Future Commish? And More On Moscow ManParts

Isaiah’s Rebuke of Empty Worship and Social Injustice

Non-rockabodas must stop. I don't want to rock the boat. I want to sink it.

Are you going to bark all day, little doggie? Or are you going to bite? We're being delusional. Delusional? Delusional is okay in your world view. I'm an animal. You don't chastise chickens for being delusional.

You don't chastise pigs for being delusional. So you calling me delusional using your world view is perfectly okay. It doesn't really hurt.

It's the unhop on, man.

What? What?

Desperate times call for faithful men and not for careful men. The careful men come later and write the biographies of the faithful men, lauding them for their courage. Go into all the world and make disciples.

Not go into the world and make buddies. Not to make brosives. Don't go into the world and make homies. Disciples.

I got a bit of a jiggle neck. That's a joke, pastor.

When we have the real message of truth, we cannot let somebody say they're speaking truth when they're not.

Wash yourselves and make yourselves clean. Remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do good. Seek justice. Correct oppression. Bring justice to the fatherless. Plead the widow's cause.

Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.

But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken how the faithful city has become a whore. She who was full of justice. Righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.

Your silver has become dross. Your best wine mixed with water. Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not bring justice to the fatherless.

And the widow's cause does not come to them. What's up everybody? Welcome back to another episode of Apologia Radio. That's from Isaiah chapter 1. Isaiah chapter 1. Get to know it. Very important section of scripture.

Very relevant in principle to all the stuff that we face today all around us. ApologiaStudios .com is where you guys go to get more. ApologiaStudios .com is where you guys go to get more. You guys can get all the TV shows, the after shows, Apologia Academy, which is awesome.

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I'm Pastor Jeff. They call me the Ninja.

That is Luke the Bear right there.

Do we really give them a bag of chips?

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We can't.

So, hey, just real fast. Before we get into the show today, I wanted to address something. It is a common conversation. It's a common objection. I saw it in some of the threads yesterday on our platforms.

And I thought we should address it quickly. And it does fit, actually, what we're going into with our very special guest. Actually, you know what we'll do? We'll bring him on.

Let's bring him on.

We'll bring him on so he can join in this conversation. Because he likes this conversation. It's a good conversation to have. Very important show today. We're going to do a good conversation about local politics.

Some of you guys are like, I don't want to talk about politics. Well, you should. Because it's all about righteousness, justice, pleading the cause of the widow and the orphan. All that kind of stuff.

Do you not want to wear a mask on your face?

That's not everything we're talking about. We're also going to talk about how Moscow Man Bad did some bad things. We're going to talk to the guy that helped him to do the bad things. It has to do with boys have penises, girls have vaginas, and bathrooms.

He said it.

I did say it. Because it's true.

I'm just waiting for YouTube to...

It's true. Oh, I think you can probably say that. You can't say that anymore.

I mean, if you're a tranny book reader at a library, you can.

Yeah, that's true.

Yes.

Yes.

Genderbenders have free reign. They seem to do. We don't have a lot of freedom today, but they do. We're going to talk to a special guest. His name is officially Gabriel Wrench. We call him Gabe Wrench.

He's lovingly known as the water boy over at CrossPolitik Studios. CrossPolitik Podcast. Not as good as Apologia Radio, but decent.

Can we say...

He's on mute right now.

Until he's off mute, until I hit the mute button, we can say really whatever we want.

Go ahead.

I do... We'll ask him when he comes on, but I feel like they kind of were birthed out of Apologia Radio.

No, we didn't. We didn't. We gave birth. We gave birth to...

As much as a man can give birth to another man.

That's a weird thought.

Well, I don't know.

Maybe today it's possible, right?

You never know.

Men can have periods, too, apparently.

Apparently, yeah.

Apparently!

Well, obviously we're in a goofy mood today. So anyway, CrossPolitik.

We love these guys.

You've seen us on there before, and we have a very close relationship with these men. And this man, his name is Gabe Wrench, and he is now welcome to Apologia Radio.

What's up, brother?

Hey, thank you guys for having me. Always good to come on the mothership.

Yes, the mothership.

I like that.

That's right, that's right.

Well, hey, we'll get right into the conversation, but I wanted to address something that comes up as a common objection.

Here it is.

Maybe you've heard it, or maybe you've actually recited this objection before. So, I think I had shared Doug's thing, Pastor Doug Wilson's thing on Romans 13 yesterday, and maybe some other stuff, and somebody had commented, like, nobody's asking you to deny.

Your faith.

You know, resisting the government and these government decrees really is only appropriate and righteous if the government is asking you to deny Jesus. I think that's one of the silliest objections imaginable, and it shows, I think, a great misunderstanding of so many critical, important sections of Scripture, as well as biblical principles, when people say things like, you can only resist an ungodly government when they're asking you to deny your faith, deny Jesus.

Well, I would say this.

My Christian faith is a comprehensive faith. And so, when you ask me to accept gender bending, and when you ask me to accept the gay mirage and all the rest—boy, we're going to get canceled after this—when you ask me to accept those things, you are, in fact, asking me to deny my faith.

When you ask me to accept the devaluing of currency and the injustices that come with that, you're asking me to deny my faith.

I just read it to you.

It's from Isaiah 1. Go check it out. But what's interesting here is, in this particular text that shows Isaiah 1, an important text,.

God says this.

Here's what he says. He speaks to his people. He calls them Sodom and Gomorrah. And if you're new to the Bible, that's not good. Calling God's people Sodom and Gomorrah, not so good. It's kind of like a curse word.

And so, I mean, that would be like calling the American Christian church Auschwitz, right? Or something like that. You'd go, what?

Auschwitz? Yeah.

So, it's a bad thing. Immoral city in the past, and God destroyed it for its wickedness. And God calls—he says this in verse 10.

He says, He says,.

And so then God says to them, He says he's had enough of their sacrifices. And he says, He says, I don't want it. Stop doing it. He says, everything you're doing, your new moons, your feasts, all these things.

He says, all these things my soul hates. So God says, I hate your worship.

I hate it.

I hate your worship. Sodom and Gomorrah. I don't want any of it. Don't even think about bringing this worship to me. That's actually a pretty strong thought that God says, don't want it. Not interested.

Don't even bother with the activity itself. So here's what he says to them.

He says,.

And here it is.

He says,.

Seek justice.

Correct oppression.

Correct oppression. Seek justice. Correct oppression.

Remember those. Very important things.

Seek justice.

Correct oppression. Bring justice to the fatherless. Plead the widow's cause. Watch what he says here.

He says,.

How the faithful city has become a whore. She who was full of justice. Righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers. Your silver has become dross. Your best wine mixed with water. That's the devaluation.

The devaluing of currency, by the way. Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not bring justice to the fatherless and the widow's cause does not come to them.

So what's interesting here is that here God says, I don't want any of your worship.

Why? He says,.

Your hands are full of blood. And he says, All this injustice is all around you and you're not doing anything about it. You're not doing anything about it. You don't plead the widow's cause. You're not bringing justice to the fatherless.

You aren't seeking justice. You aren't correcting oppression. And so, therefore, I don't want your worship. So, I want everybody that professes faith in Jesus and is using this really, really terrible argument.

That unless the government is asking me to deny Jesus, I have to obey every whim, everything they say. I would say it shows a vast ignorance of the whole narrative of biblical history. I mean, you have like, the handmaids in the Exodus story?

Were they being asked to deny their faith or were they protecting people from death? Were they loving neighbor and protecting them from death? When the Pharaoh says,.

Kill all the boys.

And they're like, Well, I don't know. These women give birth so fast and the babies are so strong. They're here before we know. We can't do anything about it. They're lying through their teeth to the Pharaoh to save other people's lives.

They're not being asked to deny their faith in God. I mean, you can go down the biblical stories over and over and over and over and over. Resistance to tyrannical governments. I mean, even at the point where the king's like, Hey, I want that property.

And the guy's like, No, it's mine. No.

Naboth.

Yeah, you can't have this. No, it's mine. And you're not going to violate me like that. He wasn't being asked to deny his faith. But he resisted an unrighteous decree of a leader. And in this case, Here's God saying to people, his people.

He says,.

Sodom and Gomorrah,. Don't give me your worship. Don't want it. Don't bring it. Not interested. And here's what you need to do. Repent.

Why?

Because all this evil is within you and you're not doing anything about it. So as long as you're not doing anything about it, I don't want your worship. So I think we really need to take that into consideration.

I mean that very humbly. I know that I'm being kind of heavy handed in some ways with this. But I think we need to take it seriously. God telling his people, historically, Don't want your worship. Not interested in it.

Why?

Because you're not doing anything about the injustice all around you. So he says, Cease to do evil. Learn to do good.

Seek justice.

Correct oppression. So, In principle,.

Today,.

As God's people, As God's redeemed, As his covenant people, We have a world around us. We have different contexts and cultures we live in. So at differing degrees, We'll have resistance that is.

Appropriate,.

Meaningful,.

Possible.

Like I think in Communist China right now, The resistance is going to look a little bit different. It might look like you actually get nine years in jail For trying to subvert the authority of the state.

Like the pastor recently did. The wonderful Presbyterian pastor there Who's serving nine years in jail For attempting to subvert the authority of the state. Something modern American Christians I think in the West would be like, No, you didn't need to do that.

Because they weren't asking you to deny Jesus. You're allowed to believe that between your ears in China. China knew, somehow, That this guy was subverting the authority of the state. Isn't it interesting in history, Like when Christians are going to bring the gospel to places, They come to transform the entire culture.

You know, Matthew 28, 18 -20, Bringing the all authority on earth of Jesus To the nations, teaching them to do what?

Obey Jesus.

At what level?

Like obey Jesus just that he's Savior? Or obey Jesus, teach them to obey Everything he commanded them? Well, what is everything he commanded them? Well, it's pretty extensive.

It's pretty big.

It's a few pages there. So I say this to come As graciously and humbly as I can Against this very, very poor Level of argumentation And very poor version of Christianity That when we see injustice All around us When we see wickedness and evil.

What we say is,.

Well, I believe in Jesus. I'll stick to my commune. What does that have to do with me? I don't know. I don't see no evil, hear no evil. God has something to say about that too In the Proverbs, by the way.

Proverbs 24.

He says.

To hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. Rescue those who are being delivered to death. And he basically says to them, Behold, I didn't know it. Doesn't he who weighs the hearts know? And won't he repay you according to your deeds?

The point is this. You see all the evil, all the injustice. All the trampling on other people all around you. If you say and do nothing. If you don't. Rescue those who are being led to death. That sort of a thing God knows that you know.

And he'll require an answer. So I think that's important to just discuss. And feel free, gentlemen.

Local Politics, Spheres of Authority, and Gabe Wrench’s County Commissioner Run

Well, I think that brings us To a good point here. So, talking about politics We say this all the time. Politics is nothing more than legislated morality. So the question is Whose morality are you going to legislate?

So I think that brings us to a good point here To bring in Gabe. Hey man, let us know What position are you running for? The Commish over there in LaTaw County. What does that mean? What does that look like?

What kind of effect on your community and culture Would that position give you? So forth and so on. And whose morality will you legislate?

That's a loaded question. So I'm running for LaTaw County Commissioner In our county. I started doing this back in March Is when you have to kind of sign off And fill out all the paperwork to do it. And to be honest The biggest reason why I did it is because I couldn't find anybody else to do it.

And so Friday, the last day you're supposed to Fill out your paperwork. My buddy called me and said Hey, you need to do it. So I filled out the paperwork And ran. The nice thing about running for LaTaw County Commissioner Is it's kind of a part time position And you can stay local with your family.

You don't have to go to Boise To the capital for three months out of the year. You're actually local. So you can still raise your family And be present. But this also gets to one of the most important things We need to be doing right now Is keep our politics as local as possible.

Our whole government was set up Actually to emphasize local politics. Now obviously we've gotten a ways away from that. But that's why we developed County municipalities. That's why we developed cities.

That's why we developed all these kind of micro Forms of government. So we can keep our government local. The whole idea behind that is You throw a rock into the pond. What's the biggest ripple that happens around that rock.

It's the first ripple. And the same thing with your city elections. Your county elections That should be the biggest ripple. The biggest political ripple That happens in your community. Every state is going to be a little different On how their county commissioners Are set up and structured And what their responsibilities are and not For Latah County here in Idaho There's three county commissioners And together they're kind of like The city council And the mayor combined.

Now some Counties only have one commissioner And he's kind of like the executive director Of the county. So it's a little different structure. But here in Idaho there's three county commissioners And so you have to have a two to one vote To get anything accomplished.

So like the city council And your local city They do all the voting. But unlike the city council The county commissioners also do all the administrating. So combined we're like the city council And the mayor combined.

And of course You know All legislation All law whether it's a County building code Or a You know we're over The county commissioners in our county We oversee all the sheriff's office. So the sheriff reports to us.

The sheriff is also an elected official But we set his budget. We set the county courthouse budget. We set the district attorney's budget. So we're kind of in charge of Like this administration. And then there's some building administration That we're in charge of And everything.

Now for our county The county commissioners in our county Are not in charge of the roads In our county. So there's actually a separate highway commission That's in charge of the roads. So there's an interesting dynamic there.

But when you are looking at your local county I mean really county commissioner. If we believe the sheriff Is actually one of the highest authorities in the county. Well the county commissioners are super Important in this role In how they encourage the sheriff To run and train his Deputies and so forth.

You know With this whole covid thing that's been going on. So in our state We have a We're supposed to have a republican governor. But he's kind of governing a little bit more like the Washington governor Than he is like a real republican governor.

The state of Washington Not Washington D .C. And he's locked down the state You know once. And he's allowing all the He's allowing face mask Regulation to start being implemented In our state. And first This is where it's real important As Christians we need to know certain things Certain things about our constitution And certain things about what the bible says about our government.

Summarizing here. But one of the basic things is The government never has the right To shut down your business. The government never has the right to tell you That you cannot provide for your family Pandemic or no pandemic.

Secondly The government doesn't have the right to tell you what to wear. Right. You know Should I wear a blue shirt or a purple shirt. Should I wear. Now there are I think applicable And acceptable Standards here that our government should have For its population.

You know no women going around topless. But that has to do with immorality Versus wearing a blue shirt or a purple shirt Kind of thing. And the government has no right to tell you to wear a mask. In the same way we don't believe the government has the right to tell us to wear a condom.

You know We don't have the government that has the right to tell us To do all these things. And yet the government does it. And we just follow. We just go. We sink in. We get right in line like sheeple.

Right in line we start doing it. And so what happens is We don't have for decades In Arizona, Idaho All of us, Texas where I'm originally from. For decades we have not been Exercising these local political muscles.

Right.

The county commissioners should tell the governor right now That you know your shutdown. That happened back in April for us April and end of May or beginning of May. Your shutdown does not apply to our county.

You want to know why? Because we are the Sovereign. I wouldn't say sovereign over our county. But we're kind of the highest authority in our county In regards to these kind of decisions.

That's right.

And then in addition In Idaho and this might be similar to you guys In Arizona But Idaho's quarantine codes Are actually pretty biblical. So in Idaho The state constitution specifically says That I think it's section 52 or 56.

It's in one of those sections I can't remember if it's 2 or 6. It specifically says that the government Given a pandemic The government has the right To quarantine certain buildings Certain locations And isolate the sick.

As opposed to what we have now Is where the government Is quarantining everybody Including the healthy. So when we talk about Of course you brought up Romans 13 earlier Jeff. But when we're talking Romans 13 What's the highest authority in the land?

It's not our governor It's the constitution. This is what a republic has established That the highest authority in the land Is the piece of paper. And so the governor When he disobeys that constitution I am It's my duty Romans 13 To actually obey that highest authority In the land which is the constitution.

So when the government says Hey Gabe and your family You guys need to quarantine your house. I know you're healthy But you need to quarantine your house. Well it's my job to actually say No you are not obeying the highest authority In the land Romans 13 you governor.

I love it.

Exactly. Doug actually did an amazing Explanation of all this. What was the title of that particular one? It's at Canon Press. If you guys go check it out after the show. Go to Canon Press. And check out some of the last couple of episodes That Doug did on this particular issue.

Was it The Sermon Jeff? No not The Sermon.

It was Vlog in Mayblog.

It was the one where he talked about. The governor basically says You may not push this blue button. You can touch the red button. You can't push the blue button. And the governor does not have the right To wake up the next morning and say He has authority over all the blue buttons in the state.

Specifically what you don't have authority over. I do not have to obey you. And it's important for us to recognize. It's interesting too Gabe. Because people will often times say this Yes. But Christians are persecuted To a much higher level And with worse government regimes All around the world today.

And in particular when the church Was just breaking into history In Rome there was a much worse government. My initial quick response to that It's very well thought out.

It's very quick though.

It's this, it's called progress.

You got the additional layer there Where it's like John the Baptist got charged. He got called you're a demon For not eating and drinking the wine. And then Jesus got charged with Oh you're a glutton, you're a drunkard For drinking the wine And so.

And in the same way You got these. We read Isaiah chapter 1 at the very beginning Of all this talking basically about Levitical laws and liturgical laws. And God says I hate your practice Of that. Because in the same way You look at these masks.

Now I'm not Against masks in terms of Where they're medically necessary And where they actually work. So put that aside Like the N95 mask And so forth. But the mask that we're wearing right now Is just one huge big Virtue signaling that God hates.

You sit there, you're going to abort babies In the womb. But you're more concerned about the mask that you wear on your face Than the babies in the womb. You're more concerned about the mask on your face Than the governor actually obeying Romans 13.

Right, that's right.

So we've taken all these gnats And we've turned them into elephants. And we ignore the elephant. And we're just drinking. We're just drinking these elephants One after another in all this. With the mask.

And in addition to this Before the pandemic and even during the pandemic up to April There's been several studies. One from the University of Minnesota For their center disease and control. And that said That cloth masks Are basically Have zero effect against the transmissibility Of the coronavirus.

Our whole city council Last week took a picture Of them up on the steps of city council. Every single one of them wearing cloth masks. All seven of them wearing cloth masks. Because they mandated They legislated in our city.

The city of Moscow, not the county. But the city of Moscow, they said. You need to wear a mask where you cannot. Social distance. Six feet social distancing. And so they're sitting here trying to virtue signal And say hey look, we're wearing masks.

We're with you on this When those masks do not do a darn thing against the coronavirus. And that's the kind of hypocrisy. That's the kind of Isaiah chapter one. Hypocrisy that God hates.

Exactly. And you know I'm really glad you brought that up. Gabe I think it's important When Jesus is confronting in Matthew 23 Just before he gives the final indictments And the promise of destruction In Matthew 24 upon that generation For their covenant of faithfulness And the covenant of judgment is coming.

Now the sanctions are coming In Matthew 23 he's challenging these religious people. And he says Matthew 23 -24 He says you blind guides Straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel. A lot of people are like I don't even know what that means.

But it sounds interesting. Straining out a gnat had to do with basically Their wine And gnats getting into it. And they would strain out these little tiny creatures To make sure that the wine is pure.

And it's all together. So he's saying you strain out the gnats Like you don't want that unclean thing. But then you swallow a camel. So it's supposed to be cartoonish. It's supposed to be like a cartoon Like you're straining out these teeny tiny gnats But you're swallowing this ginormous unclean camel That's in your cup.

It's impossible. It's supposed to be like a cartoon. It's funny actually. He's roasting them. Jesus is the original roaster And he roasted them Straining out the gnat, swallowing the camel. And that gets to exactly what's happening In these cases with all the virtue signaling You accept all the injustices Around you All around you Particularly let's talk about our hands are full of blood All the murder of the innocents around us.

But then you strain out the gnat Like you've got the virtue signal mask on Saying I want to love my neighbor, protect my neighbor All the while you're killing your neighbors. It's absolute hypocrisy And I'm not buying it.

Well and here's the thing. You've got your health department or the CDC. You've got all these health organizations Talking about health When they're pro-choice. The secretary or the head of the health department In Pennsylvania Is a cross-dressing transgendered man.

And they're telling you to wear a mask. It's like no thank you. I'm not going to listen To what your concept of health looks like. Because you've got everything flipped upside down. In Colorado there's an interesting moment That's happening in Colorado right now.

In Douglas, Colorado They're the county commissioners. There's a tri-county health department That oversees the three counties Including Douglas County. The county commissioners Because the tri-county health department Just imposed a face masking Resolution on every.

These are unelected officials In this health department In this tri-county health department. And they imposed a face mask requirement On all these counties. And Douglas County, the commissioners They voted to get out of that Tri-county health cooperative agreement.

So the county commissioners Voted to get out of it. And they're like okay we don't have to wear masks anymore. Douglas County is one of the healthiest counties In the United States. It's been ranked as one of the healthiest counties In the United States.

This is why local politics is so important. Because you can do these kind of things And take responsibility for your own county. And here's the thing. If you don't like what I did Then vote me out next go around.

It's a lot harder to vote out your governor Than it is to vote out your county commissioner.

It's so funny.

The madness of that. These people with no authority. That'd be like me walking into Texas right now. Standing on the border Crossing the line where it says Welcome to Texas.

I love Texas by the way.

I step inside and I start shouting. Alright everyone I decree You all wear purple shoes today. I have no authority to do so. I'm outside of my own jurisdiction. I can't do it. But we are so ignorant about Spheres of authority.

And how authority works How government is supposed to work. In particular ignorant about how our own government works. And that has a lot to do with public education. I'm a product of public education.

I had to learn all this stuff later. On my own. Because you don't learn it in public school. How does this work. And you know what. Gabe. One of the shocking things. I want to encourage everybody. Pray for Walt Blackman And the other legislators in Arizona Who are working together To criminalize and abolish end abortion.

You'll be seeing that coming in the very near future. Send an encouraging word To representative Walt Blackman In Arizona. Tweet him Facebook message him. Encourage him to continue to be courageous. He's calling it murder.

He's working to abolish it. But what's interesting is. Over the last month We've been in private conversation. Private meetings with legislators Sheriffs, senators, congressmen.

All those.

And we've been talking to them. And it's amazing too. A couple examples I have. In terms of government. When we're trying to actually End abortion in the state We can actually end it at the local level.

Because Roe vs. Wade is not a law. It's a court opinion. And of course everybody knows here That the constitution says Who makes law? Anyone? And you'd be surprised. At some of the rooms you're in And the people you talk to Are at the highest level.

Elected officials, senators, congressmen. You'd be surprised. And you know that Roe vs. Wade is not a law. No law has been made on abortion. They're like, oh my goodness I've never thought of that. Like our constitution says Who makes law in our country.