ENGLISH Dante Gebel #839 | Project clone

As Christians, we have built a subculture in which we produce our own music, our evangelical radio stations; our own language and even our fashion. Most of us prefer to relate with people within this subculture. However, we cannot say that we love people if we try to approach them “at night”, like Nicodemus with the Lord. The true church calls us to choose to relate with all kinds of people, and to bring light where there is darkness. Let us remember that we cannot save drowning people unless we jump into the water with them. That is the greatest proof of love!

[Music]

foreign

[Music]

they spread the word that you had to

bring your flags look at all these flags

all the fla all the countries

represented welcome to everyone let’s go

let’s go let’s go marvelous people

people from America Australia Africa

Europe how beautiful this is happening

here at River

[Music]

just one minute after the stipulated

time we’re ready to connect with the

rest of the world

and I ask those that are at home and

those that are here how are you

at home there are thousands that connect

with us each weekend and they were

waiting and they were saying well what’s

going on why why isn’t the live

transmission on yet well

in respect to the local church we sang

We worshiped we prayed for our seeds we

prayed for our offering and now we’re

connecting with the rest of the world

with all the Beloved children we have

around there all the spiritual children

the Beloved people that say that they

received through us an enormous greeting

thank you for being there let me share

this holy gossip with you next week

a great team of our of our mission team

a great group of our mission team is

going to Uganda Africa

so that’s another enormous blessing

Mission Uganda how beautiful and of

course

we’re going to see our orphanage our

school everything that was constructed

over there we’re going to see how

they’re doing and we also have new

projects amongst them

we want to make a

a sort of theme park where they can have

games

and they’re all going crazy over there

the teachers the Deacon the director are

our missionary Kevin Mason they’re all

very happy because they know that in a

week our team will be arriving and we’re

going to bring back images of all that

will happen and so the little ones are

children

they decided to send us greetings and to

tell us that they’re waiting for us with

a lot of Joy excitement and they think

we’ll be moved after this I’ll transmit

what I believe God told me to tell you

but these are our children from River

missions in Uganda

thank you

[Music]

I would like to extend our feelings on

behalf of the whole school that

we are on countdowns waiting for you on

behalf of all the sponsored kids we are

saying that we are actually eager to

welcome you we thank you as our past our

spiritual our spiritual parents and we

know that you also take us as your

spiritual daughters and sons we say

thank you and we also love you la

experience our class is very beautiful

we can’t wait to welcome you in our

class

you guys miss you so much

I am very happy

that Reef attack is

coming back we cannot wait to share to

you what we are going through what

happened after you left us and what we

shall do on the third day after you come

thank you River Church I can’t wait to

see you from River Church I wish you a

safe journey as you come to this place

thank you I would be very happy when you

come back I missed tripachatta and then

they come back and pray together we are

willing and we are ready to receive you

on time we’ll be there this is the local

dancer when you come here we’ll Dance

For You the local dance this is the

local dance

we will see our stories we miss your

songs thank you we are waiting for you

we shall be happy to see you again for

the last time or for more time oh my God

River Church is coming back

oh my God we are still waiting for you

again bye bye

that’s your big giving you this value

thank you

yes they are coming as you see this time

they bought for us the streets and they

were so sweet and we enjoyed the

airplane

when you come we shall be drinking

together and enjoying it together

gracias to all of you river church thank

you for coming and I would be glad to

see you again

[Music]

we love you

come back and we sing together

[Music]

and we’ll be on our way soon

in a week and seven days we’ll be on our

way out this is next Sunday our whole

team will

we’ll go over there to share some time

with our little ones they’ve been

waiting for us

they feel like heaven is coming down to

earth for at least a week or the few

days that we’re there so we pray for the

whole mission team and as I always say

not everyone can go not all of us can go

physically

but we can go with our seed with our

offering doing whatever is possible like

one of the children said with candy

something that for us is normal it’s

it’s

ordinary but for them it’s completely

out of out of the ordinary so we’re

ready for a great Mission and this is

church thank you for your generosity

thank you for being a part of it and

because these are our children those

that aren’t parents yet you can say that

you have about 360 at some place in the

world and that’s marvelous are you ready

stay with me I’m ready are we are we

truly ready very well

and many of the messages

I tend to share that I was brought up

and it’s it’s public knowledge this

isn’t news I was brought up

in the context of a church that was

extremely legalistic

and I spent a great part of my childhood

and Adolescence in a congregation where

we looked at one another or looked at

ourselves as a small group a minority

group surrounded by a very dangerous

World a sinful world

the church at that time functioned

as a sort of armored enclosure of a

fortress

where in a certain way those walls

offered us protection

against the terrifying World outside and

back then it was very difficult to be an

Evangelical and at the same time live in

the real world for example in my case

school was very difficult for me I would

say

how can I live in that dichotomy of

being an Evangelical Christian but also

having a common life a secular life I

had to go to school I was seven years

old when my family accepted the Lord

into their hearts

and the first thing I

offered my mother was to abandon school

I told her I don’t want the Rapture to

happen and for me to be at school I

would rather be praying and for a few

months

my mom believed me but after

a while she kicked me back to school she

said I don’t want to raise a mule but I

can still remember

the shameful humiliation of telling my

teacher

that I wouldn’t go

to music class to rehearse the national

anthem back in 1978 it was a song that

said 25 million argentinians

we will play in the World Cup so we had

to go and rehearse the song but I felt

that I was failing the Lord because I

was congregating at a church where they

said that soccer was Satan’s sport it

was 22 demons following the devil’s head

around the field

and I remember the teacher asking me in

front of the class

well at your church are you not

Argentinian what at your church you

don’t love your country

and I was left without an answer because

I was never given an answer like that

for that but I remember the feeling of

satisfaction that we felt

by belonging to A persecuted minority we

were encouraged by telling ourselves

that we lived in this world without

belonging to this world and so on

Sundays we would sing with our inflated

chest

the world can’t be my home that was the

most beautiful thing we could sing

I have my mansion in glory the world

can’t be my home

and that would fill our chest with a

feeling of we’re not going to stay here

we’re this is just

a train ride but I

can now see that although with good

intentions that church was a controlled

environment it was an artificial

Greenhouse it was a ghetto or a

subculture through time that subculture

grew in my entire country and we began

to produce our own music our own

concerts our Evangelical radios we

acquired our own language and even our

own style a way of dressing nobody said

it

but it was taken for granted that the

church was for people like yourself

evangelicals people like us so the

implicit message that wasn’t written

anywhere but it was implicit was

once you begin to behave like us then

you’ll be welcome

and you can join our congregation

obviously

it wasn’t this wasn’t about a church

with a high level of Holiness in fact it

was a higher level of hypocrisy because

I grew up amongst people that believed

that the Evangelical Evangelical Church

was for Evangelical people that acted

like Evangelical Christians

and the problem like I once said is that

we’re the ones who decided what it meant

to act like an Evangelical Christian for

example we had a list at church a list

of sins that were not tolerable if you

wanted to be a part of the church and

you wanted to participate in the

communion there were sins that weren’t

tolerated they weren’t even mentioned

the fascinating thing is that these

lists never coincided with any of the

sins

any of the list of sins that Jesus

mentioned or that scripture mentions for

example divorce was the worst sin it

doesn’t matter if the the man beat the

woman

and she lived in domestic violence

divorce was not an option

or they had to leave the church or being

a single mother let’s not even bring

that up that’s the worst thing unless

you were left pregnant by the Holy

Spirit then you couldn’t mention it

more so anything related to sex

was

repugnant even by mentioning it anything

that was sexual you could not mention

ever

but they never included greed or

Jealousy on that list

they never included gossip oh man was

there gossip at that church

or Whispering murmuration never

because obviously

the sins of the flesh were more

scandalous than the sins of the spirit

right like the Pharisees in the time of

Jesus and those of us that congregated

we didn’t feel free to speak about our

weaknesses or about our battles or fears

I don’t have a memory as a Childer as an

adolescent that if I got into problems I

could run to the pastor or I could go to

the elders or I could go to the people

at the congregation what we would do

back then is try and cover it all up so

that we wouldn’t be kicked out of the

club cover it all up

which obviously made the situation worse

my mother would say whatever is covered

up doesn’t heal let the heal let the

wound heal

because if you cover it up it will never

Scar and this also goes for spiritual

life whatever you cover never heals so

covering up problems makes it so that we

maintain our appearances but it only

serves

to feed the sin that we’re trying to

cover and transparency sincerity

they aren’t welcomed in a church created

for evangelicals if you want to belong

to that type of church then you can be

transparent and you can’t share that you

have a problem and then fortunately I

started to grow up it’s not the same

thing as growing old I grew up and I

began to reject

the environment the legalistic

environment for my childhood I realized

I suppose that this came with maturity

but

they spoke a lot about Grace but

everyone was living in legalism they

spoke about love but people always

showed hate to those that thought

differently and when I could finally

emerge from that Evangelical

fundamentalism

it took many more years to take away

that hard shell of hypocrisy because

when your belief system is to be

hypocritical fake it smile even though

you don’t want to don’t share that you

have problems

then there’s like a callus or a shell

that is tough to take off but little by

little I I took it off but fundamentally

I understood that I was a part of a

cloning project a religious cloning

project and that is a show that even

today it’s tough for me to remove for

myself because it’s a more subjective

shell than the last one I can understand

all right I won’t be a hypocrite I’ll be

sincere

with God with my brothers and sisters

but then the other shall the shell of

that has to do with that cloning the

shell of

gathering with people that think the way

I do that still doesn’t go away it’s

that shell of hypocrisy because I was

brought up in that environment sometimes

I don’t realize that I subtly look to

relate with people that look like me and

I don’t realize that I don’t know if it

happens to you but I’m speaking about

myself so that no one feels targeted

I realized that the majority of the

people that I encounter

are like me in my in education and

convictions the people that I encounter

also like coffee they also like messy

scoring goals they like the same music

we recommend each other the same movies

or series on Netflix and we don’t let

each other down the neighborhood where I

live is filled with Asians but I don’t

mix with them we just greet each other

from afar

and I don’t know if they greet me or if

they’re insulting me because I’m the the

weird one not too long ago in Miami they

invited me to eat at a Hindu restaurant

and I realized

that if you pull me out of an

Argentinian barbecue I’m ignorant as far

as

culinary matters go and the person that

invited me the manager that’s

in charge of the whole tour he told me

you’re going to try a very good

Hindu meal and you’re going to enjoy it

it’s it’s a curry

you’ll remember it

and yes it really did

in pregnant me impregnate me it it

permeated inside me

I don’t want to speak against Indian

food but it’s

like

you’re asking well when is the when is

the Real Food coming when is the Real

Meal coming

the meat was like it was it was almost

raw it was like gelatin it was almost

mooing at me

so this shows that I’m not so ethnic not

as eclectic as I thought I was but

thanks to the two words that I’m on I’m

traveling frequently I hadn’t done that

for many years

and when I have to walk through the

Eternal terminals or if there’s an air

delay that’s very common

I stop to study the human species I’m

never bored if there are humans to

observe I don’t know if you shared this

with me but I love watching people when

you’re in a rush because the plane is

about to take off you don’t stop to look

at the people but when you say I have

nothing to do let me watch these people

it’s marvelous

I don’t know why people go to the zoo

or why people go to Disney

it’s free

so I catch up on today’s fashion or

certain Styles and I say where the heck

do you buy that

because I don’t see it

at any stores so I find obese people

scrawny people young people

alienated on their phones people that

travel with dogs the size of elephants

people with turbines with tattoos with

wigs tunics strange couples people that

speak to themselves and then you

discover that they have an airpod in

their ear

that’s the real world

in any airport for example and that’s

where I realize I notice that although I

don’t belong to that legalistic church

for back in the day

I still gravitate instinctively

to people that look like myself

and rarely do I leave that Circle unless

for example I’m obligated to taking a

plane in a public place and there I

realize that not everyone looks like me

that there are a lot of different people

that dress differently with different

ethnicities different races but almost

in in an unconscious way I daily

encounter people

that I think

believe in the same things I do I once

shared with you

that social psychologists call this

phenomena the pluralistic tendency the

tendency

of wanting to belong to a group where

supposedly everyone believes and thinks

the same way

although in reality in private we all

think differently

but we wouldn’t dare to say that

publicly because it goes against what

the majority believes

we don’t want to go against that group

that surrounds Us in other words maybe

in private we’re battling against a

weakness

we’re fighting against a sin that we

haven’t confessed but we come to church

and we pretend that everything’s okay

so that we don’t

break the harmony that’s pluralistic

ignorance I know that I need help

nothing would be better than confessing

my sin so that people can pray for me

but I’m not going to do it because then

maybe they’ll look at me weird at church

pluralistic ignorance is nothing more

than hypocrisy and Mass

it’s to say I feel that I’m dying but

I’m not going to say it even though I’m

amongst a rescue team because they’re

going to look at me like a dying patient

although there are other patients I feel

the same way nobody says it so

I was reading an article that

a deceased Spanish reporter wrote Jesus

Quintero he was known because of his his

radio shows world famous and he would

say there have always been illiterate

people

but the lack of culture and ignorance

have always been lived

through shame

and he added

never before have people

gloated about not reading books

Cultura okay people

only demand

a little bit more

intellectual knowledge or intellectual

intelligence than that of primates

people know how to read and write but

they don’t exercise it and each day

there are more people like this and

Technology competes to offer them

programs or entertainment

drawn up for people that don’t read

people that have no culture everything

is thought or based on that

majority everything’s superficial

frivolous Elementary

primary foolish so that the people that

don’t know how to read can understand it

and digest it as he wrote this

I said that’s a clear example of the

pluralistic ignorance

that our children might believe well Mom

I’m not the only one that doesn’t read

my friends don’t read either

there are many of us that don’t read

there are millions of us that don’t read

like what we used to say at school when

Mom would say oh they gave you an F

remember when the grading scale well the

grading scale is from a to f and my mom

would say you got an F and I said no not

just me everyone everyone and my mom

would say what she would say Well

they’re not my children you’re my child

and all you have to do is get good

grades

but we thought that because everyone

did wrong

then we were okay

that’s pluralistic ignorance

and that’s where you pretend

to make ignorance a virtue

or you try to do so

that same thing taken to the church

environment is catastrophic

to say I don’t speak with unworld or as

ungodly people I don’t mix with them I

don’t do it no one else in my church

does it not even my pastor he tells me

to not gather with unbelievers so the

pluralistic ignorance makes us more

sectarian

we set ourselves apart from The Real

World there’s an Argentinian neurologist

named Facundo Mares

he studies Nero

cognition

and he says that we can be ignorant

although we have a doctorate on the wall

ignorance isn’t just

for the illiterate that we’re never able

to receive an education

although we have diplomas on the wall we

can still be ignorant because at a

certain moment this neurologist says

we read and read and feed ourselves with

all the things that we like just our

discipline but we don’t open up our mind

to anything else an architect only reads

architectural books and it goes to

conferences for Architects and he hangs

out with his architect friends and he

speaks about architecture and he watches

films about architecture

so when you rarely open up your mind

when we don’t try and learn a new

language or learn a new sport or another

discipline than what we practice every

day then we become more and more

stubborn and God

gave us a brain

that is fundamentally an Adaptive organ

it has neuroplasticity

and scripture said this when it says

expand your mind when it spoke about

expanding your tent it was speaking

about expanding your mind

neuroplasticity is the capacity of the

nervous system to modify itself

and all the time

create new neural connections Proverbs 3

7 says do not be wise in your own eyes

and I’ve heard many preachers for

example condemning the science of

psychology

saying no that’s that’s from the devil

and you know when an Evangelical doesn’t

understand something they say oh no

that’s the new era they have no idea

what the new era is but everything they

don’t understand they throw it into the

category of new era oh they’re the

dwarves the Teletubbies

The Smurfs and Taylor Swift That’s all

new era

so there are people that say no no no no

psychology is from Satan and they don’t

know that sometimes half of the cases in

in counseling spiritual counseling

would be simply diagnosed if we just

opened up our mind a little bit look

sister in this whole conversation you’ve

been saying I don’t want to look like my

mom but in reality in order to not look

like your mother

you’re obligated to seeing her all the

time to not look like your mom you’re

looking at her

so you’re suffering from something

called uh reflective condition

or a conditioned reflection Freud

explained it you don’t have to pray just

look for your own identity in Christ and

don’t look for identity in your mother

but it’s easier to say ah we’ll be

praying we’re going to rebuke the

Diabolical Spirit of that satanic mother

because we believe that if we expand our

mind we’re invalidating God’s power but

no

when I have a heart surgery or if I have

a dental cleaning or if I have a medical

checkup I’m not invalidating God’s power

I’m believing that God allowed science

to be there to take care of the holy

spirit’s Temple when I take a plane I’m

not invalidating God’s power

it’s either that or I ask God to send a

flying donkey

but in a certain way

we become isolated from everything from

science from culture from news and the

worst part is we become isolated from

the context in which we leave live so as

soon as we become Christians immediately

we stop relating with

unbelievers that’s what they tell us

they say stop hanging out with your old

friend stop going to the parties you

used to go and to protect yourself you

say all right let me cut everyone out

I’m going to have a deep clean with my

Social Circle

but things don’t stop there

then we cut out

any relationship with the nominations

that don’t share our Doctrine because

they tell us don’t gather with those

Heretics so for Apostles we avoid the

free brothers or the Baptists as if it

were a covid

or leprosy and then

our own group

is very very small and set apart

but we still seek to close it off more

so then we started to gather with the

Pentecostals but only the ones that love

anoint the anointing and the ones that

yell out just the way we do because if

they don’t yell out they’re not anointed

and we separate from those that don’t

speak tongues publicly those that don’t

say ramble take the Bazooka we say no

they’re they’re not one of us

they’re too worldly I’ve never seen

Dante saying ramble take the Bazooka and

what do we begin to do we start to watch

YouTube videos we read books about

people that write what we believe that

validates what we already believe we

watch conferences from people that

validate what we already believe and we

say no I like to watch people or listen

to people that are a part of my river

that are flowing in the same direction

that I am and that’s where we realize

that we’re becoming more ignorant

of the entire world that surrounds us if

you’re a preacher and you like to yell

most likely you consume other preachers

that yell because you’ll understand that

that’s that’s your thing I like to

listen those that are like me and I yell

out

it’s a mixture of Homer Simpson with

Fred Flintstone

and it’s it’s not bad it’s not wrong

there are people that like to yell and

there are people that like to be yelled

out it’s not not wrong but what I’m

saying is that if you feed yourself with

people that are like you then you start

to lose perspective of those that are

listening to us and you end up yelling

at those people

who also like to hear those shouts and

so we start to live under the varnish of

a Pious language

and when you try to look more spiritual

in reality we just become less human

less authentic because faking it always

interrupts the true flow of the spirit

it’s like when you watch our religious

channels and this is a self-criticism

I’ve seen Christian channels or

religious channels that speak in a

certain lexicon or dialect for hours and

hours or religious dialect

it’s completely uh

you can’t understand it

a mortal that has never stepped foot in

the church will never understand it

I prophesy and decree an atmosphere of

empowerment where there is a Kairos

which is transforming into an Apostolic

word and the dunamis is gravitating and

anointing a prophetic Revelation which

reaches the bronze Altar and the

Priestly sacrifice shed by the blood of

the Lamb

and we say hey give me two of those we

don’t understand anything

it’s almost like the language of

Cantinflas

it’s almost Shakespearean and supposedly

we’re using that to preach to the Lost

who end up being more lost than before

they hurt us

but we don’t realize it we don’t realize

that we’re using another dialect

completely different than what normal

people use and I insist

those are the people that we wanted to

reach in the first place that’s the

whole mission with Christ reaching

others

there’s a small anecdote that I’ve

shared with you a few times but people

always ask me to repeat it

I think I’ll continue to repeat it until

I’m old it’s that man that was walking

across a bridge and he sees a woman all

by herself

she was on the ledge about to take her

life she was going to jump into the void

and the man runs

to tell her that God loves her

and her eyes are filled with tears she’s

there about to jump she still hasn’t

gotten off the ledge

and in an attempt to empathize she says

Hey listen are you Christian Jewish

atheist what are you

and she says I’m Christian and he said

so am I what a small world we live in

Evangelical or Catholic Apostolic Roman

and she said no Evangelical and the man

said well me too and he said what

denomination and the woman said well

Pentecostal and he said oh my gosh me

too well Pentecostal from the North or

Pentecostal from the south no

Pentecostal from the north and he said

me too he said Pentecostal from the

north conservative or Pentecostal from

the north liberal and the woman said no

Pentecostal from the north conservative

and the man said this is astonishing me

too

Pentecostal from the north conservative

fundamentalist or Pentecostal from the

north conservative reformed

oh the woman said Pentecostal from the

north conservative Fundamentalist

amazing the gentleman said Pentecostal

from the north fundamentalist

conservative from the regions of

Assemblies of God or Pentecostal of the

north conservative fundamentalists of

the Assemblies of the Italian Christians

and the woman said no Pentecostal of the

north conservative fundamentalist of the

region of the Assemblies of God is

and the man said what a miracle

Pentecostal of the north conservative

fundamentalists

from the regions of the Assemblies of

God that used the King James version of

the Bible

or Pentecostal of the north

fundamentalist conservative of the

region of the Assemblies of God that use

the New Living Translation

and the woman answered well Pentecostal

of the north fundamentalist conservative

from the region of the Assemblies of God

and we use the New Living Translation

and the man said are you sure

and he said you use the New Living

Translation and not the King James

version and he said to her you deserve

to die heretic and he pushed her off the

bridge

it didn’t matter everything they had in

common

as soon as there was a distinct detail

different to his makeup then she didn’t

deserve to be a part of his group and

she deserved to die as a heretic and

during my youth

I saw this as a normal way to preach the

gospel in an

except Christ you’re going to burn in

hell and die well scripturally speaking

it’s correct but when you preach this

way you don’t need to become involved

you don’t need to love anyone not even

God that version of evangelizing was

completely focused on fear of the devil

you don’t have to love God

doesn’t have to love you either he might

tolerate you because he’ll see you

through Jesus but once you’re saved

you better make sure you take care of

that salvation because God will not

doubt for a second to send you to hell

if you mess up that’s the gospel that we

would preach whoever wants to be saved

let them be saved if they don’t that’s

their problem no one ever told me that I

had to love my neighbor empathize with

my neighbor

I told you that when I was younger I

would go to a Plaza in Buenos Aires the

argentinians know it it’s

11th plaza where there was a gentleman

that would shout out with Fury he would

use a megaphone and say

like in the times of no

ah

and he would yell out shaking

with his eyes out of orbit as if you

were possessed

on top of it he would speak in tongues

many tongues and I remember back in

those days I didn’t feel any desire to

be a pastor or preacher or anything like

him because the people would look at him

as if he just got out of a psychiatric

ward but the man would Von vomit all

that religious Venom

and when I saw that man degrading all

the passers-byes

I felt a profound conviction Because

deep down in my heart up until then I

judged and denigrated and I was just

like him

but I felt a resolution and I felt a lot

of Shame a lot of foreign shame I felt

something inside of me saying I never

want to become that if the Lord ever

lends me the ears of people because he

was only preaching I wasn’t I’m not

judging his motivations but obviously he

was preaching so that other evangelicals

would be proud of him because there was

a group around him with tambourines

applauding him he didn’t care about any

unbeliever’s life he didn’t try to love

anyone what he was doing was condemning

them to Hell speaking speaking in many

tongues so that those around him could

applaud him

so that they could applaud his message

so that they could say oh this guy’s

doing a good job so we were called to be

salt in the world and sometimes we lose

this objective as Christians

we shouldn’t act as if our role were to

convince

those that were already convinced once

and again

sometimes we act as if all we have to do

is please other evangelicals so that

we’re approved we don’t realize it but

that’s what we do I did it for years I

would go to conferences to preach to see

if I please first of all

the members of the church and then the

preachers that were listening so that

they could invite me again

I wanted to please

and belong to that Circle I wanted them

to say Dante so anointed

you know when he walked up on stage his

eyes rolled back form came from his

mouth and he began to speak in tongues

that’s what I wanted I wanted to be as

mystical as possible to earn their

approval I didn’t care if they were a

Catholic or an atheist they didn’t

understand a single thing

I wanted

their approval that’s the pluralistic

ignorance

when we make ignorance a virtue

I think that when the day comes

where I’m standing in front of God’s

Throne he’s going to ask me a specific

question in respects to River he’s not

going to ask me

how big our choir was

or how luxurious our bathrooms were

or if we had a Ministry for the women

for the man for the Youth is going to

ask me one important question

how many of my wounded and broken

children did you bring home with you

how many did you reach how many did you

speak

of me

how many did you share Grace with

that’ll be the only thing and so our

energy our activities our actions they

should always be related to a soul to

the lost people we can’t forget that we

don’t come to church to see if we can

serve

to see if we can move up if they can

give us a uniform if they pay us we come

to church for the lost people

there’s no other reason as to why we’re

in this business

when I speak about business

I’m speaking about when the Lord said

I have to be in my in my father’s

business

Paul right to the Church of Philippians

in Philippians 2 1 and he says therefore

if you have any encouragement from being

united with Christ if any comfort from

his love if any common sharing in the

spirit if any tenderness and compassion

then make my joy complete by being

like-minded having the same love being

one in spirit and of one mind

what is that one mind one Spirit Well to

preach to serve to save Souls

but almost without realizing there comes

a moment when we forget why we even come

here together or what the purpose was

let us not believe that when we come

into a building with a sign outside that

says Church

let’s not believe that God considers

that the church because Revelations 3 1

says I know your Deeds you have a

reputation of being alive but you are

dead so the name church I congregate at

a church

the name is no guarantee of anything so

we can’t forget the purpose of the

church which is to go after the souls

to go after the souls and for that we

have to abandon our pluralistic

ignorance or what’s worse our hypocrisy

our glorified hypocrisy we have to say

no I’m not here to please other

believers

and the majority of cases were going to

disappoint other believers I disappoint

the Evangelical population very much

because they want a different type of

preacher they’re not prepared for a man

that says things

that I do it might be my Asperger’s

Syndrome maybe I’m unconscious or

unaware but on the other hand I’m also

completely tired of hypocrisy so for a

great part of my life I dedicated my

life to leafing through the scripture

and using examples of how to preach and

I would ask myself questions such as

how did Jesus invite us to have a story

with God how would Jesus preach well who

should we imitate we should imitate

Jesus how would he do it how would Jesus

invite people to the kingdom

you won’t seeing a single occasion in

which Jesus said I don’t know why I’m

saying it’s Hallelujah but I feel

oh that wouldn’t happen

in Greece or in Rome

how would the first followers of Christ

preach because that’s the example we

follow

sometimes in an attempt to not be

contaminated or to not gather with

people different to us

we completely ignore time

the conversation love

the development of trust and we directly

go and tell them that they need a savior

we immediately show them the treatment

when we haven’t even diagnosed what’s

happening to them

will you give them a bit of Truth and we

say oh I did my job I already preached

Christ the famous phrase of I planted

the seed those that never wanted to love

I left the seed one day when they get

sick with cancer or when they lose a

child

or if their mother-in-law Moves In if

something serious happens then they’ll

remember the seed that I one day planted

but the Lord never said go through the

world and plant seeds

we can’t save people if we’re not with

them

if we don’t establish a connection

they could have given Jesus hundreds of

nicknames but they called him a Friend

of Sinners and to have that nickname you

have to spend time with sinners

and I’m not saying that those that sat

down at the table as Sinners with him

stood up as holy people no many of them

didn’t change their lives they didn’t

want to

maybe some of them didn’t want to change

their Lifestyles but for Jesus to earn

the nickname Glutton drunkard Drinker of

wine it’s because on his Instagram

there were many pictures not with

apostles

I’m about to finish the second season of

our TV show and I was meditating on how

much I’ve learned how much I’m taking

from it

throughout two years I’ve interviewed

a plethora of actors actresses

athletes reporters musicians and some

people that can’t even be classified I

don’t know what they are by but I

interviewed them

I had guests that before

coming up on stage for the interview

they had a drink tequila or they had to

drink whiskey they would bring it from

the hotel or from their home or maybe a

a joint of marijuana

it’s not that they invited me to do it

with them they said I’ll be right back

but that’s not what’s important what’s

important is what happened off the air

during our lunches drinking a coffee

during our conversations the hours that

we spent together before

because many of them came with a lot of

prejudices oh well pastors inviting me

to

Force religion down my throat

but they allowed me to come into their

lives understand their stories

understand their phobias

comprehend their prejudices and and why

others shared their insecurities their

fears their dreams their desires

we projected together God doesn’t let me

lie but I never sat down with them

with the desire to preach them or turn

them into Christians so that they can

think the way I do

they asked me many many questions

our goal as a team was we’re never going

to invite them to our services unless

they expressly asked to come I don’t

want them to say oh they bring these

people

they pay their for their flight they

invite them to record on a Tuesday and

then they expect them to be here on

Sunday no there have been many very

important people that didn’t come to the

service on Sunday they stayed at their

hotels but some have said wait can I

come to the service and say yeah and we

would sit them up front but they always

expressly asked for it because I can’t

force the gospel down someone’s throat

that doesn’t want to receive I would say

yes of course you’re very welcome

they’ve come they’ve cried they’ve been

touched

God’s order was love them respect them

and give them a luxury that the world

doesn’t give honor them give them honor

so we honored them with small details a

coffee the attention of chauffeur

punctuality and all of them without

exception

opened up their hearts

and we established a link that

still strong today

in fact like I said the majority asked

to come to our services others went to

the conferences of our tour they watch

her messages through YouTube they’re

watching now and I realize that there is

nothing like the power of love to

evangelize That’s The

evangelizing Power of loving loving

I tell any one of these people you’re

going ahead in the hell with that

lustful life

and they’ll be closed off forever they

won’t ever listen to me again

lift up every wall of prejudice they’ll

close off their heart as it happens with

the child if you yell at your kid and

you don’t tell them or you don’t want to

show them

or educate them and all you do is yell

at them

that child won’t receive any instruction

from their parent

foreign

so we can’t save a person that’s

drowning unless we jump into the water

with them

and that doesn’t mean share their sin it

means don’t judge love

what good is it

for someone that’s drowning in the ocean

flailing their arms what good is it for

us to just explain how to swim

I can’t preach the people on until we

know their story who they are like

Winston Churchill once said an enemy is

just a person whose story you haven’t

gone to know when you get to know

people’s stories you say well no wonder

they have that face looking like they

were baptized in lemon juice well no

wonder they worship with the frown on

their face as if they’re constipated

look at everything they’ve gone through

look at the life they’ve had look what

they have to put up with during the week

there are people here that I have no

clue what they have to face during the

week what they’re battling against what

they’re fighting

it would be completely foolish

I would be an imbecile to say smile

praise the Lord tell the person next to

you smile

put away that demonic face smile no

these people come here broken they’re

coming from a hospital or an ICU others

just left the freshly cut grass of a

cemetery and I can’t stand here and

believe that everyone will feel the way

I do or believe what I do

and that they’ll applaud just so that I

don’t have low self-esteem as a preacher

no I have to understand that people have

their own lives their own stories

sad stories to tell

and that’s where you begin to love

people when you begin to love your

neighbor even if you have to talk about

soccer for months

without you bringing up the topic of

church you’re not being

unfaithful to God you’re being more

faithful than you believe because you’re

loving them you’re interested about

their things

we can’t hope for a cancer upon them so

that they decide to come close to the

Lord

that’s Unthinkable so why do we say that

about unbelievers that’s not loving them

first if the Lord died for us it’s

because first he loved us it’s not that

he loved us after he died for us no

first he loved us that’s why he came to

die for us and he loved us The Way We

Were

it’s so difficult for me to read on

social media why do you hang out with

that unbeliever what relationship do you

have with Darkness

or what’s worse oh tell me who you’re

with and I’ll tell you who you are

as if you know the Bible but since they

have less culture than any primate they

think that that’s something that Solomon

said

and so we construct walls to keep people

outside and we look for reasons to

separate ourselves from these people

so yes we do want to preach the people

but without walking next to them while

they’re healing

to not be too committed with our

holiness

or what’s worse we try and protect our

testimony I’m tired of that oh I’m

taking care of my testimony well if the

testimony is real and genuine it takes

care of itself because sometimes that’s

the religious way of masking that we’re

taking care so that people or other

evangelicals don’t speak against us so

people don’t gossip about us

not about the testimony

it’s looking after what people will say

and the Lord never said look after what

people will say he never said hey make

sure that they don’t speak against you

no blessed are those

blessed are you when they speak against

you rejoice you’re on the right path

if you don’t crash head on with the

devil from time to time it’s because

you’re going in the same direction as

him

but we can’t say that we love people

and then try to get close to them by

night like Nicodemus did with the Lord

you can’t do that

every time we try to be good with Jesus

and the Pharisees that will

will be bad with both of them we’ll

offend them both

what’s our task

our task is to take God’s heart out to

the world

I’ve heard phrases like my table won’t

be contaminated with the beer bottle

because they see an uncle having a beer

for Christmas and someone says oh my my

table is Holy we don’t have that here do

you really care more about

the table than your then the uncle

it’s like taking care of the altar

when people said oh Christian Castro

came up on the stage how can you care

more about him than the Altar and I said

this is no altar we don’t have any Lambs

up here we don’t have this isn’t an

altar to begin with I care more about

him than this stage

that’s where we constitute a Christian

subculture we have our own music our own

way of speaking our own fashion our own

style our own books our own concerts our

own conferences and we forget in the

process well hold on intrinsically

that’s not wrong but in the process we

begin to forget who we are and what we

do

one time Luis Palau described the nature

of the church

with a sort of vulgar metaphor but at

the same time it was brilliant he said

the church is like manure if you stack

it up all together then the whole

neighborhood stinks but if you spread it

that it it enriches the land

this is where I would tell you to tell

your the person next to you don’t be

manure but I’m not going to do it

because I’d be contradicting myself but

I have such

a desire

in its beginnings the church was a

living movement

it was directed by men and women that

weren’t fed by what they believed or by

what they were taught on Sundays it was

fed by what they had seen that’s how the

church began

it wasn’t the teachings of Jesus

that sent

his Believers all over the world no it

was the resurrection they were

eyewitnesses

that was the nucleus of the church I’m

going to tell you what I saw we went and

the tomb was empty

they weren’t following a Doctrine they

were following an experience they were

Witnesses of an event

and our problem as a church is that when

the church becomes legalistic it becomes

organized

and it’s unbearably organized and what

began as a witness of something

miraculous something that the world had

to believe in

what began as an experience or as a

family

then became an institution why do we go

to church oh well no they have good

music there and there they they have

nice sermons and I have a lot of friends

there but then we come here to save

souls to save people that’s where we

become an institution what’s an

institution it’s all based on a range

on a hierarchy a soldier in the Army

belongs to an institution they know

their place because their uniform and

their badges indicate their level but

the Lord never said

that we look like an army due to our

range or our badges or through the

Apostle Paul he says that we’re a family

we’re a body

how do you accomplish status within a

family a child is born and they obtain

all the benefits of the family through

virtue of their birth they don’t have to

do anything

if a child has

uh mental disability or special needs

they’re not thrown out of the family in

fact sometimes a disabled child or a

child that has greater needs

sometimes they receive more attention

than their siblings

and in the same way

God’s family

says there is no Jew there is no Greek

there’s no man woman

There’s no distinction all these

artificial distinctions melt under God’s

grace and as God accepts new children

these children

are entitled to the same rights that the

firstborn was entitled to and that’s the

Lord Jesus Christ so in his dissertation

Paul as he spoke about spiritual gifts

he warns against

giving more value to one person than the

other or one give to the other and in

First Corinthians 12 21 he says that I

cannot say to the hand I don’t need you

and the head cannot say to the feet I

don’t need you on the contrary those

parts of the body that seem to be weaker

are indispensable

and the parts that we think are less

honorable we treat with special honor

you know what I’m talking about and what

Paul’s talking about the less honorable

members the ones that we don’t show or

will we take care of the most

and the parts that are unpresentable and

are treated are treated with special

modesty while our presentable Parts need

no special treatment

but God has put the body together

giving greater honor to the parts that

lacked it

so that there should be no division in

the body but that its parts should have

equal concern for each other

if one part suffers every part suffers

with it

if one part is honored that’s why I love

when one of you posts on social media if

if you get involved with Dante you get

involved with me thank you if one part

is honored every part rejoices with it

so with this metaphor that Paul shows it

outlines what the church is he Compares

it to the human body

and I say the best way to visualize this

metaphor is our own family our own

biological families

are functional or dysfunctional family

but I’m speaking about

those that share the dinner table with

you cousins uncles aunts mother-in-laws

grandparents and families that are

successful family members and others

that are complete disasters and every

Christmas Grandma Vicky sits down next

to Uncle Fernando

Grandma Vicki loves to gossip and Uncle

Fernando drinks anything including the

water in the flower vase

and Uncle James and

and cousin Rachel

and despite all those people being

gathered they’re around the table some

are intelligent there are fools nobody

says it but we all know who’s who

some are ugly others are attractive some

are healthy others have a disability

in a family that all becomes

insignificant when it’s time to give the

toast when it’s time to be together

there’s no way you can leave cousin

Mario out or the mother-in-law

when the Mother-in-law says hey I can’t

open the door well just come back for

next Christmas no we can’t do that

because they belong to the same family

and in a certain way they’re connected

to the same ancestors to the same genes

that are insult installed in our cells

failure doesn’t cancel our family

membership

the family is the place like someone

said that when we arrive they have to

admit us except us whether they like it

or not

is my brother coming

and then your mom says yes he’s coming

and you better not make ugly faces at

him

because there are parents that keep a

family together like that with with glue

I used to believe

I believe that God invented families

almost as a training ground to learn how

to deal with the unbelievers

because within families

differences should be celebrated

so on the same table people put pork

meat and chicken

for the uncle but then they serve salad

for the ant that is like a chicken and

doesn’t eat any meat

and there there’s differences are

celebrated well who’s that grasp for did

someone invite a bird no that’s for my

aunt that’s that’s a vegetarian

so a healthy family strengthens those

that are weaker

like John Wesley’s mother she would say

which one of my children do I love most

yeah well I love the one that’s sick

until they are healthy again I love the

one that’s far from home until they come

back

so the family is the one institution in

humanity that you can’t

pick on your own

there’s no way to pick those are your

parents those are your siblings would

you have traded your sister yeah you

might have for a kilo of tomatoes or

whatever you would have traded her for

something

but we came to this family

simply because we’re born

and as a consequence

we see ourselves involuntarily

thrown into a collection of strange

people that are all different to us and

they’re there

the church calls us to take a step

further to voluntarily

gather with a group of strangers

that are only linked to us by one thing

Jesus Christ even though we all have

different ethnicities different

Flags

there’s nothing more eclectic or

anything more

multifaceted than River it’s

Cosmopolitan people born in a different

country people born here

undocumented people people that are

documented people that are wet dry

people that were brought by

Smugglers all sorts of things today I

have no filter I don’t know why

like someone said

the church

is the place

where you live with the person that you

never would have spent time with that’s

Church oh well how can that person be

converted well you convert it too so

there you go

so God’s presence does it inhabit in a

Tabernacle in cyanide or in a temple in

Jerusalem anymore in place of that God

decided to inhabit in common people even

neurotic people I’m learning that when

someone says to me hey you have a

beautiful Church I’d say yeah you know I

make sure to not eat gluten and I try to

stay energetic and Young

what I want them to understand is that

God’s church is made up of people

When someone tells you oh what a

beautiful church say yeah yeah I’m

Getting Thinner because the church isn’t

a building

situated in Anaheim many years ago I

made the mistake of looking for churches

with people that looked like myself we

have that tendency so you choose a

church first of all

by saying if they have the same level of

Education if they have the same biblical

background maybe a musical preference a

liturgical preference or we say no I go

to that church because they have a

Sunday school because they take care of

my children or I go to that church I

don’t like the music very much but I

like the preacher oh no I don’t like to

preacher so much but I like the music

more

and we begin to commit the mistake of

the church and my childhood we try to

suffocate any attempt at diversity we

look for people that are like us and it

surprises me very much

there are neighborhoods for Hispanics

neighborhoods for Asians neighborhoods

for Indians neighborhoods for Vietnamese

people neighborhoods for Japanese people

because we tend

to gather with people that are like us

and then when we start to increase our

salary we don’t want to live with other

Hispanics that are still poor no we want

to go to a neighborhood where huh I’ve

heard Hispanics say oh you have no idea

what neighborhood I moved into no

Hispanics all white people all white

people well don’t you realize that you

just ruined that white neighborhood by

moving in

we’re Hispanics saying oh no I

congregate at White churches oh I love I

love white churches but

you can see the burritos and tacos

coming out of their mouth oh I love

cheese Jesus the Lord

when I see what river has become

here and around the world

I know we have doctors lawyers but we

also have other people that have

honorable jobs hardworking people

and I’m always

forced to keep a level of

of sermon that’s accessible to everyone

that everyone can understand I know my

mission is that each Sunday sermon has

to mean

has to be as special for the woman

that sells Tacos on the sidewalk

the same way it is for a doctor or an

artist because that’s the gospel it can

simultaneously speak to Rich successful

people as well as people living on the

streets

the family of God can be a factory of

clones we can’t pretend to be North

Korea where everyone dresses the same

God’s family is unity and that doesn’t

imply uniformity

Unity doesn’t mean uniformity and

diversity also doesn’t produce division

we’re different glory to God that we’re

different

it fascinates me to be at the wheel of

this flagship

because when I look around me I realize

that river is a congregation with people

that are very different to myself I’m

Different to you no one looks like one

another I love it it shocks me to see

uniforms I come from a church where all

the women would wear a skirt all the way

down to their ankles

and Christ’s body I don’t know what you

heard

but Christ’s body

breaks barriers Christ’s body breaks

nationalities genders

it makes this community possible this

doesn’t exist anywhere else in the

planet

my identity in Christ is more important

than my identity as an Argentinian

whereas a U.S resident or as a man or as

a Protestant the church is the place

where I celebrate that identity and I do

it amongst people that present

differences to myself

in respect to

preferences soccer I belong to a team

that came out as world champion there

are Chileans here that have never been

world champions but Christ unites us

Christ unites us no really all jokes

aside there’s a love that goes beyond

the love for soccer or rivalry in

politics

if Christ doesn’t join us if

fundamentally the Lord doesn’t join us

and we don’t have love then we haven’t

understood the gospel

I was reading that Alcoholics Anonymous

came from a discovery from Bill Wilson

and his first encounter with Bob Dr Bob

Smith through his own means Bill had

remained sober for six months

until he had to travel outside of the

city to sign a contract that broke down

so in his depression

walking through the halls of a hotel he

heard the familiar sound of the tinkling

of ice cubes

in a glass

and he walked towards the bar saying I

need a drink and all of a sudden a

thought came to his mind and that

stopped his trajectory he said no you

don’t need a drink what you need right

now is to speak with another alcoholic

so he walked to the phone back in those

days there weren’t cell phones he asked

for the lobby phone

and he called Dr Bob Smith who would

become the co-founder of Alcoholics

Anonymous and they’re the phrase

was coined an alcoholic always needs

another alcoholic to get out ahead

they’re the only one that will

understand them not to get drunk

together but to get out ahead

those are Pals not

that’s not a help the church should be

the place where without shame we can say

I don’t need to sin what I need right

now is to speak with another sinner

and together we’ll get out ahead

like carbonifer once said he was in

charge of the church

he led the resistance against the Nazis

in Germany

he said in the presence of a patient I

am sick in the presence of another

sinner there I become a sinner

when we live the same deep events in

life then we become authentic

the church that God had in mind for us

is that the type of church that we love

to be here at River a hospital for

broken people

here we receive people that maybe aren’t

tolerated at other congregations where

people with a lot of problems left to

resolve but we never were we never have

been never will be clones we’re part of

God’s multifaceted Grace and we want to

love serve preach baptize and send out

we’re going to give a grand Applause to

the Lord of lords and King of Kings

if that Applause is for God to get on

your feet here and at home and give a

great Applause to the king of kings and

say Lord you have spoken to us this

morning blessed be God come on celebrate

celebrate celebrate the king if you

believe that God has spoken Hallelujah

blessed be God

how many of you received this word say

with me I receive it today lift up your

hand to Heaven father thank you for this

morning

I’ve spoken what I believe you placed in

My Heart Lord

we have so much left to look like you

but we’re trying

we’re trying every day to look like you

to grow organically according to the

measure of the stature uh and fullness

of Christ

help me to understand the world that

surrounds me God there are many mental

barriers that are falling now because

the Lord is showing me that many are

understanding why they are where they

are why that environment surrounds you

the one that you ask God to take you

from

the Lord says you will be salts in the

world light in darkness salt where there

is no flavor many will be or feel

something like children or the servant

of Naman

cleaning

people’s undergarments and you might ask

well do I have a purpose but she is the

one that spoke to him of a prophet that

could heal his leprosy in the name of

God you don’t know why you work where

you work why you were where you are but

God planted you where you are and the

Lord tells me to tell you it’s time for

love for the atheists for unbelievers

that needs to go beyond

your desire to preach them

for you to pray and say Lord I love them

so much look how they need you

and that one day they open their hearts

and say tell me about your God and this

is the time that is coming upon the

church from here until the end of the

year we’re going to see Miracles we’re

going to see people changed transformed

when the church knows when the church

knows that we’re not clones we bless we

celebrate differences of course we’re

different than we celebrate it of course

we’re distinct and we celebrate it

blessed differences the multifaceted

grace of God is because we’re different

we’re multi-faceted

there are culture’s ethnicities lift up

your hands to heaven and say Lord send

me where you want to send me Father take

away all Prejudice take away everything

that separates us tear from us

everything that has separated us We

Gather we unite in prayer come on

everyone praying crying out to the Lord

cry out with me everyone everyone there

are people at home receiving the Lord in

their hearts now and you have to say

Lord come into my heart forgive my sins

write my name in The Book of Life

I want to be a part of this multifaceted

family we’re all so distinct but we’re

United by the Lord Jesus Christ come on

lift up your hands and drink drink say

Lord your word has been preached today

your word has been let out I bless I

bless this family of yours

this eclectic family of yours all

completely distinct but here and the

whole family

of river that is all over the world Lord

let them be blessed now I’m praying for

Guatemalans Venezuelans Cubans I’m

praying for Nicaragua once Chileans

argentinians paraguayans uruguayans

bolivians I’m praying for those that are

lost

in a certain place in Europe all the

countries that I haven’t mentioned but

they’re there in your heart and in mind

bless El Salvador bless Mexico Lord

anoint each person that’s listening to

this message now bless each person that

receives this word more more for the

presence of the spirit below presence of

the spirit Blow from the Four Winds it

went from a different direction come

upon you and your congregation it has

been let out your word has been let out

do you believe it whoa more more more

everyone

those that have the baptism of the

spirit intercede as the spirit gives you

utterance open up your mouth because the

Lord will fill it with something the

Lord says and here comes a new time

I’m going to bring the Lord told me I’m

going to bring people from distinct

places of the of the planet but here I’m

preparing the hearts I’m preparing the

hearts the soul of those of us that have

to love Embrace hug we’re going to love

we’re going to love and sustain and hold

up we’re going to lift up

we’re going to be a church where it will

never hurt our wounded and we’re going

to hold them up whoa blessed be the Lord

father I’ve preached when I believe you

told me to tell these people I’ve

transmitted the message and now I ask

that your spirit seal

the word in their hearts

put that seal on their hearts so more

more more

presence of the spirit blow how

impressive

more more more more

lift up your hands and Worship the Lord

worship

how the lord loves you

how the lord loves you my beloved how

the lord loves you how the lord loves

you

he loves you he speaks to you if not he

wouldn’t speak to you this way but he

speaks to you directly and he says I

need you to leave that environment

we’re going to break the assembly line

of cloned sheep it’s enough nobody is

going to tell you what to do I’m not

going to teach you

how to live I’m just going to transmit

to you what God tells me to tell you

you’ll know what to do because I don’t

undermine the movement of the spirit

that’s why here at River we don’t follow

anyone we’re not going to call you four

times during the week so you congregate

it’s the holy spirit that holds you up

that gives you a conviction of sins that

takes you to repentance that makes it so

that you live a life of Purity that

takes you to pray

and if the Holy Spirit doesn’t do it

there is no human strength that can do

it and I can only foolishly preach to

you but the Lord has spoken to your

heart and the Holy Spirit has spoken to

your heart and he says I place the

burden and the need and the evangelism

to go to the Nations

and to take this gospel to the four

cardinal points father commission these

people your children I send them I send

them I commission them you’ve sent them

before but in metaphoric terms Lord I

push your children to go out to the

Nations to go out to the world to

conquer to take what this River has

brought and will not stop I believe it I

declare it I bless this Army of yours in

your name we say amen and amen glory to

Jesus

Applause to

the how many of you

beloved brothers and sisters may God

bless you I’ll see you next Sunday bye

bye bye enjoy these last three months of

blessing and the people all over the

world bye until next time

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foreign

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foreign

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thank you

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though

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foreign

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it is

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