Regaining Lost Ground

Pastor Shane Idleman: What about the House and Senate Judiciary Committee? Can you imagine the House and Senate Judiciary Committee? Now, this is a committee from the House and Senate that is involved in judicial matters. They said in this age, there can be no substitute for Christianity. That was the religion of the founders of this republic and they expect it to remain the religion of their descendants.

William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, basically where it originated—all human power originated from God first.

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining us here at Westside Christian Fellowship, located in Leona Valley, California, one hour north of Los Angeles. Today on Regaining Lost Ground, we hear part one of this life-changing message titled "Alive But Dead Inside."

A.W. Tozer once said about the spiritual life: "We might be wise to follow the insight of the enraptured heart rather than the more cautious reasoning of the theological mind." Today, Pastor Shane teaches us what it means to have God's spirit living in us in a powerful, passionate way of purpose, rather than a stale, no-presence outcome of dry bones living. Take a listen.

You can hear the whole message at Pastor Shane's YouTube and Rumble channels. Make sure to subscribe today. For more information, visit us online at WestsideChristianFellowship.org. That's WestsideChristianFellowship.org. And for all the latest on what God is doing with His ministry here, please be sure to follow us on most social media platforms. Westside Christian Fellowship is located 60 miles north of Los Angeles in Leona Valley, California.

Thank you again for listening to today's message of Regaining Lost Ground, where we are reminded daily, times change, truth does not. And now, from Westside Christian Fellowship in Leona Valley, California, here's Pastor Shane Idleman.

Pastor Shane Idleman: Here we go. The Apostle Paul got political. The concept of "alive but dead inside." But with all scripture, we have to go through it verse by verse. And Paul actually gets political, believe it or not. He gets political because he says, "Wait a minute, you're not throwing me out of here. I have rights. I'm a Roman citizen."

It really shows that they had certain rights at that point. And remember, when we talk about rights, we are talking about God-given rights. That's why we fight for them. They're called God-given rights—the right to freely worship God. That should be guarded.

And you've heard of the Right to Life movement. Who's going to be the voice for a little nine-month-old that now you can kill in some states? We have lost our mind. You want me to be quiet? You want me to shut up? How can we? We can't. We have to be vocal. And that's the problem—the pulpits have been silent. That's why we're in the predicament we're in.

I don't want to offend people, but if the word and the truth offend, let it fall where it falls. Jesus says, "Woe to you when all men speak well of you." You try to please men, you don't please the Father. That's how it works. Now, of course, our attitude should be gracious and loving and humble, and guys, I'm trying. But sometimes you get ticked off too, and you have to just speak the truth in love.

I want to—I don't know if we even—oh, we do have it. Check this out. This is the Constitution of California. Let's read it together: "We, the people of the State of California, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, in order to secure..." I'm going to lose my mind here. For those listening on radio, what we read was: "The people of the State of California, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom. Why do we have our freedom? In order to secure and perpetuate"—that means to continue—"the blessings that God has given us."

That's why they established a constitution. So when people say "too political," no, we're going back to the original intent. That's why we want people in positions of leadership who will make a difference. Especially in the area of governor, which has huge ramifications. And it's just amazing that, talk about drifting pretty far, we have made a complete reversal.

And I don't know how many of you know Saint Augustine, but from his book City of God to Calvin's work in Geneva, and from William Wilberforce to today's current movement, laws have consequences and leaders shape destiny. A Christian whose heart has been changed by the gospel wants to make a difference. We want to be a voice for the unborn. We want to end trafficking. We want—so people say, "Here's the thing I get from pastors: Oh, I just don't preach politics. I just preach the gospel."

And I like what Pastor Jack Hibbs says to them: "Then you need to repent." Because there's a lie that says they're separate. Be quiet. Because when the gospel changed my heart, I want to make a difference in society. How do you separate the two? What that really is, it's a coward who doesn't want to offend. Any pastor who says, "I don't get political, I don't go there, I just preach the gospel," is one not wanting to offend people.

Now, granted, they don't need to make it every Sunday. But when you get to parts of the word, if you're preaching, unless you're a motivational speaker... then don't be a pastor. Go be Tony Robbins. But pastors are called to speak the truth in love.

And so, Acts, where we find ourselves in Acts 16... You know what's funny? I just have to say this. But those people who don't want to get political get very political when the policies affect them. People are not political? Hey, they're going to put a registered sex offender on your street. Oh, they'll be down at city council. They'll be wanting to vote propositions in. All kinds of things. But they don't realize that it is affecting them and their children at a very deep level and will eventually have enormous consequences.

And so, when it was day... well, I probably should tell you where we're at here. The Apostle Paul and Silas were locked up in prison, and the jailer came to faith in Christ. God broke off their chains, an earthquake came, and they are being set free now after all of this.

And that's where it says, "And when it was day, the magistrates sent the officers." So the governing authority sent to the police officers, basically: "Hey, go ahead and let those men go. We just beat the snot out of them and they stayed in prison overnight, so go tell them it's okay, you can just go now."

So the keeper of the prison reported these things to Paul: "Hey, our politician said that you can go now. Sorry for the hassle. Now therefore, depart and go in peace." And Paul said to them—and I guarantee this was not quiet and laid back, I mean, there's an exclamation point on this: "They have beaten us openly, uncondemned Romans, and they've thrown us into prison? Hello! And now they just want to put us out secretly? No indeed, let them come themselves and get us out. I have rights."

And so, I want to talk about these things. I actually shortened the sermon up so it wasn't about this, it's more about the last half. In short, Paul's saying, "I have rights and I'm going to exercise those rights." How do we exercise rights today? It's called a political process.

Do you know what's going on in Canada or Australia with freedom of speech? England, UK? It's ugly. It's ugly. And this is where our nation is going if there is no mighty, massive awakening from God and hopefully a political revolution that is God-centered, God-focused. Can you imagine God going to Trump and senators in dreams and visions and waking them up to really seeking Him? That's our hope, guys. Democrat, Republican, independent. We just need the right people in positions of leadership.

So here's the thing, in case those don't know: politics, the word actually means governing, leading a group of people. So if you don't like that word, how about just: does God's word say anything about governing people? It does. So the role, actually why God instituted it, at first it was a monarchy in the Old Testament. It was God. And then, a series of events happened, different nations and different things.

So the role, God says, "Okay, I've got the institution of family" to obviously have kids and be a blessing on the earth, rule the earth. "And then I have the institution now, the church," for 2,000 years. These are God's institutions to come together corporately and get my message out. Now, who's going to protect those two institutions? The government. God's thing. So people get upset about that, you just need to point them to scripture. God did this.

The purpose is to restrain evil and deter wrongdoing. And I can hear it now, people say, "But Shane, you can't legislate morality." No, but you can restrain evil. What if the punishment was, for trafficking, the death penalty? You take a four-year-old, you're going to be killed. I have no problem with that. Get it on tape, audio, I don't care. God's word is behind that, too.

Now, I can't do it as a vigilante. It'd be left to the court system. But the punishment fits the crime. You would see things drop considerably without a shadow of a doubt. And so, see, when you begin to minimize the punishment, you increase crime. And that's why God's word, I mean, you read the Old Testament, you keep yourself in order. Adulteress and adulterer, men, women, you'd be stoned to death. You think that might deter a little bit? I don't know.

You take a life, it costs you your life. And it wasn't 14 years of appeals and a million dollars in taxpayers' money. It was a witness, witnesses, trial, execution. Man, that's how you deter evil. When you start to slap hands and... see, what happens is a lot of politicians without the spirit of God, they don't know what the problem is. So they think they can throw more money at it to fix the problem.

How much did California spend in the homeless ministry? I mean for the homeless people? I had to check that three times. It's billions. And how do you spend billions of dollars and have a worse problem? Because it's also spiritual. Yes, many are legitimate, but many are drug-addicted. And what's the solution? Put them in housing? No, you've got to—it's a spiritual issue.

And so we see all these... they don't have the spirit of God. So they think that, "Well, we... if we could just rehabilitate." And I love rehabilitation. But the best way to rehabilitate someone is to change them from the inside out. You give them the gospel, that's how they change. You don't just throw more money at programs: "Okay, go to anger management, try to do better next time. Breathe first, wear a rubber band, just zap yourself when you feel like getting angry, and we'll just rehabilitate them."

You need to get the gospel back into prisons. And that's how you truly change prisoners. And praise God, if it goes well, Kevin's got me preaching to about 700 prisoners October 1st, with Richard doing worship. And so that's how you change the hearts. And I have a heart for those in prison, because had I been caught... don't look at me that way, you know many of you should have done some time.

How many of you drove drunk? A felony after many times. How many of you... let's—I won't get into details. But that's why you just didn't get caught. It was the grace of God. And so we have a passion for those people and individuals.

But anytime you minimize the penalty, the pain, you will increase evil. And that's what's happening especially in California when they got that DA out. And see, politics matters. A DA that puts registered sex offenders back into society who have been convicted of incredible crimes... and they say, "Oh, my heart's better than your heart." No, it's not. Because you don't care for the victims of the sex offender. Give everybody the gospel. The gospel is never... you're never too far gone for anything. But you also have to protect. That's the role of government.

Paul's saying, "You should have protected me. You didn't protect me." God gives people freedom and those freedoms are protected by legislation. "Well, government is evil." Yeah, you get a lot of people into something, it becomes evil. You spotted that one. But I think there's a difference between North Korea and America. Anybody want to go live in Syria, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, much of Africa?

We have been blessed. That's why I want to re-emphasize this. God brought people in and made legislation and you couldn't even run for government unless you believed in God. And they based the form of government—judiciary, Congress, and the president—on, I believe it was one of the prophets: God will be your judge, your lawgiver, and your king. That's where it came from.

They referenced the Bible four times more than any other source. A church's non-tax-exempt status comes from the book of Ezra. They would quote all and they would use God's word to be the foundation. If it had a law, a punishment, it had the scripture next to it. And so, we have been given an incredible gift. You actually have a republic and, as Benjamin Franklin said, if you can keep it.

I like this topic because it's important to God. And whatever is important to God is important to us. Whatever He thinks is a priority is a priority to us. And laws protect those who need protecting. And when we get out of that process, we have what we have. We are called to be salt and light in all areas of society.

So there goes the argument of not voting and not getting involved. And I know, I know right now there's a lot of people who will not vote in November. And I want to just remind you that you are voting. When you stay at home, you just voted. Probably for the wrong person by silence. Because in order to get the right person, it takes more votes. Unfortunately, that's the world we live in.

And we vote for who is going to fulfill the role of government the best. Lesser of two evils? Well, who's going to fulfill the role of government the best? The role. Not nice tweets, not as pastor-in-chief. Who's going to protect you from Iran, China that want to come in the border? Who's going to protect you and your kids? And if you're for open borders, why don't you leave your doors unlocked and your windows open? No, let's be honest. Can we just be honest today?

I could care less about politics when I was younger. I want a Corona and lime and to make lots of money. But when you start to have kids and you start to get a little older, you realize just how important it is. So, register, and at least make your voice known.

I want to put up a few quotes just before I transition into the gospel in just a minute. But I want to just put up some quotes from 1800s. In those days, politics were preached in the pulpits and men were led to action on the side of freedom by faithful pastors. See, I read Spurgeon's sermons where he came against slavery. Same with Whitfield, same with Wesley. Billy Graham got in trouble in the '50s for... and so you see it throughout our history of a nation because people would come to church before Facebook and social media, and then somebody who's spending time in God's word, discerning the times, knows what an elected official believes, knows about legislation, they would tell the people how to vote and who to vote for based on what God's word says. That's where people would come, they're hungry for it.

And then a guy by the name of Johnson—ever heard of him?—got upset that the churches came against him and so he came up with the Johnson Amendment. That says if you get political, you can lose your tax-exempt status. And I was part of a group of pastors, we definitely broke that rule and we sent our messages to the IRS because it's like, we would love that court case. You could win it easily at the Supreme Court level, especially now.

Why especially now? Leadership matters. Do you realize where we would be if all nine Supreme Court justices said, "We don't know what a woman is"? You guys know she knows what it is, she just can't say it because of the woke agenda. Of course she knows. Hello! She's like, "Oh, I'm going to alienate half the nation." No, you're probably going to alienate like a small percentage of the nation. How is the minority taking over the majority?

There's not a lot of people that are behind these crazy thoughts where men can have babies. It's demonic. It is. It's demonic. And every time I speak on these things, we think the church will lose attendance, it usually maintains or gains. Because people, 91% of all Americans want to hear the truth from the pulpits of America. They do.

And so that's why I have no problem saying these things, because it's been throughout church history. Again, John Calvin, Augustine... the whole book is about the city of God, politics built on God's word. Same with John Calvin in Geneva, same with the reformer... it was all throughout. Now there's errors inside of those things and nobody does things perfectly, but we should be passionate in this area.

What about the House and Senate Judiciary Committee in the 1800s? Can you imagine the House and Senate Judiciary Committee? Now, this is a committee from the House and Senate that is involved in judicial matters. They said in this age, there can be no substitute for Christianity. That was the religion of the founders of this republic and they expect it to remain the religion of their descendants.

William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, the basically where it originated—all human power originated from God first. That's where the political power comes from—from God first. It's to terrify evildoers. Secondly, it's to cherish those who do well. Government seems to me to be a part of religion itself. And I mean I could stay here for two hours so I'm not going to bore you.

But how about a signer of the Declaration of Independence? I love this one. "I conjure you"—I hope I pronounced that right. "I very seriously want you to listen to this. By all that is dear, by all that is honorable, by all that is sacred, not only that you pray, but men of God, you've got to act! You've got to act!" What does that mean? Take it to the Lord.

Most of you are not going to be as vocal as me. That's okay. God has called me to do this. I'm not embarrassed. I'm not backing away. I spend countless hours seeking His face, fasting in His word, humbling me. And so when He puts this on my heart, if I don't, I go home and I regret it for a long time.

Oh, by the way, the signers of the Declaration of Independence, half of them were ordained ministers of the gospel. And when they signed that independence, they signed their death sentence—the warrant for their death. That was treason by hanging. Can you imagine this? If you watch the young George Washington movie that's out, he was actually... it was before America was born. But once they defined that independence of Britain and they signed off on it, if they lost, all of the men would be hung for treason, their farms burned, their families imprisoned. And yet, they trust in Almighty God.