PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 140: ARE WE LISTENING TO THE SHEPHERD OR THE VOICE OF STRANGERS?

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 140: ARE WE LISTENING TO THE SHEPHERD OR THE VOICE OF STRANGERS?

Today we check out the Scriptures about masking. It's easy to listen to what everyone in society is saying but have you ever checked out what God says?

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, From Our Home to Yours, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello lovely ladies! Well, back together with you again! Can I take you to Isaiah 25:1? “Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.” Do you notice that it says: “Thy counsels of old”? Do you know that God's counsels, His Word, they are as up to date as tomorrow's news? God's Word is eternal, and it is much alive, and it relates to us as much as when it was the written at the very beginning.

I love Psalm 119:160: “Thy Word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth forever.” In the margin In my Bible, it says: “The beginning of Thy Word is true.” So whichever way you take it, “Thy Word is True from the beginning,” or “The beginning of Thy Word is true.” Whichever way, we can take it as everything that was written at the beginning is written for us today.

That's why every single word of God is alive and living. When you read the Word of God, read it, looking for God to speak to you from every word. He can speak to you. He can enlighten one little word. One little one can change your life.

I love Jeremiah 6:16: “Thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.” The old ways. Some people think, Oh, we don't have to look at the old ways! We don't even have to bother reading the Old Testament! We're in the New now! We're in the New Covenant!

Yes, we are. But, oh, I love those words:

“The New is in the Old concealed.  

The Old is in the New revealed.”

The Old Testament lays the foundation for the New. We have to have the Old to fully understand the new! So we don't discard the old ways, because they're the good ways, they're the ways God has given. His ways are everlasting! They're not just for one generation. They are for every generation! So let's embrace that as we seek the truth.

I notice that at the end of this verse, it says: “But they said, we will not walk therein.” That's pretty sad, isn't it? I know your response is, “Yes Lord, I want to walk in Your Ways, in Your old ways, because Your old ways are the up-to-date ways. They're the everlasting ways. They are the eternal ways.”

I love all the different words in this Scripture. It says it's a good way, and it's the way of rest, where, if we embrace God's ways, we will walk in rest. Many times, we're walking in a state of confusion, and a state of uptightness, and a state of despondency. We can't have rest in our souls. But usually it's because we're walking out of God's will.

Many times mothers are so busy doing things out of their home. They're rushing here and there, and doing this and that, that they're not seeing their homes as their priority. And, therefore, they get into a place of tension and stress. God doesn't want that! No!

When you find you're getting into that, just pull back. Come back to the home. Come back. This is where you're meant to be. Home is not an insignificant place. Home is not a boring place.  Home is where you can change the world! Yes, you're changing the world as you are raising godly, truth-filled,  God-loving, Bible-adhering children.

But you can also do so many amazing things from your home! Without rushing about here, there, going out . . . Oh, I find to go out, I find it such a waste of time. I can do so many more powerful things in my home, because home is what God has given to us as women.

Of course, we will have to go out to do things. But this is our priority. If we see it and understand it from God's plan in His Word, we will find that it's the . . .

most exciting, most fulfilling, most powerful,

and most world-changing place on earth!

All right. I keep saying in every podcast these days that I'm going to talk to you about WHO ARE WE LISTENING TO? We've been doing that, but I want to take up specific points. In one podcast, we did do No. 1, which was talking about this stolen election, and how that we have to know God's truth about that, and how we cannot side with deception and lies. We have to side with truth and integrity. So we'll move onto the next one today.

No. 2. TO  MASK OR NOT TO MASK – THAT IS THE QUESTION!

Number two, and that is, the covering of our faces with masks. Now that has become the norm in our society today. People call it the “new norm.” Well, I'm sorry! I am not adhering to the “new norm” because I'm not listening to the voice of the stranger. I'm not listening to the fake news. I'm listening to what God says.

Now dear ladies, in every little thing we face, and every big thing, and this is a pretty big thing,  because there's something . . . They have tried to completely take over our nation. And we, as people, to me, it's total tyranny, that these people, these whoever they be, that come along and just say, “OK, you have got to wear this mask over your face and cover it up.” I have never heard of such tyranny in all my life!

Now, oh goodness me, I can now hear some people say, “Ooooh, so you don't care about all the people getting sick!” Yes, I do. But dear precious ladies, they have proved that these masks don't stop people getting sick. They don't stop you getting sick.

In fact, this plandemic, or whatever you want . . .  I never call it a pandemic. I call it a plandemic, because it was planned. Or the China virus, or the CCP virus, because this is where it was planned. And it was planned, yes, it was a plan of war against the United States and the whole world. 

It was to bring down the economy and also to hopefully get rid of Trump by bringing down the economy, which it has. It's caused so many people to be out of jobs.

But these masks, they don't . . .  It has been proved scientifically. Well, you've got a few scientists who say that “Yes, it's OK.” But OK, let's get with it. I mean, there are scientists and scientists. It depends which scientists you are listening to! Well, I think that sometimes just listening to common sense . . .

Oh, I was watching just recently, a senator or congressman, one or the other. He was up there in the Capitol, giving his speech. He had his mask on. Well, I couldn't believe it. He was fingering it the whole time! He was touching it, and adjusting it, and fingering it. I thought, “Goodness, me, he's just putting his hands over that thing all the time!” And people are doing that. I mean, it is so ridiculous!

I have refused to come under this tyranny, Well I have had to wear a mask when I boarded a plane. That is the only time I have ever put a mask on. I couldn't get on the plane without it. They refused. So I had to submit to tyranny. So I thought that “Well, I'm not going to submit without being a voice” so I had ordered my mask which says on the front, “This is stupid. Make America Great Again!”

So I wore that when I had to. Took it off as soon as I no longer had to have it on. My  husband, he wore a mask that says, “Resist Tyranny.”

So I would suggest that if you're in a position where you have to, and you know, there are so many places where people think they have to, and they don't. You don't have to. It may say, as you walk into a shop, “You are required to wear a mask,” but I never bother. I've always managed to do my shopping.

But, oh yes, when I was on the plane, and I had to have this mask on . . . You go through security, and they say, “Please lift your mask,” because they have to see your face. They cannot let you through without checking the face they see with the face on your passport, or on your license. So they've got to check that out. You see, the mask hides the face. That's what this mask is doing. It's hiding us from one another. That is not how God intended us to live. It is the opposite.

Well, let's look at some Scriptures. Because this is what I'm seeking to do. I'm not trying to say, “Oh, this is just my idea.” No, I want to have a Scriptural foundation for everything I believe.

We're either going to listen to the voices of the strangers, which are the fake news. All this tyranny, and tyranny does not come from God. We're supposed to be the land of the free. Instead, we have been brought into slavery and bondage in this last year. But what does the Scripture say?

Well, let's go to John 1:14. This is speaking about Jesus: “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (And we beheld His Glory, the Glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” When Jesus came, He came to reveal His Father to the world. Yes, He came to die and shed His blood for our sins, but He also came to reveal what His Father was like.

And John says here: “We beheld His glory.” Where did they behold  His glory? They beheld His glory through His face. Yes, they saw it in His actions. They saw it as He healed the sick and He raised the dead. They saw it in all the beautiful things that He did. But they ultimately saw it in His face because this is where we see one another. It's where we see who we are.

Let's go over to John 17. This is the prayer of Jesus that He prayed for His disciples when He was on earth. He prayed this prayer, not only for them, but He prayed it for us. He prayed it for those who would believe on Him in the generations to come. So this prayer is also for us.

Let's read it. Verse 22. The whole prayer is wonderful. You can read it later. Verse 22: “And the glory which Thou gavest Me, I have given them.” Wow! Isn't that amazing? Now Jesus came and they beheld His Glory, which was the Glory of the Father. And then He says: “And the glory which Thou gavest me, I have given them.”

Wow! Did you know that Scripture was in the Bible? There's so many Scriptures that are . . . you can hardly take them in. Do we really take them in? I don't think I do. Wow! This glory that Jesus revealed, He's given to us. He's now gone back to the heavenly realm, seated at the right hand of the Father, but He also comes and dwells in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. He wants to reveal His glory through us, His redeemed people on the earth!

That's God's plan, to reveal His glory through us! Well, yes, people can see His glory, in a way, by all the things we do. And we serve and we can minister with our hands. We can go places with our feet, but ultimately, they see glory on our faces. They see the likeness of Jesus coming through our expressions on our faces. The face is the revealer of who we are.

When we cover up our face, we cover up our glory. We cover up the revelation of God to the world. So it's not just some outward thing that's happening here. This is something from the enemy. You see, I wrote a little, just a little phrase, but I think it's so true.

“God wants open faces to reveal His Glory.

The devil wants covered faces to hide God's Glory.”

You see, the devil doesn't want the glory of God to be seen in us. We are the revelation of God to the world. We are the light. We are the salt. We show His Glory, and that's God's intention for us.

Every precious new baby we bring into the world is another Image of God in the world. The more of the Image of God we have in the world, the more we reveal of God in the world. And, dear, precious believers, those of you who have Christ in you, “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” we are not meant to be covering and hiding our faces and hiding the glory of God.

When we go out, we are meant to shine! We are meant to go . . . we go into a supermarket and we just shine! We smile at everyone. We shine with the glory of God! You don't cover up.

Now, I know this is opposite to what's happening, because I go into shops, and, whoo, you can't even believe it! All these people all masked up. I can't believe it! I mean, why? They are brainwashed. And they are just cowardly submitting to what someone has said. But we, as believers, we've got to know the Word. We live by the truth, or we live by deception, one or the other!

OK, let's go to 2 Corinthians, chapter three. Paul is writing to the Corinthians, and he says to them, verse two, “Ye are our epistle . . . ” That just means you are a letter! You are a letter, “written in our hearts, known and read of all men.”

Here, there's another picture. You know, the Word of God is painting a picture. We're a letter. And every time we go out, wherever we go, down the street to the supermarket, visiting wherever, we are a letter that is being read. People read us. They read what we're like. And how do they read us? They read us through our countenance.

In Isaiah it says: “The show of thy countenance doth witness against thee.” That's in a negative way. But the show, the revealing of your countenance reveals either the glory of God, or it can reveal a negative thing. If you are not revealing God's glory, then you're in a state of self-pity, and you've got depression all over your face. Wow! Whoo! That's pretty horrible to look at!

But you see, whoever we are, or whatever we are feeling, or whatever is happening, we're going to show it on our face! We're a letter that's read of all men. And God does not intend us to shut the book! To cover up the letter! He wants this letter to be read! How can they read it when we're covered up?

I went to a . . . just before Christmas, I went to a beautiful Christmas morning, and it was such a lovely, beautiful thing. Everybody was there. No one had masks. Everyone was greeting one another. You know, when you greet one another, you see each other's faces, and you smile at one another, and it's so glorious.

Suddenly two ladies appeared with masks on! I said, “Oh, I don't know who you are!” I didn't really mean for it to come out like that, but I'd been so sort of taken up with reuniting with other friends and meeting them. Oh, saying, “Hi!” It was so great. And suddenly there were two masked people! I couldn't see them. I truly thought, “Who are they?” They were hiding! And that's the thing. It's just so opposite.

Anyway, we haven't finished yet! Let's go to the same chapter, 2 Corinthians 3:18: ”But we all, with open face. (or unveiled face. That's the real meaning of that word. Unveiled! That's what it says! Unveiled!) “We all, with open (unveiled) face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

Such a beautiful Scripture! Revealing that when we are in the Presence of the Lord, when we're in His Word, and as we wait on Him, that we're changed little by little, more and more, into His Image. To reveal His Glory.

But not only are we changed by the Word, but also by one another. Because in the same chapter, it says we are a letter, read of all men. We change as we behold the Lord, the glory of the Lord in one another! It's such a beautiful thing. God intends us to be inspired, encouraged, blessed, as we see Him in others.

And we see different aspects of Jesus in one another. Some have that beautiful anointing of kindness on their faces. Some have that beautiful, sweet spirit. Some have different things. There are different anointings and people show different aspects of the character of Jesus.

But we see it on their faces. It inspires us. We are blessed. And we are encouraged. We grow more and more into His Image as we not only behold Him in His Word, but as we behold Him in one another. So what we see here are the Scriptures. And the face, oh the face, the face! It literally means “the presence of God.”

If we go back to the Old Testament, and into the Tabernacle. Oh, it’s so wonderful to go into the Tabernacle! Not that we can go into it literally, because there's no Tabernacle now. But we can go into it by faith as we read the Word of God and understand all the lessons that God has there for us.

As we move on into the Tabernacle, into the Holy Place, there are three pieces of furniture there. I'm sure you know them. We have the candlestick, the candelabra, on the left. On the right, we have the Table of Showbread. And then just before we go into the Holy of Holies, we have the golden table of incense, the table of incense.

But let's go back to the Table of Showbread. On the Table of Showbread was the Showbread. That's why it was called the Table of Showbread! The Hebrew is lechem hapaniym. That means “the bread of faces.” Lechem is “bread,” and paniym means “faces.” Because it has” im” at the end, it's a plural word. “The bread of faces.”

And on that table, the priest had to put 12 loaves of bread every week, one representing each one of the tribes of Israel. That bread was never, ever, ever off the table. In fact, when the priest would come in at the end of the week, or the beginning of the week, I think it's the end. They would, one set of priests would take that bread off the table and the other set of priests would put down the new fresh bread immediately. So there was not even a slight, little bit of a second when the bread was not on the table.

Because it was everlasting bread. It spoke of Christ. It was to be always there. It was lechem hapaniym, “the bread of faces,” ultimately representing Christ, who said: “I am the bread of life. I am your sustenance.”

But as they feasted on the bread, and once a week the priests would feast on the bread, the bread that had been sitting on the table for a week. It was sitting in the Presence of the Lord, so it wasn't stale. And they feasted on that.

It represented not just the one face, but the many faces of Christ, because it spoke of all the glorious aspects of His character. He doesn't only have one attribute, but many attributes. So lechem hapaniym, “the bread of faces,” it's speaking of Christ. Behold His attributes, His faces, because His faces speak of His character, and His attributes, and Who He is. This is what the face is all about. The face is so important. And God doesn't want it covered up.

Also that bread, of course, it did represent the children of Israel too, because God had planned to have the 12 loaves, each one representing the 12 tribes. It was like their faces were before the Lord. They were to behold His faces, but their faces were before Him. As He beheld them, they were close to His heart. Such a beautiful thing!

But let me take you now to Romans 8:19. So are you getting the Scriptures, dear one? Who are we listening to? Are we listening to the Word, or are we listening to the voice of strangers? And I believe no matter what, we need to seek as much as possible to live our lives according to this Word.

Romans 8:19-21, “For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected the same in hope. Because the creature itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.”

So this is ultimately speaking of the day when our bodies will be changed, and the full revelation of the  sons of God will come. But there is also the revelation that, yes, there's coming a day of the full manifestation of the sons of God. But God wants to have the sons of God manifested now, on this earth.

THIS IS HIS PLAN!

When he comes to dwell in us, he doesn't come to hide.

No, He comes to reveal and manifest Himself to the world!

We are now His representation on this earth!

And the Lord looks for the manifestation, the revealing of the sons of God.

Now many times, we don't do a very good job of revealing His glory, do we, dear lovely ladies? I know I don't. But this is God's ultimate will for us. He wants us to manifest His glory. And we do it through our faces. We do it, right starting in our homes. Praise the Lord, we don't have to wear masks in our homes!

So we can reveal His glory through our love to our husbands. We reveal His glory to our children, even as we smile at them, and you have an open face before them. We're not going round with depression all over us. Ohhh, help! That just brings such a terrible atmosphere into the home. No, we're bringing the atmosphere of the Presence of God.

And then as we go out, into this world, we are going to bring His Presence, to show His glory, to reveal just maybe, in a little way, Who He is. We're going to smile at someone when we go out shopping. We're going to have a little word for someone.

Yes, you can speak through a mask, but it's not the same. Well, I don't hear anybody speaking through a mask. I have to see people's lips, because I'm pretty deaf. Some of you can do that, but it's not the same. No, God wants a totally open, unveiled face.

Do you think you can listen to His Word? What He says? Now, I know it will be a challenge. You have to have courage, many times, not to wear a mask. Courage, yes. But courage is not only a virtue, it's a muscle. And we've got to exercise it. Sometimes we've got to do something, and we get more courage to do it a little more. And a little more.

Let me close again with that little line I wrote.

“God wants open faces to reveal His Glory.

The devil wants covered faces to hide God's Glory.”

Shall we pray?

“Dear precious Father, we come to You in the Name of Jesus, thanking You for your Word. Lord, Your Word is so opposite to the way of the world. And of course, it's opposite to what's happening, Lord, in our nation, with all this mask wearing, which is totally, completely opposite to the way You planned for Your people to live.

Lord God, help us, Lord, to see, to see through the deception, to see what is really happening, to understand that it's not for our health. It's never been for our health. But Lord, You want us to live in ultimate health! You are for health! Lord, we are for health! But this was not for health. This was tyranny. This was to bring us into bondage.

Lord God, help us to see the truth, and help us, Lord God, to take hold of Your Word, and to be who You created us to be. To be the manifesters, the revealers of Your Glory, showing through our open, unveiled faces the glory of the Lord, wherever we are, in our homes, and as we go out into this world. We ask it in the Precious Name of Jesus. Amen.”

Transcribed by Darlene Norris.

Testimony from this podcast:

“I am sitting here at a dentist office WITHOUT a mask on because of your encouragement to not give in to tyranny! Thank you for helping me be bold in my convictions. And I was reminded as my mask was off that I am to shine the love of Jesus with my whole countenance! A reminder to smile and love people even if they are angry at my non-compliance.”