Next Week | Robert Jeffress Controversy | Episode 13
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There was a recent controversy surrounding the man many people call the "Evangelical Advisor to the President". Dr. Robert Jeffress, a pastor many know as being uncompromising, referred to Roman Catholics as "brothers and sisters in Christ". In light of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation we wanted to combine an epic show with comedy, theology, commentary, and an interview with Dr. Jeffress to allow him to speak for himself and bring clarity.
You don't want to miss it! Many have called this the best episode to date of Next Week with Jeff Durbin.
Go to http://apologiastudios.com for more great Christ-centered content!
- 00:38
- Welcome. What an exciting, exciting show. Thank you guys very, very much.
- 00:44
- Thank you to everybody watching across social media. Guess what today is, guys?
- 00:50
- It's the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. That's a pretty big deal. Yes.
- 00:55
- So it's been an amazing time, light after great darkness, and we have a great show for you guys today.
- 01:02
- Be sure to share this across social media. Let's talk about the news. You guys ready for that? So check this out.
- 01:07
- Tiger Woods pleaded guilty in a plea deal involving his recent DUI arrest. They gave him a pretty tough punishment, though.
- 01:15
- He's been commanded to do 50 hours of community service caddying for Donald Trump. That's horrific.
- 01:23
- A new study shows that 4 a .m. may just be the most productive time of the day. This report comes directly from a gamer, underscore death angel zombie killer 2246.
- 01:35
- Makes sense. Two women and their dog survived, get this, at sea for five months.
- 01:42
- That's true. Yep. Feminists will try anything to prove they don't need a man. Netflix canceled
- 01:51
- Kevin Spacey's show House of Cards after he tried to derail a sexual assault accusation by coming out of the closet.
- 01:59
- Okay, so just to be clear, we found the one time Hollywood doesn't want you to say that you're gay.
- 02:05
- Not now. A plane load of over 100 household pets arrived at a
- 02:11
- Colorado airport from Puerto Rico, marking this the first time hundreds of parents could actually say, your dog went to the farm.
- 02:20
- With a clear conscience. Previously classified JFK files were released this week.
- 02:27
- Did you hear about this? Amazing stuff. And with new knowledge from the files, it's become very apparent that the
- 02:33
- CIA is a lot creepier than we thought. Dress up as an agent today, trust me.
- 02:40
- Now, it was revealed that the CIA had plans to assassinate not just Fidel Castro, but Congolese leader
- 02:46
- Patrice Lumumba and Indonesian President Sukarno. They tried to kill so many people, the
- 02:53
- CIA could have changed their name to Planned Parenthood. Believe that. I thank you.
- 03:00
- Thank you, Chris. That was a good one. Now they didn't go through with all their murder plans though, because of course the
- 03:06
- Clintons weren't even in office yet. So, and not only did the
- 03:12
- CIA plan to kill people, but they also placed spies in Christian groups.
- 03:19
- CIA. Finally, an answer to how Joel Osteen became a pastor. We get it.
- 03:25
- I get it. Smooth move, CIA. Now, of course, some people are going out trick or treating tonight.
- 03:32
- And some people remember what trick or treat was like for them as a kid. So we thought that we'd travel back in time to one particular person's childhood.
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- Bernie Sanders. Take a look at Bernie Sanders. Trick or treating. Trick or treat.
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- Trick or treat. Hi guys. Mine, mine.
- 04:13
- Mine, mine. Thank you, happy Halloween. Hey, can
- 04:21
- I look at your candy? Hey. Hey. I don't have.
- 04:56
- That kid had my suit. Now, that was awesome. Now, the holidays are finally underway, right?
- 05:02
- Big couple of months. You guys excited? Thanksgiving, Christmas, it's a big deal. Now, churches tend to pull out their big letters to make inviting signs for their community, to invite them to church.
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- Now, as much as they try to be creative, a lot of times churches should have thought twice before they put them up.
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- This leads us to a new segment we like to call, Here's Your Church Sign. Here's your church sign.
- 05:26
- What's that say? Great. Now, keep in mind, every one of these church signs that you're about to see, they're actually real.
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- Like in the real world. Not in the upside down. It's for real. Now, the first sign is a church that was putting on a revival, but they had to cancel it.
- 05:47
- And here's why. Revival canceled due to death. You know, that makes sense.
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- God's going to breathe life back into people. Oh, wait. Hold on. Someone died. Never mind. We're canceled. Got to cancel the life giving event tonight.
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- A little bit of a conflict. Here's another sign. Don't let worries kill you. Let the church help.
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- That's a church that needs to invest in commas and periods. They may have gotten tips from St.
- 06:15
- Martha's Episcopal because here's their sign. We love hurting people. Now, I can see why nobody want to go there.
- 06:24
- How do we say that we care for hurting people in the creepiest possible way?
- 06:31
- This is another sign. Check it out. I kissed a girl and I liked it. Then I went to hell.
- 06:42
- They're honest, I guess. Let's move on to a Halloween themed church signs.
- 06:48
- Here's this one. Our church is haunted. We have a ghost. His name is Holy Boo. I love that they added the word boo so that it makes it scary.
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- Now, look at this sign. Get behind me, satin. What was meant as a spiritual sign slowly became a fashion statement.
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- Satin is totally out this season, guys. And finally, here is a church trying to advertise their
- 07:19
- Halloween alternative for tonight. Let's see how they did it. Holy Ghost Wiener Roast.
- 07:26
- What exactly is this? Now, just because it rhymes doesn't mean you should do it, guys.
- 07:36
- Because blasphemy. Kind of like that. Now, nobody wants to go there. And look what it says underneath it.
- 07:41
- Close up. Check this out. A Halloween alternative you won't forget. Now, if you guys see any other embarrassing church signs, send them our way.
- 07:49
- We'd love to show them. That's all for now, guys. Stay with us. We'll be right back, guys. Very important show today.
- 07:55
- Reformation celebration and a very special guest with us. Stay with us. Like and share. We'll be right back.
- 08:28
- $10 cup of coffee. This cup of coffee I stole from a man. There's a way that you can get around life without $10 for a cup of coffee.
- 08:38
- That doesn't make any, if you are spending $10 for your cup of coffee, you are spending the wrong amount of money in your life.
- 08:45
- Your whole life is disarray. You need to rethink your entire life. Trust me. Take that $10, like how much foam did you get on that cup of coffee?
- 08:54
- Take that $10, go use it just once for this month and get Apologia All Access.
- 09:00
- Then, learn to buy a $5 cup of coffee. I think we're growing here.
- 09:07
- Apologia All Access. Right now. Sign up. Buy coffee a little better.
- 09:17
- Welcome back, everybody. Welcome to our live studio audience that are watching across them internets.
- 09:22
- Next, we've got Jeff Durbin, and it's time for that very special blend of the week. Are you guys ready for this? Yes. Oh, delicious.
- 09:30
- This blend of the week is called CIA Chai. It's coffee in the CIA break room, and nobody wants to taste it because they're all too afraid to drink it.
- 09:40
- But we will. You guys ready? Let's do this. Okay.
- 09:49
- Now, it's October 31st, and you all know what that means. Kids everywhere are nailing the 95 thesis on people's doors.
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- That's what we do because it's Reformation Day, everybody. 500 year anniversary of the
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- Reformation, the great day, the great time where light broke out after significant, tremendous darkness.
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- 500 years ago, Martin Luther started the Reformation. This is where we kind of nail down the starting point by nailing a 95 thesis on the door of the
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- Wittenberg Castle Church. It's a good thing he did it back then and not now because according to infomercials, using hammers is one of the things we cannot do anymore.
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- Damaged walls. Wish there was a solution to fix it all? You've got something to hang? Nails need hammers.
- 10:34
- No more pounding, drilling, or damage to your walls. You know if you've tried to make home improvements yourself, mistakes happen.
- 10:41
- For example, if you're trying to put a picture frame up there on the wall. It's not that difficult, guys.
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- Seriously. Not at all. Now, Martin Luther wanted to put the Bible back into the hands of the people.
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- The Word of God into the hands of the people. And we want to get rid of it in two easy payments of $19 .99.
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- Luther was a man so familiar with what the Bible says about the holiness of God that he was riddled with guilt and used to wear out the other priests in the confessional.
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- The only priest to out guilt him is Father Tony Barufuoco from the 5th Diocese of New Jersey. Hey, look,
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- I got guilt. Forget about it. Now after Martin suffered tremendous anguish over his sin before God, he was confronted with the glorious message of the
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- Gospel in Romans. The righteous shall live by faith. That deserves an applause, everybody.
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- For real. Now, that's what the Reformation was all about, Charlie Brown. No need to wait around in a pumpkin patch so some giant squash can give you something.
- 11:44
- It's 2017 anyways. Go home and wear it safe and hug your parents. Now, Martin Luther presented questions that needed to be answered by everybody, like recaps at the end of an
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- Adam West Batman episode. How does a person have peace with God and inherit eternal life?
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- Is a person reconciled to God through their own righteousness and good works coupled together with what Jesus did? Will the
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- Catholic priests ever get rid of water sprinkling in the eyes of people who didn't see it coming? Find out two of the three by tuning into the
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- Bible. Now, the Bible, thank you, the Bible clearly says that a person is not reconciled to God through their own righteousness and good works.
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- The Christians during the time of the Reformation became emboldened by the message of the Bible that teaches that we are sinners before God and that Jesus' work on behalf of his people was perfect and it was able to save perfectly for everyone who turns to Jesus and puts their faith in him.
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- The Reformers began heralding the truth in the Bible found in Romans 3 .28 where Paul says, we conclude that man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.
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- That's faith alone, y 'all. See, these troublemakers began to recognize the same truth that the heroes of the
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- Bible and the early church already knew. The Bible alone is the final word on what is actually true.
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- Not the words of some guy wearing a silly hat and wearing a dress. No, no, no, not him.
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- The other one. That guy. Not the words of some rock star pastor with pearly whites.
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- Not him. The other guy. That one.
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- And not the words of a 19th century convicted occultist who claimed that a polygamist resurrected
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- God -man who procreated with his own daughter Mary told him to restore a church that Jesus has said would never need to be restored.
- 13:42
- That guy. You see, the fact that Mormonism is still a thing is astonishing.
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- I mean, Joseph Smith Jr.'s accounts of God are as questionable as telling everyone you're gay after being accused of attempting to rape a 14 -year -old boy.
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- I'm talking to you, Kevin Spacey. Now, did you know that we refer to the Reformation as post tenobras lux?
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- It means after darkness, light. The time before the Reformation was a time of significant darkness.
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- Rome was treating the people of God like they couldn't understand the Bible on their own, so they kept it from us.
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- Like a control freak who doesn't think we can handle our own money on our own. That guy. Now, Christians were persecuted by the
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- Romans for trying to put the Bible in the hands of the people. That's right. We Reformers believe that God spoke clearly in his word and that he can communicate quite well on his own.
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- He doesn't need your help. He doesn't need some interpreter that's as flawed as this CNN translator.
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- This, many rumors have been spreading around, spreading around in the country.
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- It is a true loss. And I pray to God for mercy on all those miters and my condolences to their families.
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- The Bible says, listen to the Romans. Now, when
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- Martin Luther was on trial, this epic moment in history at the Diet of Worms, he was confronted with a demand to recant for what he had been saying, what he'd been writing, what he'd been teaching.
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- And he wouldn't, which marked an epic moment in church history. And look, by the way, who in the world thought of calling it the
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- Diet of Worms? But that sounds like a book that some crunchy liberal hipster with a gluten -free bumper sticker that says
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- Jesus would drive a Prius would buy at Whole Foods Marketplace.
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- The Reformation created giants. Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Edwards, Whitfield, Bonson, White, and many, many more.
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- These were men that God used to shape and continue to shape our world. As a matter of fact, as a matter of fact, for all you
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- America -loving conservatives and liberals, you can thank John Calvin in Geneva for your precious
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- American experiment. Now, the most popular study
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- Bible at the time of the founding of our nation in the colonies was called the Geneva Bible. The idea of a separation of powers with the kind of distinct government we have today was a gift to the world by Protestants.
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- So on behalf of Protestants everywhere... That's right, liberals, the foundation of this country were laid by a bunch of crusty,
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- Bible -thumping Jesus freaks known as the Puritans. You'd have been hard -pressed in the colonies to find someone who wasn't descended from the
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- Reformers and not reform themselves. These beer -loving, theology -reading nutjobs had their
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- Bibles and their relationship with Jesus, and they weren't taking any prisoners. I mean, the fact is the
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- Reformation created much of the good parts of the culture of the West. When people got their
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- Bible back into their hands and could understand the gospel clearly once again, they began to point others back to Jesus.
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- They began to look to God's Word for true standards of justice, and they began to fight to create a distinct culture of Christ.
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- Today, the cultural Marxists are seeking to do what they always do, destroy Christianity.
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- They're doing so, as my friend says, by attacking Christianity via a proxy, the culture that Reform Christianity created, the culture of the
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- West. The Reformation was about several pillars known as the five solas, Scripture alone,
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- Faith alone, Grace alone, Christ alone, and Glory to God alone. These pillars were not invented during the time of the
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- Reformation. They were merely acknowledged and also very difficult costumes to dress up as on Halloween.
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- It was stuff that the Bible and the early church already taught and knew quite well. The Reformation is not over, however.
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- Rome still declares anathema on anyone who believes that justification before God is through faith in Christ alone, apart from works of law.
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- The church still has its need to transform its teachings, practice, and life according to Scripture, and we still have a culture and society that rejects
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- God's Word as supreme, and we still have false teachers wearing strange clothes in pulpits pretending to represent
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- God. The sad thing is, in this country, many people have said that pastors will even change their beliefs for possible political gain, which people have called the
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- Robert Jeffress effect. Reverend Robert Jeffress is the pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas.
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- He's actually one of the evangelical advisors to Donald Trump and, by the way, most likely to have dressed up as Mr.
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- Bean on the Sunset Strip for tourists. Now, here's a snippet from a message
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- Jeffress delivered in 2011. Much of what you see in the Catholic Church today doesn't come from God's Word.
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- It comes from this cult -like pagan religion. You say, when a pastor, how can you say such a thing?
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- That is such an indictment of the Catholic Church. After all, the Catholic Church talks about God and the
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- Bible and Jesus and the blood of Christ and salvation. Isn't that the genius of Satan?
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- You know, if you want to counterfeit a dollar bill, you don't do it with purple paper and red ink.
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- You're not going to fool anybody with that. But if you want to counterfeit money, what you do is make it look as closely related to the real thing as possible.
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- That's powerful stuff, right guys? Very powerful. So, just hang here for one second.
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- So, this idea of counterfeit, saying the same words, using things like Jesus, Heavenly Father, talking about justification, talking about the cross and the resurrection, all those things, that is what the cults do.
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- They borrow our terminology. They create a counterfeit using Christianese, and they end up redefining the message of Jesus.
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- They end up redefining what God says about Himself. And so, that's powerful, powerful stuff. And herein lies the controversy.
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- Reverend Robert Jeffress here believes that Catholicism is not biblical, and that's very, very good. And he even called it a cult.
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- And I will say, it is great to see someone advise Trump that is bold and will stick to his guns, right? Amen? Powerful stuff.
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- That's a good thing. We should be praying for that. And no matter what happens to him politically, he won't change his views, right?
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- Well, what they did was, Steve, they went back and recycled some old quotes from years ago that were either completely manufactured at the time or ripped out of context.
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- And let me be clear. I've said this repeatedly. I love my Catholic brothers and sisters in Christ.
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- We march alongside one another in right -to -life marches. We work alongside one another in religious liberty causes.
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- And just this past Sunday, I invited Sean Hannity, a Catholic himself, to our church.
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- He spoke, and I said to Sean and our entire congregation that I believe that millions of Catholics are going to be in heaven because of their faith in Christ.
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- So therein lies the confusion. Does everyone see it? Yes? Well, one of you does. Okay. That's the confusion and the controversy.
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- Is that the same Jeffress that talked in the last clip? I mean, this is just like when the mechanic tells you that your car bill is only going to be $100.
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- And then when you get there, he tells you, oh, it's $3 ,000 because he already replaced your motor with another motor, even though your car still makes that sound you walked in for in the first place.
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- Difficult stuff. And so I just want to emphasize here, the important thing here is clarity.
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- We ought to be caring about the gospel itself. And just consider this, Roman Catholicism cannot change their position on justification by grace through faith and your own righteousness.
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- Roman Catholicism denies the biblical gospel. They fell into apostasy officially at the Council of Trent, where they actually declared an anathema on anybody who would teach that salvation, justification is through faith in Christ alone, gaining his righteousness as a gift of God's grace.
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- They declared anathema on Christians around the world. And that anathema stands.
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- And here is the important point of clarity. An anathema was already declared in history.
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- It was declared in Galatians chapter one, where the apostle Paul addresses a false gospel that crept into the church in Galatia.
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- And that false gospel, Paul says with boldness, am I still seeking to please men or God? Uncompromising.
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- He says, what about it? He says, if I was still seeking to please men, I would not be the slave of Jesus. And he says, this gospel that's come in, this gospel is really not the gospel.
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- It's a different gospel. People are perverting the message of Jesus. And what does he say about it? He says very, very clearly that if even he or an angel from heaven comes back and preaches any other gospel, let him be anathema.
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- There was already an anathema declared upon a gospel that is very similar to the gospel of Rome.
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- And we want clarity. So here to comment on Robert Jeffress is Robert Jeffress.
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- Dr. Jeffress, thank you so much for joining us on Next Week. Well, thanks for having me. You look great,
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- Dr. Jeffress. Well, thank you. Appreciate it. Absolutely. Only the best for you guys.
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- No, that's right on. Thank you, sir. Well, I really have so appreciated so much of what I've seen from you in the past, brother, and it's been really a blessing.
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- As a matter of fact, one of the first times that I saw you in really an epic moment, and I've watched this clip,
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- I don't even know how many times, where it was where you were on a news broadcast and you were dialoguing with a homosexual pastor.
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- Yeah. Yeah, that was, I think, the day that the Obergefell versus Hodges Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage.
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- It was in the aftermath of that that day that we did that. Yes. And it was such a blessing to see that.
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- I don't know if you know this or not, but that clip has been making the rounds around the Internet and they've turned it into Thug Life videos, if you know what that is.
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- I have no idea. Somebody told me those things have been out. That particular video has been downloaded more than 12 million times.
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- Yes. It really is an amazing moment, I think, in recent history where a
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- Christian pastor stands on the Word of God. You are not ashamed in any way. You preach the truth.
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- And I really want you to hear from me just what a blessing that was. I'm going to actually play a clip.
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- Marcus, go ahead and cut a clip right here of Dr. Jeffress in that scene. God's Word never evolves.
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- It never changes. The Scripture says, Thy word is settled in heaven forever, O Lord. People change, opinions change, but God's Word never changes.
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- That was a moment, Dr. Jeffress, where this gentleman was essentially trying to say that the church is evolving, that our understanding of the
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- Word of God is evolving, that essentially as culture evolves, we get to some different ideas and versions of the truth and we can be
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- Christian sort of evolving with society around us. Can you just speak to that idea? Because I love what you said there.
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- Well, I mean, what we end up evolving into is unbelievers when we consistently want to try to change
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- God's Word to suit the cultural norms of the day. And look, I don't think you have to be mean or vindictive to stand on God's Word.
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- I mean, we don't hate homosexuals. We don't hate anybody. But you know, God is the one when it comes to marriage who said, look, this is the way sex best operates between a man and a woman in a marriage relationship.
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- And anything outside of that, whether it's not just homosexuality, but adultery, unbiblical divorce, premarital sex, all of those things,
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- God says are not according to my plan and they don't end up well. And I think we can present
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- God's truth forcefully, but compassionately. And I think that's what we've been called to do. Now, that's what
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- I appreciate so much about you, Pastor, is just that methodology to speak the truth boldly as you have, but to do it with a graciousness and compassion and an obvious concern for the lost.
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- And I think that's what we need. And I, for one, am encouraged by the fact that you have at least some influence spiritually and gospel -centered influence in the year of our current president.
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- And so I really, truly appreciate that. Can you talk to us, Pastor, about the
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- Bible as foundational, as the rock and the grounding of truth for the church and even for other realms of authority in our society, like say, even government.
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- Is the Bible foundational for every area of life? Yes, it's absolutely foundational.
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- And you know, we're getting ready to acknowledge, in fact, today as we're doing this program, the reformation in which
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- Martin Luther called the church back to reliance on scripture alone, scripture alone and faith alone.
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- And I think there's a need for a second reformation really, because so many even evangelical churches have departed from the truth of God's word.
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- And I do believe God's word is sufficient, not just for the church, but for all of society.
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- And no, we're not trying to establish a theocracy. And I've said this often in the public square recently, look, our nation believes in the freedom of religion, the free exercise of religion.
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- And although we recognize the right of people to practice all faiths or no faith, it's also an indisputable historical fact that this nation was founded as a
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- Christian nation with an unashamed reliance on the truth of God's word.
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- And I think as we return to that foundation, I think God's going to bless us. Look, God is no respecter of people or nations.
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- Any nation that reverences God and his word will be blessed by God. And any nation, including the
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- United States, that departs from God and his word will be judged by God. Oh, wow. I so appreciate that.
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- That's very, very encouraging. Dr. Jeffress, I have a great deal of respect for you and love for you as a brother in the
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- Lord. And I do want to address a concern that's been brought up, and especially in light of what you just said, this is the 500th anniversary of the
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- Reformation, justification through faith alone, in Christ alone. I'd like to give you the opportunity to respond and just bring clarity and understanding to your obvious firm position on justification through faith.
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- We have a great deal of concern and compassion for Roman Catholics who need Christ. And we do believe that many people are within the
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- Roman Catholic communion that truly do believe in Jesus and love him. We think personally that's despite the Roman Catholic Church.
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- But you made some recent comments that have created some controversy, and we want to give you the opportunity just to sort of address it because you have such a love for the gospel.
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- You have referred to Roman Catholics as brothers and sisters in Christ. You've shown a great deal of compassion and love to Sean Hannity.
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- So as we know, brother, Rome in the Council of Trent declares anathema on anybody who teaches that we are justified through faith alone apart from any works.
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- How do we square your statements with the kind of influence that you have with sort of the anathemas declared upon us as Christians from Trent and also the anathema that Paul declares on anybody who would attempt to mix faith plus works for justification?
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- Well, first of all, let's put my comments in context. Last Tuesday at the
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- White House briefing, Sarah Huckabee Sanders was standing in front of the podium, and a reporter asked her, how could
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- President Trump tweet out that Pastor Jeffress is a wonderful man when he so viciously attacks
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- Roman Catholics? And all of this was based on some resurfaced and recycled quotes of mine that were taken out of context about Catholicism and so forth.
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- And so, this has been the left's attempt to attack President Trump by attacking his most vocal and visible evangelical supporter.
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- And so, I issued a statement saying, again, we don't hate anybody. And the fact is, there are many
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- Roman Catholics who have placed their faith in Christ alone for their salvation. And the point
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- I would say to your audience is this, nobody goes to heaven in a group. I'm always asked, are
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- Baptists going to be in heaven or Jews going to be in heaven, or Catholics going to be in heaven? Nobody goes to heaven or hell in a group.
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- We go one by one based on our relationship to Jesus Christ. Only those who have trusted in Christ alone for salvation are going to be in heaven.
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- And I believe there will be millions of Roman Catholics in heaven who have trusted in Christ as Savior. And I think there will be multitudes of Baptists in hell who have never solely trusted in Christ as Savior.
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- There's no doubt about that. I appreciate the explanation. So, just for clarity, so there's no confusion and misrepresentation of you in the future, what is your position when
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- Rome says anathema on anybody that says the justification is through faith alone apart from works?
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- I think they're absolutely wrong in that. I think Paul was very clear. We're saved by God's grace alone.
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- Okay, excellent. So, Dr. Jeffress, when you consider the landscape that we have before us with the cultural
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- Marxists trying to destroy Christianity via a proxy, the culture of the
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- West, when you think about the socialists and all that we have to face today with gender confusion and people who are trying to destroy the family and marriage, all those different things, and what do you believe is the ultimate path forward in terms of transformation?
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- How will things change? How should we, how ought we to be fighting? Well, it's interesting because when
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- Sean Hannity was in our church a couple of weeks ago and I interviewed him about his faith, and by the way, he very clearly said he is a sinner saved by the grace of Jesus Christ, and he has placed his faith in Jesus Christ as his
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- Savior. But after that interview, I talked about America at the crossroads, and I believe that Jesus' words in Matthew 5, 13 -16 are really the blueprint of what we ought to be doing in our culture right now.
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- You know, Jesus said we are salt. Salt was a preservative in Jesus' day. It did not prevent the decay of meat, but it delayed the decay of meat.
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- It gave the meat a longer shelf life. And I think as Christians, we are called in this world, first of all, to try to delay the decay of our culture so we have longer to preach the gospel before the final collapse.
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- And one way we resist evil and push back against the tide of evil is by the governmental leaders that we elect.
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- God ordained that government would be a restrainer of evil. And so I do think we as Christians have a responsibility not to isolate ourselves from the culture, but to influence the culture through the leaders that we elect in office and the principles that they follow.
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- But that's only half of Jesus' command. He said on one hand, we're to be pushing back against evil, but he also said we're to be light, sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people as possible.
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- The only way we're ultimately going to change the direction of America is by changing the hearts of Americans, and that is by introducing them to faith in Jesus Christ.
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- And so I don't think it's one or the other. Christians have to learn to multitask if we're going to follow
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- Jesus. He didn't say you can be salt or you can be light. He said we're to be salt and light, and I think that's the balance we need as Christians.
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- No, I agree with you completely. I think that the modern evangelicals in the West today have created a false dichotomy in terms of this is the spiritual realm, what
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- God is truly concerned with, and not the other realms out there. But you often demonstrate, Reverend, that that is really not the case.
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- We ought to be speaking the good news of Jesus Christ without compromise to every area of life, every realm.
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- That's right. And look, I told our congregation, you know, the Bible says that Jesus, that God created three institutions in our world.
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- He created the family in Genesis 2. He created government in Genesis 9. And He created the church in Acts chapter 2.
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- All three are God ordained. In fact, God created government before He created the church.
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- But each has a unique responsibility. And for churches and for some of these evangelicals to say, oh,
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- I'm too holy to get involved in government, that's secular. Well, there is no dichotomy between the sacred and the secular.
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- The fact is God is sovereign, and God is not just sovereign over the church. He's sovereign over all creation, and we as Christians have a responsibility to act accordingly.
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- Dr. Jeffress, that's music to my ears, brother. I truly appreciate and respect so much of what you said today,
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- Reverend. And let me just leave one more thing and have you respond to it in terms of clarity.
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- You are an uncompromising man in so much of what you do. Your message is so clear in so many areas, and we appreciate that.
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- And I so appreciate the fact that you are willing to speak prophetically even into the realm of government.
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- And I do pray, I was just praying for you this morning, brother, about your influence there. You are so uncompromising, and you stand on the word of God.
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- How would you respond to people that say you're compromising in terms of your relationship and how you've at least spoken about Roman Catholicism when they declare anathema upon you?
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- Well, I think they need to look at what I say, and they also need to come to this understanding.
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- In today's world, not all Catholics embrace all of Catholic theology, just as not all
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- Baptists embrace all of Baptist theology. People, again, go to heaven or hell one by one based on their relationship to Christ.
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- And so I believe, again, anybody who places his faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation is going to be in heaven.
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- Well, Dr. Jeffress, can't argue with that. It's music to my ears, brother. Thank you so very, very much for the time you've given us today.
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- It's truly been an honor. And we do pray, all of us pray for your influence and all that you have to say to every realm that you're speaking to.
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- So thank you so much for joining us today on Next Week. Well, thank you. And I hope people will check out my brand new book that was just endorsed by President Trump.
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- He tweeted out an endorsement, A Place Called Heaven. It's about our future in heaven. It's a great encouragement in today's world.
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- All right, brother, thank you so much for joining us on Next Week. We'll pray for your ministry and all of your influence, brother. Thank you.
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- God bless you. All right, guys, stay with us for another round. We'll be right back, guys, right here on Next Week with Jeff Durbin.
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- Don't forget to like and share. We'll see you in a minute. Thank you guys for watching and sharing
- 38:03
- Next Week, guys. We so appreciate all of you. We had an amazing weekend.
- 38:09
- Our executive producer, Marcus Pittman, and myself flew out to Kentucky last
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- Friday, and we had an awesome opportunity to go to the last standing abortion mill in the state of Kentucky.
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- There's only one left, guys. Only one left. And we were able to see God, through the proclamation of the gospel into that abortion mill, save at least one confirmed life that day.
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- So it was an amazing experience. And beyond that, we went to Kentucky to meet with the
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- Kentucky representative, Dan Johnson. Dan Johnson surprised me.
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- He's really, truly an amazing man. We were able to sit down with him and have an interview. Dan Johnson is attempting to speak consistently to the legislature in Kentucky and to actually introduce legislation that would end, criminalize, abolish abortion in Kentucky in a consistent way.
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- He's bold, he knows the truth, and he knows how we need to go about ending abortion in the states.
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- And so we want to play for you guys just a little clip from our interview with Kentucky representative
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- Dan Johnson. Take a look. Can I tell you something? Murder clinics, abortion clinics are the tool that is used to kill lives.
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- It's got to be stopped. Over 3 ,000 a day. Every day. 3 ,000 a day. Every day. There's a 9 -11 every day.
- 39:38
- There's a 9 -11 every single day. And of course, being there when all that happened, I watched that happen. And I was the chaplain.
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- I did last rites and blessings for everyone out of the towers. And the thing that I live with every day, and this is the realness of what
- 39:50
- I said this is going to, is through the aftermath in the months following, they would use tarps and they would gather up pieces of bodies and parts and what was literally like mush.
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- A lot of, most of that had been shoveled up. So in these tarps, maybe 10, 15, could be 20 people, pieces and parts of mush.
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- And there are, I believe there's things that, I do believe that there are some things that are so, so horrid that humans should never see it.
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- And what was sometimes just floating around in the bottom of a tarp with big firemen carrying these tarps out of what was now known as ground zero, to me depicted, and this is what
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- I thought about then and there, this is abortion. And you would see hands and fingers, sometimes breasts, parts of bodies, faces, in this muck, if you will, of human carnage.
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- Mothers and fathers should never have to see that.
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- I have children, like that young girl. But you know what? Maybe there's a mother right now listening.
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- Maybe there's a father that knows there's a child coming. We think about the terrorist attack and we think about how horrible bin
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- Laden and all the terrorists that brought this about, ever what your view is on it, ever how you view that.
- 42:09
- But would you do that to your child? Very, very, very moving.
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- We are living in very, very important times. And I'm going to encourage everybody, go to Apologia Studios on YouTube, subscribe there.
- 42:25
- We're going to drop the entire interview with Kentucky representative Dan Johnson in the next few days.
- 42:30
- So be on the lookout for that. Very important stuff. And if I can say this, we need to approach the end of abortion in a consistent
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- Christian, biblical, and rightly legal way in our nation. We can do it.
- 42:45
- You can partner with us by going to endabortionnow .com, getting connected with the over 260 churches nationwide that are partnered with us in this effort.
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- You get free training, you get free resources. But one more thing I want to encourage you guys to do. We talk all the time about abolishing abortion, criminalize abortion, ending it once and for all.
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- But there's a means to get to that end. We need to work together as believers across the nation to speak with a consistent biblical message laced with the gospel in this area.
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- And I want to say this, use the power of the share button. When we drop an interview with Dan Johnson, this representative attempting to abolish abortion and to criminalize it once for all in Kentucky, we need to make sure that we utilize the means
- 43:29
- God has given to us to share that content, to let the world know. As of right now, not many people know what's going on in Kentucky with this last abortion mill and what this man is attempting to do.
- 43:39
- So you can partner with us, not merely by praying, that's important, of course, but also by sharing the content.
- 43:46
- I'll say this last word on Reformation 500. When the Reformation kicked off, it wasn't merely because a man named
- 43:53
- Martin Luther nailed something to a door. There was actually something else that took place. The printing press had just recently, fairly recently, become a thing.
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- And when that 95 Theses got onto that printing press, it went viral.
- 44:09
- It went viral. Christians in that time period began to distribute and share his content to let people know this message.
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- And so what created this spark of the Reformation at this time in Wittenberg was viral media, viral media,
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- Christians taking something and distributing it to the world. That's what put legs on the
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- Reformation. That's why we celebrate today 500 years. And we can, together as the church, utilize this amazing means that God has given to us to communicate the message of the gospel and to once and for all end abortion in our nation.
- 44:47
- But we have to work together to do it. So join us. Go to endabortionnow .com, get connected there, and then partner with us in sharing this content and Dan Johnson's interview with the world.
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- And then let's work together as a church to pray for him and to support him and to rally everybody to end abortion, at least first in Kentucky.
- 45:09
- Would you do that with us? Endabortionnow .com, get partnered with us. Thank you guys for joining us right here on Next Week, guys.
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- We'll see you next week, right here on Next Week. Thank you guys very much. God bless you guys.