Assalamualaikum my dear respected viewers and thank you for joining us for this special two-part episode dealing with the governance of Imam Ali, peace be upon him. The governance of Imam Ali represented a return to the governance of justice, which had been established by the messenger of Allah Muhammad, peace be upon him, but diverted from its course by the tyrants and oppressors. However, as the Prophet had famously said, Ali was with the truth and the truth is with Ali. And we have a great number of prophetic narrations similar to this. How then could the government of the truth be anything other than the governance of divine justice as well? Indeed, this is one of the fundamental things that separate a true Islamic society from all others before and after the advent of the Holy Qur'an. One of the most important aspects by which any society may be gauged is its justice. In the Holy Qur'an, Allah Almighty says in part of Surah Al-Hadeed, verse 25, certainly we have sent our messengers with manifest proofs and we sent down with them the book and the balance so that mankind may maintain justice. We see time and again in the examples of Imam Ali's blessed life, both during his temporal rule as well as before it. He was always the living embodiment of this concept of divine justice. Thus Imam Ali, as reported to have said, justice is the lifeblood of the law. First and foremost, we see that Imam Ali applied the strictest form of justice to himself and the way in which he abstained from material luxuries and other benefits in which many empower today and throughout history indulge. Thus, even when we examine his lifestyle which no amount of power could change, we find that he once remarked about his home furnishings, we had nothing but an untanned sheepskin upon which Fatima and I would sleep at night and upon which we would feed our camel by day. What ruler can we point to in the world since this time who lived by such high-handed principles? What kind of leader today truly leads by this sort of example? In this episode, we will, inshallah, be examining the example of leadership set by Imam Ali, peace be upon him, including the foundations he laid that others might follow his example in the future. Joining me in this episode is Dr. Hasan Abbas, an academic and a professor in a Washington D.C. based university. As-salamu alaykum, Dr. Hasan Abbas. Thank you very much. It is a distinct player for me to be here. It's a spiritual time and a spiritual city and I couldn't expect anything more. Thank you. It's a pleasure to have you, Dr. Abbas. Let's start with the first question here, Professor. Would you please provide us with a brief introduction about the theory of leadership and good governance? Certainly, the way the different political systems worked, especially in the post-World War II scenario, which we call the modern state, it is linked to the system of government and leadership is all about accountability. Leadership is all about in a representative system or democratic system. It means the leadership comes out of the people. People decide who are the leaders and leaders in turn are accountable to people. That's the somewhat ideal model. We have other states which are both more monarchical or which are more autocratic or dictatorial where some families or some individuals rule and in those cases the model is different. But in the modern sense, the most acceptable, popular, or legitimate system of government is where leadership is accountable and unstable to their people and the idea of state, which I want to mention very briefly, the idea of good governance is linked with the idea of the services that state provides, where the state provides institutions of justice, where state provides institutions for law enforcement, where state provides about resources for healthcare education. So any state which provides good justice, healthcare, education, a proper law and order system and criminal justice system, these states are seen as the ones where there is good governance. All those states where all these resources of health education are restricted, these are states which are elitist, which are maybe autocratic, only some tribes, some ethnic groups get benefit, there we, in international standards we would argue it's not good governance and wherever, where a majority of people get good resources, good support from the state, that is what the good governance is all about. Thank you Dr. Abbas, it seems that Islam has experienced different models of leadership and governments throughout its history. How do you consider the position of Amir al-Mu'mineen Ali ibn Abi Tanib and Islam's tradition of leadership and governance? The idea of leadership within Islam and of that of political system is a very critical question. I would argue the way Islam as a religion was different from other religions, let's say Judaism or Christianity was, that in Islam the prophet of Islam Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam had come up with two models. One was about individuals, about their relationship with God, about spirituality and another one was about a state, how government or state is run, his time in Medina especially after Muslim state was set up, the foundations of a state was set up, the way the prophet had taught others was, in terms of how Islamic state will provide services, whether these are religious or these are political or these are economic, that was the model. Then I will come to the model given by the caliphs and especially Azat al-Ali alaihi sallam. However, I must mention here that afterwards where major empires were established, for instance Safavids in Iran, Ottomans in Turkey, Mughals in South Asia, Fatimids in Egypt and in part of Africa, all these empires had different models, Abbasids and Umayyads had different models and we had seen some of the troubles which were provided by all these. So these were all different forms of government or different ways in which leaders let the government. The way Azat al-Ali alaihi sallam led his government and established I should say his government was in some ways very unique and very different, why? Because it was not family rule, it was very clearly mentioned, it was unlike what Umayyads did, what Abbasids did, what all the other main empires did because in all those cases there were either families or some strong tribes which were governing. And when you have a tribe that rules, it is the interests of that tribe that are predominant. If you are Ottoman and during in the Turkish era, all those who are the close extended family of the Ottomans will have first right in terms of education, in terms of any facilities that state provides. So where I would place Azat al-Ali alaihi sallam's government system is very different from all those which is exactly in line with what the Prophet of Islam had said, which had two principles. One, it was the ordinary people who elected and who requested Imam Ali, please come and take over. There is no other comparable example in the first four caliphs for example. I would argue all the four caliphs were very important, they were close to the Prophet of Islam. The Imam Ali was the only one because in other three cases either it was personal nomination, Azat Omar was nominated by Azat Abu Bakr. The third caliph was nominated by the second caliph, it was a personal choice, I am nominating somebody because I like him. Or in the first case it was a tribal decision, Azat Ali's case was the most popular case because the ordinary people said a lot has gone wrong in the state. We don't have justice, we don't have spirituality and they requested and begged Azat Ali, please come and take over the government. So that is number one, principle number one, Azat Ali became caliph not because of any favor from any tribe or not from a favor from a person who said please you are my friend and my relative, please come and take over. It was because people felt that they needed Imam Ali as the leader. Why they felt that that's my second question because his credentials were above everyone else. Everyone knew that he is the exact copy of the Prophet of Islam sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. In his morals, in his character, in his attributes, in every major way or every major feature of his personality, he was the exact reflection of the Prophet of Islam sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. That's why people trusted him, they trusted his judgment. These were the two most important features of Imam Ali. Yes, Professor. Imam Ali peace be upon him was both an educator and a practitioner. Do his insights and theoretical ideas on leadership and good governance correspond with what he's done as a governor and a political leader? I think this is a very important point for me to emphasize that Imam Ali alaihi sallam was on one hand not only a scholar and a great scholar and an educator but at the same time he was a great practitioner who believed in implementing what he meant and what he taught. Often in the modern world we have categorized these things that such and such person is a scholar. Often we mean well he cannot be a good political leader because he's a scholar or when we talk about a politician we say such a person is a prime minister or president, he's a very good politician, he understands how to implement things but he is not a religious scholar, he doesn't know. Imam Ali was the culmination of the excellence of these two ideas and Imam Ali had established that you cannot be a good leader unless you're a good scholar and you cannot be a good scholar unless you have the knowledge and the skills to implement what you are talking about. In terms of his knowledge I think two quotations are sufficient. One by the hadith of the Prophet of Islam sallallahu alaihi wa sallam saying, if you ever want to enter the valley of knowledge the gate is Ali. Imam Ali himself sitting on member and saying, please ask me before I am no more among you. And another of Imam Ali's quotations is, I know the ways of the skies and the heavens better than the ways of this world. So Imam Ali's knowledge is not only political or social, it is spiritual, it is divine in ways as well and all that he had gained his knowledge is directly attributable to the Prophet of Islam. He was the one which people often forget Muslims and I have travelled around the world and I asked this to many people and discussed this and I am often surprised how little knowledge is available about Imam Ali globally and I am not talking about any sectarian area I am saying globally. They don't understand mostly that Imam Ali his knowledge was greatest because he had spent the best time with the Prophet of Islam. His teacher was the Prophet of Islam and he was his most favourite student if you make all that. So Imam Ali's teachings as I mentioned were about all issues of religiosity but his political messaging or his knowledge about politics, all you need to do is read one book which is Nahjul Balaga and actually within Nahjul Balaga if you don't have enough time please read one letter to Malik Ibn Ashtar and I have done some work on that and I can tell you as a political scientist. Now I am talking about as a PhD in political studies and political science and that's what I teach and I am looking at all the works of modern political scientists about the political theories about the great philosophers of the West from Plato to Aristotle to Socrates to Ahab and Montesco and other great scholars. What Imam Ali had mentioned about political science about policy issues is also in many ways unmatched because the principles that he gave are the ones which have been talked to us by the great scholars in all various different traditions. For instance Imam Ali's central message was when it comes to policy issues was it is directed towards people. I have read Imam Ali's messages again and again and he's always concerned about the ordinary people. I'll give one example to Malik Ibn Ashtar. He was saying Malik Ibn Ashtar was appointed as the governor and Imam Ali said to him on some days you should invite the people in your office and tell all the government officials the bureaucracy that please go out of the room because maybe that the ordinary people have complaints against those bureaucrats and if they are scared what if I say something wrong about the police chief or the commissioner or whatever name you want to give them and they are scared and they don't say it. So Imam Ali said it is the well-being of the ordinary people which is the dearest to me. This was the principle of his policy. I'm just giving one example. I'll go to the other part of the question as a practitioner when he became the caliph, the fourth caliph of Islam and as the first Imam I would argue he implemented all that he had said over the years. During the time of 25 years of the first three caliphs it's a very important question Muslims at times totally forget that before after the time of the prophet of Islam and before the time of his caliph the first three caliphs times was about 25 years. What was Imam Ali doing? Where was he? Was he traveling? There are many actually cases of that we know now that he traveled around the world. There for instance my question to my audience is why people in Afghanistan there's a place called Mazar Sharif. There's a big shrine. All the Muslim majority of the Muslims believe that Imam Ali is buried in Najaf. I also believe in that. But there's some people who believe that Imam Ali is buried in Mazar Sharif. Why they think so? Who was there who's buried there? One interpretation is that Imam Ali had gone to Afghanistan. He had preached there during those 25 years before he became caliph, came back. But people were so much out of love for him that when Imam Ali left they said where is he gone? And they built a small place for him saying oh he died, here he is just because they wanted association with him. I travelled from the Pakistani mountains to the Afghanistan side and I was taken to a small mosque called Ali Masjid, Ali Mosque. It has a big stone which has a sign of a feat of Imam Ali. What is the story about it? Imam Ali had gone to that mosque. So what I'm saying is Imam Ali travelled around the world. If you look at all the great mystics and Sufis who as we know all the great mystics they believe that they get their inspiration from Imam Ali. What is the first message of the Sufia? Travel. So Imam Ali must have travelled a lot. The point I'm making that his knowledge was not purely academic from books and what he had learnt. It was through travelling. He met, he travelled around the world. He learnt different languages. He talked to people in different languages. Then he came back and became a caliph. When he became a caliph he had the wisdom that he had learnt from the Prophet of Islam. He had the wisdom that he had learnt through the first three caliphs times because frankly like first three caliphs were human beings they committed many mistakes. Imam Ali was constantly advising all the three caliphs. Whenever there was a second caliph who once said oh if Imam Ali was not there I would have been a dead man. Indeed because Imam Ali saved the three caliphs from committing many of the mistakes. The same is the way the third caliph Imam Ali had sent his own sons by saying please rescue him because he has committed mistakes and people are after him and we don't want people to blame us. So Imam Ali was acting as a practitioner even during the time of the first three caliphs. Whenever the judges in the times of those caliphs will commit mistakes everyone will call on Imam Ali please can you guide us what is the message. So when Imam Ali became the caliph then he implemented his ideas of justice, his ideas of equality, his ideas of the well-being of the ordinary people. In this sense he was a climax and a combination of an educator and a practitioner. Thank you for that professor. The commander of the faithful peace be upon him built the intellectual foundations of an ideal government for the future. What were its key elements? Another great question. I think the central principles I had previously as I had mentioned number one is that a leader has to be popular among the people. A leader cannot be enforced because if that would have been the case God would have appointed angels to be the leaders so that everyone is on the right path. God had to send 124,000 prophets because that was the time of teaching and when the Imamate began it was the time also of the implementation of some of those great messages. So Imam Ali the first message was well-being of the ordinary people and Imam Ali was always saying one of his first messages was he had said that I am on this seat because I am answerable to the people. This is I am paraphrasing what Imam Ali had said I am more concerned about the plight of the ordinary person. For example I will give you an example after he became caliph he went out and he saw a Christian person who was being who was in rags and who was in a very old and he was not in a good position and he was begging people for food. Imam Ali stopped him. Imam Ali called all the people who were there and said so this person when he was young you used him as a laborer you utilize his services now that he is old and he cannot earn for himself. You have left him to beg he said no state will provide everything to every person. Another example some very important people came to Imam Ali when he was a caliph these I will not name them these were some people who are very close to the third caliph and they came and said Imam Ali we have come to you to ask our right you are giving everyone their right and so we have our own right. Imam Ali said what? They said we used to receive stipends our onrarium and where is that Imam Ali at that time switched off there was a candle lit he put it off and used another one and they said why are you doing it he said because this candle is being paid for by the state finances. You have asked me a personal question you have a personal issue because you are receiving special stipends so you are here to talk to me about a personal issue I cannot use the candle that is given by the state. So then Imam Ali explained to them well you have no right to get that stipend because you were getting it as a part of a certain powerful tribe for me everyone is equal I will give you money the same amount which I can give to any poor person on the road so I don't have it for everyone at this time so please thank you very much don't ever come back to me with that question that was a second principle no one is above the law everyone will commit a crime in some cases Imam Ali as a caliph went to the court for witnesses so it is about people about accountability it is about the justice system and third and most important thing Imam Ali even at that time and you had talked about the model the model was that the officials of the government have to be the most honest and competent it is not that I if I am Hashemi I give recruitment to every Hashemi who is living in that city and this is a message for today this is a message for Iraq this is a message for Iran this is a message for Saudi Arabia they have to look in within the Muslim states of Bahrain or every Muslim country are you giving jobs only to the people who are from your tribe or from your sect or from the political opinion that you believe in no when you are leading you are uncivil and responsible for everyone every ethnic group every tribe that is the message of Imam Ali and he had shown it and that's why I said his message of governance is very very relevant to the present times even more to the this time than to his time professor I'm sure our dear viewers are curious to know this next question the answer to this next question what are the most important elements of Amir al-Muminin's ideas of economic affairs there are four or five very important points and I'll briefly look at my notes here as well I have five examples to give you because often people think that Imam Ali and other imams all that they were talking about was only about religion or only about politics no they were as much interested in the economic well-being and taxation system taxation we often think is a modern idea in many states for example I live in United States and I can tell you that I can do anything but if I'm not going to pay my taxes whatever I'm doing I'm a great scholar maybe I'm a member of the parliament if I'm not paying my taxes I can land in jail and when I see the modern taxation system I see this is and I read Najul Balakha I find that all this modern taxation system the principles of this system were actually given by Imam Ali so five examples number one some there was a small war so when people came back from that war it was this was the time of Second Caliph and they had said the Second Caliph said oh we have won over many lands let's distribute those new lands into army generals because they are the ones who won that and they called Imam Ali and Imam Ali said don't do that ever Imam Ali said give the land to the farmers because if you will start giving land to the army they will start fighting to get more land so that they get more land smart idea he was saying we need more land because to have more agricultural produce farmers are the ones who can create more vegetables who can have more of the crops so this is the right of the farmers very smart thinking it was not religious it was not political it was purely economic secondly Imam had said that in each his quotation that is my second example is about trade and industry he specifically advised administrators that they should live in major towns and cities now this is also very important thing because major towns were the hubs of economic activity so Imam Ali wanted all the smart in this all the smart businessmen to move to major hubs of economic activity this again is not normally mentioned in many cases a third example is about how Imam Ali advised his people to deal with taxpayers Imam Ali had said to his officials that when you go to ask for taxes just knock at the door of a person request them to go out don't question them about their taxes outside their homes take them away from their homes so that their people don't get scared that oh the state functionaries have come and they are trying to to misbehave Imam Ali said to the tax collectors do not touch the property of Muslims or non-Muslims you can request them for their tax if they don't pay on the first Ukrainian be lenient and just don't argue with them I'm amazed at the details of what a tax collector should do within Imam Ali's statements one other issue that Imam Ali was very specific about and this is directly linked to economy is about tax collection and use of zakat and this the prophet of Islam sallallahu alaihi wa sallam had also said that the zakat if everyone gives zakat then there is no need and there is no imbalance in society because those who are rich and wealthy are giving their share for so that those who do not have those opportunities also get basic necessities of life so it is not like in the modern day some people have houses with which are ten floors and others have no roof to sleep under and they are sleeping outside on the road this inequality is directly opposed to the message of Islam and that was the economic side of messaging there has to be yes there will be some houses which will be better than the others but for some people to have luxurious life and for the others to be on the streets this is directly contradicts the message of Islam and that's what Imam Ali had also specifically mentioned one other quotation that I just want to mention is about hoarding and black marketing and Imam Ali they were certain people linked with agriculture who would hoard large amounts of food items and would keep those so that the prices go up and they produce those in the market this was strictly forbidden during the times of Imam Ali these were just some of the examples to explain that Imam Ali was not his message was not only about religious issues it has very important economic implications as well. Thank you so much for that Dr. Hassan Abbas now for the last question it seems that Imam Ali's system of leadership and good governance is based on ideas about the essence of the government as well as the personality of the governors. How does the father of the Imams and Miram Muminin peace be upon him connect these two criteria to each other. Imam Ali had done this by selecting those people at governors who had the best reputation as honest and the examples are very clear for example about Maavir most of the problems that Islam faced and including of course the great tragedy of Karbala by Yazid we have to go a little bit back and see who had appointed Yazid Maavir who had appointed Maavir one of the esteemed Caliphs and why was he appointed because he was a very important political leader Imam Ali had challenged the first thing he did was to challenge Maavir by saying you are not the legitimate Caliph or governor because you are using this office of the governor for your own personal prestige for accumulating wealth and expanding your own sphere of influence so Imam Ali's concept of governance was linked to honest and capable people and there was a third criterion the third criterion was knowledge unless you are scholarly or unless you are educated you cannot be a good governor and I will close this point with one great quotation of Imam Ali who somebody had said to him what is the qualification to become a leader and Imam Ali said to him service to humanity prepares you for a leadership role he never said service to Muslims service to the tribe of Hashemite service to the people of Medina he said service to humanity if you are good to human beings and you are scholarly then you are eligible to be a good and important leader. Thank you so much for your information on those questions Dr. Hasan Abbas we thank you so much and we look forward to see you in the next episode. Thank you so much it's a great player and honor and I wish the best of luck to Imam Hussein TV. Dear respective viewers we have reached the end of the first episode of the governance of Imam Ali Peace be upon him here on current events. We wish to see you in the second episode which we will discuss in depth the governance of the commander of the faithful. We thank you dear viewers for watching and we thank our dear guest Dr. Hasan Abbas for joining us. Wassalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.


Happy New Year's, hopefully you guys have enjoyed the holiday weekend, but we are back for another Q&A and if you guys did not have the chance to leave your question, just put a comment down below and I'll answer for you guys. Ebra Magic, hey Frank, I always wanted to know which cosmetic surgeries are ranked from safe to unsafe and which are unacceptable. Hope the best for your future, stay strong. As we said in the BBL video last week, I have no problem with doing a surgery for something you can't change, like for me it was my double jaw surgery, I had Lasik eye surgery, there's so many things that are reasonable that will make people happy, but if there is something you're considering doing, you want to reach out to the surgeons or doctors and get a consultation and just get a better idea of what the recovery process is, what the surgery involves and then it can get a little intricate of okay, if there's metal or screws involved, you got to get there removed later, how permanent is it, there's a lot of factors that can be answered after speaking to the surgeon that's very subjective to the surgery. A boogle, for those of us who have limited access to the sun, what can be done and what would you suggest to best help with that situation? Certain kinds of lights, lamps, supplements, et cetera, really the only thing you can do is go to a tanning bed, solarium, sunbed, whatever they call it in your country and depending on how healthy you are, it might be a little difficult because the actual bulbs and the UVB from the bulbs is not what's dangerous, it's the magnetic electric fields from the bed which are very, very high powered as you can imagine to bring electricity to all of those bulbs, maybe we'll do something in the future when I have a better living situation and I'll build something myself, but maybe tanning once or twice a week in the bed is what you can do because the supplements, especially vitamin D, can only take it so far. Jimmy Beiner, hello Frank, I know this is generally off topic but I would like to pick your brain on this topic, question, I've recently been interested in purchasing a sauna for heat therapy, sweating, increased heart rate to stress, relax, I'm in a small, one bedroom so really the only realistic option would be an infrared sauna, after loads of research I landed on radiant health saunas being the lowest in EMF, ELF, body voltage, however I feel like infrared light is extremely understudied and there's really nothing out there I can find describing any long-term negative side effects from using this therapy. I mean we did a video on hot and cold therapy and it's one of those things where yeah if you have everything else in your lifestyle in check, the diet, the radiation, the sleep, the exercise, then maybe you can consider doing that as a little extra, but I mean for me just going outside right now and taking a 10 minute jog is going to give me far more benefits than sitting in a sauna for an hour or two ever will, at least that's my perspective, I think it's kind of overrated just sitting there sweating, VG, Frank, can you add all the videos on Best Burger Reviews into one playlist? You know what surprises me is that most people don't actually know I did the burger review channel, but what is it you have to like watch the videos individually it doesn't let you just, well maybe I'll fix that later I'll take a look at it, Joan, Frank I've heard a lot of people recommending vitamin C in a form of supplement, what's the difference of just drinking lemon juice for example. So I tried like organic fresh squeezed lemon juice every day and I mean that's expensive and unrealistic for most people, but it really messes up your teeth like the lemon juice is so acidic it corrodes it, I can't imagine doing that once a week let alone every day so that leaves me to believe that that's kind of an unnatural thing to do and just higher anti-scorputic value is something we need because of modern diet and environment and there have been a few people recently leaving comments like oh you should use camo-camo or acerola powder instead of ascorbic acid and there's a reason I don't use those anti-nutrient flavonoid content kind of disrupts the point of the ascorbic acid the anti-scorputic properties you're getting so from everything I've seen just the plain vitamin C supplement is really the most reasonable thing to do although I might try some lemon juice more in the future and see how I feel. Thomas Zieba, what is the primary cause of high ferritin, high B12 and low folate? Do you think it's worth to have a low ferritin for longevity? So a lot of blood markers aren't really that accurate I mean they can kind of give you an idea of certain things but what's to me more effective for gauging B vitamin status is you take them individually which we have now on organ supplements and you can see how you feel you know if you take a B1 or a B3 and you don't feel much of a difference but then you take a B9 and you feel a lot better that can kind of give you an idea of what you're deficient in but depending on the diet your organ status the nutrient balances environment it's really hard to say what's causing it and low ferritin for longevity it's not like something you should try to get it's something that we would naturally have if the liver is working properly like for me I haven't had to donate blood for months and months and months now my ferritin naturally stays low even though I'm eating meat every single day you know about a year ago when I did that the ferritin would slowly creep up creep up creep up creep up but now it's sort of regulating and the ferritin isn't going up anymore so if you are having fluctuations in the ferritin level that's an indicator that you know you have to still fix the diet and stick to it the wood smoky do you have any recommendations for how to treat arthritis thanks Frank you're the best so someone usually asks a question in each of these Q&As where the answer is an overall lifestyle overhaul so I would ask the person hey is your diet similar to what I've been doing have you reduced the wi-fi EMF with shielding clothing you know are you sleeping are you grounding are you taking certain minimal supplements but for arthritis specifically and each of these nuanced diseases yeah there's certain things that you might notice a pretty effective difference if you start doing them whether it's getting a lot of sun you know really being out there and tanning for a few hours every single day taking vitamin k2 taking magnesium so I would definitely consider those few supplements possibly more on a Thursday afternoon happy new year thoughts on alcohol as an antimicrobial digestive that's a little ironic because usually alcohol is what causes candida overgrowth in a lot of people so the liver has to process the alcohol then if you're eating sugar with it then the sugar just sits there and the candida overgrows so it's pretty bad and you know since I might be leaving New York soon I tried to go to a few restaurants just to kind of get out for once in my life and when I would have like a lot of alcohol and sugar I noticed that the candida got really really really bad so as an antimicrobial alcohol is not effective digestives which are like alcohols and the cures that have a lot of really bitter herbal roots I mean to me those are terrible for your liver when we did the video on which alcohol is the best for me those were the worst but maybe in someone that's healthy with a functioning liver they can kind of stimulate some bioproduction if it's like the only alcohol you're having and a very small amount but if you're trying to heal your gut the only thing that's alcoholic you should be having would be water keeper and the probiotic content offsets that John Surgey what do you do for your nighttime routine to get a good night's sleep do you supplement to help sleep no I don't the circadian rhythm is big but what's more important than that is the the wi-fi shielding stuff so I sleep in like a triple bed canopy I make sure there's no EMF whatsoever and then what's also important is a few hours before bed you want to make sure your head is shielded so if you're using your phone wear a head cover make sure that you know if you're not active if you're not moving around if you're just like sitting on some high wi-fi device if you do that right before you try to go to bed you might have a hard time falling asleep INTJ can you explain why when you're bodybuilding you still maintain a lean physique even though you were eating over 3,500 calories is there any other factor why you didn't gain fat except food quality I don't really think my calories were that high when the food quality is you know organic and everything is really good then it's pretty much impossible to gain weight I mean if I was going to start eating like high-quality organic cookies and really trying to stuff myself maybe I would gain weight but my liver function wasn't really high enough to digest the foods that well on a Thursday afternoon video idea beef vitamin and mineral profiles of different meats like beef pork chicken and gay meat for the most part all meat is kind of high in beef vitamins there's not much fluctuation between them and if there is it's dependent on the the diet of the animal so that's that's a little redundant and if you're trying to address specific beef vitamins you really want to supplement them Kathy would you rewrite your book and include more foods yeah honestly I just don't have the metal energy you know I think I've set up before at this point I mean years ago like two three years ago with the youtube revenue actually being okay before I was like kind of suppressed I expected to have like a video editor or camera man to be able to do a lot of the stuff on youtube for me and just take a lot more workload off of me but that hasn't happened yet so I just haven't had the mental energy to do a book and or the the funds to hire a writer to to help me out with it Marduk would you recommend a theoretically perfectly healthy person your current diet protocol to follow long-term to maintain health or would suggest allow any changes so you probably would still want to follow it for I would say two years and then you can say okay since I'm perfectly healthy now there can be deviation so you said perfectly healthy person well that doesn't exist and there's probably some degree of damage that does take time to recover from so it's a safe bet that you know if you invest two or three years on this diet now and then kind of stick to it like I mean I envision myself on this diet for the most of the rest of my life and then maybe when I'm healthier and better I can deviate and cheat from it to some degree for periods of time so haven't gotten there yet though and vel plays sleeping with my head on a millimeter wave five grams of wi-fi box I don't think you're going to be sleeping if that was the truth Greg Hill can you make a video on metabolic flexibility please so I'm assuming this means something like you could follow different diets or do different things and you'll be fine but your metabolism how you process food how you feel how you really everything is dependent on the environment especially the emf the wi-fi radiation the foods you're eating your organ health status you know how healthy are you in general it's universal between humans what we react to it's just different degrees of damage and environments can change how we react to certain foods so I don't I don't believe in theories like that average Joe if all you could drink was spring water or distilled water which would it be and why well you can just call up the water company you're purchasing from and ask where the water's from and that will answer your question you know if the distilled water is just tap water run through distiller that's not that great it's still full of chemicals and antibiotics and hormones and stuff and spring water if it's actually from a spring then the main downside is you know it's in plastic and how high quality was that spring and why is he exposed thus on a cryotherapy red light therapy in sauna I think we covered the hot cold therapy earlier as well as in a full-length youtube video the cryotherapy to me like just take a cold shower you know it's expensive you have to go there I think just taking a cold shower is the same effect and then the red light therapy is just to me ridiculous compared to reducing the emf radiation those are kind of three big things that have become popular that aren't actually fixing the core health issues they don't want you to know about the wi-fi emf they don't want you to know that you have to eat organic food they're just giving you bs solutions so they can make more money it's all about them selling you these expensive cryotherapy treatments these stupid red light setups that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and the sauna isn't really pushed as much as the other stuff because they don't make as much money on it grim tano I've been taking msm for hair health growth are there any supplements I can take are you going to come out with hair supplement my diet is basically the same as yours except I eat mostly elk and beef so I would say you might be eating too much protein I would try a diet leaning with more carbohydrates and probiotics to help digest those and see if your hair growth improves also the the emf is very important for that there are a few supplements I wouldn't take msm because it's you know sulfur based and that can deplete molybdenum so you also might want to mess around with some some of the minerals we have like a whole range on organ supplements.com for you I'd say definitely magnesium definitely molybdenum maybe the other stuff too the guitar guy guy how much liver would you say is a good amount to consume for a healthy person with no issues most people coming from a stands in american diet are incredibly vitamin d and vitamin k2 deficient and there is usually adequate vitamin a in the stands in american diet so most people don't have to eat liver for a very long time they have to balance out everything else first you know they need a few summers worth of sun they need to fix their gut health and be replenishing k2 randall oland what are your thoughts on longevity supplements like resveratrol nmn and nan plus david sinclair is trying to get the fda to ban them so he can patent it and sell as prescription only I mean this is a blatant money grab and it goes back to the negatives and positives where it's far more important to remove the negatives than to add positives you know if the building's burning down you're not going to talk about renovating the bathroom that's kind of what these people are trying to do it's ridiculous if you understand the context of nutrition but most people don't conventional wisdom has our brainwash people for the most part justin towers can you please do a video on detox I see way too many people claiming detox can be done in a few days lol yeah I mean we've definitely covered it broadly in many many videos but I don't think I've done a video no didn't we just do it yeah the video wasn't titled detox but I think I did something where I was doing like a two-year health update recently or I went really in depth on what the detox is how long it takes so maybe I can do a simplified shorter version of that focusing slightly more on the detox part Jeff bro what could be the cause of ear ringing and is there a fix yeah I think the radiation because I've noticed that sometimes for me so if you're not sleeping particularly in a low emf environment you definitely want to do that first wifi shielding.com guys true health and living thoughts on short-term veganism for heavy metal chemical detox from mandatory you know what's not no the vegan diet is not good for any sort of detox because usually it's high in flavonoids like really colorful fruits and vegetables so I mean if you just ate brighter potatoes all day you might be detoxing but that's not what a typical vegan diet is winning what foods can I eat to make my feet grow bigger I thought this question was a little silly I don't know if the dude is into feet or if he has like embarrassingly small feet either way dude no one's looking down at your toes besides your boyfriend or girlfriend so someone left a comment like oh you can take growth hormone like yeah then your heart's going to grow too and all your other organs are gonna grow it's like if you're like young you're still a teenager you still have growth potential but if you're an adult you know certain body parts are not going to grow anymore Graham thoughts on shilajit I should probably do a video on this specifically but you know we have the mineral supplements on organ supplements for a reason if shilajit was legitimate I would be doing it I've heard a lot of negatives about the metals and the toxic things that can be in it you know it's not just minerals it's a whole bunch of other stuff as well it's basically like eating black tar I think it's very very bad and just because there's minerals in it doesn't mean they have a high bio availability if it was some sort of miracle thing a lot more people would be taking it and feeling a lot better on it I'm not a fan of it but maybe we'll do a full in-depth video on that shabir I live in the Netherlands and only eat halal meat but there's no organic halal meat here what part of the animal is the best would lean part of veal be good yeah I mean the beef and the veal is usually a pretty safe bet sticking to the leaner side should be perfectly fine I would definitely avoid the pork in the chicken while you muslim halal doesn't eat pork but I would definitely avoid the chicken and and stick to the beef reveal Roxanne blood work and hormone replacement for women to elevate weight gain so it's an overall lifestyle and dietary change that will improve your body composition so you don't want to do specific things you just want to make sure that you're at baseline with everything and then it's going to correct itself you know if people are following you know the diet I've been doing if they reduce the wi-fi emf if they exercise a little bit they're going to look a lot better feel a lot better and get healthier there are blood markers and you can look at your hormones but those are things that'll correct over time yeah maybe you might have to donate blood to reduce ferritin maybe you might have to supplement certain things maybe taking like beef ovary glandulars is going to help you temporarily for a little while but eventually after a year or two you should be feeling a lot better and getting to some normal function where you don't have to be as hands on jay slick twisted I want you to touch on if kidney beans are a good diet for your kidneys I'm assuming the reason they call them kidney beans is because they look like kidneys but you want white beans like cannellini beans navy beans because whenever there's a color in the bean that that is an indicator there's a compound in there that the body has to process so the butter beans navy beans cannellini beans white beans are your safe bet if you want to include beans as a fiber source in your diet we've been doing like a white bean puree on my pasta recently I've had that in my diet for a little while just for the added fiber but that's it for the Q&A guys as I said earlier just leave a comment down below if you have a question and I'll answer it but you guys can go to frank-to-founder.com if you want to check out and support me through my businesses Frankie syringe meat Frankie syringe foods organ supplements wi-fi shielding Frankie's naturals we got all unique products guys and we're coming out with new stuff on a weekly basis I'm kind of branching out to more brands and things that I don't necessarily have the capability to make myself a product I enjoy so definitely check that out but as always if you guys could drop a like on the video leave that comment down below subscribe to that youtube can unsubscribe you next week and be sure to check that notification bell so they don't notify you of my videos I'll see you guys soon


Hey, it's a match made in heaven. My name is India and today I'm going to show you the beautiful friendship between two nations, Israel and India. Israel is one of the smallest countries in the Middle East with a population of nearly nine million people. India is one of the biggest countries in the world with a population of 1.38 billion people. But what brings them together? Well, they began their relationship in 1950 after India officially recognized Israel as a nation. The friendship really took off after this historic moment in 2017, when Prime Minister Modi became the first Indian Prime Minister ever to visit Israel. There are more than 85,000 Jews of Indian origin living in Israel. And Israel is thankful that Jews have never faced persecution in India. Many Israelis travel to India after they finish their mandatory army service. This is the reason why the cultural connection between India and Israel is so rich. And my so many Israelis love India. Now I have a couple of leaders I would like for you to meet. Namaste. I'm Sanjeev Singhla, India's ambassador to Israel. I'm Dr. Ron Malka, the ambassador of Israel to India. Israel is our strategic partner and a trusted friend. India and Israel are precious friends. As the people of India and Israel come together embracing each other's culture, we see that the deep connection between Israel and India is rooted in the strong friendships between Israelis and Indians. And as someone with Indian heritage, I am proud to say that Israel and India stand together. Here's to 70 years of friendship. Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time.


So the Gospel according to John chapter 7 beginning in verse 14 ending in verse 24 Bible says now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught and the Jews marveled saying how does this man know letters? having never studied And Jesus answered them and said my doctrine is not mine, but his who sent me If anyone wills to do his will he shall know concerning the doctrine Whether it is from God or whether I speak on my own authority He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory But he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is true and no unrighteousness is in him Did not moses give you the law and yet none of you keeps the law Why do you seek to kill me? The people answered and said you have a demon who is seeking to kill you So jesus answered and said to them i did one work and you all marvel Moses therefore gave you circumcision Not that it is from moses, but from the fathers And you circumcise a man on the Sabbath If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the law of moses should not be broken Are you angry with me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with a righteous judgment This is the word of god. Amen. Amen. Let's take a few moments in silent prayer Ask the lord to prepare our hearts to hear a word from him this morning. Let's pray Father in heaven Lord, we come to you this morning in prayer as your people called by your name And pray lord based entirely in the finished work of our great god and savior the lord jesus christ Thank you lord Thank you for your mercy and your grace in christ Thank you for his shed blood Thank you for his perfect life God, thank you for the work that he now does interceding for us. God. Thank you for your spirit That intercedes for us even in our prayer god with groanings unable to be uttered God, thank you for this time together to study your word. Thank you for the truths contained in this passage Lord, we acknowledge our need of you now lord.  We pray amen. You may be seated Our sermon title this morning is judge according to truth Judge according to truth and it comes from our text in john chapter 7 Versus 14 through 24 where as we continue from last week We're basically going through our study Or our treatise on unbelief. Here's we've looked at the end of john chapter 6 and now into john chapter 7 We've seen many glorious truths about the lord jesus christ as the lord is revealed in the gospel And that's the purpose for john's writing that he might be revealed as the christ as the son of god So that those who would come to believe upon him in saving faith would have everlasting life But here as john the evangelist in his gospel Displays truth about christ. He's revealing to us at the end of chapter 6 and now into chapter 7 a study or a portrait if you will of unbelief of hard-hearted depraved unbelief and Knowing that at the end of chapter 6 into chapter 7 that now as we progress through the gospel this unbelief This response of the jews the response of the crowds Just going to grow more and more and more hostile and Eventuate finally in the crucifixion of the lord jesus christ But that hostility doesn't end there. It's it's tragic and at the same time amazing But that hostility just continues and we see that same hostility today. Don't we? In many cases, it's not that the hostility could increase any more Given their own way many a depraved man would see christ crucified But that hostility more and more today as we progress just being brazenly demonstrated, you know that which we would have thought would have been scandalous 50 years ago just Overtly sinful 50 years ago now is just accepted as mainstream today And just that sin that rebellion that hard-hearted defiance of god's law Hard-hearted defiance of the lord jesus christ becoming more and more brazenly and rebelliously displayed today Than it ever has been we're reminded that we in our time are not without our own hostility without our sin against god No greater tragedy No greater ignorance no greater rebellion than to think on the fact that Mankind in his depravity wallows in the filth of his own sin While christ extends a hand of free grace and mercy for them to be saved It's just a tragedy we have to remind ourselves in going through this passage that john chapter 6 john chapter 7 and these examples of unbelief Written for our admonition the written for our example We're to take lessons from this and not respond as they did We're to see this hard-hearted unbelief and we're to respond differently Our only hope if you are to be saved If you're to go to heaven when you die your only hope is found in the revelation of jesus christ our lord We're to put our faith and trust alone in christ alone to save us so we can be in heaven with him when we die Just as they did just as they were confronted here in john chapter 7 with the facts of the gospel Just as they were confronted with the facts of who jesus christ is what jesus christ came to do They had to make a judgment on those facts and decide for themselves You and I here today are no different Judge with a righteous judgment. You're presented with the facts from john's gospel of who the lord jesus christ is He's made audacious and staggering claims. He claims to be god in the flesh We're not to take that lightly You this morning have to contend with the lord jesus christ And you have to make a judgment for yourself just as they did. Is he merely a good man? A good man would not Engender this kind of reverence this kind of respect this kind of marvel. Is he simply a good example to pattern your life after? That good man might not make any demands on your life or is he lord Is he god incarnate your creator and does he have the right and authority to rule? Judge according to truth judge according to a righteous judgment The lord's call to you this morning is that you would make a sober judgment about him The purpose of the gospel of john is to reveal Jesus as the christ so that if you believe upon him, you might have everlasting life Make a judgment about the lord jesus christ this morning. Will you believe him? Will you follow him with your life? Will you turn from your sin? And listen with the intent that you won't stay as you are That revelation his word is to bring about a change in you It's to bring about repentance. It's to bring about faith So judge all things according to the truth of god and allow his truth to Transform you the last week as we began this passage working verse by verse by verse through the gospel of john We looked at verse 14 at the content of truth The lord jesus christ went up to the temple in jerusalem the middle of the feast of tabernacles To teach in the temple and we looked at our context to determine what he taught What is the content of truth and we know here That both the lord jesus christ taught the truth and that that truth is comprised of the very words of god Sometimes just it's marvelous to think about that that in your lap in your hands You have the very words of all mighty god That you can learn of him That you can know him That you can know what you are to believe what he expects from you how to live for him And all just the joyous truth of the mercy and grace of god in christ You have the very words of god in your hands It's a glorious glorious blessing. That's what jesus taught when he went up into the temple that day He taught the truth of god And we looked at the content of that truth, but this morning now beginning in verse 15 I want you to see the source of that truth. Where does that truth originate from in verse 15 in john chapter 7 The bible says this The jews marveled They marveled saying how does this man know letters having never studied And jesus answered them and said my doctrine is not mine, but his who sent me They marveled they marveled the people were always marveling at christ. He is marvelous People today marvel at christ It says throughout the new testament they were astonished at his teaching Amazed at him if you remember the men in the boat with him in matthew chapter 8 Marveled at him that even the winds and the sea obey his voice right those who Were there when he was confronted by the Pharisees and matthew chapter 22 over paying taxes They marveled at his words The economy of words the the gracious words that came out of his mouth the arguments that he presented jesus christ is omniscient Of course they would marvel amen They marveled at him And to them just a carpenter Just a simple minded galleon, you know from out in the sticks like juliota They marveled at him a marveled at the words that came out of his mouth certainly The words that he taught caused marvel the knowledge that he had caused marvel here in verse 15 They're marveling over his knowledge having never studied But in addition to his words You can't separate the words of the lord jesus christ from the person of the lord jesus christ And as much as they marveled over his words They marveled over him and we're to marvel over him as well If he were just another man teaching just another truth He might engender respect but not marvel Those that teach islam some imam Teaching out of the koran might engine well, maybe not it might engender respect But he's certainly not going to engender marvel from the people when you teach the doctrine of Mormonism Or you teach the doctrine of buddhism or hinduism or any other ism It may engender respect, but it's not going to engender marvel What engenders marvel is the lord jesus christ and the words of the lord jesus christ that have their source in god almighty Many have marveled through the centuries over both the truth and its source they marvel at the lord jesus christ You may hear a great ceo Teach about leadership and you might get something from it, but it's not going to cause marvel Zig ziggler a great salesman. It might cause respect, but it's not going to cause marvel The lord jesus christ is marvelous amazing astonishment Timothy says great is the mystery of godliness that god Was manifest in the flesh. These are the words of god incarnate. These are the words of the lord jesus christ Hebrew says god who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets has in these last days Marvelously spoken to us by his son whom he has appointed heir of all things through whom he also made the worlds Who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power When he had by himself purged our sins He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high Having become So much better than the angels He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they it's marvelous Worthy of marvel the wonderful works of god the wonderful works of the lord jesus christ in saving a people to himself redeeming wicked sinners like you and i From cover to cover in the bible He just causes marvel The new testament full of marvel at the revelation of the lord jesus christ You know one of the tests One of the tests that this is the word of god And that this truth comes from god almighty. One of the tests is that it causes marvel We have the words of god And this is no light manner you think about the scripture that we've been given 1500 years 40 different authors Perfectly harmonizing together. It's marvelous. This is not written by man This is god breathe holy men spoke as they were moved along by the holy spirit and it is marvelous This is the truth of almighty god This is a test that it's god's words. They are marvelous There's only two issues two options two options available There's that which comes from man And that which comes from god that which comes from god is marvelous That which comes from man has the stench of man all over it, right? You read some of those texts you read some of that doctrine and it's just Man's wickedness man's feeble imagination Right man's feeble wisdom. It is the wisdom of this world the wisdom of the rulers of this age But it is not and obviously not the wisdom of god The wisdom of god causes marvel But it's interesting here in john chapter 7 verse 15. Who is it in this passage that is marveling right now Or is it believers is it the disciples? No, it's the jews and again, we're introduced to that phrase the jews Represents the opposition against christ the scribes the Pharisees the sanhedrin those that were opposed to him They are marveling the opposition those who are seeking to kill him It's those hard-hearted rebellious people that are marveling at the lord jesus christ And isn't it interesting to note From this that those unbelievers those Stealed in unbelief are here marveling at the words coming out of the lord's mouth Marvelling at the teaching of god the source of that truth being from god himself and yet they remain in their unbelief We can marvel at that can't we It's astounding who jesus christ here the lord jesus christ More perfectly than anyone could ever conceive or imagine Preaching the truths of god work god's word and yet there are those in hard-hearted rebellious unbelief in opposition to him seeking to kill him That causes marvel too You'll hear they're marveling at his knowledge They're not just marveling at his knowledge, but they're marveling at his wisdom knowledge applied And in their eyes, he's just an upstart from the sticks out in galilee He's never studied with a rabbi They thought of themselves. We're the academics Right. We're the intellectuals. Who is this upstart from galilee? He's never been with a rabbi. He's never been through our schools He's not been through our system. How does he know these letters having never studied? They couldn't figure him out And we remember from luke chapter two at age 12 in the temple He caused marvel didn't he when he went in and they were amazed astonished at his understanding and at his answers They couldn't figure him out dropped down into chapter seven to verse 45. Look at 40 45 quickly They're in that same chapter chapter seven The Pharisees the scribes had instructed the authorities to bring him in We're gonna question the lord jesus christ bring him in we want to see him and they wanted to kill him And look at 45 the officers Came to the chief priests and Pharisees and they said to them Why have you not brought him? And the officers answered no man ever spoke like this man They marveled at his teaching. They were fearful of the people to bring him in it caused marvel They marveled too And yet remained in their sin Should cause marvel in you and I today shouldn't it The son of man Came into this world to give his life a ransom for many Should cause marvel For wicked sinners like you and I To redeem sinners to himself that the lord of glory Stepped out of heaven Took on the mud of this earth the mud of our existence Walked this earth for 33 and a half years Suffered and died allowed himself to be spat upon allowed himself to be mocked Allowed himself to be scourged and crucified Bore the wrath of god on the tree for three hours in the place of sinners Should cause marvel It's marvelous that the tomb was empty Marvelous that he was raised from the dead Marvelous that he is ascended marvelous that he now provides intercession for his people Marvelous that he's coming back and coming back to judge Should cause marvel Great marvel we marvel don't we at the power of the gospel to change a life That you go from loving the things of this world and hating christ To loving christ loving his word and hating your sin A wondrous marvelous transformation That you love the things that you once hate hate the things that you once love that you hunger and thirst for righteousness That same one that used to hunger and thirst and make provision for your sin It's glorious the transformation the power of the gospel to change a heart to change a life There are many today the preaching and teaching of god's word that wants to strip the gospel from its power to change you And it's a radical transformation We marvel at the power of the gospel to change the heart We marvel at the power of god to take out that heart of stone and to replace it with a heart of flesh To plow up the stony ground of a wicked sinner's heart and replace it with a soft, furl heart that's Ready for the implantation of god's word, right? peter and john if you remember In acts chapter three heal a lame man And in acts chapter four there before the sanhedrin giving a defense Of the sanhedrin in chapter four verse 13 said this when they saw the boldness of peter and john And perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men They marveled and realized that they had been with jesus Those who've been with jesus are changed amen Think about your own life, right? If you're in christ There's been a work of grace in your heart that you can't explain other than the fact that god has done it And he's done it based in his grace and his mercy in the lord jesus christ Based entirely in all that the lord jesus christ is and all that the lord jesus christ has done And is done on behalf of those at the same time who were enemies of his by their wicked works It's marvelous We have to remember that if we're ashamed of him and his words He'll be ashamed of us before the father We're to glory in the lord We're to marvel at the lord. We're to praise and worship the lord We're to proclaim his truth If you don't believe upon him This lord the lord of glory your creator If you don't believe upon him for eternal life put your faith and trust in him turn from your sin Then you will marvel at your own hard-hearted unbelief for all of eternity You will marvel at your own condemnation. You'll marvel at the terror of hell And acts paul quoting the lord says this behold you despisers Marvel and perish He says for I work a work in your days a work Which you will know by no means believe though one were to declare it to you Even that is a cause of awe But that which is from god always causes marvel Back in john chapter 7 jesus explains this in verse 16 In verse 16. He says jesus answered them and said My doctrine is not mine But his who sent me So jesus answers the jews Who in verse 15 were just dismissing him out of hand? They dismissed him who is this guy never studied. How does he know letters? They just dismiss him in disrespect And so he answers them in verse 15 and says the source of all this truth Did not originate with me alone It originated in heaven with god and he's saying basically that both i he's claimed to be from god to have come down from heaven And now the source of this truth is not from him originating on the earth It comes from god also my doctrine is not mine the lord says but his who sent me jesus answers those who were dismissing him This didn't come from man in other words. This is not the wisdom of this age Nor of the rulers of this age who are coming to nothing This is the wisdom of god in a mystery paul says the hidden wisdom which god ordained before the ages for our glory The natural man can't even receive this doctrine the bible says that this is foolishness to him. It's foolishness to him This truth didn't come from man. It is god breathe and holy men spoke as they were moved by the holy spirit jesus says This truth did not originate with me alone. I've been sent In verse 16. It is his who sent me I am the word and i've been sent there are many who take a look at this passage and believe that jesus christ before the sanhedrin Or before the authorities here was merely trying to shirk responsibility Before his enemies wasn't willing to accept responsibility that he was shirking it with this statement It's precisely the opposite Jesus christ has claimed to come down from heaven has claimed to be the son of god to have been from god Now he's claiming that this message his words are from god He's claiming precisely the evidence precisely the opposite. He was claiming himself to come from god as well So now as we've considered the content of this truth. We've looked at the source of the truth I want you to see next here a test of this truth. The lord is claiming That this truth comes from god How do we know that how do you know whether or not the truth is from god? Jesus christ in verse 17 gives us a test of truth A test of truth and it says there in verse 17 If anyone wills to do his will He shall know concerning the doctrine Whether it is from god or whether I speak on my own authority One test of the truth is this the person that truly And diligently faithfully fervently from the heart Who desires to do his will? That person will know that the doctrine is from god That's important. Let that sink in for a moment the person that truly desires And seeks to do the will of god It is that person that will know Whether or not the doctrine is from god a test of truth then is expressed by godliness If the doctrine is from god Then it is a doctrine that accords with Godliness that's right. That's what the bible teaches If the doctrine is from god, then it is a doctrine that accords with godliness If the doctrine is from man, it will produce ungodliness It's a test of the truth. There are many doctrines being produced today By people in and out of pulp. It's all around the world that are producing Ungodliness that is not from god that which comes from god is the truth that accords with godliness You call yourself a christian and you're living in ungodliness. That's not a doctrine that comes from god That is a lie from the pit of hell The doctrine that comes from god is that doctrine which accords with godliness now the scribes and Pharisees Had just dismissed him out of hand in verse 15 for not being intellectual Basically for not being academic like they were for not having gone through their system right their schools of thought But now in verse 17 Jesus is now rebuking them And listen to this now. What are you saying here in verse 17? You can't get to god Merely through your intellect You can't get to god merely through academics Those that draw near to god are those that fervently faithfully desire to seek his will. Do you get that? Here the jews not really interested in doing his will. We'll see that more in a moment They're not really interested in seeking god in that sense They're interested in their intellectual pursuits their academics And so they couldn't recognize the truth that the lord was preaching here They may have drawn near to him with their mouths. They may have honored him with their lips But their heart was far from him. They weren't earnestly And faithfully seeking god's glory.  You're going to seek to apply it You're not going to be arguing about what it says. You're not going to be arguing about what the bible teaches You're not going to twist it to your own destruction if you're humbly Seeking to do his will People often exhibit this kind of arrogance this pride today, right? They memorize entire books of the bible and they live like the devil at home They study and study diligently study doctrine and then in pride use that study to be divisive among god's people In pride they place themselves In the position of a teacher when we're all students of god's word amen When you go to them in love They're self-willed Self-indulgent they're not interested in the will of god and so they don't recognize the truth of god That you're bringing to them and they're gone That's the way that we need to approach the truth from the very beginning a deep Desire to live for the lord a deep desire a hunger and a thirst for righteousness Do you see the difference? Do you see the difference between that approach to god and that vain prideful empty intellectual academic approach to god Is it good to understand god's word and to learn amen? But you can't that that's not where it ends That knowledge that wisdom from god should lead you on to greater Feats of righteousness for his name a greater understanding of his word is going to sanctify you and cleanse you It's going to lead to holy living. It's going to have an effect in your life It is not merely Knowledge for the sake of knowledge. It is information for transformation It's a transformation. This is the information that will change your life if you'll let it This is god's word If you approach it like this, this is god's very word in my hands Knowing that this is god's word.  This is a blessing for you if you're in christ Resolve it in your heart and mind to seek to do his will The key to beginning that if you're here today and have not done so The key is first understanding Exactly what god intends by what he says And then humbling yourself and applying that to your life When you do that god will lead you into truth Earnestly desire to do his will. Where do you start? Where do you start? You start by first admitting and acknowledging what god's word says about you What's god's word says about your condition? You have to admit that apart from the lord jesus christ, you've never done anything according to the will of god The bible says that even the plowing of the wicked is what? sin sin Apart from the lord jesus christ, you can't do anything to please him apart from the help of his spirit You can't do anything that he wills for you to do But if you will begin by acknowledging what the scripture says about you what the scripture says about your condition And earnestly seek him when the bible says when you seek him with all your heart, you'll find him Desire to do his will set about to do it How humble yourself over your sin How do you become humble over sin you cultivate a humility over your sin by reading god's word? By seeing you revealed there on the pages of scripture By humbling yourself over your sin Cultivate a marvel of the lord jesus christ and what he has done to save wicked sinners It is astounding that while we were yet Sinners the lord jesus christ died for the ungodly Cultivate a marvel from christ. How do you do that? How do you cultivate a marvel of the lord jesus christ all that he came to do all that he is? By reading his word by seeing christ revealed on the pages of scripture Think on what he has done to redeem your wretched soul and place your faith and trust in him to save you Trust him Believe in him Commit yourself to him Then when you've placed your faith in christ Be willing to cut off your hand and pluck out your eye Be willing to leave everything behind to follow him He does not give up all that he has cannot be my disciple the bible says Leave everything behind to follow him The bible says Blessed are the intellectuals No, the bible doesn't say that the bible says blessed are the poor in spirit, right Blessed are those who know everything No, it's blessed are those who mourn Blessed are the hard hearted in the self-willed No, blessed are the meek Blessed are those that hunger and thirst to be right No, it's blessed are those that hunger and thirst for righteousness Here the jews weren't doing any of that The jews quote-unquote Weren't doing any of that They had set aside the commandments of god and here they were teaching as doctrine the commandments of men In teaching the commandments or the traditions of men, they're making the word of god of no effect They weren't interested in the will of god at all Paul says seeking to establish their own righteousness. They did not submit to the righteousness of god Here they're raising objections over the competence of the lord jesus christ as a teacher and he's Exposing their incompetence as hypocrites Their incompetence with respect to the will of god i want you to see that i want you to see what they're doing Go with me to mark chapter seven mark chapter seven Mark seven gives us insight and do exactly what the Pharisees and scribes were doing here What's the basis of their error? Mark chapter seven. I want you to drop down with me to verse five mark chapter seven Begin looking at verse five Here they are. This is the crew. This is the jews so to speak the Pharisees and the scribes And they ask him in verse five Why do your disciples not walk according to the law of god? No, the tradition of the elders But eat bread with unwashed hands So he answered them verse six and said to them Well, did isiah prophesy of you you hypocrites as it is written This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me and in vain They worship me teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. Here it is in verse eight I want you to see what they're doing verse eight They first they lay aside the commandment of god verse eight For laying aside the commandment of god you hold the tradition of men The washing of pitchers and cups and many other such things as you do First step lay aside the commandment of god They weren't interested in the will of god as much as they were interested in their own glory And so what do they do they lay aside the commandment of god When you lay aside the commandment of god doesn't just sit there. It progresses look at verse nine So he said to them all too well now look at it. You reject the commandment of god They lay it aside and then they reject it all together Simply not going to pay attention to it any longer And they reject the commandment of god in order that they may keep their tradition. Do you see that? You start teaching as doctrines the commandments of men pretty soon the the word of god becomes of no effect You lay aside the word of god you reject the word of god in lieu of your own Traditions, why is that why do they do that? pride They do that because of pride they seek their own glory They don't seek the glory of god. They desire to do their own will They're not earnestly seeking to do the will of the father look at verse 10 For moses said Honor your father and your mother and he who curses father and mother let him be put to death And it's interesting contrast verse 11, but you say We let that never ever be said of us That what is written on the pages of this word that we teach and we preach what is written in the word of god And it's not a but you say here's the word of god says But you say god, please protect us from that wickedness verse 11 But you say if a man says to his father or mother whatever prophet you might have received from me is korban That is a gift to god Then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother verse 13 and here it is They have set it aside. They have rejected it. They have replaced it with their own traditions and verse 13 They make the word of god of no effect through their tradition that you have handed down and many such things you do That's what the Pharisees and scribes had done here They had laid aside god's glory in the truth of his word for their own commandments. Why? It's because of pride It's pride the great obstacle to truth the great obstacle to your salvation is pride I want you to see that in verse 18. We have looked at the content of truth We've looked at the source of that truth We've been given a test of that truth from the lord jesus christ himself I want you to see the obstacle of truth in verse 18 The obstacle of truth he who speaks from himself the bible says back in john chapter 7 He who speaks from himself Seeks his own glory But he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is true and no unrighteousness is in him I think for a moment on this. This is an observation It's an axiomatic truth that the lord is placing before the scribes and Pharisees so that they can judge according to a righteous judgment They can judge according to the truth and they know from this example What's right and what's not okay? The great obstacle to truth from verse 18 is pride And the jews quote unquote can see it just like we can today. It's pride There is the truth of god And the feeble wicked imaginations of men. That's our two propositions, right? The truth of god and the feeble imaginations of men men Either speak from themselves Or they speak from god If they speak from themselves, they're after their own glory Here's what I believe Here's my opinion here are my thoughts on the subject I think the people of god need to hear this and so i'm gonna go to the word of god I'm gonna pull out from the word of god all I can find to support my premise These are my opinions my ideas That's not speaking from god. That's speaking of your own that's speaking from your own imagination from your own thoughts your own desires It's not speaking the truth of god It's what comes out of the heart of man He either speaks of himself And if he speaks of himself he seeks after his own glory But if he's seeking the will of god the glory of the one who sent him Then he's gonna be preaching god's truth There are preachers in pulpits and so-called churches all over the world today That are preaching from themselves. They're not preaching the truth from the word of god. How do you know it? You know it because they're glorying in themselves. They're seeking their own glory, but you know it because it doesn't accord with godliness You look around those churches and they are filled with unrighteousness factories for false conversion You're either preaching of yourself or you're preaching from god We have no business preaching anything in the pulpits of our country, but the word of god They have no business preaching to anyone anything, but what god's word clearly says Then seek god's glory seek that people would follow him that they would put their faith in christ and turn from their sin There are many today The lord says out of the mouth of jeremiah the prophet Of false teachers that from the least of them to the greatest of them many are given to covetousness Right. I saw a news report last week of creflo dollar Calling his his they're not the lord's followers. They're his followers calling his followers quote unquote To send in money so that he can buy himself a 65 million dollar jet Now that is textbook covetousness He's not speaking or seeking the lord's glory the lord's will He's seeking to pad his own wallet and fleece the flock to do it Here's a test of truth in this. He's not speaking for god That's textbook false teacher Those that teach anything but god's word are simply after their own glory There are many that speak from pride. I was reminded of an example from charles spurgeon where charles spurgeon was stepping down from the pulpit And a lady came up to him up to charles spurgeon and said, you know, I think you're the greatest preacher who's ever lived And charles spurgeon said I know that I am Nice lady because satan was whispering in that ear as I was walking down out of the pulpit Whispering that in his ear Just we can't speak out of pride or out of self interest or selfishness or covetousness We can't speak seeking our own glory when you preach the gospel to someone You're preaching the very words of god seeking his glory seeking his worship seeking his praise Seeking that the word of god might find a space for truth in your own heart We teach anything but god's word anything but christ and him crucified We're simply seeking our own glory not god's glory But the person here in verse 18 That is only concerned with the glory of god only concerned with the message that god gives to speak If he's seeking only the glory of god then that one is going to be true We seek only the the glory of god god cannot lie There is no falsehood in him And we'll speak only the truth that one who is true Has no unrighteousness in him. He is consumed entirely with the glory of god He speaks only that which god has given him to speak And therefore he does not lie and he is filled with righteousness his only concern is god and him glorified And he wants to live and preach and speak in a way that glorifies him That's the lord jesus christ here But isn't it true of god's people The same thing is true of god's people when you seek the glory of god you seek to do his will The spirit of god in you sanctifies you and cleanses you and matures you and grows you and slowly But surely conforms you it's the word of god has promised conforms you into the image of christ You become more and more christlike Isn't it an awesome marvelous truth? That one lord would save us Marvelous two that he would employ us in the ministry giving us opportunity to preach his truth to a lost world And that three we can do anything that pleases him considering our sin It is a marvelous Blood-bought truth of the gospel. They were so grateful for Here contrast all of that with quote-unquote again The jews here who are filled verse 18 filled with all unrighteousness because they seek their own glory So it is with all those who don't submit to the truth of god in pride They seek their own glory before men you know Men may not see you for who you really are You may put a good show on before your brothers.  He sees every dark corner. He sees every thought. He sees every intent.  God knows your heart Those who do not submit to the truth of god are self-willed. They're self-indulgent. They're selfish. They're self centered Man-centered not god-centered Are you more concerned about yourself than you are about the truth? You've been put in this position where you could lie To get out from under the truth coming out about you Why when someone brings up the gospel with you are you defensive? Are you argumentative? If you're a known a christian a genuine christian Who didn't like talking about the gospel?  It's why you reject the truth of god and the gospel Because you won't submit yourself to the truth of god job In chapter nine Ask this question. He asks how can a man be righteous before god? If one wished to contend with him he could not answer him one time out of a thousand God is wise in heart and mighty in strength Who has hardened himself against god and prospered the rhetorical answer is no one He removes the mountains and they do not know when he overturns them in his anger He shakes the earth out of its place and its pillars tremble. He commands the sun and it does not rise He seals off the stars. He alone spreads out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea He made the bear orion and the pleides and the chambers of the south He does great things past finding out. Yes wonders without number if he goes by me I do not see him if he moves past. I do not perceive him if he takes away Who can hinder him? Who can say to him? What are you doing?  Will you humble yourself?  It's absurd Apart from seeking the glory of god Everyone seeks the glory of self Outside of christ everyone seeks the glory of self It is impossible It is impossible To seek self and find christ You may have others think well of you in this life They don't see your every thought. They don't see your every imagination. They don't see the darkness in your heart But god does god sees all of it There is no creature hidden from his sight But all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give account There is a day coming In which you will give account the books will be opened and you'll be judged according to what is written in them By your works what is done in the body whether good or evil Those that would judge according to truth those that would judge with a righteous judgment will judge god worthy of glory above all Will judge christ worthy of exaltation Above anything in their lives even their own lives also It's because the chief end of man is to what? Glorify god. That's right. Enjoy him forever His glory Is reflected in our love for him when you come to christ his glory is reflected in your love for his word When you come to christ his glory is reflected in your faithfulness in your obedience to his word There is no such thing as a carnal christian There are those christians that struggle with sin We obey the lord obey his word as a fruit of faith if you are in christ Then a fruit of saving faith is obedience to his word not perfect. It's not perfection. It's direction We obey the lord god His glory will be reflected in your humility and your repentance your lifestyle of repentance It'll be reflect reflected in your ever-growing faith and trust in him It'll be reflected in your preaching of the gospel. It'll be reflected in your testimony before the world Listen when the gospel is preached in most churches, they're producing so-called christians that don't look any different from the world But you are to let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven Seek the lord's glory with your life See the test of that truth we see the Glory of god in that truth, but I want you to see the verdict of that truth The verdict of truth look at verse 19 the verdict of truth 19 says did not moses give you the law Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me? The people answered and said you have a demon who is seeking to kill you It was a tremendous source of pride to the jews That they were recipients of the law the gentiles didn't have it Canaanites didn't have it the malachites didn't have it the hittites didn't have it the jews had it They debate it they study it. They toss it around they teach it. They learn it. They memorize it They glory in it. They pride themselves in it and yet they don't keep it There's a big difference between receiving and keeping and unless you think that's any different then than it is today There's a big difference between hearing and doing Same concept many of those who are hearers Don't do and they deceive themselves Any man who sets out to do his will Finds that he cannot keep it Here far from keeping the law. They're actually seeking to kill him And so in that being recipients of the law they're hypocrites And notice here also the reply in verse 20 comes from the people now not just from the jews I want you to see this in verse 19 the jews Sat in judgment on the lord jesus christ. Who is this man? Teaching these letters and he's never studied not been through our schools not been with the rabbi They sit in judgment of the lord jesus christ here in verse 20 now the people Sit in judgment of the lord jesus christ and as they're listening to him teach and they even go so far as to say that he has a demon So the jews standing in judgment of the lord jesus christ now the people standing in judgment of the lord jesus christ when all Along it's the law of god god himself standing in judgment of them john says they're condemned already And while all the while they're sitting under the judgment of god touting in pride the very law of god that condemns them Paul says this romans 2 Indeed you are called a jew and rest on the law make your boast in god And you know as will you approve the things that are excellent being instructed out of the law And are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind a light to those who are in darkness An instructor of the foolish a teacher of babes having the form of knowledge and truth in the law You therefore who teach another now listen Do you not teach yourself?    You committing adultery in your heart Lust in your heart for another You who abhor idols.  We have the law of god. We've got the right gospel here. We've got the right doctrine here Do you dishonor god through breaking the law? In other words, are you a hypocrite?    No not one. You think you're a good person the bible says otherwise You're not a good person think of the iniquity in your own heart It's what comes out of the heart of man that defiles a man. There's none righteous. No not one There is none who understands. There is none who seeks after god. They've all turned aside. They have all All turned aside. They have together become Unprofitable. There is none who does good. No not one Lord here exposes them as hypocrites and yet they presume to stand in judgment of him for healing a man on the Sabbath See where blind hypocrisy leads Blind ignorance to the heart of the law. You see where it leads They are nat strainers and hair splitters when it came to the truth of god Have no idea what is in the heart of god the heart of his truth Quickly the heart of truth in verse 21 Jesus answered and said to them i did one work and you all marvel. What did he do? He healed the man on the Sabbath Verse 22 moses therefore gave you circumcision not that it's from moses, but from the fathers It went all the way back to abraham right and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath When a male child is born the law says that he must be circumcised on the eighth day What if the eighth day falls on the Sabbath? What then? Well, they would circumcise that young male child on the Sabbath they would do that work to make him and Parents so to speak ceremonial ceremonially clean they would perform that work on the Sabbath so that the child would be ceremonially clean It's a simple ceremony so verse 23 If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath So that the law of moses should not be broken Are you angry with me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? You see the argument there They're busy straining gnats and they miss the heart of god Jesus christ isn't breaking the law here by healing a man on the Sabbath. He is fulfilling its intended meaning from god He's doing that which god has obligated us to do mercy and love Verse 24 so Do not judge according to appearance judge with a righteous judgment Don't judge superficially don't judge without all the facts Don't judge without considering all the positions Don't judge without considering the word of god the whole counsel of god Don't judge according to appearance judge with a righteous judgment based on their practice Jesus calls them here to judge themselves They are woefully superficial. They're not thinking They're not thinking and the fact that they're not thinking being precise with the text of scripture They're inconsistent in their application of the word of god in order to avoid error You must be precise with the text a diligent workman Approved to god cutting straight the word of god. You've got to be precise Here do not judge there is a command. It's an imperative verb basically saying listen stop Judging that way stop judging superficially stop Judging according to your thoughts your beliefs your opinions Judge with a righteous judgment the command there is to judge with a righteous judgment. They need to stop They were guilty of wrong judgment and he commands here a righteous judgment We're to judge according to truth You this morning You're here today and you've never placed your faith in christ Judge with a righteous judgment Be earnest and honest with yourself Don't lie to yourself deceive yourself so you can sort of have your cake with your sin and eat it too The lord jesus christ has been revealed here in john chapter seven judge with a righteous judgment Your heart has been revealed here in john chapter seven judge with a righteous judgment At least be honest with yourself and say listen. I know who jesus christ is I know what the bible says is true.  I just want my sin I mean at least be honest with yourself.  This is a temporary place This is a temporary time and we have Eternity to look forward to praising almighty god praising and worshiping christ free from sin forever. Amen Let's live for him put your faith in him walking trusting him amen Let's pray Father in heaven, thank you lord for this text of scripture Thank you lord for the truth that you've taught here. Thank you lord for the gospel. Thank you lord for jesus christ We're so grateful to you lord for These examples that we have I pray god you would protect us from responding as they did god that you would buy your spirit enable us to judge with a righteous judgment That we might see The horrendous depravity of our own heart our own condition that we might see the excellencies and the glorious Jesus christ a mercy and grace offered in christ that we might turn from our sin Turn from our sin place our faith and trust alone in him to save us Order that you would for your great namesake and dwell us with your spirit causes to walk in your statutes Trophies of your grace for all eternity It's in the blessed name of our great god and savior the lord jesus christ that we pray these things amen