12. A Herald to Jesus of Nazareth's Bride

The Church in this country is at a time in which there will be no Isaiah 64:1-3 without Joel 2:13 first.

Transcript

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This is episode uh uh twelve of uh my version of an audiobook from the book I wrote titled A Herald to Jesus of Nazareth's Bride in the United States of America. I'm now gonna begin uh with stone number nine, which has to do with music. As I'm sure you've noticed, at the end of each of these episodes, I've been putting music. Music is a very powerful thing, as I'm about to explain. Uh and so that's I believe in that. I believe in the impact, the the godly potential of godly impact. So here's what I wrote in the book. When I was about eight or nine months old in the Lord, I was having lunch with an older man who had known Jesus for several years. Spending time at lunch gave me the opportunity to learn more about Jesus from him. At one point in the conversation, I mentioned that I was not getting the enjoyment I used to get from the music I listened to. Now, I'll read this footnote. I had probably, I don't know, 50 or 75 albums and a good foot, foot and a half stack of 45s, if the listener remembers those. Um, and they were in pristine condition. I mean, I kept them like perfect. And uh so I had a pretty sizable some of some of the albums I had were like first edition kind of stuff. So uh as and as I um when as I didn't think this was a particularly big deal, I was truly surprised when the older man said he thought that my growing discontentment with the music I was listening to was the Holy Spirit's doing. The Holy Spirit? What does he care about about the music I listened to? I said. He cares very much. For who do you think invented music? responded the man. I never thought about where music came from. Mozart, perhaps? Beethoven, possibly, the Beatles, or maybe Elvis. Yeah, definitely Elvis. You know, the king of rock and roll. This old man then continued by giving me my very first Bible lesson on the topic of music. He told me about the time when Moses was returning to Israel's camp with the Ten Commandments, met Joshua about halfway down Mount Sinai when he could not see the people, but he could hear the music coming from the camp, which was clearly not a good thing, for even Joshua said that it was the sound of war. Exodus 32, 17. I was quite impacted and convicted by this mini Bible lesson on music. So I asked, What should I do? This older man said, Go home and destroy everything you have. Throw it all away, get rid of it. As extreme as this may sound, that exact that is exactly what I did without any hesitation. I didn't just fill up a trash bag and toss everything into the dumpster. Nope. I broke every album and every 45 and tore up the covers so no one could use any of them. I then put it all in trash bags and tossed everything into the dumpster. And as I did this, I had this thought going through me. Or Jesus, I don't want anything to keep me from knowing you as deeply as possible. It was much later when I came upon Jesus' words in Matthew chapter 18. If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell. It was also sometime later that I read Jesus' words about John the Baptist, Matthew 11 12. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. It also put in the idea of radical. Not Muslim terrorist radical, but godly radical. Point is fully laying hold of the kingdom and Jesus' ways of living requires radical actions. I didn't realize it at the time, but destroying all my secular music was a radical radical action. Years later I can point to this, as well as a few other things, as something that definitely made a huge difference in my relationship with Jesus of Nazareth very early on. Now, while music may not seem like something that can seriously impact one's relationship with Jesus for the negative, let's consider some facts about music. First, Jesus invented music. He enjoys music himself, even uses music to minister to his people. Zephaniah 317. The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he'll rejoice over you with singing. In short, music is a living God thing and thus a tree of life good thing when used properly. Secondly, music does what Jesus designed it to do no matter what, like with gravity in which one what goes up must come down every time. Music is a powerful tool that Jesus designed to stir the human heart every time. It stirs Jesus' heart and it stirs man's heart. This is simply what music was designed to do. However, there is a potential problem. Satan, the great copycat, uses music to stir the human heart toward the things he wants, for he knows quite well that music automatically does what it was designed to do. Stir the heart. Jesus, of course, wants human heart stirred for him, which is why he invented music as a tool to do that. Again, music does what Jesus designed it to do every time, either stirring the heart to love him or stirring the heart to love the world and its other gods. So here's an experiment. Watch some video of a secular concert, but mute the sound. Just watch it. What do you see? What you see what you're seeing is worship. Yes, worship. What you see the people doing is what people do when they worship. They're standing, clapping their hands, raising their hands, swaying to the music, dancing, maybe even shedding tears, etc. In short, their hearts are being stirred. Next, watch watch a worship service, but again, mute the sound. Just watch it. What do you see? You see people worshiping for the doing what people do in worship, namely, they're standing, clapping their hands, raising their hands, swaying to the music, dancing, maybe even shedding tears, etc. Again, hearts are being stirred. Now go back and turn up the sound to each of the two of the two worship services. For although the people in both groups are doing the same things, in the sound of and in the words of the music, you'll discover what and who each group's hearts are being stirred toward. You'll hear the first group worshiping the musicians, their music, the philosophies and messages of their songs, and thus the God of this world. Or you'll heal people worshiping Jesus of Nazareth. Again, all music, every concert, every musical event, every song is it is aimed at stirring the heart towards someone or something. Satan and the ways of the world, or Jesus in the ways of his kingdom. There is no neutral music. And this is why what music a person listens to does have an impact on what that person's relationship with Jesus of Nazareth. It either moves a person towards loving him or it moves a person away from him. It's my belief that Jesus gives a gift and a calling to every human being while he's forming them in their mother's womb. And one of these gifts and callings is the anointing or power to lead people to worship. Velvis certainly had it. Beatles undeniably had it. Lots of those in secular music have it. Problem is who and what they are leading people to worship. For the gifts and callings of God are irrevocable, Romans 11 29, even when the person uses them for himself or for evil. And so, since the nineteen twenties at least, in this country, these two opposite worship movements are in a battle for people's hearts. Stone number ten, Americanisms. What follows may be shocking to many listeners in this country. The subject is the United States of America and Christianity. And once again, here's a brief bibliography that is important to read. Some of these authors are Christians, but most importantly, all of them are professional historians. This is important because they handle the details of history, are not driven by some personal agenda, as is so often the case by history spinsters who pick pieces and fragments to support what they want to believe. These as historians tell the whole truth, which they're committed to tell by their profession. The fact is, the colonies were populated mostly by people who were Christianized, for not everyone who came to the New World were actual born again by the Spirit followers of Jesus of Nazareth. In fact, the idea of being born again by the Spirit was seldom, if ever, used up until John Wesley and George Whitfield brought it back during the first Great Awakening in the 1740s. From about the mid-200s until John and George's preaching, every version of Christianity baptized infants, thus making the person a Christian. Thus, establishing a Christianized society in the colonies is not unique, for every European who came to colonize this continent came from Christianized Europe. And living in a Christianized nation or sitting in a church no more makes a person a born-again follower of Jesus of Nazareth than sitting in a garage makes one a car. Further, although the men who founded this nation are portrayed as being brilliantly intelligent, morally outstanding superheroes, they were nothing of the sort. At their core, they were the living godless men and political politicians who had been deeply infected by the humanistic influences of the Enlightenment and the Age of Reason. The facts of history are that the founders of this nation weren't Jews, Hindus, Muslims, or Buddhists, but neither were they born again by the Spirit followers of Jesus of Nazareth. They wanted to be moral people, even though there is plenty of historical evidence that many of them were not all that moral. The kindest that can be said about these guys is that some of them had a belief in some sort of a vague higher power, and some did not, for all of these were enlightened men, products of the enlightenment, and the enlightenment did not need or really want much of any higher power. And being enlightened, they certainly did not want the living God, for he was far too specific for their tastes. Since the printing press, everyone read the Bible, reading the Bible, knowing some parts of it, and even quoting from it was akin to reading Shakespeare, knowing his plays and quoting from them. The Bible was simply considered by the general population to be one of many pieces of classic literature. For although most of the population believed the Bible was holy scripture or the word of God, the practice of their lives was to ignore or rationalize what the Bible said. People went to church, but church, capital C, wasn't in the people, which is evidenced by the first Great Awakening. The founding fathers were no different, most of them even less so, for although some of them occasionally attended a church, prayed and read or and quoted the Bible, or made references to a higher power, they clearly did not know Jesus of Nazareth personally. They were simply Christianized along with the rest of the society. And as for some alluding to the Bible or a higher power, this is what all politicians do. Again, in the footnotes, I give some examples. Since one can tell a tree by its fruit, these men's fruit contained in the actual facts of history show that they were either atheists or agnostics at the worst, and deists or universalists at the best. When a person plants they reap. Plant green beans and one gets green beans, not corn. So do the flesh or to the world, and one does not get godliness in the kingdom. So do the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and one does not get the tree of life. Seeking the moral advice of the Greek and Roman philosophers, then one gets the worldly foolishness of what these lost men taught. And this is exactly what the enlightened founding fathers did. They sowed into themselves the teachings of the enlightenment and the age of reason philosophers. They're not then going to produce a harvest of the kingdom. I've quoted this verse before, Colossians 2.8. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Jesus. The founders of this nation absolutely loved the world and the world's philosophies. As men of the Enlightenment and the age of reason, they believed utterly in man's knowledge and man's wisdom and man's abilities and man's moral goodness. These men considered evil as these men considered evil as being good and this God's good as being evil. They came to this because while a few of them may have read the Bible occasionally, their true nourishment came wholly from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and not from the tree of life. I'm sorry, the tree of life himself. For example, democracy is not some jewel that dropped out of heaven. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Israel, the one true living God, did not invent democracy. He also did not create man to govern himself by majority vote. He created man to be in subjection to a king, invented monarchy. The religiously pagan, the sexually perverted, and the arrogantly pompous Greeks invented democracy. Does the church in this country actually think that something godly can come from such a filthy source as the Greeks? Philip Schaff, nineteenth century church historian, wrote The Church, embracing the mass of the population of the Roman Empire, from Caesar to the meanest slave, and living amidst all of its institutions, received into her bosom vast deposits of foreign material from the world and from heathenism. Although ancient Greece and Rome have fallen forever, the spirit of Greco Roman paganism is not extinct. It still lives in the natural heart of man, which at this day as much as ever needs regeneration by the Spirit of God. It lives also in many idolatrous and superstitious usages of the Greek and Roman churches, against which the pure spirit of Christianity has instinctively protested from the beginning and will protest till all remains of gross and refined idolatry shall be outwardly as well as inwardly overcome and baptized and sanctified not only with water, but also with the spirit and fire of the gospel. What is best for human beings is not determined by other human beings. What is best for human beings are the things Jesus of Nazareth says are best for human beings. For although it may seem that there are so called creator endowed truths, or even rights, that are self-evident to which the people are created equal, having unalienable rights, such rights are nowhere stated in the Word of God. The living God did not endow people with rights. He stresses responsibilities. What is best for people is what Jesus of Nazareth says is best for people. And governmentally, people were designed to be in subjection to a bridegroom king. Human beings simply are not designed to govern their own lives doing what they think is best. They were designed by the Son to crave his leadership, which is available no matter what kind of earthly government they live under, a monarchy, democracy, communism, dictatorship, or totalitarianism. Again, it was the pagan, perverted, pompous Greeks who believed themselves to be so smart who came up with the demonic idea of democracy. It was the worldly philosophers of the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the Age of Reason who promoted such unbiblical ideas. American followers of the real Jesus should be ashamed to celebrate the rebellion of the Fourth of July. I know that's going to shock some of you. Freedom, and I'll talk more about the rebellion in a moment. Freedom of religion also is not a divine concept. Thus, it is not a blessing from the living God. It's an antichrist gospel concept. And just this one thing alone has done huge damage to the church in this country. We know from history that by about the third generation of church leaders there began to be compromised with the Roman world in order to avoid persecution. And when a worldly form of Christianity was made the official religion of Rome, creating a form of religious freedom that stopped the persecution, the church and European society plummeted into a great darkness called the Dark Ages. Thus, for hundreds of years, vast numbers of people in the Christianized nations of Europe were shoveled into hell due to compromise with the world versions of Christianity, what I call churchianity. Satan was the instigator of this, and he did it again with the worldly minds of the founding fathers. The truth is that the church was never intended to be acceptable to the surrounding culture and society. Jesus prophesied and promised that those who were faithful to him would suffer for being faithful to him. Matthew ten, eighteen through thirty nine, John fifteen, eighteen through twenty five. Even more, suffering for the sake of righteousness for Jesus Himself and for His kingdom is one of the eight foundational principles of the constitution of Jesus' kingdom. Matthew five, ten through twelve. Fact the lack of real suffering in the lives of those who claim to belong to Jesus of Nazareth in this country due to freedom of religion has absolutely debilitated and enfeebled the church in this country. Truth, persecution always purifies the church. Lack of persecution always makes the church pitiful and powerless. Now, as for the founding of this nation, here are just a few historical facts which seem to get left out when telling this nation's history. The King of England fought a very expensive war called the French and Indian War. One of the points of this war was to stop Catholic France from taking control of Protestant colonies. Thus, this was a war which benefited most of the colonists. All the King of England asked of the colonists after winning this war was Was to repay some of what it cost him to fight this war. This doesn't seem unreasonable or enslaving. But the colonists were quite spoiled, having lots of freedom already due to living in the colonies. Why, they paid fewer taxes than people living in England who had parliamentary representation. And yet the colonists got all uppity about being asked to pay some of the costs of a war from which they benefited. Then, to justify their arrogance and spoiled attitude, as well as being infected with the worldly yeast of philosophers, the rhetoric began. Rhetoric such as the King of England and the Pope were the Antichrist. Rhetoric such as the King's taxing of the colonists was his attempt to enslave them. Rhetoric such as political freedom replacing freedom from sin. Reread that rhetoric such as political freedom replacing the idea of freedom from sin and manipulating the Bible to support this. Patrick Henry is one obvious example. In Henry's Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death speech before the Virginia legislature, in which he sought to convince these men to join the rebellion, he changed clear biblical concepts to support what he believed. In his speech, Henry changed the meaning of freedom in the Bible as being freedom from sin to political freedom. But as far as Jesus is concerned, one can be free from sin while not being free politically. In fact, what good is being free politically if one isn't free from sin? Let's see if I want to stop there. I guess I'll go a little more. Here are a couple of passages of scripture most people, including those famous or infamous leaders, utterly ignored because of what these passages say did not fit with their worldly wants. Let everyone be this is Paul in Romans 13. Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities. Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted. And those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. That's why I call it the rebellion. Because it was rebellion. We were rebelling against the king. The scripture says we weren't supposed to do that. Rulers hold no terror for those who do right. Pay your taxes. But for those who do wrong, if you want to be free from fear of the one in authority, then do what is right, and you will be commended. For the one in authority is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid. For rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They're God's servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of the possible punishment, but also as a matter of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes. For the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. Give to everyone what you owe them. If you owe taxes, pay taxes. If revenue, then revenue. If respect, then respect. If honor, then honor. Submit this is Peter. 1 Peter 2. Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human authority, whether to the Emperor as the supreme authority, or to the governments who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil. Live as God's slaves. Show proper respect to everyone. Love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor. The Emperor at the time of Peter's writing was Nero, the ruler who conducted an empire-wide persecution of Jesus' followers. Surely the king of England was doing nothing as bad as that. And yet the people of the colonies who were spoiled and stirred up with unbiblical ideas easily ignored passages such as these, in the same way as those in this country who claimed to belong to Jesus, ignore what Jesus says, what Jesus and the Bible say about the God of money and materialism or psychology and self-esteem. There were of course people who opposed the rebellion, for they rightly saw the real issue, the demonic spirit of rebellion. And thus they knew that 1 Samuel 15, rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. The most foundational fact about all the covenants the living God is in is that when it comes to being in a covenant with the living God, man cannot, as in being unable, initiate a covenant with him. And this is because there is nothing the living God needs from man. Man needs that only this God can do for him. Or I'm sorry, man has needs that only this God can do for him. But there is nothing man has that this God needs. For example, Psalm 50 seven through thirteen. And so, the fact is that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Israel, the one true living God, did not cut a covenant with the early settlers on this continent. Thus, colonies, and later the United States of America, is not a city upon a hill. This country does not have some special calling or purpose to spread political freedom in a form of democracy around the world. Think. Why would Jesus want to spread something as contrary to his ways as democracy? While he is not in favor of physical or political slavery, his concern is not physical or political freedom. His concern is setting people free from sin, no matter what political situation one lives under. The Jesus did not tell his followers to go and make Christian nations. Just as there will never be world peace until the Prince of Peace returns and establishes it, so there will never be a Christian nation until the bridegroom king returns and establishes his nation, his kingdom. If there's anything the church in this country should learn from the failures of Christian Rome, Calvin's Geneva, and the Puritan's New Israel, is that these are these are utterly unbiblical and a failure. Therefore, the Living God is not concerned about the nation of the United States of America. Not that Jesus doesn't care about the people living within every nation, but the nation itself is of no concern to him. The Living God isn't trying to rescue every nation rescue nations, for every nation is going to go away and be replaced by his kingdom. Revelation 11 15. This God would like for all Americans to repent of their sins and become part of his bride. But this God is not on some crusade to save America and democracy as if America is the same thing as the kingdom. Seems to me that most Christians do not realize that Jesus is not an American and that he does not support the vast majority of what goes on here and what this country is all about in that.