Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 308 | Jase Robertson's Answer to Shootings and Gun Control

Episode Date: July 11, 2021

Jase and Phil talk about recent shootings, crime rates in the major cities, why gun control will never work, and what the real solution is. Phil notices that the baptisms he's performed lately all share one similarity, and he wonders if Al's hitchhiking cat is a sign of the end of days. Jase vents his frustrations with movie aliens and explains why he loves a good trash-talking session. Phil tells us how the book of Matthew relates to the world today. And Jase talks about calling the bears when others curse God. - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Well, we had a borderline miracle today already. Just on the way down here. We did. If a cat comes, jumps up on the table, don't be, don't be shocked if you're watching this. So there's some cats in my house. I don't know where they came from. Somebody gave us cats, which I was like, you know, it's just, more things to take care of, so I wasn't crazy about it. Good deal, yeah, I know, two kittens. And, you know, we do have some mice at once in a awesome, maybe. But anyway, so they've got to where they've got a little habit of getting up into my truck

or Jay's truck. They like to. But you didn't know this. I'll just tell what happened. You just drove, what was 40 minutes? Yeah, about 35, 40 minutes. I went to Chick-fil-A and got some food, and, you know, I'm doing all my stuff. You're in the middle of the town.

You've done the fast food. pull up at your interstate you came across the interstate people blowing the horn and plus you know i told you when i get out here under the hood well well so i pull up and i i get out my truck daniels with me daniel's new brother in christ but so we get out of the truck and walk in i walk in i walk in i walk in i walk in i walk out to my truck and i look and i see a cat and i said huh i said i guess mom got a cat looks a lot like the one of the house so i went back in the house didn't anything anything about it we come back out and dad sees he said miss kay you better get that cat because if you're you're not you're Bobo sees him, it'll be all over.

And so we scooped up the cat, mom did, and I said, that's our cat. Then I thought, well, how did they get here? So I realized that cat was up in the engine block somewhere and had quite the ride. There's not a lot of places you can ride up under the hood of a. Well, what's funny is you'd think, wouldn't you think, so I stopped several times, red lights. You would think the cat would say, you know, I need to get out of here because you know what that's called out. Smart enough not to you. That's exactly right.

It waited until we got here and stopped for a while. You know what that's called grace. Yeah. And the cats already has the limp because one of the dogs back home hurt his leg. And so that's what I knew. So you brought him with you inside the truck from my house to hear. Stone told me he said he pulled up to a stop sign and. our neighborhood the other day, and he heard him meowing.

They were both in his truck. And so he opened the, so he said now every time before he leaves the house, he opens up his hood to make sure they're not in the engine lock. There's something to be said about surviving. Well, seeing there's some dogs around there. So let in, Lynn, this could be a sign of the last day because when cats are hitchhiking, you know, via vehicles. I think I'll just ride down there with him and jump up in there and, you know, a cat used

two, I don't think they were that smart. You think about when humans want to move, they move. When a cat wants to move, he's got to be more creative. It may have something to do with the dog that was 100 times the size of the cat attacking it. And it lived. It lived. But it's definitely kind of now always on the lookout, but they like getting up in the vehicles

because the dogs can't get to them in there. I'll see why this idea about cats having nine lives came about. That one spent a couple. I think so. So we're on three or four with this. That was quite the marvel. So when I go back to town. Who's that old actor,

the karate expert? You know, hard to kill. That's kind of where cats are. Hard to kill. You know, I just heard something about him. He's like,

he moved to Russia. That guy, that actor. Where do you come up with those? I don't know. I just heard it recently. He's, he's become infatuated with

Russia. I hope that catch his own. I attempted to watch a movie last night. I watched one about every couple of years. Missy was like, let's watch a movie. I thought you were watching Risen, because Dad was talking about Risen. No, I didn't watch it. But that was a good idea, and I appreciate it.

Yeah. Phil started a ministry where he's baptizing people with biblical names. You had Samuel Day 4 yesterday. We had Daniel yesterday. So Phil, that's quite the... Could be a sign of sorts. I don't know. Yeah. Maybe so. Yeah. Well, the signs and miracles and wonders that we're kind of joking about,

they led to Jesus. So as long as you got Jesus. So what was the movie you were? You know what? I can't remember what the name of it was. But Chris Pratt was in it. And he didn't he come to Willie's. He came to Willys one time. Yeah, he was, I showed,

I went over to Willys. I didn't even know he was there. It was back when we lived across from you, the Zona. Well, but I walk out back, and Willie's sitting there by the fire, and there's another guy,

and there's Chris Pratt. Yeah. And so I had old Larry Hooper with me, and he had his guitar, and Pratt said, hey, you mind if I play your guitar? So he just started playing Hooper's guitar and singing songs.

I was like, well, I remember that happening. So I, Missy's like, well, you want to watch, I was like, hey, I know that guy. It's like, is he still doing movies? Missy's like, is that a joke? So I said, well, let's watch that.

It was like tomorrow's war or something was the name of it. Oh, yeah. You've seen it? I haven't seen it by the previous one. It looked pretty good. I lasted halfway. Oh, boy. Halfway through it.

Not that it was terrible. It just, you know, it's a time. I have a problem when you, if you want to make movies, out of Hollywood because people in Hollywood tend to down people of faith. I'm like, quit using our principles to gain your storyline. So they had a futuristic war that they had to travel through time. Because somebody figured out that the humanity was going to be extinct in a few years. So they figured out a time portal and they sent basically every,

every person here. You are draft eligible if you could hold a gun. And they have this. Well, I don't know how it ended, but I just, I just couldn't do it. So Stephen Seagal, this way is looking like these days.

Oh, boy. He didn't quite this. He needs to go to that Bezos planet. But it says here, nationality, American, Serbian, Russian. So I was right.

I guess he's Russian too. Maybe I don't know. So we turn off the movie. I mean, we were tired. And because I was like, you know, if you could have done this without having to travel through time, I might have been in.

But that was the problem. And the aliens was kind of like that movie alien, the people, I mean, the thing they were fighting. Yeah. I was like, is that, is it the same thing with the

teeth every time. Yeah. Come up with a different alien. Wow. Now, that was a good one. That was a scary one. But I mean, after a while. Yeah, I remember one of the Bible scholars that we know made a point that humans can only come up with what they know.

It's like every even monster that they have, they all have the basic features of a human. Yeah. They, they, because our minds just can't comprehend anything other than what we know, which is kind of the foundation of, well, where did we come up with the idea of good and evil? Because a lot of people, once they get off the rails with God, they're like, well, where did even good and evil come from? So usually as big eyes, scary teeth and claws, a lot of claws. Same as the, you go out in the woods. Yeah.

Because you think about things that get your attention. It's things with claws and teeth and stingers. Stingers. It had all three of those, but it could throw it stingers. Oh, boy. Oh, yeah. It was like a big old ground wasp with tails and kind of a cross between an octopus and a wasp. So how was Chris Pratt holding up?

Oh, well, I liked him. I mean, I thought the act. Yeah, it was real, it was funny. That's why he and Willie paled around. because he has a really great sense of humor. He started out on a comedy, you know, on that parks and recreation. Yeah, it wasn't.

He was a very good dude. It wasn't a slap on the, you know, the editing or the cinematography or the acting or the humor. It just, the idea, I'm like, okay, we're, we're, you got to space travel to fight? I don't know. There's much of a sci-fi guy. I probably would like this.

Well, you probably would. And maybe it got better. So then when it goes off, as soon as I turn it all, I don't watch the news much, but the news was on. And, you know, we were talking about the 4th of July and Declaration of Independence, and everybody coming together. And, well, the blurb came up in the two minutes that I happened to watch the news was that there were 400 shootings over the July 4th weekend in the U.S.

150 deaths, 400 shootings. And I was like, what in the world? That's a lot. Yeah. And so I have to go do the research because they were basically using it as, oh, we go do something like these guns. Yeah, it's always a good. So I was like, let me get the context of what's going on here.

What I noticed is most of them were big inner cities. Yeah, like Chicago was most of it, probably. A lot of it. And New York City. But there was one that kind of got my attention in just outside of Atlanta. Of course, they said in the rural parts of Georgia, but when I looked at the Google Map, it was just outside. But a guy who had, and they did a story about it because he was a believer and he had just prayed and been on a, they did some kind of walk-a-thon where they were praying for, and they said he was a person of faith. he was a golf pro working out of golf course and somebody had pulled a truck on the green one of the

greens which is never a good sign no he goes out there to check it out and whoever pulled the truck out there shot him killed him yeah i heard about that and there was two people in the back of the truck one of them was the owner of the truck and they they hadn't got him up to this point right now they don't know and so yeah i read that and i thought So the person driving the truck stole the truck and killed the two people that own the truck? One of the people in the back of the truck was the owner who was dead. Yeah. Who was the owner?

So you're putting the pieces together. So who knows who the other? And look, I read a little blurb this big. But the reason I'm bringing this up, because I mean, you feel this guy had a wife and two sons like six and seven. It's just awful. He's a believer. When you think about that, though, So this guy has probably the safest job in America.

You would think. Other than people griping about the condition of the golf course, it's about the toughest thing you got as a golf pro, until somebody drives a truck on a green and shoot you. I mean, you're talking about just never know. You know, I mean, what's going to, if you think about it, Jay's. I mean, the impracticality of that even happening. What a tragedy.

Lawlessness is reaching a. point where yeah scratching your head you have to watch whatever move you make but what take me off about it is uh because you know

you feel for somebody that you know leaves a family like this or here's a guy mind his own business and you know we're in Romans and these are the types of things

that happen that are unexplainable from a human perspective and but you when you see where they're started on a blurb on the news saying, we got to do something about these guns.

I'm thinking it's way bigger. You're not going to, of course, you know, I'm preaching to the choir here. As the right to bear arms was obvious in the founder's plan because when you look at these inner cities and you say, well, what kind of plan would work better than gun control? Because these are the most gun control environment.

in our country and that's where all the mischief happened. Well, what's amazing is, Jay's, is the missing the point, which is, again, the theme of Romans 9 through 11, about missing the point. Let's take a break. But it's the missing the point is the reason why people are buying so many guns, which we have a constitutional right to do, is because of the lawlessness. I mean, it makes me think I need another, when I read about a golf pro walking out to a golf hole with a guy parked on the green.

I'm thinking, we need to be armed because we never know who might try to shoot you. I mean, so it's just the opposite in thinking. I got to think it off the top of my head because people say, you know, we got to do something about these guys. That was the nature of the piece that they were given. I thought, oh, I got a plan for you. Go into these inner cities. They have less trees than rural places.

So I know we can agree on this. Let's plant some trees. Let's get rid of all these buildings that have been abandoned. And they're sitting there because a lot of the, when I read through all the crimes, a lot of them took place that, oh, let's go have a Fourth of July party at this abandoned building. A shooting broke out.

And let's bulldoze all those and plant some trees. So everybody's even right, left, middle. Everybody's in on that. Everybody likes trees. Yeah. Then let's any kind of, because you think about how much they're taxed. They have the strictest gun laws, and they're the most taxed. So let's take this money, which I'm for cutting the taxes because it's not working. Right. You know, I saw just the other

day where I think the budget in Los Angeles for dealing with their homeless people is a billion dollars a year with a B. And that number is now about 60,000 people, by the way. So it's not working. not working, but that's another story. But take this money and then you come up with these kind of programs, any kind of faith-based program that is helping people get off drugs, alcohol, and you pour your resources into that because they're the ones that are doing the work that you think you could do as some kind of government-operated program. They're the ones doing the work. You need to give them the green light. They shouldn't pay any taxes. Just building places and let them do what they do because they got it.

And you can stay away from the fringe groups. But just then I would have a training program, firearms training. So my point is we need more guns and more training for people who have good intentions to use them to help in these situations, especially when there's any kind of place where crowds gather. We need people, schools, churches. golf courses because that's one I hadn't thought about. But people gather. Because you got to remember, I think the common theme is there's more people in the big cities.

And so you got more of a, you know, you got more mischief that's going to happen just because there's more people. Well, and they've made it just about a policing issue. You either don't like the police, like the police. But it's way bigger than just the police. There's no way you could police all this. You got to remember. Then you get into counseling and mental health issues. You fund all in that because some of that may be some of it.

You got to remember. You got to remember in the context of what we're talking about. Here comes a person who, as it is written, never made a mistake. He's living in a time frame where there were no guns. Gunpowder had not been developed. There were no guns. So it's the day when Jesus walked the earth. From that time on, Jesus began to explain to his disciples,

this is in lieu of going into Romans, that he must go, this is in the 30s, late 20s and 30s, that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things, and here's the group that's going to cause the suffering. He's at the hands, he'll suffer many things, at the hands of the elders, highly religious, incredibly religious. I meant Matthew 16. And also, he's going to be turned over to the chief priests, more religious people,

and teachers of the law, more religious people, no guns, but he must be killed, and on the third day, be raised to life. Well, he says that once, you turn one page, that's Acts 16. I turn a page. Right after he said that, he said this, the son of man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and on the third day, he will be raised to life. So I turn another page.

We're going up to Jerusalem. This is Acts 2. I mean, Matthew 20. We're going up to Jerusalem. Why keep repeating this, is my point. And the son of man will be betrayed. to the chief priest, religious people. Teachers of the law, the best religious people on the earth.

They will condemn him to death. I mean, he never makes a mistake. And there's no guns, but death is everywhere you look. You say, well, what's your point? The lawlessness that we're seeing now, Well, it's always been there. Exactly. Just go all the way back.

Yep. And you say, here's the perfect person to say over and over and over, I'm fixing to be turned over to this punch. They're very religious. And they're going to kill me. Well, if these are the religious people, what in the world was going on 2,000 years ago in these streets that were coming from the non-religious people? Oh, yeah. I mean, they were doing the same thing with swords, rocks, and crosses. Yeah.

So he'll turn him over to the Gentiles, to the Romans to be mocked, flogged, and crucified on the third day he'd be raised alive. Well, you start, that's Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It was a blood fest. Well, when you get to the book of Acts, that first thing you look around and you say, they're after these apostles, they're trying to kill them. They are killing them. Stephen gives him a speech. He said, yeah, you're the, you stiff neck, you claim to be religious, and you killed all

the prophets coming up to now, and now you kill the one who's come to die for the sins of the world. He said, so here's my point. You can add all this up, but as far as expecting human beings to do good, unless God is firmly implanted in their heart. I mean, and they are walking by the spirit of God. If you're going to find any good, look there, and that's compared to the world's population.

That's a very small percentage. I don't want to dampen everybody's feelings here this morning. I'm just saying, well, that's why I had a plan. We say, well, guns are the problem. I'm like, so swords were the problem here. So the hearts of men, you get to look at it. You're like, no. it's the hearts of mankind when they turn and the evil one is turn.

Read John 8, the father of lies and murder. Well, Jesus told those people, you belong to him. He's your father. He's the father of lies and murder, by the way. Y'all, I'm telling you, if you'll listen, the truth that sets you free. Me, I will set you free about what I'm fixing to do. But no, y'all are sitting there bad mouth than me, you know, and you're ready to kill me. You want to kill me.

So if you read the context leading up to the book of Romans, when the apostle Paul, it's like you said, Al, hey, Jase, he was one of them. He was one of them. He's right in there when they got Stephen and took him out to it. He's saying, hit him again with another rock. He's holding their clothes. And that's where he came from and then wrote the book of Romans. You're like, he was one of them.

Pretty amazing. Is it amazing? Well, that was my whole point. The plan, they need Jesus. They need to promote things that get people off evil behavior. They need to have counseling mental healthness centers. They need to, you know, grow some trees, you know, participate in outdoors, spread out a little bit. All these things are common sense things that would work a lot better.

than every time something happens, Raylan about there's too many guns, which in the fifth most important is do the opposite. We need more guns with people with good intentions. The people of 2,000 years ago shows me that you don't need guns to be a murderous bunch of thugs. There's plenty of equipment around where you can kill people. They never heard of gunpowder this much,

but there was more murders probably then than now, the way I'm reading it. I mean, I think there's just as many, depending on the population, not as many people on the earth. But there was a lot of killing going on. Well, you remember what it looks like to me, I read all the way back to Genesis, there's been a whole lot of killing going on. The whole time mankind's been on the earth. That's what I was going to say. Let's take another break.

That you go back to Genesis 6, and he said every thought in every heart of everybody that was living at the time, which I don't know what the number was, but they'd been populating, you know, quite a bit, and they lived a lot longer. First thing... Much smaller population than now. And every heart was filled with evil and violence. Yep. And so that's all the way back. And so whatever they were doing then, they were doing it without guns as well.

But in fact, he rebooted the whole earth over it. Yeah. You know, I mean... Well, you get to a point, because a lot of people, you know, you could throw in another one, like quit electing corrupt leadership in these big towns. But if everyone's corrupt... Who? Well, it's like, who you got to choose from?

Dad and I've said it for years. Politics is downstream of culture. So if you got a bad culture, you're going to have bad politician. I mean, that's what's going to happen. You're producing the representation you deserve. Ms. Kay read me an article yesterday in the paper. I'm sitting on the, she just was reading it. Is she still getting a paper like a newspaper?

She reads a newspaper. And she was still have news. I hadn't seen a newspaper in years. Or church attendance from the, from the 8. to 23, 24-year-old, that particular group, the younger people, it's dropped about 40% in the last decade. Yep. I mean, they're- explains a lot, though.

They're hitting the road. They are getting out of there. They said backbiting, gossip. They said it just, they just couldn't take it too many rules. They come up with about five reasons why they're checking it to the whole bunch. But they are coming out of the religious groups by the droves. I've had enough of it. And we talked about it just your generation, Dad.

Think about how many people back in the 50s were pretty much, you know, churchgoers. And even if they didn't have it all on straight, just culturally, it was a lot kinder. Way more. Yeah, now it's a violent, difficult place, you know. Yep. But you're right. I mean, we know the answer. So we'll go back and kind of dive a little bit into Romans 9, 10, 11.

just a little bit of overview, because to dad's point, Paul was that he said the chief sinners. And the reason he said that, the chief and the worst, is because he was one of those guys that killed Stephen and a lot of other people, do them in jail. I mean, and these are all his brothers and sisters. I've always thought about it. Can you imagine how hard it would have been even after Paul got a few years on him?

He goes in to a church and there's people there. These inner cities was full of the saw of Tarsus types. Oh, yeah. I mean, you could die in a hurry. That's right. But can you imagine being in a small group setting where he's, you know, maybe he's in that house when the, you know, the guy fell out the window? And you're looking around speaking and maybe there's this mother over there of somebody

that you had killed or thrown in the prison. You had to, he had to deal with that every day. Oh. And that, I mean, just the guilt of all that. You know, I think that's why Paul, you know, was so passionate about what he talks about. you know, because he was one of them. So in chapter nine, we basically talked about the Israel misunderstanding their role. I mean, God had brought them as a chosen, elected people to bring about the Messiah to save the whole world. But generally, they missed that. I mean, some individuals

got it, but for the most part, they missed it. They missed it. So then you get to chapter 10, and Paul makes the case that Israel doesn't have an excuse. you know, just because, you know, you think you were... It's not rocket science. It's right. It's pretty simple the way he lays it out. But he's also very passionate about it because, like, you said, he desperately wants them to be saved. And he even said in chapter 10, I would give up, I would be a cutoff forever from God if it meant my people would get it right.

Which is a theme in Romans about no excuses. Yeah. Have you noticed that? That's right. Chapter one, he said... Miner without excuse. Yeah, and then chapter two, he said, same thing. I mean, over and over, it's like, that's what humans do.

Right. Make excuses. It's like I talked about my sermon days. They want to be victims. Nothing's my fault. Yeah. You know, I didn't do anything wrong. Why are you after me?

It's not my fault. It was the way I was raised. It was, you know, I didn't have this or didn't have that. You always go to that excuse mentality. The people who cancel others in Roman II, therefore you have no excuse. You who passed judgment on someone else. for at whatever point you judge the other, you're condemning yourself because you who passed judgment do the same things. I mean, he's saying you rail against people who pull sinful acts.

We wrote a blog, it appeared, about how people operate on planet Earth and they judge others, but all along their problem is they're full of sin too all of sinned other words all the founding fathers they pick them out and they say well look they had slaves they did this they did that like they weren't sinful guys everybody that's ever been on planet earth is a sinful person except Jesus and and and the way out is just be forgiving but the bunch in Romans too saying well we're not as bad as this bunch in Romans one but we will decide who's a good person and who's a bad one. So they judge put everybody under judgment, passed judgment on

everybody, and they themselves condemn themselves because of it. They're sinful too. And what Paul does is interesting because in 9, 10, and 11, he goes back and he pulls passages out of the prophets where God is telling them all through history. You're disobedient, you're stiff neck, you're not listening to me, you're not being faithful. And over and over and over, he keeps having that consistent message and yet still here we are in the first century and for the most because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart you're storing up wrath against yourself for the day of god's wrath when his rights of judgment be revealed he said he's going to clear it all up right when he shows back up i gave a lesson yesterday my lesson was the day of the lord you know what kind of people want you to be

I mean, you know, he's coming. Well, here's one of the reasons he's coming. He'll give to each person according to what he's done. You know, you'll either have lived by faith at some point or you'll be running the other way when he shows up. I'd rather be running toward him when he peers than be running away from him trying to hide. Right. Because there won't be any hiding.

That's exactly right. I know where to go, right? No. So we get to chapter 11, and, you know, he's made a strong case about the rejection of Jesus by the Jewish people, like I said, generally. But then he gets to chapter 11, and it's kind of interesting because he asked four different questions. He's kind of making his own argument, so he's asking these questions.

And he starts out, he says, did God really reject his people? Did God reject his people? In other words, in totality, is it impossible for them to be saved? And he says, by no means, I'm an Israelite, myself, a descendant of Abraham from the tribe of Benjamin. So he's using himself as an example that you can get it right, but you have to embrace Jesus, which is. And he's letting him know he was part of the seed line. That's right. Of Abraham. Oh, yeah. And he says that quite often. He was a Hebrew of Hebrews. Let's take another break. So then he gets to verse two and he says, God did not reject his people whom he foreknew.

In other words, he's saying they rejected him. Don't you know, what the scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he appealed to God against Israel. Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars. I am the only one left. And now they're trying to kill me. So he uses Elijah as sort of his example of, you know, sometimes you get to thinking there's nobody out there.

I'm the last one standing. Which is understandable why he would say that. I know Jay said some thoughts about. back in First Kings about Elijah. Yeah, it's a good read in First King, 17 and 18, all the way really to Second Kings one and two. I mean, you probably know more the history that I do, but Elijah, like other famous prophets and forefathers way back, kind of saw the vision of the gospel before it happened.

Yeah. Because you remember the story with the widow. He met this widow because he was hungry. He was out in the desert, which is not unlike some of the other characters. He followed God. John the badness comes to mind. And she's like, well, I don't have much to eat here. And if you eat it, we both going to die.

And she had a boy. Well, she had a boy. And it was a strange miracle. It's like she kept feeding him and giving him drink, and it never would run out. It's like she didn't have to go to the store. I don't know exactly where exactly that is, but it's in somewhere. First King, 17. Yeah, and 17.

Well, and then her son dies. And so she blames him because she's like, well, if you hadn't come, maybe this is something bad has happened. So Elijah prays, and next thing you know, he's resurrected. So it's like, it's almost like he saw that death, bell, and resurrection occur before Jesus from the power of God. And he was one of the few humans, or a couple others, that didn't die. Yeah, he was caught up in a whirlwind, it said, some kind of fiery. Do you have a funeral for that? Hard to say.

Well, so he was like that, and then Moses said he went up to a mountain to die, and God buried him there, whatever that means. And then in the Transfiguration, those two showed up, you know, have a little convo with Jesus. So I don't know, it's a kind of a bizarre. It helps my feelings. It does me too. Well, one of the famous things about Elijah that I like, which Paul's making the point in Roman, I mean, here's Elijah. We're down to just a few people. And you got to remember that about our culture because everybody gets negative.

But it's been worse. I mean, they were down to where there was just a few thousand people who would put their faith and trust in God. I mean, talking about outnumbered. And it came from their leadership. because Ahab was the king, and he married a woman named Jezebel, who was a sort of believed in all these false gods. And so she had filled Israel with all these false. You know, they had the Asherah poles. And, of course, this was a very cultish religion.

And so the deal was, if you wanted to have crops, you had to go out and have sex with whoever you could underneath these altars. And so the immorality was just rank throughout all of Israel. This was a very low point for the... Well, and that's what I like about these types of moments in the Old Testament. Because we're just giving you a thumbnail. But in First Kings, 18, they're having this big fight about who's the real God. And so Elijah's like, well, okay, you pray to your God. I'll pray to mine.

They had, what, 850 of them. Yeah, and you read like in 24, 1824, First Kings, it says, then you call on the name of your God, and I'll call on. the name of the Lord, the God who answers by fire, he's God. And all the people said, well, what you said? This sounds like a plant. I mean, I'd love to have been a fly. It was a showdown. Some donkey poop back then. And so then 27 says, because they were in the desert. It wasn't a wall. At noon, Elijah began to taunt them because they were, you know, they started shouting to their

god, but no, it was happening. He said, maybe. you should shout louder. Surely he is a guy, or perhaps he is deep and thought or busy or traveling. Maybe he's sleeping. It must be awakened. And I like that because I thought he was kind of a trash talker. He was. And in any competition, I view trash talk.

And by the way, that was a very, I would call it a kind translation. If you look back at the actual Hebrew when it says he was deep and thought, But he really meant he was in the back. He was using the restroom is what the phrase actually meant, which makes it even better to me. Hey, maybe he's on the pot. You know, maybe he's, you know, let's go get him out of there. Of course, they, I can't remember if it was that one or whatever where he filled up the troughs and the water. And then I believe it was that one.

And then God rained down the fire. And by the way, they were in a drought. It hadn't rained in three years. So he took precious valuable water and poured it all over his altar and everything he had set up. You know, and then there's water all over it. Yeah. But then when eventually in Second Kings won, this right before he goes is taking up, he has another one of these things.

This leader of the captain of the army kept bringing 50 men up and they're telling him to, they're dictating policy. And fire keeps raining down on each 50. And so by about the third group of 50, they're like they come down in humility. and they're like, hey, would it be okay? Look, we're just trying to have a conversation with you, you know, stop. It's just an interesting story, but I think it brings more to light what Paul is referencing there.

Right. As when God's on your side, just because you're a few, that should be nothing as far as power is concerned. I mean, he displayed it right here. I mean, they literally were controlling the world and were the moral compass of the world. Because if God is for you, who can be against you, which is what he said earlier in Romans. But I want to bring this up. He's taken up to heaven, and he kind of has this Moses moment where he's walking across a river,

and he strikes it in land forms, and he walks it with a lot. Eli Shah. Who's his replacement, which is kind of a picture of what happened with Moses, I guess, in Joshua, in that we're going to pass the torch, which, remember Moses and Elijah, we're the two guys of the Transfiguration. And so Elijah asked, he asked him, he says, because Elijah said, I'll give you whatever you ask. And he said, well, I would like your spirit times two. and he's like hey we'll pray to God and if he wants to do it and so the first thing that happens he wanted to double whammy let's take one last

break then after that is one of the most unusual passages in the Bible and this is chapter 2 now so Elijah he takes off on on the whirlwind and so now Elijah who Elijah told him he had the power but he goes to Bethel and to Al's point you have all this idolatry worship going on. And this place is supposed to be the house of God. And it's just corrupt. The world is just off the rails.

And so as he was walking along the road, some use came out of the town in Juryd him. Now some translations, I believe, got this wrong. You know, the more I studied this, it was their word for, it's kind of like what I just told you about the U.S. when it had these 400 shootings. Well, one of the articles I read about it, it said, you know, three kids die.

And, you know, so I read that. Well, it was 10. It was like 15, 19, and 16. I'm like, well, I pretty much know they had had a, they said a disagreement about something in a shootout. But the way it looked was, oh, there were some kids. And there was a kid killed as an innocent bystand. Center, which was six years old.

Now, that's horrible. Yeah, it's terrible. But I'm pretty sure, reading between the lines, that when you're 15 to 19. Oh, in these gang areas, yeah. You're in the prime of your criminal career. Yeah. So, and I think that's what was going on here. If you look that word up, you'll see that.

But they came out of the town in Jirty. Go on up, you bald head. They said, going up, you bald head. And when you research this, you realize because hair back then was a sign of kind of like our family of honor. So evidently, the scholars think that he had some kind of skin condition or it was not something he was doing purposefully. And they all knew who he was because he represented God, the creator of the universe. And so. But he looked strange.

Yeah. So he turned around. Of course, he's got a double measure. of Elijah's spirit and their charity event. I really think it's more about the worship, who they're worshipping and set in the tone. And he called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord, which in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing,

but evidently the Lord heard him. And then guess what happened? Two bears came out of the woods and mauled 42 of the young rebels. I've used that verse so many times when I was talking to kids. I said, don't make me call a bear down on you. I don't think he was really talking about that. I mean, because I do think it was they were the bullies of the new way of worship or whatever was going on in there when you read the history. They weren't bowing down to God.

I can tell you that. And there was a small sect of people that was representing God. And Elijah was the leader of that group at the time. and he passed the torch on to Elijah, but he set the tone that our God is more powerful and real than yours. Hey, I ain't on lie. I've been in some situations where I would love to have had the power to call a bear down on a few people. Just let me just show you what happens when you mess with God's people.

So I think that puts in context, the Romans 11 reference, though, about. Well, and I want to mention one thing before we totally leave that, because in First King's 19, right after it happens, because I find this fascinating. Elijah had just had this major victory on Mount Carmel, because God had shown who God really is. The people chased down all these false prophets and killed them all. So this should have been the greatest time in Elijah's life,

but Jezebel sends a message, First King's 19, may the gods deal with me be it ever so severely. And so she still believes in her false God. if by this time tomorrow, I do not make your life like one of them. She sent that message to Elijah. And what was funny is you think he would think, huh, I tell you what, this, hussy, you know, let me show you what else got. But instead, Elijah was afraid and ran for his life.

And he goes out and sits under a broom tree. And that's when he tells God, I'm the only one left. And they're trying to kill me. You might as well, just take me on. You know, he just, it just deflated him. And I've always thought, I told people before, sometimes when you have a mountain top experience, experience. And you think, man, this is so good. Maybe it was a great worship or some conference you were at. And then sometimes after that, you get, you know, all of a sudden you get this feeling

like he had. I mean, he should, he should have been the most fearless man in all the world after what he just witnessed. But I think at this point, Romans 11, Mal, he's like, there was only a few of them. And they're flawed. Even though they're trusting God, they're still flawed. Right. Yep. Just like us. Yep. And then he makes the point that so too. at the present time, there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace, then it's no longer by words. If it were, if it were, grace would no longer be grace. I mean, well, I liked his answer to Elijah was, because said the angel of the Lord took him up on a

mountain and there was an earthquake and there was a fire and there was a great wind. And so there was a major happening. But it said, God was not in any of those. He came to him in a gentle whisper. And that's when he told him, I got 7,000 and had him bowed to knee. In other words, I got work for you to do. do. You know, there is a remnant that's there, which is Paul's whole point when you get over to. Well, I think that we all struggle with that. That's why I love that passage, I'm because, I've been in

situations before where things are rolling, things are great, but then you have these fears like, am I doing what I'm supposed to be doing? I mean, we all have moments like that. And I think the gentle whisper for any of us is you got to do what God's called you to do. Well, that's why I was brought up this point about the news and, you know, all what's around us, you can't feel like somehow another, hopeless or doomed, because there's so many people out there who just said, we don't care if God was hung, shot, crucified. That's right. I mean, I think we have to look at the big picture, and there are literally hundreds of thousands

of believers out there, more than you think. Right. And we're the most powerful people on earth because of God's spirit and because of His grace. And so whenever you see that, I mean, we shouldn't get negative and gripe because I do think that translates to our kids. That's right. But I think we go to our kids and we say, we got work to do. Yeah, I love it. When I get invited, I like to California or Oregon or Washington, some, you know, what we now call a blue state, which is a lot of left-wingers, a lot of people, a lot of unbelievers.

I love when I go there because I always find those, that the remnant of people there, they still love God. They're gung-ho for Christ. And it gives you, you know, it kind of boils your spirits because you start thinking, well, you know, I've heard people say, well, you know, if the earthquake came and that whole thing just fell off in the ocean, we'd all be better off. But no, there's the people that got out there. I mean, it just means more work for us to do. I think that's the way you have to view it. That was, that was basically Elijah's challenge, you know. But the reason I think you read those stories, and I mean, we're kind of laughing about them, but those things really happened and people really died and people stood up.

They have the courage to stand up and take on God himself. And they all lost. I will say that when God told them that I have $7,000, you don't know anything about, that's not a whole lot. That's what I'm saying. That's why I was called a remnant, right? I mean, he was saying that as a people, he was saying that as far bigger than that,

I got $7,000, you already know about it. I'm like, that's not that many. That's right. You know, $7,000, I don't know. So, well, back in the story, Obadiah, who was also a prophet, who was a contemporary with Elijah, he had hidden out some priests and some people. So there was some things going on, but you're right. It wasn't many. But think about it, you just described it, Dad.

There's a, there's 300 and, you know, what, 60 million people in America now. I mean, how many of them, how, what's the remnant of those who are, you know, really believe in Christ and professing? That article yesterday, they ever think. is shrinking. Christianity is shrinking in America, the members of people, put the faith in Jesus. There's a lot of turmoil out there. You say, I can see the signs of it, Al. Yep, I can too. Time for revival. We're trying to head it off. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by rating us on iTunes. And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube and be sure to click that little bell to get

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