In God We Trust

Well, today is Tuesday, July the 11th. My name is Jon Galantis. I'm here again with Dr. Abbadon Shah and you're listening to The Clearview Today Show with Dr. Abbadon Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can find us online at ClearviewTodaysShow.com or if you have a question for Dr. Shah, anything you'd like to write in and suggest we talk about, send us a text at 252-582-5028. We love to see those text messages.

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We're going to leave a couple of links in the description box so you can do just that. And Dr. Shah, today's verse of the day is coming to us from the book of Ezekiel in chapter 36 and verse 23. It says, and I will sanctify it, my great name, which has been profaned, profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst.

And the nations shall know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. Well, this was a prophecy that was given kind of a warning against Israel because of their sin, because of disobedience. Because if you begin that section in verse 16, it says, moreover, the word of the Lord came to me saying, son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own ways and deeds.

To me, their way was like the uncleanness of a woman in her customary impurity. I mean, very harsh words on how God's people were turning to idols. There was so much bloodshed in the land. And so God scattered them. And, and then the promise was that one day he will bring them back together. You know, I think one of the things that I, that I took for granted in reading the Bible, and I think a lot of Christians do this, is where, you know, the early Bible stories, and you know, up to like, you know, King David and stuff. And then there's this big gap in the Old Testament. And then you bring Jesus on the scene and we skip over that big gap.

So we don't realize how much the people of Israel turned back to idols and then turn to God and then turn back to idols. And at a certain point you see God talking like this. He's tired of it. He's sick of it.

Yeah. It's like a parent with a child. I've told you not to do this and yet you keep going back and doing it. And so I'm going to deal with you and I'm going to punish you or more like discipline you, what you've done, because God doesn't punish his children. He disciplines them. Just like parents have to do that time to time. They have to discipline their kids so that they will learn. And when you are disciplined, the goal of the discipline is correction. The goal of the discipline is to help you know that these things hurt the heart of God.

And to go back and keep doing those things is going to invite more correction. God doesn't sit back and say, I'm done. No. He says, no. Okay. But another one coming. Very true. Gosh.

It's important to keep that in mind. I saw something on Facebook this morning that I thought was kind of cool, but then I wanted to kind of get your thoughts on, on some things that went down. You and Nicole went to a theater. Yeah, we did.

And it was Indiana Jones. That's right. Number five. Yes.

I'm going to get this out of the way first. How did you like it? I loved it. You loved it? I loved it. Did you like it more than the fourth one? I think everybody in the world, including Harrison Ford, did not like the fourth one. Okay.

So fifth one, you give it a seal. Cause you're an Indiana Jones fan. I am. You give the, what was this one?

The Dial of Destiny, Seal of Approval. You liked it? I did. Yeah.

How much of a fan I am, I did my bachelor's in broadcast journalism. And so one of our projects in one of the classes was to study one of Indiana Jones's movie from start to finish, frame by frame, and to find any inconsistencies, any problems, anything. I mean, I've seen a watch in there.

I've seen people standing in regular clothes. I mean, it's, it's amazing. Did you, did you study Raiders? Was it the first one? I think I know.

Yeah, I think so. But I, I saw, see, I'm a Shia LaBeouf fan. Love Shia LaBeouf. So I went and saw Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and I was like, I walked out of the theater and I was like, what in the world was that? What was that? They always have this sorta other worldly thing in Indiana Jones movies.

There's always this one place where it becomes like other worldly. I mean, we know that in Temple of Doom, where, where they're like, what does that mean? Kali Ma? Kali Ma is an Indian goddess of war. And so he is saying Kali Ma means Mother Kali.

Shakti De means give me power. Okay. Saying he reaches in a dude's chest and pulls it out.

Yeah. It was that weird. That was crazy.

Nicole doesn't like that at all. He's like, cut it off, turn it off, change it. You know, what's funny is I was watching the, I was watching the, oh gosh, what was the first one? The Raiders of the Lost Ark. And I kept waiting for the theme, the, you know, it doesn't even come into the submarine part. They really make you wait for that.

And then when it comes in, it hits you hard. Like, like I felt like I was on that submarine getting away from the Nazis. So Dial of Destiny, you liked it. I liked it.

Thumbs up, two thumbs up, go see it. And, and, you know, just look around in the theater. You'll see a lot of people in their fifties and sixties.

I wonder why, but we saw a lot of young people in there as well. So I think it's catching on again. I think it's catching on. I mean, Indiana Jones, at least with those first three, you really can't go wrong. You really can't go wrong.

The second one's a little dark, a little crazy, but at the end of the day, it's still a fun adventure. Well, that's awesome. We are going to be back right after this. If you guys have any questions or suggestions for new topics, make sure you text us, 252-582-5028, or you can visit us online at cleerviewtodayshow.com.

Don't go wandering into any tombs until we get back, and we'll be right back after this. A huge part of leading people is praying for them. A big reason that Christians have unanswered prayers in their life is because they're not praying.

You know, 1 John 5 15 says, and if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of him. If you're listening to the Clearview Today show, we want to know how we can pray for you as well. There's a number of ways that you can get in touch with us at Clearview and share your prayer requests, but the best way is by texting us at 252-582-5028. You can also send us an email at prayer at cleerviewbc.org, or you can download the Clearview app on iTunes or Google Play. You know, on that app, there's a dedicated prayer wall that helps us to get to know what's going on in your life, how we can pray for you, and how we can take any necessary steps to get you moving in the right direction. Thanks for listening.

Now let's get back to the show. Welcome back to Clear View Today with Dr. Abbadon Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can find us online at clearviewtodayshow.com or if you have any questions for Dr. Shah, anything you'd like to write in, suggest we talk about, send us a text at 252-582-5028.

You can also email us at contact at clearviewtodayshow.com. And Dr. Shah, you do such a good job around here. And a lot of times I feel like you kind of just go underappreciated. Maybe not unappreciated, but underappreciated. So I got you a gift.

This is from me. And just to say that I appreciate you. It's a crisp, clean dollar bill. And don't spend that all in one place.

Make that last. And you get yourself something nice. You get yourself a bubble gum or you get yourself like a little ring pop. But what I like about that is I could have given you $5. I could have given you 20. I could have given you 100. I could have given you, I think there's a $500 bill. I don't know.

I think so. But no matter what denomination of bill I give you, there's four words on there that are very, very special. Especially today. Because today's July 11th. And it was on this day in 1864 that we first saw that motto, In God We Trust. That's right. Well, this is a, you want the dollar bill back? Yeah, it's not even mine.

I got it from David for the little goof. Well, the history of that phrase, In God We Trust, actually goes back to our national anthem where Francis Scott Key proposed the motto of In God We Trust. But in God is our trust is how it is put. But it was not until civil war when In God We Trust kind of became our official motto. And then it was put upon the coins as you just mentioned. And in 1861, the secretary of the treasury said that no nation can be strong except in the strength of God or safe except in his defense. And then he said the trust of our people in God should be declared on our national coins. You will cause a device to be prepared without unnecessary delay with a motto expressing in the fewest and terseous words possible, this national recognition.

That's a good point that it is so brief. It's four words. And I think over the years, and it is very much by design, those four words have really become synonymous with the United States. So that when we hold like a bill or a coin in our hands, almost in this day and age, it's easy to take for granted the presence and the power of those four words. That we are trusting not only as individuals, but as a nation, we're trusting in God. And then on March the 3rd, 1865, Secretary Chase, Congress approved to have In God We Trust. And then one of the last official act by President Lincoln before he was assassinated was on April the 14th, 1865, that he signed that into action.

And God We Trust was officially declared to be the motto of the United States on July the 20th, 1956. So almost a hundred years later. Yeah.

That's incredible. And then we see it show up on our currency. And I think we've been using it for so long that it got to be to where it was a point, it moved from a point of indifference to now almost antagonism. Like people look at the things that are going on in our country and they'll say things like, you know, I just can't believe what's happening or America has really lost its way. It's such a horrible nation. Other nations in Europe or wherever have it right. And people go so far as to say, like, I'm leaving, I'm going, you know, like, like they're making this big deal about saying that America has been corrupt right from its founding. Right. Right.

And that's not true at all. The passage that often comes to my mind on July the 4th or the weekend of July the 4th is Psalm 33 verse 12, which is blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he has chosen as his own inheritance. Now this, this passage is in a sense reflected in many of our national monuments. So think about the capstone on the Washington monument has the words, Laus Deo. Laus Deo in Latin means?

Praise be to God. Because we saw that when we went to the Washington that's right. That's right. We filmed there in 2017.

I want to say 17. Yep. 2017. Yep.

And then in the Capitol building over the east doorway of the Senate chamber are the words annuit coeptis, which is Latin for God has favored our undertakings. We tried to film there. Do you remember, do you remember what they had?

They had all the scaffolding around them. Oh yeah. It did not look nice at all. It was, it was very dumpy looking now it looks good.

It looks great. All the work has been done. And then the same statement is also found on the great seal of the United States. And then the slogan and God we trust as we just are discussing it today is found over the south entrance of the Senate chamber in the house chamber, which is, you know, kind of behind the president and the state of the union address if you've ever seen that. And as you mentioned on our money and then also our pledge of allegiance ends with one nation under God with liberty and justice for all.

That's right. And I think all of these examples kind of point back to Psalm 33, where it says blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. I mean, all this stuff is not by mistake.

It's very intentionally done. Like you put in God, we trust over the president. You put it in your pledge, you put it in all these places because it's showing that your nation is founded on Judeo Christian values.

And what will keep us alive and thriving and coming out of crisis after crisis is the fact that we do believe in the living true God. Do you think people mistake ideals, like ideals that a nation holds for like some hypothetical utopia that they don't see existing? And so they get upset. It's like we are founded on these ideals and these principles and when, because we're human beings and we don't hit that, that we haven't created this perfect utopia, somehow it was corrupt from the very beginning. Right.

And that's not true at all. This, this nation has a history. There are problems. There were things that happened that shouldn't have never happened. Of course we admit to that, but that's when repentance and revival comes in. But to say that, Oh, God was never at the heart of who we are. God was never, these were godless people who were doing godless things to benefit themselves.

I think you're really overstating your case. Let's be accurate to history, which means go back to the records, go back to what people were talking about. That's where we find our history. Now, if you don't want to do that and you want to create history of your own or what we call rewriting history, what, what is your source?

Your source is an agenda. See, I'm okay with historical revisionism. As long as you have new evidence, you have a complete evidence. Previously had a partial view of the past, but now you have all this evidence and you have more views.

So, okay, let's expand it. Let's rewrite, let's revise history, but that's not always the case. If we're going to rewrite history. And I like that. That's not, that's not something I would have expected to hear, but it does kind of, it does, it kind of goes in with, with what we're going to talk about on tomorrow's show too, like going back and finding sources that, that validate your viewpoint. But I think that's true. It's like, okay, we can rewrite it.

If it's true, if you find that new evidence and it's true, then of course let's have that conversation. Let's start to rewrite things. But based on a cultural movement or a new ideology that's starting to surface, let's just rewrite history to fit this new narrative. Right.

And that's not fair. Yes. We can have different ways of looking at our past based on theories and understanding, but as long as they're really reflecting the past and not just taking our agenda of today, like a reader response criticism, right? That's just a reader creates meaning. Okay.

Well, just, just let's not call it history anymore. Do you see that a lot? I know this is kind of deviating, but do you see that a lot in textual criticism or not in textual criticism, but just in like biblical scholarship? Yeah.

Yeah. And, and thank goodness most people dismiss those things and go, okay, that like feminist interpretation or gay interpretation or liberation theology interpretation. These are people coming with some very thick glasses, very colored glasses, and they are interpreting the past or for us the text in a whole different way. And it's no longer the text. It's just whatever they want it to be.

But then that's not called an interpretation. This is your thing. Right. Right.

We'll, we'll get into that a little bit more, a little bit more on tomorrow's episode. It's an exciting topic. It is.

It really is. And there's a, there's a guy in the Renaissance period who felt very much like you do where, no, let's get back to the source and see what actually happened. We're talking about Erasmus.

That's right. But, you know, talking about Psalm 33, this was something that I really didn't expect because we don't typically talk. When I, when I think about the Lord and nations, I think about like the, the, the actual narrative of the Old Testament, not the poetry. I don't, I don't think about these Psalms that David wrote. Did David even write this Psalm? Was this one of the Psalm of David?

It doesn't have the superscription, the title. And so often people have said, we don't know who wrote Psalm 33, but, but when we study this and what scholars have found is that Psalm 33 in a sense was a continuation of Psalm 32. And you have to kind of lay them side by side and see how one ends and the other one begins. So when you, when you put them side by side, like Psalm 32 verse 11 says, be glad in the Lord and rejoice you righteous and shout for joy, all you upright in heart. That's how Psalm 32 ends. Now pay attention to how Psalm 33 begins. Rejoice in the Lord, all you righteous for praise from the upright is beautiful. Yeah. It seems like they are either one Psalm or it's definitely like you turn the page and it's the next.

It's a continuation. So if you, if you keep that in mind, then just the fact that Psalm 33 did not have a title, no problem, because I think the title for Psalm 32 is also the title for Psalm 33 and Psalm 32, the title says, is Psalm of David a contemplation. It's funny because we were talking about the Psalm.

We did, we did a couple episodes on Psalms and you helped me. I was taking a class on Psalms, I think a couple of semesters ago. And that was one of the things that you pointed out to me is that the lines in Psalms come typically in couplets.

They come in like, here's this, here's this response. Like you, it's very rare that you find Psalms that don't have verses within the Psalm grouped together as couplets and mirroring ideas of each other. So for these two, the end of this one and the beginning of this one to almost be saying the same thing. Which means they were maybe subdivided so that they can, they can be sung differently or different times because one is more focused on David's lives. Like Psalm 32, we know David is talking about the blessing of being forgiven, right? He's talking about in verse two, blesses the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity and in whose heart there is no deceit. The words, he's using different words here, like three different words to be, to be accurate in these two verses, he says, Peshah rebellion against God.

Kata is sin turning away from the true path. And then havon means distortion, means the absence of any kind of respect for God's will. This is Hebrew. This is Hebrew.

Yes, yes, of course. So what is needed is confession. What is needed is repentance.

What happens if this is not going to take place? Verse three tells us, when I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long. So what David is saying here is I'm breaking down.

I'm tired. I'm aching because I'm not repenting. So what needs to happen is that words of repentance should take place.

It's interesting you said that because what I see going on around me today, cause I mean, we're on, we're all on social media, we're on TikTok, we're on Instagram, we're on YouTube and we're seeing this, we're seeing a lot of talking, but not a lot of good talk. There's no words of repentance happening as a nation. It's anger and it's blame and it's justification and it's this and it's that.

But I can't think of any words of repentance that I've been hearing in the popular conversation out there today. And how does God take that? Well, David tells us for day and night, your hand was heavy upon me. Suppose if you're listening on the radio show or podcast or watching on YouTube, watching this video, you feel like God's hand is heavy upon me, upon you. And he says my vitality was turned into the drought of summer.

You feel like almost you're parched. Could it be that it's the heaviness of sin, whatever that sin is, whatever you're unwilling to let go or seek God's forgiveness and God's grace in your life. My encouragement to you is begin by confession and repentance.

Yeah. And that's a tough pill to swallow because you have to take a look at yourself in the mirror. I don't like to do it. I can't stand to confront sin in my life. I hate it because I have an image of who I think I am and then I have to confront who God actually sees me as, like the real me. And to admit that I'm wrong.

I am wrong. That's hard. For all of us it's hard. But then David begins his confession and his repentance. He talks about, I acknowledge my sin, my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. So when you ask God to forgive you, he forgives you. Whatever you've done, whether towards God, towards others, when you ask him and say, God, I have sinned, I messed up. I messed up. I really did.

And maybe as I'm saying it, I truly do not even understand the depth and the weight of saying I messed up. But when you do, here's what happens. Verse six, for this cause, everyone who is godly shall pray to you in a time when you may be found. Surely in a flood of great waters, they shall not come near him.

So the command is to pray for the godly, the righteous, and maybe the reference here, maybe to Noah's flood. If so, then we are to stand in the gap for others. I think that's key because as a nation, it's difficult to, it's going to be impossible to rally every single person in the nation and say, okay, we all have to individually repent for what the nation's done. Because many people don't know the Lord. How are they going to do that? Right.

And even the ones that do sometimes aren't willing to. I didn't do that. I've never, you know, gone out and had an abortion. I didn't have prayer removed from school and all this stuff.

I didn't do it. As a nation and as Christians, I like what you just said, we're supposed to be standing in the gap for others. Right. And that's what David is doing here. And he says, you are my hiding place. Verse six, this is verse seven.

We're still talking about Psalm 32. You shall preserve me from trouble. You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will guide you with my eye. So as God says, I'm going to guide you. In verse nine, he's warning those people who are refusing to repent. Do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no understanding. It means don't be a donkey.

Harnessed with bitt and bridle else they will not come near you. God has to like grab you, you mule headed person. You're stubborn, man. It's stubborn and people are stubborn.

Go on TikTok. I just promise you, go watch any other popular podcast out there and watch these people just argue with each other. Just talking about nothing at all. We'll never in a meal, even if they're proven wrong, we'll never admit it. We'll shut down. They'll get up.

I've seen people get up and walk right off the set. Yeah. Too much to lose to say I am wrong and I need forgiveness and God is the one who can forgive me. And so verse 10, he says, many sorrows shall be to the wicked, but he who trusts in the Lord mercy shall surround him. And then verse 11, be glad in the Lord and rejoice you righteous and shout for joy. All you upright and hard means when your transgressions are forgiven and then comes chapter or Psalm 33 verse one, which is rejoicing the Lord. Oh, you righteous for praise from the upright is beautiful because you have now done what needed to be done, which is confess, which is repent. Now you're ready to praise and now you're ready to shout. It's almost like we want to get to Psalm, we want to have Psalm 33 without having to go through Psalm 33. I want to just be able to rejoice and have the blessings. I don't want to repent. Right. But if these Psalms are connected, in fact, if these songs were one in the same, then you cannot get to Psalm 33 unless you go through Psalm 32.

Wow. Confession, repentance leads to joy and gladness. And then comes verse two, praise the Lord with a harp, make melody to him with an instrument of 10 strings.

Sing to him a new song, play skillfully with a shout of joy for the word of the Lord is right. And all his work is done in truth. He loves righteousness and justice. The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. Righteousness said that justice mishpah by the word of the Lord, the heavens were made means.

Now you begin to see the world and go, no, this is not evolution. This is not some random act that brought this world together. You can see the handiwork of God.

Right. And then you can even see he gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap. He lays up the deep in storehouses, let all the earth fear the Lord, let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. I mean, this is now just, just, just, how do I say this? Spontaneous and yet it is planned. That's the best word to put for it because it's like, he's, it's gotten to this point where he just can't even... It's just overflowing.

Yeah, it's an overflow. That's the perfect word for it. And that's the most real praise that I've ever read. But guess what the church wants to do. That's what people want to do. Forget about repentance. Forget about confession of sin. I want to have the overflow. I want that. So I'm going to pretend and I'm going to get all hype, but you, you still have sin. Yeah. I can get around that.

I can write a song that just, that takes us to that place and I can make the chords build and I can make the dynamics build. And listen, I, we, I hear you. I'll repent.

I promise I'll repent, but right now I want this right now. Yeah. And the self is still sitting on the corner of your heart and God's not in it. But now things have been done the right way. And so David is just exalting God because his heart is clean. And then it says in verse eight, let all the earth fear the Lord. He's talking to the people now. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spoke and it was done.

He commanded and it stood fast. The Lord brings the council of the nations to nothing because now it begins to expand on the geopolitical scene. It's not just about him. It's not just about the people of God. It's not just about his community, but it also expands to the world. The Lord brings the council of the nations to nothing means as the world powers are doing what they're doing. We no longer fear, but you see how it's connected to my personal sin life.

Yes. He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. The council of the Lord stands forever. The plans of his heart to all generations. Now verse 12, you want to read it? Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he has chosen as his own inheritance. So to get to that place of blessed as a nation, we as individual believers have to cleanse our hearts. Christians forget that some of God's promises are conditional. We think, and maybe we don't think it in our front brain, but somewhere we get this feeling that God has promised to be good to us.

So he's just going to do it and I've just got to get through all of the evils and the hardships of life. But it says, what was the, there was a, there was a verse in second Chronicles that you always used to say. Second Chronicles 7 14, if my people called by my name will humble themselves, pray, seek my face, turn from the wicked ways. Then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land.

That's right. And I love that verse because it perfectly lays out that point. If this, if you do this, I will be faithful.

And you know, you often hear people say we as a nation, no, we as individuals, then the nation beautiful camp can't agree more. You guys enjoy today's topic, or you have suggestions for future topics. Be sure to let us know, send us a text of two five two five eight two five zero two eight. You can also visit us online at clear view today show.com. And don't forget, you can support us financially on that same website. Very grateful for everybody who's donated so far. You are helping us take the gospel out into the world and make an impact for God's kingdom. Again, that's Clear view today show.com. We love you guys, and we'll see you tomorrow on Clear View Today.