Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 201 | Bethel & Raising the Dead

Episode Date: December 23, 2019

Today I discuss the theological confusion surrounding the tragic death of Olive, a 2-year-old daughter of a Bethel worship leader who suddenly died in her sleep. The church rallied people from around the world with the hashtag "#WakeUpOlive" to pray for a resurrection. There have been many questions about the church's handling of this tragedy and Bethel's theology in general. I do my best to give a compassionate and clear perspective. I also take questions from listeners about premarital sex, private vs. public school, and more. 

Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Monday. It is the week of Christmas, which is really exciting. So today, I'm going to spend time singing you guys my favorite Christmas songs from Holy Night to Frosty the Snowman. And if you guys like what, if you want to sing along, if you want to harmonize, record yourself posted on Instagram, that would be a Christmas gift to me. Just kidding. Obviously, I'm going to spare you my Christmas singing. I instead I'm going to talk about things that are much hopefully much more easier on the ears than now, although I will say that definitively, like, we believe an objective truth on this podcast and the objective, objectively the best Christmas song out there is Oh Holy Night. I got into a riff with Matt Walsh of the Daily Wire, which I feel like I

get in arguments with Matt Walsh on Twitter a lot about inconsequential things. Sometimes they're but inconsequential things. And he said, like, here are the top four best Christmas songs. And he didn't include, Oh, Holy Night on there. And I'm like, you've got to be out of your mind to not list Oh, Holy Night in the top for the top one Christmas songs in all the world. And he tried to say that, like, Hark the Herald Angels sing had better lyrics than Oh Holy Night. Not true. I just love the depiction of the gospel in Oh, Holy Night. And as much as I would love to be able to, seeing that to you. I'm not going to because it is not for the public to hear. I do, I do sing a holy night to my daughter every night and it helps her fall asleep. So maybe,

maybe it's not so bad after all, but I won't be seeing that to you. Today, I'm going to answer some of your questions. The first question that I'm going to answer is about this tragic situation regarding a young girl named Olive. I think that she is two years old and she is the daughter of a worship leader that is associated with Bethel Church. And there has been a hashtag that has been going around hashtag, wake up Olive and Bethel Church, as well as leaders and Christians from around the world that support Bethel Church have been praying that Olive would rise from the dead. And a lot of you, a lot of you have been asking my thoughts on this. And I've given a lot of my thoughts on Instagram stories and I want to be so sensitive to this situation because as I have said on

Instagram, this is absolutely tragic. Apparently their daughter died unexpectedly stopped breathing in the middle of the night. I really don't have any details other than that. And she was pronounced dead by the doctors at the hospital. And she's not on life support. She's not in a coma. She is as far as we know completely dead. Heart has stopped beating no brain activity. And her family and Bethel Church is praying for resurrection. It's been, I think it's been over a week now that this young girl has been pronounced dead. And they are saying, you know, Jesus can obviously raise people from the dead. And so that is what they are not just praying. But if you go on social media, you click on this hashtag or you look at Bethel Church.

church's post, you can then click on the mom's handle who will have more details of everything that they have been praying for. There are also people who are declaring. They are saying in faith, they would say that this is going to happen. There are people who are claiming to be able to prophesy that they are prophesying her, this little girl's resurrection by saying this is going to happen. God is raising her from the dead. She will be a testimony for people because she was raised from death to life, physical death to life. So I didn't really want to talk about this at first with all these people asking me about it because I was like, you know what? If this were my baby, I would be praying for a miracle too. Like I get it. I cannot think of anything more tragic to happen

to someone than someone's baby, someone's child really at any age, dying, especially unexpectedly. like I cannot even comprehend the absolute heartache that comes with seeing your lifeless child laying there on the bed and feeling like you are totally helpless. So I, from the bottom of my heart, empathize with this precious family who is, you know, no matter what they might be saying on social media, I am sure they are struggling. I am sure they are devastated. I'm sure this is the hardest, most tragic thing that they have ever gone through. And wow, I feel for them. And I am praying for them. I am praying for the peace that passes all understanding. I am praying that peace of Christ would rule in their hearts. I am praying that they would feel, that they would feel the calm

and the assurance and the serenity that comes with the grace of God that he mercifully bestows upon believers. That is what I am praying for them. And at first, I said, you know what, sure, I'll pray for a miracle too. Before I really knew all the details and how long it had been, you know what, I did pray. I prayed, God, you can do miracles. You are the God that can do miracles. Nothing is too hard for you as Job says. I pray that you, I will pray that you will raise this girl from the dead.

But the more I have looked at this and the longer this has gone on, the more I've realized that That is not the prayer. That is not the prayer that I need to pray. Not that God can't do it. He absolutely can. God can defy physics. He can defy probabilities. He can defy possibilities.

God can do absolutely anything. He created everything in the universe. That means he is the authority over it. He can do everything that we can't imagine and even things that we cannot imagine. And we know there are at least nine, or I think there are exactly nine instances in the Bible, where God has raised someone from physical. death to life. Jesus did it himself in the gospel, so we know that it is absolutely possible. But the declarations that we are seeing from this group of people who claim to be prophesying,

who claim to be saying, God will do it. We are declaring in faith, guys, that is not a representative of biblical faith. It's not. Our declarations are saying, what will happen according to what we want is not biblical faith. It is superstition. It is treating God as a genie. It was saying maybe if we say the right things, if we pray, if we pray the right things, if we sing the right way, if we declare enough and boldly enough and strongly enough and adamantly enough, then God will respond to our incantations. And that is not how he works. He is not a fairy godfather. He is not a genie. Our declarations, our quote, belief of manifestation does not make him any more likely to do something. Yes, we can believe in faith that he can. But as the story of Shadrach,

Meshach, and Abendigo goes in Daniel 3, we can say, I believe that God will deliver us from this fiery furnace as they said. But even if he doesn't. But even if he doesn't, but even if he doesn't, they said, we will not bow down to you, Nebuchadnezzar. And we can say, God, even if you don't, you are still good. Even if you don't, we surrender to your will. So what I'm praying for this family is not that this child a week later rises from the dead. I'm not praying that. I am praying that they would not only have the peace that passes understanding, but with the faith that they are saying they're using to declare her resurrection from the dead, I pray that they would have enough faith to realize that God's ways are not our ways, that his thoughts are not our

thoughts, that they would have enough faith to surrender and say, God, you give and you take away, blessed be the name of the Lord, as Job said when everything was taken away from him. That is the prayer we as believers need to be praying. This has, and the only reason, guys, I'm talking about this and I kind of meant to say this a few minutes ago and then I got on another train of thought. The only reason why I'm talking about this is because it has become so public. Like if this were something that, you know, this family, they were dealing with this on their own, I would certainly not be broadcasting it on my podcast. But it has become bigger than this poor child's death, this tragic death that I have, like I said,

much sadness over because this poor child, I can't believe that her life has ended so unexpectedly and in our mind seems so soon. But the reason why I'm talking about it on the podcast is because I am sincerely worried. Like I have a pit in my stomach not just over this person's death, but for all the people who are watching this, who are being swayed by bad theology. This is bad theology. You know what Jesus says about this in the Gospels that a foolish and a wicked generation look for a sign. That's what Jesus says. And that's what I'm worried about, that people are looking for a miraculous sign to prove that Jesus is real, to prove that Jesus is who he says he is, that people are misunderstanding, the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross

as propitiation, not just as not just propitiation for our sins, but also a payment for physical resurrection from the dead and a physical healing from all of our illnesses. And that's not what Jesus paid for. What Jesus paid for was a spiritual awakening as Ephesians 2 promises that in Christ we will be raised from death to life spiritually. And yes, there will be a bodily resurrection of believers who have, quote, fallen asleep as the Bible says, but that is not right now. That's not what is promised to us right now. Again, that doesn't mean that God can't do it. Of course he can do it. God can perform miracles. And I do believe that he still performs miracles today. But to say that that is how our faith is supposed to manifest or that is the outcome that is necessary because of our, quote, prophecy or our declarations, no, that is, I think it's just a misunderstanding and a minimization of the miracle of Jesus's, of Jesus's resurrection.

that that was the miracle that we need for salvation. That was the miracle that authenticated our faith. That miracle was sufficient for our faith. We don't need new signs. We don't need new wonders. We don't need to see new things in order for our faith to be authenticated or to be verified or to be made real. So I want to read you a passage out of Luke 16, there is a parable that Jesus tells the rich man and the poor man of Lazarus, the rich man, you should read it for yourself, but the rich man is in hell. And he is saying to Abraham while he is in hell, please, can I go to my brothers who are still on earth? Can I tell them so that they can escape the fires of hell? And Abraham says to them, this is Jesus relaying

this parable. And Abraham in the parable says, they says, that they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. And the rich man in hell says, no Father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent. They will surely repent if someone from the dead goes to them and tells them in the truth. And he said to him,

if they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead. We do not need new miracles to authenticate faith. Yes, God can and does do miracles, but we do not need the miracle of this poor little girl raising from the dead in order to believe that God is true. We have the miracle of Jesus's resurrection to do that. We have the miracles that he performed in the Bible to do that. And yes, there's this larger conversation about continuationism and cessationism that is going on. And obviously, Bethel is very charismatic. They are very

continuationist. They believe that the apostolic gifts or that charismatic gifts like speaking in tongues and like laying on of hands healing and things like that, that all of that is available to the church. And these are all common manifestations of the Holy Spirit. Whereas someone like me who is a cessationist, I believe things like that stopped with the apostolic age. And I should do an entire podcast that is dedicated to that. That doesn't mean that God doesn't perform any miracles ever. It's simply, It simply holds that those particular gifts were for a period of time and have since ceased. Again, God can do anything. I believe that we can pray for miracles, but for our faith to be dependent on those miracles is wrong

because our faith is dependent on Jesus. Our faith is dependent on the gospel, which has already been made true. also I think it is wrong for us to believe that our declarations are declarations end in the manifestation of our choice that is using God as a magic apeal that is using God as a magic genie you saying that something is going to happen is simply proof of what you want to happen not what God's will is as Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gassimony for God to deliver him from what was ahead. He said, not my will, but your will be done. As a church,

we need to be praying for submission. We need to be praying for surrender. We need to be praying, like I said, for the peace that passes all understanding to acknowledge that God is the God who gives. He is also the God who takes away. And to trust in his sovereignty, no matter what. That would have been a testimony of how great and gracious and good God is. How amazing the gospel is, that the gospel is sufficient even in the midst of our loss and our tragedy, that Jesus is our burden bear, that Jesus is our comforter, that Jesus is our Prince of Peace, that even when things go completely not as planned, that even when we lose everything as Job did, that he is sufficient, that is our testimony before our world that doesn't understand how you can sorrow

with hope, that doesn't understand that even if you lose everything, that you, that you, that you, still hold on to the faith that you have. That is our testimony before believers. Unfortunately, unfortunately, there are people that are being led astray by this. There are people whose faith is going to crumble because this young child is not going to be raised from the dead. And so they're going to wonder, is God really good? Is God really powerful? they're going to look at this woman who they hold as a godly teacher and influencer, this mother who obviously loves her child very much, who is saying that her child is going to rise from the dead over a week later. And they're going to say, okay, well, if God is not answering her prayers,

if God is not answering all the millions of prayers of all of these people to raise this child from the dead, why would I believe in this God? And that is what I fear. And that is why to me it is worth it is worth having this conversation. And I know I've gotten messages from those of you who attend Bethel, who are fans of Bethel and who think that I'm in the wrong in this. And of course, my intention is not to make you angry. And you've probably, honestly, you've probably tuned out at this point. Like, you've probably turned the podcast off if you or someone who is on the other side of this issue, that is not my intention to hurt you or to make a point. I didn't want to talk about this at all. But because I have a sincere concern for people being confused, for people,

being led astray for people whose faith is weak, and I don't mean that in a condescending way, for people who are new believers, who are just figuring this stuff out and they don't know what to pray or what to believe. My concern is genuine for you. My concern is that you are going to watch this whole thing unfold and that you are going to believe or doubt that God is, that you are going to doubt that God is really good and God is really powerful, and that's not what I want. I want you to believe in the gospel that says, for sure that God in Christ has raised us from spiritual death to spiritual life and that his promises are sure that his character is steadfast, that his goodness is trustworthy, that we can surrender everything to him with open hands

and say, this is what I want. But even if you don't deliver upon what I want and what I request and what I declare, you are still God and you are still good, that is what I want you to believe. and I don't want you to buy into superstition. What I recommend for everyone is to go watch the documentary. I think you can find a shorter version, an abbreviated version of this documentary on YouTube. I want you to go watch American Gospel. That's what I want you to go watch everyone right now.

Turn off this podcast. Well, don't turn off the podcast. I want you to listen to the rest of it. But tonight, go watch American Gospel. It is amazing. If you got Amazon Prime, I think that's where it is. But if you want to watch on YouTube, you can do that American gospel, it will be well worth your time. I love all of you who listen to this and you go

to Bethel and you completely disagree with me. I'm probably going to get some negative reviews. I'm sure that I will, but know that this is coming from a place of love for you. This is not coming from a place of anger, certainly, or spite, certainly not. But since this is so influential and it seems like so many Christian publications aren't willing to call it what it is which at this point is unbiblical. It's unbiblical teachings. They're unwilling to say that.

They're just reporting on it as if this is some neutral thing what's happening as if every Christian agrees with what is going on. That saddens me like we shouldn't be ashamed of good, proper theology. And you know it's bad theology. people are taking verses that are speaking to spiritual awakenings in Christ and they are applying it to a physical awakening. That's a problem. Any kind of decontextualization of scripture for it to mean what we want it to mean is wrong. So again, I'm praying for this family. I am praying for peace. I am praying that God would comfort them. I am praying that they would

trust him. I am praying for all of the people that attend to this church and all of their friends surrounding them. I pray that they would take comfort in who God is and his sovereign will, even when we don't understand it. That is what I hope for for them. And there is good part of this. There's a good part of this is that people are seeing this theology on display. And I'm hoping, I'm hoping that they see theology that is somewhat, not completely, not everything Bethel teaches, by the way, is wrong. Like they have said true things about abortion. They have said true things about biblical marriage and yes and amen. And I think that there are good parts probably of their teaching and there are things that they teach and believe that I would want to listen to and believe as well.

But and I also will say that there are people who I agree with in a priest. on a lot of things who are much more charismatic than I am. Like, I believe that we can disagree on continuationism and cessationism. Like, we can disagree in good faith on that. There is definitely, there are definitely people who have a biblical supporter who purport to have a biblical support of continuationism. And that's completely fine. Like, we can disagree on gifts of the Holy Spirit and things like that. But I do believe that in this particular instance in other parts of Bethel's teaching, that it wades too much into New Age, too much into Eastern mysticism too much into superstition to the point to where it's like is the gospel really sufficient

to you guys is it really sufficient is god's word really sufficient or do you feel that um do you feel like god has to prove something more for your faith to be authenticated and that is what worries me um all right let us answer some questions someone asked me is it okay to have premarital sex if the only reason you haven't been married is because you can't afford to. So if you are looking to have a biblical ethic surrounding sex, then no. That's not a reason. It wouldn't really matter what reason you have for not getting married in order to live a life that is according to the Bible. You would not be engaged in premarital sex. And the reference that I have for that is 1 Corinthians 7-2, which reads, but because of the temptation to sexual immorality,

each man should have his own wife and each woman, her own husband. Of course, there are other passages surrounding or on that particular subject in the Old and the New Testament. But the marriage bed is supposed to be undefiled. And so, of course, as Christians, we are not supposed to be having sex before we get married. Does God forgive you for that? Yes. But we saw on the Bachelorette when I think her name was Hannah, when she was talking about the fantasy suite and she was saying, you know, it's no big deal. Jesus still loves me. She even, I think, has that as a part of her bio. We also know that Romans 6-1 are we to continue and sin that grace may abound by no means. How can we who died to sin still live in it? So as we are new creations now in Christ, people who have

decided to die to ourselves, take up our cross and to follow Christ, the goal is to not sin. And no, I would say in no point in our lives are we ever going to accomplish a perfection in complete sinlessness that's only going to be accomplished on the other side of eternity. Sanctification is supposed to move us closer and closer to a sinless life. I think sometimes we imagine that our lives are going to be just as embroiled in sin as we were from the time that we just became Christians to 50 years later, but really it's not supposed to be that way. We are supposed to be working out our salvation and fear and trembling, becoming more and more like Christ's Ephesians. And we are to reach the stature of the fullness of Christ. We are not

to be children tossed to and fro by the waves, but we are supposed to be anchored in our faith and becoming stronger and stronger and becoming holier and holier through the power of the Holy Spirit. and that includes, of course, premarital sex or any kind of sexual immorality. So any kind of sexual relations outside of a man and a woman in the context of marriage. That is the only kind of sexuality, the only kind of sexual expression that the Bible says is holy and is pleasing to the Lord. And so any reason that we could possibly give for sexual immorality is not a good reason according to the Bible. I do want to say with this particular question saying, you know, you can't afford to get married. Okay. You might say that you financially can't afford to get married, but spiritually, you cannot afford to continue and send because it is rotting your soul.

And it is creating a barrier between you and God in that. It is very difficult to have intimacy with God to pray to God, to read your Bible. if you know that you are living in sin. And I would also say if you are living in sin and you have no conviction of your sin, then it's time to take stock. Like it's time to assess your heart. It's time to test yourself. It's time to say, am I really, do I really believe that Christ is who he says he is? Do I really believe that Jesus is my Lord? Do I really, obviously not just live that way, but do I really hold that in my heart? Have I counted the cost, as Jesus tells us to do before we follow him? Have I really taken up my cross and followed him? Is there evidence of the Holy Spirit in my life? Because

something that the Holy Spirit does also is it creates a hatred of our sin. That does not mean that as soon as we accept Christ that we have conviction of every single one of our sins. And I'm going to talk about that actually next Monday of kind of what sanctification looks like as I reflect over the past year and even few years of my life. And I realize that through seasons, God has convicted me of different sins and different lies that I have bought into without even knowing it. It is a process of sanctification. And so I'm not trying to say that we would all be in trouble. We would all be in trouble if just of one sin in our lives being evidence of the fact that, you know, we are not saved. I do believe that sanctification is a process.

there are going to be things that I might be sending in right now as a Christian that I don't even realize our sins or even prioritizing as sins that a year from now or a month from now I'll look back and say, wow, I totally had a wrong belief about that and I was caught in sin and maybe I didn't even realize it. So I'm not saying that I'm not saying that this is evidence. You ask you this question, of course, that this is evidence that you're not a Christian. Of course not. But it is important to take stock of your heart and to ask God to give you wisdom, to convict you of sin, to, as David said, to try you and to know your thoughts, to know if there is any wayward way in you, and to reveal that to you. And also, you don't have to have a magnificent

wedding. Like, go down to the courthouse and get married. Like, if you are in sexual sin, it would be better for you to not have a wedding at all and to just get married till you are no longer living in sin. You don't need to worry about that. You can have, if you want to get married, now, which I believe if you know you want to marry this person and you are in a relationship where you are having sex, but you are not married yet. You need to go ahead and get married. You need to get married or you need to break up. That, I mean, Jesus tells us that if your right hand is causing you to send and you need to cut your hand off. So that is my encouragement to you, either break up or get married. And if you get married and you don't have the wedding that you want to have,

that's fine. The wedding is one day of your life, which, you know, easy for me to say. I, not in your situation and I did have a wedding, but you can have a wedding later on. It doesn't have to be on the day that you get married. Like if you want to have a party, if you want to have a celebration, and you need to save up for that, totally fine. And other than that, I'm not sure exactly what you mean by not being able to afford to get married because now you get to share rent if you don't already live together. Now you get to, you know, share the grocery bell and sure you're paying for two people, but you get to bear one another's burdens, which is a very wonderful, benefits to marriage. So that's my encouragement to you. If you don't want to stop having sex with

this person, which I suppose that you don't, then I would take yourself down to the courthouse and I would get married. Okay. Next thing. Someone says, as a Trump supporter, I'm concerned with rising national debt more info. Totally, totally understand. I actually talked about this with Congressman Massey on Friday. You should go back and listen to that episode if you haven't already. public school. So a lot of people ask me about public school because I've had quite a few guests and I've made comments myself about the dangers of public school. But I've also gotten a lot of emails from Christian teachers, a lot of messages from Christian teachers and administrators and parents of kids who really have no option but to send their kids to public school and who feel that this is

the best choice for their family and far be it for me, especially as someone who doesn't have kids in grade school yet to say, no, you're definitively making the wrong choice for your child. There are different perspectives in this that, you know, within good faith, I think that we can have discussions as Christians over this. Not every public school is the exact same. Not every public school teacher is the exact same. Public school in general, yes, of course, is government school. And public schools have fewer options for a curriculum, for how they want to teach their kids than private school does. That's just the nature of public versus private in general. And so, yeah, there are going to be some drawbacks to public school, but parents do it. And I think the way

the parents are able to make it work, Christian parents are able to make it work for their family is when they are extremely intentional about discipling their kids, where they are okay with setting aside time at night to say, okay, like, this is what we believe. And reminders of the gospel reminders of the authority of God who created heavens and the earth. Now, that's true no matter what kind of school you send your kids to. If you send your kids to private school, it's still, the onus is on the parents to be the disciples of their children absolutely no matter what. But I do think you have a little bit more of an uphill battle, probably if you send your kids

to public school. Now, there are definitely districts. Like I have family members who send their kids to public school who they really love their public schools and they feel like they are able to hold their teachers accountable. Their teachers, for the most part, are Christians. And so they're not worried about it. And, you know, I can't speak for every single public school and say that they are pushing a far left sex ed agenda. Certainly true of a lot of schools, but it's not true of every single public school. And if parents can do it and they feel like they are able to disciple their children well, if their children are learning the worldview that they want

them to learn, then certainly it can work. But no matter what kind of school our kids go to, the responsibility is absolutely primarily on the parents to be able to disciple our children. Now, from my perspective, I will say that for me, it's not just, and I can only speak from my own experience, like I said, I'm not a parent of a grade school child yet. From my experience, the reason why I am such a proponent of private school and homeschooling, even though I don't have experience and that I just know a lot of people who homeschool and know the amazing benefits that it has. The reason why I'm a proponent of private school as a Christian is not just because of what I didn't learn. That's typically like how we talk about this. Like, oh, I didn't get the far left

sex education. Like I didn't have the same dangers of writing on a school bus or I didn't have parents who told or I didn't have teachers who told me that I couldn't, you know, pray or something like that. We typically talk about what public school does not allow or does not or does not condone or whatever that they might teach kids about different kinds of families that maybe the parent didn't want the students to learn about, whatever it is. We typically talk about public school in that kind of context. But the reason why I am so appreciative, I'll say that of my private school education, private Christian school education is because of not just what I didn't learn, but because of what I learned. Because I from the time that I was six years old, I guess that's how old I was. Maybe I was

five when I started kindergarten. I went kindergarten through 12th grade private Christian school. And I understand. I totally understand that's not available for everyone. I totally understand that that is expensive more so than it was when I was in school. I totally understand. Completely understand it's not an option for a lot of people. I'm just speaking from my experience. I had a biblical worldview, a foundation for my biblical worldview from the time that I was five years old. And so a lot of people ask me, like, how did you learn what you learned? Like, how do you know the Bible? Why do you, how did your parents accomplish laying the foundation for you, for you to have this biblical worldview to where reading the Bible is, I wouldn't, it's definitely not easy,

but to where it's understandable for me. That's because I have been reading the Bible and hearing about the Bible. I've been taught the Bible since I was a toddler, obviously because my parents are Christians, because I've been going to church since, you know, I was born basically, and because I went to a school where for however many hours a day I was at school, I was taught things from a biblical perspective. And so I think that that was extremely instrumental in making me who I am today and giving me the understanding that I have of the world. Now, the flip side to that is that I graduated with people who also went to private Christian

school from kindergarten in 12th grade. And they are not Christians anymore. They're certainly not conservatives. They've gone to some big bad school in the northeast or northwest. and now they think that they are woke and that I'm just this backwoods person that never left my little private school bubble, which is funny because I went away for school too. But those people, you know, now they have backwards thinking and they have abandoned the foundation that their parents laid for them and their teachers laid for them.

So that's an argument too, that whether you go to private school or public school, it is completely possible that you walk away from the things that you were taught. I personally think that the schooling that I had growing up lay a really good foundation for me in my faith to see the world from a biblical perspective, but not just that. And maybe this is not so much of a Christian part of it as it is just the private school part of it. I would say that the education that I had in high school has had the biggest positive effect on my career. and my success in college, not that I graduated with a 4.0 or anything like that, but the fact that college was relatively easy, the things that I do now have come pretty naturally. It is because I had amazing English teachers, amazing history teachers that whether I knew it or not, whether I knew it or not, I was being given the equipment and the tools to be able to analyze things well. And that's obviously not just true of me, but I would say all of the people that got this kind of education,

we were taught how to think critically really well. And it has been completely invaluable for me. And I think even the way that we learned history, I certainly think it lay a foundation for me to become a conservative, not just a biblical Christian, but also conservative. And I'm very thankful for that. So it's not just, when I talk about private education, it's not just about what we're not teaching or what we're not learning, you know, leftism, but also what we are learning and how we are learning. I'm not saying that you can't get analytical thinking from public schools. And again, that's the only option for some people. And I get that. Like, that's just the way it is. And that's okay. And I think that we can help our children in that, especially if we are unable to send them to private schools.

but from my perspective in my experience, it's not just what I didn't learn, but it's what I did learn and how I learned that I think gave me so many awesome tools for succeeding in college or doing okay in college and doing okay after college as well. I'm so thankful for what I was forced to read in college and the things that we were forced to write. Like we had a lot of critical research papers in high school that I think a lot of young people just aren't forced, aren't forced to do anymore. And I always tell young people, if you want to be able to stand out in life, learn how to speak and learn how to write. Because most people, our age and younger than us, cannot do that. And they don't think critically at all. And they don't analyze and they're

not asking questions. They just take what they hear. And they're not even able to articulate an argument. I'm very thankful that I was taught how to do that. when I was really young and from a biblical perspective at that. So that's my, that's my thought on private school versus public school. And we'll do more on that because I know a lot of you are asking questions about, about that. And a lot of you are asking questions about homeschooling. Obviously, I don't have any personal insight into homeschooling, but I do think it's a very viable option for a lot of people. Here's a question that people ask, and I kind of get this a lie. Was the American Revolution biblically justified? The reason people,

are asking this is because of Romans 13, which says that we have to submit to governing authority. And John Piper, not John Piper, John MacArthur actually wrote an entire book on the American Revolution, or it's not on the American Revolution, but he talked about the American Revolution, how it was actually unbiblical, because Christians were supposed to submit to governing authorities. I just happened to agree with that because the reason why the revolution happened was because of ungodly policies and tyranny. And I do believe that the reason, or it's not I do believe, the Bible says the reason why we submit to governing authorities is because they are instituted by God to carry out God's will or God's wrath against the wrongdoer. But I would reason

that if a governing authority is not in submission to God, if a particular law would cause us by following it to disobey God, then it is our right and actually our obligation to rebel against that. Now, the Bible also does say, rendered to Caesar, what is Caesar's? But in this great Republican in which we live, we get to decide what is Caesar's and what is not. So there's all kinds of conversations that we can have about, okay, well, what laws should we obey? What law should we not obey? But I would say that even John McArthur, who believes that the revolution was unbiblical that he would certainly resist authorities if it were to go against God's call on his life to be a steward of the gospel. If the government, and he's in California, if the government in

California, which I'm sure that they are trying to make this happen, says you can no longer preach out of the Bible, you can no longer share the gospel, you have to marry same-sex couples, you can bet John McArthur would be resisting authority if that happened, of course, because it's obligated. is not to Gavin Newsom, his obligation is not to the state legislature of California or even to the federal government. His obligation is to God. And so I would say the revolution is one of those instances where they were rebelling against unbiblical and ungodly policies. And I'm sure there are definitely people who have a good argument for why I'm wrong on that. But I do not believe that the American Revolution was unbiblical and I am so thankful. I'm thankful for the American

Revolution and all of the good that the United States, by the grace of God, has been able to accomplish on this earth. Now, here's a question that I get a lot and I'm just going to say I'm not going to answer it yet because I need to do a whole episode on it, but because I get asked about it so much, I do just want to mention it. A lot of people ask me about birth control and IVF in vitro fertilization. And I want to be so careful about that because I know a lot of Christians that are on birth control and have done IVF and there are ethical dilemmas with that, biblical dilemmas with that, does birth control automatically cause an abortion? That's a question that people have. IVF if not every fertilized egg is actually taken and we believe that life

starts at conception. Is it ethical? Is it biblical? to do IVF. They're really good questions, but I want to be thorough, very thorough about that and be truthful about that. And so I'm not going to get into all of it right now. But I hear you. That's a question that I get asked all the time. I hear you and I will address it at some point.

Okay. What's a good thing to get a new mom for Christmas? Hmm. Diapers. I would say things that she needs, like things that she needs that she doesn't want to go out and get or an Amazon gift card.

I know some people don't like gift cards because I think it's not, I think it's not thoughtful. I think gift cards are super thoughtful. I would love an Amazon gift card. That's where I spend a lot of my money because I'm buying diapers or wipes or whatever. So like I would love something that I needed.

So that would be, that would probably, be my guess that or like sweatpants or leggings or something or something like that um next question i think this might be the last one okay so here's a question i got a couple of variations of and uh and let's see which one do i want to read okay as a believer under what circumstances is it okay slash not okay to put off child bearing. So I think it's okay to put off child bearing if the reason you are not having children is because you are focusing on ministry, because you are focusing on a particular call that God has for your life that requires your full attention. I think that that could be a reason.

That's the reason that John Piper has given. And I think that he has very good, a very good argument for that. I think you can probably look it up on desiring god.com. But other than that, and I'll just say, like my husband and I, I didn't have this perspective. This is probably an area of sanctification or better understanding for me, but my husband and I waited about three years almost before we started trying to have a baby. and that was mostly because of convenience, maybe also because of finances. We moved several times and we changed jobs several times in the first three years of our marriage. And when we finally felt like, okay, we are in a pretty stable place right now, as stable as we can.

So let's go ahead and start trying. I don't, I can't tell you, yes, it worked out for us. And I'm so grateful for that. But I can't tell you that that was the biblically correct thing to do. Because in a way, we were not trying because of convenience. And maybe it showed that we didn't really trust God, that if we were to get pregnant, even when our lives were a little bit turbulent, that God would have provided for us and it would have been okay. And he would have been our steadfastness.

I can't tell you that we did it correctly. I think that it takes wisdom. and discernments and prayer and mentorship from godly people in your church to make that decision. But in general, in general, I would say that the right thing for a married couple to do unless it is for a reason of ministry or, of course, if you can't have children, like you're physically incapable of having children, then the right thing to do would be to have children as soon as you can. I don't think that it's right. I don't think that it's right for married Christian couples to put off having kids for the sake of traveling for the sake of, oh, I'm just not that responsible yet,

or I don't feel like having kids yet. I do think that that is wrong, according to God's word, because it speaks to a wrong view of children as a burden rather than as a blessing. God's word says a lot about children as a blessing, things that we pray for, things that we ask for, things that are adding something to our life, not taking away from our lives. And I don't think that that means that all forms of birth control at any point in marriage are sinful and wrong. Again, probably takes a little bit of discernment and wisdom and prayer. But at the same time, I think the most important thing is to assess our hearts. How are we viewing children? are they a detriment to our fun? Are they a hindrance to our plans, to our goals, to our careers,

to our convenience? That I would say is a sinful mentality and a sinful posture of our hearts and an unbiblical perspective of children that we should ask God to help us repent from, whether or not he gives you a child. As soon as you repent from that mentality, of course, is according, is up to him. But I think that we should have a right view of kids as a wonderful, a wonderful blessing. And I can tell you from experience that kids are a wonderful blessing. They're the best, best things outside of Jesus and your spouse that will ever happen to you. It's incredibly rewarding. So that's all I have on that. We will be back here next week, next Monday. I hope that you have a wonderful Christmas with your family. And that's it.

See you up before 2020.