Foundation Under Destruction

[0:00] Thank you for your presence this morning. We didn't know what to expect by way of attendance because of the COVID coupled with the severe weather we've been having, but we're glad that you made it out and thank you for your presence. Would you pray with me please?

[0:16] Our Father, we are gathered here this morning hour simply because you have already spoken and we want to know something more of what you've said and we trust that the intent of each one here is that as a result of hearing what you've said we may be of accord with it and eager to do it and put it into practice whatever that might be. Thank you for the beautiful sunshine, the reflection we get of it off the snow. Seasons of the year once again always remind us of your faithfulness. Seed time and harvest and all that goes with it. We continue to pray for our nation and the crises of different kinds under which we are now going. We recognize that there are threats being imposed upon our beloved country, many of which, most of which we've never really faced before in this venue and in this way. We are grateful for your sufficiency and we ask that as we engage the truth that is before us, you will give us enlightenment for not only understanding it but for what we are called upon to do about it. Thank you for your presence and for all that you mean to us and through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

[1:45] Got a busy week coming up. My goodness. Monday, Tuesday. Monday, the ladies' fellowship. Tuesday, the men's Bible study class. Wednesday, evening, our prayer meeting.

[2:01] And Thursday, the luncheon at Los Marichos for the singles. And a number of things going on despite the weather. So on the back page also, we're talking about items of interest and creativity, some of which have already been brought in and displayed. Make sure that you see the items down the hall there, everything from woodwork to beautiful quilts, pictures thereof, and some carvings.

[2:35] And it's just a really neat thing to see the creativity that God has endowed upon people and their willingness to share it with us. It's really, really neat. So make sure you stroll down the aisle out there toward the north end and see the items that are there. You will appreciate them very much.

[2:57] Would you open your Bible, please, for our scripture reading to 2 Thessalonians? 2 Thessalonians.

[3:14] And we are going to read entire chapter, 17 verses. And would you stand, please, as we give reverence to the word of God. I'm reading from the New American Standard.

[3:26] And you may follow along with whatever translation you have, because I know there are divers translations out there, and it might be confusing if everybody read what they have. Yes?

[3:40] Right after the scripture. Yeah. Yeah, right after the scripture. Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him, that you may not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.

[4:04] Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first. And the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called God or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.

[4:30] Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he may be revealed.

[4:44] For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. And then that lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will slay with the breath of his mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of his coming.

[5:04] That is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.

[5:25] And for this reason, God will send upon them a deluding influence, so that they might believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged, who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.

[5:42] But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.

[5:55] And it was for this he called you through our gospel that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us.

[6:14] Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who has loved us and has given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word.

[6:30] Amen. And children, you may be dismissed for your classes. Thank you. That song that we sang, that last one, No Other Name, it's a beautiful message to it, but it needs work.

[6:51] We kind of stumbled through it. It's new to me. It's wonderful sentiments, though. And then the one that you sang right before that, Keith, are we on?

[7:07] Okay. Every Tuesday morning, we teach a men's class at, I keep wanting to say Collier's.

[7:22] It was Collier's for a long time. It's Studebaker's. Studebaker's Restaurant on the Hill. And this past Tuesday, I was reminded once again of a scene that I saw pretty much on a weekly basis in 1958 and 59.

[7:48] I guess I was about 24, 25 years old. And we visited the Clark County home every Sunday.

[7:58] And we would go to different places and hold a little service and sing a few hymns and do a little bit of preaching.

[8:13] And that was my assignment, was the Clark County home. They called it the old folks' home now. It's out on Upper Valley Pike. It doesn't even exist as such now, but it did then.

[8:23] And this past Tuesday morning, we were continuing our exposition of our Lord's miracles from the Gospels.

[8:34] And we were dealing with the one that described the woman who was bowed over, just almost bent in half like so.

[8:45] So, obviously, a kind of rheumatism referred to as probably rheumatoid arthritis.

[8:57] Arthritis. Most of us who are more advanced in age have what is called arthritis, the usual kind. And it stiffens the joints and makes the things a little bit testy getting around and so on.

[9:11] But rheumatoid arthritis is entirely different. It can be severely crippling. As I was telling the men, many of them knew and many of you know and remember Ron Keplinger.

[9:30] He was one of our elders for a number of years and one of our original members here at Grace. And Ron Keplinger is with the Lord now, but he had a severe case of rheumatoid arthritis, so much so that he was treated with all kinds of medication.

[9:45] And the last thing that he was on, of all things, and I kind of was puzzled at the description of it, but they were called gold shots. He actually had injections that were called gold shots.

[9:56] Now, I don't know exactly what connection it had with real honest-to-goodness gold, but medically speaking, that's what the profession called it. And Ron was so crippled with rheumatoid arthritis, his fingers were twisted, and he had four sons, all of whom are alive today, of course.

[10:17] And Mary, his wife, is with the Lord now, too. But Ron said there were a number of mornings when I had to have two or three of my boys get me out of bed because he just couldn't maneuver himself to get out of bed and stand up.

[10:36] And they would literally lift him out of bed and get him on his feet so he could start shuffling along. And that was in one of the more severe times that he had with the disease.

[10:49] But this poor woman that Jesus healed was bowed over, probably similar to that. And that reminded me of those weekly visits that we would have at the Clark County home.

[11:02] There was a resident there by the name of Tony. I never did know his last name. But he was probably the most severe rheumatoid arthritic person I had ever seen.

[11:13] And he was so bowed and so twisted that the bottom part of his torso and legs were on the bed.

[11:26] And from the shoulders down, he hung over the side of the bed with his head just an inch or so from the floor.

[11:37] That's how twisted he was. And every Sunday that we would go up there and stop and visit with Tony, we would say, Tony would like to have a word of prayer with you and maybe sing a song.

[11:52] Is there a certain hymn that you especially like? And his speech was contorted as well. And he would always say, I did this, I love you.

[12:04] My Jesus, I love thee. And we would stand there, usually eight or ten of us around his bed and sing to Tony, My Jesus, I love thee.

[12:24] And all the while, Tony had the biggest, widest smile on his face that you could imagine. And there wasn't a one of us there.

[12:38] And we were all, I was the old man of the group. I was like 24. The others were just out of high school, maybe first, second year in college.

[12:49] And we all wondered the same thing. How in the world can he have this kind of attitude and have this kind of love for Jesus and request that song all the time?

[13:07] When he is in such a wretched state as he is, would I be able to do that if I were in that position?

[13:18] And every time, no matter who sings that song or where it is, when I hear that song, My Jesus, I love thee, my flashback goes immediately to Tony at the Clark County home.

[13:33] His attitude and his demeanor, remarkable. I don't appreciate bringing the message that I'm bringing this morning.

[13:53] And I'm not doing it out of desire. I'm doing it out of duty. That's what I feel it is. A duty kind of imposed upon me. And it's not one that I relish.

[14:04] But it is something that needs to be addressed, given what's going on in our world today. Last week, we were talking about our foundations being destroyed.

[14:18] And we likened our foundations, of course, to the moral and spiritual truths that have birthed and held this nation together for over 200 years.

[14:30] They are in the process of erosion. They are being destroyed. They're being taken away, slowly but surely.

[14:42] It's been going on for a long time. We already talked a little bit about what we think was the origin of it. I won't go into that again, but safe to say, Our most cherished and stable institutions are under attack.

[14:59] The reality is becoming increasingly obvious. The subtle beginnings are becoming less and less subtle.

[15:10] To emphasize this and illustrate what we're talking about, it isn't limited just to the United States and the Western world. It's becoming global, and for very good reason.

[15:25] If it is as we suspect, it is perhaps telltale of the end times that may well be coming upon us. And we don't know.

[15:35] We're not ready to set any dates or make any predictions, but we do know, as I've often said, we're closer than anybody else has ever been. But there are all kinds of things that are taking place, most of which we never thought would even be possible.

[15:50] But here they are, and we're dealing with them. And in just a few minutes, I'm going to ask John if he will come up and give us a brief illustration of what he dealt with and what he saw in action in Finland.

[16:13] He just returned from there. And I've asked him to do that just on the spur of the moment because he was briefing me about it this morning. And a thought came to me, John and what he has to share would be a perfect example of what we are talking about here in the U.S.

[16:33] And by the way, our neighbor to the north is dealing with it even more severely than we are. Canadians are feeling it. The United States of America appears to be at the forefront of this global attack.

[16:49] And I don't have any other word for it other than global attack. We have long since been recognized, ever since our contribution to World War I and the victories thereof, the United States has been generally referred to as the leader of the free world.

[17:11] And we still seemingly bear that title. International throngs are pressing to enter our shores. People that have already numbered several hundreds of thousands.

[17:27] And principally, the greatest reason that they are is because of the deprivation that they have been living under where they're coming from and the promise of a new world and a new future and new hope here in the United States.

[17:46] And by the way, it has been happily pointed out, we're all a bunch of immigrants or the descendants of immigrants. None of us are native-born unless you happen to be a Native American or Native American Indian whose ancestors have been here for a long time.

[18:06] But most all of us who are here, maybe every one of us here, have parents, grandparents, great-grands, great-great-grands that came from Germany, that came from Ireland, that came from Finland, that came from Norway, that came from all over to the United States.

[18:23] So we're very much accustomed to the idea of immigration and we are certainly not opposed to it. We have been generous in wanting to share the wealth and opportunity of this great nation with others, often who come from downtrodden conditions.

[18:40] We can fully understand they're wanting to do that and wanting to get here. On the other hand, we are suffering not only in the immigration aspect but in others as well.

[18:56] A breakdown in our laws, a breakdown in our laws that is being led by our lawmakers particularly and blatantly.

[19:20] Lawlessness on the part of lawmakers incites more lawlessness among the general public and we are seeing that.

[19:31] the smash and grab, people wearing hoodies going into stores carrying out large armloads of merchandise that they're not paying for and there is no accountability and no arrest and we say, well, that's going on in San Francisco and places in New York and in Seattle and I'm glad it's not going on here.

[19:54] All I can say is just wait. It will be. Because it doesn't take long for people watching the tube seeing what's going on and saying, well, if they can do that there and get away with it and there's no arrest and there's no accountability, why can't we do it here?

[20:13] And you can do it here. So pay attention because it very likely will be coming. There is a real kind of paralysis and I don't know what else to call it.

[20:27] Paralysis among those who have pledged to protect and serve. These are what we refer to as that thin blue line of law enforcement.

[20:46] Men and women who put on the uniform and put on the badge who have those two primary responsibilities of protect and serve.

[21:01] Their very responsibilities are often made impossible for them to fulfill. Confusion, disillusionment, low morale, resulting in early retirement, resignations, and increased difficulty to recruit replacements is becoming a nationwide crisis and it is growing day by day.

[21:31] Ecclesiastes, chapter 8 and verse 11 sets forth a principle and yes, it is from the Old Testament and we fully agree the Old Testament as every bit as much the word of God as is the new and it conveys a principle in verse 11 of chapter 8 that says because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil.

[22:21] Think about that. Have you ever asked yourself why is it now it might not be true of you because I would hope being a Christian you've got different standards and different values but has it ever occurred to you why a great many people do not engage in thievery or in crime or something like that that is illegal do you realize what it is that keeps a lot of people from doing that?

[22:55] Sure you do. It's very simple. There are consequences. You get caught and you you get fined you go to jail or whatever.

[23:08] In other words there are a whole lot of people who do not do a whole lot of things because they're afraid they couldn't get away with it because they know the long arm of the law which by the way is getting shorter and shorter the long arm of the law will reach out and grab you and you will be put in jail and you'll stand trial and all the rest of it so frankly it's just not wanting to suffer the consequences of bad behavior of thievery and looting and stuff like that that keeps people in check.

[23:46] Now what happens when that threat is gone? And the threat has already gone in a number of places.

[23:59] It hasn't gone here yet but human nature being what it is this is the very kind of thing that tends to spread and proliferate.

[24:13] Spiritual principles the Old Testament is loaded with them. We recognize that that there is a thing called progressive revelation which deals with changing methodology and unfolding objectives that are not previously known but revealed and developed over time and we've talked about that and that is what we call our progressive revelation and the development of doctrine and it is doctrine on the move and so on.

[24:38] Some call it rightly dividing the word of truth it's all part of the same package yet there are in the Old Testament as well as in the Gospels what we call spiritual principles.

[24:50] They are those things that are true cross dispensationally it doesn't make any difference when people live because human nature is the same and the things apply all the time.

[25:01] We see Abraham and Sarah as being able to conceive in their old age when Abraham was in his 90s and Sarah was right behind him and God came through for them and gave them a miraculous pregnancy and a miraculous child and the person of Isaac and what's the moral there?

[25:27] Well the moral is and the upshot of it is at least for us is that no it doesn't mean that it doesn't mean that if you pray and trust God and you're in your 90s and your wife is in her 80s that you can have a baby and you're going to claim that as the promise because that's what God did for Abraham and that's that's completely missing the point but there is there is a premise or there is a principle that is involved and the principle that needs to be taught from that is the fact simply that God is faithful God is faithful God can be relied upon God can be trusted but it doesn't mean that you beseech the parapets of heaven and pray hard enough and long enough and and God will give you in your old age babe that's the whole point what I'm saying is the principle is the faithfulness of God so we find that in Ecclesiastes 8.11 too that is a principle and it deals with the nature of humanity because despite all of our progress and despite all of our mechanization and despite all of our sophistication and all of the things we're able to do including put a man on the moon people mankind human beings men and women we just really haven't changed we're the same generation after generation people are made the same way put together the same stuff have the same strengths and the same weaknesses same capacities same inabilities and all the rest human nature hasn't changed one bit we are on the threshold of anarchy

[27:14] I want you to look at at another verse if you would please and I don't have that reference with me but it is in well we'll find it later it refers to the fact that there was no king in Israel at the time it's back in the book of Judges when the country of Israel was being ruled by judges and the text says and there was no king in Israel at that time so every man did what was right in his own eyes do you know what the word for that is?

[27:56] the word for that is anarchy anarchy it literally means no first ones no king in Israel this is before they even had a king they were operating with prophets who were judges and there was no king and the point that's being made there is that the standards the standards and the values are set at the top the king set the pace but there was no king so what did that mean?

[28:35] that meant every man became his own king that's anarchy every man did that which was right in his own eyes and that word anarchy comes from the word it's a compound word the arkos and it's related to the word archaeology which refers to ancient things archaeology is the science of of ancient things and when you put that word in anarchy put the a in front of the archy and the n it negates what comes after it and it means no first ones no leader no standard well today we've got a leader he's called the president of the United States and he is in the position with the responsibility of setting the national tone by example that's what leadership is supposed to do it's at the top and activity and actions and doings do not begin at the bottom and filter to the top doesn't work that way never has it always starts with the top setting the example creating the standard and then everything flows down from that and the end result is the whole population is impacted by what filters down from the top now we've got a situation that we have never had before in that and I'm just using this one example and I don't care about your politics

[30:37] I don't care if you're Republican or Democrat it doesn't make any difference I'm talking about a principle we have in place a principle in this nation regarding the laws of immigration who gets in and why there is a legal way to do that and we cheer it on we're all for it we are a nation of immigrants and we make provision for people to apply for immigration and to go through the channels and jump through the hoops and all the rest and there probably isn't a week or a few days that go by but what in Washington D.C.

[31:21] there are a number of people from all over the world all over the world who come into this country and they meet the qualifications and they take the test and they learn about citizenship and frankly most of them know more about being an American citizen than American citizens do because we aren't taught that anymore and when they pass the test they stand before an American flag and an American official administers to them the oath of citizenship and everybody celebrates and it's a wonderful thing that's the way it's supposed to be done and that's the way it's always been done and we applaud that but when provision is made for people to literally invade and I cannot think of a better word to invade our nation's shores and come into this country without any legal qualification at all just because they want to be here and consider what is being brought with them and the trafficking and everything that goes with it how is that happening don't we have people called law enforcement personnel and border personnel and border guards why are we guarding the border because our borders

[33:07] Pacific Ocean on the west Atlantic Ocean on the east Canada on the north and Mexico on the south those countries and those bodies of water that surround this nation make this nation what it is geographically and it defines our nation our nationality it defines what the country is if you don't have definable borders you don't have a country you may call it a country but in essence you don't have a country and where is that kind of activity coming from it's coming from the top who is supposed to stop it the top why isn't the top stopping it the top doesn't want to stop it the top has made it an open invitation and everybody knows why but not very many are saying it publicly but the reason it's being said is because it is anticipated it is assumed that those who are being welcomed into the country in an illegal way will express their gratitude for it by voting for the person who made it possible folks it is not rocket science you don't have to be really a phd and very smart to figure that out and do you know something i haven't heard anything from the top deny that have you again i would feel exactly the same way about this if he had an r after his name instead of a d because being a democrat isn't what makes it wrong it's being a president of the united states regardless of your politics or your party who is supposed to have taken an oath of office to uphold the constitution and the laws of this nation and he isn't doing it and nobody is holding the smash and grabbers accountable and nobody is holding the top guy accountable you have an opportunity to do so at the next election and for anybody who may be saying maybe you're too political all I can say is please wake up and smell the coffee this has got nothing to do with politics it's got everything to do with right and wrong these are laws that are on the books and whether he's a governor of a state or the president or whatever when he stands there and takes the oath of office it is to uphold the laws of the constitution of the

[36:21] United States and etc and the laws that are already enforced and it just isn't being done so this is where we are and this is why our country is under the duress that it is I've got a little flag here American flag and a lot of people wear these on their lapels and mine just has one little pin and sometimes sometimes that little thing gets twisted around and instead of the flag being shown the way it's supposed to be the flag is upside down and that happened to me one day and we were in the men's room washing my hands and somebody turned around and said hey pastor your flag is upside down and I said oh and I turned it right side up do you know do you know what the flag upside down means the United

[37:23] States flag upside down is the signal of distress that's what it means whenever you see old glory flying upside down it's intentional and it means the nation is in distress it's at risk so frankly I'm tempted to just turn my flag upside down and leave it there unless things change because we are a nation that is at risk and it isn't just a nation it's the globe going to make a statement might find it difficult to believe but it ties in with the passage from 2nd Thessalonians that we just read there is a concerted effort that is underfoot right now that is headed up by none other than the adversary himself I'm talking about Satan and this is a global thing not just the United

[38:27] States it's all over the world everywhere and those who are marching to his drum beats don't even know it they think they are on the path of globalism which is a brave new world where everything is going to be wonderful and these many of whom have very very deep pockets and they put their money where they think it will do the most good toward accomplishing their goal which is globalism one reason that our constitution is under attack can you believe that our constitution under attack there are those who say well we have outlived our constitution it no longer serves us well well you know our founding fathers understood that possibility and they made provision for it they knew as early as 1789 that the time would definitely come when the united states government would not be well served by everything that is in the constitution the way it is written so they our founding fathers wisely made provisions for changing it they're called amendments you make an amendment to the constitution which clarifies or changes or reverses something that is in it because you recognize it's not a perfect document it was drafted by human beings and people change and times change and the time may very well come when this constitution will not serve us as effectively as it did in the beginning so we make arrangements to change it we've got what so far 26 amendments to it and it isn't easy to make an amendment to the constitution but it can be done it's been done at least 26 times and each time the constitution was fine tuned and improved but there are those who simply want to do away with it and do you know the thing that bothers them more than anything else it's the first amendment the first amendment first amendment the freedom of speech congress not establish any law regarding religion or the expression thereof etc or the expression thereof this has to do with the freedom of speech you have the freedom to say anything you darn well please and people can disagree with it and they can deride you for it but as one brother put it

[41:31] I completely disagree with what you are saying but I will fight to the death for your right to say it that's what freedom of speech is do you have any idea how many countries freedom of speech is a rarity where you better be careful what you say and where you say it because people are listening and they can do you harm just for what you say and I'm going to ask John to come up here now come here John and this I found this distressing but kind of reinforcing to what we're talking about come right ahead John has just returned from visiting his daughter in Finland I'm going to read what this lady her name is

[42:35] Paivi let's see if I can say the name oh her name is Paivi Rossinen and I don't know if that's correct pronunciation but I'm going to read what she wrote about herself she said I've been in the Finnish parliament as an MP since 1995 I hold the degree of medicine and my civilian profession is a medical doctor from 2004 to 2015 I was chair of the Finnish Christian Democrats and from June 2011 to May 2015 I held the office of minister of the interior of Finland and as the minister of the interior I was responsible for internal security and migrations church affairs at the ministry of education and culture and matters relating to customs in the ministry of finance she the evangelical church of Finland decided to agree with the pride group and let them be part of the church and she wrote something defending the biblical stance on homosexuality and then she also spoke on a radio program about it and in 2014 she wrote a booklet that the church had published and somebody complained about her and now they are trying to prosecute her for hate speech towards an ethnic group meaning the homosexual community and the trans people and everything and one of the things that she talks about in some of her stuff that I've read is if we don't defend and exercise our right to free speech and freedom of religion and the things that Marv's been talking about it's going to be taken away and a lot of other countries are interested in this case because if she loses it will affect pretty much all of

[44:41] Europe and travel around the world so that's the gist of what I've heard about this and she's 62 years old and she has she's married and I think she has five or six kids and a bunch of grandkids and they're talking about putting her in jail for defending scripture basically and I think that's what Marv's been talking about so and it's really interesting anybody can say anything they want about the church or about Christians and for some reason that's not hate speech but if you use history if you use tradition if you use the Bible to denounce sin such as homosexuality lesbianism all of these things if you give the biblical position regard them you are propagating hate speech that's the way it is interpreted and hate speech is not seen as protected truth of the matter is hate speech is protected by the constitution but where the difference is it doesn't make any difference what is allowed or what is provided the difference is in what is ignored and what is prosecuted this is called selective prosecution two different people can be guilty of the same thing but only one of them is prosecuted why them and not the other it's because of their connections you see what's happening and the worst part of it is so many people out there that would be identified as

[46:51] Karl Marx's useful idiots they don't even see the difference or the distinction that's what we're up against that's why I keep harping on this thing what is so important information information information information there are so many Americans many of whom are Christians that are so uninformed they don't even think it's important to vote they don't even bother they aren't even registered to vote they say things like it doesn't make any difference if you vote they're going to do whatever they're going to do anyway it doesn't make any difference whether you vote I'm not going to take the time and trouble how many millions of people are there like that in this country a bunch and they make the difference and each one of them becomes a useful idiot and they don't even know it they're clueless well I'm not going to open this for

[47:58] Q&A I just wanted to give you something to think about and if we open it for Q&A I don't know where that would go but anyway I'm just trying to listen this is what's going on it would be wonderful it would be beyond expression if enough Americans realize what's happening whether they're Christians or not and decide hey this thing has gone far enough we need to come down on this we need to let our voices be heard if enough across this country come to that conclusion but you know it's difficult I don't I don't I don't want to be pessimistic and I'm not limiting God as being able to do whatever he wants to do but

[48:58] I don't understand why there hasn't been a more of a national of individual of collective outcry over this immigration thing what's what's going on why have so many people just dummied up aren't saying anything do you know do you know what Washington responds to just one thing just one thing pushback that's it pushback if there's no pushback well they must not mind they must not object or they would be saying something but what do we hear from John Q public out there as a whole apart from a few commentators and a few authors and a few books published not much ho-hum business as usual and the screws continue to tighten what is it going to take for America to wake up

[50:10] I don't know I just don't know got my druthers mighty revival sweep across this country people wake up as to what's happening and start smelling the coffee and start providing the pushback and it could be the best thing that ever happened to this nation because when people do things like this that are irresponsible and they get away with it it simply encourages more of it of course it does that's the way it works with your three year old child whatever you let them get away with they just assume it's okay and they'll keep pushing the envelope it's a human problem a human condition that's the way we all are all of us so whether this is going to be turned around I don't know but that's my desperate plea and that's what we pray about every Wednesday night when we gather here you're welcome to join us anybody who would like to and no you don't have to pray out loud but you can if you want but you don't have to and many of you don't so

[51:18] I see what this nation is becoming and the direction that it's taking and I I have to ask you the same question that I've asked before when you go to France and you see all the graves there of Americans who died there in World War II I just can't get away from the question in my mind with those valiant soldiers and sailors if they had any idea that they were doing that for the nation as it is today as opposed to the nation as it was when they did it would they still be willing to do it would it still be worth it makes you wonder really does father we thank you for being in charge even though there are times when it doesn't appear to us that you are it appears to us that the adversary is in charge and we know he is the god of this age because you've said he is and the apostle Paul expressed that when he wrote to the

[53:14] Corinthians and we see Satan as having a sway and a liberty and a freedom today that has for so many years by so many been held in check but as the years go by we see more and more of our cherished principles and freedoms being eroded and it seems that there are fewer and fewer who care we have cherished and relished our freedoms and liberties since this nation was founded and we have frequently spoken of this being a land of freedom and opportunity that has made the USA what it is we see it threatened and we see those who are supposed to be our chief protectors doing everything that looks very much like they are selling us out it's really difficult to process but how can we deny what we see happening on a day to day basis we can only appeal to you for mercy for wisdom for direction for a real genuine awakening across this country

[55:05] God there's nothing we need more we're at your mercy and we recognize that we are probably already on borrowed time we've squandered so many opportunities and so many things that could have changed but didn't we just don't know what to do but we just want to be at your disposal pray that you'll undertake for us and give wisdom and this potential project of John 316 that is upcoming we don't know where that's going but if there's any way we can be a part of it and encourage it certainly want to be be wonderful if our nation could come to an awakening with that tried and true old scripture God so loving the world gave your only begotten son so that whosoever believes should not perish but have everlasting life we see that as our only hope thank you for being the God that you are and thank you for having been patient with us to the point that you are now in Christ's name amen the John 316 thing

[56:17] I want to mention before we dismiss this came about a couple weeks ago one of our prayer meetings that there is an effort that is being made I don't know how extensive it is I don't know if it will get on social media or what I don't know if it will be on billboards or people will be talking about it but I'm telling you about it just so you can talk about it and think about it and pray about it and it is called the John 316 program and it is set for March which is the third month of the year and the 16th day 316 for John 316 and we are trusting that enough noise and interest can be made in it that people will at least be talking about it looking at it reading it wondering what's it all about and inquire into it enough to be impacted by it because it is a glorious verse and you know so many people don't know anything about John 316 except some guy holding it up at a baseball game John 316 and they can't figure out what it means and they know it's not the third inning and what is this and many don't know but if we could be just some small part of just piquing people's interest in John 316 and its content who knows where it might go so all I can say is please do whatever you can to whomever you can to talk it up to mention it to Eli just ask them if they've heard of it if they know anything about it and let's get talking about it sounds like a plea of desperation doesn't it it is it is you're dismissed viu .

[58:15] . . .