Latest / Worldview Matters With David Fiorazo / Claude Stauffer: Discerning Darkness & Sharing Jesus In A World Of Wolves

Transcript

Claude Stauffer: Discerning Darkness & Sharing Jesus In A World Of Wolves · Worldview Matters With David Fiorazo

0:00
The 2027 Worldview Matters Conference will take place April 30th and May 1st at the Tundra Lodge Resort, Water Park and Conference Center in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
0:10
Speakers include Andy Woods, Brandon Holthouse, Nathan Jones, Matthew Mayer,
0:18
Hadia Miramati Falco, Pete Garcia, Brian Thomas, Steve Smotherman, J.B. Hickson, Mark Henry, Brianna Claussen, Alex Newman, Mark and Amber Archer.
0:35
To register, go to davidfiorazzo.com or worldviewmattersconference.com.
0:46
Welcome to Worldview Matters.
0:48
Discussing controversial issues.
0:51
Discerning current events.
0:53
Defending biblical Christianity.
0:56
No topic.
0:57
Off limits.
0:59
And now, here's your host, David Fiorazzo.
1:03
Welcome, friends, family in Christ.
1:05
Today, we're going to be talking a little bit about Halloween.
1:09
We're also going to touch on midterm elections.
1:13
The main focus will be a brand new book, Sharing Jesus in a World of Wolves.
1:19
This is by my brother, Pastor Claude Stauffer, and it's a blessing to connect with him again.
1:25
Thank you for your time.
1:26
Good to see you, bro.
1:28
Good to see you too, my brother.
1:29
Yes.
1:30
You're a blessing.
1:31
Yeah, a lot to talk about.
1:32
But first, I want to just do the easy stuff.
1:36
You wrote a book on our greatest patriotic duty, and you talk about Christians getting to the polls.
1:43
Before we got on the podcast, you mentioned the percentage of Muslims is like in the 90s that vote.
1:51
I mean... 97%.
1:52
Yeah.
1:54
And I don't know what, I don't remember what the numbers are as far as Christians voting, but it's really...
2:00
It's probably closer in between 50 and 40 percent.
2:02
Yeah.
2:03
Probably about half a day.
2:05
Yeah.
2:05
So that tells a lot, but I think this is so important.
2:09
We've got a pretty huge election coming up in a month, the midterms.
2:15
And friends, we've just really got to encourage you to vote biblically, of course, and
2:20
But never give up.
2:22
Don't think that your vote doesn't matter.
2:24
I think that's what a lot of people fall into.
2:26
It doesn't make a difference.
2:28
But if enough people thought that way, I mean, we get the government we get, right?
2:32
We get the representatives that we get.
2:34
Can you speak to that for a moment before we dive into the topics?
2:38
Well, you know, if the Christian bloc of voters would simply vote in a biblically sound way, it could transform our nation.
2:51
Now, you know, I don't believe that, you know, the solution to our national problems are solely political.
2:58
I believe ultimately, you know, we need a revival in this country.
3:01
But certainly by us voting, voting is a way of of making a statement.
3:06
It's a statement not only to the people and the citizenry of our own nation, but to the people of this world.
3:13
But most importantly, the way we vote a lot of times is is is a statement in the presence of the Lord.
3:19
You know, I believe voting is a is a, you know, election.
3:23
The whole concept of that is something that is
3:27
you know, that says something to the Lord about where we're at, you know, what we are willing to endorse, what we are willing to turn a blind eye to or to ignore.
3:39
You know, I believe, you know, there's a responsibility that comes with being a citizen of a nation.
3:46
In Jeremiah 29, verse 7, the Lord says, seek the favor of the land to which you're in captivity.
3:56
Our citizenship is in heaven, but we're living in the United States of America, a federal republic that has regular elections.
4:04
We should take full advantage of that.
4:06
Yes.
4:06
Amen, brother.
4:07
And friends, we really do need to.
4:09
I know you see the fruit of bad legislation, right?
4:13
I know a lot of people understand that depending on what state you're living in, and there is no perfect politician and there is no perfect human being.
4:22
But we have a responsibility here.
4:24
We are so blessed to be, if you're in America, in our context here, and have the Constitution that we have and the religious freedoms for now.
4:33
Okay, brother, on to one of my observations, and I came across your article, The Sway of the Wicked One.
4:42
And this is on shepherdofhope.org.
4:45
That's Claude's website.
4:46
Friends, check it out, shepherdofhope.org.
4:49
Let's talk about Halloween a little bit.
4:52
It may seem redundant to some because I think people have their minds made up.
4:57
but let's drill down on this a little bit.
4:59
I want to hear some of the points you shared in the article, because what I'm observing earlier and earlier every year, Halloween decorations go up.
5:10
I mean, even in mid-September last month,
5:14
In my neighborhood, because I've been walking a little bit more, I've been trying to get out and walk a little bit more some mornings, and I see more.
5:21
One house has a graveyard out front, just different decorations in their trees already for Halloween in September, mid-September.
5:30
I'm thinking if people loved Jesus and Christmas as much as they seem to love and want to glorify the demonic and Halloween, I think we'd have a different looking place.
5:44
Just your thoughts on that, Claude.
5:45
I know in and of themselves, decorations, people might think, oh, they're harmless.
5:49
But what does that tell us about maybe our spiritual discernment?
5:55
Well, Jesus wrote seven letters to seven churches.
5:58
The churches are representative of different types of churches, but I believe they're also representative of different historical epochs and time.
6:06
And the last church that he wrote to was the church at Laodicea, which he corrected and condemned for being lukewarm.
6:16
And he said, because you are neither cold nor hot, because you're lukewarm, I will spew you out of my mouth.
6:21
And, you know, I know that that's a phrase that's kind of overused sometimes, but I really believe those are the times that we're living in.
6:28
And, you know, if ever there was a time where we needed to be dotting the I's and crossing the T's, where we needed to be paying close attention and really walking a straight and narrow way, I think now is that time.
6:41
I mean, we're as a nation, at least,
6:44
And even as a church, we're at a critical crossroads.
6:48
You know, we have an invasion of Islam by way of immigration.
6:53
And you still have certain people in the church that are trying to say that, you know, Islam is not that much different than Christianity.
7:01
So we have Chrislam, you know, that was popular a few years ago.
7:05
But I believe, you know, there's still people, you know, they've been lulled to sleep regularly.
7:09
by their pastors from their pulpit, or at least it's not even addressed in a pulpit.
7:16
And if ever there was a time where we need to really stand strong and be shining as bright as possible, now is that time.
7:23
Now is not the time to be lukewarm and just say, oh, it's only candy, it's only a black cat, it's only a witch, it's only skeletons, it's only good fun and games.
7:36
I'll tell you something,
7:38
In the northeast of this country, people take their occult and witchcraft and sorcery and things like that.
7:47
They take those things very seriously.
7:50
There are witches who are praying against this administration.
7:55
There are people involved in all kinds of dark places.
7:59
Dr. David Morgan-Denis, Ph.D.: dark practices and whether you realize it or not, whether you want to admit it or not, when you indulge those things are just kind of poo poo them and not really take them seriously you're playing right into right into their right into their influence and that's why I wrote this article.
8:20
You know, 1 John 5, verse 19 says, And the whole world is under the sway or under the influence of the wicked one.
8:29
And the word wicked there is taken from the Greek term pornos.
8:33
We get another word.
8:34
Pornography is a derivative of that word.
8:37
And, you know, it's just...
8:40
to be influenced?
8:43
Why would you want to dabble in darkness and be influenced in any way or even be seen as influence of others that it's no big deal?
8:53
What do we have to take a stand on?
8:56
When will we take a stand on some of these things?
9:00
Claude, this has gone on for a long time in the church, this debate over whether we should participate in Halloween.
9:09
Let's call it a different name and just still dress up in costumes and have all the same thing.
9:14
You know, go door-to-door.
9:16
What is your thought on that?
9:18
Because I see the article, the main scripture you have is Ephesians 5.11.
9:23
It's got that word participate or have no fellowship,
9:28
With the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
9:31
So are parents who allow their kids to go out with other kids and trick-or-treat or have Halloween parties, is that an unfruitful work of darkness?
9:42
Are they participating now?
9:45
You know, I don't want to send the wrong impression here.
9:48
It's not like, you know, dear Pastor Claude is going to be hunting down people and looking to check up on them, see if you're, get what kind of candy you're getting and if you're going trick or treating or how you dressed.
10:00
That's not what I'm saying.
10:02
But what I am saying, you know, the verse that you mentioned from Ephesians chapter five, it says, have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
10:13
And if you know anything about Ephesus, I actually wrote a book about Paul's letter to the Ephesians.
10:19
And if you do a little background research, Ephesus was a place, a hotbed of the occult and these type of mystic practices, demonic type of practices.
10:29
And so...
10:31
It was a church located in a culture, in an area that's much like our culture today.
10:39
There's so much darkness.
10:41
There's so much sinfulness.
10:43
And Paul says to them very clearly, have nothing to do, have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
10:54
That's why I wrote this article to expose the darkness and expose.
10:58
You know, getting back to 1 John 5, verse 19, the whole idea of being under the sway of, is being under the influence of.
11:07
You know, it's almost as though, you know, sometimes, you know, in certain states, they've legalized marijuana.
11:16
or different types of things, you know, and you can be sometimes when I drive on a Southern State Parkway, if I have my windows open, I can go through certain areas of Long Island where I live.
11:27
And you can smell you have to roll the windows up because there's a it's like you can smell the aroma of.
11:34
of people partying.
11:35
You know, it's used to be in olden days, you drive places in the, and the best aroma you'd get would be like from barbecues.
11:42
And now it's not barbecues.
11:44
Now it's all this other kind of, all this kind of drug paraphernal, all of these different types of things.
11:50
And we should have nothing to do with that.
11:53
Nothing.
11:53
You know, we, when are we going to take a stand on these things?
11:59
You know, when, what happens is,
12:02
To be under the sway of the enemy, it's as though, you know, he doesn't hit us right up front in our face and tell us what he's going to do.
12:11
But by these gradual increments, right, slowly but surely, he lulls us to sleep.
12:18
And so what I believe that Halloween is one of these things, you know, compromise with Halloween.
12:23
OK, well, what's next?
12:24
Right.
12:25
Yep.
12:26
What's next, you know?
12:28
Yeah, I just want to quote you.
12:29
And friends, we're talking about the spiritual dynamic behind this because there's warfare.
12:36
There is a very real spirit realm, and there are battles going on in the heavenlies.
12:40
There are powers and principalities and forces of darkness.
12:44
And you say Halloween is a time of deception because it subtly lowers our sensitivity to discerning darkness and light.
12:54
It blurs truth from error.
12:57
It contends, see, there's nothing wrong with this.
13:00
It's no big deal.
13:02
Anyway, I think we've made the point.
13:03
I talk about this possibly every year in September or October, just to kind of remind Christians we are to be set apart.
13:13
But what does that look like, to be separate from the world, to not conform to the world's ways, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds?
13:22
So this is a good opportunity, friends, for us to evaluate where we are with our families and maybe where our church is when it comes to participation or lack thereof when it comes to Halloween.
13:34
Now, one thing I used to do, I used to open up the door and give gospel tracts.
13:38
You know, but years ago, Claude, like 10 years ago, I would shut all the lights off.
13:42
I would want nothing to do with it.
13:43
I'm not going to answer the door, you know.
13:45
But anyway, then I thought, you know what?
13:46
If they're going to come on my property, I'm going to tell them about Jesus.
13:50
I'm going to say, yeah.
13:51
Anyway, so share your last final thoughts on that.
13:55
We'll jump in to your books.
13:57
I do want to talk about sharing Jesus.
13:59
Nice transition in a world of wolves.
14:01
Not werewolves, but a world of wolves.
14:04
So your final thoughts to encourage the brother and sister in Christ about Halloween.
14:09
Well, I just think, you know, it shouldn't be a discarding of Halloween with the attitude of, well, you know, I really wish I could dress up and I really wish I could get candy.
14:21
I really wish I could do these things.
14:23
But, you know, this pastor over here is telling me not to do it.
14:27
And so I'm not going to do it, you know, and that's not the attitude that I have.
14:32
I think we've slipped down.
14:34
We've slipped forward.
14:36
away from the Lord so much that we're not involved in or experiencing things that are really, truly joy producing and, you know, thankfulness and the whole idea of holiness.
14:53
Holiness is not about...
14:55
legalisms, but holiness is loving the Lord supremely and loving your neighbor as you love yourself, loving your neighbor sacrificially.
15:06
And when we indulge in Halloween, we're telling our unsaved neighbor, oh, this is really not a big deal.
15:13
Right?
15:14
And so it's, you know, there's just so many ways to look at this.
15:18
There's just nothing good.
15:20
about Halloween.
15:22
It's a holiday, and I use that word loosely because it's a holiday for the demonic, you know, for dark spirits and dark things.
15:31
Why do we feel we have to be involved with that?
15:37
You know, we say, okay, well, we're just going to get dressed up in biblical characters, right?
15:43
That to me sounds more like Hollywood.
15:45
then it does sound like holiness.
15:50
And I think that that's an important distinction to make.
15:53
Well, the satanic movement, they have holy days.
15:57
So Halloween is a holy day, and we can go into some of the history of that, but that's not the purpose of this podcast.
16:03
I just want to remind people...
16:05
and put it out there again.
16:06
I'm talking to a brother who I respect, a pastor who can speak to your heart on this, and maybe it'll convict you, maybe it'll offend you, but we're going to speak the truth on all these issues when it comes to worldview and Christians in our culture being salt and light.
16:21
We are supposed to be separate from the darkness, right?
16:23
That's where it's supposed to be salt and light.
16:25
So let's talk about your book, Claude.
16:26
Why did you pick this topic?
16:30
Was this part of a sermon series you did on this, sharing Jesus, the gospel?
16:34
Tell us about how this book came to be, and we'll dive into some of the points.
16:38
Well, it was part of a sermon series.
16:40
I'm presently at the church.
16:41
I pastor a Calvary Chapel and at Calvary Chapel, we teach verse by verse, chapter by chapter, book by book.
16:48
And the portion of scripture that we've been in over the last few months is the Gospel of Matthew.
16:53
And in Chapter 7 of Matthew, the last chapter in the Sermon on the Mount, it talks about Judge Matthew.
17:03
Judge not lest you be judged.
17:05
And many people have seized upon that short little introductory statement by Jesus to kind of quench any discussion or any kind of opposition to anything that they believe.
17:16
Don't judge me.
17:19
If you read that verse in its context, context is so very important in any kind of interpretation.
17:24
But when you look at the chapter, chapter seven, really, there's many things.
17:29
Jesus said, you know, you'll know them by their fruit, you know, to you, you know, and you how are you going to know?
17:35
false teachers by their fruit unless you do some kind of judgment.
17:38
So it's not not judge, it's judge correctly.
17:42
And I talk about that.
17:44
The whole premise of the book, I divide the book into two parts.
17:48
In Psalm 23, it says, your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
17:54
And so the first part of the book is about the rod of the Lord and how he wards off the enemies.
18:00
And the second part of the book is his staff.
18:03
how he directs us in chapter 10 of Matthew.
18:09
about how to share Jesus in this world of wolves that we're living in.
18:16
So it's so important that you break that down.
18:18
I'm glad you do.
18:19
You touch on right judging and wrong judging, because there is a way to judge rightly, as Jesus talks about.
18:27
But people rip that.
18:29
Was it Matthew 7?
18:30
Judge ye not.
18:31
And they'll stop there.
18:32
They'll just take that out of context.
18:33
No matter what you say, to observe anything about their life biblically,
18:38
or, you know, concerned about a brother or sister in Christ trying to call him out, or however you bring it up, they'll say, judge ye not.
18:46
You know what?
18:46
Atheists like to use that verse a lot.
18:49
Atheists quote that verse.
18:50
They know that one.
18:51
Judge ye not.
18:52
You Christians aren't supposed to judge.
18:55
No, that's not in the full context.
18:56
Well, you know, David, the thing I would tell the Christian is, you know, if you know your Bible—
19:03
If you insert the Bible into any kind of conversation with someone, then whatever objections they have is really, it's not against you, it's against the Bible.
19:13
It's against God's authority.
19:15
And it's so important for us to know our Bibles, know them in their context, know them from Genesis 1-1 all the way through to the end of the book of Revelation.
19:24
Because if we know that and we can...
19:27
defend the faith, if we can explain things and clarify things to people, it goes a long way in having people reconsider some of the things that they get themselves drawn into.
19:41
Also, I think that something that we need to keep in mind is that when we go out into this world of wolves to share Jesus, we don't go out alone.
19:52
We have a shepherd who is with us.
19:55
Jesus is our shepherd.
19:56
He's our good shepherd.
19:58
He knows us by name and we hear his voice and we are directed by him.
20:04
And Jesus, when he gave the Great Commission to his disciples, they were all gung ho and ready to go out.
20:12
But he said, wait, wait a second before you go out.
20:16
Make sure that you wait in Jerusalem until you receive.
20:20
The baptism with the Holy Spirit.
20:23
And you will be empowered so that you will be my witnesses.
20:27
And David, I think that that's so important that we are close to the Lord, that we've been empowered by the Lord, that we've received spiritual gifts from the Lord, that we have the weaponry, you know, that the Apostle Paul spoke about in Ephesians chapter 6.
20:42
All of these things, all these tools that the Lord has given us so that we can share Jesus in this world of wolves.
20:50
Yes.
20:51
Amen, brother.
20:52
I mean, that's why we're here, friends.
20:54
We know the truth.
20:54
Thank God we have the truth, and we've been saved, set apart, redeemed, and we have the best news that anyone could ever hear.
21:04
I mean, the hope of Christ, the hope of eternity, life beyond this one.
21:07
This is not all there is.
21:09
I want to talk to you about page 64.
21:11
You talk about right judgment that's based on fruit inspection.
21:16
And you go into the fruit of a disciple and then the fruit of a false prophet.
21:21
So again, you draw a little contrast, the fruit of a disciple and the fruit of false prophets.
21:27
Can you touch on that for us briefly?
21:30
Well, the fruit of a disciple, one of the things, I think the prime fruit of a disciple, one of the things is a disciple, a true disciple is committed to the Lord.
21:40
They rely on the Lord.
21:41
They have a relationship with the Lord Jesus.
21:44
They're empowered by the Lord.
21:45
They're equipped by the Lord.
21:46
They know that they don't go out alone, but they go out with the Lord, and they trust in the Lord's provision for whatever purpose,
21:54
for whatever they need.
21:55
And most importantly, again, this whole reality of the relationship with the Lord by the indwelling Holy Spirit.
22:06
When the Holy Spirit indwells us, he does two things.
22:09
He indwells
22:12
He invites us or he motivates us to live holy lives.
22:15
But also that holy life is a product of the love which he has poured out within our hearts.
22:22
Love for the Lord, supreme love for the Lord and sacrificial love for those around us.
22:27
And so that's that's the fruit, right?
22:29
That's the fruit of of a disciple.
22:32
But the rotten fruit.
22:34
of a false teacher is much different.
22:37
Whereas a disciple who's serving the Lord serves selflessly, a false prophet or a false teacher is always going to try to profit off of those that he supposedly serves.
22:53
And I think that's one of the biggest contrast.
22:55
You can tell someone whether they're from the Lord or not, whether or not it's all about them or,
23:01
You know, are they elevating themselves to a position?
23:04
You know, are they are they do they have a servant's heart?
23:07
Are they a servant's leader?
23:09
Are they are they loving or are they just kind of using people?
23:13
Are they true to their word?
23:16
Or are they hypocrites?
23:17
You know, these are various things.
23:19
I mean, if you just read your Bible, read the Gospel of Matthew, for instance.
23:24
Read Matthew chapter 23, where Jesus corrects the Pharisees and calls them out for their hypocrisy.
23:31
Whitewashed tombs full of dead men's bones.
23:34
I mean, this is all part of what...
23:38
the wolves are that are out there.
23:40
They, a wolf is a predator.
23:42
They want to consume you.
23:44
They want to, they want to take advantage of you.
23:47
They want, they don't care about your welfare.
23:49
They're not looking to feed the flock of God.
23:51
They're looking to fleece the flock of God.
23:54
And I think that's a, that's good.
23:56
That's one of, that's a really important, uh, thing to understand.
24:01
Let's talk a little bit.
24:02
We're running out of time, but let's talk a little bit more about that, because I see some that would call themselves Christian pastors or teachers, that it looks like exactly what you're describing.
24:12
They are drawing people to themselves and maybe not as much pointing to Jesus.
24:18
And they're fleecing.
24:19
When you said that, I thought, man, there are a lot of people, you know, making a lot of money off of Jesus and maybe not the gospel or discipleship.
24:28
We need to be discerning, don't we?
24:30
Because a lot of people follow these people that have all these huge whatever ministries or worldly wealth or their image, but they're drawing people to them and they're not making disciples of Jesus.
24:42
Speak to that for a moment, Claude, and then we'll wrap up.
24:45
Well, how do we discern whether a ministry is truly something that's of the Holy Spirit?
24:51
It's very simple.
24:52
Jesus said in John chapter 15, verse 26, and also in John 16, verse 14, he said that when the Holy Spirit comes, he will testify of me, Jesus said.
25:05
And then he says the Holy Spirit would glorify him.
25:09
So when you are assessing a ministry or trying to get your bearings on a ministry, a church or any place, ask yourself, is Jesus the center of attention here?
25:19
Is Jesus being lifted up?
25:21
And I don't mean just the name of Jesus.
25:23
I'm talking about the biblical Jesus, the Jesus who is the one who came and his mission was to convey the truth of God, the truth of God's word.
25:33
Is that true?
25:35
Jesus, the center of attention, or is it some other figure, you know, some other motivation?
25:45
Are they using Jesus, just the name of Jesus, and then fleecing you for something or looking for something or getting something out of you rather than serving you and feeding you the word of God?
26:00
Brother, there's so much more that we didn't obviously get a chance to.
26:03
How many pages is this?
26:04
It's like 230 pages almost.
26:06
234 pages.
26:07
234.
26:08
Yeah, but one thing, flipping through it, there's so many things I wanted to point out.
26:13
We only have a minute and a half, but I love the part, no closet Christians.
26:18
And you talk about that.
26:20
The fear can drive people into.
26:22
into the closet, but that's not who we are, and Christ should be a light to the world, salt and light.
26:28
But let's continue this conversation next time we have you on.
26:31
I want to make sure you guys know the book.
26:33
It's on Amazon, but also you can go to shepherdofhope.org.
26:38
That's the blog site.
26:40
Pastor Claude puts his books and his great writings on there.
26:44
So, brother, closing thoughts, just encourage the body of Christ to not be silent and not be ashamed of the gospel.
26:52
Well, you know, we can't simply reduce sharing Jesus down to arguments of defense, which is apologetics, or arguments of polemics, which is going on the offensive.
27:03
I think we have to pray.
27:05
I think we have to rely on the Holy Spirit.
27:07
And we have to remember, remember the Apostle Paul.
27:10
He wasn't always the Apostle Paul.
27:12
He began as Saul, the pursuer, the persecutor of Christians.
27:18
And then on his Damascus Road, the Lord Jesus knocked him down off his high horse, and he was transformed into the Apostle Paul.
27:27
So we go into spiritual battle.
27:29
We go, we follow Jesus, and we rely on the Holy Spirit to do so.
27:34
Amen.
27:34
Amen.
27:35
Thank God for the Holy Spirit.
27:37
Pastor Claude Stauffer, Calvary Chapel of Hope.
27:40
Brother, Lord willing, we will do this again.
27:42
Thank you.
27:45
God bless you, friends.
27:46
And as always, keep speaking the truth about things that matter.
27:48
We'll see you next time.