not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as you see the Day approaching.
Awakening the Remnant: Why the Local Church Matters in Perilous Times
About this episode
Pastor Earl Glisson of Anchor of Faith Church in St. Augustine, Florida joins Philip Cameron for a wide-ranging conversation about the urgent necessity of the local church in what both men believe are the last of the last days. Earl opens with a striking warning: "You can talk nonsense to yourself all day and no one's going to correct you — but if you go to church, someone's going to say, 'That's not true.'" That accountability, he argues, is exactly why Hebrews' command to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together (Hebrews 10:25) is more than a suggestion — it is a survival strategy. The discussion moves through AI-generated deception targeting deceased ministers, the parable of the ten virgins and the impossibility of buying Holy Ghost oil on Facebook Marketplace, and the abdication of Christian dominion in culture, education, and family life. Earl draws a direct line from Adam's abdication in the Garden to today's church surrendering the raising of children to school systems and entertainment. He also reflects on the prophetic significance of Matthew 24:14 — the gospel preached to every nation before the end — and shares a sobering personal story about his granddaughter that illustrates the spiritual war targeting the next generation. If you are asking whether the local church still matters, this episode is your answer. Find Anchor of Faith Church on YouTube for archived Sunday services.
Part of our Church collection of conversations.
Quotes worth sharing
“Deception is at an all-time high. And you need to run to a local body church that is preaching the full counsel of God, because you're going to need it so in the last of the last days. There is instruction, not just from the pulpit, but there is instruction from being amongst people.”
“You can't buy Holy Ghost oil at the marketplace. It's not for sale there. You need to come to church. You need to go to church.”
“I want to know him — and the power of his resurrection — and the fellowship of his suffering. And I think less go there. But if you're going to know him and operate in the power of his resurrection, then you're going to have the fellowship of his suffering. Persecution is going to come. And I do believe that there's an awakening of people that are saying, 'You know what? It's worth the persecution because the name of Jesus is worth — He's my Lord.'”
What's Discussed
Pastor Earl Glisson of Anchor of Faith Church in St. Augustine, Florida — which also oversees three churches in Nicaragua, one in India, and a planned plant in the Dominican Republic — makes a compelling biblical and cultural case for the irreplaceable role of the local church. Drawing on Hebrews 10:25, Matthew 24:14, and the parable of the ten virgins, Earl warns that Holy Ghost oil cannot be purchased on Facebook Marketplace. He addresses AI-generated sermons falsely attributed to deceased ministers, the church's abdication of cultural dominion mirroring Adam's in the Garden, and a personal account of his granddaughter's school bullying crisis that illustrates the spiritual war on the next generation. Earl and Philip also discuss Islam's rise in Britain, a 30% surge of young men returning to church, and the theology of knowing Christ through the fellowship of His suffering (Philippians 3:10).
- Anchor of Faith Church Planting Vision
- Dangers of Pajama Christianity and Live Stream
- Holy Spirit Moves Among College Students
- AI Deception Targeting Deceased Ministers
- Local Church as Ark of Safety
- Ten Virgins and Holy Ghost Oil
- Adam's Abdication and Church Dominion
- Granddaughter's Story and Spiritual War on Youth
- Islam's Rise in Britain and the Remnant Awakening
- Fellowship of Christ's Suffering and Persecution
Scripture in this episode
This Good News of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed to his death;
Episode Transcript
Auto-generated · click any timestamp to jump the video
Intro
Philip:Welcome to Daily Faith today. My name is Philip Cameron, and I am so pleased that you are with us today. We have a great guest, a great man of God. Aaron Burke is with me. He pastors a church in St. Augustine, Florida, called Anchor Faith Church. They have bought a mall.
Philip:Can you believe it? A whole shopping mall. I was walking the other day, we were traveling, and we went to this mall, and half the stuff was gone, empty. And I thought, "Whoa, what an opportunity for someone to see beyond where you are into a bigger vision, a bigger purpose."
Philip:And I've learned this in my life. For 36 years, we've had mission work in Moldova and Romania and Ukraine, and I've never been able to build something that's been too big. Every time I build it, I'll think, "I should've added 20%. I should have doubled the size of it."
Philip:Because God's plans and God's vision and purpose are bigger than what you and I could ever conceive. And He's looking for us to partner and say, "Lord, let me see the world through your eyes. Let me feel the world through your heart." And when you do that, out of His infinite riches in Jesus, He giveth and He giveth and He giveth again.
Philip:And we just got a new video the other day of orphans. We have these homes, an amazing place in a city called Chișinău, which is the capital of a country called Moldova, which is right next door to Ukraine. And in that, we take these kids that are destined to be trafficked. Each one, each girl you see in this video, is worth $300,000 a year to the traffickers. That's how much profit they make off of every one of these girls.
Philip:And we take them into our village of gorgeous homes, originally built for rich people, and on the largest lake in the country. And they poisoned that lake with chlorine to kill the algae, and no one wanted to live that close to a lake in those homes. And we bought them. They were unfinished, and we bought them and fixed them up. And we take these kids in, and we put them back in school. And we tell them, "If you're born, God has a plan. You are not a mistake."
Philip:And the crazy thing that happens is these orphans become sons and daughters, and then they become missionaries. And they are out in the highways and byways. Each of the villages of Vatra adopt a village in the country, and they go to every widow, every broken home, every young person that's going through trouble. And our kids literally go through the entire village sharing the gospel.
Philip:In the springtime, they dig up widows' gardens and plant vegetables for the summer. And it's a whole thing. That's why we're called the Orphan's Hands. And the other day, they were on an outreach. It happens all year long. Snow, nothing stops them. And I'm going to watch this with you for the very first time. Take a look at what we're doing.
Philip:Isn't that marvelous? Orphans becoming missionaries. And we are just so thrilled with what God is doing. We've just opened, we just purchased two new homes. We had a horrible thing happen. A young girl called Maria was brought to us by a mayor of a little village, living in a horrendous situation, and the mayor asked us if we could take her in. However, she was only 14, and our limitation is 16, but we took the risk to take her in. And when the officials found out, they made us put her back, literally to hell. And within a week of her going back to this village, she was gang raped by 10 men.
Philip:Ruined her life, ruined her mind. She lost her mind. And it so hurt us that we were unable to help her. We've now began a project. We bought two houses and a farm, and we will take in kids between the age of four and 16, and God helped us to pay it off in January, and right now we're believing God for the money to finish the interior.
Philip:And the price of things in Moldova, because they buy most of their supplies from Ukraine, which is a big country, and it's doubled in price, so we are believing God for $200,000 to finish these homes. And this one, it looks finished, but it needed so much work that we had to almost strip it back to the walls. And the other house is about 80% finished.
Philip:So we are believing God for people just like you to stand with us and say, "We will be with you." And every one of these homes is built — all the ministry that we do in Moldova is based on a dollar a day. You can change a life for $1 a day. And if you'd like to help us, whether it's to give a gift to help us finish one of these two homes or to say, "Philip, I would like to be a sponsor, a partner, an investor on a monthly basis to give a dollar." A dollar a day won't change your world, but to the wee girls and boys you just saw in that video, it will change their life forever.
Philip:And you can contact us. It's very simple to get ahold of us, PO Box 25, Clinton, Tennessee 37716. And let the Lord speak to you. We have an 800 number, 833 Daily Faith, and you dial that number and a real live person will speak to you. And you can say, "Hey, I'm watching Philip, and I want to be a part of this. I want to give a gift to finish these homes for the small kids between the age of four and 16," or, "I want to give a dollar a day to sponsor these homes to give these kids hope."
Philip:Let the Lord speak to you. The Bible says when you give to the poor, you lend to the Lord. The Bible says a pure religion undefiled is when you care for the widow and the orphan. And by caring for the orphans, and they become missionaries, they care for the widows. So we're doing both things that we've been told by the scripture to do.
Philip:Let the Lord speak to your heart, if he could. I am so honored and delighted to have a friend of mine. Earl Glisson is part of a miraculous movement building new churches, starting new churches, in Anchor of Faith in St. Augustine, Florida. And Earl, I'm just so glad to have you on the program today. God bless you, my brother.
Earl Glisson:God bless you, man. It's so exciting to be here with you. We are looking forward to just see what God's doing.
Anchor of Faith Church Planting Vision
Philip:Tell us, you've established or you're starting a new church, yet another one?
Earl Glisson:Yes. We have our St. Augustine location, and then we have three churches in Nicaragua, one in India, and we have all the legal paperwork accomplished for us to launch one in the Dominican Republic. We plan to do that in 2027. But I have a launch team in Port St. Joe, Florida, and we're going to be launching another church there by the end of the year.
Earl Glisson:And so I'm doing some training with some people in our church that's called the Ministry. And we're going to plant some pastors in those locations and help oversee the vision of Anchor of Faith Church. But we're just so excited of what God's doing. In fact, I don't really do a live stream service with us. We love for people to be in the room. So you can go onto our YouTube channel and watch our Sunday services, but in order to do that, you're not going to get that till Thursday. So if you want it live, you have to come to church.
Dangers of Pajama Christianity and Live Stream
Philip:That is a good idea, because what's happened is we've created a whole bunch of pajama Christians. I'll just sit and have a cup of coffee and — that's not what the Bible says. "Forget not the assembling of yourselves together."
Earl Glisson:Assembling of yourselves together. That's so true. So we've always done that. Plus, Philip, I'm not a pastor to the world, and so there are some times things that when we're ministering on Sunday is just for Anchor of Faith Church. And by not doing live stream, it allows you to cut those sections out, because they weren't meant for some other believer in our states or in the world. And so we have that flexibility by not doing it. But I am doing a live stream to our launch team.
Earl Glisson:And this past Sunday, we had just a divine move of the Spirit, and I had the unction to speak to some of our local college students that were in our service, and we laid hands on them. What I did not know is there was a group of Penn State students in Port St. Joe that showed up for spring break, came to the location where our launch team's at. And so our team over there just flowed with us and prayed for them. It was like, wow, what an amazing thing. The Spirit of God knew who was in the building even though I didn't know, and we were able to minister to two colleges this past Sunday.
Philip:As I alluded to at the beginning of the program, we are living in extraordinary days. When the assembling of ourselves together is absolutely going to be — it may be life-saving, because we are going to see things, and the Bible says in the last days, perilous times will come. Did you see those two guys throw those bombs the other day in New York? I mean, unheard of things are taking place, and I believe that the church is the ark of safety in the days we're living in.
Holy Spirit Moves Among College Students
Earl Glisson:It surely is. And when you opened up the show today, you're talking about the 10 virgins. The wise ones and the foolish. You do not want to be the foolish ones.
Earl Glisson:And I do think it's very important. Our whole society, just through technology, has retrained, especially in our Western culture, that we are social without being together. And the reality is, that's not going to be the case.
Philip:We're all keyboard warriors. All keyboard. And when you think about AI now and what they're doing, with that and all the things you can see on YouTube today, that's not even reality. I had two people yesterday send me this thing, "Oh, this is the most moving thing we've ever seen. So Celine Dion must have got saved." And so I went, "Wow." So I clicked on it and it was an AI version of Celine singing this song.
Philip:Wrapped in Jesus' arms. And I'm thinking, "Whoa. They've managed to get a video of Jesus. This is incredible." It was a pastor that sent it to me, and then another lady that spent her life in ministry, and they didn't understand that Jesus was in the video, and they thought, "Whoa."
AI Deception Targeting Deceased Ministers
Earl Glisson:Yeah. There's a lot going on. I've seen it recently, some videos surface where some great men and women of God have gone on to be with the Lord. And because AI can take their sermons, a person can go in now and say, "Have this minister say they don't believe in tithing, or they don't believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit." And now you're getting all these new sermons out from these ministers that have gone. It's just a picture of them, but yet it's their voice going against the very doctrines that they preached when they were alive.
Earl Glisson:So deception is at an all-time high. And you need to run to a local body church that is preaching the full counsel of God, because you're going to need it so in the last of the last days. There is instruction, not just from the pulpit, but there is instruction from being amongst people.
Local Church as Ark of Safety
Philip:So if you're talking nonsense and you talk nonsense in a church — you can talk nonsense to yourself all day and no one's going to correct you. But if you go to a church, someone's going to say, "That's not true. That's not what happened. Hold on." And the correction does not necessarily have to come from a — it's just the assembling of yourselves together. And as we see the day approaching, what amazes me is the fact that we can talk in the church, Jesus is coming soon, and we ignore all of the touchpoints that we've got as the church to fulfill to welcome His return.
Earl Glisson:Matthew 24:14 says, "Until this gospel of the kingdom is preached in every nation as a testimony, then the end will come." We know that we still have a lot of work to do, with eight billion people on the planet, and they say maybe two billion are confessing Christians. Now, whether that's a born-again Christian, that's another debate. Or a cultural Christian. But you understand, there's a lot of work to do.
Earl Glisson:And if it is that the Lord's coming back, which I could truly see it in our lifetime, I don't know the day or the hour, the Bible tells us that very specifically. But it does tell us it's the season, and a lot of people that are watching, we need to look up, for our redemption draweth nigh. And I do believe that in this time, if you're thinking, "Well, that's not going to be in my lifetime," well, you're going to get caught up in the very thing the Lord's saying, "Do not do." Some generation's going to be that generation that is changed in the moment, in the twinkling of an eye.
Philip:Absolutely. So why not us? And let's live it as if it's going to happen in our lifetime. When the Y2K thing happened in the year 2000 and it was the end of the world and stuff, well, I speak in churches, so what blew my mind was every church I was going to, the pastor was saying to the people, "We've got to get ourselves ready. We've got to prepare ourself." And I would stand up and say, "Listen, guys, it's too late. If you're only thinking now about getting yourself ready for Jesus coming back, that's not the plan. The plan is you're out in the harvest field bringing the harvest in before Jesus comes back."
Philip:And I look at the church in the state of unreadiness. We had a dear friend of mine speaking in our local church yesterday, and he talked about the five wise and the five foolish virgins. And the five foolish virgins went to the five wise and said, "Give us some oil." And they said, "No." And they said, "Go to the marketplace."
Ten Virgins and Holy Ghost Oil
Philip:You won't find Holy Ghost oil on Marketplace. It's even the same name, Facebook Marketplace. We literally have wrapped ourselves into this thing, and it has wrapped itself around us, that they say, the five wise said to the five foolish, "Go to the marketplace and buy your oil." You can't buy Holy Ghost oil at the marketplace. It's not for sale there. You need to come to church. You need to go to church.
Earl Glisson:And as these days approach, the mess we've got ourself in is that the church stopped being the center. This is why what you're doing with this mall is just, to me, it is such an answer to the church. When America was made great, the church was the schoolhouse. The church was the hospital. St. Joseph, Saint This, Saint That, First Baptist, it was all based on the church. And we, through laziness, allowed the government to take away what was rightfully the church's dominion.
Adam's Abdication and Church Dominion
Earl Glisson:And by doing so, we've lost our kids. They can't pray in the very place that was ordained for God to train them in the church. And we need to get back to the basics of what we are and why we're here.
Philip:So true. You think about it, again, the church is doing the very same thing that Adam did. Adam abdicated his dominion. A lot of times we hear, the devil stole it. The devil didn't steal it. He gave it to him. He abdicated his dominion to him. And you think about in the church today, how many believers are abdicating the raising of their children to the school systems, or to arts and entertainment, to coaches, different sports programs. We've just abdicated our authority that we have in life in different sectors of society.
Philip:And act like our Christian walk is something different. It's the same thing like when a person begins to wonder how much time, "Well, I don't want to spend too much time at church." They never say that about the job that they take. They never say that, which always tells me, if you're debating how much you're serving in church compared to how much you're working a job, then you're already telling me that you're serving mammon more than you are the Lord.
Earl Glisson:Absolutely. Our church is building a new place for the youth. My granddaughter — listen to this — my granddaughter was set upon in school by a bunch of kids that determined that she would commit suicide. Every day of her life, all evening, through the night, they would text her, "Kill yourself. You're not worthy of being alive."
Granddaughter's Story and Spiritual War on Youth
Earl Glisson:So at the end of summer, when she went back to school, a middle school in a wee town in Tennessee, they met her and said, "Are you still alive?" She came home and told my son, and we got her out of school, and she's never been back. A few weeks ago, she came into my room, and she's with a nice black coat. I says, "Where are you going, sweetheart?" She said, "I'm going to a funeral." I says, "A funeral? Who died?" She says, "A little girl in my class." She says, "The girls that tried to get me to kill myself got her to kill herself."
Philip:Wow. 13 years old.
Earl Glisson:Yeah, that's the spirit in the earth, isn't it? And we are giving our kids over to those spirits, that they can take your son and daughter and help them to reassign their gender. Even to talk about it is nuts. And they will tell you with a straight face, "Yes, sir, this is what we do. It's the child's right." I heard President Biden say the same thing. They campaigned on it.
Philip:And thank God that in America, there's still a remnant that haven't bowed the knee to Baal, that are going to stand up and say, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." But you serve the Lord in the house of the Lord. That's a really important thing you just said, too, because when you look back at the Bible, a lot of times people want to stay only in the New Testament, and we are to interpret the Old Testament in light of the New.
Earl Glisson:But the Bible itself has a great canonization of the different dispensations of God. And in each dispensation, when you go from one dispensation into the next one, there always seems to be a remnant. There's not this huge gathering. There's a less amount, and then into the new dispensation, you all of a sudden get this great awakening that occurs.
Earl Glisson:And so, obviously, we had the 400 years that were silent prior to Christ. And so there's just a remnant of people who are still believing in the Messiah. It's not rampant. But once He is death, burial, and resurrection, and then the day of Pentecost, now all of a sudden the Church has taken off, and it's gone. It's amazing.
Earl Glisson:However, are we coming to this end of the catching away of the Church that is more of a remnant? Now, that doesn't mean there won't be a harvest. But I do sometimes wonder, Philip. I do believe that harvest is going to carry, is going to start prior to the catching away, and probably some of the largest harvest we'll see once the Church is out.
Islam's Rise in Britain and the Remnant Awakening
Philip:In Britain right now, in my home country, there is a huge war going on over Islam. We have allowed Islam to come in. The Mayor of London, the Mayor of Birmingham, the Mayor of Manchester, all the major cities are now run by Muslims. The city council. Some of the mayors don't even speak English. And they are demanding — they come in as refugees, and then they demand the rights. And now they're demanding Sharia law.
Philip:And this great land of ours that was the bastion of salvation and missionaries, and Britain, the sun never set on the British Empire, is now, as you're watching in the Iran situation, how Starmer, the Prime Minister, doesn't even have enough courage to back America up in its events in Iran because he's scared of the Muslim population. He's scared, so he's pandering, continually pandering.
Philip:And what's happened is, since Charlie Kirk died, they've had a 30% increase of young men going to church and a 30% growth of Bible purchases. So just when you think everything's going to collapse, and I am so mad at my home country, so disgusted with them, that they've compromised, the church has compromised and compromised, taken the blood of Jesus out of the church. It's totally irrelevant.
Philip:And just when you're at the point of throwing the bathwater out with the baby, something happens, and a young kid gets assassinated in America, and it sparks this revival. And so here we have the Muslims and Islam rising on one side, and then suddenly the church reigniting itself as if to say, "Hold on a second, this thing ain't over yet."
Fellowship of Christ's Suffering and Persecution
Earl Glisson:So the church is where our heart and our soul should be at. When you think about Paul also said, he said, "I want to know him." A lot of people stop there. But then he goes on and says, "And the power of his resurrection." And others go there. But then he goes one more and he says, "And the fellowship of his suffering." And I think less go there. But if you're going to know him and operate in the power of his resurrection, then you're going to have the fellowship of his suffering.
Earl Glisson:Persecution is going to come. And I do believe that there's an awakening of people that are saying, "You know what? It's worth the persecution because the name of Jesus is worth — He's my Lord." And I believe we are going to see those individuals continue to stand up, those church bodies stand up as well. It's going to be awesome. However, how many that is, I don't know, but you know as well as I do, it doesn't take millions to do — Jesus did something with 12 people.
Philip:A dozen people. And ultimately, we're 11, and they had to add the 12th one before the day of Pentecost. Had to top it up. Listen, it always is a great blessing. I always leave having talked to you with stuff to chew on. I hope you're watching us today realizing that you are the salt of the earth. What you do for Jesus is important. What you do with your family is important. And bring them to a good, spirit-filled, Bible-believing church, and expect God to do a mighty outpouring of His Spirit in your home.
Philip:Thank you again, Earl. I just look forward to seeing you in the future. And we're praying for you that as you continue your expansion for the kingdom of God, we love you. Thank you for watching "Daily Faith" today. Appreciate you. See you again in the future. Remember, if you'd like to help us in the new buildings that we're working on, your gift of a dollar a day will change lives or it can help me finish that building. We'll see you again. God bless. Bye-bye.
For over 25 years, the Cameron family has been changing the lives of orphans in Romania and Moldova. From providing running water, flushing toilets, and clean wells, to coal for heat, new windows, as well as food and clothing. They champion the physical needs of the orphans in these broken and desolate countries.
Many of Moldova's orphans are saved from the horrors of trafficking through homes founded by the Camerons. And in the process, orphans become daughters and sons. They come to know their Heavenly Father and are forever changed by the love of Jesus. God helped the Camerons lift these amazing young men and women out of darkness. Now, no longer orphans, they want to return and invade that very same darkness with the light of Jesus Christ.
The Orphan's Hands equips these daughters and sons to become missionaries. Your monthly gift of $31 will allow us to rescue and take in more girls and boys, saving them from the hell of human trafficking. Your monthly partnership will allow us to care for those in The Orphan's Hands homes in Moldova and the Ukraine.
If you want to join Philip and Chrissy in taking care of these precious young people, please contact us today by calling 833-DAILYFAITH. You can also give by going online to www.dailyfaith.tv, or by writing to Post Office Box 25, Clinton, Tennessee 37716. So many lives depend on what we do. Thank you for loving the lost.
Common questions
Why doesn't Anchor of Faith Church do a live stream of its Sunday services?
Earl says he's not a pastor to the world — some of what he ministers on Sunday is specifically meant for his local congregation, not for believers everywhere. By not live streaming, he has the flexibility to cut those sections out when the service is later posted to YouTube on Thursday. If you want it live, he says, you have to come to church.
How is AI being used to spread false teaching, according to Earl?
Earl warns that AI can take the voice and likeness of well-known ministers who have already passed away and generate new 'sermons' that contradict the very doctrines those ministers preached in their lifetimes — for example, making them appear to deny tithing or the baptism of the Holy Spirit. He says deception is at an all-time high because of this, and urges people to anchor themselves in a local church that preaches the full counsel of God.
What does Earl think happened when the church stopped being the center of community life?
Earl argues that when America was at its greatest, the church was the schoolhouse and the hospital. Through what he calls laziness, the church allowed the government to take over those roles — and as a result, the church lost its dominion, including the ability to shape how children are raised and educated.
Does Earl believe there will be a big revival before Jesus returns, or just a small remnant?
Earl says he believes a harvest is coming, but he wonders whether the church at the time of the 'catching away' will look more like a remnant than a massive movement — similar to how each biblical dispensation transitions through a smaller remnant before a new awakening breaks out. He also thinks some of the largest harvest may actually occur after the church is gone.
What does Earl say about persecution and standing firm in faith?
Drawing on Paul's words in Philippians, Earl says that truly knowing Christ and operating in the power of His resurrection means you will also share in the fellowship of His suffering — persecution will come. But he believes an awakening is already stirring of people who are deciding the name of Jesus is worth the cost, and that it doesn't take millions to make a difference, pointing out that Jesus changed the world with just 12 people.
Topics
earl glissonanchor of faith churchlocal churchremnantten virgins parablelast dayschristian dominion