Culture & Christianity: The Allen Jackson Podcast - A Voice of Truth Exists in Mainstream Media [Featuring Lauren Green]

Episode Date: March 30, 2024

“We will worship everything else but God…and our one biggest problem is disordered loves,” said Fox News Religion Correspondent Lauren Green. She joins Pastor Allen Jackson to discuss the Ten Commandments, faith, and being a Christian journalist in the mainstream media. The first commandment says, “You shall have no other gods before me,” and Greene offers insight on that commandment and how it supports the other nine. She and Pastor Allen also discuss simple choices we can make on holidays and Sundays to honor God and lead with our faith. “There are things the average person can do in the midst of the life they're leading,” Pastor Allen said. “We can express our beliefs in tangible ways that the culture can read very clearly.” Green shares information about her podcast, “Lighthouse Faith,” and her new devotional book, Light for Today.More About Lauren Green:Lauren Green on Fox News: https://www.foxnews.com/person/g/lauren-greenLighthouse Faith Podcast: https://radio.foxnews.com/podcast/lighthouse-faith/Light for Today Devotional Book: https://a.co/d/gSFnamQ--It’s up to us to bring God’s truth back into our culture. It may feel like an impossible assignment, but there’s much we can do. Join Pastor Allen Jackson as he discusses today’s issues from a biblical perspective. Find thought-provoking insight from Pastor Allen and his guests, equipping you to lead with your faith in your home, your school, your community, and wherever God takes you.Listen on Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/3JsyO6ysUVGOIV70xAjtcm?si=6805fe488cf64a6dListen on Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/culture-christianity-the-allen-jackson-podcast/id1729435597

We're in Nashville this week for the National Religious Broadcasters Convention. It's a gathering of people who through media, radio, television, podcast, just about any form of media you can imagine, have a faith perspective and speak into our culture. It's a little bit of a new place for me. I've been around this not a long time. And to be candid, it's because I didn't like Christianity and media together. I tended to look at Christian television as it was filled with charlatans and hucksters and people that are trying to separate you from your money

and that the level of their spirituality was shallow. I have discovered to a great extent that I was wrong. I mean, sure, there's some of that that happens. There's some of that that happens in automobile sales, but it doesn't mean I want to ride a bicycle for the rest of my life. And if I could give you an invitation, it would be to not discount the opportunity of the media and our faith. Everybody that goes into it may not go for the right reasons,

but there are genuine people, sincere people, people sacrificing and working hard to use the creative aspects of technology to share our faith in the world. You know, if we step away from that, we step away from the opportunities that God has given us. And so I've had to make a change. The Lord has convicted me on more than one occasion for some rather judgmental attitudes I had about people that I would see on my television. You know, if I'm sitting watching some religious program and the person asks me to put my hand on the screen because they're going to pray, I've thought to myself, you know, what a goofball you are. What a lack of credibility.

I'm embarrassed by you until I find myself up in the middle of the night and I'm sick and I can't sleep. And I turn the TV on and there's that same person. And I don't feel good. And I know I need God's help. So I'd put my hand on the television. I'd put my finger in the light socket if it'd make me feel better. And I realize that it's my lack of awareness of my own need that causes me to shut down some of the delivery systems. And all of us are searching to know God better, to have a meaningful relationship.

with him. At the end of the day, it's not an intellectual experience nearly as much as it's a spiritual transformation. And I believe the media can help with that. We can reach people more broadly. We can do it in a far more personal way. You know, I can't sit down and have a cup of coffee with you, but I can sit and talk to you on a podcast. And it at least feels more personal to me than standing in front of an audience of several thousand people. So maybe just an invitation to begin to pray for the people in Christian media. That God would raise up voices, credible voices, authentic voices, voices of authority and influence. We make heroes out of our professional athletes,

and we have aspirations that our children become like them. And we overlook all their character flaws, all their failures, all their inconsistencies, because we imagine there's fame and fortune at the end of that rainbow. There's charlatans in the media. But perhaps you have an aspiration that your children make an impact in their generation with their faith. If you don't hold that aspiration for them,

it's very unlikely that they'll arrive at that on their own. We have to adjust our values. We've made heroes out of the wrong things, and we've been critical, I think, far too frequently of the wrong things. I'm grateful for technology and the opportunity for the gospel. You know, my guest in this podcast is Lauren Green. She is the religion correspondent on Fox News. She has a podcast called Lighthouse Faith.

She is a very articulate, very well-informed voice for faith in a reasonable way in the midst of an industry that doesn't typically respect that. She has some wonderful ideas. I think they're worth your time and they're worth your consideration. We are watching on the walls, and if we see evil and we don't use our voice, it says it's on us. Our exercise of our faith in America is at risk. What are you going to do about it? We are called to be advocates for Jesus of Nazareth.

Join us for the Culture and Christianity Conference. Brandon Tatum, Eric Metaxus, Kirk Cameron, Allie B. Stucky, and more. Go to leadwithfaith.church to register. Well, my guest today's Lauren Green. Lauren, it's good to have you. It's nice to be here. Nice to be here. You have such an influential voice for faith in our culture.

I mean, you occupy kind of a unique place in the news world. It's unique, but I never really look at it that. way. I guess because I live in the bubble of an office building and you go into work every day and you check in with the bureau of people and you have an office and you do your research and pitch stories and research for podcasts and set them up and record them and write radio spots and you and you're in this arena with other people who are doing the same thing. So in a sense we kind of forget where we are, you know, because it's an office. Well, that's a good thing. But you, I have a bias, I guess, because I think you bring a dignity to your presentation

of faith in a way. When I hear you, I mean, I like stand a little taller and I think, yeah, I'm on her team. Thank you so much. That is really, really wonderful to hear. One of the things that helps is the journalism background, but I also understand that, you know, if people are presented with just the truth of the story, they really do have a better understanding of what's going on. Why is this a story? I do think that because I have a better understanding of theology and why certain things are important,

that I will say things in stories that perhaps other reporters won't say, understand it. You know, and then I have a bureau chief who's, you know, and producers who are basically secular-minded, So they may not understand something from a faith point of view. And I'll have to explain to them sometimes why this is important or why we should word it in this way. And I've been faced with situations where they have never heard a term. And I say, well, it could be that, you know, it is, I don't think it's really inside baseball,

but I think it's a term that probably you should know. But if you think that viewers will not know it and they'll be stymied on this particular term, then we should change it. then that's fine. Right. If we watch the Food Network, they talk about building depth of flavor. Yes. When I listen to you, there's a depth of thought into what you're presenting.

You're more than just responding to the news cycle or the drama of the day. And I really do appreciate that because your preparation and insight, it shows through. So thank you for the effort. Depth of flavor. See, well, you understand depth of flavor. We all understand depth of flavor. And we're not, you know, chefs. But we understand depth of flavor.

I don't know how to achieve it. I know how I appreciate it. Right, right. Exactly. I mean, it's the same way in faith. You may not understand why the term, but you understand what it means. Yes. Right?

You know, God is merciful. God is gracious. Slow to anger. I mean, we understand those things. And you recognize the difference when somebody is using the terms, but they're not familiar with them. Sure. And they're trying to figure out how to make it work. And so I think you provide a light into the circumstances that's really helpful.

You have a new book? Yes, I do. It's called Light for Today. and it is a 365-day devotional from the lighthouse. The lighthouse, I know the imagery, people kind of understand it, but it's much deeper than what they think of as a lighthouse. And this came out from my lighthouse faith book, which was based on an understanding of the Ten Commandments,

was basically shaped like the Lighthouse, that you have a light at the beginning of the Ten Commandments, which is number one, I'm the Lord, your God, and you shall have no other gods before me, of course. and the parenthetical part that, you know, that you do from slavery and led you out of Egypt. But you shall have another gods before me. That is the first commandment. And the first commandment is so key because you can't break commandments two through ten without first breaking number one, right?

So if you commit adultery, it means somebody else's love is more important to you than gods. If you steal, then something is more valuable to you than God. And the idea that the Ten Commandments are not arbitrary rules, I can talk, right, arbitrary rules set down by sort of a dictator God, but an actual description of who God is. And if we are to be, we are made in God's image, then we are going to be who we are better and live joyful lives by living according to the Ten Commandments. But what's more about the Ten Commandments, when you can look at it as a closed system, right? a closed system with a seminal point, and everything in the system relates first to that seminal point, and second, by its relationship to every other point. And that's what makes the Ten Commandments

very, very comprehensive. I mean, if you break one, you can almost break them all. And you can figure out a way that everything else has led you down that path. And boy, like, I remember someone talking to me about, well, you know, I brought my wife to a strip club. I didn't touch anything, so I didn't commit adultery. Well, well. I think I've had that appointment in my office. It's like, can we just, please help me, Jesus, can we help? Can we just kind of unravel this a little bit?

Yes, but. So, I mean, these are the kinds of things that, you know, the Ten Commandments help us with. But like I say, it's a closed system. So the lighthouse becomes this picture of this closed system, you know, of a seminal point, the light, and then everything else in the light then is not supporting it, but the light is supporting that. And you see this play out in a lot of different areas. You see it in architecture. And one of the things you see is, and I talked to a theoretical physicist who said the right triangle actually is present in every building. It has to, or else the building won't stay

up. So one quarter of the right triangle, what is that? It's one quarter of a cross. Oh, my goodness. And now we've got the cross physically holding up every structure that's made. I love that. So all creation really does remind us of God. So, I mean, I bring it out in biology, in science, and then in music, which is where really God really does speak to me true. But I think so the lighthouse then becomes not just a nice picture,

but an actual look at God's structure and God's logo, that he has put this logo like, you know, like a URL sign or something like that, like a, you know, just a closed system on everything. That is his logo. I'm the God, Lord, your God, you shall have no other gods before me. This is why idolatry is such a huge warning in the Bible. It's because that is our nature. We will worship everything else but God, you know.

And our one biggest, biggest, biggest problem is disordered loves. I think we have to have a more contemporary understanding of idolatry. We do. Because we tend to think of it and things that are carved out of rock or wood. It's like, oh, we don't have any idols in here. We don't have any statues. I'm not buying down to a statue. Okay, yeah, but you're bowing down to, you know, that woman who you want to make, you know, who you are lusting after.

You know, that's idolatry. or, you know, if I don't get that job, you know, my life will be worthless. Well, that's idolatry. You're making something your fundamental trust other than God. Instead of saying, God, you know, I've worked hard. I would love this job. I would love this career. But you guide me.

You guide me in the way that fits you, you know. Anything we give our allegiance or affection to? Yes. The head of our allegiance and affection to God. Yes, absolutely. And I think, like I was talking about. to someone else and about saying that, you know, we have in this culture today a fear of people who say I've found the truth. You know, those of us who say, who know that Jesus is the way the truth in the life, right? That's not socially acceptable in today's secular world. What's more acceptable is saying, well, I'm seeking. I'm spiritual, not religious. That's more acceptable because, oh, you're malleable. It means, you know, which. means you control whatever you believe. You've got this still autonomy in this spiritual world that I can

control how I worship and I can control the spirits. I can, you know, I love this. You know, consult the universe. It's like the universe. Well, who made the universe? Well, it's just out there. It's just like, well, then why would you bow down to something, you know, that you don't know where it came from or you don't know how it got there. Why would you bow down to that? Do you know who made the universe? Do you understand? I mean, I think that one of the problems is that, you know, we don't think, we don't do our

homework. We think it just appeared. This world appeared. Well, you know, that was, that's a trauma to people like even Einstein who came up with a theory of relativity. And the one thing that he had a problem with was he actually inserted a factor into his equation so that it would not show that the world was either imploding or exploding because it was just too traumatic for him to think that the Bible might actually be right.

And God said, let there be light, which is a poetic version of the Big Bang. Absolutely. And if you have any awareness at all, if you acknowledge there's a creator God, then it's foolish not to yield to him. So I think people avoid that because we want to be our own God. We want to make our own rules. We do. And I do think that this generation sometimes wants to think of Jesus as a teacher of love instead of God come to us and the divine son.

But there is no place in the Bible that supports Jesus as just a teacher of love. I mean, you read the beatitudes. You read the sermon on the mount. There's some pretty hard stuff in there. You think. Yeah. I mean, if you can actually read it, it's like, ooh, I don't know if like, oh, wow, really? And so, but Jesus is saying, you know, this is very clear.

He says, you have to decide for yourself who I am. You know, it's like the old song says, it's me, it's me, Lord, standing in the need of prayer. Not my mother, not my father, not my sister, not the brother, but it's me. And Jesus is saying, it is you who must decide. Who do you think I am? You know, who do you think I am? And that's going to be the cornerstone of your faith. If you can take Jesus and understand who he is, everything else starts to fall into place.

I think it's more than the cornerstone of our faith. I think it's the cornerstone of our society. Yeah. I think what we're watching happen around us, the chaos, the polarization, the abuse of our children, is because we've lost that cornerstone. What does it say about a culture that takes the Ten Commandments and bans them from the public sphere? Well, they get what they ask for.

They get what they ask for. They get high crime to where you need to in drugstores lock up toothpaste and deodorant and other things because kids are not told thou shalt not steal. You get what you ask for. You do. 1962, the Supreme Court ruled prayer unconstitutional in schools. You cannot pray. You cannot say the Lord's Prayer, which means, and you have to take the Ten Commandments down. So where, if a child is not learned.

the Ten Commandments in a church. If they're not learning that, where are they learning that? What is the standard? Something is illegal. Okay, something's illegal. But just because it's illegal doesn't make it immoral. I mean, something can be illegal and still be moral. Absolutely.

Not all laws are just or moral. Yes. Lots of examples of that. But the part that concerns me the most is the so-called Christian community, are silence in the face of these things. You know, whether we feel intimidated or threatened or we understand the intuitively the pushback, but for whatever reason,

we're going to have to find the different kind of boldness. I do think that the one thing that Christian families can do, and it's going to be difficult, and it doesn't seem like it's going to be difficult, but it's going to be difficult in the face of a secular culture. Don't take your kids to sports practices on Sunday. Come on. Say that again.

Do not take your kids to either sports practices or their games on Sundays. Say that is the Lord's Day and we are going to live by that. That will be one of the most difficult things. If every Christian parent starts to do that, they'll stop scheduling games and practices on Sundays. I don't care how crowded the parks are. you know, if every Christian decides I'm not going to go to the auto show on Easter Sunday. I love it. Yes. These are simple things that we abided by for decades and decades.

Yes. I'm not going to go see an NBA game on Christmas Day. Oh, no. I'm not going to do that. It's Easter Sunday. It's Christmas Day. This is the day we celebrate the birth of Christ, the Savior. NBA game. These are things Christians can do. These are practical things you can do. You don't have to wait for somebody to pass a law. And they're very much a part of the culture that shaped the West. Yes.

In the best pictures of the West. Chariots of Fire. Yeah. We saw that principle in that movie. Chariots of Fire. I mean, the guy who ran on Sunday, he just basically, his whole life was, in the 10 seconds I'm running, I justify my existence. Isn't that sad? 10 seconds and you justify your existence. And the other says, no, my existence is justified because God is my Savior.

Right? I don't have to run on Sunday. But I love the idea. There are things that the average person can do in the midst of the life they're leading. They don't need a larger platform or a larger following. They don't have to be elected to an office. But we can express our beliefs in tangible ways that the culture can read very clearly. Absolutely, absolutely. I think these are the little things that may, they may get a lot of pushback on. And they may even get pushed back from their kids because their whole team is doing something on Sunday. They have to go. But think about this in the hiding place written by Corey Tin Boone. One of the things that just came out of that book for me is the fact that their father read scripture to them at breakfast. They had their breakfast and then they read scripture. And then before they went to bed, they read Scripture again. And that was the last thing and the first thing they had was Scripture. Their whole lives were centered on God's Word and what God expects, which is the strength they had to make it through the Second World War and to hide Jewish refugees and to be arrested themselves for doing that. Because their Dutch neighbors turned them in.

That's right. Exactly. So unless you understand Jesus, a man who washed the feet of people who denied him and betrayed him and also went to a cross and died for people who hated him. Unless you understand that Jesus, it will be hard for you and understand the world because the world is a sinful place. And the sins that are being promoted today as good, I mean, are just living out Isaiah's warning, well to those who call evil good and good evil. I mean, these are very, very tenuous times. I think the Ten Boom family is a great example.

The answer of much of the contemporary church would say we can't respond to the Nazis. That's being political. Yeah. Acquiescence is really one of the great sins of the church. I agree. You know, you cannot, I mean. Your word is so much kinder, acquiescence. I just say we're cowards.

So I like your vocabulary better. Well, it's just you, but that's, when I say acquiesce, I mean that because, usually how people start sliding is in the little things, right? And so they don't quite understand themselves to be cowards. I mean, if you reag accounts of people, Germans, you know, who were living the villages outside Auschwitz, they had no idea what was going on. And when the Allies came, and they actually forced them to go in and look, they came, they were like weeping, crying and throwing up because they were faced with what, they had allowed or they had ignored right in their backyards, you know? And I think that's,

that's how it happens is that we think we're good Christians because we go to church on Sundays and we do certain things and then we kind of ignore the real issues that need to be addressed. And they're very controversial, but, you know, like I said, you must first decide who Jesus is. You know, I heard a really wonderful sermon a few years ago, and he said, you know, if Queen Elizabeth is who she says she is, it doesn't change your life, you know. If any historical figure, you know, is who they say they are, it doesn't change your life. But if Jesus is who he says he is, it changes everything. Yes, but there's another component. Jesus is not a historical figure.

He's a living figure today. He is a living figure today, but he exists in history. He does. Because he is the Lord of history. But your perspective on Jesus is how you respond to the world today. Yeah. We can have debates on Auschwitz and how it should be understood. There's really not a debate on the current state of Israel and the attack of Hamas upon them.

Yeah. It was heinous and brutal and murderous. And yet we see anti-Semitism flaring now in the 21st century. And we'd like to pretend we've buried that with World War II. and it's very clear we haven't. I don't think we have. I do think that their anti-Semitism is a whole another issue. I remember I could see the polls years ago,

even before October 7th, showing the rise in anti-Semitism. And I would pitch stories about, and I think these are happening. And then I pitch stories about how Muslim majority nations were funneling money and supporting chairs and programs in American colleges and universities to create pro-Palestinian beliefs in young people. And I pitched that story.

It went nowhere. And then all of a sudden, October 7th happened, it's like, why did this happen? It's like, well, I will tell you why this happened. Why are the protests happening? You know, because, you know, the universities, you know, took in millions and millions and millions of dollars. Cutter's given over $4 billion to American universities.

Yeah. Yeah. And it's just, it's, and it's not just supporting programs here in the U.S. They've opened branches in Qatar and in the Middle East. You get what you pay for. Unfortunately. Yeah. I mean, it's the old that is you get what you pay for. Lauren Green, your perspectives are always so refreshing. Your podcast is Lighthouse Faith. Lighthouse Faith podcast. And the book is Life for today. And I hope people, I mean, they can get it on Amazon and other Christian now. And Amazon, obviously, it's not Christian, but, and Christian Outlaws as well. I think Barnes and Nobles.

Yeah. Amazon can deliver Christian messages. They can. They may not have embraced it yet, but they can deliver it. No, they can deliver it. But they have, I think there are a couple of titles that they've kind of like buried, you know. But there are many of us that are grateful for your courage and your boldness and your forthrightness.

Well, thank you very much. Thank you for standing on the point of that for so many of us. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for asking me to come and talk to you. You come back to Nashville and see us again. I will. I'll hold you to it. Okay. All right. A Lauren Green gave us a breakthrough idea on what we can do. It was unprompted. She brought that to us. Did you hear her? We can begin to treat Sunday as if it's a sacred day. It's not a recreational day. It's not a day for you and your family to unwind and do what you want to do. It's a day we honor the Lord.

Her idea, not mine. I promise. I didn't prompt it. Don't put your kids. in sports leagues that participate on Sunday. It's dishonoring to God. I understand you may have a different opinion, but at least get out your Bible and reflect on that a little bit. You see, I don't think when the Sabbath is as nearly as important is that we regularly take a Sabbath.

And if you're not treating Sunday as a day that's holy under the Lord, what day are you teaching your children to do that? It's been a part of Western culture for a long time. And I think our families, our communities, our schools, and our children will be strengthened and if we'll have the courage to lead them in that way. I hope you enjoyed the conversation with Lauren Green.

Most importantly, you keep living out your faith in the midst of the arena that God has given you. Together, we can make a difference in this generation. Hey, thanks for joining me today. Before you go, please like the podcast and leave a comment so more people can hear about this topic too. If you haven't yet, be sure to subscribe to Alan Jackson Ministries YouTube channel

and follow the Culture and Christianity podcast on Spotify, podcast or wherever you get your podcast. Together, let's learn how to lead with our faith and change our culture. I'll see you next time.