July 17, 2019 Show with Lou Veiga on “Tyranny: Its Cause & Cure” (Part 2)

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Live from the historic parsonage of the 19th century Gospel Minister George Norcross in downtown

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Carlisle, Pennsylvania, it's Iron Sharpens Iron. This is a radio platform in 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 chapter 27 verse 17 tells us, Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

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Matthew Henry said that in this passage, we are cautioned to take heed with whom we converse and directed to have a view in conversation to make one another wiser and better.

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

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And now, here's your host, Chris Arnzen. Good afternoon,

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

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This is Chris Arnzen, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, wishing you all a happy Wednesday on this 17th day of July 2019.

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And I'm thrilled to have back as a returning guest someone who I know that I'm going to want on this program frequently in the future as well.

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His name is Lou Vega. He's the senior pastor of Covenant Church, which is a congregation in the

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Presbyterian Church in America denomination in Houston, Texas. Lou Vega was born in Cuba and fled with his family to America after Fidel Castro's communist revolution and takeover.

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And today he is addressing part two of a discussion that we began several weeks ago, part two of Tyranny, Its Cause and Cure.

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And it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, Pastor Lou Vega. Well, thank you very much,

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Brother Chris. I feel very, very welcome. Thank you. Well, I would like you, for the sake of those listeners hearing you for the first time, or even for those that heard you the first time but now have forgotten the details about Covenant Church in Houston, Texas.

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Tell us about Covenant Church, Houston, Texas. Well, we're a Presbyterian church, which is an important thing to consider given the topic.

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Presbyterianism is probably the most robust expression of the liberty that we have in Christ to express the government of our

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Lord in a representative fashion, not just in the particular church, that is to say, the church with the pastor and its congregants, but also

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Presbyterian churches in aggregate, regional, and then national churches. And so we are in the

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Presbyterian church in America, and we're right in the energy corridor here in West Houston, a lot of oil and gas companies.

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So we've got a number of employees in that industry. Strangely, we've got now in Houston, we still are getting a lot of people both immigrating here and also doing work here from various nations, especially

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West Equatorial Africa. And our small church probably has right now about 18 nationalities, and we're about a 175 -member church.

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So that's a great degree of diversity of nations and cultures and languages.

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And so if you like that international flavor and enjoy it maintained in a reformed setting, we subscribe, of course, to Westminster Confession of Faith and its catechisms, then, you know, check us out.

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We love to sing. We're a singing church, and our auditorium here is especially designed for hearing the word and for getting the word and song out of people's mouths and sharing it.

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So it's a friendly congregation, and I am bilingual, so there are people here that excel in multiple languages.

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So I think you'll find someone to talk to. Now, do you ever have

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Spanish -speaking worship services in addition to the English? I actually have a friend that you've got to get to meet sometime.

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His name is Peter Padro, originally from Puerto Rico, and he and his wife

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Sonia are dear friends of mine. At one time, many years ago when I first met him in the 90s, he was the pastor of the

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Church of the Good Neighbor in Spanish Harlem, which at the time,

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I don't know where they are at today, but at the time they were a conservative, Calvinistic congregation within the

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PCUSA, which, as you know, is a liberal denomination, but Peter was not and is not liberal.

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But anyway, he used to, believe it or not, this is the first time I've ever seen this happen, he, on a regular basis, when he preached, would preach in English and immediately translate his own several sentences that he had just spoken in English.

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He would translate them instantly into Spanish and go back and forth in the same message.

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He didn't have an interpreter. He did that himself. Yes. Well, sure. Now, I can do that, and when

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I visit Oakland in East Houston, which is a primarily Spanish -speaking congregation, on Saturdays I sometimes will help out at their luncheons, and then

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I'll give a short address, you know, 15 to 20 minutes. I'll do that. I'll read the

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Bible passage in English and Spanish and go back and forth. You know, when

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I was in Kentucky, I was visiting the federal prison, and there were a great number of inmates from Columbia, South Carolina, and Venezuela, Mexico, a few

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Cubans from South Florida and other places, and they, many of them had

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Spanish -only skills, so I was working with a chaplain there, and I would read, and we would study, and I would preach in Spanish.

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So I can go both ways. I can go both ways. Now, in this congregation, should the

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Lord lead us in that direction, that'd be, I don't know. Again, I do nothing.

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I do absolutely nothing without the direction of our elders, this section of elders. So if they think that would be a good idea,

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I would do it. Or we could hold a separate service, and I could be like Calvin, preach multiple times in a day, that's fine.

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But the scary thing would be that that would make my sermons maybe twice as long, and that would be really insufferable.

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I doubt that they would be insufferable. But if anybody wants to investigate, explore, maybe a better word, more details on Covenant Church in Houston, Texas, you can go to covenantpca .org,

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Covenant PCA, which stands for Presbyterian Church in America, covenantpca .org. And why don't you also,

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I know that you are a graduate of the Greenville Theological Seminary in Greenville, South Carolina.

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It's actually in Taylor, South Carolina, right? Taylor, yes. And it used to be in Greenville, I believe, or something like that.

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Well, Taylor's is a little forgotten town. It used to be a small mill town that got sanguished between Greer and Greenville.

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Never incorporated into Greenville properly. So, yeah, but... But it's actually

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Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, even though one of my pastors, John Miller, is a

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Reformed Baptist, and he was a graduate of there, in addition to other places he's graduated from.

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Well, when I was there, and I'll be very truthful, some of the best men that have gone through there have been

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Reformed Baptists. I knew it, I knew it! Well, that's true.

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I'm just being honest. They were always very good friends, very kind, and even extending a welcome to...

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If I'm ever... I have another fellow that's in Canada. He says, if you're ever in Toronto, please, by all means, you know, you're welcome to our pulpit.

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Things like that. Very, very kind. Just very, very... Chris Powell's another fellow. If he's on the air, I'll say, Hello, Chris.

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Well, I want to give their website, especially since we interview so many people who are graduates of that fine institution, in addition to faculty, gpts .edu.

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And while I'm doing that, I obviously have to plug the seminary that supports this program financially, the

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IRBS Theological Seminary in Mansfield, Texas, a Reformed Baptist seminary. Their website is

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IRBSseminary .org. IRBSseminary .org.

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There's two S's back -to -back in the middle. Don't forget that. But I had to do that, obviously, because they are kind and gracious and benevolent enough to keep this show on the air with their finances.

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But we began a fascinating subject the last time you were on, discussing our topic that we are continuing to discuss today, tyranny and its cause and cure.

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If you could, because it's such an important aspect of this entire topic and the reason why you are an excellent candidate to talk about this topic, please, in summary form, tell us about your own flight with your family from Cuba after Fidel Castro tragically, successfully, led a communist revolution and takeover of that beautiful country,

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Cuba. Well, yeah, Chris, I'll oblige you, even though it's one of those things

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I don't often share with people, except if they have a similar background.

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I mean, in Cuban -Americans, we exchange stories like baseball cards, and every family has a story.

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But our exodus was pretty clean and simple, simply because, as I mentioned in the last radio program, we lived right next door to Castro's Havana Army Base Camp in Cojimar.

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And so, well, as a boy, being four or five years old, I would go into that camp with my friend, who was four years old, and his father was a soldier, and I'd take a look around, and it was obvious that quite a bit of escalation was going on, and I would tell my dad about all the wonderful machinery that I'd see.

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There's jeeps, and there's rocket launchers, and I didn't know what

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I was doing. I was just fascinated with all the trucks and the tanks. But you can imagine living in a bedroom community in Havana.

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That property used to be owned by an American businessman, and now it's become this.

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So anyway, my father had a good nose for politics and could read the situation very, very plainly, so we got out very easily in 1960.

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It was by deception, of course. We bought two -way tickets, and then we only used one way.

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And at first, my father stayed behind because some of the older folks were reluctant to change.

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They weren't sure, they weren't ready, et cetera. He remained a couple of months beyond to get as many as our relatives wanted to get out.

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Same way, just airplane ticket, whatever. But in my case, and I didn't get into this last time, and it might be something of interest because of the nature of our subject of tyranny, you need to understand that in communist countries that are just recently turning communist, there's a great push to capture the minds of the youth, and the younger the youth, the better.

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And so all of the schools, all of the public schools, are charged with the task of identifying students that are promising.

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Now, my mother and my father had me reading when I was before 4 years old.

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My mother had a library, and I was there, and I was enjoying books.

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So I did very well in kindergarten. And so what happened is we left quite easily on that plane, and when we arrived in Miami, we were free.

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My mother and my great aunt, my sister, my brother, myself. However, one week after we had departed, there were some government officials that came around our neighborhood, and they had papers served for me.

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They had a warrant to find out my whereabouts, and they were interested in my whereabouts.

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And so this story was narrated to me, by the way, by our next -door neighbors, whom we serendipitously met, providentially met, at a

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Naples beach on a picnic. We hadn't seen them in, like, 20 years. Wow. Oh, yeah. So we swapped stories, and this is just what we were doing on the air.

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We were just swapping one of our stories, which, of course, is almost unbelievable to American ears, but we're used to this.

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We're Cuban -American. We swap stories. Anyway, so they told me, and I said, I said to my friend, what are you talking about?

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What kind of men would be interested in me? And he said, well, look, they insisted.

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They interviewed me. They interviewed my mother. They went by your house, and they wanted to see you.

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And so this is what happens. That was the

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Lord protecting me and our family. Otherwise, who knows? I would have probably been, you know, a first lieutenant in some

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African country inciting foment.

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So anyway. But anyway, we went out, and it was easy. It was a nick of time. By the way, there were other

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Cubans doing this, because they had their heads up, and they wanted to get their children out of Cuba very, very early.

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And so there was a project that was called Pedro Pan. That's the Spanish variant of Peter Pan.

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Peter Pan leads children in flight, and they leave. And so Pedro Pan was an airlift to get the youth out of the families in Cuba by their parents, get them stateside here in America where they have liberty and their family can rejoin them later, because the communist regime was so active.

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Now, I hate to tell you this, but I'm going on the record here. This is, I hope, if the folks in National Public Radio ever listen in, they're free to investigate this claim.

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But National Public Radio, back about 10 years ago, or maybe 12 years ago, flat out denied that there was ever any such operation called

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Pedro Pan. But I'm here to tell you that there were plenty of children that I knew in the state of Florida that were rescued by that sort of operation.

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What do you think the motivation would be of NPR to do that? I don't know.

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To cover that up, I mean. I could only surmise. But I could tell you this.

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A friend of mine at Asbury College asked me to talk about the situation with youth in Cuba, and I had to tell him that our

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State Department really did not want to acknowledge that Cuban parents have their children and they are theirs until the age of nine.

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And then after the age of nine, Cuban parents in Cuba have no authority or official ownership at all.

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I mean, if there's bonds of love, fine, but they belong to the state. And so that was in the days when

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Janet Reno was doing her thing there in Florida.

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And we had a situation there with a young Cuban that made it over, but he had to be returned.

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So anyway, that sort of journey is exercised, and our

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State Department is a little bit moot on it. National Public Radio is a little bit moot on it, and I'm sure you're going to get calls regarding this conspiracy theory, but there you have it.

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Call away. Now, before we go on to continue where we left off on the discussion of tyranny, its cause and cure,

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I'd like to ask you about the cause of tyranny.

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Would you say that all forms of tyranny in some fashion involve, even if this is unconscious on the part of the tyrants involved, but would you say that the root of all tyranny is really when men wish to become

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God or be viewed as God, even if they might consider themselves atheists?

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We know from Romans 1 there are no real atheists, but would you say that even if it's an unconscious thing, that tyrants basically all have that in common, that they want to be

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God or be viewed as God? Yeah, there's no doubt,

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Chris. I mean, you've hit it right on the head, and you've stated it very succinctly.

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We have to understand, and being Reformed helps us here, because the

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Reformed Baptists of all sorts, all kinds of Presbyterians who believe the confessions of the

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Great Reformation in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, we believe in the sovereignty of God, absolute sovereignty, and of course, bearing upon election and predestination, that becomes especially interesting to us, because we take those things very, very personally as children of God.

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That explains how we got into the family of God in the first place. This is our birthright. This is wonderful. However, much of the

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Christian world is not there in that doctrine, and they don't understand that when you take the absolute sovereignty of God and you flip it, what you get is that tendency in the fallen human heart to mimic

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God, but in a perverse way. And that's exactly what tyranny is. Absolute power concentrated in the hands of a benevolent king is liberty.

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And our modern -day libertines won't understand that concept, because they think liberty is something of an abstract principle where we just unleash all reigns, and it's really no different what

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Psalm 2 is expressing, that the desires of the pagan nations wanted to become unhinged from Christ, the anointed one, who's firmly set upon Zion.

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That's from Psalm 2. But, yeah, we have that. And, you know,

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I especially like that writing question. Last time we interviewed Chris, that asked me, why is it that liberals vehemently deny that if we do not pursue

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God's righteousness in Christ as he has revealed it in his scripture, why is it that they don't believe us at all?

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They scoff at the idea that they would ever be under bondage, that this would lead to tyranny and all that.

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And that is, well, and I answered, well, it's just under their nose. That's kind of a bad answer.

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It's kind of a, yeah, shoot -from -the -hip Texas answer. A better answer really is this, that they have no choice.

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You have to serve someone. And if you serve God in the liberty that Christ provides in his spirit, then you're free indeed.

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We'll talk about that later when we talk about the cure. But if you worship any other, or if you do not worship

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God, then you will worship anything or anybody.

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And that's just how reality is structured. Right. Yes, in fact,

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I love that old Bob Dylan song that he wrote and recorded while he was professing to be a born -again evangelical

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Christian. I don't know where he is theologically this day. But you've got to serve somebody.

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It may be the devil, it may be the Lord, but you've got to serve somebody. And he was absolutely right. Everybody's got to serve somebody.

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That's right. All you need is a guitar. That's good. And one thing that we who are conservative

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Christians must always remind ourselves over is that the communists and the socialists and the leftists aren't the only ones necessarily guilty of this trend towards usurping

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God's authority. Tragically, in the lives of Christians, when they are disobeying

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God, you very often have. I don't think it's the predominant problem in evangelicalism today, but it may have been more so a problem amongst fundamentalists and reformed

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Christians. Even though it exists today, it was probably more a problem years ago.

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But you had power -hungry pastors whose churches really acted and practiced more like cults, even if they may have been theologically orthodox.

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The heavy -handed authoritarian eldership has been known to behave like tyrants.

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And also you have, in many cases, tragically, husbands in marriages that treat their wives and their children more as subjects to their tyrannical kingdom than as a helpmate in regard to the spouse and as a blessing from God in regard to the children.

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These things even happen in the body of Christ, don't they? Yes, and that's why in the outline that I provided, just to give you some ideas of what we might possibly talk about,

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I go into some detail on ecclesiastical tyranny. And the wonderful thing about this topic, it's not often brought up except maybe in the study of history and all that, the history of the

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American Revolution and things like that. But it is very, very practical.

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We are indebted to Luther for bringing justification by faith alone to the poor and restoring the purity of the gospel and its shining light to the nations.

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But we are indebted to Calvin as the chief theologian that held the human heart, the fallen human heart in suspicion.

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And he was very clear that what was driving him was the glory of God and the suspicion of the plague in our own hearts, the idolatry in our own hearts, our tendencies to pursue that which is no

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God at all and to find a substitute. And sadly, people put themselves in there as a very, very sad substitute.

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So, yeah, it's a very practical subject. It has a wide gamut of applications. And this is where I have hope for your listeners.

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If we begin to identify the mechanics of tyranny, then I believe by the grace of God we may be able to stay the tide of tyranny, which to me,

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I see things coming. I see things that are perilous, and they're coming closer and closer to us here in America and in our churches.

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But we can do something about it because it is the Lord himself who can restrain these powers and these deceivers and these tyrants.

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But if the church would be its salt and light in the world, if the people of God would cry out to God for the true liberty, if we would pursue the

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Lord of ours, seek first the kingdom of God in his glory, I'm not going to say 100 % correspondence here, but the tendency and trend in all biblical narrative is just that, and especially, as I noted last time, as evidenced in the book of Judges, the cyclical pattern of falling into idolatry and sin, you know, the anarchy of God's people and wickedness, growing wickedness.

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And then a neighboring nation comes and tyrannizes them, subdues them, and they're under bondage, and it's cruel, and their life is terrible.

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And then they cry out to the Lord, and the Lord raises up a judge, and the judge is anointed by the

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Lord to deliver his people and sure enough, they find deliverance, and life is again good with the shalom of God and the blessing of the land, until they forget

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God. And anyway, all these cycles are there in the book of Judges that we might see a historical proof of how

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God is faithful. It is God who is faithful to grant his people peace. It is also

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God who is faithful to give them over to tyranny so that they can see what's in their wicked hearts and confess and turn to him who is the author of life and be delivered.

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So tyranny serves a mighty purpose in the world if we learn how to interpret it.

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I'm not talking about getting rid of tyrants with tanks and machine guns and machetes. That's not going to do it.

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If we repopulate Cuba along mere political lines, something just as bad as Castro or worse will happen again.

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Yeah, in fact, one of the things that I don't think our country, the United States, has learned yet, is that when we meddle in the affairs of foreign countries, very often trying to import by force a democracy here or there, we wind up very often toppling one dictator only to have a worse one spring up.

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It happened with Osama bin Laden. It happened, I have heard, that with the defeat of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, that the situation in Iraq is even more dangerous, a lot more dangerous for Christians living in Iraq because Saddam Hussein was toppled and you had more militant

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Muslims rise up to power. A lot of people may not even realize that Saddam Hussein was really like a nominal

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Muslim. He was not a theological militant Muslim. Yeah, so what you're saying, Chris, is very congruent, because imagine if the purposes of God raising up a tyrant are for his people to realize the plague that's in their own heart, the idols there, and to cry out to him.

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If another man should come up and pose as a pseudo -Messiah and effect a kind of a liberation,

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I would think that although God forbears in all these things and there might be some immediate relief in some quarters,

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I would think that that would, again, be a fresh affront to his sovereignty and a further and even more gross idolatry.

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So, you know, you're right. I think what's happening, though, is without knowing it, a lot of our statesmen in America are practical

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Sassanians or practical Pelagians. If they are

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Christian in any form at all, they haven't thought through these issues and are really practicing the politics of a

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Sassanian or a Pelagian. In fact, I want you to pick up on that when we return from our first break, because we have to go to our first break right now.

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If anybody would like to join us on the air with a question of your own, our e -mail address is ChrisArnzen at gmail .com,

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

30:49

USA. Please only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter. Don't go away.

30:55

We'll be right back after these messages with more of Lou Vega and Tyranny, Its Cause and Cure.

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I know it would be a huge encouragement to Chris if you would. All the details can be found at ironsharpensironradio .com

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where you can click support. That's ironsharpensironradio .com Iron Sharpens Iron Radio depends upon the financial support of fine

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Christian organizations to remain on the air, like the Historical Bible Society. The Historical Bible Society maintains a collection of Christian books, manuscripts, and Bibles of historical significance spanning nearly a thousand years.

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The mission of HBS is the preservation and public display of ancient scripture, dissemination of scripture, to provide tools equipping believers in Christian apologetics with evidence for the

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Bible's reliability, and to introduce Reformation literature and Christian art to a broader audience.

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Since 2004, HBS has toured schools and churches throughout the Northeast United States, reaching thousands of believers and non -believers alike who are hungry for knowledge of the

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Bible. HBS's founder, Daniel P. Buttafuoco, attorney at law, is committed to sharing this collection along with an inspirational historical message that will captivate you and your church.

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Come journey through their website, historicalbiblesociety .org The collection includes a complete 11th century

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Bible, an actual page of the Gutenberg Bible from 1455, the first book ever printed, the

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Geneva Bible, the 1611 King James Bible, and much, much more. Visit historicalbiblesociety .org

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today. Thank you, Daniel P. Buttafuoco, attorney at law, for your faithful support of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

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I'm Pastor Bill Shishko, host of A Visit to the Pastor's Study, and I am so thankful to be part of the advertising family right here on Iron Sharpens Iron.

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If you live on Long Island, or if you're visiting the metropolitan New York area, I invite you to join us for worship at The Haven on Sundays at 4 .30

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p .m. We meet at the Ascension Lutheran Church facility, 33 Bayshore Road in Deer Park, New York.

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p .m., 33 Bayshore Road, Deer Park, New York. Chris Sorensen, host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio here.

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I want to tell you about a man I have personally known for many years. His name is Dan Buttafuoco.

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Dan is a personal injury and medical malpractice lawyer, but not the type that typically comes to mind.

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Dan cares about people and is a theologian himself. Recently, he wrote a book titled Consider the

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Evidence for the Bible. Ravi Zacharias wrote the foreword. Dan also has a master's degree in theology.

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Dan handles serious injury and medical malpractice cases in all 50 states. He represents many

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He wrote the test for the National Board of Trial Advocacy, and currently his firm has over 100 cases that have settled for $1 million or more, and in approximately 10 different states.

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Or email me for Dan's contact information at chrisarnson at gmail dot com.

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That's chrisarnson at gmail dot com. And we thank

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Dan Buttafuoco and his law firm from the depths of our hearts because he, through his benevolence and graciousness and desire to see

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Iron Trip and Zion Radio remain on the air, has just renewed his advertising contract for another six months and has, by God's grace, been used as a tool in God's hand to pluck us here at Iron Trip and Zion Radio out of the pit of poverty at least probably with finances that will enable us to maintain until the end of September.

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We thank Dan for his willingness to renew his contract, and I plead with you, the listener, that wherever you live in the

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Dan at the number he provides during his commercials, or you could even email me, chrisarnson at gmail dot com, chrisarnson at gmail dot com, and put

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I need a lawyer or something like that in the subject line. Keep in mind that Dan Buttafuoco is only involved in personal injury and medical malpractice cases.

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So send me that email if you need somebody, if you hear about somebody, because we really need

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Dan to keep renewing his advertising contracts with us in order to remain on the air.

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That's chrisarnson at gmail dot com, chrisarnson at gmail dot com. Now we are back with our guest

42:02

Lou Vega. We have been discussing tyranny, its cause and its cure.

42:08

This is part two of a discussion we began a number of weeks ago, and we are delighted to have

42:14

Lou back on the program to continue this fascinating and important topic. And, Lou, before the break, you were talking about how people, perhaps they are professing

42:23

Christians in the political arena, and they are unconsciously, perhaps, operating or functioning as Sassinians or Pelagians.

42:32

If you could describe or define those two theological aberrancies, and explain how they apply to the topic that you are discussing.

42:41

Well, of course, you know, in theology, Pelagism is a heresy, and it attributes to a fallen man a liberty that he doesn't have.

42:57

That is to say, Pelagians, you know, had in mind perfectionism as a monk.

43:05

He was very rigorous and disciplined in his studies, and he just thought, well, if the Lord gave us a commandment, then it's there because we surely can follow it.

43:14

And anyone, actually. He didn't bother to distinguish the Christian in the realm of the

43:20

Holy Spirit with the graces of God, with just the natural man. But any man can hear the commandment, repent, and make him so, otherwise

43:30

God is asking something outrageous and would be unjust of him to ask him. Anyway, the logic seems to appeal to so many, but if you read your

43:42

Bible more carefully, you find out that this is just not the case.

43:49

Man is quite dead in sins and trespasses, and that death is spread to all his faculties. His mind is as hard as affections, as will.

43:58

After all, as Augustine said, the will, all that is, is the soul choosing.

44:04

Knowledge is the soul knowing. Faith is the soul believing.

44:12

We have become too abstract whenever we treat the will.

44:20

And Pelagius meant well, but he surely didn't offer any remedies, any helpful things at all.

44:29

Well, I'm just saying that statesmen who do not take the larger paradigm are, in effect, unknowingly and even probably unwittingly acting as practical

44:43

Pelagians, and that the update on Pelagianism as expressed in America and in Europe is

44:51

Sassanianism, Sassanus being the chief proponent of that system. Of course, a lot of New England, even from the early days of America here, the colonial period, was laced through and through with Sassanianism.

45:07

Some of our leading universities of high, high regard would be in that circle.

45:17

And so it's no doubt, it's no wonder, then, that people who have excellent minds and wonderful training but are trained with this stability, this assumption that tyranny can be handled in other ways and can be counteracted without any kind of solid theological paradigm, that's where we're going to fall.

45:42

Now, I will say this. There must be made a case where we've got a tyrant, he's doing some real harm, and the advice is, surely not.

45:56

Let's give theology books to all of our soldiers and statesmen and let's study theology for 18 months and then decide what to do.

46:02

No, it's in our power to do good and rescue the innocent and remove the children from the arms of a tyrant that's going to bring them up by brainwashing them, giving them guns by the time they're 8 and 9 years old.

46:18

I'll just mention one quick quirk, another traded story by one of my family members.

46:26

A relative of mine had a crush on a young lady, a very beautiful Cuban girl growing up as a young man in Cuba.

46:37

She was very studious. She came from a solid family and was hopeful one day to,

46:45

I don't know, maybe get to know her a little bit better, pursue their relationship. Well, you know, the revolution came and she went her direction with the communist regime and my relative went the other and fled first to South America and now he's back in the

47:03

States here. But anyway, it was actually reported to him by a solid, confident source that she was seen charging one of the training hills in Cuba, the army training hills, shirtless and with a machine gun along with the men.

47:25

See, that's what happens when you get into an indoctrination program that is just very, very thoroughgoing.

47:34

As I mentioned last time, Castro learned his worldview. He learned about thoroughgoing worldview not by the

47:41

Puritans. He wasn't reading Puritans, although the Puritans would have probably taught him that about having a thoroughgoing, solidly harmonious worldview.

47:50

But he learned it from the Jesuits, which of course had the Vatican in mind as the pivot point of their worldview.

47:57

But then he inverted that on his head and decided to make himself. Not communism.

48:05

Communism doesn't really exist. It's just tyranny in the hands of a mobster. And that's what he did in Cuba.

48:13

Anyway, I mention that because this is what happens when you don't address the complete issue.

48:21

You have to go in and sometimes operate, shoot from the hip, rescue the innocent, and then we'll sort out a more stable situation later.

48:34

And that's real politic, I think. It's just being realistic. However, in a calm moment when we have time, what we're going to do about this, that, or the other situation in the world, if we don't take this paradigm into consideration, not only are we maligning

48:53

God, but ultimately we're just going to be throwing billions of dollars into Afghanistan for nothing.

49:00

Right. And one of the things that clicked in my mind as you were applying

49:06

Pelagianism to tyranny, it makes perfect sense that if someone is blind to their own moral corruption and inability and depravity apart from a miracle of grace by the triune

49:24

God, they are going to be more susceptible to want to rise to tyrannical power or see someone else rise to tyrannical power because of the fact that Pelagius, as you are fully aware, in his debate with Augustine, one of those heresies that comes from Pelagianism is a denial of the depravity of the human heart prior to regeneration.

49:49

And the unnecessary element of grace to save a sinner, it is a helpful aid in their minds but not a necessary one.

49:58

So this is a... That's right. When you have a high view of man like that, you are more likely either to become a tyrant or support a tyrant, are you not?

50:08

Yes, that's right. And to further that thought, Chris, I will add that no one no one marches into hell with their eyes open.

50:19

People land in hell and then their eyes are open and they see where they've gone. You know, if people realize what in the world that place that they were going to was really all about, surely, surely they would flee, they would fly to Christ and receive the gospel by faith and be delivered from the wrath of God and from the tyranny of sin.

50:45

Bondage. I mean, the Lord has come to set us free. And not absolutely free, but free to serve

50:51

Him. And that's freedom. That's freedom in Christ. Amen. Well, when we come back from our midway break, I want you to address that Christians are continually taught by God and how that applies to the cure of tyranny.

51:06

And we have to go to this longer than normal break in the middle of our show because of the fact that Grace Life Radio 90 .1

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FM in Lake City, Florida localizes Iron Sharpens Iron Radio and all of their programming to Lake City, Florida as a requirement of the

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FCC. So therefore, while we air our own globally heard commercials, they air their own public service announcements and commercials that apply to Lake City, Florida.

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So, while we air our own commercials during this elongated break, please use this time wisely write down information provided by our advertisers so that you can more successfully and frequently patronize them.

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Because you always have to remember every time you patronize one of our advertisers or all of our advertisers, you are helping to further ensure a long life for Iron Sharpens Iron Radio because we cannot survive on the air without the support financially of our advertisers and also, of course, our benevolent donors, our listeners who just contribute to this program donations.

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And so, not only write down the information provided by our advertisers, but please also send us a question.

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For Lou Vega on tyranny, its cause and cure and the email address as always is chrisarnsen at gmail .com

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

52:34

USA. Only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter.

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So, don't go away. We'll be right back after these messages with more of Lou Vega and tyranny, its cause and cure.

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I know it would be a huge encouragement to Chris if you would. All the details can be found at ironsharpensironradio .com

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As host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, I frequently get requests from listeners for church recommendations.

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The church I've been strongly recommending as far back as the 1980s is Grace Covenant Baptist Church in Flemington, New Jersey.

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Our churches and our people need to be well -grounded in these truths. Indeed, future ministers of the

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If you want to learn more about our program, visit us online at irbsseminary .org.

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Iron Sharpens Iron Radio depends upon the financial support of fine Christian organizations to remain on the air, like the

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Historical Bible Society. The Historical Bible Society maintains a collection of Christian books, manuscripts, and Bibles of historical significance spanning nearly a thousand years.

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today. Thank you, Daniel P. Buttafuoco, attorney at law, for your faithful support of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

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Gotta tell you, for my money, Chris Arnzen's radio program is just the best.

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Iron. Criticizing. Iron. I think that's what it's called.

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01:11:21

James M. Renahan who is the president of IRBS Theological Seminary, one of our primary sponsors here on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

01:11:28

You'll get this little hardback published by Evangelical Press absolutely free if you put in the comment section at CVBBS .com

01:11:36

that you want true love by James Renahan. There is another book that involves or requires a minimum purchase of $50 and that is my favorite biography of all,

01:11:48

A Pastor in New York, The Life and Time of Spencer Cone about a Reformed Baptist pastor in Manhattan in the 19th century,

01:11:56

Spencer Cone. Back then they called them Particular Baptists and I keep reminding you that it should be, his life is so fascinating it should be a major motion picture and that is no exaggeration.

01:12:06

If you want that book you'll have to purchase at least $50 worth of merchandise. Include the book

01:12:12

A Pastor in New York, The Life and Time of Spencer Cone by John Thornberry in your cart and then add the coupon code

01:12:19

IronSharpensIron all capitals and all one word IronSharpensIron As soon as you add that coupon code the price of A Pastor in New York, The Life and Time of Spencer Cone will be subtracted from your grand total but remember you have to add at least $50 worth of merchandise into that cart as well.

01:12:37

But to make life easier I suggest that you just call 800 -656 -0231 800 -656 -0231

01:12:44

Monday through Friday between 10 a .m. and 430 p .m. Eastern Time and ask for the book True Love by James Renahan for any purchase and or the book

01:12:55

A Pastor in New York, The Life and Time of Spencer Cone by John Thornberry for a minimum $50 purchase. And of course if you're purchasing more than $50 you'll also get the

01:13:04

True Love book added on that for free since that requires the purchase of any amount no matter how small.

01:13:11

And please you have to remember to tell them if you call them that you heard about this from Chris Arnzen on Iron Trip and Zion Radio.

01:13:19

I just have a couple of folks I want to thank and also a few special events I need to announce.

01:13:25

First of all I want to thank my friend Pastor Bill Sasser and his lovely bride

01:13:32

Lynn Sasser at Grace Church at Franklin in Franklin, Tennessee for their generosity.

01:13:38

They heard that Iron Trip and Zion Radio was in a very dismal and frightening financial situation and they sent out of their own pocket a generous donation to Iron Trip and Zion Radio to carry us through until larger checks come in from our sponsor renewals like the renewal of Dan Badafuco Attorney at Law's advertising campaign renewal and also

01:14:05

Battery Depot .com's advertising renewal and Lynnbrookbaptist .org's

01:14:12

advertising renewal. We thank all of them for helping us remain on the air.

01:14:17

It was coming close for us to having to pack up the bags and turn out the lights because we were that bad off financially.

01:14:25

So I want to thank the folks at the pastor and his wife at Grace Church at Franklin that's

01:14:32

Bill Sasser and Lynn Sasser. I also want to thank the

01:14:37

Providence Theological Institute in Franklin, Tennessee who also sent in a gift to help us be carried through until these larger checks arrive.

01:14:48

Their website is P -T -S -T -N which stands for Providence Theological actually,

01:14:55

I'm sorry I'm going to have to get back to you with the correct website because they've changed the website. That's their old website.

01:15:01

I apologize for that. I will get back to you with the correct website for the Providence Theological Institute's website.

01:15:08

But I want to thank them for donating to us as well. They helped carry us through until the larger checks come in from our renewal contracts from our sponsors.

01:15:21

So thank you so much and I will make sure that I announce that website before the end of the show. I apologize.

01:15:27

They did have an old website. But now I want to alert you to some exciting events that are coming up.

01:15:37

First of all coming up next month in August there is an event being held by our friends and our sponsors at the

01:15:47

Fellowship Conference New England. August 1st through the 3rd are the dates of this conference in Maine.

01:15:57

That will be Thursday I'm sorry, yes Thursday, Friday and Saturday August 1st through the 3rd and my friend

01:16:08

Mack Tomlinson is the leader and orchestrator of this annual conference and he is also a very generous contributor and sponsor of Iron Sharp and Zion Radio.

01:16:19

So we are more than happy to publicize this event for them.

01:16:25

The speakers include Pastor Anthony Mathenia who has been a guest on Iron Sharp and Zion Radio a number of times.

01:16:31

He is actually Paul Washer's pastor. He is a real gifted speaker. Loves to have Anthony Mathenia on the show.

01:16:37

Pastor Mack Tomlinson he is as I just mentioned the person who orchestrates this annual conference.

01:16:47

He is the pastor of Providence Chapel in Denton, Texas. Pastor Lee Dodd is also on the roster for this.

01:16:57

And Pastor Nathan Pickowitz who is also not only a pastor but he is also an author and a frequent guest on Iron Sharp and Zion Radio.

01:17:06

I hope that you if you are able to attend this event in Maine that you go to fellowshipconferencenewengland .com

01:17:20

fellowshipconferencenewengland .com and you'll find out all the details for this conference August 1st through the 3rd coming up before you know it.

01:17:29

And please mention that you heard about this conference from Chris Arnzen on Iron Sharp and Zion Radio.

01:17:35

We would love to hear good reports from Fellowship Conference New England that our advertisements for them brought about great results.

01:17:45

So by the way the exact city in Maine is Portland, Maine and even more specific it's the

01:17:52

Deering Center Community Church in Portland, Maine where the event is being held August 1st through the 3rd.

01:17:58

Then coming up a little bit after that we have the

01:18:06

Church at Friendship in Texas is having their own conference featuring my friend

01:18:14

Dr. Tony Costa the Professor of Apologetics and Islam at Toronto Baptist Seminary and I hope that you if you've never heard

01:18:25

Tony Costa you've got to hear this brother speak and teach. He is brilliant.

01:18:31

He is so brilliant that Dr. James R. White of Alpha Omega Ministries has had

01:18:37

Dr. Costa on standby to fill in for him in the case of an emergency like for instance

01:18:42

Dr. White in the past I remember he was going to debate a very prominent Roman Catholic and he was sick and he feared he might not be able to follow through on the obligation and he had

01:18:53

Dr. Tony Costa waiting in the wings to fill in. Fortunately he did not have to have Dr. Costa fill in for him but that gives you an idea of how brilliant and powerful a speaker

01:19:02

Dr. Tony Costa is. The conference is being held August 2nd through the 4th and that is in Hockley, Texas at the

01:19:10

Church at Friendship the Church at Friendship in Hockley, Texas. You can find out more details at churchatfriendship .org

01:19:20

churchatfriendship .org Then I am going to be in December I'm going to be packing up my bags and heading back to my old stomping grounds in New York City to the

01:19:29

Foundations Conference a conference orchestrated by sermonaudio .com They always have a phenomenal conference and this is for men in leadership only whether they are pastors or parachurch leaders.

01:19:44

The speakers include Dr. Stephen J. Lawson Paul Washer Rev. Jeff Thomas Rev. Armand Tomassian Richard Caldwell and Andrew Quigley and I urge you if you intend to attend that you register as quickly as possible because they can only hold less than 200 people in this venue.

01:20:03

I will be there please look for me if you register I would love to see you God willing and the website is thefoundationsconference .com

01:20:12

thefoundationsconference .com that's Thursday and Friday December 19th and 20th in New York City and what better time of year to go to New York City than during the

01:20:20

Christmas season and I am looking forward to that with bated breath. And then coming up in January I'm packing up my bags again and heading down south to Atlanta, Georgia more specifically to the

01:20:33

Georgia International Convention Center in College Park, Georgia which is a suburb of Atlanta that's

01:20:40

Thursday January 16th through Saturday January 18th the theme this January is Worship Matters and the speakers as always are remarkable and the length of the roster is very long

01:20:53

Dr. Kosti Hinn who is a Reformed Baptist pastor in California and a cessationist and believe it or not he's the nephew of the notorious heretic and charlatan

01:21:05

Benny Hinn and Kosti spends most of his ministry outside of his own pulpit of course seeking to alarm people alert people about the dangers of the word of faith heresy that he was raised in and thankfully that he repented from so anytime you hear about Kosti Hinn speaking somewhere

01:21:29

I strongly urge you to be there if you can Daryl Bernard Harrison is on the roster he is a new addition to the

01:21:36

Grace TU ministry of John MacArthur he is a really brilliant writer

01:21:42

David Miller what a powerful preacher he is old school hellfire and brimstone preacher and I love hearing him preach

01:21:52

Derek Thomas he is no doubt very well known to the majority of Reformed Christians due to his writing with Banner of Truth and due to his preaching what a remarkable brother he is

01:22:06

Dr. James R. White of Alpha Omega Ministries Dr. Joel Beeke of Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary and more and of course you've been hearing the ads for the

01:22:19

G3 conference John MacArthur has been added to the lineup which if he was there even by himself it would be well worth your effort and finances to make a trip to Atlanta by train, plane or automobile to hear

01:22:33

Dr. MacArthur preach on worship matters if you want to register go to g3conference .com

01:22:38

g3conference .com I also urge you to register for an exhibitors booth because they are expecting over 5 ,000 people to attend as they draw every year and with Dr.

01:22:48

MacArthur there I think they are going to have more than 6 ,000 people so register while there is still room not only for your seat but also for an exhibitors booth if it applies to you if you have a business parachurch organization or something else that you want to promote in a crowd that large go to g3conference .com

01:23:07

g3conference .com and again that's Thursday January 16th through Saturday January 18th 2020

01:23:12

I will be manning an exhibitors booth so please look for me and I hope that if you register for your own exhibitors booth that you have one nearby the

01:23:20

Iron Sherpens Iron exhibitors booth last but not least if you love this show you don't want it to disappear from the airwaves you love listening to the guests and topics that very often are not heard anywhere else but Iron Sherpens Iron Radio please go to ironsherpensironradio .com

01:23:35

click support then click click to donate now you can donate instantly with a debit or credit card that way you can also send in a check via snail mail the old fashioned way to the address that appears on the screen when you click support at Iron Sherpens Iron Radio make out your checks to Iron Sherpens Iron Radio and send them on in if you prefer snail mail please always remember never siphon money away from your regular giving to your local church in order to provide for Iron Sherpens Iron Radio never do that never put your family in financial jeopardy by giving to Iron Sherpens Iron Radio those two things are commands of God providing for your church and home providing for my show is not a command of God obviously but if you are financially blessed above and beyond your ability to obey those two commands you have extra money for benevolent purposes for recreational purposes for coffee and ice cream you have extra money that you don't even know what to do with perhaps it's just sitting around collecting interest well please if you love this show and you don't want it to disappear please go to IronSherpensIronRadio .com

01:24:34

click support then click click to donate now and donate as frequently as you can and as heavily as you can please if you are not a member of a local bible believing church please send me an email

01:24:46

I can help you find one in fact I just got an email today from somebody looking for a church in Albuquerque, New Mexico and I will be getting back to you as soon as possible listener with that information

01:24:58

I have helped people all over the world find churches near them that are biblically faithful so if you are in that position send me an email to ChrisArnson at gmail .com

01:25:06

ChrisArnson at gmail .com and put I need a church in the subject line if you would like to advertise with us send me an email to ChrisArnson at gmail .com

01:25:14

and put advertising in the subject line because we really do need your advertising dollars in a very urgent way that's also the email that you use to send in a question to Lou Vega that's

01:25:26

ChrisArnson at gmail .com ChrisArnson at gmail .com and please give us as always your first name your city and state and your country of residence if you live outside of the

01:25:35

USA and before we go to any listener questions Lou I wanted you to touch on the fact that all true

01:25:42

Christians are continually taught by God as a part of the solution to tyranny or the cure

01:25:49

Yes, thank you Chris well I just read in John chapter 8 verses 31 and 32 that if we continue and if we abide in his teaching in his word then you will truly we will truly be his disciples and later on in that text that you know you will know the truth and the truth will set you free and that's again in contrast with the bondage of having a fierce overlord but in order to abide that means a dwelling of course and finding a home in Christ's teaching we all need to be continually taught by God just as the

01:26:43

Lord Jesus in the days of his flesh taught his disciples continually not continuously that would mean a non -interrupted lecture or preaching of sorts we're finite we need rest we need to eat we need to exercise we need to work but continually that is to say periodically returning to the

01:27:04

Lord for instruction and of course in God's wisdom he's given us the

01:27:09

Lord's day and that is the first day of the week for us and the highlight of our week and we return to the

01:27:20

Lord and he speaks to us in his word through the preaching and the reading of the word and always in the

01:27:27

Holy Spirit and as Jesus' disciples we receive this teaching although we don't always understand it the disciples certainly didn't understand all that was taught to them we understand in part even when we understand the teaching and the passage perfectly we're reminded elsewhere that it's seen in a mirror darkly but we do so and a disciple a true disciple will follow the voice of his teacher though it is demanding it takes time to continually return to the

01:28:03

Lord it takes energy for preparation it may involve some sacrifices loss of income or even in the decision to follow

01:28:10

Christ you know estrangement we're talking about the conformity to the tyranny that is the spirit of the world in the book of Revelation if you do not take the mark of the beast well you will certainly you will certainly find yourself immediately estranged and persecuted but you don't have to go to the extremes of the very last days of our age to see that this happens you know it's commonplace it's just commonplace so that's what we mean by being continually taught of God it is a feature of the

01:28:53

New Testament that the Holy Spirit has written the teaching of God the law of God in our hearts and as 1

01:29:01

John 2 27 says we have no need of any man teaching us or for that matter them because we are taught by God and that's the advantage that we have in Jesus' ascension of course as a man in the flesh he had his circuit and he had his disciples following him in that circuit but everywhere he went he was physically restricted as a man but today in his ascended glory he sends us his

01:29:29

Holy Spirit and he gives that spirit to the church and so we have every advantage we have every advantage as sons of God with his

01:29:43

Holy Spirit to abide in his truth be continually taught by him and knowing the truth we are set free and we do not serve men we serve

01:29:54

God and he is all our boast he is all our hope and we give him the glory for that well praise

01:30:03

God we do have a listener question we have one of our we have a listener question a listener we have

01:35:43

I think would you be more concerned with over them the gospel of Jesus Christ and not them side track us into overboard in defending earthly forms of political govt that are superior to socialism commmunism

01:36:00

I like we'll like the mans think of thinking here I can see that he has an orderly mind as and believes in the old university concept.

01:36:14

The old university concept, which is now practically extinct is that theology is the queen of science and every other topic that can be discussed in any classroom has to have its underpinnings in theology, and not just theology, but the very best of all theologies.

01:36:33

And so that's really how all approaches in the sciences and in the arts should go forth.

01:36:46

However, I don't know, that would depend on the conversation, wouldn't it? Depends on how much time and how well you know each other, how much you trust each other.

01:36:57

There is a time to listen, and there's a time to speak.

01:37:09

Yeah, let me just stop there because I really think there's no easy formula to produce.

01:37:19

There's no track that you can give out or a speech that you can make ready, except to remind them of the promises we're talking about in Christ here from John chapter eight.

01:37:31

That really all freedom is an illusion, is an illusion, unless that freedom is the freedom that the

01:37:41

Holy Spirit gives us in Christ. We are free to serve God, and ultimately, if we have that freedom, the church will be salt and light, and other secular political institutions will receive that light from its university seat, the theology of the university, and they will be leavened and enlightened.

01:38:06

And then we will have as good a society as we can get.

01:38:12

Now, the church is still the church, and that Christianized society,

01:38:19

I think, is about as good as we can hope to the end. At least, that's how I read my

01:38:25

Bible. Well, thank you, Ronald, in Eastern Suffolk County.

01:38:30

Just to add my two cents, I don't agree with our brethren that sometimes border on pushing us into the realm of the

01:38:42

Amish, and the Mennonites, and the Jehovah's Witnesses that want us to be completely removed from the political arena.

01:38:50

But at the same time, I think what might have been at the heart of our listeners' question,

01:38:56

Ronald, in Eastern Suffolk County, is that very often, we as Christians, in our hatred of socialism, communism, liberalism, leftism, we tend to dwell too much in our conversations with the liberals and leftists in our life.

01:39:14

We tend to dwell too much on political issues, and we allow ourselves to be sidetracked away from the gospel, which is the most important thing that makes everything pale into insignificance.

01:39:26

So don't you think that there is a place, there is a very important place for us to dialogue about politics, to be involved in politics, but we can never let it eclipse the gospel, should we?

01:39:35

No, that's right, it's the very heart of, everything radiates from the gospel, as we know it, in Christ.

01:39:43

Every thought captive. But yeah, if that was his intent, sure, sure. Yeah, we cannot be compartmentalized, we refuse to be compartmentalized.

01:39:53

If the faithful in their day had been compartmentalized, Joseph would never have saved Egypt, Daniel would never have been any good to Nebuchadnezzar, Esther would never have been any good to her

01:40:06

Persian husband, King. In other words, yeah, as the

01:40:13

Lord would lead, we're gonna be involved in the world, even though we're not out of the world, and we certainly will speak, because God speaks.

01:40:20

Yes, there's always this battle amongst our brethren in Christ, even our Reformed brethren, between those that would believe that although individuals as Christians should be involved in the political arena in some realm, at least in the area of voting, like, for instance,

01:40:43

John MacArthur, one of my greatest heroes that is alive today, he frowns upon pastors becoming overly involved in politics and bringing their congregations into the political arena.

01:40:56

He thinks that it's solely the arena of the individuals, whereas you have our other brothers, on the other extreme, perhaps, but still theologically very close in many ways, the theonomist brothers that we have, who would strongly disagree with Dr.

01:41:14

MacArthur, and there's, of course, all shades in between. While we are on this earth, we're never gonna get that balance completely perfect, are we?

01:41:23

No, no, that's right. And I, if I tend to err,

01:41:29

I wanna err on the side of, as a minister and as a preacher, I wanna always be careful, as far as I can detect it, to know when

01:41:39

I'm in the solid ground of truth and when I am in the area of speculative religion and opinion.

01:41:46

And that sort of speculative thought necessarily spills out into every sphere and every kind of opinion.

01:41:55

I can be very wrong, for instance, about whether we should, you know, get into a new building program, right?

01:42:02

You'd be very wrong whether, you know, now it's time to have a parking lot or whatever.

01:42:07

Be very, very wrong about that. But that's just opinion, and I have to separate that from what is solidly, solidly the will of God for his people.

01:42:17

And that we declare and proclaim. Amen. And let's see here, we have, we have

01:42:26

Arnie in Perry County, Pennsylvania, who wants to know, is not the way that biblically a nation is transformed by the transformation of individual citizens or subjects in that nation who are born again?

01:42:44

Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, there's just, there's just no other way. Because that is, yeah, that's the light of God and the soul of man.

01:42:57

One soul at a time, he builds his church, he builds his kingdom. And that influence that the church has in the world is what we're talking about here.

01:43:06

It's not, oh, I should say, the cure for tyranny is for the church.

01:43:13

The church will be absolutely cured of tyranny. As far as tyranny is in the world, as long as the church is in the world, tyranny is stayed or delayed.

01:43:26

Just as salt is said to cure a hand, but really what it does is it slows down its decomposition to such an extent where it appears to be cured.

01:43:36

No. The curing of decomposition is done by the resurrection of the

01:43:42

Lord Jesus Christ. And until the ham finds a way to get resurrected in union with Christ, he's gonna be a deteriorating piece of ham.

01:43:49

So we've got a situation, just not the ludicrous example, of course. But that's how it works.

01:44:00

We will, the cure for our own souls and for the church is Christ himself.

01:44:06

The cure, as far as preventing greater decomposition, deterioration, degeneration in the world, is the church being pure and following Christ, as long as the church is in the world to the end.

01:44:21

That has a restraining, in fact, the scripture that comes to mind is,

01:44:30

I find it here. In fact, let me have you pick up on that when we return from our final break, because we have to get to our final break right now.

01:44:38

Okay. And we're gonna be right back after these messages, so don't go away. Hi, I'm Stephan Lindblad, Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology at IRBS Theological Seminary in Mansfield, Texas.

01:44:53

I accepted this call to teach at the seminary because I'm firmly convinced that the people of God in the churches of our

01:45:02

Lord Jesus Christ need to be firmly grounded in the truth of Holy Scripture. I'm excited to be teaching such subjects as the nature of theology and the doctrine of scripture, and even the doctrine of the person and work of Jesus Christ.

01:45:17

Our churches and our people need to be well -grounded in these truths. Indeed, future ministers of the gospel need to understand these truths in order to proclaim them to all of God's people.

01:45:31

If you wanna learn more about our program, visit us online at irbsseminary .org.

01:45:45

I'm Pastor Billy Linhart of Sovereign Grace Particular Baptist Church of San Angelo, Texas, and I'm thrilled to have joined the

01:45:51

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio family of sponsors. We fully subscribe to the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith as a faithful summary of the most vital biblical truths, desire to worship the triune

01:46:03

God of the Holy Scriptures in spirit and truth, and seek to make His glory known in the

01:46:08

Concho Valley, West Texas, and beyond. Sovereign Grace PBC of San Angelo purposes to center our worship on the

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Holy Scriptures and the gospel of Jesus Christ in the hope that He will grow us in love and the unity of truth.

01:46:22

After Sunday services, join us for a fellowship meal followed by our Ladies Fellowship in our

01:46:27

Children's Sunday School class. If you're looking for a church in West Texas that's serious about the word of God and worship that pleases

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Him, come visit us. For details about Sovereign Grace Particular Baptist Church of San Angelo, Texas, email sgbcsa at gmail .com

01:46:43

or visit us at sgbcsa .com. That's sgbcsa .com.

01:46:50

♪ We're gonna rock you, Lord ♪ Chris Sorensen, host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio here.

01:47:00

I wanna tell you about a man I have personally known for many years. His name is Dan Buttafuoco.

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Dan is a personal injury and medical malpractice lawyer but not the type that typically comes to mind.

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Dan cares about people and is a theologian himself. Recently he wrote a book titled

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Consider the Evidence for the Bible. Ravi Zacharias wrote the foreword.

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Dan also has a master's degree in theology. Dan handles serious injury and medical malpractice cases in all 50 states.

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He represents many Christians in serious injury matters all over the country. Dan is an exceptional trial lawyer.

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He wrote the test for the National Board of Trial Advocacy and currently his firm has over 100 cases that have settled for $1 million or more and in approximately 10 different states.

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In Illinois, his lawyers had the fourth largest settlement in the state's history. In New York, his case involving a paralyzed police officer made the front page of the

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Law Journal. If you have a serious personal injury or medical malpractice claim in any state,

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I recommend that you call Dan. Consultations are free. There is no fee unless you win.

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Dan Buttafuoco's number is 1 -800 -669 -4878. 1 -800 -669 -4878.

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Or email me for Dan's contact information at chrisarnson at gmail .com.

01:48:28

That's chrisarnson at gmail .com. I'm Pastor Bill Shishko, host of a visit to the pastor's study and I am so thankful to be part of the advertising family right here on Iron Sharpens Iron.

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If you live on Long Island or if you're visiting the metropolitan New York area, I invite you to join us for worship at The Haven on Sundays at 4 .30

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Hi, I'm Pastor Bob Walderman, and I invite you to come and join us here at Linbrook Baptist Church and see all that a church can be.

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Call Linbrook Baptist at 516 -599 -9402. That's 516 -599 -9402.

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Or visit linbrookbaptist .org. That's linbrookbaptist .org. Gotta tell you, for my money,

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Chris Arnzen's radio program is just the best. Iron, criticizing iron.

01:51:14

I think that's what it's called. This is Todd Friel of Wretched Radio and TV with Phil Johnson of Grace To You, inviting everybody to come to the

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G3 Conference, which has almost instantly become one of the best conferences in the country. And it is, it's a great conference.

01:51:30

I love it. And Chris Arnzen was there last year. He's been there, I think, every year. It's great to see him there.

01:51:36

You and I actually did some recordings in the lobby at that place, which was a highlight for me. So tons of stuff going on, tons of great speakers, and no matter where you are in the building, you will hear

01:51:45

Chris Arnzen's laugh. And that's worth the price of admission alone. If you would like to join

01:51:50

Phil, me, Chris, and a cavalcade of great preachers, so it should be a cavalcade of great preachers, and me, g3conference .com,

01:52:00

g3conference .com. And now there's even more exciting news. John MacArthur himself is now also on the lineup at the

01:52:08

G3 Conference, Thursday, January 16th, through Saturday, January 18th, 2020.

01:52:15

Go to g3conference .com, g3conference .com. See you there. Listening to Christian radio can be a big gamble spiritually.

01:52:47

Even many of the major Christian networks that include excellent biblically faithful teachers on their lineup, sadly often also include the worst of doctrinally dangerous heretics.

01:52:58

If you are a lover of the doctrines of sovereign grace, you need not fear listening 24 hours a day to firstloveradio .org.

01:53:06

They feature Christ -centered programming from Reformed pastors and teachers you can rely upon for theological soundness and biblical faithfulness, such as Dr.

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W .R. Downing, Dr. Peter Masters, Pastor Joe Jackowitz, Pastor Robert Gifford, Al Martin, Edward Delcor, and more.

01:53:25

firstloveradio .org also livestreams my Iron Trumpet's Iron Radio program daily.

01:53:31

Please stick around on firstloveradio .org after Iron Trumpet's Iron Radio is over to continue being blessed by the unwavering proclamation of the gospel of sovereign grace.

01:53:41

Spread the word about firstloveradio .org. Welcome back.

01:53:55

And by the way, folks, I have the website that I was trying to find earlier for that wonderful organization that generously donated a gift to Iron Trumpet's Iron Radio, a financial gift very recently to help us make it through this week until we get our checks from our renewed sponsors.

01:54:18

The Providence Theological Institute of New Covenant Theology in Franklin, Tennessee sent us in a donation to help us make it through this week.

01:54:28

And their website is PTINCT .org, PTINCT .org,

01:54:36

that stands for Providence Theological Institute of New Covenant Theology, PTINCT .org.

01:54:41

We thank Zach, Maxie, and the folks at the Providence Theological Institute of New Covenant Theology for their generosity because we would not have made it through this week without their assistance.

01:54:52

Now we are back with our final brief segment with Lou Vega. We know that we have to have him back again very soon because we've run out of time again before we knew it.

01:55:01

And if you could, Lou, let us know if you found that scripture verse that you were looking for and if you could also provide us with a summary of what you most want etched into the hearts and minds of our listeners today about this subject.

01:55:16

Right. Well, the scripture verse is 2 Thessalonians 2 verses 1 through 7.

01:55:22

You know, anyone who studied the Doctrine of End Times is familiar with this passage.

01:55:29

Paul's telling the Christians in Thessalonica that the mystery of lawlessness is already at work.

01:55:34

And this is, of course, in the first century AD. And then he says, oh, the mystery of lawlessness is already at work.

01:55:42

Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed whom the

01:55:48

Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.

01:55:55

And the coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders with all wicked deception for those who are perishing because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved.

01:56:07

Well, I mentioned this because the subject at hand near tyranny, its cause and its cure was first brought up in the context of my preaching through the book of Revelation, and especially the chapter there regarding the beast,

01:56:24

Revelation 13, and the second beast, which is the false prophet, and the absolute tyranny that those two have over the entire world, both secular and governmental, and ecclesiastical, churchly.

01:56:42

And so that is a lawless entity, and it gives rise to an organized hatred of God, a fleshly, manly hatred of God that is symbolized in Babylon.

01:56:58

And it's a city of man, city of God is Zion, which is above. But anyway, that deterioration into lawlessness, it seems by my reading here in Revelation 13 to gain an ascendancy near the end.

01:57:18

It seems to gain the ascendancy near the end of this age. That is stayed by the one who's restraining it.

01:57:27

That's what Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 7. You know what is restraining him, or who, what, because the pronoun there can be he or it is restraining him so that he may be, that one may be revealed in his time.

01:57:47

So the Lord is able to restrain the lawlessness. And he's also able to, by his decree, place tyranny upon the earth and remove tyranny on the earth at will.

01:58:03

And this is his secret, decrepit will. He rules as he pleases.

01:58:11

Our role here is to seek his will in all things and do our duty.

01:58:16

And that means each one of us seek the Lord, fear him, give him right worship, live as becomes a servant of the

01:58:25

Lord Jesus in this life as his free sons. And if we abide in his teaching, we will be set free.

01:58:35

And that's the best we can do as creatures. We wait on the Lord. He's gonna bring this age to a resolution.

01:58:43

Meanwhile, all manner of tyranny, all degrees of tyranny are upon us.

01:58:49

And, but we can do something about it. So we must understand the paradigm of tyranny, its cause and now we also have its cure.

01:58:59

The Christian and it's restraining power in the world through the prayers of God's people and through the active work of the

01:59:09

Holy Spirit in God's people in the church. And that's about the summary of it there, Chris. Amen.

01:59:15

Well, I want to make sure that you come back soon. I'm gonna send you a calendar of dates where you can return.

01:59:22

I want to remind our listeners that your website is covenantpca .org, covenantpca for presbyterianchurchinamerica .org.

01:59:30

Thank you so much, Lou Vega, for being our guest today. Thank you, everybody who listened, especially those who took the time to write.

01:59:35

I hope you all always remember for the rest of your lives that Jesus Christ is a far greater savior than you are a sinner.