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Well, it's interesting to me to know why now. When you look at the black race, black people are very gifted in what we call worship and celebration. A lot of us like to dance, and if you go to black churches, you see people jumping up and down, because they really get into it.

White people were blessed with the gift of structure and organization. You guys do a good job of building businesses and things of that nature and you know how to tap into money pretty much better than a lot of people do around the world.

Hispanics are gifted in family structure. You can see a Hispanic person and they can put 20 or 30 people in one home. They were gifted in the family structure.

When you look at the Asians, the Asian is very gifted in creation, creativity and inventions. If you go to Japan or any Asian country, they can turn a television into a watch. They're very creative. And you look at the Indians, they have been very gifted in the spirituality.

When you put all of that together, guess what it makes. It forms a complete image of God. God made us different because he was trying to create himself. He was trying to form himself, and then we got kind of knuckleheaded and kind of pushed everything aside.

You know, they say the dumbest animal in the world is a sheep. A sheep will rather walk through a barb wire fence than go through an open gate. And if you look at the Bible, we're compared to sheep. And the reason we're compared to sheep is because without our shepherd, we don't know what to do or where we're going. And I believe when I look at this nation today, that we pushed the shepherd aside, and because we pushed the shepherd aside we're experiencing major problems in our nation.

We say this country was built on aspects of who God is. We put on our money "In God We Trust," but America is far away from trusting God. I was praying one night -- and understand me when I say God spoke to me, that God didn't speak to me like "Reggie, I need to talk," nothing like that.

I remember watching the show, real popular show, Touched by an Angel, and I remember the angel lost her powers. And the reason she lost her powers is she was trying to help a drug dealer and she lost her powers there and they thought she was dealing drugs. But they took her to court and the judge started asking her questions, and so she asked the judge a question, why is it that when we talk to God we call it praying, but when God talks to us they call us crazy.

So I just want you to know I'm not crazy. Okay. But in the process of knowing that -- I lost my train of thought ..... where I was going with that? Where was I going? What did I say? Scott forgot, too.

But in the process of understanding and really God showing me who he is, there's something that I think we all have to understand, and I want to share this and I want to move to something else quickly, is the concept of faith.

A781 Most of us believe that faith is what we believe in or I've heard many people in church say that a lady said one time she went in to clean out her garage because she believed that God was going to give her a car, or if we go to God and we pray and we ask him to do some things in our lives and we believe it, or if we just believe that God exists, that that's faith. Well, that's not faith. Our definition of faith, all of our definitions of faith, is wrong.

What faith is, if you look in the scripture and you look at Hebrew Chapter 11 and if you look at the men and women that were in that chapter, you understand that these people didn't think or believe that God existed or he was going to do something for them. They did what God told them to do.

And actually the Greek, the Greek definition for faith and obedience is the same. Faith has nothing to do with us thinking that God exists. We talk about faith-based organizations and things of that nature. A faith-based organization is an organization who seeks God's purpose and his plan and moves on it.

We must understand that faith has nothing to do with our beliefs. We kind of treat God like he's a spiritual genius. And when we want God to do something, we kind of rub the Bible and, poof, this kind of genie comes out and then we ask him to give us certain things. It has nothing to do with that.

The greatest man that ever lived on earth has served God and sought his counsel, God responded to them and credited them with faith because they did what he told them to do. In the process of understanding that, we must understand that if we want our nation to be a Godly nation, that we have to follow God and we have to seek his counsel.

The great kings of Israel sought the counsel of God. The ones who didn't, Israel suffered for it, and in the process of all of that we have to understand there are forces that will work and has worked against us.

I remember one time just sitting down thinking and God asked me a question. Why do you think that they crucified Jesus, what was one of the reasons? And my response was, well, I mean, he was a righteous man but they just didn't like what he was saying. And he said, no, one of the reasons they crucified Jesus is because he affected the economy. And I said, well, how.

He said, well, when you look at Jesus' ministry, he started healing people. The Bible said that there was a woman who had a history of problems for 12 years. She went and spent all her money at the doctor's. One day she came and touched the hem of Jesus' garment and she was well. Jesus emptied the medical office because people were going to him, and the doctors were not too happy about that because they were losing money.

Then the Bible said he fed 4,000 and 5,000, not including women and children. The restaurants and eateries weren't too happy because of that, because he was taking business away from them. And then Jesus started raising people from the dead. He raised them before they could be buried, and the funeral home folks and the grave diggers weren't too happy. So he affected their business.

But then the worst thing that Jesus did that got him crucified, and when I look at our society today he's doing the same thing, he went in the church and cleaned it out. The Bible said there were money changers. They were buying and selling in the temple. He cleaned it out and they got him crucified.

When I look at America today I often ask myself a question. Why are we pushing God out? I believe the reason we're pushing God out is because God is in and it will affect the economy. Major organizations will fall. There will be no condoms that will be sold to our children because we will be teaching chastity. There will be no more cigarettes sold to our people because they won't do things to hurt their bodies. There will be no more drugs distributed, guns distributed. It will shut down industry in America.

So we have to push God out. America has to push God out. Because if God got in, it would affect a lot of people's money. In that process we have to understand, are we more interested in the money or the people.

The people is what counts. The people are the ones who hurt, the oppressed, the poor, the fatherless, and when I look at even our government I also look at our church, and I will say to you who are in government, there's more politics in church than sitting in here.

I'm going to finish that, hold on. Excuse me. There's more politics in church than even in the government. I often ask myself a question. The church has told you guys, take the resources and take care of the poor, when the responsibility of the church is to take care of the poor.

I was talking to Carol yesterday. I will strongly support whatever I can to force churches, in particular rich churches, to keep the money over here. There's too much money that's going to mission work. I'm not saying that we shouldn't do mission work, but there's more money from churches that's going overseas than in America. Churches need to find ways to spend the money here.

One of the visions of Urban Hope is that as it takes in the resources, it invests in the businesses so we can give people jobs, so we can give people an opportunity to own businesses. Urban Hope will also own businesses.

Some people say, well, that's not right. Well, if the ministry is going to keep going and we're going to teach responsibility, it's got to be right. We've got to give people jobs. We've got to give them an opportunity to build their families and educate their children. That is the direction that we have to move in as a people.

So I don't really strongly blame the government for all the problems. To be honest with you, I blame the church more than any institution in America for the problems that we're dealing with today, because there's too much money running through the church. It has actually been proven that there's more money that goes through the churches of America when you put all the denominations together yearly than the federal government itself.

So there has got to be ways that churches have to be forced, in particular wealthy churches, to put monies into the communities of America, and then once we take care of our own then we can take care of other people's people. It's important that we deal with our problems in America.

A782 In the process of the church and the government itself I want to read something that I read from a book. The landscape of history is strong with the remains of nations once great -- once great who let more decay from within bring them to ruin. As the Roman empire rose to greatness, its populous no doubt assumed that it would be around for centuries to come. But even while its citizens romped in apparent prosperity, its foundations were crumbling underneath them, and so historians record the rise and fall of the great Roman empire.

And Greece gave the world its first historical attempt at democracy, splendid architecture, excellence in culture. It produced a dazzling roster of men including Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Greek civilization rose to its golden age until corruption set in and its politics, business, personal life, even its religion. According to a popular proverb, there were more Gods in Athens than men. The Apostle Paul clearly identified the nation's spiritual poverty from on the hill when he preached his famous sermon of the unknown God.

Other great civilizations have come and gone. The ancient Mayan nation developed brain surgery, excelled in mathematics and astronomy and built an incredible network of irrigation canals, then corruption took hold. Today it is a ghost of the past.

When we look at our own nation we have to ask ourselves a question. Is God blind to the sin of our own nation? Will he continue to bless us as he looks on our idols of silver and gold, on our pride of our personal achievements, on our prevailing rebellion against him?

The Bible repeatedly warns that without repentance judgment is inevitable. Righteousness exulted a nation, but sin is a reproach to many. America is not big enough to shake her fist in the face of a holy God and get away with it, and as I read this I want to explain something. I'm going to read this and then I want to explain something.

As America has permitted homosexuality to establish itself as an alternate lifestyle, it is also reeling from the frightening spread of sexually transmitted disease. Sin begets its own consequence, both on individuals and nations.

Let me explain something when I'm talking about sin, and I'm talking about all sin. One of the biggest ones that has been talked about that has really become a debate in America is homosexuality.

Now, I believe that one of the reasons that Jesus was accused of being a homosexual is because he spent time with homosexuals. I've often had people ask me, would you allow a homosexual to be your friend. Yes, I will. And the reason I will is because I know that that person has problems, and if I can minister to those problems, I will.

But the Bible strictly speaks against it, and because the Bible speaks against it, we allow rampant sin including homosexuality and lying, and to me lying is just as bad as homosexuality, we've allowed this sin to run rampant in our nation, and because it has run rampant in our nation, our nation is in the condition it is today.

Sometimes when people talk about this sin they've been accused of being racist. I'm offended that homosexuals will say that homosexuals deserve rights. Any man in America deserves rights, but homosexuals are trying to compare their plight with the plight of black men or black people.

In the process of history, homosexuals have never been castrated, millions of them never died. Homosexuality is a decision. It's not a race. And when you look at it, people from all different ethnic backgrounds are living this lifestyle, but people from all different ethnic backgrounds are also liars and cheaters and malicious and backstabbers.

We're in sin, and because this nation is in sin, God will judge it if we don't get it right. I want to read something about the Roman empire that's interesting to me when I look at our nation and see that we're going in the same direction.

The events which led to the collapse of the Roman empire are strongly similar to the events which are occurring in our own nation. Historical sequences, number one, Rome had strong families when they first started out. It was founded on high moral standards. Each father was respected as the head of the family. In the early republic, the father had legal authority to discipline rebellious members of his family.

We've eliminated discipline. When I walk in the store -- and I often tell my kids, and my kids will tell you and Carol and the people that know me will tell you, I don't beat my kids. I discipline my kids, because I can't have my kids being disrespectful to you. I can't have my kids being disrespectful at all.

I know when I was growing up and I got out of line, my mother would grab anything she could to sling it at me. But she didn't do it because she hated me, she did it because she loved me. And when I discipline my children, I discipline them, I sit them down and have them explain to me why I did and then after that I hug them and kiss them.

In America they say 70 percent of the fathers don't hug or kiss their sons after the age of six. Our sons need affection. I kiss my son almost every day. My son when he turns 50, he's going to have to finally say, "Dad, stop kissing me. This is really embarrassing." But my son is going to get my love and he's going to get the same love from his father -- or the same love that I give my daughter, as I give him. He's going to get kisses just like she would.

And that's a discipline I'm talking about. I'm not talking about abuse. I'm not talking about a physical beating. I don't need to hit my kids more than five times when I whoop them, because I don't want to go and get angry at them. But those five licks they still remember from two years ago, and I have two of the best kids in the world and two of the most honest kids in the world.

Number two, home education. The education of the children was the responsibility of the parents. This further established the children's honor and respect for their parents and also deepened the communication and understanding between parents and children.

Number three, prosperity. Strong Roman families produced a strong nation. The Roman armies were victorious in war, the wealth of conquered nations increased Rome's prosperity and prestige.

A783 Number four, national achievement. Great building programs began in Rome. A vast network of roads united the empire. Magnificent palaces, public buildings and coliseums were constructed.

Number five, there was an infiltration of a lie. As Roman families prospered, it became fashionable to hire educated Greeks to care for the children. Greek philosophies, with its humanistic and garish base, was soon passed on to the Roman families.

Women demanded more rights, and which women deserve rights. And let me tell you something about my woman, she runs the house. In order to accommodate them, new marriage contracts were designed including open marriages or marriages to more than one woman.

Big government, by the time the first century A.D. the father had lost his legal authority. It was delegated to the village then to the city then to the state and finally to the empire. In Rome, citizens complained about how their shortages slowed the rents, congested traffic, polluted air, crime in the streets, and the high cost of living. Unemployment was a perennial problem. To solve it the government created a multitude of civil service jobs including building inspectors, health inspectors and tax collectors.

And number seven, the decline of Rome through its persecution. The problem of big government only multiplied. Meanwhile, a flourishing New Testament church was established in the Roman empire with the preaching of the Apostle Paul and others. The final act of the Roman empire was to bring great persecution to these Christians.

Rome was quite tolerant of all other religions, but Christianity was bad, and they were persecuted, burned and thrown to the lions. By the end of this era the Christians had conquered Rome.

As we see in this we're dealing with some of the same problems. We're giving our kids over to other people to teach when they need to be taught at home. We're actually giving them over to babysitters. They need to be taught by their mothers and their fathers, and if they're taught by their mothers and fathers, they will respect everyone around them.

I can give you a great example. Balzo, who is a friend of mine over here, we've been ministers of kids down in Milwaukee, some kids that were gang leaders that are working with us now, that have totally changed their lives. And it's interesting to me, Balzo asked me a few years ago, he said, you know, I want to get my life back with God, but how do I go about that, what do I need to start doing?

I said, Balzo, what you're doing with these children, moving them into your home and allowing them to live with you, you're doing a whole lot more than many churches are doing, because people won't pull kids like this off the street into their homes.

Because Balzo has befriended them -- he has a young man right now that's 18 years old that held up his fifth grade class when he was 11 years ago. This kid is living with Balzo now. He's totally changed his life. He's working now, and the thing that's interesting about him, I spent a night with Balzo one night and I saw a Valentine's Day card and this kid had given Balzo a Valentine's Day card, and he told Balzo how much he appreciated him, how much he appreciated him giving himself to him and he said in this letter you are now my Dad.

We went over to visit the Children's Hospital down in Milwaukee. The last young lady we visited had been shot in the belly by some thieves with a double-barrel shotgun. She asked us to pray for her. I told Balzo, you've got to befriend her. Don't leave her. Go and see her. He went to see her.

One week I went down and we went over to see her. The girl has still got buckshot in the belly, but she sat between me and Balzo and laid in Balzo's arm and said, you're my daddy. Other kids have responded to him as saying -- he has a young lady that's mad at him right now because he's not giving her the attention that he used to, because she feels that Balzo is her dad.

Children want fathers. The mothers have been raising our children and been doing a good job in many respects, but it's hard for a mother to raise a child when they don't have the resources to do it and they're the only ones there. I have nothing at all -- my mother was a single parent for awhile, but the thing is that kids want authority in their life and they want a man that will be simple to them and caring to them.

The last verse in the Old Testament says that in the last days that God will return the hearts of the father's back to the children and the children's back to their fathers. Men, we have lost touch with reality. We've lost touch with responsibility. We've lost touch with our own children, and we've lost touch with what's going on around us.

Our children are dying. They're dying. They're dying from being shot on the streets. They're dying through abortion. And let me tell you, I'm not a republican nor am I a democrat. And some people will say, well, if you're for abortion, you must be a republican. I'm neither one.

We talk about the rights of women. And if a man and a woman are going to lay down and get pregnant, then they need to be faced with responsibility. We can't just keep killing off children because it's just a fashionable thing to get rid of them when we don't want them. If a woman or a man don't lay down and do it, there will be no pregnancy. It's sin.

Fornication is a sin, and what we're saying to children is it's all right to sin, and if you sin, you can get rid of the baby if you want to. You don't have to be responsible. We have to teach responsibility to our children.

I hate watching these talk shows on TV, when a 13 year old girl is sitting on television and she's pregnant and the question is asked by the television host, how come you didn't use a condom. When are we going to start telling our children and training our children to wait until they get married? When are the leaders going to start doing that?

When Magic Johnson contracted the HIV virus, the day that he announced it condom sales went up 400 percent. We're telling our kids it's all right to have sex but make sure you protect yourself. They're not protecting themselves. What they're doing is hurting themselves. They're killing themselves, while we're sitting back watching and making decisions on their lives and on the things that they have to deal with.

A784 We can't continue to sit in our offices. We can't continue to sit back and watch. I believe that as people, as politicians and as leaders there has to be something that's done. We can not just visit the communities when we want to be voted in. We have to get the feel of what the people need. We have to talk to them. We have to go to them and allow them to come to us and get the feel of what they need and fulfill that need.

There are a lot of very intelligent people that's living in these oppressed communities. They know what they need. They know what they want. They know what they're seeking for. But we think that because they're not educated and because they didn't go to college, that they don't know the needs of the community.

Even though I'm black man, when I went into these streets I realized that I was out of touch. I was out of touch with my own people, and if we don't go and talk to them and try to understand what they're going through, they will continue to die.

But more importantly, I end with this. I think Wisconsin has a unique opportunity. I want to become a resident here because I've been treated better here in this state than anywhere else that I've been.

The reason I want to become a resident here is because of the two people that are sitting behind me and some of the others that I've met, because you've treated me and my wife -- you didn't treat us like we were dust. You treated us with respect. We felt like we had some solutions to some problems.

We don't have all the solutions. I'm not going to sit up here and tell you I know everything, because I don't. I'm still learning. But I'm up here because I think that there's a unique opportunity up here. The way that this state and most of the people that have received me, having been a minister, they wouldn't have received me that way in San Francisco and Dallas. That's why I'm up here, because the people have received me in that way. I believe that God is about to do something great here. And I believe this state can....

I think the State of Wisconsin has to say, and we're going to give the rule to God and we're going to allow him to run this state and we're going to seek his counsel and try to understand him and what he wants us to do.

I know we have a separation of church and state and things of that nature, and it was kind of called at us not to get involved in what we call religious aspects. I would assure you of one thing. I'm not a religious man. I am a man that's seeking a purpose and I'm a man that's seeking the will of God. That doesn't make me religious.

I want a relationship so I can express that same relationship and that role that I've been given to others. People often ask me, what do you think about Michael Irvin and what he did down in Dallas. Well, I answer it simply in this way. Michael Irvin is experiencing some of the similar things that I experienced. I didn't do some of the things that he did, but I tell you what, I was a consistent liar, and that's just as bad as what he did. I did things in my life that I'm not too proud of, so how can I judge Michael Irvin and what he's going through.

We're a very judgmental nation. We need to be a nation that's a caring nation, an understanding nation, a compassionate nation. And I promise you, if we give it over and seek God's purpose for what he wants to do in this state, I promise you if our leaders do that, then we'll see a change.

Throughout history wicked leaders are the cause of fallen nations. People often ask me, well, what do you think about the president's situation. Well, if I see what's exactly going on, then I can give my opinion. If it's what everybody is saying what's going on, I put it this way.

Our nation is saying the economy is good, we don't care about what he does. I do. I care about what he does and what you do. And the reason I do is because this, the Bible says that the man that falls into the ways of the adulterer, he lacks common sense. If our leaders don't have any common sense, we're in trouble. This nation is in trouble.

If we're constantly involved in wicked things and we're trying to tell people that they need to do right, our nation is in trouble and people will not listen. If there's two institutions that people don't trust, that there has to be a trust factor built, it's the government and it's the church. Most people don't trust ministers.

So we have a problem. We have to establish leadership, and people need to know that their leadership is seeking God and seeking his understanding and they will attack sin just as much as they will attack any other problems. I believe if Wisconsin does that, if you leaders to do, I promise you that within the next 10 years you will see a change in the areas of Milwaukee, you will see a change in our kids' attitude, our kids in trouble.

If you just heard, yesterday a 13 year old and an 11 year old down in Jonesboro, Arkansas hit the fire alarm and when the kids came out, they sprayed them down with machine guns. We've got a problem. And we will say, oh, that's their parents. No, that's us. That's what they see every day, and we've got to give them something positive and good to see.

And I will make you a promise, that if you as leaders will get down on your knees and seek God's counsel and respond to that counsel, I promise you in the next 10 years that this state will be able to be a part of a catapulting righteousness to our nation. In the process of doing that this state will be an example of that. And that's why I'm here, because I believe that there are people here that want to do that.

I will be a resident. I love this state. I've come to fall in love with it. I'm from Tennessee, but I love this state, probably more than I love my own state. And that's why I'm up here, because of people like yourselves and people that I've been introduced to and talked to. And for you to give me the opportunity to do this now, no other state would have, not even my own state.

And I just thank God that you allowed me to talk to you. I told Carol that I said, I hope that when I leave out of here I leave with more than two friends after I get through talking, and I think that I will. Thank you for giving me the opportunity.

A785 If you can bear with me one more second, there's something I would like to read right quick. The reason the Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl two years ago is because of our synergy, because of our commitment to one another.

There were guys that had different opinions about things, but there is one thing. When we lined up on the field we had a goal in mind. I'm not a quarterback. I'm a defensive end. So I never try to step in Brett Favre's shoes, because Brett Favre can do his job a lot better than I can at quarterback -- he can at quarterback than I could at quarterback.

So I want to read you something about the team concept, and this is why I pray to God that republicans and democrats here will come together and work for the good of man.

The team concept is frequently expressed in the buzz word you've certainly heard many times, synergy. Perhaps, however, you have never read the definition of the word. It's a powerful word, and I think it's important we understand what it means.