In this insightful episode of The Flatline, host Rick Hughes explores the metaphor of the American tumbleweed and its scriptural implications. Highlighting passages from Jeremiah, Rick discusses the pitfalls of seeking happiness and fulfillment in political leaders and fleeting promises. Instead, he points listeners towards the lasting hope and stability found in trusting God’s plan and developing a strong spiritual foundation.
Welcome to the Flatline with your host, Rick Hughes. For the next 30 minutes, you’ll be inspired, motivated, educated, but never manipulated. Now, your host, Rick Hughes.
SPEAKER 02 :
Good morning and welcome to the Flatline. I’m your host, Rick Hughes, and for the next few minutes, I’d like to give you an invitation to stick around. It won’t be long, just about 30 minutes of motivation, some inspiration, a whole lot of education and And we don’t manipulate people. We’re not trying to raise money. We’re not trying to sell you anything. No latest book we’ve written to sell you. We certainly have books, but we give them away. We don’t sell them. And we would like for you to have some very good information that will help you verify and identify God’s plan for your life. If you’re interested and if you want to orient and adjust to the plan, well, that’s up to you. So I hope you’ll listen. I hope you’ll stick around. I hope you’ll stay with me. We always podcast our radio shows as well. If you’re familiar with podcast venues, you can go to the Apple iPod. You can go to Spotify, anything like that, and search for the FLOT line, F-L-O-T, FLOT line. That stands for the Forward Line of Troops, a military analogy. And if you find it, you can listen to the FLOT line anywhere, anytime, any day, anywhere in the world. by going to the podcast venue. We have about 800 radio shows podcasted there and we also had transcriptions there, all available for you. Transcriptions of this radio show will be available. If you’d like to have a transcription, let us know. We’ll always be free to mail it to you and you can read what we said in the transcript. Okay, I guess we’ve talked about all of that. We’ve told you about all of our books, all of our bookmarkers. We have a lot of bookmarkers available for you to stick in your Bible. It’ll help you, things to remember about God’s plan for your life. So please take advantage of what we offer. It’s always there for you. I want to give you an illustration today about what’s going on in our country. I try to stay out of politics most of the time, and this is not political. But many, many, many years ago when I was a young man, I remember hearing a song called tumbling tumbleweeds. I bet you remember that song tumbling tumbleweeds. Although one of the most famous songs associated with the sons of the pioneers who sang it, it was originally composed by Bob Nolan in the thirties while working as a caddy and living in Los Angeles. It was originally entitled tumbling leaves. but it was reworked into the title Tumbling Tumbleweeds and into fame in 1935 with a Gene Autry film with the same name. It was at one time, and still is, members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the top 100 Western songs of all time. See them tumbling along, Tumbling Tumbleweeds. Well, the Bible talks about tumbleweeds. Did you know that? In Jeremiah 17, 6, Jeremiah spoke to the people of Israel, and the Bible translates this passage. I’m going to use a translation called The Message today. There are a lot of different translations, the King James Version, the New American Standard Version, the New King James Version, the NIT Version. But here it’s called The Message, and it’s a simplified version. It helps you to understand it. Here’s what it says in Jeremiah 17, verses 5 and 6. Cursed is the strong one who depends on mere humans, the person who thinks he can make it on muscle alone and sets God aside as dead weight. He is like a tumbleweed on the prairie, out of touch with the good earth, and he lives rootless and aimless in a land where nothing grows. He’s a tumbleweed. The King James translation of the word shrub is where we get the word tumbleweed. It’s actually a Hebrew word, A-R-O-E-R, pronounced ed-ar. It means a bush with no roots. Tumbleweeds have no roots. They are blown along by any wind that comes. And they’re very vulnerable to that. They blow everywhere because they don’t have any place to root. But I want to talk to you about the American tumbleweed. The American tumbleweed. The American tumbleweed is blown about by winds of promise from politicians who are seeking power, making promises of happiness if they get elected. And a lot of people are blown in that direction. because American tumbleweeds pay no attention to God’s warning in Jeremiah 17, five. Here is a King James translation to that verse. Cursed is the man who trusts in man, who makes man his strength, flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord. This verse I just read to you is a direct reflection of the political hope of many Americans today. looking for some politician who can legislate their problems away and make them happy. Someone who would get rid of their student loans, guarantee them a monthly income, make sure they get rid of fossil fuels like gas and oil. Someone who will legislate equality of sexes and races. In other words, people are looking for a flawed individual who is repackaged as a wonderful leader and a problem solver, But underneath the glimmer and the glory is the false image of still an individual with a sin nature, be it a man or a woman. Ironically, the Bible speaks of the Antichrist of the Tribulation much in the same way. He’s the same sort of individual, a great problem solver, a politician, bringing countries of the world together. But underneath, he’s a man possessed by Satan who will eventually demand to be worshiped. Looking for happiness in a political leader to bring change is false hope. Jeremiah says it’s false hope, and it’s false hope lived in life in a parched place. That’s what he says. In other words, the individual will not ever see happiness since they’ve turned away from the Lord and are looking for some man to deliver them. And they are like tumbleweeds blown around by every wind of doctrine that comes. We’ll talk about that later. But life will not offer any refreshment for these individuals, only suffering and death, when you look for happiness in a lie. It’s not there. The volitional decision the individual makes, the American tumbleweed makes, to abandon God’s plan, to set a course based on flawed leadership, is nothing sort of disastrous. With no roots to hold them down firm, they blow with every wind that blows. People in America today, you know, I know, they’re restless. They won’t change, but human solutions are no solutions. Divine solutions are the only solutions. Again, human solutions are no solutions. They only cause for more frustration, more pain. Only if you have a solid, sound, spiritual life based on a personal relationship with Jesus Christ can you have what you’re seeking. Listen to what Jeremiah says about that. Jeremiah 17, seven and eight. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is in the Lord. For he will be like a tree, not a tumbleweed, He will be like a tree planted by the waters which spreads out its roots by the river and will not fear when the heat comes and his leaves will always be green and it will not be anxious in the year of the drought nor will it cease from yielding fruit. Why? Because it’s planted by the water. The living water of the Lord Jesus Christ is our hope. Spiritual death is the condition of the disadvantaged person who rejects God’s uniquely born son And spiritual birth is what happens when you put your faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross and receive him as your savior. John 3.36 talks about it. It says this, he who believes in the son will have everlasting life. And he who does not believe the son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. In John 6.47, most assuredly, I say to you, Jesus said, He who believes in me has everlasting life. These two verses echo what Jeremiah 17, 7 said. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is the Lord. That’s the first step for you to have the right kind of life. It’s the first step for you to be like a tree planted by the water. Not a tumbleweed, but a firm foundation near a source of refreshment. This verse guarantees you happiness if you trust God’s plan. And those two key words are trust and hope. Again, Jeremiah 17, seven, blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord. That’s what happens when you get saved. You put your faith and trust in the finished work of Christ on the cross. and whose hope, and that’s the word confidence, is in the Lord. That means that you depend on the Lord for your provisions of everyday life. You don’t have to sweat anything. You don’t have to worry about anything. You develop a flat line in your soul, and you move through life with great happiness. How do I know that? Because Jesus Christ said this in Luke 11, 27 and 28, happiness belongs to those people who hear my father’s word and keep it. God’s plan for you is based on a personal relationship with him. And that only starts when you receive Christ as your savior. because there’s no other way you can reach God other than through his anointed son, our Lord Jesus Christ. In John 14, 6, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me. In John 6, 28 and 29, then they said to him, what shall we do that we may work the works of God? In verse 29, John 6, Jesus said, This is the work of God, that you believe in the one whom he has sent. In John 6, 40, this is the will of him who sent me, that everyone who sees the son and believes in him may have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day. That’s what being saved is, to become a believer. You’ve been an unbeliever, now you become a believer. What are you supposed to believe? Believe in the finished work of Christ on the cross. Did he die for you? Yes. Did he pay for your sin? Yes. Was he buried? Yes. Was he resurrected? Yes. Do you believe that? Can you claim that as your salvation? Can you come to the Father and say, Heavenly Father, I know that I cannot save myself. And so I’m here today to commit myself to the Lord Jesus Christ, believing he paid for my sin. If you can pray a prayer something like that, simple prayer, your own words, that’s not important, the words, but what’s important is what you’re saying, what you’re communicating to God, because the Bible says, whosoever should call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And you can express your faith to God in prayer by simply saying, I believe Jesus Christ is your anointed son, and I am willing to receive him. To as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God. What an amazing thing to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and to receive him as your savior. That’s what Jesus said, this is the will of the one that sent me, that everyone who sees a son and believes in him may have everlasting life. Paul told the Roman jailer, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. You’ve heard John 3.16, God so loves the world, he gave his only begotten son so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. That’s the verb pistouo from the noun pistis or faith. Believe is faith. Put your faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross. If your hope for a better life and happiness is in some man or some government official, you’re going to be greatly disappointed because no politician, be it a Republican or a Democrat, can solve any problem of the tumbling tumbleweeds in America today. There’s no magic genie gonna pop out of the bottle and grant you your wish. So we have restlessness in America today. We have division, we have greed, we have jealousy, we have bitterness. Who can calm all of that down? I mean, it doesn’t take a genius to see we’re fractured as a nation and we’re doomed to defeat if we don’t turn to our true protector and our true provider. Philippians 4, 6, and 7 says this. Be anxious for nothing. What a great thing to believe in. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Go to God with your requests, let him know, and then the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and mind through Christ Jesus. What a promise. Here’s an Old Testament promise in the book of Nahum, one of the minor prophets. The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of troubles. and he knows those who trust him. We certainly have a day of trouble in our nation today. Do you trust God? Are you anxious? Are you full of anxiety? Do you have stress in your life because you don’t have those problem-solving devices we talk about? You’ve heard me tell you that adversity is inevitable, but stress is optional, because adversity is what circumstances do to you, and stress is what you do to yourself. So America is full of tumbleweeds being blown around by every promise of the politician, hoping to have their problem solved. Not going to happen. But what about Christian tumbleweeds? Christian tumbleweeds. That’s a little bit of a different story. See, if you’ve accepted Christ as your Savior, remember this. When you go to church to get a little fix, you know, to get your shot of God with a one dose of inspiration and then head down the road doing your own thing, it’s not going to work. If you wish to really please God and have an impact on your nation’s history, it’s going to take more than you just play nod to God. First, you absolutely must get under the ministry of a teaching pastor who studies and communicates the word of God more than 30 minutes a week. not a cruise ship director, not someone who makes sure the Christian community, everybody has someplace to go and something to do, but a man who studies and teaches the Word of God consistently. Second, you have to learn the protocol plan of God, starting with those unique 10 problem-solving devices that make up the flat line in your soul, and these are nothing new. These are age-old biblical doctrines, 10 problem-solving devices. What are they? Well, we solve the problem of sin when we rebound, when we confess our sin. 1 John 1, 9, if we confess our sin, he’s faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and purify us from all wrongdoing. That leads to problem-solving device number two, the filling of the Holy Spirit. That’s where we solve the problem of our genetically formed sin nature that wants to control our life. Because the Bible says the flesh wars against the spirit. The spirit wars against the flesh. And then problem-solving device number three, the faith rest drill, where we stand on the 7,000 promises of God and put our confidence and trust in him, and he will deliver. Remember what he told Joshua? Don’t be afraid. Don’t worry. I’ll be with you. And then grace orientation. What a wonderful problem-solving device. You’re saved by grace. We know that because the Bible says, for by grace are you saved through faith. It’s a gift from God, not of workers, unless anyone would brag about it. And there’s doctrinal orientation, that’s you going to the word of God, learning the mind of Christ, getting divine viewpoint, living your life in that vein. This gives you the personal sense of destiny, why God got you here, why God wants you to do, what your spiritual gift is, and where your eternal status will be. This is all motivated by your personal love for God, a great virtue in your life. 1 John 5, 3 said, if you love me, you will obey me and my mandates are not hard. Personal love for God comes reciprocally where it says we love him because he first loved us. God loved you way before you ever loved him. And I don’t even know if you love, how can you love a God you don’t even know? But then there’s impersonal love, a great problem-solving device that gives me the ability to love even the worst person in the world. This is what the Lord Jesus Christ used on the cross. He died for me, and I was a jerk. He died for you. He died for everyone. All of us jerks. With impersonal love, he loved us. God so loved the world. He didn’t love us with personal love based on his character. I mean, our character. He loved us with impersonal love based on his character. And then it takes us to sharing the happiness of God, plus H. Jesus told those disciples in John 15, 11, I’ve told you these things so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be full. And there we come up to occupation with Christ. It’s no longer I, but Christ in me, the hope of glory Paul talks about. Those 10 problem-solving devices have to be learned because, in essence, that is the Christian life. That’s how it works, and that makes up the flat line in your soul. So first, you got to get under the ministry of a well-qualified pastor. Second, learn the protocol plan of God, starting with those 10 problem-solving devices. Build that flatline in your soul. And third, you must be consistent in your studies. You must be faithful in the application of what you learn. You cannot afford to be a Christian tumbleweed. What is that? Ephesians 4.13 says, That we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine. There’s the tumbleweed right there. By the trickery of men and the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. The Christian tumbleweed is tricked into believing the lie by a deceitful crafty person who makes it sound like God endorsed him. Oh, the Lord told me to write this book. You need to buy my book. Buy my book. Oh, I’m just trying to cover my costs, they’ll tell you. I’ll tell you what. There are canine clergy roaming all around this country. Canine clergy. What’s a canine clergy? Matthew 7, 15. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? The ravenous wolves are the canine clergy roaming about who would love to capture you by your emotions. They will seek to lure you away from any solid, sound, consistent Bible teaching by using gimmicks to hook you, especially if you’ve got children. Oh, the children, the poor children. That’s why the Jews wouldn’t go on the promised land to start with. The giants in there, oh, what would they do to our children? And so many believers get sucked into this by saying, oh, well, we need a nice, wonderful place where our children can have fun in church. The church is not there to babysit. It’s there to train and teach the Word of God. That’s just one thing. There’s so much going on. It’s almost unbelievable the things that are happening today. Beware of the canine clergy. They will take you and seduce you into their way of thinking, and you will be off base down the road called the my way highway. Bible doctrine, the word of God, must be taught in a client nation if we’re going to survive. It has to be taught. Why? Because Proverbs 29, 18 says, Where there is no revelation, the people cast off all restraint. But happy is the one who keeps the law. That’s what’s happened in America today. We’ve cast off restraint. The modified expanded translation of that verse I just quoted to you in Proverbs 29, 18 is this. Where there’s no communication of divine revelation, the people lack restraint. In other words, they’re always searching for something like tumbleweeds. But he who is rooted in the teaching of the word is very happy. You see, the power of Christianity is not in politics. It’s not even visible, but rather the spiritual invisible life. Your influence as an invisible hero is the only way this nation can ever survive. It’s the only way there could ever be any blessing to its citizens. You, you are the true hope for America, not the politician. You, your spiritual life. And any Christian who’s unaware of what the Bible teaches often winds up going down the wrong road, becoming some sort of activist. You know, they want to clean up the devil’s world and right all the wrongs and destroy anybody that don’t agree with them, that doesn’t agree with them. It’s obvious to me America is under divine discipline. It should be to you too. Although many citizens don’t see it that way. But our internal peace is gone. Our international peace is gone. Spiraling food prices, spiraling fuel prices threaten our security and our families. What can you do about it? I can tell you what you can do about it. First, get your personal spiritual life in order. Learn how to get in fellowship with God and how to stay in fellowship with God using Rebound. Understand the filling of the Holy Spirit and what it does for you. Find a well-qualified pastor teacher who can teach you the Word of God and listen, learn, and glorify God on a daily basis. We often call that LAG, L-A-G, learn, apply, and glorify God. These sort of decisions will equip you to be part of the pivot process the core group of mature believers who can have an invisible and a historical impact on the future of this nation. But if you neglect, if you neglect your spiritual life, as you have been doing in the past, if you neglect your spiritual life, you can kiss it goodbye because your children and your grandchildren will pay the price for your failure. Hosea 4.6 is very plain about this, very clear about this. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, Hosea 4, 6. Because you rejected knowledge, I will reject you from being my priest. Because you ignored the laws of your God, I will ignore your children. Now, if you have children or grandchildren, this should be a warning to you. Your grandchildren and your children will pay the price for your failure to grow spiritually. They will pay the price for your lack of knowledge. What does it mean, lack of knowledge? It means this, that God has a plan. Listen, we’re not playing streetball here. We’re not making the rules up to go along. God laid down the plan a long time ago. That’s why it says, study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Can you be ashamed when you get to heaven? Yes. Why? Because you never learned the plan. You never did it the right thing in the right way. And in 1 Corinthians 3, 11 through 16, you’ll see all the wood, hay, and stubble burned up. All the good things you did the wrong way, not filled with the Holy Spirit, from the energy of the flesh, make a nice big bonfire in eternity, not rewardable, and not hearing, well done, my good and faithful servant. You didn’t want to learn. You didn’t have time to learn. I don’t have time to sit down and listen to a pastor. I just need a 10-minute devotion every day, you might say to yourself. I just need some Christian music, and I’ll be okay. No, you won’t. That’s not how you grow. This verse says, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. You rejected knowledge. You were not willing to invest in learning God’s word. That’s the question. Are you willing to invest in learning God’s word? It’s going to take time and effort. it may even take some finances for you to purchase the right kind of material to do it with a computer or a dvd player an mp3 player but are you willing to invest in your spiritual life so you don’t have to hear this because god said when you reject knowledge I will reject your children. This means you’re guaranteeing that your children will have no future in America. Why? Oh, well, you say I voted for the right man. I believe in the right purposes and principle. Well, yeah, we all do. Divine institutions are wonderful and God designed them that way. Do you even know what they are? Do you understand divine institutions, establishment principles taught in the Bible? Freedom, marriage, family, nationalism. Do you know what that is? See, that requires knowledge to understand God’s plan because so many people get easily suckered into going the wrong way. and suckered into spending all their money buying books that don’t tell you anything. I hope you’re listening to me today. I’m trying to be as firm and as hard and as tough as I can be. I’m watching my country go down. I’m watching Christians that are not interested in growing spiritually, that are easily distracted from prosperity. You know, I mean, God’s blessed you. You got a lot of wonderful things. You’re really enjoying life, aren’t you? Count all your blessings while you got them. They’re not going to be here long. You keep going down the my way highway, I assure you. I hope you’re listening. I hope you’re paying attention. I’ll be back next week. Same time, same place. Until then, this is your host, Rick Hughes, saying thank you for listening to The Flood Line.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thank you for listening to The Floodline with your host, Rick Hughes. If you’d like to contact Rick, please write to him at P.O. Box 100, Cropwell, Alabama, 35054, or online at www.rickhughesministries.org.
