This episode provides insight into the ominous signs of a nation’s decline and the divine discipline it may face. Rick Hughes explains the biblical foundation for a client nation, drawing parallels between historical accounts and present-day implications. Through theological reflection and historical analogy, Rick calls on mature believers to act as stabilizing forces amidst increasing spiritual darkness.
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 for the next few minutes, please stick around. You know we don’t try to hustle money. We’re not trying to solicit membership. We’re just trying to give you some information, information that hopefully will help you verify and identify the plan of God for your life. And if you can do that, you’re free to orient and adjust to the plan. But if you enjoy the Flatline, you may not know or might not understand that we make all of these shows into transcripts and they’re available for you. The complete show list of transcripts for the year 2020 are now coming available. and that means there’s 52 shows in 2020, and we have the transcripts in a book for you. If you’d like to have them to read, contact us, get in touch with us, and we’ll make it available to you just as soon as it comes off the press, free of charge, never a charge. For anything that we do here, we operate by grace. We believe God’s in it. He’ll pay for it. We don’t hustle for money. We believe 2 Corinthians 2, 17, where Paul said, we are not like many peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, But as from God, we speak freely in Christ in the sight of God. So I don’t claim to have a better understanding than many others who have airway programs, who have Christian teaching shows. But I do proclaim liberty from selling books or selling messages because I believe that Christian marketing is atrocious. I think it’s sad. And I get numerous ads over social media myself sometimes, television, Internet, communication mediums, all trying to sell me something. And that’s the last thing I want to be trying to do is peddle or sell the Word of God. Now, I’d like to talk to you about what’s coming up in the future. I’m not a prophecy nut, but I’m clearly a history student. And anyone can see that there are dark days ahead for this client nation. Dark days ahead for this client nation. I use the term client nation because that’s what I want to teach you today. I want you to come to understand what that means. But we have enough racial strife to destroy this country. We have enough political strife to destroy the country. We have enough families in strife to destroy the country. And we have international strife. So on all points, we’re in big trouble. And as we’ve said before, all the things that used to be good have now turned into being evil. And all the things that you and I grew up with that were evil are now accepted as good and okay. And so this is a problem for God, I promise you. So let me explain why I want to talk about a client nation. It’s critical at this point for us in the United States of America because we are a client nation. And I will explain what that means and also explain what it means if we lose our client nation status. Now, because of this, I’d like to quote my beloved friend and my personal mentor, Reverend R.B. Thiem, Jr., pastor of Baraka Church in Houston, Texas, where he served for more than 50 years as pastor of that congregation. This is something he taught me about a client nation, and I’m quoting now his words. A client nation is a national entity under the patronage of God. It is assigned the responsibility for the formation, for the preservation, for the communication, and fulfillment of the Bible, the canon of Scripture. Reverend Thame went on to identify Gentile client nations, and he said there are two categories of client nations to God in human history. Jewish client nations of the Old Testament, and who had a specialized priesthood, and then the Gentile client nations during this dispensation of the church. And we have a universal priesthood. So no Gentile nation of the Old Testament was a client nation to God. There was no Gentile client nation in the Old Testament. The Gentile client nation category follows exactly the same pattern as Israel, with some dramatic differences related to the uniqueness of this church age, both in grace and in the spiritual life. Quoting Colonel Thiem now here. That’s what we always called him, Colonel Thiem. He went on to say that a client nation is a synonym for a priest nation. The name priest nation is used for Israel because it had a specialized priesthood. But the term client nation is used for any Gentile nation that performs the same function during the church age. And what is the function? It is the responsibility for the formation, the preservation, the communication, and the fulfillment of the canon of Scripture. So in Roman history, a client was someone who depended on another family. Instead of calling a Gentile nation a priest nation as such, The believers in the church age are holy priests and royal family of God. That’s you. You might not consider yourself that, but you are your own priest and you are a member of God’s royal family. Listen to 1 Peter 2, 4 and 5. And coming to him as to a living stone, rejected by men, but elect and precious in the sight of God, you also as living stones are being built up into a spiritual house, as a result of a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through the agency of Jesus Christ. And then in Hebrews 3, 6, but Christ was faithful as a son over his house, whose house we are if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end. So the United States of America has been a client nation for God now nearly over 200 years. And you are privileged to be a member of that client nation, even more privileged if you’re a member of God’s royal family, which is called the body of Christ, and that’s a double blessing. So there may be people in this client nation that are not believers, and there are people in the client nation that are believers. A client nation is made up of both. And in a client nation, there are certain responsibilities that we have to uphold. So let me go back and quote Reverend Thiem again from Baraka Church in Houston, Texas. A client nation to God is a nation under divine protection. Notice, under divine protection. Why? Because it has a large pivot of mature believers. Pivot, that’s a core group of mature believers. These mature believers have blessing by association and it leaks out to those around them by means of historical blessing to their nation. A client nation is destroyed by the reversionistic believer or the backsliding believer who spins off away from the pivot of mature believers and rejects the word of God as a lifestyle. So as the pivot shrinks, the nation loses its client nation status with God and goes under five cycles of discipline.” Now, you are the person that I’m interested in being in that pivot. I want you to be the mature believer who has a historical impact in your nation because that’s the only way we can stop the dark days that’s coming ahead. If my people that are called by my name will humble themselves, turn from their wicked ways, seek my face. We’re talking about believers. As goes the believer, so goes the nation, the history of the nation. And if we are a client nation and you are a member of that client nation, Are you a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you accepted him as your savior? If you have, do you have a mature spiritual life that causes a historical impact in your nation, blessing by association to you? That’s what we want. We want you to grow to be a mature believer, to establish in your soul a flatline, 10 problem-solving devices that was actually taught by Reverend Thiem years ago, We want you to build that flat line in your soul so that you can be a stabilizing force in this nation as part of the pivot. I want you to be a pivot believer. I want you to be a substantial pivot believer who holds this nation together by means of your spiritual life. Because if we are a client nation, I’m going to give you five things we must do as a client nation. First of all, we must evangelize our own population at home. And I’m afraid that public evangelism is going by the wayside. Much of it has moved to social media. But there’s very few public crusades like back in the 50s and the 60s and the 70s when you would see people like Billy Graham holding large public crusades. You don’t see that much anymore. Churches are taking up the slack. Churches are beginning to try to evangelize people in their community. And we must evangelize our own population at home. When I began in the ministry in the late 60s, I went to hundreds and hundreds of high schools. across the state of Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, Texas, and gave the gospel in public assemblies, told how I became a Christian, told my story of how I accepted Christ. And I had the privilege and the honor to give that story to thousands and thousands of students. Whether they accepted Christ or not, I don’t know because we don’t do a mass counting campaign. but I know I gave the truth, I gave the gospel, I gave an invitation for them in their seat to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s what is not happening anymore. There’s no more public evangelism. The Satan has been very good at shutting off the light in the public arena, and we’ll talk about the light here in just a minute. So a client nation is responsible to do this, to evangelize its own population, And to communicate the word of God to believers within that nation. That means that pastors and evangelists and Bible teachers must get it right, get it correct. That’s why the Bible says, study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth, not wrongly dividing it. The third thing is we are responsible for the custodianship of the word of God to preserve it, to make sure that it goes forth, to guard it and make sure it’s not changed. We are to provide a haven for the Jew, God’s chosen people. And it is our responsibility as a client nation to send out missionaries to evangelize other nations all over the world. There were periods of apostasy or disobedience to God in Israel in the Old Testament as a priest nation to God. Apostasy in the client nation, as in apostasy in the Old Testament in the priest nation, is always a cancer. And if it grows long enough, that particular nation, whether it be a priest nation or a client nation, will go under the fifth cycle of discipline and eventually be destroyed. Let me show you what happened to Israel with their negative volition. Jeremiah spoke of this sort of apostasy in regard to Judah, and here are the words that he said. For from the least of them, even to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for profit. Furthermore, from the prophet even to the priest, these are people in the ministry, Everyone manufactures lies. In fact, they allege to solve problems of my people saying these words, peace, peace, when in reality there is no peace. Notice he was speaking to a nation of liars and greedy people, including the clergy. In Proverbs 12, 22, lying lips are an abomination to the Lord. This trend of greed and deception brought upon them divine discipline in the form of the five cycles of discipline that came to that priest nation. Here’s what God said in Jeremiah 6, 11 through 15 in regards to their negative volition, in regards to their not fulfilling the mission God gave them. He said, I am full of fury of the Lord, Jeremiah said. I’m weary of holding it in. I will pour it out on the children outside and on the assembly of young men together. And this is God speaking through Jeremiah the prophet, and take about it in regards to our nation. For even the husband shall be taken with the wife and the aged with him who’s full of days. And their houses shall be turned over to others, fields and wives together. For I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land, says the Lord, because from the least of them to the greatest of them, everyone is given to greed, covetousness, and from prophets to priests, everyone deals falsely. They have also healed the hurt of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they committed this abomination, lying, lying, lying, greed? Were they ashamed when they committed these abominations? No, they were not ashamed at all, nor did they even know how to blush. Therefore, they shall fall among those who fall. At the time when I punish them, they shall be cast down, says the Lord. That was a stern pronouncement by the prophet Jeremiah. That divine discipline was coming to Judah, and indeed it did. It was called the Babylonian captivity of 598 B.C., And one of the indication of God’s ultimate discipline on the client nation is in fact military defeat, which means his protection is removed. Does that sound familiar? Military defeat for the client nation by means of God’s protection is removed. I think back to some of the things that have happened in this country since 9-11 and how God’s protection has been removed in many ways. We’ve turned our back on the Lord in many ways as a nation, and that’s why I’m telling you that dark days are coming. We’ve been preoccupied with the gifts, and we forgot who the giver is. We’ve turned into a nation full of liars. I spoke on a radio show about that recently. We’re a nation full of liars. We’re a nation that greedy and covets things, and we’re in big, big serious trouble. Why? Because we’ve neglected the mandates of the Word of God. So, Moses wrote, warned of God’s discipline upon the nation if they refused to obey. One of the indication of God’s ultimate discipline on the client nation is, in fact, military defeat, as I said. So listen to what Moses wrote way back in the book of Leviticus to the nation Israel if they turned away from God’s word. Here it is, and think about America today and what we’ve done. Leviticus 26, 14. If you do not obey me… and you do not observe all these mandates now this is given to a priest nation but the application can be to a client nation like the united states of america he’s had his protective grace over us he’s provided for us he’s blessed us he’s positioned us in a position of strength not weakness and yet as we’ve turned away from the lord we’ve seen our strength turn to weakness We’ve seen other nations laugh at us. We’ve seen wars that we’ve lost and not been able to complete and win. So listen carefully. If you don’t obey me, Leviticus 26, 14, and you do not observe these mandates and And if you despise my statues, like the Ten Commandments, thou shall not, thou shall not, thou shall not. And everybody in America said, well, I will if I want to. If you despise my statues or if your soul hates my judgments so that you do not perform all my mandates and you break my covenants, then I will do this to you. I will appoint terror over you. wasting disease and fever, which will consume your eyes and cause sorrow in your heart. And you will sow your seed in vain for your enemies will eat it. And I will set my face against you and you shall be defeated by your enemies. That is stage one of the five cycles of discipline designed to humble the arrogant nation. Those who hate you shall reign over you and you will flee when no one pursues you. Hopefully, warning discipline would wake them up and they would respond. But listen to stage two, Leviticus 26, 18. And after all of this, if you do not obey me, then I will punish you seven times greater for your sins. I will break the pride of your power. I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. And your strength shall be spent in vain for your land shall not yield its produce nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit. Two stages of discipline. Now, surely the people would wake up. No, not so. Stage three, Leviticus 26, 21. Then if you continue to walk contrary to me and are not willing to obey me, then I will bring you seven times more plagues according to your sins. And I will send wild beasts among you which shall rob you of your children, destroy your livestock and make you few in number and your highways shall be desolate. Surely that would wake them up. Surely they would now realize that they’ve lost the protective hand of God over their nation, but no, not so. Stage four, Leviticus 26, 23. And if by all of these things you still are not reformed, but you still walk contrary to me, in other words, you still won’t obey me, then I will walk contrary to you and I will punish you yet seven times greater for your sins. And I will bring a sword against you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant. And when you’re gathered together within your cities, I will send pestilence in among you and you will be delivered to the hands of the enemy. And when I have cut off your supply of bread, 10 women shall bake your bread in one oven and they shall bring back your bread by weight and you shall eat it and not be satisfied. Surely that would wake up a priest nation. Surely that would make them realize what they’ve done, but it did not. Stage five is finally the military defeat of the priest nation or the military defeat of the client nation if we applied it to our nation, America. Stage five, Leviticus 26, 27. And after all of these things, if you still do not obey me, but you still walk contrary to me, then I also will walk contrary to you in a fury. And I, even I, will chastise you seven times greater for your sin. Notice every time it’s seven times jacked up, seven more times, seven more, it gets tougher. Now listen carefully. This is hard to read, but this is coming. You shall eat the flesh of your sons. You shall eat the flesh of your daughters. Verse 29, Leviticus 26. And I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars and cast your carcasses to the lifeless forms of your idols. And my soul will abhor you. I will lay your cities waste and bring your sanctuaries to desolation and I will not smell the fragrance of your sweet aroma. That’s prayers. Now they’re starting to pray. Now they want God to deliver them and it won’t be answered. I will bring the land into desolation and your enemies will dwell in it and they will be astonished at it. I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you and your land shall be desolate and your city shall be waste. Verse 33, Leviticus 26. What you’re witnessing today, I believe, in my humble opinion, in our troubled, divided nation, is the setting for the stage of what is about to come upon us as discipline from God. The believers in this client nation, you, me, we’re the only ones who can stop it. But many people have let their light go out, let their light go dim. Do you remember Matthew 5, 14, where Jesus told the disciples, you are the light of the world? And in Matthew 5, 16, where he mandated, let your light shine before men. What exactly does that mean? Let your light shine before men. What exactly was the Lord Jesus Christ saying? You are the light of the world. Well, Satan operates in darkness and deceit and deception. Light is truth. Truth begins with the Lord Jesus Christ. I am the way. I am the truth. I am the light. Anyone who comes after the Father must come through me, the Lord Jesus Christ said. He is truth. So what does that mean? The idea of light chasing away darkness is central to understanding Jesus Christ and Christianity. One of the first Jews that recognized baby Jesus as the promised Messiah called him a light of revelation in Luke 2.32. So this metaphor used in the Bible of light only makes sense against the background of darkness. This is where Satan works best in darkness and deceit and deception. Truth is light. When we reflect the light of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, we illuminate the darkness. And that’s why Satan works so hard to keep that light from being exposed. He doesn’t want people to know their options, their choices. He doesn’t want people to hear and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. He wants people to trust in his governing authority. Socialism, communism, progressivism, humanism, these are all the answer according to Satan, but not according to God’s word, not even close. So those that are in the dark are those who lack knowledge. To the Jewish mind, this metaphor of light had a particular application to the Gentiles, a world that did not receive the grace of God through the revelation of the Torah or the prophets and the written revelation of God. So even today, we know that untold millions and millions across this world still dwell in deep darkness having never ever heard about the one true God or about Jesus Christ as anointed son. Only your light can shine when you use truth to illuminate your perspective. So let me explain how you turn your light on. What does it mean to let your light shine? Well, here’s the first step. As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, your light cannot be on if you have unconfessed sin in your life. If you fail to use problem-solving device number one, which is called Rebound, 1 John 1, 9, then you will be operating in the energy of the flesh, and that’s called wood, hay, and stubble. And that’s not a light. That won’t work. In order for your light to shine, you must be filled with the Holy Spirit because you’re indwelt with the Holy Spirit the moment you get saved. But you’re not filled if you have unconfessed sin in your life because you’ve quenched the Holy Spirit and you grieve the Holy Spirit and you are not reflecting the light of Jesus Christ. So that’s the first way. You want to turn your light on, make sure you’re in fellowship with God. by using rebound day by day, moment by moment. When you know you’ve committed a sin such as a mental attitude sin or a sin of the tongue or even an overt sin, don’t wait until you go to bed at night because your light just got shut off. Confess it then, now, immediately. And God said, if you’ll confess your sin, I’ll be faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Don’t put it off. You’ll know when you sin. You know when you were disobedient to God. And don’t try to pull the wool over God’s eyes and hide it, that won’t work either. So the first way to make sure your light is on is to stay filled with the Holy Spirit. Secondly, is to take in and learn the Word of God on a consistent basis under a well-qualified pastor. The more you learn, the more you understand, the brighter your light shines. So if I give you a little formula, it’s called this, FHS, that’s the filling of the Holy Spirit. plus G-A-P, that’s Grace Apparatus for Perception. That’s the Holy Spirit, that’s the pastor, teacher, and that’s the canon of scripture. So if you take the filling of the Holy Spirit plus G-A-P, Grace Apparatus for Perception, that equals those 10 problem-solving devices in your soul. And when you learn them and use them, you shine brightly because you’re occupied with Christ. You’re reflecting the image of Christ. But no one with any unconfessed sin in his life is illuminating anything. You must be filled with the Holy Spirit and growing in grace to get the gospel straight. And you must not be afraid to let your light shine into the darkness. You cannot afford to be afraid. You must understand when you turn the light on, bugs are going to be attracted. They’re going to be drawn to you. They’re going to try to put your light out. And so you got to have some moral courage to put on the armor of God and stand against the strategy of the devil. Does that make sense to you? I hope so because there are dark days coming and only your light reflecting Christ through you can change the coming trends of history that we’re about to witness. You’re the only reason that it can change. No other reason, no other person can do it, you. You’ve got to be serious. You’ve got to be consistent. You’ve got to be faithful. And then hopefully you’ll have some sort of impact on this nation. I hope this has made sense to you. I know I’ve run through it kind of fast about the client nation and the five cycles of discipline. But it’s all there. If you’d like a transcript, let us know. We’ll be glad to send it to you and you can study it. Please come back next week, same time, same place. And until then, I’m 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.
