Ask a Pastor: August 2024

Let's pray and we will get into our study Lord Jesus again as we open up your word.

We ask you Holy Spirit to help us to rightly understand what is revealed there so that we may properly believe Confess and do

according to your Holy Word.

We ask in Jesus name.

Amen.

Okay, so we're gonna start with a question from an anonymous question asker and

Anonymous question asker asker asked this question.

What is the fundamental rather the fundamental differences between?

Confessional Lutheran Church bodies like the EL like the Missouri Synod the

AALC the ELS Wells and the the church body called the

ELCA the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and I would note that the

primary difference has to deal with Theologically what we call material and

formal principles and let let me explain what I mean by that.

So if we were to if I'm gonna pull up a web page because I just did a little bit of work here.

Okay, so in Lutheranism in theology, we talk about every church body has a

material principle.

This is like their core Central doctrine so in confessional Lutheranism the

core central doctrine.

The material principle is the synopsis and summary of the Christian truth that people are justified by God's

grace through faith in Christ alone.

Okay, so salvation by grace through faith apart from works.

That's the central core doctrine of confessional Lutheranism

when it comes to the Formal principle this has to do with then.

What is it?

That's authoritative and by the way, I'm hearing an echo.

It's like there's like sound coming out of this television.

Yeah.

Is it.

I don't know.

Got it.

Okay.

Okay.

So again, the material principle is what do you consider an authoritative word from God?

Well, you know by what is your church?

You know.

What is what is considered to be the body of work that you recognize as God's voice

and in God is speaking so it the the the formal principle in

Lutheranism.

In confessional Lutheranism.

Then it's going to be scripture alone is the formal principle of the faith and the final authority for all matters of

faith and morals because of its inspiration authority clarity efficacy and sufficiency.

So formal principle scripture alone.

Material principle.

Salvation by grace through faith apart from works.

Those are your two core doctrines of confessional Lutheranism and it doesn't matter which confessional body you are part of

those are your core doctrines.

And everything else kind of emanates out from that Center.

By comparison if you were to go with Mormonism, what is the formal principle of Mormonism?

Well, their formal principle is the King James Bible insofar as it is correctly translated the Book of

Mormon doctrine and covenants the Pearl of Great Price and Any of the prophetic utterances of any of the Mormon

prophets from Joseph Smith to today?

Okay, that's considered their formal principle.

Does that sound like solo scriptura to you?

No.

Okay, very fluid.

And then in Rome are they solo scriptura folks like not even close.

Okay, not even close at all.

I mean you've got tradition you've got the the when the Pope speaks ex cathedra, you know all this other

stuff and and then you know that and then you got.

The.

Interpretations of the ministerium of the church of the different passages of scripture and all this kind of stuff and.

So that becomes their formal principle.

So when we talk about the ELCA they they are Lutheran in their name.

But I would note that they are not confessional Lutheran.

They're not a confessional Lutheran church body.

So the question that I have been kind of racking my brain over for the past few years.

And I think I've come up with the correct answer and reading some of their theologians is the question is what is their

formal? principle.

Because so if you were to if you were to.

Apply today to attend Luther seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

All right, would you be accepted if you believe that the Bible is the

inerrant infallible?

Word of God.

No.

No, yeah, you know they might dump you off in a bad neighborhood and leave you for dead, but

The the reality is is that if you believe that you will not have your application admitted.

You cannot attend their seminary if you believe that the Bible is the inerrant infallible Word of God.

That's absolutely forbidden.

So the question then comes down to what is their formal principle?

And I think I have an explanation for it and it requires us to go back a little bit in the history of

Luther now.

Here's the thing what I'm going to convey to you is not in the Lutheran confessions.

But I think something that Luther said they have Misinterpreted and turn that into

their formal principle.

Let me explain so you familiar with The account of something called the diet of worms.

You have to pronounce it that way because it's spelled W -o -r -m -s and I'm not about to eat any of those things.

Okay.

I don't care how much protein is in them.

I'm not eating worms.

Okay, you know.

Yeah.

Nobody likes me.

Everybody hates me.

Think I'll eat worms fat one skinny one.

Anyway.

No, I'm not gonna do it.

I won't do it.

Okay.

So it's called the diet of worms.

And if you remember if maybe you've seen a Luther movie or you've read.

A.

Book regarding the history of Lutheranism, by the way, I should say this.

I don I I'm kicking myself for not saying it in our meeting Yesterday, I really think we need to send out an email

and say everybody attending the our trip to Germany since we're doing a tour Of the Reformation sites

of the Lutheran Reformation.

They need to read Roland Bainton's book.

I stand here.

I stand by Roland Bainton.

I consider that to be the best Biography written about Luther and it reads like a novel.

It's and it's a great read great read.

Okay, because that way we can all be on the same page, you know.

Cuz I notice we're going to Erfurt and you know, and it didn't dawn on anybody.

Why are we going to Erfurt?

Cuz that's where Luther was in the monastery.

Okay, so, you know think anyway.

But that that's a whole other story.

So any of you listening who are going to Germany read Roland Bainton's Here I stand

so in in the history of Luther when the Reformation got up and running Luther

was one of these guys who Really jumped on the technology of his day

and it was his use of the printing press.

Which I think saved his bacon and kept him from suffering the same fate as John Haas.

All right, so Luther became a prolific publisher of books.

He was prolific author and He wrote books and pamphlets and treatises and tracts and things like

this.

And what happened is is that you know, once he really understood salvation is by grace through faith alone.

He went at Romanism hard.

I mean really really hard and his books And his tracts and treatises they

sold for pennies.

All right, you know and they were they were bought up by Peasants and people in the middle class

alike and they just went like wildfire.

So Rome became really annoyed with Luther and so

they invited him to come and To come and appear at what was called the Diet of

Worms now in the Holy Roman Empire the diet was when you had like the government all the different princes and

the different electors and from the different regions of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire they would come together to

conduct Governmental business and the person chairing the meeting would have been, you know, the King

Charles.

You know, he would have been the one chairing the meeting and so Luther was called to appear Before

the king at the Diet of Worms and when he showed up, he thought that he was going to be able to give

You know a defense a rigorous defense of Salvation by grace through faith and what then Christ

bleeding and dying for all of our sins and that and and that he merited our Salvation on the cross

and by his vicarious, you know Sinless life death resurrection and things like this.

No, he was not allowed to speak.

So what happened is day one when he came in?

They had a table set up with all of his books and tracts and treatises and stuff like that and they basically

asked him one question, do you recant what you've said in these things and

He was not given any permission to explain anything and he knew that He knew he was in

deep kimchi is the best way I can put it and so he asked for a day

to think things over and then give a response and When he came back the following

day He gave his response and made a note that his books and his tracts

and the catechism and things like this were not all of the same type and That there were things

in those books that even his opponents in Rome agreed were true and

So he couldn't recant those because he can't recant the truth.

And in fact, they hadn't specified anything.

They just wanted him to make a blanket statement to recant everything he'd written.

And so he makes this famous statement and the statement goes like this I

cannot and I will not recant anything.

For to go against conscience is neither right nor safe.

Here I stand.

I can do no other so help me God and Here's how the

ELCA has taken this and turned this into their formal principle it is.

Okay to go against conscience is either neither right nor safe.

That's where the emphasis is and so in the ELCA what determines

truth your conscience.

So if you want to self -identify as the Eiffel Tower.

Okay, then, you know you have every right to talk to the Olympic Committee and have you photographed and filmed

as part of the Olympics.

Right.

Because to go against conscience is neither right nor safe now in there in their

other principles.

So the material principle the question that would be what then is their central doctrine their central doctrine

is love is God.

That's their central doctrine.

Not what scripture says that God is love their central doctrine is that love is God and so

the idea then here is is that the message that the ELCA has to proclaim to the world is that

God just Loves you the way you are and you be you and don't do anything against your conscience

you want to self -identify as Somebody who's skinny when you're not well

praise God for your six -pack abs, right.

You get the idea so that's the primary difference which then when you take the center of this

This then explains has explanatory power To why why do they

affirm and promote the LGBTQ?

XYZ LMNOP people.

Okay.

The reason why is because you can't go the human conscience is the determiner of

what is true and So when it comes to the scriptures then

because you cannot in their way of thinking make the scriptures have Have the

ability to Reign over your conscience.

They say that the Bible isn't the Word of God that it Contains

the Word of God.

Well, which parts contain the Word of God whichever parts your conscience says so,

right?

It's it's a very slick and elaborate form of relativism

What's true for you is may not be true for me what's true for somebody else is true for them but I who am I to

say that they're wrong kind of stuff and so this is why they do what they do

and You'll note that the the moves that they've made Didn't

happen all at once.

They just did not happen all at once and what happens is is that when you unbuckle yourself from

sola scriptura?

When you unbuckle yourself from the Bible is the Word of God and it's the authority here.

Then when you unbuckle yourself with it, it's just a matter of time.

That.

All this other stuff comes creeping in it's just a matter of time, you know.

So in Rome, they don't believe in sola scriptura.

So you sit there and go.

All right, where do you get this idea of the perpetual virginity of the Virgin Mary?

Oh, it's real simple.

There was a 4th century document and during the time of the patristics called the pseudo

Evangelion of James that talks about Anna second safe sorry second century document

that talks about Anna who's the the mother of the mother of the Virgin Mary and

how she had an immaculate conception and then how she like Samuel was raised in the temple until

She got to her adolescence right before she started to menstruate and then she was passed off to to an older man

by the name of Joseph who became her husband and he never Consummated the marriage because he dared not violate the

vessel of the of the Son of God.

Kind of stuff and he said there.

All right.

Do you have a biblical text that says that?

No, no we don't but tradition says.

And then you point out the obvious.

You sit there and go you do know that the pseudo you on Galleon of James was

absolutely Panned by the Church Fathers as as a forgery

and a Gnostic one at that.

Who were the ones who wrote that thing?

It was the Gnostics and.

They said.

It doesn't matter that did the sola scriptura is is evil.

It's bad.

It's better than that, right.

And so.

All right, you kind of get the idea by the way in Mormonism the the central doctrine the the material principle is

What's called the law of eternal progression as.

God.

As man is God once was as God is man can become the idea that men can become deities.

Yeah, it does it does.

So that's the prime if you want to.

If you want to understand what is the real difference between confessional Lutheran Church

bodies like ours and The ELCA it comes down to the difference between the material and

formal principles of each and what confessional Lutheran Church bodies hold in common is its sola

scriptura as as the sole authority and And then the central doctrine of

salvation by grace through faith in the ELCA.

Love is God and there's nothing you need to be saved from.

Not a thing you need to be saved from God wouldn't harm a fly.

The only people he's at he's angry at are bigots, you know in their way of thinking.

Right.

So that's the big difference.

Hopefully that answers the question.

Okay.

All right.

Next question.

We're doing ask a pastor here today.

By the way, this one's a real quick one.

Give me a second here.

Let me find this.

All right.

So this this question came in.

I got it was sent this link to this blog post the shine blog.

Hang on.

I just spit up a little bit in my throat.

Okay.

And the question is is this true?

So talking about the name of God.

Okay, God chose a name that is always on our lips.

There was a moment when Moses had the nerve to ask God what his name is.

God was gracious enough to answer and the name he gave is recorded in the original Hebrew as Y

H WH otherwise known as the Tetragrammaton.

Over time we arbitrarily added an a and an e to get to Yahweh

presumably because we had a preference for pronouns.

But scholars and rabbis.

Sorry.

So I say pronouns vowels.

Preference for vowels, sir.

Sorry, I was just thinking about the LGBTQ XYZ people and just I don't know what just happened there.

Okay.

Yeah, that's right.

I Was watching the fat electrician.

If you haven't seen his YouTube channel, it is a scream.

He's a he's a retired military grunt and Holy

smokes the way he tells things the stories he tells in the phrases.

You know, he talks about the men in the artillery as the Yiddis to lead us group, you know.

And.

He says that when they when the Yiddis to lead us get into into combat the the enemy They

change their pronouns to to over there and over there and over there.

That's a yeah.

No, I haven't heard that.

Okay.

Anyway coming back to the question.

So the claim is is that we arbitrarily added an a and an e these vowels to the the

tetragrammaton.

But but scholars and rabbis, I don't know which ones.

I we need a footnote here.

Don't we right noted that the letters y hwh represent breathing sounds or

aspiration consonants when pronounced Without intervening vowels.

It actually sounds like breathing inhale.

Exhale.

Okay, this is just bovine scatology.

This is not even scholarship and the fact that they're not quoting the scholars here and giving us footnotes should be

This.

By the way, I've seen this nonsense before and where it really is taken off is

in the in the NAR groups.

All right.

This is really taken off in the NAR groups and like people who are into the passion Translation and nonsense like this and

all I have to say is is that it's absolutely false.

The scholars are agreed on this that the reason why there are no vowels in the Masoretic text

Regarding the name Yahweh is that the original Hebrew texts didn't have

vowels.

Okay, so if we were to get a hold of like a Thousand year old manuscript of the

Prophet Isaiah.

All right, not a thousand.

Let's go back farther.

2 ,000 how about three we got if we come up with a 3 ,000 year old manuscript of the

Prophet Isaiah.

You know, what's gonna be missing through the entire manuscript?

Vowels.

There are no vowels.

Period the valve system itself was invented by the

Masoretes.

The ever heard of the Masoretic text and that's like For fourth century fifth

century BC before they invented it and so this the the the point the

vowel point system that is in the Hebrew language developed during the intertestamental period

and during the intertestamental period what was a notable group that also came up during that time the Pharisees and

the Pharisees were the ones who said well I know the it says you shall not take the name of the

Lord your God in vain.

So we have a very clever way to make it so that you will never break this command we're gonna

make sure that nobody knows how to pronounce his name by not adding his vowels to the

Masoretic text and Then nobody can say his name and therefore take his name in vain.

It's really that simple and So that was part of the tradition of

the Pharisees now, how do we know?

God's name is Yahweh.

It's actually quite kind of simple.

Okay.

Have you ever heard of this word?

Okay, this is just one example I can produce many here's the word Hallelu

Yah, which means what?

Praise to you.

Yahweh.

Yeah.

Hallelu.

Yah.

Right.

There are many words like that in Hebrew where God's name.

Yah.

The first part of Yahweh is invoked.

Okay, Yeshua.

Right, that's that's Yahweh saves and so when you look at how

Moms named their kids and dads named their sons and things like this and and there are certain words like

hallelujah.

Praise you Yahweh.

Okay, we know for a fact that that's exactly what God's name was.

So this claim that we have a preference for vowels what a stupid Nonsensical completely

unscholarly narrative that is who concocted this and were you smoking weed when you did it?

Okay, it's just nonsense.

Okay, I I have I've gotten to the point as I've gotten older.

I have this much.

No.

No, I have no patience anymore for stupid scholarship.

Okay.

Yeah I used to have a little bit of patience for it, but this is just nonsense.

Okay, so the and again, this is taken off in the in the NAR circles.

All right.

Next question.

Here's a question from Jack Rollins.

What is the difference between faith belief and trust?

Okay.

Now he says here's the background in our adult Sunday school class is in Galatians.

Our pastor is very knowledgeable to say the least.

But as I have heard pastor Roseboro allude to it in the past words to this effect I want to listen to a pastor who has

some time in the trenches and isn't wet behind the ears.

So his pastor is kind of new to the pastoral office.

It's kind of nice being a pastor now for ten years.

I have some battle scars and you know, I have some t -shirts too.

So I He says I know that isn't even a quote.

But it is alluding to the maturity of the pastor when it comes to teaching our pastor is 34 a second career guy.

By the way, so second career pastors, they're worth their weight in gold usually when it comes to teaching and

this is his first Pastorate he is married and has four very young kids.

Oh, which means his theology is going to mature very quickly and all of them are under six.

I hope he's on meds, okay.

So, all right, so he's.

Okay, but he's he's well taught and can reference the scripture during the class he was using faith and belief as

Interchangeable.

I kept thinking this isn't really correct.

So after class I asked him about this his response was to ask me what my understanding was good

rabbinical answer.

I said faith and belief are two sides of the same coin.

They are joined together and we really cannot separate them.

I added faith is a gift from God.

We cannot add anything to that belief is our response to the gift of faith.

In short I can reject God's gift of faith and therefore I will not have belief if.

If I do not reject God's gift then belief comes with faith.

Additionally faith is is a is a constant we have that through our baptism.

Okay, I see where he's going with this and I'll tell you what the issue is, okay.

You want to know the big difference between faith and belief?

One is a noun and the other is a verb.

I Kid you not that's the difference.

Which is why they can really legitimately be used interchangeably.

Let me explain and I'll show you this in the Greek language.

Okay, when we let's see here.

So in today I preached from Galatians chapter Three

right a portion of it.

All right.

So here's what it says.

The scripture imprisoned everything under sin so that the promise by faith in

Jesus might be given to those who believe notice in the sentence faith and.

Belief.

Okay, so if I were to go with the I'll go with the second word first believe.

Okay, let me show you this in the Greek.

That is the verb.

Pastuo.

Okay to consider something to be true.

Therefore worthy of one's trust to believe.

That's the verb.

Okay that.

But let me come back to the text.

Scripture imprisoned everything under sin so that the promise by faith pistis.

The related word that's the noun.

Okay.

That which evokes trust and faith.

So to believe is the action.

Faith is the description.

It's the noun.

So that's really the difference in why?

Christianity and the scripture oftentimes uses pastuo and pistis

interchangeably.

If you sit there and go those the noun and the verb sound like they're like from the same root and everything they are.

Okay that that and that's the big difference between so faith is the noun.

Belief is the verb.

That's the difference between the two.

And and so I would note Jack Rollins as young as your pastor may be and as as many small children as

he has.

I think he was right.

Okay, so yes, sir.

Who is saying that?

Who is he?

Oh.

Okay, so it should be referred to as allegiance is what he's saying.

I pledge allegiance to Jesus Christ.

He's our king.

We have to have allegiance to him.

Um.

Wow.

Okay.

So I I would first and foremost go no.

We're gonna go actually with the lexicons on this and not with your theologizing, you know, so.

Here I would know so Luther had a good point that the theologian who errs in

grammar and definitions necessarily errors in theology and so so

already, I don't know who this master Bates is, but.

They said that loud.

Yeah, I don't know who he is, but I'm gonna make it very clear that His idea is not the

church's testimony.

This is not what the church is historically believed taught or confessed regarding what faith is and as a result of it

His new definition is exactly that it's new and the reason why the church has held

on To the idea that faith is trust faith is belief

is because the grammar the lexicon the Greek the both the Hebrew

and the Greek all Use those types of terms.

Does that make sense.

Yep, and then my immediate question is what's with the focus and the emphasis on allegiance to King

Jesus?

This sounds it almost sounds like that that begins to start to creep into a

weird form of Christian nationalism.

You know in Christ is King kind of weird stuff that we're hearing from the Nazi crowd.

Yep.

Yep, and then so here here's where I would I would argue then.

That if we're going to talk about a proper understanding of this.

We have to go to Ephesians 2 Ephesians 2 8 9 and 10 and my Greek students know

exactly where I'm going to go with this.

It says this for by grace.

You have been saved through faith.

This is not your own doing.

It is the gift of God.

Now.

Here's my question for you my Greek students.

What's the gift of God?

What's the gift of God?

Everything.

The faith the salvation The grace.

It is a package.

Deal.

So that being the case to say that faith is allegiance and therefore something I have to do I have to

make that I pledge allegiance to King Jesus.

That makes that makes faith into a work that I do Rather than a

gift given by God.

So so he's got a lot of strikes against him.

Number one the clear lexicon disagree with him and even if he can find lexicons that say that one of the

potential definitions of Pistis is going to be allegiance or Pistou is

going to be allegiance even if he can find those that doesn't mean that that's the definition used in

Scripture.

And You know when you now make this an act of my volition an act of my will now you're

into the Pelagian heresy.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah it right.

You're saved by grace.

For by grace you have been saved through allegiance and this is not your own doing it's the gift of God.

Just plug it into some of these passages.

It doesn't work.

Yeah,

well, well here's here.

Yeah.

Right.

Thing.

Everybody who saved does believe and they are the ones believing.

Okay, the best way I can put it since faith itself is a gift.

The ability to believe is a gift given by God.

That being the case.

Until you are converted you are regenerated by God.

It goes like this.

No, no.

And you go yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

Okay.

Hang on.

I got Something stuck in the back of my throat.

Ah.

Hopefully I can get rid of it.

Okay, so the idea then.

You cannot believe until you are regenerate.

Everybody who believes they have been as we saw in John 6 they have been.

They have been roped and drug into the kingdom of God.

Okay, you do not become a Christian by a volition of your will.

Okay, you do not have free will when it comes to God you have a bound will and God has to

unbind that and give you faith and.

You'll note then that when somebody is brought to faith God is the one who

gives it in repentance as part of that.

So when we in fact, there's a question here about repentance and let me let me pull up a text

here.

Acts chapter 11 in Acts chapter 11

When Peter explains what happened in Antioch and.

How.

The Gentiles believed.

The the circumcision party went silent in verse 18 of chapter 11 says when they heard these things they fell

silent and they glorified God saying then to the Gentiles also God has granted

repentance that leads to life.

Okay now.

This then you sit there and go.

Well, what does that have to do with faith?

It's actually quite simple.

The the reason why this has to do with it is because faith is properly defined as having two

components contrition and sorrow for sin and Confidence in

faith that God forgives sins for the sake of Christ.

So the second part of repentance is faith itself belief.

Okay, it is not it is not sufficient to be sorrowful for your sins.

That is insufficient.

Judas was sorrowful for betraying Christ.

And yet Christ says it would have been better had he never been born and he despaired of God's mercy and took his own life.

Right, so.

You look at then Peter.

Peter also felt sorrow for denying Christ but he

ultimately had faith that Christ would forgive him and So his faith did not fail and

as a result of it that gift that Christ had given him withstood the storm of his

temptation and his and his denial of Christ so God is the one who

grants repentance and repentance is going to include sorrow for sin and Faith and belief in Christ

for the forgiveness of your sins the two go together.

And so God is the one who grants that.

God is the one who gives it.

Repentance is not your part.

The text says God granted it, right?

That's the idea.

So we we'd like to point out especially in the Hebrew Old Testament that in when it is

describing things in terms of repentance repentance is oftentimes in the in the Old

Testament described using passive verbs and It in a better way to translate some of those texts would be

God is repenting them.

It's a fascinating thing.

Repentance is done passively to you by God through the means of grace if God didn't repent you if God

didn't give you faith.

Then you would have no ability to trust and believe in him.

You do not have that ability.

In fact, let me give you a text on that.

Is it Romans 5?

Hang on a second here.

Hmm.

Oh, it's 8.

Listen to these words.

To set the mind on the flesh is death.

To set the mind on the spirit is life and peace.

Now watch this the mind set on the flesh is hostile to God.

It does not submit to God's law.

Indeed it cannot.

Those who are in the flesh cannot please God so

this text legitimately says The mind that is set on the flesh Doesn't

submit to God's law and it cannot.

What's the first command you shall have no other gods before me?

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength.

You can't do that.

You can't obey it.

And so the person who believes that you make a conscience -free will decision Towards God

or you make a decision to make to give allegiance to King Jesus or any such nonsense it's a

denial of the doctrine of original sin, and it's the heart of the Pelagian heresy and

you're basically saying I can love God with all my heart.

I Can do it.

I can obey him.

No, you cannot.

God has to give you that.

Right.

So does that answer?

Why does this keep cutting out?

That's weird.

Does that answer your question Dan?

Okay, then restate the question so that I can.

Huh, you're fine.

Okay.

All right.

Okay.

Coming on moving on here.

Dorothy Bressler asked what is our obligation as Christians to vote in an election?

Should we choose the lesser of two evils?

Well said.

So I would note that we first and foremost when we talk about Civic

duties we have to talk about what we have freedom to do first.

Okay, so when we talk about Christian freedom.

Are we have to recognize where our consciences are bound?

Okay.

So for instance, I Am bound by God's law.

So if somebody were to come up with some weird platform, you know.

They were running for political office and they've decided that what we're going to do is we're going to kill

puppies.

That's part of their thing.

Okay, since we are obligated by God's law to care for the creation.

Anybody who had a platform that said we're gonna kill puppies.

I Do not have the freedom to vote for that person.

I just don't.

Okay, and I don't care what their party is because you're gonna note here in the course of my lifetime.

Have you seen how party platforms?

Morph and.

Change and You know, I I remember the platform of Ronald Reagan.

That was a pretty good platform.

I Don't see many platforms like that today.

All right.

So the idea then as Christians we have a lot of freedom a lot of freedom and then there's certain

things we can't do.

Absolutely can't and here's the issue.

Is that in the scriptures?

Representative Republic like ours isn't exactly in Addressed in

Scripture Paul was part of the Roman Empire and the the Roman Senate.

They'd absolutely did elect people but it was still at its core and you know an imperial

system that was that was in place and So Paul never addresses voting

never addresses it as you know, what what a Christian should or shouldn't do and.

So we recognize then in Scripture in Romans 4 it says where there is no law There is no sin.

So the Christian with the Christian who says you can't vote You have to stay away

from the kingdoms of the earth we sit there and go no.

There's no commandment that says we can't.

So I would note then that Christians then this is all going to come down to freedom

and Freedom that is bound by our conscience in this sense not in the ELCA sense our conscience being bound to the Word of

God.

So I can't support certain political people just straight up.

I can't because their platform is the endorsing of things that God forbids and

the normalizing of sin and abominations that God's law speaks against so I can't I

Can't promote that but I would note neither party is sinless in this regard.

Neither party is.

So sometimes the Christian like Dorothy Bressler asked Will find

themselves in a position of picking between Rank evil

and Developing evil, maybe that's a better way to put it.

Right because I'm gonna be blunt one party is full -on LGBTQ XYZ.

Okay, and it's pushing on us this whole idea of you know.

Gender.

Pronouns and trans and all this kind of stuff, but the other party they're only 15 years behind.

And there's already members of that party that are pushing for that right and.

So.

That being the case I foresee a time in in my lifetime if I make it

in another 15 20 30 years where I'm in conscience, they might not be able to vote for either party and

instead I might just prophetically be calling people to repent and And and

you know, but is that happening right now?

I don't know I legitimately don't know.

I Yeah, Maryland.

Yeah.

Platform of both are evil packs on both your houses, right?

But here by the way, what's the reason why we're experiencing this?

Right.

Let's be blunt I'm gonna I'm gonna place Almost all of the blame on the church.

I Work with me here.

I'm gonna prove my thesis, but I have to go.

Oh, man, I just look I ran out of time.

It's real simple back in the 1800s the church began to to depart from the Word of

God and Embrace the spirit of the age and has been doing so

ever since the mainline Denominations that were the bulwark of Christianity in this nation up until

a hundred years ago They've abdicated their belief that the Bible is the

inerrant infallible Word of God and call sinners to repent and as a result They have deviated from preaching Christ and him

crucified for our sins and calling sinners to repent and as they have done So evil has increased

exponentially it is the gospel that that God uses to make

believers and When the church doesn't preach the gospel and call sinners to repent People

don't become Christians.

And so the number of pagans in our country Per capita has grown exponentially and as long

as the Christian Church continues to abdicate its responsibility and instead is You know sending out people who claim

to be prophets who claim that God told him that Trump's gonna win the election and all this nonsense.

We're gonna continue to see evil increase Until the church repents and gets back on task.

So, all right.

I have to go.