- 00:03
- Hello, welcome back to Coffee with a Calvinist.
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- This is a daily conversation about scripture, culture and media from a Reformed perspective.
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- Get your Bible and coffee ready and prepare to engage today's topic.
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- Here's your host Pastor Keith Foskey.
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- Welcome back to Coffee with a Calvinist.
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- My name is Keith Foskey and I am a Calvinist.
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- Today is January 27th, 2021.
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- As many of you know, the new president, Joe Biden, has been very busy in his first few days in office signing a record number of executive orders.
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- According to CNN.com, Biden signed 30 executive orders in his first three days as president.
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- I saw a chart just a little while ago online, which showed how the other presidents, his predecessors had stacked up against this.
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- And it showed a wide divergence, especially for the only the first few days of being in office.
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- It's obvious that Biden has come in with a mission.
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- And many of the things that he is trying to do right away is to put a halt to some of the things that President Donald Trump had done.
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- In fact, according to CNN.com, of the 30 executive actions Biden has taken, some of them include halting funding for the construction of Trump's border wall, reversing Trump's travel ban targeting largely Muslim countries, imposing a mask mandate on federal property, ramping up vaccine supplies, requiring international travelers to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour for federal workforce, and the list goes on and on.
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- Now, however we feel about these particular choices, many of us I'm sure who listen to this program are probably opposed to many of the decisions that Biden is making.
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- I wanted to point to one specific thing that is happening in our nation's military.
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- Now, many of you who are listeners to the program know, obviously, that the military is close to my heart, as I have a son who is currently serving in the United States Air Force.
- 02:37
- And I pray for him and his safety and the safety of his fellow airmen every day.
- 02:42
- But I saw an article that was pointed out to me by a friend in the Army Times, and this is the headline of the article, Chaplains Facebook Post Denigrating Transgender Troops Under Investigation by Army.
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- And again, this is ArmyTimes.com, you can look this up.
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- It was written, the article was written by Howard Altman, and again the title is Chaplains Facebook Post Denigrating Transgender Troops Under Investigation by Army.
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- And it goes on to say this, Officials from the 3rd Security Force Assistance Brigade at Fort Hood, Texas are investigating a Facebook post by a unit chaplain denigrating transgender troops.
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- The post was made Monday on a story mentioning Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's support for President Joe Biden ending a service ban on transgender people.
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- This was, I believe, also one of those many executive orders that we talked about earlier.
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- And this is what basically was said by the chaplain.
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- He said, how is rejecting reality, and he puts in parentheses biology, not evidence that a person is mentally unfit, parentheses ill, and thus making that person unqualified to serve.
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- And it says, Andrew Calvert posted on the Army Times Facebook page Monday, quote, there is little difference in this than over those who believe and argue for a flat earth, despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
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- So the chaplain, he has basically said that if you are transgender, if you are a person who believes that you are a man who is trapped in a woman's body, or a woman who is trapped in a man's body, or a person who believes that they are not the gender that was assigned to them at birth, then you are in a fantasy land in the same way as someone who believes in a flat earth.
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- Well, this, of course, was immediately responded in the resoundingly negative by many people on social media.
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- One person in particular is cited in the article that quote says, you're a chaplain in the Army, charged with the nurture of the living, care for the wounded, and honor of the fallen.
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- To have extremist views against a group of people, especially voiced in public on social media is deplorable and disgusting.
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- I feel awful for the soldiers and families you were entrusted to provide counseling and mentorship to.
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- You should be ashamed.
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- This is where we are, folks.
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- This is where we are.
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- A chaplain in the United States Army cannot say something that is obviously the truth, and that is that transgenderism is exercising a mental illness.
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- It is a person who believes something that is untrue, they are mentally unfit, and he simply said what the natural outcome of that should be is that that person is, and should be, unqualified to serve.
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- And so how do people respond? Oh, you are, you know, you are charged with being a chaplain.
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- You can't say those things.
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- You can't say that that is the case.
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- That is an extremist view.
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- And honestly, folks, I fear that with the new administration, a view like this, which has got this chaplain under investigation, will soon become something that is not only wrong for military chaplains to say, but it's wrong for anyone to say.
- 06:41
- We see things like the Equality Act coming down the pike, and with those things is going to make it all the more difficult to speak the truth to our generation, to be able to say the things that this generation so desperately needs to hear, because this generation is denying the truth.
- 07:03
- In fact, I want to go ahead down on, in the article it says this, on Monday, Biden signed an executive order ending a ban on transgender troops being able to serve.
- 07:11
- It requires both the Pentagon and the Homeland Security Department, which oversees the Coast Guard, to remove a gender identity as a bar for service.
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- And it goes on to simply explain how that works.
- 07:25
- And ultimately, again, we are in clown world.
- 07:29
- I've said this a few times, and for those of you who have listened to the program, when I say clown world, that's where we are.
- 07:35
- We're in a place where up is down, left is right, everything is turned on its head.
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- As the Bible says, woe unto us, woe unto those who call good evil and evil good.
- 07:51
- We are in a very sad time.
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- And it is a time that we need to be continued in prayer, we need to be continued steadfast in our faith, and know that times are coming and are already here.
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- We're standing for the faith, standing for the truth, saying things that are obviously factual, obviously true, are going to be denounced as hate speech.
- 08:19
- They are going to be denounced as things that are no longer to be tolerated, words that are no longer allowed to be said.
- 08:31
- I don't know how many of you have ever read George Orwell, I don't know how many of you have ever been interested in those types of dystopian future novels, but 1984 is a book that comes to mind when we think about things that can't be said because they go against the thoughts of those in power.
- 08:59
- Those in power says, you can't say these things, you can't think these things, these things are wrong.
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- And ultimately, that's what we're seeing, unfortunately.
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- We are seeing, starting in the military, but it's going to continue, I think, into many other areas, we are seeing a world which has totally lost its mind.
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- And it is a genuine shame.
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- Well, I just wanted to share this article with you today, as I said, it was shared with me.
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- And if you want to find it again, go to armytimes.com.
- 09:35
- You can look up Chaplain's Facebook post, Denigrating Transgender Troops Under Investigation.
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- He's under investigation by the Army simply because of the things that he said on Facebook.
- 09:48
- What a shame where we are.
- 09:50
- And you can look up that article in the Army Times.
- 09:54
- Well, thank you today for listening to Coffee with a Calvinist.
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- And I appreciate you listening every day to the program.
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- I hope that it is an encouragement to you and reminds you to continue to stay the course, keep the faith, and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
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- And the Bible tells us, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding and all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths.
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- Thank you for listening to Coffee with a Calvinist.
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- My name is Keith Foskey and I've been your Calvinist.
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- May God bless you.
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- Thank you for listening to today's episode of Coffee with a Calvinist.
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- If you enjoyed the program, please take a moment to subscribe and provide us feedback.
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- We love to receive your comments and questions and may even engage with them in a future episode.
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- As you go about your day, remember this.
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- Jesus Christ came to save sinners.
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- All who come to him in repentance and faith will find him to be a perfect Savior.
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- He is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through him.
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- May God be with you.
