Pastor Allen Bates: A Message of Hope in Troubled Times

Welcome, Patriots, to this episode of Raven's Radar. In today's article, we dive into the powerful transcript of Episode 38: A Message of Hope in These Troubled Times featuring the one and only Pastor Allen Bates. Join us as we explore the profound insights and guiding principles shared by Pastor Bates, a man whose unwavering faith and unwavering resolve inspire both Raven Harrison and countless others.

Episode Summary

Pastor Allen Bates delivers a powerful message of hope and encouragement, emphasizing the importance of prioritizing God in one's life and engaging in prayer for leaders and the nation. They discuss the signs of deception and the need for Christians to stand firm on biblical principles in the face of a world that seeks to challenge and discard moral values. Together, Harrison and Pastor Bates remind listeners of the power that comes from embracing God's truth and living as beacons of light in a world clouded by darkness. With a call for informed action, prayerful discernment, and a commitment to love, Episode 38 inspires believers to make a positive impact and be catalysts for change.

Episode 38 Transcript with Pastor Allen Bates

• Raven Harrison: Welcome, Patriots, to this episode of Raven's Radar. We have a show for you today of biblical proportions. What is she talking about? It's always something, isn't it? It's going to be good. You're not going to want to miss this. If it's in your sights, it's on my radar. We'll be airborne shortly.
• Welcome, Patriots, to this episode of Raven's Radar. Kind of dropped one on you, didn't I? I said it's biblical. What do I mean? It means today we have the one and only Pastor Allen Bates. He's not only just a pastor, he's my pastor. And I think it's really important that Patriots know who inspires the people who influence them. So I'm going to be bringing Pastor Bates on today. But as first, we always do, we gotta get to what's going on in the world. What does the front line look like? And Patriots, what I always say, it's never a shortage of drama, uh, with this, you know, this Administration. It is honestly, it's not even haha funny.
• So what do we have going on? We have they just closed the case about who left the blow in the White House. Okay, you can't make this uh, Whose Line Is It Anyway? Okay, we don't know. You know, Raven, it's just, there's no possible way to know. I mean, it could have been, it could have been anybody. It could have been a tourist. Um, and my personal favorite, we think Trump planted it. You know, could it be Hunter's? That's irresponsible. You know what is wrong with you people? You know, we know it couldn't have been Hunter's because he wasn't there that day. Are you freaking kidding me? That is actually a thing that people can say. Okay, this is literally my kids' "my dog ate my homework." Well, we homeschooled and we don't have a dog. Okay, are you kidding me? I think Secret Service is the only person who does not know whose crack it is. Okay, everybody knows whose crack it is.
• So, in that vein, how are we just closing the book? I mean, literally that investigation took a whole solid five minutes when they found a white powdery substance outside the Situation Room, supposedly the most secure room on the planet, right outside in the West Wing, they found a white bag of cocaine. And that investigation is already closed, yet Trump cut the tag off a mattress and we are still investigating it. You know, they raided, because they raided Mar-A-Lago and Baron's room. They haven't raided Hunter's room, but they have raided Baron's room.
• Okay, looking for documents that his father had the authority to declassify at will as president because they're looking for nuclear codes in Melania's underwear drawer. Are you kidding me? This is a joke, Patriots. It's not even a funny joke. This is what we have to push back on. And notice the word salad that came out of that, uh, going, "We, we won't likely be able to identify the culprit." Won't or can't, okay? They can't, alright? That's because they don't want to. Ergo, nothing to see here, folks. Just a little blow in the White House. Okay, that, just, you know, what's a little crack among friends? It's just. So now this makes 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue the fanciest and most dramatic crack house and nursing home known to man. I digress. Now let's get into the other Ridiculousness. So we've got a new bribery scandal, okay, because it's been a few minutes so days without Biden embarrassing the country. Zero.
• Okay, here we go. So 17 million dollars, now according to this report that came out from the FBI, 17 million dollars, uh, that went to the Biden crime family, uh, mostly to Hunter. He's being paid for that incredible crack-a-doodle art that he's been peddling. But no influence to his father. Here's the most damning part that I want to make Patriots aware of. I've been doing a lot of TV interviews about this, so okay, what is the big deal? People go, "Well, that's just Hunter. The best person Biden knows." Okay, that's just paid to Hunter. Only 10 percent went to the big guy. So 1.7 million dollars. Here's the problem. Joe has famously been on television telling everybody he had no knowledge of what his son's business dealings are, had no knowledge of anything having to do with Burisma and all the money that was coming in, no knowledge of that. Well, this directly conflicts that.
• Okay, this conflicts that. Everybody knows we can do the alleged to make people feel better. You know, Joe is the big guy. He's the big sniffy. He's, you know, the antithesis of Corn Pop. He is the poster child for useless people. And what we have to remember in all of this is, guys, we are talking about the White House, the President of the United States. This should tick you off. This is ridiculous. But we've got a bribery scheme. And now I have to, I want to make sure I get this right because this is my favorite. This is the response from the oversight spokesperson in the White House. I think it is Ian Sam's is the person who said, Wow, I can't. I'm going to paraphrase. "I can't believe Republicans are so eager to go after President Biden when all of these claims have been debunked."
• No, seriously, they really said that. He really said that. He really actually made a claim when they have literally been attacking President Trump since he came down the golden escalators. We have gone through the Russia hoax. We have gone through the Steele dossier to the tunes of millions of dollars for the taxpayer. We have gone through impeachment one and two. We've gone through a Mar-A-Lago raid. We're going through arrests one, two, and pending three on President Trump, still coming after President Trump. And they have the nerve to put out a statement like that. Okay, which means I will just preface by saying they need to make sure they got all the blow out of the White House. Looks like some might be trickling around somewhere. These people are crazy. This is ridiculous. So what I tell people is this is the time, Patriots.
• If you haven't been on the phone with your legislators or your Congresspeople, you don't know who they are. Mine's ridiculous, but at least I know who he is. Okay, that's where we are falling off. That's where the action statement has. So what I want to do is encourage people and tell them all this stuff is happening in the world. We've got to follow it up with AI too. Now they're saying we're not even going to regulate AI in the 2024 elections. Well, what difference does it make, Raven? The difference it makes, everyone, is that they can now pull information and attack ads from anywhere, within minutes. So that makes anybody with access to social media on a computer able to do political content, which typically is protected by as protected free speech.
• So here's the question of the hour, Patriots. Is AI-generated content protected by the First Amendment? We're getting into some really dark areas with this, with all of it, with AI, artificial intelligence, automatic intelligence, if you want to put it that way. And we really need to be stepping up our efforts. We're not going to be waiting till 2024, Patriots. We need to get on the front lines right now. And in that vein, I think it's really important that we talk about the spiritual element of this.
• A lot of people don't want to go there, okay? But let's talk about that. Let's talk about the spiritual element that we are facing because it is a roller coaster that we're on. And people are getting information from everywhere. They don't know which way to turn. They're up and down and left and right. And this is why we need to kind of put verbs in our sentences. But we need to put the people out who are anointed to take us through these difficult times. All this was written. And if you're a betting person, the Bible's been predicting winners and leaders, losers, since the beginning of time. And we're going to get right to it, right to the front line, right to the front line of this spiritual war. And we're going to be talking to the one and only Pastor Allen Bates right after this.
• Patriot Mobile Spot
• Raven: Welcome back, patriots! It is that time. It is time for the action part, where we get right to it. And I have the most dynamic guest on our show today. We have the one and only, the legendary, the man, the myth, the legend, Pastor Allen Bates. Welcome, sir! Welcome to Raven's Radar.
• Pastor Allen Bates: Glad to be here today. Whoa, I can't—I gotta tell patriots, this is really special to me because it's really important to me that people know who influences the people who influence them.
• Raven: So, Pastor Allen is my pastor at Victory Church in Decatur, Texas, and he is a firebrand. And that is sorely what we need—people who walk boldly, they speak boldly, and they bring you the Word. You know, the Word of God in a way that very few people are anointed to do. So, thank you again, sir, for joining us. And tell us a little bit about you. I know the story, but how long you've been a pastor and what kind of brought you into this cape. to Raven's Radar.
• Pastor Allen Bates: Well, actually, we've just celebrated our 29th year. We started there in a barn in Decatur. So, very humble beginnings. But the Lord's been with us all the way. And we have a growing church and a Christian school, a daycare. And, so, we're just really blessed. The area around Decatur's beginning to grow quite a bit, so we're getting to see some of that growth. And, uh, I guess I got into the ministry. Uh, one of the big impacts of my life is I was born premature and I had chronic asthma, and, uh, was in the hospital often and missed tons of school. And the fact, the doctor sent me to live out at Benson, Arizona, so we went out there for about three years.
• They thought it might help, and it helped some, but I still had asthma. And then, we moved back to Texas when I was 13 years old. My parents had divorced, my dad was taking me on a trip. They'd opened up Walt Disney World out in Florida, so he was going to take me there. And we went out there about 50 miles this side of Orlando. We stayed in the fleabag hotel, and I got deathly sick. And I mean, oh, well, I'm going to have to go to the hospital. I mean, I couldn't suck in any air at all. And I started praying. I mean, I heard about God, and I was a Christian. I prayed with my mom to accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. But I didn't, you know, I was a child, I really didn't know much. But as I began to pray and ask the Lord for healing, I just kind of thought about it this way, if Ford can fix their car, then God can fix a body. And, uh, as I prayed, something hit me at the top of my head, felt like warm oil, and it started running down my body. And when he got down to my lungs, I was instantly healed of asthma and went on to play football, run track, have a healthy, normal life. And that was kind of the beginning of my intense relationship with God and that kind of eventually led me into the ministry. I'm telling you, patriots, that's—and you'll get a lot of scriptures from this today—but He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. That is amazing. And anybody who's been to Florida in the summer knows what a feat that is, we just got back.
• Raven: But that is incredible. So, God then called you to the front line. And we have so many things now that are so intertwined and people like to keep them separate. But the first I have to start with where we are—we kind of have a summation of where we are in this world. Are we in a spiritual war?
• Pastor Allen Bates: Um, yes. I mean, we've been in a spiritual war since the fall of man. But as time goes on, it intensifies. Uh, the disciples asked Jesus in Matthew chapter 24, "What's it going to be like at the end of the age?" And, uh, so Jesus talked about deception, and then He went on to talk about signs that you would see. Well, a sign just points you in the direction, right? It tells you what's ahead. You know, the bridge is out, Falling Rock, sharp curve. And it just gives you information about what to look for so you can be prepared and go around it. And so, Jesus mentioned some signs that would be in the last days that we could look at. He talked about wars and rumors of wars, talked about pestilence, talked about earthquakes in diverse places. He said, "All these are the beginning of sorrows." Well, the King James—the Bible calls it sorrows. It's actually a Greek word that means birth pains, like when a woman is—you know, going into labor. At first, maybe the pains are not all that regular, but you'll see a constriction or a pain for a while, maybe you'll see COVID pop up, but it kind of disappears, you'll see a war over here or something over there, but it's not steady. But right before the time the child is born, then, the labor intensifies. The horror, it consumes everything. And so, Jesus talked about some of the signs that would point us in that direction. And we can see, I think anybody can tell from the world we're living in now that the signs are definitely pointing to the fact that we're about to enter into another age, the return and the rule of Jesus Christ on the earth.
• Raven: And that's important that you say that, it's important for this context. Sorrows, the term that translates more accurately to birth pains of a transformation that has to happen. And as a person who's been through a couple sets of birth pains, that's exactly right. In the beginning, we're all just kind of kicking back, and then right at the end, there is nothing going on but that. Absolutely. And that's what we're looking at right now. So maybe some of the things that we were seeing were not as pronounced in the world and now it just seems so prevalent. Now it's everywhere: plague, famine, pestilence, all of this stuff is just resonating where it's impossible. But again, this is what Jesus, this is written in the Scripture, that we were headed to this. And what do you think? Most Christians, do you think that they realize where we are in this, in terms of—I mean, you recognize this, many people who study the Scripture recognize this. Why do you think as many people don't see that this is where we are as a signal of what Jesus had said?
• Pastor Allen Bates: Well, I think, to be honest about it, a lot of Christians spend very little time reading their Bible. And they seem to be, instead of a RINO, they're a CINO. They're a Christian in name only. And we need to be disciples. Part of the Great Commission of Jesus was to go into all the world and make disciples. Yes. And He said, "Teaching them to learn the Scripture and to obey the things that I've said." So, we have to be taught the Word of God, so we know it and it prepares us for life. It's going to be the foundation of a successful life. In Matthew 7, Jesus said, "Whoever hears these things of mine and does them, he's like a wise man that built his house." Or, figuratively speaking, he built his life upon a rock. And the wind blew and the rain came, and the flood came, and it beat on the house, but that house didn't fall. It was founded upon a rock. And the rock, of course, is according to Jesus, hearing His sayings and then applying them. And a lot of Christians, they just—they don't hear it. They are consumed with the affairs of this life. Jesus talked about people who would—you know, they would just be caught up in the things going on in the world. He used the—he called it the cares of this world in Mark chapter 4, and the deceitfulness of riches and the lusts of other things. And it's kind of like the time just catches them unaware and they don't really realize what's happening in the world and they let the reality of where we're at kind of slip away from them.
• Raven: And that is so important. I—I have to—I can't let you—that was the greatest say of—you know, Christian in name only. You heard it here first. That is where we are, because are we seeing more of—do people pick up their Bibles, they pick up their cell phones? I know what I do, and that's a course of behavior we have to change. And you say this often in your sermons of needing to continually, that Jesus is trying to always improve us, correct us, get us to reset. And that's important. Is that—I think you related to pruning, didn't you, of just like pruning so it's continuing to bear fruit?
• Pastor Allen Bates: Absolutely. And that's a process that we should all be in. When we're growing up spiritually, if you're going to have the benefits and those great benefits of being a Christian, the Bible says that godliness is profitable, having promise of the life that now is and the life to come, serving God. People think it's hard—no, it's—it's serving the devil that's hard. Serving God's great, serving the kingdom of darkness, it may turn out good when you start out and everything seems to be good, but it'll turn to hell in a hurry. When you serve Jesus, I tell you, life will get better and better the more you apply His word. The more peace you'll have, the more joy you'll have, the better husband you'll be, the better wife you'll be, the better dad you'll be, the better employer you'll be, the better employee you'll be. It'll change your life.
• Raven: And that's—it isn't as—we should always be trying to grow and develop and get better and deeper in our faith. And you tell us all—you know, if you read one chapter a day, you'll be through it.
• Pastor Allen Bates: That's exactly right. One chapter a day in the New Testament, within a year, you read the whole New Testament. And it only takes maybe five to seven minutes a day to read one chapter on average. So, that's not a whole lot of time, but it gives you a familiarity with the New Testament. And then, of course, you need to read the Old Testament, too, so you can find out a lot of the principles that are there that carry over into the New Covenant and how to apply those. They're written for our benefit. Out of all the billions and billions of information that could have been included in the Scripture, God cherry-picked and He hand-picked the things that are written here. And the Scripture said these things are for our—they're for our benefit, written—uh, for us to inform us and to show us so we can learn and so we can grow. They're there as an example for us. And so, Scripture is very important. And you need to build your life on your relationship with Jesus Christ but that—I mean, the foundation of that has to be through the Word of the Living God because He said, "Thy Word is truth."
• Raven: And in the beginning was the Word. And that's the, um—you know, that's the important thing is people—I think they forget sometimes, oh, but Pastor Allen, you know, I have the kids and responsibilities and, oh, wait, I'm getting a call. I mean, isn't that kind of what we see in this day and age?
• Pastor Allen Bates: Right and—but, Jesus addressed all that. He said, uh, "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these other things will be added to you." So, it just becomes a matter of priority. If you're going to have a great life, you have to have great priorities. And the first priority is you seek God first, you seek His Word and applying that and pleasing God and obeying what He says here in His Word. And it'll make your life great.
• Raven: And it's amazing. Most times when we have this stuff going off, it's because we're not applying the Word. They're like, "Well, where is God?" It was like, "Well, He was right where He was when He told you not to do that." Exactly right. And we have to—To get more of that, and we're going to come back. I want to get further into this with Pastor Allen Bates right after this.
• Patriot Mobile Spot
• Raven: Welcome back, Patriots! We are here with my amazing guest, my pastor, and a mentor to me, Pastor Allen Bates. Pastor Bates, we, I have the benefit of hearing a lot of what you say, and it's powerful when you, when you read the scripture, when you're talking, because it's so profound and it's so relatable. And I think we have a clip of Pastor Bates in action.
• Pastor Allen Bates: (video clip) "What then shall we say to these things? I know what the bad report is. I know what that report is. But what shall we say to these things? Here's what we should be saying: if God is for us, who can be against us? This is nothing for God. And maybe that's as far as you can go, is get up and grab yourself by the ear and stand in front of the mirror and say, you know, I don't know how, I don't know what's going to happen, but I know this: God is with me and I'm coming through this problem and I'm going to overcome this because I serve God and His power's unlimited."
• Raven: That is my pastor. But I just want to take it a little deeper. What do you think? We have a lot of these, well, separation of church and state, Christians shouldn't be doing this, Christians shouldn't be doing that. What do you think the role is if we are truly, and we are, in this spiritual world? What is the role of Christians? Where do we play into what's happening right now?
• Pastor Allen Bates: Well, God instructed believers. He said, first of all, pray for kings and for all that are in authority so we could live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness. He said this is well-pleasing to God, who wants everybody to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. So, as believers, you don't have to agree with everybody's policy. There's a lot of presidents and leaders. There's not one policy that I think that they're getting right because the policies are unscriptural. And actually, the word politics came from a Greek word that means the application of ideas that will govern. In other words, whose ideas are going to govern a people or a nation? That's what politics is. And we want godly ideas to govern that. So, we need to pray for godly leaders who have a biblical worldview about people's responsibility, about right and wrong, about what should the government do, what should the government not do, what's the difference between an individual's action and a government's responsibility. And we need to pray for godly people and then pray that there'll be a revival. We need laborers to go into the harvest field in Washington. Those people, a lot of them, they're just deceived. And we shouldn't, you know, just our warfare. You know, in Ephesians 6, it says we don't wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness and high places. So, we're not to be hating people, we pray for people. We want people to come to the knowledge of the truth. Jesus can change their life. He took Saul, who was persecuting Christians and throwing them in jail, and turned him into the greatest preacher the world has ever seen. And so, we need to pray for people, pray for our leaders that God will give them wisdom, and pray for our nation that God will send laborers into the harvest field. And it's not too late for America. God's a good God, and I believe our best days are ahead. That doesn't mean there are not challenges, but I tell you what, through Jesus Christ, we are overcomers, and we will overcome, and we will finish the work God gave us to do. And He's not through with our nation. I believe America's got a role to fulfill, and we're going to fulfill that role, get the gospel of the Kingdom out in all the world.
• Raven: And that's right. And that's an action statement. He said, occupy until I return. Absolutely. He didn't say scream at the television. He didn't say, you know, ball your fists up. He said, occupy till I return. And we also have to remember, and that was a really good point that you made, that he didn't say we're going to be here with our feet up and it was going to be easy, as you like to put it. There's a mad dog loose in the world, right? That we let out. So He said there was going to be trials and tribulations, but He gave us, you know, a print on how to deal with that.
• Pastor Allen Bates: Absolutely. He said in the world, we'll have tribulation, but He said, be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. So through Him, we are overcomers, and we have to face life with that. We don't have to face it afraid. A lot of times, people's reaction is based on fear. They're going to come do this to me or they're going to take that away, and what am I going to do? Well, fears from the enemy. Fear actually draws the works of the enemy to you, just like faith brings the works of God to you. And the Scripture says in 2 Timothy 1:7, God didn't give us a spirit of fear, no, but He gave us a spirit of power and love and a sound mind, discipline, and self-control. So we're to be able to go into the world fearless, knowing that God's with us. The 1 John 4:4 says, "You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, for greater is He that's in you than He that's in the world." In the world. And we need to face the world without reality and with that truth, knowing that with God, all things are possible.
• Raven: Amen. He didn't say all things were easy. He said all things were possible. And He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. And that's what I want. Do you see a waning of Christians, of I see people getting weary, and they fear there's cheating everywhere, Raven. Everybody's cheating. And we can't, you know, we can't win. And what I tell them is that is a hallmark of communism, the mentality of we're too big, we're too powerful, you can't. But people forget the devil elevates people, too. Okay, the strategy of that. We tie it into signs you had mentioned earlier. There are signs just like you would see a road sign, "Falling Rock." There are signs that this was going to happen, of what we are going to experience. And we're seeing some of those, aren't we? Didn't Jesus mention of being deceived, people who had been on the path their whole life are being deceived. This is a hallmark of the return of Jesus. But people fear that instead of embracing it. Why do you think that is?
• Pastor Allen Bates: Well, I mean, the people always fear change and they fear loss. And so if you don't have confidence that God's with you and for you, then you're going to be afraid. And, yes, deception is absolutely a sign of the end times. In fact, the Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said in the last days, evil men and deceivers will get worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. And you can see that in our culture. Nobody, without deception, would believe that you can get rid of your police officers and not have a crime. Anarchy, yeah. I mean, that is inaccurate thinking. It is deception. And nobody can think, well, if you say that marriage is not between a man and a woman, in the Bible, what it said about it, and God didn't create male and female, well then who did? I mean, did a bunch of professors at Berkeley smoking dope come up with the say, you know, "I got a good idea here"? Let's don't steal. Yeah, "Hey, that's a good one. Write it down." Or, "Let's don't murder." "Thou shall not kill, that's a good one. Write it down." No, the laws that were given to govern society and humanity came from God Almighty. And so when you leave that and you say there's no God, and there's no right and wrong, that's deception. There is a God. I'll stand before Him, you'll stand before Him, and every single person on this planet will stand before God and give account to their creator.
• Raven: That's right. And that's, and this concept that they're pushing relies on, they're saying that conscious thinking came from unconscious, that something came from nothing. There was a big explosion, what caused the explosion later, but we were all tadpoles and then one woman tadpole and a man. Stop it! If this is you, stop it, okay? This is where we are. But it's this, this is what Jesus said in the end of times: they'll say right is wrong, up is down, left is right.
• Pastor Allen Bates: And that's what we're having right now, and we see it all over the culture. But the good news is the truth never ends, and the truth is stronger than a lie, and the truth will prevail. And our job is to go into all the world, preach the gospel. As Christians, we're supposed to be a light in a dark world, speak the truth, have joy, have peace, have love. We're not here to injure people or hate people, but we hate sin and the effects of sin. And we love people, and we want them to get out of darkness and out of deception and out of fear and out of defeat and out of depression. And we want them to get over into the kingdom of light and the kingdom of love and the kingdom of peace and the kingdom of joy and the kingdom of provision, the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
• Raven: And God wants us to have that in abundance. You said something in one of your sermons. I absolutely love it. It says when you're preparing for a baby, you decorate the room, you get all the fancy toys and the drapes and all the, why wouldn't a God do the same thing for us when He was preparing it for us? And that's what we need to be thinking about. But we got to speak boldly. It's not your truth and my truth, it's the truth, the Word, the truth. And that's where it is. And it's important that Christians remember that. I told you we were going to be on the front lines fighting, didn't I? And we are going to hear more with Pastor Bates right after this.
• Patriot Mobile Spot
• Raven: Welcome back, Patriots! Here with the one and only Pastor Allen. Uh, absolutely love this, and I tell you, Patriots, it's really important that we know who inspires the inspires. And I say this all the time, if your elected officials, if people don't fear God, they don't fear you. And it's really important to know, you know, what people have an allegiance to.
• So, now, in this time, uh, Pastor Allen, what I am really big on, which is something that you do a lot on your Sunday servant, is verbs in the sentences. So, people will say, "Well, it's supposed to be separation of church and state. Christians don't get involved in politics." You know, everything is political right now. Everything, they've made it that way. But what is the role of Christians right now? What do we do?
• Pastor Allen Bates: Well, as we mentioned earlier, you need to pray for your officials, and then you need to educate yourself on what they stand for. Is that a Biblical principle? And then, always in a nation like ours, the ultimate choice lies with the people. You need to vote. You need to get out and vote. Uh, it's criminal in America that about 50 percent of the Christians claiming to be Christians don't even vote. If we voted in our elections and we voted for godly people, we wouldn't be having all of the conflict that we're having. We would have laws that were Godly, and we'd have peace, and we'd have prayer in our schools, and we'd have a lot of other things that were right, and they'd still honor the Bible, and we'd still have decency laws instead of the rampage of pornography and immorality in our country.
• But, uh, yeah, we need to pray. We need to get out. We need to vote. We need to be informed. Uh, we need to get involved in the political process. And, uh, if we'll do that, then we're using our responsibility in our Civic realm and also in our spiritual realm to pray. And we need to love people and we need to live right in front of people and be an example, and all of those things will make a difference.
• Raven: And I think that's important. So now, I'm going to take this opportunity. We got to do a lightning round. We're going to do a lightning round of the things that I hear most often. And I'm sure that you have to hear them too. Is, uh, and I just would like to hear the Biblical retort to that. Of going, but, but, but Pastor Allen, God is love. Love is love. It doesn't matter if it's a man and a woman?
• Pastor Allen Bates: Right. Well, God loves everybody, but, uh, our job is also to love everybody. But that doesn't mean God accepts every kind of behavior and says there's no such thing as sin.
• If there's no such thing as sin, then we don't need a savior. But there is sin, and sin is deadly. The wages of sin is death, and the gift of God's eternal life is through Jesus Christ. So the reason you tell somebody, "Don't do that," don't go down that road, the reason that on a pack of cigarettes it says, "Warning, these cigarettes cause cancer," and it says it's there by the Surgeon General, it's not because the Surgeon General doesn't love people. With that nasty Surgeon General, he hates people, he says cigarettes cause cancer. No, he's trying to save somebody's life. Well, the reason God tells us what's right and wrong is because he loves you. He wants you to have a great life. He's the Creator. He knows what works and what doesn't work. And so we're not hating people, we're loving people, and we're trying to tell them, "Hey, if you keep heading down that road, the bridge is out, and it'll end up in destruction."
• Raven: There it is. And the good translation on that is, Jesus sat with sinners. He didn't sin with them. Important distinction. And the ones who are saying, "Well, you know, going forward, everybody has the right to decide how they want to live and who they want to love." Pastor Allen, if God is a loving God, he would accept my choices.
• Pastor Allen Bates: Well, no, he's the ruler and the creator of the universe, and we accept his choices. Amen. We're not telling the creator what's right and wrong. He tells us what's right and wrong, and he revealed it to us in his word.
• He revealed it to us in nature, and so we have a responsibility. If there is a God who created us, it is to obey Him and follow Him. If you're a Christian, you don't have the right to say, "I'll do what I want to do." You're saying Jesus is your Lord and He's your Savior, and I'm going to do what He said in His word. And, uh, there are a lot of times I don't want to. I want to be angry. There are a lot of times I want to be unforgiving. But guess what? He told me not to do that. He told me to forgive. He told me to bless and not curse. And so we have to say He's our Lord, He's our ruler, and we're going to do what He said in our life. And when we do that and we apply the word of God, Jesus said, you're building your house. It'll be on a rock, and that house will stand.
• Raven: Correct. And my personal favorite, there are 50 genders. Wait, no, what time is it? There are 52 genders.
• Pastor Allen Bates: That's right.
• Raven: Okay. And they want you to tell you that, but the science is wrong. What's existed for thousands of years is wrong, and you know, the nose piercing and purple hair got it right, but God got it wrong. Is that what you're hearing? Oh, yes. Everybody hears that. -
• Pastor Allen Bates: But I think dig your dead bones up in 100 years, and tell if you were a man or a woman.
• Raven: Come on.
• Pastor Allen Bates: So it's in your DNA, and you can cut things off, but that doesn't change you.
• Raven: There it is. See, you guys wonder why I'm just kidding. We just lucky we grow them like this in Texas. And that's important. We got to stop letting, as Christians, people push back on what you know. You can't do anything about what people choose to believe and accept, but we can't be deceived by this.
• This is, this is exactly what he talked about in the scripture.
• Pastor Allen Bates: Absolutely, and our job is not to go out and condemn people and say, "Correct, well you nasty sinner, I mean, I can't believe you act that way or you've done this or you've done that." Our job is to let them know, "Hey, God loves you. There's a better way for your life. Jesus died to atone for your sins and for my sins. In fact, in the Titus, he said uh, you know, we need to be respectful to all people, and he said the reason we need to be that way is because we were also deceived at one time, yes, and we also served lusts, and we also were full of hate, and we also hated people, and we didn't always know the truth. But then we found the love of God, and it changed us, and there's hope for everybody, and there's nobody that is too far away from God that he won't forgive him and help him if they'll turn to him and say, "God, help me with my life. I give my life to you. I believe in you, and I believe in Jesus Christ and his sacrifice." God can change any life anywhere, no matter what their past is.
• Raven: And that's what I want Christians to hear. You've been saying that a lot in the sermons, and it's really important. I want every Patriot and every Christian to hear that, okay? That if you're thinking you're too far gone, it's, you know, "I'm too far down that road," that you can't come back. I mean, I think the favorite example is what Paul killed was killing Christians for sport, and then he wrote two-thirds of the New Testament, and that is true, is that there's for somebody out there right now is feeling like, "I might be too far off the path," right?
• Pastor Allen Bates: And there's nobody too far off the path. God's mercy, if you're breathing, God's Mercy is there for you, and all you have to do, the scripture says, whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved. You can pray a simple prayer and say, "God, forgive me of my sins."
• I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died for me. He atoned for my sins. He did what I could not do, and I receive Him as my Lord and Savior. Jesus, come into my life. I make you the boss and the ruler of my life, and He will change you and save you and love you, and you can go into His amazing kingdom.
• Raven: And there's time to be ready, patriots. That's the important thing. I wanted to give with Pastor Allen is the message of hope that there is time to prepare. As long as you're still breathing, you still have an opportunity to set things right.
• My father used to say the goal for Christians is to live a life where somebody who's not a Christian wonders why they're not Christian. Amen! And that's where we want to get it. And now, as we wrap it out with this spirit of hope and this spirit of moving forward, of how we're going to fix this, this is not the finger-pointing time. This is what they like to do. We need to come together. But, you know, tell our patriots a message, right? To the patriots who are struggling right now, everything is cheating, everything's upside down, we're not sure where we're supposed to be, what we're supposed to be doing. Bring them in like only you can.
• Pastor Allen Bates: Well, I mean, if I was going to talk to you as an individual, I would tell you this: Yes, there's all kinds of unfair things in the world. Things are not going in every way the way we'd like them to go. But we have to keep our eyes on God. We have to remember this: that the God who lives in us, the God who saved you.
• The God who gave His life for you, He loves you. His power is immeasurable. It's unlimited. He actually dwells and lives in you. And the Bible says, 'Greater is He that's in us than He that's in the world.' And as you face the world, you don't have to be afraid. We don't go around in depression with our head down. We remember this: With God, all things are possible. And no matter what happens in the world, in Romans chapter 8, it tells us, 'Nay, in all these things we are, we're not trying to be, we're not praying to be, we're not hoping to be, we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.' And God loves you, and through His strength and ability, you can have an amazing life.
• Raven: And there it is, Christians. This is what inspires me. This is, you know, the time for God and service. It feeds the soul, and in the spiritual, you need to have your soul filled. There's nothing better than that feeling of having a God who sits on high and looks down low, and who is there. His yoke is light, and to carry the burden, most of which, we put on ourselves. So, Christians, there are people out there who will help you navigate these times, and I'm telling you, right at the top of that list is Pastor Allen.
• So Pastor Allen, we can see you on Sundays and Wednesdays at Victory Church in Decatur. When are our service times?
• Pastor Allen Bates: We have a Sunday morning at nine and eleven, and seven o'clock on Wednesday night. Patriots, I encourage you, is it victoryfamilychurch.org. Is the website victoryfamilychurch.com.
• Uh, we also have a YouTube channel. We also have an app, Victory App. You can go there and download the sermons. It's all free. We have some books that we will be glad to send to you if you've made a decision for Jesus.
• Today, to help you get started in your Christian walk, we love you and God loves you, and we'll be glad to have you anytime.
• Raven: And I'm telling you, so Patriot, a lot of people, you don't know, I know. I travel a lot. I am always streaming Victory Family when I'm on the road, so I always let my church know that I'm there and I'm getting my word. And it is important. In these times, that we put on the full armor of God. He didn't say it wasn't going to get jinx in it. He said it wouldn't fail, and that's where we need to be. So Pastor Allen Bates, thank you so much for being with us today and for inspiring the basis. People forget sometimes we feed our bodies, forget to feed our souls, and that's just as important, if not more important.
• Pastor Allen Bates: Amen, Raven. Well, thank you for allowing me to be here today and keep up the good work.
• Raven: Thank you so much, and we'll be back right after this.
• Patriot Mobile Spot
• Raven: Well, Patriots, thank you so much for tuning in for this episode of Raven's Radar. I really hope this was inspiring to you as it is to me. I'm telling you, this is really important stuff, guys. You know, we need fuel to live, and I feel like we eat to fuel our bodies, but we should be kind of relying on the scripture to fuel our souls. I mean, it's just, it's an important time to realize that these were the times that were written about. This is so important.
• I have to thank my guest, Pastor Allen Bates. He is an amazing Christian, he's an amazing human being, and he is one of those people whenever you're going through, I guarantee you he can bring you into the light. I encourage you to reach out to him down there at Victory Church in Decatur, Texas, amazing, the home base of this Conservative Warrior. I also want to encourage Patriots. If you want to find out more about Pastor Allen, what he's doing, what we're doing, go to ravenharrison.com. You can find us on social media at Raven_TXWarrior. And I want to tell Patriots in this buy time while we're bringing you this information, it helps to get involved. I always say, if you can't be on the front lines, support those of us who are.
• And what that really means is we need Patriots at the ballot box. We also need them to open their checkbooks. We have Raven PAC. It is a PAC dedicated to supporting strong Christian conservatives, people who are upholding our values and our beliefs. And we're going to be making sure we get the work that needs to get done, done. So I encourage you to go to ravenharrison.com, you know, click on Raven PAC and donate what you can. Wars are expensive, and it is hard to be out here on the front line. So I encourage you, Patriots, every little bit helps.
• Help us fight this unprecedented fight for our freedoms, our families, and our children. And on that note, I would also like to encourage you all to get the book "Raven's Mantle." It is available on amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com. It's also available in select bookstores. This is the read Patriots, I am putting it out here. This is a loop that we were on. I grew up in the Cold War.
• I'm going to take you through how our country went through this the first time and what it's going to take to put it back on track. Verbs in the sentences. It's raw, it's real, it's unfiltered, and I'm telling you, it's going to blow your mind how we're back in the same waters we were in just a few decades ago. But we can do this. We overcame it once, we'll overcome it again. And I'm telling you, it makes a difference. Get out and get a copy. I welcome your feedback and watch us on the front lines. And until then, Patriots, keep fighting.

Wrap-up

In conclusion, Pastor Allen Bates's message of hope in these troubled times serves as a beacon of light for all readers. His powerful insights and biblical wisdom remind us of the strength and guidance we can find in our faith. With the challenges we face in our world today, it is crucial that we seek God's presence, pray for our leaders, and actively engage in the political process. As Christians, we are called to be a positive influence and make a difference in our communities. Let us not be passive observers but instead rise up with conviction, love, and a steadfast commitment to the truth.

Therefore, the primary call-to-action from this interview transcript is to embrace our role as Christians and actively participate in shaping the future of our nation. This involves educating ourselves on the principles of the Bible, praying for our leaders, and exercising our right to vote responsibly. Furthermore, we must strive to be true ambassadors of Christ by living out our faith, showing love, and leading by example. By fulfilling these responsibilities, we can bring about positive change, preserve our values, and work towards a brighter future. Together, let us stand firm in hope, armed with the truth, and make a lasting impact on our society.