A Presidential Election

Well, happy Sabbath once again.

Recently, just a few weeks ago, we were celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles. Wasn't it wonderful? Picturing a time of peace and plenty and prosperity, a world of harmony. And then we came back home here in northern Ohio, and we know what's been going on in the news lately. Just a few days, we will witness the summation of something that is a complete contrast to what the Feast of Tabernacles pictures. The Feast, of course, is a time of peace and unity and abundance for everyone, the complete presence of God in the world. In contrast to what we've been experiencing, a time of conflict, divisiveness, a time where people are designated as winners or losers, and a time when God's name is only used as a token to appeal to a certain group of religious people. So the contrast that we've seen so dramatic in our own lives the last couple of weeks is that presented by the Feast of Tabernacles, or what we call the Presidential Election of 2016.

How is it out of a nation of 319 million people that these two are the primary choices that Americans have, as one commentator stated, the choice is between a crook and a creep.

The choice reminds me of a joke that I heard over 40 years ago.

A man dies and he goes to hell. Now this is not doctrinally correct. This is metaphor humor. A man dies and he goes to hell. And he's met there by Satan, who says, you have your choice of three levels of hell. The man says, okay. He says, get in the elevator. First floor, they go down, the door opens. There are billions of people standing on their heads on a wood floor.

Satan says, this is your first choice. And the fellow says, well, I'm kind of like Mr. Thomas. I'm standing in on the top and floors are hard, wood floors are hard. And the thought of standing in my head for all eternity in a wood floor, that's kind of painful. What else do you have? Not a problem, Satan says. They get in the elevator, punch two, they go down one more floor, door opens. There are billions of people standing on their heads on a concrete floor.

The fellow says, well, nah. He says, you know, that's even more hard than wood. And I have a tender head and I just can't see myself for all eternity. Standing on a concrete floor. Satan says, not a problem. They go in the elevator, he punches three, they go down, door opens up. Billions of people walking ankle deep in horse poo with coffee cups in their hands. And they're all having a good conversation, talking to each other. And this gentleman even notices a few friends and family members. Hey! He says, he sees some people that he knew. And he says, you know, this isn't too bad. He says, I could probably, of the three choices, I could probably deal with this one.

Satan says, fantastic! Next thing the man knows, he's walking around, sloshing around. He's got a coffee cup in his hand. Wow! It tastes like Starbucks. This is really great! He's talking to a few friends, he's having a good time. And then all of a sudden it happened. The whistle went off. And the voice in the loudspeaker said, all right, everyone, coffee break is over. Back on your heads. That's kind of like the presidential choice that Americans have been given in 2016.

The truth is, my dear brethren, that no matter who wins on Tuesday, the real loser is humanity. Because once again, it will foster the delusion that human beings can rule themselves. That human beings, civilizations, governments, can provide things for people, can provide happiness or fulfillment or abundance without the presence of God. So let's go beyond the political soundbites of today and see what really needs to happen for this world to have equality and justice and universal education and for everyone to achieve good health and personal fulfillment and wealth because we'll see it doesn't work. It doesn't happen if you just have your needs satisfied.

This has been a lot of ways going to parallel Mr. Dillingham's sermonette today, only more of a humanity level as he gave his own very intimate personal story. We're going to see that it's also true of humanity, what Frank experienced. Let's begin by going to Genesis 2 and verse 1, if you'll turn there with me. And we'll take a look at a time when humanity had it all, had abundance, things that there's no politician in the world that could fulfill we already had once. And let's see how well that worked.

Genesis chapter 2 and verse 1. Thus the heavens and the earth and all the host of them were finished, and on the seventh day God ended the work which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work he had done, and then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it.

And that's why we're here today. We're not here simply because God many, many, many, many, many years later gave it to Moses and revealed to him the understanding of the Sabbath day. That's fine. But we're here because God instituted the blessing and the observance of the Sabbath day at creation. Because in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made. This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and made the heavens, before any plant of the field was in the earth, and before any herb of the field had grown, for the Lord God had not caused it to rain in the earth.

There was no man to till the ground, but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground. So at this time we didn't have rain yet. At this period of time a mist came up and kept everything moist and kept things appropriate and growing. Verse 7, And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and he became a living being.

Not just like any other living being, but obviously in the image of God, with the ability to create and reason, with the ability to be creative and have an imagination and use these wonderful digits we've been given to build things and to conceive of the future and the design, to be architectural. And that is what separated us from the rest of the world and everything else that God created. Verse 8, And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man who had formed, and out of the ground the Lord made every tree to grow, that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.

The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now a river went out from Eden to water the garden, and there it parted and became four riverheads. So here we have Adam and Eve in a perfect, beautiful world. There's pure water. There's good food. There's a beautiful environment. They have meaningful work. They get up every morning with a purpose, because God tells them to tend and care for the garden in verse 15.

So they have good jobs, fulfilling work. They have no personal dysfunctions that the Scripture reveals. Oh, no money problems, no financial worries. They don't have to run out to the mailbox every morning and see what bills came in today. They have no healthcare decisions to make. Well, should I choose Medicare A? No healthcare choices to make. They have low stress compared to what you and I have. I mean, I think honestly we'd say they have a minimum stress life, compared to those of us who run around here in the 21st century.

They're sinless, and they have God's presence with them. It says in chapter 3 and verse 8, that he even walks through the garden. He has communication. He talks to them. So they have God's presence in the world that they're in. But you know what? And boy, politicians only wish they could promise this much. But you know what? You know, this wasn't enough to make them happy, because they lacked a spiritual component that we call the Holy Spirit.

It wasn't enough to make that happen. The reason we know that is because when they came into a conversation with someone else, they came to the point where they believed that there was something missing in their lives. There was a component that they yet needed to be happy, to be fulfilled. They were being shortchanged in some way. So as we'll see shortly, when they're confronted with a selfish negative influence, they're immediately attracted to it, and they want to copy it, because maybe that'll make us happy.

All of this stuff we have here isn't enough. Having a fulfilling job, having good food, good water, beautiful environment, low stress, no health care decisions, this isn't enough. We're content. We're alive. Maybe they were even grateful for what they had. But they obviously were not happy. Dr. Rump down here to Genesis 2, verse 23, and Adam said, speaking of his wife, and this is a first institution of marriage, a very important institution of which all happiness and cultures, godly cultures, are built upon. And Adam said, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.

She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. I'd like to read a definition of these three words that are very important. He said, Hebrew words, leave, joined, and one flesh from the Believer's Study Bible. Here's what it says. This verse is a commentary of the narration and not a speech of Adam.

God's principle of marriage includes three aspects. Number one, the leaving, the legal act in which a husband and wife make a public commitment of ultimate loyalty and lifelong devotion to one another above all others, even parents. So that's leaving. You're starting on your own, just you two. Just you two alone. Cut the apron strings. Cut the entanglements. And you're starting out on your own. That's leaving.

Number two, the joining, the personal aspect of tender love and faithful responsibility, which is permanent and binding. And three, the becoming one flesh, the physical or sexual union which symbolizes the beginning of a union of souls, a spiritual and psychological intertwining of persons.

Leave and join are terms associated with covenant treaties. So there are Hebrew words that were used in treaties that are covenants. And that's why marriage is a covenant. Here, the marriage is interpreted as a new relationship bound by mutual oath. Sexual intimacy is an expression of the union of the two people. And so lastly, it occurs of those three.

So more obviously to this verse than just love and physical biology, it's talking about what God intended for each and every new generation. When a man and a woman fall in love with each other or grow to love one another, they have an opportunity. They both come from different families. Each comes from families with various strengths and each comes from families with various deficiencies or dysfunctions. Marriage is an opportunity for two different individuals to leave their individual families, to leave their past environment and start on a new one. Ideally, marriage should be the desire to reject the idiosyncrasies that they experienced in their past families and merge the best of each of them together.

That's in an ideal situation. But since that takes work and conscious effort, frankly, it's rarely done. Usually, we bring all of the baggage in on a wheeled cart into our marriage relationships. But God designed it so that if one so chooses, remember He says, choose life, if one so chooses in their astute and wise and close to God that when they start that marriage relationship, they can say, we're going to blend together the best of both and we're going to draw a line in the sand and we're going to stop doing the bad stuff. We're going to stop doing the stuff that's held our families back for generations.

Again, that takes work, it takes conscious effort, and frankly, it's rarely done. But God intended each new couple to have that opportunity. He intended it for Adam and Eve, He intended it for us, He intended it for our children and our grandchildren. Again, if we take advantage of that opportunity, let's now go to chapter 3 in verse 1. Now, the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.

So God made the serpent. The serpent was there for a very important purpose. The serpent was there to be a test. This is only a test. To see what they were made of, to see what their character was like. So for them to have resistance to learn, to strengthen themselves by making hard choices. That's why the serpent was there then, that's why the serpent continues in this world today.

And He said to the woman, has God indeed said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden? I want you to notice His approach. He has a scarcity mentality. He says, look, of all these trees, did God say you can't eat of this one? He's got a scarcity mentality. It's manipulative. By the way, it's the same thing that politicians do to us today. I want you to notice, because at this point she's still innocent. She hasn't been influenced by Satan's Wi-Fi network yet.

It's just beginning to take effect. I want you to notice the opposite approach she takes in her answer. And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said you shall not eat it. But where Satan says, oh, you can't eat of this one tree, she says, oh, we can eat of all of these trees.

It's just that one that we shouldn't eat. He has a scarcity mentality. She has an abundance mentality. But unfortunately, it's not going to last very long. Even with a clean slate and good things that they have in the garden, human nature is susceptible to being influenced by spiritual negative influences. Just being surrounded by a good and healthy environment or by prosperity doesn't bring about happiness or contentment. So when a politician, any politician, promises us anything, it's a delusion. Because even if we receive free stuff, it's not going to make us happy. Material things do not provide happiness or fulfillment.

Notice how our answer again starts out as positive. Satan highlights what they can't do or what is lacking, Eve responds by stating what they can do and all that is allowed. Well, this example presented in Scripture shows that the tendency of human nature is to be pulled in a downward spiral, even if it starts out neutral, even if it starts out positive or balanced. Because at this moment, as those words were coming out of her mouth, she was connecting the Satan's Wi-Fi system, his universal system that occurs to everyone the moment they come out of that womb and take their first breath and go, WOW!

That connection takes place. And from that moment on, the prince of the power of the air emanates, attitudes of selfishness, of discouragement, negativity about everyone that isn't just like me or who doesn't believe just like me or doesn't look just like me. And that's exactly what's already happening here. Pick it up in verse 4. And the serpent said to the woman, he says, You will not surely die.

Well, of course, that's a lie. Did she die? Yeah, of course she died. This is an outright lie. You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day that you eat, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. You know what that is? He went from a lie now to deceit. If the lie isn't going to get you, I'll deceive you.

Tell me, anybody in here knowing good and evil, Aaron, if you like God, you know good and evil. I do. I've experienced both in my lifetime. I've practiced both in my lifetime, and I'm nothing like God. So that was a deceitful statement. It meant to appeal to her, but it was deceitful. So when the woman, so now it finally kicks in that neutrality that she had and that positive perspective that she first started out with, because it doesn't take long when you're connecting to Satan's Wi-Fi. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, it was pleasant to the eyes.

And the tree was desirable to make one wise. She took her the fruit and ate, and she gave it to her husband with her, and he led around by her nose ring, and he ate. So she basically tugged on him a little bit, and he just did what she did. He didn't demonstrate very much leadership in this situation, did he? Well, Satan has a great political message here, and is still being used 6,000 years later. Here's his message. You're being shortchanged. You're not being treated equally. God's holding back on you. You're not getting what's yours by right.

That message hasn't changed in 6,000 years, and Eve's initial positive response quickly vanishes. And because she lacks a spiritual dimension, she is naturally drawn towards the freebie, something that is good, pleasant, desirable. And we, as humankind, have been doing this and following her example consistently ever since this time. So now let's ask a question. When Jesus Christ returns to earth to establish the kingdom of God, and he establishes it, and he puts down the nations that are rebelling against him, and he restores a peaceful world, when this mess is cleaned up, and all people are given blessings, and the world has peace, and the world has prosperity, and the world has plenty, will that be enough to make them happy?

You know, the answer to that is no. Why? Because the influence of evil perpetuated by Satan and his demons would still pull mankind downward. The thoughts would be, well, thank you, but thank you for all these things that you've given me.

Peace, prosperity, plenty, a good education, just blessings unmeasured, but what have you done for me lately? How come I don't have more? That's the way human nature is. That's the way human beings are. Well, actually, the dramatic change that humankind must experience in God's kingdom is very complex, because we know, because we celebrated the fall holy days, that there are two significant events that have to occur. First, Jesus Christ has to return to earth as King of Kings and to establish the kingdom of God.

But also, that negative influence, that serpent whose Wi-Fi, all carnal physical human beings are automatically connected to that being must be removed. That influence that will pull you down, even in a contented environment, even when you're blessed more than you could ever know, will pull you down and make you entitled and make you think it's not enough. I'd like to give you a definition here of culture, because all of us, more than we care to admit, are influenced by our culture.

The word culture, I'm going to define it from the American Heritage Dictionary, it says, the totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought. The biggest problem that this world faces when Jesus Christ returns is the embedded, destructive cultures that you and I live under. The culture that we have, and you know what? We've grown so used to it, we don't even see all the evil embedded in it anymore.

It has become so common, it has become so pervasive in everything that we do, in the media, in the workplace, that we just accept it. And we don't even realize how deeply embedded it is in our hearts and minds and how evil it is. Let's continue our little journey here through Genesis chapter 4, beginning in verse 1, and take a look at the first murder.

Again, they had been given so much in that garden, and yet they weren't happy. They thought something was missing. The first opportunity they had to be enticed to believe that something else would make them happy, they bit the apple. I know it's a bad pun, but that's exactly what they did. Genesis chapter 4, verse 1, Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, I have acquired a man from the Lord, and she bore again, and this time his brother Abel, and Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain was a tiller of the ground.

And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought the first-born of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel in his offering, but he did not respect Cain in his offering, and Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.

What's happening here? Well, Cain is being influenced by Satan's Wi-Fi network. How come he gets praise? How come God says good things about him? And I want you to again to notice how the human mind works. His brother is the last person to blame. You might logically blame God because he gave the praise. You might logically blame yourself because you're not doing what someone else is doing.

You know what the rules are. You're not doing what someone else is doing. So maybe the fault lies with you. But no, he's going to take it out sadly on his brother. Verse 6, So the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? You're even walking around in your moody, you're grumpy, you're negative. God says, I've noticed a distinct change in your personality. If you do well, will you not be accepted? If you just try to please me, like your brother did, who took something very personal and very important to him.

And he shed the blood of that that represents what my son is going to have to do someday in the world. And that's the kind of sacrifice he gave me. And you, you gave me Brussels sprouts. And I don't even like Brussels sprouts. And if you do not well, sin lies at the door, and its desire is for you, but you should rule over it. He says, what's going on in your head?

You need to take control. And that message is as vital today, brethren, as it was then. Because the reality is, is what all of us need to do, is tell the negative committee that meets inside our heads to sit down and shut up, to seize control of our thoughts, and not allow our minds just to ramble on, uncontrolled and undisciplined, from one goofy negative thought to another. It's time to take control. And we've been given the power that can do that.

It is called God's Holy Spirit. It is a spiritual essence that can help us to do that. But we have to make the effort. So he says, and its desire, talking about sin, talking about what's rattling on inside of his head, is for you, but you should rule over those thoughts and emotions.

Now Cain talked with Abel, his brother, and it came to pass when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him. And the Lord said to Cain, where is Abel, your brother? Of course, God knows where he is. He just wants to see what the answer is going to be. He said, I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper? So he lies. So we see here the first family environment in this situation and how human nature degrades when God is taken out of the picture. Abel brings a valuable animal offering to God. It's of great worth to Abel. It's of a personal sacrifice for him to do so.

Cain brings a basket of vegetables. He shows by his offering that he doesn't deeply respect God or the values of the creator and the values God represents. He's angry when he doesn't get the praise his brother receives. He doesn't take correction well, obviously. He blatantly kills his own brother and callously lives the God that he doesn't even know where his brother is. And, of course, he did know where his brother's corpse was. So in one generation, man takes a giant leap into depravity since the creation of Adam and Eve. It doesn't take long. In my lifetime, I'm 63 years old. I have witnessed things in my lifetime and changes in our culture that are unbelievable. I think I've told you before that I attended an elementary school in the east side of Cleveland near the Collingwood area. It's called East Clark Elementary School. Same name. Thankfully, they tore that dilapidated building down, got rid of all the rats and cockroaches, and they built a new building, which is really cool. When I went there, I can remember about the third grade. They asked a question in our room. There were about 30 of us. How many of you have daddy living at home with mom? And out of 30 students, I, shamefully, because I was humiliated, was one of three children out of a class of 30 who did not have dad living at home with mom.

Skyrocket to the year 2016. Same school, same plot of land. If you were to go into that classroom today, and you couldn't even ask this question, you'd be fired, but if you were to go in that classroom today and you were to ask 30, and I'm just going by relative statistics in the city of Cleveland, if you were to ask those children how many of that 30 don't have daddy living at home, 21 out of the 30 would not. Not two, not three, 21 out of the 30 would not have dad living with their mother.

In one lifetime, 50 years, and I could go on and on about the morality, the sexual morality that has declined in that period of time in my lifetime, and the lack of respect for authority that has occurred in just one lifetime.

And how God, as imperfect as it was, embedded throughout our culture in so many ways, including in our government, including starting classes with a prayer, including the Ten Commandments, being in classroom buildings and other government buildings, look at the changes that have occurred in just one short human lifetime.

And perhaps the best is yet to come. Who knows how quickly we'll fall and collapse. But again, just drawing a parallel here, in one generation, from Adam and Eve to Cain and Abel, you see how quickly it all degenerated.

From this first family, mankind spread out and became a culture. Remember, a culture is a society of behaviors and patterns and arts and beliefs and institutions.

Well, God has enough. He's fed up. So let's see what happens next. He's going to refresh the earth. So let's see if refreshing the earth, refreshing humanity, is going to make it all better.

Genesis 6, verse 5.

Humanity's caused God a lot of grief by our conduct, perhaps because we degenerate so quickly. It even surprises or saddens God.

Verse 7, so the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air. For I am sorry that I have made them.

Verse 8, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. He was perfect in his generations because he was from the righteous lineage of Seth, who, up until this time, still continued to have a relationship with him.

He came from a good family, a family of God-believing, God-fearing people. Noah walked with God, and Noah begot three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japhas. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt. For all the earth had corrupted their way. All flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, the end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them, and behold I will destroy them with the earth.

So the culture had deteriorated, and was evil, corrupt, and violent. And God needed to put an end to it before mankind destroyed itself, or before no one righteous would be left alive.

Now let's pick up here verse, let's see here.

Let's go to Genesis chapter 9.

So Noah builds the ark, and Noah and his family are saved. They survive it. Here in chapter 9 verse 20. So they get out of the ark. It says, and Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. Then he drank of the wine, and was drunk, and he became uncovered in his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on their shoulders, and went backwards, and covered the nakedness of their father.

Their faces were turned away. They did not see their father's nakedness. So Noah broke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him.

Then he said, cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants, he shall be to his brethren. And he said, blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant.

May God enlarge Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant. And Noah lived after the flood 350 years.

So after all they've been through, the earth is refreshed. Birds are singing. The sun is shining. Right? All that corruption, all the violence, all the evil of former mankind that is now done has been washed away.

Did it make Noah happy? Did it make his sons happy? Did it make them fulfilled? Well, you don't need to drink wine to excess if you're happy.

Right? Your grandchildren don't have to do despicable things to you if they and you are living balanced, godly, happy lives.

So again, my point is just having peace and prosperity and having plenty and being given great blessings and all of these things that human beings strive for and all of these things that the politicians promise.

It's an empty promise because even if they could make it happen, which they can't, it will not make people happy, content, or fulfilled.

The Hebrew rendered here his younger son obviously can't refer to him who was older than Japheth, but it meant the least or younger the family and therefore it's descriptive of his grandson Canaan.

What it had done to him means something very shameful that had been done to the old man in his unconscious state in a way so obvious it became manifest to him immediately when he woke up.

I'm not even going to speculate what that is and we're families here so I don't think that's an area that we need to discuss today what that was.

I'll just say that the curse was fulfilled by the subjection of the Canaanites to the Israelites when they entered and conquered the Promised Land.

Many of them were totally and completely wiped out and those that the Israelites allowed to survive became servants and became subjects to the Israelites when they entered the Promised Land.

But my question is this, after the Ark lands and the doors open and this beautiful, refreshing world appears, how long did it take before all of that was meaningless? Because they lacked the spiritual components. Just giving people good things, stuff, even free stuff, won't make you happy.

It never has and it never will.

Let's take a look at one final example before we wrap up the sermon today.

Genesis 11, verse 1.

Now the whole earth had one language and one speech and it came to pass that they journeyed from the east that they found a plain in the land of Shannar, that's in Babylonia, modern day what we would call Babylonia.

And they dwelt there and they said to one another, come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.

And they had brick for stone and they had asphalt for mortar and they said, come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose top is in the heavens and make a name for ourselves lest we be scattered abroad the whole face of the whole earth.

But the Lord came down the city of Sidi and the tower which the sons of men had built and the Lord said, indeed, the people are one and they all have one language and this is what they begin to do. Now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language that they may not understand one another's speech.

So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of the earth and they ceased building the city and therefore the name is called Babyl because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the earth.

According to tradition, this tower was 660 feet in length and in breadth and it was so wide, kind of like spiraling up, it was so wide that two chariots could pass each other or even turn around on the spiral outer staircase that existed around this tower. It was so massive.

But it was more than the tower that concerned God. It was the intent because God understood that with a common language mankind could increase rapidly in technology and the discovery of science before his plan could unfold. With one language, humanity would quickly discover all of the things that it takes to develop to where we've come to today in the 21st century. Only it would have happened a lot faster because of the unity of one language. To prevent this from happening, God decided to slow down the progress of mankind's technological development. And so he scattered them into many languages.

And time has gone on and here we are today in the 21st century. So in concluding here, I would just like to remind us and ask us to take one minute out to think about the power of culture on each and every one of us because we all live in a culture.

And as I said, this culture is more deeply embedded in us than we care to admit. This culture we compromise and just accept as natural in a way that's far more healthy than we should allow it.

Here was the definition. It was behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, and institutions. Just open any newspaper. Just go on the internet and look at a so-called news page. Behavior patterns. Our behavior patterns are selfish, they're violent, they're manipulative, and they're coveting.

That's the behavior patterns. And again, if you don't think that's true, you can look at a newspaper, you can just listen to any candidate's speech. And that's the behavior pattern that you'll hear. Our arts. Think about the media. Our arts are saturated with violence, exploitation of women as sex toys, and our arts now glorify perversion.

Just again, take a look at our arts. Beliefs. Our beliefs are embedded that some ethnic peoples are superior to others, some people with their skin color are superior than others, some people's social class, whether they're the haves or the have-nots, are superior to others, or some people's religious beliefs are superior to others.

So our beliefs are embedded in division in our culture, no matter how you look at it. How about our institutions? Our institutions are based on the profit motive and the control of peoples. Governments. There's a good example. I remember Ronald Reagan saying once that the closest thing to eternal life that exists in this world is the American government.

It just seems to go on and on and on. You can't stop it, you can't kill it, you just can't seem to do anything with it. And it's an institution. It has a profit motive. If you don't think it has a profit motive, then just take a look at your next paycheck and see what they gracefully removed from it involuntarily, whether you wanted to give it or not. And of course, most of our businesses have a profit motive. And many of our institutions are about controlling people. How about education? Education, unfortunately, in this country, higher education is about a profit motive, and that's why many students can't afford to go to college today or graduate with six-figure-plus college debts because education has become all about a profit motive. Real education has become secondary. Those are our institutions.

Most other products of human thought and work was part of the definition of a culture. And what are most other products of human work and thought? Aren't they centered around the creation of wealth?

Aren't they centered around the powerful, how to become powerful, how to be a celebrity, control of other human beings, about having prestige?

Well, that's what our Western culture is totally developed about and totally built on.

And my point, first of all, in this sermon today has just been to remind us that aside to all the sound bites and promises and that everything that we hear, that just receiving blessings and just life being easier and just having good things does not make people happy. It doesn't make them fulfilled. Oftentimes it just gives them an easier way to become a pervert.

When you have money, you can afford to be a pervert in ways that you can't afford if you're poor. And that's the truth.

So, let's not be either discouraged or let us not be disheartened by the political environment that we have today. It's man's futile effort to rule himself.

And it is futile. And it's deceptive because all billions of people get all wrapped up into it thinking, boy, if I just have this candidate or if I just accept this philosophy or if I just buy into this, my life will be better and I'll be happier.

And that's a lie. The only way for man to be happy is first and foremost to have a relationship with God. A personal, intimate relationship with God.

And there are a lot of people throughout history who had only that and barely had anything else, wore rags, and were hungry, and had every material possession they owned that they could put in a little knapsack.

Yet they lived happy and fulfilled lives because they had a relationship with their Creator and they had an eternity that they could count on. That's really what's important. Let us never lose sight of that. Have a wonderful Sabbath day.