Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 1136 ｜ Christianity Today, Be the Bridge, & the Evangelical Underbelly of USAID Funds ｜ Guest： Megan Basham

00:00:00.440 Christianity Today and other Christian organizations have been revealed to be receiving a lot of

00:00:08.220 money from the very progressive government entity USAID.

00:00:13.800 We talked about USAID and the charity World Relief earlier this week and some of the corruption

00:00:20.280 that these institutions seem to be playing a part of.

00:00:24.360 And now it seems like there are other Christian organizations that are all a part of this

00:00:31.540 scheme.

00:00:32.500 Megan Basham, journalist and author, is with us here today to uncover those details.

00:00:38.860 But we've also got some amazing news coming from the Trump administration first.

00:00:43.280 This episode is brought to you by our friends at Good Ranchers.

00:00:46.080 Go to goodranchers.com, code Allie.

00:00:47.980 That's goodranchers.com, code Allie.

00:00:54.360 Hey guys, welcome to Relatable.

00:01:01.700 Happy Thursday.

00:01:02.600 Hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far.

00:01:05.100 So if you are watching this, you can see that I am not in studio today.

00:01:10.720 I am recording remotely.

00:01:12.800 I mentioned earlier in the week that all of my kids have been hit with the flu, which is

00:01:18.620 super sad.

00:01:19.520 They are on the mend.

00:01:20.540 But this morning when I woke up, I felt like I was starting to get some symptoms.

00:01:25.740 It's not super terrible yet, but I can feel it coming on.

00:01:31.760 And so I just wanted to play it safe and record from home today.

00:01:36.520 But we've got a really big episode for you.

00:01:38.820 I'm going to be joined by one of your favorite guests in just a minute, Megan Basham, to talk

00:01:44.600 about all of the craziness with USAID and Christianity Today and Be the Bridge and all of those entities

00:01:52.500 that have been railing against conservatism, President Trump, and really forms of conservative

00:02:00.960 Christianity for a long time.

00:02:03.920 But before we get into that, I just want to share some more good news.

00:02:07.860 I'm still just so excited every day by what Trump is accomplishing and by what he's doing.

00:02:17.200 And this week he has signed an executive order to protect women's sports.

00:02:22.100 If you go to the White House website, they've got the text of the executive order.

00:02:29.500 It's titled Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports.

00:02:33.160 You can read the whole thing, but just an excerpt from it says this, it is the policy of the

00:02:38.780 United States to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair

00:02:45.160 athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of

00:02:50.880 women and girls and deprives them of privacy. 1.00

00:02:54.020 It shall also be the policy of the United States to oppose male competitive participation

00:03:00.140 and women's sports more broadly as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth.

00:03:06.260 The rest of the executive order details exactly how that will be accomplished.

00:03:11.640 I just want to play this sweet clip from the moment that President Trump signed this historic

00:03:17.940 executive order.

00:03:18.960 Here it is.

00:03:19.920 You ready?

00:03:20.680 What a nice picture this is, huh, Governor?

00:03:23.320 Yes, sir.

00:03:24.120 You ready?

00:03:24.760 We'll do a good job.

00:03:25.640 Wait a little bit, press that.

00:03:26.680 Yes.

00:03:30.140 I want to make this a really good signature because this is, you know, this is a big one,

00:03:35.580 right?

00:03:41.780 Oh, I think we have a 10.

00:03:43.980 We have a 10.

00:03:45.640 God bless you, Mr. President.

00:03:46.860 Thank you, kids.

00:03:58.380 Here.

00:03:59.600 Take a pen.

00:04:00.500 Thank you.

00:04:01.120 I'll give some of these out, okay?

00:04:03.000 Take a pen.

00:04:03.900 Take a pen.

00:04:05.400 It's just so sweet.

00:04:07.260 And right before this, there was another sweet moment.

00:04:09.520 All of the girls and women who were behind him to be a part of the signing of this executive

00:04:16.340 order were kind of off to the side.

00:04:18.760 There's a lot of security concerns when it comes to President Trump in any kind of large

00:04:24.320 crowd.

00:04:24.740 So because of those security concerns, I guess Secret Service didn't want them gathered around

00:04:30.860 him, right behind him.

00:04:32.880 But right before he signed, he looked over to them and said, you know what?

00:04:40.300 Y'all can come over here.

00:04:41.980 I think I'm going to be okay.

00:04:43.420 If y'all want to gather in around me, a Secret Service really worried about them.

00:04:47.960 And they all kind of laughed and got to gather around him before this really sweet moment.

00:04:52.880 And it's sad that an executive order like this is necessary.

00:04:56.700 This really shouldn't have to come from the president.

00:04:59.040 You know, I was talking to Jesse Kelly on his show yesterday, and he made a really good

00:05:04.480 point that the fact that our culture has come to a place where the president of the

00:05:10.020 United States has to issue an executive order saying that delusional, deranged men cannot

00:05:16.320 play in girls sports.

00:05:18.600 You can't go into their locker rooms.

00:05:20.340 You can't take their scholarships.

00:05:22.760 That's really sad.

00:05:24.400 It should have never gotten to the place where we said two plus two equals five.

00:05:28.340 A man can become a woman and vice versa. 0.98

00:05:31.160 And when it did come to that place, it should have been local communities and fathers all

00:05:36.220 standing up and putting an end to it right then and saying, no, I am not allowing my daughter

00:05:42.420 to compete in these sports against a boy.

00:05:45.320 It's just not happening.

00:05:47.300 It should have been shut down as soon as it started.

00:05:51.200 But we live in an age of cowardice and complacency and conformity and compromise.

00:05:58.900 And so we've gotten to a place where from the federal level, we have to have the person

00:06:04.780 in charge saying, stop doing this.

00:06:07.940 Allow girls to have their own spaces and sports. 0.96

00:06:11.040 And so I'm sad that we're at a point morally and culturally where this is necessary, but

00:06:16.720 I am so thankful that we have a president who is willing to do what is needed.

00:06:23.780 And the irony in all of this, as we have pointed out before, one of the biggest complaints,

00:06:29.740 indictments of President Trump has been his past with women, his comments towards women.

00:06:33.660 You hear all the time the left-wing feminist saying that he's a misogynist.

00:06:36.900 And yet President Trump has done more to advance women's rights and to protect the rights of

00:06:43.740 vulnerable women and girls than any of those left-wing feminists, including people like 0.99

00:06:49.240 Kamala Harris, because their only definition of a right that needs to be protected is the

00:06:54.060 right to kill a baby inside the womb, a baby girl inside the womb. 0.95

00:06:58.920 And so that's like the dark irony in all of this. 0.85

00:07:02.780 And just to contrast what is happening right here to the last administration, I just like

00:07:08.760 to remind us of this from time to time.

00:07:11.360 And even though we talked about it on the show a lot when it happened and also during the

00:07:15.520 campaign, this really escaped the attention of a lot of people, definitely on the left,

00:07:22.040 but also on the right.

00:07:24.200 Just remember, when Biden was president, they pulled school lunches from poor public schools

00:07:33.840 who did not comply with the new rewrite of Title IX, aka they didn't allow boys into girls'

00:07:42.840 restrooms.

00:07:43.620 This is the headline from Washington Free Beacon, but there are lots of outlets that reported on

00:07:49.020 it at the time, and you can check the details.

00:07:51.020 No free lunch, Biden admin pulled funding, meal funding for schools that don't comply

00:07:57.340 with its LGBT agenda.

00:08:00.000 And so through the USDA that helped provide the snap lunches for the poor, low-income students

00:08:07.740 in public schools across the country, they issued this punishment that said, if you do not allow

00:08:15.320 boys into girls' restrooms, they called that discrimination. 1.00

00:08:18.760 If you continue to discriminate against these students based on their so-called gender identity,

00:08:25.400 then you will no longer receive these free lunches.

00:08:29.500 And there are many of you out there who experienced this at the time.

00:08:33.300 I've talked to many parents.

00:08:35.440 You remember at your school, your school was really worried about this and had to all of a

00:08:41.020 sudden create these new rules and allowances for these boys and girls who identified as the

00:08:46.880 opposite sex to go into their own bathroom or to go into the bathroom of the sex that they are 0.98

00:08:53.460 now, quote, identifying as.

00:08:56.180 This is a horrible, malicious bullying tactic that if you don't believe a lie, if you don't

00:09:03.200 put girls in danger by allowing boys into their bathrooms, we are going to take away food from 1.00

00:09:10.740 poor students.

00:09:13.080 That was the Biden administration.

00:09:15.320 And by the way, like, I don't remember seeing any social justice Christian who is now crying

00:09:20.500 about things like deportation, complaining about that at the time.

00:09:25.460 So, like, give me a break if you're now like, oh, Micah 6'8", I'm speaking up for the powerless

00:09:31.320 and you had nothing to say about all of the injustices of the Biden administration, including

00:09:36.440 an egregious one like that, like, I don't really want to hear it.

00:09:41.040 Like, I think that you've probably lost a lot of credibility.

00:09:44.320 I also don't think it's an excuse to just be like, well, I didn't hear about it.

00:09:48.100 Of course, if you're only consuming the New York Times or Christianity today, you're not 0.88

00:09:53.720 going to hear the truth.

00:09:54.520 You're just going to get a biased perspective on reality.

00:09:58.280 And so you really need a wide range of perspectives in order to even start to get at what the

00:10:05.160 truth actually is.

00:10:06.640 Speaking of Christianity today, their leftward drift seems to be less of a drift and perhaps

00:10:14.920 more of a pull because of where their funding is coming from.

00:10:19.860 And Megan Basham, the author of the New York Times bestseller Shepherds for Sale and a journalist

00:10:26.240 from Daily Wire, is here with the details on all of that, all of these progressive Christian

00:10:34.020 entities that have actually been taking our tax dollars to survive.

00:10:38.540 There is a lot here.

00:10:40.160 So without further ado, here is Megan.

00:10:46.220 Megan, thanks so much for taking the time to join us.

00:10:49.820 Okay, what 24 to 48 hours it has been.

00:10:53.360 And as we first heard about all of the craziness that our tax dollars are funded through USAID

00:11:00.100 and then somehow Christianity today and Be the Bridge and Revoice and the After Party,

00:11:05.320 they all became a part of this story.

00:11:08.220 So how did they get included in all of this?

00:11:12.580 Right.

00:11:12.820 And a lot of this is still unfolding and we're trying to figure out, okay, what are some of

00:11:17.360 these line items that this new data tool has uncovered?

00:11:21.520 And so for those who aren't familiar, an X account, I still struggle not to say Twitter,

00:11:28.120 an X account created this tool to search through government grants and funding.

00:11:35.340 Basically, they scraped a lot of data from the old USAID website and other government funding

00:11:41.860 websites and put it all together in this data tool.

00:11:44.520 So, you know, part of this blew up because of the left-wing media's outrage over the shutting

00:11:50.380 down of USAID, which is a bit of a misnomer.

00:11:54.560 People hear that and they think, oh, it's just the U.S. doing, you know, charitable things

00:11:59.440 overseas, when in fact, it's not that.

00:12:02.740 It does a little bit of that, but it does a whole lot of other stuff too.

00:12:05.820 And so what it actually stands for is the U.S. Agency for International Development, and

00:12:12.740 it will work with the State Department and the CIA to ostensibly advance American interests.

00:12:19.120 So it's not just a charitable organization.

00:12:21.960 So when that happened, a lot of people started to look at, okay, well, where has this USAID

00:12:26.580 money been going?

00:12:27.640 And some of the things that turned up were, you know, bizarre projects like LGBTQ dance 1.00

00:12:34.240 troops in South America.

00:12:36.280 How is that advancing American interests?

00:12:39.160 And so as people have been searching through this, they found some things that look like,

00:12:43.860 okay, that didn't turn out to be anything like it can tell you.

00:12:46.960 Looking at the revoice, it looks like that was PPP money, so maybe not that interesting.

00:12:51.920 And other things that are not yet really explained, like why did Christianity Today show up,

00:12:57.260 taking $1.8 million from the federal government in their 2023 tax return?

00:13:03.500 So, you know, I don't have an answer for that yet, but these are the kind of questions that

00:13:07.180 are swirling.

00:13:08.300 And some things turned up that confirmed what we already knew, but showed it to be worse

00:13:14.360 than we already knew.

00:13:15.640 So you brought up the after party, Ali.

00:13:17.800 And one thing I can tell you there is that, you know, I knew, and we have talked about in

00:13:21.520 the past that left-wing foundations were funneling money into this political Bible study that

00:13:28.940 Curtis Chang, Christianity Today editor-in-chief Russell Moore, and New York Times writer David

00:13:34.860 French developed to bring on to Christian college campuses and churches.

00:13:38.800 One of the things that was buried in this little data tool is that they got several hundred

00:13:44.280 thousand dollars from Bill Kristol's Defending Democracy organization, which is a political

00:13:51.360 organization.

00:13:52.040 It is a never-Trump organization.

00:13:54.660 It was named the top source of dark campaign spending in 2020 by the watchdog group Open Secrets.

00:14:02.500 So what we found is that not only were they taking money from left-wing foundations, but now

00:14:07.200 we know they were taking money from explicitly political left-wing foundations.

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00:15:26.100 It just doesn't seem like a coincidence to me that these organizations like the After Party,

00:15:36.920 like now Christianity Today and others, are taking money from the same government that has

00:15:44.040 been pushing the idea for the past few years that white Christian nationalism is the greatest

00:15:54.000 terroristic threat and threat to democracy that exists because we have seen those ideas

00:15:59.600 echoed in all of these entities, including the so-called racial reconciliation group Be the

00:16:05.780 Bridge.

00:16:06.240 And so I know that there are other organizations also like Samaritan's Purse that has taken

00:16:11.440 money from USAID.

00:16:13.660 And so I'm not saying that all organizations that are taking funding from this entity are

00:16:18.840 pushing this idea, but it doesn't seem, I don't know, it doesn't seem like a coincidence,

00:16:23.720 especially when you see that Christianity Today started taking money in 2023.

00:16:27.920 Over a million dollars didn't get that in 2022.

00:16:32.680 And I don't know, it seems to me like that was also a big shift for Christianity Today,

00:16:37.900 especially under the leadership of Russell Moore.

00:16:40.420 Well, I'm glad you brought up Be the Bridge because yes, it was one of the most poisonous

00:16:44.820 curriculums to come into churches.

00:16:47.580 I wrote about that a little bit in my book, but I mean, it became a tool for abusing white 1.00

00:16:52.980 people in your church, quite frankly.

00:16:55.040 I mean, it included groups where people weren't allowed, where the white members weren't allowed 0.84

00:17:00.000 to talk for months until they had, quote unquote, done the work of reading all of this CRT type

00:17:08.500 material.

00:17:09.360 But I'm glad you brought that up because Christianity Today has been very much on the front lines in

00:17:15.840 both their editorial coverage and their news coverage of banging this drum against Christian

00:17:21.420 nationalism, particularly Russell Moore.

00:17:24.020 And what we've seen recently with this USAID revelation is that they have come out strong

00:17:31.340 for their partner in the evangelical immigration table, World Relief, saying it's terrible that

00:17:37.500 the Trump administration is shutting down this funding that goes to really good groups doing

00:17:41.800 really good things for the least of these overseas.

00:17:44.940 And one thing I have been digging into for the last few days since this became a really

00:17:50.600 hot topic in the news cycle is, OK, what is World Relief doing with this money?

00:17:55.540 Because we are seeing these stories where people are saying, hey, it's terrible that they're

00:17:59.500 shutting down aid to groups like this.

00:18:02.620 Again, we're talking about taxpayer money.

00:18:04.520 And World Relief itself put out a statement saying how much they're grieving the shutting

00:18:10.140 down of USAID and its money coming to them.

00:18:13.120 And so I started looking at what are they doing.

00:18:15.200 And some things they're doing are fine, but some are pretty questionable.

00:18:18.740 And one of those, for example, is they took in 2019, and it ran through 2024, $29 million

00:18:25.420 from USAID for a program called SCOPE to encourage contraceptive use and morning after pills in

00:18:34.800 countries like Malawi, Kenya, Haiti.

00:18:38.940 And when you look at the material that they're using on the ground there, it uses pretty surprising

00:18:44.620 language for a Christian organization.

00:18:46.780 It heavily talks about promoting reproductive health and family planning.

00:18:51.720 And I've got this on my phone because I wanted to read directly from it.

00:18:57.660 One of the things they do is that they push these village women in these countries to make 1.00

00:19:03.800 a commitment at the end of, say, a training session to embrace some kind of family planning

00:19:10.540 via birth control pills.

00:19:12.200 And they say that they're trying to overcome the local cultural and religious bias against

00:19:20.260 this kind of family planning.

00:19:22.140 Well, why is World Relief doing that?

00:19:24.040 And even more importantly, why do they have this material promoting morning after pills,

00:19:29.780 which we know has a secondary mechanism to prevent implantation when they're supposed to be a

00:19:34.980 pro-life group?

00:19:37.120 Yes.

00:19:37.620 I mean, the morning after pills and even the hormonal birth control, no matter what someone

00:19:42.860 feels about it, the fact of the matter is, is it always has the potential to be an abortifacient.

00:19:47.740 And I would understand why secular organizations and why the Bill Gates Foundation, why they

00:19:53.800 would be pushing something like that.

00:19:55.660 They don't have any ethical qualms.

00:19:57.100 But for an explicitly Christian organization to be doing so, it just seems that when you

00:20:03.040 get so much money from a federal government that is run by secular progressivism, that has

00:20:08.180 been very clear, like you said, with USAID and the programs that they're funding all across

00:20:14.680 the world that pushes, you know, that push things like abortion and transgenderism and 0.85

00:20:21.100 DEI programs and funding things like DEI-themed musicals in Ireland, like when you're getting

00:20:28.740 money from an entity that has that kind of ideology, it's hard to imagine that you wouldn't

00:20:34.840 have to make some compromises, that there would be some exchange.

00:20:38.960 You mentioned that World Relief, we talked about this some earlier this week on the show,

00:20:43.380 but that World Relief is receiving a lot of money from USAID.

00:20:48.140 It's not just a little bit, but it's a lot of money.

00:20:52.580 And you're digging.

00:20:53.940 Have you found that that is normal?

00:20:55.580 Like, is it is normal for a charitable organization?

00:20:58.980 I speak to a lot of charities, pro-life organizations, and I haven't met any that get tens of millions

00:21:05.000 of dollars from the federal government.

00:21:07.320 I haven't met, you know, people who run pregnancy centers who are getting tens of millions of

00:21:11.140 dollars from USAID.

00:21:12.660 So is this like a normal partnership that we see between the federal government and a Christian 0.86

00:21:17.460 organization?

00:21:18.880 Well, and it depends on how you define normal, because as you just said, when you talk to your

00:21:23.500 crisis pregnancy centers on the ground, no, of course they're not getting funding like

00:21:27.280 that, but when you talk to some of these pseudo-religious, really large organizations that are helping

00:21:34.620 promote lax border policies, which World Relief does through its partnership with the Evangelical 1.00

00:21:39.460 Immigration Table, and which groups like the, you know, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

00:21:45.120 does in a major way.

00:21:46.700 I mean, if you're just wearing your religion as a cloak and you're furthering some of these 1.00

00:21:50.980 globalist aims to erase borders, to promote this idea that healthcare means having access

00:21:59.540 to abortion, if you're doing those kind of things, then yes, then they're going to get 1.00

00:22:03.900 money, because that's their purpose, to sort of convince you, well, actually, to take a Christian 0.97

00:22:08.460 position means that we can go ahead and adopt some of this left-wing language that they use.

00:22:15.140 And, you know, some of it has been so surprising to me, and I will read you this one directly

00:22:21.020 from the World Relief training module, where it describes a woman who's been working with

00:22:26.560 these village women in these third-world countries, and it says, she's been able to bring together

00:22:31.580 women of reproductive age who could not speak in public on matters of family planning and 0.92

00:22:37.260 sexual reproductive health. 0.91

00:22:39.560 These women are further mobilizing other women in their neighborhood to share health messages 0.99

00:22:45.100 challenging current culture and beliefs.

00:22:48.840 So they're really acknowledging that we're talking about Christian nations.

00:22:52.920 I mean, Kenya, Malawi, Haiti, the overwhelming on-the-ground religious belief is Christianity.

00:22:59.760 So they're saying, we are having to overcome how their faith is informing their decision whether

00:23:05.440 or not to take birth control and whether or not to limit how many children they have.

00:23:09.960 So that's the kind of thing that they talk about.

00:23:11.740 And they also talk about equitable gender when they are discussing why these women need

00:23:17.580 to embrace reproductive health in the form of contraceptives.

00:23:21.240 So what we see is that this is very much a ostensibly Christian organization that nonetheless

00:23:27.260 adopts the language of the left when they talk about what does women's health look like.

00:23:33.060 I don't know why women's health means limiting how many babies they want to have by convincing 1.00

00:23:37.640 them, gosh, it's better if you have fewer babies if culturally they want more babies. 1.00

00:23:42.180 Why is that our baseline assumption when our command is actually to be fruitful and multiply?

00:23:46.980 And, you know, each couple has to decide what that looks like for themselves.

00:23:50.500 But if you have a culture in Malawi that's pro having lots of babies, why do they feel they 1.00

00:23:55.880 need to counter that?

00:23:56.900 And I know that some people will say, well, it's a poor country and there is bad health

00:24:02.700 care there and maybe some women feel forced to have babies. 1.00

00:24:06.240 Maybe there are abusive situations.

00:24:08.100 My answer to that would be a Christian organization should then address those issues.

00:24:13.180 Like that is what both the gospel of Christ allows us to do when we are talking about like

00:24:19.460 what marriage should look like, how a husband should treat his wife.

00:24:23.060 But also like our compassion that we are compelled to by Christ would have us address the health

00:24:30.300 care needs, address some of the dynamics going on there that might make it dangerous for women 1.00

00:24:35.640 to have more children.

00:24:36.920 But to do the exact thing that like the Bill Gates Foundation would do or any secular entity

00:24:42.700 would do, the Clinton Foundation would do and say, OK, well, here's some birth control. 1.00

00:24:47.200 We're not going to address the root problems, which maybe they are in other ways.

00:24:50.660 But it sounds like from the progressive language, like let's just address these problems from

00:24:54.880 a secular perspective and leave the rest up to you.

00:24:57.400 That just doesn't sound very Christian.

00:24:59.140 And they're not just saying we're going to help you access this birth control if that's

00:25:03.620 what you want.

00:25:04.220 So I want to be very clear about that.

00:25:06.020 In fact, what they're saying is that women who don't really want to access this birth control,

00:25:10.240 what we're doing is implementing training programs to convince them that they should take it.

00:25:14.840 Like I said, they have one group meeting that said it starts with women who are skeptical

00:25:19.080 of taking this.

00:25:20.680 And it leads the training coordinator how to walk them through examining their bias against

00:25:26.640 it.

00:25:27.340 And at the end, it solicits from them a commitment.

00:25:30.720 It asks the women, it tells the coordinator, ask the women to make a commitment before they

00:25:36.180 leave today.

00:25:36.860 What could you do?

00:25:38.520 Will you start to talk to your husband about family planning?

00:25:42.220 Could you commit to taking this birth control pill?

00:25:44.580 So it is something very different than just saying, hey, if you want to have access to

00:25:49.680 it, I think that's a bizarre kind of thing for a Christian foreign aid group to be doing 0.82

00:25:55.380 anyway, promoting birth control pills.

00:25:57.640 But if you are going to say that, one of the things we're going to do is make it available.

00:26:01.660 That's very different from saying, we're trying to overcome your bias and get you to commit

00:26:06.880 to taking it.

00:26:07.600 Because at that point, it seems very much like we're moving into the realm of pushing population

00:26:12.640 control.

00:26:13.180 And I know, and that's really getting my wheels turning, because we know that that is a, and

00:26:20.820 you know, this is just us pushing the pieces together here.

00:26:24.980 I'm not saying that, you know, World Relief has said this explicitly, but when you look

00:26:28.680 at the ideology of the people in Davos, the World Economic Forum, Bill Gates, those who are

00:26:36.720 funding these entities that are then funding these programs abroad, like one of their main

00:26:42.980 priorities is depopulation, is population control.

00:26:47.360 I mean, these foundations have been pushing abortion and abortifacients and birth control

00:26:53.240 pills on young girls around the world for decades.

00:26:57.480 And it would be a real shame if an organization that was started by the National Evangelical

00:27:05.200 Association in the United States were also pushing that population control.

00:27:10.820 And when you're explaining like the process or the almost the ceremony that they go through,

00:27:16.560 like, will you take this pill?

00:27:18.340 Will you commit to taking this pill?

00:27:20.340 Will you repeat after me?

00:27:21.600 Like, it almost sounds like an altar call, like a perverse altar call of, like, of population

00:27:29.720 control, which is really manipulative to me.

00:27:32.580 And even further, they talk about in this training about how you can get local faith leaders to

00:27:39.500 also come on board, because they said, you know, locally, a lot of times faith leaders are the

00:27:44.160 people who are the ones promoting what they would call misinformation against taking, say, the morning

00:27:50.540 after pill.

00:27:51.660 But they said they've had a lot of success in bringing faith leaders on board in order

00:27:56.440 to get them to use their curriculum and to be educated, to use their talking points.

00:28:02.340 So when you talk about an altar call, I don't think it's an accident that they are discussing

00:28:06.700 how do we bring faith leaders into this program to distribute these contraceptives and birth control

00:28:13.740 pills, including the morning after pill and plan B and things like that.

00:28:17.440 Well, that's what Margaret Sanger did. 1.00

00:28:18.780 I'm sorry, but that's the same thing that she did in the early 20th century.

00:28:23.060 She started writing the letters to the Black faith leaders at the time saying, hey, you're

00:28:28.900 the one that's getting in the way of birth control. 0.93

00:28:31.460 And so we don't want the word to get.

00:28:33.180 I'm not, again, I'm just putting pieces together and drawing parallels from my perspective and

00:28:38.520 opinion.

00:28:39.240 But that famous line that a lot of conservatives repeat when Margaret Sanger said, we don't want

00:28:43.920 the word to get out that we're trying to control the Black population.

00:28:46.680 That was actually in a letter to faith leaders in the early 20th century to tell them to get

00:28:52.400 out of the way when it came to disseminating birth control to poor populations.

00:28:57.520 I'm just saying it seems to be a similar theme going on.

00:29:03.920 And that's very disturbing coming from a Christian organization funded by our tax dollars, by the 1.00

00:29:09.080 way.

00:29:09.420 It's one thing if you want to fund that yourself, like voluntarily, but we are being forced to

00:29:14.340 fund a Christian organization disseminating abortifacient birth control in poor countries.

00:29:18.960 Right.

00:29:19.400 So $29 million went to just this one scope program for world relief.

00:29:25.120 That's just a part of what they've gotten from the U.S. government.

00:29:28.600 And when you look at their funding, it was something like in their last IRS 990, I think

00:29:35.120 filed for 2022, the vast majority, over two thirds of their funding comes from government.

00:29:41.360 Only a very small piece comes from private donors.

00:29:44.720 And so when you see them saying, this is terrible that they're shutting down this government

00:29:48.640 funding, and you did see this, some of their leadership saying, Trump is preventing us from

00:29:54.940 serving refugees.

00:29:56.400 Well, no, he's not.

00:29:57.640 He's saying that right now you're not going to do it with taxpayer dollars because we're

00:30:02.080 going to put a pause on that until we look at this program, we start to sift through it,

00:30:06.840 see if there are abuses, see if there are ways that it needs to be reformed.

00:30:10.800 But that is not shutting down their work.

00:30:12.740 They are still free to continue ministering to refugees with private charitable donations,

00:30:19.040 which I would say is actually more in line with a biblical model of how we are to minister

00:30:24.860 as Christians.

00:30:26.780 Yes.

00:30:27.480 And, you know, I'm thinking about all of this is like the USAID is also, it seems like,

00:30:32.540 how we kind of how the government skirts around the Mexico City policy, which is, you know,

00:30:40.800 the executive order that's put in place by presidents that says, OK, we're not going

00:30:45.520 to fund abortion abroad.

00:30:47.140 But if the USAID is granting taxpayer funds to organizations that are pushing abortion,

00:30:54.160 and I'm not saying World Relief is pushing actual explicit abortion, although we don't

00:30:58.560 know what their euphemisms like that seems to be a way to get around that.

00:31:02.700 And it seems like the righteous and reasonable position for a president to say, look, yes,

00:31:08.420 we want refugees to be taken care of.

00:31:11.220 But there's a lot of corruption going on here.

00:31:13.360 A lot of these organizations, possibly also World Relief, but Catholic organizations, even

00:31:18.320 Jewish organizations that have been operating under the guise of refugee resettlement have

00:31:23.580 also been a part of illegal immigration.

00:31:25.880 And you can't be allowed to enable help breaking the law against the interests of the American

00:31:33.120 people.

00:31:33.800 And so to me, it just seems like a common sense thing that President Trump is doing.

00:31:38.720 Right.

00:31:39.360 And I do think when you talked about the jargon, I do think it should be an alarm bell when we

00:31:44.460 hear Christian organizations using terminology like reproductive health and family planning and

00:31:50.720 normalizing that because it does serve to make the local population more comfortable with

00:31:55.980 those terms when some organization that doesn't have pro-life commitments comes in behind them

00:32:00.860 using the exact same language as a euphemism for abortion.

00:32:05.140 And we see that frequently.

00:32:06.760 I mean, when you hear reproductive health in the U.S., you typically now think abortion.

00:32:11.460 When you hear family planning, you tend to think abortion because that's how the left uses it. 0.73

00:32:16.700 And when you talk about immigration, you see the same sort of trickiness with rhetoric because

00:32:24.280 you will see World Relief in its work talk about asylum seekers and they will say, well,

00:32:31.800 they're legal.

00:32:32.600 They're here legally now.

00:32:34.720 They crossed the border illegally.

00:32:36.560 And then these groups, these religious immigration groups, help them apply for asylum so that they

00:32:45.140 can now claim legal status.

00:32:46.580 But they came illegally and the majority of those asylum claims will be denied.

00:32:53.460 So it's really abusing what the asylum system is designed for, which is not if anyone can get 0.59

00:32:58.880 across the border, then they can claim asylum, which is reserved for religious, racial, and

00:33:04.680 ethnic persecution.

00:33:06.460 And to get back to Christianity, and I mean, a great example of that we just saw in Christianity

00:33:11.220 Today's coverage, where they did this, you know, very sad story about a man who was arrested

00:33:17.340 outside of his church in Atlanta, who was an illegal immigrant.

00:33:21.680 And in the story, they say, well, he was, he came illegally, but now he was legal because

00:33:28.620 he applied for asylum.

00:33:29.920 The reason he applied for asylum from Honduras was because he was fleeing gangs, it said.

00:33:36.600 Well, gangs is not actually a legitimate reason to ask for asylum because that's not religious,

00:33:42.960 ethnic, or political persecution.

00:33:47.440 Gangs are terrible.

00:33:48.260 And I'm sorry that that has happened, but we can't absorb everyone all over the world who 0.99

00:33:53.240 may be dealing with a gang problem in their home country.

00:33:55.520 And there were a lot of places that this particular man, like Costa Rica, Belize, could have stopped

00:34:00.680 on the way, and instead they came all the way to the United States.

00:34:04.120 And so that's part of the game that you see in some of this coverage with outlets like

00:34:09.280 Christianity Today.

00:34:11.060 And I think that is part of why there's a problem, not just for, you know, what government money

00:34:16.040 they would be taking, but it should also be noted that they took $5 million this year,

00:34:22.760 at the beginning of this year, from the Lilly Endowment, which is the secular foundation

00:34:27.580 founded by the Eli Lilly Pharmaceutical Company.

00:34:31.240 And the purpose of that grant was to promote diverse and global storytelling.

00:34:38.940 So I think that's the kind of thing that we're seeing already in their coverage.

00:34:42.860 And, you know, I don't want to belabor the point, but I did cover that their executive

00:34:48.160 news editor, Marvin Alasky, sent out a request for stories, and he exclusively asked for stories

00:34:56.360 that show how these illegal immigrants and refugees and asylum seekers are being impacted.

00:35:02.480 He said he wanted to know about raids.

00:35:04.600 He wanted to know about churches serving as sanctuary.

00:35:07.560 But he didn't ask for any stories about how American citizens are being impacted by illegal

00:35:14.480 immigration.

00:35:15.540 He didn't ask about how their services are being stretched to the breaking point.

00:35:20.040 He didn't ask about potential crimes that they may be suffering in their communities.

00:35:25.940 Yes.

00:35:26.600 And, you know, World Relief specifically, we talked about this on our episode with World

00:35:31.140 Relief this week.

00:35:31.960 But on their site, they say, here are some myths about immigration, and they go through

00:35:36.560 five myths, which really aren't myths at all.

00:35:39.800 And they don't even really counter them that well.

00:35:41.820 They basically just say, oh, that's not true.

00:35:43.900 Here's someone saying that's not true.

00:35:45.880 And one of the things that they say is a myth is that refugee populations or immigrant populations,

00:35:53.320 that they commit a significant number of crimes.

00:35:57.640 And they use the language.

00:35:58.800 And again, I think language is so important.

00:36:00.420 They use undocumented. 0.97

00:36:02.540 They don't say illegal.

00:36:04.100 And that is a radical ideological word choice because you're saying that basically there's

00:36:09.280 no such thing as citizenship.

00:36:10.400 It just comes down to a piece of paper.

00:36:12.700 It's very arbitrary.

00:36:13.860 Like, it's very flippant.

00:36:15.440 And if that's what you think about citizenship in countries and sovereignty, then yes, I'm going

00:36:20.000 to assume that you're progressive.

00:36:21.320 But they cite the Cato Institute, which is very libertarian when it comes to immigration,

00:36:26.220 as you know.

00:36:27.560 But it's also just not true.

00:36:28.860 When we looked at the data from Europe especially, and we also looked at the fact that if you

00:36:34.660 are undocumented, then by definition, you don't have documents that make it possible

00:36:39.020 to track how many crimes you've committed.

00:36:41.140 And also, every single crime, even if it's just one that's committed by someone who should

00:36:46.240 not be here, is preventable.

00:36:49.000 Laken Riley's murder was preventable.

00:36:51.660 It was a policy choice.

00:36:53.080 So it really doesn't matter if it's a million crimes or one crime.

00:36:56.360 They're all preventable.

00:36:57.520 There's no argument for adding to the criminals that are already citizens in this nation.

00:37:03.040 But it's just very revelatory of where they're coming from.

00:37:07.640 And again, they're not just talking about refugees.

00:37:10.200 They're talking about immigrants in general.

00:37:12.080 They're talking about the quote unquote undocumented, which tells me that they probably are, as you

00:37:18.020 said, playing that role of enabling, exacerbating illegal immigration, which contributes to human

00:37:25.880 trafficking, to drug trafficking, to gun trafficking, which is destructive and chaotic.

00:37:31.480 And I would just want to know, like, are you taking money from open society?

00:37:35.480 Are you taking money from Bill Gates?

00:37:37.400 Like, where else is this coming from?

00:37:39.480 You just seem to be a part of an agent of chaos in some ways, at least.

00:37:43.760 Well, and that's why I think so much of this USAID discussion that we're suddenly having is really important.

00:37:50.420 And I think it's why the Trump administration's approach right now of shock and awe has been really helpful,

00:37:57.800 because I think so many people didn't realize that these charitable organizations are, in

00:38:04.420 many ways, just arms of the US government.

00:38:07.280 So they're facilitators of government contracts.

00:38:10.240 They're not operating with money from churches, for the most part, you know, or just operating

00:38:15.320 with a very small sum from that.

00:38:17.660 And I think it's why we need to talk about, okay, it's a problem when our Christian institutions 0.99

00:38:23.440 or what we think of as Christian institutions are getting a huge amount of their support

00:38:28.580 from either secular foundations or from the US government.

00:38:31.820 So it's very much worth taking a look at this and asking, okay, if we are doing this much

00:38:37.820 partnering with, say, the Rockefeller Foundation, or in Christianity Today's case, the Lilly Endowment,

00:38:46.160 at what point is this not a Christian institution anymore?

00:38:50.680 Because it's primarily not funded by fellow Christians.

00:38:53.620 It's funded by the US government or by secular foundations.

00:38:57.380 Yep.

00:38:57.920 And we talked about that when you were on last time about organizations like the Ant Campaign,

00:39:02.220 I think also took funds from the Rockefeller Foundation.

00:39:05.400 And I just think it's worth asking.

00:39:07.780 That does not automatically mean that an organization is compromised, but it's worth asking what a secular

00:39:14.520 left-wing foundation like that, what interest they would have in funding an organization.

00:39:20.440 Because again, I go to a lot of pro-life pregnancy centers across the country that are actually doing

00:39:25.960 life-saving work and soul-saving work by the gospel of Christ, who have never seen a dime from these

00:39:33.180 organizations.

00:39:33.880 They've never heard from the Rockefellers. 0.94

00:39:35.920 They've never heard from Bill Gates.

00:39:37.280 They've never heard from, I think you said it was the Lilith.

00:39:40.160 Is it Lilith or Lillian?

00:39:41.160 The Lilly Endowment.

00:39:41.760 The Lilly Endowment.

00:39:43.660 They've never gotten money.

00:39:45.580 And in fact, they're just trying to get their community to give the money so they can provide

00:39:50.200 diapers and baby bottles to these pregnant moms in need.

00:39:54.580 And so I think it's at least worth asking, like, what is the interest of the US government and

00:40:00.840 these left-wing organizations in funding things like the After Party or Be the Bridge?

00:40:06.220 And I want to go back to Be the Bridge for just a second, because you mentioned that this was a

00:40:10.960 very destructive curriculum.

00:40:11.980 And you're absolutely right.

00:40:13.880 We talked about it a lot at the time.

00:40:16.000 I also wrote about it in Toxic Empathy.

00:40:18.020 And by the way, like, our books go together so well.

00:40:21.980 And I really, if people have not read one or the other, definitely get Megan's book.

00:40:25.740 If you haven't read mine, like, buy them at the same time, because they go together so well.

00:40:29.500 All of these are examples of Shepherds for sale.

00:40:31.660 But there are also examples of Toxic Empathy, like picking a purported victim and ignoring

00:40:37.220 the moral equation on the other side, the other victims on the other side.

00:40:40.320 But Be the Bridge receives 20 percent, was 20 percent funded by federal grants in 2023,

00:40:48.140 which is so that's a lot.

00:40:50.000 That's a lot.

00:40:50.620 And what's interesting about that is I think, like, the grift was up after 2020 when people

00:40:56.500 joined the Be the Bridge Facebook group.

00:40:58.280 They read the list of rules that said, hey, white people, don't defend yourself.

00:41:02.600 Hey, white people, don't say that you're not racist.

00:41:06.040 Don't yell if someone calls you a name. 0.91

00:41:09.580 Don't lash out at them.

00:41:11.100 Just let people of color and women of color basically walk all over you and you go read 1.00

00:41:17.180 White Fragility. 0.99

00:41:18.160 You go read the Case for Reparations by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Ibram X.

00:41:23.760 Kindi's How to Be an Anti-Racist.

00:41:26.060 But you need to sit down and listen and learn and completely manipulated scripture to support

00:41:34.380 this idea that white people today are all responsible for the sins of a group of people

00:41:40.040 that lived 200 years ago that kind of shared our melanin count, like not even our actual

00:41:45.560 ancestors.

00:41:47.060 And somehow equated that to like Israel having to pay for this.

00:41:51.020 I don't know.

00:41:51.580 It just wasn't biblical.

00:41:53.400 And actually it was, and I know there's been some back and forth here, but it was Neil

00:41:57.060 Shenvey who did a really good and like fair critique and review of Be the Bridge at the

00:42:02.660 time.

00:42:03.360 But 20%, I feel like that's the only reason Be the Bridge has stayed afloat.

00:42:07.480 20% of their funding came from federal grants in 2023.

00:42:11.280 That's a lot.

00:42:12.120 It is a lot.

00:42:12.840 And as this, you said, money trail is coming out and look, people are feverishly right this

00:42:18.540 second as we're talking, digging into all the money trail.

00:42:21.680 So it's all just coming out right now.

00:42:23.460 But, you know, others have shown that the African-American Christian Foundation, 95% of

00:42:29.960 its funding came from the U.S.

00:42:31.360 government or Charlie Dates, who we know well, the NGO that he runs, the Together Chicago,

00:42:39.700 it looks like 70% of their income is coming from the U.S.

00:42:44.180 government.

00:42:45.220 So, you know, all of these things, people are going to be digging into it for the next few

00:42:48.620 days going, okay, why is Charlie Dates' organization, who was heavily featured in the after party

00:42:54.160 curriculum, by the way, and he was used as an example for why Christians need to vote

00:42:59.960 to end systemic racism.

00:43:03.160 Yeah.

00:43:03.360 His organization looks to have been taking 70% from the U.S.

00:43:07.700 government.

00:43:08.220 So, you know, these are things that need to be explored.

00:43:11.480 They need to be exposed.

00:43:13.160 And I think these organizations need to answer some questions.

00:43:17.120 And, you know, when Christianity Day tells you directly the $5 million we got from the Lilly

00:43:22.780 endowment, a secular organization, is for global and diverse storytelling, we should have questions.

00:43:30.620 Why does the Lilly endowment want to see that particular kind of reporting coming from the

00:43:35.860 best-known Christian media outlet?

00:43:37.940 Mm-hmm.

00:43:39.460 Revoice, too.

00:43:40.500 They took a smaller amount, but $40,000 from USAID, it looks like, in 2023.

00:43:48.600 And they are the pro-LGBTQ organization that also claims to be Christian.

00:43:57.160 And, again, just some questions there.

00:43:59.900 Is it true that the U.S.

00:44:02.300 government is purposely funding initiatives that are infiltrating the evangelical church

00:44:10.140 in particular in order to make it more progressive?

00:44:13.700 In the name of fighting so-called Christian nationalism, but really in dismantling biblical

00:44:20.120 values when it comes to the sexual ethic and even ideas about national sovereignty and

00:44:25.340 things like that.

00:44:26.580 Is that an orchestrated, purposeful effort that these organizations are knowingly or unwittingly

00:44:33.800 a part of?

00:44:34.360 That's the question.

00:44:35.480 Right.

00:44:35.800 And also, it can get complicated.

00:44:38.140 So just because they're not directly taking money from USAID doesn't mean some of these

00:44:42.860 organizations aren't getting government money through pass-throughs like the Rockefeller

00:44:46.520 Foundation.

00:44:47.260 So the Rockefeller Foundation will take money from USAID, and then they will give it to some

00:44:51.800 go-between who then gives it to the ostensible Christian organization to push some liberal policy.

00:44:59.840 So, you know, it can get very complicated, but it is why it's important to know.

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00:45:14.480 This really started as a grassroots movement to create a financial institution that supports

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00:45:26.080 and now it's grown.

00:45:26.880 It's got thousands of branches nationwide, and they still exist to serve people like you.

00:45:34.080 Unfortunately, as we've seen, President Trump even mentioned this.

00:45:37.580 There are some big banks that have debanked conservative Christians because of the values

00:45:43.260 that they publicly espouse.

00:45:45.200 That's a lot of anxiety for us to be carrying around.

00:45:48.680 That is like life-ruining stuff.

00:45:50.760 You don't want to have to worry about that.

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00:46:33.480 What do you think Christianity Today, David French, Russell Moore, what do you think their

00:46:39.380 response is going to be to, for example, Trump saying that he's going to try to root out

00:46:46.360 anti-Christian bias in the federal government?

00:46:50.520 I mean, they have really had no response to these positive things.

00:46:54.180 I mean, we have seen just such tremendous pro-life wins.

00:46:57.320 And I know we were all very disappointed by some of the GOP language and what Trump did

00:47:02.380 with the GOP platform during the campaign.

00:47:05.000 And I was disappointed too.

00:47:06.080 But we have to say that since he has taken office, we have seen some really positive moves

00:47:10.860 ending the Mexico City policy, ensuring that no federal tax dollars are going to fund abortion

00:47:19.420 domestically, sending J.D. Vance, his first public appearance as vice president at the March

00:47:26.660 for Life, making really strong pro-life comments.

00:47:29.280 And I know there's others.

00:47:30.860 So you would think that there would be some commentary on that from a David French and a

00:47:35.740 Russell Moore.

00:47:36.280 And we have not seen that.

00:47:37.260 We haven't seen it in the act that President Trump just signed to protect women's spaces

00:47:43.740 and to protect children from transgender mutilation.

00:47:47.820 So, you know, I find that really odd how they can just entirely ignore it, because I will

00:47:52.240 be honest with you, if the Biden administration had done any of those things, as much as I was

00:47:57.200 opposed to so many of their policies, I would have been the first one cheering and encouraging

00:48:01.900 them to do more.

00:48:02.920 So I think that's really telling that they've been so silent on so many of these things.

00:48:08.840 Yeah.

00:48:09.100 I mean, it's just not even debatable, some of the moves that Trump has made, especially

00:48:14.220 in contrast to what the Biden administration did, that all Christians, if you're a true

00:48:19.080 Christian, should rejoice over that.

00:48:21.020 I mean, Trump signing that EO versus the, you know, the EO protecting girls' sports versus

00:48:27.540 all of just the abominable things that the Biden administration did to advance the mutilation

00:48:33.640 of children's bodies who are deceived about their gender.

00:48:37.080 Like, even if you just, you're just a Genesis 1 Christian, like you just believe a little 0.91

00:48:42.340 bit of the Bible.

00:48:43.740 Of course, that doesn't actually exist, but you know what I mean.

00:48:46.740 Even if you were just to buy into the fundamentals of the Bible, you would have to rejoice over 0.82

00:48:52.020 that.

00:48:52.300 And yet we have Russell Moore coming out here writing articles, yes, Jesus was a refugee.

00:48:58.420 I mean, it's insane.

00:49:00.300 Just what are your priorities, really?

00:49:02.660 Well, and, you know, I do go back to the money a little bit here because seeing that not only

00:49:07.320 were they taking money from left-wing organizations, but from a political dark money organization

00:49:13.960 like Bill Kristol's Defending Democracy, that should be discrediting for a news organization's

00:49:19.960 editor-in-chief to have been involved in that.

00:49:21.940 So developing a political Bible study that went into churches promoted on Christian college

00:49:27.440 campuses by the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, that as the person overseeing

00:49:33.900 the coverage at Christianity Today was involved with that and took money from an explicitly

00:49:39.840 anti-Trump political organization that donated millions and millions of dollars to defeating

00:49:46.820 him, that should absolutely make you look askance at all of their coverage.

00:49:51.940 Yep, absolutely.

00:49:53.800 So Pam Bondi, she is the attorney general, the newly confirmed attorney general. 1.00

00:50:00.720 She said at a national prayer breakfast, or President Trump ordered Pam Bondi to set up

00:50:07.300 a task force to eradicate anti-Christian bias.

00:50:10.120 This includes in the FBI.

00:50:11.500 This includes in the IRS.

00:50:13.680 Unfortunately, this is something that we've seen with the IRS, you know, several years ago,

00:50:17.960 basically targeting Christian or conservative organizations, and then also with the FBI and

00:50:24.140 the DOJ basically calling every Christian conservative some kind of like Christian nationalist

00:50:30.180 terrorist.

00:50:31.480 Unfortunately, I do think this is something that's necessary.

00:50:34.440 And again, it's hard for me to see how any Christian like couldn't celebrate this or

00:50:40.860 get behind this, you know, it's just ironic.

00:50:44.840 And how God sometimes works is that someone like President Trump with the crass personality

00:50:50.160 in the background that he has, that he is plain and simple making righteous decisions that

00:50:55.000 are leading to the prosperity and the goodness of our country.

00:50:57.720 And like, it's just time to put aside your anger and celebrate that and thank God for that.

00:51:05.720 But you know, money, the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, and it can get people

00:51:10.880 to compromise in a lot of ways.

00:51:12.640 Yes, it can.

00:51:13.480 And you know, yeah, I'm not tired of the winning yet.

00:51:16.160 I'm seeing so many wins for policies that I've wanted for so long.

00:51:19.800 But when I look at it, I go, it's not who I would have expected to do these things,

00:51:26.240 Lord, but maybe it took a particularly, I don't know, pugnacious type of personality to withstand

00:51:33.660 the onslaught of lawfare and really just using every avenue of government power that they

00:51:43.580 could to try to take this particular man out.

00:51:45.960 I don't think I would have withstood it.

00:51:47.500 I would have probably pretty early on gone, you know what?

00:51:49.780 I don't need to be in politics.

00:51:51.180 I'm good.

00:51:52.200 And so I'm off.

00:51:52.920 So I do think you probably needed a unique sort of personality.

00:51:57.340 Yes.

00:51:57.940 Okay, before we end, I just realized that I forgot to say this.

00:52:01.700 And people will remember this Anglican, my notes say Episcopalian, but I'm, is it Episcopalian

00:52:07.640 or Anglican?

00:52:08.140 I can't remember.

00:52:09.160 The bishop that was preaching at Trump and Vance and basically said, you know, have mercy

00:52:14.800 on the trans child, which is something that doesn't exist, but also talked about illegal

00:52:18.560 immigration.

00:52:19.140 So we found that her organization, Episcopal Migration Ministry, so I guess she is Episcopalian,

00:52:27.420 was paid.

00:52:28.560 It earned $53 million from various taxpayer funded government organizations to resettle

00:52:35.660 3,600 individuals, legal, illegal, we don't know.

00:52:39.780 And that was in 2023 alone.

00:52:42.960 And so I don't think it was purposeful of Trump to specifically go after this person, but it

00:52:48.200 all is starting to make sense.

00:52:50.120 Yes.

00:52:50.540 And I do want us to remember that 50 years ago, 60 years ago, there was still a lot of

00:52:57.500 really good preaching and doctrine and strong Christian community coming out of mainline

00:53:03.500 churches.

00:53:03.920 And over time, they have become sort of these liberal, progressive, social clubs with crosses

00:53:10.600 and rainbow flags.

00:53:12.300 Yeah.

00:53:12.760 And that's what happens when the church loses sight of its mission, because now what it is

00:53:17.820 is it's just a functionary of progressive causes in the U.S. government.

00:53:22.480 And that's why it is so important, because I don't want my church, I don't want my denomination 1.00

00:53:26.540 to turn in to what the Episcopalian church is today.

00:53:29.920 Yep, absolutely right.

00:53:32.700 Well, Megan, I just wanted to ask you one more thing about what you posted publicly just

00:53:38.080 a few days ago.

00:53:39.200 You announced that you have been diagnosed with cancer, that you are currently undergoing

00:53:43.340 treatment.

00:53:45.200 And first of all, I'm just so sorry.

00:53:48.100 I'm just so sorry, because I'm sure that that has been very hard and sanctifying and

00:53:52.340 all of those things.

00:53:53.240 But I just want to hear from you how you're feeling and how everyone can be praying for

00:53:57.460 you.

00:53:58.120 Well, thanks for asking.

00:53:59.400 I waited until I knew I was really like, okay, I'm ready to talk about it now.

00:54:03.360 So I first got my diagnosis right after Thanksgiving.

00:54:08.840 You know, it was a long process because you don't expect someone at my age and I'm in good

00:54:13.260 shape to have colon cancer.

00:54:16.140 And I kind of want to tell everyone, by the way, it's really skyrocketing among younger

00:54:21.400 people, in particular younger women.

00:54:23.340 So if you have digestive issues, push hard.

00:54:25.520 Because when I first went to the doctor way back in March, I went to the emergency room

00:54:30.180 for stomach pains.

00:54:31.400 They told me, no, we think this is just colitis.

00:54:35.160 And they kind of blew me off.

00:54:36.800 And I knew something was wrong.

00:54:38.340 And so time went on.

00:54:39.380 And so finally, right around Thanksgiving, got diagnosed with stage three colorectal cancer.

00:54:47.500 So that is an advanced stage, but we're really grateful that we have caught it before stage

00:54:53.640 four.

00:54:54.000 So, you know, it's not as early as we would have wished, but it is certainly a much better

00:54:59.400 prognosis than if I would have been at stage four, which is the point at which it has metastasized.

00:55:05.100 So, you know, I would pray if you can ask for prayers that it does not metastasize and that

00:55:10.900 the treatment I'm going through right now, right now in radiation and chemo, that it's

00:55:15.640 effective and knocks all this cancer out.

00:55:17.820 And, you know, we already feel incredibly blessed by the people who've come around us and who

00:55:23.880 are praying for us.

00:55:25.500 And I went through some dark nights of the soul when we first met up.

00:55:29.860 So, I mean, I had some Isaiah 38, Hezekiah turning his face to the wall and just crying.

00:55:36.460 I did that for days.

00:55:38.280 But I will say, you know, now I do feel this sense of strength and peace.

00:55:43.300 And sometimes I'm like, is it okay, Lord, that I really feel fine right now?

00:55:48.380 I don't feel this sense of anxiety.

00:55:50.840 So, you know, I have to take that as supernatural peace.

00:55:55.200 I don't know what else it is.

00:55:56.760 But I'm really touched by all the people who have told me that they're praying and reached

00:56:02.800 out and grateful.

00:56:04.820 Yes.

00:56:05.240 Well, now you have even more people praying for you.

00:56:08.780 I'm sure there's a lot of people listening to this and watching this that already knew.

00:56:11.700 They saw your announcement, but I'm sure there are people listening who didn't know.

00:56:15.760 And now you're going on their prayer list.

00:56:17.880 And I'm just so thankful that we serve a God who says that the prayer of a righteous person

00:56:22.080 has great power as it is working, which is such a mystery since we serve the sovereign

00:56:26.620 God, yet like He has ordained our prayers to actually do something and accomplish something.

00:56:31.580 And so I am going to be praying for you.

00:56:33.300 I already have.

00:56:34.300 And just praying for your sweet kids and your husband and just that you would continue to

00:56:38.580 have that strength and peace that God would be glorified, but for total and quick physical

00:56:43.720 healing and wisdom for doctors and all of that.

00:56:48.140 And so we and all the relatable community will absolutely be praying for you.

00:56:52.720 So thank you so much, Megan, for sharing.

00:56:55.320 And thanks for the hard work that you're doing.

00:56:57.640 Thanks for having me.

00:56:58.540 It's great to be here as always.

00:57:00.440 Thank you.

00:57:00.980 Thank you.

00:57:01.020 Thank you.

00:57:01.120 Thank you.

00:57:02.020 Thank you.

00:57:03.020 Thank you.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - February 06, 2025

Ep 1136 ｜ Christianity Today, Be the Bridge, & the Evangelical Underbelly of USAID Funds ｜ Guest： Megan Basham

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