F4F | Dominic Russo Breakin' All Da Rules

Fighting for the Faith

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Welcome to another installment of Fighting for the Faith here on YouTube. If you've ever been told by a pastor or somebody visiting your church that the reason why

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Peter walked on the water was because he was a rule breaker and you need to learn how to be a rule breaker like Peter.

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Yeah, go ahead and hit the subscribe button down below and don't forget to ring the bell. You've been taught something really weird.

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Case in point, we're going to be heading down to New Zealand to Arise Church as we listen to guest speaker

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Dominic Russo of One Nation One Day. I don't know if you've heard of this movement.

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I haven't heard of it until very recently and he's going to be explaining to us the importance of learning how to become, you know, rule breakers.

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Wish I was making that up. I'm not, so grab some popcorn. We're going to get right to it.

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Here we go. One of our message this morning is break all the rules.

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Can you say that with me? Break all the rules. One more time. Break all the rules.

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And you can, I'll just give you permission right out of the onset to talk back at me this morning. How many people know a quiet church is a dead church?

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You can be nice and a lot. Yeah, I'm not there, but I will be talking back to you.

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You know, because. I'll tell you, we're just going to make it in here like it is in heaven.

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How many people know it's noisy in heaven? The angels are crying out in a loud voice. So you have permission this morning to shout me down.

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One of the things, I don't know about you, but when I hear about rules, I never get overly inspired.

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Anybody with me? I grew up going to a small private school and I'll never forget,

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I always dreaded that very first day of the year because either the teacher. You do know that, you know, one of the major signs of a false teacher is that they are lawless.

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You know, just saying there are certain rules we might want to really be inspired by.

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You know, check the 10 commandments if you're not sure what I'm talking about here.

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Lawlessness is a bad thing. So already, you're kind of in a weird territory because I feel like you're teaching people lawlessness.

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In fact, you know, I didn't have this set up, but let's take a look at a particular passage of Scripture.

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I think it's in 2 Thessalonians 2. Doing this from memory. Yeah, here it is.

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Here we go. 2 Thessalonians 2, I'll start at verse 1. Concerning the coming of our

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Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to Him, we ask you, brothers, not to be alarmed or quickly shaken in mind or alarmed either by a spirit or a spoken word or a letter seeming to be from us to the effect that the day of the

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Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way, for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first.

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Rebellion. Apostasia. Have you heard of the great apostasy? Yeah, by the way, there's nothing great about it.

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So there's a rebellion. And where is this going to take place? In the church, because the world has already rebelled against God.

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So this is a prophecy regarding the last days before the imminent return of Christ that there's going to be a flat -out rebellion in the visible church.

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So that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the man of lawlessness, yes, lawlessness, bad thing, the man of lawlessness is revealed who is the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so -called

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God or object of worship so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be

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God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things?

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And you know what's restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work.

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Only he who restrains it will do so until he's out of the way. So here we go. The mystery of what is that?

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Lawlessness. I'm just saying this is a bad thing. And so then the lawless one will be revealed whom the

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

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

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Therefore, God sends them a strong delusion so that they may believe what is false in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

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Kind of get the idea. Second Thessalonians 2. Lawlessness, bad.

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It's not one of the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self -control.

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Being a rule breaker in many contexts would equate with being lawless.

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So already I'm on edge because where this guy is going, I can't figure out how to make it work with the

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Bible and what it really teaches when we consider what it says in context. The principles would distribute the student handbook, and it literally seemed like that thing kept getting thicker every single year.

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I always dreaded hearing about all the rules, and before we go any further, though, I will give a very quick disclaimer.

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When I talk about breaking the rules this morning, I'm not talking about breaking New Zealand law. Obviously, we need to honor those rules, but when

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I talk about breaking the rules this morning, what I'll be specifically referring to are cultural and societal norms.

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Yeah, some of those cultural and societal norms are quite important. Yeah, you know, you think of like the cultural and societal norm that comes from, you know, you can even say like the law of nature and is reinforced by Scripture would be like, you know, there are only two genders, you know, male, female, stuff like that.

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We're talking about the expectations of the people around us. I'll be talking about the limitations that we either subconsciously or consciously place on ourselves.

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One of the things I love about Jesus is he was the ultimate rule breaker. In fact, you know, no, he was tempted in every way that we are and yet is without sin.

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It's kind of an important part about Jesus. He wasn't a rule breaker. He was the ultimate law rule keeper.

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But, you know, he did not obey man -made laws, man -made traditions that made void the word of God.

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You got to make careful distinctions here, Dominic, and I don't feel like you're doing so.

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Everywhere he went, he was constantly breaking the rules. One dark, stormy night,

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Jesus is actually, the disciples are actually out at sea and off in the distance, they could see the image of something moving towards them.

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Suddenly, someone realizes this is a man. Then they realize, no, this is actually Jesus, except he's not swimming in the water.

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He's not even riding in a boat. He's walking on the surface of the water.

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Right. Didn't he see the sign, you know, right before he stepped out into the Sea of Galilee? No walking on water, swimming only.

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You know, I'm sure it's there. Now, 11 of the 12 disciples are flipping out, trying to process what it is they're seeing.

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Well, one of the disciples is off to the side and he's quiet. And the reason he's quiet is because there's this question that is racing through his head.

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If the rules don't apply to Jesus, I wonder if the rules do not apply to me.

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Wow. Okay. So we're going to unpack this. I don't know if you're familiar with the story of Peter walking on the water, but that's not what he was thinking.

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That Dominic just added to God's word terribly, by the way.

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And so we're going to head over to the Gospel of Matthew chapter 14. We'll begin at verse 22.

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And this is where context, context, context is going to help us out. All you got to do is read the story and then apply what you learned in fourth grade.

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Yeah, this is reading comprehension. And then you'll properly get what's going on in the text. So here's what it says.

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Immediately he, the he here is Jesus, made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side while he dismissed the crowds.

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And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone.

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But the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves for the wind was against them.

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And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus came to them walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified and said, it's a ghost.

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And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them saying, take heart.

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Now I'm going to show you this in the Greek because I think the ESV doesn't do it justice.

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But Jesus, so here they are, they're freaking out. There's Jesus walking on the water and they think it's a ghost.

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It's a, oh, they cry out of fear. But Jesus says, take heart. It is I do not be afraid.

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Now it is I is a bad translation. I'm sorry. I'm just going to take note here.

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The Greek says, and I'll highlight it over here. Ego eimi, take heart.

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I am, do not be afraid. Ego eimi is, well, that's the

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Greek version of what God's name is in Hebrew. Remember when

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Moses is talking to God at the burning bush, and God is the one who's commissioning Moses to go and tell Pharaoh, let my people go.

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And Moses asks, all right, so when I go, what should I tell them your name is,

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God? This is the Roseboro paraphrase. And God says, I am.

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So here, the Greek just literally says, I, I am. Ego eimi, this is emphatic in Greek.

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So Jesus says, take heart. I am, do not be afraid. Now Peter answered him,

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Lord, if it's you. Note, he's not exercising great faith. He's not asking the question, man, if the rules don't apply to Jesus, I wonder if they apply to me.

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No, the question in his mind is, is that Jesus? And he's having doubts.

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So Peter answered him, Lord, if it's you, command me to come on the water.

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And so Jesus said, come. So Peter got out of the boat, walked on the water, and he came to Jesus.

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But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and beginning to sink, he cried out, Lord, save me. And Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, oh, you of little faith.

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Why did you doubt? And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshipped

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Jesus, saying, truly, you are the Son of God. And so he receives worship. The punchline of that, by the way, is not that, isn't it cool, man?

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Peter sat there and went, dude, if the rules don't apply to Jesus, I wonder if they apply to me, man.

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I'm going to go out there and do some wave surfing. Yeah, cowabunga, dude. And no, he doesn't do that at all.

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It's his doubt. And Peter's not held up as one of great faith. He's held up of one of little faith and of doubts.

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And the end result, the punchline is they worship Jesus because he's

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God in human flesh. He's the Son of God. That's what the story is about. It's not about whether or not you can be a rule breaker.

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And Peter certainly wasn't wondering, if the rules don't apply to Jesus, I wonder if they apply to me.

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So Dominic here has added to the scriptures and added to the scriptures in a way that really take away from the glory of Christ.

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Because this story is told so that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And that by believing, we might have life in his name.

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But while Dominic here, it's all about, you know, Peter sitting there going, dude, I wonder if I could break the rules too.

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Let me back this up just a smidge or two so that you can hear him adding to the biblical text.

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Well, one of the disciples is off to the side and he's quiet. And the reason he's quiet is because there's this question that is racing through his head.

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If the rules don't apply to Jesus, I wonder if the rules do not apply to me.

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This is blasphemy. He's just totally added to God's word. And is there a Bible open up on that podium there?

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I don't see an open Bible. That's weird. Yeah. And Peter asked the Lord if he could step out on the water.

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And without any hesitation, Jesus invites him to join him. And Peter begins to walk on the water, breaking the rules with Jesus.

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This is blasphemy. This is false doctrine adding to Scripture, taking away from the glory of Christ.

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And I don't know what this message is. There's nothing biblical here. Now, apparently, Peter starts to enjoy this new rule breaking life, because just a couple of weeks after Jesus rises from the dead.

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The rule breaking life. Rule breaking life. He ended up in the drink himself. Did you just ignore that fact from Matthew 14?

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He's walking by the city gates and encounters a man paralyzed from birth. Peter tells the man,

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I don't have silver and gold, but I do have something I can give you in Jesus' name. Stand to your feet.

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And this man, lame from birth, begins to run through the streets of the city. Yeah, you are aware that the ability to operate in these types of miracles are part of the signs of the apostles.

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The sign that he was truly sent by Jesus here. This is not about him being a rule breaker.

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It's like Moses. When, you know, when God sends Moses, Moses says, what if they don't believe me?

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So God gives Moses signs. The ability to turn water into blood. The ability to take that staff of his and take that staff and turn it into a serpent.

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And he could take his hand and put it in his cloak, and it would come out leprous and pull it, put it back in and it would be back to normal.

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These were signs to prove that Moses was sent by God. Same with the apostles.

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Peter is an apostle of Jesus Christ. He's sent by Christ. His ability to operate in signs and wonders like this is proof.

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These are signs that he's truly sent by Jesus. Now news begins to spread.

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Peter doesn't live by the same rules as everybody else. So they say, Peter, here's what we're going to do.

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When you come to our city, we're going to pull all of our sick people from their homes and line them in the streets.

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Peter, we recognize that the rules don't apply to you. So here's the deal. We recognize the rules don't apply to you?

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Unbelievable. Now a little bit of a note here. A book worth getting and reading. I don't know if you can see this. Let me back this up.

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Signs of the Apostles by Walter Chantry. I'll put a link down below.

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And this is a fantastic treatise on a proper understanding of signs and wonders in the

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New Testament and the signs and wonders that the apostles operated in. And it's just a blisteringly awesome critique of today's modern charismatic movements, including the

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NAR. But let me back this up just a little bit here because this guy's just,

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I mean, this is awful what he's doing. Doesn't live by the same rules as everybody else. So they say,

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Peter, here's what we're going to do. When you come to our city, we're going to pull all of our sick people from their homes and line them in the streets.

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Peter, we recognize that the rules don't apply to you. So here's the deal. We don't need you to pray for them and we don't even need you to lay hands on them.

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All we want you to do is walk down the street. And the scripture records as Peter merely walks down the streets of the city and his shadow touches the sick.

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People are instantly being healed and set free all across the city. Yeah, because, you know,

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Peter was just an amazing rule breaker. Don't you want to be a rule breaker too?

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No. Yeah. So there's no way to rescue this message because it's already in the fire.

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You know, you're not to add to or subtract from God's word. And we

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Christians are not to embrace any doctrines or teachings or teachers who are adding to God's word or subtracting from it.

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So Dominic Russo, add him to your list of people to avoid. Mark and avoid this fellow because without any pangs of guilt whatsoever, he's capable of adding to God's word and doing so in very, very dangerous ways.

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And I would even argue it sounds to me like he's teaching lawlessness. At least that's kind of what I heard.

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Anyway, so hopefully you found this helpful. If so, all the information on how you can share the video is down below.

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And until next time, may God richly bless you and the grace and mercy won by Jesus Christ and his vicarious death on the cross for all of your sins.