When People Say "God Told Me"

This is the Truth Network. Give up. Welcome to Truth Talk Live. All right, let's talk the truth is. I can't hide it.

Oh yeah. A daily program powered by the Truth Network. This is kind of a great thing, and I'll tell you what. Where pop culture, current events, and theology all come together. Speak your mind.

And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host. Welcome to Truth Talk Live. This is Peter Rosenberger. Glad to be with you today.

Sorry I missed out last week. I was having a medical procedure, it was not fun. But thank you for the reprieve so that I could go get this done. I do this to take care of myself because. Healthy caregivers make better caregivers.

I've been saying that for years and years and years and years and years because we're no good to our loved one if we don't take good care of the one person taking care of them. And since I've been a caregiver for 40 years, I practice what I preach, so that's what was going on last week. Let me ask you something right out of the gate. Speaking of. hurting and going through tough things.

Has anyone ever said to you, particularly when you're hurting and going through tough things. The Lord told me. That they have a word from the Lord for you. Do you think he did? Do you think the Lord spoke to them audibly?

Dead. Clearly this was a divine Revelation. 866-348-7884-866-3688-8888-88 34 truth. I'd like to hear your thoughts on that. That's not a small statement.

When someone says the Lord told me. They're not offering an opinion. I mean, if you and I are talking, and I say, you know, you say, Peter told me, well, you were there, you heard it firsthand, Peter told you. To say that. The great I am Jehovah Jarrah.

Else you die. said something Two. oneself. Oh, that's a different story, isn't it? That's claiming authority.

That's saying this is not my thought, this is God speaking. In the King James, we say it. Thus saith the LORD. That's how it's written in in Scripture. But in our vernacular we say the Lord told me.

But in the same sense we're still saying, Thus saith the LORD Now scripture doesn't leave us guessing. on how to handle that, by the way. Says very plainly, Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. Do you do that? Do you test the spirits?

Mm-hmm. Does it sound like it's a suggestion? It sounds like it's a command.

So right away we know something that's important. Not everything that sounds spiritual is going to be from the Holy Spirit. And this isn't new. Even in the early church, people were taught to verify what they heard. In Acts 17, go back and read in the book of Acts, it says, Bereans were more noble because they received the message early, I mean, eagerly.

But then what did they do? They examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. The Apostle Paul didn't even get a free. free pass when he sent things to people. They examined the scriptures.

So why do we give one to somebody in the hallway. or in a hospital room who says, The Lord told me. The Lord told me. Uh we we say that, we hear that almost casually though. And people are saying that God is speaking to them.

Is he? Is that what's happening? Has this been your experience? Does does God speak? Does he speak to people and give them insight into your situation that you're dealing with?

Scripture repeatedly warns us that, and Jesus Himself said, beware of false prophets. who come to you in sheep's clothing. Matthew seven, fifteen. In other words, they don't look dangerous. They don't sound dangerous.

When Jesus said, He goes even further: false prophets are going to arise and perform great signs and wonders. Matthew 24, 24.

So this this isn't about just obvious error. This is about things that can look convincing. And Paul adds something even more sobering in 2 Corinthians 11, 14. Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

So something can sound spiritual. It can feel spiritual. It can even look impressive. and still not be from God.

Now let's bring this closer to home. This isn't Just about a theology class. This is about real life. This is about when you're exhausted, when you're scared, when you're trying to make a decision and someone says, The Lord told me what you should do. You say, Peter, that doesn't happen.

Yes, it does. We've had it more times than I can count in our life. When when when people suffer A lot of times What what's the first thing you ask when you go through something pretty tough? What's the first thing you usually ask? Not not everybody, but most people will ask why.

Why is this happening? Why her? Why me? God, why are you doing this? What's going on?

Why is it. But the moment you start asking why It seems that there's a lot of folks that are wanting that are going to want to answer that. And they're gonna wanna give what I call you know, the consolation of speculation. In Jeremiah 23, God says, I did not send these prophets, yet they ran. and again they are prophesying lies in my name.

This is nothing new under the sun. That's pretty strong language though. God saying just because someone says thus saith the Lord doesn't mean the Lord said it. And the standard in Scripture is not casual. Deuteronomy eighteen says If some one speaks in the name of the Lord, and what they say does not come to pass, That word was not spoken by the Lord.

And guess what? They executed false prophets. I'm not recommended that to day. But the point stands, God takes his name seriously. It's the third commandment, do not take the name of the Lord in vain.

And we think of that as when people use swear words. But if you're claiming to speak for God, if you're claiming that God has spoken to you and you have direct revelation now from God. Do you think that's a that's a serious place? And he tells us not to add to what he's already said. Deuteronomy 4:2: You shall not add to the word that I command you.

Was that a one time thing that Moses was saying? Or is that Blanket for the entire Word of God. Do we improve on scripture? Do we supplement it with private revelation? Are you seeing this?

Do you see that this is happening in circles around you?

Sometimes, you know, we can have insights and impressions about things and And and keenly kind of connect some dots. But is that revelation? Paul writes that all scripture is breathed out by God that the man of God may be complete. That's in 2 Timothy 3:16 through 17. It's complete, it's not lacking, and it doesn't need additions.

So when someone says, The Lord told me, You have a right. Actually you have a responsibility to ask, well, where has he already said this? Because if he hasn't already said it in his word, Then they are claiming new revelation. Chapter and verse. Tell me where he's already said this.

You know You don't have to get into a big argument, just say, Where where did he say this? Because if it's not anchored in Scripture, It does not carry. God's authority. And this matter be matters because of what it does to people. Paul warns, see to it that no one takes you captive by empty deceit.

That's in Colossians 2:8. Captive. That's what happens when somebody binds your conscience with something God didn't say. And Scripture is very clear about this. Romans tells us, whatever is not from faith is sin.

Your conscience answers to God. not to someone else's claim about what God supposedly told them.

So let me say this very painfully. And plainly. because I've had it walk this place. I've had to live in this place. You're not obligated to carry what God has not said.

Do I need to write that down? I'll be saying that one more time. Do you want to write that down? You're not obligated to carry what God has not said. You've already got enough to carry.

You don't need other people's speculation pressure or someone else's spiritualized opinion. That's stacked on top of that. Scripture simplifies for us. Test everything. Hold fast what is good.

Test it. Not reject everything, not accept everything, just test it. And we're going to talk about this more when we come back. 866. 34 Truth, 866-348-7884.

Has someone ever told you, hey, God told me something for you? We'll talk about it when we come back. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live. This is Peter Rosberger.

Glad to be with you, 866-348. 788486634th truth. If you want to be a part of the program, we're talking about something that has been, I've been watching this for decades, when people say, Yeah, the Lord told me. Lord told me. Did he?

You ever had somebody say that? Do you ever say that yourself? Do we get kind of casual with this sort of thing? And I pressed people on that and said, did he really say something to you?

Well, he said it in my heart. Is that different? I mean, what are we saying here? What's going on here? Did the Lord really tell you something?

Did The great I am speak to you. And let's be very precise here, because we're dealing with the name of God. We're dealing with His holiness His authority And if we wield it for our purposes, or try to wield it, we can't wield it, but if we try to, We're blaspheming and we're taking it in vain. And yet I see this all the time in our in our Christian culture. I'll give you an example.

I'll give you two examples. One of them is I'll give the first one Mm-mm. Let me share with something that happened about 12 years ago. Maybe a little bit longer. Gosh, it's been a little bit longer.

Sorry about that. The time has flown. And we were looking at doing a medical procedure with Gracie, and went to our pastor. and wonderful men, wise men. And we were vacillating on whether we should do this.

And we've been doing our due diligence, we've been working through all this, we've been trying to figure out what's the best call to make. and he said, Let me let me assure you of something. He said, you're not dealing with a sin issue. This is not a moral issue. You're not going to have to repent.

If you do this procedure or you don't do this procedure. You're seeking good medical counsel. You're sitting here with me. We're talking it through. You're seeking God's help.

You're going to Scripture. You're doing what is necessary. And then you make the decision and you trust God in it. That that was good good counsel. Biblical solid counsel to help us put it in perspective of what this issue is.

It's not a moral issue, it's not a sin issue.

Now, contrast that with many years ago when Gracie was wrestling with the decision to have her right leg amputated, it was her decision for both legs. But this was the first one. She was nervous. She was 25 years old. And a new mom, you know, we had a.

toddler And and She it was it was an agonizing decision. And these two ladies came up to us from our church, and I didn't know them that well. And I was young and I didn't have enough theological acumen to deal with this appropriately. I I cringe over it still. And they said, the Lord has told us that you're in rebellion if you go through with this amputation.

And God's going to heal her in June, and the surgery was scheduled for March. And you're in rebellion if you Do this. And they said those words to us.

Now look at the contrast. Look at the difference between those two. I had these two women who were way out of line. And what they were saying. And they're saying that God's going to heal her leg.

Well, he can make a leg, her leg was so damaged, it's not going to mean anything to God to heal it versus make it grow back. And yet They're saying that we're in rebellion.

So we would po postpone a surgery Because if if th these ladies had their way, to get this done.

Now what do you think about that? You ever met people like that? You say, well, Peter, that's just in certain churches. Is it? Because I hear an awful lot of people, even in places I would not expect it.

say what the Lord told me. The Lord told me. By the way, Gracie had the surgery. It's fine, and those ladies were Um Well That's a longer story. We can talk about that another time.

But one of them actually came up and ultimately apologized. And when the other one was, you know, Who knows, but You can't.

Well, never mind. I'm trying to be careful here, and uh Nick's gonna press a button and throw me off the air. But I I I look at people like that now and see the damage that they wield. And how many more people are dealing with that? Maybe you've been damaged by that.

And look at the contrast with the pastor who said, Look, you're not in a sin issue. You're trying to seek medical counsel. These are people that are gifted at what they do, they're skilled at what they do, they're trained at what they do, and they're giving you the best information in their storehouse. And regardless of which decision you make on this procedure, You're trusting God with it. After doing you need to do with the with the stewardship of this.

Do you see the difference it makes when you don't try to speak The Lord told me The Lord told me. And it's and it's damaging. to so many people who are in trauma because that in the trauma is when we have all the questions. And if you want to see this on parade Go look at the book of Job. Joke 213 is one of my favorite Vieces of Scripture, I mean, favorite verses of scripture.

It says, and they were silent for seven days because they saw his suffering was great. They just sat with him. They were they didn't say anything for seven days. Which which is amazing. And we got people that don't know how to be quiet for s seven minutes.

when people are suffering. And then they started talking. And then you get thirty... plus chapters of bad theology out on parade as these guys speculated, like I said in the last block, the consolation of speculation. They speculate.

You know, maybe this is what happened. Maybe this is what happened. You know, why what you know? People, when you were struggling with calamity, People will try to speculate. I don't know if you've noticed this or not, but they do.

What did you do? No kidding, my wife's laying in in the hospital, 17 years old. She's in traction. Bust it up. Everything is they I Her prosthetist, the guy that ended up building her legs, she lost a much later than the wreck.

He told me that he talked with the surgeons that were there that night. when they brought her in, and they stopped counting at two hundred breaks.

Okay, it was a catastrophic wreck. She's seventeen. And Gracie is is an exceptional human being, has an amazing story, all the way back to when she was a little girl in in Corey Tin Boone, Let her to the Lord. I mean, this is this is an exceptional woman. And and this person comes in the hospital room, so what did you do that God would do this to you?

Now think through that a minute. What do you think that does to a seventeen year old? What does what does it do to a seventy year old? If God was in the business of handing out two hundred brake car wrecks, for for his displeasure. Which of us would be walking?

And yet, we just say these things so glibly in our society. Because we're trying to figure out why God's doing something, and then sometimes when we think we have a handle on it, we'll superimpose our words over His. And this is what Scripture is saying, test every spirit. You don't have to listen to this stuff. I I heard a I saw a clip the other day of John MacArthur and boy I tell you what we we lost some really good ones here as of late hasn't haven't we But he served the Lord faithfully.

Somebody asked him, said what authority do you have? over the people in your church. And I think they were trying to do a Baptist question. you know, you're you're telling everybody what to do. And MacArthur answered, he said, I don't have any authority over him.

Scripture has authority. That is the only authority. For all of us is the Word of God. Do we believe that? Do you see that that is common?

In your church? Is that the way it is in your church? Has that been your experience that that Pastors adhere to that, that scripture alone We've been seeing lately The Pope is weighing in and you had these three cardinals up there saying this is an unjust war. Uh and A are they right? Because they're claiming to speak for the church, and the church can interpret scripture, basically.

And if you look at the way the Catholic Church has been. It's they're the ones that are deciding what scripture. The churches. Is that the way it works? Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my Word And so I was watching these cardinals, and then I saw a thing the other day where.

Um, on Mark Levin, he pulled out a whole Series of things from the catechism of the Catholic Church showing exactly. why this war is happening and according that the catholic church would Bradly endorse it, but they're out there saying this, basically, thus saith the Lord, kind of moments. and speaking for God as the church And scripture says, test every spirit. Do you do that? Let's talk some more.

This is Truth Talk Live, 866-34-TRUTH. We'll be right back. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live. This is Peter Rosenberger.

Glad to be with you today, 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348. seventy eight eighty four. And I Uh I've been talking about testing every spirit. And I think that's important for us as believers that we test it. But now, what does that look like to test something?

Well, What are you tested against? What what are you comparing it to? What do you compare it to? Do you go and say, well, this guy over here said the Lord told me something, and you go ask another guy? What do you you know, the Lord did the Lord tell you that?

No, you go back to Scripture. And you've heard me say this over and over and over and over on this program. If we don't know our Scripture If we don't know what the Word of God says, How are we going to test it? How are we not going to be yanked into all kinds of Error. When Jesus was being tempted by Satan.

Everything he said in response was what? It is written. It is written. It is written. There's a great interview.

If you get a chance, go out and take a look at it. It's surreal to watch. Uh you can find it somewhere in in the the basement of YouTube. And It's Billy Graham being interviewed BY WOODY Allen I kid you not. I kid you not.

Billy Graham being interviewed by Woody Allen. And Woody Allen's being.

Now, remember, Woody Allen is Jewish, and I don't know how committed he is to Judaism. I don't know anything about his. Walk with with God. Or lack thereof, other than what he has publicly acted like and said. That's all I know.

So I'm just but I don't think he and Billy Graham are on the same page. biblically. I think I could say that with confidence. All right, so Billy Graham's sitting there, and he's very pleasant, very nice. And Woody Allen is being kind of cute and funny and trying to make little digs and things like this.

And well, what about this? And he would throw out these little scenarios. And if go watch the interview, don't take my word for it, go watch it. And Billy Graham responds Every time.

Well, the Scriptures say, the Scriptures say I'm trying to imitate Billy Graham, won't you come? You know, your buses will wait. But he says the Scriptures say, the Scriptures say, the Scriptures say he just said it over and over. That's where his authority was.

Now, how would he know the Scriptures say that?

Well, he he read it. He studied it. spent time in it. Memorized it. How are you gonna know?

When somebody comes up to you. And says some of the things that I've heard over the years. The Lord told me this the Lord told me that. The Lord's telling me to do this. And how are you going to know?

What are you going to say? If you don't know your scriptures. Do you study 'em? Do you push back on it? Do you say to these people, Sh show me where he said that before?

And then ask him, did did God actually speak to you? Audibly? And then they'll say, so well, he's spoken by heart. Is that God's voice? What does that sound like?

What does that? If you push it, it falls apart, and you realize they're speaking in the vernacular. It's just become a commonplace thing to say. But Christian, I say to you, Thank you. Do we should we be commonplace about this?

Is this a commonplace issue just to say that the creator of the universe? Casually told me something about this. The Lord told me about this with you. Is it any wonder that non-believers look at us like we're absolutely barking mad? Because there's such an inconsistency there.

We we we should be with with great precision. discussing these things. and training one another to to not be flippant with this. You know, I can always tell Uh I I I'm a pianist. And I can always tell when somebody's had training And when someone's winging it by ear.

The first thing I can tell is the way their hand sits on the piano. I had a piano teacher who was pretty ruthless with me. She was pretty stern, but she used to make me practice as if I had a tennis ball under my hand. hand.

so that my hand my hands would not be splayed out on the keyboard. It doesn't mean that people that do it that way are not good. It doesn't mean that they're not talented. But I can tell the training. And we can always tell discipline and training.

when people handle the word of God, can you tell discipline and training? Can you tell? The difference between somebody who thinks about things and feels things. and the difference between somebody who's actually studied it. And see, this is the same kind of thing that w ancient church history dealt with, Gnosticism, where people just have this mystical, special revelation that was apart from God's Word.

It and That's That's that's a dangerous place to go to. And so I say to you, and you're looking at the world, you're looking at what's going on. Like I said, these three cardinals came out and they started opining about this. I understand they may not like the war. I understand they may not like what's going on here, and they may not like Trump and all that stuff.

That's fine. But when you're speaking for the church And then you're claiming that the church is speaking for God. Don't you think there ought to be a little bit more precision in this? Is that Is that something that we could agree on? And the more precise we are.

And so when Mark Levin comes out, and he's showing in their catechism where they are 100% wrong, and he's a Jew. And I'm thinking You know, w we we have to be better than this. We have to be precise. We're not necessarily going to convince people. We're not going to necessarily argue somebody.

And I don't think arguing people into the kingdom is effective at all. But we are called upon to study and show ourselves approved. Because there are wolves out there in sheep's clothing. And quite frankly, there's a lot of people in our churches who are sheep in sheep's clothing. And it's time for us to grow up.

It's things are happening at such a pace. And there's a great move. A lot of young people are going back to church. What are they hearing? It's great that they're going back to church, but what church are they going to and what are they hearing?

And are we being faithful? to the word of god. You know, there was a point where, and I'm summarizing Martin Luther when he was brought on trial. And they wanted him to recant. And he says, unless I am convinced by Scripture.

that this is wrong. I I I can't do that. Only Scripture can bind my conscience. We have this thing where we do we put this we the church sometimes legislates where scripture does it, and we tell people what you can do and you can't do, but scripture doesn't say anything about it. Dancing is one thing.

The whole movie Foot Loose was based on that. You can go out and take a look and see. They they you know, and they realized that this is a guy that didn't want to the the pastor made the whole town acquiesce to this. But he was in error. No not.

Holding up Footloose as a theological bulwark there, but I would suggest to you that the church is filled. The church history is filled with people who legislated where scripture did not, and we put onerous burdens on people. to perform in certain ways. That you've got to do this and you've got to do this, and you've got to close your eyes real tight and squint them when you pray and pray real hard. that kind of thing.

You you've seen this, where it's very demonstrative. When Jesus said, Come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, People are already heavy laden. Why are we putting more on em? Why are we trying to say, Thus saith the Lord, when the Lord didn't even say that? And don't think that God is going to forget it.

Again, my wife was looking She was having to wrestle with having, looking a surgeon straight in the eye and say, Take my left leg, my right, this is my right leg. Say, take my right leg off. 25 years old, and she's making the decision. She's not waking up and finding it gone. She's having to go in there saying, I want you to take it off.

It's too damaged. I can't live like this any more. And she is wrestling with this decision. with all of her might. groaning over it, praying over it, crying over it.

And these two whack job ladies come up out of nowhere. with their charismaniac uh behavior The Lord told me you're going to be in rebellion if you do this. That that's just cruel. That's not of God. And then they said, he's going to heal you in June.

Now they're prophesying.

Now first they're saying they're claiming to speak for God. Thus saith the Lord, and then they're they're saying that Here's what he's going to do. By Old Testament standards they would have been executed. I'm not recommending it. I'm just simply saying that's what's out there.

And people are coming up all the time into these situations. If you haven't seen it, Well, be involved in more people's lives who are suffering. Because I promise you, those who are involved in suffering or seeing it. And people want to put it on the sufferer. And there's something wrong with them.

The Lord's told me there's something wrong with you. And you remember when they brought that blind guy before Jesus said, Who sinned? This guy or his parents? And Jesus said, Boys, you got it all wrong. This was done so that God may get the glory.

How can we push back against that kind of craziness? It viciousness in real in reality. If we do not know the word of God. How can we do this? What does that look like?

It looks like studying. It looks like spending time. asking questions. Lord, what what does this mean? Show me, Lord, what this means.

Scripture approves It teaches It supports And i Scripture. It it it it it supports itself. Paul says this And I've heard some people say, well, you're talking about doctrine and this and this, and don't give me doctrine, just give me Jesus. Coach Jesus. Who is Jesus?

Because that's what's been going on in the news in the last two weeks. You got Trump out there putting a picture of him saying that he's Jesus.

Well, he didn't say it, but it and then he had this lame apology, which was not cool. And then you got the Pope doing his thing, and then you got the view of all people talking about. the identity of Christ. And then Tucker Carlson weighs in and says that Muslims love Jesus. What's Jesus?

Tell me who wha what what does it what do you mean by that? Do you understand how important this is for us to know the Word of God? Because it's this this kind of craziness is everywhere.

Somebody I don't know. I don't know who did that picture. uh of of thing with Trump and I don't and his his apology was lame. Pretty thin. If you're going to be thin about that, then it causes a question.

But he's going to have to deal with that. He's a grown man, and he can deal with his own stuff. But I don't know who's advising him up there. I mean, I think Franklin clearly wrote to me and he posted this out in Easter about the way to salvation. You got Paula White.

Sorry. Are we prepared? to speak with Clarity into this. Do we know his word? Because that is Truth Talk Live.

This is Peter Rosenberger. We'll be right back. 866-34-TRUTH. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live.

This is Peter Rosberger. Glad to be with you, 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884. Been talking about a, it's a serious subject. I get it, and I know that, and I. But I feel the the Urgency of equipping others to deal with this.

There are people out there who are, no kidding, being traumatized. by church folk, by people who claim to be church folk anyway. and they're being traumatized by it. And we just perpetuate the cycle. And there there's There's an opportunity here for growth.

And and for adult behavior in the Christian world. There's nothing quite like Dealing with people's tragedy and suffering to help us better understand these things. Because we start to Ask a lot of questions. We start to push ourselves to understand the things of God. When things are going swimmingly, yeah, you know.

We said, thank you, Lord, for all the blessings you've given us. When things go harshly. We start asking why a lot.

Sometimes we also Accuse God. of things. Are we prepared to speak to people with clarity in those kinds of things? Are we prepared to minister to them? If you want to see more about that, go out to my substack, caregiver.substack.com, and I've got an article out there about that and some audio that you can listen to and a lot of other things.

I'm putting it all out there, and I hope you'll take advantage of it. I didn't have anything like this. I did this for decades until I I mean I I started. The radio program for caregivers. I have the nation's largest one.

Actually, it's the largest one in the world. for family caregivers. And we're on um hundreds of stations. Because I feel so passionate and so urgent to take this to people who are. Literally, just they're struggling.

They are really struggling. Isolation is one of the toughest things that every caregiver deals with. And in that isolation, that's where we have dark thoughts. And and I I would I would have you hold on to the word of God in those things with such a tightness and desperation. Because there's no other place to go.

No matter what's going on, whether it's a war in Iran or whether it's, you know, whatever it is. The Word of God reigns supreme over all of this. We either believe this or we don't. And if we believe it, how would people know? And they wouldn't They wouldn't understand us coming up and saying, The Lord told me something.

if we really believe what Scripture said. Scripture is very, very precise on how we take the name of God. I want to pivot very quickly here, and I've got this article that's going to hit tomorrow. And I'll give you, I write a weekly column for Blaze on Sundays for caregivers for the Blaze. And then I also periodically do one during the week.

And there's one that's going to come out tomorrow. And I thought I'd share a little bit of a preview of it. There's an old saying in business and public life, if they don't make you, they can't break you. You ever heard that? Uh and that is true.

But with applause or criticism becomes the measure of what you're doing. Then you've already lost your conviction. You're doing it because this people are applauding you? Or you're doing it something different because they're criticizing you, you changed it up. But what are you doing out of conviction?

That's the difference. Eric Swalwell basked in the applause of this. We've been watching his story, but he skated past the critics. Nobody nobody called him into account. But he was living under borrowed cover.

And it always gives way. And now he's standing without it. And I've been thinking about this a lot since this whole thing came out. And we're all like, you know, he got what he deserved and so forth. Put that aside for a second.

No one wakes up one morning and decides to collapse their life. It happens in small decisions that that feel manageable at the time, particularly when when Nothing is going wrong, and nobody's challenging you on it. And if any of us think that they're incapable of a fall like this. then deception already has us in their grip. The wages of sin is what?

It's death. And many may be watching this and thinking that they're watching one guy's plummet. Whether or not They're watching a pattern. Things build long before they're seen. And by the time they are seen, the damage is already done.

And a culture that is celebrating your truth and my truth. You've heard this. You know, that's your truth.

Well, you speak your truth. I was watching some Charlie Kirk videos, and I saw people challenged Charlie Kirk and said, Well, that's your truth. This is my truth. No, no, no, no. Truth is not flexible.

It's truth. And it doesn't yield, and it just stands there whether anyone is ready for it or not. And when it lands, the room changes. And what used to sound confident starts sounding defensive. You've been watching this thing, and you could see it with Eric Swalwell.

It's everything starts to unravel. And you could watch this moment, and you could say, well, you know, this is what happens. We live like that. Yeah, he's getting what he deserves. Or you can say, I'm glad I'm not that man.

And both of those responses feel safe. But neither one is. That It doesn't sound like pride when we say that. It sounds like clarity, like it's discernment. But that's not what's going on here.

It's easy to market. But Scripture says don't rejoice when your enemy falls. Not because it's impolite. but because it reveals something. And it reveals that That same instinct that we want justice for him, but we're assuming mercy for ourselves.

And that moment is not given for us to wage commentary on. It's given as a warning. If you notice Judias Judas Iscariot's a tragedy. didn't start at the end of a rope. It started long before that.

Smaller compromises, and the disciples alluded to this in the Gospels. He assumed he could carry without consequence. Remember what he did with the the money. He held the money. And that's the lie that guilt can be managed and carried without cost.

I remember seeing at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, ACDC was inducted and I was watching a clip of this. And ACDC has a huge hit song called Highway to Hell. And I was watching them play this, and the entire crowd, I mean, there were just thousands of people. And they're all singing out, partying, dancing, and lustily singing out they're on a highway to hell. with the chorus of the song.

And they were treating damnation like it was a punchline. And the music was going and the moment was covering until the music stops. There comes a point when there's nothing left to sing over the truth. They didn't think that hell was a consequence for Scripture describes the first time that the music stopped and there was no cover. and that was in the garden.

And no one had to explain it to Adam and Eve. They knew. that they were naked. And they were ashamed. And they tried to cover themselves as best as they could.

and nothing has changed since then. Mm. We've been trying to cover ourselves ever since then. If you notice, by the way, the first act of mercy in the garden. Was God, after the fall, was God providing cover for them?

They had fig leaves, God gave them animal skins. the first act of mercy was God covering them and there was shed blood. There is coming a point where each of us are going to have to stand before that bud, covered or not. No spin. No enabling audience, No clapping.

There's nothing left to hide behind. You gotta stand there. and face a holy God. And you're going to either be wearing your own efforts clothed in your own efforts of which Um you have prophets and apostles saying that they were just filthy rags. We are naked.

And we are exposed. And I've been thinking about that as a Thought about this thing with Eric Swalwell. of what what it's like to wake up. And the horror. That is his life now.

And I'm not saying that he hasn't earned these consequences and God's justice is to be done. That's not the point. But that is only a tiny bit. He has no one else to call, there's no one he can call. Everyone's turned on him.

And that is a tiny Example. of what's going to happen on that great and terrible day of the Lord. There won't be anybody to call. Unless You have put your faith in Christ. There is an advocate.

There is an advocate. and he will not argue your innocence. Because you're not. He won't argue mine. Because I'm not.

He calls us to repent. and believe. He gives us his righteousness. That's what he clothes us in. And there is no third option.

There's no third option. And so when we see a story like this with Eric Swalwell, and he is. want to have to face some very, very Um Harsh things. And some of it, you know, we don't know if he's going to be found guilty or not. I don't know.

All I know is Whatever life he thought he had, it's over. He ain't going back. He will never be restored to anything that he used to enjoy. And he'll be doing well to s escape prison. and what it sounds like.

But we see those things. And we see somebody stripped bare like this. Let that be a reminder. That we will all have to stand. stripped far more worse than that, exposed with everything.

in front of a holy and just God. And there won't be anybody we can call. except the name of the Lord. But you don't wait until that day. You do it today.

You call upon the name of the Lord. It's a strong tower, Scripture says, and the righteous run into it and are safe. And where do we get our righteousness? only from light. And that is Christ himself who gave that to us.

Hang on to that because that is Truth Talk Live. This is Peter Rosenberger. Thanks for the time. We'll see you next time. Bye.

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