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June 23, 2017 - Jim Bakker Show
31:51
The Silent Church - Revelation In The News
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Compromise in Beliefs 00:15:22
Hi, I'm John Woodall, and thank you for tuning in to Revelation in the News today.
Today we have a special new co-host that's going to be joining us on Revelation in the News.
This is Esther Flax.
Hi.
Students.
Esther, tell us a little bit about yourself.
My name's Esther.
I'm just one of the students from Morningside School of Media here, and I know a lot about God and stuff, so they have me on the show.
Yes, and your father is a police officer.
You're from Kennedy.
Yes, he works at PA State Capitol Police in Harrisburg.
Wow, that's really awesome.
So we get a really great perspective from Esther, and so we're really excited to have her on the show.
Well, today in the news, one of the big things that we wanted to discuss and talk about is the silent church.
America has over 300,000 churches, but few would contest that the Christian culture is now on decline.
So we have a B-roll that we have ready that I think you guys need to see if you haven't seen this yet.
In the piece that I referred to that you wrote for a publication called Resurgent, you wrote, Muslim, quote, Muslims do not simply have a deficient theology.
They do not know God because they have rejected Jesus Christ, his Son, and they stand condemned.
End of quote.
Do you believe that that statement is Islamophobic?
Absolutely not, Senator.
I'm a Christian, and I believe in a Christian set of principles based on my faith.
That post, as I stated in the questionnaire to this committee, was to defend my alma mater, Wheaton College, a Christian school that has a statement of faith that includes the centrality of Jesus Christ for salvation.
Again, I apologize.
Forgive me.
We just don't have a lot of time.
Do you believe that people in the Muslim religion stand condemned?
Is that your view?
Again, Senator, I'm a Christian, and I wrote that piece.
Well, what does that say?
I'm going to write the statement of faith of Wheaton College.
I understand that.
I don't know how many Muslims there are in America.
I really don't know, probably a couple of million.
Are you suggesting that all of those people stand condemned?
What about Jews?
They stand condemned too?
Senator, I'm a Christian.
I understand you are a Christian, but this country is made up of people who are not just.
I understand that Christianity is the majority religion, but there are other people who have different religions in this country and around the world.
In your judgment, do you think that people who are not Christians are going to be condemned?
Thank you for probing on that question.
As a Christian, I believe that all individuals are made in the image of God and are worthy of dignity and respect regardless of their religious beliefs.
I believe that as a Christian, that's how I should treat all individuals.
Do you think your statement that you put into that publication, they do not know God because they've rejected Jesus Christ the Son and they stand condemned?
Do you think that's respectful of other religions?
Senator, I wrote a post based on being a Christian and attending a Christian school that has a statement of faith that speaks clearly with regard to the centrality of Jesus Christ in salvation.
I would simply say, Mr. Chairman, that this nominee is really not someone who is what this country is supposed to be about.
Bible vote, no.
Now, I would like to say Article 6 of the Constitution immediately tells us that it is not legal to put somebody on the stand for their religious beliefs.
Now, There's a lot of other issues.
What is his belief?
What does his religious belief have anything to do for the job?
Now, he was going for that White House Department of Finances and Budget.
I'm not sure why putting him on the stand for what he believes religiously has to do with the financial budget of the state or the country.
I don't know.
But what do you guys think, Corey?
Well, for me, if this doesn't make you mad, I'm not sure what will.
I mean, is this being talked about in the pulpits right now?
I mean, this is real.
When I watch something like this, I feel like I'm watching a movie a little bit.
It's unreal that people are actually being told that they can't get a job because of their religion, specifically because they're a Christian.
I think it's super disappointing, too, because I was a huge Bernie Sanders supporter.
Like, I loved Bernie Sanders.
I went to almost all of his rallies that he had in Philadelphia.
And we really, I think our whole generation thought of Bernie Sanders as this, like, lovable old man that really was just pushing for change and like super liberal.
But it seems like he's only liberal when people agree with him.
Like, as soon as nobody agrees with you or somebody thinks something that's different than you, then you're not so liberal anymore.
And it's actually funny how he's being intolerant to somebody because he feels like they're being intolerant.
The Bible says in 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 1, and this is a scripture that we bring to you almost every single week to you.
But I want to remind you the times that we're in today, the Bible calls it in the last days, perilous times.
What are those times?
Vicious times, dangerous times, times that people will look after themselves and seek out their own benefit in order to gain political power.
Now, let me explain to you something that prophetically, we're living in the days where the gospel of Jesus Christ is going to be pretty much on trial every single time.
The Bible says that because of me, they're going to persecute you.
Understand one thing.
The church today is being silenced because we have not been allowed to be in public office because of what we believe that Jesus Christ is in our hearts, right?
One of the things that made me upset about this is he wasn't on trial or he wasn't on the stands because of what he was put to be in office.
His faith became the moral issue.
How does your faith become the moral issue of the day when it has nothing to do with the job that you're being interviewed for?
Yeah.
Explain that.
I mean, how does that work?
How does that work, Ricky, when your faith, if you go after a job, does your faith is going to allow you to either get the job or not get the job?
Well, that's the beauty of America.
No matter what you are, if you're a Christian, if you're a Muslim, if you're an atheist and don't choose religion, you can run for public office and you can serve the country of the United States of America because we don't have rules saying that just because you are a certain religion, you can't serve the country.
Well, I'll tell you exactly what that is.
That's discrimination based upon religion, that the fact that he can't get a job because of what he believes in.
Any other place that you go to work, if you went to go work at Staples or McDonald's and you discriminate against anybody for race, religion, you wouldn't be able to get hired or you would be fired if you were the manager probing somebody upon their belief system.
You know, we keep asking the question, where are the leaders to stand up for the church?
Where are the leaders that, what can you do as a leader to stop this?
I mean, we've talked about this off the camera and we've have to come up with solutions of what can normal people, what can civilians do in order to have a voice and not let the church be quiet or be silenced.
I mean, I've always grown up the last 25 years knowing that the church is only good to feed the poor.
And as long as you do that, you can shut up and go back to your corner.
But you have no political power or political influence if you're a Christian.
Now, when something goes wrong, who do you think they come to look for for help?
They look for the church.
They look for the pastor.
They look for the nearest community leader that can come and help them out.
But when it comes to you know, being in public office or having a voice of influence, we're not good enough.
He pretty much said, we have no fit.
We have no room in such office.
Let me ask you guys this.
Has tolerance in the church, has that become like a divisive political correctness to keep us all quiet, to keep everybody from speaking up as to what they believe in?
Well, the thing is, we have confused very, very terribly grace and tolerance and the judging not spirit.
And we've confused that very bad.
Tolerance is not grace and grace is not tolerance.
Grace is the ability to walk up to somebody that you see as doing wrong and because you love them, say, hey, this is what I see is happening and this is what we can do to fix it.
Now, that's not me coming up to you and judging you because I think, oh, you know, that person's going to hell because of their actions they're doing.
It's me loving you enough to say, please pull out of this situation where tolerance says, no, you know what?
They're doing what they do, but I have nothing to do with that.
And that is a sad thing because if we as a church become tolerant to sin, we therefore lose the care we have for someone's soul.
Could it be described as possibly compromise?
It absolutely is compromise because the church has gotten to a place where we want to be so user-friendly that we are scared to address the issues that pertain to the soul.
You know, Ricky, we've been working out together for a couple weeks now, and there's one thing that always comes to my mind is ironing, sharpening iron.
And it's almost come to a point where you can't even correct a friend.
You can't correct somebody.
I mean, if you saw me like lifting weights improperly, I'm going to end up incredibly hurting myself, possibly for a very long time.
And if it's getting to a point where you see that somebody is about to go down a road that you know is very well destructive to their livelihood or to their physical body, is it not your job?
Is it not the job of the church to step in and try to divert them, try to say, hey, there's a better way.
Absolutely.
The thing you have to remember about ironing, sharpening iron is we have these church meetings, we have these events, and we've made it just like a motto that, oh, we're coming together.
We're going to be iron-sharpening iron when we don't realize that that sometimes is a painful process.
The sword always isn't comfortable when it's being put to the stone to sharpen or when another sword is rubbing against it to sharpen.
That's not always a process that somebody wants to go through, but it's necessary to be effective for the position you're about to be put into.
And so what we're talking about today is we're talking about building each other up.
We're not talking about excommunicating.
I don't have the power to send people to hell or not.
What I have the power to do is to bring the gospel, the truth, you know, to bring reconciliation, to bring healing.
That's our jobs as Christians, not to try and lock people out of heaven.
You know, I think the church has become a weak place where the church used to have the power of influence in our communities and the people's lives.
Today, the church doesn't preach about repentance anymore.
The church doesn't preach about the altar anymore.
The church doesn't even want to talk about having an altar call to come to know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior.
The church doesn't do what the church used to do.
Therefore, the church is being picked apart by political leaders and by anyone that can have power by any means necessary.
The church is getting attacked.
What can we do to change this?
We have to speak up.
We have to stand up.
We have to start doing what Jesus Christ did.
That's getting involved with the community.
That's getting back to where people live.
The only way you can change the outlook of the church is go back to what Jesus was doing.
That is to what?
To be involved in people's lives, whether it be in the political realm or whether it be to going to someone's house and having dinner with them.
But either way, there was power of influence.
And today, that power of influence seems to be silenced.
I think it's also just this culture that we've subscribed to of compromise.
And that culture breeds complacency.
When you're compromising, and as the church and individuals, even when we don't say the name of Jesus because we think it's going to offend people, when our beliefs are being attacked, then we're not going to stand up.
We've already compromised in our beliefs.
When they're being attacked, we're going to be complacent.
Compromise breeds complacency.
And it actually addresses this in Ephesians 5, chapter 6 to 15.
Right here it says, walk in the light as children.
Let no one deceive you with empty words.
For because of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience.
Therefore, do not be partakers with them.
Do not compromise with them.
For you were formerly in darkness, but now you are in the light in the Lord.
Walk as children in the light, for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth.
And the other thing we're seeing is a direct attack on truth.
You know, just recently, Devin Nunes, he went on the stand saying that there has never been any inclusion or collusion between Trump and Russia.
If you want to look for any collusion between Trump and Russia, look to the Democratic Party.
Look to Hillary Clinton, who sent over uranium a couple years ago.
That's the only thing that we have right now.
But it also goes on to say, proving that what is pleasing to the Lord and do not have fellowship with unfruitful works of darkness.
Instead, expose WikiLeaks, you know, John Podesta, the spirit dinners, spirit cooking, expose those things, expose the evil that's going on.
But, for it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done with them in the secret.
But in all things are exposed when they are revealed by the light, for everything that comes visible is light.
Therefore, he says, He says, Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.
It goes on to say that, see then that you walk carefully, not as fools, but as wise men, making the most of the time because the days are evil.
This scripture is talking about that we need to live intentionally.
It says in Ephesians 2:10 that Christ has prepared good works to do for us in advance.
So it's not like we have to live intentionally and do the works of Christ.
That's right.
Right now, we're also seeing another issue is that the church is becoming very apathetic.
You know, like disconnected, head in the clouds, not caring about what's going on around them.
We have a B-roll right now that I really feel like you guys should watch.
This will with Brian Walsh from the previous band Corn.
He has gone to get saved and become part of the body of Christ.
Preparing The Way Of The Lord 00:14:24
So go ahead and roll that B-roll.
If you were a missionary being sent to the darkest places of the world, we would applaud you within the church.
Oh, isn't that man brave?
But here you are coming out of the darkest place, meeting Christ, going back to the dark place.
And people say, oh, how dare you do that?
You know, you're going to draw my son and daughter away.
Well, listen, if you're a good parent, you're not going to be encouraging him to necessarily believe the lyrics that right now you're singing.
And the story is not done.
I don't know if he's going to convert your whole man.
I don't even know if that's his plan, okay, at this point in time.
God will let you know, and everybody here knows this, you know, but when it's time for you to step out, you'll step out.
And I'm just telling you, like, I had a full-on, like, the Lord clearly showed me to go back, you know, to this thing.
I had a, I had just crazy just experiences with him for 30 days of my house.
And then my pastor and two pastors and a prophet confirmed to me to come back.
So it's just, what do you think?
Well, you told me a story a couple of days ago, and he said he went out and he was watching Band Chevelle, and a huge crowd out there.
And head was looking at it, and they're all like, devil horns and all that.
And he's like looking at it.
And he said he got emotional and like started crying because God touched his heart and said, those are my people.
And I was like, wow.
I was like, oh, watching the metal man getting like emotional.
And it touched me because we do corn concerts in the crowd.
And so everybody's like, it's like, God's going, those are my people.
I was like, wow, they're all, we're all his people.
We got to go touch them.
And how can we do it if we leave?
You know, there's this point that I want to bring it back to is that as the church, as the body of Christ, one thing that we need to keep in mind is not creating even deeper division in America, but we need to be the ones uniting.
There is a force, a power, something going on right now in America, trying very hard to try and divide, you know, whether you're white, black, Mexican, Caucasian, you know, whatever you are, if you're a Christian, non-Christian, atheist, whatever you believe, there is this effort to try and divide and split everybody up and put everybody into like their little categorical sections.
But what ends up happening is this balkanization state where we all become quarrelsome and ineffective with one another.
And it needs to be our job to not turn a blind eye to all of this, to recognize what's going on, what's taking place, and be the alternative.
Mondo, do you have something to add?
You know, I just think that we go back to we're in the last days and you have to understand the times that we're in.
And the times that we're in are days of pressure, the Bible calls them.
And those pressures are going to be leading to deceiving so many people and destroying relationships, destroying churches, destroying the very prophecy that Jesus Christ came to live and die for.
But what we must do as the church, what can we do?
That's to stay vigilant and to stay in prayer, to stay involved, not forget about people.
Listen, Jesus Christ came to save the world.
I mean, we can go back to the staple scripture of John 3, 16 that pretty much summarizes the whole message of Jesus Christ.
But that is being questioned today because people are being deceived, whether it be by fake news, whether it be by messages that people are preaching on stage that don't, it's not even relevant to today's world.
What is God saying through the message that we're living our lives with?
What is the message?
Do we forget about people where we come from?
No, we don't.
We have to bring the message back to the people.
Listen, the Bible says in Matthew 24 that take heed that no one, no man deceives you, for many will come in my name saying, I am the Christ, and I will deceive many.
There's many people in this generation that are being deceived because they don't understand the revelation of Jesus Christ.
And the revelation comes through having intimacy with Jesus.
The revelation has to come with having a relationship with him.
You have to sanctify Jesus in your hearts.
I love what 1 Peter 3, 15 says.
It says, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts.
Always be ready to give an answer to every man who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you with gentleness and fear.
We are to have an answer, and that answer comes through being in relation with him.
Yes, and not only that, but educating yourself.
And what I see here is educate yourself so that when people, and you will have arguments, why do you believe what you believe?
Well, you need to know the reason for that.
And you're exactly right.
That comes from intimacy and studying the Bible and really knowing what you believe because we are in perilous times right now.
Times that are going to test your faith, times that are going to make us question everything we know.
And this is what we need to stand on.
And we need to be courageous enough to stand on it because it's going to get scary as we're seeing with Bernie Sanders attacking this nominee.
You will be ridiculed for it.
Revelation 21, 8, it lists things that God hates.
And one of those things is the cowardly.
The cowardly.
Cowardly means without courage.
We need to have courage because God will hold us accountable for what we know.
But not only that, but also for acting out what we know.
You know what, Cora?
I love what you just said.
And I was about to read your scripture, but I'm glad you read it because, again, if you want to understand what time are we in right now, is it time for the church to be courageous?
Why?
As you see on the table here, you will see the news that are happening right now.
And the Bible says that men's heart will fear, right?
They will fear because they don't know what's going on.
But when you understand the revelation of Jesus Christ in the book of Matthew 24, you will understand that Jesus predicted what's coming.
And if we're not ready to have the courage to stand up for the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are going to be caught unaware.
And the very purpose that we are supposed to be fulfilling, we're going to miss that great moment to let people know about the relationship that you have with Jesus Christ through this great event that Jesus predicted in the book of Matthew 24.
One of the biggest reasons I believe that the church loses hope and that we lose courage is because the church has become way too sin conscious that we get in our pulpits and we should address sin and we should address it very clearly for what the Bible says.
But that shouldn't be the only thing you talk about.
The spiritual warfare aspect, we shouldn't talk about how big the devil is without saying how much bigger our God is.
We have to remember this.
We have this weird mindset about repentance that we have to sit there and beg and ask and plead for God's forgiveness and cry for hours.
And if that happens, then so be it, because that's what needs to be released inside of your heart for the healing process to begin.
But repentance simply means recognizing the wrong and turning from it.
We have to recognize that we are being cowards and turn from that and start speaking out.
Yes, exactly.
You know, I love what Francis Schaefer said.
He said, we as Bible-believing evangelical Christians are locked into a battle.
This is not a friendly gentleman's discussion.
It's a life and death conflict between the spiritual hosts of wickedness and those that lay claim to know who Christ is.
Opposition is guaranteed.
This is not, being a Christian isn't for the silent.
It's not for the weak.
It's not for the cowardly.
It's for those that want to stand up for what they believe in.
And you're going to be challenged every day with the times coming up.
What we're talking about is preparing the way of the Lord.
The Lord's return is coming soon.
We do not know the day or the hour, but the season right now that we're seeing all around us every day in the news about how tides are changing.
The cultures are changing.
Morality is changing.
Be aware.
Don't turn a blind eye to what is going on.
I love what Ephesians 6, 12 says.
It says, for our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual forces of every evil and the heavenly places.
And you know, that made to the ears may sound like a discouraging scripture because there is a lot of opposition facing you.
But when you realize who your God is and that we already have the victory, we realize that these things, yes, will oppose us and yes, they will fight us, but no weapon formed against us shall prosper.
That doesn't mean it won't be formed against you and used for its original purpose, but it won't prosper.
You know, I got another verse for you here.
You know, we're seeing a lot of discord, disagreements going on within our higher elected officials.
But what does the Bible say?
For understanding, you know, I might not approve of everything that our president does, but keep this in mind.
Romans 13, 1 through 2, let every person be subject to a governing authority, for there is no authority except from God.
And those that exist are appointed by God.
Verse 2 says, Therefore, whoever resists the authority resists God and has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.
So I don't care if you don't like Trump.
I don't care if you don't like Obama.
Everybody is set in place for a specific time and a specific reason.
I believe that the previous administration, you know, going all the way back, you know, several years, a decade, that each one of those people were set in place for a time such as this.
Because right now, Christians wouldn't be, they would stay asleep if everything was just going good.
It's a natural reaction when things are good just to go along with the status quo.
But the moment you're challenged is when we're all supposed to stand up.
So don't turn a blind eye to it.
John, so what you're saying is, if I don't agree with you, it's not okay to call for violence against you?
No.
No.
You know, there's actually a B-roll with Loretta Lynch saying something about that.
If you guys would play that.
I know that this is a time of great fear and uncertainty for so many people.
I know it's a time of concern for people who see our rights being assailed, being trampled on, and even being rolled back.
I know that this is difficult, but I remind you that this has never been easy.
We have always had to work to move this country forward to achieve the great ideals of our founding fathers.
And that has been people, individuals who have banded together, ordinary people who simply saw what needed to be done and came together and supported those ideals who have made the difference.
They've marched.
They've led.
Yes, some of them have died.
This is hard.
Every good thing is.
We have done this before.
We can do this again.
Wow.
You know, I know we all have some comments on this.
I want to let S go ahead and let us know.
I think first and foremost, as Christians, we have to, we have a ministry of reconciliation.
That's first and foremost.
And when we're calling for violence in the streets, I'm not going to neglect that there were real issues going on in the community that people were frustrated and angry about.
And that's why you have this reaction of anger, of wanting change, of wanting to riot in the streets and everything.
Is it justified?
No.
But we can't condemn the reaction without looking at what she was reacting to.
I want to validate that there were real issues there that people were really concerned about.
But it's never okay to call for violence.
And I think that it all depends on the type of leadership that you have that leads this type of events to happen.
I grew up in the inner city of Los Angeles.
I was a part of something that took place in 1992.
And the leadership that led that movement were as much as responsible as those that were creating the violence.
I agree with you.
Were there real issues that need to be talked about?
Absolutely.
Are there needs that need to be heard?
Absolutely.
I think there's a voice that is missing.
And unfortunately, leaders like Loretta Lynch, they prey on those people that are weak and they turn it around and they let you know, well, we need more resistance.
We need more violence.
We need more.
That's not the way you fix things in the community.
That's not the way the Bible tells us to fix things.
We got to work together to figure out the type of leadership that we have in our communities will always depend on the outcome that we have at the end of the day.
Absolutely, I agree.
You know, there's something big going on right now.
The Senate Republicans have drafted a new version of the health care reform bill.
And some things that you should know about that as the elect or as they're basically going to vote on whether this passes or not.
The measure would repeal tax increases from Obama's law imposed on higher-income people and medical industry companies to pay for expanded coverage.
It would also end the tax penalty Obama statue imposes on people who do not buy insurance, in effect, ending the so-called individual mandate.
The Senate measure would also block federal payment to Planned Parenthood.
Now, what does that mean?
Under Title I, Subtitle A, pages five and six, if you get a chance to look at it, if the pregnancy is the result of an actor rape or incest, or in the case where a woman suffers from physical disorder, physical injury, or physical illness, as certified by a physician, putting the place of the woman in danger of death unless an abortion is performed.
The Senate would also provide $50 billion over the next four years that the states could use in an effort to shore up insurance markets around the country.
But the bill would fail if three of the 52 Senate GOPs do not pass this vote.
So keep an eye on that, guys.
We also have going on around the world here in the states details of a major weapon bust in Broome County.
Broome County Attorney District Attorney Steve Cornwell announced details of a major weapons bust in Broome County resulting in the arrest of one man who has been seizured of numerous weapons.
Keep an Eye On Stocks 00:02:21
He has four counts of criminal possession of a weapon, second degree Class C felony, criminal possession of a weapon, third degree.
And they found on him when they arrested him four loaded handguns, eight assault weapons, 64 high capacity ammunition feeding devices, one loaded gun, one loaded shotgun, two rifles, thousands of rounds of ammunition for rifles, pistols, and assault weapons, including a 50 caliber with armor piercing incendiary rounds, numerous firearm parts, and flak jackets.
This guy was ready for a war.
So keep an eye on what's going on in the news right now.
A couple of things that I did want to address real quick is standing up against these calls for violence.
And we need to do everything that we can each and every day.
Write your senators, write your governors.
Stay in the Bible.
What's going on with North Korea?
What is the latest news?
Well, right now, North Korea is asking the United States to stand down and to basically stop doing military drills with South Korea.
So keep an eye on what's going on over there.
It's a very tense situation that keeps going on.
You know, John, with Trump rallies, I love this.
Stock market sets seven new all-time records in June.
Media silent.
I think that there's also something good and positive to say about our president, and our stocks keep going up and up.
That's a good sign.
Providing jobs to the country, providing new opportunities.
And with opportunities come our positions, right?
I didn't know if you saw this one, Mondo, but the New England Patriots owner has now opened up a professional football league in Jerusalem.
Wow.
So maybe we'll be able to see some teams going over there for a match.
Wow.
So stay tuned for the next revelation in the news.
Remember that these are the times that Jesus spoke about in Matthew 24.
He says, you will hear wars and rumors of wars.
See that no one be troubled, for all these things must happen, but the end is not yet to come.
So stay tuned for more Revelation in the news next week.
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