The Alex McFarland Show-121-Blasphemy in the Last Days

Does the evil present in the world today, especially the blasphemous display that opened up the summer 2024 Olympics, does the blasphemy, the evil, the rejection of God, and the lack of any fear of the judgment of the Lord, does that indicate that we might be near the end of time?

Hi, Alex McFarland here. There's a section in Matthew chapter 12 where Jesus is healing people that are blind, people that have evil spirits. And in Matthew 12, 23, it says this in God's Word, Now, let me talk about this, because later in the show we're going to talk about what is called the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

What is that? I've written on that extensively, and people ask us somewhat frequently, have I committed the unpardonable sin? And is the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost the unpardonable sin?

We'll get to that, and we'll draw from Matthew 12 to get an answer for this. But let me just point out that one of Satan's tactics has been to mock God. Throughout history, Satan has worked through people and ideologies to try to make fun of the God that he cannot kill or overthrow. And in Paris recently, when the Summer Olympics opened up, the whole world saw this mocking display of the Last Supper, and Jesus was depicted as a very obese female and surrounded.

There was a group of drag queens, ostensibly the quote apostles. It was just a very sexualized image, it was very sacrilegious, and it was very blasphemous. And many people around the world have condemned this, and then other people, including the Olympic Committee, have pushed back and said, hey, you know, chill out.

But let's be honest. I mean, if they had been making fun of Allah and Mohammed and the Quran, I mean, we would have World War III going on right now, and there would be blood in the streets of Paris. Notice in blasphemy, whether it be works of art like the National Endowment for the People with No Talent in Art, the National Endowment for the Arts for years would feature blasphemous, horrendously evil depictions of Jesus Christ and things mocking Christianity, denigrating the biblical God.

And taxpayer money funded that. Notice, nobody ever makes fun of Shiva or Vishnu or Allah or Islam. It's always Christianity. Why the vitriol, the hatred, the rancor against Jesus?

Not all these religions, but Jesus specifically. And so many people regarding the Paris blasphemy display said, you know, oh, it's not offensive. But clearly, it was mocking Jesus Christ. And we read about in 1 Corinthians 11, the upper room, Jesus, the only way for humans to be redeemed, the only means of salvation, the holy Son of God is mocked, and the upper room, last supper. And the Bible says in Isaiah 53, you know, regarding, by his stripes we are healed, and he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and he did not answer his accusers. And Jesus was crowned with thorns, beaten and whipped, his beard ripped out of his face. It says his visage was so marred more than any other human, unrecognizable, and then, nailed to the cross, the appropriate measure of God's wrath that you and I deserved was put on Jesus so that you could be saved. And Isaiah 53 concludes by saying it pleased the Father to bruise him.

Can you imagine? Unborn, sinless Son of God, the leaders said, never a man taught like this man. He showed love, he healed the sick, made the blind to see, the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, rose dead bodies back to life, gave his life for us to be born again. And it says it pleased God the Father for the Son of God to be spat upon and mocked and executed.

Why? I looked at that language up many years ago in the Hebrew of Isaiah 53, and literally God was saying, and I want to share this, lest you wonder, does God really love me? How do I know I even matter to God? The Father was essentially saying, look, if it means that your sins would be forgiven, your soul would be saved, your life restored, your eternity is secure, your life here as context and makes sense, regarding the vicious beating and killing of Jesus for you to be redeemed, God is saying, hey, happy to do it for you. That's how much God loves you. Romans 5-8 says that God demonstrated his love, in other words, tangibly proved in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. That's Romans 5-8. But just like Beyonce opened the Grammys several years ago with a display that was part occult, part blasphemy against Christianity, part pornography, doing pelvic thrusts on the floor and it looked like a satanic sacrifice.

Now keep in mind, no real musical composition was displayed, no musical talent, just opening the show with shock value and blaspheming the God of the Bible, just like the Olympic openings were done. Let's talk about this. Let's talk about Satan and his agenda to blaspheme God. Romans 12-12 says this, the devil has come down having great wrath because he knows that his time is short.

I truly believe 20 years ago with the rise of atheism, and we've written about, I've interviewed more than three dozen of the world's most famous atheists, I've debated several of them, with the rise of atheism, the rise of just in-your-face sexual immorality, and now brazen, bold, fearless, blaspheming of the one that the Bible says is the only Savior and living God. We certainly must be near the end of time. Jesus is coming soon. When we come back, we'll continue to talk about the spiritual dynamics present and what is blasphemy and what is the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, and how you can know if you have or have not crossed the line, committed the unpardonable sin. Stay tuned. We're back after this brief break.

Don't go away. Fox News and CNN call Alex McFarland a religion and culture expert. Stay tuned for more of his teaching and commentary after this. Christian author and speaker Alex McFarland is an advocate for Christian apologetics. Teaching in more than 2,200 churches around the world, schools, and college campuses, Alex is driven by a desire to help people grow in relationship with God. He arms his audiences with the tools they need to defend their faith, while also empowering the unchurched to find out the truth for themselves. In the midst of a culture obsessed with relativism, Alex is a sound voice who speaks timeless truths of Christianity in a timely way. With 18 published books to his name, it's no surprise that CNN, Fox, the Wall Street Journal, and other media outlets have described Alex as a religion and culture expert. To learn more about Alex and to book him as a speaker at your next event, visit alexmcfarland.com or you can contact us directly by emailing booking at alexmcfarland.com. He's been called trusted, truthful, and timely. Welcome back to The Alex McFarland Show.

Welcome back to the program. We're talking about the recent Olympic blasphemy and how just anti-God, anti-morality, anti-truth ideology seems to permeate everything. It's not just the Olympic Games that for two thousand years were a physical contest. Like so many things, it has to be imbued with anti-God, militantly secular, militantly hedonistic sexual ideology. It was blasphemous. And Jesus said in Mark 3, 28-30, and he also says it in Matthew 12 that we'll get to, but the Lord Jesus said, quote, Truly I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter. Okay, so if you've blasphemed God, taken the Lord's name in vain, resisted the calling of the Holy Spirit, you can be forgiven. You must repent and turn to Christ.

Fortunately, you can do that today. By the way, as you hear this broadcast, we are doing two events in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on Thursday, August 8. Curious About Christ? And the website for that, by the way, is curiousaboutchrist.com.

And please help us promote at 2.30 in the afternoon, 6 p.m. in the evening, two different theaters in Myrtle Beach. We've got a free, open-to-the-public evangelistic event, because we're trying to help people understand what it means to be saved. And before I conclude Mark 3 here, I want to say, even if you have blasphemed, you can be saved. You must call out to Christ. And if you want to know how to be saved, there's a free download on my own website, alexmcfarland.com, What Does God Say? It's a booklet.

We've given out a quarter million of these. What Does God Say About My Relationship With Him? And I would encourage you to download that. But Jesus goes on, and in Mark 3, 28-30, he says this, quote, But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin. Now, part of the problem in the Mark 3 and the Matthew 12 was shockingly, and I really cringe to even talk about this, but they were saying in Matthew 12, 24 and Mark 3 that Jesus was demon-possessed.

That is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Because the Pharisees, and it says in Matthew 12, 24, all right, they had an unparalleled level of God's revelation. They knew the Scriptures intimately. Standing before them in the very presence of the Pharisees was God incarnate, Jesus.

He did the miracles. He was born in Bethlehem. Clearly, he met every criteria of messiahship, and they knew it. And yet, they were attributing the works of God to Satan. They were denying that Jesus is God incarnate, the Messiah. They were accusing Jesus of being possessed. And that level of rejection, unparalleled revelation, God had disclosed himself, and standing right before them was the Messiah. That level of rejection amounted to blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, and they denied that Jesus is the Son of God, and they were rejecting, and that was crossing a line of unbelief that just could not be uncrossed. And I think about Mark chapter 14, 61 through 63, Jesus is before them and they said, we demand, tell us, are you the Son of the Blessed One? Jesus quotes Exodus and Daniel, he says, I am, and one day you will see me, the Son of Man, return on the clouds of glory. They ripped their clothes, and they accused Jesus of blasphemy. And they said, we've heard enough.

We don't need any further charges. You've heard his blasphemy. Now it's interesting, Jesus was executed for blasphemy. I've debated many people who would say, well, Jesus's core message was love your neighbor, be good, stay out of trouble, the Sermon on the Mount, the meek and lowly Jesus. And I've asked such people, I'll say, so did Jesus not claim to be God incarnate? No, he just was a good man, they'll say. Did Jesus not claim to be the one and only Savior? No, Jesus's message was love. I ask people that I've debated, I'll say, so why was Jesus executed on the cross?

Because look, love your neighbor, be a good person. That does not get you put to death. See, Jesus clearly in Mark 14, and part of the reason that that is so significant, even critical scholars believe in general of the authenticity of the Gospel of Mark. And in that, Mark 14, 61 through 63, they said, you have heard his blasphemy. I mean, Jesus was executed for claiming to be God. He did say we should love our neighbor and do good to all those around us, of course. But Jesus was put to death because he told them the truth about who he was and what his mission was.

God incarnate, here to pave the way for human salvation. He was the Messiah on a mission of redemption, and they rejected that. And to engage in that level of rejection was the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Let me read a little bit more from Matthew 12, and then we'll come back to the question of, are we in the end times? And Jesus says in Matthew 12, 30, he that is not with me is against me, and he that gathers not with me scatters abroad.

Wherefore I send to you? No, Matthew 12, 31. All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him. But whosoever speaks against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world nor the world to come. So the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is a deliberate, willful, knowing rejection of Christ. The miracles, his identity, his virgin-born sinless life, and the ultimate sin that put those Pharisees beyond the reach of salvation was to, in the strongest possible terms, they repudiated, rejected, denigrated God, and in fact spat in his face and ultimately executed him.

Jesus was not wrong to claim to be God, because that's his identity. In fact he was, as Josh McDowell says, history's greatest truth-teller. Now we need to pray for the Spirit of God to bring the world to conviction, and conviction is awareness of your sin, sorrow for your sin, and then the work of the Holy Spirit to draw one to Christ. We'll come back, we're going to talk more about this.

This is Alex McFarland. Stay tuned. More about blasphemy, the work of Satan, and the period of history. Are we near the end times? We'll talk about this and more when we return. Don't go away. Fox News and CNN call Alex McFarland a religion and culture expert.

Stay tuned for more of his teaching and commentary after this. In recent years our nation has suffered greatly, and we seem to be on a rapid moral decline. We've rejected God, morality, and we've almost completely lost our sense of patriotism. It's no wonder that many are asking the question, Is this the end of America? Hi, Alex McFarland here, and I want to make you aware of my book, The Assault on America, How to Defend Our Nation Before It's Too Late.

You know, our nation has seen politicians that are corrupted by greed, and they've got a vested interest in power, and many of our elected officials seem to care little about the country that they've been appointed to serve. Read my book, The Assault on America. We can stand up for our great nation and defend America before it's too late.

It's available everywhere. You can learn more on my own website, which is alexmcfarland.com. Read the book, The Assault on America, How to Defend Our Nation Before It's Too Late. It's been called trusted, truthful, and timely. Welcome back to The Alex McFarland Show. Welcome back to the program. Alex McFarland here as we talk about the blasphemy, the demonic portrayal that kicked off the Summer Olympics. And it's almost like it was the Blasphemy Olympics. Satan exists. Satan is alive and well and working in this planet. That's why we more urgently than ever need to share the gospel. As I mentioned earlier, on Thursday, August 8, 2024, we will be doing two evangelistic events in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where we are also having a big conference in the fall of 2025. Please, if you want to learn about that, and please do spread the word, go to CuriousAboutChrist.com for information on the afternoon and evening evangelistic events that we're doing. Seventeen million people a year go to Myrtle Beach from all 50 states, and so we are doing our best to evangelize there and to help equip Christians to really pollinate the country with the gospel and how to defend the biblical worldview. And before, I was sharing in the previous segment about our newly updated website, AlexMcFarland.com.

My travel schedule is on there and all the things that we're doing around the nation. As you hear this broadcast, by the way, we are wrapping up seven summer youth camps, more than 1,200 teenagers. And in addition to seven summer youth camps, I myself spoke at two other youth camps that were put on by other ministries, including with Charlie Kirk at Turning Point USA in Wisconsin during the RNC. We've had over 150 teenagers pray to accept Christ this summer. We give God the glory. Also, I just want to say your prayers and support are enabling us not only to see the lost, evangelized, young people inoculated against wokeness, and we're teaching the church how to defend the biblical worldview. It is making a difference.

We give God the glory. Our staff is growing. Your help and participation, if you would partner with us and donate your tax-deductible contribution in any amount, will be well received and will be faithfully handled. You can donate safely online at my own website, which is AlexMcFarland.com, or you can mail in a contribution. You can simply make it to TNG.

As in truth for a new one, you can mail it to PO Box 10231, Greensboro, NC 27404. And you have my promise, our board, our staff, and myself, that we will proclaim faithfully and forcefully God's word, and we give God the praise for all that he's allowing us to do. Media interviews, it seems like every day of the week I'm on some media outlet proclaiming truth, trying to stand for God's word and equip others to do the same, to pray for our nation, and to impact all ages, especially young people.

And we appreciate your partnership with us in this vital work of the gospel. Well, do you know, talking about the demonic, there was an article in Psychology Today, just in December of last year, an article, December 5th, 2023, about how the mental health realm is recognizing the demonic. The article says that over the last decade, there are behaviors and conditions that more and more of the mental health community believes is demonic and examples of possession. And it says in this article that intellectual humility mandates that we at least, quote, entertain the possibility that demons and devils really exist, and that they can inhabit the bodies of people and take control. Indeed, plans for exorcism have been on the rise in recent years.

And Psychology Today goes on and says, look, it may be religious in its origin, but psychotic disorders and certain behaviors and actions, there's nothing natural or classical psychology that can explain it. Perhaps it actually is demonic. Well, let me say that the Bible is very clear that Satan is real and Satan is the enemy of our souls.

But it goes on. In Isaiah 14, think about this, folks, because as we have said, quoting Dr. Harold Wilmington of Liberty University, Satan is, quote, the greatest cosmic loser of all time. Now, again, Revelation 12, 12, near the end of time, Satan will get very busy because he knows his time is short. In Isaiah of the Old Testament, Isaiah 14 documents how Lucifer could not overthrow God and he was kicked out of heaven. And Lucifer, a created angel, became Satan because he tried to overthrow heaven, kill off God. But ultimately, Isaiah 14, 11 says he will be cast down to the lowest depths of Sheol, or hell, and his bed will be maggots. Then Isaiah 14, 16 says this, there will come a day when the human race will look on this little imp, Satan, and they will ask, is this the one who tormented the nations? Is this the one that made the world tremble? It's almost like, you can't believe it.

That little loser? Because I want to say this, and right now, with the rise of immorality, the mainstreaming, the enforcement of sodomy, transgenderism, and the Paris Olympics, the whole wide world that was tuned in to see an athletic contest, was treated to a vision of spiritual warfare. You know, the irony of it, in that place in Paris, where that blasphemy took place, is just a very short distance from a church that was built in 1914.

There was a basilica built in 1914 to stand for prayer and repentance and the forgiveness before God of the national sins of France. Isn't that something? And right there, at a place where spiritual atonement was initiated 110 years ago, was where a demonic event was broadcast for the world to see. Satan is busy because Christ is coming, and Christ is coming soon. Do you have your house in order? Are you ready for it?

You know, it reminds me of this as I close. In 1939, just before World War II began, Germany and Russia signed a pact. It was called the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, and it was a treaty promising that neither nation would attack the other for years, and it would be the peace between Eastern Europe for time immemorial. But just two years later, in 1941, without any warning or provocation, Adolf Hitler sent his tanks across the Russian border in a sneak attack, a cowardly, vile attack. And it was recognized that Hitler had no interest in keeping the treaty in the first place. He lied. He broke his promises. That's like the devil.

Listen, folks. Satan will do anything and everything to tell you what you want to hear. Maybe you think within yourself, well you know what, I'll deal with the God issue later. Satan is lying to you because later may never come.

You may die and find yourself in the fires of hell. Satan, the Bible says in John 8.44, Satan is the father of lies. He is the professional liar. The devil breaks every promise he makes.

He never delivers what he promises. People have said to me, foolishly, well they would rather go to hell because that's where their friends will be. Listen, hell will not be a party. Blaspheming Jesus will not go on forever, folks.

The people that think they can flaunt God and really give Jesus Christ the middle finger. That time is coming to an end. Also what is not forever is the window of opportunity in which to turn to Christ. Sin is pleasurable for a little season, says Hebrews 11.25, but it always, always results in sorrow and tragedy. Let me say this, the devil is trying to engage the human race in the ultimate blasphemy, the rejection of salvation. Anyone can be saved at this point.

The only thing that would put you beyond the reach of God's redemption is to die in a state of unbelief. But God doesn't want that to happen, and you don't have to let that happen. Again, go to AlexMcFarland.com, hit the tab, What Does God Say?

A free PDF, a download. You can be saved today. Please do not believe the lies of Satan. Please do not make your life an act of blasphemy by dying in a state of unbelief. Jesus does love you. He gave His life for you. And fortunately, no matter who you are, where you are, what you've done, Jesus is as close by as a prayer.

Be set free from sin and Satan, and turn to Christ today. Alex McFarland Ministries are made possible through the prayers and financial support of partners like you. For over 20 years, this ministry has been bringing individuals into a personal relationship with Christ and has been equipping people to stand strong for truth. Learn more and donate securely online at AlexMcFarland.com. You may also reach us at Alex McFarland, P.O. Box 10231, Greensboro, North Carolina 27404, or by calling 1-877-Yes-God-1.

That's 1-877-Y-E-S-G-O-D-1. Thanks for joining us. We'll see you again on the next edition of the Alex McFarland Show.

Do you have a desire to deepen your faith, better understand Christian apologetics, or to get a biblical perspective on current events? Well, I've tried to make it simple for you to do just that. On my website, AlexMcFarland.com, there's a new section called Ask Alex Online. It's simple, it's clean, and you can read my answers to common questions about God, faith, and the Bible. So visit the website, AlexMcFarland.com, and look for the section that says Ask Alex Online.