Politics (Dont Listen to Greg Thornberg)

AD Robles

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November 14, 2023

00:00: All right, everybody, welcome to another week. I hope that God blesses you with a highly productive week.
00:07: That's all I'm gonna say. This past weekend was fantastic. Lord's Day yesterday was fantastic.
00:12: I had my Dominican friend, Elliot. Thanks for coming to church on Sunday. It was wonderful.
00:18: Had lunch with him. It was very, very encouraging. He's a great guy. I met this guy at one of the
00:24: Fight Last Feast conferences and he was at the last one as well. Solid, solid dude. God bless you, brother.
00:30: God bless you. I wanted to, I have a few videos planned for this week.
00:35: So we're gonna talk about Barber and Dusty Devers. We're gonna talk about a not great phenomenon
00:43: I've seen amongst evangelical pastors and how we can change it.
00:50: But also, I wanted to talk about this Greg Thornburg tweet. We're gonna read it in just a moment.
00:56: But one of the things that I will say before we begin is like sports these days,
01:02: I may have said this recently on the channel, but if I have, I'll just repeat it. Sports these days gets kind of a bad rep.
01:10: You know what I mean? People are suspicious, and I think rightfully so to some degree, that sports often serve as sort of a distraction from things that matter much more.
01:23: And I think to some degree that's definitely true. We all know some people that are just obsessed with sports to a very unhealthy degree.
01:30: But I think there's a lot of good in sports too, to be honest. I think there's a lot of good in sports. And one of the things that I just find very appealing about sports is the drive to win.
01:40: You know what I mean? And different sports, obviously you wanna win in every sport, but it works differently in every sport.
01:48: Like baseball, for example, it's like a team sport, but it's also a very highly individual sport too.
01:54: There's really nowhere to hide. And of course the team has to work together, but often the plays themselves, it's either individual completely, or just a couple guys involved in each play.
02:07: So that's kinda why I like baseball, because it's a team sport, but it's also an individual sport. It's very much something that everyone has to conquer for themselves on the team.
02:18: Football is completely different. Football is like a true team sport. And it's even so cool,
02:25: I was talking to someone about this recently, about how the different positions in football require actually different skill sets.
02:32: Like everyone that plays football needs to have some mass and some size and some aggression to them.
02:38: Everyone has to have a brain, but different positions require more or less of that kind of thing.
02:43: There's the linemen and the quarterback and the receivers to some degree, they have to have very sharp heads on their shoulders.
02:52: They have to be big, they have to be aggressive, they have to be physical, they have to have instincts, but also they really need to think.
02:59: It's a thinking man's position. And then of course we've got some positions where it's just complete brute strength rules the day.
03:06: And of course, again, you can't have no brain, but brute strength is really what's required. There's some positions on the defensive side of the ball that are like that and things like that.
03:16: And then of course there's also positions that are just pure instinct. And it's just like running back is like that, cornerback is like that.
03:24: And so you get this mix of talents, all working for the same goals, all working together.
03:32: And if you miss one of those things, your team is incomplete. You know what
03:37: I mean? And I just love that. It's just like, it's so cool because the team is a diverse set of talents, and yet you're all having to operate together for the same purpose.
03:49: I find that so appealing about football. And one of the things that's also very appealing about football is the aggression.
03:55: Because baseball, it's my favorite sport. I'm not gonna say that it's not a good sport. It's my favorite sport.
04:01: I love baseball. But there is a certain aggression in football that is lacking from baseball.
04:10: And in some ways it makes it a little less interesting for some people to watch. All that being said, the drive to win is a very, very positive thing.
04:21: This is something that I think is good about sports. It's good to get your kids involved in sports.
04:27: Not because they're gonna go to the NFL one day or the Major League Baseball one day, but I think that the drive to win, the drive to get victory by aggression is a good thing for a young kid to learn, especially a young man, to learn that and to work together, to learn teamwork and all this.
04:49: It's very, very positive in general for young men. But Greg Thornburg over here, this tweet, normally
05:00: I'd see this tweet and I would just keep scrolling. There's nothing really that remarkable about it in the grand scheme of things.
05:07: This is a very common position in evangelicalism for someone to take. But in Greg's case, he's many times very proud of the fact that he was, or maybe he still is, a
05:21: Republican political strategist, a Republican political strategist, which
05:29: I find remarkable given this tweet. Here is what Greg Thornburg says.
05:36: One of the worst fruits among many Christian movements is their preference for victory by aggression rather than victory by patient cross bearing and cross proclaiming.
05:48: Peter wrote to his servants, this is the word of God. For what credit is it when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure?
05:57: But when you do good and suffer for it, you endure. This is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps.
06:10: He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return.
06:18: When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.
06:27: Here's Greg's commentary. And we are all servants of some form because God has ordained various authorities over us.
06:34: Peter is reminding us that authority will sometimes sin and abuse us. Therefore, how should we respond?
06:39: Do good, endure righteously, do not revile, do not threaten and entrust yourself to God who judges justly.
06:47: Remember this when leaders try to arrest you for preaching the gospel or for having temerity to assemble on the
06:52: Lord's day or for honestly rebuking their sins. Now, this is true.
07:00: Peter's, of course his section is true. And actually I think that what Greg gets from this at the end is also true.
07:08: You know, if we're abused or if we're persecuted and all of these kinds of things, we should look at the example of Christ and endure.
07:20: We should endure with patience and proclamation.
07:27: That's a good thing. That's a good thing. But here's the problem with what
07:33: Greg is saying. The life of a Christian is not simply waiting around to be abused so that you can be abused the way
07:46: Christ was abused. It's not waiting around to be persecuted so that you can be persecuted the way
07:52: Christ was persecuted. That is an incomplete picture of what it is to be a
07:59: Christian. It's completely incomplete. That doesn't make any sense.
08:07: It is an incomplete picture. And this is the thing, like, if you wanna know why the
08:13: Republicans are losing, it's because they're taking their strategy advice from Greg Thornbrook.
08:19: There's nothing unchristian about the aggressive desire to victory.
08:25: There is nothing unchristian about that. Peter is not talking about a holistic picture of every aspect of a
08:33: Christian's life. The only time there is for a Christian is to be abused and persecuted. That's not what
08:40: Peter is saying. What Peter is saying is, if you are persecuted, if you are abused, here's how you do it.
08:49: Here's the example. It's the Lord Jesus Christ's example. He was sinless and yet he was persecuted.
08:55: And this is how he responded. You are not sinless. Follow Christ's example.
09:03: But that is not the whole picture. You know who wants to make it the whole picture?
09:10: Losers. People who want to justify their lack of winning.
09:17: And so they say, oh, the Christian life is one of suffering. And that's it. There is suffering in the
09:24: Christian life, but that is not the whole story. And even in the example of Christ, that is not the whole story.
09:34: Jesus was persecuted and executed by an evil government. He died, he was crucified, he was dead, he was buried.
09:47: We cannot let our Christianity end there because he didn't end there.
09:53: On the third day he rose, he rose to the right hand of the father and there he is to this very day.
10:03: We cannot be all crucifixion and no resurrection. We cannot be all crucifixion and no ascension.
10:11: This is a huge problem. This is a huge problem. There are so many other things to the
10:19: Christian life besides being persecuted, being abused and responding to that in a
10:26: Christlike way. That is, of course, part of it. On occasions when you're abused, on occasions when you're persecuted, there is an example to follow, but that does not mean we go out there and we do not seek victory.
10:43: We do, we do. Don't listen to political strategists like this, don't, don't.
10:56: In politics, this is the thing, it's like, it's like in every other situation, like we would never ever tolerate such stupidity.
11:06: If you go out there and you start a business, right, and you have a goal, you want to be the best, you know, let's go with Armormaker, right, because there's
11:16: Christian Armormaker out there. You want to be the best Armormaker ever.
11:21: You want to make the best Armormaker, you want to be the biggest company that does it, supplies all the soldiers out there, all the private citizens that want to wear armor.
11:29: You want to be the best company out there. Nobody would look at you sideways if you went after victory in that goal with aggression, with gusto, with a plan to win.
11:44: We're going to do the best work, we're going to have the cheapest price, we're going to have the best workforce, we're going to provide the best possible product for the lowest possible price to the most possible people.
11:55: We are going to do it, and we're going to win, and we're going to make money doing it, and it's going to be great. Nobody would look at you sideways, unless you're sinning to get there, of course.
12:03: I mean, obviously, all bets are off at that point, but if you're applying Christian business principles and you want to win, you want to be the biggest company that does this, and that's what you want to do, nobody would look at you sideways.
12:14: If you're a Christian football team, a lot of people are excited about Liberty this year. You're a
12:20: Christian football team, and you go after victory aggressively, with aggression, and you want to win, and everybody's on the same page, and you think about it, and you plan for it, and you work towards it, and you put effort into it, nobody looks at you sideways, nobody.
12:40: Because we want to win, and that's a good thing, that's a good thing for a Christian to seek to do the best possible work.
12:49: It's a Christian virtue. We get to politics, there's this weird stigma, this weird position of Christians where it's like, no, no, that's the area where we need to lose.
13:04: We need to lose there, we cannot do the thing. Politics is its own realm, and it's more important than football, it is.
13:13: God didn't institute football. God didn't institute football. That's not an institution from God.
13:19: I think God likes football, but I don't think he instituted it, that was something that we made up.
13:28: God didn't institute armor businesses, it's not an institution of God. But I think he likes armor businesses,
13:35: I think he does. But God established the civil governing authority, and he made it, and he said, it's a deacon of mine, it's going to execute vengeance on the evildoer, it's going to be the revenger of God.
13:50: Can you imagine the revenger of God? Vengeance is mine, says the Lord. Oh, by the way, my revenger is a civil governing authority.
14:00: God instituted this. He established it, I guess that's the right word.
14:06: Sorry, I went to public school. Instituted this, whatever, whatever. Politics matters.
14:13: And when a Christian engages into politics, he should win.
14:20: He should desire to win, he should plan to win, he should do this with aggression.
14:26: With aggression, you play to win the game. You play to win the game, and it never is more important than in areas where Christ has established it.
14:41: He's established it for his purposes. So we should win, and we should try to win, and we should try to win with as much aggression as we can muster.
14:54: In politics, we should strive for a situation where Christians aren't being abused, and aren't being persecuted.
15:05: There's a word for the thing that Greg's tweet here lacks, and that is wisdom, it lacks wisdom.
15:17: This is a textbook example of not knowing what time it is. The book
15:25: Ecclesiastes is a wisdom book. And in this book, the preacher implores you to know what time it is.
15:34: There's everything, there's a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven. A time to be born, and a time to die, a time to plant, and a time to pluck up, which is planted.
15:45: You know this, a time to kill, a time to heal, a time to break down, a time to build up. Greg Thornburg's tweet here makes it seem like there's only one time.
15:57: There's only a time for patient cross bearing and cross proclaiming when you're being abused. That is not the case.
16:06: It's just simply not the case. When there's someone out there in Christian politics, and they're telling you that if you are doing good and you suffer for it, then you should revile, you know, and hate, and you know, whatever.
16:23: Okay, then maybe Greg Thornburg has a point, but that's not what happens typically in politics.
16:29: In politics, people stand up that aren't being abused, that aren't being taken advantage of or persecuted.
16:36: And they're saying, I don't want you persecuting others. We shouldn't have a system of government that persecutes
16:44: Christians. You know, vote for me. So we have a system of government that doesn't persecute Christians.
16:49: That is completely different. It's completely different. Consider others more important than yourselves.
16:58: Why shouldn't we do that in the political realm? We've got to get over this one, guys.
17:05: I mean, this is the gop strategist. I mean, I don't know what his gop strategy is like, but if this is any indication,
17:13: I would suggest maybe don't listen to him. If actually, if history is any indication, maybe we should stop listening to most of our gop strategists.
17:21: There was an atheist who said that, you know, she was scared of totalitarianism and leftism.
17:28: And so Republicans should, for the love of the God they believe in, abandon their position on abortion so that we could win.
17:37: And that's the kind of strategy you're gonna be offered that sucker's deal again and again and again and again.
17:44: For the sake of winning in politics, you know, you need to, you know, change how you operate or whatever it is, or change your, these are the kinds of strategies that basically the
17:55: Republicans have been, I'm not saying Greg, but the Republicans have been doing this kind of compromise strategy for years.
18:01: And we just lose more and more and more and more. This is not the time for this kind of thing.
18:08: We should be doing politics, we should be doing it to win, and we should be doing it with aggression because the
18:16: Christian life is about more than suffering in silence. There's a time for suffering in silence, but there's a time for all kinds of other things as well.
18:27: You need wisdom to decipher which is which. But all these Christians that kind of want to make this, this, this, this, this, like the time of the
18:36: New Testament was a very particular time and they were in a very particular circumstance. And so the letters are written from a very particular perspective.
18:44: And in those circumstances that match that perspective, sure, we should probably match up very nicely with some of that stuff.
18:52: But the reality is that we live in a different time. We live in a different time and a different situation and all of these things.
18:59: And so we apply where it applies and where it doesn't apply, you know, we look to the entirety of scripture to figure out what to do.
19:07: And I think we should meditate very carefully on this passage from Ecclesiastes.
19:13: This is Ecclesiastes three, where there's a time for each thing, a time for every purpose under the sun.
19:19: There are lots of purposes under the sun and Christians need to get smart on this one.
19:26: We need to get smart on this one. I hope you found this video helpful. God bless. ♪
19:31: Do, mi amor por ti es duro fuego. Do, es mi amor por ti.