Faith v. Religion
Jeff and Tracy cover a variety of Biblical topics from a believer's perspective. They are not pastors, theologians, or clergy instead they share their personal experiences with The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit through His revelation to them. Jeff and Tracy believe one does not need an intercessor to have access to our Heavenly Father, simply belief in Jesus Christ of Nazareth who came in the flesh, the Messiah.
Faith v. Religion
Spiritual Awakening Beyond Religion: Overcoming Addiction and the Power of Faith
What if true spiritual fulfillment lies beyond the walls of traditional religious institutions? Join us as we navigate the complexities of faith, spirituality, and the societal issues that challenge our moral compass. Through personal stories and experiences, we explore how a profound relationship with God transcends church attendance and how personal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ becomes the cornerstone of overcoming life's sinful behaviors. From the interpretation of dreams to the critique of societal idols, we question the idea of eternal damnation and reflect on the deceptive nature of evil's demands.
Our conversation takes a heartfelt turn as we discuss the transformative journey of overcoming addiction through faith. We examine the role of religious leaders and the impact of legalism on those seeking spirituality, drawing from personal battles with alcoholism to highlight the power of prayer and community support. As government interventions blur the lines between spiritual and physical nourishment, we ponder the true role of organized religion and the potential challenges posed by perceived hypocrisy within faith communities.
In a world where societal changes challenge traditional values, we emphasize the importance of building a strong spiritual foundation. By addressing modern barriers such as digital media and government intervention, we seek to empower listeners to reclaim their identity and strengthen their personal relationships with God. Our morning routines underscore the importance of starting the day with prayer, offering gratitude, and seeking divine protection, as we encourage you to open your heart to the transformative power of faith.
Hello everyone, Take me bro.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone, welcome to Faith vs Religion with Jeff and Tracy. First, we'll start out with an open prayer or we'll open with a prayer. How's that, dear Heavenly Father? We humbly come to you and ask for your forgiveness as we fall short of your glory, simply by nature. You are our creator and leader. We know your will and your ways are perfect and beyond our comprehension. We accept your path as we walk, by faith and not by sight.
Speaker 2:We ask that you give us your spiritual word to deliver to whomever may hear this podcast, and may it resonate with those in need. You are the potter and we are just the clay. We ask that you mold us into your perfect being you envisioned for us upon creation. We ask that you empty our hearts of predetermined notions, judgment and fleshly arrogance and fill it with your grace, mercy, love and discernment. No weapon formed against us shall prosper. If you are for us, who can be against us? Your words does not return to you void.
Speaker 2:We ask that you deliver us from the hands of evil and lay us not into temptation. Your words tell us that you will not let any temptation be greater than we can handle and you will always provide an out for us. We must seek you. You are the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to you but through your Son, jesus Christ of Nazareth, who came in the flesh, the Messiah. Heavenly Father, we bind and cast out anything demonic, satanic or otherwise, not from you Into the lake of fire. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who came in the flesh, the Messiah, we declare and decree your mighty works. Be unleashed over us in this podcast and let your message reach all nations. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who came in the flesh, the Messiah.
Speaker 3:Father, we ask that you cloak the sound waves and any other frequencies that the enemy is trying to distort or use for you to use to remove your. Good Lord, we just ask for your strength and your. We just submit to you, father. We just ask that you download anything that you need to instill upon us in Jesus' name, amen, amen.
Speaker 2:Okay, so let's get started. I think last time that we left off we kind of went down a rabbit hole talking about all these different sinful ways and things that really grab onto us, and one of the things we could talk about and I guess it's relevant in the world homosexuality. The other thing is all this child abuse and the pedophilia and where I even think, sometime this week and this is September of 24, sometime this week, the California legislator even voted that virtually recognizes pedophilia, kind of getting away from the sex registries and all that kind of stuff. And then now we're importing all these criminals into our country. Then how does that tie in?
Speaker 2:Well, first of all, number one, you don't have to go to church to seek God. You don't have to go to a pastor to be saved. Salvation is free. All you have to do is ask for it and accept that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the Messiah, he's the Son of God. Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the Messiah, he's the Son of God. He's conceived through immaculate conception and delivered through Mary and humans so that he wasn't predisposed to all the sinful natures and didn't accept these generational curses, or wasn't predisposed to these generational curses that we pass on from our kids.
Speaker 2:So, st Gene, you don't have to have the intercessory, you don't need our intercessor to do all of that. You don't. God will meet you where you're at. The Bible tells us that, whether you're struggling in homosexuality, pornography, pedophilia, sex addiction, whatever it is, if you truly want to be healed from that and I did say healed from that you have to recognize that it's sin and that you want to break that curse and you can work that out through god. I'm not saying it's healed in one prayer. It may be a series of prayers in time and lots of work. That depends on how, what a hold it has on you. You but share your thoughts on it, tracy, then we'll get into deliverance probably.
Speaker 3:My thoughts are. The fact of the matter is is we're such a broken society and we walked away from the Lord so long ago that we removed him from everything. We removed him from our home life, we removed him from school. Even speaking about him became separation between state and religion I mean more or less. But what they didn't realize is that, well, they did realize they knew what they were doing when they implemented that. So I think this is just the repercussions of us, as Christians, being mild to not fighting for our voice. We slithered his voice. We didn't, we didn't protect it. So, unfortunately, the darkness, the pedophilia, all the above is something that's been on since the day's age. That's why he flooded the earth. That portion of it is because of sin.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of the sin of homosexuality. And you know that was kind of funny. I just opened, I opened this Bible, the Bible up, and I was going to get some inspiration there and see what to talk about. And then in Isaiah 43, 18 tells us forget the former past. Forget the former things, do not dwell in the past. That's kind of getting ahead of what we're talking about, but it's so true that God will meet you where you're at. It doesn't matter if you're in the midst of an heroin addiction on the street, if you're in a gay bar in Los Angeles, if you're on your way to go stalk a child Struggling with thoughts in your road, anything like that. If you just surrender yourself to the Lord, he will deliver you. And it's just like you know.
Speaker 2:God's word also tells us another kind of mentioned that on the opening that God will not allow Satan to tempt us any more than we can handle and God will always provide it out for us. So what does that mean? That means that if you know it's wrong I mean no matter what you're doing you know that whenever you're doing something wrong, take a minute If you truly, truly want to be free from it. Take a break, stop whatever it is that you're doing and that thought mid process. Start praying to the Lord.
Speaker 2:I can't tell you the perfect prayer. You go something like this Heavenly Father, rescue me from the sin and the temptation that I'm facing. You know what it is. It's such and such, and please deliver me from the hands of the enemy, in Jesus name, amen. It can be something that simple. You can delve into it. You can tell him all about it, however you want to do it are generational. Some are just brought upon by sin and just are things that we were just predisposed to and um fulfilling the wants and desires of the and the arrogance of the flesh.
Speaker 3:If you start that, he's gonna deliver you, but also, too, if you, if I believe that, if you confess you're weak because it's fleshly but also it's a spiritual thing that people believe, if you say that again, I didn't catch that so I believe that if you confess it's your weakness because the word says in your weakness his strength is perfected you have to confess that you are weak, you have to confess that this is bigger than you, that you need his divine strength to get you through it, and I think it's when you, in that moment, that he will intercede for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, no, I think you're right because you've and that's probably another I mean well, it is Well you've got to put down your pride.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you can't do this on your own.
Speaker 2:Is that what surrender means?
Speaker 3:I mean, but you can surrender and still try and hold on to self.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And I think that's an issue we still try and hold on to a portion of ourselves.
Speaker 2:but there are identities in him. A conditional surrender, correct. I'll believe in you, I'll follow you, but I still want to do this, this and this.
Speaker 3:For these reasons, yeah, I can understand that and it and it tells you, and that's why people go around the same thing over and over and over. And then they think the problem is is oh, he's not going to help me. Well, no, you haven't. You haven't fulfilled it fully, given it to him so they can help you. You keep it in your hand, in it, like, for instance, like I've had prayers and the Lord has literally said to me I can't do anything until you stop. You have to stop. You ask me to do it, but you keep interjecting yourself and you make it worse. Just stop, yeah.
Speaker 2:And this is what makes I think this is what makes it hard for people that believe that they have to have a church or a pastor to be their intercessor to access God and then they give up on it. But what they don't really realize is that pastors are people too, and the church is made up of people. And sometimes a lukewarm church and a lukewarm pastor can't even give you the message that you need to hear because they're so caught up in there and they're caught up in their old sin. Yeah, how many times have we heard about pastor so-and-so being a, being hooked on pornography or actually having an affair with a couple that he's counseling or one of the people in the couple that that person is counting? Who knows? Because there's so many, oh yeah, there's so many. You know. There's women that are pastors, now men that are pastors. You never know what you're doing.
Speaker 2:And then these churches accept gay couples into the church and completely out of order. I'm not saying that gay people can't go to church, but a gay couple cannot belong to a church body being in leadership and engaging in counseling sessions when they're out of order in their own life. And if you don't believe that, why did God destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for the sexual immorality that was going on there. We can repeat these and get into all these debating the verses, and then you want to get a theologian that may be from like the episcopal church or the lutherans have gone nuts as well. There's so many of them that are accepting and doing having the lesbian pastor and I'm going to tell you, if you want to get to heaven, it certainly is not going to be through a lesbian pastor.
Speaker 3:I'm telling you okay, and in addition to that too, I understand there's different versions of the Bible, different interpretations.
Speaker 2:Translations Shouldn't be different versions, just different Bible series versions too.
Speaker 3:The problem, I feel, is when they start, when they have their own Bible and it's got their own.
Speaker 2:Like the Book of Mormon or the Catholic Bible. Is that what?
Speaker 3:you're saying Right, there's lots of faiths now that have their own interpretation.
Speaker 2:It's not even an interpretation, no, they're offended by the truth of the Holy Bible, so they rewrite it. Getting back to that conditional surrender, I'll follow you, Lord, I'll do these things and I'm going to surrender my life to you, but I'm going to retain. It's kind of like they're trying to negotiate a contract.
Speaker 2:But I'm going to justify the word to fit my narrative and that's not what God does for you. You know, I'll tell my own personal story. Then I always used to struggle with me saying oh, I've surrendered to the Lord, I believe in the Lord, I'm doing all these things, but he's not delivering me. And then, finally, when I dug deep into it and really got serious about it, in order for him to deliver me I had to give up alcohol, and I didn't even know that. And then, through prayer, the Holy Spirit took alcoholism from me and then it just blew it up. It was like I mean, you were on a fast pass, like hold on.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I have to get you where you were supposed to be, because you've been going around the same mountain for a long time Well, a couple of decades.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I mean he put you know 30 years of 30 years of teaching and like a four afternoons type of thing.
Speaker 3:I mean it was quick. Well, here's the thing Once you removed, the barrier, if you will. But it wasn't that. So picture yourself as an ace and you had Holy Spirit in there somewhere, but he was the minute layer at the bottom. But then you had the drinking, you had the lifestyle, all that stuff filled up.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So what happened was is once he removed that liquid sin and he filled you up. He filled you up at such a rapid rate you didn't have a chance to go back to that lifestyle.
Speaker 2:Yeah, remember that. Remember that I already told you about how I had that dream of when all this was going on and I was telling Tracy like the craziest thing happened to me. Last night, I had this dream where I was standing on a dam, overlooking this brand new dam, and it was huge. It was so full of water. And the Lord said to me we built this brand new dam and it's symbolic of your life, and then all the water flooded out of it and he said that that was wastewater, and all the water that's going to come in with this new rain that this dam is going to hold is going to be all water of spiritualness and faithfulness and is water, and that's exactly you know. And then, and to top that off, talk about when you're having crazy dreams and trying to recognize the Lord and everything else. It might take you a year, but something that even just dawned on me before that, probably about a week or two before that dream of the, of the dam and the new, and before I say this, the Lord is always going to come to you and speak to you how you'll receive it and how you'll receive it, and only you can receive it. So to you. It's going to be very motivating and or correcting, or correcting and wildness, but it's going to resonate with you and it's to get your attention so that you know it's him, exactly what it is.
Speaker 2:So there was this dream that I had before the damn dream, and I was in a car. I was in a car crash and it was high impact and I like boom and I crashed. And then I started seeing this light and I thought, oh, I died. But in my mind I really thought that I died as well. But then I didn't die.
Speaker 2:When I woke up, it was the ambulance people. It wasn't the Lord or anything like that, it was the ambulance people and they were getting me to come to and do whatever they do and tell me that I'd been in this accident. I was like, yeah, I did. I thought that I had died, though, and they're like no, almost though. So then I had the damn dream and then I thought, oh, that was just a crazy nightmare. I probably drive too fast, which I do sometimes, but I thought that was just some kind of just. Maybe I fell asleep with the TV on or something. But now, looking about it in retrospect, that car crash was really him revealing to me what you had to die to self, yeah, and there's a lot of things just about ready to change, and of course that they did, and that was probably the fastest year of my life Were the paramedics, the people that you were sitting next to at the saloon, trying to bring you back.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it could have been up. It could have been just old betty from barstool five, you know, down at the neighborhood drinking home every week.
Speaker 3:I'm just kidding, I don't know. It was him totally talking to you, yeah yeah but you didn't realize in the moment the message until the next time came.
Speaker 2:So that's what I was getting at, where he'll meet you wherever you're at, if you really start surrendering and seeking him. But if you go and you, god doesn't do anything, conditionally. It's his way or no way, and that's one thing that people cannot give up His condition is you will come to him as you are.
Speaker 3:That's the condition, yeah.
Speaker 2:That's the only condition. That's the only condition, and you can get the free gift of salvation, right, but it's going to cost you, yeah, it's going to cost you your flesh, yeah, and your earthly life, yeah, but I would rather give up a life with Satan and gain eternity, yeah, all day, and gain eternity, yeah, all day. You know, then, to embellish things on Earth that don't make a difference in eternity, because you know, like okay, let's just say like okay, what's in the news right now is this Sean Combs thing, or P Diddy, whatever you want to call him, but Sean Combs, that's just for the sake of more poor people, that's just call him.
Speaker 3:Well, I don't idolize him, so I'm not.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah, same thing. Yeah, but just because you go on, you engaged all this pedophilia and human trafficking and all of that. You think it's great. I've heard another reason I bring this up because I heard this the other day that, yeah, I could do all those things and I may go to hell, but that's, my hell is to be in an eternal. God is not going to put you in an eternal orgy. I'm sorry that's not happening, but I did hear that there's not going to be any fulfillment. No, no, but that's what some? It's agony. I guess that's what the enemy has gotten some folks to believe.
Speaker 3:Well, he's the king of lies. I mean, how many times did he promise them? He does deliver, don't get me wrong. He'll deliver until he doesn't want to anymore. He's already got you. He owns you at that point. So how many people's lives have been ruined in the process? Yeah, and what did you have to give up? Like and this is what I don't understand you have the same sacrifice for the enemy as you do for God. The enemy makes you sacrifice something, sure, sure, and it's usually it's way worse than the sacrifice your soul. Yeah, because Jesus already made the ultimate sacrifice for you, right, and you just have to accept it. That sacrifice is so much easier to submit to the Lord and to accept Him as your Lord and Savior.
Speaker 2:I mean I've heard the craziest things. I mean, when you live in a bar for the big part of your adult life, you hear some wild things and I'm crazy. Yeah, you know, I've heard people in the bar. There's some humor to it too, that I grew up in this little bitty town in West Texas and there was only well, I guess in its heyday there was a lot more, but toward the end of the current days there was only one bar, there was only one bar and anyways, everybody in town the other 222 people that weren't at the bar would always condemn the 75 people that were at the bar and they would talk about you know how, how all the sinful nature that's going on down there at the bar when they're sitting in the church gossiping about everybody at the bar. So the bar owner says one day to one of the ladies that stopped by, of course she just wanted a glass of water and play a board game to see what was going on at the bar, just to hear your report back, just to hear your report back. And all this came up. And the bar owner says to her she says now you know, if y'all can get to heaven from that baptist church. I'm going to be right, fine, right, here at this table smoking my cigarette and drinking tequila, and it was a funny thing being an analogy who's going to cast the first stone? Or you know, who would he, without sins, be the one that cast the first stone? All those kind of things.
Speaker 2:But what I was getting at is you hear a lot of things like I've heard people from the bars not necessarily this bar, I'm just saying all these other bars that I've been to in general say that they believe in the Lord, in Jesus Christ, they believe in God, they believe Jesus is the Son of God, all that stuff they just like to drink. So their hell. If jesus doesn't allow drinking in heaven or them to get there because they're an alcoholic and they go to hell, their hell is going to be there's no alcohol there. Okay, wait, wait, wait, or or and or this goes hand in hand and or. I've heard the smokers said the same thing. That says they believe the only thing that they've done wrong is smoke cigarettes. So there's just, they're not going to have marbles in heaven. So that's going to be their lack of peace or their their destination. Hell is just. They're going to be able to live in heaven, but just not with cigarettes or with alcohol. None of that's true, but I just want to talk about the way different people justify it.
Speaker 3:Okay, but biblically I have to look up the verse. But it says don't be a drunkard. There's a difference between having a drink and being drunk.
Speaker 2:Well, alcohol today is not the alcohol of biblical times, so we can't even make that comparison. They had bad water, all these different things, the wine they didn't have, first of all they didn't have tequila and vodka and all these you know, and all these different drinks that are named after every type of bad decision you could possibly make. But yeah, so anyways, it was out of purpose, like wine, biblical wine, maybe for a stomachache, and just like in Timothy talks about that, drink a little wine to help with your stomach aches.
Speaker 3:Right, I mean it was don't be a drunkard Like, for instance, it's okay if I have a glass of wine on occasion, it's. Don't have a bottle in one glass and justify it as a glass.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I would even go a step further. I mean I know that this is probably, I mean this is very controversial, but I think if you're going to be in a leadership role at all, I don't even think you should be having. If you want to have wine, have it at home, but not out at a restaurant where people would see you only because, for no other reason, that the weakest person would use that as justification, not knowing where the limit is, and I think that they would justify allowing the devil in Satan in at that moment, just because they're going to say so-and-so. I saw them having a glass of wine out at a restaurant they don't know there was, and then the next thing will be it could have been two bottles, we just don't know because we weren't there, but they were drinking in public, whereas if you just didn't do that at all, if you wanted to be able to I'm just saying an advocate for Christ or in the leadership role, you wouldn't even do that in public at all. You're just doing it at home.
Speaker 3:Okay, yes and no, because I don't want to be a hypocrite and if you have a problem with me, can you say hey, I saw you out drinking. Bring it up and we can have a discussion about it. Yes, we had a bottle of wine between four people or two people. We were celebrating such and such.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I mean, I think it opens conversation. So I truly was at a church and I was part of the women's group and they wanted me to be a leader. And then they wanted me to go to class to become a leader, which is fine, and in this class, you know, there it was. Let me give you all the notes that you're not allowed to do. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Which they were altering biblical commandments to make it fit their narrative, which I struggle with. But in doing that so the pastor's wife, or her right-hand person, was going to sit with me as I led the table for a week or two to see if it was something that I could do or would be willing to do. And as I'm sitting there, we were talking and we were having like an open discussion and it was pretty detailed and things of that nature. And I remember saying that I think it's as a wife bitching at my husband, you know, sets the tone, sets the tone, mercy, and if you do that, you're setting the tone of what you're going to receive back. So you might be upset complaining, but if you bitch at him and he takes it as that, then it's going to set the whole tone and then the whole discussion goes off course.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Oh, my goodness, you cannot say the word bitching, I'm like.
Speaker 2:So did you say that as like just to identify with them or to get them to understand what you were saying, versus trying to say like nagging or something like that, just because that's really what it is.
Speaker 3:It's bitchy. It's not nagging, it's bitchy. It's like your intent behind it is to get your point across at your.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's the test in it with the yeah, yeah and the tone and everything else.
Speaker 3:Okay, so I was just being raw and honest and the leader assistant slapping your hand, get the ruler out. You're in trouble and I'm like.
Speaker 2:You can't say that and it was an adult bible study oh, and I'm talking, I was probably one of the younger.
Speaker 3:There may have been one other person in the 30s when I was in my 40s at this point, and I was like, yeah okay so you know that after not that night following, we had to pull aside and they're all oh well, you also need to sign this, and it's an agreement.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And one of the first things is you're not allowed to have a drink in public.
Speaker 2:Oh, so that was in the contract.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah, so now I'm pissed, I'm taking this to task. So they're reprimanding me for saying the word bitching and they're all. How do you feel about? You know you need to sign the contract so you can leave, but you, you can't speak like this and I'm like I'm not gonna be able to do this.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and pastor's wife, like why would you not be able to do that? I said well, cause you want me to be a hypocrite. You're telling me I can drink at home. There's no limits on how much I can drink at home. There's no limits. You don't have the limit, so you don't have the limit on here. Yeah, I said. But I can't have anything in public. So you're wanting me to be a hypocrite? I said I would much rather see you have a two drink minimum period. Then for you to tell me I said, for instance, there are some people that fight certain sins.
Speaker 3:And if they don't see that, pete, what is a sin for one person is not a sin for another person. Some people have addiction issues, some people have cannot have one drink. Some people think that personally, I don't have an addictive personality. Yeah, so I don't always understand it, but I can have one or two glasses. And here's another thing is your poor makes the difference. I have maybe a total of six glasses of wine. And here's another thing If you're poor, it makes a difference. I have maybe a total of six ounces of wine. That's considered two glasses for me, and I'm not belligerent, I'm not hateful. They need to see that people can control these things. There's some people that can't.
Speaker 3:They shouldn't at all, so I mean that's where you have to, to take it to the Lord and ask him am I supposed to do this or not? And if he says no, it's no, and when he doesn't answer, that's a no. But I honestly believe that part of the problem with Christianity is is people are turned off because of the hypocrisy. They know we drink. They know we do these things. Don't try and act like you're not doing them when you're in public. Hypocrisy they know we drink. They know we do these things. Don't try and act like you're not doing them when you're in public if you're doing them at home. Right is right, Wrong is wrong. Well, I get that. Is God still?
Speaker 2:watching you. No, I understand that part. The only point I was just trying to make I 100% don't drink anymore and the Lord took that away from me, and that's it. But that's my, that's my issue with him, or there's not an issue, we don't have an issue. But I'm just saying that's what he did for me, that's what he delivered you.
Speaker 2:That's what he delivered me up, so. But the point I was trying to make was that some people with that addiction like I'm just this is just another point of view on it is that they would use that almost like saying that you were a stumbling block, when you're not even being a stumbling block. You know that you could have a glass of wine and you're fine, whereas, like me, if I start well, one a glass of wine is a bottle, because I can fit a whole bottle in a big enough glass, right. So type of thing. That's the mentality and it doesn't stop there. So I was just using that as an example. If you were a leader in a church you're drinking at a restaurant, alcoholic would come by that was struggling in the church and say, oh, I'm fine because so and so does it and they're a leader. But I get both sides of it.
Speaker 3:I, I can see both sides of it so, for me, my biggest problem was I found the hip. So, of course, either, like we know, I cannot be a leader, because what you're asking me to do is deceive people, and that, to me, is not a leader.
Speaker 2:And then, and then, when you start getting into all these roles and things like that, then you start delving into legalism versus faith and spirituality, whereas I think that's what versus religion, yeah right, and I think that's what Faith versus religion yeah right. And I think that's where I mean, and that too is, you know, that's what we're talking about here, and I think that's where the Jewish people they struggle with that as well, where you see, you know the kids doing whatever that they do, like any other kid would do, and then you have all the way to the Rabionic and the messianic jews. They're to the extreme with the curls and all the other craziness, when none of that really has to even come into play.
Speaker 2:But that's just gets into the legalism of it, and there is a big difference between, like, what you're talking about is people get turned off by christianity because of the hypocrisy and the perceived for hypocrisy of it because of the man-made rules yeah, because, well, that's the legalism of it and it's like, well, it's just like you know, like with the government and you know the you know the government steps in and takes over things and then it takes away from the spiritualness of it too, like food stamps, like there's some people that will say that you know that they get upset because the church frowns upon food stamps and they don't want them to prosper or give them a chance.
Speaker 2:And that's not what it's about. It's that whenever the government steps in and does the church's the work of the church and does the Lord's work, where it takes away your need, your perceived need to surrender, whereas if you were truly a hungry person and you would come in to get your food from the church or through the ministry, you would also receive the nourishment of the Lord's word. And that's a better path forward of getting out of a bad situation, because it's care on more than one front, where the government's just gonna they're not gonna nurture you, they're just gonna feed you they're doling it out.
Speaker 3:What it does is the government does it. It removes relationship and it's not just it's not just a relationship with christ, but it removes the relationship of you may be going through something that that person who's handing you the food has already been delivered from and can't help you navigate your situation to help you.
Speaker 3:So it removes relationship. Yeah, and I, on every level, every level. And if you think about it, that is what the enemy has done on. Look, okay, let's just go deeper. Look at video games. Okay, let's just go deeper. Look at video games. When a kid sits in front of a video game for hours on end, he doesn't have social skill. He's not going out. She, he, they're not outside playing, they're not outside making friendships, they're, they're. They become reclusive. Yes, okay, the whole covid narrative, those kids who didn't get to go to school I can't imagine I'm unfortunate, my kids were older than that and through that situation, but what their social skills are going to be like? First of all, they're doing everything via social media. So people will type things on social media that they would never say to someone's face, type things on social media that they would never say to someone's face. So it just did a turnabout on relationships and how people treat each other, and I think that the enemy has definitely caused a wedge into relationships. I think that's a huge factor.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I think you're exactly right and I think that that's what plays into this, you know, even going a step further and saying that that's what plays into the transgender too. Because look what I mean, look what you know, when Nebuchadnezzar defeated the Jews and took them into Babylon, what's the first thing he did? He took away, he gave, you know, daniel and Shadiel and shadrach, leshak and abednego all feminine names. And then now, where we've stepped it up and, uh, we're saying that you know now that people shouldn't even have a gender, and it's gender fluid, that's so that people can't fulfill their biblical roles that god has set forth for us, and it takes your identity away and that's exactly the work of the enemy, and you know.
Speaker 2:And those go hand in hand. And it's where people are saying that it's hypocrisy, that the church stands against it. But the problem is is the church is now the church is like, you know, it's kind of like racism, you know. So hypocrisy to Christians has been what racism is what Barack Obama brought into the United States talking about racism, whereas what it really means if you disagree with the Democrat Party, you're racist because it was led by a black guy, whereas that, if you disagree with Christianity. Everybody in it is a hypocrite. So you can disagree with it, but that's not what. None of that.
Speaker 2:If you take, strip everything out, just getting back to what we were talking about bare bones about it you go directly to God. You don't use an intercessor, you don't use a pastor, you don't use the church. You go right to God and give your foundation right to God and give your foundation. Then you're able to find a church that fits with your values and your moral compass and everything that you want to go with. And then you can grow through like-minded, which is biblical. Surround yourself with like-minded people and you can grow in fellowship that way, versus trying to go to a church to be saved. Fellowship that way versus trying to go to a church to be saved. It starts with you and meeting where God, meeting you where you're at and you and you welcoming God in, because you just like I mean you know the Lord's standing there knocking. The Bible tells us that the doors. The Jesus Christ is standing there knocking at the door. It's up to you to open the door.
Speaker 2:He's a gentleman, he's not going to force it Absolutely, and that's the whole purpose of faith. He's not going to force it upon you because we have free will. You know, that's where people they struggle and they say you know, if there is a loving God, he wouldn't get. You know, kids wouldn't get cancer and all this other stuff. Folks, we're not in heaven. This isn't perfect. The devil is the prince of the earth and he's running around and destroying it left and right and you have to seek the Lord for protection. But we have free will, and we have free will and we can engage with the enemy, we can engage with the Savior. It's what are we willing to do? And, yes, tests of faith come with that. But we're not in heaven. The earth is not heaven and there's going to be all kinds of problems. The Bible tells us that he refines us through those things.
Speaker 3:Yes, he does, he does, and that's what builds your faith and that's what tests you to lean on him and that's where he grows our character and the character that he created us to be versus the character we choose to be.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it doesn't matter if you live in a communist country or not. Nobody can take the freedom of your mind away. But the devil tries, he can crack it. He cracks it, manipulates it. But again, if you lay that solid foundation with the Lord and truly believe he's not going to let the enemy tempt you any more than you can handle and he'll always provide you a way out.
Speaker 2:In the midst of those crazy thoughts and all that time of despair and the worst situation you're going through, you have to stop. Take a minute, ask the Lord to deliver you from that circumstance, from that temptation, and he will. It takes time to get into the belief of that temptation and he will. It takes time to believe, to get into the belief of that through. You have to believe it at your core. But to develop that and to strengthen your faith that's what I'm really saying is, in order for your faith to grow and to strengthen your faith, you have to rely on the Lord at every test that you get and know that we are weak beings and we can't do this alone.
Speaker 2:That's the whole reason that Jesus had to come to the earth. He didn't come to the earth to save the world. Remember he didn't come to save the world. He came to save us from the world. Correct, because Satan is the world. Remember Satan is the fallen angel. Satan used to be the ministry of music in heaven. He's a fallen angel. He tried to take over and mimic God in heaven. God kicked him out. So he's the prince of the earth and we have to remember that. And that's where you really God will meet you, where you're at. But you have to do your part and ask him to come into your life, to do your part and ask him to come into your life.
Speaker 3:Well, and you have to seek him daily, because here's the thing we're raised in a time where simplicity is gone, there's a lot of chaos, there's a lot of distractions and pretty much everything we do is earthly. Even if you were to say all I do is go to work, I study my Bible. Anytime you get on the internet and have to look something up, there is something worldly that comes up. So, even if it's not your intent, is not there, you still have to repent because you still not that you engaged in it on purpose, but you still took part in it because it was revealed to you whether you did it or not. So you do have to repent of the little things. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Even though they were unintentional. Or I think the biggest one is Lord, forgive my words, if I've cursed somebody, forgive me of my cursings. Yes For blessing, I think more so than anything. Those are the words that we don't realize. We're speaking death, so to speak, over somebody by our words, and I think a lot of people, especially Christians, fail that daily, because your heart might be right, your intent might be good, but as soon as you open your mouth and you speak something out negatively over somebody, you have in fact cursed them. Yeah, so I think that daily repentance is a requirement. And we are perfect. I mean, jesus wouldn't have done what he did if we had the ability to stay clean. We can't stay clean.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 3:It's like telling a kid to go outside and play in a pig pen and not get anything on their clothes. Stop or happen.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, it's exactly right. And if we could do it by ourselves, we wouldn't, you know, we wouldn't. There wouldn't have been a need for Jesus to come and die a horrible death for us, and so he can wash the sin away with the blood. And if anybody out there struggling, you know, mark, you're just not listening to this and you think that man, I need Jesus in my life, I need him to meet me where I'm at. It's simple. All you have to do is pray this prayer Heavenly Father, I'm a sinner. I can't do it without you. I believe that Lord is Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He came in the flesh. The son of God came to the world to wash me of my sins from the world. Heavenly Father, I just surrender to you and ask that you come into my life, heavenly Father, and I accept your gift of eternal life and I praise you and thank you In Jesus' name. Amen. Something that simple. Of course, there's a lot more eloquent when it's out there.
Speaker 3:You know what it's, even something as simple as this. I can't tell you how many people I've spoken to that are believers, and they'll tell you I don't. Can you pray for me, cause I don't know how to pray. Well, yes, I can pray for you, but the problem is you have to learn how to pray for yourself, and it could be simple as this Lords, I have no words. You know my heart, search my heart, help me. Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 2:And if all else fails, you will be done, and if all else fails, read the Bible, because Jesus Jesus taught his disciples how to pray.
Speaker 3:Yes, you know, but? But I think that that's another human flaw. We want others to do things for us instead of doing the work ourselves.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's exactly right. We don't want to do it ourselves. And it comes back to it's a test of faith and prayer builds your faith more than you realize it. And it is hard, don't get me wrong, it's hard. There's a lot of times, especially when you wake up late, you jump into your routine of the day and you forget about it. And three quarters of the day and you forget about it, in three quarters of the days gone by, or until the first bad things happened and you realize, man, I didn't even pray this morning, I didn't set any boundaries. Yeah, I didn't set any boundaries, and that's what it comes down to. And you have to set spiritual boundaries through prayer every day, because everything in this world is spiritual.
Speaker 3:And once you see it.
Speaker 2:You can't unsee it. Every, every day is it's a war. It's a war and every day is a battle. Within that war, you have to look at your life as a war between good and evil. And every day is a battle and you cannot conquer it. It's just like you can't go into battle without a gun. You can't go into battle without all your armor and everything else. You got to pray for that armor protection.
Speaker 2:Mine goes like something like this when I start out my day, I just say, heavenly Father, I just thank you for this beautiful day. Heavenly Father, I thank you for being able to live another day in war and in the spirit, heavenly Father, and I ask that you come into this day and fortify me and protect me in your armor, from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet, so I can walk out what I need to walk out in this world. And, heavenly Father, I pray that you fortify my spiritual fence and keep anything negative, satanic, demonic, nothing of you at bay, heavenly Father. And it cannot penetrate that fence. And I go into other things and I pray for President Trump, I pray for the leaders, I pray for the Israel. I pray for a Trump. I pray for the leaders, I pray for the Israel.
Speaker 2:I pray for a whole bunch of things. It actually every in the morning, but I have a job where I drive, so the first hour of my drive is generally all a prayer, and I do pray that long, but I go through so many things and it takes a long time to get there and you don't have to do that is what I'm getting at. I just like to go through all these things and I think that it makes a difference and, um, but the Lord will meet you where you're at. Absolutely All right. Well, it sounds like that's uh, that's about all we have time for today and, uh, we, uh, we just thank everybody for listening and I hope that, uh, seek the Lord and let him do some powerful things in your life, because he certainly will, and we just pray that he'll always be with you and that you'll always seek him and just open that door. If you have any question about it, just open that door and welcome him in and see all the amazing, great things that he can do for you. All right, thank you.