 Good afternoon, Pastor David. Hi, John. Excuse me. Welcome everybody to unfiltered a random moment with Pastor David. On Tuesday's pastor, we talk about current events, some of the things that are going on worldwide, and then on Thursdays we focus on some of the things that you taught about or more of the spiritual aspects. But today, Pastor, I wanted to ask you a question, and it's going to be obviously based on your opinion. From the eyes of the entire world, is America declining? Is America declining in the eyes of the world? Yes. Yes, I would say that it is. I would say that the way that our government is interacting with some of the major governments of the world, Russia, China, for example, not to mention Iran or various other Middle Eastern countries, I would say, yeah, we have diminished in the eyes of the world in terms of the respect that we at one time had. And just in terms of just the kind of nation we have at this moment, yeah, I would say that I know that. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't even, I don't even know that that's an opinion. I think that that's an established reality at the moment. I believe that under the leadership, our present leadership, we are actually communicating to the world that we're indecisive and that we don't have really any resolve. And so we're being bullied. And I believe that that tactic of bullying is something that is being used effectively because the progressive mentality has a tendency of wanting to bring compromise to all situations, as if you can talk your way into peace. If you give up enough of this, maybe they'll leave us alone. It's almost like the little guy who's being pushed around by the big guy and that's kind of how it's going right now. And I see that as being part of the inability for people with a certain mindset, and I'll use the term progressive and even woke, we'll say that particular mindset. I really believe that that is something that has been germinated within the mind of Americans, especially Americans who are going through education, through higher education in college. I believe that because of the humanism that is basically the foundation of the way we look at people, meaning that they're really good people just making bad decisions and all. We have a tendency of eliminating the reality of a sin nature. And so we make excuses for the behavior and think that we can change behavior by just being nice and talking. I remember a true story of a young college girl. She was a behavioral science major. She was a psychology major and she had actually been abducted. This is a true story. She had been abducted and was in a car. And the guy who had abducted her pulled over into the gas station, local gas station, and was beginning to fill his tank when he didn't realize at the moment, but he had left the car keys in the ignition and he had locked himself out of the car. So now this woman is in plain view of witnesses. She's seated in a car. The car keys are inside the car. The man is locked outside of the car and he begins to panic trying to open the door. This is a guy who has kidnapped her and she's a psychology major. And so what did she do when she had witnesses? She's in the open. She has the car keys, the doors locked. What did she do? She reached over and opened the door. She reached over and opened the door. The man raped her and murdered her and left her body on the side of her road. Why did she do that? She did that because she was brainwashed into believing that people can be reasoned with, that they don't intend to hurt you, and she had learned this in her humanism in her psychology classes. So that is the rampant mindset, you know, that America is evil. America has done evil to everybody. And I believe that the president administration is infected with that. And I believe that the president of the United States and his vice president are infected by that. And yeah, because of the weakness that we see, because of the double-mindedness, because the indecisiveness, because of the variety of things that are going on, there's so many things to point to, you know, open borders and releasing of prisoners without even arresting them for the crimes that they're committing. And the variety of the other things that you could go on one after another. The world is watching, and I do believe we've lost credibility, and we are perceived at this moment as being very weak, yes. So as a Christian church, as Christians in that church today, how do we respond in terms of where to be of the world, but not of this world, right? Well, here's the thing, you know, John, I think that even as Scripture says that we are to pray for those in authority, I think it's really something the church perhaps needs to practice even with greater intensity, and that's one thing. The second thing is to make our voices known, our voices heard, the things that we believe should be said with confidence and openly. You know, we see, for example, we are seeing right now in various places, parents who are finally tired of the kind of force-feeding of progressive propaganda on their children, and they're rising up, and they're saying, you work for us. You know, we elected you, and like it happened in San Francisco, we elected you, and we will now remove you, because even in San Francisco, which has single-digit Republican voters, parents are parents, and they did not like where their kids were going, and instead of caring for the children, they're busy trying to rename schools, you know. It's just an amazing weirdness that's going on, and so I think that we're, I'm very hopeful. I believe that parents are waking up. I believe that many American citizens are waking up to what's taking place. I mean, I went and put gasoline in my car the other day, and, you know, this time last year, it was, you know, $2.70 a gallon, and it was $5. You know, in one year, we have a president who gave permission to the Russians, or he's ceded to the Russians the possibility for them to have a, what do you call it, a line for their fuel and everything. I forget it was called for some reason, I went blank on that, but he opened up the possibility for them to be using a particular pipeline for oil to be brought into Germany and Western Europe. Well, he's shutting down the pipelines here in the United States. You know, we have ships that are still docked and are unable to unload because of the kinds of leadership we have. So, yeah, I think that people are beginning to awaken to these things, and I was no fan of the personality of Donald Trump, the former president, but I was in favor of the fact that he loved America, and I believe that what we have right now is not a love for America. It's actually a hatred, if you will, a south hatred of America. But I still believe, like Bush said, that America is really a, you know, we're a shining light on the hill, and we still are a great nation, and I have great hope for it. You know, one of the things I want to talk about next time is, you know, term limits. You know, the term limits that we have because it seems like we have the same people over and over serving these long terms that really aren't doing anything for our country. Well, one of the definitions for insanity is to do the same thing, expecting a different result. I mean, when you have somebody who, the last six months of their term, begin to tell you all the things they're going to do, and you forget they did nothing in the first portion of their term, and then you re-elect him because he's got a D or an R for that matter in front, you know, after his name or her name. Yeah, I think that America better wake up because we have the government that we vote in or refuse to vote. You know, a lot of Christians don't even vote. So we have the government we deserve in the end. Yeah. You know, Pastor, just to close on this note, last time we were in Israel, you know, we eat as a group, and we were in Tiberias, and we ate as a group, but for some reason I broke off and ate, both a group, but alone, and there was an older couple there, and she was a schoolteacher, retired, both are retired, and I asked them, what are your thoughts on the United States? And, you know, they kind of chuckled and they were saying that it's become the laughing stock in the eyes of many people. I think so. I think so. When you, when you kick God out of your nation, the way this society has done, when we say we don't need you, this is what we end up with. You know, the moral fabric, the idea of courage and faithfulness and loyalty and love for family, and all of those things are biblical ideas, you know. So when you kick God out of those things and you go the root of humanism and progressivism, wokeism, whatever you want to call it, this is what you end up with. And so I am praying for revival. I'm praying that pastors will actually teach the word of God and encourage the people to live for God, to share the Gospel of grace with people and show them this is where hope is. It's in Christ. It's not in your government, but as people we can elect those who represent us best and therefore be active in that. But don't put your hope in man. Don't put your hope in a president. Put your hope in the Lord and vote accordingly. I still have hope. I still do for this nation and I do hope through Jesus Christ that the message of the Gospel will go forth and people will actually come to know him and this nation can be transformed. Amen. Pastor, thank you so much for sharing with us. I want to invite our church family to our Wednesday evening services tomorrow at 7 p.m. Pastor, you're taking us through the book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 3 verses 1 through 13. It's the preface to a prayer that Paul begins in verse 14. It's going to be a good study. I think it is. I've enjoyed studying for it. And you know what? On Sunday and I keep going, but we're talking about this yesterday. You know, the Lord's doing an amazing work here at our church. Even Sunday services, I was thinking, God's telling my life, spirit's moving. The worship, the Word. We're talking about yesterday how your teaching has been more fire, you know? And so we see our crowd getting a little bigger. And I know it's not about that, but you can sense the spirit moving. And this is where I want to take the time to invite you guys to come on out because it's been a great study in Ephesians. I love it. It's been very practical. And the foundation that you laid beforehand and then just get into the study is just, it's amazing and getting a lot of good feedback. So I want to invite you guys to come on out. March 2nd, mark your calendars. The Coutinas are coming out on a Wednesday evening. That's actually next week, isn't it? I believe it is. Oh, goodness. Next week, 7 p.m. in our sanctuary. They're going to lead worship and they're actually going to do the services while they're teaching. So invite your friends and family to come on out for that. And Pastor, thank you again for sharing with us and thank you guys for tuning in. God bless you. We'll see you soon.