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Aug 23, 2024 · 49 minutes

Guest Host, Alex McFarland, is joined by Pastor Paul Blair of Liberty Church in Orlando and Troy Miller, President & CEO of National Religious Broadcasters

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Guest Host, Alex McFarland, is joined by Pastor Paul Blair of Liberty Church in Orlando and Troy Miller, President & CEO of National Religious Broadcasters To donate call : 877-616-2396

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7,486 words, in two-minute parts. Made by machine, so a few words may be off.

0:0048:48

  1. 0:00

    Darkness is not an affirmative force. It simply reoccupies the space vacated by the light. This is the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio. It should be uncomfortable for a believer to live as a hypocrite. Delivery people out of the bondage of mainstream media. And the philosophies of this world. God has called you and me to be his ambassador. Even in this dark moment. Let's not miss our moment. and now, the Hamilton Corner. What should be the role of the pastor, the pulpit, and the church when it comes to politics and the culture? Hi, Alex McFarland here. Very honored that you're listening. You are listening to the American Family Radio Network, and I'm honored to be sitting in for Attorney, Pastor, and journalist Abe Hamilton III. I have the privilege of being the frequent guest host here on the Hamilton Corner, and We have a lot of guests and great opinion makers and leaders of our day and we've got just such a person with us right now. When it comes to the issue of the pastorate and the pulpit, should ministers speak about moral social political issues to their congregants? I was just on a show with Fox News and I was debating a more left-leaning pastor who was really reprimanding me as a Christian and as a minister speaking about political issues. But I can think of no better voice to solicit their opinion on this than Pastor Paul Blair. He is the longtime pastor of Fairview Baptist Church in Oklahoma. He's been a leader, an author, and a voice, I would say, from moral and spiritual truth in our culture for many years. And to really way in on this question about should Christians and even ministers insert themselves into the political discourse, Pastor Paul Blair is our guest right now. Pastor Blair, thank you for being with us and I would say even more importantly, thank you for what you do for our country. Well, Alex, it's always enjoyed here from you and it's my privilege to be on with you today. I mean, I'm happy to have this conversation because it's not even a complicated question to be honest with you.

  2. 2:19

    Yeah. You and I are both ministers. I have been a pastor. You are a pastor. And I know our first most primary call is to the Lord Jesus in his word. But you and I both, we speak and write and make our voice heard about political issues. Some say that's not only inappropriate, it's a bad thing. What do you say to the person that asks why you as a pastor care about politics? Well this is the question. Of course Alex, we have done 20 in what we call Liberty Pastors Training Camps and we have trained over 2,000 pastors across America because quite frankly we have been taught wrong and we start with this question with pastors. We say, what part of your life is Jesus not the Lord over? And all of us know instinctively, and all of us answer out of habit, Jesus is Lord of all. Well, yes, he is. So where in the world did we get this idea that we are supposed to compartmentalize our lives and that certain subjects are not allowed to be talked about in church? The reality is, as pastors, we are commissioned to make disciples. And when we look back at the history of Christianity, the reality is we have to recognize that Christianity was birthed out of Judaism. And we had a very Jewish worldview. And of course, to the Jew, there was no distinction between the material world and the spiritual world. God created it all. And as the apostle Paul said, we're supposed to glorify God in all that we do. However, after the death of John the beloved, who was the last living apostle, and as we got into that next century, and as the Gentile Greek culture began, of course the church was predominantly Gentile, rather than Jewish, as we had been for much of the first 100 years, well, the Greek thinking, platonic thought, of Gnostic thought entered into Christianity.

  3. 4:28

    The idea of compartmentalizing your life in the material world and the spiritual world and of course that has infiltrated and affected christianity even today the idea that we are to compartmentalize our lives in the certain things that we can talk about in church and certain things we can talk about in church well that's nonsense you know the bible talks about everything from economics to sexuality to family government to church government to civil government so as a as a Apologists, you know, of course we look to Scripture, we look to the facts for the basis of our faith. The fact of the empty tomb is the reason that I'm a Christian. But likewise, as a Christ follower, I want to look to the Word of God for instruction on how I should live my life in every area of life. So the reality is there's nothing off limits. And pastors should be making 24-7 disciples, not just Sunday morning disciples. and how we handle money should be different. Our home lives should look different. How we raise our children should be different. Our sexual proclivity should be different. And how we engage the world of civil government should be different. And as you look through the Bible and you go all the way back into ancient Israel, obviously the intention of civil government was to punish evil and to protect the good that we may live peaceably in all godliness. That was always the intention. And even in the days of King David and King Solomon, everything, the government justice was supposed to be blind. No favoritism to the rich or to the poor. No conviction without two or three witnesses. I mean, the purpose and intention of civil government from a biblical worldview is well thought through and well taught in the scripture. And quite frankly, we have just been the beneficiaries of enjoying the blessings of liberty in America.

  4. 6:30

    So these last hundred, hundred and fifty years, we have gotten more and more lazy when it comes to this area. But you go and look at the foundation. Yeah, go ahead with that. You were talking about the really the kind of sacred secular divide that Greek philosophy brought in. Maybe in church on Sunday, that's my sacred space, but Monday through Saturday, I live in the secular world. We know that's false. Do you think here in America, and look, I love America, I love the church, but have we been taught a less than complete gospel? This idea that we pray a prayer, and then the rest of our life we just live, like we wanna live, I mean, Jesus is to be Lord of all. I think about in Matthew 28, 20, the Great Commission where he says, teaching them to observe all things, what sort of off-command. A more robust, more fully-orbed gospel shouldn't it tell us that we are his representatives in the fight of light over darkness here in this fallen world. The complete gospel really should engage our whole life for the cause of truth and ultimately the cause of the gospel. doubt Alex and as we look at it, Colossians tells us that we are created by him and for him. Revelation 4 tells us that we are created by him and for his glory. The reality is the church in America think that God was created to serve us. And I too am concerned with what you said. We have no holiness in the Christian life anymore. And you look back at the followers of the Most High God, from Genesis all the way through revelation. Holiness was supposed to be something that permeated our lives and certainly was demonstrated in every facet of our life.

  5. 8:31

    And I'm with you. Salvation truly is just a heart-scry away. It truly is just as the thief on the cross cried out and said, Lord, remember me when you enter into your kingdom. However, I think we've systematized it and made it so simple in America that we think all we have to do is pray that quote unquote Sinners prayer and we're going to heaven well I got to tell you if someone has no evidence of growth in them if there's no Lordship of Jesus in their life if there's no no evidence that they are followers of Christ But I doubt very seriously they are in fact followers of Christ So I think that that is an error that we have made in the American church. We have systematized what it means to be sold out for Jesus. When Jesus said, be willing to lose your own life for mine, or you're willing to deny your own parents even for the sake of me. We've made it so simple. You just pray the center's prayer, and then you can live life how you want to. Don't have to worry about it, because once they've always saved. say. Well the reality is that once you come face to face with the resurrected glorified Christ just like the Apostle Paul, just like Thomas, it's going to transform your life. And if you are a follower of Jesus, there should be evidence that you are a follower of Jesus. Amen. Pastor Paul, you played professional football and America right now. I mean we're just weeks away from the 2024 election. Compare this to a football game. Final moments of the fourth quarter, third or fourth down. I mean if the football game championship analogy were applied to America, describe that for for us. Could you? Well, I played in several games. I played a game in Gator Bowl against South Carolina in college in 1984 and then played a division championship game against Minnesota in 1987. Both times we had to drive the field and win the game on the last series as time was running out. And I would say that's where we're at right now. I mean, we have been behind because we've become well, when there's no holiness, there's no fear of God in America anymore. We've got 350,000 churches, but the churches have no impact on the culture. We have a lot of Sunday morning Christians. And frankly, we are about to lose what we have enjoyed for these last 248 years. And you know, Alex, think about it, we're the only Christians in history that haven't been persecuted because of our faith. And the fact is that goes back to the influence of the pilgrims and and the role that Christianity played in the formation of what were originally the colonies that became the states.

  6. 11:29

    But I would say there's about a minute left on the clock and we're behind by six, and we are driving the football right now and we're at about midfield. And we have a chance to save the country. We have a chance to score a touchdown and save the country. And understand that Donald Trump is not the permanent answer. Donald Trump will just be a stay against communism. He will be a temporary reprieve from where we are currently heading. But if the church doesn't awaken, if we don't have a genuine fire from heaven, Spirit-filled revival where Christians fear God once again. And then we impact the culture around us. Unless we see that kind of revival, we're gonna lose the country. As John Adams said as our first president, he said, our Constitution, we're different from others. Our Constitution is made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other. And I would say to you, Alex, we are neither moral nor are we religious. So why we think our Constitution can hold even now should be with great question and great concern for all of us. but it's not too late. God always does his greatest work when the Hebrews are backed up against the Red Sea. That's when God shows up. We've got a chance right now. We've got a chance right now. So hopefully the church will awaken, vote right, and then start acting right. Amen. Amen. For those just tuning in, we're talking with Pastor Paul K. Blair, who was named Oklahoma Pastor of the Year, not too many years ago. And he's the founder and leader of the Liberty Pastors Network. there's also Liberty Church in Florida. Hey, I've got a lot to ask you, but give us website or websites where where can people find you online, Pastor Paul? We invite people to go to LibertyNetwork.live. If you go to LibertyNetwork.live, you've got access there to our church in Edmonton, to our church in Orlando, and then also our Liberty Pastures training camp. In fact, we've got Liberty Pastors University. We've got free education there for anyone that wants to go through what we teach pastors. As we teach pastors to think biblically about the realm of civil government and what the Bible has to say about economics, that's there free online for anybody to go through that certificate training. So we invite them to visit the website libertynetwork.live and have access to all that information.

  7. 14:11

    We've got a brief break. Alex McFarland here, you're listening to the American Family Radio Network. I would also refer people on my own website, AlexMcFarland.com. We're just coming off seven summer youth camps, 1,200 teenagers, and we have written a first time voters guide for a lot of teens, college kids that are reaching voting age, AlexMcFarland.com. If you haven't voted in a while, I would urge you to read it as well. Stay tuned. and more with Pastor Paul Blair after this on the American Family Radio Network. Deuteronomy 6 verses 4 through 8 direct us to display scripture in our homes and other places. It says you should decorate with the Word of God and that you are to fill your hearts and minds with these words. There's no greater cause than for those of us who know Christ to share Him and God's Word. God's Word. Get the full article, God's Word on Display by Joseph Parker on thestand.net and join the movement to put God's Word on Display at 10laws.us. Shiting Light into the Darkness, this is the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio. Welcome back to the program, Alex McFarland. So honored to be with you and always just a privilege to be speaking with Pastor Paul Blair. is one of these guys that you want to listen to everything he has to say. By the way, he is an author. He wrote, not blind faith, the verifiable evidence that God exists and Jesus rose from the dead. And also where the church went wrong that speaks about the compartmentalization of the Christian faith. And Paul, thank you for being with us on the program. More importantly, thank you for what you're doing for our country. You know, just an hour ago before you and I were on the radio, I was talking with a pastor from Minnesota who basically would stand against about 99% of everything you and I would stand for. Now, George Barna says there are like 500,000 ordained ministers in America. Over the last 25 years, here's my question. You call it liberal work whatever have the clergy hurt america over the last quarter century uh... i mean have all these pastors really almost been a net negative paul i would say absolutely i mean we've we've gone into the secret chintz church movement uh... we've gone into the mega church movement and you know clap if you look at the united states you know i survey of the united states back in two thousand and we had over eighty percent of the respondents that would identify as being christian now whether they were not we don't know however over eighty percent identified as being christian they you go back even further in seventeen seventy six uh... for christian but no me who was a professor at new york university that did research on the influence of the clergy during the war for independence uh... her research so that at the time of our declaration ninety eight percent of the colonists were protestant not just christian but identified as protestant christian so in seventeen seventy six we were ninety eight percent by the way the other two percent were you or catholic so we were one hundred percent judo christian uh... you you go almost almost two hundred years to uh... to well actually you get you go but you know i look over two hundred years to two thousand and we still had over eighty percent that identified as christian and now we have plummeted and these last uh... twenty years to where we now are only about sixty three percent uh... that identify as christian and and quite frankly i think that's because of the we are willing to sacrifice anything for nickels and noses and numbers we just want people in seats uh... and we have you know skinny jeans and fog machines and we we no longer Make disciples we no longer preach the gospel. We're more of a self-help therapeutic weekly 20-minute exercise rather than falling in love with Jesus recognizing the facts of our faith and Then making disciples making followers of Jesus. You know that's what's so interesting when you go back and you look at the the Jewish culture, the idea of following your rabbi.

  8. 19:08

    You didn't just enroll in seminary or enroll in the Bible college, you would follow your rabbi. I mean, you'd find your teacher and you would literally pick up and follow him. In fact, there was an old saying that you can tell the maturity of a student by evaluating the amount of dust he had picked up on his clothing from following his rabbi so closely. So the idea when Jesus told the 12 to follow him, that's the idea. And as Christians, when we identify as being Christian, we know that that word was first of pejorajim that had been labeled as Christians were labeled as followers of Christ. Well, that's what we are and we wear that proudly. And as we said in the first segment, sadly in America, we have redefined Christianity in the praying of magic prayer that doesn't do anything to a person, doesn't transform a life. And then we make great Sunday morning Christians. Boy, we are phenomenal for an hour. We can love my neighbor and do all that for an hour. But we don't teach people, we don't make disciples anymore. And the reality is we should be 24-7 Christ followers. Everything we should do should bring glory to God. What were your thoughts, Pastor Paul, the opening ceremonies of the Olympics that was, I mean, clearly, even the Olympic organizers admitted that it was a parody, a mockery of Jesus Christ, the Apostles, the Last Supper, and it was carried out in an unspeakably blasphemous way. What was your reaction to that? Well, Alex, I personally believe, you know, as contologenically, I think we're in the fourth quarter you know course whether jesus is that she comes to tonight or whether the rapture comes in twenty five years i mean i can't discern that but you'll call told him at the but people would uh... would reject sound doctrine is times through more perilous and i think we are certainly seeing that uh... and and sadly you know there's been persecution of christians throughout history and there's been persecution of christians around the world even today you know you go to afghanistan or you go to around or you go to china and as a christian in two thousand twenty four year in a face persecution but we in america we've enjoyed we've been enjoyed the exception uh... to the rule and the reality is uh... if our of our popular star christian pop this our passes with just recognize that you know for six thousand years the the dominant form the default form of civil government has been tyranny we have a strong man ruling over subjects but for the last two hundred forty eight years we have enjoyed the exception where we have citizens being served by public servants who are there to secure their unable god given rights you know there's a tremendous contrast between being ruled as a subject and being served at a citizen but when you look back to the foundation of america you look back at the pilgrim forefathers that landed in Plymouth.

  9. 22:20

    All of Massachusetts was settled by Puritans. The term election came from the Biblical foundation. Once a year, these members of a particular community would elect their governor, and they would vote for the most godly representative, hence the elect that they can entrust to serve them over the next year. you know and and not being part of the Anglican Church having come out of the Anglican Church When then being a top-down rule, you know those local congregations constituted their own churches and elected their own church government so that was that model in mass It was a representative government in the church that became our form of government in America I've got to ask you this and forgive me for interjecting but time fleets away Okay. How are you encouraging your parishioners to pray, be informed, influence others regarding this election coming up less than a hundred days away? How are you as a citizen minister, your churches advising people to approach this upcoming election? Well, of course, our people are certainly well informed. But, you know, we have been on top of this. Alex, what we've seen over the last three years and hopefully people are now aware of it. You know, the whole COVID thing was something that was planned. As a matter of fact, if your audience would look up event 201 online, you can find that the Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the World Economic Forum actually had a meeting at the Pier Hotel in New York to discuss what their global response should be if a bats to human novel coronavirus and sweep the world. and coincidentally a month later the first case of one was announced in Wuhan. So recognize that this whole thing was orchestrated to get people to through fear and wanting to save their lives, be willing to give away their liberty. And the whole push has been basically a return to Babel.

  10. 24:27

    You know, they're pushing for global governance. And I would invite people to check out the world economic forum and see what they're all about. So many in our own deep state inside the Beltway have sold out. I mean, whether they've been bribed or blackmailed or whatever. So, but Donald Trump did not. I mean, regardless of what you say about him, I've got videos of Trump at the United Nations and at the World Economic Forum, both rejecting their invitation and saying the future doesn't rest in hands and globalists, it rests in the hands of patriots. So there's a reason that Trump had to be removed. So as far as me, he is not a perfect man, but he is easily the only choice that I can make in this upcoming vote in 2024. He will be a temporary reprieve while we get our act together. Yeah. Yeah. And you mentioned that event to a one pandemic exercise. This was October 18th of 2019. And I will remember, we don't have time to discuss it now, but I remember February, March of 2020, how just within about two to three weeks, the world went from barely knowing the word quarantine to a global shutdown police state. It was frightening. Paul Blair, we got to pull away right now, but I appreciate you and one more time, give your website. LibertyNetwork.live. All that information is there. Reach out to us. If you have a question, we'd be happy to help in any way. And Alex, my friend, thank you for having me on. It's always a joy. God bless you. Thank you, Paul Blair. Well, this is the American Family Radio Network, Alex McFarland here. And going to change gears, very, very honored. Somebody I've wanted to have on for a long time, Troy Miller. He is the president of NRB, the National Religious broadcasters, which is an organization of which I am a member. American Family Association is a member as well. It's really the largest gathering of Christian communicators and member organizations that daily speak into the lives of millions of listeners. And Troy Miller is also the CEO of NRB Television, which you can find on cable and television systems no matter where you live in RBTV. Great, great programming. But so much I would love to converse with him about. I want to get right to it. NRB President Troy Miller, thank you for holding and welcome to the American Family Radio Network. Thanks Alex for having me today. It's great to be with you. Dido, I know you're a busy man.

  11. 27:09

    Before we get too much into some conversation, I've got to ask, where have Have you been, what have the last few weeks, when I look up Troy Miller, you may be in Israel, you may be somewhere in the world, tell us what you've been up to in the most recent days? Well, but I'm not traveling around the world. I'm usually on the phone with somebody around the world. But yeah, I was in Israel back in May. We did a solidarity trip to Israel in a fact finding mission. We had a number of meetings with both government officials and non-government entities and religious leaders across the country. Just to really communicate and show our support for Israel and let them know that the church here is praying for the peace of Jerusalem and peace across Israel and praying for the Jewish people. So that was a great trip, a great visit. We've been working a lot, of course, this summer. There's quite a few things going into through Congress on legislation and rural changes that will affect Christian broadcasters and Christian communicators and people who produce programming for television and radio. Those are a couple of things that have been really high on our list. And then we're just working with a lot of churches right now on various issues that are going on throughout the country. And of course, as you know, we have a major tropical storm hurricane came across Florida and now going up the East Coast. And so we're reminding people of how important during times like this AM radio is, as well as the local church, the people that really are the first responders to help provide help and aid in those kinds of natural disasters. Were you there when Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a joint session of Congress about, well, now about two and a half weeks ago? Were you there, Troy? No, I was not actually in BC that week. I was traveling elsewhere, but I did watch his address and communicated with several people in the office there.

  12. 29:17

    And I thought he did a fabulous job of really articulating the issues that were at hand that facing Israel and particularly also the issues with the U.S. and Israeli relationships? Yeah, what Well said. You know, I guess over the last 20 years I've been to the NRB annual meeting probably 17 or 18 times, National Religious Broadcasters. It's always, I mean, hands down the most well organized, most excellent conference of any that I have the privilege of attending, but for those that may be unaware of the toy, tell us what is NRB? NRB, the National Religious Broadcasters Association, has been around now. We just celebrated 80 years. NRB was started back in 1944 when radio became this new medium for people to communicate and get messaging out on, and pastors wanted to be on radio. There was a group that wanted to control, not unlike today, who gives a chance to be on those airwaves. And NRV was formed to make sure that the public airwaves and public communication was open to all of those who is God's call to proclaim the gospel or to do work of the church. And so for 80 years, that's the core of what NRV has done. We advocate for Christian broadcasters, Christian communicators and for today. That means podcasters and bloggers, filmmakers, publishers, anybody who's out there, churches are doing that. And then as you talked about that, we have an annual conference. The NRB conference is held annually. We'll be in Dallas, Texas area next year, February 24th through the 27th. It's the largest gathering of Christian communicators, people that work in and are called to ministry in the Christian media arena. And we'll get together. We'll hear some great speakers.

  13. 31:17

    We'll talk about the key topics that are facing communicators. And the church today, we'll talk about new technologies. We'll pray for one another. There's quite a bit of iron sharpening iron there. And really help to educate and encourage people who God has called to be the proclamations of the proclaimers of the gospel throughout the airwaves today. And look, today we have the internet. People are consuming more media than ever. So it's just more important than ever that people get involved in this kind of communication and don't give this up to the enemy. Sure. Hey, can you hold on to another segment? Can you stay through the break there, Troy? Oh, yeah, absolutely. I'm here for you. And what is your website before we pull away briefly? NRB.org. If you want to know more about our work and the conference, you can go to NRB.org. Then RB.org as in National Religious Broadcasters, Alex McFarland with our very special guest Troy Miller on the American Family Radio Network. Stay tuned a brief break and then we're back. You can't set this election out. I know a lot of Christians do. This is true that God is sovereign. I tell you that all the time. But they fancy that somehow that is separate from their personal responsibility. We are His hands and feet. And so that's why we have to do what's right. Bible says to him that Noah to do good and just doesn't do it. To him it is sin. Sandy Rios 24-7 with your host Sandy Rios. Listen on the podcast page at AFR.net. Hamilton Quarter Podcast and One-Bitted Common Terrets are available at AFR.net. Back to the Hamilton Quarter on American Family Radio. Welcome back to the program Alex McFarland here before we resume our conversation with Troy Miller of NRB. I want to remind you of two things. One, the website AlexMcFarland.com. We've written what I call a first time voters guide and we just came off of seven summer camps that we organized and two others that I spoke at, more than 1200 teenagers, college kids, and a lot of them are looking this November. They're going to be voting for the first time.

  14. 33:47

    So if you go to AlexMcFarlane.com, slash vote, there are a lot of content about what should be the criteria by which I cast a ballot for a candidate. There's a PDF, a downloadable. It's really kind of a bulletin insert for churches. And let me encourage churches, leaders, clergy, really pray for this nation and urge your people to be informed and to vote. And then finally, my book that I wrote four years ago, and it was number one in three categories on Amazon, I give God the glory. But my book, The Assault on America, How to Defend Our Nation Before It's Too Late, The Forward by Will Graham, published by Harrison House. These issues still matter. Morality, religious freedom, really free assembly, free religious expression. Folks, our ability to live out the Great Commission as not only Christians, but citizens, my book, The Assault on America, it's available everywhere. Books are sold, and I thank you for your consideration. Well, our conversation with Troy Miller, president of NRB, CEO of NRB TV. Troy, thank you for making time to be with us, but I would say even more importantly, thank you for what you do for the broadcast of Christ's gospel. You're a busy person. I'm always kind of in awe of the pace that you keep. So thanks for doing what you do, my friend. Well, thanks. I mean, as you just said, we're all called for the work of the gospel, and it's just a pleasure to be working on behalf of our members and all of those who are God has called their ministries for a purpose in the Kingdom. And so our job is to clear the pathway so they can do what God's called them to do. How concerned are you about our free ability? I mean, it's one thing to come to a mic and say, you know, God loves you, which is true. God does love the world. But yeah, I think about myself and people like Robert Jeffers and David Jeremiah and many of our colleagues within NRB. And we preach about sin and we call sinners to repentance. And we try to give the fully-orbed message of the gospel, Troy. How concerned are you that the gospel might someday be contraband and we are not free to proclaim the full counsel of God? Does that worry you?

  15. 36:28

    Well, absolutely Alex. I think if you look at around the world today, and we know there's always been opposition to the gospel, particularly in countries that maybe have other religions as their dominant religion or in communist countries, but just look at the Western countries today that were predominantly, you know, Christian countries for, you know, hundreds and hundreds of years. Look to the north of us in Canada. We have members of NRB that are in Canada. They cannot get on the television there or do a sermon that's going to talk about sexuality or talk about two genders being male and female or talk about the core family as Mary's between a man and a woman. They will get censored off of Canadian television and radio if they do that. And so there are many today who would like to bring those same rules and regulations to the U.S. airways as well. I think the weaponization of government that's happened over the last four years in particular should be concerning to all Christians in the cross this country, not just Christian broadcasters or major pastors in pulpits, but even Christians who are just trying to communicate within their own social media networks, whether they're on Facebook or they're on Instagram or they're on X or whatever it is today. There are a lot of Christians who can't simply proclaim the truth of the gospel, the truth that we find in scripture without the social media organizations either taking those posts down or in some cases locking them out of their accounts altogether. So that's a major concern of where we're at today and how we're moving forward. I think the left would just love to completely silence the message of the gospel. American church. And when I was at NRB in Nashville back in February, I guess it was of this year, I had the privilege of being with George Barna and you know George Barna, incredibly respected researcher. But we were talking about, you know, the 345, 350,000 American churches.

  16. 38:44

    There may be as many as 100 to 120 million adult born-again Americans. And yet, Barna was lamenting the fact that maybe one-third of born-again adults are even registered to vote. And of that number, less than that actually gets out and votes. I guess here's my question, Troy. the Christian voting bloc still an influence? We're so numerous and yet I fear not very influential. Does the Christian voice still carry weight and clout in American politics? Yeah, I do think that the Christian voice still carries a lot of weight in clout with that, as you said, but it could carry, the point is it could carry a lot more if Christians were more active in the political process or at least in the electoral process that goes on in the country that God's given us. That's the democratic part of our constitutional republic here and Christians haven't really had a history of exercising that, especially in the last, let's say, 50 to 75 years have exercised that as much as they've done in the previous decades of this country. Christians had a greater influence on the country, the direction, the country, and more concerned. And there's a number of, I think, reasons behind that. We've particularly seen in my lifetime since the 1980s, a real push on the left, and even some of those in within the Christian community to kind of push Christians away from politics in the political process, saying that it was, you know, that the process itself is toxic or that Christians shouldn't be involved in this, these kinds of things.

  17. 40:46

    And then of course, today we see in both the mainstream media and on social media, we see a lot of Christians who are afraid to engage in the politics because they're going to be, you know, or isolated or badgered by folks in the culture, again, trying to keep you out. But think about that for a second. One of the biggest scriptures that's often misused is the command that we should love our neighbors as ourselves. And I think we forget when Jesus was teaching the apostles in John, in the chapters of John 13 14 15. I think he said to them, he said, I give you a new command. It's to love your neighbor as I have loved you. And Jesus's life was a life of sacrifice for others. And in the church, we have to think about in the side, who do we want to be governed by? Who do we want and who are the best people to govern and administrate this country in this government, this land that we've been given, this blessing by God, who are the people that want to do that? Are we just going to abandon and give that over to non-Christians, to atheists, to secularists, to people who are going to push their agenda because the left does not push their agenda, or are we gonna be governed by people that do, that really hold the values and hold the morals and hold to the ideas that we find that we hold in scripture because that's the end of the game. Loving your neighbor is not backing away and turning them over to something that would put them into eternity in separation from God. We want to love our neighbors so that we can put them in eternity in the presence of God and with God. And so I really hope that we're working hard others a lot of organizations working hard to help the church understand not to be ashamed to be involved in this political process as a matter of fact we should be called as a church to be involved in this process because we should want people that oversee us, that govern us, to be the people that hold the same ideas, hold the same values and those same morals that we do.

  18. 43:10

    Indeed. And you know there are implications far beyond the borders of our own country. I mean, I think about the people that we send to Washington influence foreign policy and foreign policy touches on things like our relationship with the nation of Israel, peace in the Middle East. I mean, I really think the parishioners of America's churches need to know that our vote is a stewardship issue and our vote really carries a lot of ramifications and implications, doesn't it? Well, it does, and you hit a great point there. America, for the first 150 years, 200 years of our country here, America has one of our biggest exports has been the American values and their primarily Christian values built on the foundation of the scriptures, of the foundations of the teaching of God and the teaching of Christ and America exported, if you might say it that way, around the world those values and Christianity, we set more missionaries out from the West than have been sent out anywhere and now look at where the ramifications that are, Alex, today are exports out of this country and the ramifications of those policies are exporting things like transgenderism and the rest of the LGBTQ agenda, we're sending those things out. We're now supporting abortion around the world. We're supporting communism and socialism kinds of economic ideas that are really hurting people. I mean, they're hurting some of these economic policies that have come out of America have gone into third world countries that had started to make a real change and started to make an impact in some of these globalists with their whole environmental movement have pushed those countries back by decades.

  19. 45:18

    And so that's a real immorality that we have to look at. And that's an impact of us not being involved here in the United States because those are direct exports out of this country. Well said. Well said. And you know, and I think about this too, as well, Troy, that, well, about two months ago I was in Atlanta, Georgia, and I was on a show, and I was debating a skeptic that was griping about the fact that churches have tax-free status. But we all know that churches do so much benevolence and so much good that when Congress gave churches nonprofit status, you know, more than a century ago, they understood the benevolent charitable work churches give back. But I did some study. The bottom line, about 2.1 trillion a year, is given to non-profit and charitable work. Well, 85% of that, I'll be brief, Troy. 85% is given by conservatives, if not Christians. And so, this thing of the Christian residue or the evangelical voice. Not only do we publish the salvation message, but 85 cents out of every benevolent charitable dollar, the food kitchens and the closed closets. As Matthew 25 would say, giving a cup of cold water in Jesus' name. It's not coming from the pockets of atheists or secularists or people united for the separation of church and state. It is the Christians and the conservatives that are not only broadcasting Christ, but we're giving the money that puts food into hungry bellies 85%. I mean, it's very important what we have been and who we are as, yes, a nation founded on biblical principles. Yeah, Alex, the vast majority of charity that goes on around this country and around the world. First of all, has its roots in Christianity, some of the largest charitable organizations in the world, have their roots in Christianity. They started off, even if they're not today, they started off and the reason they exist was because of the work of Christ, the Gospel of Christ, and what God has called us to do and be as individuals. Even my own church this weekend, we were just talking about with schools starting back here in Tennessee. Our church has a backpack program so that underprivileged kids can be able to have all the school supplies that they need throughout the school year. And we also do a program that helps kids that have food insecurities who are not going to get full meals every day so that kids can have lunch programs throughout the whole year. Those are the back bones of Christian charities.

  20. 48:08

    And those are the things that is this hurricane, tropical storm moves up the coast. You'll have of organizations like Operation Blessing Convoyo. Troy, almost out of time. And these guys will be the ones there. Amen, amen. We're almost out of time, my dear friend, your website, please. In the RB.org to find out all the work we're doing in Washington, DC and around the country and to come see us at our next convention in Dallas. God bless you, thanks for listening. The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.

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