In this engaging episode of The Flatline, Rick Hughes delves into the concept of living in what he describes as the ‘devil’s world.’ With theological insights and personal anecdotes, Rick challenges Christians to reassess their mission and focus on bringing light into darkness without succumbing to the distractions of activism. He emphasizes the importance of spiritual autonomy and understanding God’s plan, encouraging listeners to grow and shine their light in practical, impactful ways.
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.
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Good morning and welcome to the Flatline. I’m your host, Rick Hughes. And thank you, Jack, for that great introduction. That’s Jack Steele. He does that every show for us. A wonderful person, a servant of God who works with us here at the Flatline. Anyhow, we’re here for 30 minutes of motivation, inspiration, education, never any manipulation. So I hope you stick with us. I hope you’ll hang in there because we’re designing this program to give you the information to help you verify and identify God’s plan for your life. And if you can orient and adjust to the plan, you’re going to be a much happier person, I assure you. This is show 943. That’s 943 Sundays. and we’ve been broadcasting across the United States of America in 115 cities right now. We appreciate your encouragement. We appreciate your letters. I get tons of letters weekly from individuals telling me how this show has helped them. We’re always trying to point you to a well-qualified pastor. That’s not me. I am an evangelist, and I’m not a counselor. I’m not here to counsel you. I’m not here to give you advice. I’m here to give you Scripture and point you to where there is a well-qualified pastor that can teach you the Word of God And you can live an autonomous Christian life on your own without having to go to someone to get counseling. It is possible for you to have spiritual autonomy, stand on your own two feet. And what I’m going to talk about today may surprise you. It may shock you. It may not be what you agree with, but you need to hear this because I think this is something that is unsaid today. And unless we get this right, we’re going to mess up big time. But before we get into it, remember the greatest decision you’ll ever make is is the decision to accept Jesus Christ as your savior. That’s something I did when I was 22 years old. I never went to church. I never knew anybody that went to church. The only time I ever heard about God actually was when I was 11 at a camp. And anyhow, when I was 22, I dated a girl that took me to a Bible study and there I heard the gospel. I heard how God loved me. I heard that Christ died for me. And I heard that I could have a new life if I wanted it. And I did. The gentleman that helped me showed me a verse that says, if any man’s in Christ, he’s a new creation. Old things are passed away and all things become new. I wanted that more than anything in the world because I knew all the mistakes I’d made, all the sins I’d committed. And so I bowed my head and I prayed and I simply asked God to save me and told him and I would receive Christ as my savior. And I didn’t hear trumpets. I didn’t hear harp music. I didn’t see any angels, but it worked. I walked out that night back home, and first night in a long time, I had peace with God when I went to sleep. That was the night my life changed forever. That was the night I accepted Christ as my Savior. If you’ve never done that, it is my prayer, my earnest prayer, that you will consider doing that today, right now, because the Bible says, whosoever should call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now, I want to talk to you about cleaning up the devil’s world. Cleaning up the devil’s world. Who told you that you are supposed to clean up the devil’s world? That’s what I want to know. Where in the Bible did it tell you to clean up the devil’s world? And you said, well, what do you mean the devil’s world? What are you talking about, Rick? In 2 Corinthians 4, 4, the Bible says, Satan, who is the God of this world, has blinded the minds of those who do not believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the good news. That means that their sins have been paid for. They don’t understand that. And they don’t understand, they go on to quote the scripture, this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact image, likeness of God. Satan, again, 2 Corinthians 4, 4, who is the God of this world. You know, this world is destined to be destroyed and burned up. Peter talks about it in 2 Peter, what will happen to the universe. And you know there will be a new heaven and a new earth where believers will spend eternity. But you have never been given a mandate to clean up the devil’s world. Mature believers, those that have some scripture under their belt, understand this, that we do live in the devil’s world, but we should also understand it is not our mission to clean it up. It’s not our mission to clean up the devil’s world, but to bring light into the darkness. Do you hear that? To bring light into the darkness. And this means we’re not here to fight God’s battles for him. We’re not here to fight God’s battles for him. Get that clear. Sin is rampant, no doubt about it. In a lost world, and degeneracy is certainly at the front of the line. However, we are not here to straighten out the degenerate person. We are not here to fight the perversions of society, which are too many to mention. Our job, our simple job, is to understand the mission and not get drawn into evil, E-V-I-L. Don’t get drawn into evil. Now, this is a big part of the show today. What is evil? What is that? Well, most people don’t understand what evil actually is. They simply equate it with doing some sort of sin, something bad. But it is simply a synonym for satanic doctrine. It is the worldly concepts that distract from grace and oppose biblical truths. Evil will take a twist on everything. It can be a sin for sure, but what I’m referring to is actually a system, a system of living that is opposite of God’s design. I’ll tell you how evil works. The Bible says, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved. That’s the scripture. Here’s what evil says. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and quit eating peanut butter and you’ll be saved. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and don’t drink Kool-Aid and you’ll be saved. That’s not true. That’s evil. Evil always takes a twist to the grace of God. Evil is usually thought of as a failure of society that has no moral principles. Normally, But in reality, it’s much more than that. It’s a system by which Satan rules this world. And it’s a system whereby he proves himself equal to God, or at least he attempts to do so. And here in his system, he promotes the idea. It’s called the cosmic system. You’ve heard me speak about it, the cosmic system. He promotes the idea that man can break away from his inherent corruption by means of his own ability. And that is simply not possible. All who sin and come short of the glory of God, there are none that are righteous. No, not one, the Bible says. And you cannot break away from your inherent corruption by means of your own ability. The only way to get out of your corruption is to be born again. If any man is in Christ Jesus, he’s a new creation. Old things are passed away. All things become new. Remember that. So the main concept of evil is organized religions. Yep, organized religion is the devil’s ace trump. And by such blinding the eyes of the need for God and his grace. Organized religion does that. They blind the hearer to the need for God and his wonderful grace that he provided through Christ. So remember that, okay? This is a lie according to John 8, 44. Man needs God’s grace. Organized religion cannot supply it to you. God’s policy has always been grace, and Satan’s policy, the cosmic system, only offers up evil. Evil sounds good, but it twists the scriptures and it confuses the hearer. because salvation is by grace and not by adding anything to it, not by adding giving up anything to it, not by adding baptism. So one of the most evil creatures, one of the most evil creatures is the religious, self-righteous individual who will condemn you or manipulate you into trying to condemn the sinners so you can help clean up the devil’s world. God didn’t send you to go and straighten out the sinner. This is interesting because this is what’s happening today. There are a lot of Christians that want you to fight moral degeneracy. There are a lot of Christians that want you to go down and march on this and march on that and do all this civil disobedience, and that is evil. Our job is not to condemn the sinner. Listen to John 3, 17. God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. You and I are not to be self-righteous judges. We are to be the bearer of the good news of the cross. And that good news is that whosoever will may come. That good news is that Christ died for all, all men and women, whoever they may be. The good news is through faith alone in Christ alone, you can have a brand new life and a guaranteed ticket to eternal life in heaven with the Father. That’s the good news. The good news is your sins were paid for. The good news is you’re not going to have to pay for them yourself. But we are not supposed to be self-righteous judges. We are supposed to be the bearers of the good news. We’re not here to condemn the sinner. We’re not here to march against the abortionist. We’re not here to march against the immoral people. We are here to do what the Bible says, Matthew 5, 16, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your God in heaven. Let your light so shine. In John 8, 12, then Jesus spoke to them again saying, I am the light of the world. and he who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. The light you are to shine is the reflective glory of Jesus Christ, the anointed Son of God. When you are filled with the Spirit and when you have some Bible doctrine in your soul, you have some wisdom, understanding, insight, and discernment, and you can begin to figure out how you’re being used and how you’re being manipulated to try to clean up the devil’s world. There’s a better way to do this and it’s not marching, it’s not attacking the center, it’s lifting up the Lord Jesus Christ, because our citizenship is actually in heaven, and we are just passing through. You as a believer, you don’t belong here. You may be an American citizen, but your true citizenship is in heaven, and you are just passing through this land. Where does it say that in the Bible? Well, in Philippians 3.20, for our citizenship is in heaven. The Greek word, our citizenship is in heaven from which we eagerly await the Savior to come back and get us, the Lord Jesus Christ. So we don’t need to try to clean up this world. This world will be destroyed by God eventually. Our world is in heaven. We’re going to go to heaven. We’re going to have eternal life in heaven. On the other hand, as a believer in Christ, we are free from the enslavement of sin and we’re no longer under the wrath of God. So if you want to know the truth about it, you know, you hear everything today about aliens, aliens, aliens, flying saucers, weird people, all kind of stuff about aliens. You want to know who the real alien is? It’s you and me. We are the aliens because we don’t belong here. Not little people from Mars. We are temporary citizens ourself. And we are awaiting the mothership to take us home. And that’s the rapture of the church. The exit resurrection when the Lord Jesus Christ will call us to come be with him. And in an instant, the twinkling of an eye, zap, we’ll be gone. And it’d be interesting to see how they try to figure that out. Where did all these people go? Oh, I know. They probably were taken by the aliens in a rocket ship somewhere. It’s crazy. In Satan’s world, the unbeliever is more concerned with temporal matters, personal pleasure, which are too numerous for me to even mention here. But the idea that we should change from our current system of government to a more socialistic style, then all the ills of this nation would be cured automatically, that’s crazy. People don’t realize that man has a sinful nature. And regardless of what system of government he lives under, there will always be murder, theft, abuse, and every crime mentionable. So the issue is never the government. It’s not the government. The issue is the heart of man. What’s in the heart of man? It’s evil, it’s deceptive. That’s the issue. You can’t control the sin nature of any individual. The only way to control the sin nature is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, accept him as your savior, God the Holy Spirit will come and live in you, and then you can walk in the power of the Holy Spirit and subdue the power of the sin nature. One of Satan’s favorite deceptions is trying to get Christians to clean up his world. He likes it when you try to clean up his world. Because if he can draw you into some sort of Christian activism, then he will be able to distract you from two things. He will distract you from lifting up the Lord Jesus Christ, which is the light of the world, and he will distract you from ever growing spiritually. Instead of spending your time studying the scriptures under a well-qualified pastor and learning God’s word, you’ll be out marching and protesting and running up and down the streets, condemning the sinners, trying to clean up the devil’s world. Let me give you some points on Christian activism. You may be asking yourself, what’s he talking about, Christian activism? What in the world is that? Well, Christian activism is the function of a religious arrogance. And what that does, it substitutes what should be the duty of the spiritual impact for the goal of cleaning up society’s depravity. Again, I’ll tell it to you again, listen. Christian activism is the function of religious arrogance. that substitutes what should be the duty of spiritual impact for the goal of cleaning up social depravity. Two, Christian activism includes moral degeneracy, and that moral degeneracy exalts man’s efforts over God’s grace. You’ve heard of immoral degeneracy, I know you have, but the moral degenerate is actually the worst kind. It was the moral degenerate religious organization that crucified our Lord Jesus Christ. Even though the judge said he’s not guilty, this man did nothing wrong, and the moral degenerates came out, crucify him, crucify him. They wanted him dead. They were the moral degenerates. And you’ve never been attacked until the self-righteous religious moral degenerate attacks you because you don’t live like he wants you to live. So point three, the Christian activism seeks to influence the world for Christ. Christian activism seeks to influence the world for Christ through public action, even some sort of public coercion. And that will not work. Public action, public coercion doesn’t work. And so when the self-righteous religious person tries to do that, All he does is make a mess out of the situation so that people begin to turn on Christianity. That’s not what they need to see. Point four, some people use civil disobedience and some get into vigilantism and organized revolution, including violence. Christian activism can go to that. And this type of campaign can include Christian activism, Christians marching against blasphemous movies, Christians marching against immoral behavior, Christians picketing outside any place they object to. This sort of Christian activism causes the unbeliever to mock Christianity and to mock its beliefs. You are to lift up Christ. You are to be the light of the world. You are to reflect his glory. You are to love. You are to forgive, not condemn. Even the Bible said he didn’t come into the world to condemn the world. So the power of Christianity, our power, is not political. It’s not even visible, but it’s spiritual and it’s invisible. So what influences the course of history is the impact of the mature believer, not social reform. I’m gonna say that again. What influences the course of history is the impact of mature believers, not social reform. And I’m talking about you. When you become a mature believer, when you grow to grace and reach spiritual maturity, you become one of the 300. Remember Joshua’s thing about the 300? Remember the Midianites invading Joshua’s land and he got a big army up and God said, I can’t use all of those. Take them down to the river and I’m going to dismiss a lot of them. There were 300 left and God took 300 and transformed and changed the history of the nation. God is looking for you to be a changer. God is looking for you to be the person that has the spiritual life that he can use. When you advance in God’s plan, then you can bring the true solutions to the national problems. Because when a nation such as us has a solid pivot, a solid pivot, P-I-V-O-T, then God can honor and bless that nation. And you may be wondering, what is a pivot? Well, what’s that? What does he mean, a pivot? Well, a pivot is within a nation such as America. It refers to the accumulation of believers whose spiritual advance determines the status of that nation and determines whether God will bless us or God will curse us. Now, if you draw a chart on a blackboard and you go up chart or down chart, I wanna ask you a question. If the blackboard represented America, would we be in an uptrend or a downtrend? Would the lines be going up or would they be going down? Think about that. Because as the pivot shrinks, the further down the line goes. Pivot members are the invisible heroes who contribute to blessing and preservation of the land. Pivot members are mature believers who reflect the glory of Christ. They’re mature believers who take in the Word of God on a daily basis. They’re mature believers who study under a well-qualified pastor and have the wisdom, insight, discernment, and understanding necessary to stay out of activism. Being a pivot member is not being an activist. A large pivot in America means strength and prosperity in the government, in law enforcement, in the military, in the economy, and the culture, including the social life of the entire nation. If the pivot shrinks, that means less mature believers, beyond impact, then the nation declines, and it’s eventually destroyed through the cycles of national discipline. Do you think the pivot in America is shrinking? Do you think the number of mature believers is shrinking, the numbers of churches aren’t? I mean, all you gotta do is drive around town and look at all the churches and if you get on the social media network and see some of the crazy worship services, you know it’s just a show. It’s a carnival sideshow. Very seldom do you see people teaching in depth the scriptures, and very seldom do you see people wanting to learn. Remember Hosea said, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Since you rejected knowledge, I’ll reject your children. Knowledge is what God wants. God said he’s looking for people that not only know him but understand him, and that means we have to understand the protocol plan of God. Don’t forget that despite tyranny, despite paganism, And despite widespread slavery in the first century of the Roman Empire, evangelism and spiritual growth thrived. The Apostle Paul did not campaign against the evil of his day, but instead he stuck with spreading the gospel which he said is the most powerful force in the history of the world. Here’s where he said it, Romans 1.16. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, For it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes it, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. The power of God is the gospel of Christ, the good news, the death, the burial, and the resurrection of our Savior. That is the most powerful thing that can turn a man’s life around in an instant. That is the most powerful thing that Satan hates to hear. Jesus Christ defeated him on the cross and ensured that God’s plan will be victorious. That is what you must talk about. That is what you must bring to the forefront. That is what Paul brought forth. He left the evils of the Roman Empire to the Supreme Court of Heaven, and he recognized that Jesus Christ controls history, and you need to recognize that also. So what exactly can you do to alter the course that we’re on today in this country? Well, I’ll tell you. The first thing is for you to receive Christ as your savior and to serve him. That’s the first thing. You’re not gonna ever come to God unless you come through Christ. We know that. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. When I hear people say, we’re praying for you, I wonder if their prayers are even being answered. because there’s a right way to pray and a wrong way to pray. And if you don’t understand the protocol plan of God, you can pray to your blue in the face and it’ll never be answered. You have to pray in the power of the Holy spirit. You pray in the name of Jesus Christ, the anointed son of God, and you pray to God, the father Christ taught the disciples that he said, pray like this, our father, which art in heaven. He taught him how to do that. So if you want to change the courts of history, and you want to do something that will affect this nation, receive Christ as your Savior and don’t depend on any politician to change it. It won’t happen. Number two, get under the ministry of a well-qualified pastor who can explain to you what God expects from his children. You must understand what God expects from you. Don’t let somebody tell you, now that you’re saved, You need to get baptized, and here’s your tithing envelope, and here’s your perfect attendance. Listen, baptism is definitely a sign for people that have accepted Christ, but it’s not how you get saved. It’s an indication that you’ve been saved. But you don’t necessarily have to tithe to prove that you love God. Maybe you should give more than 10%. Maybe you should give 20%. Maybe you don’t have 10%. In the New Testament, you give what you’re capable of giving. We’re not under the Old Testament law of taxation of 10% like they were in the Old Testament. So get under the ministry of a well-qualified pastor who can explain to you what God expects from his children. If you don’t understand that, here’s one, grow in the grace and the knowledge of your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. That’s a mandate. Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed. Write a dividing word of truth. That’s a mandate. So point three, learn how to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Why? So you can properly execute the Christian life. And four, begin to consistently study the scriptures daily. Listening to the pastor teach and apply what you learn. You say, you don’t know a pastor that teaches daily? Well, I do. I know several that you can sit at home and around your table, turn on your computer and get a disc and study the word of God on a daily basis, just like I do. And five, you can begin to represent Jesus Christ to your family and your friends, starting with maybe your prayers around the dinner table, maybe with your prayers when you’re out to eat, letting people know that you’re believers, that you worship the Lord Jesus Christ, and start an effective prayer life. Start an effective prayer life. What is that? That means you, for adoration, you praise God for his love and compassion and mercy. Intercession, when you pray for others, such as pray for your family members, sick people, even me, pray for me. And your personal petitions, when you ask God for things that you want. And number seven, learn and use those 10 problem-solving devices that we call the flat line, the flat line in your soul. Understand rebound, understand the filling of the spirit, understand faith rest drill, understand grace orientation, understand doctrinal orientation, understand your personal sense of destiny, understand personal love for God, understand impersonal love for all mankind, understand sharing the happiness of God, and understand what it means to be occupied with Christ. That is the Christian life in a nutshell right there. Those 10 things. If you don’t know them, you’re not going to be able to glorify God. Learn and use the 10 problem-solving devices that make up the flat line in your soul. And number eight, stay away from Christian activists. Stay away from them, those who try to convince you to join their cause, to march with them, come out and demonstrate with us. Let everybody know you stand for God. I actually saw a book where a guy said you’re a coward if you don’t take a stand for God, if you don’t go out and march against this stuff. And he was willing to sell you his book for 20 bucks to tell you that. Crazy. Look out for Christian activists. You are not here to straighten up the devil’s world. You are here to be the light of the world. You’re here to reflect the glory of Christ. You’re here to lift him up. And it is my prayer that this message has been understood and well-received, and you will apply that information to your life. I thank you for listening to The Flatline. Thank you for not being offended. Please come back next week, same time, same place, same channel. We will press on with more information that will help you verify and identify God’s plan for your life. So until next week, this is your host, Rick Hughes, saying thank you for listening to The Flatline.
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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.
