Don't Listen To The Voice

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Is the church today doing everything it can to provide women a firm foundation of truth in Christ Jesus?

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Well, it's true, there's no shortage of candy -coated Bible studies, potluck fellowships available to ladies.

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But beyond Sunday morning, are Christian women being properly equipped to stand against the same deceptions that even enticed

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Eve in the garden? In an attempt to address the need for trustworthy, biblical resources for women,

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No Compromise Radio is happy to introduce Equipping Eve, a ladies -only radio show that seeks to equip women with fruits of truth in an age that's ripe with deception.

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My name is Mike Ebendroth and I'm pleased to introduce your host, Erin Benzinger, a friend of No Compromise Radio and a woman who wants to see other women equipped with a love for and a knowledge of the truth of God's Word.

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Well, hello ladies, and welcome to Equipping Eve, the show that seeks to equip you with fruits of truth from God's Word so that we can stand strong and firm on that Word in an age of deception.

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I am your host, Erin Benzinger, thanks for joining us today, and let's see, you can check us out as always on Facebook, I'm trying to post a few more things there,

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I'm still getting used to the Facebook thing, I don't like Facebook, I don't think that's ever going to change, but I know a lot of you use it, that's kind of how you keep apprised of the various ministries and whatnot that you follow, and so thank you for giving

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Equipping Eve a follow there, and hopefully you find some of the links that we post to be helpful and edifying.

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You can also follow Equipping Eve on Twitter, that's at Equipping Eve, you can follow my other account as well, that's at E.

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Benz Blog, and that one is a little more active than the Equipping Eve account, just because it's kind of my personal account slash account for my blog,

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Do Not Be Surprised, so hey, did you love all of that commercial that I just gave you? Yeah, fantastic, also

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EquippingEve .com, and you can email me there. So how is everybody today?

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It's a good day, it is a good day to talk about the things of God, isn't it? We are so busy, and it's not just because we're women, you know,

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I hear that so often on radio shows geared towards women and women's ministries, that we're so busy because we're women.

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Hey, you know what? The men are busy too. We are all busy. The Lord has given each one of us different stations in life and different situations and places where He has ordained that we would be and that we would live out life, whether that is in the home, in the workplace, in school, in whatever way you serve at your church with your friends, and we are all busy, men and women, and I hope,

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I hope, I hope, I hope that you are busy about the things of the Lord, that your day is filled with things that serve and glorify

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Him. And ladies, that means even washing your dishes, helping your children tie their shoes, cleaning the house, that is done unto the glory of God, and if you are a mother, we commend you for that.

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So I came across an article the other day or a couple weeks ago, I don't know,

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I've lost all track of time at this point, I just realized this morning that it's actually about a year old, but you know, it's about the

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Pope, so it's just always relevant, isn't it? It's very interesting, actually.

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It's found at the website thehigherlearning .com. The Higher Learning is an exchange of knowledge for the advancement of the people.

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So that sounds very progressive and secular and wonderful.

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Anyway, the title of this article was published on July 31st of 2014, title is

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The Pope Just Released a List of 10 Tips for Becoming a Happier Person, and they are spot on.

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So this organization thinks that these 10 tips released by the

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Pope last year on being happy, these are right. This is how you are a happy person.

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So I can't pronounce the name of the author of the article, so I don't want to mangle it, but anyway, thehigherlearning .com.

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So the Pope's 10 Tips for a Happier Life. Are you ready, ladies? Do you have your pencils ready? Because this is the Pope.

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Now I don't think he was speaking ex -cathedra here, so we can't add this to our Bibles, but hey, it's the

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Pope. Everything he says has to be true. He wears the funny hat, right? Hopefully you can hear the sarcasm there.

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Our authority is scripture, ladies. So if you are just tuning in for the first time, we do not appeal to the

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Pope for authority, but this list is very interesting and very telling of the thoughts of Pope Francis, the trajectory, presumably, of the

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Roman Catholic Church, and the trajectory of the world, and I would dare say, to an extent, the visible church, because let's face it, there are a lot of professing

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Christians, professing evangelicals, who love Pope Francis. So here is what they are loving.

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Here's a little taste of it. Number one, ten tips for a happier life according to Pope Francis. Live and let live.

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Everyone should be guided by this principle, he says, which has a similar expression in Rome with the saying, move forward and let others do the same.

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Okay. Number two, be giving of yourself to others. Well, there's a nice principle, isn't it?

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You know, selflessness. People need to be open and generous toward others. If you withdraw into yourself, you run the risk of becoming egocentric.

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You don't want that to happen to you. So that's number two, be giving of yourself to others. There's a lot of law in here already.

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Number three, proceed calmly in life. So I don't know. Does the Pope have one of those signs hanging in his people office that says, keep calm and carry on?

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I'm not sure. Number four, a healthy sense of leisure. Okay.

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Number five, Sundays should be holidays. Workers should have Sundays off because Sunday is for family.

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Sunday is for family. We'll just ignore the part about, you know, worshiping

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God, which most of us gather with our brothers and sisters in Christ on Sundays.

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Anyway, number six, find innovative ways to create dignified jobs for young people.

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This is how we're going to be happier. So everybody go out and find an innovative way to create a dignified job for young people so that they can't get into drugs.

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Okay, you could teach them some truths from God's word as well. But, you know, finding innovative ways and creative jobs is fun too,

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I guess. Number seven, respect and take care of nature. Ah, here's the green gospel.

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Environmental degradation is one of the biggest challenges we have. I think a question that we're not asking ourselves is, isn't humanity committing suicide with this indiscriminate and tyrannical use of nature?

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You know, that's a sad thing because apparently the Pope has not read his Bible. If he had, he would know that only the

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Lord can destroy the earth and he will destroy it by fire.

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Now, I'm not saying we shouldn't be a good steward of what the Lord has given us, but this notion that we have to recycle and save the trees because if we don't, the world's going to end.

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It's just not in scripture. It's just not there because God is sovereign over the earth and God created it and God will uncreate it.

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But you'd have to read your Bible to know that and it's so much easier to just listen to the Pope.

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Number eight, here, here's a good one. Stop being negative.

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I mean, when did the Pope turn into Joel Osteen? Stop being negative. Quote, needing to talk badly about others indicates low self -esteem.

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That means I feel so low that instead of picking myself up, I have to cut others down. Letting go of negative things quickly is healthy.

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End quote. So the Pope has apparently been talking to Joel Osteen because you just, you can't put those negative thoughts out there.

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If you put them out there in the universe, they're going to, you know, curse and jinx your life.

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So you got to pull those, pull those back. Number nine, don't proselytize.

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Respect others' beliefs. Okay. Quote, we can inspire others through witness so that one grows together in communicating.

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But the worst thing of all is religious proselytism, which paralyzes. I am talking with you in order to persuade you.

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No, says the Pope. Each person dialogues starting with his or her own identity.

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The church grows by attraction, not by proselytizing.

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So now the Pope sounds like Rick Warren, Bill Hybels and the like. We have to make the church attractive and then that's how we'll grow.

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You know, the funny thing is that Jesus Christ said that he would grow his church and his church is grown.

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When his word is proclaimed faithfully and accurately and without compromise.

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And when that is done, the Lord will bring those who are his, those who he has chosen from before the beginning of time, he will bring them to those, those sheepfolds, if you will, those churches where his word is being proclaimed.

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And that is how he will grow his church. That is how people are saved.

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That is how they are brought into a saving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. That is how they are brought to repentance and faith by the power and work of the

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Holy Spirit. It is through the proclamation of his word. It is not through this dialogue that begins with our own identity.

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I don't know what that means. That is not biblical. I can start a dialogue and start from my own identity, but that will not save you.

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If you look to me and to my identity to find salvation, you will be sorely disappointed.

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But if you look to Jesus Christ, who is revealed to us in the word of God, the

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Bible, that is how you will be saved. That is how the

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Holy Spirit works. That is the means by which the Holy Spirit works. The proclamation of the word, the truthful, uncompromised word of God.

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The Pope is wrong. Shocking, I know. Number 10, key to being happy according to Pope Francis, work for peace.

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We are living in a time of many wars. The call for peace must be shouted. Peace sometimes gives the impression of being quiet, but it is never quiet.

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Peace is always proactive. Well, okay, but the only peace that really matters is peace with God, which again cannot be attained by any work of man.

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But here we see this list of 10 keys to being happy according to Pope Francis.

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Within that, we see the green gospel, the gospel of nature. We see the

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Joel Osteen gospel. Don't worry, be happy. Don't throw those negative thoughts out into the universe.

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And the gospel of Rick Warren and the Secret Sensitive Church, that the church just needs to be attractional.

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Pope Francis has become this weird combination of Osteen, Warren, and Brian McLaren. And that is why he is so attractive to the world and to those who may profess to be

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Christians, but who have not truly been saved. Because if they have, the

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Holy Spirit would open their eyes to the deception and the lies. And just the sheer silliness of the things that the

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Pope says. They are not biblical. They are not based in truth. They are based in demonic lies.

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But it all comes down, if you look back at that list, to things that you should do.

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Things that you should do to be happy. And if you do these things, you will be happy and presumably be a good person.

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The article doesn't say this, but you know, you could probably consider yourself even then a

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Christian if you've done all of these things. So what do we have to do to be saved?

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Well, we can't do anything to save ourselves. You can give all the money in the world, all the money that you have in your pocketbook and in your bank account, to the

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Pope, to the Catholic Church, to Rick Warren, to your local television preacher, to your international television preacher.

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You can give to charity. You can feed poor people. You can clothe them.

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You can save puppies. You can pick up trash every single day of your life.

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You can plant a tree a day for 70 years. And it will not save you.

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You must hear the truth of God. As revealed in his word, you must come to realize that you are a sinner who has sinned against an infinite holy

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God, and therefore you are deserving of an infinite punishment.

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You must realize that you cannot pay that debt then that you owe to God. And that there is only one person who can pay that debt and who has paid that debt for those who will believe.

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That Jesus Christ, God himself, took on human flesh, lived the life that we cannot, kept the law perfectly for 33 years until his death, in which he perfectly atoned for the sins of those who would believe on the cross, bore upon himself the wrath of God for all who would believe, rose again three days later, meaning the

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Father accepted his perfect sacrifice, and ascended into heaven where he sits at the right hand of God and continues to intercede for his own.

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It is his work that saves you. It is Jesus Christ.

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And when the Holy Spirit regenerates you, he will bring you to a repentance of your sin and a faith in Christ alone.

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And that is how you can be saved. It's not the trees you plant. It's not the money you give. It's not what you do. I don't care what the social gospel says.

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It's a popular thing. It's a popular thing in the Catholic church. It's a popular thing in the visible

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Christian church. There are large, popular churches that essentially promote a social gospel.

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Some of these even fall under the category, using the term loosely here at Equipping Eve, of reformed.

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I would argue they probably shouldn't carry that category because they do promote a social gospel, yet the reformed crowd loves these particular churches.

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Social gospel isn't going to save you. It is a lie.

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And you will find yourself do, do, do, doing all the way to hell unless you repent and trust in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation.

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And when you have been saved, you will do good works out of a regenerated heart.

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But those good works cannot save you. And that is something that we see.

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We've certainly seen with Pope Francis promoting that kind of mindset.

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And yet here, I came across an article from this year, published on July 12, 2015, in Christian Today, where Nicky Gumbel, the leader of the

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Alpha Chorus, says that the Catholic church is leading the way in evangelization.

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I thought this was interesting. Nicky Gumbel, he's the leader and founder of the

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Alpha Chorus as it currently exists. That was founded by someone else. And when he took over, he really put it into its current form.

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But Gumbel says in this article, quote, I love the Catholic church. She is leading the way in evangelization.

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He spelled out his Alpha recipe for success, but said key to his current thinking was the 2013 encyclical of Pope Francis on evangelization and the joy of the gospel.

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He says, everybody should read this and put it into practice. And he has been reading and rereading it.

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And he says, if every Christian in England put this into practice, the nation would be transformed.

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And added that the church, meaning the Church of England, would also, oh no, actually, excuse me, the church, meaning the church proper would also be revitalized and transformed if we do what is in this particular encyclical that was written by the

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Pope in 2013. You know, here's a little snippet from this encyclical, which is called an

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Apostolic Exhortation on the Proclamation of the Gospel in Today's World. From paragraph 193, we incarnate the duty of hearing the cry of the poor when we are deeply moved by the suffering of others.

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Let us listen to what God's word teaches us about mercy and allow that word to resound in the life of the church.

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The gospel tells us, blessed are the merciful because they shall obtain mercy. The apostle James teaches that our mercy to others will vindicate us on the day of God's judgment.

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And he quotes James 2, 12 through 13. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty, for judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy, yet mercy triumphs over judgment.

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You know, but that's a misunderstanding of the text of James. Faith without works is dead. However, this goes back to what we just said, that out of a regenerated heart, we do good works and our good works are the fruit of our salvation.

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And if we have no fruit, then we have very good reason to question our salvation.

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But our mercy or our works will not be what vindicates us on the day of God's judgment.

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What vindicates us is the work of Jesus Christ, not our work. And so here we have a misunderstanding of the gospel found in this encyclical written by Pope Francis, but yet Nicky Gumbel of the

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Church of England, of the Alpha Chorus, is saying, hey, you need to read this and do it to transform the church and England.

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Nicky Gumbel is very appreciative of the Catholic Church. I've written about this in the past at christianresearchnetwork .org.

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Just talking about the Alpha for Catholics program that has been implemented there.

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And you can certainly go to christianresearchnetwork .org to find that or go to donotbesurprised .com.

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There's a tab actually at the top of that page that lists several articles on the

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Alpha Course that may reveal to you some of the concerning things. And one of them is the

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Alpha Course's endorsement and embracing of Roman Catholicism.

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When in reality, we teach a different gospel. The Christian Church and the Catholic Church cannot meet because our gospel differs.

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And that happened at the Council of Trent. In Canon 9, as decreed by the

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Council of Trent, says, if anyone says that the sinner is justified by faith alone, meaning that nothing else is required to cooperate in order to obtain the grace of justification, and that it is not in any way necessary that he be prepared and disposed by the action of his own will, let him be anathema.

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So the Catholic Church anathematized the gospel, but the

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Alpha Course loves the Catholic Church. And it is because we are seeing a similar social gospel type stance.

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And there are other things that would be similar between the two and other things that the great deceiver,

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I believe, is using to endear different false movements to one another.

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One of those things being extreme charismaticism, etc., etc.

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All perhaps conversations for another day.

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Who knows? So from the Alpha Course, from Pope Francis to the voice.

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Have you heard of the voice Bible translation? I was listening to a

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Steve Lawson sermon a few days ago, and he quoted from this translation, not favorably, so calm down, as an example of some of the scripture twisting that is going on out there.

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And I'd like to read a brief passage for you. I'd like to read,

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I guess, the equivalent of the Gospel of John, chapter 1, verses 1 through 5.

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The voice Bible translation reads,

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Before time itself was measured, the voice was speaking.

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The voice was and is God. This celestial word remained ever present with the

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Creator. His speech shaped the entire cosmos. Immersed in the practice of creating, all things that exist were birthed in Him.

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His breath filled all things with a living, breathing light, light, a light that thrives in the depths of darkness, blazes through murky bottoms.

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It cannot and will not be quenched. As he read that,

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Steve Lawson stopped and said, Can you hear the hiss of the serpent in that?

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Ladies, can you hear the hiss of the serpent?

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Before time itself was measured, the voice was speaking. The voice was and is

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God. This celestial word remained ever present with the

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Creator. Well, we've just eliminated the eternal existence of the

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Son to say that it remained ever present with the

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Creator. The celestial word meaning the Word Incarnate, the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Further down, it says, His breath filled all things with a living, breathing light.

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Now, is this what the Word of God really says? Now, before I read a real translation of the scriptures to you,

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I want to tell you what the voice website says about itself. Why it exists.

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The voice invites a generation of story lovers to step into the Bible through a fresh expression of its timeless narrative.

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It recaptures the passion, grit, humor, and beauty that is often lost in the translation process.

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Readers will enter into the story of scripture more deeply and discover that they can actually hear

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God's voice speaking into their life today. According to the

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Center for Bible Engagement, 34 % of Christians never read their Bible. Well, a Christian who doesn't read his

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Bible should re -examine himself. And an additional 32 % read it very rarely.

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Why do people who love God let his Word collect dust? I'd argue if you love God, you love his

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Word, and therefore you do not ignore his Word. And if you do find yourself shying away from time of reading and study of the

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Word, perhaps you need to be praying to your God to see what the barrier is.

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Is there sin there that is keeping you from wanting to be convicted? The conviction that we know can blessedly be found in that Word.

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The website goes on and says, this should not be the experience of reading God's Word. The voice helps readers enjoy reading the

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Bible, perhaps even lose track of time and have a hard time putting it down. Yeah, because if we change the

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Bible, then people will want it. That makes no sense. You're fixing their own problem. You're fixing something that's not a problem.

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The problem is with the people, the sinners, who don't want to read the Word of a holy

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God. But instead, you're changing that Word. You're altering it so that it says what it actually was not intended to say.

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And now you are appealing to the masses. You have made it attractional. And you have succeeded in drawing false converts.

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The claim is that the voice begins to recapture how the first readers would have encountered the scripture, resulting in an amplification of the voice of God so it is more clearly heard by today's readers, almost as clearly as when he first revealed his truth.

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That makes me angry. What is wrong with the

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Word of God as he has revealed it? Now, I understand we have to have translations into different languages, but they need to be true to the original text.

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And to say that now this translation makes it almost as clear as when he first revealed his truth,

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God didn't stutter. If you have a problem reading it, it's because perhaps your eyes have not been opened to understanding the

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Word. God's truth is clearly revealed in the

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Bible. It is there. It is available at your fingertips. Open it and read it.

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Pray that God through his Holy Spirit would reveal his truth to you and do not open the voice translation of the

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Bible. Now, I'm going to read John 1, 1 through 5 from the

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New American Standard Bible. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the

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Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him and apart from him nothing came into being that has come into being.

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In him was life and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it.

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I want to focus very briefly in the minutes we have left, especially on verse 4, which in the

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New American Standard reads, In him was life and the life was the light of men. However, in the voice it reads,

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His breath filled all things with a living, breathing light.

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His breath filled all things with a living, breathing light.

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Or, in him was life and the life was the light of men.

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About this verse, about this phrase, the life was the light of men, J .C.

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Ryle says, This sentence means that the life which was in Christ was intended before the fall to be the guide of man's soul to heaven in the supply of man's heart and conscience, and that since the fall of man it has been the salvation and the comfort of all who have been saved.

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It is those and those only who have followed Christ as their light who have lived before God and reached heaven.

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There has never been any spiritual life or light enjoyed by men excepting from Christ.

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Of the phrase that starts that verse, In him was life, Ryle says, This sentence means that in the eternal councils of the

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Trinity, Christ was appointed to be the source, fountain, origin, and cause of life.

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From him all life was to flow. As to the kind of life which is here meant, there is much difference of opinion among commentators.

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He says that he takes the position that the expression applies solely to spiritual life and that it is meant to declare that Christ alone is the source of all life to the souls of men, whether in time or eternity.

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He was the creator of all things, and he also was the author of new creation. And we see that in the verse previous.

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We see that all things came into being through him, and apart from him nothing came into being that came into being or that has come into being.

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So we see that he is the creator of physical life, right?

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We see that here. But then in verse four, we see that he is the source of spiritual life.

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Here in John 1 verse 4 though, is the word for life is zoe, and this refers to spiritual life.

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The Greek word zoe refers to spiritual life. And so this verse is talking, as Ryle noted, about spiritual life, that Jesus Christ is the source, the sole source of spiritual life.

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As Ryle says, this sentence means that the light, that the life which was in Christ was intended before the fall to be the guide of man's soul to heaven.

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Christ is the light. Only those who have followed Christ who have lived before God reach heaven.

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There has never been any spiritual life or light enjoyed by men excepting from Christ, says

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J .C. Ryle. So that is what this verse is saying. This is in the context of spiritual life for men.

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In him was life, and the life was the light of men. Now the voice translation reads again, his breath filled all things with a living, breathing light.

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Is that the same thing? In him was life, and the life was the light of men, or his breath filled all things with a living, breathing light.

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Those are two different things. Those are two different doctrines. New American Standard, taken from the

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Greek, the original Greek text, talks about spiritual life. Jesus Christ, the word incarnate, is the sole source of spiritual life for men who will be saved.

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The voice translation, that supposedly is just really going to let

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God speak to you, tells you his breath filled all things with a living, breathing light.

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So what we are actually seeing in this translation is really a form of pantheism, panantheism, maybe.

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It is really very Eastern religion -like. This is very much, you can very clearly see an allusion to almost a spark of divinity in all things.

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It says all things. This is not talking about men. So now all of a sudden, the breath of the voice, the breath of Jesus Christ then, fills all things.

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Fills every blade of grass, every tree, every bush.

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Well, that is a very panentheistic view of God.

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Pantheistic or panentheistic. The broader transcendence of this passage in the voice would perhaps allude to panentheism.

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Well, what is panentheism, you're asking me? GodQuestions .org actually has a really good, simple definition of it.

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It says panentheism is essentially a combination of theism and pantheism. So theism says

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God is the supreme being, and pantheism says God is everything. So pantheism says that God and the universe are coextensive, but panentheism claims that God is greater than the universe and the universe is contained within God.

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So panentheism holds that God is the supreme effect of the universe. God is everything in the universe, but he's also greater than the universe.

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Of course, this is not biblical. And this voice translation, it's a little confusing.

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I'm not definitively saying that's what they are advocating here, but it definitely has overtones of this type of mindset or just a very

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Eastern religion type mindset where there is a spark of the divine in all things.

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And so now, not only have we eliminated the eternal existence of the word incarnate

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Jesus Christ in an earlier verse of this voice translation, but now we have eliminated this concept that Jesus Christ is the sole source of spiritual life for men.

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And we've now just made it a very nebulous, vague, very plattable, spiritual, using air quotes here, idea that the breath of God just fills all things.

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And doesn't that make you feel warm and fuzzy? I mean, how many times do we hear someone say that they're spiritual, but not religious?

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This is the kind of gobbledygook that they buy into. But this is supposedly a translation of the word of God.

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This is supposedly a Bible translation, but this is a dangerous one. And this really only came to my attention,

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I knew about this translation. I didn't realize how they had so mangled these opening verses of the amazing gospel of John until I heard

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Steve Lawson use it as an example there in his sermon. But it is twisting of the word like this that we need to be on guard for ladies.

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And maybe your Bible study leader or your favorite teacher, whatever that you listen to online won't pull out the voice translation, but be mindful of how they're using scripture.

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I hope that you will test what they say against scripture. I hope you will test what I say against scripture.

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I urge you to do that. I encourage you to test all things against the word of God. Get a good

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Bible translation and test all things. Have your Bible open when you're listening to someone teach the Bible.

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Make sure that they are reading the text as it is they're presented.

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And the more that you ladies are reading your Bible on your own, just open the word of God and read it and study it for yourself each and every day.

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I so encourage you. And I know we're busy. We talked about that. We're busy. I know. Start your day in the word of God because the more you know the word of God, the truth of God's word, you will recognize the error.

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And maybe you won't be able to hear something and say, hey, that's panentheism or that's postmodernism or that's this ism or that ism.

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But you will know that something's not quite right and you will proceed with caution.

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That is the beauty of how God grows us through his word. So I encourage you to continue in his word.

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It's so easy to get caught up in reading different books about his word. And we're reading the parenting books and the marriage books and the homeschooling books.

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And even if we're grabbing the good books, the Puritans and all of the wonderful theologians that God has given to the church over the ages, it's very easy to get caught up in reading those books and feel like we are really progressing on our walk.

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And many of those are good resources and they do help our walk. And so I don't diminish those, but do not read them than to the exclusion of the word of God, okay?

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They're just kind of gravy for the hot fudge on the Sunday, okay? I really hope that you are in his word every day and not the voice translation.

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So I know the voice translation may not be an issue in your particular circles, in your particular realms, but it is just an illustration of that hiss of the serpent that we hear in so many teachings today.

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That hiss is getting louder and louder and louder. It's becoming a roar because Satan seeks to devour us like a roaring lion.

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But we can take comfort because Christ has promised that he will care for his own.

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And we know that he holds us securely until he will call us home. And we look forward to that day.

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But until that day, ladies, we need to serve him. We need to seek to serve him well.

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And we can pray that he will help us to do that. And so I hope that you'll do that today.

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And so until the next time, ladies, get in your Bibles, get on your knees, and get equipped.