4th of July and Idolatry

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Looking at our world from a theological
perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast

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making Theology Central. Good afternoon,
everyone, I guess I guess we should

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do this. Good afternoon everyone,
and happy fourth of July, at least,

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I guess for those of us in
the United States of America. It

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is Thursday, July the fourth,
twenty twenty four. It is currently three

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four pm Central Time, and I
am coming to you live from the Theology

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Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. Now, I don't know

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who the person was who thought it
was a brilliant idea to dedicate two weeks

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of having everyone for the sermon's two
point oh sermon challenge simply focus on watching

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the live webcast and listening to the
live webcast. Whoever that person was,

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they had no idea what they were
thinking. They were clueless, they had

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no idea what they were doing.
They made a horrible, horrible decision.

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And whoever that person was, I'm
going to find them and I'm going to

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hold them accountable. There will be
consequences. Okay, ladies and gentlemen,

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we know that that person was me. I Look, I'm being honest with

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you. I did not think about
it, right, I just like my

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thinking process was, Hey, we've
been doing the sermon's two point oh app

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challenge now for over half a year. Okay, I think we've tried a

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lot of new and different things.
I've tried to keep it interesting. I've

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tried to be creative. There's something
we haven't done. Instead of listening to

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random sermons, we'll just watch and
listen to random live webcast. That that's

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a great idea. So before I
really thought about it, I turned on

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the microphone and told everyone, Hey, for the next two weeks, let's

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focus on live webcast. And then
it dawned on me, oh no,

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the first week is going to include
the fourth of July. The first week

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is going to include the fourth of
July holiday. What am I thinking?

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Because immediately I realized, oh man, many of these webcasts, it's going

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to be just a display of patriotism
and politics in the American church. Oh

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this is going to be irritating.
This is going to be frustrating. This

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is going to be aggravating. But
I don't know it, if, if

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even I was prepared for what I
started seeing, because I started seeing things

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happening in many of these churches for
their worships. Yeah, they were worshiping.

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I just I just don't think I
just don't think it was God.

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What these worship services from everything in
the sanctuary, you know, like the

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front of the pulpit covered with an
American flag, or a little display in

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front of the pulpit with seventeen seventy
six and the American flag and just all

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this, you know, things that
represent the country, patriotism, nationalism,

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almost like covering up what the church
is actually supposed to be about. I

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just sat there watching and listening,
watching and listening, and I was just

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like, I cannot take this anymore. So I was just really frustrated and

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really aggravated, and instead of turning
on the microphone just kind of mentioning specific

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webcasts that were currently happening, are
reviewing one as soon as it was finished,

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I kind of just decided, you
know what, I'm done, Like,

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I'm not gonna watch anything else.
I'm just gonna I'm just I'm gonna

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close the app down. And you
know, I know I told everyone to

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do this, but I've watched mine. You know, I've done one every

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day, so you know I have
participated. But I just can't keep watching

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this. I just cannot do it. I'm just going to get more and

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more frustrated. So then I kind
of moved on doing my own thing.

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And then I started thinking about it. Well, I mean, it is

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the fourth of July. I only
have a few hours to possibly broadcast because

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in a couple of hours there'll be
fireworks going off all around, you know,

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the studio, so it'll be interrupting
any broadcast. And then I was

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thinking, well, not, no
one's really going to be listening anyway,

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so do I even do a broadcast? But then I thought, you know,

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I I've got to talk about this, right even if it's even if

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it's even if no one agrees with
me, even if it doesn't benefit or

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change anyone's mind, I have to
talk about it so that I can just

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kind of in a sense, I
can process it. I can I can

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put it out there, and then
I can move on because I addressed it.

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Because I don't feel many will address
it. I think many will think

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it's an amazing display of patriotism and
nationalism and a love for country, and

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that it's amazing and it's beautiful and
it's wonderful. Many will celebrate it and

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praise it. But I am not
of the opinion that it's anything to be

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praised or celebrated. I think it's
sad and I think it's frustrating. So

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I'm going to try to present this
discussion, hopefully in a meaningful way and

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it will be beneficial. But we're
going to be discussing the fourth of July

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and idolatry. We're going to be
talking about idolatry not in the culture,

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but inside the church. See,
if the culture is involved in idolatry,

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well, okay, of course,
why, I mean, why would we

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not expect that, right, we
would expect the culture to be involved in

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all kinds of idolatry. But the
idolatry that we should be most aware of

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and be most concerned of, is
not the idolatry outside of the church,

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but the idolatry inside the church.
And if you really think about the Bible,

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yeah, it mentions the idolatry of
the culture, but the real focus

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is always on the idolatry of God's
people, the idolatry happening within Israel,

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the idolatry happening and our lives,
and that constant reminder to put away idolatry,

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Do not commit idolatry, do not
bow down to graven images, et

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cetera, et cetera, et cetera. The Bible is filled with and in

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fact, you should just take the
time one day to find all the Biblical

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commandments and prohibitions and examples of idolatry, because the Bible constantly condemns it.

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But I believe the fourth of July
comes along and many churches engage in just

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full blown idolatry. They just as
well, you know, just remove all

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of their clothes and start dancing around
the golden keff, because that's basically what

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it has become. And it's maddening
to me. So I know, I

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was thinking, you know, so
what do we do? What do we

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do? What do we do?
Well? The thing that kind of motivated

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me to just go ahead and start, you know, writing down some notes,

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and you know, coming to the
microphone. I know it's, you

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know a little after three pm on
you know, July the fourth. I

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mean, come on, I bet
you, I bet you. I have

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zero listen listeners right now, but
I don't even I doubt there's anyone even

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listening right now. But that's okay, that's okay, you know, because

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maybe this is just for my own
mental health to be able to process this.

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But what happened is I had an
article saved in my notes library entitled

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seven False Gods in the Present Age, Seven False Gods in the Present Age,

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and I'd been waiting to possibly do
a podcast about it, right,

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do an episode, and maybe we
could do like a mini series on the

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seven false Gods in the present Age
and do one, do an introduce episode,

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kind of introducing them, and then
do an episode for each false god.

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I thought, I was thinking,
like, we're trying to design something

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like that, but then, well
then I have kind of the little mini

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series going on with Revival. We
still have our Saw eighty three, so

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I'm like, you know, I
don't want to necessarily add one. So

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I've just been saving it, just
saving it, saving it, saving it.

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But I saw it there in my
notes, and I'm like, seven

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false Gods on the present Age.
Well, let me at least see how

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the article begins, right, let
me see how the article begins. And

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so I decided, you know,
let me let me do a little reading

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of it. So this is how
the article begins. The Study of the

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Fall of civilizations is to believe is
believed to be a complex phenomenon considered by

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sociologists, historians, archaeologists, and
other academics using a variety of theories and

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methodologies. All right, so I
want you to hear a part of that

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again, the study of the fall
of civilization. So obviously they're going to

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be talking about some of this related
to the fall of a civilization. I

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want us to consider maybe this idea
of false gods as it pertains to the

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fall of God's people, the fall
of Israel, the fall of the Church.

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I want it to your personal fall, my personal fall, like like,

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I wanted to see it more from
that perspective. But okay, it

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says these academics study economic, political, social, and environmental external, environmental,

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external, cyclical, and technological dynamics. By examining these various factors,

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scholars aim to understand the multifaceted process
that leads to the fall of a civilization.

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However, the Bible gives a much
simpler answer for the reasons culture fail.

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Cultures fail and end up on the
ash heap of history. So they're

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looking at this more from a cultural
phenomenon, a cultural perspective, and I

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say that, Hey, within the
academic world, they look at all of

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these varied things, all these different
categories, to try to determine why,

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you know, civilizations crumble, why
they fall, whin they end up on

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the ash heap of history. Why. According to this article, the Bible

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gives a much simpler answer. Well, what is the simpler answer? Well,

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they then have a kind of a
heading here entitled Understanding the Fall of

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Civilizations. They make a reference to
a book entitled Idols of Destruction. Idols

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of Destruction sounds like a possibly interesting
book. In this book, the following

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is stated again the name of the
book Idols of Destruction, and I'm going

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to go to quote directly from it. In place of these analogies by academics,

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the Biblical explanation of the end of
societies uses the concept of judgment.

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It depicts them civilizations as either having
submitted themselves to God or having rebelled against

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him. The Old Testament betrays Israel
as having become an evil nation, fully

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deserving the judgment God needed to it
is. It's rebellion against God was accompanied

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by turning to idols, and this
idolatry brought the nation to its end.

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With silver and gold, said the
prophet Hoseiah. They made idols for their

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own destruction. Hoseiah, chapter eight, verse four, with silver and gold.

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They made idols for their own self
destruction. Now I'm gonna look up

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Hoosea four and a couple of translations
here. I don't know what translations are

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quoting. I want to see how
many translations agree with that reading. Right,

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let me find it. Here,
should be just a second. Here,

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we'll find it, and we'll look
at it. Here's Hosea, chapter

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eight. When it's a newer Bible, it's always hard to find exactly where

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it is or But this is the
one that was sitting in front of me.

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Hosea, chapter eight, verse four. It says here they set up

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kings, but not by me.
They made princes, but I did not

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acknowledge them from their silver and gold. They made idols for themselves. That

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they made that they might be cut
off, So that they might be cut

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off, is how it's rendered in
the New King James. I'm gonna look

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at the King James. Let me
reach down and grab that bible. That's

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the new King James. All right, let's look at the King James.

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Hosea Chapter eight, first four south. Quick I can find it in a

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Bible I typically use. Or they
have set up kings, but not by

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me. They've made princes, and
I knew it. Not of their over

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in their gold. Have they made
them idols that they might be cut off,

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almost identical. So the idea of
being cut off, the idea of

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being destroyed, the concept is clearly
there. The Israel made out of their

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silver and gold idols to their own
destruction. Now again, this article wants

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to take this and apply this to
the culture or to nations. I think

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this is an example of the downfall, the fall, the destruction of God's

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people, or we could say the
downfall of the church. At least of

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course, in one sense, the
church will always be there, But I'm

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just talking overall in general, the
downfall of the church. For depending on

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your system of eschatology, many of
us feels like things are gonna get worse

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and worse and worse and worse.
And when we talk about getting worse and

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worse and worse, a lot of
times we put our focus that it's gonna

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get worse and worse in the culture, it's gonna get worse and worse in

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the Church. And I think the
thing that's going to get worse and worse

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and the Church is the Church is
going to become a source, is going

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to be the house of great idolatry. Just like Israel corrupted the temple and

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moved in idols into the temple.
One of the signs of the end times

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apostasy of the church. The Church
will be a source of idolatry. That's

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at least my hypothesis. As ancient
Israel went, the Church too will go.

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The Church will slide into greater and
greater apostasy. The Church will now

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become the temple of idolatry. We're
gonna move in. We'll still be claiming

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to be worshiping the true God,
we still will be using some of that

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language, but ladies and gentlemen,
it will be worshiping something other than God.

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So this article goes on to say
idolatry and it's large meaning is properly

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understood as any substitution of what is
created for the creator. People may worship

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nature, money, mankind, power, history, or social and political systems

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instead of God who created them all. I'm going to read this like fifteen

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times. All right, I want
you to pay close attention to this all

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right, idolatry and its larger meaning. It's properly understood as any substitution of

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what is created for the creator.
People may worship nature, money, mankind,

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power, history, or social and
political systems instead of the God who

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created them all. Do you hear
that last part? That they may worship

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social and political system systems instead of
God who created them all. I'm going

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to add I'm going to add a
word here. People may worship nature,

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money, mankind, power, history, social nations, and political systems instead

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of the God who created them all. The New Testament writers in particularly recognize

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that the relationship that the relationship need
not be explicitly one of cultic worship.

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A man can place anyone or anything
at the top of his pyramid of values,

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and that is ultimately what he serves. The ultimacy of that service profoundly

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affects the way he lives. When
the society around him also turns away from

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God to idols, it is an
idolatrous society, and therefore it is heading

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for destruction. I think when the
Church becomes an idolatrous society, and I

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think time and time again, the
church. Look, we always want to

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look at the idols in the culture. We always yell about the idols of

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the culture, social media, music, entertainment. Wait, we always sermon

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after sermon after sermon after sermon after
but we sometimes we'll be literally standing next

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to our golden calf while we scream
at the idols of the culture. Well,

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everyone is in the church is taking
off their clothes and dancing around the

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golden calf inside the sanctuary, and
nobody wants to point it out. It's

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always easy to miss your idol when
you're worried about someone else's idol. You

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need to worry about the idol and
the sanctuary before you worry about the idol

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in the public square. And I
think there's some idols in the sanctuary,

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and nobody wants to admit it.
The first commandment, according to this article

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is you shall have no other gods
before me. The commandment does not acknowledge

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the existence of other gods as real
entities. Instead, it emphasizes the exclusive

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worship and devotion to the One True
God. Nothing must ever come before him

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or be first in one's heart or
life. The Lord is to be loved

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supremely because he is supreme and worthy
of being supremely adored and obeyed. John

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Calvin, the sixteenth century theologian and
reformer, has said man's mind is like

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a store of idolatry and superstition,
so much that if a man believes his

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own mind, it is certain that
he will forsake God and forge some idol

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in his own brain. Idolatry is
who we are now, the first and

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greatest idol. Okay, now,
just to make sure we understand this,

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before we talk about the idol in
the sanctuary, let's always remember there's already

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an idle inside all of us.
It's our sinful nature, and the sinful

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nature exalts us. We are our
own idol. We don't like to admit

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it. The idol, the greatest
idol of your life is you. You

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want to see your idol. Look
in the in the mirror. That's the

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idol you worship. That's the idol
you serve. And you even use the

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concept of God to better serve that
idol, which is you. God becomes

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a tool to the exaltation in the
worship of yourself. I do it,

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you do it, We all do
it. They go on to say,

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this insight, this insightful observation I
should as I should read it. Reading's

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especially true today the Western world,
long shaped by the precepts of Christianity,

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now finds itself on what many describe
as a post Christian era. The shift

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is evident in society's increasing turn to
modern idols. So now this is it.

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They're gonna look at this from a
societal standpoint, from a societal standpoint,

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and at some point I will look
at it from a societal standpoint.

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But what I want to do is
stop right there and say, you know

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what, Now, what we need
to do is stop looking at how the

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post Christian culture. I think we're
in a post Christian church. I think

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the post Christian church has become a
house of idolatry. And I think one

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of the greatest idols inside much of
the American church today is the God,

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the idol of Are you ready patriotism
and politics? Patriotism and politics, patriotism

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and politics. And all you had
to do was focus on many of the

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webcasts that broadcasted live on the Sermon's
two point oh Approbta dot sermonadio dot com

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website, especially those that aired yesterday, which was July the third, because

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that was Wednesday. Many, many
of the churches that had their Wednesday night

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service dedicated it basically to some capacity
to patriotism to America. To the songs

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that were being sung that was exalting
America, talking about our faith in America,

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America. I'm a patriot, I
serve my country America, America,

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America, America. So the songs
that were sung in many cases, look,

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there's no other way for me to
describe it. They were just straight

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up blasphemous, and I don't know
why. In some cases, it's kind

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of like, does that not violate
the the you know, the terms broadcasters

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have to agree to to even broadcast
on the platform because they're literally blaspheming God

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by exalting something else before God.
But no one will ever call it into

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question, because hey, if it's
patriotism and politics, as long as it

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as it's republican, as long as
it's conservative politics, we don't care,

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even if it becomes our idol.
And as long as it's patriotism for America

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and not some other country, we
got no problem with it. Because these

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are the idols, these are the
golden calfs that nobody is going to ever

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call into question. But not only
did it go from the songs, it

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went from the deck of the sanctuary. It was insane. One as he

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was preaching, literally there was an
American flag draped over the front of the

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pulpit, So, in other words, the pulpit was covered by the American

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flag. How dare you do that? You cover the pulpit with the American

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flag? That is utter blasphemy.
And then some had like in front of

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the pulpit that had a little display, had a little sign that said seventeen

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seventy six a folded an American flag, I don't know, some other nonsense.

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And I'm like, what is the
inside the sanctuary? And everybody's just

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sitting there going, ay man,
I'm proud to be an American. And

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I'm like, what is happening?
Why don't you just why don't we just

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say, hey, we're the Church
of the Golden Calf, draped in an

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American flag, and it's all good
because as long as it has the red,

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white, and blue, we don't
call into question how big the Golden

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Calf is. It's just an absolute
abhorrent form of idolatry. If people brought

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other things into the church, this
is what's such. The hypocrisy of this

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drives me crazy. If people brought
in other songs about not about America,

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but about something else, and they
brought other decorations in about people, like

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what are you doing? You can't
do that in church. Why you can

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do it to the America. You
can bring in all this American stuff,

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which you have no New Testament example
of doing this. You have no command,

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you have no ex forget the regulative
principle. I don't I think this

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is even a violation of the normative
principle. You got no biblical support for

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turning your sanctuary into a kind of
a an altar to the United States of

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America. That is not allowed that
I don't even know how that is taught.

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People should walk into the church and
go no, turnout, kids,

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let's go. We're not going to
be a part of it. This has

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nothing to do with Christianity. This
is a worship service to a country,

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not to the worship. And I
know the church will say no, so

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we're worshiping God and being grateful for
a country. Well, then you just

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worship God and you leave all of
this symbolism of America, leave it off

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the church property. It's just complete
idolatry. But you can't call it in

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to question. You can't because if
you do, you'll be attacked for your

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lack of patriotism. You will be
attacked for your lack of love of country.

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Wait wait, wait, wait,
So now you're going to judge someone

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because of their lack of patriotism,
of love for country, not because maybe

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they're trying to stand I don't know
for the scriptures that say, do not

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have any other God before me.
Now, everybody, everyone, there's idolatry

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in all of us, In me
and in you. That idolatry manifests itself

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in variety of ways, and all
of it is equally wrong. The idolatry

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in me is just as equally as
wrong as the idolatry that I think was

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has been on full display in many
churches for their so called, you know,

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Celebration of America nonsense. The church
is the church has never been called

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to engage in any of that.
So this article goes on to talk about

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the gods of our society, and
at some point we'll talk about them,

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but I want to talk about the
God inside the American church, the the

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idol, the false god inside the
American church, and I think it is

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patriotism and politics. There may be
many others, but since it's July the

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fourth, this is the one we
have to deal with, right. So

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I did a little bit of work
and copied some things down and just started,

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you know, trying to kind of
create my own thoughts here so that

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I could process this. In my
notes, I just put fourth of July,

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and then I have a couple of
paragraphs. Here's one paragraph. In

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the Bible, idolatry is the worship
of idols or false gods, putting anything,

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anything, or anyone above the one
true God. It involves giving reverence,

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adoration, devotion to something other than
God. Idolatry is strongly condemned in

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the Bible, as it violates the
first Commitment, which dates you shall have

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no other Gods before me. The
idolatry often leads to spiritual harm and distancing

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oneself from the true worship of God. Now again, I know everyone's gonna

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say, no, no, no, we were worshiping God. We were

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worshiping God. Everything in your sanctuary
said you were there to worship America,

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not God. I don't look you, you say, so if I bring

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in an idol of some sort,
but it's just small, and I sit

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it over in the corner. That's
okay, And you say, no,

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that would be horrible. Well,
you've got the American flag sitting right there.

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Why why why is that in the
sanctuary? Why? Identifying when patriotism

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and politics have become idols in the
American church can be challenging. But here

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are some signs and evidence that might
indicate the phenomenon is happening. So it

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can be some kinds. It can
be difficult, and I think the reason

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it can be difficult is because when
you try to identify it, you're always

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going to get pushedback. No,
no, we love God the most,

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but we just we also love America. And it's always easy to just you

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know, you can just say the
right words, but everything screams there's something,

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there's something something wrong, something desperately
wrong. And in fact, just

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preach a sermon whill you criticize or
you bring up the sins of America's past,

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You'll get people mad, you'll get
people upset. Well, no countries,

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they'll get defensive and you're like,
well, why are you getting so

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defensive? Why? Oh, I
see because I'm bumped up against your golden

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calf that you've got, you know, robed and an American flag. Here's

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some possible signs that may be your
church, maybe your own heart. The

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00:28:27.240 --> 00:28:37.680
false god of patriotism and politics has
so infiltrated and over emphasis on nationalism.

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When churches prioritize national pride and loyalty
above the universal message of the Gospel,

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it can be a sign that patriotism
has become an idol well. I think

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in many of those churches on their
Fourth of July nonsense. They are prioritizing,

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they are emphasizing nationalism, They're emphasizing
pride to country, They're emphasizing celebrating

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country, country, country. They
may try to they may try to word

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it in the correct way, but
that's what it is. Many many cases,

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look at how Israel did their idolatry. They may have said they were

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worshiping the true God, they may
even refer to the true God, but

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it was all corrupted by their idolatry. You may be worshiping the true God,

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but you've corrupted it with your emphasis
on nationalism and pride and America and

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proud to be an American and all
the other stuff and the politics and winning

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elections, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Now

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you're still maybe using the right words, but you're corrupting it and there's no

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way to get around that and overemphasis
on nationalism. Number two, political alignment

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Trump's Christian values. That's not a
play on words. Okay, that's not

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a play on words anyway, shape
or form. Okay, that wasn't.

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00:30:07.799 --> 00:30:11.519
That wasn't. That wasn't intended.
Okay, actually I got the I got

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the sentence from something else, but
I changed the sentence a little bit.

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They use the word trump being Christian
values. I just want political alignment Trump's

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Christian values. So I'm using the
same concept. But that's not necessarily intended.

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You can take it anyway you want. If church leaders or members consistently

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prioritize political alignment over upholding Christian values
such as love, compassion, and justice,

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it may indicate that politics has taken
precedent over faith. Has politics and

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patriotism taken precedent over faith. Now, of course, the people involved in

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this wall, we say no,
no, no, no no. God

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first, God, country comes,
country comes third. You know, God

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guns country, or however you want
to order you want to order it.

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I mean, that's that's pretty close
to the way some people think. But

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it's always easy to say the right
order. But you could just look at

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people and their thinking and and and
they sound more like you know, a

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certain political leaders social media feed than
they do Matthew, Mark Luke or John

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They sound like Republicans more than they
sound like Christians. They sound like children

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of the of Trump. Then they
sound like the children of God. So

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when you overemphasize nationalism, and when
your political alignment Trump's Christian values a lack

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of unity and division when politics.
When political differences lead to division within the

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church, causing conflict, hostility,
or exclusion among members, it suggest that

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political ideologies have become idols that divide
rather than unite. And there have been

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way too many people who've even emailed
me said that's I'm not going back to

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my church because of the politics.
Not going back. Not going back.

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You you've got to be, you
know, a red baseball cap wearing Trump

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00:32:15.440 --> 00:32:19.319
supporter, or you're not welcome in
this church. You have to be like

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America America, America, America,
America, America, America, America Trump,

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00:32:23.160 --> 00:32:28.920
America America Trump a Constitution, Trump, Trump, Trump tru or you

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00:32:29.279 --> 00:32:30.680
know you're going to be well,
you're going to be an outcast in your

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own church. That's because the church
becomes Look, I've stated it so many

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times with any Well, maybe you
guys don't feel this way. I think

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there's a lot to try to.
I think there's a lot of what typically

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00:32:43.799 --> 00:32:49.920
happens is, you know, people
kind of flock together, you know,

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that are the same. So a
lot of cases, churches are very they're

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identified with a certain way of thinking, a certain politic because people just find

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that they're going to only be with
people who are like them, and that's

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not the way it should be.
You should look at a sanctuary people and

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it should be people who are radically
different, different in their everything. They're

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different, they have different likes,
different hobbies, different, they're just completely

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different in every way, shape or
form. They say, well, what

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will bring unity? Because the church
is where we emphasize the teaching of scripture

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and the Bible and all of these
other differences are secondary because our unity to

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00:33:28.400 --> 00:33:32.240
Christ trumps all of these secondary issues. But in many cases, the church

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really, you know, they kind
of flock together because they're the same.

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And if you come in you have
a different political standpoint, you will be

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00:33:42.200 --> 00:33:45.839
You'll basically be run off. Even
though no one may say those words,

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you're going to feel like a complete
outcast because the church becomes more known for

405
00:33:52.400 --> 00:34:01.400
its political leanings than it does its
gospel belief. So there's an overemphasis on

406
00:34:01.480 --> 00:34:07.119
nationalism, there's political alignment trumping Christian
values. There's a lack of unity and

407
00:34:07.159 --> 00:34:13.320
division, or I should say political
differences becomes a source of division. Maybe

408
00:34:13.320 --> 00:34:21.719
we should state it that way.
Blind adherence to political leadership. If church

409
00:34:21.800 --> 00:34:28.000
leaders are members unquestionably support political leaders
or parties without critically evaluating their actions or

410
00:34:28.000 --> 00:34:31.320
policies and a lot of Christian principles, it could be a sign of idolizing

411
00:34:31.360 --> 00:34:37.719
political figures. It's like if Trump
says something many of their church it's just

412
00:34:37.760 --> 00:34:39.280
good. It's just good. It's
like, what are you talking? Why?

413
00:34:39.480 --> 00:34:44.559
Why can you not just like he
just said fifteen things that are fraudulent,

414
00:34:44.639 --> 00:34:47.039
that are false, those are falsehoods. Well no, no, no,

415
00:34:47.920 --> 00:34:52.639
that's just fake news. Or maybe
it's like he's the one giving the

416
00:34:52.639 --> 00:34:55.639
fake news, but you're so blindly
loyal to him, you're not willing to

417
00:34:55.639 --> 00:35:00.320
criticize fact check or even think for
yourself. Okay, when Christians start doing

418
00:35:00.360 --> 00:35:07.239
that, it's just blind allegiance,
blind adherence to political leaders and parties.

419
00:35:07.400 --> 00:35:20.760
That the church has been compromised.
The church is a place of political idolatry.

420
00:35:21.199 --> 00:35:31.880
I think that's something that has to
be considered substitution of worship. In

421
00:35:31.880 --> 00:35:38.599
some cases, if church services or
gathering start resembling political rallies, or if

422
00:35:38.679 --> 00:35:46.320
political or national symbols become more prominent
than spiritual worship, it may indicate that

423
00:35:46.440 --> 00:35:52.039
politics or patriotism has become an idol. Well, guess what I saw yesterday

424
00:35:52.079 --> 00:35:58.519
watching all of these webcasts. The
substitution of worship political national symbols or being

425
00:35:58.559 --> 00:36:05.320
placed above or in front of,
or over actual symbols representing Christianity. That

426
00:36:05.480 --> 00:36:21.840
is an absolute wrong. That's that's
a substitution of worship. Look at somebody

427
00:36:21.840 --> 00:36:22.719
look at it like, I don't
know, I don't know what some of

428
00:36:22.719 --> 00:36:27.280
the churches. Hopefully, I'm hoping
by Sunday all these churches have moved on.

429
00:36:27.440 --> 00:36:30.280
They got their patriotism, they got
all of that out of their system

430
00:36:30.320 --> 00:36:34.480
on Wednesday, and they'll go back
to being a church. But even if

431
00:36:34.480 --> 00:36:42.119
it was for one day, that's
not acceptable. There'll be replacing songs that

432
00:36:42.159 --> 00:36:45.280
are supposed to point and focus on
God, and you start singing about our

433
00:36:45.320 --> 00:36:58.639
country. Get your patriotic songs out
of the worship service. So what do

434
00:36:58.679 --> 00:37:04.320
we have when for looking for patriotism
and politics becoming a golden idol, becoming

435
00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:08.800
an idol in your church? Well, there's an overemphasis on nationalism, political

436
00:37:08.800 --> 00:37:15.440
alignment, Trump's Christian values. Your
political differences lead to division. People who

437
00:37:15.440 --> 00:37:22.559
demonstrate a blind adherence to political leaders
or parties, they begin to substitute as

438
00:37:22.599 --> 00:37:28.119
a substitution of worship takes place.
Next, they begin to prioritize political goals

439
00:37:28.400 --> 00:37:38.079
over kingdom values. When churches prioritize
achieving political goals or advancing a political agenda

440
00:37:38.239 --> 00:37:42.840
over promoting the values of the Kingdom
of God, such as justice, mercy,

441
00:37:42.880 --> 00:37:45.679
and humility, it can be a
warning, a sign of misplaced priorities.

442
00:37:45.880 --> 00:37:53.039
Many Christians are focused on winning elections
versus kingdom values or spiritual goals.

443
00:37:53.400 --> 00:37:55.840
In fact, in some cases they
try to merge, thinking that the winning

444
00:37:55.880 --> 00:38:00.639
of election is spiritual goals. No, no, it isn't. In some

445
00:38:00.880 --> 00:38:07.519
cases. I've said it so many
times. The church has so prostituted itself

446
00:38:07.880 --> 00:38:15.280
to political party. Conservative churches has
prostituted itself, has laid down for political

447
00:38:15.320 --> 00:38:20.679
parties to simply use them. That
I think in some cases for our spiritual

448
00:38:20.719 --> 00:38:24.280
good, for the spiritual good of
the church. The best thing that could

449
00:38:24.320 --> 00:38:30.360
happen is that every Republican at every
level of government be voted out of office

450
00:38:30.519 --> 00:38:36.760
and there's no one left. There's
not one Republican left. It's Democrats from

451
00:38:37.000 --> 00:38:42.920
city government, state government, federal
government, every branch of government, it's

452
00:38:43.079 --> 00:38:50.159
all Democrat led and controlled. No
Republicans. Now, people say that will

453
00:38:50.199 --> 00:38:54.000
be the end of our country.
Could be the beginning of a major revival

454
00:38:54.039 --> 00:38:58.159
in the church, because we would
stop looking to politics at that point,

455
00:38:58.320 --> 00:39:01.199
we'd start looking to God, would
realize stop worrying about voting. There,

456
00:39:01.280 --> 00:39:05.480
it's over, it's done, and
we would start praying, Hey, start

457
00:39:05.480 --> 00:39:08.400
worrying about the next election, and
let's fast, Hey, let's present that

458
00:39:08.519 --> 00:39:13.039
we would actually then realize there's no
hope. There would be we would not

459
00:39:13.119 --> 00:39:16.599
be looking to chariots and horses,
We'd be looking to God because there would

460
00:39:16.639 --> 00:39:22.320
be nowhere, there would be no
political party to prostestant, prostitute yourself too.

461
00:39:29.280 --> 00:39:30.719
Now, whenever I say that,
people lose their minds. But they're

462
00:39:30.760 --> 00:39:35.599
more worried about the state of the
country than they are the state of the

463
00:39:35.679 --> 00:39:38.760
church. But I thought this is
not our home. See, I thought

464
00:39:38.760 --> 00:39:45.960
we're pilgrims and strangers here. I
thought we're not of this world. I

465
00:39:46.599 --> 00:39:50.519
maybe I just misshred all of that. Maybe I just missread all of that.

466
00:39:51.679 --> 00:39:54.920
Some people want to use politics to
try to bring the Kingdom of God

467
00:39:55.159 --> 00:40:00.480
to earth. If Christ wants a
kingdom on earth, the sky will open.

468
00:40:00.559 --> 00:40:02.119
He will come back on a horse
with a sword, kill all of

469
00:40:02.119 --> 00:40:07.280
his enemies and establish it. It's
not going to be done through the Republican

470
00:40:07.320 --> 00:40:22.719
Party. Last rejection of dissenting voices
or perspectives, if church communities silence or

471
00:40:22.920 --> 00:40:29.840
ostracized individuals who hold differing political views, is suggest and basically that politics has

472
00:40:29.920 --> 00:40:35.599
become an idol in the church.
Political ideology has now become the idol.

473
00:40:37.440 --> 00:40:42.039
And that's what happens. If you're
not a part of their political ideology,

474
00:40:42.039 --> 00:40:45.039
you're going to be ostracized. And
guess what they'll do if you don't hold

475
00:40:45.079 --> 00:40:50.360
to their political views. They'll call
your Christianity into question because you don't hold

476
00:40:50.400 --> 00:40:53.440
their If you don't support Trump and
you don't support Republicans, you're not a

477
00:40:53.519 --> 00:40:57.920
Christian. I mean we even heard
some of that in the last election.

478
00:40:58.400 --> 00:41:01.559
We won't name some famous pass who
said from the pulpit, if you vote

479
00:41:01.559 --> 00:41:06.719
Democrat, you are not a Christian. As now, your salvation is dependent

480
00:41:06.760 --> 00:41:12.920
on who you vote for. My
salvation is not who I vote for.

481
00:41:13.079 --> 00:41:15.880
It's who chose me, which was
God. It's my faith in Christ.

482
00:41:15.920 --> 00:41:20.440
My salvation is based off what Christ
did, not who I vote for.

483
00:41:20.599 --> 00:41:22.519
You may not like who I vote
for, but you can't use that to

484
00:41:22.559 --> 00:41:25.920
call my salvation into question. You
may not like it, you may not

485
00:41:27.039 --> 00:41:37.960
understand it, but it's none of
your stinking business. This is all the

486
00:41:38.000 --> 00:41:45.639
idolatry of the American Church, and
nobody seems to care. Nobody seems to

487
00:41:45.719 --> 00:41:52.480
care. The church becomes more political, more nationalistic, more patriotic, more

488
00:41:52.519 --> 00:42:00.480
pro American, more pro American America. First, make America grady, forget

489
00:42:00.480 --> 00:42:02.000
the church, forget Christ for the
King God. Now I know as soon

490
00:42:02.000 --> 00:42:05.719
as I say that, no,
we haven't forgotten God. I mean,

491
00:42:05.760 --> 00:42:07.559
we love God, but we love
our country too. I mean we want

492
00:42:07.599 --> 00:42:14.159
to and that they'll use. They'll
use every excuse under the sun instead of

493
00:42:14.159 --> 00:42:17.119
stopping going. Man, maybe maybe
we got to rethink this. Maybe maybe

494
00:42:17.159 --> 00:42:20.760
there is got to be a better
balance here. Maybe maybe there is got

495
00:42:20.800 --> 00:42:28.039
to be a maybe there has to
be a better way. It's essential for

496
00:42:28.199 --> 00:42:35.880
church leaders and the members to regularly
reflect on their priorities and ensure that their

497
00:42:35.920 --> 00:42:45.960
allegiance remains primarily to Christ and his
teaching, not to a country or political

498
00:42:46.159 --> 00:43:06.159
party. We've got a problem,
a problem in the American church. We

499
00:43:06.280 --> 00:43:12.800
got a big golden calf right there
in your sanctuary. Now, I don't

500
00:43:12.800 --> 00:43:15.519
know what's gonna happen on your church, church, church Sunday. I don't

501
00:43:15.559 --> 00:43:17.840
know. I don't know if you're
gonna bust out a bunch of patriotic songs

502
00:43:17.880 --> 00:43:22.519
about America. I don't know if
there's gonna be a huge American flag in

503
00:43:22.559 --> 00:43:25.800
the sanctuary. I don't know if
you're gonna have American flags all over the

504
00:43:25.840 --> 00:43:29.599
property. I don't know if it's
good. I know that there's a church

505
00:43:29.800 --> 00:43:32.559
right down. Like if I get
in my car back out of my driveway,

506
00:43:32.760 --> 00:43:37.639
it goes straight out of my residential
area, right go straight down the

507
00:43:37.800 --> 00:43:38.800
end of the street. The end
of the street, there's a stop sign.

508
00:43:38.880 --> 00:43:43.920
I take a right three minutes,
four minutes. On the left hand

509
00:43:43.960 --> 00:43:49.920
side there's a large church. There
are American flags. Now I haven't looked.

510
00:43:50.239 --> 00:43:53.719
I haven't looked this week, but
almost every year there are American flags

511
00:43:54.000 --> 00:43:59.000
everywhere, all down the side of
the road. And then it goes all

512
00:43:59.880 --> 00:44:04.679
American flags on both sides of the
driveway that leads to the parking lot of

513
00:44:04.719 --> 00:44:07.519
the of the church. Just American
flag, American flag, American flag,

514
00:44:07.559 --> 00:44:09.800
American flag, American flag, American
flag. And they'll have some sign and

515
00:44:09.840 --> 00:44:15.360
there's signed will be come celebrate America. You know this Sunday. And it's

516
00:44:15.440 --> 00:44:24.440
like, what in the world that
is not a church, but yet they

517
00:44:24.480 --> 00:44:30.199
sure think they are. Now when
I criticize it, I guarantee you if

518
00:44:30.239 --> 00:44:34.360
I was to do this on Christian
radio, what I'm doing right now,

519
00:44:35.719 --> 00:44:37.159
I would be kicked off Christian radio. You say, no, you wouldn't.

520
00:44:37.280 --> 00:44:39.400
I've been kicked off Christian radio,
So I think I have a pretty

521
00:44:39.440 --> 00:44:44.599
good idea where the line is right, I got kicked off Christian radio.

522
00:44:44.639 --> 00:44:47.639
So I know that Christian radio because
you know what they would receive. They

523
00:44:47.639 --> 00:44:52.719
would receive their phones would be ringing
off the hook right now. People say,

524
00:44:52.760 --> 00:44:54.199
I'm not going to donate anymore to
your radio station. If you're going

525
00:44:54.280 --> 00:45:00.840
to have some non patriotic American,
hating liberal or who's probably he woke and

526
00:45:00.880 --> 00:45:05.440
he's ruining our country. He needs
need to leave America. Here's a plane

527
00:45:05.480 --> 00:45:07.239
to go to China. Here's a
plane ticket to go to China. In

528
00:45:07.239 --> 00:45:10.800
fact, I was listening yesterday to
one of the webcasts where he just said

529
00:45:10.840 --> 00:45:15.440
that. Well, a pastor literally
said it from the pulpit about Hey,

530
00:45:15.559 --> 00:45:17.159
people don't like this, they can
go to China, they can go to

531
00:45:17.280 --> 00:45:22.000
Russia, they can go to what
Why is it that you can't offer any

532
00:45:22.039 --> 00:45:25.519
criticism for tell someone that tells you
to leave the country. And I get

533
00:45:25.719 --> 00:45:30.559
sick when people do that nonsense to
me. And I don't know. I

534
00:45:30.599 --> 00:45:35.360
wore the uniform for nineteen years and
almost died and still have issues because of

535
00:45:35.360 --> 00:45:37.440
what happened to me while I was
in the military. I think I have

536
00:45:37.599 --> 00:45:39.719
every right to be able to offer
criticism. In fact, that's the reason

537
00:45:39.719 --> 00:45:44.400
people are in the military to protect
the constitutional right for you to offer that

538
00:45:44.480 --> 00:45:51.719
criticism should be told to leave the
country because you have criticism, and why

539
00:45:51.840 --> 00:45:54.679
is the church telling people? Why
would someone from the pulpit tell someone they

540
00:45:54.679 --> 00:45:59.280
should leave America? Why would you
want them to leave America that you're here

541
00:45:59.320 --> 00:46:01.719
to evangelize, You want them to
leave America. Wouldn't you want them to

542
00:46:01.719 --> 00:46:05.599
stay in America so you can present
the gospel to them? But you don't

543
00:46:05.639 --> 00:46:07.800
care about presenting the gospel to them. You just care about them standing up

544
00:46:07.800 --> 00:46:12.079
for America or standing up for America, or you want them to leave,

545
00:46:12.480 --> 00:46:19.880
Well, why don't you leave?
Can't believe that someone from the pulpit would

546
00:46:19.880 --> 00:46:22.119
tell someone if they don't like America, get out, leave the country.

547
00:46:22.400 --> 00:46:25.840
When would the church want anyone to
leave the country. You want them to

548
00:46:25.880 --> 00:46:31.159
be here so that they have the
freedom to read a Bible, to learn

549
00:46:31.400 --> 00:46:35.519
that you have the freedom to try
to advan. Wouldn't you be more worried

550
00:46:35.519 --> 00:46:42.840
about evangelizing them and then become lovers
of God more than lovers of country.

551
00:46:43.639 --> 00:46:50.639
When Christians tell people they should leave
the country, they have ceased to think

552
00:46:51.079 --> 00:46:57.519
as a child of God and they
have been brainwashed by some stinking political ideology.

553
00:46:57.679 --> 00:47:01.800
That's a cancer to the American church. If you hear any usually it's

554
00:47:01.920 --> 00:47:07.199
Christian men who say some nonsense about
people leaving the country, you need to

555
00:47:07.239 --> 00:47:12.679
call them out because that's not being
a Christian. It's the most ridiculous thing.

556
00:47:12.719 --> 00:47:15.039
You want people to leave the country. Why would you want someone to

557
00:47:15.119 --> 00:47:17.599
leave the country. If they're here, they gives you the chance to evangelize

558
00:47:17.599 --> 00:47:21.360
them. Isn't that what I thought
we were supposed to be about. Go

559
00:47:21.440 --> 00:47:24.800
and make disciples not go, and
make Americans not go, and make patriots

560
00:47:25.039 --> 00:47:30.199
not go, and make Republicans not
Hey, if they won't, if they

561
00:47:30.199 --> 00:47:32.199
don't like our country, they can
get out. How about no, they

562
00:47:32.199 --> 00:47:36.360
cannot like our country and stay here
because we don't care if they like the

563
00:47:36.360 --> 00:47:40.840
country. What we want them to
do is become lovers of God. Oh

564
00:47:42.039 --> 00:47:45.880
I'm sorry. I know I'm the
radical one. I'm the crazy one.

565
00:47:46.079 --> 00:47:58.239
I'm the one who now will be
criticized. This has nothing I want to

566
00:47:58.239 --> 00:48:00.639
make this very clear and I'll end
with this. This has nothing to do

567
00:48:00.760 --> 00:48:06.559
with politics. This really has nothing
to do with patriotism. This has nothing

568
00:48:06.559 --> 00:48:08.920
to do with America or America the
way some people want to say. It

569
00:48:08.960 --> 00:48:13.199
has nothing to do with any of
that. This has everything to do with

570
00:48:13.519 --> 00:48:16.199
what is the church supposed to be, how is the church supposed to act,

571
00:48:16.840 --> 00:48:23.079
and the constant condemnation of idolatry throughout
the New Testament. This is about

572
00:48:23.079 --> 00:48:28.519
the regulative principle, the normative principle, and idolatry. This is a philological

573
00:48:28.559 --> 00:48:30.840
issue. You're going to make it. See the minute you're trying to make

574
00:48:30.880 --> 00:48:34.679
it a patriotic issue or a national
issue, is you're the one missing the

575
00:48:34.719 --> 00:48:39.480
point. This is a philological issue. You want to set up your society

576
00:48:39.519 --> 00:48:45.000
of pro America, wave the flag, Trump Trump, Trump Trump, Just

577
00:48:45.039 --> 00:48:50.760
go do it outside of the church. Take it somewhere else. You can

578
00:48:50.800 --> 00:48:53.679
have your Tuesday night, you know, good old boys get together and you

579
00:48:53.719 --> 00:48:58.639
can sit around and drink whatever you
want to drink and wear and make America

580
00:48:58.719 --> 00:49:02.239
great red hat and talk about the
woke liberals and how we're going to show

581
00:49:02.280 --> 00:49:06.519
them and you can do all of
that. Just keep it out of the

582
00:49:06.639 --> 00:49:20.119
church. Keep your stinking politics out
of the church. I think that,

583
00:49:20.159 --> 00:49:23.199
I think I stated that very clearly
and very calmly. Let me state it

584
00:49:23.199 --> 00:49:27.039
again, just telling people to lead, and I can't. I just could

585
00:49:27.119 --> 00:49:30.880
not believe that I was watching a
Christian webcast and the nonsense about people can

586
00:49:30.960 --> 00:49:36.960
leave the country. I was like, what am I watching? What what

587
00:49:37.440 --> 00:49:42.920
church would tell people to leave the
country. Wow, it's like so much

588
00:49:42.960 --> 00:49:49.000
for the Great Commission that we don't
like their politics so that they can get

589
00:49:49.039 --> 00:49:52.719
out. Like I think, Oh
yeah, there's so many issues, so

590
00:49:52.760 --> 00:49:57.679
many issues, so many issues.
But it clearly demonstrates the priority. It

591
00:49:57.719 --> 00:50:01.480
clearly demonstrates what's important. And it
it's not God, it's not Christianity.

592
00:50:01.599 --> 00:50:06.960
It's not that it's winning an election
and say and then when you hear Christians

593
00:50:06.960 --> 00:50:08.679
say, well, we've got to
win this election. Our country is gone.

594
00:50:08.800 --> 00:50:14.159
So your help comes from a political
party and not from God. So

595
00:50:14.280 --> 00:50:23.880
stop all the nonsense that God is
the answer. All right? You can

596
00:50:24.400 --> 00:50:30.840
you can voice your strong disagreements to
news I f at yahoo dot com.

597
00:50:31.480 --> 00:50:37.320
To news I f at yahoo dot
com. That's news I f at yahoo

598
00:50:37.360 --> 00:50:46.119
dot com. Whether you agree with
me, whether you disagree. We all

599
00:50:46.119 --> 00:50:52.760
should be able to agree with this. You shall have no other gods before

600
00:50:53.039 --> 00:51:01.599
me. You may struggle with patriotism
and politicy, being that I don't struggle

601
00:51:01.639 --> 00:51:07.159
with patriotism or politics. Being that
false God that idol, I don't struggle

602
00:51:07.159 --> 00:51:10.800
with that. So it's easy for
me to speak with such you know,

603
00:51:12.000 --> 00:51:16.000
passion and condemnation, because I don't
struggle with it. I'll be the first

604
00:51:16.079 --> 00:51:21.119
to admit. But ladies and gentlemen, let me not end this broadcast with

605
00:51:21.239 --> 00:51:27.079
you under a false impression. I've
got plenty of idols and plenty of golden

606
00:51:27.119 --> 00:51:31.440
calves, probably right here in this
studio. I've got plenty of idols and

607
00:51:31.519 --> 00:51:36.320
golden calves right down the steps over
there in front of me. I go

608
00:51:36.360 --> 00:51:38.400
down those steps, open the door, step into my kitchen. And if

609
00:51:38.440 --> 00:51:42.559
I go then out of the kitchen, cross kind of the living room,

610
00:51:42.840 --> 00:51:45.840
dining room, into a hallway,
take a right, go down the hallway

611
00:51:45.079 --> 00:51:52.440
to my other room where my television
is and stereo equipment. Oh that's idolatry

612
00:51:52.519 --> 00:51:55.159
central, ladies and gentlemen, And
there's no way for me to deny that.

613
00:51:55.800 --> 00:52:01.079
I struggle with that all the time. So I've got I am no

614
00:52:01.239 --> 00:52:06.480
better than anyone else. I just
don't struggle with this particular idol. But

615
00:52:07.079 --> 00:52:10.719
I have to speak against it forcefully
because many churches do. Because I watched

616
00:52:10.760 --> 00:52:15.280
them put it in full display on
Wednesday. It would be like this.

617
00:52:17.039 --> 00:52:23.079
They put all of their patriotism and
pro America stuff in the forefront of their

618
00:52:23.079 --> 00:52:29.199
worship service. What if Sunday I
showed up, if everyone come walking into

619
00:52:29.280 --> 00:52:35.039
Victory Baptist Church and I love professional
wrestling, I had the entire sanctuary decorated

620
00:52:35.039 --> 00:52:38.840
in stuff pertaining to the WWE.
Because there's a pay per view this coming

621
00:52:38.840 --> 00:52:43.840
weekend money in the bank. Right
where they climb ladders to grab briefcases.

622
00:52:43.920 --> 00:52:46.280
What if I have the sanctuary where
there's ladders all over the place and briefcases

623
00:52:46.320 --> 00:52:52.360
hanging from the sanctuary silly and in
front of the in front of the cross

624
00:52:52.400 --> 00:52:55.840
on my pulpit, I have a
big WWE. Simple people would say it's

625
00:52:55.880 --> 00:53:00.480
blasphemy. It would go viral,
it would be condemned, it would be

626
00:53:00.840 --> 00:53:05.719
Wait a minute, what's the difference. Oh, wine is all wonderful and

627
00:53:05.760 --> 00:53:10.519
great because it's country, it's America, it's patriotism. The other one is

628
00:53:10.559 --> 00:53:17.800
just WWE. I hate that stuff. And it's interesting that the idol you

629
00:53:17.960 --> 00:53:27.039
love is always okay and the idol
you hate is always wrong. Thanks for

630
00:53:27.079 --> 00:53:31.800
listening. Happy fourth of July,
God bless