Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 1262 | SNAP: A Factual & Biblical Analysis

Starting point is 00:00:00 What is really going on with SNAP benefits and how should Christians think about the role of the government when it comes to providing for the poor? Also, Zoran Mamdani is possibly going to be the next mayor of New York City. We'll find out tomorrow. What should we think about that? Why does it matter to those of us not living in New York City? Also, I've got somewhat of a response to the controversy see that has been manufactured over the past few days on Christian X about yours truly. This episode is brought to you by our friends at Good Ranchers. Go to Good Ranchers.com. Use code alley at checkout. That's good ranchers.com code alley. Hey guys, welcome to relatable. Happy Monday. I hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far. I am recording this from a different location today, as you can see.

Starting point is 00:01:03 so that's why it sounds and looks a little bit different. We've got a lot to talk about on this news Monday. If you are new to relatable, on Monday we talk about news. On Wednesday, we talk about theology. And then on Fridays, we have an interview and the subjects of those can span quite the spectrum. I usually start my Monday episodes with a word of encouragement. And that is a phrase that we have adopted and have repeated many, many times

Starting point is 00:01:31 throughout relatable history. and that is do the next right thing in faith with excellence and for the glory of God. Obviously, I did not come up with do the next right thing. Elizabeth Elliott said that. A lot of people have said that and written that over the years. But we have added on do the next right thing in faith with excellence and for the glory of God. It feels overwhelming sometimes, not just in the world, not just when we look on social media or turn on the news, but just in life, whatever you're going through personally or spiritually, emotionally, and your feelings. and your family at your job, but then also all of the chaos that seems to be raging

Starting point is 00:02:07 outside of our four walls on a daily basis. Sometimes we just feel this burden of like, I don't know what to do. And when you're thinking in such a big picture way and you're thinking in the terms of the macro, it can feel crushing. But the truth is all of us are only called to do one thing, and that is the next right thing in faith with excellence and for the glory of God. I posted that this morning on Instagram, as I often do, and someone asked me, but what is the right thing? And of course, that is difficult. That is what we have been grappling with as humans for all of human history. But focus on that word next. The next right thing. You probably know what you need to do next. Maybe it's send an email. Maybe it's change a diaper. Maybe it's

Starting point is 00:02:58 wash dishes, maybe it's text to friend, maybe it's go on a walk, whatever it is, whatever small thing, whatever seemingly menial task that God has called you do to do, do it. And do it in faith. Do it as excellently as possible with the hardest work ethic, with the best quality, and do that for the glory of God. So whatever you do next, reject doing it based on your own strength and your own talent, your own capabilities. Reject laziness. Reject slothfulness. Reject just meeting the bare minimum requirement. Go above and beyond to do the task that you are called to do. So that means don't just send the email. Don't just change the diaper. Don't just discipline your child. But do that with joy. Do that with excellence. Do that to the utmost based on God's strength that he has given you.

Starting point is 00:03:54 and do that for God's glory. Give him your best. Remember, our bodies are living sacrifices to the Lord, and we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us to give us the power to do that. That is what we have to focus on, not only when things seem chaotic or the responsibilities just seem so much, but also when there are so many voices and so many opinions of you and of different things that might feel like they're crowding your mind. And I'll just tell you, like that, that encouragement that I just gave you, it's just as much for me. I remind myself of that every day, but today it's one of those days. And those of you who follow me on Instagram know that I posted this, that I really needed that encouragement. I really don't, by the grace of God and just like

Starting point is 00:04:42 it's to the credit of the strength and the edification of the people around me too, my friends, my family, people at my church, of course, my husband, my parents, love my children, and all of that just really buoys me and really keeps me grounded in this crazy world. I get asked all the time, like, how do you talk about these things? How do you do this? How do you go into the alliance in and not just feel sad or down or anxious? And truly, because of all the things I just listed, I don't. Like, I feel very joyful and very hopeful, even as we're talking about very serious things

Starting point is 00:05:16 that, of course, I feel all kinds of criticism have for years. but sometimes something gets through the armor. Sometimes things really do hurt your feelings. And sometimes things really weigh you down. And they discourage your heart. And that's what I'm feeling this morning. Like I'm feeling the weight of discouragement. And I'm not trying to be vague.

Starting point is 00:05:40 I will explain more of this situation and give a fuller and biblical response to the so-called controversy that has. has been waging about me over the past few days on so-called Christian X. I think I actually shared the video of this part of my speech at Louisiana State University last Monday when I went through the five most controversial truths that Charlie Kirk preached in his life. And the first one was that feminism has failed women. I spent by far the longest amount of time in my speech on that.

Starting point is 00:06:19 And then the second one that Charlie talked about a lot that I reiterated was that porn has weakened men. And there is a part of that speech, which was clipped. It was posted on the Blazes X accounts. And it was, you know, it was a great part of the speech to clip because I meant every word of it where I'm saying, men, we need you. We need your strength. We need your masculinity. We need you to be present fathers and solid pastors and you're better than porn. And porn weakens men.

Starting point is 00:06:47 this was not a chiding. This was not even in admonition. This was an appeal from a woman and also for women too. But this, I'm in a room with primarily 19 and 20 year old voice, okay, young men. And I'm speaking as an older sister in Christ about something that is really important, that yes, as I said, disproportionately affects men, but also affects women in charge. children. And we hear from the feminists that we don't need men, that we don't need masculinity, that it's superfluous or it's toxic. And man, I have been talking for probably 10 years about the dangers of that line of reasoning and that line of argumentation. And so I said the opposite. And what happened? You had a bunch of people who identify as Christians on the right,

Starting point is 00:07:41 who are always, always, always looking for me to say something publicly that they can pounce upon. And they were calling me a feminist because apparently I was, you know, they said finger wagging or whatever. I had people, people that I consider friends, people that I consider colleagues repeating this kind of thing. And, you know, all different kinds of just straight up lies, lies about me and my family, just such gross. misrepresentations of me and my mission and it's just, it's really disheartening. And these are people who identify as Christians, who I notice will only ever go after me for these things and not, for example, like Candace Owens. I'm not saying they should go after her for those things, but they really have their sights set on me. And really will take every opportunity, even the Jubilee,

Starting point is 00:08:47 debate. Like you saw the Jubilee debate to say, you know, this is why women shouldn't be in the public sphere for any reason whatsoever. And we will talk biblically about all of that. What is woman's role? I'll talk about all of that on Wednesday. But man, it is, it can feel disheartening. And that kind of thing, when it comes from within your own camp, and it's just outright malicious and slanderous and deceitful and angry and bitter and covetous and resentful and all of those things. It's just, yeah, it weighs you down. But the Lord is so incredibly kind. Whenever I feel like I'm getting a firestorm of criticism, whether it's from the left or whether it's from this camp, who I don't think I could call conservative and I would in general call

Starting point is 00:09:43 Christian, but certainly they identify that way. The Lord is so kind to send me encouragement, whether it's a text from my friend Katie Faust, which is just so like, right, sorry, I could cry if the Lord's just like grace when he does this, like literally yesterday. Let's see, if I can pull it up. I was just, I was sitting and I was just thinking about how this is just discouraging. And yeah, yesterday at 7.37 a.m. And Katie Fowles just randomly text me. I'm praying for you in the midst of the online pile on the online pylon that seems to be reignited whenever you do anything at all. Praying especially that your confidence in the Lord and his calling is not shaken. And I said that came exactly the right moment. And I just love how the Lord works through his people

Starting point is 00:10:35 to build up the body of Christ and to remind us that his calling, that his will, that his word is what matters, that his approval of what we do is what matters. I also got this sweet video and I don't have permission to play it and so I won't play it, but a couple of the arc encounter. They were at a conference there and Ken Ham's assistant sent us this video of this couple who was there just really sweet saying, you know, I first heard the gospel and believed the gospel because I listened to Relatable. And these two people who said they used to be these progressive agnostic or atheists, they heard the gospel unrelatable, they became Christians, they got married, they have a child,

Starting point is 00:11:28 and of course they love Ken Ham. And Ken Ham is the one who persuaded them against evolution. and I'm like, gosh, the Lord is so sweet to remind us of our purpose that it's eternal, that God's eternal plan of redemption is going off without a hitch, that it is not dependent upon the opinions of people online who have no authority over me, whose perspective does not matter at all in my life. And I just got another message from someone yesterday who said that they had been praying for so long she and her mom about their sister to come to Christ, but she was completely, completely

Starting point is 00:12:07 against it, completely opposed to Christianity. And yet for the past two Sundays has decided to go to church because she, by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, started listening to Relatable. And I'm like, yes, Lord, that is what matters. That's what matters. What the Lord is doing, not just through me, but through all of you. So I don't mean this to center on me for you to feel bad about me, of course, or for me, but I would love for you to pray for me, of course. I'm always asking for your prayers just as I pray for you. But it's also encouragement to you, okay? You don't have to be a podcaster. You don't have to be an influencer to deal with this kind of criticism. I'm sure you have your own negative things that you go through or negative feedback that you get in your own life

Starting point is 00:12:56 that might be unfounded. And I just want to remind you that if you live by the crowd, you will die by the crowd. Like if you are buoyed and carried by other people's compliments, you will be destroyed by people's criticism. And so you can't allow people's compliments of you to be your strength or to be your sustenance or to be the reason that you keep going. And you cannot allow your detractors to be the people to get you down because that goes to show whom you are actually following and whom you are working for. That doesn't mean that you don't have feelings one way or another and I think that's okay. But if you are doing the next right thing with excellence and faith and for the glory of God, then his glory is what matters. And look, all of us male and female, we are different,

Starting point is 00:13:53 first of all, we are called to different things. We have different strengths, different weaknesses. There are different leadership roles within the church for men. And I've always, been extremely clear on that, have never blurred those lines myself in theology or in practice. But all of us are called to make disciples. All of us are called to do everything for the glory of God. All of us are called to be filled with the fruit of the spirit. All of us are called to put away all malice and bitterness and anger and rivalry and jealousy and deceit. And I just, a lot of these people who are critics online happen to also be extremely crass, extremely slanderous, and extremely boastful, extremely arrogant. And I just want to read you Romans 1. When you see someone

Starting point is 00:14:42 who professes Christ, maybe they've even got some kind of like Christian phrase in their bio, but they're degrading towards people, women or anyone else. They're nasty in what they say. they're cutting, they're derisive and divisive. Instead of building up, they're constantly tearing down in the hopes that it'll make them feel better. I want you to go to Romans 1 and read about those who are depraved in body and in mind. We focus on homosexuality when it comes to this chapter, and I think rightly so, I have over and over again. But this is someone who has been given over to sin. This is what they are like. This is Romans 129 through 32 and it reminds me of a lot of the people that are not everyone, but a lot of the people igniting this just kind of malicious chatter online.

Starting point is 00:15:37 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They're full of envy. Murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips. Slanders, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless, though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they don't only do them but give approval to those who practice them. Gosh, a lot of this crowd has a lot of praise for people like Nick Fuentes. And a lot of anger towards sisters in Christ who are preaching the gospel and saying true things. Reminds me a lot of Romans one. and a lack of self-control. So look at the fruit of what you're doing. I'm very thankful to say

Starting point is 00:16:31 and thankful to all of you that by the grace of God, there have been thousands and thousands of women in this audience whose minds have been changed about abortion, whose minds have been changed about the gospel, whose minds have been changed about hormonal birth control, and IVF and surrogacy, the death penalty, crime, immigration, gender, marriage. I'm just so thankful for that. I'm thankful for the fruit that God is responsible for. And as long as he calls me to this, I will continue to do it. And I just encourage you in the same way. Continue to listen to the Lord. Continue to follow the prompting of His Holy Spirit. And I'll continue to do the next right thing in faith with excellence and for the glory of God. Quick pause to tell you about our first sponsor for the day. It's WeHeart

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Starting point is 00:18:55 public about their beliefs. They are just amazing. Love them so much. Go to weheartnutrition.com. Use code Alley for 20% off. That's weheartnutrition.com code Alley. Let's get into what we're actually going to talk about today. That was kind of a longer monologue than I intended. And like I said, I'll get into some biblical detail on Wednesday. First, I want to talk about Snap because I know that you are seeing a lot of, you're seeing a lot stuff right now from professing Christians online. This is on the other side. I would say these are people who call themselves progressive Christians talking about how the Republican government is anti-Christian and how Republican Christians should stand up against the ending of SNAP benefits that supposedly

Starting point is 00:19:46 Donald Trump is responsible for. So first we're going to look at the facts like what is snap, what is going on there? Why are people saying that people are going to starve? And then of course, what is the biblical role of the government? Should Christians be standing up and saying, yes, this is unjust? Okay, so first, let's look at what's causing this. If you don't know about the Schumer shutdown, you need to go back and you need to listen to the episode with my dad. My dad explained to the shutdown, what is actually going on and who is actually responsible. And so here's what's happening. The ongoing government shutdown has caused federal funding for the supplemental nutrition assistant program. So that is snap.

Starting point is 00:20:27 And that is going to run out that did run out on Saturday, November 1st, leaving about 42 million low-income Americans without access to their monthly food benefits. That number alone is stunning and goes to show that there's a deeper problem. If we've got 42 million Americans that rely on the taxpayer for their food, we've got deeper cultural and economic problems. The U.S. Department of Agriculture confirms that the $9.5 billion that's allocated for this month's snap benefits has been depleted due to the shutdown. While Senate Democrats could end the shutdown, and this is really important, the Democrats in the Senate could end the shutdown at any time by simply voting for the clean continuing resolution, the CR, that Republicans proposed they continue to try to blame Republicans

Starting point is 00:21:22 for the shutdown. And this kind of thing always happens between Republicans and Democrats, depending on who is in the majority. But in a shocking twist, CNN's Jake Tapper has been calling out the Democrats for refusing to negotiate with the Republicans and actually said this to Congresswoman Catherine Clark. Here is Jake Tapper, Sop 13. Just as a point of fact,

Starting point is 00:21:44 the way that we have always covered shutdowns is that the party that is not voting for the CR, the continuing resolution to fund the government, is the party that is blocking the government funding and is responsible for the shutdown. That's how we did it the last time in 2018, 2019. That's the time we did before that during the Obama administration. I mean, it's your party that is refusing in the Senate that is refusing to vote for the continuing resolution.

Starting point is 00:22:09 Okay, Democrats, you've lost Jake Tapper, at least on this. And if you've lost Jake Tapper on this, then you're in a bad spot. And you know what, good for Jake Tapper, for just being fair. It's sad that being unbiased, like it makes the news nowadays. There is about $5.25 billion in contingency funding reserved for SNAP in November, but it falls short of the $9 billion needed, according to Brooke Rollins. Again, like, oh my goodness, $9 billion of taxpayer funding a month is going towards SNAP. Wow.

Starting point is 00:22:46 Secretary Rollins told reporters that Democrats are wrong about using the contingency fund, explaining it can only flow if underlying appropriations are approved and is met for events like hurricanes, not general shutdowns. Rollins added that even if the fund could be used, it would not cover half of November's cost. President Trump stated on social media that his administration lacks clear legal authority to fund SNAP during the shutdown.

Starting point is 00:23:11 So basically, Democrats need to agree to negotiate. And they're not. You've got Donald Trump's truth social post. I won't read the whole thing, but this was on October 31st. He said, our government lawyers don't think we have legal authority to pay SNAP with certain monies that we have. available. Look, it's up to the Democrats. He said the Democrats should quit this charade

Starting point is 00:23:30 where they hurt people for their own political reasons and immediately reopen the government. If you use SNAP benefits, call this in a Democrats and tell them to reopen the government. And then he puts Chuck Schumer's office number on there. Wow. Okay, so what are the problems with SNAP? Well, there are a lot of problems with SNAP and this can be debated. There are plenty of perspectives on both sides of this. Should we just unconditionally give taxpayer money to people who say they need it and have essentially no strings attached? You should be able to buy almost whatever you want to or should there be some limitations. And then of course there's probably some people who just don't believe that this is the role of the government at all,

Starting point is 00:24:19 that this should just not be happening. And a CBS interview, a SNAP recipient named Aaron Annis, said that the government benefits allow her to live independently, even though she has family that would be willing to support her, South 14. Having those resources, what does it mean to you and for your life? Everything. It means everything to me. I don't know what I would do except have to rely on my family, and I don't want to do that right now. There'll be a time when I'll probably have to live with one of my sons. But for now, I want to be independent. I want to be on my own. having these resources has allowed you to be independent. Yes, it's allowing me to be independent.

Starting point is 00:25:00 It's like people forget where this money comes from. You're not actually independent. You are completely dependent on the government. And it's not on the government. I mean, the government doesn't have its own money. The government has money from us. And so you have people who are willing to sacrifice, who are trying to make ends meet,

Starting point is 00:25:20 who are trying to provide for their families themselves, who are paying. for this woman to live quote unquote independently, to buy her groceries, even though it sounds like she would actually be able to rely on family. That is the better option. That is the more moral option. Our tax dollars are taken away from us in a compulsory way. Like we have to. We will go to jail if we don't pay our taxes. So the government is forcing the money that we earned out of our hands and is forcibly giving it to someone else who could rely on family to buy her groceries, that's not ethical.

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Starting point is 00:27:24 I just got that text that the link is. Definitely cut the fuck for no money. November, y'all better stay out of my way in these stores. I'm walking out with cars and I'm not paying for shit. Trump, if you won't, start looting. Oh, it's going to happen. Okay. There was another woman who said that

Starting point is 00:27:42 she's actually making money off of the food stamps. She gets a friend of government. She doesn't really need it. She sells it for a little bit more money. And so she said that she's making around $1,000 to $2,000 a month off of this. And I guarantee you, that's not

Starting point is 00:27:58 just one person, that this is something that's probably extremely prevalent. According to a May 2004 economic policy Innovation Center report, food stamp enrollment surged from 17.3 million individuals in 2001 to 42.1 million in 2023. Okay, so over the course of 22 years, that's more than doubled. That's a lot. 6.1% enrollment in 2001 to 12.6 in 2020. Again, we've got a lot of really deep problems. Forty-eight percent of food stamp recipients stay on the rules for 20 months or longer compared to less than 20 percent after the 1996 welfare reform. Not only are cost to taxpayer skyrocketing, but RFK pointed out in August that a large portion of the funds are going toward candy and sugary drinks. This is something that RFK has been talking about. He's the HHS secretary

Starting point is 00:28:55 that the food stamps are actually fueling the diabetes epidemic. 18%. He says a federal snap benefits to poor families is spent on candy and sugary drinks. Now you have people trying to frame this saying, you know, poor kids deserve to have cookies. Poor kids deserve to have the juice box. Okay. That is the wrong way to frame this. The right. way to frame this is should the taxpayer, say the middle class taxpayer who is making just enough money to get by, should they be forced to pay for the food of someone that is not actually essential to them living? I think most of us would say, okay, I am willing to pay taxes to help the truly destitute family who needs bread and meat and water to get by.

Starting point is 00:29:50 I think all of us would say, yes, you know what, government, you can handle that. Even though I think primarily this should be the church's responsibility, this should be charitable giving. I think the church, I think Christians do a much better and more efficient and more trustworthy job than doing this than the government. And I do think that's the church's primary job. But I think all of us would be okay, okay, if you want to take a portion of my hard-earned dollars, my tax money, and you want to give it to those who are truly destitute for a temporary amount, of time to get their essentials, I think most of us would say, yeah, that's fine. That's okay. But if you were telling me that you are, that I am forced to pay for the diabetes of a kid

Starting point is 00:30:34 whose parents could be working or could be relying on family members, that's not just, that's just theft. It's just theft. And it not only aids in diabetes and health problems, but this just entire entitlement mentality that you deserve other people's money. Again, for things that are not even essential but are actually detrimental. So I agree with those who are saying that, no, your taxpayer dollars should not be funding that literal crap for people. What else is being done to improve this broken system? So there's broad.

Starting point is 00:31:10 There are people who are on it who don't really need it. We're funding all kinds of not essential food that is. not only fueling this diabetes epidemic, but also like these sugary foods and diets and all of that, they have a negative impact on people's behavior, on people's mental health. I mean, they exacerbate things like ADHD. People with ADHD generally have low impulse control. I would say that the nutrition epidemic that is happening and being funded by SNAP probably has a direct impact also on the crime epidemic.

Starting point is 00:31:44 And a lot of times among the same demographic, and we are all funding that? That's a problem. Okay, so new SNAP rules went into effect on Saturday, even though benefits will not be issued through November. The one big beautiful bill enacts these new restrictions, expected to cut federal spending on SNAP by an estimated $186 billion over the next decade. Adults without dependents must now prove they work at least 80 hours a month. And that's a low bar, y'all, are pursuing education. or are in a training program to remain eligible for SNAP, but if it's beyond a maximum of three months,

Starting point is 00:32:20 yes, that is kind, that is loving, that is saying, I'm not just going to keep on incentivizing you not to work. So you're continuing to get into trouble. Work is dignity. This is like Ronald Reagan era focus, was ensuring that everyone had access to the dignity of work. Everyone was incentivized to the dignity of work

Starting point is 00:32:39 because human beings need work. It doesn't always have to be, paid work, like, you know, women who work in the home, that is still work. But we are all called to do something productive in one way or another. When we don't, our bodies and our minds and our souls, atrophy, it is very important for the health and the wealth of a community and of a nation for its able-body, able-minded people to work in some kind of productive way. When we don't have that, we have all kinds of problems. And so I think this is good.

Starting point is 00:33:16 It should be tied to this kind of incentive. All adults younger than 65 years old must prove that they are working to continue receiving benefits. Young adults, veterans, and homeless people must now meet these work requirements to receive more than three months of SNAP benefits. The changes impact illegal alien eligibility for SNAP. That's good.

Starting point is 00:33:35 Affecting illegal immigrants, including non-phidicist, U.S. nationals, those without legal status, state agencies must review household circumstances during an immigrant certification process for benefits and take appropriate action before notifying them of ineligibility for SNAP. All right, so I think these are very common sense restrictions. Actually, they're not even that strict. They're just very common sense. And they are protective of the U.S. taxpayer, which is the right thing to do that is part of the

Starting point is 00:34:06 government's job. I'm so excited to tell you guys about Operation Christmas Child by Samaritan. Purs. We've been doing Operation Christmas Child boxes for years, literally since I was little. I think it was something that we would actually do in school. We would create these little shoe boxes and we'd put different things like unsharpened pencils and socks and hair ties or little cars for the boys, toothbrushes, all kinds of things. And these boxes are taken to kids all over the world who are in poor areas who don't get a Christmas present. They might not even even know what Christmas is about. They don't know the joy of the gospel. Samaritan's purse

Starting point is 00:34:51 takes your shoebox that you filled to all of these kids throughout the year and these kids get to unbox them. I've watched a video of this. It truly is so beautiful. They're so excited just to get a box of necessities and a couple toys and you get to be a part of this by making a shoebox with your family. It's a great way to teach your kids about generosity too. All you have to do get a shoebox, it can be plastic, it can be cardboard, but plastic is better. It's a little bit sturdier. And then go to samaritanspurse.org slash OCC, and when you do that, you'll see the kinds of things that you can put in the box. You check the age group you want to send it to, boy or girl, and they will ensure that your box brings joy in the gospel of Jesus Christ to kids who need it.

Starting point is 00:35:39 It really is just so sweet. And there's different drop-off locations. to different churches that will take your box and then Samaritan's Purse will come and pick them up and fly them across the globe. Go to samaritansperse.org slash OCCC. Samaritanspurse.org slash OCC. So what's a biblical perspective on this? Because you got a lot of people quoting Jesus saying, you know, I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, but only if I qualified, like I was sick and you healed me, but only if I had the proper insurance. And they're completely misinterpreting and misapplying Jesus's words. First of all, Jesus is not speaking to the government.

Starting point is 00:36:25 Jesus is speaking to you. And the establishment of the early church, when we read in Acts 2, I believe, that Christians were giving to one another and making sure that everyone had what they needed. This was voluntary, empowered by the Holy Spirit. This was not compulsory. The government wasn't coming in and saying, hey, you have to give your resources to this poor person over there. That's what socialism is.

Starting point is 00:36:52 In Christianity, we do this cheerfully. We do this empowered by the love of Christ and the Holy Spirit. In socialism and this kind of wealth redistribution world that we currently live in, the government is saying, you do this or you go to jail. That has nothing to do with Christianity whatsoever. Now, we can argue about how much the government should give what the safety net should look like, but my opinion is that it should be a safety net. You don't stay there.

Starting point is 00:37:22 It's not a hammock for you to rest in. It is a safety net that will catch you before you fall into destitution, and you are supposed to get out of it eventually, if at all possible. Second Thessalonius 3.6 through 10 reminds us at this. Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us because we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it. But with toil and

Starting point is 00:37:55 labor, we worked night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you. For even when we were with you, we would give you this command. If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. Now he didn't stay not able to work. He said not willing to work. There are people who are truly unable to work. You might really need help. Again, I think it's the church's responsibility to care for those people, but I don't think it's wrong for the government to have a role to play in that. But we should not be incentivizing idleness. It's bad for you. First Timothy 5-8, but if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and worse than an unbeliever. Wow, that's really bad. If you are not willing to help those within your

Starting point is 00:38:42 spirit who would otherwise have to rely on the government if you can, you are worse than an unbeliever. That's how important taking care of each other and generosity is not only in your own biological family, but also in the family of faith. Proverbs 1431, whoever oppresses a poor man insults his maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him. So we should not be oppressing the poor. We shouldn't be stealing from the poor, but we also shouldn't incentivize the poor to be lazy. We should be generous. We should give to the needy. We should help those who really need it. Individuals and the church is much better at that actually than the government is. Ephesians 428, let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor doing honest work with his

Starting point is 00:39:32 own hands so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. A lot of times we see work is this necessary evil in our culture today, that work is not something that you should have to do, that it's something that you unfortunately, because of capitalism are obligated to do, but people shouldn't have to. But that is not the biblical prescription that we see. And actually we see that work precedes the fall. Work precedes sin. Before sin came into the world, Adam was given a responsibility to work the ground and to keep it, to cultivate, to name the animals. And so I believe that there will be work in heaven. The curse actually came in the form of the potential fruitlessness of labor, that you might toil, you might try to cultivate the land that it only gives you thorns. Work is not the

Starting point is 00:40:28 curse. Work is something that we innately need, that all of us need. And there's a whole other conversation to be had about like retirement culture in the West, this idea that we are all owed basically paradise and rest from our labor before we actually, we actually die. We are always called to a form of productivity. And I think any government that disincentivizes that is really evil. It's toxic empathy. Like in the name of of trying to help someone that you think is the victim, you actually end up hurting them and you ignore the second order of facts, which is an economic term for like the other consequence of making the choice that you are making. And so you're forgetting about the person on the other

Starting point is 00:41:15 side of the moral equation, which is the taxpayer. So this is toxic empathy at work. You can care for the poor. You should care for the poor, but don't outsource your compassion to the government. That's not obedience to Christ. That's just laziness. Let me tell you about preborn. Preborn is an incredible resource for pregnancy centers across the country. They supply the tools that these pregnancy centers need to serve moms and dads and their babies. For example, they provide these ultrasound equipment so that these pregnant women who are in crisis,

Starting point is 00:41:57 who have been lied to about the humanity of their baby, they get to actually hear that beating heart, see that baby inside the womb, see that that baby is not a clump of cells, but is actually a human being and a part of them, and they can be more likely, they are so much more likely, to make that life-affirming choice,

Starting point is 00:42:15 and these clinics are also giving these women all that they need to ensure that they are taking care of. So if you want to partner with pre-born, partner with these pregnancy centers in saving lives, and go to preborn.com slash alley. When you go to preborn.com slash alley, donate $28 if you can. That covers the cost of one life saving ultrasound. Maybe you can donate more than that.

Starting point is 00:42:40 Maybe you can only donate $2. Whatever you give contributes to saving these babies lives. So go to preborn.com slash alley. All right. So tomorrow is, tomorrow is election day. this New York City mayoral race that you've probably been hearing a lot about. So you've got Cuomo, who used to be governor Cuomo, Andrew Cuomo. I almost said Chris Cuomo. He is running for mayor. And then we've also got Zoron, Mom Donnie. And he is projected to win, which is extremely disturbing because he is an out-and-out socialist.

Starting point is 00:43:26 I really thought that the whole socialism thing was dying off. Like, I really did. I just felt like we hadn't heard about it in a long time. Turning points motto used to be socialism sucks. And, you know, I have Justin Haskins on all the time. He has an organization that is against socialism fighting against socialism. And I just felt like for a period of time, it's not really something that we talked about because obviously it wasn't super popular nationally with someone like Bernie.

Starting point is 00:43:56 Sanders, but now it's back, at least in New York City, and I guess it just never left. So who is Zoron Maldonian? Why should those of us who don't live in New York City care about this? So he is a member of the Democratic Socialist of America, and he is a state assemblyman in assemblyman, assemblyman in New York, and he unexpectedly won the Democratic primary and is now leaving in the polls for this mayoral election. He is running against, as I said, Andrew Cuomo, writing as an independent and then Republican Curtis Sliwa. He was born in Uganda in 1991 to Indian parents. He immigrated to the U.S. at age seven. Both of his parents are professors and are very well off, very successful after immigrating to America. He is Muslim. He worked as a

Starting point is 00:44:51 foreclosure prevention and housing counselor before entering into politics and has come and produce rap music, which is very important. And he has been a politician since 2020. Mom Donnie supports and wants to strengthen New York City's sanctuary laws to limit ICE actions. He is actually pledged to provide taxpayer expense legal counsel to all detained illegal aliens if he is elected mayor. We know that sanctuary city policies have led to the murder of American citizens like Lake and Riley, like Kate Steinley, and yet that does not matter to the modern-day Democrat. Mimani has received endorsements from Democratic figures like Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, AOC, New York Governor, Kathy Hochel. Okay, so here are some of his disturbing

Starting point is 00:45:45 policies. When we look at crime, this is, for example, from the New York Times. His core plan is to create a $1.1 billion civilian-led Department of Community Safety that would consolidate existing programs into public safety victim assistance, community repair, deploying mental health teams instead of police to 911 crisis calls involving homelessness, addiction, or behavioral health. This is such a horrible idea. Democrats don't understand human nature. They don't understand the existence of evil. They think that wickedness can be negotiated with. And there may be some cases where, I don't know, maybe the police aren't necessary, where you actually do need some kind of therapist, but that's rare. We are talking about in many cases, inebriated or high,

Starting point is 00:46:33 very violent and strong men. And if you've got me, five, five lady social worker walking out there being like, oh, can you please stop sexually assaulting this woman? It's not going to work. like you need to be armed, you need to be able to take someone down using non-lethal or, if necessary, lethal force. You have to be strong. You have to be aggressive. And yes, of course, you have to be able to interact with a human being and have compassion and all of that. And so, sure, if you want to say that we need to better train our police officers to make sure that they are not only lethal, but they can deal with these situations, I think police officers in general do a good job of that, but if you want to go that route, okay. But this just means that you don't understand the

Starting point is 00:47:20 problem. You don't understand that people aren't necessarily committing crimes because there's just like a misunderstanding or because they need to be talked to. They actually need some kind of force to restrain them from doing evil. So this is all expense by the taxpayer, of course, and this is going to just increase taxes to pay for a program like this. There's no operational detail to this plan. pilot programs like this in the past in New York City and they have collapsed because it just doesn't work. You're relying on non-police staff and eventually they don't want to do it. It's a violent situation. It's a tough situation. They're not trained for it. They don't even have like the personality to deal with this kind of evil. It just doesn't work. Tax hikes face Governor Hokel's

Starting point is 00:48:07 veto threat. She is opposing apparently raising taxes. So is this even going to work? The police Benevolent Association insists the only fix is hiring more police officers and improving pay and conditions. I think I would listen to police officers when it comes to that. He has been for it in the past that abolition of defunding rather of the police. He is trying to distance himself from that now, but during his first campaign back in 2019, 2020, Mbani signed on to the Socialist of America's agenda for decarceration, which called for eliminating cash bail. So if you're awaiting your trial, you're just going to be released back into the streets, decriminalizing drug possession and prostitution, removing mandatory minimum sentences,

Starting point is 00:49:00 and fighting new jail construction. Okay, so no new jails, basically no way to deal with the violent crime, except for the social worker lady going out there and saying, please stop doing bad thanks. The agenda expressed full support for police and prison abolition. Police in prison abolitionist, so not support for police, but the abolition of police, Tiffany Caban, and aim to dismantle what it called a violent carcoral system in favor of healing and community programs. Despite this history, Membani refuses to disavow or reject any of these things. He also believes in city-run grocery stores. So this is, again, taxpayer-funded grocery store. All right. He would redirect $140 million in corporate subsidies given to private grocers.

Starting point is 00:49:50 Grocery profit margins are already below 2%. So private discount change already keep prices low using complex supply chains, economies of scale that government stores can't match. There was something that was tried like this in Kansas City. It lost nearly $900,000 in its first year. New York ranks number one in the U.S. Metro Areas for supermarket access. So this is just not a problem that needs to be solved with tax hikes.

Starting point is 00:50:17 Snap already supports 1.79 million New Yorkers, 20% of the population. It is, and they do this far more cost-effective than government supermarkets would. He also believes in freezing the rent on all rent-stabilized departments in New York City to make housing more affordable. But a rent-rease would make stabilized units even harder to get, pushing more people into the market rate apartments. driving up prices for everyone else. Landlords would have less money to maintain or repair buildings leading to worse living conditions. It discourages new housing construction, encourages owners to convert rentals into condos or co-ops, shrinking the overall rental supply over time. When demand stays the same and supply goes down, prices go up. It's just an untenable position or proposal to

Starting point is 00:51:09 have. But all people here is, prices are going to go down. are going to be more affordable. But it just doesn't work. It doesn't work. And you know who was one of the biggest and most public supporters of Zoran Mamdani, who was, of course, wildly pro-choice, wildly pro-transing kids? He's talked about that too, government-funded puberty blockers in transition for even minors. Miss Rachel, Miss Rachel, the person who taught your kid how to overcome his speech impediment. And I talked about Ms. Rachel and the dangers of Ms. Rachel and how she allowed this like gender fluid person to be front and center in her videos like a couple years ago and got so much blowback for that.

Starting point is 00:51:52 Y'all, the fact that she is out and out supporting Zoran Mamdani means that her politics are radical. Okay? I know that she probably has a good heart. I think that she is not just a victim, but a very prominent purveyor of toxic empathy, empathy that is not us in submission to reality or biblical truth at all. But I'm sorry, I just don't think she needs to be supported in any way. I just don't.

Starting point is 00:52:21 Not saying that everything that she's ever done is wrong or is not helpful in some way. But that's really radical. To support the socialist and she's out there saying that, oh, he's going to make it more affordable to live and to work without even thinking at all about whether or not, the proposals are effective. People so often, especially when it comes to Democrats, judge policies by their stated intentions rather than the outcomes of the policies. Of course, he is Muslim, so he is very pro-Islam. He's just a radical in every sense. He campaigned with a notorious Brooklyn Imam who is an unindicted co-conspirator in the

Starting point is 00:53:05 1993 world trade center bombing will put up the picture from the new york post who has been linked to other terrorist activity in the united states including urging jihad on the big apple so that's great his anti-western sentiment in general right here we have him um putting he took a picture of his middle finger flicking off christopher columbus the statue of christopher columbus you know the person, one of the people that we all have to think, we're living in this incredible free country where we have the right to speak and worship as we see fit. If Mamdani wanted to live in a place that was not discovered by Christopher Columbus, he could go back to Nigeria, but for some reason he has decided to stay here to run for office,

Starting point is 00:53:59 whereas if he were a religious minority in somewhere like his home country, he wouldn't even be allowed to do that. Just the entitlement, the disgusting lack of gratitude that he has towards the incredible liberty and the privilege and the wealth and the power that he has been afforded here. It's just disgusting. He has defended this term, globalized the intifada. He refers to it on this ex post here where he promotes this idea of globalizing the intifada. it refers to a horrific wave of terror attacks that killed thousands of Jews globalizing it. It's a direct call for violence against Jews. He said that it just means protesting Israeli occupation of Gaza.

Starting point is 00:54:46 Well, first of all, Israeli occupation of Gaza is in itself a radically leftist way to see Israel existing where it has existed since ancient times. He has done interviews where he talks about globalizing the Intifada. It's not a bad thing. He can't condemn it. We're literally talking about supporting terrorism. And here is a clip of him doing that. Quickly for the people who care about the language and who feel really concerned by that phrase, why not just condemn it?

Starting point is 00:55:21 My concern is to start to walk down the line of language. and making clear what language I believe is permissible or impermissible takes me into a place similar to that of the president who is looking to do those very kinds of things, putting people in jail for writing an op-ed, putting them in jail for protesting. Ultimately, it's not language that I use. It's language I understand there are concerns about.

Starting point is 00:55:45 And what I will do is showcase my vision for the city through my words and my action. He also did this whole thing about 9-11. Okay, so he is about to be the mayor of New York. city. 9-11 happened 24 years ago where over 2,000 Americans were murdered by Muslim terrorists. And here's the real consequence, the real victim of that, he says, Sautil. I want to speak to the memory of my aunt who stopped taking the subway after September 11th because she did not feel safe in her hijab.

Starting point is 00:56:31 Okay, so this was October 22nd, and he is talking about how one of the saddest parts. I guess the part that was really tragic for him was that his aunt was scared to wear her, his job, because it represented, obviously, to a lot of Americans, the ideology that motivated a terrorist attack and the mass slaughter of their fellow citizens. So, like, it's kind of, like, logical for people to have felt that way. But the truth is, America has been over backwards to be tolerant and welcoming and accepting of Muslims and Muslim immigrants in the 24 years since America was attacked by these Muslim terrorists. Like, we have accepted more Muslim immigrants from more terrorist hotbeds than we did for the hundreds of years leading up to 2001. it's only increased.

Starting point is 00:57:26 And Muslim power in the United States has only become stronger since this terrorist attack. So I don't even want to hear any of this. Not to mention it's a lie. It's not true. People found out that it actually is not, it's actually not his aunt, that it's like a distant cousin. Or it's like the aunt of his cousin or something like that. And people were like, oh, you don't understand black and brown people. Um, that's, we just call everyone our aunt. No, like, white people understand that. Do you think that

Starting point is 00:58:01 there aren't like family friends that we've called aunt and uncle? It's not impossible for us to understand. But if you're going to go out there and you're going to try to manipulate Americans and to saying, well, you shouldn't, you shouldn't be scared of this. You shouldn't worry about this. And the real tragedy here is that my aunt was scared to wear hijab days after a Muslim terrorist attack, then like you should probably tell the truth. J.D. Vance points. this out. According to Zeron, the real victim of 9-11 was an auntie who got some allegedly bad looks. Last sponsor for the day is Patriot Mobile. Most cell phone providers don't really care about your values. They just want to take your money and they might donate it to a Democrat

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Starting point is 00:59:48 This is in relation to our Snap Conversation and Zora Montoni. Romans 13, 4, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid. For he does not bear the sword in vain. Here we're hearing about the government, reading about the government, for he is a servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. So the government has been ordained by God. The government has a role. Taxes even have a role. But the government, as instituted by God, is supposed to reward good and punish evil, even to the point of execution.

Starting point is 01:00:22 So what happens when you have a government authority who defines good and evil in the opposite way that God does? It's going to create a lot of chaos. Proverbs 195, a false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will not escape. We need to understand that there will be judgment. What we see over and over again throughout scripture, by the way, is that God really hates liars. He really hates lying. And that should be convicting for all of us, whether it's a little white lie, or whether it's an exaggeration, or whether it's like a slight distortion of the truth for our own business. benefit. Like, we all need to be really, really careful of that, but that includes politicians. A lot of

Starting point is 01:01:04 people believe the ins justify the means. Not to God. Not to God. Proverbs 2017, bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth will be full of gravel. This is like the fleeting appeal and ultimate ruin of promises that are built on falsehood. We hear these promises of free buses, child care and groceries that are funded by unsustainable taxes or reallocation. I mean, it's a lie. It's based on something that isn't true. Second Peter 2,3. And in their greed, they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle and their destruction is not asleep. And while this is talking about false teachers and leaders that, you know, say that they are preaching the gospel, this principle is true of leadership. When leaders use to,

Starting point is 01:01:58 of promises to exploit others, that will lead to condemnation and to chaos. Ecclesiastes 5.5, it is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. Again, God takes empty promises and deceit on both the personal level and the political level very, very seriously. And so it matters. Republican, Democrat, independent, what politicians, say, the truth of what they say. All of that really, really matters. And we need to take that seriously. It's so easy to say, well, okay, this person is better than this person. These policies will end up better than these policies so we don't care at all what they say. I'm not saying that you have to vote for a perfect person. You've heard me say that over and over again. There is no perfect person

Starting point is 01:02:50 except for Jesus. But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't hold our elected officials accountable and make sure that they are following through on the promises that they offer us. And this is going to be terrible for New York City if Mom Donnie wins. It's going to be less safe. It's going to be dirtier. It's going to be more homeless. It's going to be more drug addicted. There are going to be more victims of poverty, more victims of crime.

Starting point is 01:03:17 It's going to be much more difficult to live there, much more difficult to thrive there. We've seen this over and over again. I mean, what has happened to Venezuela used to be one of the richest countries in the world. Now people can barely survive. There's no food for them to eat anymore because of socialism. It's not because of lack of resources. It's not because of oppression. It's not because of sanctions.

Starting point is 01:03:40 It's not because of Western invasion or colonialism. It is literally because of the choice of implementing socialist policies. Always in the name of helping the least of these. Always in the name of elevating the poor. It doesn't work like that. The same thing happened as Zimbabwe, which used to be seen as the breadbasket of Africa. Now it's one of the poorest countries in Africa because of Robert Mugabe, who came in with a racially Marxist message and an economically Marxist message and said in the name of liberation and the name of helping those who are native here and going against the white people and going against the commercial farmers and against their exploitation, he would say. say, we are going to make sure that everyone has what they need. He confiscated the land from the white

Starting point is 01:04:27 commercial farmers, gave it to people who were native, caused all kinds of division and violence. And then what happened? Were the natives Zimbabweans better off? Did they become richer? Did they become healthier? The exact opposite happened. Zimbabwe is poor. It is unhealthy. It is oppressive. It's never been able to get out from under the iron rule and legacy of Mugabe. same thing in Venezuela and so many other places. I mean, the 20th century tells us a painful and bloody history of what socialism does over and over again. I mean, it's literally the definition of insanity. And so, I mean, Christians, if we love our neighbor, we can't support socialism.

Starting point is 01:05:10 There's just no way to do it. Unless you want to outsource your love of neighbor to the government, in which case you aren't really loving your neighbor. You're just slothful. And that's a sin. That's a sin. All right. I had another segment, but I don't think we have time for it. Maybe we'll talk about it at some point about this left-wing podcaster who has gone viral for just being an absolute nasty person. Completely, completely nasty. That's Jennifer Welsh. We'll talk about her at some point. Okay, we'll be back here on Wednesday. We've got a lot to talk about.

Starting point is 01:05:45 We may finally talk about The Mark of the Beast and Digital ID, but I do want to talk about it. about women in the church and women's roles in general and what the Bible actually says, because remember, at the end of the day, he is who matters, Jesus is who matters, his glory is who matters, and his word is what matters. All right, we'll be back here then.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 1262 | SNAP: A Factual & Biblical Analysis

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