Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - November 15, 2018


Ep 55 | Christian Persecution at UC Berkeley


Episode Stats

Length

32 minutes

Words per Minute

186.5187

Word Count

6,118

Sentence Count

422

Misogynist Sentences

3

Hate Speech Sentences

18


Summary

UC Berkeley student Isabella Chow stood up for Christian values in the face of a lot of opposition. She is now facing calls for her to be kicked out of the student senate, and the hate she receives on campus. Isabella explains why she refused to vote on a resolution that would have defined men and women as "male and female" according to their birth certificate.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, it's Allie. Welcome to CRTV's Relatable. We've got a good show for you today. We've got a
00:00:06.420 really good, interesting conversation. So we are going to talk to Isabella Chow. She is a student
00:00:12.220 at UC Berkeley, a part of the Student Senate. You might have seen some articles floating around
00:00:17.100 about her on Fox News, on The Federalist, and she is making waves because she did something that is
00:00:22.900 now considered extremely scandalous. She stood up for Christian values in the face of a lot of
00:00:31.100 opposition. So just to give you a little bit of context, at UC Berkeley, there was an alliance,
00:00:37.800 and the alliance is called Queer Alliance Resource Center. And this alliance demanded or wanted the
00:00:46.300 student body to vote on this particular resolution that would symbolically, doesn't actually do any
00:00:52.880 thing, but symbolically condemn the Trump administration's decision to define men and
00:00:57.800 women as men and women in relation to their sex that is assigned to them at birth. You've probably
00:01:04.660 seen a lot of backlash over that, that Trump is erasing trans people, but that has been completely
00:01:10.760 debunked. That is not the case at all. This is talking about biological sex. So the Queer Alliance
00:01:17.540 Resource Center wanted this resolution passed, the student Senate, of which Isabella is
00:01:22.860 apart, had to vote on this. And this is live streamed. I think this is might even be before
00:01:28.340 the student body. And she decided that she wasn't going to cast a vote and she was going to explain
00:01:35.920 exactly why she's not going to cast a vote. The political party that she was a part of on campus
00:01:40.780 had released a statement saying, you know, that they support the resolution. She felt like it didn't
00:01:46.620 represent her views. So she got up in front of the student Senate and she said why she was not going to
00:01:52.060 vote on this. And she said in a very kind, you can go online and read Isabella Chow's statement.
00:01:57.540 It's on the foxnews.com article. It was very kind, very gentle, very compassionate. But she said,
00:02:02.620 I love these people. I, you know, accept them as friends, but I do not agree with this lifestyle.
00:02:09.220 I do not agree with the multiple gender identities. And again, I love them, want to be their friend,
00:02:14.040 but I don't agree with them. And what has happened since then? She has received unbelievable,
00:02:21.580 unbelievable hate. They're calling for her resignation from the student Senate. She was
00:02:27.640 kicked out of the political party that she's a part of on campus. The name of the political party
00:02:32.040 slips my mind now, or it's a political organization, but I think they call it a political party.
00:02:37.620 And she, this has been like two and a half weeks and people are harassing her, are saying horrible
00:02:45.040 things to her. Things like, you know, F you go to hell, all of these terrible things simply because
00:02:50.840 she stood up for what she believes in. So we are going to talk to her. We're going to get her
00:02:56.780 perspective and hear a little bit more about what's going on. But first, before we do that,
00:03:02.640 I just want to remind you that you're not sleeping as well as you could. You're just not. I don't know
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00:03:42.380 the only pillow I use. I feel like I could sleep for so many hours. I feel so awesome when I wake up in
00:03:48.800 the morning and I feel extremely well rested. And the only reason I'm not sleeping all day is because I
00:03:53.400 have to record this podcast. So thanks a lot, guys. If not, I would still I would sleep all day
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00:04:26.000 You can thank me later. Now that we've covered that, we are going to talk to our friend Isabella.
00:04:31.140 Isabella, thank you so much for joining me. Hello. Thank you so much for having me here.
00:04:35.600 Yeah. So tell me, tell me what exactly happened. I've read a few of the articles,
00:04:41.540 but I want to hear it from your perspective. Yeah. Essentially what happened was it started when
00:04:47.080 I brought up these two bills at caucus with my political party. And caucus is a time where we,
00:04:54.860 you know, discuss bills and we're very clear that we don't block vote as a party, but we allow each
00:04:59.440 senator to have, you know, freedom to vote however they want. But we do want to, you know, discuss
00:05:04.360 bills with each other. And so I said, you know, as a Christian, as a senator who campaigned to,
00:05:09.140 you know, get votes mainly from the Christian community here at Berkeley, I'm not sure if I can
00:05:14.260 fully support this bill that asks me to promote the LGBTQ identity and lifestyle.
00:05:19.660 Right. People, I expected a little bit of hesitation and opposition, but not to the extent
00:05:28.900 where, you know, what actually happened was after several days of meetings, they told me you either
00:05:35.840 fully promote this bill and you fully promote the LGBTQ identity or you're out. And so obviously,
00:05:41.600 you know, before God and before my community, I couldn't, I couldn't in good conscience vote for
00:05:46.960 the bill. And so I got ousted from my political party. Um, what, after I abstained, um, and made
00:05:53.400 a statement regarding my abstention, my political party released a statement disaffiliating with me
00:05:59.800 and, um, the, another Senator who sponsored the bill that I abstained from released her own statement,
00:06:06.200 essentially calling me a homophobic and transphobic Senator.
00:06:08.860 Okay. So tell me, tell me exactly for those of us who don't know, tell me what this bill was,
00:06:16.360 how it was presented and why exactly you had to vote on it.
00:06:20.740 Yes. So, um, the main bill in question was largely symbolic. Um, it opposed Trump's title nine
00:06:27.540 proposed changes, proposed changes to title nine and specifically, um, the portion where he proposes
00:06:34.640 to define one's gender as one's biological sex. Right. Um, the bill, the symbolic bill largely
00:06:42.840 advocated for freedom from discrimination and harassment for LGBTQ individuals, which I'm
00:06:48.100 totally fine with. But at the end of the bill, the action items were to fully promote, uh, the
00:06:53.940 queer Alliance resource center here on campus and the gender equity resource center among other, um,
00:06:58.940 organizations. And the primary purpose of these organizations is to promote the LGBTQ identity
00:07:04.300 and lifestyle. Okay. Gotcha. So you, as a student Senator, you were called on to, to vote on this.
00:07:12.220 And when you had to vote, were you in front of the student body? Were you in front of the student
00:07:15.960 government or what was the context? Yes. This was during our weekly Senate meetings,
00:07:21.040 which are live streamed and open to the public. Okay. And so did everyone get up and make a statement
00:07:27.760 about how they were going to vote or did you just decide, okay, I just got to do this. This is on my
00:07:32.760 conscience. Yeah. So a lot of people have asked me, you know, why didn't you just vote and not said
00:07:37.480 anything? Um, the reason why I chose to make a statement because you don't have to, um, I chose
00:07:42.840 to make a statement because I knew that my political party student actions, um, press release was coming
00:07:48.460 out the moment the vote was over. And in that press release, they, you know, I didn't feel like they
00:07:54.200 completely represented my views accurately. Right. So I chose to make a statement. Yeah.
00:07:59.580 So student actions was part of the political party that you were a part of on campus.
00:08:04.000 They released the press release and you said, okay, well, this is not exactly what I think about
00:08:09.040 this bill. So I'm going to stand up and I'm just going to represent myself and maybe the rest of the
00:08:13.940 Christian community about this. And I read your statement and basically what you said, of course,
00:08:20.300 I'm coming from a Christian perspective and I just agree with everything you say. So,
00:08:24.100 but even so, even if I disagreed with you, you started out by saying I'm against harassment.
00:08:30.240 I'm against discrimination. I see you. You're valid. I love you. Jesus loves you. And then you
00:08:35.920 had one paragraph basically, I think that said, I just don't agree with this. I don't agree with,
00:08:42.040 you know, the LGBTQ lifestyle. I don't believe it's best for you. I do believe that, you know,
00:08:46.940 God made a man and a woman that sex is supposed to be between a man and a woman in marriage. And then
00:08:52.320 you ended again with, I still love you. You know, I'm still your friend. I still see you.
00:08:57.860 And yet the vitriol that you're receiving, it's like you got up there and said that,
00:09:03.780 you know, everyone who isn't like you is a terrible, horrible person that's burning in hell.
00:09:08.460 And that's not at all what you did. Were you surprised?
00:09:11.660 I was, I mean, I expected backlash, but not to the extent where every single student on campus
00:09:18.480 knows about it and is talking about it. Right. And much less like the entire country,
00:09:24.620 you know, because this has become a national story, which I think is great because you are
00:09:30.060 getting, uh, you know, I'm sure you're getting some support from people who do agree with you.
00:09:35.260 Now you're probably getting a lot of hate too. That's just common in the whole Christian world,
00:09:40.220 especially when it comes to views of sexuality. But how, how are you dealing with all of this?
00:09:45.840 I mean, it's gotta be kind of overwhelming. It was definitely overwhelming the first two weeks.
00:09:50.300 Um, because, you know, obviously now that the story has gone national, I've received,
00:09:56.160 you know, countless emails and messages of support, which really have carried me.
00:09:59.580 But then the first two weeks I relied so heavily on the Christian community here.
00:10:03.920 Yes. You know, just honestly asking them for encouragement and prayers and being very open
00:10:08.880 and honest about what was going on and what I was facing.
00:10:11.800 How did you get the strength and bravery to go up there and say that? Because gosh,
00:10:18.700 there's a lot of people who think the same way you do probably a good number of people,
00:10:22.160 even on UC Berkeley's campus who just wouldn't have said anything. Why did you feel like I can't
00:10:28.840 just be quiet about this?
00:10:30.780 Yes. And this ties back to the reason why, um, I chose to run for Senate last semester.
00:10:35.960 Um, what I told the Christian community was, you know, in such a liberal campus,
00:10:41.120 especially in student government, there rarely is a voice that speaks out for
00:10:45.680 values that the Christian community upholds and what we believe to be the truth.
00:10:49.680 And so what I told them is if we don't have a Senator in the ASUC
00:10:53.420 representing the Christian values, then who else will be there to speak the truth?
00:10:58.100 Right. And so when the time came for me to make the decision, of course, it was absolutely hard.
00:11:03.640 Like, um, yeah, some suggested, like, why don't you just walk out of the room when we vote and just
00:11:08.900 come back in so that, you know, you're not complicit in voting and your name is not on the roster,
00:11:13.140 but you don't have to say anything. You don't have to deal with, you know, all this mess.
00:11:18.160 But I asked myself, like, was I elected to a position to remain silent? And the answer was no.
00:11:24.860 Wow. Wow. That's really amazing. Have you talked to your parents at all about this? I mean,
00:11:32.140 what are they thinking?
00:11:33.780 It's a lot for them to go through. Um, last weekend, uh, last week when we had the Senate
00:11:39.940 meeting where the protesters came and essentially yelled at me in the mic for three hours,
00:11:43.960 they were there sitting and watching all of it. And I can't imagine how hard it must be for them.
00:11:50.000 Yeah. Yeah. Because for me, you know, sitting there,
00:11:52.680 I was expecting it and I'd already been going through it for, you know, a couple of weeks at
00:11:57.080 that point. But for my parents to watch me go through that, it was hard.
00:12:02.840 Oh, I'm sure. I'm sure they feel extremely defensive of you and they want to protect you.
00:12:08.420 Gosh, I bet that's hard. Uh, what do you do from here? Like,
00:12:13.180 what does it look like going forward for you?
00:12:16.040 Yeah. I think what's difficult for me is that, you know, even with the amazing response I've
00:12:22.920 received across the country and even across the globe on a day-to-day basis, I still have to sit
00:12:27.700 next to classmates who were the same classmates that yelled at me last week. Yeah. I've been,
00:12:32.960 they're just cursing at you, right? Just like saying these horrible things about you. I read
00:12:36.880 that someone said that, you know, they're going to see you in hell or something.
00:12:40.200 Yeah. Yeah. Um, it's difficult, you know, um, to be treated that way and to not be respected for
00:12:50.520 a minority view, because the problem is the, the LGBTQ community here has a difficult time
00:12:56.300 reconciling how I can say, I love you. And yet, you know, not fully support what they consider to
00:13:02.220 be a fundamental part of their identities. Right. Right. And so instead of taking my statements at face
00:13:08.780 value, they're taking my statements about what I believe and twisting that to mean I'm homophobic and
00:13:14.760 I'm transphobic. Um, and so it's just a difficulty for them to fully understand where I'm coming from
00:13:23.420 as a Christian. Right. And instead of giving me the benefit of the doubt or understanding, um, I mean,
00:13:29.460 yeah. Right. Which of course is, uh, you know, a little bit ironic, a little bit hypocritical that
00:13:36.040 they're demanding absolute tolerance and inclusion, uh, from you, even though you don't disagree with,
00:13:42.300 you know, their way of life, but they are not willing to give you the same tolerance and inclusion
00:13:48.420 that they are demanding that you give them. They are choosing to exclude you because you don't have
00:13:54.380 a lifestyle that they agree with. So what I see a lot of times, and this is not really a generalization,
00:14:00.240 but a lot of times I see this kind of idea, uh, among progressives that yes, we want freedom or
00:14:07.400 we want the appearance of tolerance and inclusion until you disagree with us. And then once you
00:14:12.940 disagree with us, then you're not just wrong, but you're a horrible person and we're going to harass
00:14:16.860 you and we're going to break you until you apologize. Um, I can't imagine having to deal with
00:14:23.660 that. Like you are, uh, on an everyday basis. Uh, so what is your reaction been in the face of all of
00:14:31.280 that? Yes. Um, a lot of what I've been reminded of, um, since last week is to stand by my statement
00:14:38.400 from, you know, October 31st. Yes. And that doesn't just include the statements about what I believe,
00:14:43.980 but my statements about loving and accepting everyone, even if I'm not treated and given the
00:14:48.880 same treated with and given the same understanding and respect, um, I will still stand by my words to
00:14:54.660 accept everyone and also to love unconditionally. Right. Um, the way that Jesus did. Exactly. I was
00:15:02.040 about to say, that's exactly what Christ did. He was maligned. He was persecuted. And he actually
00:15:06.860 tells us, he promises us that in this world, we will have trouble, but take heart of overcome the
00:15:11.720 world. He says that we will be persecuted. And I'm not saying necessarily the things that you're
00:15:16.680 going through or the things that I go through necessarily as a conservative, as a Christian,
00:15:20.580 or the same exact thing is what Jesus went through. I'm not saying that, but it is a form of
00:15:25.040 persecution. And I just want to take a second to commend you for standing firm in the face of that,
00:15:30.620 because it is not easy. I spoke for one hour at UC Berkeley. I spoke to a class and that was one of
00:15:37.800 the hardest speeches that I've ever given just because the vitriol and the reaction and the yelling that I
00:15:42.120 got, that was one hour of my life. And I was emotionally spent after that. So for you standing
00:15:47.700 strong in the midst of all of that and choosing to love people and choosing not to be bitter or
00:15:53.200 resentful, but like you said, choosing to accept people the way that Christ accepts us when we're
00:15:58.020 imperfect, it's really amazing. And I just want to encourage you that you, your story and what you're
00:16:04.780 doing is going to strengthen thousands and thousands of people that you will never meet.
00:16:09.640 So even if right now this seems like, wow, this, you know, this really sucks, which it does suck.
00:16:15.080 Just know that it's doing something, not just in your life, but also in the lives of so many other
00:16:20.640 students who feel the same way you do. I would love to hear just as a final thing, if you could,
00:16:27.540 if you could give a little bit of encouragement or just a piece of advice to someone who might be going
00:16:33.720 through something similar or who is struggling to stand up for their own views.
00:16:37.860 Yes. I think my biggest piece of advice would be to stay grounded in your faith and to stay grounded
00:16:45.360 in your community. The reason why I was, you know, able to say my statement with absolute conviction
00:16:52.800 and absolute, you know, gentleness and respect was because even before I ran for Senate, I talked to
00:16:58.220 many mentors about, you know, the intersection of faith and the LGBTQ identity. And, you know,
00:17:04.680 I did a very thorough survey of theologians from both sides of the aisle, affirming and non-affirming.
00:17:11.320 And, you know, to have that theological and to have that faith grounding was really what kept me
00:17:18.100 through all of this. And furthermore, to have that grounding and community where, you know,
00:17:22.700 my fellowship was praying for me right before I went into the Senate chambers and my staff was coming
00:17:28.760 with me. And, you know, just being there with me the whole time, like I wouldn't have made it this
00:17:33.960 far without them and without their prayers.
00:17:36.520 Yeah. So you would encourage people to stay grounded in the word because you're right. Without
00:17:41.280 that, everything in our head is just an idea that is, you know, can be contradicted by anyone. But if
00:17:47.000 it's grounded in the word of God, then we know that it's true. And then, like you said, being surrounded
00:17:51.700 by community and the power of prayer is something right now that is so mocked by people as useless,
00:17:57.500 you and I know, and especially you right now, really know the absolute intangible consequences
00:18:03.300 of being prayed for. So that's amazing. Thank you so much for sharing this. And I will be praying for
00:18:10.380 you too. And I will, I always am praying also just for college students in the same situation,
00:18:14.920 because I know it's, you know, it feels like a battlefield, but especially for you. So thank you so
00:18:20.800 much. Is there any other information or anything else you would like to tell the audience before you
00:18:25.460 go? My final takeaway would relate to what has really been in my heart the past two and a half
00:18:31.800 weeks. I've really been praying throughout all this that, you know, one, the church would continue to
00:18:37.960 dialogue and even dialogue more about the intersection of faith and the LGBTQ community.
00:18:43.400 What does it mean to, you know, not necessarily agree 100% theologically and practically,
00:18:49.320 but to talk about our differences, to talk about our beliefs so that, you know, we can better,
00:18:54.400 we're better equipped to serve, you know, the LGBTQ community. And two, what does it look like for
00:19:00.600 the church to manifest the love and the truth of Jesus to this community? And, you know, I don't have
00:19:07.060 answers for that, right? As somebody who, you know, does identify as heterosexual and straight,
00:19:12.080 I don't necessarily empathize with what, you know, the community goes through on, you know,
00:19:19.440 a 100% basis, but I can rely on brothers and sisters who identify as LGBTQ and are non-affirming
00:19:26.980 or brothers and sisters who are affirming and ask them, like, what do you believe? Like,
00:19:31.820 how does this affect you? And really, how can we serve this community better?
00:19:35.640 Right. And I absolutely agree with you that the church traditionally has kind of failed in that
00:19:42.040 realm. And there's a lot of slack that we can pick up. And I think that you're doing a great job. So
00:19:46.460 thank you so much for that message. And thank you for joining me.
00:19:49.620 Thank you.
00:19:50.640 So I thought that that was an extremely, gosh, it was, well, it was a hard conversation because it was
00:19:57.900 hard for me to listen to this young woman who is obviously dealing with so much persecution,
00:20:07.420 so much discomfort, more than probably a lot of us have experienced. I don't know about your
00:20:12.840 college experience or just what your life has been like. I don't want to assume that you've never had
00:20:16.760 persecution. I personally have never been in the face of something like that, where I am sitting in
00:20:21.840 it, walking in it on a daily basis. That's a lot. And she is strong and she is confident in the midst
00:20:29.720 of that. And I'm telling you, I know that you guys know this, who are Christians, that does not come
00:20:35.100 from yourself. You cannot withstand that kind of hate, that kind of vitriol, that kind of absolute
00:20:43.360 nastiness, the maligning of your character when you know you've done nothing wrong, unless you have
00:20:49.880 Christ, there is something deeper that anchors you. She talks about staying grounded, being with a
00:20:57.100 Christlike community, people praying for you, staying in the word. And gosh, that's so true. You have to be
00:21:01.900 surrounded by truth. Every time in my own life or in my friend's life where I've seen people veer off of
00:21:09.000 the Christlike path or pursue something that they know is not Christlike, it's because they are lacking
00:21:15.240 those two things. They don't have people that are holding them accountable and praying for them,
00:21:18.940 and they're not reading the word. We don't veer towards truth. We don't veer towards strength.
00:21:23.800 We don't veer towards holiness and confidence in the way, you know, in the holiness and the
00:21:29.580 confidence that Isabella is portraying right now. We don't veer towards that. That is deliberate.
00:21:33.880 It's the power of the Holy Spirit. And I just commend her. I think it's amazing what she's doing.
00:21:39.880 If you are able to reach out to her, I don't know, via Facebook or however she's able to
00:21:44.980 get communication, encourage her, let her know that you're praying for her. We need more people
00:21:49.820 like Isabella. And I know it's hard. Whenever I speak on college campuses, I always, you know,
00:21:55.540 I tell people, yes, of course, it's good to just speak up for what you believe in. Of course,
00:22:01.220 it's good. Of course, it's good to be the person who brings the complaint about, you know, anti-Christian,
00:22:07.400 anti-conservative discrimination to the administration. But I always warn people, you know,
00:22:12.400 pick your battles. If you got to get into med school and that's the plan for your life and you got
00:22:16.540 to be a little bit quieter about your political and religious beliefs, then I'm not saying you
00:22:20.720 should deny what you believe. I'm not saying you should be scared. I'm not saying that you should
00:22:25.060 lie by any means, but you might have to pick your battles and be a little bit more gentle.
00:22:31.040 Of course, live your life in a way that is in accordance with Christ. But, you know, you might
00:22:37.120 not have, you might not be able to confront your teacher as, you know, loudly as you want to.
00:22:43.100 I say, pick, pick your battles and be wise about that. But the truth, the fact of the matter is,
00:22:48.600 is if we all set up the way that Isabella stands up, we were willing to sacrifice everything. We
00:22:54.800 talk about, you know, Nike says that Kaepernick sacrifices everything. No, not really. Isabella
00:23:00.640 did though. She sacrificed everything. Now, I mean, she's still going to school. She still has her
00:23:05.700 position in the students in it, but I'm sure all of that is pretty precarious right now because she
00:23:10.460 stood up for what she believes in. And it's really amazing. And it's so, it's like clockwork,
00:23:15.520 the leftist reaction to ideas that they don't like, particularly Christian ideas. They don't
00:23:21.680 realize they're the bigots. Like they don't realize that they're the hateful ones. They don't realize
00:23:26.520 they're the exclusive ones. At least Isabella stood up and said, I still love you. I still accept you.
00:23:31.660 I just don't agree with you. They say, I don't agree with you. And you're a horrible person who's
00:23:35.460 going to burn in hell. I don't know any Christ, Christ following Christian who says that to someone.
00:23:40.820 And yet these people who call us bigots and who call us the wrong ones, us, the immoral ones,
00:23:47.260 they, they are tolerant. They are inclusive. They're on the right side of history.
00:23:54.200 I mean, it really is so predictable at this point. It's a joke that intolerant, tolerant left.
00:24:00.320 And I think they kind of realized that too. I've noticed that they've dropped the whole tolerant
00:24:03.840 thing. And I'm just wondering when eventually they're just going to come out and say, look,
00:24:08.800 look, let's be honest here. If you don't agree with us, we're going to try to ruin your life.
00:24:14.100 Look, we don't really care about inclusion. We don't care about ideological diversity. We don't
00:24:19.020 care about religious diversity. We care that you ascribe to progressivism and nothing else.
00:24:23.620 And if you do not bow down at the altar of progressivism, at the altar of far leftism,
00:24:29.140 at the altar of moral relativism, then we will do whatever we can to take you down.
00:24:35.880 I wonder when they're just going to come out and say that instead of, you know, operating under the
00:24:41.800 auspices of, oh, we're loving, we're kind. We just want unity and peace. No, you don't.
00:24:48.700 No, you don't. Nothing could be further from the truth. You know who wants unity and peace?
00:24:54.000 Christians do. And that doesn't mean we're going to agree with everything that you do. That doesn't
00:24:59.000 mean that we like your lifestyle. We might call out the sin, but we're still going to love you and
00:25:03.980 serve you. And we're going to still show you the love of Christ because we know that that's what
00:25:07.880 Christ did for us when he died on the cross when we didn't deserve it. That while we were yet sinners,
00:25:12.080 Christ died for us. For a good person, someone might die, but for a bad person, no. But Christ did.
00:25:18.540 And we can emulate that kind of sacrifice and that kind of love to a fallen world. We're not going
00:25:24.280 to see that love and that acceptance from the other side. And we can talk about the irony and
00:25:29.080 the hypocrisy of that all we want to, but from a biblical perspective, we know that that's going
00:25:34.420 to happen. Honestly, we cannot expect them to love us in the same way that we love them.
00:25:41.560 And I love talking about the hypocrisy of it. I love calling them out for that.
00:25:45.200 But honestly, at the end of the day, there's somewhat peace, I guess. Now it's a little bit
00:25:51.840 troubling, but somewhat peace in knowing that God predicted this, that we always knew that this
00:25:56.600 was going to happen, that we are going to be seen as fools in the eyes of the world, that
00:26:01.860 they are going to be seen as wise, even though we listen to the things that they say. We look at
00:26:06.700 the things that we do and we say, wow, that is so backwards. How could someone think that way?
00:26:10.360 How could someone live that way? How could they be so far from the truth and think that they're
00:26:14.480 right? That's what happens when the eyes of your heart are darkened or when they're blinded.
00:26:19.540 That's what happens when you are lost. That's what happens when you don't have the wisdom of Christ.
00:26:24.260 Not always. There are people that are Christians who still have godly, I say in quotes, but godly
00:26:30.360 kind of biblical wisdom. They were raised that way, or they have a certain kind of ideology that
00:26:34.400 aligns with that. All truth is God's truth. So you can still believe in truth without actually
00:26:39.800 being a Christian. Now you can't believe in ultimate truth and you can't be ultimately
00:26:43.720 fulfilled. But of course, there are very wise people who don't call themselves Christians,
00:26:47.760 but everything that is true also aligns with the Bible, if that makes sense. I can explain that
00:26:52.320 better later. But we shouldn't be surprised. We were told that this is how it's going to be,
00:26:59.240 that this is what's going to happen. And what are we called to do in the midst of it? It's exactly
00:27:03.280 what we talked about on Tuesday. Stand up for truth and love your neighbor. And I actually think
00:27:07.600 that Isabella is a perfect example of those two things. And she challenged me. She challenged me
00:27:13.220 to not be ashamed, to not sugarcoat. Now you might be thinking, oh, you never sugarcoat what you say.
00:27:21.480 Well, yeah, in front of you guys, most of you guys agree with me. But gosh, I don't know if I was that
00:27:27.980 bold in college. And we'd all like to think that if we are faced with that kind of opposition that we
00:27:34.040 would stand up and be strong. But I don't know if that's true, especially if we're not prepared,
00:27:39.160 if we are not rooted in God's word. Thank God for people like Isabella. I pray that more of us are
00:27:44.320 like that, that we are bold, that we're not ashamed of the gospel, that we're not ashamed of
00:27:48.440 God's word. We will be justified in the end, probably not in this life. It's just going to get
00:27:54.060 harder. What we see is that people on the left, they operate under the guise of freedom and the guise
00:28:03.160 of acceptance and the guise of tolerance. But really what they mean is that they demand
00:28:08.320 everything. And the reason, here it is, guys, here it is. The reason why being a Christ following,
00:28:15.880 a true Christ following Christian and being a full-blown progressive in the brand that they are,
00:28:23.740 I'm not just talking about having some progressive views or believing in some progressive policies,
00:28:28.660 but being full-on, this is my identity, progressive, and being a Christ following
00:28:34.660 biblical Christian, you cannot be those at the same time because both demand everything.
00:28:41.620 Both demand that you deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow that way of life.
00:28:47.500 Both ask everything of you. Christ doesn't ask a little bit. He doesn't ask some of us. He asks for
00:28:53.480 all of us. He demands it. He takes all of us and he changes it and he uses it for his purpose. He
00:28:58.960 doesn't say, okay, give me this part of you and you can keep that part. He says, no, I take
00:29:03.540 everything. Full-blown progressivism does too. It says this is your new identity. This is who you are
00:29:10.840 now. You operate in a way that coincides with this or else you're wrong. The difference is full-blown
00:29:16.280 progressivism is wrong and it is hateful. Christianity is loving and kind and serves
00:29:24.640 and produces good and it sheds light. Full-blown progressivism does not. And you could say that
00:29:30.300 about all kinds of dark ideologies, not just full-blown progressivism, but both demand all of
00:29:35.200 you. That is why they cannot accept Isabella. Believing in Christina, she's not going to be able
00:29:42.260 to fully coincide and operate or cooperate with people who are like that. Now she's going to love
00:29:49.440 them. She's going to continue to reach out to them, but they will never. They will never fully
00:29:54.880 be able to get along unless one of those people, full-blown progressives, steps into the light and
00:30:01.100 says, you know what? You're right, which can absolutely happen. The Bible tells us that God's
00:30:06.260 kindness leads us to repentance, not God's wrath, though that exists, not God's judgment, though that exists,
00:30:11.440 but God's kindness leads us to repentance. And we, as the ambassadors of Christ, we show that
00:30:18.080 kindness that leads to repentance. And that's exactly what Isabella is doing. I'm proud of her.
00:30:22.580 Not that she needs me to be proud of her. I'm not that much older than her, but I'm proud of her.
00:30:26.280 And I'm proud of all of you guys who stand up in the face of all of that. If you have any stories
00:30:30.200 that are similar, please share them with me. I would love to hear them. I get a lot of encouragement
00:30:33.620 from you guys. Okay. One thought or one thing to finish this out. There's always so much I want
00:30:40.080 to talk about at the end and I don't have time, but this has nothing to do with what we were talking
00:30:45.020 about. I just want to just mention one thing and I'll go more into this possibly next week.
00:30:50.960 Michael Avenatti. Michael Avenatti. You remember? Creepy, creepy porn lawyer. That guy represented Stormy
00:30:57.800 Daniels. Yeah. Talking about running for president. He was on the believe all women train. Talked about
00:31:03.920 how he's such a defender of women. He's such a stand up, great guy. Well, he just got arrested
00:31:09.320 yesterday for domestic abuse against his ex-wife, man. And you know, the ironic thing, the further
00:31:16.560 ironic thing about this is that he also just accused completely, as far as I know, completely
00:31:22.580 baselessly accused Tucker Carlson of assaulting someone in a bar. And he showed the video and it
00:31:29.860 didn't show that. So it's just so rich. It's just so rich. Michael Avenatti is really, you know,
00:31:37.340 I pray that he comes to know Christ. I really do. He needs Jesus in his life. But as of right now,
00:31:43.360 just as all of us are apart from Christ, he's the scum of the earth. He is the scum of the earth.
00:31:48.080 God can save Michael Avenatti. He can do anything. And we know that he can. So let's pray for that.
00:31:54.700 Let's pray for his poor wife. But I just wanted to update y'all on that. The irony of all of this
00:31:59.600 continues. Those people who say believe all women, they never really mean it when those people
00:32:03.260 or when those women don't agree with them. I just wanted to leave you on that note. Okay,
00:32:08.440 guys, I'll see you next week.
00:32:18.080 Thank you.