The Blinding of America

Hey folks, this is Dr. Ray Self. You're about to listen to Self Talk. Today, I've got a very interesting show. I'm talking about blindness, I'm talking about America the blind. America the great is America the blind. What are we going to do about this blindness that is, and darkness that has covered our nation? I don't know about you but I'm frustrated with it. But I also know that God has opened up the eyes of many people who can see the truth, but our leaders, so many of our leaders are completely blind and walking in a horrible darkness. Let's talk about that. Let's see what we can do. Let's talk about how you are blessed and favored. You know I, thank you for listening to, to Self Talk. Don't forget to check out my, my website for the, for the podcast where you can see all the episodes and you can subscribe. Give me a review which would really help us, that's icmcollege.org/selftalk. icmcollege.org/selftalk. Hey, thanks for listening to Self Talk with Dr. Ray Self.

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Hey, welcome to Self Talk, I'm your host Dr. Ray Self. Today I want to talk about something that we're faced with every day, every single day, and we're faced with things that Paul wrote about over 2000 years, or not, a little bit less than 2000 years ago. We are being faced with this problem every day. I don't know about you but I get very frustrated as a Christian when I see these ungodly things happening in our nation. Ungodly laws, ungodly beliefs, ungodly things that we celebrate in our nation that are- just to me are just crazy and insane. How can you support this and believe this? And what the Lord continues to show me, and I want you to understand this because first off, you have an incredible blessing in the fact that you have the Holy Spirit and you can discern things. But the world doesn't have that and I get really frustrated and sometimes I want to debate and I want to argue with the world the things of God. But we have a problem, no matter what you tell them they cannot see it because of the following scriptures, the following problems that Paul wrote about almost 2000 years ago. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 4, Paul wrote “in whose case the god of this world has blinded,” pay attention, that we're blinded. The minds, “blinded the minds of the unbelieving so they might not see the gospel the glory of Christ who's the image of God”. 

So the god of this world is Satan and what has he done, he blinds the minds of the unbelieving. So what we see going on in our country, we see judges who are unbelievers, we see senators, congressmen, the president of the United States, the vice president of the United States, they're unbelievers. You know, how do I know that? Because you know them by their fruit. They're unbelievers and their minds are blind and when somebody's minds are blind to the things of God, to the light of the Gospel, they're going to do things contrary to the gospel. They’re, the bible also calls as natural people, the natural man. We go to 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 14, Paul wrote again “but the natural man,” that's the worldly man, “does not receive the things of the Spirit of God,” okay, “for they’re foolishness to him; nor can he know them because they're spiritually discerned.” What's this scripture, what's so amazing about this is the things of God are discerned spiritually so a natural man cannot understand or even know the things of God but you, if you're listening to me and you have the Holy Spirit, you do know the things of God, you do understand the things of God, you can spiritually discern the things of God.

But the worldly people, the unbelievers, and unfortunately we're, we have a nation that's led by a lot of unbelievers, cannot understand or know the things of God therefore they pass laws that are not of God. They, they have things they celebrate and things they put upon us that are not of God because they are blind, because the god of this world has blinded their minds. I don't think that for instance, let's pick on Joe Biden, I mean, I don't think he's an evil man, I don't think he's a bad man, I think he's a blind man. You know, I think he's blind and this is not a political statement. I think that the god of this world has blinded the minds of our president and millions of other people and he doesn't understand the things of the Spirit of God and so neither does much of our leaders. These things are spiritually discerned.

You know, and Paul talked again about this in 1 Corinthians 1:18 “for the message of the cross is foolishness,” foolishness, “to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.” So the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, that's the worldly people. You know, unfortunately, if you don't know Christ and you have a bad future, you're perishing but to us who are being saved, the salvation the cross is the power of God. So it's, you cannot argue people into the kingdom of God. When, when the Lord saves someone, he comes upon them and you, you become a new creation. You see, Christianity is not a belief, it is a new life, it's a new life that God puts in you. God does something in you, God makes the change in you and God also sends his Holy Spirit who enlightens your mind to see and understand the truth and without this, you did not see or understand the truth. I mean, one common thing that I'll just, I'll just pick on, I cannot fathom anyone on the planet earth believing that it is okay to kill a child just because the child's in the womb, that this child could be killed if the mother decides to. Now I know it's the mother's body and I get all that kind of stuff, I get it, but there are other, there are other options But this baby has a right to live too, and so to me, they say well it's pro, pro-life, pro-choice. Well, I should have a right- what is pro-choice? I should have a right to choose to kill my child. I'm going, that's not, that's not right. The only thing I can say is somebody has blinded the minds of an unbeliever and there's so many other crazy things where not only are we, you know, tolerating sin in our nation, we're celebrating sin. So much crazy stuff uh, with you know, trans athletes, all this crazy stuff that we celebrate and then if you do not celebrate along with the people who are blinded, they think you're blinded and they think you're a racist and you're a bigot and you're labeled and you're persecuted, all this kind of stuff.

But the point is, if you're a Christian, you're able to see things and discern things that other people cannot see or discern because the things of God are spiritually discerned, you have an incredible blessing. God put his Holy Spirit in you and now you could understand the things of God. You could read scripture and understand it. A person without the Holy Spirit cannot understand the things of God, this is what the bible's telling us, this is why when you go into- you want to debate an atheist, it's really difficult because you can, I mean, the, the evidence for God is overwhelming, the evidence throughout creation is overwhelming, the evidence that evolution is the biggest farce ever put upon mankind, totally non-scientific, is overwhelming- but it's difficult to convince an unbeliever because his mind has been blinded to the truth of God.

You, you my friend, are blessed. You're blessed because God has chosen you and put his Spirit in you. You can spiritually discern the things that are of God. It's a, it's an incredible blessing that you know what you know and you see what you see. But don't fall into the trap that I've been into many times because I see it and to me it's just clearly evident and the message of the cross is like who could possibly deny it? But people deny it all the time. You know, the, the proof that Jesus is the son of God is over and over and over, 83 prophecies fulfilled, eyewitnesses, historical evidence, incredible evidence of Christ is who he is, but when your mind is blinded, no matter what you share, these people cannot see it so I would get frustrated that people cannot see God's truth and cannot really know God because their minds have been blinded. But you, you who are listening to this podcast, your mind has been opened up. You have the Spirit of God. So not only when you get born again, when you get born again it's not just a great experience, you're, you change into another person. The Holy Spirit enlightens your mind, illuminates your mind so you can understand God, you can understand God's word, you can commune with him, talk to him, and hear him. These are tremendous blessings but the world does not have these blessings and so my prayer is Lord, open up the eyes of the world. Let’s rebuke this assignment. I rebuke this assignment against the world because you see, when a person is blind they cannot see the truth and Jesus said I am the, the way, the truth and the life. They cannot see Jesus. It's all foolishness to them because they have been blind but you can see. You have, as Paul said, the eyes of your understanding have been opened. 

You know um, so many people think that Christianity is simply a philosophy or belief and it's not true. Christianity is not a philosophy or belief. When a person becomes a Christian that means they've been born again, that means they accepted Christ as their savior. If you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth, Jesus says Lord, you shall be saved but this, it's not just a practice. Something happens to you when you're saved. The spirit of the Lord comes in you to live in you upon you and all of a sudden, you are born again which means you start a new life and it's not a new life that you have uh, so much as decided to do, it’s something you- in me, in you. When I- I'll give you just an example. You know, I was saved many many years ago. I was a young man and up in Memphis Tennessee and I'll never forget this as long as I live. So I went down on Easter Sunday morning to accept Christ with my dad, my dad was saved at the same time I was saved, he was, a, it was a big old Baptist church and um, we went down front and um, you know we went through the sinner's prayer and confessed Jesus ss Lord all right, right in front of a big large church, big pipe organ playing, all this kind of stuff you know. And, and they decided to have a baptism service that Sunday night. So Sunday, night my father and I come back to the church and you know, they have the big baptism, baptistery back behind the choir and so we, we get in a robe and we get somewhere to where the baptism is and you know, wade out in the water, there's the pastor, he's actually in uh, duck waders, he's got these boots on, this bib on like he’s a duck hunter. Anyway, but he puts me under the water and then he raises me up. Now of course, that symbolizes being buried with Christ and raising with Christ, and I’m, okay that's cool, he did the same thing for my father but something happened to me. So the next morning, the next morning I'm up and just kind of walk, I have a very- lived in Memphis, Tennessee with a very large backyard, beautiful backyard and it was springtime and I walked out in the backyard, like I played the backyard you know, quite often as a kid and I noticed that things were different. I'll never forget this, the grass was greener, the sky was bluer, sounds were- it's like I could hear the birds chirping, I- everything was just more clear. It was like a, a veil had lifted off of my eyes and everything I knew, something had changed. Everything looked different, things felt different, I felt different in my heart.

You see, I was born again. I became another person. Why am I telling you this? Because Christianity, it's just not something you believe, it's about being born again and you literally become different, you become another person and then the Holy Spirit comes and all of a sudden, you're able to understand the things of God. Now, now some years later I get baptized with the Holy Spirit which is another whole story and then a really, really, really at that point was really getting it. But what, the blessing of being born again and being changed. So Christianity is just not a philosophy, it's, it's, it's much more than a belief, it's a whole new life that God puts in you. You, God changes you. You become a different person. I'll never forget, give you another quick example because I want to, I want to say this that when you're a Christian, it's supernatural when you're a Christian, it's not that this is a lifestyle, although you should have a Christian lifestyle; you see, you have a Christian lifestyle not to be saved, you, you walk the Christian lifestyle because you are saved. You know, that's, that's a whole nother topic there.

But something changes within you and all of a sudden, my eyes could see and you see, the world is still blind. They cannot see things that I see and if you're listening to me and you're saved, I think most of this audience, you know, I am talking to save Christians, you see things, understand things of God that people of the world cannot understand, okay? So I was no longer blind but the world still is blind and a blind man cannot see the truth, therefore, they will come into agreement and sometimes even celebrate the lie. And that's why it's so critical that we pray against the god of this world, that he would open up the eyes so people could begin to see the truth of the gospel. What America needs is to be able to see, to see the truth of God, to be saved. America needs Jesus because the world is acting more and more and more and more like the world. You know, it's- one thing we've always had a sin problem and a sin nature but what's changed in America is no longer does America have a problem with sin, America is celebrating sin. Celebrating sin. And if you don't celebrate it with them, then you are ostracized, blackballed, and called a bigot and, and you need therapy.

So what I'm saying is, what we're dealing with in America today is blindness. Blindness. People who cannot see because they have not been born again and it is tragic but in this tragedy, I want you to understand my listener, you are blessed if you're saved and you can discern the things of God. You have an incredible blessing. You know, Paul even wrote about that “kings used to wish for this wisdom but you have this wisdom.” You have something that a lot of people don't have. You've been chosen by God, filled with his Spirit, adopted as a joint heir with Jesus Christ. This is who you are and you can see the truth but we have an obligation to be a light in the darkness and to, to to share the truth. You see, I want to share the gospel and people don't get it but what happens so many times when you share the gospel, the Holy Spirit comes upon them and the Holy Spirit begins to touch their heart and touch their eyes and all of a sudden, they are opened up and they can begin to see the truth as the Holy Spirit comes upon them and they become another person. Countless times you see people turned from their evil ways.

I was going to tell you the story of my dear friend Marcus because, and I'll share this story; matter of fact, he's with the Lord. He passed away from a terrible car wreck, I think it was about five years ago, it was awful. He was my associate pastor uh, up in, just outside of Memphis, Tennessee and Marcus was a huge guy, I would guess he's probably six three, 260 pounds, just a, a big old guy and uh, he was this teddy bear, he always had a smile on his face, he was always laughing, he was always hugging people had incredible spiritual gifting, love to prophesy, love to pray, great preacher, super talented guy and one of the most loving, kind-hearted men I've ever met in my life and I never forget the way he would laugh, and he would laugh at my corny stuff and he would get corny and I would get corny and we had a lot of time good times laughing and also eating together, boy he could eat. One day, Marcus was kind of sharing his story and he said Dr. Ray, you don't understand who I used to be and I said well, who’d you used to be? He said you know how when you're walking in the dark there's always, you pray you never meet a certain type of person? He said I was that person. I was your worst nightmare, I was the guy that you prayed you never met on the street because I'd stick a gun to your head and I’d take everything you own. And he told me this and I, it was just hard to believe what happened to Marcus. How did he change from your worst nightmare to this teddy bear full of love? God. Being born again. And now Marcus's eyes were open and he could discern the things of God and the truth of God. He becomes another person.

My point is, salvation recreates you into another person. It's not just a belief, it's, it's, it's, it's a whole new life that God puts in you and he changes you and you can see the things of God but the world can't see these things and the world is acting more and more and more like the world and I think the world is becoming more and more and more and more deceived and so my prayer- and what is our part? Our part is to continue to speak the truth and to continue to pray the Holy Spirit will fall upon our leaders, fall upon our nation and open up the eyes of the unbelievers. Paul's eyes when he met Christ at first, he was blinded but then his eyes were opened and he became from a persecutor of the church to an apostle of the church, because he met Christ, he was blind, he thought he was serving God but doing all these horrible things and these people in control in our government, they believe they're serving God and they're doing the great holy just things for our nation meanwhile, they're completely deceived, they're completely blind and we have an obligation to pray over them and do spiritual warfare. Pray for our president, do warfare against this deception that is upon him and the deception upon our congressmen and our senators, father, and our mayors and governors, the deception that so many people- not, not all our leaders are under deception but so many of them are. But we can pray for them and we can do spiritual warfare and battle for them that God will open up the eyes of our nation and of our leaders. We no longer have to be blind and you who are listening to Self Talk, you're blessed, you are blessed because God has opened up your eyes so you can see him and his truth and that is a blessing we should praise God for all the time, amen? Amen.

Well Lord, I thank you, Father, for each person listening to me I thank you Lord, for this podcast. I thank you Lord, for those who would even choose maybe to support this podcast, to help us Lord, but Father, I give that all to you, Lord. I thank you, Father. There's a man named Jim, he's uh, on the verge of divorce the Lord, I thank you Father, that Jim will know the words to say, that there's a, reconciliation is still possible and the work of the enemy in Jim's marriage will not, will not continue anymore. That work will not continue, that deception will not continue anymore in Jesus name. And Father. I just thank you Father for Charisma Podcast Network and I thank you for all my followers. Lord, I ask your Holy Spirit to touch them and Lord, I pray that we'll go to a whole new level of appreciation, Father, of appreciating who you are and the gift that you have given us and the ability to discern you, to know you, have a relationship with you. Lord, we give you praise in Jesus name. Amen, amen. Thank you for listening to Dr. Ray Self, me, with Self Talk. God bless you.

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Hey thanks again for listening to today's show, I really appreciate you, couldn't do it without you. Please um, look at the show notes and we got some great links there, we got a new store with all kinds of cool stuff which also helps us scholarship, give scholarships to our students. That's icmcollege.org/merch, m-e-r-c-h. Don't forget if you're interested in getting a college degree, a seminary degree, and finish that dream of getting a college education, how about a Holy Spirit-filled education and get equipped for your call of God? Go to icmcollege.org/enroll. If God's called you, it's time to get equipped. If you've got any ideas for the show, email me at drrayself@gmail.com. Thanks again for listening to today's show. Love you much and God bless you.