Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 180 | The Decline of Christianity

Episode Date: October 28, 2019

Today I talk about the rapid decline of Christianity in the United States, as well as the political, cultural, and social implications that inevitably follow. Are Millennials partly to blame?  Today's Sponsor: If you’re thinking of replacing your carpets due to pet stains and odors, you must first try Genesis 950. It is green and safe to use around your family and pets. Genesis 950 is offering a free spray bottle at checkout with discount code BLAZE at  https://genesis950.com 

Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort.

We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. Hey, guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Monday. I hope everyone had a wonderful and restful weekend. As you know, unless this is your first time ever listening to Relatable, in which case, welcome. Glad you're here. But most of you probably know that it is Theology Monday. On Theology Monday, we take a cultural trend or trend within this. the church or something that someone said and we weigh it against the word of God and we say, okay, this is what this person said or this is how this trend is going, but this is what the Bible actually says and this is how Christians, according to God's word, need to look at this or analyze this. Today, it's a little bit different. We're not going to be talking about a particular

theological topic. We are going to be talking about a greater trend. And that trend is the rapid decline of Christianity or people who identify as Christians in the United States. I get email updates from Pew Research every few days, I think. I don't think it's every day, every few days when they conduct studies on religion. I received an email a few days ago, or last week, with the subject line that says, in the United States, decline of Christianity continues at rapid pace. And that is a jarring thing to see as a Christian. We know it's been happening for a while now. But all at once, when you read a headline like that or when you read a subject line like that, you are hit with the implications of what that will look like and what that already does look like.

Whether you want to believe this or not, the United States is a Christian nation. That doesn't mean that it has a nationalized religion of Christianity or that you have to be a Christian in order to enjoy your inherent rights in the United States. But it does mean that the laws, the Constitution, upon which this country was founded, is based on. biblical ideas like property rights, equal justice, etc. Of course, as we know from our own history, these things have not always been applied or implemented perfectly, but they do characterize the foundation upon which this country was founded. And whether or not you believe in Christianity, you have been a beneficiary of the biblical ideals of justice and equality, in fairness, in private property, and freedom. And so you are welcome, not from me, not

from me, but you're welcome from the founders and the God of the Bible. There are obviously spiritual and eternal implications of this decline. That's what we're kind of going to end with. Those are much more important than the first part of this podcast. We're going to talk about the political, the cultural, the social implications of a declining Christianity, which obviously, I believe to be important and very intertwined with spirituality and eternal things as well. but they're not the most important. So we are going to get into the eternal implications at the end,

but we're going to talk about the temporal consequences at first. Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and

unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. Okay, first we need to look at the results of this study. So again, this is Pew Research. The decline of Christianity It continues at rapid pace in the United States. It's probably how you could find it if you were to look it up on Google. So let's look at some of these results. The study looks at religious affiliation, changes among Americans from 2007 until now, so 12 years. Let me emphasize, that is, affiliation.

These are simply people who identify as Christians. We obviously don't know their heart. We don't know how often they go to church in these first statistics. we will get into that. We don't know if they read their Bibles. We don't know if they believe any of the things that Christianity stands for. All we know is that they call themselves Christians. In 2007, 51% of Americans identified as Protestant Christians,

unchanged until 2010, and then it started to decline very rapidly. In 2014, this percentage reached 47% and today is 43%. So that is an 8.5.5%. if I am correct in my math, T-Cline in just 12 years. In 2007, 24% of Americans identified as Catholics, and that number is down by four points now to 20%.

At the same time, the percentage of religious nuns that is in O-N-E-S, not in-U-N-S, that would be really interesting if we were talking about the rise of nuns in U-N-S in America, but we're not. In O-N-E-S, that number has risen.

In 2007, they made up 12% of, of the population today. They comprise 17% of the population up five points that may not seem like a lot, but in this short time frame, it absolutely is. At the same time, regular church attendance is decreasing as irregular and no church attendance is increasing. They actually flipped numbers exactly, these two statistics. Only 45% of the population attend church monthly or more, down nine points since 2007.

54% of the population go to church fewer than once a month that is up nine points since 2007. So that is a direct switch. In every generation, according to this study, in every demographic, there has been a net decrease of people who identify as Christians. A group that has dramatically disaffiliated from Christianity, of course, is millennials. Since 2009, the percentage of millennials who identify as Christians has gone down 16 points. 16 points. That's a lot. While the percentage of millennials who identify is having no religion in particular, so that's not

atheist necessarily. That's just not really knowing. Having no religion in particular is up 13 points. That is just in 10 years. In 10 years. The group that has seen the biggest jump and association from Christianity is Democrats. That probably comes as no surprise to those of you who listen to this podcast regularly. Those who identify as Democrat and Christian have gone down.

by 17 points in the last 10 years. And those who identify as Democrat and not having a religion in particular is up 14 points. That is a huge change. And in my opinion explains a lot of the outright radicalism of the Democratic Party. And we will get into why I think that in just a bit. Just to add those who identify as Republican and Christian has declined by seven points, while those who identify as Republican and having no religion at all has increased by four points. Let's take a deeper look into millennials who have experienced such a huge change in the past 10 years. Millennials just as a refresher were born anywhere from 1981 to 1996, according to Pew Research. For some reason, this is a point that like a lot of people like to argue with me on of when millennials were born and who millennials are.

Some people tend to think that millennials were born around the millennium, and I totally understand why that is, but it's not true. many millennials were coming of age during the millennium, which is why they are called millennials. But people like me, born in 1982, I'm a millennial. I was not yet coming of age in 2000 or in the turn of the century. But I am still counted as a millennial. So 1981 to 1996, we've got to stop referring to this group as college students. None of them are in college anymore. Probably the youngest is 23. So I guess they could be, they could still be in college. But the oldest, they're almost 40. and so a lot of them have marriages and mortgages. My brother's in law, my sister's in law.

They're all on the older end of millennials, and they don't like to identify as millennials. They are very different from those of us who are born on the latter side of this, on the second half of this. They probably more identify with Generation X than they do millennials. But alas, face it, you are one of us, those of you who were born in the 1980s. But we do have to stop thinking of millennials as these young people.

They are adults. and most of them have, lead some kind of adult lives. And so we should start holding them responsible for the ideas and the values that they hold. They're not just young kids that we can brush off anymore. They are full-fledged adults, even if many of them don't act like it. Religiously, millennials are evenly split, according to this study. 49% identify as Christians. Only 9% identify as a religion other than Christian, which is interesting.

And 40% are religiously unaffiliated. So 49% identify as Christians, 49% identify as something else with 40% of that being religiously unaffiliated altogether. I'd be very interested to see this broken down by specific age groups rather than just generations. My guess would be that older millennials are probably more religious and conservative than younger millennials are. I would guess that is because the younger millennials have gone to college in the past 10 years.

And if you haven't noticed, it is in the past 10 years that secularization has. has taken hold of culture at a rapid pace, probably more rapid than ever, as has liberalism, as has progressivism. Remember, Pew's polarization and politics that he from 2017 shows just how far left. The left in this country has gone, not in the past 30 years, not in the past 20 years, but over the past 10 years, especially while Barack Obama was president. So all of this has really precipitated just in the last decade. We'll get into more of that. that in just a second. Compare the millennial rate of Christian affiliation to our parents, baby boomers, 76% of whom identify as Christian, the silent generation, most of our grandparents,

84% of them identify as Christian. It is not atheism that has taken over the millennial generation. It is nothing, which means that there is some belief in God or some belief in the spiritual, but no identity with any particular religion, including Christianity. This is not surprising to those of us who have seen the rise in what is called the New Age, particularly on social media. We discussed this a little bit on the podcast episode last Monday about personality tests, the popularization of manifesting your best self while connecting to the divine, which is both in you and in everything,

is seen through the increased popularity of crystals, of mediums, of psychics, of magic, of meditation, hypnosis as ways to discover some hidden mystery of the universe, of speaking of the universe as this supernatural power rather than what it is an inanimate object. These are superstitious, pantheistic, pagan beliefs that are undergirded by the idea that you are your own God. This is something that we talk about so much because it's underneath of so many of our cultural changes. This is the God of self on display, seeking ways to release its so-called inner power through mystical means. So self-love and obsession with self-care, self-empowerment, the fixation on the self, the straight-up glorification of selfishness from every

motivational speaker, every mommy blogger, every Instagram influencer you follow, virtually ever, every, are part of this new age, esoteric belief system, whether those who propagate them know it or not. This is part of the postmodernism that we also see taught on college campuses that young people are being indoctrinated with constantly. The religion of self has been around for a long time, but it is quickly becoming the most popular faith in the United States, especially among millennials. And it is a faith. For you to put your stock, any stock whatsoever in your inner magic and the manifestation of your inner magic with crystals, you've got to have a lot of faith for that. Of course, someone can worship

the god of self without also being into crystals and things like that. Essentially, anyone who claims to be an agnostic or claims to have an agnostic worldview or an atheistic worldview is worshiping themselves because they are deeming themselves the arbiter of truth and of morality. The reason why this worldview is attractive is because the God of self doesn't demand anything of you that you don't want to do. Righteousness within the religion of self is counted as what makes you feel good, what is good for you. The more selfish you are, the more, quote, holy you are considered in this religion of self. Even being kind to other people is done merely for good karma. Here is a really good example of this religion of self, courtesy of form.

former Christian mommy blogger who left her husband for a woman Abby Wombeck and who now totally and completely rejects Orthodox Christianity, what she used to claim to be a part of. Her name is Glennon Doyle. The advertisement for her new book, which is titled Untamed, says this, we do not need any more selfless women. What we need right now is more women who are full of themselves, a woman who is full of herself knows and trust herself enough to say and do what must be done and lets the rest burn. This is how you find yourself. Gosh, this is just quintessential. These are the problems. These are the problems with modern society all wrapped up in this crazy little advertisement for a book. What does that even mean? I'm not sure anyone knows

what that means. I don't think that anyone actually does. Here's another example from a book by Jen Sincereo titled, You Are a Bad A. I won't say the word because you've got kids in the car. It says, you are perfect. You're on a journey with no defined beginning, middle, or end. There are no wrong twists and turns. There is just being. And your job is to be as you as you can be. This is why you're here to shy away from who you truly are would leave the world euless. You are the only you there is and ever will be. I repeat, you are the only you there is and ever will be. Do not deny the world as one and only chance to bask in your brilliance. What? I I couldn't even read that. It didn't even make grammatical sense to me.

These are the doctrines of the religion of self. Everyone and everything in existence is here to serve you. You are here to serve you. Your significant others are here to serve you. The universe is here to serve you. The government is here to serve you. Anything that inconveniences you in this worldview is injustice. Anyone who hurts your feelings or tells you something you don't want to hear despite it,

perhaps being true, is toxic. You've got to cut them out of your life. All that matters. is you. Your happiness, your truth, your wants, your dreams, you are entitled, this view says, to all of it. Here's another recent example from a popular Instagram account called Emily on life. Choosing to honor your deepest self will require you to make painful changes. People you love will feel hurt. Friendships and relationships will shift and end. Of course, this is the fastest growing religion in the United States. Of course it is. We finally have a belief

system that indulges our most wicked inclinations for selfishness. And instead of being accused of immorality, we are being called brave. What person wouldn't naturally want that? There are no rules in this belief system. There is no right and wrong. There's no objective truth. Do you? Claim your truth. Seek good vibes. Any discipline you employ your hard thing you do must be done for you. Not for the sake of other people. Find yourself. Discover your true identity, the God of self, of course, according to its doctrines, is easy to worship. But what is happening? What is happening as this religion of self is growing in popularity? This belief system that emphasizes doing what feels good and only that which makes you happy

and serves your purposes. Are we happier? Are we more content? Do we love ourselves more? Are we more satisfied? According to psychology today, nearly a fifth of all millennial's sight being depressed. Millennials seek psychotherapy more than any other generation. We are addicted to psychotherapy. That's not to say all counseling is bad. I have seen a counselor before and it greatly steered my life in the right direction. I am not saying that biblical counseling is wrong, but this addiction to psychotherapy as a means to release some kind of inner power has gone off rails. because millennials are so directionless and purposeless. A U-Gov poll from July found that millennials are the loneliest generation in existence.

A Blue Cross Blue Shield report found that depression has risen by 47 percent, this is this year, risen by 47 percent among millennials since 2013. A report from Trust for America's Health and Well-Being Trust found that deaths by despair, which include deaths by suicide over drinking or drug use, have increased more among young Americans than any other generation. Now, when you read mainstream media articles on this, the conjecture, is that it only has to do with money problems, has a lack, it has to do with a lack of economic opportunity. I don't think that is true. I don't think that we can apply that across the board.

We are 10 years into one of the longest economic expansions in our country's history. Unemployment is the lowest that has been in 50 years. We've got more job choices than ever. wages are starting to rise. We've got more entertainment options than ever before. Everything is personalized to be tailored to our wants and our needs. This isn't to say that millennials don't have struggles, that we don't have obstacles or that there aren't millennials who have a reason to feel like or feel like they have a reason to despair. I'm not saying that, but it is to say it doesn't seem feasible at all that the economy is the major or even a foremost cause of

millennial's depression. The only reason these articles want to say that is because they're trying to make an implicit case for socialism. I just don't see how we can possibly ignore that the most likely reason for millennials' feelings of purposelessness and loneliness and despair is because of a major shift of values, that the factors are primarily and in many cases internal, not simply external. I remember that NBC Wall Street Journal poll from a few weeks ago that showed that American young people care about three major things far less than any other generation. And those three things, we're having a family and having kids one day, they don't care about that anymore.

They don't care about having a faith in God anymore. And they don't care about patriotism anymore. Those are the three values that young people as compared to older generations do not have. That shouldn't surprise us. All three of these things attach us to that which is bigger than ourselves. They require sacrifice. They require adhering to a set of rules. of values that are outside of us, and the God of self loathes anything that takes away its glory

and its attention. These are also the three ideals that just happened to have set America apart and has held America together since its founding. The bipartisan belief in God as the transcendent moral lawgiver, a bipartisan love for the family, a bipartisan gratitude for this country and the freedom that it represents. These are now, for the most, part partisan issues. Now patriotism largely is seen as conservative value. Caring about the family is seen as mostly a conservative value. Belief in God is seen and is a conservative value. That's not to say that there are no liberals who love God or America or their families, but it is to say that if they do, they no longer represent the mainstream of the Democratic Party. They no longer represent the

platform of the left. They are outliers now. In what side of the aisle do millennials most align with? The lefts. Now we see how this is all kind of intertwined. It is not a coincidence. It's not a coincidence that millennials are the most religiously unaffiliated and the most liberal and the most miserable. I just don't believe that's a coincidence. And as a result, they have of their religious unaffiliation and of their both theological and political liberalism, I believe, they have no moral center. They have no greater purpose. They believe in no higher truth, except that the government is supposed to take care of them and they're supposed to be able to do what they want to do. What they have been left with is themselves. And when they realize

that they are not enough to provide for themselves satisfaction and fulfillment, they despair, because that is not the fuel that the human soul is supposed to run on. Trust me, if you live your life believing that you are all that matters, if you reject your creator, the God of the universe, the God of the Bible, if you reject family and you foster a resentment and a cynicism toward the country that has afforded more people from more backgrounds, races, religions, and nationalities than any other country in the world, you will be miserable. Your heart and your mind will eventually atrophy, which will be, of course, why you you believe socialism to be a good idea because only minds that had atrophy to actually believe

socialism to be a thing that is worth implementing. And I'm not sorry for saying that. Consist message me and they email me and they leave reviews on my podcasting. You're demonizing the Christian left. You've got it all wrong about leftism and godlessness going hand in hand. That yes, they tell me it is totally possible to be a Bible believing Christian and a so-called progressive. Look, if you identify someone who is on the left and a Christian. I am not I'm not doubting your salvation. I'm doubting that you understand

what you say that you believe. You cannot be a leftist that is worth your salt and also believe in the Bible. You just can't. One of them is going to give. I do not, unfortunately, have it wrong on this.

Now, I don't demonize you. I don't think that you are, I don't think that you're some terrible person. I think that we are all a dead and apart from our Christ and in Christ we are made alive in him no matter what our beliefs are about things that don't have to do with salvation. So these tertiary issues like politics, I just believe that you are confused. You are either confused theologically or you are confused politically. And yes, these do have serious implications for not just our political views, but also for our spirituality.

If you can show me a nation that is run by leftist ideals and Christian biblical values, I would love to see it. Show me a country that has become more free and more conservative while Christianity has died out. Show me a country where communism and Christianity have flourished alongside each other, where religious liberty has survived alongside big government. Show me a place where Christians are not being punished or being even thrown in jail in some countries where communism and leftist ideas. ideals are being implemented. Show me a country where that's not happening. You can't because it doesn't exist. And even on an individual level, show me one person who is a true leftist who supports the current values of the American left who actually believes in the Bible. It's not possible. It's not possible. To be a leftist Christian, you either have to not be a leftist or not a Christian. Why?

Because you can't believe in the Bible's definition of gender, sexuality, in marriage, and be a leftist. You can't believe that Jesus is the only form of salvation and be a leftist. You can't believe in the sanctity of life inside the womb and be a leftist because the left will not accept you. The left will not accept you if you believe these things. You will be a bigot. You will be excommunicated because progressivism is also a religion. And you cannot deny the biblical definitions of gender, the solution for salvation being found in Jesus or salvation being found in Jesus in the sanctity of life and call yourself. You can't deny these things and call yourself a Bible believing Christian. One of them is going to give way. So as I say, to identify as a leftist and a Christian,

you either have to be politically confused or theologically confused. No, that doesn't mean that God is a Republican. That doesn't mean that he fits inside our box of conservatism. No, our political affiliation is not a prerequisite for entrance into heaven. I'm not saying that at all. And I am saying that Christians can in good faith, I disagree on. certain political issues. Of course that's possible. But to maintain a biblical worldview, you cannot also maintain a leftist worldview. Not today. Not according to leftist standards. You just can't. Why do countries get less free when they become less Christian? Because private property is a biblical value. The inherent morality and necessity of work and providing for yourself

is a biblical value. Because covetousness and theft that is necessary for the establishment of socialism and communism are anti-biblical values as specified by the Ten Commandments. Christianity has been on the front lines of freedom fighting and justice seeking for all of its history. That's not to say that everyone who identifies as a Christian has been correct on all issues for all of time. Of course, we know that. There were people who identified as Christians who erroneously claimed that the Bible condones slavery. But if you examine the front lines of the fight against slavery, against the evils of the Holocaust or civil rights, or the the protection of pre-born children or the fight against sex slavery, you will find Christians.

Christians. The Protestant Reformation, specifically as we know, had a profound impact on shaping the Western world in America in particular. The idea that human beings had the ability through the authority of the Holy Spirit to read and apply the Bible on their own independently from some elitist clergy or bureaucracy is a Protestant idea that greatly affected the West and greatly affected the founders and greatly affected than how America was shaped. So that is the political side of this. This is how this all goes hand in hand, the godlessness of millennials, the secularization of society, the worship of the God of self,

feeling like the only values that you have are, or believing that the only values that you have is that you get to be yourself and do the things that you want to do and the government comes alongside and makes your life cushy so you don't have to do anything that's inconvenient, that you view as an injustice. That all goes hand in hand. That is why I say over and over again, the time is come and gone for Christians not to care about politics. Because all the craziness that we're seeing,

whether it is abortion, so the dehumanizing of life inside the wound that is biologically, logically, logically, a human life that is deserving of inherent rights, the denial of that humanity resulting in the normalization and the glorification of abortion, whether you're looking at that, or whether you're looking at this crazy idea that you can separate sex from gender and that

people are actually what they feel they are rather than what science says they are. That all has to do with the erasing of the biblical view as human beings made by God in his image with a biological purpose and with a spiritual purpose. It also is indicative of the belief that the government and society as a whole is more important and is bigger than the individual. The reason why we believe that the individual and individual rights and individual freedom as conservatives, the reason why we believe that that is more important or that is better than the government taking over and telling us what our rights are and saying this is for

the common good, we're going to outlaw this and we're going to make this happen because we want everyone to reach this stupid and erroneous definition of equality. I won't get into all that. But the reason why we believe in individual rights and individual liberty is because we believe that the individual lives forever in government. does not. And because individuals have a soul, because they were again made in the image of God, they are more important than the government. And they are deserving of, they're not deserving of. They have inherent rights that were endowed to them as the Declaration of Independence as by their

creator. Therefore, because they were given to us by a transcendent creator that is higher than the government, they can't be taken away by the government. That is what conservatives believe in. That is why when you become more secular, when you become more theologically liberal, a.k. when you stop taking the Bible seriously, you also become more politically to the left. You start buying into socialism. You start believing that the government is here to take care of you rather than human beings, Christians taking care of themselves. It all goes hand in hand. And as we see from the misery that so many millennials seem to be wallowing in, I just don't think that it's a workable worldview. It's just not workable. Even just from a practical standpoint, it doesn't seem to be

working at all. Of course, it's not why we believe in Christianity. We believe in Christianity. We We believe in Christianity because it's true. We believe in Christianity for salvation. We believe in Christianity because we are sinners in need of mercy. We are dead in our sin to be made alive in Christ, which leads me to the eternal much more important part of this. And that is why millennials are leaving the church? Well, one, I think it's because the God of self as attractive, but the God of self

is not as attractive as the cross of Jesus Christ. So what's happening? What's happening there? Why are there so many people walking away from the church and saying, you know what, I'm just going to do my own thing. I'm not an atheist, but I don't really know what I believe. Don't want to go to church. Don't want to be a part of any kind of religious institution.

I believe, and this is just my guess, I believe it is because too few churches are preaching the gospel. So many churches are so concerned with attracting young people with interesting, with interesting, catchy, catchy sermons or sermons that are relatable, or sermons that are trendy or songs that are actually secular with Jesus' name sprinkled into it. They're preaching a message of self-love and self-esteem and slapping Jesus' name on it and calling it the gospel. They're saying the gospel is,

God loves you and wants you to be happy. That's not the gospel. The gospel is that you are dead in your sin and you're bound for hell apart from Christ. And in him, you not only get eternal life and you get the opportunity to advance his kingdom here on earth, but you also get joy through every trial no matter what. If you are thirsty, here is the while of life.

if you are hungry, here is the bread of life. You will never spiritually thirst again. You will never spiritually hunger again. That is what you get. That is different than what the world offers you. You don't have it in yourself to love yourself forever. You don't have it in yourself to make yourself feel good. You don't have it in yourself to make yourself happy forever.

That is a dead ends because eventually you're going to realize, wow, I wake up today and I don't love myself. I look in the mirror and I don't see someone that I'm happy with. I don't feel like I have the strength to go on. I can't muster it on my own. own and you're right because you are never meant to. You're not self-sufficient. You're not enough. Your soul does not run on self-love and that is going to continually wear you out and exhaust you until you find your satisfaction. You quench your thirst in the well that never runs dry. We need to be preaching the gospel in churches. We need to be preaching theology in churches.

What does the Bible say about the things that are going on in this world? What does the Bible actually say about these issues that we are confronting? If our past, who are supposed to be shepherding us, don't tell us how we're supposed to view the world, and they just let us get by living in our sin and worshiping ourselves. If they're not the ones telling us what is true, who's going to? Who's going to? Churches need to be preaching something different than what the world is. We look too much as Christians, and I'm obviously guilty of this too at times.

We look too much like the rest of the world. We look too much like secular society who is saying, that really the most important thing is that you feel good about yourself. A pastor who is telling you that Jesus exists to make you feel good about yourself is not a pastor, a pastor who cares about your eternal destination. He doesn't. He cares not to offend you. The gospel is offensive.

If you look at the book of Acts, the gospel that people were preaching, put them in jail. And I pray to God that we don't get to a place in America in our lifetimes where freedom of speech has somehow become so stifled that we're not even allowed to say what is true. while we still have time Christians, while we still have time to preach the gospel without fear of punishment, persecution, or death, let us do it. Let's do it. And I'm speaking to myself. I understand the fear of feeling awkward, the fear of not wanting people to hate you, but we've got to talk about sin. We've got to talk about salvation. We've got to talk about sanctification if we want to look different than the world. Churches have to be different than the world. We can't be scared while we have this

probably short window of time to be free. But although we also need to be, I think, a little bit encouraged by this that, yes, there are fewer people now who identify as Christians, but that also, that also could be that people are no longer, are no longer desiring just to be nominal Christians. And that should be fine. We're okay with people not identifying as Christians who are not actually Christians anymore. Or not actually Christians. actually Christians at all. That's okay. What we care about is real regenerative heart change. That's what we care about. And the church is going to be okay. The church is going to continue to thrive. The gospel is still going to be continued to be, is going to continue to be shared,

no matter what, no matter what our laws are, no matter how much of a Christian nation we live in, no matter how free we are, God is not limited by legislation. He has not limited. by leftism. And it's okay for us to have concerns about these things. Obviously, I raise concerns about what's going on in our political process all the time. And we should want freedom. We should be worried about the persecution that could inevitably ensue when our country becomes less and less free for Christians. We should care about future generations. We should care about what we're able to teach and talk to our kids about. These are all things that matter. so we should care about what's going on in Washington and what's going on even at our state capitals.

But we also have the confidence and the assurance and the absolute steadfastness when we recognize that God is sovereign, that he's in control, that his word does not return void, that we don't have to worry about how this is going to end up, that we know that Jesus wins at the end of the day, that we understand. how this is all going to go eventually. And yes, we can talk about fight for the things that matter. We can seek justice. We can love mercy. We can walk humbly with God, knowing that at the end of the day, that he's got it, that he's in control, that he is not off of his throne, and that his plan will come through. It will come through. And we can trust that. All we have to do is to be obedient, and we have to be bold. That is what we are required to do,

as Christians and that's that's our that's our responsibility knowing all the while that we have joy that we have assurance that we have confidence understanding that God is sovereign and that he will not let his plans and his purposes fail and it is much more important guys it's much more important to me guys so much more important that you whoever a young lady is listening to this that you understand the truth of the gospel, then you do, then I care about your agreement on political issues. Of course, of course, I believe that what I talk about is correct on political issues or else I wouldn't talk about it, but I'm so much more concerned. I'm so much more concerned with your heart, with people's hearts, with my heart, with all of our hearts and

our eternal destination than I am how you vote next November. Do I think that spirituality and politics that all of these are intertwined in some way? Absolutely I do. Of course, I do. I do. do because God is in everything. He's the ruler of everything. Um, and we are supposed to be salt and light in every area of our lives. However, of course, I am more concerned with the spreading of the gospel than I am making you a Republican or a conservative. So I just want to make that clear. Okay, I have so much more to say, um, but we're having some technological difficulties on our end. And so I think I need to wrap this up. But maybe if I think of other things that I didn't say that I still want to say, maybe I'll add that to Wednesday's podcast. But I hope you guys enjoyed this. I hope it's at least thought-provoking. If you have any

thoughts, as always, please reach out to me. Thank you so much for listening. I will see you back here in a couple days. Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard, questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in

conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this T-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us.