Podcast - The Greg Lancaster Show, Live from the Glory Zone.

John, Greg, and Pat discuss a recent study conducted by the American Bible Society that found out that Americans believe our society needs the Bible but few read it. They continue to discuss America: How We Got Here & How We Stay Here! And discuss the huge price many throughout history have paid so that we can have the Bible in our hands. To name a few, John Wycliffe and William Tyndale died horrible deaths, body exhumed and even burned. They continue to share how others around the world cherish one page of the Bible while Americans have many Bibles in their homes. We must return back to honoring God’s word in our lives and not offering him lip service. The word of God says that they honored him with their lips but their hearts were far from Him, Isaiah 29:13. It’s time to enjoy fellowshipping with God as we set time to abide with Him and His Word.

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Greg, John, and Pat listen to Steve share an awesome encounter where God’s glory was on display. Steve shares how when he was at work he noticed someone who was hobbling really badly. Steve approached the man to find out what was wrong the man said he had a bad ankle. Steve offered to pray for the man’s healing but the man rejected prayer for his healing but was open to receive prayer for his relationship with God. Steve put his arm around him and began to pray for him almost instantly the man said what did you do? My leg and ankle are healed. Steve said jump around on it and the man was able to jump around. They rejoiced together and Steve told him that he did nothing but that Jesus Christ healed him and confirmed his message to him. They rejoiced as the glory of God was manifested.

Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it. Mark 16:20

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Greg, John, and Pat discuss how America’s Founding Fathers chose God over a King. However, Israel’s history is that they chose a king over God. They chose man’s government over God. When given a choice they could have repented but rather chose that God send them a king. Our founding fathers by the grace of God on July 4, 1776, chose to reject a king and chose to be under God’s leadership. America was founded on those who were seeking God. True rebellion is when God’s people left God’s government for a King. It all came to pass; one nation under God and it all happened when the Word of God was freed from man’s captivity. God later used America through President Harry Truman to recognize Israel’s statehood. The only way America and Israel can stand is if they truly become One Nation Under God.

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Greg, John, and Pat have a discussion about America: how we got here and how do we stay here? We need to get educated. America just didn’t happen it has a history. All throughout history there have been kings and kingdoms. God is the one who establishes all authority even kings. Americans have been guilty of having one foot in one kingdom and the other foot in another. Conservatives have been happy to make America their kingdom. It’s God and country and not country and God. We are headed to a caliphate, tyranny and ultimately bondage. The question is how did we get here? How did we get to the King James Bible which represents the Word of God in the hands of every man? What it represents is more important than what some people have made of this version itself. There were some key events and key people in history that went down a direction that caused certain events to unfold that have had profound affects to the church and America even to this day. A good starting place is with Queen Mary of Scots who was King James the VI of Scots and King James I of England’s mother. Kings James would eventually be the one to sponsor the 1611 King James Bible. Prior to his rule his mother Queen Mary of Scots ruled Scots. Queen Mary of Scots was eventually lured by the church of the day and eventually arrested and imprisoned as they tried to shame her for adultery and the choices she made regarding her husbands. She was imprisoned in Loch Haven Castle, never to see her son King James VI again. During her imprisonment she was forced to abdicate her throne as Mary, Queen of the Scots to her infant son. King James assumed and was named King of the Scots July 24, 1567 at 13 months. His care was entrusted to the Earl and Countess of Mar in Stirling Castle. King James’ upbringing was paramount to what would happen later in his life. They raised him and brought him up as a Protestant not a Catholic. There was a religious war between Catholics and Protestants and whether the Pope should be over the King and the church verses the King being over the church. The Protestants were defined as denying the universal authority of the Pope and affirming the reformation principles of justification by faith alone, the priesthood of all believers, and the primacy of the Bible as the only source of revealed truth” and more broadly, to mean Christianity outside “of an Orthodox or Catholic church.” Several tutors were sought out to train and develop King James into a God fearing, Protestant King who accepted the limitations of monarchy.

We learn that James, King of Scots mother, Mary, escaped from her captivity only to be captured and imprisoned by Queen Elizabeth I of England. Elizabeth I, Queen of England researched and felt that James would be the rightful blood line successor to the throne of England. She began secret correspondence with him working out all details for him to pursue her as successor to her throne after her passing. On March 24, 1603, Queen Elizabeth died in the early morning hours and King James was proclaimed King in London, he became King of England and Ireland on the same day. In his first year he survived two assignation attempts. It was during his mother’s and his rule that the battle between Catholics and Protestants continued and there was conflict with him because of his Catholic mother. King James was distrusted by other nations for his repression of Catholics. They continued to discuss how today we are seeing people wear a mask as a protest. The mask is a mask of the catholic man Guy Fawkes. On November 4-5 in 1605 on the eve of opening the second session of James parliament the Catholic man Guy Fawkes was discovered in the cellar of the parliament building guarding a pile of wood not far from 36 barrels of gun powder with which Fawkes intended to blow up the parliament House the following day and cause destruction. King James would later say that Fawkes was trying to destroy “Not only…of my person, or my life and posterity also, but of the whole body of the State in general.” This is the mask that you are seeing around the nation and the world today. The mask of Guy Fawkes. Realize what that statement represents, knowingly or unknowingly it represents destruction of present authority and blowing it up, destroying it all. After that attempt King James went through a period of time of ruler ship without consulting parliament. In America, according to our nation’s design, described in detail in the U.S. Constitution, the people are rulers, “kings” if you would”, under God. In his and Queen Elizabeth I’s reign, the British colonization of the Americas began which we now know were the first seeds of the United States of America. King James even signed “The Treaty of Burwick in which the killing of his own mother was approved. It was this treaty that secured his rise to power as King, but it was at the cost of his mother, Queen Mary I who was executed by Queen Elizabeth of England. The executioners knelt before her and asked forgiveness. She replied, “I forgive you with all my heart, for now, I hope, you shall make an end of all my troubles.” Her servants, Jane Kennedy and Elizabeth Curle, and the executioners helped Mary to remove her outer garments, revealing a velvet petticoat and a pair of sleeves in crimson-brown, the liturgical color of martyrdom in the Catholic Church…” As she disrobed she smiled and said that she "never had such grooms before ... nor ever put off her clothes before such a company". She was blindfolded by Kennedy (her servant) with a white veil embroidered in gold, and knelt down on the cushion in front of the block, on which she positioned her head, and stretched out her arms. Her last words were, "Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit".

Mary was not beheaded with a single strike. The first blow missed her neck and struck the back of her head. The second blow severed the neck, except for a small bit of sinew, which the executioner cut through using the axe. The executor then picks up Mary I, Queen of Scots head, lifts it in the air and says “LONG LIVE THE QUEEN.”

After the Catholic Guy Fawkes' attempt to destroy him and England's leadership; King James, stepped up his control over the church in a greater way. King James sanctioned harsh measures for controlling non-conforming English Catholics and 1606; Parliament passed the Popish Recusants Act which could require ANY CITIZEN to take an Oath of Allegiance denying the Pope's authority over the King. The Act forbade Roman Catholics from practicing the professions of law and medicine and from acting as a guardian or trustee; and it allowed magistrates to search their houses. Today we have the second and fourth amendment in the U.S. Constitution to forbid this from happening. The Act also provided a new oath of allegiance, which denied the power of the Pope to depose monarchs. The person who refused to take this oath was to be fined £60 or to forfeit two-thirds of his land if he did not receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper at least once a year in his Church of England parish church. This act also made it HIGH TREASON to obey the authority of Rome rather than the King. Upon King James VI's death in 1625, realize it would only be 151 YEARS later- when the founding fathers of America would pen The Declaration of Independence in 1776 to begin a new fledgling nation! WHY? They wrote about their 27 reasons why in The Declaration of Independence which started by them writing it to the KING OF ENGLAND who merged the Church with his kingdom and had placed himself over the Church and the Anglican Church and he told all his subjects that if they were to leave the Church which he is the head of they were committing high treason against England. England ended up doing the same thing the Catholics did.

At the same time the Founding Fathers understood the importance of allegiance to a nation and even to this day we still require every new citizen to take the oath of allegiance; but we failed miserably in requiring citizens to live up to this oath.

OATH - A Pledge of Allegiance to be an American Citizen.

"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce, and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have here-to-fore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign AND DOMESTIC; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I TAKE THIS OBLIGATION FREELY without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."

In the midst of this there was the Bible version that was going to lead to the birthing of a nation. The followers of John Wycliffe undertook the first complete English translations of the Christian scriptures in the 15th century. These 1409 translations were banned. This translation predated the printing press but was circulated widely in manuscript form, often inscribed with a date earlier than 1409 to avoid legal ban. The second version was put together in 1525 by William Tyndale, an English contemporary of Martin Luther. Tyndale’s translation was the first printed Bible in English. In 1539 Tyndale’s New Testament and his incomplete work on the Old Testament became the basis of the Great Bible.

This was the first "AUTHORIZED VERSION" issued by the Church of England during the reign of King Henry VIII. When Mary I succeeded to the throne in 1553, SHE RETURNED THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND TO THE COMMUNION OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC FAITH and many English religious reformers fled the country, some establishing an ENGLISH-SPEAKING COLONY AT GENEVA. Under the leadership of John Calvin, GENEVA BECAME THE CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CENTER OF REFORMED PROTESTANTISM AND LATIN BIBLICAL SCHOLARSHIP. They undertook a translation that became known as the Geneva Bible. This translation dated 1560 just six years before King James was born. As time progressed and Queen Elizabeth took the throne in 1558 they sought after a new translation which resulted in the Bishop’s Bible, which was a revision of the Great Bible and an attempt to replace the Geneva Bible. However it failed to displace the Geneva translation as the most popular English Bible of the age, in part because the full Bible was only printed in lectern editions of an extraordinary size [BIG ONE!] and at a cost of several pounds. Accordingly, to English lay people it was overwhelming to read the Geneva version was made available in small printed versions at a relative low cost. The Bishops' Bible printed over 50 editions, whereas the Geneva Bible was reprinted more than 150 times.

However, a key meeting took place in May of 1601 in which King James VI of Scotland was in attendance of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Up to this point the Bible was in Latin and the Catholics held the Bible captive under “king pope.” Then there was the John Wycliffe Bible, the William Tyndale Bible, the Great Bible, the Geneva Bible, the Bishop Bible and now two years later at age 34 after he ascended the throne of England King James I of England.

It wasn’t until the Hamilton Conference of 1604 (the King James Bible Conference).

The newly crowned King James convened the Hampton Court Conference in 1604 in it were representatives of the Church of England, including leading English Puritans. That gathering proposed a new English version of the Bible in response to the perceived problems of earlier translations as detected by the Puritan faction of the Church of England which eventually would become the “Authorized King James Version 1611 Bible” You can say what you want to and how God does it and who He uses, the Word says, Proverbs 19:21 - Many are the plans in men’s heart, but it’s the Lord’s plans that prevail. Proverbs 21:30 - There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD. The word of God was now available in the hands of every man that they may know God for themselves and learn of his ways and expectations. Man was free to seek God individually. As a result of many having the word of God much persecution followed which pushed the puritans out of England and eventually to land on Plymouth Rock. It also pushed our Founding Fathers as they continued to experience persecution from King George ultimately leading them to signing the Declaration of Independence and declaring our independence from the King of England resulting in the American Revolution only 151 short years later after the death of King James. Today we have a constitution that includes a bill of “civil” rights. The very first amendment would insure the government will no longer put its nose in religion. America, how did we get here? It got where it is today by the hand of God. What caused it to come to pass? Oppression and tyranny. What was the one thing that set men to walk out the freest, most powerful, most influential, most wealthiest nation in the world? It was the Bible getting into the hands of men! It was the word of God being understood by men! It was the beginning to follow God not men! It was men understanding that God is real, God is present and God is involved in the day to day affairs of men! It was realizing that now we know God, His Word and that all rights come from Him, we can believe Him for a nation which He is over, He blesses and speaks to the men of that nation. This way it can be a government of and by the people because they can hear from God. We must never forget the price those who have gone before us have paid so we can have the precious Word of God in our hands. William Tyndale was arrested and jailed outside of Brussels for over a year. He was later convicted of heresy and executed by strangulation and after which his body was burnt at the stake. John Wycliffe was declared a heretic and his writings were banned. The Council of Constance decreed Wycliffe’s works should be burned and his remains exhumed and burned and the ashes cast in the River Swift. May we never forget the price that was paid and may it spur us to seek the God of the Bible and allow Him to speak to us through His amazing and enduring Word. iAbide.org

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Greg, John, and Pat discuss and share more insight into the Syrian Crises as they discuss recent threats that have been made if the United States strikes Syria. We must understand that what we are seeing is spiritual wickedness on so many fronts in this conflict. When we are able to understand that satan is behind much of what we see, we can begin to have empathy for others and in this case those who are called to lead. Jesus didn’t come to condemn the world but to save it. The devil comes to steal, kill and destroy. He loves chaos, mayhem and destruction. They continue to discuss how several prophets and leaders in the body of Christ like Cindy Jacobs, Dutch Sheets and in particular James Goll are seeing this as a great time to pray for the nation and Israel as it all seems to be held in the balance. God is warning us but prophecy is useless when it is history if we don’t respond to it in the season it was given. We mustn’t take prophecy for granted. Even in the heavens above God is speaking as they continue to discuss how they saw last night a bright crescent moon with one star next to it. This is the symbol for Islam. They discuss how “Christian Breaking News” reported that there will be great retaliation to Americans, Ambassadors, government officials even the President’s own family. They are threatening our President if the United States takes action in Syria. We should be appalled by these threats and commit time to get educated on what’s going on so we can pray according to the Lord’s will.

Greg, John, and Pat discuss the recent G20 Summit that is taking place in Russia. They discuss the prophetic word given by Michael Boldea. The prophetic word was about China, Russia, and North Korea stating why America’s dollar should be the world’s dominant dollar and are coming together to take it down. Now most recently at the G20 “economic” summit, we see all the world’s leaders walking in procession with President Obama walking last. There was a time not long ago that America and her Presidents were respected all over the world. Times have changed. Dear God, end abortion send revival!

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Greg, John, and Pat discuss the importance of seeking Biblical perspective to the crisis in Syria. They discuss how God is a God of Justice. Money should never be a motive for saying no to helping someone who is experiencing injustice. They discuss how Hitler gassed innocent Jews for being Jewish! It was evil and we have suffered much because we as a nation stayed silent and turned boats away full of Jews that were all killed later. If we stand by and allow someone to gas their citizens don’t think God, who is just, will not balance the scales and gas our soldiers in a war or our families and children. The question is who says the United States of America is the only nation that needs to act and take action in Syria. The truth is that the Arab League which is comprised of 22 Arab nations should be taking the lead as opposed to supporting the United States to take action when Syria is one of their rogue nations. They continue to share how the United States is not targeting President Assad but could actually hurt and kill the Syrian people. President Assad alone should be the one who pays the price. Finally, we need to turn to Israel for wisdom in this matter for there is no one on earth that understands this as well as they do and most likely are empathetic for the victims who were gassed by their own nation while the world does nothing. Not to mention that they are the only democracy whose safety hangs in the balance. So if we should follow anyone's advice and wisdom it should be Israel and if not publically stated it should be privately sought so they don't become more of a target than they are now. They continue to share the importance of this context. If God’s Word, the Bible, can be taken out of context imagine what men’s words can do. We must always consider context of what’s going on and the fruit of those involved. We're talking about potentially sending our sons, daughters, fathers and mothers to war. You don’t have to look too far to see the devastation our soldiers have faced in recent times because of the wars and military deployment with the loss of arms, legs and their lives. They shared that they are not saying no about dealing with this horrific tragedy, they are just saying CONSIDER CONTEXT in deciding how to respond. There has never been a leader in America that has so rapidly led us down a road away from God, and into the arms of Islam and those who speak openly about our destruction like the Muslim Brotherhood. The Koran speaks evil of Christians and Jews whereas Muslims consider them the infidels. The only option for Christians and Jews according to the Koran is either to convert, go into servitude, or death. In President Obama’s first international speech at Cairo University he paved a way for radical Islam and the Muslim Brotherhood to take over Egypt only to have Egypt cry out against the USA for assisting "terrorists" to be their President and eventually they had him removed. The President of the United States said this during his speech at Cairo University, “And I consider it part of my responsibility as President of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear.” Also at the United Nations President Obama said ‘The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam.’

As Americans we chose a President to lead us, whose platform was to remove Jerusalem as the capital of Israel - booed God and forced GOD and JERUSALEM back in but America voted no. With all this in mind with Syria surrounded by 22 Arab Muslim Islamic nations who are unified, one of which Syria, - IT WOULD BE NATURAL FOR US to put our efforts behind supporting and encouraging them, the Arab League, to deal with Assad. Dealing with Asaad means not hurting the Syrian people. If someone deserves death and loss it's not the victims of the one who is bringing that death, Asaad. We must pray protection for Israel and support Israel. We must also pray for the reported 100,000 victims of this civil war in Syria including those who it has been reported have been gassed. Finally to compare what and how the Jews were gassed by Hitler to what is happening in Syria couldn't be further from the truth. There are some obvious things to consider namely:

- Israel was not at war with Germany,

- They were upstanding citizens

- They worked, lived and played

-They owned businesses and employed Germans

- They were a blessing and were blessed

This is completely different. The Jews were hated by Hitler and Satan. There was a progression to this atrocity. They were identified, led into the ghettos, and finally led to board the trains that would take them to their deaths. Even today Christians are being persecuted in Egypt and America remains silent. It is being reported that if America bombs Syria, Christians in the region will be attacked. They continue to discuss what could have sealed America’s fate was Secretary John Kerry’s statement as protesters with red stain on their hands meant to look like blood, lifted their hands behind him “America is the only irreplaceable nation in the world.” This cannot be any further from the truth. The minute America bombs Syria we will see a shift downward for Christians and the Jews in how the world will relate to them.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/under-god/post/obama-the-future-must-not-belong-to-those-who-slander-the-prophet-of-islam/2012/09/26/acb9ab92-0810-11e2-a10c-fa5a255a9258_blog.html

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Greg, John, and Pat discuss how the cast of the popular reality television show “Duck Dynasty” has two books on the C-Span top sellers. The number three book on the top 5 is called Happy, Happy, Happy by Phil Robertson and number 5 is called The Duck Commander Family: How Faith, Family, and Ducks Built a Dynasty by Willie and Korie Robertson. Some may think because the cast of the show speak slowly and are from the South, they may doubt their intelligence and that would not be a wise thing to do. Phil Robertson and Willie Robertson are both college graduates and Phil even taught school. Just another reason you can’t judge a book by its cover.

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John, Pat, and Chris discuss how grateful they are to live in the United States. John shares about meeting a woman who just left Cuba after living most of her adult life in that country. They continue to discuss what she felt like when she came to America when she saw the abundance of prosperity. She describes how she marveled at the cleanliness of the public restrooms as she traveled through the United States. She continues to shares how in Cuba they didn’t have any cleaning supplies and how they had to invent ways and combine salt with certain leaves to clean their bathrooms. They continue to discuss how the woman felt when she landed in America. She was so excited and happy to arrive in this great country. When she arrived at the parking lot, she froze in shock when she saw the abundance of cars parked in the parking lot. In Cuba they are still driving cars from the 1950’s. They share how blessed we are to be living in this nation and the importance of pausing to recognize not everyone around the world lives in such great blessings and our need to honor God, the one from whom all blessings flow.

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Greg, John, and Pat discuss a recent video where a young 7 year old boy was on a program with a drill instructor that was trying to motivate the young boy to do right and was yelling in a loud voice. The drill sergeant asks the boy “Do you want me to be your daddy?” The audience was anticipating the boy would say no but the young boy thought for a second and said “yes” to the surprise of the audience and the drill sergeant. The drill sergeant asked him “Why do you want me to be your daddy?”, and the boy replied because “I have no daddy.” Fatherhood is under siege and the children are paying for it. An estimated 24.7 million children live absent from their biological father. It is said that two years after divorce 51% of children in sole mother custody homes only see their father once or twice a year, or never. It is also said that 42 % of the fathers fail to see their children at all after divorce. Satan is doing everything to take the father out of the lives of his children. If we are going to honor fatherhood once again in this country then we are going to have first honor Father God. We can’t get things right horizontally until we first get things right vertically. Father God must be honored if we are going to see true and lasting change in fatherlessness in America.

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