Save America Ministries

Guest (Male): This is Viewpoint with attorney and author Chuck Crismier. Viewpoint is a one-hour talk show confronting the issues of America’s heart and home. And now, with today’s edition of Viewpoint, here is Chuck Crismier.

Chuck Crismier: The facts are absolutely shocking. A dual Iranian-US millionaire has been arrested for delivering American tech to Tehran military. That’s right, the federal government has arrested and is charging a millionaire with dual Iranian-US citizenship for providing tech to the Islamic regime that could help its military in fighting against the United States.

His name is Jamshid Ghomi, a dual US-Iranian citizen who lives in a $35 million mansion. I’m looking at it right now. It’s amazing. In Orange County, California, in one of the wealthiest areas in the country. He was arrested on federal criminal complaint charging him with selling computer technology to Iranian companies and Iranian government, including technology to help with Iran’s military and nuclear program.

The US Attorney that arrested him explains the facts in the case we are announcing today are shocking. Ghomi, the accused, did this while living and enjoying the freedoms our great country provided. Wow. And you know what? As I read that, it witnessed in my heart something very profound that is taking place in our country.

In fact, it's all over the world, but especially in this country, the land of the free that's increasingly becoming only the home of the brave. And you know what that is? The thought came to my mind what this man really did was rape freedom. That’s what he did. He raped freedom.

He took that which was otherwise precious. He used it for his own self-aggrandizement. In other words, he inserted his own self-aggrandizement into the womb of American freedom for his own pleasure and took away the virgin freedom of America. That's what he did. He raped freedom.

But is this just an idle or unusual case? As I began to think about this, I realized this is actually one of the fundamental, most fundamental attacks on freedom and liberty in our country today. And it’s not just a foreigner here, somebody who was a foreigner who came in and made use of American freedom and liberty and the blessings that come with it.

No, it's happening all over the place. It's happening in businesses. It's happening in universities. It's happening in government. Yes, indeed, it is happening in God's house. The raping of freedom. So I welcome you to Viewpoint. I'm Chuck Crismier. It's conversation as always with ever-increasing conviction, talk that transforms, and I trust that today may be no exception.

Now, there are going to be a lot of things that I’m going to share with you here that are very troubling. But the purpose for sharing these things with you is so that we get your attention so that we can actually drive home the essence of the message that we’re going to talk about here today on Viewpoint.

So, we know that Viewpoint determines destiny. Our viewpoint concerning this matter of the raping of freedom and what it includes, how it happens, is important. Now, somebody might say, well, I would say, actually, that nobody is actually deceived against their will. But rape is a different kind of deception because rape is predicated on the idea that everyone is safe.

So we'll talk about human beings. Every man, every woman is fundamentally safe in a free society, if the people in the free society are living freely according to the established standards of a free society. But when those established standards that create the trust necessary in that free society are broken for one reason or another, then you can take advantage of that trust either in physical sexual ways, such as a man taking advantage of a woman against her will without her setting the stage for it for his own pleasure, for his own self-aggrandizement, claiming that he has freedom or he has liberty.

He's free to do what he wants. He's free to do what he wants. But the problem with freedom is that it implies that we're free to do what we ought, not what we want. That's the problem that we have in our thinking today. So if I'm free to do what I want, then the rape of a woman is okay.

If I'm free to do what I want, a man raping another man is okay. If I'm free to do what I want, a woman who happens to be, shall we say, a coach in a high school or university is free to rape other women within her group in a spirit of lesbianism. She's free to do that and does it.

Now, the interesting about this is that there are massive consequences that flow from this. For instance, today, Ohio State University has agreed to pay $100 million to 279 students who allegedly were sexually abused, i.e. raped, ago by Dr. Richard Strauss, the school’s former athletic team doctor.

Now they may not call it rape. Different forms of sexual abuse, unwelcomed, but done anyway because of the authority and the place of trust that Dr. Richard Strauss had. Well, that’s in addition to the university’s $61 million already paid out to 317 people who said they were abused sexually by Strauss, the team doctor from 1979 until he was fired in 1996.

An independent report concluded that scores of Ohio State personnel knew of the complaints about Dr. Strauss' conduct as early as 1979 but failed for years to investigate or take meaningful action. Now, what happened here? It’s not put in these terms, but what actually happened here is this trusted doctor, Richard Strauss, defrauded these students who trusted him as the official sports doctor for a huge university in our country, Ohio State University. They trusted him, and he abused the trust for his selfish purposes of self-aggrandizement and self-pleasure. To me, that's rape. He defrauded them of freedom. He abused and defiled freedom. And freedom, friends, is very precious. Very precious indeed, just like virginity. We'll be right back.

Chuck Crismier: Once upon a time, children could pray and read their Bibles in school. Divorces were practically unknown, as was child abuse. In our once great America, virginity and chastity were popular virtues, and homosexuality was an abomination. So what happened in just one generation? Hi, I’m Chuck Crismier and I urge you to join me daily on Viewpoint, where we discuss the most challenging issues touching our hearts and homes. Could America’s moral slide relate to the Fourth Commandment? Listen to Viewpoint on this radio station or anytime at saveus.org.

We have heard the phrase, "freedom isn’t free." You’ve got to pay the price. You’ve got to sacrifice for your liberty. Well, that's true. But that means freedom is very precious. Freedom, though, can be abused, just like sexuality can be abused. A virgin, from God's viewpoint, is very precious. So much so that the Apostle Paul said to the Corinthian church, "I’m preparing you as a virgin for Christ."

Because Christ is not going to marry and enter into final, dare we say, spiritual intercourse with people who do not come to him pure and holy. Because you see, salvation is a very, very precious thing, like freedom. In fact, we often call it freedom in Christ because he takes our burden, our sin, upon himself, and now we're free.

But the question is, what are we going to do with that freedom? Are we going to use that freedom for our own self-aggrandizement? Are we going to use it for our own self-pleasure, so to speak, like Dr. Strauss did with all of those students, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of students at Ohio University? Is that what we're going to do? Is that what God has set us free to do? Is that what human freedom is about? Is that even what political freedom is about?

The answer is absolutely not. So freedom is only very precious, but in a sense it’s very private, too. It's both public and private. It's public from the standpoint that everyone has a right to believe that we're living in a free society because our Constitution says so, our Bill of Rights says so. But if we don't live according to those standards and the laws that are written to enforce them, then we have put freedom at risk.

And you don't put freedom at risk collectively, generally. You put freedom at risk individually. So the majority of things that involve fraud involve individuals. Sometimes there's a group of individuals that would confederate and conspire together to accomplish something as a group, to defraud as a group. Some corporations will enter into fraudulent behavior to deprive others of their rightful expectations of freedom and truth and justice and righteousness by taking advantage of them for their own self-pleasure or purpose.

We're going to take a look at a few other illustrations here concerning this matter of the raping of freedom by fraud. You see, fraud is like, shall we say, usually fraud is related to economic factors. So we'll call it economic rape of freedom. But actually, it's more than just economic. It's just in the economics of things that we find it most frequently talked about.

But how about immigration? Everyone who applies for naturalization has to truthfully answer a series of questions to show that they have good moral character required to become a US citizen. So here are a few of the questions. Have you ever committed a crime or offense for which you were not arrested?

How many people are going to answer that question honestly? Have you ever involved in any way with forcing or trying to force someone to have any kind of sexual contact or sexual relations? How many people are going to answer that correctly if they haven't been convicted? Have you ever sold or smuggled controlled substances, illegal drugs, or narcotics?

Now, these questions actually are designed to elicit the mind and heart of the willingness of a potential immigrant to defraud the country, to defraud the citizens of the country of their rightful expectation to live in freedom without any form of molestation, whether it’s economic molestation, criminal molestation, or sexual molestation.

So it affects the whole immigration issue. Fraudulently obtaining citizenship is a serious felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, and it results in automatic revocation of citizenship. Why is that? Because it's a defrauding. It’s actually a raping of freedom. A defrauding of the underlying expectation of lawful freedom in the country. You don't want that kind of person in the country. You want people who are going to bring and contribute to and support the underlying foundations of true freedom.

But illegal aliens and foreign fraudsters steal billions yearly. That came out from the White House just two days ago. Billions of dollars. Do they have commitment to freedom? No. They have a commitment to their own self-aggrandizement. In other words, freedom to them is the right to do what I want, not the privilege to do what I ought.

Interesting, isn't it? So financial fraud involves maybe Christian ministries, leaders, or themes in the United States primarily manifested through what is called affinity fraud and internal embezzlement. Research estimates that billions of dollars are lost globally to ecclesiastical crimes each year, fueled by high levels of trust and weak oversight within the religious communities. Okay. We're going to take a look at what that really means. What does that look like in America today?

Because it's important, friends. If we want to cry for freedom, here on the edge of our 250th anniversary of the political birth of our country, which ostensibly is for the establishment of freedom and liberty for all, including all who would come to these shores to find that freedom, if we are compromising that freedom in open and notorious ways, even in God's own house, we've got a problem, don't you think? In fact, we do.

The problem is not diminishing, it's growing. And there's a reason for it. One of the reasons I believe has to do with our confusion about the word liberty. You see, if you go to the Declaration of Independence, it talks about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. So what people do, they think in their minds the way it is most common today to think about freedom, and that is: I can do what I want. I'm free to do what I want whatever it takes to make me happy.

Now, if you go to the television, your television, and you watch any number of what seem to be good, wholesome programs, maybe programs where people are meeting and thinking about getting married and so on and they're questioning different things about getting married, and then somebody will come up or maybe it's a parent who will say, "I just want you to be happy."

That's an illusion, friends. Because happiness is not the defining from God's viewpoint. Holiness is the defining point. Happiness is about my feelings at the moment. Happiness is about how I might feel in the next ten years, but it has nothing to do with God's expectations or what should be our expectations, and quite frankly, it may have little to do with true freedom. It may compromise freedom. The pursuit of happiness by itself is dangerous.

In fact, to be very honest with you, almost every ad on television and radio has at its root: here’s what you have to have to be happy, to be fulfilled. It has nothing whatsoever to do with what you should do, what you ought to do, what you would do if you were truly a follower of Jesus Christ and walking in submission to his word and will in his ways and seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. It has everything to do with seeking first your kingdom and your righteousness or lack thereof, just your happiness.

We have a lot of confusion, terrifying confusion. Now, there's a word that the Bible uses. We don't hear it used in common parlance these days. The word is licentiousness. It's a noun. Big word, licentiousness. It refers to a disregard for moral restraints, particularly those concerning sexual behavior. But it describes a kind of mind and heart set that's promiscuous, dissolute, maybe lawless, excessive, indulgent in freedom or pleasure. Indulgence in freedom or pleasure. Not real freedom, but the freedom to do what I want regardless of anybody else.

In other words, that kind of freedom actually puts all freedom at risk. There is no freedom if every man does that which is right in his own eyes. Everybody is at risk to be raped. In some way or another, everybody is at risk to be raped. And that's why we have increasing laws in this country over the past 60 years because of the increasing vulnerability of our citizens to be raped. Whether economically, emotionally, sexually.

The whole society is breaking down the understanding of true freedom and therefore creating an increasing vulnerability to be taken advantage of or raped. Now, interestingly, there are some other words, we call them synonyms, that are might be used to describe licentiousness. You might call it lewd or lascivious behavior or unchaste behavior. But it represents an abuse of liberty. It's a rejection of authority for my purposes.

In other words, I can say I believe in law and I want other people to be lawful, but I don't want to be lawful. I want to do what I want to do because I want to do it and it doesn't matter who it might hurt because I want to do it. Aren't I free to do it? Don't we have freedom and liberty for all? No, we have freedom and justice for all. We have liberty and justice for all.

That's what we have in America, or supposedly. So some synonyms for the word lascivious, excuse me, licentious might be dissoluteness, profligacy, lasciviousness, unruliness. But how about libertinism? Libertinism. Oh, now what might that be? Libertinism. Have you ever heard of libertarians? Have you ever heard the term libertarian? There are many who claim to be conservatives who are actually libertarians. They’ll even admit it. I’m not going to give you some of the names of the more prominent names in our country who are seen to be conservatives and/or Christians but claim to be libertarians.

What is a libertarian? Put it very simply, it means as long as you don't do anything that intrudes upon me, I don't care. If it doesn't intrude upon me, I don't care. So if you want to go out and you want to commit, you want to be involved in sodomy, you want to be involved in lesbianism, transgenderism, bestiality, any of these kinds of things, then I don't care. It doesn't matter to me.

That's the libertarian position. That's not the position of freedom. If it were, then why did George Washington drum out in the Continental Army instantly those who were seeming to even practice sodomy, homosexuality? He drummed them out of the army immediately. Why? Because they put everything at risk, including freedom itself.

We've got a problem. And we're allowing a spirit of the raping of freedom in the name of libertarianism or licentiousness to sweep away the very foundations of freedom in our country and liberty in Christ.

Chuck Crismier: There is so much more about Chuck Crismier and Save America Ministries on our website, saveus.org. For example, under the Marriage section, God has marriage on His mind. Chuck has some great resources to strengthen your marriage. First off, a fact sheet on the State of the Marital Union, a fact sheet on the State of Ministry, Marriage and Morals, saveus.org. Marriage, divorce, and remarriage. What does the Bible really teach about this? Find all of this at saveus.org. Also, a Letter to Pastors, the Hosea Project, saveus.org, and many more resources to strengthen your marriage. It’s all on Chuck’s website, saveus.org. Again, you can listen to Chuck’s Viewpoint broadcasts live and archived, Save America Ministries' website at saveus.org.

So good to have you joining us here on Viewpoint today. I know we touch upon things that very few people will talk about, won't even think about, might even not dare talk about because it comes too close to home. But these are the areas, friends, that God is looking at.

He's not looking at things from the standpoint of Republican Party or the Democrat Party or Independent Party or any other party. He's looking at it purely from His standpoint of righteousness and the ultimate. He's going to judge. In fact, Christ himself is going to be the judge because He alone was obedient even to the death on the cross. He didn't sucker for any of these kinds of disillusioning, raping, fraudulent, disobedient, lascivious, licentious behaviors.

He sought first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Wherefore God gave him a name that would be above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and earth and that every tongue would confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And thereby, He becomes the judge of the earth. That's what the Psalmist said. We find that also true in Revelation 19, where He comes to judge the world in righteousness and the people with His truth and with the sword that comes out of His mouth.

So what we're talking about here, you might think, well, this is just a matter of culture war things and, you know, and we know all about that. No, we don't know all about it because we're not connecting it with God's viewpoint. There is an eternal consequence to these things. It's not just a practical thing in our society, even though I'm showing clearly how this relates to what's happening in our society.

But it has an eternal consequence, not because of what somebody else did but because of what you do or what I do or what we don't do. You see, if we participate in any way in the raping of freedom by fraud, fraudulently treating people, taking advantage of them when they trusted us for some reason or another, in business or in marriage, for instance.

Do you know that one of the great areas of fraud right now has to do with marriage? It sure does. Try this one on for size. Not all marriages are made in heaven, some in fact are illegal. Now, this is one viewpoint coming from ice.gov. Marriage fraud is a federal crime and can have grave consequences. Marriage fraud is neither a trivial nor victimless crime. Marriage fraud poses a national security threat, damages the integrity of the United States, and endangers US citizens who enter into these fake unions.

US government intelligence stated that some of the Al-Qaeda operatives married American women to obtain US visas. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the principal architect of the 9/11 disaster, Trade Center towers, believed it was a fantastic mechanism for operatives to acquire valid documents in the United States.

So what is marriage fraud? Well, from this standpoint, as far as ICE is concerned, it's when a foreign national and a US citizen get married, not to establish a life together, but as a means for the foreign national to remain in the United States indefinitely. The goal of a foreign national who commits marriage fraud is to become a lawful permanent resident and ultimately a US citizen. Foreign nationals who marry US citizens do not have to wait for a visa. Marriage fraud is one of the shortest pathways to US citizenship, which can be granted after only three years of lawful permanent resident status.

Obtaining that status allows freedom of movement within the United States and the unfettered ability to travel abroad and return freely. It authorizes employment and provides access to government buildings, bank accounts, and businesses. In other words, it is defrauding the people of the United States of the very freedom that they depend upon as secured by their Constitution and their government.

This is the reason why ICE has to take these steps. It’s not against individuals, it’s against their practices of raping freedom. They're stealing the freedom and the right that the people have in the country to expect to be treated certain ways according to the standards of freedom.

Now, speaking of marriage, and this is going to catch some people by surprise, and I'm going to pick up on this in just a few moments, but I want to make available to you my book Seduction of the Saints: How to Stay Pure in a World of Deception. You see, we're talking about a kind of deception that is very, very damaging. It's damaging to a whole society, it’s damaging to families.

When parents give the sense as parents that they can be trusted and their kids trust them, but the parents do not act according to that trust, they are defrauding their children of the reasonable expectation of being parented according to the standards of the Lord. That's the reason why God said, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right." Why? Because the parents stand in loco parentis or in the place of God with regard to the kids. And they are supposed to be trusted and trustworthy. And if they are not, they are in effect defrauding the kids of the very promise that God gives to the kids to be parented in His name. Am I making sense now?

We're getting closer and closer to home. Get a copy of the book, Seduction of the Saints: How to Stay Pure in a World of Deception. $15 will put the $18 book in your hands. It's on the website saveus.org, saveus.org. I do not think you're going to be disappointed when you get a hold of that book. I believe there are seven whole sections in there, different kinds of deception, different kinds of seduction.

See, people are seduced oftentimes because of the trust that they reposed in somebody else. But then there's something inside a person with regard to the matter of seduction as opposed to rape that sets a person up to be seduced. With rape, it can be completely against your will and usually is. But with seduction, it's not necessarily against your will at all because there's something in our makeup as human beings that is ready and willing to be seduced under the right circumstances that we feel are the right circumstances.

Get the book Seduction of the Saints: How to Stay Pure in a World of Deception. It’s one of the most popular books that we’ve ever come out with, and people just see it as one of the most practical, applicational books for our lives. I don't think you'll be disappointed. On the website saveus.org, call us 1-800-SAVE-USA, 1-800-SAVE-USA, or write to us at Save America Ministries, PO Box 70879, Richmond, Virginia 23255 writing a check at $6 for postage and handling.

Look, what we're trying to do is prepare the way of the Lord for history's final hour. That's what we're doing. We're making specific applications here because this is not a program about information. Now, we're providing vast information here even today, perhaps much of which you have never heard or certainly from that viewpoint. But that's not the point. The point is it has to lead to change in our lives. That's called transformation. And in order for that to happen, there has to be specific application.

Now, here's an application, and it has to do with the so-called exception clause that Jesus said in one place in the scripture only, in the book of Matthew: "except for the cause of fornication." So Jesus said, "Whoever divorces their spouse causes them to commit adultery. And whoever marries the one, save for the cause of fornication, commits adultery." It’s the only place where that "save for the cause of fornication" is put in there. It doesn't say "save for the cause of adultery." It says "the cause of fornication." In other words, it’s something that was discovered after you got married that took place before you got married that you have the right to believe had not taken place.

So, we have a classic example of that in the book of Matthew where the angel comes to Mary and tells her that she’s blessed among women and she’s going to have a child and that child is going to be the Holy Spirit is going to overshadow her and the child that will be born of her will be the seed of the Holy Spirit.

So the angel has to go to Joseph because now he is going to realize that Mary, his betrothed, is pregnant and they haven't even come together yet. They've not had sex. They have a betrothal covenant, but they have not consummated that in the official marriage under Jewish law.

So the angel goes to Joseph and says, "Don't be afraid to take unto you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit." Now Joseph, I mean as a strong Hebrew believer chosen of God, that was a tough thing for him to hear because it was unlawful to have, you didn't want to go marrying somebody that had sex before marriage because they weren't a virgin. And that meant that that person was liable to be stoned. It was a serious thing that Joseph was confronted with.

Here's the issue. There was no pre-marital sex or fornication. None. That sets that situation aside and helps us to understand what Jesus was really talking about when He said, "save for the cause of fornication," and I'll get to that in just a moment.

Chuck Crismier: Have you ever considered what the early church was like? Many people are developing a heart longing for a greater fulfillment in our practices as Christians. A recent study showed 53,000 people a week are leaving the back door of America’s churches in frustration. What is going on? Why has there not been even a 1% gain among followers of Christ in the last 25 years? Could it be that God is seeking to restore first-century Christianity for the 21st century? Jesus said, "I’ll build my church." Is Christ by His spirit stirring to prepare the church for the 21st century? The early church prayed together and broke bread from house to house. They were family, and it was said by all who observed, "Behold, how they love one another." Incredible. But the same can be found right now. Go to saveus.org and click Cell Church. We can revive first-century Christianity for the 21st century. It’s about people, not programs. It’s about a body, not a building. That’s saveus.org. Click Cell Church.

Several years ago in not-so-sexually-pure France, a case arose before the courts. It involved a Muslim man. I don't know whether the woman was a Muslim or not, I think she was. And so they got married. And the Muslim man discovered immediately after the marriage that his wife was not a virgin.

Now the facts were clear, there wasn't any arguing about the facts. So don't try to argue with the facts. The facts were clear. The woman was not a virgin. She had had sex before marriage and did not disclose it to her husband. Now if she had disclosed it to her husband, that would have been one thing, but she did not.

The man filed suit for nullifying the marriage. Not divorce, nullifying the marriage. Why? Because the woman had defrauded him of his reasonable expectation to be marrying a virgin. Are you listening? This is exactly the case that Jesus was talking about. If a man married a woman, he had the right to expect her to be a virgin unless she told him otherwise before they got married. If she did not, then he could put her away for the cause of fornication. Not adultery, fornication because it happened before marriage. He didn't have to put her away, but he could.

Why? Because of fraud in the inducement. Do you know that in the laws of men in this country that one of the several foundations for annulment is actually fraud in the inducement? Did you know that? It's true. Years ago I had a case in California. Two professing Christians. They had been married 15 years. And the wife came to me and said, "I don't understand it, Chuck. I just don't understand it. We have never consummated the marriage and it’s so troubling to me. I don't get it. It's like we're not even married."

And she said, "I've seen little things here and there that were troubling to me and my husband locking himself in the bathroom for long periods of time and so on." But she said one day I was walking down the street and I saw a woman walking toward me and then I realized it was my husband.

So she confronted him about it. And indeed, he had been functioning as a transvestite for 15 years. And before they got married, that was also his proclivity and he never disclosed it to his wife. This is the most unusual case I have ever come across. And you know what we did? We filed for annulment after 15 years, unheard of. Now this was not a Roman Catholic type of annulment thing where you try to pretend that you just didn't want to have a divorce.

No, this was the clear expression like what Jesus was talking about. This man had defrauded his wife-to-be by not disclosing to her, and now what is she to do? So I brought them together in the office and I said, "Is this true, sir?" He said yes. I said, "Okay, here is what I recommend. You have no kids because you've never had sex together, ever, in 15 years. You've never consummated the marriage." He said yes, never consummated the marriage.

Okay, so we have agreement there, the facts are clear. He has engaged in fraud in the inducement to marry this woman. So, is she to be bound by a divorce now because of that? No. So I said, "The way to handle this in my opinion is the two of you will agree to the facts that you have set forth, we will prepare a declaration under penalty of perjury where you will admit these facts, which will give the foundation for a judge without contest to grant an annulment."

And that's exactly what happened. After 15 years, friends. Why? Because of fraud in the inducement. Had nothing to do with adultery. This is where people are so confused. They think the exception clause is talking about an adulterous act after marriage. No, it is not. If there's an adulterous act after marriage, that is a fraud, a fraudulent act against the marriage. No question about it.

No question, no argument there at all. God wouldn't argue with it, Jesus didn't argue with it, Paul didn't argue with it. So here's the upshot of it. The number one response is forgiveness. On the other hand, if there is no willingness to respond together in forgiveness and reconciliation and to allow God to work in and through your lives to bring about restoration and healing, there could be a divorce for hardness of heart. That's what Jesus said. That’s the foundation for divorce: hardness of heart.

So what does that, is the result of that? The Apostle Paul makes it very clear in 1st Corinthians chapter 7. Right at the beginning of the chapter, he said, "If you're divorced, you remain single or be reconciled." That's it. You remain single or be reconciled. There's no prescription for remarriage. None. That's totally inconsistent with the whole Bible. Especially with the whole Christian view of the Bible.

And then as if that were not enough, in 1st Corinthians chapter 7, 39, he finishes the chapter by saying if a man, if a woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. Notice the word bound. In other words, the marriage bond is fixed. No matter what your feelings say, the marriage bond is fixed. You entered into a vow. Better it is that you not vow than you not pay because you're going to be held accountable for your vow.

It’s very clear in the scriptures. Jesus made it clear. So Paul says a woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. That would be true for a husband bound to a woman. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander, right? As long as they live. But if and only if they be dead, then and only then are they free to be marry and only in the Lord. It’s very simple.

But because we want to confuse the simplicity of the scripture and the importance of what God establishes for marriage in the context of a free society and freedom in Christ, we have distorted it and perverted it from pulpit to pulpit to pulpit to pulpit, and the people believe what they're being told. And they're not looking what God has to say. It's so simple, friends.

So simple. If we engage in adultery, if you engage in pornography, it is a kind of fraud on your marriage because your spouse has the right to believe in the security or freedom of that marriage and you're defiling it. You are defrauding your husband or defrauding your wife and defrauding your kids and even the body of Christ of the trust that they have put in you to protect freedom, both civil freedom, freedom from crime, and freedom in Christ in that home. You've defiled it.

This is much more serious than anybody ever believes. It's not just about the grip that pornography gets on your mind and so on. It does, but it’s much more than that. We need to look at things from God's viewpoint, not just our culture's viewpoint.

And then we find all kinds of different fraud in the church. With a nudge from their pastor, the 25,000 members of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church near Atlanta opened their hearts and their wallets to Ephren Taylor. Why not? Because he had glittering credentials. So they trusted him, and he raped them economically.

How about Shawn Merriman, the Mormon Madoff, who scammed millions? He was head of the investment firm and a lay bishop in the Mormon church and who persuaded friends, family, and church members to invest with him. It turned out to be a big scam. Took $21 million from them, and including his own mom.

Getting people to part with their money requires trust, and you see this matter of fraud is about trust. Trust is the very foundation of freedom, my friends. Freedom in Christ, freedom in the body of Christ, freedom in our country. And if we have any hope of restoring freedom and liberty and justice for all in this country from God's viewpoint, we've got to deal with this issue. Trust.

Eight members of the House of Prayer Christian Churches group was indicted for fraud schemes and operation of a false prophet down there in Atlanta, Georgia. I’m looking at all that right now. The Economist, famous magazine on economics, has an article called "Fleecing the Flock: The Big Business of Swindling People Who Trust You."

Then, tracking $62 billion in ecclesiastical crime every year. Billions of US dollars are stolen, raped, from money that Christians give to churches, para-church organizations, and secular organizations all over the world. In 2023, approximately $62 billion or 6.6% of all funds given by Christians globally was lost to fraud and embezzlement. In other words, people in the name of Christ, under the banner of Christ, raped the trust of the people.

Is this making any sense to you? Is it? You might might want to look up what happened with Joel Osteen just a few weeks ago, friends, in public, how his entire, the entire foundation of his ministry was exposed in a most unusual way. Was it fraud? Well, it wasn't economic fraud per se as we see it. What was it? How is it that we abuse freedom? Raping freedom by fraud. That's today's program, friends. Get a copy of the book Seduction of the Saints: How to Stay Pure in a World of Deception right there on the website saveus.org.

Guest (Male): You’ve been listening to Viewpoint with Chuck Crismier. Viewpoint is supported by the faithful gifts of our listeners. Let me urge you to become a partner with Chuck as a voice to the church declaring vision for the nation. Join us again next time on Viewpoint as we confront the issues of America’s heart and home.