DedicatedDevoted
We are a dedicated married couple devoted to Jesus, unpacking all that life has to offer. We aim to help others live a DedicatedDevoted life to Jesus Christ.
DedicatedDevoted
Unveiling Prophecies: Presidential Returns, Global Shifts, and Spiritual Vigilance
What if the unexpected return of a former president could signify the unfolding of biblical prophecies? Join us on a thought-provoking journey with our special guest, John Ramacciotti, aka The Spitting Renegade, as we explore the intertwining paths of faith and global events. Through personal stories and shared experiences, we delve into the challenges and triumphs that have shaped our spiritual journeys, emphasizing the power of friendship and a supportive faith community in maintaining a strong commitment to our beliefs.
Our conversation ventures into the prophetic realm, where we critically examine contemporary events through the lens of scripture. The dialogue uncovers potential signs of the end times, from geopolitical shifts involving the United States and Israel to societal changes like the rise of globalization and natural disasters. As we navigate these complex topics, we aim to heighten awareness and encourage spiritual preparedness, urging listeners to stay vigilant amidst the ebb and flow of worldly events.
In a world where religious freedoms and spiritual values face constant challenges, we reflect on the significant role of presidential actions in shaping the landscape for believers. The episode addresses controversial theories surrounding the identity of the Antichrist, prompting a discussion on the characteristics and figures that might fit this enigmatic role. Through these engaging topics, we strive to inspire thoughtful engagement with the cultural and political shifts of our time, highlighting the importance of remaining rooted in faith as we anticipate the future.
Hello and welcome to Dedicated Devoted. I'm your host, jared Kolenbeil.
Speaker 1:And I'm your co-host, Cora Kolenbeil.
Speaker 2:On today's episode, we have a special guest joining us, John Ramashadi, aka the Spitting Renegade. John, welcome to the program.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thanks for letting me come and have some fun. This is great, absolutely. John Ramashadi, aka the Spitting Renegade John, welcome to the program. Yeah, thanks for letting me come and have some fun.
Speaker 2:This is great, absolutely. This is our first episode that we're launching of the year, super excited to have John. We actually we made a commitment, right, we did so. A little bit of backdrop you and I met on a what do we call them? Cora Mandate, mandate, right?
Speaker 3:Yes, absolutely, mandate, mandate right, yes, absolutely A mandate.
Speaker 2:That's where your spouse forces you to go and hang out with another person.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, but before we impact today's episode, just a reminder of how you can support the podcast If you haven't already. Please check out Dedicated Devoted to learn more about the podcast and some awesome ways that you can support us on how to live a dedicated, devoted life On to the show.
Speaker 2:John, yes, it is a privilege to have you here today. I call you a good friend and a compadre in Christ.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you're a good friend of mine. It's a blessing to know you in every way. It's been great to really grow in Christ. You kind of met me at a hard time and helped me through that, and that was really great man.
Speaker 2:Well, one of the things that I can say that I appreciate about you is, right off the bat, we had a lot of commonality. Right, you mentioned hard times. I mean, as Christians in our growth, we're always trying to determine really how we're supposed to live our lives, and I think that you and I just have a lot of commonalities right. Yeah, we do. Yeah, we're both super jacked. Yeah, right, ripped beyond belief yeah to be on belief.
Speaker 2:Um, we have an episode on faith and community. Right, right, cora, and that the last one I've talked.
Speaker 1:Cora is laughing right now well, we have to be honest, john is not super jacked no, so no, unfortunately he's out yeah, yeah, he is not kind of obese.
Speaker 2:I'm teaching him how to lift weights. We're're starting with his bench weight of 100. Yeah, 100. All kidding aside, john seems to take his health in very serious terms, and I do not. But it's a new year, right.
Speaker 1:Yes, for sure.
Speaker 3:New me.
Speaker 2:New year, new you new, do Exactly Do yep. Haircuts, Haircuts, yep All that good stuff. So you and I met sometime last year and I think that we had a lot of commonality, and I recall mentioning that we need to have you on the podcast.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, we're fine with you doing it Like this is great, I'm excited.
Speaker 2:I really am excited, and so our families have come to really know each other. We, we serve together in the same church. I think that this is a great opportunity for us to really kind of unpack something that I think is very significant.
Speaker 3:Yeah, whatever. So like we would go to the gym and Cora would be there talking to everybody. She's like a you know social butterfly talking to everybody. And she's like. She came by one time. She said you need to meet my husband. I was like, oh yeah, sure, but then the same thing that we talked about before I don't really like meeting people, I'm just at the gym doing my thing. But she said that you like theology and I was like, oh well, maybe, maybe. So yeah, let's hang out. So we started hanging out. I think that's something that really we had a commonality on is God, and not just being a Christian, but really studying God and being a, being a, a student of God, and knowing theology and just diving deeper into the scripture and um and what that means for us and how to defend it, our faith, which is really important, because I think truth in itself is under attack. So that's a huge thing for me. I think that's why we click so well.
Speaker 1:And that's why I had to set you guys up on a mandate. Yeah, mandate.
Speaker 3:Mandate. It's like Obama.
Speaker 2:It's the worst. It's the worst having forced friendships, but women, they know something. They know a few things. It's been a fruitful relationship.
Speaker 2:And, all joking aside, one of the things that I've come to appreciate is you seem to have a lot of knowledge regarding the scriptures and theology, and what I would say is I do have an interest in theology. At a certain point in time in my life I felt like I was more and I'll probably use a really good, strong word right now dedicated and devoted, and I've kind of I got to say there's been some really significant events in my life that have pulled me away from my calling to honor and glorify and serve the Lord, and so today I think it's a great opportunity to take a deeper dive into doctrine and talk about events that are occurring right now. And one of the things that I have come to appreciate is you have a lot of knowledge, right? I don't want to claim that theology is my bailiwick. I definitely enjoy apologetics. I think that at a certain point in time, going for a master's in apologetics, I was learning a lot, and I really don't know if all that retention is necessarily there. I think that there's been a lot of things in my life that have kind of steered me in a different direction, and I do want to get back into being I guess you could call it a stronger Christian, right? I don't want to say that I'm a weak Christian by any means, but maybe a better way of putting it is I'd like to be a more knowledgeable Christian. Yeah, I understand that Knowledgeable and effective and so one of the things that I think that is very significant right now is in the US, there's been a lot of significant events in the past few weeks, right, we've had a lot of executive orders come out from President Trump, and the past few weeks, right, we've had a lot of executive orders come out from President Trump, and I believe scripture is unfolding before our eyes, and I think it's really important that, as Christians, we discuss some of the events that are occurring around us.
Speaker 2:Cora, I think you recall this. One of the things that I mentioned is many Christians are sleepy Sleepy, and we see this described in the Bible, with the churches, some churches, some Christians are sleepy and we see this described in the Bible with the churches, some churches, some Christians are sleepy. They're unaware of the things that are occurring in our world. There's a lot of nuances that they're not really paying attention to, and so on. Dedicated Devoted Cora and I have unpacked some of these nuances and I think that now that we have some of these events that are unfolding before us, it's a good time to talk about them. What do you guys think?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, super important. I mean that's just, if not the most important thing. I mean it's we're talking about, you know, heaven and hell, and our passion for the kingdom that is coming, and we really should. That should be our ultimate passion, our, our, our drive towards everything. And you know Jesus speaking of sleepy Christians. You know Matthew 24, 25, whenever Jesus talks about his coming, he said that many, would you know, basically fall asleep and wouldn't be. You know he. Basically there's a parable about, like how the master went long, went away for a long time, and many of the, the, the people who are set over the the place, were basically they fell asleep, they're not watching for him. And as Christians, we need to be watching for him continually. I mean, what does that mean? I mean you know, watching for him, you look at the sky, or what I mean? Obviously there's something that we're supposed to be watching for. I think Jesus gave us a big list of things to be looking for as far as signs Telltale signs.
Speaker 3:Yeah, signs and other times, you know so.
Speaker 2:On a previous episode we talked about the parable of the 10 virgins and the opportunities that God gives us to be prepared, and we're supposed to be prepared and ready, and it's very easy to try to prepare at the last moment and it's too late. And I do think that there are telltale signs, things that are occurring. What do you think, cora?
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I definitely think there's a lot of stuff that we're seeing that we had never really seen before or really heard of, but definitely seen a lot more than I have before.
Speaker 2:Well, one of the things that we're seeing is episode two of 47 returning let's go, porn. I got something here right, so I am just actually very excited that we have President Trump back in office. Let's go that. We have president Trump back in office. All kidding aside, we talked about this last year and we unpacked an episode about Harrison walls, you remember?
Speaker 1:the big thing about the glass ceiling the glass ceiling.
Speaker 2:I called that one right. I knew that that was going to come out as a giant narrative before it came out. Yeah, and Tim walls with Midwestern dad vibes. Yeah, that that that was his to come out as a giant narrative before it came out. And Tim Walls with Midwestern Dad.
Speaker 1:Vibes yeah.
Speaker 2:That was his appeal, midwestern Dad Vibes. It was part of a New York Times article and so we unpacked that a little bit. But, all kidding aside, we have our 47th president, president Trump, and he is advocating for the Christian worldview in a way that I haven't seen. I think it's super significant that we pay attention to this, because in the past week, we have seen President Trump share his plan essentially to take to possess, to govern however you want to call it the Gaza Strip, and this is something that I didn't really think would happen this quickly, and if you're not a sleepy Christian, you're paying attention and you're going whoa.
Speaker 2:This is a significant event. I think I shared this with Cora, and Cora said you need to make sure that you share with others some of the things that you think are happening, because, as they unfold, you can see whether or not you're paying attention. So the Gaza Strip being taken was part of this grander narrative that I think is occurring, in which I believe that we're going to see the US essentially undertake a lot of land grabs, and I think it has to do with biblical events, and so, specifically on the Gaza Strip, this leads me to believe that there are some very important biblical events that are unfolding and I think we should unpack these to better discern the times that we're in, perhaps even the end times Now when I say that, what do you guys're in? Perhaps even the end times Now when I say that, what do you guys think of when I say the end times?
Speaker 3:Well, the end times, the end of this age. It's marked by certain things we need to be watching for, and that has a lot to do with the global scene. And one of the things that we need to look for specifically is what's going on with Israel. Israel is kind of the epicenter of All eyes on Israel.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly of eschatology, I mean, that's kind of the time piece, you know, like the thing that we watch, you know. So anything to do with Gaza, with Israel, with peace in general, treaties, things like that is something we need to watch closely Because those are things that we're told very clearly in the scripture to watch for, you know, because the antichrist, who will come, will make a treaty with israel for seven years and that's that will mark a, a period of time of seven years where there's a basically you probably don't need to go into all of it, so it's pretty big spiel, but that's what would mark the beginning of it is a treaty with israel and the beast being the government. So you never think of the beast, that's what it is. Some kind of government makes a peace treaty with Israel for seven years, and that's something we really got to watch for.
Speaker 2:And you know, nevermind, I'll stop there. But yeah, For many of our believers you're unpacking quite a bit.
Speaker 3:Yep.
Speaker 2:And for to to kind of summarize or simplify, I think that there's a multitude of views on the end times. I'm curious, cora, when I say the end times, what are you thinking of?
Speaker 1:I think my answer is a lot more simple.
Speaker 2:And when John and I discussed how we were going to tackle this episode today, I told John that I think Cora is a great representation of folks who are believers, who are learning and growing, and you actually represent a good amount of believers that need to understand what to look for. Because I have my own perspective too on the end times, and not in a great detailed, expansive way. From a biblical perspective, right From a biblical Christian worldview. I do, and I'll share that here in a moment. But I'm curious, cora, what are your thoughts?
Speaker 1:I guess for me when I hear end times I just think of like the beginning of the end. But growing up I feel like the end times was kind of always talked about but not really all the details on what's supposed to happen. But there was always little things that would start to happen that people would start to bring up the end times, but again I don't know, people would start to bring up the end times, but again, I don't know.
Speaker 2:You know a lot about it. Well, here's a very interesting thing is I don't think any one person has the correct definition or the narrative. We know that Jesus really gives a good expansive or simplified overview of the end times. Here's what I think when I hear end times, first and foremost for a world that doesn't believe in Christ. There's not really a good understanding that things will end right. We think that the world will exist in perpetuity. It'll just go forever.
Speaker 2:There's this idea that the universe and it depends what worldview you subscribe to but there's this idea that things there's it depends what worldview you subscribe to but there's this idea that there's not going to be a definitive end, and when we talk about the end times, as Christians we do firmly believe that things will come to an ultimate end, but justice will be there, and I think that that's what we all seek is we look. For me personally, I look for the return of Christ. I look forward to participating at the great banquet feast. There's all these really cool things that I think are very exciting, but more than anything, when I think of the end times, I really think of some significant events that should get us excited.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3:I mean, the thing is, when you talk about the end times, it sounds kind of gloomy and scary, right Like the apocalypse, you know, but it's really a beautiful thing because we're talking about the end of the reign of Lucifer.
Speaker 3:So whenever the fall happened and Lucifer essentially became the god of this world, as he's called, and that's what we've seen for the last forever, since the beginning, since the fall, and so that reign is the end. So we're talking about the end. We're talking about the end of bad, the end of sadness, the end of evil, the end of things that oppress, and that is really good news, and that's why it's something that I think a lot of people like to talk about is because it's great. Finally justice will happen and finally the king, the reigning king, will actually come and will sit on the throne and there will be justice and righteousness and, finally, peace. And that's what I think we all want, and it's a wonderful story and it's happening before our eyes. The beginning signs are right there, and I think that we all need to be prepared for Christ and be constantly repenting of sin, reading the word being filled with the spirit, because it's coming to the time where it's going to get darker before it gets good.
Speaker 2:That's the scary part, right, when we hear end times, we're thinking, like you said, doom and gloom. I'm going to jump right to Revelation, chapter 21, verse 4. You're mentioning this, right, this is the good stuff. This is when sin, ultimately is defeated. And we see in Revelation, chapter 21, verse 4, the Bible says and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death what an amazing thing, right, or sorrow, or crying, nor shall there be any more pain. And it goes on.
Speaker 2:But when I think of end times, yes, certainly we all have our different views and I think for the most part, we're very closely aligned with them. But we all feel, from a subjective perspective, a little bit different about it and for me especially, having a different upbringing, a different you could call it a foundational backdrop, I think it's very interesting that the end times have all of these prophetic events and they're great things that we should pay attention to. Going back to Gaza and talking about what is occurring in the world right now, I do want to unpack just a little bit some of the executive orders that have been coming out, but I want to go back real quick because we're talking about the end times, the last things. Really, we're talking about stuff that's covered under the study. The big word for it in a theological perspective is eschatology, and so I'm no expert by any means on eschatology, but we are all called to be, we're all called to be students of the word, right To get in the Bible, understand a little bit more.
Speaker 2:I want to share with our listeners real quick. This comes from the Baptist Faith, message 2000. And I don't know if you guys have heard this before, but I want to read this in regards to the end times, god, in his own time and in his own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end. According to his promise, jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth. The dead will be raised and Christ will judge all men in righteousness. The unrighteous will be co-signed to hell, the place of everlasting punishment, the righteous in their resurrected. And the reason why I wanted to share that is I think it's a really important nugget when we talk about the end times. This is a very significant thing.
Speaker 1:So what kind of events are you guys seeing or signs of the end times like? Do you guys have any examples?
Speaker 3:yeah, that's a a great question yeah, there's a lot there, yeah, um all eyes on israel. That's one that you're mentioning yeah, all eyes on israel, um the other. I mean, we can do this right now if you want to. You want to go through?
Speaker 2:that we can go through it however you see fit. I mean, like if I rattle them off the top of my mind, I think of the one world government as a sign. It's a huge thing. A common currency, crypto is huge now and Musk is part of, well, yeah, brainships. Well, he's part of Trump's cabinet and that's a very significant thing. But I guess I'll start and I'll just give a very simple one. I think the hostility towards Israel that we see from the neighboring Arab nations is a strong demonstration of the birthing pains of Jesus's return. That's one for me.
Speaker 3:Yeah, another big thing is globalization. The fact that, like, like covid, was a big, interesting thing that happened, right, I mean, you had the entire world joining together fighting this enemy of this virus, right? And uh, you know, we can argue about whether it's super bad or super good or super whatever, but regardless, the entire world did exactly the same thing. It was, in other words, all the governments of the world came together doing one thing, which is very, very interesting to me. That was one of the clearest examples of that. We are living in a globalized society. It's no, that's the first time it's ever happened, so it's huge. So that's one thing. The other thing that you got to look at is the natural disasters, because that's what jesus talked about. He talked about natural disasters happening in various places. Matthew 24 earthquakes are just through the roof. It's insane as far as floods, tsunamis, just constant earth-shattering things. This is new and, of course, the argument is oh, we're just now paying attention. That's not true. It is definitely multiplied by a lot. Okay, so that's another thing.
Speaker 2:Well, let me comment on that real quick. Yeah, absolutely the earthquake thing. I've gone off on a tangent on a previous episode regarding this. The quantity of earthquakes and the sheer magnitude of them has been increasing.
Speaker 1:Since.
Speaker 2:I think 1951 or 1954, when they first started measuring earthquakes on on the richter scale. They have been increasing in quantity and in duration, yes, and now you're seeing them happen in various places where they hadn't happened before. Right wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, pestilence core what do you think? What are some signs that you've seen?
Speaker 1:I don't know, I can't think of any, just like right off the top of my head it's completely fair. I think that there's a lot of things, and that's why we're talking about, I think like I could think of some, but you guys have already named a lot of them, so I don't think I could come up with like another one that.
Speaker 2:I can. Can I give you one?
Speaker 1:Yes, give me one.
Speaker 2:And maybe maybe you'll. Um, you'll see this. Maybe you won't see it. How about the vanity of man?
Speaker 3:oh yeah, people have become chapter yeah, they become so vain, right?
Speaker 2:the reason why I mentioned that is you're a cosmetologist and I think people are just they're. They're very much into themselves and how they look, yeah, which is why I don't want to be ripped and jacked, guys. I just want to be a normal. That's an excuse. Come on, man, I want to be healthy good, healthy is good vein vanity right. Yeah, that's one it is 2.
Speaker 3:Timothy 2 is very clear about being. You know, children will be disrespectors of parents and lovers themselves. That's a good one. Yeah, it's a huge thing. Actually, in fact, that is also one of the biggest ones. I'll get to that in a second, but before oh man, I totally forgot where I was going with that. Nevermind, let's go back to. Well, no, no, pause, real quick. The globalization.
Speaker 2:one was really good, it was yeah. I think you made a strong point earlier that we've never seen such I don't want to say coercion, but we've never seen such integration between different countries and acting I'm going to say it in one spirit and I'm going to say demonic spirit more specifically, I think that that's a really big one is, when we talk about globalization, we're really talking.
Speaker 2:We might not be on the same plane, but I'm thinking globalization in terms of a movement towards one world government, which is something we ought to be paying attention to. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3:And as far as the one world government and the one world community, but there's also one world walking away from God. That's 2 Thessalonians, 2. And I also want to, if it's okay, I'll just read a little bit of this real quick. It says now, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and so whenever you read something like that you know that's always in context of the second coming right. And also it says being gathered to him, which is talking about the harpazo, the rapture. And it says we ask you, brothers, not to not be quickly shaken by mind or alarmed either by spirit or spoken word or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way, for that day will not come Now. Check this out Unless the rebellion comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called God and every object of worship so that he takes his seat on the temple of God kind of zoom in here is.
Speaker 3:It says right here that the first thing that happens is that the let don't. It says um, unless the rebellion comes first, and that rebellion in that is the word um in the. In the greek is it's the word uh, apostasia, okay, and that's where you get the word apostate, or in other words, to fall away or to walk away okay. So there's going to be this great walking away before the coming of christ, and he says this is one of the main things. Of course, a second, the next thing is that a lot of the man of lawlessness will be revealed before he comes, so this, that the antichrist must come first, so, but the thing I want to focus on is is that a great apostasy? I think that this is something that we need to be really looking at, and that's a whole list. I really recommend reading that chapter. That's the verse I have right here.
Speaker 2:Can I share? Yeah, please do. Yeah, okay. So 2 Timothy 3.2,. The Bible says in 2 Timothy 3.2, for people will be lovers of self, lovers of money. That was when I was thinking. I mean, mean, we're seeing quite a bit of that in our day and age. Um, let me get back here. So, lovers of money, proudful, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, and it goes on to say, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good. Yeah, exactly, we call good bad and bad good, literally. And that's how we know. We are in a day and age where things are just askewed. Yes, exactly.
Speaker 2:We go back to some of the events that are happening. I'm excited for 47 being in the white house once again, because I do feel like he's speaking my language, but I know that there's going to be a reverberation. There'll be a consequence for all the things that we do. We were talking about this earlier. Right, we seek justice, and sometimes well, actually all times. As Christians, we are not the ones who bring the justice, but, man, we just want to see it.
Speaker 1:You know that, cora. Oh yeah, totally I love justice. Yeah, justice rocks. One of my favorite things, justice, do you ever?
Speaker 2:watch those videos where there's. I love these ones. It's a Superman thing, right. So they're little YouTube shorts and it's a superman moment. So the bad guy is doing something bad and then a guy a good guy comes out of nowhere and like knocks the guy out.
Speaker 1:You guys know what I'm talking about oh yeah, those are some of my favorite right to watch that yeah bad guy getting knocked out cold.
Speaker 2:Kata justice. I think that we all yearn for justice. We only know it in a certain superficial humanistic way. But I think what we see in our world is those who don't love good. You mentioned it, john. We see many people walking away from God. How about church, corey? You grew up in church, you're a classic PK, right?
Speaker 1:Which means a prisoner kid.
Speaker 2:Preacher's kid and preacher's kids can be quite jaded.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've actually spoken to a few even more recently and definitely that could definitely be something that you know we do deal with, I think, more often than other kids.
Speaker 2:And you see the hurt that occurs in the church. Oh, totally, and it makes you, or it makes you and others, want to walk away. But you'll never walk away from God. Yeah, because God's good. Some of the things that we see here is, when we walk away from the church, we're walking away from truth, and I think people are walking away from truth and from God because they're lovers of themselves. Yes, they don't want communion with the Lord.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Does that make sense? It really does. In fact, there's some stern warnings about that.
Speaker 3:In Romans, Paul talks about basically that, because people do not love the truth and the truth, by the way, is a very big part of this People who love the truth are people who love Christ. Jesus is the way and the truth and be are people who love Christ. You know Jesus is the way and the truth and the life. Truth is not subjective, it's not my truth, is not my truth, your truth is not your truth. The truth is beyond us, it's outside of us, but it says but Paul talks about how people because people don't have a love for the truth, in Romans, chapter one, God actually sends them a strong delusion that they might believe a lie instead of the truth. Yeah, it's very, very important to know the truth, and the truth is defined by the Word of God, and so it's very important for us to be in the Word and comparing our thoughts and our feelings and the things that we hear with the Scripture, Because there's manythe first thing that the devil came to do whenever he came to the garden, he said did God really say?
Speaker 3:Remember? That was the first lie that he said to man was. Did God? He made Adam and Eve question the word of God and his tactics have not changed to this day. It's exactly the same thing. Has God you know? Has God really said you know to questioning his word?
Speaker 3:But it's really important because that whenever I was, we were talking about the second Thessalonians chapter two theme, with the great falling away, or the great deception Jesus talks about in Matthew 24, 24.
Speaker 3:He says for false Christ and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders and so to lead many astray and, if possible, even the elect, In other words, that last part, if possible, even the elect.
Speaker 3:That means it's such a powerful deception that you and I would be like this is a good thing. So the thing that is coming that will deceive the whole world, you and I will see it and be like this is a good thing initially, but Jesus says that if it were possible, even the elect would be deceived. Therefore, he's saying that this is such a powerful deception that you and I need to be very much grounded in the word and be questioning everything that comes to us looking like a Christ or a savior from something that is very bad, that, whether that be a political leader or a religious leader, whatever it is, if it does not go against the word of God and if it's a Christ, that is not Christ himself. It is very, very likely of the spirit of antichrist, Not necessarily saying that that person is the antichrist, but it's not Christ himself. It is very likely of the spirit of Antichrist Not necessarily saying that that person is the Antichrist but it's not Christ. We just need to be careful.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:What it makes me think of is what we base our hope and faith and lives on.
Speaker 1:So what should Christians be on the lookout for? How can we prepare for that?
Speaker 2:So what should Christians be on the lookout for, like, how can we prepare for that? I a very this is a very, a very packed message, and let me backtrace real quick. I think there's a lot of things that we should be on the lookout for, kind of going back to what John said. First and foremost, we need to have some foundational truth right. There's a reason why we're supposed to be rooted and grounded in scripture, because there's a lot of things that will lead us astray. They'll pull our hearts away from God. It's very important that we root ourselves. So, when we talk about what we can do to prepare and what we should be looking for, I think, first and foremost, being grounded in the scripture is a very important thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's something that we it's a necessity that we need to undertake, and so, with that, though, I do think that being consistently on guard is very important and being equipped with knowledge is very important, and I do when I, when I was thinking of this, I was thinking of the study of epistemology, so you need to have justified true belief, that that's the theological term for not just having knowledge, not just knowing that the knowledge is justified, but also knowing that, with that knowledge, you believe that it's justified and that it's truthful. There there's, there's. You can let me put it a different way it's very easy to be deceived.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you guys understand what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:Yes, there's a lot of stuff that sounds really good. Can we agree on that? Yeah, and if if we're, if we're just being taken by the wind with every type of doctrine, I think it's very easily to be brought astray. And so I think having justified true belief is a very important thing. And that all goes right back to the scriptures. Yes, it's a very important thing to have a strong hermeneutical perspective, the way that we read and interpret the scriptures, but we're also let me put it a different way we also understand it well enough that we know which hills we're willing to die on. Yeah, that makes sense. You know what I mean, cora, by hills that we're willing to die on.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:There are certain beliefs that we're like. Well, that's something that's a non-negotiable yeah for sure. Right, I have a lot of non-negotiables and I'll tell you, if you try to budge me from those, it's going to be very difficult.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:What about you, John?
Speaker 3:Well, I think this is extremely important to have non-negotiables, and we need to be understanding that the devil comes as an angel of light and he comes looking like a sheep, but he's a dragon, as it says in Revelation. Right, he looks like something that is spiritual, something that is maybe even biblical. Remember, the devil came to Jesus and used the scripture multiple times. So just because something is scriptural doesn't mean it's actually of God, and so it's very important to understand the nature of God, the very being that he is, and anything that comes against that or contradicts that, you can be sure that that is not of God, the very being that he is, and anything that comes against that or contradicts that, you can be sure that that is not of God. Also, it's salvation understanding what salvation is and how that is of grace, through faith, through Jesus Christ and only Jesus Christ, and nothing else, not of works, lest any should boast Understanding that the devil basically comes and converts I mean converts basically contorts everything, every truth, everything that is solid, which is very frustrating to me.
Speaker 3:It is. It is very frustrating. He doesn't just say I'm the devil and worship me. No, it might be. Hey, just follow the light within you, you know and find that Christ consciousness and be enlightened and don't worry about like knowing the true Jesus, because we're all Jesus and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:You know, things are just you know he's such a phony, yes, yeah, and what's frustrating for me, though, is how he mirrors all good things that God does. Yeah, that's the frustrating part to me. Cora and I were talking about um doctrine the other day, and I was giving her a little bit of insight into how Christianity and Islam they're they're counter opposite. They have the same themes, right, their Antichrist is their Antichrist, and it's very interesting, but it's frustrating because the devil is always trying to mirror everything that God is doing. He's such a cheat and a phony and a ripoff.
Speaker 1:Trump has taken many executive actions that expand religious liberties, so what are your thoughts on them?
Speaker 2:Let me, let me pull open a few. Okay, I do think that there are some, some very important ones that have been rolled out here just recently and this week. I'm going to go back to a very personal thing that I'm dealing with Right. So I'm, I think, in year five right now, dealing with a anti or a discrimination lawsuit, a anti-Christian discrimination lawsuit by my former employer, and I'm actually seeing some light at the end of the tunnel because of what is happening right now with Trump and some of the presidential actions. So, the two that happened this week one was an executive order for the establishment of the White House faith office.
Speaker 2:First and foremost, guys, super, super significant event that faith is a topic of conversation back in the White House. Can we agree on that? Yeah, definitely. Do you guys remember when they were parading all these different sinful, vile lifestyles at the White House? Oh, yeah, flying the LGBTQ flag? They were bringing in Dylan Mulvaney. I don't know if you guys remember him, but he was an activist and he had time with our president in the White House. Yeah, how absurd is that Ridiculous? And now we're seeing a complete reversal of that mindset, where I do feel like truth is coming back into play and we're we're really getting back to a more sensical way of approaching nonsensical stuff. Yeah, there's been a ton of it calling good, calling good evil and evil Good. This is one of the ones that I think is significant. Establishment of the white house faith office. The second one that I think is probably even more significant. I don't know how much research you guys have done into this. I've done very little, but it's been impactful for what I've been able to learn very quickly.
Speaker 2:The second presidential action is called eradicating anti-Christian bias. This one is huge because I actually think it's going to bring the lawsuit that we have against my former employer to an end, and what it has to do with is let me read the purpose and policy it states it is the policy of the united states and the purpose of this order to protect the religious freedoms of americans and the and to end the anti-christian weaponization of government. The founders established a nation in which people were free to practice their faith without fear or discrimination or retaliation by their government. That's a powerful one. It's huge. Yeah, that, yeah, that's great. The government has been weaponizing its various branches of um. So you have the. One of the big ones was the FBI, I think, was weaponized. I think that, um, the department of energy has become weaponized.
Speaker 2:One of the things that I think is significant about this, though, is do you guys know who they're coming up with? They're calling it a task force. Okay, they got a task force, and it says here that they're going to establish this task force to eradicate anti-Christian bias, and they're going to assign certain individuals. Do you guys know who they are? No, actually no.
Speaker 1:I don't either.
Speaker 2:This is what makes all the difference for this one. Know who they are? No, actually. No, I have no idea. I don't either. This is what makes all the difference for this one. So what happens when these executive orders come out is depending on who they put on these committees or task force. You'll know how important it is.
Speaker 2:I'll go ahead and I'll read off some of the folks that are going to be members the Secretary of State so first off, you have a secretary that demonstrates this is going to be very important. Secretary of the Treasury, secretary of Defense, secretary of Labor, secretary of Health and Human Services, secretary of Housing and Urban Development, secretary of Education, secretary of Veterans Affairs. The Secretary of Homeland Security. The Director of Office of Management and Budget.
Speaker 2:Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations, the Administrator for Small Business, the Director for Federal Bureau of Investig investigations, the assistant to the president for domestic policy, and there's about three more that go there. The reason why I read off that list quite expansive is because I think that this is going to be a very significant task force that's going to be required to look into the depths of all of our government and I believe that they're going to look down into the Department of Energy and see some of the stuff that is happening which directly affects me, but this demonstrates it's important to our president. What do you guys think of it?
Speaker 3:First of all, it's just crazy. It's crazy that it's happening, because I didn't really see that happening at all. That kind of goes against my narrative, but I think that what happens is… but does it Sort of Is Jesus back? No, he's not. He's not back. I mean, he comes like lightning right. So he's not back. But I think what happened is these Luciferians, these people who are really sold out for this world, got too pushy and they started getting just insane to the point where they're pushing kids into things that are just really immoral, and it kind of woke everybody up really fast. I think that they were pushing their agenda way too hard and I think it backlashed. And I think that right now we're having this reprieve, we're getting this kind of time where we can stand up and actually have a time where we can rest and not be fighting this system that's been fighting us for a very long time and getting worse and worse.
Speaker 2:Well wait, john, I thought we're supposed to be meek and forgiving and easygoing Both. What does meek mean? What does the word meek mean? Well, I know that that was a little bit of a trick question. Cora's looking at me like I'm very meek. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know my looks yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, we're not called I mean, that's a very worldly worldview that we're called to be doormats, right, right, right. The verse that I think of when I mention that is when we're struck on the cheek, we're supposed to turn the other cheek, and when we're struck on that cheek, we turn the other cheek, right. That gives us an opportunity to grab the 45 that's out there. Tactically yeah, tactically, all kidding aside the Bible makes it very clear. This goes back to just war theory. But we're not called to be meek. What we're called to do is we're called to be purveyors of truth and as part of that, god gives us our Noahic capabilities to defend ourselves, to be rational, to process thought.
Speaker 2:Meekness is a state that Jesus was in, but my Jesus flips tables. He makes whips and he flips tables. Yeah, exactly, that's a pretty manly man. And so this worldly ideology of meek. I was just joking with you on that one, right? No, I think that one of the things that I'll share with you guys, that you called it a moment of reprieve One of the things that scares me a little bit is, I think, that, as we approach this, we're all wanting that justice and we see a little aggression right.
Speaker 2:We all like the Superman moments and we're waiting for all of our enemies to get knocked out. I've been waiting five years, guys, to see all of my wrongdoers and, for those of you who don't know, I've had a lot of people publicly humiliate me, call me stupid. Standing up for Jesus hasn't been super easy, but it's been super rewarding, and what I can say is I would love to see my enemies get destroyed before my eyes. That's not the heart of Christ. I'm not saying that right, yeah.
Speaker 3:No, I get it, it's in the Psalms, all over this place. You know like crush their teeth.
Speaker 2:you know Strike them down, yeah, but I don't want them struck down. I want them struck down before me, right, right, but that's not the heart of Christ, and I do think, though, that there are some things that are happening. These are Cora.
Speaker 2:To your point, these are some of the events that we should be watching out for. We're seeing Christianity as a rational, intelligent worldview come back into play. Now what's going to happen is this is we can call it. It's being dispensed by the sword. We have a president right now who is telling those who don't like it you're going to like it, and I think we're going to see that there is going to be a pendulum swing coming down the road.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I think so too. Yeah, who knows what that looks like right? Definitely some very important things happening there. The second executive order that was given by President Trump had to do with the establishment of the White House Faith Office, and so what he's really talking about is ensuring that faith as a articulable, intelligent worldview is brought back in to the public square. That's a great thing. Now, I'm not going to say that I completely agree with all of his views, because I don't know his heart right, but I don't think that everything that he is doing aligns with what I believe.
Speaker 1:Well, for sure, but I think most people do think you think that, like, if you voted for Trump or if you even say you like him, then they assume that you like everything about him. And I don't think that that's true. But people I feel like they wouldn't believe you if you said otherwise.
Speaker 2:Very true. Are there any things in your personal opinion that you think I just don't kind of cause we're talking about things that we need to watch for right. Are there any things that you can think of that you're like I just don't really agree with him.
Speaker 1:I guess for me it's not really that. Um well, I guess there's probably some stuff I don't agree, but I think for me it's more that, um, I just feel like things are happening fast, and that's the part that I don't understand so much, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So because I don't know like I don't remember how it's been in the past, but it just felt like like every day it was like something new, something different. And I don't mind new and different, but I need a little bit of time.
Speaker 2:That's interesting that you say that though because what? They're saying is Trump has learned a lot in his first presidency. And what he learned was is don't take time to actually try to get results.
Speaker 1:Well, I just, I just spoke to a client about that today and that's exactly what he said. He was telling me, um, cause him and I talk politics and we're kind of on the same page with most stuff, but that's exactly what he was saying. Is that, um, he learned the first time that you don't just sit on things and wait for things to change. You have to just get in there and just change it right away and then you know those are. That's when you'll get the results that you want.
Speaker 2:This actually um segues really great into a point that John and I were talking about. So back to the Gaza strip. I didn't think in a million years that we would try to take we try to govern, take, possess, whatever you guys want to call it I didn't think that we would try to do that as as the U? S and Trump doing that so quick, I think to me was a great sign. This is what I was talking with John about, and we had a text conversation and I was. I was like john, are you seeing what's happening? And john's like yeah, I think we're. We're probably, um, one of a handful of people that were paying attention to the nuances, right, yeah yep, we're like, yeah, what's going on here, right?
Speaker 2:well, trump at it again doing a little land grab. But what I saw was I saw this expedited process of um can we say the canaanites being expelled from the holy land that is that fair right?
Speaker 3:I think it's fair. Yeah, and they call themselves that the philistines.
Speaker 2:I mean that's right, that's how they pronounce it as philistine.
Speaker 2:So well for for quora, quick education, right. The holy land, israel. It used to be full of the Canaanites. They were wicked people and God said go in and smite them right. Drop them all, and the conquests of Joshua don't really. Well, the narrative and the actualities are different, but needless to say, those wicked people still exist and there's been infighting for the Holy Land for quite some time. This is what I was talking about with John the other day. I said I think that if the Gaza Strip comes under US governing, it demonstrates to me one very important thing If we talk about the seven years of tribulation three and a half years of peace and then three and a half years of great tribulation Trump is going to be in office for four years. It gives him a perfect window to clear out the Holy Land. One significant thing that he did as well is he renamed the capital of Israel from Jerusalem. Yeah, From.
Speaker 3:I'm not sure where it's from.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, to Jerusalem, which is crazy. That's a significant event. You talk about things that we need to pay attention to. That's what Christians should be paying attention to, because we're going whoa. These are prophetic events that are unfolding before our eyes, because what I think is happening is I think the temple will be rebuilt, and this gets into a really deep narrative. The temple will be rebuilt, and what's happening, though, is first, the expulsion of the people in the lands. The jews will be able to possess that land again. Rebuild the temple. What do you think?
Speaker 3:yeah, I think that's, that's exactly what's going to happen. I mean, that's where it's, because we know that's a prerequisite for the antichrist to claim to be god is apparently most likely he's going to be doing that in the holy place, which is most likely going to be a temple, and and so it's probably going to be rebuilt. They can probably build it pretty quickly, you know? So say if you know. But if you do that, if you read Daniel, read, um, uh, revelation, um, you know, matthew, mark, you know, uh, it talks about the temple and it talks about the abomination which caused desolation, which happened in the past but will also happen in the future. We know it's going to happen in the future because Jesus talked about happening in the future, even though there was an abomination which caused desolation from the Maccabees, and so basically, we know that that's going to happen again. So basically, he's going to do essentially what happened the first time is that they took a pig and slaughtered it in the temple, and that was an abomination that caused desolation Sacrifice, by the way.
Speaker 2:Exactly, the pigs Unholy sacrifice.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's an unclean thing, and so you can't just do that. So that's what the Jews? That was an absolute abomination. But in the future, jesus talked about another one, another abomination which caused desolation, which would be in a temple. Essentially, it would be the Antichrist claiming to be God himself and, most likely, claiming to be Christ, the Messiah, the messiah also the imad for the uh um, for the, the muslims and just about every major messiah type of of person. He's going to claim to be that, and so the temple has to be built. That, yeah, it's.
Speaker 2:It could happen very quickly and well, one of the things that we see is you're going to have, um, two key, two key figures that we should be looking for. You have the antichrist and then you have the false prophet yes, right, right, these are prophetic events. If you're interested, jump into the Bible. There's actually quite a bit of resources. I probably should have prepped some, and then what I can do is I can put them in the episode description. So some things that we should be looking for is somebody is going to be propping up this Antichrist, yes, and that person is deemed the false prophet right, yeah. And what we need to be looking for is these figures popping up, because some people have said, well, maybe Trump is the Antichrist, but they have to have a certain lineage, which is Jewish, right, yeah, most likely.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of different things, there's different interpretations.
Speaker 3:This is where he could be Italian, it could be so yeah, he could be from the tribe of Dan, basically, which is Apparently basically, it could be Mario.
Speaker 1:Yes, luigi actually.
Speaker 2:It could be, luigi.
Speaker 3:Sorry, luigi the reason I say Italian is because a lot of scholars believe that the Danonites you read the list of the children of Jacob right Of Israel, basically the 12 tribes. You have that list. But then in Revelation it has that same list, but the tribe of Dan is missing. The reason it's missing is because Dan was kicked out for doing abominations, for basically worshiping idols and things, and so they were kicked out. But most scholars believe that they actually ended up in Rome and so that's where you get. It might be Italian, it'd be from like the, the like the, some of the, the European nations, possibly even Rome a couple of different ways to interpret that, right, but we know the figures in and of themselves.
Speaker 2:They're going to appear on the stage and they're going to have characteristics.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:Um, from my recollection, the Antichrist will perform great miracles. He'll be a unifier. That's a really big one, right? Yes?
Speaker 3:One who brings peace.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we need to be looking for that, and that's what I'm curious on right now. Cora we talked a little bit earlier about things that we should be looking for. I'm trying to figure out if Trump can really unify people.
Speaker 1:I don't think so. I don't feel like he's that guy who's going to unify people. I don't know.
Speaker 2:What we're seeing now is something very interesting, right, because he's now reaching out in a different way than he has in the past. And when I say unification, I don't actually think that means that everybody gets along. I think it really means that he brings together. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's what I'm kind of seeing.
Speaker 3:I'll play the devil's advocate for just a second. So I am actually a Trump supporter and I do not believe that Trump is the Antichrist. But now check this out.
Speaker 3:I've read what they're saying about Trump, the people who do say that he might be an Antichrist or possibly the guy. Okay, so, a couple different things. I'm just going to kind of spit out a few things, okay. So, first of all, when he first became the president, the first time he went on a trip, and on this trip he went to Saudi Arabia. In Saudi Arabia they did something called the sword dance. The sword dance is only done for their king, so essentially they called him their king. They've never done that for anyone else, ever except for their king. Okay, in that same trip he went to China and the Chinese took him to the Forbidden City, forbidden city. The forbidden city is only for the family of the um, of the emperor. Okay, like only the family can go there. Nobody else has ever gone there, but they've. They invited Trump there. Trump was the first guy ever that wasn't of royalty from the China doing that.
Speaker 3:Okay, next thing he goes to Rome and the Pope follows him around like a like. Next thing he goes to Rome and the Pope follows him around like a child that just got caught stealing from something. It was very strange. He then went to the UK. The UK same thing. The queen's following him around like she's in trouble or something. Very weird. Things Fast forward to about a year later. He's invited to Israel and Israel has a group of people that live there in Jerusalem and their entire job the Orthodox Jews, their entire job is to find the antichrist. Okay, that's their job. Sorry, not the antichrist, to find the Christ, which we would call it the antichrist, really, but to find the Messiah, the Jewish Messiah. That's their entire job. Right, they invited him and they gave him a crown, something called the Messianic, something crown, and essentially calling him a Messiah of Jerusalem. This is whenever he actually made Jerusalem. The UN, whatever the capital, the capital.
Speaker 2:Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, yeah.
Speaker 3:And so, at the same time, he brought South Korea and North Korea in peace, all right, during his reign there was no wars anywhere. There's nothing but peace. So what these people are saying is essentially that he has the ability to bring the whole world under subjection, under a peaceful situation. And also, you see him like talking about taking over canada and possibly mexico and also greenland, making an entire north american union type of thing, which would be pushing for that future narrative where there will be 10 kingdoms, right, you have like 10 kingdoms and north america would be one of those that could serve, serve a future possibility for the antichrist. So a very, a lot of strange things with him, right. So I again, I don't think he's antichrist at all. I think he's actually doing a lot of great things with him, right. So I again, I don't think he's antichrist at all. I think he's actually doing a lot of great things for the world and for this country, and I think that, um, it's, it's really, but it's just. I like to read both sides.
Speaker 2:There's definitely some very interesting things about that whole thing yeah, I and and I don't know either, right, we can, we can um, hypothesize and surmise. I mean we don't know, we just don't. I do think he's doing a lot of great things for us right now. And here's kind of my personal opinion If I was able to expedite the process of the return of Christ, I would, and that process is actually going now in witnessing. The Bible says that our job is to reach every soul, to share the good news, right the gospel, with a loss and dying world, and so that's how we expedite it. But I'm with you too. I mean, I think he's doing a lot of great things and in no way, shape or form, am I trying to demean him as our leader. I think that he's doing a lot of really great things. I think, more than anything today, on today's episode, we're really trying to figure out what are we looking for?
Speaker 3:What are the nuances, what are the things that are significant, that are happening, and I think we can all agree, right, trump and some of his undertakings and executive actions. I think it's Matthew 27. But basically I think it's Peter asking Jesus basically when he would return, and his response was it's not for you to know, but you go, preach the gospel. And so I think that for us, it's really important to know the signs and all the things that are coming about and being paying attention to our current events, but primarily, we need to be making sure that we're preaching the gospel, that we're filled with the Spirit and worshiping God and realizing that the time and the season is really up to God himself and our job really should be to be seeking him.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm looking for that verse as well. It makes me think of this we're not to waste our time, but we're supposed to make our time fruitful and useful. It reminds me right now where we're in the process of trying to figure out our living situation, and I feel like every moment that I have to try to make what God has given me better is going to return something more fruitful. I think it's the same. I believe that the church is called to be fruitful in the world. We're called to be salt. We're called to be light. We're supposed to be sharing truth.
Speaker 2:It doesn't really matter when he comes back. What matters is that we did our job, that we weren't fearful, that we were bold in our conversation, we were willing to take the punishments of the world, because we know that the kingdom, the everlasting kingdom, is going to pay dividends for the things that we're doing. And I think that God is giving us all a great opportunity, a super great opportunity, to partner with him, and that partnership really involves us being faithful and dedicated and devoted Absolutely Well, today's been a really awesome episode. I appreciate you hanging out, john. I'm really glad that we got the opportunity to be able to just dive into some scripture a little bit more.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thanks for having me. This was great man. It's fun Awesome.
Speaker 2:Thanks for listening to another episode of Dedicated, devoted. We aim to help others live a dedicated, devoted life. Please join us for another episode. We post an episode every week.