Police Officer Jacob Kersey ｜ Christian Marriage UNDER ARREST
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
173.41876
Summary
On this episode of The John Henry Weston Show, we speak with Georgia Police Officer Jacob Kersey, who is facing the possibility of losing his job because of a controversial social media post he made about same-sex attraction.
Transcript
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people who have same-sex attraction, do you hate them?
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I disagree completely with the idea that just because you disagree with someone means you hate them.
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That is not true. That's not American whatsoever.
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Imagine being a young man and getting your dream job.
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And since you're a Christian, you happen on your own time outside of work to stand up for traditional marriage.
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On your own Facebook page. Nothing to do with your work.
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But then being called in and told, well, no problem.
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You got your dream job here. You take it down and promise to never say that again.
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There's a young man, a young police officer by the name of Jacob Kersey,
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And we've got him right here on this episode of The John Henry Weston Show.
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Let's begin, as we always do, with the sign of the cross.
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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
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And I really believe that a lot of people have been looking forward to hearing from you directly.
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If you could, for those especially who don't know your story yet, tell us what happened.
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So January 2nd of this year, very beginning of the year, I made a Facebook post while I was off duty,
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in which I expressed my deeply held religious belief in God's design for marriage.
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That's why there's no such thing as homosexual marriage.
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The following day, I was also off that day, but I received a call from my supervisor on January 3rd,
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telling me that someone had complained, and that failure to do so could result in my termination.
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I respectfully told him I could not do that, as it violated my religious beliefs,
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and asked him what other steps maybe could be taken to resolve this complaint.
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He told me to contact my lieutenant, and I spoke with my higher-up commands.
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They assured me that we're all Christians here.
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However, you know, offensive Christian beliefs, such as what I had stated,
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is a liability to the department, and they don't want to deal with the paperwork.
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My major called me shortly thereafter, telling me to turn in everything that belongs to the city
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What that means to any law enforcement officer, especially if they're listening right now,
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That's what it means when you turn in everything.
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So I wrestled with that belief all night long, knowing that I had just worked so hard for months
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and months and months to get this job, and now, just like that, it was all gone due to my belief
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I have a meeting with my command staff after turning in everything, in which they informed me,
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finally, that I was actually not fired, that I was being placed on administrative leave,
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and that they were going to conduct an investigation.
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This was the first time I found out that I was not actually fired.
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So for a week, I'm on paid administrative leave while the city investigates.
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I was told that they had found no wrongdoing, that I had violated no department policy, no
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Or in other words, we're not going to tolerate you being outspoken, even off duty, on your own
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We're not going to tolerate you being outspoken about your Christian beliefs.
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They informed me in this meeting that, you know, just be mindful.
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We can fire you at any time for any reason, because you're in your work test period, which
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is not a very good thing to say to someone who's coming right off of administrative leave.
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My command staff wanted me to sign a letter of notification.
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In other words, they wanted me to agree to abide by what we had talked about in the meeting,
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that as long as I didn't share any of my offensive, off-duty Christian beliefs, that, you know,
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You can resign now, or come back, and we're going to fire you if you don't agree to this.
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And so under tremendous pressure, I resigned on January 17th of this year.
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It's unbelievable, because basically they told you, absolutely, you can still be a police
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officer, as long as you don't share your Christian beliefs.
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So I know it's on your own time, doesn't matter, but you just can't do that.
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If you don't do that, well, come on, you got a job with us.
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Yes, in a small town police department right outside Savannah, Georgia, called Port Wentworth.
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Putting Jacob to that choice, how you described the choice between censoring his private religious
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speech and keeping his job is an unconstitutional choice.
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So the department violated Jacob's First Amendment rights, both his right to the free exercise of
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religion and his free speech rights when they forced him to make this unconstitutional
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What has First Liberty been doing about this case right now?
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And what's your vision of where it is at right now?
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Right now, we've sent a demand letter to the city and to the Port Wentworth Police Department,
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The first being an apology to Jacob for blatantly violating his First Amendment rights, as I just
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And the letter also asks the city to respect moving forward to implement policies or revise
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their existing policies to respect the religious liberty rights and also just the constitutional
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And so we're hopeful that the city will take the appropriate steps to making these necessary
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That still, though, would leave Jacob without his employee, which was unlawfully taken from
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Is there some kind of redress to that, his monetary loss, loss of job?
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We're trusting God's guidance and Jacob, especially, is trusting his guidance on what we want to do as far as
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We're just trusting the Lord and hopeful that he will guide us in the right direction as far as
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Take us a little bit back from how you got there.
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And you had mentioned to me this sounded like your first employee that you had spent a long
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Tell us a little bit about that background first.
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Law enforcement was involved in my life at a very young age due to a custody battle.
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And so I encountered law enforcement officers a lot during that custody battle.
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When I turned 16, I became a Savannah Police Explorer, which is a program in which if you're
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an upper high school student, you can get involved with law enforcement.
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Just kind of you come to meetings every once in a while.
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You meet and you just you learn a little bit about law enforcement.
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So this is something I've been wanting to do a long time.
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When I turned 19 years old, I had joined the Portland Police Department.
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They told me that they would pay to put me through the local police academy, which they did.
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May of 2022 is a year ago, almost a year ago from when we're recording this.
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They sent me to the police academy during the summer.
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And then I had completed my FTO program by the end of December.
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In fact, in this meeting, my command staff had expressed to me in the meeting what they
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They had nothing but good things to say about me.
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Even my training sergeants, lieutenants all had great feedback about the work I was doing.
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And I was very grateful to God for giving me the opportunity to do this, for giving me
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And we need good quality candidates to be law enforcement.
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Even in Savannah, I've heard they've had, in the Savannah area, they've had a tough time
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And so shortly after I had passed my FTO program, I was a solo officer now, new to my
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shift, getting along great with everybody, is when this incident took place.
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Just as soon as my career started, I walked out the door.
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And I trust that even where we're at now, he's used this story to bring himself glory
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And really, what we're trying to do with First Liberty is just to ensure that this doesn't
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happen to another law enforcement officer ever again.
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I've learned from great police officers, even from those from other police departments.
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These are brave men and women who go day in and day out, put their lives on the line to
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And they deserve to have their rights protected.
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But I think the world sees this as, okay, it must have been something hateful.
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What's your take as a Christian on dealing with people who have same-sex attraction?
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Well, we live in a time where words have been redefined, terms have been redefined, especially
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when it comes to what it means to love someone and hate someone.
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I disagree completely with the idea that just because you disagree with someone means you
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Part of being an American is we're unified in the fact that, you know, as Americans, we
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And so just because I disagree with someone doesn't mean I hate them.
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But when it comes to loving my neighbor, you know, a lot of people have tried to throw
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scripture at me, you know, and said, well, doesn't scripture teach you to love?
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Well, number one, I'll point out that judging, if you say don't judge, that in and of itself
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Even as police officers, you have to judge, especially if you're doing speed detection.
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Was it that car or was it that car that was going fast?
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But when it comes to loving your neighbor, loving means telling them the truth.
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You know, ultimately, as a Christian, you don't want to affirm someone in sin that's
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As Christians, we point out even our sin, we point out the truth of our sin, of our fallen
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nature, of our fallen condition, where we're at.
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And we point out that, hey, there's a savior that loves you so much that he died on the cross
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And God, the judge, and his justice had a right to demand justice, to pour out his wrath.
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And because he loved you so much, he poured out that wrath on his son so that he could bring
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When you come into his presence, he's going to make you new.
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He's going to make you a new creation, a new person.
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And so loving people means telling them that when you come to Christ, you can come as you
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are, but in no way will you stay as you are when you stand before a holy God.
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So as a law enforcement officer, responding to calls, I seen the brokenness.
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My job in that moment was not to try to convert people to my beliefs, but it was just to practically
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look at everybody as being created in the image of God, loving people, and putting my
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life on the line, just as Jesus Christ did for us.
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It means going out of your way to put your life on the line for other people, to tell
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And, you know, I don't see how disagreeing with someone means that you automatically hate
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Um, in fact, sometimes disagreeing and pointing out that disagreement can be a great way to
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00:14:56.380
Courtney, what is the law about on this question?
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I mean, are Americans now, is there something changed in the law in America that no longer
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allows people to voice their own religious beliefs on their own time outside of their
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Because that's certainly what it seems like, not only in Jacob's case, we've seen the sort
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The law has definitely not changed to that point to answer your question.
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And the law protects employees like Jacob and all employees to respectfully share their
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beliefs and disagreements, different perspectives.
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Like Jacob was saying, the law protects that and certainly also protects religious perspectives
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And I think the disconnect comes from not understanding that censoring religious perspectives is in
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Like Jacob was saying, everyone benefits when employees and just people are able to share
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And so censoring one viewpoint, the religious viewpoint in this instance, is discriminatory and it is
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Jacob, one of the things that a lot of people are going to wonder about, you are a young man.
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You were into your dream career, just finished, just gotten in, and you were forced to either give up your
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faith, basically the public profession of your faith, which is your faith, or resign from this dream job that
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The apostles are brought before the religious leaders and they are flogged for their faith, for preaching in the
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And they're sent out and told, never preach in his name ever again.
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These were men who had lives, livelihoods, family before they met Christ.
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And then after they, once they met Christ and they encountered him, their lives completely changed.
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Now they're going all over telling people who he is.
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Never before were they subjected to something like this.
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And here they are being beaten for their faith and they walk out rejoicing.
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There have been nights where, just to be honest, there have been tears rolling down my face.
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But then in a moment, the sense of rejoicing comes.
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And as these tears come down my face, I can smile and rejoice, thanking God for the opportunity.
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Just as the apostles did, saying, you know, they rejoiced because, Scripture says, they were counted worthy for suffering for his name.
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Whatever it is, whatever I can lose for the sake of Christ, I can be counted worthy of suffering for the name of the one who took my place.
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What an opportunity to show the world how precious he is to me.
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As much as I love law enforcement, honestly, when you become a police officer, if you really love the job, that becomes your identity.
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Even when you're off duty, you want to talk about the things you did at work.
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When you meet another police officer, you just talk about body cam footage.
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But what supersedes that identity, what trumps over it, that identity is my identity in Christ Jesus.
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When I can be counted worthy for suffering for his name, no matter if there's tears streaming down my face, I believe with the Holy Spirit we can smile and rejoice knowing that we are counted worthy of suffering for the name of the one who took our place.
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Many people might say, oh, he's not suffering for Jesus himself.
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I would remind everyone, Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life.
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And what you stood up for was the truth, his truth.
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Uncomfortable today for sure, because the scriptures tell us in the end there will come people with itching ears who won't want to hear the truth of the gospel.
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But St. Paul tells Timothy, I charge you before God that you should preach the truth in season and out of season.
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You're doing that for love, for love, for Jesus, yes, but also for your brothers who are harming themselves.
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Like I mentioned earlier, we had sent a demand letter to the city and we are hopeful that they will work with us to ensure that their policies adequately protect the constitutional rights of their employees.
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And beyond that, as far as staying active in the case and certainly following Jacob's story, you can always watch at firstliberty.org.
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We have our case updates on that page and you can follow what we're doing in Jacob's case through that website.
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What is your advice for young men in this culture and just young people generally in this culture?
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If I stand up for my faith, I'm just going to be crucified like that.
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Because even though you say you didn't come to blows or to death or to whatever, like the apostles did.
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That's why Jesus promised to send a comforter, to send the Holy Spirit to empower you.
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You're listening right now and you say, I don't know if I can do that.
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I don't know if I can give up things that I really love and cherish that I've worked so hard for.
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Well, the reality is you can't, not on your own.
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It takes the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit working through you.
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So, abide in Christ, abide in his word, abide in prayer, continue in prayer, be watchful.
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And trust that he's going to bring about the opportunities for you to stand, for you to be salt and light.
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You know, salt is not effective in the salt shaker.
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So, as you abide in Christ, trust in him, he's going to present those opportunities for you to stand.
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It might be something where you stand in a big way and you give up something big for God, or it might be in small ways.
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But trust in him, abide in him, check your motives, ensure that everything that you do is first born out of love for God,
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a passion for the supremacy of Jesus Christ in all things.
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And secondly, after that relationship is right, then out of a love for the souls of mankind, out of a love for those people around you.
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Trust him, knowing that you can only do all this through favorite songs by City of Light is called,
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If that's your prayer, that's how you can take a bold stand in love for Christ Jesus.
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From St. Paul, I live no longer, not I, but Christ lives in me.
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Many people are going to be wondering, what have you been doing since January?
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I've been traveling, doing a lot of interviews, a lot of media coverage, just sharing this story,
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trying to encourage people to stand for their faith, but also just to get the word out there,
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You know, when this first happened to me, I realized, I'm like, this happened in Georgia,
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You know, sometimes you expect to hear stories like this out of California or New York,
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and it shouldn't be happening there, because that's also the United States of America.
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But you kind of get numb when you hear it coming from California or New York.
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You're just like, oh, yeah, that's typical California, New York.
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But out of Georgia, out of a small town, that was shocking to me.
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So we've been sharing this story, but just spending a lot of time plugging it in to my
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church community and to reading, to education, to educating myself.
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And God's been doing a lot of powerful things in my life, and I'm just grateful for the
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way that already we're about halfway through this year, the way that I've grown in him.
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And I'm just really excited to see what he has in store for the rest of this year and beyond.
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I know if I was your dad, I'd be incredibly proud.
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I don't know if you can, but can you share your parents' reaction?
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I grew up in a broken home, for the most part, raised by my grandparents growing up.
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And for the most part, they were shocked, just like me.
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In fact, I remember when I first got the phone call, I walked, and I went to tell my
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grandmother, and I told her, I think I lost my job.
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And she looked at me like she couldn't hear me and asked me to repeat myself.
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And I told her, and they've just been in complete shock.
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But they've been super grateful at the outpouring of support at the organizations, especially
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First Liberty, just being willing to stand with me in this.
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And praise God that there are people out there who stand with us.
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And I know there are probably other families just like mine who have been completely shocked
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or blindsided or will be at what's happening in this country.
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Just know that there are organizations out there, just like First Liberty, who every single
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But the most important of our liberties here in the United States, and that is, as they say,
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the very first one that we had, religious liberty.
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How are you making do for yourself job-wise or how are you surviving?
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The local radio station we have around here, he came on at nine in the evening.
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My family, we're not night owls, we're early birds.
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You know, I learned that saving is very important.
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And so praise God that I learned to save money.
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And, you know, if you learn to save and learn how to spend it, it can last you a little bit
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I've been able to do some side jobs here and there, whether it's washing a car or whatever,
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But, you know, praise God for those opportunities as well.
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No American should be forced out of their job for their religious beliefs.
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And really a portion of the message that we want to, you know, spread is that this is
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violative of the Constitution and state and federal civil rights laws.
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And so employers just simply can't censor religious perspectives in this way.
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Thank you for standing for the truth of Jesus Christ in this time that's just where there's
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so much rebellion and you've shown an amazing example of both the courage, the willingness
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to stand for Christ, and even rejoicing in being able to suffer for standing for his truth.
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