You Didn't Ask My Opinion (But Here It Is Anyway)

Holiday Return and New CrossPolitic Podcast Plans

Well, I hope you had a fantastic holiday season. I am back in the saddle, and tomorrow is the 2nd of January, and that's when real life starts over again after a couple of weeks of, you know, hanging out and not quite working as hard as you normally do, and hopefully you're with family and all that kind of stuff.

So, anyway, we are back and ready to go. If you didn't hear, it was announced that I'm going to be joining the CrossPolitic Network, which is really exciting. That means for a lot of you who've been looking for me to start a podcast as opposed to these YouTube videos, that's what I'm going to be doing for them.

It's going to be a podcast format. The YouTube videos will still come out, but you'll also have an opportunity to listen on audio if that is what you want to do. I don't know why you want to listen to me, but hey, I'm cool with it.

Seven Things You Didn't Ask My Opinion On

But anyway, I wanted to do today, I think it's six, is it six or seven? Seven things that you didn't ask my opinion on, but I'm going to give it to you anyway. And this is seven things that kind of were making the rounds on the reformed social media sphere towards the end of last year.

So you might have already seen this stuff, but I'm going to give you my two cents and also let you know if I approve of it or if I disapprove of it. I bet you can guess more often than not I'm going to disapprove, but we will see.

Racist Virtue Signaling About Quoting Non-White Dudes

The very first one is this amazing tweet. I'm going to black out the name because it doesn't look like this lady is a blue check marks. I don't want to put her on blast, but I'm pretty sure you've probably seen as you can easily find it if you're really interested.

But here's a tweet that I found. It says, this is on the 30th, it says, pastors in 2019, do you think you could quote 52 non white dudes in your sermons, especially if you're a white dude? I disapprove of this, obviously.

I think this is one of the dumbest kind of comments ever, but you need to quote non white guys in order to be fully faithful, I guess. I don't know. Well, I'm not, I'm still not certain what skin color has to do with how you interpret the scriptures and how you understand biblical theology.

I'm still not quite sure the connection that people make that says, Hey, you know, if you've got darker skin, you might understand differently. I don't get that. But this kind of comment is racist and quite stupid.

And also let me just say that this kind of comment makes me like the way that I am on the inside, sort of like the sinful version of me, actually, I don't even know if it's simple. This is who knows. This makes me never to want to quote a non white dude.

Of course I don't care about skin color, but when you, when you try to force people to quote certain skin colors, it just, it honestly, most people just, it, it repulses them. Racism repulses most reasonable people.

And so I am not sure why this kind of racism is like applauded 401 week retweets, 2 ,800 likes, but I'll tell you what, this repulses me and it makes me never to want to do what you say. Now I don't really quote that many people from the pulpit except the actual scriptures themselves.

Uh, there, I do quote the Westminster confession quite often. I do quote the catechism, but I'll tell you right now, I'm not going around digging for quotes. I'm just trying to read the scripture and give the sense of it.

Like the Bible says, that's what I'm trying to do. But anyway, if you want to guarantee that in a given sermon, I will not quote a, a dark skinned person. Tell me that I have to, in order to not be racist.

I guarantee I won't do it. Speaking of virtue signaling, I got an end of the year email from the gospel coalition asking for some money and it was Don Carson. He said, help us keep the gospel coalition free for the next generation.

I did respond to this email. Um, but what I noticed, uh, you know, hello friend, uh, here's our resources. We want to keep this free, blah, blah, blah. Can you imagine a gospel coalition charged? I gotta be honest with you.

I can't even imagine a situation like that. But if you notice here in the events, one of the, one of their, uh, highlights of 2018 was this MLK 50 conference and look at, listen to how they describe it.

MLK 50 conference in Memphis co-hosted in April with the ERLC sought to advance racial unity in the church and the culture. Racial unity. Yeah. You mean like when Dr. Eric Mason called a bunch of people, Angloids on the inside,.

Multi-ethnicity isn't happening at your church is because you have a person that's black on the outside, but Angloid on the inside.

You mean like that kind of unity? Oh, you mean like the racial unity where, where Matt Chandler says, well, we can't find a black person that's qualified.

Therefore we got to lower the bar. Pastor Matt, if, if we find an Anglo eight and an African American seven, which one do you want? I said, I want the African American seven. And he said, what if we find an Anglo eight and an African American six?

And then I said, then give me the Anglo eight because for those black people to be in pastor.

Position, uh, like that kind of racial unity, the kind of racial unity that, um, is actually racist in itself. You can't fix sin with more sin. You can't fix partiality with more partiality, but that's what the MLK 50 conference was all about.

So no gospel coalition, I will not be giving you one red scent. Please stop asking me. I, you know, honestly, I don't really care that you know, I, I, I like being on their email list so I can see what they're up to.

Um, but as you can see, I responded, not a chance. Of course they will not respond to that. Anyway, speaking of gospel coalition, Dr. Tim Keller, or he's, is he a doctor? I always get confused. I don't know if he is a doctor, not that it matters.

I mean, I don't care if you have a PhD behind your name. What I care about is what you say. Here's Tim Keller. He said this before this year, but he said it again today on, I guess 20, 2019 is not going to be any different than 2018.

Always trying to be novel. Here's what Tim Keller says. Oh, by the way, I obviously disapprove of what the gospel coalition did in 2018 anyway, back to Tim Keller. Jesus is teaching consistently attracted the irreligious while offending the Bible, believing religious people of his day.

However, in the main, our churches do not have this effect. That can only mean one thing. If the preaching of our ministers and the practice of our parishioners do not have the same effect on people that Jesus had, then we must not be doing the declaring the same message that Jesus did.

So um, there's, I don't even know where to begin with this. This is not a good statement. A lot of people said, well, I kind of agree, but I'm not really sure. Were the Pharisees Bible believing religious people?

Well, they believe something. The whole, I thought the whole point of the fair, look, I'm not smarter than Tim Keller, but I thought the whole point of the Pharisees was that they had combined their ridiculous traditions with the Bible and pretended it as if it was God breathed.

So that was the problem. It wasn't that they believe the Bible too much or they were too faithful or they were too zealous to keep the law. That was not the problem with the Pharisees. The problem with the Pharisees is they made up their own law and pretended it was God's law and forced everybody else to follow their law as well.

That was the problem with the Pharisees. So no, this is not the problem. If you have a church full of Bible believing Christians who actually believe the real gospel and your church isn't repulsing them, that's not a problem with your message.

That's not a problem with your message. Likewise, if you have a church that is a sinners are attracted and everyone's coming in and they're just sitting all the way, that's not, that's not a sign that your church is faithful.

The logic of this statement is just, you could drive a truck through the hole in the logic of this statement. Speaking of saying, Oh, I obviously disapprove. Speaking of trying to say novel things, what is the deal with these kinds of statements?

I just don't get it. I just don't get it. This is so feminine. I don't understand. Look, I like John Piper. I like desiring God. Listen to this. Okay. Read the Bible. Good. Memorize the Bible. Great. That's something that I'm actually hoping to do a little bit more in 2019.

Read the Bible. Memorize the Bible. Speak the Bible. That's also good. Submit to the Bible. I agree. Completely. Love the Bible. I love the Bible. Yeah. I like the Bible. It's very, I love the words of God.

It's amazing. Marry the Bible this year. Marry the Bible this year. Why do we say things like this? Why do we say things like this? I mean, honestly, why do we say things like this? Where it's like, oh yeah, marry the Bible.

That's right. And you know, I don't even know. This blows my mind. No, you don't marry the Bible. Words have meaning. Words have actual meaning. Why do we have to say, I say it's girly, but it's not even girly.

It's just stupid because if I had a woman in my church and she asked me about how she should treat the Bible, I would say, hey, read the Bible, memorize the Bible, love the Bible, speak the Bible, submit to the Bible.

All those things are great. And then she said, you know, you know, should I marry the Bible? No, you should marry a man, marry a man and read the Bible. Why can't we just get, why do you have to say things like this?

Now, you know, one of my, one of our other brothers, Dr. Paul Maxwell says, well, it's because the readership is 80 female. And so you've got to say these feminine sounding things. No, you don't. Because the thing is, females benefit from, from, from doing theology like a man.

That's females benefit from that. They don't, they don't necessarily benefit from you acting like a woman and saying these flowery, weird types of things. I just don't get it. Why? Speaking of insanity.

Canceling Church for Christmas and Neglecting the Lord's Day

Oh, I disapprove. Obviously. Speaking of insanity, this whole situation, this whole situation here, I, this is I'm pulping in pen. Um, and I know you guys, a lot of you guys don't like pulping in pen.

Who cares? What I'm talking about is the story. SBC president cancels church for Christmas break, cancels, cancels the Lord's day. As if, as if anyone could cancel the Lord's day, right? SBC president J .D. Greer has canceled the Lord's day.

Christmas didn't even fall on Sunday. As evil as that would be. I, you know, some people cancel church on Sunday. I don't get it, but at least you can kind of understand what's going on in their brains.

Like it's sinful. Yeah. But, but at least I could see where you're going with that. A lot of people are traveling this and that. So I'm going to cancel because not a lot of people are going to be here.

You know, it's, it's wrong. I'm not giving, it's not an excuse. I'm just saying I could understand how that mind works, but just like I can understand a lot of sinful thoughts. You know what I mean? You know, a guy's not happy with his wife.

I can understand his thought process. When he gets a little attention at the office from another female, you know, talking to her, I can understand the thought process, even though it's evil, it's sinful.

I, you know, you should flee from that. I can understand it. What I don't understand is this Christmas was on Tuesday. This guy, the SBC president, J .D. Greer, Mr. Woke himself canceled church, canceled the Lord's day.

Yeah, people, God, you know, they're tired. They don't need the preached word today. Oh, you know, people, God, they're, they're exhausted from the year. They don't need the Lord's supper. I, although I doubt they do the Lord's supper every week, but you know, whatever.

They're not meeting because we don't need to, to worship God in song and spirit and truth. Nah, nah, just worship at home. No big deal. I saw a brother, uh, look at worship at home. There are no services at our campus this week.

This is a great chance to worship at home with your family. You know, here's the thing. You should be worshiping at home with your family anyway, catechisms songs, if it's appropriate, things like that.

I mean, let's just be honest. Let's just be honest. I know a lot of people who listen to me are in the SBC. That fight's over. I mean, honestly, that fight is over. I mean, I know you have to go through the motions and things like that, but this woke stuff, that's what's, that's, what's really important to them.

It's this woke stuff, worship of God and how he wants to be worked. This is why the woke stuff exists, by the way, because you could segregate fellowship in the gospel coalition because really the worship of God is not what's is the most ultimate.

What's, what's important is the diversity. You know, the worship of God isn't what's ultimate. What's important is that you have a black person in leadership. That's what's important. That's how this stuff is, is getting by because this, this is, this is not about worshiping God.

Look, if this was about worshiping God, as exhausted as you are, you get your to church and you worship God as I'm exhausted every Sunday. I've got three kids. I've got three kids. I've got one that's six weeks old.

I've got a four year old and I've got a two year old. I'm exhausted. And not only that I run a business, I, uh, I, uh, I, I, I volunteer on the, on the board of the local pregnancy center. I got stuff going on and I have to write sermons and I have to do this.

And I'm exhausted every Sunday. And you know what? It's the Lord's day. It's not my day. So I just don't get this. It just makes absolutely no sense at all. Obviously I disapprove. Speaking of things that make no sense.

Jesus as Refugee and Political Misuse of Christmas Imagery

Here's my girl. Oh, frozen. I'm frozen. Here. She is my buddy. Qua sister. Come on, load up. Don't don't fail me. There she is. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says Jesus was a refugee in a tweet. Now we all know of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is exceptional Christian bona fides.

And so here's what she says. Joy to the world. Merry Christmas, everyone. Here's to a holiday filled with happiness, family, and love for all people, except the unborn that are unwanted, obviously. Including babies, refugee babies in mangers and their parents.

What's the, what's the deal with this meme? Jesus is a refugee. You know, honestly, like if you, if you break it down and you look at how we define a refugee, like someone fleeing, you know, some danger or something like that.

And then technically when they had to, you know, the, the, the, the flee into Egypt. Where's what were they refugees? I guess so. There were lots of different things, but who cares? What does this have to do with anything?

This has nothing to do with anything. The way that the refugee crisis is happening now, this has nothing to do with that. Okay. And so do I approve of calling Jesus a refugee? Not really, but it's okay.

I guess I, I, you know, if you want to call, but let's stop bringing it into your political agendas because the fact let's just say you give him refugee status, right? At that moment in time, he was a refugee.

He was fleeing, uh, Herod, they fled to Egypt to fulfill the prophecy. Um, and let's just say you want to call him a refugee. I don't agree. I don't think that makes any sense, but let's just say, I imagine, imagine having to say this, I don't think it makes any sense to call the God of the universe a refugee.

I don't think that's that complicated. I don't think it's that controversial, but let's just say you want to fine. It has nothing to do with whatever the politics that you want to push today. So stop saying, I find it amazing.

It's kind of like when, when people say, uh, Oh yeah, you know, it doesn't even matter what color Jesus was, by the way, he wasn't white and it's like, okay, but if it doesn't matter, why are you telling me?

And what's the point? It's because it does matter to you. Oh, just don't get it. I just don't get it. Speaking of crazy liberals. Oh, by the way. So for this one, I kind of approve. Thanks, Alexandria.

I do appreciate you, uh, tipping your hat to Christianity. Thank you very much. Speaking of crazy liberals, here's a psychopath talking to children about abortion and it makes sense. Actually this, I actually approve of this because you know what the, the kind of a mind that is, uh, is, is rationalizing infanticide really is on the level of a child.

And so I kind of approve of this, this crazy woman, uh, trying to indoctrinate, uh, kids into abortion and things like that. In fact, she's going to write a book about abortion, shout your abortion for children.

Um, this is a crazy person. I kind of approve this. And I kind of, I kind of like when crazy people show how crazy they are. So anyway, this is, uh, something I approve of this psychotic woman, uh, talks to some kids about abortion and argues that's about the level that she's at.

I get it. Um, because if you have any illusions that a, that a, that a, that a baby in the womb is not a human being, uh, that you are just, you're crazy. You're at the level of a child. You could, you believe anything.

Um, but anyway, I feel bad for this kid. He just sitting here being used as a pawn by people. This is actually quite racist. You being used by this white woman, this black kid to push her, her, uh, psychotic agenda.

But anyway, I hope that you enjoyed that. I went a little crazy there. I don't even know why. Um, my first video in a while. So I'm kind of just getting back in the swing of things. Hope this was helpful.

God bless.