Reviewing Kris Vallotton's shockingly unbiblical Stepping Into Your Royal Identity article

Opening Banter and Weekend Catch-Up

Hey, what's going on, guys? Welcome to another episode of Dead Men Walking Podcast. It's Greg here in studio. How was your week? Was it good? Was it great? I hope it was. Mine was pretty good. Did a little camping during the week.

We're getting into those warm summer months here in Michigan. Spent some time with family. Did a little Bible study Sunday morning when we were camping with the kids. Went really well. Kids and wife and just enjoying life.

Busy right now in real estate for me. But it's good. The Lord provides. And we are back with another episode of Dead Men Walking Podcast. Jason is out of studio. We're still working through his scheduling stuff.

I'm sure he'll be back with us soon. But I wanted to jump on here and bring you something a little bit different today. We're going to get right into it. I came across an article by our good friend, Chris Vallotton.

I say good friend facetiously, of course. I think he's a false teacher. I think he's a false prophet. And I think he does a lot of harm to the body of Christ. But I came across an article he posted on Chris, his website or his blog, chrisvallotton .com.

And it's titled Stepping Into Your Royal Identity. Eight Steps to Live a Prosperous Life. He posted this on May 31st. So just a few days ago, a few weeks ago. And boy, I started reading it. I said, oh, my gosh, what is this going to be?

I just knew it was going to be wrought with, I don't know, false doctrine and twisted scripture and probably new ageism. And boy, was I right. It's all three of those. So I wanted to kind of read through this.

And I don't do this like we say on the podcast. We don't do this to make fun of someone or try to degrade someone. But as a warning, as a warning to believers who may listen to Jesus culture stuff, Bethel stuff, who may listen to Bill Johnson and his little snippets online and go, hmm, I'm interested in this.

What is this? And they kind of suck you in to this unbiblical point of view where they misalign scripture. They don't interpret it correctly. They use Christ oneness theology and new ageism. And it can really be harmful, especially for, let's say, a new Christian.

Or, you know, I even know some people who have been Christians a long time and don't really study the Bible and then get brought into this and then have this way of thinking. So what we're going to do, hopefully this won't take too long.

But boy, do I have a lot of notes. So just stick with me. What we're going to do is we're going to read through this. And then I'm going to try to counterpoint some of these things that he says. So the title is The Pauper Who Became King.

Pauperhood, Pride, and the Dream About Proverbs 30

And he starts out by saying, my journey of breaking free from a poverty mentality all started on a bright summer day in the first year of the new millennium when Nancy, my personal assistant, entered my office looking rather troubled.

Now, I laugh to myself because right in the very first sentence, he says my poverty mentality and then my personal assistant came in. How many people living in poverty are in a pauper type mentality? You have a personal assistant.

Oh, my personal assistant came in and reminded me how poor I was. Oh, man. So I got to laugh right off the first line. So that's nothing biblical, but just a little side comment there. It goes on to say, I decided to risk asking her what was bothering her.

Nancy had a reputation for telling the truth. She said, sometimes you say things that hurts people's feelings. You're important to the people around you, and you seem completely unaware of how much people value what you think of them.

You're devastating people with your words. OK, fair enough. I like how he kind of does a humble brag there. And he says his personal assistant came in and said, you bring so much value to people around you.

But OK, let's keep going. She went on to remind me of a comment I had made earlier. I thought it was being funny, but apparently I actually made her my last victim. Latest victim. I apologize to her, but honestly, I really didn't think much of it.

That night, I had a dream that revealed my delusion on this interaction. OK, there's your first warning. OK, as John Owen said, if a revelation from God agrees with scripture, it's unnecessary. If it doesn't agree with scripture, it's unbiblical.

You don't need it. Everything we have has been revealed to us in scripture. OK, so he says in the dream, a voice kept repeating this scripture. Now, remember this, too, that these guys like Bill Johnson and Chris Vallotton, they use stuff like dreams and revelation because it can't be proved.

They can say whatever they want here. And most people don't hold them to the Bible as being the dividing line. So here in a dream, a voice kept repeating the scripture under three kings, the earthquakes and under four, it cannot bear up under a pulper when he becomes king.

Proverbs 30, 21 and 22. At three in the morning, I woke up feeling groggy, but experiencing a deep sense of grief. Then I heard the Lord, who also seemed grieved, asked me, Do you know why the earth cannot hold up under a pulper when he becomes a king?

No, I said, but I have a feeling that you're going to tell me. Oh, you're so funny, Chris. The Lord continued. Now here's the Lord revealing the meaning of scripture to him in a dream. OK, not using exegesis, not using hermeneutics, not researching and learning the original Greek or Hebrew or Aramaic that scrolls were written in and understanding what those inspired words are.

He's going to tell us what that means from a dream that the Lord gave him. So warning, a pulper is born into insignificance. As he grows up, he learns through life that he has no value and his opinions don't really matter.

OK, we already see the self-esteem thing creeping in. Don't think that's what Proverbs is talking about. We'll get that into that in a minute. But here we go. Therefore, when he becomes a king, he is an important.

He is important to the world around him, but he feels insignificant in the kingdom that lies within him. So look at that. It's all about you again. You feel insignificant. It's the kingdom that lies within you.

Subsequently, he doesn't watch his words or the way he carries himself. He ultimately destroys the very people he is called to lead. You, my son, are a pulper who has become a king. So in this first section, we can already see that it's about self-esteem.

He feels he's insignificant. But Proverbs 31 is or Proverbs 30, 21 and 22. It's about pridefulness. It's about boisterousness. It's about lack of self-control. Those are the four types of people that he's explaining there when he's talking about a godless fool who gets plenty to eat, a servant who becomes king, you know, a servant who displaces her mistress.

It's these types of people that have a pridefulness that don't have self-control, that are boisterous, that are rude, that are displacing. And the Lord says, yeah, the earth can't bear that because those type of peoples can't be leaders.

Not about your self-esteem, not about the kingdom that lies within you, not about how you feel. But this is where he's kind of setting the, you know, setting the bar. So he goes on. He says, the truth is that even if you are a leader or someone who doesn't appear to be a pulper, the fruit of pulperhood, okay, I don't know where that's found in the Bible.

Sounds delicious, though. Hey, are those fresh pulpers? Yeah, pick one for me. I'm gonna make a pulper pie out of that fruit. If rooted in the depths of your heart, will leak out into your interactions with the people around you.

Okay, there's a principle here that kind of makes sense. Not a, not necessarily inspired word of God, but there's a, there's a principle there. Through the wee hours of the morning, the Lord began to teach me about my identity as a prince.

I needed his training because I was not raised with the idea that I was significant. So once again, the Lord is gonna boost Chris's self-esteem. This is what this whole thing is about. It's how good do you feel about yourself?

This caused me to develop a whole set of behaviors that someone who was raised as a nobility would probably have never displayed. Are you kidding me? You don't think people raised with nobility have outside of Christ, have self-esteem issues, have depravity issues, have issues about insignificance.

We were created in God's image, and for one reason, for his glory. If you're not serving him for his glory, you're gonna have all those feelings. I don't care if you were born with a dollar to your name, or a hundred billion dollars to your name, or if you're part of a monarchy, okay?

God is respecter of no persons. Even after I got saved, many of these behaviors stayed around. I saw that Nancy's confrontation was about more than her simply being sensitive and me being misunderstood, which was the way I wanted to interpret it.

He goes on. It was actually about me doing things I've always done that are no longer consistent with who God says that I am. I knew this confrontation was probably one of many to come on the road out of Pauperhood and into my identity as a prince.

Okay, here we go. Two things right there. First of all, he says it's no longer consistent with who God says I am. It's no longer consistent with who God is, and who Christ is, and whom I'm to reflect in my daily actions, and who has a moral law that I'm to obey.

It's no, it doesn't reflect who God says you are. Very self-centered gospel they preach at Bethel. And then he says, I knew this confrontation was probably one of many to come on the road out of Pauperhood and into my identity as a prince.

Once again, going back to who you are. Prince. Look at all these words he's using. He's using significant. Prince, right? Your royalty. Now, we're gonna get to some scripture verses later on there. But to combat this, because there are some verses, even Ephesians 2, which this podcast is, the name is based on, right?

You've been raised into princely or priestly places. Geez, now he's got me saying prince. Priestly places. So there are some royal priesthood, right? But not in the sense that he's trying to draw out here.

He finishes this paragraph by saying, I also knew that if I didn't begin to travel the road, it would not only cost me tremendously, but also those around me. So the next section says poverty mentality and Pauperhood.

Paupers are plagued by a poverty mentality. They typically feel like their resources are limited. They believe that when someone else receives something, it takes away some of the provision that could be theirs.

Okay, I'd call that jealousy or envy, which is not biblical. They surmise that someone else's blessing costs them. This is because they have not yet learned the depths of their heart, that they are a child of the king who can and will provide for every need they have.

Well, the depths of your heart are depraved and they, and Jeremiah says, there's nothing more tricky than your heart's desires. Actually, the Bible talks very clearly about us sacrificing our will. Jesus saying, you've been crucified with me and you now serve me and it's not your will, but God's will.

But let's not get hung up on that. That's just Bible verses. A poverty mindset can trap you into thinking there are limits on what you get to have. Oh no, that's not a poverty mindset. That is a biblical Christian mindset.

There are absolutely limits on what you get to have. It's only what God gives you. The Bible is very clear on this. As a result, you can be jealous of anyone who receives something that you don't have.

This seeps into all aspects of life, including work, friends, and positions within the church. So notice that he's not teaching biblically so far that yeah, things, the Lord will provide all of our needs, right, not our wants, and that we are limited in what we're allowed to have because God provides exactly what we need, not any more and not any less.

But he's saying having this type of sinful attitude, which I agree, being jealous or envious is a sinful type of attitude, that will keep you from essentially having everything that you can envision. And he uses this word a lot.

I would say when he says who can and will provide for every need that they have, yeah, that's correct, but even our needs are dictated by God. Philippians 4 .19 says, and my God will meet all of your needs according to what?

To the riches of his glory in Jesus Christ. So according to his riches and his glory in Jesus Christ. We always leave off the second part of verses in Christianese, and it irritates me to no end, all right?

We always say, oh, God will provide all my needs. Well, first of all, he doesn't say wants, he says needs. Second of all, he says what? According to the riches of his glory in Jesus Christ. According to what Jesus Christ's glory requires.

Not what you want, not what you necessarily physically, mentally, or spiritually need. Everything God gives you is for the glory of Christ, to glorify his son, to glorify himself. It's very similar to when we recite Psalms, and it says, you restore me to righteousness for his name's sake.

The only reason you have blessing in your life, or you have any type of righteousness in your life, obviously outside of Christ's imputed righteousness, is because it's for his name's sake. It's for God's glory.

Everything in the Bible is for his glory. It's not for you, it's not so you feel good, it's not so you're provided for. Those are great things. The Lord does those things for us, but ultimately, he does it for his glory.

So this is what he says. He says, he goes on, I'd like to propose that the revelation of your true identity and learning to love yourself will destroy the spirit of poverty in your life. Love yourself?

What are you talking about? Jesus said, if you don't hate your mother and father, you're not fit for the kingdom. Meaning, I'm first, I'm supreme, I'm ruling and reigning over all. You don't get to love yourself.

Now, I'm not saying we go and we act like the prophets of Baal and cut ourselves and do all these things, but self-love? We're sinners. We are sinners from the day we were born until the day we are dying.

Now, do we have the imputed righteousness of Christ? We do. But it says we daily battle with our flesh, and we'll get to those Bible verses. Love myself? I wanna love Christ, I wanna love God, and I wanna reflect him in everything that I do.

If I start loving myself in this sinful state, it's not gonna get me very far, and I'll tell you what, it's not gonna be fun on judgment day either. So this is what he says. He says, loving yourself is key for a prosperous life.

It's also key for a prosperous soul, which is the foundation for becoming wealthy and walking in your royal identity in every area of life. So how do we learn to like ourselves and love ourselves? I'm sorry, he says, how do we learn to love ourselves?

I mean, just focus on that line for a second. Loving yourself is key to a prosperous soul, which is the foundation for becoming wealthy. So that's what we're talking about here, becoming wealthy in the worldly sense.

Riches, wealth, power, notoriety, you know, all the fame, all those things. Are you kidding me? That's the Christian walk? This guy is a supposed prophet and a pastor and a leader within a church and a movement, and he's saying loving yourself is key to a prosperous soul?

How about worshiping God as a key to a prosperous soul? How about wealth doesn't matter? How about it's harder for Campbell the pastor and I have a needle than a rich man to enter into paradise? How about that?

How about the love of money is the root of all evil, not money itself, but the love of it? How about no man can serve two masters? How about we do everything for the glory of God? Good Lord, and people are eating this stuff up.

I have a note here, says a poverty mindset can trap you into thinking there are limits on what you get to have. No, a godly, submissive, and righteous mindset puts limit on what we can have. We are slaves to Christ, not our own will, but his will.

We are grateful for any good or bad thing in which the Lord sees fit to hand us. Gosh, what is going on here? Let's go, let's read these eight simple rules, okay? That's what we're gonna get to next. He's got these eight simple rules and we're gonna get into, I'm gonna make points on each of them.

Eight Steps to a Prosperous Life and the Self-Help Gospel

Here's rule number one, discover who God says you are. There are hundreds of scriptures that reveal your amazing identity in Jesus. The apostle Paul said, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, see Romans 5 .8.

Okay, that's a Bible verse, we'll get to the context here. The connotation is that you used to be a sinner, and he puts it in quotes, someone whose nature it was to sin and do evil, but when you received Jesus into your life, you became a saint.

I'm serious, guys, this is literally what he's saying. It's no longer your nature to sin because you are a holy person and a citizen of a holy nation, see 1 Peter 2 .9. You are also a son or daughter of God and a new creation in him.

Okay, those words are in the Bible. You are a son and daughter of God, adopted into his family, and you are a new creation. Nowhere does it say you cease being a sinner and become a saint. I mean, he mangles 1 Peter 2 .9.

Listen to what it actually says. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him. You're proclaiming for his glory, again, who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you've received mercy. But look at verse 11. Let's go down a little farther. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

So the very next verse that he's quoting, or I'm sorry, two verses down in 11, he's quoting 1 Peter 2 .9. You jump down to 11. He tells us, oh, 1 Peter 2 .9 says you're no longer a sinner. You're a saint.

You're a new creation. Verse 11 says, hey, abstain from the passions of your flesh, which wage war against your soul on a daily basis. If we are not sinners anymore, why would Paul be warning us? I'm sorry, Peter, excuse me, be warning us to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against our soul daily.

What is he? All you gotta do is go two more verses down. What is this? Sorry, I'm getting fired up. This guy, something else. Let's go to point number two. Envision yourself as God sees you. I discovered a principle in the kingdom that simply says if I can envision it, I can have it.

Hold on, let's just stop right there. We got three more. Oh, we got a scripture verse and three more sentences in this point, but if I can envision it, I can have it. That's a kingdom principle. He's saying that's a biblical principle.

If I can envision it, I can have it. Please, Chris, show me where it says that in the Bible. Anyone listening, just go ahead and post it. Tell me where it's anything I can envision, I can have it. No, this is positive confession theology.

This is false doctrine. This is false teaching. This is anti-biblical. Turn and run from this kind of stuff, okay? So let's keep going. As a man thinks in his, okay, this is what he says. I can envision it, I can have it.

Hold on. The wisest king in the world articulated it like this. So he's talking about Solomon in Proverbs 23, seven. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. Proverbs 23, seven. Has there ever been a worse misinterpretation of a verse?

He says, there is something very powerful about your imagination. What you imagine has a huge impact on you becoming, period. Becoming what? What are we becoming? Oh no, just becoming. So you're in that eternal state of becoming.

You are forming your outer world with your inner thoughts. Ooh, positive confession again. This is new age creationalism. This is imagine it, envision it, and you can create it in the real world. This is some real philosophical stuff.

This is Stoism. Oh, go look up Stoism and see what that's all about. If you can think it, then you can create it in the physical. What you imagine has a huge impact on who you're becoming. You are forming your outer world with your inner thoughts.

So what you choose to meditate on, imagine, think about, envision, talk to yourself, and even sing the truth to yourself. What are we doing here? Oh my gosh, this is virtue ethics. Oh my gosh. This is focusing on eudaimonia.

I mean, on virtue ethics, an old philosophical Aristotle taught this kind of garbage, and now we're bringing it back into the church? I mean, focusing on property, have a good disposition, have a blessed life, highest form of human accomplishment.

It's like secular garbage. That's what all this is. And what does the Bible say we're supposed to meditate on, guys? He's telling us to envision and meditate on what we want, and we can have it. I don't know, the Bible says to meditate on his precepts, Psalms 119 .15.

Meditate on his laws day and night, Psalm 1 .2. Meditate on God's mighty deeds, Psalm 10 and 12. Do you sense a pattern here on what we're supposed to meditate on? God, his holy scriptures. Not on what we want.

We're not envisioning and creating our physical world through our imagination. Chris Vallottun, you are such a false teacher. It's insane. I don't know how you can even have a ministry and have self-professing Christians read this garbage and then say, oh yeah, this is biblical.

Yeah, I'm good with that. Yeah, let's go to point three, okay? Let's get off the, if you can envision it, you can have it. Imagine it, think about it, create the world through your imagination. Ah, garbage.

Let's go to point number three. This is point three of eight. Recount your past sins and failures that still trouble you and ask Jesus to forgive you. Let me be clear, I'm not talking about spending your days in regret.

I'm merely saying that if you are still plagued by any past failures, then deal with them head on. You can't conquer what you refuse to confront and buried shame is more dominant than unapplied redemption.

Okay, here's a little trick before we finish this point, a little trick that you can watch out for. Bill Johnson does this, he's big on it. Obviously, Chris here is big on it. What they do is they'll take a couple adjectives, link them together, make them opposites, and then they hire people in the front row.

They're the, oh, that's good people. If you ever watch a Bill Johnson clip, he'll be like, he's like the John Madden of preaching. He just takes a very simple point or just puts a bunch of words together, and then they'll say something like, you can't conquer what you refuse to confront and buried shame is more dominant than unapplied redemption.

And you got like three people, oh, that's good. Oh, that's good. What does that mean? What kind of mumble jumble are you? Did you just go to like an adjective generator in Google and be like, type in adjectives to make sense?

Buried shame is more dominant than unapplied redemption. This guy's trying to sound so smart and heady. And it's like, so what you're saying is like buried shame, meaning like you have shame from your past will control your life, then redemption that you should have, but you don't apply it to your life.

Like, what is that? I was redeemed the moment God saved me and he regenerated my heart. What is this unreplied redemption, unapplied redemption? You buried shame, whoa. If we confess our sins, he's faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

That's true. Yes. The only parts of this entire article I'm going to agree with is just the very direct quotes of scripture. Not the way he interprets it, not the way he exegetes it, not the way he explains it, not what he relates it to, just the actual scripture.

That's the only thing that makes any sense here. And he says, see 1 John 1, 9. There it is, short and sweet. Confess your sins and he does the rest. That's his point three. And when he says you can't conquer what you refuse to confront and buried shame is more dominant than unapplied redemption.

It's like, we don't conquer anything. Christ does. Christ is the conquer. And like I said, what is this buried shame gobbledygook? I mean, they just make up these like lofty spiritual, philosophical truths that mean nothing and then get pats on the back and put them in blogs.

Oh my gosh. In other news, ice water is much colder than hot water. Chris Vialton, come on. Unbelievable. Let's go to point four. Ask Jesus to show you your sins or failures from his perspective. It is so important, especially when you fail, that you see yourself from God's merciful perspective.

Okay, getting a little dicey. Let's see what he says next. Envisioning your failure through the eyes of Jesus. What? Is essential to assigning the right roles to the proper character in your life. That loud voice shouting guilty, away to the gallows with them, off with their heads.

That's in all caps. That's why I read it that way. Is not the Lord convicting you. It's Satan trying to mess with your head. Wait a minute. What? Spiritual conviction never makes you feel guilty? What?

His goal is to get your eyes off the Lord's redemption and onto your own failures. But in the midst of all the shouting, there is always the reassuring voice of your shepherd. Stay in that quiet place until you can see your failings transform into his fantastic future.

Okay. Ask Jesus to show you your sins or failures from his perspective. Let's start with that. You want to know Jesus' perspective on sin? It's the same as the Father. He hates it. Just more building blocks to reduce the seriousness of sin and the fleshly state and minimize your evilness.

That's really what he's doing here. Now, he might be alluding to condemnation in Christ. There is no condemnation in Christ, but there's absolutely guilt. There's absolutely shame of your sin. There's going to be a lot of guilt and shame when we stand before God and he righteously judges us for our sin.

Now, we have the imputed righteousness of Christ. I know I have to keep repeating that because I'm going to get comments of people going, God loves us. He's forgiven us. Jesus forgave us. Why are you being mean to Chris?

Because he's not representing the full gospel. That's why. And it has to be said. Okay. John 3, 19 through 21 comes to mind. And this is the judgment. The light has come into the world and people love the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his work should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out by God.

I mean, golly, he's like, oh, don't feel guilty. Away with the gallows, off with his head. I feel like that many times. And that's the spirit convicting me of my sin. You bet I should feel guilty and shame.

And then I come and ask for forgiveness and I repent and I don't do it again and I move forward. And yes, God is loving and gracious and forgiving. But to say, oh, don't even think about, that's Satan telling you that.

Satan's telling you you're guilty. No, Jesus said you're guilty. God the Father said you're guilty. He actually sent someone to not only comfort us but to convict us called the Holy Spirit that says you're guilty of that sin.

That's how he shows his love to turn us to repentance, to turn us from our sin. Golly, Christ just wants these guys to keep sinning, I guess. They go, oh, well, Satan's just telling me I'm doing bad stuff.

Come on, man. I just sounded like Joe Biden there. Come on, man, you know the thing. Sorry, guys. All right, point number five, let's keep it moving. Jeez, this is gonna be a long episode and I'm only on point five of eight.

We'll finish it up here, guys. Ask Jesus if there are actions you need to take to clean up your messes. Clean up your messes. That's what he calls sin. You made a mess. Clean up your messes. No, you sinned against a holy God.

It's an evil, horrible thing. Not clean up your mess. You sinned against a righteous God. You will be held accountable for it. Stop minimizing sin. Stop minimizing evilness. Stop minimizing wickedness.

So he says, ask if there are actions. Ask Jesus if there are actions you need to take to clean up your messes or to bring closure to your life. What? Bring closure to your life. Okay, we'll get back to that.

Then take action. The Bible says that we need to bear fruit of our repentance. Okay, that's true, once again. Most of the time, this simply means asking people what we have wronged to forgive us. Nope, not what it means at all.

And doing what we can to right our wrongs. It's important to note here that you are responsible to do your part, but you can't make someone forgive you. That's true. Let the Holy Spirit do his part in convincing other people involved to reciprocate your response.

So the Holy Spirit can convict other people of being guilty against you, but it's Satan making you feel guilty when it's about yourself. See how it's all about you and there's no introspection, there's no really taking responsibility for yourself even in this.

And I don't wanna get off on a tangent here, but this is what we mean on this podcast. We even talk about wokeism and liberal progressivism. I don't wanna bring too much politics into this, but that type of agenda creeping into the church because it's like, if you feel bad about your sin, that's Satan.

But if someone else does something to you, don't worry, God'll convict them so they'll forgive you. What kind of double standard is that? This is the stuff you have to read between the lines when you read blogs like this.

And I guarantee you, most Christians, hopefully it's not most, I would say, well, definitely most Christians going to this church, all Christians probably going to Bethel is reading this going, oh, this is great.

Woo, oh, wow, yeah, yeah, God, yay, God, right? But most Christians will read this and they won't read between the lines of what he's actually saying. Sure, they sprinkle in some Bible verses, they're misaligned and misinterpreted.

And you go, what, he cites five verses here. Well, he cites them all incorrectly, is the first thing I would say, someone brought this to me. But he sprinkles in a little bit of truth to try to twist his point to mean what it means.

So he says, let the Holy Spirit do his part in convincing other people involved to reciprocate your response. But go back up here. What is he talking about, bringing closure? Like, what does that have to do with anything?

Like, ask Jesus if there are actions you need to take to clean up your messes or to bring closure to your life, then take action. Minimizing sin here once again. Repentance has nothing to do with personal closure, you guys, no offense.

No offense if you're listening right now and you go, but I want closure, sorry. If you sin, there's consequences to your sin. God will forgive you. God will lead you into righteousness, but guess what?

There may never be closure for some of those sins. You have to live with the consequences of your sin. That's pretty heavy. I'm sorry, but if you are fully forgiven, regenerated, pedophile in your past, that's a strong example.

But there's gonna be a lot of unclosure there. Is that a word? I just pulled another Biden. There's not gonna be closure. You're gonna live with consequences. Now, there's not condemnation in Christ Jesus.

There's forgiveness, but there definitely isn't closure. That's a sin you always live with. Liar, murderer, adulterer, thief, fornicator, we're all those things, most of us. That's not closure. We live with the consequences of our sin before we came to the Lord, before he graciously saved us.

Testing Your Thoughts, Your Heart, and Your Identity

All right, let's go to point six, got a couple more. Develop a vetting system for what you allow yourself to listen to and think about it. What the heck? Who's setting up this vetting system? All right, that's my first thought.

Me? My own flesh is gonna be the vetting system? To vet what? To vet prayers? To vet what I want, what I need? I mean, it's insanity. The Bible no longer has a standard here in his instruction. Develop a vetting system for you, for what you allow yourself to listen and think about.

Jesus gave us profound insights into how our vetting process affects our lives when he said, take care what you listen to. By your standard of measure, it will be measured to you and more will be given to you besides, Mark 4 .24.

That's not about a vetting system. He says, take care of what you listen to. Take care of your speech. Take care of what you think. Those are commandments. It's not a vetting system that you make up, some Excel spreadsheet in your mind of what you can and can't allow.

No, it's God's moral law. When you choose to entertain certain kinds of thoughts, for example, worry and fear, you will invite other worries and fearful people into your world. Okay, a little bit of this, more of this positive thinking, positive confection.

If you worry and fear, then you're gonna invite people around you that worry and fear. It's true when they say birds of a feather tend to flock together. Oh, I missed that proverb. Oh, wait, it's not a proverb.

It's an Eastern Hindu saying, okay. On the other hand, if you, and this is in quotes, watch over your heart, mind with all your diligence, see Proverbs 4 .23, and vet your thoughts through God's divine filter, then you will attract like-minded people.