(Music)
GEORGE: Hello. This is Pastor
George Pearsons. Welcome
to this special edition of the
Believer's Voice of Victory. I
want to remind you that all of
the outlines are available to
you right now on kcm.org. You
can download them and follow
along with us. And we're in a
great conversation with Kenneth
Copeland, Bishop Keith
Butler, David Barton. And
today we're talking about
the platforms. You need
to know what's going on
where these elections
are concerned, as we
have faith for our nation.
DAVID: Jesus told us, in
Luke 19--and in Luke 19,
He's got all the disciples, and
they're doing their thing, and
"When are you coming back?" and
"Who's sitting on the right hand
of the Father?" And Peter and
John have their thing. "Well,
what about him?" "Well, what
does it matter, What about him?
You do what I told you," and you
know, all this stuff's going on.
And He just cuts to the chase
and says, "Occupy till I come."
GEORGE: Mm-hmm. DAVID: You know,
and that's bottom line, is all
this other stuff, you--and
twice, once in Matthew, once in
Luke, He says, "Blessed are
those that when I return I find
doing." And if we're sitting
around, look, this is all
prophesied. There's nothing we
can do about it. No, no. How
many times did God change His
mind in the Bible when somebody
prayed and fasted? Some--I mean,
God all the time. Hezekiah,
"You're a dead man." He prays
and fasts. He said, "Do you see
that? I'm going to give him
another 15 years." I mean, just
all the time, God changes what
he said if somebody intervenes
with prayer and fasting. GEORGE:
Yeah. DAVID: And so our deal is,
"Occupy till He comes." And the
one that comes to mind for me is
John Quincy Adams, founding
father. He was--he got his start
at eight years old with a
musket, going with the
Massachusetts minutemen in the
revolution. At 11 years old,
he's got a diplomatic position.
He gets the next one at 14 years
old, congressional appointment
at 14, congressional appointment
at 15. But the guy grows up
hating slavery, but living at a
time when slavery dominates the
nation. He was there when he saw
Congress, for the first time,
expand slavery. He was there for
the first time when he watched
law after law be passed to
encourage slavery. It looked
like we were heading the right
direction under his father and
under his mother, but it turned
around. And so he leaves the
presidency, sixth President of
the United States, goes into
Congress, one-issue guy, "I'm
going to end slavery." And
he's called the hellhound of
abolition because he got his
teeth in it, he wouldn't back
off. They--they hated him.
They beat him up. I say it
rhetorically, not physically. We
do have campaign ads from him
where, when he ran for office,
they took his face and put a
bulls eye on his forehead and
said, "Someone kill this guy,
get him out of Congress." So,
you know, we're pretty wimpy
today, we think negative
campaign ads, yes, and--
KENNETH: Yeah, right. (Laughter)
DAVID: You know, he goes through
all this stuff, and--and he goes
after it. And so he came in
one--one particular day, and the
First Amendment guarantees your
right--do you have a right to
petition Congress for redress of
grievances. Over 900 people in
his district sent in petitions,
said, "We want slavery ended."
So he introduced them to
Congress. Congress, up to then,
would take those petitions, send
them to a committee, see what
they should do. But as he
pointed out, about 80 percent of
Congress at the time he served
was pro slavery. So he is in the
20 percent minority, introducing
something they don't want. And
so they went to the Rules
Committee, procedural move, and
they came back with the rule
that said, "You can introduce
any petition you want in
Congress as long as it's not an
anti-slavery petition." It's
called the John Quincy Adams gag
order because he's the only one
introducing slavery--antislavery
petitions. So he fought that for
eight to 10 years. They wouldn't
let him speak. He kept speaking.
They tried to shout him down.
They tried reprimand, expulsion.
And after years of this, because
he's in a small minority, media
folks came to him and said, "You
know, you've been singly
unsuccessful as a congressman.
You can't get anything passed
because they're all against you.
They know where you stand on
slavery, and that contaminates
everything else you do. You
can't get any of your bills
passed, any of your measures
passed. You can't do good things
for your district. Don't you get
frustrated or upset or
depressed?" "No." "Why not?"
Here was his answer. He said,
"Duty is ours; results are
God's. I don't do this because
of how it turns out, I do it
because it's the right thing to
do." KENNETH: He's responsible.
Mm-hmm. DAVID: I'm responsible
for doing the right thing. I
don't care how it turns out. I
don't care what happens in the
election. I will do the right
thing. I will vote. I will vote
for who God tells me to vote
for. I won't lean on my own
understanding. I'm going to
listen to the Spirit of the
Lord. Romans 8:14, "As many as
are led by the Spirit of the
Lord, they're the sons of God."
You've got to get that "Duty is
ours, results are God's"
mentality. GEORGE: Yes. DAVID:
And if you do that, you know
what? It eventually ended that
we--it turned out that we ended
slavery. It was a long process,
but it happened. And he is on
the right side of history as a
result. KENNETH: That's a
wonderful thing. GEORGE: Yeah.
KENNETH: That--the--the Texas
Penal Code, "Having--" This
is--this is concerning
"accomplice," "one who knowingly
helps another in a crime or
wrongdoing." DAVID: Yep, yep.
KENNETH: Which, if you--you vote
for anybody that--that is--that
you know stands for abortion,
and you know it's in the party
platform, and you vote for it
anyway, or you don't vote, this
touches both. But think about
what this touches for the person
that doesn't vote, but
responsibility, "Having a legal
duty to prevent commission of
the offense and acting with
intent to promote or assist its
commission, he fails to make a
reasonable effort to prevent
commission of the offense." He's
guilty. DAVID: Mm. KENNETH: Just
as guilty as the doctor that
performed the abortion. So,
George, let's get into these
party platforms-- GEORGE: Okay.
KENNETH: --right now. GEORGE:
All right. KENNETH: And--and
talk about-- GEORGE: Let me do
this first. I want to pray for
the people. I want to pray for
the people that we were just
talking about, those that are
not in faith; they're fearful,
they're confused, they're
angry-- KENNETH: Good. GEORGE:
--about where the nation's
going. So let's agree over them
right now. We're going to pray
for you. We're going to believe
God with you right now that you
will vote this year, and you
will not be afraid of what's
going to happen to this nation.
Father--before I pray, though, I
believe I've got a word for you.
In these last two weeks of the
election, stop watching the
news. Turn it off. Turn it off.
All they are out there to do--I
don't care who they are. You
know, there was--I'll tell you
something. There was a
conversation of--that a person
was having about their--their
daily devotion with God. And
this one individual said, "Well,
I watch Fox every day." Yeah.
And so Fox is just like any
other network. They're looking
for ratings, they're looking for
advertisers, they're looking for
money. They're doing the same
thing. And all of them create
drama. They create, and
they--they have the background
music like--like you would see
in any movie, to support all of
that. And Terri and I have come
to the place-- KENNETH: It's
show business. GEORGE: It is,
it's show business. And Terri
and I have come to the-- DAVID:
And while they are more
conservative than the others,
they're not biblical. KEITH:
They are not nonprofit. DAVID:
That's right. GEORGE: Exactly.
KEITH: They are "for profit"
businesses. DAVID: You know,
and if you're going to make
conservatism your standard,
that's the wrong standard.
Biblical is your standard.
GEORGE: Yes. DAVID: And they're
not biblical. GEORGE: Yes.
DAVID: They may think
conservative in some areas, that
doesn't mean they're biblical.
GEORGE: So the word--the word of
the Lord here is, "Stop watching
the news. Turn on BVOVN. Watch
it all the time. Feed your
faith. Cleanse yourself of
what all is going on out there
politically. Cast and roll the
care of our nation over onto the
Lord." Father, in the name of
Jesus, we pray over each and
everyone watching right now.
And, Lord, I thank You. I thank
You that You have not given us
the spirit of fear, but of power
and of love and of a sound mind.
And we roll the care of this
nation over onto You. We roll
the care of Israel over onto
You. We roll--we do not carry
that care. But, Father, we look
to Your Word, we look to You,
and we believe that there is a
new birth for this nation. We
believe that what You started in
this nation You are going to
complete. And we take hold of
our faith right now. KENNETH:
Yes, yes. GEORGE: We get ahold
in our faith in the midst of
this. KENNETH: Yes, we do.
GEORGE: And we believe that this
nation, the United States of
America, shall fulfill
everything that she was called
to do. Now, we take-- KENNETH:
That's key. GEORGE: --our stand
on that now. And we roll the
care, the fear. And we stop the
anger. Stop it. We are not mad
at people. We realize where the
spirit of division comes from,
and it comes from the devil
himself. So, Father, we thank
You for that. We trust in the
Lord with all of our hearts. We
lean not to our own
understanding. And, Father, we
look to You for this election
time. In Jesus' name-- KENNETH:
Amen. GEORGE: Amen. Amen, amen.
DAVID: And I'm glad it's
something that-- GEORGE: Please.
Please. DAVID: --and it leads
into the platforms. The thing
that I'm hearing from so many
people is that neither of these
major presidential
candidates--and we have a bunch
of non-major ones as well.
But neither of the major
presidential candidates fit the
mold of the character that you
want in office. You know, I'll
agree with that, because Exodus
18:21 says that you're supposed
to choose "able men that fear
God, men of truth, hating
covetousness." I've used that
standard. It's pretty hard to
say that they fit, either one of
them fit that standard of what's
there. So what else can we go to
in the Scripture? Well, we can
go to many occasions in I and II
Samuel, I and II Kings, I and II
Chronicles. For example, Yahu,
Yahu was the leader of Israel.
He only did one good thing in
his entire life. A prophet went
to him and said, "Take care of
Ahab and Jezebel, that
abomination's got to be taken
out." It's only the thing he
did. He did nothing else. He
went back to the sins of
Jeroboam, the--who founded
Israel, the--all. But that was
what he was told to do, and he
changed the direction of the
nation by getting rid of the
seed of Ahab and Jezebel.
There's other kings that were
specifically raised up to do one
thing, and that was it. And so
their character wasn't great.
And by the way, I will say that
in this Christian climate today
that we have, if I go through
Hebrews 11, the faith hall of
fame, there is not anybody in
there that we would choose to
office. If I was running the
opponent's campaign-- KENNETH:
Most of them couldn't get--be in
good standing in a church.
(Laughter) DAVID: They couldn't
make him into a deacon. I mean,
you take-- KENNETH: (Laughs)
DAVID: If David--if David, out
of the Bible, is running on the
other side, and I've got--I'm
running the ads against him, I'm
going to run the ad that says,
"He's an adulterer." KENNETH:
Yeah. DAVID: "Oh, he killed
Uriah." KENNETH: Yeah. DAVID: He
can't keep his kids under
control. Adonijah and Abs--are
you kidding? There's no way we
would elect David, and yet look
what God did for a nation with
David. KENNETH: Mm-hmm. DAVID:
And then you've got Noah in the
faith of hall fame. But, of
course, he's got a problem with
getting drunk with his kids, so
I'd make an ad out of that for
sure. And then you've got
righteous Lot. I mean, we're
told rot was--Lot was righteous,
but, oh, man, that sleeping with
his daughter thing, that--you
know, that's got to be a
problem. So, you know-- KENNETH:
(Laughs) DAVID: So why is it
that God uses things that don't
match our standard? KENNETH: And
then, of course, is Rahab the
harlot. DAVID: Oh, absolutely.
KENNETH: Oh, my goodness. DAVID:
A prostitute? KENNETH: Oh, my
goodness. DAVID: And the line
of--the line of Jesus came
through--oh, my-- KENNETH:
(Laughs) KEITH: Mercy, mercy,
mercy. KENNETH: Mercy, mercy,
mercy. That--that--I'm glad you
said that because that's what
we're dealing with. DAVID: Yeah,
that's right. That's right.
KENNETH: We're dealing with his
mercy, yeah. DAVID: So we've got
to--our biblical view, what we
consider our biblical view, is
so narrow that you've got to
look at all the other things God
is doing in the Bible. Biblical
view has got to be built on the
whole tenor of what the Bible
has. And if you get fixed on a
verse that their character
doesn't match, "I'm not voting."
Well, you've just--I mean, why
not take a Bible, tear out
Hebrews 11? Let's tear out I and
II Kings and I and II Chronicles
and I and II--let's tear out
most of the Bible, because most
of it has character problems as
well. But God somehow still used
them-- KENNETH: Mm-hmm. DAVID:
--to do good things for the
nation. Even if you want to go
to, "Let's elect a Babylonian
Persian king like Cyrus who's
not a God guy," who still did
really good things for Israel,
or Nebuchadnezzar, Babylonian
pagan guy, and God called him,
"My servant, Nebuchadnezzar."
You know, there's times God uses
people that don't have the
character or the faith or
anything else to do things that
help God's people in the end.
And since we can't see the end
from the beginning, that's
why we say, "I'm going to vote.
God's going to tell me which to
vote for, and it may not be the
one that I think." As you
pointed out, it may be against
everything I want to do, but I'm
going to listen to God and vote
because he knows the future. And
maybe we need this guy or this
gal or whoever it is right now
to do something that I don't
know is coming. Maybe that's
exactly--we don't know. But, I
mean, that's where we've got
to have faith in God every day.
KENNETH: And that's a big
statement, too. You don't know
what's coming. DAVID: That's
right. KENNETH: God does. And
He's looking for somebody
that'll do what He tells them to
do-- DAVID: Mm-hmm. KENNETH:
--even if they don't know it's
Him telling them. But they have
a--they--they have a tendency to
follow what they get. DAVID:
Mm-hmm. KENNETH: And we're in
that kind of--we're in that kind
of place today. KEITH: I know
I--two Sundays ago--of course,
when this broadcast is shot,
it's a little--which is a little
bit before two weeks before the
election--the Lord had me
minister on race, police and
black men in America-- GEORGE:
Ah. KEITH: --to our
congregation, and then to
the--distribute it to all the
churches that I'm responsible
for across the country. And one
of the first things the Lord
said to me was, He said, "I want
you to take a look at things
from My view." Okay. Well, we
tend to look at things this way.
DAVID: Mm-hmm. That's right.
KEITH: His view is this way--
GEORGE: Yeah. KEITH: --and
obviously far wider than
anything we can--we can come up
with. And the first thing
that He dealt with me about was
looking at the battle that's
going on. Satan's trying to do
everything he can--(Clears
Throat)--excuse me--to grab hold
to the souls of men. And the
Lord was showing me America's
place today in the world and
what He's doing with America.
And, of course, most of the
money that comes from preaching
the Gospel comes out of America,
most missionaries come out of
America, most of the revelation
of the Word comes out of
America. I mean, God's using,
still, this nation more than any
other on the globe. So, well,
how would Satan destroy this
nation? Well, Jesus said, "A
house--house divided against
itself cannot stand." KENNETH:
Cannot stand. KEITH: So you tear
it up from the inside, okay?
GEORGE: Yeah. KEITH: And he uses
the spirit of division, which
I've heard Brother Copeland
minister on before. Praise God.
And that's how you do it, inside
out. Build a great anger. As you
said, no middle ground; black
and white, all the other stuff
concerning it. And this election
is a lot bigger than just the
stuff that is inside here, the
United States. Now, I don't
propose to know--you're the
prophet. I don't propose to know
future events that are coming.
The Lord let me know this
election has a lot to do with
future stuff that's going--
DAVID: It does. That's right.
KEITH: --going to happen. And it
could be over one issue. I mean,
it could be over Israel, it
could be over whoever. But the
first thing He cautioned me
about was to teach our people,
the ones I'm responsible for--
GEORGE: Mm-hmm. KEITH: --about
not just getting caught up in
the stuff that's going on so we
won't miss the message on
the--on the whole nine yards
about the race and police and
blacks and all the other kind of
stuff. Point I'm making here is
that this election, the seed you
cast here is far beyond what you
think you understand or see.
GEORGE: Interesting. DAVID:
That's right. GEORGE: Yeah.
KENNETH: Now you go back to the
platform. KEITH: Yeah, yeah.
KENNETH: Because they're--in
praying about this, I--I said,
"Lord, tell me what is so
important about that platform
and my inquiring of the
platforms and so that I know
what's in there." DAVID: Mm-hmm.
KENNETH: "Why is this so
important to me?" People are
saying, "Well, you know, they
don't pay any attention to the
platform. And like that-- DAVID:
That's not true. KENNETH: Like
that, the Lord said, "I do."
DAVID: That's not true. That's
right. KENNETH: I know it--I
know that part's not true.
DAVID: That's not true. KENNETH:
But what I hadn't stopped to
consider-- DAVID: What God--what
God told you is right. KENNETH:
He--he very deeply considers--
DAVID: That's right. KENNETH:
--these platforms. GEORGE: Yes.
KENNETH: He reads it. DAVID:
That's a covenant they've made
with-- KENNETH: Yes, it is.
DAVID: --the people and with
Him. KENNETH: It is a covenant.
DAVID: That's right. KENNETH:
And--and you're--if you go in
there, "Well--well, now, here's
what I think, Brother Copeland.
You know, the Democratic party
is more like the New Testament
than--and--than the Republican
party," and so forth and so on
and so on. Well, how do you know
that? Have you looked into it?
Have you read the platform? What
does God say about this
platform? So-- DAVID: This
is--this is the fine print in
your contract. You sign a
contract for a house or anything
else-- GEORGE: Oh, that's good.
DAVID: --there's fine print
there. And this is part of the
fine--so you sign a contract,
"I'm voting this party or that
party, or I'm not voting,"
that's part of the print that
you're taking in, and you're
making yourself part of. You're
affiliating with whatever. And,
you know, here's the Republican,
here is the Constitution party,
here is the Green party, here is
the Libertarian party, here is
the Democrat party. You better
read it. KEITH: And-- GEORGE:
Yep. Wow. KEITH: And some people
say, "Well, they don't pay
attention to the presidents once
they get elected. They do
whatever they want. They don't
necessarily follow the
platform." And that's true. They
don't necessarily follow the
platform at all. But, the
platform is a statement of the
grassroots organization, where
that organization stands--
DAVID: And where they're going
to try to move it. KEITH: --even
if--yeah, even if the titular
heads of the-- DAVID: That's
right. KEITH: --parties don't
necessarily follow the platform.
KENNETH: And you're not just
voting for president. KEITH: No.
It's the--it's-- KENNETH: You're
voting for governors, you're
voting for people that have
more--actually more effect on
your life. Judges have far more
effect on your life-- DAVID:
That's right. KENNETH: --than
the president does. DAVID:
That's right. KENNETH: And
you're--not just Supreme Court
judges. I mean, they-- GEORGE:
Yeah. KENNETH: You could--there
are constables that have effect
on your life, and you don't even
know who they are. DAVID: That's
right. These two things right
here, these are the two big--big
party things. This is not for
this election. This lasts for
four years. GEORGE: Yes, it
does. DAVID: This is the
position they hold for the next
four years. It tells you the
policies they're going to pursue
in Congress. It tells you what
they're going to do at the state
level and what they're going to
do at the local level. This is--
KENNETH: That's not--that's
what's so big about it: The
local level. DAVID: And I will
point out, as I read the
Republican platform, it does not
even mention Trump once, nor
does it mention--does it mention
Clinton once. The names aren't
there because it's not about
them. It's about what they
believe and stand for as a body.
Over here, they mention Trump
some, but this is about what
they believe and stand for as a
body. This lasts for four years.
GEORGE: It's we the--it's we the
people. DAVID: This is what we
the people in these two parties
are going to try to do with the
nation and-- GEORGE: Yes. DAVID:
--the states in the community
for the next four years.
KENNETH: You know where I
first--you know where I first
got so upset with this? I had
a--somebody gave me a copy--it's
a big coffee table kind of book.
But it's a copy of Harper's
weekly from 1860 to 1865, just
before and just after the civil
war. And in there, it runs the
Democratic party platform, and
it runs the Republican party--
DAVID: That's right. KENNETH:
--platform, which was based
almost completely on abolishing
slavery. I mean, that's-- DAVID:
The original Republican party
platform, the first one, is
1856. I own the original.
GEORGE: Hmm. DAVID: It has nine
planks in it, total. Seven of
the nine are abolishing slavery,
giving equal civil rights,
making sure that race is not a
distinction of any benefits or
detraction from them. The 1860
platform I also have, Republican
and Democrat. They're side by
side. KENNETH: Now, that
one--there was a platform in
the--this is what really made
me so mad. I just--one of the
planks of the Democratic party
platform was to return slaves
that had gotten into a free
country. And here was the phrase
that-- "After all, they are
private property." DAVID: Right.
KENNETH: Boy, I mean-- DAVID:
That's the Fugitive
Slave--that's the Fugitive Slave
Law of 1850. And in 1857, you
have the famous Dred Scott
decision. KENNETH: Yep. DAVID:
And that Dred Scott decision,
abominable--but it said that--it
says that blacks are property,
and then it says that no black
has any right which a white is
bound to respect. Blacks have no
rights at all. Whites have
no--you don't have to
respect--now, that decision,
that Dred Scott decision of the
U.S. Supreme Court in 1860, the
Democrat party gave out a copy
of the Dred Scott decision with
each platform to say, see, the
Supreme Court showed that we're
right here. These guys are
property, and you have to
return property. If you steal
somebody's car, you've got
to return it. If you steal
somebody's slave--wait a minute.
I mean, now, that--that's an
abomination, but that's 1860.
And I've got the Dred Scott
decision. They were printed in
New York. And they--they gave
them out with the platform of
1860. And you tell me that
that's not important,
that a platform doesn't
tell you where a group of
people are--sure, they do.
KENNETH: Yeah. DAVID: And
it's--they still do today.
KENNETH: They do today.
DAVID: They still do today.
