Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 261 | Past the Point of No Return

Episode Date: June 10, 2020

America is at a turning point, and there's probably no going back. Christianity is waning in mainstream popularity as the world tries desperately to find meaning, morality, and purpose outside of the God who gives them. But that's no reason for the church to fret. Instead, we should REJOICE knowing that the church thrives on the margins and that this is our greatest opportunity to shine as lights in the darkness. Today we talk about the importance of discernment in this present moment and practical ways we can ensure we're standing firm in our faith. Today's Resources: ESV Study Bible Got Questions gotquestions.org Desiring God desiringgod.org Ligonier Ministries ligonier.org Founders Ministries founders.org Grace to You gty.org Voddie Baucham voddiebaucham.org Just Thinking Podcast @podcast_just Steven Lawson onepassionministries.org Paul Washer @paulwasher tiny-theologians.com Truth & Grace Memory Books by Tom Ascolhttps://press.founders.org/shop/truth-and-grace-memory-books-book-1-epub-edition/ #samepagesummer: Biblereading.christkirk.com Politics According to the Bible by Wayne Grudem Today's Sponsors: SimpliSafe was designed to be easy to use while protecting your whole home 24/7. Get free shipping and a 60 day money back guarantee. Visit SimpliSafe.com/ALLIE

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 Wednesday. We have another big show today like we did last Wednesday. It is going to be jam-packed of stuff with stuff that I hope will encourage you, that I hope will challenge you. we are going to be talking about some of the forms of deceit that Christians are facing right now in our cultural and political theological dialogue and what we can do practically as Christians to make sure that we are equipped and prepared. So I really hope that this is a helpful episode for you.

Now, before I get into this, if you are watching this on YouTube, which everyone should comes out at 2 p.m. if you're just listening to this, but if you are watching this, I just want to apologize for my hair. Typically, I try to dress up a little bit for you guys. It was just one of those days. I'm still rocking the quarantine hair, having gotten my hair done, highlighted, cut, having gotten my nails done. I'm not complaining, okay? I know.

I'm not complaining. There are a lot bigger things going on in the world. I just want to let you know in case you are personally offended by my appearance and by my hair that I apologize for that. I will do a better job next time and put a little bit more effort into my hair. 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 to be. 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. As I said, today I am going to try to challenge you to shake your shoulders, of course, metaphorically a little bit and encourage you in the Lord. We are going to be talking about the pressing importance of wisdom in an age of what seems like absolute lunacy and degeneracy and why wisdom matters now more than ever. I am feeling what I think a lot of you are feeling, what I'm sensing a lot of you are feeling and I know a lot of you are feeling because I've talked to some of you. I'm feeling a sense of urgency. I'm feeling a sense of urgency to learn, to know, to read, to make sure that I really understand my Bible, an urgency to pray,

to gain wisdom, to share the gospel, an urgency for obedience, an urgency to be close to God, to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit, to spend my time wisely. And I have heard this, like I said, from other Christians, from some of you guys, from my friends, from my husband. I've seen a kind of a shift in a lot of people who are saying, okay, you know, I kind of thought that just going to church and reading my Bible every now and then was fine. I thought maybe, you know, sending my kids to a Christian preschool would be enough for their discipleship. I'm realizing that it's not enough. And a lot of you feel like, okay, I'm tired of being complacent and being apathetic in my faith

and allowing the world to inform my theological views. I got to get busy knowing the wisdom of God and understanding the Bible and being obedient to him and telling other people the good news about Jesus Christ. And I think that there is a shift going on in the American church because there's a shift going on in America. Christians feel like we are on high alert right now. There is a restlessness in a lot of us as we are looking around and we're realizing, oh, okay, so we've been told for a long time that the darkness is imminent, that the darkness is coming.

We are seeing it on the horizon and we're talking about what it's going to look like one day in this hopefully avoidable dystopian future. And now we're looking around and we're seeing, oh, okay, it's not just on the horizon. It's here and it probably has been here for a lot longer than. than we realized. A lot of you, I know, you feel alone right now. You feel totally alone. You're looking at what your friends are sharing on social media. Your friends, you thought were theologically solid. You feel like have betrayed the theological views that you thought that you shared. Friends, that you thought took the gospel in the Bible seriously. You realize that they

don't. You've been called names. You've been called a bigot for saying that the gospel is the answer, that everyone needs the same gospel, that everyone is dead in their sin apart from Christ. that the only way to be reconciled to God is through Christ and that that is the ultimate answer for all the isms that the human heart holds. You have been told that you don't care, that you are calloused, that you lack compassion. And when you share the truth, people obsess over something like your tone and you feel helpless. You feel helpless and you feel alone and you feel isolated and you're wondering if you should just capitulate, if you should just fall into what I've called the virtue trap that says you have to say this, you have to do this, you have to post this,

or else you are not sufficiently righteous. Yet as I've told you, friend, Christian, woman, you do not answer to the mob. You do not answer to the world. You do not, you are not obligated to fall into virtue traps. God has set the standard of righteousness and he sent Jesus to meet that standard of righteousness on your behalf. So any righteousness that you do have doesn't come from what you do according to worldly standards. It doesn't, it doesn't come to you because of something that you sat or something that you posted or any, even any good deeds that you do. The righteousness that you have as a Christian was given to you by Christ on the cross. So it cannot be diminished. It cannot be taken away from you. It is already one for you by Christ. And so this feeling that

you have of maybe not repeating the right talking points or not, not fitting into worldly qualifications of what they say is virtuous, you have to forget that. You have to let go of that because God has already won your righteousness on your behalf if you are a believer, if you are a child of God, if by grace through faith you have been saved in Christ made alive through Christ. You don't have to worry about falling into worldly virtue traps. Okay, so I want that to wash over you. I want that to give you peace. I want you to realize that your identity in Christ as a Christian is solid. It is solid because it's not based on what you've done or what you've said or what the world says or what the world says that you have to do. It is based

on what Christ has already done. And the cross is enough. The cross is enough. Okay. So what we have, that was just an aside. I just wanted to make sure that you guys knew who are feeling alone and discouraged and confused right now that your righteousness comes from Christ and it is secure. unfortunately you have seen pastors forego that responsibility to share that gospel to their congregants and instead latch on to a worldly narrative about a reconciliation that does not exist outside of Christ. I highly recommend. I always I always recommend these guys and tell you guys to go listen to the Just Thinking podcast, an amazing biblical podcast. Listen to all their episodes. they've got amazing episodes on assurance of salvation, but they also talk about, and grace in the

gospel and satirology and all that good stuff, but they also talk about cultural and political issues really well. Go listen to their episodes on racial reconciliation, on George Floyd and the gospel. They have a lot of good insight to offer on all of those things. But unfortunately, they are pretty just as people who are reformed Christians preaching the gospel into cultural and political issues, they are a rare breed. Unfortunately, too many Christians, too many pastors, too many Christian influencers aren't doing what Christians should be doing, which is preaching the gospel into pain and suffering and injustice. And like I've said, that doesn't mean that we can't talk about political solutions, that we can't talk about laws,

we can't talk about problems. I do that every day. Of course we can. But if you're only talking about those things, if you're only talking about so-called social justice, which as we've talked about on this podcast, many, many times is not actual justice. But if that's all you're talking about and you're not dealing with the rotting sin that is in the human heart in the hearts of all ethnicities, by the way, then you as a pastor, as a Christian, are not doing your job. You are doing an eternal disservice to the people that you are speaking to. Unfortunately, the church lacks wisdom. The church lacks wisdom. There was a study a couple years ago. I think it was by Lifeway in Ligonier Ministries. Ligeneer Ministries is a great resource as well. By the way, I recommend that you go to their website and you look at their

resources that they offer. They did a study or they did a poll and they asked, evangelical Christians, self-identifying evangelical Christians, basic theological questions. And the answers, I actually talked about it on a podcast a couple of years ago, I'll try to find that and show you where it is and maybe put it in the description of this episode. I'm just kind of doing this off the top of my head. But the answers to those questions about Jesus Christ, who he is, how you gain salvation, what truth is, not how you gain salvation, but how salvation is gained. what truth is, what the Bible is, how we should see God and creation and all of these very

basic theological ideas. Evangelical Christians failed these questions, for the most part, failed these questions. It was like 80% of the Christians, self-identifying Christians, who answered questions on this, said that they believed that Jesus was the foremost created being. Like what kind of, what kind of God is that? Like what kind of God? is created. So if that is your idea of Jesus, that not that he is the preeminent one before and through all of creation, but that he is just a created being, that kind of, um, faulty idea of who Jesus is affects your theology. Your theology affects your worldview. Your worldview then affects how you view things like politics and culture and all the issues that we're talking about today.

So what I've realized is that the disagreements that we have as Christians on this kind of stuff are not primarily political and cultural differences, though I do think that there are a lot of faithful Christians who in good faith are disagreeing on politics, and that is perfectly fine and healthy and good and wonderful. However, I think that a lot of this, the real divide that we're seeing within the church are theological differences, theological differences, differences in how we view God and how we view the Bible and how we view the importance of scripture and how to actually read scripture. There is a different view on the importance of truth and objective truth and what that actually looks like. What we're seeing is the emergence of, actually I won't even see the

emergence of. It is just the manifestation of three things that I think have existed in the church for a long time. And that is one ethnic Gnosticism, two standpoint epistemology and three cultural Marxism. I know those sound like really boring academic words, but I will tell you exactly what they mean, and you'll immediately know why they are pertinent. These are things that I'm seeing rise up in the church, and they are part of the reason why. I think there is such an urgency and an importance for us as Christians to gain wisdom. And like I said, I'm going to give us practical tips for how we in the Lord, through the power of the Holy Spirit, make sure that we are wise and prepared for the age that is coming. Ethnicnosticism is a term coined by Vody Bacom. That is another

resource I highly recommend to you. Go to YouTube. Look up Vody Bokom. That is V-O-D-D-I-E. Last name, B-A-U-C-H-A-M. Look at his YouTube videos on social justice, on ethnic nosticism, which I'm about to tell you about, on cultural Marxism, on racial reconciliation. another amazing resource that is unfortunately to say going against the grain of what a lot of people in the American Church are doing right now speaking the gospel and biblical truth into these issues rather than latching on to worldly narratives and these are voices this is a voice by the way that is not being elevated by those who say that we need to be listening to black voices the just thinking podcast Voddy Baccombe those are not people that are being

elevated, even though they're speaking to the same issues that black Americans and black Christians on the other side of this issue are speaking to. But it's just funny. It's just funny how some churches pick and choose which black voices we need to listen to and which aren't when people like Voddy Baccombe in the Just Thinking podcast are very biblically faithful Christians and are encouraging and equipping people to look at these issues biblically. So Voddy Bacom, he coined this term, ethnic Gnosticism. He is an author. He's a scholar. He is a scholar. He is a scholar. He is, the Dean of Theology at African Christian University in Zambia. So Gnosticism means having knowledge. Gnostics claim to have a special knowledge, a higher truth that only they are privy to,

something that cannot be learned by reading or studying or your normal way of retaining wisdom or information. It is experiential in nature. It is innate. It's given to you. So ethnic Gnosticism, Voddy Bachham says is a lot is a lot of what you're seeing right now. So people saying because of my ethnicity, I have special knowledge specifically about racism and oppression that you, because of your ethnicity, not only don't know, because that might be true. Of course, different ethnicities have different experiences and different knowledge and that's fine. But ethnicnosticism goes on to say, you cannot know it. You can never truly know. You can only know that which I tell you is true. So you can never fully know if you are a different ethnicity than me, says the

ethnic Gnostic, what true racism is, what true oppression is because it is from what I say. It is from my special knowledge and my special experience. That is ethnic Gnosticism. It holds that you, because of your, for example, your whiteness and because you lack that special knowledge can never say what's racist and what's not. Therefore, anything you say or do maybe race, racist, no matter what is in your heart, no matter what your intent is. By the way, that book that everyone is recommending, specifically churches are recommending, white fragility is based on this idea, that all white people are innately racist and whatever another ethnicity says is racist racist and that white people just need to understand that and need to agree with that. That is this

idea of ethnic narcissism that unfortunately a lot of churches are even promoting. It's the idea that because your privilege blinds you to certain ethnic special knowledge and experience, you cannot ever argue against the intent that's in your heart or against the accusations of the intent that's in your heart. You can never say what you actually meant to do and what your motivation really was. If an ethnic Gnostic says something that you do is racist or wrong, you simply have to agree. That's what ethnic Gnosticism holds. It is also unattainable. It has to be. It has to be. It has ever-changing knowledge or so-called truth, which means ethnic Gnosticism means that what was racist yesterday may not be racist tomorrow or vice versa. So the ones who have been deemed

privilege must always continually capitulate in order to show proper humility and repentance. We have to accept that we don't know what we don't know and simply accept whatever the Gnostics tell us. Again, I highly encourage you to go listen to Vodi Bakum's video sermon on this. this is obviously, if you haven't picked up on this, very different from how the church should be viewing the issue of racism. If we want to talk about racism, we have to talk about what it actually is. We have to be able to, just like in any productive conversation and dialogue, be able to define our terms objectively. The Gnostics say that racism is prejudice plus power, which means, according to their worldview, that only white people can truly be racist because only white people truly have power. but that is not a biblical definition, which is why Christians should not allow Gnostics to define our terms.

According to the biblical worldview, racism, just like every other isom. So sexism, ableism, anti-Semitism is hate in the human heart. First John 420 says, if anyone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And it does not make exceptions or put qualifications on it. That means that while white people can be racist, and while it is true that that particular racism has had huge and tragic and I would say unique consequences in American history that I think that we should talk about and learn from absolutely, it also means from a biblical

worldview if we are defining objective terms, which we should always seek to, other groups can be racist too. because every group, everyone with a beating heart has the capacity to hate. And that is what all isms are. It's hate. That is the biblical definition of racism, if you want to say that there is a biblical definition of it. Of course, that word isn't in there, but just like all isms, it is hate in the human heart. And in the case of racism, because of the color of someone's skin. And obviously, that is also a sin. If we look at what 1 John 4 says. And of course, what Jesus, says about hating people in your heart. That means, contrary to what the Gnostic say, racism cannot always be assumed in every instance, every instance they say it can. Many actions and words are obviously overtly racist and hateful, but unless we can see someone's heart, which we cannot, you and I can't even fully understand our own hearts, which is what Jeremiah 179 says because they're desperately sick and we can't understand them, unless we can fully look into someone's heart

and know exactly their motives, we cannot always assume someone's racism simply based on the color of one's skin. Here's a great example of what ethnic narcissism looks like in practice. So the press secretary, Kaylee McEnany, she said in a statement, she was talking to the press, that she called AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-C, the congresswoman, an advisor to Biden. and AOC then tweeted this. Press Secretary wouldn't be the first person to mistake a woman of color for having a lower position or title than she does. But Kaylee, in case you haven't picked up a newspaper in two years, I'm a congresswoman. The press secretary's comment is steeped in a long, hurtful and horrendous history of stripping women of color of titles and diminishing them to the help.

Perhaps she is unaware that what she did is mired in racist history. If that is the case, I look forward to her apology tomorrow. So she is demanding an apology from the press. secretary for saying something that is not overtly racist, but that she is taking as racism because of what she says is her personal experience and gnostic knowledge, special knowledge of the history of the statement that Kaylee McInanini made. Here's the problem with that. Not only is she assuming the motivations of Kaylee McInney's heart. There's another problem with this in the transcript which Kaylee McInney, the press secretary, tweeted out, we see that she actually did call

Alexandria Acacio-Cortez what she is a congresswoman. She listed a few congresswoman. She said that she is one of a few congresswoman pushing to defund the police. Of course, AOC is not going to be pushed to apologize. She's not going to be expected to apologize. And she's not going to apologize, even though she accused the press secretary of the United States of racism falsely. But it doesn't matter. because ethnic Gnosticism says that whatever you feel, whatever your experience is, as a member of the oppressed class is true and everyone else simply has to agree with it. Ethnic Gnosticism is a form of what is known as standpoint epistemology. So it is the obtaining of knowledge not through objective means, but from your standpoint. A standpoint theory is actually a feminist theory that asserts that your knowledge stems sheerly from your social position.

And if you're in a social position that cannot understand another social position, your opposing opinion is invalid, especially if you are in a place of so-called privilege. So this leads people to have conversations about suffering, about race, about real oppression that is subjective rather than objective, which makes it very hard for us to have productive dialogues. Subjectivity, by the way, isn't always bad. Experiences aren't bad to talk about. subjectivity should not just be washed over to the side. It's not like we shouldn't listen to people's very real experiences with prejudice and oppression. I'm not saying that at all. But when that is the only, that's the only basis for what we're talking about is subjectivism and your own standpoint and your own experience, then it's going to be very hard for us.

If we can't objectively define our terms and point out objectively what the problems are, it's going to be very hard for us to move forward. So Jackie Hill Perry, who I have asked on my podcast, at least on Twitter, and I think that she has done such amazing work and has done work that has glorified God immensely. Like she is so compelling and fun to watch and just has shared so much wisdom and she's so talented like the way that she puts words together she and i obviously disagree politically i'm probably much more of a fan of her than she is of me but i just want to say that that when i point out something that she is saying on twitter as an example of this standpoint epistemology i'm not trying to um i'm not trying to be rude i'm not trying to bully her i'm not trying to like take away

her credibility i'm just giving you a public example um of what i'm talking about so jacky hill perry tweeted that spirituals written by slaves were born out of a deep suffering, which is true, but she says, unlike the hymns written by white exteans, so Christians, unlike the hymns written by white Christians. So because of this idea of standpoint epistemology or where I'm standing, your social position is different than mine and my social position means that I get to compare suffering. It's comparative suffering rather than an objection. look of what the Bible actually says suffering is, which the Bible says that all Christians will go through deep suffering, but we can't do that because now we are identifying each other

not as Christians, not as human beings, who all go through suffering, who all go through loss, who all go through persecution. Now, because of this idea of I gain my knowledge from my own standpoint and I say what is what is real suffering and what is not, then we break into this kind of very what I think is harmful comparative suffering. So discounting any of the suffering that white Christians who have written hymns have gone through simply because they didn't have the same kind of suffering or oppression as black Christians. Now again, I'm not saying that black Christians didn't have maybe harsher oppression during that time or that they haven't been through different things. I'm not discounting that. But there is also no reason to discount the suffering of other people.

You guys probably know about Horatio Spafford. He wrote it as well. after his four daughters died in shipwreck, are we just going to pretend like he didn't suffer because he might not have suffered in the same way that other people did? Is that what we are called to do? But again, that's what happens when we don't agree on an objective definition of what suffering is, of what oppression is, of what hate actually is. And this is all part. And again, I just want to reiterate, I think Jackie Hill Perry is wonderful and that she has done so much good work and is very talented and smart and I understand imminently why people love her so much. This is just an example of the things that I am that I'm talking about. So all of this is a part

of cultural Marxism. The idea that society is divided irrevocably, really, by our race, our class, our socioeconomic status and that the privileged must, in order for things to be fair, the cultural Marxist would say, must redistribute power and resources to, the less privileged in order to create some kind of utopia. So you see why we are having such a hard time talking about this today, specifically within the church, ethnic Gnosticism, standpoint epistemology, cultural Marxism are dominating and directing our conversations rather than the Word of God, rather than objective truth.

And the thing about all three of these things is that they don't hold to absolute truth. They don't. That's part of the basis of their philosophies is that it's all. experiential. It is all about social status and it's not about the true uniting, reconciling word of God and his gospel. It's only about subjectivity, which subjectivity alone isn't necessarily bad. But when you exclude objectivity in favor of subjectivity, then we can never have a productive dialogue about the things that are going on. Perspectives are good. Ethnic differences are good. Cultural differences are good. I do not believe in being colorblind. God isn't

colorblind. He intentionally made the ethnicities, made the cultures. These are all wonderful things. Diversity. United in mission. United in purpose. United in the love of God is beautiful and wonderful. And that's what the kingdom of God is and what heaven is going to look like. And that's all wonderful. I don't think that we should pretend that these differences and different experiences and perspectives don't exist. Of course they do. But the question is what is going to unite all of these things? What's going to unite all of these things? And the answer has to be for the Christian, the objective word of God, the objective word of God and his gospel that all ethnicities need the same. People seem to have forgotten that. That we, as Romans 323 says, that we are, we have

all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And we all need the same Savior. Not to, not one ethnicity needs it a little bit more than the other, or one ethnicity is a little bit more guilty than the other. So we need a little bit more blood for our atonement. We need a little bit more forgiven. No, that's biblical. We have all sin and fallen short of the glory of God, and we are all equally dead in sin apart from Christ. It doesn't mean there aren't different sins. There doesn't mean there aren't different consequences for each individual, but all ethnicities in the church should be united by the same gospel and our acknowledgement of our need for the same Savior. So right now, and I really just, I know that typically we're about done with our podcast right now,

but we have we have kind of a ways to go. So right now we are watching lawlessness. We are watching confusion. And while there are sincere calls for justice and peace, there are some very loud voices, voices even being echoed in our halls of power that are calling for anarchy, which always, by the way, leads to authoritarianism. So what we're seeing in the calls to defund the police, for example, is not going to be just libertarianism. It's not going to be. It's not going to be, people defending themselves because a lot of these same people also don't believe in the Second Amendment. I actually engaged with someone on Instagram about this who doesn't believe in the Second Amendment believes, which this is just anti-human nature belief, which usually comes part and parcel

with leftism, that they believe that crime only comes out of an unmet need, that it's only because they don't, criminals commit crimes because they lack the social services that they need, which doesn't answer for why middle class and upper class people still commit crimes. Christians know that that is not the truth, that that's not the truth, that crime is going to happen, no matter how many social service workers that you have, no matter how many community-based people that you have, community managers or whatever they're saying is going to replace the police in Minneapolis and places like that. Because people do evil things because evil exists in the human heart. It's not just because they are oppressed. It's not just because they are oppressed. It's

not just because they don't have a particular need. People make bad decisions because people are corrupt. Like, I believe in total depravity. We are totally depraved. There is no kind of evil that human beings don't have the capacity to commit. But of course, people on the other side of this issue do not believe that. And they believe that police are oppressors. So if you remove the oppressors, people won't be oppressed and they won't commit crimes anymore. We as Christians know that that is not true when it comes to human nature. And even the studies don't actually show that to be true. what we're seeing right now, unfortunately, is the glorification of lawlessness, which will lead to authoritarianism because there will have to be some kind of management of crime. And the fear is that it's

going to be now more of a partisan, a partisan policing department that would enforce whatever laws they see fit, because the people that get power from these police unions are not going to give up their power. And I'm talking about politicians. So we're looking around and we're seeing this chaos. We're seeing this confusion. We're seeing people in the church just being waved back and forth to and fro in the storms of what's going on, having no anger, having no grounded in truth, just saying, yes, that sounds good.

Yes, that sounds right. Let's latch on to the secular movement without thinking. Let's repeat these talking points. Use this hashtag. Let's look exactly like the world so that it doesn't seem like we are out of place at all. and so that no one comes and gets me or accuses me of not being on the right side of history. Here's what I think, and I know this is going to scare you a little bit, but don't worry. I really hope that you finish this episode feeling hopeful and through the Holy Spirit equipped.

Because of where we are, because of the shift that I am seeing in America right now, I don't know that if we will ever go back to where we were before the coronavirus and our present controversies. I just don't know. I believe that either now or in the months ahead, America is going to be moving into a new era and probably not a good one. And like I said, I understand that a lot of you are scared of that. I've gotten emails, I've gotten messages from those of you who are really worried. You're worried about your kids. You're worried about the future. And I understand. But again, I'm going to remind you of our hope. I don't know what or why or for how long, but it seems at least from what I can see that we are contending with a special kind of darkness that is going to push the Christian church into the margins of society, at least here in the United States.

So what we have to remember is we're thinking, oh my gosh, what's going to happen if Christians are truly persecuted in America, which is a legitimate concern. What we have to remember is that the American experiment is a unique spot. It's a unique spot in the history of the universe. in most places and for most of time have dealt with severe persecution. So now, as we speak, Christians are being put to death for their faith. That is the norm for the Christian. What we have experienced as American Christians has been a very unique reprieve from the most violent kinds of persecution.

Religious liberty is not the norm throughout history. It's not the norm throughout the world. It is a very rare gift. And we, as American Christians, have, even though we have failed in many ways, we have also made good use of that gift. We founded all of the Ivy League universities. We built hospitals. We fought foreign enemies for freedom. We fought each other to end the atrocity of slavery. And of course, this is all Americans. That's not just American Christians. We rebuilt the nations of both our allies and enemies. We have accepted more immigrants, more refugees than any other nation by far.

We have sent more missionaries, adopted more children, planted more churches throughout the world, giving more charity, built more orphanages than any other nation in the history of the world. Yes, even with our very real flaws and failures, America has used our tiny and unique plot on the span of eternity to do more good for our own people and the world than any other nation. And it is because of the grace of God and his persistent work through Christians. But I feel that time, that very unique spot in human history is coming to a close. I don't know whether permanently or temporarily. I don't know if Jesus is coming back in five years or a thousand years.

I don't know what our country will look like for our children. I hope good. I hope free. I hope prosperous. I actually am very optimistic about that. I hope godly. I do hope that. But I don't know.

I can't see that far ahead. What I think I can see is that. we are headed right now into the beginning of the end of America as we have known it, which means that the religious liberty that American Christians have loved so much and in so many ways have used well may be coming to a close. I hope that I'm wrong. I do. I really hope that I'm wrong, but I don't think that I am. Now, before you turn this off, because you're depressed, I'll let you in on something to buoy your spirit. This right now, what we're seeing, in this age of confusion, and this age of total subjectivism,

and this age that lacks wisdom because of, partly because of where we're seeing the manifestation of a lack of wisdom and the three things that we talked about in the beginning. Because of all that's happening, this is the church's moment in America. This is her moment. The church thrives in the margins. Remember, this is where she has been

for the vast majority of history since her birth. And where she is right now in every other country on earth. America is just joining in. But that doesn't mean the church is over. It's just the opposite of that. The church is refined by fire, not destroyed by it. The less popular and the less safe it becomes to be a Christian, the harder it is to be a cultural Christian, a socially acceptable but non-serious Christian.

So I believe, as we said on Friday in my conversation with Albert Mueller, we will see the extinction of the cultural Christian in our lifetimes. So in the coming years and months, she will, that cultural Christian will look and sound more and more like the world until she is indistinguishable from it. She will fight for their causes in the same way that they are fighting for them. She will accept worldly values and dogmas in the name of tolerance only to waive them as a banner over her own life months later. She will gain followers. She will gain fans. She will gain book deals and approval, but she will lose her soul. She may never explicitly and verbally renounce Christianity, this cultural Christian,

and she may even try to retain its name, but the doctrine she follows and the life she lives will bear no resemblance to the Christian faith, and she will turn around and call you who still dares to uphold the word of God evil. The church will purge her, and all of those like her from its midst, like 1st John 219 says, those who left us were never with us. the Church of God will instead be exclusively filled by those who by the relentless power of Christ obey and persevere in their faith. And this is how and where the church thrives and shines, where we are most distinct from the world, where popularity or convenience or prosperity can no longer be cited as the

reasons we have our faith, but simply a love for the God whose word we know is true and whose promises we believe in. I believe that we will watch the American Church transform into that in our lifetimes, if not in the next decade. I want to read Jude verses 17 through 25. But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, in the last time, there will be scoffers following their own ungodly passions. It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God,

waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life and have mercy on those who doubt, save others by snatching them out of the fire. To others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you, blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy,

to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, Christ our Lord be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever, amen. I want you to go and read and reread and study the book of Jude on your own. Underline the verbs in these verses, this is what we are to do in the midst of the chaos. We are to remember. We are to build ourselves up. We are to keep ourselves in the love of God. We are to wait for the mercy of Jesus Christ. We are to have mercy on those who doubt. we are to save others by snatching them from the fire holding our friends accountable pointing them to the word of God we are to show mercy to other people and let us trust in this a him who is able to keep you

from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy to the only god our savior through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory majesty dominion and authority before all time and now and forever that is our call that is our hope that is our focus so that dreads that you felt, that fear that you feel for yourself, your family, it's real. But you give it to God and commit yourself to hoping. God has got you. He has got his church. He did not choose our birthdays, your and my birthdays, flippantly. So do you know what I mean by that? What I mean by that is that God did not place you in this time, in this hour, carelessly or by accident. He made you, he placed you right here, right now, because you were made for right here and right now to do the good work

that God prepared for you to do before you were even born, as Ephesians 210 tells us. He did not put you where you are and when he did by accident. He did not give you your job by accident, your spouse, your children, your platform, your friends, your talents. They aren't by accident and they aren't for nothing and they aren't for you either. they are for him right now at this very moment in history not a single one of you listening to this is without purpose you are not arbitrary your life is not arbitrary uh you are not neutral okay you're not neutral you were made in the image of god which means you have a soul that is going to live forever in one of two places and the difference in those two places is the belief in your savior uh jesus

or not you were either a follow of christ or christ you were either a follow of christ follower of Christ protected by him and in fellowship with him for all of eternity? Or you are an enemy of God. Under his just wrath, he who makes friends with the world is an enemy of God, James 4.4 says, and the enemy of God masquerading as a Christian will not be able to keep her charade up for long. It just won't be doable because it won't be safe or popular. Why am I saying this? because it's the message. It's the message of the gospel that we need right now. So first, here's who I'm talking to. I'm talking to you. So the girl who's listening to this who just needs to wake up, it's time to count the cost. The time for cultural Christianity,

for apathy, for complacency is over. So it's time to count the cost, as Jesus tells us to do in Luke 14. It's time to decide if you're in or you're out. So no more lukewarm, no more Christianity on Sundays and secularism Monday through Saturday. Stop waffling. Stop trying to decide if you want to go all in. Stop dipping your toe in and come on. This is the living water that you're looking for and it's right here. You don't have to wait anymore. I know you.

I've been you. You are looking for joy. You're looking for satisfaction. You're looking for direction. You're looking for purpose. You're looking for love. You're looking for eternal life. You're looking for the bread of life to satisfy you.

And it's right here. It's right here. You don't have to wait. You don't have to search anymore. It's Jesus. And just like the prodigal son and Luke 15. All you have to do is turn around and he is going to run to you and embrace you. It doesn't matter what you've done. It doesn't matter how much you've sinned. You're not too

guilty. You're not too dirty. You are not unwanted. It doesn't matter what you've ever said or done. You are loved by a God who wants to give you abundant life. He wants to save you from your sin, totally forgive you, totally cleanse you, take you and as his child, use you for his glory, and spend forever in his presence. That's what he wants. Isaiah 3019. through 22, he will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, this is the way, walk in it, when you turn to

the right or when you turn to the left. Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver in your gold-plated metal images. You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them be gone. So the time is now. Hebrews 315 says, as it is said, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. What I'm saying is also to you, scared Christian. You are in Christ, but you are afraid of what's ahead and you want to be more bold, but you're scared. I am you. Here is what you and I scared, fearful Christians must do. We must fear the Lord above any man. Romans 833 through 34 says this. Who shall bring any charge against God's elect. It is God who justifies who is to condemn. We care about God's opinion. We care about God's approval. We care about God's

acceptance. God's glory. God's commands. We follow him, not man. Number two, the second thing we must do, and this is a longer point. But we're kind of almost done with the podcast. Psalm 1110 says this. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. All those who practice it have. a good understanding. That means that number one and two, fearing God above man and number two being wise, go hand in hand always. We must fear in the Lord and we must have wisdom. Wisdom, according to the Bible, is both a promise and a process. You'll know I love alliterations. Wisdom is both a promise and a process. James 1-5 says that if we ask God for wisdom, he will give it to us generously. So it's a promise. But it's a promise like so many of God's promises that we read about in the Bible

is given through a process. Proverbs 1920 says, listen to advice and accept instruction that you may gain wisdom in the future. So wisdom is also a process. It takes discipline, intent, effort, seeking. Proverbs 1815 says, an intelligent heart acquires knowledge and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge. Typically, we define knowledge as things that we know, so facts, figures, ideas, and wisdom is how we actually apply our knowledge. So wisdom, transcends knowledge. There are a lot of very knowledgeable people who are not wise. I always say you can be smart and wrong. There are a lot of politicians and scientists and psychologists and all those people that are very smart, but are also wrong. They're unwise because they apply their

knowledge wrongly. So you can be knowledgeable and very unwise because you apply your knowledge in the wrong way, exemplified either in a faulty worldview, like atheism, for example, or in the decisions that you make. But the Bible makes clear that both knowledge and wisdom must go hand in hand. And the way that we ensure that they do is to recognize that God is both the giver and the goal of both of them. He is the giver and the goal of both of them. Second alliteration. So what does this actually look like for us to acquire knowledge, for us to pray for knowledge as a promise,

for us to seek knowledge as a process, to realize, recognize that God is the giver, and the goal of both wisdom and knowledge. What does that look like? One very simple that I'm always telling you guys, read your Bible. Read your Bible. And I say that as someone, I don't have perfect weeks. There are weeks that I read my Bible less than others. That happens.

I understand and there is grace for you. So just I'm not preaching this from a place of perfection, but a place of desiring us both to take our Bible seriously. So read your Bible. Join the Bible Reading Challenge. That's what I'm doing right now. with Christ's Church. We're doing same page summer.

You can go on Instagram. You can go on Facebook. There's a Facebook group. I think it's ladies or women's Bible reading challenge. You can just jump in wherever we are and just read it like a book. You can go back and listen to my podcast episode titled Reading the Bible. And I talk about some ways to actually read the Bible and study the Bible and help you understand it. I recommend the ESV study Bible.

ESV is just a good translation. It's a word for word translation. NIV is going to be more thought for thought, and so it's going to be a less accurate translation, and sometimes it changes the gender specifications that NIV does. ESV is a very exact translation, but easier to read than something like the King James version, although I do like the new King James version as well, and I also like the NASB. But I recommend ESV study Bible. Don't worry about knowing or understanding everything.

Don't worry if you have a million questions. That's okay. I've read some books a million times, it seems like, and I still have a new question or come across something that is new every time I read it. That is normal and good. Pray for wisdom, as James I tells us to do. Stop. Here's another thing, how we gain wisdom. Stop going to the church or listening to the pastor who doesn't preach the word of God accurately and faithfully. Compare everything you hear to the Bible. Beware trendy pastors. I'm not saying that all pastors who are stylish or who dress well are necessarily

theologically wrong. Like I'm not saying that at all. I'm just saying beware because there are a lot of popular and trendy pastors that aren't necessarily biblically faithful. So you have to be discerning by comparing what they're saying to the word of God. And just a quick hint. If your pastor is preaching a social justice gospel without the actual gospel, that is not a place that is going to be able to lead you in the right direction towards Christ. I'm not talking about just minor theological disagreements, which we all have, and that's

perfectly fine, but someone who is preaching to you something outside of biblical doctrine and the gospel that is not something that you want to be under. Surround yourself with godly friends who are seeking truth. Seek out godly wisdom from others. This is something that I myself am working on. Here are some very practical resources that I like to use. I'll go slowly, but I'll also put it in the description for this podcast. Gotquestions.org. Sounds like it would just be like a random Google site, but it's not. It's really good. Ask question or got questions.org. Desiring god.com. Ligonier ministries. Founders ministries. John McArthur, his, his grace to you podcast or his sermons, grace to you on the podcast app is really good. Vodybockum,

the Just Thinking podcast, Stephen Lawson, Paul washer, R.C. Sprohl, John Piper, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, all the Jonathan's. These are all really good, just practical resources. There's a much longer list that's not exhaustive, but just to give you a start, so many of you ask me who you should listen to, what you should read. That's an example. And here's a word specifically to Christian moms, many of whom I know are fearful and many of whom I know feel unequipped. And this is still under the point of wisdom, by the way. gone is the day when you could trust your child's school or even Sunday school to sufficiently disciple your child in the Lord. It's just not enough anymore. And in fact, sometimes the things that they are learning in school are counter to the Bible altogether. So we must be passionate,

urgent, persistent, relentless in disciplining our children in the Word right now. Your babies, your toddlers, your teens, your adult children, if you can, the world is coming for your children. It's coming for their minds, their hearts, their souls. It is teaching them to love darkness and hate the light, to call evil good, to hate their bodies, to hate their families, to hate their creator, and to glory and selfishness and lust and deceit. Remember, parents, there is no neutral ground. No neutral ground in all the universe, as C.S. Lewis says, every molecule in the universe is claimed by God or counterclaimed by Satan, nothing is neutral.

the shows your kids watch, the music they listen to, the books they read, their textbooks, their assignments, it is all attached to a worldview that is either gods or false. Those are our options. Nothing can be taken for granted anymore. I don't care if you are a baby Christian yourself. The Holy Spirit just came into your heart maybe a few minutes ago during my altar call. There is no time to waste. Read your children the Bible. Teach them about God who made them, who gives purpose to their lives, and salvation to their souls. Here are some resources if you've got little ones. Tiny Theologians.com, a lot of good tools there.

I've got some stuff from there. It's super cute. A book, Children's Gospel Catechism by Jace Eli. Pastor Tom Askell, whom I've had on the podcast, has three little books called Truth and Grace Memory Books. They're a catechism for children. I like the Promises of God's Storybook Bible by Jennifer Liddell. Rachel Jenkovick has lots of good books and motherhood resources.

I recommend the chronicles of Narnia. That's really fun. For older kids, other CS Lewis books, for teenagers, adult children who are exploring the faith, reason for God by Tim Keller, had a huge impact on me and mere Christianity. And in all things that we teach our kids, I say as a very inexperienced mother, of course, whether it's about nature or biology or math or history or literature, all of these very good things. It should all be filtered through the word of God, a biblical worldview, the very simple fact that God made the heavens in the earth, therefore he has authority over all of them, therefore all of it, therefore he says what is and what isn't, what's right and what's wrong, what's good and what's bad, what's true, and what's false.

And here's another one for the moms. Are you ready for this? I know this is a little controversial, but I just got to say, if you can, if you can, take your kids out of government schools. There's no neutral ground. Remember that. There's no neutral ground. Now, teachers who are listening to this, I know that you do an awesome job. I know that you are light and darkness, that you do the best job that you possibly can, especially those of you who are in schools that make you feel like it is just impossible for you to do your job.

And thank you so much for your persistence and how you are glorifying the Lord in what you do. I know that you do a great job, you teachers who are at public schools. But parents, but you know this as teachers. And parents, I want them to know this as well, just from what. I've learned, not what I've experienced, but what I have learned from other parents and people much wiser than me. You don't want to compete with the worldview of the school and the people that your child is spending eight hours with every day. I understand that's not feasible for everyone, can't afford a private school. You feel like you can't homeschool. I totally understand that.

And although I could connect you with homeschool moms who have made it work on a very strict budget, I do understand. And if you cannot do that, it's going to be okay. God is still sovereign over your child salvation and he can still equip you. It might be a harder uphill battle. And if that's where you are, that's okay. But if you can, if you have the option, get your kids out of government run schools. They have a worldview that is not your Christian worldview. Voddy Bakum says, you can't send your kids to Caesar and be surprised when they come back Romans. And that is true. That was a long point all under wisdom. We must gain wisdom. we must be serious about it and persistent about it for ourselves and our families.

Because we look outside of our window right now and we see chaos. We see a generation of people who have been taught not to seek wisdom. That truth is relative, that God isn't real, which means they are desperately trying and failing some of the people that we're seeing right now to find a righteousness outside of Jesus, an atonement outside of the cross, a repentance outside of the grace of God, a moral law outside of the moral lawgiver, a justice outside of the all-righteous judge of the world, the eradication of sin outside of the power of the Holy Spirit. And they're floundering, they're failing, they're lost. They don't know what solutions they're seeking because they can't

identify the core problems. And when you don't know that the essential underneath it all, the essential problem is human depravity and the ultimate solution is Christ's righteousness, everything is going to get confused, always. But we must stay grounded. We have to stay rooted in truth as Christians. We must remain steadfast. We must not waver. We can't see it an inch, which means number three, lastly, we have to obey. We've got to do the work. And that is, honestly, that's the hardest one for me to know what this looks like. I can talk about this stuff all day. I can talk about the concepts. That comes really easily for me. But talking about or doing the executing of this all, it doesn't come as naturally to me.

That means that we are going out there, putting ourselves out there, sacrificing our convenience and loving our neighbor, which means for a lot of you doing the things that you are already doing. It's not complicated, and that's really good news. Obedience sounds scary, but God's obedience. His burden is light. His yoke is easy. He says, love your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.

Love your neighbor as yourself. It really is that simple. So you're already doing that. You might be already serving your church, loving your family, encouraging your husband, and helping your friends, volunteering your time, giving your money, sharing the gospel, praying for your enemies, your kind and forgiving and tenderhearted, all you have to do is keep going. Keep going. Seek wisdom. Seek God. Love him with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. If you're already doing that, keep going. And if you're like me and the execution

doesn't come as easily as the talking about it, you got to get to work. We have to get to work. The time is now. The time is now. There's no. no more time to waste. This is our moment. We are going to be pushed to the margins more and more as the Christian Church. It's going to be harder and harder to be an obedient Christian. And yet this is where Jesus always glorifies himself by protecting his church and we who are in his church get to praise him for the promise of his faithfulness. In Matthew 1618 says Jesus said, or Jesus says the gates of hell will not prevail against his church. The gates of hell will not prevail. against his church. Romans 8 tells us that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers,

nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. There's nothing. And so all we have to do, all of this said, all of this maybe, maybe some of it was boring to you, maybe some of it was just, you know, not something that you like to talk about all of the seemingly academic terms and things like that. All of this said, it truly is simple. Believe in the gospel. Go to his word. Have it be the foundation of your worldview. Go to it for objective truth. Use that objective truth to understand the world around you to direct your conversations about justice, about peace, about unity. There's another really good resource that

I recommend politics according to the Bible by Wayne Grudom. It is a tool. It's not a tool. It's infallible, but is a tool to help you understand how to fit everything that's going on in the world into your biblical worldview. I don't have all of the answers. I have been wrong. I will continue to be wrong on things. But that is my goal. That is my goal for you. Even if you vastly disagree with me on politics, that is my goal for all Christians. Not for us to all vote for the same person, not for us to all land in the same place. Every single issue, every single political issue, every single picture of what justice looks like my desire is for us to be Bereans, to be thoughtful people that go into the word and to look

for the answers in the word of God, to rest all of our philosophies, all of our worldviews, all of our thoughts on the word of God and his infallible, inerrant truth. And that is what we must seek to do. We must seek wisdom and we must obey. And we must make sure that we are not following the dogmas and the doctrines of the world simply because it's popular. Cultural Christianity, it's going out of style. And that is actually a good thing. That's a reason to rejoice. So may God help us. May he strengthen us. May he make us bold. May he help us to persevere. Okay. Longer episode. Friday, we are going to have two guests for interviews. I am going to be talking to two very strong Trump supporters.

One happens to be his daughter-in-law, which is Laura Trump. Another one is Charlie Kirk, who is a very big supporter of the president. And so if you've got questions that you would like me to ask them, feel free to send them my way. Like if you're someone, I think Charlie would be a really good person to answer this question. Like if you're someone who you don't know whether or not you want to vote for Donald Trump or you've got questions about Donald Trump as a Christian or how we're supposed to view something about Donald Trump, then let me know that would be a really good question for Charlie, and that should be a really productive conversation. One way you can help me out.

If you love the podcast, please leave me five stars on iTunes and tell me why you love the podcast. That would just mean a whole lot to me. And thank you so much for listening. Thank you always for your feedback and your support. It means so much to me. I will see you guys here on Friday. Hey, this is Steve Deist.

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, an 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.