Make Christians Political Again!

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Oh, he must be a Republican. Who cares? That's not how we make our opinions. Based on whether somebody will think we're a Democrat or Republican and then go running into the shadow of what that party says is right or wrong. We put forth the word of God, and if anybody thinks of us in any political terms based on what the word of God says, so be it. Run your home and your dough like a biblical boss. Welcome back to Abraham's Wallet and a Big Fat Happy 250th birthday to the nation this week. I'm very excited about it. I've got the bunting out. We are doing kazoos and flags and whatever. Very excited. If you don't know Abraham's Wallet, this podcast equips fathers and grandfathers for multi generational faithfulness, family leadership, stewardship, finance financially, and applying scripture to every area of life. Mark, Hello. How are you today? [00:01:03] Speaker B: I'm pretty fired up. I'm ready. I know that this is a balancing act because what I'm happy about, you might even say, is not the most American thing, but it's. I'm hoping that our U.S. men's National Team, who's about to play and try to qualify for the elimination round for the first time ever in the first two games like this, would be a big deal if we win. So we're really excited. Our whole family is going to watch this game and. [00:01:34] Speaker A: Okay, help me understand. I don't even understand what you just said. We hope to qualify for the elimination round. Isn't every round an elimination round? [00:01:45] Speaker B: No. So it starts out, you're put in a group of four teams and everybody plays each other, and the two best teams move on to the knockout bracket. Sometimes this is where it gets confusing. Sometimes a third team gets through if they're one of the better. Okay, but the US Has a chance to. If they win today, it doesn't matter what happens in the last game, they're through. And that's never happened before. After two games, we've always had to, like, scrap our way in if we've made it past this first round. [00:02:18] Speaker A: Okay, so my question is, we've never won the World cup, right? [00:02:22] Speaker B: No. No, no, no. [00:02:24] Speaker A: Okay. How. How close have we come? [00:02:28] Speaker B: That's a good question. Best us and my. [00:02:34] Speaker A: I guess my next question is there seems to be excitement. And dum dums like me think, well, if there's excitement, does that mean that somebody thinks that we have a chance to go very far? Do we have an unusually good team? I don't. I don't I, I don't know how often the World cup even works. I've. This is the longest conversation I've ever had about the World Cup. [00:02:55] Speaker B: Yeah, so I, I remembered getting to kind of a little deeper in the tournament previously. So in 2002 we made it to the round of 16 teams and one so we made it to the quarterfinals. We actually got three third place in the World cup, but that was in 1930, so I don't even, I mean there might have been like U boats attacking some countries when they were on their way. I don't know. So in the modern era, it's been very rare for us to get past say just making it into the elimination rounds. So. Okay, I don't know if we, I don't want to bore people, but I, I think we have a good team this year. I don't think we have the best team in the world, but anything can happen when you get into a 1:1 elimination situation. Like anything could happen. [00:03:52] Speaker A: Okay, I'm all for this because as I just told you, my brother in law is at this game. He sent a picture of the family and they are decked out head to toe, including socks with flags. The, everything they're wearing is a version of the American flag. And this makes me pleased. [00:04:13] Speaker B: Maybe the most heartwarming content that has hit the Internet in the past few weeks because there's been a lot of not heartwarming content, but the good stuff has been all these people from Asia and Europe and all over the world coming to America. And I've just seen post after post, it's been on the local news. It's not just social media. This has been prolific is people saying, we were told that this place is not a cool place at all, that we're not supposed to like America. And once we got out of New York City and LA and into the heartland, there's these German guys that have been driving all the way across America and they've been invited on the Late show and all that stuff. They're like, this is the greatest place we've ever been. I've heard people saying we now understand why Americans are fat because the food is 20 times better than anything we have in Europe. They've said the people are just shockingly friendly and willing to go out of their way to help. And that makes me, as an American, do something that you like, Stephen, which is get more patriotic. I just feel like when I hear those stories, it makes me thankful for living in a place like I do. So it's been a You know, it's whatever the patriotism equivalent of building up my faith is. That's what's happened during this World Cup. [00:05:39] Speaker A: Yeah, I always appreciate people seeing the country with fresh eyes. And I think one of the great conclusions, maybe they don't use these words is that I know Australians, for instance, or Europeans, because of their liberal media slanted. They think that we are a very liberal nation. And the fact is we're not. We just have a very liberal leadership structure. Our government is liberal, but the rank and file American's not. And I think that people, I mean, I live in the middle of this city and the neighborhood I live in is so chokingly, stultifyingly liberal that you would think that America is liberal if you don't ever get out. But. But if you drive across the nation like your Germans are doing, they go, this place is a wonderland. And just as a side note, I think that it serves leftist purposes for people who watch TV and get their news from media. It serves their purposes for us to also believe. I'm probably in the minority. We probably have a very leftist kind of nation. And I should probably keep my mouth shut because everybody's going to disagree with me. I think that dynamic's been happening for the last few years, which is what we're talking about today. But before we get into it, one more question. Do you have any plans for the fourth of July, which is going to be happening the week that this episode comes out? [00:07:14] Speaker B: I'm going to be hopefully celebrating, maybe even cheering for that U.S. world cup team. I don't know when they'll be playing, playing next, but from some sort of situation in the country of Montenegro. So I won't even be in America [00:07:33] Speaker A: for the 200 continent Montenegro's on. [00:07:37] Speaker B: It's in Europe. [00:07:38] Speaker A: Well, are you going to take a patriotic shirt or something that you could don in case wonderful things happen with your World cup soccer league? [00:07:47] Speaker B: You know, I was thinking we're going to be in Croatia for a lot of this trip and they have a really good team. Hopefully that team makes it. I might be like the Europeans that come over here and just get fired up and we love them. I might go over there and find some Croatians and be like, could I watch a game with you guys and cheer for your country? I'm open to that. [00:08:07] Speaker A: That would be understandable. Yes. My, my plan is, which is. Which is just calcified, is that we will be on Lake Texoma, north of Dallas, and I've already found the places where the fireworks are going to happen and where there's going to be, you know, patriotic assemblies of people. And I think we're going to try to get to the cute little old town of McKinney for the evening parade the night of the 4th. So we fully intend to be part of small town America, even though we'll be in the state of Texas. [00:08:48] Speaker B: Yeah, I think McKinney was a small town in about 1945, but it's what, it's just Dallas now, right? [00:08:56] Speaker A: Well, yeah, but we get to go. It's kind of like Plano. You can still go to the old town square and pretend that that's all that there is to the town. So that's what we'll do. [00:09:06] Speaker B: I've said it before and I'll say it again to all our listeners. I don't know if this episode even airs before the Fourth of July, but if you have the opportunity to go as rural country as possible for your Fourth of July that never disappoints, find a place that's putting young children on the backs of full grown sheep and do like maybe they're chasing some greased up pigs, barnyard animals. Our local place that we used to go would do a catching of fish in a big giant fake pond. Like anything you can get like that. Catching animals. If there's some killing of animals, that's okay. Just rural country. Fourth of July always is a winner. [00:09:56] Speaker A: Yes. If you could get yourself to a watermelon seed spitting contest, you would only be blessed for, for making that happen. [00:10:04] Speaker B: Well, let's get into the, the main course of today's survey, please. [00:10:10] Speaker A: Let's do. I'd like to start with what politics is exactly. I think that's helpful for our people as a baseline. So let's just define politics is the activities or ideas associated with the governance of a country or other area. So if you, if you correctly apply that word according to its definition, a debate about politics might include something like whether states rights or federal rights should be given preference on any issue. That's a political question. Whether a democracy or a republic is the best form of government, you might have an opinion about that. That's a political discussion. If the judiciary should be separate from the executive powers, these were all things that our founders were talking about. They were having political discussions. How long a governor's term should be. Those are political questions. I think it's important for us to define, oh, the governance of a nation. That conversation is political. Those conversations are largely outside the direct scope of Christianity, though God certainly has a government and you can read the scriptures about how Israel was run as a country. We would say that humans are free to determine self rule. God certainly let that be the case and that government specific questions can surely be left up to political scientists. No problem. As Christians we are most concerned about issues that scripture addresses and the Bible, the Bible's purview we just defined political purview. The Bible's purview is deeper issues such as how we interface with the divine, the value and purpose of a human being, creation, order, family structure, like how humans were made to operate with one another and with their creator. The issue of course of eternal truth and salvation. Those are the kinds of issues that are biblical. And so I'm going to say Christian issues. For decades now, Christians have stayed out of debatable matters. Where you feel like I, I'm not sure if immigration is a good example, how to treat the foreigner. I won't even say immigration. I'll say how to treat the foreigner so the government can make some rulings on how to treat the foreigner. The Bible has some instructions for us about how to treat a foreigner. And as we heard with Justin Wolfenberg, there is a definition, there's a biblical definition of what that is. So we understand how to do these things. So we have stayed out of now for decades, anything that feels like a debatable matter. So as Americans should we require voter id? Maybe you can have a rational defense and an opinion of that, but biblically speaking, that's a debatable issue. What should our policy be about? How we go to war? That's a debatable issue. You could have an opinion based on the Bible, but it's not really the Bible's purview. Now we can reserve judgment or we can have fringe arguments on many of these issues. But for decades Christianity has done this deal where we have pulled back from anything that felt that is being called political at all. And I just want to start by telling people that historically in America from the outset we have had preachers and very public figures who were non stop talking and teaching about issues that were called political. American preachers have had entire books published on political sins, instructions for their congregation. Hey now this thing has come up, it's now a hot button issue. My congregation needs to know what the word of God says on this so that we will react in a godly biblical way. And they've also been very common in American history for preachers to publicly rebuke government officials and say you're not acting in a godly way. It's Wrong what you're doing. That trend that I'm describing in American history is of course, all over the Bible. Can you imagine Moses or Abraham or David or Paul saying, we don't get involved in political matters. No, you cannot conceive of that because the kingdom will always clash with worldly powers. Wherever there's one power that says we dominate people and we can say how people live, the kingdom of God rises up and go, that's not right. We don't accept your rule here and here. And matter of fact, we're going to speak truth to power. Think of Moses speaking to Pharaoh and saying, you don't get to treat God's people this way. So we can trace the American fad of mousy, quiet Christians back to 1954. So until that time, we've got loud biblical truth voices throughout the culture. And in 1954, Senator Lyndon B. Johnson slipped in what we now call the Johnson Amendment. It wasn't aimed at churches when it happened, but it has effectively told churches and all nonprofits stay out of political campaigns or political messaging. I'm saying what the government deems to be political messaging or you will lose your tax exempt status. And that move, combined with cultural pressure, trained a generation of Christians to think. We don't engage in anything that could be called political debate. I just, I want to put that forward to our people to say that is a modern innovation. That is not a biblical innovation. And I want us to review what the biblical stance is on engaging on debatable issues, whether they're called political or not. I submit that this faux Christian silence that we were born into, Mark, is not only true in the Christian pews that increasingly rarely will you hear a man standing at the front of an auditorium with a cross hanging behind him speaking frankly about what are called political issues. But I think it also extends into our homes and we feel preemptively shushed as fathers when we apply God's word to current issues, whether it's abortion or homosexual rights or what's currently called pride, whether it's economic policy, whether it's war, we're supposed to be actively taking every single aspect of society, every arena of life, bringing it under the microscope of God's word and. And then making a judgment. That's our job. But my observation, and I just want to crack this false ceiling that's on top of so many Christian men. That is, you have to keep your place, and your place is on the side. And if you want to talk to your family about prayer, you can talk about prayer with them. But don't you get into sexual ethics. That's not your, you can't talk about that. You can't talk about whether America is something to be cheered about or not. You keep your mouth shut on that. And there's this increasingly shushing, compressing closure of the Christian mouth. And I think what it means is we do less work on actually pulling up God's word and going what? I don't know, what does God's word have to say about this? You know this story, Mark, of my daughter being at a church camp, not the one that we take our kids to in Texas, but at a church camp where homosexuality was presented to my 13 year old daughter as something God would approve of. This is one of the options. And this is all, this is fine. And what my sweet Godly daughter did in that moment was she got a friend or two, opened up God's word and said, let's just review based on what we just heard in a religious authority setting, let's just review what God's word says about this. And they concluded in about eight seconds. We don't agree with that. God's word says this. We're not going to stand for that messaging because we can see what God's word says. It's such a simple picture and it's what God's men are, are supposed to be doing in their homes every day of the week, every week of the year in every country under God's son. And I hate the fact that we live in a time when we're being told that that's outlawed, that can't happen. [00:19:37] Speaker B: I think it's really an interesting time that we're talking about this because I don't know how much you've been following the Christian buzz, but this week there's been a lot of talk about my home state of Utah. And there's a group of guys that actually we used to kind of be interested in what these guys were doing. They're putting out a bunch a little bit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they had a conference and they invited people and they kind of were like, we're the masculine Christians, we don't deal with the gay democrats and stuff like that. And it's been interesting because the, the reaction against what you were saying, like we're not supposed to talk about any social hot button issues or politics. They went swinging the other way. And actually, and we might have to do a whole episode about this later, they ended up in Nazism and had self professing Nazis with booths at Their conference that were distributing pamphlets for things that were just absolutely detestable. And I think that somebody said to me in the, in the wake of that they said, you know, this kind of like we're against everything kind of feminine and gay. This, this stripe is sort of the same thing as like the super woke Christianity. And they said it's the new seeker sensitive movement. Because the seeker sensitive movement back in the early 2000s said well, let's just take the disenfranchised people who are like I'm burned by church and let's make something that feels super comforting to them. Well now we've got all these people who've been told, shut up and don't talk back to kind of your government overlords when they tell you you will wave the rainbow flag and you. And there's been a stripe of Christianity that's come along and said to those people, hey, we can just be super brash and like puff our chests out and kind of larp as masculinity influencers or whatever they want to be. That's kind of the same thing because it's divorced from Christ. So what I'm looking forward to today is actually bringing the scriptures and the person of Jesus to the political debate, which is for the love what our founders wanted us to do. That's what they wanted us to do. So let's do that. [00:22:18] Speaker A: Yeah, Amen. So I'm reviewing the fact that we have been shushed out of talking about what's called politics. And let's imagine those two arenas again. The arena of what is truly political, which is the running of a government which we're allowed to have opinions about and the eternal things that the scriptures talk about. Those are two separate arenas. Well, I want you to imagine that. I think it's bad enough that we'd be told, oh, we can't have an opinion about these things. But there's something worse afoot and that is that we live in an age of expanding political influence in, into all quarters of life. And we are amid a culture that's happy to facilitate that expansion. To wit, questions that fall squarely under the purview of faith and scripture are now being co opted and labeled political. If we could take that issue and put it under our umbrella, then we can tell the Christians to stay silent about it. Consider a question like what is a family? Okay, Is, is what is a family? Is that a political issue about how to run a government? Or is that a creation order kind of question? What is a family? Is a creation Order question. But as soon as government or, or politics in general has an opinion about something, think of the way the tax code is written. Do you get a benefit from a man marrying a man and, and saying, we're now a family, so we want tax benefits as a family? Now the government has weighed in on something. Is that issue now a political issue? Well, we're told that it is. So now what constitutes a family is now a political issue. So you Christians stayed where you are. You don't, you don't get to speak to political issues. So if we call it political now, you're out of this debate. And my observation is that by and large we obey the rules, we keep our mouth shut, we don't speak on things that are called political by anybody. What about the question? I mean, this follows very easily from that question. What is marriage? That's not a political question. That is a creation order question that you can call political if you want to and your government can make a statement about it. But it's a creation order question. We don't appeal to government to answer the question, what is marriage? We appeal to God's word, which tells us what marriage is. Other questions, what is a woman? Can a human change genders? Just imagine calling these things political. Again, politics is how you run a country and the methods that you use to lead a government. Whether someone can change genders or not is a creation order question. What is a baby? What is a human being? Who gets to lead a family? Do parents have the right to lead and rule their children? Is the family of Israel special at all? Where and to whom can you pray? Are some gods better than other gods? Is there a king of the gods? Again, what does a government have to do with this question about whether one God is chief over other gods? These are eternal scriptural questions. Of course, we would cheerlead any government that would come to the scriptures and say, as George Washington did, we humbly bow before the king of the universe. And the things that don't touch on government or how we're putting together, you know, our post enlightenment government, we, we're going to bend our knee to what the Holy Scriptures say and God's eternal word says about family or to whom we can pray, or who is the king of the gods? Let me finish my list. Where can you express your faith? It's not a political question. That's an eternal question. Sorry to get graphic, but with whom can you have sex? That's not a political question. That's a creation order question. None of these as I've already said are political questions. We flatly reject that label. We're told all the time from all quarters that these are social, political questions. And we just saw it this last week where Christian ball players are told, you will wear this flag which celebrates a biblical definition of perversion, and you will celebrate it. And we're told that's a social issue that you must cheer. And these men, instinctively as Christians, say no. These are biblical questions about creation, order. And I can't bow to you. Whether you call it, you can call it social, you can call it political, you can call it whatever you want, they directly relate to the authority of scripture. And if we keep silent when the world asks us these questions, we are not servants of God's truth. We are not fulfilling our duties as caretakers of God's word, which is our assignment in the earth. So I do want to wave an American flag. I do want you to hear trumpets and snare drums in the background when you think of your role in America, I personally feel more allegiance, I guess is the word. I feel more that I owe the founders of this nation as we read what they intended than I do Donald Trump or whoever the next president is or whatever the current thing in the waters is, because I think that we serve, I'm saying this to you whether you're listening in Australia or Nigeria or the usa, we serve our countries best. Again, going back to episode one, when we represent God's truth in our nation. If you truly believe that God's truth is how a nation prospers, then we must be the containers and the proclaimers of truth wherever we are. What else are we doing here? I'm so offended and put out. You've heard this sermonette many times, Mark, but I'm so offended at a preacher who is afraid of offending his congregation or yes, losing his 501c3 status. Those conversations do happen in boardrooms of churches, believe me, and are more worried about losing popularity among their own congregation and losing numbers than they are faithfully proclaiming the word of God from their pulpits and applying God's word to the questions that currently exist in our culture. It's so shameful and sets an example for all of the fathers that are presumably under the spiritual authority of these so called leaders that when I get home I should again shut my trap when something comes across the family's monitor that is like, well, this has happened in my home. This is little Caleb who's on the the elementary school basketball team. His name was Caleb last year. It's Jeanette this year. He has a ponytail and he'll be playing power forward against little girls. What do you do with that? Well, at the very least, you educate your family about what God's word has to say about creation order so that they are steeled against a culture that wants to pull them limb from limb and destroy their faith. So we are not servants of the truth if we keep our mouth shut about such things. And boy, oh boy, do we live in a time where our leaders have been enculturated to take a poll of the prevailing winds. What will be approved? What's okay for me to speak? Does anybody think this is political? And, and oh my goodness, if the comment cards come in and say you spoke on something political and you were out of line, oh my word. I am so sorry. I never meant to step on your political toes instead of. No. We boldly proclaim the word of God knowing that it steps on toes, knowing that it corrects men, and you can do with it what you please. If it informs the way you vote, hooray. If it informs the way that you interact with your extended family. When political so called political issues come up, hooray. But we're not going to leave you to fend for yourself among. Among the waters. I don't know if I'm preaching to the choir and everybody that's listening. Go. Yeah, we know, Stephen. We agree with this. But I so want to embolden our family leaders around the country to speak and inform and encourage your family on every topic under the sun the way that it has been done for thousands of years. That's how Christians have lived around the world for thousands of years. I want to read about, I want to read a packet of passages on this topic, but I want to throw it to you. [00:32:14] Speaker B: You said this was an issue in our home. There's a, there's a boy playing on your girl's basketball team. [00:32:22] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:32:23] Speaker B: At your Christian school. [00:32:25] Speaker A: No, no, at the public elementary school where our, our homeschooled children played on the public school basketball team three years ago. [00:32:36] Speaker B: Gotcha. [00:32:37] Speaker A: But that's that story. That bizarre story came right into my living room. Isn't that crazy? [00:32:44] Speaker B: Yes. Okay, well, we were gonna have to pause the episode and just step back and say, hey, there are times where we take the Benedict option and withdrawal from institutions, but we don't, we don't have to correct anything in the manual home right now. Yeah, yeah, let's get on to. I mean, I think people are listening to this and every issue you Said I'm guessing that 90% of our listeners are going, well, yeah, yeah, we totally agree with you. [00:33:20] Speaker A: What I think they agree, yes. [00:33:22] Speaker B: What I think that the sort of sneaky, toxic thing that's happened is that we have managed to call those, like you said at the beginning, political issues, but also they. The, the lines get drawn on those issues. Not on kind of are you in or out of the church of Jesus, but rather like what's your, what's your cultural political affiliation? So, yes, I've been shocked. I mean, maybe I'm going to step on some toes here. So I don't know, get ready with your editing wand if you have to cut this out. But like, I was talking to a guy who I really respect here in Utah. He's a pastor of a super multicultural church. So they. There's not many black people in the state of Utah. This church has a bunch of black people and a bunch of people from all over the place. And he's the pastor. I know him. I'm like, dude, everything that I've heard from you has been rock solid. And then one Sunday he had a woman come to his church and share her shtick because she was running for office. And I was like, okay, she's running as a Democrat. I know some of the things that that party promotes. And I went to her website and man, this lady was like, hardcore, let's kill all the babies, pro abortion, pro, all the rainbow stuff. And I asked him and he said, well, there's cultural differences between kind of most black church folks and most. And I just thought that's garbage. And he didn't like what I had to say. But the point is like, somehow in this, mostly everything I had heard from him, faithful brothers mind, there was room for you to say, I am friends with evil because of political something because I think that higher municipal tax rates are a better way to run a city. So I can, I can just say, well, that's part of the cost of doing business is I got to put these other issues on my website. And you know, she loves Jesus, so it's fine. And I just go, that's, that's the, the, the split that has happened, whether it's those issues or something totally different. We've said that there's political and there's biblical, and I'm not sure we can think of too many issues that are truly just political. I think we could even go to the word, which I think you're about to do, and find some guidance on the best way to run a City government. I think we could probably do that now. We're going to be a little bit less harsh on those. Those convictions than we are on killing people. But, you know, I'm not sure. There's too many things that are actually truly political, and I just was distraught to see it happen, even in what seemed to be a really faithful church. [00:36:32] Speaker A: Yeah. One of our fears, Mark, seems to be that we are afraid of people classifying us as having affiliation with one political party or the other. So we figure if we can stay so neutral that people can't peg us, then we've kept it safe. And we always like to use the excuse that we've kind of kept the bridges of relationship up. I would like to editorialize on that for a second and say, you know, you can. This issue just came to mind. Interracial marriages. White girl marrying a black man. What's my opinion about that? You didn't ask, but I'll tell you, it's that, well, the Bible shows interracial marriages, and God seems to have no problem with it. Moses married a black woman in Zipporah, clearly, and there's no problem with it. So that if I. If we were just chatting at a coffee shop, somebody that doesn't know me might say, well, what are you, a Democrat? Your Nazi guys would. I would say, that doesn't have anything to do with anything. I'm just telling you what the Bible says. That's where my opinions fall. I don't care whether you think I'm Democratic or Republican. I'm just telling you what the Bible says. And when we have. I've done a class before where we talked about different cultural issues such as race. And when we look at what the Bible says on race, I mean, you could go listen to anything by Vodi Bauckham, and you will probably conclude very quickly, oh, he must be a Republican. Who cares? I just want to say to all, everybody listening, that's not how we make our opinions is based on whether somebody will think we're a Democrat or Republican. And then we go running into the shadow of what that party says is right or wrong. We put forth the word of God. That's how we come up with our opinions about everything under the sun. And if anybody thinks of us in any political terms based on what the word of God says, so be it. Knock yourself out, because we're going to rise and fall on what God's word says. So Paul is confronting this scenario in Romans 2, where people are getting very sensitive to what people around them are saying. And are we okay to speak God's truth or not? Here's what he says. If you bear the name Jew, he's talking to Jews in Rome. If you bear the name Jew, these are all the believers and rely on the law and boast in God, and you know his will, and you approve of the things that are essential. And you're confident that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the childish, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and of truth. I'm going to finish that sentence in a minute, but I'll just hang right there. And he says that's the definition of the people who have God's word. The. The Torah, the law is what he says in Romans 2. We have the word of God, and that's what we're supposed to be, is these teachers of truth. So again, on one side, you've got the precious areas of scripture that God has always governed. Marriage, family, human dignity, sexuality, prayer. On the other side, the word political in big letters. And it's slowly swallowing everything. And I'm telling you guys, we have to be the ones who are moving the other direction and go. We are the people who are supposed to be speaking to those around us. So I know that we've learned this muscle over the last decades of this legalized silence since 1954. All you Christians keep it quiet. That when somebody says something that we know is a lie against the Creator, I'm just thinking of you walking the dog around the neighborhood. Your neighbor says something that is a lie against the Creator, you take the high road. I'm very tolerant. I can hear them out. Well, I understand. Yep. And we don't want to be colored in any sort of way. And we run this script in our head that goes, I need to keep tying the strands of relationship. And once they're very deep and strong, maybe someday, in God's supernatural miracle way, in his will, I might have the opportunity to speak truth at some point to this person. [00:41:36] Speaker B: Wrong. [00:41:36] Speaker A: I just want to say that's not the biblical picture. We're supposed to be the ones who represent truth around us. So when someone says, well, our little Susie, who used to be Donald, et cetera, it would be totally appropriate, biblically speaking, for you to say, God made that child a boy and just put that turd in the punch bowl and stare straight ahead, and they can call you any name that they want. I think we've lost the ability as a Christian community to simply speak the truth. And one of the bubbles I would like to pop, which I was referring to earlier, that something you said made me think of this mark, is that whole idea that evangelism rides and falls on having a deep 10 year relationship with somebody. That's the only way we could ever tell them the truth. That's not the picture that your Bible presents of, of evangelism. That's not how Jesus did evangelism. That's not how Paul did evangelism. They just went around speaking the truth. Now, I know that holding a placard in front of a football stadium is not effective. I know that. And yet if it's not done in hate, it's done in love. Because you love the truth and you love these people who are dying all around you. I would still applaud the dude holding a placard. If it says Jesus loves you, turn to him today. You know, something like, well, great. I mean, I think that this conditioning of silence has affected the way that we think of evangelism, the way that we think of training our families, and the way that church happens on the weekend. And it's awful. So let me read a couple of passages to you. You are the light of the world. Ever heard that one? A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. That's you. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way. Let your light so shine before others so that they may see your good works, which include the speaking of truth. And give glory to your Father, who is in heaven. Ezekiel 3. Son of Man, I have made you a watchman. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you give the people a warning from me. And if I say to the wicked, you will surely die. And you give him no warning. His blood I will require at your hand. Acts 4. They called them and charged them not to speak or to teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them. Drum roll. Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge. For we cannot but speak that which we have seen and heard. Let's think of pride world that we've lived in for the last month. Ephesians 5:11. Take no part in the unfruitful works of righteousness. Darkness. Sorry. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. How would you expose the works of darkness unless you speak out about them? And you all know. 2nd Timothy 4:2, the last verse I'm going to read in this subject. Preach the word, be ready in season and out of season when is convenient and when it is not convenient, when it is accepted by others and when it is rejected by others, reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching in everything you do. Snap. So tolerating sin is just a no, no for. For the elect of God. And it makes me so sad. We haven't said this, but I gave a version of this talk at our retreat last November about we cannot accept the statement that politics is a no, no go zone for believers, because everything is now politics. So we cannot tolerate evil in any way. Here's the end of that Romans 2 passage. If you believe that you have the law, you're a teacher of the righteous and the trainer of children, et cetera. For those who are selfishly ambitious and disobedient to the truth, but responsive to wickedness, there will be wrath and. And indignation, tribulation and anguish for every human soul who does evil, for God shows no partiality. And if you're familiar with Romans 1, you know that it is a description of the things that God will flatly condemn. And Romans 2 warns us that staying silent and appearing to give approval to these things the way that Paul gave approval to Stephen's stoning, it indicts us as family leaders. I don't want our men to be in that category of men who stay quiet because they're shushed by the culture. [00:46:45] Speaker B: I think that as you talk about speaking truth courageously, some of us get the notion of, like, sandwich board guy outside of the. [00:46:57] Speaker A: Sure. [00:46:58] Speaker B: The debauched event of whatever sort. And I just would encourage people with. I think you said this, but just to underline it again, it's Jesus mostly, like, spoke the truth and then kind of slipped out and disappeared before they could throw him in jail. He wasn't angling to make a scene. Hey, guys, I'm here to show you. He was. [00:47:29] Speaker A: I'm the provocative influencer. [00:47:32] Speaker B: He was provocative and bold. But, like his actions then suggested, I'm not doing this so that you will follow me. In fact, I am regularly running away from audiences. And so I just think we have these two extreme caricatures of either the guy who won't say anything because he's trying to be, you know, oh, you told me I have to close my church because of the virus. Fine, I will do that. Like, that's one caricature, and the other is the guy who's like, we're Posting it on Facebook that we're gonna meet 15 times every day until you, you know, stop telling us what to do. Like, one is really the example I see in. In scripture and the example I see in Jesus. I don't think these guys that ended up mostly getting killed for being bold with the truth. I didn't see them going out looking for conflict, but they were also, they had already kind of made these decisions way in advance of, well, here's the truth. And I have already made those decisions. I won't be making decisions about whether I'm yay or nay on whatever godless thing is brought up to me in the moment because I might fail that test. I'm making those decisions now. And it's like, if the Lord brings that decision to my doorstep, I'll go, huh, I guess I'm going to experience some persecution now because I'm sorry, government or culture or whatever, I've already made a decision here. [00:49:07] Speaker A: Yes. [00:49:07] Speaker B: I just would. Would tell folks, this doesn't have to be you being a jerk. It doesn't have to be you be. It actually can't be you looking at this as a way to gather followers or attention for yourself. It's simply quiet obedience to the king. [00:49:28] Speaker A: Yes. And if it needs to be said, we're peace loving and we're not trying to create fist fights on the sidewalks. But if I had to, if there's a continuum of too peace loving, so much so that you bite your tongue when you're supposed to speak the truth, and you're a troublemaker and you need correction because you're so angry and full of it. If we err on one side or the other, it's real clear to me it's on the too quiet side. And I just want to embolden our fathers out there. And let me also say this. I know I get huffy about this. I'm not trying to shout. I'm not trying to shame anybody. I want to encourage you. And I know that the way that God sees our nation is that households who serve him are these little beacons of light in a dark age. I know it. And I simply don't want you to be ashamed. I don't want you to put a cover over your light. I want you to let your light shine. It's not just your responsibility. You're authorized to do that under God. So if you would be shamed by the culture for speaking the truth, but lauded by the king for speaking the truth, then the choice is clear. We're going to speak the truth. So I simply want you to hear that from somebody because sadly, the chances are you're not going to hear that from the pulpit. So I want you to hear it from us. So in closing, let's hear the warning to the church in Revelation 2. I know your deeds, your love and faith and service, but I have this against you, says Jesus, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel who teaches and misleads my bond servants so that they commit sexual immorality, etc. So brothers, this to me, this goes right into the whole. Politics isn't dirty and you mustn't keep your hands out of things that are called political. Tolerating the reordering of God's creation in any way is not loving, it's not tolerant, it's faithless, and it's treasonous to the King. And you are authorized and cheerleaded to represent his truth. We refuse to be political. This is kind of the bottom line of the whole episode. The line we refuse to be political is a cowardly and faithless cop out for the people of God. That might be the line in your local church, maybe it's not. It is the line for Christianity today. It is the line for many so called Christian podcasts and churches and books and authors. But the world deserves to hear the truth about God and who is there to speak it? Romans 10, it's you, you and me. If we don't speak the truth, where are people going to hear it? What are we here for? We're here to represent the Lord in his kingdom, in our homes and outside of our homes. Even if they kill us for it as they did Jesus. Ask, ask our buddy Chuck Kirk if you can be killed for representing God's truth and touching into arenas that are called political by people that don't want to hear the truth. Well, yeah, you could be. I think Chuck Kirk. Old Charlie Kirk's going to get pretty good seats in heaven. I know I have that on good authority. Which is the word of God. Dads, this is our lane. We model courageous engagement without making politics an idol. We speak truth about God's creation order in our homes and in the public square. We teach our families God's eternal truths which touch every arena of life. And we refuse to hand the future of our children and our grandchildren over to lies. And if we get branded as political or rabble rousers or whatever else in the process of representing God's truth, may God judge us. As we move through this series on America's Christian founding and God's providence In our nation, let's resolve to think and act like godly men, as here we are at our country's 250th anniversary this week, when what is more needed in this nation than godly men? Who will say, in my home, we live truth and we speak truth around us, not with fear or nostalgia, but with clear eyes and steady faith and bold obedience, salt and light in a generation that desperately needs it. My simple next step for you guys this week is just when something crosses your monitor that's being called political. It could be you're driving down the street with the family. It could be the next commercial break that happens when you're watching World cup soccer. It could be your family walks into a coffee shop together and you see something that the world calls political, but you know, it's a truth issue. I want you to ask, you could just ask your family generally, what, what does God's word say about this issue? And discern it together and lead a conversation so that the label political doesn't silence you from speaking the truth first in your own heart, in your home, and then outward to those around us. I think the truth is worth it. I think you do, too, and I want you to feel empowered to lead your homes courageously. Closing Thoughts, Mark? [00:55:20] Speaker B: No, I just, I think you're, if you're trying to navigate this issue while staying on everyone's good side, hopefully we've popped that bubble for you today. And I would just say move forward holistically, taking every issue to the Lord and saying, we submit our opinions to you and we will work for the good of the, the whole city. We actually believe it's for the good of the people who oppose us when we speak truth about issues that would have been labeled political. So it's not. There's a lot of jerks on all sides on all these issues that have been labeled political. And it's not a game that we're trying to win for the sake of proving our ideas are right or whatever. I think especially conservatives have kind of a reputation for maybe not being as nice. I don't, I don't think that's necessarily true. But the, the reason that we think this stuff matters is because we actually think that ultimately the truth is a person and that person is Christ, and he has the authority to tell us exactly what to do in almost every area. Like I said, if you, if you hear this and you go, I want to argue with you guys, we would be excited for that. You could, you could do that by joining us over on our Volley Channel, which is a community of people who support this podcast. And you do have to donate to be in that. I think it's like five bucks, so it's not prohibitively expensive. But, man, I love it when we get into hot conversation about episodes that may be controversial. I don't think this was controversial, but if you thought it was and you want to pick a fight, we actually have guys that we have had some pretty doozy arguments with, and we still love them deeply. So you won't. You won't be probably alone in your opinions, and that would be fun. So consider. If you. If you found yourself riled up by this episode or if you thought we went too soft on things or whatever, consider coming over and, you know, throwing a hand grenade into the volley mix and we can. We can chop it up together. [00:57:45] Speaker A: Absolutely. If this episode on Political Debate hit home, share it with another dad and the neck. Our next episode is the last in the America series, and we're going to wrap it up talking about our constitution, and until then, fly the flag with joy and pride. Yes, that real. That real word. And we'll see you next week.