Transcript

Truth Set Free Q&A · Crosswalk

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Jesus tells us to take up our cross and follow
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Him. You're listening to Crosswalk with Pastor
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Steve Winnery. Crosswalk is the radio ministry
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of Calvary Chapel Tri -Cities and it is our aim
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to lead you to the cross through the teaching
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of God's Word. Today's crosswalk is pre -recorded
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from True Set Free. We would not have most of
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the problems that we have in our nation right
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now. We would not have the problems we have in
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Washington state. So for our state we lost the
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governor election something about like 400 ,000
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votes. When I say we, it's like I'm not saying
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that my candidate was in there. I'm saying I
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would not vote for Bob Ferguson as a Christian.
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Right. So we lost by 400 ,000. How many Christians
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and churches in Washington sat the bench and
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go, yeah, whatever. I'm not going to get involved.
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I'm going to just sit here and read my Bible.
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Right. And so now we've got Bob Ferguson, who's
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in there doing all kinds of completely unbiblical
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things. Wicked. Wicked things. And he was doing
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wicked things previous to being the governor
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when he was the attorney general. And so he got
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in because Christians sat the bench. And so I
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think that there's accountability there. Absolutely.
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And this is why I encourage people to be involved
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with the nation. Originally, When you are looking
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at the original colonies, many of these colonies
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in their constitutional documents would not allow
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a non -believer to be in office. Almost all of
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them. Yeah. And even if they allowed it, they
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had in their charters declarations to the supreme
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God of the universe and sometimes they would
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name him by name Jesus Christ. Right, yeah. And
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so when you're looking at this, one of the reasons
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that we've got the situations that we've got
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is because the church has not been doing its
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job. We are not the influence that the Bible
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says that we're supposed to be. And so I love
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to share the gospel with people. I love to evangelize.
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I've led a lot of people to the Lord over the
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years. And I also want to be influential in politics
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as much as I can be. And so the minimum is voting.
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And that's how I see all this stuff. God's put
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me on the planet in a certain place at a certain
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time to have influence. And why would I not use
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the influence that he's granted me just by being
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born in the United States? I can literally influence
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the world from where I'm at. I don't put all
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my trust in politics. I don't think the major
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problem that we have in the United States is
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political. I think it's specifically heart issues.
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We have too many people who don't know Jesus,
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and we have too many politicians who don't know
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Jesus. And part of the reason for that is the
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same problem. What the Church has done is abdicated.
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So we don't have Christians who are running for
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office. If we had more Christians running for
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office, and they were actual Christians, we would
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have awesome things going on in the United States,
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but we don't. I think that's one of those things
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that needs to be turned around. So God's put
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us here, He's given us tools that we can use
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to change the world that's around us. I know
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that I'm obligated to use every tool that He's
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given me. Okay, I have a question about that.
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Yeah, okay. So here's a verse. It's out of Matthew
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chapter 5 It says you are the light of the world
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and it's just talking to believers Right a city
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that is set on a hill cannot be hidden nor do
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they light a lamp and put it under a basket But
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on a lampstand it gives light to all who are
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in the house Let your light so shine before men
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that they may see your good works and glorify
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your father in heaven so For people that don't
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know or haven't listened to our discussions on
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this the church is not the one running the government
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right so That's not what we're saying. But if
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I'm a believer that's doing this, if I'm being
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a light to the world, then the church's job in
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communicating the gospel to be a light that shines
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before men and that they may see your good works,
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it's a natural application regarding that is
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that I would make a difference in my community,
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in my school, in my family, in my nation. So
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why do you think This has got so convoluted in
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the church where believers literally Disregard
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this verse they put a basket over the light But
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they can't understand that they're actually doing
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that. Why do you think that is? I think ultimately
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it's satanic So he doesn't want us to have influence
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in anybody's life Yeah, cuz if we don't go he's
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gonna go right gonna send his guys and so when
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I look at witnessing when I look at going to
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work, I understand I'm as shy as anybody else,
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one -on -one with people. And so I understand
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the conflict that you have when you're at work,
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you're talking to a friend, and you want to bring
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up Christ, and you're afraid to. I get that.
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I understand it. But the fact that I'm afraid
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to doesn't mean that I don't do it. Because again,
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I'm accountable before God to make sure that
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I'm spreading the gospel. I think many times
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the whole attitude of, well, I'm going to shine
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my light, but I'm not going to be vocal about
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it, or I'm going to let them see my life, but
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I'm not going to say anything. Same kind of thing.
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It puts people in a position where they have
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just walked away from the influence that God's
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given them. I think that Satan encourages that
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attitude. That's the first thing. The same thing
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that we've got going on in the political arena
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where Christians just decide that they don't
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want to have anything to do with politics is
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exactly the same type of situation that we have
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in the arena with evangelism. Well, I'm not an
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evangelist. I'm not any good at that. You know,
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I don't know what to say. I don't know all the
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excuses. And God hasn't called me to that. And
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again, I'll just shine my light or whatever.
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And so we say nothing and nothing happens. And
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the reason that you see the world turned upside
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down in the book of Acts is because they did
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not do that. They did exactly the opposite of
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that. And so, when I'm looking at the political
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arena, you gotta look at this from a spiritual
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warfare standpoint. This nation, I mean, you
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just quoted the passage out of Matthew chapter
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five. I don't know if people know this, but when
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the nation was put together, that's what they
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were calling the United States. a city that was
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set on a hill. They were using exactly that passage
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to talk about the fact that we were going to
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be a nation that was going to be under God. They
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thought of us as basically a new theocracy in
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that sense. In fact, part of the reason that
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Washington had such problems with the first battles
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in the Revolutionary War is because the guys
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who were and who I'm talking about is like John
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Adams and these guys. The guys who were instrumental
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in putting the United States together were thinking
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in terms of ancient Israel and that the army
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should be an all volunteer army who could leave
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at any moment. instead of being an army that
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was set up and paid and things like that. They
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wanted it to be like Israel. Yeah, that's where
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you get the militia and the minutemen and all
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those guys. Yeah, exactly. That's what they were
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looking at. And because of that, you had guys
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who would sign up for a year, and then they would
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take off. and they wouldn't come back. And so
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one of the struggles that Washington had was
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getting an actual army, like an army of the United
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States. And so finally, after a few battles,
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Congress finally went for that and realized that
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they weren't being realistic about that. That's
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the extent that these guys were going to when
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they were looking at setting up the United States
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government. They wanted it to be framed on basically
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the same situation that Israel had with God.
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And so they did not want a king. And as a matter
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of fact, Thomas Paine specifically wrote about
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the fact that Israel had no king. and that it
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was the separate tribes that were running the
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different parts of Israel. And they had judges
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that would be raised up at certain times to be
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in charge of basically the armies of Israel.
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And that then these guys would be replaced by
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somebody else, but they never had a king. And
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so he specifically talked about the fact that
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there was no need for a king. In fact, it's not
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something that God wants. wanted originally,
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and so why would we have anything that approached
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a king? And so the original framers were looking
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at something that was much less, basically when
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you're talking about the executive branch of
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government, much less authoritative. Yeah. And
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so they had to work all these things out when
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they were putting the Constitution together.
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So that's how far these guys were going. These
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guys really believed that God was doing something
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here with the United States that was absolutely
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distinct. And again, that's what I think too.
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She talks in here about Freemasons and their
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influence. Washington was a Freemason and he
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was a high Freemason. And so I don't know all
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about masonry, but he became a Freemason in 1752.
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He started running the lodge in 1753. And so
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I don't know how indoctrinated you can get in
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Freemasonry in a year. These guys were pretty
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sharp. but that's how quickly he was in charge
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of everything in that situation. Benjamin Franklin
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was also a Freemason. Who else? Warren was a
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Freemason. Paul Revere was a Freemason. But when
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you look at the Freemasons that were involved
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here, specifically, there were 56 signers to
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the Declaration of Independence, and only nine
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of them were Masons. And you have to remember
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that these people who are doing these things
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are representatives of the different states.
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So these are delegates. They're not guys who
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just came along and decided that they were going
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to make a country. So you've got delegates from
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the different colonies that are coming together.
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When you're talking about the Constitution, 39
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guys who were involved in the Constitutional
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Conventions and 13 of them were Masons. And so,
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it's not like they were all Freemasons. And when
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you're talking about independence, it's not Ben
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Franklin or George Washington that are the fathers
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of our independence. It's John Adams. And John
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Adams, specifically, was not a Freemason. He
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was a believer. Samuel Adams, same thing. The
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guy was not a Freemason. He was a believer. When
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you're talking about the father of the Constitution,
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it's James Madison. He specifically said that
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he was not a Freemason. Usually when we're talking
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about the Declaration of Independence, we're
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talking about Jefferson. Jefferson also was not
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a Freemason. And he's the one who penned the
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Declaration of Independence, but John Adams was
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the one who put it all together. And so Jefferson
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wanted Adams to pen the Declaration of Independence.
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Adams told him, basically, I'm not going to do
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that. Needs to be somebody from Virginia. And
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also, you write better than I do. Yeah. Yeah.
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So. The writer of the Declaration of Independence
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was not a Freemason. The man who was called the
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father of the Constitution was also not a Freemason.
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And so, again, you add some there, but not all
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of them are. I agree that Freemasonry is messed
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up. It's a works trip. Basically, it's a caricature
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of Christianity. I totally agree with that. Do
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you know how far, like, when it started, was
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it cultic off, like, your statement? characterizing
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it right out of the gate or did it morph over
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time into something that was what it is now well
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it has morphed over time Freemasonry is basically
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a Gnostic society yeah it's yeah it's like super
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secretive so like I'm just verbal processing
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this but they're coming out of time where the
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sons of Liberty throughout the war are doing
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these secret societies to hide from the British,
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they're writing in codes, they're doing stuff.
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And you could see guys coming together and continuing
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that on after the war as some type of... What
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do we have, like the Eagles and different clubs
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that we have? Obviously, Freemasonry is unbiblical.
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I'm just wondering how weird was it in the beginning
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compared to what it is now? Yeah, and I don't
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know that, yeah, specifically. I don't know enough
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about Freemasonry to know that. Here's one thing
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that I do know is that there are a lot of websites
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that are conspiracy theory websites. And so,
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you have to get your facts right. And one of
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the statements that you made is that all these
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basically, the guys who put it together, the
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government of the United States were Freemasons.
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And I've already pointed out that you've got
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less than 16 % of them that are signers to the
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Declaration of Independence and only a third
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of them. And again, these are delegates. These
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are people who are sent by the states. or by
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the different colonies to put these things together.
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I don't know that these colonies are looking
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for Freemasons. They're just looking for politicians
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that are being involved there. And so the fact
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that masonry, these guys are involved in masonry
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doesn't mean that masonry is the cause, is the
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point that I'm making. And so you have to watch
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out for that kind of reasoning. The other thing
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that, Felicia, you talk about in your comments
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here has to do with Seventh -day Adventism and
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last days. basically eschatology, the last days
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theology. Seventh -day Adventism is highly aberrant
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as far as Christian denomination. For example,
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they believe that Jesus is Michael the Archangel.
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They obviously have some issues with the whole
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keeping of the law. They're aberrant in their
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interpretations of the book of Revelation. And
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that is not something that I would go with. I
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don't think that the United States is Babylon.
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Jeremiah chapter 51 makes clear that God is going
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to destroy the real Babylon. He's never done
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that. And Revelation chapter 17 indicates that
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Babylon is what gets destroyed in that passage.
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And I understand that people go through and they
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allegorize scripture and specifically prophecy.
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I'm not a guy who does that. I think that if
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God wants to identify nation, he will just identify
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the nation. And he's really good at doing this.
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He identifies in the Bible what we would call
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Russia and uses the people groups that live there
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and the geographical area that they come from.
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He identifies Turkey, he identifies Iran, he
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identifies Egypt, he identifies all of these
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nations. He identifies European nations by implication
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and he could easily identify the United States.
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States of America. And he did not. I'm not somebody
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that holds to the idea that the United States
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is Babylon or that the United States is the lamb
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speaking like a dragon. Specifically, Ellen White,
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this is where things get aberrant with the fundamentalist,
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Adventist. They believe that the United States
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is going to come up with a Sunday Sabbath law
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and demand that everybody that keeps the Saturday
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Sabbath switch to Sunday, otherwise they're going
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to be executed. That is Seventh -day Adventist
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teaching. They believe that the mark of the beast
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is worshipping on Sunday. So first off, that's...
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Wait, so they're going to move it from Saturday
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to Sunday? Yeah. The Sabbath. from Saturday to
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Sunday. Okay, now I understand what you're saying.
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Right, yeah. And so anybody that's worshipping
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on a Sunday is taking the mark of the beast.
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Highly aberrant, very strange teaching. There's
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nothing in Scripture that indicates any of that.
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What the Bible says, the mark of the beast, is
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a mark on your right hand or on your forehead.
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And again, God knows how to say things. And so,
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I recommend that you take the whole eschatology
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that you got from Seventh -day Adventist and
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re -examine that. There's some really good books
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on the Book of Revelation. I've done a number
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of series on the Book of Revelation. You can
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go through and check those things out. There's
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a great commentary on the Book of Revelation
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by Walverd, W -A -L -V -O -O -R -D. and it's
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just called the Book of Revelation. He does a
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really great job of going through and giving
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you a good idea of what's being spoken about
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in those passages. And so, I don't want to make
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this all about the Book of Revelation, I'm just
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warning you about the whole thing with Adventism.
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I never went looking for this, but when I did
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start to study the Founding Fathers, just because
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I want an idea of our country, what nation am
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I living in, how was I founded, I wanted to be
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a citizen that was informed. I'd like to know
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a little bit about... everything if I can. And
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I was not prepared to see God's hand in the founding
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of our nation in all the magnificent ways that
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they wrote about. And if you read about the founding
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fathers, I'm not saying they were all evangelical
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Christians. You can't study the Revolutionary
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War and the founding of our nation and what these
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guys were saying and how the Puritans came without
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seeing God's hand and miracles throughout the
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process. If you're walking in without an agenda,
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unbiased, looking at what happened. So, study
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it out. It's actually pretty cool. That's why
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I think that in the beginning, America was founded
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with Christian principles. Are we a Christian
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nation now? No. Were we founded on Christian
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principles? Absolutely. All right, Pastor Steve,
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I have a mister—I'm going to mispronounce this—it's
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a YouTube name, Larry Lareven...Larevenman? I
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don't know how—I'm saying it wrong, but that's—I
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post his name if Mike puts on the screen. He
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says, in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, Let me just
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read it. Seems to me that 2 Thessalonians chapter
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2 are gathering together to him, which is what
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he quotes, is the rapture. It says the rapture
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happens after the falling away and the man of
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sin is revealed. What are your thoughts? So is
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that talking about the rapture in 2 Thessalonians
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chapter 2? Yeah, let's go through it real quick.
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Verse one, and how does that apply with what's
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going on there in the falling away? I agree with
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you that that's talking about the rapture. It
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says, now brethren, concerning the coming of
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our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together
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to him, we ask you not to be soon shaken in mind
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or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by
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letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ
20:08
had come. Okay? And so he's writing them. to
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disabuse them of the fact that the day of Christ
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had come. And in some translations, you have,
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for example, the day of the Lord. You know, when
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you go through the Bible, there's this, and what's
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his name again? I don't know how to pronounce
20:30
it. It's a YouTube name. So I won't call you
20:32
by name. But when you go through the Bible, there
20:35
is this thing called the day of the Lord. and
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the day of the Lord is the period of time that
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begins with the rapture of the church with Jesus
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coming and taking the church out and the whole
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tribulation period and it goes on through the
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thousand year millennium and it ends with the
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destruction of the old heaven and the old earth.
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and the creation of the new heaven and the new
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earth. That's called the day of the Lord. You
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see this language throughout the Old Testament,
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you see it throughout the New Testament also,
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where it will talk about the day, or the great
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day, or the day of the Lord, or the day of the
21:15
Lord Jesus Christ, or the day of Christ. And
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this is specifically talking about what we would
21:22
call the tribulation period. And so the reason
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that Paul is writing to these people is because
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they've been told that the tribulation has started.
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That's the point. So again, brethren, concerning
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the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering
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together to him, we ask you not to be soon shaken
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in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word
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or by letter, as if from us as though the day
21:47
of Christ had come. And so he's talking about
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the tribulation period and these guys are troubled
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because they've been told that the tribulation
21:57
period has started or the day of Christ or the
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day of the Lord has begun and they had apparently
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been told something else. The something else
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that they'd been told was that they weren't going
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to see it. And so Paul goes through and he begins
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talking about why they're not in the day of the
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Lord. And so the next thing that he says is in
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verse three, let no one deceive you by any means
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for that day will not come unless the falling
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away comes first and the man of sin has revealed
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the son of perdition. If you're looking at your
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Bible right now, that day will not come is in
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italics in my translation. It's not there in
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Greek. It's been put into the passage to try
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to clarify it for you. How it actually reads
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is, let no one deceive you by any means, for
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unless the falling away comes first and the man
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of sin is revealed, the son of perdition who
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opposes and exalts himself above all that is
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called God or that is worshiped so that he sits
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as God in the temple of God showing himself that
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he is God. And the point that Paul's making here
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is that you're not in the day of the Lord because
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the falling away has not happened, the man of
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sin is not revealed, he has not exalted himself
23:18
above God, and he hasn't committed the abomination
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of desolation. Basically what Paul's saying is,
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you guys, if you were in the day of the Lord,
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you would see a major apostasy. If you were in
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the day of the Lord, you would see the man of
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sin. If you were in the day of the Lord, all
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of these events would be... taking place, therefore
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you're not in the day of the Lord." That's all
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he's saying to these guys. He goes on and says,
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do you not remember that when I was with you
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I told you these things? And now you know what
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is restraining that he may be revealed in his
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own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already
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at work, only he who now restrains will do so.
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That's all the time we have for today. If you
23:58
have questions for Pastor Steve, please email
24:00
me at crosswalkradio at gmail .com. or you can
24:03
leave a voicemail or text message to 707 -872
24:07
-7677. The Crosswalk is the radio ministry of
24:11
Calvary Chapel Tri -Cities in Kennewick, Washington.
24:13
If you're wanting to know more about what it
24:15
means to follow Christ, then please contact our
24:17
church office by phone at 509 -736 -2086. You
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can also look us up online at calvary -tricities
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.org. There you will find a wide variety of Steve's
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teachings to listen to or to download for free.
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If you want to join us for church sometime, we're
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located at 10 -611 West Clearwater Avenue in
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Kennewick, Washington. Our Sunday service times
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are 8 .30 and 10 .30 a .m. We also meet at 6
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p .m. Sundays and 6 .30 p .m. Wednesdays in our
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sanctuary. We hope you have been blessed today
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and will join us again next time on Crosswalk.