Watchman on the Wall

Southwest Radio Ministries Host: Welcome to Watchman on the Wall, a daily outreach of Southwest Radio Ministries and swrc.com. God is still on the throne and prayer changes things. Welcome to a brand new week of bringing clarity to the chaos. This week we're debuting a brand new book with author Greg Patton. He'll debut his book and answer the question, what in the world is going on?

Later this week, Donald Perkins will share his next lesson in the Understanding Revelation series and Josh Davis will have the latest headlines from the end times. This week's outstanding guests and topics are able to be here on the radio and online because of your generous support. Your financial gifts this week through the mail and on our website allow us to proclaim each and every day that God is still on the throne and prayer changes things.

Please prayerfully consider giving a gift to keep the truth going out around the world. Your gift can be shared today at swrc.com or by calling 1-800-652-1144. Give what you can knowing that it'll be used to spread the good news. Dr. Greg Patton joins Watchman on the Wall, ready to give an overview of the cultural shifts that he addresses in Oh, Say Can You See, his brand new book.

Inside its pages, Dr. Greg Patton touches on addictions, AI, attacks on the family unit, the sexual revolution, and the responsibilities of the church in keeping their sheep on the right path. Here's today's host, Prophecy in the News magazine editor Lise Cutshaw, with today's guest, Dr. Greg Patton.

Lise Cutshaw: Greetings and salutations, friends. With us today is one of Southwest Radio Ministries' dearest friends and regular contributors, Dr. Greg Patton. Dr. P hosts the syndicated radio program Hello World and pastors The Cross Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Welcome, dear friend, to another Watchman on the Wall program, Dr. P.

Dr. Greg Patton: Lise, thanks a million for having me on. I always enjoy talking with you, either in person or on the radio. Thank you so much.

Lise Cutshaw: Thank you for being with us. You have a new book. You've written several and been on many DVDs and presented for us and others at many, many conferences, including your own with Dr. Ken Copley on spiritual warfare. A year ago or so, we featured your book The New America: A Flood of Evil.

Your new book this spring is Oh, Say Can You See: Spiritual Blindness and the Rising Tide of Evil. It takes another close look at the tide of cultural shifts underway in our country, really the world. I was wondering if you could share with us what spurred you on to write this book, sort of a sequel to the New America book, but fresh insights.

Dr. Greg Patton: That's great. Thanks again for the opportunity just to put some thoughts out there. I've been concerned for quite some time, doing my daily radio program Hello World as news, information, and comment. I've just gotten so confused with things that are happening in the world today that for the first time in all the years of my radio and television news work, I just cannot put two and two together with some of the things happening in the world and particularly in our country.

I'm confused. The Bible says we know who the author of that is. Satan is the author of confusion. And I quote C.S. Lewis quite often. We're living in occupied territory in America. And there's a real problem there in so many ways. The Bible says in John 14:6, "You'll know the truth, the truth will set you free." And I joke both in the pulpit and when I represent Southwest Radio Church, as well as my own radio show, I think you need a very thick three-ring binder to keep up with all the do's and the don'ts in America today.

As a result of that, I thought I'm going to maybe bring together some points that some people can kind of look at, again basically for believers, and say this is right and this is wrong. All from the Bible, I believe, and give people an idea. It was an overview with our first book, The New America: A Flood of Evil. Here I think, and I keep adding to it to the chagrin of yourself and Brother John who's helped edit, something new comes up. You wait a month and all of a sudden there seems to be something new, and it didn't use to be like that in days gone by.

So, yeah, what is right and what is wrong? As an example, I get accused of being a racist all the time. And so I decided I've got to try to explain that. What is racism, and why is it that everything I say or a conservative or a Christian says somehow is racist? And that seems to be the word that the world uses against Christianity and conservatism today.

Kind of an overview of what we're doing here with this new book, the big question short answer: a lot of Americans feel like the moral center of our country is very shaky right now. And as of this printing and putting this thing together, there are a lot of concerns. Race in America today, especially faith-based, civic, and some cultural conversations you and I might add.

I've kind of broken things down as to what are the main issues today and how is it different. And it really is different from the time I grew up. In fact, one of the lines that I often use is, "This ain't your grandma's America." And it just seemed to be so simple when we were growing up, Lise. It really was.

Lise Cutshaw: It was. It's upside down.

Dr. Greg Patton: That's exactly a very good point. What's good, as the Bible says, what's good or was good is now considered bad. And what was considered not good is now okay. So how does the Christian fit in? How does the pastor preach to his congregation? What questions do the people have out there? And again, we go right back to why did you write this?

Let me give you a couple of thoughts here. There's a great breakdown of truth in America today. Lying has become normal. We get it all the time in politics. We get it in what I call the left-leaning loonies or our media today, radio and television news. Having participated a lifetime in that, I know a little bit about that topic. We have it in advertising, so much false advertising. Even in our personal life, we have it. "My truth" is replacing objective truth or your truth. I tell people, wait a minute, there's only one truth. There can't be more than one truth.

Deception is justified today. If somehow it serves my cause, so I'm going to use that, whatever I have to do. The Bible tells us in Isaiah 5:20, "Woe to those," you just quoted it, "who call evil good and good evil." Every way of a man is right in his own eyes. Lise is right, Greg is right, but Jehovah weigheth the hearts, it says in Proverbs 21:2. And he is the truth.

And as I write all of these things, my last book and this one, basically what you have is what God says versus what the world says. And I just ask people, what are you thinking? What is your truth? Proverbs 23:7, "For as a man, a woman, a child thinks, that's what he is." Whether it's true or not. And of course the truth is God is in control. God has the answer in his book. He's not just an answer, he's the answer.

And Christians certainly need to, more than ever, get back to the truth of God's word. And one of the things I'm concerned about in America today is we've kind of laid the Bible aside. And I'm not even sure what church is doing today, whether we're just trying to get a feel-good positive message by going there, or we're willing to hear what God's word says. Sometimes God steps on your toes in his word, and I think we need to be ready for that and to obey him. Obedience.

Lise Cutshaw: But people don't want their toes stepped on anymore.

Dr. Greg Patton: That's exactly right. I've had it in my church, and there are probably many pastors listening. You go that route, those people will not be there next Sunday. They will be in another church where they get that feel-good message, that positive message. And I'm positive, I love the have a positive message. But the truth of God's word, nine out of ten of the commandments are negative. And so we've got to be able to accept that and follow God correctly.

So you're right, who wants to hear that, for pity's sake? And that's why there are so many mega-churches growing today and some of them by thousands and thousands. You come in, I'll tell you what you want to hear. And I've told people in our movement, if you will, the independent movement, that we could entertain you. I've been a good entertainer on radio in the past. We can play the music you want to play, I'll give you the message you want to hear, and you're going to go out whistling Dixie at the end of this service. Is that what you want? And you're going to draw a big crowd obviously. People want to hear that. I don't want to hear negatives. But the truth of the matter is life is negative and God's word addresses it continually.

So you have that breakdown of truth in America. For one, we've got loss of respect for human life. Regardless of what our United States Supreme Court has done, we have already killed at least 66 million babies. And abortion has been treated here as kind of a convenience. It's not a tragedy. It's not evil. It's just we don't need this thing, so we're going to get rid of it. Growing acceptance for euthanasia, I've been doing some study of that, what's going on around the world, assisted suicide, violence being normalized, and that's a problem of course. Entertainment, crime, casual cruelty.

And you know we become desensitized. I've oftentimes used an illustration that I'll ask men in my audience out there, "How many of you work?" And what I mean by that is some sort of manual labor. You're in construction or roofing or something. They'll raise their hands, and I'll go out into the audience and look, and on these men's hands are these yellow things known as calluses. And I'll say, "How'd you get that?" Well, obviously, using that and rubbing it over and over again, it gets callused.

And you could take a pin or something and punch that callus, nothing, because it's dead skin that has hardened. And I feel that is what has happened to so many Christians in America today as well. We have become hardened or callused, and our spiritual sensitivity level is just about gone. And even in the church, we accept things we should not be accepting.

And when you see that stuff, you see it on television. And it used to be we had three channels when I grew up. I got my kids laughing the other day when I told them that when I first started in television news, it was black and white TV. And they didn't believe me. I said, "We did! We did not have color. We had black and white."

Lise Cutshaw: I remember!

Dr. Greg Patton: Oh, I'm sure you do. And how that thing has changed, Lise, now! Not only do we have the three major networks, you can go to cable and get a thousand different things from people who are out camping in the nude to the queer television network. I mean, it's just unbelievable. That has to desensitize you.

According to the Bible, this is just terrible is what it is. And Christians have to wade through this muck and mire of this old world and come out with some truth. And again, why it's so important: read that Bible. So we have the breakdown of truth for one, we've got loss of respect for human life. I'm concerned about the family and even how the church teaches marriage. Things are eroding. We have so many, and I think Charlie Kirk was the last one had a lot to do talking about the fatherless homes. And so many women are both man and woman in that home.

Broken homes are a way of life for so many. And that's tough. Why? Because God didn't design it that way. It's supposed to be a man, a woman, and they have their place and they're irreplaceable. And if one is missing, well, we got a problem. And children today are paying the price of our adult irresponsibility in America. And it's certainly something to pray about.

If any of these things we discuss hit you in any way, shape, or form, it ought to be on your regular prayer list, I believe, and say, "God, just help this family or that." And every church has folks in them. More and more, there are broken homes, broken marriages. People coming into your church that just don't appear to be normal and are not spiritually. It's our job to get to them and help them in any way we possibly can.

There's so much sexual confusion today and exploitation. It's your way of life. It's a fact everywhere. Pornography, the biggest site on dot-com in the world is a porn site. And it's everywhere, shaping expectations, addiction. I believe again it's a way to get demonic control of your life. The more you're into that thing, and most men... I think again I was really surprised to read some things on his passing since he's been made such a hero, and rightly so, Charlie Kirk, of saying that he had a problem and discussed it, of pornography. And so men really have to pray about that thing.

But it's everywhere. Everywhere you turn. Commercials today are just unbelievable. Sexual identity elevated above character, elevated above a man or woman's virtue. Exploitation masked as freedom. And what is that really? The greatest path to the shortest freedom, if you will, is to just box yourself into a given area. I think about it: prison. You're in a little cell, but boy, you get out of there and you have everything at your disposal once again and it's just hard for man to handle that. And I look at freedom the very same way. And who gets hurt by so much of this? There's a lot of good Christian groups out there trying to help women and children who have been exploited, kidnapped, sold.

Sometimes in our little world, our church, what's going on in the world today? And we certainly need to know that. I've been upset, and had this experience in my church more than once, I personally have been confronted with this more than once among Christians: greed and materialism. And in the church today, it's a new normal in so many ways. Success defined by fame, power, and that's what I want. The debt culture today, so many, 70%, 80% living paycheck to paycheck in America. That's an incredible fact. Is it really that bad?

We have the gambling mentality now right here in our city of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Are we going to get a gambling casino? And everybody's battling for that casino. How we're just going to get things taken care of if we have some gambling here.

Lise Cutshaw: Right. Economics are taking precedence over morality.

Dr. Greg Patton: That's right. Where does the church come from, and should we speak out on these things? Here's one of the problems I have, and I think every Christian does. I preach about probably one of the greatest sins in the church today is in the area of pride. We don't want to get turned down. That's why we don't soul-win like we should. I don't want to be embarrassed by asking this person if they're going to go to heaven. Yet the scripture says in Proverbs, "He that winneth souls is wise." But it's the same thing: if you start speaking out just on these few things I've talked about now, if you start speaking out, oh my goodness, you're going to come under attack. And so through our pride, we are afraid to discuss this with so many people. And what a shame that is.

Jesus never stopped talking about these things. He wanted to share the goodness of Almighty God his father, he wanted to talk to people about a little bit of everything, but he certainly wasn't afraid to speak about evil. And we need to do that more and more. People valued for what they produce in America today, not what they are as a person. And we know again, you said economics, 1 Timothy 6:10, "The love of money, the root of just all kinds of evil in the world today."

We're experiencing now, and we have been for some time from Portland, Oregon, to St. Paul, Minnesota, disrespect for authority and order. That's everywhere. In the classroom. Who would have ever thought that a teacher could get slapped around or beat up in a classroom? I'm telling you, in my day, chewing gum and running through the hall got me to the principal's office, and boy, he had this great big paddle hanging right there on the wall. How it has changed since I graduated way back in 1965.

Lawlessness excused if the cause is right. "This is the right thing." You even have the politicians, you have former military politicians saying it's all right to disobey your commander if they're breaking the law. I mean, it gets so confusing. We have the police, we have parents, we have teachers, we have elders in our church openly mocked today. Personal autonomy elevated above any responsibility. And how sad that is.

I taught my kids... one son got in trouble one time and he was going down to see a probation officer, I forget the total set of circumstances there, but I taught all of my kids very young, "You make sure you say yes, sir, no, sir, yes, ma'am, no, ma'am." He said that to one of the officials there, and she said, "I never want to hear you say that again unless you want to go to jail." And he was just shocked. "Dad, what is that all about?" I said, "Son, I have no idea." And this was years and years ago. I mean, that woman was upset that he said, "Yes, ma'am."

I'm not sure, I think she told him, "Don't call me ma'am." So he was happy to comply after that, I guess. Oh my goodness. Yeah. Forgive me, but I just feel those of us that are older, we understand a lot of what I'm saying. There might be some young listeners just kind of shaking their heads on what we've talked about already, Lise.

With that just shows how the world has changed and what's right and what's wrong. But again, if you go back to the scripture, and that's really the key to all of this, anything that you and I would produce, we go to the scripture, we will get an answer. And oftentimes it's not the one that we want, but we will get the right answer going to Almighty God himself.

Lise Cutshaw: It's the guide book.

Dr. Greg Patton: It absolutely is. You've got a question, it's in there. Maybe not direct, but there is an answer in there. And today, religious hostility is common. Faith pushed out of public life. Now, I've never had a problem when there's been trouble. Now, I've been in the same church 38 years, in the ministry 50 years now, and I've never had a problem. When there is trouble, when there is heartbreak, when there's an emergency room call, or there's some sort of perhaps legal involvement in some area, I get the first call. "You come and talk to us about God."

But when that's not happening, what do we need God for? "Go help somebody really needs you, Lord." That's a big problem. He's not a fire escape that you just call at your convenience. Christianity tolerated privately today but attacked publicly. I'm telling you what the Bible says. This is not my words. I'll just show you right here what the scripture says. And again, as we've already shared, people don't want to hear that. That is a negative message. I don't want that today. And isn't that sad?

Again, I grew up, I went to church unsaved, went to Brethren Church out in Roanoke, Indiana, where I grew up, little town, 600 people. My goodness, at the very earliest, we were taught respect. My mom and dad, although they didn't go to church themselves and were unsaved, there were certain things that were right and certain things that were wrong. And I had the highest regard for adults, for the preacher, for anyone in authority. It was just the way it was. What has happened in our day and age now has changed completely.

Lise Cutshaw: I wanted to ask you because you mention in your book judgment. And I'm wondering if you think that America might be teetering on the brink of God's judgment.

Dr. Greg Patton: Absolutely. I don't think there's any question. I get some people upset, but I talk about it all the time when I represent Southwest. Again, it's my opinion, but I think we have passed the point of no return. And anything's possible with God. I don't want to be misunderstood there. He can do anything he wants to do, but we have become such a nation opposed to the things of God, using him only at a convenient time, that we say we're a Christian nation. Exactly what does that mean?

And you find out some of the things going on in America today and you say, can this be happening? Nearly every day, going through all the news sources I have to do my regular show, I'm just shocked at things that have happened. Now, I can have a personal revival, your church, my church can have a personal revival. I've been down in Bluff City where there've been some revivals going on for weeks, so I certainly know that can happen. We're talking about something nationwide. No, I think the return of Christ could very easily come in our lifetime here with all the things happening. There's just so much. You cannot possibly keep up with it.

I recall talking to a dear friend, a doctor friend, his son is very high up in the Central Intelligence Agency. And he said, "Dad, obviously, I cannot tell you anything." But he said, "I will say this: you have no idea what's going on in the United States of America." And I think that's true. And here's where it comes down to sometimes, Lise, and that is I need to make sure Greg Patton is straight. You can do a job, you've got a Bible there, I have one. Are we going to just have it there on the nightstand or are we going to be in it pretty consistently to try to make sense of this old world today? And again, that's why I'm hoping Oh, Say Can You See does.

And by the way, big thank you to yourself and John for the work that you have done in all of our books as a matter of fact. I scribble down a few things and somehow you make sense of them. I love that!

Lise Cutshaw: Listen, you do a lot of work and research and heart. You put a lot of heart into your books, so it's always a pleasure.

Dr. Greg Patton: I intend that. It is my heart and things I write about, preach about, what I think is important for the family today. And if I were sitting out in the audience, if I picked up this book, this is what I would want to read. And so, yeah, probably more than anything, if we have some gift, so to speak, that would be it. I just want to bare my heart to you, let you know where I'm coming from. I think that's so important.

And so appreciate again Southwest Radio Ministries and the work being done. Dr. Ken Hill and Matthew Hill, great work, and my goodness, it has just been so exciting to see the number of things that are happening and so many new things. I can hardly keep up with them. When we have our trustee meetings, get together, I just say, that's happening. That's pretty exciting. Again, in good hands Southwest is. And let me say again, Lise, I know how important you are to that ministry. Praying for you folks all the time, that God would just continue to use you in a mighty way. You can say stay strong in the years ahead.

Let me throw this in here. Somebody was commenting. My associate pastor, Don Corcoran, is 86 years old. He acts like he's about 60. And someone said, "Do you have a prayer for him?" And I said it's a continual prayer that he never dies. I pray that he stays strong because I so desperately need him. I can't imagine doing my ministry without him. It's neat to have people like that. They're so dedicated to the Lord that they will just give their all and to see the job done. I am grateful that so many from your staff, evangelist down there Josh Davis and all those that are behind the scenes, they've got quite a dedicated team at Southwest, and I'm sure that's why God is blessing as he is.

Lise Cutshaw: You are also that kind of blessing for us, and we need you to keep going strong as well. We know that this book is going to be greatly inspirational to everyone who will read it, and we pray that folks will share it with others who may be suffering from some of these spiritual blind spots.

We look forward to talking with you again on tomorrow's show. Thank you so much for your insights today. God bless you, Dr. Patton.

Dr. Greg Patton: I have been honored. Thank you for having me on.

Southwest Radio Ministries Host: Today we are excited to announce the launch of Greg Patton's brand new book, Oh, Say Can You See. This thought-provoking work will help you find guidance, godly wisdom, and hope for tomorrow. Is the moral crisis in America a piece of the puzzle of the return of Christ? What is happening to mankind? What happens to a disobedient nation, and what does scripture say about these times?

Syndicated radio host and pastor Dr. Greg Patton takes his living in today's world insights a step further in Oh, Say Can You See into the cultural shifts and the resulting vortex of evil that is engulfing contemporary American culture. Pre-order your copy today when you call 1-800-652-1144. That's 1-800-652-1144. Or simply visit swrc.com.

Dr. Patton takes on issues from addictions to AI, cancel culture, and an attack on the family. Open your eyes, friends. Look deeply into today's turmoil and its shifting sands. Then look to your guide book for direction. Oh, Say Can You See by Greg Patton. Pre-order your copy today. 1-800-652-1144.

Tomorrow Dr. Patton shares the deep need for repentance in America. Be sure to tune in on your favorite radio station or online at swrc.com. Watchman on the Wall is a production of Southwest Radio Ministries and is supported by faithful friends like you. Visit swrc.com.