Sid: Hello this is Sid Roth here welcome to Mashuga for Yeshua. Mashuga is a Hebrew word it means crazy for Yeshua for Jesus. And you may say “Well Sid you’re crazy for Jesus.” And I’ll say to you what are you crazy for? Everyone’s crazy for something I just happen to be crazy for Jesus. I am Mashuga for Yeshua.” My guest Rick Renner he’s got to be more Mashuga than me he picks up his whole family and he moves to Russia and this was before Rick this was before communism was down is that correct?
Rick: Oh yes communism was to rule and king at that moment.
Sid: And I remember going there before communism was down and I remember all of the security I had to go through and long lines in the stores and how awful those hotels were. How could you have done that to your family Rick? (Laughing)
Rick: You know Sid with the first time I went to the Soviet Union I just feel in love with it. When I saw those red flags and the sickle and the hammer and the soldiers carrying their machine guns something in me just woke up and said “This is where you’re supposed to be.” It had to the grace of God.
Sid: You told me that you really were pushed over, so to speak, when you were teaching in a Bible School in the former Soviet Union and God spoke to you. Tell me about that.
Rick: It was the first above ground Bible School in the Soviet Union. There was about 200 students and I did not want to go there. I had grown up in a family we had 5 missionaries and I said “Being a missionary is something I’m never going to be.” And someone really kind of guilted me into going on this mission trip and I found myself saying “Yes.” So I ended up on this airplane landing in the Soviet Union, next thing I knew checking into a hotel where there were cockroaches and rats and…
Sid: It must have been the same hotel I was at (Laughing).
Rick: I mean the Soviet Union had just fallen apart.
Sid: It was awful and by the way I did the same awful thing you did I took my wife I didn’t know what we were walking into. I did one of the first Jewish…probably the first Jewish outreach in the former Soviet Union and I didn’t know how bad it was and I took my wife there. Do you know there was so many cockroaches and bugs and everything else you could imagine in the hotel rooms that we had to move our bed into the halls because that was safer than the rooms.
Rick: That sounds like a Soviet hotel.
Sid: Okay so you forced yourself you’re speaking and what happens?
Rick: I stood up and I opened my Bible and when I opened my Bible the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said “Welcome to you to your new home.” And I literally was just stunned by what I heard and I thought “What?!” And the Holy Spirit repeated to me the second time “Welcome to your new home.” And that hour that I taught the whole hour that I looked into the eyes of those students I kept thinking “This is my new home, these are my new people.” And Sid God absolutely transferred a love for the Soviet people deep into my heart. And do you know when my family finally made the big move it took a little while for me to get my family there but within a year we were there. And when we got off the airplane came down those steps from the plane of course there were Soviet soldiers back in those days standing there with a machine guns and it was dark. But my entire family got on our knees right on the tar mat right on the bottom of the airplane and we dedicated ourselves to this land and we kissed the ground and we asked God to put the Soviet Union into our heart. And we just didn’t know how deep it was going to be put into our heart. Now we’re still there and that was way back in 1991.
Sid: Now how many children do you have?
Rick: We have 3 sons.
Sid: Okay and how old were they when you came?
Rick: Joel tuned 2 that week, and I think Philip was 6 and Paul was 8 and so they were young. And moving your family to the Soviet Union was not something were doing back in those days. And I can tell you Sid that there are people who came but as far as I know were the only ones that stayed. We don’t know another missions family who has been in Russia as long as we have, we don’t know anyone. We watched history change right in front of our eyes.
Sid: I’m sure but all of these years later since the early 90’s you have 400 churches that you’re an apostle over. You have a television network, how did you get into television?
Rick: Well television started in the very beginning and I preached at a…I preached in a big event in the city of Regolatsia and the event was broadcast and my wife and I were watching the broadcast and the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said “Now I’m going to tell you why I really brought you here.” You know sometimes God gets you in a direction and doesn’t tell you the full story until you’re in route.
Sid: I understand.
Rick: Well now we were there and the Holy Spirit said “Now I’m going to tell you why I really brought you here I want you to take Sunday School to the people of the Soviet Union on television.” And so I just begin to do…
Sid: You know the Holy Spirit’s brilliant what a great idea (Laughing.)
Rick: You know they didn’t know the Bible but they were absolutely open hearted to learn and the Soviet Union has collapsed and everything is just raging out of control a time of craziness and people were hungry for answers. And at that particular moment they wanted to hear what Americans had to say. So I began to travel all over the Soviet Union and we began to develop a network of stations that have been with us all of these years. And we broadcast all over the former Soviet Union.
Sid: As from what I understand you were probably one of the first Christian networks in the Soviet Union.
Rick: I believe that we were the first actually and it’s been such an honor that we’ve been able to broadcast for all of these years that stated in 1992.
Sid: Okay I need you to help me out I am really in lack of better words in awe of the gifting God has given you. I’ve been reading your book “Dressed to Kill.” I love the subtitle before the title “You Don’t Have to Take It Anymore Because You Are Dressed to Kill.” Since I brought that up what does that…briefly what does that mean?
Rick: It really has to do with putting on the whole armor of God. And you know Paul’s pretty specific in Ephesians chapter 6 about “Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” And God has provided this wonderful weaponry for us and if we will wear that weaponry and if we will walk in that weaponry it enables us to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Sid: You know I want to let people understand what I’m talking about: #1 you are a very very anointed Bible teacher. #2 You have a handle on the Greek as few people I have ever heard. And I want you to kind of illustrate this by where it talks about the armor or God. It’s Ephesians chapter 6 in the 10th verse it says “Finally be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.” Explain the Greek in that because what you did with that one sentence it would be enough food for the average Christian for a month.
Rick: Thank you you know I studied Greek in the university so it’s a very serious thing with me. But when Paul says “Finally my brethren” that word finally is totaloipon in Greek. It means “now to the rest of the matter.” And in fact when you take the whole book of Ephesians which is filled with theological subjects you come to the very end where Paul uses this word totaloipon the word finally, in some documents it would have been translated “Now to the last and most important matter at hand.”
Sid: That does make a difference you know when you say that it really grabs your attention rather than “Finally” you know that’s just like an after-thought but go ahead.
Rick: I mean when you consider Ephesians is filled with the eternal plan of God it’s teaching on the grace of God, salvation, family matters, husband and wife relationships. But when you come to the end that word finally is almost the equivalent of if you’re not going to hang on to anything else that I’ve said to you in this letter I’ve saved this to the end so that this will stand supreme in your mind “Finally the most important matter at hand my brethren be strong in the Lord.” And then Paul begins his text on spiritual warfare it’s very powerful.
Sid: But let’s just go down a couple more words “Finally be strong in the Lord.” Tell me about the word strong.
Rick: That word strong is the “Enduo” that’s a compound of two words the word in and the word duo which is the word dunamis the word power. And that word strong describes the specific kind of power that is placed to be put in something. In other words this not just a free floating power that’s floating through the air but this is a power that’s designed to be placed into some kind of receptacle. In this particular case the Holy Spirit was talking to us you and I are the receptacles especially made to be the containers of this special power. And the Greek that is used describes a power that flows in and gives an inner strengthening. And it is a command and so this is not an option it is something that we are commanded to receive. “Be strong in the Lord, receive an infilling of the Spirit which makes you strong.” And when Paul says “In the Lord and in the power of His might” it’s really describing about the mighty miraculous power of God.
Sid: I’ll tell you when I just read your teaching on one line from Ephesians I mean I felt like I read the New Testament for the first time. That depth makes such a difference in our comprehension Rick, I know that you know that, but most people you know they read that one line in the English and they miss most of what God’s trying to communicate.
Rick: You know the Greek language was fashioned by God I believe in a special way and the Holy Spirit choice it for the New Testament because it is so full. And so when I teach for instance in “Dressed to Kill” I really don’t teach verse by verse I teach word by word. Every single word is like a whole illustrated sermon and it just opens up. David prayed in Psalm 119 and said “Open my eyes to see wondrous things to behold. And I believe that when you study the Greek New Testament God opens the eyes to see things that are just wondrous.
Sid: Okay 1980 you’re a student, you’re in college, you’re home, you’re praying and you have an angelic visitation. Was that your first angelic visitation?
Rick: Yes it was and it took me completely off guard.
Sid: Tell me about it.
Rick: I was at home at the time and I had just laid down on my couch and Sid I suddenly felt a presence in the room. I’m sure that you had experiences where you feel something but you don’t know who it is or you don’t know where they are. I felt a presence in that room. And I sat straight up on the couch, reached to my right, turned on the lamp and within seconds standing in front of me a man materialized. When he materialized there was such a peace that came with it he was standing I would say that he was standing 5 to 6 feet in front of me. And when I looked into his eyes I’ve never seen eyes like that you could look into those eyes forever they were so deep. And he…I thought to myself “Who is this man?” Now I thought that and he never opened his mouth but he answered me it was thought to thought communication. And he said “I am from the presence of the Lord.” And I understood that this was an angel and he stood there and he began to communicate with me 3 things about my life and about my future. It was a very formative stage of my life and so of course this has had a great impact on my life. And I’ve only rarely shared this experience.
Sid: What did he tell you about your future?
Rick: Well the first thing he told…well the first thing he did was he held up his hands and in between his hands it looked like he was holding a parchment or a text. And I understood that it was the words of “1 Peter 1 where God talks about sojourners and those who had experienced difficulty in life.” And it was like those words left his hands and entered into me. And when they entered into me they filled my chest these words about being a sojourner and about being with people who have suffered difficulty for their faith. Then he raised his hands again and it was in between his hands he held the words Isaiah 53 where the Bible talks about the suffering Savior. And the words of that entered into me and I understood again that the sufferings of Christ and the people who have suffered. Then Sid it was like the whole room filled with a map. And this map began to violently shake.
Sid: What was the map of?
Rick: It was a map of the world.
Sid: Okay.
Rick: Yeah I could see the whole world and this visitor said to me that “There’s going to be earthshaking events that are going to take place geographically in your life.” And I understood that God was giving me a ministry which was going to reach out to people who had traveled and that my life would be a sojourning ministry that living in America probably was not going to be my destiny. I didn’t understand exactly what it would be but I understood that it would be a sojourning ministry and that God was calling me to minister to a people who had suffered and that we would see earth shaking events happen during our life and would live in a part of world where there would be monumental changes. And just as soon as he appeared he disappeared. And I found myself sitting on that couch in that room just pondering what had just happened to me. It was really life changing experience.
Sid: You know before we went on the air we were talking about your belief in end times based on your knowledge of the Greek and spending a lifetime studying the scriptures and loving the scriptures the way you do. And you told me that you really feel, and you distinguish between last days and the last of the last days. I’ve often wondered when I read the book of Hebrews and it starts out “In these last days” and I thought “Boy they sure missed it.” Comment on the difference between the last days and the last of the last days.
Rick: Well the last days is a period that began on Pentecost at 9:00 in the morning. I mean God is very specific on His calendar. When Peter stood up and said “These are not drunken as you supposed seeing that it’s the 9th hour of the day this is that what was prophesied by the Prophet Joel that I will pour out My Spirit in the last days.” And that marked a period a period which some people called “The Church Age” other people call it the age of grace. But the Bible calls it “The last days” and we have literally been living in that time period for 2000 years. And so when people get skeptical or maybe they even get a little sarcastic and they “Oh the last days we’ve been living in the last days for 2000 years.” That’s exactly right it’s been about a 2000 year time period. But when you talk about the last of the last days the Bible is very clear in 2nd Timothy chapter 3 in verse 1 where it talks about…
Sid: I’ll tell you what when we come back from the break I want to pick up right there because most believers I know realize we are in the last of the last days and I want you to explain that from the Greek. And everyone wants to understand this as best as they can. And that’s why we asked you to put together a 4 CD series called “Prophetic End Time Alert” in which you teach with your amazing gift of teaching and understanding the Greek. I mean you even told me for most of your life you were you really didn’t care about the rapture you believed in it but you felt that’s not something you can really know in this life but recently God has shown you from the Greek that you are 100% convinced of the pre-trib rapture. And you say and I agree it’s about ready to happen! But your book “Dressed to Kill” it says “You don’t have to take it anymore because your dressed to kill. A biblical approach to spiritual warfare and armor now most people say “Well biblical approach to warfare I don’t want that.” What would you say to them?
Rick: I would just say you’re going to just have the fight of your life if you don’t learn how to put on this… this armor this armor is designed to help you so that you can stand against the wiles of the devil. And whether you like it or not you’re going to have a conflict with the devil at some point in your life and you can either be prepared for it or you can be unprepared for it.
Sid: My understanding is that if you’re right and I’m right then the return of the Messiah is eminent everything intensifies.
Rick: And it’s a time for people to know how to put on the whole armor of God.
Sid: Now have you had many people give you feedback of the difference it made in their life by reading this book.
Rick: Ah Sid there have been 100’s of 1000’s of people that bought this book it’s in multiple languages around the world. And people have used it in Bible schools, in study groups, it is. Well I’ll just tell you Kenneth Hagen said that “It should be the classic on spiritual warfare” and laid it on his pulpit and taught from it word by word. And…
Sid: I can understand why he or anyone would do that. I can’t understand anyone that hasn’t read this book because he we are in the last of the last days, things are not getting better people take a look open your eyes. And the devil knows his time is short and I’m going to tell you something if you will prepare yourself all the devil can do is blow air at you. I’m telling you, you don’t have to take it anymore because when you are dressed in the armor of God and Rick you have marvelous full color illustrations of what Paul observed while he was in prison what that armor looked like most Christians don’t have a clue what it looked like. But more important than that from the Greek how to really put that armor on and stand when you’ve done everything else stand as you just explained as a vessel filled with the power of God. And devil you watch out when we come back I want to hear a bit about your understanding of end times.
Tags: its supernatural, Sid Roth
Tags: its supernatural, Sid Roth