Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 1291 | Warning to Churches: Here’s What’s Coming Your Way

Episode Date: January 21, 2026

Allie tackles the disturbing weekend incident at Cities Church in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where Black Lives Matter and anti-ICE activists stormed a worship service, shouting obscenities, terrorizing fa...milies, and disrupting prayer — while the intrusion was livestreamed and covered by Don Lemon, who was invited and knew about the planned protest. She exposes the manufactured outrage, the double standards in media narratives, and the real agenda: using toxic empathy to shield criminals, some of whom are convicted child sex offenders, while demonizing law enforcement and Christians. Allie also addresses Russell Moore's interpretation of Romans 13 and brings biblical clarity to the matter. And lastly, she responds to James Talarico's New York Times interview, criticizing his terminology of "progressive Christianity" that distorts biblical teachings on abortion, homosexuality, and government welfare. A sobering call to discern truth, reject selective empathy, and stand firm for order, sovereignty, and the gospel. Buy Allie's book "Toxic Empathy: How Progressives Exploit Christian Compassion": ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.toxicempathy.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ --- Timecodes: (00:00) Intro (03:30) Minnesota Church Protest (14:00) Left-Wing Mobs (21:00) Who Organizes These Protests? (30:55) Don Lemon (42:00) Who Is ICE Trying to Detain? (51:40) Russell Moore & Romans 13 (01:04:45) Response to James Talarico --- Today's Sponsors: Good Ranchers | To support a company that’s committed to honoring America’s past, present, and future, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠GoodRanchers.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ today. And if you subscribe to any Good Ranchers box of 100% American meat, you’ll save up to $500 a year! Plus, if you use the code ALLIE, you’ll get an additional $25 off your first order. We Heart Nutrition | Check out We Heart Nutrition at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠WeHeartNutrition.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ and use the code ALLIE for 20% off. Re-Prev | Re-Prev supports your body in shifting out of fight-or-flight mode to a relaxed state of calm. Go to ⁠WholesomeIsBetter.com⁠ and use discount code ALLIE at checkout for 20% off your order.   Paleovalley | Small American farms. Regenerative agriculture. Transparency in food. When you choose Paleovalley, you’re not just snacking — you’re making a statement. Right now, you can get 15% off your first order at ⁠Paleovalley.com⁠ with code ALLIE. Range Leather | The quality is absolutely top-notch. Go ⁠RangeLeather.com/Allie⁠ to receive 15% off all Range Leather products when you visit my landing page. --- Episodes you might like:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Ep 1283 | Is Tucker Carlson Right About Islam? ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/relatable-with-allie-beth-stuckey/id1359249098?i=1000743878076⁠ Ep 1287 | Why Your Aunt Hates ICE: A Spiritual Analysis of Liberal Women ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/relatable-with-allie-beth-stuckey/id1359249098?i=1000744895339⁠ Ep 1289 | 'Civil Rights' Were Weaponized to Crush Christians. Now the Trump Admin Is Fighting Back | Harmeet Dhillon ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/relatable-with-allie-beth-stuckey/id1359249098?i=1000745478509⁠ Ep 1273 | Autism Fraud, Islamic Corruption & a Crucial Tennessee Election ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/relatable-with-allie-beth-stuckey/id1359249098?i=1000739184571⁠ Ep 328 | Cancel Culture, Antifa & BLM Strike Again ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-328-cancel-culture-antifa-blm-strike-again/id1359249098?i=1000499199303⁠ --- Buy Allie's book "You're Not Enough (and That's Okay): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love": ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.alliebethstuckey.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Relatable merchandise: Use promo code ALLIE10 for a discount: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://shop.blazemedia.com/collections/allie-stuckey⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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Starting point is 00:00:52 mortgage lending by the book, nationwide mortgage bankers, DBA Fellowship Home Loans, equal housing lender, NMLS, number 819-382. Black Lives Matter stormed into a church in Minnesota over the weekend. Who is really behind this? Why is this being orchestrated? What is this about? And why are some Christian leaders silent or on the complete opposite side of where they should be? Also, I'll be responding to a James Tolariko interview that he gave to the New York Times saying, Jesus wants us to be a welfare state and to support abortion. Yikes. We've got all of this and more on today's episode of Relatable. Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Wednesday. Hope everyone is having a
Starting point is 00:01:43 wonderful week so far. This was take two of that introduction because I accidentally started by saying happy Monday because we didn't have our typical episode on Monday. This is the first time that I'm getting to talk to you live this week or a new episode this week. So I didn't get the chance to tell you on Monday something super important for you to know. This is an announcement that I need you to hear right now and it's that God's eternal plan of redemption is going off without a hitch. Oh my goodness. I am so thankful to wake up to that reality every single morning as we turn on the news or we look at X or we look at Instagram and we are just overwhelmed with all of the takes
Starting point is 00:02:20 and all of the information and disinformation and trying to wade through what is true and what is not, what is good and what is bad. I am hoping to add as much clarity as I possibly can to some of those conversations today about immigration and what is really going on. with ice, what was happening in Minnesota. But I just want to remind you what I'm always reminding myself that God is totally in charge. And one day there will be no more propaganda campaigns. There will be no more fake news. And there will be no more injustice. There will be no more oppression. There will be no more distinct. No more elections. No more politicians.
Starting point is 00:02:56 Because Jesus is king. And one day that will be manifested completely and totally. And there will be no more enemy of goodness and righteousness and truth. And we will live in perfect peace and harmony and joy with him forever and ever. Amen. And if that is not your future hope, I want you to know that by grace through faith in Jesus, that can be your future hope. All of us are sinners. All of us because of that are separated from God. And God loved us so much that he made a way for us to be reconciled to him, to be saved, to be cleansed of all sin, and that is by sending his son, Jesus, to die on a cross for our sins, to pay that ultimate sacrifice so that we can be in relationship with God both here on earth and to be free from the shackles of sin, and also
Starting point is 00:03:43 to have joy and peace and eternity with Him forever and ever. So that is the good news. We're going to talk about some difficult news today, but I want to start us out with the best news ever, and that is the gospel. If you don't have a Bible and you really want the study Bible that I use, you could reach out to us. I don't have an unlimited supply of that, but I will try to pick a couple of you and send you a Bible if you don't already have one. That's something that we're super passionate about, unrelatable. We've partnered with lots of organizations to give away Bibles over the past few months. I want you in the Word of God and to know the truth that will truly set you free. All right. Let's talk about some.
Starting point is 00:04:23 Not as hopeful news, but really, really important news because it affects people. It affects specifically our people. It affects the church. You probably saw what happened in Minnesota over the weekend. You saw the agitator storming the church in Minnesota. And I just want to start out by saying if you are on the side of terrorizing churchgoers, you're on the wrong side. Here's not one. Renee Good. Renée Good. This was at City's Church in St. Paul, Minnesota is very close to the killing of Renee Good and close to the epicenter of Somali fraud, which we've talked about on the show. And it's also a place with a long list of illegal aliens who have committed very heinous crimes against women and children and other Americans whom ICE is trying to deport. And we will highlight some of those people later. A pastor in this church is reportedly employed by a ice on some level. And people are having a debate, even on the right side or even in the Christian community about whether or not that is okay. And I just want to say, as an aside, God bless that pastor. I pray for him. I pray for more pastors and more godly Christian men to serve their country in a way that protects citizenship and borders while also upholding the dignity of those individuals who shouldn't be here, but are also made in God's image. So good job to that pastor. But of that makes him a target by these people.
Starting point is 00:06:19 Now, I want you to notice something, and I want this image to be steered in your mind. You see a father there comforting his child, a boy probably, I don't know, six, maybe even not. It's hard to tell, but a young boy being comforted by his dad, shielded by him, kind of covering his ears. The boy is clearly crying, afraid, and you've got a woman, maybe just a friend next to him,
Starting point is 00:06:45 comforting him with her hand. on his back. And then you can see elderly people. You see the young people. You see families trying to decide between standing their ground, continuing to worship, or whether they should leave for their own safety. And I just want you to remember this picture of these terrified individuals. This is a picture of what happens when progressive,
Starting point is 00:07:17 have power. If you remember that episode that we did on Mom Donnie's chilling heralding of the warmth of collectivism, progressives always use empathetic, compassionate sounding language to get empowered, to consolidate their power. And then to use it against the people who oppose them, they use compassion as a pretense for justifying your vote for them or your support of them taking some office and then they weaponize that compassion against people. And these people believe that they are protesting fascism. But the reality is this is what tyranny largely looked like in the 20th century in all of those countries that we talked about a couple weeks ago, public shaming, impeding worship,
Starting point is 00:08:05 intimidating Christians and political opposition into falling in line with a prevailing worldview. And this is the prevailing worldview. Progressivism is the prevailing world view, especially here in the United States, even among many people in power. We have a Republican administration, but in Minnesota, these are progressive politicians, progressives in power, and this is what progressivism in power looks like. And this is not just happening in Minnesota. We have churchgoers in Washington, D.C., who have said that they have been hounded by another guy for a week, Sought two. If you watch other parts of that video, he's going up into people's faces.
Starting point is 00:09:01 He's saying all kinds of vile things, saying that they're going to hell, saying that they're fake Christians because this guy is clearly an authority on what it means to be a Christian. But that's what you see from these guys a lot, very similar to the guy that you heard in the first clip that we played in Minnesota. the guy is apparently in St. Paul, and his name is William Kelly, and he filmed himself berating the members of the congregation, also calling them fake Christians. Sot 3. All these comfortable white people who are living lavish, comfortable lives, while children are dragged into concentration camps.
Starting point is 00:09:42 You're living real life, nice lives with your lattes, doing absolutely nothing for your Latino and Somali brothers and sisters. You come here to a man wearing a suit is a preacher. Did Jesus wear a suit? Did Jesus profit off the words? No, Jesus would die in the earth. You do not touch me. Touch me again and see what happens.
Starting point is 00:10:00 Okay, I didn't know that pastors were supposed to look like they lived in the first century. I wasn't aware of that. I didn't know that was a standard. But according to this guy, who of course has the gentle and quiet spirit that's required of Christians, he's the authority on that. He's the authority on that. According to Megan Basham at The Daily Wire, this guy, Kelly, is a professional agitator. He has associations with Black Lives Matter and the racial justice network. She also writes that Kelly had previously disrupted the Washington, D.C. church that the secretary of war, Pete Hedgeseth, attends.
Starting point is 00:10:36 He had also been arrested in the past and, I guess, released. He also posted, this is weird, on his Instagram account. a woke farmer going to a Somalian mosque and saying, this is a great time. So we've been invited to the local Somali mosque. And as you can see how beautiful it is, this is where they do their prayer. This is where normally 500 people will, you know, come and make prayer. But things are quiet because the local community is scared to come out. They're terrified.
Starting point is 00:11:09 And so that's who this guy is. That's who a lot of these people are. I mean, they think Islam is a religion of peace. and they support this religion that, of course, is anti-homosexuality, anti-transgenderism, anti-woman, anti-actually the dignity of the individual, not to mention anti-constitution and Western civilization. They support that. But then this peaceful church who actually does a ton of good for the community, that's the institution they want to terrorize. It just shows you, when you have a depraved mind, you call evil good and good evil.
Starting point is 00:11:42 So that's what's going on there. So let's go back to this congregation in just a second. But let me pause, tell you about our first sponsor for the day. It's WeHeart Nutrition. WeHeart Nutrition is where I get all of my favorite supplements. I take their magnesium. I take their postnatal vitamin. If I'm starting to feel like I'm under the weather,
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Starting point is 00:12:28 natural. They're not bioavailable. You don't have to worry about that with WeHeart Nutrition. Plus, this is a family-owned Christian-owned company that you want to support. They love women. They love life and they love the Lord. That's why I love partnering with them. If you go to weheartnutrition.com, you can use my code Alley for an extra 20% off. That's weheartnutrition.com code Alley. According to Dustin Grage, he's a columnist for Town Hall, a member of the congregation of City's Church in St. Paul that was harassed, released this statement. They said, ICE protesters invaded my church this morning.
Starting point is 00:13:14 They stormed in right as the sermon started, surrounded the congregation, started shouting obscenities and disgusting slogans. Children started crying. This seemed to enrage one man even more, and he started screaming about how we are, quote, privileged pigs. It's hard to know what to say or do in a situation like this, but the congregation began to pray, read scripture, and sing. Eventually, we were told to move to another part of the church, the protesters were cleared out. I don't know what kind of person can do something this disordered and evil, but I keep thinking, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Pray for Minnesota. And so, these people were rightfully terrified. They were scared. Can you imagine having your child in there
Starting point is 00:13:54 who thinks that they are going to worship with their family? And then they are harassed. They are screamed at by these strangers. They have no sense of what's going on. It's completely justified for these people in this congregation to be terrified. I mean, we know from watching Charlie Kirk get murdered, President Trump almost got assassinated, pregnancy centers fire bombed after Roe was overturned, an elderly pro-life canvester shot in the back by an angry pro-choicer in Michigan in 2022, a teenager named Kaler Ellingston, get run over in North Dakota by a man anger that the kid was a Republican, that you can't trust progressives not to murder you in cold blood. Now, of course, not all progressives are violent.
Starting point is 00:14:39 Your Democrat aunt or the liberal moms on your friend group or that woke but lovable professor from college might not ever reach that level. But we have all seen enough at this point to be justifiably afraid when a left-wing mob enters a room. None of us should be surprised at their agitation and their desire for violence that they justify with saying that they're opposing oppression. But when you consider that these are the very same people who will fight tooth and nail for the right to violently kill babies inside the womb, like we shouldn't expect these activists to be peaceful are to know what goodness versus evil is.
Starting point is 00:15:20 They've shown us over and over again that they don't know, that they're on the wrong side. I mean, we watched in 2020 is these left-wing agitators burn Minneapolis. In L.A. and Portland and Atlanta, so many other once-great American cities murdering innocent people, like 8-year-old Sequoia Turner, 16-year-old Antonio Mays, David Dorn, former police chief from St. Louis, all black Americans, by the way, who were never mourned by Black Lives Matter.
Starting point is 00:15:51 The last person shot by a police officer, a lot of you know this because you've been listening to my show, but many of you don't. Do you know the last person shot by a police officer, local PD in Minneapolis? A white woman named Justine Damon just a few years ago, I believe it was 2017. You probably only know her name if you have been listening to my show for the past five years. I'm sure other conservative commentators have told you about her. She called the police one night. After hearing a noise in her alley, she thought someone was being assaulted. The police showed up after getting her 911 call, and she walked outside in her pajamas just to talk to them.
Starting point is 00:16:31 And inexplicably, a Somalian cop who was sitting in the front seat of the cop car reached over his partner who was in the driver's seat and shot her through the window in her chest, killed her. And this Somalian American cop was sentenced to only 12 years in prison and then he was released early. Now tell me if the races were reversed, what would have happened to Minneapolis that night? You would probably know her name and you would know the name of the cop and he probably would have gotten in prison for a lot longer. I mean, if you think about someone like Derek Chauvin, how long did he get sentenced for? I think it was 25 years plus. And that was much less clear the contribution that he had to George Floyd's death, considering that George Floyd was also filled with fatal amounts, lethal amounts of fentanyl and
Starting point is 00:17:24 different camera angles actually showed that Derek Chauvin was on his back, not his neck. That was a lot less clear. Derek Chauvin got 25 years plus this Somalian cop shot her point, blink, killed her, got 12 years, and then was released early. No riots for Justine. No protest. No, say her name over Justine. Because for these people, for Black Lives Matter, for these left-wing agitators, it's never about the victims.
Starting point is 00:17:51 It's not really about violence or injustice. It's about the system. It's about the belief that these activists have that America and its institutions are oppressive and unjust. And anyone who upholds these institutions like the church, especially the Protestant church in America, who is still overwhelmingly conservative, is seen as an enemy. me. This demonstration in City's Church was not about Renee Good or even the Somalians or even any of the illegal aliens there. These were just the exposing of the Somalian fraud, the killing of Renee Good. They were the trigger incidents used by these activists to justify terrorizing Christians and conservatives and anyone who stands in their way. 2020 wasn't about George Floyd.
Starting point is 00:18:36 2026 is not about Renee Good. Understand this. It is about intentionally sewing chaos. to ultimately weaken America and Western civilization. That is what George Soros and all of his funded initiatives and groups want to do because America still stands in the way of the ultimate oligarchy that George Soros and his ilk are trying to accomplish throughout the world. And I wish that was some just grandiose theory that I had, but it's not. We've talked to too many people. We've done too much research on the show. We've talked about these subjects, too much. to continue to be naive. And if you're confused about any of the assertions I just made, you should go back and listen to the episodes that we did in 2020 and 2021 about what's really going on, who is funding these protest groups and the ideology that drives it. It's not about violence. It's not about oppression. It is about Western civilization and the belief that America does not have a right to sovereignty or borders or deportations. That is why only certain deaths by certain kinds of people work as triggers for these activist groups. Now, I'm not saying that all of this
Starting point is 00:19:47 that I just said is what your neighbor with a rainbow flag in his yard is thinking or your liberal friend is actively thinking about these things. I don't think they know that they are foot soldiers of an evil movement. I believe that they really feel compassion over the stories that they are reading about, but just know that inherently that is what progressive ideology is about. That's what its most adamant adherence are about. Like the reason that you see so many similarities between now and 2020 is because the same giant scam is behind it. The same giant scam that is BLM is behind this madness. And we'll dig into that in just a second. Let me pause and tell you about our next sponsor. And that is reprev. Y'all, I am so excited to tell you about
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Starting point is 00:21:50 Wholesome is better.com code alley. The protest was organized by Black Lives Matter, Minnesota. Black Lives Matter, Twin Cities, and a racial justice network activist. Here's a tip. If you have to put an adjective before justice, you're not really talking about justice. social justice, environmental justice, reproductive justice, none of these things actually mean impartial direct justice. It means punishing the side that's viewed as the oppressor to the benefit of the side that's seen as the oppressed. It is present discrimination to try to make up
Starting point is 00:22:27 for past discrimination. That's Ibra Max Kendi's entire thesis in his book, How to Be an Anti-Racist and to just cleanse your mind of those stupid, stupid notions, you need a cleanser. You need a mind cleanser of Thomas Soul. And you need to read Quest for Cosmic Justice and you need to read discrimination and disparities. Again, gosh, I feel deja vu here. I feel like I am back in 2020 where I was recommending those books constantly. But I'm seeing all of the stuff on Instagram and I'm like, oh my gosh, so many people did not learn. Like you did not learn that all of this, almost all of this is manufactured to make you hate Donald Trump and never vote Republican again. Like I know that seems superficial and you're thinking, you know, this is so much bigger than politics. It's bigger than
Starting point is 00:23:12 politics for us as Christians. It goes deeper than that because we see the cosmic powers of darkness and the spiritual warfare that we read about in Ephesians 6. But it's about politics. It's about making sure that people who love America and believe in sovereignty and believe in borders and believe in citizenship and believe in Western civilization never get power again. And if they can trigger your empathy and trigger your anger to make sure that you always vote Democrat, then they will stop nothing. No lie, no misrepresentation is ever too much or too deceitful for those in the media and these activist groups who truly do want to topple what they see as the evil regime of Trump and America. Okay? That's just the case. Here's one of the organizers of the protest on
Starting point is 00:23:56 Facebook. This is someone that Don Lemon talked about and we will talk about Don Lamon very soon. Nikima Levi Levy, who knows, Armstrong. Friends, here's a clip of our demonstration. She's proud. She's like a proud mom of, she's terrorizing these kids, and she's so happy about it. She says this morning at City's Church in St. Paul, David Easterwood is a pastor at this church, the acting field director for the ICE office in St. Paul. It's time for judgment to begin, and it will begin in the house of God. Okay, like I could just, I could spend hours breaking this down for you and showing you the implications of this and the theological underpinning of this, that progressivism is a false form and a perverted form of Christianity.
Starting point is 00:24:47 Like every single aspect of Christianity from creation to salvation, to the end times, to judgment, to sin, to justice, all of these are used within progressivism, but with completely different definitions. Progressives believe, and if you read any primary source on critical race theory, which you should, I have, like you can see the similarities here, is that these people believe that they are advancing a particular kingdom that will result in perfect equality and justice and freedom from oppression. And they will carry that out through a form of justice that manifests itself in disruption and agitation and making people uncomfortable and basically intimidating people out of having conservative or pro-America
Starting point is 00:25:46 political positions. And they do this in the name of trying to care for the least of these. That's what's going on. That's how they find their fulfillment. This is how they think they are saved. This is how they think that they are bringing about some kind of utopia. They politicize all forms of the spiritual realities of Christianity. If you read James Cohn, who is the author of Black Liberation Theology, you will also see this same narrative taking place. Now, I do just want to point something out here. Just the use of propaganda is so strong, and it is meant to paralyze your critical thinking skills, so you will just imbibe something emotionally and repeat it. Did you hear the demonstrators saying in the very first clip that we played at the top,
Starting point is 00:26:36 Hands up, don't shoot, hands up, don't shoot. That shows that this whole thing really is just a giant propagandistic grift. Because this goes all the way back. If you remember to Michael Brown, who was shot by a police officer in 2014, there was this myth that formed by BLM at the time that Brown had said to the officer before he was shot, hands up, don't shoot. But there's actually no evidence that that happened. Even the Washington Post admitted that there's no evidence.
Starting point is 00:27:03 The Obama DOJ admitted that there was no evidence, that that was just a myth, a propaganda tool that had formed that didn't actually have any grounding in reality. The truth is he was in a fight with a police officer and it's very sad that he died. But again, this was used as a pretense to justify violence and to change policy and to take power and to collectively punish conservatives, Christians, white people. That's what's going on here. That's still what's going on here. So this particular demonstration, riot agitation, whatever you want to call it at City's Church, was live streamed by Black Lives Matter Minnesota. It was obviously not spontaneous. 30 to 40 individuals stored into the church at approximately 1040 local time. You'll remember that Black Lives Matter, the national organization, not necessarily this one chapter, although we just don't know, but the national organization got 9,000,
Starting point is 00:28:00 million dollars from the Soros Bax Tides Foundation a few years ago. And remember, we found out that we don't know where most of that money went. It probably went to enrich the leaders. And remember the leaders, gosh, I'm like remembering all of this lore and this history that we dug into five years ago. They admitted to being trained Marxist. Now, remember, Marxism is responsible for the deaths of like 100 million people in the 20th century as we learned a couple weeks ago. And they were big backers of Maduro. Remember our boy Maduro. who is now in custody because he is part of a drug trafficking scheme, not to mention he is an awful dictator who has employed Marxism to starve the people of Venezuela after Chavez did the same. Okay, so that's who Black Lives Matter is. That's what George Soros wants to support. According to the New York Post, Invisible Twin Cities, which received $7.8 million from George Soros' open society foundations between 2018 and 2023. It's allegedly one of the radical left is groups funding the anti-ice protests in Minneapolis.
Starting point is 00:29:04 George Soros, none of it, they're not good people. So you have to think, why would they fund anti-ice protests? It's because they hate America. America stands in the way of what they want to do. The Racial Justice Network lists no major donors and emphasizes grassroots. However, transparency is incredibly minimal. We don't really know who funds them. The Council on American Islamic Relations care also appears to be involved in this, of course,
Starting point is 00:29:28 because they're enjoying the grift. They're enjoying the grift of these Somalian Muslims being able to steal from the taxpayer and enrich themselves by using fake daycares. Jalani Hussein, the executive director of the Minnesota chapter of care, has rallied against ICE in protests. The day before the church protest, Hussein gave an announcement to Muslims from the CARE and Minnesota accounts about the protests, obviously very supportive. Now, we also know that this was a live streamed event by Black Lives Matter. that tells us that this was pre-planned. It was not spontaneous. There were journalists there. There were journalists who were invited. Don Lemon was invited. Now, he says that he didn't know about it,
Starting point is 00:30:11 but then he said he did know about it. So we'll get into Don Lemon making everything worse, as he usually does in just a second. But let me pause, tell you about our next sponsor. And that is Paleo Valley. Let me tell you about their 100% grass-fed beef sticks. They're amazing. You've had beef jerky growing up, like maybe like a little. bit gross because you don't really know what's in them and they might make you feel sick afterwards. I know for me whenever I've eaten beef jerky, I just don't feel good afterwards. But that's not true with Paleo Valley. That's because every single ingredient that they put in all of their products, but especially
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Starting point is 00:31:32 Use code Alley for 15% off your first order. That's paleovalley.com code Alley. Okay, if you're just listening to this, let me tell you what you are about to be listening to. If you're watching, you'll be able to see. So the first part of this video is Don Lemon after the protest, saying, I didn't know anything about it. What?
Starting point is 00:31:55 And then the second one is Don Lemon before the protest, talking to his camera outside saying, oh yeah, I was invited and we're about to go in. Here's South Five. I had no affiliation to that organization. I didn't even know they were going to this church until we followed them there. We were there chronicling protests. So they're getting the operation together. Again, this is an operation that is a secret that they invited folks out.
Starting point is 00:32:22 I can't tell you what is going to happen, but you're going to watch it live unfold here on the Don Lemon Show. Okay, so that is former CNN, Inker Don Lemon. He was covering the anti-ice protests in the area for his YouTube channel. He was informed ahead of the protest, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune. He livestreamed the event, walking inside with the protesters. And he interviews the head pastor, and he says, oh, this is all about the, this is the First Amendment. This is definitely what the founders wanted. SOT 7.
Starting point is 00:32:55 I mean, this is unacceptable. It's shameful. It's shameful to interrupt a public gathering of Christians in worship. But there were folks who will say, I have to take care of my flock. Listen, we live in. There's a constitution in the First Amendment to freedom of speech and freedom to assemble and protest. We're here to worship. We're here to worship Jesus because that's the hope of these cities.
Starting point is 00:33:19 That's the hope of the world is Jesus Christ. Now, a couple of things I just want to say. Can I say a superficial thing first? that sounded like a southern accent to me. I know a southern accent when I hear it. And that did not sound like a sweet Minnesota accent that I've heard so many times from my Minnesota followers. So I'm so curious about this very brave faster and his background. I actually, I haven't looked into that yet, but he did such a good job of handling that situation very calmly, taking care of his flock. And Don Lemon, as a journalist, should know that the First Amendment does not protect any and all speech
Starting point is 00:33:52 everywhere you want to give it. It doesn't. There are many time and place in context considerations when it comes to the First Amendment and interrupting and impeding the worship in any house of worship does not fall under First Amendment freedoms. We'll get to more of that in a second. He was also very dismissive of the tactics used by the protesters. In fact, he said protests should be traumatic to these children and grandmothers just trying to sing worship songs. Sot eight. here it looks hugging his kid um and you know i've just imagined it's uncomfortable and traumatic for the people here but again careful it's very slippery right here it's uncomfortable and traumatic for the people here but that's what really careful please really slippery not kidding um that's what
Starting point is 00:34:41 protesting is about protesting is about traumatizing children did you know that that's what that's what don lemon thinks and he's not kidding by the way it's very slippery right there He also berated church attendees for opposing the protest. He says the church is everybody's house. Okay, sot nine. I think it's good to speak up. I think it's good to protest, but I think it's better to do it in a peaceful way. I don't think the answer is going to God's church.
Starting point is 00:35:09 You don't think this is peaceful? It's trust. Nobody fighting. It's trespassing. How would you feel if I went into your house and I started yelling? It depends on what I did, but not in my house. That's a whole different thing. I think these people would go inside of anybody's house.
Starting point is 00:35:24 This is the house of God. Which makes it everybody's house. No, it doesn't. No, it doesn't. And you know what? That guy, he didn't, that was good. That guy said, this is trespassing. How would you like it if I went into your house?
Starting point is 00:35:39 And Don Lemon didn't know what to say. He didn't know what to say. He doesn't know. Don Lemon, this is an invitation for you to come on my show. And if you want to yell at me for things I've done, I give you permission to do that. I will say that, you know, I am allowing you to exercise that First Amendment right to yell at me about the things that you've done or that you think that I've done wrong. But I get to ask you
Starting point is 00:36:03 whatever I want to. Okay. So you better come, you better come prepared. That is, he is such a ridiculous person. Do you think that he would walk into a mosque and be doing this? Just wondering. Do you think he would have talked to him a mom like that? Like, oh, well, this This is just, this is the First Amendment. This is the Constitution, buddy. Doubtful. Something makes me doubt about that. He also said in another clip, well, I'm a Christian. We'll take your word for it. He also is defending. So this is a different time just to give you, just to give you a sense of like what his moral compass is. There was this story a few years ago in Chicago was very sad. I remember when this happened. is 2017. And I'm going to tell the races of these people because it's relevant as we're talking about all of this and who gets the outrage and who doesn't. There were these four black teenagers who kidnapped and tortured a special needs teen. He had severe autism. If I remember correctly, he was nonverbal, very helpless. And they decided that they were going to bind him hand and foot.
Starting point is 00:37:18 And they tightly wound his head in his mouth with duct tape. They tortured him for hours and hours and they filmed it, posted it. They never claimed to be smart. And it was this horrible thing. They got arrested. And a lot of people talked about it because of course this person, this young man being white, he didn't get any protest. He didn't get any outrage. And here's Don Lemon on CNN covering this story saying, I don't think this is evil. This is just kids being kids, Sat 10. That's what this is. It's evil. It's brutality. It's man's inhumanity to man. and I don't think it's evil. I don't think it's evil.
Starting point is 00:37:56 I think these are young people, and I think they have bad home training. Young people with bad home training. Okay. I don't even know why, as a journalist, you would decide to interject and correct something like that. Yeah, I think torturing people is evil. It's not really that complicated. So I'm just not interested in what Don Lemon thinks about morality, what he thinks about the Constitution, what he thinks about Christianity, what he thinks about theology. I'm not interested in it because he has no authority.
Starting point is 00:38:25 He has not shown in his own life, in his own professional work to be a man of integrity, a man of high intellect. And so I'm not really sure why anyone would take this seriously. I think the pastor and the congregants actually handled him very well. People like this who are a lot of pomp and circumstance who believe, you know, big things about themselves. Once you can kind of pop that balloon with just a few pointed, interesting, difficult questions, you know, they just deflate very, very quickly. And so shame on Don Lemon for being a part of
Starting point is 00:38:58 this at all. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dillon, we just had her on the show on Friday. Go listen to or watch that episode if you haven't already. Announced an investigation into church occupation that afternoon on X also talked about Don Lemon and whether or not he might be prosecuted. but first talks about these disruptors. She mentioned the possibility of using the FACE Act, as she talked to us about, to prosecute these people for desecrating a house of worship and interfering with Christian worshippers. She talks to Benny Johnson on his show. People are asking, why haven't there been any arrest?
Starting point is 00:39:39 And she's trying to explain, well, this is how it works, on 11. We will pursue charges in this case. I see various crimes that have occurred, exactly what they're. They are. I'm not going to flag, but the FACE Act has been mentioned as one of the predicates there. Okay. And then people are saying, you need to lock up Don Lemon. And she did call him out. She is disagreeing with his take that this is the First Amendment right? She said on acts, a House of Worship is not a public forum for your protests. It is a space protected from exactly such acts by federal, criminal, and civil laws. Nor does the First Amendment protect your pseudojournalism of disrupting a prayer.
Starting point is 00:40:18 service, you are on notice. And so people are talking about whether or not he could be charged using the Ku Klux Klan Act, because she's talking about basically these Dixie Kratz were trying to impede the worship of black Americans back in the day. But that Klan Act has been used to prosecute people who are trying to impede worship of all kinds. Now, yes, it is ironic that a black man could be charged with something like that. But that is not. not the fault of the government. That is the fault of Don Lemon. And maybe if he had some humility, he could take a second and think, wow, how did I get here? Like, is this where I wanted to be 10 years ago when I was on CNN? And I thought about my future. And I thought about what success and
Starting point is 00:41:02 fulfillment would look like, like harassing Christian worshippers in a church in Minnesota and trying to justify it using stupid constitutional arguments. Like, is that who Don Lemon wants to be? And I guess the answer is a resounding. Yes. Also, this is, this is Don Lemon, a picture of Don Lemon giving a kiss to the organizer that we talked about earlier, the BLM organizer who is kind of leading the charge. Chuck Ross, DC on access. This is Don Lemon giving the organizer of the event a kiss on the cheek before interviewing her. He was totally in on it. He intentionally made sure not to disclose any details of the operation so people wouldn't get tipped off. Now, that is that person's perspective. on here, but it is obvious from this picture. Like, I don't, I don't think he just got too close interviewing
Starting point is 00:41:49 her. Like, I'm pretty sure he was giving her a kiss. They were friendly. They clearly knew each other before he's supportive of this. And you know what? If you're a commentator or if you're just like, you know what, I'm going to be a left wing YouTuber. Be a left wing YouTuber. Okay? Like, that's okay. That's okay. If that's what you can do, that's okay. But don't pretend to be an objective journalist and then kiss a person who is on one side of the story. Like, you should just be real about that and just say, you know what? I'm Don Lemon. I'm a left-wing influencer. Like, I'm a cool kid, just like all of you. That's fine, Don Lemon, but don't pretend to be a journalist anymore. It's okay. Caroline Leave it, the press secretary said, President Trump will
Starting point is 00:42:32 not tolerate the intimidation and harassment of Christians in their sacred places of worship. The Department of Justice has launched a full investigation into the despicable incident that took place earlier today at a church in Minnesota. Now, I just want to, before we give a little time to the next subject that I wanted to go over quickly, and this has taken me longer than I realized, I do just want to point out list quickly the illegal aliens that these agitators are defending. Again, not about Renee Good, not about the Somalians. They are trying to impede ICE from doing their job.
Starting point is 00:43:03 These are some of the people, according to journalists, that, according to the DHS, that they are trying to, that ICE is trying to detain and deport. I read, I read several of these, almost every week. This is one person in Minneapolis, Kinzothan, a criminal legal alien from Burma convicted of vehicle theft, obstructing police, possession of burglary tools. He was also arrested for drug possession and driving under the influence. Juan Gonzalez Escamilla. I removed from the U.S. 13 times convicted of two counts of driving under the influence of liquor, obstructing police, fraud, and imprusting. Juan Pablo Torres Kame, a criminal illegal alien from Ecuador convicted of drug trafficking,
Starting point is 00:43:47 Ying Li, a woman, a criminal alien convicted of prostitution. And then you have Fideli, Abu Abuqueri, Michiri. A criminal illegal alien from Tanzania convicted of larceny. Okay, like I would say these are actually the last serious crimes that I've seen some of these illegal aliens convicted of the ICE is trying to remove a lot of sex predators, a lot of child rapists, a lot of people convicted of murder and manslaughter. This is an ICE officer talking to a protester who is trying to stop ICE from arresting this particular individual. And here's what he has to say. It's not 12. We're here to arrest a child sex offender.
Starting point is 00:44:39 And you guys are out here honking. Oh, they're not. Oh, no, we're pressed. That vehicle right there is honky and impeding our investigations while we're trying to arrest a child sex offender. That's who you guys are protecting. Insane. But you keep hearing from people, well, it's not just those criminals.
Starting point is 00:45:01 It's not just those criminals. They're the, you know, they're citizens. They're innocent people who are being detained just because of the color of their skin. And one example of that is this man. Maybe you've seen this picture going around. I saw it on Instagram. No context. Just a video.
Starting point is 00:45:16 I saw it on X. People saying this man was a citizen. He's being dragged out into the freezing cold in just his underwear by ice just because of his name or the color of his skin. According to the Associated Press, Chongley Scott Thao was sleeping when the ice agents came to his door. His daughter woke him up from a nap to tell him that they were there. He told her not to open it.
Starting point is 00:45:36 The agents forced their way in. Thou apparently asked his daughter-in-law to get. his identification, but the ICE agents didn't want to see it, he said. They let him out in handcuffs, wearing sandals, underwear, and a blanket to the car, drove him to the middle of nowhere, photographed him and brought him back home. That is according to the Associated Press. Don't know what their source is. Don't know if that's just the man telling the story. But there's always another side of the story. There's always more context. And this is full screen 14. This is the Trisha McLaughlin, who works it in the DHS, said yesterday in St. Paul,
Starting point is 00:46:08 she's talking about this story. Ice conducted a targeted operation of two convicted sex offenders. One of the criminal targets had convictions for sex with a minor and sexual assault. The other target had convictions for sexual assault with penetration in the first degree, domestic violence, violating a protective order. Both also have convictions for failure to register as sex offenders. They have final orders of removal from an immigration judge. But this particular guy was a U.S. citizen, but he lives with those two convicted sex offenders at the side of the operation. This particular individual, according to Trisha McLaughlin, refused to give his identification. He also matched the description of the targets. And as with any law enforcement agency, it is standard protocol to hold
Starting point is 00:46:47 all individuals in a house of an operation for safety of the public and law enforcement. But, or both of those sexual predators, they were not home then, they remain at large in St. Paul, and they are trying to find them. And so this guy is back home. He was returned, but he was convicted or he was living with two convicted sex offenders who were also illegal aliens. And so he did get caught up in this. And I just want you to ask yourself, like, don't you think this ever happened under Biden and Obama? Like, don't you think ICE was conducting operations and detaining and deporting people in all different kinds of ways under their tenure? Because they were. Obama was nicknamed by the left a porter in chief. He was deporting a lot of people. Are you telling me he did it only in the kindest and
Starting point is 00:47:33 most respectful and compassionate ways that Obama. was going personally to them and saying, hey, like, if you don't mind, if it's not an inconvenient time for you, like, would you put down the meth pipe and, like, come back with me to Guatemala? I promise you, that's not what was happening. Law enforcement was still detaining people. They were still going in all of these areas. They were still circling around schools and houses of worship and going into people's homes and waking people up when they were sleeping, getting them, taking them out, doing what they had to do as law enforcement office.
Starting point is 00:48:05 and you should just ask yourself whether or not you agree with that, why you didn't hear about it then? Why didn't you hear about those news stories? Why didn't you see these images? Why didn't you see the protests when Obama and Biden were in charge? It's not because things were happening differently. It's just because this is about Trump. It's about Trump. This is about hating Republicans.
Starting point is 00:48:30 And so just think about that manufactured outrage. And here are just some facts for you. during the Obama era, according to the ACLU and the NIHC, about 56 deaths of immigrants in ICE custody were reported. Do you know any of those people? Have you heard of their names? Was there outrage? Were there riots?
Starting point is 00:48:49 Remember, the Obama administration built the cages that the kids in cages were in, that people were very outraged about when Trump was president the first time. Under the Biden administration, around 25 deaths were reported. Did you hear about that? again was anyone writing so here's what i want to like leave you with on this segment here's what i want you to ask whether i am saying something or you are seeing a post okay especially when it comes to posts that are against ice and immigration enforcement right now but really you can apply these questions to anyone okay number one you should ask how do i know this is true this video
Starting point is 00:49:30 picture statement that you're seeing how do i know these details the date time location citizenship status context given is accurate. Number two, what sources are cited here? Number three, could there be an alternative explanation? Number five, or number four, could there be more to the story? And then number five, what facts seem to be left out? These are just good questions for all of us to ask and not just ask, but also try to answer. Now, if someone is just saying their opinion, that's just their opinion and you don't necessarily have to ask all of those things. I mean, you could ask yourself, are the underlying facts that they are referring to true.
Starting point is 00:50:06 That's really important. Is this consistent with the other things that they have said? Those things are important. And sometimes, for example, like you go as high up as you possibly can in the information ladder and then you just have to make your decision from there. For example, I just cited the person who works at DHS who gave us the other side of the story when it comes to this man who is detained and then released by ICE. At some point, like you have to say, okay, that person is going to be more.
Starting point is 00:50:34 more in the know than this random journalist from the associated press. Now, it's up to you whether or not you want to believe that. And maybe you can even dig further than that to see if this is really true. Maybe you can try to talk to people who are actually related to it. We have to dig as much as we can, though, to try to see are there alternative explanations to the story and conclusion this person is telling me? All right. We don't have as much time left as I would like, but I do want to quickly go over this Russell Moore article about Romans 13. And just a second, let me tell you about our next sponsor. And that is Good Ranchers.
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Starting point is 00:52:17 Good Ranchers.com code Alley. Okay, Christianity Today, editor Russell Moore, we've talked about Russell Moore many times. He published a column on January 14th titled Christians, Let's Stop Abusing Romans 13. This was in response to Renee Good. being shot by a ice officer that she partly ran over with her car. He suffered internal bleeding. By the way, you had Mayor Fry from Minneapolis saying, oh, yeah, he didn't really hurt his hip. You could have done that closing a refrigerator door with your hip. Such a bizarre thing to say. He actually suffered internal bleeding. And you can see from the camera angles that she did,
Starting point is 00:52:59 in fact, run into him. You have no idea what someone is going to do with a deadly weapon like a vehicle. So he took out that threat, not only to him, but to everyone around him. Very, very sad situation. And I mean that. But Russell Moore reacted to it this way, saying after the killing of René Good, some Christians summon the biblical chapter, Romans 13, to dismiss moral questions about state violence. That's the opposite of what it teaches. Okay, so let me just read you part of the passage of Romans 13 that he is referring to.
Starting point is 00:53:28 This is Romans 13, 1 through 7. Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore, whoever resist the authorities resist what God has appointed, and those who resist will encourage judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct but to bad, would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? I'm just reading this and I'm like, really, Russellmore, the opposite of what it means? I don't think so. Then do what is good, this chapter says, and you will receive his approval for he is God's servant for your good, but if you do wrong, be afraid for it does not bear the sword in vain. He is a servant of God,
Starting point is 00:54:04 avenger who carries out wrath on the wrongdoer, therefore be an exception. You can read the rest of the chapter yourself. He cites this in his article and he argues this, that Romans 13 is most often invoked, not when the state is acting justly, but when Christians feel the urge to quiet their consciences ought to trouble us, not because this habit puts too much weight on biblical authority, but because it attacks it. He also claims. He also claims, that the use of Romans 13 to refuse to question the morality of the use of force violates the passage because other passages command authorities not to abuse power. He cites Luke 312 through 14, Acts 1637. He says that there are legitimate uses of necessary lethal force on the part of
Starting point is 00:54:56 law enforcement, but he, you know, is saying that this is not one of those cases or this is a morally questionable circumstance and we shouldn't use Romans 13 to silence people who have any questions about it. But that is gaslighting and that is hyperbole that is also kind of a false choice. I didn't see anyone using Romans 13 to say, well, you can't have questions about this. I didn't see a single person. And I noticed in this article that Russell Moore doesn't provide an actual citation or an example of that. I saw people looking at the footage and saying, And wow, she really rammed into him with his car. Now, maybe you've constructed a scenario in your brain where you wouldn't have done the same thing
Starting point is 00:55:40 and you would have done something more tactical and technical like shooting at the tires. But shooting at the tires, like a vehicle still moves like when the tires don't have air. And so whatever you think about this scenario, I didn't see anyone using the Bible to try to silence people who had questions. I think it's okay to have questions. And certainly I think that we should feel for her family and be very sad that she got herself into this situation. If you want to know the psychology and the philosophy that I think put her in that situation, you can listen to the episode that we did on that. I believe it was last week.
Starting point is 00:56:17 Let me tell you what is missing from Russell Moore's article, okay, when he's talking about this particular situation and really from his online footprint in recent years in general. Okay, one, any references to the illegal immigration and criminals being detained by ICE in the U.S. and specifically in Minnesota where Renee Good was protesting, any consideration of Renee Good's actions that day, any evidence that the ICE officer's actions were unjust? He says it's morally questionable, but he doesn't look at the other side of the question. The fact that the ICE agent suffered internal bleeding after the encounter, any examples of Christians actually saying or even implying, as I said, that the government has a car. Blanche to, has carte blanche, you know, justification to use force. So he's, he does this a lot. It's called a straw man where he is constructing a fake argument that no one is actually using, and then he's tearing it down to make himself look righteous. Eric Reed posted in response, he's a pastor. He said, respectfully, Dr. Moore, no reading of Romans 13 license as a deranged lesbian to weaponize a car against a federal officer and leave him with internal injuries. Okay, fair point. What I think is interesting is Russell Moore's use of Romans 13 in the past,
Starting point is 00:57:33 that he actually used Romans 13 to argue that churches needed to comply with government mandates to shut down worship services during the COVID-19 pandemic. He also encouraged readers to obey all of those mandates. In fact, he said specifically, the state has the power of the sword. That is, quoting Romans 13, for instance, to punish criminals and to maintain civic order. while the church does not. The church has the authority to proclaim the gospel and to define the boundaries of the fellowship within that gospel and the state does not. The current situation facing us is not a case of the state overstepping its bounds. Really, it's not. But rather seeking to carry out its legitimate God-given authority. And so, like, he contradicts himself there because that's exactly
Starting point is 00:58:17 what the state was doing. The state was saying, no, I am going to mandate how you can conduct your worship. This is how far apart you have to be. This is what you have to wear. And this is how many people you can allow or you cannot have these services at all. You have to go virtual. So the state was overstepping its authority every step of the way when it came to COVID. He says, let's not only, this is during COVID, let's not only obey the laws of our states and cities. Let's seek to do even more than ask in order to shoulder our responsibilities. Let's wash our hands.
Starting point is 00:58:51 Stay as far apart as necessary. Pray for our metal. Stay as far apart as necessary. So sad. pray for our medical personnel and our leaders and let's pray like never before in doing so we render to god what is gods and to caesar's what is caesar's and so no moral responsibility whatsoever of any pastor any christian or any religious leader to not neglect the gathering of the saints and to make sure that you can actually be with your loved ones who are dying in the hospital pray with the sick
Starting point is 00:59:20 in person hold the hand of the sick so you are saying we serve a jesus who touched the leper but I have to stay six feet apart for my grandmother who I may never see again. No, thank you, Russell Moore. So Romans 13 can be invoked to justify the state regulating the parameters of worship for the church, but cannot be invoked to explain why a law enforcement officer might take lethal force against someone who is running over him with a car. Oh, oh my goodness, is this what you learn in seminary? Okay, Lex Rex, I want to tell you about this concept really quickly, and this is something that I really explored a lot during the era of 2020 when a lot of Christians and a lot of churches were battling.
Starting point is 01:00:06 Okay, what does it look like to obey Romans 13 and to also stand for what is good, right, and true? Lex Rex is a book written by Scottish Presbyterian minister Samuel Rutherford in 1644. He explains this concept of the law is king. So he argued that rulers are not given absolute authority but are governed by the laws of God and morality which should inform and empower the law of the government. And this concept played a big part in the revolution. It still plays a big part in politics today. It is why here in the states even the president is or should be bound by the constitution, bound by law. And the state interfering with church worship is out of its bounds of authority. It violates the First Amendment. Separation of church and state, remember, was not primarily for the state. It was primarily for the protection of the church. And it did not mean that religious people cannot inform the law. It's actually impossible to separate religion and law because religion or lack of religion informs your morality and every law is a moral stance. People say you can't legislate morality. Every piece of legislation is morality. He also has
Starting point is 01:01:19 and we don't have time to get into all of this. He has some changing stances on immigration in the past. He's actually criticized the government for not doing more to keep the border secure, but a lot of people were broken by Trump over the past several years. Like people just changed. People changed when it came to immigration, when it came to justice, when it came to guns, because they saw being opposed to Trump as being righteous. no matter what. And unfortunately, evangelicals, the Southern Baptist Church, have been pretty weak
Starting point is 01:01:54 on this over the years. I talk about this a lot in toxic empathy, how unfortunately a lot of otherwise conservative Christians bought into the lie that deporting people and securing our border and caring about national sovereignty and caring about your national identity is anti-gospel and anti-God. And it's not. So I really encourage you to at least read that chapter of toxic empathy. It will be really, really helpful. It's chapter four. Remember, countries are like families. You wouldn't allow a stranger to come to your home and to eat your child's food and to sleep in your child's bed. That wouldn't make you a good neighbor. That would make you a bad parent. God has entrusted you with stewarding your children with protecting them and providing for
Starting point is 01:02:38 them. You do not have the exact same obligation to everyone in the world. You may, may have different obligations to your neighbors and different obligations for the poor in your community, but it is not the same obligation as you have to your children. The same is true of countries. Maybe we do have some obligation. Some could argue to accept some refugees or asylum seekers or care for those who are vulnerable around the world. But that is not our government's primary responsibility. Our government's primary responsibility is to care for the security, the fair, the interests of its people, just like that's France's, the French government's primary responsibility, or Somalia, or Zimbabwe, or China. Like, this is orderliness and this is good.
Starting point is 01:03:27 Remember, God places not in a jungle, but in a garden. What is the difference between a jungle and a garden? Order. God is a God of order. That's why he created families. That's why he created boundaries and borders and nations and laws and languages. This is for our flourishing and for our good. As Christians, we have to be agents of that order. That means caring about national sovereignty, caring about deportations, caring about borders, caring about culture, caring about protecting our neighbors who also live right next to us. By the way, Lake and Riley was your neighbor. Kate Steinle was your neighbor too. All right. So it's time we really think about the order of loves and how God has created this orderliness in the world for
Starting point is 01:04:13 are good, both for Christians and non-Christians. All right, just have one other thing to respond to. And that is the good Sir James Talariko. You've been asking me to respond to his New York Times interview, and I'll just quickly do that in just a second. Let me pause, tell you about our last sponsor for the day, and that is range leather. Y'all, somewhere around here, I've got my range leather bag that I love so much.
Starting point is 01:04:37 I've got a couple bags from them. They're great to travel with because they're so easy to clean. They're really durable. and they hold their shape really well, and they're very spacious. And so I can fit my iPad and all of my gear and my baby items all in one bag. I love that they have a lifetime guarantee, whether it's their hats or their jewelry or their wallets or their belts or their bags. It's all so good. It lasts forever. All handmade in Wyoming. Kyle and Bailey, family-owned company. They love Relatable. They were here at Share the Errors. They're the Real Deal. Another Christian family-owned company
Starting point is 01:05:12 that you want to support, these make great, really thoughtful, high quality gifts for those in your life. Also for yourself, Valentine's Day is coming up. You've got to relate a bro in your life. Maybe get him something from Range Leather. Go torangeleather.com slash Alley for 15% off. That's rangeleather.com slash alley. Okay, we've talked about James Talarico before. He's a Texas House Representative. He represents District 652, which is like Round Rock, Georgetown, area. And he gets a lot of national attention because he is bringing forth this form of what I think is a paradoxical phrase, but progressive Christianity, where basically Christianity and morality conforms to the culture rather than the culture needing to conform to Christ. And he did this interview with the New York Times where he talks about his beliefs. Now, this guy obviously a Democrat, and he believes that they're.
Starting point is 01:06:16 There is a Christian justification for being a Democrat and a Christian obligation to oppose Republicans at all cost. But you need to know first, like, what is underneath what he really believes? Theologically, here's top 14. How do you think about the competing claims of different religions? Do you believe Christianity to be more true than other religions? Do you believe there to be exclusivity in these beliefs, that they're incompatible with each other? I believe Christianity points to the truth. I also think other religions of love point to the same truth.
Starting point is 01:06:47 I think of different religious traditions as different languages. So you and I could sit here and debate what to call this cup, and you could call it a cup in English, you'd call it something else in Spanish and French, but we are all talking about the same reality. I believe Jesus Christ reveals that reality to us, but I also think that other traditions reveal that reality in their own ways with their own symbol structures.
Starting point is 01:07:09 And I've learned more about my tradition by learning more about Buddhism and Hinduism and Islam and Judaism. And so I see these beautiful fake traditions as circling the same truth about the universe, about the cosmos. Islam, famously, the religion of love. It doesn't work when the tenets of one religion actually oppose the tenets of another religion. It can't all be circling around the same truth. Jesus himself in John 146 says, I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the father except through me. John 336, whoever believes in the sun has eternal life. Whoever does not obey the sun shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. Acts 412, and there is salvation
Starting point is 01:07:53 in no one else, for there is no name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. James Tolariko claims to be a Christian, yet he denies this very fundamental truth, as almost every single so-called progressive Christian does. He also says that Christ never mentioned homosexuality and abortion. This is one of my favorite, SOT 15. For the past 50 years in this country, the religious right, a political movement, convinced a lot of Christians in America that the two most important issues were abortion and homosexuality. Two issues that aren't really discussed in scripture. Abortion has never mentioned. Consensual same-sex relationships are not. never mentioned. It's remarkable to me that you have an entire political movement using Christianity
Starting point is 01:08:43 to prioritize two issues that Jesus never talked about. Jesus never talked about them. Well, Jesus is God. So the entirety of scripture is also Jesus' words, not just the red letters. If you look at Exodus 2013, very simple, you shall not murder. Abortion is murdered. That means it is prohibited in the Big Ten, the Ten Commandments. Genesis 9-6 also reiterates this. Whoever sheds the blood of man by man shall his blood be shed for God made man in his own image. Wow, murder was so bad that the death penalty was the only just punishment for it. Also, Leviticus 2013 says that a man lying with another man is an abomination. And then you go to the New Testament. Matthew 19, 4 through 5, Jesus himself says, have you not read that in the beginning,
Starting point is 01:09:33 he made them male and female for this reason. A man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. Jesus right there goes all the way back to creation to reiterate the creation reality of only male and female and the definition of marriage between one man and one woman. Romans 1 describes very explicitly that women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature. Men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another. Men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. First Corinthians six nine also says neither the sexually immoral nor
Starting point is 01:10:20 idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, will inherit the kingdom of God. James Tolariko, he doesn't know his Bible or he just trusts that you don't know your Bible, so he's aligned to you. Now, he also says that a real Christian nation would outsource individual compassion to the government, Sot 16. These politicians want a Christian nation unless it means providing health care to the sick or funding food assistance for the hungry or raising the minimum. wage for the poor. And so it seems like they want to base our laws on the Bible until they read the words of Jesus, welcome the stranger, liberate the oppressed, put away your sword, sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor. I mean, I'm not exactly sure a Christian nation is really what these people want. Okay, I love this because this exposes the hypocrisy,
Starting point is 01:11:18 because these people will say that it's bad for Christians like me to say, well, you know, I think that murder is wrong because the Ten Commandments because of Psalm 139, because of Jeremiah 1-5. Abortion is murder and we shouldn't murder babies. Oh, that's scary Christian nationalism. Or if I say, well, God created borders. We see in Nehemiah that there is wisdom in walls. Of course, in Proverbs, a man without walls, or a man without self-control is like a city without walls. So we can see the principles in there and probably think that it's wise to apply those principles to our. law, just as the founders believed. Oh, that's scary Christo-fascism. But then they'll turn around and say, no, we want a Christian nation. We just want to take the words of Jesus to justify communism. We want to take the words of Jesus that were specifically spoken to his apostles and apply them to law today. But that's not Christian nationalism? See, they decontextualize the words of Jesus, try to apply it to policy or apply it to the government. And that apparently is fine. But we look at the
Starting point is 01:12:17 principles of the law giving to Israel to give us wisdom about lawmaking and morality here today. And that's just completely uncalled for. That apparently is some form of tyranny. They'll look at the early church and they'll see that the Holy Spirit empowered Christians in Acts to give away everything they had to make sure that people are taking care of. And they'll say, oh, that justifies putting people at gunpoint, forcing them to give up their possession so we can redistribute it to other people, which is what the welfare state does. Second Corinthians 9.7, each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver. It also says, we don't have this passage right in front of us. He who is not willing to work shall not
Starting point is 01:13:02 eat. He who is not willing to work shall not eat. I believe that's in Second Thessalonians three. Acts 244 through 45. And all who believed were together and had all things in common, they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need again voluntarily through the power of the Holy Spirit, not because of the compulsion of the state. And I also just want to remind people that there was a bit of a scandal with James Taurico a few years ago. He, according to the New York Post, follows a number of only fans' accounts on Instagram, which is troubling. Oh, gosh, what did Jesus say about adultery and lusting after women in your heart, you know, maybe James Tolariko, the theological expert, could tell us.
Starting point is 01:13:49 Well, hopefully I get a chance to talk to James Tolariko one day. I would love to discuss and debate these ideas with him. I think it would be really fun. All right. That's all we got time for today. As you can tell, it was a little fired up. Sarcastic Alley always comes out when I am. But these are really serious things, and sometimes a little sarcasm is exactly what you need to get straight to the point. All right, on Friday, we will be here talking to a cybersecurity expert about what we actually need to know about technology, a different side of social media and technology that you may not have thought about. Make sure to tune in then, and I will see you guys on Friday.

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