You Can't Do That! — Shane Idleman

Just as upset as they are happy, and my type of messages kind of rub people the wrong way sometimes, like sandpaper on wood that needs to be kind of filed down a little bit. And what was really incredible, and let me just shoot you straight.

My struggle has been if we are to boast, we're to boast in what Christ has done. So on one hand, we're not to boast. God gets all the glory, all the credit. But on the other hand, I think it's important for people to know what God is doing, and what God is doing with Westside Christian Fellowship.

It's part of our unique calling as a church. So I was running into, I think there's about 400, 500 Christian leaders there, pastors, and how many of them actually follow the ministry, listen to the sermons, read the articles, and are inspired and encouraged and take that fire back to their congregation.

And so I was just kind of, wow, okay. I mean, and God was showing us. So my point in saying all that is God reinforced the fact that my message is not just for us locally, it's for us nationally. And that's what a lot of people forget.

You know, why aren't you like this Bible teacher where you just go through expeditionally and verse by verse, and it's hard for me to stay in Leviticus for seven months, because God put something on my heart.

There's nothing wrong with that. We need all of that, but we have to find out how has God uniquely wired me? And if you hear that message, fill me or kill me on YouTube, I told Pastor Abram, if I could go and preach that in every state in the nation, I would be a happy camper, because that's exactly what the hope is for our nation, to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

And I remember we were eating lunch, and Jack Kibbs had a line of people, and his wife, and he stopped what he was doing, walked over, gave me a big hug, and said, thank you for what you guys are doing.

His wife reads the articles, loves the boldness of the church, is like, Lord, what is this? It's kind of, it was a reality check that God is getting that message out there, and realizing that we are touching a lot of lives.

And so it really made me look internally and make sure I'm being faithful to the call that He has given me, not the opinions of men, what they think I should be, the mold I should be. And you know the famous line, you shouldn't be political.

Well, I got that reversed while I was gone, because being political right now is being biblical. All these issues, did you know, are biblical issues? And I run into people, if I was on their side of the aisle politically, they would like me talking about these issues.

But because I disagree with them, I'm political. But if I speak their language, oh, it's okay, if you speak about these issues. But I don't think that should be all of our time. I think it should just come up in the Word of God, and it comes up a lot.

It comes up a lot, and we have to make sure that we're not just lashing out in anger. We're not just, you know, and tit for tat, and we've gotta be better than that, and loving. And our president is saying some things that really, really upset me.

And it's hard not to make a meme Instagram post. Oh, mm, mm, mm. So most of you in this church are the problem with our democracy. So let's just get that out of the way. But I think those things need to be lovingly challenged.

That's blatant lies. And it's influencing the next generation. And lies have to be confronted with the truth. The truth will sit down and discuss the truth. Air will run from it, and they will label you like they label me.

They can't have a normal dialogue, because what do you dialogue? Air? Lying? And so my heart beats for that, but also understanding the foundation of the Gospel. But when Jesus changed my heart, He made me wanna talk about hot-button issues.

It's boldness. And I just got that reinforced at this event, because so many people came up, thank you for doing this, it's changing my life. Pastors and their churches. New Jersey, one of the radio producers, or the owners in New Jersey said that the sermons are one of their most requested programs on the air there in New Jersey and New York area.

And so it just was eye-opening, because I get discouraged like many of you. Lord, are we doing anything? Because you look at the news, seems like we're going backwards. And I like the new word out there, progressive.

Do you know you're not progressing if you're digressing from God's Word? That's not progressive. That's, you're going the wrong direction. You're going backwards, not forward. So don't get fed up, get fired up.

That's the key right now. So what I wanna talk to you about is everything, I changed that whole sermon Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and just wanted to share this with you. You can't do that. You can't do that.

Is there anything too hard for God? Thus sayeth the Lord. Is there anything too hard for me? And what really resonated with me is I heard a lot of things at this event, or just you'll hear it too, you know, you can't do that.

Especially, you can't do that in California. You can't start a school in California, Christian school. You can't do that. God's not gonna do that. I mean, just a guy went off yesterday on, it's pointless to even pray for a spiritual awakening and revival.

Haven't you read Revelation? Yeah, but I've read all 66 books of the Bible. And God tells us to contend, to be that light in darkness, to expose and to be hopeful, to be vigilant, to fight for what is right, to pray for another awakening of God's spirits.

And so I believe we can do things that they say you can't do that. And they'll scare you with statistics about how the Word of God is being removed from churches. How the Word of God is not, many don't have a biblical worldview anymore.

Over 43 of our nation thinks that we will be in a civil war under a decade, the way things are going. And it's such a hard topic, because as Christians, we don't want that. But there's so much at stake right now.

Calling good evil and evil good. You're talking about sexual perversion with kids. You're talking about glorifying evil and the occult and things that are so dark and demonic. I mean, at what point do you capitulate and roll over and become a doormat?

Or do you be filled with the Holy Spirit and become a steamroller? For good. And so those who say you can't do that to you, have you heard that? Does the enemy ever put those thoughts up here? You can't pray for your spouse or your children.

They're not going to change. You can't pray to break that addiction. You can't do that. It's not going to happen. That's stronghold. That's situation. And then we get beat up inside internally and we get discouraged.

Now before we do something for God, sometimes we do have to adjust. Make adjustments. You don't quit. You make adjustments. You tweak the plans maybe a little bit. You don't give up. And so I believe, as Philippians says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Now I cringe at how many times that verse has been misinterpreted. You've all heard it. Maybe we've used it in the past in the wrong way. But basically, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

In other words, if God puts something on your heart, you're filled with the Holy Spirit. God gives you that desire. He wants you to do it. No matter what comes, no hell or high water, you will accomplish, you can accomplish that goal because you can do all things if God's put that desire in you through the power of the Holy Spirit.

And that's what we have to get back to. And that's why I really beat the same drum because unless we're filled with the Spirit, we will not see a difference in our nation, in our homes, in our churches, unless there's a mighty downpour of God's Spirit, a spiritual awakening, the darkness will keep covering our lives and our homes.

God's got to shine through, arise and shine, and let God work through your heart. You can do what God has put on your hearts. God sees our perseverance and your perseverance. You're not fleeing. You're feeding on God's word.

You're not complaining. You're seeking God. You're not giving up. You're standing up. You're not backing down. You are boldly confronting. I believe when people begin to flee or live in fear and they're always complaining that God can't do much in their life because now they're quenching and grieving the Spirit and they stay stuck and stupid.

I've been there. That's where the enemy wants you. Certificate of non-operation from the DMV. You get a spiritual certificate of non-operation. Out of commission, put that joker to the side. Get rid of him or her.

Just put them out in the garage. Let them just dwell on their misery and what they can't accomplish and negativity. And that will keep you from doing almost anything for God. Because you're not even given a spirit of fear.

You're given a spirit of peace and of sound mind. So where does that fear come from or that discouragement from the enemy? And I know it gets discouraging. It gets disheartening. And I've heard people tell me this.

California can't be revived. As many people as we would talk to, my wife can attest to this too, is they would, when you're in California, like, ooh, ah, California. You guys, that guy, your governor, and that's like, everybody's like, ooh.

They cringe like, wow. I mean, you know how many people told me you should move to where we're at. Florida, Tennessee, Texas. You should, why? I mean, people, God moves people, of course. But why, why, why?

What's my reasoning? Well, California, yeah, but actually, the heat of the battle. The Navy SEALs go in first. The Navy SEALs are on the front lines. Or the Army Rangers. Or there's the front line workers.

You can't do that in California. How are you going to exist as a church? The more they restrict, the more they push and they pressure. You're not gonna be able to have that full ministry that God wants to do in California.

You can't do that. California can't be revived. So, if you didn't get the email that we sent out, the text message, I shared a little bit of things we receive at the church. I don't share a lot of things, and some things I just sit on them.

I received it on July 26th, but I just sent it to you. I don't even know, we might even have it up on the screen. I don't remember if I sent it to them or not. Oh, we did, okay, good. This person, a friend of mine, Linda, some of you know her.

About four months, five months before COVID, she sent me something similar. And so it's like, every couple years, she goes, you know, along the same lines, God's gonna shut down basically a lot of churches that aren't following His word.

And I'm like, yeah, okay, whatever. And then what happens? And so what we do with people, this gift of, say, a prophetic word, is we don't go to the bank with it. We don't live off of it. But there is a spirit of expectation, and God will begin to show or reveal or prepare.

That's an often, when God puts something on someone's heart to share with you, it's to prepare you. And you might not know this or not, but a lot of my preaching is not in my notes. It comes out, these rabbit trails.

And God will speak to His people prophetically. And that's why the book of 1 Corinthians was written, to show how the gifts of the Holy Spirit operate. So this was sent to me. I sat on it, what now, are we, June 22?

That's two months, at least, two and a half months. And what we do as a church, I just wanna share it with you for two reasons. Number one, you can just see if it happens. It's all I'm gonna do. I haven't changed my plans.

I haven't ordered chairs and more chairs and blew out walls to get ready for expansion, nothing. I just wait and see. What is God confirming in our own hearts? But it helps to prepare us. So she felt the Lord really strongly put this on her heart.

I'm doing a new thing, thus says the Lord of hosts. That Lord of hosts is interesting because it's the Lord of the armies of heaven. Just let that soak in. The army, heaven has an army. Jesus said, if my kingdom is not of this world, if it was, we would have fought.

And the armies of heaven are gonna follow Him. John said, He saw heaven open, and there was a white horse, and He who sat on it was called Faithful and True, and His eyes are like flames of fire, and the armies of heaven follow after Him.

Out of His mouth goes a sword that He will strike the nations, and He will rule those nations with a rod of iron and tress of winepress and fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And so it's good to remind ourselves of that verse because we have this idea that Jesus is coming back as a lamb.

He came as a lamb. He's coming back as a lion. And the world will not be prepared to meet their Maker, their Judge. And I've heard people quote the Shain. Look, Jesus said He's not coming to condemn the world, but save the world.

Right, that was His first coming. His second coming is not to save. That's already been done. The second coming is to judge. That's when that judgment will take place. For the changes in the worship team that you see have been ordained by Me, says the Lord of hosts.

And that's why I didn't release this, because I didn't want past worship leaders to be upset at all or offended. And you know the Lord, He says, hey, if I said this, you're embarrassed to share it? Well, feelings might get hurt.

Yeah, maybe. But when God says it, and just so you know, I don't take this as the Word of God. I don't take any word by man as the Word of God. But I understand that God speaks to His people to prepare us for things.

And what happens if something like this were to happen? I can probably pick them out now if I had time. Many of you will not be here. Maybe not many. Why? Why? Because many are cold and carnal and callous and they cannot handle the fire of God.

The Holy Spirit will fall on the worship team and the Holy Ghost will fall on West Side Christian Fellowship like you've never seen before. I give you this Word because I want to do a new thing. I want to let you know, basically.

And the worship will go to a new level as the Holy Ghost takes over. New tongues will profess that I am God, saith the Lord of hosts. Be careful that you do not quench it, for I am about to do a new thing in my church.

And when I read that, I still get those goosebumps. He didn't call it Shane's church. Or the Elder's church. I love it. Isn't that exciting? My church. Because see, when it's His church, I just have to obey.

What do you want? This is your church. You handle the finances. You handle the situations that come up. You have asked for it and I will deliver. What have we asked for? For how many years? I sent you in that email a prayer or something God put on my heart over a decade ago.

And what it talked about is you really don't want revival. Do you? And I said, Lord, you're right, I don't, because I've got my MacArthur Study Bible here and we've got an image to uphold and it takes time for God to break you.

And that's what I meant many people. If this, let's say, if that were to happen in a very conservative church, the church would fold. Because we become so comfortable with the carnal that we're deeply affected when God begins to move in deep and profound ways.

So again, I'm just sharing it with you to say, we'll see. Let's see. Makes me a little nervous. What does that look like? I mean, I've been in environments many times where I've spoke, I've shared a lot of this with you, so I won't go into a lot of detail, where I just, I can't even go up to speak.

I'm just there, just God is just pouring into my heart full of the Holy Spirit and the worship has to continue and I can't speak. There's been times where worship just felt like it was cutting, cutting into heaven and giving us a glimpse of what God is doing because the Holy Spirit is beginning to touch hearts.

And the proud and arrogant and the coward and the carnal will run for cover. Did you know that's consistent throughout church history? Those who do not want the fire of God do not receive it. I just want comfortable Christianity.

I don't want to be rocked to my core. I don't want to be convicted. There's a poem, I wish I was going to think of finding it, but you can probably find it online. I think it's called Three Pounds of God.

I just want three pounds of God, please, not enough to explode my soul, just enough to satisfy me. And we've got to be desperate for more of God. So you can make a difference in your family and in your ministry, starting a ministry in California, being the light and shining in the darkness.

But here's a few things I need to share with you. You can if you're open, but cautious. That's why I read that prophetic word. Because I believe we do have to be open for what God is doing. Anybody disagree?

Maybe, talk to me afterwards. Now that might concern me if I didn't put the other word up there. But cautious, open. Open, Lord, what do you want to do? But I'm also cautious, because when God is moving, so is the enemy.

Not everything that might take place in a powerful move of God is of God. Have you ever thought about this? One of the most challenging doctrines for people, one of the things that is usually counterfeited the most or causes the most amount of division in a church.

I was part of a church split with the Calvary Chapel when we first got married over this issue. People like to debate me on this issue. A guy got a little upset with me recently because of this issue.

And that in theological terms is called pneumatology. The study of the Holy Spirit. And it's so hotly debated. And there's a lot of contention. A lot of division, a lot of critiquing, a lot of critical spirits.

Most of the websites you see that are critiquing people and doing things are over this issue. The power of the Holy Spirit. And those who believe in a deep, passionate work of God and those who don't really.

And I don't know if it's coincidence, but I was watching at the pastor's conference. And there's a couple guys there from a very fundamental conservative church. You know, like suit and tie, don't do this stuff.

And they would always avoid the worship when Sean Foyt was their leading worship. And funny story, I guess I should tell you. But there's a pool for kids over here. I'm in this other pool for adults. And his kids come running into that pool.

And this lady goes, oh, you gotta get them out. And he comes over here. And I'm like, it wasn't me. I didn't turn them in. Some other mean lady did. But it was just, there was a funny side note on that.

But anyway, him doing worship, another local worship. And when it's expressing, it's emotional, it's engaging. Not everybody's real comfortable with that. And you've heard, maybe you haven't, but on YouTube, like Justin Peters or Wretched Radio, Todd Fryo, Phil Johnson, you know, who works for Grace To You with John McCarthy, I've watched.

And these guys, they throw everybody in the same, they throw everybody into the same camp. Oh, you have emotional worship. You must be like Bethel. Not really, I'm like the Bible. What does the Bible say?

And it's over sensationists and continuationists. Have the gifts and the power of the Holy Spirit seized? Have they not? And then from there, why is it, when we talk about prayer and fasting and revival and emotions and engage with God at the altar, those other churches won't do that.

You would never see that. You'll never see these conservative type churches at the altar, we don't do that. Fasting, that was through the Old Testament. It's always on that deeper life, that deeper experience, that digging deeper with God.

They don't go there. And so when those people go there, they put them down. And they throw them all in the same camp. And there's a big division within the church. And so now as a church, we find ourselves, any church finds themselves in this position of, well, I don't want to be weird.

I don't want to be weird, do you want to be weird? But I don't want to be dead. That's why I often give the circus and cemetery environment. And that's what's hard to navigate in these waters. And that's why this really stood out.

Be careful that you do not quench it. But what does that look like? Being too conservative or getting carried away? And why being led of the Holy Spirit is so important. And so that's a big challenge in churches.

Those who take the Bible to mean what it says, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are for today. He might draw people to the altar. Worship might be an hour long. You might have worship nights. You might have times of prayer and fasting.

That deeper life. Because if you don't want to go there, that upsets you, doesn't it? Here's the irony. Over the years, the people that get the most upset at me, Christians, are when I talk about the deeper things.

Is that not true, Pastor Abram? Keep it on the shelf, brother. Don't go to this fasting at the altar. Just a bunch of wood. This is just a bunch of wood. That's not an altar. Prayer nights. Having us come to worship morning, you're bugging us, it's too much.

Because we can be content. We don't want more of God. We're comfortable. Really, you're calloused. And that is one of the biggest struggles that we face as leadership in this church. How do you allow the power of the Holy Spirit to completely take over?

While at the same time, as leaders, stewarding this incredible gift that God has given us. For example, one thing, as leaders, we are completely on the same page with this. We believe, I believe, and I've shared this.

You can listen to my message on speaking in tongues. It's an hour-long message. It's on our website. I shared it on there as well. Reading the Bible, we don't see that as a person can just blurt it out and cause a little confusion.

New believers, what's going on here? No interpretation. What is that? That's not productive. And somebody did that a while back, and we said, hey, we can't do that. Think we ever saw them again? That's pride.

And then there's those who, if you even talk about that, that's of the devil. So wait a minute, Paul enjoyed this gift. Paul talked about this gift. He told the church how to utilize this gift, but now that we have the Bible, it's of the devil.

When did it switch? Now there's a lot of things done in the name of the Holy Spirit. See, back to what I said earlier. Absolutely none of this is in my notes. So obviously, obviously, because this topic of the Holy Spirit is so important.

This is how you get on fire for God. You get broken and humble and filled with the Spirit. Out of that filling of the Holy Spirit, you might want to encourage people to fast and to pray and to get to that altar, because God is crying on the Father.

If you seek me, you'll find me. And there's a desperation. There's a yearning. There's a desire. And that does not look like normal conservative Christianity. That's why the church is dead. Think about how many churches are in the valley.

Even here, I mean, I'd be embarrassed to say. How many people, we're gonna get out, we're gonna start shopping, we're gonna hear that God has healed some people at these churches? Maybe none. They did a survey.

I think it was a Southern Baptist survey a couple years ago. And some churches hadn't led a person to the Lord in what, a couple years? No baptism, blah, mm, mm, mm. Now I'm not putting down any denomination.

I'm actually, God isn't into denominations. He's into Spirit-filled churches, filled with His Spirit. And so see, the power of the Holy Spirit and what God wants to do is not being done in many churches.

I went to a church in town when we were married. They wouldn't even talk about this topic. Just very, you know, the songs were down a certain amount. The message was exactly 35 minutes. One song and then whatever.

It's just the same thing. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Treadmill church. Or cookie cutter, I should say. Is that the church of the living God? Now I've been to other churches that are a little carried away.

I'm like, guys, you have no character. That's not God. I don't care how high you jump. I wonder how straight you walk when you come down. Live it out. You're all excited, but you're beating your wife.

You're hitting her. Praise the Lord, brother. Yeah, but you're not tithing, you're not giving, and you're stealing money at work. Give me a break. And so we think that the Holy Spirit's in the volume or in the actions or in the weirdness.

It's not in that either. It's actually the Holy Spirit's in boldness. Boldness to confront the culture and testify to what Jesus has done in your life. You show me that person, and that person's filled with the Spirit.

But then we become wrongly judgmental. As by nature, I'm not a really emotional guy. You know, when I was raised, I told you, my dad said, you know, when I would get hurt, boy, you don't cry. Get your, you know, up.

Let's go to work. You don't cry unless your arm's cut off or something. Non-emotional, very, mm. But when God begins to flood you with His emotions, that's a very good thing. It's a God thing. Who said you shouldn't feel emotions when worshiping and experiencing God and seeking God?

That's what emotions are to me, a gift from God, that I can feel the power and presence of Christ in my life. The closer I draw near, when the Bible says, draw near to Him, and He will draw near to you, you don't think you're gonna feel that?

Did you catch that? No, I'm just a robot on autopilot. No, there's drawing near to God. He draws near to you. God begins to break you and humble you. Tears begin to flow. You see, oh, my prodigal son, daughter, might come home.

Oh, God, you're breaking your heart. You're hearing that the brass is now gone and the heavens are open. God, you draw near to me. I feel your peace has surpassed all understanding. Don't get emotional.

Oh, dear, I'd like to say a lot more than that, but yes. And it drives me crazy because these men, these men, suit and ties, all astute, theologically sound, the very thing they need is the very thing they are mocking.

So what happens when the names I mentioned earlier, when they start to do videos poking fun at, they call charismatic, some of those people deserve to be taken off the air. I got it. Absolutely. My goodness.

What a bad representation of the Holy Spirit. But now they think all of us must be that way because, oh, you believe the gifts are for today. That means you're weird. Actually, did you know something?

You have a harder time proving in Scripture, in Scripture, that they are not for today than I have proving that they are for today. Because all I have to do is read the Bible. You have to say, well, in the third century when the church came together and they put the Bibles together and they chose the 66 books, that was what they called the can of Scripture.

Now we don't need that anymore because that which is perfect comes, that which is in part will be done away with. Now we have that which is perfect. No, we don't. That which is perfect is Jesus Christ.

That's when tongues will cease. That's when prophecy will cease. But love will never fail. And so they just take that whole Scripture out of context to support wrong theology. And I believe it's a big deal.

I believe when you pull out the power of the Holy Spirit and you just rest on your theological expository preaching, that's all you rest upon. Don't get carried away. Don't do this. Don't let God move.

You're doing a very big disservice to the church. I'm still in point one. But guys, this is so important. This is so important. You have to be open, but cautious. And it's hard because pride is involved.

I don't want people thinking a weird thing about West Side Christian Fellowship, but I also don't want to be a dead cemetery where no lives are changed. And so I just say, just have grace with us. We're theologically sound.

We love the Word of God. I study the Word of God. That's our foundation. But God might do something that lines up with His Word. He might do something that's outside of your theological box. Not outside of truth, but what you think God can do.

I've been in one service in Lancaster. I'll never forget this. I apologize if I've told this story too much, but everyone's new after COVID. But it was, and I think it was Ronnie. Ronnie Fray leading worship.

He's actually going to help out a few times in I think September, October. And you can't explain it. How do you explain when you feel heaven coming to earth? And it wasn't just me. The altar's full. And it's just one of those times where God is just ministering to your heart.

And I literally didn't want to come up and preach. You're walking on holy ground. I'm going to stop this. I have a few announcements. I mean, God's doing what He's doing. And so I just came up. It was hard to even, I said, guys, we just got to keep worshiping.

I don't know what else to say. And boy, was that a worship service. Again, not weird. Just worshiping at the altar. God is just restoring. And afterwards, one of the ushers came out. I think his name was Fred.

He goes, hey, a guy left here pretty upset. Like, wow, why? He goes, because I came here to hear preaching. He missed it. He missed the move of God. What arrogance. You don't need preaching. Your pride needs to be crushed.

Who would get upset at that? Somebody who doesn't like worship. And here's the thing, when somebody's uncomfortable in worship, that really shows a lot. Because you can sit down and read the Bible and not be too offended.

Just, you know, okay, this is, yeah. But when you're worshiping, you either gotta be engaged or run for cover. You either gotta be engaged or say, you know what? Ah, I gotta go to the bathroom. I'm hungry.

We make it so open but cautious. We've gotta be open but cautious. And I've got a quote from George Watson. I believe I said that as well. The true saints of God, who have clear heads and pure warm hearts, I believe that's us, correct?

Have in all generations had to walk between two extremes of cold formality on the one side and wild ranting fanaticism on the other. Dead formality and false fire of fanaticism are both Satan's counterfeits and he does not care into which extreme the soul plunges.

And that's what I was trying to explain to you earlier. There's a, anytime the Holy Spirit is working, so is the enemy. If the enemy's not working, you have to wonder. And that's why you'll see in a powerful worship service like we're in the heavens, we love them, but they bring a lot of demonic opposition.

And you'll see God moving, but then you'll see also maybe somebody we don't know and then they outburst. What was that about? Gotta stop this move of God. Have you ever thought about if the enemy's not trying to stop a church service, he actually gets some families in some churches, why?

Because they're not gonna be profoundly moved and deeply impacted. The more you step up your game and wanna serve God, the more you're gonna have to face opposition. You gotta, we've gotta be open, but cautious.

When we're cold, the spirit can't break through because we're frozen. When we're carnal, God, the spirit can't move because we look like the church in Corinth. And when we're calloused, our heart is so hard like stone.

A genuine spiritual awakening isn't confusing, it's convicting. That's why most people don't like it. It's not confusing, it's crystal clear that God is moving and breaking and shaping and reviving. It's just really convicting.

And I think it's the difference between being spiritually revived and on life support. Think about that when you leave here. Are you spiritually alive on fire or are you on life support, spiritually speaking?

The machine keeping you going. I got Sundays when I make it. Now and then, Wednesdays, I don't know about that. Kind of cuts in my schedule. And again, the next point, we can make a difference. I do wanna talk about this.

If pastors become prophets, not puppets. If pastors become prophets, not puppets. And since we do have many leaders here, not here, but listening, I think it's so important. Many of you have heard the term bully pulpit.

Have you heard that term? It actually didn't mean bully like we think bully. It was like an awesome, awesome opportunity and Theodore Roosevelt coined that phrase. He said, when you have the president making certain speeches, it's like a bully pulpit to change the nation.

And of course, that has stopped throughout the years because everyone used to listen to the president's speech. Now, it's a lot different. But in looking at, even like Benjamin Franklin, I think he was one of the signers who signed all four documents, the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, Peace Treaty with France and something to do with Paris as well.

And he would be inspired by who? George Whitefield. Others, Washington would be inspired by his pastor. See, the pulpit would set the tone of the nation, spiritually speaking. They would have sermons on the practical application of this legislation.

So see, we have bought into a huge lie that the church should get away from this topic. Actually, the church has been involved in this topic. That's why the enemy doesn't, you think the enemy wants the light of the gospel, the light of truth shining into this area?

Absolutely not. Jeremiah 5, an astonishing and horrible thing has been committed in the land. What language he used. Look, what stronger language can you use? An astonishing, it just, Jeremiah, the prophet says, it blows my mind.

It's inconceivable and it is horrible. It is evil. The prophets, God's spokesmen, prophesy falsely. And the priest, God's leaders in the church would rule by their own power. And this other line is what's happening today.

And my people love to have it so. They will look for teachers who will tell them what they want to hear. Jeremiah 10 .21, for the shepherds have become dull-hearted and have not sought the Lord. I have a quote from Tozer, but I think I'm gonna pass on that one because it's pretty lengthy and the application really is if this was a group of pastors, I would probably read it.