A Rabid Nation

Has America gone just rabid crazy? Find out with guest Al Gist on the show Christ in Prophecy.

Last aired on October 11, 2015.

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Maranatha Evangelistic Ministries

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Transcript

Dr. Reagan: More and more as I talk with people about the direction of our nation, I find them saying, “I think our nation has gone crazy!” There are, of course, good reasons for thinking so. For a presentation about how our nation is suffering from spiritual rabies, stay tuned.

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Part 1

Dr. Reagan: Greetings in the name of Jesus, our Blessed Hope, and welcome to Christ in Prophecy. The theme of our 2015 Bible conference was “Messages for a Rebellious Nation.” We had six outstanding speakers at the conference, and one of them was Al Gist, the founder of Maranatha Evangelistic Ministries in Longville, Louisiana.

Al is a former petroleum engineer and pastor who decided in the year 2000 to commit himself full time to the preaching and teaching of Bible prophecy. Al presented a powerful message at our conference titled “A Rabid Nation,” and it is a privilege to present a portion of that message to you. Here now is Al Gist.

Al Gist Presentation

Al Gist: I want to begin with a little story about my own personal life. When I was just a kid back in the 1960’s, my Dad took me to see a movie called “Old Yeller” it was made in 1957. Do you all remember that movie? Man, I’ll never forget it because not only was it an awesome thing for us just to get to go to the movies anyway. But this is the only time in my life that I can remember that my Dad took me to the movies. It was not something that he would normally do. He was kind of a very stern man. But my Dad took me to see this and so, it made a really emotional impact on my life. And I guess that’s the reason I remember it so well to this day.

The plot of the movie goes something like this: a young boy named Travis is given the responsibility by his dad of caring for his mom, and his younger brother, and their ranch back in the 1860’s as his father was away on a cattle drive. And during that time, a yellow mongrel shows up on the ranch and at first, the boy, Travis didn’t care anything for the dog, he thought of him as only a nuisance. But soon the dog became the best friend of the young lad and actually saved his life on one occasion from a bunch of wild hogs. And so they became very, very close to one another. Well later in the story unfortunately Old Yeller has to protect the family from a rabid wolf who makes his way into the ranch. And in that fight of course the dog contracts rabies this terrible, terrible disease.

When Travis first realized that Old Yeller had gotten rabies, he was heartbroken. And to protect his family, in hopes that for some reason maybe the dog hadn’t actually gotten the disease he locks the dog up in the corn crib. And each day he would go out and he would pet his dog, and he would tell him how much he wanted to release him to go back out on the ranch. And you know the dog looked perfectly well. He looked fine for many days. But on that last day when Travis thought that he’d go out and release his dog he is met with a different animal; a dog that is foaming at the mouth and growling at him. And so Travis knew what he had to do, to protect his family he had to put down Old Yeller. And I can remember the scene so well as Travis is crying and he lifts the gun to shoot his beloved dog, because I was crying too. It really touched my heart.

I guess this was probably the first exposure I ever had to the fault of rabies. I mean I didn’t really understand it. It didn’t really make sense to me. How could something so minor as a few little bites on the dog cause him to change this way, and have to be put to death? You see Rabies, if it’s left untreated, is a 100% fatal disease. It is most often transmitted to its human victims by a bite from a skunk, or cat, or a dog or a fox, or raccoons. And it’s the virus in the saliva of that animal that gets transferred to its human victim that causes the person to begin to change in a very terrible way.

According to encyclopedia, if I could read this to you about it, it says this, “After a typical human infection by bite, the virus enters the peripheral nervous system. It then travels along the nerves towards the central nervous system. During this phase, the virus cannot be easily detected within the host, and vaccination may still confer cell-mediated immunity to prevent symptomatic rabies. Once the virus reaches the brain there is no treatment. As the virus progresses to the brain, the symptoms may include: slight or partial paralysis, cerebral dysfunction, anxiety, insomnia, confusion, agitation, abnormal behavior, paranoia, terror, hallucinations, progressing to delirium.” It’s a horrible disease. And I guess most of us have probably seen animals that have contracted rabies in their state of cerebral dysfunction, they stagger about, foaming at the mouth and they are confused and easily agitated. Their abnormal behavior produces a kind of paranoia of terror, and hallucinations that leads them to the point of ultimately delirium.

Now I bring this to your attention because in my humble opinion I think that possibly the United States has contracted spiritual rabies that has led to cerebral dysfunction. Our leaders both political and religious leaders seem so confused that their decisions border on delirium. You see, like rabies, decades ago, what started out to be something very innocent, our great nation contracted this terrible spiritual rabies that has led to cerebral dysfunction. Rabies leads to behavior that is totally abnormal. And, if allowed to continue, it will end in delirium and I’m afraid a state of death even to our nation. It started out innocently enough with the desire to be less offensive. It’s a good thing for society to be, right? Less offensive to one another.

In the realm of religion, we had the seeker friendly movement in churches that started as an effort to make unchurched people feel welcome in church and to feel less uncomfortable in the setting of a traditional church. But it went too far! And now, we have churches whose services are more like a Broadway production than a worship service. It eventually led to the Emergent Church which is completely apostate; denying the miracles of the Bible, the divinity of Jesus Christ and even avoiding at all cost the mention of that terrible “S” word, sin lest it offends someone.

In the political realm, the government also began to encourage us as a society to change our speech so that we be less offensive. We called it being politically correct. And we’ve been encouraged by our government to change our vocabulary in order to be less offensive and more politically correct.

At one time, for instance it was thought that a person who was not able to walk was simply crippled. But that seemed to describe something more harsh. So, that was deemed to be too degrading and it was changed to handicapped. But this was eventually thought to be too offensive as well and it was changed to disabled. And then finally, they said no, no, that is too harsh as well so now we have to say they are physically challenged.

With the extreme efforts these days to separate church and state in public institutions we had to remove all words that were of a religious nature. I read of a story, this was a few years ago and you may remember seeing it in the newspapers about a teenager in Seattle who volunteered at a local elementary school to do a project as part of a community-service project, in which she desired to hand out to the little children those little plastic eggs filled with jellybeans, Easter eggs. In asking the teacher for permission, the student reported and I quote, “She said that I could do it as long as I called this treat ‘spring spheres.’ I couldn’t call them Easter eggs.” Spring spheres? I can’t even hardly say it without spitting on the front row. It’s horrible. I mean I don’t want my vocabulary to be offensive, but I’m not sure I know how to talk without it being offensive. I’m not politically correct. And to be quite honest with you I have no desire to be. But it seems that we have changed things, we’ve changed things to the point that people are becoming paranoid about it. Like rabies. We’ve reached the state of paranoia. It seems like everybody is offended about something these days. Wait a minute.

Am I being a little facetious with that picture? Everybody is offended about something. But you know I remembered something that Jesus said, He said, “And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.” Hey, you better watch out! The PC police are watching and they are liable to betray you and turn you in!

But my point is this: just like rabies that started out as relatively innocent we’ve gone to the extreme to the point of paranoia. People don’t want to be heard in public because they are afraid that somebody will accuse them of being politically incorrect. And you know speaking of paranoia, can I get on my little soapbox here just a moment? Does it seem to you that almost daily, we hear our scientists warn us of some new thing that is going to annihilate humanity? I mean if it’s not global warming, its pandemic diseases, and all sorts of things. Foods that we normally thought were good, healthy foods have been declared artery clogging foods, or fat producing, or digestive system irritating foods. If a person listens to all the warnings that are out today in America you might think the only place you can live safely and happily would be in a dark closet somewhere, and never come out.

It seems that our national leadership both politically and religiously can no longer see clearly and discern the difference between reality and fantasy. They are in a hallucination state. Level-headed common sense has been replaced with hysteria and over-reaction. So now, we’ve reached a point of absolute delirium and as a result, our original political and religious foundations that made this country great are crumbling right before our very eyes. And it breaks my heart. I’m sad to see the direction our country is going in.

Part 2

Dr. Reagan: For those of you who may have tuned in late, you are watching a presentation which Al Gist gave at our annual Bible conference. The theme of the conference was, “Messages for a Rebellious Nation.” Al’s topic was “A Rabid Nation.”

Al is a former petroleum engineer and pastor who decided in the year 2000 to commit himself full time to the preaching and teaching of Bible prophecy. Al established a ministry called Maranatha Evangelistic Ministries, and today he serves as the Evangelist for that ministry. Let’s return now to Al’s presentation.

Al Gist Presentation

Al Gist: So whether we are talking about the political realm or the religious realm, the core problem is still the same. You see it’s a departure from God and a departure from His Word. Like leaven in the loaf, sin once introduced in society, unless it is eradicated by the cleansing blood of the Lamb, it will continue to grow until it consumes the whole country. Like rabies, it grows until it eventually distorts clear thinking and it culminates in delirium, and death. You see our nation’s problems all stem from the same problem that it’s always been; it is all because of sin. Sin in the hearts of people.

You see our problem, dear friends is a spiritual problem, not a political one. It’s not getting the right you know party in office. It’s about getting people connected with God again. The seemingly innocent or minor actions that begin you know seem to be so insignificant at first, but it is led to insanity. And listen to what I am going to say, nowhere today is the delirium of or national spiritual rabies better demonstrated then by the nine people who are seated upon the U.S. Supreme Court of America. Who have been allowed to dictate to us, the whole nation, what is right and what is legal. The United States Supreme Court has time, and time again, chosen to ignore God’s Word and has heaped upon us decision after decision that has contradicted the righteousness that God desires to see in His people.

Now from my perspective, listen I am 61 years old, and from my perspective it began in the early 1960’s, about the same time that I saw that great movie “Old Yeller.” I think it was during that time that our nation contracted spiritual rabies a potentially fatal disease if left untreated. For you see it was at that time that the United States Supreme Court decision of Engel v. Vitale decided and I quote, “that government-directed prayer in public schools was an unconstitutional violation of the Establishment Clause,” end quote.

This was followed by subsequent decisions by the Supreme Court to ban Bible reading as part of the school curriculum in Abington Township School District vs. Schempp in 1963. And to ban student-led, student-initiated prayer at football games, graduations, and other school activities in the decision of Santa Fe Independent School District vs. Doe, in the year 2000. Decision after decision has been forced down our throat by those nine people that is pushing people away from God. This chosen path of the United States Supreme Court of taking God and His Word out of our society, out of our public institutions I believe initiated the spiritual rabies that we are suffering with. Like the physical disease I’m telling you listen to me once it reaches the brain, there is no treatment.

Well, that spiritual degradation, that rebellious attitude towards God; the God who created us and made us the most powerful, the most prosperous, the most blessed nation in the entire world, it has gone too far. I’m telling you that the spiritual rabies infection has reached the brain producing delirium, and that state of mind cannot make good decisions. I know what you are thinking. You are saying in your heart, “But, Brother Al, do you think it’s possible, that our nation could repent and once again turn back to God?” Yes, I believe that as it was in the days of Jonah when he preached to the wicked people of Nineveh, that we as them, if we would repent in sackcloth and ashes and turn back to God, that our God who is a merciful God would receive us and forgive us and restore us. But do I think that’s going to happen. No. I’m just being honest. No, I don’t think it’s going to happen.

You see when we took God and His Word out of our schools in the 1960’s, we spawned a whole generation that had no respect for Scripture or the Bible in any form, because unfortunately, the school house was the only place that some of them were ever put in contact with the Word of God. Now that’s not good, but that’s simply the way it was. You know it is said that what one generation will do in moderation; the next generation does in excess. So, we took God out of their lives. And from that came the wanton disregard in the next generation for human life, the most sacred of all God’s creation. Personal convenience was raised up over the value of human life and murder was legalized upon the most helpless of all segments of society the unborn child.

We dare not point our hypocritical finger at the Nazis of World War II, who killed some eleven million people, six million of whom were Jews. When we ourselves have slaughtered multiplied millions and millions of children. We dare not try to take the speck out of Germany’s eye when we have a beam in our own eye! Since Roe vs. Wade in 1973 we’ve killed almost 58 million unborn children. It is a holocaust of all holocausts.

And then things got worse. You say how could it be worse? It’s gotten worse. After this, came not just the acceptance, but listen to me the celebration of that which the Bible calls an abomination as the homosexuals began their radical push to be recognized by law as a specially protected class of citizens. On Oct. 28, 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Among other things, the bill adds gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation to the list of protected categories under federal hate law crimes. This effectively places every homosexual, pedophile, transgendered, and other abominable sexual orientation in a special, federally protected class under the federal hate crimes law.

I don’t know that’s been used to any great degree to persecute the church. But I want to tell you there is no doubt that it opened the door for such persecution against any pastor who would be so bold as to stand in his church and proclaim that homosexuality is wrong. It is not of God, it is an abomination, it’s a distortion of God’s design for the family. And you know as well as I do that some business owners who because of their religious beliefs have refused their services to homosexual couples have either been fined or even had their businesses closed.

I assure you, I assure you my dear friends that the day is coming when pastors will be fined and/or jailed for preaching the truth of the Bible. Churches will be prosecuted on charges of discrimination for not hiring an openly homosexual applicant on their staff. And eventually, no doubt, fundamental, conservative Christians will be attacked for promoting anti-social hate doctrine. This law is just another example of political correctness gone amuck. This homophobic paranoia has led Congress and the President to acts of delirium. They are confused and suffering from cerebral dysfunction.

Are people singled out and criminally attacked because of their sexual identity? Yes, I’m sure that they are. People are singled out and attacked criminally for all sorts of reasons. Some people are criminally attacked just because they’re male, or because they are female. But that doesn’t mean we need to put them in a special category that is protected by hate crime law just because their victim happens to be gay.

Now do you think I’m being paranoid when I say that persecution of those who teach the Bible as a one-man-and-one-woman definition of marriage, do you think I’m being paranoid when I say that persecution is forthcoming? Then consider the backlash that came from Carrie Prejean’s answer when she was asked about her stance on same-sex marriage in the Miss USA contest in 2009, that was six years ago. She responded to that question and I quote her very words, she said, “I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that’s how I was raised.” I mean how much simpler and more straightforward an answer could you possibly give. She was simply giving an honest answer to the question about her personal beliefs. She made no derogatory remark towards homosexuals. And she even said that it was not her intention to offend anyone with her answer. And yet, she was lambasted by the liberal media and by homosexual activists. She was later stripped of her Miss California title on grounds of “continued breach of contract issues.”

Now you can believe what you want to believe by why Carrie was so attacked. But I can tell you why she was attacked, she was attacked, listen to me because she stood upon the Biblical standard. But Biblical authority has all but vanished in America. So, I ask you: Has the virus reached the brain?

And if you don’t think the spiritual virus of depravity has reached the brain here in America, then obviously you didn’t hear the news on June the 26th, 2015. But how could you miss it? For it was, listen to me, it was the darkest day in American history. Far worse than Dec. 7, 1941 or 9/11/01. For as bad as those days were in the loss of lives of U.S. citizens, they do not compare to the great horrible mess, the spiritual depravity that the United States of America suffered on June the 26th, 2015 when we as a nation died spiritually.

Closing

Dr. Reagan: I hope that presentation was a blessing to you. It certainly was to me. It was just a portion of one of the six presentations that were made at our annual Bible conference, whose theme was “Messages for a Rebellious Nation.” In just a moment, our announcer will tell you how you can get the conference DVD album that contains all six presentations. I want to invite you to be back with us again next week, the Lord willing, when we will present excerpts from the presentation I made at our annual Bible conference. It was titled: “A Nation Begging for Destruction.”

Until next week, this is Dave Reagan speaking for Lamb & Lion Ministries, saying, “Look up, be watchful, for our Redemption is drawing near!”

End of Program

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