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Lies: They're Everywhere

Lies are everywhere. I don't think you could find very many people who would deny that we're being lied to. Little white lies, big whoppers. What are some of the ones that our culture has bought into? Hook, line, and sinker. We're going to talk about them, and you might recognize a few.

Gramster Rant: The Religious Spirit Lie

What happened to basic biblical honesty? The lie that people are giving authentic Bible-believing Christians, especially their charismatic friends who are walking in faith yet they want to try to hammer down, is that you've got the "religious spirit." Yeah. Which is like that's some sort of bad thing.

We are seeing a lot more division than we had seen when the first Pentecostalism and charismatics took off. Clearly there were doctrinal theological differences, but it's gotten to the point where it's very antagonistic—but I will admit it's very antagonistic from one side really.

I've heard many times: "You're too focused on doctrine," "You're putting God in a box," "That's the religious spirit," "You're quenching the Holy Spirit." At first it makes sense and you start questioning yourself. It sounds good—it doesn't make sense, but it sounds good. It's spiritual. It sounds deep.

People start to embrace it and rely less on scripture and more on impressions, feelings, and spontaneous "moves of the spirit." But the more you're walking in freedom and alive in the Spirit, the more you should be driven back to the scriptures. Instead, this delusion comes on where you feel like you're now "more anointed." And many people after a while realize they were deceived.

You get back to that word "doctrine"—it's a really important word, although some are wanting to make it like a dirty word. But really all doctrine is is what you believe about a certain thing. It's not limited even to theology or Christians or the church. We practice doctrine in a lot of areas of life. It's not a bad thing. And here's the reality: your doctrine is what will guide you. What you actually believe is going to come out in the way you act. So, it's really an important thing.

People think they're free and yet they're being led away from the Word, and then one day they'll wake up and start to question. That's where the rubber meets the road. Do they go back to these false charismatic teachers and get further dragged away from the Word? Or do they start just asking questions, honest biblical questions?

Our whole ministry is summed up in "where's the honesty?" What we do is anytime you can take part of the scriptures and make leaps to the left or to the right, we just eliminate that and narrow it down to the most basic exegetical word of God. What does it say in context? What did it mean to the people it was written to? What does it mean to us as far as our walk with Christ? You have to exegete the text; you can't put yourself in there.

If you're honest in a biblical way, you realize how off-putting it is when someone says, "You're a scripture-loving Christian, you're solid, and you're just religious"—as if that's some sort of insult. Why is being careful with doctrine, testing the spirits (because there's so much mumbo jumbo out there) considered bondage?

"Oh, I'm speaking in the spirit." No, you're not. You might be having an experience, but it's not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit doesn't speak in gibberish. Being discerning now is considered bondage? That's crazy.

Going back to that word doctrine—it's your set of beliefs about a certain subject. We don't push "let the spirit move instead of doctrine." We would never apply that in medicine. I'm not going to my doctor saying, "I don't care what his medical books taught him, I just want him to go with his gut feeling." In politics too, people with solid doctrine can keep going back to that point of reference, and it keeps them anchored. When you don't have that, you just ebb and flow—what you say this year will be totally different than what you said last year. That's flip-flopping. If you don't have doctrine, you're going to flip-flop.

On the speaking in tongues thing, I believe there could be speaking in tongues. I am a cessationist only to a point—I'm a God sovereigntist. But speaking in tongues from the Holy Spirit has to be biblical. Every time in Acts where tongues was mentioned at Pentecost, the gospel was being shared in a known language. No one was speaking gibberish. It was the gospel being told in a language understood by somebody who was in the presence of the person that God laid the spirit of tongues on.

Why did Peter, John, Matthew, Jude, James—who all wrote books in the New Testament—never mention tongues if it was so important? It was there for the foundation of the church. You don't put concrete on your roof; you put shingles on your roof. The concrete goes in the foundation.

1 Corinthians chapter 14—I dare you to read it in context. It basically says, "Tongues is worthless for the church." Some people try to say it's their private prayer language, pointing to a verse that says, "Don't disparage those trying to speak in tongues." But they're having an experience that's not from the Holy Spirit. How do I know? Because they turn around and call those who love God's Word "legalistic," "dead," or "dry" just because we're not shouting or shaking or chasing emotional highs.

The phrase "religious spirit" is being weaponized to silence biblical discernment. Would that come from the Holy Spirit or from a satanic spirit? Just asking for a friend.

Right On or Way Off?

"You're too concerned with scripture, doctrine, or testing things biblically. That's a religious spirit. You need more freedom in the spirit."

WAY OFF!

The whole "religious spirit" concept is a straw man because it's never clearly defined in scripture—it's a modern invention often used to attack biblical discernment. Here's what's going on underneath that accusation:

It discourages biblical testing (contrary to 1 Thessalonians 5:21)
It elevates subjective experiences above God's Word
It shames people for asking honest spiritual questions or those who don't have that experience
It devalues scripture's authority in the name of "flowing with the spirit"

Here's an honest question to those who speak in tongues: Where is your gibberish in scripture? It's not there. If you try to use 1 Corinthians 13 where Paul says, "If I speak in the tongues of angels but have not love," he's not saying there's an angelic tongue you can speak in. That's taking it out of context. If you think your gibberish is an angelic tongue, that's a level of spiritual ignorance that is right from the pit of hell. Sorry not sorry.

If you look at that verse in context, you'll see Paul is using hyperbole. He's contrasting something extraordinary that no human could do with "I just need this simple thing that Christ gives me."

The spirit is confused with feelings, and people just want to go with their gut because it's fun. There's a reason we have amusement parks—you walk in and forget everything, just going with what you feel like doing in the moment. That's why it's called an "amusement park." To "muse" is to dwell on something, so "amusement" is to not dwell on it. Just go with your feelings.

The result? People are trained to distrust the Bible and rely instead on moods, atmospheres, and personalities. Think about that—don't lose this point. People become trained to distrust the scriptures and rely on their feelings, moods, the atmosphere around them, and their personalities. So what the Bible actually teaches gets put down.

The wise thing to do—Emilee and I did this 15 years ago—is slow down. Study the scriptures without the hype and look at a very different picture. Look at what the scriptures actually say and what they mean in context. You're going to find a Christianity much different than what many people have been teaching, even in mainstream Christianity, but especially in progressive and charismatic circles. Many of them love Jesus and want to walk with Christ, but it's almost like they're putting ankle weights on to run a 100-meter dash. Why would you do that?

The Bible provides clear guidance on this issue. John 16:13 tells us: "But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own, but whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will disclose to you what is to come."

To have the Spirit of God in your life, the biggest evidence is a changed life. You've repented, turned from your sins, you're walking in a new life with Christ. God's Spirit will confirm this in many ways. One way the Spirit doesn't confirm with you is if you blank out your mind, let your tongue relax, and start speaking gibberish.

Hebrews 5:14 says: "But solid food is for the mature who because of practice have their senses trained to distinguish between good and evil." True spirituality is marked by discernment, not just emotion. That's what the scriptures actually teach.

1 Thessalonians 5:19-21 states: "Do not quench the spirit. Do not utterly reject prophecies, but examine everything. Hold firmly to that which is good." We are commanded to test all things. Many times when I take this biblical stance against charismatic practices and speaking in tongues, I go back to the Bible and then I'm told I'm "quenching the Spirit." Is that what this passage actually says?

We are told to question everything—not against our feelings but against the rock-solid holy scriptures. Either the Bible is what it claims to be, the inspired Word of God, or it's the most deceptive book ever written (as Dr. Irwin Lutter says in the movie "Bible Idiots").

We have a coffee shop at our church with some wonderful people coming in. One gentleman I like—he's a good dude, just on the charismatic side—now claims he's a prophet of God. If you understood what the Bible says a prophet is, it's basically a preacher, or if it's a prophet of old, they're speaking for God and everything they say must come to pass. It has to be perfect. These self-proclaimed prophets have errors riddled throughout their prophecies.

This man tells me how much he likes my teaching and is happy I'm here. He goes to a different church but comes for coffee quite a bit. Then he made a statement that when it came to speaking in tongues, he's asking God that the "scales would fall from my eyes." If you think someone has scales on their eyes, you certainly shouldn't be listening to what they're teaching.

I'll point to the Bible Sidekick—a 500-page volume covering everything that William Ray and I wrote as study helps for believers. I have 270 sermons online on Salvaged by God, 104 on video. Look at any of them, look through this book, and tell me where I strayed from the scriptures.

I wasn't insulted when this guy said this because my response was, "I'll pray that God drops the scales from your eyes," which is what I think is going on. He's a good guy, but they get caught up in it. The "quench the Spirit" line comes right behind that. Whenever you point out that someone is in error and not living biblically, they respond this way.

The more we embrace sound teaching, the more we see the true power and clarity of the Holy Spirit—not less. The real Spirit of God doesn't bypass the Word; He brings it alive.

Have you seen those YouTube videos on how to speak in tongues? It's sad they approach it as something you can learn. "Oh, anybody can—you just relax your tongue, clear your mind." If it can be instructed and learned and everybody can do it, then it's not a supernatural gift, is it?

When people say "religious spirit," what they actually mean is: "You're challenging my extra-biblical practices, and I don't like that." "You're making me uncomfortable by bringing the Bible into this." "You're asking questions I don't want to answer because they contradict what I've been practicing for 30 years." It's hard to acknowledge being wrong.

The most spiritual thing you can do if you're saved is open your Bible, read it, submit to it in context, and let it shape how you understand everything—including the Spirit of God. It is not bondage to love the Word. It is not dead to value sound teaching. It is not lifeless to test teachings by scripture.

Truth will always feel like an offense when you're in deception. So if what I've said offends you, ask yourself why. Why is it offensive to value the Bible as it actually speaks above your feelings and things you might have been taught in error, even if you've been practicing them for 50 years or more?

It's just amazing to me that the love of Jesus Christ, the forgiveness of sins, accepting Him as our substitute, takes a backseat to wanting to understand the latest prophet's mumbo jumbo or speaking gibberish because you think you're "speaking in the spirit." You may be having some experience, but it's not from God.

And later in the show, we're going to be bringing up some cultural lies that we've been swallowing for 50 to 60 years.

Cultural Lies We've Swallowed

Mark Twain said, "The poison was never forced. It was offered gently until you forgot it was poison at all." There's a thread on X exposing everyday lies and propaganda we've been sold. Let's go through them:

1. Health Wasn't the Lie; Medicine Was

The business of big pharma operates on a simple principle: a patient cured is a customer lost. The pharmaceutical industry isn't built to cure diseases but to monetize them. Real healing ends the profit cycle, so treatments are designed to manage symptoms rather than solve underlying problems.

Natural remedies and root-cause approaches are dismissed, discredited, or outlawed—not because they don't work, but because they can't be patented. Remember when the Biden administration outlawed ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine (one of the safest drugs for malaria)? The goal isn't your health but lifelong dependency, worth billions.

Before we sound too off-the-wall, yes, there are legitimate medicines and treatments. But the vocation has morphed from an act of love (where doctors in small towns were paid in chickens like preachers) to a money-making enterprise. We need discernment in healthcare.

2. Sunlight Causes Cancer: A Fear-Driven Lie

They told you to fear the sun—block it, avoid it, hide from the very thing your biology depends on. I feel bad and wonder why all my sun-loving plants don't die of leaf cancer.

Sunlight fuels immunity, hormones, and longevity. The real danger was never exposure but deprivation. Many sunscreens contain endocrine disruptors and toxic chemicals that block vitamin D production. This was never about health but profit—demonizing nature to sell synthetic products.

The precautions we used to take were covering up with light, long-sleeved cotton clothing. There are normal steps you can take—like having kids come under shade after 20 minutes of playing in the sun, getting something cold to drink, putting on a shirt when shoulders start turning red. But our culture wants quick fixes—pills, lotions, creams—to reverse what we don't like, and that's not always possible.

3. Feminism Was a Scam to Double the Workforce

I've been talking about this for years. Chris and I grew up with mothers mostly at home—it was rare for mothers to work all day. In the late 60s and early 70s, there was this big feminist push that women could "have it all"—family, kids, career, money.

The reality in 2024? We've got families with two full-time working parents struggling to make ends meet. The simplistic reality is that the more money people make, the more expensive things get because businesses can charge that much.

Feminism has done a number on the female workforce to the point where children are considered an inhibitor and reason for abortion—"I want to go on with my career." It was a big scam from the beginning.

You were told it was about empowerment, but it was about economics. Doubling the workforce meant more labor, lower wages, and twice the tax revenue, while the cost of living quietly rose to match incomes. One income became impossible by design. Families were fractured, childcare was outsourced, and exhaustion became the norm. It was never about equality but control disguised as progress.

This resembles dystopian novels and authoritarian cultures where everyone works—men, women, even young children. They become a workforce for the government rather than maintaining the family unit, with government only handling what people can't do themselves (like fighting wars).

4. You're Not Sick; You're Nutrient Deficient

We're not eating the same foods we used to, and we're not getting the nutrition we need. Chronic fatigue, brain fog, anxiety, and depression are often treated with prescriptions but rarely with nutrition. Deficiency gets labeled as disease, and symptoms become life sentences.

There's no profit in magnesium, sunlight, or clean food, so the system sells pills for problems your body is trying to solve with nutrients it never received. You're not broken; you're depleted—to a certain degree. Yes, some issues arise as you age, but we've seen the difference in our family between kids who grew up with healthy natural diets versus processed foods. One group is way healthier.

5. The Climate Change Hoax

Climate change isn't a crisis; it's a business model. I've been saying since global warming first appeared (and in the 70s it was global freezing) that it was always 10-12 years out—just close enough to scare you but far enough to make you think you might do something.

The Bible tells us what will happen, and God's Word won't be mocked. Every doomsday headline has an economic or political motive. The goal was never to save the planet but to sell fear, restrict choices, and enforce compliance under the illusion of moral responsibility.

Remember when they talked about the hole in the ozone? No one asked if there's supposed to be a hole. It gets bigger and smaller naturally as the ozone regulates density. Everything's fine—I used hairspray today. We're not asking enough questions, just assuming scientists know exactly what they're talking about.

6. The Vaccine Narrative

Vaccines have their place, but the narrative surrounding them moved beyond science rapidly. What began as medicine became tools of compliance where questioning was forbidden and consent was coerced.

When Fauci first appeared and Trump had him there trying to sort things out—getting respirators everywhere, sending mercy ships that weren't used—I immediately saw two agendas. Natural immunity was dismissed, alternative perspectives silenced, and pharmaceutical giants reaped record profits.

The propaganda was intense—billboards in Kansas saying, "Don't let your last words to your family be, 'I wish I would have got the vaccine.'" This should cause concern. God wants to lift the veil from our eyes to see things honestly—biblically, without peripherals, on the narrow road. What does the Bible actually say in context?

7. Schools Still Running on a 100-Year-Old Blueprint

Our education system was designed for efficiency, not growth—built to mass-produce workers, not thinkers. Bells dictate when to move, desks where to sit. Silence is rewarded, questions discouraged. It's not education but conditioning.

That's why we started homeschooling our kids partway through elementary school. Our oldest daughter's seventh-grade biology book contained proven lies that had been acknowledged in court but still appeared as fact ten years later.

Real-world skills have been replaced with memorizing facts. Creativity is punished, curiosity standardized. You weren't educated; you were processed. The system prepares you for a job, not a life.

I don't agree 100% with this—when I graduated in the early 80s, we were encouraged to be creative and told there were no dumb questions. But standards have plummeted—I read somewhere that now 10-30% is a D, under 10% fails, 30-45% is a C, 46-69% is a B, and 70-100% is an A.

In contrast, at the academy I attended for one year of high school, 96-100% was an A, 91-95% a B, 86-90% a C, 80-85% a D, and below 79% failed. Out of 170 kids, about 150 got straight A's—some had to work harder than others. When homeschooling our kids, if they didn't get 80%, they had to repeat until they mastered the material.

8. Advertising's Quiet Return to Reality

Inclusion was never a moral revolution; it was a marketing campaign going back to the late 1980s when strategies were developed to advance social agendas by creating equivalencies with established civil rights issues.

By the mid-90s, during the Clinton administration, significant progress had been made. The 1996 Seinfeld episode where Jerry and George were mistakenly identified as gay (with the catchphrase "Not that there's anything wrong with that") was followed by Will & Grace—one of the biggest propaganda moves in American history because it made gay characters likable, relatable, and friendship-worthy.

By the 2000s, social revolution was in full swing. What was framed as progress was just strategy—profit, not politics. When the numbers came in, they didn't expose the audience; they exposed the lie.

This reflects Mark Twain's quote—continually presenting something until people get used to it being around and accept it. The same technique is happening now with AI and aliens—subtle conditioning through entertainment that shifts our perspectives without us realizing it.

Final Thoughts

When you open your Bible this week, try reading it in the context of new life in Christ. The evidence of the Holy Spirit in your life is a changed life—not wanting to cheat your neighbor, paying bills on time, being a faithful spouse. Christians still stumble, but there's an epidemic of what is called "prayerism." You know what prayerism is? Just say this little prayer and you're in the kingdom. That has led to so many false conversions.

True salvation involves recognizing your sin, knowing you can't save yourself, and accepting Jesus as the only way to heaven. You deserve punishment before a holy God because you're a sinful creature. There is no solution other than Christ's sacrificial death as a substitute in your place. When you turn from your ways and accept Jesus into your life, all those catchphrases represent a deep, meaningful transformation at conversion. You're never the same again. You go forward wanting to absorb God's Word, which comes alive revealing things you've never seen before.

The Good Samaritan parable isn't about being a good neighbor—it's showing the questioning lawyer that no matter how good he thinks he can be, he'll never earn his way to heaven. The Samaritan's actions were far beyond what anyone would do, showing that even our highest imagined righteousness falls short.

Similarly, when Jesus told the rich young ruler to sell everything and give to the poor, He wasn't establishing a universal command but demonstrating that self-righteousness leads nowhere.

If you don't surrender to Jesus and look at scriptures through the lens in which they were written, letting the Spirit speak to you, you'll conjure up things that aren't real. Satan is a counterfeit—you might have experiences for decades, but that doesn't mean they're from the Holy Spirit.

There's a difference between reading the Bible and studying it. When you encounter difficult passages, examine the context, cross-reference with other scriptures, and pray for the Holy Spirit's guidance. God promises wisdom to those who ask. Find good teachers like Nate Salah on Wise Disciple and Chris Rosebro on Fighting for the Faith, and dig deep into God's Word to discern what is good and worth holding onto.