I am interested in discussing this topic here, I'm interested in the reactions. Are people here still trying to make a Christian Nation? and if so, why? I don't think it's biblical.

I haven't listened to the whole sermon (nor his other sermons), so please realize that I am NOT endorsing Loran Livingstone. I don't know enough yet.

Thanks.

Peter quotes Joel in Acts 2, including the verse

"In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on ALL people."

At the church I went to, the preacher used this to say that God's Spirit is in everyone and everything. Everyone now has the Spirit of God in them.

This is completely against standard theology -- that some people are part of the kingdom of God and some are not (see Jesus' parables about the type of soil, about the wheat and the weeds, about the good and bad fish, about the sheep and the goats).

So what does this verse mean? How can we just ignore what it says? How would you explain it - especially since most of us disagree that it means that all will be part of God's kingdom.
Perhaps in Joel's day one could say that he was speaking only the the people of Israel, but here is Peter speaking to crowds of foreigners most of whom are not followers of Jesus and never would be.

Look at the passage:

No, THIS is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17 “‘In the last days, God says,
    I will pour out my Spirit on ALL people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
    your young men will see visions,
    your old men will dream dreams.
18 Even on my servants, both men and women,
    I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
    and they will prophesy.

Peter is clearly talking about Pentecost, using Joel to show that it was prophesied. So he is talking about what is happening NOW and not what is happening at the end of the age.

However he does continue the quotation:

I will show wonders in the heavens above
    and signs on the earth below,
    blood and fire and billows of smoke.
20 The sun will be turned to darkness
   and the moon to blood
   before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
21 And everyone who calls
    on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

Why does he include this part? Probably because like all followers of Jesus back then, he expected this to happen right away.

Peter quotes Joel in Acts 2, including the verse

"In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on ALL people."

Our priest used this to say that God's Spirit is in everyone and everything. Everyone now has the Spirit of God in them.

This is completely against standard theology -- that some people are part of the kingdom of God and some are not (see Jesus' parables about the type of soil, about the wheat and the weeds, about the good and bad fish, about the sheep and the goats).

So what does this verse mean? How can we just ignore what it says? Perhaps in Joel's day one could say that he was speaking only the the people of Israel, but here is Peter speaking to crowds of foreigners most of whom are not followers of Jesus and never would be.

---

Clarification:

No, THIS is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17 “‘In the last days, God says,
    I will pour out my Spirit on ALL people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
    your young men will see visions,
    your old men will dream dreams.
18 Even on my servants, both men and women,
    I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
    and they will prophesy.

Peter is clearly talking about Pentecost, using Joel to show that it was prophesied. So he is talking about what is happening NOW and not what is happening at the end of the age.

However he does continue the quotation:

I will show wonders in the heavens above
    and signs on the earth below,
    blood and fire and billows of smoke.
20 The sun will be turned to darkness
   and the moon to blood
   before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
21 And everyone who calls
    on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

Why does he include this part? Probably because like all followers of Jesus back then, he expected this to happen right away.