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On this episode, Keith welcomes Jonny Root to discuss why he believes a Christian cannot vote democrat in our modern context.
Sometimes I feel the weight of the world fall down on your voice with song, mix a manly drink, Pepsi, shoe polish, and I hit the YouTube link, don't say hit, that sounds violent, and I feel my troubles all back, most Calvinist, he's not.
Your Calvinist Podcast is filmed before a live studio audience. Welcome to Your Calvinist Podcast with Keith Foskey. My name is Keith Foskey, 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, 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.
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. 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, 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? I think I started to really realize that conservative politics and conservatives are just as lost as liberals at times.
They need to be evangelized just as much. God led me down that path. I still covered sports from a non-woke angle, 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, and other sides of the aisle.
I went to the swim meet where Leah Thomas competed against all those biological women. I've talked to people that have defended that stuff. I was outside the Supreme Court when Roe v. Wade got overturned interviewing people.
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 reformed 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 a Gen Z-er that's up and coming in these reformed 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.
A lot of people are just like, look at this big Eva guy over here, trying to find his way into these reformed circles. 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 then 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 are trying to tell me that, yeah, the big Eva stuff.
People are trying to tell me that Owen was telling me what to wear, that I was oozing white privilege. At first, I was just like, oh, I'm sick and tired of the Christian nationalist tough guy online. So I was like, all right, 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.
Christian nationalists, quote unquote, people jumped in. And then I put that photo on a Halloween costume cover. So it was like spirit Halloween. And that said, it's just like 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 Left Feast conference, the guy that ended up kind of having to tussle with, he was wearing a hoodie and blazer.
I know you were wearing one and so many others. And it's like something that kind of irked me from the beginning. That was like, I just, I mean, 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, you know, it's caught the world by storm.
What a blessing.
Well, that's it's funny. And like I said, I just see it as as one of those things where, you know, somebody just said something. It was ridiculous. And then the ridiculous became a parody of itself. Yes, this was this was dumb and it shouldn't it shouldn't have been said.
But once once it's out there, you roll with it. And that's cool. And that's good. It shows you got a good a good spirit. And, you know, you don't don't take yourself too seriously. And I think that's great.
You look great. You look great, by the way. You rock that. Well, you should wear more often.
Well, I'll try. So on the subject of politics, you know, 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 in 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 I'm I'm 44 in a week or two weeks. So so I'm a little bit senior of you, but but I haven't been around a lot of that stuff.
I mean, I've been 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, you know, I see the politics. I listen to the news and I see the things going on.
But I but I 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 in my foolishness.
But 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 reinforce, you said zero. And and I know that 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 more nuance.
But the first question that I would ask when I see a tweet like that, like I said, I agree with you. But if I was 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 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 on X, I'll throw something out there that's not exhaustive. And then also, of course, people are 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 ad 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 twenty three.
No, it's 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 is 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 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 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. You know, this is completely different ideologies that have absolutely. What it what it does do is it's rooted in postmodernism 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 like when we start here, it's just like you have the middle and 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 that's wrong, too. You can swing way too far right. And but the left, it was like we used to disagree just on like taxes and and little little things like that.
Now the Overton window is 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 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 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 is 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 who would even argue that maybe there has been a 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 I have a person that I know he's a an acquaintance who said he called himself a blue dog Democrat.
And what he meant, what, according to him, was he would vote for a blue dog before he voted for anybody other than a Democrat like like like like that. I don't know what that means, but that's what he said.
And and but it was because this was the tradition with which he grew up. And and so for a moment, I want you to speak to what makes a Democrat today maybe different than 50 years ago or even 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.
It's obviously I will always get back to. I think the church dropped the ball and the church should be the one that's, you know, 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 is been completely redefined or completely taken out of our system, like 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, all right, now we have these social justice organizations that are totally radicalized.
Like something like BLM. BLM is quintessential Marxism that is applauded by the left. You even had one of the leaders of BLM say that like 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 could explain that way better. And I think people could understand too that 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 just like 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.
And I think that's just mostly media fearmongering. But those are a few of the things I see on the left.
Hey, guys, I just want to quickly say thank you for watching this episode. And if you're enjoying it, please hit the thumbs up button. If you're not enjoying it, hit the thumbs down button twice. Also, if you haven't already, please subscribe to the channel.
It really helps us out. And some of you've asked about how to support the channel. If you'd like to support us, you can go to buymeacoffee .com slash your Calvinist and leave a donation. Most importantly, we want to make sure 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, 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's sort of an equal amount or what? 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.
There is, I've spoken at length about Christless conservatism. I talked on Alisa 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, it's like, well, you know, I do agree the Democrat Party is changed a little bit. But like 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 and Kamala Harris and Gavin Newsom and all these people. So I feel like they I don't feel like but I know, you know, even when we look at the Barna study right now, it's just the they're saying maybe as little as 4%.
Of self-professed Christians, adults that vote actually have a biblical worldview. 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 is 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 can't you cannot justify these things at all. And then on the other side, you're going to have people like these MAGA Republican Christians. It's, you know, we've seen the nonsense that's out there, like everything is prophetic.
And, you know, Trump's our savior. He's a King Cyrus or he's a King David or 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 it's like, well, 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 that 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.
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 go up to heaven.
And our voting history is going to determine whether we get in 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. 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 them there being Republicans in line waiting to see Donald Trump. And we're just walking by handing out gospel tracts. We're not you know, we had 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 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. 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 just it was a good reminder that not all Republicans are Christian. 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 worldview. And the worldview 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 at 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, you know, when I was outside the Supreme Court, people would say that too.
It's just like, all I care about is now we're talking about federally. You know, 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 like 10 years from now, like 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 like, 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. 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 that 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.
They're 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 and here's our workspace salvation.
That's what they really believe.
When I go back to almost checking off what your voting history was when you were 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, like to the almighty God that I believe this is the most God-honoring way that I could show my right to vote.
And that's where I hope people would start holding people accountable, especially on the people accountable on the Republican side. Because, man, 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. It bamboozles so many people and makes them so much money.
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's going to consider himself a Christian, we hold them to the highest standard possible. And that's what 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, yeah.
Well, I mean, individually, I know, I could say from what I fully understand, and then 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 just 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, that's like Charismania. Like she's a part of that kind of stuff. And when they reemphasize those things, you tell somebody a lie enough, it becomes truth. And I think he believes that.
So 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? And you don't have to name your church, because I know sometimes people would rather leave their private, 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, because there's some crazy people out there. But I go to a great Reformed church called Pella Communities. It's in downtown Glendale.
And Pastor Sean Myers is my pastor. I've been doing discipleship with him. And it's been a great spot. 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. Daryl B. Harrison is now a part of their pastoral staff. Apologia is out here too. 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 have that. You're connected to a church, so you can kind of feel how this might work, how this might be in a church context, right?
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 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 could 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 is 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, 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 outside of it, and it deserves protection. And then if we want to get into, and 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 Podcasts, you're going to see the Joel Osteens 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, all right, 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, you're so xenophobic. You just hate these people. You just want a white America. All it does is just it's 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 still doesn't have her citizenship. Even though she's married to my brother, who's a U .S. 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 just the worst situation. And then you 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 the 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 of 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. 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 health care 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. And the underlying thing is very destructive. And so and again, you know, on the other side, and I know you've said it several times, you know, we don't want to give passes where they're not due.
Certainly, there's no pass that should be given for Trump's 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, OK, 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.
Yeah, calling a heartbeat bill terrible. You know, 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, the heartbeat bill is terrible.
Like basically just saying it is almost a moral evil. And you're going to see the, sorry to cut you off, Keith, but you're going to even see the people like Carrie Lake now here that are saying that, you know, 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, ask a ton of our friends that have done abortion, male ministry.
People will go in and say, I know I'm killing a human being, but it's my right to do that. Like that is that's awful. That's evil. And that's that's what God calls plainly evil. And and there's still going to be people in churches that try to justify that.
Yeah. And what you just said just is absolutely the I've seen it over and over. I've stood outside abortion mills. I have, you know, 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 have 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 mean, I, I can't tell you how much that it breaks my heart for a person to look at a child in the womb and say that this child, the life is 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, you know, for another hour. But we could 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 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 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 in a way that 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? That coming through a process of citizenship whereby she must go through these things so that so that it's done correctly. And it just seems to me like when we 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 in 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 the chaos we had within our own borders when Trump was president? It's just like, yeah, I think there's times where, you know, he was thrown into a very difficult, volatile situation.
Yes, we can. Hindsight's 20 -20. Other times were as plain as day where it's like, put your freaking phone down and don't tweet and exacerbate this kind of situation. But I mean, we're even seeing it places like, you know, I still cover sports.
Atlanta was supposed to have an all-star game a couple of 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. You know, 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. And it's just the truth. That is 100 percent what the Democrat Party runs on. And then it's like 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. You know, people are dying because of people that should not be here.
Like that young woman again that died, Lake and Riley. I mean, 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 push that stuff. Then to 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 in 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. Because 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 that 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. I hope people start to understand that.
Amen. Well, Johnny, I want to thank you for coming on today. I know that 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 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 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 at John Root 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 Orlovsky, 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, like, thank God for a good game.
Thank God I'm an all-star. Some really good stuff that's been on my heart. But 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 at gmail .com.
Just send me an email directly, or you can follow me on Twitter at YourCalvinist. 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.
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. Kids and bow ties. Laughs till sunrise. It's Your Calvinist Podcast with Keith Foskey.
He's not like most Calvinists. He's nice.
Your Calvinist Podcast with Keith Foskey. Striving for superior theology and denominational unity, one joke at a time.