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We share stories of how the blood of Jesus has transformed ours and others' lives.
Hey everybody, welcome to the Red Ledger. I'm Denalee Bell. This morning, I want to talk to you a little bit about what happened to me yesterday morning. I jumped on social media and Was assaulted with a barrage of celebrity endorsements for our current election cycle They really felt laced with lies propaganda probably redundant there and um A huge side of self-righteous lectures on character character about what people Who are not voting like them?
and assassinating character of One of the people running for president And it really stirred some anger in me and maybe even a little bit of hate. And as a Christian, I know that harboring hate is unhealthy. It's wrong. It's not good for me. It's not good for those around me. It's not good for me. It leads to my own destruction.
It also leads to destruction to those people around me who have to hear my mouth, right? So I did pray about it and God, as always, showed up big. And so I'm really glad we didn't record this yesterday when I had planned to because I've calmed down a little bit and built some compassion and kindness around the subject.
And feel free to comment if I miss it. I do want to say though, truth is Kind, truth is compassion. So sometimes a truth may hit you wrong, but you know, be a Berean, check the Bible. Tell me if I'm wrong. Tell me if I deserve the correction. I'm open to that. So folks. I know you already know this, but this is a spiritual battle, and there is an agenda against Christian values.
If you've been a Christian now for more than five minutes, you can see the agenda clearly. That there's an agenda not only to dismantle America as we knew, maybe idealized and loved, but that Christian values are systematically being eroded at the same time. It's as if biblical prophecy is unfolding in real time.
And I think those 11th hour celebrities coming out in droves with their opinions, the propaganda and their moral lectures on character, I mean, it's a little fascinating and perplexing. Yesterday, I'm like, do they know they're lying? Do they know how condescending they're sounding? Are they reading a script?
But does it really matter? No. Because the problem that I'm having with it is, OK, who are they influencing? Who are they leading? Who's influencing me? Who's leading me? The people who would lecture us on how we should act, vote, think based on character. Those same people are implicated, and I'm not judging, I'm just stating a fact, they're being implicated in some of the worst scandals of my life, and they do not appear to live a life offering any kind of peace, stability, reality, or hope.
So, we see trafficking, substance abuse, really, truly promoting not only a satanic agenda, but some of these pop stars are even going as far as putting that satanic imagery out there, making it really normal. And so, So, I used to kind of let this behavior go because I used to lean to the left quite a bit and I just thought, okay, this is just a far left liberal Hollywood mindset.
And that, I think that's a dangerous way to believe too, because then it's not really taking into consideration what is actually happening. So now I see it as something far more sinister. It seems to truly be a concerted effort for these people to maintain power. And it reminds me a lot of the Pharisees.
when Jesus came to town. So Jesus started speaking truth. People started following him. The Pharisees started to lose control. That's what they were in fear of. And they were going to do everything they could to make sure that they could maintain that power for themselves. The Pharisees lectured others, but their hearts were not right either.
You know, that's where I'm having a little bit of problem here. Like my heart isn't completely right on this and God is correcting it because on the one hand, I was kind of cursing them. And on the other hand, I'm supposed to be loving them, right? And that's where James came to me this morning. Out of the same mouth proceeds blessing and cursing.
My brethren, these things ought not to be so. Isn't God good that he brought me the scripture this morning? James 3 10. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives or grapevine bear figs?
Thus no spring yields both saltwater and fresh. We can't really curse somebody. and love them at the same time. We can't bring fruit from that. So the Pharisees lectured others, their hearts weren't right either. So I don't want to lecture and have my heart not right and be a hypocrite. Hypocrisy means to play act, right?
To play, pretend like I am better than I am. Well, I lecture you. So when I'm speaking today, I'm speaking to myself and this is what God has revealed to me about my heart. I'm not saying that you're doing this, but if you are, maybe he's might reveal something to you as well. So back to these people that are speaking.
out these celebrities that have been either hired, asked, or somehow coerced to act out on this message. And I say coerced because, you know, I saw one of the messages yesterday and it didn't look like she really knew what she was saying there. The teleprompter was missing and didn't really feel like it came from her heart.
So, you know, she could be paid, she could be asked, who knows, but it doesn't really matter. The problem is, Why did they ask them? Why did they ask these celebrities? Because they influence people and it works. Celebrity endorsements are billions of dollars each year. And when a company hires a celebrity, they expect minimally a 4 percent hike in their sales during that period.
That is an incredible incredible amount for a large company, right? So they know it works because they know that we are easily influenced by a celebrity opinion. That is interesting, isn't it? It's worked for decades. And here's the problem I have with that or the solution depending on how you look at it.
Well, there's twofold. One is, do we really want to be following the advice of paid actors or do we want to seek truth? The bigger problem is And this is also depending on how you look at it, is people are sheep. We act like sheep, we belong to sheep, all of us, even you. And this could be the problem and the solution in one, you know, the term like sheep we see is used derogatorily to describe people who are easily influenced and will follow, right?
But relax before you get offended. My research also tells me that sheep are highly intelligent and emotionally complex creatures, so, yay! And even further, God calls you His sheep. So herein is the problem. Who is your shepherd? Is God your shepherd, or are these celebrities your shepherd? Who is your shepherd?
Who is speaking truth into you? Whose opinion are you believing? But I'm not done trying to offend you yet because people don't like being called sheep. I just want to wake you up to our current world situation too, and to think about how you might be taking part in it unwittingly. Because it's really easy to say the other side are sheep, they do this, they just believe all the propaganda, but might we be as well, is kind of what I came to.
The propaganda that we should be divided and we should hate our neighbor. That is truly what they're trying to do. That is truly the agenda. The agenda is to break down the American family. The agenda is to break up society. You can see that through the last decades of their work. And when I say they, I mean the enemy.
This is a spiritual battle. Now the enemy does use people. I don't think your neighbor is evil. I do think that the devil does use people who don't understand his power. I think that some people understand his power and are happy to be part of it. But who are we fighting? Who are we fighting? We're not fighting your neighbor.
We're fighting against the principalities. Think about that during the rest of this podcast. So as sheep, we tend to Have a herd mentality all of us people will subconsciously follow a small group and They say that as little as 5 percent of a group can sway the direction of the whole group. I Think we can see that if you've been around the last eight years You can see how a small amount of people are can really move a group, can really move society.
And I think that's something we have to be careful and look at because not everybody has great intentions. So, if you don't think you're part of a group, let me tell you a story. I owned a clothing line. We manufactured sustainable, eco friendly clothing, which is kind of what I thought made me liberal, as I thought it was important to, you You know, safeguard our resources that God gave us to take care of our environment.
And I thought that that made me a liberal, um, but I was wrong. I found out that even conservatives care about our environment. They just don't agree on how we do it. And I think that's okay, but we can't have a discussion if we're all just fighting about the issue. So back to this story. So. Okay. I purchased this line from an amazing woman who had started and created the products and I was super excited to get going.
So our first meeting after purchasing was to go to Market and Market is where all the vendors are, other people are showing their clothing lines. And you get to learn about what's coming up in the fashion industry. And it's really cool and really fun. And so I was super excited because I'm going to bring all my ideas and we're going to do these cool designs.
And then my bubble was burst because that's not really how it works. I think it works that way. If you're like a top tier fashion designer, you get to decide and make some decisions. But if you look at those kind of high fashion, nobody really wears those clothes. So I don't know if that's more for ego and for just a few people to wear.
I don't quite understand that. And because we're small guys, um, But, it's as simple as choosing the color of the clothes we were going to make. I kind of had a real basic idea of what I wanted to do, and I learned, oh no no no no, we don't get to do that. You have to pick the colors that the industry decides, somebody in the industry, and you have to pay an exorbitant, and I mean exorbitant amount of money to get this information.
Okay. And then you plan for a couple of years out what it's going to be. And so when you go into the store, you will see into any retail store, you'll see kind of all the same color groups. You go to one store, you see the same as the next is the next. And you start to wonder how did they all know? Well, that's how they all know.
And she did explain to me further that if you don't choose those colors and the designs, then nobody will buy your stuff. So there's not a lot of room for creativity because the sheep want to buy what's in style, right? The majority of the sheep. Now I'm not saying there's skinny jeans girls, right? Okay, so skinny jeans were all the rage for many years.
Now they're out, and thank you God, praise God that they're out because now like a more comfortable, relaxed fitting jean is available. And they're not as flattering for sure, but they're super comfortable. Thank you. Um, so now we got the skinny jean girls who are just not gonna let go, right? And then we got the people who care about what the style is that they want to kind of be in and on trend So there's a herd for either Okay There's a herd for the people holding on to the past and there's herd for the people looking towards the future We do have a herd mentality people have a real sense and need to belong It's ingrained in us.
It's ingrained in us to have a sense of belonging. And it's important to belong, because what happens when we don't belong? Psychologically, you can get depressed, anxiety. You have loneliness. You don't feel like you fit in in the world, right? But God created that sense of belonging because He wants us to belong to Him.
The world wants us to belong to them. We don't belong to the world, we belong to God. If you want to belong to the world, that's what you will get, is the world. If you want to belong to God, you get His love, peace, joy, and blessings. We all want to be part of a flock. Our family, our first flock is so important.
God set up an amazing system and has really built. the system for sanctity of a family, for a mother, a father and children. And unfortunately that's been under attack for decades. And this is why I think this is definitely a spiritual battle, right? Humans don't have that kind of staying power to take this long term vision of 50, 60 years and just really embrace and go, but the enemy does.
The enemy does want the family tech because he knows that the family is the basis and the most important institution. Because this is where we learn. This is how we learn. We learn by modeling from our parents, right? We learn. We're social learners just like sheep. They learn by modeling. We get our dopamine when we get our approval from our parents, right?
Our brain serves us. when we get approval or disapproval from our peers. That's how we learn. That's how she learned. There's an approval system. And this dismantling of the family is very dangerous because it creates dysfunction, right? It creates isolation. It's really easy to pick somebody off who's in isolation.
So I come from a broken family and The family unit should be your flock, right? But when your family's broken and your parents are lost There's no flock to find your identity. There's no one teaching you who you are in Christ, but the world will teach you who your identity is in a snap. They cannot wait to teach you.
The world wants you to believe that you are part of them and wants everyone to believe that. It's an interesting thing. But, I remember in a sociology class learning about countercultures, the KKK looks for kids from broken families, because they're so easy to entice, because they want to belong and be part of something.
So as Christians, when you see a kid who's from a broken family, please chase them down, because that is what happened to me. I had a broken family, and my parents weren't really available to me when I was younger, But there were Christians chasing me down. Georgia Shemang would take me to Bible study. She would take me to youth group.
She'd chase me down. So Georgia, um, was this beautiful Christian woman who, I don't know why, took me under her wing. Yeah, I do know why. Because God loves me and sent her. And I went because there were cute boys at church. I know that's dumb, but I don't care what I got there. Right. And I heard his word and I was saved at a pretty young age.
And I backslid because I didn't have anyone holding me accountable. I didn't have anyone at home saying this is wrong. I was modeled. It's okay. And so sorry, mom, cause this is not who my parents are. You know, my dad has passed and my mom is not this person. My mom is. a strong Christian woman who this is not who she is anymore.
Okay. So please know that we are all on our journey and everyone deserves compassion. Even the celebrities telling us who to vote for. So the point is, is we got to be careful of building our flock and knowing who we are building that flock under. And when we see somebody isolated and out of the flock, maybe it is our job to reach out.
and lift up a hand and invite them into our flock. Because if we don't find that belonging in our family or with God, we do look elsewhere. For many lost people, they look for ideology, they look to their political leaders, they look to the government, or even these celebrities become their shepherds. And for some, maybe addiction, maybe sin, It creates an identity for them, a family for them, a group that they can belong in, right or wrong, helpful or not.
Here's the problem. When we are learning that approval, you know, as, as sheep, we are these social learners, right? And we want to be part of the group and we don't want to be kicked out of the herd. I remember when Oprah told me I had white privilege many years ago before it was trendy. And it really seemed right, right?
Everyone loves Oprah at the time. She's, she's right. She's got to be right. She wouldn't get it wrong. She got it right so much. So again, I learned that Oprah is fallible. Okay. Well, I agree. There is white privilege in our society. I would say that as one part of the narrative. It's really hard for me to say there's white privilege when there's I meet a white person who's been kicked in the teeth since birth.
How do I say you have privilege? Because you're white. It doesn't even make sense. I do think there are some privileges in society. I think it's more socioeconomic advantages. I do believe that. I don't think it's all color. I do, I do believe maybe I had some advantages than other people and some disadvantages.
I think that here's the problem. We all get kicked in the teeth at some point. None of us. We leave this world unscathed. We all have a life. We all have a journey and the enemy is after all of us. So he doesn't want one of us going to heaven. He doesn't want one of us spending eternity. He comes to still kill and destroy though Jesus came to give us life more abundantly.
He did come to still kill and destroy. All of us get affected by that. This is a hurt and broken world. We get to live there till we find out who our savior is. Till we embrace our new covenant. Until we embrace like who we are in that new covenant and our identity in Jesus Christ. So, that experience creates a herd.
I am a victim. I can't overcome this. Or we have the overcomers. I am in Christ and I can overcome anything through His strength. Okay, so we still have another herd. Who's your shepherd? The problem isn't that you're a sheep, it is who your shepherd is. Who do you belong to? Who are you choosing? Who are you choosing to follow?
In this nonsense of our current election cycle, who are you following? Are you praying to God about who you're voting for? Or do you just know? I realized yesterday I hadn't even really prayed to God about it. I just knew. I just knew who the person was. And I did pray. And I was, I was right where God wanted me to be because I'm not praying.
Uh, cause you know, we have two choices. I realize that they are both flawed human beings. I realize that both of them have done things that I don't agree with. There's just one candidate that closer embodies what I really want in our country, and that is freedom. I think if you have ever been kicked in the teeth by the enemy, if you've ever been in the pit like I have been, If you've ever dealt with addiction, painful family issues, divorce, if you have ever had pain in your life and you've received freedom from Christ in that, you understand the importance of freedom.
And we still live in a very free country and we're not even in the top 15 of free countries now. And that has been in my lifetime, the degradation of our freedom. Um, so. Um, I do, I had friends who went to China and Russia from high school to mission. They were on, they were missionaries going to save people.
And it was dangerous then because they are not free countries. They were not free countries. So They had the freedom to leave and do that and come back because of our freedom. They had the freedom to say the name Jesus, that powerful name that heals. They had the freedom to do that. It's important for us to safeguard our freedom.
So what used to make me liberal was the freedom of my body, my choice. Okay, meaning we're not big truster. I just wasn't a big truster of Big Pharma or the FDA In fact, my son went to work for the FDA and I didn't think he was gonna get the job Because of the things that I had been posting on social media about the FDA years ago But he did Anyway, so still not a fan, but I Believed part of these things that made me liberal Were that Pretty healthy distrust of our government, of big pharma, of these things that seem to be a pretty conservative view now since COVID.
And it happened like this because my liberal friends, we, we kind of fought against Monsanto's like, It was a big deal that they were poisoning our food. So the new conservative party, which, um, I guess Donald Trump and, and, uh, RFK, who I am a fan of, are kind of ushering in that it is your body, your choice, but I don't believe my body, my choice when it includes another body, because I think there's two bodies to consider.
That changed for me too, because, because of God, because of prayer. Cause I probably didn't even look at, um, the second body issue. Cause I can't say the words cause I don't want this, uh, to get demonetized or flamed. But, those things that made me think I was part of this flock, turns out I'm really part of this flock.
So that's why I'm choosing to vote. I'm voting for freedom. I'm voting for lack of censorship. I'm voting, I'm voting for true body autonomy. that I get to pray to God. I get to choose what I put in my body or not. So that's where I'm choosing after praying about it. I mean, those were my belief system. It confirmed, but I did spend time in prayer about it.
So here's the deal folks. Since the beginning of times, humans I've not only wanted to be long to a flock, they also wanted a leader to lead them. And we yearn for a shepherd. In the book of Samuel, the Israelites decided that they wanted a king, Samuel, the prophet at that time. And he was the judge and the decision maker.
He was getting old and his sons would be the natural replacement or run in a muck. They were, they were scandalous. They weren't. Living a godly life and they decided they wanted a king because of this and it was interesting because Them asking for a king was a direct rejection of God They wanted a king to judge them to lead them to rule over them to lead them into the battle all of these things God had been doing throughout the Old Testament up until now and Crazy success stories, yet they still begged for a king.
They thought a king would bring them security. So God gave the people what they wanted on the condition that they knew what they were getting into. So Samuel went and told them, you're going to have forced labor. You're going to get taxed. They're going to confiscate your land, the king will, he's going to take your property, your wheat, your storehouses, your grains, all this stuff.
They still wanted that king because the list went on and on. It was, it wasn't fun. They were going to be slaves. Some of them would be forced slaves and they said yes. They still said yes. They willingly went into slavery. They got what they asked for. Later on in the story, um, it says, When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the King that you have chosen, and the Lord will not answer you in that day.
You will cry out for relief from the King you chose, and God won't answer you in that day. Sounds like a little foreshadowing, right? So, interesting. Be careful the King you choose. Does the King you choose change your life? Does the king you choose help you fight your battles? Does the king you choose clean up your mess?
These people begging God for a king instead of using the system he had as a leader, got what they wanted, and really paid the consequences. And we are still begging for this king to come save us. I guess maybe this is, I'm speaking to myself, I really thought one of these candidates could maybe save us from the mess that our, our, uh, system is in.
Knowing, of course, that God is the one who saves, but I was putting a little bit too much faith, maybe, in what a current candidate could do. Because I know in my heart, That there's only one King that can lead us out of our mess. And that's Jesus. Only one King that can lead us out of our mess. And that's Jesus.
Any other King is going to be confiscating your property and enslaving you. Any other King. So how do God's sheep rectify this situation we're in? You know, regardless about your feelings about the candidate, I'm obviously talking about, which is Trump. He did do many useful things for us. I would argue that one of the most chief important things he has achieved was spiritual.
He empowered the silent majority to question their schemes and to resist those manufactured narratives that were designed to keep us complacent. Whether he knew it or not, it doesn't matter. It woke us up to truth to see what was happening. People are moving to God from this. And whether It was his intention or not, it happened.
Meaning, you know, sometimes he looks surprised by, you know, What the outcome of his situation is. And I do believe that's bringing him closer to God as well, too. He's got to know that God has his hand on him because he is a leader. Now he can resist that or he can open his heart to it. And I just pray that he opens his heart to it.
Because see they, when I say the, they, I mean the principalities, they wanted us asleep. They wanted us blindly following them over a cliff like the pied piper, but the silent majority has woken up. And that's truly what unsettles them. The silent majority is not silent anymore. And I think this is from Trump just telling the truth and speaking truth and being bold about it.
I don't like always how he does it, right? Sometimes it's a little hateful. Sometimes it's not how we should be. It's not, you know, a recipe. But there is a boldness that we are called to be. We are called to be bold. But this is why they hate him and us. They needed us quiet. They need us not talking about Jesus.
They need us not letting people know that we can be redeemed, that you can be saved, that you can live in freedom. They don't want us knowing that. Because knowing that helps people to overcome and escape the enslavement that the enemy wants people entrapped in. But here's the tricky part. We can get angry about it, right?
I can get super angry about this as I see the evil being undone in the world. But the problem is sometimes our anger is really directed towards the wrong people. The people, the people who have been deceived, the people who have scales on their eyes and their hearts are hardened. Our prayer should be for them.
that those scales are lifted. We should be in intercession for these people, that their hearts are softened to hear God's word, that He would drop wisdom in them, and they would understand it. Because our job is to be loved, to speak in kindness with compassion. We aren't supposed to create strife and chaos.
That's the enemy's job. Our anger Our human anger has no righteousness in it. Our human anger. Okay, that's, that's in Hebrew somewhere. I would be lying to you if I said I had this mastered, but the potter will complete his work in me. It will be finished. I have the Holy Spirit living in me. I believe that Jesus died.
I believe that he was rose, he was resurrected. That life that has been deposited in me We'll bring that to perfection. We need to speak to our neighbors in love, but love also means truth. We need to, you know, your neighbor, Frank isn't evil. He's been deceived by the deceiver. The truth is that we are called to speak out for the ones who can't speak for themselves, the babies, the needy.
Proverbs 31. 8. 9 says, Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. For the rights of those who are destitute, speak up and judge fairly. Defend the rights of the poor and needy. So here's the problem. The silent majority was silent about the wrong things. The silent majority stood down and they misunderstood meekness, I believe.
We're supposed to be gentle. Right? We don't come bashing people and hitting them over the head with the Bible. We come with gentleness. We bring the gospel. We bring the good news that they can be saved. We bring love. That's how we change this thing. We get healed. When you get healed, the people around you get healed.
The people around them get healed. And it creates a ripple effect. It creates revival. Revival in your family. Revival in your community. Revival in society. It starts with one person healing. So if you're harboring bitterness, hate, revenge, unforgiveness, get healed. Get healed, because when we carry that out into the world, they do not see Jesus.
They do not see a life that we want to live. Just like I was talking about at the beginning of this podcast, we see these celebrities lives. I don't want their lives. They seem kind of sad. They seem depressed. They seem a little hollow. I don't want their life. How do we fight this? How do we fight this current situation?
How do we fight this battle we're in? This current event? We pray. We pray. We know his word, we read his word, and we pray. We pray if you're living in unforgiveness, you pray to have that removed. You know, it's really not hard. Um, this just happened to me recently. I was living in a little bit unforgiveness and in bitterness, and I prayed.
I said, God, you know, I've read all the books, I've read all the scriptures, I'm still here. I don't know what to do. It's gonna have to be up to you, please take it from me. He did. I didn't have to do the work. He did. It's just gone. I just noticed one day I wasn't feeling it anymore. I can't go out into the world and reflect Jesus angry.
I can't go out into the world and bring the good news to somebody if I'm full of hate. It's the salt water, fresh water thing. We can't curse somebody and praise God in the same breath. We can't do it. It doesn't mix. Here's the second part of your prayers that I need you to think about. This is the difficult part for me, and I didn't do this all the time either.
I did it on occasion, but it wasn't real. I'll be honest, it wasn't real. I knew I was supposed to pray for my leaders. I prayed for them and then cursed them in the same breath. 1 Timothy 2, 1, 4. Let's cruise over there. Therefore, I exhort first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings, and all Who are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.
So I am supposed to give a supplication prayer intercession and thanksgiving for all who are in high positions. Did I do that for Biden? Did I do that for Harris? I did, but my heart wasn't in it. If I'm being honest, my heart wasn't in it. How many of us prayed for them heartfelt In the next minute, I would disparage her policy or something she did on social media.
I wasn't lifting up and encouraging her or speaking truth. I mean, maybe the disparaging was truth, but are we supposed to say things that are disparaging or encouraging, exhortating? Are we supposed to encourage? exhort and say things that are praiseworthy. Do we want to lift people up or tear them down?
Not, not that she was reading my post, but I'm putting it out there. I'm putting it out there. And I've seen some pretty vile, vile things said about her. While they may be true, it's vile and didn't need to be said. Okay. And I may even have liked one of those comments. And so I repent and I turn away from that behavior because it doesn't matter who wins this election.
We have to remember who our shepherd is and that if God can redeem this girl, this I was a mess, huge mess. He picked me up and he turned me around. Okay. If he can do that to me, he can do that to anybody. You know, if I had to display my entire life out here, you guys would think I was gross, too. We are supposed to intercede.
We are supposed to be prayerful. And we are supposed to be thankful for our leaders, all of them. Why? That we may lead a peaceful, quiet life in a godly and dignified way. If we are not praying for these people and we are not living a peaceful, quiet life, It's our fault. It is the church's fault. We have got to open our hearts to true love, to true healing, so we can have that revival, so we can love our neighbor, so we can help them remove the scales.
We need to intercede for them. Turning away from God at the end times. I have a different look on that now. Um, me and I, this is just, this is just something that came to me. I don't know that it's entirely biblical, but I'm going to read it to you. And then many will be offended, will betray one another and will hate one another.
This is a Matthew 24. Many will be offended. Many will betray one another and they will hate one another. Okay. So if you look at the example of what I went through since yesterday on my irritation, I was offended. I was offended that somebody was judging my character, okay? And what did I do? I got angry about it for a minute.
I had a little bit of hate. Oh, so it happened just like the scripture said? That I was offended? I betrayed one of God's children? And then I hated them for a minute? Okay. I repent and I turn away from that, but it's what happened. You can see how it happens. Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.
Okay. So now I'm in offense and betraying people and living in hate. You can see why I might start following the wrong shepherd. I might hear from a prophet who might help me be offended. I might hear from somebody that helps me to betray that person because I, I feel righteous in this anger. Right?
Because that's what I wanted to look for because as a herd, as a part of a flock, as a sheep. I want to join the flock that's feeling the same stuff I am, right? Here's the result. Lawlessness abounds. The love of many grows cold, but those who endure to the end shall be saved. Hey kids, I want to endure to the end.
I'm saved, I get it. But I do not want to turn away from God because I have been offended. I do not want to turn away from God. Because I was offended and it grew into hate and bitterness. This is what I picked up from that. is in this time during COVID when I was really frustrated and I kind of feel myself going there yesterday too, to be honest, is it's not in my mind.
I was trusting God, right? And I thought maybe I was doing the right thing. I got really frustrated because lawlessness was abounding. I was offended that every, that I was a white supremacist, just because I was a white, I was offended because I was a racist because I was white. I got offended by that. I also saw the lawlessness happening during these riots and people's businesses being burned down.
I saw Our leaders, not trying to stop it, but encourage it. I was really angry. And I'm like, God, what is going on here? What are you going to do about this? And I didn't see anything immediate, because, you know, that's how God should do is everything on my table, timetable. And so, I figured, well, it's my job to inform people on social media what's happening.
It's my job to change hearts on there. Well, it might have been, but, um, I didn't pray about it. I just did it. And I didn't do it in love. I was angry. And, you know, did I, did I switch anybody? Did I change anybody's heart in my anger? No. I created a herd of people who were just as angry as I was. And, you know, God came to me one day and He said, This has got to stop.
This isn't who you are. And it was, it was truly out of character for me to be that, you know, I'm a passionate person, but I'm not angry and I'm not filled with, Hey, I like, I am my nature. It's easy for me to be compassionate to people. And I was not, I was becoming angry, angry, thinking, um, God wasn't doing his job.
So I was going to do it. And hindsight at the moment, I didn't think so. I thought, Oh, I should be doing this. I'm doing this for God. That's what I said to myself, but it wasn't true. Right? It was, it was a lie. I was telling myself I was deceiving myself. I was being deceived. So we have to be careful that we are not deceived because I started following the wrong shepherds.
I stopped following my shepherd as closely. So I turned away and went back to my shepherd, Jesus, the healer of unforgiveness and bitterness, that Jesus. The last few years have made it really abundantly clear to me that there's some very lost people, including I, you know, I got a little lost there myself for a minute and they're yearning for a shepherd to guide them.
Here's where I went wrong with God during that time is I didn't even ask to see His whole plan. I just wanted it the way I wanted it right then. But I do kind of see the beauty of His plan unfolding. I do see people turning to God. I do see many pockets of revival. I do see His plan, the Kingdom plan, is a little bit better than mine, a lot better.
That was sarcasm. So when we're looking for a shepherd to guide, because we yearn for one, we have to be careful because it is in us to do that. He implanted that in us. So be careful that we're not choosing a political leader, uh, A YouTube show talk host, a celebrity, or an ideology, because sometimes, you know, we think that's going to lead us from our pain, but there is only one king that can heal pain, only one king, and that's Jesus.
There's only one shepherd. Jesus is what's needed to change this entire trajectory. Jesus. Jesus. It's His name that is power. His name is life. His name is healing. His name is freedom, liberty, truth. His name gives us the abundance, the peace, the joy, the contentment. His name, Jesus. So here is the solution.
Do what you're supposed to do. Pray. Pray God. Where do you want me? Okay. So for a couple of years, he wanted me in the word. I mean, and I was immersed in the word. I got healed. I got healed of so much. Thank you. Thank you. But now, now, where does he want me? He wants me to vote. Okay. He wants me to do my part, but maybe he's calling you to do something politically at a local level, being part of the the system.
Be part. Maybe you should run for office. There's so much more we can do politically for our freedom at a local level than voting for just our president. The states have a lot of power and we want to keep them free. which keeps our country free. So maybe it is being involved. Maybe it's just constant prayer.
Wherever it is, this is where you want your coach, your shepherd, God to put you, not where you think you need to be, right? Because it's pretty easy to, you know, build hate and resentment on Twitter. It's quite a different thing to go out there and register people to vote. It's quite a different thing to go doorknock and tell people what the issues are.
It's probably quite a different thing to donate to the candidate who supports you. your values. So be led by God. That's the solution. Pray, be led by God. Turn your life over to Him. Truly turn your life over. It's one thing to be a Christian or follower of Christ. It's another thing to turn away from this world and desire to be part of His kingdom.
Truly desire it. So let's pray. Let's be obedient and let's be blessed. God bless you.