Persecution, DMX and Stupid Executive Orders

Alright, well, glad to see you again for another week, another day of life from the Lord, and things are good.

I hope you had a good weekend, I hope you had a good Lord's Day, I know I sure did. My pastor preached on persecution, and it's relevant to our time right now, but also he's preaching through John, and there's a passage in John that just so happened to be this weekend, and so at least that's what

I think, yeah, yeah, I think so. It was roughly in line, so I don't know if it was exactly randomly this weekend.

When I say random, I'm a Calvinist, so obviously it's not random, but anyway, but yeah, persecution, and it's just a very sobering thing, you know, here in the

United States, you know, we have had it, as Christians, we've had it pretty easy, you know what

I mean, and I don't mean to diminish the persecution that does take place, but for the most part, you know, the worst thing that someone's gonna do is they're gonna call you a bigot or a homophobe or something like that, and really, who cares, you know what

I mean, honestly, if you're at the point where it really strikes fear in you to be called a homophobe at this point,

I would really suggest going to God with that, I mean, at this point, that should just roll right off your back, because it's just like, you know, it's like breathing air over here, of course, you're gonna be called a homophobe if you're a

Christian. But anyway, but yeah, you know, I think that, you know, we've, in general, we've had it pretty easy, you know, we get called names, no big deal.

But that's changing. That's definitely changing, and it's gonna start to cost you squirrels, like, jumping up in the tree and like, doing like acrobatics, like,

I've never seen this before. He's like jumping backwards, I don't know, there might be a rabid squirrel up there.

Anyway, sorry to get distracted like that. It was just a really strange squirrel. Squirrel!

Anyway, so yeah, no, that's changing. It's gonna start to cost you to profess

Christ publicly. It's gonna cost you, you know, promotions at work.

It's gonna cost you business deals. It's gonna cost you, it might even cost you time.

You know, we're seeing Pastor James Coates because he's not worshipping the state as sovereign, the state as God, and he's doing what

God says instead of what the state says. He's been arrested. He spent some time in jail, and things like that.

And I thank God that I've spent time in a jail cell myself, because I, you know, I've told the story before.

I spent the night in jail cell before, and, you know, I thank God for that, because I know that going to jail is not the worst thing that could happen to somebody.

So I don't fear it, you know what I mean? I don't want to go to jail, you know, obviously, but I don't fear it as the end of the world, because it's not the end of the world.

And just in case you're wondering, if you're new to the channel, I went to jail for possession of marijuana before I was a believer. I spent the night there.

I met some, I met a murderer, you know, stuff like that. So anyway, but like, this is the thing, like, it's gonna cost you, it may cost you that kind of stuff going forward to be a faithful believer in Christ.

It might cost you fines. Like there might actually be actual real costs beyond being called names in the future.

And so the point is, though, that we need to be ready for this. We need to have steel running through our veins, and we need to lean on the

Holy Spirit of God to prepare us for those moments, because that's going to be distressing to many people.

And we're going to start to see people apostatize because the pressure is just too much.

Many people can profess faith in Christ, but be faking it, right? Like trying to fake it till they make it kind of thing.

And they can get away with it for long periods of time, because the pressure of being a

Christian really just isn't too much. I mean, yeah, you get called names or whatever, but who cares about that?

But when it actually starts to cost you things, it's going to be much more difficult to fake being a

Christian. When it starts to cost you financially, when it starts to cost your livelihood, when it starts to cost you your reputation much more considerably than it does right now, lots of people are going to start falling away from the faith.

And this is nothing to be pleased with. There's nothing to take joy in. However, there is a good side of this, because the more fake

Christians start denouncing Christ, the better it will be for the real church.

And we can pray for their souls, and we can pray that God would change their minds, but it is better for the church to have less people faking it in the church, right?

In the visible church. You know, that's something that is actually a good and healthy thing for the church of God.

So, yeah, man, you know, it was a great sermon. My pastor was leaving—he was pulling no punches, and then afterwards we sang

Psalm 2, because Psalm 2 is a great psalm. You know, the psalms are great because, you know, they deal with life how it really is.

I mean, you will have enemies in this life if you follow God. This is what my video on Friday was all about, you know.

You will have real enemies. People hate God, and so they can't do anything to God, so what are they going to do?

They're going to do the next best thing and start to attack God's body, Christ's body. And you see people do this all the time.

You know, people responded to that video on Friday very positively because they see it. You know, David French is making—made a career—his recent career is nothing but attacking and dragging

Christ's name through the mud. Lots of people are making lots of money telling pagans that the church is the worst thing since sliced bread.

And, you know, so this is the thing. So guys, like, prepare for it. You are going to have to pay a cost to be a follower of the

Lord, but remember how much it is going to be worth it in the end.

There's an eternal weight of glory that the pains and the struggles and the frustrations of this world don't compare to it.

And so just something that I really appreciated from my pastor on Sunday, and I hope you appreciate it as well.

In fact, there's even a quote here from Mike Foster. The men who escape without abuse in this world are the men who do nothing at all.

So if you're going to work and you're going to act for the Lord, you are going to face trials, tribulations, abuses, and don't think it's strange because it's going to happen, and Christ warned you about it.

Now, the second thing I wanted to talk about today was DMX, and DMX died on Friday, it looks like.

He had a heart attack, and DMX, if you don't know him, he was a gangsta rapper.

You know what I mean? Gangsta! And lots of profanity in his songs, lots of sex, lots of drug use, you know, all kinds of really dark stuff.

And DMX, I used to listen to DMX secretly because my parents wouldn't allow such things, and in fact, the very first time

I got in trouble, like, major trouble as a child, I was a young man at the time, I told my mom

I was going bowling with a friend, and instead I went to Hartford, Connecticut to go to a DMX concert. And, you know,

I didn't realize, I was so innocent with fooling my mom, like, I wasn't really used to, you know, lying to her, that I didn't realize that it was preposterous to pretend to go bowling because, you know, concerts last a lot longer than bowling does.

I didn't know that, you know what I mean? I didn't know that, so I got in big trouble for that one. But anyway, so yeah,

DMX concert, you know, and I used to listen to a lot of DMX, and he was always this kind of weird contradiction because on the one hand, you know, he's talking about, you know, all kinds of explicit stuff, and then on the other hand, all of his albums contained some elements of Christianity to it, you know, most of his albums had, you know, prayers that were actually theologically pretty decent and stuff like that.

And then I, you know, when I became a Christian, I stopped listening to DMX, obviously, and then later, actually about a year ago,

I remember watching a video that he did where he, I guess he was trying to become a pastor or he was a deacon or something.

I don't follow DMX anymore, so I don't really know, but something about that, and he was actually expositing on the law of God and its place in the life of a

Christian, and he's very, at least in my opinion, this was like a year ago

I listened to this, very clearly, you know, talked about the law of God and its proper place in the life of a

Christian who's under grace. And I was very impressed by it, you know, there were some things in the video that I could quibble with, but, you know, that's probably true of almost any person

I watch a video with in my entire life. But yeah, it was great,

I was super impressed, and I was like, wow, could DMX be a legitimate Christian? And I don't know,

I don't know the answer to that, you know what I mean? I don't have enough information to make a definitive case that he's a completely regenerate

Christian, because the thing is, the contradictions in his life, they lasted until the end of his life, like he was still, you know, engaged in all kinds of evil activities up until the point when he died, and that's not good, you know what

I mean? If you're practicing sin, even as you die publicly and openly and this kind of stuff, that's not a good sign for the state of your soul.

But on the other hand, we understand that people can war against sin for their whole lives.

In fact, most of us will be fighting against the flesh our entire lives. So I'm not going to make a pronouncement,

I'm not going to do the thing where it's like when somebody dies, then all of their problems could kind of just go away and just pretend like they don't exist.

No, there is definite contradictions in this man's life. There's no question about it. In fact, much of his work, his art, would talk about these contradictions.

And so he was very keenly aware that these were problems. So yeah, listen, do

I hope that DMX was saved and is in the presence of his

Lord? Absolutely, I do. But I don't know. But I'll tell you what, this young guy, very young guy, was very, very sad to hear about this.

And also, I guess it came out that this guy just recently got the COVID vaccine.

Like, what is this about? You hear all kinds of anecdotes about this, where people that are relatively healthy, you know, maybe not completely healthy, but relatively healthy, they get the

COVID vaccine, and then a couple of weeks later, they're gone. And it's just like, well, what do you do with that information, right?

I'm not getting the COVID vaccine either way, because it's totally unnecessary. I'm not going to stick my arm with experimental, you know, chemicals just because the government says

I should. But, you know, listen, like, I would suggest getting all the facts before you do it, because we've been hearing anecdotes like this.

And of course, you know, everybody sees the contradiction, you know. Well, when COVID was happening, every death under the sun was attributed to COVID, you know what

I mean? Every death was a COVID death. And you got hit by a motorcycle, COVID death, you know what I mean? Like that kind of thing. But now when people are dying after the vaccine, it's like, well, hold on a second, we need to get double stamped, triple stamped approval before we say this has anything to do with the vaccine.

And even if it does, we'll probably hide it anyway. Like everyone can see that contradiction. It's they're lying to you.

The government lies to you. Everybody involved in the government's COVID response has lied from day one.

It's just that simple. Everyone is lying to you. So do what makes sense for your current situation.

If you're in one of these youth, these vulnerable groups, you might have a different outcome or a different decision than someone who's, you know, 30 years old, doesn't have any of the comorbidities, whatever it's called, and stuff like that.

Like the government's trying to paint everyone in the same, you know, category. Well, everyone just got to get the COVID vaccine. And that's stupid.

Don't think like a stupid idiot. You know what I mean? Don't think like an idiot. Don't think like an idiot. It's just that simple.

Don't take the government's word as if it's gospel because it isn't. The gospel isn't, I'm sorry, the government isn't

God. The government's word isn't gospel truth. The government's word is not the word of God. So you don't have to just accept everything that the government says.

I was thinking about this just the other day. People are all up in arms about the executive order for firearms and stuff like that.

And they're very worried that they're going to confiscate, confiscate. I always say that. I know it's confiscate.

But for some reason, my brain just makes it confiscate. I don't get it. I know everyone always calls me on it every video.

And I know, I know it's not a matter of not knowing. It's a matter of my mouth doesn't work when

I say that word. Anyway, everyone's worried about the government confiscating guns.

And I saw, I think it was Owen Benjamin was saying how like, just don't give them to them. And they're not going to do anything.

And that's very true. This is how the government operates. They just assume that you're going to listen. I mean, Americans are very compliant with the government.

I know that the reputation for Americans is that they're not compliant with the government. I don't think that's true.

I think most Americans are extremely compliant. And so what will end up happening is if they want to confiscate guns, they're just going to say, the guns are now illegal.

So turn in your guns. And then most people will voluntarily turn in their guns. And that'll be the end of it.

They're not going to go house to house and search or whatever. They just they don't have the manpower for it. They don't have the wherewithal to do it.

That'll be the end of it. That's how they'll confiscate guns. And they've done this before. Actually, this is from the 30s.

There was an executive order that said that owning gold coins or bullion was illegal. It was that they're going to confiscate your gold bullion.

Right. And what ended up happening is most people just turned it in. Because what happened was the newspapers said, well, this is the patriotic thing.

You know, the Federal Reserve system's in trouble. And we're going to go to war or whatever. And we need the money. So turn it in.

And you'll be a real patriot if you do it. And so people just did it. People just turned in their gold.

And they voluntarily did it. Yeah, sure. It was an executive order. But it was an executive order that they had no intention of actually doing anything about.

They weren't going to come into your house to make sure that you didn't hide any gold from them. They weren't going to dig up your garden to make sure you didn't hide any treasure chests full of gold in them.

No, this is how they're confiscating. Confiscating! Ah, I can't do it.

Confiscating gold. Well, they make you think that they've got the authority and the power that they don't actually have.

And then you just do it voluntarily. If you don't want to hand in your guns or if you don't want to hand in your gold, then just don't.

It's totally legitimate to just ignore. When you see a stupid post like this, just ignore and pretend like you didn't even see it.

It's not in the government's authority to steal from you. It's not in the government's authority to disarm you.

So if they say that it is, and they say, you're going to go to jail for 10 years if you don't do it, just pretend like you didn't see it.

And what are they going to do? Could you go to jail? I guess, theoretically, you could go to jail. But the thing is, it's an illegal order anyway.

So if they're going to put you in jail for this, they can just put you in jail for anything. So just understand that.

And listen, if someone is going to hold you against your will illegally, then they're just going to do it.

They're probably not going to do it. But if they are, then they'll find a way. They'll find a reason. And so it doesn't matter if you voluntarily, excuse me, turn in your guns or gold or whatever or not.

If they want to do it, they're going to do it. And so we just got to remember that the government is going to pretend like they have all kinds of authorities and powers and abilities that they do not have.

And all of it is done to mess with your mind and to warp you to such a degree that you give the government godlike abilities, right?

And we do this. Even conservatives do this, guys. This is not a liberal thing. They've messed with our minds since we were children, right?

We think that the government is everywhere and they can hear everything that you're doing and they can see everything that you're doing.

They know if you've been naughty, you're nice, and they're going to come and take you away. We've given the government so many attributes that only belong to god, like the authority to just steal from you and to take from you and to do whatever they want, kill you if they want to and stuff like that.

And it's god who gives and god who takes away. He's got the authority over our lives.

He's the one that decides how long we live and what our roles are and stuff like that.

He's the one who tells us what's what and what to do and what's a girl versus what's a boy and stuff like that.

But we've given so much of that, those attributes that belong to god alone, we've given them to the government in so many ways.

And so we fear that government that we now essentially treat like god.

And it's about time to take that away. It's about time to no longer assign attributes to the government that belong to god alone.

The government, you know, it might be prudent to obey the government often, right?

Like I'm going to pay my taxes, even though the government doesn't have the authority to collect those taxes from me.

I'm going to pay them the exorbitant taxes that I pay. I'm going to pay them because it's prudent for me to pay them.

If I don't pay them, probably nothing would happen. But if I push it hard enough,

I'd probably be arrested. I might even be killed and stuff like that. And I want to be around for my family.

So it's prudent for me to pay taxes. So I will. But the mindset, the attitude, it's like handing money over to the mafia.

Yeah, maybe they don't have the authority to take money from you. But there might be a situation where, you know, probably the best option is to hand your wallet over to the mafia.

You know what I mean? That kind of thing. Anyway, I hope you found this helpful. And I hope that god blesses you this week and all that kind of thing.

Oh, by the way, thanks, John Harris, for this shirt. Rescind Resolution 9. This is a shirt that John Harris sent me last week.

And yeah, I think Resolution 9 from the SPC should be rescinded. I don't think that's the panacea, though.

So don't get me wrong. Rescinding Resolution 9 must only be the beginning.

There must be aggressive, positive action taken against the heretics that are in the

Southern Baptist Convention. Rescinding this would be great. But you can't be like, okay, then that's the hill we die on.

And so that's what we defend going. No, no, no. There has to be offensive action taken against these heretics as well.

Yes, I completely support the move to rescind Resolution 9.

But that is just the beginning. More work has to be done. And we got to be aggressive about it. I hope you found this video helpful.