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

Separates 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 going to be gloomy people.

I don't think we need to be that. We've inherited some great things. We're going to 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 going to 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 going to 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 been in some of the worst sickness I've experienced in the last few years.

And I'm very optimistic when I'm sick as far as thinking I'm going to 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 could not focus. 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 going to 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 going to 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 just needed a break. And that was the place we decided to go. And it was great, right? We saw the pyramids. We saw Mexico City itself. And it's just such a big place. You never run out of things to do there.

In fact, 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 cheap. The drinks are cheap. It's like one of the least expensive places that I could go.

I already had air miles to pay for the ticket. So it was just a 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.

I didn't think maybe there would be water in the smoothie. Yeah. So Montezuma's revenge for a week. And then the whole family just got it. And I'm back now. So I released from the archive my conversation with C .R. 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 preview of other things we're going to 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 debriefed 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 Dever, 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 going to be any kind of problems, it's going to be there. It's going to be on that panel.

That's where the controversy is going to be. And there really wasn't any controversy. The whole thing opened up with John MacArthur, or I should say with Phil Johnson, saying some of you want me to pick up where we left off in 2019.

And 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 and Dever.

Did I mention 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 Shepherds 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, inviting people that some people didn't like coming to Turning Point USA, like Tucker Carlson.

It was like, oh, he said this before he died. He's going to 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, John MacArthur influenced so many people, did so many things, and lives were transformed.

The Bible was explained. And to think of where those guys went, they deviated from it, okay? They really did. And 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 had 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 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 going to 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 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 Ebendruff, who has been on this podcast before, was the one 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? How's your walk with the Lord? You ready? Do you know him? How's your fellowship?

How's your prayer life? These kinds of things. And I thought about that. 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 that'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. 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 going to 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 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's scary, the comfort that comes with being in Christ.

And works don't generally provide a lot of comfort, right? I know people have used scriptures like examine yourselves, see if you're in the faith. Well, in 2 Corinthians, the church is dealing with Judaizers, and he's not saying look at your works either, right?

It's examine yourselves, 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? I guess you could say that's kind of law-ish. Who are you trusting in? You should be trusting in Jesus. But I would submit to you that it's more gospel when you are making the focus about Christ and trying to turn someone's attention to what Christ has done.

He's prepared mansions for you. He's going to 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 knee-jerk, go to that.

Go to, are you prepared for death? For a Christian, what has Christ done? 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 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 going to 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 going to reveal themselves in those moments, but going in hot with the law and trying to convict someone on their deathbed, 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. 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 who's a Christian who's dying.

Now, I would love to see comments on this if you have any, but this 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 going to go to an eternal place, whether it's heaven or hell.

If you're in Christ, it's heaven, and no matter what the politics are here, that is going to happen at some point to you. You can't stop it. 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 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. 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, and there are places not to use the law.

Do 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 does not bring comfort, which is really the central point that I'm trying to make.

Basic Forge 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? 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 going to say clean, because I saw Bri of the Leash says, currently cleaning up around the CNC router right now.

So, okay, I'm not going to 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 going to 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 Gafcon, I don't know if, does it say what that stands for, Gafcon?

I think it will. I don't see where here, but this is a rival or a splinter groups from the Church of England, says it is leaving behind old structures and old titles and is now unveiling a new leadership council headed by Rwanda's Archbishop Laurent Banda.

Reporters recreated with some puzzlement, or 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. All right, so the splintering continues, unfortunately, and this was just a bridge too far for Gafcon.

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.

Lifeway, let's bring it to the United States here. Lifeway, 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? It's at the Ridgecrest Conference Center, which is in Black Mountain, North Carolina, but it is the annual Black Church Leadership and Family Conference.

It's a leadership development conference, a spiritual retreat, and a 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 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. You saw a lot of these diversity initiatives.

Here's Lifeway doing a Black Church Leadership and Family Conference. Of course, people pointing out, what if there was a white leadership family conference? Would that be acceptable? Would you allow that?

I think the obvious answer is probably not. The only difference I can think of is this. I think the Black Church is known as an entity, the historically Black Church, meaning Black Christians have a history 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. 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 in the Methodist or Episcopalian, they have a very similar 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. Southern Baptists are going to do their own thing, whereas Lutherans or Methodists or these other groups are going to do their own thing. If they are majority descendants of Europeans, they don't think of themselves as part of a white church.

There is a cultural factor there. 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?

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? Why can't they do their own family retreat?

LifeWay is probably just catering. They want to do something specifically for this particular group. It smells like the social justice stuff from years ago, and I think for good reason. 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 think it's there. In fact, 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.

Burnett 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, Cory Schall, 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 women pastors. I'm in standing in place of Reverend Schull.

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 a Sunday morning. I thank God for him for this opportunity.

To be behind the sacred desk. I am your professor, Mrs., well not Mrs., Ms., Dr. Professor Sabrina Champong 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's 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 going to 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 Multiethnic 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 Baptists, 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, 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 not on their new whatever their new affiliation is.

They're not on their website, and it's just sort of 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 roll 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 going to say it. I am grateful that Pete Hegseth does seem to have somewhat of an understanding of Islam and specifically the 12th 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, I mean one of the frustrations I think many of us had with George W. Bush was there just seemed to be like this misunderstanding of what Islam was, like, oh, you just plant democracy there.

That'll just work. They're just, they love freedom like us, the people, but you know, the regime, it just hates freedom. That's why it hates us. It was just simplistic stuff. Bush saying, you know, Islam is just a religion of peace.

You don't understand. This is so different right now to see Pete Hegseth saying, look, let me explain Islam to you, 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 atheists and foxholes. Your mortality is right in front of you. Can you imagine a, a, any official actually, not just Pete Hegseth's office, not just the secretary of war, but any office in the government under Bush or Obama or Biden saying anything like that.

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 than 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, um, 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. Um, 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, um, it sort of speaks to the morale of the country, um, is how black pill people are.

Okay. How discouraged, how upset they are. And he, this is from the Pew research center in a 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. So the majority of the country, according to this thinks that the country is bad. Now you can look at this in a few ways. You can say, well, maybe, maybe there's like room for, you know, the law as we have Paul Washer talked 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, um, they are, I mean, look at Canada, forget it.

Canada thinks they're great. 92 thinks they're somewhat good or very good. What a difference. Uh, the U S is the least likely of all the countries surveyed to think of themselves as good. And their fellow citizens is morally good.

That's not really normal. Okay. That's not something that's, you see a lot of the times in history, uh, 39 of us adults say homosexuality is morally wrong. Well, that's good. Far more, uh, than, than take this position in Germany or Sweden.

So, so maybe that is part of it. Uh, the U S is among the countries whose inhabitants are most likely to condemn extramarital affairs. I mean, like maybe there's a residual Christianity here. That's awakening.

Um, at the same time, I I'm like, is that really healthy for us to think of ourselves collectively as really bad? Like the only way that I can see it being healthy is if it leads to repentance and revival, if it's just, we're terrible then, uh, 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, um, optimistic view of ourselves. And we won't have the moral credibility to do really anything. Uh, let's see what else this says across the 25 countries, 77 of adults say that married people having an affair is morally.

So it's going into some of these moral issues, gambling, um, divorce. So it gets into some of the granular detail here, which we're not really going to get into, but I think it's important to, uh, I think it's important to just highlight that this is the case.

Uh, 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've fallen?

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.

Um, 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 in 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 a, it, it, it means, and 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 re examine morality and, uh, and that might present an opportunity. So let's, let's keep an eye on that.

Uh, another, maybe this is part of the narrative that we just read, but, uh, 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 were pointing out online.

Like I never thought I'd see first things published something like this. And he starts out. He says, look, Gen Z Americans are extremely, or very proud of their country. Okay. See this, there's all this information going to all these directions and it's like, which one is true.

There's little doubt that relentless indoctrination and anti-American ideologies in the school and the media contributes to their lukewarm patriotism. Uh, but there's another cause they're not stupid.

The country shows signs of disease. Okay. So this is right along the lines of what we were just talking about each year, a shocking number of people die of drug overdoses. Marriage rates have declined.