Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 201 ｜ Bethel & Raising the Dead

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Monday. It is the week of Christmas, which is really

00:00:06.080 exciting. So today I'm going to spend time singing you guys my favorite Christmas songs

00:00:12.800 from Oh Holy Night to Frosty the Snowman. And if you guys like what, if you want to sing

00:00:18.600 along, if you want to harmonize, record yourself, post it on Instagram, that would be a Christmas

00:00:23.800 gift to me. Just kidding. Obviously I'm going to spare you my Christmas singing. I, instead

00:00:31.780 I'm going to talk about things that are much, hopefully much more easier on the ears than

00:00:37.680 that. Although I will say that definitively, like we believe in objective truth on this

00:00:42.420 podcast and the objective, the objectively the best Christmas song out there is Oh Holy

00:00:48.100 Night. I got into a riff with Matt Walsh of the Daily Wire, which I, I feel like I get

00:00:53.780 in arguments with Matt Walsh on Twitter a lot about inconsequential things. Uh, sometimes

00:00:59.120 they're consequential, but inconsequential things. And he said like, here are the top four best

00:01:03.980 Christmas songs. And he didn't include Oh Holy Night on there. And I'm like, you've got,

00:01:09.220 you've got to be out of your mind to not list Oh Holy Night in the top four, the top one Christmas

00:01:16.860 songs in all the world. And he tried to say that like Hark the Herald Angels Sing had better

00:01:21.840 lyrics than Oh Holy Night. Not true. I just love the depiction of the gospel in Oh Holy

00:01:27.360 Night. And as much as I would love to be able to sing that to you, um, I'm not going to,

00:01:32.040 because it is not for the public to hear. I do, I do sing Oh Holy Night to my daughter every night

00:01:38.420 and it helps her fall asleep. So maybe, maybe it's not so bad after all, but I won't be singing

00:01:42.360 that to you today. I'm going to answer some of your questions. The first question that I'm going

00:01:47.000 to answer is about this, uh, tragic situation regarding a young girl named Olive. I think

00:01:55.140 that she is two years old and she is the daughter of a worship leader that is associated with Bethel

00:02:02.140 church. And there has been a hashtag that has been going around hashtag wake up Olive and Bethel

00:02:09.320 church, as well as, um, leaders and Christians from around the world that support Bethel church

00:02:16.080 have been praying that Olive would rise from the dead. And a lot of you, a lot of you have been

00:02:22.920 asking my thoughts on this and I've given a lot of my thoughts on Instagram stories. And I want to be

00:02:28.680 so sensitive to this situation because as I have said on Instagram, this is absolutely tragic.

00:02:36.600 Apparently their daughter, um, died unexpectedly, stopped breathing in the middle of the night. I really

00:02:42.120 don't have any details other than that. And she was pronounced dead by the doctors at the hospital

00:02:47.680 and she's not on life support. She's not in a coma. She is as far as we know, completely dead heart has

00:02:54.540 stopped beating, no brain activity. And her family and Bethel church is praying for resurrection. It's

00:03:02.180 been, I think it's been over a week now that this young girl has been pronounced dead. And they are

00:03:08.960 saying, you know, Jesus can obviously raise people from the dead. And so that is what they are not

00:03:14.140 just praying. But if you go on social media, you click on this hashtag, or you, uh, look at Bethel

00:03:19.900 church churches posts, you can then click on the mom's handle who will have more details of everything

00:03:25.460 that they have been praying for. There are also people who are declaring, they are saying in faith,

00:03:31.160 they would say that this is going to happen. There are people who are claiming to be able to

00:03:35.520 prophesy that they are prophesying, uh, her, this little girl's resurrection by saying this is

00:03:42.180 going to happen. God is raising her from the dead. She will be a testimony for people because she was

00:03:47.740 raised, uh, from death to life, physical death to life. So I didn't really want to talk about this at

00:03:55.180 first with all these people asking me about it because I was like, you know what, if, if this were my

00:04:00.240 baby, I would be praying for a miracle too. Like I get it. I cannot think of anything more tragic to

00:04:08.240 happen to someone than someone's baby, someone's child really at any age dying, especially unexpectedly.

00:04:15.320 Like I cannot even comprehend the absolute heartache that comes with seeing your lifeless child laying

00:04:25.720 there on the bed and feeling like you are totally helpless. So I, from the bottom of my heart,

00:04:31.540 empathize with this precious family who is, you know, no matter what they might be saying on social

00:04:38.320 media, I am sure they are struggling. Like I am sure they are devastated. I'm sure this is the hardest,

00:04:43.160 most tragic thing that they have ever gone through. And wow, I, I feel for them and I am praying for

00:04:50.540 them. I am praying for the peace that passes all understanding. I am praying that the peace of Christ

00:04:54.780 would rule in their hearts. I am praying, uh, that they would feel that they would feel the calm and

00:05:01.840 the assurance and the serenity that comes with the grace of God that he mercifully bestows upon

00:05:09.460 believers. That is what I am praying for them. Um, and at first I said, you know what? Sure. I'll pray

00:05:16.500 for a miracle too. Before I really knew all the details and how long it had been, you know what? I did pray.

00:05:21.440 I prayed, God, you can do miracles. You are the God that can do miracles. Nothing is too hard for

00:05:28.380 you. As Job says, I pray that you, I will pray that you will raise this girl from the dead. But,

00:05:35.180 but the more I have looked at this and the longer this has gone on, the more I've realized that that

00:05:41.420 is not the prayer. That is not the prayer that I need to pray. Not that God can't do it. He absolutely

00:05:47.760 can. God can defy physics. He can defy probabilities. He can defy possibilities. God can do absolutely

00:05:55.260 anything. He created everything in the universe. That means he is the authority over it. He can do

00:06:00.780 everything that we can imagine and even things that we cannot imagine. And we know there are at least

00:06:05.800 nine, or I think there are exactly nine instances in the Bible where God has raised someone from

00:06:10.980 physical death to life. Jesus did it himself in the gospel. So we know that it is absolutely possible.

00:06:17.900 But, but the declarations that we are seeing, uh, from this group of people who claim to be

00:06:25.020 prophesying, who claim to be saying, God will do it. We are declaring in faith, guys, that is not

00:06:33.040 a representative of biblical faith. It's not. Our declarations are saying what will happen according to

00:06:42.460 what we want is not biblical faith. It is superstition. Um, it is treating God as a genie.

00:06:52.000 He was saying, maybe if we say the right things, if we pray, if we pray the right things, if we sing the

00:06:57.280 right way, if we declare enough and boldly enough and strongly enough and adamantly enough, then God

00:07:03.320 will respond to our incantations. And that is not how he works. He is not a fairy godfather. He is not

00:07:13.540 a genie. Our declarations are, uh, quote, belief of manifestation does not make him any more likely

00:07:20.840 to do something. Yes, we can believe in faith that he can, but as the story of Shadrach, Meshach and

00:07:28.220 Abednego, uh, goes in Daniel three, we can say, I believe that God will deliver us from this fiery

00:07:35.800 furnace as the, as they said, but even if he doesn't, but even if he doesn't, they said, we will

00:07:43.180 not bow down to you Nebuchadnezzar. And we can say, God, even if you don't, you are still good. Even if 0.97

00:07:50.000 you don't, we surrender to your will. So what I'm praying for this family is not that this child a

00:07:55.240 week later rises from the dead. I'm not praying that I am praying that they would not only have

00:08:00.200 the peace that passes understanding, but with the faith that they are saying they're using to declare

00:08:06.060 her resurrection from the dead. I pray that they would have enough faith to realize that God's ways

00:08:10.560 are not our ways, that his thoughts are not our thoughts, that they would have enough faith to

00:08:15.280 surrender and say, God, you give and you take away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. As Job said,

00:08:23.020 when everything was taken away from him, that is the prayer we as believers need to be praying.

00:08:29.920 Uh, this has, and the only reason guys, I'm talking about this. And I kind of meant to say this a few

00:08:36.520 minutes ago, and then I got on another train of thought. The only reason why I'm talking about this

00:08:41.720 is because it has become so public. Like if this were something that, you know, this, this family,

00:08:48.960 they were dealing with this on their own, I would certainly not be broadcasting it on my podcast,

00:08:54.900 but it has become bigger than this poor child's death of this tragic death that I had, like I said,

00:09:03.880 so much sadness over because this, this poor child, I can't believe that her life has ended so

00:09:10.260 unexpectedly and in our mind seems so soon. But the reason why I'm talking about it on the podcast

00:09:16.120 is because I am sincerely worried. Like I have a pit in my stomach, not just over this person's death,

00:09:21.820 but for all the people who are watching this, who are being swayed by bad theology. This is bad

00:09:28.960 theology. You know what Jesus says about this in the gospels that a foolish and a wicked generation look 1.00

00:09:34.480 for a sign. That's what Jesus says. And that's what I'm worried about that people are looking

00:09:39.480 for a miraculous sign to prove that Jesus is real, to prove that Jesus is who he says he is,

00:09:46.260 that people are misunderstanding, uh, the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross as propitiation, not

00:09:53.440 just as not just propitiation for our sins, but also a payment, uh, for physical resurrection from the

00:09:59.540 dead and a physical healing from all of our illnesses. And that's not what Jesus paid for.

00:10:03.880 What Jesus paid for was a spiritual awakening as Ephesians two promises that in Christ,

00:10:09.820 we will be raised from death to life, uh, spiritually. And yes, there will be a bodily

00:10:15.500 resurrection of believers who have, uh, quote, fallen asleep as the Bible says, but that is not right

00:10:21.920 now. That's not what is promised to us right now. Again, that doesn't mean that God can't do it.

00:10:27.060 Of course he can do it. God can perform miracles. And I do believe that he still performs miracles

00:10:32.500 today. But to say that that is how our faith is supposed to manifest, or that is the outcome

00:10:38.940 that is necessary, uh, because of our quote, prophecy or declarations. No, that is saying,

00:10:46.820 uh, that is, uh, I think it's just a misunderstanding and a, um, minimization of the miracle of Jesus's,

00:10:56.500 of Jesus's, uh, Jesus's resurrection, that that was the miracle that we need for salvation. That was

00:11:03.860 the miracle that authenticates our faith. That miracle was sufficient for our faith. We don't need

00:11:11.000 new signs. We don't need new wonders. We don't need to see new things in order for our faith to be,

00:11:18.660 uh, to be authenticated or to be verified or to be made real. So I want to read you a passage out of

00:11:26.620 Luke 16. There is a parable that Jesus tells the rich man and the poor man of Lazarus, the rich man,

00:11:33.120 you should read it for yourself, but the rich man is in hell. And he is saying to Abraham while he is

00:11:39.160 in hell, uh, please, can I go to my brothers on who are still on earth? Can I tell them so that they

00:11:46.120 can escape the fires of hell? And Abraham says to them, this is Jesus relaying this, uh, parable.

00:11:52.220 And Abraham in the parable says, uh, they says that they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear

00:11:59.300 them. And the rich man in hell says no father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead,

00:12:05.120 they will repent. They will surely repent. If someone from the dead goes to them and tells them

00:12:09.980 the truth. And he said to him, if they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be

00:12:14.880 convinced. If someone should rise from the dead, we do not need new miracles to authenticate faith.

00:12:23.320 Yes, God can and does do miracles, but we do not need the miracle of this poor little girl, uh, 1.00

00:12:32.160 raising, raising from the dead in order to believe that God is true. We have the miracle of Jesus's

00:12:39.820 resurrection to do that. We have the miracles that he performed in the Bible to do that. And yes,

00:12:45.080 there's this larger conversation about continuationism and cessationism that is going

00:12:49.760 on. And obviously Bethel is very charismatic. They are very continuationist. They believe

00:12:55.480 that the apostolic gifts or that, um, charismatic gifts like speaking in tongues and like laying on of

00:13:03.860 hands, healing and things like that, that all of that is available to the church. And these are all

00:13:08.680 common manifestations of the Holy spirit. Whereas someone like me, who is a cessationist, I believe

00:13:14.540 things like that stopped with the apostolic age and I should do an entire podcast that is dedicated

00:13:19.860 to that. That doesn't mean that God doesn't perform any miracles ever. Um, it simply, it simply holds

00:13:25.900 that those particular gifts were for a period of time and have since ceased. Again, God can do anything.

00:13:34.060 I believe that we can pray for miracles, but for our faith to be dependent on those miracles is wrong

00:13:41.080 because our faith is dependent on Jesus. Our faith is dependent on the gospel, which has already been

00:13:47.860 made true. Uh, also I think it is wrong for us to believe that our declarations, our declarations, uh,

00:13:58.180 end in the manifestation of our choice that is using God as a magic eight ball that is using God

00:14:04.640 as a magic genie. You saying that something is going to happen is simply proof of what you want to

00:14:12.540 happen. Not what God's will is. Uh, as Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane for God to deliver him

00:14:19.720 from what was ahead, he said, not my will, but your will be done as a church. We need to be praying

00:14:26.460 for submission. We need to be praying for surrender. We need to be praying. Like I said,

00:14:31.340 for the peace that passes all understanding to acknowledge that God is the God who gives. He's

00:14:35.980 also the God who takes away and to trust in his sovereignty, no matter what that, that would have

00:14:43.040 been a testimony of how great and gracious and good God is. How amazing the gospel is that the gospel

00:14:50.020 is sufficient, even in the midst of our loss and our tragedy, that Jesus is our burden bearer, that

00:14:57.060 Jesus is our comforter, that Jesus is our Prince of peace, that even when things go completely not as

00:15:04.120 planned, that even when we, uh, lose everything as Job did, that he is sufficient. That is our testimony

00:15:09.860 before our world that doesn't understand how you can sorrow with hope. That doesn't understand that

00:15:14.900 even if you lose everything that you, uh, that you still hold on to the faith that you have,

00:15:21.780 that is our testimony before, um, believers. Unfortunately, unfortunately, there are people

00:15:27.820 that are being led astray by this. There are people whose faith is going to crumble because

00:15:34.300 this young child is not going to be raised from the dead. And so they're going to wonder,

00:15:39.920 is God really good? Is God really powerful? They're going to look at this woman who they hold 1.00

00:15:47.520 as a godly teacher and influencer, this mother who obviously loves her child very much, who is saying

00:15:54.460 that her child is going to rise from the dead over a week later. And they're going to say, okay, well,

00:16:00.420 if God is not answering her prayers, if God is not answering all the millions of prayers of all of

00:16:05.360 these people to raise this child from the dead, why would I believe in this God? And that,

00:16:09.780 is what I fear. And that is why to me, it is worth, it is worth having this conversation.

00:16:14.340 And I know I've gotten messages from those of you who attend Bethel, who are fans of Bethel and who

00:16:20.420 think that I'm in the wrong in this. And of course my intention is not to make you angry. And you've

00:16:25.780 probably honestly, you've probably tuned out at this point. Like you've probably turned the podcast

00:16:29.660 off. If you are someone who is on the other side of this issue, that is not my intention to hurt you

00:16:35.920 or to make a point. I didn't want to talk about this at all, but because I have a sincere

00:16:39.620 concern for people being confused, for people being led astray, for people whose faith is weak.

00:16:45.100 And I don't mean that in a condescending way for people who are new believers, who are just figuring

00:16:49.420 this stuff out and they don't know what to pray or what to believe. My concern is, is genuine for you.

00:16:56.160 My concern is that you are going to watch this whole thing unfold and that you are going to believe

00:17:01.480 or doubt that God is, that you are going to doubt that God is really good and God is really powerful.

00:17:05.500 And that's not what I want. I want you to believe in the gospel that says for sure that God in Christ

00:17:12.040 has raised us from spiritual death to spiritual life. Uh, and that his promises are sure that his

00:17:18.740 character is steadfast, that his goodness is trustworthy, that we can surrender everything

00:17:24.700 to him with open hands and say, this is what I want. But even if you don't deliver upon what I want

00:17:32.380 and what I request and what I declare, you are still God and you are still good. That is what I

00:17:38.780 want you to believe. And I don't want you to buy into superstition. What I recommend for everyone

00:17:43.900 is to go watch the documentary. I think you can find, uh, a shorter version and abbreviated version

00:17:51.420 of the documentary on YouTube. I want you to go watch American gospel. That's what I want you to go

00:17:56.080 watch everyone right now. Turn off this button. Well, don't turn off the podcast. I want you to listen

00:18:01.120 to the rest of it, but tonight's go watch American gospel. It is amazing. If you got Amazon prime,

00:18:06.580 I think that's where it is. But if you want to watch on YouTube, you can do that American gospel.

00:18:11.820 It will be well worth your time. I love all of you who listened to this and you go to Bethel

00:18:17.540 and you completely disagree with me. I'm probably going to get some negative reviews. I'm sure that I

00:18:23.080 will, but know that this is coming from a place of love for you. This is not coming from a place of,

00:18:29.420 um, anger, certainly, or spite, certainly not. But since this is so influential and it seems like

00:18:38.140 so many, uh, so many Christian publications aren't willing to call it what it is, which at this point

00:18:45.760 is unbiblical. It's unbiblical teachings. Um, they're unwilling to say that they're just reporting

00:18:53.120 on it as if this is some neutral thing that's happening as if every Christian agrees with what

00:18:58.880 is going on. Um, that saddens me. Like we shouldn't be ashamed of good, proper theology. And you know,

00:19:05.120 it's bad theology when people are taking verses that are speaking to spiritual awakenings in Christ

00:19:11.040 and they are applying it to a physical awakening. Um, that's, that's, that's a problem. Any kind of

00:19:20.440 decontextualization of scripture for it to mean what we want it to mean is, um, is wrong. So again,

00:19:26.420 I'm praying for this family. I am praying for peace. I am praying, uh, that God would comfort

00:19:32.300 them. I am praying that they would trust him. I am praying for all of the people that attend to this

00:19:38.500 church and all of their friends surrounding them. I would, I pray that they would, uh, they would take

00:19:45.260 comfort in who God is and his sovereign will. Even when we don't understand it, that is what,

00:19:51.720 um, that is what I hope for, for them. And there is good part of this. There's a good,

00:19:57.780 a good part of this is that people are seeing this theology on display. And I'm hoping,

00:20:04.580 I'm hoping that they see theology that is somewhat, not completely, not everything Bethel teaches,

00:20:10.440 by the way, is, is wrong. Like they have said true things about abortion. They have said true 0.94

00:20:16.360 things about biblical marriage and yes. And amen. And I think that there are good parts,

00:20:20.880 probably of their teaching and there are things that they teach and believe that I would want to

00:20:25.720 listen to and believe as well. But, and I also will say that there are, I, there are people who

00:20:33.060 I agree with and appreciate on a lot of things who are much more charismatic than I am. Like,

00:20:38.120 I believe that we can disagree on continuationism and cessationism. Like we can disagree in good faith

00:20:44.180 on that. There is definite, there are definitely people who have a biblical supporter who purport to

00:20:49.680 have a biblical support of continuationism. And that's completely fine. Like we can disagree on

00:20:54.840 gifts of the Holy Spirit and things like that. But I do believe that in this particular instance,

00:20:59.780 in other parts of Bethel's teaching, that it wades too much into new age, too much into Eastern

00:21:04.240 mysticism, too much into superstition to the point where it's like, is the gospel really sufficient to

00:21:10.820 you guys? Is it really sufficient? Is God's word really sufficient? Or do you feel that, um,

00:21:19.240 do you feel like God has to prove something more for your faith to be authenticated? And that is

00:21:25.120 what worries me. Um, all right, let us answer some questions. Someone asked me, is it okay to have

00:21:34.560 premarital sex if the only reason you haven't been married is because you can't afford to? So if you

00:21:41.600 are looking to have a biblical ethic surrounding sex, then no, that's not a reason. It wouldn't

00:21:50.440 really matter what reason you have for not getting married in order to live a life that is according to

00:21:57.820 the Bible. You would not be engaged in premarital sex. And the reference that I have for that is

00:22:05.440 first Corinthians seven, two, which reads, but because of the temptation to sexual immorality,

00:22:10.800 each man should have his own wife and each woman, her own husband. Of course, there are other passages 0.96

00:22:15.360 surrounding or, um, on that particular subject in the old and the new Testament, but the marriage bed

00:22:21.860 is supposed to be undefiled. And so, of course, as Christians, we are not supposed to be having sex

00:22:27.080 before we get married. Does God forgive you for that? Yes. But we saw on the bachelorette when

00:22:34.780 the, I think her name was Hannah, when she was talking about the fantasy suite and she was saying,

00:22:40.300 you know, it's no big deal. Jesus still loves me. She even, I think has that as a part of her bio.

00:22:45.420 We also know that Romans six, one, are we to continue in sin that grace may abound by no means.

00:22:50.440 How can we who died to sin still live in it? So as we are a new creations now in Christ,

00:22:57.400 people who have decided to die to ourselves, take up our cross and to follow Christ, the goal is to

00:23:02.940 not sit and no on, I would say in no point in our lives, are we ever going to accomplish a perfection

00:23:11.300 in complete sinlessness. That's only going to be accomplished on the other side of eternity.

00:23:18.000 sanctification is supposed to move us closer and closer to a sinless life. I think sometimes

00:23:24.920 we imagine that our lives are going to be just as embroiled in sin as we were from the time that

00:23:31.680 we just became Christians to 50 years later, but really it's not supposed to be that way. We are

00:23:36.620 supposed to be working out our salvation and fear and trembling, becoming more and more like Christ's

00:23:41.620 Ephesians said. We are to reach the stature of the fullness of Christ. We are not to be children

00:23:48.320 tossed to and fro by the waves, but we are supposed to be anchored in our faith and becoming stronger

00:23:54.520 and stronger and becoming holier and holier through the power of the Holy Spirit. And that includes,

00:24:00.700 of course, premarital sex or any kind of sexual immorality. So any kind of sexual relations

00:24:06.020 outside of a man and a woman in the context of marriage, that is the only kind of sexuality,

00:24:12.620 the only kind of sexual expression that the Bible says is holy and is pleasing to the Lord.

00:24:19.420 And so any reason that we could possibly give for sexual immorality is not a good reason,

00:24:25.180 according to the Bible. I do want to say with this particular question saying, you know,

00:24:29.820 you can't afford to get married, okay? You might say that you financially can't afford to get married,

00:24:36.500 but spiritually, you cannot afford to continue in sin because it is rotting your soul and it is

00:24:43.800 creating a barrier between you and God in that it is very difficult to have intimacy with God to pray to

00:24:53.020 God, to read your Bible if you know that you are living in sin. And I would also say if you are

00:24:59.740 living in sin and you have no conviction of your sin, then it's time to take stock. Like it's time

00:25:05.780 to assess your heart. It's time to test yourself. It's time to say, do I really believe that Christ

00:25:12.820 is who he says he is? Do I really believe that Jesus is my Lord? Do I really, obviously not just

00:25:20.040 live that way, but do I really hold that in my heart? Have I counted the cost as Jesus tells us to do

00:25:26.020 before we follow him? Have I really taken up my cross and followed him? Is there evidence of the

00:25:31.240 Holy Spirit in my life? Because something that the Holy Spirit does also is it creates a hatred of our

00:25:37.160 sin. That does not mean that as soon as we accept Christ, that we have conviction of every single one

00:25:42.020 of our sins. And I'm going to talk about that actually next Monday of kind of what sanctification

00:25:46.820 looks like as I reflect over the past year and even few years of my life. And I realize that

00:25:53.040 through seasons, God has convicted me of different sins and different lies that I have bought into

00:25:58.220 without even knowing it. It is a process of sanctification. And so I'm not trying to say

00:26:04.040 that we would all be in trouble. We would all be in trouble if just of one sin in our lives being

00:26:11.280 evidence of the fact that, you know, we are not saved. I do believe that sanctification is a process

00:26:18.500 and there are going to be things that I might be sending in right now, um, as a Christian that I

00:26:23.500 don't even realize our sins or even prioritizing as sins that a year from now or a month from now,

00:26:30.060 I'll look back and say, wow, I totally had a wrong belief about that. And I was caught in sin and maybe

00:26:34.340 I didn't even realize it. So I'm not saying that I'm not saying that this is evidence. You asking this

00:26:40.340 question, of course, that this is evidence that you're not a Christian. Of course not. But it is 0.69

00:26:44.400 important to take stock of your heart and to ask God to give you wisdom, to convict you of sin, to,

00:26:50.700 as David said, to try you and to know your thoughts, to know if there is any wayward way in you and to

00:26:57.880 reveal that to you. And also, uh, you don't have to have a magnificent wedding, like go down to the

00:27:03.800 courthouse and get married. Like if you are in sexual sin, it would be better for you to not have a

00:27:10.560 wedding at all. And to just get married till you are no longer living in sin. Uh, you don't need to

00:27:15.580 worry about that. You can have, if, if you want to get married right now, which I believe if you know

00:27:19.820 you want to marry this person and you are in a relationship where you are having sex, but you 0.84

00:27:25.340 are not married yet, you need to go ahead and get married. You need to get married or you need to break

00:27:29.100 up. That, I mean, Jesus tells us that if your right hand is causing you to sin, then you need to cut

00:27:33.360 your hand off. So that is my encouragement to you. Either break up or get married. And if you get

00:27:39.720 married and you don't have the wedding that you want to have, that's fine. The wedding is one day

00:27:44.580 of your life, which, you know, easy for me to say that I am not in your situation. And I did have a

00:27:50.380 wedding, but you can have a wedding later on. It doesn't have to be on the day that you get married.

00:27:53.760 Like if you want to have a party, if you want to have a celebration and you need to save up for that,

00:27:58.260 totally fine. And other than that, I'm not sure exactly what you mean by not being able to afford to

00:28:04.520 get married. Cause now you get to share rent if you don't already live together. Uh, now you get to,

00:28:09.560 you know, share the grocery bill and sure you're paying for two people, but you get to bury,

00:28:14.020 bear one another's burdens, which is a very wonderful, practical benefit to marriage.

00:28:19.600 So that's my encouragement to you. If you don't want to stop having sex with this person,

00:28:25.020 which I suppose that you don't, then I would take yourself down to the courthouse and I would get

00:28:30.140 married. Okay. Uh, next thing, uh, someone says as a Trump supporter, I'm concerned with raising

00:28:37.160 national debt, more info, totally, totally understand. I actually talked about this

00:28:41.840 with Congressman Massey on Friday. You should go back and listen to that episode. If you haven't

00:28:46.320 already, uh, public school. So a lot of people ask me about public school because I've had quite

00:28:51.900 a few guests and I've made comments myself about the dangers of public school, but I've also gotten

00:28:56.180 a lot of emails from Christian teachers, a lot of messages from Christian teachers and administrators

00:29:01.120 and parents of kids who really have no option, but to send their kids to public school

00:29:05.220 and who feel that this is the best choice for their family. And far be it for me, especially

00:29:09.480 as someone who doesn't have kids in grade school yet to say, no, you are definitively making the

00:29:14.620 wrong choice for your child. There are different perspectives, uh, in this that, you know, within

00:29:21.340 good faith, I think that we can have discussions as Christians, um, over this. I, not every public

00:29:28.000 school is the exact same. Not every public school teacher is the exact same public school in general.

00:29:32.980 Yes, of course, is government school and public schools have fewer options, uh, for a curriculum

00:29:39.260 for how they want to teach their kids than private school does. That's just the nature of public

00:29:43.160 versus private in general. And so, yeah, there are going to be some drawbacks to public school,

00:29:48.980 but, but parents do it. And I think the way that parents are able to, uh, make it work, Christian

00:29:56.380 parents are able to make it work for their family is when they are extremely intentional about

00:30:02.360 discipling their kids, where they are okay with setting aside time at night to say, okay, like,

00:30:09.920 this is what we believe. And reminders of the gospel, reminders of the authority of God who

00:30:16.380 created heavens and the earth. Um, now that's true, no matter what kind of school you send your

00:30:21.920 kids to, if you send your kids to private school, it's still the onus is on the parents to be the

00:30:27.100 disciples of their children. Absolutely. No matter what. But I do think you have a little bit more

00:30:32.520 of an uphill battle. Probably if you send your kids to public school. Now there are, uh, there

00:30:38.060 are definitely districts. Like I have family members who send their kids to public school

00:30:41.700 who they really love their public schools and they feel like they are able to hold their teachers

00:30:46.800 accountable. Their teachers for the most part are Christians. And so they're not worried about it.

00:30:50.980 And you know, I can't speak for every single public school and say that they are pushing a far

00:30:55.860 left sex ed agenda. Certainly true of a lot of schools, but it's not true of every single public

00:31:02.300 school. And if parents can do it and they feel like they are able to disciple their children well,

00:31:07.580 and if their children are, um, learning the worldview that they want them to learn, then certainly it

00:31:12.340 can work. But no matter what kind of school our kids go to, the responsibility is absolutely

00:31:17.100 primarily on the parents to be able to disciple our children. Now, from my perspective, I will say

00:31:23.660 that for me, um, it's not just, and I can only speak from my own experience. Like I said, I'm not a

00:31:30.320 parent of a grade school child yet. Uh, from my experience, the reason why I am such a proponent

00:31:36.480 of private school and homeschooling, even, even though I don't have experience in that, I just know a lot

00:31:43.080 of people who homeschool and know the amazing benefits that it has. The reason why I'm a proponent

00:31:48.980 of private school as a Christian is not just because of what I didn't learn. That's typically

00:31:53.720 like how we talk about this, like, Oh, I didn't get the far left sex ed sex education. Like I didn't

00:31:59.380 have the same dangers of writing on a school bus, or I didn't have parents who told, or I didn't have

00:32:03.740 teachers who told me that I couldn't, you know, pray or something like that. We typically talk about

00:32:08.220 what public school does not allow or does not, um, or, or does not condone or whatever that they

00:32:18.440 might teach kids about different kinds of families that maybe a parent didn't want the

00:32:22.900 students to learn about whatever it is. We typically talk about public school in that kind of context,

00:32:29.000 but the reason why I am so appreciative, I'll say that of my private school education, private

00:32:35.540 Christian school education is because of not just what I didn't learn, but because of what I learned,

00:32:42.040 uh, because I, from the time that I was six years old, I guess that's how old I was. Maybe I was five

00:32:49.480 when I started kindergarten. I went kindergarten through 12th grade, private Christian school.

00:32:52.840 And I understand, I totally understand that's not available for everyone. I totally understand that

00:32:57.320 is expensive more so than it was when I was in school. I totally understand, completely understand

00:33:03.500 it's not an option for a lot of people. I'm just speaking from my experience. Like I had a biblical

00:33:09.960 worldview, a foundation for my biblical worldview from the time that I was five years old. And so a

00:33:18.160 lot of people ask me, like, how did you learn what you learned? Like, how do you know the Bible? Why do

00:33:24.580 you, how did you, how did your parents accomplish laying the foundation for you, for you to have this

00:33:30.920 biblical worldview to where reading the Bible is, um, I wouldn't say it's definitely not easy,

00:33:37.800 but to where it's understandable for me. That's because I have been reading the Bible and hearing

00:33:43.700 about the Bible. I've, uh, been taught the Bible since I was a toddler, obviously because my parents

00:33:50.180 are Christians because I've been going to church since, you know, I was born basically. And because I

00:33:56.340 went to a school where for however many hours a day I was at school, I was taught things from a biblical

00:34:03.500 perspective. And so I think that that was extremely instrumental in making me who I am today and giving

00:34:12.700 me the understanding that I have of the world. Now, the flip side to that is that I graduated with

00:34:17.600 people who also went to private Christian school from kindergarten and 12th grade, and they are not

00:34:24.560 Christians anymore. They're certainly not conservatives. They've gone to some big, bad school 1.00

00:34:28.960 in the Northeast or Northwest. And now they think that they are woke and that I'm just this backwoods

00:34:34.320 person that never left my little private school bubble, which is funny because I went away for

00:34:38.260 school too. But those people, you know, now they have backwards thinking and they have abandoned the

00:34:44.300 foundation that their parents laid for them and their teachers laid for them. So that's an argument

00:34:49.380 too, that whether you go to private school or public school, it is completely possible that you walk

00:34:55.080 away from the things that you were taught. I personally think that the schooling that I had

00:35:01.360 growing up lay a really good foundation for me in my faith to see the world from a biblical perspective,

00:35:07.280 but not just that. And maybe this is not so much of a Christian part of it as it is the just the

00:35:13.360 private school part of it. I would say that the education that I had in high school has had the

00:35:21.820 biggest positive effect on my career and my success in college. Not that I graduated with a 4.0 or

00:35:31.880 anything like that, but the fact that college was relatively easy, the things that I do now have come

00:35:36.920 pretty naturally, it is because I had amazing English teachers, amazing history teachers that

00:35:44.420 whether I knew it or not, whether I knew it or not, I was being given the equipment and the tools to be

00:35:52.180 able to analyze things well. And that's obviously not just true of me, but I would say all of the people

00:35:59.100 that got this kind of education, we were taught how to think critically really well. And it has

00:36:07.360 been completely invaluable for me. And I think even the way that we learned history, I certainly think

00:36:14.360 it lay a foundation for me to become a conservative, not just a biblical Christian, but also conservative.

00:36:21.260 And I'm just, I'm very thankful for that. So it's not just when I talk about private education,

00:36:25.460 it's not just about what we're not teaching or what we're not learning, you know, leftism, but also

00:36:31.880 what we are learning and how we are learning. I'm not saying that you can't get analytical thinking

00:36:37.700 from public schools. And again, that's the only option for some people. And I get that, like,

00:36:43.180 that's just the way it is. And that's okay. And I think that we can help our children in that,

00:36:48.780 especially if we are unable to send them to private schools. But from my perspective, in my

00:36:54.780 experience, it's not just what I didn't learn, but it's what I did learn and how I learned that I

00:36:59.720 think gave me so many awesome tools for succeeding in college or doing okay in college and doing okay

00:37:08.180 after college as well. I'm so thankful for what I was forced to read in college and the things that

00:37:15.740 we were forced to write. Like we had a lot of critical research papers in high school that I think a lot

00:37:23.480 of young people just aren't forced, aren't forced to do anymore. And I always tell young people,

00:37:28.500 if you want to be able to stand out in life, learn how to speak and learn how to write because most

00:37:34.980 people our age and younger than us cannot do that. And they don't think critically at all. And they

00:37:39.380 don't analyze and they're not asking questions. They just take what they hear and they're not even

00:37:44.700 able to articulate an argument. I'm very thankful that I was taught how to do that when I was really

00:37:50.800 young and from a biblical perspective at that. So that's, that's my, that's my thought on private

00:37:57.360 school versus public school. And we'll do more on that because I know a lot of you are asking

00:38:02.000 questions about, about that. And a lot of you are asking questions about homeschooling. Obviously I

00:38:07.300 don't have any personal insight into homeschooling, but I do think it's a very viable option for a lot

00:38:11.540 of people. Um, here's a question that people ask and I kind of get this a lot. Uh, was the American

00:38:16.740 Revolution biblically justified? The reason people are asking this is because of Romans 13, which says

00:38:22.260 that we have to submit to governing authority and John Piper, not John Piper, John MacArthur

00:38:28.020 actually wrote an entire book, uh, on the American Revolution, or it's not on the American

00:38:33.720 Revolution, but he talked about the American Revolution, how it was actually unbiblical because

00:38:38.400 Christians were supposed to submit to governing authorities. I just happen to agree with that 1.00

00:38:42.920 because the reason why the revolution happened was because of ungodly policies and tyranny. And I do

00:38:50.560 believe that the reason, or it's not, I do believe the Bible says the reason why we submit to governing

00:38:57.100 authorities is because they are instituted by God to carry out God's will or God's wrath against the

00:39:03.220 wrongdoer. But I would reason that if a governing authority is not in submission to God, if a particular

00:39:11.960 law would cause us by following it to disobey God, then it is our right and actually our obligation

00:39:20.720 to rebel against that. Now the Bible also does say rendered to Caesar, what is Caesar's? But in this

00:39:26.580 great Republic in which we live, we get to decide what is Caesar's and what is not. So there's all kinds

00:39:31.880 of conversations that we can have about, okay, well, what laws should we obey? What laws should we not

00:39:36.720 obey? But I would say that even John MacArthur, uh, who believes that the, uh, the revolution was

00:39:43.220 unbiblical, that he would certainly resist authorities if it were to go against, uh, go against God's call

00:39:52.240 on his life to be a steward of the gospel. If the government, and he's in California, if the government

00:39:58.380 in California, which I'm sure that they are trying to make this happen says you can no longer preach

00:40:02.820 out of the Bible, you can no longer share the gospel. You have to marry same sex couples. You 1.00

00:40:08.240 can bet John MacArthur would be resisting authority if that happened, of course, because his obligation

00:40:13.260 is not to Gavin Newsom. His obligation is not to the state legislature of California, or even to,

00:40:19.640 uh, even to the federal government. His obligation is to God. And so I would say the revolution is one of

00:40:26.600 those instances where, uh, where they were rebelling against unbiblical and ungodly policies. And I'm sure

00:40:35.800 there are definitely people who have a good argument for why I'm wrong on that, but I, I do not believe

00:40:42.140 that the American revolution was unbiblical. And I am so thankful. I'm thankful for the American

00:40:47.380 revolution and all of the good that the United States, by the grace of God, has been able to accomplish,

00:40:53.720 uh, on this earth. Now here's a question that I get a lot, and I'm just going to say, I'm not going

00:40:58.560 to answer it yet because I need to do a whole episode on it. But because I get asked about it

00:41:03.720 so much, I do just want to, uh, mention it. A lot of people ask me about birth control and IVF in vitro

00:41:10.720 fertilization. And I want to be so careful about that because I know a lot of Christians that are on

00:41:17.320 birth control and have done IVF. And there are ethical dilemmas with that. Biblical dilemmas 1.00

00:41:24.160 with that, uh, does birth control automatically cause an abortion? That's a question that people

00:41:29.520 have IVF. If not every fertilized egg is actually taken. And we believe that life starts at conception.

00:41:36.580 Is it ethical? Is it biblical, uh, to do IVF? Those are really good questions, but I want to

00:41:43.760 be thorough, very thorough about that and be truthful about that. And so I'm not going to

00:41:49.280 get into all of it, uh, right now, but I hear you. That's a question that I get asked all the

00:41:55.320 time. I hear you and I will address it at some point. Okay. Uh, what's a good thing to get a new

00:42:03.020 mom for Christmas? Hmm. Diapers. Uh, I would say things that she needs, like things that she needs

00:42:12.200 that she doesn't want to go out and get or an Amazon gift card. I know some people don't like

00:42:15.820 gift cards cause I think it's not, uh, they think it's not thoughtful. I think gift cards are super

00:42:21.680 thoughtful. I would love an Amazon gift card. That's where I spend a lot of my money because

00:42:29.100 I'm buying diapers or wipes or whatever. So like I would love something that I needed. So that would be

00:42:36.220 that, that would probably be my guess that or like sweatpants or leggings or something or something

00:42:41.740 like that. Um, next question. I think this might be the last one. Okay. So here's a question. I got

00:42:51.780 a couple of variations of and, uh, and let's see, which one do I want to read? Okay. Uh, as a believer,

00:42:59.640 under what circumstances is it okay slash not okay to put off child bearing? So I think it's okay

00:43:06.000 to put off child bearing if the reason you are not having children is because you are focusing on

00:43:12.100 ministry because you are, um, focusing on a particular call that God has for your life that

00:43:20.000 requires your full attention. I think that that could be, uh, that could be a reason. That's the

00:43:26.300 reason that John Piper has given. And I think that he has very good, a very good argument for that. I

00:43:34.520 think you can probably look it up on desiringgod.com. Um, but other than that, and I'll just say like my

00:43:41.000 husband and I, I didn't have this perspective. This is probably an area of sanctification or better

00:43:46.580 understanding for me, but my husband and I waited about three years almost before we started trying

00:43:53.640 to have a baby. And that was mostly because of convenience, maybe also because of finances. We

00:44:02.380 moved several times and we changed jobs several times in the first three years of our marriage. And

00:44:11.280 when we finally felt like, okay, we are in a pretty stable place right now, as stable as we can. So

00:44:18.360 let's go ahead and start trying. I don't, I can't tell you, yes, it worked out for us. And I'm so

00:44:24.800 grateful for that, but I can't tell you that that was the biblically correct thing to do because in

00:44:29.340 a way we were not trying because of convenience. And maybe it, maybe it showed that we didn't really

00:44:36.580 trust God, that if we were to get pregnant, even when our lives were a little bit turbulent,

00:44:41.440 that God would have provided for us and it would have been okay. And he would have been our

00:44:45.420 steadfastness. I can't tell you that we did it correctly. I think that it takes wisdom and

00:44:54.480 discernment and prayer and mentorship from godly people in your church to make that decision.

00:45:03.620 But in general, in general, I would say that the right thing for a married couple to do, unless it 1.00

00:45:10.480 is for a reason of ministry, or of course, if you can't have children, like you're physically incapable

00:45:16.460 of having children, then the right thing to do would be to have children as soon as you can. I don't

00:45:23.600 think that it's right. I don't think that it's right for married Christian couples to put off having

00:45:29.040 kids for the sake of traveling, for the sake of, oh, I'm just not that responsible yet, or I don't feel

00:45:36.600 like having kids yet. I do think that that is wrong, according to God's word, because it speaks

00:45:43.740 to a wrong view of children as a burden rather than as a blessing. God's word says a lot about

00:45:50.800 children as a blessing, things that we pray for, things that we ask for, things that are adding

00:45:56.840 something to our life, not taking away from our lives. And I don't think that that means that

00:46:02.700 all forms of birth control at any point in marriage are sinful and wrong. Again,

00:46:08.780 probably takes a little bit of discernment and wisdom and prayer. But at the same time,

00:46:13.360 I think the most important thing is to assess our hearts. How are we viewing children?

00:46:18.000 Are they a detriment to our fun? Are they a hindrance to our plans, to our goals, to our careers,

00:46:23.300 to our convenience? That I would say is a sinful mentality and a sinful posture of our hearts and an

00:46:29.620 unbiblical perspective of children that we should ask God to help us repent from. Whether or not he

00:46:34.760 gives you a child as soon as you repent from that mentality, of course, is up to him. But I think that

00:46:41.000 we should have a right view of kids as a wonderful, a wonderful blessing. And I can tell you from

00:46:47.900 experience that kids are a wonderful blessing. They're the best, best things outside of Jesus and

00:46:54.520 your spouse that will ever happen to you. It's incredibly rewarding. So that's all I have on

00:46:59.600 that. We will be back here next week, next Monday. I hope that you have a wonderful Christmas with your

00:47:07.640 family. And that's it. See you before 2020.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - December 23, 2019

Ep 201 ｜ Bethel & Raising the Dead

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