WWUTT 880 Q&A Who is in Control, State of the Union, and Halal Meat?

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Who was in control of Job's suffering? How should we consider some of the statements

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President Trump made in the State of the Union Address? And is it okay for Christians to eat halal meat?

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The answers to these questions when we understand the text. This is when we understand the text, proclaiming the message of the kingdom of God, that we may know how to live as his people in this world.

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Please tell your friends about our free videos and podcast found at www .utt .com.

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Here once again is Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. You're welcome. So Becky had a wonderful poll question that she asked on Twitter.

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And I thought the way you worded it was just great. So this was coming right off of, you know, we did our study in Job yesterday and we had a friend that said a certain thing concerning God's sovereignty on Twitter that had caused a little bit of controversy.

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A little. And so Becky presented this question in this way as a poll question on Twitter.

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I'm pretty sure you can do this on Facebook too, where you set up something as a poll. I'm actually not sure about that.

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I'm pretty sure you can. Okay. Anyway, just taking for granted that you can. But on Twitter, you can set up a tweet as a poll question.

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So here was her question. The Book of Job. Who was in control of Job's suffering?

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Was it the evil one? Was it Job or was it God? And now the majority, vast majority have picked it was

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God. Right. Like around 93, 94 percent, something to that effect. Something.

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Have answered that way. At first, it was skewed a little bit, like 80 something percent.

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And then the other 14 percent were split between the evil one and Job. That was like in the very early stages of your poll.

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Right. Very, very early, apparently. Right. And so Becky, again, asked this question.

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Who was in control of Job's suffering? I love the way that you put that too. It wasn't, it wasn't who was causing

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Job to suffer. Right. Because that would be a totally different answer. And it could go either way.

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It could. You could say the evil one. You could say. You would be right. Right. No matter which one you chose.

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Right. Probably not Job. Although there might be somebody that would. Yeah. Because some, some have said

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Job in answer to your question. You don't know if that's like a mistake or like, you know, they're just scrolling by.

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I'm just clicking on something to see what everybody else is answering. Right. Right. But. Yeah. But you put who was in control of Job's suffering.

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I may not. Even sitting there going, how can I word this? I may not have come up with that. I thought that was a great way to word that.

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The Lord provides. Amen. So who was in control? God was in control. God is in control over everything that happens.

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And what we're getting into next as we go through Job in a couple of weeks, probably won't be this coming

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Thursday, but in a couple of weeks, we'll get to Job chapter 37, where Eli who was speaking and he proclaims

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God's majesty. You know, there's a, there's a lot of scholars. Spoiler alert. We should have said that first. Right.

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You shouldn't have already read this. Sorry. There are scholars that are kind of confused as to how to take

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Eli who like, is this a guy who's speaking that God is rebuking or is this somebody who's speaking favorably of God?

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And I think that Eli who is the wisdom that speaks between Job's friends and Job. And then the

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Lord speaks following Eli who, and he rebukes Job's friends, but he doesn't rebuke Eli who. And so because God is silent about Eli who that's why people get kind of confused.

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Are we taking his word seriously? Right. Or is he as off as Job's friends were? No, Eli who is a man of wisdom in this respect.

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He's a guy who's been sitting back watching everybody else talk. He's a young man. So he doesn't feel like he can speak.

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He's showing respect for these other guys. And reverence. Right. Right. He's, he's being very respectful of the floor.

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And so he kind of waits until Job is done, which is what we have right at the end of 31. Then Job basically rested from his soliloquizing.

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And so then. He's probably exhausted. Poor guy. Yeah. That's all he's got. Yep. So then

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Eli who speaks up and one of the things that he mentions in chapter 37, he says that by the breath of God, ice is given and the broad waters are frozen fast.

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He loads the thick cloud with moisture. The clouds scatter his lightning.

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They turn around and around by his guidance to accomplish all that he commands them on the face of the habitable world, whether for correction or for his land or for love.

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He causes it to happen. You're talking like a massive storm, a hurricane, a tornado, a winter, severe winter weather storm.

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All of these things are caused by God. He causes it to happen, right? Hear this.

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Oh, Job, stop and consider the wondrous works of God. Do you know how God lays his command upon them and causes the lightning of his cloud to shine?

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Do you know the balancings of the clouds? The wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge.

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You whose garments are hot when the earth is still because of the south wind.

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Can you like him spread out the skies hard as a cast metal mirror? Teach us what we shall say to him.

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We cannot draw up our case because of darkness. Shall it be told him what

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I would speak? Did a man ever wish that he would be swallowed up?

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Then in Psalm 107, we read, some went down to the sea and ships doing business on the great waters.

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They saw the deeds of the Lord. His wondrous works in the deep for he commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea.

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They mounted up to heaven. They went down to the depths. Their courage melted away in their evil plight.

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They reeled and staggered like drunken men and were at their wits end. Then they cried to the

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Lord in their trouble and he delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still and the waves of the sea were hushed.

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Then they were glad that the waters were quiet and he brought them to their desired haven. Let them thank the

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Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works of the children of man. Let them extol him in the congregation of the people and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

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There was recently a conversation between some people where it was one of the arguments against the sovereignty of God, that he is in control of everything and nothing is outside of his control.

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One of the arguments against that was related to Jesus calming the storm with his disciples in the boat.

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Okay. And they were arguing, did Jesus also cause the storm that he therefore calmed?

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So they were arguing that Jesus didn't cause the storm. So then who did? You know, well, the father would have, so it's not like Jesus brings up the storm that he then calms, but this was all according to the will of the father, but it was still caused by God.

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I don't remember how this went in the conversation. I just remember that somebody raised this as an objection to the sovereignty of God.

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God doesn't cause the storm that he then calms. Well, according to Psalm 107, he does.

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He causes it so that we cry out to God and he calms the storm.

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Now this should not be taken to apply then to every situation of life in the sense that every struggle that we go through, when we call upon God, he will calm it and then it won't be anymore.

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There are certain trials you may go through for the rest of your life. There may be certain struggles you might encounter every day that you are alive on this earth and my heart breaks for you and I'm sorry that you have to go through that, but this is to perfect you, to make you more into the image of Christ.

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As it says in Romans 8, 28, all things work together for good for those who love

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God and are called according to his purpose. And then verse 29 tells us the good that God is doing through the trial or circumstance that you're going through.

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It's to shape you more in the image of Christ. Just like the thorn in the side. Second Corinthians chapter 12,

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Paul pleads with God three times to take this tormentor of Satan away from him.

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This is an apostle, by the way, the guy who healed the sick and raised the dead, the apostle

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Paul. Yeah. He was able to heal people. Yeah. Raised Eutychus from the dead. Right. And yet when he asked

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God to take away this tormentor of Satan, God did not do it and said to him, my grace is sufficient for you.

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Right. For my power is made perfect in your weakness. And so then Paul responds, therefore I'm going to rejoice all the more gladly in my hardships, in my sufferings, in my persecutions, in my weaknesses for where I am weak.

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He is strong. That's right. And that's what we rejoice in. We rejoice in God in the midst of all circumstances.

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So you presented this question. You get the first question on the Q &A broadcast today. Yay. Book of Job.

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Who was in control of Job's suffering? And we had a fellow,

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Brooks from Lexington, South Carolina, offered up this response to your poll question.

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The beauty is that he also rewards those who suffer. The problem is we either don't believe he does or we don't believe he does well.

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No Christian in heaven who suffered here on earth is worried about it. We would do well to remember that frequently.

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Amen. It's in the book of Romans where the apostle Paul says that the sufferings that we go through now do not even compare to the glory that awaits us if we endure to the end.

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That's so true. It doesn't even compare. I'm excited. Yeah. Amen. Now you had, of course, your dissenters.

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Not looking forward to it, but I'm excited. Not looking forward to the suffering I'm going to have to go through.

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You are looking forward to heaven though. Oh, yes. Most definitely. That's what I meant. Bypass this world.

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Now that was a great comment from Brooks, but you also had some detractors in there a little bit. So there was a fellow by the name of Tom.

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Now he calls himself a pastor, but not pastoring. Let me just first say, if you're not pastoring a congregation, you're not a pastor.

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Yeah. I was thinking that maybe he could have worded that differently, like he's pastoring but not a pastor, but that sounds just worse.

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So yeah. I don't know. But anyway, his theology was obviously a little screwy too. So clearly he doesn't understand the role of a pastor.

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So he made this comment. I guess it's semantics then, because who controlled Job's suffering implies who was the one making

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Job suffer. At least to me, it implies that. So notice how he has to twist the question to make sense.

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Yep. And that's what I pointed out, and I clarified a little bit, but then

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I realized he's just going to argue with me. Right. So then I stopped. He was trying to set up an argument with you, and so he had to twist the wording of it in order to get to the place that he wanted to take you to.

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Exactly. With that response. And he knew that that wasn't what the question was. Right. Regarding. He was just twisting the words a little bit.

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Becky and I noticed some of the people he has associations with, so we kind of knew where he was coming from and as far as he's -

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Yeah. Had our guard up a little bit. So then the next statement he made related to that was he said, if you want to believe that God actively sent

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Satan to afflict and torment one of his upright children for no reason, have at it.

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Theologically, I think that's off the wall, and when I observe Jesus in the Gospels, I don't see it.

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Well, first of all, God never allows affliction to come on anyone for no reason.

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Right. And that is absurd to suggest that that's the perspective that we hold.

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Right. That God allows the suffering of his children for no reason? Absolutely not.

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On the contrary, the Bible says over and over again, Paul in 2 Corinthians 1, verse 9, this was to make us rely on God who raises the dead.

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Right. Exactly. So we would rejoice all the more in God knowing that even if the suffering that we're going through results in the death of our bodies, we know that God raises the dead.

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So what are we worried about? Praise God that I get to get rid of this body and get to put on an immortal body.

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Right. When I go to be with him in glory. So then the second part he says, theologically, I think that's off the wall, and when

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I observe Jesus in the Gospels, I don't see it. Excuse me, but Jesus in the

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Garden of Gethsemane praying, Father, let this cup pass from me, but not what

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I will, what you will. Right. And so we must pray the same.

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We must say, you can pray and ask for healing in your body. You can ask for a relieving in your suffering.

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You can ask. There's nothing wrong with that. That's what Paul was pleading with God for in 2

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Corinthians 12, when he says, let this tormentor of Satan pass from me. And then it was the

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Lord's response after Paul prayed this three times. So he didn't get a response the first time, didn't get a response the second time.

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After the third time, he gets a response and his response from God is that my grace is sufficient for you.

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This is happening to you that you may learn and know my grace is sufficient for you.

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You are forgiven your sins. You are sinful, and what you deserve is death and wrath, but what have

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I shown you instead? I have given you forgiveness and love through my Son, Jesus Christ.

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So no man can do anything to you, Romans 8 .1. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

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But not to be proud of that and have pride. Yeah. Humble. Humble yourself. 1 Peter 5.

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Humble yourselves before God and he will exalt you. Right. Which James repeats too.

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James 4. We be humble before the Lord and he is the one who will lift us up.

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Now again, I think that the right way that we understand these things as Christians is not that being a

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Christian makes life happier or easier. Oh, no. Not by any means. According to what

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Jesus said in Matthew chapter 7, being a Christian is hard. It's the hard road.

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Narrow is the way. Yeah, right. Narrow is the way that leads to life and few will find it.

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That's the difficult road, but broad is the way that leads to destruction and many will find that road because that's the easy way.

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Right. So the way that we are on to Christ, this is the difficult path.

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We have not only the struggles that anybody goes through in this life. Doesn't matter whether you are a saint or a sinner, everyone is going to go through suffering.

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Right. We're all getting older. The body is breaking down. You are subject to the futility of this world, sickness, disease, depression, people turning their backs on you.

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Depravity. Yeah, all sorts of things. Financial depravity, economic. Yeah, right.

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You know what I mean? Yeah. It's not just America. It's everywhere. Everywhere. Worldwide. Doesn't matter where you are.

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Now, some nations, some countries certainly have a better living situation than other nations and countries do.

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Oh, yeah. But everyone goes through some amount of suffering. And are you able to trust in God in the midst of this suffering and know that he is going to deliver you from this if you know

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Jesus Christ as Savior? You may suffer physically for the rest of your life, but yet will you rejoice in God and know that he is going to raise you from the dead?

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All who have faith in Christ. There's a book by John Piper. I've not read it, but I have talked with people who have.

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And it's Don't Waste Your Cancer, where John Piper talks about rejoicing even through something that can be as deadly as a diagnosis as cancer.

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Or even if you can survive this cancer, the struggling that you're going to go through taking chemotherapy and all the other things that you're going to have to endure trying to recover from this, it is incredibly – it wreaks havoc on the body, unlike many other diseases do.

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And yet even through this, through this kind of suffering, praising God, even if you don't have cancer, that's probably a kind of book that you would want to read to understand rejoicing in God.

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There's one that James White wrote, and I think it was his book on grieving. It was handed out at Ground Zero at 9 -11.

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They were just handing out copies of the book for folks who were going through the grieving of this horrible terrorist attack that occurred in New York City back on September 11, 2001.

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That would be another book to check out, Grieving. You can find that one on Amazon. I think it's only $10. Anyway, if there's somebody who's going through something like that,

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I encourage you to pick that up. Read through those first few verses, about the first nine or ten verses of 2

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Corinthians chapter 1. That's another good place to go, because we are reminded that our

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God whom we worship is the God of all comfort. Amen. All right. Now, we've spent the first 20 minutes of the program on your question.

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Thank you for your poll question, Becky. You're welcome. That was actually a surprise that he was going to use that.

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Next place I want to go. Before we get, I've got a couple of more questions from our listeners that I pulled off of email, but I want to mention the

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State of the Union address this past Tuesday. I know that you didn't listen to it. So President Trump delivered the

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State of the Union address. I had posted a clip of the address on our

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Facebook page. I was very displeased with the responses to that. So I took it down because a large number of the responses were related to, it's all talk.

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It's no action. Trump has still put all this money into funding Planned Parenthood.

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So here he is talking about abolishing abortion, and yet it's not a total abolition of abortion.

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So we shouldn't be celebrating. We should still be holding our government accountable. And those are even gentle words, like it wasn't even talking about holding our government accountable.

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It was just straight up calling him a hypocrite. Look, I have been incredibly critical of our president.

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I was critical of him before he took office. I kind of toned it down a little bit after he took office, because there wasn't really a point after that, or as much of a point after that.

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It was on purpose, though, that you toned it down. Yes, right. I deliberately toned it down just out of reverence and respect for this man who is leading our country.

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And plus, I find some things in his presidency that are praiseworthy. And there are other things that he does that, yes, you can speak up and say that's wrong.

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It is wrong for him to do that, to say that, to hold that kind of position. It's not like we as Christians, under some sort of Romans 13 mandate, can't ever criticize the person who is the leader of the free world.

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Absolutely we can. Just be wise in the way that you do it. And don't... And respectful.

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And be respectful. And be respectful. Absolutely. Because we are to show respect to whom respect is owed, as Peter talked about.

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But I still kind of scaled it back a little bit. I was very critical of him beforehand, because I thought it was silly that this was the guy that ended up becoming the nominee of what is supposed to be the conservative party.

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And Trump is not the blessing of God on our nation. And I did a whole what video on that. So people saying, see, it's the blessing of God.

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Donald Trump was elected, really? This guy who's a pornographer, who has been married how many times?

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And has a filthy mouth, and is a misogynist, the way that he treats women, has had a reputation of treating women.

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This guy you think is the blessing of God on our nation? Nevertheless, even though I was very critical of Trump before he took office, he has done some things really well.

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There are some things that I think are worthy of criticism. And then there are other things that I think that we can praise him for, and we should, by the way.

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Oh, yeah. If we're nothing but critical of the President of the United States, is he going to listen to us about anything?

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Especially when we live in the democratic republic that we do, the constitutional republic that we are in.

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Right. So it's a government by the people and for the people. Therefore, we can affect public policy.

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But if you have criticized him to a position where you can't ever see eye -to -eye with one another, everything that's going to be said is just constant conflict, well then how can you expect to ever accomplish anything?

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So we do have to be, there are times when we are going to have to call the correction, but doing this in a wise way, just as you said, or there are other times when you just keep your mouth shut.

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Right. I mean, he has a very hard job. When you think about it, he has an incredibly hard job.

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Right. And it has so much stress and everything, that if he just hears critics the entire time and the people giving him praise are the ones who are telling him to do the wrong stuff,

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I mean, who's he going to listen to? Right. He's not going to just listen to anybody.

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He's going to make up his own mind about that, but still he's going to be persuaded. And he said that.

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He's like, I'm the smartest man ever. Right. I remember that. I'm my best advisor, you know.

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Some of the things that he said is interesting. The man is very full of himself.

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And he's even said, nobody's more humble than me. It's hilarious.

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Some people are so extremely offended by that, but it's so funny. There are just some times where it just makes you laugh.

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Anyway, just take it with a grain of salt. We all know the way that he is. Nothing is going to end up being surprising or shocking.

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Okay. But do encourage him in the right way. Pray for the man. Yes. For goodness sake.

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Pray that somebody will come in and actually give him the true gospel. I mean, that would be amazing.

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First Timothy chapter two, we are commended, commended. We should commend him in the right ways where he should be commended.

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Anyway, first Timothy chapter two, we are told we must pray for our leaders, for kings and those who are in high positions.

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That is a command. Yes. And so you must. And the way that you pray for your president, by the way, will give you a more gentle spirit in the way that you consider him.

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If you're just angry all the time at the president and you can't ever see anything positive.

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Ask for repentance. You need to repent. Maybe you've got a problem.

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Maybe you need to take that level of anger and hatred before the Lord. Anyway, so I wanted to pray.

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I wanted to pray. We are. We're going to pray. Yes. I do want to pray for him. We will do that.

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I want to play a clip from the State of the Union. Okay. Now I am, I'm coming up on 40.

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I'm not even 40 years old yet, but I've talked with other men who are older than me, whom

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I respect, who remember Reagan's State of the Union addresses, who can even remember Carter's State of the

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Union addresses or guys going back before that. So I'm asking their opinion on what was your opinion of this

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State of the Union and hearing from men who I have learned from and respect, say, and I've heard this several times, not just from one person, but several say this was this was one of the greatest

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State of the Union addresses I've ever heard. And the statement that Trump made in the

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State of the Union was one of the most pro -life statements that's ever been made in a

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State of the Union address. That's awesome. Now, it's only about two minutes long. That's the length of it. But here I'm going to play.

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This is what Trump said about the value of human life in the womb. Okay. There could be no greater contrast to the beautiful image of a mother holding her infant child than the chilling displays our nation saw in recent days.

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Lawmakers in New York cheered with delight upon the passage of legislation that would allow a baby to be ripped from the mother's womb moments from birth.

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These are living, feeling, beautiful babies who will never get the chance to share their love and their dreams with the world.

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And then we had the case of the governor of Virginia, where he stated he would execute a baby after birth.

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To defend the dignity of every person, I am asking

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Congress to pass legislation to prohibit the late -term abortion of children who can feel pain in the mother's womb.

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Let us work together to build a culture that cherishes innocent life.

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And let us reaffirm a fundamental truth. All children, born and unborn, are made in the holy image of God.

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How about that? All children, born and unborn, are made in the holy image of God.

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That was gorgeous. And this came from the leader of the free world to say this in the

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State of the Union address. If he is going to follow through on this promise to make abortion illegal from the moment that a child can feel pain in the womb, we're talking an abortion ban as early as eight weeks.

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Because medical science affirms that a child can feel pain in the womb as early as eight weeks in the womb.

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That would be tremendous. So I understand the critical spirit that people have regarding Donald Trump, regarding even the

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Trump administration, saying things about abortion or whatever and not following through on it, still supporting

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Planned Parenthood, etc., etc. I get it. I've been as critical. I have said that I don't think this administration is actually going to do it.

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I have said that. But to hear him say that in the State of the Union and the level of applause that was met with, especially when you consider, and he even mentioned it in the speech, especially when you consider the legislation that had been passed in the state of New York just a few weeks ago.

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And I watched the passing of that bill. I watched it where the final vote tally was made.

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I featured a clip of it in the YouTube video that was shared just the day after that.

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The what video that I made. The sound that came from that chamber once it said that the measure had passed, protecting abortion at all stages of pregnancy, including right before birth, a mother could still abort her child, a partial birth, abortion, everything.

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A baby's life is in jeopardy in the womb in the state of New York. And once that bill passed, it was a harrowing sound.

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It was awful, blood curdling to hear the way that people reacted to that bill.

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And by contrast, when the president of the United States says in the

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State of the Union address that I want legislation that protects babies in the womb and that all children born and unborn bear the holy image of God and to hear the chamber erupt with applause at what

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Donald Trump had just said, folks, that's praise

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God for that. And I hope that he follows through with it. And I'm praying for him that he's going to follow through with it.

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That it was not just talk, but it was a wonderful witness. Has there ever been a

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State of the Union address that is as watched in American history as many people as are watching them now?

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And yet they heard the president say this before the American public. I think we should be praying for this man.

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We should rejoice to hear that he said that. And CNN had to air it because that was the feed

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I had to watch. I watched CNN's feed on YouTube and and heard Donald Trump say that now.

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Now, regarding that, because this was CNN, remember? So this is this is CNN's feed of the State of Union address.

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They were constantly showing Democrat congressmen and women, OK, constantly showing the

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Democrats. Of course, here's the Democrats response to the things that Trump is saying. I think that backfired because those

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Democrats looked really grumpy. And when Trump made that statement that he did about unborn children.

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And then the the cameras panning around the room, it shows all those women who are dressed in white and they claim that they were dressing in white to give recognition of the women's suffrage movement.

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But but all those those Democrat women, those Democrat liberal pro abortion women sitting there when

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Trump made that statement about outlawing abortion, when a child can feel pain in the womb and they all just sit there with their arms crossed and grumpy, that made them look really, really bad.

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And so this kind of thing to show all the Democrats in the room and kind of give them more airtime than you give the faces of that we're going to show more

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Democrat faces so people are familiar with them. Then we're going to show Republican faces and the

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Democrats are just sitting there all hunkered down and grumpy and I'm not applauding for this. It looked bad.

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I'm glad it came across that way. Yeah, I mean, there are going to be people just straight up liberal. They're made up in their minds the way that they're going to vote.

31:56

Right. And it would take a move of God to change them from the hardness of heart that they have. But when you're talking about middle of the road voters that are still trying to decide what to think about, what the president's doing, what the kind of policies he's presenting in the state of the union and things of that nature.

32:11

And yet they're they're watching all these liberal Democrat people just like yeah, they showed

32:19

Alexandria Ocasio -Cortez. I don't even know how many times and she's just pouting with her arms crossed.

32:26

The only time she got up and applauded, by the way, was when Trump was talking about the number of women that were sitting in that chamber was more than had ever been in American history.

32:37

Interesting. And so that was when the women got up and applauded. Well, of course, everything else, whether it doesn't matter who was talking about, doesn't matter who was benefiting from the laws that Trump was talking about being passed or the legislation that he was encouraging

32:51

Congress to pass. They didn't applaud for anybody but themselves. Of course, when it was themselves, then they stood up and applauded.

32:58

But everything else, they just sat there grumpy and was that again? Somebody took a picture of Chuck Schumer, minority leader in the

33:08

Senate. So he's the Democrat leader in the Senate. OK, and he's just kind of sitting there, you know, grumpy old man.

33:15

Right. And so somebody took I think I've seen this picture of him and put a purple hat on him with the monocle and a cigarette coming out of his mouth.

33:22

And he looks like Penguin from Batman, a cigarette like on a stick. Yeah, the cigarette on the stick. Yeah. So it looks like Penguin.

33:29

And it was like, meanwhile, in Gotham City, it looked exactly right.

33:34

It was anyway, we're we're critical of this. And I think rightly so, because they're like cartoon characters of themselves.

33:41

Yeah. And they're doing this to themselves. They are. But even these liberal men and women behaving the way that they were in the

33:49

State of the Union, we should pray for them as well. We should. And still keep them lifted up in our prayers that they would be surrounded by godly men and women who would help to guide them in the policy decisions that they've been voted to make.

34:01

You think about who Trump has around him. He has a speechwriter that put that in his speech.

34:09

Yeah. That children born and unborn have been made in the holy image of God.

34:15

I was I sat back in my chair when he said it. I was like, wow. Wow. Pretty awesome.

34:23

As a mate, it brought tears to Becky's eyes. She's she's trying not to speak through this because she's been choking on tears.

34:30

But like I said, she didn't hear it. She wasn't with me. And I watched the State of the Union like this the first time after midnight.

34:37

Yeah, it was beautiful. OK, now now here I'm going to get critical, not of Donald Trump.

34:44

Thank you, President Trump, for that statement. And I'm praying that you will follow through on what you said.

34:50

And there were some other wonderful things he said in the speech. That wasn't the only thing. But but I'm I'm grateful for that most pro -life statement

34:57

I've ever heard in the State of the Union address. And men who are much older than me saying the same thing is the most pro -life statement they've ever heard.

35:03

So thank you for that. But now now I'm going to get critical, not of the president of the United States, but of the president of the

35:10

ERLC, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. OK, Russell Moore, who after the most pro -life statement that we've ever heard in the

35:19

State of the Union address said absolutely nothing. And here he has been voted to that position to lead the public policy arm of the

35:30

Southern Baptist Convention. And he has such a beef with Donald Trump that he would not even commend

35:38

President Trump for that statement in the State of the Union address. It's been three days. Wow.

35:45

Why can't he say thank you, Mr. President, for pledging to fight for the rights of the unborn and then take it upon himself to come alongside the president?

35:57

Because that's what he's been elected to that position to do. Right. To to lead the public policy arm of the

36:02

SBC. Public policy is the principles on which social laws are based. So if you're going to help lead the

36:09

SBC and unite the SBC with people who are in government to see that right public policy is passed, that is a reflection of what we believe according to the

36:20

Bible. And you're going to continue to have this chip on your shoulder related to the president of the United States.

36:26

What good are you in that position? Either get over your pride related to whatever this thing is that you have with Donald Trump and pledge to work alongside him and praise him when he does good things and criticize him when he needs criticism, be able to give and take here a little bit.

36:44

Either show that you can do that or resign because you are not effective in the position that you're in.

36:51

That that breaks my heart. It breaks my heart that Russell Moore has such a thing with President Trump.

36:56

Look, guys, this is coming from somebody who was extremely critical of President Trump. I was nothing but critical of him up until the point that he was elected.

37:04

I can. Yeah, and Becky can vouch for that. Yeah. And and then when he was elected,

37:11

I had to resolve that. OK, let's see what he's going to do. I don't like his character.

37:18

Exactly right. I don't like his character. I don't like his reputation. I don't like his big mouth.

37:25

And I don't think that he is going to be a good role model for my kids. Even on time. You know, I can't

37:30

I can't tell my kids, look at the president behave like this guy. That's very unfortunate. Of course, it's not it's not the president's job to be a role model for my children.

37:39

It's mine. Yeah, true. But nevertheless, it used to be something that we all strive to be.

37:44

Yeah. What do you want to be? I want to be a teacher or the president, you know, like or an astronaut.

37:50

Those are the three. Yeah. A police officer. I guess there are four answers. The firefighter at the top.

37:56

No. Oh, you just said it. Because remember, your dad made that firefighter costume.

38:02

Come on, growing up when we were young, those were like the top answers. Yeah, I remember a firefighter being one of them.

38:09

You do? Yeah. OK. A firefighter. I just forgot. So five, five top answers. The president was one of them.

38:16

President. I mean, up there with astronaut. Exactly. Like who? How many people could be an astronaut? So many people could be the president, even less.

38:23

What can you accomplish as part of the American dream? You become the president of the United States.

38:28

Right. So, OK. So but yeah, you couldn't point to the president and say, hey, kids, look at this guy, because just the way that he was, the company that he kept, the people, the scandals that he got involved in.

38:40

It's disheartening. And it's discouraging whenever he has to respond to somebody who's critical, which he can't do in a civil way.

38:48

Yeah. And it's almost like I have to screen his comments first before I let my kids watch the news. You know, anyway, all of that to say

38:55

I've been incredibly critical of the president. But when he became president, I was like, OK, let's see what he's going to do.

39:02

And he's done some great things. I like the justices that he's put into into the Supreme Court that he's nominated.

39:08

He has done some great things with some of the laws. In fact, the one of the laws that the

39:13

E .R .L .C. did praise Donald Trump for was the First Step Act, a key part of our legislative agenda.

39:20

That was what the E .R .L .C. said. And we are thankful for the bipartisan coalition that led to the passage of this major criminal justice reform bill.

39:30

Now, notice there that they say we're thankful for the bipartisan coalition, which it was bipartisan.

39:36

It was one of the most unifying pieces of legislation that Congress has worked together to pass.

39:41

Wow. Democrats and Republicans together. So that's wonderful. But yet they wouldn't say thank you to the

39:46

Trump administration. Trump can get no praise or credit for any of this. That attitude from the

39:53

E .R .L .C. disgusts me. That's disrespectful. It is incredibly disrespectful. I hate that.

39:59

I wish you guys would get over this and you would do what you have been put in place to do help affect public policy.

40:07

And this this and for the fact that that's their job, why this is so important. Right. So this grudge that you have with the president doesn't help at all.

40:17

Doesn't help the SBC. Doesn't help the people that you are helping to to lead and to influence.

40:23

It doesn't help people outside of the Southern Baptist Convention. It doesn't help believers or unbelievers.

40:29

When we can't come together to protect life. I do not understand the benefit, whatever benefits could be behind.

40:37

And it gives the Southern Baptist a bad rep. Really does wrap, wrap, wrap.

40:43

Yeah, right. Especially when when Trump is going to call out the Southern Baptist Convention because of something like this.

40:49

Right. That that's extremely disappointing. I thank the president for the comment that he made. May we pray that he his administration,

40:57

Congress follows through on some of the things that he said, especially related to the protection of the unborn, the statement that he made in the

41:04

State of the Union address. Becky doesn't watch because it makes her cry. Yes. But exactly. In the meantime, there are enough tears in this world.

41:12

That's right. In the meantime, may we be in prayer for this man. And when we when we get to the

41:17

Russell Moore or President Trump, Russell Moore as well. OK, yes. I'm going to be checking. I'm going to be critical of President Moore, but we should also pray for him.

41:26

President Moore. He is. Yeah, he's president of the E .R .L .C. Oh, check. OK, that was that was a little confusing to my brain.

41:34

I got that right. Yeah. OK, I'm trying to decide if we got time now for a couple of these questions.

41:44

Maybe one. Yeah, let's do one. Because David asked or let's see Daniel. Daniel asks two questions here.

41:51

So I think we can get two more questions. And it's going to be Daniel's question that gets in here because he gets to ask to Pastor Gabe and Becky.

41:59

Warm greetings from cold Calgary minus nine degrees Fahrenheit at the time of writing. Just wanted to chime in on Alan's question about First Corinthians 10.

42:08

I'm about a month late, but that passage has had direct application to my life. And I thought it might be helpful.

42:15

It's quite common in Calgary to see halal meat in the marketplace and particularly at shawarma restaurants.

42:23

I'm mispronouncing all of this. Probably I don't know how to correct you either. The preparation of halal meat requires that it be offered to Allah.

42:33

So I have been confronted by others in the church about eating at restaurants serving halal meat.

42:40

Just thought that anecdote may interest you or your listeners. Also, the best way to have a six layer

42:46

Oreo is to is to take six Oreos, split them, then use a knife to separate the filling from four of the

42:53

Oreos, placing it on the remaining two. Then there's no question of whether or not you are taking no part in the worthless deeds of darkness, and you still get to enjoy the sickly sweetness of a six layered

43:06

Oreo, which is maybe a usable analogy for living in sin.

43:12

May our God bless you two and your family. Thanks so much for the podcast and for the videos. Your work has been used by God to help me grow in my faith and to lead my small group of high school students.

43:23

That's wonderful. And I am very grateful to him and to you. Hope to see you in Calgary sometime, though.

43:29

I would recommend waiting for the summer. Oh, amen. I'll take you up on that. Remember to stop in and visit us at First Baptist if you do your brother in Christ, Daniel P .S.

43:41

I remember Pastor Gabe mentioning that he was of the amillennial view, and I have been curious about it.

43:47

Would you consider doing a podcast or YouTube video about the basics of that understanding and the primary scriptures that support it?

43:53

I heard something also about a parallel narratives understanding of revelation, and I would be thrilled to hear an exegesis of revelation from that understanding.

44:01

It sounds fascinating. And the little I have heard makes a lot of sense. Well, thank you,

44:06

Daniel, for your question. OK, so there are two resources that I can recommend to you about having like parallel views of the end times.

44:16

This isn't necessarily an exposition of revelation, but it's being able to look at the end times view side by side.

44:23

Oh, OK. There's a little pamphlet, the short little booklet that you can get on Amazon. It's four bucks.

44:30

I think I think that might be the the Kindle version. Hang on. Let me look here. Do do do do do.

44:37

I don't know. It looks like there's two different versions of it. One. Yeah, the Kindle edition is ten dollars. Well, that went up.

44:42

No, the one above that says Kindle is three dollars. OK, well, there you go. You know, OK, between the range of ten and under.

44:49

Yeah, I was going to say when I bought this, I didn't pay ten bucks for it. But anyway, so it's called four views of the end times pamphlet.

44:57

Views on Jesus second coming. And you can get the pamphlet for four bucks. You can get the the Kindle edition for three bucks.

45:03

I read the Kindle edition. It's not as neat as the pamphlet edition. I've seen the pamphlet edition.

45:09

I don't own it, but I've seen somebody else who had it. OK, that's a little bit neater because it's laid out in print.

45:15

Kindle, it's kind of like, yeah, it's sometimes shuffle through. Yeah, yeah. You kind of lose the effect, the layout effect in Kindle as what you get in print.

45:24

But anyway, you can you can find that on Amazon. And that gives you the nuts and bolts of the four major end times perspectives.

45:35

Classical premillennialism, dispensational premillennialism, millennialism and postmillennialism.

45:41

So you get all four views that way. There's also a book called Three Views on the Millennium and Beyond.

45:48

And that one you can also find on Amazon with a number of different authors that help to contribute to that particular work.

45:56

As far as for my presentation on it. Yeah, sure. I'll take you up on that. So sometime I might do some kind of presentation.

46:02

Now, I will say that anytime you have heard R .C. Sproul talk about the end times on renewing your mind, he almost always gives a broad perspective of all the major viewpoints.

46:13

It's less about him offering his own viewpoint. And he teaches more of the historical perspectives on each one of those viewpoints.

46:22

So that's always very helpful whenever that comes up through Ligonier Ministries. OK, so going back to your statement about halal meat in the marketplace.

46:33

And you have gone ahead and helped me by saying that this is in the context of First Corinthians 10.

46:38

I kind of remember talking about this a few weeks back. But anyway, so this is meat that is sold, that is prepared the way that Muslims need to have their meat prepared.

46:49

Right. So you think about like kosher meat for Jews. OK, yeah. This is halal meat for Muslims. OK.

46:55

And so First Corinthians 10 talks about eating meat that is sold in the marketplace that's been sold or that's been offered up to idols.

47:03

That's been offered up to false gods. Right. So part of this preparation process for Muslims is that it has to have been offered to Allah.

47:12

So is it OK to eat halal meat from the marketplace? Once again, Paul's point on this was, hey, it's food.

47:21

It's fine. It goes into the stomach. It's broken down and it's expelled. That's it. Just like any other type of food.

47:28

Like any other type of food. Well, depends on your body. But yeah. So Paul says, we know that an idol is just an empty thing.

47:36

That's right. So it doesn't matter whether we're talking about a statue or we're talking about the false god of Islam that Muslims pray to.

47:45

It's an empty thing. Right. It has no effect on the meat because that god doesn't exist.

47:51

So we can't actually do something to the meat. Right. That would therefore affect your body. Doesn't mean anything. However, and this is in the context of 1

47:59

Corinthians 10, you should not go into the pagan temples where those false gods are worshipped as if it would look like you are participating in that worship.

48:11

So now relate this to a Muslim restaurant where this halal meat is offered. Don't go into the

48:16

Muslim restaurant, lest it look like you are participating in the worship of Allah. That's what it would look like to other people.

48:22

Now, while there's nothing inherently wrong with eating food that has been offered to a false god, if it's going to cause somebody to stumble,

48:32

Paul says, it would be better for you to just not eat it at all. Right. If you have to be a vegetarian,

48:39

God forbid, but if you have to be, don't eat the halal meat.

48:45

Just stay away from it. If it's going to cause somebody to stumble, if it's going to cause somebody to think, wow, I can worship

48:50

Allah and Jesus too, and that's okay, just because you ate that meat. Then don't do it. It's not worth it.

48:56

Then don't do it. Now, I'll tell you this. Because you got to be patient in dealing with the failings of the week.

49:02

Yes. We have the mature have to bear with the failings of the week and not to please ourselves.

49:08

Right. Romans chapter 15. And that's right after Romans 14, where it talks about don't pass judgment on one another regarding days of worship, regarding the food that you eat.

49:21

Now, this Christian liberty applies to many other things, but those are the two examples that Paul uses. And then right after that, you go into Romans 15 verse one, where it says, we who are mature have an obligation to bear with the failings of the week.

49:33

Right. So if it's going to cause somebody to stumble, if it's going to cause your brother to sin, it would be better for you to just not eat it.

49:42

Right. Now, I was going to share this story. So I'm going to close with this story. Okay, go ahead. One time I was doing an example related to idolatry and I was going to use

49:52

Roman Catholic candles. So at our local grocery store, they have those Catholic candles with the saint on it and then the prayer to the saint on the back.

50:01

So you light the candle and you pray that prayer to that saint. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah. So I needed to go buy some of those candles for this illustration because the illustration was basically these candles.

50:11

They're nothing. They're just candles. They're burning candles. They don't do anything. Your prayer to this saint and your burning of this candle doesn't do anything.

50:20

Right. But I did not want anybody to see me buying those candles. Lest anybody go,

50:28

Pastor Gabe is praying to saints. Oh my goodness. Yeah. Or even if somebody at the grocery store saw me doing this and thought, hey, that guy's a pastor and I saw him buying

50:39

Catholic candles. So I went late at night and there was somebody that was there that I already knew that I was going to go through the checkout over there so that it's not going to be suspicious, that sort of thing.

50:53

So then that's how I went about buying these candles. That's how careful I try to be. I don't want to cause anybody to stumble.

51:00

My friends, I don't wear shirts with brand names on them. Right. Except for this shirt because it's got the

51:06

Shepard's Crook from ShepCon. That one's okay. But I try not to wear brand names because I don't want to cause anyone to stumble.

51:14

If you want to wear a brand, you want to wear a Marvel t -shirt or Star Wars or whatever, fine.

51:19

I'm not passing judgment on you for that. But just for my witness and what I do and the recognition

51:25

I have in my community as a pastor, I don't want to cause somebody to stumble with something as insignificant as wearing a

51:33

Coke logo or a Star Wars logo. And so I just don't. I try to stay away from those things.

51:39

That's how mindful we need to be of one another. That we would encourage one another, even with the things that we wear or the food that we eat, especially concerning the words that we say.

51:50

And let's not quarrel over opinions, which Paul says in Romans chapter 14.

51:56

We help and encourage one another, but not quarrel over opinions because that benefits nobody.

52:01

Right. All right. That's our show for today. All right. And thank you once again, Daniel, for your question. I'll take you up on coming to see you in the summertime up there in Canada.

52:10

Let's conclude with prayer and we'll bring things to a close. Our wonderful God, we thank you for this time together.

52:17

And I thank you for the listeners and the questions that they have submitted. And I pray that we would desire to honor you in all of our ways with all that we do.

52:26

And we would be mindful of one another, that we would consider others' needs ahead of our own.

52:33

And as Paul said in Philippians 4, 5, that we would let our reasonableness be known to everyone.

52:41

The Lord is at hand. I thank you for our president of the United States. And I thank you for the statement that he made concerning the unborn earlier this week.

52:50

And I pray that you would hold him to his words, that you put godly men and women around him who would help to guide him to fulfilling these promises that he's made to protect the unborn.

53:02

Not just when they feel pain in the womb, but from conception to natural death.

53:08

May there be a law that protects life at all stages.

53:14

And this we would do in honor and praise to our great king in whose image we are made.

53:21

I pray also for Russell Moore. And God, I pray that you would soften his heart and give him wisdom to lead in the position that he is in.

53:29

The ERLC is not going to be abolished tomorrow. So while the ERLC exists, may it be used to be able to do the job that it was set up to do, affecting public policy and helping to see that laws are going to be passed that respect the dignity of human life and working alongside those public officials to help to make these laws happen, to help to see them come to pass.

53:54

I thank you that we live in the country that we do. And I know that we have listeners that live in many other countries.

53:59

Whatever laws that we have that are afforded to us, may we take advantage of those things to be able to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.

54:09

Because we can pass all kinds of laws to make people's lives better. But what good would it be if they don't have the gospel?

54:18

The gospel saves. The gospel is the thing that forgives us of our sins and gives us right standing before God, fellowship with you, that we may pray to you in this way and know that our prayers are being heard by God.

54:33

May it be the gospel that we desire to preach and proclaim first and foremost.

54:40

I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes in Jesus Christ.

54:47

In his name we pray. Amen. Amen. Salt the drive.

55:57

Man, my hands froze out there. I think that was. Yeah, I know. That's that was bad.

56:02

I put on my work gloves to salt the drive so that I wouldn't mess up my, you know, the gloves

56:09

I have in my coat. And I think it was it was within five minutes. I couldn't feel my fingers.

56:15

Yeah. In my work gloves. Yeah, I know it was bad. I was all bundled up and everything.

56:20

And I was out there trying to shovel the ice, break it up and everything. And I froze.

56:28

Well, it didn't it didn't take that long. It didn't really didn't take long for the salt to it really turned it into mush.

56:34

Yeah. Pretty quick. Yeah. And then it'll freeze again tonight. Right, exactly. It'll be fun in the morning.

56:40

Yay. You'll be skating on it in the morning when you got to go. Yep. Hopefully it'll melt a little bit.

56:48

All right. You ready? Sure. But I can't see. I'm short. Thanks.

56:55

Can you still hear me? Hello. Hello. Test test.

57:01

Yeah, that works. Okay. As long as you don't bump it. I won't bump it. Okay. This is when we understand the text proclaiming the message.

57:08

Whoa. Proclaiming. Proclaiming. Proclaiming.

57:13

There you go. Exactly. Just like that. Whatever. That's how you got to do it. No, no, no, no. I don't think so.