Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 355 | Five Things to Do Amid Oncoming Opposition | Guest: Glenn Beck

Episode Date: January 20, 2021

Today we're excited to talk to Glenn Beck, host of the Glenn Beck Radio Program, about the state of the nation and what's to come in 2021 and beyond. Then, we switch to a more positive note, providing biblical ways to deal with the political and cultural opposition that Christians are about to experience. -- Show Links: VIDEO: Why You Can Believe the Bible - Voddie Baucham https://bit.ly/2MjVU7W Episodes on CRT: Ep. 353: Our Kids Are Learning What?! | Guest: Chris Rufo https://apple.co/3o2HRkc Ep 335; Understanding the Biblical Telos of Gender https://apple.co/2Y7KF53 Ep. 327: The Truth About Critical Race Theory https://apple.co/3sYq5lU Ep 308: The Battle For Our Future: America vs. Critical Race Theory | Guest: Chris Rufo https://apple.co/39UNRqa Ep 298: Cardi, Candace, & Critical Race Theory https://apple.co/3o9fXmv --- Today's Sponsor: Built Bar: Don't give up on your resolution! Go to https://builtbar.com/ & use promo code 'RELATABLE' to get 20% off your next order. -- Buy Allie's book, You're Not Enough (& That's Okay): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love: https://alliebethstuckey.com/book Relatable merchandise: https://shop.blazemedia.com/collections/allie-stuckey

Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Wednesday. Hope everyone has had a great week so far. It is inauguration day, you guys. And we are going to talk about some of that today. First, I'm going to have an interview with Glenn Beck. Those of you who know Glenn Beck have listened to Glenn Beck, know that he is an expert at getting us to understand the gravity of our current situation and giving us insight into what we can expect in the days and the years to come. A lot of you guys have a lot of concern right now. Like you're feeling this almost indescribable fear of hostility towards either people who voted for Trump or conservatives or especially conservative Christians and you're worried

about the days to come. Glenn Beck is going to tell us in his opinion how much he thinks that we should be worried and some of the concerns that we may be facing in the future, especially in regards to the policies that are coming down the pipeline. But we are not going to end the episode there because a question that I get from a lot of you guys is, okay, but what do we do? Like, can you give us some advice? Can you uplift us? Give us some encouragement and positivity. And I, you know, we do that obviously at the end of almost every episode.

But today I'm going to spend even more dedicated time to doing that. I'm going to give us five tangible practical tips that are based in God's word that I think that Christians can be doing as we feel kind of an onslaught of cultural resistance to biblical values and to biblical stances. And so I'm going to give us five tips that I really think that you guys are going to find useful and helpful. I hope there are a lot of other tips that I could give as well. but they are based in scripture and I really hope that you guys are able to take them to heart and that you finish this episode feeling good in your trust in the Lord and in his promises being renewed by the power of the Holy Spirit. And then I think if we have time, we're going to do like a fun little segment based on

some of the coverage that we've already seen of the inauguration and what it tells us about the kind of media reporting that we can look forward to over the next few years. Okay, let's first talk to Glenn back. So without further ado, here he is. Glenn, thank you so much for joining us. You've been talking a lot about what we can expect from the Biden presidency. There are a lot of people who are very nervous right now. They've got a lot of anxiety, especially Christian conservatives, just feeling like there's

going to be an onslaught of hostility, either legislatively or just culturally. Are those fears well-founded, you think? I want to be really careful. Yeah. Because we are, you know, I've been talking about these things for almost 20 years, and it's because, I believe, they were revealed to me about 20 years ago and I saw what's coming but I saw it I didn't realize this until about

I don't know eight years into it that I saw it as a flat wall you know there's no there's no time with God and so I saw all of these events all of them happening so I don't know

how they happen when they happen etc etc but I am I'm really convinced that this is the beginning of it The last few years have started it. And it gets much worse from here before it gets better. But we are looking at what I think people have said for thousands of years, and they always say it in really bad times,

but maybe this time it is. I think we're entering biblical times now. Yeah, and you're talking about loss of freedoms. You're talking about real persecution. I saw Pastor Andrew Brunson, who, you know, was persecuted in Turkey saying, Americans better to be ready for what's coming. Yeah. I don't think anybody really understands.

I have a friend whose parents escaped from communist China during Mao. They're much older now, but they remember it really. clearly. And they are just beside themselves. They're like, this is, this is the beginning. This is how it started. And anybody who's lived in the Eastern block kind of knows that. My fear has been that if we don't reconnect to God, we don't make it. Because it's going to be really tough. And we have to decide now, are we on God's side? And I have this, I don't say horrible feeling, but it's not. You know, I always know when things are from God because it's usually what I don't want to do. You know what I mean? Whenever you feel like, you should do this, you should do that,

when it's like, now it's usually God. And I have that feeling that it is imperative. that we do not strike back, that we are to disengage. We can protect ourselves, you know, somebody comes in and does something, you can protect yourself, but we are not to forward advance anything. Because I think we're going to see the hand of God if we're really, truly righteous. I think that a lot of people are looking at some of the legislation, some of the policies coming down the pipeline, like the Equality Act, like just the cultural push against free speech, the censorship that we have seen, intersectionality, critical race theory, infiltrating curriculum, training in the military, all the stuff that is created to divide and to atomize, not to bring together and unite. And they just want to know, you know, what to do about it. You talk about not kind of pushing back.

Do you mean that parents shouldn't stand up against these stuff in school? Or you're just talking about an actual... Yeah, I'm talking about an actual force. I'm talking about gunplay. I'm talking about it's civil war time. We are in... You're talking about not even doing that. Not engaging in violence.

Yeah, I agree. But standing up, absolutely imperative. Every child should be, or every parent of a child should be at their school board meetings, knowing exactly what's going on. And if that material is in your school, you stand up together and work to get it out. And if not, get your children out. It is, it is crucial. You know, I had dinner with a friend who said, I couldn't take it.

take it anymore. I've just stopped listening. I've stopped, you know, watching TV and listening to podcasts, except things that, you know, really feed me. And I said, and he's real spiritual, I said, mistake, you need the things that fill you. I mean, on the way in, I'm either listening to scriptures or I'm listening to sacred music just to calm me and to keep me centered, because I've got to get into the cesspool every day. Right. And you have to do that. You have to do that. You have have to center yourself, but you cannot disengage. It's going to happen at a breathtaking pace. I tell people that the kind of progressivism that we're seeing today, it works when most of the populace is either apathetic or ignorant or both. And that's exactly what they want you to do,

is to disengage. And I think that was part of the weariness of the Trump peers, that even people who like Donald Trump at the end of it, after all, the... the media craziness and the impeachments and all of that. We're just like, I'm just tired. Like, I'm just tired of Trump. I'm tired of the drama. I'm tired of politics. I just want this to be over,

even if it means Biden winning. And they want you to keep feeling that way. They want you to keep thinking, well, at least it's just normal now. At least I don't have to pay attention to the news anymore. If you don't pay attention, things are not going to get better to that. No, you know, I talk to really smart people.

And they... They're not, because I have eight producers who all they do is just look for these stories, and I have people all over the country that do that for me as well. So I see, you know, what eight or ten people are thinking about and seeing, and I get the different perspectives, et cetera, et cetera. So I see a lot more than the average person, but you can do that. You don't need that much volume, but you can do that. and stop looking at the conspiracy stuff.

Look at the stuff that is absolutely verifiable easy. All you have to do is look this week, who is being confirmed in the cabinet. You will get an idea of where we're headed just by the cabinet that he's putting around him. You know, look at what Janet Yellen said yesterday in her testimony and what she said when she was first appointed that this is going to be an equitable treasury. Yeah. And we have to look for race equity and also environmental equity. Can you talk about what that really means?

Because people hear equity and they think, great, that means fair. No. But it's not really what that means. No, that means that, for instance, this comes from Black Rock. Biden has put in as his economic advisor, his secondary economic advisor, his secondary economic advisor, Kamala's economic advisor, and Janet Yellen's right-hand man at the Treasury Department, people who are the heads, the CEOs, the presidents of BlackRock. Blackrock controls about $7 trillion themselves of investment money, but they're used by the Fed, the European

Central Bank as their system, okay? So money is flowing through BlackRock at about half of all of the money on Earth is flowing through that. It's like $25 trillion. That's a lot of control and a lot of money. Black Rock just instituted a new policy that said if your company profits are 25% come from the use or the sales of any. fuel, you will be shut down unless you have a plan for what you're going to do for climate change. So that's $21 billion going through, or trillion dollars going through this system privately.

So you're going to start to see things of public-private partnerships that are going to start insisting that you do certain things. Otherwise, you're not going to be in compliance, not with the government, but with the banking system or with whomever. Isn't that what fascism is? Isn't it? Musilini who said that fascism is actually corporatism because it's the wedding of government and corporate power. Yes, it is. If you're anti-fascist, you're on the wrong side. Right, right. And these are the people who say that they are anti-fascist. And that's why they're against Donald Trump and conservatives because they're anti-fascist. And yet they cheer for Amazon when they de-platform, parlor, Google, Apple, doing all of those things.

They're very much for the wedding of corporate and government power to achieve their means. Look at the stock market. Last week, when the capital was under attack, one of the things about America we've always done so well is because we have stable laws and a stable culture. The stock market should go down when there's an attack on the capital. Remember, we shut the stock market down for a week after 9-11 because it was so unstable. The stock market went up, up. They came out today, Credit Suisse came out today and said that the profits of giant corporations is going to be really good in the next 12 months.

Of course it is. Right. Because that's part of the system. It's the little guy that is going to get really hurt. And by the spending that is coming from Washington, if you've played by the rules, if you've saved your money, the value of your money is going to go down dramatically. So you could call it inflation, but it's really the deflation of the dollar that is going to come rapidly and make a big impact in people's lives. What's the purpose? What's the purpose of all of this? What's the goal? I believe if you go to the World Economic Forum and you go to Agenda 2030 from the UN, you will see all of these policies are there.

And it's to reset the globe into really a global partnership. to get rid of all of these old systems that no longer work and cooperate in a, almost a government corporate-run global-style government. We'll still be the United States, but we're going to be a part of this, what the World Economic Forum calls the Great Reset. And it is, it's China. It is truly China. But it doesn't really, you know, we fear communism.

and rightly so, but it doesn't really sound as much like communism as it does fascism, or is there just not very much daylight between the two things to where it looks like either. I mean, communism is still what's happening in China, but I think it is fascism. I mean, it's the communists have the party where a fascist usually is a leader. Yeah. You know what I mean? But, you know, President Xi just made himself leader for life.

So what's the difference? What's the difference? But it is a public private partner. It is exactly Nazi Germany. And you, like this in Nazis, you can keep your company. You can do whatever you want. But you have to do these things. Yeah.

Yeah. Have Republicans also played into this? Have they helped facilitate this as well? It's not just the Democrats' fault, is it? Oh, yeah. No, not at all. The Republicans are at best useless. Yeah.

They haven't been standing up for. constitutional principles. They haven't stood up for cutbacks of spending, common sense. I mean, Donald Trump, the reason why people are so upset is because leader after leader after leader, election after election, after election, we keep getting the same guy with the same policies. Yeah. You know? And Donald Trump is the first one that says, no, I'm not going to do that. And he didn't on so many things. And even though you might have been tired or you had, you were embarrassed by the way, you know, some of the things he said or did, whatever.

He was the only guy that was standing up for you. He was the only guy that you elected and said, I'll do these things. And they're hard. I didn't think, I didn't think Ted Cruz would actually move the embassy to Jerusalem. They've been saying they're going to do that every politician since 1948. Right. He did it. Yeah.

And I think that's why people are so upset. and where is that leader who is more acceptable, but listens to the people, knows, can hear the people on what they want, and we'll take the bullets. I mean, that guy just bullet after bullet after bullet after bullet. You said things are going to get worse before they get better. I guess my fear is that there isn't a better, what you're describing, is a conglomeration of power that I don't see how I or even millions of us, just common people,

can effectively ever break up or pushback against. So what does better look like and how do you think that comes about, whether it's in 10 years or 100? So I'm guessing the people in ancient times. that had been made into bricks. You know, whenever the Bible talks about stones and bricks, people are stones. They're all different.

Tyrants make everybody into bricks. You're all the same. You're interchangeable. I got a million of them. That one's broken. Toss it out. God makes stones. And it's harder to build stuff with stones

because everything is different. So the Tower of Babel, how are you going to stop that? Those people were bricks. You know, if you know the oral tradition of that story, it's not an angry God that comes down. It's the compassionate side of God that comes down and is talking about the leadership and saying,

if they can do this, they will do anything. We're in that position again. And especially, we haven't seen anything from tech yet. You haven't seen anything, both good and bad. Most people don't know. We now have, what is it, the third largest cause of blindness, which is the cornea. You need cornea replacement because it just fogs over and you can't see.

third largest cause of blindness in the world has just been cured, just been cured. It was cured in Israel, and it's from high tech. So the stuff that is great is coming, but also the oppression is coming. And in the Tower of Babel, he confused our language. And we couldn't speak to each other. And perhaps that comes in a different form, seeing that we're ones and zeros. And we can't communicate like we could before. I don't know, but it's God time.

Yeah. It's God time. And now's not the time to detach from family, to detach from community, to detach from your church. I've gotten a lot of messages from people saying, I just feel this pull towards. towards being more grounded or something bigger than me, all of this chaos that's going on in the world just gives me a desire for an anchor. I'm like, that's not just superstition. That is something that you need to listen to.

I mean, that is God himself calling you to himself and saying, look, the world is crazy. You want steadfastness. You want assurance. You want to stay grounded in truth. You need to come to me. And that's what I encourage people. I will tell you, uh,

I could blame a lot of this on the media, on us, on education. Yeah. I put a lot of the blame on where we're at on the pulpits. They have been silent for way too long. They have stayed out of politics. And I'm not talking about who to vote for. I'm talking about principles to vote for. Yeah.

And if they don't wake up, the people are lost. because they are looking for truth. They're starving for truth. And we have got to get back. I don't think it's a coincidence that the left has made sure that we can't go to church. We can go to a riot, but we can't go to church or we can't sing in church. 30 days makes a habit. How hard is it going to be to get people to go back after almost a year?

of not going to church. I believe it was intentionally done to disrupt our families and disrupt our faith. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I mean, there's been a lot of work done on how totalitarian thrives in situations and nations in which people feel isolated. They're not giving their principles, their values, they're belonging, their purpose from anything higher than themselves.

So they look to the state. It's what happened in Camar Rouge. It's what's happened everywhere. It's what's happening now. Right. It's what's happening now. Right. And, you know, Billy Graham told me once we were talking and I said,

where's the Billy Graham of this generation? Where is the Abraham Lincoln? Where's the George Washington? And he gave me great hope. And he said, it's not going to happen that way this time. He said, this time what's coming is so big. He said, there's not going to be. one person. It's going to be millions of people all over the earth that feel something and are

instructed to do something and they're like, they'll have the argument. That won't work. That's not going to solve anything. How is that? I'm supposed to just do this. Well, I need somebody else that has, you know, whatever. And he said, if they obey that voice and they step out into the dark, darkness and wait, pretty soon they'll hear somebody else in the darkness next to them. And they'll say, who's that? I don't know. I'm just here because I was told to stand here and I've got this piece. And all of a sudden the lights will come on and all of these pieces will snap together.

And he said, that way the world will know. It's not man. It's God that fix this. Right. That's why I tell people, even in these scary times, Especially if you're a, if you're a Christian couple, if you are married, have kids. I know a lot of people don't want to have kids right now. Well, it's not going to be us in our deathbeds that are fighting this fight.

It's going to be our kids and our grandkids. And you need to ensure that there are kids who have been disciples by their parents, who have been instilled with right values by their parents, who can take up this cause by the time that they can. I really love a picture you gave. Everybody thinks that. Everybody thinks at times of trouble. I don't want to have kids.

You have to have kids. And as somebody who didn't want kids, then wanted one, then maybe two, and now have four, I regret all of the years I held back and didn't have kids. There is nothing, there's nothing as you get to turn my age, nothing that means anything more than your kids and your grandkids. Yeah, absolutely. Well, thank you so much, Glenn. Thank you for the work that you do and for the influence and legacy that you've created. A lot of people empowered and emboldened just because of your voice.

So thank you for that. Thank you for that. I'm going to take the bike and ride away. Okay, that's fine. All right. All right, guys. Hope that you enjoyed that conversation with Glenn Beck. Now I'm going to bring us back up.

And I am going to give us as Christians five tips that I think that we can apply every day of our lives that I believe. that I believe humbly are supported by scripture and can work to encourage our hearts and really equip us to actually do something. Again, that's a question I get so often. What do we do? What do we do? How do we move forward? How do I feel like I am obeying the Lord in the midst of all of this? There are so many questions about how we faithfully engage with culture and with policies that we may disagree with. And like I said, at the top of this episode, there are a lot of other tips and a lot of other practical advice that I could give you, not because, you know, I've lived this, you know, long life and have all the experience of wisdom in the world, but because I talk to people

who have a lot of experience and I read people who have so much wisdom. And I think God's word also gives us a lot of insight into, into this, a lot of timeless insight. So here are my five tips. Number one, decide ahead of time that you are going to follow Christ, whatever the cost. there's a lot of talk right now about oncoming persecution. And whenever non-Christians, or I would say even people who identify as progressive Christians, hear about conservative Christians talk about persecution. You roll your eyes and you say, that's not happening. You're in a position of privilege and power in the United States.

You don't have to worry about persecution. You're just being held accountable. Well, we talked about that term held accountable on yesterday's podcast, and we studied the use of the term and what it actually means biblically and the words that we should actually be using as Christians if we want to rebuke and encourage one another as believers. But if you talk about persecution as a Christian in America, you will get a lot of eye rolls. And I think it's important for Christians in America to be really honest that, okay, Christians throughout the world, people of a variety of faiths throughout the world, have received very serious persecution that we here in America have not received. We have had the luxury, the blessing, the privilege, if you want to call it, of living in a predominantly Christian culture. If you could even call it completely Christian, maybe more deistic is the right descriptor for American culture over the past couple hundred years.

So that's absolutely true. We have not faced the kind of persecution that most of the church has faced for most of the church's history. and we need to be able to keep that perspective. That doesn't mean, though, that there hasn't been any persecution at all. There is a spectrum of persecution. Business owners who are targeted by people who say, okay, I know this is a Christian business owner, a Christian florist, for example, and they're not going to want to provide their services for my gay wedding.

I'm going to particularly seek services from this Christian florist. and I'm going to try to force them to provide their services at my wedding, even though their religious beliefs contradict our ceremony and our union as two men or two women. And then not Christian florist having to hire a lawyer and pay thousands and thousands of dollars and take her case to court just to be able to say that, hey, I should be free to conduct my business in a way that aligns with my values. That is a form of persecution. It's not the same as imprisonment. No, of course not. It's not the same as torture or being martyred or being taken away from your family because of your faith. And we should never pretend that it is. We understand that.

But any kind of restriction of being able to live freely, as long as you are not actually breaking any laws or actually physically harming someone is a sort of restriction on your religious liberty that does count as a form of persecution. So it's important for both sides of that debate to keep some perspective. But a lot of Christians also feel like, okay, there's actually going to be a lot more intense persecution that comes to America for Christians. And we will see about that. I mean, there certainly is a wave of hostility towards Christians, lumping in Christians with, you know, every hostile actor that we see in the country trying to claim that Christian theology, that evangelical or conservative theology is harmful. It's a threat and needs to be silenced in the name of public safety. I mean, we already see the writing on the wall.

And so a lot of Christians do fear that kind of pushback in that kind of opposition. And I believe rightly so. So this first tip that I'm giving speaks to that. It speaks to that concern, which I think is a legitimate concern, decide ahead of time that you are going to follow Christ, whatever the cost. Luke 1427 through 28, whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost whether he has enough to complete it. So Jesus said, look, before you become my disciple, know that this isn't going to be easy.

Know that this isn't going to be convenient. It's not meant to be comfortable. It's not meant to be secure. It's not meant to be safe. He is talking about taking up a method of crucifixion in order to follow him. And he says, before you follow me, understand the cost that this is going to, or the payment that this is going to cost you. It's going to be a lot.

And so before you become my disciple, figure out, if you are ready to take up your cross and follow me. Charles Spurgeon preached a lot about the fear that Christians may have of suffering in death. There is a fear, as we just talked about, of silencing, of oppression, of hostility, of suffering. Charles Spurgeon spoke to this often in his sermons. He says the antidote to the fear of death is to die daily. And what he means by that is 1 Corinthians 1531. I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus, our Lord, I die every day.

This is speaking of dying to ourselves, taking up the cross, as Jesus tells us to do, to lay down our old self, which Ephesians 422 says is corrupt through deceitful desires, to put away our sins, our selfishness, our self-interest, our vain ambition, our absolute addiction to comfort and convenience are wants, everything the world tells us to prioritize and to cling to, and instead say to God what Jesus said to him, not my will, but your will be done. Charles Spurgeon says this in a sermon in 1874, quote, the man who practices dying every day, the man who has, as it were, a daily rehearsal of it, will not be afraid of the reality when it comes.

So die daily brothers and sisters in this fashion, get into the habit of so doing, The next piece of advice I have I have to give you is this. Hold very loosely to everything on earth. We ought to live in this world like lodgers at an inn. You, believer, are only at an inn. So do not fret about the little inconveniences here, for you are to be off in the morning, and you may depend upon it that your father's carriage will be at the door at the right time. So have everything packed up and ready for your departure. Do not go buying a lot of lumber here, for you cannot carry it with you. Have very little and have it already.

And a very good thing is to send as much as you can on before you. So die daily. Be resolved now to take up your cross and follow Christ while it is safe to do so. Let's go ahead and cast away our idols, our worldly cares, our pet sins that the Bible says so easily entangle or addiction to serving ourselves. Let's go ahead and let those things go. because we can't take them with us and instead dedicate ourselves fully to doing all and only that Jesus asks us to do.

That's number one. That is committing ahead of time to following Christ no matter the cost. Tip number two. Refuse to accept or tell lies. You guys know I have talked to Roder on this podcast who wrote the book, Live Not by Lies, and he talks about a Soviet dissident. And that was this Soviet dissident's advice to people is to live not by lies. That was the commitment he made when he was suffering real persecution and real oppression

and the real threat of imprisonment and torture and death when he was living in the early days of the Soviet Union. And his commitment to himself to other Christians was to live not by lies, not to accept lies and not to tell lies, to believe lies, not to propagate lies. Colossians 3 8 through 10 says, but now you must put them all away, anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Ephesians 5, 8 through 10, for at one time you are darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.

John 146, Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Titus 1, 1 through 2. Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness in hope of eternal life, which God who never lies, promised before the ages began. So what does this mean practically? Well, first, when it comes to, when it comes to our walk with Christ, we align our lives and our beliefs as exactly as possible to the Word of God. If you want to know why we believe the Bible, why we believe that scripture is inerrant, why it actually isn't just a

collection of writings by men, but is inspired by the Holy Spirit, why we do believe it is the word of God. I will link a talk by Vodibokam, which has been very helpful for a lot of people. people that I encourage you to watch and to listen to. It also means that we trust God and his word to be sufficient for life in godliness. The Holy Spirit, the wisdom that he has revealed to us in his word is sufficient for life and for godliness. This also means in other ways. Well, actually, let me add on one more thing to what that means in our Christian life. It also means that there's no more time for bad theology. There's no more time to go to a church that is not preaching the gospel that we see revealed to us in scripture. There is not time to go to a church

that is not boldly proclaiming the inherent word of God. There's not enough time for that anymore, okay? It's urgent for us to be under sound teaching and sound doctrine. In other ways, what it means to not live by lies. Do not immediately believe headlines. Do not automatically buy into mainstream narratives. Do not just accept that which confirms. to your biases, that includes when you listen to me. I tell you guys often, please fact check me. Don't let me be the only source that you are listening to because we all have biases. We all have blind spots. And I'm constantly asking God to reveal my blind spots to me. Show me where my partisanship has blinded me to biblical truth or blinded me to objective reality.

Show me where I'm wrong. I don't want to spend my life being wrong and lead other people in the wrong direction. And unfortunately, none of us are carriers of infallible truth unless we are just speaking plainly the word of God, which is infallible, but even then we are fallible vessels and be very wary of people who claim to be infallible vessels, who claim to be the objective source of all facts, who don't share their opinion, who say that they don't share their opinions, they don't have any biases, that they're only telling you the truth, that they are either the arbiter or the completely unbiased source of truth. we all have biases.

It is better for us to own them to say where we're coming from. You guys know I'm a conservative Christian, and that's where I'm coming from. That doesn't mean that I am going to throw out truth. It doesn't agree with me. But you guys know what perspective I'm coming from, and that's why I encourage you to have a range of voices and perspectives in your life. But anyone who is telling you not to listen to anyone else, that they are the sole source that you should be listening to.

any fallible human that says that you need to be very wary of them. People ask me also what news I read. I read a variety. I read the New York Times. I read the Washington Post. I read Wall Street Journal, National Review, The Blaze. I read multiple sources for the same story. If it is a court case or if it's a piece of legislation, you can always read those. You can always read the original text online. They are public. I need to personally do a better job of keeping up with local news. I'm so focused on national news because that's what I'm. try to analyze and deliver to you guys. But I need to do a better job of focusing on what's happening around me. That can be done online. It can also be done in your local newspaper. It can also be done by just knowing your community. That is something that I need to focus more on. Usually, I'm a little bit too broad and too national in my focus of what's going on. The reality is most of the policies that really affect our lives are happening on our a local and state level. And so I am with you if you are someone who feels that you need to get better at that. I need to get better at that too. So living not by lies also means we don't

automatically believe politicians, Democrat or Republican, scrutinize everything they say, ask questions about their policy proposals and promises. Why? How? How much? What will the consequences of this be? What are the pros and cons? Has there been other legislation? Have there been other proposals like this, have they worked? What were the, were there any detrimental effects of it? And why are we reiterating it? These all need to be asked whenever we hear a politician talk, whenever we see them open their mouths.

It also means rejecting any worldly ideologies that try to wedge themselves into our theology and worldview, like critical theory and intersectionality. and we have explained and talked about so many times on this podcast very thoroughly what these things are, so I won't even get to that right now, but I will link the past episodes where we talk about these things thoroughly in the description so you guys can listen to them if you haven't already. These are bad trees that bear bad fruit. And they are in their entirety in congruent with biblical Christianity. So that means that we reject the lie that everyone who is white is an oppressor and everyone who is not white, is oppressed. That means that we reject this idea of collective repentance for ancestral sin. That means we reject any vehicle of so-called reconciliation that is not the gospel. That means we reject worldly notions of justice in exchange for biblical ones. That doesn't mean that we don't seek justice. That doesn't mean that we don't actually repent of our sins and seek unity under biblical truth because, of course, we do.

But we don't replace the biblical means and the biblical vehicles for unity with worldly means. and worldly vehicles. That means also that we reject, when we talked about rejecting bad theology, we reject this idea that America is modern day Israel and that all the promises in the Bible are actually not about the universal church, but are actually about the United States, that the country that was prophesied about in the Old Testament is America. That is also a false teaching that we need to reject. in its entirety. That is typically associated with people on the right. Some people call that

Christian nationalism. We will talk about that very thoroughly again soon. But that idea is also false. Whether you're talking about the prosperity gospel or progressive Christianity, all of these things give you a new gospel that is incongruent with the gospel that is given to us in scripture. So we reject those lies in favor of what God tells us is good and right. true. Living not by lies also means rejecting, rejecting the lies in how we speak. For example, Christians will not bear false witness by calling a man, a woman, or a woman or a man are using the words that are associated with the opposite sex. That is a lie. That is to intentionally rebel against God's design, which in Genesis 1, he calls very good. If we cannot affirm,

Genesis 1 is Christians, we are kidding ourselves if we think we will continue to affirm. the rest of Scripture. If we can't even accept general revelation, which is truth revealed to everyone through nature, as male and female biology is, we're kidding ourselves if we think we will continue to believe special revelation, which is that which is revealed to us in scripture and through Jesus Christ. If you want to know more about the gender topic specifically, I will also link to episode 355, the biblical telos of gender. Also read Love Thy Body by Nancy Piercy. This also, also means we are still in point number two, tip number two. It also means rejecting the little lies that we tell ourselves every day. I do this. We all do this. Oh, I didn't have time to read my Bible today.

I really needed that extra 30 minutes of sleep. Oh, I didn't need to share the gospel with that person, even though I felt that I should, but it was fine that I just smiled at them and it was nice to them saying that we're on our way to something when we're really not, making excuses that aren't grounded in reality exaggerating something for attention or for a fact that isn't really true. We need to resist telling those little lies every day if we want to stay grounded and truth. It's the only thing that's going to keep us sane in this postmodern world that can't tell you when life begins, can't tell you what truth is, can't tell you what right and wrong is, can't tell you what male and female is.

The only way that we are going to stay grounded and stay sane is a dogged insistence upon, a dogged pursuit of that which is absolutely true. Big lies, little lies. We have to do with the power of the Holy Spirit, everything we can to reject them completely. Tip number three, speak up about that, which is true. So to your family, to your church, to your friends, if it's bad curriculum, if it's false theology,

if it's bad ideas, anything which is not true that you hear, say something, say something kindly, say something humble, be curious about what the other person is saying. A lot of times people ask me, how do I talk to my friend who is posting this that I know isn't true? How do I talk to my professor? How do I talk to my teacher? How do I talk to my kids teacher of the school board or my pastor, the elders at my church? Because I think they're preaching or teaching or talking about something which isn't true. What do I do? What do I say to this argument? I get that a lot. And I always, my first tip is always to start by asking questions rather than only giving opposition. There's a time for opposition.

But first, you ask questions. You try to get on the same page with someone by having them define their terms. So if someone is talking about racial justice, asks them what they mean by racial justice. Maybe you agree on it. Maybe you don't. If someone says social justice, ask them what you mean by social justice. If they say oppression, liberation, love. of hate, all of these things. Ask them specifically what they mean by that. Wave their definition against factual reality or against the word of God or both and see if you can try to get on the same page about what words mean before you move forward in a conversation. If you can't, that means you're operating on two different planes. And that is when you start to,

unfortunately, you have to kind of quibble with words. That's when you start to push back on their perspective in general and what perspective is leading them to perhaps have false definitions of terms. It also means being aware yourself. So I have a list of resources that I recommend on my website, Alliebethsducky.com slash blogs slash recommended dash resources. I'll link it in the description. But it also means knowing what you're talking about. So if you're talking to your pastor or your friend or whatever about something that you disagree on, sure that you have resources and facts to back yourself up, approach it in a humble and a godly and a kind in a curious way, ask them if they are willing to read or listen to some of the

resources and perspectives that you have and tell them that you are also willing to do the same. Now, what I want us to remember that as you speak up about that which is true, and all the spheres big and small in which God has placed you, your goal is not agreement with that person. Okay, your goal is obedience to the Lord. And if that means kindly, gently, gently, humbly speaking the truth and love about that which you know is biblically true, that what you know is scientifically true, historically true, whatever it is in whatever sphere you're in.

Your goal is obedience, not agreement. So your responsibility at the end of that conversation or whatever it is is not to compromise, is not to give in, to not to give any validation to their points if they did not give you any valid points. Now, if they change your mind on something, if you figured out that you were actually wrong on an issue, then you admit that. And you say, thank you so much. I didn't realize that. You've really opened my eyes, whatever. In all things, humility. But also, all things, confidence in the Lord and confidence in truth. You do not have to compromise in order to be a peacemaker. That's really important, I think, for us to understand. Martin Luther said truth at all costs,

peace, if possible. We do everything we can to pursue peace. as far as it depends on you, the Bible says that does not mean compromising on that which you know is true, which the Bible tells this is true, which history, which facts, which data tell us is true. Number four, engage in immediate obedience. So a lot of people ask me, what do I do? I see a lot of problems in our culture, and I don't know how to stand up to it. Well, God might call you to do something mighty in public one day. you might be speaking before Congress about an issue. You might start a podcast. You might give a speech.

You might speak to your school board. You might be speaking in front of state legislators. You might have, you know, some kind of biblical, godly confrontation with the pastor or the leadership in your church about something false that's being taught. Or it might just mean, well, it always does mean. And it may be in addition to those things, though, immediate obedience. with what is right in front of us. So that will mean doing our work as employees with joy and with integrity, with grit,

doing our homework, doing our projects, taking tests with joy, integrity, gratitude, and grit, changing diapers, cleaning dishes, mopping floors, loving our kids, loving our husbands, helping those around us, doing all of those things with honesty, with joy, joy, with integrity, and with a commitment to hard work. I just love those people. If you go to the grocery store, the cashier is joyful and glad to be there and glad to be talking to you and doing their job or whether it's a lawyer that loves their job and is grateful for the opportunity to be able to do what she does.

whatever it is, I love people, no matter their station in life, who joyfully work, who have good attitudes when they work, no matter how nitty, gritty or unglamorous what they're doing might seem to the world, if you have an endeavor that you are working hard in, that you can do honestly, and that is benefiting the people around you, that can be done to the glory of God, whether you're getting paid for it or whether you're doing it in the home, whether it's volunteer work, all of that can be done to the glory of God. Colossians 317 and whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

God is always calling us to be obedient in what is right in front of us in our homes, in these close circles in our life. He might bring us to bigger spheres of influence in order to make change or to stand up for truth. But every day, every second, he is calling us to be obedient. what is right in front of us. And so when you feel like you're doing, you're not doing enough, forget about that. If you are being obedient with what's right in front of you, whether it's changing a diaper or whether it's making a huge decision for your entire company, that is enough.

Roman 16, 25 through 27. Now to him who was able to strengthen you, according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages, but has been disclosed and through the prophetic writings, has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God to bring about the obedience of faith. To the only wise God be glory forever more through Jesus Christ. Amen. Last tip. Number five, this is what Glenn and I talked about. Have kids or influence the next generation. I should say and or influence the next generation. A lot of you understandably are concerned about having kids. You're like, this world is so messed up.

I don't want to have kids right now. This is a terrible time to have kids. I'm not going to have kids. the Bible doesn't really give us that option. The church, Christians, people in general, have gone through really, really hard times throughout history. And the only time we see in the Bible is I think it's, I think it's chapter 25 of Matthew when Jesus is talking about the, he's talking about the hard times to come, woe to those who are pregnant or nursing during this time. other than that, the Bible doesn't really give us permission to not, if we can, if we are physically able as Christian married people, to have children. Psalm 127, he doesn't give us permission to not have children if we are in those contexts. Psalm 127, 3 through 5. Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb, a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior

are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with him. He shall not be put shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate. If we think that America is about to go through hard times, if we are afraid of the threat of our liberty, if we're afraid of Christian persecution, and this last 10 years, 100 years, whatever it is, who's going to be pushing back against the darkness when we're 90 years old on our deathbed? It's not going to be us. If there are not Christian children and grandchildren and great grandchildren that are carrying the torch of the gospel who are pushing back against darkness in a gospel and loving and Christ-like way. It can't just be us forever.

We can't be the last generation with that responsibility. Like our responsibility is to equip our children with the love of the Lord, with the fear of the Lord that leads to wisdom, that leads to boldness, to train them up in the way they should go. as the Bible says, to love them with the love of Christ, to show them how to love other people with the love of Christ, and to be firm in the truth, to live not by lies, to be obedient with what's right in front of them. It can't just end with us. It can't stop with us. And you might not be in a position to have kids. Either you cannot have children, you are unable to, you're not married. And so that's not the situation that you're in. God doesn't call everyone

to that. And we need to be really honest. That's not the precipice of the, that's not the, that's the peak of Christian life. The peak of Christian life is not getting married and having kids. These are blessings. But the Apostle Paul even talks about how singleness is a gift because you can dedicate your entire time to ministry. And so if you are not in a position to have kids, you are not missing out if that is not what God has called you to. You can still disciple and influence the next generation without having kids of your own. And I think that if you are a Christ, follower and he has equipped you to be able to influence the next generation, you should seek opportunities to do that because there are a lot of people, there are a lot of kids, a lot of teens

out there who don't have parents who are discipling them, who don't have parents who are leaving them in the truth. And maybe God is going to use you to be a Christ-like influence on a child's life, on a teenager's life, to disciple them and to spur them on to love in good works. So those are my five tips. Number one, decide ahead of time. right now that you are going to follow Christ. Number two, refuse to accept or to tell lies. Number three, speak up about that, which is true. Number four, engage in immediate obedience. And number five, have kids and or influence the next generation with that, which is true. All right, that's all we have for today. Thank you guys so much for listening to Marr.

I'm going to be talking to Representative Dan Crenshaw. We'll be talking about inauguration, what we can expect, and a bunch of issues that you guys would like insight into from him. So looking forward to that conversation. I will see you guys then.