Join Rick Hughes as he explores the spiritual battle for our thoughts in this compelling episode of The Flatline. Insights from biblical scriptures provide a roadmap for overcoming fear and embracing faith, ultimately leading to true wealth in spiritual understanding. Rick also discusses the current moral and spiritual state of America, comparing historical warnings with today’s societal trends. This episode is a powerful call to action for listeners to deepen their spiritual lives and make a positive impact in the world.
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, please stay with me. It’ll be a brief time, but some time of motivation and inspiration with some education. And you know we don’t do any manipulation, no solicitations. We’re not trying to hustle any money. We’re not trying to get you to join it up, fess up, give it up, nothing like that. This show is simply about giving you truth, accurate information, information that will help you verify and identify the plan of God for your life. And if you want to orient and adjust to the plan, if you want to orient and adjust to the plan, you can do so. That’s your life, your decision. You live it, no one else. But it’s always good to get every bit of the information that you get so you know you’re going to make the right decision because remember, bad decisions limit future options. Bad decisions limit future options. And the worst decision anyone could ever make is to reject the forgiveness that comes through the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. This show is designed to remind you of these sort of biblical truths and maybe even introduce you to a different way of studying, a different way of learning the Word of God, because most of the time it’s not done this way. People don’t try to verify and identify God’s plan. There’s a lot of ranting and raving, jumping up and down, shouting and hollering. It doesn’t happen on this show. This show starts with the good news. The good news is that Jesus Christ is the anointed Son of God. He has redeemed us. out of the slave market of sin, and our debt to God has been paid. So we are now free, free of the penalty of sin and the power of death over us, free through Christ Jesus. If you receive Christ as your Savior, you will, in effect, be accepting the offering he made on your behalf, the free gift of grace. The Bible says, for by grace are you saved through faith. And that not of yourselves, it’s a gift of God and not of works, lest any man should brag about it. I mean, it was a gift. God gave us a gift. That gift is his son who gave his life for us. Titus 3, 5, not by works of righteousness, which we’ve done, but according to his mercy. He saved us by the washing of regeneration, the renewing of the Holy Spirit, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Lord. so that being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope or confidence of eternal life. So that’s the most important thing for you to remember in regards to what this show is about. It’s always about you understanding the plan of God for your life. In the last few shows, well, the last show we gave a special show for Redding, California. And hopefully you’ve been praying for that group of people out in Redding, that tremendous car, C-A-R-R, fire. all the homes that were destroyed in Redding and Roundabout area. And the reason I did is because I broadcast a radio show in Redding every Sunday morning. So I wanted those great folks to know that we’re thinking about them, we’re praying for them, praying that God would bless them and give them the means to withstand what they’ve faced and to rebuild those that need to. Today I want to continue in our study of the Fantastic Four. You’ve heard me begin a series on this, and if you’ve been listening, you’ll know the Bible talks about the Fantastic Four. When wisdom enters your heart, that’s one of them, and when knowledge is pleasant to your soul, that’s the second one, discretion will then preserve you and understanding will keep you. Those are the four things, wisdom, knowledge, discretion, and understanding. Miss Deborah Weiss, who’s an international expert on free speech and efforts by the Sharia Supremists and others who want to suppress free speech in this country. I want to read to you something that she said. I thought it was very interesting. She warns in her introduction to Islamic influence in Hollywood. That’s Miss Deborah Weiss, W-E-I-S-S. She’s an international expert on free speech and the efforts made by the Sharia supremacists to suppress it. She said the West is in a war with the global jihad movement. It’s primary a war of ideas and the mind is the battlefield. Did you hear that? The mind is the battlefield. Muslim Brotherhood front groups have targeted Hollywood as one of the many vehicles through which to conduct its civilization jihad, she said. through censorship disinformation and infiltration she says may i remind you that satan has been at this for centuries and this is just his latest tool his latest vehicle to use he’s been after your thoughts to want to change the way that you think he wants to influence your thinking to get you into the cosmic system he doesn’t want you to think in terms of romans 12 3 stop thinking in terms of arrogance but beyond what you should think But think in terms of humility. That’s what the Bible says. The Bible says, let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus. Satan has always been after your thoughts. He’s always wanted you to turn self-centered. That’s one of the traits of arrogance. Self-justification, self-deception, self-absorption all lead to self-destruction. So I want to talk to you about, I would like to talk to you about the battle for your thoughts. And I would be honored if you’d let me tell you how to become rich. Rich? You want to be rich? Yeah, yeah. I watched that show on TV. Someone told me about winning the lottery. Boy, if I could just win the lottery, I’d be happy. Unfortunately, that’s not true. Unhappy people take their unhappiness with them wherever they go. But I can tell you how to be rich. I can tell you from the Bible how to be rich. In Colossians 2, verses 2 and 3, Paul wrote this, that their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love. And unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding. That’s our word we were talking about. One of the fantastic four. Remember, when wisdom enters your heart and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, discretion will preserve you and understanding will keep you. Understanding. The Greek word S-U-N-E-S-I-S. Sunesis. When your hearts are comforted being knit together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ Jesus, in whom, here it is, now you want to be rich, listen. In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Another one of the Fantastic Four. Knowledge. Knowledge is a treasure. Discretion will preserve you. Understanding will keep you. Knowledge is pleasant to your soul. Knowledge is a treasure. Now, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, is the key to eternal wealth. I want you to remember that statement. Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, is the key to eternal wealth. Paul wrote these words for the church at Laodicea for one purpose, and that was to encourage them and to have some congregational unity in the church. And he tells them that they can be made wealthy with a full understanding of God’s mystery that is in Christ Jesus. The mystery is this, Christ in you, the hope of glory. No one ever, ever, ever, no one ever, ever, ever in the Old Testament conceived, thought of, or could comprehend the concept that the Shekinah glory of the Old Testament would come and camp in them. Remember the Shekinah glory over the tabernacle, the pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day? The Shekinah glory will live in you. It’s Christ Jesus. For in him, Colossians says, is all the hidden treasures of wisdom. There’s one of the fantastic four. And knowledge. There you go. Wisdom, Sophia. Knowledge, Gnosis. Wisdom is a wonderful thing. Wisdom comes from two things. when you put together the concept of understanding sunesis and the concept of knowledge gnosis when you put those two things together you get wisdom and wisdom is the wealth it’s the treasure it’s the greatest thing in the world to have so here’s some principles for you number one true wealth has nothing to do with finances It has everything to do with God’s grace plan freely revealed to us through Christ Jesus. Christ in you. Jesus Christ will live in you. He will establish a tabernacle inside of you. God the Holy Spirit will empower you. God the Father will live in you. This is the great mystery of the church, and it’s the most encouraging, unbelievable, fantastic wealth the world has ever known. You see, your own wealth, point two, cannot buy eternal life. You may have a fat bank account that has a lot of money in it, not like mine, but maybe yours does, but it won’t buy you eternal life. Your wealth, point three, cannot buy peace with God. And your wealth will not leave this planet with you, point four. Remember the rich man being in torment back in the book of Genesis and he prayed, Father Abraham, send somebody to tell my family. Just send somebody to tell my family. The rich man in Lazarus, remember that illustration? Your wealth will not buy you out of the lake of fire. Once you’re cast into the lake of fire, Revelation chapter 20, you’ll never come out. And it’s not because God’s mad at you. It’s because you rejected the greatest gift the world ever could have had, the gift of eternal life through Christ Jesus. You stuck your nose up at it. You said, no. You said, I’m smarter than that. I don’t need that. And you now will learn the hard way. This is what happens. You’re either going to be born twice or you’re going to die twice. The first birthday, that’s the time you’re born into this world. Your parents conceived you and you’re born. The second birthday is the day you are born again, spiritually speaking. Your human spirit is made alive by God the Holy Spirit who indwells you. Now the first death, it’s appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment. And then the second death, whosoever’s name was not found written in the Lamb’s book of life was cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. Money, wealth will not buy you out of the lake of fire. And lastly, your wealth can be a huge distraction. A huge distraction. matthew 19 24 and again i say unto you it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. So the question that I would like to ask you this morning, if you’re still listening to this radio show, what can you take away from this? What can you learn from this? What can you put to use in your life of what you heard me say here today? Well, understanding will keep you, Proverbs says. one of the fantastic four. Proverbs 2.11, understanding will keep you. Understanding is the Hebrew word tavun in the Hebrew. And it’s a spiritual skill. And in the Greek New Testament, it’s the word sunesis, S-U-N-E-S-I-S. Understanding will what? Will keep you. The Holy Spirit can disclose divine intelligence to you. By means of what? He discloses divine intelligence to you by means of the teaching of the Scripture, by means of the teaching of the Word of God. and so you have the privilege you have the opportunity to have God’s playbook opened up for you you have the privilege and the opportunity to have understanding of what life is all about and you don’t even have to steal the playbook I don’t know if you remember a few years ago, the Patriots were convicted for stealing the opposing team’s playbooks, football team, NFL Patriots, and they were fined $250,000 for stealing the playbooks. And the coach Belichick was fined $500,000 from the league for doing that as well. And so it’s critical that you understand you don’t have to steal the playbook. It’s already been given to you. It’s right here. All you have to do is learn what’s in the book. It’s already there for you. So think of the advantage you have over those in the devil’s world. Those who live in the cosmic system who don’t even have a clue as to what their future holds. I mean, they just have to look backwards. Oh, it was great 20 years ago. Oh, it was great 30 years ago. They look back because they don’t have anything to look forward to. The unbeliever in the cosmic system can only look back to find his happiness. You, on the other hand, have a personal sense of destiny, problem-solving device number six in the flat line of your soul, and that’s looking forward. Think of the fear of the unknown that so many unbelievers possess. People that don’t know Christ don’t know what’s going to happen. You see, fear is actually an emotional sin for the believer. Did you know that? It’s a mental attitude sin. What time I’m afraid I’ll trust in thee, the Bible says. You’re not allowed to have fear because that’s assuming an unassigned responsibility. God can handle the situation. So fear is an emotional sin for the believer and fear and the spiritual life are not compatible. They don’t go together. They don’t work together. The spiritual life is not a life of fear because fear eliminates your personal sense of destiny. You know what fear does? It sees a problem and it freaks out. So the opposite of fear is faith and faith sees a solution and then marches on. So the mechanics to overcome any fear in your life is simply the faith, rest, drill. Living by fear means you are constantly in anxiety. Living by fear means you’re constantly in anxiety and an emotional revolt of your soul. If your emotions control you and you’re afraid all the time, then your soul gets locked in with negative volition and you will black out. You won’t be able to see what’s happening. You won’t even understand what’s happening. There’s something in the Bible called scar tissue, scar tissue of the soul. And you will have that scar tissue in your soul and you will black yourself out Your heart will begin to be hard because you live under the emotional control of your soul, and you will destroy your own self. Understanding can keep you from doing that if you’re interested in learning what God has to say about it. See, you will actually have understanding about spiritual mechanics. you can have understanding about spiritual skills spiritual rewards the real treasure in your soul the great treasure is understanding understanding what lies ahead and understanding how the story ends and what will happen in between even with the course of american history If we continue to follow the path of destruction taught in the Bible, you understand where this nation is headed. In Hosea chapter four, verse six, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you. And you will no longer be a priest nation for me since you forgot the laws of your God. I will also forget your children, the Bible says. This was a warning to the Jew, a warning from God through the prophet Hosea. And what does it say? My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. Is that not one of the fantastic four that I told you about? Wisdom enters your heart and knowledge is pleasant unto your soul. No knowledge, no understanding of God, no understanding of the plan of God. And when you reject the knowledge, someone comes along, maybe like this radio show or another show or another teacher, preacher, and gives you knowledge and you reject it, then you’re setting yourself up for a life of misery. So I’m going to ask you a simple little question today. And we don’t want to take a genius to figure this out because I’m certainly not a genius, but I know the answer to this question. How will we know When America, the freedom of the USA, good old USA, how will we know when we’re toast? How will we know when we’re done for? Well, the answer is here. Spiritual values lacking, social unrest, moral values gone, citizens emotionally out of control, politically explosive and mentally lacking, dumbed down America. When you see these things happen, when you see America become politically explosive, when you see people that are so dumb that when they’re interviewed on the street, they don’t even know who the vice president is. They don’t even know any member of Senate or Congress. They know nothing except the celebrities. Oh, they know who the celebrities are. Yeah. Oh, sure. They know nothing about the people that make this country work. A lot of young people are dumbed down with social media. A lot of people are emotionally out of control. There’s a lot of social unrest. Spiritual values are gone. Everything that used to be evil is now touted to be good. And everything that used to be good is now said to be very evil to think like that. Proverbs 14, 34 warns us, righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. Righteousness, tzedakah in the Hebrew, and a reproach or head said, a shame. So you have to take a look at this country and say, is this nation being exalted or are we a reproach to God? If you look across the board, I think you can figure that one out. Here’s what you must remember. Righteousness is not inherited. It has to be acquired. And I’m talking about not self-righteousness, not you acting like you’re somebody, Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes, and better than the rest of the world. The religious self-righteous person is the most obnoxious person in the world. These are the people that crucified our Lord Jesus Christ. But I’m talking about in a moral sense. Righteousness has a beneficial effect because it lifts up people. Now, self-righteousness, on the other hand, can destroy freedom. but the bible says in this passage sin is a reproach or a disgrace to a nation and all you have to do is get on the internet on the world wide web just a little bit and see how unrighteous we are it doesn’t take long to look at what’s going on in this country and to see where people’s desires and habits are and there are millions and millions and millions of americans that have no interest in God and are addicted to things that are sinful. No nation gets away with moral depravity. God’s moral laws to Israel were found in Leviticus 20, verses 10 through 21. I will not read that for you. I would like for you to read it yourself. This was God’s moral law to Israel. found in Leviticus 20, 10 through 21. Read it. These are the laws he set up for Israel to function under freedom and a prosperous nation. And look and see how we violated the same laws. because no nation gets away with moral depravity. And yet our nation today is neck deep, neck deep in sin and moral sickness. And I’m sure your pastor has told you this many times. And part of the reason is because of the prosperity and the freedom we have often will lead to sin and sickness. I mean, people got money, people got social media, people got the internet, people have sin natures and they have freedom. No one’s looking over them telling them not to do this and not to do that. And sin nature out of control leads to a moral problem. So here’s a principle you should remember. Just as Jeremiah warned the Jews in the Babylonian exile in Jeremiah 6.10, this is what he said. To whom can I speak and give warning? Their ears are closed. They won’t listen. The word of the Lord is a reproach to them, and they have no delight in it. In other words, they were offended by God’s preaching, God’s word. Jeremiah 6, 15, were they ashamed when they committed abomination? Hebrew word, to’iba, to’ova, disgusting things, morally disgusting things, spiritually disgusting things, idolatry, worship of idols, and baal, Were they ashamed when they committed these abominations? No, no. 1 Kings 14, 22 said, Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins, which they had committed above all their fathers had done. And they also built high places and images on groves and every high hill and under every green tree. And there were also sodomites in the land. Today, it’s medically called androphilia, organophilia. And they did these things according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord had already cast out before the children of Israel. Judah did the same thing. Judah went into the same ball worship. Jeremiah 6.15, not only were they not ashamed, they could not even blush when they were confronted with it. Any client nation that tolerates and endorses these sort of practices that I just read to you guarantees that discipline is coming. And national discipline on a client nation We are in it today. We are in it today. Never, let me warn you right now, never get between the Lord and his punishment of a nation. In other words, you’re not here to take your own revenge. Some of you have thoughts about certain things and you’re out of line. God didn’t send you to straighten this country out. He sent you to grow in the grace and the knowledge of your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. to replicate the life of Christ, not to have a revolution inside, not to get everybody to carry guns and shoot the bad guys. Romans 12, 19, listen. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, vengeance is mine and I will repay, says the Lord. So, as goes the believer, so goes the client nation. And so, how goes America today? Could you answer that? How goes America today? The trend today is to disassociate with the local church, to use social media due to convenience. In other words, we want our spiritual lives to be convenient and we want church to fit our schedule, not us to fit the schedule of the church. Unless, of course, it’s the traditional Sunday morning AM service, the nod to God crowd that goes before going to grandma’s for dinner. Social media and spiritual matters does not play well for accuracy, I promise you. Anybody can say anything and the authority of the pastor is soon removed. Remember these things. I told them to you. What’s happening in America? Are we toast? There is a train wreck coming to this country. And you’ve heard me say it. I can hear the whistle blowing. I can see the light down the track. And unless things change, we’re toast. We’re done for. The only thing that’ll stop it is you. If you take your spiritual life seriously, if God can count on you, you can stop it by having a historical impact on your nation. by being a spiritually mature believer and glorifying Jesus Christ to the maximum. Oh, I hope you’re listening, and I hope you’re paying attention. If you have any more questions, don’t you hesitate to contact me anytime. I’ll be glad to hear from you. Until next week, when I’m back, hopefully, same time, same place, same channel, this is your host, Rick Hughes, saying thank you for listening to The Flatline.
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.
