Christian Education and Discipleship

You Must Ask The Right Questions To Get The Right Answer

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Education and Discipleship

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2021-02-14

Synopsis: Pastor John Weaver uses the story of Joseph's brothers in Genesis 42 to illustrate the importance of asking the right questions. When the brothers find their money returned, they ask, 'What is this that God hath done to us?' instead of 'What have we done to bring this upon ourselves?' Weaver applies this principle to modern America, arguing that the nation's moral, educational, and economic decline is a result of its own sin and rebellion against God. He calls for repentance and a return to biblical obedience.

[John Weaver] All right. Well, let's open our Bible's day to Genesis chapter 42 and verse 28. Genesis 42 and verse 28. You will get the context of it just shortly, but to notice, if you would, please. Genesis 42 and verse 28. The title of the message is, You must ask the right question to get the right answer. So Genesis 42 and verse 28, And he said unto his brethren, My money is restored, and lo, it is even in my sack.

[John Weaver] And their heart failed them, and they were afraid, saying one to another, What is this? that God hath done to us. Everyone has asked a question and received a wrong answer, even when you already knew the correct answer. Many times we do ask the right question and sometimes we still get a wrong answer. I suppose that one of the most interesting times in my teaching career is when I taught fourth grade. I've taught every grade from fourth grade all the way through college. I never will forget the very first time I began teaching in the fourth grade, I got our history book for that year, and the history book was about an inch thick, and I thought, oh no, I'll be through with this thing in a month or so, and what am I going to do for the rest of the year? And so I went through three chapters the first week And I had some very brilliant and great students in that class. And I gave my first quiz. And every student in the class failed.

[John Weaver] And I thought, whoa, wait a minute. It can't be the students. It's got to be the teacher. And I had to realize, you know, a fourth grader is not like a high school student or college level student. So I had to back up and start all over. I had to do what we've always done. I tell them. I tell them what I told them. I tell them a third time what I told them.

[John Weaver] And finally, after laboriously going over and over, boy, everybody was doing very well. So it's a very interesting thing to teach the fourth grade, I can assure you. On one of my fourth grade history quizzes, I asked this question. I said, will you please name the King and Queen of Spain who allowed Christopher Columbus and who actually paid for his voyages. And so one student evidently got his Bible lesson and his history lesson mixed up. So when I asked who sponsored the voyage of Christopher Columbus, named the King and Queen of Spain, he wrote King Ferdinand and Queen Jezebel. Not Isabella. And the same student, who was a mischievous little boy, cute as he could be, on another quiz I asked, name the three books that were found in every Pilgrim home, or every colonial home. And of course, they were the Bible, Fox's Book of Martyrs, and Pilgrim's Progress. He could not think of Pilgrim's Progress. So when I got his test paper, he had listed the three books in every colonial home, the Bible, Fox's Book of Martyrs, and Reader's Digest.

[John Weaver] So that's the way it goes. But anyhow, the point I'm trying to make is simple. When we ask the wrong question, many times we should expect to get a wrong answer. A good example of asking the wrong question, especially to our children, is why did you do this? We ask other people many times, why did you do that? Well, the truth of the matter is when you ask why, you're opening the door to give an awful lot of different answers. In fact, the truth of the matter is we already know why.

[John Weaver] because people are sinful, people are depraved, people are wicked, and people oftentimes are just plain ignorant, and sometimes we're just very careless in our actions. So the correct question is not why did you do this, but what did you do? So therefore the second question would be what needs to be done to correct this and make it right according to the Bible or according to biblical law. How do you correct this from a biblical standpoint? So when you ask why, you can get a multitude of questions and multitude of answers, and many of them may be right, some of them may be wrong, but it's not the why that needs to be dealt with, it is the what.

[John Weaver] So when you look in verse 28 again, here Jacob's sons, who had gone down to Egypt for corn, and you will remember Joseph, their brother, had made himself strange to them. They did not recognize him. Moreover, he had spoken to them through an interpreter. And when they left, he had had all their money put back in their sacks. So they stopped, by the way, to give their answers per vendor, and they found this money in the mouths of their sacks. And note, if you would, in verse 28, and he said unto his brethren, My money is restored, and lo, it is even in my sack.

[John Weaver] And their heart failed them, and they were afraid, saying one to another, What is this that God hath done to us? Now, it's a good question. What is this that God had done to us? But it's not the right question. The right question should be, What have we done to bring this judgment or this set of circumstances or this situation upon ourselves.

[John Weaver] Now, in reality, they really knew what was happening. So if you look back, the Genesis 42, beginning there in verse 21, here's what they said. And they said one to another, we are verily guilty concerning our brother in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us and we would not hear. Therefore, is this distress come upon us? And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child, and you would not hear. Therefore, behold, also his blood is required." Now I want you to note very carefully in verse 21, they said one to another, we are verily guilty concerning our brother. Note, when we saw the anguish of his soul, they saw him suffering, they knew he was scared, and when he besought us, that is, he begged us, He asked us and we hardened our heart, turned a deaf ear, we did not hear.

[John Weaver] So these men had gone to visit Joseph, whom they did not recognize. And Joseph had said, you are spies. They said, no, no, no, we're not spies. In fact, look in your Bibles, the verse 11, Genesis 42 and verse 11. After he accused them of being spies, they said, we are all one man's sons. We are true men. Thy servants are no spies. Now the interesting thing, when you look at verse 11, they said, we are all true men.

[John Weaver] Now the Hebrew word for true, when it's used as an adjective, means true, honest, veritable, and just. So they have told Joseph now that we are true, honest, just, and trustworthy men, when in reality, they were liars and deceivers.

[John Weaver] Now, let me show you what I'm talking about. If you will turn back in your Bibles to Genesis 37, Genesis 37, and let's begin reading there with verse 17, and we'll read through verse 35. I want you to watch carefully. Remember now they have claimed to be true men, honest, just, trustworthy. So here it is. Genesis 37 and notice verse 17. And the man said, because Joseph is now seeking his brothers.

[John Weaver] They are not where they were originally. So he asked, and the man said, they are departed. Hence for, I heard them say, let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren and found them in Dothan. And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near to them, they conspired against him to slay him. And they said one to another, behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now, therefore, and let us slay him and cast him into some pit. And we will say, some evil beast hath devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams. And Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hand.

[John Weaver] And he said, let us not kill him. And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him, that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again. And it came to pass, when Joseph was coming to his brethren, that they stripped Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colors that was on him, and they took him and cast him into a pit, and the pit was empty, there was no water in it, And they sat down to

[John Weaver] eat bread, and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and behold, a company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead with their camels, bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, and our flesh, and his brethren were content. Then there passed by Midianites, merchantmen, and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and they sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver, and they brought Joseph into Egypt.

[John Weaver] Now let me stop there just for a moment. Because the Bible says that the Ishmaelites were coming, and then in verse 28, the Bible says there passed by Midianites, merchantmen, and then they sold him to Ishmaelites. Well, who did they sell him to, the Ishmaelites or the Midianites? And the answer is both. They were Ishmaelites because they were descendants of Ishmael, but they also lived in the land of Midian. So they were also Midianites.

[John Weaver] It's kind of like I could claim to be an American or a Weaverite or a Georgiaite because I am American and I'm of my father the Weaver family and of course I live in Georgia. So these were Ishmaelites who lived in Midian. So they sold Joseph then to the Ishmaelites who were of Midian. Now notice verse 29, And Reuben returned into the pit, and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit, and he were in his clothes. And he returned unto his brethren, and said, The child is not, and I, whither shall I go? And they took Joseph's coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood. And they sent the coat of many colors, and they brought it to their father, and said, This have we found. Know now whether it be thy son's coat or no. And he knew it, and he said, It is my son's coat, An evil beast hath devoured him. Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces. And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.

[John Weaver] And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him." Now note if you would please, did they lie to their father? The answer is yes. Did they deceive their father? The answer is yes. Did they acknowledge their hatred of Joseph? The answer is no. So here they are saying to Joseph, we are all true men.

[John Weaver] When in reality, they were liars and deceivers. Now, let me show you the real kicker in this. If you will look in Genesis 37 and verse 2, the Bible says, these are the generations of Jacob. Joseph being 17 years old was feeding the flock with his brethren. And the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought into his father, their evil report. Now note, if you would, Joseph being 17 years old now. Turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 41 and look, if you would please, at verse 46. Genesis 41 and verse 46. The Bible says, And Joseph was 30 years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt. Now, I want you to note he was 17 which means now he has spent 13 years in servitude and now at age 30 he is brought out. Now that means for 13 years they lied and deceived Jacob.

[John Weaver] Now they lied to Jacob, they deceived him. However, when you add the seven Good years, in which Joseph stored up all the food, that makes 20 years. And then possibly it was either the first or second year of the famine before they went down into Egypt. So that means the sons of Jacob now have lied to and deceived their father from 20 to 22 years. So here's the thing. God had given them 22 years to confess their sins and acknowledge their sins and to make things right with their father. But they did not. Yes, it is true that God was bringing their sins out into the open. But what these boys did not understand was not what God has done to us. It's literally what have we done ourselves?

[John Weaver] What did we do to bring this situation upon us? What did we do to get in the mess that we're in right now? So, then they could have asked that question, and the next question would be, what must we do to straighten this out? How can we straighten this out in light of the law of God?

[John Weaver] Now, when I was pondering this passage, I had a thought, and I just wondered about this. If you look back in your Bibles, Genesis chapter 37 if you would please and note particularly beginning there with verse 35. After Jacob has seen Joseph's coat and all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him but he refused to be comforted and he said for I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning Thus his father wept for him." Can you imagine for 22 years they deceived their father? I wonder when the truth came to life what Jacob thought of his sons. How would a father deal with something like that? For 22 years, your own flesh and blood has deceived you in making you think that another son of yours had been murdered or slain by a wild animal, when in reality he wasn't.

[John Weaver] How could you ever trust those boys? How could you ever believe what they said again? You know, I'm just thinking that undoubtedly there had to be some distrust on Jacob's part for them.

[John Weaver] Now, another question that you have to ask is this. How in the world could these men live with such a grievous sin? How could they even sleep at night? I mean, they understood that they hated their own brother. They knew that they had sold their own brother into slavery. They knew that they had lied to and misled and deceived their father. How could they sleep at night? How could they continue knowing their own wickedness? It has been absolutely astounding to me how men can literally sear their own consciousness and their own conscience in the sense that...

[John Weaver] Let me give you an illustration. I saw a... I'd read an article on these young Mexican girls who are professional murderers, professional hit women. And they had pictures of them. And some of them were very beautiful. And the interesting thing is, some of them killed 17, some 20, and did so without remorse at all. My question would be, how could you even sleep at night knowing that you murdered someone? You know to me it just boggles my mind and I cannot figure out how these boys could literally sleep at night now They did not ask What have we done? They did not ask What must we do to correct this situation? They asked what is this that God has done to us?

[John Weaver] Now what I want you to do today is this I want you to take this same thought. And I want you to apply it to America and to other nations as well. So you need to ask yourself this question, what is happening in our country? And the answer is basically the same thing that is happening in other countries. But we must remember that 400 years ago, the pilgrims fled to America in order to have religious freedom and freedom in general. Today, there's no place to flee to. Where would you go if America totally collapses?

[John Weaver] Where would you go if we turn into a full scale dictatorship? I'm just simply saying there's simply no other place to flee. And each country that you look to is literally being controlled by the same Kabbal and an elite group that seek to play God and control the world and the lives of every individual in the world. So what has happened? Here's what has happened. That Americans and especially American Christians have become apathetic, careless, indolent, and at the same time could care less about truth because we are more sinful and in deeper rebellion to God and His Word.

[John Weaver] We have refused to believe the threats of our enemies, we've laughed them to scorn, and we've derided their determination to destroy us. And we tend to think that somehow we are exceptional and nothing like that will ever happen to us. Let me give you some quotes. You are familiar with some of these, may not the first one, But while addressing the Western bloc at the MSC on November the 18th, 1956, in the presence of communist Polish statesman Gomułka, the first secretary Khrushchev, Nikita Khrushchev, said about the capitalist states, it doesn't depend upon you whether or not we exist. If you don't like us, Don't accept our invitation and don't invite us to come and see you. Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will bury you. And 12 diplomats from NATO and the Israeli ambassador got up and stormed out when Nikita Khrushchev said that. We will bury you again. It was Nikita Khrushchev who said, we will take America without firing a shot. We will bury you.

[John Weaver] And then again, he said, we can't expect the American people to jump from capitalism to communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of socialism until they awaken one day to find that they have communism. That is exactly what is happening. And then he said this, we do not have to invade the United States. We will destroy you from within. Well, I'm just simply saying people laughed at that.

[John Weaver] You remember that scene where Khrushchev took his shoe and beat on the podium and said, we will bury you. Everybody thought this is ridiculous. Well, Seemingly everything he said has come to pass. What have we done to ourselves? And what is happening to us? And the answer is just like those boys were finding out the righteous judgment of God in revealing their sins, we're discovering the righteous judgment of God in revealing our sins as well. What we have done is this.

[John Weaver] We have allowed the communists and the liberals and the unbelievers to infiltrate our seminaries and to educate our preachers. We have allowed them to indoctrinate our young preachers in liberalism, liberation theology, critical race theory, and all kinds of man-made theologies that are absolutely totally contrary to the Word of God. And what is even worse, many professing Christians sit there and listen and are gullible and take everything in just simply because someone has a PhD behind his name.

[John Weaver] It's called the tyranny of the experts. Well, we've done this and we've studied this. And the thing is, we have listened to those preachers and we've listened to those people. And the average American Christian can walk down the street, run face into face with truth, get knocked down by truth, rise up brush truth off and continue on down the street in error and heresy without ever considering who he bumped into. No.

[John Weaver] See, we no longer study our Bible. Some still read their Bibles, but we no longer really study our Bibles. In fact, I don't know if you've ever noticed it, but I have. You notice how many Bibles are left on the pews of the church buildings each Sunday. Now I realize most Christians have more than one Bible. I understand that. But just walking out without your Bible to me is just mind-boggling. I don't know how you could do that. But that happens.

[John Weaver] Now let me tell you what has happened. Robert L. Dabney was a pastor, an author, a theologian, and a soldier. He was a decamp to General Stonewall Jackson. He is also the author of many, many volumes. And here's what he wrote in 1879. He said, humanity always finds out sooner or later that it cannot get on without a religion. And it will take a false one in preference to none.

[John Weaver] infidelity and practical ungodliness will become increasingly prevalent among Protestant youth and our churches will have a more arduous contest for growth if not for existence." Now he goes on and he gives a prophecy. You're going to find this basically in his book, The Practical Philosophy. It's also in his book, The Discussions. But here's what he said. Listen carefully. You may deem it a strange prophecy, but I predict that the time will come in the once free America where the battle for religious liberty will have to be fought over again and will probably be lost because the people are already ignorant of its true basis and condition. In 1879, He said, we'll have to fight again, but we will probably lose.

[John Weaver] And you see, the truth of the matter is we refuse to educate ourselves. We refuse to educate our children. What we have done for the last hundred years or more, as we've just turned our children over to the government, we've turned them over to governmental schools, sometimes known as public schools, but they are not really public schools. When I say that, if you think that they're open to the public, you just try walking into one.

[John Weaver] You're going to find out. You say, but I'm public. That doesn't matter. They are basically governmental schools. And what we've done, we've left our children then to be trained and taught by people who basically are unbelievers. And I understand, please don't get upset with me. I understand that there are some real, genuine Christians still teaching in government schools. I understand that. But the truth of the matter is, they cannot communicate the truths of the Bible. They cannot communicate that which they believe.

[John Weaver] And consequently, it's absolutely impossible to teach morals, ethics, and right from wrong apart from the Word of God. It is also impossible to maximize education when you must reduce it to its lowest common denominator to make sure that no child is left behind. And so what you do, you take the good students, you take the great students, you take the students who want to excel, and you have to bring them down to the lowest common denominator so you can pull up other students and pull others along who could care less.

[John Weaver] and who don't give a flip about anything. I'm just simply pointing out that Dabney opposed the government or public school movement back in 1879 and he did so number one on biblical grounds because he said and it is true that God gave the parents the obligation to teach and to educate their children. And secondly, he pointed out that God never bestowed that upon government. It is not the government's responsibility. It is the parent's responsibility.

[John Weaver] Now, he also went ahead and said that our public education, quote unquote, was going to be totally secularized. He said this, and I quote, well, let me go ahead and say this first. When he was talking about public education being totally secularized, you must remember that in the 1960s, it was the Supreme Court who took the Bible reading and prayer out of the public school system. Dabney warned against this in 1879. Here's what he said.

[John Weaver] Now I'm quoting, but nearly all public men and divines declared that the state schools are the glory of America, and they are a finality, and in no event to be surrendered. And we have seen that their complete secularation is logically inevitable. Christians must prepare themselves then for the following results. All prayers, catechisms, and Bibles will ultimately be driven out of the public schools." And he wrote that in 1879.

[John Weaver] And that's exactly what has happened. So if you want your child educated, if you want your child to know the Bible, if you want your child to know true history, if you want your child to be patriotic, if you want your child to understand the constitution, if you want your child to be able to read, think, analyze and apply the truth, then you must teach him yourself. It's just that simple. It's never going to happen otherwise. It is impossible to teach apart from discipline and control.

[John Weaver] And neither exists today in governmental schools. For instance, if three or four of you just started making a row and fussing and hollering and making all kinds, there's no way that I can communicate truth. There's no way that I could teach because it's going to be distracting from what I'm trying to do. I had an incident like that happen to me many, many years ago. I was preaching in Ohio, and it was a packed out church building. And right in the middle of my sermon, and right in the middle of the church, in the middle of a pew, sat a man who was drunk. And in the middle of my sermon, he stood up and started shouting and screaming and cursing and trying to deny everything that I was saying. I looked at the pastor and I looked back at the man. I said, sir, this is not your church and this is not your pulpit.

[John Weaver] You've not been invited to speak. I have. If you want to stay here, sit down and shut up and listen. I said, if you don't want to stay here, you may walk out. If you do not want to walk out and you continue, we will take you out. And sure enough, he kept going. I looked at the pastor, the pastor motioned to four men. They went and picked him up and took him outside.

[John Weaver] Wouldn't let him come back in. Did I finish my sermon? Yes. But here's my question. I wonder how many heard anything after that incident. You see what I'm saying? It's impossible to teach without discipline and without control. So if we're not going to teach each other, if we're not going to teach our children, you have to ask this question. Whose fault is it? It is ours. God has never delegated education to the state. He's never delegated it to government. He's delegated it to pastors, to preachers, to teachers, to families, but never ever to government. And when we refuse to obey God and educate our own children, you have to ask, what have we done ourselves? Now, I'm just trying to show you the situation that we're in is getting worse. And the reason it's getting worse is because we have to ask the right question in order to get the right answer.

[John Weaver] Now, let me go a step further. Do you realize that not only the average Christian American, But the average American is as broke as he possibly can be and is in debt up to his eyeballs. I read just recently where the average American could not afford a $1,000 emergency bill. Stop and think about that. What is wrong with us? Have you ever stopped to think that we have allowed the Federal Reserve and our Congress basically to systematically bankrupt us to the point that our currency is absolutely worthless? And the only reason that we can still have any passing of these Federal Reserve notes is because a few people still have a little confidence in it. And that's it. And most people have no idea what money is, and they have no understanding concerning money. I went to pay for some gas, and I think it was 17 bucks. So I handed the young girl a 20 Federal Reserve note, and she handed me back three ones. And I just stood there. Nobody was behind me.

[John Weaver] I stood there and looked. I said, something's wrong. Well, she said, didn't I give you back three ones? I said, yes, but something is still wrong. She said, what are you talking about? I said, well, I gave you one piece of paper. You gave me three. I now have three times as much paper as I did before I gave you that one. And I've got your gas.

[John Weaver] Oh, she said, but but Those pieces of papers don't have 20 on it. I said, oh, it's the numbers that makes it valuable. Give me your pen. I'm going to write 20 on each one of them. No, no, no. You can't do that. I said, well, which is it? Is it the numbers of the paper that makes it valuable? And she just stood there and stared at me.

[John Weaver] I want you to listen. Here's what the Constitution of the United States says. Article one, section eight, clause five. Congress shall have the power to coin money. regulate the value thereof, and of foreign corns, and fix the standard of weights and measures. Congress shall have the power to coin money, not print money, because the founding fathers wanted gold and silver to be our money. Listen, if you would, to Article 1, Section 10, Clause 1. Here it is. No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation grant letters of mark and reprisal, coin money, emit bills of credit, make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts. Wow. What? No state shall make anything but gold and silver coin a tender of payment in debt. You know, every time we exchange Federal Reserve notes, we're violating the Constitution of the United States. Isn't that amazing? Now, let me give you very quickly five basic economic principles from these two statements in our Constitution. The first one is this. The basic unit, the basic unit is the dollar.

[John Weaver] Let me remind you of something. A dollar is not a piece of paper. The word dollar is a unit of measurement. It's like the word quart. You don't walk into the grocery store and say, I want a quart. No, you say, I want a quart of milk or a quart of orange juice. A dollar is a unit of measurement. It's like 12 inches. It's like a half gallon or linear foot or whatever. It's a unit of measurement. And so the unit of measurement of the American dollar happens to be 371.25 grains of pure silver. So when you say, I want a dollar, a dollar of what? A dollar of silver or a dollar of gold? The dollar of gold is different from a dollar of silver. But the basic unit of money in this country is 371.25 grains of pure silver.

[John Weaver] The second principle is this. Only gold or silver coins and currency that is specie-backed banknotes, that is, that have gold and silver behind them, can be legal tender. Only gold or silver or currency that is banknotes backed with gold and silver can be legal tender in this country. Number three, no state can issue coins or currency. Number four, No one may counterfeit U.S. government-issued coins or currency. And number five, no one, or at least you must understand this, fiat money, that is fiat notes, bills of credit are forbidden.

[John Weaver] That's what the Constitution said. So you cannot have what we have today constitutionally, that is, Federal Reserve notes without any backing whatsoever. So we have to ask this question. If these five points are true, and they are based upon the two articles of the Constitution, we have to ask this question, what has happened to our monetary system? And the answer is we've accepted the lie that paper is money.

[John Weaver] We have forgotten about our original continental currency. During the war for independence, paper currency was printed without backing. The soldiers were paid in this continental currency. It was absolutely worthless. So what the soldiers did, they took this currency and put it and used it for padding in their boots and also up around their shins to protect their shin bones. And the continental currency was so worthless, it was referred to as shinplasters.

[John Weaver] It's all it's good for. That's why we get the old expression. It's not worth a continental. It's talking about the continental law. It was not backed by anything. It's kind of like the incident that happened in Germany when the mark was absolutely worthless. One of my favorite stories, the woman had a wheelbarrow full of paper money on her way to the store to buy a loaf of bread. She saw a fight, so she set her wheelbarrow down, started parting the people to see who was fighting, and once she saw who was fighting and her curiosity was satisfied, she turned around and someone had dumped all the money out and stole the wheelbarrow. The wheelbarrow was worth more than the money.

[John Weaver] So I'm just simply pointing out the fact we've been deceived. We've done this to ourselves. It was Ludwig von Mises, and I love to quote this, he said, government is the only entity that can take a valuable commodity like paper, slap some ink on it, and make it totally worthless. And that's just about the truth. Now, listen to this. The Honorable Louis McFadden, who was chairman of the House of Banking and Currency Committee in the 1930s, said this, Federal Reserve notes are not redeemable in gold or silver or any other commodity. They have not been redeemable since 1933. In the sense they are not redeemable, Federal Reserve notes have not been backed by anything since 1933. Now listen carefully. This is a congressman. He said, and I'm quoting, the term lawful money and lawful money of the United States shall be held and construed to mean gold or silver coin of the United States. Lawful money is gold and silver coin.

[John Weaver] Now, I have a two-part message that I preached many years ago on biblical money and inflation. I'm not going to re-preach that message, but I am going to take one illustration out of that two-hour message and tweak it just a little bit, bring it up to date in order to show you basically what has happened. In the 1900s, you had a $20 gold piece. You also had a $10 gold piece and a $5 gold piece. Now, the $20 gold piece was minted in 1911. The $20 gold piece, as well as the $10 and the $5, was not only biblical money, it was also constitutional money. But along with this $20 gold piece, you also had a $20 banknote. and they were interchangeable. So I could take a $20 banknote and go into the bank and hand it to the banker and get a $20 gold coin. Or I could take a $20 gold coin and go to the banker and get a $20 banknote. They were interchangeable. Now, that happened and was true up until 1933.

[John Weaver] which was a mere 88 years back. So what has happened? Well, let me try to spell it out for you and make it as understandable as I can. I want you to consider price of gas.

[John Weaver] Now, in Georgia, gas is right around $2.30 a gallon. You can find some cheaper, but usually it's $2.29, something like that. Also here in Florida. it's about that same price. Other states may be higher, but I'm going to use just $2.30, okay? So, if you were to take a $20 bill, a $20 Federal Reserve note, and you go to the gas station, and you buy $20 worth of gas at $2.30 a gallon, how many gallons could you get? and the answer would be nine gallons. Okay? Let's suppose your car gets 20 miles to the gallon. How far could you go on a $20 Federal Reserve note worth of gas? And the answer would be 180 miles. If you were driving north, from South Georgia, you probably wouldn't make it out of the state of Georgia. If you're in North Florida, you might not make it to Miami. So a $20 Federal Reserve note would get you 9 gallons of gas.

[John Weaver] How about a $20 gold coin? Well, I'm going to be on the low side. A $20 gold coin today, I'm going to say is worth 1,900 Federal Reserve notes. It's probably worth more because gold right now is around 1,900 an ounce. And if you get a $20 gold piece, it's worth more than that. But let's just say it's worth 1,900. How much gas could you buy with a $20 gold piece today worth 1,900 Federal Reserve notes? And the answer is you could buy 826 gallons of gas. So, 20 miles a gallon, how far could you go? And the answer is you could drive 16,529 miles.

[John Weaver] That is the distance from Jacksonville, Florida to Los Angeles, California, there and back, seven times. Because the distance from Jacksonville, Florida to Los Angeles is 2,437 miles. So here's my question. Who stole your gas? Who stole your vacation? Who stole your money? Why is it today you cannot take a $20 Federal Reserve note to the bank and say, I want a $20 gold coin? Where did the gold go? Where did the money go?

[John Weaver] And the answer is to the international bankers and to bankers in general. You have to ask yourself this question. Who is it that owns most of the gold and most of the silver in today's world? And the answer is it's the bankers, Congress, government. It's not the average individual. Now, you have to ask yourself, what in the world is happening here in this country? And the answer is God is judging us. God is bringing our sins to light. What have we done? What are we doing? Listen, I have no doubt that we are under the judgment of God. I have no doubt that the judgment of God is going to increase. I have no doubt that we are going to suffer and I have no doubt that our suffering will not get far worse.

[John Weaver] However, the fault is ours. We have sinned. We've rebelled against God. We've disobeyed. We've walked wickedly. We've been content with ignorance. We've been content with not educating ourselves. We've trusted in the God of convenience. We've trusted in the arm of the flesh. And now we're reaping what we've sown. We've lost everything. And now that we have an administration in Washington, D.C. that is totally communistic in outlook plans and schemes, it will finally destroy what little bit of liberty that we have left.

[John Weaver] And you know what the average American is going to do? Let me tell you what he's going to do. The average American is going to sit back, complain, and do nothing. And he will happily stretch out his hand for the universal basic income, and he will trade his freedom for servitude. We have forgotten the adage, come shackles, come shackles. Because every time you get something from someone else, especially government, there's always a catch involved. And the average American is going to watch this country die a horrible death. And the average American could care less about his children, his grandchildren or his great grandchildren.

[John Weaver] So you have to ask, what is God doing to us? And the answer is. What we've done to ourselves. Let me show you. I want you to turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 42. Isaiah 42. Look, if you would, please, in Isaiah 42, and let's begin reading there with verse 22. Isaiah 42. And verse 22. I want you to look at how applicable this passage is in light of what I've been preaching. Isaiah 42 verse 22, God says, but this is a people robbed and spoiled.

[John Weaver] They're all of them snared in holes and they were hit in prison houses. They are for a prey and none delivered for a spoil and none seth restore. Who among you will give ear to this? Who will hearken and hear for the time to come? Who's going to listen? Who gave Jacob for a spoil and Israel to the robbers? Did not the Lord? He against whom we have sinned, for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law.

[John Weaver] Therefore he poured upon them the fury of his anger and the strength of his battle, And it set him on fire round about, yet he knew it not. And it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart. Notice if you would, God said, I gave Jacob for spoil. I gave Israel to the robbers. Why? Because they sinned against me. They refused to listen. They refused to walk in my ways. And therefore, God says, I poured out my fury. I've set you on fire and you didn't even know it. You got burned and you never even took it to heart.

[John Weaver] You have to ask the right question to get the right answer. Let me make some applications. The first one is this. The enemies of liberty and freedom are already talking about since January the 20th, by the way. Are already talking about. Reeducation camps. And detention camps. So if you don't agree with the communist stooges and the socialist stooges in power, they want to reeducate you. And some of you read undoubtedly where some have even suggested that the supporters of Trump should have their children taken from them, deprogrammed and never returned to the parents. Wow.

[John Weaver] I've got news for you. Once you are in the camps, it's too late to fight. Once you're in the camps, you may repent all you want, but you're in the camps. Alexander Sozinitsyn, who spent many years in a communist gulag, wrote and said this, listen carefully, and how we burned in the camps later thinking what would things have been like if every security operative when he went out at night to make an arrest had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say goodbye to his family or if during periods of mass arrest and for example in Leningrad when they arrested a quarter of the entire city People had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had

[John Weaver] understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of a half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand. The organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport And notwithstanding all of Stalin's thirst, the curse machine would have ground to a halt. If, if we didn't love freedom enough, and even more, we had no awareness of the real situation, we purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterwards. Wow.

[John Weaver] He said we wouldn't fight. We got what we deserved. The second one is this. We need to understand that it is our sins and our rebellion and our ignorance that gets us into trouble. Israel had sinned against God so many times. And God delivered them so many times. But yet there came a time when God said no more. Want to read to you, just listen. This is from the book of Judges, chapter 10, verses 10 through 14. Listen. And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, saying, We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken God and also served Balaam. And the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, and from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines? The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Moabites that oppressed you. And you cried unto me, and I delivered you out of their hand. Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods. Wherefore, I will deliver you no more. Go and cry unto the gods which you have chosen.

[John Weaver] Let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation." Isn't that amazing? God said, I delivered you so many times and you kept forsaking me and you kept disobeying me. You wouldn't listen to me.

[John Weaver] Now you got your false gods. You cry to them, see if they can deliver you. You know what God said to Israel in Hosea chapter 13 in verse nine? He said, Oh Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thine hope.

[John Weaver] Now is the time to fess up. Now is the time to acknowledge our sins, our ignorance, our weakness. Now's the time to acknowledge our rebellion. Now's the time to ask God for mercy. We must ask the right question to get the right answer. And the right question is, what have we done to ourselves, our families, our society, our states, and our nation? And what must be done to correct it and bring it into conformity to the Word of God? What does God demand?

[John Weaver] How shall we then live? We do not need to know the why. We need to know the what. What must be done. When you ask the right question, you'll get the right answer. Not what has God done to us, but what have we done to ourselves? And God allowed it in his judgment because we sinned against him. Father, we bow the knee to thee. We thank you for your word, your truth, your grace, your mercy. And we do pray father that you would turn us.

[John Weaver] that you would quicken us that we may call upon my name. And as the Psalmist said, turn us, O God, and we shall be turned. Grant us repentance, grant us faith, grant us understanding, and Father, help us to turn unto thee with all of our hearts, souls, and mind, and obey thee, we ask in the name of Jesus Christ. who is the only Lord and Savior. Amen.

[John Weaver] so

You Must Ask The Right Questions To Get The Right Answer

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	b_K-PptuJfk
Subject	Education and Discipleship
Course	Christian Education and Discipleship
Genre	Sermon
Date	2021-02-14
Dictation Name
Book	Book 073: Christian Education and Discipleship — Chapter 7
Source Timed Segments	76

Formatted Transcript

Introduction: The Importance of Asking the Right Question

Weaver opens with Genesis 42:28 and shares a humorous teaching anecdote to illustrate that asking the wrong question often leads to wrong answers. He argues that 'why' questions are less productive than 'what' questions when addressing sin.

All right. Well, let's open our Bibles today to Genesis chapter 42 and verse 28. Genesis 42 and verse 28. You will get the context of it just shortly, but notice, if you would, please. Genesis 42 and verse 28. The title of the message is, "You Must Ask the Right Question to Get the Right Answer." So Genesis 42 and verse 28:

Scripture Reading — Genesis 42:28

"And he said unto his brethren, My money is restored, and lo, it is even in my sack." "And their heart failed them, and they were afraid, saying one to another, What is this that God hath done to us?"

Everyone has asked a question and received a wrong answer, even when you already knew the correct answer. Many times we do ask the right question and sometimes we still get a wrong answer. I suppose that one of the most interesting times in my teaching career is when I taught fourth grade. I've taught every grade from fourth grade all the way through college. I never will forget the very first time I began teaching in the fourth grade. I got our history book for that year, and the history book was about an inch thick, and I thought, "Oh no, I'll be through with this thing in a month or so, and what am I going to do for the rest of the year?" And so I went through three chapters the first week. And I had some very brilliant and great students in that class. And I gave my first quiz. And every student in the class failed.

And I thought, "Whoa, wait a minute. It can't be the students. It's got to be the teacher." And I had to realize, you know, a fourth grader is not like a high school student or college level student. So I had to back up and start all over. I had to do what we've always done. I tell them. I tell them what I told them. I tell them a third time what I told them.

And finally, after laboriously going over and over, boy, everybody was doing very well. So it's a very interesting thing to teach the fourth grade, I can assure you. On one of my fourth grade history quizzes, I asked this question. I said, "Will you please name the King and Queen of Spain who allowed Christopher Columbus and who actually paid for his voyages?" And so one student evidently got his Bible lesson and his history lesson mixed up. So when I asked who sponsored the voyage of Christopher Columbus, named the King and Queen of Spain, he wrote "King Ferdinand and Queen Jezebel." Not Isabella. And the same student, who was a mischievous little boy, cute as he could be, on another quiz I asked, "Name the three books that were found in every Pilgrim home, or every colonial home." And of course, they were the Bible, Fox's Book of Martyrs, and Pilgrim's Progress. He could not think of Pilgrim's Progress. So when I got his test paper, he had listed the three books in every colonial home: the Bible, Fox's Book of Martyrs, and Reader's Digest.

So that's the way it goes. But anyhow, the point I'm trying to make is simple. When we ask the wrong question, many times we should expect to get a wrong answer. A good example of asking the wrong question, especially to our children, is "Why did you do this?" We ask other people many times, "Why did you do that?" Well, the truth of the matter is when you ask why, you're opening the door to give an awful lot of different answers. In fact, the truth of the matter is we already know why. Because people are sinful, people are depraved, people are wicked, and people oftentimes are just plain ignorant, and sometimes we're just very careless in our actions. So the correct question is not "Why did you do this?" but "What did you do?" So therefore the second question would be "What needs to be done to correct this and make it right according to the Bible or according to biblical law?" How do you correct this from a biblical standpoint? So when you ask why, you can get a multitude of questions and multitude of answers, and many of them may be right, some of them may be wrong, but it's not the why that needs to be dealt with, it is the what.

The Wrong Question of Joseph's Brothers

Joseph's brothers, upon finding their money returned, ask 'What is this that God hath done to us?' instead of examining their own guilt. Weaver points out they already knew their sin, as recorded in Genesis 42:21.

So when you look in verse 28 again, here Jacob's sons, who had gone down to Egypt for corn, and you will remember Joseph, their brother, had made himself strange to them. They did not recognize him. Moreover, he had spoken to them through an interpreter. And when they left, he had had all their money put back in their sacks. So they stopped, by the way, to give their answers per vendor, and they found this money in the mouths of their sacks. And note, if you would, in verse 28: "And he said unto his brethren, My money is restored, and lo, it is even in my sack." "And their heart failed them, and they were afraid, saying one to another, What is this that God hath done to us?" Now, it's a good question. "What is this that God had done to us?" But it's not the right question. The right question should be, "What have we done to bring this judgment or this set of circumstances or this situation upon ourselves?"

Now, in reality, they really knew what was happening. So if you look back at Genesis 42, beginning there in verse 21, here's what they said:

Scripture Reading — Genesis 42:21

"And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us. And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is required."

Now I want you to note very carefully in verse 21, they said one to another,

Scripture Reading — Genesis 42:21

"We are verily guilty concerning our brother."

Note,

Scripture Reading — Genesis 42:21

"when we saw the anguish of his soul"

—they saw him suffering, they knew he was scared—

Scripture Reading — Genesis 42:21

"and when he besought us,"

that is, he begged us, he asked us, and we hardened our heart, turned a deaf ear, we did not hear.

So these men had gone to visit Joseph, whom they did not recognize. And Joseph had said, "You are spies." They said, "No, no, no, we're not spies." In fact, look in your Bibles at verse 11, Genesis 42 and verse 11. After he accused them of being spies, they said, "We are all one man's sons; we are true men; thy servants are no spies." Now the interesting thing, when you look at verse 11, they said, "We are all true men."

The Brothers' Deception Exposed

Weaver reviews Genesis 37 to show the brothers' lie about Joseph's death and their claim to be 'true men' in Genesis 42:11. He highlights their 22-year deception of their father Jacob.

Scripture Reading — Genesis 42:11

Now the Hebrew word for "true," when it's used as an adjective, means true, honest, veritable, and just. So they have told Joseph now that we are true, honest, just, and trustworthy men, when in reality, they were liars and deceivers. Now, let me show you what I'm talking about. If you will turn back in your Bibles to Genesis 37, Genesis 37, and let's begin reading there with verse 17, and we'll read through verse 35. I want you to watch carefully. Remember now they have claimed to be true men, honest, just, trustworthy. So here it is. Genesis 37 and notice verse 17. And the man said, because Joseph is now seeking his brothers.

They are not where they were originally. So he asked, and the man said, "They are departed hence; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan." And Joseph went after his brethren and found them in Dothan. And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near to them, they conspired against him to slay him. And they said one to another, "Behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams." And Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hand. And he said, "Let us not kill him." And Reuben said unto them, "Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him; that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again." And it came to pass, when Joseph was coming to his brethren, that they stripped Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colors that was on him; and they took him and cast him into a pit, and the pit was empty, there was no water in it. And they sat down to

eat bread, and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and behold, a company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead with their camels, bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. And Judah said unto his brethren, "What profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh." And his brethren were content. Then there passed by Midianites, merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and they sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt.

Now let me stop there just for a moment. Because the Bible says that the Ishmaelites were coming, and then in verse 28, the Bible says there passed by Midianites, merchantmen, and then they sold him to Ishmaelites. Well, who did they sell him to, the Ishmaelites or the Midianites? And the answer is both. They were Ishmaelites because they were descendants of Ishmael, but they also lived in the land of Midian. So they were also Midianites. It's kind of like I could claim to be an American or a Weaverite or a Georgiaite because I am American and I'm of my father the Weaver family and of course I live in Georgia. So these were Ishmaelites who lived in Midian. So they sold Joseph then to the Ishmaelites who were of Midian. Now notice verse 29: "And Reuben returned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes. And he returned unto his brethren, and said, The child is not; and I, whither shall I go? And they took Joseph's coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood; and they sent the coat of many colors, and they brought it to their father; and said, This have we found: know now whether it be thy son's coat or no. And he knew it, and said, It is my son's coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces. And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days."

"And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him." Now note if you would please, did they lie to their father? The answer is yes. Did they deceive their father? The answer is yes. Did they acknowledge their hatred of Joseph? The answer is no. So here they are saying to Joseph, "We are all true men."

When in reality, they were liars and deceivers. Now, let me show you the real kicker in this. If you will look in Genesis 37 and verse 2, the Bible says,

Scripture Reading — Genesis 37:2

"These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report."

Now note, if you would, Joseph being seventeen years old now. Turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 41 and look, if you would please, at verse 46. Genesis 41 and verse 46. The Bible says, "And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt." Now, I want you to note he was seventeen, which means now he has spent thirteen years in servitude, and now at age thirty he is brought out. Now that means for thirteen years they lied and deceived Jacob.

Now they lied to Jacob, they deceived him. However, when you add the seven good years, in which Joseph stored up all the food, that makes twenty years. And then possibly it was either the first or second year of the famine before they went down into Egypt. So that means the sons of Jacob now have lied to and deceived their father from twenty to twenty-two years. So here's the thing. God had given them twenty-two years to confess their sins and acknowledge their sins and to make things right with their father. But they did not. Yes, it is true that God was bringing their sins out into the open. But what these boys did not understand was not "What has God done to us?" It's literally "What have we done ourselves?"

The Right Questions: What Have We Done?

The correct questions are 'What have we done to bring this situation upon us?' and 'What must we do to straighten this out in light of the law of God?'

What did we do to bring this situation upon us? What did we do to get in the mess that we're in right now? So, then they could have asked that question, and the next question would be, "What must we do to straighten this out? How can we straighten this out in light of the law of God?"

Now, when I was pondering this passage, I had a thought, and I just wondered about this. If you look back in your Bibles, Genesis chapter 37 if you would please, and note particularly beginning there with verse 35. After Jacob has seen Joseph's coat, "and all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him." Can you imagine for twenty-two years they deceived their father? I wonder when the truth came to life what Jacob thought of his sons. How would a father deal with something like that? For twenty-two years, your own flesh and blood has deceived you in making you think that another son of yours had been murdered or slain by a wild animal, when in reality he wasn't.

Application to America's Decline

Weaver applies the principle to America, arguing that the nation's problems stem from its own sin, apathy, and rebellion. He cites Khrushchev's predictions and the infiltration of seminaries by liberal ideologies.

Now what I want you to do today is this. I want you to take this same thought. And I want you to apply it to America and to other nations as well. So you need to ask yourself this question, "What is happening in our country?" And the answer is basically the same thing that is happening in other countries. But we must remember that four hundred years ago, the pilgrims fled to America in order to have religious freedom and freedom in general. Today, there's no place to flee to. Where would you go if America totally collapses?

Where would you go if we turn into a full-scale dictatorship? I'm just simply saying there's simply no other place to flee. And each country that you look to is literally being controlled by the same cabal and an elite group that seek to play God and control the world and the lives of every individual in the world. So what has happened? Here's what has happened. That Americans and especially American Christians have become apathetic, careless, indolent, and at the same time could care less about truth because we are more sinful and in deeper rebellion to God and His Word. We have refused to believe the threats of our enemies, we've laughed them to scorn, and we've derided their determination to destroy us. And we tend to think that somehow we are exceptional and nothing like that will ever happen to us. Let me give you some quotes. You are familiar with some of these, may not the first one. But while addressing the Western bloc at the MSC on November the 18th, 1956, in the presence of communist Polish statesman Gomułka, the first secretary Khrushchev, Nikita Khrushchev, said about the capitalist states, "It doesn't depend upon you whether or not we exist. If you don't like us, don't accept our invitation and don't invite us to come and see you. Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will bury you." And twelve diplomats from NATO and the Israeli ambassador got up and stormed out when Nikita Khrushchev said that. "We will bury you" again. It was Nikita Khrushchev who said, "We will take America without firing a shot. We will bury you."

And then again, he said, "We can't expect the American people to jump from capitalism to communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of socialism until they awaken one day to find that they have communism." That is exactly what is happening. And then he said this, "We do not have to invade the United States. We will destroy you from within." Well, I'm just simply saying people laughed at that. You remember that scene where Khrushchev took his shoe and beat on the podium and said, "We will bury you." Everybody thought this is ridiculous. Well, seemingly everything he said has come to pass. What have we done to ourselves? And what is happening to us? And the answer is just like those boys were finding out the righteous judgment of God in revealing their sins, we're discovering the righteous judgment of God in revealing our sins as well. What we have done is this.

We have allowed the communists and the liberals and the unbelievers to infiltrate our seminaries and to educate our preachers. We have allowed them to indoctrinate our young preachers in liberalism, liberation theology, critical race theory, and all kinds of man-made theologies that are absolutely totally contrary to the Word of God. And what is even worse, many professing Christians sit there and listen and are gullible and take everything in just simply because someone has a PhD behind his name. It's called the tyranny of the experts. Well, we've done this and we've studied this. And the thing is, we have listened to those preachers and we've listened to those people. And the average American Christian can walk down the street, run face into face with truth, get knocked down by truth, rise up, brush truth off, and continue on down the street in error and heresy without ever considering who he bumped into. No.

The Failure of Education and Parental Responsibility

Weaver discusses Robert L. Dabney's 1879 prophecy about the secularization of public education and the loss of religious liberty. He emphasizes that God gave parents, not government, the responsibility to educate children.

See, we no longer study our Bible. Some still read their Bibles, but we no longer really study our Bibles. In fact, I don't know if you've ever noticed it, but I have. You notice how many Bibles are left on the pews of the church buildings each Sunday. Now I realize most Christians have more than one Bible. I understand that. But just walking out without your Bible to me is just mind-boggling. I don't know how you could do that. But that happens.

Now let me tell you what has happened. Robert L. Dabney was a pastor, an author, a theologian, and a soldier. He was a deacon to General Stonewall Jackson. He is also the author of many, many volumes. And here's what he wrote in 1879. He said, "Humanity always finds out sooner or later that it cannot get on without a religion. And it will take a false one in preference to none."

"Infidelity and practical ungodliness will become increasingly prevalent among Protestant youth and our churches will have a more arduous contest for growth if not for existence." Now he goes on and he gives a prophecy. You're going to find this basically in his book, The Practical Philosophy. It's also in his book, The Discussions. But here's what he said. Listen carefully. "You may deem it a strange prophecy, but I predict that the time will come in the once free America where the battle for religious liberty will have to be fought over again and will probably be lost because the people are already ignorant of its true basis and condition." In 1879, he said, "We'll have to fight again, but we will probably lose." And you see, the truth of the matter is we refuse to educate ourselves. We refuse to educate our children. What we have done for the last hundred years or more, as we've just turned our children over to the government, we've turned them over to governmental schools, sometimes known as public schools, but they are not really public schools. When I say that, if you think that they're open to the public, you just try walking into one.

You're going to find out. You say, "But I'm public." That doesn't matter. They are basically governmental schools. And what we've done, we've left our children then to be trained and taught by people who basically are unbelievers. And I understand, please don't get upset with me. I understand that there are some real, genuine Christians still teaching in government schools. I understand that. But the truth of the matter is, they cannot communicate the truths of the Bible. They cannot communicate that which they believe.

And consequently, it's absolutely impossible to teach morals, ethics, and right from wrong apart from the Word of God. It is also impossible to maximize education when you must reduce it to its lowest common denominator to make sure that no child is left behind. And so what you do, you take the good students, you take the great students, you take the students who want to excel, and you have to bring them down to the lowest common denominator so you can pull up other students and pull others along who could care less. and who don't give a flip about anything. I'm just simply pointing out that Dabney opposed the government or public school movement back in 1879 and he did so number one on biblical grounds because he said—and it is true—that God gave the parents the obligation to teach and to educate their children. And secondly, he pointed out that God never bestowed that upon government. It is not the government's responsibility. It is the parent's responsibility.

Now, he also went ahead and said that our public education, quote unquote, was going to be totally secularized. He said this, and I quote, well, let me go ahead and say this first. When he was talking about public education being totally secularized, you must remember that in the 1960s, it was the Supreme Court who took the Bible reading and prayer out of the public school system. Dabney warned against this in 1879. Here's what he said.

Now I'm quoting, "But nearly all public men and divines declared that the state schools are the glory of America, and they are a finality, and in no event to be surrendered. And we have seen that their complete secularization is logically inevitable. Christians must prepare themselves then for the following results. All prayers, catechisms, and Bibles will ultimately be driven out of the public schools." And he wrote that in 1879. And that's exactly what has happened. So if you want your child educated, if you want your child to know the Bible, if you want your child to know true history, if you want your child to be patriotic, if you want your child to understand the constitution, if you want your child to be able to read, think, analyze and apply the truth, then you must teach him yourself. It's just that simple. It's never going to happen otherwise. It is impossible to teach apart from discipline and control.

And neither exists today in governmental schools. For instance, if three or four of you just started making a row and fussing and hollering and making all kinds, there's no way that I can communicate truth. There's no way that I could teach because it's going to be distracting from what I'm trying to do. I had an incident like that happen to me many, many years ago. I was preaching in Ohio, and it was a packed out church building. And right in the middle of my sermon, and right in the middle of the church, in the middle of a pew, sat a man who was drunk. And in the middle of my sermon, he stood up and started shouting and screaming and cursing and trying to deny everything that I was saying. I looked at the pastor and I looked back at the man. I said, "Sir, this is not your church and this is not your pulpit."

"You've not been invited to speak. I have. If you want to stay here, sit down and shut up and listen." I said, "If you don't want to stay here, you may walk out. If you do not want to walk out and you continue, we will take you out." And sure enough, he kept going. I looked at the pastor, the pastor motioned to four men. They went and picked him up and took him outside. Wouldn't let him come back in. Did I finish my sermon? Yes. But here's my question. I wonder how many heard anything after that incident. You see what I'm saying? It's impossible to teach without discipline and without control. So if we're not going to teach each other, if we're not going to teach our children, you have to ask this question. Whose fault is it? It is ours. God has never delegated education to the state. He's never delegated it to government. He's delegated it to pastors, to preachers, to teachers, to families, but never ever to government. And when we refuse to obey God and educate our own children, you have to ask, "What have we done ourselves?" Now, I'm just trying to show you the situation that we're in is getting worse. And the reason it's getting worse is because we have to ask the right question in order to get the right answer.

Economic Judgment: The Debasement of Money

Weaver explains constitutional money principles and illustrates the loss of purchasing power by comparing a $20 Federal Reserve note to a $20 gold coin. He argues this economic decline is part of God's judgment.

Now, let me go a step further. Do you realize that not only the average Christian American, but the average American is as broke as he possibly can be and is in debt up to his eyeballs. I read just recently where the average American could not afford a $1,000 emergency bill. Stop and think about that. What is wrong with us? Have you ever stopped to think that we have allowed the Federal Reserve and our Congress basically to systematically bankrupt us to the point that our currency is absolutely worthless? And the only reason that we can still have any passing of these Federal Reserve notes is because a few people still have a little confidence in it. And that's it. And most people have no idea what money is, and they have no understanding concerning money. I went to pay for some gas, and I think it was seventeen bucks. So I handed the young girl a twenty Federal Reserve note, and she handed me back three ones. And I just stood there. Nobody was behind me.

I stood there and looked. I said, "Something's wrong." Well, she said, "Didn't I give you back three ones?" I said, "Yes, but something is still wrong." She said, "What are you talking about?" I said, "Well, I gave you one piece of paper. You gave me three. I now have three times as much paper as I did before I gave you that one. And I've got your gas." "Oh," she said, "but... but those pieces of papers don't have twenty on it." I said, "Oh, it's the numbers that makes it valuable. Give me your pen. I'm going to write twenty on each one of them." "No, no, no. You can't do that." I said, "Well, which is it? Is it the numbers or the paper that makes it valuable?" And she just stood there and stared at me.

I want you to listen. Here's what the Constitution of the United States says. Article one, section eight, clause five. "Congress shall have the power to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures." Congress shall have the power to coin money, not print money, because the founding fathers wanted gold and silver to be our money. Listen, if you would, to Article 1, Section 10, Clause 1. Here it is. "No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts." Wow. What? No state shall make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debt. You know, every time we exchange Federal Reserve notes, we're violating the Constitution of the United States. Isn't that amazing? Now, let me give you very quickly five basic economic principles from these two statements in our Constitution. The first one is this. The basic unit, the basic unit is the dollar.

Let me remind you of something. A dollar is not a piece of paper. The word "dollar" is a unit of measurement. It's like the word "quart." You don't walk into the grocery store and say, "I want a quart." No, you say, "I want a quart of milk" or "a quart of orange juice." A dollar is a unit of measurement. It's like twelve inches. It's like a half gallon or linear foot or whatever. It's a unit of measurement. And so the unit of measurement of the American dollar happens to be 371.25 grains of pure silver. So when you say, "I want a dollar," a dollar of what? A dollar of silver or a dollar of gold? The dollar of gold is different from a dollar of silver. But the basic unit of money in this country is 371.25 grains of pure silver.

The second principle is this. Only gold or silver coins and currency that is specie-backed banknotes, that is, that have gold and silver behind them, can be legal tender. Only gold or silver or currency that is banknotes backed with gold and silver can be legal tender in this country. Number three, no state can issue coins or currency. Number four, no one may counterfeit U.S. government-issued coins or currency. And number five, no one, or at least you must understand this, fiat money, that is fiat notes, bills of credit are forbidden. That's what the Constitution said. So you cannot have what we have today constitutionally, that is, Federal Reserve notes without any backing whatsoever. So we have to ask this question. If these five points are true, and they are based upon the two articles of the Constitution, we have to ask this question, "What has happened to our monetary system?" And the answer is we've accepted the lie that paper is money.

We have forgotten about our original continental currency. During the war for independence, paper currency was printed without backing. The soldiers were paid in this continental currency. It was absolutely worthless. So what the soldiers did, they took this currency and put it and used it for padding in their boots and also up around their shins to protect their shin bones. And the continental currency was so worthless, it was referred to as "shinplasters." It's all it's good for. That's why we get the old expression, "It's not worth a continental." It's talking about the continental dollar. It was not backed by anything. It's kind of like the incident that happened in Germany when the mark was absolutely worthless. One of my favorite stories, the woman had a wheelbarrow full of paper money on her way to the store to buy a loaf of bread. She saw a fight, so she set her wheelbarrow down, started parting the people to see who was fighting, and once she saw who was fighting and her curiosity was satisfied, she turned around and someone had dumped all the money out and stole the wheelbarrow. The wheelbarrow was worth more than the money.

So I'm just simply pointing out the fact we've been deceived. We've done this to ourselves. It was Ludwig von Mises, and I love to quote this, he said, "Government is the only entity that can take a valuable commodity like paper, slap some ink on it, and make it totally worthless." And that's just about the truth. Now, listen to this. The Honorable Louis McFadden, who was chairman of the House of Banking and Currency Committee in the 1930s, said this, "Federal Reserve notes are not redeemable in gold or silver or any other commodity. They have not been redeemable since 1933. In the sense they are not redeemable, Federal Reserve notes have not been backed by anything since 1933." Now listen carefully. This is a congressman. He said, and I'm quoting, "The term 'lawful money' and 'lawful money of the United States' shall be held and construed to mean gold or silver coin of the United States." Lawful money is gold and silver coin.

Now, I have a two-part message that I preached many years ago on biblical money and inflation. I'm not going to re-preach that message, but I am going to take one illustration out of that two-hour message and tweak it just a little bit, bring it up to date in order to show you basically what has happened. In the 1900s, you had a $20 gold piece. You also had a $10 gold piece and a $5 gold piece. Now, the $20 gold piece was minted in 1911. The $20 gold piece, as well as the $10 and the $5, was not only biblical money, it was also constitutional money. But along with this $20 gold piece, you also had a $20 banknote. And they were interchangeable. So I could take a $20 banknote and go into the bank and hand it to the banker and get a $20 gold coin. Or I could take a $20 gold coin and go to the banker and get a $20 banknote. They were interchangeable. Now, that happened and was true up until 1933.

which was a mere eighty-eight years back. So what has happened? Well, let me try to spell it out for you and make it as understandable as I can. I want you to consider price of gas.

Now, in Georgia, gas is right around $2.30 a gallon. You can find some cheaper, but usually it's $2.29, something like that. Also here in Florida, it's about that same price. Other states may be higher, but I'm going to use just $2.30, okay? So, if you were to take a $20 bill, a $20 Federal Reserve note, and you go to the gas station, and you buy $20 worth of gas at $2.30 a gallon, how many gallons could you get? And the answer would be nine gallons. Okay? Let's suppose your car gets twenty miles to the gallon. How far could you go on a $20 Federal Reserve note worth of gas? And the answer would be 180 miles. If you were driving north from South Georgia, you probably wouldn't make it out of the state of Georgia. If you're in North Florida, you might not make it to Miami. So a $20 Federal Reserve note would get you nine gallons of gas.

How about a $20 gold coin? Well, I'm going to be on the low side. A $20 gold coin today, I'm going to say is worth 1,900 Federal Reserve notes. It's probably worth more because gold right now is around 1,900 an ounce. And if you get a $20 gold piece, it's worth more than that. But let's just say it's worth 1,900. How much gas could you buy with a $20 gold piece today worth 1,900 Federal Reserve notes? And the answer is you could buy 826 gallons of gas. So, twenty miles a gallon, how far could you go? And the answer is you could drive 16,529 miles.

That is the distance from Jacksonville, Florida to Los Angeles, California, there and back, seven times. Because the distance from Jacksonville, Florida to Los Angeles is 2,437 miles. So here's my question. Who stole your gas? Who stole your vacation? Who stole your money? Why is it today you cannot take a $20 Federal Reserve note to the bank and say, "I want a $20 gold coin"? Where did the gold go? Where did the money go?

And the answer is to the international bankers and to bankers in general. You have to ask yourself this question. Who is it that owns most of the gold and most of the silver in today's world? And the answer is it's the bankers, Congress, government. It's not the average individual. Now, you have to ask yourself, "What in the world is happening here in this country?" And the answer is God is judging us. God is bringing our sins to light. What have we done? What are we doing? Listen, I have no doubt that we are under the judgment of God. I have no doubt that the judgment of God is going to increase. I have no doubt that we are going to suffer and I have no doubt that our suffering will not get far worse.

Biblical Basis for Judgment and Call to Repentance

Weaver cites Isaiah 42:22-25 and Judges 10:10-14 to show that God gives His people over to robbers and refuses deliverance when they persist in sin. He calls for acknowledging sin and turning to God.

So you have to ask, "What is God doing to us?" And the answer is, "What we've done to ourselves." Let me show you. I want you to turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 42. Isaiah 42. Look, if you would, please, in Isaiah 42, and let's begin reading there with verse 22. Isaiah 42 and verse 22. I want you to look at how applicable this passage is in light of what I've been preaching. Isaiah 42 verse 22, God says, "But this is a people robbed and spoiled."

"They are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore. Who among you will give ear to this? who will hearken and hear for the time to come? Who's going to listen? Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the Lord, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law." "Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart." Notice if you would, God said, "I gave Jacob for spoil. I gave Israel to the robbers." Why? Because they sinned against me. They refused to listen. They refused to walk in my ways. And therefore, God says, "I poured out my fury. I've set you on fire and you didn't even know it. You got burned and you never even took it to heart."

You have to ask the right question to get the right answer. Let me make some applications. The first one is this. The enemies of liberty and freedom are already talking about—since January the 20th, by the way—are already talking about reeducation camps and detention camps. So if you don't agree with the communist stooges and the socialist stooges in power, they want to reeducate you. And some of you read undoubtedly where some have even suggested that the supporters of Trump should have their children taken from them, deprogrammed, and never returned to the parents. Wow.

I've got news for you. Once you are in the camps, it's too late to fight. Once you're in the camps, you may repent all you want, but you're in the camps. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who spent many years in a communist gulag, wrote and said this, listen carefully, "And how we burned in the camps later thinking what would things have been like if every security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say goodbye to his family; or if during periods of mass arrest, for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had

understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of a half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand. The organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport. And notwithstanding all of Stalin's thirst, the curse machine would have ground to a halt. If, if we didn't love freedom enough, and even more, we had no awareness of the real situation, we purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterwards." Wow. He said we wouldn't fight. We got what we deserved. The second one is this. We need to understand that it is our sins and our rebellion and our ignorance that gets us into trouble. Israel had sinned against God so many times. And God delivered them so many times. But yet there came a time when God said no more. Want to read to you, just listen. This is from the book of Judges, chapter 10, verses 10 through 14. Listen. "And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, saying, We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim. And the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, and from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines? The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you; and ye cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand. Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more. Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen.

Let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation." Isn't that amazing? God said, "I delivered you so many times and you kept forsaking me and you kept disobeying me. You wouldn't listen to me." Now you got your false gods. You cry to them, see if they can deliver you. You know what God said to Israel in Hosea chapter 13 and verse 9? He said,

Scripture Reading — Hosea 13:9

"O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help."

Now is the time to fess up. Now is the time to acknowledge our sins, our ignorance, our weakness. Now's the time to acknowledge our rebellion. Now's the time to ask God for mercy. We must ask the right question to get the right answer. And the right question is, "What have we done to ourselves, our families, our society, our states, and our nation? And what must be done to correct it and bring it into conformity to the Word of God? What does God demand?"

Conclusion: Ask the Right Question and Repent

Weaver concludes by urging listeners to ask 'What have we done to ourselves?' and to seek God's mercy and correction according to His Word. He closes in prayer.

How shall we then live? We do not need to know the why. We need to know the what. What must be done. When you ask the right question, you'll get the right answer. Not "What has God done to us?" but "What have we done to ourselves?" And God allowed it in his judgment because we sinned against him. Father, we bow the knee to thee. We thank you for your word, your truth, your grace, your mercy. And we do pray, Father, that you would turn us.

that you would quicken us that we may call upon thy name. And as the Psalmist said, "Turn us, O God, and we shall be turned." Grant us repentance, grant us faith, grant us understanding, and Father, help us to turn unto thee with all of our hearts, souls, and mind, and obey thee, we ask in the name of Jesus Christ, who is the only Lord and Savior. Amen.

Study Guide

Major Themes

Asking the Right Questions

Summary: The central theme is that people often ask 'What has God done to us?' instead of 'What have we done to bring this upon ourselves?' Asking the right question is essential for repentance and correction.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'The right question should be, What have we done to bring this judgment or this set of circumstances or this situation upon ourselves?'

Personal and National Sin

Summary: Weaver emphasizes that both individual and national troubles are the result of sin and rebellion against God, not arbitrary divine action.

Evidence: He says, 'What we have done is this. We have allowed the communists and the liberals and the unbelievers to infiltrate our seminaries...'

God's Judgment on Disobedience

Summary: God actively judges nations and individuals who persist in sin, often by giving them over to the consequences of their actions.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Isaiah 42:24: 'Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the Lord, he against whom we have sinned?'

Parental Responsibility in Education

Summary: God has given parents, not the state, the duty to educate children. Abandoning this responsibility has led to secularization and moral decline.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'God gave the parents the obligation to teach and to educate their children. And secondly, he pointed out that God never bestowed that upon government.'

Economic Consequences of Disobedience

Summary: The nation's monetary system, based on fiat currency rather than constitutional gold and silver, is a form of judgment and theft from the people.

Evidence: Weaver illustrates the loss of purchasing power: 'Who stole your gas? Who stole your vacation? Who stole your money?'

The Need for Repentance

Summary: The only proper response to recognizing sin and judgment is to repent, acknowledge wrongdoing, and seek God's mercy and correction.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'Now is the time to fess up. Now is the time to acknowledge our sins, our ignorance, our weakness.'

Key Arguments

The 'Why' Question is Unproductive

Summary: Asking 'Why did you do this?' opens the door to excuses and does not address the real issue. The correct question is 'What did you do?' and 'What must be done to correct it?'

Evidence: Weaver says, 'When you ask why, you're opening the door to give an awful lot of different answers... the correct question is not Why did you do this? but What did you do?'

Joseph's Brothers Knew Their Guilt

Summary: The brothers' question 'What is this that God hath done to us?' was disingenuous because they had already acknowledged their guilt in Genesis 42:21.

Evidence: Weaver reads Genesis 42:21: 'And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother...'

America's Decline is Self-Inflicted

Summary: The nation's problems are not primarily external but result from internal sin, apathy, and rebellion against God's laws.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'What have we done to ourselves? And what is happening to us? And the answer is just like those boys were finding out the righteous judgment of God in revealing their sins, we're discovering the righteous judgment of God in revealing our sins as well.'

Public Education is Unbiblical and Harmful

Summary: Government-run schools are not ordained by God and inevitably become secularized, failing to teach biblical truth and morals.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Dabney: 'Christians must prepare themselves then for the following results. All prayers, catechisms, and Bibles will ultimately be driven out of the public schools.'

Fiat Currency is Unconstitutional and a Form of Theft

Summary: The Constitution requires gold and silver as legal tender; Federal Reserve notes are unconstitutional and have destroyed the people's wealth.

Evidence: Weaver cites Article 1, Section 10: 'No state shall... make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts.'

God Will Not Always Deliver the Unrepentant

Summary: There comes a point when God says 'I will deliver you no more' to those who repeatedly forsake Him, as in Judges 10.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Judges 10:13-14: 'Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more.'

Scripture References

Genesis 42:28

Context: The opening text: Joseph's brothers find their money returned and ask, 'What is this that God hath done to us?'

Genesis 42:21

Context: The brothers acknowledge their guilt concerning Joseph, showing they knew the reason for their distress.

Genesis 42:11

Context: The brothers claim to be 'true men' when in fact they were liars and deceivers.

Genesis 37:17-35

Context: The account of Joseph being sold into slavery and the brothers' deception of their father Jacob.

Genesis 37:2

Context: Joseph was seventeen years old when he brought an evil report of his brothers to Jacob.

Genesis 41:46

Context: Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh, indicating the brothers' long deception.

Isaiah 42:22-25

Context: God gave Israel as spoil to robbers because they sinned and would not walk in His ways.

Judges 10:10-14

Context: God refuses to deliver Israel again because they repeatedly forsook Him for other gods.

Hosea 13:9

Context: God tells Israel, 'thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help.'

Historical References

Nikita Khrushchev's 1956 speech

Context: Khrushchev said 'We will bury you' and predicted the West would be destroyed from within through socialism.

Robert L. Dabney's 1879 prophecy

Context: Dabney predicted the secularization of public schools and the loss of religious liberty in America.

U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 8 and 10

Context: The Constitution specifies that only gold and silver coin can be legal tender, not paper fiat money.

Continental currency during the War for Independence

Context: Paper currency printed without backing became worthless, used as 'shinplasters' by soldiers.

German hyperinflation (Weimar Republic)

Context: Anecdote of a woman whose wheelbarrow was stolen while the money was dumped, illustrating worthless currency.

Louis McFadden, House Banking Committee Chairman

Context: McFadden stated that Federal Reserve notes have not been backed by anything since 1933 and that lawful money is gold and silver coin.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago

Context: Solzhenitsyn wrote that people who did not resist arrests deserved what happened to them.

Important Quotes

The right question should be, What have we done to bring this judgment or this set of circumstances or this situation upon ourselves?

Significance: This is the central thesis of the sermon, redirecting the focus from God's actions to human responsibility.

We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.

Significance: The brothers' own admission of guilt, showing they knew the cause of their trouble.

Humanity always finds out sooner or later that it cannot get on without a religion. And it will take a false one in preference to none.

Significance: Dabney's observation on the inevitability of religion and the danger of false religion.

All prayers, catechisms, and Bibles will ultimately be driven out of the public schools.

Significance: Dabney's 1879 prophecy that has been fulfilled in American public education.

Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the Lord, he against whom we have sinned?

Significance: Scriptural proof that God actively judges His people by giving them over to their enemies.

O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help.

Significance: Summarizes the message that destruction is self-inflicted but help is found in God alone.

Discussion Questions

Why do we tend to ask 'What has God done to me?' instead of 'What have I done to bring this about?'

Context: Weaver argues that the brothers' question was a way to avoid personal responsibility.

How can we discern when national or personal troubles are a result of God's judgment versus natural consequences?

Context: Weaver interprets America's decline as divine judgment for sin.

What does the Bible teach about the role of parents versus the state in education?

Context: Weaver cites Dabney's argument that God gave education to parents, not government.

In what ways might Christians today be guilty of 'searing their conscience' like Joseph's brothers?

Context: Weaver marvels at how the brothers could live with their sin for 22 years.

How should Christians respond to the increasing hostility and potential persecution in society?

Context: Weaver mentions reeducation camps and the need to fight for liberty before it's too late.

What does the Bible say about money, and how should that affect our financial decisions?

Context: Weaver discusses constitutional and biblical principles of money versus fiat currency.

Applications

Examine Your Own Heart First

Summary: Instead of blaming God or others for difficulties, ask what you have done to contribute to the situation and what God requires to make it right.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'What have we done to ourselves, our families, our society, our states, and our nation? And what must be done to correct it and bring it into conformity to the Word of God?'

Take Responsibility for Education

Summary: Parents must take back the responsibility of educating their children in biblical truth rather than relying on government schools.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'If you want your child educated... then you must teach him yourself. It's just that simple.'

Repent of National and Personal Sins

Summary: Acknowledge specific sins of apathy, ignorance, and rebellion, and turn to God for mercy.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'Now is the time to fess up. Now is the time to acknowledge our sins, our ignorance, our weakness.'

Understand Biblical Money

Summary: Recognize the unbiblical nature of fiat currency and seek to align financial practices with God's standards of honest weights and measures.

Evidence: Weaver explains the constitutional requirement for gold and silver and the theft inherent in paper money.

Prepare for Persecution

Summary: Be aware that increasing tyranny may require active resistance and a willingness to suffer for truth rather than passively accepting servitude.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Solzhenitsyn: 'If we didn't love freedom enough... we purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterwards.'

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T09:56:02Z

Clean Transcript

You Must Ask The Right Questions To Get The Right Answer

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

All right. Well, let's open our Bibles today to Genesis chapter 42 and verse 28. Genesis 42 and verse 28. You will get the context of it just shortly, but notice, if you would, please. Genesis 42 and verse 28. The title of the message is, "You Must Ask the Right Question to Get the Right Answer." So Genesis 42 and verse 28: "And he said unto his brethren, My money is restored, and lo, it is even in my sack."
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"And their heart failed them, and they were afraid, saying one to another, What is this that God hath done to us?" Everyone has asked a question and received a wrong answer, even when you already knew the correct answer. Many times we do ask the right question and sometimes we still get a wrong answer. I suppose that one of the most interesting times in my teaching career is when I taught fourth grade. I've taught every grade from fourth grade all the way through college. I never will forget the very first time I began teaching in the fourth grade. I got our history book for that year, and the history book was about an inch thick, and I thought, "Oh no, I'll be through with this thing in a month or so, and what am I going to do for the rest of the year?" And so I went through three chapters the first week. And I had some very brilliant and great students in that class. And I gave my first quiz. And every student in the class failed.
#2 | 0:52 to 2:07 | cleaned
And I thought, "Whoa, wait a minute. It can't be the students. It's got to be the teacher." And I had to realize, you know, a fourth grader is not like a high school student or college level student. So I had to back up and start all over. I had to do what we've always done. I tell them. I tell them what I told them. I tell them a third time what I told them.
#3 | 2:08 to 2:33 | cleaned
And finally, after laboriously going over and over, boy, everybody was doing very well. So it's a very interesting thing to teach the fourth grade, I can assure you. On one of my fourth grade history quizzes, I asked this question. I said, "Will you please name the King and Queen of Spain who allowed Christopher Columbus and who actually paid for his voyages?" And so one student evidently got his Bible lesson and his history lesson mixed up. So when I asked who sponsored the voyage of Christopher Columbus, named the King and Queen of Spain, he wrote "King Ferdinand and Queen Jezebel." Not Isabella. And the same student, who was a mischievous little boy, cute as he could be, on another quiz I asked, "Name the three books that were found in every Pilgrim home, or every colonial home." And of course, they were the Bible, Fox's Book of Martyrs, and Pilgrim's Progress. He could not think of Pilgrim's Progress. So when I got his test paper, he had listed the three books in every colonial home: the Bible, Fox's Book of Martyrs, and Reader's Digest.
#4 | 2:33 to 4:07 | cleaned
So that's the way it goes. But anyhow, the point I'm trying to make is simple. When we ask the wrong question, many times we should expect to get a wrong answer. A good example of asking the wrong question, especially to our children, is "Why did you do this?" We ask other people many times, "Why did you do that?" Well, the truth of the matter is when you ask why, you're opening the door to give an awful lot of different answers. In fact, the truth of the matter is we already know why.
#5 | 4:08 to 4:45 | cleaned
Because people are sinful, people are depraved, people are wicked, and people oftentimes are just plain ignorant, and sometimes we're just very careless in our actions. So the correct question is not "Why did you do this?" but "What did you do?" So therefore the second question would be "What needs to be done to correct this and make it right according to the Bible or according to biblical law?" How do you correct this from a biblical standpoint? So when you ask why, you can get a multitude of questions and multitude of answers, and many of them may be right, some of them may be wrong, but it's not the why that needs to be dealt with, it is the what.
#6 | 4:46 to 5:29 | cleaned
So when you look in verse 28 again, here Jacob's sons, who had gone down to Egypt for corn, and you will remember Joseph, their brother, had made himself strange to them. They did not recognize him. Moreover, he had spoken to them through an interpreter. And when they left, he had had all their money put back in their sacks. So they stopped, by the way, to give their answers per vendor, and they found this money in the mouths of their sacks. And note, if you would, in verse 28: "And he said unto his brethren, My money is restored, and lo, it is even in my sack."
#7 | 5:29 to 6:15 | cleaned
"And their heart failed them, and they were afraid, saying one to another, What is this that God hath done to us?" Now, it's a good question. "What is this that God had done to us?" But it's not the right question. The right question should be, "What have we done to bring this judgment or this set of circumstances or this situation upon ourselves?"
#8 | 6:16 to 6:42 | cleaned
Now, in reality, they really knew what was happening. So if you look back at Genesis 42, beginning there in verse 21, here's what they said: "And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us. And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is required." Now I want you to note very carefully in verse 21, they said one to another, "We are verily guilty concerning our brother." Note, "when we saw the anguish of his soul"—they saw him suffering, they knew he was scared—"and when he besought us," that is, he begged us, he asked us, and we hardened our heart, turned a deaf ear, we did not hear.
#9 | 6:43 to 7:48 | cleaned
So these men had gone to visit Joseph, whom they did not recognize. And Joseph had said, "You are spies." They said, "No, no, no, we're not spies." In fact, look in your Bibles at verse 11, Genesis 42 and verse 11. After he accused them of being spies, they said, "We are all one man's sons; we are true men; thy servants are no spies." Now the interesting thing, when you look at verse 11, they said, "We are all true men."
#10 | 7:48 to 8:25 | cleaned
Now the Hebrew word for "true," when it's used as an adjective, means true, honest, veritable, and just. So they have told Joseph now that we are true, honest, just, and trustworthy men, when in reality, they were liars and deceivers.
#11 | 8:26 to 8:50 | cleaned
Now, let me show you what I'm talking about. If you will turn back in your Bibles to Genesis 37, Genesis 37, and let's begin reading there with verse 17, and we'll read through verse 35. I want you to watch carefully. Remember now they have claimed to be true men, honest, just, trustworthy. So here it is. Genesis 37 and notice verse 17. And the man said, because Joseph is now seeking his brothers.
#12 | 8:50 to 9:24 | cleaned
They are not where they were originally. So he asked, and the man said, "They are departed hence; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan." And Joseph went after his brethren and found them in Dothan. And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near to them, they conspired against him to slay him. And they said one to another, "Behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams." And Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hand.
#13 | 9:24 to 10:05 | cleaned
And he said, "Let us not kill him." And Reuben said unto them, "Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him; that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again." And it came to pass, when Joseph was coming to his brethren, that they stripped Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colors that was on him; and they took him and cast him into a pit, and the pit was empty, there was no water in it. And they sat down to
#14 | 10:05 to 10:34 | cleaned
eat bread, and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and behold, a company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead with their camels, bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. And Judah said unto his brethren, "What profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh." And his brethren were content. Then there passed by Midianites, merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and they sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt.
#15 | 10:34 to 11:16 | cleaned
Now let me stop there just for a moment. Because the Bible says that the Ishmaelites were coming, and then in verse 28, the Bible says there passed by Midianites, merchantmen, and then they sold him to Ishmaelites. Well, who did they sell him to, the Ishmaelites or the Midianites? And the answer is both. They were Ishmaelites because they were descendants of Ishmael, but they also lived in the land of Midian. So they were also Midianites.
#16 | 11:16 to 11:41 | cleaned
It's kind of like I could claim to be an American or a Weaverite or a Georgiaite because I am American and I'm of my father the Weaver family and of course I live in Georgia. So these were Ishmaelites who lived in Midian. So they sold Joseph then to the Ishmaelites who were of Midian. Now notice verse 29: "And Reuben returned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes. And he returned unto his brethren, and said, The child is not; and I, whither shall I go? And they took Joseph's coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood; and they sent the coat of many colors, and they brought it to their father; and said, This have we found: know now whether it be thy son's coat or no. And he knew it, and said, It is my son's coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces. And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days."
#17 | 11:42 to 12:45 | cleaned
"And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him." Now note if you would please, did they lie to their father? The answer is yes. Did they deceive their father? The answer is yes. Did they acknowledge their hatred of Joseph? The answer is no. So here they are saying to Joseph, "We are all true men."
#18 | 12:46 to 13:23 | cleaned
When in reality, they were liars and deceivers. Now, let me show you the real kicker in this. If you will look in Genesis 37 and verse 2, the Bible says, "These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report." Now note, if you would, Joseph being seventeen years old now. Turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 41 and look, if you would please, at verse 46. Genesis 41 and verse 46. The Bible says, "And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt." Now, I want you to note he was seventeen, which means now he has spent thirteen years in servitude, and now at age thirty he is brought out. Now that means for thirteen years they lied and deceived Jacob.
#19 | 13:24 to 14:50 | cleaned
Now they lied to Jacob, they deceived him. However, when you add the seven good years, in which Joseph stored up all the food, that makes twenty years. And then possibly it was either the first or second year of the famine before they went down into Egypt. So that means the sons of Jacob now have lied to and deceived their father from twenty to twenty-two years. So here's the thing. God had given them twenty-two years to confess their sins and acknowledge their sins and to make things right with their father. But they did not. Yes, it is true that God was bringing their sins out into the open. But what these boys did not understand was not "What has God done to us?" It's literally "What have we done ourselves?"
#20 | 14:53 to 15:49 | cleaned
What did we do to bring this situation upon us? What did we do to get in the mess that we're in right now? So, then they could have asked that question, and the next question would be, "What must we do to straighten this out? How can we straighten this out in light of the law of God?"
#21 | 15:50 to 16:07 | cleaned
Now, when I was pondering this passage, I had a thought, and I just wondered about this. If you look back in your Bibles, Genesis chapter 37 if you would please, and note particularly beginning there with verse 35. After Jacob has seen Joseph's coat, "and all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him." Can you imagine for twenty-two years they deceived their father? I wonder when the truth came to life what Jacob thought of his sons. How would a father deal with something like that? For twenty-two years, your own flesh and blood has deceived you in making you think that another son of yours had been murdered or slain by a wild animal, when in reality he wasn't.
#22 | 16:08 to 17:36 | cleaned
How could you ever trust those boys? How could you ever believe what they said again? You know, I'm just thinking that undoubtedly there had to be some distrust on Jacob's part for them.
#23 | 17:39 to 17:54 | cleaned
Now, another question that you have to ask is this. How in the world could these men live with such a grievous sin? How could they even sleep at night? I mean, they understood that they hated their own brother. They knew that they had sold their own brother into slavery. They knew that they had lied to and misled and deceived their father. How could they sleep at night? How could they continue knowing their own wickedness? It has been absolutely astounding to me how men can literally sear their own consciousness and their own conscience in the sense that...
#24 | 17:55 to 18:38 | cleaned
Let me give you an illustration. I saw a... I read an article on these young Mexican girls who are professional murderers, professional hit women. And they had pictures of them. And some of them were very beautiful. And the interesting thing is, some of them killed seventeen, some twenty, and did so without remorse at all. My question would be, how could you even sleep at night knowing that you murdered someone? You know, to me it just boggles my mind and I cannot figure out how these boys could literally sleep at night. Now they did not ask, "What have we done?" They did not ask, "What must we do to correct this situation?" They asked, "What is this that God has done to us?"
#25 | 18:40 to 19:43 | cleaned
Now what I want you to do today is this. I want you to take this same thought. And I want you to apply it to America and to other nations as well. So you need to ask yourself this question, "What is happening in our country?" And the answer is basically the same thing that is happening in other countries. But we must remember that four hundred years ago, the pilgrims fled to America in order to have religious freedom and freedom in general. Today, there's no place to flee to. Where would you go if America totally collapses?
#26 | 19:43 to 20:30 | cleaned
Where would you go if we turn into a full-scale dictatorship? I'm just simply saying there's simply no other place to flee. And each country that you look to is literally being controlled by the same cabal and an elite group that seek to play God and control the world and the lives of every individual in the world. So what has happened? Here's what has happened. That Americans and especially American Christians have become apathetic, careless, indolent, and at the same time could care less about truth because we are more sinful and in deeper rebellion to God and His Word.
#27 | 20:31 to 21:16 | cleaned
We have refused to believe the threats of our enemies, we've laughed them to scorn, and we've derided their determination to destroy us. And we tend to think that somehow we are exceptional and nothing like that will ever happen to us. Let me give you some quotes. You are familiar with some of these, may not the first one. But while addressing the Western bloc at the MSC on November the 18th, 1956, in the presence of communist Polish statesman Gomułka, the first secretary Khrushchev, Nikita Khrushchev, said about the capitalist states, "It doesn't depend upon you whether or not we exist. If you don't like us, don't accept our invitation and don't invite us to come and see you. Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will bury you." And twelve diplomats from NATO and the Israeli ambassador got up and stormed out when Nikita Khrushchev said that. "We will bury you" again. It was Nikita Khrushchev who said, "We will take America without firing a shot. We will bury you."
#28 | 21:17 to 22:47 | cleaned
And then again, he said, "We can't expect the American people to jump from capitalism to communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of socialism until they awaken one day to find that they have communism." That is exactly what is happening. And then he said this, "We do not have to invade the United States. We will destroy you from within." Well, I'm just simply saying people laughed at that.
#29 | 22:49 to 23:24 | cleaned
You remember that scene where Khrushchev took his shoe and beat on the podium and said, "We will bury you." Everybody thought this is ridiculous. Well, seemingly everything he said has come to pass. What have we done to ourselves? And what is happening to us? And the answer is just like those boys were finding out the righteous judgment of God in revealing their sins, we're discovering the righteous judgment of God in revealing our sins as well. What we have done is this.
#30 | 23:24 to 24:04 | cleaned
We have allowed the communists and the liberals and the unbelievers to infiltrate our seminaries and to educate our preachers. We have allowed them to indoctrinate our young preachers in liberalism, liberation theology, critical race theory, and all kinds of man-made theologies that are absolutely totally contrary to the Word of God. And what is even worse, many professing Christians sit there and listen and are gullible and take everything in just simply because someone has a PhD behind his name.
#31 | 24:04 to 24:40 | cleaned
It's called the tyranny of the experts. Well, we've done this and we've studied this. And the thing is, we have listened to those preachers and we've listened to those people. And the average American Christian can walk down the street, run face into face with truth, get knocked down by truth, rise up, brush truth off, and continue on down the street in error and heresy without ever considering who he bumped into. No.
#32 | 24:41 to 25:15 | cleaned
See, we no longer study our Bible. Some still read their Bibles, but we no longer really study our Bibles. In fact, I don't know if you've ever noticed it, but I have. You notice how many Bibles are left on the pews of the church buildings each Sunday. Now I realize most Christians have more than one Bible. I understand that. But just walking out without your Bible to me is just mind-boggling. I don't know how you could do that. But that happens.
#33 | 25:16 to 25:53 | cleaned
Now let me tell you what has happened. Robert L. Dabney was a pastor, an author, a theologian, and a soldier. He was a deacon to General Stonewall Jackson. He is also the author of many, many volumes. And here's what he wrote in 1879. He said, "Humanity always finds out sooner or later that it cannot get on without a religion. And it will take a false one in preference to none."
#34 | 25:53 to 26:33 | cleaned
"Infidelity and practical ungodliness will become increasingly prevalent among Protestant youth and our churches will have a more arduous contest for growth if not for existence." Now he goes on and he gives a prophecy. You're going to find this basically in his book, The Practical Philosophy. It's also in his book, The Discussions. But here's what he said. Listen carefully. "You may deem it a strange prophecy, but I predict that the time will come in the once free America where the battle for religious liberty will have to be fought over again and will probably be lost because the people are already ignorant of its true basis and condition." In 1879, he said, "We'll have to fight again, but we will probably lose."
#35 | 26:35 to 27:36 | cleaned
And you see, the truth of the matter is we refuse to educate ourselves. We refuse to educate our children. What we have done for the last hundred years or more, as we've just turned our children over to the government, we've turned them over to governmental schools, sometimes known as public schools, but they are not really public schools. When I say that, if you think that they're open to the public, you just try walking into one.
#36 | 27:36 to 28:09 | cleaned
You're going to find out. You say, "But I'm public." That doesn't matter. They are basically governmental schools. And what we've done, we've left our children then to be trained and taught by people who basically are unbelievers. And I understand, please don't get upset with me. I understand that there are some real, genuine Christians still teaching in government schools. I understand that. But the truth of the matter is, they cannot communicate the truths of the Bible. They cannot communicate that which they believe.
#37 | 28:10 to 28:42 | cleaned
And consequently, it's absolutely impossible to teach morals, ethics, and right from wrong apart from the Word of God. It is also impossible to maximize education when you must reduce it to its lowest common denominator to make sure that no child is left behind. And so what you do, you take the good students, you take the great students, you take the students who want to excel, and you have to bring them down to the lowest common denominator so you can pull up other students and pull others along who could care less.
#38 | 28:43 to 29:19 | cleaned
and who don't give a flip about anything. I'm just simply pointing out that Dabney opposed the government or public school movement back in 1879 and he did so number one on biblical grounds because he said—and it is true—that God gave the parents the obligation to teach and to educate their children. And secondly, he pointed out that God never bestowed that upon government. It is not the government's responsibility. It is the parent's responsibility.
#39 | 29:20 to 30:01 | cleaned
Now, he also went ahead and said that our public education, quote unquote, was going to be totally secularized. He said this, and I quote, well, let me go ahead and say this first. When he was talking about public education being totally secularized, you must remember that in the 1960s, it was the Supreme Court who took the Bible reading and prayer out of the public school system. Dabney warned against this in 1879. Here's what he said.
#40 | 30:02 to 30:38 | cleaned
Now I'm quoting, "But nearly all public men and divines declared that the state schools are the glory of America, and they are a finality, and in no event to be surrendered. And we have seen that their complete secularization is logically inevitable. Christians must prepare themselves then for the following results. All prayers, catechisms, and Bibles will ultimately be driven out of the public schools." And he wrote that in 1879.
#41 | 30:38 to 31:12 | cleaned
And that's exactly what has happened. So if you want your child educated, if you want your child to know the Bible, if you want your child to know true history, if you want your child to be patriotic, if you want your child to understand the constitution, if you want your child to be able to read, think, analyze and apply the truth, then you must teach him yourself. It's just that simple. It's never going to happen otherwise. It is impossible to teach apart from discipline and control.
#42 | 31:14 to 31:49 | cleaned
And neither exists today in governmental schools. For instance, if three or four of you just started making a row and fussing and hollering and making all kinds, there's no way that I can communicate truth. There's no way that I could teach because it's going to be distracting from what I'm trying to do. I had an incident like that happen to me many, many years ago. I was preaching in Ohio, and it was a packed out church building. And right in the middle of my sermon, and right in the middle of the church, in the middle of a pew, sat a man who was drunk. And in the middle of my sermon, he stood up and started shouting and screaming and cursing and trying to deny everything that I was saying. I looked at the pastor and I looked back at the man. I said, "Sir, this is not your church and this is not your pulpit."
#43 | 31:51 to 32:55 | cleaned
"You've not been invited to speak. I have. If you want to stay here, sit down and shut up and listen." I said, "If you don't want to stay here, you may walk out. If you do not want to walk out and you continue, we will take you out." And sure enough, he kept going. I looked at the pastor, the pastor motioned to four men. They went and picked him up and took him outside.
#44 | 32:55 to 33:21 | cleaned
Wouldn't let him come back in. Did I finish my sermon? Yes. But here's my question. I wonder how many heard anything after that incident. You see what I'm saying? It's impossible to teach without discipline and without control. So if we're not going to teach each other, if we're not going to teach our children, you have to ask this question. Whose fault is it? It is ours. God has never delegated education to the state. He's never delegated it to government. He's delegated it to pastors, to preachers, to teachers, to families, but never ever to government. And when we refuse to obey God and educate our own children, you have to ask, "What have we done ourselves?" Now, I'm just trying to show you the situation that we're in is getting worse. And the reason it's getting worse is because we have to ask the right question in order to get the right answer.
#45 | 33:22 to 34:29 | cleaned
Now, let me go a step further. Do you realize that not only the average Christian American, but the average American is as broke as he possibly can be and is in debt up to his eyeballs. I read just recently where the average American could not afford a $1,000 emergency bill. Stop and think about that. What is wrong with us? Have you ever stopped to think that we have allowed the Federal Reserve and our Congress basically to systematically bankrupt us to the point that our currency is absolutely worthless? And the only reason that we can still have any passing of these Federal Reserve notes is because a few people still have a little confidence in it. And that's it. And most people have no idea what money is, and they have no understanding concerning money. I went to pay for some gas, and I think it was seventeen bucks. So I handed the young girl a twenty Federal Reserve note, and she handed me back three ones. And I just stood there. Nobody was behind me.
#46 | 34:29 to 36:06 | cleaned
I stood there and looked. I said, "Something's wrong." Well, she said, "Didn't I give you back three ones?" I said, "Yes, but something is still wrong." She said, "What are you talking about?" I said, "Well, I gave you one piece of paper. You gave me three. I now have three times as much paper as I did before I gave you that one. And I've got your gas."
#47 | 36:06 to 36:26 | cleaned
"Oh," she said, "but... but those pieces of papers don't have twenty on it." I said, "Oh, it's the numbers that makes it valuable. Give me your pen. I'm going to write twenty on each one of them." "No, no, no. You can't do that." I said, "Well, which is it? Is it the numbers or the paper that makes it valuable?" And she just stood there and stared at me.
#48 | 36:28 to 36:47 | cleaned
I want you to listen. Here's what the Constitution of the United States says. Article one, section eight, clause five. "Congress shall have the power to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures." Congress shall have the power to coin money, not print money, because the founding fathers wanted gold and silver to be our money. Listen, if you would, to Article 1, Section 10, Clause 1. Here it is. "No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts." Wow. What? No state shall make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debt. You know, every time we exchange Federal Reserve notes, we're violating the Constitution of the United States. Isn't that amazing? Now, let me give you very quickly five basic economic principles from these two statements in our Constitution. The first one is this. The basic unit, the basic unit is the dollar.
#49 | 36:48 to 38:23 | cleaned
Let me remind you of something. A dollar is not a piece of paper. The word "dollar" is a unit of measurement. It's like the word "quart." You don't walk into the grocery store and say, "I want a quart." No, you say, "I want a quart of milk" or "a quart of orange juice." A dollar is a unit of measurement. It's like twelve inches. It's like a half gallon or linear foot or whatever. It's a unit of measurement. And so the unit of measurement of the American dollar happens to be 371.25 grains of pure silver. So when you say, "I want a dollar," a dollar of what? A dollar of silver or a dollar of gold? The dollar of gold is different from a dollar of silver. But the basic unit of money in this country is 371.25 grains of pure silver.
#50 | 38:25 to 39:22 | cleaned
The second principle is this. Only gold or silver coins and currency that is specie-backed banknotes, that is, that have gold and silver behind them, can be legal tender. Only gold or silver or currency that is banknotes backed with gold and silver can be legal tender in this country. Number three, no state can issue coins or currency. Number four, no one may counterfeit U.S. government-issued coins or currency. And number five, no one, or at least you must understand this, fiat money, that is fiat notes, bills of credit are forbidden.
#51 | 39:22 to 40:16 | cleaned
That's what the Constitution said. So you cannot have what we have today constitutionally, that is, Federal Reserve notes without any backing whatsoever. So we have to ask this question. If these five points are true, and they are based upon the two articles of the Constitution, we have to ask this question, "What has happened to our monetary system?" And the answer is we've accepted the lie that paper is money.
#52 | 40:16 to 40:46 | cleaned
We have forgotten about our original continental currency. During the war for independence, paper currency was printed without backing. The soldiers were paid in this continental currency. It was absolutely worthless. So what the soldiers did, they took this currency and put it and used it for padding in their boots and also up around their shins to protect their shin bones. And the continental currency was so worthless, it was referred to as "shinplasters."
#53 | 40:46 to 41:26 | cleaned
It's all it's good for. That's why we get the old expression, "It's not worth a continental." It's talking about the continental dollar. It was not backed by anything. It's kind of like the incident that happened in Germany when the mark was absolutely worthless. One of my favorite stories, the woman had a wheelbarrow full of paper money on her way to the store to buy a loaf of bread. She saw a fight, so she set her wheelbarrow down, started parting the people to see who was fighting, and once she saw who was fighting and her curiosity was satisfied, she turned around and someone had dumped all the money out and stole the wheelbarrow. The wheelbarrow was worth more than the money.
#54 | 41:27 to 42:25 | cleaned
So I'm just simply pointing out the fact we've been deceived. We've done this to ourselves. It was Ludwig von Mises, and I love to quote this, he said, "Government is the only entity that can take a valuable commodity like paper, slap some ink on it, and make it totally worthless." And that's just about the truth. Now, listen to this. The Honorable Louis McFadden, who was chairman of the House of Banking and Currency Committee in the 1930s, said this, "Federal Reserve notes are not redeemable in gold or silver or any other commodity. They have not been redeemable since 1933. In the sense they are not redeemable, Federal Reserve notes have not been backed by anything since 1933." Now listen carefully. This is a congressman. He said, and I'm quoting, "The term 'lawful money' and 'lawful money of the United States' shall be held and construed to mean gold or silver coin of the United States." Lawful money is gold and silver coin.
#55 | 42:26 to 43:46 | cleaned
Now, I have a two-part message that I preached many years ago on biblical money and inflation. I'm not going to re-preach that message, but I am going to take one illustration out of that two-hour message and tweak it just a little bit, bring it up to date in order to show you basically what has happened. In the 1900s, you had a $20 gold piece. You also had a $10 gold piece and a $5 gold piece. Now, the $20 gold piece was minted in 1911. The $20 gold piece, as well as the $10 and the $5, was not only biblical money, it was also constitutional money. But along with this $20 gold piece, you also had a $20 banknote. And they were interchangeable. So I could take a $20 banknote and go into the bank and hand it to the banker and get a $20 gold coin. Or I could take a $20 gold coin and go to the banker and get a $20 banknote. They were interchangeable. Now, that happened and was true up until 1933.
#56 | 43:47 to 45:15 | cleaned
which was a mere eighty-eight years back. So what has happened? Well, let me try to spell it out for you and make it as understandable as I can. I want you to consider price of gas.
#57 | 45:17 to 45:31 | cleaned
Now, in Georgia, gas is right around $2.30 a gallon. You can find some cheaper, but usually it's $2.29, something like that. Also here in Florida, it's about that same price. Other states may be higher, but I'm going to use just $2.30, okay? So, if you were to take a $20 bill, a $20 Federal Reserve note, and you go to the gas station, and you buy $20 worth of gas at $2.30 a gallon, how many gallons could you get? And the answer would be nine gallons. Okay? Let's suppose your car gets twenty miles to the gallon. How far could you go on a $20 Federal Reserve note worth of gas? And the answer would be 180 miles. If you were driving north from South Georgia, you probably wouldn't make it out of the state of Georgia. If you're in North Florida, you might not make it to Miami. So a $20 Federal Reserve note would get you nine gallons of gas.
#58 | 45:33 to 46:59 | cleaned
How about a $20 gold coin? Well, I'm going to be on the low side. A $20 gold coin today, I'm going to say is worth 1,900 Federal Reserve notes. It's probably worth more because gold right now is around 1,900 an ounce. And if you get a $20 gold piece, it's worth more than that. But let's just say it's worth 1,900. How much gas could you buy with a $20 gold piece today worth 1,900 Federal Reserve notes? And the answer is you could buy 826 gallons of gas. So, twenty miles a gallon, how far could you go? And the answer is you could drive 16,529 miles.
#59 | 47:00 to 47:54 | cleaned
That is the distance from Jacksonville, Florida to Los Angeles, California, there and back, seven times. Because the distance from Jacksonville, Florida to Los Angeles is 2,437 miles. So here's my question. Who stole your gas? Who stole your vacation? Who stole your money? Why is it today you cannot take a $20 Federal Reserve note to the bank and say, "I want a $20 gold coin"? Where did the gold go? Where did the money go?
#60 | 47:55 to 48:37 | cleaned
And the answer is to the international bankers and to bankers in general. You have to ask yourself this question. Who is it that owns most of the gold and most of the silver in today's world? And the answer is it's the bankers, Congress, government. It's not the average individual. Now, you have to ask yourself, "What in the world is happening here in this country?" And the answer is God is judging us. God is bringing our sins to light. What have we done? What are we doing? Listen, I have no doubt that we are under the judgment of God. I have no doubt that the judgment of God is going to increase. I have no doubt that we are going to suffer and I have no doubt that our suffering will not get far worse.
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However, the fault is ours. We have sinned. We've rebelled against God. We've disobeyed. We've walked wickedly. We've been content with ignorance. We've been content with not educating ourselves. We've trusted in the God of convenience. We've trusted in the arm of the flesh. And now we're reaping what we've sown. We've lost everything. And now that we have an administration in Washington, D.C. that is totally communistic in outlook, plans, and schemes, it will finally destroy what little bit of liberty that we have left.
#62 | 49:30 to 50:06 | cleaned
And you know what the average American is going to do? Let me tell you what he's going to do. The average American is going to sit back, complain, and do nothing. And he will happily stretch out his hand for the universal basic income, and he will trade his freedom for servitude. We have forgotten the adage, "Come shackles, come shackles." Because every time you get something from someone else, especially government, there's always a catch involved. And the average American is going to watch this country die a horrible death. And the average American could care less about his children, his grandchildren, or his great-grandchildren.
#63 | 50:06 to 50:49 | cleaned
So you have to ask, "What is God doing to us?" And the answer is, "What we've done to ourselves." Let me show you. I want you to turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 42. Isaiah 42. Look, if you would, please, in Isaiah 42, and let's begin reading there with verse 22. Isaiah 42 and verse 22. I want you to look at how applicable this passage is in light of what I've been preaching. Isaiah 42 verse 22, God says, "But this is a people robbed and spoiled."
#64 | 50:50 to 51:38 | cleaned
"They are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore. Who among you will give ear to this? who will hearken and hear for the time to come? Who's going to listen? Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the Lord, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law."
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"Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart." Notice if you would, God said, "I gave Jacob for spoil. I gave Israel to the robbers." Why? Because they sinned against me. They refused to listen. They refused to walk in my ways. And therefore, God says, "I poured out my fury. I've set you on fire and you didn't even know it. You got burned and you never even took it to heart."
#66 | 52:18 to 52:55 | cleaned
You have to ask the right question to get the right answer. Let me make some applications. The first one is this. The enemies of liberty and freedom are already talking about—since January the 20th, by the way—are already talking about reeducation camps and detention camps. So if you don't agree with the communist stooges and the socialist stooges in power, they want to reeducate you. And some of you read undoubtedly where some have even suggested that the supporters of Trump should have their children taken from them, deprogrammed, and never returned to the parents. Wow.
#67 | 52:58 to 53:47 | cleaned
I've got news for you. Once you are in the camps, it's too late to fight. Once you're in the camps, you may repent all you want, but you're in the camps. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who spent many years in a communist gulag, wrote and said this, listen carefully, "And how we burned in the camps later thinking what would things have been like if every security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say goodbye to his family; or if during periods of mass arrest, for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had
#68 | 53:49 to 54:59 | cleaned
understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of a half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand. The organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport. And notwithstanding all of Stalin's thirst, the curse machine would have ground to a halt. If, if we didn't love freedom enough, and even more, we had no awareness of the real situation, we purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterwards." Wow.
#69 | 54:59 to 55:39 | cleaned
He said we wouldn't fight. We got what we deserved. The second one is this. We need to understand that it is our sins and our rebellion and our ignorance that gets us into trouble. Israel had sinned against God so many times. And God delivered them so many times. But yet there came a time when God said no more. Want to read to you, just listen. This is from the book of Judges, chapter 10, verses 10 through 14. Listen. "And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, saying, We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim. And the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, and from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines? The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you; and ye cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand. Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more. Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen.
#70 | 55:45 to 57:08 | cleaned
Let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation." Isn't that amazing? God said, "I delivered you so many times and you kept forsaking me and you kept disobeying me. You wouldn't listen to me."
#71 | 57:09 to 57:24 | cleaned
Now you got your false gods. You cry to them, see if they can deliver you. You know what God said to Israel in Hosea chapter 13 and verse 9? He said, "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help."
#72 | 57:25 to 57:44 | cleaned
Now is the time to fess up. Now is the time to acknowledge our sins, our ignorance, our weakness. Now's the time to acknowledge our rebellion. Now's the time to ask God for mercy. We must ask the right question to get the right answer. And the right question is, "What have we done to ourselves, our families, our society, our states, and our nation? And what must be done to correct it and bring it into conformity to the Word of God? What does God demand?"
#73 | 57:46 to 58:23 | cleaned
How shall we then live? We do not need to know the why. We need to know the what. What must be done. When you ask the right question, you'll get the right answer. Not "What has God done to us?" but "What have we done to ourselves?" And God allowed it in his judgment because we sinned against him. Father, we bow the knee to thee. We thank you for your word, your truth, your grace, your mercy. And we do pray, Father, that you would turn us.
#74 | 58:24 to 59:13 | cleaned
that you would quicken us that we may call upon thy name. And as the Psalmist said, "Turn us, O God, and we shall be turned." Grant us repentance, grant us faith, grant us understanding, and Father, help us to turn unto thee with all of our hearts, souls, and mind, and obey thee, we ask in the name of Jesus Christ, who is the only Lord and Savior. Amen.
#75 | 59:15 to 59:49 | cleaned
so
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T17:57:36Z

You Must Ask The Right Questions To Get The Right Answer

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

Pastor John Weaver uses the story of Joseph's brothers in Genesis 42 to illustrate the importance of asking the right questions. When the brothers find their money returned, they ask, 'What is this that God hath done to us?' instead of 'What have we done to bring this upon ourselves?' Weaver applies this principle to modern America, arguing that the nation's moral, educational, and economic decline is a result of its own sin and rebellion against God. He calls for repentance and a return to biblical obedience.

Introduction: The Importance of Asking the Right Question

Scripture Reading — Genesis 42:28

"And he said unto his brethren, My money is restored, and lo, it is even in my sack." "And their heart failed them, and they were afraid, saying one to another, What is this that God hath done to us?"

The Wrong Question of Joseph's Brothers

Now, in reality, they really knew what was happening. So if you look back at Genesis 42, beginning there in verse 21, here's what they said:

Scripture Reading — Genesis 42:21

"And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us. And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is required."

Now I want you to note very carefully in verse 21, they said one to another,

Scripture Reading — Genesis 42:21

"We are verily guilty concerning our brother."

Note,

Scripture Reading — Genesis 42:21

"when we saw the anguish of his soul"

—they saw him suffering, they knew he was scared—

Scripture Reading — Genesis 42:21

"and when he besought us,"

that is, he begged us, he asked us, and we hardened our heart, turned a deaf ear, we did not hear.

The Brothers' Deception Exposed

Weaver reviews Genesis 37 to show the brothers' lie about Joseph's death and their claim to be 'true men' in Genesis 42:11. He highlights their 22-year deception of their father Jacob.

Scripture Reading — Genesis 42:11

Now the Hebrew word for "true," when it's used as an adjective, means true, honest, veritable, and just. So they have told Joseph now that we are true, honest, just, and trustworthy men, when in reality, they were liars and deceivers. Now, let me show you what I'm talking about. If you will turn back in your Bibles to Genesis 37, Genesis 37, and let's begin reading there with verse 17, and we'll read through verse 35. I want you to watch carefully. Remember now they have claimed to be true men, honest, just, trustworthy. So here it is. Genesis 37 and notice verse 17. And the man said, because Joseph is now seeking his brothers.

When in reality, they were liars and deceivers. Now, let me show you the real kicker in this. If you will look in Genesis 37 and verse 2, the Bible says,

Scripture Reading — Genesis 37:2

"These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report."

The Right Questions: What Have We Done?

The correct questions are 'What have we done to bring this situation upon us?' and 'What must we do to straighten this out in light of the law of God?'

Application to America's Decline

The Failure of Education and Parental Responsibility

Economic Judgment: The Debasement of Money

which was a mere eighty-eight years back. So what has happened? Well, let me try to spell it out for you and make it as understandable as I can. I want you to consider price of gas.

Biblical Basis for Judgment and Call to Repentance

Weaver cites Isaiah 42:22-25 and Judges 10:10-14 to show that God gives His people over to robbers and refuses deliverance when they persist in sin. He calls for acknowledging sin and turning to God.

Scripture Reading — Hosea 13:9

"O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help."

Conclusion: Ask the Right Question and Repent

Weaver concludes by urging listeners to ask 'What have we done to ourselves?' and to seek God's mercy and correction according to His Word. He closes in prayer.

You Must Ask The Right Questions To Get The Right Answer

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	b_K-PptuJfk
Subject	Education and Discipleship
Course	Christian Education and Discipleship
Genre	Sermon
Date	2021-02-14
Dictation Name
Book	Book 073: Christian Education and Discipleship — Chapter 7
Source Timed Segments	76

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction: The Importance of Asking the Right Question: Weaver opens with Genesis 42:28 and shares a humorous teaching anecdote to illustrate that asking the wrong question often leads to wrong answers. He argues that 'why' questions are less productive than 'what' questions when addressing sin.
The Wrong Question of Joseph's Brothers: Joseph's brothers, upon finding their money returned, ask 'What is this that God hath done to us?' instead of examining their own guilt. Weaver points out they already knew their sin, as recorded in Genesis 42:21.
The Brothers' Deception Exposed: Weaver reviews Genesis 37 to show the brothers' lie about Joseph's death and their claim to be 'true men' in Genesis 42:11. He highlights their 22-year deception of their father Jacob.
The Right Questions: What Have We Done?: The correct questions are 'What have we done to bring this situation upon us?' and 'What must we do to straighten this out in light of the law of God?'
Application to America's Decline: Weaver applies the principle to America, arguing that the nation's problems stem from its own sin, apathy, and rebellion. He cites Khrushchev's predictions and the infiltration of seminaries by liberal ideologies.
The Failure of Education and Parental Responsibility: Weaver discusses Robert L. Dabney's 1879 prophecy about the secularization of public education and the loss of religious liberty. He emphasizes that God gave parents, not government, the responsibility to educate children.
Economic Judgment: The Debasement of Money: Weaver explains constitutional money principles and illustrates the loss of purchasing power by comparing a $20 Federal Reserve note to a $20 gold coin. He argues this economic decline is part of God's judgment.
Biblical Basis for Judgment and Call to Repentance: Weaver cites Isaiah 42:22-25 and Judges 10:10-14 to show that God gives His people over to robbers and refuses deliverance when they persist in sin. He calls for acknowledging sin and turning to God.
Conclusion: Ask the Right Question and Repent: Weaver concludes by urging listeners to ask 'What have we done to ourselves?' and to seek God's mercy and correction according to His Word. He closes in prayer.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

The 'Why' Question is Unproductive

Asking 'Why did you do this?' opens the door to excuses and does not address the real issue. The correct question is 'What did you do?' and 'What must be done to correct it?'

Weaver says, 'When you ask why, you're opening the door to give an awful lot of different answers... the correct question is not Why did you do this? but What did you do?'

Joseph's Brothers Knew Their Guilt

The brothers' question 'What is this that God hath done to us?' was disingenuous because they had already acknowledged their guilt in Genesis 42:21.

Weaver reads Genesis 42:21: 'And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother...'

America's Decline is Self-Inflicted

The nation's problems are not primarily external but result from internal sin, apathy, and rebellion against God's laws.

Weaver says, 'What have we done to ourselves? And what is happening to us? And the answer is just like those boys were finding out the righteous judgment of God in revealing their sins, we're discovering the righteous judgment of God in revealing our sins as well.'

Public Education is Unbiblical and Harmful

Government-run schools are not ordained by God and inevitably become secularized, failing to teach biblical truth and morals.

Weaver quotes Dabney: 'Christians must prepare themselves then for the following results. All prayers, catechisms, and Bibles will ultimately be driven out of the public schools.'

Fiat Currency is Unconstitutional and a Form of Theft

The Constitution requires gold and silver as legal tender; Federal Reserve notes are unconstitutional and have destroyed the people's wealth.

Weaver cites Article 1, Section 10: 'No state shall... make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts.'

God Will Not Always Deliver the Unrepentant

There comes a point when God says 'I will deliver you no more' to those who repeatedly forsake Him, as in Judges 10.

Weaver quotes Judges 10:13-14: 'Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more.'

Scripture References

Genesis 42:28: The opening text: Joseph's brothers find their money returned and ask, 'What is this that God hath done to us?'
Genesis 42:21: The brothers acknowledge their guilt concerning Joseph, showing they knew the reason for their distress.
Genesis 42:11: The brothers claim to be 'true men' when in fact they were liars and deceivers.
Genesis 37:17-35: The account of Joseph being sold into slavery and the brothers' deception of their father Jacob.
Genesis 37:2: Joseph was seventeen years old when he brought an evil report of his brothers to Jacob.
Genesis 41:46: Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh, indicating the brothers' long deception.
Isaiah 42:22-25: God gave Israel as spoil to robbers because they sinned and would not walk in His ways.
Judges 10:10-14: God refuses to deliver Israel again because they repeatedly forsook Him for other gods.
Hosea 13:9: God tells Israel, 'thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help.'

Historical References

Nikita Khrushchev's 1956 speech: Khrushchev said 'We will bury you' and predicted the West would be destroyed from within through socialism.
Robert L. Dabney's 1879 prophecy: Dabney predicted the secularization of public schools and the loss of religious liberty in America.
U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 8 and 10: The Constitution specifies that only gold and silver coin can be legal tender, not paper fiat money.
Continental currency during the War for Independence: Paper currency printed without backing became worthless, used as 'shinplasters' by soldiers.
German hyperinflation (Weimar Republic): Anecdote of a woman whose wheelbarrow was stolen while the money was dumped, illustrating worthless currency.
Louis McFadden, House Banking Committee Chairman: McFadden stated that Federal Reserve notes have not been backed by anything since 1933 and that lawful money is gold and silver coin.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago: Solzhenitsyn wrote that people who did not resist arrests deserved what happened to them.

Important Quotes

The right question should be, What have we done to bring this judgment or this set of circumstances or this situation upon ourselves?

This is the central thesis of the sermon, redirecting the focus from God's actions to human responsibility.

We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.

The brothers' own admission of guilt, showing they knew the cause of their trouble.

Humanity always finds out sooner or later that it cannot get on without a religion. And it will take a false one in preference to none.

Dabney's observation on the inevitability of religion and the danger of false religion.

All prayers, catechisms, and Bibles will ultimately be driven out of the public schools.

Dabney's 1879 prophecy that has been fulfilled in American public education.

Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the Lord, he against whom we have sinned?

Scriptural proof that God actively judges His people by giving them over to their enemies.

O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help.

Summarizes the message that destruction is self-inflicted but help is found in God alone.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

Why do we tend to ask 'What has God done to me?' instead of 'What have I done to bring this about?'

[Context]

Weaver argues that the brothers' question was a way to avoid personal responsibility.

[Question]

How can we discern when national or personal troubles are a result of God's judgment versus natural consequences?

[Context]

Weaver interprets America's decline as divine judgment for sin.

[Question]

What does the Bible teach about the role of parents versus the state in education?

[Context]

Weaver cites Dabney's argument that God gave education to parents, not government.

[Question]

In what ways might Christians today be guilty of 'searing their conscience' like Joseph's brothers?

[Context]

Weaver marvels at how the brothers could live with their sin for 22 years.

[Question]

How should Christians respond to the increasing hostility and potential persecution in society?

[Context]

Weaver mentions reeducation camps and the need to fight for liberty before it's too late.

[Question]

What does the Bible say about money, and how should that affect our financial decisions?

[Context]

Weaver discusses constitutional and biblical principles of money versus fiat currency.

Applications

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T09:56:02Z