The Question Former President Barack Obama Could Not Answer for His Children

[0:00] You boxed a little already? Amen! Amen! Young fellow in the corner, children too. By the way, children, I'd like you to be in the service.! Bring it in. You could wave to me if you want to. Hello? Pretty shirt?

[0:16] ! Now, I'm the center of attraction, not a mama right now, all right? I love children. And I do sometimes pass the walls. I do sometimes wonder.

[0:30] If the constant separating of our children from adult events in church is the most positive way to create a good church community.

[0:44] But that's another matter. On Friday, January 20th, 2017, almost two years ago now, President Barack Obama moved away from the White House.

[1:08] He had served two consecutive terms as president of the greatest country on earth, humanly speaking. He made history. Plenty of history.

[1:20] By being the first non-white person to serve in that post. And many of the church people believe that it's God's way of affirming that you don't have to be a certain color to be in high positions.

[1:41] Before his becoming president in 2008, he served as a senator representing Illinois, one of the states in the United States.

[1:56] And it was during that period of his senatorship that he published his own book, his autobiography called The Audacity of Hope.

[2:09] The bestseller. Time magazine. That's how I got involved. Published one of his chapters. In its October 23rd, 2006 edition.

[2:25] And that chapter was called My Spiritual Journey. To my meaning, Barack Obama.

[2:35] My Spiritual Journey. In this chapter, which I read, because I normally buy the Time magazine, he wrote that he went to Alabama in 2004 to give a civil rights speech at the civil rights institution there.

[2:56] But also he used the same trip to visit a very sacred place called the 16th Street Baptist Church.

[3:11] Because it was at this church that on Sunday, keep these dates in mind now, during the Sunday school hour on September 15th, 1963, that the church was bombed.

[3:32] The church bombing was the result of placing 15 stacks of dynamite in the basement. It was right underneath the place where the girls' restroom was on the top.

[3:51] The blast happened. Children. Tell your children. 10-19 in the morning of September the 25th, 1963.

[4:06] It became worldwide news. Immediately after the blast, church members wandered around, dazed and bloodied, covered with white powder, and splitters from the glass all over them.

[4:26] Apart from the four girls who were murdered, 20 other church members were very badly hurt.

[4:40] The names of those four girls are Addie Mae Collins, 14 years old.

[4:54] Carol Robertson, 14 years old. Cynthia Wesley, 14 years old.

[5:06] Any 14-year-old girl, daughter? Anybody close? 13? Oh, got to work after that group, eh? But if I were preaching, I would say, what a blessing that 14-year-olds were in church.

[5:22] Don't you think so? And the last was Denise McNair. And she was only 11. Four children of various parents went to church to worship God.

[5:39] These innocent girls all regaled and their mama and grandma prepared Sunday best. You know how to do that, right? Meticulously prepared by these caring persons.

[5:53] They went to the church house, I guess, to be taught another Bible verse or to recite the one they were given the week before. And also, of course, to sing.

[6:06] I'm sure they must have sung that very morning. Jesus loves me, this I know. Who finishes for me? Come on.

[6:21] Finish it. Perhaps that's what they sign. And perhaps night after night, like many of us, when they knelt down to go to bed, they would pray, now I lay me down to sleep.

[6:38] Finish it. Go ahead. Maybe that's what they said the night before.

[6:49] See, you've got to capture this human story. Blessed Sunday morning, given by God. And can you believe the ugly story?

[7:03] Can you believe that even during a blessed Sunday morning service in a church, gathered with families to honor God, even there the dark and murderous evil got a powerful stronghold in church?

[7:20] Yes. One of the results of this church visit by Senator Obama was his, listen carefully enough, because this has to do with the sermon, was his self-confessed need, he said so, to know where those girls are.

[7:55] His words, quote, I wonder where these girls are now. You know, certain events do stir us up.

[8:09] I will now tell you, let him tell you in his own words, that whole story, which forms the basis of my presentation today.

[8:19] Are you listening? Here are his words now. This comes from his chapter on my spiritual journey, from his book on Audacity of Hope.

[8:36] I carried such thoughts with me, thoughts I just mentioned, with these girls now. As I left the church and made my speech. Later that same night, back home in Chicago, I sat at our dinner table, watching my daughters laugh and bicker with their mother as she tries to get them to eat the string beans before she took them upstairs to go to sleep.

[9:06] He's still talking. Alone in the kitchen, that night while I was washing the dishes, I imagined my two girls and the ache of every parent must feel sometime or another that desire to just snatch them up and hold them and lock them in for all eternity.

[9:36] I thought of my daughter, Sasha, the second girl, asking me once, Daddy, what happens when we die?

[9:52] And this is so touching. Daddy, I don't want to die. I hugged her and said to her, My dear child, you've got a long, long time before you have to worry about that.

[10:13] That's not true, right? Don't you ever tell a child that that's not true. And she seemed to be satisfied with that.

[10:25] Now here is the big revelation of Senator Barack Obama. I wondered, though, if I should have told her the truth that I did not know where people go when they die.

[10:58] I said, I don't know. I can't answer her. I can't tell her. So the Senator admitted, I am not sure what happens to people when they die.

[11:15] Wouldn't it have been so much better if he told her the truth? He could even said, well, let's try to find it ourselves. Anyway, that's another message. But what a blessing.

[11:28] Parents, what a blessing that the child asked. Thank God for curiosity as a gift of children. Now don't you ever shut them down.

[11:43] Especially when they probe things of the Spirit and the things of God and the things of the Gospel and the things of the Church. Don't turn them off. If you have the answer, find it.

[11:58] And so, the probing and penetrating question of young Sasha Obama provides us the title of our message today.

[12:10] Where do people go when they die? All of you now sit before me.

[12:23] If when your children ask you that same question, Mommy, Daddy, where do I go when I die? Or what happens to people when they die?

[12:35] Can you give them a true answer? What will you say? But why should this question be of concern about us? One, first, because there is no question more urgent.

[12:50] No question more urgent. Hear me. No question more urgent. Richard. Because there is no question more necessary.

[13:04] Because there is no question more demanding of a true answer. You could say, Lord, you know, you could say, that's true. You know, to whisper it.

[13:15] Because death is the only experience guaranteed us once we become alive. nothing else is guaranteed.

[13:28] Death is. What an oddity. Our human lives are so ordered that the only guarantee we have is our death.

[13:42] Here is how it's stated in the Bible. for as it is appointed unto man once to die and after death the judgment. And if such is the case, that death is an absolute certainty, then does it not follow most logically that all of us should be concerned as to what is entailed in this whole issue of dying?

[14:10] Is that not logical? Come on, say something. Is that logical? We might not all not need to know how to get a passport or a visa or a better education or extended wealth or improved health or additional friends or how to go to new places.

[14:34] We might not need all that. But we must all need to be prepared for what is certain and it is death. When I was not a Christian, despite all of my stupidity, I was sensible enough to believe that people would die.

[15:02] And God saw to it that I was reminded every day because at Marsh Harbor for three years my residence was adjacent to the graveyard.

[15:16] We had an outhouse. You know what that is? Every time I left the residence to go to the outhouse only ten feet away, there were all the graves lying.

[15:27] So every day, death confronted me. so, as you see it and now, with your ears tuned to my voice, and hopefully to the Holy Spirit's voice, do you have the answer to the question?

[15:47] Where will I go when I die? Not if I die, not if I die. When I die? Who will I be five minutes after I die?

[16:07] It's a big sermon a lot of preachers like to preach. Now let me ask you some other questions because you're finding this out now. Will I simply black out and be no more?

[16:20] Will death annihilate me and I'm just gone and I don't be existing anymore? Many people are teaching that now. That's why they say, eat, drink, curse.

[16:36] When death comes, nothing else. nothing else after death. They have better get it down. That lie forces many people to greed, get pleasure, to pleasure as the purpose of life.

[17:01] To spend the night, you can't go home too early, you gotta go 4 a.m. in the morning. You gotta stretch your night and you have farm time, as much as you can get. Drink as much liquor, you know, just taste it, golf it, because when this life ends, nothing else, it produces a strange, wicked, senseless living.

[17:31] A false understanding of death makes your life meaningless and purpose less. Will I still have full consciousness after I die?

[17:45] Will I know that I am a person continuing to live? Thank God the answer to the question has not been made complicated.

[17:58] there is a sure answer. But there's no cost in the University of the Bahamas to answer this question or any other universities in the world.

[18:13] They don't bother with this stuff because for them the only thing is life. Some churches are now giving up talking about beyond life.

[18:26] forget about that. Get it now. Thank God we can know.

[18:39] But for this kind of knowledge we must turn to only one sort of truth. It's the Holy Scriptures. The Holy Scriptures. Your pastor mentioned earlier that some people in their study of Mark didn't know many things.

[18:54] There's a lot of dumbness in the church. You know that?

[19:06] I'll tell you one of the problems is that many church members believe the only people who need to know about the Bible are the preachers. So all they want to do is hear his sermon.

[19:19] And half the time they don't listen to that either. but in terms of learning and grasping for themselves and their own intellectual understanding and their own spiritual.

[19:33] But yet they'll push their children to take any course and every course they could find either on the line or at school. Boy, get your education! But some of them don't even see that their children enter into a place where they can get spiritual education.

[19:51] Now I'm serious about this. I'm angry that an intellectual Christian says to his 16 year old, yeah, well if you don't want to go to church it's alright.

[20:06] Do you know how common that is said? But if he said on Monday, same child, said to mama or daddy on Monday, I'm going to school, get your behind out of here boy!

[20:21] You see how easily the enemy has infiltrated us but we still believe that what is earthly, what is timely is the essence, not what is eternal.

[20:33] I'm even push it further.

[20:54] Even the minimal, I'm bothering now, even the minimal space people who are concerned put in our church agenda for things of this nature.

[21:09] A week is seven days. All of those have 24 hours. And sometimes church stuff is eight hours out of all of them weeks and all them hours.

[21:20] Eight. And some of the time half of that is not taken up with teaching. friends, I'm telling you something. We need to recapture what Paul said to Timothy.

[21:35] Know the word! So we must search out the scriptures. Thank God we have them. Thank God for those forefathers who saw to it that we got it in our language, in our time.

[21:52] Many died to preserve the Bible from being eradicated from earth. Now so then, what does the Bible say about where do we go when we die?

[22:14] The first authority we turn to is the authority above them all, the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you with me?

[22:26] You with me my dear? Pretty dressed? Let me hear you. I'm going to read to you what he says about it now.

[22:41] From John chapter 8, 20 to 24. John's gospel. This is the King James version. You listen to it. I should have given it to the folk to put on the word.

[22:56] John 8, 20 through 24. These words spake Jesus in the treasury as he taught in the temple and no man laid hands on him.

[23:12] They wanted to for his hour was not yet come. 21. Are you with me now? 8 of John. Then said Jesus again unto them, I go away and ye shall seek me which you will be able to find me and you shall die in your sins because whither I go you cannot come.

[23:49] Then said the Jews will he kill himself commit suicide because he said with I go you cannot come. Then he said unto them more plainly Jesus like to do that get you curious and make you more curious you are from beneath I am from above ye are of this world I am not of this world 24 this is the key I said therefore unto you that you will die in your sins for if you believe not that I am he you will die in your sins are you with me are you with Jesus are you with Jesus you think Jesus is is clever enough to talk about these matters bow tie how much credence do we give to

[24:50] Jesus where does he sit in our levels of authority and knowledge and is he above the prime minister you sure above the principal at school Jesus gives us then the first mention of where we go when we die if you die in your sins you won't go where I go so one thing we can say one place people will go is the place where Jesus is not you agree with me say so say amen brother say yes pastor say yes Rex down the corner with a beautiful white shirt are you with this now just imagine how that was for

[25:50] Jesus to say that to the people these were Jewish people they were temple worshippers they were Jews God's chosen people they had all sorts of accolades and Jesus said to them if you if you people Jewish blue blood if you don't recognize me for who I truly am God's son and your Messiah you will die in a state called in your sins and in that state when you arrive at your destination it won't be where I am be someplace else you know that's plain as could be Jesus says there's a place you'll go but I won't be there he didn't name it he didn't describe it he only mentioned it to die in your sins it seems they then from what

[27:01] Jesus just said what determines the destiny of the one who dies is where they are with their sins it's the only one the only two states you can begin you can have them removed or what or what are they still with you now if I was doing a week on this we'll talk about the false ideas of people thinking that because they are wonderful church members and they show up on time and they bring their money and they offer all the necessary pieces of association it ah that's going to get me through I take the communion regularly where I grew up you go to the priest and get your confession regularly you do the best you can you know murder you know thief you know lie you know it's a good person give people give them a neighbor but I catch fish

[28:20] I share it I got grade A what how does that relate to getting rid of your sins what sins sins you sure I don't sin not not not really you know I mean not purposely not intentionally not willfully not now once in a while I might you know like tell a little like a little white lie but daddy no sin and truly and truly I don't bother nobody I don't bother the soul well you see the Bible is a very open book that makes us all guilty sinners to sin is to transgress anything that God doesn't know what happening that's sin sin need not have an action performance you don't have to act it according to

[29:46] Jesus you you just what think it oh Lord now tell me now who could stand now and say I am no sinner if just thinking it puts you in the category of being a sinner just thinking it you don't have to lean along on your mind not be there forever just couple minutes boy if I had to really him I'd just blow his brains on you but huh God knows I hate I just hate to see her come by oh afraid somebody's making some lists and the list is longer than you think sin and sin and sin then there's something else there are sins of omission that is things you should be doing and you don't thou shalt love the Lord with all thy heart and all thy mind and all thy soul and all thy strength my God what all not enough for me to love myself and my family and so thy sins of omission that which

[31:09] I should do or do to are you with me my dear in the back there you hear so we must all face the fact that our sins are real and true and that we are sinners sinners that ugly word sinners not like we say now these days Lord forgive my shortcomings!

[31:41] that's not a Bible word Lord forgive my weaknesses not a Bible word Lord forgive my lapses sin so Jesus says if you haven't gotten rid of your sins in the proper way you die with it if you die with them where I go you cannot come is that clear there the first state in which people die can die is in their sins never in their lives did they say what we call the sinner's prayer they never said prayer like I said way back in 54 Lord Jesus I know I'm a sinner I know that I cannot by myself get rid of my sins and what would I do it's not by what

[32:49] I do my works my deeds I do believe that you died oh hallelujah oh that's what it is that you died for my sins thank God ah my sins my sins were transferred to him oh Jesus thank you the Lord laid upon him he transferred to him all our iniquities it's a transfer it's a substitute but who benefits from that now there's a big talk going around the world now that since Jesus died for all then we are all God's children called universalism and other things not because he died for all you have to respond to the call when you hear it anyway

[33:49] I do believe that you will receive me and forgive me because of what Jesus did in my place when that happens our sins are removed they're forgiven and cleansed and washed and we are fit to meet Jesus now there's a second state in which we could die this one comes from the voice of the greatest in my opinion the greatest representative of God on earth since Jesus I believe that man to be the apostle Paul if you study his life and his achievements it's almost impossible but what a man I am debtor to all men I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ he now answers the question about another way we could die this comes in a letter he wrote to a

[35:05] Christian church called the Thessalonians they had a problem there he taught them that Jesus would come and when he left they thought that Jesus would be coming and none of those would ever die again some died and they wrote to him and he sent him an answer he says among other things that the dead in Christ shall rise first so now here's the other way you could die Jesus said die in your Jesus Paul says die in all right they're the only two ways we could die nothing to do about whether you die nicely when I grew up in Long Island how you die man he groomed he groan his face is full of fire oh that ain't a good sign tell my rent that nothing to do with that has nothing to do with where you will rest because some people are painful the death process brought pain misery wretchedness anxiety fear worry don't transpose those emotional issues with the state of the soul before

[36:33] God when Stephen the martyr died he was caught up in rocks his body bang bang bang you think one of us and was paining hurt the ogre ouch shit ah but that didn't anyway transfer the truth of when he said Lord Jesus receive my spirit don't let people how we die no that has nothing the physical emotional sociological issue of death you die either in your sins around you like a rope or you die in Christ with the sins removed by that Christ are you with me Paul said he represses who come to the death movement but before they do they embrace

[37:40] Jesus Christ we have a good example and because the clock says I must move let me move quickly we have a very powerful I love this story and helpful example of this truth fleshed out for us by St.

[37:55] Luke in his gospel this is the crucifixion scene three crosses remember the story do you remember the story oh dear five of you do all right in the midst of this total drama I don't know how often you go to the cross but that's a good place to go oh this is sweet in the midst of that total drama two men condemned to die on either side of Jesus both of these men according to the gospels were heaping it on Jesus calling him everything from east to west north to south but in the midst of that drama for reasons not told us one of those same two who originally joined together to give Jesus a hard time he had a change of heart that's a possible experience in the human life we could have we could have a change of heart you could be a wicked bum a no good and is it possible for something to happen and you completely change new person new man new woman new child this is what happened here the details are not given us this his change was so radical that from his side of the cross he shouted to his body what wrong with you man don't you know that you were in the same condition but this man in the middle cross ain't nothing wrong you know but you and me you know we did wrong and you and I are here because we supposed to be here one of the few times that a criminal says

[40:06] I'm getting what I justly deserve but this man no leave him out and he said something on that cross that many Christians don't say anymore do you not fear God he became a strong evangelist fear God and then in the quietness of the moment he stopped talking to his buddy and he turned directly to Jesus he said these words Lord remember me when you come to your kingdom and I like this here's how I put it and without hesitation any loss of time Jesus quickly responded responded don't worry I will see to it that you are in my company today in paradise oh my what a story what a story to tell this man the words of the thief reveal his beliefs he really had some big changes he believed that death would not end him he says when you come into your kingdom

[41:41] I want you to help me believing he's going to live after death he also believed that Jesus will be resurrected he could have a kingdom he could be on the throne he also was convinced that there's life beyond death he believed that Jesus could handle his case whatever it is and Jesus responded yes I hear you so I need to say this to you now right here says Jesus on your bloody cross I'm putting words in his mouth of shame and death and disgrace and condemnation yes you whose life has brought you many sorrow and pain and shame to your family and your friend and community yes you who cannot bring me anything you cannot do anything for me you cannot give me a tithe offering you are tied down to a cross you can't even kneel before me just can't move you can't make restitution to one single human being whom you have wronged no you can't learn the creed you cannot be baptized baptized you can't join the church yes you man a total failure you have my word for it

[43:21] I say unto you today you a man like you will be with a man like me in paradise and I have the authority to say it so this this young man before he tasted his death which happened a few minutes later because the soldiers came and broke his legs to hasten death heard a certain word that he would know where he is going to be after death where in paradise with Jesus and then we now hear some other words for those of us who die in Christ and I heard a great voice out of heaven saying behold the tabernacle of

[44:24] God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himself should be with them and be their God and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death no more not one death none sorrow no sorrow no crying neither shall there be any more pain you know I tell people if that's the only blessing in heaven give it to me I don't like pain no more pain for the former things are passed away now which human creature in his own sensible mind wouldn't want that kind of place to go when he died and you can't go it's often you it's what

[45:42] Jesus Christ came here for to guarantee you that blessing but only he can do so but the other hard hearted hard boiled thief he didn't go there the way the Bible teaches it he was near Jesus that's not enough to be near Jesus he saw another one blessed by Jesus it's not enough to hear the testimony of sister and brother you gotta taste yourself he played the fool you know what he said if you Christ come down from the cross and get us off too get me out of my trouble he wanted that Jesus get him out of his trouble as selfish as it could be that as earthly and carnal as it could be we are told that those who die outside of Christ will have an experience of horror not much is said about this in our pulpits anymore but let me repeat it the situation will be such that unbelief will no longer exist there are no unbelievers in hell conversion took place but it took place too late too late that's a warning

[47:11] Jesus himself warned be careful he gave a parable to teach it they come to the door and they say open unto us open unto us the answer was sorry door shut friends there's a moment there's a moment when God's door of mercy and grace and help shuts and no one can open it words like depart from me that's hard for God to say you know that's hard for God to say after all he did to ensure that you could be being received by him to have to say depart from me there'll be crying and screaming according to Jesus gnashing of teeth blaming people oh my friends you caused this

[48:14] I followed you I didn't listen to what a hell of a time it will be in hell no joy no song no smile nothing to encourage nothing darkness and gloom misery and wretchedness forever and ever and ever and ever without any parole never just as the piece before I called pastor friends I must give you this last piece because in my world of ministerial people this shade of wonder is this punishment stuff literal or is it just a picture or a symbol or let the man of authority speak hear

[49:17] Jesus Jesus speaking to people of his time listen to Jesus dear friends do not be afraid of those who want to kill your body they can't do anymore to you after that are you listening you teenagers you listening Jesus I tell you whom to fear Jesus fear God who has the power to kill your body and then throw you into hell fear Him we are losing that fear of God he is the man upstairs, he is my buddy he is my daddy, he is my good friend he is a holy God of justice and righteousness and truth and judgment it's sad it's sad connecting the story it's sad that in a world where Bibles are everywhere where the Gideons have them in hospitals in schools, in hotels in the army that President

[50:40] Obama didn't know the answer and it was in a Bible a New Testament so easy so profuse all over the place how sad