The Gospel is Not Always the Answer (Obviously) - Final

AD Robles iconAD Robles

5 views

0 comments

00:00
Today's show is sponsored by Curios Consulting. That is Curios with a Y. K -Y -R -I -O -S.
00:07
Real estate investing can be intimidating. That's why you don't do it alone. Curios Consulting gets you from no real estate to your first rental property.
00:16
My friend Steve did it right here in New Hampshire, and he wants to help other Christians do the same.
00:21
Visit consultingbycurios .com. Again, that's with a Y, consultingbycurios .com.
00:27
No more excuses. The world needs more Christians with passive income, not more passive Christians.
00:32
Make it happen. The link is in the description. All right, welcome back to the channel.
00:46
We are going to continue with this Dr. James White response video regarding the crusades and stuff like that.
00:54
Obviously, more stuff has happened related to this particular controversy with Dr.
01:00
James White and his frustration with the, I guess, the uncontrollable element of the
01:06
Reformed movement. I'm going to have more to say about Jeff Durbin's reneging on the right response conference.
01:18
I'm going to say more about that. And I think I'll probably respond to some of the criticisms of my video, because some people had some interesting things to say.
01:28
And I think a lot of people just aren't really getting it either. So, I'll clarify a few different things and all of that kind of stuff.
01:36
We'll talk more about that later. Let's get back to this video though. And I'm going to try to get as far as I can.
01:41
I think I can make it. It looks like there's probably, I don't know, three minutes left in this, because then he starts to wrap things up.
01:50
So, we'll do that. And then let us never speak of it again. Although, we're going to, because he'd later in the next podcast address me specifically.
02:00
And so, I want to listen to it and respond to what he has to say to me.
02:08
Don't chase after these. Oh my goodness. I can't believe it. I always do this. I always don't have the audio set up.
02:15
Man, I am so unprofessional. This is getting to be ridiculous. Let's do this here.
02:23
I'm going to set up my audio here. JLab. There we go.
02:30
All right. Connect it. Connecting. Here we go. All right.
02:39
Now we're ready to go. These things that appeal to your flesh. Things that appeal to your flesh.
02:46
Because picturing yourself as an Arnold Schwarzenegger -sized knight in armor, slashing away at dragons and the infidel.
02:59
Really? That's where we are? That's going to lead you to a life of service and self -sacrifice?
03:11
Oh my. I don't even know what to say.
03:18
Do not even know what to say. But, anyhow.
03:25
You know, Eric Kahn made a really good point the other day on Twitter. And he kind of noticed, you know, obviously, you know, ever since you've been in church, you've heard of stories about courageous
03:39
Christian men going to their death, right? You know, they've been being killed for the name of Christ.
03:47
Slaughtered, you know, massacred, stuff like that. And they refused to recant, and it led to their death, you know.
03:53
They were executed because they refused to deny the Lord. And that's the example to follow.
03:59
And honestly, like, that's a good example to follow. I mean, that is something that is, in my opinion, praiseworthy.
04:05
And I think we see that even in the Bible. That is something that is praiseworthy, of course. That's very true.
04:12
But what you don't often hear about, and what I think we need to hear about, and it seems to be sort of frustrating,
04:20
James, Dr. White, to no end here, are the courageous Christians that didn't go to their death.
04:28
They weren't killed. Or maybe they were killed, but they were killed in battle. They were killed while killing others, in other words.
04:35
And so, there are ways to be faithful and ways to be a
04:43
Christian that involves that kind of valor, where, you know, maybe you are going to your death, but you're going to death in a battle.
04:50
You're going to death in a war. And so, that's something to be lauded and praised, too.
04:55
And in fact, if I was going to say, you know, which do we need to be reminded of, right?
05:00
Which do we need to be reminded of more in this day and age, in 2024? That's where we're at. That's what
05:06
James White says. He can't believe that people would want to see themselves as a strong crusader slaying dragons and stuff like that.
05:13
But honestly, I think it's exactly upside down. I think that's what we're missing. That's what we're missing.
05:19
We're missing a theology of victory. We're missing a theology of that kind of valor, that kind of courage to actually take actions and make moves and take ground.
05:29
That's what we're missing. That's why I think, you know, a lot of what Fight, Laugh, Feast does and what
05:34
Canon Press does is so popular, you know what I mean? It's so popular because, yeah, sure, everyone has done the prayer walk in the town square.
05:45
Everyone has done the silent prayer vigil at the abortion clinics. But what people don't often do, and I can't say that James White doesn't do this.
05:54
He does do this kind of stuff. But what I'm saying is, in general, what we don't often see are the psalm and hymn roars at City Hall, you know, where there's joy and there's, you know, a little bit of aggression and stuff like that.
06:09
What we don't often see are the people that go to the clinics that forcefully preach the gospel and really thunder it out.
06:17
We do see that, and it's increasing. You know, that's the thing. There's a lot of groups that do that. This is not just, you know,
06:23
Fight, Laugh, Feast. I'm not saying that it is, but there's a lot of groups that do that kind of thing. But still, even as many groups that do do that, that's what's sorely missing, that kind of Christianity, that kind of courageous and strong and even, you know, borderline aggressive
06:38
Christianity. That's what's missing. So that's exactly what we need to remind ourselves of.
06:45
Now, does that mean you have to post a meme of yourself as a strong crusader slaying a dragon? No, it does not.
06:51
But a lot of people do choose to use that kind of imagery and that kind of symbolism and that kind of, you know, that kind of style, and I personally there think that's okay.
07:03
You know, I'm here for it, like the kids say. I'm here for it. That's what we're missing.
07:08
We've got plenty of effeminate Christianity that, you know, doesn't think there's anything worth fighting for.
07:16
We've got plenty of, you know, non -effeminate Christianity that is going to, you know, go to their death and, you know, just kind of be, you know, not too in your face, but not backing down.
07:29
That's good stuff. We've got plenty of that. What we don't have is plenty of Christians taking ground back, taking it back from the pagans.
07:40
That's where a big hole is. That's where a big hole is, you know what I mean? And obviously, effeminate
07:47
Christianity is not needed. We can throw that in the garbage can and never look at it again. But we do need the pious sort of style of Christianity, and I always represent that by Ezra.
07:57
You know, Ezra, he finds out that the people are intermarrying, and he sits appalled for days.
08:03
He rips his own clothes. He tears his own hair out. We need that, but we also need the Nehemiah style of Christianity where you make some moves, and you don't tear your own hair out.
08:13
You tear their hair out. You beat them. You make them swear an oath that they're not going to do it anymore, and I believe,
08:20
I personally believe that those two things work together. We need both. God sends us both, and I think, you know, it's—listen, it doesn't say this directly in the
08:28
Scripture, at least I don't think so, but I really do think that Ezra's piety and his righteousness and his purity and his prayers and his faith—not his righteousness, but his piousness, his piety, his faith, his prayers, all of that action that he did—I think
08:47
God answered those prayers through the person of Nehemiah, and it does no good for the
08:54
Ezras among us to turn around and say the Nehemiahs are not needed. I don't get it. I don't get it.
09:00
In this day and age, in 2024, who needs a Nehemiah? What we need to do is pray more and pull our hair out a little bit more.
09:07
No, man, what we need to do is pull our hair out and pray and sit appalled. That's fine. Plenty of people can do that, but then when the
09:14
Nehemiahs come, you know, maybe don't signal against them. You know,
09:19
I'm not saying you have to join Nehemiah, but I'm just saying maybe don't work against him. And if you have some concerns, you know,
09:25
Nehemiah, I don't know, maybe you went a little too far, did you really have to pull their hair out and stuff like that? Sure, you can tell
09:31
Nehemiah that all day long, but let's not pretend like he's not on our side. He's on our side.
09:38
He's on our side. And what's really kind of, what's really kind of, kind of revealing itself right now is, and a lot of people are noticing it.
09:50
This is not just me. I've heard this from a number of sources. It's like, we say we're for a lot of these things.
10:00
We're for gaining ground in the realm. We're for the magistrate yielding to God and stuff like that.
10:08
But the minute people start taking moves and actions that get any kind of attention from the pagans, it's like we don't really want it.
10:18
Nah, maybe not that way. Maybe not that way. I don't want it that way. It really kind of looks like you're just pretending.
10:27
You know what I mean? It really kind of looks like you're just pretending. I honestly think that it does look like that sometimes.
10:32
I'm not saying it is that way, but I do say, I do think that it looks that way quite a bit. You want to be a cop or do you want to look like a cop?
10:40
That's what somebody said from The Departed. I thought that was right on. I thought that was right on. That's kind of what it looks like a lot of the time.
10:49
One guy, a guy named Henry. I'm sure there were some people, some contemporaries of Nehemiah that, you know, wanted to do something about the intermarrying with the
10:59
Israelites and stuff like that, but didn't really think maybe you shouldn't beat him. Maybe you shouldn't pull their hair out and stuff like that.
11:07
I mean, did he refuse to talk to Nehemiah? Did he refuse to share a stage with Nehemiah? Did he signal against Nehemiah?
11:15
I don't know, man. I think when people have your same goals and same motivations, personally, I prefer their way of trying to achieve those goals to the way of not doing anything.
11:25
That's what I prefer. I mean, I don't know. I don't know. Whatever happened to God, we need more faithful men and less careful men.
11:35
The careful men come later and write the biographies of the faithful men, lauding them for their courage. Whatever happened to that?
11:41
Whatever happened to that? It turns out that those people that were, you know, talking about that, you know, in practice, actually, they're kind of careful.
11:51
They're careful men. He had said, nowhere was there advice from an old saint on how young men waking up to their strength and responsibility should stand against an ancient evil.
12:12
Is the ancient evil Islam? Not all are called to preach the gospel.
12:18
And I said, quote, not all are called to preach the gospel, end quote. Well, there you go.
12:24
Thanks to the summary statement. I figured. Yeah. Well, there you go. I mean, I still think you don't get it. You know, there you go.
12:31
That's right. There you go. Because, you know, again, maybe there's some context here that makes that statement really awful and evil, but without the context,
12:42
I don't know if that statement's wrong or not. There you go. Not all are called to preach the gospel.
12:49
Right. Not in every situation. Not in every situation. That's why people are comparing you to John Piper.
12:58
Because when John Piper said he wouldn't defend his wife, and again, I don't compare you to John Piper because I've listened to a lot of you.
13:05
But when John Piper's, you know, in a situation where he needs to defend his wife, you know, he's talking about, oh,
13:12
I'm going to plead with him not to do it and then present him the gospel. No, I'm going to put him down. That's what
13:18
I'm going to do. In that moment. I am not going to preach the gospel to him. I'm going to end him.
13:25
I'm going to stop him. And if that requires me to kill him, I will do it.
13:31
And I wouldn't feel sorry about it. It's as simple as that. I mean, I might be
13:36
I might be mentally sort of, you know, scarred by that or damaged by that, because I don't know that you can take a life and not be mentally affected by it.
13:44
I don't know. But logically, I won't feel sorry for it. I won't apologize for it.
13:50
It's as simple as that. I'm going to be defending my wife. And so no, not the gospel is not called for in every situation, no matter what the situation, that's obviously correct.
14:04
And so without any additional context, and quite frankly, I don't necessarily trust you to give the right context in this issue.
14:10
Because you've done that many times that I know about, you've not given the correct context. And so this one,
14:15
I don't know, but I'm not necessarily going to automatically take your word for it here. Normally, I would. In this situation,
14:21
I won't. It's just that simple. And so our soldiers called to preach the gospel to the men that they're supposed to be killing.
14:29
Well, in maybe another context, yes. But in this context, no, they're supposed to be there and they're supposed to kill the enemy.
14:41
And so we've got to be able to talk about this in a way that context makes a difference.
14:47
Not all are called to preach the gospel. Well, I mean, all Christians are called to preach the gospel in a certain way, but some in a different way than others.
14:57
It's as simple as that. It's part of the call of every Christian to share the gospel, but I think in a special way when it comes to ministers, in a special way.
15:08
I'm not duty -bound in the same way that my pastors are duty -bound, right?
15:15
I mean, there's so many ways that you could interpret that kind of a statement, you know, again, devoided from the context.
15:23
Again, this particular statement, maybe he said something prior that I don't know that makes it more of a, you know, there you go.
15:31
But he just says it like it's some kind of a gotcha in and of itself. It's not. It's not a gotcha in and of itself.
15:38
Every Christian is called to study the Bible, but I could easily see someone saying not every Christian is called to study the
15:44
Bible in the same way that an elder is. But if you have its context, it's like, well, yeah,
15:51
I mean, I get what he's saying. I get what he's saying. As far as that was going to go, he says, oh, really?
15:57
No guidance? Not even a crumb from the table of insight the Lord gave you? Only condemnation?
16:03
And I responded, Henry, the church has been given one power, one divine power, one world -changing power.
16:09
It does not scratch the itch of those wanting glory or power or adventure. It is foolishness to the world, to academia, to culture.
16:17
It is the message of the cross, the message of a despised, betrayed, mocked, scourged, crucified
16:23
Messiah. And someday that message will completely transform the world in God's time at his will, not ours.
16:30
Till then, we patiently proclaim, build, invest, and serve. Nothing new here, nothing revolutionary.
16:37
That's why some folks grow impatient. I agree with that.
16:47
I mean, I agree with that, I think. But the thing is, I don't agree with that when it's in the context of, you know, basically every move that you see being made, you're throwing shade at.
16:59
That's the context I don't agree with that in, you know what I mean? So, you know, I think he's right.
17:05
I mean, obviously I understand the power of God into salvation, I know that the gospel message is the one message that'll save sinners and that will transform nations and all of these kinds of things, but also, you know,
17:16
Christian nations have a lot of other things that they need to do. Christian nations have a lot of other things that they need to do.
17:23
And we all know this. Dr. White knows this, everybody knows this, you know. So if you want to solve the problem of abortion or, you know, human trafficking or, you know, murder in general, not just abortion, of course the gospel ultimately is going to solve that problem.
17:39
But also, Christian nation has other things to do to bring justice to bear on those issues.
17:47
And that law, that justice that you bring to bear on those issues also has an effect.
17:53
It does have an effect. When something is against the law, it causes people to think twice about doing it, you know what
18:01
I mean? It doesn't mean that they're not going to, still not going to disobey, of course they still might disobey, but it works.
18:07
You know, having justice and the sword kind of hanging over them at any given time does work, and we have that to do as well.
18:16
And also having enemies that you know are going to, you know, eventually put a stop to your evil, that also works, right?
18:27
You know, that keeps people at bay to know that, okay, we've got this strong nation that's going to, you know, oppose us if we want to, you know, take over,
18:35
I don't know, Europe or whatever it is. They're going to think twice about doing it. You know, they're going to think, can we win this?
18:42
If they're going to come against us, can we do it? That kind of strength, that kind of capability for violence, that kind of thing, causes people to think twice.
18:51
This is why people say, you know, Christian men should work out and they should be a threat. Because, you know, when somebody's looking for someone to rob or someone to, you know, to sexually assault or something like that, and you've got a strong father standing right there, they're going to think twice before they do it.
19:11
You know what I mean? We all know this, you know, criminals are often predators. And what do predators do, right?
19:17
Predators pick off the weak. They look for the feeble. They look for the easy meal.
19:24
That's the DNA of a predator. And that doesn't mean they won't go after, in a fit of desperation, someone who is strong looking, you know what
19:33
I mean? But in general, they go for the weak, they go for the young, they go for the ones that they don't think can defend themselves.
19:40
They don't want to, you know, this is why we put, you know, security systems in our houses.
19:46
Because, you know, that commercial with the criminal that, you know, sees the Sloman shield in the window and says, let's move on to the next one.
19:53
That's what they do. They look for the easiest possible way to get away with it. And it doesn't mean that your house is impenetrable if you've got the
20:01
Sloman shield on your window, but it does mean that a criminal is going to think twice. And so, yes, the gospel ultimately is the solution to what ails everything.
20:14
We understand that. But that doesn't mean it is the only thing that we have to do in day -to -day life.
20:20
Strength, you know, the capability for defense and defending yourself, these kinds of things that you're just dismissing here.
20:32
That, oh, that's that fleshly stuff, you know, you're looking for glory, you know, everybody does that. That matters too.
20:38
It matters too. And those are part of what we have to do as Christians.
20:44
Part of what we have to do. It's as simple as that. Like I said,
20:51
I truly have been left going, wow, what is happening?
20:58
What is happening? So, you know, that's that.
21:03
That's that. So we're going to end there. Yeah. I hope you found this video series helpful.
21:09
You know, I'll say it again as we wrap up here. I still have a lot of respect for James White. I think that the situation with Jeff Durbin and the conference, you know, it's not
21:21
James that James didn't back out of the conference. Jeff did. But obviously there's a connection there.
21:26
And I think obviously James is a big part of that. But that that does, you know, it is.
21:34
I was talking to someone yesterday who called it a bummer. Yeah, it's a bummer. All right. It's a bummer.
21:40
And I can't say that it does not affect my view of Jeff Durbin and Dr.
21:47
White. It definitely does. But I still respect them. I still have a lot of respect and positive feelings towards these guys.
21:56
And, you know, I don't know. I mean, maybe I'm just naive. Maybe I'm just a dreamer. But I have a feeling that it'll turn around and I think we'll all be able to work together in the future.
22:09
I really do think that because it just makes too much much sense for that not to happen.