00:03:28.100We need as many men as possible who are ready to be trained to plant and pastor a house church
00:03:36.160and be prepared to serve the sea of home gatherings that are about to take root.
00:03:42.940So if you're interested in being trained by myself and our faculty of theologians,
00:03:48.100PhDs, and experienced pastors, you can do so just by applying at reformationseminary.com.
00:03:54.240Again, that is reformationseminary.com.
00:03:58.960Today's question is from Jesse from Los Angeles, California, and he asked,
00:04:05.220Pastor Dale, I recently saw your prediction on Instagram about churches losing their 5013C status
00:04:10.700if they don't comply with the coming Equality Act. I know this is a big topic, but can you
00:04:16.420briefly share some more on the Equality Act and how you expect this to affect the biblical church
00:04:22.480in the coming years? Hey, Jesse, this is a great question. Thank you for asking. I think a lot of
00:04:26.540people are interested in learning more about this topic. Yeah, now that the Republicans have lost
00:04:33.400the Senate, the House, and the White House, I think that we're about to see a firm and steady
00:04:40.240development of political and legislative persecution of the church. This won't be as
00:04:46.980much about the gospel as it will be about the Bible's definition of marriage and gender. For a
00:04:53.680long time, these issues have been attached to conservatives. They're thought of as conservative
00:05:00.920or Republican views. But soon, the world is about to realize that the root of these views on marriage
00:05:08.040and gender are not political, but biblical. In other words, you know, once the Bible is
00:05:14.380recognized as the ultimate source of these views, it's going to find itself in the crosshairs of
00:05:19.740the culture. In fact, I expect that at some point in the future, you know, maybe within five years
00:05:25.040or 10 years, you know, it could be that portions of the Bible that condemn homosexuality or speak
00:05:32.660clearly in the topic of gender and marriage might be deemed hate speech and maybe even forced to be
00:05:39.320removed or modified from the Bibles printed here in America. And this is already a real discussion
00:05:45.860in Canada, Europe, and especially places like Switzerland, who already have several government
00:05:51.120officials that declare these passages as hate speech. But what about in the United States?
00:05:58.560Well, in 2019, the Democratic Party attempted to pass the Equality Act, and this act would amend
00:06:08.440the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fair Housing Act to, you know, quote, prohibit discrimination
00:06:16.000on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation. Now, because race is not a moral
00:06:23.780issue, the Civil Rights Act didn't affect the doctrine of the evangelical church. In fact,
00:06:32.080many biblical gospel-centered churches were the ones supporting the Civil Rights Act.
00:06:38.100But the Equality Act, on the other hand, introduces an issue which does step into
00:06:43.900moral territory. Obviously, they are sexuality and gender identification. The conflict comes
00:06:50.480when you realize that the Equality Act would eliminate a Christian school, church, or ministry's
00:06:57.860ability to discriminate employment or housing or facility use upon the basis of biblical standards
00:07:04.880for sexuality and gender. In other words, churches and Christian schools could not refuse, say,
00:07:12.460qualified candidates for employment positions based on sexuality and gender. Christian adoption
00:07:18.800agencies would be shut down if they refused to place children in homes with homosexual parents0.99
00:07:25.960or transgender individuals. Churches, synagogues, and mosques would no longer be able to deny0.91
00:07:32.480marriage services to couples who don't adhere to their religious convictions. Christian counselors
00:07:38.660would be banned from serving people with issues regarding homosexuality. The list goes on and on
00:07:44.460and on. I mean, the opportunity for creating conflict with the church and this new act are
00:07:53.280just enormous. Andrew T. Walker wrote an article on the Gospel Coalition a little over a year ago
00:08:02.120when they were first trying to pass this bill, and he says, quote,
00:08:06.180quote, the bill represents the most invasive threat to religious liberty ever proposed in
00:08:11.720America. Given that it touches areas of education, public accommodation, employment, and federal
00:08:18.000funding, were it to pass, its sweeping effects on religious liberty, free speech, and freedom
00:08:23.880of conscience would both be historic and also chilling, end quote. In 2019, the Democrats had
00:08:32.760the support of every Democrat in Congress and three Republicans. They had the support of over
00:08:39.760150 major corporations, including Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Google, UPS, Verizon, and many more.
00:08:47.080You combine that reality, you know, over what, I guess, almost two years ago
00:08:53.580with a current president, Biden, who has publicly stated that he's going to make the Equality Act
00:09:03.440a legislative priority in the first hundred days of office. And the implications of this act begin
00:09:09.820to get very real for the church. So what do I think is going to happen to the American church
00:09:16.580under the liberal government, under the reality or possibility of the Equality Act being in
00:09:26.000legislation. Well, first, I just want to say that I believe that the only thing that's going to
00:09:31.720happen is what the Lord wants to happen. I really do believe that God is sovereign and whatever
00:09:36.520comes to pass is according to his will. Now, this doesn't mean that I'm passive in the fight
00:09:42.300to maintain righteousness and religious freedom, but it does mean that I trust that the Lord is
00:09:48.060producing a future where he will be most glorified. Now, if you look down through the history of the
00:09:57.460church, persecution or at least hostility toward the biblical church is actually the norm, while
00:10:06.960religious freedom and comfort is the anomaly. God knows what we really need to learn here in the
00:10:15.040West, and that is the church is always more fruitful on the defense. The costless Christianity0.99
00:10:23.540of the past 250 years here in America has made the church flabby, fat, and lazy. And in addition,1.00
00:10:31.860I mean, you guys all know this because you see it. The visible church is just a mess. I mean,0.98
00:10:38.440it's filled with impurities and heresies and theological ideas that are just unchristian.
00:10:42.760And this era that lies before us, while I expect it to be difficult, I also see that it will cleanse
00:10:49.940the church and make it even more devoted and passionate and bold for the gospel. So in many
00:10:55.740ways, I believe this will be a blessing to the church. Now, I'm not saying that we pray for
00:11:01.620persecution. But I am saying that we can praise God for all things, even a season of difficulty
00:11:08.340for the church. And why? Well, because I believe what Romans 8.28 says is that we know that for
00:11:14.380those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according
00:11:19.480to his purpose. Now, I guess as it pertains to the local church in the West, like the individual
00:11:27.580independent local churches, I think we're going to see greater and greater resistance to
00:11:34.660the actual physical church buildings, especially those who won't submit to the culture's views or
00:11:44.560to the legislative mandates regarding sexuality and gender. And as a result, I think that it's
00:11:51.880possible, if the Equality Act passes, that we see pastors who stand with Scripture and go to jail0.51
00:11:59.220as a result. I think that we're going to see traditional Bible-committed churches0.97
00:12:06.360lose their nonprofit status. But again, this doesn't mean that they simply lost their tax
00:12:12.820deductions. This is a much bigger deal. This means that a local church, if they lose their
00:12:19.800501c3 status, and it wants to keep its bank accounts and leases and maintain good standing
00:12:27.200with its property taxes, that it's going to have to become a business. But even as a business,
00:12:34.220the church would still fall under the jurisdiction of the Equality Act and be fined or imprisoned for
00:12:40.420not complying with the law. So ultimately, I think eventually, maybe within the next five years,
00:12:47.640It really depends on a variety of factors.
00:12:49.820It's possible that there's a great decrease in biblically committed traditional churches having physical buildings around the country.
00:13:01.180Now, 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.
00:13:15.180But the point I'm trying to make is that the pressure is about to grow in intensity,
00:13:19.940and we just can't be naive to that reality.
00:13:23.000Now, remember, I'm also talking about churches committed to the Bible.
00:13:38.720This is what's happening in China as well.
00:13:40.620But 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.
00:14:04.820Now, if you guys have been a longtime listener to this podcast, you know that I've been talking
00:14:10.340about for several years that the biblical church will eventually end up largely meeting in homes
00:14:17.140and not in buildings, especially small churches who can't afford the legal support, the security,
00:14:22.280like the actual physical security of their location or of their campus, the staff to
00:14:29.020handle the potential issues that come with being a church with a 501c3 status, fighting against
00:14:35.680certain mandates and laws. It's already a huge issue for those churches, small churches that
00:14:40.440are dealing with COVID. COVID's actually pushed a lot of these churches already into homes,
00:14:47.560especially those small churches. And let's not forget that thousands of biblical Christians
00:14:54.660are already meeting in homes across the United States and in Canada. I've just, if you guys
00:15:01.160follow on Instagram, you guys saw me posting, I probably had 30 people write me telling me that
00:15:09.580they're already meeting in homes in Canada. And I was screenshotting and sharing those on my
00:15:15.900Instagram stories. Now, as you know, house churches are at the center or the heart of
00:15:22.700our ministry, and our mission is to train as many biblical house church planters as possible
00:15:28.360now, so that when the church can no longer gather the way that it does, there are hundreds and even
00:15:35.100eventually thousands of orderly, theologically, and doctrinally sound, non-governmental supported,
00:15:43.700private biblical house churches that are available to join. And we're also even working on
00:15:52.400a website that would have a house church network where you can actually locate and join these,
00:15:59.200again, private communities. These are not businesses. These are not 501c nonprofits.
00:16:04.380These are individual civil citizens meeting in Christian communities according to the Word of
00:16:10.900God. Now, this past week, it became abundantly clear to me as we're starting to see some of
00:16:16.760these things that are happening on social media, and we're starting to see the getting closer to
00:16:20.640the inauguration. We're starting to hear a lot of things on more about the Equality Act that's
00:16:26.460coming up. It became clear to me that there will be more house churches planted over the next few
00:16:35.240years than there will be qualified elders to pastor them. And I also realized that not everyone
00:16:42.660can afford to come and receive formal training here at Reformation Seminary. And so I made a
00:16:49.560commitment to re-release an updated and expanded version of our ministry's house church book
00:16:57.140that covers, you know, the doctrines, convictions, and practices of a biblical house church. And
00:17:03.640we're going to just sell it for $4.99, which is like barely covers shipping, um, our shipping
00:17:10.180materials, printing the actual books and the staff to actually get them out. But again, I just
00:17:16.160believe it's better to have a few thousand house churches who can at least have this book, this
00:17:23.140resource, than having nothing at all and trying to figure it out as you go. And, you know, this
00:17:30.960little book, it talks about how we conduct a biblical house church gathering, what we do with
00:17:36.020the kids, how to handle giving, how we handle outreach, what does church membership look like,