Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 103 | Christian Persecution

Episode Date: April 24, 2019

The attacks in Sri Lanka and the American reactions thereafter signal growing antipathy toward Christians. This was prophesied by Jesus and should not scare his followers but rather should renew our steadfast hope in his return. Copyright Blaze Media All Rights Reserved.

Hello, relatable listeners. I hope everyone is having a wonderful week. Happy Wednesday. Today, we are going to get into the Sri Lankan bombing to the tragic incident that happened there over Easter weekend. I won't spend too much time talking about the details. I do want to give you a little bit of a background just for those of you who weren't able to catch what happened on the news. But I really want to spend more time in the analysis of this, what the reactions to the attacks actually mean for where we are as a society and as where we are as far as our political environment goes. And then I want to dive into what this means as Christian specifically and what the Bible has to say about Christian persecution. So in case you don't know, this past Easter weekend, suicide bombers detonated bombs at several churches in Sri Lanka killing 321 people and wounded another 500 people. This happened several Roman Catholic churches and three hotels. The Wall Street Journal reported that St. Sebastian Church appeared to have suffered the worst of this attack.

More than a hundred of its congregants were killed. The tourism minister said that at least 39 foreigners were among the dead. That includes United States citizens. There was a pretty little known radical Islamist group called the National Thawheath Jammoth that was blamed for this. Officials that the group had not actually carried out any. serious attacks in the past. So this was a little bit of a surprise, though they did seem to have received help from an international terrorist organization. I'm not sure if that organization has been

specified. Now, here's an interesting part. According to the New York Times, as Sri Lanka's security forces were warned about this, at least 10 days before the bombings, but they didn't actually do anything. They took no action. There is a reason for that. Well, one of the reasons for that. there's probably a couple and probably a few more that I'm not actually privy to. But one of the reasons for that is because there are no religious protections for religious minorities in Sri Lanka. There are protections for Buddhists. It's a majority Buddhist country.

There are not protections for Christians. There are also not protections for Muslims, at least not written into the laws in Sri Lanka. And so I'm just not sure if these kinds of attacks are necessarily taken seriously when they are against a group like Christians. Now, here's another complex part of this is that the prime minister said that he had no idea about these security threats, that he nor his cabinet were informed of this. There was this lack of communication between the prime minister and between the president.

There has been a feud for a long time between the president and between the prime minister. Last year, they had a rift between them. They had this kind of tussle about who. who was the real, the rightful prime minister. And so this kind of conflict that has been going on in their government has lasted a while and has caused in at least some part this kind of security failure that resulted in the loss of hundreds of lives. According to the security memo on April 11th, the government had intelligence that did

highlight the warnings on the Catholic Church bombings. There is another article in the New York Times that says, quote, they had been warned even earlier by India that the group also known by the spelling national Thauhi Jamath was plotting church attacks. They knew as far back in January that radical Islamists possibly tied to the group had stockpiled weapons and detonators. And again, they did nothing. But within hours of when three churches and three hotels were bombed, Sri Lankan security services swooped down on at least 24 suspects, that probably suggests that they also knew exactly what. the group had been operating. So they had all of these details. They had all of this intelligence.

And yet they did absolutely nothing. It probably, like I said, has to do with their very low view of religious minorities, particularly in this case Catholic Christians. India is a close ally of Sri Lanka. They've been watching the entire South Asia region for any sign of activity from al-Qaeda or ISIS. Indian security agencies said that they have been, uh, scrutinizing the movements of this particular Islamist group and its leader Mohammed Zaharan. He is a known extremist who has spent time in both India and Sri Lanka. And in recent years, he has preached terrible, hateful messages online. So this is a public guy.

This was a pretty public plot or a well-known plot. And yet, like I said, nothing was done about it. If you don't know anything about Sri Lanka, it's an island nation. it's in the Indian Ocean. It was completely torn apart by decades of civil war. That ended in 2009. But it doesn't really have a history of this type of violence, of Islamist violence. The suicide bombies that were kind of pioneered in the 1980s, started in the 1980s were carried out by guerrillas from the country's Talmil, Tamil ethnic minority, who were mainly Hindu.

But that wasn't by Muslim. So that's a little bit different than what. happening right now. And then you even have experts saying, no, no, no, this is not kind of a resurgence of what happened in the 1980s. This is something new entirely because that had something to do with ethnicity. This has something to do with religion. And so it's actually very different. But people have been worried that Islamist extremism has been on the rise in the region for the past few years, for the past decade or so. So since the attacks, Sri Lanka has taken some kind of steps. Now people have a curfew. They've blocked all social media. Of course,

this is a reactionary step that probably isn't going to prevent any more attacks. If they really cared about the safety of their people, they probably would have done something with the security threats that they had all the way back in January. I mean, the fact that they didn't even have heightened security that we know of, knowing that this is Easter Sunday, knowing that there's this type of division, this type of religious hatred just shows that, shows that they really don't, they really don't care. They really don't care, particularly about the people who are worshipping a different God than Buddha. There has been religious persecution in Asia for a long time. Christians, most of them are actually Roman Catholic. They only make up about 7% of

Sri Lanka's population. Like I said, it's predominantly Buddhist. Hindus make up about 13% Muslims roughly 10% and so Catholics or Roman Catholics make up about 7%. So that's the smallest minority of religions in Sri Lanka. This is according to the New York Times, there are experts who say that the choice of Christians as a particular target might mean, I mean it probably does in my opinion, that international extremist groups have a more, have a broader, specifically anti-Christian agenda. But it underlines this growing intolerance towards religious differences and growing of violence towards religious groups. One of the worst examples of this wasn't against Christians, but one of one example that most of us know was the persecution of Myanmar of the Muslim minority

by the government, by its members of the Buddhist majority. Another was Easter Sunday in 2016, a suicide bomber killed more than 70 people in a party. in Pakistan when a group of Taliban sought to kill and injure Christians. But in regards to this particular study, people are saying this is just a symbol of what is happening around the world. Christians face the most extreme persecution in accordance with what Open Doors Charity says. According to Pew Research Center, Christians remain the group that is targeted the most by both governments and social groups throughout the world.

This kind of takes the form of a lot of different things, including physical assaults, arrests, detentions, desecration of holy sites, discrimination against them in employment, education, housing. Christians and Muslims are really close when it comes to targeting. Christians were targeted in 144 countries that's up from 128 last year, so that's a 12% increase. Over just one year, Muslims are targeted. in 142 countries. The third list in this, in most persecuted religious groups are Jews who are affected in 87 different countries throughout the world. Among the most 25 most populous countries, Egypt, Russia, India, Indonesia, Turkey, China, all included in some of the most restrictive

against religious minorities and, of course, particularly Christians, like we said. According to Open Doors Charity, research has recently indicated that each day is staggering, a 11 Christians are killed for their faith. That's 11 Christians every day in the top 50 countries ranked on the world watch list. So that just gives us a lot of perspective for living in the United States. We talk a lot or you hear a lot. We probably don't talk a lot, but you hear a lot just about how hard this country is, how unfair this country is, how unjust this country is. But we should consider the fact that we are really the most religiously tolerant country in the world. That doesn't mean that we are perfect. That doesn't mean that we have a perfect record. But the fact that we are

built on this unique idea that all men and women are created equal, that they were endowed by their creator, no matter what their faith is, with certain inalienable rights, among them being life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And within that is also the freedom to worship who you will, what you will, and how you will, as long as that worship doesn't infringe on the basic human rights of other people, doesn't infringe upon other people's safety, that there is not a state-sanctioned church. Yes, America was built on Christian values, which is exactly why that freedom has been afforded to us. A lot of people think that freedom is a secular idea, but if you look at the most secular countries, they are not the most free countries in the world. America was built on this

crazy, at that time, pretty radical idea that men and women should be able to follow their own conscience. This is a very Christian idea. This is a very Protestant idea, not in the sense that we are excited by the fact that people don't follow Jesus Christ or that people are not Christians or that we believe in relativism, but that people should be free as far as government goes. As far as government restrictions go, people should be free to worship who, what, and how they want to without any kind of restrictions, without any kind of inhibitions, and without any kind of of persecution. And so we just need to remember how insanely, I don't want to say lucky, but blessed we are, how privileged we are to live in the United States of America. And we shouldn't

take that for granted. And we should, myself included, should be spending more time praying for these Christians who are being martyred on a daily basis. I mean, think about how crazy this is, that these are not men and women who are being martyred by suicide bombing. They are not inflicting harm on other people, but simply because they are worshiping peacefully, the God of the universe, because they are worshiping the Messiah that died over 2,000 years ago and rose again a few days later. Because they are peacefully worshipping him, they are being martyred. They are being put in jail. And we enjoy so much freedom here, and we should use that freedom to pray and to support them in every way that we possibly can. And that was just a quick side note.

I want to get into the right and left reaction about this because it really says a lot about where we are. So there was a debate that went on on Sunday and Monday about the term Easter worshippers. That was the term that was used by a lot of people on the left to describe the people who were killed. Worship being on Easter. President Obama tweeted, The attacks on tourists and Easter worshippers in Sri Lanka are an attack on humanity. on a day devoted to love, redemption, and renewal. We pray for the victims and stand with the people of Sri Lanka.

Hillary Clinton tweeted, on this holy weekend for many faiths, we must stand united against hatred and violence. I'm praying for everyone affected by today's horrific attacks on Easter worshippers and travelers in Sri Lanka. Julian Castro said a very similar thing. He said these attacks were on Easter worshippers. Nancy Pelosi. She didn't say Easter worshippers, but She just said that these people were attacked. Families were attacked at Durbin. My heart goes out to the people of Sri Lanka, those who lost loved ones in today's senseless violence, praying for everyone impacted. Now, upon reading these things or hearing these things, you might not think it's that big of a deal. Anyone who is mad about someone saying Easter worshippers are saying that this is a holy weekend for many faiths, they're blowing it out of proportion because it was Passover for the Jewish community this weekend. And so maybe it's not that big of a deal. Maybe we are just making.

much ado about nothing. But when you contrast what the top Democrats said and what many on the left said about these attacks, and you contrast that to what was said about the attacks on mosques in New Zealand just a few months ago, it's just a little odd. It's just a little odd to see the differences. So when it came to the New Zealand attacks, Barack Obama said, Michelle and I send our condolences to the people of New Zealand, we grieve with you. And the Muslim community, all of us stand against hatred in all of its forms. Hillary Clinton said, My heart breaks for New Zealand in the global Muslim community.

We must continue to fight against the perpetuation and normalization of Islamophobia and racism in all of its forms. White supremacist terrorists must be condemned by leaders everywhere. Their murderous hatred must be stopped. Nancy Pelosi also mentioned Islamophobia. Julian Castro also mentioned the Muslim community. Dick Durbin also mentioned the Muslim community and his tweets. All of these tweets, of course, are online.

And so you can go and look these up if you don't want to take my word for it. And so I do think it is very logical and good for us to ask why do Democrats, and not just Democrats, by the way, because President Trump also didn't mention the word Christians when he was talking about these attacks. So not just Democrats, but why does it seem like people, especially people on the left, are allergic to the term Christians? Why can't they say something about Christophobia, if that was a word that we used? If Christians are truly the number one most targeted group in the world for religious persecution and discrimination,

which according to Pew Research and Open Doors Charity, they are, why can't we talk about that? It's obviously a pervasive problem. It's obviously an institutional problem. So why can't we talk about the discrimination and the persecution against Christians? Why do we have to call them Easter worshipers? That's just an odd phrase. I've never heard the term Easter worshipers. Christians don't worship Easter.

They worship Christ. That's why they're called Christians. Why can't we say Christians, but we can say Muslims? And I'm not saying, by the way, that we shouldn't say that the Muslim community was affected by the shooting in New Zealand. I think that those are appropriate statements to make, that we should mourn with the Muslim community. Even those of us who don't share their faith, we should mourn with them. We should pray for them. Our hearts should break for that.

And we should call out white supremacy. We should call out the cause of the cause of those kinds of crimes. We should call out the perpetrator and the evil ideology that white supremacists purport. We should absolutely call that out. But when it comes to another group that is persecuted, when it comes to Christians, we also need to call out the pervasive hatred that exists against Christians throughout the world. and we also need to call out the evil ideology of the people who carried out these attacks, just like we called out the evil ideology of the person who carried out the attacks in New Zealand. And the evil ideology this time is not white supremacy like it was in New Zealand.

The evil ideology this time is radical Islamist terror. Why don't we get a statement on that? Why doesn't Hillary Clinton think that needs to be stopped? Why doesn't that need to be explicitly stated? Same thing with Barack Obama. Same thing with Julian Castro. Same thing with Dick Durbin. Same thing with Nancy Pelosi. Why can't we call out the evil ideologies that are executing these horrible executions? Why can't we call that out? Particularly when Muslims are killing Muslims by the hundreds of thousands every year.

It is not even close when you look at the number of lives that are taken by radical Islamist. terrorists and the lives that are taken by any other kind of terrorists, no matter what their evil ideology is, it's not even close. Radical Islamist terrorists take more lives every year than any other kind of terrorist group and we're not allowed to talk about it. Why is that? And you might think, okay, Alie, you're just politicizing this. Well, I don't think so.

I don't think politicizing something is quite the same as analyzing something because when you refuse to analyze something, then you miss important symbols of where our country is going and where the cultural conversation is taking us and how it has actually evolved. My analysis of this or my thought about this, the reason why Hillary Clinton and other top Democrats, and like I said, President Trump also did not say Christians, and I think that that was wrong. I think that he probably should have. I don't know if he's operating from the same motivation that I think many on the left are, so maybe it's not quite as significant, but I do want to be fair in that to say that I didn't think that his statement was strong enough either. Now, Vice President Pence, yes, I think

Ted Cruz had a great statement. President Trump, not so much. But like I said, I don't think his is quite the same motivation because the left, we know, unlike President Trump and unlike other people on the right, are operating from this intersectionality mindset that gives people a certain amount of credit or gives people a certain amount of attention or affirmation, whatever you want to call it because or based on their perceived oppression points. And so everything is viewed between, everything is viewed from this faulty lens of privilege. And Christians, for whatever reason,

in postmodern academia, has been associated with things that the left sees as privileged. It's associated with the West in Western values. It is associated with democracy, with capital. it is associated with the Constitution. It's associated with our founding. It is associated with whiteness, they would probably say. Now, these are not exact or correct correlations that they are making, but that's the generalization that I think that they're drawing here, that Christianity is typically associated with privileged groups in America, and therefore they're not afforded the

same sympathy and the same compassion as, say, Muslim groups. So we don't need to talk about Christophobia. We don't need to talk about the pervasiveness of Christian persecution because Christians are fine. This is, you know, we're built on a Christian nation. The founding fathers were Christian. And Christianity has been used for all kinds of oppression and atrocities. It's been used to justify slavery. The left would say.

And so we just don't need to afford it the same kind of empathy that we afford other communities, other minority communities. But like we said, that is not based on fact, considering that Christians are the most persecuted group that exists in the entire world. This is yet another example of social justice not being actual justice. Social justice says that we need to prop up the people that we view as oppressed and we need to press down the people that we view as the oppressor. For whatever reason, the left sees Christians as the oppressor and they see Muslims and other

groups as the oppressed. and yet factually, statistically, internationally, that is just not true. But this is yet another way that we see that social justice, this idea of lifting up particular groups at the expense of others is not actual justice. Why? Because it's not based on truth. It's not based on evidence. And therefore, it is not just.

I have told you before, if lady justice, true lady justice is blindfolded and she's holding the scales in her hands and she's weighing the facts of a case in order to make a truly just decision. Social justice has her eyes wide open and she has a checklist out and she is giving people points based on their minority status. That's what social justice is. And that's not justice at all because it's based on collective judgments of groups rather than individual justice of group or the individual judgments of groups. And that's, I think, what is really motivating this kind of apathy and this vagueness in regards to Christians because for faulty reasons, they are seen as more privileged. They are seen as white. They are seen as American.

They are seen as Western. When that's not true, Christianity is growing by the day in these Asian countries. And you're going to tell me, you're going to tell me that this is a privileged religion when 11 Christians, at least 11 Christians every day are dying peacefully for their faith? Not by suicide bombings, but peacefully for their faith. And you're going to tell me that they don't deserve your explicit recognition, that we don't need to be talking about the pervasive and institutionalized persecution of Christians around the world? I don't think so. But see, these intersectionalists, these people who are getting all of their information from postmodern academia,

don't really know anything about Christianity. All of the things that they say that they're fighting against, institutionalized and justice and racism and discrimination, these are all the things the left says that they're fighting against. Christians have been fighting for in an actual or fighting against in an actual just way since the beginning, since it's founding. There is a book called How Christianity Changed the World by Alvin Schmidt that really kind of outlines all of the influence and the long history

of seeking justice for those who are oppressed by Christians specifically. So if you look at outlying infanticide, outlying child abandonment, even back to the gladiatorial, sorry, I had a hard time saying that word, gladiatorial games in ancient Rome, ending the practice of human sacrifice in European cultures, banning pedophilia, polygamy, prohibiting the burning down of widows in India. You can also look at William Wilberforce, who, of course, was a committed Christian, and he led the abolition against slavery in England and the United States. Two-thirds of the abolitionists were Christian pastors.

Of course, Martin Luther King, there is some disagreement about whether or not he was saved. But a lot of the principles and the values that he pushed forth were founded in the Bible, were founded on this radical idea of unconditional love and seeing people equally. Even if you look at the founding documents that were imperfectly applied throughout history, of course. We knew there was slavery, or we know there was slavery, we know there was discrimination, we know there is inequality that doesn't change, that the idea that all men and women are created equal is a biblical Christian idea that has done more good for not just this country, but more good for the world of people of all fates and all genders and all backgrounds than any

other human idea. Christians have always been behind seeking justice and loving mercy. That does not say that does not mean that Christians have been perfect. That does not mean that wrong things have not been done in the name of Christianity. Of course it has. But it doesn't take a genius to look at something that has been done in the name of Christianity, a sin that has been done in the name of Christianity and say, okay, is this really Christian? Well, let's look at the Bible. Let's look at the life that Jesus led. No, that doesn't look like that. So we can say, sure, bad things have been done in the name of Christianity. But that's not what Jesus called us to.

That's not what the Bible calls us to. The Bible calls us to seek justice, to love mercy, to try to instill or execute or implement the best we can. God's just laws here on earth. As Jesus says in the Lord's prayer, your let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Christians have always been behind bringing God's kingdom down to earth

and making this the most just, the most equal, the most livable, planets that it can possibly be. We have always been behind justice. All of the things that the left says that they are fighting for, Christians have always been behind it. And the justice that we have sought is it's not based on someone's skin color. It's not based on gender. It's not based on perceived, perceived, the perceived perceptor, I don't know, the perceptions of oppression. It has been based on truth. It has been based on evidence. It has been based on this idea that men and women are created in the image of God and therefore have dignity. That's why Christians have always been behind

this. I mean, even if you look at the Holocaust, if you have ever read about Corrieton Boom in hiding Jews from the Nazis, if you ever read about Bonhofer, who fought hard against the Nazis in Nazi Germany, these were gospel believing, Bible believing, Christian. These weren't agnostics. These weren't Christians in name only. These were people who believed in the power of the gospel. And because they believed in the power of the gospel, they sought to bring God's justice here on earth by fighting for the least of these and fighting for the oppressed. And so the only reason why people on the left who say that they, you know, or who don't support Christians or who don't want to speak out explicitly in defense of Christians. They don't know their history. And we also know that this is going to happen, that this kind of persecution, that this kind of ambivalence at best against Christians is going to happen more and more until the end of time. Jesus said, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness's sake, for theirs is the kingdom

of heaven. And that is important for us to remember that's Matthew 510, is that those who are persecuted, whether it's in Sri Lanka, whether it's in China, whether it's in Egypt or whether it's here, we are blessed. Yes, that doesn't mean that we shouldn't fight against persecution. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't be against it and speak out against it. But we also realize that those who are being martyred and those who are suffering because of their faith are blessed because of that. The reason, according to Jesus, that the terrorist in Sri Lanka specifically committed these acts of violence against Christians is because they don't know God.

They don't know the God of the Bible. They don't know the Christian God. He said, they will do these things because they have not known the Father nor me. So it is a heart problem. Same thing in New Zealand with the white supremacist who shot up the Muslim mosques. He didn't know God. It was a heart problem. It wasn't a gun problem.

He had a heart issue. Jesus said, John 16, 2 through 4, I have said these things to you that when the hour, when the hour comes, you may remember that I told them to you. And so he warned us about persecution. Of course, the shooter, the shooter in New Zealand had nothing to do with Christian persecution per se, but that was just another example of someone who didn't know God and so carried out an atrocious act of violence because he had a heart problem. But as far as Christian persecution goes, all of this is happening because God said it was going to happen. Jesus said it was going to happen. He says this. I'm sure that you, most of you have probably heard this in John

16. I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you, helper being the Holy Spirit. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment, concerning sin because they do not believe in me. Concerning righteousness because I go to the father and you will see me no longer. Concerning judgment because the ruler of of this world is judged. Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.

When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. Behold, the hour is coming. Indeed, it has come when you will be scattered, each to his own home and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone for the father is with me.

I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world. So what we can take from all of this, what we can take from the very disturbing growth in antipathy towards Christians, the at least apathy towards Christians, what we can take from the increasing persecution against Christians, the increasing martyrdom of Christians throughout the world, is that Jesus is still on his throne, that he has not gotten up and said,

what the heck is going on? I did not see this coming. That more than 2,000 years ago, he told us this is going to happen. But I am leaving. I'm ascending to the father after I die and raising him so that I can send my helper to you. So I can send my Holy Spirit to you.

And the Holy Spirit is going to empower you. he's going to be with you and I am never going to leave you even till the end of the age. Look, this hard stuff is going to happen, but you have victory over the world because I had victory over it. And in me, you get to also escape the sting of death. You also get to escape the traps of sin. And because of that, you have power. Because of that, you have the ability to endure.

He knew that all of this was going to pass. He knew that Sri Lanka was going to happen. He knew that there would be a growing hatred against his people. And he still said, blessed are you who are persecuted? He still said, take heart. And so we can trust that he is not freaking out about this. Does it sadden him? Yes, of course.

His heart breaks for the brokenhearted. He binds their wounds. Yes, we have a beautifully empathetic God. That was one beautiful thing that we saw so tangibly in Jesus Christ, is his empathy towards us. and his ability to relate to our struggles and relate to our weaknesses, even though he was completely without sin. That's one of the beautiful things that we see in Jesus' life.

But he is in complete control. He is completely sovereign. Nothing throws God off his game. Nothing messes up his plans. As Job said, there is nothing that can thwart God's will. Absolutely nothing. He is sovereign over everything. He does not change.

He does not waver. his ultimate plan of redemption to rescue those who believe in him is still in place and it cannot be moved a single inch. And I want to encourage all of us if we, if we in this lifetime who are living in America actually see the systemic persecution of Christians and I'm talking large scale to where we fear for our lives and we fear violence, we should not be afraid. We should not be afraid that we are actually told to hate our own lives. for the sake of the gospel, that all of our afflictions are light and momentary compared to the glory that we will have after we die. And nothing can stop the power of the gospel. Absolutely

nothing. Whether it's suicide bombings, whether it's government regulations, whether it's imprisonment, whether it's discrimination, whether it is the attempts to censor our speech, whether it is the government infringing on what is said in the pulpit or how Bibles are distributed, no matter, no law, no power on earth can ever stop the authority of the gospel and the spreading of the gospel and the power that it has in human lives. And so we should not be afraid. We should not fear what's to come because we have the same helper that those in Sri Lanka who, those of them who were truly worshiping the God of the universe, truly worshiping Christ, we have that same Holy Spirit. And we have that same strength and it's all going to be worth it. Yes, we are blessed to live

in the United States, but one day it will not be as easy as it is today. And we are told to stand firm and we have the power to do that through the Holy Spirit. So I'm not saying that we should be happy about the suffering that's to come. But we do know that it's part of God's plan. And the other thing to remember is that the church has always thrived in the margins. It's always thrived in the margins. That's where the true believers shine forth. There's going to be plenty of people that fall away that we thought were Christians, that we thought were solid, that we thought knew their theology. But when push came to shove, when it got hard, they weren't, they weren't willing to stick it out. But those who are faithful until the end, through the power of the Holy

Spirit, will be those who thrive on the margins of society and who will be given the power to endure the persecution that we are about to face. And so we have hope, no matter what our politicians here today say, no matter what is done abroad, we have hope. We have strength. We have the power to endure. And that should be where our joy comes from and where gladness comes from. We should not despair. There's no reason to.

God doesn't give us the option of desperation, thankfully. He gives us the option of rejoicing and hope. So I hope that you have a great rest of your Wednesday. We will be back here on Friday with a fabulous episode. And I will see you guys then.