Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 71 | Calling Evil Good

Episode Date: January 24, 2019

With the passing of New York's Reproductive Health Act, we open the door to radical abortion legislation. What does this mean for the American soul? Copyright Blaze Media All Rights Reserved.

Hey guys, what's up? Welcome to Relatable. I hope you guys are having a great week. Today, we are going to talk about the bill that was passed in New York regarding abortion called the Reproductive Health Act. And we're going to talk about kind of what abortion is, not kind of what abortion is, but what abortion actually is from a scientific perspective. That's something that we haven't actually touched on. We've talked about the morality, the logic, and a little bit about the science of abortion and what a travesty it is. But we're we're going to talk about the science behind it. We're also going to talk about the moral implications of it. And I know we talk about abortion a lot. The only reason I'm bringing it up again is because this act passed and because I do think it's going to have implications for years to come. And I also think it speaks to a deeper part of the American heart that has been lost and is really breaking. So we are going to get into all of that. First, I want to tell you, what the Reproductive Health Act actually is, because there's a lot of misinformation out there. When I heard that it was passed a couple nights ago, I tweeted, you know, something along the lines

of this is awful. New York has legalized late-term abortions. And I had all of these people, not all of these people, but I had a few blue checkmark saying, this is a complete and total lie. This is not true at all. I had Amber Tamplin, if you know who that is. She was in the Sisterhood of Traveling Pants. Great movie, by the way. She tweeted at me that this is an abominable lie and how could I spread this kind of misinformation? But when I replied to her and said, okay, well, can you tell me how exactly this is a lie? What part of my tweet is a lie? Does the law not actually legalized late-term abortion? So can you tell me where the falsity is in this? And of course, she didn't say anything or she said, I'm not going to get in a tweet war with you. Just know that

it's a lie. She said something along the lines of that. So it's interesting how many Democrats, how many liberals, how many feminists have come out over the past 24 hours saying, oh, stop spreading misinformation, you Republican, religious pro-lifers. You're absolutely wrong. Late-term abortion is not going to become more accessible with this bill. But the problem is for them is that we can read and that the bill is online. It is absolutely factual that this is going to make late-term abortions more accessible and it decriminalizes abortion through nine months. So I'm going to get into the details of that. You can go online, just type in on Google, read Reproductive Health Act, New York, and the full text of the act will be online for you to read. So if at any point, you listen

to me and you say, well, I don't really know if that's true, Ali, let me check the details on that. Please, go online and read the act for yourself. You can read various reports of the act that have done a pretty good job of interpreting what it means. You can read from the right or the left. Really, the best interpretation that I got was from, I think it was a publication called Buffalo News, which I'm sure probably doesn't lean to the right, you know, like Buffalo, New York, but also you've got National Review, you've got ABC, you've got USA Today, so you can get the kind of interpretation of the act from both sides of the aisle if you're not trusting what I'm saying.

So let's talk about this reproductive health act. First, let's just stop at the name for a second. Reproductive health act. So when you think, if you're a logically thinking person, which all of you who listen to this podcast are, when you think reproductive health, you think, okay, that means maintaining the health of the reproductive organs, right? Okay. So that would mean like STD, STI testing, cancer screening, pap smears, fertility tests maybe, probably, condoms and sexual education, like that probably all falls under reproductive health, right? That would just kind of make semantic, logical sense. But then, but then what's weird,

what's weird is that we look at the bill and we don't see anything about that. The only thing we really see is abortion. And you might be thinking, well, Ali, wait, wait, wait. What does abortion, which takes the life of a child inside the womb, what does that have to do with reproductive health? Does that keep someone's reproductive organs healthy? Whose health does that actually benefit? And I would say that's a really, really good question. That's a really great question. And the answer is nothing.

It has nothing to do with reproductive health. This is just the euphemism that they have used to sanitize abortion because murdering children, dismembering them with forcips isn't exactly appealing from a PR perspective. So they use this phrase, reproductive health. Now, before I get into what the bill actually says, I just want to go ahead and say, this is not me saying what abortion is. And talking about the atrocity of abortion and the atrocity of this bill is not a condemnation of women who have had abortions.

If you have had an abortion, there is freedom and there is forgiveness in Christ. You carry no shame once you are in Christ. You don't have to worry about that. We have all sin and fallen short of the glory of God. and you receive the utmost compassion for what you've done, and Jesus can heal anything. So I just want to make that clear that we can separate this idea of abortion being sinful, being horrific, being something that we should stop, and the condemnation of women who have found themselves in crisis, and quite frankly, just didn't really know what abortion was.

That's what I found, is that women who get abortion so often don't even, know what abortion is, don't even know what the procedure is that they're going through. So I just want you to know that my heart is, it's broken for you and what you went through and your trauma and I see you and I hear you. And I appreciate your story and your experience. And this is not me pointing fingers at you saying, how dare you? This is talking about an issue that is extremely prevalent to the heart of our country and that you probably agree if you had an abortion needs to be stopped. So let's talk about what is actually in the bill. So it says practitioners may perform an abortion when, this is a quote, when according to the practitioners reasonable and good

faith professional judgment. Okay, so let's stop right there. The practitioners reasonable and good faith professional judgment. So that right there, we already see that we're setting subjective standards for when a doctor can perform an abortion. So a practitioner's reasonable and good faith professional judgment based on the facts of the patient's case. The patient is within 24 weeks from the commencement of pregnancy or, or this is the important part, or there is an absence of fetal viability or the abortion is necessary to protect the patient's life or another important or health.

And let me read all of that again. Practitioners may perform an abortion when, according to the practitioners' reasonable and good faith professional judgment, based on the facts of the patient's case, the patient is within 24 weeks from the commencement of pregnancy, or there is an absence of fetal viability or the abortion is necessary to protect the patient's life or help. Now previously, what this bill actually did is it changed it from what it was previously. Abortion was a criminal offense when it was done any time after 24 weeks, after fetal viability unless, unless the life of the mother was at risk. So if a practitioner performed an abortion on a woman who was, say, 25, 26 weeks pregnant,

and that her health was not at risk, then they were criminalized for that. They could actually go to jail for that. But that is no longer true. And that important caveat or health is really the thing that expanded abortion access in this bill. Previously, you could still have an abortion up to nine months in New York if your life was at risk. Now it's life or health. And under Roe v. Wade and actually specified in a Supreme Court case called Doe v. Bolton, that health exception includes, quote, all factors, physical,

emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman's age relevant to the well-being of the patient. So if you haven't already noticed, this bill is intentionally general. It is intentionally subjective to the point where as long as you check the box it says yes the woman's health is at risk whether that's mental health whether that's emotional health whether she's in a bad family situation or whether she's just really young and feels unprepared you can legally without consequence perform an abortion on a fully formed nine month viable child that is what this bill essentially does now of course you're not going to hear that from democrats of course they are not going to say, yes, partial birth abortion. Great. We are excited to expand access to it. No,

of course, because they don't want to sound like barbarians. But the fact of the matter is, it is barbaric. There's just really no way to get around that. And you are going to hear proponents of this bill saying that's, you know, that's absolutely not true. And you should just know that the women who have to go through late-term abortions, they don't want to have to go through these late-term abortions. they have to do it because their health is dependent on it. Well, there's really no scientific reason that I have heard cited, no medical reason in which in the third trimester, so after the baby is able to survive outside of the womb, that the baby actually needs to be killed in order to save the life of the mother. There have been babies born as early as 21 weeks who have been able to

survive and to grow up and to be normally functioning children and adults. So there would be no reason after 26 weeks in the third trimester that a baby would actually need to be killed to save the mother's life. What you do? And I'm not a medical professional, but I know enough to read online and to hear from people who have been in this situation and to also read the opinions of actual medical professionals, that what you do is an emergency C-section. You take the baby out and you do whatever you can to save the life of the child and to save the life of the mother. It doesn't even make any logical sense to think, okay, well, I actually need to poison the child in order to save the life of the mother in the situation. That doesn't even make any sense. No, you as a medical

professional, your responsibility is to save as many lives as possible. So you try to save the child's life. You try to save the mother's life. And if the child dies naturally, then the child dies naturally. And that is an absolute tragedy. But that's not an abortion. You did everything that you could. I'm just not understanding and maybe I need a doctor to explain to me why snipping the spinal cord of a baby in the third trimester actually helps the mother who has a separate body. That's what I don't understand. But you're going to hear that from the left, that there's is actually the side of compassion because women need to have abortions in the third trimester in some cases when that's really not true. There doesn't seem to be any medical reason whatsoever why that

needs to be the case. So let's talk about, though, this 24 weeks. So 24 weeks is when a fetus is considered viable, even though, like I said, there have been babies who have survived outside of the womb earlier than 24 weeks. This is generally when a fetus is considered viable, able to survive outside of the womb. So 24 weeks is towards the end of the second trimester. And this is at the point in which at New York, at which you can get an abortion for any reason, no matter what, just for funsies. you would like, you can get an abortion. So let's talk about what 24 weeks is. So 24 weeks towards the end of the second trimester. So you were about six months pregnant. You are looking very pregnant at this point. Your baby has been fully developed for a very long time.

And you are able to, you are able to do a whole plethora of different options for having that abortion. And now I want you to think about this for just a second. So at 24 weeks, you've been able to feel your baby move. At 20 weeks, even before that, a lot of times people feel their baby's kick. I'm at almost 18 weeks now. I haven't felt my baby kick yet, but that's normal when it's your first child. But a lot of people feel their baby kick at about 17 weeks. I had my first sonogram, or actually it was my second sonogram at 11 and a half weeks.

My baby was moving around. She was kicking her legs. She was stretching. She was fully forward at that point. She just wasn't actually fully developed. if that makes sense. She wasn't able to survive outside of the womb because a lot of things still had to happen. She just had to grow, but she was a fully formed human being.

So when you think about double that time, 24 weeks, and just how developed and just how grown and just how large a baby is at 24 weeks, that is the point at which you can have an abortion for any reason, no matter what in New York. And if you want to have an abortion after that, you still can. It just has to be for your health, whether that is mental health or a mental health. emotional health, as I said. So really what we need to read when we hear the word health and when we read this bill is that you can basically have an abortion on demand from zero to nine months in New York. So if you're eight months along and you lose your job and your boyfriend leaves you and you're

destitute and depressed, you can have an abortion, no questions asked. So just to be clear, we are killing babies for any reason whatsoever. At any time, in the pregnancy that can survive outside of the womb. And we are not supposed to consider this murder. We are supposed to consider this reproductive health. We are supposed to consider this women's rights. We are supposed to consider this bodily autonomy. We're supposed to consider this choice. I just want to make that clear that that is now who New York is as a state and probably or hopefully not, but one day who we will be as a nation if we don't take action. But here is the backwards mentality that so many people on the left that so many pro-choicers have.

So Alyssa Milano tweeted this, and this is very mainstream for people on the left. She says, there isn't a side in this debate that isn't pro-life. I am pro-life. I am also pro-choice. Those calling me an infant killer are anti-choice. Once again, your religious beliefs do not carry more weight than scientific facts in my physical autonomy. Okay.

So these people, they want to talk scientific facts and physical autonomy. but they don't want to talk separate DNA conception. They don't want to talk about the fact that this is a separate body from the time that it was conceived. They don't want to talk about a fetal development. They don't want to talk about embryology. They don't want to talk about science at all. But this is what we see with a new age progressivism that not only is progressivism, their religion, it is also their science.

It is their own Orwellian universe in which war is peace and ignorance is strength and freedom is slavery. And we're just supposed to buy into it. And if we don't, we are the religious delets and the bigots. There was another person who tweeted at me. I don't think that I copied it on my notes, who tweeted at me that while more children are dying from measles and from gun deaths. So I must be mandatory vaccinations.

And I must also be fighting for gun control if I'm truly pro life. first of all, there are about an average of 1,300 children, not even just infants, that are injured or actually die from gun-related injuries every year. But there were about 330,000 unborn babies that were aborted by Planned Parenthood just last year. So I would suggest that you read a book or maybe do a Google search before you come and tell me that I'm not pro-life for not fighting for the causes that you have deemed more important than abortion. What really bothers me is that the side that's okay with vacuuming the kids out of the womb when they're at 24 weeks when they're fully formed is trying to co-opt the pro-life phrase. I'm sorry. No, you're not going to be able to do that.

Sure, you might be right on some other stances. I'm not saying that you don't have a moral high ground in other places. But no, you cannot call yourself pro-life and also say, I'm okay. with partial birth abortion. I'm okay with ripping children limb from limb inside the womb. That's just not pro-life. That does exempt you from the pro-life cause. They try to attach it to all of these other things. They try to attach it to being open borders. They try to attach it to being pro-gun control when none of those things have to do with being pro-life. None of them do. Gun control and being pro-life are actually completely opposite. The reason, I am pro-gun is because I'm pro-life, because I believe that innocent life has a right to be defended.

But all of these people, once again, as I've said so many times, all they have are straw men. That's all they have. The reality is, is that this is equal immorality, this whole abortion issue. It's equal immorality to the Holocaust. It's equal immorality to the Japanese internment camps. It is equal immorality to Jim Crow, to lynching, to segregation. And we are perpetrated. yet another travesty when it comes to human rights, when it comes to civil rights.

It always happens when you dehumanize one group of people based on an arbitrary standard, no matter how righteous you think it is. So when we are talking about slavery, we said, well, they're not fully a person

because they're African-American. When you talk about the Jews and Holocaust, well, they don't deserve to live because they're subhuman. Their termites, as Lewis Farrakhan would say. So it doesn't really count that we're throwing them in gas chambers. Same thing with Japanese in turnma camps. Oh, well, they're enemies. So they're not on

equal footing with everyone else in America. Same thing with Jim Crow with lynching with segregation, still thinking that black people aren't equal in worth to white people in America. It always leads to human rights travesties. And it's the same thing that's happening here. Well, unborn humans just aren't the same as everyone else. They're subhuman. They're a clump of cells. They're just pieces of tissue. Really, if you go online and if you look up, how does a second trimester abortion happen? They will explain it to you, but they won't say body parts. They won't say limbs. They won't even really say fetus most of the time. They won't say baby. They'll call it tissue. They'll call it tissue. And we're supposed to celebrate that as progress. No, we're going back.

We are going back to the times of Hitler. We are going back to the times of slavery. There's no way around and if you think I'm exaggerating, let's just talk about. Let's talk about what abortion is. I know that this is a hard conversation and an unpopular conversation to have. We would rather just talk about how all life is precious. But quite frankly, I have seen more minds change when they realize what abortion is than when we just talk about, for example, Psalm 139 that God made you and knew you when he formed you before he formed you in the mother's womb, which of course, is so important and is the bedrock of what we believe that all human beings are made in the image of God. But we also need to be aware of and educate people about the scientific reality

of abortion. So let's talk about that. First trimester, what happens? You can take a pill that poisons the baby. The baby will then exit your body and it'll be just like a bunch of blood. it'll look like bloody tissue that's actually exiting your body after you take the pill after a few hours. This is very painful. You have a lot of cramps. You have a lot of bleeding. There's really no help for you. You just kind of have to sit it out and hope for the best and hope the pain goes away. Depending on how far you are along in the first trimester, you can also get something called an MVA or a vacuum aspiration abortion where the baby is actually sucked out of you with this vacuum like tube. In the second trimester, you can also get a vacuum aspiration type abortion

It's called you get a D&E abortion, dilation, and evacuation. That's a little bit more complicated because in the second trimester, the baby is pretty large. And so your cervix is dilated for 24 to 48 hours in advance. All the amniotic fluid is sucked out. The fluid, the baby actually needs to survive, as I'm sure you know. Then they take the forcips and they tear off the limbs from the baby since the baby isn't going to fit in the little vacuum. and then they make sure that all of the, that all of the body parts that are,

that were on the fetus are all on the table so that they didn't leave anything inside the woman. In the third trimester, and this is now allowed in New York for any reason it falls under the broad term of health. Two days before the procedure, laminaria, that's some kind of, I forget what actually it is.

It's inserted vaginally to dilate the cervix. Your water should break on the third. third day and you should return to the clinic. The fetus is rotated. So the baby is rotated and forceps are used to grasp and pull the legs, so shoulders and arms through the birth canal. A small incision is made at the base of the skull of the baby to allow a suction catheter inside. The catheter removes the cerebral material that is the brain until the skull collapses. The fetus is then completely removed. So that's a third trimester abortion that is now legal in New York under pretty much any case as long as it falls under the subjective term of health.

And look, like I said, most women who get abortions have no idea what really happens. They just don't know. Planned Parenthood doesn't let you see the sonogram. They're not open or even knowledgeable about fetal development. They're not going to let you know that the baby can feel pain. Even in the first trimester, we see babies trying to fight for their lives and to resist the pain of abortion. I just want you to know that they are making, they are making money off of vulnerable women in crisis. And so if anyone has an ulterior motive here, it's them. I mean, think about it,

the pro-life versus the pro-choice cause. Pro-choicers have an ulterior motive to being pro-choice because Planned Parenthood is an extremely powerful organization that helps fund the Democratic Party. And so if they get rid of abortion, Planned Parenthood goes bankrupt. They don't have this large funder of the Democratic Party. And this has become a sacrament now in the Democratic Party. And so they can't let that happen. But tell me, what benefit do I have to telling you to keep your baby? What benefit, what benefit do I have to tell poor mothers that, yes, you should keep your baby and put your baby up for adoption? Like, how does that benefit me? What ulterior motive could I possibly have in telling you to do that? I have no motive whatsoever behind being pro-life

besides that I know that it's morally right. And because I don't want babies to experience that pain, I don't want women to be robbed of motherhood. I don't want them to be misinformed. I don't want them to have to deal for the rest of their lives with the trauma of abortion. I don't want that. I want I want better for them. And I don't want us to devalue unborn life in this country because I know exactly where that leads. I know it leads to the devaluing of other life as well. I know it leads to eugenics. I know it leads to this stupid. Dying with Dignity, A.K. assisted suicide movement. It brings us to this point where we have a subjective standard of which life is valuable and which is not, that we are going to start

aborting babies once we find out in the wound that they are autistic if that technology has ever developed. We are going to abort babies because we find out that they're going to be left-handed and we don't like that. They're going to have red hair and we don't like that. That's where the devaluation of human life brings us into eugenics. into selective reproduction or basically selective birth. I don't want that for our country because I don't think it's possible for a republic to thrive or a republic like the United States of America without valuing life. That's why the Declaration of Independence says life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

because without life, neither liberty nor the pursuit of happiness exists. If you think that we can maintain freedom without valuing life, you're wrong. Because freedom and morality, freedom and decency, freedom and human dignity, go hand in hand. They have to, or else it leads to anarchy. And so to say that you are for abortion and also on the side of freedom, you just don't understand the nature of freedom. You think freedom is doing whatever it is you want to without thinking of the cost, without thinking of the cost to the American soul. And that just, quite frankly, doesn't make any sense. So what I want us to do, the question always is how do we take action? What impact can we possibly have on all of this? Well,

I saw the movie unplanned last night. It's the story of Abby Johnson. She used to work at Planned Parenthood and she laughed after she finally hit her. What abortion was in the evil that she was really facilitating while she was working there. And she's worked ever since then to fight against them and expose them. She wrote a book, got turned into this movie. And within the first few minutes, I'm just going to warn you, I would not bring your children to this movie. It's going to come out March 29th. Definitely go see it. Definitely bring your friends. Bring your small group. Bring your pro choice friends. If you're really brave, don't bring your kids. In the first couple minutes, I was weeping. I was sobbing crying because it shows an abortion. And the first couple of minutes shows an abortion at 13 weeks in exactly what happens.

I was bawling crying because on this little sonogram screen where they showed this poor child, writhing in pain, I saw my daughter. That's exactly what my sonogram screen looked like. And I just couldn't stomach it. I mean, I'm already pro-life. I already know abortion is wrong and evil. And I actually already know what happens in abortion. I've made myself watch videos just so I can be reminded of the sin that our country is committing. And I could not take it. I couldn't take it. But what I learned from this movie or what I was really reminded of is the power of the gospel. and the power of redemption and the power of prayer that God can do anything. And it was hard to watch the movie and not think, okay, Abby, why didn't you leave earlier? God, why did you let this happen?

Why didn't you wake her up earlier to the reality of what she was doing? And then I realized that God is fiercely committed to his own glory. And because she has that story, because she went through all of what she went through, having an abortion herself, having two abortions herself, working at Planned Parenthood and then coming out on the other side, all of the pain that she endured and that she facilitated, wrote an amazing story of redemption that God is getting all of the glory for. And sometimes, sometimes it takes something like this for God to show just how powerful he is. For all of the odds to be seemingly stacked against him before he says,

I'm doing something. And he's always doing something. We know that. And so I am reminded, I am reminded that God is always in control, even when it seems like he's not, even when an act like this passes in New York and you have people celebrating it, you had people cheering. I mean, truly satanic, if that doesn't shake you to your core and give you chills to see women cheering over late-term abortions and calling it a victory, that God is still in control,

that he's still over that. And as we talked about on Tuesday, that he is a God of justice. that he is not going to let these things go unchecked, that he is not ignoring it, that he is not standing aside, just shaking his head and crossing his arms, he is doing something. And he's asking you and me to fight. That's what he's asking us to do. This is a gospel mission. This is not a political mission. This is not a social issue. This is a gospel mission. The women in crisis who are thinking about having an abortion, they don't need shame. They don't need condemnation. Yes, they do need education, but more than anything,

they need the gospel. They need to hear that they are forgiven, that they are taking care of, that there is a father who is in control, who loves them, no matter what they've done, and is going to take care of them. He needs us to come alongside these women and say, I've got you. I've got you. I don't care what you've done what you've done some bad stuff too. I've messed up too. And guess what? I'm going to figure this out with you. We're going to figure this out. I'm going to to make sure that you have the care that you need. I'm going to make sure that you, you figure out this whole crazy adoption process. I'm going to make sure that you are protected from that boyfriend who is abusing you. I'm going to make sure that we get through this together.

That's what he's asking us to do as Christians. You have this crazy, crazy faction within Christianity that says, actually abortion is a form of compassion. It's okay. Don't listen to that. It's a lie. And it is born of, ironically, the self-help movement that, says, whatever is good for you, do it. That's not what the Bible says. The Bible says, whatever God says to do, do it. And the Bible says to value life, to care for the poor, the oppressed, and the marginalized. And there is no more oppressed or marginalized than the unborn child. So what we have to do is a, share the gospel. Share the gospel with everyone you know. Share the gospel to women in crisis. Be pray. I was reminded when I watched the unplanned movie, just the power of prayer and how

God changed Abby Johnson's heart because of the commitment of her family and people who stood outside that abortion clinic praying. The power of prayer is incredible. It changes everything. Number three, support your local pregnancy center or save the Storks, which provides resources and tools to local pregnancy centers. Just look up a like. Affirming Pregnesty Center that's in your area. And if you can't actually drive there, if you can't volunteer there, try to donate there as much as you can. It doesn't have to be a lot if you're in a financial bind.

But I promise you that a cheerful giver makes God happy. And that you also will find joy in being obedient in that regard. And I also encourage you to see the movie unplanned when it comes out March 29th. I'm not getting paid to advertise for this. I do know Abby Johnson and she. is awesome. I got to meet her at the Save the Stork Spall, but this is not a paid endorsement. I'm just endorsing this because I think it's a good movie. And I think that it is a powerful rendering of what happens when God works, when he moves mountains, when he does the things that we

don't think he can do. And I do believe that can happen with abortion in America. I believe it takes us speaking up, being loving, being kind, but not being afraid to say when something is right and wrong. So many times I think we confuse being compassionate with being quiet or being kind with pretending like we don't know. That's not compassion. It's not compassion at all. Actually, it causes a lot of confusion. And it encourages people to do things that just aren't wise.

But instead, we should be infusing light into darkness, infusing truth into this world that is full of lies that calls something like abortion choice or reproductive health or reproductive freedom. that's my rant for you today. I hope that you guys got something out of it. I love you guys. I will see you on Tuesday. If you have any suggestions, I know I said I was going to do theological Thursdays. And some of you got excited about that. I still want to do that. I consider this a theological issue, though. I still want to do that. So if you have any questions or any suggestions for that, please let me know. I also, oh, I didn't talk about this on Tuesday, but I did want to bring up just the amazing response that I had to the three myths.

that Christian women believe, by far the biggest podcast I've ever had and the messages that I've received from you guys, it doesn't do anything for me and my ego. What it tells me is that, wow, there is a void that needs to be filled by truth, that you guys, thank God, thank God for discerning people like you guys, you guys aren't satisfied with the self-help, you are enough, love yourself, self-care thing that's going on within Christianity. You're not satisfied with that. And I've always, I've always thought people are more hungry for truth than we give them credit for. And so, um, pointing all, all I did is point people back to scripture, which is where I go when I am caught up in myself and,

uh, caught up in this whole self-absorbed self-focused movement. And I'm really, really excited about the book I'm writing because it's going to be very similar to this. I think you guys are going to enjoy it. I in particular got a message from someone. I won't even read the whole thing. And I did get permission. I did get permission to share this. Who sent me this long message saying how she has struggled with depression and with anxiety and with thoughts of suicide for years and herself, her, not herself, her well-meaning Christian friends have been telling her, you're awesome. Just see yourself how God sees you. You need to learn how to love yourself more. You need to learn how to just kind of let go of the

shame and look in the mirror and tell yourself you're beautiful. And this person said that she felt so inadequate because she could never do that. She could never figure out why she couldn't love herself. And then she was reminded of the truth that it's not about loving ourselves. It's about God's love for us. It's not that we are enough. It's that we are inadequate and God is enough. And that truth, it's changed me first of all, but it changes lives. This is the gospel that has been preached for 2,000 years. I didn't come up with it on my podcast. It's been preached by Bible believing Christians forever. And it's been infected now with this me-centric Christianity, this Christless Christianity, which tells you that all you have to do in the morning is tell yourself that

you're in control, that you're a hero, that you're awesome, and that you're beautiful and that you've got this. So you can feel like a great big failure at the end of the day when you haven't done everything that you told yourself you would, right? There's no comfort in that, but there's comfort in the gospel. there's comfort that um that Jesus won on our behalf that he um that he became perfect on our behalf that he sacrificed on our behalf because we could never be all of the things that the world demands of us that God demands of us but he could thank God thank God for that so I just want to tell you thank you for messaging me and letting me know what that podcast meant to you and just what the biblical truth of it meant to you too. That means more to me than you will ever know. And that's exactly why I have this

podcast. I love to talk about politics. I love to talk about culture and you know how much I love this country and talking about all that. But I love to talk about what I think is really burrowing in the hearts of young women in this country. And it was very validating to understand that there's so many of you that are just like me that are hungry for truth. Like we don't need the emotionalism that female Bible teachers think we need. Like we don't need to be cuddled. Like we can handle theological truths with the best of men. And I was just tired of being patronized.

And I'm glad that you guys feel the same way. Okay, that really is it. Love you guys. I will see you next week. Have a great day.