Latest / Worldview Matters With David Fiorazo / Scott Townsend: Waking Up Pastors & What It Means To Be A Watchman
Transcript
- 0:00Welcome to World View Matters, discussing controversial issues, discerning current events,
- 0:10defending biblical Christianity.
- 0:13No topic, off limits.
- 0:16And now, here's your host, David Firazzo.
- 0:19Hey friends, thank you so much for tuning in, God bless you, and we appreciate as always
- 0:24your prayers.
- 0:26Talk about spiritual warfare.
- 0:28Maybe we'll talk a little bit about that, but anyway, I'm also sharing this podcast
- 0:32that's getting out there, and remember to go to our new YouTube channel.
- 0:36I say new.
- 0:37How long do we have?
- 0:38Six months?
- 0:39Because we kicked it off in January, so that means next month I'll stop saying new YouTube
- 0:42channel.
- 0:43World View Matters, David Firazzo.
- 0:46Thanks guys.
- 0:47So our guest we have, we have a very special watchman, first time on the podcast today,
- 0:51and I'm really excited to talk to Scott Townsend.
- 0:54Let me give you the main website for him.
- 0:56It is I am a watchman.com, and then over on Substack, which he puts out a lot of content,
- 1:03I am a watchman.substack.com.
- 1:07Brother, thanks for all you do, and thanks for your time today.
- 1:09Good to see you.
- 1:10Nice to see you too, David.
- 1:12Thank you.
- 1:13All right, so we talked about different topics, and we decided to go a different direction
- 1:17today.
- 1:19But you guys, I just want to talk about your round table you had recently.
- 1:23With some other troublemakers for the Kingdom of God, they've all been on this show, John
- 1:27Haller, Patrick Wood, Tom Hughes, Pete Garcia, Britt Gillette, my goodness.
- 1:34I didn't get a chance to watch, and I know it's on, I believe John Haller is YouTube,
- 1:38and Britt Gillette's YouTube, what did six masterminds discuss, and what problems did you
- 1:48solve on the round table, Scott?
- 1:51For the record, I'm the least of them.
- 1:53Those are gigantic intellects, for sure, and I just cling and try to hold on the best
- 1:58I can.
- 2:00But look, we've had a series of these, and they're well received, actually, David, and we
- 2:06discuss a number of contemporary topics in Bible prophecy, focusing on the technical
- 2:14parts of it.
- 2:16AI, blockchain, quantum.
- 2:19We talk about economics and world systems, the B systems, and things like that, which
- 2:24is always informative, I hope, and our goal is to provoke people to think deeply about
- 2:30the time that we're in and to encourage them to be about the father's business.
- 2:35Hey, man, brother, and you've done a lot of research in this area, in fact, the first
- 2:40time I saw you, I mean, I've seen you before on different videos, different programs,
- 2:46but the one that really opened my eyes was probably about six to nine months ago, and
- 2:52you were on, I think, with Pete Garcia and a few others, and you brought up this map,
- 2:57this live starlink satellite image, and I was blown away.
- 3:05I'd never seen that before, and I don't know if you remember that one, that round was
- 3:09really it, and I thought, oh my goodness, so that's when I keyed into who you are, what
- 3:14you were doing, because so many great men of God, I'm not enough, but there are some
- 3:19really good brothers in Christ, doing some ancestors in Christ, doing some great work
- 3:23for the kingdom, being watchmen, watchmen on the wall, and so let's talk right there about
- 3:28how you got started, Scott, and I am a watchman, because a lot of believers that aren't familiar
- 3:33with what a watchman does, or what our duties or responsibilities are biblically, where
- 3:39does that come from? They might say, what do you just annoy yourself, a watchman?
- 3:44Could you explain a little bit of your journey, please?
- 3:48Be happy to, so first I came to faith in 1978, so I've been walking with a Lord for a long
- 3:55time. The problem is, David, that no one explained to me through normal sermon series that anything
- 4:03about eschatology, Bible prophecy, I had no idea about the millennial reign, about our
- 4:09eternal state, about the fact that even that I would stand toe to toe with Jesus at the
- 4:15beam of seat, and once my eyes were opened, and it was my time to see it, the Lord helped
- 4:21me to understand it, my life changed dramatically, and that's when I began to get much more intentional
- 4:28about how to help, you know, any way that I can, and being a watchman means that you like
- 4:35in the old days, in the Old Testament, you would see in Ezekiel 33, you would see the watchman
- 4:41on the wall would look out into the distance looking for threats, and if they saw something
- 4:46that was coming towards them, that looked dangerous, they would sound the alarm and wake
- 4:52up the people to defend whatever was coming.
- 4:55In today's world, we don't have walls, we don't stand on them looking out into the world,
- 5:00what we do is we examine, you know, the Word of God, and being a good Berean, as well as
- 5:06looking at what's happening in the world, and helping people connect the dots, because
- 5:10there are plenty of signs that we are in the last days, and we should be paying attention.
- 5:17So I want to talk to you a little bit more about what you shared early on, and how you
- 5:21must have heard, I don't know, how many sermons, and you really weren't informed about
- 5:24Bible prophecy, and the end times, but over on your website, I am a watchman.com.
- 5:30I see other troublemakers that we've, we are, are available with Andy Woods, Jack Hibbs,
- 5:35Barry Stagner, I mean, we, we connect with a lot of the same people, which is a blessing,
- 5:39but tell us about some of the resources Scott on your website, people can get.
- 5:44Sure, absolutely.
- 5:45We had a podcast on CSN Radio for some time, all those episodes are referenced there.
- 5:51There's a number of guests that we had, as well as we think of I'maWatchman.com as
- 5:58a resource for the watchman community.
- 6:01So we've got sermon series.
- 6:03We have articles that are intended to encourage, and to help grow the person just becoming
- 6:11aware of the things that are going on in the world, and it's not about speculative rabbit
- 6:17holes, David.
- 6:18We want to be clear, we're centrist in our thinking, and we think that there's plenty,
- 6:24you know, in normal, everyday Bible prophecy between the old and new testament to really
- 6:29have a solid understanding of what's happening.
- 6:32Mm-hmm.
- 6:33Now I do want to point out something on your website for people to go to under watchman
- 6:38lifestyle.
- 6:39If you scroll over that, there's a link that says what it means to be a watchman.
- 6:45So that's really what we're going to focus on today, a little bit of that, what it means
- 6:49to be a watchman.
- 6:51And in your articles, you've got a two-part series on when our pastors wake up.
- 6:57So Scott, let's go back to, I've last a lot of people this question, what do you perceive
- 7:07as one of the problems with a majority of pastors today, particularly in America, who
- 7:13do not preach the whole council of God, maybe they don't teach much Bible prophecy, and
- 7:20they don't address cultural issues, or worldview issues, maybe they're true to the gospel,
- 7:27or maybe they're a secret sensitive, which we'll get to.
- 7:29But what do you see as part of the problem, how did we get to that point, where you can
- 7:35go to a church for decades and not hear things that are going to equip you?
- 7:40Yeah.
- 7:41And that's exactly what happened in my case.
- 7:43I had no idea of what was going on.
- 7:46And then at the right time, the Lord did it for me.
- 7:48So the articles that you're mentioning, they're David R. on my sub-stack, which is
- 7:52I'm a watchman.substack.com.
- 7:55And it's been on my heart for some time to really help the watchman community and others
- 8:00in the body of Christ really understand what is a typical pastor going to be going through.
- 8:07What's in his mind?
- 8:09And we have to have, first of all, a massive heart for our pastoral staff, because they're
- 8:15stressed and stretched every way.
- 8:18There's conflict, there's noise.
- 8:21They are not taught, typically, eschatology from seminary.
- 8:25And they're in the process of building their congregation, and that often means not
- 8:29approaching difficult topics that would tend to conflict with people's understanding
- 8:36of having your best life now.
- 8:38I say that tongue-to-cheek, because unfortunately, there's a bias towards, I would say, shielding
- 8:47the body from difficult topics like that.
- 8:51And so if you shield people for whatever reason, whether it's, you said, you know, some seminaries
- 8:56don't even teach things that will help pastors, equip congregations, some seminaries are
- 9:02about here.
- 9:03Here's how to build a bigger church.
- 9:05Here's how to attract numbers, how to be entertaining, all kinds of stuff.
- 9:09But let's go back to just the basic role of the pastor.
- 9:16I'm sure there is a misunderstanding or some ignorance about that as well if we're in
- 9:21this predicament in America, isn't there?
- 9:23Well, that's a very broad, you know, point there.
- 9:26And I think we're all coming on that, David, is that we have to realize that caring for
- 9:34a congregation, and this is a tremendous burden, by the way, for which there's a lot
- 9:38of accountability according to the Bible, you know, is more than just accommodating lessons
- 9:45every week.
- 9:46It's more about equipping the saints for evangelism and other missional purposes like
- 9:51this.
- 9:52And if we're approaching the end of the church age right now, which I believe we are,
- 9:57and I do take a pre-tribulational position, then we have to realize if we do not address
- 10:03the things that are plainly there once we see them, you know, we are now doing a disservice
- 10:10if we continue to have normal, you know, sermon series that do not at least partially begin
- 10:18to incorporate, you know, some of the topics that are staring at us right in the face,
- 10:24such as, give you some examples, the technology right now leading up to the mark of the beast,
- 10:29which we, in the tech roundtable, we talk about a lot.
- 10:33I talk about it on my sub-stack, so, or, you know, the globalization of things, the one-world
- 10:41systems.
- 10:42And there's plenty of evidence right now that the things that the Lord and the Bible
- 10:49talk about are basically convergent.
- 10:53I think we're past the point of convergence.
- 10:55I see it as convergence is how we described it 10 years ago, right now, the way I like
- 11:01to say it, David, is that we're smelling the tribulation right now.
- 11:05It's right there if we have the eyes to see it.
- 11:10Yeah, things are, as Haller would say, convergence, then acceleration, then there's two other
- 11:15things.
- 11:18So let's get into your articles then, because we want to talk about this when pastors
- 11:22wake up, because the headline is, or the sub-heading is suggestions and advice for approaching
- 11:29church leadership.
- 11:31And in part two, I believe, which we'll get to briefly after the break, part two, practical
- 11:38suggestions for how to approach church leadership.
- 11:41You do this very respectfully, Scott, you do it in a sense, the understanding that being
- 11:47a pastor is a huge responsibility can be a heavy weight, because much warfare, spiritual
- 11:52warfare is involved.
- 11:54So let's go to the beginning of your article.
- 11:56You said, we have to be ready to interact with our local congregations in a new way.
- 12:02What did you mean by that?
- 12:04Well, I think the first thing, let me give you a hypothesis here, David, and that is that
- 12:09I believe the watchman community has been ignored, marginalized, and has tried their
- 12:14best to raise awareness in the pastoral staff and others like the board of directors and
- 12:21other Bible studies and places of leadership within a church.
- 12:25But I think that the time for the watchman community to contribute to helping pastors
- 12:33connect the dots has been something that we've been prepared for.
- 12:36So I call the watchman community deep operatives.
- 12:39I hope and pray that every church has at least one watchman or one watchwoman that are
- 12:44ready for service when things become so apparent to the pastoral staff that they actually
- 12:52do not understand what is happening in the world.
- 12:56In case in point, that could be any of the black swan events that we see foreshadowing
- 13:01of today.
- 13:02Just one example of that would be a debt crisis that begins to tumble, you know, financial
- 13:07markets and things like that, leading to things like bank holidays and supply chain
- 13:14problems all over again and other, you know, things like the introduction of digital
- 13:18currencies such as what's coming to the EU later in October of this year.
- 13:23So let's just remember that the watchman community is there to serve.
- 13:30And so when we talk about what happens when the pastor begins to realize they're on the
- 13:36left foot, they don't understand it.
- 13:39They don't really feel equipped.
- 13:42And my main point is that they won't have a choice to duck or run or avoid or to marginalize
- 13:52or scoff or mock even, David anymore, they can't do it.
- 13:57Because I think the congregation as a whole will be impacted and they will not be able
- 14:02to, you know, they'll realize that they need to address it somehow, but they don't
- 14:08exactly know how to.
- 14:09That's where we need to be equipped with a loving attitude and a kind approach and delivery
- 14:15to help them understand what to do.
- 14:17I so appreciate your tone and everything that you're saying so far, big hearty amen.
- 14:23We're speaking with Scott Townsend, I am a watchman.com when we come back, we're going
- 14:27to talk about three categories of people that he lays out in his first article, then
- 14:32we will jump to the second article on practical suggestions for how to approach church leadership
- 14:38more with Scott Townsend on World View Matters coming up.
- 14:40Introducing Patriot Mobile, the wireless carrier that stands with you.
- 14:45We are committed to supporting the values that make our nation great.
- 14:51With affordable plans and reliable nationwide coverage, Patriot Mobile is not just a wireless
- 14:57service, it's a call to action for those who believe in the American dream.
- 15:04Get free activation now with promo code, David.
- 15:14Friends right now, Freedom Project Academy is enrolling students for this fall with live
- 15:20anytime and home school courses for pre-kindergarten through the 12th grade.
- 15:25So Judeo Christian Online Academy and to celebrate 15 years of academic excellence, we're
- 15:30offering 15% discount on all courses.
- 15:34Visit freedomforschool.com, that's freedom, f-o-r, school.com, use the code David15 to
- 15:41say 15%, that's David15 to say 15% on all courses at Freedom Project Academy.
- 15:47So Scott Townsend, let's talk about those three categories of people, I found that to
- 15:51be interesting.
- 15:52And you're writing two people who are to some degree a watchman or learning about being
- 15:58a watchman or understanding that.
- 15:59Can you explain that briefly, please?
- 16:02Absolutely.
- 16:03So there's three types of cohorts, as I would call them, David.
- 16:07The first is the watchman or watchman, you know, that understands what's happening
- 16:13through a painful process of learning and paying the price of really digging in, researching
- 16:22and understanding both what is happening from a contemporary news point of view, as well
- 16:28as understanding eschatology and the things that the Bible talks about being in the end
- 16:33times.
- 16:34And the Lord wants us to be obviously prepared for that, we're called to be awake and
- 16:42to look forward to our redemption.
- 16:44And there's a lot of guidance about that in the Bible.
- 16:48So there are watchmans that understand what's happening and they have tried to talk to
- 16:54their church leadership and have been typically summer successful, I imagine, but most of the
- 17:01stories that I hear about are they've been rejected in the sense that they get polite
- 17:07indifference where they give updates, they try their best to communicate the seriousness
- 17:13of the hour that we're in and they're attempt to try to educate the pastoral staff or
- 17:20a board member or a Bible study leader or other influencer within the church, they are frustrated
- 17:27with that.
- 17:29The second cohort that I believe is they have not actually approached their pastoral
- 17:36staff yet, but they have talked to others within their church.
- 17:39It could be after service, they may hear something intriguing, they may engage in a short
- 17:45conversation about that, but they're also ready to be able to give a defense for what's
- 17:51happening in the world today is just that they haven't had the opportunity to take that
- 17:56to the pastors at this point.
- 17:58And then the third are those that to your point are watchman or watchman that have been
- 18:05studying and learning.
- 18:07It was, for me, David, it was about two years of just learning, drinking through the
- 18:13fire hose, listening to hundreds of sermons and teachings on the end times before I felt
- 18:20confident enough, and I would say had enough discernment to begin to make some, to let
- 18:27it gel and coalesce in my heart and mind about what exactly was happening and to be prepared
- 18:33to help communicate that to others and many, many people fall into this.
- 18:37I think what happened five years ago is a precursor to people realizing normal isn't coming
- 18:45back, Jesus is coming back and what does that mean?
- 18:50And so they've been listening with more intentionality to what's happening in the world, but they
- 18:55still haven't completely let it resolve in their heart and mind that they need to be
- 19:02part of the solution.
- 19:04And that's where those three cohorts stand at my point.
- 19:07And they're, of course, it's unspoken, but the fourth one would be those that just have
- 19:12no biblical literacy, they are listening to the word of God and fragments, they're not
- 19:21taking responsibility to be a beyond a milk drinker and to get into the meat of the gospel
- 19:28in the Bible to read, you know, the prophets and the Old Testament and to understand the
- 19:34association and crossover between the Old and the New Testament and it takes time.
- 19:38It takes time and focus to be able to learn that.
- 19:42Well, we've had George Barna on the podcast recently a couple times, but the last time
- 19:46it reminds me that that that fourth category would be where most church goers, maybe in
- 19:51America, are unfortunately, but what what you said is very profound.
- 19:55Normal isn't coming back.
- 19:58Jesus is coming back.
- 20:00What does that mean?
- 20:01And you ask a question and then we got to jump to part two, Scott, we're running out
- 20:05of time.
- 20:06We got to jump in a minute.
- 20:07This is a good question to ask anytime in your gut.
- 20:11Do you believe you have been prepared for this season?
- 20:15Why or why not?
- 20:16You have asked that question in the first article on when our pastor is wake up.
- 20:21Do you want to elaborate a little bit on that before we make the jump to part two?
- 20:25I'd be happy to.
- 20:26So, yes, I absolutely have been.
- 20:29It was all something that the Lord timed for me.
- 20:32It was my time, you know, eight years ago.
- 20:36And I've been researching for five to six hours a day, 365 days a year for eight years
- 20:43now.
- 20:45That's in my case, that was what it took for me to stay focused and to stay current
- 20:50and things are moving very quickly.
- 20:52And so that is kind of how I see it.
- 20:55Yeah.
- 20:56Well, let's just say based on what you just shared, there is a point where we've got to
- 21:00take a break and surrender all that to God because it can be heavy.
- 21:05There's a spirit of heaviness that's very real and it can be overwhelming, watching,
- 21:09being aware of what's going on.
- 21:13I'll just say that that people need to remember to trust in God's sovereignty, cast your
- 21:17cares, surrender what you cannot control to the Lord and do what you can to wake people
- 21:21up.
- 21:22So, in part two, you say you have 100% conviction that a change of heart is coming more
- 21:30broadly in the Lord's timing.
- 21:33Were you referring to the body of Christ?
- 21:35You say, not necessarily a revival, but a stirring within the church, could you explain
- 21:40that?
- 21:41Yes, I do.
- 21:42When these things begin to happen and the things that we're talking about are difficult
- 21:48things to hear, but if you understand what is happening in the world and the way that
- 21:52the elites and others are trying to navigate the great reset spoken about by the world
- 21:57economic forum and also understand agenda 2030 from the United Nations, you know what
- 22:03they're telling you what they're going to do.
- 22:07And we are watching it all the steps and precursors to that are being staged right now.
- 22:14So it is very, very important for us to understand that this is going to impact the congregation.
- 22:23And so just one example of that, you know, could be a debt crisis of some kind of China cascading
- 22:29into the financial markets.
- 22:31If if a, you know, banking holiday happens because there's a crisis, then how do people
- 22:38deal with that?
- 22:39How would you imagine the congregation would react to that if they couldn't pay their bills
- 22:45or get access to cash or they would go to the church, they would ask for help, they
- 22:50would plead for, how do I pay my bills?
- 22:52Can you help me?
- 22:53The benevolence fund would be exhausted in the first hour and the pastor is going to
- 22:58get, you know, potentially hundreds of text messages and emails.
- 23:03What is happening?
- 23:04I don't understand.
- 23:05And the pastor, all of a sudden, who has been able to focus on other aspects of shepherding
- 23:12the flock will and should realize this is a new season in which they are being elevated
- 23:21and called up to provide leadership to their congregation in a new way.
- 23:27And that is what, you know, we are all praying for.
- 23:30Boy, we could have done a two parts on this podcast, World View Matters based on your
- 23:34two articles, but I just want to quote you when you're talking about, you also ask a very
- 23:40good question, is it possible your pastor or important members of the church leadership
- 23:44team have forgotten their first love?
- 23:46Like it was at the church, was it Ephesus?
- 23:49Which one forgot their first love?
- 23:51Anyway, that was in Revelation 2 and 3.
- 23:54You talk about seeker sensitive churches being more culturally relevant, which you say
- 24:00lowers the standard of the gospel instead of lifting up people's need for Christ, and
- 24:05you say it mutes the salt and light principle we were taught in the Bible.
- 24:08So let's end in the last three minutes.
- 24:10I'm sorry we ran out of time so quickly, Scott, on praying for our pastors, praying for
- 24:15a church leadership.
- 24:16I have not done as good of a job in that.
- 24:18I think a lot of us would, if we were to admit that, we'd be honest and saying, yes,
- 24:23I need to pray more for a pastor.
- 24:25So share whatever is on your heart about praying for our leadership in these situations.
- 24:31Absolutely.
- 24:32I think we, you know, most of us realize that things are coming, okay?
- 24:37And we're supposed to look up as we see the day approaching and to be about the Father's
- 24:42business.
- 24:43One of the aspects of being about the Father's business is not to break fellowship with
- 24:46a church just because you don't hear eschatology coming from the platform.
- 24:51I think it will come.
- 24:53Hopefully it will come.
- 24:54And our job as members of a congregation is to love and support each other and to do
- 24:59our very best to steward the information that we know in a kind and gentle way.
- 25:05Not one that shrinks back due to scars and wounds of the past where we were rebuffed, scoffed,
- 25:11and mocked, but to actually realize that our finish line is so close that we must exert
- 25:19extraordinary effort to take what we know and to help others find the truth.
- 25:26And some are in church, but do not know the Lord.
- 25:30They are cultural Christians, maybe, and I'll tell you one of the most sobering things
- 25:36that can happen is the aha moment when a cultural Christian realizes that all of this that
- 25:42the Bible speaks about is real, that Isaiah 46 verses 9 and 10 where the Lord himself
- 25:48does the most amazing mic drop in the history.
- 25:53It says, I will tell you what will happen because I am the Lord, I'm paraphrasing that.
- 25:58And so it's very important for us to help people connect the dots and for them to understand
- 26:03that this is the season for all of us to be sober minded, be in the Word, be in fellowship
- 26:09together and to help each other finish well.
- 26:12And as you say in part two here of your article, consider the possibility that the Lord is
- 26:16waiting on me or waiting on you to make that first move to love your pastors and leaders
- 26:23sufficiently to go to war against the evil principalities and pray for your pastor or
- 26:29leadership whoever you're meeting with for their eyes to be open.
- 26:33And you know, you've got to humble yourself to go in there because you can come off very
- 26:37prideful when you're a watchman and you're aware of these things that a lot of Christians
- 26:41maybe are not.
- 26:43So we really have to guard against pride as well and we have to pray for soft hearts, I
- 26:48think, all the way around Scott, 30 seconds closing thoughts.
- 26:52Well I think thank you for the opportunity to come on today David, I hope that our audience
- 26:57here realizes that you know, there's a lot going on in the world and it's up to us
- 27:03a watchman community and other concern members of the body of Christ that have information
- 27:09to be willing and open to sharing it, especially with pastoral staff and other church leaders.
- 27:14Yes, in this day and age when the time is short, but we are here for this time and season.
- 27:19Scott's website again over on his sub stack where these two articles are, I am a watchman.substack.com.
- 27:27Brother, thank you so good to connect Lord willing, we will do this again in the very
- 27:31near future.
- 27:33Thank you David.
- 27:34Friends God bless you and as always keep speaking the truth about things that matter.