What the Church Can Learn from the World?, James Cone in Heaven?, & TGC on Economics

Conversations That Matter

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Welcome to the conversations that matter podcast. My name is John Harris. It is early evening on New Year's Eve right now

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And I'm still kind of in Christmas vacation mode Didn't comb my hair or put on a nice shirt

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I'm actually kind of sick right now, and it was worse about a week ago. I my poor in -laws

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I went up to New York with my wife to celebrate Christmas and You know, I had to check out of dinner

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I had to check out of Church service that night the Christmas Eve service. I was kind of in a corner

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Huddled up and I won't I'll spare you the details on the symptoms But then 1230 that night

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I get up and I go to the restroom and I passed out at least twice like blacked out on the floor

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Wake up that way How did this happen and just sweat pouring from my forehead and it was kind of like a mini flu for 24 hours

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So I'm still recovering from that which is why You can tell my my nose is kind of stuffed up But I got ambitious so it's kind of my fault.

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I decided that I would go on a hike. I thought on Christmas Day that night.

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I thought I'm better now. So on Saturday I decided to go on a hike with my brother and some friends and if you're watching on On YouTube, you can see there's a picture here of this is a waterfall in Minnewaska State Park in New York and sometimes

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The ice will actually create like a cone, you know, it's a little warmer this year So you don't see it as much but it'll go like a third of the way up that Falls but it's still pretty you can see the icicles and cold enough though to Bring some symptoms back around that I'm still dealing with all that to say we are entering the new year here

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And that's an exciting time. I think of the John Wayne quote where he talks about every day comes to us as Clean and hoping we learn something from the day before and every year is like that and hopefully you have some resolutions things that you

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Want to change in the next year. I know I want to be more disciplined in my devotional life

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I'd like to become Whether you agree with Doug Wilson or not. I'd like to become in some ways more like Doug Wilson I was thinking about this today and I don't have like an actual formula for What it is

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I'm trying to do but there's this idea of being a cheerful warrior And Doug Wilson seems to be this guy like nothing really gets to him

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He loves his family loves where he is in life loves his church and takes a stand for the truth That's uncompromising and I think we all need to learn to be more that way and again whether you like Doug Wilson or not

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He's just a guy that stands out to me is having In some sense mastered that and so that that's kind of that's the character that I'd like to inculcate in myself and so How to get there obviously be in the word more be in prayer but learn from men who are like that and one of the reasons that we need that is because We are at a time right now that in Christianity and evangelical institutions

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I'm talking about gospel coalition ERLC SBC entities PCA etc all the publishing companies

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Where the world is really infringing on the church We're adopting categories from the world personalities ideas philosophies for Christians for the church trying to get take our cues from what they think and It's dangerous.

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It's really dangerous and it's been happening for a while But I think it's become it's become worse and it just stands out to me this year

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I mean even you know, the social justice fight which I focus on quite a bit. That's just one component in this

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There's just a lot of ways that the world is infringing on the church And so I want to talk about that a little bit today

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I thought about doing something funny just because it is kind of like a Christmas vacation time and I'm in that mode and everyone else could probably use a laugh but And I think we will have one at the end by the way

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Someone sent me a gospel coalition video. That was just so ridiculous I watched the first few minutes haven't watched the whole thing, but we'll do it together and it hopefully it'll be funny but but a lot of the things that I was thinking making fun of I just wanted to cry when

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I thought of it because It's like this is pathetic. This is so pathetic and You know,

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I was driving for about three hours today And I was thinking about what I wanted to say and and I thought you know

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This needs to be a little more serious We need to identify that this is a problem because a lot of Christians don't see it and we need to know how to approach

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It I think and so I'm gonna hopefully give you some ideas that will help us along both of those

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Directions to understand what the problem is and how to approach it I'm gonna talk a little bit about the term world

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First of all, because look here's the thing the term world can be defined differently even in Scripture We see

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God so loved the world and then in first John to Verse 16 wait, the world is the lust of flesh lust the eyes pride of life.

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God doesn't love that right? No, he doesn't and so John is using the world in different ways, right and You think of the

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Amish the Amish want to be separate from the world. So what do they do? They get rid of all their technology At just about they try to act like they're in the 1800s and live that way

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And I think we would all agree that's an overreaction I mean the fact that you're listening to me right now probably on iTunes or on YouTube I mean you're using technology that isn't necessarily

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Christian, right? I don't think Christians developed at least they didn't develop all the components that went into creating something like YouTube So we we wear clothes that wasn't that weren't manufactured in the church

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You know, we we engage in the world in some way right where we just naturally do that We don't have to purposely go out and do some cultural engagement.

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We're in the culture and that's how we live now That's not wrong, right? Because I think we can recognize that in the time biblical times.

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They did that as well they were using parchment and You know, whatever rudimentary technologies they had.

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I'm sure Jesus for carpentry wasn't using, you know, specifically Was this were these believers in the one true

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God who made this plane, you know There's he was using things that came in some ways from the world, but they wouldn't come as if there's in the sense that their source was the world in the sense that They came from sinful ideas that set themselves up against the

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Lord You can have a scientist or a mathematician, right that goes out and finds truth or even you know

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Pick your field they can find something that's true and they're living on the borrowed capital from a

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Christian worldview in order to do it I believe but but they're they're doing it because they are approaching

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God's world and they're finding God's truth That's different than Allowing philosophies that undermine

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God's truth that contradict God's truth that are based on lies That as I just pointed out in first John chapter 2 that Puff up pride in us that appeal to the lust of our flesh and lust of our eyes, you know, that's in a different category and You can't be a

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Christian and love those things. That's what first John says and so so I think there's there's a difference between those two things between the world in the sense of the technology of the world the

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You know, it's it's a different world. We're talking about material things. We're talking about Non -christians can because of common grace they can engage

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The the world around them and come to some truthful conclusions right by trusting their senses by using what

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God gave them but then there are those who start out with faulty ideas build philosophies on them and Liberation theology is an example of that The critical race theory we're dealing with is an example of that Post -modernism is an example of that.

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These are things that They are false their lies and their systems of belief that have set themselves up against the knowledge of God So we have many verses that would tell us that Christians should not engage

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Psalm 1 Colossians I believe chapter 2 as I just pointed out first John chapter 2

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Etc, etc, etc. And so we We need to define world and and so if we define it as the lust of flesh lust the eyes boastful pride of life

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Philosophies based on that it's that system that I think we're off to we're off we're on a good footing to start this off because many times hiding behind and ambiguity can confuse the issue and so My question right off the bat here and I'm gonna go back to something.

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I haven't talked about yet because It the news broke right as I was recording my podcast from about a week ago

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And so I didn't have time to really include it. But what would cause the evangelicals? to Throw Trump Donald Trump the president of the

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United States under the bus like Christianity today did When 81 % of evangelicals voted for him, that's a serious question.

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I want you to think about this Because 81 % of evangelicals thought how whatever their logic was whether it was just Trump is better than Hillary or they thought he's gonna be better for the pro -life cause because of the judges he'll appoint whatever their logic was 81 % of them decided to pull the lever for Trump and You have a big organization big evangelical organization

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Christianity Today Put out an article Against Trump by their chief editor

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Mark Galley who I believe is on his way out if I'm not mistaken Which is probably why he was able to do this Trump should be removed from office as the title and I I read this and You know,

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I want to kind of give some Some analysis just short analysis to this in hindsight because we're past the big

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I mean there's been several responses that have been very good and we're kind of past the time when People have just analyzed this thing and been out just about it.

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Now. We're kind of moving on What I'd like to suggest is that Christianity Today has lost their sense of proportion and it's not just them

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I think many organizations have lost their sense of proportion and What do

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I mean by that? Well, here's some quotes. We have reserved judgment on mr. Trump for years now So Mark Galley says they've reserved

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Judgment on him. They haven't talked about him They haven't said that he should be impeached so stop right there and think about this for just one second

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All of the things that Donald Trump has done Even before he was president, right?

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even with this Scandal that the sex scandal that took place all none of that Caused them to react the way that they're reacting now.

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It's important right things that were actually in opposition to Christianity Right, and you could say here's his character and here's what the

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Bible says and it doesn't match and it doesn't seem like he cares That wasn't enough. They reserved their judgment.

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Okay fair enough But now for some reason that's changed and why has it changed well

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Here's the quote from the article The president of the United States attempted to use his political power to coerce a foreign leader to harass and discredit one of the president's

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Political opponents that is not only a violation of the Constitution more importantly. It is profoundly immoral.

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So the president should be impeached because of this whole phone call with the president of Ukraine in Which I mean

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I've read the transcript that was released within which Donald Trump asked if he would work with the

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Attorney General to look into a situation with Joe Biden's son in which there was there was corruption going on there was conflict of interest and It looked like Joe Biden that previous administration

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Had gotten in the way of prosecution. So so so there's political corruption

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Donald Trump asks the president of Ukraine to look into it to work not even to look into it to just work with the

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Attorney General on looking into it and Because Joe Biden is running for president this is viewed as in a horrible immoral thing

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Because it's conflict of interest and Trump is just trying to do oppo research and make his opponent potentially in the 2020 election look bad.

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I haven't heard any left -wing source question what was going on with Hunter Biden who

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Doesn't have didn't have at least any experience with oil and gasoline sitting on this company the board of this company in Ukraine The whole thing looks like nepotism the whole thing looks like there's probably corruption that was going on and Donald Trump's comment is

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Less than forceful. It's very offhanded. It's hey if you could work with the Attorney General, that would be great

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That is what Christianity Today says because the Democrats have chosen that as their issue to impeach

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Donald Trump, which is unprecedented to be honest with you For that to be the reasoning Christianity Today has now dogpiled with the

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Democrats and said this is so immoral. They're so outraged now look I'm open to the idea that there's reasons if you want to I mean,

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I'm very Constitutionalist, I guess I I mean I think just about every president since Probably Abraham Lincoln.

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There's some exceptions in there, but most presidents have overstepped their constitutional boundaries I think executive orders are so abused.

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I mean I could go on but There are reasons I can think of constitutionally that you might want to get rid of Trump, but they would also apply to Obama There are reasons morally why a

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Christian would say his characters is has not been good in the past And why we should denounce it and I don't know if you want to make an argument that that should lead to impeachment then sure but This is flimsy and the only reason

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I can think of for Christianity Today to go this direction is because the Democrats went this direction now

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Remember what I said before 81 % of evangelicals voted for Donald Trump.

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I don't think that Christianity Today is doing this because they're principled if they were principled they would have chosen a different time

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So their timing in my opinion is off. They're doing this When the

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Democrats are impeaching for a flimsy reason Their rationale is off that this is supposedly the such a violation of the

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Constitution. How so there's no proof there really isn't They don't have an alternative

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I mean are they just doing this because they really hope that Pence could get in there I mean it again that goes back to timing

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That would have been something that you would have picked that you would have done years ago you would have called for that and You know to write on the cusp of an election to then try to hurt

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Donald Trump Well, what's your alternative? Was it is it Pete Buttigieg? Is it you know who's gonna be in there is it

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Biden himself that you'd rather have win? And they're taking their cue from the Democratic Party now

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Apparently Christianity Today's readership has gone up as a result of this and they're an elitist

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Magazine, there's no doubt You know, there was a quote from Mark Galley had said that this was making the rounds right after this article in a book

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Recently that he didn't know anyone no evangelicals that had voted for Trump he even called himself an elitist and You know, he's definitely living in a bubble if what he said was true because 81 % voted for Donald Trump, so Christianity Today though has been on this path for a long time.

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I'm going to show you something This is from a book that I was recently reading by David Wells called

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No Place for Truth. I recommend it Here's what he says about Christianity Today now, he's going back to 1989.

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He's comparing 1959 to 1989 and he says 20 % of the magazine was given to covering religious news 15 % to reviewing books of serious scholarship and 36 % to expounding the content of the

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Bible and meaning of biblical doctrine for the modern world That was in 1959 three decades later having responded to the suggestions of sophisticated marketing surveys

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The editors had changed the content Drastically the news coverage was doubled from 20 to 40 percent.

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The book section was cut from 15 to 9 percent And the biblical and doctrinal content was reduced from 36 to 8 percent

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Listen to that biblical content reduced from 36 to 8 percent in place of the former commitment to biblically

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Derived truth was a whole new interest in success stories about the churches and ministries as well as personal testimonies

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He goes on to talk about there was a regular section in 1959 called a layman and his faith and by 1989

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He said this column was replaced and it He titled it he said it should have been titled the lay people look at themselves

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It was about the pains of growing up the pains of growing up as a fundamentalist kid the pains of midlife crisis problems of marriage

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Struggling with homosexuality, etc, etc. And here's the quote that I really want you to you to think about he says in these three decades the laity had apparently moved from a doctrinally framed faith the central concern of which was truth to a therapeutically constructed faith the central concern of which was psychological survival

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Christian truth went from being an end in itself to being merely merely the means to personal healing

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Thus was biblical truth eclipsed by the self and holiness by the wholeness

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So that's what David Wells has to say about Christianity today, and he wrote this in 1994 so 1994

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He's saying Christianity today has gone worldly That's what he's saying and he's saying the reason for that is that and I'm just gonna give you as a basic argument in the book

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Pastors are no longer pastors. They are therapists they're Organizers their managers is the word he uses they are trying to seek legitimacy in a secular world by being something other than a shepherd of sheep and We are down the path farther now and now pastors are not only those two things not just therapists not just Organizers Managers they are now community organizers

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They're they're they are trying to market themselves as having a social function and Christianity itself

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Now is trying to market themselves as having a social function as an end in and of itself

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Christianity has a social function. It's better for cultures when there's Christians even a cultural

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Christianity is better than paganism But that was never an end in and of itself.

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That was just the result. Well now it's an end in and of itself and You see this in Christianity today.

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You see this in gospel coalition. You see this in ERLC They are trying to show the world

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What kind of contributions they have? to give and they're trying to take their cues from the world as far as what they should be what they think the world wants them to be and This is a good example of that now when

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I say the world again Am I talking about technology and no I'm not I'm talking about the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes boastful pride of Life, where do you think that lives?

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What comes to your mind when I say that those phrases maybe the Hollywood, right? Maybe the pornographic business the the media maybe maybe a woman who or a doctor who would kill a baby before it's born

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For the sake of convenience I mean does that strike you as maybe being consistent with lust of the flesh lust of the eyes boastful pride of life sexual promiscuity

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No rules at all. You can do what you want moral anarchy What political party represents those things?

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It's not the Republican Party. Yeah, there's people in the Republican Party that are Real birds, right?

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Donald Trump, especially in the past and I can't speak for him today. But in the past, yeah, he's

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Before he was president, especially he had affairs. He even bragged about them at times There's Republicans who is very very immoral

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But is that what the party has stood for or does the party allow evangelical Christians and their ideas?

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From the Bible a seat at the table. They do Democrats boo. God. They don't let those things in there's no place in the

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Democratic Party for those ideas and so you have a party that is

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Just completely attached to the moral depravity that exists in places like Hollywood and Las Vegas and moral anarchy sexual anarchy and Christianity today

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Knowing all this if they have even one eye open They have a problem with Donald Trump having a conversation with the president of Ukraine about corruption in Hunter Biden Do you see how we've lost our sense of proportion?

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Do you see how they rather than doing something you think would make sense siding with the 81 %?

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Evangelicals who voted for Donald Trump rather than doing that They want to be they will what they want to be in the good graces of I'm gonna say it the world

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This world system and the world system has a political party that they love. It's called the

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Democratic Party All right, and I look at their platforms compare them.

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This isn't even really up for debate. So I I you can laugh or cry at that.

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I choose to cry right now because it's just so sad to see this happening But Christianity today is not a

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Christian magazine in my opinion anymore So this is this is where we're at.

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And this is why I think the social justice movement is Preceding the way it is. It's based on envy. It's it's the lust of the flesh.

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It's the lust. I want something lust of the eyes It's the pride of life. It's not because of I I didn't do this to myself.

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I didn't create the situation You know what? It's it's someone else did it social justice is the What first John was warning about it's part of that.

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It is a system that is consistent with what first John is warning about It is the whole thing runs off of lust of the flesh lust of the eyes boastful pride of life

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I'm so good. I'm not responsible for the situation that I'm in. It's someone else's fault.

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I want what they have Right, and I want to hurt them So Christians are now

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Forwarding the same ideas that you hear in the secular world that have sinful ideas at their base sinful inclinations now

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I Was listening. I think this is good to talk about here

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There's actually I'm gonna talk about some articles real quick Where I see the world coming in in pathetic ways.

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So here's Here's an article that came out in the

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Gospel Coalition earlier this year this is from May What Western Christians can learn from the

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BTS phenomenon what Christians can learn from the

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BTS phenomenon? So this is like a Korean pop group and Here are the three points of the article the next generation

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Church is more open to diversity and willing to be influenced by diverse leaders and influencers Okay, the next generation

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Church ought to look more diverse Okay, and then next Billy Graham may not be white

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Fine with me. This is James Choi who wrote this Now this is something

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Number one that this whole emphasis on diversity. I don't see that in the

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Bible I see the emphasis in the Bible on unity not diversity How we can be diverse and we come together and we're unified in Christ, right

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So the emphasis is just way off first of all, but secondly Why do we have to go to Korean boys band to learn this?

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I Give you exhibit B This is an article that came out.

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I think in November Russell Moore put it out. It was featured on Gospel Coalition I found it through the ERLC what the church can learn from Sesame Street And Here's a quote

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I wonder what would happen if our churches were to recognize our role in showing people the future not just in our teaching and in our going but in our being

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Okay, I have to laugh a little Russell Moore he can say a lot of things without saying much What kind of witness could be to our communities?

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could we be to our communities as fragmented as they are by race and class and economics and politics if the very makeup of our

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Congregation signaled the manifold wisdom of God in which there here is no Greek nor Jew circumcised or uncircumcised etc

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What if our children were accustomed to seeking to seeing black pastors a majority white churches and vice versa?

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What if a hotel janitor were named chairman of deacons in a wealthy suburban megachurch? Because all recognized his spiritual maturity and nothing else mattered

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What if our church has pioneered tort reform not by arbitration alone, but by Christians agreeing cheerfully to be defrauded and what?

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And what if all that started to seem normal to us All right with I don't have time to get sucked into the weeds on this one.

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That's what he got from Sesame Street, though That's what he got from Sesame Street because Sesame Street was showing diversity

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Before like civil rights legislation, I guess and before Integration was happening full although I don't even know if that's true.

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That was kind of simultaneous but they the idea is that Sesame Street was Encouraging diversity in communities.

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Can't the church do that? Can't the church encourage diversity? So it's similar to the other article, but Again emphasis in Scripture is on unity not diversity and then to make those things an end in a in and of themselves

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That's what's weird about this whole thing If look I've been to churches where you have guys who are you have rich people that aren't in leadership

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And you have people that aren't that rich that are in positions of leadership and I've seen churches.

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I mean the church I grew up in most of the time growing up. It was mostly Caucasian I didn't really think about it and we did have some leaders who were of different ethnicities whether it's

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Latino or African -american So I I don't really have a problem with any of those things

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But we didn't pursue it like we're gonna you know, like Sesame Street. We're gonna like purposely make episodes We're gonna purposely put these people in leadership

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Just to change the culture like the culture naturally changes as you just apply the gospel, right? So You could point out that hey if you're in a church that is racist and they don't allow people of certain

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Socio -economic backgrounds to become leaders or certain ethnicities to become leaders then that's not consistent with what we learn in Scripture That's fine point that out, but then don't do something like well, we're gonna figure we're gonna take those cues from Sesame Street and furthermore

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We're gonna make that an end in and of itself that everyone's just got to like push to make this happen

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It that's kind of what I'm talking about when I say the church is going in a worldly direction I think that article is that well, it's a good example exhibit

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B. Here's exhibit C this just came out from the Seminary that I went to Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary their intersect project they put out this article uniting around a baby what baby

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Yoda can teach us about Christmas and Here's a quote in a time of dissension social media rage and ideological anger a baby does unite us not a tiny green force

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Sensitive toddler in a galaxy far far away, but a baby born in Bethlehem We unite around the

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God who brings salvation to all at Christmas We remember that though we are different though. We are often divided

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We have something deep and dear that draws us together a baby who is Christ the

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Lord Here's what's kind of ridiculous about this. What do baby

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Yoda and baby Jesus have in common? Nothing other than their babies and people like them.

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And so here's the ridiculous part of this Somehow the church needs the world needs needs

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Hollywood baby Yoda to tell them at Christmastime a time when everyone even people who are in the world who aren't

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Christians Recognize who baby Jesus is that's the time that they need baby

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Yoda to tell them that babies bring people together I mean you're you are grasping at straws.

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I just this is embarrassing This is the seminary I went to and then Danny Akin's in a controversy right now for James Cone and Liberation Theology But this this didn't create maybe because it's so ridiculous like it couldn't create a

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Controversy because it's like where's it's not heresy. It's just weird. It's just ridiculous. So So here's what's going on Christians are adopting

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Characters in this case ideas from the world to forward as an end in and of itself a moral objective

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Diversity in the first two we need to be more diverse I'm gonna look to the world for that in this case. It was uniting around a baby

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We're gonna attract people because babies are cute because that's why people like baby Yoda. Jesus is also cute,

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I guess and so You can learn from the world not the world system like first John talks about but you can learn from the world things like Where to build your church?

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You know someone does a geographic survey and oh there's you don't want to build it here you want to build it here

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You can learn about your community What's the best way to communicate with them so that they'll actually see it do people go on Facebook do people read the newspaper here?

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There's things you can learn from people who are not saved, but you cannot learn Things that you shouldn't learn things that are directly

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Essentially Essential and related to your mission and your purpose as a church

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We've been given a whole book That talks about how to engage with the world on that level and We can we can become you know unified and we have a unity that's out of diversity

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And we do that just by doing what Christians have done for years And what they should be doing what the

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Bible recommends and tells them to do You don't go to the world to figure those things out

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And I think people from the world who look at this probably think it's just absolutely pathetic.

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I mean why become a Christian? We're not unique apparently we need baby Yoda to even teach us about How attractive

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Jesus is? Scripture is not sufficient if that's true. We need something else which is by the way why?

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liberation theology critical race theory Intersectionality etc. It's why it's being taught guys because they have a low view of Scripture.

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It's not sufficient We need something extra and it's not an extra illustration of what

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Scripture teaches, right? You can do that with some of the Roman or Greek poets, you know, Paul even does that you can quote them and oh, yeah

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They discovered something that was true. That was already true No, this is these are things that are antithetical systems built on lust the flesh lust of the of the eyes boastful pride of life

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That's literally what social justice is like it's foundationally built on that You want stuff you want?

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Stuff that you don't have and you don't want to feel like it's your fault that you don't have it.

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Well social justice, right? You we can create a system that will allocate those resources to you and punish those who supposedly took them from you you don't take personal responsibility you keep your pride right boastful pride of life and You get to get the things that you have the lust of the eyes than the lust of the flesh for And with no consequences

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You don't you don't have a guilty conscience because it was morally right to do these things Christians are getting involved in this

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It's sad it really is I was reading A book by Richard Mao.

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I think it's how you pronounce his name. He was he taught at Calvin for years. He's He's a guy who got radicalized in the 60s on a secular college campus like left -leaning

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Highly, I mean he I think he signed the and campaign so he's he's still involved still around Very into Abraham Kuyper's theology

33:19

And I think I would credit him as being one of the major players if not the major player to introduce

33:24

Kuyper's theology to the greater evangelical world now if you may not know who he is But Tim Keller likes Kuyper where I went to school

33:30

Bruce Ashford provost at Southeastern loves Kuyper named his kid Kuyper one of them that's how much he loves him and there's a sense in Richard Mao's understanding of Kuyper in which sin gets flatlined because all sin gets reduced down to idolatry, and I don't know if Kuyper really believe that but that's how

33:49

Richard Mao portrays Kuyper and What that means is that if someone's let's say someone's a homosexual they're in sin, right?

33:57

But you could also be sinful because you idolize Bible reading let's say now is there really a moral equivalence between reading the

34:06

Bible and engaging in Behavior that the Bible says is wrong. No but because it's potentially possible that anything can be an idol then sin gets flatlined and Maybe some of you are hearing this and lights are going off because you're thinking that's what

34:23

I heard in Bible study You know, we have a Tim Keller Bible study or something and they're talking about idols like, you know

34:28

Like racism is a big one, you know racism can be an idol in my heart that I don't even realize is there But you end up doing this deep dive you go so deep into your heart to try to find out

34:37

What are the idols and we do have them? We do have idols, but you come out with things like when

34:42

I just like love my hobby too much, man I love my kids too much and making them an idol.

34:47

It's possible to do that but then to On the things that God says specifically in multiple instances are absolutely wrong.

34:55

We just say well that it's the same Somehow it's a moral flatlining sin is sin all sin is equal in some way and Gospel coalition does this quite a bit, you know, the

35:08

Democrats do something completely antithetical to Christian worldview and Bring some kind of barbarism in and then the reaction instead of getting enraged

35:19

And for the things that God is outraged about right? That's the prophetic voice, but that's to them

35:25

That's not a that's not having a prophetic voice. It's not winsome enough having a prophetic voice in their mind is is

35:31

Going to the church and pointing a finger at the church and that's what they do They instead of going to the world and saying how you know thus saith the

35:39

Lord What you've done is evil they take that opportunity when the world does something wrong and then they go to the church and say well

35:44

What about the idols in your heart? What do you think? You're so much better And you don't see this anywhere in Scripture.

35:50

I can't think of one place. You see that that's the reaction It's like prophets doing that especially yeah prophets go to the house of Israel So you need to get your things in order, right?

35:59

And you obviously want to keep pride from coming in there's like I'm better than someone just because they have this problem

36:05

But you see when the things that the Lord hates are done. There's an outrage

36:11

Against those things because the Lord hates them. That's the prophetic voice Right and there are times there, you know pick another opportunity to go after the sins that your congregation has but but Anyway, I'm going on a tangent now, but we need to watch out for this whole like sin being flatlined concept

36:33

There's a reason that God uses the word to evah in the Old Testament abomination to talk about certain sins

36:40

There's a reason that the towns that Jesus went to That received so much light and didn't repent

36:45

It was going to be worse for them on the Day of Judgment than for Sodom and Gomorrah They there that sin is not necessarily flatlined, right?

36:52

There are things that God hates more than other things doesn't mean that all sin is not equally damnable because it is

36:59

I want to I want to go through these articles real quick and I want you to ask yourself What's the church lacking in each of these circumstances?

37:05

All right. So let's start with the last one. Let's start with baby Yoda So what's the church lacking? It's not cute enough.

37:10

It can't bring people together. So I guess we can't unite for some reason And it says in the time of dissension social media rage ideological anger.

37:20

There's a lot of anger going on and the church isn't Presenting their baby Yoda face.

37:25

They're not presenting the cuteness that they have that could maybe put an end to that, right? So that that's the angle that the church should take on this.

37:34

What about this one? Sesame Street church isn't diverse enough church is racist. That's the hidden assumption in this church is just so racist

37:43

They need to get over themselves and they need to if you're a white church you need to hire a black pastor your black church hire a white pastor you need to Make sure that you're

37:53

Jan you have janitors in leadership. And like if you're in a church that doesn't look like that Well, maybe there's a problem.

37:58

What about this one? The church again diversity with the whole kpop phenomenon the church needs to These I guess these

38:09

North South Korean Artists they're popular across cultural lines. The church should be popular across cultural lines and it's a problem that they're not so in in every

38:19

Circumstance the church has something it's lacking and the world has and we need to somehow learn it from the world so This the church is not

38:30

Scripture is not sufficient Ungodly people have no reason to come to the church if that's the case. We're learning from them, right?

38:36

so they got something down we don't and Usually there's a theme in a lot of books lately that that's common grace common grace is just man they're not that we got stuff to learn from them and we were so much more sinful like how cuz cuz a common grace and misunderstanding misapplication of common grace but we we have to go to them to get our understanding of these things and I Want to point out what

39:02

Psalm 1 says? I want to read it how blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked nor stand in the path of Sinners nor sit in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the

39:10

Lord and his law He meditates day and night Why not get back to that? Why not get back to the law of the

39:16

Lord? Meditating on it. Can we honestly say that we do that? Can we honestly say that the gospel coalition and the

39:23

URLC are putting out articles that help us do that? Or are they putting out nonsense?

39:31

What about this first Corinthians chapter 5? It is actually reported that there is

39:37

Immorality among you and a morality of such a kind that does not exist even among the Gentiles that someone else Someone has his father's wife that you have become arrogant and have not mourned instead

39:45

So that the one who has done this deed would be removed from your midst Now if this situation presented itself today, what do you think would happen?

39:56

I'll tell you what. I think there would be a caring well conference hosted by the URLC and You'd have the circling of wagons going on with all the evangelical institutions that we have a problem in the church, right?

40:10

And we need to do something about it. Maybe we should go to the Houston Chronicle Maybe we should I mean look Paul's even saying the world doesn't even do it

40:18

You guys just did what you're this kind of sin you're accepting and by the way, this is their tolerance. They're tolerating a sin, right?

40:26

So the non -believers don't even tolerate that kind of sin So maybe they should go to the non -believers major they should go to the

40:32

Houston Chronicle and then leak all the abuses that have happened that are similar to what happened in first Corinthians and Just mourn and lament.

40:41

That's the key word lament the evil that's going on in the church Maybe that's what they should do.

40:48

Well, that's not what they did. It's not what they did at all. In fact What did they do? What did they do?

40:54

Check out what the very next chapter says first Corinthians chapter 6 verses 1 through 11

41:02

Does any one of you when he has a case against his neighbor dare to go to the law before the unrighteous and not before the

41:08

Saints or do you not know that the Saints will judge the world if the world is judged by you Are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts?

41:17

Do you not know that we will judge angels how much more matters of this life? So if you have law courts dealing with the matters of this life you

41:25

Do you appoint them as judges who are of no account in the church?

41:31

I say this to your shame It is it so that there is among not among you one wise man who will be able to decide between his brethren

41:41

But brother goes to law with brother and that before unbelievers actually then it is already a defeat for you

41:48

That you have lawsuits with one another why not rather be wronged

41:53

Why not rather be defrauded on the contrary you yourselves wrong and defraud You do this even to your brethren or do you not know that the unrighteous will not?

42:02

Inherit the kingdom of God do not be deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor and there's a whole vice list

42:08

If I continue reading this is a separate issue.

42:14

This is Christian suing each other. It's very next chapter though Paul doesn't set up the world as arbiters as examples

42:26

They are they're wicked. He sets up sinners as who they are. They're wicked. They're characterized by their wickedness

42:32

They're not characterized by common grace. I'm sorry That's not what scripture tells us.

42:39

They're characterized by their wickedness and We don't go to them to judge or arbitrate or for moral at authority in Things that happen inside the church, that's exactly what's happened this year

42:54

Think about the the kinds of things the kinds of events and the kinds of things that have been published

42:59

About sin this year what sins were so evil? Well racism certainly was very evil abuse sexual abuse within the church.

43:08

Very very evil and I'm not saying those things aren't What do we have conferences on the evil of homosexuality though and how we can

43:19

How the gospel actually can deliver from that Nope we don't

43:27

We have certain sins that are popular and That we try to have grace on you know, we have to have grace we have to be winsome

43:37

We have to be very loving about those things But then our temperament can be absolute rage when it comes to we lack diversity

43:47

Let's publish a million articles against the fact that the church isn't diverse enough even though you know

43:52

There's a lot of churches in it. Like it was a church in Iowa supposed to do All around them is just people of you know

44:00

There's certain towns that are just Dutch or just German or just Anglo or whatever. So it's

44:07

It's taking a new Moral code that is coming from the world and it's implementing in the church.

44:13

And this is how it's doing it You need to take your cues from the world So we are undergoing a seismic shift and I think most of us don't realize it's actually happening

44:25

There's a new Ten Commandments the old ones We're gonna under emphasize a lot of them

44:31

We're not what was the last time you heard a good sermon on you know, even blasphemy or gluttony or I don't know children

44:39

How about obedience to parents? The things God cares about he talks about this stuff

44:45

But you hear a lot about diversity Tell me how many Bible verses that you can find where God's just very upset that a church isn't diverse enough

44:56

Tells you where the priority is in the emphasis and it's changing and it's not biblical guys And it's scary if you really start to think about it and you're really paying attention to the what's going on in Evangelical institutions now that brings me to this

45:11

This situation just erupted last night and There's some assumptions that have come out of this that show that there's a lot of people who believe biblical theology is not enough

45:23

And I think one of the things that concerns me is the historical record gets ransacked to prove this sometimes

45:29

I'll show you what I mean Danny Akin said James Cone was a heretic and almost certainly not a Christian based on his teachings

45:36

Almost certainly I'll say certainly But to understand him you should and must read him

45:41

I have I have Then you provide a fair honest and balanced critique. That is basic requirement for a good education

45:49

Now, what's he responding to this guy? David Campbell says how can I trust Southeastern when it legitimizes the heresies of dr.

45:55

Cone? Now, here's the truth Southeastern does not legitimize every single heresy of dr.

46:01

Cone, right? It legitimizes only some and It legitimizes really what

46:10

I think is the core aspect of the liberation theology Jesus identifying with the oppressed That's the it changes the reason why

46:16

Jesus came and so they tack that on is that's one of the reasons Now I have read James Cone and I can tell you unequivocally

46:22

He is a heretic and James White is absolutely right when he compares

46:27

James Cone to Joseph Smith They're equally heretical They both have false

46:33

Gospels Look if you read this doesn't get brought out a lot, but if you read James Cone's last book, which I did he talks about even homosexuality and The oppressors being straight people and the oppressed being homosexuals

46:47

Like James Cone is a Marxist James Cone is evil and James Cone has no place being taught positively a seminary

46:54

But he is being taught positively at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and I've given you proof in the past and there will be more proof coming out next year about this

47:03

Now that's indicative of Whoever's teaching this they don't do not believe that The Bible is sufficient.

47:13

They wouldn't need to teach it, right? They would teach it in an apologetics course and this would be the guy that they need to teach against And that's been

47:21

Southeastern's defense for a long time. We're just teaching against it and they're not they're teaching positively But then

47:27

Danny Akin says this he goes though his writings and statements give me pause and great concern for a soul If when I get to heaven,

47:32

I discover that James Cone is there I will humbly gladly and joyfully greet him as my brother in Christ as we together worship Jesus King Jesus for his amazing salvation and grace

47:41

Would you say this about I mean look Could Adolf Hitler be in heaven? I mean could Joseph Stalin be in heaven?

47:48

What about David Duke when he dies is he is he gonna be in heaven? What I mean, I'm picking the guy

47:53

You know, these aren't good guys. These are the villains of history, right? But I don't

47:58

I can't see Danny Akin being like well, I don't know you never know what Hitler was thinking the last Final moments before he took his life.

48:05

Maybe he's in heaven. Maybe I'll see him there. That sounds absolutely ridiculous We don't talk that way

48:10

But for some reason with James Cone we can talk that way if I meet you know, James White had a good one

48:15

He said he just With Joseph Smith. Well, if when I get to heaven I meet

48:21

Joseph Smith That's insane. Well, how would you say that? I mean, I guess it's always possible then and almost always in the last few minutes before someone dies perhaps you you would always hope that there's a repentance there and only

48:33

God really knows what they were thinking and if they put their trust in him, but There's no indication that James Cone repented.

48:39

In fact, just the opposite. He was the worst at the end of his life so so to say this is very imbalanced right and And he got in trouble for it.

48:51

Here's some of the things that I wanted to show you though That were said about this particular tweet.

48:57

Jamar Tisby Just in case you didn't know it's James Cone's blackness more than his theology that some people

49:04

So are so ready to condemn and call heresy. Now, that's just slander, right?

49:10

He wrote Color of Compromise He's on the Christian speaking circuit This is

49:15

I think he's PCA if I'm not mistaken and Jamar Tisby is

49:20

Lying now about his brothers and sisters in Christ. Give me one example of someone who says, you know what

49:26

James Cone's theology Is not a problem. I just don't like the fact that he's black. Give me one example There are none there and and to then broad brush it and say that that's everyone

49:35

That's just everyone who has a problem with James Cone. That's yeah, they're just racists Let's lie.

49:41

It's lying. It's slander There's no evidence for it. It's sin there's just no way around it and I Have to ask you if a man like this will slander

49:52

Christians in the present day What makes you think he's a good historian and he's not slandering

49:57

Christians of the past Now I know a little bit about history and I know that Jamar Tisby is not a good historian

50:08

He's a cherry -picker He goes back into the historical record and he picks the things that will forward his narrative

50:15

Which is that racism does not change. I'm sorry racism does not go away It just adapts it changes.

50:21

It's always there. It's there now. It was there then and and he

50:27

Ignores information that would take away from a central thesis and there's some that have written on this and pointed this out.

50:34

I am Concerned and I and I just want to say this for my listeners in in the coming year.

50:40

I really would like to get to some podcasts on his on some historical

50:46

Subjects because I'm very concerned that we are going back as Christians now And this has happened in the last few years into the historical record and we are parroting what now

50:55

Marxist leftists which dominate the historical field are saying about our past and We are then using that to say the

51:04

Word of God is really just not enough Man, look at all the racists that existed. Look at the formation of the

51:10

Southern Baptist Convention. They did it because of racism Yeah, we'll do an episode on that sometime. Did they really they did it because of racism?

51:16

They just hate People that were minorities and the gospel just made no difference. I guess we need something else.

51:22

They had the gospel. They had the Bible Well, what did they lack? They lacked neo -marxism.

51:27

They lacked Liberation theology guys. This is how it's coming in, right? This is the argument if you haven't figured it out and conservatives are very quick to give up the historical debate

51:38

Oh, we did whatever happened in the past is the past. Let's talk about now No, that's the way that they're you that they're using a false narrative from history a imbalanced narrative saying giving you some true things and then leaving out some things or sometimes manufacturing things and They're giving you this idea that well

51:57

Christians had the Bible they had Everything they needed for life and godliness and well

52:03

They were still a bunch of wicked evil sinners of the worst variety and we we need something else

52:09

That's where James Cone comes in why else teach them why else teach ideas that are antithetical outside of scripture like this on ethical matters

52:19

So there's an assumption that we need to teach James Cone because biblical theology is not enough

52:25

Let me show you some other tweets here Here's a someone the name cracks me up a little

52:32

Jezebel. Okay, I didn't name her Jezebel Henny and She is a contributor for the witness which is an evangelical

52:39

I guess it's a blog website. She's an author I haven't looked at her book, but She's got kind of a following right, you know over 8 ,000 followers on Twitter She says

52:48

I wish white theologians would keep their mouths off James Cone unless they're putting respect on his name Y 'all think y 'all still own everything and everybody

52:59

What? you Y 'all still think you know everything and everybody

53:07

Another slanderous claim It's also a blanket statement. I certainly don't think

53:14

I own everyone and everybody Nope, don't think that at all and I have read

53:20

James Cone and he is a heretic and Yeah, there's nothing motivating me that if that's racist or thinks that I own

53:30

James Cone, right? I mean, it's just ridiculous. This is a moral argument It's an emotional argument and that's what's passing for Someone who's an author and works as a contributor and evangelical think -tank

53:44

Okay, here's another one Charles Halton Apparently he teaches

53:50

I think it's Houston Baptist Seminary or University Anyway, there's a video here for Zondervan.

53:58

I guess they're advertising a book Because that's what Zondervan does but you can see he's integrated into the evangelical

54:05

Movement because of that Zondervan connection and where he teaches and here's what he says President of a seminary in a denomination created so the

54:13

Southern Baptist right the nomination created to theologically support slavery Refuses to legitimize one of the greatest contemporary theologians who happens to be black as if Cone needs his or anyone's else's legitimization

54:26

The SBC is sticking close to their roots So this just gives you an idea how crazy things are you have a guy an evangelical works

54:34

Somehow is it connected with Zondervan? You have a guy who looks at Danny Akin and says

54:41

Danny Akin. He is just like those racist founders of the Southern Baptist Convention Wow I'm some of those conservatives are looking at Danny Akin and we're saying why are you saying you'd meet this guy in heaven?

54:54

you're a liberal and This guy's saying no, Danny Akin is he's just like a basically

55:00

Why don't you just say he's a Klansman while you're at it? You know, like that's kind of the argument and um, and that's not only is that ridiculous, but it's scary because Where does that put those who just don't buy into liberation theology?

55:17

They're a bunch of racists. That's the only reason they wouldn't buy into it a bunch of racists He's not exactly correct about the formation of Southern Baptist Convention and we will

55:26

I will have to do an episode on that sometime But you know worst -case scenario Southern Baptist Convention formed by a bunch of Klansmen that just hated minorities

55:34

Let's say really Danny Akin. That's who Danny Akin is that shows you how left things are going Someone is connected with Zondervan someone who teaches at Houston Baptist University Can say that so we got some real leftists

55:49

In in evangelicalism right now, but is that that different is it so different from what

55:55

Danny Akin himself says? Listen to this. This is from This year, I believe

56:01

Danny Akin said this in Chapel at Southeastern We stand steadfastly against any type of evil or wickedness that exalts any type of racial superiority

56:13

White supremacy neo -nazis biggest and racist we will mark that for what it is sin evil and wickedness and I recognize that for a

56:23

Denomination that still bears the stain of racism. We have work to be done so This is the man that was just accused of being a racist and he's saying the same thing he's saying

56:42

Hey, you know notice he didn't talk about Black Lives Matter or the Black Panthers or any other, you know,

56:49

La Raza he only talks about the white nationalist or supremacist groups and So so that's that's what he's denouncing and should you we should denounce white supremacy, right?

57:02

Not arguing with that, but he's lopsided He's only denouncing that and then we have a problem in our denomination and we still have it hasn't changed

57:11

Still have that stain of racism and I don't know if you got that from Al Mohler Al Mohler has said that a lot over the years. We still got that stain.

57:18

What do you do with the stain? Let me ask you. What do you do when you have a stain on a shirt? Don't you try everything to get it out?

57:25

Yeah, you do. I Mean you give up and then go to the dry cleaners eventually But you try everything because you don't want a stain.

57:34

That's how this language is being used stain of racism It's something we want to get away from we don't want that it's so horrible and It's just put out there like everyone just knows it's true

57:47

It's just it's it's as if the comments I just read to you It's as if there's a whole group of evangelicals and I don't even know if they're

57:54

I mean they use they're in organizations That call themselves evangelical they have this understanding that white people are just a bunch of racists and We're not gonna be challenged on it, we're not gonna argue for it.

58:08

We just assume everyone knows it It's slander. Where's it coming from? Is it coming from inside the church?

58:15

Or is it coming from the world? So going into 2020 let's try to recognize this when we see it and use some discernment.

58:29

I'm to the point I just I don't want people that I'm responsible for reading some of these blogs because I'm afraid they're gonna

58:36

Over over time you read this stuff enough and you start to develop the assumptions you just adopt them

58:43

That these people have and I don't want my wife or if I if I had kids that were of the age that they could

58:50

Read this stuff. I just wouldn't want them to be adopting those assumptions But I realized that for a lot of us those things are so prevalent that they're gonna be in our face

59:00

Especially if you're a seminary student, you're gonna just see Things all the time and it's important to critically examine them.

59:07

What's the article trying to communicate? What's the sense of it? What's the purpose of it? so so there's my year in review for Kind of what's happened in evangelicalism this year and how worldliness has kind of crept into the church

59:24

What I'd like to do is watch this. This is supposed to be more humorous, I guess Here's the impression

59:30

I get is why I want to end it with this. Well, we just see it Saja Martis be right historian who's Works, you know does contribute contributions to evangelical

59:42

Organizations they have their theologians, right? I don't think they have their economists like they need a good

59:48

Keynesian economist to come work for gospel coalition or something because This is what this is what we have and I haven't watched this whole video

59:56

But I think it's going to intrigue you a little bit and I don't know. It's I don't know.

01:00:01

It's kind of funny So, here we go Yeah, okay thinking Christian Lee about the economy here

01:00:07

I mean, I think the first thing I would just want to start saying with that is the Bible has so much to say about economics

01:00:14

Big picture small picture and so we don't have this narrow Christian view of the economy

01:00:19

We have this holistic view of for an economy to be healthy you have so many factors that that need to be a play you need supply and demand to be operating in a in a

01:00:29

Wonderful way like we have a real problem with that right now in Silicon So many factors, you know supply demand so many

01:00:38

Valley because the demand for Jobs is is massive the demand for housing is massive

01:00:45

But the housing supply is so small and and it's so so expensive

01:00:51

And so it's constantly forcing people out of Silicon Valley who can no longer afford to live there Median price for a home now and Silicon Valley is 1 .3

01:00:59

million dollars. And so it's just outrageous Do you think maybe that has something to do with maybe government regulation and taxation and high crime rates and the homelessness?

01:01:11

issue that you'd have to Contend with in other parts Near the

01:01:17

Bay Area. I mean look I'm from California. I was just there Just like way over simplification.

01:01:24

It's it's the most expensive place in America. Yeah right now There's a reason for that to live So on the one hand you could say the economy is healthy in Silicon Valley because there are so many jobs

01:01:34

Right, you could also say it's not healthy because the supply of housing is so poor and so it it creates a less diverse economy socioeconomically because people are forced to to move out and a lot there are a lot of a less diverse economy

01:01:49

The diversity thing it comes up even in this years right now of will

01:01:56

Silicon Valley become just this economy of the elite of tech people of high level of white collar work of Executives and do you say that like in coal country, right?

01:02:08

You're like there's a problem man in Appalachia Just so many people employed in the coal industry

01:02:14

Not diverse enough like or is it that there's certain places that certain industries tend to embed themselves for a variety of reasons not

01:02:26

Natural resources, I mean that's where the coal is That could be part of it Some companies go places because to be to be around other companies

01:02:35

Think tanks are gonna be in a place that has like a capital city. I mean That's impossible you can't

01:02:44

Yeah Blue collar work. Is that is that gonna leave now? It can't leave because it's there to serve, you know

01:02:50

These other the industry has to be served by people doing that doing that work But they're not living there and they're living far away and commuting in Yeah, no,

01:02:59

I may ask you a question is Detroit. I just thought of this is Detroit like man It's like a really good economy in some ways because the housing prices are so low

01:03:07

I mean you can go get a house for like a thousand bucks, but there's just no jobs like By his logic

01:03:14

Detroit in one way in one sense has a good economy and San Francisco in one sense has a good economy for opposite reasons there he's coming up with on the spot a metric by which to Judge an economy think like I think there's like a not a huge divide

01:03:37

That I typically think of between a Christian economy economics and and regular economics Christian economics regular economics okay,

01:03:53

I think like people That are outside of Christianity desire productivity creativity and and and I'd say like justice flourishing

01:04:04

Yeah, yeah, so I don't think like those that are in San Francisco that are in government are are stoked about You know

01:04:13

Folks that can't afford housing. I think that I Have to see that again

01:04:30

And are are stoked about you know Folks, I can't afford housing.

01:04:35

I think that Yes, the politicians in San Francisco not stoked about that not stoked at all

01:04:44

They would love to see what I would consider like justice which would be like equal opportunities for for people in different races and different second socioeconomic backgrounds the ability to afford housing and we would we would

01:05:00

Love those things as well. I think like so here's I was just as it was in San Francisco earlier this year

01:05:05

We got robbed while we were there There the streets are lined with homeless people like even like by Nordstrom's people are defecating in the street

01:05:15

Vandalizing buildings buildings. There's certain buildings that don't eat like a coffee shop My wife wanted to go to couldn't even advertise that they were there

01:05:21

They had boarded up windows because people had vandalized it it that's San Francisco It's crime when

01:05:27

I was going into the city. They were a politician was talking about taking certain weapons away from police officers So they couldn't be stolen

01:05:33

I think they did something. I forget this year with the NRA like The City Council voted to I don't know

01:05:40

I heard some rumor that they were a hate group or something, but I can't verify that on the fly, but they're definitely a very highly taxed very expensive place to live

01:05:54

The economy like I remember one of the things that really struck me about San Francisco is so many people

01:06:00

That were probably in their 40s that just were like hanging out with like peer groups. I didn't see as many families really immoral city

01:06:09

Just there's there's so many like basic like biblical things you could look at and say, yeah, they're not doing it

01:06:15

Right according like the culture there is a little more like Sodom than say,

01:06:20

I don't know you know Rose Hill, Mississippi, like it's it's just it's a different place and Um To then invoke that there's justice isn't happening because wow like the homeless can't get jobs

01:06:36

It can't like look guys like I there's places that are hiring in San Francisco And I don't know every circumstance of every homeless person, but I do know this there's a ton of them and they are being

01:06:47

They live because they are being supplied by the state it's socialism on display in San Francisco right now and Anyone who lives there in San Francisco or LA they know that California is basically becoming a failed state very very quickly businesses are moving out of areas where they have these problems with homeless because They they can't get anyone to come and just clean up waste that's left in front of their business

01:07:17

Basic stuff like that. So then to invoke that like justice isn't happening

01:07:23

Like oh, we just got it. Like it's the system's fault or something. Like yeah, it's the system's fault in the sense that they're

01:07:30

They're they're enabling this to take place the difference maybe for some

01:07:36

Christians is that from from a Christian perspective even in a down market God's always

01:07:43

Working in some way like during 9 -eleven and all that New York saw like this huge like revival

01:07:50

And you know that they say that like tithes didn't really go down during that time church attendance was up things like that I lived in New York during 9 -eleven

01:08:00

There was not a huge revival Oh whether that addresses economics and Whether that's a healthy economic environment is is those are kind of separate questions whether like there's a spiritual

01:08:13

What does make it a healthy economic environment is it's a resetting of the economic environment like if if Capitalism is doing its job realizing.

01:08:21

Oh this this way we were operating the subprime mortgages Those those weren't bad. Those are not good.

01:08:26

We're not gonna do that. Yeah, and so there's gonna be a reason I Don't think he understands the subprime mortgage issue that and how we think about mortgages and how we and how we extend loans

01:08:38

So, I think that's a great point to keep in mind that God's always at work Even when the stock market's tanking when the economy's down when a recession is happening

01:08:47

The that's laying the groundwork for a healthier economy moving forward if we're being humble and if we're learning from it.

01:08:53

Yeah, and I I'm like struggling for words at this point like I guess like God's always working.

01:09:01

He's working in a good economy a bad economy Booms and busts or cycles of the economy

01:09:07

God's hasn't changed. Amen. I agree But like I don't that doesn't necessarily mean that the way you react is gonna make for a healthy economy like it's almost seems to me like they took two guys who knew like hardly anything about economics and Just said we're hours.

01:09:27

We don't have any economists to talk to you We're just gonna interview you about the economy because I am just struggling to think how this isn't how is this not embarrassing for them

01:09:39

Actually, I mean even from a not I would say even from a non -christian perspective If you look at it, like so many great businesses were born out of like, yes these recessions

01:09:48

So, I don't know that like I'd say it like Ray Ray Dalio just has a book on debt crisis Is that just came out and he talks a lot about like how?

01:09:56

You know, basically there's no perfect balance in terms of how debt can be Kind of loaned out.

01:10:03

So there's always either an oversupply of debt or undersupply of debt And so that's why we have these bubbles that form and those are just natural human tendencies

01:10:11

So I think in a lot of ways from a secular standpoint, those are healthy rhythms as well

01:10:16

Yeah, so from an economic standpoint, I don't know that I see like a huge divide but I think

01:10:23

There are probably certain instances in history where Those that were in the governing bodies maybe didn't desire the some of the things that we desire like like justice and Productivity and creativity and seeing those and diversity and seeing those things.

01:10:39

So so here's here's a key thing You know, they're struggling to figure out how is it different between Christian economics and regular economics?

01:10:47

So non -christian and it's a desire for justice and diversity That's what

01:10:53

Christians bring to the table What? Happened.

01:10:59

Yeah We have some time let's talk about this capitalism. Yeah Let's talk about this capitalism,

01:11:07

I would say yes, that's a good question. I think like it's

01:11:14

Probably to me a system that works It is most aligned with the reality of us as humans.

01:11:22

I think humans naturally Try to maximize value and capitalism is about Really allowing that extraction of value to happen.

01:11:34

So I think like when you don't allow for the natural Order of things to happen.

01:11:39

For example, like in a communist economy You're the incentives are not

01:11:46

The right incentives because our natural incentive is to want to maximize things the communist sort of Philosophy doesn't allow us to do that and so people are not incentivized to do the things that they would want to do and therefore like like San Francisco are

01:12:03

Demotivated to do anything So I think like it's the best system The reason why it works to some extent in my opinion is because we're sinful

01:12:11

We want to we're selfish and it and capitalism recognizes that I think without proper proper sort of regulation in place

01:12:20

There there's a lot of danger behind it too as well because like on one hand It's healthy because it recognizes that we're sinful but without the proper boundaries in place

01:12:30

Then that simple miss gets extracted to its highest level which is you know

01:12:36

Why we see huge amounts of inequality with capitalism. So in one sense, he's right You know that but why bring the inequality in like is inequality really a problem?

01:12:47

Is that what does God have an issue to Christians? Should they have an issue with inequality? If the poorest are down here in San Francisco the streets of San Francisco they still have access to facilities and food and shelter if need be which they do and You have

01:13:04

The rich way up here. Is that morally wrong? Does that mean one is stealing from the other?

01:13:11

no, not necessarily and It's amazing to me that even those who are homeless on the streets of San Francisco They have more wealth more access to wealth, you know actual physical tangible like food then

01:13:27

Many people in third world countries throughout the whole entire world by by world standards. They're actually not doing too bad, which is amazing the the lowest of the low in our society is

01:13:39

Is doing better than many people commonly live in third world countries or people or how people commonly live even just You know take 300 years ago in many places even in the

01:13:51

West It's just it's astounding to me that that like that's the it shouldn't be this is the gospel coalition, right?

01:14:00

I was waiting for it Capitalism is good. I think yeah, it's okay They're kind of like wishy -washy on it and it's like but you know, like creates a problem inequality

01:14:09

That's not a problem Inequality for stealing is a problem. But is that what you're suggesting?

01:14:15

You're suggesting someone's stealing which is you know Why we see huge amounts of inequality with capitalism.

01:14:21

So what do you think about I don't get time but I agree with everything Yeah That was it.

01:14:31

All right, so So That's the gospel coalition on economics and I you can't make it up I don't know what they were thinking when they made that video, but there it is

01:14:42

So I'm gonna be doing some videos in the next few weeks that are gonna be kind of hard -hitting

01:14:47

I'm planning on at least and you're not gonna want to miss those. Thank you for all your support This year is gonna be interesting.

01:14:54

I think it's gonna be busier than last year in some ways and It's gonna I think tensions are rising with in regard to the social justice battle and so Your support is very much appreciated and you know,

01:15:10

I do what I do because I love the church and even if this is just a temporary thing that I'm doing to shine a spotlight on a

01:15:18

Problem that exists and I'm gonna do it. I think the Lord deserves our best and He deserves to be worshipped the way that the book says to worship him and there's a lot of evangelicals, unfortunately that want to go outside of this and They want to take their cues from the world.

01:15:38

And so I hope that this has at least Awakened a sense within you to watch out for that God bless you in the year 2020.