Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 986 | Steven Furtick Gives a Master Class in Narci-gesis

Episode Date: April 16, 2024

Today we discuss the Arizona Supreme Court's recent abortion decision and Kari Lake's disappointing reaction to it, which drew criticism from pro-lifers. What SHOULD pro-lifers believe about so-called "exceptions" and 15-week bans? Does the circumstance of the child's conception make him or her any less of a human? Plus, Steven Furtick gave a controversial Easter sermon while donning a pricey pink sweater. And some good news - students at the University of Georgia got impromtu baptisms in pickup trucks. --- Timecodes: (00:51) Merch idea / introduction (03:15) Kari Lake on abortion (23:54) Bill Maher on abortion exceptions (28:03) Trump’s Response (33:03) Steven Furtick’s Easter Sermon (55:24) UGA Baptisms --- Today's Sponsors: 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. Pre-Born — Pre-born has a passion to save unborn babies from abortion and see women come to Christ. To donate, dial pound 250 and say keyword “baby”. That’s pound 250, keyword “baby”, or go to preborn.com/ALLIE. Birch Gold — protect your future with gold. Text 'ALLIE' to 989898 for a free, zero obligation info kit on diversifying and protecting your savings with gold. Balance of Nature — Balance of Nature's proprietary blend of 31 fruits and vegetables come in easy to swallow capsules to give your body the nourishment it needs. Go to BalanceofNature.com and use code ALLIE for 35% off. --- Relevant Episodes: Ep 846 | Hillsong, Steven Furtick & the Dangers of 'Designer' Pastors | Guest: Ben Kirby (PreachersNSneakers) https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/relatable-with-allie-beth-stuckey/id1359249098?i=1000622557610 Ep 981 | "Doubt Your Doubts:" Resisitng the Lies of Deconstruction | Guest: Paul Pitts III https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-981-doubt-your-doubts-resisting-the-lies/id1359249098?i=1000651814715 --- 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

Stephen Ferdig had an interesting Easter message for his church on Easter Sunday. Also, Carrie Lake has come out in favor of abortion as she is running for Senate in the state of Arizona. And we've got some good news coming out of the University of Georgia as thousands of students there and across the country are worshiping together and getting baptized. praise God. We've got all of this and more on today's episode of Relatable. It's brought to our friends at Good Ranchers. Go to Good Ranchers.com. Use Code Allie and check out. That's Good Ranchers.com code Alley. Hey guys. Welcome to Relatable. Happy Tuesday. Hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far. Okay, Bree, I said I didn't know if I was going to call on you and I'm already calling on you two seconds in. Right away. Okay, I have an idea for merch and we can just throw it out

here just to see if people like it because I say the same thing at the top of every show, hope you're having a wonderful week so far. I think that you could make some kind of cute, like trucker hat or rope hat with some kind of cute, groovy script that says, hope you're having a wonderful week dot, dot, dot, dot. Or hope you're having a wonderful week so far. It's a lot of words, but I think it would be kind of cute and kind of happy. Yeah. You think? You think dot dot dot dot so far? No, no, no, no. Okay. Dot, dot, dot, dot or so far. Or hope you're having a wonderful week without any ellipses. Without any so far. Those are a little. A little ominous. A little ominous. Wait, what do you mean? Hope you're having a wonderful week. Does that mean something else? Okay, workshop it. No bad ideas in brainstorming. Yeah, yeah. Speaking of merch, we do have some cute merch coming out for Mother's Day. sometime soon. We're going to have onesies. They're going to be really

cute. Mom, baby, matching onesies. If you guys have any ideas, also specifically for Related Bro merch, let me know because Father's Day is coming out. We got our Mother's Day stuff coming out. We've also got our Relator Bro Day coming up in June.

And so we want merch that dads are going to wear that you're actually going to like. It's just difficult for us to do it because obviously we are women. and because my dad, my brother, chief related bro, my husband, they all say they don't like a bunch of words on their shirt. It's a little difficult for me to know like how exactly to brand it. But even as I'm saying that, I have some idea.

So feel free to message me, comment, links to stuff that you guys do like. And then we can use that as some inspo for some Father's Day merch. All right. We got some serious stuff to talk about. as we always do, some stuff that I guess is going to make people very upset because I've noticed over the past several days since we talked about Trump's abortion stance in a video that he put out, we've got some professing self-identifying conservatives who are very angry that we disagree with Trump on that. They say that I don't want to win elections, that I am being too black and white about this, that Trump is absolutely right, that we have to be more practical, we have to be more pragmatic. in order to win elections. We just need a little bit of that baby murder to secure the election.

And then finally we will be principled. Finally we'll be Christian. Finally will be anti-murder. Okay. I understand the practical pragmatic argument here. I really do. And of course I want Donald Trump to win. As I said, as the dodo brains who took my arguments out of context failed to address,

I just disagree with this strategy. I disagree with the strategy on principle. I disagree with the strategy pragmatically too. And I will explain that as we get into what Carrie Lake said. Carrie Lake recently released a video basically echoing Trump's stance on abortion, this very moderate, sophisticated, pragmatic, pseudo-compassionate stance that we actually need to be much more middle of the road on abortion. Not only does she make the case that that is necessary to win elections, but it's also the more moral position, which is just absolutely egregious. So here is part of the video that Carrie Lake put out on acts the other day. It's sought one. This total ban on abortion that the Arizona Supreme Court just ruled on is out of line with

where the people of this state are. The issue is less about banning abortion and more about saving babies. I agree with President Trump. This is such a personal and private issue. I chose life, but I'm not every woman. I want to make sure that every woman who finds herself pregnant has more choices so that she can make that choice that I made. Okay. So that's the pro-choice pro-abortion position.

She just articulated it. She just put some soft music behind it. and she happens to say that she's a Republican. And so all of a sudden, that is now the pro-life take. The pro-life take among Republicans is to actually be pro-choice and pretty ardently pro-choice. She said it's a personal, private thing. I chose life, but I'm not every other woman. That is exactly what Planned Parenthood believes.

That is exactly what every pro-abortion, pro-choice activist has been saying for literally decades. Now, this is the conservative position. This is the anti-abortion position. It's the anti-abortion position to be pro the choice of abortion. We're talking about murdering people. That's what we're talking about. We are talking about the violent, poisoning, and or dismembering of helpless babies. That's what we're talking about when we're using this soft music with the warm filters

to make it seem like we're really thoughtfully, empathetically thinking through this complicated, private, personal issue. We are talking about the murder of people. Okay? We are talking about chopping up babies. There's not much nuance to this, okay? So excuse me, if I don't have a lot of patience for your pragmatism, I think that it's evil.

All right? So her video was in response to a ruling by the Arizona State Supreme Court that allowed an 1864 statute banning abortion to stand. And you'll remember, Carrie Lake is a former Arizona governor candidate, and now she is an Arizona Senate candidate. And she wanted to respond to this because she is trying to win that independent vote. That, of course, she lost when she ran for governor. Now, can I just be honest about what my take on Carrie Lake has always been? There was one day that we were going to have her on the show, and it didn't work out logistically. I don't know.

We got wires crossed or something like that. But I was, I'm always thankful when candidates or politicians agree to come on the show. I understand they're busy. They get a lot of media requests. And she was kind enough to accept our invitation to come on the show. It didn't end up working out. And so I just, I'll say that, that I'm thankful for the, I guess, the respect that her team showed us and accepting our request, however long ago that was, maybe a year ago. However, I have never, I have never been a Carrie Lake fan.

I just haven't. Do I think that it would have been better for the state of Arizona to have her as the governor versus who they have now? Absolutely. Because the governor now, of course, is far left and absolutely stands for everything that I stand against. And Carrie Lake would have been better on immigration. She probably would have been better on abortion, better on gender, better on a lot of things. But when I look at her history, I don't see any kind of solid history of, conservatism. And personally, I just, and you can say that this is superficial, you can say, you know, it's shallow, emotional, whatever. I just didn't like her persona. And when she lost, I completely understood why. And this whole gimmick of claiming that it was election fraud, that I'm not saying there's never any funny business going on in elections. You guys know that I understand that that's a definite possibility and even happens. But that she didn't actually lose that whole tear that she went on claiming that this was some kind of fraudulent fake election and that really she won.

There's no possible way that her opponent could have won fair and square because she was so popular. I'm sorry, no. I knew immediately that this is someone that wasn't going to appeal to most people in the purple state of Arizona and certainly wasn't going to appeal to a lot of women. It's interesting, and I think that she would probably agree with this, that she's kind of switched a little bit because she had an extremely, as she was running, a very masculine energy, like a very, I'm so based Carrie Lake energy. And a lot of the male commentators in this space really liked her, always praised her and just thought that she was so strong, going to be an amazing champion for conservatism. And I just sat back and knew and knew.

I didn't say anything during the election because, of course, I thought that she'd be a better choice than her opponent. But now I'm looking at this and I'm like, okay, I see what she's doing. She realizes that she lost the female vote in Arizona because she was way too aggressive and not in an appealing way at all. And now she is trying to win back those women by protect. tending to be like, or maybe she really is, I don't know, like this soft, gentle, genteel person and equivocating on something like abortion because she thinks that she is going to ingratiate herself to this group of women. I don't think that it's going to work. And it's for the same reason that I don't think that it's going to work for Donald Trump. I don't believe that there is

this group of independence or this group of moderate conservatives or this group of, independent, conservative, or apolitical women who are all just waiting to vote Republican and all just waiting to vote for Donald Trump or waiting to vote for Carrie Lake, who is very much aligned with Donald Trump. But they just need to hear that Carrie Lake and Donald Trump are moderate on abortion. And then they've secured their vote. I'm sorry, no. People who are in that camp that I just described, they don't like Trump. They don't like MAGA. And it's not primarily the abortion issue that's holding them back. And you don't have to agree with them. I don't agree with them on a lot of things. But to those people, they see MAGA and Trump as a unique threat to democracy. They see

him as a racist. They could never tell their friends that they voted for him or anyone aligned with him and they see him as potentially a convicted felon. So there is so much of a stigma surrounding Maga that these people that Carrie Lake and Donald Trump are trying to appeal to are not going to be effectively swayed by this. They're just not. And so we are losing this battle. And, it will not help us win the war. I think that's the thought. That's the calculation. We might equivocate on this battle.

We'll surrender a little ground. Again, we'll give a little bit of baby murder or maybe a lot of baby murder. I don't know exactly what their stance is. But we will ultimately win the election. We will ultimately win the war. I think that that is strategically foolish. I do not think that that's going to work. I also think that that is going to, and this is what people get mad about, you can get mad all you want to.

I think that that is also going to chip away at the enthusiasm of the pro-life Christians who Donald Trump and other Republicans like him need to be their evangelists and be their apologists and be their supporters who will go out and tell other people and convince other people to vote for. for them. Now, those pro-life Christians will still vote for Donald Trump. I'm still going to vote for Donald Trump because I understand the binary option there. And RFK is just not an option for me because he is way too radical on abortion and some other issues. But while those pro-life Christians will vote for Donald Trump and might vote for Carrie Lake will vote for the most pro-life option, they're going to have a hard time going out amongst their friends and communities and say, yes, it is your moral imperative to vote for this Republican candidate. Because at the end of the day, right now, we're looking at a field of pro-choicers.

We're looking at a bunch of evil options when it comes to their abortion position. And we're just trying to decide which one is least evil. And abortion is a big enough issue that this is going to become very morally stuart. for a lot of people who tend to vote Republican, a lot of Christians who tend to vote Republican. I just don't think that they are winning anyone over by this position, but you are potentially losing people by this position. And you're certainly losing their enthusiasm by this position, not to mention the fact that it is immoral. Like, we have justified other human rights atrocities not too long ago under the banner of state's rights.

Abortion is even worse. Abortion is even more evil. But it belongs in the same category as slavery because it is the objectification and the subjugation and the dehumanization of vulnerable, helpless people. And so in the year of our Lord, 2024, as we can look back in history and see exactly what it looks like, when we treat a human being as if they are subhuman,

when we decide that one group of people does not deserve rights based on how they look, based on what size they are, the abilities that they bring to the table, their innate characteristics, we understand that that kind of mentality leads to the systemic and atrocious, trampling on the value and the dignity of that group of people. Like we can look at the Holocaust, we can look at slavery, we can look at different conflicts throughout history and which one group of people is dehumanized. And we can see the trouble that that causes, that that doesn't actually lead to some

kind of like big picture victory, that that doesn't help lead us to a place of freedom. It just doesn't. It's not a value that you can. compromise on and then hope to win God's favor and win the country back. We are not winning if we are losing on the issue of abortion. We're simply not. It's that big. As I've said before, like there are other issues that I am willing to make compromises on, but not on this one. Again, we are talking about human beings. We're not talking primarily about a political issue. We are talking about murder. I don't want murder to be regulated. I want. I want to be regulated. I

want it to be ended. I want it to be banned. When we think about it from the perspective of what an abortion is, what the procedure entails, what it is doing, and whom abortion is actually victimizing, a living, wiggling human being, then there's really no other moral or logical position to take except for, no, this has to be banned. And a baby that is conceived through rape, a baby that is conceived through incest, is no less a baby. Tell me the difference between a baby that's conceived in rape and a baby that's not. When you're looking at it from the perspective of the victim, from the perspective of the baby, these kind of exceptions are not only illogical, but yes, also immoral.

And I just want to say one thing about the life of the mother. argument that I heard Donald Trump make. Donald Trump said, okay, we have to have compassion and we have to make exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother. So I already gave my stance on the rape incest exceptions. As I've said many times before, I believe that rapists should get the death penalty, not the baby. The pro-choice position is that, and Donald Trump's position is that babies should be able to

get the death penalty. for a rape that someone else committed. Is that justice? Is that liberty and justice for all? No, it's not. So I'm of the radical extreme position that rapists should get the death penalty, not a baby.

The pro-choice position, again, is actually the opposite that we shouldn't have a death penalty for rapists or even murderers, but we should have the death penalty for babies. I know. I'm so crazy that I believe that that is egregious and immoral. But on the life of the mother, there is no reason for abortion to save the life of the mother.

Every single pro-life law that exists allows for the removal of ectopic pregnancies. Ectopic pregnancies are not viable. They do have to be removed. We do not consider that as pro-lifers as Christians and abortion. You are simply removing a child that did not grow where they have to be growing in order to survive. And because both the life of the mother and the baby are at risk, we save the life that we can save. So that is the pro-life position, is that we believe that the value of the mother's life is equal to the value of the baby's life. And so when the mother's life is at risk when she is pregnant, we believe in delivering the child.

Even if it's early, even if that child has to be put on life support, even if that child has a slim chance of surviving, we believe that if the mother is going to be saved by removing that child from the womb, then the child should be removed. But there is no reason for the child to be killed first. because either way, early delivery, induced labor, and abortion, the baby's still coming out. There is no medical reason for the baby to be poisoned or dismembered first. If the baby needs to be removed to save the life of the mother, then deliver the baby. And do everything you possibly can to save that child, no matter how many weeks gestation that you are. I understand that before 24 weeks gestation, like the odds are very slim.

I think the earliest has been 19 weeks, which is super, super, super preemie of a baby being born and actually surviving after being in the NICU for several months. But you do everything that you can. Or even if it's before that, you deliver that child, give them as much care and comfort and dignity as you possibly can. You don't purposely slaughter them. There is no reason to slaughter a child to save the life of a mother. Again, the option is delivery. So even that is just like a crazy position to take. It's a pro-choice position to take, okay?

And it's evil because, again, we are talking about babies. One of the few people that seems to understand the inconsistency, the incongruence in this position of like, oh, yeah, we're pro-life, but maybe we'll just ban it at 15 weeks. Oh, yeah, we're pro-life, but maybe we'll just allow the abortion pill to be on the market. Oh, yeah, we're pro-life, but in cases of rape and incest, it's totally fine. Is Bill Maher? Bill Maher, he is a liberal. He's got some sanity, though, and I appreciate that. I still think he's a liberal at the end of the day. Probably doesn't like people like me, sees my views as dangerous. But at least he honestly seems to understand the logic of the pro-life position. So here he is. Breaking it down in a way that I would say most Republicans probably can't.

That's why I don't understand the 15-week thing, or the, Trump's plan is, let's leave it to the states. You mean, so killing babies is okay in some states? I can respect the absolutist position. I really can't. I scold the left when they say, oh, you know what? They just hate women.

People who aren't pro-life, pro-choice, they don't hate women. They just made that up. They think it's murder. And it kind of is. I'm just okay with that. Well, at least he's honest. He is honest not only about the pro-life position, but he is also honest about the pro-abortion position.

And I wish more pro-abortion people would just be honest that we are talking about being pro-murder of babies versus anti-murder of babies. But he's got some conviction for the people who say that they are on the pro-life side. He is checking our argument there. If we really believe that abortion is murder, as we've always said, if we really believe that life starts at conception, then how can we say that we would be okay with a 15-week ban? How can we be okay with exceptions for rape and incest? If we really believe that abortion is murdering a baby, then how can we be on board with those things in the name of, quote-unquote, winning elections, which again, I don't think that that's going to help. We can't, unless we're just giant, hypocrites, right? And then I also appreciate that as awful as it is, he is honest about the fact that to be

pro-choice, you just have to be okay with murder. He goes on to say that the world is overpopulated anyway, and well, we won't miss you, so he's fine with some baby murder. Again, that's heinous, but at least he's honest about that. And I wish more pro-choicers would just be honest. Like, you are okay with legalizing some murder. Enough with the silly nonsense and the euphemisms about clumps of cells and it's not really a human yet until XYZ. That's all arbitrary, philosophical, just absolute hogwash. You're okay with murdering some humans at some points. And I don't know what your reasoning is for that. You need to decide that for yourself, but you just need to have a moment of honesty that if you, if you,

believe in abortion exceptions that you're okay with murders sometimes. You're okay with murdering babies sometimes. You think that it should be legal. It should be an option on the table. I'm just not on board with that. Even if it were to win us elections, I'm just not on board with that. I also want to just like point out that Carrie Lake's position has changed on this. During remarks delivered at the American Leadership Forum in 2022, Carrie Lake had previously referred to a great law that Arizona had on the books as she discussed her hope that Roe v. Wade would soon be overturned. And I have a clip. I'm not going to play the clip, actually. But she basically says, it's great. I hope Roe v. Wade is overturned. Well, Roe v. Wade was overturned,

and she doesn't think it's so great because now she's running for Senate. It's a different election. She realizes what she possibly did wrong when she was running for governor. And she's going back. Typical politician. This is just what they do. It's also interesting that Donald Trump is jumping on this yet again by saying that Arizona just went too far in their abortion ruling. He said approving an inappropriate law from 1864. So this is just left-wing speak because this is what progressives also do when the Supreme Court rules in a way that they don't like. Conservatives are supposed to say, well, the Supreme Court is just supposed to interpret the law based on the Constitution. And we can agree or disagree with that interpretation, but saying like they went too far or that it was inappropriate, that's not really precise language that isn't really typically how conservatives are supposed to talk when it comes to Supreme Court rulings.

But he says the Supreme Court in Arizona went too far on their abortion ruling, enacting and approving an inappropriate law from 1864. So now the governor in the Arizona legislature must use heart, common sense, and act immediately. to remedy what has happened. Remember, it is now up to the states and the goodwill of those that represent the people. We must ideally have the three exceptions for rape, incest life, and the mother. This is important. Democrats are the extremists. They support abortion up to the moment of birth and even execution of babies. In some cases, after birth, this should not be. Arizona legislature, please act as fast is possible. Okay. Okay. I don't understand. understand what Democrats have to do with this. If this is a law that is protecting as many babies as possible, what do Democrats have to do with it? Shouldn't we just be happy about that as

pro-lifers? Like, why are we criticizing any kind of pro-life law going into place and trying to do everything we can to carve out exceptions to make sure that thousands and thousands of babies now fit through a loophole to be murdered? It just doesn't make a whole lot of sense for me. It's just posturing again to get those really, I think, non-existent votes. Now, again, I will say, like, am I going to support Trump over Biden or RFK? Yeah, I hate that these are the options that we have, but they're what we've got. And of course, there are other issues in addition to abortion. I think none is important as abortion, but there are other issues. Yes, do I wish that Trump was the head of our foreign policy right now. Instead of Biden, we're looking at the mess that

his weak foreign policy has gotten us into when it comes to Israel, when it comes to Iran. Of course, I think that Trump will surround himself with a better administration. I think that he will sign pro-life laws, probably, or bills that come across his desk. I think that we're going to have a better economy with Donald Trump. All of that is absolutely true. I think that he is going to generally support the pro-life cause, I think that that's true. That doesn't mean that I have to pretend that I don't have serious disagreements with this position. I mean, politicians come and go. Leadership comes and goes. Like, I am going to live probably long after Trump dies. I have to exist in this country long after Trump dies. So do my children, so to my grandchildren. So I'm thinking

through the long game. And I'm thinking about what kind of country I want to live in. And I understand, oh, we're not going to have a country if Donald Trump doesn't win. Okay. Again, I don't think compromising on this fundamental issue is the way to ensure that victory. I just don't. I just don't. All right.

Let's get into Stephen Fridick. There's a lot that we can talk about. Okay. Yeah, we're going to get to both of the other subjects that we have. because they're going to be kind of quick. So I'm going to talk about Stephen Ferdick and just comment. I just want to comment on something that he said or part of his sermon from Easter Sunday. It's just important for us to remember what false teaching can sound like and look like.

It's not always someone saying something that is blatantly false. It is also a pastor reaching for meaning in script. sure that simply does not exist and making sermons about us or about him rather than about the God who inspired it. So here is Stephen Ferdick on Easter. And they're standing at a grave, but the angel says go to Galilee. And they can't stay at the grave because he's not there. Somebody say he's not here. He's not in this depression. He's not in this giving up. He's He's not in this failure. He's not in.

I mean, he's in it to help me, but he's not in it to leave me. He's calling me forward to Galilee. Okay. Can we just like say for a second, Bree, we just comment real fast on the sweater. I know it's superficial and it's beside the point. There's a lot, there's a lot going on here, much bigger issues. But this sweater, which, okay. Is it salmon? Is it pink? I don't know.

Yeah. I'm not sure. I don't know. But it was $2,000. Yeah, it sure was. It was $2,000 to look like that. To look like a little doily. Yeah. Okay. I know that you're going to, some people aren't going to be happy that we criticized his fashion. I'm sorry, when you wear a $2,000 grandma sweater,

on Easter Sunday, and you talk about it. He talks about it in his sermon because he has to. Then, of course, you are inviting people to comment on it. That's why you're wearing it. You could wear anything. I actually do think that we talked about with preachers and sneakers. Like, I actually do think it's an important issue to talk about. I do think that a pastor should be understated.

I don't think it has to be ugly. I don't think it has to be frumpy. I don't even think it has to be cheap. But I do think that whatever a pastor wears should communicate. I don't want you looking at me. This is not about me. This is about the word that is being preached. I do think that when Mike Todd or when Stephen Ferdick or when TD Jakes are going up there

and they are purposely wearing items that say, look at me, I actually think that you are violating God's call to modesty. Because when we see that women and men are called modesty in scripture, that we are being called not just to covering up certain parts of our body, but that we are being called the dignity, that we are being called to humility. And so in anything that we wear, whether we are deciding how much skin to show or deciding what kind of brand to wear, things like that, we should be looking at ourselves and saying, what am I communicating?

Am I communicating vanity? Am I communicating? Yes. Look at me. Think highly of me. Be envious of me. Or are we simply adorning the temple that God has given us in respect and dignity and humility. So, and you know what, we can't figure out someone's heart. We can't discern, but I think

it's pretty easy to see you when someone is intentionally flashy what they are trying, and when they talk about it, what they are trying to communicate. Okay. So what is my problem with this clip? This clip is from a sermon title, I'm somewhere in between. So this is called, there are a couple different words for it. This is called isa-Jesus. We've talked about this. Before, we actually talked about it with Paul Pitts. Ex-a-Jesus is when you pull meaning out of Scripture based on what the verses actually say and the context, not just the context of Scripture, so the surrounding verses the entire book and the entirety of Scripture, but also the historical context, and yes, even the cultural context where it's relevant. You pull meaning out of Scripture using the

tools using this kind of contextual understanding. You do the best that you possibly can to pull the meaning out of scripture that is right there. I said Jesus is inserting meaning into scripture. So I want to make a point. I am going to decontextualize a verse and place the meaning that I want to communicate onto that verse. So that is what is going on here. The story of Easter, the story of the tomb rolling away is not about you. It's not about me. It's not about us being in this liminal, in-between space, and God is taking us to greater heights and making us bigger and better than we were before. Our drab, dreary past is being shaken off as God is promising us riches and success or whatever it is. And I know that I'm kind of paraphrasing

here, but that is the message that is being conveyed. The story isn't about us. It is for us. It is not about us. Scripture is not about us. And that is really the theme that you will see in most of verdict sermons is that it is about you. It is about me. It is about our feelings. It is about our story. It is about our failures. It is about our success. It is about what God can give us. And that is not what scripture is about. That is not what the gospel is about. Scripture, the gospel, is about Jesus. So whenever we are expositing scripture, reading scripture, preaching scripture, teaching scripture, understanding scripture, and we are pulling the meaning out of the text, using scripture to interpret scripture, using all the context that we have

available, what we know about God as revealed in His Word. As we are exegeting scripture, we are primarily looking to answer the question, what does this tell me about God? What does this reveal about his character? What is God doing in this? That's not the only thing. There are things to be revealed about human nature, about how the world works, and there are certainly principles to apply to us in scripture. There are sins that we may need to repent of. There are misunderstandings that we may need to correct. There are maybe wrongs that need to be righted, either in our lives or in our minds. We need to keep our theology and check.

So obviously there are things that we take from scripture, but through the lens of this is God's word talking about God. Jesus is the star of the show. This is for me, but this is not about me. It's a problem when you see preachers start using every story. in the Bible, which are real historical stories that really happened. As metaphors for your life or your trajectory or your journey, Jesus' resurrection is not a metaphor for you in your life.

It's real. It actually happened. It reveals to us the power of God. What does it say about God? It means that death could not hold him. It means that Jesus conquered death on our behalf so we can also experience a resurrection of the body so we can also experience new life in Christ so we through Christ can defeat death and live with God forever. Wow, how amazing is God? That we didn't deserve any of that. We didn't earn any of that that while we were still dead in our sin, that in love,

God made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved through faith. This is not your own doing. It is a gift of God so that no one may be. boast Ephesians 2. How amazing is it that God raised Christ from the dead, setting him apart from every other prophet so-called at the time who also claimed to be God? None of those guys raised from the dead. And I'm not saying that everything that Stephen Ferdick said in his sermon was untrue or unhelpful. He might have said some biblical truths. And here's the thing about Stephen Ferdick, knowing his background. Stephen Frick knows biblical truth. I think he could tell you the gospel if you asked him the gospel. I don't think he's stupid. I think he absolutely knows what exegesis is. I think he

knows what it would look like to properly handle the word. And maybe there was a time in his career when he was more solid. But sermon after sermon, it's not just isogesis. It's narce Jesus. And I didn't come up with that term. That's a term that's been floating around for a while. Narca Jesus, when you not only read meaning into the text, but you are reading you into the text, and you are centering yourself. And it just creates for such bad theology. Because, again, you're reading everything metaphorically that's meant to be literal. You're reading yourself into the text where you do not belong.

And you are also starting to try to see everything very mystically, almost as every verse being some special sign. that God is telling you about your specific circumstance, like a fortune cookie. That's not a proper or responsible or helpful or sanctifying way to read the word of God. It's not going to lead you more into who God is. And therefore, it's not going to help you live a more holy life. It's not going to give you long-term joy and satisfaction. Because it's basically sending you the same place as the new age. just sitting all of its adherence, further into yourself.

It's basically a Christianized version of the New Age self-love, self-help message, is that you have a little God, a divine being inside yourself, that you just need to journey to. And once you find her, this inner goddess, you can release her, liberate her, and finally all of your dreams will come true. That's not the gospel. Jesus said, we will have trouble.

But take heart, not it'll get easier, not we'll finally get everything that we want, not you'll end up succeeding, but he has overcome the world. There's that C.S. Lewis quote that I paraphrased the other day. I love this quote. It's from mere Christianity. If you haven't read mere Christianity, you need to. This is how he describes the gospel. This is how he describes that transaction that Jesus presents to us, the exchange that he presents to us. Lose yourself and you will find yourself, die to yourself, and you will live. Here's what C.S. Lewis says. Give up yourself and you will find your real self.

Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favorite wishes every day. And death of your whole body in the end, submit with every fiber of your being, you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay.

But look for Christ and you will find him and with him find everything else thrown in. So Jesus promises not that we will get everything that we want, not that we are going to become a better version of ourselves. He actually promises us himself and promises us a new self that we will become a new creation. This is another, I am sorry, I love mere Christianity. This is another quote from mere Christianity that reminds me of all of this. God made us. Invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on gas.

it would not run properly on anything else. Now, God designed a human machine to run on himself. He himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and a peace apart from himself because it is not there. And that's what this kind of Narca Jesus reminds me of is trying to find a happiness apart from God himself. self. We see Jesus as just kind of some genie, that if we read scripture at just the right time and just the right way and look for all the right Easter eggs and the Easter story, all the right

fortune cookies, then maybe the combination of all of these things will give us the ingredients for success. And that's just not how it works. We are told over and over again in the New Testament that we will be persecuted. All who desire to to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted all in some way or another. We will all have to give up. We will all have to deny ourselves. We will all have to count the cost. We will all go through trials.

We will all go through tribulation. We will all go through seasons of slander and ridicule and marginalization. Like that's part of the package. And we give up our ego. We give up our selfish ambition. That doesn't mean that we're all taking. vows of poverty. That doesn't mean that we don't have seasons of total abundance and happiness and joy, but those are not the gift or the goal. The gift and the goal is Christ. And so

every sermon, every Bible study, every devotional, every time we read scripture, that is our focus. And if you watch Stephen Ferdick, if you watch Mike Todd, if you watch Joel Osteen, if you watch TV Jakes, if you watch Joyce Meyer, all of these false teachers, our prosperity gospel teachers that say, if you do these things just the right way, God will give you the blessing that you're longing for. God might do that, but it is because of his grace, not because you've earned it, and he also might not. That's bad theology that leads you to a very devastating place of feeling like you have been betrayed by God when God cannot by his nature betray you, because he never promised you all of those blessings.

He never promised you the promotion or the riches or the health or the wealth. He never promised you those things. He promised you himself. And he says, my grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect through weakness. And so let us remove ourselves. Let us remove the lens of narcissism when we are reading scripture, reading a book, or really like doing anything.

That is like the self-help, self-love, narcissistic world that is being fed to, especially as women on a daily basis. It makes us feel like we are our own saviors and our own sufficiency, our own enoughness that our self-love is enough to buoy us forever on the sea of happiness. It's just not. We need Christ. Less of ourselves. More of Christ. We don't need to focus at all on how much or how highly we think of ourselves. We need to enter into self-forgetfulness, not self-loathing, but self-forgetfulness and ask to be filled more and more with Christ.

And properly reading his word sitting under sound teaching is going to help get us there. And Stephen Ferdick is he's not a sound teacher. I did, I think I posted something on Instagram not that long ago criticizing them for not saying resurrection or blood of Jesus. when it comes to their Easter marketing. I ended up taking that down because it, I think that the conversation actually that was going around that everyone had been commenting on and saying, oh, my gosh, see, Elevation Church won't even say resurrection or blood of Christ. That's so awful.

Even though I do think that elevation, unfortunately, is led by someone who doesn't handle the word of God well. That was like a copyright or saying that specifically about like the promotional material that they're putting out to try to invite people to church. And the reason I'm even mentioning that now is because I want you to know that I take these kind of critiques seriously. And I want to make sure that I am being as fair as possible even when I really disagree and think someone is dangerous.

And so I'm not just picking on Stephen Ferdick because I'm looking for something to criticize. Like there is someone out there who has, like I did at one point, who has bought into kind of thinking that he and this kind of messaging is right on and it's not. But I also just want to say, like, there is grace for where people are in their journey because while I was a Christian, a real believing Christian, I listened to him and all kind of prosperity preachers thinking that it was fine. It took time. It took the Holy Spirit. It took reading God's word. It took my ESV study Bible. It took friends. Took solid churches for me to realize, oh, that's not the gospel. Okay. So we have to have grace for where people are too. And so I want you to hear it.

from that perspective as well. All right. Last announcement, before we head out, I want to tell you about a documentary that has been released by Blaze TV. It is incredible, disturbing, but incredible and very important. And it's called bought and paid for. If you've ever wondered exactly how it is

that our politicians enter public service making, you know, a meager amount of money, they're not worth that much. And then leave public service 20, 30 years later, multi-millionaires, then this documentary is for you. It answers all of those questions. This is the way, the nasty way, to get rich in the United States. And if you want to know the behind the scenes of how exactly that all works, then you need to watch this. It's called bought and paid for how politicians get filthy rich. And hopefully this will hold people accountable

and inspire enough ire and frustration in us to try to do something about this. Go to Alleyoriginals.com. You can use code Alley Originals for $30 off. You'll have access to all of Blaze TV, Blaze TV's original documentaries. Alleyoriginals.com with code Alley Originals. I've got some good news.

I got some good, good news. And no, it's not that I am giving away. a bunch of Stephen Ferdick $2,000 sweaters. I got better news than that. Wait, I have to read this by the Babylon B. This is funny. This is a headline from the other day.

It says Stephen Ferdick debuts new line of Chastitywear. Chastity wear. Guard your virginity forever. Wow. It's because it's an ugly sweater. That's the joke. Babylon B. Oh my gosh. I didn't even mention Brie. I forgot to mention. popping all over the place right now, but how mad

Carrie Lake was about the Babylon B. Did we include that in this document? No, we did it actually, but yeah. Well, yeah, the Babylon B tweeted something, just making fun of Carrie Lake and her like incongruent, illogical position, and Carrie Lake

War Room account got so mad about that. You never argue with satire. What did you say? That's what they said. They said, this isn't real satire. Yeah, they said this is not valid satire. It's valid satire because it hurts my feelings. The headline was Carrie Lake announced his plan to lose another

election, but this time while supporting baby murder. Woo! This is winning. I'm not tired of winning yet. Yay. Yeah, they got super mad about that. I think I saw Chesterton quote floating around. Maybe Kyle Man tweeted it. It was like a man

a man gets angry at slander because it is false. He gets angry at satire because it's true. Mm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Okay. Good news coming out of the University of Georgia. So Unite Georgia. This is according to Fox News, and we've got a picture to put up.

Unite Georgia brought together thousands of Jinz years for worship prayer and personal testimonies at the University of Georgia just the other day. Some students were so moved by the prayer service that they decided to get baptized in the beds of pickup trucks nearby. Amazing. Unitedist founder, Tanya Pruitt, and Nate Kearns, who was baptized at the event, both appeared on Fox News's Ingram Engel over the weekend. Cairns is a junior at UGA and said, I just heard the call from the Lord. And he said, be obedient.

I listened to him to take a step of faith and let my fraternity brothers watch that. And so apparently there were lots of baptisms at the University of Georgia. Thousands of the students again were worshiping together, singing. So just incredible. And apparently this is happening at a bunch of campuses across the country. I don't know anything actually about this. organization, but I love seeing students worship together. Praise God. And I just pray that this is something that is a spark that is lighting other campuses aflame with fervor and love for the Lord.

And that lives are truly transformed by that. So praise God. That's really good news. And remember, God's work doesn't always make headlines. And he is always on the move, always changing hearts and minds, exchanging hearts of stone for a heart of flesh. So praise God for that. I pray that he would continue to do that. And he will. He will. Because remember, his eternal plan of redemption is always going off without a hitch, no matter what we see in the news on social media. God is always doing exactly what he wills. And Jesus will claim victory once and for all. All right. That's all we've got for today. We will be back to. here tomorrow with an awesome wellness Wednesday episode that I'm super excited about. See you guys then.