November 10, 2020 Show with Dr. Joe Morecraft on “The Role of the Church in the Recovery of America”

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Chris Arnzen. Good afternoon,

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Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Lake City, Florida, and the rest of humanity living on the planet

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Earth who are listening via live streaming at ironsharpensironradio .com. This is Chris Arnzen, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, wishing you all a happy Tuesday on this 10th day of November, 2020.

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I'm thrilled to have back on the program, and just at the right time as well,

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Dr. Joe Moorcraft, pastor of Heritage Presbyterian Church in Cumming, Georgia.

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He's also an author of a commentary series on the

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Westminster Larger Catechism, conference speaker and beloved

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Christian figure for both his vast knowledge of theology and politics, which is not all too often seen in a combination as far as my own experience is concerned.

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And today we are going to be addressing the role of the church in the recovery of America, and it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, Dr.

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Joe Moorcraft. I always love being with you. Besides that, Chris, I got three votes for president.

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I had three people call me and tell me they voted for me, wrote my name in, so I hope I win. By the way,

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I followed the Democratic model, and I got 300 votes in the roll from me. But first of all, tell us about Heritage Presbyterian Church in Cumming, Georgia.

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Heritage Presbyterian Church is a small congregation in the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Hanover Presbytery.

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We started about four years ago. We have about 60 members, and these members are committed to the

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Reformed faith, to the gospel, to the spread of the gospel and evangelism, and to the conquest of America by the word of God.

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They come from all over the place. Some of them drive for three hours to get to church.

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I told them I wouldn't drive three hours to come and hear me preach, but they come from everywhere. I like what

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Martin Lloyd -Jones said one time. He said, I wouldn't cross the street to hear me preach, myself preaching. But we're four years old.

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We have visitors every Sunday. There's growth, there's excitement, there's joy, there's godliness, and I praise

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God for every family and every individual in our church. I praise

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God, and if anybody wants to find out more information about Heritage Presbyterian Church in Cumming, Georgia, go to HeritagePresbyterianChurch .com,

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HeritagePresbyterianChurch .com. Well, I think, as I already stated, this is obviously a very timely message that we are going to be addressing today, and I can think of no one more qualified than you to address this topic.

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The topic, just to repeat it, is the role of the church in the recovery of America, and there are a lot of people who are very distressed, very depressed right now.

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There are even left -wingers who are depressed because they didn't have the blue wave that they were expecting.

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They didn't win more seats in Congress and in the

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Senate and so on. They thought they were going to utterly obliterate us, and they were sadly mistaken.

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But our brethren in Christ who are from the far more conservative -leaning end, and I just cannot understand any regenerate person voting

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Democratic, I'm sorry, but when I know the abominations that they enthusiastically and gleefully stand for,

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I just can't understand it. But there are a lot of people who are depressed, and there are all varieties of those folks.

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Some are waving the white flag and already resigned to the fact that Joe Biden is now the President of the

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United States. Some are not giving up, and unfortunately some are forgetting that God is in control, even if it turns out, whether legitimately or not,

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Joe Biden is appointed the highest office in the free world, whether it's through deceit or not.

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God is the one who ordained that, not because he is pleased with Mr. Biden, but very often he raises up leaders in a nation to judge them, which is not a very comforting thought.

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But if you could, start off with some of the basic principles of which you speak as far as the church's role in the recovery of our nation.

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Well, let me make a couple of introductory remarks first. Number one, I'm not depressed, but I am concerned.

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And I'm not depressed because I'm a Christian, and like you say, I know that God is sovereign. But we must look at this whole crisis,

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I think this is a greater crisis than a civil war, that in this present crisis, we've got to look at it from a distinctively

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Christian perspective. If we look at it simply from a partisan perspective, as a

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Republican or a Democrat, partially Christian, moderately Christian, compromised

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Christian, we're not going to understand what's going on around us. We've got to be sure that we evaluate the whole crisis, every aspect of it, both in cause and cure, from a distinctively

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Christian and Biblical perspective. And by that I mean, we take the doctrines that we believe that are taught in Holy Scripture, and we think consistently with them in evaluating the crisis that's before us.

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Second, I want to define the word church, I mean our subject is the role of the church in the recovery of America, and I want to make sure that your listeners understand what

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I mean by the word church. I don't mean church, any organization that has church in it, the word church in its title.

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I believe that many churches in this country are fake churches. And when

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I talk about the church and its role in the recovery of America, I mean true churches.

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And true churches are those churches that have three marks. One, the faithful preaching of the word of God.

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Two, the faithful administration of the sacraments of baptism and the

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Lord's Supper. And three, the faithful practice of church discipline.

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Churches can differ on a variety of things and still be true churches. They can be in different denominations and be true churches.

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So when I say the church and its role, I think they're fake churches that have no role in the recovery of America.

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Their role is continued to drag us down a blind trail. So I think the church and what the church does and how the church lives in this culture, and particularly how it worships, will in large part determine the future of this country whether we recapture it or not.

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On the other hand, the church is the cause for the present demise of America.

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It's not the socialists, it's not the Marxists, it's not the Democrats, it's not the

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Republicans, it's not libertarians. The church is the cause of our present crisis because the spiritual condition of the church determines the political and economic and social condition of the society in which that church exists.

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That's one of the most important things we can learn. That when the church is backslidden, when the church is apostate, when the church is compromised like it is today, then

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God brings his judgment to bear upon the whole culture in which that church exists.

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And so, before we start talking about the details, understand that the only hope for America is the repentance of the church and that the church repents of its false doctrine, its compromised doctrine, its compromised lifestyle, its inconsistent worldview, its siding with this world, its being more concerned with pleasure and pleasing man than with pleasing almighty

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God, that until there is a real repentance in the pulpit and the pew, a lot of preachers have to repent or be removed from the pulpit in order for this country to be saved.

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A lot of people in the pew right now that have been church members for a long time have to repent of their sins or leave the churches and be put out of the churches if this country is going to be saved.

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Plus, a lot of new people have to be brought to Christ and their hearts and minds captured by the gospel in order for this country to be saved.

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The answers are not political. There are political problems with political answers from a

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Christian perspective. There are moral problems with moral solutions from a biblical perspective.

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But the ultimate problem that we face today is spiritual. I preached a sermon last

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Sunday at our church called The War for Worship. It's on sermonaudio .com,

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video and audio. And I said that my whole sermon, which was long, was summarized in the first two sentences.

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And that is, the recovery of America will be by the church worshiping

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God in spirit and in truth because the decline of America was caused by the church failing to worship

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God in spirit and in truth. The whole issue is about spirituality.

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It's about the church's relationship to God. It's about who we're going to worship and how we're going to worship

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Him, what's going to be first in our life. And I made the point, and stop me whenever you want me to quit talking, that I made the point that throughout history, whenever there was the attempt to restore true worship to a society, there was always bloodshed.

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When England was in the throes of reformation and the

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Puritans wanted to restore worship to its biblical nature and not be controlled by the king, but by Christ the

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King, there was bloodshed. Henry VIII slaughtered fathers of Wycliffe.

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Mary Queen of Scots, a Catholic, slaughtered hundreds of godly Puritans. And then in the 1600s, there was a bloody civil war because Charles I wanted to control worship and the

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Puritans said, no, we want Christ to control what goes into worship. And then on up into the 1680s, there were tens of thousands of men, women, and children and whole congregations, particularly in Scotland, that were slaughtered because they did not recognize the authority of the government in regulating worship.

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They believed that worship was to be regulated by Christ the King and His Word. Then you go to France. You had a great reformation in France, particularly among noble people.

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And these French Protestants, these juveniles, were loyal citizens. They weren't a bunch of revolutionaries.

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But they started being slaughtered by the Roman Catholic government, Catherine de Medici and her ilk.

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And so that in one week on St. Bartholomew's Day, some 36 ,000 French Protestants were killed by the government.

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They wanted to restore true worship. They got slaughtered for it. You can go to Switzerland, where Zwingli was killed, the great reformer.

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You can go to Germany, and you can see the princes that were for Luther versus the princes that sought to destroy what he stood for.

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And then you come to the United States of America. The people that founded this country in the 1600s, that is the pilgrims in Plymouth, the

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Puritans in Massachusetts Bay, and Jamestown and the like, these people came here to be free to worship

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God according to his word and not according to the dictates of the king. And in the process, they wanted to build a civilization that the world could model itself after, a city set on a hill, based upon the word of God and the glory of God.

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What happened as a result of these early founders wanting to create a nation that has entered the restoration of true worship?

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We had a bloody war for independence. We had to separate from England, and then we had to fight

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England, and thousands of people were killed in the process. So wherever there has been the move to restore true worship and the consistent

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Christian life and worldview that goes with it, there has always been bloodshed.

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Why? Because false worship, false behavior does not originate in a vacuum.

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That it is because the culture and the society decline and institutions and aspects of a culture arise to maintain that false worship and to maintain and sustain a revolution against God to make man the measure of all things.

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So whenever there is the attempt to restore true worship in a culture, those institutions, movements and organizations and people that have sought to maintain a society in rebellion against God use all of their might and all of their fervor to destroy that move to restore worship.

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What we're seeing today in this country, and I pray not, but I'm afraid so, is going to lead to more bloodshed and violence, that this results from a country that's been wandering from God now for over a century.

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They thought they were in control. They thought they had it in their grasp, and now they're scared to death that it's being pulled away from them.

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And I'm not just talking to Republicans and Democrats. I'm talking about people who believe that they have successfully de -Christianized this country, and now that they see they may not be in the driver's seat, they are being desperate, and I think will lead to desperate, violent actions as they are in the throes of death.

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Those who hate me, says the Lord, love death. So, those are the basic assumptions

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I make right off the bat. You've got to look at the whole thing from a Christian worldview, that the basic issue has to do with worship and spirituality and the church's relationship with God, that the church is the only hope for the future in Christ, because the church has been the cause for our demise for the past hundred plus years.

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Well, I'm going to quickly give our email address if anybody would like to join us on the air with a question of your own.

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Our email address is chrisarnson at gmail dot com. chrisarnson at gmail dot com.

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Well, when you talk about false worship being at the core of the downfall of this country and the world, for that matter, what exactly in worship are you talking about as having departed from biblical truth so seriously that this is what the consequences would be?

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I said Sunday in my church that as problematic as the deep state is, and I think

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Christians today that are going to be faithful Christians are going to be threatened by the deep state as much as riotous people in the streets, but as dangerous as the deep state is, deep culture is worse because there are two deep religions at war in the

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United States, and neither one of them will rest until the other one is completely erased from these shores.

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And we must not be hesitant to say that. And remember, this is bigger than Democrat, Republican.

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This is bigger than all the various political things we talk about today. Deep religion, an older religion that once dominated

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America, biblical Christianity, that has given way in the 20th century to a new religion, anti -Christianity, and those two deep religions are at war until the one is destroyed.

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We take pride in the fact, or at least some people do, that we have a religiously pluralistic country.

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There is no such thing. Religious pluralism is a myth and an impossibility.

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If you think that Christianity and humanism and other religions exist equally in this country today, become a public school teacher and teach science and tell your students that the world was created suddenly out of nothing in the space of 6 ,000 years ago, then you lose your job.

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If you, on and on. So religious pluralism doesn't exist.

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There is no such thing. Here's what people need to realize.

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This is getting a little philosophical, but it's so important. And that is that religion is the root from which a culture grows.

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Religion is not a part of culture. Religion is the root from which a culture grows, and a culture is all aspects of society.

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Education, politics, medical, industrial, every aspect of society involved in a culture.

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And that culture is shaped and informed and colored by a root of religion that that country is dedicated to.

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If that root, if that root is Christ, and if that root is biblical

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Christianity, then it's going to shape and color every aspect of life in this

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American culture. Families, churches, schools, politics, everything.

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But if that root is anti -Christianity, it also is going to shape everything.

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You can't have two roots. You only got one root. And that's the world we're in. We have been in Christianity has been uprooted in this country since the middle 1800s.

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And wherever there has been an uprooting of one religion or Christianity for another, or to put it another way, whenever there's been a change of foundations for a nation, from biblical

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Christianity to humanism or anti -Christianity, there's always been bloodshed.

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There was a great Dutchman in the early 19th century by the name of Groen van Prinstener.

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At least that's the way a West Virginian would pronounce his name. And Groen van Prinstener wrote a book called

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Unbelief in Revolution. I recommend it to everybody. It's a short little paperback, translates to English, easy to read.

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And he said, once France and Europe left their Christian base in the late 1600s, the

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French Revolution of 1789 was inevitable. That is, whenever there's a philosophical, theological, religious shift from one foundation to another, there will be bloodshed.

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And the French Revolution was the first war of its kind in the history of the world.

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I'll never forget back in 1989, when America celebrated the French Revolution and George Bush, the father, was president.

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Both he and Gorbachev gave speeches in which they said, gleefully, that we live in a world created by the

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French Revolution. Gorbachev, the Soviet, and Bush, the

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American, both agreed on that. I agree with them too, but I don't say it gleefully.

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Because what was the French Revolution all about? Why was it the first war of its kind in history? It was the first war in the history of the world that had, as its purpose, the eradication of Christianity in France.

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Now, we hear all about the aristocrats, the peasants, and there were all kinds of side issues. But that was the basic issue.

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We've got to get rid of Christianity. Like Voltaire, the great literary artist and atheist, in his writings would always refer to Jesus as that scoundrel.

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Said that if we're going to destroy Christianity in France, we must get rid of the Christian Sabbath.

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Wow. He understood the Sabbath being of the most American Christians in 2020.

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But the French Revolution has its purpose to destroy Christianity. He said if we can get

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Christianity and a Christian moral and social order out of this country, we'll have equality, liberty, and fraternity.

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You remember that was the great rallying cry. Equality, liberty, and fraternity. And so when you get rid of Christianity, which they did effectively, you get rid of Christianity and culture, what do you have?

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You don't have equality, fraternity, and liberty. You've got Napoleon Bonaparte. In fact, I'm going to pick up right where you left off there, because we have to go to our first break.

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Yes, sir. And once again, if anybody wants to join us with a question of your own, our email address is chrizarnsen at gmail .com.

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C -H -R -I -S -A -R -N -Z -E -N at gmail .com. Give us your first name, at least, your city and state of residence, and your country of residence if you live outside the

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Call 1 -800 -669 -4878. Welcome back.

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This is Chris Arnzen. If you just tuned us in, our guest today for the full two hours is

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Dr. Joe Morecraft, pastor of Heritage Presbyterian Church in Cumming, Georgia.

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He's also an author. And we are addressing the very timely and important theme, the role of the church in the recovery of America.

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If you have a question, send it in to chrisarnzen at gmail .com. C -H -R -I -S -A -R -N -Z -E -N at gmail .com.

37:14

And give us your first name at least, your city and state of residence, and your country of residence if you live outside the

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USA. And we broke away to the advertising break,

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Joe, when you were talking about the French Revolution. And one of its core goals was to eradicate the church.

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And in the heart or at the heart of eradicating the church was the eradicating of the

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Sabbath, the Christian Sabbath. So if you could pick up where you left off. Yes, sir. And the rallying cry of the anti -Christians behind the

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French Revolution was liberty, equality, fraternity. If we can get rid of a Christian moral order, a

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Christian social order, we will get rid of poverty, we'll get rid of all the injustices of life, and we'll have equality, fraternity, and liberty.

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But without Christ and without a Christian base, liberty, equality, fraternity are impossible.

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And the French Revolution did not give us any of those things. It gave Europe the tyranny and wars of Napoleon Bonaparte.

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So when a culture leaves its Christian base, the only place it can go is to man and the tyranny of man and the measure of all things being man himself.

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We live in a culture now that brags on the fact that it is for the murdering of unborn babies all the way up to birth and beyond birth.

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We live in a culture now that brags on the fact that many of its vaccines for coronavirus, including stem cells from aborted babies, it brags on the fact that transsexuality and homosexuality are natural things.

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And it goes on. It doesn't just talk about... I mean, we're not talking just about Marxism versus non -Marxism.

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We are talking nothing less than anti -Christianity. Now, Trump, I hope he wins.

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And I'll tell you why I hope he wins. And that is because as over against Biden and Harris, he will give us, the

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Lord willing, some breathing room, more opportunity, a little longer to preach the gospel, to teach, to evangelize, to disciple, and to try to win the hearts of Americans back to Christ.

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With Biden and Harris, that will be increasingly difficult, if not impossible.

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But after having said all that, I want our Christian brethren to understand, number one,

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I believe it's rebellion against God to vote for Joe Biden. I mean, here's a guy...

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These evangelicals for Biden, it makes me sick. It's disgusting that you can't be an evangelical and vote for Biden.

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You can't serve two masters, or either you'll hate the one and love the other. And on the other hand, conservatives must not look to Trump as our only hope.

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I mean, I hope he wins. He's done some good things. But Trump believes that abortion is okay when it comes to rape, incest, the life of the mother.

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Trump said that he was going to work for the decriminalization of homosexuality all over the world.

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Now, those are things we must thank God for the things that he's done that's correct. And we must pray that God would continue to correct his thinking.

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I saw an article by a man named Eric Metaxas. Eric Metaxas wrote a couple bestselling books, one on Bonhoeffer, a biography, and one, a biography of Martin Luther.

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And I don't know about all of his theology. I haven't read that much about his theology, but his politics are pretty good.

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And he said something, he said, I knew Donald Trump 15 years ago, and Donald Trump's not the same man he was 15 years ago.

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He said there's been great changes in his character and his outlook on life.

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I pray that's true. I wouldn't be surprised. Trump has said more overtly

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Christian things than any president of the United States in my lifetime, including Ronald Reagan.

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Trump has opposed most abortions more vigorously than anybody in my lifetime, including

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Ronald Reagan. So that I pray that there is some kind of change when he gives all these

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Christian statements. They're not vague, and they're not always completely correct.

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But he's not afraid to talk about the resurrection of Christ. He's not afraid to talk about Christ's death on the cross.

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He's not afraid to say that I'm not the most popular person in the world, Jesus is. I pray that these things are sincere.

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They seem to be sincere. He's got a way to go, and I think we as Christians must pray for him.

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Lord, help this man not just to be a populist. Help this man not just to be a conservative.

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Help this man to be overtly and completely Christian in all of his thoughts and all of his policies and all of his declarations and all of his political ideas.

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Because being a conservative is not enough. One time I talked to a famous conservative congressman about 12 o 'clock at night one night.

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Just he and I and another man. And his name was Congressman Larry McDonald.

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And I asked him one time, I said, Congressman, that night, I said,

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Congressman, why are you in the United States Congress? You could make a good living as a urologist. He said, for survival.

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I said to him, not enough. That if you're involved in politics just for survival, we're not going to survive.

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That you've got to be in politics for victory. It's not enough to be a constitutional conservative.

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You must be overtly Christian in your goals, in your words, in your ideas.

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Because there is no hope apart from Christ in whom is deposited all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

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He's the source of freedom. There's no freedom outside of him. There's no wisdom.

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There's no knowledge apart from him. There's no morality apart from him. That we are nothing without Christ.

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And that's not just for individuals to say. That's what a nation should say. So that we as Christians must think and act as Christians politically and not just buy what the conservatives want us to sell.

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Some of our biggest enemies are conservatives. Here's a goal that a Christian should have in politics.

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He should pray and work toward the day when the United States federally and each of the states will publicly declare that Jesus Christ is the

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Son of God and King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And publicly declare that no law shall be passed in these states contrary to the revealed will of God found in Holy Scripture.

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That's the goal. There's no lesser goal. It's not enough just to say, we've got to make sure all laws are what they should be.

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Well, that's Phariseeism. Phariseeism had law. It had

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Torah, but it didn't have Messiah. And so therefore it couldn't save Israel. And so you and I, we want the law of God.

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We want the Ten Commandments to be the basis of all of our laws in this country. Morally and socially and probably and familiar and every other way.

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But that's not enough. Law is not a Savior. Christ is a

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Savior. And so we as Christians must focus on that, that we must call upon this nation to pledge its allegiance to Jesus Christ.

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You know, I have a problem with the Pledge of Allegiance. It says, I got two problems.

45:43

One problem, it says we're indivisible, but that's what the Civil War was fought about. And it's in the

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Pledge of Allegiance because of North One. But the other is one nation under God.

45:54

I want to know some congressman or senator or president, tell me which

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God it is we're talking about. Because it will all depend on which

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God we're talking about. As to whether or not I will use the phrase one nation under God.

46:12

In our coins, it's in God we trust. Which God are we talking about? Are we talking about the triune

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God of Holy Scripture? Are we talking about some generic God that's a mere idol and a figment of somebody's imagination?

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This is the way Christians have to think. This is the way they have, this is the goal they have to go for.

46:36

It's not enough to have constitutional amendments. We get sidetracked in thinking that if we can just gradually do things here and now, here and there, that eventually we'll be able to win.

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We've been doing things gradually for 50 years and we're still behind.

46:56

We're reacting. What we as Christians do, we enter into the political fray and then we react.

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We don't have any agenda. We don't have any plan. If somebody does something that's bad and then all the

47:09

Christians write their petitions against him. We've got to quit reacting and take the field and set the agenda.

47:18

I like what back in the previous election, Ron Paul, who's a libertarian, but he comes closer to a

47:28

Christian view than anybody I've known recently. And he is a professed Christian and he is a pro -life person.

47:36

Do you remember when he ran for president recently? At the debate, he set the agenda.

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They talked about things in that election because of Ron Paul that they hadn't talked about for many campaigns before that.

47:55

He brought into the argument and the debate important issues that Democrats and Republicans were both afraid to bring into the issue.

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That's what Christians have to do. If you're a member of the Republican party, bring up these things to the

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Republican party. And I guarantee you, many of your conservative or Republican friends wish you weren't a member of the

48:16

Republican party. But that's the price. Wherever there's been an attempt to restore true worship and a life that goes with it, there's always been resistance to that.

48:32

And I guarantee you that those listeners of yours who will take an aggressive

48:38

Christ -like stand for the restoration of Christianity and its worship and its way of life and worldview, there will be friends and families that you thought would stand with you that will turn against you and will consider you to be a bigot, an extremist, somebody that's going to cause the defeat of the conservative movement.

49:06

You know, it's very difficult today to find any true conservatives.

49:13

Many of these people who profess themselves to be conservatives aren't Christians. They aren't really pro -lifers.

49:21

They have socialist ideas even when they say, we're against socialism with a capital F. They're still for socialistic measures like welfare programs, entitlements, social security,

49:35

Medicare, public education, and all the rest. These are socialist things. And I used to speak every year at a big tea party rally in West Georgia and hundreds of people would come.

49:52

And I was a key speaker every year for about two or three years until in one of my speeches,

50:02

I said, what's it going to take for us to recover America, to get our children out of public schools and put them in homeschools and Christian schools?

50:09

That was the last time I was ever asked to speak at the conservative tea party.

50:15

I believe it. And by the way, you asked me a question a while ago about what

50:22

I said about worship. Yes, because so far you're talking about Christian doctrine and specifically worship.

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How does worship need to be restored to recover America? And how is the church at large departed from biblical worship?

50:39

And that is the key question. Let me encourage your ears to listen to a sermon

50:44

I preached last Sunday. It'll take you over an hour to listen to it. But listen to the sermon last

50:49

Sunday called, or watch it, called Election 2020, The War for Worship.

50:56

And that would be on YouTube, I'm assuming? Sir, sermonaudio .com,

51:02

YouTube, Heritage Presbyterian Church, Facebook page. But you know how the

51:10

New Testament defines a conversion? Conversion is a change from worshiping idols to worship the true and living

51:18

God. That's the heart of worship. The heart of worship or the heart of Christianity is not just going forward, not making a decision to follow

51:26

Jesus, not quit chewing tobacco, not quit going to movies, not quit going to the dances.

51:32

The heart and soul of real conversion is a change of the God you worship. From worshiping idols that do not satisfy, that do not exist, to worshiping the one true and living

51:44

God. Everything we do dovetails into or grows out of the worship of God.

51:51

And if our worship's not straight, nothing else is going to be. You remember in Isaiah, the first chapters of Isaiah, Judah is increasingly apostate.

52:06

God sent prophet after prophet to warn them and they would not heed their warnings. And so eventually they were destroyed by Babylon in 586

52:16

BC. But you remember what God said to Judah through Isaiah? He said, I hate your worship services.

52:22

I hate your Sabbath. I hate your worship services. You're doing everything

52:29

I told you to do in worship services. But you think I'm going to bless you for doing the right things in worship, but you don't have your heart in it.

52:37

In fact, we're going to have to pick up right where you left off there. Don't forget your quote from Isaiah there. And if anybody wants to join us, send us an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com.

52:48

If you have a question, remember folks, this is our longer than normal station break because Grace Life Radio, 90 .1

52:57

FM in Lake City, Florida, requires of us a longer break in the middle of the show because they are required by the

53:02

FCC to localize their programming to Lake City, Florida. And they do so by airing public service announcements and other things that are local.

53:09

And while they do that, we air our globally heard commercials. So please use this time wisely.

53:16

Please write down as much of the information as you can that is provided by our advertisers so that you can more frequently and successfully patronize our advertisers so they subsequently,

53:28

God willing, will continue being our advertisers because they're pleased with the responses.

53:35

And remember folks, if that happens, we will more than likely remain on the air for a longer future because we absolutely positively depend upon the advertising dollars from our sponsors to exist.

53:48

So if you want us to exist, please try to respond to our advertisers. And sometimes that just means contacting them and thanking them for sponsoring the show.

53:58

Other times it means purchasing their products or services or visiting their churches if you're in the area, that kind of thing.

54:07

But anyway, please respond to our advertisers and also use this time to write down questions for Joe Morecraft and send them to chrisarnson at gmail .com.

54:18

chrisarnson at gmail .com. Don't go away. We'll be right back with Dr. Joe Morecraft after these messages from our sponsors.

54:50

is the preservation and public display of ancient scripture dissemination of scripture to provide tools equipping believers in christian apologetics with evidence for the bible's reliability and to introduce reformation literature and christian art to a broader audience since 2004 hbs has toured schools and churches throughout the northeast united states reaching thousands of believers and non -believers alike who are hungry for knowledge of the bible hbs's founder daniel p buttafuoco attorney at law is committed to sharing this collection along with an inspirational historical message that will captivate you and your church come journey through their website historicalbiblesociety .org

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today thank you daniel p buttafuoco attorney at law for your faithful support of iron sharpens iron radio hi this is john sampson pastor of king's church in peoria arizona taking a moment of your day to talk about chris arnzen and the iron sharpens iron podcast i consider chris a true friend and a man of high integrity he's a skilled interviewer who's not afraid to ask the big penetrating questions while always defending the key doctrines of the christian faith i've always been happy to point people to this podcast knowing it's one of the very few safe places on the internet where folk won't be led astray i believe this podcast needs to be heard far and wide this is a day of great spiritual compromise and yet god has raised chris up for just such a time and knowing this it's up to us as members of the body of christ to stand with such a ministry in prayer and in finances i'm pleased to do so and would like to ask you to prayerfully consider joining me in supporting iron sharpens iron financially would you consider sending either a one -time gift or even becoming a regular monthly partner with this ministry i know it would be a huge encouragement to chris if you would all the details can be found at ironsharpensironradio .com

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where you can click support that's ironsharpensironradio .com when iron sharpens iron radio first launched in 2005 the publishers of the new american standard bible were among my very first sponsors it gives me joy knowing that many scholars and pastors in the iron sharpens iron radio audience have been sticking with or switching to the nasb i'm author gary demar president of american vision and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm pastor dan lebanek of west hills baptist church in huntington station new york and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm justin peters of justin peters ministries and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm reverend buzz taylor author of god's lawson and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm dr william webster pastor of grace bible church in battleground washington founder of the ministry christian resources the nasb is my bible of choice i'm pastor ryan galan of central iceland community church in central iceland new york and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm pastor brandon smith of trinity reformed baptist church in jackson georgia and the nasb is my bible of choice here's a great way for your church to help keep iron sharpens iron radio on the air pastors are your pew bibles tattered and falling apart consider restocking your pews with the nasb and tell the publishers you heard about them from chris arnzen on iron sharpens iron radio go to nasbible .com

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that's nasbible .com to place your order james white of alpha and omega ministries and the dividing line webcast here although god has brought me all over the globe for many years to teach preach and debate at numerous venues some of my very fondest memories are from those precious times of fellowship with pastor rich and the brethren at hope reform baptist church now located at their new beautiful facilities in corham long island new york i've had the privilege of opening god's word from their pulpit on many occasions have led youth retreats for them and have always been thrilled to see their members filling many seats at my new york debates i do not hesitate to highly recommend hope reform baptist church of corham long island to anyone who wants to be accurately taught discipled and edified by the holy scriptures and to be surrounded by truly loving and caring brothers and sisters in christ i also want to congratulate hope reform baptist church of corham for the recent appointment of pastor rich jensen's co -elder pastor christopher mcdowell for more information on hope reform baptist church go to hope reformed li .net

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that's hope reformed li .net or call 631 -696 -5711 that's 631 -696 -5711 tell the folks at hope reform baptist church of corham long island that you heard about them from james white on iron sharpens iron radio we are excited to announce another new member of the iron sharpens iron radio advertising family bhanu gadi owner of three new york pharmacies lee's drugs of floral park long beach chemists and prescription center of long island in hempstead bhanu gadi earned a doctorate in pharmacy degree and is very knowledgeable on the current coronavirus pandemic please contact dr gadi so he and his expert staff can give you proper guidance amid all the contradictory confusion we are all hearing in the media to find the pharmacy nearest you call 516 -354 -2000 that's 516 -354 -2000 or order online at lee's drugs rx .com

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that's l -e -e -s drugs rx .com don't forget to ask about their discount generic drug program greetings in the matchless name of our jesus christ my name is bhanu gadi i'm a pharmacist in new york which is the epicenter of the latest crisis the world is going through in psalm 139 verse 14 the psalmist offers praise to the lord like this i praise you because i'm fearfully and wonderfully made and wondrous are your works that my soul knows very well he saw god's goodness and mercy kindness and the beauty in what god has designed and he has erupted into praise in any crisis or problem brothers and sisters our only fallback position is to trust god's design and once we do there is nothing for us to do but to erupt in praise to him when the whole world is searching for a solution god in his infinite mercy has given us what we need to address this illness which can be very serious such is the beauty of his design knowing that design how can we not add up and praise to our great god like the psalmist did may god bless you and give all of us wisdom to see greater things in his design thank you every day at thousands of community centers high schools middle schools juvenile institutions coffee shops and local hangouts long island youth for christ staff and volunteers meet with young people who need jesus we are rural and urban and we are always about the message of jesus our mission is to have a noticeable spiritual impact on long island new york by engaging young people in the lifelong journey of following christ long island youth for christ has been a stalwart bedrock ministry since 1959 we have a world -class staff and a proven track record of bringing consistent love and encouragement to youths in need all over the country and around the world help honor our history by becoming a part of our future volunteer donate pray or all of the above for details call long island youth for christ at 631 -385 -8333 that's 631 -385 -8333 or visit liyfc .org

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that's liyfc .org was your business shut down during the covid 19 pandemic depriving you of earning any money causing you to default on your rent as you try to survive without income maybe you've had to close your doors for good the good news you thought was that you purchased business interruption insurance as a part of your business liability policy with a major insurance company who told you they are a good neighbor or that you would be in good hands you filed a claim only to be told that it was denied due to the pandemic exclusion clause the pandemic exclusion since 2006 most insurance companies added this clause to enable them to deny your income loss claims in the event of a worldwide pandemic do not give up no matter what state you live in call buttafuco and associates now at 1 -800 -669 -4870 buttafuco and associates is a part of a large multi -district litigation and they are working with lead counsel to bring what they believe will be a successful lawsuit for these claims it is the best way for you to proceed there's absolutely no risk to you you do not have to pay them out of pocket and there is no fee unless you recover on your claim you need to call 1 -800 -669 -4870 right now trust the law firm where the attorneys of one of the largest business firms on long island new york are sending their own clients for representation during this lawsuit buttafuco and associates here to help business owners rebuild their lives in the wake of the pandemic call 1 -800 -669 -4870 linbrook baptist church on 225 earl avenue in linbrook long island is teaching god's timeless truths in the 21st century our church is far more than a sunday worship service it's a place of learning where the scriptures are studied and the preaching of the gospel is clear and relevant it's like a gym where one can exercise their faith through community involvement it's like a hospital for wounded souls where one can find compassionate people and healing we're a diverse family of all ages enthusiastically serving our lord jesus christ in fellowship play and together hi i'm pastor bob waldeman and i invite you to come and join us here at linbrook baptist church and see all that a church can be call in brook baptist at 516 -599 -9402 that's 516 -599 -9402 or visit linbrookbaptist .org

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that's linbrookbaptist .org thriving financial is not your typical financial services provider as a membership organization we help christians be wise with money and live generously every day and for the fourth year in a row we were named one of the world's most ethical companies by the ethosphere institute a leading international think tank dedicated to the creation advancement and sharing of best practices in business ethics contact me mike gallagher financial consultant at 717 -254 -6433 again 717 -254 -6433 to learn more about the thriving difference we know we were made for so much more than lending faith finances and generosity that's the thriving story this is pastor bill saso grace church at franklin here in the beautiful state of tennessee our congregation is one of a growing number of churches who love and support iron sharpens iron radio financially grace church at franklin is an independent autonomous body of believers which strives to clearly declare the whole counsel of god as revealed in scripture through the person and work of our lord jesus christ and of course the end of what we strive is the glory of god if you live near franklin tennessee and franklin is just south of nashville maybe 10 minutes or you are visiting this area or you have friends and loved ones nearby we hope you will join us some lord's day in worshiping our god and savior please feel free to contact me if you have more questions about grace church at franklin our website is gracechurchatfranklin .org

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that's gracechurchatfranklin .org this is pastor bill sasa wishing you all the richest blessings of our sovereign lord god savior and king jesus christ today and always oh charles haddon spurgeon once said give yourself unto reading the man who never reads will never be read he who never quotes will never be quoted he will not use the thoughts of other men's brains proves he has no brains of his own you need to read solid ground christian books is a publisher and book distributor who takes these words of the prince of preachers to heart the mission of solid ground christian books is to bring back treasures of the past to minister to christians in the present and future and to publish new titles that address burning issues in the church and the world since it's beginning in 2001 solid ground has been committed to publish god -centered christ exalting books for all ages we invite you to go treasure hunting at solid -ground -books .com

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01:11:49

before we return to joe moorcraft we just have a couple of important announcements to make tomorrow on this program my dear friend dr tomy costa who is the professor of apologetics in islam at toronto baptist seminary he is returning as my guest on iron sharpens iron radio tomorrow and he will be discussing pope francis's public affirmation of so -called same -sex civil unions and what is truly meant by that as far as any official sense of the roman catholic church and what are the ramifications of this also on friday i'm sure many of our listeners uh especially if you love joe moorcraft you're going to be very familiar with gary demar the president of american vision well gary is our guest for the first hour to discuss his brand new book restoring the foundation of civilization and then immediately following that interview uh during the second hour we have jeff durbin pastor of apology a church in mesa arizona and he is likely going to be continuing that same theme perhaps he has another theme up his sleeve that we haven't heard about yet but they are really two like -minded brethren on the vast majority of things so i'm sure you love to hear what jeff has to say as well also folks if you love this program and you don't want it to disappear from the airwaves i'm urging you please to go to iron trump and zion radio dot com click support then click click to donate now you can donate instantly with a debit or credit card in that fashion you can also mail in a check via snail mail to the address that will appear on your screen when you click support at iron trump and zion radio dot com we are in urgent desperate need of your financial help we have been hit really hard during this coronavirus pandemic hysteria that is going on sweeping across the nation and many people who are business owners and have other forms of livelihood that have been damaged by the hysteria of the coronavirus pandemic have cut back dramatically on their giving to this program so we're hurting real bad and if you want us to continue if you love the show please help us we have tens of thousands of people in our audience that download the show every month and yet there's only a tiny trickle of people that donate it's just amazing to me there's only a handful of loyal faithful folks and occasionally a new donor will pop up that donate to this program and we know that far more of you are enjoying it because as i said tens of thousands of you are downloading it so please help us to exist help us to survive by donating at iron trump and zion radio dot com click support then click click to donate now if you want to advertise with us send me an email to chris arnson at gmail .com

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and as long as whatever it is you are promoting is compatible with what we believe we would love to help you launch an ad campaign because we are truly in urgent need of your advertising dollars also folks if you are not a member of a local bible believing church a solid church i have lists of biblically faithful churches all over the planet earth so no matter where you live i may be able to help you find a church and sometimes it could be a church that's right around the corner from where you live i have helped many people in our audience in all parts of the world find churches that they didn't even know existed that were less than a five minute drive from their house i may be able to help you too so no matter where on the globe you live send me an email to chris arnson at gmail .com

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and put i need a church in the subject line also folks remember uh please don't siphon money away from your regular giving to your local church that you're accustomed to the church where you are member don't take away money from them in other words to give to us don't punish your church financially by blessing for the iron trip and zion radio also please don't put your family in financial jeopardy if you're really struggling to survive by giving to iron trip and zion radio those two things are commands of god providing for your church and your family and while providing for iron trip and zion radio is obviously not a command of god if you are financially blessed above and beyond your ability to obey those two commands you do have extra funds for benevolent reasons i don't even mind if you cut deeply into your recreational spending or anything like that that's unessential then please help us if you love the show help us survive by going to iron shop and zion radio .com

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click support then click click to donate now and if you have a question for dr joe morecraft our email address is chris arnson at gmail .com

01:17:24

chris arnson at gmail .com and dr morecraft you were uh quoting from isaiah before we went to the midway break yes sir let me first say that i think that your show iron sharpens iron is one of the most important voices in the advance of the kingdom of god in the 21st century wow i really appreciate that that you made my day thanks um isaiah one there were a lot of reasons why god destroyed judah uh they uh had wandered away from his law they were living in immorality perversion the uh civil magistrate was not what it should be it was not obeying god's law there was all kinds of idol worship but the primary reason that god destroyed judah was because of his worship everything else that was wrong with judah politically morally and socially was rooted in the fact that they were uh spiritually and religiously apostate spiritual adulterers that is they they were superstitious now when that modern american today thinks about superstition he thinks about voodoo or things like that but americans particularly many professed american evangelicals are as superstitious as any voodoo person what is superstition superstition in the first chapter of isaiah is two things it is worshiping god as he has commanded externally but without heart and thinking that's going to get god to bless you you can go through all the right motions but if your heart's not in it don't expect god's blessing and then there's a second thing in isaiah 1 and that is when you worship god in ways that god has not commanded and you think god's going to bless you because of it it's pure superstition so in the church today we have both those things we have the worship of idols and then we call them god or of various christian names but when you compare the god that many professed christians today worship with what god has said about himself in the bible those are two entirely different things but evangelicalism is particularly guilty in that it worships god in its congregation in ways that god has not commanded whatever is in accordance with tradition whatever makes you feel spiritual whatever makes you feel close to god and as a result of evangelical churches there's every kind of rite and ritual imaginable none of which are commanded by god and then we think god's going to bless us because we fail to worship him according to his word i'm preaching uh several sermons on john 4 and jesus and the samaritan woman at the well and jesus said god's god is spirit and you must worship him in spirit and truth and the word must there is he it doesn't mean that it's every man's duty to worship god that is true but when it says that you must worship him in spirit and truth that is to say there's no other way to worship him if you're going to worship the true and living god you must worship him in spirit and truth and what does that mean in spirit and truth well jesus told the woman at the well god is spirit doesn't everybody like man he's uncreated he's infinite he's personal he thinks he speaks he reveals himself he loves he's infinite he fills the whole universe and beyond with himself that's the basis of worship if god wasn't spirit there's no way we could worship him and so when it says to worship god in spirit that doesn't mean simply you got to be sincere which is true but he said god is spirit so worship him in spirit that is that all of your worship of god must be consistent with the character of god and that is your heart's got to be in it that it's important what you do with your body in worship there are various external means of grace that the bible says that we are to do pray sing use our mouths our eyes our ears all those things but the heart of worship is the heart you can get all the externals right and we must try to get all the externals right but you can get all the externals right and your heart not be in it you're not worshiping your it means absolutely nothing that's what god said to judah i hate your worship services then the second uh thing the second statement is we must worship him in spirit that is in accordance with his character as god but we must also worship him in truth what is truth jesus said in his great high priestly prayer lord sanctify them by the truth your word is truth so truth is the word of god that is the bible that is the words of god found in holy scripture from genesis to revelation and the point is that we must worship god and there's no other way to worship him no other kind of worship he accepts but that worship which is in accordance with his commands in the bible we may not add to we may not take away from simply because something makes us feel a certain way is no reason whatsoever for us to do it we may only do what god has commanded in worship and nothing else that makes worship fairly simple it doesn't have all the ordinateness that it had in the temple in the old testament most of which not all of which but most of which worship was highly symbolic about christ now our worship is simple uh jesus said there's coming a time and now he is in john 4 there's coming a time and now he is with those who worship father must worship in spirit and truth that that first phrase is important there's coming a time uh that is speaking of the new age after his life death and resurrection and ascension to god the christian age there is coming a time after his resurrection and now is that is whereas there will be things about worship in the new testament to the end of the world will be different that is there'll be no more holy architecture they'll like a temple there'll be no more holy places like jerusalem uh that uh many of those external symbolic things will have changed in the new testament to the ends of the world no more holy architecture no more holy locations the whole earth is under the authority of god and god has to be worshiped every square inch of this planet but then he said there's something that's never going to change there's something about old testament worship that's never going to change in the new testament to the end of the world there's coming a time and now he is with those who worship the father must worship him in spirit and truth that is it's true in the old testament it's true before christ's resurrection it'll still be true after his resurrection at the end of the world and that is all worship to be accepted with god must be in accordance with his character and in accordance with his word that is as he has commanded the pages of holy scripture with nothing added and nothing subtracted and now you go to churches today and you find everything you go into churches and some people think they need to cross themselves when they enter church no word in the bible does god say thou shalt cross yourself that's just human tradition you go into churches and sometimes in the middle of a worship service everybody gets up and shakes hand with everybody else where is that commanded in the scriptures and in many evangelical churches at the end of the worship service they have an altar call where they have people to come forward for all kinds of reasons where in the bible does it command us to have altar calls to the worship of god nowhere and yet so much of our worship today you go to modern churches today they're entertainment centers they got lights they got bands they got funny looking men in white tights dancing around the stage i mean that's true that's not hyperbole by the way oh i know i know that redeeming presbyterian church in manhattan a pca church had actual ballet going on with very so you can evaluate where a nation is headed by the god that it worships and how it worships him in the early days of this country 1600s early 1700s people knew how to worship god they loved god with a they realized that worship was not a means to an end we don't worship god in order to accomplish something else we don't worship god in spirit and truth in order to evangelize we don't worship god in spirit and in truth in order to get our country back now if we don't worship god in spirit and truth we're not going to get our country back but we don't worship god in order to get our country back worship is not a means to an end worship is an end in itself we worship god because god is god and god is worth worshiping and that's the heart of true worship and when we do worship him we must worship him from the heart from our spirit because he's spirit and we must worship him according to his word it says and not by adding anything to it or subtracting anything from it uh i um also in john 4 it says that god desires such people to worship him but worship him in spirit and truth now that doesn't mean that poor god is out here looking for people that are true worshipers and bless his heart we hope he can find people out there no god does what he pleases god accomplishes all of his desires he is a sovereign god and what god desires he accomplishes he will find people that are true worshipers in spirit and in truth because he will make them to be such if there's any in your audience that loves to worship god consistent with his character and consistent with what he's commanded in the scriptures it is only because god desired them to do so and created that desire in their hearts so our view of god will determine our view of worship and our view of worship will determine how we live in this life our political views everything else now people say well when you talk about worship you're not talking about politics i'm talking about politics not talking about worship and when somebody tries to drive a wedge between worship and politics it shows they have an unbiblical world view i'm getting tired of these celebrity calvinist preachers and i could lift a bunch of these celebrity calvinist preachers who are basically pietists more than they are calvinists a piety but pietism pietism was a movement in the early days of the protestant reformation in the 16th century and beyond that almost destroyed the reformation because as over against the great reformers that said christ must be obeyed in all of life that god's law applies all of life that jesus christ is the king of all of life and there's no neutral ground in the universe and we may not surrender one inch of this planet or one moment of history to the devil we must stand with christ in the advance of his kingdom in every area of life and every moment of time the pietism of the 16th century said well the only thing god's concerned with now this is i probably but i'm trying to make the point says the only thing that god's really concerned with is your soul and going to heaven when you die what's going on in your heart what's going on in your family and preparing to go to heaven when you die and so as a result that meant attitude which is rooted in medieval monotheism monotheism which says if you want to get close to god you've got to distance yourself from this world you must squelch uh physical desires and goals and ideas and distance yourself from involvement in this human world so that your soul will be pure and you'll die and go to heaven maybe get some people to go to heaven with you well it didn't work in the middle ages and the problem with monotheism and pietism is that it's not the physical world that's evil it's not the body that's evil uh that it's not just the soul that god is concerned with god is concerned with the whole man and everything you do body and soul i beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of god that you present your bodies as living sacrifices holy and acceptable unto god which is your reasonable service and by body there it means your whole person body and soul everything about you submit to jesus christ because you're a recipient of his grace and then he goes on in the 12 13th and said that submission to christ as living sacrifices is going to show itself and then in chapter 12 verse 3 and following in your relationship with other christians in the last part of chapter 12 your relationship with the enemies last part of chapter 13 your relationship with mankind in general and then right in the middle of all that in romans 13 1 through 7 and your submission to christ as a living sacrifice is going to show itself with a reference to how you understand and relate to political institutions and civil governments and so when these famous preachers say don't worry about uh civil magistrate uh be more concerned with character than policy and politics like one preacher just said recently he said being proud and arrogant is as sinful as murdering murdering babies i tell that man before god that is a lie through and through pride is destruction destructive murder murdering babies is even more evil we live under the premise today many of us that that all is the same no it's not somebody who says that never read the the questions and answers in the larger catechism what makes some sins worse and more hideous they haven't even read the bible because obviously not every sin would disqualify a man from being a pastor and if if lessons were the same then there would be no one qualified because all men sin that is exactly right and so i want to tell christians out there these men are famous they're far greater preachers in terms of gifts than i would ever be and god has used them in some ways but don't believe them when they try to make you surrender and vote for biden when they make it easy for you to vote for biden it's rebellion against god to vote for somebody that believes in wholesale murdering of babies etc okay we do have some questions from listeners uh we have susan in setauket long island new york in his book church of cowards matt walsh writes the church once the stalwart defender of real virtues now promotes cheap and shallow ones christians are not exhorted to courage chastity fidelity temperance and modesty anymore instead we are encouraged couraged to be welcoming accepting and tolerant these virtues have consumed all others and now here's susan speaking on her own given this assessment of the current state of affairs within the contemporary christian church what remedy can be applied that will allow the church to be a light in the darkness to get back to its roots to get back to its foundation and be what god called it to be and what it used to be but what through the years in the 20th century we've lost beginning in the early 19th century the church in america and christianity america became democratized that is the concern was the what was the rights of man human right human autonomy uh individualism an individual's relationship with god and we lost the whole concept of god -centeredness in life calvin said an interesting thing john calvin wrote on that why worship is of supreme importance he said and there's two reasons that there are two truths that get the gist of and summarize biblical christianity he says if you get these two things down i'm putting this in southern but if you get these two things down you have understood christianity i wonder what evangelicals would say would be the two things that summarize christianity i don't think they'd say what calvin said here's what calvin said and notice the order in which he says them he says the basic christianity is understood at its heart when you understand number one how to worship god properly and two how christ accomplished salvation now modern evangelicalism would probably switch those two even if they ever get to the worship they pray and say well of course the number one thing is to how to get right with god and how to accomplish our salvation but the reason they do the reason they do not agree with calvin that worship is the primary thing about christianity the accomplishment of salvation second is because modern evangelicalism is man -centered what do i get out of believing in jesus how can i be blessed it's all about me well as calvin in the 16th century reformation it was all about god how is god to be worshipped how is god to be adored you know one of the things he said as the basic l calvin one of the basic elements of true worship he said was the adoration of god that's one of the most neglected things in modern evangelicalism today we don't even know how to adore god in worship ask somebody how do you adore god in a worship service they say well you thank him for things no that's thanksgiving well how do you adore god in worship well you ask him for things and ask if for salvation nope that's supplication what is adoring god in a worship service i often try to show people how rare adoration is of god by saying now take about three minutes this week and pray and just adore god for three or four minutes don't ask him for anything for three or four minutes now there's nothing wrong with asking god for things but just see if you can adore god in prayer for three or four minutes without asking him for a thing and many times you can't but they can't do it i don't do it sometimes and that is you adore god and you say god i love you you are the lord god almighty the lord and giver of life you're the savior of the world i love you for these things and please give me we automatically slip in to asking him things what is the adoration of god in a worship service adoration of calvin says there's four elements hopefully i can remember all four the first one is that we express our total dependence upon god for everything material social and physical and secondly that we give him the praise worthy of his name and thirdly we adore him and fourthly we humble ourselves and bow before him in brokenness and conviction of sin because we're sinners and shouldn't even our words shouldn't even be heard by him except through christ in fact we're gonna have to pick up right where you left off there on those four points of four points of calvinism yeah that's uh we're gonna pick up right there because we have to get our final break it's going to be a lot shorter than the other breaks uh so um just keep in mind that if you have a question that you would like to ask of our guest uh please send in the question immediately because we're rapidly running out of time chrisarnson at gmail .com

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chrisarnson at gmail .com don't go away we'll be right back after these messages from our sponsors as host of iron trump and zion radio i frequently get requests from listeners for church recommendations a church i've been strongly recommending as far back as the 1980s is grace covenant baptist church in flemington new jersey pastored by alan dunn grace covenant baptist church believes it's god's prerogative to determine how he shall be worshiped and how he shall be represented in the world they believe churches need to turn to the bible to discover what to include in worship and how to worship god in spirit and truth grace covenant baptist church endeavors to maintain a god -centered focus reading preaching and hearing the word of god singing psalms hymns and spiritual songs baptism and communion are the scriptural elements of their corporate worship performed with faith joy and sobriety discover more about grace covenant baptist church in flemington new jersey at gcbcnj .squarespace

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that's l -e -e -s drugs rx .com don't forget to ask about their discount generic drug program welcome back and before we have dr moorcraft pick up where he left off i just wanted to tell susan in setauket long island that you have won a free copy of with liberty and justice for all christian politics made simple by our guest dr joe moorcraft and that comes compliments of our friends at christ i'm sorry comprehensive christianity .com

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comprehensive christianity .com and you'll be receiving this in the mail from cvbbs .com

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cumberland valley bible book service cvbbs .com we'll be shipping that out to you at no charge to you or to us and dr moorcraft if you want to pick up where you left off on those four very important points that john calvin stated yes sir let me say again that our doctrine of god determines our doctrine of worship and our doctrine of worship determines our doctrine of politics and right at the heart of the worship of god is the adoration of god worship is confessing our utter dependence to him giving god the praise worthy of his name adoring god and then abasing ourselves in humility we must be able to say as the old puritan said my best prayers and highest devotions are worthy of damnation and the only reason god accepts any worship for me is because of jesus christ but adoration is at the heart the first prayer we pray at our worship service every sunday is a prayer of adoration the second is a prayer of confession of sin what is adoration the best illustration i know is how does a husband adore his wife and express to her that he adores her he tells to her everything about her that he loves about her and that's what we do in adoration of god we don't just ask him for things we don't thank him for things i mean those are important part of prayers but we also simply say in prayer we adore him for the way he's revealed himself and then we say lord i love you because you're the savior of the world i love you because you are the sovereign god i love you because you're a god of holiness etc and that's why our first prayer is always based upon uh some passages scripture particularly psalms where we just turn the psalms back into prayers uh to almighty god and until we recover worship until number one the church worships the triune god as he's revealed in holy scripture and not god's made their own image and secondly until the church begins to worship god again in the way he has commanded in scripture and in no other way will there ever be a change in the united states but we'll still be under the judgment of god and it'll go from worse to worse there is a great prayer in the bible that says uh lord revive your work in the midst of the years and in your wrath remember mercy now when you pray that you've got to understand what it's saying in context revive your work in the midst of the years in context is revive your work of worship of judgment revive your work of judgment of chasing your church you're burning out the your church of punishing evildoers but in your wrath remember mercy for jesus sake and until the church learns to pray like that and goes back to its roots of the protestant reformation in the new testament and in the old testament there's no way to recover america there's no way to get it back but the bible says that if we don't grow weary in well -doing we shall reap not we might reap if we're lucky we shall reap if we do not faint but we have to work for the advance of the kingdom of god for the crown lights of christ over america and past the point of exhaustion and weariness until one of two things happen we win or we're laid in our graves in the short run we may have to suffer because whenever there's been the attempt to restore true worship in the country there's always been bloody resistance by that culture until the evil culture is brought down but in the long run america is ours and we will have to be somewhat brief because we're running out of time the honest the anonymous listener says i don't know if i'm misunderstanding you but let me just say what my main point is to my knowledge christianity from the scriptures is not one that coerces others to believe like they do with any kind of threat even if it's banishment or exclusion from activities in the culture but it is one where they are freely offered the gospel and by god's sovereign grace those whom he has chosen to believe are given the gift of faith and of eternal life and they come to him willfully and willingly we are not the church of rome or islam that forces people by the threat of punishment torture and death as was the case with rome centuries ago but we are supposed to be as far as i'm concerned a nation that allows for freedom of thought even when that thought is very wrong as long as those beliefs and activities do not threaten the freedoms of others and do not threaten the church of jesus christ can you please clarify what you said in light of what i just explained uh that's exactly what i believe that we're not trying to make anybody believe anything unlike the modern tyrants who try to make you conform to their view what is mr biden saying now he's saying we need unity in this country now by unity means that we as christians must bow in agreement with those we diametrically oppose and disagree with there will be no unity in this country except on christ we're not trying to impose any anything on anybody and when she taught the person talks about the sovereignty of god's grace and god brings to himself whomever he will that is exactly correct but we must understand i see things on facebook a lot that talk about just don't worry during all this god which is right as long as that does not lead to saying well god's on his throne so i don't have anything to worry about i just sit back and learn to play guitar and wait for jesus to come the idea that god is on his throne implies that i must be active in his service it does not excuse disobedient it does not exclude it does not condone inactivity that we must be active we must exert energy we must obey god's law and seek to win our culture to christ knowing that only god's sovereign grace is going to cause it to bow its knee before him amen and we are out of time brother and i want to make sure our listeners have your website it's heritage presbyterian church .com

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heritagepresbyterianchurch .com and don't forget about our friends at comprehensivechristianity .com

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comprehensivechristianity .com and also cumberland valley bible book service cvbbs .com cvbbs .com