 Good afternoon church family pastor David. Good afternoon and welcome. Hey John Today pastor welcome to unfiltered today pastor. I wanted to ask in regards to the evil and The darkness that has gone on in our world today Has the church become powerless when fighting this evilness and darkness sometimes it seems that we don't it seems like the church has no No capacity to withstand the evil there is there is a tremendous amount of evil and those who would say there isn't a probably Probably staying in their basement, you know like like president Biden bitch, you know, you know They're not seeing what's going on evil is is obviously on the increase, you know Scriptures make it clear that in the last days that wicked men will wax worse and worse I mean wickedness becomes pretty much the The overwhelming almost the norm in the sense that what was once in secret is now done openly for example It wasn't that long ago that if somebody had some weird fetish They like to dress like a child or whatever and there are people who are doing that. You know that I know that I'll see it in the news, you know, somebody Somebody says say and I just saw this a while back where a man is Saying that he's really a little girl and he's a big old heavy-set man And wants to live as a little girl and live his life over again I believe he was a husband and a father But now he's a little girl dressed in little girl clothes with little bangs and the whole thing He looks like you know the the little bow peep of a different era And he got adopted by a couple who are raising him now as their daughter. We're talking about a man So if there's always been oddness, there's always been these kinds of mental capabilities of Actually realizing what reality is we've always had those kinds of things But now they're celebrated and you can have a convention with a hundred others who think just like you and anybody who should point out that this is wrong or there's something wrong here Well, you're obviously some phobic you've got some fear of and whatever so that's that's become more of a norm you know, it seems like the the political parties have actually embraced this weirdness this this real sad behavior With the desire just to do at any you know at any cost to To obtain and retain power Because in fact, they don't really care about whether or not the United States Morally becomes as depraved as it has become they don't care John and so People like us can see this and it's like that old Children's story about the emperor with no clothes, you know, we see that he's naked We see that this is open and yet people are so caught up Just wanting to agree so that they're not Somehow injured through being canceled. It's odd. This whole thing to me is odd and so the church needs to have a Wake-up call and so no, I do not believe that we are powerless You know, the Lord Jesus made it very clear that we would receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon us You know, he had told his men when he was sending them out commissioning them to go preach his message throughout the world He had said that these signs shall follow those who believe and then he speaks concerning The the power that they're going to need through the power of the Spirit and then Mark closes his His gospel and Mark chapter 16 19 and 20 by saying they went out preaching and the God was and that God was working along With them as they did so and then the whole book of acts is a tribute to what happens when the Holy Spirit fills Believers and gives to them the impetus to go out into a world that is corrupt. I mean the Roman Empire was Terribly corrupt the Greek Empire was terribly corrupt. They were moral Morally demonic, you know and and yet the the church had a tremendous impact and there was no at that time There were there's no media of any sort to actually help They just were empowered by the Spirit and they obeyed the commands and they trusted the Lord to be with him confirming his word And he did and so I I haven't given up on the church. I sometimes am tempted to when when I see people who who sporadically will come to a church service but are much much more committed to going to a sporting event When you have parents who bemoan the fact that their children are not doing well and yet every Sunday for Childhoods life the child's life. They they were playing soccer right or they were playing some, you know Baseball or whatever and then the parents who never gave them devotions Wonders why the children have become just like them They don't they don't they don't understand that that that we are by the time the child is around five years old They pretty much have established How they're going to respond to authority what they do in terms of being given a directive or whatever they pretty much around five It's been demonstrated that they've already pretty much formulated how they're going to be relating to authority and commands and things of that nature and So we neglect them for four or five years. We hand them into the Oversight of a teacher who sometimes doesn't have any kind of of morality themselves, especially the younger ones Who are raised in in in colleges that basically have been hatefully spewing Diatribe against Christianity and Christians and and our understanding of human nature and how to train children up and whether it's valuable Etc. And then we wonder why the our children are rebellious and and all so I think the church has got to wake up John Do I feel that we're we have lost no Jesus said the gates of hell will not prevail against the body of Christ But I believe that the church needs to wake up. Do you think? We hear those promises from God has the church taken a backseat to these things or have been Intimidated by the evilness and darkness that's out there I think so. I think that the church many when we speak of the church We're speaking of the church broadly in the sense of throughout the United States the state or our city or whatever I Think that there are there are pockets of believers who who have put on their armor But they are coming against the forces of darkness using weapons of warfare that are not Spiritual but like Paul would say that they're carnal meaning that they want to march or they want to protest or they want to Gather in little enclaves and yell out that they appreciate certain things and then cheer for the champion who tells him how important He is I see a lot of that in the church because people are are hungry for a Hero a heroic figure that they can support with their finances But don't necessarily have to do the work and then I see others who have have Taken the opposite and they've just ignored what's going on and actually have blessed it, you know, and then it become mouthpieces for for homosexual marriage or Transgenderism or you name it, you know and open those borders up and let everybody pour in and bankrupt the United States and and Do harm to the citizens so we have it On both sides we we see angry conservatives and we see angry liberals and the answer is not angry conservative or liberal the the answer is is Knowing what the word of God is and doing the work of ministry and praying for this nation and sharing the gospel and loving people and Being a Christian I guess John so I am not yet throwing in the towel I don't I there's only one hope for the United States in the world and that's the gospel and when the old Older Saints like myself begin to Remove our armor and the sense of being up in the front lines like little like King David had been Encouraged by his men to become an advisor rather than a physical warrior When we start thinking that we have nothing to to share when we begin to think that people don't care to hear the message Coming out of our mouth anymore Well, we have to be prepared by raising up a younger generation Who can communicate the same truths in a way that the generation can hear? Amen? Well pastor Thank you so much because it's you know hearing your message last night really spurred the question that I'd asked today because You had mentioned a couple one time last night that the acceptance of wrong is right and right is wrong and The darkness and evilness of our days today is just Unprecedented it's just it's like times. We've never seen before and it's getting darker. It's like that It's like the Roman Empire that that fell not simply because that was Defeated necessarily by superior military forces, but it was corroded from within That's the greatest danger Well pastor, thank you so much and want to thank you guys for tuning in today Just a reminder that we have our church services at 830 and 1045 this Sunday and we're in Mark chapter 16 We'll be closing. Oh, wow. That's closing mark And look forward to that invite your friends and family to come out and join us for that time Wednesday evening services the following Wednesday at 7 p.m. Men you can still get your Conference tickets next week is the deadline if you still want to purchase your tickets for breakfast Next week will be the deadline so you can go to the gazebo or stop by or go online and purchase your tickets But we do look forward to seeing you invite your friends and family to come out and join us as we worship the Lord God bless you. Thank you pastor David, and we'll see you guys soon