Sound of Faith

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Praise the Lord. Welcome to the Sound of Faith. I'm Sharon Knotts, thanking you for joining us today because we know faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Today's message is a panoramic view of the evil influences and supernatural authorities driving our current chaotic culture, especially the anti-Christian America media: The Prince of the Power of the Air.

R. G. Hardy: Same-sex marriage now is a good thing with all things Wi-Fi. Because everyone has the right to be with the one they love.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: If you put it that way, then it sounds like a good thing. Everyone has the right to be with the one they love. Amen.

R. G. Hardy: Based on that, now polygamists want to be with all the ones they love, all the ladies they love. They want to be able to marry all the ladies they love.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Oh yes. And the polygamists have got shows all over cable TV, making it look like a wonderful normal thing, and that is going to be next on the agenda. You probably won't believe it, but even now, there are at least one, and there may be more than one—it might be a couple—they're petitioning the courts to be able for a mother to marry her son.

They say they promise they won't procreate and have children because then you have all kinds of birth defects and that would just be bad. But there's no guarantee it won't happen. But that's beside the point. The point is when you start calling evil good, this is what happens. And of course, we could go on and on about all the things, but these are the two big issues. Amen.

R. G. Hardy: Everyone has a computer and online media. Wi-Fi uses radio waves to translate signals between the devices, the computers, or whatever it may be. Nearly everyone has a computer in their home. How many here have a computer? That's just about everybody. If you don't have a computer in your home, how many of you have smartphones? Then, in a manner of speaking, your lives revolve around them.

Let's face it, now they do. You're always checking this, that, or the other on your device or doing something on your device. People don't even go to the grocery store. They go online to the Walmart website, they go through the groceries and take ABCD, and then they come to the door and somebody brings groceries out to you. Or you order takeout food.

We're all doing things like this all the time. We probably do it so much that we don't even think about it. But what would happen if all of a sudden we couldn't do that? And they all claim the idea is it's a good thing. And what about transgender males? They want their right to participate with biological women in all women's sports.

Where they're allowed to, the women are getting beat down. Young high school women who have spent all of their teenage years training—whether it's to run track or whatever it is—hoping to get a scholarship to college. But now they're coming down so far. They should have come in first, second, and third, but instead, you've got transgender males coming in first, second, and third. The girls are getting pushed down and they're losing scholarships. Amen.

It's happening. In some states, they are stepping out where some states are abolishing it. If the states have to do it, the federal government's already on board. Our president is already on board with it and he said it's a good thing. So now the states are going to have to do it. Amen. Because there are some places where the states have their own authority.

It remains to be seen whether or not somebody's going to take it to the courts of the federal government and where it'll end up. It will probably end up in the Supreme Court, and who knows, by then we might have so many judges on the Supreme Court. You just take a bag and throw it up in the air and see what comes out. Oh yes, some of you don't like it, do you? I told you upfront.

They want to use the bathroom of their choice, even if they haven't had sex change surgery, even if they are still biologically unmentionable. They want to use the female bathroom. Amen. And that was put in force by a former president, carte blanche across the nation, when that came into view. Amen. God forbid that we would cause them psychological harm by making them go in the men's bathroom.

But what about the psychological harm to little girls? To a seven-year-old girl going in there and seeing a man in the bathroom? And to some women who may be afraid to go in there by themselves? People don't even have common sense. But this is what happens when you start calling evil good. When a society begins calling evil good, they will by necessity then have to call—once they have reached a point where they have called evil good—then by extension they will have to say that good is evil because it's conflicting with their states. Amen.

The good, wonderful thing about this is that it gives us the wonderful ability to program Christian messages, songs, and such on social media. Amen. Think about what happened when COVID-19 first hit and we had that huge shutdown where you literally were not supposed to go anywhere. Amen. In the very beginning, back in April and May last year, what a blessing it was to be able to get church online.

You remember that prior to that, we kept telling you, "We're going to do live streaming soon." All these things we had to do. We weren't getting them done that quickly for different reasons, but one day, folks, we're going to go live stream. Well, we got plunged into live streaming. We weren't ready and we weren't expecting it. And it was from my kitchen table. But we didn't miss one Sunday.

And let me tell you, it was a struggle. We were using my laptop. The only problem is it started getting hot after all that time. And when it started getting hot, it started getting slow. And here I am preaching at the table and Benny's walking over to the refrigerator and getting ice out of the freezer and putting it under my computer to try to keep it cool so I could finish the message.

And since then, thousands of churches are now online. When we finally realized we were going to have to get some better equipment than the ice under the laptop, we got a real computer that's made for this and all the stuff that goes with it. And when Benny was searching to find one, they would be sold out. Every church in America was jumping in trying to keep contact with their people through the internet.

And now, many churches are saying, like we did, even when we go back to church, we're going to stay online for those people who really can't come to church. There are people who just can't. They're in nursing homes or maybe they are home but they're immobile. And so we'll continue to minister to them. Amen. And so all of this has been a tremendous development.

We all agree it's a great blessing. And even you when you go home today, maybe there's another preacher that you like to watch, and when you go home you'll watch him later. Amen. There are many well-known preachers online—not only pastors but teachers, evangelists, and prophets—and they all have something to share with the body of Christ. And I tell you what, the devil doesn't like it. Amen.

This is the stage we're in in America today. The Bible and this new morality do not mix. They clash. Oh, do they clash. And sometimes when they clash, you and I are in the middle. I'm sure y'all have been. Amen. They are diametrically opposed one to the other. Thus the Bible and those who espouse it, those who preach it, and those who teach it, are also evil.

The prince of the power of the air is not cool with all of these preachers. We've got some of our own ministers in the church that have their own. Amen. And I know you all know who they are and you probably follow them. Amen. See, what he hates is the truth and he hates the gospel. And he's operating through the media, the powers that be, to censor or to silence if possible the messengers and the message. Amen.

Let's go back to Ephesians chapter five, verse 11. "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." See, we're given two things here now. Facebook, Google, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube. All of these outlets are censoring ministry and members, their content. They're censoring their content if they get on issues like abortion or homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

They are censoring them. They're not supposed to, but when it comes to the First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and freedom of religion, they're doing it. Amen. And often when they're doing it, people don't even know that it's being done. The Greek word "reprove" means to refute, to find fault with, to correct, and to convince. If you are light and I am light, that is what we will do.

It trumps the Constitution. Those rights come above and beyond the First Amendment's freedom of speech and freedom of religion. And anyone that opposes the new morality—preachers like me, amen—and who preach biblical morals are being censored and/or silenced. And it's actually a shame. "For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret."

A shame. Now let me give you a strong point in the Greek. Shame is a dirty name. The Greek word *aischros* means filthy. It is filthy, the things that they do in secret. Don't even talk about it. Don't repeat such stuff because in doing it you get it in your spirit. It's all over the TV, it's all over the internet, it's all in the music. Oh my goodness, that music.

I'm not going to be too specific here, but let's just say that I was seeing all these people go on and on about a song that won the best song of the year. And that there was so much controversy over it and so, your curiosity gets to you. You think, "Well, what's the song? Let me look the song up." Oh my God, I was so sorry I looked that song up and read those words.

I could not believe those words. They were so filthy, so vile. Nobody was in the room but me and I was embarrassed. It was just terrible. And to think that that song won that person a Grammy. It was more than that. And then at the Grammys, they put the person on TV singing the song and acting some of it out. Well, Lord help us all.

How are we getting away with this? How is this happening? Let's answer that question. How did we arrive at this place? Let's go back to Isaiah chapter five. And that's why these people don't want to be around you and me, because in the light of day, their sin and their filthiness are manifested. Amen. What does the light do? It reproves.

It says, "But things that are reproved are made manifest by the light." It's the same word I read you a moment ago in Ephesians. It convicts you, it condemns you, it finds fault with you, it confuses you. Amen. That's what the light does. So we're called to be light. And when we're called to be light, let's just get ready, we'll face pushback. Amen. And we're going to face persecution.

And it's actually a shame. Now let me give you a case in point, a very recent case in point. In January of this year, a very prominent Messianic rabbi, who's a best-selling author and a Christian TV speaker and a pastor of a large congregation, felt led of the Lord to record a prophetic word to the new administration and to post it on Facebook and YouTube.

He posted it on a Monday morning. By noon, he had a half a million views. The next day, he had one million views. And then they couldn't get over that they had never, in anything he had ever posted, had so many views so fast in such a short time. And then something strange happened. If you Googled looking for that video, no results came up. No results.

It was as if the video had vanished. It was more than that. It was as if it was never posted in the first place. Only some copies could be found by Facebook members who had reposted it on their page. And so they, being very low level, did not catch the attention of the censors. It was apparent that it was being suppressed. This is a method that is called shadow banning.

Shadow banning that they're using on social media, each one of these different types of accounts that I've already mentioned. Shadow banning where they are banning the poster, and in most cases, they'll never know. You'll never know that it's being done because of the way that it is done. Amen. So when social media powers want to ban a message or ban a post or even ban a site, they do it in such a way.

Often the poster doesn't even know that their message is censored or outright silenced and banned. These are forces that are being manipulated by the prince of the power of the air. They hate us because we are light, and light exposes filthiness. Amen. Those who preach a biblical message that conflicts with the present progressive culture, aka the counter-culture, these forces are being driven by the prince of the power of the air.

Amen. And folks, this censorship, this silencing, and this persecution of Christians in this way—real Christians—is only going to increase. Saints, don't let the devil tell you that you're being persecuted because you're just too judgmental. How many hear that? "You're just being too judgmental." That's what the devil will tell you. He wants you to turn down the light. He wants you to dim down your light. Amen.

Don't let him tell you you're not supposed to make sinners feel bad about their sin. If they don't feel bad about their sin, they're never going to repent. And if they never repent and get right with God, they're going to spend eternity in condemnation in hell. Amen. So let your light shine. "Let your light shine," is what Jesus said in Matthew 5:16. And by the way, it's a command. "Let your light shine." He's commanding us. Amen.

So now let's go to John. John 3:19. "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." There's that word. That's the third time I've heard that word in this sermon. Amen.

So light is come into the world. How? How did light come into the world? Jesus said in John 8:12, "I am the light." And not only that, he said, Matthew 5:14, "You are the light of the world." See, that's how light is come into the world. Jesus came as the light of the world. And now that he's ascended back to the Father, he said, "You are the light of the world." Amen.

So who do they hate when they hate the light? They hate Jesus, they hate me, and if you're a light, they hate you. And they're not going to come to the light because they don't want their deeds to be reproved. So what does the light do? It reproves evil. It reproves evil. And number two, it reveals. It reveals that their works are truly of God. Amen.

So what is our takeaway this morning? That we're called to be light. And the darkness is increasing because more and more people are yielding to the darkness. And Satan is exerting more greatly his authority as the prince of the power of the air. So as awful as some of these things are that I've mentioned, I hate to say this but I have now come to the place where I believe things can get worse.

Because every time I've said it can't get worse, it does. I don't say that anymore. Amen. Even though I might get shocked, but I quickly recover from being shocked because I understand the prince of the power of the air is increasing. Amen. Satan knows his time—if anybody recognizes the signs of this time, it's Satan. He knows his time is short.

And he's coming in great wrath to catch as many souls as he can. Amen. And we are the children of the light, and we're the children of the day, and we've got to let our light shine like never before. Amen. Now verse 20. "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter."

How many know we hear this so often? I myself have used it quite a bit because, folks, if it was ever coming to pass and being fulfilled, it surely is now. Do you not say amen to that? We stand out more. We stand out more. Amen. Before, you knew a lot of Christian people on your job. You knew a lot of Christian people in your family.

And there were many Christian-friendly shows on radio and TV. And of course, it was before the birth of the internet. Once the internet came into play, it changed everything. Everything just went exponentially. Amen. For Satan, the prince of the power of the air, to operate his wicked agenda. But in spite of the darkness, God has children of light. And we stand out more than ever.

Of course, we understand we can give this one way. And Satan is going to try to work on some of them. And we've seen it. Our hearts are broken when we see well-known ministers that have congregations of thousands, when we see that they fall into sin in their life. And we understand. Satan works harder the bigger the minister, the bigger the ministry, the more people under their influence, the greater target.

Satan is going to come after them. We've got to pray for our ministers and our pastors and our preachers of the truth. If there's someone you watch on TV that you just love them and they just bless your heart, you need to pray for them. I guarantee you Satan's going to come after them. He's going to try to get them to fall into sexual sin or greed.

It's usually sex or greed, one or the other. Amen. Because he wants to put that light out. But we're going to let our light shine, are we not? Come on, let's stand together this morning. Jesus didn't give me a little light. He gave me a bright light. And I'm going to let it shine. I'm going to let it shine. Rather than the world let Satan put it out. No, I'm going to let it shine. Amen.

Many of them have changed courses recently that once were anti-abortion and no longer now, and now they call themselves pro-choice. Pro-choice is a euphemism for pro-death. I'm not going to preach long down there, but I'm trying to show you that now they call it good. It's good because it helps women. And they especially help poor women. Don't let it bother you. Don't let it hurt your feelings. You're not wrestling against people; it's the spirit of the air.