Independence

00:06Let's welcome Dr. Gian

[Narrator] Let's welcome Dr. Gian.

00:14250 years ago: the pursuit of freedom

250 years ago, the people of this land knew the bitter taste of oppression. That is why in the 1700s, they risked everything in their desperate pursuit of freedom. The birth of American liberty did not stop at our shores. It ignited a movement of freedom that has inspired the world ever since.

00:41Nations that still live under tyranny

Yet today, nations like Russia, North Korea, Cuba, and China still live under tyranny.

00:49The true meaning of freedom

Even more tragic is that many Americans no longer understand the true meaning of freedom, or the sacred purpose of liberty. Today, I want to remind you why the battles our ancestors fought are not just history. They are the foundation for the future of our children and grandchildren. Thank you for joining me.

01:50Slavery can be defeated when you learn the truth

Slavery can be defeated when you learn the truth.

01:56Two kinds of slavery: individual and group

There are two kinds of slavery, you as an individual or you as part of a group of people. Individual slavery is when you are, one, an addict. Two, your employer owns you. Or three, someone controls you.

02:17Group slavery

Also, a group of slavery is when you live under the oppression of a dictator. Or two, you live in an evil environment inside of a corrupt system.

02:34Fear controls people

Fear is what controls people individually and collectively.

02:41The truth will set you free: John 8:32

Words from our Lord Jesus: "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." Gospel of John, chapter 8, verse 32. Please, Lord God, guide us through this reflection. Amen.

02:57The knowledge of the Bible

So what do we have here? The knowledge of the Bible. Really? Aha.

03:11A new creation: 2 Corinthians 5:17

All right. Let's quote the Scripture. I think that will be better, all right? First Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 17. A classic verse that we have heard many times when it's about new beginnings. The Scripture declares, "Anyone that is in God, in Christ Jesus, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, and the new has come." First Corinthians, 5, 17. This is probably one of the many people's favorite verse, because it talks about the new beginnings, right? It talks about, let's forget about the past, and let's focus on the future. To me, it's a great idea, every single day.

04:03If you are an individual in slavery

Now, here's the problem. If you are an individual in slavery, there are possibilities, as I mentioned earlier. The first one is that maybe you are an addict. If you are in slavery of addictions, I will give you here how the new season, the new creation will come to you.

04:29Addictions: detox and rehab

First of all, you have to understand addictions are elements inside of your body that keep you under the control of that thing. Whether it's nicotine or other things, cocaine or alcohol, the first step for you to become a new creation is to detox. What is the meaning of that? Well, what that means is that you must go through a process to get rid of all these things inside of your body. The best way to do it is to go to a rehab center. There there are individuals that are qualified and equipped to help you. Some people say, "I don't have the money to pay for such a treatment center." It's true, it could be expensive. But on the other hand, there are individuals that will help if you reach out to them. There is professional help available, my friend.

05:33Professional help, and a new environment

The thing is, if you are in the Lord Jesus Christ and you are still an addict to different type of things, you have a challenge and your challenge is to find the professional help you need. And what do you do once you finish your rehab, once you finish your detox process? You need to change the environment because if you continue with the same group of people, hanging out, going places, spending time in the night, guess what is going to happen?

06:06Jesus Christ is more powerful than anything

Freedom is going to come to you when you know the truth. The truth is that the Lord Jesus Christ is more powerful than anything, so you will overcome all those things. However, it's up to you to change your environment, my friend.

06:26A toxic work environment

As an individual, you also could be in a slavery of being in a toxic work environment, and that is horrible. Some employers, some supervisors and business owners, they literally consider that their employees are slaves, that they have to do everything the employer says any day, any time of the year. And there are seasons, of course, of work, but at the same time, every employee must have time to rest, to take breaks.

07:10Start searching for a new job

Sometimes the problem is that you cannot experience the total freedom in God because you work for someone or in a very toxic environment that is not allowing you to experience that freedom or joy in anything. People say, "I love what I do. I just hate the people that I work with." Well, what is what you need to do? Start searching for a new job, my friend.

07:36No jobs in your field? Learn new things

Sometimes people say there are no jobs available in this field as possible, in which case I suggest you to start learning new things. Learning, acquiring knowledge should be a normal thing for a believer.

07:55You need to learn to learn

But when the believer is not willing to take time to read the Bible every day, to get input, the proper input from the Scripture, and the individual doesn't like to hear the teachings either, that is a problem. You begin your day with the Lord, with the Bible, with your prayers. And the willingness to learn, meaning change. Changing is not easy, but everything is changing constantly in our environment. In every environment you go, you will see new things. They are not going to stop. You need to learn to learn. And today there are many, many options for careers and special jobs. It's your job to learn.

08:42The wells cycles

Have you ever heard about the Wells Cycles? Let me tell you about the cycle of a well. This is an illustration. It's not that a well necessarily has a cycle. It's just an idea.

09:01Blockbuster: a well that dried up

Perhaps you know about Blockbuster videos. That is the most famous example every person uses all the time to give that illustration. There was a moment when the idea of renting videos was a great idea. Blockbuster videos did it phenomenally in the 80s and 90s, but that well eventually dried up.

09:27Is your career in a well that is drying up?

Wells, business and all type of activities go through cycles, and sometimes the cycle doesn't come back to the beginning. It's like clothing or shoes or hairdos. Many things are in a cycle, not everything. Your job is to understand, is your career in a well that is drying up? Have you ever thought about it? Because there are areas in life that they are not going to recover because they are obsolete. Your job is to find out about that.

10:04Every worker has pressures

Regardless of that, whatever you work and what you do, hoping that you are going to find the right employer and you are going to be working in something that makes you happy and you are enjoying all that, certainly there are pressures and responsibilities for every worker in the world.

10:25Get a life

You need to learn to get a life. And get a life is not about sitting in front of the TV when you finish work. That's one thing of getting a life. You need to start thinking about the things that you like. It could be related with science, it could be related with carpentry, it could be related with cooking, baking, farming, I don't know, sports. Get a life, my friend. Get a life. Because the new life comes when you understand that it's your job to adapt and change.

11:04A toxic relationship

Individual slavery also can happen if you are in a toxic relationship. That is very common sometimes in between men and women. They are in a toxic relationship and they both are unhappy. The first thing that you can do if you are in a toxic relationship, whether it is with your boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse, even with your own parents or your own children, you need to find your own identity.

11:37Find your identity: who is your Father?

Who is your father, my friend? You need to know that in the Lord Jesus Christ, your Heavenly Father is the Lord God Almighty.

11:47Who is your God?

Which takes us to the next question. Who is your God? Is your God your mother that controls you? Is your God your father that pays the bills? Is your God your girlfriend or your boyfriend?

12:04Toxic relationships are idolatry

Toxic relationships are synonym of idolatry. The Lord God doesn't want you to live that way. Freedom and independence, liberty. It has to do entirely with you finding your own identity, my friend, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Then you say, "The Lord God is my God and He is my provider."

12:26Your provider and your Lord

When you understand that the Lord is your provider, you experience that freedom like you have never experienced before. And then you say, "He is my Lord." Meaning what? You will do what the Lord says. So it doesn't matter how much you love somebody, your mom, your dad, your kids, your spouse, your boyfriend, your girlfriend. It doesn't matter. They are not your Lord. Everything begins when you find your own identity in the Lord God Almighty.

12:59Not a spirit of fear: 2 Timothy 1:7

What else do we have here now? Are you serious? Again, more knowledge? All right, so let's go to another scripture then. 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 7, "For God gave us not a spirit of what? Of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." The new creation comes with your identity. When you begin to comprehend that you are free, you don't need to have addictions or anything like that. You must realize you don't need to live in fear.

13:40Freedom for a group of people

Now, individually it's a problem. But the most crucial aspect of freedom is not just for one individual. It's for a group of people. So let's start then with the first case. It's the case when you are under the oppression of a dictator.

14:01Under a dictator: organize in cells

If you live in a country where there is a dictator, I will tell you how you can be free. And I know this is controversial, but you need to understand because this is how we here in America found our freedom. You need to organize in cells, in small groups, people talking about the necessity to be free of this dictator.

14:28Majority wins

You need to comprehend this. Majority wins. At this point, those dictators, they think that they can control truly the whole country where they are. That's not true. It's in the head of people. But the majority of the people are tired of that. Majority of people in the world, they don't want more dictators. They don't want to live under oppression.

14:56Military dictators are obsolete

People understand communism is over. It's proven it's not working. And military dictators, they are obsolete.

15:09The freedom to worship God

And imagine in places where they impose a religion rather than with us here in America, there is a freedom to worship God. We might disagree with some of the views of certain religions, and yet here we respect the freedom that everyone has to worship God his own way. So, though some of those countries, they impose a religion, they kill people that they feel differently about religion.

15:46How America became independent

Organize in cells. Remember, majority wins. And eventually there has to be a revolution. How do you think America became an independent country in the first place? Just with prayer?

16:03Freedom came with a price

My friend, the freedom we have in our country, it came with a price. And if you live in a country that you are under the oppression of a dictator, you need to start thinking about it because your future, the future of your children and grandchildren, depending on the price that you might pay or not.

16:27An evil environment inside a corrupt system

Now, as a group, some people are in slavery when they are, they live in an evil environment inside of a corrupt system. And then you have two options. You leave that area or you fight within. If you leave that area and you have the means, you are able to leave, move to another place, city, state, country, whatever. Just remember, don't forget those that are still in oppression. But there is nothing wrong. If you are capable to move yourself and your family out of those circumstances, just remember there are people out there struggling. So therefore, for those who choose to fight because they cannot live and they must stay there, remember you need to organize carefully.

17:28A legal foundation

Because if you are going to fight against these monsters of corruption, you need to have a legal foundation, my friend. Because if you don't have the legal foundation, how in the world are you going to fight against the corruption system? Corruption systems, usually they operate in countries and places where there are some laws, but the people are afraid of fighting against them because they fear their lives can end.

18:01When someone threatens you for proclaiming freedom

Remember that if you are not willing to pay the price, and I am absolutely certain about what I am saying because I know what is to feel threatened that somebody wants to kill you or your family members because you proclaim freedom.

18:20Somebody has to start it: public communication and external help

But if you don't proclaim freedom, if you don't want freedom, don't talk about it. But if you want to experience freedom, like we have here in America, somebody has to start it. It has to be very well organized. You need to have the legal foundation. Also, you need to have public communication. It's impossible that you are going to accomplish such a task on your own. Therefore, you have to have public communication in order to request official external help. In many places, there has to be somebody, organizations, even countries that need to come to rescue those that are living in evil, corrupt systems and environments. That is the way to go.

19:14My calling: I am not into politics

Now, for example, in our case, in my case, as a Christian minister, I proclaim the greatness of the King of kings and Lord of lords. Jesus Christ, my Savior, my Lord. Because I believe in the Bible and because I know what is my calling in life as a preacher, precisely because I know my calling in life, I am not into politics. It's not my calling. Unless until now, I don't know. Perhaps in the future, I don't know.

19:56Broadcasting 24/7: vchurch.us and Gian TV

But as a preacher, my job is to fight against the forces of evil. And I go every day and I do that by broadcasting 24/7 audio and video. Here is the QR code to our website, vchurch.us. And from there, you take it. And in fact, I want to remind you, if you are in America or Europe, Latin America, if you have a smart TV, some countries in Asia and Africa, of course, they have. You might be able to install Gian TV on any of these four TV apps. Here are the logos on the screen. Roku TV, Amazon Firestick TV, Apple TV and also Samsung TV. If you have one of those devices as well, you might be able to install Gian TV and then you can watch all our shows without paying one cent to a million dollars. And you can't pay one cent to anybody. It's free. It's free. Because what we want is to defeat the enemy. Yes, my friend.

21:12A little humor: a military dictator

Now, speaking about that, you know that I heard something one day that was very interesting. I heard that there was a military dictator that was killed with a stick of dynamite. And I said, really? Yes. So I asked this person, what is his name? And he said, Napoleon Blown-aparte.

21:47The true purpose of freedom

Now, on a serious note, we are celebrating 250 years of freedom here in America. The true purpose of freedom is to live as a shining example of godliness, decency and honesty. It is the freedom to protect our families and strengthen our communities. Above all, it is the freedom to please God, secure our place in heaven for eternity by the grace of our Lord Jesus, and leave behind a powerful legacy, a moral compass that guides future generations toward right living. Independence was bought with the death of our Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary initially, because he paid the price for your salvation and my salvation.

22:51Free countries: people paid the price

But then in every country, those are free countries now, independent nations, not monarchies, not dictatorships. No. Not regimes led by a military commander. No. Countries that live in freedom, people pay the price. In our country, many people have been paying the price to have the freedom that we possess at this point. Our current president, Mr. Donald Trump, is one example of those individuals fighting in order to preserve freedom for us. But that's politics. In reality for us believers, the freedom that we experience, the independence that we can express to everybody and to invite them to experience is the result of the sacrificial death of our Lord Jesus Christ.

23:57Freedom is not doing whatever you want

That is why you must understand that freedom is not the ability to do whatever you want to please yourself, searching for gratifications and pleasures of your flesh. There are individuals that they think, "Yay, I am free here in America. I can do whatever." And what is what they do? They do bad things. They are always looking for the pleasure of the flesh rather than glorifying the name of our Lord God.

24:33The purpose of freedom: the fruit of the Holy Spirit

You know, my friend, the purpose of freedom is by the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

24:42Galatians 5:22-23: not tongues, not prosperity

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians in the chapter number 5, verses 22 and 23. What is this fruit of the Holy Spirit? People say, "Speaking in tongues is the key." Other people say, "Prosperity is the key." Abundance is the key. That is how we prove, my friend, is none of those things. The fruit of the Holy Spirit in you is when you display the following characteristics in your behavior. It is when you display love to everybody. It is when you show joy most of the time, ideally all the time, but sometimes it's impossible. I get that. Well, for you. I push myself not to show joy, but to experience joy because I focus on the Lord God as the true source of my happiness. Love, joy.

25:55Peace: be right with God

What else? Peace, my friend. A believer that doesn't have peace is telling me that it is not right with the Lord God. And you are not going to have peace with everybody or even with yourself. If first you don't receive the peace that comes from God, in order to receive peace from God, you need to be right with Him. There is no way you can do it on your own, but you confess your sins, you say your prayers, and you ask the Lord God, "Please forgive me, Lord," and He will help you.

26:28Patience, kindness and goodness

A true Christian is a patient person. People say, "I don't have that." Well, you don't have enough of the Holy Spirit in you. Why you say that? Because you are impatient. Patience is a darling feature of a believer. Same thing, kindness, being kind with people. The goodness of God in you should be another characteristic in your personality.

27:00Faithfulness and gentleness

And what else can I tell you? Faithfulness. You need to be faithful and loyal to the Lord God and to everybody that loves you, those who are good to you. You need to show that faithfulness in your home with your family. And right there, you need to show gentleness. To be really gentle with people. Sometimes people can be upsetting, but still you must be gentle. You don't use vulgar language. Even when you are disappointed, you can tell people, "This is not right for this and this reasons." And then they can say, "He is rude." No. You are not rude. In the first place, people disrespect you. You told them, "What is the problem?" You can be gentle about your response. That is why self-control.

27:59Self-control

Self-control is necessary. A true believer doesn't have crazy explosions of anger in the traffic or in the house, in the workplace or in the market. It's the opposite.

28:19Freedom is the ability to please God

The fruit of the Holy Spirit in you is going to show that you truly are free in the Lord Jesus Christ. Freedom is that, my friend. It's the ability to please God with your own life.

28:33Every knee will bow: Philippians 2:10-11

For the glory of God, one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Philippians 2, 10, 11. What a beautiful Scripture. Every knee will bow. One day is going to happen. Even those who think, "I don't believe it. I don't think that this Jesus that you say is the Son of God, that He will come back a second coming." You are crazy. Even there. Them, they will see it. And when the Lord Jesus comes back, every knee will bow and then they will declare with their own mouth, they will confess their sins and they will confess, "Really, Jesus is Lord."

29:34What are you waiting for?

What are you waiting, my friend? Independence is about that. Freedom, liberty, has the purpose of taking you to this type of life for the glory of our Lord God. Thank you for being here with me and I wish you a beautiful rest of your day. See you next time.

29:55Bonus: when I was shy

Ah, yeah, yeah. You know, I was thinking about this situation with shy people and, well, I remember when I was a teenager, I was a little bit shy, especially with the girls, you know. Well, I struggled with my own hesitation and I was just saying to myself, "You can talk to the girl and then, no, you cannot talk. You can do this and then you cannot do it." I know, you know, sometimes we just talk to ourselves to not do certain things when we are shy because we haven't experienced freedom, right?

30:39Asking for money

So, one day I became a minister and then part of my training was to ask for offerings and contributions to the church and I said, "I don't like that. I don't want to do that." So, this guy said to me, "You should do it like some of those preachers do it." And I said, "You do it. Tell me, how is that they ask for money on TV?" Well, you know, there are guys that they go something like that. They say the phone number to call or whatever, you know, like we put right now here for vchurch.us. And he says, "They do it something like that." They go, kind of crying, very dramatic, these guys. And they go something like this. "People need to know about God and therefore, if you don't give money, they won't be saved." You know, that's kind of ridiculous, right? "Okay." I said, "I get it. But I don't like that. I'm not going to do that." "Well, then you should do it like these other guys." And I said, "How they do it?" So, they are the royalty guys. The royalty guys. What is that? So, they go this way. They say, they change the way of speaking. So, that is how they go. "If you give money to our ministry, I promise you that you are going to receive tons of money. And you write your prayer and your petition in the envelope, and you will receive a hundred times what you are planting in our ministry, because we are good soil." I said to my friend, "I don't like that either." "Well, the truth is eventually I needed to come up with a solution." And I thought, "I don't know even what to say."

32:45Honesty is the key

But eventually, I learned that actually honesty is the key. And I thought about when I was a church member, and why did I give money? And my reason was to give money to the church where? That I wanted to see my church doing good. That I knew that there were necessities that our church needed to take care of. And that would need money. Also, I knew my pastor, and I knew that he was a good man. And his income came from the contributions we were giving. So, I said, "I'm going to give for that reason." So, think about it.

33:32The shy guy at the bar

So, now, going back again to shy guys, this is the story that somebody told me. It's kind of funny. This friend said to me that, "Him and the other shy guy went to a bar one night. And they said, "Let's go and let's see if we can find some girls there." So, this guy was very, very shy. But the other pushed him and said, "Go and talk to the girl. Talk!" So, then he goes, "All the shy," right? He goes and he says, very quietly, whispers into her ears, "I would like to chat with you. Can we chat?" And then the girl, who was an accomplice with the other guy, responded to him, yelling, "No! I will not sleep with you!" You can imagine. That was a catastrophe.

34:34One more joke

Now, speaking about not shy guys, I heard that there was an alliance. It was called the Rebel Alliance. And in this Rebel Alliance, they have these guys that they were not afraid of anything. They were not shy. So, among those guys, there was one who was about to go with a bomb. He was a suicide bomber. So, he gets the stuff, the backpack and the whole thing, and then he is about to go out to do his thing. And then he says, "This is going to be a blast."

Transcribed from the video and lightly corrected. Spoken words are kept as Dr. Gian said them.