When You Stop Believing

In this week's episode of the TRUTH Be Told Podcast, join Evangelist Michele Love and Pastor Steve Hofmeister as they discuss what happens when one stops believing "The Great Apostasy".

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TRUTH Be Told is a conversational exploration into God's word.  It is unrehearsed and the topic Holy Spirit led.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:05

Oh, good afternoon, Michelle.

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Good afternoon.

SPEAKER_03 0:09

How's it going?

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Good. Holy week. Holy week. Love it. Every week should every week is holy week. It's just this is the week that we are really expanding on the fact that Jesus Christ came and went on the cross, died for our sins, and rose from the dead on Sunday.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

So special on a whole different level. Yes. So we'll go ahead and we'll get it open. We'll go into prayer and then we're going to get into the word because Michelle's got a specific place that uh Lord's put on her to hit today.

SPEAKER_03 0:40

So we'll see you in just a minute. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

We thank you for another day. Father, we just thank you as always for everything that you've given us to be able to reach people through voice, through video, through all the different means you've provided, Lord. Father, and we thank you for the refining that you've brought us through that process. Lord, we just ask that you be with Michelle and I as we uh we discuss your word and we share that with all those that need to hear it in Jesus' name.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

Amen. Amen. So I'm gonna start off, Steve. Um I I'm going through thumbing through my Bible because the Lord just dropped something in my spirit. Um, I woke up the other day, actually, it was on April first, um with a uh word. The word was wonder. Okay. Wonder. And I I started uh going through the Bible with where the word wonder is. That talked about wonder and it ended up turning into praying for the missing children, praying for for these young children and young adults who are being trafficked.

SPEAKER_02 2:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:18

So he took me back this morning to wonder again. Oh wow, and it just so happened that we did we just did a Kingdom Kids shooting, not I shouldn't say shooting, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, well, yeah, recording of a shout out.

SPEAKER_01 2:36

Right, recording session, shooting.

SPEAKER_00 2:38

And I put in the words lying, and 2 Thessalonians 2.9 was again mentioned. Oh wow, talking about lying and dishonesty, which I thought was quite wild. So it's mentioned in the word wonder in 2 Thessalonians verse 9, but we're gonna talk about the differences. So the Lord took me to Matthew 7, 22, because we're talking about wonder and how that led us to the great apostasy. Okay, and Steve, we need to probably explain what apostasy is.

SPEAKER_02 3:19

Yeah, I think that's a good idea.

SPEAKER_00 3:20

Um, so if you go to Matthew chapter 7, verse 22, Jesus is saying, Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? Have we not cast out demons in your name and done many wonders in your name? Okay, so that leads us to why would wonders and lying, dishonesty, be listed under the same scripture, second Thessalonians chapter two. Interesting, verse nine, which says, and we're gonna read this whole this whole beginning chapter together, but verse nine says, the coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan with all power, signs, and lying wonders. How wild is that that God took me on this journey of wonders? And if you think about it, the scriptures that I was reading in Psalm 71 and 72 were related to the wonders of God and what he can do. So now all of a sudden, we're talking about signs, power, and lying wonders because people need to understand that the dynamic dynamic demonic forces are also very heavily in the enemy and the spirit, the the demonic spirit realm are also able to do signs and wonders. Right. Doesn't say miracles, because miracles is God, miracles, it says signs, power, the working of Satan with all power, signs, and lying wonders. Wow. And then and we're gonna go through, we're actually gonna journey today, Steve and I through 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, verses 1 through 12. So you're gonna hear that again. So, Steve, do you want to give your synopsis of the great apostasy before we actually go into the scripture? Like give a give a simplified, minimized couple verbiage statements about what a great apostasy is.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

That is that that's to simplify something so intense. Oh my simple way to discuss that green apostasy apostasy is what you see is not what it is. Okay? Because what we see in the what we see in the world, what's happening in the world there's just so much I guess evil would be the word, evil going on in the world that it's almost become a norm.

SPEAKER_00 6:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:51

People are so used to seeing what is wrong that they lose, they glaze over and can't see the good that's going on underneath it all. And the great apostasy is that very thing of where we become our vision is become separated from seeing God at work. You deflect from truth.

SPEAKER_00 7:12

You def there, there's there you go. You you deflect from truth of the gospel, right, truth of the word of God, and you deflect from being a Christian.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

There you go.

SPEAKER_00 7:28

Because you're caught up in the principalities and the wiles of the evil one. Yeah, you have um like this is the word I came up with. Intentional abandon. I didn't come up with this, I'm sorry. This is the word that I found that was the best way to describe the apostasy in the Bible. I'm with you. The intentional abandonment or renunciation of the Christian faith by someone who previously professed it. Yeah, it's often described as a falling away or standing away from truth. It signifies a deliberate deflection defection from God's word, morals, and most importantly, the teachings of Jesus Christ. Right. How many, how many This is a Christian who's doing the grand passage.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

And we've and we have met several in our time, my time, your time, and together that a tragedy has happened. Um, something has happened in their life that wasn't a good experience. And and um I was one of them, so I can say this, I was one of them where something traumatic happened and you end up blaming God for it, and you lose your faith because you're so angry or hurt or you've lost so much. That's where it all ties into this.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

And and we have to remember that when that moment comes when our faith is has gotten depleted because of a circumstance, a relationship, a need that wasn't met. And you ultimately said it, we blame God for all these things that happened. But what I find from most people is they're blaming God, but they really didn't seek, ask, and knock of God. That's usually so they're looking at it like I I talked to you about it once. Why didn't you do it? Well, God doesn't respond to us that way, God responds to our faith. Right. Faith of a mustard seed. So before we we're gonna jump back into this conversation again, but I think we should jump into the word. Agreed. Um, because that's kind of where the Lord has a lot, a little bit, a lot of bit to say about it. So 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, we're gonna go through verses 1 through 12. If you've been in Bible discernment class with us, you know that we go through it. Um, I love discerning the Bible. Um, it's a gift from God. The Holy Spirit helps me do it. So I stop and go and stop and go. So whatever the Holy Spirit leads us to do is what we're gonna do. Um, so we're in New King James version, in case you were wondering. So now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled either by spirit or by the word or by the letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. So what was happening was there was erroneous teaching um to the church in Thessalonica, right? And they were starting to defect from the truth of the gospel because if you notice in verse 2, spirit is not capitalized. So that's the spirit of the enemy. We'll just call it for lack of better words, and word is also not capitalized. So this is not spirit of truth, this is not teachings that were of the Holy Spirit of the gospel. Gotcha. Um, so what's happening is he, you know, he said not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled. This is there, there's come a time when there has been charismatic prophecy. It's not from the Spirit of the Lord, it's not from the word of God, it is the enemy swooping in and taking scripture, which he's doing now. Oh gosh, yes, and flipping it.

SPEAKER_01 11:47

Yes, you see it all over social media, people taking scripture out of the world.

SPEAKER_00 11:52

Did you notice how many people are prophesying now on social media? Oh, yeah. And we we'll give some examples of that. They're a little deeper. I think we may have touched base on them in another podcast, but um, this is this is explaining what's happening now, right? This is because we have ears, itching ears, yes, to want to believe something. Right. And the pro the the problem is the enemy owns a lot of the media. Oh gosh, the enemy runs it, the enemy has tools to oh yeah. I mean, I'm sure we've experienced where you're putting something out there and it's not what you put out there, right? It's not what you say. How many times do we text, Steve? Oh, yeah, and and I'm like, I didn't say the word Satan. What the heck are you doing? I said the word spirit, because if you talk text, that's how much power and signs and lying wonders the enemy has.

SPEAKER_02 12:46

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 12:47

And people don't understand that that the enemy will fool you every time. That's what he does. That's right. He comes to lie, cheat, and steal. He's a master of lies, right? He's lying about truth, he's cheating us from what the Lord wants to give us and do through us and show us, right? And he's stealing our peace and our serenity in the our hope of the gospel in the gospel, right? And that's all he wants to do because what does he hate more than anything?

SPEAKER_01 13:21

He hates the word. He hates Jesus Christ. He hates Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_00 13:25

He hates the word, he hates God for throwing him out of heaven, right? But he still has to answer to God. That's right. He still has to bow down to God.

SPEAKER_01 13:32

A lot of people forget that part, but that's just it.

SPEAKER_00 13:34

He has to bow down to God. God is in control over the devil. And as much as it looks like he's not, he is. There is free will, but we as Christians have the obligation to go to God for whatever the Holy Spirit puts on our heart to pray for.

SPEAKER_02 13:50

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 13:51

So let's keep going. So verse three let no one deceive you by any means, for that day will not come the day of the Lord. Yes. Unless the falling away comes first. And the man of sin is revealed the son of perdition. The falling away refers to massive rebellion against God and his authority by unbelieving mankind during the great tribulation. The man of sin is the man of lawlessness. In some manuscripts, it's called the Antichrist. In the letters of John, it's called the Son of Perdition. The son of perdition, the man of sin, and the Antichrist are the same person, yeah, called different things. And Paul is clearing this up. He says, the day will not come until tribulation. It will come during the tribulation. That's when so the falling will ray refers to massive rebellion against God and his authority by unbelieving humankind during the great tribulation.

SPEAKER_01 15:20

So for the sake of those who may be listening who don't know that word, what is the tribulation? Go ahead. Go ahead. I'm asking, I'm asking you to go.

SPEAKER_00 15:30

The tribulation comes after the rapture.

SPEAKER_01 15:34

Right.

SPEAKER_00 15:35

The rapture is when this Jesus hasn't come yet. People think Jesus comes and we're raptured up. We're raptured up first. Then there's the tribulation. Seven years of tribulation. There is a question how long that seven years is. Right. Because some people say it's a thousand years for each year. I have never received that in the Bible. I received seven years. I've heard because that's the number of completion. But there's a lot of different I think the Bible says what it means and means what it says. I got you. Um, but I do know that there's scripture that talks about one day and the day of the Lord is like a thousand years. Right. So, but that's not what the Lord is saying. That scripture specifically says that.

SPEAKER_04 16:19

Right.

SPEAKER_00 16:20

This says seven years, so will be the great tribulation in seven years. Right. Then Christ comes back. You're understanding? I know I understand, yeah. Then the devil, his the beast, all of the creatures, because from what I understand, there are two creatures. Okay. Go down into the pit of hell. The lid gets placed on. Right. That is when there is judgment day. Right. That is when Jesus Christ returns. Jesus Christ is returning for the new heaven coming down on earth. This earth will be replaced by the new heaven, and Jesus Christ will rule and reign on the new earth. The new heaven. It's not, I don't even think it's called earth. It's called the new heaven. And that's where we that's where we land. That's where we end up. And from what the word says, our bodies are reunited with the spirit.

SPEAKER_02 17:11

Right.

SPEAKER_00 17:12

So understanding the order of things, there's also other things that happen during the tribulation. Not going to go into all that now. That's a whole nother podcast. And maybe that'll be our next podcast discussing the timeline and the chronology because some people are all over the place with it. Right. People think you're going to see Jesus in the sky riding in on the cloud or the white horse or wherever he does it. That's right. Um, with a sword in his hand. That's and then we're going up. But that's not what the Bible says. Right. We go up first, we bypass the Great Tribulation.

SPEAKER_02 17:52

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 17:52

We don't want anybody living here during the Great Tribulation. Exactly. Like someone said to me, I'll catch the second bus. Oh man. That is not, you'll be dead. Yeah. Because explain some of the things that rapture that Revelation says is going to happen to people. When when the the son of perdition, the man of sin, the man of lawlessness, the antichrist. Yeah, I mean, how much how much easier could it explain it?

SPEAKER_01 18:20

You think it's bad now, you ain't seen nothing yet. The Christians are gonna be gone. Christians are gonna be gone.

SPEAKER_00 18:26

We're still gonna get battered. I mean, that just it just said there. That's when the great apostasy happens. Right. When the Christians are gone, and all that's left are the non-believers, that's the great apostasy. Right. That's what it that's when it happens.

SPEAKER_02 18:43

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

Because who's left behind? Christians that defected. Yeah. Because Jesus said in Matthew 7 22, the whole that whole little paragraph and those verses are about I don't know you.

SPEAKER_02 19:00

Right.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

And people need to wake up.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

Right. You're gonna have the people, like you said, who defected away, and you're gonna have the ones that were playing house.

SPEAKER_00 19:10

That's why Fence Rider coming out right now. I have 20 copies, I think.

SPEAKER_01 19:16

Right.

SPEAKER_00 19:17

I have 20 copies you can have for free.

SPEAKER_01 19:19

Yeah, I haven't read it, but just listening to her talk about the things that she's been writing in it, it is powerful. It is a must read.

SPEAKER_00 19:26

It's 55, 56 pages. Yeah, it's an easy read. It's a paperback, it's it's it's cheap on Amazon, or I'll give it to you.

SPEAKER_02 19:35

Right.

SPEAKER_00 19:36

And it's about two people that fence ride.

SPEAKER_02 19:38

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 19:39

The first one has a leg in the world and the kingdom. No, that's not that's not how you live.

SPEAKER_02 19:44

Right.

SPEAKER_00 19:45

And there's a lot of Christians living that way.

SPEAKER_02 19:46

Oh gosh, yes.

SPEAKER_00 19:48

A lot of Christians that are not true Christians. True Christians walk in truth, they know every day they've got to change, they live in the sanctification mode every day, they live and breathe the gospel of Jesus Christ every day. They follow Jesus by learning in the word of God how to live the way Jesus lived on this earth.

SPEAKER_02 20:09

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 20:09

What is the Bible telling us today about Christianity? You need to care for the poor and needy.

SPEAKER_02 20:16

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 20:17

We're rising up with human trafficking. We're we're it's coming out, guys, but we're rising up with it, and we're helping.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

So much coming that the Lord has just said you're doing it this way.

SPEAKER_00 20:28

Yep. The mission mobile going on the road, get ready for that. The building, get ready for that. Oh, yeah. There, there a true Christian lives to serve. That's right. You live to serve God just like Jesus did. That's right. A true Christian will call you out in love when you're doing something wrong. A true Christian does not turn a blind eye when they see something going on that's dark, demonic, and evil. How can we? Yeah, we know truth. Like it behooves me. The people that that we try to talk to about the truth and the gospel and come to our Bible discernment classes at Panera Bread and come and and and come to Good Friday service with us, come come to church on Sunday. It's all about truth.

SPEAKER_02 21:19

Right.

SPEAKER_00 21:20

How can you help God down here?

SPEAKER_02 21:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:24

But people are so so stuck in in what they want. That's right. Self-righteousness. It is, that's what it comes down to, self-righteousness. If you want to be a true Christian, get around people who walk and talk word. Right on. Get around people who are servants of the Lord. Right. Get around people who are not waving up in the air. Look what I did, look what I did, look what our ministry did, look what our ministry did. Oh, give me money, give me money, give me money. And there's so much in our air. That's another thing. Right. Ministries and nonprofits that all they do is ask for money. Gimme, gammy, gimme. What are they giving back?

unknown 22:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:08

Are they teaming up with other ministries? Well, it's both, but you're right. Seriously. Right. We're all, if you call yourself a true Christian, we're all the hands, the feet, the mind, the spirit, the legs, the heart of God. Right. There's one Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

I mean, just in the I mean, I'm gonna go there, but just in this county alone, okay? I'm gonna put it on a smaller box. In this county alone, if the if the church is the Christian, I'm gonna not even want to say churches, if the true Christians grouped together, got together and worked, and I'm not saying you leave your church and you go over to another church and work with them. I'm talking about coming together as believers, regardless of your church, regardless of denominational, whatever you want to call it, came together as brothers and sisters in Christ to solve the problems that exist in this county alone. We have homelessness, we have hunger. Lord Almighty, do we have hunger? We found that out this week in a major way because we're giving food to people for Easter and the list has become absolutely humongous. It's gone beyond this county, but in this county alone, it's it's it's just unfathomable the amount of people that are in need.

SPEAKER_00 23:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:30

If believe getting back to my point, if believers came together to focus on these problems, we would have so much less. On his purpose. For his purpose and praying, right?

SPEAKER_00 23:41

Exactly. Well, like we we had been trying to pull people together to pray. We're now doing it now. We're going out in parks and we're just praying. Yesterday we were in a park in Abingdon praying for the children.

SPEAKER_02 23:53

Right.

SPEAKER_00 23:53

The children who are exploited, the children who are missing, the children who have lack of education. Yes, they don't have the knowledge to understand their whereabouts, watching everything that's happening. Traffickers are everywhere.

SPEAKER_02 24:10

Oh gosh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:10

They're in the churches.

SPEAKER_02 24:12

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 24:13

They're they're your they're little leak coaches.

SPEAKER_02 24:16

Sadly, yes.

SPEAKER_00 24:17

They're in AA and NA.

SPEAKER_02 24:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:19

They're in the school system, y'all. How many pedophiles have been found in the school system? Come on, y'all. You gotta get up. You gotta wake up.

SPEAKER_01 24:27

We're not blowing smoke. We've been talking to people who focus specifically in these areas that are telling us this is where they are finding. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 24:36

So, anyway, we're not gonna go off on that tangent right now because y'all know that how we feel about it, especially how Mama Mish feels about it. Yes, but let's get back to the word because we did go off a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 24:46

Yeah, we did.

SPEAKER_00 24:47

All right, verse 4. Um, the son of perdition who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. That is powerful, powerful, right? And you have to understand that in that scripture right there, the devil is in the churches. No, yes. If there ain't no spirit of truth and there ain't no spirit of the Lord in that church, there's another kind of spirit in that church. No, yes. If your church isn't teaching about the Holy Spirit, isn't talking about issues in the community, isn't talking about issues with our children, yeah, isn't holding the Bible as the main message and focus on the word that the preacher delivers. It isn't God. That's right, it is the enemy, just like the scripture says, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Yeah, how powerful of a vision do you get when you see the devil sitting on these high back chairs with the posse on the altar?

SPEAKER_01 26:28

Yeah. A lot of people need to be praying for their churches, I'll tell you.

SPEAKER_00 26:33

Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Yes. If there ain't no freedom in your church, and on Sunday, people aren't getting delivered and healed and restored, and walking out of that church convicted by the Holy Spirit, you are not in the right church. You are in a pacifying, lukewarm preach it church. You are in a church where your preacher cares more about money than he does your soul. There you go. Can you honestly walk out of church on Sunday and look up and say, thank you, God, for you just changed and altered my mind, body, and spirit through that word, prayer, and truth. Because the Holy Spirit convicted me again in the service about the things I need to change because I'm in sanctification mode. Hallelujah. Sanctification mode is salvation mode. That's right. Sanctification is everything that you need to change that the Holy Spirit shows you through word, prayer, and truth. And that's how we're supposed to live our life until we are taken up into heaven. Very true. Let's go on. Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things? This is Paul.

SPEAKER_04 27:51

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 27:52

And now you know what is restraining that he may be revealed in his own time. What is restraining the man of sin is neuter, referring to an impersonal force. While he, I'm reading the I'm reading a little study, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_02 28:09

I got you.

SPEAKER_00 28:10

While he who now restrains and is masculine, suggesting a personal figure. Paul apparently expected his readers to understand what or whom he meant, since he had given them instruction when he was with them. But today's readers should hesitate to clarify by dogmatic opinion what stands unclear in the biblical text itself. 2 Peter 3, 15 through 16. Be reminded that even one apostle found difficult passages in the writings of another. The restrainer is mentioned nowhere else in the Bible. He's talking the scripture we just talked about. Right. And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. It's talking about different interpretations of the same word, the same gospel. So what's happening is when there is a restraint, think about it. When you're restrained, restrained, you're pulled back. And when a liar is speaking the word, he is pulled back, and the full depth of truth is not coming out because the liar won't allow it.

SPEAKER_02 29:29

I see.

SPEAKER_00 29:30

It's only the truth that's enough to give the people where it can be misconstrued and twisted, right? And they believe it. And they believe it. They believe it. It's another gospel.

SPEAKER_02 29:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:43

That's what's happening. And it's spoken about later in the work. Where was it in Corinthians, where it talks about there's other, I think it's Corinthians. I'll check it later. There's other gospels being preached out there, but there's only one gospel, and that's the gospel of Jesus Christ, our Savior, our Messiah, and our Redeemer. So even now, in the thick of this week of Holy Week, if you go on social media, you will see many gospels being preached. Oh, yeah. Or there it sounds like the gospel of Jesus Christ, but little pieces are being left out and other pieces are added in. And the Bible, the Bible's very clear. You are never to take away from the word of truth, and you are never to add to the truth the word of truth. That's right. Because you're in big trouble, especially if you're a preacher, a teacher, a prophet, and whatever label you've given yourself that the Holy Spirit didn't give you, and you're out there preaching what you're calling the word of God, right? And what are you doing? You're leading people astray. Right. And that there is what's happening. It is. That's what's happened to, that's why people are left behind. Right. Because they an apostasy is they deflect, I'm gonna say defected and deflected from the actual truth of the gospel. The gospel of Jesus Christ was his life, his death, his burial, his resurrection, and his ascension. All of those are the gospel of Jesus Christ. All of those affect our lives. That is the only gospel that we have been told to believe. Indeed. So then it says in uh verse seven, for the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he, God, that's a capital H. Only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. The mystery of lawlessness, which was in Paul's day already at work, need not be taken as some deep secret. Good and evil alike occur in the world. As the final day of the Lord approaches, when evil rouses and the limit and the limiting forces are withdrawn, the lawless one will be revealed. But as made clear a generation later in the book of Revelation, the result will be the final destruction of the Antichrist and all the forces of evil with God in Christ and final triumph. Meanwhile, there are many who believed the lie because they did not believe the truth, because people will believe something, people will believe anything, and that is where we are right now. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan with all power signs and lying wonders. Just as God energizes the gifts of the Spirit, Satan will empower this figure to produce compelling but deceptive signs and lying wonders. Not every miracle comes from God, nor are such wonders any less miraculous because of their origin.

SPEAKER_02 33:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:59

And we have to understand that you understand that that says Satan will empower this figure.

SPEAKER_02 34:08

Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_00 34:09

Um and then it says, and with all unrighteous unrighteous deception among those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason, God will send them strong delusion that they should believe the lie.

SPEAKER_01 34:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:27

It's what's gonna happen. And that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. Now, this was a huge knockdown for Christians who are not living that life as a true Christian. And there are reasons why they won't. And we know some of them. Um they they want they like what they like, they want to be self-righteous. Right. And what are some of the other reasons? Yeah, it's okay. Um they don't w people, I I find in my 20 plus years journey in ministry, people really don't want to put the time in.

SPEAKER_02 35:31

Right.

SPEAKER_00 35:33

They think it's tedious to read the Bible, um, or they read the Bible as a ha habitual thing.

SPEAKER_02 35:39

Right.

SPEAKER_01 35:40

I did my Bible. Here we go. Yeah, yeah, like you're gonna say, like she says it all the time, and she's absolutely right. The habitual, I did my I did my three verses, I did my devotional piece of the devotional book today. I'm good with God, I can go on and now do whatever I want. And there's just so much of that out of there in the world. Or I went to church on Sunday, but Monday through Friday or Monday through Saturday, I can live the wildlife because I'll get good with God on Sunday.

SPEAKER_00 36:07

No, that's exactly what is not how it works. That's the fake gospel, right? That you use the gospel when it works for you, and you go to God when it works for you, and you have a need, but God knows your heart. And that that's scripture. If God knows your heart, he already knows you're full of crap.

SPEAKER_01 36:24

Right. Or that one that drives me absolutely insane when I hear it is oh, oh gosh, it's I just had it onto my tongue and I lost it that quick. The oh well Jesus forgive Jesus forgives me for my sins, so I'll just I'll go out, I'll go out, I'll just keep it. I'll go out on Friday night and I'll do my thing and I'll just I'll ask for forgiveness and I'm good because I'm saved and I can do that.

SPEAKER_00 36:46

The hell you can lose your salvation, right? But absolutely I'm gonna take that back. Were you ever really saved? Well, there there you go. You don't lose your salvation, right? You have to ask was it ever even there, was it ever even a reality? Right. Because I mean, when I talk to people who got saved, and when I just come right out and say, Are you saved? I don't say anything else.

SPEAKER_02 37:13

Right.

SPEAKER_00 37:14

I wait to hear what the response is, and it's not a trick or anything, because it's got that's not God, it's understanding, do they really understand what salvation means?

SPEAKER_01 37:23

Right. And I've worked with people that have said, you know, preach that you can lose your salvation, and it always just kind of made my skin crawl. Like, well, wait a minute, that that's not how I understand it.

SPEAKER_00 37:35

You can't lose something you never had, right? Exactly. And that's what I think the verbiage, that's what I think we should say. Yeah, yeah. If you have it, you have it. You know you have it, exactly. But you can't use, you can't mock God's purpose for salvation, which is what you're doing, when you're when you're, you know, like the Bible's very clear that he sees everything you say, he sees every you're accountable for every word you speak. The Bible says that's very clear on judgment day. You're accountable for every word you said and every word you didn't say.

SPEAKER_02 38:06

Right.

SPEAKER_00 38:07

But I always say this, Steve, and and you know, I always look at the fruit that comes from people.

SPEAKER_02 38:13

Right.

SPEAKER_00 38:14

Um, are they givers? Are they just takers? Are they um doing are they helping the poor and needy? Are they in the community? Are they speaking truth? Are they preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ? And it's not a dig to what people do, but we were told in the word that you'll know people by their fruit. You're right, you'll know if they're mine by their fruit. You know, God makes it very clear. We know what the fruit of the spirits are. What not spirits, I'm sorry, the fruit of the spirit is. Right.

SPEAKER_02 38:46

I know what you meant.

SPEAKER_00 38:48

But is that fruit coming from us? Right. Do we lash out when we we hear something we don't want to deal with? Do we um disagree? Are we always bantering with people? Are we um always using cuss words? Are we always cussing, you know, every moment we get? Are we listening to demonic music? Are we watching inappropriate things on the television, on our phone, or on our computer?

SPEAKER_01 39:13

It's so easy to do now, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_00 39:15

Well, the devil's made it very easy for us to be tempted, like literally all day long. Oh, yeah. I mean, I'll give us an example of something that's going on with one of my email addresses. I have three email addresses, and I I I I admitted this to my husband, to you, and all of a sudden I'm getting all this despicable pornographic verbiage in and and and it's it's in their email. So is that true?

SPEAKER_01 39:42

She was horrified, I'll tell you. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 39:44

And I even I even clicked on and tried to block this this email that it's coming from. Right. And I'm like, oh my gosh, please help me get rid of this. And so it's coming down to I need to sit on the my laptop and deplete that email address. Right. And then wherever that email, because I've had that email address forever, and wherever that email address is being used, I have to go on and change it because that's the only thing I can do. So I have to get rid of something I've had for such a really long time because some creep spirit got in there and put me on a list, and now I've got all this smut coming over my email address, and I'm forced to see it when I open my email box. Right. The good news is it's all gone to junk because I've somehow figured out how to do that. You got it to move, but there are days when it's like 20 emails.

SPEAKER_01 40:40

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 40:40

And they're disgusting.

SPEAKER_01 40:42

I'm sure.

SPEAKER_00 40:43

And but I'm thinking to myself, Steve, how many people does that taunt and tempt? Oh, absolutely. And they go on and they fall into the trap and it turns into sin. Because the minute you open it and start looking at whatever, I don't even know what's there, whatever garbage is there, you've walked into sin.

SPEAKER_01 41:05

Right. Just like all the temptation that you see on social media, a lot of just horrible stuff that I see, just looking, just on, you know, just opening you. All you gotta do is open the app and just go flipping through a couple videos. Next thing you see something about talking about some type of nastiness. Yep. You can't avoid it, it's just permeated at all.

SPEAKER_00 41:26

That nastiness is what leads people to the dark web, which leads people to uh human trafficking and child exploitation. It's all connected, and we're gonna talk about that in great depth very soon on a podcast because we're we are starting a mission for that. So we'll talk about that another time. But the Lurke's putting on my heart to give everyone the um answer to the great apostasy, what to do so that you're not affected by the great apostasy and you're in heaven. And to be a true Christian, um, it's a walk. It is, it's a journey, it's a beautiful adventure. Yes, it's not always easy, but God is always there with us, holding our hand.

SPEAKER_01 42:11

It's a journey, it's a process of that sanctification, it's a process.

SPEAKER_00 42:15

It is, and it's and the cool thing about being saved is the Lord has given us all of the tools to live, uh, the weapons of warfare against the devil, because yeah, you're gonna fight the devil whether you're a Christian or not.

SPEAKER_02 42:36

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:36

Okay, you're fighting the devil right now if you're not a Christian because he's ruling and reigning in your life. Every day. And I mean, I can't tell you how many people say, No, he's not. I'm like, well, yeah, he is. There's only two places.

SPEAKER_02 42:46

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 42:47

There's two places. There's the world and the kingdom, there's good and evil, there's no other in-between. There's no other. Oh, I think I'm in the middle of good and evil. There is no middle. Yeah. There is no middle. If you're a fence rider, heaven and hell, there ain't no middle.

SPEAKER_01 42:59

Well, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 43:00

There ain't no middle. That's right. I I yeah, I don't know where you think you're going, but you're going to heaven or hell.

unknown 43:05

Right.

SPEAKER_00 43:06

You know, because the big thing is when people commit suicide or they were saved, and they commit suicide because they went into a deep depression, and and the devil got a hold of them because that suicide is a spirit. There is a spirit of suicide. Um, I know it all too well. And there's a big question about that. What happens when you take your own life? Well, this is what I'm gonna tell you. God knows your heart, right? And if you were saved before you took your life, taking your life is a sin.

unknown 43:40

Right.

SPEAKER_00 43:40

When you when you murder someone, you murdered yourself, you took your life. It is a sin.

SPEAKER_01 43:45

You bring it, boil it down, you're right.

SPEAKER_00 43:47

But I do believe in my heart, Steve, that Jesus shows up to everyone before they go here or there. Because they gotta go to they go to God for judgment.

SPEAKER_04 44:00

Right.

SPEAKER_00 44:00

I do believe in my heart the vision that I've always gotten because I lost a friend to suicide, um, actually a couple friends, and the vision I got about one of my best friends was um because I cried, I wept for days about not knowing where she was, but knowing that I had preached the gospel to her, knowing that she understood it, even though she was walking in witchcraft, I just prayed and prayed, and I didn't know if she received it. I didn't know. I had a dream a few days after she had passed, and the the vision was this young woman where she was, where she took her life, and Jesus in the window of the vehicle with his hand out and her fingertips in his hand.

SPEAKER_02 44:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 44:45

So I believe in my heart I will see her again in heaven. Now, will we be on different levels in heaven? Yes, the Bible says there are many rooms, there are different levels in heaven. You know, someone who get who receives Christ on their deathbed, or they're already dead, but their spirit's still hanging around, right? And Jesus is giving them another chance. I believe this with everything in me.

SPEAKER_02 45:04

I gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 45:05

Do I have scripture to back it up? I'm sure I could find it. But I do believe in my heart that that God is long-suffering and He will give, He, I believe He will come and give that last chance. Now, people have said to me, Well, what if they sold their soul to the devil? I said, Well, that's not scripture.

SPEAKER_02 45:22

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 45:23

So I don't really, that's between God and that person. And I believe that God rescues people from the devil, understanding that, you know, like I said, you might be at a different place in heaven, but I really believe there's a a train up system in heaven, and you raise up to be a train.

SPEAKER_01 45:40

I want to make I want to make a point on that about the selling your soul to the devil.

SPEAKER_00 45:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:43

Okay. Anyone who knows anything about that knows the name Anton Levey. Okay. Anton LeVay was the founder of the Church of Satan. I do remember that story. Okay. When he died, his last words were, oh my god, I was wrong. Wow. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 46:04

I heard that story.

SPEAKER_01 46:06

So I mean, if and if anyone could say that they sold their soul to the devil, it would have been Anton LeVay. And it sounds to me like even he got a second chance.

SPEAKER_00 46:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:16

So, you know. Praise God, hot babes. We're wet.

SPEAKER_00 46:20

So I think that us with being holy weak. Sorry, I walked away. No, it's okay. Being holy weak, I think that it would be um a really good thing if we explained how she's so muddy. I'm sorry. We have Leiko on here with us. I mean, we found her before, so we don't need to tune her out. She's okay. Right. But you're full of mud, you little punk.

SPEAKER_01 46:48

She just came in from outside, so she's all full of fire.

SPEAKER_00 46:50

There's a mud pad of her paws on the floor. Yes. And she knows mommy needs to clean those paws. So I I believe, because you were digging again, you little turd. Um look at that.

SPEAKER_02 47:04

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00 47:05

So uh sorry guys, I'm back. Um, Leica's our mascot, so we love her. She loves her.

SPEAKER_02 47:10

She's a good girl.

SPEAKER_00 47:11

So, anyway, understanding that she has a squeaky bug. You gotta squeak. I hope you guys are laughing with us because she's just so much fun. And she loves Uncle Steve. You're a good girl. So all of this can be different. Um, okay, okay. Like, all of this can be different if you turn from your sin and you repent and you receive the forgiveness that this whole week is all about. That's right. Every week is about, every day is about forgiveness, but this is the week that that we really just accept all over again the what Jesus Christ went through for us.

SPEAKER_01 48:10

To remind you why you have that, what what was paid for you to be able to do that?

SPEAKER_00 48:18

Yes, and and understanding that it's a free gift that that God gave us, that Jesus Christ was sacrificed so that we could be forgiven and saved and redeemed and reconciled back to the Father. And it's not just saying the prayer of faith, it's understanding that, and we're gonna do the prayer of faith in a minute when we close out, yes, but it's not just, it's also understanding, and he keeps taking me to John 3:16 through 18. So I'm gonna go there real quick. It's also understanding that this is for the rest of your life. Yes, this is not the prayer of faith, it is not a one-shot deal. The prayer of faith is for life. Now, do you have to say it every day? Just do whatever you want, sure, if you want to. Every day we should be repenting for our sins. That's what works for you, dude. Um, right, but every day seeking God, praying. Um, so let's read the scripture, John 3:16 through 18. For God so loved the world that he gave his son, his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. So in in verse 16, he loved us so much, he gave us his son. Yes, and whoever believes in Jesus Christ will not perish, but have everlasting life. That is a benefit of receiving Christ as your savior. Yes, indeed. Your spirit transfers from this world, from the earth to heaven to be with God, and you don't die, you don't have that physical, you do die, but you don't die. Your spirit doesn't die, your spirit passes on from here to the kingdom of God to heaven. So that's that's huge. This is huge, just verse 16. He loved us so much, he sacrificed his son so we could live eternally, and then verse 17. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved, saved from the devil, saved from our sin, saved from eternal damnation in hell, saved from being completely cut off from God. Right. He saved us from ourself. Yes, he saved us from our selfish, self-righteous my way or the highway life. That's right. That's in verse 17. He said, I sent my son not to condemn the world, but that the world through him would be saved. Notice it says world. Salvation is for everyone. That's right. Everyone who will stop in their tracks and understand I need to be saved from the world, from myself, from hell, from my sins, from from this unbelief, from this not knowing what's true. You're literally being saved from everything that keeps you from God. Yes. And Jesus made the way. Jesus gave his life for all. And then verse 18. He who believes in Jesus is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already. Because he is not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God, like his eating, sorry. So understanding why Jesus came and did what he did. I hope you guys are enjoying the entertainment in the background.

SPEAKER_01 52:40

It's okay. Your time is something else, girl.

SPEAKER_00 52:44

She's just like, leave me alone, I'm eating. I'm sorry, guys. We are not, we are not going. She's been great. We're not um we're not defecting from deflecting from the truth here. Right. We are helping y'all to understand that you do not have to be part of the great apostasy.

SPEAKER_04 53:07

Right.

SPEAKER_00 53:08

But also, we have an obligation and a duty as true Christians who believe in the gospel and believe in the word of God and trust the Holy Spirit and submit and surrender to God to tell people, which means you all have to tell people about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yes. He came and showed us how to live. We know how to follow Christ because we have four gospels to read and meditate on. Because y'all, there's gonna come a time when the Bibles are not allowed in America.

SPEAKER_01 53:51

That's right. It's already underway.

SPEAKER_00 53:53

There is gonna come a time, like it is all over the other nations, right? They have to smuggle them in, they have to bring them through the underground, they have to do all these things that's gonna happen here.

SPEAKER_01 54:03

Right.

SPEAKER_00 54:03

It's been prophesied that it's gonna happen here.

SPEAKER_01 54:07

I can't remember what state it is, but there's actually a mother who's currently under court order that because of a custom arrangement, she cannot take her daughter to church. Well, she cannot teach her daughter, it's it's big fault. She's got some major religious rights organizations on her back, and they're fighting it. She is not allowed to take her child to church, she's not allowed to teach her child about God, and that this this stuff is happening, this stuff is coming. This is just a child.

SPEAKER_00 54:34

Why do you think the Bible says meditate on the word? Get the word in your head. You have to have a biblical mind, right? Because the biblical mind will help the heart when things come up that you start getting emotional.

SPEAKER_02 54:50

Right.

SPEAKER_00 54:51

In Christ, there is not being led by emotions, it's being led by the spirit, being led by the word of truth, being led by God, being led by what you know is truth. If you don't have the Bible in your head, say somebody they come tomorrow and take all of our Bibles, and people are like, oh my god, I never picked it up and read it. Read your Bible, tune into the things we're doing, tune in to people who literally sit there with the Bible in their hand and preach and teach and discern what the word of God, the word of truth is saying.

SPEAKER_01 55:29

Right. Look, look, look at the people in China, look at the people in um India, India, I race Africa. Yeah, some of these come. There are people there that have memorized entire chapters of the Bible.

SPEAKER_00 55:41

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 55:42

Because they are persecuted, their Bibles have been taken, their churches have been burned to the ground. So whatever excuse, I'm gonna be bold and say, whatever you excuse you have for not trying to, and I'm not saying that everybody has that ability, but you need to at least try to memorize the word.

SPEAKER_00 56:03

Get a version of the Bible you can understand that speaks to you. That's right. You can go on Bible Gateway and put any version and it will speak to you. Always have a parallel Bible to compare it, or not compare to, but to grasp the whole meaning of what God's saying. That's right. You know, I I know Word. I can I can freely speak Word.

SPEAKER_02 56:29

Right.

SPEAKER_00 56:29

Do I remember where it always is in the Bible? No, he didn't say we had to memorize the verse in the scripture, right? He said to meditate on the word, understand the word, understand and have knowledge of the word. Exactly. And that's what we need to do. I'm not dissing people who can quote the scripture where hey, I'm more power to do it.

SPEAKER_01 56:49

It amazes me.

SPEAKER_00 56:49

It is a meeting to do that.

SPEAKER_01 56:51

You can just call out the verse and where it's at. I think that's amazing. That is amazing.

SPEAKER_00 56:56

That's a gift. But knowing the word of truth and speaking it out there, because the Bible said no word ever goes out for it. That's right. Word meaning what are the words in the Bible. But like I said, let's do the prayer of faith.

SPEAKER_02 57:11

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 57:12

Thank you, Father God, for your mercy, grace, and favor. Thank you for being here with us today. Thank you for truth. All we ever tell is truth in our podcasts, on our shows, in our Sunday service, in our in our Bible study, in the classes that you have had us teach. It's all word of truth. Bible never leaves the preacher's hand. Never, never, never, never, never. Because then it would be about the preacher and not the word.

SPEAKER_04 57:42

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 57:43

So, Father, thank you. Lord, I pray today that people understand salvation. They understand being saved by the grace of you, God. I pray today they ask you into their heart. Jesus, come into our heart. Come into their heart, Lord. Let them receive and believe the truth they heard today and understand they don't want to be part of the great apostasy. They don't want to be left behind in the great tribulation. It's going to be hell, literally, being left behind.

SPEAKER_02 58:11

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 58:12

It is going to be hell on earth. You think it's hell on earth now, you ain't seen nothing. You want to get right with God. And only Jesus made the way to do that. Jesus is the only way to get to the Father. So, Father God, I pray today that our hearts surrender. We surrender our will. We ask you, Jesus Christ, to come into our heart. Mess us up. Bold prayer right there, but do it, God. We need you to mess us up. Get rid of the old us. Get rid of the self-righteous attitude. DNA. Put the God righteous attitude and way of living and breathing and being in us now in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Forgive us our sins, Father. Really seriously. Every sin we've ever committed, help us repent from them all, heal from them all, and stop those behaviors in the name of Jesus Christ. We want to be a new creation in Christ. Old things pass away. The old man that was in us passes away. We are now all about Christ, all about the word of God, all about the Holy Spirit. So accept us today, Father God. Choose us today. Our hearts are ready and ripe. We've heard word, we've heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. We receive it and we believe it and we want to live it.

SPEAKER_01 59:47

Yes, Lord. Thank you, Lord.

SPEAKER_00 59:48

We want to live your will and your way and live your word. We want to walk word, Lord. We want to walk word. Yes. So thank you. Holy Spirit, we ask you indwell in us, baptize us. We want to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. So that the Holy Spirit can be our helper and teach us and help us with word, help us with prayer, help us with convictions. Because we all need convictions.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:16

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:17

Nobody's doing this right. Nobody's doing this unless the Holy Spirit is in us, helping us through life every day.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:27

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:28

So thank you, Father God, for your grace in sending your only begotten Son so that we could be saved.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:36

Thank you, Lord.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:38

Thank you that it is not a condemning moment when you get saved. It is a powerful moment of grace and mercy that you place upon us to receive your Son to receive the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So save us, Father. And Lord, we choose to live for you. We choose to die to self, take up our cross, and follow Jesus Christ. Because he is the way, the truth, and the life forever and ever. Thank you, God. We receive everything you have for us. We receive your Son. We receive your grace. And we receive a new life in Christ. In Jesus' name, we all come in agreement and say amen. Thank you, Lord.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:40

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:42

Powerful word today.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:44

Indeed. Indeed.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:45

Thank you, Lord.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:48

Alright. So I think that's a wrap. I think we've uh that's a pretty long episode, but I think every single word is very important. And we hope that we've reached you. We hope that we've touched you, and we hope that you will seek Jesus Christ. So with that, website voice of truthusa.org. We love you. God bless you, and we'll see you next week. Amen.