Nov. 4, 2024

Christianity is Opium For People

Christianity is Opium For People

A look at Isiah 40:9 and a famous quote by Karl Marx

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A look at Isiah 40:9 and a famous quote by Karl Marx

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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. Ladies and gentlemen,

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I'm going to make a comment that's going to be

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very offensive for many of you, too many of you.

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You're not going to necessarily like it, and you're probably

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going to disagree, But I'm going to say it anyway,

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because I think we need to be confronted with this

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at least being a possibility. Even if you want to

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push back, you have to at least look around and go, well,

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maybe in some ways there's some truth to it. Sometimes

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a controversial comment can be offensive and we may not

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like it, but there can be some truth to it

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if we're really willing to set aside our offense and listen,

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and I hope that you will, ladies and gentlemen. I'm

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going to say it. I'm going to say it bluntly.

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I believe for many Christianity is nothing more more than opium.

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Christianity is nothing more than opium. It is they they

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go to church. It's an opium house. It's a drug house.

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They go to church and they get a little bit

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of opium. They get a little bit, they get their fix.

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They get a hit and they they feel much better.

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But reality is they are not following Christianity and they're

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not following scripture. They've just turned Christianity into opium, a drug,

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just to make them feel better. That is my comment,

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and we're going to be talking about that, but first

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let me give you a proper introduction. Good morning everyone.

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It is Monday, November fourth, twenty twenty four. It is

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currently nine twenty two am Central time, and I am

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coming to you live from the Theology Central Studio located

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right here in Abilene, Texas. Now, for some of you,

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you may not be familiar with opium, so let me

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play what opium is. Opium is a narcotic drug derived

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from the poppy plant that contains compounds such as more

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more coding morphine that can relieve pain and include feelings

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of relaxation and euphoria right when taken. It acts as

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it acts on the central nervous system to dull pain,

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create a sense of calm, and can lead to drowsiness

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and even sedation. All right, so let me read that again.

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All right, this is very important, all right. Opium is

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a narcotic drug derived from the poppy plant that contains

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compounds such as morphine and coding that can relieve pain

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and induce feelings of relaxation and euphoria. When taken, it

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acts on the central nervous system to dull pain, create

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a sense of calm, and can lead to drowsiness and

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even sedation. Effects of opium on people pain relief, It

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reduces or blocks the sensation of pain, euphoria. It can

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produce a feeling of well being or mild happiness, sedation

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and relaxation. It can cause drowsiness, a calm feeling, and

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decreased stress dependency. With regular use, people can develop tolerance

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and physical dependence, leading to addiction. In essence, opium numbs

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physical and emotional pain and can create a temporary escape

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from reality, but it can also lead to dependency and

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serious health risk with prolonged use. That's opium, and I

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believe for many Christianity is nothing more than that. It's opium.

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It gives a sense of pain relief, it gives a

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sense of euphoria. It sedates them to some level. But listen,

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this is very important. It numbs physical and emotional pain

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and can create a temporary escape from reality. Many people

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turn to Christianity they turn to church, they turn to scripture,

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and they really just want to escape reality. They don't

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want to face reality. So in a sense, they like,

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give me another hit of opium, I feel better. But

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in reality, they're not dealing with reality. They're escaping it.

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They don't want to face the truth. They don't even

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look to scripture to really face the truth of the text.

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They look to scripture to find a sense of peace,

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of calm, of being sedated, to bring them some sense

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of euphoria, some sense of pain, relief for their emotions,

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or their fear or their anxiety. Christianity is nothing more

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than opium. Now you're I know, you may be like

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that is crazy, that I completely disagree with this, but

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I'm going I'm going to start with that with my

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that's my basic HYPOTHESI is that Christianity is nothing more

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than opium for many people. And then we are going

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to see if I can demonstrate why I would say

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such a crazy thing. Now, obviously, when I say Christianity

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is the opium of the people or for the people,

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you know that I'm taking that phrase from someone else.

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I'm taking it from a very very famous quote. The

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exact quote is from Karl Marx, who said religion is

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the opium of the people. The phrase appears in his

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work A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right.

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Here's the full context of his quote. All right, this

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is from eighteen forty four. I believe our Well, yeah, yeah,

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I believe it's eighteen forty four. Religion is the sigh

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of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world,

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and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium

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of the people. Again, Karl Marx, the exact quote is,

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religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart

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of a heartless world, and the soul of a soul,

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and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium

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of the people. Now, a lot of people will say, well,

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that's what Karl Marx said, it's ridiculous, it's crazy, it's

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and and just immediately reject it or say that's not true,

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and and he was so wrong, and Christianity is this,

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and typically it's if anyone gives the quote, they just

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immediately reject it and offer a counter argument. Well, I'm

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going to come along ago. I believe there's a little

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bit of truth to Karl Marx's quote. And I'm not

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forget religion. I'm going to focus in on Christianity. The

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Christianity is the opium of the people. You say, well,

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how how can you say that? Well, buy almost any

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popular devotional work and read it. It's pure opium. Listen

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many sermons. It's pure opium. If you want to listen

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to sermons on Isaiah forty through fifty five, which we

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have been working on, and those sermons are nothing more

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than opium. They're just there to bring comfort, per se,

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to make you feel better, give you a sense of

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well being, a sense of hope, to remove your anxiety.

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But they don't want to actually, in any way, shape

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or form, deal with the actual words of the text.

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They're just offering people opium, and the people just sit

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there and go amen, Amen, Amen. Yeah, you're amening because

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you're getting shot up with opium and you feel great.

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That's the issue. Now. Mark's statement that religion has the

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opium of the people reflects his view that religion functions

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as a tool of social control and a means of

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coping with suffering. For Marx, religion provided a kind of

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false comfort or escape for oppressed people living in difficult situations.

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And I believe that for many people, Christianity is nothing

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more than a false comfort and escape. And it becomes

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a false comfort and it becomes an escape when you

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take scripture to find your comfort when the comfort's not

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meant for you. We've talked about this, right, When is

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comfort not comfort? When does Christianity not provide comfort? Well,

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it clearly is not providing comfort when you go to

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scripture and you misapply, rip out a context, and you

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make it say something that it's not saying, and you're

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claiming promises they're not for you. You're just looking for some opium.

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You're looking for a little bit of something to make

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you feel good. You're not actually worried or in any way,

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shape or form about the actual meaning of the text.

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See for Karl Marx, religion was a means of comfort

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and oppression. Marx believed that religion offered a sense of

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relief or comfort to people and oppressive, unjust societies. Just

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as opium was used in the nineteenth century to non

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pain and create a sense of escape, Mark saw religion

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as providing a similar psychological comfort for people enduring hardship

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or poverty. He argued that religion served to ease people

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suffering without addressing the underlying social and economic problems that

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caused it. Thus, religion could make difficult conditions feel more tolerable,

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but ultimately left those conditions unchallenged and unchanged. Well, I

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would say what religion does. Religion may make you feel

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make difficult conditions feel more tolerable, but in many cases

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it's making it feel more tolerable by people misapplying the

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religious texts to their own situation and finding some false

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comfort in it without looking at what the text actually says.

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Marx also saw religion as a mechanism used by ruling

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classes to keep people submissive by offering promises of happiness

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or justice in the afterlife. Religion could encourage people to

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accept their hardships on earth without questioning the social or

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economic systems that cause their suffering. And Marx's view, religion

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kept people passive and docile, making them less likely to

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demand change or challenge systems of oppression. It created a

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focus on spiritual consolation rather than on material change or

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social justice. Well, I don't know about this control part,

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but I know this religion constantly offers you the supposed

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fix right, the comfort, the peace, to remove your anxiety.

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And then what do you do? In a sense, you

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continue to go back and back and back and back.

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You buy the devotionals, you go to this, you read this,

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you listen to this, you listen to that, and so

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much of it is just pure opium. It's just false,

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it's fraudulent. It's not getting you to the real source

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and what it actually says. So, in that sense, is

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it controlling because you have to continue to go back?

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I don't know. I won't I won't make an argument

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about the control. I won't make an argument of how

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religion or Christianity in specifically speaking, is like opium. Marx

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believe that in an ideal society without class oppression or inequality,

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religion would eventually become unnecessary, and his view, when people

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are no longer oppressed, and when and when society is

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built on equality and justice, the need for religion as

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a coping mechanism would disappear. Religion, for Marx, was therefore

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a simp a symptomatic of a world that required transformation

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at a material level. All right, So he thought, hey,

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religion is going to keep us from actually fixing the problem.

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Here's what I would say, this form of Christianity that

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is nothing more than an opium. What it does is

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it keeps people from the actual text. See, people who

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don't want to actually deal with the text then have

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this issue of Christianity as opium, and opium will keep

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people from the text, which then creates other problems. So

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I'm not gonna I don't agree obviously with everything Karl

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Marx is saying here, but there's an underlying principle that

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when it comes down to it, what do you think

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people actually want? Do you think people actually want truth?

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Do you think people actually want to understand the text?

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Or they just want a little bit of opium where

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they feel like they get a little bit of spirituality,

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a little bit of church, they got some nice little

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points and they feel better. They just want to feel.

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They want comfort, they want peace, they want to escape.

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That's all they want. They want a little sense of

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spirituality to give themselves a sense of well being, a

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higher purpose, some type of meaning. Just Christianity has been

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selling itself basically as opium forever. I mean I talk

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about it all the time. To Christianity is like an infocommercial. Hey,

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you get Christianity. You get this, you get this, you

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get this, you get this, you get this, you get this,

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and the Bible is used as a means to sell

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it that way. Right, I look at this scripture, see see,

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this is about you. This is about you, This promise

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is for you. And what happens you never look at

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as Karl Marx would say, you don't look at the

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underlying causes, you don't want to fix the underlying issues. Well,

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I would say this just leads to a Christianity that

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nobody wants to actually look at the text, because if

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you actually look at the text, you may be like, oh, man,

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that was my opium. You just took my opium from me.

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I'm sorry. And guess what Christians get really ticked off

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when you do that. Now, why am I saying all

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this about opium and Karl Marx? Why? Why? Why why

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am I starting this way? Well? I am starting this

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way because BBN Radio Bible Broadcasting Network, they air a

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devotional segment and tiered entitled Streams in the Desert. Streams

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in the Desert. It is a popular daily devotional written

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by lb Kalman co wm An lb Kwman and read

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by one of the BBN announcers. It was first published

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in nineteen twenty five. Miss Cawman's Miss Caleman, Stream in

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the Desert is a masterful compilation of inspirational writings from

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a variety of sources. She collected those works during the

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dark time in her life. Please note she put this

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together during a dark time in her life when her

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beloved husband was terminally ill. Her devotional has brought comfort

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and encouragement to millions of people around the world who

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also face difficult times. So she was going through a

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very painful situation. And I do not undermine that. I

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do not minimize that, right I that is horrible. But

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here's the thing. When people are going through difficult times,

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painful times, tragic times, absolutely nightmarish times, if you turn

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to scripture, and if you turn to Christianity to find

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some peace and comfort, the danger is the peace and

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comfort you supposedly find is not real. It's your misapplying

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scripture and you're just looking for opium to make you

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feel better. Do you want comfort or do you want truth?

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Because the truth is it may not be that comfortable. Now. See,

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I'm going after a beloved devotional Streams in the Desert,

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Oh no, I'm going to offend people. I've already offended

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people by saying Christianity. In most cases it's just opium.

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I've already offended who knows how many people. So what

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happened is, I don't know what time. It was three four,

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I don't know what time. Somewhere at some point I

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heard a to I guess it was today, maybe yesterday,

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I don't know. I heard the little segment for Streams

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in the Desert. I heard it, and as I was

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listening to it, I was like, well, this is an

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interesting devotional. It was about faith and holding onto a

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rope and anxiety and it was about all that type

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of stuff. I'm like, well, I could take this and

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I could probably use it and challenge people right a

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little bit. With this right, we could try to argue,

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whether we agree or disagree. It could be an interesting conversation.

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So then I was like, okay, well let me see

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if I can find that particular entry and Streams of

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the Desert I've got to find I don't have a

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hard copy of the book. I'm like, let me look online.

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So I found the devotional for today, and I had

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nothing to do with what I heard on BBN. I

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don't know what which they were reading, but it was

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completely opposite. But what caught my attention was the entry

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for today was these words, are you ready? I'm gonna

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just read the scripture. It's based off based off of

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you ready, Here we go, Oh Zion, that bring us

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good tidings. Get thee up into the high mountain, Oh Jerusalem,

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that bring us good tidings. Lift up thy voice with strength,

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lift it up, Be not afraid say into the cities

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of Judah, behold your God. That's Isaiah chapter forty verse nine.

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And as soon as I saw that it was Isaiah

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forty verse nine, I was like, You've got to be

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kidding me. Here's a devotional on Isaiah chapter forty verse nine.

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We've been working where we have been working on? I

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know we're way behind. We didn't get much done this

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weekend on Isaiah forty through fifty five. Why have I

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been doing so much work on Isaiah forty through fifty five?

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Why has that become such a big issue? Because I've

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become immediate, completely and totally distraught, frustrated, irritated, and want

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to just give up because of how the sermons handle

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Isaiah forty through fifty five. It's about you, it's about me.

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They insert us immediately into the text. It's about you.

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So when we were reading Isaiah forty verse one, comfort ye,

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comfort ye, my people, saith your God, They're like, hey, hey,

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that's for you, that's for me, and they and they

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just they take it and make it about us. And

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so basically like, hey, you've come to church today. You

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need some opium. You need to feel better. We need

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to ease that pain, we need to help you escape reality,

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we need to give you a sense of euphoria. Here

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we go, Here we go. I'm gonna give you your

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opium today, and we're gonna take it from Isaiah forty

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through fifty five. And I'm sick and tired of that

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because nobody wants to actually handle Isaiah forty through fifty

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five in any form of a historical textual context. It's

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not just to be taken and turned into opium. So

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you can make every when go home feeling better. Well,

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we already know that this famous devotional Streams in the

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Desert was written by someone who was going through a

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horrible time to bring comfort. Well, how in the world

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is someone going through great difficulty going to go to

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Isaiah forty verse nine and find some comfort in that.

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How in the world are you going to do that,

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Oh Zion, that bring us good tidings, Get thee up

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in the high mountains O Jerusalem, that bring us good tidings.

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Lift up thy voice with strength, lift it up. Be

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not afraid say unto the cities of Judah, behold your God,

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not the cities of America, not you, not me, but them.

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It's about them. I don't know how many times I

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have to say that. So what happens. They take Isaiah

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forty and it becomes the opium for the people. Just

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like Karl Mark said, do you want to hear what

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Mss Cowman did with Isaiah forty nine and the famous

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devotional streams in the Desert? Do you want to would

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you like to see? Here we go? I'm gonna read

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direct exactly as it is found if you look up

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Streams in the Desert for today's entry, at least based

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on some websites. Again, I don't have a physical copy

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of the book. I don't know how it's broken down.

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But if you have a physical copy of the book,

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you can look for yourself. But here we go. This

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is the quote, you who bring good tidings to Zion

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go up on a high mountain Isaiah forty verse nine.

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Then immediately under that we read these words. Toys and

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trinkets are easily one, but the greatest things are greatly bought.

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The top most place of power is always bought with blood.

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You may have the pinnacles if you have enough blood

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to pay. That is the conquest condition of the holy heights. Everywhere,

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the story of real heroisms is the story of sacrificial blood.

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The cheapest value in life and character are not blown

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across our way by vagrant winds. Great souls have great sorrows.

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So it sounds like what I'm taking from this is

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if you want to be on the top, then there's

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gonna be pain, there's gonna be suffering, there's gonna be

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blood that's gonna have to be paid to get there,

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because great souls have great sorrows. If you want to be,

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if you want to have a great soul, you will

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experience great sorrow. Now immediately this is turning, This is

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not this is already already see it being shifted to

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about us. Then it says great truths are dearly bought.

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The common truths such as men give and take front

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day today come in the common walk of easy life. Oh,

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got me read this again? Great truths are dearly bought,

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I should say, great truths are dearly bought. The common

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truths such as men give and take front day to day,

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come in the common walk of easy life, blown by

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the careless winds across our way. Great truths are greatly won,

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not found by chance, nor are rafted in the breath

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of summer dream, but grasp and great struggle of the soul,

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hard buffeting with adverse winds and steam or stream. But

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in the day of conflict, fear and grief, when the

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strong hand of God, put forth in the might, plows

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up the subsoil of the stagnant heart and brings the

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imprisoned truth seed to the light wrung from the troubled

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spirit and hard hours of weakness, solitude perchance of pain.

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Truth springs like harvest from the well plowed field, and

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the soul fills it has not wept in vain the

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capacity for knowing God and largest as we are brought

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by Him and to circumstances which oblige us to exercise faith.

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So when difficulties beset our path. Let us thank God

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that he is taking trouble with us and lean hard

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upon him. Now that's poetic, that's wonderful. What have they

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got to do with Isaiah forty verse nine? What does

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any of them have to do with Isaiah verse forty nine?

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Basically saying, Hey, we go through suffering in this life,

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but hey, that's how we get the good things. That's

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how we get the great things. And the capacity of

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knowing God is enlarge when we are brought by Him

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into circumstances which oblige us to exercise faith. Now it

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turns about how we can know God greater when we're

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brought into difficulties. So difficulties are a means in which

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we can know God greater. It turns into so what

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is this trying to do and curry you? If you're

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going through a difficult time, Well, God brought you here

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so that well he can you can get the good things. No,

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I know, I kind of stammered through that poetic section,

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but I'd have to read it much slower, and I

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apologize for that, but you get the idea. The point

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is I stammered through it in some ways just to

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demonstrate what in the world I mean we could break

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down each stanza. Right, great truths are dearly bought. Okay,

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so we have great truths, but how do we buy them? Well,

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it's gonna contrast the great truths with the common truths,

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such as men give and take front day to day.

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They come in the common walk of easy life, blown

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by the careless winds across our way. See. Hey, the

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common truths are just handed out here and there, and

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they just come. They just come across our path easily.

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You don't have to do anything for common truth. If

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you want great truth, something else is going to have

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to happen. Right, Oh, there's going to have to be suffering.

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There's gonna have to be pain, There's gonna have to

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be a price to be paid. Great truths are greatly won,

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not found by chance, nor wafted on the breath of

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summer dream, but grasp and the great struggle of the soul,

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hard buffeting with adverse winds and stream. But in the

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day of conflict, fear and grief, when the strong hand

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of God put forth in might, plows up the subsoil

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of the stagnant heart and brings the imprisoned truth seed

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to the light wrung from the troubled spirit and hard

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hours of weakness, solitude, perchance of pain. Truth springs like

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harvest from the well plowed filled and the soul fills

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it has not wept in vain. There is that much

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better doing it with some form of trying to follow

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the rhythm of it. Right. If I read it that way,

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it works better. Okay, But the point is I can

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read it as poetically, I can read it as properly.

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I can read it with great emotion. I could read

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it with the right pacing. I can try to make

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you feel it. But it's all about emotion. It's all

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about Yes, I want the great truths. Yeah, people want

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the common truths, but I want the great truths. So

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if i God, if that means bringing me through suffering,

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if that means I have to pay, if I have

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to go through tragic times, then I get the great

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truths because the common truths are just handed out. They're easy,

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but take me through the difficult time. Because the capacity

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from knowing God enlarges as we are a brought by

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Him and to circumstances which oblige us to exercise faith.

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Se is this is a way of trying to make

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you feel good and trying to trying to have some

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see some purpose, and your pain and suffering. That's how

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you can get the great truths. That's how your capacity

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to know God will be enlarged. This is all about

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making you feel better. What does any of that have

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to do with Isaiah forty verse nine. Literally, this is

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just a complete I don't know what this is. So

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then I'm like, well, maybe the devotional, even though it

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quotes a little bit from Debt, just part of verse nine,

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I don't even quote the whole thing. Maybe she was

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inspired by the totality of Isaiah chapter forty, so maybe

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we look at it from that perspective. Well, the devotional

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entry reflects a poetic meditation on suffering, sacrifice, and spiritual growth,

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drawing on the imagery of a hard, hard won truth

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and sacrificial effort to convey the value of enduring hardship

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in the pursuit of greater spiritual maturity. That's what the

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00:28:04.039 --> 00:28:06.920
devotional really is about. Let me let me read this again.

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It reflects a poetic meditation on suffering, sacrifice and spiritual growth,

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drawing on the imagery of hard won truths and sacrificial

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00:28:15.759 --> 00:28:19.079
effort to convey the value of enduring hardship and the

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pursuit of greater spiritual maturity. Now, based on a historical, textual, cultural,

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and linguistic analysis of Isaiah forty, this entry does not

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directly align with the primary context and message of Isaiah

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forty and could be considered an in precise application of

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its themes. Streams in the Desert the beloved devotional for

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today's entry Isaiah forty verse nine, it is an in

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precise application of its themes. They're seeing it in a

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nice way. Let me say it in a much more

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blunt way. It's an absolute travesty what they're doing to

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Isaiah forty verse nine. And they're taking Isaiah forty nine,

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turning it into a little bit of opium to make

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you feel better when you go through difficult times. Now,

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if we analyze the devotional and line of Isaiah forty,

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well we're gonna look at some things. How about the

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historical and textual context of Isaiah forty. Isaiah forty opens

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a new section in the Book of Isaiah, goes from

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Isaiah forty to Isaiah fifty five. It speaks directly to

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Israel's future deliverance from Babylonian exile. This chapter begins with

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a message of comfort for a people who have suffered

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the consequences of their sins, and it emphasizes God's compassion, power,

459
00:29:40.480 --> 00:29:44.000
and faithfulness. The tone and focus around God's redemptive action

460
00:29:44.160 --> 00:29:48.160
and his ability to renew and restore versus like Isaiah

461
00:29:48.200 --> 00:29:51.480
forty twenty eight through thirty one, emphasizes God's strength, his

462
00:29:51.519 --> 00:29:54.519
attentiveness to his people, and his power to renew the weary,

463
00:29:54.759 --> 00:30:00.480
underscoring God's strength rather than human endurance or sacrifice. Isaiah

464
00:30:00.480 --> 00:30:05.079
forty is not about It's not about our endurance or

465
00:30:05.119 --> 00:30:09.000
our sacrifice to get something. It's about God's strength. It's

466
00:30:09.039 --> 00:30:11.839
about God doing something. And not only that. It's not

467
00:30:11.880 --> 00:30:17.519
about you or me, It's about them. If we look

468
00:30:17.559 --> 00:30:21.759
at it from a cultural linguistic consideration, the language of

469
00:30:21.799 --> 00:30:25.880
Isaiah forty is designed to reinsure it uplift a downtrodden people.

470
00:30:26.160 --> 00:30:29.440
Phrases like comfort, comfort my people, and the promises that

471
00:30:29.480 --> 00:30:31.519
those who wait for the Lord shill renew their strength

472
00:30:31.680 --> 00:30:36.039
focus on God's initiative and divine compassion rather than on

473
00:30:36.200 --> 00:30:41.039
human sacrifice or suffering as a prerequisite for God's blessing.

474
00:30:41.400 --> 00:30:43.359
So You can't go to Isaiah forty and go, hey, guys,

475
00:30:43.440 --> 00:30:45.599
if you really want the greater truths, if you really

476
00:30:45.599 --> 00:30:48.240
want to know God more, you need to go through suffering. Now,

477
00:30:48.480 --> 00:30:50.839
these people were going through suffering, not that they could

478
00:30:50.920 --> 00:30:54.960
learn more, but as a consequence of their sin. This

479
00:30:55.119 --> 00:30:57.079
is not designed to say, hey, if you really want

480
00:30:57.119 --> 00:31:00.519
to grow spiritually, you need to suffer. Then it would

481
00:31:00.519 --> 00:31:02.200
be like, Okay, here's what you need to do. If

482
00:31:02.240 --> 00:31:04.319
you really want to grow spiritually, you need to go

483
00:31:04.480 --> 00:31:07.480
sin and sin and sin until God sends you to

484
00:31:07.480 --> 00:31:11.720
Babylonian captivity. And when you come out, dun dun da duh,

485
00:31:11.799 --> 00:31:14.240
you're gonna know more. You're going to be more spiritual.

486
00:31:14.279 --> 00:31:16.440
But was Israel truly more spiritual when they came out

487
00:31:16.480 --> 00:31:21.839
of captivity? Don't they initially have problems, Some people don't

488
00:31:21.839 --> 00:31:23.240
want to come back, and then when they come back

489
00:31:23.640 --> 00:31:26.720
they have to have profits sin to them to try

490
00:31:26.720 --> 00:31:29.160
to get them to go ahead and rebuild everything. Don't

491
00:31:29.160 --> 00:31:32.519
they still find themselves in apathy and complacency and spirit don't.

492
00:31:32.599 --> 00:31:34.720
And when you open up the New Testament, where's Israel?

493
00:31:34.759 --> 00:31:37.880
They're under the Hill of Rome, and a good portion

494
00:31:37.960 --> 00:31:41.240
their spiritual leaders are so blind they can't even recognize

495
00:31:41.240 --> 00:31:52.000
God himself when he shows up for the Israelite exiles.

496
00:31:52.039 --> 00:31:54.119
This shepter would have been heard as a promise of

497
00:31:54.119 --> 00:31:57.839
God's intervention, a reminder of his covenantal faithfulness, and an

498
00:31:57.839 --> 00:32:01.920
assurance that despite their current suffering, God himself would bring deliverance,

499
00:32:02.160 --> 00:32:05.119
not through their own efforts, but through His grace and power.

500
00:32:05.240 --> 00:32:08.680
This is not about you paying you struggling, you know,

501
00:32:08.759 --> 00:32:13.160
This is about what God is going to do. The

502
00:32:13.240 --> 00:32:18.839
devotional speaks more to a personal sacrifice, enduring hardship, and

503
00:32:18.920 --> 00:32:22.400
the self driven pursuit of higher truths, emphasizing the idea

504
00:32:22.440 --> 00:32:27.160
that great, great souls grow through sorrow and that spiritual

505
00:32:27.200 --> 00:32:32.920
truths are wrung from the troubled spirit. However, in Isaiah

506
00:32:32.960 --> 00:32:36.960
chapter forty, it does acknowledge Israel's suffering, it does not

507
00:32:37.119 --> 00:32:41.759
frame the suffering as a primary path to spiritual growth. Instead,

508
00:32:41.799 --> 00:32:46.279
it emphasizes God's comforting, presence and renewal of strength as

509
00:32:46.319 --> 00:32:49.960
gifts given by God himself. The devotional focuses on a

510
00:32:50.200 --> 00:32:55.240
sacrifice and personal striving, and it misaligns with Isaiah's forty

511
00:32:55.440 --> 00:32:58.319
focus on God's mercy and power as the source of

512
00:32:58.400 --> 00:33:03.240
comfort and renewal miss aligns it. That's not even my words.

513
00:33:03.799 --> 00:33:07.039
That's an analysis of the devotional. A lot of Isaiah forty,

514
00:33:07.160 --> 00:33:11.440
and the whole thing falls apart. Isaiah forty is rooted

515
00:33:11.799 --> 00:33:18.359
in a theocentric perspective focused on God's actions and character,

516
00:33:18.720 --> 00:33:24.759
where the devotional reflects an pacentic percentric view centered on

517
00:33:24.920 --> 00:33:29.799
human effort, struggle, and sacrifice. I want you to hear

518
00:33:29.839 --> 00:33:35.680
that again. The devotion the text is theocentric. It focuses

519
00:33:35.720 --> 00:33:42.200
on God's action and character. The devotional is anthro percentric

520
00:33:42.440 --> 00:33:48.359
which views which centers on human effort and struggle and sacrifice.

521
00:33:48.559 --> 00:33:54.599
It's a complete misinterpretation, misapplication and misuse of Isaiah chapter forty.

522
00:33:54.680 --> 00:33:56.880
But you know how many people would read it and go, oh,

523
00:33:57.119 --> 00:34:02.319
I felt so encouraged today? Is it encouragement? Is it comfort?

524
00:34:02.480 --> 00:34:05.599
When it's an absolute and total travesty to the text.

525
00:34:10.679 --> 00:34:18.559
Once theocentric, the other one is anthropocentric, completely different, two

526
00:34:18.639 --> 00:34:23.840
different approaches. Theocentric is focused on God's actions and character.

527
00:34:24.320 --> 00:34:31.599
Anthropocentric is centered on human effort and struggle. Can you

528
00:34:31.679 --> 00:34:38.320
take a theocentric passage turn it into an anthropacentric devotional?

529
00:34:42.960 --> 00:34:46.760
The hero of Isaiah forty is God himself, his strength,

530
00:34:47.039 --> 00:34:51.440
his compassion, his promise to restore it. In contrast, the

531
00:34:51.480 --> 00:34:56.400
devotional elevates human endurance and sacrifice, shifting the emphasis from

532
00:34:56.440 --> 00:35:01.280
God's work to personal resilience and self disco through hardship.

533
00:35:06.159 --> 00:35:09.039
This is an important distinction. Isaiah forty is about God's

534
00:35:09.079 --> 00:35:12.199
intervention and comfort for his people, not an invitation for

535
00:35:12.239 --> 00:35:18.960
people to achieve spiritual heights through suffering or sacrifice. The

536
00:35:19.000 --> 00:35:23.280
devotional can be seen as a misapplication of Isaiah forty.

537
00:35:23.440 --> 00:35:26.440
It contains It may contain valuable reflections on suffering and

538
00:35:26.519 --> 00:35:30.639
personal growth, but these themes are not derived from Isaiah forty.

539
00:35:31.039 --> 00:35:33.440
This chapter is not about personal struggle as a meaning

540
00:35:33.480 --> 00:35:36.719
of spiritual growth, but rather about God's comfort, sovereignty of

541
00:35:36.760 --> 00:35:41.360
sustaining power offered freely to his people. Applying Isaiah forty

542
00:35:41.360 --> 00:35:44.719
to emphasize human sacrifice or self driven achievement overlooks the

543
00:35:44.800 --> 00:35:48.400
chapter's theological message or of divine comfort and renewal. This

544
00:35:48.480 --> 00:35:52.679
devotional approach risks diminishing the text focus on God's grace

545
00:35:52.800 --> 00:35:55.960
by making it appear as through spiritual achievement, it is

546
00:35:56.000 --> 00:35:58.000
a product of human effort rather than the gift of

547
00:35:58.039 --> 00:36:05.280
God's compassion. The devotional is a complete it just completely

548
00:36:05.320 --> 00:36:08.039
messed up. So that's just that's even And so that

549
00:36:08.199 --> 00:36:10.800
was even me attempting and looking for a way to

550
00:36:11.079 --> 00:36:13.199
justify it. So what I tried to do is that, well,

551
00:36:13.239 --> 00:36:16.519
maybe maybe I know it quotes Isaiah forty verse nine,

552
00:36:16.639 --> 00:36:19.440
that's not really Let's just pretend that she was influenced

553
00:36:19.440 --> 00:36:22.639
by the entire chapter. Even being influenced by the entire chapter,

554
00:36:22.800 --> 00:36:27.039
it completely flips it upside down. So then I thought, well,

555
00:36:27.079 --> 00:36:30.039
maybe if we narrow it to just Isaiah forty verse nine,

556
00:36:30.159 --> 00:36:33.280
maybe Isaiah forty verse nine by itself will be of

557
00:36:33.320 --> 00:36:38.920
some help, right, maybe it will be all right. So

558
00:36:39.199 --> 00:36:42.320
if the devotional is based on Isaiah forty nine, then

559
00:36:42.360 --> 00:36:45.880
it's focus on sacrifice, struggle, and heroic endurance is still

560
00:36:45.920 --> 00:36:49.119
misaligned with the primary meaning of the verse. Within its context,

561
00:36:50.159 --> 00:36:53.239
Isaiah forty nine is a call for Jerusalem to proclaim

562
00:36:53.280 --> 00:36:56.039
the good news of God's coming deliverance to the exiles,

563
00:36:56.239 --> 00:36:59.360
an announcement of God's presence and power, not an emphasis

564
00:36:59.440 --> 00:37:03.760
on humans, sacrifice, or endurance. Isaiah forty nine from the

565
00:37:04.039 --> 00:37:06.559
ESV reads go up on a high mountain of Zion

566
00:37:06.960 --> 00:37:09.920
herald of good news. Lift up your voice with strength

567
00:37:09.920 --> 00:37:13.239
though Jerusalem, herald of good News. Lift it up. Fear not,

568
00:37:13.599 --> 00:37:18.599
say to the cities of Judah, Behold your God. So

569
00:37:18.719 --> 00:37:21.440
if we look at it within its historical and textual context,

570
00:37:21.719 --> 00:37:24.440
Isaiah forty begins a message of comfort to the exiles

571
00:37:24.599 --> 00:37:28.079
who would be taken to Babylon, promising that their period

572
00:37:28.119 --> 00:37:30.760
of judgment and suffering is ending and that God is

573
00:37:30.800 --> 00:37:34.119
coming to deliver them. Isaiah forty nine is a declaration

574
00:37:34.920 --> 00:37:38.239
Zion representing Jerusalem and Israel to proclaim the good news

575
00:37:38.280 --> 00:37:40.800
that God is returning to save his people. The verse

576
00:37:40.840 --> 00:37:44.559
emphasizes the announcement of God's presence Behold your God, as

577
00:37:44.599 --> 00:37:48.079
the ultimate source of comfort and hope. It's say, hey, guys,

578
00:37:48.119 --> 00:37:50.000
you've been suffering, You've been in pain. You may feel

579
00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.000
like God has abandon you, God has left you. But

580
00:37:54.159 --> 00:37:58.559
behold your God. God has not forsaken you. He has

581
00:37:58.599 --> 00:38:01.840
not left you. And this this is very much focused

582
00:38:01.880 --> 00:38:05.400
on the covenant God had made with a specific people

583
00:38:05.880 --> 00:38:14.119
within a specific historical setting. The Behold your God. The

584
00:38:14.199 --> 00:38:17.880
phrase behold your God directs the people's attention to God himself,

585
00:38:18.079 --> 00:38:20.840
highlighting his faithfulness and power to redeem them. It's a

586
00:38:20.880 --> 00:38:23.199
call to recognize that their deliverance is a work of God,

587
00:38:23.559 --> 00:38:26.719
not of human effort or Endurance has nothing to do

588
00:38:26.760 --> 00:38:29.039
with their effort, has nothing to do with them, enduring

589
00:38:29.239 --> 00:38:31.519
has nothing to do with any It's God gave a

590
00:38:31.559 --> 00:38:33.960
specific time that they would suffer. That suffering has come

591
00:38:33.960 --> 00:38:35.679
to an end, and God himself is going to bring

592
00:38:35.719 --> 00:38:38.159
it to an end. Behold your God. God is going

593
00:38:38.199 --> 00:38:41.840
to be the one who does this. Isaiah forty verse

594
00:38:41.920 --> 00:38:46.519
nine employees the term herald of God all right, which

595
00:38:46.559 --> 00:38:50.800
carries the meaning of announcing or proclaiming important news, akin

596
00:38:50.880 --> 00:38:54.480
to the announcement of victory or deliverance. This announcement is

597
00:38:54.480 --> 00:38:58.840
not about human sacrifice or personal struggle, but about God's intervention.

598
00:38:59.239 --> 00:39:01.920
And the culture of ancient Israel, proclaiming the arrival of

599
00:39:01.920 --> 00:39:04.440
God's presence or the fulfillment of his promise would have

600
00:39:04.480 --> 00:39:07.960
been understood as an invitation to trust and rejoice, rather

601
00:39:08.000 --> 00:39:10.840
than a call to endure hardship for greatness is not

602
00:39:10.880 --> 00:39:14.199
about you enduring so that your capacity may grow, or

603
00:39:14.239 --> 00:39:16.840
that you may get the great truths. No, this is

604
00:39:16.880 --> 00:39:21.519
about hey, Hey, here's the good news. Behold your God

605
00:39:22.159 --> 00:39:27.719
He's coming to deliver you from your captivity. Now you

606
00:39:27.760 --> 00:39:31.840
can't just run and take that and make it about us. Now.

607
00:39:31.880 --> 00:39:36.880
How does the devotional misalign Isaiah forty verse nine. Well,

608
00:39:36.880 --> 00:39:42.480
the devotional focuses on a sacrificial blood, personal heroism, and

609
00:39:42.559 --> 00:39:45.519
the struggle for greatness. It does not match the message

610
00:39:45.559 --> 00:39:50.159
of Isaiah forty verse nine, which is centered on God's

611
00:39:50.199 --> 00:39:52.840
strength and presence as a source of hope. While the

612
00:39:52.840 --> 00:39:57.280
devotional reflects valuable themes about spiritual growth through hardship, those

613
00:39:57.320 --> 00:40:01.719
themes are not derived from the intent of Isaiah chapter

614
00:40:01.760 --> 00:40:05.639
forty verse nine. It is an absolute travesty that these

615
00:40:05.679 --> 00:40:08.960
things exist within Christianity. And I'm telling you, I get

616
00:40:08.960 --> 00:40:11.800
sick and tired of This is how pastors approach text.

617
00:40:14.360 --> 00:40:16.880
Isaiah forty nine is an invitation to witness and proclaim

618
00:40:16.880 --> 00:40:20.519
God's coming deliverance. It doesn't emphasize human achievement through struggle,

619
00:40:20.639 --> 00:40:23.559
but God's greatness as a deliverer of his people. The

620
00:40:23.599 --> 00:40:28.320
devotional entry shifts the focus away from God's initiative and

621
00:40:28.360 --> 00:40:32.320
compassion towards a self centered narrative. It shifts it from

622
00:40:32.559 --> 00:40:36.119
God's initiative and compassion, and it moves it towards a

623
00:40:36.239 --> 00:40:40.639
self centered narrative of heroic endurance, which can obscure the

624
00:40:40.679 --> 00:40:45.559
intended message of the passage. A more accurate approach to

625
00:40:45.639 --> 00:40:49.599
Isaiah forty nine would center on celebrating God's faithfulness and sovereignty.

626
00:40:49.920 --> 00:40:54.400
The passage encourages God's people to reclaim and trust in

627
00:40:54.519 --> 00:40:57.639
his power to save, rather than to focus on personal

628
00:40:57.639 --> 00:41:03.039
sacrifice or self driven growth, and the devotional application Isaiah

629
00:41:03.039 --> 00:41:05.800
forty nine could encourage believers to proclaim God's goodness, especially

630
00:41:05.840 --> 00:41:08.880
in times of trial, as a reminder that God's presence

631
00:41:09.039 --> 00:41:11.320
is with them and that He will ultimately deliver and

632
00:41:11.360 --> 00:41:13.599
sustain them. Now, I don't even know. I don't agree

633
00:41:13.639 --> 00:41:18.239
with that either, the devotional When we start trying to

634
00:41:18.280 --> 00:41:22.559
find devotional application to passages of scripture, we almost inevitably

635
00:41:22.960 --> 00:41:28.119
destroy the meaning of the text. This is not a

636
00:41:28.159 --> 00:41:31.280
reminder of God's presence with me. It's not a guy

637
00:41:31.519 --> 00:41:34.079
a reminder of God's ultimate deliverance of me and that

638
00:41:34.119 --> 00:41:38.559
God will sustain me. This is about them. Now. If

639
00:41:38.559 --> 00:41:39.920
we want to try to pull it over, we have

640
00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:43.119
to be very very careful, But we cannot just destroy

641
00:41:43.320 --> 00:41:55.880
the ultimate meaning of the text. Now, Christianity is the

642
00:41:55.880 --> 00:41:58.760
opium of the people. That's how I started. We looked

643
00:41:58.760 --> 00:42:02.320
at Karl Marx's face quote. We try to interpret it

644
00:42:02.440 --> 00:42:06.159
how he would have interpreted it. The reason I use

645
00:42:06.320 --> 00:42:09.760
that Christianity's the opium of the people is because of

646
00:42:09.800 --> 00:42:13.239
streams and the desert. A famous devotional. The entry for

647
00:42:13.280 --> 00:42:16.440
that devotional today is Isaiah chapter forty, verse nine. We

648
00:42:16.480 --> 00:42:20.280
looked at how the devotional destroys the actual meaning of

649
00:42:20.280 --> 00:42:22.679
the text and actually turns it, flips it on its head,

650
00:42:22.800 --> 00:42:25.199
and makes it into something opposite than what the text

651
00:42:25.239 --> 00:42:30.159
is actually about. Now, I'm going to then try to

652
00:42:30.239 --> 00:42:42.159
demonstrate how this misinterpretation of Isaiah forty for comfort aligns

653
00:42:42.559 --> 00:42:46.559
with Karl Marx's critique that religion is the opium of

654
00:42:46.639 --> 00:42:49.280
the people. All right, So I'm going to show how

655
00:42:49.320 --> 00:42:53.039
the misinterpreting of scripture right over and over and over,

656
00:42:53.119 --> 00:42:55.960
especially through Isaiah forty through fifty five, aligned with what

657
00:42:56.039 --> 00:43:02.159
Karl Marx critiqued religion about in the first place. For example,

658
00:43:02.400 --> 00:43:08.719
comfort without addressing root issues. Marx viewed religion as numbing

659
00:43:08.760 --> 00:43:13.800
the pain of suffering without addressing its root causes, and

660
00:43:13.880 --> 00:43:17.159
a similar effect can happen when preachers misinterpret scripture to

661
00:43:17.199 --> 00:43:22.719
provide superficial comfort. It te if teachers consistently offered misapplied

662
00:43:22.719 --> 00:43:27.119
comfort without acknowledging why suffering exists, the complex realities of life,

663
00:43:27.280 --> 00:43:29.679
or the true hope God offers. It can feel like

664
00:43:29.760 --> 00:43:34.559
spiritual basically, you know, you're just getting a spiritual drug.

665
00:43:42.440 --> 00:43:44.559
You're just getting a spiritual drug. You just kind of

666
00:43:44.679 --> 00:43:50.559
a sense of being put to sleep. It's soothing, but

667
00:43:50.639 --> 00:43:53.960
without any substance. This approach risks making faith a kind

668
00:43:54.000 --> 00:43:59.559
of an emotional pacifier rather than a transformative truth that

669
00:44:00.519 --> 00:44:03.599
with God's purpose and suffering and his promises, grounded and

670
00:44:03.679 --> 00:44:07.400
scriptural truth. So when you give comfort where there is

671
00:44:07.440 --> 00:44:10.719
no comfort, you're just kind of like giving them opium.

672
00:44:10.760 --> 00:44:13.679
You're giving them a drug. You're just giving them a pacifier.

673
00:44:13.880 --> 00:44:16.599
You're just giving them a anesthesia. That's the way you

674
00:44:16.760 --> 00:44:18.920
just you're just trying to help them go to sleep

675
00:44:18.960 --> 00:44:21.159
and feel a little bit better. But you know you're

676
00:44:21.280 --> 00:44:25.519
underlying not only you're not addressing root issues, you're not

677
00:44:25.639 --> 00:44:31.480
addressing the actual text. The text isn't like you just

678
00:44:31.559 --> 00:44:34.079
open up the Bible and like, ooh, this is this

679
00:44:34.159 --> 00:44:37.119
is all the material I need for my good drug lab.

680
00:44:37.159 --> 00:44:39.559
Here and I'm gonna cook up some good drugs, whether

681
00:44:39.599 --> 00:44:42.400
it's meth opium, whatever it may be. And then on Sunday,

682
00:44:42.400 --> 00:44:43.960
I'm gonna give it to all the people, and they're

683
00:44:43.960 --> 00:44:46.000
all gonna leave going, Oh, that was a beautiful passive,

684
00:44:46.679 --> 00:44:49.159
a beautiful message. Pastor. Yeah, because you got a little

685
00:44:49.159 --> 00:44:52.519
bit of opium, you feel better, But you stayed a

686
00:44:52.519 --> 00:44:54.559
million miles away from what the text was actually about

687
00:44:54.719 --> 00:44:56.559
so far in all the sermons that we have reviewed.

688
00:44:56.599 --> 00:44:58.599
In fact, I've got a sermon right here, I got

689
00:44:58.599 --> 00:45:01.239
a sermon right here, ready to go on Isaiah forty.

690
00:45:01.239 --> 00:45:04.960
It's called God's Comfort for the Weary. Maybe you can

691
00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:06.880
tell from that title what they're going to do. They're

692
00:45:06.880 --> 00:45:09.679
gonna make Isaiah forty through fifty five about you and me.

693
00:45:21.199 --> 00:45:25.280
So the first problem is, it's the first problem here.

694
00:45:26.840 --> 00:45:35.719
I can go back down to my notes here. If

695
00:45:35.719 --> 00:45:37.480
I can get back to where my notes start here,

696
00:45:37.800 --> 00:45:55.159
I'm sorry, where did my notes go? All? Right? Hang on? Yeah,

697
00:45:55.199 --> 00:45:58.079
So we have comfort without addressing root issues as we've

698
00:45:58.119 --> 00:46:01.880
never seen. Number two, it's encouraging that overlooks biblical context

699
00:46:01.960 --> 00:46:06.360
and purpose, misapplying verses to comfort people in a generic

700
00:46:06.559 --> 00:46:10.920
or human centered way. Ignores the context and intent of scriptures.

701
00:46:11.599 --> 00:46:14.800
Isaiah forty nine focuses on proclaiming God's greatness and presence

702
00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:17.639
as the true source of hope, not enduring personal struggles

703
00:46:17.639 --> 00:46:20.599
as a path to greatness. When passages meant to highlight

704
00:46:20.639 --> 00:46:23.800
God's character or proclaim his actions are instead twisted to

705
00:46:23.800 --> 00:46:27.559
focus on personal resilience and sentimental comfort, it shifts the

706
00:46:27.559 --> 00:46:30.960
focus from God's promise to human experience. This risk turning

707
00:46:31.079 --> 00:46:34.760
faith into self soothing rather than authentic relationship with God,

708
00:46:34.880 --> 00:46:37.800
who is both comforter and redeemer. But I would state

709
00:46:37.840 --> 00:46:40.880
it differently. If you take Isaiah forty verse nine, which

710
00:46:40.920 --> 00:46:45.559
is about proclaiming a very comforting message to the people

711
00:46:45.639 --> 00:46:49.000
in that situation, you walk into that situation, slap them

712
00:46:49.000 --> 00:46:51.320
in the face, take it and go run off with it.

713
00:46:51.679 --> 00:46:53.800
Then you're taking comfort mint for someone else and you're

714
00:46:53.800 --> 00:46:57.280
trying to apply it to yourself. Is there some possible application.

715
00:46:57.400 --> 00:46:59.599
We may be able to find that, But my issue

716
00:46:59.639 --> 00:47:01.599
now is and I'm tired of trying to focus on

717
00:47:01.679 --> 00:47:05.599
application for us when everyone forgets what it originally means,

718
00:47:12.639 --> 00:47:16.000
not only that it creates a passive response to suffering.

719
00:47:17.159 --> 00:47:20.519
Misinterpreted comfort can encourage a passive approach to suffering, where

720
00:47:20.559 --> 00:47:23.159
people are taught to accept hardship without seeking understanding of

721
00:47:23.199 --> 00:47:25.719
God's purpose or how to respond in faith in action.

722
00:47:26.440 --> 00:47:29.400
Karl Mark's critique suggests that religion, when used this way,

723
00:47:29.679 --> 00:47:33.559
keeps people docile and accepting of their condition without encouraging

724
00:47:33.599 --> 00:47:40.840
them to engage with I think reality. We got to

725
00:47:40.840 --> 00:47:44.679
be able to face reality. It's not an oh. Christianity

726
00:47:44.719 --> 00:47:47.639
should not be an opium that just makes us disengage

727
00:47:47.639 --> 00:47:50.000
with reality and we live in some fairy tale. We

728
00:47:50.079 --> 00:47:52.679
have to be able to go No, there's pain, there's suffering,

729
00:47:52.760 --> 00:47:54.360
and we have to be able to struggle with that.

730
00:48:01.679 --> 00:48:05.400
How about superficial comfort versus true hope in God. When

731
00:48:05.440 --> 00:48:09.599
preachers offer comfort disconnected from scriptural truth, they reinforce a

732
00:48:09.679 --> 00:48:12.320
kind of surface level hope that doesn't anchor people in

733
00:48:12.360 --> 00:48:15.480
God's promise or help them understanding his faithfulness and sovereignty.

734
00:48:16.639 --> 00:48:18.800
This can make faith feel like a quick fix for

735
00:48:18.840 --> 00:48:21.840
emotional pain rather than a deep relationship with God who

736
00:48:21.920 --> 00:48:25.400
addresses both suffering and redemption. True scripture comfort is meant

737
00:48:25.440 --> 00:48:28.559
to be deep and rooted, grounded in the reality who

738
00:48:28.880 --> 00:48:34.000
God is. It's got to be grounded in reality. It

739
00:48:34.119 --> 00:48:37.840
can't be this superficial opium that just gives you a

740
00:48:37.880 --> 00:48:39.840
sense of thing. And I think this is why some

741
00:48:39.920 --> 00:48:43.559
kinds that kind of preaching. Look, I don't know why

742
00:48:43.599 --> 00:48:46.840
anyone is drawn to it. Maybe there's a brief moment

743
00:48:46.840 --> 00:48:49.719
where you feel like, Okay, this is great. But I

744
00:48:49.760 --> 00:48:53.159
think the longer you live and the more suffering you endure,

745
00:48:53.360 --> 00:48:57.960
you start realizing this is just garbage. This is junk medicine,

746
00:48:57.960 --> 00:49:00.840
this is a this is just a drug. In the

747
00:49:00.920 --> 00:49:07.239
church is nothing more than a drug house. True biblical

748
00:49:07.239 --> 00:49:11.840
comfort does not evade reality. Rather, it addresses suffering honestly

749
00:49:12.039 --> 00:49:15.360
and engages with God's promises. It helps believers find comfort

750
00:49:15.519 --> 00:49:18.360
in the assurance of God's presence, purpose, and faithfulness, which

751
00:49:18.400 --> 00:49:22.079
is rooted in the text. The Biblical comfort is not

752
00:49:22.159 --> 00:49:26.480
designed to dull pain superficially. It recognizes the brokenness of

753
00:49:26.519 --> 00:49:29.559
the world, but points to God's active work of restoration

754
00:49:29.679 --> 00:49:33.880
and encourages believers to find their strength in Him. When

755
00:49:33.960 --> 00:49:39.760
teachers misinterpret scripture and offer a shallow comfort, it can

756
00:49:39.800 --> 00:49:43.920
indeed resemble Karl Marx's critique of religion as a means

757
00:49:43.960 --> 00:49:49.159
to pacify rather than to do anything else. True biblical

758
00:49:49.159 --> 00:49:53.360
comfort is not escapist. It is anchored in God's reality.

759
00:49:54.280 --> 00:49:57.159
Authentic teaching calls people to understand and engage with God's

760
00:49:57.159 --> 00:50:01.719
redemptive purpose, even in suffering, offering a hope that transcends

761
00:50:01.719 --> 00:50:15.320
circumstances rather than a superficial coping mechanism. One devotional for

762
00:50:15.559 --> 00:50:21.119
today takes Isaiah forty nine and literally destroys any meaning

763
00:50:21.159 --> 00:50:27.960
of the text. And it's this devotional mindset that infects

764
00:50:28.320 --> 00:50:33.679
small groups, it infects churches, it infects devotional material, it

765
00:50:33.719 --> 00:50:42.320
infects Bible studies where nobody actually can get to the

766
00:50:42.320 --> 00:50:44.360
text because everyone's, you know, in a sense, laying on

767
00:50:44.400 --> 00:50:49.760
the floor, you know, you know, stoned out of their

768
00:50:49.800 --> 00:50:52.960
minds because they keep getting all these injections or shots

769
00:50:53.039 --> 00:50:56.239
or however you want to get the drug inside of you.

770
00:50:56.280 --> 00:50:58.960
They're getting their hit of opium, they're getting their hit

771
00:50:59.000 --> 00:51:02.800
of meth. You just the drug. And then they're like, oh,

772
00:51:02.840 --> 00:51:05.920
look at that. Yeah, because you didn't get anywhere near

773
00:51:06.000 --> 00:51:10.960
the actual text. Look at the sermons we've already listened

774
00:51:10.960 --> 00:51:14.239
to in Isaiah forty through fifty five. They've been complete

775
00:51:14.559 --> 00:51:24.239
travesties to what they've done to the text. Now I

776
00:51:24.280 --> 00:51:28.119
know we went through that relatively quick. I know it's

777
00:51:28.119 --> 00:51:31.960
been fifty almost fifty two minutes. I think I may

778
00:51:31.960 --> 00:51:34.559
have messed up. I think I said morphine. I could

779
00:51:34.559 --> 00:51:36.159
sit here and go through all the things. I probably

780
00:51:36.159 --> 00:51:39.840
messed up in this approach through this. No, not making

781
00:51:39.880 --> 00:51:43.559
any excuses for those who don't know. Yeah, Saturday night

782
00:51:43.679 --> 00:51:47.159
had some seizures, and so I'm still not one hundred percent.

783
00:51:47.920 --> 00:51:51.519
So working through that was man who that was? That

784
00:51:51.639 --> 00:51:55.920
was tough going, that was that was struggling was I

785
00:51:55.960 --> 00:51:58.360
was struggling through all of that, right, So I think

786
00:51:58.400 --> 00:52:01.559
at the beginning morphine. I think I said morphine, right,

787
00:52:01.599 --> 00:52:03.840
I think I think I think I may have said

788
00:52:03.840 --> 00:52:06.960
it incorrectly at the beginning, but morphine, codeine, Okay, I

789
00:52:07.000 --> 00:52:10.800
think I got those correctly. And I think was it

790
00:52:10.880 --> 00:52:14.760
theocentric versus what was the other thing? When I read

791
00:52:14.920 --> 00:52:18.960
the poetry part of the devotional the first time, three

792
00:52:19.119 --> 00:52:22.679
was a that was all. I was just blowing past punctuation.

793
00:52:22.960 --> 00:52:24.679
I was not doing it in rhythm. I was not

794
00:52:24.840 --> 00:52:28.679
following the way the poetry was designed to be read.

795
00:52:28.800 --> 00:52:30.440
Then I went back and read it a second time,

796
00:52:30.480 --> 00:52:31.920
and I think I did that a little bit better.

797
00:52:33.719 --> 00:52:35.679
And I think I said, you know, where was my

798
00:52:35.760 --> 00:52:38.039
other mess up? I'm going through the mess ups I

799
00:52:38.119 --> 00:52:42.719
kept in my head. Theocentric I got that right. Anthro percentric. Yeah,

800
00:52:42.719 --> 00:52:45.960
I think I was saying that correctly. A N t

801
00:52:46.719 --> 00:52:49.400
h R O P O C E N t R

802
00:52:49.599 --> 00:52:54.000
I c anthrow percentric. Okay, So theocentric and anthropercentric. I

803
00:52:54.000 --> 00:52:59.719
think that's very important. Theocentric anthro percentric. If a pastor

804
00:53:00.519 --> 00:53:05.000
is preaching a text that's theocentric and they make it anthropercentric,

805
00:53:05.039 --> 00:53:09.679
which means it becomes about human effort, human struggle, human sacrifice.

806
00:53:10.000 --> 00:53:12.000
That's the probably when you read a devotional that takes

807
00:53:12.000 --> 00:53:14.639
a passage of scripture and streams in the desert on

808
00:53:14.719 --> 00:53:18.840
Isaiah forty takes a passage that's theocentric and makes it anthropercentric,

809
00:53:20.159 --> 00:53:32.159
that's not good. I think I did halfway okay there,

810
00:53:32.360 --> 00:53:38.000
So we'll see. We'll see when I go back and listen,

811
00:53:38.639 --> 00:53:42.159
I'll probably want to do I probably want to delete

812
00:53:42.400 --> 00:53:45.280
some of this, but that will make me very upset

813
00:53:45.320 --> 00:53:48.119
because I think the point here is of I think

814
00:53:48.159 --> 00:53:50.480
as a rather, I think the point I'm trying to

815
00:53:50.480 --> 00:53:52.599
make is very profound. I may not be making it

816
00:53:52.639 --> 00:53:54.719
in a profound way, but I'm trying to make a

817
00:53:54.840 --> 00:53:59.639
very profound point. Enough is enough with this. Look, we're

818
00:53:59.719 --> 00:54:02.800
nowhere near finished going through Isaiah forty through fifty five.

819
00:54:02.840 --> 00:54:05.679
We've only basically done an introduction, but we've been reviewing

820
00:54:05.719 --> 00:54:09.119
sermons and reviewing the sermons on Isaiah forty through fifty five.

821
00:54:09.159 --> 00:54:12.039
So far has I mean if look, I mean I'm

822
00:54:12.079 --> 00:54:15.119
ready to just already give up because sermon after sermon

823
00:54:15.159 --> 00:54:17.519
after sermon, that's what they do with Isaiah forty and

824
00:54:17.519 --> 00:54:21.639
this devotion is just another example of it. There. At

825
00:54:21.679 --> 00:54:23.559
some point you got to say, look, what is this

826
00:54:23.679 --> 00:54:28.239
text about? We've got to stop making the text about us.

827
00:54:28.760 --> 00:54:30.360
I've been saying it. I'm gonna say it over and

828
00:54:30.400 --> 00:54:34.599
over again. We've got to stop being narcissistic textual hijackers.

829
00:54:35.000 --> 00:54:36.800
We want to make it about us. We find a

830
00:54:36.840 --> 00:54:39.800
text of scripture, we hijacket and we fly it wherever

831
00:54:39.840 --> 00:54:45.920
we want it to go. I know how people say,

832
00:54:46.079 --> 00:54:48.599
but whole scripture is given by inspiration of God. It

833
00:54:48.679 --> 00:54:51.760
is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for all

834
00:54:51.840 --> 00:54:55.960
scripture is valuable. I'm not gonna deny that. But first

835
00:54:56.000 --> 00:54:58.719
and foremost, it's got to mean something in its original context.

836
00:54:58.719 --> 00:55:01.480
What we take from it has to remain true to

837
00:55:01.719 --> 00:55:07.400
the original context. We can't just so disengage it from

838
00:55:07.400 --> 00:55:10.159
the original context so that we can make it about us.

839
00:55:11.320 --> 00:55:15.599
Isaiah forty through fifty five is about them, not about

840
00:55:15.639 --> 00:55:18.360
you and me. What we can take from it, we

841
00:55:18.440 --> 00:55:21.480
have to be very careful how we use it, and

842
00:55:21.519 --> 00:55:23.519
we got to make sure that we can clearly show

843
00:55:23.679 --> 00:55:26.719
that we are not violating its original purpose and meaning.

844
00:55:34.039 --> 00:55:37.360
But preaching is so much of that. It's just it

845
00:55:37.440 --> 00:55:40.000
just takes text and does whatever they want with it.

846
00:55:40.159 --> 00:55:42.639
And it's amazing how many Christians love that stuff. They

847
00:55:42.639 --> 00:55:46.400
eat it up. And I think it comes down to

848
00:55:46.440 --> 00:55:48.599
this question, and I think it's something you really have

849
00:55:48.679 --> 00:55:52.280
to ask yourself. What do you truly want from Christianity?

850
00:55:52.920 --> 00:55:54.800
Do you just want comfort? Do you want a sense

851
00:55:54.840 --> 00:55:57.239
of purpose? Do you want a sense of peace? Do

852
00:55:57.280 --> 00:56:00.000
you want it to ease your anxiety, ease your word,

853
00:56:00.559 --> 00:56:08.320
ease your fear? Or do you want truth? Do you

854
00:56:08.360 --> 00:56:11.760
want Bible study that just makes you feel better and

855
00:56:11.880 --> 00:56:14.440
encourages you, or do you want Bible study that says,

856
00:56:14.519 --> 00:56:16.559
here's what the text means, and you may leave with

857
00:56:16.760 --> 00:56:18.920
I don't yeah, okay, I don't necessarily feel better. I

858
00:56:18.920 --> 00:56:20.840
don't feel I don't know what I feel. But that's

859
00:56:20.840 --> 00:56:29.039
what the text was about. Do you want preaching? It's

860
00:56:29.039 --> 00:56:31.559
all about trying it. That makes it about you, you you,

861
00:56:31.559 --> 00:56:41.360
you you, instead of making it about the text. Isaiah

862
00:56:41.400 --> 00:56:45.559
forty nine is what in the world. I mean, It

863
00:56:45.719 --> 00:56:49.280
literally identifies who it's talking to and about. I mean,

864
00:56:49.719 --> 00:56:52.079
I mean, if we can't handle those kinds of texts

865
00:56:52.119 --> 00:57:02.159
that are that clear, we'll continue to work on Isaiah

866
00:57:02.159 --> 00:57:04.360
forty through fifty five. But I guess what I'm trying

867
00:57:04.400 --> 00:57:07.079
to demonstrate is it doesn't matter what year I turn to.

868
00:57:07.960 --> 00:57:09.719
It doesn't matter if I turn to a modern sermon,

869
00:57:09.760 --> 00:57:12.400
doesn't matter. If I'm looking at devotional material from the

870
00:57:12.440 --> 00:57:16.320
eighteen hundreds nineteen hundreds, doesn't matter. It's the same thing

871
00:57:16.480 --> 00:57:19.039
over and over and over. Because human beings, at our

872
00:57:19.159 --> 00:57:22.000
very nature are narcissistic and we want to make it

873
00:57:22.000 --> 00:57:25.440
all about us. I've said it a million times. God

874
00:57:25.480 --> 00:57:29.840
created us in his image, and we have returned the favor.

875
00:57:30.119 --> 00:57:31.880
It's not a quote from me, it's a quote from

876
00:57:31.920 --> 00:57:34.280
I think Voltaire. I think I think you'd have to

877
00:57:34.440 --> 00:57:36.840
verify who the quote actually is from, but it's just

878
00:57:37.000 --> 00:57:39.320
very true. God created us in his image, and we

879
00:57:39.360 --> 00:57:42.559
return the favor. We just recreate him in our image.

880
00:57:42.639 --> 00:57:47.079
We take the Bible and make it about us. How

881
00:57:47.119 --> 00:57:48.960
in the world do you have a devotional Isaiah forty

882
00:57:49.039 --> 00:57:50.559
nine and turn it into what they turned it into,

883
00:57:50.880 --> 00:57:54.719
this poetic explanation about suffering and enduring so that you

884
00:57:54.760 --> 00:57:57.440
can get greater truth and suffering enduring is the way

885
00:57:57.480 --> 00:58:01.000
to spiritual growth. Isaiah forty is nothing about any of that.

886
00:58:01.000 --> 00:58:04.199
That's not what it's about. It's a forget. It's just

887
00:58:04.239 --> 00:58:07.719
a complete flipping the text on its head. But it

888
00:58:07.840 --> 00:58:11.000
sounds good, it sounds spiritual, and people who read it

889
00:58:11.039 --> 00:58:13.920
going through a difficult time may find great comfort in it,

890
00:58:15.559 --> 00:58:20.639
finding great comfort, and that which miss applies scripture is

891
00:58:20.679 --> 00:58:31.719
then a fraudulent comfort. All right, I will find no

892
00:58:31.800 --> 00:58:36.599
comfort in this episode because I don't know how well

893
00:58:36.800 --> 00:58:40.000
I think it came across. Not great, but we'll see,

894
00:58:40.159 --> 00:58:42.760
we'll see. I don't want to it's fifty eight minutes.

895
00:58:42.800 --> 00:58:46.360
I don't necessarily want to record it all again. So

896
00:58:46.559 --> 00:58:48.840
maybe I'll find ways to use part of this somewhere

897
00:58:48.920 --> 00:58:52.000
else so that I can you know, I'll use this

898
00:58:52.199 --> 00:58:54.119
that you what you listen to with fifty eight minutes

899
00:58:54.159 --> 00:58:58.400
of my own, just my own prep for using it

900
00:58:58.440 --> 00:59:02.119
some somewhere else. So maybe it'll show up somewhere else

901
00:59:02.159 --> 00:59:07.679
in a much more, a better articulated, much better you know, clearer.

902
00:59:07.920 --> 00:59:11.039
So but for now, that's good, all right. And my

903
00:59:11.079 --> 00:59:14.679
neighbor's dog is now driving me crazy, so all right,

904
00:59:14.719 --> 00:59:16.880
we'll stop there. Thanks for listening, everyone, have a great day.

905
00:59:18.039 --> 00:59:19.679
God bless