Do You Trust God or The Government?- Part 5

Blessings to Israel presents Discerning the Times, a program committed to encouraging you to view current events through the lens of the Bible.

Now, in honor of the one and only true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, please join us for today's program. The police now are so busy watching churches that the man who's selling drugs and running that business, he almost, he almost have carte blanche because the tickets are being issued to churches. We're going to ticket the church for an outdoor service. We're going to ticket the church. We're going to check the church. We're going to terrorize and intimidate the church. We're in something.

But I tell you what, the abortion industry cooking with gas. Wickedness is still on the prowl and they don't want you to say anything about it. We're in a situation that is beyond human comprehension.

We didn't see this coming. Welcome to the program. My name is Brian Thomas alongside today, my cohost, Dr. Bruce Logan. It is such an honor to be with you on Discerning the Times.

And we're going to wrap up this week our talk on the fallout, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, what we've seen transpire over the past three years. But before we get into that, I want to remind you as I always do that your eternal state is far more important than your current state. So for those of you who have never received Jesus Christ as Lord and savior, if you do not come to him, your eternity will be spent in a lake of fire, separated from our almighty God. So I urge you, I exhort you to come to Jesus Christ today.

Will you receive the gift of salvation and inherit eternal life? All right, folks. And once again, we're listening this week to clips from pastor, uh, Patrick wooden of the upper room church of God in Christ, who we've been listening to for the past several weeks, that was from 2020 in which we were really at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and the mandates were rolling out and shutdowns, all kinds of things were happening. He was speaking to that. And so I thought it would be interesting to look at what he was speaking of three years ago. And we've also been listening to Neil Oliver, GBN news anchor in what he's had to say recently in looking back on the past three years. So we're listening to that to compliment our discussion. So we're going to pull in now my cohost, Dr. Bruce Logan, and docs always great to speak with you. And what are your thoughts as we again, close out this series here on the, the COVID-19 rollout and what Bishop wooden was having to say as, you know, we, we didn't see this coming.

Well, first of all, I would just like to, uh, uh, thank you and tell you, uh, once again, how honored it is for me to be here and get a chance to share with the, our, our listening audience and how grateful I am for the opportunity. Um, and in regards to what Bishop, uh, wooden, uh, spoke about there in that little, uh, small clip, um, basically ended when he concluded that clip, he pretty much summarize what I've been saying, you know, for the past three years, uh, in which he closed out by saying, or that clip closed out with him, uh, saying that we are living in a time that we're experiencing things in our world. And he used the words, quote unquote, that's beyond our human comprehension. And, and, and he said that in relation to all of the things and basically summarizing all of the things that he had previously spoke about as he was highlighting and pointing out, uh, the various, uh, attacks that's been going on throughout our culture. And he specifically was referring to the attack on the Christian church, how Christians were being persecuted.

And, and we, and as if you're a listener, I'm going to assuming that I'm on a rather assume that the majority of those who are listening to this program are believers. And if you're listening to this program, I really need you to lock in to this particular point because there was a direct attack. Everything that happened was a direct attack on the Christian church.

And to put it into perspective, just think about this. We weren't allowed to go to church or gather publicly in search, but we're, they were allowed to protest in the street and riot and burn cars and burn down buildings and loot that was, that was allowed. And the media referred to it as a peaceful protest. And also we were allowed to go to Walmart, but we weren't allowed to go down the street to our local coffee shop, but we could go to target and Walmart.

Okay. Think about, just think about the overall ramifications, the big picture scheme that was unfolded right before our eyes that most book leavers were really oblivious to the big picture ramifications that were taking place. And I just want to just make sure I get this point in because of the things that we experienced over the last two years. As a matter of fact, let me just, let me interject this real quick because I didn't want to really forget to mention this point because it's something I saw in the news or it came across my Facebook feed rather just yesterday. And there was a little boy, I think he was eight years old, I believe. And somebody listening who saw this same article could correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it was in Oklahoma where this young eight-year-old boy got sent home from school because he had a t-shirt on that said on the front of his t-shirt, there are only two genders.

And he got called into the office and sent home for having that t-shirt or those words on his t-shirt. As Bishop Wooden said, we're living in an unprecedented period of time. And it's just something that I believe that we as believers need to have a big picture outlook or biblical outlook or look through what's happening in our world, as you always say at the introduction of this show, through the lens of the Bible. In other words, we need to begin to view current events and world events, and particularly the events of the last three years through the lens of the Bible.

And in doing so, it will greatly enhance our level of critical thinking, our level of discernment of the times that we're living in. Yeah. And I think back to, as you said, back in 2020, that summer where all those protests were happening. And I recall when they were trying to shut down the churches, the justification is that they were saying, well, these would be super spreader events.

You remember that term? They were calling things super spreader events whenever people gathered together to worship. But yet there are people out there in the streets, they were rioting. They were, were destroying property, thousands of people. And when they were questioned, and when I say they, I mean, the powers that be who were the ones handing out these orders when they said, well, is that not a super spreader event? Their response was, well, people have the right to peacefully protest. Now we know, of course, those protests were not peaceful. You mentioned in the past weeks about how the reporter is standing there.

I think it was on CNN and the building is on fire behind him. And he's saying, well, yeah, we, we see in these peaceful protests out here. So the whole thing is just, you know, if it wasn't real life, you could laugh at it and say, it's comical.

That is a joke. But we know that as you've said, there are nefarious things going on. And, uh, to, to say that churches gathering is, is a super spreader event, but yet people can gather out in the streets and thousands can, can rub shoulder to shoulder and to say, well, that's okay.

Uh, we, we know that there are things going on. There are agendas and you know, doc, the thing that gets me, and we've talked about it so much in the past, but the, the preachers, the pastors that were so willing to, to shut the churches down and just say, well, you know, man, we, we gotta be safe. You know, God expects us to have common sense. What, what, what just for me, what are your thoughts about that? Cause I, that's something that I still just cannot get past the number of pastors that were so easily willing to just close church down and say, we're going to stay home.

Well, in my, in my opinion, um, and I know that this will, will seem controversial to a lot of people. And then some people might even be offended by what I'm about to say, but actually I, I consider the fact that of all the things that happened over the past three years, the fact that, uh, Christian leaders and pastors were so willing to just shut their churches down, um, on behalf of the government without even asking questions. And that was the alarming part without even giving it a second thought, just shutting down without even thinking about questioning, um, you know, the validity or the veracity of, of, of shutting, of the idea of shutting down. I mean, it did, it made absolutely no sense, but it demonstrate the fact that as, that as leaders, there was a tremendous lack of discernment. And when the leadership lacks discernment of the times that we're living in, then it is bold. It doesn't bode well for the congregation, for the members, for the average lay person who is looking to the Christian leader, looking to the pulpit for answers, looking to the pulpit for discernment, for understanding. And when the leaders don't have discernment, when the leaders, uh, make decisions that are not biblical, then that reverberates throughout all the congregation. And then that also reverberates throughout all of our various communities, because the real out, the reality is, is that most of our, most of our churches, most of our, uh, uh, religious institutions are made up of individuals in their respective communities.

And when you really put that into perspective, that when, when the church is, is shut down, that impacts the community at large, or even when the church is not being the church to put it another way, to put it more succinctly when the church is not being the church that has a negative impact on the community or the respective communities at large. And we need to, I mean, pastors need to go back and revalue. We can't go back and relive the last three years. So that I understand, but what we do need to be able to do is to reflect upon the last three years and reflect as individual pastors on the decisions that were made and be, you know, come forth, right with your congregations and, and really start teaching the Bible, start teaching Bible prophecy, start teaching, uh, the things that, uh, are pertinent or relative to the times that we're living in.

Um, because that is the least we can do. We can't go back and change the last three years. We can't go back and change decisions, you know, cause all of us, you know, myself included would say, you know, if I could just live my life over, if I can go back the last 20 years, all, I think all the time about all the different things I would do different. So we can't go back and do that, but we can reflect on the decisions that we've made and how we can do better, how we can improve upon, how we can be transparent to those who look up upon us. And, and I think that that will be my word to pastors, um, that you just go back and re-examine the decisions you made and be forthright with your congregations and really teach the word of God and be honest and open and transparent and, and most of all discerning, um, when it comes to your delivery of, uh, the, the word of God from your respective pulpits.

Yeah, that's, that's the key. You, you really nailed that because no one is expected to be perfect. As you said, we're not perfect. We've done things wrong that, yeah, we wish we could go back and do it over again.

And to what Bishop Woodin was saying that, well, we didn't see this coming. And the key there though, is that when it did come, then respond in the proper way. But for those who did not then learn from it. And that's all you really ask is for people to be willing to say, well, okay, that was a wrong decision.

We didn't handle that properly, repent of it and do it better the next time. But what's such a head scratcher for me, doc is I, I just, I feel that a lot have not learned because I see them pastors that he is still today that are, are standing around and they're scratching their heads saying, okay, now that we've reopened church, why aren't the people coming back? Why aren't people willing to come to Bible study anymore?

And they really seem dumbfounded as to why that is. And I was saying back then, three years ago, the longer you keep the church doors closed, the more and more people are going to get into the habit of staying home and they're not coming back. And the thing about it on top of that is you were sending the message that is too dangerous to come to church.

That worship of God is not worth the risk. That was the message that was being sent. And so now they can't get the people to come back in the same numbers that they were in before.

But to me, it, it, it really should have been a no brainer. So the other thing is I want to transition into, which is probably the biggest topic of we've seen the last three years is the shots. That has been the thing that as much as we talk about the mask and the shutdowns, the, the shots, that's the, that's been the thing that's really gotten people worked up in a frenzy.

So let's listen to Neil Oliver, GBN news anchor. He's speaking recently on the COVID shots. Then there's the so-called vaccines for COVID. I deliberately say so called because by now it should be clear to all, but the willfully blamed that those injections do not work as advertised.

You can still contract the virus, still transmit the virus, still get sick from the virus and still die of the virus. Denmark has dropped their use for under 18 all across the world. Every day, more evidence emerges. However, grudgingly, however much the various complicit authorities and big pharma companies might hate to admit it of countless deaths and injuries caused by those medical procedures. And yet here in Britain and just about everywhere else, governments continue to try and get those needles into as many arms as possible.

Even the arms of the smallest and youngest. Doc, when these things were rolled out, I remember it distinctly. They were calling it a vaccine and they said it is supposed to give you immunity so that you will not catch the virus. Well, we know, of course it wasn't long before they changed tunes and they said, okay, well, it'll keep you from getting as sick or it'll keep you from transmitting it.

They even changed. When I say they, the CDC even changed the definition of a vaccine during this time because it was not doing what they claimed it would do. But yet, uh, there were so many people that really hung everything on these shots, these vaccines.

What are your thoughts? Well, first of all, um, again, you, you kind of stated that very well, but just to add a little, a little bit more to that. Um, the fact of the matter is, is that it has gone unreported or, or, or through the media, it's been sorta marginalized. The number of people who have died as a result or have had severe life changing, uh, or life altering, uh, physical damage, uh, like mothers becoming, uh, inability to, uh, losing ability to have children for an example, uh, because of the results of this vaccine. Um, we, we've heard reports just numerous that have gone pretty much undefined or unexamined by the media where perfectly healthy athletes were dropping dead on the spot. And the truth of the matter is that we also, we, we, we were, those who are big NFL football fans, those of us who love watching, you know, Monday night football and NFL football, we actually watched the young, healthy young man, like in the perfect, uh, in perfect health drop and drop and had to be resuscitated right on live TV.

And we still have not heard the, the reason why, or the specifics of why this young man dropped and almost died right there on the field. And we're talking about, and when you, just to put it in perspective, we're talking, when you're talking about a professional athlete, you're not only talking about someone who's in peak physical, elite physical condition, but we're also talking about individuals who have access to the, to the most modern, uh, uh, medical technology that, that, that exists on planet earth. Because, you know, the NFL, you know, I mean, they're, they're like, basically they just print money. The NFL is just that wealthy. And, and they have access, they provide because their, their athletes are their product. And so they want to make sure that their product are in peak health and they spare, spare no expense of making certain that they have the best possible medical care for their athletes.

Just think about it. If that would have been somebody like you and I just would have, we would have just dropped our heart stop like that. How many of us, uh, would have, or average citizen would have had the, uh, access to the instantaneous medical treatment that this young man received, where he was able to get resuscitated within seconds or within minutes rather. And most of us don't have access to that level of technology or that level of medical care where, so that kind of gives you an idea that this is happening throughout the world. I've read about soccer players dropping dead. Uh, there was a football player for, I believe it was Notre Dame from that mistaken in this past fall who just dropped dead walking to class, walking, he left practice, walking to class and just dropped dead.

Um, and then when our heart just stopped, you know, and, and, and these were all individuals that had been back. And so there's so many accounts of so many occurrences, um, that, that have gone underreported or virtually unreported, um, about the negative effects of these vaccines. But, but what also is troubling is the fact that how the media marginalized and undermine the ad, this idea of natural immunity. Now they're starting to acknowledge what year or two, a year ago, two years ago, we would get censored. You know, people would get censored for talking about the efficacy of natural immunity over the vaccine.

We would get censored for putting out fake news. Now they're admitting the, the, uh, the, the, um, the, how natural immunity is actually far better in the long run than these vaccines. And so it was just, it's just so unbelievable how we have been just deceived on so many different levels. And it goes back to the fact that as I mentioned earlier, how we need to begin as believers, because we got to separate the believing or the believers worldview from the secular worldview, because we cannot expect the secular mind to understand that there's something nefarious happening in the atmosphere and none of this is coincidental. And so we, but as believers, we need to, we need to be discerning. We need to be understanding. We need to have, be critical thinkers. We need to ask questions. We need to not just accept what we're being told randomly without really thinking through it.

And I want to just make this one quick analogy. If, if no, nobody that I know of would go to the doctor and let's say, you, you know, you find a lump on your leg and the doctor says, there's a lump. It could be cancerous. Let's cut your leg off. And you just say, okay, just cut it off.

Nobody would do that. Everybody that I know, I mean, every human being probably living with, okay, well, is there a second opinion? There's a third opinion.

Is there other alternative treatment options? I mean, you would ask questions. You wouldn't just accept what was said in the initial diagnosis and just go with that without ever asking any questions.

Nobody would do that. And, but, and when it came to COVID, that's exactly what the entire world did. When we just basically accepted, including believers, including leaders, we accepted the diagnosis from the world, from the media, from politicians, without even asking questions.

And I just think that that's a problem when it comes to them, the, the vaccine, that's a problem when it comes, when it came to the COVID mandates, all of that is a problem that I think we need to reevaluate. Yeah. I agree with you. As believers. Yeah.

I agree with you totally. And, and that is the reason why that so many people, when they came to the church, they were willing to just stay home because they were afraid of death. I was talking with the pastor who did not want to shut down church. And he said, this, this thing has allowed us to see how many people really fear death. Because the thing is, is that, as I said earlier, we took the approach of God is worth the risk because if we die as a result of COVID or whatever, as believers, we're going to be with Jesus Christ. And that's the thing that we claim as believers that we're looking forward to, but you see how many people really have that fear of death. And that is what has, has really been the thing that has played on people's fears.

We listened to last week, the, the resident up in Washington, DC, who said, it's about a, it's a campaign of fear. And that is why so many people were willing to just run out and take this shots without thinking twice about it because of the fear of death. And I even heard a medical personnel say on television not too long ago, he said, five years prior to COVID, how many people would have been willing to go out and take a shot that we said, okay, we just developed it in a matter of months, but this will prevent you from catching the disease in the future. Hardly anybody would be willing to do that. Something that has not been properly tested is actually only authorized for emergency use.

How many people would do that? He said, nobody would, but when COVID came along, they were able to, to put fear in people. As you talk about the media, they kept those tickers going on the screen 24 seven of the number of cases and the number of so-called deaths and they put fear in people. And that is what I want to now listen to Bishop Wood and talking about that very thing. And again, remember he's speaking back in May of 2020, he's talking about that very thing, the scare tactics that we saw coming from the media. Oh, we got all of these so-called professionals and they're baffled too.

Praise the Lord. We got to trust the science and trust the medicine. Well, the science and the medicine keeps changing. And then they'll admit, well, when we said what we said to you the last time, well, we went on that information. Well, the information changed. So now we're changing.

Well, whether they keep trust, how you gonna trust somebody who keeps changing, especially when they build again what they once destroyed. Yeah, God knows how to allow quandaries to take place. And while all of this is going on, as a man of God, I'm telling you, I've said it before, I'll say it again. It's a pretext to something that is much more sinister taking place. And one of those things is our surrendering of our individual freedoms, our willingness. The world has shown the powers that be, that if you scare people, you just frighten them enough, they'll give up their constitutional rights. We're showing you how to quarantine healthy people.

And while quarantining the healthy, we are letting people who are in prison go free. Now, what kind of sense does that mean? Well, doc, I mean, there it is. That's exactly what we've been talking about over the past several years is that there has been this thing of putting fear in people to take away the constitutional rights.

Yes, sir. You know, I mean, we could just, we could, we could just like, I call that, we can use that what, what Bishop just said as I like to use the term, a mic drop moment. That was a mic drop right there, because he basically summarized everything that we can really say in regards to the past two years, because he used it, they used fear tactics, but he used these words. He used, this was a pretext. He said, this was a pretext of setting up for something that's much more sinister.

And I'm not even certain how much the Bishop even realized the full magnitude of those words. I'm assuming that he did, but, but, but those words really, when I heard, when I heard those words, they, I mean, it meant so much more to me because I believe that in a summary statement, that everything that has taken place in the past, in the past three years, and we can go, you know, we can point out things took place beyond three years ago, but, you know, referring to the events of the past three years in specific or specifically rather, that none of what happened was coincidental, random, or arbitrary, nothing. I mean, everything that happened was planned.

It was pretext. It was setting the precedent for something much more sinister as the Bishop said. And I believe that what we are literally experienced in over the past three years is that we saw, or we experienced the setting up of the precedent or the pretext for the coming one world government that the Bible speaks about, that the, that the anti-Christ after the rapture will eventually bring upon the earth. And when you think about it, that the fear, whenever you have a crisis, crisis, you know, brings about fear, you know, because, you know, we're still human, we're still descendants of Adam. We still have that sin nature, which fear is a part of, but with the pretext, the precedent has been established. So if you can imagine what happened with the world economy, what happened with, you know, around the world, the different agendas that came out around the world economically, what happened to the stock market, imagine if it was bad with COVID, imagine when millions upon millions of people are instantly taken up from the earth in the moment, in the blink of an eye, imagine the fear, imagine the anxiety that's going to take place here on planet earth.

But what we have is that there's been the precedent, you know, where a great leader can rise to the moment and say, you know what, the world is in a crisis and here are some of the things that we need to do. We need to come together as a global community, which is that, you know, you can hear that, that language is being used all the time now because the world is being set up, you know, we're being set up, that term global community is going to be a time for a global community to come together and put forth measures, right? Am I, is that the language that they use? That's their language, right?

And they're using that language all the time. And so the world is going to hear that language and it's going to, and everybody is just going to capitulate without thinking. We're going to give up our constitutional rights and I say we, because hopefully we'll be gone, and which I know we'll be gone as a matter of fact.

But those who are remaining here on earth are going to just willingly just lay down their constitutional rights and hand it over to this one world leader, this one world government. And the precedent has been set, has been established. And as Bishop said, for something much, much more sinister. And I believe that is literally what's taken place here on earth. And I believe, and I just want to admonish, you know, believers and pastors especially to be discerning, to start walking your congregations through what God says in His word when it comes to these times and begin to examine what's happening in the world through the lens of the Bible. And I think that your perspective and your level of discernment will drastically increase.

Exactly. Because what we have this time that we're living in right now, I've been hearing things and seeing things that I really thought I would never see or hear. And I'm referring to specifically, I was watching an online church service. And matter of fact, my, my cousin told me about it. He watched it live and he shared it with me.

And so I went and watched it. And there was a lady there in the pulpit. She was actually advocating for people to take the shot. And the language that she used, this was her exact phrase. She said, we can trust Jesus Christ to save our souls, but we cannot trust Him to save us from COVID. And I was blown away by that in the church.

That's what we heard. And folks, it's, it's, if we think that's something you imagine, as you said, doc, how it was going to be when the tribulation comes, when the anti-crisis ruling, the type of things that the, the spirit of the age is going to have coming out of people's mouths. So we're going to wrap it up here, but I want to just play closing thoughts from first, um, Neil Oliver concerning this whole thing, and then pastor Wood. And I think gives very great perspective on how we should leave this topic and go forward as we prepare for the next thing that is to come. Is everywhere.

I trusted authority for most of my life. Now I ask myself on a daily basis how I ignored the stench for so long across the Atlantic, the Biden white house sent the FBI to raid the home of former president Donald Trump. Meanwhile, Joe Biden and his son Hunter, he have the laptop full of the most appalling and incriminating content fly together on air force one, no rates planned on the Obama's nor on the Clinton's speaker of the house. Nancy Pelosi flew to Taiwan and onwards to China, her son, Paul, an investor in a Chinese tech firm, and with seats on the board of companies dealing in lithium was along for the ride into that part of the world where three quarters of the world's lithium batteries are made.

Taiwan leads in that technology. It's hard to think the unthinkable. It's hard to think that all of it, all the misery, all the suffering of the past and to come might just be about money, greed, and power. It's hard to tell yourself you've been taken for a fool and taken for a ride.

It's hard, but the view from the other side is worth the effort and the pain. Open your eyes and see. In the midst of all of this Corona, this COVID, all of this trouble, he's able to bring us to safe Haven.

He's able to calm the calm he sees. I pray that more of you will watch heaven and call on the God of the Bible and read the Bible and seek the Lord. Then watch the news. Pray that you will put your confidence in the Lord and not in man. Well, we're going to wait and see what the president says and does.

We're going to wait and see what Tony Fauci says and does. We're going to wait on the pharmaceutical companies. That ain't where the Bible says we will renew our strength. The Bible says they that wait upon the law shall renew their strength. Our strength comes from trusting the God of the Bible.

Well, doc, I think that sums it up right there. I know so many pastors that I heard them say things like, well, we, we just waiting to hear what the governor says, or we're waiting to hear what the president says, but as pastor wooden said, trust in God. And so, uh, so I think that's a great way to end it, but what are your final thoughts before we wrap out the series? Yeah, I don't think I can add anything to what Bishop just said, because he pretty much summed it up that, and basically he, he kind of summarized what you say at the beginning of every one of these broadcasts is that we need to understand and see and view the world through the lens of the Bible, that we need to trust God and not man. And we need to see and recognize that, um, we need to be able to discern the signs of the time and discern events through the lens of the scripture. And we need to realize that the things that have happened over the past three years have put the world in a position that there might be a seamless transition to a one world government.

It's going to be seamless. And, and the thing we need to understand is that the word of God gives us information and perspective on everything that's happening in our world today is right there for us to read and to study. And I believe at the end of the day, we, as believers, aren't going to have any excuse at all whatsoever.

Yeah. Amen. Amen, brother. And folks, that's, that's why we talk about these things and it is really to, to bring about encouragement because as you said, doc, I truly believe that these things are about to unfold. That revelation speaks of concerning the anti-Christ in the last days. And as I heard someone say before, you know, it's almost like I can hear the trumpets beginning to sound.

And so that means we're about to be out of here. We're about to go home to be with the Lord and that should bring rejoicing to us. We shouldn't be afraid. We shouldn't fear.

We shouldn't be sitting around ringing our hands as if we don't understand what's going on because Jesus forewarned us that these things would take place in the last days. So doc, always great to speak with you. Look forward to having you again next week. And as we continue to discern the time, so glad to have you on and looking forward to speaking with you again. Thank you.

God bless you. And to our listeners, please come back and join us next week. Once again, as we continue to discern the times by view and life through the lens of the Bible. Until then, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Bless God's great nation of Israel to the only wise God be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen. Thank you for tuning into deserting the times. Please come back and join us next week as we continue to encourage you to view current events through the lens of the Bible. Until next time, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Bless God's great nation of Israel and seek first the kingdom of God. Discerning the times is presented by blessings to Israel.