The Futility of One Nation Above God (Video) — Shane Idleman

And that's where we're leaning. And it is a special Memorial Day message, believe it or not. I've been chomping at the bit to preach on this topic for a few years, and I didn't want to create a message just to create a message, but God really put it on my heart Thursday morning, and especially with Memorial Day coming up, and it just dawned on me, why don't we remember God?

We want to remember the veterans that gave their life for our country. And I have a feeling talking to a lot of them that are still alive, not the ones obviously who gave their life, but they didn't serve that we would become one nation above God.

They gave their lives so that we would become one nation under God. God-given freedoms. And the fabric is woven in with our nation. And I want to read some things that you'll see in the notes if you got that on Facebook.

I think the notes are on there too. Over the last few decades, Americans have seen the destruction of the institution of marriage, the removal of God's Word in all areas of life, the aborting of millions of babies, illicit sex, perversion, and as I said, ironically, many of the men and women who died for our freedoms did not die for what we have became today.

A 5th Division graveyard sign in Iwo Jima, Japan, did I pronounce that right? I think so. States it well, when you go home, tell them for us and say for your tomorrows we gave our today. And so to me, what a travesty when we fail to honor those who gave their lives for the freedoms we now enjoy.

In the words of Mr. O 'Brien, who served in World War II, it's the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us the freedom of press. It's the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.

It's the soldier, not the campus organizer, who gives us the freedom to demonstrate. O 'Brien continues, it's the soldier who salutes a flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag who allows a protester to burn the flag.

And so why am I talking about this? Because we have something interesting happening in our country. We are valuing our privileges above our principles. My right, my privilege, my people. And when we start to put that above our principles, we are on very shaky ground.

Dwight Eisenhower said, a people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both. Isn't that ironic? We put our privilege, our right, above our principles. Well, if we're not careful, we're gonna lose both of those in this fight and in this struggle.

Historically, we know that God judged those nations who continually tolerated sin. Wrong choices had devastating consequences. The futility of one nation above God. Arnold Toynbee, have you heard that name before?

He wrote a study of history. He said this, of the 22 civilizations that have appeared in history. Did you know there's been 22 civilizations that have appeared in all history? You talk about the Babylonian Empire, the Assyrian Empire, the Roman Empire, and of course, our empire in China.

Of the 22 that have appeared in history, 19 of them collapsed when they reached the moral state that America is in today. Now buckle up, hold on, you ready for this? He wrote that in the 1960s. So the foundation, I wanna just show you some quotes.

The foundation of one nation under God. The first quote, Abraham Lincoln, but we have forgotten God, and we have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.

Would anybody like to give what I just said over the last 10 minutes? Give this information to young adults so they understand the history of our nation. The 1619 project that is out there that is so far away, that Black Lives Matter trying to rewrite American history and give them the right information.

That's why we have One Nation Above God. The book is free of charge. You can take it with you, pass it out. The book is free to download on the website. The church, because we wanna give this out and get the right information out there.

Because the right information can begin to sway minds in the right direction. How about the vice president in the 1800s? Remember, ever and always that your country was founded by the stern old Puritans whose first act on touching the soil of the new world was to offer on bended knees thanksgiving to Almighty God.

Daniel Webster, there is no nation on earth powerful enough to accomplish our overthrow. Our destruction, should it come at all, will be from another quarter. From the inattention of the people to the concerns of their government from their carelessness and negligence.

Deteriorating from the inside out. And the reason I talk about these things, and I know people disagree with me, that's okay. When they do, I tell them to start their own church and preach what they wanna preach.

But for now, I mean, sorry, but that's the truth. What God's put on our heart, what He's called West Side Christian Fellowship to do, we believe that we're supposed to steward this gift that God has given us.

It's not all about government, all about politics. You can get into some really ugly water, you can get all focused. But if it's not only all about the Gospel, the Gospel affects all areas of life. And so you address all areas of life.

And you want God's Word to be honored in all areas of life. And you saw the article when I talked about what in the world is going on with mass shootings. From Columbine, when it started, I think there's been 331.

Did you know that? School shootings. Defected 330 ,000 students since then. When I was growing up, or you, I mean, but never even heard of it. And we had 12 gauges loaded in the back of the truck all the time because you were taught to fear God.

You were taught the dignity of life. And so we have a sin problem. We have a problem to where you remove the fear of God. And like Abraham said, the fear of God is not in this place. And when you begin to remove that fear of God, you remove the shelter and the protection of God's safety.

Now, you don't even have to be a Christian. And non-Christians will still benefit from the blessings that God is pouring on His people. God's Word in courthouses. Did you know that God's Word was in the schools?

So I think the 1970s and prayer was removed. Did you know that? And so if you don't see a correlation, I'm not sure what to say. Because there's a clear correlation. We can also see in the uptake of violent, violent video games.

Say, oh, Shane, don't go there. Well, why not? Did you know a lot of these kids play a game, they used to, I don't know if it's outdated now, but Grand Theft Auto, where they could actually have sex with a prostitute, set her on fire and take back the money?

That doesn't affect them. Oh, are you sure? That you're either naive or grossly out of touch with God's Word. Of course it does. If all you're doing is sitting down hours a day and shooting, shooting, shooting, killing, killing, killing, killing, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.

Gone are the days of Little House on the Prairie. And so see, we can see, so why shouldn't we contend for the foundation that is healthy and strong? Now we might obviously not gonna get back to 1950s, 1960s.

I'm not advocating that. But for the love of God, there's gotta be some type of passion and desire for the things of God in all areas of life. So we've got some Scripture. Psalm 33, 12. Psalm 33, 12. And I put up different versions for those who like to judge us on Bible versions.

I pleased everyone. I'm kind of joking. I found, blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. Now, every time, you know, I would talk about this over the last few years. Actually, I haven't spoke on this topic.

I used to speak on this topic a lot when God first called me to the ministry before planning the church. People said, well, Shane, that's not really for us anymore. Like, okay, can you explain that position?

Biblically, how do you explain that position? Now you can, wow, this and that, now God doesn't judge us on nations because Christ, and now we're to judge individually. Okay, but are you sure that geographical locations that honor God aren't blessed?

And those who, are you sure of that? I mean, cause I like to just take Scripture for Scripture. Blessed is the group of people whose God is the Lord. And if you read the Old Testament, you can't get away from the fact that blessed is the group of people who fear the Lord.

Genesis 20, surely the fear of God is not in this place. Psalm 36, and I love actually the NLT, the New Living Translation, even though it's not a word for word, it's a thought for thought, they call it dynamic equivalence in Bible translation.

Sin whispers to the wicked deep within their hearts. They have no fear of God at all. See, the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom and understanding, and we're remembering God today. We're remembering His Word and the fear of God.

Romans 3, their feet are swift to shed blood. Sound familiar? Being this kid from the abortion industry to mass shootings. Their feet are swift to shedding innocent blood and of children of all places.

Ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know. Why is that? He answers, there is no fear of God before their eyes. Fear God and live. And so I'm gonna talk about a controversial topic here because again, I've been chomping at the bits.

I talk about sections of this a lot, but this is really an interesting point. Was America a Christian nation? Because, don't answer, let me explain it first. Because if, let's just say, if God put this nation together, you can study the pilgrims and the Puritans.

I read of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford. My family lineage, we can't really prove it with the Mayflower Compact Society, but they say my lineage is traced to Pilgrim White, the first baby born on the Mayflower Compact.

My great-great-grandmother said that Methodist circuit riders was part of our family heritage and that God was honored. But see, in the midst of that, you have evil also working. And so we just gravitate off into the evil, but they don't tell you that the Christians brought the Salem witch trials to an end.

They don't tell you that Christians fought against slavery. They don't tell you that Christians and the pilgrims and the Puritans wanted to love and minister to the Native Americans and then evil men get in and do evil things, take land, slavery.

But now, we can't throw out the baby with the bathwater. We have to have proper American history to really understand the foundation that God built. So was America a Christian nation? Here's the answer.

A nation can't be a Christian. A nation is a reflection of the character of her people. So was this nation built on God's Word, on God's principles? Absolutely. You can read the Mayflower Compact to the glory of God and to the advancement of the Christian faith.

You can read the journals. You can read the writings. You can read what the early framers believed. You can read what the founders believed. And you can see that the foundation was godly. But then from that, we would get a lot of evils.

And I just want you to see this. The President of Congress, Henry Lawrence, said, I abhorred slavery. I was born in a country where slavery had been established by British kings and parliaments as well as by the laws of the country ages before my existence.

When some of the Southern pro-slavery advocates invoked the Bible in support of slavery, the President of the Continental Congress, are you getting this? Why don't we ever hear this? Here's what he said.

Even the sacred Scriptures have been quoted to justify this iniquitous traffic. It is true that the Egyptians held the Israelites in bondage for 400 years, but gentlemen, let us not forget the consequences that followed.

They were delivered by a strong hand and stretched out arm by God, and it ought to be remembered that the almighty power that accomplished their deliverance is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore.

Why don't we hear about that? And if you grab that book, I've got three pages of founding fathers who abhorred the practice. So here's what happened. You have founding fathers that did own slaves, Thomas Jefferson.

You have the pilgrims or Puritans, last I read, didn't bring any slaves over. They didn't agree with it. And then now they're under British rule, so you have British Parliament bringing over the slave trade.

Now you've got Christians saying, what is this? What is going on? As a matter of fact, I believe one of the tenets of the Revolutionary War was because they disagreed with the king in so many different areas.

And that's what people don't understand is it wasn't a bunch of rebels and renegades and farmers rebelling. It was what they call the rule of the lesser magistrates. It was less governing officials that fought against Great Britain and for the Revolutionary War.

If you look at sermons preached during that time, man, it's unbelievable. These pulpits were fired up. They would preach politics. Why? Because it mattered. From feud distribution to how you treat the unborn, to how you treat women, to how you treat different ethnicities, it affects all areas of life.

Now we've bought into this idea by revisionists who rewrite American history to try to knock us off course about what God was doing. Newsweek Magazine. Newsweek Magazine. This is going to amaze you. 1982, in an article, How the Bible Made America, said historians are discovering that the Bible, the Bible, perhaps even more than the Constitution, is our founding document.

Newsweek, why don't you print that again? You see an agenda at work here? Here's why the agenda. The 1619 Project, a Black Lives Matter movement, which a lot of black pastors are coming out against because they don't help black lives.

There's an agenda there. And the agenda is, now you can say America is corrupt. They call it, all our institutions are corrupt. Now you can break everything down or rebuild on a foundation that's not good and godly.

And they would teach that because of your skin color, you're an oppressor. And we know that's not true. It's a sin problem, not a skin problem. And so this agenda is very evil at its core. And a lot of people don't want to talk about it.

But maybe they don't know the truth. Early Americans felt that it was impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible. Fisher Ames, the author, the author of the First Amendment, he might have something to say.

Openly declared, should not the Bible regain the place it once held as a school book? Now, if he's the author of the First Amendment, he probably, I don't know, maybe said this late 1700s, and people might say, well, didn't they have the Bible in the school?

Not as much. Remember, the Bible became available in the schools when actually the public school system was started around the 1620s or so. And then they would come out with the old Deluder Satan Act.

That was very, very prolific. I mean, these people are hardcore. And so they would teach kids the Bible. And then it became to slowly kind of be removed, not as abruptly as it is now. And he was calling for that to be added back.

Did you know, did anybody have a Noah Webster's dictionary? Have you heard of Noah Webster, the dictionary? Boy, we have drifted far, huh? They don't have that in the schools anymore? Noah Webster wrote the dictionary.

And now to be politically correct, all the Scripture references are removed. The 1828 edition, I have, it's a big, thick one. It defines word with Scriptures. And see, to me, it's even more alarming because now you see actually how far we have drifted.

Wait a minute, are these blessings that we've been receiving and that we're supposed to steward correctly for our children, have we been left this gift? Shane, don't get political. I'm not, I'm getting biblical.

Did you know that God instituted the church, the family, and the government? It's His institution. So you're telling me He doesn't have anything to say about that topic? I have to thoroughly disagree with you because He has a lot to say about that topic.

The word politics just means leading a group of people. And if you want to be technical, I'm political with the church. I'm leading a group of people. That's all that means. So why are we disengaged from this?

Because it matters. Because there are some big issues. Now granted, I understand getting caught up in it and not getting to, you know, people, anytime the church tries to correct itself or do something, sometimes we can get too far to the right.

You heard that term far right, right? And it's too political, too this, too this, and yeah, you've lost balance. Now you've, you know, it's not good. You're kind of unhealthy. Now you're mean. Now you're arrogant.

Now you're screaming at people. Now it's like if you could just pass policies and get the right people in the office, but why aren't you having prayer meetings? Why aren't you fasting and calling out to God?

You've got off balance. But then the other side, silent sallies. That doesn't affect us. That politics is such a bad word. And I've noticed these churches who don't talk about that also aren't bold on the essential truths of the gospel.

They're not going to see why, for example, John MacArthur, when he fought politically about COVID, he's also very bold about the gospel truths. Rob McCoy or Jack Kibbs or whoever, when they're bold about biblical, political truths, they're also bold about biblical truths.

But this side that doesn't want to get political, they're very soft, even on biblical issues. So what's going on? It's a heart that is not bold. Can I say it? Cowardliness. Straight up, that's what cowardliness.

Now you don't have to be political. John Piper's clear that he's not. Other people are clear that you don't have to, but there has to be a boldness for the gospel, the boldness for the truth, the boldness for hard things, because the Holy Spirit wants us to say hard things.

Let me tell you, the boldness of the Spirit. When we read in the book of Acts, they were filled with the Holy Spirit. They became very quiet, meek, and gentle, and they didn't do anything. They didn't upset anyone.

The Bible's clear. And they were filled with boldness. Boldness to confront the culture. Boldness to confront the wicked leaders. The next quote, the first and primary duty of government is to protect innocent human life.

Thomas Jefferson, a slaveholder though. Nobody has the freedom to choose to do what's morally wrong. Abraham Lincoln, non-slaveholder owner, and fought for the abolition of slavery. And that book, I think it's an accurate quote, that book, Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Very, very graphic book. And when he met the author, he said, so you're the little old lady that started this war, this civil war. And bringing those highlights out. And that was a lot of good and evil.

And people use Scriptures out of context. What about Patrick Henry? He was an American orator and statesman and a leading patriot of the American Revolution. He's often credited with saying, the reason I say he's often credited with saying is because we can't source the quote out, but it cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists, but by Christians, not on religion, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Next quote, 24, 24 of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence received what today would be considered a seminary education. Did you know that? Did you know Princeton, Yale, Harvard were started as?

Yeah, you see where this is going. Boy, oh boy, when I started, I would just read, and I wouldn't read people's thoughts, I would just read what they call the original intent of the founding fathers. Read their words.

Read their last will and testament. I remember when I came across John Jay. He was a Supreme Court Justice. In his diary, he talked about that his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And they would make decisions based on God's Word.

Now the Supreme Court, which concerns me, is they're looking at international law and not constitutional law. The thing they're supposed to defend and guard. And that's why the constitution debate is so huge because you get rid of that, you just sank the ship.

Anything is open to interpretation. The Supreme Court in the early 1800s ruled that the public schools should teach the Bible. Noah Webster went so far as to say the education is useless without the Bible.

Now I can hear it now. Shane, Shane, okay, just get to the Word. I am. It's the Word that built our nation. It's the Word that secured our God-given freedoms. It's the Word that evangelizes the world.

And it's the Word of God that fights against evil. We've gotta remember, because God would often say remember, remember back, remember, look how far you've drifted and go to repentance. Remember what I did for you and be thankful.

Remember how far, and begin to be repairers of the breach instead of just giving up and throwing up our hands. Why does this matter? Why does, I think I even have that screen up there. I wanna, why does what I'm talking about matter?

Well, because we've been given a gift to steward. No nation on earth has ever accomplished what we accomplished. And it wasn't by our own ingenuity. Also because the hammer of judgment may fall if we don't wake up.

Also because apathy is not biblical. Apathy is not biblical. Now, there's different callings and different passions and people, you're gonna be shocked at this. You ready for this one? Well, it's kind of funny, but I'm sure this is gonna happen because I'm gonna go to some meetings in San Diego the next month or two and people, I know they have a good heart, but Shane, you know, you need to get a lot more political.

You need to run, people have asked me to run for governor, run for mayor of, like, you gotta be kidding me that talk about being on the, I mean, on the, that's not my calling. Well, you could really, you should run, you should run for, you need to be more political.

You need to be saying this about candidates. You need to be backing these measures. You need to do all this. But that's not my wheelhouse. The gospel is my wheelhouse and preaching, but now that's gonna flow from my wheelhouse when it comes time to make a difference.

Look at the people we have running for sheriff in L .A. County. God, we have Christians. A friend of mine texted Eli Vera. He goes to Jack Hibbs' church. They're running for these high office and it doesn't matter?

I don't know. Are you sure? Because I think it does. This is a big deal, especially when you have people like our district attorney who are making certain decisions punishing the victim more than the criminal.

Because, and I don't think that's the answer. People have asked me too, you know, are we leading to a next civil war? I say I hope not because it can't. It's, something's gotta break. That's not our heart.

That's not our desire. Also, why does this matter? Because if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? Why does this matter? Because our families are worth it. Our families are, you want your little kids growing up or if they don't say he is a she and she is a he, they could go to jail?

Are you kidding me? Wake up, America. We need to bring the fear of God back in our place. Oh, we don't want to be like Hezekiah. Well, at least there's no judgment in my day. See ya. What a coward. Jane, you're pretty fired up.

I am. I'm just telling you. Because those who have no voice need a voice. Those who have no voice need a voice. A voice, and you'd be amazed at how much Scripture talks about being a helper to the fatherless and the widow.

The voice for those who have no voice. By the way, the next time you run to an atheist, ask them how many atheist organizations have started a hospital. Compared to how many Christian organizations. There's always a love to want to help those who need help and have no voice.

And how do we do it? Often through a political system. And also, why does this matter? I like the last one. Because Christ told me to do business until He returns. I believe we have a biblical mandate.

We have a biblical mandate from God Almighty to expose the unfruitful works of darkness. And maybe in the 1920s, 30s, where you're talking about things like paving public roads, or should we open a new library?

But now we're talking about life and death. We're talking about abortion and redefining marriage and giving kids puberty blockers without asking parents. And you're going to be seeing, there's more cases that come out where actually if a parent doesn't allow their kid to do that, the Department of Child Services gets involved and now it's child abuse because you're denying your child something that they want.

We've lost our mind. There should be a holy, righteous indignation about it. If there's not, I don't know what to tell you. I honestly don't know what to tell you. I remember, I think it was Mike Huckabee took his young daughter, she was 12 years old, and took her to the Holocaust museums.

And she saw the shoes piled up, the death chambers, and she was dead silent, speechless. And he's going, oh, is she too young for this? Is she too young to be faced with such depravity? And she didn't talk the whole way home.

Maybe an hour and a half drive, I don't remember exactly. And finally, finally, when they get home, she looks at her dad with tears in her eyes and said, Daddy, why didn't somebody do something? Do you know the churches would sing louder when the trains went by to the gas chambers in Germany?

Why didn't somebody do something? And I'll be honest with you, I don't have the answer. I don't know exactly what we're supposed to do, but I know the one who does. I know the one who does know what we're supposed to do.

And as we're seeking Him with all of our heart and all of our strength, He will direct us. I remember I cried in LA. I've told this story, I don't know, it was 2005, 2006, when I first saw videos and heard about partial birth abortion.

And I said, God, if you just give me a voice, I'm going to, whatever you need me to do. I'm digging ditches. Nobody even has heard of this. The church wasn't even here. And now you've got some big loudmouth shouting this on the rooftops, writing articles throughout the United States, getting this message out there.

God took that one cry. He said, Lord, however you want to use me. And that's why I get excited, because I know He's called me to do this. There's a ripple effect. One of our state senators that represents us in Washington, D .C. emailed me and thanked me for the 9 a .m. service.

And said, we've got to get this message out there. We've got to get the pulpits aflame with righteousness. And so just one person, one person to make that commitment, Lord, what do you want me to do? And be prepared.

It could be nothing. You could just be an intercessor. You could just pray. He might have you go and make a difference in your school districts. I would love for 100 people to show up at a board meeting and say, that's not right.

You need to be fired. This is perverted education and you're responsible. Can you imagine? Oh, we don't want to do that. I do. That's why I don't, because I might not go with the right attitude. But do you see the garbage they let your little kids read?

It's soft porn. Sexual positions at age 12. What? Hold on, hold on. Are you kidding me? But see, we want to bury our face in the sand. It's not going to affect, oh, it could affect us. It could affect us.

It is affecting us at a very deep level. So one of the things we must do is keep the roots alive. Keep the roots alive. I think I have a screen up there as well. And a nation like a tree is easily destroyed when the roots die.

Keep those roots alive. Deuteronomy 6. Take to heart these words that I give you today. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you're at home or away. When you lie down or when you get up, write them down and tie them around your wrist and wear them on the headbands as a reminder.

Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. There's a reminder of God's word and keeping those roots alive, those spiritual roots, and remembering what God has done and being thankful for that.

Keep those roots alive. If we don't teach our children to follow Christ, the world will teach them not to. Hearts without God and homes without discipline produce destruction. I didn't talk also about looking at this topic, how many mass shootings these kids don't have fathers.

Fatherless homes. Fathers not involved. Hearts without God, homes without discipline produces destruction. The strength of the nation will depend on the stability of the family. Have you ever thought about that?

Why is there so much attack on the family? They call it the old family version and we want the new family version. Why is that? Because the strength of the nation will depend on the stability of the family.

Think about this, a lot of the decay, a lot of the moral decline is because of fatherless homes. That's where it started. Getting rid of the fatherly influence, getting him too busy, jockeying for a position, redefining our definition of success, get the father out and then mess up the sexual inclinations of children and really go after it and just destroy the family, the fabric of a moral society.

And keeping those roots alive. And then also, I want to talk to you about an important topic that we're going through now, we might go through more. Pain, pain primes the pump of revival. Pain primes the pump of revival.

You might not know what priming the pump is, but many guys know, it's you can't have a pump with air in it because it could just explode, it could overheat. You've got to get some water or fluid going in that pump first, get the air out.

The pump has to be primed. Now it can be used. Any men, you remember getting a long water hose cut off and putting it in a gas tank, get rid of all the air and put it into a gas container, spit out a little diesel fuel or gas?

I don't recommend that. I'm just glad I'm still alive today because I don't know how many times my dad maybe, Shane, we need five gallons of diesel, go put your mouth on the water hose and suck it out and then you start the process, you're spitting out gasoline, it goes in there.

And then what I would use for suntan lotion when I was 19 is hydraulic oil from our heavy equipment. It worked great, it was like Coppertone. So man, but pain, pain primes the pump or revival. Why do I bring this up?

Because don't let your pain go to waste. Don't let the pain of what's going on right now turn into bitterness and resentfulness. Let the pain prime the pump. Let me tell you the deepest, most heartfelt relationship you'll ever have with God is often because of the pain.

The pain has led me to the Savior and now I cling to the cross of Christ and now I hold on to Christ. Thank you, pain taker. Friend, thank you for getting me through the difficult seasons and you hold on, that relationship to God is sweet because though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil because the good shepherd has taken me through that valley.

Thank God for pain. Thank God for what he brings us through and he loves those, he will discipline you. Be careful. I mean, I try not to be negative. My kids listen to the sermons. I want to be positive, I'm hopeful.

Most people know I'm pretty optimistic, but man, I don't know how many got the recent email or thing from L .A. County Water Works. Working in the water district and knowing about how the water's stored.

When they tell you to cut down to watering your grass two times a week during these hours, no watering Monday, Wednesday, Friday. There's some serious, what, why, why? Because they don't know. We don't know, we don't have enough drought.

And then I think of, wait a minute, wait a minute, God told Solomon, when I bring drought, when I bring famine, anybody want to take a guess at the world's supply of wheat, where it came from? A place called Ukraine.

Thousands of shipping containers are being shipped somewhere locally, I can't say, that were down at the Long Beach. Back orders on these. Is this all just going to hopefully fix itself? I hope so. Is the government's agenda with COVID gone?

I mean, I have some oceanfront property in Arizona. If you'd like to purchase that as well. When I bring pestilence, when I bring famine, when I bring drought, if Hollywood humbles itself, if Washington, D .C., if Sacramento and Newsom humble themselves, how many know it doesn't say that?

If, Falcon, you're not getting out of this one, if my people humble themselves. When I bring famine, pestilence, and drought, you don't think that can happen? Aquifers, that was the name I was thinking about, that were the water stored.

And I was, when I was working with the water district and I was running heavy equipment, and I would look at numbers too, and they'd tell me, you know, Shane, by 2024, if we keep growing, and that's why LA County stopped some housing permits and different things, because there's not enough water to supply these things.

And so you have to start trusting in God. When I bring these things, so let pain prime the pump of revival. Gospel .com or gospelcom .net. I might've put this up there. If not, listen to this. A financial panic hit the United States in 1857.

Banks failed, railroads were bankrupt, factories closed, unemployment increased, many Christians realized the need for prayer in such dire situations. And prayer meetings began to spread around the country.

I bet they did. In lower Manhattan section of New York, a Dutch reformed church hired Jeremiah Lamford. In September 1857, he rented a hall on Fulton Street in New York and advertised a prayer meeting.

Six men assembled for that first prayer meeting on September 23rd. Two days later, the Bank of Philadelphia fell. In October, the men began praying together daily. In October 10th, the stock market crashed.

The financial panic triggered a religious awakening and people flocked to the prayer meetings. Within six months, 10 ,000 people were gathered daily for prayer in New York City alone. You can read his story.

It's incredible. I remember reading, it was 12 o 'clock and there's nobody even here. Few people trickle in. And then eventually that God brings the pain. I don't like that. I wish He would just, can it be like we're at Disneyland every day?

But sometimes that pain is what propels us to the prayer meetings and to times of worship. And so that's why I never want people to feel beat up even though they do sometimes, I know that. When I encourage early morning prayer and worship because I understand that is the prime, that's going to prime the pump.