Sept. 18, 2024

Assassination Attempts: What’s Next?

Assassination Attempts: What’s Next?

A look at the current state of affairs in the world today and what could be next?

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A look at the current state of affairs in the world today and what could be next?

WEBVTT

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Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is

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the Theology Central podcast, making Theology Central. Good evening everyone.

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It is Tuesday, September seventeenth, twenty twenty four. It is

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currently eight forty eight pm. I almost said am. It

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is currently eight forty nine pm Central Time, and I

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am coming to you live from the Theology Central studio

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located right here in Abilene, Texas. Now, I don't know

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why I said it's I almost said that it's am

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because my mind definitely knows it's not in the morning,

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it's in the evening. It's it's now nighttime, because that's

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kind of the mood I'm in. I think when I think,

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depending on the hour you're broadcasting, there's kind of a

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different vibe. There's a different mood. Right when you're broadcasting

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in the morning or broadcasting in the afternoon, I think

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there's a certain vibe, there's a certain mood. And when

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you start broadcasting later in the evening night, very late night,

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maybe very early in the morning, like one am or

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two AM, that's a completely different vibe and it usually

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really directs me in the subjects that I'm going to

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talk about. So it's fast approaching nine pm here in

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West Texas, and there's a certain kind of mood that

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I'm in right now, and it's it's not one that's

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very positive. It's not one that's very cheerful. It's not

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one that's very joyful. It's one that's much more cynical, discouraged, depressed.

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Dare I say concerned? Dare I say maybe a little worried?

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I think I think that would be accurate. Now. To

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be fair, this is not a new development. It's not

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a new mood that just simply, you know, happened, you know,

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of the blue. This is something I've been kind of

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talking about since the end of twenty twenty three. I

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told everyone twenty twenty four, I was like, it's it's

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I was just telling you I felt that it was

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going to be difficult, it was going to be crazy,

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it was going to be even my own and personally

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for my church, just in the culture. I kind of

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just said, it's going to be it's going to get

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kind of dark in twenty twenty four. Maybe I did

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not elaborate as much as I could have. Maybe I

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should have even elaborated even more. Maybe I should have

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really doubled down on those feelings. But here we are

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September seventeenth, twenty twenty four, now, eight fifty one pm

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Central time, and well that feeling of man, I think

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it's not going to be a great year. I think

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it's going to be well. Now those feelings have become

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I think a reality, and you may be feeling some

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of those same things. I don't know if you are

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or aren't. But let me just ask it as a question.

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When you heard the news that there was a second

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assassination attempt against the former president Donald Trump, how did

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you feel? Like? Now, what did you think? How did

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you feel in that moment? Depending maybe on your political perspective,

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maybe you felt anger, maybe you felt rage. I don't

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know what you felt. For me, I felt just it's unraveling,

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it's coming apart. There's literally nothing good that's going to

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come from this. That was kind of my feeling. My

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feeling was like, this is just what is going to happen?

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Where is this headed? I had some very negative feelings,

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in fact, almost very discouraged, almost depressed, Like what do

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I do? Like do you just turn on the microphone

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and just ignore it? Hey, there was a second assassination

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attempt against the former president Donald Trump even mention it

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at the beginning of one broadcast. Do I just mention it?

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Do we talk about it? We talked a little bit

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about we talked about the first assassination attempt, we talked

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about some of the coverage, some of the things people

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were saying. We did talk about that one. And so

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do I talk about I don't really know. I don't

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know what to do. I don't know what to do.

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But I did talk about earlier today something that well,

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I think very much is a look into the future,

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and that's artificial intelligence and how it's going to play

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a role in the lives of Christians, in your life

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and my life, maybe in the life of the church

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and your spiritual development. So I kind of went back

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in time and looked at different technological advances as we

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would refer to them, and how that may have impacted

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my own Christian life. I wanted you to look at

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your own Christian life, and then just kind of we

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kind of just we looked at an example of artificial intelligence,

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writing a devote and all the things we could do

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with it, and we just kind of like, where is

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this headed? And I don't have any definitive answers, and

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that to me isn't necessarily that isn't it. I don't

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see it as a negative thing or a threat or

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dark as maybe some people see artificial intelligence. I think

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it's just an acknowledgement that, hey, this new technology is

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going to ultimately have a profound impact on Christianity in

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the church, and I think we can't ignore that. We

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need to start talking about it now. I know, sometimes

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not always, but sometimes I feel like, and because I've

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been broadcasting for so long, sometimes I feel like I

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will turn on the microphone and start telling everyone we

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need to think about this, we need to focus on this.

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And sometimes I'm I feel like I'm so far ahead

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of all the other that nobody else is discussing it

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that people kind of look at me like, yeah, whatever,

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They just kind of they just kind of say they

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disregard and dismiss me as just that's some kick keys

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on right now. But I think time and time again

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it's proven to be like, hey see, I told you,

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I told you that, I told you I told you so.

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I mean, way back when I was warning that conspiratorial

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thinking was starting to creep into the church, and that

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it did not look good for the future. Well, I

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don't know if anyone could have predicted how bad conspiratorial

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thinking and political hijacking of American Christianity how bad it

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was going to get. But I think all of those

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warnings I gave years and years and years and years

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and years and years and years and years ago turned

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out to be much more accurate than I would have thought.

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I'm not saying I'm always right. I try to always

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be very careful, not to be dogmatic, and just to say, hey,

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I think we need to be concerned. So I think, hey,

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AI is going to have an impact, and I think

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we need to discuss it. I don't have all the answers,

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but I think it needs to be discussed, so I try.

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I tried earlier today to throw out that discussion. Whether

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it was went well, I don't know whatever. You can

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judge it. It was definitely too long of a broadcast.

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I could probably criticize it from that perspective, but it

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is what it is. It's there, it's uploaded. I just

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have to live with whatever it is. But tonight, instead

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of looking at the future from the perspective of AI,

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I still want to look to the future, but I

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want to look to the future by asking you a question,

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and I really want you to just think about this.

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I've already posed the question once, Well, let me state

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it again. How did you feel when you heard the

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news about the second assassination attempt against the former president

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Donald Trump? How did you feel? How do you feel

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today right now? How do you feel this evening? And

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I think sometimes nighttime is the best time to have

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these conversations because I think sometimes at night people have

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a tendency to be a little bit more introspective, to

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really look inside, right, I think sometimes, at least for me,

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I just think that sometimes people are more in tune

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with their feelings and their thoughts at night than at

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the rest of the day, where they can just kind

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of be distracted from their feelings and their thoughts by

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so many other things. But at night, you start winding down,

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and so then that inner voice that you don't listen

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to becomes louder. Right, So, how do you feel about

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the state of affairs? How do you How do you

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feel about the current situation that we are facing as

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a nation. And I'm speaking primarily here, obviously to Americans

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and about the United States. I don't know how you

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feel about your particular part of the world. But I

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think no matter where you live or now, I think

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everyone is a little have some concerns. Now, the thing

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you don't want to do is you can take these concerns.

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You can take these concerns and you can just basically

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then utilize it for you know, fear broadcasting, fear programming,

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a lot of a lot of a lot of programs.

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That's how they make that's how they build their own audience. Hey,

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you know, breaking news alert. The end of the world

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is here, this is it's all over. We're gonna all

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be you know, And this has been going on within

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Christianity forever. You know, we're all gonna be Muslims, and

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the Bible's gonna be outlawed. Then they're gonna take our guns,

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and we're gonna be locked up in FEMA cams and

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we're gonna be micro chipped. I mean, I mean, that

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kind of concept is very prevalent within Christian history. And

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I'm not a fan of that right now, There's been

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times in my Christian life I kind of got pulled

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into it. You're not, oh man, this is big, this

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is big. Everybody needs to know this, oh, this, oh,

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this is the next big thing, and then you kind

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of find out everyone just hypes something up because that's

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how you get your audience, and you just keep going

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and if nothing happens with that thing, you just move

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on to the next thing, and then you move on

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to the next thing, and then you move on to

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the next thing, right, I mean, I can talk about

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people who used to broadcast on sermon audio who was

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saying absolutely insane things and all of these predictions and

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this going to happen, and that the flu vaccine was

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giving us the mark of the beast. And then that

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same individual, you know, went on even he stopped broadcasting

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on cermonnadio way where I think they removed him, but

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then he went on to continue to broadcast on the

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Internet saying things that the COVID vaccine was putting nanobots

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into our body and when five G was turned on,

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then the nanobots would activate and then it would destroy

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our will and we would all submit to the Antichrist. Well,

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of course, you know, yeah, it's just these are the

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kinds of thing. Now, not everyone is that extreme, but

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it's very easy to turn on the microphone going hey,

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the end is here. It's bad. It's really bad. What

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I want to do is just for us to acknowledge

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the feeling and then at least be concern about where

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things are going, because well, there's some people who have

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some concerns. Here's a news article that was today September seventeenth,

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twenty twenty four, at twelve thirty eight pm Central time.

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Twelve thirty eight pm Central time is from the Los

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Angeles Times. I saw it earlier today and saved it. Headline,

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Trump assassination attempts are just the beginning. Imagine what is

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coming after the election. That's the headline. Again, let me

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read the entire thing. The Trump assassination attempts are just

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the beginning. Imagine what is coming after the election. So

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the headline there was saying, hey, if you think it's

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bad now, if you're concerned, now, wait till after the election.

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It's going to be even worse. And I'm like, wait,

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that's this. No, no, no, no, no no no. I

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want us to consider this perspective. I am not saying

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this perspective is right. I just want you to hear it,

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and then we're going to try to figure out what

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are we supposed to do right think of it this way.

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Earlier today, I turned on this microphone and I wanted

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you to consider and think about how as Christians we

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should respond and understand the impact artificial intelligence is going

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to have on the life of the church, the life

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of Christian teaching, preaching, and the life of the individual Christian.

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I think we need to formulate it's going to have

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an impact. So what do we do? How do we

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respond to the rise of artificial intelligence and how it's

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going to impact us? We have to have that discussion. Well,

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here's what I want you to do. How as a Christian,

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as Christians, as the church, how should we respond to

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everything that's currently happening in the culture. This divisiveness, this division,

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the threats, the crazy language that's being uh that's being used,

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the dehumanizing of our political enemies, the rhetoric that's being

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used that everyone is viewed as a as an existential

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threat to our very survival. And when you continue to

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talk the way in many churches and Christians talk that

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way from the pulpit, it only flames. It just adds

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fuel it, it doesn't fan the flames. It it's literally

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just setting off fires everywhere. Well as it continues and

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the election happens, what what's going to occur? Well, let's

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consider what what is at least thought of thoughts going

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to occur from this article. But then we'll ask ourselves what, well,

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what should we do? How should we respond as believers

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as the church? So let's read this article again. Trump

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assassination attempts are just the beginning. Imagine what's coming after

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the election. The article begins with this paragraph. Last week,

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we gathered with other scholars at Ground zero for a

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summit on terrorism and political violence. The mood was somber,

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not only because of reflections on nine to eleven, but

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also because of pained predictions of violence to come. It

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would have surprised nobody and attendance had they been told

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another assassination attempt against the former president would occur days later.

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So all of these scholars meet and they come away

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their meeting is very somber, and they're like violence is coming,

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And they would not even have been surprised or shocked

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if you said another assassination attempt is going to occur.

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Meaning that's pretty that's a pretty discouraged outlook. That's a

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pretty depressing outlook from these scholars. Next paragraph. This, of course,

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was not merely the second assassination attempt against Donald Trump.

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There have been more plots over the past several years

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aimed at politicians of all stripes that never reached the

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point of gunfire being exchanged. The plots are indicative of

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a broader zeitgeist. We are under we are under heightened threat.

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So we read it this, we read this again. The

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plots are indicative of a broader zeitgeist. Right, So, the

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zeitgeist of the culture, the zeitgeist of the time, is this,

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we are under heightened threat of political violence. If you

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want to describe the culture right now. We live in

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this heightened threat of political violence. That is the zeitgeist

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that we live in. That's where the church is right now.

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The church is in this political storm where everyone's being

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tossed to and fro with political claims and accusations and

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threats and dehumanizing your opponent and all of this just

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very exaggerated language at times, maybe not even even connected

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to reality. Well, and this is a heightened threat of

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political violence. And then here's the church. Here's the church. Now,

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where is the church? And this analogy, are we on

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the water? Are we being tossed all over the place.

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Are we on the beach? Do we have a lighthouse?

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Saying no, no, no, Okay, the beach is right here.

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Don't crash into the beach, but come here for safety.

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If you can get here. There's safety, there's shelter, there's hope,

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there's stability, there's rationality, there's peace. Does the church have

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anything to offer or is the church just right there

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in the midst of all of this heightened craziness. The

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article continues. For instance, recent Republican rhetoric against a community

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of Haitian migrants and Springfield, Ohio led to dozens of

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bomb threats against that community, closing schools and hospitals. Now

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what I have seen, I saw study today that most

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Republicans are buying in to the whole narrative against the

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Haitian immigrants. They're buying into the lies that they're eating

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our dogs or eating our cats, and that kind of

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language is putting people's lives at risk. Where should the

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church be in that? Where should the church be well? One,

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The church should be yelling and screaming for truth, not lies,

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not bearing false witness, not half truths, misinformation, disinformation, And

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the church should be trying to protect people. But wait.

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In October twenty twenty two, a man attacked the husband

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of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, during an

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attempted attempt to kidnap her, and twenty twenty authorities foiled

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a plot to kidnap democratic governor of Michigan. There is

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a distinct there is a distinct and frightening possibility of

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a violent wave of assassination attempts and domestic terrorism now

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breaking not only against the former president, but also against

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Democratic officials and groups Trump's scapegoats and Trump's supporters. So

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they're saying there's a distinct possibility, a frightening possibility of

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a violent wave of assassination attempts and domestic terrorism now

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breaking against people of all of both political sides. Now again,

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what's the church. Where's the church in this? Now? While

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many in the church is going to take a political side,

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see many in the church, she's going to say I'm

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on team Trump, or I'm on team Harris, or I'm

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on team Republican, or I'm on team Democrat. And I

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constantly say the church, don't take a political side, step

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back and say we are on the side of Christ,

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we are not of this world. We are pilgrims here,

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we are strangers here. We want to offer something better

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than a political battle and fight. We want to offer

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you the reality of their of a God, our creator,

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the sovereign of the universe. There's salvation, there's hope, there's peace,

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there's a hope of any eternity. Like, we want to

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offer something better, but I be to fill. The Church

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just gets caught up in the political fighting and we

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just become we pulled into it. And so many when

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they think of Christians, they just think of Trump supporters,

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or they just think of Republicans. And that's the last thing.

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When someone here's that I'm a Christian, I want them

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to know that I believe in Christ, I believe in

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the Gospel, not that I'm a Republican. I don't want

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them to even know what I think about certain cultural issues.

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I want them to to know what I think about

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the Gospel, how I understand the distinct proper distinction between

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law and gospel, how I understand scripture. That's what I

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want them to know. Christianity for not anything political, but

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everything philologically and biblically. Next paragraph. During the presidential election

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Now this is very important. Both Democrats and Republicans are

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framing the other side as an existential threat to the country,

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and so unstable individuals are being inundated with messages that

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have exasperated an already volatile situation. This feeds violence before

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election day, but that won't be the end. Imagine what

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could happen following the election. Now, I want you to

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hear this paragraph again. All right, Democrats and Republicans are

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framing the other side as an existential threat to the country.

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So I want you to hear that you're in and inundated.

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You're just drowning, and this man existential threat. There will

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be no country left, there's not going to and you

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hear it from both sides. If this person is elected,

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we will not have a country. The country will cease

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to exist. I've heard Christians say this, Pastors say this,

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It's going to be the end, as if the entire

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future of the country is depended upon a political election

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and not upon the sovereign hand of the creator. Do

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we believe that the elections determine the future of the country,

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or do we believe God determines the future of the country.

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It's my hope and an election or as my hope

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in God. Now, if you don't believe God is sovereign

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and you don't believe God is in control, then yeah,

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you better panic and you better go vote who you

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think is going to supposedly save our country. But I've

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heard Christians say this. I heard it over and over.

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If Obama gets elected, there will be the end of America.

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Churches will be closed down, Bibles will be in FEMA camps.

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It'll be the end. And we survived all over the

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of Obama being president. And guess what. No one told

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me what to preach. No one came for my Bible,

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no one came for the guns some people I know

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who own guns. Nobody was locked up in a FEMA camp.

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We did not become Muslim, or nobody shut our church down.

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I mean all the things that were happened because we

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allow these politicians, and we allow many people podcasters and

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in the media to throw out these crazy, exaggerated threats,

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and because fear sells. Fear is the way you build

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an audience. You got to tell everyone the end is near.

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The end is near. I remember, and I probably down

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in my closet where I have my TV I've got

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books there that I bought way back, years and years

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ago that because you know, these were books that were

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saying the economy is going to crash, We're all gonna

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be in poverty, like uh, and nothing happened that this

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was going to happen. All these books making all of

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these streams and claims, and guess what, all of it

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turned out to be fraudulent. And I would tell people, no,

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I don't buy into any of this, and you're so wrong.

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You're gonna be sorry. You're gonna have to apologize. I

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didn't have to apologize to anything because it didn't happen.

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But all the people who told me what was going

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to happen, they don't come back and apologize. So you

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allow yourself to get played. You Look, look, the think

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of it this way. The product being sold is fear,

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and you're the one buying the fear by your subscriptions

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or you're are you giving money or whatever the or

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buying the books or whatever the case may be. You're

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getting played. They sell fear you. You usually end up

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you give money or whatever you do, you're supported in

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some way, shape or form, and then when nothing turns,

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nothing becomes of it because they've already moved on to

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the next and the next threat, and you just go

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from threat to threat, living in a perpetual state of anxiety, worry,

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and fear because they've got to keep it going. Thought.

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All the news, much of the news media operates in

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the same way. They got to give you the next

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big Oh, this is the next big thing, This is

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the next big threat, because I got to keep you going,

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keep you going. So the politicians, why do they have

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to constantly be saying that that our opponent is an

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existential threat? Our country will not survive because guess what?

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They sell? Fear and what and you're you're the consumer,

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And how do you purchase their fear by voting for them?

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And guess what? They get power, they get positioned and

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they get paid, and you get nothing and you buy

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into it. Oh, we gotta vote, we gotta vote the country,

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Oh the country. Oh you're just being played. They sell

401
00:25:01.640 --> 00:25:08.359
fear to get you to vote. Now, am I not?

402
00:25:08.720 --> 00:25:12.319
I'm not saying that there aren't important issues, but in

403
00:25:12.359 --> 00:25:19.039
many cases it's the way the issues are framed. There's

404
00:25:19.039 --> 00:25:23.240
an invasion and our country is no longer going to survive. Well,

405
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I gotta do something. I gotta do something, And then

406
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you're going to throw in everything you can your time, life, money, time, effort, vote, whatever,

407
00:25:33.039 --> 00:25:36.359
and in many cases, very little is actually going to change.

408
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But you'll be convinced if your team wins, you'll be

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convinced everything now is perfect, even though it clearly isn't.

410
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So just think what happens if you constantly pay everything

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is an existential threat and that the country is no

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lie and people are inundated with these kinds of messaging. Well,

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there's always going to be some people out there thinking

414
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and I've got to do something, I've got to do something,

415
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I've got to stop this. I'm gonna do it. And

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next thing, you know, violence becomes the answer. You know,

417
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give an example. They stole the election. The election was stolen.

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Your vote didn't count. They stole the election. It was

419
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all fraud. They took it from you. You need to

420
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fight or we're not gonna have a country left. While

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what happens January the sixth, and there's still people out

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there yelling and screaming that the election was stolen, no

423
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matter how many court cases, no matter how no evidence,

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no matter the attorneys themselves flipping the changing their story

425
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and all the people in trouble, and it doesn't matter.

426
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People will just keep continuing to believe the lie, believe

427
00:26:42.720 --> 00:26:45.240
the lie, And well, guess what, how many times do

428
00:26:45.319 --> 00:26:47.319
you need to hear that the election is stolen? You

429
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no longer have a country, Your vote doesn't even count,

430
00:26:50.079 --> 00:26:54.079
so you can't fix this politically? How much? How many

431
00:26:54.119 --> 00:26:57.200
times can you keep saying that before someone's going to

432
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say that I'm taking matters into my own hands. Even

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Christian radio we talked about this going way back around

434
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the time of the COVID pandemic. American Family Radio, at

435
00:27:10.319 --> 00:27:14.839
the end of one of their programs basically not only insinuated,

436
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they basically explicitly said that we may be fast approaching

437
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the time that we need to take up arms guns

438
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because of the spread of the LGBTQ movement. I could

439
00:27:26.240 --> 00:27:32.240
not believe that was promoted on Christian radio, because it's

440
00:27:32.319 --> 00:27:34.000
it's gonna be the end of our country. We're not

441
00:27:34.039 --> 00:27:38.039
gonna be able to survive. So what we're in White

442
00:27:38.079 --> 00:27:42.960
people like like that, that's insane, insanity. And then I

443
00:27:43.079 --> 00:27:46.319
reported that to the Roy's Report, and then they wrote

444
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a story about it and tried to and it was.

445
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It was just I was involved in that entire kind

446
00:27:51.400 --> 00:27:53.559
of situation because I could not believe what I was

447
00:27:53.599 --> 00:27:57.279
hearing on Christian radio. Even Christian radio gets into this.

448
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A lot of Christian radio. Look Christian radio, I very

449
00:28:01.039 --> 00:28:06.359
much remember Christianity's role, Christian radio's role into the great

450
00:28:06.400 --> 00:28:10.799
Satanic Fear of the nineteen eighties. It was it was

451
00:28:11.160 --> 00:28:16.640
a focus on the family that promoted and aired Mike Warnkey,

452
00:28:17.559 --> 00:28:20.359
the author of The Satan Seller, where he claimed to

453
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be a former high priest and he was a Satanist

454
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and we'll come to find out his entire story was

455
00:28:25.039 --> 00:28:27.359
made up. It was all a lie. But they promoted him,

456
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and they were like, you know's there's Satanist everywhere. And

457
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I remember, you know, the fear that was going around

458
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and at least at least in West Texas in the eighties,

459
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it was, oh, that's his it. Satanists are everywhere. Don't

460
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send your kids out trick or treating. They're gonna be

461
00:28:41.200 --> 00:28:45.640
kidnapped and offered as a Satanic sacrifice at midnight. They're everywhere.

462
00:28:45.680 --> 00:28:47.839
This is the end, this is the and and look,

463
00:28:47.920 --> 00:28:51.680
it got so bad that even around here back then,

464
00:28:52.160 --> 00:28:54.200
I can remember at least one Halloween, they put a

465
00:28:54.200 --> 00:28:56.359
curfew that nobody could go out to go trick or

466
00:28:56.359 --> 00:28:59.319
treating because there was possible teams of Satanist out to

467
00:28:59.400 --> 00:29:03.480
kidnap every It was crazy. It's like it's like just

468
00:29:03.640 --> 00:29:07.160
widespread panic, very similar to kind of what happened in

469
00:29:07.240 --> 00:29:11.400
Salem during the witch trials. You just sell fear, you

470
00:29:11.599 --> 00:29:16.400
sell disaster coming. You get people who are going to

471
00:29:16.480 --> 00:29:20.359
act in crazy ways because they've been inundated with these lives.

472
00:29:20.480 --> 00:29:23.519
Because sometimes people don't have the ability to go, wait,

473
00:29:23.960 --> 00:29:28.039
maybe I'm maybe they're selling something and I'm buying it.

474
00:29:28.359 --> 00:29:32.000
Maybe maybe this is more about them making money. Mike

475
00:29:32.039 --> 00:29:33.880
Warky made up a story. He sold I don't know

476
00:29:33.880 --> 00:29:36.400
how many copies of the Satan Seller he spoke at,

477
00:29:36.599 --> 00:29:39.079
you know, all over the United States of America. He

478
00:29:39.200 --> 00:29:42.519
was the Christian celebrity of the time selling the panic.

479
00:29:42.599 --> 00:29:45.920
Then we had. Remember there were two individuals who claimed

480
00:29:45.920 --> 00:29:49.759
that they were raised as Jehoattiest you know, Muslims who

481
00:29:49.839 --> 00:29:53.519
who were taught to hate America, and they became apologist

482
00:29:53.599 --> 00:29:56.519
and network speaking in church after church after church about

483
00:29:56.519 --> 00:29:59.200
how we should respond to Islam. Come to find out

484
00:29:59.400 --> 00:30:03.160
there's at least one of them. Their story was completely

485
00:30:03.160 --> 00:30:09.079
made up and fraudulent. I remember when that happened years ago.

486
00:30:09.720 --> 00:30:13.039
Because people know if they've got if they can crab.

487
00:30:13.319 --> 00:30:17.000
So if the fear is Islam, then you sell that

488
00:30:17.119 --> 00:30:20.880
fear and you supposedly have the answer. If it's Satanism,

489
00:30:21.079 --> 00:30:25.440
you sell that fear. Christianity buys it. Christianity loves to

490
00:30:25.519 --> 00:30:38.119
sell fear. Politicians love to sell fear. Stop buying it.

491
00:30:40.039 --> 00:30:44.880
Stop being manipulated, stop being played, Stop being a consumer

492
00:30:45.039 --> 00:30:48.960
that continues to get ripped off. It's a scam, it's

493
00:30:49.000 --> 00:30:51.839
a scheme. Now, I'm not saying there are issues to

494
00:30:51.880 --> 00:30:54.200
be concerned about. I'm not saying there are any issues

495
00:30:54.200 --> 00:30:56.640
to be bothered by, but you have to look at

496
00:30:56.680 --> 00:31:01.680
them in a much more calm, cool, collecistive, realistic way.

497
00:31:01.880 --> 00:31:05.599
But that doesn't sell. You can have a podcast that

498
00:31:05.799 --> 00:31:11.839
sells fear. They'll have fifty thousand subscribers and make money,

499
00:31:12.200 --> 00:31:13.720
and you have someone else to be like, hey, hey, hey,

500
00:31:13.759 --> 00:31:16.400
hey hey no no, no, no, no, let's not exaggerate this,

501
00:31:17.359 --> 00:31:20.920
let's be much more. They'll have two hundred subscribers and

502
00:31:20.960 --> 00:31:23.279
won't make a dime. Well, what are you going to do?

503
00:31:23.559 --> 00:31:26.960
If you want to make money from podcasting, sell fear.

504
00:31:32.480 --> 00:31:38.039
I remember when Christians were promoting the Sandy Hook conspiracy

505
00:31:38.079 --> 00:31:41.599
theory that no children actually died, and there were crisis actors.

506
00:31:41.799 --> 00:31:44.279
Alex Jones was promoting that, and there were people on

507
00:31:44.400 --> 00:31:49.759
sermon audio at the time promoting that, and I was like, hey, guys,

508
00:31:49.759 --> 00:31:51.480
we got to stop this. We got to keep this

509
00:31:51.599 --> 00:32:01.640
conspiratorial stuff out of Christianity. The Prophecy Club was a

510
00:32:01.759 --> 00:32:04.279
radio program. It's still I think it still airs if

511
00:32:04.319 --> 00:32:06.599
you look for it. I don't know what it sounds

512
00:32:06.640 --> 00:32:08.720
like today. It probably sounds like Alex Jones. But the

513
00:32:08.720 --> 00:32:12.759
Prophecy Club in the nineties, I mean it was black

514
00:32:12.799 --> 00:32:17.680
helicopters and the New World Order and you know, basically,

515
00:32:17.720 --> 00:32:20.160
you know aliens, and I mean it sounded like coast

516
00:32:20.160 --> 00:32:23.279
to coast am But from a Christian perspective, it was insanity.

517
00:32:23.480 --> 00:32:25.640
And they made all these predictions. At the end was

518
00:32:25.720 --> 00:32:28.559
near that it was all and all their threats and

519
00:32:28.680 --> 00:32:30.880
all the things they claim did not come to pass.

520
00:32:31.000 --> 00:32:38.079
They were selling fear and Christians were buying it. So

521
00:32:38.480 --> 00:32:44.480
you continue to just start the fires an existential threat,

522
00:32:44.640 --> 00:32:46.279
You're not going to have a country. They're going to

523
00:32:46.319 --> 00:32:50.480
steal the election, and so, well, what do you do? Well,

524
00:32:50.519 --> 00:32:53.839
so you get more and you get buy more into politics,

525
00:32:53.960 --> 00:32:56.519
and you're going to fight them from a political perspective,

526
00:32:56.559 --> 00:32:58.759
and then it turns into a fleshly fight. And the

527
00:32:58.839 --> 00:33:01.519
same thing happened with COVID. It oh, oh, this is

528
00:33:01.559 --> 00:33:03.839
not true and this is not true. And so Christians

529
00:33:03.920 --> 00:33:08.000
just started arguing and fighting about COVID instead of saying, wait, wait, wait,

530
00:33:08.039 --> 00:33:10.359
how should the church respond to all of this? How

531
00:33:10.400 --> 00:33:12.720
can we just focus on being the church? How can

532
00:33:12.759 --> 00:33:16.440
we just focus on utilizing this very difficult time instead

533
00:33:16.440 --> 00:33:18.279
of getting into this is not true and this is

534
00:33:18.319 --> 00:33:21.319
not true and arguing, hey, how can we minister? How

535
00:33:21.359 --> 00:33:23.799
can we provide comfort and peace? How can we get

536
00:33:23.799 --> 00:33:27.960
the gospel? How can we evangelize? How can we disciple? No, no,

537
00:33:28.000 --> 00:33:30.359
we've got to prove a point. We've got to do this.

538
00:33:30.599 --> 00:33:32.920
We got to do this, and it's and it became

539
00:33:32.960 --> 00:33:36.559
about winning an argument than it did about well, how

540
00:33:36.559 --> 00:33:38.640
can we minister in the midst of a difficult time?

541
00:33:38.880 --> 00:33:41.480
How can we show that we are not We're not

542
00:33:41.559 --> 00:33:44.559
going to make the problem worse. We want to be

543
00:33:44.599 --> 00:33:55.720
a voice of calm and peace and reason. So it

544
00:33:55.839 --> 00:34:02.720
says that these messages exactly aspirate an already violent situation,

545
00:34:04.000 --> 00:34:07.440
a volatile situation, and this feeds violence before the election

546
00:34:07.559 --> 00:34:10.679
day then, but it's not going to end. Imagine what

547
00:34:10.719 --> 00:34:13.920
could happen following the election. If Vice President Kamala Harris

548
00:34:14.480 --> 00:34:19.159
wins election in November, there is serious concern over violence

549
00:34:19.599 --> 00:34:22.119
waged by Trump supporters who may believe that the election

550
00:34:22.239 --> 00:34:24.920
was rigged or stolen, as Trump claimed in twenty twenty

551
00:34:25.039 --> 00:34:27.880
after he lost the popular vote in Electoral College, leading

552
00:34:27.920 --> 00:34:30.840
to stop the Still movement, fuelling the January sixth, twenty

553
00:34:30.880 --> 00:34:33.840
twenty one Capital insurrection. Now see, I'm gonna immediately get

554
00:34:33.880 --> 00:34:38.360
Christians say it wasn't an insurrection. What about these protests?

555
00:34:38.400 --> 00:34:40.519
And so once again they'll just start fighting the culture

556
00:34:40.559 --> 00:34:42.199
war and said, wehlla, wait, wait a minute, you're right.

557
00:34:42.239 --> 00:34:44.079
We don't want to as a church, we don't want

558
00:34:44.119 --> 00:34:50.000
to get into that, right because who determined? Like does

559
00:34:50.119 --> 00:34:52.440
Christians no longer believe that God is the one who

560
00:34:52.519 --> 00:35:01.679
ultimately determined who's in charge. Many Christians seem to completely

561
00:35:01.719 --> 00:35:06.199
forget that. If Trump is elected, many expect a visceral

562
00:35:06.239 --> 00:35:09.280
reaction from segments of the far left, including some who

563
00:35:09.360 --> 00:35:14.199
may resort to violence. Trump's election could also embolden any

564
00:35:14.320 --> 00:35:18.719
followers prone to violence, which could fuel more terrorism against immigrants,

565
00:35:18.719 --> 00:35:22.440
people of color, women, LGBTQ plus people, and others. If

566
00:35:22.440 --> 00:35:25.280
he continues to praise the January sixth terrorists and even

567
00:35:25.320 --> 00:35:29.400
pardons them who were convicted, Trump would be inviting continued,

568
00:35:29.880 --> 00:35:35.320
continued vigilantean it, vigilantientism if I can say the word right,

569
00:35:35.480 --> 00:35:44.119
people basically acting like a vigilante. Because we have witnessed

570
00:35:44.159 --> 00:35:46.880
two assassination attempts against Trump in the past two months,

571
00:35:47.079 --> 00:35:50.119
some Republicans are wondering how to reverse the apparent threat

572
00:35:50.360 --> 00:35:53.440
their right to call for the lowering of the political temperature,

573
00:35:53.599 --> 00:35:55.599
and they should reflect on their own party's role in

574
00:35:55.599 --> 00:36:00.519
promoting violent rhetoric, the creeping normalization of extremely violent political speech,

575
00:36:00.719 --> 00:36:04.599
which some have called mainstreaming extremism. Trump himself not only

576
00:36:04.639 --> 00:36:09.480
dubbed the January sixth defendants, hostages, political prisoners, martyrs, and warriors,

577
00:36:09.679 --> 00:36:12.400
but also reacted to the assault of Paul Pelosi with

578
00:36:12.480 --> 00:36:16.639
a jest and a campaign appearance. Well well, stand up

579
00:36:16.760 --> 00:36:20.440
crazy Nancy Pelosi, who ruined San Francisco house her husband

580
00:36:20.440 --> 00:36:24.599
doing anyone know. He publicly told members of one far

581
00:36:24.679 --> 00:36:27.239
right white supremacist group to stand back and to stand

582
00:36:27.239 --> 00:36:31.519
by in response to the latest assassination attempt. Vice presidential

583
00:36:31.559 --> 00:36:35.000
candidate j. D. Vance Muse the big difference between conservatives

584
00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:37.079
and liberals is that no one has tried to kill

585
00:36:37.159 --> 00:36:40.760
Kamala Harris in the last couple of months. His analysis

586
00:36:40.800 --> 00:36:43.599
simply put is outright wrong. For instance, in West Virginia,

587
00:36:43.719 --> 00:36:46.599
sixty six year old man was arrested for threatening Harris.

588
00:36:46.639 --> 00:36:50.159
His social media hosts included warning ar fifteen, locked and loaded.

589
00:36:50.320 --> 00:36:52.719
This is just one of countless threats and plots that

590
00:36:52.840 --> 00:36:56.280
most investigated by the Secret Service are not publicly disclosed.

591
00:36:57.360 --> 00:36:58.840
So but the point is, why would you make that

592
00:36:58.960 --> 00:37:02.880
kind of comment. This is just all fueling the fire

593
00:37:03.280 --> 00:37:06.559
and a sense and almost starting new fire, spreading the

594
00:37:06.599 --> 00:37:12.000
fire from both sides. It has to stop, but it's not.

595
00:37:12.280 --> 00:37:15.039
I don't expect the world to stop. I don't expect

596
00:37:15.079 --> 00:37:17.920
the world to figure it out. I expect the world

597
00:37:18.000 --> 00:37:20.800
to just continue to unravel and get worse and worse

598
00:37:20.840 --> 00:37:22.480
and worse and worse and worse and worse and worse.

599
00:37:22.519 --> 00:37:25.079
What I'm concerned is where is the church in all

600
00:37:25.159 --> 00:37:28.719
of this. You'll hear Christian man on Christian man on

601
00:37:28.760 --> 00:37:31.559
a Sunday in the sanctuary of your church or somewhere

602
00:37:31.599 --> 00:37:33.599
in the building talking about what did you hear about

603
00:37:33.639 --> 00:37:37.119
so and so? Whatever you know hare is this and

604
00:37:37.760 --> 00:37:39.800
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah, and just

605
00:37:39.880 --> 00:37:43.519
stop talking. You don't sound like Christians. You sound like

606
00:37:43.760 --> 00:37:47.639
Fox News Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck. Stop it.

607
00:37:49.039 --> 00:37:50.880
But nobody wants to stand up and tell those Christian

608
00:37:50.880 --> 00:37:54.039
men stop acting like kids on a playground, talking all

609
00:37:54.079 --> 00:37:57.159
big and tough. How about sound like Christian men and

610
00:37:57.199 --> 00:38:00.800
say hey, hey, hey, let's turn down this pool political

611
00:38:00.920 --> 00:38:03.119
rhetoric and let's try to speak like men of God

612
00:38:03.519 --> 00:38:08.239
and seat of political hacks. See that that would offend people.

613
00:38:08.679 --> 00:38:10.920
Pastors don't want to necessarily call people out from the

614
00:38:10.920 --> 00:38:13.719
pulpit saying it, saying hey, I've seen some of your

615
00:38:13.920 --> 00:38:17.519
social media posts. You all sound like you sound ridiculous.

616
00:38:17.519 --> 00:38:19.480
This needs to stop. Pastors don't want to do that.

617
00:38:19.559 --> 00:38:24.000
They'll lose half their church. But I've heard Christian men

618
00:38:24.039 --> 00:38:28.360
talk after some of these things. It's always ridiculous. Bravado,

619
00:38:30.519 --> 00:38:38.079
Just stop politicians have contributed to the violent uptick, not

620
00:38:38.119 --> 00:38:40.639
only with their rhetoric, but also with their actions and

621
00:38:40.639 --> 00:38:44.760
and action in recent decades on gun policy, bringing us

622
00:38:44.840 --> 00:38:47.360
to the moment when assault weapons are widely available to

623
00:38:47.360 --> 00:38:49.880
any single individual with a grievance. Now, I know that

624
00:38:49.920 --> 00:38:52.880
then the conservative Christians gonna say, Oh, you're not gonna

625
00:38:52.920 --> 00:38:55.599
take my gun out of my hands. You're gonna have

626
00:38:55.639 --> 00:38:57.920
to pride out of my dead hand, all of just

627
00:38:58.079 --> 00:39:02.079
the pro bravado gun whatever. Okay, again, how should the

628
00:39:02.159 --> 00:39:05.039
church approach this? The fact is the United States remains

629
00:39:05.079 --> 00:39:08.480
in the eye of a perfect storm, a highly polarized

630
00:39:08.519 --> 00:39:12.840
political climate in which extreme rhetoric is prized over moderation,

631
00:39:13.280 --> 00:39:17.320
a country a wash in weaponry and subceptible to disinformation

632
00:39:17.559 --> 00:39:21.480
and digital manipulation. Combating the threat of political violence is

633
00:39:21.480 --> 00:39:23.760
the duty of every American, but it is also the

634
00:39:23.800 --> 00:39:27.519
responsibility of our elected officials to tamp down the violent rhetoric.

635
00:39:27.760 --> 00:39:30.960
It will be difficult to navigate the crisis, and doing

636
00:39:31.000 --> 00:39:35.639
so effectively requires bipartisan condemnation of political violence from across

637
00:39:35.719 --> 00:39:40.480
the ideological spectrum. Now, the person who who wrote this

638
00:39:40.719 --> 00:39:43.360
is a research fellow at the Council on foreign relations

639
00:39:43.400 --> 00:39:47.800
where he studies domestic and international terrorism and counterin terrorism.

640
00:39:48.400 --> 00:39:55.199
So this is what this person studies. So what do

641
00:39:55.239 --> 00:40:09.440
we do? What do we do? Now? I've been really

642
00:40:09.480 --> 00:40:15.280
really the reports about all of this, the whole thing

643
00:40:15.320 --> 00:40:18.239
about they're eating the dogs, they're eating the cats, that

644
00:40:18.559 --> 00:40:20.559
already just kind of made me. I'm just gonna be

645
00:40:20.559 --> 00:40:22.039
honest with you, it just made me want to just say,

646
00:40:22.079 --> 00:40:24.079
you know what it, I just give up. I just

647
00:40:24.119 --> 00:40:26.440
give up. I'm done. I'm just done with all of this.

648
00:40:26.880 --> 00:40:30.960
I just forget it. Like the Church has lost its mind,

649
00:40:31.079 --> 00:40:34.320
Christians have lost their minds, the world has lost because

650
00:40:34.360 --> 00:40:38.320
I saw comments under on Christian websites where they talked

651
00:40:38.320 --> 00:40:40.320
about the eating the dogs, aim of the threats, and

652
00:40:40.519 --> 00:40:43.039
just hear Christians on Christian websites say some of the

653
00:40:43.039 --> 00:40:48.239
most insane things in the history of mankind, promoting promoting

654
00:40:48.280 --> 00:40:53.000
the concept, and just nothing sounded like Christianity. It's just

655
00:40:53.119 --> 00:40:55.079
I look at them like none. In fact, I wanted

656
00:40:55.079 --> 00:40:56.800
to turn on the microphone and just read some of

657
00:40:56.840 --> 00:40:59.159
the comments. It's like, none of this is Christianity. I

658
00:40:59.159 --> 00:41:02.519
don't fit into this. This is insanity, this is ridiculous.

659
00:41:02.559 --> 00:41:05.480
I'm done. And then now we have a second assassination attempt,

660
00:41:05.679 --> 00:41:07.880
and now there's all these thoughts that it's just going

661
00:41:07.920 --> 00:41:11.719
to get worse, and I don't know, like there's gotta

662
00:41:11.760 --> 00:41:13.960
be someone out there's got to be Christians out there,

663
00:41:14.760 --> 00:41:17.119
and that says, hey, over here, now we did have

664
00:41:17.320 --> 00:41:22.360
the positive. Now my email box demonstrates nobody really cared.

665
00:41:22.800 --> 00:41:25.599
When I told everyone about that new Confession of Faith

666
00:41:25.639 --> 00:41:28.719
put together by over three hundred pastors, I said, we

667
00:41:28.760 --> 00:41:31.440
got to stop the political idolatry, we got to stop

668
00:41:31.480 --> 00:41:34.599
all of this, and I sent out the link to

669
00:41:34.639 --> 00:41:38.960
the Confession of Faith. It's almost silence. Nobody really cares

670
00:41:38.960 --> 00:41:44.000
because I wasn't selling. If I sold, we gotta fight this,

671
00:41:44.400 --> 00:41:48.159
and I just bought into the controversy and this conspiracy.

672
00:41:48.320 --> 00:41:50.679
See then I would I could get big numbers. But

673
00:41:50.760 --> 00:41:52.599
see I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no no no,

674
00:41:52.639 --> 00:41:54.440
we got to stop all of that. And everybody's like, well,

675
00:41:54.440 --> 00:41:56.679
I'm going to go listen to a podcast at'll really

676
00:41:56.719 --> 00:42:01.119
get into it and give me my side. And so

677
00:42:01.239 --> 00:42:04.159
then you're just like, I'm wasting my time. I'm wasting

678
00:42:04.840 --> 00:42:10.239
it does not matter. So what do we do? What

679
00:42:10.880 --> 00:42:14.320
can we do? Do we have any approach in here

680
00:42:14.719 --> 00:42:20.280
do we have any When facing concerns about political violence

681
00:42:20.320 --> 00:42:26.039
and chaos and uncertainty, Christians, I feel, are called to

682
00:42:26.159 --> 00:42:29.440
respond not with fear or anxiety, but with trust in

683
00:42:29.480 --> 00:42:33.440
God and the peace that comes from His sovereignty. I

684
00:42:33.519 --> 00:42:37.559
believe a biblical and phiological approach for Christians in such

685
00:42:37.679 --> 00:42:42.400
times as these can be framed around maybe several key themes,

686
00:42:42.440 --> 00:42:46.559
maybe a few themes you can decide. I think the

687
00:42:46.559 --> 00:42:49.519
first one is Christians should believe that God is sovereign

688
00:42:49.639 --> 00:42:53.760
over all nations, rulers, and events. The Bible reminds us

689
00:42:53.880 --> 00:42:56.920
that nothing happens outside of God's knowledge and plant do

690
00:42:56.960 --> 00:43:00.360
we trust in God's sovereignty? Do we really trust God? Sum?

691
00:43:00.880 --> 00:43:04.599
I will say, the Church talks a big game sometimes

692
00:43:04.599 --> 00:43:08.480
about God being all powerful, God being omniscient, He is

693
00:43:08.639 --> 00:43:12.559
omni omni present. We say the philological words, we may

694
00:43:12.599 --> 00:43:14.840
have a praise song, but when it comes down to it,

695
00:43:14.840 --> 00:43:17.480
we're like, Yoh, we gotta we gotta, we gotta vote,

696
00:43:17.519 --> 00:43:20.000
we gotta vote, we gotta do something, we gotta we gotta,

697
00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:22.320
we gotta fight this culture war, we gotta boycott, we

698
00:43:22.360 --> 00:43:25.679
gotta do this, we gotta do this. Oh, just stop it.

699
00:43:26.360 --> 00:43:31.400
Do you believe in God sovereignty or not? Now, I'm

700
00:43:31.400 --> 00:43:33.360
gonna read a verse as soon as I read it,

701
00:43:34.920 --> 00:43:39.239
because we saw this in the pandemic. During the pandemic,

702
00:43:40.199 --> 00:43:42.960
all of a sudden, Romans thirteen one no longer said

703
00:43:42.960 --> 00:43:46.159
what it had said and meant my entire Christian life.

704
00:43:46.159 --> 00:43:48.079
All of a sudden, I heard Christian after Christ. Well,

705
00:43:48.199 --> 00:43:51.199
Romans thirteen doesn't really say that. And we don't have

706
00:43:51.320 --> 00:43:53.840
to follow any of their stinking rules because we can

707
00:43:53.920 --> 00:43:56.480
do what we want because we're Christians, and we don't

708
00:43:56.519 --> 00:43:58.719
have to listen to anybody, and we're gonna do what

709
00:43:58.760 --> 00:44:01.800
we want, like like little kid throwing a fit because

710
00:44:01.840 --> 00:44:03.559
they got told to have to go home at ten

711
00:44:03.599 --> 00:44:12.519
pm versus midnight. Let every soul Romans thirteen one. You

712
00:44:12.519 --> 00:44:17.000
know where I'm going be subject unto the higher powers.

713
00:44:18.960 --> 00:44:25.639
For there is no power but of God. The powers

714
00:44:25.639 --> 00:44:31.639
that be are ordained of God. You can run. They

715
00:44:31.639 --> 00:44:37.679
stole the election. They stole it from God. They stole

716
00:44:37.679 --> 00:44:41.199
it from God. Was God sovereign or not? It says,

717
00:44:42.000 --> 00:44:44.440
for there is no power but of God. The powers

718
00:44:44.480 --> 00:44:47.559
that be are ordained of God. Now you may not

719
00:44:47.679 --> 00:44:51.119
understand why God put that person in power. You may

720
00:44:51.119 --> 00:44:53.679
not like it. Either you believe that or you don't

721
00:44:53.679 --> 00:44:56.559
believe that. Even either you don't believe God is sovereignly

722
00:44:56.599 --> 00:44:59.039
in charge or you do. If you don't, then that's okay,

723
00:44:59.079 --> 00:45:02.480
then that's your THEOLO. But then don't run around and

724
00:45:02.480 --> 00:45:04.960
talk about the sovereignty of God and God is this

725
00:45:05.199 --> 00:45:07.800
and God is that. Because your God is not sovereign,

726
00:45:07.840 --> 00:45:10.480
your God is obviously not all powerful, and your God

727
00:45:10.519 --> 00:45:13.239
is obviously not doing anything. Well, then that's fine. Then go,

728
00:45:13.320 --> 00:45:15.519
I guess and do whatever you think you can do

729
00:45:15.760 --> 00:45:17.559
if that's the way you want to live your Christian life.

730
00:45:17.599 --> 00:45:20.519
But just maybe maybe do this, Just leave Christianity and

731
00:45:20.599 --> 00:45:23.599
just say I'm a Patriot and I'm an American, and

732
00:45:23.679 --> 00:45:26.480
I'm a Republican, and I'm going to fight for the country.

733
00:45:26.519 --> 00:45:29.719
Will you go do that? Just stop using the name

734
00:45:29.719 --> 00:45:38.880
of God. Whoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance

735
00:45:38.920 --> 00:45:43.320
of God. And they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.

736
00:45:48.639 --> 00:45:51.360
Now you gotta deal with that. You may not like it,

737
00:45:52.360 --> 00:45:58.119
but you gotta deal with it. Another passage that would

738
00:45:58.159 --> 00:45:59.920
be somewhat close to this, I could read more in Rome.

739
00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:01.920
It's thirteen We could start trying to exeget it and

740
00:46:02.280 --> 00:46:03.800
talk about it, but I'm just trying to give some

741
00:46:03.880 --> 00:46:10.800
basic concepts here Isaiah forty six nine through ten. Remember

742
00:46:10.840 --> 00:46:12.840
the former things of old, For I am God, and

743
00:46:12.880 --> 00:46:15.159
there is none else. I am God, and there is

744
00:46:15.239 --> 00:46:19.719
none like me, declaring from from or declaring the end,

745
00:46:19.840 --> 00:46:22.800
from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that

746
00:46:22.840 --> 00:46:25.920
are not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand, I

747
00:46:26.000 --> 00:46:31.119
will do all my pleasure. Do you believe God is

748
00:46:31.320 --> 00:46:40.119
in charge? Do you really believe that? So we have

749
00:46:40.199 --> 00:46:44.639
to trust in God's sovereignty. Now people will ask, well,

750
00:46:44.679 --> 00:46:48.119
what about this situation? Sometimes they will ask about hypothetical situation.

751
00:46:48.360 --> 00:46:50.519
Sometimes they will ask about things in the past. Well,

752
00:46:50.519 --> 00:46:52.599
what should a Christian should have done at that time?

753
00:46:52.719 --> 00:46:59.519
There's not always easy answers nobody, there's no there's never simple,

754
00:46:59.599 --> 00:47:02.119
but there is. But there is an approach. There's an

755
00:47:02.159 --> 00:47:06.760
attempt for us to go, wait a minute, let's let's

756
00:47:06.880 --> 00:47:09.079
let's struggle to at least see how we can put

757
00:47:09.079 --> 00:47:13.960
this into practice and how we can live according to it. That,

758
00:47:14.079 --> 00:47:17.000
to me is what all Christians should be striving to do.

759
00:47:17.199 --> 00:47:21.119
God is sovereign, His good pleasure will be accomplished. He's

760
00:47:21.199 --> 00:47:24.159
the one who decides. Well, let's trust his sovereignty. We

761
00:47:24.199 --> 00:47:32.400
may not understand it, we may not like it. Number two,

762
00:47:32.639 --> 00:47:38.800
Peace over fear. Jesus calls us as his followers to

763
00:47:38.920 --> 00:47:43.199
peace in the face of turmoil, regardless of political or

764
00:47:43.239 --> 00:47:46.239
social chaos. Christians are encouraged to place their hope and

765
00:47:46.280 --> 00:47:50.320
confidence in God rather than worldly events. Can we find

766
00:47:50.440 --> 00:47:54.639
peace in face of oh and in the midst of fear,

767
00:47:54.840 --> 00:47:57.639
in the midst of chaos? Can we have peace over fear?

768
00:47:57.679 --> 00:48:01.440
Can we find it? Now? The peace? Is it? Well? Hey,

769
00:48:01.639 --> 00:48:06.920
you get all because again they sell fear. Stop buying

770
00:48:06.960 --> 00:48:11.960
fear and take the peace that's been given to you.

771
00:48:11.960 --> 00:48:14.480
You don't have to buy peace. It's been given to

772
00:48:14.559 --> 00:48:18.119
you in Christ. Grab on to that peace and don't

773
00:48:18.159 --> 00:48:25.920
buy the fear that everyone sells you. John sixteen. Now

774
00:48:25.960 --> 00:48:28.559
some of these, of course, these have very much textual

775
00:48:28.559 --> 00:48:32.440
and historical context, so you can look that up. But

776
00:48:32.480 --> 00:48:37.760
here we go Jesus speaking to his disciples who are

777
00:48:37.760 --> 00:48:41.480
gonna be facing some difficult situations coming up. These things.

778
00:48:41.480 --> 00:48:44.320
Have I spoken unto you that in me you might

779
00:48:44.360 --> 00:48:46.760
have peace. In the world. You shall have tribulation, but

780
00:48:46.800 --> 00:48:49.039
be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Hey,

781
00:48:49.159 --> 00:48:52.159
you're gonna have tribulation. It's gonna get crazy, it's gonna

782
00:48:52.199 --> 00:48:55.760
get chaotic. But in me there's peace. We look, we

783
00:48:55.800 --> 00:48:58.159
grab on to the peace we have in Christ, and

784
00:48:58.199 --> 00:49:02.239
we try to not buy into and sell what we

785
00:49:02.320 --> 00:49:13.639
have for fear. Philippians chapter four. You know these passages,

786
00:49:13.880 --> 00:49:16.000
you know, you know them. We all forget them. I

787
00:49:16.039 --> 00:49:20.559
forget them. Philippians four to six. Be careful for nothing,

788
00:49:20.639 --> 00:49:23.679
but in everything, by prayer, supplication, with thanksgiving, Let your

789
00:49:23.679 --> 00:49:25.800
requests be made known to God. And the peace of God,

790
00:49:25.840 --> 00:49:28.480
which passed the fall understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds.

791
00:49:28.480 --> 00:49:34.400
And Christ Jesus what see God, it's his peace that

792
00:49:35.079 --> 00:49:38.039
his peace will keep us, not in our attempts to

793
00:49:38.360 --> 00:49:41.079
win the next culture war, and to keep buying into

794
00:49:41.119 --> 00:49:44.519
the fear being sold to you by many, many within

795
00:49:44.639 --> 00:49:50.880
Christianity and even those outside of Christianity. Again, just listen

796
00:49:50.920 --> 00:49:53.960
to some Christian broadcast. It's fear. They sell fear, they

797
00:49:54.000 --> 00:49:56.559
sell fear, they sell fear, they sell fear. The end

798
00:49:56.599 --> 00:49:59.039
is near, this is happening, This is happening, This is happening.

799
00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:03.440
It's over. Hey, I remember when they were selling it. Look, look,

800
00:50:03.559 --> 00:50:05.760
your kids are buying music, and if you play that

801
00:50:05.840 --> 00:50:09.440
music backwards, there's messages from Satan and they're gonna be

802
00:50:09.599 --> 00:50:14.280
possessed by demons. Oh my goodness, burn the records. It's

803
00:50:14.320 --> 00:50:17.719
always the next, next big fear, the next big thing.

804
00:50:24.679 --> 00:50:32.880
Trust in God's sovereignty, Peace over fear. Here's one. I'm

805
00:50:32.880 --> 00:50:35.079
not going through all the things I have written down here.

806
00:50:37.559 --> 00:50:42.480
Trust in God's sovereignty, peace over fear. I know this one.

807
00:50:42.679 --> 00:50:46.920
Nobody believes in this one anymore. But I say, unto you,

808
00:50:48.280 --> 00:50:55.719
love your enemies, Bless them that curse you, Do good

809
00:50:55.760 --> 00:50:58.000
to them that hate you, and pray for them which

810
00:50:58.079 --> 00:51:03.639
despitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be

811
00:51:03.800 --> 00:51:07.000
the children of your Father, which is in heaven. For

812
00:51:07.079 --> 00:51:09.280
he maketh the sun to rise on the evil and

813
00:51:09.400 --> 00:51:11.400
on the good, and send a thrain on the just

814
00:51:11.559 --> 00:51:13.800
and on the unjust. For if you love them which

815
00:51:13.840 --> 00:51:17.599
love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the

816
00:51:17.679 --> 00:51:26.400
publicans the same? Love your enemies. Now, we're never going

817
00:51:26.480 --> 00:51:30.239
to do any of these things perfectly right. Obviously, sometimes

818
00:51:30.320 --> 00:51:32.679
you know what's going to happen. We're not going to

819
00:51:32.800 --> 00:51:37.480
trust in God's sovereignty. We're going to be so we're

820
00:51:37.519 --> 00:51:41.159
going to see the circumstances and become almost blind and

821
00:51:41.199 --> 00:51:43.679
oblivious to the God in whom we cannot see. That's

822
00:51:43.719 --> 00:51:46.000
why we've got to constantly try to see the God

823
00:51:46.039 --> 00:51:48.280
in whom we cannot see, or at least trust in

824
00:51:48.320 --> 00:51:50.679
the God in whom we cannot see, no matter if

825
00:51:50.679 --> 00:51:53.760
the circumstances we can't see screams that there is no God.

826
00:51:53.800 --> 00:51:56.519
We talked about this in Psalm eighty three, number two.

827
00:51:56.559 --> 00:52:00.000
We need peace, so for fear, grab onto the peace

828
00:52:00.400 --> 00:52:03.440
that's been provided to you in Christ, and stop buying

829
00:52:03.480 --> 00:52:16.320
the fear. We need to love our enemies. Now I've

830
00:52:16.320 --> 00:52:20.000
got more here that I could give, but I'm not.

831
00:52:20.800 --> 00:52:23.480
I am going to do this. I'll end with this,

832
00:52:24.559 --> 00:52:26.960
and I wanted to break this one down far greater detail.

833
00:52:31.039 --> 00:52:39.840
Let's go to Psalm forty six. Psalm forty six, Verse one.

834
00:52:39.880 --> 00:52:42.199
God is our refuge and strength, the very present help

835
00:52:42.199 --> 00:52:46.239
in trouble. God is your refuge. God is your strength.

836
00:52:46.679 --> 00:52:49.639
He's the present help in trouble, not the Republican Party,

837
00:52:50.159 --> 00:52:54.119
not the outcome of an election, not winning some you know,

838
00:52:54.840 --> 00:53:02.880
culture war. Therefore, will not we fear God is our

839
00:53:02.880 --> 00:53:05.239
refuge and strength, the very present help and trouble. Because

840
00:53:05.280 --> 00:53:07.679
of that, we're not going to fear though the earth

841
00:53:07.719 --> 00:53:11.239
being removed, and though the mountains be carried into the

842
00:53:11.239 --> 00:53:14.320
midst of the sea, even though if the whole world

843
00:53:14.519 --> 00:53:18.000
physically is crumbling and falling apart around us, We're not

844
00:53:18.039 --> 00:53:19.880
going to fear because we're going to trust that God

845
00:53:20.039 --> 00:53:23.400
is sovereign and we're gonna trust in Him. Now. I

846
00:53:23.440 --> 00:53:26.599
know some of this has maybe specific promises for Israel.

847
00:53:26.760 --> 00:53:29.119
We could get into that, but there's still an element

848
00:53:29.159 --> 00:53:31.400
of this that we have to as Christians, either we

849
00:53:31.440 --> 00:53:36.480
believe in God or we don't. Though the waters therefore

850
00:53:36.599 --> 00:53:39.800
roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the

851
00:53:39.840 --> 00:53:43.679
swelling there thereof, so we're gonna trust in God. We're

852
00:53:43.719 --> 00:53:46.519
not going to fear even though the waters are roaring

853
00:53:46.559 --> 00:53:48.719
and troubling, even if the mountains are sliding off into

854
00:53:48.760 --> 00:53:50.840
the ocean, even if everything seems to be coming apart,

855
00:53:51.039 --> 00:53:54.599
even physically, we are going to trust there is a river,

856
00:53:55.039 --> 00:53:57.480
the streams thereof shall make glad. The City of God,

857
00:53:57.559 --> 00:54:00.239
the holy place of the Tabernacle of the Most High God,

858
00:54:00.280 --> 00:54:02.440
is in the midst of her She shall not be moved.

859
00:54:02.599 --> 00:54:06.599
God shall help her. And that right early the heathen rage,

860
00:54:06.639 --> 00:54:09.960
the kingdom's removed. He uttered his voice and the earth melted.

861
00:54:10.159 --> 00:54:13.599
It's trusting God. Now this guy again has historical context,

862
00:54:14.039 --> 00:54:18.159
maybe very covenantal promises made to Israel. There's very specifics,

863
00:54:18.159 --> 00:54:21.039
but we do know ultimately there is God. He is

864
00:54:21.079 --> 00:54:26.800
on the throne and nothing moves him because he is immovable.

865
00:54:26.920 --> 00:54:33.239
He's immutable, he's unchangeable, he is omnipotent. He is sovereign.

866
00:54:33.320 --> 00:54:36.320
He is the ruler of all. So we trust in him. Now,

867
00:54:36.480 --> 00:54:40.039
things may crumble all around us, things may fall apart.

868
00:54:40.159 --> 00:54:42.639
Circumstances may get worse and worse and worse and worse

869
00:54:42.679 --> 00:54:45.280
and worse, and we say, where is God? And maybe

870
00:54:45.360 --> 00:54:48.679
it all comes to a crashing end, But then we

871
00:54:49.039 --> 00:54:51.679
will be forever in His presence, and all things will

872
00:54:51.719 --> 00:55:05.039
be made right. Things I don't think are going to

873
00:55:05.119 --> 00:55:08.400
get better. I think things are going to get worse.

874
00:55:09.800 --> 00:55:12.639
And how things are going to look between September seventeenth,

875
00:55:12.679 --> 00:55:15.360
twenty twenty four and the end of twenty twenty four,

876
00:55:17.280 --> 00:55:19.760
I'm just going to be honest. I don't have any

877
00:55:19.800 --> 00:55:23.639
warm feelings about it. I have feelings of dread, of despair,

878
00:55:24.159 --> 00:55:29.880
of despondency, discouragement, depression. I am cynical. I just feel

879
00:55:29.880 --> 00:55:35.320
like it's not going to be good and the world

880
00:55:35.400 --> 00:55:36.960
is going to get all caught up in it. There's

881
00:55:37.000 --> 00:55:40.000
going to be yelling and fighting and divisiveness and disputes.

882
00:55:40.400 --> 00:55:43.400
And the sad part is we've allowed that into the church.

883
00:55:48.400 --> 00:55:53.679
In the church, I shouldn't see Republican or Democrat. I

884
00:55:53.679 --> 00:55:58.960
should see brother, sister and the Lord. I don't care

885
00:55:59.000 --> 00:56:02.559
their political party. I don't care. And what I need

886
00:56:02.599 --> 00:56:04.360
to call them to do is not to change the

887
00:56:04.400 --> 00:56:06.400
way they vote. I don't need to worry about that.

888
00:56:06.480 --> 00:56:09.039
I don't need to worry about their stance on cultural issues.

889
00:56:09.159 --> 00:56:11.719
What I need to do is try to say, hey, hey, hey, hey,

890
00:56:11.960 --> 00:56:15.320
let's get into the scriptures. Let's meditate on them, Let's

891
00:56:15.360 --> 00:56:17.920
not buy into the fear. Let's trust them to the

892
00:56:18.679 --> 00:56:22.320
trust and the sovereignty of God. Let's love our enemies,

893
00:56:22.480 --> 00:56:26.320
Let's let's focus, let's put away lying, let's speak the truth,

894
00:56:26.480 --> 00:56:30.079
let's not bear false witness. Let's not engage in slander,

895
00:56:30.159 --> 00:56:34.159
and let's not engage and gossip. Let's let's seek to

896
00:56:34.199 --> 00:56:38.599
live this out this way. But so some Christians do

897
00:56:38.679 --> 00:56:41.239
is they want to fight politics, and they want to

898
00:56:41.480 --> 00:56:45.159
label everyone as a Republican or a Democrat. And then

899
00:56:45.159 --> 00:56:47.039
some will say, if you're a Democrat or vote Democrat,

900
00:56:47.079 --> 00:56:48.559
you can't even be a Christian. I don't even know

901
00:56:48.559 --> 00:56:54.719
how many times I've heard that preached. That's that's destroying

902
00:56:54.800 --> 00:56:58.639
the Church. The Bible doesn't use language to describe people

903
00:56:58.800 --> 00:57:03.599
as Republican or Democrat. Brothers and sisters in the Lord,

904
00:57:03.880 --> 00:57:07.400
and there can be massive disagreements among brothers and sisters

905
00:57:07.400 --> 00:57:10.239
in the Lord, not only biblically and philologically. I don't

906
00:57:10.239 --> 00:57:12.280
know if you realize that we've been yelling and fighting.

907
00:57:12.400 --> 00:57:15.199
We can't even as Christians agree on how to interpret

908
00:57:15.280 --> 00:57:17.840
basic things in scripture. We don't agree on baptism. We

909
00:57:17.840 --> 00:57:20.079
don't agree on the Lord's Supper. We don't agree on salvation.

910
00:57:20.360 --> 00:57:22.840
We don't agree on the word repentance for crying out lot.

911
00:57:22.920 --> 00:57:25.719
We don't even agree on the word baptism. Christians can't

912
00:57:25.719 --> 00:57:30.119
even agree on the Bible, but we demand almost a

913
00:57:30.400 --> 00:57:37.079
unified locked arm conformity to political views. Why would there

914
00:57:37.159 --> 00:57:39.559
be conformity and political views in the Body of Christ

915
00:57:39.639 --> 00:57:42.199
when there cannot even be unity when it comes to

916
00:57:42.320 --> 00:57:49.920
basic theology and how to read the Bible. Stop worrying

917
00:57:49.960 --> 00:57:53.320
about people's political allegiance and focus on our allegiance to

918
00:57:53.400 --> 00:57:56.559
Christ and his word, and let's focus on that. Well,

919
00:57:56.599 --> 00:57:59.239
the world is burning. They need to have someplace to say,

920
00:57:59.360 --> 00:58:03.320
hey can go there and get away from all of this.

921
00:58:05.519 --> 00:58:10.719
But they're like, Nope, not going there. Church. They don't

922
00:58:10.719 --> 00:58:14.800
see a church as a place that worships and follows Christ.

923
00:58:15.159 --> 00:58:17.760
For many, they see the church as a place that

924
00:58:17.840 --> 00:58:24.440
worships and follows Trump. Because how many of evangelical Christians

925
00:58:24.440 --> 00:58:27.800
put Trump in the White House the first time he

926
00:58:28.039 --> 00:58:31.760
received over eighty something percent of the evangelical vote. And

927
00:58:31.800 --> 00:58:34.199
then what happened. Pastors yell and scream and say if

928
00:58:34.199 --> 00:58:37.280
you vote Democrat, you basically are a demon, and get

929
00:58:37.320 --> 00:58:41.360
out of my church. You're not even a Christian. And

930
00:58:41.400 --> 00:58:44.079
I'm not making that up. I've literally heard those messages

931
00:58:47.000 --> 00:59:02.840
that destroys the church, that destroys what we're supposed to be. Now,

932
00:59:02.840 --> 00:59:04.679
I started this and it was like eight forty five,

933
00:59:04.719 --> 00:59:08.199
eight forty six, eight forty seven, and I almost said, am, well,

934
00:59:08.199 --> 00:59:11.280
it's now nine forty seven pm, so it's been almost

935
00:59:11.320 --> 00:59:20.159
an hour We've discussed a lot of things. I don't

936
00:59:20.159 --> 00:59:26.039
have any definitive answers. Things are not going to get better.

937
00:59:26.199 --> 00:59:32.920
From my estimation, it's only going to get worse. What

938
00:59:33.039 --> 00:59:40.000
is the church going to do? Thanks for listening, God

939
00:59:40.000 --> 00:59:40.320
bless