Forest Fires and God’s Judgments on Nations

Forest fires are sweeping California, Washington, Colorado and Oregon. Coincidentally, these states are very high on the Generations “evil index” of abortion liberalism and sexual perversion…and the worst for church attendance. Similar things are happening in France and Spain. Should we attribute these disasters to specific judgments for specific sins? Kevin and Bill talk about how God works in history, and what it would take to stop the trajectory toward destruction in Europe and America.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:06

This is Generations, Kevin Swanson with you here. And as we reported on the Worldview.com, California, Washington, Colorado, and Oregon lit up in forest fires this season. It's well ahead of last year. Oregon has burned more acreage than last year, and the season's not over yet. Mostly the fires have been started by an act of God, that is, lightning strikes. And now our United States evil index, which we've maintained for the last 10 years, is based on abortion rates, birth rates, LGBTQ prevalence in those states, divorce rates in those states, and spending per GDP. So on that basis, all right, the worst states in America are Oregon, New Mexico, Colorado, California, Vermont, and Maine. And Washington is the 13th worst state in America on the evil index as well. Now, over the last eight years of the worst forest fires in this hemisphere, 62% of them occurred in California, 8.4% in Colorado, 8.3% in Oregon, and 3% in New Mexico, which means over 80% of the worst fires in this hemisphere occurred in Oregon, New Mexico, Colorado, and California. To the point that it's becoming almost impossible to get home insurance, places in Colorado as well as in California. Meantime, Spain and France are suffering through the worst fires of the century. 300,000 people evacuated so far. It's the largest evacuation since World War II. France approved of homosexual marriage in 2005, and Spain in 2013. Don't forget that in 2024, France became the first country to explicitly protect abortion in its constitution. And over in Spain, in 2023, they expanded access by removing the parental consent requirement for most 16 and 17-year-olds and strengthen access to abortion through their public health system. Both countries are aggressively advancing the agenda of slaughtering babies made in the image of God. Also, homeschooling was recently banned in France. The same has occurred in Sweden, Germany, and now the Netherlands. Two months ago, the Netherlands High Court ruled that parents can only claim the homeschool exemption if they have no suitable school nearby, virtually making it impossible to homeschool. Our friends in the Netherlands, tough straits right now for them. They may have to attempt to escape the country to salvage their children from the tentacles of the state. Now, England as well has adopted a new restrictive homeschool law this year, signed into law by King Charles II in April. According to U.S. based homeschool legal defense association, the new law grants local authorities the power to prevent homeschooling for families if officials believe the proposed home education program is, quote, unsuitable. These rapidly post-Christian nations are destroying family freedoms, embracing full-on apostasy, and inviting the judgment of God upon themselves. And did I mention Europe is burning down? Like right now, in a metaphoric sense, it's only a harbinger. So is Oregon, California, Colorado, and New Mexico, but it's only a harbinger. The insurance companies, again, call this an act of God. The churches probably wouldn't call it that, but the insurance companies do. Most Christians would think of it as an act of random fatalism in a chance universe. Oh well. God brings judgments on the earth, it turns out. Keep in mind Amos 3:6, shall a trumpet be blown in the city and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city? And the Lord hath not done it. And let's remember Psalm 145, the Lord is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works. But then the question arises: shall we attribute this very specific judgment to that particular sin? Shall we say that God is burning down France and Spain because they have expanded abortion rights for the murdering of more children, encouraged sexual perversion, and almost completely weeded out all Christians by banning family discipleship? Well, we can't draw those lines. When it comes to tragedies that impact whole nations this way, here's how to look at it. This is how Jesus speaks of it in Luke 13. Listen, those 18 on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them? Do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you no. But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Now that's the message to Spain and France. Hey everybody, unless you repent, y'all will likewise perish. But now you need to make a list of sins to repent of. If you're making a list of sins to repent of, may I suggest sins like killing children, encouraging sexual perversion, and almost completely weeding out whatever true Christians are left in your society by banning family discipleship and secular humanisting 100% of the kids. Keep all that on the list. Those are good things to repent of. I don't want to hold out much hope for Western Europe. I don't have much hope in Western Europe. It's almost over for the West. There's nothing left to defend in Western Europe so far. Hey, I've got a good idea. I've got a great idea. Let's kick the foreigners out and close down immigration. Wait now, hang on a minute. Hang on a minute. I've been with a few of the last churches left in Europe over the last few years. I I've been there. I've been to churches in Europe over the last few years. They're mostly filled with foreigners, immigrants. So let me think about this. If we kick out all the foreigners out of England, Spain, France, and Portugal and kill the last vestiges of Christianity out of Europe, well, what would happen then? That would pretty much purge the last little bit of common grace out of Europe and prepare it for a final destruction. Maybe this raw nationalism, ham-fisted conservative anti-immigration policies are not enough. Kicking out all the foreigners? This ain't gonna work. How about our how about another reformation? Germany, France, the Netherlands, and to some extent England are working hard to purge the last remnants of Christian heritage out by restricting or banning homeschooling. This is preparing the nations for the final coup de grace. There is one saving grace left, though, and that is humility. If these nations were humbled, and I mean really, really humbled, there might be something left for these post-Christian nations, but that that would only come by a cataclysm of biblical proportions. The West has turned against God and Jesus. If God doesn't go after the West for 300 years of rabid Christian apostasy, here's the question would he have to apologize for what happened way back in 8070 to that other people who turned against him? Am I wrong on this? Somebody tell me I'm wrong. Just email me at mail at generations.org. Tell me I'm wrong. Just tell me I'm wrong. Well, today, Worldview Academy, the legendary Bill Jack is back in studio with me. Welcome back, Bill. The man, the legend. Welcome back, Bill. It's good to have you here. You haven't changed much. I'm a legend.

SPEAKER_00 7:04

I'm a legend in my own mind, right? Okay. Perhaps.

SPEAKER_01 7:07

But Bill, how do how was it on the on the trail? You went onto the trail for various uh Worldview Academy camps throughout the United States. So eight eight weeks, eight weeks. Eight camps. How'd it go?

SPEAKER_00 7:19

It went very well. Yeah. Yeah. I was over on the East Coast and uh we had some really good good students, and uh we had some great encounters out on the street because every week we take students out on Wednesday and have them share their faith. That's one of the things that makes us unique. It's not merely an academic program. It is we put feet on it. And that transforms camp. They're getting a lot of truth between Sunday and Wednesday. And you can kind of see it. Some of them get kind of puffed up, you know. And then they hit the streets or they hit the campus and they realize their Sunday school answers don't suffice. They give a clear gospel and they it breaks their heart when people turn and reject, or they fumble through the gospel and and they see the Holy Spirit take their fumbling words and convict hearts and minds. And they come back from the case. So either way. Yep. 45 minutes out on the streets or out on the campus and that 45 minutes transforms camp because they come back and that's when grace kicks in. That's when they say, I need this stuff.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

I appreciate the fact you take it to the highways and byways. And you know, there's something about uh putting a little bit of uh action to your faith and to get out there and meet real people and talk about real issues and come up against real conundrums, and then realize that, wow, I've got to believe these things.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

I need to know what I believe so I can defend what I believe. Exactly. And they'll come back and they'll have stories. We do a debrief and they'll have stories and and you can see that it it's it has affected them because they realize these are real people in real time and real space. It's one thing to mock ideas, but it's another thing to stand and look into the face of somebody who is bound for hell without Christ. Because then you cannot hate those people. Trevor Burrus, Jr. No, you can't. You've got to love them and speak the truth in love.

SPEAKER_01 9:07

Well, Bill, I mean, you've heard my intro. Um, it looks like Europe is going the wrong direction. Um and I I brought out the fact that God is a God of judgment and that, yeah, these things, these fires, are an act of God. And you know, it's interesting, firefighters understand this. Firefighters understand they have no control over the winds. And the winds are pretty much everything when it comes to putting these fires out. Because it comes to the point at which, you know, they're either going to blow one direction or the other direction. If they can start blowing the other direction, then the fires burn back into what's been burned, and then they put themselves out. But wow, if you think about, you know, what causes these sorts of things. Now I know the world is saying, no, these are fatalistic actions in a causeless universe. All chance, all natural causes, and the ultimate cause is not God. God's hand is not behind any of it. But as Christians, well, insurance companies apparently believe it is an act of God because they say it's an act of God. Um isn't that odd that yeah, but to try to get a church to say amen to that. Right. Think about how hard it is just to get Christians to admit that God is sovereign even over these actions that bring about such devastation upon the earth. Actually, God's hand was in the worldwide flood.

SPEAKER_00 10:18

Right.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

And God's hand is in these acts of judgment, and we need to call them acts of judgment. Now, of course, I think our response, the response of France and France and Spain, needs to be to repent. That's the message. The message is the same as what it was when Jesus was around in Luke 13 is they need to repent of their salient sins, the obvious sins that are set before them. Now, again, I'm not saying that these judgments come directly because of sin A, B, C, and D. I don't have that. But I do know the message is unless you repent, you will likewise perish. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_00 10:50

And we live in a fallen world. And the the counter to what you said uh would be, oh, the rain falls on the just and the unjust. Well, that's true too. And that's true. We live in a fallen world.

SPEAKER_01 11:00

And it's a wonderful thing when the rain comes in and puts the fire out. So the God behind the fire is the same God behind the rain.

SPEAKER_00 11:08

Does that make sense? Aaron Ross Powell, but there are consequences for living in a fallen world. Trevor Burrus, Jr. Absolutely. And even on those who are believers. And so we can't say if you are a Christian, you will be blessed, or if you are a sinner, you will be cursed in life, because we see that the wicked flourish during life. And those who are just and righteous are often persecuted and are ostracized. So so yes and no, yes and no that that that yes these sins of nations are judged by God. And I would not I would not discount that it it has effects that weather, that economies, that actions r are the result of nations' decisions, just as it is their consequences to individuals' decisions. It is hard to draw the lines. We can't draw the line.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

Just because they killed 20,347 babies, they're going to get burned down in July of 2026. But they're going to get judged. But you can say that they are under the judgment of God. Trevor Burrus, Jr. And we should tremble. Trevor Burrus, Jr.: These are God's judgments. And the response to this needs to be exactly what Jesus told us in Luke 2013, and that is, unless you repent, okay, we we see these national disasters, these devastations coming down upon a particular nation or city-state or whatever, the result should be, or the response should be, exactly what it was for Nineveh when Nineveh repented. Now, what would that look like? I mean, imagine this would be a shock to our system if Spain repented. Can you imagine France repenting? Can you imagine? It seems like the farthest thing America repenting. Can you imagine Nineveh repenting? Yeah. I mean, you want to talk about repentance. Assyria is probably one of the most violent and uh murderous nations on earth. And uh, in fact, their violent deeds is what is specifically mentioned in the book of Jonah, uh, and as well as Nahum. And yet they repented, and God relented his judgments on that nation.

SPEAKER_00 13:28

And that brings us to where we are now in this nation. Um we are fast approaching an election, and we m oftentimes put our hopes in candidates. We see that here, especially in Colorado, where you have uh an outspoken Christian running for governor and uh against someone who is obviously pro-abortion, pro-homosexual, pro-full marriage. And so a lot of Christians have put their their hope in that. And we need to be aware that that is not going to change the nation, just as it didn't change Nineveh. There was not a change in administration, there was a change in the administration's heart.

SPEAKER_01 14:11

And there seems to be a change in the heart of the people. Yes. Because they did the people, in fact, I if I'm not mistaken, the people preempted the repentance, and then the king was on board with it. Let me talk about a Colorado, Oregon, California, New Mexico. I've already pointed out that uh on on the evil index, Oregon, New Mexico, Colorado, uh, Vermont, California, uh, New York, Nevada, Washington State are the worst states in America on the basis of the six or seven factors we put into it, which was abortion rate, birth rate, uh homosexual prevalence, as well as uh divorce rate, and a few other things. So we we put all this into uh um a spreadsheet, and we identified the worst states in America. I think the best state was Texas or Tennessee. So those were the better states. But the worst states absolutely, in terms of their immorality and their grotesqueness uh in their immoral condition, would be Oregon, Colorado, and New Mexico, as well as Maine, Vermont, California, New York, Nevada, Massachusetts, Washington State, and by the way, Illinois as well. So um now, on the basis of abortion, the three worst states in America, okay, you ready for this? Uh in terms of abortion rates and in terms of birth rates, three worst states in America, are you ready for this? Oregon, New Mexico, and Colorado are the three worst states. That doesn't surprise you, at least in the case of Colorado, because Colorado is the first state to actually bring abortion in in 1967.

SPEAKER_00 15:50

It was a uh piece of legislation carried by a future governor, Dick Lamb, Richard Lamb, became governor later. Oh, he did. He was in the legislature and it was signed into law. Governor Love. By Governor Love, a Republican government. L-O-V-E. Yeah. Can you believe it? It was pointed out to me.

SPEAKER_01 16:08

Is there an irony there?

SPEAKER_00 16:09

There is. It was pointed out to me by the name of love. That since that time, how many hundreds of thousands of little lambs have been sacrificed in the name of love?

unknown 16:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

And it that is absolutely the irony of hypocritical.

SPEAKER_01 16:26

And as you say, ironic. Yeah. Okay. In terms of LGBTQ policy, okay, are you ready for the worst states in America? LGBTQ policy, and no surprise here, Oregon is number one. Again, Oregon, worse. Colorado is on the list as well. Maine, Vermont, California, New York, Nevada, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Washington State, and Illinois. Now, government spending, worst states are Oregon, again, New Mexico, Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming, Hawaii, Kentucky, and Alaska, and Oregon and Colorado have had homosexual governors. Oregon has a major drug issue, and Oregon, Oregon has legitimized drugs, as well as Washington and Colorado. And Oregon has also got an item on the ballot this year. It's the only referendum on the ballot for this election in which they will outlaw, they will ban the killing of animals, including fish, so fishing, including deer and elk, including mosquitoes and flies. So any form of killing of any animal will be forbidden by law if this referendum passes.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

Pretty much that blessed forever. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

Oregon is the bottom of the barrel. Now, what's interesting here, and I want to throw this out at you because the immorality index or the evil index that we have produced as a generations ministry, we've been doing this for about 15 years. So we have, you know, what is the most evil state in America? Oregon. Oregon is the most evil state in America, followed up by Colorado, New Mexico, California, Washington State, and New York, and a few others. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_00 18:10

It is one of the most difficult states in which we have our leadership camps. The students are very secularized. These are Christian students. Very tough, yeah. But they're very secularized. And it's very hard to inculcate a biblical worldview in a lot of these students in a week. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

And here's the point that I the correlation I want to throw by you for just a moment, Bill, and that is, like it or not, it appears that the health of the Christian church really matters in terms of all of this. And I wonder if we're taking this seriously enough. Now, the worst states in America on church attendance, and I'm gonna check this out. You know, does does this does this uh relate to what we're talking about? Worst states in America for church attendance, uh Oregon, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, all the northern eastern states up there, Alaska, Washington State, uh, Rhode Island, Nevada, New York, California, and Colorado. So again, it appears to be an almost perfect correlation, not perfect, but pretty close. Right. That where there are very little church attendance, where the church somehow has not made an impact, you're gonna see a high degree of murdering of kids, sexual perversion, and all the rest that constitute uh these most evil states in the United States of America. Now, what does that tell you? Does it tell you that the church is important, that we as the church need to get out there and be the church?

SPEAKER_00 19:41

Right. And it's it we are the we're called the salt and light. Jesus called us the light of the world. And if if there's no light, what happens? Well, the darkness prevails. I was uh you reminded me, I was in New Hampshire this summer, and while the students were out on the streets in downtown uh Keene, New Hampshire, picturesque new New England town. In fact, in in that town, a pastor uh led men from his congregation over to Concord for the Battle of Concord during the war for independence. But I was downtown and we decided to interview some people, and I interviewed uh Zoe, who was from England and Aiden. And during the conversation, it was a 50-minute conversation. Oh wow. Zoe proclaimed this, and I'm quoting I would rather go to hell than say that what I am is wrong, for I am proud of who I am in this world. Now Zoe's name means what? She's life. So Zoe's life means life. And she turned her back on the life-giving, liberty-filled joy available in Christ and walked away.

SPEAKER_01 20:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:57

Very sad. You can watch the whole you can watch the whole interview if you'd like to. Very sad at Worldview Publishing.com under the news feed. But it's fifty minutes and it it it was a rambling conversation, but it it's indicative w of what's what we see happening in this nation. That's where England is. I mean, she she is she is a representative of where England is in the Christian faith.

SPEAKER_01 21:23

Aaron Powell Yeah, and English church attendance is downwards of, I think it's six to eight percent. So, and and by the way, worst case in America, church attendance in Vermont is 21 percent. Uh Colorado is 35 percent, so much better. California is 33 percent, Washington State is 28, Oregon is 27 percent. So, you know, these are the worst states. You know, the better states are upwards of 50 to 60. Okay. So uh what we're saying is that that the the breakdown of the faith, the breakdown of the Christian faith is going to result in whatever you've got in England, Netherlands, Spain, and France. So we're we're it seems like we're heading there, Bill.

SPEAKER_00 22:44

I mean is there anything that could stop this? Yes. And and it's not an election. Those are important. Yeah. Okay. Let's not minimize the importance because leadership sets the trajectory, but we need to elect godly people to office. But it starts with what happened in Nineveh, and that is the repentance of the people. There needs to be revival in this nation. And when I talk about revival, I'm not talking about um necessarily, you know, an exciting movement. Carpet biting. No. I'm talking about people recognizing their need for Christ and coming to grips with who Jesus is. That he's not something to add to their lives. He is life. That he's not something that they can sprinkle on top of the culture, that he gives life from the roots of the culture, and culture springs from life in Christ. And we need to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. And we should destroy arguments, sloppy thinking, bad ideas that have taken people captive. Because bad ideas ideas have consequences. Good ideas, excellent consequences, bad ideas, victims. And we're seeing that in those states and in those nations that you have listed because they they do not value life. They do not value liberty. They do not value the individual. And Jesus came to die not for the group, he came to die for Kevin. He came to die for Bill. He came to die for the individual. Because individuals matter. And yet we see in these nations and these states just the opposite of that.

SPEAKER_01 24:36

Now, Bill, I'd like you to take a peek at this chart. This is religious attendance in the United States. I just called it up on Google. And you can see this religious attendance in the United States. I'll I'll shoot it at the camera as well. What do you the yellow line is the weekly attendance line. What do you see happening with this yellow line, Bill? It is continually going down here. It's heading heading down. The red line is never attending church. And that is going up dramatically dramatically between the year 1972 and 2024. Now, it appears to me that that weekly church attendance was fairly strong into the 1990s. Right around 2000, the purple line, I believe, is uh is monthly attendance. Uh so monthly attendance is remaining fairly high. Uh weekly attendance remains fairly high until 1995. Monthly attendance remains high until about 2006. Uh so right around the year 2000, we start to see a breakdown in church attendance in America, and that's a steady decline from I'm gonna say uh roughly 38 percent down to 23 percent over a period of about 15 to 20 years. It's just been over the last 15-20 years, where we've seen a decline of church attendance. During this period of time, what are we seeing happening with the LGBTQ movement? What's happening with Oregon? What's happening with Colorado? I mean has dominated the culture.

SPEAKER_00 26:23

It has. Now, I did see on my on my journey the past two months that that movement has lost its momentum. For example, in Delaware, Ohio, um where we were we didn't.

SPEAKER_01 26:39

I thought Delaware was in Delaware, but I guess it's in Delaware, Ohio. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 26:43

And um the last year was our first year there. We we showed up first week in June, and the city was putting up pride banners on every light pole in Main Street. This year we were there in June again, and that was not the case.

SPEAKER_01 27:00

There weren't any of there. No. Largely because of the bully pulpit and Donald Trump has really taken some of the gas.

SPEAKER_00 27:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:11

Well, it kind of reminds me of Josiah, and we've mentioned this before. Josiah did what he could. But God still destroyed the nation. But why? Because the people didn't come along with it. Let's face it, Israel did not repent, Judah did not repent under Josiah. Josiah had a repenting, reforming, reviving agenda going on, unlike the Bible says, unlike any king since the time of David. So he he was he did more than any king to reverse the evil trends of Judah over a period of what 300, 400 years? I mean, this was the best president, you know, the best king of 400 years of Judah's existence, reversed so much of the policy, but God still destroyed the nation because they had people they had bankrupted themselves.

SPEAKER_00 28:09

They had bankrupted themselves spiritually. They had. I wonder if we're about their bill. It doesn't, it would not surprise me. I I um I pray that there's a restoration. I pray just almost daily that there's a restoration of law and um righteousness in government. But more importantly, I pray that there is a revival among the people. But I question whether it is going to be too little too late. But God is in control, God is sovereign. There's always a remnant, and that's what I saw this summer. I mean, we're we're talking, you know, fifteen hundred students at our camps, which is which is really good. I mean, we're a successful youth ministry, but in the big picture, fifteen hundred students is not even a drop in the bucket to the number of students that go through the state schools. Oh, yeah. However, yeah, however, I see in them the hope for the nation because these are future lead they are not future leaders, they are leaders now. And they're they're ready to to take on the culture. I w I watch in amazement each week as they go out and engage people on the street and on the campuses boldly. I never would have done that at that age. And um I'm humbled by that. I'm encouraged by it, and I'm also convicted by it. They run into Christians, and you can see the same thing. Christians out on the street are encouraged to see that there are students. They they stop and pray for them. And they're convicted at the same time. They know I should be doing this.

SPEAKER_01 29:43

Yeah. That's uh it's beautiful to see that happening. Uh and I'm hoping for reviving. I'm hoping for repenting. And uh ultimately it's gotta happen within the churches, and as you say, ultimate reviving, ultimate repenting is gonna happen when people are convicted of their sins, realize the sinfulness of their sins, and then the beauty of Jesus Christ and His magnificent salvation, and they'll run to Jesus. There's something about needing Jesus that's kind of important before you run to Jesus. And that's just not happening enough. I think we we we'll begin to see mourning and crying over sin. The idea of weeping over sin in the churches, very rare today. And then after the weeping comes the shouts of joy and and rejoicing over the great salvation that Jesus has brought to us. So that's the first thing. That's that's core. That's core within the churches.

SPEAKER_00 30:34

Trevor Burrus, Jr.: And that's what I saw with Zoe and Aiden out on the street is a lack of humility. Trevor Burrus, Jr. Yeah. It was the proud of the fact that they said they're proud. Right.

SPEAKER_01 30:43

They're proud of their autonomy, their self-defined definition, their self-umetermination in terms of their ethics and their reality and who they are and their gender and everything else. Well, they've turned themselves into gods and they're proud of their godhood. That's got to come down. And that was the one point I ended on in my intro, and that is I think there is hope for Europe, but only if they are humbled, if somehow these rich nations, these wealthy nations, these post-Christian nations have been so blessed by God but don't care about God anymore, if they would just be be the recipients of some kind of uh intense devastation, if some incredibly devastating thing would come upon not just 10 square miles of the country, but but just sweep over the nation, maybe somewhat like the bubonic plague. You you need a bubonic plague if you're going to get to a reformation. You know what it's interesting. He's the guy who translates the Word of God into English for the very first time in like the 1360s. Okay. So John Wycliffe in the 1360s is the first pre-reformer. But when he's like 20 years old, he's in Oxford or is at Cambridge. He he writes his first book. And you know what the title of the book was? The End of the World. Because the bubonic plague has just wiped out about 40 percent of Europe. In other words, imagine 40 percent of France or the 40 percent of America, that would be you know, roughly 170 million people. Imagine 170 million people dead, bodies all over the streets, you know, filling up the rivers, filling up the lakes, et cetera, et cetera. At that point, you would probably write a book and it would probably be entitled something like The End of the World. It turned out, Bill, not to be the end of the world, but the beginning of a reformation. And the beginning of a reformation that would sweep the world and and bring a billion, two billion people to Jesus. That reminds me of. I just wonder if I wonder if the world needs to be humbled first.

SPEAKER_00 33:03

Does that make sense? That reminds me that God is not only a God of judgment, as we saw with the flood, and and the bubonic plague, but he is also a God of mercy because there was space on the ark. Right. Half the ark was empty. And I believe it was space reserved for those who believed Noah's message because he preached the entire time that he built. Yeah. And yet God offered an escape. Do we have an ark on board which we can climb to escape the impending judgment against this world? Yes, it's Jesus. And we as Christians are lax, I am lax in going out and proclaiming that. I actually I I don't like Wednesdays at camp because I have to go out with the students.

SPEAKER_01 33:48

But once I'm into it, to get your spiritual rear end out there.

SPEAKER_00 33:51

Yeah. So once I'm into it, I I I love it. I know. Okay. You've got to get out there. It's the first conversation. Yeah. But after the first conversation, whether it's good, bad, or indifferent, I go, okay. This is good. I'm supposed to do this. It's not it's not something I enjoy doing. It's a it's a hot afternoon. I'd rather go do my laundry than go out and try to engage people in conversation. But once I'm into it, I realize I'm looking at people who who are image bearers of the Creator. They are worthy of respect. They are worthy of me possibly offending them for the sake of their eternal soul. And we'll end on that.

SPEAKER_01 34:32

Friends, what would it look like if America repented? Or Europe or any other country in the world? Well, that's pretty much the content of my new book, Under God. It's called a Battle Plan for Reforming Civil Government. And uh, I think it's possible. It's happened before, could it happen again? Get a copy of Under God now available at generations.org. And this is Kevin Swanson and Bill Jack inviting you back again next time as we continue to lay down a vision for the next generation. This has been a production of the Generations Media Network. For more information, go to generations.org/slash media.