News Roundup: Hegseth's War, Washer, Driscoll, Chan, Talarico, & More

conference I was to see him for a few minutes out to his house and I went there and I was praying

Lord what should I do he's getting close to glory and I did something that men do not often do to men like him but should do all the time

I walked in and I said Dr. McCarver is it well with your soul are you reading the word talk to me about your prayer life how is your communion with Christ welcome to the conversations that matter podcast

I'm your host John Harris hopefully everyone can hear me we are crafting the bold Christian vision for America here let me know how everything sounds while we get started this is an unannounced live stream

I decided to do it because of circumstances in my own day actually I was supposed to be doing an interview right now with someone and it didn't work out and I thought well

I got a little bit of time I'll do a live stream because there's been a lot of new stories over the last week that we need to talk about and I think it'll be a blessing for you

I got some good news I think to share with you at the end of this podcast I'm trying to do that more share the good news

I think people need to be remembered God's still at work there's still good things happening sometimes it's in your neck of the woods sometimes it's bigger than that and if we just focus on the negative and especially if we make positive things into negative things then we're really gonna be gloomy people

I don't think we need to be that we've inherited some great things we're gonna hopefully pass down some great things we are still here and God put us here for such a time as this and so we're gonna do the best we can with what we have that's the message for today and of course it is the beginning of spring

I don't know where you're listening from but where I am it is a balmy 70 degrees today it's gonna get down again to the 30s

I think tomorrow but for now we're enjoying it hopefully I'll be able to go out later with my family and enjoy it because we have just been cooped up for a week we have we have been in some of the worst sickness

I've experienced in the last few years and I I'm very optimistic when I'm sick as far as like thinking

I'm gonna get better soon so I go down and I think I'll be better tomorrow and I'm not better and then

I'm like well I'll be better the next day this was like at least a five -day thing for me and I really lost a week

I really I could not focus I could I interacted on social media a bit it's about all I could do I couldn't think past that I was supposed to do a men's lunch at my church message and I was gonna do this whole thing on Genesis 12 and 15 and 17 and all the reiterations of the

Abrahamic Covenant and what the Abrahamic Covenant means I'm still gonna do it I'm even debating whether I want to do it this

Sunday in some kind of a special session just because I think it needs to happen

I think it's good for the church not just for this platform but just for the church in general for my church for every church it's being talked about so much but I couldn't do it because I was so sick and it's my own fault it's my own fault

I think what it was was I was in Mexico City I think

I told everyone in the podcast I went to Mexico City with my wife for a few days we we just needed a break and that was the place we would decided to go and it was great right we saw the pyramids we saw

Mexico City itself and a lot of it's just such a big place you never run out of things to do there in fact

I was I was thinking when I was leaving I got to come back here there's so much well in the airport we had smoothies and of course the food is there is cheap the drinks are cheap it's like one of the least expensive places that I could go

I already had air miles to play pay for the ticket so just great situation in every way weather was great of course the altitude is not great but you get used to it and then they always tell you don't drink the water didn't think maybe there would be water in the smoothie yeah so Montezuma's revenge for a week and then my yeah the whole family just got it and I'm back now so I I released from the archive my conversation with CR Wiley on AI because I just couldn't do anything and I know some of you thought well you're better now no that was recorded before I was on the bed or on the couch when you were watching that but now

I am fine so thank you for those who knew about this and prayed for me we're kind of getting far away from the clip so I should probably just say let's let's talk about that and give you a review of other things we're gonna talk about the clip you heard at the beginning was

Paul Washer at the Shepherds conference while I was sick the Shepherds conference was going on last week and I know some of you were probably there my dad was actually there and I actually haven't debrief with him so I don't know from his perspective what happened but from my general understanding there isn't a lot to talk about in terms of controversial things now that's probably a good thing to be quite honest with you

I think people just need normal preaching on normal things what does the Bible say how does it apply

I saw the full panel that Phil Johnson did in fact I recorded it with John Piper Mark Devere Lincoln Duncan who else was on that panel

I thought there was another person I'm trying to remember now but it was a full panel on John MacArthur's legacy and I was expecting hey if there's gonna be any kind of problems it's gonna be there it's gonna be on that panel that's where the controversy is gonna be and there really wasn't any controversy the whole thing opened up with John MacArthur where I should say with Phil Johnson saying some of you want me to pick up where we left off in 2019 and it really only those who were there in 2019 or knew about the controversy would have even known what he was talking about which was the disagreements that John MacArthur and Phil Johnson had with Duncan and Moeller Endeavor that I mentioned

Moeller about social justice John MacArthur said greatest threat he had ever seen to the

Gospels in his ministry and they signed the Dallas statement those guys didn't and so there was some controversy leading up to it why are these guys coming back to Shepherd's Conference they haven't been there why are they back and this was something that Phil Johnson has said

John MacArthur wanted I think he was a gracious man I think very forgiving and I don't know how else to put it really just very

I think understanding and willing to give the benefit of the doubt to people even people sometimes who did not deserve it perhaps and so this was something

Phil Johnson didn't choose this was something John MacArthur before he died wanted to see happen a little bit like Charlie Kirk right inviting people that some people didn't like coming to Turning Point USA like Tucker Carlson right it was like well he said this before he died he's gonna come to our next event he was scheduled and Charlie Kirk wanted him there

John MacArthur wanted them there so that they were there but they were only on that panel Piper's the only one

I think that did a session outside the panel and it was really just reminiscing and it felt I don't know a bit bittersweet

I listened to it and I just thought wow you know John MacArthur influenced so many people did so many things and lives are transformed the

Bible was explained and to think of where those guys went they deviated from it okay they really did and we we tracked it on this podcast they deviated from that they showed themselves to be unfortunately foolish and maybe at best cowardly if they agreed that social justice was this great threat but didn't want to do anything about it and preferred to instead forward the narrative and I didn't like the fact that they were there to be honest

I'm with a lot of people I think that felt that way but going back turning the clock back before 2019 and thinking about just where things were before that the other battles that have been fought and how these guys were in the trenches and how

John MacArthur was kind of there with them and there was this band of brothers thing and it it really just gave you a lot of perspective

I was just thinking man it didn't have to go this way all the fracturing over the last six seven years man it just didn't have to happen but it did and it's just a sad thing and the fracturing seems to be continuing but the

Lord knows the Lord saw it before it was gonna happen and I thought for historical purposes and for reminiscing it was a fine panel and that's really all

I have to say about that Paul Washer though was also preaching at the conference and he was one of the main speakers as far as I understand it and he had the the clip that I played at the beginning of this particular podcast he had something to say about the months leading up to John MacArthur's eventual death and what his questions to John MacArthur were and this got some controversy online

No Compromise radio Mike Abendruff who has been on this podcast before was the one that that I saw first to raise the alarm about this here is his particular post on this topic he says give

Christians the gospel on their deathbeds not law because Paul Washer is asking John MacArthur of all people right you know how's your walk with the

Lord you ready you know him as your fellowship how's your prayer life these kinds of things and I thought about that and and there's this big controversy in fact some people saying that the critique of this is just proof that we've lost masculine

Christianity that it's just weaklings who can't handle law I don't think that's what's going on here

I don't think that's the case and I think a lot of the people who are saying that are probably reading deep from certain

Puritans and in the way that they would approach death which is not a universal way to approach this now it'd be great if there were biblical examples

I couldn't think of any of someone dying and then the pastor or the spiritual the prophet someone with guidance comes in to comfort them as they're dying to give to give them a last message we do have other examples in Scripture though right of David dying or Joseph dying and they are the ones usually talking as they're dying they're telling those who are going to remain to trust the

Lord usually to follow his law that kind of thing right but it's a different scenario obviously you do have examples of Jesus comforting

Mary and Martha after their brother Lazarus dies but that's a different situation he's not dying he's already died and Jesus is comforting them about the fact that the resurrection is going to happen and that and of course he's eventually he's about to raise

Lazarus from the dead so that's not really the same scenario here here's where I come down on all this right it is not wrong to bring up law to someone who's dying it's not wrong to ask them whether or not they're following the law of God it depends how you do it but I think as a general principle it's not necessarily forbidden but you're gonna do that with people who you suspect need the law to prick their hearts remember what does the law do what's the purpose of the law the law reveals our sinful nature it shows we can't follow

God's law or that we're not following God's law and that we deserve a punishment for that and of course

Christ is the one who's taken the punishment that's the gospel message what Christ has done so there are scenarios where someone in fact

I was in one recently is dying and I don't know that they're saved and in that kind of a scenario or I know they're not saved they have given no fruit or evidence of being a

Christian and in that environment losing a law I think is not just something that can be done it should be done but when it comes to Christians people who have a track record of faithfulness and fruit and they love the

Lord and they have exuded this I do think it is unusual I'll be honest

I do think it can be a very unusual thing to do that because in your final moments you are going to be entering the presence of the

Lord soon and the focus should be on the comfort that comes because dying scary the comfort that comes with being in Christ and works don't generally provide a lot of comfort all right

I know people have used scriptures like examine yourself see if you're in the faith well the second in second

Corinthians the church is dealing with Judaizers and he's not saying look at your works either right it's it's examine yourselves is examine what you're trusting in who are you trusting in for this thing that's about to happen to you you're about to go from this life to the next life let me remind you about Jesus who are you trusting in is it

Jesus yeah yes you could say that's kind of law ish who are you trusting and you should be trusting in Jesus but I would submit to you that's more it's more gospel when you are making the focus about Christ and trying to turn someone's attention to what

Christ is done he's prepared mansions for you he's gonna take care of you you don't have to worry about what's coming because of Christ and if there's hesitation if the person doesn't know

Christ then I think yeah you give them the gospel but you maybe start with the law like look you are a sinner you don't deserve that but God is so good right this is a just basic pastoral thing and I think growing up in a pastor's household and seeing scenarios like this play out that's my general instinct is to just knee -jerk go to that go to are you prepared for death means what for a

Christian what is Christ done and some people pointed out that this was not even a deathbed thing

John MacArthur had months to go so he's still lucid and of course he's not on the throes of death yet but it looks like it's soon

Phil Johnson weighed in Phil Johnson said MacArthur didn't have a problem with Paul Washer asking this so you know that's not something that I want to get all bent out of shape about but I will just point out because this was a controversy and I did post on Twitter or X that I was gonna talk about it

I do think as a matter of general practice focusing on Christ on the gospel when someone is heading towards death is the wise approach that's what brings comfort and if someone doesn't know

Christ if someone isn't really trusting in him then those kinds of things are gonna reveal themselves in those moments but going in hot with the law and trying to convict someone on their deathbed that I'll just put it this way doesn't really bring comfort the works of the law don't bring comfort that you are worthy of God or anything like that right they bring conviction that you need

Christ and it's the Christ part that I think a pastor should be conveying to a parishioner or anyone is a

Christian who's dying now would love to see comments on this if you have any but is more of a pastoral thing than anything else and I thought it's a good conversation to have these are normal pastoral things that aren't talked about maybe as much as they need to be in online places it's all politics and let's take a break from just politics there's a lot of other way more important things out there like the fact that we're gonna go to an eternal place whether it's heaven or hell if you're in Christ at 7 and no matter what the politics are here that is going to happen at some point to you you can't stop so are you ready for that point and if you're in Christ if you're a

Christian you have a great comfort ahead of you all right figured I'd share that am

I already am I being accused of this I don't know design build says antinomianism if I understood what happened pastor

John would accept the question willingly yeah that's what Phil Johnson seemed to indicate I don't know that it's antinomianism is it not every critique of a use of the law is anti law the law is good if it's used lawfully right so there are places to use the law their place is not to use the law you use the law to convict someone who is a

Christian of their sin well if they're unrepentant I suppose you can use the law but the law is the law does not bring comfort and which is really the central point that I'm trying to make basic Ford says

I hope you get better there have been a lot of sick people in Boston this winter also I'm sure there are this winter has been terrible it's been such a cold winter

Adam says hello from Bozeman Montana how's Bozeman doing those I don't know what it's like over there

I just get chilly thinking of Bozeman though it just feels cold all right well we are going to keep

I was gonna say clean because I saw bright up Bry of the leash says currently cleaning up around the

CNC router right now so okay there's I don't I'm not gonna ask what other people are doing but whatever you're doing

I hope this is a blessing to you as we go through the news of the day and I give you a fresh perspective hopefully from a

Christian point of view on an American point of view how to view some of these things that are being discussed or should be discussed so where do we want to go next is the question

I suppose there's so many things let's start here we're gonna start with some international news conservative

Anglicans pulled back from electing rival to Archbishop of Canterbury conservative

Anglicans meeting in Nigeria's capital according to the BBC have pulled back on plans to elect a rival primus inter pares the

Latin term meaning first among equals which describes the Archbishop of Canterbury's position electing another person with the same title would have been seen by many as an open challenge to the leadership of the female

Archbishop in England instead the group is going to and they're known as gaff con

I don't know if does it say what that stands for gaff con I think it will

I don't see where here but this is a rival or splinter groups from the

Church of England so as it is leaving behind old structures and old titles is now unveiling a new leadership council headed by Rwanda's Archbishop Lawrence Banda reporters recreated with some puzzlement reacted

I should say to news of the appointment as they were announced on Tuesday with some suggesting it still amounted to an act of defiance alright so the splintering continues unfortunately and this was just a bridge too far for gaff con they did not want to go along with the

Church of England on having a female Archbishop and they are in Africa they are the more conservative wing of the

Church of England it's just it's sad to see this happen but this is playing out currently a life way let's bring it to the

United States here life way which is the Southern Baptists bookstore

I guess now online bookstore they develop curriculum they do studies they do a whole bunch of things but they're under the

Southern Baptist Convention they have an event coming up an event that I would likely probably not be a fit for I don't know could

I register could I go because it is the Ridge Crest it's at the Ridge Crest Conference Center which is in Black Mountain North Carolina but it is the annual black church leadership and family conference so it's a leadership development conference a spiritual retreat any family vacation in the beautiful mountains of North Carolina but it is for black church leadership the

Southern Baptists have for years been trying to court to minorities into their midst to keep the denomination from being an old white people's denomination this is something

Al Mohler actually said back in 2010 2011 this is Great Commission resurgence stuff we got to make sure that our denomination survives too old too white and so you saw a lot of these diversity initiatives here's

Lifeway doing a black church leadership and family conference and of course people pointing out well what if there was a white leadership family conference what would you would that be acceptable would you allow that and I think the obvious answer is probably not the only difference

I can think of is this I think the black church is sort of known as an entity the historically black church meaning black

Christians have a history a that goes back to a slave experience where they had their own denominations and their own style of worship and theology and everything of course this is heavily influenced by mostly

Southern Christians but this is something that is unique to them and this is one of the terms that is used to describe that whole project because it does have some markers that make it similar whether it's met in the

Methodist or Episcopalian there they have a very similar kind of way of approaching church whereas white people broadly don't have this descendants of Europeans you could say there are some things that link them together but they're a little more specific they have larger numbers and so Southern Baptists are going to kind of do their own thing whereas Lutherans or Methodists or these other groups are going to do their own thing and if they are majority descendants of Europeans they don't think of themselves as part of a quote -unquote white church so there is a cultural factor there but I do think the point still holds especially for the

Southern Baptists it's like why are you still trying to cater in these ways why not just do a family conference and if people who are from the quote -unquote black church want to come you can send invitations to them and they can be part of it why give them a particular place within your group they why can't they do their own family retreat right but Lifeway is

I think probably just catering they want to do something specifically for this particular group and it smells like the social justice stuff from years ago and I think for good reason so to think that the social justice stuff has just ended

I don't think that's necessarily the case I still think it's moving on I just I think it's there in fact

I'm gonna maybe now would be a good time to show you Southern Baptist Convention still has a problem with female pastors

I'll play for you this one this is Burnett Avenue Baptist Church and here's what's going on there

Avenue Baptist Church is a member of the Southern Baptist Convention and the

Kentucky Baptist Convention to describe them as a woke church would likely be a compliment since they have emphasized multiple times from their own church's

Facebook page the importance of being woke their senior pastor Corrie shawl was endorsed by the pro -lgbt committee for fairness and individual rights when he ran for Jefferson County Public School Board in 2018 in 2020 he called the

Southern Baptist Convention a patriarchal white supremacist institution yet the church still remains in the denomination according to the

SBC website and they disregard the Baptist faith and message when it forbids him in pastors in standing in place of reverential instead

Burnett Avenue Baptist Church has female reverends on staff and regularly allows females to teach adult

Bible studies to males as well as preach on Sunday morning I thank God for him for this opportunity to be behind the sacred desk

I am your professor mrs. will not mrs. dr.

professor Sabrina Champagne for today and this class is called Bible study adults 101 the

Bible says no female pastors the Baptist faith and message says no female pastors but Burnett Avenue Baptist Church says no

Bethany Church in Ellicott City Maryland is a member of the Southern Baptist Convention Bethany Church employs

Reverend dr. Sherry McKay as their pastor of worship and arts despite the Southern Baptist Convention stance against female pastors

I'm Sherry McKay I'm the associate pastor of music and worship arts at Bethany Church in Ellicott City and I want to invite you this

Sunday to our Mother's Day service so ladies I'm gonna be preaching from the book of Ruth Reverend McKay got her master's at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and her doctor of ministry at Nazarene Theological Seminary where she wrote her dissertation multicultural worship arts ministry transitioning from monocultural worship to a multi -ethnic worshipping community in it she argues against the colorblind mindset tokenism and cultural appropriation and for a truer multicultural worship in light of new challenges for white leadership at Bethany Church because of racial tensions from police shootings redlining and racism

Reverend McKay preaches during Sunday morning services at Bethany Church looking at injustice racism and discrimination can be overwhelming it can be hard work it can consume us with feelings of guilt we're starting a new sermon series called hope and family matters senior pastor

Kip Smith supports Reverend McKay by arguing in his book a fresh look at women in ministry that the traditional complementarian view of the role of women in the church is wrong scripture teaches no women pastors the

Baptist faith and message teaches no women pastors but Bethany Church says no okay there you have it two churches

Burnett Avenue Baptist Church and Bethany Church both with female pastors and both in affiliation with the

Southern Baptist Convention and both let's just say holding to woke ideologies at the churches and they're still there right so there's a lot of churches like this

I think a lot more than people realize and it seems to be given a pass within the Southern Baptist Convention unlike things like quote -unquote racism or quote -unquote abuse which the credentials committee is authorized at a higher level at a greater level to deal with this is something that the

Southern Baptist for some reason don't want the credentials committee to have the same latitude with why is that why is it that this gets treated differently when this is in clear violation of the

Baptist faith and message it's not really even a question I will note this too and I want to say this publicly it is in transition but Antioch Baptist Church in Virginia was a church

I also highlighted last Saturday and the pastor pastor well the Reverend the person with that title from the church did leave a comment saying hey they're not

Southern Baptists they're part of a different group and I looked them up on the Southern Baptist Convention website they are listed and the other group they are not listed and so I just asked did this happen like really recently it wasn't obviously the

Southern Baptist kicking that church out it sounds like that church must have just left if they're not on the website or I should say they're they're not on their new whatever their new affiliation is they're not on their website and it's it's just sort of another read another testament to the fact that the

Southern Baptist Convention is not the one policing these things because if they were kicked out the Southern Baptist would remove them but instead no they're still listed on the directory people can go find them they can think they're going to a solid

Southern Baptist Church and surprise surprise female pastor so this is a problem even among the churches that are no longer in the

Southern Baptist Convention but they leave and join something else Southern Baptists still have them on their role sometimes so anyway that's going on I want to switch gears a little bit and we will since leave the

Southern Baptists here let's talk about Iran just a little bit and I want to just actually express appreciation here

I don't know if this will be taken well by everyone but I think it's 100 % true so I'm gonna say it

I am grateful that Pete Hegseth does seem to have somewhat of an understanding of Islam and specifically the

Twelfth Imam ideology that the Shiites of Iran believe in the

Revolutionary Guard ideology and the reason I think that's a good thing is in years past and one of the frustrations

I think many of us had with George W Bush was there just seemed to be like this misunderstanding what

Islam was like oh you just plant democracy there I'll just work there just a little freedom like like us the people but you know the regime it just hates freedom that's why it hates

I was just simplistic stuff Bush saying you know Islam is just a religion of peace that you don't understand this is so different right now to see

Pete Hegseth saying look let me explain Islam to you we're in and specifically the

Islam of Iran okay I should be specific we're fighting religious fanatics that's just not something that would have been done because it was politically incorrect but now in this current administration you can say this he said we're fighting religious fanatics who seek a nuclear capability in order for some religious

Armageddon but from my perspective obviously I'm a man of faith who encourages our troops to lean in their faith rely on God there's no atheist in foxholes your mortality is right in front of you can you imagine a a any official actually not just Pete Hegseth office not just the

Secretary of War but any office in the government under Bush or Obama or Biden saying anything like this so I do want to express for appreciation whether you agree or disagree with the current strikes in Iran having someone that actually has a little bit of an understanding of who the enemy is is important because religion really does matter not everything is driven by economic concerns that's actually a liberal tendency to think that it drives a lot of the free

Palestine stuff that these are just really just freedom loving people who want a better life and it's economic and if they were just given economic aid more they'd be great or something and it's like no there's actually religious zealots out there who prefer to kill their enemies and fulfill the duties of their religion as they see it then they do to even live themselves like that is possible that's an option guys that's we have to consider that not everyone thinks like a typical

Western Christian secularist anyone living in a Western country like there's different places with different people under different mindsets and so I think it's it's good to at least point that out that that's a it's good to have a

Christian in that position who understands the religious component of these things one of the things and I know

I'm switching gears here kind of quickly but one of the things that I think is particularly unhealthy right now

March 5th this came out is a it sort of speaks to the morale of the country is how black people people are okay how discouraged how upset they are any this is from the

Pew Research Center any 25 country survey Americans especially likely to view bad sorry likely to view fellow citizens as morally bad 53 % of US adults say

Americans have bad morals and ethics of the majority of the country according to this thinks that the country is bad now you look at it in a few ways you can say well maybe maybe there's like room for you know the law as we have

Paul Washer talk about earlier maybe like that's the guys are sinners you need Christ maybe this is an opening so that's the optimistic way to look at this but there's also another way to look at this when you look at all these other countries and you see that they are in Canada forget it

Canada thinks they're great 92 % thinks they're somewhat good or very good what a difference the

US is the least likely of all the country surveyed to think of themselves as good and their fellow citizens is morally good it's not really normal okay that's not something that's you see a lot of the times in history 39 % of us adults a homosexuality is morally wrong that's good for more than then take this position in Germany or Sweden some some maybe that is part of it the

US is among the countries whose inhabitants are most likely to condemn extramarital affairs and it like maybe there's a residual

Christianity here that's awake at the same time I'm like is that really healthy for us to think of ourselves collectively is really bad like the only way that I can see it being healthy as if it leads to repentance and revival if it's just we're terrible then and we're you know there's really no plan to do anything about it we're just bad there's there's no about face then it just means that we're going to have less of a optimistic view of ourselves and we won't have the moral credibility to do really anything let's see what else this says across the 25 countries 77 % of adults say that married people having an affair is morally unacceptable it's going into some of these moral issues gambling divorce so it gets into some of the granular detail here which we're not really gonna get into but I think it's important to I think it's important to just highlight that this is the case there there are people who just think

America is bad is doing bad things and why that is is that a combination of different factors is that the woke left thinking

America's terrible combined with people on the right who are realizing how far we fall and I don't know it is a development to keep your eye on though and we do need moral legitimacy to act as a country we don't have that we have no confidence we will go into a tailspin we will fracture all over the place at the same time though we simultaneously right we need to understand the evil that we have normalized and repent and turn from it so and recognize

God has been merciful to us right so those two things are not contradictory realizing we need to be a force for good in the world and moral legitimacy and also realizing that we also have done very bad things abortion being the top of the list those two things can live side -by -side

I don't know what this poll means exactly maybe it means both those things but there is it means it is maybe the main point

I want to make it means that there is a lot of moral questioning and moral openness and I think a willingness to reexamine morality and and that might present an opportunity so let's let's keep an eye on that another maybe this is part of the narrative that we just read but a article just came out first things magazine from our arena who

I believe is Catholic the case for Christian nationalism and there's George Washington praying and people are pointing out online like I never thought

I'd see first things publish something like this and he starts out he says look Gen Z Americans are extremely or very proud of their country see this is all this information going all these directions and like which one is true there's little doubt that relentless indoctrination anti -american ideologies in the school in the media contributes to their lukewarm patriotism but there's another cause they're not stupid the country show signs of disease ok so this is right along the lines we're just talking about each year shocking number of people die of drug overdoses marriage rates have declined so all the maladies pornography all of that he says look maybe we need some kind of a

Christian nationalism and he says let's get to sort of the crux of it here to get to his conclusion he says

Christians can reject nationalism is not a gospel imperative national is warranted by prudent discernment the political and cultural needs of the moment

I and others endorse nationalism though Christians agree with me about the pressing needs for national restoration so he's talking about a national restoration and he said to those frightened by talk of Christian nationalism is very unlikely to become the beating heart of the

American right I foresee a future which nationalism will act strong as a Christian I'll participate in the movement

I hope Christians well so he's hoping for some kind of a

Christian not not theocracy but Christian status quo to return

I will submit to you that does not easily return you need leaders and you need a population willing to authenticate those leaders you need those two things to come together which means you also need conversions and discipleship all of these things work together to create to restore a

Christian culture that's been lost it doesn't happen out of a vacuum it can't just be top -down force

I don't believe I know there's those who disagree with me on this but I do think there has to be some legitimacy even

Israel's kings that were good couldn't eliminate all the high places because the population you do need the king you do need the population both these things work like hand and glove the and the king can certainly set an example in certain ways you can certainly set moral parameters to create an environment that helps the church in the sense of the church is not persecuted and the morality of the church and the morality of God in the

Bible are reinforced by the laws of the land I think that is a good thing that is a right thing and the moral charge is given to the magistrate comes directly from God himself so I think this is something to think about but I don't think it has to have a title

Christian nationalism it's just being normal it's just going back to our roots it's just trying to be

Christian act like a Christian why don't we have morality again you know the morality that we've always seemed to have it had until two seconds ago that's really all it is and there needs to be a recognition if we're really so bad if people think we're bad if Gen Z they're not patriotic if they don't they think that we don't have legitimacy anymore then nature abhors a vacuum they're gonna find a moral standard from somewhere they're gonna look for a mythology that reinforces that moral standard and it may come from pagan mythology it may come from who knows where but we would like it to be a restoration to the

Christian past that we once enjoyed and it was never perfect but it was true and it was a goal and it's not utopian that's the maybe the thing that hampers it in a way in the minds of some it's hard to compete with an idea that doesn't actually exist in the real world of some kind of a perfection that that is that might even cater to your sin

Christianity doesn't cater to your sin so we need real conversions but to see that there are intellectuals seriously talking about this on the right and saying oh you know maybe this is the direction we need to go

I would say that is a sign to be somewhat encouraged now speaking of Christian nationalism the

PCA some of you know is doing a report on this and it looks like it's going to be critical it hasn't come out but William Wolfe points out that Jay Green a history professor at Covenant College and a ruling elder at St.

Elmo Presbyterian Church was appointed by Kevin DeYoung I pointed this out before by the way this isn't new to serve on the

PCA study committee on Christian nationalism but Green is a self -admitted political progressive he wrote in 2023 no one then would have described me as politically conservative my theological takes let's see what does he say

I consider myself broadly progressive when it came to politics and I haven't voted for Republicans since the 90s so this is one of the guys they have on their

Christian nationalism study committee very likely they will not have the same outlook as RR Reno has on this particular subject new data from from this

Jewish magazine J feed new data reveals that young black liberals are among the most anti -semitic people in the

US I had to laugh a little bit when I saw this and I could have I think told you this let me see if I can make this reader someone should someone was telling me

I don't use this browser usually except for the show but there is a way to make this immersive let's see immersive reader there we go so you don't have to see the advertisements all right black liberals with self -identified liberals age 18 to 30 between 2020 23 they did a study it suggested anti -semitic tropes are becoming increasingly pervasive among minority youth who otherwise align with progressive politics according to the findings black liberals in this age group are the most likely to agree with at least one of the three common anti -semitic statements the dual loyalty trope the belief that Jews have too much power or the support for boycotting

Jewish owned businesses all 42 % of black liberals have opinions to see 26 % of Latinos and 15 % of whites do as well the study's three -year period tracking all right so this is kind of hysterical to be and I knew this was true

I knew this was true just from my own interactions and my own observations but the the idea that like anti -jewish or anti -israel those are two different things but they often converge that these are you like very right -wing things that the other rights just gotten so much more right -wing and that's really what's happened to make it so much more anti -jewish

I've always been skeptical of this and one of the reasons is because of my familiarity with the left and knowing like well am

I hearing so many of the same things that I heard when I was in college coming out of the mouths of progressives and you know sure enough it's the largest group of his young black liberals that believe in according from this

Jewish magazine's perspective that in the studies perspective who put out the study let's see the

Jewish people so this is like a completely in house I guess Jewish kind of like hey we're concerned about this let's figure out who it is

Oh black liberals they're the highest concentration highest as a percentage so figured

I saw that figured I pointed out just because I'm sick of the not sick of it but like I see the comments every once in a while I get the inbox stuff from people a you know

John like what happened to you you change you're not going down the very very anti -jewish frankly some of it obsessive level narrative stuff and I'm like no no

I just believe what I've always believed about this kind of thing and it is I really think this is primarily left driven so that's all

I was gonna say I was gonna bring it up and you can haters can leave the comments as they see fit mark

Driscoll's Trinity Church acquires 15 .5 million building for expansion

I only bring this up for one reason and one reason alone mark Driscoll illustrate something to me he he has a mega church now again what happened

I mean this is never supposed to happen mark Driscoll was supposed to just go away he was distressed he had anger problems he ran axe 29 into a ditch we were never supposed to hear from him again and here he is maybe bigger than he was before in some ways because he's attached himself to right -leaning political thinkers and I think the lesson in this is not a lesson that we should like actually the lesson is the internet as a tool lets you go around all the institutions and there's blessings to that but there's also curses and the curses is you don't have standards anymore not that the institutions were living up to their standards but you know in theory they were supposed to and they used to and now they don't and now they're so discredited no one really cares who they just they're looking for narratives to listen to what what do

I want to hear someone's character competence past track record who cares about that right this is why

James Fishback has any traction in Florida whatsoever you shouldn't really have any based on just just alone his financial problems and the stealing and the lying from the previous firm he worked for but he will have traction because of a narrative it's everything's the narrative

I've noticed this increasingly lying to protect the narrative is perfectly fine lines not totally fine everything just comes down to the narrative and yeah narratives are important metanarratives are more important but narratives are only important if they're true and if they're not true if you got a lie to support the narrative if you have to embellish you you have to act like a con artist

I'm not saying Mark Driscoll the con artist but it allows the environment allows for that you never truly canceled now and as long as you have that tool available to you if you can find an audience that likes your message likes the narrative likes what you tell them and there's a lot of people that like a lot of messages then you can become cancel proof doesn't matter if you've had an affair doesn't matter what you've done and that's something now we have to be extra discerning about we can't just assume because someone has a big church or a big organization that they're necessarily they've been vetted that they they went up the ladders and they were checked out and the standards were applied to them there may not have been any standards

I think what Mark Driscoll has done is frankly it's something that could not have been done even ten years ago but it's being done now it's being done in this environment and I think there's more reasons for it than just what

I mentioned it's not just the platform it's also just the the vacuum that's been created by discredited leaders and institutions and people are gonna follow someone you have to have a leader even if it's someone who's not particularly qualified right

I mean that you could look at our political leaders even the ones that we end up voting for because they're better than the alternative the need of the hour is men of virtue it still is and they're incubated on the local level there's no way of getting around that I wrote a essay on localism earlier this week

I would encourage you to check out it's kind of like a like long it's a it's like my magnum opus on the case for Christian localism is what it's called

I'm sure if you google that it'll come up on my sub stack and I know Abbeville Institute's gonna run it on Friday or Saturday this is this is the issue right now this is the need of our time showing proven character because you know what's gonna happen the more we pump unqualified people into positions of authority the more you're gonna find failure after failure and people who are competent who do care about standards are very they will find people who are like that like Nate it's just going to happen organically

I'm just telling you this is the way it's gonna work out you are gonna have the AI slop kind of machine a wing of things and then you're gonna have the people who are more serious and the serious people will eventually they will end up putting them getting themselves into positions of actual control and yes the mechanisms of democracy can be used in a mass way by people just trafficking and slop you have no standards but I think the people who actually care about virtue and standards are wiser and they are going to eventually come out on top in this whole thing but we are in like a massive disruption and massive technology in increasing just that there's it's a unique environment and we have to be extra discerning in this particular environment all right opinion from David French I know you wanted to hear about David French y 'all of David French right well he thinks

James Tallarico is simply great let me let me show you before I get into this piece let me just show you a piece from James or a interview that I saw a clip from of James Tallarico that's not family or friends

I love I'm just saying this because it's on my mind the trans children who showed up yesterday at the state capitol to advocate for their humanity they shouldn't have to but it was an inspiration to watch so inspiring those those trans kids you know and they're they're like dehumanized no one knows they're humans they think they're

I guess animals at a zoo but they came to just advocate for the fact that we're human and James Tallarico is now the

Christian example of what it means to be in politics and I was talking to someone who shall remain nameless earlier this week who

I am I'll just say related to it so someone in my family who leans left and they really were saying how great

James Tallarico is like that's that's an example of a truly good Christian in politics well

David French seems to agree with that and this this is someone that I'm like yeah they're hard left of course you know

I'm gonna go David French David French agrees he says that he's asked about James Tallarico a lot he's listening to his sermons and and he just thinks that he carries himself well

Tallarico he says is one of the few openly Christian politicians in the United States who acts like a

Christian so he's one of the guys that what you just heard apparently that's acting like a Christian just denying that he made the male and female very

Christian thing to do apparently and you know who's not Christian MAGA Trump Trump not

Christian at all Trump now I will admit despite Trump's moral issues because of the alternatives

Christians tend to vote for him but to act like you know James Tallarico is just he's in this this position of acting like a

Christian and Trump just oh I mean Trump doesn't wear it on his sleeve like James does okay

Trump Trump is can barely get through a presser where they're asking about his favorite Bible verse

Trump is you could say culturally kind of Christian but that's it ends there and James Tallarico is going into this with I'm a

Christian I'm a Presbyterian minister and I am here to just be this kind of gentle caring good bedside manner just wonderful person who loves sunshine and roses and puppies and I think there is something about his approach that is refreshing for people that are bitter or finding it hard to take all the rage that's everywhere they want someone to just speak calmly at the same time you know this guy is you know wolf in sheep's clothing

I said this morning to some folks I said look this guy he believes terrible things if you think that trans children thinking of themselves as the gender they are not and engaging in that fantasy reinforcing that fantasy and trying to get legal protections for that fantasy is a morally good thing then you are so far out of step

I mean better with a millstone I mean this is the danger of it is like the ideology is packaged in such a way that it seems so loving and gentle because of the way that he's communicating when it's anything but that it's cruel but this guy actually has a shot of getting into the

Senate and so we'll see what happens with that but that is that is the current issue right now in the state of Texas as the

Republicans face a runoff in their own election to see who's going to face off with James Tallarico Francis Chan talk about him he publicly apologized for past endorsement of Mike Bickle and fallen ministry leaders

I thought this was actually really good the New York Times best -selling author Francis Chan has issued an apology in the statement he said that he has been convicted in recent days of biblical passages warning that people will give an account for every careless word

California -based pastor said he's faced criticism for responding slowly or not responding publicly when controversies emerge he said he's received repeated requests to address leaders he wants endorsed and he said look people fall each time it feels like a kick in the stomach and he says for the sake of clarity please know that I of course do not endorse people like Mike Bickle who have been caught in unrepentant immoral immorality look better late than never and Francis Chan's got issues but I will say

I'm glad that at least there's some kind of a standard here that he's trying to hold up it's not often you see the standards it's always like you know well your side did this and political motives

I really appreciate this and last but not least some news here in Lima Peru thousands accept

Christ at Franklin Graham event according to Decision magazine 90 ,000 attended a

March 7th through 8th event nearly 10 ,000 came forward during an invitation now you know

I'm always skeptical of these things because I don't know is this a legitimate conversions I think Franklin Graham is pretty good

I think he's actually better than his father at least towards the end his father communicating the gospel

I don't care for the mass crusade thing but I will say that if the gospel was preached and and that many people are coming out and that many people came forward there's always room for hope and so I'm really

I'm just happy that there's guys like Franklin Graham that are still out there still preaching the gospel that's the normal stuff we need to be doing all right well let's take some comments cries of outrage questions whatever you have and we will see you what we can do

I would like to ask Pete why Islam is still a religion allowed to be practiced in the Department of War well

I don't you know I don't speak for him but I would assume that legally speaking there's not really much of a way to challenge that even though he's privileging

Christianity a whole bunch in that department to start to excise certain religions

I think the way he was I think able to strip chaplains who were was it pagan or atheist

I forget which it was of their chaplaincy was by categorizing it as that's not a religion so he's working within the rules that have been established

I think you'd have to change the rules in order to strip chaplains who are

Muslim of their chaplain status or something like that I think look the

Islamization of America is a big problem I'm an hour and a half north of New York City and I see the photos all the time on social media of what's happening down there and it's just sad to me they feel bolstered they feel like they've got their guy in the mayoral position and it's it's just not good so cosmic treason joy

Fulcombe I just tuned in please elaborate on your washer comment oh this must be someone else in the chat so I'm not familiar let's see what else we got design build

Tallarico is for itching ears who agrees with postmodern liberals easy to counter the arguments if leaders are willing yeah absolutely he's it's it's over it it's microwaved and you know reheated up just progressivism that's all it is let's see what else

I'm hope I'm wrong so Stephen Smith but the Republican conservative Roman Catholics have the most political influence and infrastructure in the generic

American right especially in the college campus ground game you might be right I don't know so depends evangelicals do have some influence but they're not in the intellectual circles as much think tanks and I don't even think in the upper echelon of politics they are represented in places like turning point

USA one of the reasons I think I'd like to see turning point continue and get better there are guys within it working who are evangelical that I know doing good work but yes

Roman Catholics a lot of the Jewish stuff is is a bit overblown on this point to II think that Roman Catholics actually have quite a bit more influence in on the right in the conservative intellectual circles

Jewish people do too but it's very odd that evangelicals who supply the backbone the base a lot of the votes they are not represented hardly in these circles and that needs to change you know and I I almost tweeted this other day

I didn't but it was only effective look you know a lot of Jewish families and this goes for many

Catholic families too they will tell their kids when they're young they you know you you have certain career fields available to you where I live in New York for Italians and Irish oftentimes it's like police officer or firemen right these civic things but civic leadership is kind of that's a big thing for Catholics I don't see that as much with evangelicals it's like the focus is either ministry focus if you're going to be a leader or you're going to be like feeding your family is the most important thing as a job

I remember someone telling me this years ago at Grace Community Church in California John MacArthur's church remember someone telling me that this is someone honestly why

I don't mind telling who this was was Jesse Johnson I don't mind telling he was on staff at the time because I asked him I was like look I'm thinking a law what do you he's like look there's no difference between being a lawyer or a janitor it's just it's literally just a way to pay the bill so you can do ministry and I'm like I mean

I think it's important to get involved in politics a lot he's like well you know unless you're doing William Wilberforce stuff and freeing slaves it's not and it stuck with me

I remember it like clear as day because I was a young aspiring political person

I didn't know what to do am I gonna go to pastoral work politics are most important but that mentality definitely exists and I don't know if Jesse Johnson still feels that way but that mentality still is it exists in evangelical circles it's a pietism of sorts and Roman Catholics don't really have it and and Jewish people right depending on the group you're in but if you are in like like even the who are the ones that Tucker just went after the because I know

I've been in so many of their houses because they're in all over Sullivan County why am

I blanking on the name now the there they're Hasidic but the particular brand of Hasidic Judaism I don't know why it's escaping me anyway they will often basically tell their kids look you know you're gonna be a doctor you're gonna be a lawyer or businessman right these are your options they expect influence they expect high standards they expect their children to achieve whereas Christians do this thing something if they if they do get involved in political maneuvering it's like seven mountain mandate stuff it's like well we got to start or these organizations that are para church that are going to take over all these institutions of culture it's like that's not how power works guys it's just not how it works power works when you tell your kids at a young age you know we're going to try to help you achieve influence do your best with the talents you have don't just scoot through life because we want we want you to do well we want you to be a good steward right that's the kind of thing that will ensure you get in the door in these powerful institutions you got to have people who are qualified and you can't tell me even with DEI and all that that you still can't go to Ivy Leagues or these whatever school and make good grades and impress people and excel you can't okay

I'm sick of the like we can't just until someone passive we you know let's be passive someone's got to go in there and just change the whole upset the apple cart and we or else we're just all gate kept no you're not all gate kept you can do a lot of good with what you have and you don't get there by complaining either yes the debt could be stacked against you in some ways but you figure out ways to overcome that's what a man does man doesn't men don't whine about it men figure out a way around it they and this is

I think unfortunately what many evangelical Christians need to learn you know and there's no shame in being a carpenter in fact we need good carpenters there's no shame in being a plumber or any of these things but we do need to start producing more college professors doctors lawyers all of those fields need to be filled if they're not filled someone will fill them that's just how it works

I don't know what to tell you it's the way it is all right let's see what other comments do we have basic Forge says a close friend of mine was dying a couple years ago he was anxious that he did not do enough to please

God I tried to encourage him that he needed to rely on Jesus and God's grace to save him 100 % that's what you do design build says maybe ask this way on church demographics if you became a pastor of an aging small church what would you do that's a good question because there's plenty of examples of that I think part of the problem sometimes is if you have an aging church and the people are just sort of set in their ways they're not maybe always as open to younger people who are coming in and to be open means you got to talk to them even if it's awkward you got to invite them over your house you got to include them you have to build a relationship with them some young people are also not as interested in it or they're not going to initiate that that even if they need it and so yeah there might be people who walk in there young and say well you got old people here

I'm looking for friends or I'm looking for a date or I'm looking for something that the church doesn't provide and you can't provide what you don't have right so you have to look at what you have and within the limitations of what you have

I think craft a message that appeals now

I want to qualify this because I do not believe in contextualization like Tim Keller does where we're going to kind of soft pedal hell and the

Trinity and sin to an audience that is offended by those things I think you just preach the full counsel of God straight up but I do think that when people are starting out in life there are going to be certain things from the counsel of God that are more necessary for instance when someone's dying they are going to which we've talked about in this podcast they need a lot of comfort when someone is just starting out in life they need a lot of encouragement for the road ahead and wisdom on how to navigate it when you're done with your life do you still need those things but there's a more of an emphasis on okay

I'm getting ready to like I'm gonna meet my maker soon and your life is not you're not you're retired you're not on the workforce you're not encountering the same challenges and you need to be able to preach to people who are walking in from a job who have been encountering the world all week they're not just at home reading our daily bread they are encountering some serious threats and you need to be there for them too so I think make sure that you're not over overly focused on one demographic preach to all the demographics that's really all

I'm saying craft a message to preach to all the demographics and then it's an in time investment it means that you form relationships with young people as they're coming in I mean you can't substitute for sharing meals it's just not gonna happen you have to be able to they have they have to see that there's something spiritually beneficial for them in your congregation and there is because you have if you have older people you have wisdom you have the scripture and you have the liturgy you have those three things already so those are beneficial to young people whether they see it or not and then you of course you need the

Lord of the harvest so pray about it that's my only advice really I don't I don't have a special trick I don't think it means doing a

DEI thing I don't but I think it does mean that you are aware of who's coming in and you do try to meet the spiritual needs of those people okay there's a lot of comments coming and I can't get to all of them

I'm gonna try to focus on the questions specifically if I can and I'm not seeing a lot of questions though I'm seeing a lot of comments but not a lot of questions so we'll probably end up ending the podcast

I will say this I do have some stuff coming out soon that will hopefully be helpful for you

I am going to do something on the Abrahamic Covenant because I'm frustrated with just the slop

I'm seeing online so much about it we'll talk about historically with early church fathers and others have said about this and how it applies today and and no you don't have to be a supporter of the military industrial complex in the modern state of Israel to believe that there is a future in gathering that is going to happen so we're gonna talk about that on the podcast a little bit other things that I got well we're gonna talk about localism on the whole podcast on that soon

I think that's a very important topic that's all too often neglected Michael Foster's been doing some good work on that by the way as well and you can look forward to more exposure to the

Southern Baptist Convention pray for me I'm making travel arrangements for some projects that we we have on this podcast that you'll know more about soon and I hope that you all are having a wonderful week