Jon Harris Article on The New Christian Right

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January 8, 2025

https://www.consultingbykyrios.com/ Jon's article: https://truthscript.com/church/six-cautions-for-the-new-christian-right/

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00:35: So there I was at the annual Kwanzaa celebration and, you know,
00:41: I was a little nervous because it was my first Kwanzaa. And so, you know, the leader of the events, the festivities, opens up to the letter from Birmingham Jail, which
00:52: I was excited about because I'm very unfamiliar with the sacred texts of Kwanzaa. But this particular one
00:58: I had read before because I had to read it in high school because, you know, I live in New England. It's part of required reading there.
01:05: So I was familiar with it and I was excited about that. And so, you know, knowing that I was familiar with it,
01:11: I decided I wanted to, you know, just be as casual as possible. So I reached for – there's – the center of the
01:17: Kwanzaa table, there's a platter of different fruits that are sitting there.
01:23: And, you know, I knew from Blippi that, you know, the fruit was there to be consumed.
01:28: It wasn't there just as a decoration. So I felt pretty comfortable reaching for some fruit. And I decided to go with a banana because of the potassium content, of course.
01:37: And so I reached for the banana and one of the other Kwanzaa celebrators, he kind of interrupted, which
01:44: I thought was a tremendous breach of etiquette. And he told me, hey, yo, yo, it's not time to be eating that, yo.
01:50: And I was like, man, I didn't know. But I was like – I still had it in my hand, like I hadn't let it go yet.
01:57: And he's like, yo, you better drop that dog. You better drop that. We can have a problem here. And so I dropped it.
02:03: And then the leader of the Kwanzaa celebration said, listen, brother, it's a tradition that we have a guest at Kwanzaa.
02:12: And so the guest is able to eat the banana so he choose, if he so choose.
02:18: And you could see that the other guy was pretty upset, but he was like, aye, aye. And so then
02:23: I ate the banana and there was no violence. So it was the best Kwanzaa of all time.
02:38: All right, all right. First video of 2025. Man, I am brimming with positivity for 2025.
02:44: I'm a pretty optimistic person in general, as you all know. But you know, there's something in the air, man.
02:50: There really is something in the air. I feel really good about 2025, not only for the
02:56: YouTube channel, of course, but also just in general. You know, business. I talk to a lot of CEOs in my job.
03:02: And it's been it's been doldrums for a couple of years. But I'm starting to sense a lot of positivity amongst the
03:09: CEOs I talk to, which is great. So hopefully this year goes well for you as well.
03:15: I want to start off with a positive video. So, you know, hopefully you don't click off, but I saw this article written by my friend
03:25: John Harris. John Harris, a great guy. Of course, a lot of you know him from the
03:31: Conversations That Matter podcast. He also helped found TruthScript, which is a website, it's like a blog website with various types of things.
03:39: It's really good stuff. You know, not the kind of material that you're going to see from Gospel Coalition, but it's still got a lot of helpful, you know, winsome style articles, you know what
03:53: I mean? It's not going to be winsome in the trademark sense. But you know, you're not going to be you're not going to find stuff here that's so winsome that your brains fall out.
04:02: But there is some good stuff here. And I thought this article was really good. Now, this is about six cautions for the new
04:11: Christian right. And you know, this is the thing, you know, people are talking about the new
04:16: Christian right. And you know, it's always going to be a mixed bag. You know, people support certain things for different reasons, and there's always going to be different motivations, different backstories, different reasons why people support a certain thing.
04:32: I'll never forget this. One time, a supporter of the 80 Roblox YouTube channel, I talked to him on the phone.
04:38: And I asked him, I said, Hey, what, you know, why do you find my content so helpful? And he kind of paused for a second.
04:44: And he said, you know, I've got some experience with politicians and, you know, things like that.
04:50: And one of the things I was taught early on, he says to me, he says, you know, you don't always want to know why people are supporting you.
04:58: You know what I mean? Something like that. That's not an exact quote. But he said, sometimes you don't want to know why people support you.
05:04: And I thought that was very interesting. I thought that was very interesting. But anyway, all that to say is people support different things for different reasons.
05:13: But here, John Harris, I think, gives pretty valid cautions that are good to consider for anybody, really.
05:20: But he thinks especially the new Christian right. And so what I thought I would do is start off the year with a very positive video.
05:29: What I'm going to do is I'm going to read this article and then provide some commentary as I see fit.
05:35: So if you want to read the article yourself, it's on TruthScript .com,
05:41: six cautions for the new Christian right. John starts, he says, as far as I can tell, the new
05:47: Christian right is primarily composed of younger American Protestants interested in overcoming liberal ideology by restoring
05:55: Christian order to their lives, churches, and society. The movement is broad in that it encompasses different flavors and visions for how life ought to be arranged.
06:05: It includes general equity theonomists, paleo -conservatives, self -described Christian nationals, traditional
06:11: Baptists, and others. Let me stop there for a second. This is very important. You know what I mean? Because one of the ways that people try to criticize the new
06:19: Christian right or Christian nationalists is they say, well, tell me what you would do in this particular situation in the future.
06:27: And if you don't give me all the answers in specific detail right now, then you know that this is completely undoable.
06:32: And it's like, no, it's just so preposterous, right? Like we've got a group, it's a coalition, and some of us have different visions for exactly what it ought to look like, but we agree on enough of the basics on the foundations that we can work together right now.
06:47: And that's just fine for right now, because right now we're at very basic levels, right? Like we still haven't figured out how to actually have a real nation, right?
06:57: We haven't figured out how to ban abortion or to suppress homosexual ideologies and stuff like that.
07:07: Like we're at very basic levels here. So a lot of our cooperation is going to be at that basic foundational level.
07:13: And so even if we don't have a specific plan for how to deal with Catholics in the future, you know, that really has nothing to do with our cooperation and our moving forward today.
07:27: You know what I mean? It would be like saying to a football team, you know, when they're running their first play, you know, before you run your first play, tell me exactly how you're going to score a touchdown.
07:37: Tell me exactly how you're going to score the touchdown. Tell me the play you're going to run when it's time to score a touchdown before you run this first play.
07:44: And it's like, well, that's not really how it works. It's just very weird, very strange, very weird. In any case, let's continue.
07:52: He says, some critics argue that this movement, along with the broader post -liberal ethos, it embodies is essentially a revived form of fascism, pointing to its rejection of social pluralism, its focus on group identities, and its aim to use political power to enforce
08:05: Christian -based social mores. Of course, by these standards, all pre -modern Christian societies would be fascist.
08:12: Good point. In reality, the New Christian Right is a group primarily composed of men who are deeply aware of what they call trash world and its potential to ruin their children's lives.
08:23: Disillusioned with the leadership of traditional legacy ministries and political approaches, they see little hope for change.
08:28: As a result, they have turned to the past, seeking pre -liberal and sometimes pre -modern Christian approaches to how life and society should be organized.
08:36: I consider myself to be part of this general movement insofar as I found my own political footing and spiritual grounding in the writings of saints who died years ago, such as political theorists like Edmund Burke and spiritual fathers like Augustine.
08:49: Once someone marinates in these older writings, it's easier to see the compromised liberalism present in modern
08:56: Christian literature. It is important to express my overall positivity towards this movement before I share my concerns.
09:05: Guys, this article is coming from a friend, and this is a very important point to take to heart, because friends want you to not fall into potential pitfalls.
09:23: Friends want to warn you about potential dangers in the road ahead. They have what's best in mind for you, and so it's important,
09:32: I think, to listen to friends. I think a lot of the angst that we feel right now online in reform circles is because people we assumed were friends started treating us like enemies.
09:49: Maybe they are friends, right? I think a lot of people are quick to say, well, they're just enemies, right?
09:55: I think that it's wise to maybe pump the brakes on that just a little bit, because sometimes if my brother were confronting me about a sin in my life, which has happened before, a lot of the initial volleys of that confrontation would feel like an attack.
10:16: And often when you're being confronted about something, no matter who it is, it feels like an attack.
10:23: And I think those initial moments, you should really pump the brakes on deciding whether or not it is an attack or it isn't.
10:32: Maybe it is, and I'm not going to deny that some of these were attacks, because in my opinion, some of these things that have happened from people that we assumed were friends really were attacks.
10:42: They really were. But pump the brakes, because when you're in that emotional state, when you feel like you're being attacked, you feel like maybe it's possible that you're just being confronted, and it's not an attack, and it's coming from a friendly place.
10:57: Think that through, because when you're in that initial phase, you're too emotional to know for sure if it's an attack or maybe it's a friendly confrontation.
11:08: But I'm here to tell you that John Harris, I mean, I've talked to him many times behind the scenes, in front of the scenes, under the table, over the table, wherever you want to say, behind the curtain, in front of the curtain, whatever.
11:20: I've talked to him many times. John Harris is a friend. This is a friendly confrontation.
11:29: Anyway, let's get back to it. Not all my concerns have materialized, and those that have emerged have done so in ways that are to be expected from any movement led by imperfect individuals.
11:41: I am far from perfect. Yes, John, you are far from perfect. Back to the article.
11:48: And so are my Christian brothers who are working to understand and challenge the decadence, idolatry, and perversion of trash world still.
11:54: I hope and pray that we maintain humble enough to self -reflect and avoid the pitfalls that can scuttle any movement.
12:01: If my work on social justice in the church has taught me anything, it is that the older generations who control legacy ministries often struggle to receive input, admit mistakes, and apologize for egregious wrongs.
12:14: If the leaders of the new Christian right are to truly replace them, they must not repeat the same error.
12:20: We must stand together and guard our flanks against spiritual attacks. This is also such a key point.
12:30: One of the things that has, uh, I'm not blackpilled guys, I'm not blackpilled, but one of the things that has bothered me the most, it is, you might say it's concerned me or maybe even troubled me with an official trademark logo, but one of the things that has disillusioned me so much in the previous three months, and again,
12:50: I'm white pilled guys, was, but one of the things that has really disillusioned me is the insistence that you were right even when you were obviously and apparently wrong.
13:02: I've had numerous text message exchanges with various people when, when they were clearly in the wrong and to see the way that they've maneuvered the conversations and the way that they have twisted my own words, even though I took pains to try to explain in a very careful and calm kind of a way so that they were still right and they had nothing to apologize for has been absolutely, it's been, it's, it's egregious and it's been really shocking to me.
13:40: It's been really shocking to me. And these are, and it's stupid things like it's stupid things to lie about.
13:47: And it's just very, very strange, right? All it would have taken to put a stop to all of this was simple apologies, simple walkbacks, and you don't even have to walk back the entire thing.
14:00: You could have said, Hey, I'm still concerned. I'm still this. I'm still that. But we made a couple mistakes.
14:06: We made a few mistakes, you know what I mean? That all would have taken and all this goodwill would have still been there, but this insistence that I could do, it's almost as if I can do no wrong.
14:18: That was a big, that was a big eye opener for me. And so John's point here is exactly correct.
14:25: We cannot allow ourselves to be put in that position, which is why I appreciate so much people on our side of this that have made small mistakes or maybe small errors and things like that.
14:38: And they've taken the time to say, you know what? I shouldn't have said that. Even though it wasn't a big deal for my view, for my view, it was just no big deal.
14:45: I mean, you were quoting a movie, who cares? But even the small things just to be willing to say, yeah, if I could take that back,
14:52: I would. I shouldn't have said that it came from a bad place. That was wrong. That's so important.
14:59: That's so important. You've got to be willing to own L's when you have them.
15:05: You've got to be. It's as simple as that. And so I love this.
15:10: This is great. I hope all of my YouTube viewers listen to this article and really take it to heart and really consider it because it's very important.
15:20: Here's his first concern. It starts, do not repay evil for evil,
15:27: Romans 12, 17. Figures on the new Christian right are subject to many unfair attacks, including from people they have looked up to in legacy ministries.
15:38: In response, it's easy to build resentment, lash out and throw out the baby with the bathwater.
15:44: Jesus had many harsh things to say to the Pharisees, but he never sinned against them, nor did he reinforce the
15:50: Romans authority by manipulating situations so they would be in trouble with the authorities. His opposition was driven by a love for God and others.
15:59: During his earthly ministry, he only warned people about their false teachings and exposed their hypocrisy when they tried to undermine the good he was doing.
16:07: He did not trade petty personal taunts or showcase any vain sensitivity over his own reputation.
16:14: Importantly, he also distinguished between the Pharisees and the common people who followed them in ignorance.
16:20: In the same way, there are many Christians with liberal viewpoints who, despite differences, still offer valuable insights on certain issues.
16:27: There are times when I have even encouraged children with negligent parents to look for the positive qualities in them rather than completely dismissing everything about them.
16:35: As Christians, we are called to tear down every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, but we should leave judgment of the truly evil to God, trusting in his righteousness rather than seeking personal vengeance.
16:47: This is so, so, so important. It is so easy to get blackpilled.
16:54: That's what he's talking about here. We do not want to blackpill. I've been talking about this for the last few weeks.
17:01: It's easy to do that. It's easy to throw the baby out with the bathwater. We cannot do that.
17:06: That does not mean that we don't criticize these legacy ministries. That doesn't mean that we don't do our takedown videos of various stupid things that they've said.
17:18: What it does mean, though, is that we give credit where credit is due. We don't give it where it's not due, but we always maintain a respectful approach.
17:28: I completely agree. I completely agree. And not to mention the fact that he makes a great point about distinguishing between the followers of the
17:37: Pharisees and the Pharisees. Again, you've got to have a certain level of,
17:43: I don't know what it is, it's just patience, I think. It's just patience. You know what I mean? And I tried to express this during the
17:51: Woke Wars 1, where I was gripping some of these guys, Chandler, Russell Moore, all these guys,
17:57: Tim Keller, but the same beliefs spoken by their followers,
18:03: I tried to have a lot more patience for. I wouldn't want to do takedown videos of people that weren't leading the people astray, but rather were being led astray.
18:11: There's got to be a different way to talk to different kinds of people. I love that. I love it. Number two, do not center your life around new
18:19: Christian right leaders. The new Christian right movement is a movement in flux. Some of its more prominent leaders have shifted their views on topics such as natural law, patriarchy, and eschatology in just the past few years.
18:32: Perhaps nothing has changed more rapidly than historical paradigms, including interpretations of the founding, the war between states, and the world wars.
18:40: Since the new Christian right owes much of his existence to the failures of legacy organizations, there is a back -to -the -drawing -board spirit within the movement.
18:48: It is invigorating to learn new things and correct past misconceptions. Everyone is, to some extent, a student in this process.
18:55: However, it can be risky if the entire confidence of a movement rests solely on students.
19:01: One of the major failures of the celebrity preacher culture was that it placed burdens on individuals who were not equipped to bear them.
19:07: While it is important to show respect where it is due, it is dangerous to outsource all of one's thinking or rely on a single person for spiritual guidance, especially when they are relatively untested.
19:17: On a personal note, I feel uncomfortable when people place me on a pedestal as if I hold the key to all knowledge and infallible in the topics
19:25: I discuss. This is not healthy. I do not possess all the answers, and there is much I still need to learn.
19:30: New Christian right leaders must be especially vigilant in pointing people to Christ and his truth, particularly in an age when people will grab anything to make their lives feel stable again.
19:40: Very good point. Very good point. He's so right that this is all in flux right now.
19:46: Lots of people are changing their views on lots of things, and it's important that—and this is something that I've heard
19:53: Dr. James White talk about. When you change your view very radically on something, it's probably not a good idea to become apologist against that thing right away.
20:05: I've seen Dr. James White and others, even Doug Wilson, talk about that kind of thing before.
20:11: It's very risky. It's not a smart move. It's not what you ideally would want to do, and it's so true, but then
20:18: I've also seen it happen where men like this embrace someone who has changed so radically as an apologist against that thing when it suits them.
20:29: There is a little bit of hypocrisy in some of these guys' lives in that regard, and it goes poorly.
20:38: It goes very poorly. You know what I mean? I think that that's a very good point. Things are changing a lot.
20:46: Things that you didn't believe three years ago, you believe today. I think it's worth considering how much of what you believe today will you believe in three years.
20:58: It's worth considering. I think that probably the lion's share of your energy, the lion's share of your mental capacity should be to things that are more timeless than that.
21:10: Very good stuff. Very good stuff. Number three, he says, honor the gray head. He says,
21:16: I have told friends before that I believe that NCR is doomed if older people are not part of it. Their wisdom, experience, and leadership is necessary for its maturity, stability, and success.
21:25: The truth is there are many older folks who do not have answers for the problems afflicting us today. They possess common sense, a knowledge of history, a mind saturated in the scripture, and a penchant for practical application.
21:36: I'm sorry. I messed that all up. The truth is there are many older folks who do have answers for the problems afflicting us today.
21:44: They possess common sense, a knowledge of history, mind saturated in the scripture, and a penchant for practical application.
21:50: I know this because I've met them all over the country. I try to invite them to headline events and come on my podcast.
21:55: They're not always the new shiny object and most of them were either not interested in leading legacy institutions or were blacklisted from doing so in the past, but they are leaders nonetheless and even in smaller capacities like pastoring small town churches and engaging in local politics.
22:10: It is good for younger NCR figures with large platforms to locate these faithful men and promote them where they can.
22:18: Yeah, I mean, I agree. I totally agree. You know, I talk about my father very positively all the time and, you know, this is something that I've known my entire life that he has a lot of common sense.
22:32: He has a lot of wisdom. He has a lot of knowledge that I can use to my advantage and he's very willing to share it with me to use to my advantage.
22:43: Yeah, we cannot reject the older people. We just can't do it. They have so much value to what they say and what they've experienced and what they do that we need to find these people and we need to talk to these people and, you know, glean from them as much as we can.
23:00: That does not mean that every gray head is going to have great things to say. It does not mean that we just have to obey everything that they say, like I've said this many times, like my relationship with my father has changed over the years, right?
23:11: When I was younger, I owed him perfect obedience, right? He told me to clean my room. I better go clean my room now that I'm older.
23:20: I still owe him respect. I still have to defer to him in certain things, but when he gives me advice now,
23:26: I don't have to necessarily take it to be respecting him. I mean, I really should consider it and I should honestly consider it.
23:33: And if I'm going to go against his advice, I mean, I better have some good reasons, right? But if he tells me that, hey, it's not such a good idea to buy this house,
23:41: I don't think so. And I decide that I am going to buy this house, I don't owe him the perfect obedience that I owed him before.
23:47: I'm an adult too. You know what I mean? And so there's a difference in the relationship as you grow older, but this is a principle that will not change.
23:56: I absolutely love it, John. This is definitely a possible pitfall. And I completely agree with this warning.
24:05: He goes on, number four, beware of ideology. Ideology is particularly appealing to those who feel rootless.
24:12: It takes something transient or contingent, such as pleasurable experience or an abstract ideal like equality, and frames it as the key to understanding the entire universe.
24:21: In doing so, it reduces the complexity of life into a rigid system that attempts to explain all human action.
24:27: In Christianity and social justice, religions, and conflict, I argue that social justice is inherently ideological.
24:33: However, it is not the only such ideology. When Christians discuss cage -stage Calvinists, they are essentially talking about an ideological impulse.
24:41: For the cage -stage Calvinists, everything, every conversation, every issue, every scripture somehow relates to the doctrine of predestination.
24:48: It becomes the sole issue worth addressing. I have observed similar behavior, especially online, regarding topics like Jewish influence, racism, eschatological views, and feminism.
24:58: These ideologies are often treated as catch -all explanations for society's ills. Many young people have been somewhat deracinated.
25:06: Without the stability that comes from rooted faith, a stable family, a defined locality, civic rituals, and the collective memory associated with these, it is easy to fall into the trap of simplistic, one -dimensional explanations for the problems we face.
25:19: While feminism, for example, certainly plays a role in the decline of traditional gender roles, it cannot fully account for things such as outsourcing, inflation, which have multiple contributing factors.
25:29: The allure of ideology also appeals to our sense of pride. People can become instant experts on complex subjects by continually blaming the same villains and promoting the same simplistic solutions.
25:38: This does not mean that certain issues are without cause or consequence. But even in these cases, they do not hold the key to understanding everything.
25:46: It is crucial for leaders within the new Christian right to set an example of humility. They should avoid quickly latching to new theories, refrain from dismissing conventional explanations merely because they are conventional, and resist adopting beliefs simply because they challenge the liberal establishment.
26:01: Many things offend the liberal establishment not because they are true, but because they are competing ideologies. The new
26:07: Christian right must focus on understanding the full range of wise principles, cultivating all the cardinal virtues, and gathering all information available to make informed decisions.
26:17: Yeah, this is a good one too. And I think that he talks about the cage stage and how that's an ideological impulse.
26:22: And he talks about how this happens, especially online. And this is something
26:28: I've noticed and I've talked about before. And I have an entire video plan to talk about this as well.
26:35: But I call this sort of an internet -induced form of autism. It is rampant in reform circles, but it's really rampant everywhere online.
26:45: And I think I know why it happens, right? Because let's say you're talking with someone about something you really care about, right?
26:51: Let's say you really care about feminism and the negative consequences of feminism, right?
26:56: And you're hanging out with your friend and stuff like that. When you're in real life with people, you've got to read social cues, right?
27:04: And you don't always get to that point sometimes when there's an issue that you really care about and your friend really doesn't care about, where you kind of read the social cues and you're like, maybe
27:11: I'm going to take a step back and ask him how he's doing. You know what I mean? This happens to me with simple things like fishing, right?
27:18: I get all jazzed up about fishing. I'm talking to my friend about fishing and I could sense he's really not that interested in hearing any more about the latest lure
27:27: I got that's slightly better when there's cloud cover than when there's not cloud cover. And then
27:32: I ask him, yeah, what's going on with you? You know what I mean? It kind of tempers you. It doesn't temper your appreciation of fishing, but it tempers how you engage about fishing, right?
27:42: But when you're online, it's very easy to find people that are just as jazzed up about the new lure that's slightly better when there's cloud cover than when there's not, as you are, and sometimes even more so.
27:54: And you get into these groups that are just very highly niche, super intense groups about a certain topic.
28:01: And you get to the point where you kind of think everyone should be like this. And if they're not, then they must be, you know, weird or something.
28:08: And so it's very easy to get this hyper focus where you don't even care about social cues anymore when you're online and you don't have that when you're in person, when you kind of are tempered with all these things, you know, things are kind of more even keel in person.
28:22: Online there's this temptation to be hyper focused on one particular thing that you happen to care a lot about.
28:28: There's nothing wrong with caring a lot about something. It's not like it's idolatry or anything, but you have to understand that, you know, not everyone's going to necessarily see what you're seeing and not going to, or even care, or they might have another interest that is also related to the topic you're talking about, but it's not the issue that you care about the most.
28:46: We've all got to watch out for this, this internet induced autism, big problems can come from it.
28:52: We've seen a ton of that in the last few weeks, especially in reform circles. There's definitely an online reformed autistic version of reformed theology that has to die.
29:02: It just has to die. In any case, let Scripture guide you is number five.
29:07: There is a lot of enthusiasm for natural law within the new Christian right, even among self -described theonomists. This provides a bridge to work with people of other faiths on important issues.
29:17: Not every leader in the movement is a pastor, and not every resource will have Bible verses all throughout it. But there still should be an emphasis on Scripture.
29:25: One reason is that Scripture is true and speaks to the broad range of topics that inform NCR thinking.
29:30: I will often try to let my Christian audience know where to look in the Bible for even conclusions that are drawn from necessary and proper consequences or natural principles.
29:40: The Bible simply assumes and does not need to argue for. There is also a spiritual advantage to using the very words of God to communicate truth.
29:47: Yeah, I love it. I absolutely love it. Natural law is real. Natural law is good. But 100 %
29:53: Scripture is very important, has many advantages, and one of them is that it's quite easy to know what the
30:01: Scripture is saying in comparison to natural law, which has to be interpreted.
30:07: The Bible has to be interpreted, too, but, you know, Scripture is a lot more clear. Let's just put it that way.
30:14: And so it's easier to communicate. Avoid ecumenism. He says, it is commendable that Protestant Christians are first and foremost drawing from their own rich tradition while also learning from other sources such as classical literature and Catholic thinkers.
30:30: In political battles, it is beneficial to have as many allies as possible to combat shared threats. However, a problem arises when the impression is given that those outside Orthodox teaching are spiritually sound.
30:40: For example, while Mormons may oppose abortion and uphold many
30:46: Christian -derived moral values, they hold to a different understanding of Jesus and the gospel, which according to Scripture cannot save.
30:52: Some members of Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, who have important things to say about social problems, also hold to understandings of justification and sanctification that is out of step with Protestant theology.
31:03: As social threats push together members of various religious groups that uphold traditional moral values, we can expect to see more mingling across denominational and religious lines.
31:12: While Mormonism may not pose the same immediate threat as liberalism, it still prevents challenges to Christian teaching.
31:18: Addressing this issue should not be difficult. But in a liberal age where religious disagreement is often seen as impolite, even leaders of the
31:24: NCR can feel the pressure. The new Christian rite can invite diverse speakers, participants, and strategists to their own events and discussions, but it is crucial that they do not give the impression that agreement on one issue equates to agreement on all issues.
31:36: As wisdom dictates, there are times when it is important to clearly articulate the differences on fundamental matters so that those with less spiritual discernment do not come away with the wrong impression or adopt dangerous ideas themselves.
31:47: Also a very good warning. I think—here's the thing—I think when it comes to the political movements of the
31:54: Christian rite, that we absolutely are, again, working on these basic issues, right?
32:00: These foundational basic issues of basic morality, basic legal structure, things like that.
32:07: And we absolutely need to collaborate on that kind of stuff.
32:12: Because even whether we're Catholic, whether we're a Reformed Christian—I believe
32:17: Catholics are Christian, you know what I mean? I'm not saying that they're all regenerate, and I'm not saying that Catholic theology is good, but I believe that baptism that they do, you know, a small little thing like being baptized into the faith,
32:30: I think that counts for something. So we can identify them as Christians, but in any case, even if you don't, we can still work with those people on these basic foundations.
32:40: And I believe that over time, we will come to solutions that make sense for, you know, how to tolerate
32:48: Catholicism in the United States, stuff like that. But you've got to understand, these are two separate works, right?
32:55: We've got the ecclesiastical work of figuring out church stuff, and then of course we've got political work figuring out nation stuff.
33:04: They are connected, of course, but they are separate. They are separate. And so we need to understand them in separate ways, whether they're connected, but they are separate.
33:17: It's just a fact. We've got to deal in reality. We cannot let this internet -induced reformed autism to take over our entire lives.
33:25: We just can't do it. We just simply can't do it. In any case, the conclusion, this is not an exhaustive list of potential pitfalls, but they are the main ones
33:34: I see as crippling, that I can see crippling the movement should they ever take root.
33:39: Ultimately, God is in control of what happens in both America and his church. I love how he separated those, because we've got the nation and we've got the church, we've got the nation, we've got the church, and pastors are responsible for the church.
33:54: And we've got kings and princes and vice regents that are responsible for the nation.
34:00: And they should be Christians too, you know what I mean? But they're different. They're distinct. And we should treat them as such.
34:07: He's raising up a generation of Christian men and women to set a new direction for American Christians.
34:13: Really, though, it is not so much a new path, but a return to an old path we left to our peril. May God continue to bless enthusiasm for his order, wisdom, and law in our daily lives and into the future.
34:23: Yeah, this is something that I think is so important too. A lot of people think that we're trying to reinvent the wheel here, and you see this with questions like, what kind of standing would the
34:33: Catholics have in your new Christian world? And it's like, you know, we can just point easily back to what they did in the
34:40: United States when it was first, you know, the United States, when it first became the United States. What standing did the
34:46: Catholics have then? You can look back to that stuff and kind of answer your own questions. And I think we can do better than what they did before.
34:53: But that's a good place to start if you're wondering. So like, some people are so captured by the liberal mindset that they don't even recognize that the
35:01: United States used to look and operate a lot differently. And that was better than the way it operates now.
35:08: Now doesn't mean it was perfect. That doesn't mean that we go, woe is me, why were the previous days better than these?
35:13: No, but you look back and you say, OK, let's look at what they did. Let's grab on to the good things they did.
35:19: And let's improve on some of the things that they didn't do quite so well. We're not even close to those steps yet.
35:26: You know, we're not even in the red zone yet. Let's worry about the red zone plays when we get there.
35:31: Right now, we've got to get 10 yards. We're at the 20 yard line. We need 10 yards in order to get the next first down.
35:37: Let's focus on getting those 10 yards. We can do it together without having an agreement on exactly what play we should run when it's first and goal on the two yard line.
35:47: We'll consider that when we get there. We've got a whole bunch of plans, but you never know which one's going to make the most sense given the situation.
35:55: Let's work together to get those first 10 yards. In any case, I hope you found this video helpful.