PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 141: WHO ARE WE LISTENING TO? Pt 2

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 141: WHO ARE WE LISTENING TO? Pt 2

“It is impossible to enslave, mentally or socially, a Bible-reading people.” How do we live? By God's living Words, or by the influence of our society? God has a lot more to say about our faces.

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

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! Well, we have just enjoyed a most wonderful week of snow. Maybe you enjoyed that too in this last week. It seems so beautiful. We've had quite a lot of snowfalls this year, some only lasting for a day. But this one has lasted all week. There's been quite a few snowfalls throughout the week.

We had staying with us the youngest Allison children, six of them. We've had other visitors as well staying with us, so we had a great big, crowded house. Snow all around us! Some days we couldn't even get out, so we just made do with what we had.

But the children had the most wonderful time sledding. We have a lovely slope outside the home. They got out there sledding. And then, of course, they wanted Nana to come with them. At first, I wasn't too keen about going. Eventually I did it once! But then it was so fun, well, I just wanted to keep going!

So Saturday, oh wow! I went out there, and we did so many wonderful sleds together. You know, having competition to see who could win. I won sometimes, and they won sometimes! It was such great fun!

But now, after a week, our snow is all melting. The temperatures are warming up. We're getting back to normal.

All right. Well, I wonder if you have ever heard of Horace Greeley? Horace Greeley lived in the early 1800's. He founded and edited the New York Tribune. He was actually the man who urged the settlement of the American West. He saw it as the great opportunity for those who had no work. He was the one who popularized the slogan, “Go West, young man!” I'm sure you've heard of that.

Let me read you a few quotes from this guy. One I particularly want to give you (there's a few others that I thought were quite good too). “

“Go West, young man! Go West. There is health in the country, and room away from our crowds of idlers and imbeciles.”

“Common sense is very uncommon.” I think that's a good quote for today, don't you?

“The way we do things is to begin.” I've always believed that. In fact, I think it's one of my quotes as well. I think it's such an important thing to know that sometimes when tasks are looming before you, and I know you often find that you feel overwhelmed, you wonder where to start. Well, you choose one place to start, or you take one job you will start with. And you begin! And it's amazing. You just do that job ‘til it's done. Then you begin another one. So I believe in that quote.

“Ah! if the pulpit would practice what it preaches, then all would be well.” That's a true one, too.

“The darkest hour in any man's life is when he sits down to plan how to get money without earning it.”

And again, he says:  “The darkest day in a man's career is that wherein he fancies there is some easier way of getting a dollar than by squarely earning it.”

Another quote: “Duty and today are ours; results and futurity belong to God.”

 Here's another one that I think is very apt for today: “We are not one people; we are two peoples. We are people for Feedom, and a people for Slavery. Between the two, conflict is inevitable.” Well, that was written way back in the 1800's. I think it could be written for today, don't you?

But here's the quote that I wanted to give you. It's always been a favorite quote of mine by Horace Greeley. It says:

“It is impossible to enslave, mentally or socially, a Bible-reading people. The principles of the Bible are the groundwork of human freedom.”

How true are those words!

I believe, dear wives and mothers, that if we are a people who know God's Word, and His Words are filling our minds and hearts and our beings, we are not going to be a people who are enslaved. Who are the people who are enslaved? People who are deceived. People who are ignorant of the truth. That is the only way you can deceive people.

That's why it is so important to be people of the truth, people of the Book, meaning the Bible, of course. So we, as mothers, need to be filled with truth. We need to be mothers who are filling our children with truth. Every day, little by little, line upon line, here a little, there a little. We are imparting the truth ‘til it becomes part of them, so that they will not be enslaved by propaganda, by fake media, by deception, and by ignorance.

We must be people who know the truth. The Word of God says: “My people are ensnared,” and how true that is! So many of God's people, not just the people of the world, but God's people, are ensnared and enslaved. They've been taken up by fake news, and that which is deception.

And that's why, in these current podcasts, I am talking about, are we people who live according to what God says, or are we those who live according to what society says? We're one or the other.

Last week, did you listen to the podcast, “To mask or not to mask? That is the Question”? Well, we talked about it, not just about the normal answers. We talked about what God says. You see, lovely ladies, there is not one thing we face in this life, or even in our day-to-day lives, or at this current time in our history, that we will not find the answers in God's Word.

If you didn't hear last week's podcast, please go back and listen to it. Because I share what God says, His heart, the Scriptures about this whole scenario of mask-wearing. I was going to go on to another subject today, but do you know, there are still more Scriptures? So I think I'll give you some more today, because we might as well be filled.

I mean, most probably, most Christians, if you said to them, “Have you got any Scriptures about mask wearing,” well, they wouldn't even be able to think of one! I think we should start thinking of some. We talked about it for a whole session last week, and now, let's look at a few more this week, so we really get what God says. OK?

So, last time, I won't go into it, but just recapping a little bit, I took you to 2 Corinthians chapter three, and then verse two talks about how our very lives are a letter that anyone can read, just by looking at us. God says that we're a letter. We're a letter from Him to our husbands. We're a letter from Him to our children. We are a letter from Him to the world, to everyone we are in contact with.

In 2 Corinthians 4:4-6 it says, and this is from the New Living Translation: “If the good news we preach is hidden behind a veil, it is hidden from people who are perishing. Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don't believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News . . . For God, who said, 'Let there be light in the darkness,' has made His Light shine in our hearts, so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.”

The Passion Translation says: “If our gospel message is veiled, it is only veiled to those who are perishing. For their minds have been blinded by the god of this age, leaving them in unbelief. For God who said, “Let His Light shine out of darkness” is the One who has cascaded His Life into us, to bring in dawning light of the glorious knowledge of God, AS WE GAZE INTO THE FACE OF JESUS CHRIST.”

I talked last week about the face of Jesus, and how we, as we look at His face, and not just His face, but the many, many attributes of His face, because His face reveals His character, we grow into His likeness. As we grow into His likeness, it is then revealed in our face. And so we become this letter of Jesus, and the knowledge of Jesus, through our face.

We talked about paniym, which literally means “faces.” Let me give you a few more Scriptures. I didn't give you these ones last time, about how God wants us to live in the Light of His countenance, or the Light of His face.

WALK IN THE LIGHT OF GOD’S FACE

You see, God wants us to be looking up to His face, the face that is unveiled, where God will reveal His glory to us. And He wants to look on our face. He doesn't want a veiled face. He wants an open face so that His glory can be reflected from Him to us, in our face, out to others!

Have you got the message?

This is the message, lovely ladies, of the unveiled face. Of how God created us. He never created us to mask up. No! But to be unveiled, to reveal His glory, and to walk in the Light of His countenance.

Psalm 4:6: “Lord, lift up Thou the light of Thy countenance upon us.”

Psalm 11:7: “For the righteous, Lord, loveth righteousness. His countenance (it just means face) His  face beholds the upright.”

Psalm 21:6: “Thou hast made him exceeding glad with Thy countenance.”

Oh my. As we look to the face of Jesus and we gain knowledge of Him and Who He is, and His glory  reflects on us, we're just living in this reciprocal light of God's glory through our faces. God's face, our face. This brings us into exceeding gladness.

Psalm 42:11: “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me?” And then the Psalmist speaks to his soul, and he says: “Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him, for the help of His countenance.”

What is that phrase talking about? “The help of His countenance.” The word “help” is actually yeshua! We all know that Yeshua is the Jewish name for Jesus. Jesus, meaning “salvation, help, healing, deliverance.” He is the help. It comes from His face shining upon us. The help of the saving, the salvation, the deliverance, the healing of His countenance.

Dear lovely ladies, to receive this, we receive it from His open face. But we need an open face to Him to receive His salvation, and healing, and deliverance. We find that Scripture in Psalms 42:5 and 43:5.

Now, how did God give the children of Israel their promised land? Psalm 44:3 says: “For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but by Thy right hand, and Thine arm, and the Light of Thy countenance.” Isn't that beautiful?

Psalm 89:15: “Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O Lord, in the Light of Thy countenance.” This is how we're meant to walk our lives in the Light of God's face, shining upon us, and His glory reflecting to our face, and then our revealing it to those who are around us with an unveiled face. We talked about that Scripture last week.

Now here's a bit of a scary one. Psalm 90:8: “Thou hast set our sins,” or iniquities, “before Thee, our secret sins in the Light of Thy countenance.” So we don't get away with anything, do we? Even our secret hidden sins are shown up in the Light of His countenance.

You see, that's what masks do. They hide what is going on inside us. They're a cover-up. That's why before Covid, who wore masks? Gangsters, and bank robbers, and people like that.

Even people who wore masks just to be acting a part or acting out as someone. In fact, Britannica Encyclopedia says about mask-wearing, “To act out as someone.” But it says, “Often the wearer seems to become psychologically one with the character he is helping to create. He seems to become an automaton, without his own will, which has become subservient to that of the personage of the mask.”

Just a little quote, but it's a big, long article, showing how the spirit of the person that they are trying to mask can come upon them. That's truly what happens when we mask up. We are covering up who we are, dear ladies, and who God created us to be. We are covering it up. God never intended us to cover up. No, He wants an unveiled face. It's just not His plan.

ENSLAVEMENT PERSONALITY

In fact, what we do when we cover up, we take on a whole new personality. We take on an enslavement personality. We take on this subjection to tyranny and it becomes part of us. You see that people have become enslaved to tyranny just because someone has mandated this. But it is not a law of the land, and it is not in the Constitution. Constitutionally, we are a free people!

I mean, you can't go round naked, but you are free to wear what kind of style you like. And you are a free person to be who God created you to be! Not to cover up who you are. And so, if you take on this enslavement mentality and I see that in people who have given in.

Now there are sometimes when you just have to wear a mask because there was no other way out of it, but you seek not to when possible. What I seek to do is never wear one. The only one time I have was on an airplane.

But you see, when you give into this, you are giving into enslavement and you take that on. You see people, that spirit comes upon them! God has given us a free spirit! We are a free people. America is a free nation! We only give to these people who are trying to enslave us. We are only giving them the power by just giving into it, by submitting to it, by cowardly submitting to it. So be who you are! Not an enslaved person!

Our daughters have just come back from Mexico. In fact, they were there as couples. The three girls, Evangeline, and Serene, and Pearl, with their husbands, went down for a week to Mexico. Serene was saying before they got on the plane to come back home, that down in Mexico they had to have a Covid test to check that they were completely healthy before they could fly. Now you would think after having a test and they proved negative, that they could just get on the plane.

But no, even though they proved negative, they still had to wear a mask on the plane. There was no necessity for that. Everyone who got on that plane was completely free. So therefore, it is not to do with health. It is just a mandate of slavery.

Of course, the girls are so against masking themselves up, especially for their health. So they actually purchased masks that were breathable. They could breathe through them. You know Serene. She wouldn't wear anything else.

Oh, but did you hear? Those of you on Trim Healthy Mama Facebook, you most probably saw, because Pearl posted it, how on the very last evening they were there, Evangeline had an accident? Well, it wasn't even really an accident, because the whole week they did all these most incredible adventurous things. This time they weren't really doing . . . Well, it was pretty adventurous. They'd all gone over to this island on this boat, on these choppy seas.

They were on this island, and they were walking around on the rocks, and then Evangeline, who was way ahead of all of them, as she usually is, apparently slipped on a rock that was in the water. It wasn't even a big boulder; it was just a rock. But it was so slippery, and her body just went out from under her.

She landed, obviously in just the wrong way. She broke the upper part of her arm, just past the shoulder. Apparently, the bones went into other parts of her body. It was pretty horrific. She was just, her arm was just hanging. Of course, she fell into the water. She'd just been rolled up by the surf, and rolled down again, and rolled up.

Anyway, Sam saw her, and he got to her to rescue her. Serene was coming up next. She realized what was happening, but she was a long way, and screamed back to Howard to run, that Vange was down. He eventually got to her. So then they had to get her back. They had to walk a quarter of a mile across the rocks.

Then they had to get back into this boat in this choppy sea. Apparently, it was the most excruciating painful experience for her to get back onto land. Then they had to call for a taxi. She said that was even worse than the boat ride, to get her to a hospital! They eventually did a two-hour operation on her arm, putting in plates, and all kinds of things. So you can pray for her for great healing for her arm. So that was a little sad end to their wonderful holiday.

All right. Well, let's continue here. I love word studies. That's really what we're doing here today. We're doing a word study. We're going into the Word. Now in my podcast, you're going to get a lot of the Word, and that is so good, because the Word is just going into you.

Whatever you're doing now, if you're washing dishes, folding laundry, you're out walking, you can just embrace this Word. And when I read the Scriptures, don't think, “Oh, that's the Scriptures. Well, I can just turn off and dream.” No! Just ignore that, and “embrace Your Word into my heart!” Let's just get so filled with the Word!

DOES GOD GET ANGRY?

So I have been doing a word study this last week. It just happened, that that's how my word studies happen. I'm reading a Scripture about God's anger, and wow, we don't expect to read about God getting angry, do we? We look upon anger as a sin.

But when it talks about God's anger, it's talking of how He feels about sin. I think sometimes we don't even understand how God feels about evil. I mean, evil is so horrific to Him. That's why He sent His only beloved Son to die, because we've all sinned. The punishment for sin is death. Because that's how revolting evil is to God.

But He sent . . . that’s why He hates sin, but He's such a God of love that He sent His own Son to pay the punishment of our sins. But it's good to understand Who our God is. There are so many Scriptures . . . I haven't even finished this study yet!

I noticed how in many of these Scriptures it says God is speaking, and He says, “My anger,” God actually owns this anger. He's not talking about somebody else's anger but “My anger.” And I have a whole paragraph of Scriptures in the next heading, “The Anger of the  Lord.” Another whole paragraph of Scriptures for “Thine anger,” “His anger,” “the fierceness of His anger,” “the power of His anger,” “the rod of His anger,” “wrathful anger,” “the burning with His anger,” “the vengeance in anger,” “the heat of His great anger,” “the indignation of His anger.” Yes, Let me go over the page. “The fury of His anger.” 

And all the Scriptures! Wow! Oh goodness me! That's pretty unbelievable, isn't it? So we have to, if we really want to know God, yes, how we love to know His love, and compassion, and mercy, and forgiveness, which we need every day, and which we bask in.

But God is God. And He's also angry with sin. And the full meaning of that Hebrew word there is aph. It's mentioned 273 times in the Bible. It means, “rod, anger, rapid breathing in passion.” Wow! When someone's angry, sometimes you can see this is how they act. But it also means, can you believe this? It also means, “the countenance, the face, the nose, the nostrils.”

You see, all our emotions are revealed on our face. So “angry,” let's look at a few things here. So this word that we read, you know about anger, mostly translated “anger and wrath.” Here in Psalm 10:4, it says: “The wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God.” That's the same word.

It's translated, that same word is translated “face” 29 times. In Ezekiel 38:18, it says: “My fury shall come up in My face.” Whoo! Have you ever seen someone get red in the face because they're angry? Well! My! Maybe that's how God feels about sin. When people turn away from Him and, oh . . .

And this same word is translated “nose” 12 times. Here in Isaiah 65:5: “These are a smoke in My nose, a fire that burneth all the day.”

And then it's translated “nostrils” 13 times. In Psalm 18:8: “There went up a smoke out of His nostrils, and fire out of His mouth.” So, there it is, in that word that means “anger,” but also, it's shown in the face.

All right, and then there's that beautiful word, paniym. I talked about it last week, meaning, “the face of God, the face of Jesus.” But here in Genesis 31:2 it says: “And Jacob beheld the face of Laban, and behold, it was not toward him as before.” And how did he know that? Because he looked at his face!

And so this word paniym, it's also translated as an “angry countenance,” and then a “sad countenance,” because all our emotions are revealed on our faces, ladies. Our negative emotions, and our lovely emotions. But they all show on our face.

In 1 Samuel 1:17, Hannah's countenance was no more sad after Eli said to her, “The God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of Him.” That was when she cried out and asked for a baby, because she didn't have a baby! She'd longed and longed and longed, and waited and waited and waited! But when Eli said to her, “May God give you your answer,” it says: “And her countenance was no more sad.” So her countenance changed from sadness to joy.

King Artaxerxes said to Nehemiah, who was his cupbearer, “Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart.” So it was showing on his face.

Now this word paniym also means, “a fierce countenance.” In Deuteronomy 28:50, it talks about “A nation of fierce countenance.” Daniel talks about in the end times of “a king of fierce countenance.”

There's a “rebuking countenance.” Psalm 80:16: “They perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.”

Sometimes we have that rebuking countenance, don't we, mothers? Do you get that rebuking countenance on you sometimes? Well, sometimes we have to do that because it's necessary for the training of our children. We don't usually have a lovely face where we have a rebuking moment, do we?

A “troubled countenance.” Ezekiel 27:35: “They shall be sore afraid, they shall be troubled in their countenance,” because they were afraid. And their fear and the troubling of it showed on their face.

A “cheerful countenance.” You know this one, Proverbs 15:13: “ A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance.” So that's a good one to have in your home. That's why we don't put on, well, you would never put a mask on in your home, would you?

And yet, I have a friend comes to our fellowship, and he has to go to homes to fix certain things in the home. He says, he can't believe it, that he has been to the door, and the people in the house are masked! In their homes with their own children! Can you even believe it?

It shows you how people can become so enslaved to a lie. So taken over by a lie that even in their own home, they cannot be who they are! This to me is so sad. I can't even believe it. Wow!

But we're meant to be unveiled, with a merry heart, and a cheerful countenance, showing it to our husband, smiling at him. Do you smile at your husband every day? When you look at him, do you smile at him? Maybe you haven't smiled at him today. Well, make sure you do.

When he comes home, be ready with smiles. Be ready with a good word. Be ready with a hug. Be ready to welcome him with your eyes, and with your smile, and with your whole countenance. You know, we can have a disdaining countenance or a welcoming countenance. Don't let your husband, or your children, miss out on your beautiful, unveiled, cheerful countenance which you are shining on them and smiling on them all day long!

And then Proverbs 27:17 talks about sharpening one another's countenance. “Iron sharpeneth iron. So a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.” You can't have heart-to-heart discussions without looking into someone's face and sharpening one another. You've got to have open faces with one another.

Now, just one more because time is going, like always. We also reveal our character on our face. I've always loved this Scripture, Isaiah 3:9: “The shew of their countenance doth witness against them.” OK, let's give it to you in some other translations.

The Holman Translation: “The look on their faces testifies against them.”

The New Living Translation: “The very look on their faces gives them away.” And it's actually in the context of the passage that they are guilty. Guilt shows on the face, doesn't it?

Have you noticed that with your children? They are trying to maybe tell you a lie and get out of something, but the look on their face, guilt is all over their face. It gives them away, and you usually know what's happening by looking at their face.

So ladies, time is gone. It looks as though I'm going to have to, next week, tell you a little more, because I haven't finished yet! Do you see how the Bible is filled with this understanding of our countenance and how we reveal ourselves and our emotions through our countenance? It's not meant to be hidden! It's meant to be revealed. Of course, especially our positive countenance. We don't want to be putting on a negative one, do we? And so let's pray.

“Dear Father, we thank You, Lord, that Your Word shows us everything. We pray that You will help us to be people who live in truth, who live according to Your Word, who live with unveiled faces. Who will reveal in our homes Your love, Your compassion, Your glory, the glory of Your face, reflected through our face, shining out on our husband, and our children, and all we meet.

Help us, Lord God, to be who You created us to be. We ask it in the precious Name of Jesus. Amen.”

Transcribed by Darlene Norris. If you would like to thank her, her email is: momcat617

P.S. I shared with you on this podcast about the different emotions that show on our face. But there are more! Here is a more extensive list (including the ones I gave you).

THE FACE SHOWS OUR INWARD ATTITUDES

Isaiah 3:9: “The show of their countenance doeth witness against them.”

Angelic face: Acts 6:15.

Angry face: Esther 1:12, 14 and Proverbs 25:23.

Cheerful face: Proverbs 15:15.

Confused face: Ezra 9:7; Jeremiah 7:19; and Daniel 9:7.

Crestfallen face: Genesis 4:5.

Determined face: Isaiah 50:7; Jeremiah 42:17 and 44:12.

Fierce face: Deuteronomy 28:50 and Daniel 8:23.

Guilty face: Isaiah 3;9 (NLT): “The very look on their faces gives them away.”

Hardened face: Proverbs 21:29 and Jeremiah 5:3.

Impudent face: Proverbs 7:13.

Lion-like face: 1 Chronicles 12:8.

Pale face (because of trauma): Isaiah 29:22; Jeremiah 30:6; Joel 2:6; and Nahum 2:10.

Prideful face: Hosea 5:5 and 7:10.

Radiant face: Psalm 34:5 (most translations).

Rebuking face: Palm 80:16.

Sad face: Nehemiah 2:2, 3; Job 8:27 (ESV); and Matthew 6:16.

Shameful face: Psalm 44:15; 69:7; 83:16; 2 Chronicles 32:21; Ezra 9:6; Jeremiah 51;51; Ezekiel 7:18; and 15:7).

Sharpened face: Proverbs 27:17.

Shining face: Exodus 34:35 and Ecclesiastes 8:1.

Smiling face: Job 29:24 (NLT): “When they were discouraged, I smiled at them.”

Strong face (chazaq): Ezekiel 3:8.

Troubled face: Ezekiel 27:35; Daniel 5:9; and 7:28.

Unashamed face: Psalm 34:5.

Blessings from Nancy

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