Lessons from Demas
Tom Shrader examines Demas, Paul's co-worker who abandoned him in his final imprisonment, having loved 'this present world.' Using Demas as a cautionary tale, Shrader warns against the allure of worldly ease and comfort that can draw believers away from faithfulness. He connects Demas's desertion to the three temptations John identifies: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, showing how these same patterns have tempted humanity since the Garden of Eden.
“Having loved this present world, he has deserted me - not to walk out on somebody when things are going well, but when somebody's at rock bottom with no way out to walk out on them.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Lessons from the Legends
Recorded: October 09, 2014
Duration: 40 min
Themes: worldliness, temptation, faithfulness, betrayal, comfort, materialism, perseverance, warning, struggling with materialism, facing financial temptation, comfortable christian, business leader, wealthy believer, middle-aged adult, successful professional, considering compromise
Scripture: 2 Timothy 4:6-10, Colossians 4:14, Philemon 1:24, 1 John 2:15-16, Genesis 3:6, 2 Timothy 2:3-6, Job 1:21, Ecclesiastes 5:15
Theological Themes: sanctification, spiritual warfare, apostasy, backsliding, flesh and spirit, worldly compromise, biblical warnings, christian maturity
Full Transcript
If you have Bibles, I'm going to invite you to open them. We're going to do a little bit of work today. I'm going to have you open them to Colossians chapter 4 and Philemon, so my guess is you'll need a second or two to find that one. Philemon chapter 1.
This is the last of a five-part series we're calling Lessons from the Legends. And this session is the one that inspired the series. It came about at our Gilbert campus when I was invited to teach this summer and they said we're going to do a series called Five Guys, kind of a takeoff on the hamburger joint. What in reality was happening is five guys were being invited to teach about five different people, pick your guy.
The Obscure Character That Fascinated Me
So they said we're going to have a meeting to talk about who's who, and I said, well, I'm going to be out of town, but I don't need to be there for that. Nobody's going to pick my guy. But I've always wanted to do a lesson on a guy, the problem being there's not much information on him. He's mentioned in the New Testament three times. But I suspected that if I dug in, I could find some background information, and I did. And I found huge practical information.
This is much like those discussions with the candidates. I'm really into this and I want you to be as well. I know that I can't transfer my enthusiasm for this to you, but I want you to hang in because I think this is a big deal.
Meeting Demas
In Colossians chapter four, verse 14, Paul is closing out this book and he says, "Luke, the beloved physician sends you his greetings and also"—and here's the guy—"Demas." Now, if I said to you when you came in, and not to embarrass you, it's just you've been around a long time, even being around a long time, I'd say, do you know Demas? Most of you, I think, would go, I think he was a power forward in the European League, I think. I don't know.
Well, no, he's in Colossians four and he's associated here with Paul and Luke. Now, in Philemon chapter one, verse 24, it's essentially the same context. Paul's closing out this letter: "Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus greets you, as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow co-workers."
A Warning, Not an Inspiration
Here's where we dig and I want to set this scene so that you get it. I'm teaching Demas as a warning to you. We teach Paul and David and they become the guy, and you get their picture and they're your screensaver and you put the cutout on your bathroom mirror to inspire you every day so you have a picture of Paul and that's going to motivate you, all that stuff. Demas is not a guy you're going to put on your screensaver.
He's a fellow worker of Paul's. I'm going to give you four things we know about Demas. He was a fellow worker, and that phrase implies two people who work closely together, maybe partners, sharing work and responsibility. There's even a suggestion of equality in the word co-workers. So Demas was a close confidant of Paul. He shared Paul's vision.
The Intimate Partnership
He's also a traveling companion. If you know anything about traveling, you'll learn a lot about people on a journey. You remember when Sandy and I were dating and we didn't date very long, and I said, I don't know, it feels to me like we ought to either break up, which I don't even know what that means, break up or get married, which seem like two radical things. But I said the only way we're going to know more about each other is if we move in together, which that isn't going to happen, or we travel together.
Travel is where you learn. You learn how you get through an airport, you learn how you handle security, you learn how you eat, how you travel. I mean, it just puts a magnifying glass on the strengths and the weaknesses. Same thing is true, I'm going to guess, with Paul and Demas.
The third thing is, he was with Paul during his first imprisonment in Rome, dated about 60, 61, 62 AD. Paul's under house arrest, Demas is one of the guys that's in there. So here's the concluding, here's the punchline. He is the recipient of a huge investment of Paul's time, energy, effort, and probably a little dough too.
Paul's Major Investment
One author writes this: "Together they worked, enduring various troubles and persecution, to extend the kingdom of God. This speaks highly of Demas at this point, for Paul was very selective and very careful with whom he labored for the Lord." So here's this guy, Demas, not trying to hype it, just trying to get you to see it. This guy that Paul's invested in, this guy, it's not like he's going to Paul's church or Paul's Bible study. He's in the trenches with Paul. He's Paul's guy, heavily invested, seeing the fruits of his labor, seeing people come to Christ, seeing amazing things being done.
The Devastating Context
Now I said he's in the New Testament three times, here's our last turn to find Demas. It's 2nd Timothy chapter 4. You want to turn there, 2nd Timothy chapter 4, verse 6, and that'll give us the context here: "For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, the time for my departure has come. I fought the good fight, I finished the course, I kept the faith. In the future there's laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award me on that day, not only me, but also all who have longed for His appearing."
That's the backdrop, that's the end of this book, written to his son in the faith, Timothy, telling us, and Timothy, that the time for his departure is near. He's about to die. Somehow he knows it. They've either told him, he can sense it, God's put it in his heart, I don't know.
He has this moment that is this amazing moment. He said, I'm sitting here looking back, and I can tell you I fought the good fight, and I finished the race, and I kept the faith. That to me has got to be, and I don't know what the word is, I don't know, awesome, amazing, self-satisfying, to be at the end of your life and have that assessment.
Many of you know Al Page, the colonel, Al and Betty. Well, I went and saw Al the other day. Al is out our way, and he's in a high-care facility. So it's an Alzheimer's dementia facility. I went in to see him, and his daughter was there.
I get in these places, and they said, "Do you know where you're going?" I said, "Unit seven," which I'm sure is right after six, and if I can find one, I'm sure I can get there. I'm sure this is set up very basically, and they said, "Sure." So I get down and knock on the door, and Al's not there.
There's a guy who's taking care of people, and he said, "Are you looking for the colonel?" I said, "Yeah, he doesn't seem to be in there." He said, "Well, he's probably down in the entertainment room." I said, "You know, in 88 years, he's never been big on entertainment, but I guess so." So I go down there, he's not in the entertainment room. They said, "I think we saw him in the family room, his daughter's here."
Meeting the Colonel
So I go in, and there's the colonel. Al Page was in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. He's just this great old guy. He's there with his daughter, and he's got on just a killer plaid shirt and some dark brown cords. He looks—he's dressed really well. His daughter said, "Oh, Dad, Tom's here," and he looked, and he said, "Hey, hi, Tom."
I sat down, and we started to just hang out, not really talk. I'm sure you've been in those situations, and the conversations are usually about "Do you remember," and the answer usually is "No," and so it's a hard conversation to have. So I dropped a couple things about Clemson. That's where he went to school, and Al was born and raised in Nogales, and so we talked about that.
I said I'm on my way to get Sandy a birthday present. Sandy's birthday is Monday, and I have three presents, two of which, one in particular, is extraordinary. Something great ought to happen when I give her this gift. More than a thank you. I mean, this is an amazing gift. So I'm telling him about my gift, and he didn't seem to think it was amazing.
We're talking, and we're talking about his wife, Betty. He said, "Betty," and his daughter said, "Dad and Betty used to be quite a couple, very social dancers." I said, "Colonel, you were a dancer?" He said, "Betty was a good dancer." I said to him, "Betty was hot." And he said, "Yeah." I said, "You know what hot means?" And he looked at me and he said, "Yeah." I said, "All right. Good for you, buddy." He's sitting there. It was a great moment. I could make him laugh.
Confronting the End of Life
So I had him laughing, but all these people in there—I mean, there's no illusion about that. We're at the end of life. I'm going to be there someday. I drove out. I was very emotional leaving. I'm on this medicine, and I'm crying all the time. I'm watching "You've Got Mail" every night.
I'm flipping through the other night. This is a bad deal. I'm flipping through the other night. What's on? "Brian's Song." Oh, no, no. "When you dedicate a game to somebody, you're supposed to win it." "Oh, hurry up and die." But I'm in this emotional thing and I'm driving away. I'm thinking, I hope when I'm in that environment, that I can say I fought the good fight and I finished the course and I kept the faith.
Paul's saying I did that. He's also saying to you, I'm cold and lonely. I still have faith, confidence in the Lord, but I'm desperate. Verse 9, "Make every effort to come to me soon." Hurry up and get here. Bring me my stuff. I had a psychiatrist in one of my studies and he said, this is typical an old man or woman at the end of their life. Bring me the pictures I know. Bring me the books that are familiar. Come to me soon.
Demas's Desertion
Look at this now. Here's the punch. For Demas, the co-worker, the traveler, having loved this present world, has deserted me. He's forsaken Paul. He's left him. One author suggests that it seems to be for love of worldly ease and safety and comfort at home. Not just necessarily fear of persecution, but the easy life.
Maybe what I'm doing is projecting myself into this. And then unfortunately for you, for another twenty minutes, dragging you in there with me—I'm vulnerable there. Doesn't that describe you a little bit? Especially, not all of you, but many of you. I mean, you've paid your dues. You've worked hard. You saved your money. You played by the rules. You went to the school they told you to go to. You started the business. You paid your taxes. And now you're at the end of your life. And you're going, every day I pick this up, it looks like we're one move away from everything falling apart.
The Desire for Comfort
Man, my besetting sin, one of them, is I'm lazy and I want it smooth and easy and quiet. I don't want any barking dogs. I don't want any loose cats. I have a friend who is moving into leisure world. I had coffee with him yesterday and he said, "Tom, I just made an amazing discovery. This is my last Halloween. The last time I had any little kids coming in in a van, jumping out." And he said, "I'm going to get $400 worth of candy and just throw it at these. I'm never going to have Halloween again. I don't want the doorbell to ring. I don't want the dogs to bark. I don't want the cats out. I don't want the music on. I want it quiet. I want it easy."
Don't you? You don't have to say yes, but I can tell. You just want to get to the lake, see the ducks in the dock, throw the bobber out, watch it, diddle around a little even if you don't catch anything. It doesn't matter. Go out—I mean, I can't imagine, I've never—but imagine going and playing and not caring what you shoot. I can't get to that point. But imagine that, just going, you're by yourself or with a couple of buddies. You can't cheat. Everybody knows everybody else's game. You work to get to that point, and here's Demas who knows what he's thinking. I don't know...
What he's thinking, but I know what he did. He bailed. Having loved this present world, he has deserted me.
And maybe the language in the English isn't strong enough. It's a very strong word preceded in the Greek by two prepositions that when coupled together translate into the idea of leaving in the midst of a dire situation, to utterly abandon. Not to walk out on somebody when things are going well, but when somebody's at rock bottom with no way out to walk out on them. We would use the phrase, to leave them in the lurch. Some of your translations will say, forsaken. Having loved this world, he's forsaken me.
The Paraphrases That Capture the Heart of It
Now in preparation for this, I read 23 translations and paraphrases of 2 Timothy 4, verse 9. I found two paraphrases that might be helpful just to get our arms around it. The Message, Eugene Peterson paraphrases verse 9 of 2 Timothy this way: "Get here as fast as you can. Demas, chasing fads, went off to Thessalonica and left me here." So it's the idea of the fads.
We see it with young people all day long. I can sit in an airport and pick out young guys who are leading music in a church. Their hair is in a point. Not now, now it's parted. Now we're going to part it, like we used to when I was in school. And I'm going to have horn-rimmed glasses, and I'm going to have skinny jeans, which is great if you have a sister, because now you can wear her stuff too. I know it's unfair, and I know it's an old man, but it's a fad. I mean, if one of these guys dresses this way, they all do. And we laugh at it.
But then you go to Leisure World, and if one golf cart has a horn on it, they all have a horn. And if they have a wet bar in the back, they all have a wet bar. And if they're all playing, all of a sudden, remember when it was the fad, what was the ladies' ball? It was a golf ball, but it was a ladies' ball, but most of the guys were playing it. And all of a sudden, now all the guys are doing that. Everybody's got a pink driver.
Here's Demas, and he's going, I'm chasing fads. Said another way in the New Living: "Timothy, please come to me as soon as you can. Demas has deserted me because he loves the things of this life."
The Fundamental Choice We All Face
That's the warning that Jesus gives us over and over and over again. You can't love the things of God and the things of the world. You can't love God and mammon. Those are in collision. That's the problem we have. And one's going to dominate the other.
We say this all the time. To make a lot of money, unless you're somehow born into it, and even then, you've got to keep it. To have a lot of money takes a lot of work. And it becomes distracting. And sooner or later, you're going to feel that tug between success in the office and success in the things of God. And I'm not here at all to say the office isn't important. It is. But it's not the most important.
I mean, we learn this over and over and over and over again. Ask these guys, where are your Super Bowl rings? I don't know, they're in a safety deposit box, a closet. I mean, we're right now, this is a great time of the year, college football, we're in conference, it's heating up. Baseball, this is the best time of year for baseball. The only problem is we're into five-hour games. But other than that, we're into a great time. And these guys are going to kill themselves, and they're going to win, and somebody's going to win the World Series. And they're going to dump champagne on each other. And they're going to do this in about Christmas time, when they're stuck in Bemidji, Minnesota, and it's too cold to hunt or fish. They're going to go, what difference does this make?
So it's not a call to not do your best. It's to say, if you're pursuing the things of this world, it's never going to end. It's never going to stop. They're never going to satisfy. They will for a minute, but they won't for a lifetime, and they won't for eternity.
What Scripture Says About Loving This World
So here's that ultimate struggle, and I want you to analyze your own life. So we have two more turns. To the right, to 1 John 2. So Demas, having loved this present world, what is it about this present world? 1 John 2, John gives us an insight into this.
1 John 2, verse 15: "Do not love the world." Okay, so I shouldn't have to go very hard to go, there's a connection, right? We got that. Demas having loved this present world, here's John saying, don't love this world, or the things in the world. "If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." So there you go, you feel the tension.
"For all that's in the world," and now there's three things, "lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, boastful pride of life, are not from the Father, but from the world." The word that's translated lust is a strong desire for an evil thing. There's certainly a sexual connotation to it sometimes, and we may make that the main definition in our mind, but it's not. It's a strong desire for the flesh, the eyes, the boastful pride of life.
The Three Pathways to Worldliness
Man's natural rebellion. The eyes, it's Satan's avenue to tempt us, the pride of life. It's an arrogance over circumstances. It's an attempt to impress others. It's wanting to be felt that you are significant.
Let's say you're a commercial real estate broker, okay, I can relate to this. And you're going to the national, you're a CB guy, all right, because you're only the best. So you're a CB guy. And you're going to the national, you're an industrial broker, and they're getting together the top 12 industrial brokers in the country. You walk into that room, and your intention by what you wear, where you sit, how your hair's combed, is to impress everybody there, maybe beyond even your success level. It's that boastful pride of life. I want you to think I'm something or somebody, and ideally it would be best if you could arrive there in your own conclusion without me having to brag. That's always a little awkward.
So it's been like this since the beginning, okay? Last turn for you.
Turn to the book of Genesis, Genesis chapter three. "Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me." Don't love the world or the things of the world—lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, boastful pride of life. We're all the way at the back of the Bible in 1 John. Is this something that God's dropping in His Word at the very end? No, this was the problem from the beginning.
Genesis chapter three, verse six. The serpent is tempting Eve. When she saw the tree was good for food—lust of the flesh. She saw it was a delight to the eye—lust of the eyes. She saw the tree was desirable to make her wise—boastful pride of life. She took it, she ate it. That's been the condition from the very beginning. I want what makes me feel good physically. I want what I think will make me happy. I want to be somebody. And that's what Satan traffics in.
The Battle Between God and the World
Here's this battle that we have between the things of God and the things of the world. The things of the world is saying, "Listen, look at that, look at her, look at him." The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh—that's going to make you feel good. Drive that, live there, vacation there, whatever it is. You do that and everybody's going to think you're something. We all play in that game.
At Coalbanker, as a young, sinful man, one of the toughest times of the year was the Christmas party because it was the only time of the year when everybody saw your wife. We know—we may not want to say it out loud—but we know that you're going to judge me by the girl that's with me. If you're married to a two, you're a two. You're married to an eight, you're probably not an eight, but you're a six. That's just the way it is.
It's that boastful pride of life. That's that night that would be so much, and finally we adjusted to it. That's that night when Susan would come out, and I would say to her—I learned it, but I'd say to her—"You're going to wear that, right?" And she would say, "Well, yeah, I'm not warming up here. This is what we had planned." "Well, even in five minutes, this was it. Well, man, it looks like something my mom would wear." That just didn't set the tone for a good night. I don't understand what her problem was, but have a glass of wine, you'll feel better. Trust me, you think I'm a bum, wait till you meet these other guys. I'm way better than them.
Rather than sit there at this point and think I'm a jerk, let's go ahead and stipulate you're the same. Gals, you're the same. You have the women over to your house. Your turn to host the Bible study, and you're cleaning up like the queen's coming. We always had this in Bible study. It always started out no food, and then one gal would serve cookies, and then the next week homemade cookies. Then the next week, cookies and flavored coffee. By the 12th Bible study, you come in the morning and it's Eggs Benedict. If everything weren't well, we'd have a Bible study. God said eat and be happy or something—they'd find some verse. That's just how we are. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the boastful pride of life—they pull you away into this.
Six Key Takeaways
Let me give you six points that I came up with as takeaways.
Number one: The Christian life is a team sport. As Paul's writing these letters from prison, as Paul's writing these letters as he's traveling around and experiencing extraordinary persecution, he says, "Listen, Luke's with me, Epaphras is with me, Aristarchus is with me." We need each other in this enterprise. We're not made to go this alone. You need people around you—guys with guys, gals with gals. I don't think you need a ton of them. You need some.
It's interesting, as I'm moving toward the final chapters of life, I realize I don't have many friends. You have a lot of guys you've spent a lot of time with, played a lot of golf with, gone to dinner with, but there's not that deep connection. You need that. You need those people—not to hold you accountable. I don't even know what that typically means. Usually that means you holding me accountable to your standard for my life. I'm not interested in that. It's us living life together. It's what I did with Larry. I'd show up once a week and go, "Hey man, how you doing? What'd you think about that? You saw that in the game." It's looking at life and seeing the irony of things around you and the beauty and the things that transcend time.
Don't Be Surprised by Adversity
Here's the second thing: Don't be surprised by adversity. We talk about this all the time, especially if you're somebody who becomes a Christian at an older age. Somehow you go, "I'm all messed up, now I've got my act together," and inside I'm going, "Therefore, shouldn't things move pretty smoothly?" No. People still die, deals still don't make, houses still get flooded when it rains, spouses... We're starting to see this—epidemic's too strong, but really common. People that have been married 46, 47 years, divorcing. Typically what you see there is the wife has hung in there to get the kids out of college, and once those kids are out of college, she's out of there. Wouldn't you think after 46 years, it's too big a hassle? I can't remember—the guy the other day, I think his mom was 86 and her husband was 88, and they were getting a divorce. That seems like a lot of work. You're going to have this adversity.
Number three: Past performance doesn't guarantee future results. Somebody would have said, "Hey, let's take a look at Demas," and if Lehman won, they'd have said, "Man, this guy's going to be in the Hall of Fame."
Fame. His pedigree's good, got some business experience, he was with Paul in the trenches, he's been there, he's amazing, past performance. Isn't that what they tell you with every investment? Look at this. People last year made 27% on this, but past performance doesn't guarantee future results. That works, get me to the fourth point, failure's not fatal, that works both ways.
I've been in that pile where somebody looks at me and says, really, loser, there's not much there. A lot of fun, boy, you want to have fun, go with him, it'll be fun, it'll be fun until it's too much. So you got that person around you that they're flying high, that doesn't mean they'll finish that way. I guess where my heart's always been, you got that person around you that's the loser, failure's not fatal.
The Best Defense Is a Good Offense
Number four, the best defense is a good offense. At the beginning of 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 3-6, Paul uses the imagery of a soldier and an athlete and a farmer. He says, like the soldier be focused and dedicated, like the athlete be trained and have self-control, like the farmer be hardworking and diligent. Not only make sure I'm not a train wreck like Demas, I'm focused, I'm disciplined, I work hard.
One of the amazing things about Sandy is how much she works out. So she swims, and people always say, well, you can swim at the hotel, not really, not like she swims. I mean, she swims, she'll swim about 600 miles this year, and she'll run about 1,600. She has her little computer and plugs it all in, and I used to look at her, and I thought, wow, I mean, that's incredible, it must be easy.
For me, let's say I'm going to work out in the morning, that alarm goes off, and I'll reach over, and almost inevitably, turn it off. I'll go, God, boy, I think I pulled something, I feel it, it's tightening up, and boy, it's moving into my chest. I'm a heart patient, who knows what, I don't want to, and I'll get out of bed, and our bed is kind of high, and inevitably, I'll turn an ankle. By the time I get, that's not even to talk about what happens once I get into the bathroom, I mean, it all falls apart then. But by five minutes, I'm pretty convinced that I got to go to ER, and I don't need to work out.
So I just figured the alarm goes off, Sandy's up, and Sandy's out. The alarm goes off, and Sandy will move some morning, she'll move a little bit, and I'll say, how are you doing? I don't feel very well. Oh, wow, maybe you should take the day off. That's all I got to say, she's out of there like a shot. She'll go in, and she kind of makes sure her swimsuit is still a little wet from yesterday, so she'll put that on, and that gets her going.
Here's what stunned me: she struggles just like I do to go work out. The difference is, she's determined to do it, and she's looking for a reason to do it, and I'm looking for a reason to stop. So in this Christian life, there's this focus and dedication. I have to have good spiritual habits, just like physically, I need to eat well and exercise, I need to spend time around the things of God, I need to be thinking about life.
You Need an Eternal Perspective
Here's the last thing, you need an eternal perspective. You need to be able to get beyond this world, and the things of this world. Maybe two verses, and put them together by two different authors, but functionally they say essentially the same thing.
Job chapter 1 verse 21, Job writes: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return there." Ecclesiastes 5:15, Solomon writes: "And He came naked from His mother's womb, and so He will return as He came." Now here's what I want you to see: here's one guy who lost everything, here's another guy who got everything, and they stood and they looked around and they said, the irony of this is, I'm not going to have anything when it's done. If I can take that and put it in my perspective, all of a sudden decision making becomes easier.
Here you go, and you'll think, by the end of this lesson you're going to pretty much think I'm a total derelict. But the boys have a football game Saturday morning at 8:30, the Greys play. Well at nine o'clock the Hawks kick off homecoming against Indiana. Now on the surface this is a relatively easy call, this is your flesh and blood. Well but let's put it in perspective, they don't know which way they're going to run when they get it, it's flag football. I mean we're throwing, it's not the end of the world, they're not going to grow up to be a thief and a murderer because I'm not at this game. On the other hand it's homecoming and it's a very important game.
Now the solution is obvious isn't it? What's the solution? Tape the game. But in the old days I would grapple with that and I'd go to the kids game and I would be miserable for an hour at the kids game and it does. I mean it's so backward, but here's what I know: 10 or 15 years from now when I need somebody around me, Kirk Ferentz and the Iowa Hawkeyes are not going to be there and the grand boys are.
My little grandson came in the other day and I mean He's eight going on a hundred and He said, "Papa how do you feel?" One eight-year-old says it and there's a little lull in the conversation. Here's what He said: "What good restaurants have you been to lately?" I don't know but I want to take you there. I mean that's the stuff that matters.
A Warning We All Need
So Demas, I got hooked in Demas because I see more of me in Demas than I do Joseph, Daniel, Peter, Paul unfortunately and maybe you do too and it serves as a warning. New series, new meaning, done with this and into something else next week. We'll pick it up from there.
Invite your friends, it'll be killer. Duval next Tuesday night, I'd love to see you there. Father, thank you for these amazing truths, thank you for your Son Jesus, thank you.
That we can live lives that matter and make a difference because of You. God, do that work in our life, we ask it in Christ's name, amen.