Latest / Worldview Matters With David Fiorazo / Elijah Abraham: The Desperate, Global Need For The True Gospel
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.
- 0:20Welcome, friends.
- 0:21Family in Christ.
- 0:22Thank you so much for joining us today.
- 0:24I've got my brother back in the state's side.
- 0:28He's been away for a while.
- 0:30His name is Elijah Abraham.
- 0:32The website is livingoasis.org that's livingoasis.org.
- 0:39For those of you that are new to the podcast, new listeners or new viewers, because praise
- 0:43God we're growing because you're doing it, God's doing it, praise him.
- 0:48But we cannot show Elijah's face for security reasons.
- 0:53He's had death threats and he's a threat to particularly the radicals, the Muslims,
- 1:00and for other reasons.
- 1:01So we do these shows with him where we just put up a picture of the cell phone.
- 1:08So he's on the line with us.
- 1:10So I'm interviewing him, but you cannot see his face for security reasons.
- 1:13Just so you know, so brother, I want to bring you in and welcome back to the state.
- 1:18How long have you been back from Indonesia?
- 1:22About six days.
- 1:25So it's been good.
- 1:27So thank you for having me.
- 1:28It's blessing and a few amount of notice.
- 1:31I did drag you with me in the mission field through texts and updates and pictures.
- 1:36Yeah, and it's praise God.
- 1:38And when Elijah takes these trips, if you're following him or in touch with him, will
- 1:44you get these text messages on all the pastors he's teaching in the congregations, people
- 1:50coming to the Lord, his travels, and it's just really a blessing for those of us that
- 1:56can't travel or have not been able to go on trips like that.
- 2:00It really is a blessing to keep up to speed on so much.
- 2:03And I know you're probably texting a lot of people, Elijah, so I appreciate that.
- 2:07But first of all, let's just talk about you were gone for how long?
- 2:12Was it three weeks?
- 2:13I was gone.
- 2:14What about a month, four weeks that you could in the travel time travel.
- 2:20It takes 48 hours each way for us to get there 48 hours of travel time to get back.
- 2:27So it's hardly any sleep, but the Lord kind of encourages me that it's all worthwhile.
- 2:36In this particular trip, the Lord allowed me to conduct six conferences, five passes,
- 2:42five passes conferences, and one in a seminary student seminary, all of that in five cities.
- 2:51So we did a lot of traveling within the country, and I did preach three times, and forgot
- 3:01to make it work kind of to encourage me to make a worthwhile of travel and like to sleep.
- 3:06In this trip, the Lord really blessed, we had about 64 salvation, it thrived all of
- 3:13the teaching and preaching.
- 3:15So that made it worthwhile, even if I had one salvation, that makes it worthwhile.
- 3:22Amen.
- 3:23So yeah, it's a blessing, it was a really a blessing.
- 3:26Well before I get to my next question, your health, how's your back?
- 3:30How are you doing?
- 3:31Yeah, that's my cross to bear, unfortunately.
- 3:34I, as I get older, it doesn't get any better.
- 3:38It's just something that's a maintenance, and I learned how to live with it.
- 3:42The Lord gave me grace every day, especially traveling.
- 3:46So God is good, and I just give them the glory.
- 3:50And one of the things that people always ask me, how do you do that?
- 3:53That's, I don't really know how, the only thing I could think of is whenever I'm behind
- 3:57the pulpit while I'm in front of pastors or seminary students, I'm a different person.
- 4:03That just takes control, and he gives me the energy, the enthusiasm, the clarity of mind,
- 4:09and the physical ability to do it.
- 4:11But once I go back to my hotel, I crash.
- 4:14My back telling me what he's been doing to me today.
- 4:17So it's a challenge, that's for sure, but I thank you for asking.
- 4:22And it is a matter of prayer for God, God's people to keep praying for me, I appreciate
- 4:26that.
- 4:27Yes, friends, continue to pray for Elijah and his health and his family.
- 4:31It's interesting you said that, though, I just talked to a speaker, a woman who's in
- 4:35ministry, she's from Oklahoma, she's done a lot of traveling, but she's had a lot of health
- 4:39problems, particularly, you know, brain in different issues.
- 4:43But she says, she says, sometimes I feel sick, or I'm not able to do anything, and every
- 4:48time she gets up, God gives her this strength, and then help to do the presentation, to get
- 4:53through the ministry that she's called to do.
- 4:56So that's real, I bet that's more common than we realize.
- 4:58I want you to just share your big takeaway, if there's just one thing, there's probably
- 5:03several, but as far as the overall takeaway from the trip, and maybe what God's doing there
- 5:09in Indonesia.
- 5:10Yeah.
- 5:11I'm telling you, no matter where I go, I mean, earlier this year, I was in three countries
- 5:17in Eastern Europe, and June, I was in five countries, what's the Neuro, and this time
- 5:23Southeast Asia.
- 5:25So really, it doesn't matter where I go, people are hungry for sound biblical teaching,
- 5:31and to correct a lot of misunderstanding, and the pastors, as well other students in
- 5:36the seminary, but mainly the pastors, who would you think they know the Bible because
- 5:41that preachers, they're supposed to preach the Bible accurately.
- 5:45They got a lot of things wrong.
- 5:47So when they are confronted with the scripture and explained to them, and we did deep in
- 5:51the Word of God, that's a beautiful thing that I experienced.
- 5:56I experienced some pastors who weep, repent, asking the Lord for forgiveness, and some still
- 6:04arrogant, so I get both sides, but all together, they're hungry for good Bible teaching.
- 6:14And they also have something else that I'm noticing, not just in Southeast Asia, but
- 6:18everywhere I go.
- 6:20People really entwined in these last days, they are trying to understand prophecy and
- 6:27eschatology, and unfortunately, again, even that, they have all kind of views, the kind
- 6:34of ideas, so that's one of the tracks that I teach is eschatology.
- 6:41So in our ministry, the Lord allows me to really teach five tracks.
- 6:45The first is biblical foundation, which is simplified systematic theology.
- 6:50The second is application of this theology and discipleship and spiritual growth.
- 6:55And the third is eschatology, the fourth biblical counseling, and the fifth is apologetics
- 7:00and Muslim evangelism.
- 7:02So yeah, it depends what the need is, and wherever I go, then we'll apply that.
- 7:09And so, and then overall, in this trip, is just people nervous, and I'm talking about
- 7:19the church, forget about the unbelievers, the unbelievers I expect them to be nervous,
- 7:24but they're nervous about global events, they're nervous about economy, and so on.
- 7:29So I tried to help them, look, we're children of God, we have hope, the world doesn't have
- 7:35hope.
- 7:36And if we're children of God, we know exactly where we're going.
- 7:40And if you don't know where you're going, let me explain.
- 7:42And I do explain, look, as a Christian, no matter if you're a pastor or not, no matter
- 7:47if you're in America or around the world, as born again, believer, you have to live eschatologically
- 7:54point of view.
- 7:55Meaning, you have to live today in the view where you're going tomorrow.
- 8:00And as long as you understand what's happening tomorrow, according to the scripture, what
- 8:04God is going to do tomorrow in the future, then you can live today by God's grace with
- 8:11his power and with his guidance to live gracefully, peacefully, and share the gospel with people
- 8:20with hope and joy.
- 8:21But if you don't have that view for the future, then today is going to be, you're going
- 8:27to be anxious, fearful, panicking, and you can act like the world.
- 8:32So, and I think that's what's missing in every country I've been in is really understanding
- 8:38of prophecy and eschatology, and not just overseas, here in America, it's the same thing.
- 8:46Many churches, many pastors do not address this doctrine.
- 8:53They don't want to teach it.
- 8:54And so you've got a lot of God's people in our churches.
- 8:58They don't have a clear understanding of what prophecy is, what eschatology is.
- 9:03Now, there are many of God's pastors, especially there is a group of pastors, they are wonderful
- 9:12pastors from the Calvary Chapel, that's part of the part of their church and Bible teaching.
- 9:20Now there are others who only dedicate every now and then they teach on the book of
- 9:25Revelation, but they give it like a big overview instead of really dig deeper on, look chronologically,
- 9:32let's interpret what's going on in the world today, and global events, and how we can
- 9:37understand it from the lens of prophecy and biblical understanding.
- 9:41And that's not happening, unfortunately, many Christians are suffering because of that,
- 9:47because they panic, they have no hope, so yeah, so it's a blessing.
- 9:52That leads to my next, I mean, logical question, you're talking about all these things,
- 9:57and the people experience because of their maybe lack of understanding of the scriptures,
- 10:02perhaps, or maybe they weren't taught, and I'm thinking, what about America?
- 10:06These very same things can be applied to the church in America.
- 10:11So when are you going to start traveling around the United States, Elijah, and teaching
- 10:16people, some of the things you're teaching overseas?
- 10:18Yeah, I would love to, and that's the challenge of our ministry.
- 10:23I don't impose myself on ministry on any pastor, any church in America.
- 10:29We go by invitation only, so the pastors need to reach out to me, and hopefully they're
- 10:33listening to your podcast, I'm here to serve the church.
- 10:36I am not here to go after anybody's minister position or anything like that, a lot gave
- 10:42me a ministry.
- 10:43I'm here to serve the church and equip the body of Christ, and it all depends on the
- 10:48need.
- 10:49So believe it or not, when we first started living in a way, it's almost 20 years ago,
- 10:55I was so busy around the country, I've been in 30 states in America, but I would say
- 11:01back in 2012, 13 things that slowing down, and by 2018, hardly any pastors are interested,
- 11:12and I don't understand why, and the reason, one of the reasons probably I think is they
- 11:19look at the people around them again.
- 11:21I'm not judging all pastors, but this is my analysis, many pastors, and I'm trying to
- 11:27help the church have to reach Muslims for Christ in their community, so they see Muslims
- 11:32and on their area, and instead of saying, okay, Lord, thank you for the opportunity, you
- 11:36brought the mission field in our community, so who do we know, or who can we reach, we
- 11:42could call and help us to reach them.
- 11:45Instead, all they think about, oh, Sharia Lord, Jihad, violence, and let's protect ourselves
- 11:53and let us not engage.
- 11:54Well, maybe, maybe I'm wrong, I pray I'm wrong, and the other challenge for us, I think to
- 12:03answer your question, why I'm not going around the country, because I'm not on social media,
- 12:09my face is not, you know, in any website, or anything like that, even podcasts, it's
- 12:15all audio, also, I don't have a book, I'm not famous like so many, and unfortunately,
- 12:22I see the same kind of mindset now is being exported overseas, so some of the pastors and
- 12:29Indonesians are the places, the person, they say, I could not find you on Facebook, I
- 12:33cannot do that, I don't know who you are, so that's the challenge, and I think that's
- 12:39one of the, some people say, well, that's a negative, a drawback of our ministry, you
- 12:43know what, I go with the Lord, open the door, if the Lord opened the door internationally,
- 12:49more than domestic, praise the Lord, because it used to be more domestic than international,
- 12:55so as of, you know, 2018, now it's becoming more international than domestic, I would
- 13:03like to make it a little bit balanced, but I leave that to the Lord, I'm here to equip
- 13:10the church.
- 13:11That's interesting, you know, you mentioned that, I didn't even think about that, I didn't
- 13:15think about that, you're not on social media, you're not out there doing videos or podcasts
- 13:19and all this other stuff, but we have an audience who, a lot of people go to churches and you
- 13:24have a pastor, friends, if you have a need for something like this at your church to invite
- 13:29Elijah to come and speak, or maybe you know a church in your community, keep that in mind,
- 13:33but I'm glad you brought that up, Elijah, I wanted to ask you about one of the text messages
- 13:37you sent me, this is really fascinating, I think you were in Jakarta speaking at an assembly
- 13:43of God, a church, you said you taught apologetics and Muslim evangelism and you prayed for some
- 13:50students as they were leaving and you said some of the students at the Christian school
- 13:55are not believers, you said there was a Muslim, a Buddhist, and there are people at a Christian
- 14:02school that are not believers, can you explain that, how that works?
- 14:07And that's usually, it's normal, I experienced that when I was a kid in Middle East, because
- 14:14the Christian schools are very well known with good quality education.
- 14:19So you've got the community, whether it be Muslims or Buddhists, however, they want to
- 14:23send their kids to a good school which offers quality education, so that's how it is.
- 14:30So that's the reason I was not really totally surprised when they were there.
- 14:36So it's a blessing, these young students heard the gospel afterwards, I sat down with
- 14:44them and said all the questions, offered them the opportunity to receive Christ, but they
- 14:48kind of reserved.
- 14:49There's a no, let me think about it.
- 14:51Okay, the Lord is not here to push himself on anyone.
- 14:56So yeah, it's fascinating, I'm sure it's kind of to you, it's probably a region that
- 15:01texts like, what is this?
- 15:03Well, I was also looking at another text message, it's just really encouraging, I mean,
- 15:07you were blessed with 85 pastors in attendance at one of the sessions there on a Saturday
- 15:15in Indonesia.
- 15:16I was shortly before you were going to fly home, I think.
- 15:19But I want to ask you now, we have about 10, 12 minutes left, and I want to ask you about
- 15:24what's going on globally, including the peace that people said would never happen between
- 15:31Israel and Hamas and Gaza there.
- 15:35And who knows what I said before we got on the podcast today, terrorists don't keep their
- 15:40promises.
- 15:41And covenants mean nothing to people that don't have a biblical worldview.
- 15:46So what are your thoughts on Israel and Gaza, the peace, your concerns about maybe what
- 15:52might come now, I know it's speculation, but what are your thoughts over Ali Lajah?
- 15:56Yeah, I get it's my opinion, you know, it really started back doing the President Trump's
- 16:03first term when he initiated and with Jared Kushner and others about the Abraham Accord.
- 16:11And I was really kind of got my attention, like, wait a minute, I never thought in my
- 16:15lifetime coming from at least myself that there will be any Arab nation will shake hands
- 16:21with the Jewish Prime Minister.
- 16:23I've never seen that, never heard of that because grew up, the Jews are the ultimate enemy
- 16:30and Israel, the ultimate Satan kind of thing.
- 16:33So to see that happen, of course, I was joyful, I'm glad there's peace.
- 16:39And then what happened with Gaza and the signature of the peace between Israel and Hamas
- 16:47and yes, and I'm looking at all these presidents from all different countries, especially from
- 16:54Middle East, forget about the Europeans, Europeans, they just want to show up for the photo
- 16:58but those who are really affected by this stand in there and they're clapping and applauded
- 17:07for this, you know, praise the Lord, blessed are those who are peacemakers.
- 17:12But I look at the situation from the component of you and the play it tells me, yeah, that
- 17:19might be peace, but it's going to be temporary.
- 17:22I don't think it's going to last long.
- 17:24The question is for how long is it going to last?
- 17:27You know, three years, seven years, ten years, twenty years, we'll see, we'll see who's
- 17:32going to break it and what are the circumstances.
- 17:35Now the question, the concern that I have is for the church because they are not in tune
- 17:43and I was saying, hey, those who are in tune with this ketology, I'm not talking about
- 17:48them.
- 17:49I'm talking about the majority who are not really in tune with it.
- 17:52The past is not preaching on prophecy and all of that.
- 17:57So my concern for those churches, they're going to say, okay, there is peace, great, let's
- 18:03go back to normal and they basically put their guard down without really looking, paying
- 18:08up for a blessed home and that's pretty dangerous because you are not preparing God's people
- 18:15what it's ahead and you have to kind of prepare them as ketologically.
- 18:20So when bad things happen, they're not going to freak out and fall apart and leave the
- 18:25church, leave the faith, whatever it is.
- 18:29So my encouragement and challenge to pastors, no matter where you are, please preach the
- 18:36work from Genesis to Revelation.
- 18:38Don't leave anything out, include in the prophetic scripture, include in us ketology, equip
- 18:43your people so they are not deceived by whoever they're going to listen to on YouTube or
- 18:50watch on YouTube or podcasts because when people, including these churches, have so many
- 18:55questions about these things, where they're going to go, they cannot find it in the church
- 18:59and the preacher is not talking about it.
- 19:01So they're going to do a lot of research or search on the on YouTube or some podcasts
- 19:05or websites and so on or social media and they're going to be fallen prey to false teachers.
- 19:13So that's my concern.
- 19:15So peace in the Middle East, praise the Lord, let it happen, hopefully it lasts but I don't
- 19:20hold my breath.
- 19:23Peace and safety, peace and security, it all sounds so good.
- 19:27Exactly.
- 19:28So it has something I want to share with you, my travel, you know, Charlie Kirk, it was
- 19:34a Saturday two days before I left for Indonesia.
- 19:39And I was really surprised because I traveled throughout the world, I started getting texts
- 19:44from Poland, from Romania, from Moldova, from UK, from Italy, Spain, from India, from
- 19:52definitely, while I was in Indonesia, all of them are brokenhearted about what happened
- 19:58to Charlie.
- 20:00And I was stunned.
- 20:01It's like, what?
- 20:02You know about this?
- 20:03You know about him?
- 20:04Oh yeah, we follow him and I think he was amazing, his ministry was amazing.
- 20:09He really spoke what we believe, what we thought, I was really stunned.
- 20:15So praise God for Charlie and his life and he fought a good fight.
- 20:21I just thought I'll share that with you.
- 20:22No, that's really interesting because yeah, I mean, I knew he was well known, but I guess
- 20:29you you never know until something like something like that happens.
- 20:34Right.
- 20:35And then you understand, oh my goodness, he had a global reach or impact and I'm so glad,
- 20:42you know what, Elijah, I want you to speak to this.
- 20:44I'm so glad he preached the gospel and exalted the name of Jesus.
- 20:49But he also, there are a couple, I guess he's got some people at turning point that are
- 20:54Mormon and some that are Catholic and some you're going down the list.
- 20:59And there's a lot of accusations that have come from maybe discernment ministries and
- 21:04I'm not saying they're wrong on everything, but they take something he said out of context
- 21:10without looking at the whole body of his work and impact and what he has said about the
- 21:15gospel.
- 21:17He's so many times said the only way to be saved is faith in Jesus Christ, so many times
- 21:22I mean, it's clear.
- 21:24But then because at that last event, he was at, he was speaking to Mormons for the most
- 21:28part.
- 21:29A lot of Mormons and he says, I love Mormons and I do too.
- 21:33Yeah.
- 21:34You love Muslims.
- 21:35We are to love our neighbor and even love our enemies, which is hard.
- 21:41We love people, but we tell them the truth.
- 21:43He loved them, but he still shared the gospel and what one discernment ministry did, they
- 21:49took that line about I love Mormons and he said, he said something like I wish there
- 21:54the Mormon church was stronger or whatever, meaning I understand what he was saying, they
- 21:59were talking about the LGBTQ, they were talking about morality.
- 22:02So yeah, we want people that are biblically moral, but let's talk about religion after,
- 22:08let's get the, the, the, the, the God is creator and the gender and the sexuality, right?
- 22:13So this discernment ministry took that out of context and I thought, you know what?
- 22:17I understand the statement out of, on its own saying, I wish the Mormon church was
- 22:23stronger on these, in these areas.
- 22:27He didn't elevate or exalt the Mormon church and I've heard so many of these things, people
- 22:31are nitpicking and just bothers me.
- 22:34Would you care to speak to that?
- 22:35What are your thoughts?
- 22:36Yeah.
- 22:37It's, it's really sad state of affair for people to do that and he's not here to defend
- 22:42himself.
- 22:43Right.
- 22:44And the only way to defend himself is go back to his videos, to his debates, to his
- 22:51speeches and that will speak for itself and believe me, it does not happen just to him.
- 22:57I mean, it happens to me, yes, I am not on, on social media and even like that, but it
- 23:02happens to me in life, I'm teaching pastors and during the questions and answers, they
- 23:07take something I've said out of context and they accuse me of something, but at least I'm
- 23:11there to defend myself and it put it back in the context what I was talking about.
- 23:17So yeah, ministries like that, they really need to be careful because one, they defame
- 23:22an reputation of a brother who's now enjoying his life, eternal life with the Lord.
- 23:28So they need to be careful with that and also his legacy, you know, they try to defend
- 23:35that too.
- 23:36So before they do say something, do you do diligent?
- 23:42I mean, you're on the discernment ministry, okay, be discerned before you open your mouth.
- 23:47So that's how, that's how they got to think of his common sense.
- 23:51Yeah.
- 23:52Friends, yeah, be discerning, go to the word of God, but also look at all of the videos and
- 23:59his, what he has said on certain topics.
- 24:02I don't just believe one line that's ripped out of an appearance or a speech or a debate
- 24:08for any of us because I mean, I've had accusations, Christian nationalists and all this and people
- 24:14don't define the terms, but before let's you go, Elijah, is there a current threat to
- 24:19America that's kind of flying under the radar that not many people are talking about?
- 24:25I believe so and this threat has been going on for us since the 60s and it's been silent
- 24:31since then.
- 24:33The spotlight came on it in since 9, 11.
- 24:37We went to two wars, causes, I don't know, two, three trillion dollars and all of that.
- 24:44And that is Islam and the threat of Islam as an ideology, it is not peaceful ideology.
- 24:52At the same time, because of our immigration policies, for the last 25, 30 years and especially
- 25:01under Obama, kind of being put on Obama and Biden, put on steroids, we got a problem in
- 25:08Minnesota, Minneapolis, we got a problem in New York, we got problem in Derboh, Michigan.
- 25:16Derboh, Michigan, the police now have their badges in Arabic as well as in English, which
- 25:21is unheard of.
- 25:23And you have now the call to prayer out in speakers in the city, in the public.
- 25:29And they're basically in your face like, what are you going to do about it?
- 25:32We're here and we want to implement Sharia law.
- 25:34Now in the state of Texas, they passed or the governor banned Sharia law, but I have
- 25:43not seen any details how he's going to implement that.
- 25:46If you can ban Sharia law, you need to ban Muslim Brotherhood and all associated organizations
- 25:53that are affiliated with it.
- 25:55And then I just heard about a week ago so that now Congress, some congressmen, I forgot
- 26:00who it was, now the and senator, he was a football player, Tobin, October, whatever is
- 26:06not.
- 26:07A coach.
- 26:08That's him.
- 26:09He is now talking about introducing Sharia law ban in America.
- 26:14I was like, praise God, yeah, let's do it.
- 26:18But if you watch what's happening in the local cities, that's that's scary because the
- 26:24church, the church is not ready, they are not equipped, they're ignorant about what
- 26:29Islam is as a ideology, it's not a religion, it's an ideology, it's a social political
- 26:35system that uses a deity to advance his agenda.
- 26:39But at the same time, they are not reaching Muslims for Christ.
- 26:42This is a spiritual battle, battle for the hearts.
- 26:45And we have to equip our people wherever they are to witness the Muslims.
- 26:50So that's my concern that to this day, I've been talking about this is 1997, to this
- 26:56day the church has not done anything.
- 26:59It's a Islam is a social and political system that uses a deity religion to advance its
- 27:05agenda.
- 27:06That's a good definition.
- 27:07And the agenda is global domination and they're not going to stop.
- 27:11They've been working on it for 1400 years.
- 27:13I'm glad you brought that up.
- 27:15It's a good place to end to remind people, go back last week or a week or so, go to look
- 27:19up our interview with Tony Garoule.
- 27:22We talked about immigration in Islam according to Muhammad and what the true agenda, what
- 27:27people that are really following the Quran and what that's going, Elijah, it always goes
- 27:32by fast.
- 27:33And I'm so thankful we were able to get this update on your travels and all the great
- 27:37work you're doing.
- 27:38I wish there were many more of you, but I know cloning is not biblical.
- 27:41So a brother, God bless you.
- 27:44We will keep in touch and do this again.
- 27:45Thank you for your time.
- 27:46God bless you.
- 27:47Thank you for having me.
- 27:48Praise God.
- 27:49Friends, God bless you.
- 27:50And as always, keep speaking the truth about things that matter.