Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 397 ｜ Debunking Heretical Hot Takes on Jesus & Easter

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend. Today we are

00:00:16.580 going to talk a little bit about Easter. We talked on Thursday about what Easter is, what

00:00:23.760 it represents, why it's such good news. We also talked about some good news that's happening

00:00:27.920 around the country in the midst of lots of bad news that is also happening. We tried

00:00:33.480 to focus on the good, on the productive on Thursday, and of course, the best news of

00:00:39.600 all, which is the gospel of Jesus Christ. As it turns out, there are a lot of confessing,

00:00:45.840 professing Christians who don't seem to understand what the point of Easter is, what Resurrection

00:00:51.460 Sunday is, what the resurrection was or represents, and who Jesus actually is. And that's what

00:00:56.880 we're going to talk about today. We're going to look at some of the hottest takes on Twitter

00:01:03.340 and on Instagram about Jesus, about who he is, and about what he supposedly represents, according

00:01:13.180 to these internet users' social media posters. And we're going to break them down. We're going

00:01:20.240 to refute some of the popular progressive dogma about Christians and about the crucifixion,

00:01:28.120 why he died, and all of that over the weekend. I really try not to be on social media, as I've

00:01:34.900 talked to you about before. But you guys send me a lot of posts that you want me to respond to or

00:01:39.920 debunk or whatever. And typically, that's kind of how I get what I'm going to talk about on Monday,

00:01:46.160 by looking at your Instagram DMs and saying, oh, wow, a lot of people are asking me about this.

00:01:51.780 And a lot of you guys sent me these posts that you saw your friends sharing, or you saw on your

00:01:58.320 Discover page on Instagram, or you kind of saw going viral about Jesus and about his death and

00:02:08.280 resurrection being actually almost like a metaphor for some kind of left-wing social justice, political

00:02:16.100 cause. We're also going to look at what Raphael Warnock, the Democratic senator from Georgia,

00:02:22.320 said about Easter. We're going to debunk all of that. But we're also going to kind of zoom out,

00:02:28.940 if you will, and talk about what the thinking is behind this kind of interpretation of Easter

00:02:37.040 and the events that Easter is based on. And before we even get into that, I want to give you kind of

00:02:44.940 a long preface about why it's important to even talk about this stuff. Like, why is it important

00:02:51.400 to look at viral tweets about what people say about Easter or what people think Jesus is? And the reason

00:03:03.020 is because it is representative of a movement, it's representative of certain kinds of theology

00:03:10.920 that we are going to probably see more and more, and we have to have the wisdom to be able to push

00:03:17.680 back upon that kind of false teaching. Now, there's a lot of other things that I want to talk about, too.

00:03:24.780 I want to talk about the MLB, Delta, American Airlines, Coke all going woke over totally inaccurate

00:03:31.740 information about the Georgia voting law and the Texas voting bill and why I actually think it's

00:03:37.880 good that the GOP is pushing back on this. And of course, this is all this is all total, not just

00:03:44.060 not just misinformation, but it's also complete hypocrisy. I mean, most of these organizations

00:03:50.300 and businesses are totally fine doing business with China, which is the most racist, the most

00:03:55.940 repressive regime on the face of the planet. But when it comes to voting integrity in the United

00:04:03.160 States, no, no, no, no, that's too much for these companies to tolerate. It's just a reminder,

00:04:07.940 we're not dealing, the so-called elites, like we're not dealing with good people. We're not dealing with

00:04:14.300 people who have any kind of basic understanding of what a moral compass should look like. And I want to

00:04:20.220 talk about all that and we're going to talk about that. I want to talk about vaccine passports and

00:04:25.100 we're going to talk to an expert about the implications, the ethical, the privacy concerns

00:04:30.760 that we should have in regards to vaccine passports. And so I think we're going to talk about that stuff

00:04:36.140 tomorrow. We've got a lot to talk about this week. Also, just a reminder, this is my last week of

00:04:43.560 recording these new news-based, current events-based episodes. Starting next week, I will be on

00:04:51.720 maternity leave and I will still have four podcasts a week, podcast episodes a week. I have amazing

00:04:58.480 interviews coming down the pipeline. I'm talking to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, for example. I'm talking to

00:05:03.820 Victor Davis Hanson. I'm talking to many Christian apologists. I'm talking to journalists and activists

00:05:12.000 really from all across the aisle. I'm talking to James Lindsay again. Hopefully I'll be talking to

00:05:19.140 Votie Bauckham. You know, he's had a health setback. Please pray for him in regards to his heart. But I

00:05:26.140 have a lot of good episodes coming out on the death penalty. A lot of really good Q&As based on

00:05:32.500 wonderful questions that you guys have sent me. And so you're going to have so much content for

00:05:37.740 about 12 weeks. I think it plays out to be, you're going to have really, really good and informative

00:05:45.200 and in a lot of ways, evergreen content about what's going on in the world and especially what's going on

00:05:52.900 under the surface of the ever-changing news cycle. And so I'm super excited for the content that we've

00:05:59.300 got coming for you. You know, I'm not going to leave you hanging. I wasn't just going to go on

00:06:03.500 maternity leave and you guys not have anything to listen to and to learn from. We are talking to

00:06:09.060 some of the smartest people, I think, in the country over the next several weeks in those episodes and

00:06:15.180 talking about really important issues. So maybe if you're kind of tired of the news cycle of like

00:06:20.040 being tied to the exhausting, you know, 24 minute news cycle, then this is going to be a relief for

00:06:29.040 you, but you're still going to get so much out of it. And so I'm excited for that. So after this

00:06:33.680 Thursday, those episodes will start rolling out that we have been working on guys since like the

00:06:40.260 beginning of January. We've been, if I can say this, we've been working really hard on these episodes

00:06:47.020 and on this content. And it's because I really do not just care about the show as a product,

00:06:52.660 but I care about you as an audience. Like I care about giving you something of value as many times

00:06:58.200 as I can throughout the week. And so I'm super excited for you to get to listen to and watch

00:07:04.140 those. All right, let's actually get into today's episode. So we're going to juxtapose some false

00:07:10.800 teaching and some true teaching today about Easter and about the gospel. First, let me preface,

00:07:21.500 like I said, I'm going to have a long preface, but a very, very important preface to set all of this

00:07:26.380 up. I am not the arbiter of what is true and false teaching, but the Bible is. So if I say

00:07:36.400 something that contradicts the Bible, that means that I'm wrong and you get to tell me as a, as a

00:07:43.040 sister in Christ, and then my obligation as someone who is in submission to Christ is to repent

00:07:50.480 and, uh, agree with God. Now it could be that you and I just have a difference in opinion on the

00:07:57.820 application of the passage. We could both be rightly looking at the context. We could both be looking at

00:08:03.640 the original text, the original language, and reading a verse in light of the entirety of the

00:08:09.320 biblical canon, all things we're supposed to do when we're reading and interpreting scripture.

00:08:13.260 And we could still come to slightly different conclusions. That does not change the fact that

00:08:19.420 one or both of us is wrong and the Bible is actually right. We are not the determinant of what

00:08:24.960 the Bible means. The Bible means what it means. And on most issues that fit that, that description

00:08:30.420 of us looking at the Bible rightly and systematically, and then coming to slightly different conclusions,

00:08:36.840 these are more, uh, on secondary and tertiary rather than gospel centered issues like head coverings,

00:08:45.700 for example, uh, or, uh, when the tribulation is, uh, faithful Christians can't agree to disagree on

00:08:55.400 this without denouncing the other one as a heretic or not believing, um, not believing in the gospel.

00:09:01.820 These are very important issues, but they don't change that. We both believe in the same gospel

00:09:06.820 that by grace through faith alone, we can, uh, we can be saved through Jesus Christ, which is a gift

00:09:15.760 that has given, has been given to us by God in Christ. And so we agree on that gospel. We might disagree

00:09:23.080 on some other theological issues. Uh, but one of us, one of us is right, or both of us are wrong,

00:09:30.880 but the Bible is always right. Um, but we all have access to his word. We all have the ability

00:09:38.020 to read and understand his word. That's why we still, uh, praise God for the reformation and all

00:09:45.220 that it spurred thereafter. The word of God got into the hands of believers and they were reminded of the

00:09:51.560 truth that has been true from the beginning, that all believers, uh, can and should read and seek

00:09:58.480 to understand scripture for themselves, not just from a priest or a Pope. That doesn't mean that

00:10:04.920 teaching isn't important or church history or church fathers, uh, are not important and that they don't

00:10:11.460 seriously contribute to the direction of our faith and our understanding of scripture. But ultimately God is

00:10:18.940 the authority and his inerrant word is the authority. He has clearly shown his character

00:10:25.180 and will through his word and his word is meant for us to read, to understand, to share. Hebrews 4.12

00:10:32.680 says this, for the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the

00:10:40.160 division of soul and spirit of joints and of marrow and discerning the thoughts and the intentions

00:10:47.680 of the heart. That's amazing. So scripture today is alive and working, moving, piercing, peeling back,

00:10:56.620 revealing, discerning. And isn't that exactly what our culture of confusion needs today in the way of

00:11:03.360 a Christian witness? As we'll see today, when we look at these posts, we are constantly bombarded with

00:11:09.240 things that sound good. But when you look beyond the surface, you see they're just lies. Now I want to

00:11:16.300 pause for a second because if you are hearing a low hum in the background, you guys know I'm recording

00:11:22.580 from home for the time being and there are people mowing their lawn outside my window. And so that is

00:11:33.100 the low hum that you hear. And I apologize for that. I know it can be very frustrating to have like audio

00:11:38.320 issues when you're listening to a podcast or even when you're watching a podcast. There's literally

00:11:43.800 nothing I can do about that. And we have a timeframe in which we have to record the podcast episode.

00:11:50.760 And so my apologies for that. I hope that you can kind of just like push that out to the side. Maybe

00:11:55.900 you can't even hear it that well, but I can hear it. And if you can hear it, I just wanted to apologize,

00:12:00.020 but we are going to continue on. So in order for us to see lies for what they are, to see things that

00:12:09.860 sound good as truly deceptive when they are deceptive, we need the clarity of God's word.

00:12:15.860 And it's amazing and gracious that he has given that to us. Psalm 119, 105 says,

00:12:21.220 your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. So we feel like we're stumbling through the

00:12:27.400 darkness of our world. And sometimes it feels like that to me as well. It just seems like there's never

00:12:34.520 going to be any light at the end of the tunnel when I look at all the chaos that's waging around us,

00:12:39.440 especially when it comes to the cultural and political and theological takes that we see on

00:12:45.460 social media. We just don't know what to make of it all. Sometimes it's overwhelming. There's so

00:12:50.380 much deceit. There's so much manipulation. There's so much tiny, subtle twisting of the truth. And yet

00:12:57.460 God's word shines in the darkness. The stuff that we are seeing, the manipulation of God's word

00:13:03.340 and the gospel that we're seeing is not new. God's word has always equipped believers by shedding

00:13:11.640 light on our path so we know where our next step should go. And if you're thinking as a Christian,

00:13:19.980 well, I don't understand the Bible yet. I'm not a theologian. I don't feel equipped to be able to

00:13:27.880 distinguish between what is right and what is wrong when it comes to biblical teaching. Or maybe

00:13:33.200 you're thinking I'm not smart enough to know how to respond to what some of my woke friends say who

00:13:39.260 are deconstructing their faith or what to say to that hot take on Twitter about Jesus being a

00:13:45.780 transgender communist. I can't do it. My response is, yes, you can. You're not always called to respond

00:13:52.500 publicly, by the way. But if you're in a conversation with a friend or you feel compelled to respond

00:13:57.740 publicly or even just respond to yourself so you can make sure that you're in the truth,

00:14:01.820 that is certainly something I think that we are obligated to do. And you can do it. And not

00:14:08.440 because of anything that you bring to the table in a way of intellect or wisdom, although you might

00:14:13.220 be a very smart and wise person, but it's not about that. It's because of what God brings to

00:14:18.980 the table. James 1.5 says,

00:14:21.880 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach,

00:14:28.400 and it will be given him. Proverbs 2.6,

00:14:31.840 For the Lord gives wisdom from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. Wisdom is a promise

00:14:38.140 for the believer. That James passage is obviously in the context of talking to Christians that is

00:14:45.200 implied by saying, let him ask God for wisdom. The only people that would be asking God and have

00:14:51.480 access to God to ask God for wisdom would be the believer in Christ. So wisdom is a promise for the

00:14:58.440 believer. It is a gift that is given to us. If you are in Christ, by grace through faith, you are

00:15:05.320 following Jesus, have believed in his death and resurrection for the forgiveness of your sins and

00:15:11.020 your reconciliation to a holy God. Then that holy God is now your good, loving father who promises to

00:15:19.600 give you wisdom. So we see in scripture that wisdom is a promise for the believer, but we also see that

00:15:27.380 it is a process for the believer. This is something we've talked about before. It's something that we

00:15:32.280 seek, pursue, protect, and practice as we follow God. Psalm 118.10 says,

00:15:39.260 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. All those who practice it have a good understanding.

00:15:46.260 His praise endures forever. Proverbs 28.6,

00:15:50.400 Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.

00:15:56.540 So it is both a promise and a process. We pray for wisdom, trusting God to give it to us through the

00:16:03.640 means he has provided to grow our wisdom, prayer, scripture, sound teaching that aligns with

00:16:10.240 scripture. Examples of a faithful people who have gone before us. Hebrews 13.7 says,

00:16:17.200 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you, the word of God, consider the outcome of their way of

00:16:22.800 life and imitate their faith. So whether you have a theology degree or not, whether you are young or old,

00:16:29.840 whether you've been a Christian for 40 years or 40 minutes, whether you have reverent in front of

00:16:35.460 your name as a title or not, God can and will give you the wisdom that you need both now and over time

00:16:42.760 to understand and apply the Bible rightly. You can discern the truth from a lie when it comes to

00:16:49.780 theology. You can. You can distinguish good sound teaching from bad unsound teaching. You do not have

00:16:57.940 to be a certain age or go to seminary or lead a church or listen to this, be a particular race or

00:17:06.880 socioeconomic class or have a certain quote lived experience to do these things rightly. That doesn't

00:17:14.480 mean that having more years in the faith or more knowledge or a certain kind of experience doesn't

00:17:20.280 add that wisdom or benefits you or add to that wisdom or benefits you, but because it can, but it

00:17:29.100 also means that you as a Christian who is this filled with the Holy Spirit have the ability and the

00:17:36.540 authority to disagree respectfully, kindly, and maybe just privately or to yourself, sometimes publicly

00:17:44.520 though, if done in the right way, you can disagree with people who are older than you or who have a

00:17:50.340 more official title than you or who have their masters in divinity, for example. If there is anything

00:17:57.840 that I think that we have observed as Americans living in this era is that degrees and titles and status

00:18:04.820 and wealth and years of experience do not negate or even really diminish someone's ability to be

00:18:12.500 very wrong. Someone can be very smart. They can be very book smart. They can be very intellectual.

00:18:18.560 They can be very accomplished and also be very wrong. And someone less smart, maybe with a lower IQ or

00:18:24.940 less experience or fewer degrees may be right in an area that someone smarter than them is wrong. So you

00:18:31.620 can be very smart and very wrong. I say all of this because I see how false teachers and their ilk like to try

00:18:41.640 to intimidate those who speak out about the Bible and the gospel. They use a logical fallacy called

00:18:50.900 appeal to authority. And I want to talk about this. You guys have asked me to talk about this on the

00:18:55.760 podcast. And so this is the important place, I think, to bring it up. A lot of you guys have been

00:19:02.280 dealt this blow. An appeal to authority fallacy works in a few ways. It can be appeal to false

00:19:11.160 authority. So an example of this would be, well, you know, as a doctor, Jill Biden knows a thing

00:19:20.420 or two about coronavirus. Well, that's that's a logical fallacy. That's an appeal to authority

00:19:27.080 fallacy because Dr. Biden is a doctor of education. She's not a medical doctor. So that doesn't give her

00:19:33.940 the authority in this realm. It doesn't give her any special expertise on physical illness or saying

00:19:40.300 something like Albert Einstein said there was no God, so there must not be one. Well, Albert Einstein

00:19:45.380 was a genius, but that doesn't give him the authority or any expertise on all things religion.

00:19:51.360 Or it can appeal to a relevant authority, but still be a fallacy. So it's not just false authority. It

00:19:58.100 could be a relevant authority in the realm in which you are discussing, but it can still be a logical

00:20:06.060 fallacy. So, for example, if an OBGYN asserts that a baby inside the womb is actually just a ball of

00:20:13.220 lifeless tissue until 35 weeks gestation and you, random person who's not an OBGYN, let's say,

00:20:22.200 says, well, hang on a minute. That's not true. That's actually that's actually not true when you,

00:20:28.300 you know, refute that with facts. And this OBGYN comes back with, well, I'm an OBGYN.

00:20:33.280 Where did you get your medical degree? She asks rhetorically and sarcastically. That's a fallacy

00:20:39.500 because she is using her authority as her argument rather than actually making an argument or addressing

00:20:46.780 your assertion. I see this all the time on social media. Some gender studies professor says trans

00:20:52.940 women are women. And then someone says, well, no, like biologically, that's actually untrue.

00:21:01.320 And the trolls will say in this gender studies professor will say you're going to argue with a

00:21:06.380 gender studies professor. This actually happened to me the other day when I disagreed with something

00:21:12.960 the pope said about Mary on Twitter. And I posted my response with scripture wasn't disrespectful or

00:21:20.880 rude or anything like that. And then people in the comments say you're going to disagree with the pope.

00:21:26.180 Well, sure. Why not? Like, why not? If I can come up with an argument that is a sound argument,

00:21:33.940 then why not? The same thing. And we'll talk about, for example, my response to Raphael Warnock's

00:21:41.860 Easter tweet. The only negative responses I got were people saying that how dare you argue with a

00:21:49.560 reverend who has led his church for 16 years and then also claims that doing so, that disagreeing

00:21:58.060 with him was racist somehow. And so you've got two logical fallacies in that kind of response

00:22:05.760 because you've got the appeal to authority fallacy. So rather than dealing with my argument or his

00:22:11.280 assertion, you're just saying, well, he's a reverend, so he must be right. That's a logical fallacy.

00:22:15.540 And then also accusing someone who disagrees with someone who has to be black of racism. That's an

00:22:19.960 ad hominem. Both of these are ways to distract from the actual argument. And that's why they are

00:22:26.200 fallacies. In order to avoid these kinds of fallacies, you actually have to argue with someone's logic or

00:22:33.100 someone's argument on their merits. The truth is truth. Facts are facts. Logic is logic. A sound

00:22:40.120 argument is a sound argument, no matter who actually says it. People use appeal to authority fallacies

00:22:47.080 or ad hominem because they are insecure about their inability to actually respond to what you're

00:22:54.040 saying. And so they defer, or a straw man, that's another example, they defer to these other types of

00:23:02.280 fallacious arguments to avoid dealing with what you actually said. It is a failure on their part.

00:23:09.300 It is inept intellect demonstrated on their part, not on your part. Now, let me caveat this because

00:23:17.420 this doesn't mean that we don't consider the source when someone is speaking. If someone makes a

00:23:22.560 subjective claim that we don't have a way of otherwise verifying, we do have to consider on

00:23:28.740 what authority that person is speaking. So if someone claims to be an expert on parenting,

00:23:33.600 but doesn't have any kids, if someone born in America in 1999 claims that Soviet Russia was

00:23:40.180 actually great, and that the people who lived through it are wrong in their assessment,

00:23:44.700 there are good reasons to question these kinds of statements. But someone at the same time,

00:23:52.360 someone who doesn't have kids may be right on something parenting wise that someone who has

00:23:58.080 parented 10 kids might be wrong on. And someone who didn't live through the USSR may know something

00:24:03.820 about Soviet Russia that the Soviet dissident or the immigrant from Russia doesn't know.

00:24:10.260 The point is title, education, status, lived experience are not in themselves the argument.

00:24:17.520 They don't prove nor disprove. They don't alone validate or invalidate. And so in order to actually

00:24:25.580 be able to engage, in order to be able to prove that you know what you're talking about,

00:24:31.180 we have to deal with the argument at hand. If you can't deal with the argument at hand,

00:24:38.220 then at least, at the very least, just avoid these fallacies. All this to say,

00:24:43.580 you absolutely have the authority, no matter who you are and in what station, to make sound arguments,

00:24:51.200 especially when it comes to arguments about and based on God's word. God promises to give you

00:24:58.020 wisdom as you pursue it. And why is it important that we, through God's wisdom and word and in

00:25:04.640 humility, are able to detect false teachings and then call them out? Because of 2 Corinthians 11,

00:25:11.740 4, and 13, and verses 13 through 15. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the

00:25:18.380 one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept

00:25:23.540 a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. For such men are

00:25:29.500 false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder,

00:25:36.420 for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants also

00:25:43.100 disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. So it is no surprise if his servants also disguise

00:25:49.760 themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.

00:25:55.600 2 Peter 2, 1 through 3. But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false

00:26:01.480 teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, secretly, so they won't even

00:26:07.260 be detected by a lot of people. Even deny the master who bought them, bringing upon themselves

00:26:13.380 swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality. And because of them, the way of truth

00:26:18.940 will be blasphemed. And in their greed, they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation

00:26:24.760 from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. 1 Timothy 6, 3 through 4. If anyone

00:26:31.760 teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the

00:26:36.700 teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing.

00:26:43.760 So false teaching leads people astray. Different gospels lead to destruction. I'm not talking about

00:26:50.240 differences in opinion when it comes to, for example, infant or believer's baptism, or when the

00:26:55.480 Great Tribulation is happening. Those things are very important, but that's not what we're talking about.

00:26:59.840 We're talking about teachers making, or we're not talking about teachers making errors and then

00:27:07.280 correcting their ways. I'm talking about doctrines that present to you a different gospel, a different

00:27:13.500 definition of salvation of Jesus himself. What we learn in the Garden of Eden and saw and see again

00:27:20.160 and again in scripture and have seen time and again in human history and in our own lives, the daylight

00:27:27.300 between truth and a lie is sometimes very slight. But the lie isn't any less of a lie because of its

00:27:34.920 similarity or proximity to the truth, or because it sounds good or appeals to our biases. When the serpent

00:27:42.540 tempted Eve, when Satan tempted Jesus, he used what sounded a whole lot like truth. He twisted it.

00:27:50.880 He presented it to them in a new way. And hallelujah, what sinful man and woman in the garden fell for,

00:27:57.700 Jesus in the wilderness did not. You can read Matthew 4 for the account of Jesus in the wilderness

00:28:02.720 being tempted by the devil. So where sinful man bought the lies, Jesus claimed victory over lies with

00:28:10.380 truth. And because he now through his spirit lives in us who believe, and because he is the way,

00:28:17.580 the truth, and the life, as John 14, 6 says, we have both the ability and the obligation to confront lies

00:28:25.380 with truth. Through him, we can do the same work of refuting deceit, refuting false teaching with the

00:28:34.620 truth of God's word, with the truth of Christ. First Corinthians 15, 21 through 22. For as by a man came

00:28:43.540 death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ

00:28:52.800 shall all be made alive. We have been made alive with Christ, according to Ephesians 2, 5. And we

00:28:59.940 therefore not only get eternal life and forgiveness, but we also have access to the wisdom, to the

00:29:05.680 discernment, to the strength Christ embodies and offers us. That's why God can promise us in the book

00:29:11.540 of James to give us wisdom because of Christ. And we are thus obligated to use it. He wouldn't give it

00:29:20.100 to us if we didn't need it. And he wouldn't give us wisdom if it didn't please him. And he wouldn't give

00:29:24.900 us wisdom if it didn't glorify him. So how does giving us common folk, you and me, who to the

00:29:32.660 world only look like unauthoritative fools, why does he use people like you and me to give him glory?

00:29:38.980 Why does he do this? Why does he empower and embolden the people whom the elites and the erudites

00:29:43.960 scoff at to carry his message? First Corinthians 1, 26 through 31 tells us,

00:29:49.500 For consider your calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not

00:29:55.300 many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame

00:30:01.680 the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised

00:30:07.460 in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being

00:30:13.320 might boast in the presence of God. And because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us

00:30:18.520 wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that as it is written, let the

00:30:25.740 one who boasts, boast in the Lord. That's why. So he became our wisdom and righteousness so that we've

00:30:33.340 got no leg to stand on but his. And when we rightly seek and apply his wisdom to share the gospel plainly

00:30:39.860 revealed to us in his word, we do so for his glory. So when you see tweets and posts like the ones that

00:30:47.000 we're about to read, you have both the right and the responsibility to refute them using the wisdom

00:30:52.320 and scripture God has graciously given you. So we're going to go through these posts and then we're

00:30:58.880 going to quickly debunk them and talk about the thinking behind them. So here's the first post that

00:31:08.260 I saw. It was by a church called Clackamas United Church of Christ. Now this church and the guy who pastors

00:31:17.920 this church, they post on Instagram a lot. They are always putting social justice messages on their signs

00:31:24.380 that I guess you're supposed to kind of push back against what they think is mainstream evangelicalism or

00:31:29.120 mainstream Protestantism or Orthodox teaching to try to challenge people. Really all they do is they repackage

00:31:35.220 left-wing talking points and they tried to superimpose that onto the Bible or try to superimpose

00:31:40.360 the Bible onto left-wing talking points in order to make their point. It says Jesus was a person of

00:31:46.800 color murdered by state sanctioned violence. This was going around. I think it might have even

00:31:52.560 gone around last year as well. There was another post by Chris 10 on Twitter, but it was also reposted by

00:32:03.000 this popular account that I don't actually know, Muchacha Fanzine, and has several likes and shares

00:32:11.960 and all of that. So this tweet says, annual reminder that Jesus was a brown-skinned Middle Eastern Jewish

00:32:17.280 refugee who befriended sex workers, lower class citizens, and other outsiders. And then the next

00:32:23.020 tweet that I saw that was also posted to this account that got a lot of engagement online, reminder

00:32:29.160 that Jesus was an anti-capitalist person of color who is constantly calling out the BS and corruption

00:32:36.660 in both the church and the government and was eventually executed by Roman police who considered

00:32:41.960 him an enemy of the state. Happy Easter. Abolish the police. John Pavlovitz, who is constantly posting

00:32:50.380 things like this, and if you push back on him, he has no response. A few bits of news from the

00:32:57.680 scriptures for Republicans. Jesus was born in the Middle East. Shocking. He didn't speak English.

00:33:03.580 What? He wasn't white. OMG. This is me adding my commentary after these statements. He wasn't

00:33:10.640 evangelical. He wasn't a Republican. What? Are you kidding me? He wasn't American. And he wasn't

00:33:18.380 even Christian. Wow, this is all news to me, John Pavlovitz. Okay, so I want to quickly debunk

00:33:27.180 these posts and then I'll get into the thinking that's behind them and why I think understanding

00:33:32.560 that thinking that is beneath the surface is so important. So number one, the statement that Jesus

00:33:40.460 was a person of color. We've talked about this before. Sure, that's true. Matthew 21, 11 says

00:33:48.500 that he was from Nazareth of Galilee. He was a Middle Eastern Jew. So that's what he would have looked

00:33:56.080 like. But the truth is the Bible does not tell us much else in the way of describing his appearance.

00:34:01.640 Isaiah 53 prophesies about him. And this is what verses two through three of that chapter say.

00:34:08.220 He had no former majesty that we should look at him and no beauty that we should desire him.

00:34:13.040 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And as one from whom

00:34:19.600 men hide their faces, he was despised. And we esteemed him not. I'm not sure why people think

00:34:26.820 that this is a gotcha in any way. This is something that we have known, that we've always known. Yes,

00:34:34.100 it's true that there are depictions of Jesus as, you know, with blonde hair and blue eyes from Europe

00:34:39.600 and probably parts of America. But it's also true that in China, there are depictions of Jesus

00:34:44.860 as an Asian person. There are pictures of Jesus that were created by African Christians in which

00:34:51.180 he looks like, for example, an Ethiopian. And so different cultures have tried to kind of

00:34:58.420 accommodate Jesus to their own culture or try to make Jesus into their own image. But the fact of

00:35:05.820 the matter is, is that the Bible tells us what it tells us about where Jesus came from. We can deduce

00:35:10.840 what he looked like from that, but it doesn't tell us that much. And we should probably take the hint

00:35:16.300 from scripture that his appearance really isn't all that significant. So God being sovereign over

00:35:22.880 the compilation of the Bible could have inspired more descriptive text about what Jesus looked like,

00:35:28.900 but he doesn't. We know from John 1 that he became flesh and dwelt among us. From Isaiah 53,

00:35:35.440 that he wasn't astoundingly attractive. We know from the gospels where he's from can deduce,

00:35:41.700 like I said, generally what he looked like. But here's the deal. If we love Jesus more or less,

00:35:48.260 or are more or less likely to follow him because of his skin color, then I'm afraid we've lost the

00:35:53.960 plot. And worse than that, we might be lost altogether. It is not Jesus's skin color or social

00:36:00.380 status that saves. It is the fact that he is God and that his death and resurrection fulfilled the

00:36:05.600 prophecy to save God's people. That he served as the perfect and eternal sacrifice for our sins so

00:36:13.420 that we could be forgiven and reconciled to God forever and ever. His skin color makes no difference

00:36:20.400 in that, clearly, since God didn't see it significant enough to discuss in scripture.

00:36:24.760 So if you need Jesus to be white or black or Asian or brown or whatever, in order for you to

00:36:32.220 love him, you have made an idol out of superficial identity and you do not understand who Jesus is,

00:36:40.980 why he died, or what that death means for you. Read Ephesians 2 to find out. We've also talked about

00:36:48.740 J.I. Packer in his book, Knowing God, how he talks about the idolatry and the danger of trying

00:36:54.660 to make depictions or images of Jesus because they always are going to come up short. Once we try to

00:37:01.920 say that we can only relate to Jesus through seeing a physical depiction of him, we lessen in some ways

00:37:11.000 his divinity and we place significance on something and importance on something that clearly the Bible

00:37:16.620 does not place importance upon. And so our priorities and our perspective end up shifting in a way that it

00:37:23.120 doesn't seem, according to scripture, God wants them to shift. The second statement that we see

00:37:28.220 made on these posts, Jesus was murdered by state-sanctioned violence. Once again, yes, but also

00:37:38.460 no. Jesus was killed by the Romans on a Roman cross, but he was handed over by the Jewish leaders,

00:37:47.240 according to Matthew 26, 3-4. And his crucifixion was demanded by the people of Israel, as we read

00:37:53.740 in Luke 23, 21. We even read that Pilate was hesitant. He even tried to absolve himself, but he

00:38:00.540 feared a riot from the Jewish people who demanded Jesus's death. Now, obviously, Pilate still bears

00:38:07.120 responsibility there, but the fact of the matter is, is that both of these powers work together. Acts 2, 22-23

00:38:14.000 tells us that. Men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God

00:38:20.660 with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know,

00:38:27.720 this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God,

00:38:31.620 you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. So we see a few things here. One, both the Romans

00:38:38.600 and the people of Israel played a part in Jesus's crucifixion, but his crucifixion was according to

00:38:44.400 the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. And we see the reason for this crucifixion as Peter is

00:38:51.400 sharing the gospel in Acts 2, 24 and verses 37 through 41. He says, God raised him up, losing the

00:38:59.920 pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it. Let all the house of Israel

00:39:05.100 therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.

00:39:11.400 Now the passage goes on to say that they were cut to the heart. They asked Peter, okay, what the heck

00:39:16.820 are we supposed to do then with this information? And he tells them, repent and be baptized. And then

00:39:23.100 the scriptures say that people believed in Jesus Christ. So that means that God did this for salvation.

00:39:30.760 In this chapter, we see for the Jewish people, this means salvation, but also later we see that it

00:39:38.800 means that all who are far off, which is a phrase that's used in this passage that I just paraphrased

00:39:44.000 also means to us, the Gentiles. So when people try to use Jesus's death as some kind of metaphor,

00:39:51.720 I guess for black people being killed by the police, again, you're missing the plot. You've missed the

00:39:57.620 entire point. Not only do you very likely have the narrative of police brutality, racialized police

00:40:02.740 brutality in the United States wrong, much more importantly, you got the gospel wrong. Jesus's

00:40:08.700 death and resurrection is not a metaphor. Let me say that a thousand more times. Jesus's death and

00:40:14.100 resurrection is not a metaphor. It's not a metaphor for human liberation or human improvement or social

00:40:19.740 justice causes or political activism. It is an actual heavenly transaction that occurred in all of this.

00:40:27.460 And one that incredibly miraculously works for our benefit. That transaction is that we give Jesus

00:40:35.100 our sin. He gives us his righteousness. That's what his death accomplished. He paid the sacrifice

00:40:42.020 that had to be paid for our sin on our behalf so that the debt that we owe to God is now nothing

00:40:49.100 for those who by grace believe. We give Jesus our old self. He gives us a new self. We give him

00:40:55.760 nothing of worth. He gives us everything of eternal worth. That really happened. Jesus's death really

00:41:02.420 happened on a Roman cross at the behest of the Jewish people. Jesus really did rise from the grave

00:41:08.160 three days later, fulfilling the prophecies and validating his divinity and his victory. And it

00:41:14.280 really accomplished forgiveness from sin and eternal life for all those who believe. It's not a metaphor.

00:41:20.700 Third thing that we see often, Jesus was a refugee, something that we have talked about before.

00:41:27.400 And again, the answer is kind of, but not really. And it's not making the point that people are trying

00:41:31.680 to make when they say this. Matthew 2, 13 through 15, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a

00:41:37.620 dream. Get up, he said, take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you,

00:41:42.540 for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him. So he got up, took the child and his mother

00:41:47.200 during the night and left for Egypt where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what

00:41:53.280 the Lord had said through the prophet out of Egypt, I called my son. So while Jesus and his family sought

00:41:59.320 refuge, they were not refugees as we define the term today. So it was in obeying God's command,

00:42:06.200 Jesus and his parents never actually left the Roman empire, even as they were seeking refuge in a

00:42:13.120 different place. So it would be more similar to someone in the U.S. traveling from one state to

00:42:18.300 another. As Luke 2, 1 through 5 tells us, the family made a point to abide by Roman law by adhering

00:42:24.660 to the census and they returned home after Herod's death. And also, I think while we're here, it's

00:42:30.840 important to note that Jesus also wasn't a Palestinian. That's something that we hear about a lot. Jesus was a

00:42:36.000 Galilean Jew, the Messiah bringing the gospel first to the Jews, then to the Gentiles, as Romans 1, 16

00:42:42.860 tells us. The name Palestine for that region wasn't even around until 100 years after Jesus' death and

00:42:49.500 resurrection. And the people who repeat that talking point, it's actually a talking point that was

00:42:55.520 perpetuated first by Muslims to try to take Jesus out of Judaism. It's derived from this left-wing

00:43:04.360 perspective that Israel, like the United States, is this oppressive force. So they kind of borrowed

00:43:11.920 this idea from Muslims who tried to take the Judaism out of Jesus and then left-wing causes here decided

00:43:19.700 that that was useful to them, too, because they see Israel as some kind of capitalistic, imperialistic,

00:43:27.100 oppressive force. And so they try to de-Judaize Jesus by calling him a Palestinian. That's actually an

00:43:35.020 anti-Semitic trope, and it's also not historically accurate. So I just wanted to make that clear.

00:43:42.120 And according to Scripture, according to Matthew 12 and Isaiah 42, it's actually very important to

00:43:49.680 note that Jesus fulfills Jewish prophecy and was living as a Jew during this context. Scripture tells us

00:43:57.800 that. Number four, the fourth statement made, Jesus befriended sex workers. Now, some people say

00:44:06.080 this because they believe Mary Magdalene, who was a friend of Jesus, was either the woman in the city

00:44:11.700 who is understood to have been a prostitute, who is talked about in Luke 7, or the woman who was caught

00:44:17.420 in adultery in John 8. But we actually have no scriptural basis for believing those things. That is

00:44:23.540 an assumption that people make, but not something that the Bible actually says. The interactions that we do

00:44:29.980 see between Jesus and women, who were either prostitutes or adulterous, are very significant. They tell us

00:44:36.680 a lot about grace. But they don't make the point that this social media poster is probably trying to make

00:44:43.440 by saying this. So in Luke 7, a woman of the city comes and weeps on his feet, kissed his feet, anointing

00:44:49.480 his feet with oil. And then when the Pharisee scoffs at Jesus and doubts his prophetic ability because of

00:44:56.060 this, because what prophet would possibly allow this kind of interaction between himself and

00:45:00.960 this sinful woman? Jesus responds to that Pharisee in this story and says, I'm paraphrasing. She

00:45:09.120 treated me better than you did. She showed me more love than you did. And because of her faith,

00:45:13.520 her sins are going to be forgiven. Verses 47 through 48 says, therefore, I tell you her sins,

00:45:19.600 which are many are forgiven for she loved much, but he who is forgiven a little loves little. And he

00:45:24.960 said to her, your sins are forgiven. And then in John 8, the woman caught in adultery when men were

00:45:30.420 surrounding her ready to stone her according to the law. Now there's actually a lot here about Jewish

00:45:37.320 law that was not being properly abided by and why Jesus says basically that you guys have no right

00:45:44.100 to throw a stone. He says, no one, basically Jesus says to this woman caught in adultery,

00:45:50.360 no one here is condemning you. I don't condemn you. And then he says, go and sin no more. So in these

00:45:56.640 examples, we see Jesus loving these sinful women, loving these prostitutes, showing compassion to them,

00:46:03.440 but also dealing with their sin primarily. He offers them forgiveness for their sins and is

00:46:11.020 encouraging them to repent of their sins. He knew that was the desire of their heart. That was their

00:46:16.980 greatest need for their sin to be dealt with. When he spoke to the woman at the well in John 4,

00:46:22.060 he showed her her sin and then presented himself as the Messiah, the savior from sin.

00:46:27.340 Also remember, Jesus is God. So whatever God says, Jesus also says. Whatever the Bible says,

00:46:34.180 since it is God's word, Jesus also says. Any attempt to separate Jesus from the rest of scripture

00:46:39.940 is an erroneous understanding of the Godhead and his word. And throughout the Bible, literally Genesis

00:46:46.060 to Revelation, we see prostitution both literally and figuratively regarded as sinful, as damaging to

00:46:52.820 both the prostitute and her clientele as behavior that should be avoided as an assault to the human

00:46:58.820 body, which bears the image of God. Jesus shows that yes, there is grace and forgiveness for the

00:47:04.220 prostitute, but that means it is also a sin that needs forgiving. God is also very clear about that.

00:47:12.000 And then the last thing that we see in these posts, Jesus was a friend of the poor and the marginalized

00:47:17.020 and hated the powerful and rich. Again, yes and no. Jesus befriended the poor. He also befriended the

00:47:24.840 rich. He befriended the weak and the powerful. He asked fishermen to follow him, but he also asked a

00:47:30.400 tax collector to follow him, Matthew. Tax collectors were often oppressive during this time. In Luke 19,

00:47:36.680 Jesus declares salvation for Zacchaeus because of Zacchaeus' faith. He was a rich tax collector. And what does

00:47:43.300 he say at the end of the story, Jesus, that he came to seek not the rich or the poor, but came to seek and save

00:47:50.560 the lost? He also shares the gospel of Nicodemus, a Pharisee, in John 3. So yes, Jesus paid special attention to

00:47:59.300 the poor and the sick and the outcasts, absolutely, people whose society declared unclean. But he also shared the

00:48:06.980 truth in love to the rich and the powerful. He brought salvation and forgiveness from sins to them

00:48:13.000 both. He asked the rich to sell all they had and give to the poor because his first Timothy 6.10 says

00:48:21.240 the love of money is the root of all kinds of evils, not the money itself, but the love of it,

00:48:27.520 the worship of it, the dependence upon it for satisfaction and status. In other words, because of

00:48:34.840 what it can do to the heart, which Jesus wants entirely for himself. Now, does that make God an

00:48:41.120 anti-capitalist? I don't even know how you could possibly make that claim based on scripture unless

00:48:48.440 you equate capitalism, which with greed and the hoarding of wealth and the idolatry of wealth,

00:48:54.280 which is an erroneous equation. It's just not true of the vast majority of people who have done well in

00:48:59.800 capitalist systems. They've simply been able to work hard and give generously and provide for their

00:49:05.000 families. The existence of poverty does not automatically prove a hoarding of wealth. I

00:49:10.760 know progressives have a hard time with that statement, but it's factually true. Jesus says

00:49:15.140 the poor will always be with us. There is nowhere in the gospels or in scripture where we see Jesus

00:49:22.580 saying that the state should confiscate your property and profit and give it to the poor in the

00:49:27.120 name of social justice. Yes, we render to Caesar what is Caesar's, but the government taking your money

00:49:33.180 or property and giving it to other people is not what Jesus is commanding of you. That'd be super

00:49:39.040 convenient. You could be holy without ever having to get off the couch or actually express any charity

00:49:43.220 on your own, but that doesn't cut it as compassion. Jesus calls his church to voluntarily, holy spirit

00:49:51.400 powered by the power of the Holy Spirit to give generously. The early church exemplified this kind of

00:49:58.840 generosity. And we're talking free willed, compelled by the Holy Spirit, not compelled by the state

00:50:07.340 generosity. Socialism is compulsory. It's a mandatory. It's not voluntary, which means it's not really

00:50:13.960 generosity at all. Second Corinthians six, seven says each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not

00:50:20.200 reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver. You can't look at the history of socialism or

00:50:26.860 certainly communism and see it as cheerful giving or not see that it's always led to more oppression,

00:50:32.200 more poverty, more tyranny, more concentration of wealth and power. Any functioning welfare state,

00:50:38.640 like in Scandinavia, for example, is powered by capitalism. Supply and demand, people making profit,

00:50:45.000 freely giving as they see fit is necessary for wealth generation, for freedom, for independence from

00:50:51.380 a dictatorial state. Now, I'm not arguing that Jesus is necessarily a capitalist or a publican or fits

00:50:57.000 into any of our economic or political boxes. He transcends all of them. But he also wasn't in the

00:51:03.180 box of anti-capitalist. He certainly wasn't a communist or a socialist. We've got two commands

00:51:11.380 against those all the way at the beginning of the Bible. Thou shall not covet and thou shall not steal.

00:51:17.380 Right there, we see the legitimacy and virtue of private personal property. So what's yours is not

00:51:22.920 mine, says God. And I have no right to even, well, I'm not. So God is saying that what is mine,

00:51:31.480 Ali's, is not yours. What's yours is not mine. And to even want that which is yours, my neighbor,

00:51:39.920 is actually a sin. And stealing it is also a sin. So that's our debunking. But it's even more important

00:51:47.020 to understand what thinking exists under these kinds of posts so we can know how to confront

00:51:51.300 them in the future. So first, we have to consider who these people are. From what I can tell,

00:51:57.220 these people don't actually believe in the Bible as authoritative, nor do they believe Jesus is the

00:52:03.060 only way to God as he is. And it's questionable whether or not they even believe that Jesus

00:52:08.060 is God, whether or not they hold to any orthodox tenets of Christianity.

00:52:12.460 What it appears is that they actually see Jesus as a means to their political

00:52:16.840 ends. They see him as more of an activist than anything else. And because of that,

00:52:23.260 things like skin color and marginalization status actually matters to them very much.

00:52:29.780 It's not Jesus's divinity that they're primarily concerned with. It's his intersectionality

00:52:35.380 that they're concerned with. So understand that this is not just a different theological viewpoint

00:52:41.260 that's a little bit outside orthodox Christianity. This is a different form of epistemology all

00:52:46.900 together. That means an entirely different way of seeking and obtaining knowledge. This is

00:52:52.800 standpoint epistemology. The idea that knowledge is actually gained through someone's standpoint in

00:52:58.660 society, through their subjective experience, rather than through an objective deductive process.

00:53:05.960 This is a tool of critical theory, which seeks to understand and frame the world through the lens

00:53:11.300 of the standpoint of a certain kind of person who is traditionally regarded as marginalized. So

00:53:16.260 a black person in critical race theory, a queer person in queer theory, a woman in feminist theory,

00:53:22.000 and so on. And these theories purport that the standpoint of these people are more authoritative when

00:53:32.820 it comes to truth and obtaining truth than data, than logic, than facts. And in the case of Jesus,

00:53:37.660 more authoritative than theology that is based on the Bible. And you see this a lot with people who are

00:53:43.660 deconstructing their faith. They tend to say that they're letting go of the absolute truth that they

00:53:52.540 once maybe believed about scripture. They're letting go of dogmas only to repossess and only to latch

00:54:01.060 on to new dogmas like Jesus was a person of color killed by the state in order to get a new kind of

00:54:07.280 woke righteousness. And this is all a product of postmodernism. It's the basic assumption that

00:54:13.000 truth is relative. It has its roots way back to philosophers, atheist philosophers that existed

00:54:22.000 hundreds of years ago and has become more and more mainstream in the United States.

00:54:27.340 So these social media posters who probably consider themselves progressive Christians

00:54:32.660 are operating from the subjective understanding of knowledge and authority from a postmodern worldview,

00:54:38.440 which is why they are so stuck on listing his perceived external attributes. Because to them,

00:54:44.740 probably unknowingly, for Jesus to have any authority, he has to be in a marginalized class

00:54:52.000 in some way. And not just for him to have any authority, but for him to be useful to them.

00:54:58.080 These posts reflect the desire for Jesus to be made useful as a justification for their particular

00:55:03.660 brand of political activism. This is very common of those who hold to, for example, liberation theology,

00:55:10.260 which was popularized by James Cone in the 20th century and regards Jesus not as a savior,

00:55:16.080 but as a liberator and not from sin, but from systems. So liberation theology is not concerned

00:55:23.300 with the inerrancy of scripture or the exclusivity of Jesus or the saving truth of the gospel.

00:55:28.880 It is concerned with using certain principles, certain principles of Christianity and their

00:55:34.780 activist version of Jesus to achieve their political ends. A quote by James Cone from 1997

00:55:40.640 says that, yes, he believed in Jesus, but not to the exclusion of other religious perspectives.

00:55:48.500 He quotes Malcolm X and says, I believe in a religion that believes in freedom. And we see this kind of

00:55:55.620 thinking exemplified by Senator Raphael Warnock, who said this in a tweet that he ended up deleting.

00:56:02.440 The meaning of Easter is more transcendent than the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Whether you are

00:56:08.040 Christian or not, through a commitment to helping others, we are able to save ourselves. So I

00:56:14.200 responded to this on Twitter and you can go look at that. But there are so many different parts of

00:56:19.360 this tweet. First of all, there is nothing more transcendent than the resurrection of the God,

00:56:25.560 man, Jesus Christ. Literally, it transcends our human conceptions of time and space and rationality.

00:56:32.760 And he doesn't even support his claim that helping others is somehow more transcendent than Jesus

00:56:38.640 Christ, the creator and sustainer of the universe, defeating death forever and defeating sin through

00:56:45.460 his death and resurrection. This reflects something that we've also seen from someone like Ibram X

00:56:51.140 Kendi, who has outspoken about liberation theology, who says that he doesn't regard Jesus as a savior,

00:56:58.000 even though he would regard himself as a Christian. Because, you know, Jesus is not the savior of

00:57:03.400 humanity, but he actually said in a video that was posted on Twitter, one of his talks that anti-racism

00:57:09.000 can literally save humanity, Ibram X. Kendi says. And here Warnock says that we can save ourselves.

00:57:17.780 So this is the same concept by these two liberation theology advocates. We are our own gods and saviors.

00:57:24.780 Like every false teaching from the prosperity gospel to the social gospel, they exchange the

00:57:30.500 God of scripture for the God of self. This is not new. Humans have indulged in self-idolatry since

00:57:36.500 the beginning of time. It always ends in destruction, both here and in eternity. So you need to run hard

00:57:43.620 and fast from any semblance of this kind of heresy. Ephesians 2, 8 through 10 says,

00:57:49.220 for by grace, you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of

00:57:56.620 God, not a result of work so that no one may boast. This is so much better news. So much better news

00:58:02.740 than the idea that it is upon ourselves that we bear the burden of salvation through legalistic

00:58:10.280 moralism. In his book, For My People, Kohn explains that, quote, the Christian faith does not possess in

00:58:16.540 its nature the means for analyzing the structure of capitalism. Marxism is a tool of social analysis

00:58:22.720 as a tool of social analysis can disclose the gap between appearance and reality and thereby help

00:58:28.660 Christians to see things how they are. So if you're wondering why this kind of progressive

00:58:33.120 theology is so often married to socialistic politics, it is because these ideas are Marxist

00:58:41.520 concepts, liberation theology is rooted in Marx. Marx hated religion. He didn't believe in God,

00:58:49.140 which is why whenever you see people trying to use Marxist concepts and infuse it with their faith,

00:58:56.520 they end up giving up most of the latter for the former, which is Marxism. So they end up exchanging

00:59:07.040 Christian orthodoxy for Marxism, even while they're trying to walk the line between both of them.

00:59:15.280 And it ends up presenting a false gospel. And because this is so prevalent, and because it sounds so

00:59:22.560 good, we have to know what it looks like, what's behind it, and how to push back on it. I understand

00:59:29.580 why it's tempting to believe and perpetuate this stuff. It gives people the feeling of covering their

00:59:34.400 basis, like we said, of straddling the fence and being just worldly and Christian enough to avoid

00:59:40.180 cancellation in this life. And just in case heaven and hell really do exist, maybe in the next life

00:59:45.640 too. But it just ain't going to work like that. The Bible doesn't give us that option. And if you want

00:59:50.620 to know my prediction, it's actually that even as we start to see statements like this more and more,

00:59:57.140 sometime soon, we're also going to start to see them fade. We won't see as much of them.

01:00:03.840 And that's because being a Christian is going to get, even in the United States, where we have

01:00:09.260 enjoyed so much privilege and so much religious liberty for so long, it's going to become less

01:00:14.800 safe, less convenient, less popular, less lucrative, certainly, to be a Christian. And so there's going

01:00:23.200 to be no reason for false teachers to even pretend that they're Christians or for progressive

01:00:28.060 Christians to even try to use Jesus as their mascot for social justice causes, because there will be

01:00:34.520 absolutely no benefit to it. The WHO posted this picture, I'll put it up on YouTube, in which the

01:00:42.300 Islamic Crescent and the Star of David are present. They're trying to present. They're trying to tell

01:00:46.980 people that, hey, stay home and celebrate your holidays. And then next to the Star of David and the

01:00:51.900 Islamic Crescent, they have an Easter egg. So instead of the cross, which actually represents

01:00:58.820 part of what we are honoring on Easter and what is the most significant symbol of Christianity,

01:01:07.660 there is an egg, which there's nothing wrong with eggs on Easter. It's a myth that that's some

01:01:12.100 pagan worship that we have to avoid. The cross is obviously representative of the gospel,

01:01:19.180 what Christians believe, and what we are actually honoring on Easter. But they purposely avoid that.

01:01:24.500 Google actually decided on their homepage, even though they have a sketch and a doodle for every

01:01:29.020 significant day of the year, they did nothing on Easter. And of course, there's plenty of people

01:01:34.140 that are mad about this. But I'm not. Even seeing all of the things that people are willing to say

01:01:41.900 on Twitter about Christianity, Professor Alice Roberts, who calls herself a humanist,

01:01:46.960 she said, just a little reminder today, dead people don't come back to life. I think that

01:01:51.240 was on Good Friday. I mean, people, there is a comfort with which people show their disdain

01:01:58.940 for Christianity in a way that they would never show towards another religion because they would

01:02:03.300 call it bigotry. And the reason why I'm actually okay with that is because the cross is offensive.

01:02:12.160 Like it's not neutral. It's not like any other symbol. The gospel is offensive. It tells us of

01:02:19.100 our sin and hopelessness apart from Christ. It's not neutral. It cannot be effectively secularized

01:02:24.540 or made presentable or inoffensive. It must be done away with and pushed to the side in order to

01:02:30.140 appease a world drunk on its own degeneracy. That's why, according to Pew Research, Christians are still

01:02:36.080 the most pervasively persecuted religious people in all the world. 1 Corinthians 6.14,

01:02:44.280 for the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved,

01:02:48.740 it is the power of God. Galatians 6.14, but far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord

01:02:55.960 Jesus Christ by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. That's how done Christians

01:03:05.100 and the gospel is with the world and how done the world is with us. And that is to be expected.

01:03:13.040 That is already foreknown. And so when we see this kind of separation, it's actually a reason to rejoice.

01:03:19.540 There will be no confusion someday soon over who is a Christian and who is not.

01:03:24.340 So what are we to do in the midst of all this? And this is how we end.

01:03:28.660 Romans 12, 9 through 21 tells us this. Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil. Hold fast to what

01:03:37.320 is good. Wow. It is so opposite today, but we are called to abhor what is evil. Hold fast to what is

01:03:43.740 good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful

01:03:50.500 and zeal. Be fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope. Be patient in tribulation. Be

01:03:57.080 constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those

01:04:03.640 who persecute you. Blast and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those

01:04:08.980 who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise

01:04:14.840 in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give a thought to do what is honorable in the sight

01:04:22.320 of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge

01:04:28.740 yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God. For it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay,

01:04:34.500 says the Lord. To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something

01:04:41.240 to drink. For by doing so, you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome with evil,

01:04:48.620 but overcome evil with good. Speak the truth in love, Christian. Be equipped, be empowered,

01:04:56.080 be emboldened by the Holy Spirit and the tools that God has graciously given us in his word. Call out

01:05:02.340 lies in your own life and in the teachings that you see displayed publicly. Have conversations with

01:05:08.440 your friends and your family about this kind of stuff and pray to God to keep his church,

01:05:13.680 to hold his church together, which he has already promised to do and rejoice in the fact that it's

01:05:20.480 going to be more obvious than ever who is the church that represents the city on the hill in the

01:05:26.960 midst of darkness. And we are called to and equipped to shine brightly in the midst of that. All right,

01:05:32.000 I'll be back here tomorrow. I'll see you guys then.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - April 05, 2021

Ep 397 ｜ Debunking Heretical Hot Takes on Jesus & Easter

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