Dale Partridge - Real Christianity #128： The Future of the American Church under a Liberal Government

00:00:00.000 Welcome to this episode of Real Christianity. My name is Dale Partridge, where each week I

00:00:12.680 offer 15 to 20-minute answers to tough theological and pastoral questions. This show is a 100%

00:00:18.460 listener-supported audio ministry of relearn.org. And for those who don't know, our mission at

00:00:23.840 relearn.org is to bring the church back to the Bible. For bold daily encouragements, join the

00:00:29.660 over 500,000 Christians who follow us on social media by searching for relearn.org on any platform.

00:00:40.000 Many Christians are concerned right now at the growing cultural hostility toward

00:00:45.160 biblical Christian values. It's obvious that the traditional view of marriage and gender

00:00:51.000 are front and center, and the public's perception, definition, and legislation regarding these issues

00:00:56.100 is changing rapidly. Additionally, the general public, I'd say most of the public, expects

00:01:02.860 the new Equality Act, which was denied under the Trump administration, to be passed

00:01:07.660 under the Biden administration. In fact, Joe Biden stated in the Washington Post, and I quote,

00:01:13.780 I will make enactment of the Equality Act a top legislative priority during my first 100 days in

00:01:20.260 office. But how does this all affect the biblical church? How does this affect Christian schools

00:01:27.020 and colleges? What about Christian ministries? Well, we're going to be talking about all this

00:01:31.760 and more, but before we dive into that, I just want to make one quick announcement.

00:01:36.620 As some of you know, we have a biblical house church planting training program at

00:01:43.040 reformationseminary.com. We designed this one-year program to train up Christian men who are called

00:01:48.660 to pastoral ministry to plant biblical house churches all over the world. We offer two terms

00:01:56.100 per year with 20 students per term. So one term starts in January, goes for 12 months,

00:02:02.040 and the other one starts in June and goes for 12 months. Our January class is full,

00:02:06.620 but we do have about 15 openings for our June program starting in just about five months.

00:02:12.920 It's important that you know this is not just a simple online course either.

00:02:18.000 This is a graduate-level seminary program with a complete faculty application for admissions,

00:02:23.220 transcripts, homework, lectures, in-person intensives, and a graduate diploma.

00:02:27.780 In other words, I just want to be clear that, you know, this is an academic and theological

00:02:31.780 commitment.

00:02:32.300 However, we have priced the program at about 50% lower than the average seminary, making

00:02:39.720 it just really affordable for the average Christian. Now, why is this important? Well,

00:02:45.500 as you're about to hear in this episode, I think the coming legislation over the next four years

00:02:49.820 will likely generate a tidal wave of house churches. Unfortunately, the vast majority

00:02:56.140 of those house churches will likely have no biblically qualified and trained elders,

00:03:02.960 likely struggle with producing structure and order according to scripture. They probably

00:03:08.360 who won't have clarified doctrine and theological statements to maintain unity and purity.

00:03:13.700 In fact, most of them will be glorified Bible studies,

00:03:17.640 who won't know how to deal with gender roles in the church,

00:03:21.340 or children in the assembly, or church discipline, or congregational giving, or inviting guests.

00:03:26.780 And herein lies the problem.

00:03:28.100 We need as many men as possible who are ready to be trained to plant and pastor a house church

00:03:36.160 and be prepared to serve the sea of home gatherings that are about to take root.

00:03:42.940 So if you're interested in being trained by myself and our faculty of theologians,

00:03:48.100 PhDs, and experienced pastors, you can do so just by applying at reformationseminary.com.

00:03:54.240 Again, that is reformationseminary.com.

00:03:58.960 Today's question is from Jesse from Los Angeles, California, and he asked,

00:04:05.220 Pastor Dale, I recently saw your prediction on Instagram about churches losing their 5013C status

00:04:10.700 if they don't comply with the coming Equality Act. I know this is a big topic, but can you

00:04:16.420 briefly share some more on the Equality Act and how you expect this to affect the biblical church

00:04:22.480 in the coming years? Hey, Jesse, this is a great question. Thank you for asking. I think a lot of

00:04:26.540 people are interested in learning more about this topic. Yeah, now that the Republicans have lost

00:04:33.400 the Senate, the House, and the White House, I think that we're about to see a firm and steady

00:04:40.240 development of political and legislative persecution of the church. This won't be as

00:04:46.980 much about the gospel as it will be about the Bible's definition of marriage and gender. For a

00:04:53.680 long time, these issues have been attached to conservatives. They're thought of as conservative

00:05:00.920 or Republican views. But soon, the world is about to realize that the root of these views on marriage

00:05:08.040 and gender are not political, but biblical. In other words, you know, once the Bible is

00:05:14.380 recognized as the ultimate source of these views, it's going to find itself in the crosshairs of

00:05:19.740 the culture. In fact, I expect that at some point in the future, you know, maybe within five years

00:05:25.040 or 10 years, you know, it could be that portions of the Bible that condemn homosexuality or speak

00:05:32.660 clearly in the topic of gender and marriage might be deemed hate speech and maybe even forced to be

00:05:39.320 removed or modified from the Bibles printed here in America. And this is already a real discussion

00:05:45.860 in Canada, Europe, and especially places like Switzerland, who already have several government

00:05:51.120 officials that declare these passages as hate speech. But what about in the United States?

00:05:58.560 Well, in 2019, the Democratic Party attempted to pass the Equality Act, and this act would amend

00:06:08.440 the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fair Housing Act to, you know, quote, prohibit discrimination

00:06:16.000 on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation. Now, because race is not a moral

00:06:23.780 issue, the Civil Rights Act didn't affect the doctrine of the evangelical church. In fact,

00:06:32.080 many biblical gospel-centered churches were the ones supporting the Civil Rights Act.

00:06:38.100 But the Equality Act, on the other hand, introduces an issue which does step into

00:06:43.900 moral territory. Obviously, they are sexuality and gender identification. The conflict comes

00:06:50.480 when you realize that the Equality Act would eliminate a Christian school, church, or ministry's

00:06:57.860 ability to discriminate employment or housing or facility use upon the basis of biblical standards

00:07:04.880 for sexuality and gender. In other words, churches and Christian schools could not refuse, say,

00:07:12.460 qualified candidates for employment positions based on sexuality and gender. Christian adoption

00:07:18.800 agencies would be shut down if they refused to place children in homes with homosexual parents 0.99

00:07:25.960 or transgender individuals. Churches, synagogues, and mosques would no longer be able to deny 0.91

00:07:32.480 marriage services to couples who don't adhere to their religious convictions. Christian counselors

00:07:38.660 would be banned from serving people with issues regarding homosexuality. The list goes on and on

00:07:44.460 and on. I mean, the opportunity for creating conflict with the church and this new act are

00:07:53.280 just enormous. Andrew T. Walker wrote an article on the Gospel Coalition a little over a year ago

00:08:02.120 when they were first trying to pass this bill, and he says, quote,

00:08:06.180 quote, the bill represents the most invasive threat to religious liberty ever proposed in

00:08:11.720 America. Given that it touches areas of education, public accommodation, employment, and federal

00:08:18.000 funding, were it to pass, its sweeping effects on religious liberty, free speech, and freedom

00:08:23.880 of conscience would both be historic and also chilling, end quote. In 2019, the Democrats had

00:08:32.760 the support of every Democrat in Congress and three Republicans. They had the support of over

00:08:39.760 150 major corporations, including Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Google, UPS, Verizon, and many more.

00:08:47.080 You combine that reality, you know, over what, I guess, almost two years ago

00:08:53.580 with a current president, Biden, who has publicly stated that he's going to make the Equality Act

00:09:03.440 a legislative priority in the first hundred days of office. And the implications of this act begin

00:09:09.820 to get very real for the church. So what do I think is going to happen to the American church

00:09:16.580 under the liberal government, under the reality or possibility of the Equality Act being in

00:09:26.000 legislation. Well, first, I just want to say that I believe that the only thing that's going to

00:09:31.720 happen is what the Lord wants to happen. I really do believe that God is sovereign and whatever

00:09:36.520 comes to pass is according to his will. Now, this doesn't mean that I'm passive in the fight

00:09:42.300 to maintain righteousness and religious freedom, but it does mean that I trust that the Lord is

00:09:48.060 producing a future where he will be most glorified. Now, if you look down through the history of the

00:09:57.460 church, persecution or at least hostility toward the biblical church is actually the norm, while

00:10:06.960 religious freedom and comfort is the anomaly. God knows what we really need to learn here in the

00:10:15.040 West, and that is the church is always more fruitful on the defense. The costless Christianity 0.99

00:10:23.540 of the past 250 years here in America has made the church flabby, fat, and lazy. And in addition, 1.00

00:10:31.860 I mean, you guys all know this because you see it. The visible church is just a mess. I mean, 0.98

00:10:38.440 it's filled with impurities and heresies and theological ideas that are just unchristian.

00:10:42.760 And this era that lies before us, while I expect it to be difficult, I also see that it will cleanse

00:10:49.940 the church and make it even more devoted and passionate and bold for the gospel. So in many

00:10:55.740 ways, I believe this will be a blessing to the church. Now, I'm not saying that we pray for

00:11:01.620 persecution. But I am saying that we can praise God for all things, even a season of difficulty

00:11:08.340 for the church. And why? Well, because I believe what Romans 8.28 says is that we know that for

00:11:14.380 those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according

00:11:19.480 to his purpose. Now, I guess as it pertains to the local church in the West, like the individual

00:11:27.580 independent local churches, I think we're going to see greater and greater resistance to

00:11:34.660 the actual physical church buildings, especially those who won't submit to the culture's views or

00:11:44.560 to the legislative mandates regarding sexuality and gender. And as a result, I think that it's

00:11:51.880 possible, if the Equality Act passes, that we see pastors who stand with Scripture and go to jail 0.51

00:11:59.220 as a result. I think that we're going to see traditional Bible-committed churches 0.97

00:12:06.360 lose their nonprofit status. But again, this doesn't mean that they simply lost their tax

00:12:12.820 deductions. This is a much bigger deal. This means that a local church, if they lose their

00:12:19.800 501c3 status, and it wants to keep its bank accounts and leases and maintain good standing

00:12:27.200 with its property taxes, that it's going to have to become a business. But even as a business,

00:12:34.220 the church would still fall under the jurisdiction of the Equality Act and be fined or imprisoned for

00:12:40.420 not complying with the law. So ultimately, I think eventually, maybe within the next five years,

00:12:47.640 It really depends on a variety of factors.

00:12:49.820 It's possible that there's a great decrease in biblically committed traditional churches having physical buildings around the country.

00:13:01.180 Now, it's also possible that we see a collection of Supreme Court cases that are birthed out of this conflict that uphold certain religious rights.

00:13:15.180 But the point I'm trying to make is that the pressure is about to grow in intensity,

00:13:19.940 and we just can't be naive to that reality.

00:13:23.000 Now, remember, I'm also talking about churches committed to the Bible.

00:13:26.700 These are biblical churches. 1.00

00:13:28.560 In other words, I think that there's going to be plenty of heretical churches and government 0.72

00:13:32.380 sanctioned churches that are going to stay open and thriving in terms of the numbers, 0.95

00:13:38.380 right?

00:13:38.720 This is what's happening in China as well.

00:13:40.620 But those churches who refuse to budge on the biblical convictions regarding the issues at the forefront of the Equality Act, they're going to likely be removed from publicly sanctioned operations and forced to operate in a private sanction or as private citizens, which really is the idea of house churches.

00:14:04.820 Now, if you guys have been a longtime listener to this podcast, you know that I've been talking

00:14:10.340 about for several years that the biblical church will eventually end up largely meeting in homes

00:14:17.140 and not in buildings, especially small churches who can't afford the legal support, the security,

00:14:22.280 like the actual physical security of their location or of their campus, the staff to

00:14:29.020 handle the potential issues that come with being a church with a 501c3 status, fighting against

00:14:35.680 certain mandates and laws. It's already a huge issue for those churches, small churches that

00:14:40.440 are dealing with COVID. COVID's actually pushed a lot of these churches already into homes,

00:14:47.560 especially those small churches. And let's not forget that thousands of biblical Christians

00:14:54.660 are already meeting in homes across the United States and in Canada. I've just, if you guys

00:15:01.160 follow on Instagram, you guys saw me posting, I probably had 30 people write me telling me that

00:15:09.580 they're already meeting in homes in Canada. And I was screenshotting and sharing those on my

00:15:15.900 Instagram stories. Now, as you know, house churches are at the center or the heart of

00:15:22.700 our ministry, and our mission is to train as many biblical house church planters as possible

00:15:28.360 now, so that when the church can no longer gather the way that it does, there are hundreds and even

00:15:35.100 eventually thousands of orderly, theologically, and doctrinally sound, non-governmental supported,

00:15:43.700 private biblical house churches that are available to join. And we're also even working on

00:15:52.400 a website that would have a house church network where you can actually locate and join these,

00:15:59.200 again, private communities. These are not businesses. These are not 501c nonprofits.

00:16:04.380 These are individual civil citizens meeting in Christian communities according to the Word of

00:16:10.900 God. Now, this past week, it became abundantly clear to me as we're starting to see some of

00:16:16.760 these things that are happening on social media, and we're starting to see the getting closer to

00:16:20.640 the inauguration. We're starting to hear a lot of things on more about the Equality Act that's

00:16:26.460 coming up. It became clear to me that there will be more house churches planted over the next few

00:16:35.240 years than there will be qualified elders to pastor them. And I also realized that not everyone

00:16:42.660 can afford to come and receive formal training here at Reformation Seminary. And so I made a

00:16:49.560 commitment to re-release an updated and expanded version of our ministry's house church book

00:16:57.140 that covers, you know, the doctrines, convictions, and practices of a biblical house church. And

00:17:03.640 we're going to just sell it for $4.99, which is like barely covers shipping, um, our shipping

00:17:10.180 materials, printing the actual books and the staff to actually get them out. But again, I just

00:17:16.160 believe it's better to have a few thousand house churches who can at least have this book, this

00:17:23.140 resource, than having nothing at all and trying to figure it out as you go. And, you know, this

00:17:30.960 little book, it talks about how we conduct a biblical house church gathering, what we do with

00:17:36.020 the kids, how to handle giving, how we handle outreach, what does church membership look like,

00:17:43.340 When is a house church too big?

00:17:45.760 What's the best way to invite guests?

00:17:48.300 How do you multiply into two churches when you have growth?

00:17:53.180 How do you appoint elders and deacons?

00:17:56.460 Just several other critical issues that need to be clear when you gather as a church in a home.

00:18:04.460 And so I actually made a simple get notified page where you can enter your email.

00:18:10.340 if you want a copy or a few copies for your church, for your friends. And actually I made

00:18:16.820 the announcement on Instagram earlier this week that, you know, I was going to do that. And I

00:18:22.020 made a notification page and almost 2000 people signed up in like less than 48 hours. And so my

00:18:29.760 plan is to send out a pre-order link in a few weeks so I can get kind of an exact number of

00:18:37.680 how many books we should get printed. But if you want to reserve a copy or several copies

00:18:43.980 to give out to others, just to have it again as a resource, you can sign up to be notified at

00:18:50.480 relearn.org forward slash notify. Again, that's relearn.org forward slash notify. You can just go

00:18:58.400 right on your cell phone right now and just enter your first name and email and click submit and we

00:19:06.460 we'll add you to the list and we'll notify you when we're going to take pre-orders or get those

00:19:11.340 out to people. So all in all, just to kind of wrap up what I'm saying here today, I believe under a

00:19:17.800 new liberal government, at the very minimum, we're going to see a pretty major shift in the policies

00:19:24.320 and practices of the American church. And as I said earlier, we might have an extension of these

00:19:33.840 current religious freedoms by way of the Supreme Court. But regardless, I believe we're going to

00:19:39.680 see an increased hostility toward biblical Christianity and its values. I think we're 0.98

00:19:45.820 going to see emboldened liberal governors and emboldened liberal legislators that are going to

00:19:55.620 be more aggressive under a liberal government. I also believe that we're going to see to some

00:20:04.540 degree a legislative persecution. And I believe that we're going to see many, many Christians as

00:20:11.880 a result of this gathering with a handful of other families for church in their homes. And so as

00:20:21.300 always, guys, I'm just going to leave you guys. This is a short episode. I wish I could talk about

00:20:24.160 it more. But I'm trying to keep these episodes, you know, not, I keep saying that they're, you

00:20:29.580 know, 10 to 15 minute episodes, but they really turn out to be more like 20 to 30 minute episodes.

00:20:35.480 But I'm going to leave you guys with three, actually four resources that will offer you

00:20:40.060 guys further understanding on this topic. And you can find them on the post page of this episode

00:20:45.440 at relearn.org. This is episode 128. It's titled The Future of the American Church

00:20:51.460 under a liberal government. And the first is a link. It's just a reformationseminary.com. There's

00:20:57.540 a video that you can watch there about our program. If you know somebody who would like to

00:21:02.820 go to the program, if you guys want to get together and start a house church and you want to

00:21:07.720 all together fund one man to go get trained, you guys can do that. We actually have a few

00:21:16.120 churches that are doing that for some of our guys now. So you guys can help support the

00:21:22.600 enrollment fee that way. There's also, again, plenty of information on the homepage there.

00:21:27.360 The next link is going to be the relearn.org forward slash notify link. So if you guys want

00:21:32.080 a copy of the new updated and expanded house church book, I'm going to actually work on that

00:21:39.800 starting next week, probably take me a few weeks to update it. And then we'll do some pre-ordered

00:21:45.180 copies and get that out to you guys. So if you guys want that, that's relearn.org forward slash

00:21:49.240 notify. There's a video there that you can watch on YouTube. You can also watch it on our Instagram

00:21:55.280 IGTV. It's titled, What is a Biblical House Church? And this is just a simple like two-minute video

00:22:02.720 of what is a biblical house church. And that's available. I have a link there.

00:22:06.480 And there's an article from the Gospel Coalition titled, What Should Christians Know About the

00:22:13.060 Equality Act. This is actually about a year and a half old, but it still has really good

00:22:17.160 information about what the Equality Act is, and it'll be helpful for you to understand before

00:22:23.380 this comes into legislation. So for those of you guys who are regular listeners to

00:22:30.600 Real Christianity, thank you guys. I have continued to read your reviews. They are very kind. Thank

00:22:36.500 you so much. If you guys haven't left a review, would you guys do that? They actually increase

00:22:42.060 the exposure of our show. So when we have lots of reviews, we are elevated in the algorithms on

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00:22:55.760 could leave a review, you don't even need to write anything, just tap the stars in the podcast app,

00:22:59.100 but you could write something and I will read it. Also, if you guys don't follow us on Instagram,

00:23:04.640 you guys can do that at relearn.org. You can just search for that on Instagram. You can find us

00:23:08.740 there. I'm also writing daily at Twitter, just at Dale Partridge. You can find me there as well.

00:23:15.020 On that note, thank you for joining me today. My name is Dale Partridge, and I'll see you next week.

00:23:21.220 Thank you for listening to this episode of Real Christianity. If you're a regular listener to

00:23:25.900 this show, would you prayerfully consider making a donation to support our ministry efforts?

00:23:29.880 Simply visit relearn.org forward slash donate. Again, that's relearn.org forward slash donate.

00:23:36.620 And for those looking to explore the idea of joining or planting a church in your home,

00:23:41.100 you can download our free PDF ebook titled The Basics of Biblical House Church

00:23:45.240 by visiting relearn.org forward slash house.

00:23:48.520 Lastly, do you have a theological question you would like answered on the show?

00:23:52.360 Submit your question at relearn.org forward slash question.

00:23:56.300 Thanks for joining us on this episode of Real Christianity.

00:23:58.880 We will see you next Wednesday.

Dale Partridge - January 13, 2021

Real Christianity #128： The Future of the American Church under a Liberal Government

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