The Social Justice Spin on Covid 19

Welcome to the Conversations that Matter podcast. My name is John Harris. I've got a few things to talk about today that are important I'm excited.

We're gonna be talking to Chuck Baldwin who is a pastor now, but Also an author. He actually wrote a book on Romans 13.

He's run for the presidency Under the Constitution Party's banner.

So I want to get his take on this whole Civil Authority Romans 13

Constitution debate there's many facets to it and I think it'd be great to pick his brain on some of those questions

Also, I'm gonna be talking a little bit about the new social justice narrative that is emerging You probably could have predicted it, but I'm gonna take you through a few things just to show where it's popping up and How we should probably think about responding to it because we do need to start thinking about this

I guarantee you after the dust is settled on this COVID -19 stuff we're going to see an aggressive push to claim that there's so many disparities that exist in minority communities as far as health care and We're gonna need to do something we're gonna need to do some redistribution of some kind in order to fix these inequities and And so I we need to discuss that we need to talk about what does this mean before we get there because we know it's

Coming we see the signs of Of it coming. So how should we respond?

Let's at least get that conversation started Before though we get to all that. I'm terrible at this.

I usually forget to make announcements I think oh I should probably tell my audience something and then I totally

Get absorbed in the topic and I forget to tell all of you So a few things number one There is a big episode coming either later this week or the beginning of next week

Depending on how much I get done. I'm in the middle of a lot of stuff right now. I know some of you are You know very well, you're not busy.

You have a lot of time on your hands because you were laid off I'm not one of those people. In fact, everything is ramped up for me right now.

So So we'll see what happens, but I'm hoping at the end of this week I'm gonna have a bombshell episode to bring to you and if you're interested in social justice movement

Evangelicalism Southern Baptist Convention stuff. I will say no more because I don't want to give it away But you're gonna want to check out that video

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I may release it later in the week. We'll see but we're gonna be doing a video on Dating and marriage you may ask yourself.

Why are we gonna do that? during this pandemic aren't there more important things to talk about well maybe but maybe not because You know,

I was talking to my neighbor the other day and I said there I predicted I said there'll be a baby boom

Probably in about nine months and he said yeah There were also will be probably a divorce boom and I hadn't really thought of it but then

I was talking to my dad who's a pastor the other day and He was saying he's already starting to see signs of Marriages not necessarily in the church, but with people in the church telling him

I guess about situations People that they know That are now finally together because the pandemic has forced them to be together in quarantine and They realize maybe they don't like each other as much as they thought and they're looking to file for divorce and I'm wondering if there's something to that and so For the last few weeks we've been trying to get together an episode on Dating and marriage and if you have questions on any of that on relationships, please submit them

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What's the difference between the two and we can get into it, but I Definitely have learned now

I'm married What maybe a wiser way that I could have done some things was and I'm sure

AD and Josh have similar experiences and hopefully we can bring the Word of God to bear on that discussion.

So there's there's my Advertisements my announcements and now let's get into the main thrust of this episode.

I want to start by talking to you About the social justice push and then we'll get into the

Romans 13 and civil government stuff But this these were some videos

I've been seeing so many videos because it's a crazy world we're living in right now But these were some videos I saw last week

That came out of Philadelphia. I want you to watch this If you do not have a mask you cannot ride public transportation, sir sir

You have to get off the bus you have to get off the bus sir Sir Take you off one or the other you have to get off you have to get off you have to get off.

Let's go Yes, sir. No, I have no mask. Let's go Let's go.

You got to get off. Let's go. Let's go. You gotta get off. Let's go As you can see someone from the bus company gets on the bus and asks everyone to Get off the bus if they don't have a mask and And for social justice warriors, it's important to note the skin color

So I don't usually do that But in this case, it's gonna be important for what we're about to talk about. So I will note the man is white

I don't know if he's Italian I don't know exactly what he is But he would be categorized in the mind of the social justice warriors as a white man telling a number of folks some of whom are minorities of various kinds to Get off the bus and then he he gets forceful he goes to the back of the bus and there's some folks back there and they all have either, you know, like a

From the video it looked like at least Clothes wrapped around their their face or one guy did have some he had some kind of a scarf or something

And that wasn't good enough and the one guy the prominent kind of one in the front there.

That's like seriously I have to get off the bus. Well, he's a black guy. He's he's a person of color and He's you know getting discriminated against if you want to put it that way because he does not have a mask from this

White representative of the bus company and so then the next video you see and these were connected

So I'm assuming this is the same bus or the same city. It's got to be Philadelphia. It's in the same tweet that went out some policemen white guys again dragging

This this black guy off the bus and I muted some of those clips because there was some language in it

I didn't think you needed to hear but he's very angry and One of them even takes his phone and just throws it on the ground which to me is just amazing that you know a police officer would do that But but I mean they're they're purposely trying to stick a needle in this guy's eye now under normal circumstances

I just want to ask you what would be the reaction from the social justice warrior crowd?

What would be the reaction under normal circumstances wouldn't that video be played on the news?

Maybe even national news. Wouldn't that be like a national outrage? We'd probably be hearing about it

But because it's kovat 19 that that doesn't even make a make the headlines at all

It probably didn't even make the local headlines in Philadelphia It was a fairly unpopular tweet that I happened to Stumble upon and so why do

I bring that up? I bring that up because I want to make a point about a few things number one

For those who are very serious about Racial inequities

Discrimination all the things that social justice warriors claim to care about so much for those who are very serious about that The thing that you'd think they should be the most concerned with right now and this includes

Evangelicals who are on the social justice train. They should be concerned about Government overreach right now.

You'd think that would be the biggest thing that they'd be screaming about I mean if you can if Russell Moore can hold caring well conferences with the

ERLC and they promote their Abused victims and and our job is just to listen.

We just need to listen. That's it That's our only job and pastors need to learn from these These victims because they're gonna tell us how to handle abuse if that's the way that we treat abuse in the church and and we do this across the board with all the different victim groups that Evangelicals in the broader social justice movement want to platform if that's how we do it.

What about victims of State overreach. What about pastors who have been discriminated against because of The authorities coming in and then you know ticketing all their

Their members for showing up at a drive -in church or something like that. What about that?

What about Rodney Howard Brown? I talked about him last episode shouldn't we then put them on the conference circuit and we should all just listen, right?

because they were discriminated against against by another hierarchy the government and And let's make matters now even more easy for the social justice crowd

Now you have in this in the video I just played you have white police officers treating a black man on a bus this way

Shouldn't we all be up in arms about that? But I'm not seeing it at least not yet.

I'm not seeing that kind of outrage In fact, I'm seeing the opposite. I'm seeing people scared for their lives and for the lives of others and Upset when someone doesn't wear a mask or when someone is careless and negligent

And it's it's just our duty to comply no matter what So I want to point this out.

I think this will be important to remember this in the future Now I say that to say this the

Surgeon General put out a video last well It wasn't him that put it out. It was the administration put it out, but he spoke on camera during a press briefing last week

I want you to listen to what the Surgeon General had to say. Here we go at the president's direction

Yesterday I met with 2 ,000 Hispanic leaders from their communities in today

The vice president led a phone call that I was on with hundreds of african -american leaders, including the

Reverend Jesse Jackson including Derek Johnson of the NAACP Including the National Medical Association and the

Black Nurses Association to talk about some of the alarming trends We're observing regarding the impact of kovat 19 on communities of color and you've heard the stats in New York City Hispanics represents the majority of deaths in Milwaukee County blacks are 25 % of the population but almost 50 % of the cases and 75 % of the deaths

So what's going on? Well, it's alarming but it's not surprising that people of color have a greater burden of chronic health conditions

African -americans and Native Americans Excuse me develop high blood pressure at much younger ages

It's less likely to be under control and does greater harm to their organs Puerto Ricans have higher rates of asthma and black boys are three times as likely to die of asthma as their white counterparts as a matter of fact

I've been carrying around an inhaler in my pocket for 40 years out of fear of having a fatal asthma attack and I hope that showing you this inhaler

Shows little kids with asthma all across the country that they can grow up to be Surgeon General one day But I more immediately share it so that everyone knows it doesn't matter if you look fit

If you look young you are still at risk for getting and spreading and dying from coronavirus

The chronic burden of medical ills is likely to make people of color Especially less resilient to the ravages of kovat 19 and it's possibly in fact likely

That the burden of social ills is also contributing social distancing and teleworking we know are critical and you've heard dr

Brooks and dr Felt you talk about how they prevent the spread of coronavirus yet only one in five African -americans and one in six

Hispanics has a job that lets them work from home People of color are more likely to live in densely packed areas and in multi -generational housing with situations

Which create higher risk for spread of a highly contagious disease like kovat 19 We tell people to wash their hands, but a study showed 30 % of the homes on Navajo Nation don't have running water

So, how are they going to do that in summary people of color experience? Both more likely exposure to kovat 19 and increased complications from it

But let me be crystal clear. We do not think people of color are biologically or genetically predisposed to get kovat 19

There is nothing inherently wrong with you But they are socially predisposed to coronavirus

Disposure exposure and to have a higher incidence of the very diseases that puts you at risk for severe complications of coronavirus

But as the vice president shared on the call this morning this history and I want you to hear me say this

It does not have to be our nation's future We're taking steps now in the midst of the kovat 19 pandemic to reach

Protect and strengthen all communities impacted by this disease and especially our communities of color

More details will be forthcoming But we are actively working as a the vice president and the

CDC director laid out today Data collection targeted outreach to communities of color and increasing financial employment education housing

Social and health supports so that everybody has an equal chance to be healthy and I want to close by saying that while your state and local health departments and Those of us in public service are working day and night to help stop the spread of kovat 19 and to protect you

Regardless of your color your creed or your geography I need you to know you are not helpless and it's even more important than in communities of color

We adhere to the task force guidelines to slow the spread stay at home if possible if you must go out maintain six feet of distance between you and everyone else and Wear a mask if you're going to be within six feet of others wash your hands more often than you ever dreamed possible

Avoid alcohol tobacco and drugs and call your friends and family check in on your mother

She wants to hear from you right now and speaking of mothers We need you to do this if not for yourself then for your abuela

Do it for your granddaddy do it for your big mama do it for your pop pop We need you to understand especially in communities of color

We need you to step up and help stop the spread so that we can protect those who are most vulnerable

This epidemic is a tragedy but it will be all the more tragic if we fail to recognize and address the disproportionate impact of kovat 19 and An array of other diseases and risk factors on communities of color the task force in this administration are determined not to let that happen

The president the vice president has said we will not let that happen

We can't fix these issues overnight But I promise you we will work with your communities to quickly and meaningfully move the needle in the right direction

Nothing less than the fate of our families and friends my family and friends depends on it

So this is the new narrative there's disparities there's you know pre the pre -existing conditions are caused because of the

Environment that people of color live in and now we need to address them now is the time so this is unrelated in some ways

To kovat 19, but we're we're taking now the opportunity of kovat 19 to say I'm from the government

I'm here to help even said if you feel alone, you know, don't feel alone You're not alone because why because the government's here and the government is gonna be a federal government again where this is coming from is gonna be the one to solve these these problems these inequities and so You know, it's funny to me.

I've seen so many things I can't keep track of them But you were shooting ourselves in the foot because you know, I saw there was a forget what city it was in But it was a

Whole Foods store non -essential Whole Foods shut down Whole Foods even responded We're not essential but Walmart is essential

So you're purposely now making a choice for people on where they can go and get something to eat and you're gonna make them get

The the option that's not as healthy because we're not essential I saw a dad playing ball with his daughter in Colorado wife sitting on the bench

Please come up ignore social distancing guidelines arrest the dad for playing ball with his daughter in New York City I saw

I think was a married couple. They're sitting on It was like a bench area and police officer comes up you need to separate and there's they're saying seriously

We're married. I mean you need to separate I mean this these stories are coming out all over the place and I don't hear the

Evangelical leaders that were supposed to trust even talking about them To Al Mueller's credit finally,

I think it was like Friday night or Saturday He spoke up against in strong terms against what was happening in Louisville.

I mean, he didn't support Rodney Howard Brown at all Even spoke out against really what Rodney Howard Brown was doing in his case

But then then when it's in his backyard when? The government is singling out drive -in services.

He spoke out and I'm glad he did better late than never I I also noticed the side tangent here.

I also noticed on his ask Al anything It was like a t4g special livestream.

I think it was last It was a couple nights ago, but he he sort of endorses Trump using like three

It was like a many paragraphs to do it. He didn't just say I support Trump he like did a whole thing and yeah, you could tell he was nervous about it, but he did and And he really was speaking up against Democrats and I have it's the same question.

That's always been my mind about Al Mueller Why don't you talk about what Russell Moore's doing? Why don't you talk about your own backyard the media and Abuela and Walter Strickland and Jarvis Williams and the list goes on You know, why why are you so against the

National Democrats? But the ones that you actually have control You have some influence on you don't publicly denounce some of what they do and I could go on a big tangent about that I'm not going to but But I'll have to say

I will I will credit put credit where credit is due Al Mueller came out against what was happening in Louisville, Kentucky But it's silence for the most part from most big evangelical leaders are not talking about this police state

That's being set up right in front of our eyes in many Municipalities and states It's just not even on their radar

I went to the coronavirus in the church thing the Ed Stetzer thing and you know There's advice there on how to shake someone's hand alternatives to handshaking real helpful guys

Nothing that I could find there on government overreach Concern about any of the things that I just mentioned the things

I've been talking about for now about a month So so this is where we are though, but but here's the thing

The concern though, even though you'd think the police state would be something to be concerned about the concern

They actually have is and we're gonna see this more and more the disparities the social justice

Train is just hitching itself to this. Let me show you some examples of that real quick We got

Oh before I go any further the surgeon general so On March 4th

Ed Stetzer says this morning I met with the surgeon general and during the meeting I asked him how churches might be Preparing here is a story based on that conversation including the significant news that church should limit hand -to -hand contact

So he does this whole thing in Christianity today With the surgeon general who we just watched and then the exchange with Ed Stetzer Advice for churches from the surgeon general preparing your church for coronavirus and he posts

So they know each other somehow there's a relationship there and I'm wondering who influenced to And part of the reason

I say that I you know, I've already showed you where Ed Stetzer is really big on this anti We got to stomp out this anti Asian racism that's going on right now.

He said it in multiple places But I know but I noticed and I stumbled on it. So I wasn't looking for it I was doing research on something else, but Ed Stetzer has written for sojourners like not once but like multiple times

Sojourners, if you don't know that's Jim Wallace's organization Jim Wallace Essentially he and he admits this himself.

I'm not putting words in his mouth. He said this in an interview in 2010 he said when he was in the student movement in during the

Michigan State University in the 60s, he was a communist he says this and in 1979 this is after he he was a

Christian he you know received Christ he says at the age of six and Got born again all of that and then he basically loses his faith because of Influence of teachers and high school teacher in high school things.

He read in college Looking at the inequities around him in Detroit, which he says was the most segregated area of the

United States I'm sorry indulge me this tangent real quick because I've been reading up on Jim Wallace So Jim Wallace goes through this transformation rejects

Christianity goes with the new left Becomes an operative in the SDS Students for Democratic Society He gets arrested multiple times

He organizes protests and then he gets disillusioned with it and comes back to the

Christian faith but but he says that he he had fresh eyes when he came back and he brings all his new left ideas with him and He didn't understand the whole gospel until he finally read the

Bible with fresh eyes Which mean which which you know, you wonder So what happened when you were six were you saved or not?

Because you didn't understand the gospel back then but I digress so he starts the post -american first and then and then it becomes sojourners and I think 1975 and 1979 after all of that He says in a it's a missions magazine and I have the source

He says that basically he's looking forward to the day when the church

He predicts that there's a day coming and he's looking forward to it that the church will be able to Look at the world through Marxist eyes

Essentially and that the young evangelicals are gonna bring this in and so he weds Marxism.

He weds The new left ideas that he adopted during his high school and college years with the

Christianity he had when he was young and creates this new synthesis and That sojourners and he's extremely ecumenical he doesn't think that you know

Catholics and Protestants and Reformed and Arminians and Mystics and go down the line

Those distinctions don't matter. The only thing that really matters. He says this is in his 1976 book

I'm trying to remember the title agenda for biblical people He says the only distinction that really matters is are you part of the?

Establishment church or the biblical church and the biblical church, of course believes in all the new left ideas. That's Jim Wallace All right, you have a big

Biography more than you you bargain for here and Setzer's written for him written for his publication multiple times

Evangelicals don't like conservative evangelicals don't write for sojourners What's going on?

So I don't know a lot about Stetzer. I haven't done like a big deep dive But something is up with that guy if he's accepted in that crowd and he's writing for those for those guys

So that's why I wonder I was like did he did he influence maybe the Surgeon General? I don't know. I don't have any evidence that says he did maybe he's

Surgeon General influenced him I don't know, but there's a connection there of some kind now. Here's here's what's also being said out there

Christianity Day, it's hard to close black churches amid COVID -19 and you know, we read the article and basically

You know, we should do it. Yeah, if you they're not calling for hey, this is this lockdowns excessive and maybe churches should be

Not singled out maybe maybe they are essential the article is basically saying that you know

We just got to basically check our privilege We need to understand that it's harder for the black churches during this time

And then just here's a few other sources and there's so many of these but here's Camilla Harris Here's the

Reverend William Barber both saying the same thing. Look this This horrible situation we're in right now

We can't ignore the underlying reasons why people especially people of color have these pre -existing health conditions and that's what's killing them

Pre -existing conditions They don't have access, you know to exercise and healthy food, etc

You know, it's killing them because look obesity is one of the biggest pre -existing conditions if you have

Like I'm trying to remember now diabetes, there we go. It's on the tip of my tongue if you have diabetes That's a huge pre -existing condition that you know could be the difference between life or death

If you get this and so they're saying that these lifestyle choices really aren't choices

They're the results of the environment we live in and that environment was shaped by and you're gonna find once this gets rolling

It's white supremacy's fault again. And so we got to be prepared for that. So so how do we become prepared for that and And here's here's one of the first things

I want to mention to you. Here's a disparity You're not gonna hear about too much. But to NPR's credit they talked about it back on April 8th

Women are doing better than men. I'm gonna read for you a quote People started noticing this almost as soon as the first clinical reports came out of the

Wuhan describing cases in China There was one large study that looked at nearly 40 ,000 cases and it found that the fatality rate was higher for men

It was 2 .8 percent for men compared to only 1 .7 percent for women That's basically held true as the virus has moved other countries like in Italy there was this one study of 1 ,500 cases of critically ill people with the virus who were admitted into the

ICUs the intensive care units and about 80 % of them were Men, oh my goodness.

Oh my goodness. So men are doing much worse than women are we gonna talk about all the problems that the stress that men have and and all the

Situations that led to men dying at higher rates than women and then are we gonna talk about solutions? I mean, we got to redistribute some income here.

We got to give more resources. We got to make more things available We need to are we gonna do any of that or do we just not talk about that?

Is that men don't matter? Because they're they're higher up on the intersectionality pyramid

It's worth asking if we look at it we could slice this pie in so many ways you realize that if we just want to Look at urban vs.

Rural Urban vs. Suburban. I mean if you're in a place that has a lot of people around Then you have a greater chance of getting the virus if you live out on a farm and no one's coming into town

You have less of a chance. Does that mean the farmer now needs to give to those in the city?

He through the government not his own charity mind you but the government is taken come and steal or take from that farmer

I mean, what other disparities can we come up with? I mean, I'm sure there's probably tons if we start really analyzing all the data

Children seem to be doing much better than elderly people I mean, do we need to take their allowance now so we can give it to those?

I mean where how far do you take this and they're so selective about the disparity that they want to use

It's it's an agenda guys. This isn't this as good as their intentions may be on some of this

There's an agenda driving this because they arbitrarily choose what? Communities they want to assist in this and and and the ones that aren't on politically correct to assist they

Don't have any interest in now. I want to talk a little bit about Russell Moore and what he's been up to lately

I know I mentioned I think it's two episodes ago that he's really beating the drum hard for this whole Government loans going to the church.

Yeah, if you're a church, you should feel comfortable with it. It's fine There's no strings attached and my response is essentially there's always strings attached.

There's always dependency. You're setting up You're looking now to the government to save you instead of God You're I mean we see this happening and I wish

I had the figures to pull up right now I know I have them saved somewhere, but we see this happening with Christian education in general once you start accepting government loans for that you become dependent you need the government loans

You have to abide by regulations and that's one of the scary things is Go moving forward you have a

Democratic administration You have you know Democrats controlling Congress and you're gonna get some hate legislation passed

That is going to essentially change the discrimination policies that schools need to enact in order to receive the government loans and funding and When churches start taking money from the government like directly

You know in the form of a loan and supposedly and I don't know I've heard different things Supposedly the loan supposed to be forgiven, etc

Well, either way you start setting up the government as the place that you know Not only bails out big businesses as we found out after the 2008 crash, but now they're gonna bail out churches

You're in about individual your ballot everyone even though it's our money if you're gonna start doing that then you're you're you're you're shifting the culture of individuals and churches into Expecting that the next time something like this happens and there will be a next time that the government's just got to come in and Save us and you don't think there's gonna be strings attached

You don't think people the next Democratic administration is not, you know, they're gonna forget who took money I I've heard and and I don't have a primary source to back this up but someone

I trust told me that just about every Southern Baptist entity and Seminary except two has taken money front has applied for money under the

CARES Act, so This is where we're heading guys. We are We're I mean, it's not a far jump to go from this to being just an entity of the government

Why shouldn't it be like some countries in Europe? Why shouldn't the government just have financed the church?

I'm not comfortable with this. I'll be honest with you and there's probably more I could say But I just wanted to put it on your radar now.

Here's something else. This is kind of like this made the waves Yesterday the evangelical immigration table on April 13th

Put out a letter and and I'm just gonna I'm not gonna read this to you But I'll basically tell you essentially what it says is hey because of kovat 19 you need to release some of these illegal migrants that you you have

Waiting they're detained waiting to be sorted out. You need to release them and And that's and because they're made in the image of God It's all the familiar arguments that don't hold any water that we've talked about many times on this podcast and And so Russell Moore, he signed it and people are saying why do you handle this religious liberty?

I mean, it's literally in the name of ethics and religious liberty. You had one job religious liberty Why in the world are you treating the religious liberty issue with kid gloves if you talk about it at all?

but you're pounding home that churches need to take government money or at least feel comfortable with it and you're somehow have time to Lend your voice to support illegal migrants being released during this pandemic

Guys, we don't need an ERLC in the Southern Baptist Convention In fact, they're doing more damage than anything else

If you're in the the SBC and your church is not itemizing They're giving then money's going to the

ERLC and you really need to consider if that's If that's good now, I was gonna play this for you.

I don't have time but I I'll just summarize Russell Moore was on a show.

I think it's two weeks ago now and It was I think it's the world and everything in it and he was asked What do you think of what about de

Blasio's edict that he would shut down a church permanently or a place of worship if they? Didn't close and Russell Moore basically said well, it's unfortunate

He said that and and you compare the language Russell Moore uses for something like that, which is egregious

To what he said, I think was in 2015 with the mosque issue and he was adamant, you know that Muslims are made in the image of God and then this is something the

ERLC needs to be behind and you hear Russell Moore when He talks about racism and how adamant he is.

It's demonic. It's evil He uses absolute language and then something that is about religious liberty a threat to religious liberty literally his job

Well, it's unfortunate. And so I was gonna make that point that you know, something's wrong with this guy and the organization that he represents and so Speaking of separating families.

I know a guy who also wants to separate families. Russell Moore is very concerned about Families being separated on the southern border.

Well, here's something that we should be more concerned about but again Hardly anyone's talking about it

Most of the transmission that's actually happening in many countries now is happening in the household at family level

In some senses transmission has been taken off the streets and pushed back into family units now we need to go and look in families to find those people who may be sick and remove them and Isolate them in a safe and dignified manner.

So how you gonna do that? How you gonna find which family members are sick? Well, the government would have to go in forcibly perhaps even to do that And then once you're in there and find the sick family member you separate them out and quarantine them somewhere else

So have to have facilities for that someone's paying for that and this is the horror Isn't it that evangelicals at the evangelical immigration table decry you can't you can't separate families.

That's wrong That's that's a sin because people are made in the image of God. That's the argument. They're made in the image of God You can't deport him.

You can't separate them But here we have a spokesman some kind of representative for the

World Health Organization Talking about this and Donald Trump to his credit wants to defund the World Health Organization in the last two days liberals have been very upset about this and Thinking well, we're in the middle of a pandemic.

You can't do that when the reality is These are the guys that got

China wrong they said China had it under control and now we get this nonsense Why wouldn't you defund that organization?

Now? I don't know to what extent that This has been implemented or tried to be implemented.

I don't know if countries in Europe have thought about doing this I couldn't see this being done in the United States, but then again, there's a lot of things happening right now

I couldn't see happening in the United States that are happening right in front of me. So all that to say

Evangelicals that care about the immigration issue and separating families is their battle cry

I don't seem to be saying much about this and you'd think they would be if they were going to be consistent so want to point that out now an

Evangelical pastor who I wanted to highlight for you because he's a listener of the conversations that matter podcast and I'm just so proud that he did this but he is a pastor and he was on the news recently his name is

Matthew Cook and here is what he had to say a Weekly tradition for millions and it's considered an essential activity under governor bill

Lee's executive stay -at -home order It's a designation pastor. Matthew Cook is pleased with of the

First Amendment and our God -given rights to peaceably assemble into worship should be made preventing the respecting an establishment of religion or While he plans to have church

He also plans to follow health guidelines asking members to sit at least six feet apart and to avoid shaking hands

He sees church as no more risky or less essential than going to the grocery store

We've told people don't come if you if you're if you're sick at all, don't come if you have any

Disorders or if you're over 60 and you're concerned, please don't come if Or if you're just scared, he also doesn't believe the government should be able to take those choices away

LMU law professor Stuart Harris explains. It's an ability they have

During an emergency in normal times it would be extraordinary for any governor to lock down the state or forbid travel and Likely would violate one or more constitutional rights

But these are not ordinary times and in extraordinary times when the public health is at risk

Governors like governor Lee have extraordinary powers and in these extraordinary times this pastor says he's glad to be preaching

One day you're going to die and to spread the message that there's hope beyond this life beyond the grave

It's worth it to me in Knoxville Blake Stevens w -a -t -e -6 on your side

Matthew excellent job couldn't have said it better. I'm glad you're out there. Keep it up this was from last week right before Easter that recording and Just just thankful to have folks like Matthew in the audience

I wanted to juxtapose what the lawyer said in that video with what Chuck Baldwin was gonna say

But I actually just received a phone call from Chuck Baldwin's office, and I'm not sure what's going on Maybe you can pray for them, but apparently an emergency of some kind came up.

So I'm gonna have to reschedule Pastor Baldwin and we will get into the

Constitution and Romans 13 and all of that stuff at some point, but it won't be today so Sorry to get your hopes up at the beginning of the video didn't mean to do that but Emergencies do come up.

I know my father's a pastor and I've seen that happen many times and told them

That told the the office I called back left a message said that I would pray for them with whatever's happening

So to wrap things up here We do have anti -christian bigotry being continued.

I gave some examples of this Last episode, but we we have more going on Many of you have probably heard of some of these examples the

Mississippi pastor That his congregation was fined for going to a drive -in service.

He's gonna sue You have Louisville, Kentucky, and I mentioned that earlier Al Mohler was upset about that They were forbidding people to do drive -in services for Easter the

Kentucky governor Anyone at mass gatherings this weekend must quarantine said go to church You got a quarantine and of course again we made the point that We don't make up these rules for going to Lowe's or going to the

Walmart or going to even Planned Parenthood or the liquor store I mean, it's specifically seems to be for the most part tailored.

It's a it's a category of Personal get -together so like parties things that aren't essential right a birthday party is not essential but somehow church gets put into that category as not essential and That's wrong, that's that's

That's a clear telltale sign that we've gone secular now. Here's one that you probably haven't heard of this is a governor

Andrew Cuomo New York, this is his stay -at -home order his recent one. He's issued like three. This is the recent one

All non -essential gatherings of individuals of any size for any reasons for okay Listen to that individuals of any size any size so two people right for any reason

So if you and one other person want to gather for any reason Worship services parties celebrations or other social events are

Cancelled or postponed. I mean does this mean that if you have a date with your girlfriend, it's cancelled or postponed.

I Mean the mayor mayor the governor of Michigan was doing something like this, right? Where you can't go to someone else's house even a family or a family relatives house something like that All right,

New York State is I mean, this is draconian Congregate services within houses of worship are prohibited

So you can't go to a house of worship? Houses of worship may only be used by individuals and only where appropriate social

Distancing of at least six feet between people can be maintained. That's contradictory

I don't even understand what that means. So you can't gather but now you're saying that in a house of worship

It can only be used by individuals and only where appropriate social distancing is in place further Individuals should not gather in houses of worship homes or other locations for religious services

So if you had the dream of getting together at a little house church You can't do that either.

So if he doesn't matter if you're not in the church building if you are in your home gathering He by the way, he released this right after Passover Seder.

So his Jewish base. He's a Democrat his Jewish base They they're not gonna be as a mad at him because they were able to have

Passover But he released it right before of course Resurrection Sunday Good Friday. Oh My goodness, um, you know, this is the kind of thing that drives pastors nuts because what are they supposed to do with this?

It's contradictory. It's draconian, but you each department can probably interpret it any way they want each barracks for the state troopers

I mean It's crazy it is so crazy and Man, I I really

I'm glad that Hillary Clinton is not the president of the United States right now But because I can't imagine what the

Attorney General would be doing as it is. Fortunately, we have an Attorney General that Even though I don't like the

Fed I don't think it's right for the federal government the national government to get involved in state issues. That should be a state thing But let's be honest.

We know that those precedents have been set. It's wrong It shouldn't happen. But because we live in this brave new world where the modern state runs everything

I'm just glad it's someone like Bob Barr Instead of whoever Hillary Clinton would have appointed

Because you know, these things would stand in place and I I just I think we lose the religious Liberty I mean at least this can be challenged in court somehow

So that's that's all I have for you today. I just wanted to share that and like I said, there's a big video coming

Stay tuned for that. I think you're really it's it's gonna open your eyes a little bit It's really gonna add some new information that you may not have realized before so Look forward to seeing you next time.

I hope this video was helpful and Hopefully even though it's a bit of a rant. Hopefully it encouraged you a little you're not alone

Government overreach is something that many of us are concerned about. In fact, I'll tell you a quick story

Even though I'm wrapping up here. I was at a I'm not gonna say where I was at a a barbecue joint and I actually

Okay, I'll back up. This story is actually pretty good. This is a personal story. So you may enjoy this

I I've taken to trying to ride my bike a little more because you can't go to the gym right now and I have an issue with my foot that Running is really tough.

So I've been trying to ride my bike. Well, I've broken down three times in the last week So the first time

I broke down I put these new pedals on and these new shoes I've never tried that before and in the middle of a thunderstorm a thunderstorm comes up I'm actually riding on fields and the bike pedal comes off in my shoe if they're connected and I'm running and It's connected to my shoe

I'm running with the bike trying to find cover and I sort of found cover at this Methodist Church Kind of like underneath the front there was a little overhang

So that was the first instance and fortunately Someone somehow a contractor came into the parking lot after the storm passed.

I caught the edge of it. It wasn't bad it looked like it was gonna be bad and then it wasn't and but he had an allen key and I was able to put the pedal back on and then

Second time was last Saturday and I spent four hours Basically trying to patch a tire on my bicycle, which is ridiculous.

It's almost embarrassing that I mentioned this But the reason it took that long because it was because I didn't have a bicycle patch

All I had was I was next to an auto parts store and I had a tire patch for tire patches for a big

You know tire that would go on a car I'm trying to use that to patch my bicycle tire and it's just way too big and I don't have any tools and I tried everything imaginable to get this tire back up and running and it wasn't working and I Somehow I was able to get the leak slow enough that I could get home

But while I was there, by the way, that story doesn't end there I have another piece to tell you but but While I was there, there was a barbecue place across the street.

And of course, it's next to a grocery store It's like a Food Lion or something. See that narrows it down for people who want to know where this is,

I guess It's backed out onto the street the line. That's how many people are going to to Food Lion and And so In my neck of the woods, the roads are more crowded now during the day than they were before the pandemic

I don't know where everyone's going but the social distancing thing isn't working because everyone's now in the Petri dishes of Food Lion and Walmart and Or they're out on hiking trails,

I guess or I don't know where they're going But it's busy the traffic's busy and everyone was lined up the lines going on the street

Well right next to that line is this barbecue place and there's a sign that says open and I'm thinking What place is open?

So I walk in and there's a guy sitting there eating and and I I'm like There's no sign so I walk up and I'm like, well

I'd like to get a sandwich and I talked to the guy running the place and I said so if ten people come in here

Do you have to you know? Tell them one of them to leave or and he kind of pauses and then

I just said Is that how it works? Because he wasn't answering me was looking down and he looks up at me and he goes yes comrade

And I said I said, oh I take it you don't care for what's going on And he started ranting about, you know, the communists that are, you know

Taking over this country and there's no personal responsibility left and all that And so I told my wife later and we haven't done this and we probably won't but I told her later

I said hey if you want to go out to a restaurant, I know one that's still open anyway, so oh and then last night

I'm on my bicycle and it just the Chain does the piece that holds the chain.