Live at the Oklahoma State Capitol
9 views
You can get more at http://apologiastudios.com. Be sure to like, share, and comment on this video. #ApologiaStudios
You can partner with us by signing up for All Access. When you do you make everything we do possible and you also get our TV show, After Show, and Apologia Academy. In our Academy you can take a courses on Christian apologetics and much more.
Follow us on social media here:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ApologiaStudios/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/apologiastudios?lang=en
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/apologiastudios/?hl=en
- 00:00
- We've assembled speakers. It is primarily pastors and preachers of the
- 00:06
- Word of God, because this is a message from the Church of the Living God, the people of God.
- 00:12
- The Bride of Christ will triumph over this evil. So, we're not going to do a bunch of cheering and shouting and laughing and so on and so forth, because we know that our neighbors are being murdered, and we're here.
- 00:25
- It's very cold. I don't want any of you to turn away today and leave without going inside of the building and trying to be seen and heard by your legislators.
- 00:36
- So, I'm going to pray one last time and just ask God to be in this place. Dear Lord, we have gathered here in your name, in your strength, and in your power, and there's not a single one of us who would be here had it not been for you and what you've done in our lives to redeem us and restore us and put us on the right path.
- 01:00
- We're trying to repent of our apathy, of our inaction, of our unwillingness to love our neighbors as ourselves, and we're trying to walk in repentance every day.
- 01:12
- And our message to the legislature and to everyone else is, repent with us. Lord God, we need to repent.
- 01:20
- We need to walk in that repentance, and we need revival. So, we are praying and asking, Lord, send your spirit into this building behind me.
- 01:28
- Send your spirit before us. Break down walls, stumbling blocks, strife, pride.
- 01:37
- Bring humility and an openness of heart and mind so that we are able to speak clearly and let them know that they are not in the right.
- 01:45
- They're not in the right with you. So, Lord, we have gathered in a solemn assembly, and we want to hear from you and your word today.
- 01:55
- So, let everything that comes forth from this podium be from you. Lord Jesus, we pray these things in your name.
- 02:03
- It's my honor to sort of herd the cats and get this thing going, but, you know, the brother that I'm going to ask to speak first to us is former
- 02:16
- Senator Joseph Silk. You might have seen that there are abolition bills being filed all across the nation.
- 02:23
- I think prior to Senator Silk filing a bill calling abortion murder in 2016, senators and representatives across the nation, just a lot of them were like,
- 02:35
- We didn't know you could do that. So, coming to speak to us first is the guy who broke the mold and started to bring the principles and the ideology of abolitionism into the political realm,
- 02:49
- Senator Joseph Silk. Y 'all welcome him. All right, thank you guys for being here today.
- 02:59
- I know it's very cold. I'm Joseph Silk. I served in the Oklahoma State Senate for six years.
- 03:04
- Five of those years I authored and filed abolition legislation. They killed it or refused to hear it for that long.
- 03:13
- And we have to take that and we have to look at it. Look at Senate Bill 13 last year.
- 03:19
- Look at Senate Bill 495 this year. And we've got to take a really long, hard look at where we're at.
- 03:25
- The reality is the Oklahoma legislature and legislators across the country do not feel threatened by us yet as far as being reelected.
- 03:34
- They will gladly bring Senate Bill 495, a bill that would call abortion murder, into committee the first week of session and strike it down 10 -0 unanimously.
- 03:47
- We've got to look at that. We have to learn from our experiences, adjust our strategy, and move on.
- 03:53
- So, real briefly, I want to talk to you about what we have to do. We have to accept where we're at and we have to follow these steps.
- 04:02
- One, we've got to accept the legislature is bad. We have to stop being their fanboys.
- 04:10
- It sounds unpatriotic, but it's not. Because when they are ignoring the
- 04:15
- Constitution and allowing children to be murdered every day, we are the patriots in this matter. They are not.
- 04:22
- So, accept that they're bad and stop trying to be their buddies. Stop flattering them unless they deserve it.
- 04:30
- Two, educate your circle. We immediately need to start bringing the idea of abolition up in our churches, in our
- 04:38
- Bible studies, in our workplace, and among our friends, and start building the numbers of people who understand this.
- 04:46
- Three, we have to engage our legislature. I spoke about this a lot last night. If your senator and your representative do not know you by name, you have not done enough for abolition.
- 04:59
- That's all there is to it. And we need to correct that. You need to start emailing them, calling them on the phone, set up meetings with them.
- 05:08
- Let them know that you are serious about pushing this. And take a group of friends with you.
- 05:14
- And lastly, we have to stay vigilant. We have to stay persistent. This is not going to happen overnight.
- 05:21
- We have to do it during the session here at the Capitol. We have to do it out of the session when they're at home in the districts.
- 05:29
- We have to continue to push. And let me warn you here, as this movement has grown, for five years, they got away with just ignoring a bill of abolition.
- 05:40
- Didn't even talk about it. Didn't even give it a hearing. Well, they've kindly caved now a little bit, and they're like, well, we're going to have to do something about it.
- 05:48
- So now they're letting them come into committee hearings, and they're just killing them very quickly. So as we go in and start to form relationships with these legislators and start to lobby more aggressively, do not be, don't allow them to bring you into the political realm in the sense of flattery and, you know, small talk.
- 06:12
- And yeah, we'll get to it. There's options. And then they're just kicking the can down the road. We will not become another pro -life movement.
- 06:20
- Do not allow them to do that, because they understand now that this is the way it's going.
- 06:26
- So now their strategy is to see what they can do to continue to kick the can down the road.
- 06:32
- Do not compromise. Do not flatter them. If your state senator or state representative has not authored a bill of abolition or co -authored a bill of abolition, they're not your friend.
- 06:44
- Don't act like it. Now, and I'll close with this.
- 06:50
- I get the opportunity to introduce our next speaker. Has anybody seen the movie Enemy at the Gates? Okay, so some of you.
- 06:58
- So there's a scene in the movie. There's these Russians, and the guy that I'm about to talk to is the farthest thing from communist, so he's a true patriot.
- 07:07
- But there's this Russian general, and the troops are just so discouraged and so disheartened because they're getting slammed in Stalingrad by the
- 07:16
- Germans. And so he brings in his PR officers, public relations officers, and he says, what are we going to do?
- 07:24
- We've got to boost the morale in our troops. What are we going to do? And this one PR officer steps up and says, we need heroes.
- 07:32
- We've got to give them somebody to rally behind. So this general walks over and he says, do you know any heroes in the communist army?
- 07:39
- And he says, yes, sir, I know one. And that's all we need is one guy right now.
- 07:46
- Because I go to churches all over the place, and nowadays they're so disheartened, and a lot of you may feel discouraged.
- 07:51
- Why is it that we just lost our bill ten to zero? And when
- 07:57
- I go to these churches, they say, are there people up there that are going to do this? Do you know anybody who's going to do this?
- 08:04
- And I'm happy to say that I know one that will do it. And I was happy and proud to be a part of his campaign, and he beat an eight -year incumbent who didn't support abolition.
- 08:17
- And I promise you that sent a message to the legislature. So saying that, Senator Warren Hamilton.
- 08:30
- For the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith, that is why each one of us is here today.
- 08:38
- I praise God for your toughness and for your commitment to be out here in the cold. So I'll keep my remarks brief.
- 08:45
- When you come into the Capitol, feel free. Don't just feel free. Please stop by my office.
- 08:52
- If you're cold, we've got a coffee pot on in there, and we can warm you up a little bit. But as many of you know,
- 09:00
- I'm a Baptist, and one of my favorite pastors is the late Dr. Adrian Rogers.
- 09:06
- So I'm going to quote something, and I want you to remember who you represent today. You represent the king of kings.
- 09:14
- He's the same king that went in and turned over the money changers' tables, but he's also the same king that went to the cross.
- 09:21
- And he did it because he loved us. I asked you last night, do you love
- 09:26
- Senator Greg Treat? Do you love Senator Greg McCourtney? And if the answer is no, you're wrong.
- 09:34
- There ain't but one right answer to give. And what Dr. Rogers said was, loveless truth is brutal.
- 09:46
- Truthless love is hypocrisy. Love is essential.
- 09:54
- That's who we represent. We represent God, and God is love. When we're in there today, understand that there's going to be people who are at various stages along this road from transitioning from pro -life to abolition.
- 10:11
- Such were some of us. Some people are looking for a reason. Don't give them one.
- 10:18
- Be the living image of Christ. Christ went to the cross for us. What are we willing to do for them?
- 10:23
- We're missionaries not only to the pre -born, not only to those who have not yet been born in this life, but we're also missionaries to those who have not yet been born again.
- 10:34
- God bless each of you for being here. God bless Oklahoma, and God bless America. Thank you.
- 10:47
- Now we've got heroes in the legislature, and a lot of you guys are heroes.
- 10:52
- And I think basically all we're trying to do is be faithful Christians who run the race and hear, well done, good and faithful servant.
- 11:01
- And so some of those guys here with me, you guys are going to come up. There's an organization.
- 11:07
- They saw the need. I think this was born out of Abolition Day last year or different things that were going on, and they said, you know what?
- 11:14
- It's not about a rally. It's not about a single day. It's not about a single bill. It really is about getting in our communities and doing what we can to stir things up.
- 11:24
- And the brothers and sisters in Western Oklahoma Christians for Liberty have just been doing the
- 11:32
- Lord's work, petitioning, talking to their legislator. They've got their mayor on board. They've got their sheriff on board, and they've just been sacrificing their lives.
- 11:43
- So as co -sponsors of the event, I'm just going to introduce, I guess, Brady. Come on up and do the rest.
- 11:51
- Thank you. Good morning, guys. Like Russell said, my name is Brady Butler, and I'd just like to tell you a quick story of a moment of repentance that I had one year ago here at Abolition Day.
- 12:03
- I was standing right over there as a 33 -year -old who had never voted one time in my life.
- 12:09
- I was not registered to vote, and I was completely apathetic to anything political.
- 12:16
- And so last year at the rally, most of the speakers just brought the truth that the abolition movement starts with the gospel.
- 12:23
- And I don't know anything about politics, but I love the gospel. And so I thought, well,
- 12:29
- I'll just go share the gospel with my legislators. And so I'm walking in the building, and there's this old missionary, and he's singing, and he's singing,
- 12:36
- I'll hail the power of Jesus' name. Let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth the royal diadem and crown
- 12:43
- Him Lord of all. It was Cal's astro. And Cal and I got to talking, and I just kind of tossed him a softball of a question.
- 12:50
- And I said, Cal, what do I do? I don't live anywhere near an abortion clinic. What do
- 12:56
- I do about abortion? Here's what he told me. He said, Brady, we fight abortion on every front.
- 13:01
- We leave no front undefended when it comes to abortion. He said, we do adoption ministry, we do discipleship, evangelism, we do sidewalk ministries outside of clinics.
- 13:09
- And he said, we do this political thing too. Because we leave no front undefended when it comes to abortion.
- 13:15
- I went in the capitol, interacted with my legislators, tried to share the gospel, and I left with a very, very bitter taste in my mouth.
- 13:23
- We came home, we formed Western Oklahoma Christians for Liberty, and here we are. We're petitioning our legislators, speaking with mayors and things.
- 13:31
- But as we go in, I'd like to give you a brief exhortation. The Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition.
- 13:44
- If perhaps God may grant them repentance, leading to the knowledge of the truth.
- 13:49
- We're going to be gentle, we're going to be patient, just like the Lord is. But at some point, the offer of repentance will be removed, and we will simply replace our legislators.
- 14:02
- So now I'd like to exhort our legislators. This one is for Darcy, for Anthony Moore, for Grant Howard, Lonnie Paxton.
- 14:09
- If you're in Western Oklahoma, we've got our eyes on you, and we're watching. Here's my exhortation to you. Come now, let us reason together, says the
- 14:18
- Lord. Though your sins be like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Senators, representatives, let us reason together.
- 14:27
- If we can further this conversation, and you will listen to us, we're willing to talk.
- 14:32
- But if you are unwilling to listen, we are simply going to replace you. I'm going to pray.
- 14:38
- Father, thank You for Your grace. Thank You for Your mercy. Thank You for these people. Father, give us all hearts of repentance that we might serve
- 14:45
- You more and more like Your Son Jesus every day. By the grace of God in His name, in Jesus' name,
- 14:53
- Amen. So we have a major problem.
- 15:40
- There is a major issue in this fight for justice for the pre -born. And that is that Christians in the
- 15:47
- West have a very truncated view of the Gospel. A very truncated view.
- 15:53
- And if we want to understand how to move forward as a church, as pastors, as leaders, brothers and sisters together, we have to get rid of this truncated view of the
- 16:01
- Gospel. It has to die. And it has to die fast. Because this truncated view of the
- 16:07
- Gospel has taken Christians out of the world and culture from being light and salt to the world.
- 16:13
- Now you've heard that, I'm sure, if you've been a part of this, and you've heard these men speak before, you know we talk about being salt and light all the time.
- 16:21
- And that's of course what Jesus commanded us in the most famous sermon in the history of the world, the Sermon on the
- 16:26
- Mount. Salt and light. But our truncated view of the Gospel is killing us.
- 16:33
- It's killing our light as a church. It's killing our influence. It's killing our prophetic ministry in terms of forth telling the
- 16:42
- Word of God to the world. The Gospel is the power of God for salvation. But when we have a truncated view of the
- 16:50
- Gospel in terms of where it ought to go, we have no power to save anybody with.
- 16:57
- What is that truncated view of the Gospel? The truncated view of the Gospel is that Jesus came to save me so he can pull me off this earth and bring me to heaven, that higher spiritual plane one day.
- 17:08
- It's really about my own personal romantic relationship with Jesus. I'm thankful to God in the history of the
- 17:16
- Christian church. Christians didn't think that way about the Gospel. That it's merely about my own private individual relationship with God and going to heaven one day, escaping and fleeing my humanity so I can go to this higher spiritual plane.
- 17:29
- By the way, welcome to Gnosticism. You see, the
- 17:35
- Gospel is the Gospel of the kingdom. Now please don't allow that to be a pithy slogan.
- 17:40
- I say that often because we are good at that as Christians. We often have these pithy slogans and bumper stickers and cute little oil paintings and t -shirts that Jesus is the
- 17:52
- King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We say it, but we don't mean it. We don't believe it.
- 18:00
- King of Kings, today. The ruler of the kings of the earth.
- 18:07
- Lord of Lords, today. That means that Jesus Christ, the
- 18:15
- Messiah, the one sitting on the throne who has ascended and says he has all authority in heaven and on earth today has something to say to them.
- 18:26
- And they have to bow and yield and obey. I want to point you to this one
- 18:33
- Gospel. I'm not going to preach through it now. But read Matthew chapters 1 -4.
- 18:41
- Just that section. And please notice that the theme of the Gospel according to Matthew is the first book in our
- 18:48
- New Testament, for goodness sakes. We have no excuse for not reading it. It starts with the genealogy of Jesus that he has the royal right to the throne.
- 18:58
- That he's the King. It starts, of course, with Jesus going into the wilderness, having victory over Satan.
- 19:06
- And do you know what Jesus was offered by Satan? I'll give you all the kingdoms of the world if you'll just bow and worship me.
- 19:15
- And why would Satan offer Jesus that? Because that's what he came for. And Jesus has victory over Satan in the wilderness and immediately there's a quotation from Isaiah chapter 9.
- 19:29
- Most of us never check the reference because it just sounds very poetic and beautiful. You're like, oh, that's nice.
- 19:36
- Matthew says that was to fulfill what was written by Isaiah. That's nice. Did you ever go read what he was quoting from? As soon as Jesus departs the wilderness, he's quoting from Isaiah 9.
- 19:45
- Do you know what Isaiah 9 says? You do, because it's the famous Christmas verse. Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father.
- 19:56
- That's the Father of Eternity. Of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end.
- 20:05
- On the throne of David, to establish it with justice and righteousness, forevermore.
- 20:12
- And if you feel discouraged, that verse says immediately after this increase of government and peace, it says the zeal of the
- 20:20
- Lord of hosts will accomplish this. God is not going to grow faint or weary in this fight for justice because Isaiah chapter 42, one of those promises of the kingdom of the
- 20:32
- Messiah which makes it good news is that this righteous servant,
- 20:38
- Jesus, will not grow faint or weary until he has established justice on the earth and the coastlands are waiting for his law.
- 20:50
- We have a truncated view of the gospel that says what we have to say is to people within the walls of the church and we hold between our ears.
- 20:59
- It's the good news of the kingdom. The evangelical church in the west doesn't have good news of a kingdom.
- 21:04
- They don't even know what it means. But it's good news that Jesus is ruling and reigning now, bringing his salvation to the nations, drawing them up to God's mountain and establishing justice in the earth.
- 21:20
- This is the premier issue of justice in our nation. We have no right to ask
- 21:26
- God to bless our nation while we continue to slaughter children in our streets.
- 21:32
- I'm going to share something with you. Yes, Arizona right now has a bill of abolition and criminalization and of course, we've been saying this for a long time,
- 21:44
- Russell's been saying it much longer than me, that the greatest enemy to justice for the pre -born, unfortunately, is not the pro -choice movement.
- 21:54
- It's the pro -life industry. As we, and I'm going to end with this so you can understand how serious this is.
- 22:01
- As we've been putting this in in Arizona, the bill is there. We had supporters and we had people who co -sponsored it.
- 22:07
- And the people who immediately came and attacked the bill of abolition and criminalization to establish equal protection for all humans in Arizona, who was it?
- 22:17
- The pro -life industry leaders in the state of Arizona. Immediately. Can't support this because it calls the woman a victim.
- 22:27
- Brothers and sisters, if she's a victim, there's no gospel for her. She's not guilty. The pro -life leaders that call themselves
- 22:35
- Christians have forgotten that. They have a gospel -less message for women who have had abortions.
- 22:42
- If they're victims, they're not guilty. Further, if they're victims, we'll never establish justice for the pre -born.
- 22:52
- Stop pretending. I was sitting in a meeting with some of the leaders of the pro -life industry in Arizona.
- 22:58
- They said, Jeff, we love you. We listen to you all the time. We're just confused because, you know, can we just do this some other way?
- 23:05
- Does it have to be criminal? Does it have to be justice in that way? Can we do something else? So I go to the
- 23:11
- Capitol in a private meeting. This is after we did our rally. Bill is still there. The pro -life leaders in the state were like, we want to meet with you because we appreciate what you're saying.
- 23:20
- We do agree, but we're confused. So I go to the meeting to win them with the truth.
- 23:26
- Not to create enemies. To win them with the truth. So I'm sitting at a table with our representative talking about the bill that's on the table.
- 23:35
- Pro -life leaders and industry leaders in Arizona are there. And there's a pro -life Arizona strategist sitting in the back.
- 23:44
- Now, as the women were asking me questions, I'm answering them with scripture, and I'm trying to have them think consistently about it.
- 23:50
- And they're seeing it now. They're coming. He notices, and so he starts to challenge. So I said to him, let me ask you a question before you say one more word.
- 23:59
- In that bill you have sitting in front of you right now, I said, is what's in that bill true? Is it human life?
- 24:07
- Is it human life from conception? I said, is it human life?
- 24:15
- He said, yes. Test. There you go.
- 24:22
- I said, is it human life? Yes. Is this the unjustified taking of human life?
- 24:30
- He said, yes. So is the bill true? He said, yes. I said, will you support it?
- 24:35
- He said, no. He said, guys, please understand. The conversation that's happening right now, it's a great conversation.
- 24:43
- All this stuff is true. He said, but this isn't the place to be having this conversation.
- 24:48
- It should be taking place in a Bible study or small group study outside. Brothers and sisters,
- 24:54
- I was 10 feet from the door that opens into the chamber where they vote. He said, this isn't the place to have this conversation.
- 25:03
- This is the premier place to have this conversation because this is where it will end abortion.
- 25:09
- This is where the pro -life industry, these Republicans and conservatives, all these people, this is what they want to do.
- 25:16
- They want to take the Christian church, put you back into your silly Bible studies in your basements so that you have nothing to say.
- 25:22
- You speak the truth and you call them to repentance. Call them to repentance.
- 25:29
- Point them to Jesus. Tell them they must obey God. Our message is fundamentally
- 25:35
- Christian. That's the distinction. We have a gospel in front of us as we approach this issue.
- 25:42
- Tell the truth. Tell the truth to the pro -life industry. Win them to the truth.
- 25:48
- Tell the truth to the unbelievers who need salvation. Preach the gospel. Jesus is the ruler of the kings of the earth today.
- 25:56
- All authority now on earth is his. So let's call the world to repentance and believe the gospel and never forget it's the gospel of a kingdom.
- 26:04
- He reigns. My name is
- 26:21
- Brett Baggett. I am one of the pastors of a church in Muskogee, Oklahoma.
- 26:28
- Let me ask you quickly, if you would close your eyes and see 60 million slain babies in your mind.
- 26:38
- See the forceps breaking their skulls and ripping their limbs off.
- 26:45
- See the vacuum sucking them out of their mother's womb into a container.
- 26:54
- See the womb made uninhabitable through pills, which essentially starve little image bearers of God from what they need to survive.
- 27:06
- And then with your ears, hear this command. Rescue those who are being taken away to death.
- 27:15
- Hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. Beloved, your legislators are just that.
- 27:24
- They are your legislators. They represent you.
- 27:29
- So tell them what they must do in representing you. Tell them that it must be illegal to murder any human being and that they must establish equal justice.
- 27:43
- It is high time for the church of Jesus Christ to both warn and comfort the civil magistrate.
- 27:52
- To warn those who stand against justice and to comfort those with the blood of Jesus who repent and believe in Him.
- 28:01
- It's high time for the church to stop sitting on the sideline, so I invite you, repent with me and let's call our governing authorities to do what they're commanded to do.
- 28:13
- So let's finish with Psalm 2 and what David writes or rather sings about the
- 28:19
- Lord Jesus Christ. Now therefore, O kings, be wise, be warned,
- 28:25
- O rulers of the earth, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.
- 28:33
- Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you perish in the way, for His wrath is quickly kindled.
- 28:41
- Blessed are all who take refuge in Him. Hear me, you individually and your legislators, you kiss the feet of Jesus or you will be
- 28:54
- His footstool. Kiss the feet of the Son and be cleansed and follow
- 28:59
- Him. I'd like to introduce to you one of my best friends, Dusty Deavers who is a pastor in Elgin, Oklahoma.
- 29:16
- Laws to murder babies are written here. Laws to murder babies are written here.
- 29:29
- For 48 years these laws have been written all over our nation. Politicians who write laws to murder babies are in your churches.
- 29:51
- Politicians who write laws to murder babies are taking the
- 29:57
- Lord's supper in your churches. We gathered and we thought this was primarily about them.
- 30:07
- It's primarily about us. The politicians and the governments will go the way of culture and culture will go the way of the church.
- 30:22
- The church will go the way of the pulpits. Pastors, this is about you.
- 30:31
- This is about me. This is about all of us, church, not standing up for 48 years and allowing the bloodshed to cover our land.
- 30:43
- Where are you, church of Christ? Arise, oh church.
- 30:50
- Seek justice. Love mercy. Walk humbly with your
- 30:56
- God. God hates it.
- 31:07
- God hates the hands that shed innocent blood. He hates unequal weights and measures that show partiality in favor of murderers and to the destruction of innocent children.
- 31:19
- He hates it when his church stands idly by. You're out here because you're not standing idly by.
- 31:26
- We thank God that He has, by His grace, through the gospel of Jesus Christ, convicted you and I of our sin, broken us before the
- 31:35
- King of the universe, and called us to action for the sake of our neighbors, the children in the wounds, and for the sake of the glory of King Jesus.
- 31:45
- Because this is ultimately what all of this is about. It's about the glory of God covering the earth as the waters cover the seas.
- 31:55
- It's about the church spreading the dominion and the rule of Christ through the gospel and seeking justice.
- 32:04
- So church, arise and put your armor on. Wield the sword of the word.
- 32:12
- You have the power of King Jesus in your hearts and in your heads and in your hands through His word and wield it.
- 32:23
- I want to read from Amos 5 and I will be done. Thank you, Russ.
- 32:30
- This is what God says to the church and by way of extension to those who write laws that allow for the murder of our children.
- 32:41
- Amen. Amos 5 21 to 24
- 32:47
- I hate, I despise your feasts and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
- 32:56
- Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. You come to church, you do your thing, you give your tithes and your offerings, you raise your hands,
- 33:07
- I will not accept them. And the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them.
- 33:14
- Look, God, I'm doing my job for you. Raising my family for you. All good things.
- 33:20
- These were good things. This is what Yahweh says, take away from me the noise of your songs.
- 33:29
- To the melody of your harps, I will not listen. Why? Because for 48 years the church has not been the primary influencer of culture on the front lines for the justice of God, for the glory of God.
- 33:43
- Instead, if the church was, these laws to murder babies wouldn't be written here. And I'm broken in my heart because it's me.
- 33:56
- It's the people of the King who are not heralding the message of the
- 34:02
- King. This is why this is happening. Here's what
- 34:07
- God says, and this is the last thing I'll say, and we need to hear this and let it land on us with the kavod, the glory of God that it should let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever -flowing stream.
- 34:27
- Rise up, church. Kelly Green is coming next. Under these circumstances that so many thousands were gathered together that they were not even stepping upon one another,
- 34:43
- Jesus began to say to his disciples, first of all, beware the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
- 34:51
- Beware the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Have no part of it. He says, whatever you have spoken inside of the rooms will be proclaimed upon the housetops, and whatever you have said in the dark will be said in the light.
- 35:06
- It will be heard. He says, but I will warn you whom you should fear. Do not fear those who can kill the body, and after that they have no more that they can do.
- 35:16
- Do you have fear in you today? Have no fear of man. When you go in here, you have no fear.
- 35:26
- You fear one. You fear this person I'm going to tell you about. You fear the one who after he has killed has power to put you into hell.
- 35:35
- Let that rest upon your heart. What today has in store for you has been planned forever.
- 35:46
- When you go in there and you talk to them, you're doing a job for Jesus.
- 35:54
- You look them right in the eye, and you tell them the truth. There are going to be babies murdered, and you're going to do something about it.
- 36:09
- Like there were times that I didn't. But I got this moment right now.
- 36:18
- And you got this moment right now. And I see the looks in these eyes staring up at me.
- 36:25
- And you guys know what you got to do. Do not leave. You go in there, and you give them the word of God.
- 36:34
- You don't got to do much else. You don't have to be real fancy. You know what?
- 36:42
- It also went on and it said, Are not five sparrows sold for two asaria?
- 36:49
- Yet not one of them has fallen. Not one of them goes unnoticed in the sight of God.
- 36:55
- The very hairs of your heads are all numbered. God takes notice of every one of those babies.
- 37:03
- And you've got to think like him. You've got to take notice. Everyone.
- 37:09
- Not some. Not some. We're not here to save a few.
- 37:15
- We've done a bad job of that for 48 years. You've got to lay it all down today.
- 37:29
- Because it matters to God. It matters to God. We're going to stand before him.
- 37:36
- And you've got to answer. It's not just all those out there. It's everybody standing right here.
- 37:44
- We've got to be together as a man, woman, child. We've got to go in there as one.
- 37:52
- And that was the will of Jesus Christ as he was going to the cross. And he said, Father, it's what you want for your church to be one.
- 38:00
- If we go in there as one, they will fall. We've got to stick together as one under the banner of Jesus Christ.
- 38:13
- And in the name of no other. God bless you for being here.
- 38:23
- And like Hamilton said, you guys are tough. But you've got to be tougher.
- 38:30
- You've got to be able to take up the whole armor of God. You've got to be able to stand in the wicked day.
- 38:37
- I don't know about you, but what kind of day is this? This is the day that scripture was talking about.
- 38:46
- Stand, and having done all to stand. Heavenly Father, I pray that you would give us the strength and the will that you would give us iron in our spines.
- 38:58
- I pray, Lord, that you'd move our feet. Lord, I pray, Lord, that you would speak through us in this very hour.
- 39:05
- Lord, we represent you. We represent the King. And we will march forward as so. In the name of Jesus Christ, and in the name of no other,
- 39:15
- At this time, I'd like to bring my good brother forward, Chris Gore. Thanks, Kelly.
- 39:27
- Keep an eye on him. He may be rolling up some Senators and some Brazilian jujitsu moves in there. The passage
- 39:35
- I want to read from is from Revelation chapter 1. Revelation chapter 1, beginning in verse 4, says,
- 39:42
- To the seven churches that are in Asia, grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before the throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.
- 39:57
- And then I want to focus on verses 5 and 6. It says, To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us a kingdom, priests to his
- 40:08
- God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever.
- 40:14
- Amen. I want us to notice three things from that passage to drive us today. The first one is the fuel for everything that we're doing.
- 40:22
- It says that he loves us. That Jesus loves us. And that's the passion that has us here.
- 40:30
- That's the knowledge that should give us energy to gather together on a day when everyone else is staying home.
- 40:37
- Even the people who wanted to come out and protest this. They don't care enough to come out here and protest because it's too cold.
- 40:46
- But we come out here and we come out here with joy. Why? Because we know something they don't know, which is he loves us.
- 40:56
- And if he loves us, it can never get too cold. It says he loves us, and then it tells us what he did for us in that love.
- 41:09
- It tells us two things. One it says he freed us from our sins by his blood.
- 41:20
- Jesus shed his blood to purchase our freedom. Now I want you to think about that and why we're here.
- 41:29
- This is why the Christian must stand against abortion. Because abortion is the anti -gospel.
- 41:37
- Abortion is not just anti -gospel. It certainly is, but abortion is the anti -gospel.
- 41:46
- In the gospel, Jesus sheds his own blood for our freedom. In abortion, the mother spills the baby's blood for her own freedom.
- 41:59
- Abortion is a mockery of the gospel. A japing of the cross.
- 42:06
- We must not forget that Jesus frees us from our sins, and we must not forget that ultimately what we're doing here today, and what this is, is a battle against sin and death.
- 42:18
- This is not about political positioning. This is not about the culture wars. This is about the fact that freedom from sins comes only through the blood of Jesus Christ.
- 42:31
- So today we are here knowing that Jesus loves us, and we know that he loves us because he freed us from our sins by his blood.
- 42:40
- And then it says lastly that he made us a kingdom of priests to his
- 42:45
- God and Father. Peter says we are a royal priesthood. Church, it may not feel like it right now, but church, we are kings.
- 42:55
- We are kings, and it is time for us to start acting like it.
- 43:03
- So as kings, what do we do? And we know the story, I'll tell you one great story of a king is the story of David and Bathsheba.
- 43:12
- Remember that story and what David was doing as king? It said it was springtime, and where were the kings supposed to go?
- 43:21
- Out to war. And where was David? He stayed home. He was on his couch.
- 43:30
- And it was that decision that led to the incident between him and Bathsheba on the rooftop.
- 43:36
- I'll tell you something, the American church has been living like kings, but we've been living like the wrong kind of kings.
- 43:43
- The American church has long wanted in our church stories and our Sunday school classes to talk about how we're all like David.
- 43:52
- But if we're honest with ourselves, we're more like David on the rooftop than we are David and Goliath. We're more like David who watches men die from the comfort of his couch than David who says, you may have sword and spear and javelin and opinion polls and supreme court justices and presidents, but you know what
- 44:18
- I've got? I've got the name of the Lord God. And you cannot win.
- 44:24
- In fact, you've already lost. And you just don't know it yet.
- 44:29
- Because the stone that rolled away is buried deep in your forehead and your body is just twitching as it falls to the ground.
- 44:41
- But you have lost and my king has won and he has made me a kingdom of priests.
- 44:51
- We've been living like kings, but we're the kings sitting on our couches basking in our ease and comfort when it is time church for us to go to war and troops we are rallying.
- 45:02
- This is a gathering of kings for the Lord. We are here. We've traded in our couches for pews.
- 45:10
- We've traded in our rooftops for coffee bars, but one thing we haven't traded off is that we will watch people go off to die.
- 45:19
- The American church like David has watched 60 million babies go off to die. And the only thing we've been motivated to do is to get off our pew couches every few years and vote for a pro -life candidate.
- 45:35
- Then we return to our rooftops and we shrug and say, well, I tried.
- 45:41
- And then back to the couch we go. Jesus has made us kings and it's time we started acting like it.
- 45:48
- That means it's time to go to war, but we're not just kings, we're priest kings. We are a kingdom of priests and that means as Christ -coronated kings we fight with holiness and grace and mercy and judgment and atonement and reconciliation.
- 46:02
- We fight with the gospel staining our lips and our lives.
- 46:10
- But we're a priesthood who has been offering strange fire for too long. We've been seeking the sacrifices of popularity and cultural significance.
- 46:21
- We've moved away from the cross because we think our world is afraid of blood and sin and in doing so we haven't helped anyone.
- 46:29
- Our culture is now more bathed in blood and guilt than it ever was. Our nation is blood -soaked, blood -drenched, but with a blood that brings guilt rather than the one that frees you from it.
- 46:42
- The American church has been the worst type of priesthood because we have intentionally and willingly withheld the one sacrifice that actually matters.
- 46:52
- We're worse than the money changers. Just like them, we are keeping the nations out of the temple because confronting the nations and demanding they obey
- 47:02
- Christ is bad for branding and those vestiges of cultural significance that we cling to while at the same time doing the very thing that will cause us to lose any meaningful cultural voice.
- 47:17
- We are the priests with the true message of reconciliation and we've exchanged it for a strange fire that to our shame we think will sell better than a crucified
- 47:28
- Christ. So what do we do? Like so many of these men before me have said, we repent.
- 47:37
- Repent with me. Repent with me that I've been more like David on the rooftop than David in Goliath.
- 47:43
- Repent with me that we're priests who've been guilty of offering strange fire. Repent with me that Jesus' love for me wasn't enough to get me off my couch for so long to stand up and demand justice in the name of that precious blood and in the honor of my
- 47:58
- God and His image. Repent with me! And then kings, fight.
- 48:06
- Repent with me and get off the couch and get on your knees. Repent with me and put out that strange fire and grab the consuming fire of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
- 48:20
- Repent with me and fight. Fight like kings. Fight like priests.
- 48:28
- Fight for His glory and His dominion forever and ever.
- 48:33
- Amen. My name is
- 48:42
- Sam Ketcher and I'm a pastor and I'm an abolitionist. Let me ask you this, if God finds no pleasure in the death of the wicked, what do you think
- 48:56
- He finds in the death of the unborn? We have severely underestimated our
- 49:03
- God as Israel has done in the times past in thinking that He does not see and that His judgment will be slack.
- 49:12
- I can assure you it will not. In Revelations chapter 6, though these scriptures don't deal directly with abortion, it still deals directly with death and the death of the innocent.
- 49:27
- When John said, Behold, the fourth beast came and said, Come and see. And he saw a pale horse.
- 49:37
- And he that was upon him brought forth death and hell upon this world.
- 49:43
- I don't know about you, but in every planned parenthood, every abortion clinic, death and hell resides in those walls.
- 49:54
- And you can't tell me that God does not see and that God does not take notice.
- 50:01
- In Revelations chapter 6 we also see a glimpse into the heavenly throne and the martyred saints at the altar of God saying,
- 50:10
- How long, O God, before you avenge our blood upon the earth?
- 50:16
- It makes me wonder how many aborted babies are around the throne of God now as adults saying,
- 50:24
- How long, O God, before you avenge our blood upon the earth?
- 50:31
- We are living in days when we think God's eyes are closed, but they are not. I understand fully how
- 50:38
- Ezekiel felt when God spoke to him to tell the people, How long will you pollute me?
- 50:46
- How long will you pollute my laws in allowing those that should live to live or should not live to live and allowing those who should not live to live?
- 50:59
- Today, we are living in a time when we are sentencing to death those who should live.
- 51:07
- And we let murderers roam free. We are polluting
- 51:12
- God's laws and we are polluting the gospel of Jesus that commands us to repent, to repent of all sins, even the sin of abortion.
- 51:26
- And what we see taking place in this state capital is a pollution of the very righteousness and truth of God.
- 51:38
- And I would like to speak to the politicians. Your Facebook page may say that you are a follower of Christ, but I can assure you, using the unborn as human shields is not
- 51:53
- Christ -like at all to get votes. I think it's time for churches and pastors to rise up.
- 52:01
- Who cares if it hurts your numbers? Who cares if it hurts your popularity?
- 52:06
- We are called to follow that which is good. The Apostle John said,
- 52:12
- Beloved, follow that which is good, not that which is evil. For that which is good is of God, but that which is evil has never seen the face of God.
- 52:24
- And I want our politicians and our senators and my senator to know that he is commanded to follow that which is good, not evil.
- 52:34
- And we as Christians are called not to compromise with evil one bit, because you cannot compromise with the devil.
- 52:42
- You can't compromise with death. You can't compromise with hell. You can only serve one master.
- 52:49
- You'll love one and hate the other. And I serve the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ, the
- 52:56
- Prince of Peace, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Praise God in Jesus' name.
- 53:08
- Okay, we're about done here, and immediately whenever we finish, we need to all go in there and take what we're hearing.
- 53:14
- Take that encouragement and get in there. But just to kind of conclude us here with the last speaker, let me just say that this is the third annual
- 53:23
- Abolition Day, and we're going to do this until abortion is abolished. And, you know,
- 53:28
- I thank all y 'all for being here, and for the work you do between now and the next one, and the next one, and everything that you do.
- 53:35
- I want to say, just as someone who is frustrated at times with moving people beyond the pro -life positions and opinions, you can kind of get a little snarky.
- 53:48
- And you have to walk in that repentance, and you can kind of push on people when you should be just explaining yourself, you know?
- 53:58
- And as we go into due battle, a number of us have said, hey, I would be there too.
- 54:05
- Repent with us. You know, repent with me. Such were some of us. And that's the attitude we need to have.
- 54:13
- And because the fact of the matter is, is that the Lord Jesus Christ does have people on the other side of this issue.
- 54:20
- And His Spirit will talk to them, and they do trust Him and obey His Word.
- 54:26
- And it's His Word and His Spirit that's going to move them to where we are now. So this is the third annual
- 54:34
- Abolition Day, and for our final speaker, I'd like to bring up to the stage Pastor of Edmonds First Baptist Church, good brother and friend,
- 54:45
- Blake Gideon. Well, it's an honor to be here.
- 54:52
- Thank you all for being here today. As he said, I'm Blake Gideon, Pastor of First Baptist Church in Edmond, Oklahoma, and past President of Oklahoma Baptist.
- 55:04
- Some of you may know me as not enemy number one, but one of the enemies against abolition a few years ago.
- 55:16
- When I became President of Oklahoma Baptist, I set a goal to lead our state to support the most aggressive, pro -life legislation that our state had ever seen.
- 55:28
- And so I immediately started working with legislators to help develop some of the strictest pro -life laws, like I said, that our state had ever seen.
- 55:39
- I put a pro -life committee together made of Oklahoma Baptist pastors, and literally
- 55:44
- I realized then that that would put me in direct contact or confrontation with abolitionists.
- 55:51
- I was warned to stay away from abolitionists. I was warned about Senate Bill 13.
- 55:58
- And so, myself and several others authored a letter against SB 13 that was published in the
- 56:06
- Tulsa World. I'll stand before you today and say that I repent of writing that letter.
- 56:18
- During this whole time, I was praying, God, if I'm on the wrong side of this, show me.
- 56:25
- I had constant conviction, and I would pray it over and over, sometimes driving down the road or at home in my quiet time.
- 56:34
- God, if I'm on the wrong side of this, show me. God, show me. And God used some faithful brothers.
- 56:40
- John Speed, I saw him over there just a few moments ago. God used men like John Speed and the guy who
- 56:48
- I didn't like for a long time, Russell Hunter. And God brought us all together in a meeting, and for the first time,
- 56:55
- I listened instead of argued. And I became convinced that this was the will of God.
- 57:03
- So let me tell you why I am no longer pro -life, but an abolitionist.
- 57:10
- I'll tell you why. Because abolition is biblical. Number one, it honors God. It reflects the heart of God.
- 57:17
- Number two, it's constitutional. Number three, it's convictional.
- 57:24
- And what I mean by that is this. This is worth dying for. It's worth dying for.
- 57:30
- It's convictional. And then lastly, I will say it's critical. It's biblical, it's constitutional, it's convictional, and it's critical that we stand and we demand that abortion end now, that it be abolished now for the sake of our pre -born neighbors.
- 57:47
- A couple of, well, about five years ago, I had the opportunity to be chaplain of the week in this building.
- 57:54
- Every day I would show up, I would minister to legislators, I would speak on the House floor,
- 58:00
- I would lead in prayer. The last day of being the chaplain for the week,
- 58:05
- I gave a speech about the holiness of God to the legislators. Talked about the importance of life and saving life.
- 58:16
- They pulled me off to the side after I was finished and they said, thank you for what you said, and again, that was when
- 58:24
- I was speaking pro -life language. They said, thank you for everything that you said, but we have to ask you, where has the church been?
- 58:33
- We've been up here fighting for pro -life legislation and the church has been silent. Well, the church is here now, but they don't want us.
- 58:44
- But we will be heard. Amen? God bless.
- 58:50
- Thank you. Look what
- 58:56
- God does. God does that. He does it every day. He's done it with all of us.
- 59:02
- We're going to sing a doxology after we do a charge. I want to give you a charge. You have the gospel of God in your hearts and in your minds.
- 59:13
- You have Jesus Christ on His throne. You have the Spirit of God in your hearts. You have everything you need, every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, so go.
- 59:24
- Talk to them. Talk to your churches. Talk to your children. Spread the good news of Jesus Christ and you will be blessed if you do so.
- 59:36
- Let's sing the doxology. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
- 59:43
- Praise Him all creatures here below.
- 59:50
- Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts.
- 59:56
- Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
- 01:00:05
- Amen. If you're a pastor in here, we want to talk with you.
- 01:00:11
- We're going to go through these doors right after you get through security. Check your weapons.
- 01:00:16
- Right after we get through security, we're going to meet right next to the entrance. If you're a pastor, we've got a gift bag to give you and we have a conversation to have with you.