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Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s word on Bibleline, here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. And reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Well, what are we going to talk about tonight? Well, let’s talk about something interesting. Religion and politics. You know, there isn’t anything else. It’s about what you believe or how you live. And so everybody has to have a few little ideas. So, turning your Bible to the book of Jeremiah, the book of Jeremiah. Now, that’s in the Old Testament for some of y’all that maybe didn’t know that. Jeremiah and chapter 5. Now, you know, things were getting pretty bad.

The Lord then told them he didn’t have his fill of the rebellion of God’s people. And there’s things that he says to them concerning the nation of Israel as a nation. Now, if you look at some of these things that God says about this nation of Israel and why they were going to be in a lot of trouble, you can relate it to a lot of things that are going on in our own country. It seems like every day there’s something a new skirmish that’s going on, some dishonesty, it’s a shame.

It almost makes you ashamed of America because of the wickedness that goes on. And we don’t have many people of integrity in place of leadership, but those bad people got there because people put them there. They didn’t usurp authority, it was given to them. And so I think maybe we need to be a little wiser in the ones that we choose. But Jeremiah chapter five, I want you to look there in verse 23, verse 23. But this people had a revolting and a rebellious heart.

Do you think that might describe America? They are rebellious and revolting against the Constitution, against everything that’s decent, everything that’s right. And he says, they are revolted and gone. Neither say they in their heart. Let us now fear the Lord our God, that giveth rain. Both the former and the latter in his season. He reserved unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest. Maybe we need to wake up and realize who God is. And we need to be thankful to the Lord for what He’s done for us.

And we need to change our mind. We need to repent. we need to get things right. Well, it’s not going to happen. Don’t look like that away. So he makes a statement in verse 25, your iniquities get this, have turned away these things. In other words, the rain, God isn’t blessing. And the harvest, it’s not coming up. The cattle, not multiplying like they were. Nothing’s going right. Everything’s going wrong. You would think if everything went wrong, that ought to wake people up.

Well, look how many things are going wrong in our own world, our country. Does it cause people to have a broken spirit, an attitude of submission and correction and humility and try not to the Lord? It seemed like America ought to be ripe for a revival, to get some things right. But it’s like they really don’t care. They don’t think it’s going to get that bad. So everybody looks to the Congress to change things. They got to do something about this.

But it’s a spiritual problem. Then notice what it says here in verse 25, your iniquities have turned away these things from your sins and your sins have withholding good things from you. Do you see anything in that verse that might help us today to be a little wise, that if we realize that our sins can keep good things from us, do you believe that? This is one of the reasons why every child of God should serve the Lord. Why?

Because your sins, your neighbor will keep good things from you. God’s the one is in charge and you can choose whatever sin, but God can choose whatever chastisement to bring. So he says in verse 26, for among my people are found wicked men. They lay wait as he that set up snares, that set a trap in these three little words, they catch men. We just had a new design for our little logo for the church. And on it has Calvary Community Church, and each one of those seas is made into a fishhook.

And those fishhooks are linked together. There’s three of them. And this was designed by our own. in the office, he didn’t have anything else to do. And so he has designed this for us and it looks really cool and it is called fishing for men. But you know that there’s people that are trying to catch people, but they’re catching them with a lie. They’re promising things that they can’t deliver. This is what politicians do. A politician is somebody that can stomp all over your feet and and you apologize for it.

But then he says here in verse 27, as a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore they are become great and wax and rich. They are wax and fat. They shine, yay, they overpass the deeds of the wicked. We have people today that are looking right over the deeds of the wicked. And it don’t seem like it matters how bad people are and the decisions they make. I believe there’s a lot of people that are in Washington that are to be in jail.

They ought to be in jail. I believe our president ought to be impeached. And I don’t apologize for that. He’s supposed to be in the executive branch of government to execute the laws of this state according to the Constitution, and he’s not executing the laws. He’s just making up his own and choosing which ones he’ll obey and which ones he does obey. rebellion. That’s wickedness. So if the man on the top is not a man of character, the ones under him are not going to be men of character for letting him stay there.

This is just my humble opinion for whatever it’s worth. Look at the next thing in verse 28, they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper and the right of the needy do they not judge. Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely. The priests bear rule by their means, and my people love to have it so.

That’s the way they want it. That’s the way they got it. So they had priests that got what they want because they got government to pass laws and it just robs the people and steals from the people and some people get rich off the land. Now here in chapter 6 of Jeremiah, there’s another verse I want you to look at, look in verse 10. Jeremiah chapter 6 and verse 10, where it says, to whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear, behold their ears is uncircumcised and they cannot hearken, behold the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach.

They have no delight in it. Did you know it’s getting to where even God’s people have no delight in the word of God, not to read it, not to study it, be saved, have eternal life, go to heaven, but are not faithful to go to church. They don’t care what the preacher has to say. They don’t care what God says about how the Christ loved the church and gave his life for the church and Christ loved the church. Well then the church is not this building.

The church is God’s people and people that know Christ should love the people of Christ. And that’s why we come together because God says so. God loves us. We should love us. But lo and behold, we don’t always do the things that we should do. And so he says in verse 11, I am full of I am weary with holding it all in.” Look in verse 12, “…and their house shall be turned unto others.” Now he’d already talked about The kids are going to lose, the wives are going to lose, and you’re going to lose your homes.

We’re living at a time in America where everybody is going to lose, because by the time they get through, they will keep passing whatever laws they can to steal from you. Do you know what I did one time? I found a beautiful piece of ground up there in Georgia, Madison County. I found me a choice eight acres of land, and it had a beautiful creek on my property. And that creek on my property goes downhill quite rapidly. And it’s about 10 feet, the 12 feet deep in this year, little crevice that runs the length of my whole property.

And when I saw it, I knew I could put a dam in here, and I can put me some bass and cat fish and all kind of fish in there. And then I’ll kick up my heels and sit there in my little chair and just fish and eat my fish. I was cogitating down the road to know when I’m going to retire.

And I had this beautiful vision. I even talked to the people when I got it. And I talked to the core engineers of the University of Georgia there. And they even came out and looked at it and told me where I could put this and do this and there was no problem. I even went to the county and I was told that there’s no reason why I can’t put in my lake and might do my whole thing and just do it.

But did you know I waited just a little bit too long because now because of the government, environmental protection agency, all the things that they do, they just declared all the streams and all the rivers and all of America, they own about 25 feet on both sides of the creek. It’s theirs now. And you can’t do it without their permission now. So they just confiscated a lot of my property and then tell me that I can’t do anything on that creek because they have claimed territorial rights.

I could before. Now they say I can’t. In my mind, they just stole something that didn’t belong to them. That’s mine. I paid for it. I can’t even get to the other side of my property unless I build a bridge. Because I can’t tear down the dirt. I can’t put in the dam. I can’t put a road across it. I can’t do a bridge unless I get permission from the county and the Corps of Engineers to come out and verify whether or not they’re going to even let me do it or not.

You know what I want to do? I want to slap some jaws. I’m not but there’s a part of me that wants to. That’s this guy. They’re stirring up my amalek and you’d be surprised how much goes on and how much they steal. You just think for a moment All the people from years and years ago that paid into Social Security, it was supposed to be put into a trust fund, a lockbox, nobody can touch it. So then when you got old enough, you had it, it was there, but you know over the years, Democrats voted to unlock that box and take all that money, and there is no such money in that box anymore.

It’s all gone. So they don’t owe you anything and they can change the law whenever they want to. Even after you have been promised that whenever you get there because you paid in you can get out and now when people get ready for it they have to almost beg for it and not everybody can get it. And then whenever the person dies before they ever get it nobody gets it. Who gets that money? They’ve already done robbed it. This is why we’re in such a mess.

We have a bunch of thieves, men without character. I believe this is a lot about what the Lord is talking about. Now look in verse 15. Verse 15 says, were they ashamed? Were they ashamed when they had committed abominations? No. They were not at all ashamed. Neither could they blush. They had no shame. Let we have people day and they get caught in a lie and they just tell another lie to cover that lie and it’s like there’s no shame.

I’m ashamed of what I said. I’m ashamed of what I did. No, it wasn’t my fault. It’s not my fault that I told that lie. They can release five of the worst terrorists that we have that are no different than and sought them who sang, and will son have been laden, they’re all the same. But give up five of them.

When it’s unconstitutional and against the law that Congress has that you had to give 30 day notice and they have to vote on it. He doesn’t have to obey the law. Now what are they going to do to him? You shouldn’t have done that. All right, I won’t do that anymore. I’ll do something else. Something else. Something else. They should not be allowed that they’d be able to just violate our laws and get away with it My humble opinion, but I am entitled to it.

We are still a free country so far So I will live like I’m a free man But look back here at the scripture looking verse 16 Thus saith the Lord Stand ye in the ways and see and ask for the old paths See everybody wants to jump into the future. You know this is the 21st century now. We gotta think differently now. No, I think we gotta think the way we always thought. Because what we do and what we stand for, it’s still the same.

God is still just looking for a godly man with that godly message, with that godly life, and he’s suitable for any culture there is. But there’s another sermon there, somewhere else down the road. and ask for the old paths, where is the good way and walk therein and ye shall find rest for your souls?” But they said, what did they say? We will not. We will not. Now this is what God is saying about them. Do you see a humility among the people of America where they just want to do right and realize, you know, we have violated God’s Word.

We’ve done wrong. We need to change this and get it corrected. I’d love to see it and never know that down the road it might happen. Now look in verse 19. Verse 19 says, here O earth, behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not heartened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it. Now this is what God has to say. This is what He’s going to do. And you’ll notice that He even talks about their thoughts.

Do you believe that God can see the wickedness in America and read the minds of everybody? Do you think God ought to just forget about it? Because you and I know God took a vacation and he’s not even up the date on what’s going on. God is old fashioned. He doesn’t know what the 21st century is all about. People have changed because people have changed. The laws ought to change. And because people want more freedom, do away with all those laws like the Ten Commandments.

We don’t want them in the church and we don’t want them in the courthouse. We don’t want them in Washington. Don’t want them in our schools. Because you know it makes people feel bad when you tell them that there’s a God and then they hear these laws, they’ll shall not commit adultery. Everybody commits adultery, you know that. You can’t just tell these kids to say no, but it’s amazing when they came out with this drug thing. Just say no.

Oh, you can do it with drugs. Why can’t you do it with the other? No. And teach kids how to restrain themselves. But that’s unheard of. There’s no way that’s possible. So you got to prepare them in case. Isn’t ashamed that young girls have to take the pill in case. What was wrong with them just keeping their knees together and keeping themselves pure and holy until they get married? Is something wrong with that? I don’t think there’s anything wrong with what God has to say.

Now look in chapter 7, chapter 7 and look in verse 3, Thus saith the Lord of Host, the God of Israel, amend your ways and your doings and I will cause you to dwell in this place. It doesn’t have to be this way. Amends your ways and you can stay here. But if you don’t, you’re out of here and they were taken out of there. Jeremiah warned him. They didn’t like what Jeremiah had to say. They put him in a pit.

He thought he was going to die. He later on wind up going all the way down into Egypt. In verse 4 he says, Trust ye not in line words. So in the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are the yest. For if ye thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if ye thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor, if ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless and the widow, and she had not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to hurt you.

then will I cause you to dwell in this place in the land that I gave to your fathers and look at those next few words forever and ever. Did you know that Israel could have been in the land already been in the thousand year reign? It didn’t have to be the way it happened because they’re hard-headed. They would not listen. Now as I’m talking and sharing some of them, do you see anything anything in here that you could apply to your own life.

If you know how God deals with a nation, isn’t it also possible that we could see how maybe there’s things as an individual that I could be doing that maybe I shouldn’t be doing? And that God can take me out of here. Did you believe God can just take you out of here anytime? Did you believe that if you do right God will bless you? And if you don’t, God will not chase you.

So look down in verse 11. Is this house which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, say, after the Lord. The Lord sees, he knows everything. And I want you to take your Bible and look in Matthew chapter 11. Matthew chapter 11. Let me give you a couple things that you can dwell on momentarily. While our nation is killing millions of babies, our schools are indoctrinating Christian kids in secular humanism.

Truth has fallen in the street. Our preachers are attending church growth seminars, usually self-help books to supplement the Bible and chasing after the books, one in middle. And they fiddle while the nation burned, building their church rather than Christ’s kingdom. I believe if we do what’s right, let God take care of that. Christ says, upon this rock, I will build my church. I can’t build His church. I can only teach the Word. I can’t save anybody. I can’t make anybody do anything.

I can only teach what I believe the word of God says and let God build His church, build His people. But here are some things to think about. Public schools are destroying the faith of Christian children. They are. Legislation is introduced to remove the rights of parents. Children are taught they came from apes. of children are medicated to control their behavior. You believe that? A lot of kids are on drugs. But a lot of times today, you know, if the kids are a little on the rowdy side, you know, put them in a stupor or make them like a zombie and give him something to kind So he’s not so hyperactive.

Most boys are. That’s why boys are boys. And that’s why boys used to get in trouble. Boys are raised on dirt. You ever squashed dirt between your toes, mud, you know? It’s squashed mud between your nose. Hate to wear shoes. The first two years of school, I went barefooted. My parents couldn’t even afford me shoes. So I went barefooted school. Anybody here ever wear overalls? Only a couple of you? Kylo, were overalls? I had to. But my daddy wore them overalls.

I had a pair of overalls. And I was in second grade when my daddy bought me a pair of pants where you put a belt on. And men I was, men I was high-stepping. But another thing is gambling is promoted to pay for schools. Now think about this. Is gambling good or bad? It’s bad. But they have gambling so thatDeliveryDate they can raise money to pay for the schools. So what do you teach? It seemed like a paradox that’s not supposed to be.

I don’t like gambling in any form. I don’t like it. I don’t like the end. I’m gonna get rich quick. That’s what it all boils down to. One in something quick without working for it. And so you have a way you can get rich, but everything is geared toward the ones who make the rules. And I’ve had people, you know, you can go to a place down in Las Vegas. Anybody ever been to Las Vegas? No, they don’t have to raise their hand.

Look at all my stars. Half the church has been to Las Vegas. You ever see those one-armed bandits? I’ve been there. And I’ve seen all of that stuff and I’ve seen people just putting the money in there because you know the reason they’re doing it was because I might win. I might win. They look at all that money in them quarters and dollar bills that’s laying right down the edge. And if I can just get one little quarter to push that over there.

Oh, do I? I might win. And so that hope, that little dream and you’d be surprised. So if if the states make money in order to help the schools, Have you ever seen it so far where they’re going to let gambling come in because it will give us money for the schools and they never have enough money for the schools? Why don’t they have enough? And then 80% of all your property taxes goes for the public schools and that’s not enough.

When I ran for the State Board of Education, I in Colorado in 1982, I told them, and this is that the statewide convention that they had. And so I had a chance to speak because I run from state board of education. And so there’s about two or three thousand people there. So I was to give about ten minutes of my little speech of why I thought I would do a better job. I says, number one, I have a school.

I know how to run a school. And two, our kids are two years higher than the public education. And three, I says, I charge one third of what they charge in the public school. So to me, that makes sense. Why I could do a better job. I can do it cheaper, do it better, and I’ve got the experience. Oh, did it scare the NEA, the National Education Society, and the Colorado Association. They all came after me, it’s unreal. But I got about five or six standing ovation.

And I decided to do it about two or three days before they had the convention. But I believe that I told the truth, that we could do a lot better job. So gambling is not something they wanna do away with because they get the money. So then they wanna do more gambling because they don’t have enough money. So you gotta gamble some more. And then the people that are the poorest generally are wind up losing all of their money gambling and playing the lottery.

And they’re the ones that might have to have the help because they’re poor. But they’re poor because we might win. We just might win. But if you don’t, the money’s gone. Be smarter, be wiser. What another great message from Dr. Arnold. Friends, we hope more than anything else that you know you’re saved by believing Jesus died for your sin and that Bibleline is helping you grow stronger and stronger in the Lord. Would you know how to witness to an atheist?

What do you start with if a person doesn’t even believe there is a God? For this month, all who send in a financial donation in any amount, we will mail to you Dr. Arnold’s DVD teaching lesson on how to witness to an atheist. will gain some great insight on reaching people who may just need someone to explain the truth to them. This DVD series is yours for this month only with your financial donation in any amount. Again, we’re so grateful to those of you who support this ministry.

Our mailing address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634, and don’t forget to include your mailing address as well. God bless you, and thank you again for supporting Bible Life. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. And now, a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound, and we will be changed.

Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day. leaving that the Lord is coming soon. Just keep looking up.