Can A Christian Vote Democrat? with Guest Jonny Root

Sometimes I feel the weight of the world fall down on me so heavily

And I need a friendly voice with some good theology

Calvinist to be speaking So I mix a manly drink Pepsi and shoe polish

And I hit the YouTube link Don't say hit, that sounds violent And I feel my troubles all melt away

It's your Calvinist Podcast with Keith Barsky Beards and bow ties

Laughs till sunrise It's your

Calvinist Podcast with Keith Barsky He's not like most

Calvinists He's nice Your Calvinist Podcast is filmed before a live studio audience

Welcome to Your Calvinist Podcast with Keith Barsky My name is Keith Barsky and as always, I am your

Calvinist I want to welcome you today to the show And we're going to be talking about a subject that I don't get into a whole lot

We're going to be talking about the subject of politics And we're going to do so with my friend and fellow believer, fellow brother in Christ Johnny Root John, thank you for being a part of the show today

Well, you know, I talk about politics probably a little too much So probably the good person to be on here

Thanks for having me, Keith Absolutely And I'm looking forward to having you because of that very thing

This is an area that you are schooled in That's educated in You're able to have a conversation that will hopefully be edifying for everyone

But I do want to mention to the people who are watching That I wore a special outfit just for you

And some people who don't know you I want you to introduce yourself But I want you to also tell the story

Because I'm currently wearing a hoodie and a blazer Last year at the

G3 conference, you were doing interviews You had a hoodie and a blazer And it kind of created a little bit of a firestorm

So, well, I say firestorm, not really It just created somewhat of an online back and forth And then everybody was wearing hoodies and blazers at the

Fight Laugh Feast In your honor So, tell us about what happened And tell us a little bit about your story

Yeah, before I get into hoodie and blazergate Which is just another fun thing that happens on Twitter slash

X We just have the stupidest little conversations or debates

But before I get into that, my name is John Root I grew up in a Christian home I really believe that Christ saved me in college

I don't think it's because I went to an unbelievably theologically sound university

I went to Azusa Pacific I do feel like I grew in my faith there I was able to play football And then

I got into sports media for a long time Everybody's got a cancel story now So, I ended up getting canceled during 2021

Because I went to the gym without a mask The day that our Arizona governor said, decide for yourself I took a gym mirror selfie

Keith, those never look good And I even put that in the caption But from there,

God meant for that door to close in sports media I still cover sports I got an outlet right now called

Christ First Sports So, it's sharing a lot of athletes, coaches, and broadcasters That share their faith

I spent about two and a half years at Turning Point USA A conservative media and grassroots organization

Based out of Phoenix, Arizona Where I live now That was a crazy thing to not just get a peek behind the curtain

But fully be behind the curtain of conservative politics And try to understand

What is everybody's motivation here? Is it just dollars and cents?

Is it money, power, and influence? Is it a combination between all those things? And I think

I started to really realize that Conservative politics and conservatives

Are just as lost as liberals at times And they need to be evangelized just as much

And God led me down that path I still covered sports from a non -woke angle

Kind of a different side of sports Outside of ESPN But it definitely gave me a very interesting

And thorough view of what conservative politics looks like Government in general

Also, really other sides of the aisle I went to the swim meet where Leah Thomas competed

Against all those biological women And I've talked to people that have defended that stuff

I was outside of the Supreme Court When Roe v. Wade got overturned Interviewing people And that's pretty much where I am now

I'm just covering those things online Trying to get people's cultural topics

Filtered through scripture And now to Hoodie Blazer Gate What everybody's been waiting for I think for me, it's always the funniest thing

I think in these reform circles, Keith I don't really feel like I'm much of a younger guy now

I feel like I'm 32 now I'm not just like a

Gen Z 'er That's kind of up and coming in the reform circles But I like wearing something that's not just A super buttoned up shirt and tie

And blazer, sports coat, or whatever For a long time,

I've worn a hoodie Underneath my blazer Which I felt was kind of just a Casual but still clean cut look

And a lot of people are just like Look at this big Eva guy over here Trying to find his way into these reform circles

But when I was Virgil Walker is the man I love him over at G3 He and the rest of the team

Josh Bice and the rest of them Invited me to be the host of their livestream for G3 Because I've done a lot of on -camera work

And that's what I was doing in sports media I was a host and reporter So I wore a hoodie and a blazer

Every single day when I was on camera That's the fit that I like I think it's comfortable

It makes me a little bit more relaxed And then we had somebody online

Especially after Owen Strand Just really dropped some nukes

Some major bombs in that pre -conference speech

And I sat down with him And I just knew that was going to be the conversation

About Christian nationalism And then everything blew up There was a YouTube video that somebody sent my way

And then people were trying to tell me That the big Eva stuff People were trying to tell me

That Owen was telling me what to wear That I was oozing white privilege At first I was just like I'm sick and tired of the

Christian nationalist Tough guy online So I was like, alright, this is stupid

This is not edifying to anybody Have your thoughts about Owen And you can debate those statements

Or whatever it is And then it turned into a meme Where I know a few of the other people

In these reform circles kind of jumped in And the Christian nationalist quote -unquote people

And then I put that photo On a

Halloween costume cover So it was like spirit Halloween It's just something like white privilege guy

And then it's like what's included in the costume package A blazer and a hoodie And all these things

And then when I was at the Fight Laugh Feast conference The guy that I ended up having to tussle with He was wearing a hoodie and blazer

I know you were wearing one And so many others And it's something that kind of irked me From the beginning

That was like, I can take a joke But it just kind of felt like Somebody was trying to Hit me below the belt

And it just turned into a really funny joke And I'm glad that it turned into that And then it's like Here, let me take a photo

With a few of these guys And now it's Even people at Shepard's conference are like Dude, I was wearing my hoodie and my blazer

Maybe this is what can bring everybody together The hoodie and the blazer In these

Christian circles And it's caught the world by storm What a blessing

It's funny And like I said I just see it as one of those things Where somebody just said something

It was ridiculous And then the ridiculous became A parody of itself

Yes, this was dumb And it shouldn't have been said But once it's out there You roll with it

And that's cool And that's good It shows you've got a good spirit And you don't take yourself too seriously

And I think that's great You look great You rock that well You should wear it more often

I'll try So on the subject of politics

You said you comment a lot on politics You said you were outside of the Supreme Court On Roe v. Wade I didn't know that That's really cool

That you were able to be there And having this background In entertainment and media

And being a person Who has been a part of this now

And you're 32 You say you feel old I'm 44 in a week Or two weeks

I'm a little bit senior of you But I haven't been around a lot of that stuff I've been in pastoral ministry for 18 years

I became a pastor at 26 And been in the same church ever since And so I see the politics

I listen to the news And I see the things going on But I haven't been engaged like you have

So I do have some things That I want to talk about And that's why I asked you to come on today Particularly You put a tweet

It was February 3rd, 2nd Somewhere around in there You posted a tweet And as soon as I saw it

I said, you know what? I need to have Johnny come on And talk with me You had been a part of a church suit episode Which I was very thankful for You're very gracious to participate

In my foolishness But I was thankful for that So the tweet that you put out

And I'm having a little technical difficulty But I should be able to bring it up The tweet that you put out initially Just said, there's absolutely

Zero biblical justification For voting Democrat in 2024 And then you reinforced

You said zero And I know that I believe where you're coming from I know where you're coming from But I know when a lot of people hear that They would immediately

Backlash and fire back And well, what about this? Well, what about that? And what about this, that, and the other?

I want to ask you A simple question to begin with And then we're going to layer it out

And maybe some more nuance But the first question that I would ask

When I see a tweet like that And like I said, I agree with you But if I didn't agree with you

My first question would be Why would you say that? Why do you feel that's necessary to say?

Do you think that's helpful In establishing discourse? You know, that's the kind of question People would ask, right?

So what are your thoughts as to If somebody says, well, that's not the way To win friends and influence people You're not going to get people to listen to you,

Johnny If they're on the other side If you say that, they're going to see you as a creep Why even say it? And you know, that's my first initial question

And again, I'm not saying that I'm asking you from the perspective Of somebody who might be on the other side And say, you know what?

That's not helpful Yeah, and usually with this kind of stuff on X I'll throw something out there

That's not exhaustive And then also, of course People are going to be like, well

What about the other side? It's like, well, I know we're going to get Into that, Keith Like I've talked about the other side

At nauseam Probably more than any other Christian Conservative content creator

That most people have seen So I do try to call the balls and strikes

But when I say this I believe this wholeheartedly Like I mentioned earlier

My friend Virgil Walker I know we had a viral video That was at the end of 23

No, it was at the end of 22 December 2022 And that was a part of the rapid fire questions

I asked him Do you believe that there's a biblical justification For voting Democrat? And in the modern day

I don't believe so I think when it comes to the Straight up abortion stance

You have the entire house On the Democrat side That says

Babies should not get any sort of care From a botched abortion Just let them die

They voted wholeheartedly They don't stand true To there's two genders

They want a border Completely Wide open And a litany of other things

Where they're trying to push this Radical race And gender ideology

And it's not saying Again, we're going to get into the other side So I know there's a lot of people That's like wait, wait, wait I know this stuff

I'm hearing from Trump Or I saw this stuff from Warren Boebert Or what about Nancy Mays at the prayer breakfast?

I called it all out But right now when we look at the Specific Democrat platform Does any part of that Align with scripture?

And maybe if we find bits and pieces Of it Like I know we can get into the aspects of Social justice

Social justice has been completely redefined Now, social justice Is not the same as biblical justice

You know, that comes from Critical theory That came out of the Frankfurt School Which is stemming out of Marxism This is completely different ideologies

That have absolutely What it does do Is it's rooted in post -modernism

That now makes the individual Or this group A god of their own making

There's no that we have a sovereign god There's no that we need to Live up to God's commandments

And his rules And his regulations That are clearly spelled out In the Bible I just don't see anything

On the Democrat side Right now That lines up With scripture whatsoever

It's become so unbelievably radical And yes, I know this is a long answer I'll finish off with this,

Keith People talk about the Overton window So we used to When we start here

It's just like you have the middle And then it's just like To the right You have conservative Now you're going to get

To the right There's like the alt -right Where it's just You know That's wrong too

You can swing way too far right But the left It was like We used to disagree

Just on like taxes And little things like that Now the Overton window Has shifted

So now it's shifted to the left So pretty much anything now In that middle point

Which probably a decade ago We'd say that's liberalism Is now considered conservatism

That's why you're going to see now There's an acceptance of Even aspects of gender ideology

And You'll see the GOP give up on The clear definition of marriage

Marriage was instituted by God It was designed by God But now because that Overton window's shifted

We're seeing those things And we can have that conversation But I mean the people I have asked Justify As a

Christian voting Democrat There's no solid justification They can find

For any sort of foundational Standpoint That each candidate

In the entire DNC is running on You know there are people that And I'm thinking particularly

Of people who maybe were Strongly Democrat In a previous generation

You know our parents and their parents Who Would even argue that maybe

There has been an inversion Of what was once Democratic values is now

Republican values or vice versa You know that there has been somewhat of a Changing of sides

And some of those people Would Be Almost traditionally

Democrat And so for instance I have a person that I know He's an acquaintance

Who said he called himself a blue dog Democrat and what he meant According to him was he would vote for a blue dog

Before he voted for anybody other than a Democrat Like that I don't know what that means But that's what he said But it was because this was the

Tradition with which He grew up and So for a moment I want you to speak to What makes a

Democrat Today maybe different than 50 years ago or even when I was a kid you know 40 years ago

Do you see a difference And do you think that it's fair To say it's not what it once was

Yeah and that's where I think There's aspects of When people bring up social justice now

There was social justice Basically campaigns or Government run

Social justice organizations We can call them now Obviously I will always get back to I think the church dropped the ball

And the church should be the one that's Caring for the lost and the needy The orphan and the widow

And then now we're expecting Daddy government to take care of that I think what the left now

Has done compared to 10 20 30 years ago is They want government to completely

Take care of them Completely That's what I think we saw during The pandemic and that's also to Again we're going to get into the

Republican side of things For sure but now it turns Into I believe

That government is The ultimate authority They can show aspects of An authoritarian rule

We the people Has been completely redefined Or completely taken out

Of our system Aspects of free speech We're now seeing censorship That's now being applauded

Yes we're going to see some censorship And aspects of that on the right side But there's been a complete totalitarian shift

On the left where it's like Now we have these social Justice organizations

That are totally radicalized Something like BLM BLM is quintessential

Marxism That is applauded by the left You even had one of the leaders Of BLM say that We are trained

Marxists And the left pushes that And that's where people That are going to be more on the democrat side

They will try to justify people Parading through the streets For someone that was

Unfortunately killed by a police officer Acting as if that was Killed out of cold blood

Which was false They can parade in the streets But you can't go and spend time in the hospital

With your dying grandmother You can't have A wedding in person

Those kind of things I think we're seeing a totalitarian shift In an aspect of social justice

That's totally changed And I think That's probably just A few things that I see

And again There's people that can explain that way better And I think people can understand too

That's like From what I've seen That's what I understand Especially in these

Christian circles That's where people have a real heart For people in need

But if it starts getting to a place Where we're going to Dissolve our

Rights as individuals The Bill of Rights is almost now Chopped up Or completely disregarded

And we now need government to completely take over We know that It can't be trusted

It's unbelievably corrupt And I think what the left now is doing Is they want to rule with an iron fist

Which of course people on the other side They've tried to say the same things about Trump I think that's just Mostly Media fear -mongering

But those are a few of the things I see On the left Hey guys,

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That everybody who hears this podcast Hears the gospel The word gospel means good news And that good news has to be preceded by some bad news

And the bad news is this That we are all sinners Sin is breaking God's law So we stand guilty before the

Lord of the universe But the good news is God sent his son into the world to pay the penalty For everyone who would believe in him

Jesus came into the world And the world lived a perfect life And he died a substitutionary death For everyone who will believe

And he calls us all to repent of our sin To turn from our unbelief And trust in him as Lord and Savior And if you've never done that I encourage you to do so today

Now back to the show So, would you say

And this is a total opinion I'm just thinking about Like statistics, right

Would you say that in general Republicans are More likely to be

People who identify as Christians Or would you say that there are That there's sort of an equal amount

And my reason for asking is I do know that there are some Or many Democrats who would identify

Themselves as Christian And we're saying that that's not really right Or possible But do you think it's just two different versions

Of Christianity Is that what we're seeing Is one that's focused on one thing

Or one that's focused on the other Yeah, I definitely believe There's multiple forms

Of Christianity that people are trying to justify So That's where people are going to be like Well, so if you tell us if we vote

Democrat We're essentially not Christian So if you vote Republican Does that make you Christian No I've spoken at length

About Christless conservatism I talked on Elisa Childers podcast about that Specifically the dangers of it

And how we identify Christless conservatism So people can check that out for a little bit more Exhaustive talk of Christless Conservatism but specifically

Now People that consider themselves Christians that identify

As Christian and vote Democrat The vast majority You would find that they are progressive

Christians There's maybe a sense of Deconstruction there But I would probably

Maybe grant the Classical liberal Democrat So when we talk about people

I do agree the Democrat party Has changed a little bit

People that probably wouldn't be informed Completely I don't know how you couldn't be informed

And still vote for someone like Joe Biden Kamala Harris and Gavin Newsom All these people

So I feel like I don't feel like but I know Even when we look at the

Barna study right now They're saying maybe as little as 4 % Of self -professed

Christians Adults that vote Actually have a biblical world view So what's our main issue?

Our main issue isn't we don't have enough Republicans In government Our main issue is

We don't even know what God says about these things So when people Actually challenge like me

That say hey in 2024 There's no biblical justification for voting Democrat and if you can't come back

And show me how Their abortion stance Gender ideology

LGBTQ Open borders Government now has

Authoritarian powers To censor speech that they deem As hateful You cannot

Justify these things At all and then on the other side You're going to have people like these

MAGA Republican Christians We've seen the nonsense

That's out there like everything Is prophetic Trump's our savior He's a

King Cyrus or he's a King David They love using all these biblical terms And then

I'll also call out and say Literally look at everybody That is part of Trump's faith advisory

Board I did A video on this on my YouTube Where it's like let's dive deep into What Trump actually believes

When it comes to his faith but also knowing That is that just a Trump issue or does that bleed into the whole

GOP there's a lot of people That start idolizing conservatism Over Christianity and they almost

Want you're going to have people like General Michael Flynn That's going to speak at a church and Says maybe some of your pastors

Should close the bible And start reading the constitution That is such nonsense it's so flipped

Upside down so that's where I'll call The balls and strikes but yeah there's multiple Different Christians and then you'll see people

Like you and I And other great brothers and sisters In Christ That have some sort of platform

On X or Instagram or social media in general That talk about these things and say Hey we're going to call balls and strikes

But We're voting for a lesser of two evils Yes But also at the same time we don't

See any sort of Biblical redeeming Qualities statements or A platform in general on the democrat

Side that lines up with what We stand for and I still to this day

I mean I've Asked so many people And it always comes back to Will trump this or trump that So all

They're doing is deflecting And they're not actually Answering the question

Because we're not going to go up to heaven And you know it's not going to be like You know what Keith we're looking at Your voting history here and You know this is going to determine

Whether you get through those pearly gates or not It's like There is an aspect of yes

We may Essentially be voting For The death of the most vulnerable

Of our society Through something that's called a Human right abortion now

You know that's something that's pushed On the left quite a bit and I think We're going to have to give an answer

For those kind of things But there's also on the right where it's like No we're not going to You know go up to heaven and Our voting history is going to determine whether we get

It or not but I think that does Determine our fruit and I don't believe it's bearing good fruit

If you're going to be considering yourself A Christian and voting Democrat Gotcha A few years

Ago our church does Open air preaching and so we go Out and preach and we

Chose to go and preach and hand out Tracts at a Trump rally It was in Jacksonville Florida I don't remember

If it was the 2016 Or if it was the 2020 election But I know it was

Leading up to the election And I remember There being

Republicans In line waiting to see Donald Trump and we're just walking by handing out Gospel tracts we're not

One of our guys was preaching sort of a distance Away but I was handing out gospel tracts And I remember several people

Saying to me Why are you here? We're Republicans Therefore we're all

Christian And it was like That's not how this works And it was

There was a great moment in that Because well it wasn't a great moment But it was a good moment to show why that's

Wrong because a man began To challenge me saying If you believe the Bible you're brainwashed

If you believe the Bible you don't think for yourself You are you know and this is a guy Standing in line to see Trump and so I Began to share the gospel with him and a woman

Behind me who was selling t -shirts She began to scream we're all Energy we're all energy and Spinning in a circle like a weird hippie

And I was like Wait a minute isn't this the Trump rally? You know I mean like I'm surrounded

By a hippie lady and Guy who doesn't believe anything about The Bible is true so It was a good reminder that Not all

Republicans Are Christian but But when we talk about The Republican versus Democrat divide you've keyed

In on a few specific issues That I think really are the dividing line And for me when somebody says

What's the major dividing line it's the murder Of children it's the murder of infants In the womb and if somebody says well you're

A one issue voter yeah well When the issue is murdering babies I think I'm allowed to Hold that as A very important standard

But it's not only that it comes From a world view and the world view Is what gives

Birth to that idea of Abortion so In that I want to go back over what you said

Because you said it's not just Abortion but you said it's abortion Gender ideology

The sanctity of marriage and You did mention borders a few times and I want To bring that up later

I want to come back to the Border issue because I think there's A conversation that can be had there but On the three other things

Is this not The image of God that we're Really addressing is how we

Understand human beings when we say Abortion is the destruction of human Life Gender ideology is the

Destruction of identity for God Made them male and female And the third one

Which was Goodness I forget now But those things all go

Toward the idea of God making us in his image the very foundation Of our faith

And so are there Other issues or do you think It is really boiled down to the smallest

Denominator and these are the things So does it go further than that Yeah I mean

I think those Would be the three and four Things that we can really Ride and die on There's plenty of people that would consider

Themselves one issue voters and When I was outside the Supreme Court People would say that too All I care about is now we're talking

About federally What is a president What's his stance on abortion

And that determines How I will vote There's people like that but I think

It stems from that and I think What we see on the Republican Side which is very very very

Flawed In many ways there's still going to be I think maybe

Ten years from now Conservatism Is just going to be totally redefined

If we keep going down this route If we keep compromising And you know

It's going to get to a point where Unless we have some Really legitimate

Christian lawmakers From the state and federal level That start running You're going to see both sides that Continue to compromise

On abortion they're going to continue To compromise On marriage they're going to compromise

At the border and I think we can talk about That like I don't think there's been any Nation any sovereign

Nation that has left their borders Wide open and allowed an influx Of people and knowing too

At the same time people will listen To this and be like well John just doesn't Care about the people that Want to get away from Poverty and The terrible situations

They're dealing with in South America And Mexico These people are coming from Everywhere I live in Phoenix Arizona There's literally a spot

A block or two away from The airport where you're seeing people From Africa South America Mexico All over the place that are being

That are coming through the southern border They're shipped to a facility They're put on a plane and they're dispersed

Across the United States And we even saw during President Biden's State of the

Union Address You had A young woman That was killed by an illegal immigrant

If that person wasn't in the country That young lady Would still be alive

Fentanyl is just pouring through The southern border These are kind of things we can have the legitimate

Conversation as Christians about How do we care For the needy We can care for the needy without Leaving it completely wide open

And then also too you have people like President Biden and Kamala Harris Who is the border czar

They are inviting these people And people have said that walking Across the border why'd you come

Basically got an invitation from the Biden Administration and what's happened To young kids

And women as they're making This journey There's sex trafficking that's going on I don't know if there's

Certain words that I can say on this Podcast. I don't want to get you demonetized But just Sexual interactions that are taking advantage

Of women and kids These aren't good situations And then also too

We're getting to a place where A sovereign nation Is not going to continue to be strong If you allow

Law and order to Completely be Disregarded when it comes to BLM Riots and you're going to have a

Vice presidential candidate that just lets People go And then people that just happen to be there

I'm not saying that January 6th was a good Thing or should have been encouraged At all but those people rot in prison

For a while but the people that were literally Burning and looting places That's what the conversations we need to Start having as Christians Is how do we

Justify the way We vote and if people On the Republican side are going to be voting For someone like Trump People like me,

I'm going to call the balls And strikes. I want to have The best, if Donald Trump is Elected, I want to have

The best version Most God honoring version Possible of Donald Trump That guy does not show

Fruit of a Christian He has done things that have been helpful To the Christian community in ways

No doubt. He's fought some Very incredible fights But also at the same time you can't

Have those maggot Republicans that are Just talking about energy Like here's our works based salvation

That's what they really believe When I go back to almost checking Off what your voting history

Was when you're ultimately Judged You don't get in Because you're a

Republican Just like you don't Stay out because you're a Democrat That's something that really needs to be

Defined as well Is yes we still need to Be able to justify

Biblically and not To Keith, not to John To the almighty

God That I believe This is the most God honoring Way that I could

Show my Right to vote That's why I hope people would start Holding people accountable

Especially on the Republican side Because When I worked at Turning Point I always hoped that it was righteous anger

There were some times I got so incredibly Pissed off For people that were using

Jesus As just a trendy outfit Or using Christianity as just a nice Slogan and it

Bamboozles so many people And makes them so much money And it is such utter

Nonsense And that's why I hope that Christians you don't need to be so Immersed in politics

But you should know enough And be able to recognize through solid Wisdom discernment through the holy

Spirit that If this person is going To consider themselves a

Christian or run On some sort of Christian platform They're held to a Totally different standard

And they need to live up to that So if Trump is going to consider himself a Christian We hold him to the highest standard

Possible And that's why I kind of hope that People see on those two sides of the issue

Do you really think Trump considers Himself a Christian or do you think His overtures

To the Christian church are Political in nature? Do you really think he thinks He's a Christian? And I know you don't

Know his heart I know you can't judge his heart I'm just saying based on Well I mean individually

I know I could say From what I fully understand And the fruit that He shows he's not a

Christian but I think he would maybe consider Himself A Christian of some sort

I don't know it's almost like a Christianity of his own making so that's why you're Going to see a lot of the

You know Paula White is his right hand woman You're going to see a lot of people that are

Involved in the new apostolic reformation They're involved in charismania Prosperity gospel that are surrounded around Trump And He is a tremendous

Marketer he knows how to Play PR and he has People around him that are literally saying

People like Paula White are saying Almost just like you are godlike So I think there's

Almost a sense of Like he said before he doesn't feel like He needs to repent

To our almighty god He almost doesn't feel like he needs forgiveness Because he almost feels like There's a godlikeness himself

Yeah I think there's a way that he Does a good job to connect with Everyday Americans and People have been drawn to that And he's had policies that Have really helped out

That middle of America That's been forgotten for so long But I think he would think

He's some sort of King -like god -like Prophetic -like figure

Because that's what he hears All the time and I think If you're going to have Christian leaders

Like Paula White Other charismatics That are going to be pushing that And not saying that all charismatics are now in there

So like anybody listen to that Just like charismania She's a part of that kind of stuff

When they re -emphasize those things You tell somebody a lie enough It becomes truth

I think he believes that The next question

I want to ask is a ministry question But I want to ask Are you connected to a church?

Are you a member of a church? You don't have to name your church I know sometimes people would rather leave their

Private You know where they worship and everything Out of because they don't want their Pastor getting an email or something

So it's okay if you don't say where you are But are you a member of a church somewhere? Yeah I'm a member I'm happy to say it

Sometimes I'm a little bit weary Crazy people out there But I go to a great reform church

Called Pella Communities It's in downtown Glendale And Pastor Sean Myers is my pastor

I've been doing discipleship with him And then It's been a great spot

And I know it's Especially my affiliations With places like Turning Point And these circles that I've been in Have led to a lot of Really great conversations

But I know being connected with A church like Redeemer Out here, Darrell B.

Harrison Is now a part of their pastoral staff Apologia Is out here too

And Kosti Hinn is out here as well He's been a great friend

And mentor of mine Well great Well the reason why I ask is because I know you're not a pastor

But I want to ask you a ministry question And I wanted to make sure You're connected to a church

So you can kind of feel How this might work How this might be

In a church context And the question is this Let's say you've got a church

And there are people in the church Who are endorsing voting For Democrats Because they're arguing for something

Like maybe they're arguing for Climate change as a position To stand on. They think the earth needs to be cared

For and therefore they would Say the Republicans are wrong Or they might say the border

Should be open because we should be Receiving the The widow and the orphan

Or whatever. And again I'm not agreeing I'm just saying these are their arguments Right? And how do you think

A minister ought to Relate to that Is that an issue

That should even be on his Radar or should the pastor just Try to stay neutral.

I don't think any Pastor can be neutral. Let me just say I'll spill the beans for myself. I don't think it's possible To truly be neutral.

But your Thoughts on that from a Ministry standpoint. Does a Pastor have a responsibility

Or a church have a responsibility To call that out or Do you just let

People be themselves? Yeah, I think there's times where You as a pastor, again

I'm glad that you prefaced it like that I'm not a pastor So there's times where I know

We can plain as day call out Heresy or things that are problematic And everything

But when it comes to the political realm In the public square I don't think pastors

Should be endorsing specific candidates From the pulpit If you want to have

Those conversations Outside a Sunday sermon So be it

I think that can be fruitful I think that can be edifying But I don't think

There should be any sort of endorsement of a specific Candidate Because in general we're not going to find a candidate

That really Aligns with the gospel Perfectly Somebody that we would elevate as like yes

This is someone we can look to as A solid Christian leader As well as a governmental

Leader So when it comes to These specific issues I mean if you're preaching

If you're doing expository preaching You're going over everything So if you're giving

People a great understanding of what the Theology of life Really looks like and the terminology

That is used for a baby In the womb and outside the womb When you go back to the original language

You're going to have a clear understanding Even have the science Back up this idea

That life begins at conception That this is a human Life in the womb and And it deserves protection

And then if we want to get into Sometimes that's why I feel like A Sunday sermon isn't the

Best medium to have This kind of conversation It's one of those

People need the Bible Preached More than anything

And yes there's aspects of We should be If Roe v. Wade gets overturned

That should be talked about I know the top 10 Christian podcasts on Apple Podcast You're going to see the

Joel Osteen And those other figures Nobody talked about it at all

So nobody has a clear biblical Understanding and they're completely Biblically illiterate about how to defend this issue

But when it comes to something like the border There needs to be Probably a

Different way to Discuss that Because of course I know in downtown

Glendale I'm going by Some desolate

Areas here In Phoenix There is homelessness that run rampant

There's a lot of low income housing And I'm blessed That our church is at a place that Is doing some great

Ministry work That needs a church More than anything And we can help

Those people out But we have to sometimes Get to the conversation We can't swing so far to the right or the left

And be like Alright I'm so standoffish to caring for The widow and the orphan

At the border that are trying to Get out of a Terrible situation

And then the other side It's like well if you want to completely close it Like you're so xenophobic

You just hate these people You just want a white America It's just all it does

It's just a stupid name calling It doesn't lead to a solid conversation But I think within ministry

There should be a clear definition Of how these terms are being used as well And a clear understanding

And if it's like you as a pastor Like Keith You are doing so much work

To make sure people get the gospel In context In its entirety That sometimes you need to bring somebody in That has a clear understanding

Of what's going on at the border Someone that can speak To what kind of like Fentanyl is coming through the border

What kind of people are coming through the border And then also at the same time

Knowing that we're a sovereign nation That I know people like my sister -in -law She was

I mean She still doesn't have her citizenship Even though she's married to my brother Who's a

US citizen And she actually put in work And she's gone through the process To try to become a legal citizen

And it's just been The worst situation And you've got people that are just running through the border

That are giving cell phones There's now states that are saying They might be able to carry

Firearms They're shipped to different states This is wrong And it's not going to help our nation

Even though Some people might be coming through With good intentions

They're just looking for a better life Or they're looking for the American dream But we can have a legitimate conversation

About how There is now some companies That are cutting employees And now going to job fairs

Where they're trying to find illegal immigrants For cheaper labor These kind of things don't help our country

It might help that person That's trying to get out of a Desperate situation But that's where I think

We get so emotional Behind these things That it needs to be so black or white

That It's close down these borders We don't care about these people at all

Or open these borders Because That's the best way to love your neighbor

And I think It's led to way more destruction And that's what I would finish to say There's better times to have those

Kind of conversations And those soapbox moments Than behind the pulpit You can have your

John Piper moments Where you have someone like Obama That his abortion stance

Was evil, downright evil Take that stand Go against it

You can have your John MacArthur moments Where you're going to go against What Gavin Newsom is doing And those are unbelievably

Empowering To the body of Christ But I think We're now getting to places where Even on the

Conservative Republican side And I worked for Turning Point USA And they had a

Faith division, it was called TPUSA Faith And basically what they were looking for Was just politicized pastors

That would echo conservative talking points There were some great pastors That were involved in that But basically they were just looking for people

That they would consider Here's a healthy, alive church Because they're talking about conservative politics

No, you're not even giving them The gospel You might be showing them

Maybe a better way to vote But in general, you're having people That are filling the seats to your church

That's going to tell you how many people are there But not how many souls are really saved So Hopefully there's a way that I know with you

Keith, you faithfully preach the gospel And I'm happy to see so many people that We're friends with That are desperately trying to figure out

How do I address these things Also, I'm not Fully well versed in all these things

And then I don't want to go throw something out on Twitter Or say something on stage that then Blows up into something else

And that's why I hope that people Just start understanding We don't need to be endorsing candidates behind the pulpit

We need to be encouraging our pastors To expository preach And If there's things that arise in the public square

Give people a biblical understanding Of how we defend What God calls good

And fight against what God calls evil Amen And I think that last part you said

There may be a good place to begin to draw to a close Because that's the heart of all this And that is we want to call good

What God calls good And we want to call evil what God calls evil Because ultimately

The inversion of that As Isaiah says, woe unto them Who call good evil

And evil good, who replace the sweet for bitter And the bitter for sweet That is what we see And that's why when

I look at the political realm I see that dangerous thing We are saying Here's abortion, murdering children

But we're going to call it Healthcare for women Here's a destructive gender ideology

But we're going to call it Personal choice or empowerment We're going to rename this thing

A positive word But this word is actually A destructive thing The underlying thing is very destructive

And so And again, on the other side And I know you've said it several times We don't want to give passes where they're not due

Certainly there's no pass That should be given for Trump's The evil things that he has said

Or done We say those things are wrong Those things are evil And I do worry, like you said

I worry that there is a bleeding of the line I mean, I've seen Trump endorse some things Even recently that make me say

Wow, okay, this is scary You know, his issues with DeSantis And regarding abortion and things

And the different issues they've gone back and forth on I think we have to be vocal We're calling a heartbeat bill

Terrible Not just a Hey, let's have a political discussion about I believe this aspect of Incrementalism might work

And then this, that, or the other thing It's like, no, you are now saying At six weeks

Signing a bill, a heartbeat bill Is terrible Like basically just saying it is

Almost a moral evil And you're going to see Sorry to cut you off Keith, but you're going to even see The people like Carrie Lake That are saying that This should be up for the people to decide

We live in an evil Evil nation And of course the vast majority

Of people right now believe It's a human right They believe it's their right to play God And even though people

Understand it's murder A ton of our friends that have done Abortion mill ministry

People will go in and say I know I'm killing a human being But it's my right

To do that That's awful, that's evil That's what God calls plainly evil

And there's still going to be People in churches that try to justify that Yeah, and What you just said

Just is absolutely I've seen it over and over I've stood outside abortion mills

I've had the opportunity To go with other pastors And even go myself to preach in the open air But particularly at the abortion clinics

And I've seen and heard People who justify it in various Different ways, but some people don't even feel the need to justify

We are going to kill this child Because it's our right to do so Or because it's an inconvenience

To us And such a desperate thing I can't tell you

How much It breaks my heart For a person to look at a child in the womb

And say that this child The life is up for Destruction Simply because this life

Is an inconvenient life And this is where I see And again, I don't want to keep you

For another hour, but we could go down a rabbit trail With this, because I think there is A great amount of hypocrisy

And there's hypocrisy on both sides I don't want to discount there's hypocrisy But the hypocrisy

Of saying we need to care about The person who's coming across The border, we need to care about the orphan

And the widow, but we don't care About the child in the womb We can destroy that life

I think there's Such a tremendous amount of hypocrisy there And I don't want to be guilty on the other side

And say, well I don't care about the person on the border I do, I just, like you I say there has to be

A way that is done In a way that honors Law and justice, rather than Simply honoring

Sympathy, we have sympathy for people Who are hurting, but we cannot Bring in every hurting person

Without some vetting, without some Process, without, like you said, your sister -in -law Coming through a process

Of, did you say It was your sister -in -law, am I remembering that correctly? Coming through a process of Citizenship, whereby she must

Go through these things so that It's done correctly And it just seems to me like when we

Say that, it sounds as if we're being Vicious, oh well you don't care, no it's not That we don't care, we care about justice

We care about law, and we care about Order, and all of these Things, God is a

God of Order, and I think if we have A government that doesn't at least Recognize that Then we're going to be in chaos, and that seems

Like where we are now Yeah, and then people always feel like, well what about All of the chaos we had within our own borders

When Trump was president, and it's just like yeah I think there's times where He was thrown into a very difficult

Volatile situation Yes, we can Hindsight's 20 -20, other times Where it's plain as day, where it's like Put your freaking phone down And don't tweet and exacerbate

This kind of situation But we're even seeing it Places like, I still cover sports

Atlanta was supposed to have An all -star game a couple Seasons ago, and Joe Biden Comes in and he says that Just because there's

Voter ID laws saying that you Have to have a government or state Issued ID To identify yourself to vote

That's like Jim Crow 2 .0 That's what people I think would hopefully understand

When you're voting Democrat You're voting for lawlessness You are unequivocally

Voting for the death Of innocent human Beings that are made in the image

Of God That's not Exaggerated, that's just the truth

That is 100 % What the Democrat party Runs on You can have further discussions on Why would they completely open

The border, we can have another conversation At another time It's going to be at a place where Drugs are flowing

Across the border, that's the truth Lawlessness is Flowing across the border

People are dying Because of people that should not Be here, like that young woman again

That died Lake and Riley This is awful, awful

Stuff, and it's leading to These people coming across the border They're not going to bite the hand

That feeds them, so of course If you're going to have states that are trying to Allow these people to vote, of course

They're going to be voting Democrat Which again, is trying to Usurp We the people, and it's

Fascinating to watch people Continue to give up their power While still calling out places like Melbourne, Australia, where it's like Wow, that's awful, they don't have guns

Or really, a bill of rights That's awful, while at the same time Just saying, let everybody in That's the most loving thing to do

Lock me in my home That's the best thing to do Yes, there was Republicans that pushed that stuff

Then too Or get into a place where Authoritarian rule is not

Too far off if we don't do something About it, and that's why People Like me, it's like, what do we need the most?

Biblically literate People that aren't just Hearers of the word, but they are doers Of the word, and all these things that we talk about We want the best candidates

In office, God allowed Joe Biden And Kamala Harris To have power He raises rulers

He Just demolishes nations This is all according to His will, so what are we going to do as Christians?

Just complain about it? Or are we going to use this as an opportunity And hopefully get the right people

In office, and make them Accountable to God's word And that's what I hope people would start

Understanding Probably the last thing I'd say here is A lot of people

On the MAGA Republican side If you want to call that That are in the cult

There's people that will vote for Trump, and they're not in the cult They just feel like that is the Best possible candidate

For the country, they can't stand Joe Biden, or Kamala Harris Or Gavin Newsom, or Michelle Obama Or anybody the

DNC would Try to throw in there They need to understand That just because The left

Is pushing evil Doesn't mean that Elevating Another evil, or a lesser

Evil is going to lead to something good Almost like those two negatives Are going to lead to a positive

Hopefully we can have adult conversations About that kind of stuff, and then be able to Justify our actions

And have fruitful conversations Based off scripture, based off Objective truth, and based off Trying to glorify

God Not trying to glorify Biden, or Trump Or any other Favorite candidate

It's about glorifying God And submitting to His word, and I hope people

Start to understand that Well Johnny, I want to thank you for coming on Today, I know that you are

You're looking forward to a big life Change coming up in a few weeks And so again, congratulations

On that, for you and your Upcoming bride I know you've talked about that on Twitter some

And I'm grateful that God has blessed you With a wife And a wife is a wonderful thing

According to scripture, it is a blessing above Rubies, so may God Bless you and her as you begin

Your life together As we close, I do want to ask if you have A way that people might

Follow you, and maybe even You know, if you have Ministries that you want to endorse

Or talk about, maybe your online presence And things like that, so I just want to give you just a minute or two To tell people how they might

Follow you, get in touch with you, or Be a part of what you're doing Yeah, and again, thank you, I'm just So blessed, it's an exciting season

It's a crazy season Getting ready for the Wedding, and the honeymoon, and not just Getting ready for one day, but A lifetime of glorifying

God together Obviously it's a big deal To become the provider, protector Priest, and leader of a home

I have many faults And those are going to be Exposed even more, and I just hope that You know, through God's grace

That we'll continue to build each other up And build a great home, but You can follow me at Twitter Instagram And YouTube Twitter and Instagram, it's

JohnnyRoot underscore J -O -N -N -Y -R -O -O -T Underscore, it's AtJohnRoot on YouTube And then, something

I mentioned a little bit earlier I love seeing People like the quarterback for the

Houston Texans, C .J. Stroud The quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, Brock Purdy Jonathan Isaac that plays for the

Orlando Magic Solid Christian men Dan Orlofsky, a reporter

And host at ESPN He ended up praying on national television When DeMar Hamlin went down It's just a faithful Solid prayer to Christ And for Peace and healing

Those are the kind of things that need to be Elevated in the sports world So I started something called Christ First Sports It's at Christ First Sports On Instagram So if there's any sports fans out there

Or just really enjoy Just seeing Some more content about People that are given some sort of Prominence within the sports realm

That are sharing the gospel Faithfully and not just your atypical Thank God for a good game

Thank God I'm an all -star Some really good stuff That's been on my heart

I always appreciate the encouragement I love these conversations Anybody can DM me I love chatting about this stuff

And I think it's only beneficial To the body of Christ to have more conversations Happy to provide more clarity

If people want You guys can always DM me On Twitter or X or Instagram Well that's great

Thank you again Johnny I appreciate you being a part of the show today I really do, thank you And I want to thank you guys for being a part of the show

If you have questions or comments And you'd like to get in touch with me You can get in touch with me at Calvinistpodcast .gmail

.com Just send me an email directly Or you can follow me on Twitter I want to thank you again for listening to your

Calvinist podcast My name is Keith Foskey And I've been your Calvinist May God bless you

Sometimes I feel the weight of the world Fall down on me And I need a friendly voice

With some good theology So I mix

A manly drink Then I hit The YouTube link

And I feel My troubles all melt away Oh It's your

Calvinist podcast With Keith Foskey Beards and Bowties Laughs till sunrise