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250 years Part 2 and Christian Prosperity Money Grab
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Welcome back to Be Not Deceived. I'm so glad you have joined us once again and we are continuing in our series of celebration of our two fifty year anniversary for America and this is such a great opportunity for us to look at the historical elements of our country and then also look at the biblical perspectives. And that's really important to us as Christians and especially on this podcast, Be Not Deceived is all about truth and biblical truth. Again, I have Mark Dinsmore with me who is an author and a great friend of ours. Once again, thank you so much for coming and joining me. We are gonna talk about in this episode, is the American Revolution a biblical concept, which I think is a great question, especially when we're looking at it from these two different perspectives. So what can you share with us today, Mark? Thanks, Vicki. That is a question that I began wrestling with about twenty years ago. And as I began to research and unpack this, I was a bit unsettled. I'll have to be honest, I was a bit even dismayed at coming to some conclusions that had an entirely different perspective. So I'll share a little bit more from highlights from an article that I wrote for The Bree and Call, which actually became more or less a series over a couple three years addressing some of these very topics. So I think in our last episode we left off with Christian Patriots, Are You Ready to Die? Oh yeah, Are You Ready to Are You Ready to Die? What a question. And then of course, Are Christians Ready to die too? But are Christian patriots ready to die? Or have they even thought about And that whole as you mentioned, Vicki, we're to die daily, of course, take up our cross and follow Christ. So remember it's the Lord who raises up kings and puts down kings, both just and unjust, right? He allows them to dictate the rules of the land and whether for good or for evil, it ultimately plays out into the plan that God has as He is sovereign over all things. So it'll bring about His will for His people. We see this in Psalm 70 five:seven, Daniel two twenty one, Proverbs 20 one:one. Of course in the example of Israel, judgment must begin at the house of God. Begins at the And house so of we can apply that of course to the modern church, the bride of Christ, you know, and even America. America is ripe for judgment, we would have to say, and so is the church, right? We're in a time of great apostasy. It's increasing. We saw some examples this morning where the the church has literally become a circus. Not to mention that Kenneth Copeland preaches garbage like God was the biggest failure and stuff like this. Who is the big... Who's the biggest failure in the Bible? God is. What you say? The reason you don't think of God as a failure is he never said he's a failure. And you're not a failure till you say you're one. When I read in the Bible where he says I am, I just smile and say yes, I am too. So when we see people like Benny Hinn and Kenneth Copeland saying these things and then see them also working at the same conferences as all these other people I think it's fair to assume that birds of a feather really do flock together and clips like this next one just confirm it. Hey everybody, it's Todd White. We're here at the future home of Lifestyle Christianity, the training center where we're gonna do that school. And I have the privilege of introducing one of the amazing fathers in the body of Christ. Actually, he's really special to me, and I've just for years and years since I've been saved, have just looked at the rock solid ministry of Kenneth Copeland and Gloria Copeland and just what they've done for the body of Christ. I'm overwhelmed with, the fact that he would even be here today. And I'm just so thankful. He's a mentor in my life. He's a spiritual father to not just me, but so many different people that are out there. And I just... What I love the most is the integrity. I love the most the integrity and the power of the truth of God's word, and it's just a privilege to introduce Kenneth to you today. Alright. Bless you. Here's Kenneth. Praise the Lord. Thank you, Todd. Yeah. I tried. I was gonna cry. So... Todd, Jesus himself told you to do this, didn't he? Yes. He did. Can you imagine anyone having an opportunity to sow into the apostle Paul's ministry and they didn't do it? No. Gosh. Amen. It's an opportunity to invest in the kingdom of God. Lord. Told you to do it. He knows what to do about it. He'll fix it. He'll work it. He's already planned it. It was planned before the foundation of the world. And Jesus said, anyone that gives for my sake and the gospel, he shall receive in this life a 100 fold and in the world to come eternal life. Amen. What is it about that you don't understand? I mean, come on. Man, this is so real, but it's almost unheard of. Yeah. Satan did his best to kill everything financial in the body of Christ. In his eyes, the most dangerous thing on the face of the earth is a preacher with money enough to do what God's called him to do. Amen. If he can't get the money, he can't get it done. That's right. That's right. It's time for this. Amen. Amen. We're gonna raise up It's time for this. Thousands and thousands of people going out there and bringing the gospel everywhere they go. And I'm gonna say this to you. You need to be putting your money in here. It it it... It's proven good ground. Todd White's not new. Do you hear me? This is proven ministry. If it wasn't, I wouldn't be standing here talking to you. He's ministered to me. My my... And this this whole group of young firebrands, they got me all turned on. Glory to God. I'll tell you another thing that's dangerous. It's an 80 year old man that has been reborn So good. And refired and got money enough to do what he's called to do. Amazing. I am dangerous. You understand that? Yes, sir. I do. I am spiritually lethal, brother. That's right. I'm so glad you're on our team. Oh, hallelujah. I'm so glad you're in my foxhole. Yes. Amen. That's right. I ain't gonna stay in there, though. No. I'm not... I'm I'm coming out of that hole. That's right. Ain't it good? It is good. This is a time to be alive. It is. Thank you so much for I appreciate everything about you. I love you buddy. I love you too. So that was another sales pitch for their new Vision Training Center. They need something like $9,000,000 to get this going. But the worst part is that Todd is calling Kenneth Copeland a spiritual father and a great man of God when we can see from just a few previous clips that he is preaching a different Jesus. Once again godly men do not partner with obvious heretics. In the Sid Roth show merchandising the gospel, they all seem to have a special experience or secret way to really uncover deeper understandings of God and they are more than happy to share this with you for a price. Now this is Gnosticism that is secret knowledge. The Freemasons do this, the Jewish Kabbalah supposedly gives us deeper understanding but all this mystic understanding is witchcraft under a different label. All we need is the Bible and a relationship with God and He will reveal things to us through the Holy Spirit as He sees fit in His timing and for His purpose. Second Corinthians two seventeen says unlike so many we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary in Christ we speak before God with sincerity as those sent from God. Lou Engel again, Stacey Campbell which was a big part of the Toronto blessing or the Toronto Airport Church with John and Carol Arnaud, Randy Clark, Bill Johnson and so many more and this was not a blessing at all. In fact this is actually where much of this craziness started with the barking like animals and a lot of these crazy people came from. What is the secret to an open heaven? I often share about a guy named Daniel Nash who was an intercessor for Charles Finney. Now many people know the the great ministry of Charles Finney. What they don't realize is that before Finney would go into a town, he would send his intercessor, a man by the name of Daniel Nash, to go and to break open that spiritual atmosphere. Call now and get Daniel Calenda's powerful book, Your Kingdom Come, and his anointed two audio CD, soaking set, Healing in the Glory, yours for a donation of $30 Shipping and handling is included. Ask for offer number 900129. This book that I've written on intercession and on prayer and unlocking the miraculous in your life is going to give you keys to receiving the supernatural. To get ready to receive a supernatural impartation that will motivate you to pray, especially when you start seeing amazing results. You will also receive this two audio CD soaking set, Healing in the Glory. It includes music and Fear not for I am with you. Charles Finney had his ministry in the mid eighteen hundreds and is known as the father of the modern day crusades movement. His new measures and excitements turned out to be precursors to the modern contemporary worship service and the making a decision altar call. You can find all sorts of information on this man but I want to show you just a few of the truths of basic Christianity that he has rejected and taught. Number one is original sin. Finney taught that we were not born into sin. He said this was nonsense and impossible but that we became sinners by following Adam's example. He goes further by calling this truth a stumbling block to the church and the world and an abomination to God. Number two. Finney's denial of original sin naturally led to his doctrine that a person could save themselves by imitating Christ's life and sacrifice. If we sin because we follow Adam's disobedient example we can save ourselves by following Jesus moral example of doing good works including his suffering and death on the cross. For Finney regeneration is ultimately making a man making the choice to cooperate with God not the work of God alone in making a person a new creation. Number three this then led Finney to conclude that Christ's death on the cross did not atone for the sins of his people. He found it strange that God requires us to be perfectly holy if Christ's perfect obedience was sufficient for our salvation. So to be practical Finney said revival preaching had to attract attention. To do this it had to be exciting. It had to suit the taste of the age to reach the understanding of common people. He also felt that using music would give the audience a sense of participation and put them in that proper frame of mind. Finney lives on in our contemporary worship service where the worship of God has been overturned into attracting pagans by gimmicks and all sorts of creative entertainment where and by working people up into an emotional state in healing crusades like we see with Benny Hinn. Finney also lives on in the prosperity churches where the true gospel is being replaced by the name it and claim it message because salvation is not by faith in Christ who died and rose again to save us from the wrath of God but by being a good person imitating Christ and reaping all the blessings thereafter. So let's continue with the rest of the Sid Roth group. He said you're called to be a minister and a missionary to go to Africa, Asia, and England. Sid Roth wants you to walk every day in the same baptism of fire impartation that Heidi Baker has. In appreciation for your love gift of $50 or more, you will receive Heidi's baptism of fire impartation package, which includes her anointed book, Birthing the Miraculous. Through this book, she shares her powerful stories of how the supernatural of God has become a normal way of life for her and how it can become normal for you. Plus, you will receive her two part audio CD teaching, The Love Challenge, where she will pray for you to receive the baptism of fire impartation, so you too can minister God's supernatural love to others. Shipping and handling is included. Ask for offer number 9200 and 60. Now Patricia tells me she has learned how to create atmospheres for God to show up. Give me some examples of this. Absolutely. You know, Sid, God has made us to be co creators with Him because He created us in His image and likeness, you know. And He's a creator and He's a ruler and so we have that anointing resident within us. As we come to learn the keys that are in the Scripture, we can actually create realms and atmospheres. In a world filled with darkness, chaos, and hopelessness, you have been given by God the supernatural ability to create your own world, to shine light into the darkness, to bring God's order out of the chaos, and to manifest the atmosphere of heaven on the earth where salvation, healing, deliverance, and abundance are commonplace. Call now to get Patricia King's supernatural life changing course, Create Your Own World, which includes her book, interactive study guide, plus her powerful 15 part teaching on five audio CDs. The entire course is yours for a donation of $59 Shipping and handling is included. Through this supernatural course, you will learn 12 revelatory biblical keys that will help you break through roadblocks, hindrances, and delays so you can fulfill your divine destiny. Discover how to create kingdom realities in your life that you can begin to inhabit today. Understand how to speak words which bring order of the chaos. Make godly choices that will help bring heaven down onto the earth where nothing is impossible. Create environments of love, victory, and faith in every facet of life. Partnership with God through the leading of his spirit and through the tools that he gives that you could create an atmosphere of heaven on earth in your home, in your workplace, in the marketplace, everywhere that you go, that you could actually go and shift atmospheres for the glory of God, bringing light into darkness, bringing atmospheres of love where there's hate. Imagine that. Your whole life could be transformed. We have access to the heavenlies. We have access to living under an open heaven all the time. 20 fourseven, you can live under if Jesus is in you. He is the way. He is the door. He is the life. He is the one who has opened the heaven. He lives in you. All that activity is based on His presence on the inside of you. Now, Ruth Heflin, Ruth Ward Heflin, was an evangelist, a revivalist many years ago. And she had a lot of glory going on in her meetings. I mean, there would be miracles, signs, and wonders all the time. And, you know, the presence of God was tangible and thick. There would be feathers falling, oil pouring out, gold glitter, you know, silver glitter, all kinds of, you know, fragrances and that as they would worship the Lord. And she coined a phrase. It was praise until the spirit of worship comes, worship until the glory comes, and then stand in the glory. And so, she and this is the first key I'm going to give you is she would open the heavens through praise and worship. She would open that portal. And I've seen that even in our own services at Shiloh. We go from a fenced in place to that realm of glory where there's not a fence for mile after mile after mile after mile, not a wall for mile after mile after mile. Amen. All of the great expanses of the lord. Amen. The firmament of god, the heavenly. Praise the lord. And our heavenly father, we just bless these people this afternoon. We're all here at camp meeting in Ashland, Virginia because we want a greater manifestation of the glory of god in our lives. We want our faces to be changed by the glory. We want that glory to be evident, manifested upon our lives. Upon our countenances. Oh, from glory to glory. Now, we've got Bill Johnson's life changing course, hosting the presence, living in the Continuous Presence of God twenty fourseven, which includes his book, study guide and eight anointed lessons on two DVDs. Yours for a donation of $59. Shipping and handling is included. Ask for offer number 1711. This one of a kind course with Pastor Bill Johnson will prepare you for your ultimate God given assignment. Your access to a lifestyle of signs and wonders starts with the presence of God. That is the heart and soul of the believer's life. Through this powerful one of a kind course, you will begin to witness the atmosphere of heaven everywhere you go. Have your questions answered in the scriptures on how to walk in the supernatural. Receive a powerful impartation to begin fulfilling your God given destiny on hosting the presence of God. Begin demonstrating the greater miracles which Jesus Himself promised that you would be doing. Release a hunger like never before for a fresh baptism of fire helps activate the presence of God in your everyday life. It's just bringing reality of God's dominion into every part of our life, whether it's my marriage, whether it's the way I relate to my children, my grandchildren, if it has to do with cancer in somebody's body, the torment on people's minds, the lost condition of humanity bringing them to salvation. Heaven to earth means God's dominion, his rule being realized. Doctor. Brian Simmons, how in the world did you get into the library room of Heaven? I want to go there. Well, you know, as believers in Christ, there's only one entrance into the realm of the spirit, and that is the name of Yeshua, the name of Jesus Christ. It's, we don't work it up. We don't get into an ecstatic state on our own. I was actually asleep, and I was taken out of my body, and I was brought into this immense library room. I loved being there, and the Lord came up to me and He said, Brian, I have brought you here I brought you here. To let you take any And two books you I'm just walking around, but it didn't take long before I saw a book that I knew I was to have. And then soon I saw another book I knew I was to have. But you'll never want me back on the show when I tell you what happened then. Boy. Well I have to tell you the truth. I saw a third book and I knew the Lord told me I could only take two, and in Heaven whatever you think is put out over the loudspeaker. Everyone hears it. Your thoughts are broadcasted. So here's what I hear coming out of the loud speaker and it's my own thoughts. How can I steal this book? And then I said, oh no, I'm shoplifting on God. I felt so ashamed that I but I knew if I could take this book, there was this book so, if I could just take this book back with me to the natural realm, it would trigger awakening in all the nations of the earth. It would bring the, it would make the name of Jesus famous on the, in the world. But Jesus came to me and said, Brian, I cannot let you take this book. I can't let you And he looked at me in the eyes with love that melted me, and he said, You are not ready for that book. Then he promised, But I will bring you back one day, and I will give you that book. What was the title? Written on the cover of the book was John 22. But there's only 21 chapters in John. What's this 22? Well, John 22. Go back to John fourteen twelve and you'll see that there is a greater works generation. The works that I do, you will do even greater works than these. I believe the John 22 generation will be a people that do the greater works of Jesus. They will not add to the Scripture, and that's a sealed book, but it is a book that is unfolding, and the works of Jesus will be replicated by an entire generation of people that believe fully in the power of God. Right. A circus of entertainment with just Smoke and mirrors. Extremely wild and even disgraceful acts from the pulpit and on the platform. God has a remnant, you know, but we need to prepare ourselves for persecution. As long as the Lord tarries, we're see increasingly perilous times, excuse me, persecution coming in the form of legislation. As I think we've talked about and Pastor Rick on previous podcasts, already we see pastors and Christians in other countries, Canada and in Europe, being arrested, being imprisoned for speaking, for just praying or reading from scripture. So... During COVID, their churches still open. Absolutely. In And so, as a true soldier of Christ, we need to understand the times. We need to have wisdom that we may know what we should do as the sons of Issachar from one Chronicles twelve thirty two. And so we need to prepare our hearts, our homes, our household. We need to prepare our minds and even our community, not for a revolution of might, but for a revolution of mind. As Jesus said, My kingdom is not of this world or else my servants would fight. And so as I writing and publishing this series at the Berean Call, we got lots of love letters. In fact, the mail sacks generated were fairly heavy. I think some of the heaviest that we'd ever received with people who were, know, trying to come to grips with what I was saying. And so let me be clear, I'm not a pacifist by strict definition. You know, the example from scripture is Jesus said, Do you have a sword? Sell your cloak and get a sword. And then he said, Well, we have two. Well, he said, That's enough. So what were these swords for? Were they for overthrowing government? Were they for confronting the Roman army? Were they for storming the gates of the emperor? No, clearly not. That would have been an impossibility. And so, in the same way today, even all of the weapons amassed in all of the households of America are no match for today's, modern surveillance society and weaponry that exists. So we may as well have squirt guns. So the American Revolution, a second American Revolution is not only an impossibility, as I came to learn, it's not biblical. I couldn't find a single biblical example in Scripture of taking up arms to overthrow a government. Our government, yeah. And that was a bit of a surprise to me because that had been my training from youth. And the second amendment, it's a wonderful amendment, but it's not an inalienable right to keep and bear arms. In fact, it can be taken from us. And in most of the world, that right is already stripped away. Yeah, shockingly. Australia, Canada, England, United Kingdom, and so America is next. It's on the agenda. It's a matter of time. So while our weapons are useful, they're helpful for self defense. We should protect our homes, our families. We should defend, come to the aid of the helpless, those who are being unjustly attacked or harmed or threatened. So those rights need to be protected, but ultimately that is not where our hope is in spite of all of the, I would almost call it romanticism over the American Revolution. And that's not to say that there weren't godly men fighting for what they believed. Indeed, they gave their lives, fortunes and sacred honors for the country that we have today. And for that, we're grateful. So the question is, how does that equate with Scripture? Is that what Christians are exhorted or commanded to do? Certainly we must defend our towns, we must defend our cities, we must defend our nation anytime that there is an invasion, anytime that there is an attack. That's a separate issue. But for Christians to form a group to... In an attempt to overthrow an unjust government, I simply couldn't find any biblical justification. And so that brought me to some... You know, a place where just crying out to the Lord, seeking God, investigating His word, you know, we can take great comfort in Jesus' words, My kingdom is not of this world. You know, our battle is not against flesh and blood. We hear that from the pulpit, we read it, we receive it, and yet we rarely apply it. Our first reaction is, if there's injustice, we lock and load, right? You know, an And example is when thousands of patriots cheered when Charlton Heston, he was then the president of the NRA, the National Rifle Association, and of course he's famous for his role playing Moses. Yeah, yeah. And he declared that the only way he would surrender his weapons was when the enemy, our own government, pried them from his cold, dead hands. Yeah. And wow, that was just like a call to arms, it was a grounds, you know, but through study, prayer, reflection, I've come to the personal conviction it would be foolish for me to give my life for this right that's been given to me by man, not by God. And so, though reluctantly and in the flesh, I pray that I will render under Caesar the things that are Caesar's and the God the things that are God's. And if necessary, I'll defend my family and my life without a rifle if necessary, but we must trust in God's ability to deliver us from all trial and all temptation. And I began to think in terms of not just Western culture, not just the church in America, but the worldwide church, the Church of Christ worldwide, the bride of Christ. If there is a principle or a precept from the Scriptures that works for us here, it should work for all cultures. Universally, all the Yeah, universally. It should work for Chinese Christians, it should work for Arabian Christians, whether they're in Iraq in Syria or if they're in a Buddhist nation or an Asian culture, where there is much persecution. In Africa, again, our brothers and sisters are persecuted daily. They're literally being slaughtered daily. And certainly, they're entitled to self defense. But are called to overthrow their government? And it doesn't seem like that is in the scriptures. And so in the like manner, if if we're trying to apply, a principle for America, if it doesn't apply to believers elsewhere in terms of, God, family, country, then it really doesn't work here either. Whitney Webb has pointed out quite quite often the corruption from drug cartels to sex trafficking to lots of things that are money money manipulation, mafia type controls. All these have been there just not highlighted in our necessarily, they're not on the news. You know, maybe the the Jeffrey Epstein has been in the news, but like president Trump says, you know, are we done talking about this yet? You know, this is this is a non issue and let's move along because, and he's right. The corruption has been there. You know, why are we highlighting it now? Why bring it up now? Let's move on and make America great again. A little bit of sweeping things under the rug there. But yeah, question is, as believers in Christ, we're in a spiritual battle, we need to choose what hill to die on. Are we gonna die on the hill of our second amendment rights that are given to us by men? Are we gonna die for nationalistic pride? Or is it far better for godly men to survive in a pagan nation, as many of our brothers and sisters in Christ are in pagan nations? You know, and therefore, even if we're under great persecution, we are maintaining a witness for Christ. Not by violence, not by force. Know, Jesus had many things to say about what we do to those who persecute us and mistreat us. And obviously, you know, protecting the life of her loved ones is very important. But an example in the Old Testament, the life and death trial of the fiery furnace, right? Shadrach, Sarac and Abednego, otherwise originally Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, they didn't go into the flames as national patriots willing to die for their bill of rights, nor did they offer any physical resistance to their captors. Like Christ's, theirs was a peaceful obedience and a demonstration of submission to God who alone is able to save. And in like manner, it's my conviction from what I see in God's word that we should have a similar view. It doesn't mean that we are weak, unfaithful, lazy. It doesn't mean that we shouldn't, again, protect the weak and our loved ones who are... It just means that our enemy is... That we're not called to overthrow a government no matter how tyrannical it is. Yeah, interesting. So you know, the seven mountain mandate really has a different point of view when it comes to that idea. Mhmm. And we can be, political and we can be in office and those things, as far as does Christ actually call us to establish and stand on these seven mountains, right? Exactly. It's not biblically sound as far as what I can Well, and what they are proposing is that there should be an infiltration or, know, taking back these pinnacles or these mountains, whether it be of government and finance and entertainment, etc, from the inside and that Christians should rise to power and prominence, therefore subjecting and subduing the world under our feet. Right. Well, last I read it's that the world is gonna be subjected and subdued under Christ's feet, right. Not us. And therein lies a key core problem with Christian nationalism, is a fundamental misunderstanding and misapplication of the church's place in the world today. And it stems back to even Roman Catholicism where their perspective is amillennialism. And that is that the church is God's representative on earth, taking the place of Christ and ruling and reigning by establishing a universal kingdom of God, a false religion, and even in concert with a false government. And of course that has led many throughout history to believe that Roman Catholicism is the woman who rides the beast in Revelation chapter 17. That was the view of Dave Hunt and other scholars as well. You know, today we have a, I think, a little better understanding of what that is emerging to be. But the concept of Kingdom Dominionism largely comes from Augustine and through Roman Catholicism and it's saturated various sects and movements in Evangelicalism today. Yeah. So a lot of people have been kind of tricked into taking up that kind of idea, you know? And that's not, you know, they're disregarding what is to come out of the book of Revelation and Daniel and the messianic kingdom that is literally going to be on the earth in Jerusalem and Jesus is going to be King of Kings and Lord of Lords on the earth. On the earth. And the temple will be built and Jews will... You know, that remnant of Israel is going to be ruling and reigning and then us, of course, as believers are gonna be the as we were raptured, we're gonna help rule and reign also. So it hasn't happened yet. And unfortunately, a lot of the people who are buying the perspective of that the rapture is gonna be at the very end when Jesus returns, that God's people will be called up and then straight back down again. Like the great U-turn in the sky. Yep, whew, whew, whew, Back and down. Because we have Jesus in our heart that we are... That the kingdom of of God is on the earth right now. And then a lot of that is is is not literal, not taking the Bible as it states it's going to happen in Ezekiel. And I mean, Ezekiel is great at describing the exact dimensions of the millennial kingdom and some people just don't believe that that is actually going to be built. Spiritualize and believe it's Spiritualize, a static that's what I was gonna say. But where things are spiritualized, you prove those things through the Bible and the Bible should always prove the Bible. You should be able to take the scripture and say that this ties to this and it's pretty clear. Right. Yeah, so it's important not to be deceived by buying into some of these people who are trying to teach this way of thinking and disregard the prophetic things that haven't actually happened yet. We are waiting in anticipation for the rapture we're waiting in anticipation for the tribulation to start the judgment, the wrath of God, which we are not subject to God's wrath. And you touched on the seven mountain mandate and that false view of kingdom dominionism. And that directly ties in with the health, wealth, prosperity gospel. Yeah. And I think that is a real reason why so many Christians are struggling with it, is that message of prosperity has been preached. I mean the other night in the hotel on the way up here, channel after channel after channel, I'm not kidding, we flipped through at least a dozen channels. Every channel was one false teacher, another false teacher, another false All of them teaching and proclaiming health, wealth, prosperity. Yeah, we're blessed with the best. But you gotta send in your seed, you gotta send in your seed. Yeah, you gotta send your money in. And so, people have been conditioned to look for a kingdom on this earth. Right. And believing that God, since God has prospered America for so many decades, that we are destined and bound to increase, ever increase in kingdom prosperity. Because God's hand is in it. But I think as you were listening to John MacArthur earlier, he was describing what percentage of that movement of Pentecostalism and the Health, Wealth, Prosperity are actually broke. Yeah, yeah. The majority of the followers are in the poverty level. Poverty level. Poverty level. And they're just really hoping that what these evangelists or these false teachers, Kenneth Copeland and Creflo Dollar and Jesse Duplantis and all these things that boast about having airplanes and jets and how God has done all this. And God will do it for you too. You know, if you go to Vegas, at least you know that the mobsters that run the casinos are gonna take your money. And... But when you go to church, you're thinking that that God is in it, you know, and and that that you can take this to the bank, you know. If I plant my thousand dollar seed like Paula White tells me to, God has promised to return that to you tenfold, you know, however amount back. I used to believe that, I used to follow Kenneth Copeland and study his tapes and his ministry. Such a grievous deception. Yeah, and I just had no idea. So I understand if you're following these ones on TV, you can easily be deceived because they do open the Bible and give the false impression that they're teaching biblical truths. When you finally step away and you realize that these are not biblically sound doctrines and teachings, I just pray that you could be set free from that and know what the Bible truly teaches. Get under a pastor that teaches biblical truth and it doesn't have anything to do with prosperity and Your Best Life Now. Joel Osteen writes a book, Your Best Life Now. And he can't answer a straight question about salvation. It just drives me crazy. And then he can fill a stadium full of people who are willing to buy into that kind of stuff. It's sad, I'd much rather be in a remnant church, small and rich. Amen, yeah. Rich in spirit and rich in discipleship and just knowing what God's word says and including prophecy, including biblical sound doctrine and knowing from Genesis to Revelation what God is teaching us and believing that God's word is sure and sound, I can trust it. Truth is very important and it is the foundation of what Christians should be relying on. So that's why we're here pointing out today as we celebrate two fifty years, but truly celebrating God's word and the truth that God loves us and He will guide us and we are His children. Just pray that you will follow Christ in truth. Amen. And then as we point out the things that are, maybe our mind is somewhat jumbled together as political countries, politics, compared to biblical perspective and biblical truths, so. Right, and part of the whole dilemma is, again, for generations, prosperity has been equated with God's blessing. Yep. And material prosperity has been equated with God's blessing, and that's not always the case. In fact, we're to set our things on the things of heaven, not on the things We're our treasure lives. And we're not to love things, not the world or the things in the world, right? For that's enmity with God. And so these prosperity teachers are proclaiming the American dream as part and parcel of the gospel. And they're confusing and conflating it and really polluting it. They're perverting the true Gospel of Christ. And when you realize that, as I came to these conclusions and realizations, it refocuses our heart and our mind to be on the things of heaven and to begin redeeming the time because the days are evil, as Paul says in Ephesians. And not having anything to do with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them, expose them, and with the understanding that we're not building heaven here. Bringing heaven down to earth, that's one of And so we're so intent on creating our castles around us and on the American dream, which sadly today, as we're quickly realizing, is falling apart, it's crumbling like sand right before us as the world is being intentionally cast into the fire as it were with controlled demolition of our economy, controlled demolition of our freedom, controlled demolition of our rights and our prosperous way of life, which we've been blessed with for, you know, at least since World War II. Yeah. We've had great freedoms, great freedoms in this country. Freedom in Christ is the number one important freedom to have. Amen. And even as John Adams acknowledged, he was again our second president, one of the founders, he said, It's fruitless to force biblical government upon an immoral people. That's paraphrasing his quote, that the constitution was made only for a righteous and moral people. It's unsuitable for the governance of any other. And so when the salt has lost its savior, it's good for nothing but to be trampled underfoot. And so we see that today, that the Church has lost its savior by and large. And if we can't even reform the Church, you know, as we see example after example of false teaching, false prophecy, kingdom dominionism, prosperity gospel that is leading people astray as these teachers fill their own bellies with their mansions and their jets, The true Church, the remnant Church, is seeing these things, but the world is, again, the truth is being evil spoken of because of these people. And so it's incumbent upon us to redeem the time because the days are evil. And so that should change our hearts and affections from the things down here to the things above. Amen, amen. And the Lord tells us to store up our treasures in heaven where moth and corruption will not take it away. It's a better investment anyway. Excuse me, amen Vicky. That leads us to the punch line. It's actually a whole another article, number two or number three in the series, but Christian patriots are ready to die. Not for your country but to it. Are we ready to die to the American dream? Are we ready to die to our ideal of what this nation should be or could be that never really was destined to be, never prophesied to be? But we look for a kingdom of heaven, we look for a city whose builder God, is Yeah. Amen. Yeah. Just like Abraham. Yeah. Amen. Love that. Yeah. That's exactly, you know, here, we're always thinking, you American, Americans Christian nationalists are you ready to die but not necessarily physically die but to die to your idol of America first basically. Right. Know, when Christ needs to be first. Amen. And not that we roll over against tyranny, but that we have the correct perspective of a Godly perspective. Yes, and then it was a cry of the revolution and many of you might look and recall the yellow flag with the snake on it that says, well the phrase that I was referring to is resistance to tyranny is obedience to God. Don't tread on me, was the Yeah, or the snake. But resistance to tyranny is obedience to God. Do we find that in scripture? Yeah. That's like saying cleanliness is next to godliness. You'll find chapter and verse for that. Right? Sounds biblical. It sounds biblical, but Might not quite be right. It's not there. Yeah. Interesting. And so we need to, you know, that's still a rallying cry of many and it's a belief of many who again romanticize the American Revolution and try to use that as an example for Christian living today when in fact it's contrary to the very principles and example of Christ and the disciples. Yeah, we need to keep our eyes on Jesus. Again, think I said that last episode, but keep your eyes on Jesus and continue to learn and grow in his word and find out what god's... God says about daily living as a Christian. And as our pastor would say multiple times that we are promised in our promise jar suffering as Christians because because the devil still is on the earth and his Roaming about, seeing Yeah, whom he may whom he may devour. So until Jesus opens that seal and takes back possession of the earth, we are still under that curse. Right. And Jesus has prevailed. When he died on that cross, it is finished. But then at the same time, we are waiting for his plan to unfold and for him to take possession of the earth and that's during Revelation, during the tribulation. Yeah, is there anything else you wanna include in this part of our series? Yeah, I think it's fitting to mention that when the Scriptures exhort us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, we're really praying for the return of Christ because peace can't come until the Prince of Peace comes. Amen, Jesus is the Prince of Peace. And it's so easy for the church to lose sight of that fact that that is really what we're looking for. And what Scripture, what Peter says we should hasten to is that coming day of Christ. And it's not doom and gloom, that is the Lord's return to rescue and redeem Israel, His And we will be coming back with Him to do that as He establishes the millennial kingdom. And so, you know, once again, we do lament the loss of our freedoms, even the loss of our prosperity. It's gonna become increasingly difficult in the coming days to raise children in particular, and we do pray for all those with families and young ones. So much more important than to bring them up in the admonition of the Lord, teaching them and training them in the way they should go. And that we all should be earnestly contending for the faith that was once delivered to the saints. And not being contentious, not contending with rifles and shotguns, right? But we're using the sword of the spirit, we're using the word of truth because we're wrestling not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers. And we need to pull down every stronghold, every lofty idea, thought, philosophy that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Amen. Is really our armor. Amen. Love Our mission today. Amen. Okay, so the next episode, I believe we're going to start looking at the different prominent Christians in our world that have... We're going look and see what kind of perspective they have about America And we're talking about Pat Robertson. Who is some of the other ones that we were gonna look at? Well, some of the more offshoots of that would be Lance Wallow. You mentioned the seven mountain mandate. Any of those in the NAR, the New Apostolic Reformation. But it's the whole idea that America was a city on a hill and that it was destined by God to be the crown jewel of all the earth. And so yeah, it'll be important to unpack that. I'm excited about that part and I think you guys will be very interested to see what we uncover. So please join us on the next episode of this series which is a biblical perspective of America in two fifty years of our country. So thank you so much. Thank you Mark for joining me on this adventure and I can't wait for the next one. So God bless everyone and we love you so much.
About This Podcast
Be Not Deceived Podcast with Vicki Wiederrich
Be Not Deceived is a podcast dedicated to looking at Biblical truth and comparing it to the lies the world and the devil is telling to cause deception in the church and in our society at large in the present day. The devil is trying to deceive as many as possible, but God always wins!
