thisweek1_2023-12-07T11_54_11-08_00

Let's return to This Week in America. Here's your host, Rick Bratton. Welcome back everybody, coast-to-coast, This Week in America. Thomas Fitzhugh's Sheep, on that day, is a trilogy that talks about the faith of the first century church. This trilogy includes three titles, The Death of the Promise, The Resurrection of the Promise, and The Land of the Promise. The book contains parables with lessons that readers can relate to. With the types of faith explored, the reader will be able to know what should be done in similar situations. The scriptures are used to guide the readers and inspire them with the core of each story. The book entails faith in the second coming and a warning of eternal life. Thomas is a 76-year-old semi-retired businessman who, while never attending college, has had a successful career. He now lives at Providence Farm in Bedford County, Virginia and has a beef cattle operation raising calves for the feeder market. Thomas Fitzhugh's Sheep, author of On That Day, a trilogy, is our guest on This Week in America. Thomas, welcome to the program. A pleasure to have you with us. I'm glad to be with you. Thanks for inviting me. Such an important trilogy that you've written. I want to jump right into some of the areas that you talk about. Can you share the details of the Apostle Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus? Well, it's kind of a blind spot in the Christian culture. Paul, as a Pharisee, believed that he was already saved, that obeying the law and the blood sacrifice and being chosen people of God. They believed that they were already saved, and the moment they died, he died, they went into what they would call the age to come. And, of course, that's pretty much a mirror image of what the Christian culture believes today, that the moment you die, you go to heaven. And it's just, Paul was very strong on looking forward to the second coming, that he was no longer possessed salvation, he had the hope of salvation. And it's very clearly related in Titus chapter 3, 3-7, his conversion and going from becoming a person who had the hope of eternal life. With us on the program is Thomas Fitzhugh Sheets. His book is On That Day, a trilogy book available wherever books are sold. Send it to Amazon and Thomas' website, and I'll give you this several times throughout the interview, and you'll find it on our website as well as onthatday-timothy2468.com. So it's onthatday-timothy2468.com, and I'll give you that, and it'll be on our website thisweekinamerica.us as well. Could you tell me something, Thomas, about your involvement in the Keros prison ministry and how it influenced your decision about a decade ago to actually start writing? What is the involvement and the influence on you and your writing? Well, it's been a great influence on my life and ministry. When I go to prison, we go to prison to what we call a short course on Christianity, but we invite the prisoners to come, and we spend four days initially with them. Of course, we stay in a motel at night, but we go in every day and go through, do talks and things to encourage them to become part of the church in the prison, and we invite them to become part of accountability groups and family groups and continue in that program under the direction of the chaplain in the prison to continue growing in the grace and knowledge of their Lord and Savior, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. How does that make you feel? What is the reward in doing that? I would think that would be sort of life-altering for you as it is for them when you see the changes in their lives and their acceptance. What does that do to you? Well, it develops no less than a love relationship. I fall in love with these guys. They're just very sincere. I realize that prison is full of con men, but you can see through that and see that they're so very sincere in wanting to have this relationship with Jesus Christ and to grow in that relationship. We have team meetings preparing to go in, and one of those team meetings, one of the pastors that was on the team and I were talking, and he was part of a writer's group, and about 10 years ago, I was talking about my discontent with my church experience, and he suggested that I write a book, and I'm working on number five now. You'll find information on Thomas' books on his website, OnThatDay-Timothy2468.com. The book's available at Amazon, The Usual Places, as well links on our website, ThisWeekInAmerica.us. Our guest is Thomas Fitzhugh Sheets. That's F-I-T-Z-H-U-G-H. If you're searching information on this book and all of the others written by Thomas, how has your focus on the faith of the first followers of Jesus that you've focused on in this series, this book, how has it brought about changes in your life? Has it had an impact? Has this whole writing process had an impact on you as well? It all has to do with that the first century Christians, Jesus led them to believe that he would be back in their lifetime, and so their faith was more in what he promised rather than just the person of Jesus. Their faith was in what he promised to return, and according to Paul, that return, he returned as the righteous judge for an accounting of what they did. So they lived in anticipation and preparation for that moment, believing that it would happen before they died. On That Day is the name of the book, a trilogy. Our guest is Thomas Fitzhugh Sheets. What are your thoughts on the saved mindset comments found among many Christians and its potential conflict with God's salvation plan? How do you sort that out? Well, when Paul talks about being saved, in some translations of the Bible, translators don't understand this. When Paul talks about being saved, he was saved from who he used to be with the hope of eternal life. He used to be a Pharisee who believed that he possessed salvation, and now after his conversion, encountering with Jesus on the road to Damascus, he had the hope of salvation and lived in that hope the rest of his life. And the Timothy 2, 4, 6, 8 is a reference to 2 Timothy chapter 4, 6 through 8, where he goes through in three verses, sort of, and this was at the end of his life, a kind of what he had done and what he was looking forward to, and looking forward to Jesus' second coming. He calls it his appearing. And believe, as he wrote, that it was going to happen in his lifetime, like all of them did. On that day, a trilogy by Thomas Fitzhugh Sheets is the book we're talking about. The book is receiving excellent reviews. It contains parables with lessons that the readers can relate to. I think that's why the book is doing so well. It's easy to read. It's well laid out, and it's doable. We can learn something by reading this book. Thomas, can you elaborate a little bit on the concept of the new sheriff in town and how that might relate to being governed by the law of love? This is something that is basically my view of the cross, that the Roman cross at that time represented being obedient to Roman law. And Jesus, I think, is the new sheriff in town, and for me, the cross represents the obedience to the law of love. And I think that we should feel like we have been conquered by the law of love. It may be a reference in Romans 8 that we are more than conquerors. I think that could be translated to we are more than conquered by the law of love. Interesting. All of this and so much more is so well laid out in Thomas' book, On That Day, a trilogy. Who were the individuals considered to be the evildoers at the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount? After Jesus talks about these evildoers, he said, actually in the NIV Bible, he says, And then he will call me, Lord, Lord. And on that day, they will say that didn't we do many things in your name and cast out demons and perform miracles? And he says, basically, I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers. They had done all the right things. And then he says, Therefore, whoever hears my words and puts them into practice. That practice is a lifestyle of obedience to his instructions. And today in the culture, lifestyle has become a non-issue. Lifestyle doesn't matter when very clearly Jesus is talking about putting them into practice is living a lifestyle of obedience to what he has instructed us to do. And God's commandments also. What is your perspective on the rebellion against the second coming of Jesus as the righteous judge? What are your thoughts on that? Well, when evangelists go through their sometimes called for spiritual laws or invitation to become a believer and be saved, they don't mention that there will be a second coming of Jesus and an accounting of what you've done with what you were given. And this is very clear in several parables. The parable of the minas in Luke 19, 11 and following and all of the discourse in Matthew 24 and 25 about this accounting. When he comes back, the parable of the minas in Luke and the parable of the talents in Matthew 25 are very similar, but have some different points of interest and outcome also. On That Day, a trilogy by Thomas Fitzhugh Sheets is the topic of the program today. His website is very simple. It's onthatday-timothy2468.com, link on our website, thisweekinamerica.us. Thomas, could you explain the distinction between agape love, unconditional love, and the storage love, family love, as well as the relationship to tough love? As I experienced my church experience, all I heard about was agape love, God's unconditional love. And that made no sense to me because so many passages in Scripture talk about an accountability love. If you love me, you will obey me. And there's a lot of if you statements in Scripture, and I never liked that. So when I was writing, I started calling God's love God's perfect love instead of using the term unconditional. But storage love, I had never heard the term until this summer in a talk of one of my teammates gave in prison. He brought up this storage love, and I had dug deeply into understanding this. And it is the love that is inside the family. It's a need love, and I have a book by C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves, that is very interesting to read about this storage love. C.S. Lewis called it affectionate love, family love. And I got some input from offline about it's the love that a mother has for her newborn baby, and that's the affectionate love. And I think that's missing in some of our Christian experiences, this family, this sense of being part of God's family. The body of Christ is also could be referred to as the family of God. Thomas Fitzhugh Sheets, our guest on the program, talking about his book On That Day, a trilogy, time going by so quickly. I have several things I feel are important to get into our conversation today. One relates to basically what's going on in the country now. How do you perceive the role of entitlement in the deterioration of both the country and the church? Well, I think it has to do with entitlement. In the King James Version, love is sometimes called charity. And charity is one-way giving. And that should never be a description of God's love, charity, because when we think of charity, we give without any expectation of return in our human relationships. And I think it's gotten into our government of taking money from one person and charitably giving it to another person. I think it's gotten us in a lot of trouble in this country in spending money that we don't have. But in the church, that can have the same effect of feeling that since I believe in Jesus, then I am entitled to the kingdom. And that is just not true, that belief in Jesus is the step one. But then there is a whole life to live in serving him and being obedient to his commands that is stated at the end of the book of Matthew in the Great Commission. Interesting. In Thomas' book, the scriptures are used to guide the readers, inspire them with the core of each story. Again, things that we can learn, things that we can do. What are your views on the potential connection between telling children they're instantly in the arms of Jesus upon death and the rising suicide rates among depressed youngsters seeking an escape from reality? My history is that when I was about 25 years old, my father was a hopeless alcoholic and he took his own life. I think when the pain of his addiction overcame whatever pain he was medicating. But I felt like that was an escape for him, that he no longer could get a drink of liquor. And I carry that with me and I think that it's a mistake to tell anybody at any age, at the moment they die, they go to heaven. Because heaven then can become escape from any painful situation that you think you can't handle. And I think children today are under attack from all sides on things. And if they see heaven as an escape from their reality, and I believe statistically our young people are committing suicide at a much higher rate today than ever before. And I believe that has something to do with it. Time has gone by so quickly. Thomas Fitzhugh sheets our guest on the program, the trilogy On That Day. Gets readers to contemplate themes of faith, salvation, the promise of eternal life, encouraging personal spiritual growth and introspection. Laid out in a way that's understandable, relatable and doable. The book On That Day, a trilogy, it's available wherever books are sold. And you'll find information, you can order it on Timothy, or on his website, onthatday-timothy2468.com. Thomas, you've been working with Reader's Magnet, self-publishing and marketing company, on getting the word out there on the book. What's it been like working with Reader's Magnet? Well, it's a business relationship. And I have had really good relationships with the people that I've been in contact with. But it has motivated me when I'm paying the money, I want to get my money's worth. So when they first called me on a cold call, I had finished the book. The first book of the trilogy, and started thinking about promoting that. And when I started writing again, promoting that book became the resurrection of the promise. So it's been a relationship that has inspired me to continue to write. What are you working on now? You've done such an excellent job with On That Day. Are you working on another book? I am. And it is focused on this family love. But also that today in our seminaries, I think they must be teaching them that lifestyle doesn't matter. And the working title of my next book is Christian Label or Lifestyle. And I think that evangelists will slap a label on it. You're now saved and kind of leave you there. And the only thing you've been saved from is who you used to be. You're supposed to be a new creature with the hope of eternal life. And they never mentioned this second coming that we're going to be held accountable for what we did after our conversion. I love the title of that. So often a title, you're left going, I'm not quite sure what he's, what she is trying to say. That is real specific in a couple of words and grabs your attention. I wish you the best with that. And hopefully we'll have an opportunity to talk about that as well. Our guest, Thomas Fitzhugh-Sheets on the program talking about his book On That Day trilogy. Thomas, a pleasure having you on the program. Thank you so much for being with us today. You're welcome. I've enjoyed being with you. And you can find all the information on Thomas's books on his website, OnThatDay-Timothy2468.org. All his information, of course, on our website, ThisWeekInAmerica.us. And we are back on today's program right after these messages.