Thanksgiving

Are we living in a state of perpetual scarcity driven by fear and urgency, whether in our shopping carts or our spiritual lives? Join us for a compelling exploration of the psychology behind the scarcity mentality that fuels Black Friday chaos and the spiritual urgency found in religious circles. Discover how retailers expertly manipulate this fear of missing out, leading to consumer frenzy right after a holiday meant for gratitude. We also delve into the parallels within church teachings, especially how faulty end-time theology can create a similar sense of urgency and fear, prompting believers to act irrationally.

Then, we invite you to rethink conventional beliefs about the great tribulation. Could it be that this event, often seen as an impending future catastrophe, actually unfolded in the first century? We challenge long-held interpretations of biblical prophecy with fresh perspectives and encourage a reevaluation of these narratives. Without dismantling existing beliefs, this discussion aims to foster open-minded exploration and reflection on how scarcity and urgency shape our actions and our faith. Get ready to question, reflect, and perhaps reshape your understanding of these powerful forces.

Chapters

• 0:00 Psychology Behind Scarcity Mentality in Church
• 7:26 Challenging Beliefs on Great Tribulation

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

I want you to see this. There's a psychology behind Black Friday. It's not just let's give people a chance to get something cheaper. There's actually a psychology behind Black Friday and it's based off the principle of scarcity. Now I'm going to explain that in a minute. But think about that.

Speaker 1: 0:22

On Black Friday it's used that one day is used to encourage sales. Okay, by creating a limited supply and a limited time frame in which to get it, most stores will tell you this is what we have, we're going to open up at this time and we're going to close at this time. It don't matter when they close, because by the time they open up five minutes later, the stuff's gone anyway. But they tell you what time they're going to open up and they tell you there's a limited supply. So what does it do? It creates and triggers a fear of lack in people and this fear and you may never have looked at it like that before, but this fear that it triggers in people and it's subconsciously it really does as a psychology it triggers that fear and it says I got to go, I got to go do this. It causes people to camp out for hours. Listen, people will camp out for hours. Listen, people will camp out for hours, all night at Walmart. They will take off in this place like a stampede into the store. Some of them even get arrested for fighting and carrying on to save $100 on the latest TV or phone or other product. And when I started thinking about that and I can say this because I have honestly never went to a Black Friday sale in the store, anyway, I've never fought that crowd I rode by and said I'm going to stop and then, when I seen the people wrapped around Walmart, I said there ain't no way. But people trample over each other just to buy something one day after being thankful for what they already have. Have you ever thought about that? We sit down at Thanksgiving table and say, lord, we are so thankful for what you've given me, I'm just so blessed to have what I have, and the next day we're fighting people to get something else.

Speaker 1: 2:39

It's a mentality that is triggered because of this principle of scarcity. It's not going to be there anymore. Some people don't even need it, but because it says 10% off, I can save $10 on this. You don't even need it and you're going to find a crowd to try to save 10% on something that you don't even need. It's a mentality it really is. It's a mentality it really is, it's a psychology behind this and they know how to do this. Okay.

Speaker 1: 3:10

So here's the question. I'm not just teaching on Black Friday today, but this really got me thinking about something. So here's what I want you to think about this morning what happens when that same mentality that creates black fratting is being used by Christian leaders in the church? This happens all the time in churches and it happens because of faulty, messed up end time philosophy and theology. People don't understand that when I teach something, when something is taught that is not correct, it creates fear, it creates anxiety, it creates all these different things. And I talk about that word scarcity because that's what it does for the Black Friday people. It creates this scarcity because now you're all pumped and I got to get there because there's only a hundred of them and you start counting the people in line to see if you're going to be one of the hundred and then when you get in there, man, you take off. You know people plan this thing out because they know where they got to go to. I've seen people literally sit down and plan the quickest way in the store to get to it. How can I beat everybody else to this? Why? Because of a scarcity mentality. What's the scarcity? It ain't going to be there very long, it's going to be gone. I got to get it. So it creates that mentality and makes people crazy. So scarcity is a powerful, powerful motivator and when it's wrongly applied theologically, it can be a catalyst for acting like.

Speaker 1: 4:52

Every day that we live is Black Friday. Every day we have this anxiousness and this mentality that we've got to hurry, we've got to do this, we've got to hurry, we've got to do this, we've got to do that. The greatest lack that is threatened is the lack of time. We hear so often that it ain't going to be long. Now Jesus is on His way back. Then we hear somebody else say yep, look at all these hurricanes and all these tornadoes and all this stuff going on. Everything's lining up. End of the world's coming. Y'all hear this. Y'all hear people say these things. And what does it do?

Speaker 1: 5:39

It creates a mentality in people that says, well, better, hurry up and get right. We hear all this all the time. Rapture's on the way. Great tribulation is upon us. Just stop and think about that message. The end of the world is near and a great crisis will overtake the world. I want to slow down right here. I want you to get this. I want you to hear this the end of the world as we know it is near. It's near and a great crisis is among us. Okay, the Antichrist is already somewhere down here roaming around. That's what we're told, and you are powerless to do anything about it. Nothing you can do. Time is running out. I'm just setting the stage for you with what we teach every Sunday in church, the only thing you can do. You better get ready. You better make sure that your heart is ready, Because we don't know when it may happen tomorrow. I can remember the disciples. I mean you're thinking about them saying that it could happen tomorrow and then, 2,000 years later, they're saying what? But that's what we do. We scare people. We scare people into certain things by telling them all this stuff.

Speaker 1: 7:26

I've challenged you in the last few weeks to ponder a question. I haven't tried to push my belief on you. I haven't tried to do that. I've just challenged you to ponder a question. What if the great tribulation is not in our future, but it's in our future, but it's in our past? If I stood up in 99.99% of churches in Bacon County and said that statement I wouldn't be invited back. And I'm going to look in the camera when I say that, okay, someone watching this on Facebook, I would not be invited back because that messes up their whole theology.

Speaker 1: 8:18

Now I'm not doing away with that theology, I'm just saying let's ponder the idea that maybe we've misinterpreted it and what we're expecting has already come. I'm not saying you've got to believe it. Just think about it, open your mind up just a little and just say I'm going to at least entertain this thought. I'm not going to go into detail on that today, but I do want to remind you that Jesus said not Pastor Brian, but Jesus said it would happen in this generation. Now, this was referring to the people that he was talking to during the first century. He said this generation. Now, this was referring to the people that he was talking to during the first century. He said this generation. He didn't say that generation 2,000 years from now. He said it will happen in this generation. He also said let's look at this Matthew 24 and 21. I want you to see this. This is what he said too, for then there will be great tribulation. But, pastor Brown, are you saying there's not going to be a tribulation? No, I'm saying the Bible says that we're not refuting the tribulation. We're never doing that, because if I was doing that, then I would have to go against what Jesus said. Because he says for there will be great tribulation such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, nor ever shall be again. Okay, this is what I want you to see in this verse here. This was a once in a lifetime event, where the convergence of earthquakes and famines and false messiahs and the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, according to Jesus, would never happen again. That's His Word. It would never happen again. But here's the verse that really messes people up Luke 21 and 36. Watch, therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass and to stand before the Son of man. Now I could use that verse right there and make everybody in this place come to the altar. Whether you're born again or not, I'll make you feel like you're not, because this verse has been used to do that. To watch, therefore, and pray always that you may be counted. Don't miss this. He may be here tomorrow. You don't want to miss out on this. You've got to be ready. You've got to make sure your heart is right. That's the way this will be preached, because you've got to escape all these things that will come to pass and to stand before the Son of man. This verse right here messes people up, because you've got to realize right here that this verse has a very specific purpose. This wasn't just Jesus out there just spitting some words out. He was very specific in what he was saying right here. He was responding to the disciples' question regarding the signs of when the end of the old covenant age would happen. They asked him a question. They said you keep saying all this, when is this going to happen? And he was responding to their question. Look at Luke 21, verse 20 and 21. All these are right here together, but I'm just kind of showing you a picture here. He says but when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. These verses, some of them I read last week. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart and let not those who are in the country enter her Not in the country, enter her. He's responding to the disciples, he's telling them, he's giving them instruction on what to do. So when can you go back to Luke 21 and 36? So in this verse, when he says Watch, therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass. What are they trying to escape? He's saying be ready. He's using the same message that a lot of evangelists will use when they preach this message. So it's not wrong in what they're saying, but what the difference is? What the evangelist is saying is be ready for the return, be ready for Jesus coming back so that you can go to heaven and escape hell. What Jesus is saying right here is he's saying be ready. Their readiness was to prepare to flee Because all this stuff was about to happen, and you can go read that on your own. He said all these things are about to happen and I need you ready to do what? To flee? To flee where? To flee? To the mountains. He told them specifically where I want you to go, because this is going to happen. He said and I don't want you to be part of it. And in Luke 20 and 21, luke 21, 20 and 21,. He told them flee to the mountains. When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, when you look up and you look out your window and you see a bunch of army people surrounding this city, you need to go surrounding this city, you need to go, you need to escape all of these things. Okay, those verses make sense, but it makes sense for what he was telling the disciples to do and the people to do in that time period. So their readiness was to be prepared to flee. They were to flee to the mountains. Think about how much trust that the people during this time would have to have in Jesus' instruction. They had to have faith in this guy. It's kind of crazy when you really think about it, because if I look out and I see an army surrounding coming and all this, my natural instinct is to go to a city who has a wall built around it and use that for protection. That's my natural instinct. Go to a walled city. But Jesus told them. He said don't Go to a walled city. But Jesus told them. He said don't go to the walled city because it's fixing to be destroyed. So I'm going to save, I'm going to save you. Get out, flee, go to the mountain. That was his message. He warned them that the city was about to be torn apart. Look at Matthew 24. I want to read a couple of verses 15 through 18. This is His Word. I'm paraphrasing it, but I want you to see His Word. Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel, the prophet, standing in the holy place, whoever reads let him understand. Then let us who are in Judea flee to the mountain, let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house and let him who is in the field not go back to grab any clothes. So what is he saying when you see this hit the road, don't go. Don't go get your suitcase. You ain't got it with you, it's staying, it's being left behind. Don't run back and do anything. Go. Pretty simple instruction. Okay, okay. The time was running out. For them was not the end of the world this time that he was saying be ready, be watchful. It was not the end of the world, but the end of the old age covenant. He said the end of the world, but the end of the old age covenant. He said the destruction of the temple, the destruction of the old age covenant is upon us. I don't want you to be caught up in this, so I want you to go. It was the end of the Jewish world. That was built around the temple. We don't want to know all that, I don't want to go back into it, but as I'm saying it, so much stuff's coming up to me. It was built around the temple. It was built around sacrifices, around priesthood. But think about this when he came in judgment this verse, I'm going to read it to you in just a minute Spedally, on the unfaithful city, jesus asked if he would find faith on the earth Luke 18 and 8. I want you to see this verse. Look what Jesus says. I tell you that he will avenge them speedily, quickly, really fast. I will avenge them. Nevertheless, when the Son of man comes, will he really find faith on the earth? This is where you got to start putting the puzzle pieces together. Will I really find faith on the earth? What did he tell people to do? He said when you see people surrounding the earth, surrounding the city, I want you to flee. And I said you know it really would have took a lot of faith for people to obey what he said, knowing that there's a city over here with walls built around it that could protect me, but this dude over here is telling me to run up to the mountains. It really would have took a lot of faith. So now he's coming back saying when the Son of man comes, will he really find faith on the earth? Did people really listen to him? Did people really flee the city and go to the mountains, like he said to? That's what this is talking about and here's your answer. According to church historians and I didn't know this so I had to study this out and I looked at several I looked at Josephus I can't remember some of the other names, but I looked at some of the most famous church historians. I can't pronounce every guy's name. Euphibius, anyway. He's considered the father of church history. I looked him up and read a little bit about him and this and that, according to church historians, no Christians died in the siege by Rome against Jerusalem. No Christians, nowhere in the Bible, nowhere in church history, even documents Christians nowhere in the Bible, nowhere in church history, even documents that are not in the Bible. Nowhere in church history was it reported that any Christians died during the destruction of the temple. Why? Because they believed Jesus, they followed his instructions and when he come back he found that there was faith on the earth Because the people nobody died. We should not project the message that was meant for the Jewish audience in the old covenant city of Jerusalem onto America and onto the rest of the world. We can't take a message that was taught and an instruction that was given to first century people and try to put it on people in 2024. It don't work and this is what we're doing all the time. In fact, the Bible I put this in here and then I crossed it out, and then I put it back in here and then I crossed it out and then I said I'm going to say it anyway and then I'll explain it the Bible doesn't describe an end of the world. We keep telling people end of the world's coming. The Bible does not describe an end of the world. Look in Ephesians 3 and 21. To him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Now, if you look this up and I don't know if Ronnie can pull it up real quick, but Ronnie, can you pull this up in the King James Version, because most of the people who are going to tell you this is about the end of the world. End of times is coming straight out of a King James, because if you ain't reading the King James, you ain't reading the Bible Right. So let's go to their book. To Him glory in the church by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages. World without end that's King James Bible. World without end it will not end, but yet every Sunday we stand up and talk about the end of the world and scare people and tell them get right, because it may be tomorrow it's going to burn and if you ain't right, you're going to burn For eternity. You can't take these verses and try to make them say something that they don't say and we do that. They don't save and we do that. Nor does the Bible describe the total destruction of the earth, especially in light of Genesis 8.21, where God looked over the results of the flood and in mercy. Listen to this, you ain't got to go there. But listen to 8.21 Genesis. The Lord said in His heart I will never again curse the ground for man's sake. Now, if I use that verse and I say that to somebody, they're going to say yeah, but he's talking about a flood, ok, he says I will never although the imagination of a man's heart is evil from his youth nor will I again destroy every living creature as I have done. He doesn't say never will I do it, except by fire at the end of the world. He says never will I do it, never will I destroy humanity and all the creatures of the earth like this again. This is a statement of mercy for every generation, not a means of destruction. What encouragement are we supposed to take out of dying in a worldwide fire versus dying in a flood? It happened way back then. What, what, what? How encouraging is that to people? The reason many ministers are confused about this subject is that they don't understand how to interpret apocalyptic language. Now, this may sound like a big word, but it's really. Just think about it. How many times do we teach on the apocalypse In the times? All this is going to happen. The Armageddon, all this stuff. End of times all this is going to happen, armageddon, all this stuff. So when you think, jesus taught in apocalyptic language All through the Bible. I looked it up because I know what my understanding of it is, but I wanted to get a simple definition. So I've typed in what is apocalyptic language, and it's language that uses symbolism, vivid imagery and figurative language to depict dramatic events and convey complex theological ideas. How many times did Jesus use parables? And those parables were not literal, they were figurative. He would say the kingdom of heaven is like this, the kingdom of heaven is like that. And then he would go off telling this story about something and I'm sure everybody at that time was sitting there scratching their heads saying what is this dude talking about? Because he told stories to help people understand something. And this is the word I put down. This is how I understand it Symbolic representation rather than literal description. Symbolic representation he taught things and said things that were symbolic and it represented something bigger. When he talks about the mark of the beast, that is symbolic of representing something different. When he talked about and I don't even know if I might get into it, let me wait, I might get into it, but I'm going to show you this in a minute and I'm definitely going to show it to you next week, because during this study I found so many verses that goes into this type of mindset and understanding this language of the Bible and really understanding what does it mean? I can't take everything literal and I'm telling you you would get kicked out of churches for saying that, because I've heard people and I understand where they're coming from when they say yeah, but that's the Bible, I'm going to believe whatever it says. Yes, believe what it says, but you got to know what it says. If you're misinterpreting what it says, then you're believing something that the Bible don't actually say, and that's hard to say to people. The Bible's not wrong, but the Bible is highly, highly misunderstood. If you read in this context, it does not say a lot of stuff that we have always said that. It says Jesus' words of. This is what Jesus said immediately after the tribulation of those days. Shall the listen to this? Shall the sun be darkened? Now, was there an eclipse? Was the sun actually darkened? The moon shall not give her light. Did the candle on the moon go out? It wasn't shining anymore. I'm being funny, but this is imagery. This is examples that he's given and this is his words. And the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. That's Matthew 24 and 9. That's Jesus saying that that the sun's going to be darkened. The moon's going to not give her light anymore. The stars are going to fall out of the sky. Man, when you tell this to new people coming in, they're like what in the world is fixing to happen here? I don't know if I want to be a part of this. If we take that literal, it'll scare you. You'll be going to heaven because it'll scare the heck out of you. Okay, so you're bound for heaven. But what if we just said let me read this from a mindset of it being more from instead of literal. Is it a symbolic representation? Was Jesus telling a story and the sun being darkened and the moon not giving light and the stars falling from heaven? Did it actually represent something else? But Jesus was really good about hiding a message. Why? Because he wanted people to seek out truth. He didn't just give everything out. He said I want you to search it out and find it. I want you to know this. So these are taken to be in light of the entire Bible's common prophetic language of the destruction of the city or nation, such as Isaiah's prophetic words about Babylon the destruction of Babylon, for the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light. They'll fall from the sky. Listen to that the sun will be darkened and the moon will not cause its light to shine. That's in Isaiah 10, 12 and 10 as well. Matthew was just explaining what was prophesied by. Isaiah. Got to put those two together Old Testament, it was spoken. New Testament, they was explaining the prophetic word that was spoken in the old. Babylon was destroyed, just as the prophet said. But the apocalyptic language is meant to convey the idea that your world is about to fall apart. Your world is about to come down. The rulers and the governing powers are about to be put out of place. That was what represented these things that it was talking about. The sun and the moon and the stars. Was the people, the rulers of that time? The fruit of all this confusion? What is it? The fear of the lack of time left in the world. People don't know why, because the Bible tells us that and we're so adamant on telling people. It could be tomorrow. Hey, listen, the sky may rip open and Jesus come down on a cloud before we leave this place. So if you don't know Him as your Lord and Savior, if you've got some stuff in your heart that you ain't cleared up yet, I need you to not walk, not do anything. I need you to run to this altar before you leave this place. Come on, how many times have we heard that message? Nothing not knocking it, but I'm just saying it creates a fear in people and a scarcity of time it may happen before you get out the door. It creates anxiety, it creates all these other stuff going on and it's a mindset. It's a mindset. Fear of the lack of time left in the world will drive people to do things they wouldn't normally do. I'm going to go. This is a little bit extreme here, but it happens a lot of places. You see a lot of people today, especially the younger generation, saying we're not having kids. Why? Because the world's doesn't come to an end. Why have kids? I mean, literally, you have people. This is the mindset. Listen to what I just said. This fear will cause people to do things that they normally would not do. We're in a time where the kingdom of God is increasing. The kingdom of God is increasing. The kingdom of God is actually increasing in the earth. He says in the word of the increase of his kingdom there will be no end. We need to make every day Thanksgiving instead of Black Friday. Thanksgiving is being thankful for what I have, being thankful for what he's done, being thankful for who I am, being thankful that I have an identity and I know who I am in Christ. Black Friday is fear, scarcity, not knowing, causing me to go into a mindset that is not who I am, totally contradictory to who I am. So it's really our choice on how we want to look at this stuff, and I know I talk to enough people, some here I know some of this stuff that I'm saying is hard for some people to take. I really I understand that Because you were raised up for so long and taught the same stuff. I was too Okay. All I'm asking is just have an open, just have an open mind with it, be willing to read your Bible from a different perspective. I believe if you do that, it'll start making sense to you. It'll start puzzle pieces will start coming together, because most of the time we say get ready, get ready, get ready. We don't know how you need to get ready, you just need to be ready. This starts putting the pieces together and it takes that fear out of it, it takes that anxiety out of it. It takes that I don't know if I'm going to heaven or if I'm going to burn. There's literally people that are born-again Christians that literally will tell you they don't know why, because so much fear has been put in them that they literally do not know whether they're really saved or not. That's fear. That ain't the way we should live. But it works, just like it works on Black Friday, because you got thousands of crazy people. If you was there, if you was there this Friday, you crazy too. You got crazy. Crazy people I mean fighting people to save money on something that you can go next week. Crazy people. I mean fighting people To save money on something that you can go next week and buy online, probably cheaper than what you could have bought and got it in the store without fighting. So it creates a mindset and I don't think that's understanding and wisdom. And knowing these scriptures and what they really say will bring a peace and will bring an understanding that we've never had before. It really does make a difference. I'm starting to read some of these verses now and some of them I'm scared to talk about because I'm like man, how are we missing that? I mean really, and I'm not saying that arrogantly, I'm just saying, okay, when we really break it down and read it. And then we go back and we teach on it and we say, okay, think about context, context, context. And then we throw it up here and read it. You're like, how did I miss that? It's plain as day. It's rather in your Bible, but it's because we were a lot of times. A lot of Christians don't. They just listen to the pastor. The only Bible they get is on Sunday morning, and it takes more than that to truly, truly understand it and to break it down. These verses, I'm telling you there's a lot. You could go really, really deep into some of this stuff and I am going to go a little bit deeper next week because I'm going to pour some verses out, because there are specific verses. As I was studying some of this that I've seen, I've never seen this before. It was amazing. This that I've seen, I've never seen this before, it was amazing. But there's a word I can't think of, the the Greek word is mellow, m-e-l-l-o, and I probably shouldn't even talk about this shit because I hadn't got it all together yet, but it was a word that was taken out of most Bible translations. It was removed. Okay, there was a reason it was removed and we'll get into it later on, but it was removed from most translations. But when you go back and you look at the Greek manuscripts and everything, it's there and it's verses that, like we're talking about here, that show that A lot of this stuff Like when he says, um, the destruction is near I'm just using an example that word mellow actually means it is like immediate, it is right now, it is a point of. That word was taken out of a lot of and I'm going to show you many scriptures where that word was taken out. It was removed. So now, instead of looking at it and reading it as now, take that out. And I don't know when it is so I'm just going to say it sometime in the future. And it's created a futuristic theology versus seeing it as here, now or past. One simple word removed and again, there was a purpose for it being removed, there was a reason for it, just little things like this. And I believe that as we begin to really look at these verses and break them down, try not to give a lot of verses. I'm trying to give verses that you're familiar with because I want you to just open your mind up. That's it. I'm not trying to change anybody's theology. I'm not trying to say you know so and so you're wrong or you're this or that. I just I want us to see it for what the Bible really is and to understand it, and to understand what he's saying in the Bible. Why? Because it reduces fear. It changes my mindset on things. I realize that everything that I'm entitled to I have now and I can be more than what I think I can be. I can have peace in my life. I can have all these things that I'm expecting one day I can have access to right now. I don't have to wait until I'm gone. I don't have to wait until the sky breaks open and Jesus comes floating on a cloud. I don't have to be scared every day, waiting that I wake up and get left behind. I mean, these are things that we don't have to be fearful of when we understand and see truth in the Word. But it's hard. One of the hardest, hardest things to do is to change mindsets, and mindsets are already established on futuristic theology. But is it always in the future, something to look at?