February 19, 2018 Show with Vincent Sawyer on “The Need for Biblical Parenting in the Age of School Massacres”

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Live from the historic parsonage of 19th century gospel minister

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George Norcross in downtown Carlisle, Pennsylvania, it's Iron Sharpens Iron, a radio platform on which pastors,

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Christian scholars and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today.

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Proverbs 27 verse 17 tells us, Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

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It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next hour and we hope to hear from you, the listener, with your own questions.

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Now here's our host, Chris Arntzen. Good afternoon,

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Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Lake City, Florida, and the rest of humanity living on the planet Earth. We're listening via live streaming at ironsharpensironradio .com.

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This is Chris Arntzen, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, wishing you all a happy Monday on this 19th day of February, President's Day 2018.

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And since I am appointing myself the president of the Vinnie Sawyer fan club,

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I think it's appropriate that on President's Day we have as our guest today Pastor Vincent Sawyer of Victory Baptist Church in Port Charlotte, Florida.

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Many of my friends from New York may recognize Vinnie Sawyer's name from his many years serving as pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Corona, Queens, New York.

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And he has been a guest on this program a number of times, even going back to the old days of his ministry in Queens.

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In fact, I still share to this day the recording of our interview on music, a biblical approach to music in the church.

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And today, since we as a nation once again witnessed a horrific event in a school where 17 people were massacred, 14 students and three faculty members of a school in Parkland, Florida, we are going to address a theme today that I hope will be a blessing to not only those ministering there, to the citizens and survivors of that massacre in Parkland, Florida, but also to churches around the country and the world.

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Our theme today is the need for biblical parenting in the age of school massacres.

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And it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, Pastor Vinnie Sawyer. Thank you very much,

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Chris. It's a real honor for me to be on your broadcast. I've always appreciated your

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Bible -centered broadcast around the country and around the world now with the internet.

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And you ask the right questions, and I really appreciate that, Chris. I really appreciate your stand on the

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Word of God, your convictions regarding the Gospel, and regarding, really, we talk about what's going on in our country today.

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There is a great need to get the Gospel out, because a relationship with Jesus Christ is the ultimate answer to the chaos that we're seeing in societies around the world today.

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Amen. Well, thank you very much for your encouraging words. And once again, let's remind our listeners, especially because there may be many who are discovering you for the first time, tell our listeners about Victory Baptist Church of Port Charlotte, and also about Macedonian Call Ministries.

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The Lord gave me the privilege to pastor in Queens, New York for 26 years, and we loved our city ministry there, the people in the church, and just the ministry

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God gave us was a tremendous blessing. About four years ago,

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God led me to start a ministry called Macedonian Call Ministries, where I travel around the world helping to train pastors in various countries, like India, or Africa, or different places of great need, even in some areas that our type of work is not always welcome.

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But we are very privileged to be able to train pastors, teach them how to study

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Scripture, how to exegete the Word of God, how to put together sermons and lessons, and so I do that regularly.

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As a matter of fact, in a couple of weeks, I'll be heading to the Philippines to train pastors the first week of March.

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I also pastor Victory Baptist Church. We're located on the southwest part of Florida, and I've been the senior pastor there for a year and a half now, and the

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Lord is growing a new work and so we're excited about what God is doing, and the people love the

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Word of God, Chris, and that's one thing that I'm observing is that if you're a church that really preaches and teaches the

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Bible, that's going to meet needs that's going to attract people, and because even though we have a lot of churches in America, we do not have the amount of solid

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Bible preaching and that we need in this country, and I believe that's also a contributing factor to what's going on in our society as it seems to be unraveling.

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And brother, I just want to let you know that I can understand everything you're saying, but that static has returned from when we conducted the interview last time.

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It's up to you. I don't know if you have a different phone you want to use, but if you are fine with the fact that you are easily understood, it's just that there's a little over modulation and I've turned down the volumes, the input volumes, on everything as far as I think

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I should go. Is this better? No, you're actually worse because your voice is muffled.

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Oh, okay. Well, I'd say we'll just stick with it then.

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Okay, yeah, because you are understandable. I just wanted to bring that to your attention because I don't know what it is about our phone connection that is doing this.

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In fact, it's interesting that I interview people from the UK and I get the clearest connections of anyone.

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I don't know why that is. Maybe that's not such a favorable view of our

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American telephone systems or something. I don't know. Well, that could be, and of course there are spiritual forces at work that really don't want the type of information we're going to be giving today to go forth with any kind of clarity.

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So, who knows? That's right. Well, I could surely say, and I'm not exaggerating when

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I say this, that I can't imagine anybody hating my guest Vinny Sawyer unless they hate the gospel.

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But, it's always been a pleasure and a joy having fellowship with you and working with you on different projects.

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I have many, many fond memories of our fellowship together. Going way back to the 90s when

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I orchestrated the Fundamental Baptist Forum radio program that you participated in. In fact,

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I always remember I could breathe a sigh of relief when I knew that it was you that was hosting the program.

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Well, thank you. Thank you, Chris. I really enjoyed that. That was a tremendous broadcast there in the

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New York City area. Yeah, there were quite a number of different hosts that would take turns hosting, and I always knew that I didn't have anything to worry about when

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Pastor Vinny had his turn. Because sometimes some of those hosts would be turning on me in the very things

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I believe. Anonymously, of course, they wouldn't mention me by name. But anyway,

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God used the program mightily nonetheless because there were some really fine gospel ministers who were part of that program, including you.

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And, well, this is a horrible reality.

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This school massacre syndrome that we have been, unfortunately, witnessing on our television screens far too often, and they are becoming closer together as far as the time frame is concerned and with more frequency.

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And, of course, the media always drives this subject to the battle over gun control issues.

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And, of course, with primarily the liberals or leftists, I should say, saying that the real reason that this keeps happening is because Republicans and conservatives are jeopardizing the safety of our nation with all of these loose gun laws that are in place.

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But we, who are Christians, even though I'm not saying that that has no relevance in our discussions in the public arena, but we have a far more important issue that goes,

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I think, to the root of many of these things, and that's the need for biblical parenting. Now, obviously, we should start off right away,

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Pastor Vinny, with a caveat. We both know that the best of Christian parents can have children that turn into monsters.

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Being a Christian is no guarantee, unlike what some of our brothers in Christ or professing

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Christians might believe, that we could breed, physically breed Christianity because our children are guaranteed a promise of salvation.

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We know that that's not biblical at all, and that no matter how faithful parents are in guiding their children, that that is not a hundred percent successful in preventing any children of Christian parents to become evil, to become rebellious against God, to become even murderers like we've witnessed in this school in Parkland, Florida.

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But there is still a great need, and if you could begin with your thoughts on this.

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Sure. First of all, the Bible does give us the promise of the blessing of God that if we do train up a child in the way that he should go when he's old, he won't depart from it.

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That's a general principle that if we do train our children right, if we initiate them in the right direction, when they are old, they'll stay on that course.

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And 1 Corinthians 7 also reminds us that the unbelieving children are actually sanctified.

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That doesn't mean they're saved, but that they have a special umbrella of protection because of their association with a saved father and a saved mother.

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Matter of fact, in that chapter he talks about how the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the believing husband, and vice versa.

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Elsewhere, your children were unclean, but now are they holy or sanctified or set apart.

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So there is a promise of God that when children are in the home of a parent that knows

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Christ as Lord and Savior, and they're walking with Him, that there is a special blessing.

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It doesn't mean they're saved. It doesn't guarantee they will be saved. But there is an umbrella of protection upon those children because of their association with believing parents.

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And what can you say, I don't know how much you know about the mass murderer in Parkland, Florida, but I understand that he was from an extremely troubled home and I believe was adopted and his adoptive parents died, am

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I correct on that? Yes, he actually, I understand his father died when he was a young child, so he didn't grow up with that solid father figure that every young person needs.

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His mother passed away last November, and so a young person who

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I guess had pity on him asked his parents if he could stay in their home, and that's where he was most recently there in Parkland, Florida.

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But 19 -year -old Nicholas Cruz was a troubled youngster, and let me just say this,

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Chris, that our hearts go out to those families that lost children or loved ones, and that our prayers go out for those families and friends of those young people and of that school in that area of Parkland, Florida, with 17 dead and all, this is a tremendous tragedy.

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You know, it's worse than Columbine in Colorado, worse than Newtown, Connecticut, Parkland, Florida, we need to pray for them at this time.

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But certainly, there are going to be people that are going to try to use this for their agenda, that people will have an agenda to accomplish, and this is going to be used in various ways.

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Certainly, as Americans, we are grateful that we are a government by the people and for the people, at least that's the way the founding fathers set it up, and that our

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Second Amendment to the U .S. Constitution guarantees the right to the people to keep and bear arms, and it says that right shall not be infringed or undermined or encroached upon.

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Now, my personal opinion is that better background checks is in order.

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I also would recommend that President Trump call for metal detectors in every school.

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This is where we have come to, to this point, where things like this are necessary.

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Also, armed security, armed security at every public school.

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And with all that's going on at the rapid rate that it is, we certainly need more secure measures to help prevent things like this from happening in the future.

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Of course, you can't prevent it entirely, but there needs to be steps taken to help curb it.

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I do believe, Chris, that there are many factors that have led to the mental state of this

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Nicholas Cruz and many young people today who are mentally unstable or deranged.

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I believe 2 Timothy chapter 3, verses 1 through 3, really gives some marks or characteristics of end time humanity, which describes how people will be in the last days.

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And if this is a good time to just quote that, and explain it a little,

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I'll be glad to do that. Okay. And I'd like to begin reading with verse 1.

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The Bible says in 2 Timothy 3 .1, this know also that in the last days, last days meaning the last days of this age, before the return of Christ, before his kingdom is established, in the last days perilous times shall come, which means troublesome times.

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And so God says that there will be a troubled society, grievous times, times that are hard to deal with, extremely difficult days.

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He says in the last days perilous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of their own selves, self lovers, humanism, not loving our neighbor as ourselves.

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And we certainly see self love today on a scale that has never been seen, at least as long as you and I have been alive.

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And then he describes the world society as being marked by covetousness, money lovers, literally the word means to be affectionate for gold, to have a desire for wealth.

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Boasters, he goes on to say, which describes arrogance, people who brag about their self superiority.

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Proud, which means haughty, those who look down upon others. And of course, the boasting stems from the pride.

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Blasphemers, which simply means abusive speech toward God, toward the

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Lord Jesus Christ, toward the Word of God. And this will increase, of course, in the last days, according to God's omniscient mind and how he's able to predict the future.

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Disobedient to parents, he says, that his children will be unpersuaded of their need to submit to and obey parental authority.

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And Chris, this is on a scale today, like has never been as long as people have been upon planet

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Earth, where there has been, there is more disobedience to parents today than ever before in human history.

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Where we do not honor our father and mother, and we do not treat them with respect, and children don't obey but defy their authority.

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And in fact, in many cases, they're even encouraged to do so by people who should know better.

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He describes the end times as being involving people who are unthankful, no appreciation for what

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God has given us or for what their parents gave to them. Ultimately, I think that the teaching of evolution has given rise to unthankfulness, just like Romans 1 says, that when they knew

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God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imagination, and their foolish heart was darkened.

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And so a lot of what we see today is really due to a rejection of God in society.

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Many ask, where was God during that shooting in Parkland, Florida? Well, the answer is

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God was kicked out of the public schools in the 1970s. Prayer and Bible reading are viewed as unlawful today in that setting.

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And so don't ask, where was God? We have other things we're going to talk about today to really show what went on there, and what's going on in our country with our young people.

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He describes people in the last days as being unholy, no reverence for that which is sacred.

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He says, without natural affection, no family loyalty is the idea of that word.

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It's the Greek word astorgoi, which means to not have a affection for those you would normally be loyal to.

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And of course, that's demonstrated in marriages today, where the divorce rate is what it is, and the lack of loyalty to friends, and even to our own children, where children are aborted.

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That natural affection is definitely missing where it never was before in human history.

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Then people will be liars, truth breakers, refuse to be bound by agreement.

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That's why you have the fine print. People want you to sign a contract on just about everything today, because people don't keep their word.

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They're not faithful like God is to his word. False accusers or devilish slander will be a mark of the last days.

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Listen to how he describes people. They'll be incontinent or uncontrolled, unrestrained, no power over their emotions, their words, and their actions.

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And boy, do we see that, not just in this shooting in Florida last week, but we see this lack of self -control demonstrated all over the country.

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Fierce or savage, untamed or brutal is the idea of that word fierce.

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And God says in the last days, society will be marked by people who have a savage, untamed personality.

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Despisers of those who are good, that is, to have no love for good, and those who want to do right, you know, where they'll call evil good and good evil.

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We have inverted values today. And then he says, traitors, that is, to betray someone so as to ruin them.

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Heady, which means headstrong, reckless, and rash, to rush forward in pursuit of getting your own way without the concern for those you crush along the way.

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And then he says, high -minded, which means conceited, to be inflated with a sense of one's own knowledge and importance, and lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.

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We live in a hedonistic society with much self -indulgence, and pleasure is viewed as the highest good and the proper aim of human life.

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And so people are preoccupied with all kinds of things, but they're not spending time with their children.

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And this is the way, Chris, God says society will be in the last days.

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And I'm going to give our email address for those of our listeners who would like to join us on the air with a question of your own.

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That's ChrisArnzen at gmail .com. ChrisArnzen at gmail .com.

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C -H -R -I -S -A -R -N -Z -E -N at gmail .com.

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Please give us your first name, at least, your city and state of residence, and your country of residence if you live outside of the

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USA. And please only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter.

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That's ChrisArnzen at gmail .com. C -H -R -I -S -A -R -N -Z -E -N at gmail .com.

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In fact, we already have our first listener from White Plains, New York, RJ.

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He asks, Pastor Sawyer, could not anyone take your instructions about departing from biblical parenting and biblical obedience in many areas of life, regardless of what their eschatological position is?

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For instance, a post -millennialist may believe that the end times or the absolute final times of life on this earth as we know it are far off into the future, but they could still use the instructions from the scriptures that you are addressing in regard to making their families a more

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God -honoring and obedient and safe institution. Yes, absolutely.

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But one thing we need to understand is that God's principles are for God's people.

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And unless, one, it has been regenerated, unless a person has the

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Spirit of the Living God living in them, why would they want to obey

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God's principles? And they don't have the desire to do so, they don't have the ability to do so.

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And so what I'm talking about today applies to God's people regardless of their particular eschatological views.

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But we do know this, and I didn't mention anything about the timing of the last days.

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All I did was state that in the last days, these will be the type of characteristics that will mark society, and if you don't see every single one of these today on a scale that is totally unprecedented, if you know anything about history, then

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I don't know what to say. Because you read this, it's like reading the newspaper.

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And of course, God is so sovereign, He can predict the end from the beginning, and He knows the future so perfectly that God says that this is the way society will be in the last days, and whether or not we are the generation that will be here when those eschatological details are fulfilled, we cannot say.

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However, there will be one generation, at least, that will be the generation prior to the

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Lord's return, but I believe that we're quickly approaching those days, and certainly this list of characteristics is evidence that we are on a fast track toward the second coming of Christ and of the end of this age.

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Well, thank you, RJ, in White Plains, New York. Please continue to listen to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, and spread the word about the program in White Plains and beyond.

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We're going to take our first station break, and again, if anybody would like to call us, or should

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Our email address is chrisarnsen at gmail dot com. chrisarnsen at gmail dot com.

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And now we are back. If anybody would like to join us today on the theme, The Need for Biblical Parenting in the

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Age of School Massacres, our email address is ChrisArnzen at gmail .com. ChrisArnzen at gmail .com,

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C -H -R -I -S -A -R -N -Z -E -N at gmail .com. Please give us your first name, your city and state, and your country of residence if you live outside of the

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We do have a question from B .B. in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. And B .B.

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wants to know, If someone is truly a lost person and they are not only mentally ill, but perhaps even demonically influenced, isn't it true that the best of Christian parenting will do nothing to prevent such a person from committing acts like they do?

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Well, yes. And I might take that a step further and say that no amount or no change to gun laws is going to affect any positive change to that either.

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But when somebody is demonic or demon possessed or demon oppressed, there are a lot of factors that lead to that state that I'd like to talk about at this point, if this is a good time.

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Oh, definitely. Um, okay. There are a lot of reasons why many people have a problem with their mental state.

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And it's obvious that today we have young people have a great access to drugs.

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Today, there's an obsession with violence. We see that on TV, just violence in the movies, in gaming.

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Young people playing violent games. And a lot of these people that are signing up for ISIS and doing a lot of shooting like this are involved in violent gaming and other things on the internet.

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We've allowed as parents, a lot of harmful dangers to enter our homes. And unfortunately, parents are not in control of their children by and large.

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Today, there's an obsession with death. We live in a brutal society that has little regard for life and the preservation of life.

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That certainly is illustrated by the abortion rate in this country. There's a desensitization, people are desensitized to brutality and murder, taking innocent life.

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And in all of this, however, Chris, I think the major core problem, and this is what

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I'd like to spend the bulk of my time talking about today, is that teenagers need a father.

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Children need a father. There is a lack for fathers in homes today in this country.

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And this is why we are where we are as a nation primarily.

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Now certainly, a lot of it is, there is a lot of demonic activity that is certainly happening.

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And I think young people are opening themselves up to demonic activity by the drug use, by certain, by viewing things and listening to certain forms of music, by being on certain places in the internet.

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And there's a lot of factors that lead to demon possession or oppression in a lot of these mass murderers.

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I do believe that they have indeed opened themselves up, made themselves vulnerable to satanic attack.

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And I want to make a quick disclaimer or caveat here, because there may be listeners who are jumping to the wrong conclusion.

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I, like you, believe that the demonic realm is not discussed enough by persons and even pastors and churches and denominations within the circle of fellowship that both you and I belong to.

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Both fundamentalists and conservative reformed Christians tend not to speak of the demonic realm.

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And I'm sure that you would know that a lot of folks from the circles of fellowship that you have enjoyed over the last number of decades that may have prone to be more from the fundamentalist bent, this is not the type of discussion that is prone to occur.

39:51

But this is a very real thing. It's kind of interesting how both of those theological camps are very, very strong and stern about the adherence to the inerrancy of scripture.

40:07

And yet the scriptures are filled with accounts of demonic activity, and we tend to think that, well, that's not going to happen today, you know.

40:18

Right, right. And you're absolutely right, Chris. That's why

40:24

I really believe in expositional preaching of the Bible, and I think that if more pastors were preaching expository sermons going through books of the

40:35

Bible or going through units of thought and covering the details that are in the text, we would be forced to study more of what the

40:45

Bible has to say about demonic activity, and we'd also be able to address needs that are produced outside of the physical realm.

40:57

There is a spiritual realm, and the Bible warns us over and over again how the devil is like a roaring lion walking about, seeking whom he may devour.

41:07

The Bible teaches that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

41:21

And he tells us to put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wilds, the deceitful tactics of the devil.

41:30

And the Scripture is filled with statements regarding an activity that is real, that is going on, that exists outside of the five senses.

41:45

And if you were to travel with me to places like Haiti, or you were to go with me to places like India, where demon possession is so rampant you run into it very frequently, or places where they literally worship the devil and he controls people.

42:05

But we have people today that have their head in the sand, buried in the sand, and do not really understand the whole counsel of God.

42:15

But there is a lot of demonic activity. Now, having said that, there are some who see a devil behind every bush, who go to the extreme of perhaps attributing everything to the devil.

42:28

Who was it? Flip Wilson, who used to say, the devil made me do this. Right, right. Well, the devil is not omnipresent, only

42:36

God is omnipresent. But of course, the devil has a lot of demons working under his rank.

42:45

And Scripture certainly teaches that just as there was a lot of activity, a lot of demonic activity going on at Christ's first coming, and in that first century, there's going to be a lot of demonic activity happening prior to the return of Christ.

43:06

Scripture teaches, for example, that in the last days, many shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils, or doctrines of demons.

43:20

And so, there will be an increase in demonic activity, both on the religious realm, as well as in secular society, as the end of the age draws near.

43:33

Yes, and of course, nobody should ever think that demonic influence is some kind of an excuse where they are not accountable, or held culpable by God himself for their actions.

43:48

I mean, some people might, you know, in fact, people do. Sometimes people, when they are arrested for different things, will claim, well, demon voices told me to do this.

43:57

Now, those claims may be true or false, but either way, the person is not left free from guilt because a demon told him to do something.

44:09

Exactly. We're all responsible for the choices we make in life. We're all responsible for our decisions, and how we act.

44:21

And we can't blame anyone else, because we'll all stand one day before God, and we'll give an account for ourselves, for our own thought life, for what we allowed to enter our minds, for what we allowed to enter our ear gates.

44:40

And I'll say this, Chris, that if you study a lot of these deranged, mentally deranged individuals who go shooting up people and so forth, you're going to find that they have a lot of similarities.

44:53

You're going to find generally drug use. You're going to find that they were obsessed with, or influenced by violence in many different ways.

45:04

You're also going to find that a lot of these people were involved with pornography.

45:11

And also that the people who are involved in these activities open themselves up literally to demonic activity that came upon them due to, and I know there will be people who disagree with me, but I can prove this point through the music they listen to.

45:33

You know, Chris, if you travel with me to certain places in Africa, there are certain types of music that are deliberately used to attract demons.

45:43

And then scripture teaches that there's also a particular type of music that expels demons.

45:50

As a matter of fact, when King Saul was tormented by a demon, the Bible teaches that David would play sacred music with his harp and the demons would literally stop bothering.

46:02

They would leave because there's a music that attracts demons. There is a music that drives them away.

46:08

And a lot of these young people that are involved with such brutality and murder, check out the music they've been listening to.

46:19

And you'll find that there's a direct correlation between garbage in and garbage out.

46:25

And what young people allow into their lives is going to manifest itself in their emotions and in their actions.

46:34

Because their thinking has been twisted, their thinking has been ill -affected by the influences they've allowed deliberately in their lives.

46:44

And it will, even in many cases, open them up to demonic oppression or demonic possession.

46:51

Yeah, and some of the music that these young people are listening to have lyrics actually telling those kids, those listeners, to kill people.

47:02

I mean, you don't need back -masking, as the craze used to be a discussion amongst

47:11

Christians about the horrible music, because when you play the music backwards, there's evil messages.

47:17

Well, you don't even have to play the music backwards. No, you play it forward and it gives you the message very deliberately today.

47:25

Or you pick up a sheet... Children are not influenced negatively by the music they're listening to.

47:32

And that is simply not true. Right. And, of course, you can just get the sheet music and read the lyrics.

47:40

You don't even have to listen to it. And in fact... I'm shocked when young people do what they do.

47:46

They're being trained to do it. Right. And, of course, the thing that's amazing, when liberals predominantly laugh when

47:54

Christians make those claims, many of the recording artists themselves boast that those things are true.

48:03

They might not be boasting about the violence and murderous aspects, but they're surely boasting about the sex and drugs that they believe the music promotes.

48:14

Many of them, of course not all of them, many of them will be very proud to say that that is what that music is all about.

48:25

That's correct. And setting the mood for it. Since the hippie generation and getting worse ever since.

48:32

And now we have children who were produced by a generation that rejected

48:41

God and his word and his principles. And now we're seeing the fruit of that rejection.

48:47

And, you know, Chris, unless we get to the core issues, people could blame the

48:53

NRA and they could say that this guy was influenced by the NRA trained by the

48:58

NRA, they're saying lately, this Nicholas Cruz. You know, the real issues are deeper than that.

49:07

But again, they have another, there are certain people that have another agenda in store for this country.

49:14

And that's why there's a craze about getting rid of all guns by citizens in this country, by some.

49:24

But I'll tell you, there's other factors that people don't know about, they're ignorant of, they're deliberately ignorant of some of the things

49:34

I'm talking about today. Yeah, the very fact that although there are people who with serious mental problems and evil proclivities that come out of the

49:47

United States military, the vast majority of brave young men who are involved in our military return home very sane.

49:59

And the fact that they were trained in the use of firearms and even trained to kill for righteous, for righteous reasons, of course, they don't, the majority of them do not come back as mad, violent robots.

50:20

Right. That is right. And you know, part of the reason for that is they've been properly disciplined and they come back with discipline.

50:29

They come back with, you know, they had an authority figure in their life that they had to submit to during their time.

50:39

And there's an amazing thing happens to young people when they finally decide to submit to the authority that God has placed over them in their lives.

50:50

But as long as they're going to rebel against their parental authority, and as long as parents are not going to train and discipline their people, their young people in a proper biblical manner, you're going to see this only increase in the future.

51:06

And you know, Chris, the Bible says in the book of Malachi chapter 4, again, regarding the end times and the time prior to the day of the

51:19

Lord, which will be initiated by Christ's return and then God's wrath being poured out upon planet

51:26

Earth. He says in Malachi 4 verse 5, Behold, I will send you

51:31

Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the

51:37

Lord. So whether it's actually Elijah, who never died, by the way, he and Enoch are two people who never died.

51:46

God just took them. But the Bible says in verse 6, listen to this,

51:51

And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

52:06

And so before God smites this earth, he says he's going to send someone who is going to turn the heart of the fathers back to the children and the heart of the children back to their fathers.

52:19

So God in his omniscient, all -knowing mind could look down the corridor of time and predict that in the last days prior to the day of the

52:30

Lord, that there would be a need for fathers in the lives of children.

52:37

And the lack of fathers today is the reason why our homes are what they are, and that is why we see young people that are totally out of control.

52:50

The example in Scripture of this is King David, who when he avoided his son

52:56

Absalom, what he ended up doing is producing a rebel. Absalom needed a father.

53:03

He needed someone to be in his life, to be involved in his life. King David became embittered against his son and avoided him, would not talk to him, and as a result

53:18

Absalom would become a rebel, would rebel against his own father, would try to kill his own father.

53:26

And so we have an example there. You cannot neglect your children. Every child needs a father.

53:34

And in fact some of the most moving words in Scripture are David's grieving over Absalom, and very moving indeed.

53:45

And by the way, some of you might think that I slighted before in my comments about the military, that I slighted the brave young women in the military.

53:55

I didn't mean to do that, but I can say that I do not believe that women should be involved in active combat on the battlefield.

54:04

I believe that there are areas that I think that are biblically appropriate for women to be involved in in the military, but certainly not on the battlefield.

54:14

I don't know what your opinion is on that, Pastor Vinnie. Well certainly, you know, the

54:22

Scripture teaches that there are differences in the genders, differences that are not weaknesses, but strengths on both the sides of men and women.

54:32

Men and women are different emotionally. Men and women are different by nature physically.

54:41

And in combat, I want somebody along my side who I'm not going to have to spend time necessarily safeguarding them, but I need to focus on the enemy at hand.

54:56

But if I was a soldier, well, you know, and again, this is just a weakening of America.

55:03

This is a weakening of our country, where we find women doing men's roles and men doing women's roles, and we just see a mixed -up society today.

55:17

And if we keep heading in that direction, you're going to see more activity like what we saw in Parkland, Florida, this week.

55:27

We've got to get back to God -ordained roles for men and women, husbands and wives, and if we're going to just keep abandoning the fact that there are differences in gender and that our need for mother to be at home with her children, there's a need for father to be providing for his family and devoted to his wife and both dedicated to each other.

55:57

If we don't see families getting back to loving their children, training their children, spending time with their children, rather than letting their children loose on the internet and among their peers without any supervision and oversight, we haven't seen anything yet,

56:16

Chris, the fallout of an abandonment of God's roles and God's ways.

56:24

And we have to go to our midway station break. This is a longer break than normal because of Grace Life Radio 90 .1

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FM in Lake City, Florida. They require a 12 -minute break between our two hours, so please be patient as we have this elongated break.

56:43

Take this time to write questions to our guest at chrisarnson at gmail .com, chrisarnson at gmail .com.

56:49

Please give us your first name, your city and state, and your country of residence if you live outside the USA. In fact,

56:55

I forwarded you a question from a listener, Pastor Vinny, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, so that you would have this time to look over the question during the station break.

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Great, thank you. And don't go away, God willing, we are going to be right back after these messages from our sponsors.

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And remember, when you call into a visit to the pastor's study, mention that you heard about that program from Chris Arnzen on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

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And that program, once again, airs every Saturday, 12 to 1 p .m. Eastern Time on wlie540am .com,

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In fact, thanks to Bill Shishko, who is the host of a visit to the pastor's study and who has been a friend of mine for decades, going back to the 1980s.

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He is a dear brother in Christ and a very solid, theologically solid pastor, as I know that my guest,

01:07:30

Vinnie Sawyer, will attest to. Absolutely. Yeah, amen. Well, thanks to Pastor Bill Shishko, who is actually retired from the pastoral ministry and is now an itinerant evangelist and domestic missionary for Reformation Metro New York.

01:07:48

Thanks to his recommendation, my guest tomorrow will be Elias Ayala, a middle and high school teacher at a private

01:07:56

Christian school and a youth director at his local church on Long Island, New York. He's also a team member of the

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Historical Bible Society. He is going to be our guest today on, it's a good topic to dovetail with today, but the need for sound biblical apologetics for young people today.

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So that will be our theme tomorrow with Elias Ayala, and he comes highly recommended by Bill Shishko, and if Bill Shishko highly recommends anyone,

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I've got a lot of confidence in his recommendation. Before we return to my discussion with Pastor Vinnie Sawyer, just a couple of quick announcements.

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The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals is once again having or sponsoring the

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Philadelphia Conference on Reform Theology, and that name,

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Philadelphia Conference on Reform Theology, is really an affectionate term because it's no longer held in Philadelphia, at least not right now.

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It hasn't been for the past number of years. It's named after the events that used to take place at the 10th

01:09:04

Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, where the late James Montgomery Boyce once pastored, and I had the honor and privilege of spending some of the critical years of my young Christian faith attending those conferences and being blessed by the speakers and by Dr.

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James Montgomery Boyce himself while attending the Philadelphia Conference on Reform Theology. But this year, the

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Philadelphia Conference on Reform Theology, and in fact it's also very relevant to our discussion today, its title is

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The Spirit of the Age and the Age of the Spirit. It's being held at two locations.

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From the April 13th through the 15th, it will be held at the First Christian Reformed Church of Byron Center, Michigan, and from the 27th through the 28th of April, it will be held at Proclamation Presbyterian Church in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and the speakers include

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Daniel Aiken, Richard Gaffin, Daniel Hyde, Conrad M. Bayway, who's one of the most powerful preachers alive today, from Lusaka, Zambia, a dear friend of mine since 1995,

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Richard Phillips, another friend of mine from Second Presbyterian Church in Greenville, South Carolina, Jonathan Master, David Murray, and Scott Oliphant.

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If you would like to register for either of those conferences, The Spirit of the

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Age and the Age of the Spirit, in either Michigan or in Pennsylvania, go to AllianceNet .org,

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AllianceNet .org. Then finally, I have to once again make myself or try to make myself comfortable enough to ask you for money because I hate doing it.

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If indeed you do love this program, you benefit from it, you share the mp3s with others, you look forward to the guests and topics that we address here on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, then please consider donating to us by going to IronSharpensIronRadio .com.

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And as I have tried to remember to remind you, never siphon money out of your regular giving that you're accustomed to to your local church where you are a member.

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If you are not a member of a local Bible -believing church and you're not prayerfully seeking for one, then you are living in disobedience to God.

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Some of you even have been donating to us nearly every single week and we thank

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God for you in ways that I could not describe to you in the English language. And please consider, if you haven't done so already, making a contribution today and perhaps even put us on your regular benevolent budget that you may have.

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And if you want to advertise with us, just send us an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com, chrisarnson at gmail .com,

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and put advertising in the subject line, whether it's your church, your parachurch ministry, your business, your professional practice, or special event, whatever it is, as long as it's compatible with the theology expressed on this program.

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Then please send us an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com and put advertising in the subject line. That is also the email address to send in a question to our guest today,

01:13:37

Pastor Vinny Sawyer. And once again, our theme for the day is the need for biblical parenting in the age of school massacres.

01:13:46

Our email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com, chrisarnson at gmail .com. And as you know,

01:13:52

Pastor Vinny, before the break, Ted from Tuscaloosa, Alabama sent in a question that says, following up on Chris's question,

01:13:58

I would suspect that regarding demonic activity as things heat up, authentic believers will have no choice but start thinking about and dealing with it simply as a survival tactic in the last days.

01:14:13

Would your guest agree? Yes, I do believe that as the end of this age approaches, there's going to be an increase in demonic activity, as Scripture clearly teaches.

01:14:28

But I also believe, Chris, that like you mentioned just a few moments ago, that God tells us, especially as we see the day approaching, the need to assemble with God's people is really the survival tactic.

01:14:48

The Scripture says in Hebrews chapter 10, and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works.

01:14:56

How do we do that? Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more, as you see the day approaching.

01:15:08

That day, when used without an antecedent, refers to the day of Christ, or the day of His return.

01:15:15

So as the end approaches, the need to assemble in a Bible -preaching local church will be greater.

01:15:25

And so, with all the demonic activity that we could warn people about, there is no better defense mechanism than to know the

01:15:36

Word of God. When Jesus was tested by Satan in Matthew chapter 4, what did he do?

01:15:43

He quoted Scripture. And I believe that the way to counter the lies that are spreading through our world today, the lies being spread through demonic activity, is to know the truth.

01:15:57

For the truth will set you free. And so we need to encourage people to be part of a

01:16:04

Bible -centered ministry, a Bible -centered local church, so that they can grow in their knowledge of the

01:16:11

Word of God. And if you're not in one now, that's just probably a church that's busy entertaining people.

01:16:19

Like one woman said, when will the church get back to feeding the sheep instead of entertaining the goat? Then you need to leave and find a church that is committed to the exposition and plain teaching of Scripture.

01:16:34

In fact, that quote that you just cited, when will the church begin feeding the sheep and stop entertaining the goats, reminds me of something that my friend

01:16:45

Dr. James R. White has said, what you win them with is what you win them to.

01:16:53

And if you are using goat food to attract people to the church, you're going to just maintain their goatness.

01:17:04

And you're going to raise up professing

01:17:11

Christians that are going to be horrible ambassadors for Christ, if at all, because they'll be telling the world a bunch of nonsense that's not even real or true or biblically authentic.

01:17:23

That's right. And, you know, the Bible does tell us to preach the

01:17:28

Word, to preach it whether it's convenient or not convenient, whether they listen or don't listen, whether it's in season or out of season.

01:17:38

He says, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long -suffering and doctrine, which means sound teaching.

01:17:44

Then he warns us, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own loss shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and shall turn away their ears from the truth and be turned to fables.

01:18:00

And so people want to hear stories, they don't want to hear the truth, but we have to keep preaching and teaching the truth.

01:18:08

And Chris, you're theme today, talking about rearing children in a day of such brutality like we witnessed last week in Parkland, Florida.

01:18:20

I stated earlier that there are many factors that lead to the mental state of young people who would do such a thing.

01:18:31

We talked about access to drugs, obsession with violence on TV and gaming and internet, obsession with death, becoming a desensitized society.

01:18:44

But again, I believe the major core problem which has led to out -of -control teenagers is a lack of a father in the home.

01:18:55

Either the father is not there, or if he is there, he is passive, he is not involved, and we need fathers to start loving their children.

01:19:07

You know, it's interesting that on Mother's Day, Mother's Day cards that are sent from prisons in May, you compare that with the absence of Father's Day cards that are purchased in the month of June.

01:19:25

It's quite amazing. As a matter of fact, Americans spend, this is a 2014 statistic, but Americans spend $7 .4

01:19:36

billion less on dads on Father's Day than on mothers on Mother's Day.

01:19:45

And so it really illustrates a major problem in our land.

01:19:51

But you know, the Bible teaches in Ephesians 6 -1, Children, obey your parents and the

01:19:58

Lord, for this is right. Honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest live long upon the earth, which basically means that if you honor your parents, if you treat them with value, if you submit to their

01:20:16

God -given authority in your life and trust God to work through the decisions of mom and dad,

01:20:24

God not only promises you a good life, but He promises you a long life. And then

01:20:29

He says, and you fathers, interesting He doesn't say, and you mothers, but He says, and you fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the

01:20:44

Lord. And so there is a command given by God to the father, showing that it is his responsibility to train his children, to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the

01:20:58

Lord. And I'll tell you, Chris, this is what is needed. If we're going to correct the problem that we see in schools, the problem we see in society with our young people, it's going to start with dad being in the home, husband and wives being committed to their marriage and to their children, and fathers involved in their children's lives.

01:21:26

You know, it's quite interesting that in the book of Genesis, of course,

01:21:33

God created the family structure, and He created one wife for Adam, and then

01:21:39

He blessed that union with children. And that basic institution of the home would serve as the prototype of all families that would follow.

01:21:49

And so all throughout the Bible, the blessed pattern involved a monogamous and heterosexual marriage and children that would be under the oversight and loving authority of mom and dad.

01:22:04

And many children today have no such structure in their lives. In many cases, dad is either non -existent or non -involved in the children's lives, and single moms need added grace to try to fulfill both roles and to rear the children all by themselves.

01:22:24

So as a result of many young people not having a father in their lives, many

01:22:39

Christian children will have to find God's fatherhood in their lives to be an all -sufficient replacement for a missing dad.

01:22:46

As the Scripture says in 2 Corinthians 6 .18, and I will be a father unto you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, sayeth the

01:22:55

Lord Almighty. And of course, Psalm 68 .5 calls God a father of the fatherless.

01:23:02

And so if young people are listening and they don't have a father who's involved in their lives, well, you have

01:23:09

God as your father. And although you're going to miss out on learning by example what a father should be, you can study the

01:23:18

Bible and find Bible precepts as how the ideal family is supposed to function.

01:23:24

And Chris, if I could just say this, I believe that the increasing femininity of boys in our country, and the rise of homosexuality in America, may be in large measure attributed to the decrease of the male influence in their home life.

01:23:45

In fact, go ahead, finish your thought, because there is a question that really dovetails on that.

01:23:50

Go ahead, finish your thought. Oh, okay. I was just going to add that among a multitude of other problems, same -sex marriages, homosexual marriages, or lesbian marriages, they fail because they do not provide the balance of physical and emotional strength that a husband and wife bring to the children.

01:24:11

There's something beneficial and unique that is added to the life of a child when he or she sees the balance of feminine and masculine character traits.

01:24:21

Growing up, I learned something from my mother that I did not learn from my dad, and I learned something from my dad that I did not learn from my mother.

01:24:29

And children need that balanced socialization in the home of a loving father and a loving mother, or they're going to be missing a lot of what

01:24:42

God intended for them. Amen. And CJ from Lyndonhurst, Long Island, New York, has a question that really dovetails with what you were just saying.

01:24:53

He says, I do not want to broad brush here, because I know that it is slander and bearing false witness against your neighbor, even if you say something true about someone who is a sinner and actively rebelling against God.

01:25:10

However, isn't it interesting that statistically there is a disproportionate percentage of homosexuals involved in serial killing, and could this be for the very reason that both those who are involved in these types of mass murders and serial killings have a longing to be attached to a father they never had and missed out on the benefit of the nurturing of a father?

01:25:38

It seems that the homosexual male population statistically has the same trait or history behind them that they had no fatherly figure in their life, actively involved in parenting them.

01:25:54

And of course, you know, there may be listeners who are actively involved in that sin who say, what are you talking about?

01:26:00

My father was a great dad and etc. But statistically, both of those groups of people happen to be in large numbers, large percentages, missing an active father in their life.

01:26:15

Isn't that true? Well, it's absolutely true. Just study it out. Look at the statistics.

01:26:21

And you'll find that people that turn to that lifestyle did not generally have a father in their life.

01:26:30

If he was in the home, he certainly was not influencing them in a godly way or in a proper way.

01:26:37

In many cases, I'm not saying I'm not broad brushing. I'm not saying this is true in every case.

01:26:43

But certainly, we need fathers in the home, teaching their children, leading their families, providing all that a father is designed by God to provide.

01:26:57

And, you know, I really believe, Chris, that God, of course, that's the perfect example for how a father should treat his children.

01:27:07

Just look at how a heavenly father deals with his children. He oversees his children.

01:27:14

Dad, are you leading your family? God sacrificially loves his children. Are we loving our children?

01:27:21

God gives to his children. He provides for his family. Are we providing for our families?

01:27:28

God instructs his children. Are we, as dads, instructing our children? And we could talk about how

01:27:34

God is true to his word. He's faithful to his promises. When he gives a promise, he keeps it.

01:27:41

Dads, we need to be faithful. We need to be reliable, dependent, consistent.

01:27:47

Our children need to know that our word is true and that what we say we will do. And our heavenly father is quick to protect.

01:27:56

He's zealously protective of his children. And he wants the best for us.

01:28:03

As Paul even reflects God's heart when he says, for I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

01:28:16

God doesn't want to share his children with the sinful world, but he longs for our spirit to be devoted to him.

01:28:25

And we need to give the feeling of security by being a real man.

01:28:32

A man who will guard his family, a man who will pray for his family, who will intercede like Job did for his children.

01:28:42

And we need to copy God's pattern, and children need to copy our pattern.

01:28:49

As a matter of fact, there's a scripture that I think applies to fathers, where God admonishes us in 1

01:28:59

Timothy 4 .12, where he says to Timothy, let no man despise thy youth.

01:29:04

And Timothy wasn't a teenager, but he was a young man in pastoral ministry.

01:29:10

And he says, be thou an example of the believers in word, which means in what you say, with your mouth, your conversation, your talk, in your lifestyle, your manner of living, in your charity or your love.

01:29:25

Be an example in your spirit, your zeal for God and the things of God.

01:29:31

Be an example. Be an example in your faith, your belief in the

01:29:36

Lord, your belief in his word and his promises. Be an example in purity, he says, in our holiness.

01:29:44

And so, you know, children are like walking camcorders, Chris. From the time they are born, they are recording everything their little eyes see, everything their ears hear, and they are recording what they see in mom and dad.

01:30:00

And I'll tell you, if there's ever a time where we need dads to get on their face before God and repent of their sin, it is now, because our children are looking up to us, and we can't expect children that are going to turn out right if we, our fathers, do not have a lifestyle that's worth copying.

01:30:21

Because what we do and what we allow in our lives will tend to be exaggerated in our children.

01:30:27

Because like produces like. Like father, like son. You know, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

01:30:34

They'll not only copy our faults, they'll magnify them. And so we need to be dad to set an example of godliness that our young people, our children, can follow.

01:30:48

Excellent, and we're going to our final break right now. It's a much briefer break than the last one, for sure.

01:30:54

If you'd like to join us, now is the time to do it. If you have a question, send it to chrisarnsen at gmail .com.

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01:34:55

Welcome back this is Chris Arnzen and this is our final 25 minutes of our interview today with Pastor Vincent Sawyer of Victory Baptist Church in Port Charlotte, Florida, and he's also the founder of the

01:35:08

Macedonian Call Ministries. We are discussing the need for biblical parenting in the age of school massacres and our email address if you have a question is chrisarnzen at gmail .com

01:35:20

c -h -r -i -s -a -r -n -z -e -n at gmail .com. Please give us your first name city and state and country of residence if you live outside the

01:35:29

USA and only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter. And we have

01:35:35

Christopher from Suffolk County New York who says let's see here uh

01:35:42

Pastor Vinnie I know that we can never allow people to use as an excuse the fact that they were mistreated and that they were bullies in school to defend themselves for all kinds of horrific acts but having said that should not

01:36:02

Christian young people be looking out for those who are neglected shunned mocked and bullied among them that they may reach out to them with the love of Jesus Christ and welcome them into their gatherings of friendship that they might not only possibly hear the gospel and become saved but that a monster in the making may be prevented.

01:36:31

Very well said I agree with that certainly Nicholas Cruz was a troubled young man who didn't have a lot of friends matter of fact maybe he had that one friend who had asked his mom and dad can we please bring him into our home but you know outside of that and prior to that he needed friends he needed people to encourage him certainly we also need to be careful having said that we want you know the bible does teach and it warns that those who associate with wise people will be wise but a companion of fools will be destroyed we don't want our children associating with fools but if there's a person who is who is being shunned and avoided and so forth go as far as the spirit of God leads

01:37:25

God may use you he may use your voice may use your testimony to impact that person for eternity and and to share the gospel with this with a person like that this is evangelism this is how

01:37:41

Chris we reach people for Christ is we show love to people we spend time with people we are patient with people we we look out for those that are kind of outcast and those that are looked down upon and and that's part of loving other people and certainly if we do that we can perhaps be used by God to to rescue a lot of people from perishing and from turning out like this unfortunate individual yes and don't you believe that there's a difference between a young christian person or any young person starting to associate with groups of rebellious young people there's a difference between that and a group and a group of one individual yeah a group of christians welcoming welcoming into their midst a troubled young rebellious youth as long as those that are surrounding this person do not start to imitate any of his wrongdoings right certainly we want to be the influence and not be influenced by a troubled individual but we do want to be a positive influence and it is wise to do that with a group of other friends and and of course a young lady has to be very careful a teenage girl cannot establish a very intimate relationship with another boy uh who is troubled that could lead to serious problems yep uh but i believe that young men uh who know the lord and love the lord ought to be on the lookout uh for for teenagers that need some encouragement that need a buddy maybe they don't have a good father figure in and so the lord can use uh such a a loving friend to really show them christ and to set a good example and to encourage them and you'll you can alter the direction of somebody's life uh by being what christ wants you to be yes and obviously according to the scriptures especially when you're talking about adults uh although the the text doesn't specify adults i think that we could uh assume that it's primarily talking about adults that the the only people we are clearly told not to have fellowship with break bread with etc are those who are professing to be christians who are living in rebellion and unrepentance that we are to be light and we are to be lights to the dark world around us and jesus obviously set an example by associating with very evil people yes and he and he did not become evil in order to reach the evil that's right he did not he did not compromise his truth and his conviction in order to uh impact others for eternity he remained light when he was in the midst of darkness and uh he would not go into places of sinful activity in order to reach sinners but a neutral setting like uh matthew's home where matthew would invite his tax collector friends the publicans and sinners to come over for dinner and get to meet jesus the messiah and so jesus would would impact sinners in neutral locations he would not go into dens of wickedness in order to reach people uh whose lives are engulfed in wickedness amen nor did he become wicked to reach the wicked right and uh he did not uh uh compromise truth uh to impact others for for for the truth amen uh we have ronald in eastern suffolk county long island new york and ronald says in the midst of the hysteria of anti -gun rhetoric by leftists shouldn't we point out that there is a lot of healthy moral activity that fathers and sons can enjoy using guns training up children to use guns properly with target practice and even hunting and other things that are excellent ways for fathers and sons to have their relationship bonded more tightly together well that's certainly true and um a good father is going to take his son fishing a good a good father will teach his son perhaps how to uh hunt uh and i think there's nothing wrong with bringing your your sons to the range teaching them how to properly use a firearm but there is a need to keep those guns uh uh safe for there have been many examples of young people getting their hands on a gun that was wasn't in a uh wasn't locked up wasn't in a place of safety and and uh of course terrible things happen but again the problem is not gun uh just like in history past the problem was not with swords the problem was uh with people um and again in this situation recently nicholas cruz was a troubled young man who needed a father in his life from very early in his life and uh that could have averted uh what this young man did um but but again uh chris i i really believe that the answer is getting back to the proper biblical christian home where there is a loving father and mother who are involved in their their young people's life and uh you know children need that who truly know christ who have conviction that the bible is the word of god and the sole authority on matters related to the family and life a father that has some spiritual insights and discernment who's walking with the lord under the control of the holy spirit exhibiting the fruit of the holy spirit uh who has personal godliness and sets a a biblical example that follow um a dad who's committed to uh his wife parental unity is so important uh and children need that security of knowing that mom and dad love each other that they are committed to each other for life and uh and they need to see dad's faith that he trusts in the lord with all of his heart he does not lean on his own understanding but he acknowledges god in all his ways because the lord will truly direct his path and you know what kids need chris they need biblical training biblical discipline from early on and uh we don't have time in this segment to really talk about uh that but uh scripture is very clear that uh if you're chasing your son while there is hope uh that if you don't uh withhold the rod or withhold correction from the child uh that the bible admonishes us that that the rod and reproof give wisdom but a child left to himself brings his mother to shame he says correct your son and he will give you rest yea he will give delight unto thy soul and young people need to know the difference between right and wrong they need to know that there are consequences for bad behavior and uh a lot of kids today are growing up in homes where there is no penalty for bad behavior and so don't be surprised later on in life when your children go out there and do horrific deeds like this when you did not teach them of the difference between right and wrong and so we have to get back to training our children teaching them about the lord uh teaching them god's truth just like deuteronomy 6 says uh you shall teach them diligently unto thy children you shall talk of them them being the words of god when you sit in your house when you walk by the way when you lie down and when you rise up and so god is teaching a continual uh imparting of truth to the next generation uh so that they will learn the difference between uh right and wrong and they'll truly honor god with their life instead of throw it away and throw the lives of others away like happened last week in parkland florida what i'd like you to do before you close the program in a more general way right now i'd like you to specifically address those listeners that may be heartbroken and filled riddled with guilt because their children or are are already grown up out of the house perhaps they're still under the same roof but their children have already perhaps demonstrated overt and scandalous rebellion and wickedness perhaps their children are in prison perhaps their children are deceased because of this and their their parents are just totally crippled with guilt over this they recognize they were horrible parents perhaps they even became christians late in life or perhaps they even neglected christian responsibilities while they were still christians but if you could if you could uh say give a word to these these parents i would say first of all that as you as you look at your past as you look at your parenting as you look at your life if there were areas of failure um i i would say the first thing to do if your children are still alive and accessible to call them up and and genuinely apologize to them and say you know uh we we love you but we have to ask you to forgive us but we were not perfect parents we did not always do the right thing sometimes we uh avoided you we we didn't teach god's word we didn't bring you to a good local church like we should have or whatever uh the area of neglect may have been but i think every child will respect you more if you will humble yourself and uh admit to your children uh your failures and ask for their forgiveness another thing is from this point on uh maybe maybe you've failed to some degree and we've all failed uh to some degree in our parenting none of us as parents are perfect um but we can help the next generation maybe uh you can you can start by praying for your children more praying for your grandchildren setting the example for your grandchildren to follow if you didn't quite do what you should have done to your children at least make up for it by seeking to be a godly loving uh grandparent or great grandparent and so i would say start with apology seek to be reconciled uh to your children and then seek to make an impact on the generation to come and uh perhaps god can even use you in your local church uh to be a blessing uh to the children there uh of course under the direction of the pastors or elders in that church and i'm assuming you would agree with me uh i heard uh a saying from someone who i can't remember the source of the saying but the saying was never let your failures go to waste and we can be of great value to others by being open and honest about our failures and telling others about the consequences of those failures and telling them about the way the bib the bible would instruct us to properly behave and this could be in any number of circumstances outside of panthering but parenting but in this case we're specifically talking about parenting absolutely chris um we all can learn from mistakes we can grow from mistakes it's it's part it's better to learn in advance by precept than to have to learn through the school of hard knock but we've all to one degree or another gone through that school of hard knocks and we have learned some things and and what god has taught us we can humbly teach the next generation so that uh they can avoid a lot of obstacles and problems that that are just filling and pervading our society today and so i would just encourage uh parents god's not done with you yet uh god's not done with any of us but i want to encourage you with this philippians 1 6 says that he who has begun a good work in you will continue to perform it until the day of jesus christ so until christ returns or until you meet him at death and meet him in glory continue to grow continue to serve him abound in the work of the lord love your spouse be faithful to your wife if you're married um and and and truly learn from your failures learn from your mistakes and teach those lessons um to your children and to your grandchildren well perhaps if you could conclude with about five minutes of uninterrupted time with a message specifically for the youths listening the young people or the teenagers etc who might who might even be in the midst of open rebellion they may have parents or friends christian friends who have told them to listen to the show today or they may be hearing this show later on via the archived recording of it so please have some all of the young people that may be listening sure will let me encourage all of the young people listening to uh you know you can't disobey god's word and expect to be blessed um if we want a future that is blessed if we want a if we want someday uh to be able to train our children in a proper way then we as children if we're saved if we know christ is savior then we certainly need to follow his ways and this takes faith it takes faith to submit to the authority of a mom or a dad uh who's saying a son or daughter i don't want you to do this i don't think this is good for you i i'm asking you not to and and you are your your flesh is screaming out i really want to do this or i want to go there but at that moment that is a test of your faith in god do you have the faith to believe that god is using or can use your parents decisions for your good i see submission to authority uh really amounts to faith in god can i trust god to work through the authority that god has placed in my life can i trust god to work through the decision of my father can i trust god to work through uh my the decision of my mother and when you when you do that you're really showing ultimately your trust in the lord and let me also say this there's a lot of young people that don't have a mom and dad with very high character and so it may be hard to respect them for their personal character if such is the case then at least respect them for their position say if you can't respect them because they're not people of good character and you don't respect their character at least respect them because they are your mother or they are your father and respect the position that god has given them and by doing so you are honoring the lord we need to treat our parents with with value and uh realize that god gave me my mom and dad and if you do have a mother and a father thank god for them even if they're not perfect none of us are but be very thankful that you have a mother and a father and i would just admonish you to honor them treat them with value and respect and and submit to their oversight in your life let them serve you by providing that guidance uh which i know is so foreign in today's world and in people's understanding but study what scripture says in colossians 3 18 and ephesians uh chapter and a host of other scriptures which show us the blessings when we submit to authority versus the cursings that come upon us when we rebel against authority because the authorities that exist are ordained of god it is the lord who ultimately put every power into existence and parental authority is under attack globally and i think it's a satanic agenda to destroy the home and then to destroy civilization and to prepare the way for the lawless one or the antichrist and so the world the mystery of iniquity is already at work preparing the the arrival of the man of sin and that's why we're seeing things on a large grand scale today when it comes to rebellion in all aspects of society amen isn't it ironic that the left simultaneously pushes uh the rhetoric of children's rights and yet simultaneously they're calling out for a woman's rights to murder their own children in the womb yes and you know um the the left is really working for the the the it seems working for a certain boss uh it's certainly not uh the the righteous principles of scripture uh that i see them upholding uh in their in their statements but uh certainly all of us have a right to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness in america but not at the expense of dishonoring and disobeying the authority that god has established for our well -being my friends don't get out from under that umbrella of protection don't rebel against that authority that's god's way to keep you safe and to help provide guidance in your life um so much more could be said but chris thank you for having me on uh your program today it's been a pleasure as always yes and i want to uh make sure that our listeners have your website salvationvictory .com