Honesty & Deception

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Having good discernment is like having good driving skills—we all think we've got them, but do we? You want to know the secret or the key to developing really good discernment? It's honesty.

We would be remiss if we didn't talk about the State of the Union Address that was just last night—kind of big doings going on. But that's a great example for us to look and see honesty versus not being honest, and are we able to see through it and use our discernment to cut through the clutter and the garbage.

Before the State of the Union even happened, we heard Democrats talking about how they were planning to disrupt, boycott, walk out, and have noise makers. Some of these rumors came to fruition, and I actually started thinking maybe the boycotting thing isn't a bad idea. Maybe it would just be better if they weren't there anyway. As it turns out, I think a lot fewer people would have been offended if none of them would have come.

It was such a disappointment on a human level. They almost looked and acted like they were subhuman—like their dishonesty and their demonic position has overtaken them. The Democratic party died today. If it didn't, then we've got other problems. But again, it comes down to being honest, and if you're not honest a lot of times, what else do you call someone who's dishonest? A liar.

Gramster Rant: Honesty Is the Best Policy

Let's look at just a couple of things. First of all, we saw a lot of the women in the Democratic party dressed in pink to show that they stand for women, and yet they will simultaneously vote to not get men out of the athletic arena because they are literally harming and hurting women.

One of the people that President Trump had invited to the State of the Union Address was Peyton McNab, a wonderful young woman who was a really good volleyball player. She was hurt very badly by a spike—they spiked the ball over the net, a male, and she had a brain injury from it. She has a permanent brain injury now because of it.

Of course, we all saw how Democrats just sat on their hands as we tried to honor some of these people who have really overcome some devastating circumstances in their life. When I found out Peyton was going to be there, I was really kind of happy about that, and I made mention of it on one of my social media posts.

This was one of the responses that was on my social media from people who support this leftist ideology: "Let's just keep it real—the guy who Peyton was playing against was only 5'10", that's undersized for even college. This girl is a little chubby and Southern... that's not a volleyball player, that's a catcher in softball. My 16-year-old daughter was playing volleyball with men who were 6'4" on the beach all winter break in Brazil. She didn't get hurt because she's a good player."

I was mortified, and my first inclination was just to get rid of that—that's the most awful thing somebody could say. But I left it up. I just said, "Victim shame much?" I mean, that's exactly what he's doing. You have a victim, a very serious victim, and you're going to shame her like that. This is somebody who doesn't really understand empathy or understanding of other people.

These are the types of people that are still holding on to the Democratic party, and it's very sad. This isn't about politics or a particular party, but it's about reading the room.

But let's contrast that because there were some other really great stories, the people that they were honoring the other night during the address. One example was DJ Daniel. America fell in love with this kid. DJ Daniel is a brain cancer survivor. He wants to be in law enforcement. He actually gets an honorary membership in the Secret Service.

When you looked at his face when this all went down—sheer joy. He was given six months to live, and he's already lived another seven or eight or nine years. He's been installed in something like 500-plus police departments around the country. Last night when he got that Secret Service thing, it was almost like I came off the couch. When his eyes got big, it was just like one of the most heartwarming moments of any speech from any president in my lifetime. When he threw his arms around the neck of the guy giving him his badge, I cried a little.

That picture right there is worth a thousand words—black and white people getting along, loving one another. That happens a lot with other authentic Christians.

The story didn't end there. A little bit later, we watched Jason Harley receive his acceptance into West Point. What does DJ do? He runs down the aisle to give Jason a congratulatory high-five when he learns he's accepted into the academy. This kid is not just worried about himself—he was happy for himself and he's happy for the other people around him. This is the thing that you can't fake.

You can't fake caring for very long. There were a lot of talking heads saying they'd never seen to the extent that the Democrats did that last night. They refused to stand for anybody because their hatred runs so deep.

I believe they were given firm instructions: don't stand for anything. And that hurt them. What little DJ did—that's a testimony, that's honest. If you try to fake it, you can't fake it for very long. Almost 80% were in favor of Trump's speech last night. I've not seen numbers like that in my lifetime.

Normal people celebrate, and especially disciples of Jesus Christ always celebrate with those around them.

Let's get into God's word. This is Romans 12:14-16, and this is what it says: "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position."

I loved that verse because the main thrust of it is rejoicing with those who rejoice and mourning with those who mourn. The Democrats couldn't do it. There's an honesty there when you learn to do that—to put things aside in order to just see what good is good and what bad is bad.

Hang on to the DJs of the world and the Jasons of the world, whose sheer joy for the things that people are doing for them really appears to just drive their life. Look at the people who went through really devastating things and the massive numbers of people that stood with them, honored them, and loved them the best way that we could. Hang on to that, and that is going to get you through life. That's my Gramster Rant for the day.

Salvaged by God Deep Dive: Honesty and Deception

Salvaged by God is my teaching platform, and it has been about honesty and deception and fighting deception. It's been an underlying theme or the main theme of at least a dozen out of the last 20 messages I've given.

I believe that we have to fight that. I believe that's what we're seeing. When we have the Democratic party basically going extinct possibly—they need a change. They cannot continue. We cannot have half of our population supporting a party that is that bankrupt, that is that bitter. It's beyond the pale. A house divided cannot stand.

When I look across the landscape of honesty, I always think about how Bible exegesis is a big part of it. Can you honestly exegete a text, or do you have to eisegete it? Do you have to put yourself in it? That's kind of a key thing, isn't it? When you do that, you end up in two totally different places.

When you look at the scriptures, the first thing I want you to do from now on whenever you read the scriptures is: how is God glorified? How is Jesus Christ made the journey of our perfect substitute who sacrifices life for us? Look for that, not how do we fit into the situation.

One of my favorite guys in my congregation calls me up on my day off on Friday. He asked me, "I'm studying in Luke and I've come to this passage where they rip off the tiles on the roof and they lower the guy down. Was it the guy on the mat that was lowered down—was it his faith or was it the faith of the four guys on the roof?" I'm like, that has nothing to do with this. You're eisegeting the text. You're worried about how your faith is going to heal you, how your faith is going to make you this or make you that.

That passage isn't about the guy. That's the first time that Jesus looked at all of his enemies who were standing right there, right up in their grill, and he says, "I'm forgiving his sins." That's really what went down there. "Which is harder, pick up your mat or forgive your sins?"

So the story isn't about the guy. The story is about Jesus.

A lot of times people say, "Chris, well, you have a problem with the LGBTQ+ people," and it's like, yes, but it's not because they're any more sinful than anybody else. We're all sinners. What I have a problem with is the dishonesty in the movement. It is so dishonest at its core. Why? Because there are tens of thousands of testimonies of people who, through faith in Jesus Christ, have had the chains broken and have come out of that lifestyle. Why do they not get a seat at the table? Why can they not share their story?

It's just like the "He Gets Us" campaign—it's dishonest. It's not a proper use of portraying Jesus in the gospel. I know a lot of the people that are part of it, and I like them. They're good people as far as good people can go. We don't hate them. I just wish they would be more honest about the gospel.

Here's the thing: when you're stone-cold honest with the gospel, people recoil because at our core, we're fallen, sinful, and evil—that's our nature, that's the reality.

The trans community as well—that again is being completely dishonest, which is why I love the fact that Trump said, "To all the children out there, I want to tell you: You are perfect exactly the way God made you." Let's be honest—what you see in the mirror is real, it's true. I absolutely loved that because it countered the dishonesty there very well.

I want people to look at honesty in any topic. Anyone who is deceived and then becomes not deceived anymore must make a choice whether they come off their anchored position or not. One of the anchored positions we are watching people struggle with—in fact, the only thing the Democrats applauded last night was giving more money to Ukraine. And well, they really are giving more money to themselves, but that's a whole other story. Kickbacks.

Zelensky (or as Emilee calls him, "Z-boy") has lost all credibility. It's too many letters to type, so I just typed "Z-boy." We got to wake up to the fact that many of us, including me—I thought this guy was something cool when he first came on the scene, but my delusion on him was lifted a few years ago when we found out what he was involved in.

My question is: if that happened to you, how do you handle it when you see the scales come off the eyes, especially if you call yourself a Christian Democrat?

Back in 2008 at that big church in West Phoenix Valley, I preached that message, and everybody got mad at me. But I said, "Listen, you got to open your eyes." That was when I said there's three things on the planet that do not exist: one is a unicorn—we know that unicorns are mythical, there's none been found on the planet; second is Nessie, the Loch Ness monster—has never been found, it is a legend, it's not real; and the third is a Christian Democrat.

I went on to explain: either you agree with the Democratic party and their platform, and that means you don't have Jesus, you don't have a new life, you've not been given the light, you've not been fully redeemed, you haven't surrendered your life and accepted the substitute. You can't—it's like oil and water with the Democratic party platform. Or you're an authentic born-again Christian and you've been historically in the Democratic party. You like some of the things that they say, and so you don't really understand their platform.

So either way, an authentic Democrat, authentic Christian cannot exist. That's what I've been saying for the longest time, trying to get people to either change their party, help change the Democrats, be a light in a dark place if you are there. But understand it's not—I'm just so tired of watching this evil demonic approach to life, and then people walk around and call themselves Christians and still vote for this nonsense.

Last night should have put an end to it. They came out today, earlier this morning. It was verified: 22 Senators on the Democratic side came out with a video on their social media of them talking, and it was the exact same script, word for word. This is demonic. They are lunatic losers. They are bitter, and they are bankrupt, and it's time for people to honestly say so.

I want to get into praying for people here because aren't we supposed to pray for our leaders? I've been attacked by people saying, "I can't believe you're a pastor. Your congregation should be ashamed to have a loser like you." All I'm doing is being honest. I'm just telling you the truth.

I want to look at this scripture right here in First Timothy 2:1-5. It says: "First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all those who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good, and it pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus."

Here's the thing: I have said when Biden was President, do not pray for wisdom for Biden. Don't do it. You're wasting your breath. In fact, you're not even being biblically honest. What you want to do is you want to pray for his salvation. Why do you want to pray that way for someone who you think is a lunatic loser who is bitter and bankrupt? Because Jesus giving them new life is their only hope.

I care about them. Even the most vile, foul person sitting there last night—I'm hoping that they have a breakthrough, find Jesus, and come to a new life. When you are watching and listening, so many of you are authentic Christians that watch and listen to this program, and so I just want to share with you the fact that you can be strong. And when you are no longer deceived, when you come out of that deception, own it.

Self-deprecation—nobody cares anyway. You're actually going to elevate your status with other born-again Christians trying to disciple others when you're like, "I didn't have it together. I thought this was this, and I've learned. My eyes were open. Something happened. God did something that opened my eyes."

Right On or Way Off?

The next segment features three statements where panelists must decide if they are "Right On" or "Way Off."

Statement 1: "Almost everything Progressive Christians call harmful theology is actually just the faith once delivered to the Saints. They want a God that allows them to sin, and since the god of scripture won't do that, they create one."

RIGHT ON!

This goes back to the foundational original sin where Adam and Eve decided they needed to decide for themselves what is good and evil rather than just trusting God. That's exactly what we see in Progressive Christianity. It's not submitting ourselves to God and God's will, but rather deciding that we need to take it on and create a God for ourselves.

Statement 2: "Better to be an early bird than a night owl."

MIXED VERDICT

The early bird argument points to Proverbs 31, where the virtuous woman "rises while it is still night" to prepare for the morning. There's something valuable about starting your day early, and as you get older, there's a switch that flips and mornings become wonderful.

However, night owl tendencies can be beneficial too. There's a special energy that comes when the house is quiet late at night – a time for creative work, watching West Coast hockey games, or accomplishing tasks while everyone else is asleep.

Statement 3: "Elon Musk needs to invent flying cars so we can have them in mass."

WAY OFF!

While the technology might be possible – Elon and his team recently brought a rocket back from space and landed it, which is an incredible feat of physics and engineering – flying cars present too many practical problems.

We already have enough trouble with people driving cars on the ground. Air traffic control technology isn't consistently reliable, and technology in general is becoming more integrated into our lives but often makes things harder rather than easier. From automated phone systems that are impossible to navigate to online refund processes that don't work, our current technology frequently fails us.

Combining the problems of air and ground transportation with technology that regularly fails is a recipe for disaster. Despite The Jetsons making it look appealing, flying cars remain a bad idea.

Final Thoughts: What Is True Luxury?

I want to share one thing with you that I shared with my kids. It's something I found on Facebook, and it's being credited to Clint Eastwood. It says: "Clint Eastwood, 94-year-old vegan actor legend, formulated one of the most important lessons of his life so far for the younger generation. This is about luxury. What is real luxury?"

Don't look for luxury in watches or bracelets. Don't look for luxury in villas or sailboats. Luxury is laughter and friends. Luxury is rain on your face. Luxury is hugs and kisses. Don't look for luxury in shops. Don't look for it in gifts. Don't look for it in parties. Don't look for it in events. Luxury is being loved by people. Luxury is being respected. Luxury is having your parents alive. Luxury is being able to play with your grandchildren. Luxury is what money can't buy.

Let me add: luxury is having new life in Christ—when you have this inner joy that you can't explain, and you know that it's all going to work out in the end, and we're all going to party in the New Jerusalem. That gets me excited. Even if we don't see the details absolutely clearly day by day, hour by hour, we know that our God has saved us, and we know that he has saved us for a purpose, and that we have this eternal life.

We still live here, and so we have to use honesty to create discernment so that we can then share in a discipleship way with anybody that we encounter as best as possible.

Remember what Grandma was truly right about: honesty is the best policy.