Sept. 11, 2024

Eating Dogs and Political Idolatry

Eating Dogs and Political Idolatry

‘They’re eating the dogs”

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‘They’re eating the dogs”

WEBVTT

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Looking at our world from a theological perspective.

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This is the Theology Central podcast, Making Theology Central.

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Eighteen sixty three, eighteen sixty three, four score and seven

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years ago, nineteen sixty one, Ask not what your country

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can do for you? You know the rest? Nineteen sixty three.

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I have a dream September the tenth, twenty twenty four.

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They're eating the dogs, the people that came in. They're

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eating the cats, they're eating they're eating the pets. What

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let me go through those again? Eighteen sixty three, four

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score and seven years ago, nineteen sixty one, Ask not

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what your country can do for you? Nineteen sixty three.

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I have a dream September the tenth, twenty twenty four.

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They're eating the dogs, the people that came in, They're

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eating the cats, they're eating they're eating the pets. What

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do we do with that? What am I supposed to

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do with that? Am I supposed to just ignore it?

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Am I just not supposed to talk about it? I

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don't really know what to do, but I do know

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this well. Good morning everyone. It is Wednesday, September the eleventh,

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twenty twenty four. It is currently eleven thirty five am

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Central Time. And I am coming to you live from

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the Theology Central Studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. Now,

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maybe you haven't been paying attention and you have no

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idea what I'm quoting there about. They're eating the dogs,

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the people that came in, They're eating the cats, they're

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eating they're eating the pets. You may not have any

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idea who I'm talking about. I'm sure most of you do.

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I am referring to Donald Trump last night in the

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presidential debate. That is what he said about immigrants supposedly

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coming into our country and they're eating the dogs, the

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people that came in, they're eating the cats, they're eating

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they're eating the pets. He said this during the debate,

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and one of the most bizarre things I think I

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have ever heard I have ever seen. The reactions have

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been strong. Obviously, it's turned almost into it a joke.

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My the family chat that we have literally blew up

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when this was going on. They were sending me memes

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and jokes, and it was just like, like, what is happening?

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What is going on in our country? This is insanity.

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This cannot be happening. Contrast that four score and seven

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years ago, eighteen sixty three, nineteen sixty one, ask not

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what your country can do for you? And then nineteen

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sixty three, I have a dream. And then we get

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to September the tenth, twenty twenty four, and we have

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someone who wants to be the president say they're eating

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the dogs, the people that came in, they're eating the cats.

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Like what is going on? Like, I don't how do

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we even process this? What do we even say? What

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do we even do? I don't. I don't know. I

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really don't know. But here's what I'm going to attempt

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to do. Yes, we're going to address this a little bit.

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I have no choice. I feel like I have no choice. Right,

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And let me make this very clear. My issue has

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always been I'm gonna this is a foundational principle. What

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the world is doing with politics, what they're doing about

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the culture that is outside of the church. And for

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the most part, I don't really care what they're doing. Right,

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the church's responsibility is prayer, fasting, preaching, proclamation, discipleship. We

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have a responsibility we call people to repentance. We may

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speak out against sin, but we have a very specific mission.

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We are to equip saints for the work of ministry

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we with the church has a specific focus. So when

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when the politics and the cultural craziness is outside of

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the church, then just continue on living out our Christian life,

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growing in our faith, growing closer to God, looking at

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our own sin, fighting against our own sin, growing in

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our theological understanding, growing in our study and understanding of scripture.

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We've got We've It's pretty simple and pretty straightforward. But

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when the politics and that and the cultural madness now

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it basically walks through the front door of your church

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and now it's inside the church, and Christians are speaking

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that way, thinking that way, and their politics is corrupting

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their career. Christianity and their political leaders and their political

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parties have now become idols. And we've got political idolatry

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sitting in the sanctuary. We got political idolatry being promoted

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from the pulpit, and our Christianity is being slowly but

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surely corrupted by political nonsense. That's when I have a problem,

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and I've been warning about this forever. So let me

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just lay down two very simple scriptures that all Christians

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should be able to understand, all right. The first one

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is Exodus chapter twenty. You shall not bear false witness

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against your neighbor. You shall not bear false witness against

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your neighbors. So, whatever political party you are affiliated with,

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whatever your politics are, you can't allow your politics to

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have you abandoned such a simple principle within Christianity. Don't

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bear false witness. Don't be out there making a accusations

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and saying crazy things with no basis in fact. Or

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it's conspiratorial thinking, it's rumor, it's misleading, it's wrong. Christians

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should be like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no no, no

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bearing false witness. We are going to speak the truth.

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We are not going to speak lies. In fact, let

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me just read the second Scripture, Ephesians, chapter four, Ephesians

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chapter four, verse twenty five. Therefore, put away lying. Let

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each one of you speak truth with his neighbor. For

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we are a member of one another. We're supposed to

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love our enemy. We're supposed to love our neighbor. We

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are not to bear false witness. We're to put away lying.

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We're to speak the truth. But so much of politics

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is false accusations, misleading information, lies, exaggerations, disinformation. It's become

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the norm and politics. I mean, it used to be

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stated how do you know when a politician is lying?

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It's when they're moving their lips. That used to be

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the idea, but now it's like, no, no, no, no,

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those politicians are lying. With the politicians on our side,

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they speak the truth, no matter what the claim is,

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no matter how wrong it may be. Now again, I

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don't care what the politicians are doing as long as

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it remains outside the church. Once it comes into the church,

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then you have to address it. So what do you

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do when you know the rest of the world is

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waking up, going what and the world is going on?

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In American politics, someone running for the president of the

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United States is up there yelling that they're eating the dogs,

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the people that came in. They're eating the chats, they're

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eating the pets, like Kenya and what world. I don't

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even know what world. It's like, it's like I don't

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even know what has happened. It's like something has just

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so broken in our world that it's insanity. Insanity rules

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and reign at this point, How did we get here?

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I don't even know. I don't like, it is so crazy,

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It is so crazy. So there was a part of

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me that says, you know what, just ignore this. Just

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ignore it, just ignore it. That was what I wanted

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to do, Just ignore this and then just open up

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my Bible and go. And that's what I wanted to do,

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but I made the mistake. In fact, I was struggling

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with it all morning. I went to Christianpost dot com.

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Christianpost dot com. There's an article about the presidential debate,

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and I looked at the comment section professing Christians doubling

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down on the eating dogs idea, posting things that are

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just completely fraudulent misinformation. It's just lies. And they're doing

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it in the name of Christ. They're doing it in

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the name of Jesus. That's where I have a problem.

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Live it. Outside the church. I don't care what the

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world is doing. They can run around saying everyone's eating dogs.

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They can they can be save the catsave the dogs.

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They can be they can say whatever they want. You

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don't expect the world to follow, don't bear false witness

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and put away lying. You don't expect them to do that.

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But inside the church, Christians get caught up in this.

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They get caught up in it because they have been

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they have they have bowed their knee to political idolatry.

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So I was like, I have to address this. So

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what we're gonna do is gonna listen to a little

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bit of a news podcast, just a little bit, just

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so that they can kind of explain a little bit

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of well how we ended up there and they kind

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of ended up there because well, in the debate, basically

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a trap was laid and Donald Trump just walked right

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into it. It's kind of like basic debate technique and

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Donald Trump just fell right into it. Okay, so we

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will at least address this. But what I'm going to

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do is I want us to turn prior to the debate.

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Prior to the debate, three hundred pastors got together and

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they put together basically a confession of faith that seeks

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to remove the church from its political idolatry. So what

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I want to do is take this crazy moment in

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the debate that everyone's talking about. It went viral. It

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was trending, all was trending all night. You know, they're

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eating the dogs, they're eating the cats. It was everywhere.

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There was memes, there's videos. It's it's turned into a joke.

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It's just it's been absolutely everywhere. Okay, These AI created images,

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generated images making fun of the entire thing. It's just

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been everywhere. It's one of those kind of like a

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cultural flash point. Right, Will it change anyone's political affiliation

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or their mine. No, The people who support Trump are

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going to support Trump no matter what he says. He

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can say the most outlandish, horrible, it doesn't matter, no

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matter how bad it is. They don't care. They're going

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to vote for him. And the reason And I know

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I'm gonna get emails, so let me just get this

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out of the way. The reason I focus on the

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conservative candidate, the Republican kendidate, is because it's the Conservative

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Republican party that is infiltrated and hijacked American evangelical and fundamentalism.

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Conservative churches that have good, sound doctrinal statements, good confessions

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of faith, they are the ones who bow the me

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to the conservative Republican idol. Right. Many of the very

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liberal politicians are liberal political ideology. Many of those would

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be accepted by churches that are so liberal in their

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theology that they've already abandoned historical Christianity. They may deny

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the inspiration of Scripture or the deity of Christ, et cetera,

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et cetera, et cetera. So I don't they've already left Christianity.

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I am worried about conservative churches, conservative churches with good

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doctrinal statements bowing their need to Donald Trump. That's my problem.

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My issue is what this is doing to Christianity. I've

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said it so many times. The best thing that could

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happen to the Church, the best thing that could happen

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to Christianity from a purely theological perspective, is that every

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Republican is voted out of office, all the way from

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a school board all the way to the president, every

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level of government. There is no Republican party left. There

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are no Republicans. Then the church would turn and say,

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where do we look? Where is our hope? Well, some

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trust in chariots, some trust in horses, some trust in

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political parties. But at that point there would be no

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place to look except to God. Then the church would

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have to get back to scripture, prayer, proclamation, fasting. There

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would be nowhere to look, and in your hope of

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supposedly changing the culture, would have to go back to

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the Gospel, prayer, discipleship, loving your enemy, because you would

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have nothing else left. Now, when I say that, Christians

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lose their mind. But it would be the best thing philologically.

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I'm not saying how it would turn out from a

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political standpoint. I'm saying philologically, it's This podcast is called

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Theology Central. So let's listen to a little bit of

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discussion that happened early this morning. Probably I think this

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dropped around five am, I think, And I mean there

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was discussion all night about it everywhere. I mean, and

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it's sad to say, whatever you think about, whatever policies

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could be addressed in those little two minute answers which

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you couldn't get to too many policies, whatever you think

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about the policies, you literally have someone running for the

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president of the United States saying some of the most outlandish,

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ridiculous things in the history of mankind. They're eating the dogs,

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the people that came here. They're eating the cats of

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all the problems in the United States of America, of

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all the problems in the world, Russia invading Ukraine, the

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situation with Israel and all and Gaza and Hamas and

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and all the different all the things happening in the

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Middle East, things going on domestically with the economy, all

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the issues going on, and and it it turns into

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they're eating the dogs, they're eating the cats. Like it's

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hard to wrap my mind around this. Really it really,

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it really is. But so here's a little bit of

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the discussion as it played out early this morning.

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She also laid out something of a debate trap for Trump.

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You will see during the course of his rallies, he

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talked about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter. He will talk

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about wind mills cause cancer. And what you will also

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notice is that people start leaving his rallies early out

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of exhaustion and boredom.

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But from the conversation about what goes on at Trump's rallies,

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Trump took it to a very strange place.

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People don't leave my rallies. We have the biggest rallies,

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the most incredible rallies in the history of politics. That's

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because people want to take their country back. Our country

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is being lost. We're a failing nation.

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He started litigating the new online controversy over whether migrants

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in the town of Springfield, Ohio are eating people's household pets.

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In Springfield, they're eating the dogs, the people that came in.

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They're eating the cats, they're eating they're eating the pets

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of the people that live there.

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Can you walk us through this, because this felt like

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the moment that had people blowing up my phone in

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real time being like what is he talking about? And

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I was like, listen, if you haven't been paying attention

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to far right blogs, you want to understand it's like

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this false, discredited theory that is now somehow being repeated

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by a presidential candidate. Can you explain it better than

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I Stephen, please?

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Yeah. This comes right out of the right wing echo

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chamber online. The bottom line is that there is a

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concern in the town of Springfield, Ohio, where members of

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the community have come to public meetings to talk about

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the arrival of migrants from Haiti, and they say that

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those migrants have caused quality of life problems in this town.

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And among the problems that have been mentioned is this

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idea that animals have been taken out of a pond

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or even possibly out of people's homes.

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I just want to clarify here. You bring up Springfield, Ohio,

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and ABC News did reach out to the city manager there.

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He told us there have been no credible reports of

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specific claims of pets being harmed, injured, or abused by

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individuals within the immigrant community.

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Let me just say this is the.

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People on television say my dog was taken and used

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for food. So maybe he said that, and maybe that's

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a good thing to say for a city manager.

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I'm not taking this respect. A dog was eaten by

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the people that went there.

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The city manager in Springfield, Ohio says that there's nothing

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to back up these claims, but Trump insisted that he's

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hurt otherwise.

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Well, and this might be a good moment, Stephen to

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talk about, because you saw the reaction from Kamala Harris

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in some of these moments, and that was like the

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thing I hadn't expected was how this kind of muted

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microphone situation actually affected Then we were watching these candidates

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closer as they reacted to each other.

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What did you make of all that? And did that

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make a difference here? Well, remember even though them.

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So there is some of the discussion about it. Now

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you can kind of try what one of the things

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that I keep seeing people post to somehow support this

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claim that they're eating the dogs they're eating the cats

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is about an Ohio woman who was accused of eating

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a cat from Canton from Springfield. All Right, the ongoing

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court case of a twenty seven year old Canton resident

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accused of killing and eating a cat has become unlikely

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part of the debate over presidential campaign issues, at least

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among some people online. A Cincinnati and Choir story posted

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online Monday said some people are conflating her August arrest

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with the unsubstantiated rumors alleging that Haitian immigrants in the

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southwest Ohio city of Springfield are eating pets. A video

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posted on YouTube falsely purports to show police officers confronting

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a Haitian woman in Springfield about eating a cat. In reality,

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the video actually shows police department bodycam video of Canton

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officers at the scene of the August sixteenth incident in Canton.

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The video, posted by the Fake News network carries the

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title Haitian woman eats neighbor's cat in Springfield and response

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to the rumors spread on social media, Springfield City Manager

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Brian Heck, through his office, released a statement Monday saying

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there's no evidence of any cats or other pets being

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harmed or eaten by Haitian immigrants. This was in response

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to rumor spread on social media, including by Republican Vice

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president candidate and US Senator JD Vance of Ohio. So,

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and this woman who was arrested was not from Haiti,

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has no connection to eighty was my understanding. A lifelong

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resident of Ohio. I don't know of Kenton, but it

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did not happen in Springfield. So they're conflating, they're exaggerating,

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they're misrepresenting, they're bearing false witness, they're lying, they're spreading rumors.

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And I don't care if it happens in the culture,

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I don't care. But when it comes inside Christianity and

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Christians start defending it, that's where I get ticked off.

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This can be going on. So what do we do well,

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I've been saying forever Christians, get out of politics. Stop it.

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Politics is not the answer. If you want to be

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a Christian, you're not of this world. You're a pilgrim,

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you're a stranger, you're passing through. This is not our world.

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What we are called to do here is preach and teach,

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and to be light and to be salt. We are

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to live out our Christian life to the best of

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our ability, confessing our sins, striving to live our Christian

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life out, loving our neighbor, loving our enemy, turning the

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other cheek, blessing them who would persecute us doing good.

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I could go from scripture to scripture, to scripture, to

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scripture to scripture. We're to be putting off the old,

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putting on the new, all the things that we're supposed

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to be doing. We've got plenty to work on, looking

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at ourselves, looking into the Word of God as a mirror,

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and seeing our own faults, our own flaws, and striving

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to live out the Christian life. That's what we're called

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to do. Now, we're called to invite the world. Hey,

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you're you're out there fighting and arguing all of these

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political things and fighting this in a fleshly way. Come

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and put your faith in Christ, be forgiven of your sins.

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And let's approach this from a spiritual perspective. Our weapons

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are not carnal, they're not fleshy. We're fighting a spiritual battle.

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This is not political. It's not about political parties. It's

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not about political tribalism. It's not about a commitment to

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a political party. It's about commitment to Christ. Get out

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of politics. But the Church is so caught up into this,

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this Christian nationalistic way of thinking, wanting to make everyone

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live as a Christian by somehow political force. We have

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enough problem living as Christians as Christians, So what do

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we do? What do we do? I mean I could

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sit here, go through all the rumors, through every unsubstantiated claim,

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look for because I know I'm gonna get emails, Oh

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what about this? And what about this? And what about

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And you got to go through research and find out

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if it's true for five to five If it's false,

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even if you find that there were three people who

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kidnapped a dog and killed it. Even if you found

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that there were three, well, then address those three issues.

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Don't treat all the immigrants coming in are gonna steal

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your cats and steal your dogs as if there's a

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there's a The immigration issue now is about protecting cats

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and dogs. There are there real issues to the immigration, Yes,

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do they need to be addressed, Yes, in a reasonable

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rational way. Or you do not dehumanize the immigrant. You

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treat them as a human being created in the image

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of God. There's still people. You don't dehumanize entire races

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of people. You don't do this. You don't get rid

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of this nonsensical racist trash that's not loving your enemy.

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That's not loving your neighbor. There's nothing biblical with this.

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But Christians, many Christians, eat this stuff up. They start

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talking like Trump, sounding like Trump, acting like Trump. We're

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not supposed to be like him, my understanding, or supposed

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to be pursuing Christ's likeness. Oh, we do it imperfectly.

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But that's our goal, that's our desire, that's what we're pursuing,

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not to sound like Trump on social media. Are there

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real issues, Yes, address them rationally, logically, biblically. Not reducing

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people to dehumanizing them, stripping them of their humanity, stripping

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them from being created in the image of God nonsensical.

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It's non Christian. So I could I could sit here

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and just pursue this and and and it would just

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be it was just and it would just be one

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broadcast after another, broadcast after another, because I'm gonna get

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an email, well what about this? What about this? What

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about this? What about this? What about this? What about this?

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I saw the same thing with the election being stolen.

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I got people, oh, what about this? What about And

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when after it was clearly proven that the election wasn't stolen,

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those people don't come back and apologize and say they

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were wrong. People were saying crazy things about COVID. They

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didn't come back and apologize and say they were wrong. No,

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they just they throw out their conspiratorial way of thinking,

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They make their false accusations, and then they run and

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hide and just move on to the next thing when

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facts ultimately destroy their concepts. And Trump's still out there

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one we won't even go to things Trump is continuing

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to claim. But yet Christians will continue just to be

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right along. It doesn't matter. I don't even understand the

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Christian world anymore. It's like I don't get it. I

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don't even understand it. I Like I've said it before,

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I no longer don't. I'm no longer welcomed in Christianity.

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I am I somehow outside of well, we'll call it Churchianity,

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or this mainstream form of Christianity that's taking place. It's

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not biblical Christianity anymore. It's been ripped away from the

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biblical Christianity. It's been even ripped away from Christ and

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it's turned into something. I don't know what it is,

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00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:30.519
but I'm not welcomed in it, and many people are

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00:25:30.559 --> 00:25:32.559
not welcomed feel welcomed in it, and That's why many

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00:25:32.599 --> 00:25:36.079
people are leaving the organized corporate church, because they're sick

405
00:25:36.119 --> 00:25:39.319
of it. It's been so politically hijacked, and you hear

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00:25:39.400 --> 00:25:42.160
people walking into church seeing some of the most ridiculous,

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00:25:42.400 --> 00:25:46.640
conspiratorial things, and then pastors are scared to say anything

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about it because they'll lose half of their congregation. Well,

409
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I don't care if I lose ninety nine percent of

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00:25:54.440 --> 00:25:57.039
my audience and nobody listened to this podcast anymore. I'd

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00:25:57.119 --> 00:26:00.599
rather go down trying to say stop this then just

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00:26:00.759 --> 00:26:09.880
allowing it to continue. It's ridiculous, it's crazy. So then

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what do we do? What do we do? Well, here's

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what I'm going to try to do. On September the ninth,

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twenty twenty four, at six point fifty pm, following article

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was published, a diverse group of over three hundred pastors

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00:26:33.519 --> 00:26:39.920
and evangelical leaders have released a public declaration challenging Christians

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to turn from false prophets and idolatry of political power

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and advance of Tuesday's presidential debate. So they released this

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prior to the debate. Now, I probably should have addressed

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00:26:54.160 --> 00:26:57.079
this prior to the debate, but what I was hoping

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is that the debate would just occur and then everyone

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would just move on like it was just like it

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wouldn't even matter. But then when you look at the

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00:27:04.119 --> 00:27:07.240
Christian post and you see Christians defending some of this nonsense,

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You're like, that's I can't take it anymore. So then

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I have to address it. But this statement that they

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released is entitled our Confession of Evangelical Conviction. It affirms

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00:27:19.839 --> 00:27:25.160
seven core beliefs frame to reject evangelical as political rather

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00:27:25.200 --> 00:27:28.720
than a theiological label. I want you to hear that again.

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00:27:28.799 --> 00:27:31.039
So their goal was they've released this thing called a

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Confession of Evangelical Conviction. It affirms seven core beliefs frame

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to reject evangelical as a political rather than theological label.

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And I can't stand when the world many in the

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world now because they hear the term evangelical and they

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00:27:47.160 --> 00:27:53.440
immediately a Trump supporter, And it's like, no Christian Trump supporter,

437
00:27:53.680 --> 00:27:57.359
No evangelical has a theilological meaning. We need to steal

438
00:27:57.400 --> 00:28:00.839
it back from the politicians. Tell the politician to go

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00:28:00.960 --> 00:28:03.319
take a walk and get away from the church. You're

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00:28:03.319 --> 00:28:05.960
not welcome in the church. Get out now. You can

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00:28:06.000 --> 00:28:08.519
come to the church to worship, but you're not coming

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00:28:08.519 --> 00:28:12.519
here to give me your political nonsense. We got to

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go back and still these terms and tell people, no, no, no.

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00:28:15.720 --> 00:28:19.680
Evangelical does not mean Trump supporter. Evangelical does not mean Republican.

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00:28:19.920 --> 00:28:22.839
Christian does not mean Trump supporter. Christian does not mean

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a republican. Evangelical Christian has philological meaning, and we're gonna

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00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:31.680
get back and fight for the philological explanation and understanding

448
00:28:31.759 --> 00:28:40.480
of these terms. According to the press release, the statement

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marks the largest and most unified evangelical effort in decades,

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00:28:45.720 --> 00:28:51.559
bridging denominational and theilological differences. So here are basically three

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00:28:51.640 --> 00:28:55.200
hundred pastors and evangelical leaders who came together and said, hey,

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we've got to We've got to stop this. We gotta

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we gotta stop this political idolatry. We got to stop

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this political hijacking of terms like evangelical. We've got to

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stop this. So we're going to release basically a confession

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of faith that tries to fix it. I'm not saying

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the Confession of Faith is perfect. I'm not saying it's

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00:29:12.519 --> 00:29:14.400
not perfect. But here's what I want to do. I

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00:29:14.400 --> 00:29:17.039
could sit here and go through these conspiratorial thinking, take

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00:29:17.079 --> 00:29:19.279
the debate apart and look at who said what and

461
00:29:19.279 --> 00:29:21.200
who said this, and we could go on and on

462
00:29:21.279 --> 00:29:22.680
and on and on and on and on and on,

463
00:29:22.799 --> 00:29:24.839
but that just gets us right back into the politics.

464
00:29:24.960 --> 00:29:27.319
And I hate the politics. I'm sick of the politics.

465
00:29:27.359 --> 00:29:29.799
I don't want the politics anywhere near the church. I

466
00:29:29.839 --> 00:29:37.720
hate politics. So what can we do? Well, maybe we

467
00:29:37.759 --> 00:29:40.200
can look at this confession of faith and see if

468
00:29:40.200 --> 00:29:44.759
it's beneficial. So are you ready, Let's look at this

469
00:29:45.279 --> 00:29:50.960
confession of evangelical conviction. What I will do is when

470
00:29:50.960 --> 00:29:53.519
this broadcast is over, I will try to send out

471
00:29:53.559 --> 00:29:56.319
a link to I will try to send out a link,

472
00:29:57.680 --> 00:29:59.839
and when I send out this link, it'll be the

473
00:30:00.079 --> 00:30:02.400
the Church one app. And then I will also if

474
00:30:02.440 --> 00:30:04.880
you go to sermonadio dot com, look for Theology Central,

475
00:30:04.920 --> 00:30:07.119
look for the article section. I will try to publish

476
00:30:07.200 --> 00:30:09.680
this in the article section as well. I will try

477
00:30:09.720 --> 00:30:11.359
to get to all of that as soon as possible.

478
00:30:11.839 --> 00:30:13.559
And I want you to look at this confession of faith.

479
00:30:13.559 --> 00:30:15.880
And while everyone is running around yelling and screaming about

480
00:30:15.920 --> 00:30:18.440
the debate, who they're going to vote for, who they're

481
00:30:18.440 --> 00:30:21.359
not going to vote for? Trump is better than than

482
00:30:21.440 --> 00:30:24.119
Harris and all just all the back and forth and

483
00:30:24.559 --> 00:30:27.960
while everyone is just the world is it's turned into

484
00:30:27.960 --> 00:30:31.440
a dumpster fire. Well, the world is burning down. Maybe

485
00:30:31.519 --> 00:30:34.039
Christians we can say, well, let's what about this confession

486
00:30:34.079 --> 00:30:37.400
of faith, and what if we adopted this? And now

487
00:30:37.440 --> 00:30:39.000
you may want to adopt it, you may not want

488
00:30:39.039 --> 00:30:41.200
to adopt it, but if this is far better than

489
00:30:41.240 --> 00:30:45.240
the other, all right, So here we go the title

490
00:30:45.599 --> 00:30:53.480
our Confession of Evangelical Conviction. In this moment of social

491
00:30:53.519 --> 00:31:00.880
conflict and political division, we confess the following Christian convictions.

492
00:31:02.079 --> 00:31:05.000
So basically, we're we're in the midst of a time

493
00:31:05.039 --> 00:31:09.279
of heightened social conflict and political division. Everyone should be

494
00:31:09.319 --> 00:31:12.279
able to say amen to that. So we could run in,

495
00:31:12.480 --> 00:31:15.119
get involved in the social conflict, or get involved in

496
00:31:15.160 --> 00:31:18.839
the political division and take a side. They're saying, instead

497
00:31:18.839 --> 00:31:28.799
of doing that, let's confess Christian conviction. Number one, we

498
00:31:28.960 --> 00:31:37.839
give our allegiance to Jesus Christ. We give our allegiance

499
00:31:38.000 --> 00:31:42.359
to Jesus Christ. And then they add the word alone.

500
00:31:42.519 --> 00:31:50.240
We give our allegiance to Jesus Christ alone. We affirm

501
00:31:50.559 --> 00:31:54.039
that Jesus Christ is God's Son and the only head

502
00:31:54.079 --> 00:31:59.559
of the Church. No political ideology or earthly authority can

503
00:31:59.640 --> 00:32:04.279
claim the authority that belongs to Christ. We reaffirm our

504
00:32:04.319 --> 00:32:09.200
dedication to his Gospel, which stands apart from any partisan agenda.

505
00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:12.519
God is clear that he will not share his glory

506
00:32:12.559 --> 00:32:16.839
with any other. Our worship belongs to him alone, because

507
00:32:16.880 --> 00:32:21.400
our true hope is not in any party leader, movement,

508
00:32:21.680 --> 00:32:25.960
or nation, but in the promises of God of Christ's

509
00:32:25.960 --> 00:32:29.240
return when he will renew the world and reign over

510
00:32:29.440 --> 00:32:34.880
all things. So number one, we give our allegiance to

511
00:32:34.960 --> 00:32:37.920
Jesus Christ alone. And what do we affirm that Jesus

512
00:32:38.039 --> 00:32:40.960
Christ is God's Son and the only head of the Church.

513
00:32:41.279 --> 00:32:45.200
No political ideology or earthly authority can claim the authority

514
00:32:45.200 --> 00:32:48.519
that belongs to Christ. We reaffirm our dedication to his Gospel,

515
00:32:48.599 --> 00:32:52.400
which stands apart from any partisan agenda. God is clear

516
00:32:52.440 --> 00:32:54.599
that he will not share his glory with any other.

517
00:32:54.839 --> 00:32:58.039
Our worship belongs to him alone, because our true hope

518
00:32:58.079 --> 00:33:01.400
is not in any party, leader, or nation, but in

519
00:33:01.480 --> 00:33:04.319
the promises of Christ's return, when he will renew the

520
00:33:04.359 --> 00:33:10.720
world and reign over all things. We reject the false

521
00:33:10.759 --> 00:33:13.720
teaching that anyone other than Jesus Christ has been anointed

522
00:33:13.759 --> 00:33:16.799
by God as our Savior, or that a Christian's loyalty

523
00:33:16.960 --> 00:33:21.599
should belong to any political party. We reject any message

524
00:33:21.680 --> 00:33:24.839
that promotes devotion to a human leader or that raps

525
00:33:24.880 --> 00:33:34.519
divine worship around partisanship. They affirm something and they reject something.

526
00:33:35.359 --> 00:33:39.359
It's about Christ. It's not about party. It's not about politics,

527
00:33:39.440 --> 00:33:42.319
it's not about nation. That's why I can't stand when

528
00:33:42.359 --> 00:33:46.480
sanctuaries are decorated in the American flag. The sanctuary is

529
00:33:46.480 --> 00:33:49.079
where we come to focus on the Cross, not the flag,

530
00:33:49.920 --> 00:33:53.039
not the country, not the nation. The church is where

531
00:33:53.039 --> 00:34:04.960
we lift up Christ, not America, the form of idolatry.

532
00:34:05.559 --> 00:34:17.679
Get the flag out, exalt, lift up the cross. So

533
00:34:17.760 --> 00:34:20.639
we give our allegiance to Jesus Christ alone. That's number one.

534
00:34:20.679 --> 00:34:27.800
Number two. We will lead with love, not fear. We

535
00:34:27.880 --> 00:34:31.119
affirm that God's saving power revealed in Jesus as motivated

536
00:34:31.119 --> 00:34:34.079
by his love for the world and not anger. Because

537
00:34:34.079 --> 00:34:36.599
God has lavished his love upon us, we can love others.

538
00:34:36.800 --> 00:34:39.440
We acknowledge that this world is full of injustice, pain,

539
00:34:39.880 --> 00:34:42.280
but we are not afraid because Jesus Christ has promised

540
00:34:42.280 --> 00:34:45.920
to never abandon us, unlike the false security promised by

541
00:34:45.920 --> 00:34:49.360
political idolatry. And its messengers. The perfect love of God

542
00:34:49.440 --> 00:34:52.920
drives away all fear. Therefore, we do not employ fear, anger,

543
00:34:53.000 --> 00:34:55.559
or terror as we engage in our mission, but instead

544
00:34:55.599 --> 00:34:59.679
we follow the more excellent way of Jesus, which is love.

545
00:35:01.119 --> 00:35:05.880
We lead with love not fear. It's not exaggerated claims.

546
00:35:06.000 --> 00:35:09.760
It's not everything of the end is near, everything is

547
00:35:09.760 --> 00:35:17.159
burning down. We lead with love. We reject the stroke,

548
00:35:17.400 --> 00:35:22.199
the stoking of fears, and the use of threats and

549
00:35:22.599 --> 00:35:26.360
as an illegitimate form of godly motivation, and we repudiate

550
00:35:26.400 --> 00:35:30.440
the use of violence to achieve political goals as being

551
00:35:30.559 --> 00:35:35.159
inconsistent with the way of Christ. We read that again,

552
00:35:35.480 --> 00:35:38.159
we reject the stoking of fears and the use of

553
00:35:38.280 --> 00:35:41.480
threats as an illegitimate form of godly motivation, and we

554
00:35:41.519 --> 00:35:45.840
repudiate the use of violence to achieve political goes. It's

555
00:35:45.880 --> 00:35:52.519
incongruent or inconsistent with the way of Christ. So number one,

556
00:35:52.559 --> 00:35:55.159
we will give our allegiance to Jesus Christ alone will

557
00:35:55.440 --> 00:36:01.559
we will lead with love not fear. And many Christians

558
00:36:01.559 --> 00:36:04.800
buy into the fear and to the hype, and to

559
00:36:04.880 --> 00:36:08.519
the exaggerated nature of the threat, and that they're eating

560
00:36:08.559 --> 00:36:11.360
the dogs. They're eating the chats, they're gonna come get

561
00:36:11.360 --> 00:36:23.199
your pets, the dehumanizing of people. That's not love. Number three,

562
00:36:23.519 --> 00:36:28.400
we submit to the truth of scripture. We submit to

563
00:36:28.440 --> 00:36:32.400
the truth of scripture. We affirm that the Bible is

564
00:36:32.400 --> 00:36:35.719
the inspired word of God, authoritative for faith and practice.

565
00:36:35.840 --> 00:36:39.800
We commit to interpreting and applying scripture faithfully. And they

566
00:36:39.800 --> 00:36:41.719
say guided by the Holy Spirit. You know how I

567
00:36:41.800 --> 00:36:46.480
reject that concept, So I would remove that. We commit

568
00:36:46.519 --> 00:36:51.480
to interpreting, applying the Scripture faithfully, guided by hermeneutical principles

569
00:36:51.639 --> 00:36:54.400
and rules of interpretation. Is what I would put there

570
00:36:54.480 --> 00:36:57.079
for the building up of christ people and the blessing

571
00:36:57.159 --> 00:37:00.679
of this world. We believe any true word of of

572
00:37:00.800 --> 00:37:03.760
prophecy must align with the teaching of Scripture and the

573
00:37:03.840 --> 00:37:09.480
character of Christ. Likewise, to lie about others, including political opponents,

574
00:37:09.719 --> 00:37:13.159
is a sin. Therefore, we commit to speaking the truth

575
00:37:13.159 --> 00:37:17.960
and love, knowing deception dishonors God and harms the reputation

576
00:37:18.280 --> 00:37:22.079
of His Church. So we submit to the truth of scripture.

577
00:37:22.239 --> 00:37:26.320
It's scripture is truth, and we do not lie and

578
00:37:26.360 --> 00:37:31.159
bear false witness and spread misleading information. We should be

579
00:37:31.199 --> 00:37:36.400
busy spreading the truth of scripture, not fraudulent conspiracy theories,

580
00:37:37.119 --> 00:37:41.320
or half truths or partial truths, or taking maybe one

581
00:37:41.360 --> 00:37:51.039
truth thing and completely misrepresenting it. We reject the misuse

582
00:37:51.079 --> 00:37:54.760
of Holy Scripture to sanction a single political agenda provoke

583
00:37:54.840 --> 00:37:57.760
hatred or so social division. And we believe that using

584
00:37:57.800 --> 00:38:01.039
God's name to promote misinformation or lies for personal political

585
00:38:01.079 --> 00:38:07.360
gain is bearing his name in vain. You're using God's

586
00:38:07.440 --> 00:38:11.519
name in vain. Let me read that again. We reject

587
00:38:11.920 --> 00:38:15.199
the misuse of scripture to sanction a single political agenda

588
00:38:15.440 --> 00:38:18.840
provoke hatred or so's social division, and we believe that

589
00:38:18.920 --> 00:38:21.679
using God's name to promote misinformation or lies for personal

590
00:38:21.760 --> 00:38:28.119
political gain is bearing his name in vain. Number four,

591
00:38:28.320 --> 00:38:32.360
We believe the Gospel hills every worldly division. We affirm

592
00:38:32.400 --> 00:38:35.159
the unity of all believers in Christ, and that through

593
00:38:35.280 --> 00:38:37.840
his sacrificial death on the cross, he has removed the

594
00:38:37.880 --> 00:38:41.199
barriers that divide us, making people from every nation, try

595
00:38:41.280 --> 00:38:43.800
people language into one new family. We are called to

596
00:38:43.840 --> 00:38:47.280
be peacemakers, and the counter cultural unity of the Church

597
00:38:47.480 --> 00:38:49.800
is to be assigned to the world of God's love

598
00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.960
and power. We reject any attempt to divide the Church,

599
00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:57.800
which is the body of Christ along partisan, ethnic, or

600
00:38:57.960 --> 00:39:01.360
national boundaries, and any message just says it is God's

601
00:39:01.360 --> 00:39:05.159
desire for the human family to be perpetually segregated by race, culture,

602
00:39:05.239 --> 00:39:15.360
ethnicity is a rejection of the Gospel, all right. So

603
00:39:15.440 --> 00:39:19.639
Number one we give our allegiance to Jesus Christ alone.

604
00:39:19.719 --> 00:39:21.920
Number two, we will lead with love not fear. Number

605
00:39:21.960 --> 00:39:24.239
three we submit to the truth of scripture. And number four,

606
00:39:24.239 --> 00:39:27.079
we believe the Gospel heals every worldly division. Number five,

607
00:39:27.599 --> 00:39:29.960
we are committed to the prophetic mission of the Church.

608
00:39:30.599 --> 00:39:34.000
We affirm that Christ's kingdom is not of this world. Therefore,

609
00:39:34.039 --> 00:39:37.559
the Church necessarily stands apart from earthly political powers, so

610
00:39:37.599 --> 00:39:40.719
that it may speak prophetically to all people, the society

611
00:39:40.760 --> 00:39:43.480
and governing authorities. The Church has been given a divine

612
00:39:43.519 --> 00:39:46.760
mission of reconciliation. First, we call everyone to be reconciled

613
00:39:46.800 --> 00:39:49.159
to God through the proclamation of the Gospel. We teach

614
00:39:49.159 --> 00:39:51.880
people everywhere to copy the way of Christ. Secondly, we

615
00:39:51.920 --> 00:39:55.199
seek to reconcile people to one another by addressing issues

616
00:39:55.199 --> 00:39:58.719
of justice, righteousness, and peace. We accomplish this by loving

617
00:39:58.760 --> 00:40:02.360
our neighbors and by engage our public life with humility, integrity,

618
00:40:02.440 --> 00:40:05.000
and commitment to the common good. And defend our faith

619
00:40:05.119 --> 00:40:08.639
in Christ. We reject both the call for the Church

620
00:40:08.679 --> 00:40:11.559
to withdraw from societal issues out of the fear of

621
00:40:11.599 --> 00:40:14.559
political contamination, as well as any attempt to distort the

622
00:40:14.639 --> 00:40:20.440
Church into mere vehicle of political or social power. Now

623
00:40:20.519 --> 00:40:23.239
I say, we don't withdraw from societal issues, but the

624
00:40:23.280 --> 00:40:26.559
way we deal with societal issues is by simply proclaiming

625
00:40:26.719 --> 00:40:30.039
the Gospel and the truth of Scripture to those societal issues,

626
00:40:30.239 --> 00:40:32.880
not by getting involved in those societal issues but trying

627
00:40:32.880 --> 00:40:39.719
to fix it through political involvement. That's what I would say.

628
00:40:42.079 --> 00:40:46.320
Number six. We value every person as created in God's image.

629
00:40:46.760 --> 00:40:49.320
We affirm that all people bear God's image and possess

630
00:40:49.440 --> 00:40:54.039
inherent and infinite worth. Jesus bestowed dignity upon those his

631
00:40:54.360 --> 00:40:58.599
culture devalued, and he taught us that our love, like God's,

632
00:40:58.679 --> 00:41:01.519
must extend even to our our enemies. Our faith in

633
00:41:01.639 --> 00:41:04.320
Christ therefore compels us to act with love and mercy

634
00:41:04.440 --> 00:41:06.599
towards all from the very beginning of life to the

635
00:41:06.719 --> 00:41:09.519
very end, and honor everyone as an image bearer of God,

636
00:41:09.559 --> 00:41:14.920
regardless of age, ability, identity, political belief, or affiliation. We

637
00:41:14.960 --> 00:41:19.360
commit ourselves to advocate for the value of everyone and

638
00:41:19.440 --> 00:41:25.079
our society the value of everyone our society harms or ignores.

639
00:41:26.079 --> 00:41:29.280
We don't devalue people. We don't dehumanize people. We don't

640
00:41:29.320 --> 00:41:33.760
reduce them to their sexual identity. We don't reduce them

641
00:41:33.760 --> 00:41:37.000
to a pronoun. We don't reduce them to a country

642
00:41:37.000 --> 00:41:39.480
of origin. We see them as people created in the

643
00:41:39.519 --> 00:41:45.039
image of God. We may disagree with their choices, we

644
00:41:45.079 --> 00:41:48.719
may disagree with their practices, we may disagree with their ideology.

645
00:41:48.880 --> 00:41:51.480
But we still value them as a human being created

646
00:41:51.519 --> 00:41:53.840
in the image of God. And we show love even

647
00:41:53.880 --> 00:42:01.960
to people we perceive as our enemy. We reject any

648
00:42:02.000 --> 00:42:06.639
message that employees dehumanizing rhetoric, that attempt to restrict who

649
00:42:06.760 --> 00:42:09.760
is worthy of God's love, or that imposes limitations on

650
00:42:09.800 --> 00:42:15.079
the command to love your neighbor that Christ himself removed.

651
00:42:15.920 --> 00:42:19.760
Number seven. We recognize godly leaders by their character. We

652
00:42:19.800 --> 00:42:22.360
affirm that the character of both our political and spiritual

653
00:42:22.400 --> 00:42:25.000
leaders matter. Within the church, we seek to follow spiritual

654
00:42:25.039 --> 00:42:30.719
leaders those who display evidence of the Holy Spirit, love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,

655
00:42:30.719 --> 00:42:33.360
and self control. Jesus warned us to be on guard

656
00:42:33.480 --> 00:42:35.840
against false teachers who come as wolves in sheep's clothing.

657
00:42:36.079 --> 00:42:40.320
The voice. These voices will tempt us with flattery, bad doctrine,

658
00:42:40.360 --> 00:42:43.639
and messages we want to hear. They serve the false

659
00:42:43.679 --> 00:42:46.519
idols of power, wealth and strength rather than the true God.

660
00:42:46.800 --> 00:42:49.360
Outside the church, we will evaluate leaders based on their

661
00:42:49.400 --> 00:42:52.599
actions and the fruit of their character, and not merely

662
00:42:52.880 --> 00:42:56.000
on their promise of political success. When any leader claims

663
00:42:56.039 --> 00:42:58.960
to have God's approval, whether in the church or in politics,

664
00:42:59.039 --> 00:43:03.239
we will not confuse effectiveness for faithfulness, but carefully discern

665
00:43:03.519 --> 00:43:07.840
who is truly from God. We reject the lie that

666
00:43:07.920 --> 00:43:12.639
a leader's power, popularity, or political effectiveness is confirmation of

667
00:43:12.679 --> 00:43:15.360
God's favor, or that Christians are permitted to ignore the

668
00:43:15.400 --> 00:43:23.239
teachings of Christ to protect themselves with worldly power. Conclusion,

669
00:43:24.119 --> 00:43:27.920
we stand united and our confession of faith in Jesus Christ,

670
00:43:28.119 --> 00:43:30.639
resolved to uphold the truth of the Gospel and the

671
00:43:30.639 --> 00:43:34.239
faith of political and faith of political pressure and cultural shifts.

672
00:43:34.440 --> 00:43:36.440
We commit to being a light in the world and

673
00:43:36.519 --> 00:43:39.400
faithful witness to the transforming power of Christ's love. We

674
00:43:39.480 --> 00:43:42.079
pray that God's Spirit will revive our church and strengthen

675
00:43:42.159 --> 00:43:45.320
christ People to be agents of His presence and blessings

676
00:43:45.360 --> 00:43:48.559
in this turbulent age. To him who is able to

677
00:43:48.599 --> 00:43:51.320
keep us from stumbling, and to present us before His

678
00:43:51.360 --> 00:43:54.360
glorious presence without fault and with great joy to the

679
00:43:54.400 --> 00:43:58.920
only God, our Savior, be Glory, majesty, power, and authority

680
00:43:58.920 --> 00:44:02.079
through Jesus Christ, our Life Lord, before all ages now

681
00:44:02.480 --> 00:44:09.079
and forever more. Amen. Jude Chapter one or Jude Verses

682
00:44:09.159 --> 00:44:15.480
twenty four through twenty five. And that is the Confession

683
00:44:15.599 --> 00:44:21.599
of Evangelical Conviction. Again, it's the Confession of Evangelical Conviction.

684
00:44:22.039 --> 00:44:25.239
And it was written and released prior to the debate

685
00:44:25.760 --> 00:44:28.599
to try to get the Church to remove itself and

686
00:44:28.639 --> 00:44:34.280
not be distracted in a sense, have our Christianity choked

687
00:44:34.400 --> 00:44:37.679
out by the cares of this world, by the social conflict,

688
00:44:37.679 --> 00:44:42.559
inflict and the political division, that we could pursue the

689
00:44:42.679 --> 00:44:52.000
right course through all of that. Now I will again

690
00:44:52.400 --> 00:44:54.840
be sending out the link to that confession of faith

691
00:44:55.920 --> 00:44:57.440
via the Church one app. If you don't have the

692
00:44:57.519 --> 00:45:00.719
Church one app, go to your app store of choice

693
00:45:00.760 --> 00:45:04.119
Google Play, Apple App and just do an Apple App store,

694
00:45:04.280 --> 00:45:08.000
do a search for churchne Church one all run together

695
00:45:08.400 --> 00:45:10.159
and then download the app. Once you download the app,

696
00:45:10.159 --> 00:45:12.800
do I search for Theology Central, have your notifications turned

697
00:45:12.800 --> 00:45:15.199
on and you'll get a notification with a link to

698
00:45:15.280 --> 00:45:18.079
this confession of faith. Also, if you can go to

699
00:45:18.119 --> 00:45:21.119
the sermonadio dot com website, look for Theology Central, look

700
00:45:21.199 --> 00:45:23.519
under the article section. I'll try to get it posted

701
00:45:23.559 --> 00:45:26.559
there as well. And then you can look at this

702
00:45:26.639 --> 00:45:29.679
confession of faith. You can read it, you can consider it,

703
00:45:29.880 --> 00:45:31.920
you can talk to other people about it, you can

704
00:45:31.960 --> 00:45:34.760
meditate on it, you can think about it. But I'd

705
00:45:34.800 --> 00:45:39.000
plead with you, I beg you get rid of your

706
00:45:39.039 --> 00:45:45.719
political idolatry, get rid of your political corruption. Remove it.

707
00:45:45.719 --> 00:45:50.199
It's a cancer. It has to be removed from Christianity

708
00:45:50.400 --> 00:45:54.079
because it corrupts Christianity. And this Christianity that arises that's

709
00:45:54.079 --> 00:45:58.559
politically hijacked, it's not truly Christian. It's something other than

710
00:45:58.920 --> 00:46:11.639
it's a corrupted, contaminated, fraudulent Christianity. As you let the

711
00:46:11.639 --> 00:46:15.840
world just in a sense, spiral out of control, let

712
00:46:15.920 --> 00:46:19.559
them fight and yell and scream and false information, and

713
00:46:19.679 --> 00:46:21.920
at some point maybe when they when they look around

714
00:46:22.000 --> 00:46:24.800
and everything's on fire, they'll go, where can we find

715
00:46:24.800 --> 00:46:27.000
something different? And then we can raise our hands and well,

716
00:46:27.000 --> 00:46:32.400
the church offers something different. We're not of this world.

717
00:46:32.599 --> 00:46:37.199
We're different we are pursuing something completely different, a completely mindset,

718
00:46:37.440 --> 00:46:40.280
a different mindset of different philosophy, a different agenda, a

719
00:46:40.320 --> 00:46:44.440
different purpose, a different everything. But they looked. Now, the

720
00:46:44.480 --> 00:46:47.480
world looks to the Church, and they're like, evangelical Christian. Oh,

721
00:46:47.519 --> 00:46:52.679
that's just a Trump supporting Republican. That's not that. I

722
00:46:52.679 --> 00:46:55.440
don't see us as Christ followers. They see us as

723
00:46:55.760 --> 00:47:01.480
Trump flag red hat waving you know, Maga, that's what

724
00:47:01.519 --> 00:47:06.320
they see us as. And you say, well, that was

725
00:47:06.360 --> 00:47:08.400
not my intention. It may not be your intention. But

726
00:47:08.440 --> 00:47:10.880
when the world perceives you that way because of your

727
00:47:10.880 --> 00:47:14.239
political nonsense, all you've done is hurt the name of Christ.

728
00:47:16.840 --> 00:47:18.360
You've become a stumbling block.

729
00:47:26.159 --> 00:47:26.599
All right.

730
00:47:28.320 --> 00:47:34.280
I took the insanity and my frustration with the insanity

731
00:47:34.920 --> 00:47:40.840
and pivoted towards an actual confession of faith seven points.

732
00:47:44.159 --> 00:47:46.599
Number one, we give our allegiance to Jesus Christ alone.

733
00:47:46.679 --> 00:47:48.880
Number two, we will lead with love not fear. Number

734
00:47:48.920 --> 00:47:51.239
three we submit to the truth of Scripture. Number four.

735
00:47:51.280 --> 00:47:53.920
We believe the Gospel hills every worldly division. Number five

736
00:47:54.079 --> 00:47:56.280
were committed to the prophetic mission of the church. Number

737
00:47:56.320 --> 00:47:59.239
six we value every person as created in God's image.

738
00:47:59.719 --> 00:48:04.159
Seven we recognize godly leaders by their character, which is

739
00:48:04.159 --> 00:48:07.920
what Christians used to say back when Bill Clinton was

740
00:48:07.960 --> 00:48:13.760
in office. Character matters. Oh, how quickly we abandoned that,

741
00:48:15.679 --> 00:48:26.159
and we abandoned it for political power. Thanks for listening,

742
00:48:28.800 --> 00:48:29.320
God bless