This verse refers to the lost [the natural man] who lacks spiritual life. Only the “Spirit of God” can illuminate the Scriptures so they can be understood and believed. Those who are spiritually dead cannot understand the simplest teachings of Scripture. For instance, we have seen so-called “leaders” in the church who do not understand that we are saved by Jesus. Others fought with the pastor and openly defied the church. The departure of people from their church reveals that they are still only “natural men.”

The Bible says, “The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.”

Here was a young college student who had become an unbeliever. Dr. Harold Fickett, Jr. took him out to dinner. Dr. Fickett asked him why he had made a decision to become an unbeliever. The young man said, “Preacher, I went to Sunday School and church all my life, prior to coming to college. I was active in the youth organizations, I went to camp. In all of this, however, I never learned the doctrines of my church. While at college I have studied under an agnostic, whose philosophy of life seems reasonable to me. I understand it, and I have embraced it. Preacher, you can talk to me as long as you desire, but I am not now, nor will I ever be, interested again in Christianity.”

Dr. J. Sidlow Baxter was one of my teachers in a Bible-believing graduate school. Dr. Baxter said, “The root cause of why modern Protestantism is so weakened is a defective attitude toward our Bible…If we are shady there, we are shady everywhere… The biggest division between Christians is between those who accept the inspired Word of God – and those who do not…There must be a unity of attitude toward the Bible, or there is no final authority – and all of our Protestant [churches] are thrown into confusion.” This is the confusion of new-evangelicalism! Let us look at several considerations.

I. First, what Baptists do not believe about the Bible.

In the first place, real Baptists do not believe that the Bible is a book of science. A scientist, who is also a Christian, said, “The Bible teaches that God is the creator of the heavens and the earth, without attempting to give a minute breakdown of how He did it.” One writer said, “The Scriptures are given to teach us not how the Heavens go, but how to go to Heaven.”

While it is true that the Bible is not a book of science, nevertheless, when it speaks of scientific data, it is absolutely accurate. Think of the following:

II. Second, what Baptists do believe about the Bible.

1. The Bible is the Word of God.

        I do not say that the Bible contains the Word of God. I said, that the Bible is the Word of God – beginning with the first word of Genesis and continuing through the last word of Revelation!

Now I am going to give you a message preached in our church (January 12, 2020) by Christopher L. Cagan, Ph.D., M.Div., Ph.D. Dr. Cagan is the pastor of our church. I am the pastor emeritus.

TWO ‘PASTORS’ WHO ARE INWARDLY WOLVES! by Dr. Christopher L. Cagan A sermon preached at the Baptist Tabernacle of Los Angeles Lord’s Day Morning, January 12, 2020 “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:15, 16; p. 1004 Scofield).

Jesus Christ warned us against false preachers. They look like sheep. They appear to be good Christians. But inside they are wolves!

How do we know who is a sheep and who is a wolf? Jesus said, “Ye shall know them by their fruits.” You can tell a wolf from a sheep by what they do, their fruit. False preachers are not from God. They are “pastors” from Hell. I want to talk about two “pastors” from Hell, Waldrip and Chan.

I. First, Waldrip is a wolf.

I know that some who read this message will say I should not name the names of these men. But I say, “Why not?” The Word of God names many false prophets, like Judas, Herod, Pilate, Annas, Caiaphas, Ananias, Sapphira, Saul, Simon the Sorcerer, Demas, Alexander the coppersmith, Diotrephes, Balaam, Core, and many others, whose names are recorded by the Spirit of God in the Holy Scriptures. So, the names of Waldrip and Chan are given in this sermon as were the names of those false prophets listed by God Himself, in His inspired Word!

Waldrip is the pastor of a church in Monrovia, California. Why do I say he is a wolf? What did Waldrip do? Let me tell you. Waldrip is too lazy to do the real work of the ministry. That’s the root of his sin. That’s why he hates Dr. Hymers, who has done the work of the ministry for 62 years. Dr. Hymers wins souls from the world. Waldrip can’t do that. Waldrip is too lazy to do that. That’s why he is jealous of Dr. Hymers. He hates Dr. Hymers because he can’t do the work of a pastor. He is a wolf who should get out of the ministry!

Waldrip is just fine with lazy people like himself, but he hates a man who works and suffers for God. Waldrip’s closest friend is a man named Ramzi. Ramzi is a man like Waldrip. That’s why they are friends. Ramzi is an overweight man who claims to be a missionary to the Arabs in the Holy Land. He claims to have a mission church in Jerusalem. He claims to be under constant threat of death from the Muslims. Ramzi said these things when he spoke in our church. He said them again to me as he drove me through Los Angeles in his new Cadillac. But he never gave the name and address of his mission church. He never showed me pictures or told me about any of the people there. It was all supposed to be kept secret for fear of the Muslims. But that’s not the real reason!

Ramzi keeps his “church” secret because he doesn’t have a mission church! It doesn’t exist! No one can find it. Even Chan couldn’t find it! That’s right. Mr. Chan went to the Holy Land and searched diligently for Ramzi’s church. He went all through Jerusalem. He asked pastors and laymen. No one knew anything about Ramzi’s mission church. The reason is simple. There is no mission church!

What does Ramzi do? He collects money. He drives a new Cadillac. He gorges on plenty of food – I’ve seen that for myself. He is a charlatan, a man who steals money in the name of God. He is Waldrip’s closest friend. Waldrip keeps him as a friend even though he knows that Ramzi has no mission church. There is a saying, “Birds of a feather flock together.” Ramzi is lazy and won’t do the work, and Waldrip is the same way. It’s no surprise that they are friends. And it’s no surprise that both Waldrip and Ramzi are against Dr. Hymers.

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:15, 16).

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Waldrip is too lazy to win people from the world. Instead, he tries to grow by stealing people from other churches. I remember when he tried to steal a whole church. That’s right. Waldrip temporarily resigned as the pastor of his own church. Then he and his people went to a Conservative Baptist church with a letter from Waldrip’s associate “transferring” them there. They “joined” that church as voting members to take it over. He wanted to destroy that Baptist church and take it for himself. Why did Waldrip do that? Because the Conservative Baptist church had an excellent building, which Waldrip called “the pearl of the San Gabriel Valley.” I saw him say that on a video. He brought more members with him than the other church already had. He wanted to get himself voted in as pastor, take over the church, and steal the building. But there was a lawsuit. Waldrip lost and retreated back where he came from. I know every detail of this sorry business. What Waldrip did shows a lot about him. He likes quick and easy tricks and not hard work. He tried to do a quick and easy stealing, because he was too lazy to build up a church himself. That’s the fruit of Waldrip. He is a false prophet and a ravening wolf!

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:15, 16).

Just as Waldrip tried to steal another Baptist church, so he stole people from our church to destroy it. That’s why he counseled Mr. Chan on his plan to split our church and start another church to steal people from us and ruin our church. He doesn’t build up his own church, but he wants to destroy Dr. Hymers. That’s why he “sent” Chan out from his church on that hellish mission of destruction. He is a ravening wolf!

Waldrip is too lazy to do the work of evangelism. It takes work to bring in people from the world. That’s too hard for Waldrip to do. He tried doing some evangelism, but soon he stopped. Now his church does little or no evangelism. That’s why Waldrip is against Dr. Hymers, who believes in vigorous evangelism as the Bible commands. That’s the fruit of Waldrip. “Ye shall know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16).

Waldrip is too lazy to work at getting people saved. It is very hard to get people converted. Sinners in the world don’t naturally want to be Christians. It takes work and prayer and love and Gospel preaching for that to happen. In our church we preach the Gospel and speak with people individually until they trust Jesus. That’s too hard for Waldrip. He tried to do a little about conversion, but he backed off quickly because it is hard work! The Bible says, “Do the work of an evangelist” (II Timothy 4:5).

Waldrip backed off from preaching the Gospel. Now he just teaches the Bible in his sermons. That’s right, he left Gospel preaching and went to expository teaching. I have read his sermons. He teaches a few verses at a time with long expositions and fancy words and quotations and footnotes. That sounds intellectual, but it won’t win souls. Waldrip wants to pretend he’s a scholar when he is not. That’s another reason why he is against Dr. Hymers, who has three earned doctorates. And Waldrip is against Dr. Hymers because Dr. Hymers preaches the Gospel!

Waldrip’s laziness and hatred for Dr. Hymers came together in his phony “sending” of the church splitter Chan. Waldrip knows that people should support their local church. He knows that church splits are wrong. He used to say those things. He used to not welcome church splitters to his own church. But he threw it all away in his hatred for Dr. Hymers. That’s why he gave Chan a phony “sending” to start his own church. Being lazy, Waldrip did that in a quick and easy way.

Waldrip knows that a missionary should be sent out by a church after he has been working in that church for some time. But Waldrip wanted a quick and easy way to make trouble for Dr. Hymers. Waldrip had already counseled with Chan about his plans to split our church. Waldrip let Chan and his stolen people join his church for a few days. He had Chan preach a sermon. Then Chan and his clique went out of Waldrip’s church in a fake “sending.” They jumped in and they jumped out! That wasn’t a “sending,” that was a trick! It was exactly what you could expect from Waldrip!

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:15, 16).

Waldrip is a ravening wolf. He fits right in with Chan, who is another ravening wolf. The day Christ was crucified, “Pilate and Herod were made friends together” (Luke 23:12). Just as Pilate and Herod became friends, Waldrip and Chan became friends and work together. They have the same mind. They are both “pastors” who are ravening wolves.

II. Second, Chan is a wolf.

What did Chan do? He was the senior deacon in our church. He left our church and took out half our people with him to start a church of his own. On learning about this, a famous missionary who earned a doctor’s degree at a well-known seminary said, “Chan is a false prophet.”

Chan is a thief who comes “to steal, and to kill, and to destroy” (John 10:10). Jesus said, “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:15, 16). What are Mr. Chan’s fruits? Stealing and destruction! He pretends to be a sheep, but he is a wolf. The Bible says he is a false prophet. He is a ravening wolf.

Chan himself says he trusted Jesus and learned about the Christian life under the ministry of Dr. Hymers. There was no reason for him to run away. He promised not to leave in writing, which I have in my files. In that email to Dr. Hymers Chan said this,

Our church is my home and I promise you that I will never leave it.
I want to do as much for Christ as I can and there is plenty of work to do here to meet that desire (May 27, 2016).

But soon afterward he broke his word. He ran away and led a major church split. He is a liar and a false prophet. He is a ravening wolf.

Chan says he is called to be a pastor. But he is not! That is obvious. In his many years at our church he did not bring in one person from the world. Not one! He did not help the Christians here. He was given the opportunity to preach, but his sermons were lifeless.

In his book, Dear Preacher, Please Quit, Dr. Roy Branson said, “God marks His men by qualifying them. He enables them to do what He calls them to do” (p. 22). Dr. Branson believes that 90% of pastors are not called by God to the ministry. They should quit and get another job. That’s why Branson’s book is called “Dear Preacher, Please Quit”! I wish Chan would quit the ministry and get another job! He does not have the ability to be a pastor, which shows God has not called him. Chan said so himself! In an email to Dr. Hymers (with a copy to me), Chan said this,

I believe that if God calls a man to be a pastor He would equip him for that office. Therefore…God could not have called me to become a pastor. I cannot fault your reasoning. It is sound.
I now accept that I have not been called by God to be a pastor (September 15, 2016).

Chan confessed that he was angry with Dr. Hymers for saying he, Chan, was not called to the ministry. He confessed and supposedly repented. I heard that false confession myself. But soon after, he left and set up his own church so he could “preach” to the people he stole. Chan, you are a ravening wolf! The Bible says, “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:15, 16). Stay away from Waldrip and Chan! Don’t listen to them! Don’t go to their churches! Run away from them! They are pastors from Satan!

I will now quote the larger passage from which our text was taken. Stand while I read it.

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:15-20; p. 1004).

You may be seated.

Here is a paragraph from a teaching Chan gave to the people he stole from our church, given on July 12, 2020:

There are some here that have given their heart over to open rebellion and will not talk to the pastor over their sinful condition but instead seek the comfort of the company of their friends. Others live in secret sin thinking that simply coming to church will eventually save you. But you are dealing with God whose eyes “are in every place beholding the evil.” Some of you think you are a Christian yet you never have thoughts of God, Heaven, or even really winning a soul. Some of you think you are a Christian yet you never have thoughts about God, Heaven, or really even winning a soul. All of your conversations with others show that you only have thoughts of this temporal world and the world of the spirit is not real to you at all. Be honest about your life. Do not lie to yourself. The Bible says that you are “wise to do evil, but to do good [you] have no knowledge.” You will not humble yourself and admit your sin. Why not? Because in your pride you derive some much pleasure in doing what you want to do. But in the end you are the big-time loser. You think you are wise but you just got [tricked] by the “deceitfulness of sin.” If you do not repent of your sins your heart will become so hardened that it will be beyond all hope of recovery.
(Quotation from his “sermon,” “The Subtilty of Evil” by Chan, July 12, 2020, page 7 of manuscript.)

This paragraph shows that the people he took from our church are already rebelling against him! Why? Because he cannot preach and he cannot pastor a church. He is in a mess already because he let Waldrip trick him to “pastor” a church, when he can’t do it! God did not send him! The Bible says, “How shall they preach, except they be sent” by God (Romans 10:15; p. 1204).

Out of his love for you, Dr. Hymers is sending you a free copy of Dr. Roy Branson’s great book, Dear Preacher, Please Quit. Do it now, before it is too late!

Dr. A. W. Tozer said,

“The voice of God is a friendly voice. No one need fear to listen
to it unless he has already made up his mind to resist it”
        – A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God, p. 80.

And now I must speak to those of you who are lost. You have not trusted Jesus. You are still not saved. You are not ready to stand before God. But Jesus died on the Cross to pay for all your sin. He shed His Blood so your sin could be washed away. He rose from the dead to give you life. If you would like to speak with us about trusting Jesus, please come to the front of the room. Amen.