Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 755 | Revival at Asbury University?

Episode Date: February 15, 2023

Today we're talking about the "Asbury Revival," currently taking place at Asbury University in Kentucky. Last week, after a regular weekly chapel service at the university, students didn't leave. Instead, they continued worshiping and have not stopped for over 130 hours and counting. There have been reports of people traveling cross-country to experience this unplanned event, and many have claimed it's unlike other "revivals" that have left some skeptical. We cover the important questions that need to be asked, such as whether the gospel is actually being preached and what kind of teaching is happening in the midst of worship. We provide some encouragement and challenge for Asbury students, who have the potential to use this "revival" for God's glory even after it's over. Then, we take a look at Chelsea Handler's obsession with being childless. While guest-hosting "The Daily Show" last week, Handler did both a monologue and a skit about how "free" she is because she doesn't have kids, and she was ... really trying hard to convince us. We break down how sad it is that she feels a need to berate motherhood and children in her tirade and explain why her argument that she can do whatever she wants could very well also be true right now even if she had had children. --- Timecodes: (02:30) Asbury Revival: what's happening (12:20) Asbury: some concerns (16:14) Asbury: excitement & encouragement (23:40) Asbury: things to consider (31:49) Chelsea Handler on kids (46:19) Stats on teen girl depression --- Today's Sponsors: A'Del — go to adelnaturalcosmetics.com and enter promo code "ALLIE" for 25% off your first order! Carly Jean Los Angeles — use promo code 'ALLIEB' to save 20% off your first order at CarlyJeanLosAngeles.com! Epic Will — be intentional about your family, your values and your wishes. Go to EpicWill.com/ALLIE and you’ll save 10% on your complete Will package. --- Links: WYMT: "Days-long ‘spontaneous revival’ continues at Asbury University" https://www.wymt.com/2023/02/13/days-long-spontaneous-revival-continues-kentucky-university/ Christianity Today: "Asbury Professor: We’re Witnessing a ‘Surprising Work of God’" https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2023/february-web-only/asbury-revival-1970-2023-methodist-christian-holy-spirit.html CBN News: "Asbury Awakening Spreads to Lee University: 'A Mighty Move of God Started This Morning'" https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2023/february/the-asbury-awakening-is-already-spreading-reaches-lee-university-a-mighty-move-of-god-started-this-morning CDC: "CDC report shows concerning increases in sadness and exposure to violence among teen girls and LGBQ+ youth" https://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/fact-sheets/healthy-youth/sadness-and-violence-among-teen-girls-and-LGBQ-youth-factsheet.html#:~:text=3%20in%205%20girls%20felt,performance%2C%20and%20other%20severe%20consequences. --- Buy Allie's book, You're Not Enough (& That's Okay): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love: https://alliebethstuckey.com/book Relatable merchandise – use promo code 'ALLIE10' for a discount: https://shop.blazemedia.com/collections/allie-stuckey

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. Students at Asbury University and Kentucky are leading what has been called a revival. So what in the world is happening there? And what are some things that we should think about when it comes to revival? We'll also be reacting to Chelsea Handler, some clips that have been circulating where she is celebrating the wonders of not having. any kids at the age of 47. And then we will also be talking about this very disturbing

trend, girls experiencing depression and thoughts of suicide at higher rates than we've ever seen before. Why is that? I'll give you my answer. This episode is brought to you by our friends at Good Ranchers. Go to GoToad Ranchers.com. Use promo code Alley at checkout. That's Good Ranchers.com. Code Allie. Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Wednesday. Hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far. If you're watching on YouTube, lighting might look a little different. Definitely the past two days it looks different than usual. Some of you message me and comment about those things because you care.

I appreciate that. I really care about it too. That's because the lighting was adjusted and now it's readjusted. And we're actually building a new set for me, which is going to be done soon. So this is still my temporary set. I'm super excited to reveal the new set. but I want to make sure that everything is perfect. We still have decor that we're putting up,

and I want to make sure that the lighting is absolutely perfect. And so we are not going to be on the news at until I am 100% satisfied with how it looks because that's how much I care. That's how much I care about this show and your experience and watching this and listening to this and all of that good stuff. So thanks for your patience as we transition into that. All right. Today we are going to talk about this Asbury Revival.

We're going to react to some things. As I said, that Chelsea Handler said, before we get into the Asbury Revival thing, I do just want to ask if you love this podcast. If you could please leave us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or on Spotify too, that would help us out a whole lot. That would mean a lot to me. Thank you so much to those of you who already have done that and you leave me encouragement. And thank you again for all of you who tell me that you're praying for me and thinking of me, it really does mean a lot. So if you love this show, please leave a five-star review wherever you listen. I would really appreciate it.

All right. Let's get into this Asbury Revival. So many of you have been messaging me and asking me what I think about this and to talk about this on my show. So we're going to talk about it today. We're not going to be able to get into every angle of this. There are so many different testimonies. Some of them are competing testimonies about what's going on, different perspectives.

So many different people there, students, professors, notable patterns. notable pastors, theologians, things like that, who are there to observe. And everyone's kind of got a different take on it. I don't have time to give you all of those different perspectives, but I'll kind of give you a rundown of what's happening, a few of those perspectives. And then I'll just kind of give my encouragement and also some, let's see, I don't want to say words of caution, but just some things to consider and things to think about for the students who are there because I know they're Asbury, Asbury University students who listen to this

podcast. And I just want to make sure that I am encouraging you as much as possible. And what I know is a really exciting time at your university. So for those of you who don't know, Asbury is a private Christian university in Wilmer, Kentucky. It's got a Methodist background. And it is actually experienced revival quite a few times throughout its history. So this is not really necessarily anything new. Apparently previous revivals have occurred in 1905, 1908, 1921, 1950, 1958, 1970, 1992, 2006. And how they're kind of defining revival is that students are engaging in what is almost like a filibuster style confession and preaching, sharing the gospel, singing,

worshiping, and things like that. And this particular revival, as they are describing it, happened after a Wednesday, February 8 sermon by Speaker Reverend Zach Meerkrieps. And he is the Envision Leadership Coordinator at the Christian and Missionary Alliance. And he spoke on Romans 12, 13 through 14. And he simply talked about loving other people because God loves us. we have love because Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. And so that's how we show love to other people. And so I listened to some of this sermon and I got a rundown of it. It was a good sermon. I have to say I didn't know that this would be, if I were just listening to it, I wouldn't necessarily

say like this is the sermon to kick off some kind of revival. There wasn't some kind of call to repentance that happened there. There wasn't an explicit sharing of the gospel. Nevertheless, it does seem from the testimonies that I'm getting and the things that I'm seeing that the Holy Spirit is at work there and that people are feeling moved to believe the gospel, to confess their sins, and to worship the Lord. And for that, I praise God.

And I just want to play you a little clip that we have of what it looks like there. There. I mean, that's beautiful. It gives me the chills, honestly. If you're just listening to this, this is the entire auditorium at Asbury University completely filled. You see it not just with students, but with people of all kinds, people of all ages. They've got students from other campuses or other universities coming in. You've got people traveling all over, basically doing some kind of pilgrimage just to see what's going on in Asbury. And as I said, you've got a lot of kind of social media influencers, but you've also got a lot of pastors that are going there.

They're praying with students. They're sharing the gospel with students because as beautiful as this is. I mean, that was just a magnificent worship service. And every Christian in the world is celebrated and praising God. Whenever we see, saints come together and worship the Lord in just such a simple and beautiful way. Everyone wants to make sure that the Bible is being preached and that the gospel is being preached. And so you have a lot of teachers showing up to make sure that students have people to talk to, that they're pointed in the right direction, that they're pointed to scripture.

things like that because, of course, things that are called revivals sometimes, sometimes are just emotional experiences or even spiritual experiences where things kind of catch on like an emotional contagion and students feel like they have to be a part of it just because they're a friend are a part of it. And that's not necessarily any kind of revival. You're not seeing true heart change. You're not seeing true conversion or even true worship. And so what we're seeing here, though, is a lot of people reporting that truth is absolutely being shared and that they absolutely feel like God has authored this days long worship service there and that there is true repentance, true confession, true fellowship, true Holy Spirit inspired evangelism and preaching happening there.

And for that, I am so thankful. There was a theology professor who wrote an article for a Christianity today. He's a theology professor at Asbury University, and he says that he is seen in his career, in his life, efforts to manufacture revivals, movements of the spirit that are not only hollow but also harmful. He says, I don't want anything to do with that. But he says, truth be told, this is nothing like that. There is no pressure or hype. There's no manipulation. there is no high-pitched emotional fervor. That is comforting to me. Like I'll be honest, I'm not

someone who comes from some kind of any kind of charismatic background at all. I am Southern Baptist and there were a lot of Baptist revivals in the 70s and 80s, but the kind of church that I grew up in, the kind of worship that I saw and was a part of, it just wasn't hyper-emotional. I really wasn't like that. And I do tend to kind of approach these things with a little bit more skepticism. That doesn't mean criticism or anger. It just means a little bit more, a little bit more of a questioning spirit than to simply say, yes, this is 100% genuine. And so as I have seen testimonies come out from students, from theology professors like this one, and from pastors and people that I trust, going there in saying, yes, good work is happening here, evangelism is happening here. I have been

much more comforted and much more excited about what is going on there. I mean, praise God, praise God that this can be an example, not just for the student body there and not just for the people who are close by to Asbury, but really because of social media and because this is being amplified, this could really be an example for the country. So what God is doing there, who knows how this is going to multiply into something that can be widespread. And so there are a few outlets covering this, talking about how the worship services have gone on and on. Apparently, this is something where students are going in in the morning and they're staying all day. Usually it's a little bit of a thinner crowd in the morning. And then it's a larger crowd

during the afternoon. And it's basically just worshiping. People singing, people going on stage and sharing their testimony, people forgiving one another, confessing sins to one another. and and things like that. This is according to CBN News. Last Friday, Lee University campus pastor, Rob Fultz noted on Twitter, what's happening at Asbury is not and will not remain confined. It will and R.D. is awakening the deep wells of revival on campuses across the nation. They have been turning, pressing against the seals that have kept them hidden and they

are about to burst with new life. Now, as I said, I am not a charismatic. And I don't think that every part of charismatic theology is wrong or bad. In fact, I think that there's a lot to learn from it. I think sometimes in our kind of reformed circles, we can denigrate the Holy Spirit or we can belittle the equality of the Holy Spirit with the Father and Son. And so I think that there are things to appreciate about charismatic theology. However, I do think it is right in some ways to be so.

skeptical about some forms of not just charismatic theology, but also charismatic worship in how it does emphasize the emotional and the experiential and the subjective rather than the objective word of God. And so I do think that just judging from what some people have said who are attending there, that that is some of what's going on. There's going to be competing in these cases, in some cases, competing doctrine, competing denominational beliefs, competing styles and things like that. I am not at all hating on what's happening. I think that any genuine worship, any genuine repentance, any genuine confession, any preaching of the gospel, any preaching of God's word will not return void and will glorify the Lord and can change other

people's hearts, as I said, across the country. But what I have seen and something that does kind of me here is that you do have the NAR types, which is the new apostolic reformation types who are hyper charismatic, who believe that basically that apostles are going to lead the church and that they have to lead the church into these kind of revivals in order to usher in the end times. It is really not biblically based, and there can be a lot of emotional manipulation kind involved in that. I do worry about those types traveling to this revival and then taking advantage of what can be organic and genuine worship in an opportunistic way to try to either take credit for what's going on there, to gin up something that's not really happening,

to make something that is God glorifying into something that is no longer biblical and is no longer sincere. And so I think that you just, you have, you have that possibility when it comes to amazing experiences like this one, that unfortunately there will be wolves. There will be people who try to pray upon those who are in a very vulnerable state, who are in a very malleable state, and try to teach them things that simply aren't true. And so I simply have prayers for these students and for the people there that are in a very vulnerable moment that the Lord would just protect them, that even in moments of intense vulnerability, that they would have wisdom, that they would be able to discern, not just right from wrong, but right from almost right,

that they would be able to stand on the Word of God and that they wouldn't use their feelings as their guide, but that they would use scripture as their guide. Because these experiences and even emotions and things like that are not. bad. It's not bad to feel those things and to even be overwhelmed by those things, but we just have to remember where we are getting our truth, where we are getting our guidance. It's not guidance. It's not actually from our experiences and our feelings. It is actually from the Word of God. And the Holy Spirit, this is another thing we have to remember that the Holy Spirit is not going to contradict the Bible. You're not going to be led by God to do something that you can.

cannot find in God's Word. You're not going to be moved towards something that opposes God's word. And so we have to just make sure that we are aware of that. And that's another thing that I'm seeing. I'm actually seeing some progressives who call themselves progressive Christians who don't believe that homosexuality is a sin, who believe that it is possible to be the opposite gender. They are also going there. And they have reported publicly that they are excited about what's happening because they believe that this is leading to some quote unquote like queer affirming movement at Asbury University, that really confuses me. I will say I haven't seen that from anyone else. That's not really like a big fear or source of anxiety for me when it comes to this.

Because again, like if the gospel is really being preached and people are really relying on God's word, then the fruit that it bears will be good fruit. It won't be rotten fruit. It won't be on biblical fruit. And if this is really a movement of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will never convict people or move people to do something that opposes the Word of God. But as you can see, like anytime something is popular, anytime something is amplified on social media, anytime there is something good happening. And the Lord is working. Anytime emotions are involved or young people are involved or malleable hearts are involved,

like there is always going to be an opportunity for manipulation and false teaching and things like that. So I'm so excited about what the students are experiencing there. I'm so excited about the worship. I'm so excited about the confession. I'm so excited about the testimony sharing. And I just hope and pray that this bears fruit for years and years and years. And I hope it does spread like wildfire. And I'm also praying for the protection of the people who are involved.

I am praying that only the truth would be shared. I am praying that all deceit would be kept out. I am praying that God's flock would be protected from wolves. I am praying that people would stand strong, stand firm in their faith that is founded on Jesus and His word, and that they are able to discern between what they feel and what they know is true. We understand that the heart is deceitful. It is wicked. It is sick beyond comprehension.

And so we can't follow it. And that's the good thing about Christians who are really revived, Christians who are really made new. Christians who really do have the experiences of those that are being. had at Asbury, that we can have those experiences and we can feel those feelings, but at the end of the day, we don't have to follow them. And they are not necessarily indications of our holiness. They're not necessarily indications of sincere conversion. And that's just another thing that I want to say, too, is that for those who either went there and you're like, man, I didn't feel all the things that other people are feeling, or for those who you're in, you're not there. And you're looking at that

and you're like, well, I don't, I don't have those, I don't have those feelings. Like, I don't even want to read my Bible. I don't even want to sing. I don't even want to go to church. It's too hard to do those things right now. I'm feeling stale. Like, or I still am disciplined in those things, but I really just don't have the feelings that those people do.

Remember, those feelings are not an indication of your salvation or even your sanctification. Like our walking with the Lord doesn't always feel. It doesn't always feel good. It doesn't always feel easy. It's not always this overwhelming sense of joy. Sometimes it's really difficult. Sometimes it is just walking one foot in front of the other. And I just want you to know that that is just as genuine of Christianity.

And actually sometimes is a better indication of what your salvation and what your sanctification is and looks like than some of these emotional experiences. Again, I'm not hating on those emotional experiences because. I think that they can be really good. God gave us our emotions. However, I just want to encourage you that you always have access to quote unquote revival. You always have access to the Holy Spirit as a Christian. You always have access to God's presence as a Christian. You always have access to God's love as a Christian. You always have access to his wisdom. You always have access to his direction. You always have access to his prompting. You have that as a Christian everywhere. I heard Alisa Childers. She visited and she said it was a very sweet kind of worship service when she was there that she didn't necessarily feel any like

thing powerful but she didn't have any concerns about what was happening and I love how she kind of the phrase that she used to describe how some people erroneously think of these things and it's as a holy spirit hot spot that you have to go there in order to really feel the Holy Spirit or to be a part of the church or to be a part of something big and while it can be great to go there and encourage your fellow believers and to receive encouragement from them, it is not necessary to have the Holy Spirit, Christian. Like, if you are a Christian, you have been bought with a price, you have been made new, you are a new creation, you are a part of Christ's body, you are a part of Christ's church, you are

his son or his daughter, you are his heir, and he is just as much with you wherever you are in the depths of your loneliness or pain or whatever you. you are feeling as he is with those Asbury students. The Holy Spirit is not thicker there. He is not more focused there than he is on you. I think that he's doing an amazing thing there. But I just want to remind people that he is also with you. And that is good news.

I think that there is a time and a place for what we are calling revivals. There is a time at a place for this kind of collective relay or marathon rather of worship. And I think it's wonderful. I think it can be a light and a darkness, but I don't want you to think that you are missing out or that you don't have access to what they have access to because you are not physically there.

God is with you. You draw near to him. He will draw near to you. That is his promise. And isn't that amazing? So we can look to our brothers and sisters, our friend at Asbury University and say, thank you, Lord.

Thank you for what you're doing there. Please protect them. please hold them close please only allow truth to be shared please let all lies just fade away any opportunists any wolves and sheep's clothing anyone who is going to manipulate or misuse and abuse what is going on there please protect them from all of that but also lord thank you that you are not more present there than you are here with me right now thank you lord that you love me just as much you are with me just as much right now as I'm changing diapers, as I'm washing dishes, as I'm doing the mundane, as I'm sending emails from my marketing firm, whatever it is as you are with those

students who are just as pleased with me as someone who has been purchased by the blood of Jesus as you are with them. Thank you for what you're doing there, Lord. But please help me remember. Maybe this is your prayer that you are just as much here with me, that there is a revival in my own heart that is always accessible and is always possible. And you can always access God through the truth of His word. If you own a Bible, if you have the ability to pray, and if you are a Christian, then you are close to God. So just remember that, that you are also playing a part in whatever God is doing wherever you are, if you are a Christian, simply doing the next right thing in faith. Hey, this is Steve Deast. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the

biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed. You can watch this D-Day Show right here on Blaze TV

or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. Okay. So just a few things to consider. Let's see. How many points do I have? One, two, three, four short points. Actually, I think it's three short points.

And then I've got some scripture underneath it. So just some things to consider. One, revival, reinvigoration, conversion, must have Bible-based truth. Emotional experiences can come from confession and talking and singing. but changed hearts long-term fruit will come from the investment made by scripture and the gospel that is found in scripture. So just consider that. I know I've heard that you are hearing out there from the preachers and the teachers there. Praise God. Ignore anyone who brings to anything that you cannot find in the Bible. The second one, there's nothing wrong, as I've said many times down,

nothing wrong with emotions. They've been given to us by God, normal to have them, especially in overwhelming spiritual experiences. But they are not a guide. they are not conclusive. They are not the final say. They are not our indication of truth. They don't necessarily signify conversion. Emotional and even spiritual experiences do not equal conversion. So celebrate what's going on right now, absolutely, and make sure that there is a long-term investment, also not just in scripture reading, but also in discipleship and accountability and guard your doctrine closely.

Any experience involving emotion and vulnerability, as I've said, is fertile. ground for manipulation and opportunist. Emotion can be clarifying. They can also be distracting. They can blind us to truth. Pray for discernment. Not everyone who comes in the name of Christ is of Christ. Remember, even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

And you can tell I'm reading this. That's because I wrote them down. I wanted to make sure that I got him right. First, John 4-1, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world. So for anyone who says, this is kind of what I talked about with the whole he gets us thing, like people getting so angry when Christians exercise any discernment whatsoever.

It's like they think we're not supposed to be wise. We're not supposed to be able to tell false teaching from true teaching, but not only in 1st John, but also in Galatians, as we talked about earlier this week. Like, we are taken to task when we are undiscerning. We are told that we need to discern between false teaching, false spirits, true spirits, and true teaching. Go to God's word. does it align with what God's word says? If not reject it entirely, and the Holy Spirit can allow you to do that. James, four promises that God can give us wisdom when we ask for it. Wisdom is both a promise and a process.

We see in Proverbs that wisdom is a process. It's a discipline. It's something that we learn over time through experiences and through applying integrity and weighing the consequences of the different choices that we make, also through God's word, but it's also a promise that God guarantees you through the Holy Spirit. remember, you have access to that, students who are there and people who are not. I'm also reminded of Acts 2 when the Pentecost arrived. Everyone was gathered all in one place.

And the second verse says, suddenly there came from heaven to sound like a mighty rushing wind. And it filled the entire house where they were sitting. The divided tongues as a fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were filled all with the Holy Spirit. They began speaking in tongues. And they were made fun of. They were told that they were drunk. but Peter in verse 14 standing with the 11 lifted up his voice and addressed the men of Judea and all who dwell

in Jerusalem. Let this be known to you to give ear to my word for these people are not drunk. So it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel. And so then he uses scripture. He uses scripture, Old Testament scripture, to share the gospel and to show them what is true, to show them that Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecies that these Jewish people know. He explains it to them. He lays it all out. He says, being therefore a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, this is about David. He foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh seek corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we are all witnesses,

being therefore exalted at the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seen and hearing. And And then he finishes using, this is Psalm 16, I believe that he uses one of David's Psalms to finish out his explanation of the gospel and how Jesus is the culmination of everything that they believe. And here's what verse 37 says, now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, repent and be baptized every one of you.

by the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And then the rest of the chapter talks about how after hearing the gospel, founded in scripture, grounded in scripture, and realizing that they were guilty of unbelief, realizing that they were guilty of their sins, that something had to change, that they had to repent. And then they were baptized as a signifier of that heart change. They also changed their lives. They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship to the breaking of bread and prayers. And all came upon every soul. And many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. They were selling

their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had needs. So there are some lessons from this. One, that this, that revival, that heart change, the true conversion comes from the gospel. It comes from scripture. It comes from the Holy Spirit. And that it is also going to produce not just repentance, but also long-term fruit. It is going to produce life change. So it is too early right now to say whether or not there is long-term fruit from this. We can say that there are short-term fruit from this from what we see. We can say that there are good things happening. But right now, we need to pray that this conversion, that this preaching, that it produces long-term fruit. I think that it can and it will because we know that

the Word of God doesn't return void. So we practice discernment. We practice caution because that is what we are called biblically to do. We make our emotions subjected to God's words, subjected to Christ, and we look out for that long-term fruit. And, hey, mature Christians who are at Asbury University, you have a major responsibility of discipleship and accountability for those people who have experienced things here but aren't sure where to go next. You start a Bible study.

You start mentoring. You start discipling that girl. You start taking this very seriously because there's a lot of questions. And these people who now have questions about Christianity who didn't before are going to be pray for people who want them to believe things that are true. They're going to be asking their questions to TikTok. They're going to be asking their questions to Instagram. They're going to be going to all kinds of people. And Satan still will try to get their hearts.

He will still try to deceive them. He will still try to lie to them and move them toward that which is not true. God has placed you there to help guide these people towards truth and light. you have a major responsibility, mature Christians, students, ministers at Asbury University to make sure that these students are led towards the truth. Pray that the Holy Spirit would empower you to do that. I know that you can because I know God and he is good and he is sovereign. He is powerfully working in your life. And thank you to everyone who is there sharing the gospel, sharing the truth, preaching God's word and worshiping truly in the spirit of Christ. Yes and amen. I pray for this. I pray for true

conversion and true awakenings to happen across the country, not just at universities, but everywhere. Man, we need it. All right. Let's move on to the next thing. I don't know if we're going to be able to get into everything that I want to talk about. Today, we've got a long list of things that I want to discuss. But I do. This is a totally different subject, all right? So just like, pause. Let's pause for a second so we can like just reorient ourselves. Chelsea Handler. All right. Let's let's move on to Chelsea Handler and the things that she is talking about. We went from revival to Chelsea Handler to her making these videos talking about how happy she is and how excited she is that she is not a mom. Now she is actually a mom. She is actually.

And I know this is controversial to say. People will probably be mad that I'm saying this, but she is a mom because she has talked about having three abortions. So she's a mother of three, actually. She will never stop being a mom. She never stopped being a mom. She had three babies who she allowed to be killed. And so just because your babies died and were killed doesn't mean that you stopped being a mother.

you have actually mothered three children. And that has, I mean, that has eternal implications because souls are forever. And so while Chelsea Handler says that she's not a mother, what she means is that she's not a mother to any living children. And she is celebrating that in a very callous way. And of course, it's kind of played off as a joke. She did this bit for Trevor Noah's Daily Show, where she shows a day in the life of Chelsea Handler, how amazing it is to be childless. Now, I will say, let me just warn you before I play this. I would not play this around your kids. She says a couple things right there at the beginning that

she does throughout her day that they're not cuss words, so I didn't bleep them out, but they're also not appropriate for kids. So that's my warning. But just to give a full understanding of what Chelsea Handler does without kids, here it is. This is a day in the life of a childless woman. I wake up at 6 a.m. I remember that I have no kids to take to school, so I take an edible, masturbate, and go back to sleep. I wake up at 1230 p.m. and get ready for a busy day of doing whatever the fuck I feel like. I put on my most impractical and stylish shoes since I won't be chasing a child around the grocery store. I go to my fave spot in Paris to grab a croissant. I do a meditation session on the plane since I have no screaming

kids, allowing me all the time in the world to become enlightened. The weightlessness of my existence has granted me superhuman powers. I teleport myself back home. Then I get ready for a night out with whatever hot guy I met on Raya that morning. I call up a babysitter and tell her that I don't need her since I still don't have kids. Now it's time for a workout, so I hit Mount Everest for a quick climb. I invent a time machine. Go back in time and kill Hitler. Freeze, you bastard. It's amazing what you can do when you have this much free time. And that's a day in the life of a childless woman. Okay, so I get it's supposed to be a joke. I mean, I think that that could have been funny. Like, I think that there's probably a way that she could have made that humorous, but I literally

did not crack a smile because it wasn't funny. I am, I find things funny sometimes that are offensive to me. For example, I think Ricky Jervase is so funny. And yet he says things about Christianity and even babies that I find offensive. And yet I'm like, I get how that is funny and super clever and the delivery is good. That wasn't at all. That just like, well, that was so cringe in so many ways. There's so much I have to say about this. First of all, this is not the life of a childless person. This is just the life of a rich person. You think a childless person who doesn't have millions and millions of dollars can do something like this. You think they can, you know, go to Paris and all of these things. This is not, you're not able to do these things because you're childless. Because someone with

as much money as you, you would just hire a nanny and you would still do all of these things. Anyway, that's point number one. This is the life of a rich person. It's not the life of a childless person. So hardy hard. And then number two, girl, Chels, you're 47. You're 47. You're Child could literally be graduated from college and in her second year working at a marketing firm. All right. Like your kids could be grown and married by now. Okay. So like your joke about like running around, not having to run around and like chase your kids through the grocery store or not have to worry about screaming kids in the airplanes.

you cannot physically probably even have a toddler. All right? So like your kids could literally be in their 20s and you could be doing all of these things. You could be doing all the things that you're talking about because your kids would be adults or pretty autonomous anyway. So like she says this kind of stuff a lot. Like oh, I'm so glad I don't have babies. Sweetheart, you're almost half a century old. And I'm not saying that it's bad. I'm not saying that it's bad. I'm not saying that it's bad. to be 47. We're all going to be 47 one day, okay? I mean, all of us who are not 47 yet, we're going to be 47, we're going to be 50. I think it is a gracious gift of God to age and to get old and to do all of those things. So I am not hating on that at all. I'm just saying like she

doesn't even have a proper understanding of what her motherhood responsibilities would actually be at this point. You would have, again, all the autonomy to do everything that you want to do. here she just wants to emphasize this she's not defensive at all guys she's totally confident at her decision um she's guest hosting comedy central's the daily show and she's just re-emphasizing guys she does not want kids totally comfortable with her decision here she is one thing that i have made abundantly clear is that i do not want children i say it on stage i say it in interviews it's the first thing i say to myself in the mirror when i wake up each morning right before i tell myself God, you're a dynamic woman.

Kids don't respect me, and quite frankly, the feeling is mutual. And the fact is, there are millions of women just like me, but for some reason, every single one of us at some point in our lives, is shamed by society for not wanting a baby. But these Fox News trolls are right about one thing. I am miserable. In fact, I was just scrolling through my Instagram feed the other day, realizing how miserable I am. I'm miserable on the beach.

And then here I am miserable on the top of a mountain. and then here I am miserable scuba diving. And then I'm miserable again smoking a joint in a hot tub. Every day is truly a new circle of hell for me. The simple truth is that I'm not having a kid because I'm happier without them. I don't know about you, but that just screams confidence and security to me. She seems like she is so happy about her decisions that she's not miserable at all. She's not at all defensive or anything.

She doesn't feel like she has to justify her choices to anyone. I mean, she's just so secure in what she chose. Look, secure people don't feel like they constantly have to talk about their choices. But, you know, it's funny because when I posted about it on Twitter, you know, just saying she's ridiculous and no one wants to be you. she a lot of people were like why you know why are you so obsessed or why are people why are conservatives so obsessed with her choices about her kids why are they so obsessed with whether or not they have why are they all say that she should be exactly like them why is she so obsessed with it she's the one who talks about it all the time i would have never given a thought or had a comment

about whether or not chelsea handler had kids i don't care in fact i it doesn't really seem like she would be the best or kindest or most compassionate mother, just to be honest, although I think she probably could have been if she would have allowed her kids to live and would have loved them and raised them and all of that. But I mean, I don't care what she does. She's the one who's constantly talking about it. She's the one who is constantly talking about how we moms are so miserable, how we have such a difficult life, how we can't do all of the things that she gets to do. She is the one who has obsessed with our reproductive decisions, it's not the other way around.

She's the one who's constantly talking about it. I am not obsessed with what Chelsea Handler, you know, with what she does and whether or not she decides to have a child. She is constantly talking about it and celebrating it. And in doing so, putting down motherhood, denigrating, motherhood constantly and talking about how awful kids are. Like, I really, you know, it's one thing to say you're confident in your decision, that's that.

And while I do think that Christians who are married, should, if possible, have children, whether that's biological or through adoption. I do think that that is a call that we have and we really need to analyze our hearts and look into our hearts to ask ourselves why we don't want kids or why we're not having kids. But like for single people, like that's not a calling that you have. It's not a responsibility that you have. Okay. And Chelsea Handler is also not a Christian.

So I don't expect her to like see, be fruitful and multiply the same way I do. but you don't have to be so mean about children. People who are mean about children or mean to children are mean to people or mean to old people. Like, I know that this is not a virtuous impulse, okay? So I'm not justifying it.

But people who are bullies to those group of people, I really want to bully them. I really want to bully them back. Because you're picking on people who can't defend themselves, who can't help being the way that they are. And yet you're picking on them because they are powerless. And so, like, I really think that she needs to be bullied. Again, not a virtuous Christian impulse. I understand that. I

understand. Unless she repents, she's got a lot coming her way for all of eternity. So I don't need to worry about her getting her recompense right now. But I really do not like people who bully those who cannot defend themselves like kids and old people and people with special needs. I think that they should be made to feel really small and really dumb. I'll be praying about that, seeing if the Lord can help me not feel that way. But I do. She really bothers me because I think she is so mean-spirited towards children. And by the way, you can do all of the things that she's talking about. You can do all of those things, not all of those things, but you can do a lot of those things in your life. I mean, some of them you don't want to do because they're immoral, but you can do a lot of

those things. You have a lot of freedom when your kids go down to sleep. You have, you can go on vacations and things like that. It's true. Every mom needs a break. Every mom wants a break. All right. I'm not saying it's not hard. I'm not saying it's not difficult. I'm not saying you don't give things up. You do sacrifice a lot. But to pretend that it's constant misery, that it's a constant burden. It just isn't true. And by the way, also just a wrong way of looking at things because sacrifice is actually good. It actually makes life purposeful. It actually makes life fulfilling. It actually gives you more long-term joy than constantly serving yourself does. I mean, she worships herself. She has become an idol for herself,

and we know where that ends, not just temporally in this life, but also eternally. And so she can say that she's not miserable all she wants to, but we understand that since she doesn't have joy from Christ, like we know that she's got a deficit of joy and satisfaction. And that's actually why she feels the need to constantly tell people that she's happy and she's fulfilled because she has all this money because she's probably actually really struggling. So as much as I would just like to bully her and make her feel bad about herself, since she feels, since she's so mean to other people and mean to people who can't offend themselves, really we should just be praying for her. Because that's honestly like the best change that we could possibly see that she would, that she would repent and that

to Christ and that she would feel guilt for how she treats this group of people and also just her life in general. She has another section of her new Netflix special where she's talking about how terrible motherhood is, where she tells her brother, like, you shouldn't be a parent. This is something she does a lot. This is not just, not just talking about these two things. Like she's constantly talking about how awesome it is to not have kids and how terrible kids are and things like that. So this is like her shtick. Again, this is not something that indicates like a healthy, happy woman. And I'm afraid that this kind of, this kind of schick and this kind of example is leading a lot of young girls into thinking that they will be happier and more fulfilled, the less

sacrifice, the less inconvenience, the less responsibility that they have in their lives. I promise you, the opposite will be true. There's a study that I can only, I only have time to mention really quickly about young girls and how depressed they are. And I think this kind of example that they're seen in celebrities like Chelsea Handler, I think it has a big role to play in that. Okay, so the Wall Street Journal reported on this and maybe I'll have time to talk about this more on a future episode, but teen girls experiencing record levels of sadness and suicide risk, CDC says. A CDC report, according to the Wall Street Journal, shows concerning increased and sadness and exposure to violence among teen girls. Nearly three out of five high school girls in the U.S. who were surveyed reported feelings of persistent sadness or hopelessness in 2021, a roughly 60% increase over the past decade. Yeah, it's social media. It's TikTok. It's pornography. It's purposelessness. It's joylessness. It's friendlessness. It's the pressure either to be a super sexualized girl at a young age or to not be a girl at all at a young age.

it's in some cases, not all, but in some cases it's parents who are derelict parents, who allow their kids to be on social media, who allow their minds to be sucked in by things that are unhealthy, who allow them to have examples on social media and in Hollywood that are simply not good for them, allow them to be sexualized at a super young age, allow them to grow up too fast, and in some ways stay adolescents for way too long. I think that's probably one, like one phenomenon that we're seeing, on the one hand, You've got parents who are not protective at all when it comes to technology and what their kids are consuming, but are hyper-protective when it comes to their physical safety to the point of being beyond rational. And so you have kids who are have stunted growth in a lot of ways when it comes to their problem-solving skills, to their maturity, but are way to advance when it comes to what they've been exposed to sexually with violence and just the problems of the world also weighed down with politics.

When I was in high school, we didn't think about politics. I remember when Barack Obama became president. watched his inauguration on my high school. That's, and I remember 9-11. Like, really, that's basically it. We didn't talk about abortion. We certainly didn't know what transgenderism was. We didn't really talk about, quote-unquote, gay marriage. That wasn't even really, like, a thing.

We didn't have to worry. We didn't have the weight of the world on our shoulders. And I'm talking like, I was in high school, 2006 to 2010. So it's not all that long ago. But it was before the dawn of all of this technology that has made, even adults feel like we have to be everywhere at once and care about everything all of the time. we as adults with our frontal lobe already developed we have a hard time like filtering through all of the information that we see the actual the the sexual pornography and then you've got the fear

pornography that you have and it's a lot of it's it's a lot of stimuli all the time a lot of information a lot of things to think about a lot of things to be anxious about and I remember being in that stage being self-conscious about my body and you you know, feeling, you know, maybe left out by some friends or wanting to hang out with some people that I felt were cooler than me. And that was without social media. We had Facebook in high school, but it was, you know, basically nothing. Like you could write on people's wall and post some pictures. But I can't imagine being a teenager, feeling all those very natural things, being self-conscious, being insecure, comparing yourself to others, feeling left out, feeling like you don't fit in.

And seeing that displayed on social media, on Snapchat. So not only do you find out like a week later, oh, you weren't invited to that party or that sleepover or whatever, you actually see it in the moment when you were sitting there by yourself scrolling through social media already feeling terrible. And then you see on Snapchat all your friends got together and they're sending me and stuff or they're having fun without you or whatever it is or all of it. It's just so much. It's too much for kids to be able to wait through, especially for young girls who already have it harder, I think, when they're teenagers. So like parents, if you can, please get your kids off of social media. I know you might think it's too late because you've got a 16 or 17 year old, but you are still the parent and is your responsibility to steward them.

I'm not saying that we can't expose them to things in a way that is controlled and helpful and in a way that we can actually guide them and show them what's right and wrong. But when we allow them to seek celebrities and social media as their guide, we cannot be surprised when their morality and their view of themselves in the world is completely warped. I really don't think that people should have social media until they're 18 years old. Maybe 16, although I have a hard time seeing the benefit in that. Now, I think that we can teach them about social media before that, so it's not completely like wild, wild west to them when they leave the house, maybe for college or whatever. But I don't think the maturity is there. I just don't.

I just don't think the teenagers should have those devices in their phones. They can't or in their hands. They cannot handle it. and we see across the board that these girls are really struggling. Among the teenagers survey, girls were more likely to experience sexual violence the CDC found. 18% of girls in high school said they experienced sexual violence in the past year compared with 15% in 2017.

That was the first year they began to monitor that trend. And that has gone up drastically, I think in large part, because of pornography, the pervasiveness of it. Young boys are seeing that. Young girls are seeing that. So girls think that they have to do what they say. see in porn. Boys think that the girls need to do what they see in porn. So you're seeing trends, even on TikTok, of girls talking about liking being choked in sex when they're 16 years old.

I mean, it's sick. Parents, what are we doing? What are we doing? Get your kids off TikTok. There's no net benefit. All right? Get your kids off Instagram. Make them go touch grass. Okay? Like, people don't understand how great it was to be a kid. And like the 90s and 2000s and people. And of course, it can be hard. I'm not saying it's perfect. And, you know, I wasn't obviously alive in the 70s and 80s, but people talking about being a kid then and how amazing it was. Even people talking about how great the 50s was. I mean, but all like the connection is that we were outside a lot more and we were doing things more. And we just had a lot more freedom in some ways. I mean, I had protective parents when it came to like what I watched and things like that. But man, we didn't have.

the weight of the world and the weight of technology on our shoulders and I want that for kids today, but parents is our job. Our kids aren't going to naturally discipline themselves because they don't have the capacity to. So I think that's a huge part of the depression that we are seeing. I think depression in itself can also be a social contagion, which is exacerbated by social media. And it's not helped by people like Chelsea Handler, who are terrible, terrible examples. However, just to loop it all back, then you've got amazing revivals, hopefully. at places like Asbury, and you see how there is hope, how God can do things in this younger generation and not all hope is lost. And so Lord help us. Lord help this generation. May they be

the generation that changes things for the better. Please God. Okay, tomorrow, finally, we are going to be talking about the story that I saw a couple weeks ago about women being used, dead women or brain dead women, brain dead women being used as surrogates. What? And what this all says, I'm going to have a guess who's going to talk about that. All right. Thanks so much for listening. We will be back here tomorrow. 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. 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.