Guest Host, Bishop E.W. Jackson dives in on the midterm elections

Transcribed with OpenAI Whisper (base.en). Timestamps are approximate. Lightly cleaned for readability; quotations from on-air callers may include filler words. Use the audio player above for the authoritative recording.

1. 0:00Darkness is not an affirmative force.
2. 0:02It simply reoccupies the space vacated by the light.
3. 0:06This is the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
4. 0:10It should be uncomfortable for a believer to live as a hypocrite.
5. 0:15Delivering people out of the bondage of mainstream media.
6. 0:18And the philosophies of this world.
7. 0:20God has called you and me to be His ambassador.
8. 0:23Even in this dark moment.
9. 0:26Let's not miss our moment.
10. 0:28and now, the Hamilton Quarter.
11. 0:32And once again, folks, it is my pleasure, my honor,
12. 0:35to be sitting in for Abraham Hamilton the third.
13. 0:37This is Bishop E.W. Jackson.
14. 0:39Great to be with you again today.
15. 0:41And as always, thank you for your prayers, your support,
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21. 1:01and are actually a part of the organization,
22. 1:04we could not do it without you.
23. 1:06So thank you very, very much.
24. 1:08And of course, we praise God for you
25. 1:11because we know that the Lord put this in the heart
26. 1:13of Brother Don many, many years ago.
27. 1:16And that seed, that vision has borne great fruit.
28. 1:22And we're not done bearing fruit, folks.
29. 1:24And I really believe that as Jesus said,
30. 1:27our fruit will remain, which is pleasing to Almighty God.
31. 1:32Well, look, today I want to talk to you
32. 1:36about a subject and in a way that I rarely do.
33. 1:41You know, we've got a big election coming up.
34. 1:44And we've talked about the various reasons
35. 1:47why so many Christians across this country
36. 1:50are not going to vote.
37. 1:52Many aren't registered to vote.
38. 1:55those that are registered, in fact, half are not registered to vote, those who identify as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, half of them are not registered to vote.
39. 2:04Of those registered vote, only half of those will show up. That's about par for the course for the general population. About half the population is unregistered, about half the population of registered voters actually votes.
40. 2:17And of course, we know that in off-year elections and in local elections, the percentages drop
41. 2:24rather remarkably.
42. 2:28But Christian participation pretty much mirrors that, and it shouldn't.
43. 2:34We ought to be first and foremost in casting our vote and participating in the political
44. 2:40life of our country as stewards of this nation's present and future.
45. 2:47You know, I had never thought about this before and I'm trying to remember now who I heard
46. 2:51make the analogy, but I thought that that really works.
47. 2:55It really resonates with me, which is the parable of the talents.
48. 3:00Like I said, the Christian who doesn't vote, the Christian who doesn't get involved, the
49. 3:04Christian who takes no interest in the political and cultural life of the nation is like the
50. 3:09man who buried his talent in the ground.
51. 3:14He just did nothing with it.
52. 3:17What that suggests, of course, is that he did not value it and was not willing to put any
53. 3:22time or energy or effort in growing and expanding it.
54. 3:29All he did was to bury it, which is, I mean, think about what that means.
55. 3:35Just bet more, you bury something.
56. 3:38What are you trying to do?
57. 3:39You're trying to put it away from you.
58. 3:41You're trying to get it out of sight, out of mind.
59. 3:47And I thought, boy, that is a really good analogy for what it means for a Christian not
60. 3:52to vote, not to participate, not to get involved in what's going on in our nation.
61. 3:58Because after all, this is the nation in which you're going to raise your children, or now
62. 4:01not raising them, but in which your grandchildren are going to be raised.
63. 4:06This is a nation in which your children are going to go to school, or my grandchildren
64. 4:10will now go to school.
65. 4:12And it seems to me that since we live in a free nation and you have an opportunity, in fact,
66. 4:17you have an obligation to be salt and light, it seems to me that you want that salt and that
67. 4:22light to be felt, particularly in those areas that you know will affect you and affect your
68. 4:27family.
69. 4:28Right?
70. 4:29I mean, that only makes sense.
71. 4:31And of course, what happens in politics will intrude itself on our lives.
72. 4:39It is coming home.
73. 4:41There's no question about it. It's coming to your school. It's coming to your home. It's coming to your neighborhood
74. 4:48I liked what I believe this was brother Jonathan Falwell because we're in fact we're gonna be preaching
75. 4:57Another town hall meeting
76. 4:59Tomorrow actually we're not tomorrow today actually we're gonna be doing another town hall meeting in Virginia Beach
77. 5:08today because you know we have to
78. 5:10referendum on the ballot one that
79. 5:12basically calls for unrestricted
80. 5:15abortion up to the moment of birth and
81. 5:18another that enshrines homosexual
82. 5:20marriage in the Virginia Constitution
83. 5:21both of which in my view are an
84. 5:23abomination to God. We know the
85. 5:25homosexual marriage is but I would
86. 5:27argue that snuffing out the life of an
87. 5:29innocent unborn baby is equally an
88. 5:32abomination to God. The Bible says in
89. 5:35Psalm 139, I believe it's verse 16, but somewhere in there, all our days were
90. 5:42fashioned when as yet there were none of them, and you have people stepping in and
91. 5:46snuffing out the days of the Son and born child that God's already fashioned a
92. 5:50plan for. I mean what arrogance, what total hubris, what pride. I said people really do
93. 6:01want to be their own God. That's what that boils down to. And so we've got to make sure
94. 6:10that we are impacting the culture and trying to move it in a direction that is pleasing to
95. 6:17God because these kinds of things we know are not pleasing to Him and they cannot possibly
96. 6:22bring a good harvest for the country. They can only bring the curse. They can only bring
97. 6:28a bad harvest before Christian not to get involved is to disregard all of that and say,
98. 6:34well, you know, whatever happens happens. That's not the way God expects us to do it. Well,
99. 6:40one of the things that I've mentioned every time I have a chance is I'm convinced that
100. 6:47part of the reason why we are in the position we are in, because we are in the position
101. 6:52we are in because the church at large at least, the body of born again, Bible believing Christians
102. 7:00has abdicated its responsibility to get involved in these areas and has left it frankly to the
103. 7:07devil to just hold sway. I mean, he is the God of this world. I don't want him to be the God of my
104. 7:14country. I want America to be a blessed nation because our God is the Lord, not a cursed nation
105. 7:22because our God is the devil. And again, many explanations for why this has happened and why
106. 7:30so many Christians have disengaged, but I'm convinced of this as the ultimate spiritual
107. 7:36explanation, the failure of discipleship, the failure of discipleship, that the pastors
108. 7:47themselves have not been discipled.
109. 7:48And I know, boy, that's a strong statement.
110. 7:52And of course, I'm not talking about every pastor.
111. 7:54There were many wonderful pastors in our country.
112. 7:56Praise God for them.
113. 7:57The man I'm sitting in for, Abraham Hamilton III.
114. 8:01I have no doubt is a wonderful pastor and we have some of them on our air.
115. 8:05Wonderful pastors, Pastor Jeff Shreve, Pastor Parker, I mean, wonderful
116. 8:10men of God. So we know that they're great and there are many, many others,
117. 8:14obviously. I just mentioned the ones who happen to be on our air.
118. 8:19There are many great pastors out there, but we know they are in the distinct
119. 8:23minority. According to George Barna, only 10% of pastors in America,
120. 8:3010% believe that the Bible is the authoritative word of God in all matters of faith and practice,
121. 8:39and only 10% of that 10%, only 10% of that 10% are willing to say so, and willing to apply
122. 8:48in other words to the issues of the day.
123. 8:52They believe, as we believe, but they're not willing to say so from the pulpit, they're
124. 8:55not willing to instruct their congregation in these matters.
125. 8:59And I think part of the reason is they've never been discipled themselves.
126. 9:06We entertain Christians, we program, we have a lot of great programs for Christians, and
127. 9:13we have a lot of great programs for children, but we're not doing a whole lot of discipling.
128. 9:19I want to remind you, Jesus didn't say go into all the world and make churchgoers.
129. 9:25And of course, we should go to church.
130. 9:27I mean, no way suggesting that going to church is worthless or something we shouldn't
131. 9:33do.
132. 9:34It is something we very much should do.
133. 9:37But we should do that as a byproduct of who we are as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ,
134. 9:42not the definition of who we are, a byproduct of who we are.
135. 9:48I mean, we're told not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together as is the matter of some,
136. 9:54but all the more as we see the day approaching.
137. 9:56So we don't forsake the assembling of ourselves together.
138. 9:58Why? Because we are followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
139. 10:03And the church is really not an end in itself.
140. 10:07The end is the maturation and discipleship of the body of Christ to fulfill its purpose in the earth.
141. 10:15That's really the end. That's really what it's all about.
142. 10:20Encouraging people in their relationship with God, encouraging people in the Word of God,
143. 10:24encouraging people in prayer and praise and worship and honor and encouraging people in righteous conduct.
144. 10:32That's really the end result.
145. 10:34Not going to church.
146. 10:36Going to church is what we do because we are followers of the Lord Jesus Christ and church ought to be a place where that,
147. 10:45where who we are is affirmed and
148. 10:49strengthened and that we grow in that faith.
149. 10:53But you know, let me give you an interesting fact.
150. 10:58I said, Jesus didn't say go into all the world
151. 11:00and make churchgoers.
152. 11:03Let me give you an interesting fact.
153. 11:04Do you know how many times the word Christian
154. 11:07is mentioned in the Bible?
155. 11:10Three times, three times.
156. 11:13Now by the way, I'm not saying we shouldn't call
157. 11:15ourselves Christians, so please don't jump to that conclusion.
158. 11:18No, it's a perfectly appropriate word,
159. 11:20but two times it was mentioned by non-Christians.
160. 11:24The people of Antioch, the Bible says
161. 11:26the book of Acts were the first ones to begin to call us Christians.
162. 11:30And I think it was really intended as sort of making fun of people who were trying to
163. 11:34be a little Christ.
164. 11:38And I don't think it stuck at that point, but that's what they were calling us.
165. 11:42And then I'm pretty sure it's Festus who said to the apostle Paul, you almost persuade
166. 11:50me to be a Christian.
167. 11:56But he wasn't a Christian.
168. 11:58He was saying he was using that and maybe in the same way that people of Antioch were
169. 12:03using it as kind of a, yeah, you almost persuade me to be one of those little Christ like you.
170. 12:15But I don't think he was saying that with a great deal of respect because he didn't become
171. 12:20a Christian.
172. 12:21I think he was kind of making a little bit of fun, Paul.
173. 12:24You know, Paul, you're very persuasive.
174. 12:26You almost got me, not quite, but almost.
175. 12:32I said, best to always get confused with which one of these, it was it was actually King
176. 12:37of Gripa who said that.
177. 12:39It was King of Gripa in the 26th chapter of Acts.
178. 12:46And so the Antiochans, the only Christian to use the phrase to the word, I should say,
179. 12:54Christian is the Apostle Peter where he says,
180. 13:00if we suffer as a Christian or suffer as Christians,
181. 13:09or let me find that exact reference,
182. 13:18I'll get that in a moment and may come to it
183. 13:20when we come back from the break.
184. 13:22But that was the only time,
185. 13:28the only time that the word Christian is used by a Christian.
186. 13:36And just think about that for a second.
187. 13:38Now, why am I saying this?
188. 13:39Well, you say, well, Bishop Jackson, yeah, here it is.
189. 13:43First Peter, 418, if anyone suffers as a Christian,
190. 13:46well, Bishop Jackson, if you're not saying somehow it's wrong,
191. 13:49well, this can't be wrong.
192. 13:50The Apostle Peter uses it.
193. 13:51He says, if anyone suffers as a Christian,
194. 13:54let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.
195. 13:59That's the only time a Christian uses that word.
196. 14:03Now, what I'm saying is not that there's something wrong with it,
197. 14:07because we all call ourselves Christians.
198. 14:08I am a Christian.
199. 14:09You are a Christian.
200. 14:10You are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.
201. 14:13But I want to compare that to the word disciple and decipher the difference.
202. 14:21This is Bishop E.W. Jackson.
203. 14:22I'm in for Abraham Hamilton the third.
204. 14:23You're listening to the Hamilton Corner Standby.
205. 14:26We want to come back and talk about discipleship and the implications of that back in the moment.
206. 15:00Hello, I'm Abraham Hamilton the third.
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216. 15:34Shiting, light into the darkness.
217. 15:37This is the Hamilton Quarter, an American family radio.
218. 15:41Welcome back.
219. 15:42I'm sitting in for Abraham Hamilton the third.
220. 15:44this is Bishop E. W. Jackson, as always great to be with you. Now, you may be thinking, well,
221. 15:51if you are not trying to denigrate the word Christian, what is your point? First of all,
222. 15:59I'm just pointing out a biblical fact, which I just shared with you, which I dare say a lot
223. 16:04of Christians do not know that the only time a Christian uses the word Christian in scripture,
224. 16:11A Christian now, only the only time is the apostle Peter.
225. 16:19In 1 Peter 4, 16, that's it.
226. 16:26That is the only time, 1 Peter 4, 16.
227. 16:30If anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed.
228. 16:34Let him glorify God in this matter.
229. 16:35Now, why, then why am I pointing this out?
230. 16:38Why am I saying this?
231. 16:40Because I want you to compare that to the word
232. 16:43is most frequently used to describe who we are.
233. 16:47And you guess what that word is?
234. 16:49Disciple.
235. 16:51Disciple.
236. 16:52The word disciple is used 261 times.
237. 16:56Now if you count it yourself, you might find, well,
238. 16:59it's 263 or you might find, well, I only counted 258,
239. 17:03but it's in that.
240. 17:03I've tried this a couple of times, a couple of different ways.
241. 17:07And there are sometimes that the word disciple is used
242. 17:10where it doesn't really apply to Christians per se.
243. 17:14So I've gotten it down to 61,
244. 17:15but whatever number you come up with, if you count it,
245. 17:19imagine between say 261 and one.
246. 17:26And here's why I think the word of God does this.
247. 17:31Christian is a status word.
248. 17:34It is a word that describes our identity in Christ.
249. 17:38That's why I say there's nothing wrong with the word Christian.
250. 17:41We are indeed little Christ, if you will,
251. 17:44little anointed ones following the anointed one.
252. 17:49We are following Him.
253. 17:50We are seeking to be like Him.
254. 17:51We are emulating Him.
255. 17:52We are seeking to be obedient to Him.
256. 17:55We are seeking to fulfill His plan and purpose for our lives.
257. 17:58We're seeking to play our role in His kingdom.
258. 18:00We are part of the body of Christ.
259. 18:01There is no question about it.
260. 18:03We are Christians, but it's a status word.
261. 18:07And disciple to me is an action word
262. 18:10because the disciple describes one who thinks, speaks,
263. 18:15and acts like the one who discipled him.
264. 18:21It's an action word.
265. 18:23You know, people can think of themselves
266. 18:25as Christians simply because they go to church.
267. 18:28But I guarantee you that for many Christians,
268. 18:32I trust you are not among them who you,
269. 18:34the all of you, but you in particular, yes, you.
270. 18:38Listening to me right now,
271. 18:40if I called you a disciple of Jesus Christ,
272. 18:42you wouldn't say, oh no, wait a minute, wait a minute.
273. 18:44I'm not Peter James John.
274. 18:46Don't confuse me with them.
275. 18:49No, the Bible makes clear that all of the followers
276. 18:53of Jesus Christ were called disciples.
277. 18:57Not just the 12, the 12 were made apostles,
278. 19:01but Jesus Christ called all of his followers disciples.
279. 19:07That means if you are truly a Christian,
280. 19:10you're supposed to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.
281. 19:12Now Jesus defined that in John chapter eight, verse 32,
282. 19:15He said, actually, verses really 8, 30, 32, 32, where he said,
283. 19:21if you abide in my word, then are you my disciples indeed?
284. 19:27Which of course the implication is, if you don't abide in my word,
285. 19:30you are not my disciple indeed.
286. 19:34Oh, wait a minute, wait a minute, Bishop.
287. 19:36Well, what if I'm born again?
288. 19:37He said, if you abide in my word, then are you my disciples indeed?
289. 19:43So the question would be, okay, you're born again.
290. 19:45Praise God.
291. 19:46Wonderful.
292. 19:47Congratulations.
293. 19:48That's a wonderful thing.
294. 19:49Are you abiding in the word?
295. 19:50Well, no.
296. 19:52Well, then you are not his disciple indeed.
297. 19:55You see the distinction I'm making.
298. 19:56You could you could actually be a Christian and not truly qualify as what God intends you to be,
299. 20:06which is a disciple of Jesus Christ.
300. 20:08As I said, Jesus didn't even say, go into all the world and make Christians.
301. 20:11He said, go into all the world and make disciples, people who think, speak, and act like me.
302. 20:23That's really what he was saying.
303. 20:25And then he added to that, which I love this, and I think most people don't get the distinction
304. 20:32here, but he added to that, teaching them, I'm going directly to it so I can read it exactly
305. 20:40as it reads, I'm reading from the new King James Version rather than the old, but they
306. 20:45read essentially the same. He says, go there for and make disciples of all the nations baptizing
307. 20:50them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all
308. 20:55things that I have commanded you, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded
309. 21:03you, all things, all things, not just some things, all things, everything I've taught
310. 21:12you, you teach them. Now that word nations, as if you've heard me teach on this, that word nations,
311. 21:21there are two words that refer to, so what, people, groups, or governmental entities. One is kingdom,
312. 21:31as Jesus said, a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. That is the word basalia. And that's
313. 21:36That's a word that really refers to a state or an organized political entity, a city,
314. 21:45state, an empire, a kingdom.
315. 21:51But the word nations here is the word ethnos.
316. 21:57Ethnos.
317. 21:58That is a word that refers to people, groups, tribes, ethnicities, groups of people who are
318. 22:06culturally bound together rather than governmentally bound together.
319. 22:12And you know, I'm clear that what Jesus is saying here, you go into all the world and you tell all
320. 22:18these tribes and all these ethnic groups that have all their own ways and all their own thoughts
321. 22:22and all their own ideas, you teach them to observe what I told you. In other words, your little ethnic
322. 22:29identity pales in significance to what Jesus Christ has taught you. So your ethnos may say one thing,
323. 22:39But if Jesus says something different, you're supposed to adopt that, not with your ethnos or your ethnicity says.
324. 22:48Your ethnic group says.
325. 22:53People have all kinds of traditions and all kinds of ideas and all kinds of customs.
326. 22:59And they do not comport to the word of God.
327. 23:03And as the disciple of Jesus Christ, see, you can either be a status Christian that comports with everything.
328. 23:10The ethnos tells you because you want to fit in there, or you can be a disciple of Jesus.
329. 23:15Christ says, no, no, no, I am conforming to what thus says the Lord.
330. 23:20And that is my culture.
331. 23:23That is my identity.
332. 23:25That is how I see the world, not the way my ethnic group tells me I'm supposed to see
333. 23:30the world.
334. 23:32Some can visit that's what Jesus was saying.
335. 23:35You go break all that up and you teach them a whole new culture.
336. 23:42I call it kingdom culture.
337. 23:45You teach them to think the way I think,
338. 23:47to speak the way I speak,
339. 23:49and to behave the way I behave.
340. 23:54Now, being a disciple then is far more impactful
341. 24:05than simply claiming the status of a Christian.
342. 24:12Yes, I am a Christian,
343. 24:16but I live the life of a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ,
344. 24:21which means I'm seeking to conform my ways
345. 24:24to his ways. I'm not seeking to conform my ways to somebody. Somebody says, well, you're
346. 24:31black. You're supposed to think like this and behave like this. No, I'm a Christian.
347. 24:35I'm supposed to think like this and behave like this. Or you're Irish. You're supposed
348. 24:39to think like this and behave like this. No, I'm a Christian. I think like this and behave
349. 24:43like this. I'm a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. I think it behaved like this. And
350. 24:50where those two are incompatible, there's not even a contest. I am not going to conform
351. 24:58my life to some political party, some ethnic group, some racial group. In order to be accepted,
352. 25:06I'm going to conform my life to what the word of God says because I want God to be pleased.
353. 25:13And Paul said, if I would please, man, I would not be the servant of Christ.
354. 25:19And say, I think that's where this voting thing comes in. We're supposed to go and vote as disciples
355. 25:25of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are casting spiritual seed when we vote. We are carrying
356. 25:33out our responsibilities as his disciples and his representatives in the earth when we vote.
357. 25:41And I think in many ways that's been lost. Yeah, I happen to identify with the Republican party
358. 25:49politically, but that's not what drives me. That's not what motivates me. I am motivated by the word
359. 25:58of God. I'm motivated by what the Lord says is right. Whatever God says is right. Whatever God
360. 26:04says is wrong is wrong. And I'm not compromising that for political
361. 26:07expediency, which both parties would certainly want you to do. And I've
362. 26:15experienced it. Oh, you ought to go along with this because the Republican
363. 26:19party needs this. Well, I'm not going along with it. Well, but you don't know,
364. 26:22I do understand. Well, you have a seat. No, I don't see. Because I already see what
365. 26:28Jesus said. And that's all I need to know. I said, I wouldn't vote for a
366. 26:34Muslim. I told you when I was running for office, I had Republicans telling me
367. 26:38Oh, you got to go to the mosque.
368. 26:39You got to go to the mosque.
369. 26:41I got to go talk to Muslims.
370. 26:42You got to know I don't put none you do.
371. 26:45Yeah.
372. 26:46Well, I'm not.
373. 26:49Now if they want to vote for me, that's up to them.
374. 26:52But I'm not compromising my spiritual integrity in order
375. 26:56to get votes from people by pretending that what they're
376. 27:00engaged in is not idolatry because it is.
377. 27:07You may be thinking, boy, I see why you never
378. 27:09got elected.
379. 27:10Right.
380. 27:11It's exactly, exactly.
381. 27:16You may have just put your finger on it.
382. 27:21As disciples of Jesus Christ, we have an obligation to reflect his plan, his purpose,
383. 27:26his will for it, not only for us, but for the body of Christ and for all mankind, reflecting
384. 27:34that in everything we do.
385. 27:37There are no exemptions.
386. 27:40There are no exemptions.
387. 27:45There's no exemption in politics.
388. 27:47There's no exemption in academia.
389. 27:49There's no exemption in science.
390. 27:51There's no exemption in whatever I'm leaving out.
391. 27:58There are no exemptions, okay?
392. 28:01I don't care what discipline you are involved in.
393. 28:04You gotta bring the truth of the word of God
394. 28:06to that discipline, or you are not being faithful
395. 28:08to the Lord Jesus Christ.
396. 28:13You do whatever you're doing.
397. 28:14You do it with integrity,
398. 28:15but you do it first honoring God.
399. 28:18We had a teacher, for example here,
400. 28:20I think it was in Woodstock, Virginia,
401. 28:23who refused to call, I don't know whether it's a girl
402. 28:29trying to be a boy or a boy trying to be a girl,
403. 28:31but refused to call them by this new name and these pronouns.
404. 28:34And he said, well, it's a lie,
405. 28:35and I'm not going to tell a lie
406. 28:36because God tells me I'm not the lie,
407. 28:38and I'm not lying, I'm not gonna lie.
408. 28:40This is a boy or whatever it was,
409. 28:43and that's the way it is, and they find it.
410. 28:47But you know what?
411. 28:50They had to re-iron.
412. 28:53I think it went, I think that case might have gone
413. 28:56to the Supreme Court, but it certainly went up to the appeals
414. 28:59court at the very least.
415. 29:00And ultimately, he won on constitutional grounds.
416. 29:03They could not force him to say something that he did not,
417. 29:06in his own good conscience, want to say.
418. 29:09He took a stand.
419. 29:11See that to me is a disciple.
420. 29:14A Christian might have said, well, you know,
421. 29:15I work for the school and they want me to say that.
422. 29:19I've got to go along with it.
423. 29:21And, you know, I mean, that's just the way it is.
424. 29:23And then go to church and shout.
425. 29:25And hallelujah and glory to God.
426. 29:28And God delivers me and all that.
427. 29:29And then go right back to conforming to what the world
428. 29:32wants you to be.
429. 29:36There is a difference.
430. 29:38Now, every Christian ought to be a disciple
431. 29:41of the Lord Jesus Christ abiding in the word,
432. 29:44free indeed in Christ, but they're not.
433. 29:48You know that and I know that.
434. 29:52I guarantee that every single one of you listening to me
435. 29:55right now could probably count numerous people that you know are
436. 30:03lukewarm Christians. I mean, you know, they're Christians.
437. 30:07They've accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. And just some
438. 30:11some indications of that. But you know, it's pretty superficial
439. 30:21in terms of their lives and how they how they live. Pretty
440. 30:28superficial. I mean, I know of instances of people claim to be Christians, claim to be Christians,
441. 30:39and shack up and don't ask me how they justify it, but God understands, well, God calls that
442. 30:52for an occasion and sin. You're supposed to be married, but somehow we're Christians and it's okay.
443. 31:01Well, maybe you aren't Christian, but you're clearly not a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.
444. 31:11Because if you were, you would be seeking to abide in His Word and to conform your life
445. 31:16to His Word.
446. 31:17Now I'm not suggesting in the least that E.W. Jackson is perfect at this.
447. 31:22Okay?
448. 31:23So please don't take that as my message.
449. 31:25It is not.
450. 31:26But I'll tell you what, I'm working at it and I'm certainly trying not to do or to say or
451. 31:35But for that matter to even think anything that I know is not consistent with God's
452. 31:41word.
453. 31:43I can't stop birds flying over my hair but I can certainly stop them flying over my hair
454. 31:48but I can certainly stop them from nesting in my hair.
455. 31:50That's the way I feel about thoughts that I know are not a God.
456. 31:53I cast those things out.
457. 31:56I don't ruminate on them.
458. 31:57I don't live with them.
459. 31:58I don't wallow in them.
460. 32:00This is Bishop E.W.
461. 32:01Jackson at the Abraham Hamilton III.
462. 32:03Stand by folks because we're going to be back with more on discipleship.
463. 32:07So I'm Abraham Hamilton III.
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473. 33:04A Hamilton Quarter podcast
474. 33:06and one-minute commentaries are available at aFR.net.
475. 33:10back to the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
476. 33:15Now let's come to the nub of this.
477. 33:18I've got a teaching which I call 10 qualities
478. 33:22of the true disciple of Jesus Christ,
479. 33:24and I don't have time to go through all of those.
480. 33:27Today, it is my plan to start a new program
481. 33:31at some point called Making Disciples,
482. 33:33where I teach on being a disciple of Jesus Christ
483. 33:38and really try to help people who want to be that know they really aren't that even though they may be born again and
484. 33:47Really want to be and to help them to become what they know God wants them to be which is a true disciple of Jesus Christ
485. 33:54Thinking speaking and acting the way Jesus does
486. 34:00What I had in mind is this
487. 34:03What I call the really the tenth principle because there are a lot of spiritual principles
488. 34:08that are the foundation for this, but here's what I call the 10th principle,
489. 34:14that the disciple of Jesus Christ has to have the courage to consistently guard
490. 34:22against the dangers of religious tradition, cultural traditions, politically
491. 34:30popular ideas, new societal norms, which undermine our adherence to the word of
492. 34:38God. I noticed I covered a lot of things because look, there's a religious tradition that has
493. 34:44nothing to do with the word of God, but people do it anyway because it's the religious thing.
494. 34:50They're cultural trends that really are contrary to the word of God and people do it because,
495. 34:56well, I want to get along. Well, I'm going to really touch the third rail now,
496. 35:02but look, a lot of people got tattoos, for example, before they became Christians.
497. 35:08Now, one could argue, well, Bishop, I don't see anything in New Testament against tattoos,
498. 35:15and you're right, the Bible in the New Covenant does not condemn or mention tattoos, but the
499. 35:21old covenant, God told the children of Israel that they were not to have tattoos.
500. 35:25We have a better covenant based on better promises, and the new covenant says, you are not your
501. 35:30own.
502. 35:31You are bought with a price.
503. 35:33Therefore, glorify God in your body.
504. 35:38Now, to me, that's inconsistent with decorating my body with a bunch of stuff that God didn't
505. 35:43put on it.
506. 35:47Just saying, just saying, is anybody going to go to hell for having a tattoo?
507. 35:50Of course not.
508. 35:52Of course not.
509. 35:54But do people get tattoos because they believe, boy, this is God's really going to be pleased
510. 35:59with this.
511. 36:00This is what the Lord wants me to do.
512. 36:02Well, they get tattoos because it's a cultural trend and everybody's doing it.
513. 36:08I'd do another teaching called the power of personal culture,
514. 36:13where I challenge people to step back from cultural trends
515. 36:17and to look at the things that even we ourselves,
516. 36:21as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ,
517. 36:22as Christians, as disciples of Jesus Christ,
518. 36:25might be pressured not directly or computationally
519. 36:31or forcefully, but just that kind of subtle pressure
520. 36:34because everybody else is doing it.
521. 36:36And we might be pressured to do it.
522. 36:38Oh, that's cool. That looks good.
523. 36:41And before you know it, we're caught up in that,
524. 36:46because we're not giving it a kingdom evaluation.
525. 36:50We're giving it a cultural evaluation.
526. 36:52And the cultural evaluation,
527. 36:54we're giving it just a culture of the world.
528. 36:57Now, the true disciple must think, speak, act, model
529. 37:04in every dimension of life,
530. 37:05whether it's family or that's culture
531. 37:07or that's professional.
532. 37:10We've got to model the will of God for our lives.
533. 37:16And by the way, with this understanding,
534. 37:19that's going to create some conflict,
535. 37:21it's going to create some confrontations,
536. 37:23it's going to create some resistance,
537. 37:25it's going to create some resentment.
538. 37:29But as a disciple of Jesus Christ, that's okay with us.
539. 37:33We don't take a stand on the word of God
540. 37:36because we want to be in conflict with people.
541. 37:38I mean, we idiots that want that.
542. 37:40We don't want to be in conflict with people.
543. 37:43Jesus walked around wanting to be in conflict with describes and Pharisees or anybody else.
544. 37:49But he understood that the conflict was a natural byproduct of his standing on the righteousness of
545. 37:55God. And so we can't run from it. We can't conform and compromise in order to avoid the conflict.
546. 38:07So all this stuff we've heard the left is talking about don't go to Thanksgiving dinner. If you
547. 38:12know that your your parents are voting for Donald Trump. This is insane. It's wicked is what it is.
548. 38:23Don't talk to your relatives who who are conservatives. Don't don't have anything to do with them. I mean,
549. 38:29I said these these people are like that's that's exactly isn't that exactly what a cult will tell you.
550. 38:35A cult will tell you separate yourself from your family. They are the unenlightened and you don't
551. 38:41don't want to be around them because their
552. 38:43unenlightenment might pollute you.
553. 38:46And so you need to stay away from them and you
554. 38:48need to immerse yourself in the cult.
555. 38:52It's the same thing.
556. 38:56God called us to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
557. 39:00to be salt and light.
558. 39:02Well, you know what?
559. 39:03If you've got a wound, if you've got an infection,
560. 39:08if you've got a cut and you pour salt in the wound,
561. 39:13you know what that's going to do, right?
562. 39:14It's going to sting.
563. 39:18It will help cleanse the wound.
564. 39:20It will help heal the wound, but it's going to sting.
565. 39:25And when we are salt in an unsalted world, of course it stings people.
566. 39:31Of course it does.
567. 39:33And what do people do when something stings?
568. 39:35Or they yell out, and they may be yelling out at you for the way you vote for the stand
569. 39:45you take, for the principles you hold.
570. 39:49Well, that simply comes with the territory.
571. 39:55You ever been in a very dark room?
572. 39:57Jesus said, you are the salt of the earth,
573. 39:59you are the light of the world.
574. 40:00By the way, he said, if the salt loses a saver,
575. 40:02it's good for nothing but to be trampled under foot of men.
576. 40:07In other words, if you're not being salty,
577. 40:11you're nothing but a throw rug, to be walked on top of.
578. 40:21And Jesus said, you are the light of the world.
579. 40:24Have you ever been in a dark room
580. 40:27and had the light suddenly turned on?
581. 40:30You know what the first thing is that happens?
582. 40:34You're blinded.
583. 40:37If it's a really dark room and you turn on a really bright light,
584. 40:43your eyes can't adjust immediately.
585. 40:46It takes a moment.
586. 40:49And so the first thing that happens is you are blinded by the light.
587. 40:54And it can be a very uncomfortable feeling.
588. 40:56I mean, have you been in that situation where you go, oh, wow.
589. 40:59You know, you cover your eyes.
590. 41:01You know, you react.
591. 41:03Oh, well, you turn on a bright light in a dark life and people react because that light irritates
592. 41:20their eyes and the darkness through which they are viewing the world. Jesus said wicked people do
593. 41:28not want to come to the light because the light reveals that their deeds are evil and they love
594. 41:33darkness more than light. Now most of us, certainly we as believers, if you'll follow the spiritual
595. 41:43analogy, when that light turns on and it irritates our eyes initially,
596. 41:48it blinds us initially.
597. 41:49We don't say turn the light out.
598. 41:51Well, I want it to be dark in here.
599. 41:55Because you know that once you make the adjustment, you're going to see to move
600. 41:58around in that room, you're going to see what's there and you want that.
601. 42:04But if you love darkness, you'd rather stumble around in the dark and have the
602. 42:12light turned on.
603. 42:12And that's the analogy Jesus uses his men love darkness rather than light.
604. 42:20They rather stub their toe.
605. 42:22They rather trip and fall.
606. 42:24They rather injure themselves, stumbling around in the dark and they have light turned on so
607. 42:29they can see exactly where they're going and can go in the right direction.
608. 42:36Well, that's what we are.
609. 42:38We're the ones who are disrupting the rhythm of the world.
610. 42:46We're the ones who are turning on the bright light in darkness.
611. 42:48You're the ones who are pouring salt into the wounds, so to speak.
612. 42:53And you're going to get a reaction.
613. 42:55You know what I say to that?
614. 42:57So what?
615. 43:02Next issue.
616. 43:06I could care less.
617. 43:08I mean, first of all, and the Lord has laid this on my heart a few times here in this last
618. 43:18year since the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
619. 43:21But I've said this many, many times in my ministry, I really believe martyrdom is calling.
620. 43:28I really do.
621. 43:29the laying down one's life for the gospel of Jesus Christ,
622. 43:33I really believe that that is a calling
623. 43:35on the life of a believer
624. 43:37and that God selects some of us for his own purposes
625. 43:40to go all the way
626. 43:44and to actually die for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
627. 43:48But I don't think most of us are called to that,
628. 43:53but I know that all of us are called to be willing.
629. 43:59Jesus said, he that loses his life for my sake
630. 44:01will find it, he that finds his life for his own selfish desires and interests will lose
631. 44:10it.
632. 44:13Jesus said, unless a green wheat falls to the ground and dies, it cannot bear much fruit,
633. 44:17but if it falls to the ground and dies, it will bring forth fruit.
634. 44:25Jesus of course is the penultimate example of that, but martyrs throughout the history
635. 44:35of the body of Christ throughout the history of the church have demonstrated how God has
636. 44:40used their willingness to lay down their lives for Him to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ.
637. 44:49And we see what's happened with Charlie Kirk.
638. 44:50I mean, we saw an already successful organization just exploded, exploded.
639. 45:02They thought they were maybe destroying the whole movement and all they did was strengthen
640. 45:07it.
641. 45:12You and I for the most part are not going to be called to sacrifice our lives for the gospel
642. 45:18of Jesus Christ, but we are certainly called to pick up our cross and follow Him.
643. 45:23And going to the voting booth is really a very, very small price to pay, having people not
644. 45:28like you because you take a stand for what you know is right is a very small price to pay
645. 45:36compared to the price that's been paid by so many others because our faith was birthed
646. 45:41in blood. Jesus gave his life for us. Of course, he was raised from the dead, as all of us will be,
647. 45:48but all the apostles except the apostle John, as far as we know, based on the historical record,
648. 45:52as far as we know, every single one of them was martyred. Every single one of them died for the
649. 45:57gospel of Jesus Christ. You and I are not called for the most part, are not likely to be called for
650. 46:08the most part, to pay that ultimate price. But we're certainly called to be willing. We're certainly
651. 46:16call to be willing to have people not like us to have people say bad things about us and
652. 46:23all of that. We certainly call to have things denied us because people don't like the positions
653. 46:29that we're taking. I'd say I was having a youth meeting one time when I was in Boston to try
654. 46:36to quell all the violence that was taking place in the streets of the city. And I had
655. 46:41The guy told me he would not rent his facility to me because he knew that I was pro-life.
656. 46:47I am not kidding, folks.
657. 46:48He said he knew that I was pro-life.
658. 46:50I'm not renting my facility for somebody who's denying women their right to have an abortion.
659. 46:54I said, well, I don't know what that has to do with having a youth meeting, but okay.
660. 47:03He didn't like me because I'm standing up for the lives of innocent unborn children.
661. 47:09Well, that's your prerogative.
662. 47:12I hope to change your mind.
663. 47:14I'm certainly not changing mine.
664. 47:19I had somebody tell me who was inside at a company.
665. 47:22I applied for a grant to deal with that very thing,
666. 47:25trying to deal with the rampant violence.
667. 47:28And a lot of young children,
668. 47:29this is not something new that I'm doing,
669. 47:32which go to America's forgotten children.
670. 47:34This is not something new that I've been focused on.
671. 47:36It's all my life, all this black on black crime
672. 47:38that's blamed on poverty and racism.
673. 47:41And you got these young thugs raised without daddies
674. 47:43for the most part, who just wanna go out
675. 47:45and commit murder and mayhem,
676. 47:48because they're mad at the world, they're mad at their
677. 47:50daddies, and they think that this makes them mad.
678. 47:53We gotta get out and vote, folks.
679. 48:00People can think what they wanna think about us.
680. 48:02What matters is what God thinks about us.
681. 48:06Don't just be a status Christian.
682. 48:09Be a dynamic disciple.
683. 48:12This is Bishop E.W. Jackson.
684. 48:13You know what to do.
685. 48:14Stand up.
686. 48:15Step up.
687. 48:16Speak up.
688. 48:17Refuse the backup.
689. 48:18Because we cannot be defeated if we will not quit.
690. 48:22because we are on God's side.
691. 48:26God bless everybody.
692. 48:39The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast
693. 48:41may not necessarily reflect those
694. 48:43of the American Family Association
695. 48:45or American Family Radio.