Culture & Christianity: The Allen Jackson Podcast - Trump's Triumph & the Church's Cowardice

Episode Date: February 7, 2025

Now that President Trump is in the White House, change is coming at a rapid magnitude and speed as his policies upend DEI initiatives, transgenderism, the border crisis, and more. Instead of sitting back and watching the news unfold—or trusting in a politician to solve our problems—it's time for the Church to address the challenges we face in our nation with God's truth. In this episode, Pastor Allen discusses what we can learn from President Trump's first few weeks in office and calls the Church to rise to their assignment of being salt and light in our generation.__ 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=6805fe488cf64a6d Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/culture-christianity-the-allen-jackson-podcast/id1729435597

Well, welcome back to culture and Christianity. The goal of these podcasts really is to help us understand how to take our faith beyond the walls of the church, beyond just the safety of a Sunday school class or a small group or like-minded individuals. How do we actually impact our culture with our Christianity? How do we understand our culture? You know, that's not easy. I mean, for me, I have to admit that's not easy. I've been a Christ follower for a while and a professional Christian for more than a day. And it takes some real attentiveness and thoughtfulness and prayerfulness to interpret what we see and hear in our culture from a biblical worldview.

So we hope this podcast is helping you with that. And some of the guests that we have are really helping you understand how to do that with your faith and faith and to face the challenges that come with life. life is not neat or clean or orderly. It's messed up most of the time, and I've got to live our faith out in the midst of that mess. And I don't think until we see the Lord or he returns, that that's going to change a great deal. So we want to try to add some momentum of that.

Today, no guest. You're stuck with me. But I've been looking forward to this. I just wanted to have a conversation with you a bit about what we see going on. I introduced this little paradigm way back in COVID. It seems like a long time ago now, but encouraging everybody to watch, to listen, to think, and to act. That seems as helpful right now as about anything I know. We are a little over two weeks since inauguration day, and theoretically, a peaceful transfer of power.

It really wasn't so peaceful. I mean, we didn't have physical violence, but there was a lot of attempts to impede the transition or to impede the progress. or to impede the progress of the incoming administration and the mandate that they had been given by the American people in the election. And that was mostly overlooked. Nevertheless, we're two weeks into this or a little bit more, and the pace has been dizzying.

I don't ever remember seeing change come of this magnitude and at this speed. I mean, some of the things we have laughed at and they seem to be shaping up a bit. I mean, like the United States acquiring Greenland when we first heard that, it felt like a board game, like we were going to play risk. And now the EU is saying it makes sense for Greenland to be a U.S. territory for everybody's well-being and defense and that Denmark should participate with that. Or that the Panama Canal should come back under U.S. authority. It seemed absurd and Panama grumbled.

And today, Panama has exited. the agreement they had with China and is going to let U.S. military ships traverse the canal at no charge. And it's just, it's amazing to watch the rate and the pace of change, but it's not easy to understand. And so that's what we're going to try to frame and shape a little bit here. I think in many respects, I feel like we're watching a master class in leadership. And it's not that everything that Mr. Trump or his team does is, correct, but there are some things that they have done that candidly are just amazing to me. I watched the, it was kind of a roundtable discussion he had when he went to California to

look at the wildfires, and he met with the mayor and a U.S. congressman and a group of leaders from the L.A. area. And they were, for the most part, hostile to him. They certainly weren't Republican advocates or Trump supporters. And he spent that time with them, pointing them towards the best future for the people that have suffered devastating. station from those fires and really in a very public way pushing them to do the right thing for the people, not to wait 18 months to get permissions, do it today. And I mean, he took away all the excuses and it was refreshing to see someone who was leading us once again tell the truth, talk to a camera with the capability of answering questions in real time. I didn't realize how much we had

missed that kind of leadership. And we see it on so many fronts. from, you know, Mexico today. Yesterday, the chatter over the weekend, the chatter was about the tariffs on Mexico and Canada. And my dad came to me and he said, you know, I watched the evening news on NBC. And he said the entire program was how everything we buy is going to be more expensive because of the tariffs that Mr. Trump has proposed and it's going to devastate us. And, I mean, he said that was the entire program. And today Mexico comes and says, you know, the tariffs have been suspended.

as of this point from Mexico, because they're going to send 10,000 troops to the border to secure the border with us. I mean, the cost to our nation of the people who have come into our nation illegally, the numbers are just staggering, and I won't take the time to try to justify them, but the capacity of our health care has been diminished, our education systems have been diminished, all those things. And in a matter of two weeks, that entire people coming over the border has been reduced 97%. And Mexico is sending 10,000 troops to the border to protect it. The cartels have been declared a terrorist organization.

So our own military can see to the dismantling of those terrorist cartels that have been trafficking in children. Almost 400,000 children are unaccounted for. single miners unaccounted for. That is not only is it unacceptable, it's evil. And to watch all of that be undone in a couple of weeks, it is disorienting. And at the same time, the messaging coming at you and me is that it's bad, that it shouldn't be happening, that the people doing it are not good. And the dissonance between what you see and what you hear creates confusion.

if you don't have some like-minded people to help you sort it out. And so that's simply my goal with you. And I want to start this, I think, with a bit of a challenge. Whether you're a Trump advocate or you're not, you know, we're watching this lesson in leadership and these amazing changes that have happened. And I've reflected just a bit on Mr. Trump. You know, when we first met him when he came down that golden escalator, and then to everybody's shock and surprise, and I think his as well,

he was elected to the presidency, 45th president of the United States. I remember the things that were said back in that window of time. It hadn't been that long. You can probably remember him too. One of the chief complaints is he wasn't presidential. His vocabulary wasn't presidential. His behavior wasn't presidential.

He just wasn't presidential. He called his enemies nicknames. And it was a lengthy list of things. And yet this time when I've watched him from that roundtable discussion in California, it was more presidential than anything we've seen in four years. I mean, there was no comparison. I mean, his willingness to conduct an open press conference and take all questions from friend and foe. I mean, there's been a transformation in him.

And, I mean, he still speaks with a candor and a coarseness that isn't groomed by a lifetime politician. It comes more from a developer's perspective, it seems to me, real estate developers' perspective. But there's been a significant change in his ability to deal with both the issues in our nation and internationally in a presidential way. The other thing that I think we watched when he was president number 45 is he wasn't prepared for the attacks. You know, for the FBI that came into the White House and grilled General Flynn and took him out of the game. And the Russian collusion hoax that ended up being proved totally a false narrative that was echoed in the evening news every day. And I don't think he stopped because of the attacks that first time,

but I know he wasn't prepared for them for the depth which they came at him. And the evil and the accusations that were not founded on truth. And we saw congressmen and senators stand in front of cameras on a daily basis and go, this man is a Russian agent. And that first time, I don't think he was prepared for the attacks. This time when he came to office, I think he was fully prepared. I think he understood the nature of the conflict. And, I mean, there's such a stark difference in that first time he was a neophyte, a beginner,

and it was a parent. And this time he comes in with the awareness of experience, with a determined response. It's truly a transformation. And the first time he came to office, I think he selected competence. people and appointed them, you know, Jeff Sessions to be Attorney General. And, I mean, you know the list. Some of them did exemplary things. Kaylee McEnany is his press secretary.

I've gotten to know her a bit. A remarkable woman. Tremendous faith and incredibly talented. But this time when he came to office, he didn't just choose competent people. He's chosen people who were competent and they're his allies. They agree with him in his mission. And they're going to work to accomplish what they're. told the American people they would do.

Now, here's my challenge. I'm utterly convinced that the church has to match the rate of change that we're seeing from the political class. We're watching them make dramatic, radical attempts at change in our nation. The outcomes aren't clear yet, but they are on the record stating their opinion of what better would look like confronting things that are evil or ungodly or destructive to our nation. I mean, I'm not advocating for MAGA, but they're very clear. I'm willing to advocate for making America great again.

I repent. But they're very clear that they're going to lead with what's best for our nation. So here's the question and the challenge. Are we in the church willing to make changes at a pace that will match what we're seeing from the political class? They're not being evaluated for their spirituality. They're being evaluated for keeping their word on what they would say they would do in the realms of government and authority in our nation. But we have the assignment of being salt and light. And on our watch, we've seen the most precipitous decline in Christian influence in the history of the church.

That's you and me. Well, we argue about worship styles and which translation to read and what's the appropriate dress code for us a worship service. And do we have to go to church? Can we just live stream it? Can I watch a video? Can I watch some YouTube shorts? Can I watch some reels? I don't really have to sit in a church.

Well, actually, the Bible says not to forsake the meeting together. the believers. In fact, in the New Testament, they got together far more regularly than just once a week. Spoiler alert. Can we match this rate of change? So can we become more Christ-like? If Mr. Trump can become more presidential, can we become more Christ-like? If he wasn't prepared for the nature of the attack that was going to be directed at him, can you and I become more prepared for the spiritual attack and the world that we're living in? This is a very relevant question. Stop going to seminars about whether spiritual forces exist or demons exist or whether miracles still happen and start acting like the Bible is true and we're going to live it out. Otherwise, none of these changes that are being enacted are going to be sustainable.

Because without a change in the heart of Americans, without a change in those of us who sit in our churches and say we're Christ followers, political changes will be exactly that. They'll only be political changes. And we're an election away from another set of executive orders or a change in Congress, and the rules will change, and we'll be back in a very deficit position again. If we will be salt and light and drive out the darkness, overcome evil with good, that's our assignment. We have to change, church. We have to have more than, we have to be more than competent Christ followers. We're going to have to ally ourselves with people who are Christ followers.

and then get about the business of the kingdom. This is serious stuff. This notion of a personal salvation that I'm good to go. I have made a profession of faith. I've said the sinner's prayer. I've walked the Roman road. And we've got lots of ways that we express this initiation into the kingdom of God, conversion, salvation, the new birth.

I believe in that. I believe in it absolutely is an essential beginning point. And I believe that legally, with that initiation into the kingdom, all the rights and privileges of the kingdoms are ours. They're ours in a legal matter. They're not ours experientially. We have to grow up in the same way that a child that's born in the hospital, when you look through the window in the nursery,

they have all the genetic material. They have everything they need to be a fully formed functioning adult. But they haven't grown into that yet. There's tremendous changes that have to come. And their physical dexterity and the development of their eyesight, and their hearing in their mental acuity. There's a tremendous amount of learning that has to happen. Both intellectual learning, there's social skills to be learned.

I mean, we all know the dexterity. The kids start to learn. They can put the square box in the square place. But we have to grow up spiritually. And what I have found in my journey is that we want to show our birth certificate as an immutable declaration that we have gained something that can't be lost and that we are now immune from any assignment to anything. And if somebody challenges us that we've got to begin to act like Christ followers

and behave like Christ followers, and we've got to be salt and light and influence our culture, then the arguments begin to come that we're approaching this by works. And they start to read us passages from the Book of Galatians. I'm not suggesting that we earn our way to heaven. You and I can't do that. I can't be good enough. You can't be good enough.

that's just nonsense. On the other hand, if Jesus is Lord of my life, that's got to be reflected in every decision I make every day. And the nature of that should be increasing day over day. What that looks like in my life today should be different than it looked five years ago and dramatically different than it looked 10 years ago. You know, we would hope that if a five-year-old is dramatically different when they arrive at their 10th birthday, that they have gained in physical stature, they've gained emotionally,

have gained intellectually. Well, we need to see that same kind of growth in maturity. We see it in Mr. Trump, a dramatic change from President 45 to President 47. Well, I'm looking for that change in the church in this season. And let's stop worrying about what the pastor isn't or the denomination isn't or what somebody else isn't. And let's you and I decide that we're going to be change agents. We're going to change. We can't give away something we don't have.

So if we will start that change, then we will see what God will do. I'm living that out. I'm not just sharing a theory with you. In the last year, I have added several new things to my to-do list, trying to make the impact that I can make with the tools God has given me in this season. And I'm doing those things right now as a volunteer. It matters enough to me that I said, I'll make the time out of my work, out of my week, to give the effort if we want to do a new podcast or we want to add a new broadcast.

What can we do to make an impact for the kingdom? And I've had to learn new skills. I've had to humble myself. I have looked foolish on multiple occasions. You've watched some of it. But the Lord is moving and I want to be a part of it. And that's really my invitation to you. We're going to walk through some facts and some details about what's happening,

trying to understand better how to watch, listen, and think, and act. But are you willing to move? And we built a little list around here. Do what you say and say what you mean. It's refreshing to see it in the political realm. What if we saw it in the church realm? That would be shocking. If it's broke, fix it.

stop sitting on your rear end and complaining. Stop kvetching about the generation who went before you or what your pastor didn't tell you or stop it. Let's decide that we're going to begin to bring resolution. It's shocking to see political leaders who say there's a problem and we're going to go fix it. We're not going to send $50 million to Gaza for condoms. Thank you. Those are our dollars and that's not a good investment. If you see something or hear something that's not right, say so.

Stop standing in the shadows filled with grief or anxiety because of what's being said. Raise your voice and say, no, I don't agree with that. I don't think that's right. We're seeing expressions of what peace through strength really is about. When Jesus said, my peace, I give to you. Jesus didn't lead a life free of conflict. There was conflict in Jesus' life almost everywhere he went. You know the stories.

You read your Bible. I mean, in his hometown, they tried to kill him. If he's just in a boat crossing the lake, there's a storm that comes up. The devil tries to kill him. When he goes into the wilderness to pray and seek the Lord, the devil comes to tempt him. No absence of conflict. What Jesus did have was a calm assurance of God's abiding presence.

When Pilots said, why don't you talk to me? I can have you crucified or set you free. And Jesus looked at him and said, well, actually, You have no authority unless my dad gives it to you. That's peace through strength. Peter put your sword away in the Garden of Gassimony, he said. If I needed legions of angels, I could call them. This isn't a contest about power.

This is about fulfilling the purposes of God. And you and I have to wake up to that. We're here to fulfill the purposes of God. The power is available to us if we will choose to take our place with the Lord. But know where your authority comes from. Let's set high standards and have high expectations of ourselves. We won't always meet them, but we'll make course corrections, we will adjust, we will learn and grow and improve.

We're watching some politicians do that. Now let's match that, exceed that in the church. We have better help than they do. We have the Holy Spirit to help us. And I think we can lead lives with less fear. There's a fearlessness on display in Washington right now that often to be completely candid sometimes makes me uneasy. I mean, Mr. Trump, there were multiple assassination attempts, President Trump.

He was shot in the face and except for a fractional turn of his head would have stepped into eternity. And he hasn't relented. We've got to live with less fear. You're going to have to speak to the fear and tell it to go in Jesus' name. Think of fear as a person without a body. Start to engage in spiritual things. How long do we have to sit in church?

How many sermons do we have to hear before? we'll start to do something with the information we've heard. Most of us, we are educated way beyond our level of obedience, and we collect biblical facts and biblical knowledge like little trophies and set it on the shelves of our homes or our hearts. Well, I think it's time to throw out the trophies and go to work with the truth that we know. There's a tremendous difference between the theory of faith and the practice of faith, and it's the practice of faith where the change comes in.

So we'll start with that. I want to read a little bit of scripture, but I'll tell you the context because it makes a lot of sense. It's the beginning of the book of Acts. And some of you remember, Acts chapter 1 is the ascension. Jesus goes back to heaven. Acts chapter 2 is the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit's poured out and the disciples can begin their assignment. Jesus commanded them in Acts 1, not to begin their assignment to share the good news of the kingdom until their Jesus story, until they'd been baptized in the Holy Spirit.

Well, that's Acts Chapter 2. Acts Chapter 3, the game is on because Peter and John are on their way to temple to pray. They haven't abandoned their Jewishness or their Jewish heritage. They're going to the temple to pray. And they meet a beggar, and they pray for him, and he's miraculously healed. And the whole city of Jerusalem is stirred. And one day, after Jesus has returned to heaven, something happens in Jerusalem. It didn't happen the whole time he was there.

The whole city is stirred by this miracle. When the Holy Spirit is ready, he will bring changes on a scope and a magnitude beyond anything we've seen, but it requires us to be in the game. Peter and John are walking in obedience to the instructions they've been given, and then the Holy Spirit goes to work. That's what you and I are looking for. Well, in Acts 4, they get arrested.

The miracle has stirred enough controversy that the people that organized Jesus' execution bring them in. By Acts chapter 5, they've been arrested. at a second time. And that's what I'm going to read it. Just a couple of verses to you. But it says that the apostles were performing miraculous signs, miracles and wonders. And the people are being healed. Dramatic things are happening.

They're bringing people from the surrounding villages. It's become something more than just an internal thing. It's growing to a regional message. And it's going to go far beyond that. And this is the statement that was made. It's Acts 5 in verse 16. crowds gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil spirits,

and all of them were healed. Then in verse 17, it says, Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. And they arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. Pretty unsettling stuff. This is the second time they've been arrested

in a very short period of time after Jesus' ascension. So their faith is bringing them into conflict with both the religious and the political authorities of Jerusalem. The same group that organized Jesus' arrest and handed him over to the Romans, demanding that he be crucified, are now arresting the apostles. But it's the statement that's made

that the Sadducees and the leaders in Jerusalem were jealous of the apostles. What are they jealous of? I think they're jealous of the authority they're demonstrating, the power they're demonstrating. are being healed and delivered. They're jealous of the attention they're garnering. Large crowds of people are beginning to migrate towards them to hear their message. They don't seem overly concerned about the Jesus narrative. I mean, that leaks into the text,

but that doesn't seem to be the real fuel for this jealousy. They're jealous of the outcomes they're getting. Well, I've thought about that a good bit. So I have a question. And it's a question I'm asking myself, but I'm going to ask it to you as well. It seems to me that the church, and by church, I mean those of us that gather, not the building where you meet or even the denomination, but if you're a Christ follower or you're a part of the church, seems to me that the church has become so timid, so withdrawn from our culture, that there's very little present in our lives demonstrated towards them that would cause the unbelievers to be jealous. I mean, you have to think about that a little bit, but somebody that doesn't

know the Lord, what do they see in us? You say, well, they can see my peace or my happiness or my joy, but they show us pictures of their joy and their happiness. They've usually got an alcoholic beverage in their hand, and maybe they're pursuing something that's a bit illicit, but I mean, everybody's chasing happiness. So I don't think that's an answer to this. See, I don't think we've had a legitimate expression of authority that's greater than available to the unbeliever, a power that's greater than them, an imagination of something working, work on our behalf that's not available to them. I don't think there have been any real demonstrations of power and authority in the church in a significant way for so long that we've

lost that point of interaction with the culture. There's been little courageous leadership. There truly has. It seems to me that we've been afraid of success in the church. We don't even like that. Success doesn't even seem like a Christian word. Well, our goal isn't to be successful. Oh, really?

What's it to be? Failure? Now, I understand measures of success differ, and I don't want to use the same. archstick that a godless culture does. But we've been called to be effective. We've been called to preach the gospel in the whole world. The whole world. Every one of us, not just evangelist or missionaries or whomever you think should be doing it. I think we've remained so mediocre, so bland, so colorless that we just wanted to blend into the shadows because we understood there was conflict out there. I mean, heavens forbid we'd be like.

like find ourselves in conflict with the authorities, either the religious authorities or the civil authorities, that would be way biblical. But that's not been the model. We don't even want to build nice buildings anymore. There have been seasons in the church where there have been some spectacular churches built. After World War II, when the troops came home, there were church renovations all over America.

At that time, if you look in about 10 years after that, the most beautiful buildings in most of the American cities, at least the smaller ones, were the churches. The men who had gone to fight and had seen the horrors of the global war, when they returned to their families, those families made sacrifices to build remarkable churches. We don't do that anymore.

We say, well, it's not a good use of resources. Oh, stop it. If we don't have the courage and the determination to give our best to the Lord, let's not blame it on arrogance and pride. We want the finest resources going to the universities we support for their athletic programs and their athletes to come. compete. We are delighted to say our team is number one and your team is awful. Our team plays by the rules and your team cheats. Then we come to our faith and go, well, we just want to be kind

and we want to be quiet and we don't want to be assertive. That's not my story anymore. I want to lead with my faith. I want the world to know that Jesus of Nazareth is Lord Christ and King, that he reigns over all, that ultimately every knee will bow. in heaven and earth and under the earth, and I'm an early adopter. And you can be too, certainly not exclusive to me because of IQ or ability or anything I've done, but I accepted the gift and it's changed my orientation in life. And I am unapologetically, unyieldingly. I will not stop lifting up the name of Jesus.

And I would invite you towards that attitude. Let's lead our lives in such a way that the secular culture looks at us and goes, Tell me more about that. There have been some perversions of this. There always are. You know, one of the devil's tools is he takes something that's good and he perverts it into something that's destructive. He does that with food.

God gave us food for our health and well-being and we're killing ourselves with forks. We did it with sex. Sex is God's idea. He's not a prude, and we've taken sex and perverted in all sorts of destructive ways that leads to broken lives and heartache. Well, I think we did this around this notion of making people jealous with the gospel.

There have been lots of voices that said, the Lord will make you so prosperous. You'll have so much money that the world will be jealous at the toys you have and the bubbles that you wear. Stop it. What nonsense. God will give us the resources we need to do what we need to do for his kingdom. But the goal isn't so that we can be fabulously wealthy and live in palaces. The goal is that the gospel of the kingdom,

can be proclaimed in the whole world. And there's a power in us to break the bondage of sickness and disease and demonic oppression and all the things that torment humanity. That demonstration of power is, I believe, what will capture the attention of the world. It's more potent than political power or economic power or even military power. Now, I'm not against prosperity, but I'm not going to lead with that. So let's live in such a way that we make the unbelievers around us intrigued by what the gospel does in the life of someone. Just decide to be so successful for the kingdom of God.

See, we're so jealous amongst one another in churches. If somebody's doing better than we are, we think they must be compromising. Well, they're down to only two commandments over there. You know, they don't really stand up for the truth. You know, the data suggests exactly the opposite. it, the churches who have rejected the authority of Scripture, who have rejected the uniqueness of Jesus and the redemptive power of the gospel, their attendance is plummeting. The churches, regardless of label on them across the country where they're willing to hold up

the authority of Scripture, encourage people to yield their lives to it, who will acknowledge the uniqueness of Jesus and his redemptive work is the only way into the kingdom of God or the strongest most flourishing churches in our nation. Don't be afraid of the truth. The truth is a good thing. We have believed a lie. We have, for whatever reason, whether we were bullied or intimidated or we withdrew ourselves from the game, we have tapped out of the conflict, and it's time to raise our hand and step back in.

The authority of scripture, a biblical worldview, a Judeo-Christian worldview, will change our world more dramatically for a longer period of time than any political change we can be a part of. I want our values to be represented in the political realm, particularly in our form of government. I think that's our obligation. But I am foremost, first and foremost, committed to seeing a biblical worldview, a Judeo-Christian worldview, brought back into the public square, into our schools, particularly into higher education in our college campuses, into the corridors of the hospitals, into the factory floors, into the courtrooms, into our job sites, into our construction sites. We've got to stop accepting the narrative we've been given. Some of them to me, I'm amazed at how quickly we capitulate. A university in our community, one of the largest undergraduate university in the state of Tennessee, is sponsoring, again.

They've done it for more than a decade, a convention on LBTQ plus whatever the latest finish of that is, supporting DEI and CRT and SEL, a whole host of things that are ungodly. And at the moment have been declared illegal. And one of the primary funders for that is the TVA, the Tennessee Valley Authority, a government agency. That's on our college campuses. And I saw a social media post where somebody I knew had said they didn't agree with that. And there was a flurry of responses that said,

Don't you know about the separation of church and state? Shut up. Please understand. That is an absurd response. What they're asking for is at the separation of church and state. They're asking for the separation of the state and Christianity. If you support LGBTQ or you support DEI or you support CRT, those are worldview issues. They're not Christian issues.

Those are worldview issues advocating for a worldview. and they very much have a state sponsor. What we're saying is that the Christian faith has a right in the marketplace of ideas, that the marketplace should not be void of the Christian faith. We don't want a state-sponsored church, or I don't want a state-sponsored church. I don't want the state in the business of religion. But I don't want the state in the business of banning religion, and we have been sheep-like in accepting the mantra when somebody says,

Well, what about the separation of church and state? We just hit the mute button and go recede into the shadows. Not anymore. Not anymore. I served the lion of the tribe of Judah, and it's time for him to roar on our college campuses and our courtrooms. Doctors shouldn't be afraid to pray with a patient. That's absurd.

The patient can say, I'd prefer you don't. Okay, no harm, no foul. I won't. We should have the privilege of praying with. the patient? How have we accepted this? The teachers should be able to pray with a student? Say, well, there's a power in equity. Stop it. What nonsense. There's a power inequity even when a professor advocates for LGBTQ or DEI or CRT and we don't say that's inappropriate. This notion that there's a neutral playing field. We've got to watch and listen and think and we have not been.

We have just surrendered the field and left our children and our grandchildren to the absurdity of ungodliness. It's tremendously inconsistent. I'm embarrassed that right now we have some political leaders with more courage than the leaders of our faith. I give you some examples. I've used this reference of the theater of the absurd. We've watched lots of releases from the theater of the absurd. I'm grateful to say that of late, there are some new releases coming out, and they're focused on the truth of God's word.

Biblical principles being lived out in the political arena. It's remarkable, not forcing people to worship in a Judeo-Christian way, just taking those principles and say, they've would have governed our society since our beginning, and we think they would help us in the future. The president stood up and said that there are only two genders, male and female. Well, the theater of the absurd has been saying, for quite an extended time, there's a limitless number of genders determined by how you feel today.

I had a meeting, a personal meeting with a psychiatrist from New York that works in institutions there, and their induction forms had more than 30 choices for gender. I'd have to have training on how to interpret the form. And the president stood up and made a matter of record, political record, that there are two genders that will be recognized. Well, I would submit to you The church should have been standing up with that message long ago Not finding ways to accommodate a secular culture

The church, and when I say church, I don't mean the institution I mean you and me as believers We have failed to teach the biblical truth Regarding our gender roles Bible says God created us male and female It got so absurd That we reached the point where we've had men competing with women, women in athletic competition at the highest levels in college and beyond.

You know, there's an idea, and I agree with it. I think it's an appropriate statement that men should never use physical violence against a woman. And yet we have some confusing fact introduced into that discussion, that men and women are the same biologically, that physically there's no difference, that women should be able to be placed on the front lines of combat, that women can do anything a man can do physically. And there was really no dissenting voice coming from the church of any significance. And it reached the point of such absurdity that at the Olympic Games, this past Olympic Games,

there were men and women in the same ring boxing. Now, how can you say to young boys it's wrong to use physical violence against a girl and then show them the Olympics where they're fighting one another, punching one another in the face? That's an absurdity. And we got to that point, And again, I'm in total agreement that violence against women by men is wrong. But we got to that place of absurdity because the church didn't have the courage and the boldness to talk about gender roles. And that's as much about women not willing to accept them. You say, it's not about greater or lesser, weaker or stronger. We are created with differences.

If the government made people, there'd only be one kind. If the government made fruit, it would all be the same color, gray. God made us everyone different and unique, with different abilities, with different gifts, with different appearances, and he made us male and female. And the church needs to have the courage to pick that set of things back up. But first we'll have to repent for our silence. You know, I'll give you another absurd statement that's been made

that an open border is an expression of compassion. And they'll follow that up for the last several years. years within our border is secure while multiplied millions of people have been pouring across our border without any screening without any health screening without any security screening without any registration we don't know who came in we don't know where they are we don't know to whom they were attached it's made us incredibly vulnerable well the truth an open border is dangerous to all the citizens in fact we will cease to function as a nation state if we leave our border open that's not difficult to arrive at.

How long would the state of Israel exist if they open their borders? They're surrounded by hundreds of millions of people sworn to their destruction. If they just opened their borders, they'd just be overwhelmed. Well, it's no different for us. It's an absurd statement to say that an open border is an expression of compassion. Do you want the government the people hired, first of all, their first assignment is to protect and serve our nation to provide for the common defense of our nation. should they choose the well-being of non-citizens over the well-being of citizens?

That's irrational. It's absurd. And yet the church has struggled to find our voices on this. We've had sloppy grace and we've had a leadership failure to teach about the sovereignty of God. God draws boundaries. God says, you cannot do this and enter my kingdom. The kingdom of God does not have open borders. Jesus said, many will approach me at the judgment and say, Lord, Lord, and he will say, depart from me, I don't know you.

And so, wait a minute, we did miracles in your name, and we were amongst your people, and he'll say, I'm sorry, I don't know you. And he said there'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth. I understand that phrase to describe a unique group of people, people that were very close to the kingdom of God or the purposes of God. But they failed to choose to enter in. And because of that, when they recognize that their failure to enter in is not reversible any longer, there is enormous grief and anxiety. So there's a gnashing of teeth. The kingdom of God is not without borders and a nation can't be. And the church has to have the courage.

That's you and me, folks, not the pastor or some denomination or whoever you think you should be doing it. Will there be pushback? Yeah. Why do you think the book of Acts tells us that the church leaders kept being arrested, beaten, threatened, riots broke out? They didn't lead a peaceful, quiet, passive existence. Their message brought division. Jesus said I didn't come to bring unity. I came to bring division, even in our households.

Awkward truth here. We haven't had the courage to take the truth to our kitchen table. When our kids or our grandkids are leading in ungodly, immoral lives, We don't want to tell them. We don't want to disrupt a holiday. We just wink at them and think, well, it'll all work out. That kind of sloppy grace will place people that we love and care about in eternity apart from God. It's not kindness.

Lack of clarity is not kindness. It's cowardice. And we're going to have to have the courage to tell the people we love the most, the truth. And then the Lord will help us walk through that. The absurd statements, they just keep coming. I'm going to run out of time. and I'm going to have to stop, but one that came up recently, more than 90% of federal employees have not been working full-time from the office.

90% of federal employees have not been working full-time from the office. Now, that is absurd, impossible to be efficient at a maximum level. Those are our tax dollars. Those are jobs that have been deemed significant enough that the government got involved with them. and they don't even have the dignity or the respect for what they're doing to go to the office. Unbelievable. It truly is. But the church, again, I think it's a church failure.

When we meet God in Genesis chapter 1 at the very beginning of the narrative, God is working. He isn't worshiping. He isn't singing. He isn't on vacation. He isn't having quality family time. He's working. Now, I'm not opposed to any of those things. but when God is introduced to us, he's working.

And for the record, he's working a six-day week. Biblically, there is a dignity in work. God created us to work. He had to give us caution that we should take a Sabbath. Not for recreation. Not for renewal and refreshing. I believe we find that in work. See, I think when we understand that work is an expression of worship,

every bit as much as when we sing our favorite hymn or chorus or follow along with our favorite worship song or worship leader. When we go to work, we go to worship the Lord. When you understand that, there is a meaning in work, there's a value in work, there's something renewing in work. You may physically need to be replenished. You may need emotionally to recover from the demands and expectations of assignments. But the Sabbath is a day to seek the Lord.

It's not a day to recreate. We've made a God out of recreation. We see work as an intrusion. on what we want to do, what's fulfilling to us, what's meaningful to us, we better find fulfillment in what God has asked us to do. I know jobs can be dreary. I've had some pretty dreary jobs. But in the midst of that, I had to find a way to honor the Lord,

or I was filled with anger and resentment. The list goes on and on. We're watching DEI be set aside. Why didn't the church have the courage to say that's wrong? DEI says we judge one another by our appearance. that is patently ungodly. It's the content of our character, the condition of our heart that determines our value. Not how we look or don't look.

And yet we waited for the politicians to say that. I'm acquainted with, I have meetings with pastors that stand in their pulpits and say DEI is a biblical construct. And then they torture the language to try to fit it into the scripture. It's a perversion of the gospel. Don't sit in churches that teach that stuff. There are important things from the Word of God to teach the people that we serve. It's going to take courage for the church to be the church.

I can promise you it's taking tremendous courage for the people going to Washington to begin to introduce the changes that they're introducing. We've watched some of the Senate hearings. They've been called horrible names. They've been accused of horrific things. Their character is assassinated. It's awful. And they're willing to pay that price to go to do what they think to be the right thing.

Many of them at great sacrifice. To their careers, to their professional life, it's an interruption. Well, you and I need to be advocates for the gospel of Jesus Christ for a biblical worldview, for a Judeo-Christian worldview, willing to let our lives be disrupted with the same kind of courage and boldness that we see those men and women demonstrating. if we will lead with our faith, if we will refuse to capitulate when there is pressure, if we'll be more concerned with pleasing God

than pleasing the people around us, if we will take the truth of God to our kitchen tables and to our holiday tables and into the groups of friends that we have, I believe we can see the greatest move of the spirit of God. It will eclipse, it will outrun, it will outlast the political changes that are being made. if we don't, what we're watching is a temporary blip.

It's a valiant sacrifice on behalf of some very courageous people, but it's a temporary blip. If we allow them to put on armor and show courage that we're not willing to embrace, I believe our children and grandchildren will pay the price for that, and you and I will face judgment for that. It's an exciting time to live. God has shown us mercy. He's given us a season of extended freedom and liberty.

we could have had something very different. Now let's decide to take our Christianity and engage our culture with that. We'll do that. I believe we will see God move in a way that will cause the ungodly amongst us to truly come and say to us, tell us about your God.

I want to know him. How could I get to know him? And we'll have a privilege of knowing we have given our best to the Lord. That's better than chasing stuff, a third house or a bigger boat. or better toys or a better label in our clothes. Let's give the Lord our best

and see what the Lord will give back to us. That, I would submit to you, is culture and Christianity at its finest. 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 Ministry's YouTube channel

and follow the Culture and Christianity podcast on Spotify, Apple 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.