flesh.
[00:22:39] They defile the flesh. Now, there are three action words that Jude is using here to describe what these filthy dreamers do. Take your pens and underscore the word defile.
[00:22:52] Defile.
[00:22:56] Now go down a bit. Underline the word despise.
[00:23:01] Despise.
[00:23:04] And finally, underline the words. Speak evil.
[00:23:10] Speak evil. And for ease of learning, if you're taking notes, you can write these three creepy clergy actions down this way. They defile.
[00:23:21] They despise.
[00:23:23] They defame.
[00:23:25] They defile. They despise. They defame. All right, let's take a look at the first action. They defile. Jude said specifically, they defile the flesh. And to defile means to sully something, to stain something, to get something dirty.
[00:23:42] And when you think about defiling the flesh here, I believe the way to do this is to think back of how God's give us the understanding. In the Old Testament, when someone defiled themselves, for example, if they touched something that was unclean, in the Old Testament, touched a dead body or what have you, something that defiled their flesh back then that had to be unclean for so long a time and offer whatever sacrifices or whatever prescription God gave. I believe the whole idea here is that we as Christians are supposed to do what we present our bodies to God as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable unto him and the members of our bodies as instruments of his righteousness.
[00:24:23] Our God is clean and holy, so our bodies should be presented through the sacrifice of Christ, clean and holy unto him. But these filthy dreamers, though they are acting in the name of God, are not, unfortunately, serving in the Spirit of God. They are actually serving the lust of their own unclean flesh. Listen to how Jesus described these creepy clergy of his day. In John 844, Jesus told them, Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father, ye will do.
[00:25:03] The lust of your Father, ye will do. Creepy clergy don't dedicate their bodies to the service of God. They defile their bodies to serve their own unclean flesh.
[00:25:16] And I believe that's why in my lifetime, and even more so in some of yours, but especially in my lifetime, when we've had television and things have been an internet and things get news get spread around so quickly. Now, I believe this is why we've heard of so many pastors over the years, Brother Shepard and I, we've had so many text messages. Here's another one. Here's another one. So many pastors over the years who've been caught in sexual scandals, in financial scandals, from pedophile priests to fornicating fundamentalists to crooked charismatics. We got it all.
[00:25:59] Not that all creepy clergy are caught in a scandal, but all creepy clergy defile the flesh because that's what they serve. They serve the lust of their father, the devil. That's why they're in ministry.
[00:26:15] They're not ministry to help anybody. They're in ministry to help themselves. Judas Iscariot was a creepy clergy.
[00:26:22] He defiled his flesh. Wasn't caught in a sexual scandal. He was caught in a financial scandal.
[00:26:30] He defiled his flesh by serving the fleshly lust for his financial gain at the expense of betraying Jesus Christ and did it all in the name of Christ, even to the very end. He kissed Jesus on the cheek. Master called him Master to the very end. He pulled the shenanigans off Jude said, they defile the flesh. Look back in your text, and they what? Despise dominion?
[00:27:00] They reject the authority of God over their lives, just like their father, the devil, does. You see what caused Satan, the original creepy clergy, to fall from heaven? He despised dominion. That was it. What caused the Jews to crucify Jesus be damned to hell. They despised dominion. Listen to how Jesus described their demise in a parable in Luke 1914. He said, speaking of himself, but his citizens hated him and sent a message after him saying, quote, we will not have this man to reign over us.
[00:27:43] What was Jesus saying about those people? They despised dominion.
[00:27:50] If they had yielded to God's dominion, then they would have followed God's word. Had they followed God's word, they would have believed on God's son. But instead, they despised God's rightful dominion and went about to establish their own.
[00:28:04] The apostle Peter worded this way in two Peter 210 speaking of creepy clergy and those who follow them, he said, quote, they, quote, walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise government.
[00:28:25] Presumptuous are they self willed.
[00:28:30] They are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.
[00:28:34] And this is the same thing Jude is telling us this morning. He said, they despise dominion. Look back in your text and speak evil of dignity. Same thing the apostle Peter just said.
[00:28:48] So here we have dominion and dignities.
[00:28:52] Dominion is the rightful power of God to govern his creation through Jesus Christ. Colossians 116 says, for by him that is by Jesus, where all things created that are in heaven and that are on earth or in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by him and for him. So dominion is the rightful power of God to govern his creation through Jesus Christ. Dignities, on the other hand, are those whom God has placed in positions of authority in his rightful dominion. Makes sense. So you have God's dominion, then you have God's dignitaries or dignities, if you will, whom he's placed in his dominion. And if you think of the kingdom of God alone, if you think of the ecclesiastical kingdom, the church kingdom at this time, then the dignities would be those people who God has set in positions of authority in his church. Because the word dignities literally means glories. It means shining ones, which, by the way, is what Lucifer's supposed to have been. The word Lucifer means light bearer. He was supposed to be the dignity, the glory of God. He was supposed to bear the light of God in heaven. Now he's the Prince of Darkness.
[00:30:21] But what are we doing? We stand and we declare God's word. We're bearing the light, we're glories and Jude said, these creepy clergy, they don't endorse and support the dignities that God has placed in his dominion. They can't, because they despise dominion. Remember, they instead speak evil of these dignities. And that word literally means in the Greek, they vilify them.
[00:30:51] So they vilify them that they might undermine them, that they might set aside their authority altogether.
[00:31:01] In the Gospel of John, chapter 15, verse 19 and 20, Jew told his disciples, quote, remember the word that I said unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord. Or you could say, the dignity is not greater than the dominion. Okay.
[00:31:20] He said, if they have persecuted me, the dominion, they will also persecute you. The dignities.
[00:31:29] If they have kept my saying, the dominion, they will also keep yours, the dignities.
[00:31:36] In our study of John's epistles, there was a church, however, that John tried to write a letter to you. Remember that?
[00:31:45] But there was a pastor there who would not accept the apostle John's letter. Why? Because John said he loved to have the preeminence among them. So he would not accept John's letter.
[00:31:59] Nope, won't take that. Nobody listened to him. What's he doing? He's vilifying. He's setting his authority aside. Boy, if you set aside the dignity, you have despised the dominion.
[00:32:13] If I am a vineyard owner and I send my son to the vineyard, or my spokesman to the vineyard to speak on my behalf, and they stone him or kill him or beat him and send him back, they could despise the dignity without despising the dominion.
[00:32:37] The Apostle Paul's authority was also challenged by these creepy clergies as well, who spoke evil of him to the churches.
[00:32:48] Remember, Paul was always having to defend himself to the churches.
[00:32:54] They were challenging his apostolic authority. Remember, Jude said, these creepy clergy, they crept into the Church's unawares. And again, you can't creep into the Church talking against the Lord Jesus Christ. So they had to do it subtly.
[00:33:12] So these creepy clergy are self willed people who serve themselves in the name of Jesus, all the while undermining the word of Jesus and drawing people away from the true shepherds of Jesus. They are sneaky snakes in the church's garden. And oh, how we need to be aware of these people.
[00:33:44] Why do I say, I don't suggest you go in and listen to that man's prophecies?
[00:33:49] Because the devil's a powerful spirit. Remember Jesus talked about how if it were possible, the miracles in the end of times would even deceive the very elect. I think they'll shake them and rock them. And then God will have to remind them, remember my word. Remember my word. I'm coming in the clouds. Don't believe these people. I think it'll be like that. And so when you know that someone's a false teacher, don't entertain yourself. Yes, I'll listen to them, but how else am I going to teach against them? How am I going to warn people? And I thank God that I'm stable enough in Scripture that I can do that. But I wouldn't suggest that you did. But if you want to, you can go listen to him. Pastor Dana Coverstone. Listen to all. He's got all kinds of dreams coming out now, and people are loving them and flocking to them. 23,000 followers, millions of people around the world on YouTube, that's just on Facebook. That's not on the other media.
[00:34:57] Why?
[00:34:58] Because people are ready to gobble up. They're ready to eat up all the tasty words of that man.
[00:35:08] And in so doing, they're being starved of the words of the man Christ Jesus.
[00:35:16] Creepy clergy. Thank God Jude told us about filthy dreamers. Let's stand and we'll be dismissed. Don't forget to go over and take your little bell choir children with Miss Becky and get all practiced up, ready to ring those bells for the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:35:40] Oh, let me tell y'all something real quick while my mom's walking up here.
[00:35:46] Yesterday I received a notice that the church had received 300 and something dollars in a donation from somebody I didn't know on PayPal.
[00:36:02] I thought, well, maybe it's someone from the know I'm saved website. And they sent some in because that happens all the time. Know I'm saved website people, they'll come in, they'll think, oh, I'm going to donate something to his church. I'll get it and I'll just send it over into our church checking account.
[00:36:15] And I'm thinking I'd like to know the story. So I wrote this lady a letter and I said, thank you for the donation. Were you someone who came into the know I'm saved ministry or something? Know, I'd like to know your story. And she wrote back and said, oh, she said, I was trying to send that to Central Baptist Church in South Carolina. I made a mistake.
[00:36:43] She said, keep half of it, if you don't mind. Send me half of it back.
[00:36:50] I'll send the other half to the church in South Carolina. I said, ma'am, we'll send it all back to you. If you want. I said, but if you do want us to keep half of it, I'll use it, and we'll send books to pastors in Kenya to help them understand the gospel better. She goes, oh, that would be great. Thank you.
[00:37:10] So I sent half of it back.
[00:37:13] I sent half of it back, and then I ordered another box of books.
[00:37:20] And then I asked her, I said, you read much? I'd love to send you a book. She said, I do, and I'd love to read it. So she gave me her address this morning, and I can't help but think that God wants her to read what's in that book.
[00:37:36] Her name is Tamara. Something like that. Tamara. Her name is Tamara. Pray for Tamara in South Carolina, that God will have his work in this. I believe it's God's Providence. Father, we thank you for your precious word. We thank you, Father God, for not only the wonderful promises, dear Lord God, that are in your word, Father, but also, Lord, the very heavy and dire warnings that are in your word. Father, we love the road you've given us to travel, but we thank God for the guardrails that keep us from running off that road. Bless this word to our spirits and our bodies to your service and be with us as we go about the rest of this week. Father, may we live unto your great honor and glory, and bless the children.
