Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 906 | Time to Boycott Scholastic Books | Guest: Kirk Cameron

Episode Date: November 13, 2023

Today we're joined by our friend Kirk Cameron to talk about his new book, "The Fox, the Fair, and the Invention Scare," as well as the rise of inappropriate books for children in schools and why it matters to fight back. First, we recap our last conversation with Kirk, in which he declared public schools enemy number one. Is this still the case, and what should Christians who work in public schools do to combat the ever-growing hostility toward their worldview? We look at where inappropriate children's books are coming from and explain how Scholastic Books is a wolf in sheep's clothing attempting to force gender ideology books among the books we know and love. Kirk shares about his alternative to Scholastic Book Fairs, SkyTree Books Fairs, and we discuss why he feels to passionately about this subject and why it's so important for us as Christians to stand against the indoctrination of kids. We end with some encouragement on creating good soil for our children and the optimism we can have. --- Timecodes: (01:12) Public education (07:30) Scholastic Books (13:06) Sky Tree book fairs (14:30) How did Scholastic get to this point? (16:30) People who say it’s unloving to get involved (22:33) Why Kirk speaks up  (30:01) Christian influence (41:17) Good soil for our children (49:01) Kirk’s new book --- Today's Sponsors: Good Ranchers — get $30 OFF your box today at GoodRanchers.com – make sure to use code 'ALLIE' when you subscribe. You'll also lock in your price for two full years with a subscription to Good Ranchers! Range Leather — highest quality leather, age old techniques and all backed up with a “forever guarantee." Go to rangeleather.com and use coupon code "ALLIE" to receive 15% off your first order. PublicSq. — download the PublicSq app from the App Store or Google Play, create a free account, and begin your search for freedom-loving businesses! Patriot Mobile — go to PatriotMobile.com/ALLIE or call 878-PATRIOT and use promo code 'ALLIE' to get free activation! --- Relevant Episodes: Ep 618 | Kirk Cameron on Homeschooling & Raising Godly Kids https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-618-kirk-cameron-on-homeschooling-raising-godly-kids/id1359249098?i=1000561947796 Ep 721 | C*vid Jab or Death, Drag Queens or Bust | Guests: Kirk Cameron, Chrissy & Lee Hick https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-721-covid-jab-or-death-drag-queens-or-bust-guests/id1359249098?i=1000589465209 --- 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. Kirk Cameron is here with us today and we are going to talk about all kinds of things. Yes, the darkness and the craziness that's going on in the world specifically in our schools. And also very disturbingly at Scholastic Books. They are promoting books that encourage gender transition and show pornography to kids in schools. He's going to talk about the alternative that he is building and has built to that. But really more than anything, Kurt Cameron is here to encourage us today. Encourage us as parents.

Encourage us as Christians. I mean, it's a whole sermon, everything that he says. You are going to leave this episode. And rather than feeling like, oh my gosh, I'm just down about the state of the world, you are going to feel completely on fire. The hope and the optimism that he gives through the power of the gospel and just biblical truths is going to be such a comfort to you. you, it certainly was for me. You're going to love this conversation so much with Kirk Cameron.

This episode is brought to you by our friends at Good Ranchers. Go to Good Ranchers.com. Use code Allie at checkout. That's good ranchers.com. Code Allie. Kirk, thanks so much for joining us in person. I'm excited to be here. Yes. I'm so glad that you're here. Last time you were here, we were just talking about this. You kind of made headlines for saying something about public school. Do you remember? Yeah, it was something along the lines of public education. is public enemy number one. Oh. When it comes to parents and what their kids are being taught.

Do you still think that? Do you stand by it? Unfortunately, I do, and I say that as somebody who is so grateful for public school teachers. My dad's a public school teacher. My grandmother and my grandpa are public school teachers. And I know so many good ones who are trying to reach these kids, but they're working within the context of a system that is so stacked against them. And the good public schools that remain out there and the little towns out there in the stick somewhere

that haven't been totally hijacked and infiltrated by Marxism, socialism, all of that. I'm afraid it won't last that long because of the funding, because of the source of the materials, the curriculums that come in there. And eventually, you know, I think it's going to come down to parents have to take. take back that sacred duty of educating their children in and not just farming them out for seven hours a day. Yeah. To a place where they don't know what's being taught to their kids. Right.

My mom, also public school teacher, my grandmother, public school teacher. I have a lot of respect for them too. And I get a lot of messages from Christian public school teachers asking me, what should I do? You know, part of me wants to stay here because I love these kids and I want to be light and a darkness. And they're thinking, I might be the only Christian that these kids know. or they're also thinking, I don't want to be a part of this because I'm in a system like you were saying where I really can't not go along with some of this curriculum and things like that. So in your personal opinion, what should these Christians teachers do?

I know it's individual, maybe case by case, but like what's your encouragement and advice for them? Yeah. Well, sometimes, here's what I want to help people, individuals, and institutions as much as I can help them. However, if a certain way of doing things is fundamentally flawed, I think we're going to be sort of hobbling around trying to fix something when we would be much better off like taking it on the chin right now

and getting back to the way things are supposed to be. So when I say that, thinking about those public school teachers who are saying, look, I'm not going to do some of the things that they tell me to I'm not going to teach this stuff, but then I'm going to get fired. So I got to go along with it. And then, you know, but at least I'm a little light in this giant darkness. But you know what I found is that when parents have pulled their children out of school and said, we want something better, the home education market is now looking for great teachers to come out of the public school system and join them and start new schools at churches or community co-op.

and other things. And what I'm finding is that those teachers are now finding very fertile ground to teach all the stuff that they want to teach within these networks and home co-ops because the parents and the kids are on board with the same ideas. So it's scary to leave things you know and you're familiar with and maybe there's the sure paycheck. But I think at the end of the day, like if we keep going down that road, where will it lead our children? I think we, know where it ends. Public education, Horace Mann style from the very beginning is all fueled by the humanist manifesto and a design of removing biblical Christianity from the hearts and minds of children.

That is the goal. And you begin to sexualize children in schools with materials like I've been talking about here coming from Scholastic. That further separates children from their parents and gets them going down roads that are not just about liberty to choose what gender I am, but it's actually leading to the destruction of these children in body, mind, and spirit, and the institution of the family, I believe. Yeah.

Yeah, let's talk about that a little bit because, obviously, I've talked quite a bit on this show about the importance of Christian education, whether it's a Christian school, traditional Christian school, or it's home education, and the importance of disciplining our kids in that way. It's really a choice of whether you want your kids to get 40, plus hours a week of anti-biblical education or 40-plus hours a week of biblical education. I mean, that's the choice really that we have. There's not really a middle ground, especially today. But some people say, it's not that bad. Or my district isn't doing that. My district,

I know all the teachers and all the administrators in my district, and they're all on the same page and they would never introduce some of this, you know, gender stuff or anti-biblical ideas. I know what I would say to those parents, but what would you say to that? So I don't want to tell anybody what you should do with your children. Just I wouldn't want anyone telling me what to do with my kids. But the government will tell you what to do with your children. That's the inevitable, inescapable reality if your kids are going to a school that's being funded by the government. And if you've got a great district and you know your administrators, that's good.

But here's what I've found. I'm looking at all the videos of the moms and the dads at the school board meetings, yelling at the leadership on the board of education there at their school going, this material, and they got the big, you know, the big cardboard cutout of the pages that are obscene and sexual in nature. And the cop comes over,

shuts them down and says, you can't show this stuff. Right. Right. Or you're a domestic terrorist for even saying these things. I'm thinking to myself, well, where's this material coming from? I mean,

who's publishing this stuff? Are these just bad district, you know, superintendents? Are these just bad librarians who are sneaking this stuff in? It turns out many of them don't even know that it's in their own libraries and schools because there's a wolf in sheep's clothing that is the world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books and curriculum, and it's called Scholastic. That's that company we've all grown up with and loved. They're book fairs.

You buy your favorite books for summer reading. schools love them because they're easy, they're inexpensive, and they get a kickback from the sales of the books to help with their school budgets. So this is all a win-win for Scholastic in the school and the library, except these benign looking book covers are actually laced with obscene, sexually explicit, pornographic material, and I'm not exaggerating. That's why I bought the books. I've read them. I saw it with my own eyes. We're talking about, nudity, sex acts, young minors showing off, you know, top surgery scars, and in the middle of the act, asking to please treat me like a boy, not like a girl this time. In these books

that are in libraries, accessible to children, they're marketed to children, eight to 12 years old, that's second to sixth grade. Eight to 12 years old and younger, they're encouraging. littles to explore the world of drag in movies like Julian is a mermaid. This one is called Welcome to St. Hell, my trans teen misadventure, written by a girl named Lois, who now goes as Lewis, Alex Gino. This is Rick. You wrote another one, Melissa, stars in their eyes. These are all books that are morally dangerous. They're gender confusing, and some of them are sexually explicit to the point where when we put an ad for the alternative we're offering to these types of books that contain these pictures, meta shut down the post

because it violated their obscenity guidelines. Wow. Now, the conservative Christian company meta. Yeah. No, they're not. And they shut it down because it violated their adult standards of in. inappropriate obscenities. And this stuff is being marketed to children. Yes. And just for people who are only listening, you can't see the covers. It's very obvious that this is trying to target children

because they're cartoons. They've got the bright colors. I guess they're supposed to look innocent. And if you're a kid who doesn't know what the rainbow stands for or what these things are, maybe you would grab it or maybe you know it's a little bit different than what your parents would allow you to read. And so you'll grab it and read it. And then those images, those words are stuck in your mind. That's what porn does. That's right. And if there's any question, you can read the reviews of

these books and you'll find that children say, I didn't even know what trans was. Now I am trans. Because of this book. It's grooming. It's 100% grooming. 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 Steve Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. What we've done is we've created a PDF that you can go to on the website, download it for free, and it documents all of the book covers, the pages, and the images and descriptions of how to use hormones as your own personal manual to grow your own male sex organs if you're a girl. All of this stuff is in the PDF so that you can see it with your own eyes. then show your your your your mom friends your dad friends what's going on inside of your school and i guarantee you that it's there why because scholastic is not just the thousand pound gorilla in the book space for kids they are the space they're they've monopolized it hardly anyone can compete

uh until now yeah we've we've got an alternative that uh over 700 schools are already participating in yeah tell me about that so what's the website and um how can they access the PDF the website is skytree bookfares.org. So Skytree is a brand new nonprofit that was really inspired out of this library reading tour that I did this last year where I was reading books in public schools, Contra the Drag Queen Story Hours. And one concerned mom said,

hey, let's create an alternative to these harmful scholastic book fairs. And it's called Skytree bookfares. So if you go there, there's the PDF that you can download and instructions on how to replace harmful scholastic book fairs in your library or school with wholesome sky tree book fairs. And our first one is next month. It's in Spotsylvania, Virginia. The superintendent of the district is thrilled out of his mind that we're finally able to do

this. And this is a public school. Wow. We have 700 of them already in the process. filled out the application, and they are going to be turning things around in their district, in their school, and you can too. Wow. Okay.

So this is the competitor to Scholastic, who has never really had a competitor, right? Not really. There's a few here and there, but the books are expensive. Scholastic is cheap, right? Everything's printed in China for pennies. And then the schools get kickbacks from them when they sell them. So it's a no-brainer to go with Scholastic. Right.

So Scholastic, just so I understand it, is publishing the books? They're publishing the books. and distributing the books. Right. And do we know how Scholastic, maybe this is something that someone can investigate, how Scholastic got to this point?

I mean, I'm sure, just like everything else in the past 20 years, it's changed a lot. I mean, to go from, you know, just something that, I guess, was innocuous. James and the Giant Peach,

Stuart Little, all these great books. Yeah, to this, to pornography for kids, to encouraging girls to chop off their healthy breasts when they're between 8 to 12 years old, I mean, that's even.

It really, it really truly is. And they've been around for over 100 years. They're a billion dollar company. They're publicly traded. And guess who their two biggest stakeholders are for Scholastic. I can guess, but why don't you tell me? Vanguard and BlackRock. Oh, wow.

Really? Those little guys? Shocking. So for those who aren't familiar with them, these are massive, you know, they have massive amounts of money and can put massive amounts of pressure on companies. like Target, like Bud Light, like whoever, including Scholastic, to go down this road of wokeness that includes SEG, DEI, all this stuff. And ultimately, what does this end up doing? It's billions of dollars behind separating children from their parents by sexualizing them

when they're young. We have federal laws against the distribution of pornographic and obscene material to minors that's punishable by fines and imprisonment. And just because you put that material and label it educational with colors and rainbows and cartoons doesn't make it any less obscene or any less harmful. I'm very concerned about child trafficking. I'm very concerned about males in girls' bathroom, showers, and locker rooms. All of that is being normalized by books like this. Yeah. You know, something that really just disappoints me and discourages me. While there are so many parents and so many Christians that are speaking up about this stuff and I'm very thankful for it. It's very often the Christians that I get pushed back from saying it's not that big of a deal.

We don't need to, you know, we don't need to raise a ruckus about this. We just need to be a kind of quiet presence in the public school system or they just deny that it's happening and they're afraid that it's unloving to talk about these issues. I mean, that makes me really sad. Yeah, that gets, that lights my fire. when I hear things like that and when you say that because I know the hard work that you're doing. I mean, here you are, Allie Beth Stucky. You're a mom. You have your priorities straight and you're taking your time to have these kind of conversations about things that you'd rather not even be talking about.

And why? It's because all that it takes for evil to advance is for good people to do nothing. And I think that I know that eventually people wake up from their, fogginess, their stupor that's often driven by apathy or complacency or they don't want to ruffle any feathers with their family members or their peers. They don't want to lose their job. And I get it. I don't want to, I don't like any of that stuff either. But you know what I'm more afraid of than losing my job or a friendship? I'm more concerned about my children being and grandchildren being taken away from their parents by the government and injected with things that they say

they need to have and educated in worldviews that make them hate God, hate the family, and hate this country. That's a reality. Just look at China. Just look at North Korea. Just look at countries that are getting away from a biblical worldview and moving toward is honestly what Scholastic is leading us toward. And that's nothing more than following the public school trail as it's started from the beginning with Horace Mann and the Humanist Manifesto and John Dewee and all of these. The whole plan was to get your kids for seven hours a day under the discipleship of trained professional teachers because you mom and dad are not equipped to educate your children. And that's just not only wrong and it's evil.

And that's exactly what it is. It's discipleship. I think some Sometimes we forget that, that all education is discipleship. So it just comes down to who do you want disciplining your kids? And what do you want them disciplining them toward or with? And all education is also indoctrination. You are putting doctrines in someone's mind when you were teaching them. So good. So true.

And so it just, it depends. What doctrines do you want placed inside your child's mind? that will lead you to the right choice about what education they should have. Yeah, Alia, I'm so glad you're helping us to see that because we've been duped by letting people have control over words. So you're right. All education is putting doctrines inside of somebody's mind. And that sacred task of nourishing and protecting our children's hearts and minds was given to parents.

parents. So why are we outsourcing the most important part of parenting to a government institution that we know is often not telling us the truth and are fundamentally trying to usurp our position as the authority in their life? They're not here to help you. They're really not. Now, that doesn't mean that government is bad. I think that government is critical and we need men and women of character and faith in those positions because evil is real. We need to restrain and hold back evil so that the good can flourish. And that's why we need to be involved in all these things. But the family is the fundamental building block of a good society. Your public school can't create virtue in your children. It's about more than data and information. Siri has lots of knowledge,

but she has no wisdom. Moms have wisdom. Dads have wisdom. Dads have wisdom. your kids need a fear of the Lord without that they're toast in this world but with it and a mom and dad who lead by example in a family man there is so much hope for your kids going back to something that you said about me having these conversations even though I would rather not be talking about this crazy stuff like what's in those books but I think that's even truer about you you've had a very successful acting career and yet here you are talking about these things. Your kids are grown. You said, I think your youngest is 19 and yet you are dedicating your time and your energy and your wisdom into an issue that

affects, you know, kids, my kids age. And so why? Why are you traveling the country fighting against things like scholastic and drag queen story hour when, you know what, you didn't have to do that? Because it's important. I don't want to be, you know, I don't want to be the out of shape couch potatoes sitting around just watching Fox News with my head in my hands, crying in my chick-fil-a soup while the world crumbles waiting for the rapture. That's just not going to be me. I don't want to rust out in these years that I have on this earth. I want to burn out. I want to go out as a ball of fire.

Yeah. And I just recognize more and more that our hope is not in who governs us or the laws that we make as a nation. Our hope is in the power of God working in the hearts of moms, moms and dads and grandparents. And that's what I want to do. There's a quote that I love. There's a couple that I've committed to memory. One is from Middle Earth. May I quote Gandalf the Grey from Lord of the Rings.

He says this. After great evil has come upon them, he said, other evils there are that shall come. For even Sauron himself is a servant or an emissary. Yet it is not our task to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us. for the help of those years wherein we have been set uprooting the evil in the fields we know so that those who live after us

will have clean earth to till and what weather they shall have is not ours to rule that puts into perspective and frames for me my task I can't stop the world economic forum from doing what they're doing I can't stop big food big pharma big books like scholastic

I can't I'm a guy. I'm one man. But I can do everything in my power while I have breath on this earth for the help of this generation and uproot some evil in the field I know through the media. And I can plant some seeds of goodness and truth and beauty. That's what we're doing right now. That's what you're doing every single day on this podcast. So that those who live after us, that's our kids and grandkids, will have cleaner earth to till and build. on. They can build worlds that may only be possible because of us pulling up some rocks of of garbage and evil. And they'll be prepared for the weather that God sends their way politically, economically, morally and spiritually. Why? Because they grew up with moms like you and dad's like your husband. And they're reading good books. And they're benefiting from the faithfulness of people who didn't sit on the couch and rushed out, but kicked it into gear and said,

let's do everything we can. That's so good. I'm going to remember that. I'm going to have to print out that quote. It's a good quote. It's a great quote. Whenever you see a guy with a long gray beard and a wizard hat.

And that happens a lot. I run into those wizards a lot. It reminds me, though, of Jeremiah 29. And a lot of people know Jeremiah 2911, for I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, but really the whole chapter I think is encouraging, talking to Israel, who was in exile in Babylon at the time. And while they're in exile, God is telling them, seek the welfare of the city that I have placed you in. Have children. Build things. Do good. Seek the good of your neighbor. Well, we who are Christians

are in exile in this life while we are here on earth and we are to seek the welfare of the city that we are placed in. We can't control everything is exactly what you said. I loved that. Can't control everything that happens in the world and something about social media and the 24-minute news cycle that we're in makes us feel like we have to. So there's some burnout, there's some overwhelm because we are constantly bombarded with every horrific thing that's happening in the world all at once. And the only person, the only one that has the capacity to handle all that is God, the omnipotent one, the omniscient one. He is the only one that can handle knowing everything that's happening and caring about everything that's happening at once. We can't. And so I think remembering

our finiteness, remembering that we have a limited capacity, that we were placed on this tiny speck of eternity for a purpose, for a reason that our birthday was not arbitrary. And that we can only do the next right thing in any given moment and maximize and beautify the tiny space that we've been placed in. Like that is really encouraging. And then that the victory is God's. It's already been won. We know that the victory is Christ. So there's a lot of confidence that comes from that reality.

Yeah. We're having church, y'all. Yeah. We're trying to encourage one another. I'm ready to get out my, yes, yes. Isn't that so good boy? That's like, that's like, that kind of hope, that kind of optimism about the future, because of the faithfulness and goodness of God, is air in our lungs. We need it in order to breathe. And I'm so glad that you said that. I meet a lot of people, especially in the conservative space. You know, you know, there's all the progressives who think, that we're just progressing wonderfully as a culture right now. Moving down these these paths,

which are really not progressing us, they're actually very regressive back to pagan ways before the world was blessed with something called Western civilization and the Bible. Yes. But I know I'm preaching to the choir here with this. But many of the conservatives say, oh man, it's getting so bad. This is just the worst thing ever.

I can't believe how about how do we get here? And I'm thinking, hold on. take a pause and step back and say okay look let's just look through the wide angle lens of history for a second if you were a Christian conservative person in the roman empire it was a thousand times worse they're not feeding us to lions yet or burning us on a stake to illuminate gladiatorial games this is not being exiled in babylon this this is not that it gets far far worse than that um So what I say is that, and then you have a tiny band of people 2,000 years ago who believed in somebody who was a crucified criminal and they end up preaching a message that overthrows the most powerful empire in the world, the Roman Empire, and that ends up spreading a message that leads to unbelievable opportunities and liberties educationally, economically, spiritually, morally, the Bible, Western civilization, all of this. out of what appeared to be no hope at all.

And we've had great awakenings and grave revivals throughout the world and even here in America. So what I say is that the only reason this stuff looks so bad, this pornography, obscenity, children being aborted and all that, is because we have, we, we, we're not as pagan as we used to be. were much more heavenized, civilized, Christianized,

westernized, because of the scriptures that we consider things like what Scholastic is doing to be offensive and obscene. But go back to the Roman Empire, this is like, this is normalcy.

This is the way everything was. And how blessed are we to be here right now? And what we're experiencing is the result of our apathy, complacency, turning away from God, but I see it not as the perfect storm that's going to destroy us. I see this as a little tiny, turbulent white cap on the edge of a giant tidal wave tsunami of the victory of God and his faithfulness that has been washing over the land for 2,000 years.

And it's unstoppable because he doesn't lose. He wins, and the kingdom is growing. And we went from a tiny little band of scared people, 2,000 years ago to 3 billion people on the earth who named the name of Christ. And we have more opportunity, resources, and manpower than ever before. Could it be that we've simply lost our way and our vision? And we have, we just need to get back to first principles and say, oh, God, Open the heavens.

Revive my heart. Bring me back to what really matters. And show me how to do my part where you've placed me. Yes. And amen. That's so good. I was thinking as you were talking about the Christians who were burned at the stake, the Christians who were fed to lions,

God used that for the very thing that you're talking about. God uses the persecution and the difficulties and the trials and the martyrdom of Christians to glorify himself and to advance his. kingdom. So I think when we see persecution of Christians, which it's not the same as it was 2000 years ago, but Christians certainly face adversity here today. I think we see that as losing. We see that as us losing our influence and Christianity dying out. But when has that ever been the case? When Christians were burned at the stake, it wasn't that Christianity then died out. It was actually that people saw the faithfulness of the martyrs and were spurred on to then share the

gospel. And when you were speaking, I thought of this quote by Hugh Latimer, I believe it was, and he was a martyr. I believe it was in the 16th century. And I always think of this quote, as he was being burned at the stake with another person who was also a Christian. He said, be of good cheer, Master Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day light such a candle in England, as I hope by God's grace, shall never be put out. So even as he is being burned at the He realizes, yes, that the flames of his martyrdom, that God is going to fan those flames with the power of His Holy Spirit to then spread the gospel. Same was true of many of the reformers during the Protestant Reformation that God used their adversity and their persecution to spread the gospel. And he'll still do that today.

Yeah, absolutely. 100%. This is our faith. This is what we know to be true. Here's a really encouraging truth. In history, great awakenings and revivals have always come during times of moral decline, spiritual apathy, economic collapse, and political corruption. I think we're due for another one.

And they seem to happen about every 50 years. We live in a really exciting time right now. I think that we could be on the cusp of a turning point. What if, Ali, what if? Instead of having weak knees and lamenting this world that our children have to inherit, assuming that Jesus must be returning by Tuesday because things are so bad, what if this national setback is really a divine setup for a spiritual comeback, led by the family of faith.

What if this is like it has been in the past where a couple faithful people start a prayer meeting that catches fire on a college campus and spreads to become a revival that starts the entire missionary movement. And the gospel now gets spread to more places in the world And not only that, do you know that in Africa and in Asia, in South Korea, they're sending missionaries now back to the United States because they recognize that we're in trouble.

We've strayed. So now you have the daughter coming back to save the mother. This is a beautiful thing. Yes, absolutely, absolutely. And you're right. That's so like the Lord. if you, I mean, if you look at really any story throughout scripture, that it seems like God purposely stacks the odds against himself before he comes through. He doesn't have to, for example,

tell Israel and Joshua to round the city seven times before they blow the trumpet and the walls fall down. I mean, he didn't have to take Israel through the Red Sea. He didn't have to lead them through the wilderness for, you know, 40 years. But it seems like he purposely stacks the odds against himself so that when he shows up and does what he has always been providentially planning to do, that people can look to that and say, that can only be God. That's right. Only be God. It's not because we're so good. It's not because we built this wonderful tower that actually reached the heavens. It was only the Lord. He is the only one that could have done this. And so maybe that's what he's doing. Maybe he is stacking the odds against himself so he can come through the way that he always has.

And giving us a Red Sea moment, backed up against the wall, armies in front of us, no way out so he can part the sea again. And it's so good. I'm so glad God does that because you're right. Mary didn't have to be a virgin and conceive the Messiah, humanly speaking, right? but that's the way God chose to do it, which forces us to say, God is in this. This is a miracle. This can't happen apart from him doing it this way. And I think that's so important because our tendency, and I know this is my tendency, is to think, man, I got this. I can do this. I'm smart enough. I'm talented enough. I've got enough connections. I can make this happen. And pride is the very thing that cuts us off from knowing God, enjoying God, valuing God, and living the life that he created

us to live. And so he creates scenarios that, like you say, you phrased it, he stacks the odds against himself. And what I think, what I see him doing is he actually lets our prideful preferences play themselves out against ourselves. He lets our desires, like Romans, One, you know, we become so consumed and intoxicated with our own wisdom that we make stupid decisions. And he just hands us over to them and says, okay, if you want that, go ahead, take that. Then your heart becomes darkened, your mind, you become a fool. You exchange the truth for the lie. And then he lets you go down that road.

And then all the odds are stacked against us. They're stacked against him. Everything looks like it's not going to work. And boom, that's where he shows up in mercy and kindness and says, okay, no, let me show you the way. I love what you said about making good soil for our children. And as a mom of a 4-2 and 0-year-old, it's really easy for me to be anxious. Like as much as I talk about the importance of courage and remembering Christ's victory, yes, I try to remind myself of that.

But in the day-to-day, when I see some of the stories that I do, I see some of these books. I see just the predatory nature of these institutions coming after the minds and the bodies and the souls of our children, I mean, it scares me. Yeah. It really scares me and it makes me anxious, but I try to remember. I try to remember that really, like, I have a choice. I can either try to create children who will hide from dragons or create children or raise

children that will slay dragons. And if I want to raise children that will slay dragons, then I have to show them what it means to do that. And I have to be courageous. I can't just protect them from everything. Of course, I want it to be us, my husband and I who are teaching them about these things and not public education. But like we have to show our kids how to fight battles, not just protect them from all the scary stuff. And I'm still learning how to do that and knowing exactly what that looks like.

But I want my kids to go out there and slay dragons too. And I think Christians have done that throughout history. Ellie, I have a question for you. I've got six kids. And one of my children says, dad, I get concerned about you sometimes. because you're so focused on what's happening in Washington, D.C. or what's happening, you know, in Europe or in the Middle East. And you're talking about the Constitution.

You're talking about the Bible. And you've got these big, you know, macro, you know, things going on inside of your head. Are you taking time to, like, savor the sunshine and just be present with your kids and with mom? right and I go oh I know you're right you're right because I mean that that's why I'm fighting because I want to protect this but then sometimes I lose sight of the micro the right here the right now how do you do that as a mom because you are a warrior you're you're one of the ones who are out there doing this we but I know what your heart is really like you you you struggle I think between wanting to save the world and savor the world and that can make

planning the day very difficult. Yeah. How do you balance those things? How do you frame those two different things? Yeah. I think the answer that I give when people ask me, how are you not just like depressed and anxious all the time because of the things that we talk about,

the things that we have to look at to talk about the things that we talk about? And it can be very tempting to kind of just wade in the sadness and hopelessness as we discussed. And I think it is my family and just the there, normalness, if I can say that, of our life, of our church life, of our friends, of our day to day that keeps me sane. Now, obviously, I don't do that perfectly. It's really easy to kind of doomscroll and to get sucked into whatever story that you're reading about and completely ignore what's happening around you. So I have to try really hard with the help of my husband, with the help

of my parents, as we talked about, they live close by, to savor just the normal, the every day. As you know with six kids, you were talking about how your kids are grown. It goes by so fast. Just like that. And I don't want to look back in 10 years and say, wow, I didn't savor those moments enough because I was so worried about things outside of my control. At the same time, I do have to care about those things because those things affect people. I do have to care somewhat about, you know, or I have to care about what's going on in

some places in the world like Israel and things like that. But I think it's doing exactly what you said, focusing on doing the next right thing with what God has given you. I'm not going to save the world. You're not going to save the world. That's not our job. Therefore, I don't have to know everything that's going on in the world at once. And it helps that my skill set is very, very limited. My talent is very limited.

So really the only thing I can do is talk. So I really, that's the only skill, the only talent that I have. So thankfully, I can just do that in the morning. morning and the podcast. And then I can just go home and do all of the other things that I am called to do. So I think it's that. But I hope it doesn't sound like I think that I do that perfectly. There are seasons that I, that we do that better than others. Yeah. I, I, I, I've never anyone accuse you of, of being arrogant or overstating your talents. If anything, you're understating all of it. And we all know it. I think, I think you're right. Another metaphor that the

Bible even gives us, Paul talks about we're all members of one body. And some of us think like, oh, I wish I could talk like Ali Bestucky, or I wish I could, you know, play football like Tim Tebow, or I wish I could make movies like whatever. But you know what? You know, it's like, well, wait on, what if the hand said, you know, I wish I could be the foot or what are the foot's like, I wish I could be the ear? No, no, no, we need all the different parts. And the mind is what controls them all and coordinates them. If you asked me, let me ask you, whoever's listening to this, do you know how to convert your carbohydrates into glucose?

Do you know how to make sure that when you have a baby that the spleen is working properly and that oxygen is properly getting into the blood through the lungs? You don't have a clue. but there is a God who designed all of these things, and you have a mind that's able to make all the different members of your body work together miraculously. I think that same God can take someone who has the gift of speaking, someone who has the gift of tackling people, and someone who has a gift of making movies,

and having us all work together as his body to accomplish what he wants, to accomplish. And I think that is the, among other things, the amplification and reproduction of truth and goodness and beauty. I think we are his conduits from heaven to earth and he knows what he's doing. It's just, we have to submit to the mind. You know, the pancreas can't go, I got this. No, no, no, no, no. You just do what the mind's telling you to do. And God, in his word, has given us really straightforward and clear instructions on love God with all of your heart, love others as yourself. Start with your family. Double down on loving your enemies and those who hate you. And God works through those things in miraculous ways. Yeah. I think it's especially difficult

for creative people, for entrepreneurial people, people with an entrepreneurial spirit. And there are different kinds of leaders, but one kind of leader is like a visionary leader who likes to cast the vision and everyone execute it. I don't know exactly, you know, what you are and all the different aspects of your character. I know that you're... You know, you're... Forget you got the eneagram, figure all these things out. I know that you're creative and I know that you're entrepreneurial. I think it's even more difficult for people like that, which I fell into that category too, to stop sometimes and to take a step back and to make sure that we're not just going, going, going. I know a lot of people can relate to that too. You have

just created something else. You have not stopped creating. You just created a new book, right? Yeah, yeah. Tell me about it. So I connected with this great company called Brave Books. And I just sort of was really impressed with what they do. They create these books about important issues with beautiful pictures and stories for kids, with pro-God, pro-America values. And they've got all these different authors.

So I'm one of their authors. And this is a book. It's actually the third one that I've done with them. It's called The Fox, the Fair, and the Invention Scare. and it's all about loving your enemies. So, Allie, the first one I did was called As You Grow, and it was all about growing the fruit of the spirit. We talked about that one.

And then the second one was called Pride Comes Before the Fall about humility. And we released that on June 1st, Pride Month in Seattle, Washington Public Library. That was perfect. And then this one is about loving your enemies. So I'm hoping to do just what you said. I want to take the opportunities God's given me with whatever abilities that he's given me to make a difference.

And what I'm hoping is that this will just be like a spark that lights a fire in the hearts of other people who can then spread that like a grassfire in their communities. Zero percent contained, moving all across the nation, through the family, through the church, through civil government, and we get to see something beautiful happen in our lifetime. Well, Kirk, I'm very grateful for you, and I know that you give all the credit to the Lord,

and as you should, as we all should. But, I mean, I know marriages that are still being helped from fireproof. I mean, you have done so much by the grace of God through the power of the Lord in creating things that help Christians be courageous and obedient. So thank you for that. I really appreciate all of the world. of the effort that you've put in and how much of your time and energy you've dedicated to the

church. So thank you so much. Thank you for the kind words and the encouragement. Thank you for encouraging all of us with all the good work that you're doing, you know, as a mom and with this podcast. And again, I think we just need to stay blown away that God is kind enough to use people like us to do good things. Yes and amen. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, guys, I told you that you are going to love that conversation. If you want more encouragement, then you need to go out and see the blind. So the blind is the true story of the Robertson family. If you don't already know the testimony of Phil Robertson, it's so amazing how we went from what he was and living the life that he was living to who he is today, a man who shares the gospel

daily and unapologetically, who loves scripture and shares that love of scripture with so many people on a daily basis. You've got to go watch The Blind. You will just be so encouraged. You can buy it today by going to blazedtv.com slash the blind. You can buy it for 1999. Really good deal. BlazTV.com slash the blind. Blase TV.com slash the blind. Okay. That's all we've got for today. Thank you guys so much for listening and watching and we will be back here tomorrow. Hey, this is Steve Dase. 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

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