Participants: Dwayne Lemon, Lance Wilbur
Series Code: TKS
Program Code: TKS000033A
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00:28 Hello, I'm Lance.
00:30 And I'm Dwayne, 00:31 and welcome to another episode of TKS, 00:33 A True Knowledge of Self, 00:35 where we get to know ourselves from a biblical perspective. 00:38 We were privileged to go through the Word of God 00:41 and we were able to see that 00:43 as the Lord was revealing unto us His pillars, 00:46 as He set them up in the scripture, 00:47 especially through the Book of 2 Peter 1. 00:50 We were looking at it, especially in contrast 00:52 with what we see happening in culture today, 00:54 especially hip-hop culture. 00:56 And our goal was to see, 00:58 if there is a blending or if in fact, 00:59 there is a contrast, 01:01 and thus far we've been seeing a contrast 01:02 over and over and over again, 01:04 especially, as we look at the very foundational pillar 01:07 of the Christian faith, 01:08 but also looking at the foundational pillar 01:10 even of hip-hop culture, which is none other than love. 01:13 We were able to define it, 01:15 we were able to see from the Word of God, 01:17 how God defines love, and we saw the selflessness, 01:21 we saw self-sacrificing of one's self, 01:24 we saw the importance of consistent love 01:27 even towards those, who would be named our enemies, 01:30 and we looked at that in the context of the cross. 01:33 We were able to look at the cross of Calvary 01:35 as a means by which God was seeking to bridge the gap 01:39 that was made as a result of sin 01:40 and bringing humanity back in harmony with Himself. 01:43 And so it is that when we look at this concept of love, 01:46 we saw that it was quite different 01:48 from what we see generally 01:50 taught throughout hip-hop culture, 01:52 as the love is not clearly defined 01:55 neither does it have true steadfastness if you will. 01:59 It seems as if it's very wishy-washy or up and down, 02:02 or open for private interpretation 02:04 and as a result of that, 02:06 it does not have the stick-to-itiveness 02:07 that is needed in a society, 02:09 where almost everything is in disarray. 02:11 So as a result of this, we started to dig deeper 02:14 and we looked at not only the love principle 02:18 but today, we're gonna talk about the second principle 02:20 that was mentioned, which was peace. 02:23 Peace is also recognized as a cornerstone 02:26 when it comes to hip-hop culture, 02:28 and there are many things that are connected 02:31 with the concept of peace, 02:32 as it relates to social justice. 02:35 And of course, community is growing 02:38 and becoming stronger and better, 02:39 even in the midst of different ethnicities. 02:42 And it's because of this that, 02:44 we know peace is something very, very necessary. 02:46 God is certainly a God of peace 02:48 and we should be a people of peace, 02:50 if we're seeking to reflect His character. 02:52 But, Lance, as we were, you know, 02:53 looking at some of these concepts of peace 02:55 and really seeing the need for it, 02:57 it also dawned on my mind 02:59 that there's a need once again for definition, 03:03 delineation, qualifying, 03:05 because peace is something 03:06 that also is very much an abused term just like, 03:10 you know, love unfortunately. 03:13 There are many things that are being done 03:14 in the name of peace today, 03:16 that if we were to compare it 03:17 especially to the biblical account, 03:18 we would see that it's actually contradictory. 03:21 Even to the point that prophetically, 03:23 the Bible shows us that there are efforts 03:27 that's gonna be made in the name of peace, 03:29 but in fact, it's gonna lead to destruction. 03:31 And it's funny because you would think to yourself, 03:33 peace is the clear opposite of destruction. 03:35 But yet, the Bible actually shows 03:37 they're gonna be efforts made through a certain power, 03:40 which was referred to as the fourth beast power 03:42 in the Book of Daniel 8. 03:44 And it does bring out the fact 03:46 that peace is gonna be one of the very efforts 03:48 that it's going to use to cause destruction. 03:50 I'm gonna read it. 03:52 It's found in the Book of Daniel 8, 03:54 and we're gonna consider Daniel 8 and look at verse 23, 03:57 and again, it's talking about the fourth beast power 04:01 that came after the goat with the four horns 04:05 and then eventually a little horn came up. 04:07 And we know that in Daniel 8, it makes it clear 04:10 that the ram was none other than Medo-Persia 04:12 and that the goat was Greece. 04:16 But then the next kingdom that will come after that just, 04:18 you know, from basic history would be none other than Rome. 04:20 So let's talk about this fourth beast power, 04:22 it's really talking about the system of Rome. 04:24 And here's what it says, it says, 04:26 "And in the latter time of their kingdom, 04:28 when the transgressors are come to the full, 04:31 a king of fierce countenance, 04:34 and understanding dark sentences, 04:36 shall stand up. 04:37 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: 04:42 and he shall destroy wonderfully, 04:44 and shall prosper, and practice, 04:46 and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people." 04:49 Here is clearly a power, that is working against Christ 04:54 and not for Christ because it says, 04:55 that it's gonna do a destructive work 04:57 and it's gonna be against the holy people. 05:00 Yes. Then it says in verse 25. 05:02 "And through his policy also he shall cause craft 05:07 to prosper in his hand. 05:08 And he shall magnify himself in his heart, 05:11 and by peace shall destroy many: 05:15 he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes, 05:18 but he shall be broken without hand." 05:20 It is amazing to see that prophetically the Bible says, 05:23 that this beast power is gonna exercise 05:26 its power in such a way 05:27 that by peace, it's gonna destroy many. 05:30 This is the reason why peace has to be broken down 05:33 because when we think of peace, we don't think of destruction. 05:36 But the Bible even shows prophetically, 05:38 that there will be powers 05:39 that will work in the last days, 05:41 that's gonna use the instrument of peace, 05:43 but it's gonna be, it's gonna lead to destruction. 05:47 In fact, 1 Thessalonians 5 spells it out like this. 05:50 And this is why again, peace needs to be defined, 05:53 it needs to be delineated. 05:54 It needs to be very, very clear. 05:57 In 1 Thessalonians 5, it says in verses 1-3, 06:02 "But of the times and the seasons, Brethren, 06:04 ye have no need that I write unto you. 06:06 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord 06:09 so cometh as a thief in the night. 06:11 For when they shall say, peace and safety, 06:15 then sudden destruction cometh upon them, 06:18 as travail upon a woman with child, 06:20 and they shall not escape." 06:22 Well, here it is that when we look at this concept, 06:24 the Bible is making it emphatically clear 06:26 that peace is gonna be something, 06:28 that's gonna be used as an instrument for the devil 06:32 rather than for God. 06:34 And it's gonna work as a very deceptive power 06:36 to try to get individuals to buy into it, 06:38 but the Bible says, 06:40 beware when this false peace comes 06:42 because sudden destruction is gonna come. 06:44 It's because of this that we actually 06:45 need to define peace, we need to understand it 06:48 because it's not enough for somebody to just say, 06:50 "Hey, we believe in peace." Right. 06:52 Because, you know, the Bible student understands 06:55 what kind of peace. 06:56 I mean, what does your peace constitute 06:58 and how does it function? 07:00 And that's the way we can help arrive at, 07:01 you know, whether this thing is true or not. 07:04 So this is gonna be a good point 07:05 now to segue into a clip, that we need to take a look at 07:08 because we know that one of the cornerstones 07:11 of hip-hop culture is peace, 07:14 and they promote it very strongly. 07:16 And in and of itself, peace is beautiful, 07:17 it's wonderful 07:19 and it is the right thing to advocate. 07:20 And I'm thankful for those of sincere heart, 07:22 even in hip-hop culture 07:24 that are really trying to put forth piece. 07:26 But as we've been saying over and over and over again, 07:28 you can be sincere and you can be genuine, 07:30 but you can still be wrong. Right. 07:32 It's because of this that we have to test everything 07:34 by the Word of God. 07:36 So we're gonna go ahead and take a look at this clip, 07:38 where it's gonna talk a little bit about peace 07:40 from the perspective of hip-hop culture from again, 07:43 many of this thought leaders and then, we'll go ahead 07:46 and share some comments on it as we come back. 07:48 All right. All right. 07:49 So let's take a look. 07:51 I stand here before you a representative 07:54 of something we call hip-hop culture. 07:58 Words mean very little without definition. 08:02 We are here to discuss the definition of hip-hop. 08:06 Once we deal with the definition, 08:09 meaning, purpose, intention of hip-hop, 08:12 the words will change. 08:14 Since 1994, we've been having a meeting 08:19 about preservation of hip-hop as a culture. 08:22 This has been Harry Allen, 08:24 the Media Assassin held a discussion 08:28 at the chambers for an organization 08:30 called the Rhythm Cultural Institute. 08:33 At that meeting, 08:34 I decided to document the history of hip-hop. 08:38 I also begin to teach spiritual principles 08:42 through the language of hip-hop. 08:47 This then went on to the creation 08:49 of the Temple of Hip-Hop, 08:51 which is at first a society that preserves hip-hop. 08:56 So the Temple of Hip-Hop rose up 08:59 and collected 29 paragraphs 09:01 from various people in the industry 09:04 to create the hip-hop declaration of peace. 09:07 This is a document that advises hip-hop culture 09:12 on ways in which it can sustain peace 09:14 and join into the peace process. 09:17 We then went to the United Nations 09:20 and pretty much presented ourselves 09:22 before an organization called UNESCO, 09:26 the United Nations Educational Scientific 09:29 and Cultural Organization. 09:31 It is honor that the hip-hop generation 09:33 has joined us in this quest for peace in the world. 09:37 The hip-hop declaration of peace 09:40 is a informal document that we have put together. 09:46 And in this document it's the first step 09:50 to something legitimate and something real. 09:52 Now I'm gonna tell you, some of the things that I saw, 09:55 I have to say is also commendable 09:58 which is this, 09:59 "We know that there's a mixture in hip-hop culture there, 10:02 you know, as we mentioned in one previous episode, 10:05 there is the gangster rap and things of that nature, 10:07 which is certainly as even Afrika Bambaataa 10:10 equated it to evil. 10:12 I mean, you know, promoting, of course gangster lifestyle, 10:14 taking lives, glorifying guns, 10:16 and calling women, these derogatory terms. 10:18 Anybody with sense at least 10:20 should know that that is not good. 10:24 But there's also individuals like KRS-One 10:26 and many others Carmen and so on, 10:28 that are trying to promote a consciousness, 10:30 to try to help people see, 10:31 "Listen, there's a higher level of understanding, 10:34 there's a higher level of morality, 10:37 and we need to get up on that plane, 10:38 and this is why knowledge is essential." 10:40 This is ultimately a good virtue, 10:42 it is something that they are trying to do 10:45 and that is commendable but again, 10:47 the problem consistently keeps coming back to the same place, 10:51 which is who determines these things 10:53 that you're doing. 10:55 How do people access power that they can accomplish this? 10:58 Are you even a living example 11:00 that this has been demonstrated or accomplished, 11:02 what you're trying to promote so strongly, 11:04 not just on camera but off camera? 11:06 You know, there's a lot of question marks 11:07 that come along 11:09 when these type of things are put together. 11:10 So here it is that, you know, hip-hop culture has said, 11:13 "Hey, we are seeking to, you know, 11:16 put forth a declaration of peace," 11:18 and you know, try to push out something 11:21 that appears to be very, very good. 11:24 Now this is some of the things that I'm seeing 11:25 but I see a lot more, but let me pause on it. 11:27 What are some of your thoughts? 11:29 What did you get out of it seeing the video? 11:31 Yeah, I mean, similar things and also to add the fact that, 11:35 you know, we're looking at something that's, you know, 11:37 dated, I mean, it's back from 2001 11:41 because we noted, we notice in the clip 11:43 that there was a meeting between UNESCO 11:47 and this Temple of Hip-Hop, you know, representation. 11:51 Right. 11:53 And this is actually when the Temple of Hip-Hop 11:55 was established and as you heard 11:57 mentioned the Temple of Hip-Hop 11:59 is kind of the cultural front office, 12:03 if you will for the hip-hop culture. 12:06 And so, what we have to recognize is that, 12:11 the Temple of Hip hop, or hip-hop in general 12:13 is an officially recognized culture 12:15 by the United Nations. 12:17 So this is not just something again that, you know, 12:20 people talked about was just a fad back in the day. 12:22 That's right. 12:23 It's a recognized official culture 12:26 and on the global diplomatic landscape, 12:29 and so that's important, number one. 12:32 Number two, when we get back to this declaration aspect, 12:36 again there are commendable attributes to that. 12:41 It's not necessarily dishonorable 12:44 to do something like this. 12:45 However, we have to find out 12:48 and we're gonna look at these things 12:50 in a few moments, but we have to, 12:52 you know, acknowledge the fact that there is no human, 12:56 there are no human solutions to the problems of this world. 13:01 To sin problem, to the violence problem, 13:05 to the corruption problem. 13:06 You cannot simply issue a document 13:11 and then expect it to magically, 13:13 you know, transform the hearts and minds of the people 13:15 that read it if they do read it. 13:17 Right. 13:18 Whereas, what God offers 13:20 is something that has the actual power 13:23 to transform the hearts and minds of the people 13:25 that say, yes, to it, that accept it, that hear it, 13:28 that listens to it. 13:30 So that is a real interesting contrast, 13:33 again that we have to discuss further, 13:35 and really look at this declaration of peace. 13:38 The Bible's gonna bring out some important points, 13:40 but what are they saying? 13:41 What are they declaring? Right. 13:42 We're finally saying, you know what, 13:45 here's a definition, 13:46 here's an official document that says, 13:49 this is what we mean when we say peace, 13:52 when we say this, 13:53 this is a document to represent our culture. 13:55 Right. 13:57 So let's look at some principles 13:58 and what does this say 14:00 and I think we have to go from there. 14:01 Yeah, you know, I'm glad that we can assess this 14:04 because I'm scaling back, I'm looking back at my life, 14:07 I remember growing up and I remember, 14:09 that I had a really bad temper. 14:11 And I got into lots of fights, I did. 14:13 When growing up, I got into a lot of fights, in school 14:15 and, you know, my mother and father saw 14:18 that I had a bad temper. 14:19 And they were so scared about what 14:23 I could potentially become or do to somebody else. 14:27 That I remember one time, I was on the phone 14:29 and I was talking to somebody 14:30 and this is right there in front of my mother 14:32 and the person got me really upset. 14:34 So I remember telling them "What, what?" 14:36 And I said, "All right, 14:37 I'm coming by your house right now," 14:39 and then I hung up the phone. 14:40 So immediately my Mother's trying to stop me, 14:42 and she's like, "Pee, Pee," you know, calling my Father, 14:44 she called him Pee. 14:46 And she's like, "Stop Dwayne." 14:47 You know, and Dad is just like, 14:48 "Boy, you're not going anywhere." 14:50 And I had such a violent character 14:53 at that time. 14:54 I wasn't a troublemaker, I didn't start trouble 14:56 but if you got me mad enough, it could get to a level 14:59 where you just kind of lose your control. 15:01 So my Mother and Father, 15:03 because they also did not know of the power source, 15:06 they tried to handle it from a human standpoint. 15:08 And what they did was, they sent me to karate school. 15:11 Literally, they said, "That's it, 15:12 we're sending you to karate school." 15:14 And they're doing this like it's a punishment... 15:16 I'm looking at it like 15:17 this is the best privilege in the world, 15:18 I'm about to become Bruce Leroy. 15:20 So, you know, I'm absolutely excited. 15:22 So when I went to karate school, 15:25 I remember they presented... 15:27 I studied Shidokan, 15:28 which is the Japanese martial art. 15:30 And they had something called 15:32 the five principles of the Dojo, 15:34 you know, the school, the classroom, 15:35 the five principles of the Dojo. 15:38 Now watch this... Yeah. 15:39 Here are the five principles of the Dojo... 15:40 Yeah. 15:42 To seek perfection of character. 15:44 All right. Yes. To be sincere and honest. 15:47 To show strong spirit, to practice courtesy, 15:52 and to control bad temper. 15:54 All good. Yeah, all good. 15:56 And the problem was is that, when I went through school 15:59 and I excel tremendously, 16:01 I went from white belt to orange, to yellow, 16:03 to blue, to purple, then brown 16:05 and, you know, I'm just excelling, 16:06 going to karate tournaments and everything. 16:08 But I didn't change in that one bit. 16:10 What happened was I just had a little bit more knowledge 16:14 on how instead of taking you out 16:15 with five punches, 16:16 now I knew how to do it with one. 16:18 It didn't change my character, 16:20 it did not help me go from being a person 16:23 with uncontrolled temper 16:24 to now a very patient docile person. 16:26 All they did was just trick me 16:28 into thinking that I could control myself. 16:30 And I'm not an advocate of martial arts today. 16:31 I believe martial arts is very much associated 16:33 with spiritualism, and as a result of that, 16:35 I can't advocate it today. Right. 16:37 But I'm making a point in principle, 16:39 whether it be martial arts, whether it be hip-hop culture, 16:42 there are lots of declarations, 16:43 there are lots of principles of the organization, 16:47 that sound fantastic. 16:49 Seek perfection of character, be sincere and honest, 16:51 show strong spirit, practice courtesy, 16:53 control bad temper, 16:54 what parent doesn't want that for their child? 16:56 What person doesn't want that for themselves? 16:58 So these terms in and of themselves 17:00 sound fantastic, 17:01 but when you look carefully at these declarations, 17:04 there's one word that keeps coming up. 17:06 How? Yeah. 17:08 How? 17:09 All right, you're telling me a fantastic story, 17:11 the question is, how? 17:12 How does this get accomplished? 17:14 As an example, if we, you know, 17:16 we have the declaration of peace right here. 17:18 Yes. 17:19 And this is the declaration of peace 17:20 from the hip-hop culture. 17:22 And you'll see that there are things 17:23 that they are stating in here that sound fantastic 17:27 but the question is, how? 17:28 How do you define this? 17:30 You know, break it down, help me understand it. 17:32 So I'm just gonna go ahead and go through a few, 17:34 there's about 18, it's very long 17:36 and we can't go through all of them. 17:37 But it's just to bring home the point 17:39 of what we're talking about 17:40 and to help our viewers understand 17:42 how important it is to think 17:44 through these things that sound good. 17:46 There's lots of things that seem right 17:48 but they can have an adverse effect. 17:50 So as an example, 17:52 if I'm looking at these declarations here, 17:54 here's one declaration where it states 17:56 and they did say it was informal. 17:57 Informal. They made it clear. 17:59 They said, this is informal, you know, a first step, 18:02 so this very much may be modified, 18:05 but we're gonna take it for what it is right now. 18:06 And here's what it states, as an example, it says, 18:09 "Hip-hop culture respects the dignity 18:12 and sanctity of life 18:14 without discrimination or prejudice. 18:18 We shall consider our duty to protect..." 18:21 Yes, "We shall consider our duty 18:22 to protect the development of life, 18:24 over and before our individual free choice 18:27 to destroy it or seek to alter its natural development." 18:32 Now, what would be some thoughts 18:34 that would come to your mind as we consider this 18:36 because it sounds good. 18:38 I would imagine in society today, 18:40 a lot of people would say, 18:41 "Well, yeah, that sounds fantastic." 18:43 They might even give an amen. Yes. 18:44 So, you know, the question is, how would we assess 18:47 this one principle we're looking at? 18:49 I mean, really again back to the definitions. 18:51 So the idea of what are you saying 18:54 dignity or sanctity is, what are you saying, 18:58 you know, protecting the development of life. 19:02 And the key here is just to seek 19:08 to alter its natural development. 19:10 Yeah. 19:11 Well, what is natural development? 19:14 What does that look like? 19:15 That's a very important question, 19:16 let's make a practical example. Yeah. 19:18 We are living in a society today 19:21 where it has become, 19:24 I would dare to say popular to be homosexual. 19:28 Yep. 19:29 And it seems as if everybody who comes out of the closet 19:34 is being posted on the news and, you know, 19:37 it's just a totally 19:38 celebratory type of thing happening right now. 19:40 Yeah. 19:41 The Christian position is that this is wrong. 19:45 This is a lifestyle that God cannot endorse, 19:47 God loves the sinner but He hates the sin. 19:50 And homosexuality is something God cannot endorse 19:53 and it's not something that God has put in man 19:56 or anything like that. Right. 19:57 Yet there is a consistent cry from the homosexual community 20:02 that says, this is a natural development. 20:05 This is something that just took place in me. 20:07 I didn't ask to be gay, I didn't choose to be gay, 20:10 homosexuality chose me, 20:12 and therefore I'm just functioning 20:13 in my natural capacity. Yeah. 20:15 For the Christian position, 20:16 we believe that we have all a sinful nature 20:19 and that sinful nature can manifest itself 20:21 in several ways. 20:23 Some people are profuse liars, 20:25 some people are incredibly violent, 20:27 other individuals love to, 20:30 are very lustful in their minds. 20:32 And then you have others who may say, 20:34 I desire someone of the same sex. 20:36 In the Bible, all of these practices are condemned, 20:40 all of these practices are called out as sin. 20:44 And God provides a solution that says, 20:46 "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, 20:48 I will give you rest." 20:50 I will deliver you from these things. 20:52 So this is the Christian position 20:54 that just because something feels natural 20:56 or naturally develops in you does not mean it's right. 20:59 Right. 21:00 It does not mean it's right, 21:02 and therefore I may have to speak against it, 21:04 I may not be able to endorse it. 21:06 It may set limitations in my interaction with you 21:09 and that can easily be called discrimination. 21:11 Yes. 21:13 But in the Christian position, 21:14 it's called "Living by a Standard". 21:16 So how could something like that be fulfilled 21:19 if we were to take a very general principle like this 21:23 and just accept it 21:24 for what it says for face value. 21:25 Right, and it's also at admittance of the fact that 21:30 what this culture is 21:32 and represents cannot change the course of nature. 21:35 Right. 21:36 Which is not what the Bible teaches, 21:38 the Bible teaches that it can change, transform, 21:41 you can become a new creature, old things can pass away, 21:44 all things can become new with the power of God 21:47 and the Holy Spirit can change the heart. 21:50 So we don't have time to get into it 21:52 but there's a scientific, you know, 21:55 field of genetic research called Epigenetics. 21:59 And, you know, now they're able to show scientifically 22:02 that these very changes 22:04 that the Bible talks about can take place, 22:08 can literally take place scientifically, 22:10 they're able to see it and measure it. 22:12 So, you know, the old battle of nature versus nurture, 22:16 and do our characters and our ways 22:18 and habits formed by our DNA, 22:21 or is it formed by our environment 22:23 and culture environmental stimuli 22:25 both in the womb and, you know, coming up. 22:28 What is it that forms who we are 22:29 and informs our decisions? 22:33 And what they're finding is it's absolutely both, 22:36 it's both culture, I mean, it's both nurture and nature. 22:40 And the revolutionary development, 22:44 which is not revolutionary from a scriptural standpoint, 22:47 but it is revolutionary 22:48 from a scientific and academic standpoint, 22:50 is that even if you were born a certain way. 22:53 Let's say you had a pre, you know, 22:56 genetic disposition to alcoholism, 23:01 to becoming alcoholic. 23:02 Your grandfather, your great grandfather, 23:05 your uncles, your father, 23:07 on your mother side as well were all alcoholics. 23:12 When you are born, you do have a, 23:15 you know, an epigenetic marker that basically, 23:18 these are like identification switches 23:21 that can either turn on or turn off genetic expression. 23:25 Meaning, it can hit a switch that reveals the DNA code 23:30 so it can be read or it can hit a switch 23:32 that closes it, you know, 23:34 with the chromatin that shields the genetic code 23:37 so it can't be read. 23:38 So it's either expressed, if it can be read, 23:40 if it's closed and kind of shaded over, 23:42 it can't be read and expressed genetically. 23:44 So if you have this disposition for alcoholism, 23:48 then your genetic expression, the code for alcoholism 23:52 is exposed in your DNA. 23:55 So if you were to consume alcohol, 23:58 you would be genetically susceptible 24:01 to becoming addicted and becoming an alcoholic. 24:04 However, if you never touch the alcohol, 24:07 then it would be impossible for you to become an alcoholic. 24:10 If you never consumed alcohol, it would be impossible 24:14 for you to become an alcoholic. 24:16 And what they're finding is, 24:17 even the person with the predisposition 24:20 and they indulge in alcohol and they become an alcoholic, 24:23 by changes if they were to stop drinking alcohol 24:28 and other things that these epigenetic markers 24:30 can actually turn off the expression. 24:33 So even though, "They were born that way", 24:37 and they indulged and they got exploited 24:39 and genetically they were just enslaved to this thing, 24:43 they could make changes and those changes 24:45 would actually shut off that genetic expression, 24:49 so it can no longer be read. 24:51 And so you could literally change 24:53 and change at a genetic microscopic level. 24:55 So I mean, again, I could go on and on about that, 24:59 and there's videos and all kinds of research 25:01 but, you know, epigenetics is what it's called. 25:04 And so when we talk about, you know, 25:05 these ideas of the natural development, 25:08 we have to understand that 25:09 natural development is fairly subjective. 25:12 And if we go outside of authoritative reality, 25:16 which we're referring to a scripture 25:18 in the Word of God, then you can say, 25:20 "Oh, this person is just naturally 25:22 a violent person..." 25:23 Yeah, don't interfere with it. 25:25 Yeah, they're naturally a gangster, 25:26 you know, they're naturally, 25:28 they're just talking about their reality, 25:29 so they can't possibly, I'm not gonna tell them 25:31 that they can't express themselves this way 25:33 because that's who they are. 25:35 That is extremely dangerous and it leaves, you know, 25:39 everything open to just say, 25:42 "Well, everybody's gonna behave the way they're gonna behave, 25:44 there's nothing we can really do to change it. 25:47 As long as that's the reality, 25:48 they're free to express their reality." 25:50 And what that does is say, "Well, we are slaves" 25:54 to whatever natural development and natural expression 25:57 that we feel is, you know, warranted, 26:00 in this case or that case 26:01 and you really can't do anything. 26:03 So you're really sitting there 26:04 and admitting that this is the way it is, 26:07 there's yin and yang, good and evil in every one 26:10 and in every situation, in every household, 26:12 in every culture, in every society, 26:14 and there's nothing we can do to change it. 26:15 We can only seek to improve it a little bit 26:18 and make it a little better. 26:20 And isn't this exactly what Satan was trying to do 26:22 right there in the very beginning? 26:24 God's intention in the original plan 26:26 of true education was that mankind 26:28 would know good and good only. 26:30 Satan was the one that said, 26:31 "No, no, I think it would be better for you, 26:33 more helpful for you, if you disregard God 26:36 and enter into this brand new knowledge, 26:37 where you can now know good and evil. 26:40 And as a result of this, you'll ascend 26:43 and become like a God." 26:44 And this is again being perpetuated 26:46 in society today. 26:48 And God wants to break us free from these things 26:50 because they truly are a deceptive force 26:53 that is captivating the minds of many, 26:55 even individuals in hip-hop culture. 26:57 I know we only got a chance to visit 26:59 just one principle but this is just the point 27:01 of what's all throughout all 18 quite honestly. 27:03 It's just a constant revelation of open ended statements 27:08 that's calling for something but not practically showing 27:11 how it can be done and the power source 27:13 by which we can get it done. 27:15 Friends, this is again, you know, 27:17 the Lord trying to help us think 27:20 to reason and to consider what has been set before us 27:24 and then make decisions 27:25 according to his spirits leading. 27:26 We've been quoting a lot from 2 Peter 1, 27:29 and you will find that in that verse, 27:32 there actually was a solution 27:33 to those who even have these predispositions 27:36 as Brother Lance has been talking about. 27:38 It said, "Whereby given unto us 27:40 exceeding great and precious promises 27:42 that by these you might become partakers 27:44 of the divine nature, having escaped the corruptions 27:49 that are in the world through lust." 27:51 Through Christ, we can get victory over, 27:53 even our most highest 27:55 hereditary tendencies and besetments 27:58 through the power of His Spirit. 28:00 And I say, praise God for that. 28:01 We thank you so much for joining us, 28:03 we look forward to you coming back. 28:04 Please remember Proverbs 2:6, which clearly tells us, 28:08 "It is the Lord that gives us wisdom 28:10 and out of His mouth 28:11 comes knowledge and understanding." 28:14 God bless you. |
Revised 2017-06-29