The New Christian Right and Their Associations

Well, good afternoon and Happy New Year. It is the last day of 2024 and It is a beautiful day here in upstate New York. It is unseasonably.

Warm.

You know with yesterday and today it's probably 46 degrees or so which for me means I can come outside in shorts. That's how acclimated I am. But I wanted to make this video because I wanted to share with you a thought.

Why the New Christian Right Is Forming New Associations

I have an addendum to add to the discussion of a biblical separation that I made yesterday on the podcast and. That addendum is this. I was thinking about the new Christian right if you want to call them that.

I guess I would be part of that and some of the things that we're navigating some of the challenges and.

The.

Associations that are forming because of meeting those challenges and I've seen people say that the new Christian right or Christian nationalists or whatever name they want to use are The young restless and reformed.

You know.

Come coming again, it's like the second coming of them or Shepherds for sale 2 .0. Right? It's it's like a second Big Eva. It's whatever smears they want to use and I think what's going on in part and maybe primarily is a.

A.

Mentality that has been cultivated over the last few decades in reformed evangelical circles specifically that has seen the big threat posed to Christians as stemming from bad soteriology bad ecclesiology and Conferences have been fashioned around those things.

Preaching that's not expository right, so Typically what you'll see it like Shepherds conference or even g3 or Ligonier any of these big conferences even t4g I think had this was it'd be pastors primarily.

It would be pastors who would come and they'd expose it even if it wasn't expository preaching. They at least tried to pass it off as expository preaching, right? And what's happening now is there is a huge set of cultural challenges that and political challenges that Younger Christians Millennials and Gen Z Christians are looking at and they're saying That and they're for formed primarily a lot of these guys I think are from reforming their soteriology, but they're saying I Haven't heard answers to my questions.

I haven't heard these things addressed at in those venues you know some guy like Alistair Begg who's Platformed and many of these places who's this great expository of the Word of God can't even give you a basic answer on whether you Should attend a gay wedding.

At least he can't give you the right answer on that. And there's been a lot of failures, obviously the Steve Lawson thing, but I think in general even you know, you pick your best preachers. There's there's just been a lack of understanding and And Willingness, perhaps it perhaps its willingness.

I'm trying to come up with the most charitable explanation I can here for navigating some of the very pressing questions of the moment questions like what is a nation? How should nations be organized?

I think we have the what is a woman down pretty that's an easy one. We have that down I think but do you hear a lot? sermons about. These kinds of things there might be some breakout sessions here and there but I'm just telling you from my own observations the Guidance has been lacking on Very definitional things.

I mean the Southern Baptist Convention Splitting over and not even being able to affirm what a pastor is the pastor has to be a male. I mean, that's really what happened. I know some people would disagree with my interpretation of that.

But I think the fact that there even was a question and a battle over this recently is crazy. So definitions are being challenged and Really? What has happened is people are coalescing and forming relationships with others who agree with what I just said that definitions are being challenged and they want to reinforce the Creation order that Christ has established in this world now some of these people May not be in line with all of our theology and I think of you know, Armenians now.

People are more people from the reformed world or more willing to associate with Armenians on podcasts Conferences than they have been in the past that was seen as a huge issue in the last few years. Especially with the young wrestlers from reform movement, right?

So reform soteriology Was a huge issue. We didn't have Armenians at our conferences. That's now not the case. And I think it's also broadened into some areas that make people very uncomfortable. And I talked about that a little bit on the podcast but having Calvin Robinson at this event in April I've only had one person talk to me about this.

So I don't know that many people have had a big deal you know thought it was a big deal, but maybe some well, you know having Paul Godfrey that a Christianity in the founding conference that I'm organizing.

These are things that You know, they just weren't done even a few years ago and I think what it reminds people of who are coming from that more reformed evangelical camp is Compromises with in the political world where you have Christians partnering we still see this actually turning point USA right Christians partnering with atheists even and You know Glenn Beck's a Mormon and Glenn Beck's gonna be there and and and this is makes people uncomfortable and rightly so and I think there's actually there's a lot to be said a lot of wisdom that young reform people can pull from the errors of the Moral majority and the Christian coalition and you know these kinds of legacy Christian right movements.

Because they did start off primarily evangelical but then especially throughout the 90s it broadened out to Judeo-christian and family values and you know let's have the biggest coalition we can did to Get the most votes for the Republicans and and that's I mean, I'm not lying to you.

That's really the flavor I was at many of these events and I get it and I think they just wanted to Establish or at least reinforce Christian morality that have been present that wasn't anymore and I totally a hundred percent get that.

But if you're gonna do that, you have to have very clear lines and oftentimes those lines weren't clear. There was a conference not long ago where I don't want to give all the details because it doesn't matter.

I talked to people who were involved some of them very good people who were involved in speaking at this thing. But you know Glenn Beck was a Mormon obviously and he was there and he was presented as a Christian.

This was a for Christian men and women. This was we're gonna teach you how to be a Christian in your I guess political Pursuits and Glenn Beck's part of this he's gonna help you and You know, that's that's something to be very careful of you don't want to give the impression someone is a Christian when they're not.

But at the same time it's fine to have a conference it's fine to have a partnership that is not a compromising partnership. That's a partnership over things that are something like the pro-life movement something that you share in common With someone else like a political issue.

There's no problem going and Supporting an issue that someone else also supports now back to the new Christian, right? I think what's happening with the new Christian, right is. They want to get more serious they don't want to just have a bland kind of political rah-rah which We're used to those things.

It's basically a political rally you go. There's usually a few issues that they have maybe that's one issue. But they they're getting all the people who care about that issue together and hey we're gonna really show our support for pro-life or you know anti same-sex marriage a decade ago or We don't want women in Competing with men in sports and you know these kinds of things right religious liberty.

They want something a lot more robust they want to come together and have something that's similar to the conferences I just described that feature expository preaching and maybe some deeper thought and Some biblical knowledge as well, but they they want to focus on some of these bigger questions about what should we be doing practically?

Culturally.

In.

Politics in our communities and how do we answer some of the pressing questions? I think I mentioned on the podcast yesterday and someone asked me a question the other day that I thought you know. This wouldn't be addressed at any of those conferences I just mentioned but it's a question that I'm sure a lot of people have about how they navigate the workplace environment that they're in when they're asked to compromise in certain ways and how far is too far and.

These are the questions that they have and they want to go to scripture. But I think that What's happened is they're looking around them and they're seeing. Wow some of these expository preachers haven't even addressed this and some of them get it wrong when they do like Alistair Begg and They're you know, you look around you think Alistair Begg or Calvin Robinson.

Calvin Robinson has some really weird things. He said online lately about soteriology that lead me to wonder where he's at in my opinion. But hey, I know where he stands on a gay wedding, you know, and I think that's what's going on and so here's my advice to People for anyone out there who's listening who wants to do podcasts do books do conferences any of that stuff?

It is important to try to make sure that there are separations Involved that if you're gonna do a conference and you're giving the impression that everyone there is a Christian. You know, it's the pastors conference turning point.

USA is the biggest one in my mind for this. They have pastor summits with atheists speaking and and others who are heterodox. Make sure that you make clear when you have someone who's from the outside coming in why they're there that they're not there as a representative perhaps they're they're.

You know in the case of Calvin Robinson coming to this this conference in April. He's gonna give a report from England what happened to the Church of England? How did it compromise? What kind of lessons can we learn about the church in the United States and how to avoid some of those pitfalls?

I'm sure he's gonna have some very useful things to say that because he's lived through something that many of us have not but you know That doesn't mean that he is that his soteriology is something that we should endorse or that his ecclesiology or you know whatever other theological Issue even a primary importance is something that we necessarily endorse, but it does mean he supports the same created order that we are trying to Reinforce and establish where it's been lost and that's the dividing line now I think at a lot of these events in these conferences where people think it's compromised, but it's really just We're getting together for a different purpose.

We're not getting together to Exposit the Word of God because of something ecclesiocentric or soteriological it is we're coming together to answer a set of questions for a particular time and that time is now and It's not being answered in the legacy Christian institutions.

And so You know Christ is King Christ is not just King of our salvation and our hearts and our churches and our homes. He's the he's the king of everything. He's established an order out there in the world that We are responsible to abide by and there are people some people who aren't even Christians who have not been born again who seem to Support much of that order in ways that those who have been born again do not and and this is this gets back to a discussion really about natural law and whether or not there are unbelievers who are Can do things that are in accordance with God's plan that he set up for example, you know, I've given the example many times of Fathers who are give their sons a fish instead of a snake or the rich man when he's on his way to hell He's caring about his family or you're worse than an unbeliever.

If you don't take care of your family. These are all things that unbelievers are capable of doing and recognizing in the created order and helping to reinforce even I would say that there's sadly some Christians who say they they are been born again and perhaps they have who are not willing to as Much and and so because the pressing issues of the time are what is a woman?

What is a nation? What is a marriage? What should hierarchy look like in society? What should labor relationships look like how should we arrange things right? These are the big questions there, you know.

Let's go back to the drawing board and figure it out. You're going to wind up with some people from other traditions Who have some useful thoughts who have thought through some of these things in deeper ways than many of the quote-unquote Expositors that we have that have been championed in the church over the last few decades.

And so I think that's what's going on. So anyway go back back to my advice. I think it is important to draw those lines when it's appropriate and to let people know. I think people assume on a podcast that you know I don't necessarily agree with all my guests.

Some of them may not even be Christians. But I'm I have a specific purpose that I have them on and I've had Calvin Robinson on. I didn't know about all his beliefs. But I had him on to talk about the Church of England and the stand that he made and I don't regret that and I think People understood that's why I had him on and I think that's why he's coming to this conference in April.

I mean, I'm having Paul Godfrey who? identifies with Protestantism, but it's not a Doesn't go to church as far as I understand. I don't think he's born again. I'd like to see him born again let's pray for him, but he's coming out to a conference that I'm organizing and It's very clear why he's coming, you know, it's it's not a big question in my mind.

But I'm gonna make that extra effort so that people know this is someone from the outside and he's talking about this specific topic. He's gonna be talking about the social implicated in political perhaps Contributions that Protestants have made to the United States of America and that's why he's there as an expert.

Coming in not as someone who I'm gonna go to to interpret Romans from right which is what we expect from typically in the Reformed evangelical world from our heroes who preach at these conferences and so hopefully that clears some more up and helps you think through these things and just had that thought and Pray for people who are navigating these issues and you know, my hope is that we'll see these questions addressed more and more and you know, maybe it will come to a point you don't really need my podcast as much because everyone's talking about some of the things that obviously I my podcast is conversations that matter that I think matter, but until then I'm gonna keep doing the podcast and Yeah, I just want to share that thank you, thank you for listening and I hope you have a wonderful 2024 and as always send me any comments critiques cries of outrage Conundrums and whatever else you have by now.