The Destabilization of America

[0:00] And I will ask you, if you will, in reverence to the Word of God, stand and follow along as I read just the first five verses.

[0:12] 2 Timothy chapter 3. It is significant that in his last letter, knowing that his demise, that his appointed time of death, is probably very, very soon.

[0:37] Paul may have been under the realization that the next morning that guard would be knocking at his door and telling Paul that it would be time.

[0:50] And they would lead him from his cell out to where there was a small clump of bushes. And a chopping block. And there the Apostle Paul would lay down his head on that block and have it severed from his body.

[1:08] He knew that was coming, and he knew that it was short. And when a man knows that he has but a limited time left, he wants to choose his words carefully and make them important.

[1:19] And that's exactly, I'm confident, the attitude that he had as he wrote this last letter, so far as we know, the last thing he ever wrote, to his young protege, Timothy, and encouraging him.

[1:31] And for the first five verses of chapter 3, he said, But realize this, that in the last days, difficult times will come.

[1:43] For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power, and avoid such men as these.

[2:29] Let's pray. Father, we recognize that what the apostle has said here was not only true in his day, for he lived in the last days also. It is eminently true in our day.

[2:42] We may be living in the latter part of the last days for all we know. So we ask that you will enable us to look upon our world and look at it through the lens of Scripture and understand that what has taken place may very well be precisely what the apostle was talking about.

[3:06] He saw these things in his day, but in our day, we see them intensified in a manner in which it has never been before.

[3:20] So we ask that you will give us a spirit of wisdom and courage and understanding that we may know how to address the culture of our day and to be brave and confident in it rather than simply fearful of it as we are wont to be.

[3:36] Thank you for the gracious provision that you've already made for us regardless of what is happening in this world or for whom it is responsible.

[3:47] We are grateful that you are in charge and that these things are playing their way out into a plan and an end that you have in mind as well. We thank you for it and for each one here this morning.

[3:59] In Christ's name, amen. Be seated, please. A few years back, Hollywood made a film called A Perfect Storm.

[4:15] I don't remember if you saw it or not or if you remember it. But The Perfect Storm was, well, let me just give you a kind of a dictionary definition.

[4:27] It is the part of the Earth's atmosphere in which ionization of atmospheric gases affects the propagation of radio waves, which extends from about 30 miles to the exosphere, which is divided into regions of one or more layers whose altitudes and degrees of ionization vary with time of day, season, and solar cycle, and which is contiguous with the upper portion of the mesosphere and the thermosphere, also a comparable region of charged particles surrounding another celestial body.

[5:06] That, coupled with the temperature of the ocean water and temperatures of the air, all occurring at the same time, produce a rare anomaly called A Perfect Storm.

[5:20] The angular distance of a planet Earth from its perichelin, as seen from the sun, produces an irregular, peculiar anomaly that is a perfect storm.

[5:38] Long story short, all of these atmospheric conditions, including the temperature of the ocean and everything, comes together at just the precise time, at just the right temperatures, and it creates a cataclysmic opportunity for a storm the likes of which you've never seen.

[6:02] That is precisely what this world is experiencing right now, morally and spiritually. There are a whole host of ingredients, morally and spiritually, that are coming together and coinciding that result in a chaotic time of existence, the likes of which this Earth has never seen.

[6:33] This nation has enjoyed an existence of well over 200 years, and during that time, being one of the youngest nations on the whole globe, we have managed to arrive at what would be considered the leadership of the world's nations.

[6:59] quite remarkable when you consider that we are among the youngest of nations. I mean, Europe and Asia has been going for thousands of years before the U.S. of A. ever came along.

[7:12] And when we were discovered, we were referred to as the new world. And the old world was still just clicking right along.

[7:22] So this new world, made up primarily of immigrants from all different areas of the world flooding into it, eventually became known as the leader of the world.

[7:39] And that surfaced in an undeniable way after World War I. Because this conflict was raging in Europe, and here we were, like I said, the new kid on the block.

[7:55] And yet, it was the U.S. of A. that came to the rescue of Europe and succeeded in gaining the victory over the Axis forces at that time.

[8:08] And then, that catapulted us into a position of prominence and dominance throughout the world, which was only intensified further as a result of World War II.

[8:24] And this nation, for all practical purposes, just a compilation of immigrants from all over the world, became the world's leader and the envy of so many in the world.

[8:38] Does anybody know or have you ever heard of anybody using even extreme measures to get into this country? What is it about the U.S. of A.

[8:50] that makes it so appealing and so attractive? We do have our problems, you know, unless you have your head buried in the sand. We are dealing with a number of what we would commonly call anomalies that are taking place in our culture that have risen on the scene in the type and the quantity that we would have never imagined even possible.

[9:23] I mean, really weird, weird things. Things like asking the most recent Supreme Court judge who was added to the bench to tell us what is a woman and the judge-to-be who was a woman either could not or refused to answer the question, what is a woman?

[9:56] Has it come to that? Sexual dysphoria? If you're five or six years old and you don't like being a boy, no problem.

[10:12] You can be a girl. Somebody's thinking, Pastor Mark, what are you talking about? I'm talking about what's happening.

[10:25] I'm talking about what's going on in our world. This is not only so weird and so unthinkable that it just defies description, but I've gotten to the place of where I commonly refer to it as the latest insanity of the month.

[10:47] It just seems to go on getting worse and worse, more and more bizarre, and you shake your head and you say, what is happening anyway? What's going on?

[10:59] And this is generally regarded as the most desirable nation in the world. Well, I know there are people in Sweden and the Netherlands and et cetera that would disagree with that, but we're pretty well stuck on this country.

[11:12] We do think that it is a grand old land and a grand old flag and all the rest of it that goes along with it, and we've got patriotic blood flowing in our veins without apology and we look at the whole set of obstacles that the US of A has overcome and the furtherances that we've made and the contributions that we've made to the world and so on.

[11:33] Yeah, you better believe I'm proud to be an American, but that doesn't mean we don't have a lot of things going against us too because we do. You know as well as I we're struggling with this identity problem and I say identity as a nation because if you don't have borders, if you don't have borders that are enforceable borders, you are at risk of losing your identity as a nation, the definition of a nation.

[12:05] what is taking place in our country in the southern border, you could not get away with in most other countries in the world because they enforce their borders and there was a time when we enforced ours.

[12:21] So, what's going on? That's crazy. What do you mean people just by the thousands streaming across the border with no permission and no visas and no, and they just, and they are, arrested, identified and then turned loose into the public and then they are bussed, bussed to various communities throughout the country who have no say and made no requests and were just imposed upon them and what is this doing to the local structures of hospitals and all the rest of it who have to absorb, what, what, what is going on?

[12:59] What's crazy? this is all part of a perfect storm and the storm is moral and spiritual and it is taking place day by day.

[13:16] the things are brewing and agitating more and more and more. There is, whether you believe it or not, there is a concerted, deliberate effort underway to destabilize this nation because the only way it can be turned in to what a lot of people want it to be is by destroying what it is.

[13:47] Do you understand that? This is not hype. It is not exaggeration.

[13:59] It's reality and if you don't see it, I can only ask, where have you been? We are dealing with addiction.

[14:15] Well, we've always dealt with addiction. Alcohol is all, how long has alcohol been with, alcohol has been with us since, since Noah got soused shortly after getting off the ark and passed out from being intoxicated and was made fun of by his sons.

[14:38] That goes back a long ways. Alcohol has probably been the number one destroyer of human lives and families and anything else.

[14:51] But drug addiction is running a close second. It just hasn't been around as long. But these things are taking an enormous toll on our nation. matter of fact, addictions have become such that, well, it's just really hard to say.

[15:14] I've asked Mike Smart if he would come up here and say something about addictions and he was briefing me about it just last week and I said, this is amazing.

[15:27] Mike, you need to share this with the people. They need to understand something that our culture is dealing with. It takes a cake. Well, thanks, Marv.

[15:42] Last week when he said there's a new addiction, if you were here last week, there's a new addiction that's come on our scene in America, the phone. And I wanted to say, duh, because I'm a parent coach, a parent counselor, and many of you know that.

[15:59] It's under John Roseman's school that he offers. and the number one issue I deal with, yeah, it's disobedience, some, it's disrespect, it's defiance, the three D's.

[16:11] But the number one is screens with their children. Well, let me just read this. I don't want to take too much of Marv's time. He said 20 minutes, but I don't want to be up here 20. But it is important.

[16:24] A random mother 2,000 miles away said this after she took her daughter's phone. My daughter went ballistic. She started to yell and scream.

[16:38] She went into a rage, tossed the flower pot onto the floor, broke the glass, mud everywhere. She then charged at me, punched me in the face several times. Peter, her husband, stood there watching.

[16:53] He was addicted too. She then threw my phone onto the floor, cursed me. I went inside the bathroom and cried my heart out. And then she went on. My daughter can lie in her bed all day.

[17:07] She comes out to have dinner. She no longer engages in other activities. She and her twin sister used to run around laughing, finding things to do together. Of course, they were younger then, but all that changed once they had access to a phone and computer.

[17:22] The other day, she hid her computer in her drawer in the room. She's allowing it to be master over her. By the way, this isn't a random mother 2,000 miles away.

[17:33] Well, she is 2,000 miles away, but this is my latest client. So it's not just something I got off the internet and decided to read to you. I'm dealing with her as we speak. And it's been tough.

[17:46] Actually, John Roseman recommended them to me. And I'll have to thank him for that. But it's tough. And she cries on the phone to me. And she has a little Korean accent, a little Asian accent, and difficult to hear everything she says, but especially when she's crying.

[18:02] And she has a husband who's, well, anyway, even when they were young, we used to always go to the beach exploring in nature. Ever since they hit middle school, which coincides with the time they have lots of access to computers, they don't like nature anymore.

[18:19] Should I mandate that we go hiking? Or out in nature every week as a family? In the past, Gabby would always say no and she'll stay in her room using her phone. Kayla does not go to bed, these are twin sisters, and wake up on a regular time.

[18:33] In the past, she'll stay up to 3 a.m. doing her homework, that's in quotes, while watching YouTube videos. She will ask her dad to turn on Wi-Fi after I went to bed. I set Wi-Fi to stop at 10.30 while he'll turn it back on because they need it for homework.

[18:46] Gabby likes to close the door to her room now, typically so she could use her computer or phone. I asked her to come out, she refused, curses me. This is all exhausting. And finally, another text she sent, seeing how they develop an insatiable appetite for meaningless YouTube videos and video games, I decided that we should use technology only for education, not for entertainment.

[19:09] Peter likes to relax and watch his movies on his phone, though. How do we reconcile this difference? I told them to use Philippians 4.8 as a guideline in deciding what to watch. That leads to huge difference in one's interpretation of what's good and noble.

[19:25] And, so that's, you know, this is a mainstream family. 30 years ago, I wouldn't have a job as a parenting coach. No one would hire me because mainstream families wouldn't especially.

[19:38] they know how to parent their kid. But I don't even publicize. I don't, I don't market myself at all. And I get, I get busy with mainstream families. And this is a Christian family, as you could tell by her Philippians reference.

[19:54] Research shows that the number one after school activity for a teenager playing a sport, doing some other extracurricular activity, doing chores at home, maybe a part-time job, mowing lawns, or whatever.

[20:12] No, the number one activity is now curled up on a bed, coddling a device. Now, I'm a fully aware, and I do substitute teach some, I'm fully aware of the benefits of technology and screens.

[20:27] And when I teach, I mean, I can see there's some excellent grammar things online that they use in school. No Red Ink was the name of one program, and they get on it, they do their grammar, they miss it, it shows the correction, they redo another one, the similar sentence.

[20:44] I mean, some excellent stuff. Social media, I mean, I have a Facebook account, keeps in touch with my daughter in Australia, and see my kids, grandkids' pictures. Some of you have an account like that.

[20:55] So I'm not, again, we're not saying, and this refers to a moral and virtuous people as a country. The freedoms of a moral and virtuous people. And this relates, and I even wrote this down, so I wouldn't forget to say it, then I'll get back to what I was talking about.

[21:13] Ben Franklin said this, I know we have historians here with Marv, and I think Jim's here, and some of you others. Only a virtuous, moral, religious people are capable of handling freedoms.

[21:26] As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters. There was a profound degree of anxiety which the founders expressed concerning the quality of virtue and morality in themselves and their descendants.

[21:40] One of their biggest anxieties about becoming a country, are we good enough as a people? Are we moral enough and virtue enough to handle the freedoms our constitutional republic allows? And that includes a freedom to access anything now with technology.

[21:54] We can access anything. They knew that the constitutional republic could inform a government. government that they had proposed could not be maintained if we were not virtuous and sacrificial. And I wonder if we've hit that line of critical mass where are we still that country?

[22:12] China. Have you seen what China does now with gaming? You know, China's known for their technology and their youth and their youth being so adept and savvy in those areas.

[22:24] and the Chinese government with their master, they put restrictions on it. It was 90 minutes a day for online gaming because that seems to be the addiction.

[22:40] And then on the weekend, it was three hours. The parents complained. And now, they allow three hours a week total, 8 to 9 p.m.

[22:53] on Friday, 8 to 9 p.m. on Saturday, and 8 to 9 p.m. on Sunday for online gaming. We have the freedom to be on whenever we want, to do games, to be in our own unreality or reality, depends on how you look at it.

[23:09] But freedoms are only good if there's moral virtue and sacrifice. Yeah, there are benefits. You can Google this anytime you want.

[23:22] Google the harmful effects of screens. And you'll see something like this, a list that could go on and on, but here are several. As believers, worldly, secular influence may be the number one.

[23:35] Even stuff that seems harmless, you're still getting the worldly, secular influence. Obesity, video game addiction, and neuroscientists, I mentioned to Marv, working around the clock for these big, high-tech companies to be sure that you can get addicted because it's good business.

[23:52] Good business. Unfortunately, with alcohol addiction, typically it's someone older, not necessarily. We're talking some minors here as well. Social media addiction, the TikToks, the Snapchats, the Instagram, pornography addiction.

[24:06] I run a group of guys that we get together every so often and, you know, talk about the Bible and how it relates to the world. And one of the guys says he works with college students at Cedarville University.

[24:18] He mentors some of those college guys at Cedarville University. And he's mentored, he said, a total of 16, 14 of which have struggled with pornography. And that's a solid, relatively solid family.

[24:31] Cedarville is set apart still for as big as it's getting. I'm still impressed with how it's set apart from the world as best it can. So they fight it and he works with them. And that's a high percentage.

[24:44] Less time for use of your imagination, creativity, boredom solving when the kid says, I'm bored, mom and dad. You know, decreases their ability to concentrate and focus on learning.

[24:56] Avoidance of family members, isolation in their own unreality, self-centeredness. You know, they run the show on these games, for instance, and the pings and the affirmations they get.

[25:08] And they can move to the next level and the addiction of getting to the next level and sometimes it costs. And the same mom I'm working with with the twin sisters stole money so they could buy the next level from her drawer, her mom's dresser drawer.

[25:27] Aggressive and confrontational behavior, tantrums and meltdowns, personality changes, lying, deceit, back neck, eye problems, depictions of violence, addiction, stunning of brain development in younger ones and defaulting to a screen.

[25:43] And this is one that you don't see much online. But you, the kids will default to the screen whenever there's downtime. I had another client that had a son who was 13 that was amazing at archery and he was also very good in theater.

[25:59] At age 13, he was good at both. And he stopped doing those, didn't want to quit theater, would arch ever so often, but I'm talking high, seemed like Olympic destination for that guy in archery.

[26:14] At a young age, he would enter competitions. But anytime there was downtime, because they were a very tech savvy group of boys, this family had six boys, and, but downtime became that, oh, he loved getting on those games.

[26:28] And so instead of becoming successful and aware of certain areas of life that you want to head toward, your career, your future, hobbies that are legit, instead, the kid naturally defaults to the screen.

[26:50] You know, curl up on bed, coddling a device. And the one client, the one, about four or five months ago that had the six boys, she just said she wanted her son back.

[27:04] And, that also, the Chinese were talking about how their personality changes when they're so in that unreality. And so we recommend, you know, you've got to go cold turkey with the screens, take it away for two weeks, and here's what will happen, and here's what typically happens when we recommend it.

[27:21] Take away the screens, get ready. You know, batten down the hatches, because you know what will happen. For the first few days, it's crazy. The tantrums, the meltdowns, the screaming, and that's a sign of addiction.

[27:36] Every time that happens with a client, we know, well, you know what that meant when they call back, usually the mom, and say, this is the response. But, there have been a couple of good endings.

[27:48] After two weeks, if the parents don't cave, and parents cave, they have no choice to cave because they can't have life like this, right? And all the other kids have devices, how can they communicate with their friends?

[27:59] The, the reasons I've been given have been unbelievable by solid families and solid parents. And, so, after a couple weeks, there's been a couple occasions where they've gotten their child back.

[28:16] And, the child was so glad they were back because they were this different person. I do substitute teach at Shawnee and Cedarville.

[28:27] I took a poll once and 100% of respondents were upset that their tent had fallen down. That's supposed to be funny. That their tent had fallen down.

[28:40] I took their poll, okay. That was, yeah, I had to throw that, I do that to my students too, so. They usually laugh a little better, but that's okay. I did take a poll at Shawnee High School and Cedarville High School where, like I sub, every so, I'll just ask the kids, hey, how many of you have devices?

[28:58] Well, it's everybody. And, how many of you have smartphones or iPhones or cell phones that have no access to Wi-Fi?

[29:09] You can text, you can call, we recommend that. You can text, call, take pictures. It's called Gab phones is one of the main ones that don't involve, well, they all have Wi-Fi. How many of you have limits on it where the parents can put parental controls on it or you have to turn it in at the end of the day before you go to bed so it won't be any 3 a.m. stuff turning your devices?

[29:30] And at Shawnee, and remember, both of these are conservative. Cedarville Public School is about as close to being a Christian school as you can, as you can have. And at both schools in general, I'd say about, well, 100% had phones, smartphones.

[29:50] About 10% at Cedarville had limits on them, less than that at Shawnee. I think there were two out of the 25 that had to turn theirs in. So they have access to everything.

[30:02] Freshmen, these 14-year-olds, access to anything, whatever they want to do, whenever they want to do it. Oh, their parents have, tell them to get off it at times. But boy, kids are good at the tech stuff.

[30:12] They can get by, you know, parental control so easily now, and I'd have to deal with that. And then, I mentioned the Chinese thing.

[30:24] I just thought this was interesting as I conclude here. Recently, this is in China, many parents have reported that game addiction among some youths and children is seriously harming their normal study, life, and mental and physical health.

[30:36] parents had demanded further restrictions, which I told you about. Chinese parents complained. They constantly found new ways to sneak past the limits on gaming hours.

[30:49] Many parents reported that their children had big changes in their temper and personality after becoming addicted to games, even as if they had become another person. And that's, so I'm just not saying that's here.

[31:01] That's everywhere. And becoming another person. So, I do deal with that. And if you can think about it, you can pray for that because it just took, when I signed up for this a few years ago, I was prepared to handle the three D's that, you know, disrespect, disobedience, and defiance from the children.

[31:23] I wasn't aware that I'd have to be up on the latest in technology and how to deal with that. But like I said, you know, having the freedom we have in our country to be able to use that and access it and is awesome as long as there's a moral, morality, a virtue, and a religion and a faith involved as it was when our country began.

[31:48] So that's why it's a little scary. And so when Marv said the phone, I said, oh man, I've been there. And I have. So, Marv?

[31:58] When I first heard Mike talking about that a week ago, I thought, well now this is a little strange.

[32:14] I think, Mike, I think you're going too far now. This is some kind of an exaggeration, but it isn't. It is a legitimate addiction. An addiction is something that controls people.

[32:28] It determines their time and their thinking. And it is very invasive to the personality of the individual, often without them even knowing it.

[32:40] And nobody's interested in getting up a campaign to stamp out cell phones. It's just one more example of something that can be wonderful, tremendously convenient, very intriguing in so many ways, and a real blessing in a lot of ways.

[33:01] But like every other good gift that God has given us, it is subject to abuse and to corruption. And I can't get over the fact that, and I have been told this by people who know, that pornography is available on cell phones.

[33:24] Are you kidding me? And it has been. I mean, I know I'm like a dinosaur. I'm so out of it. I just don't, you know. I always said I would never, I would never own a cell phone that was smarter than I am.

[33:38] And then my kids gave me one for my birthday a couple of years ago. And I still haven't gotten used to using it. I just use it to place calls and to receive calls. And I do a little bit of texting, and I don't do that very well.

[33:52] But I can understand how this thing can be an avenue, an entree into someone's life where it just takes over. It just consumes people.

[34:03] And it ought not to be. But that's the nature of addiction. I saw a description one time of pornography.

[34:14] pornography. And one who had been involved in it came out of it and was trying to help people who were captivated by it. And the statement was made that pornography hijacks the male brain.

[34:32] I thought, wow, what an interesting concept. That's exactly what it does. influences and determines the male thinking.

[34:45] Now, I know women can have problems with this, too, but I don't think on the magnitude that men can because, after all, men have a particular susceptibility to the visual that somehow seems to have escaped femininity.

[35:01] and I base that on the fact that we've all heard of peeping toms, but how many of you heard of peeping james?

[35:15] What's going on there? It's a boy-girl thing. It's a male-female thing. And it's part of the dynamic with which God created us. But even that is susceptible to abuse and defilement.

[35:30] There isn't any good gift that God has given us that we can't mess up in some way or another by some extreme. And we're dealing with this in proportions the likes of which this country has never seen.

[35:43] Do you realize that there were in excess of 100,000 people in the United States who died from drug addiction and overdose just last year?

[36:03] Over 100,000? This stuff is coming in by the borders. And every now and then we see something on television where the Drug Enforcement Agency has confiscated and captured something.

[36:20] And they talk about here it was 350 pounds of cocaine or whatever it may be. And all we know is that's just what they caught.

[36:33] How much did they not catch that got through that is permeating all across this country? It is just it's got to the place where it is more than epidemic.

[36:48] It is crippling our nation in so many ways. I saw some statistics and this was a couple of years ago where if you take all of the revenue generated by the NFL that's National Football League pretty big stuff all of the money generated by the NFL and the NBA that's all the professional basketball and Major League Baseball all of the money generated from ticket sales and sales of everything that you can imagine and add it all up.

[37:35] It does not match the amount of money that is involved in pornography for one year. This thing of addiction is mastering the United States of America.

[37:54] We are the hotbed of it. The reason they want to get it in here so much is because here is where there is money available and people susceptible to take it.

[38:06] So we are a sitting duck for those who would take advantage of us. But that southern border as porous as it can be it's incredible what's coming through there.

[38:19] And much of it is coming from China. What's China got to do with this? China is very much interested in the destabilization of the United United States of America because if we go down guess who's leading the pack?

[38:41] China. The name of the game is internationally knock us off and if they can they will because they are coming from look at their worldview. There is no God.

[38:54] There is no fixed morality. it is only what you make it and what you want it to be. That's the basis under which they operate. It's not the basis under which America has operated historically but it is becoming more and more that way and it is heartbreaking to see what is happening to this nation in the midst of so many who seem to be completely unaware of it.

[39:22] the evolutionary hypothesis is at the forefront of this. This thing started way back with Charles Darwin and it has gained in popularity and it has gotten to the place now where it is the way to go.

[39:37] And anyone who does not believe in and accept organic evolution that man is evolved from a lower life form then you are just some kind of a backward hick, a country bumpkin that just isn't facing reality or science.

[39:55] Now how many times have we heard that Christianity, religion in general is just faith, it's just religion but evolution is science.

[40:11] You would be amazed how many people believe that. I mean they really do believe it and when they hear PhDs spout it, this man is very well educated, he's got a degree from here or there and he's committed to the Darwin evolution.

[40:26] Why? When we send these kids off to these universities and colleges and they sit under these influential PhDs who have a flair for explaining these things and these kids are just sitting ducks and then they come home and they announce to their parents at their Christmas break that they no longer believe that religious stuff, that creation stuff.

[40:53] I've gotten the real scoop. So and so, he's a PhD, he's here, he's this, he's written books and he knows all about it and for those of you who are creationists, too bad, I just wish you would come into the 21st century.

[41:08] You would be amazed how many people think that way and believe that way. They bought the party line and they are operating upon those premises. Origins is so very critical.

[41:23] Origins demands a why for everything. Origins demands a why.

[41:37] Atheistic organic evolution has no why. There is no why. There is just an is. No why. There are no intended connections.

[41:51] There is no stability because there is no standard by which stability can be defined. Randomness and fluctuation, unguided, without purpose or objective, is the automatic result.

[42:05] And it is all defined by the ubiquitous whatever. Whatever. That's where we are. we are facing in an unparalleled way an explosion of lawlessness in places and in kinds that we never would have imagined would be taking place in our civilized so called United States of America.

[42:34] Lawlessness and disrespect for authority. Defund the police. police. Is that as close to nonsense as you can get? Defund the police?

[42:47] I remember back before the earth's crust hardened when I was a youngster growing up in grade school, the cop on the corner was considered one of your best friends.

[42:59] parents. And he enjoyed your respect and admiration and today so many are held in contempt. It's amazing the reversal that has taken place in one generation.

[43:15] Parents without natural affection. abortion. Is there any better way, sadder way to describe parents without natural affection than abortion?

[43:28] A woman to be carrying her own child in her womb and willingly able to put it to death, to refuse to give it life because it interferes with her plans?

[43:49] That is a would-be parent without natural affection. Women who have natural affection will lay down their life for their child rather than require the child to lay down their life for them.

[44:08] That's unnatural. Confusion, stress of the unknown, men's hearts failing them for fear.

[44:23] Destabilization of society and culture in general. Financial instability. We're looking at the likes of which we haven't seen for a long, long time.

[44:37] Cost of living is rising. Cost of energy is rising. shortness of energy is there was a time when we had all the energy. In fact, there was a time under the previous administration when we, for the first time in our life, were able to say we are energy dependent.

[44:58] Are you kidding me? United States of America being energy dependent? That's impossible. But it happened. And we were enjoying it while it lasted.

[45:11] But that came to an end rather abruptly. And we are told the new wave of thinking is go green.

[45:22] Close the coal mines. Close the oil production. Everything is going to be electric. electric. And to help you, we're going to see to it that the price of gasoline gets so doggone high, you're going to go out and buy an electric vehicle.

[45:39] And you'll thank me in the end. That's where we're going. And I'm here to tell you, listen, none of this is by accident.

[45:52] Do you get that? It's intentional. It's deliberate. It's well planned. Personally, I'm confident that it is headed for a colossal failure.

[46:06] And there's going to be a lot of damage done in the meanwhile before there is an awakening in America. But it may be too late for this generation. We may be gone off the scene. Who knows what's coming?

[46:19] I am confident that the resources that we call natural resources, whether they are oil or coal or all the rest of it, was put on this planet and made available to us for the benefit and blessing of humanity.

[46:35] But if you're coming from an atheistic worldview, you don't buy that. There is no God. There is no provision. There is no planning.

[46:45] None of this was for us. It was all actually, it's just here by accident. And we've made use of it. And in some ways, it's killing us with smog and with this and with that and the other.

[46:57] So let's go green. And it's looked upon by many as purely political. Well, it is largely political, but it is intended to bring this country under control.

[47:18] And I'm not even going to go there with the gun laws that they're talking about and the Constitution. I want to tell you this. You've heard me say before, and I would repeat it now, I am not a prophet nor the son of a prophet.

[47:32] But if we do not get our election act together for November so that we can have honest-to-God elections that people can have confidence in, we're done.

[47:52] We're done. And I mean that. That's not an exaggeration. The U.S. of A. that you've known will be no more. If this next election goes awry, the America that we've come to know and love, you can kiss goodbye.

[48:11] And I'll tell you what will be one of the first casualties. It'll be the Constitution of the United States. Well, there's no way they could do that.

[48:22] Don't you kid yourself. All you have to do is have laws on the books and ignore them. Do you see that going on?

[48:34] We've got laws. But laws are worthless if they're not enforced. And we talk about everybody needs to be accountable. Need to be held accountable.

[48:44] Yes, sir. Read. Held accountable. Unless, of course, you are properly positioned and properly influential, then for you, the accountability doesn't count.

[49:00] Is there any of that going on? And you don't have to look very far to find it. If you're well enough positioned, you've got nothing to worry about.

[49:15] This is where we are. Well, I'm not finished, but I quit. We've got just a few minutes remaining before I want to cut you loose.

[49:36] He may not forgive me for this, and I wouldn't blame him if he doesn't, but it's too tempting to not ask Jim Jordan to come up here and say something.

[49:47] Would you? Would you? Congressman Jordan? I would appreciate it. I know this man is steeped in this stuff seven days a week, and I cannot imagine what he has to contend with that we don't even know about that he can't even tell us, but I would appreciate it, Jim, if you would just say something.

[50:11] He didn't know I was going to do that. Sure didn't. Sure didn't. Well, this past week, I'll just go to what Pastor was talking about on the Second Amendment.

[50:29] In simple terms, the left wants to take away your firearms. We had an all-day markup on legislation that will be on the floor of the House this week that Democrats are going to try to pass, and they probably had the votes for it.

[50:44] But it would put all kinds of restrictions on when you can get a gun, what kind of gun you can get, and where and how you have to store it in your own darn home, which is a direct assault on Second Amendment liberties.

[50:56] But it shouldn't surprise us, frankly, because for the last year and a half, there's been all kinds of attack on your First Amendment rights. So it shouldn't surprise us that they're now coming after your Second Amendment rights, and of course they used the tragedy that happened in Texas and Buffalo a few weeks ago, and then of course just last week in Tulsa.

[51:14] They always use these terrible events as a way to go after your rights, just like they use the virus to go after your First Amendment liberties. And we've talked about that. And look, we all understand the virus was serious.

[51:26] We've certainly treated it that way. But stop and think about it for a second. Up until several months ago, there were still churches across the country, places across the country where a full congregation could not meet on a Sunday morning.

[51:41] The number one right in the First Amendment is our right to practice our faith. And of course they went after that. And on and on it goes. And of course the biggest concern, and we've talked about this before, is what they do to your right to speak, because that's the most important liberty we have.

[51:54] And there's been just an endless assault on free speech rights, so much so they had this disinformation governance board that they tried to trot out a few months ago, and we were able to get them to pull that back.

[52:04] Not that they won't try again, but when government is going to have a disinformation governance board, and this is straight out of Orwell's book, that's frightening. And so now here they come after Second Amendment liberties.

[52:18] And I'll just say this, this concept called red flag laws or extreme protection orders is extremely dangerous. It is so wrong, because what this does, it would allow some family member or household member, and the way the legislation that the Democrats passed in the fall out of our committee hasn't passed the House or hasn't passed the Senate yet.

[52:39] But the way this legislation works, it defines household members, someone who's lived at your house, someone you've dated. There are all kinds of potential for abuse there. Someone doesn't like you, they report you to a judge and say, this person we think is dangerous, may harm themselves, may harm someone else, you need to take away their Second Amendment rights.

[52:57] And then there's a hearing, but you as the individual who's going to lose your liberty, you're not allowed to appear at the hearing, an ex-parte hearing. And a judge just decides based on the testimony of this one individual, they sign an affidavit, and they can remain confidential.

[53:09] And you lose your Second Amendment liberties for a couple weeks, and then there's another hearing, and the standard there is a lower standard than the typical standard beyond a reasonable doubt. It's a clear and convincing standard. And that is, I mean, just think about what the left wants to do to people they disagree with now, and then put this kind of power in their hands to take away your Second Amendment rights.

[53:31] So I'm very nervous about that. That legislation will be on the floor this week in the House of Representatives, in addition to the one I briefly referenced that they went through our committee on Thursday, which is to put all kinds of restrictions on when you can buy a firearm, how you store a firearm, where you can store a firearm, and what kind of firearm you can get.

[53:53] So it's going to be a big week. And then speaking of liberty and concerns about election law, there will also be, as you've probably seen, there will be a hearing, the first sort of big public hearing that the January 6th committee has had in several months will be later this week, I believe on Thursday evening.

[54:15] So pretty busy week in Washington. But those are just a few thoughts there. Pastor, thank you. Oh, that was good news.

[54:26] If you saw that, I mean, this is a total answer to prayer from people across the country, but Mark Meadows and Dan Scavino, the Justice Department, is not going to prosecute them.

[54:37] As you know, the Democrats tried to put them in jail, held them in contempt in the House. Normally, if there's a contempt vote and a majority votes to hold someone in contempt, it's normally referred to the Justice Department as a civil matter and you let the courts figure it out.

[54:55] The Democrats, with Mark and Dan Scavino, did a criminal contempt, which is you don't show up, you're going to prison if the Justice Department prosecutes and a court holds that.

[55:07] So Mark has had to live with that hanging over his head for six months now. And the Justice Department announced on Friday that they will not be seeking any type of prosecution against Dan Scavino or Mark Meadows.

[55:19] So that was great news for those. I called Mark up. He wasn't saying anything publicly yet, but he was, I mean, Mark and Deborah are good friends of ours and I know what Mark's been living with and I get a little taste of that myself.

[55:34] So it's not pleasant. So that was good news for Mr. Meadows and Mr. Scavino as well. You see how close and testy some of this stuff is getting?

[55:48] I mean, it's just getting downright scary. And things are taking place that you just never would have thought would even be possible in the U.S. of A. way. And they're happening right before our eyes.

[56:01] And Jim, I can't tell you how grateful we are that you're where you are and doing what you're doing. We really appreciate it. And I want to pray for you and for your colleagues. Our Father, we recognize that the world such as this we live in, a fallen world to start with, we recognize that some of the things that we've been talking about, maybe even more than the things we've been talking about, are part and parcel of a fallen world.

[56:29] And we ought not to be surprised. And we need to remind ourselves that we are, always have been, and always will be the minority.

[56:40] We need to keep that in mind. And we recognize that because we are and the standards and values that we live by often make us objects of hatred from the other side.

[56:54] But we dare not and need not hate them in return. Because you've provided for us different assets that will enable us to, even though we are unsympathetic and disagreeable with our opponents, can still love them and recognize that they occupy a place where we once were before Christ came into our life with a whole new set of values.

[57:25] So help us to keep that in mind as we deal with some of these unfortunate and unsavory situations that confront us on a daily basis. We pray especially today for Jim and for Polly and for the colleagues with whom he works, particularly in the Freedom Caucus.

[57:44] we ask that you will give them a special unction of wisdom and knowledge that is needed for these troubling times and that you will give them a new insertion of courage and determination to maintain and to hold the line for what they know is right.

[58:05] We recognize that it's an uphill battle, always has been, always will be. But because of who you are and what you've done for us, we know what the final outcome is going to be.

[58:17] We just want to be used and usable to you and your cause in any way that you want to apply it. Thank you again for this time that we have shared together for whatever enlightenment it has provided.

[58:31] We pray that you will use this to stiffen our courage and our backbone and to cause us to be valiant for the truth and yet hold the truth with compassion and with love for those who do not share it.

[58:45] Thank you for the morning in Christ's name. Amen.