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Pastors will be held accountable for this.
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The church will be held accountable for this.
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That in the moment of darkness we should think very seriously about what we are putting into our constitution as fundamental rights.
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Proverbs, uh, in Proverbs talks about let us let us rescue those that are stumbling to the slaughter, that are on their way to death.
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The amendment itself doesn't mention women.
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It says individual.
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It doesn't distinguish between minor and adult.
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We need to be informed, we need to be engaged, and we need to vote our biblical values.
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This is a direct, nefarious, uh, truly demonic affront against Demago Day.
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And I'm at and I'm wondering, church, are we gonna step up to the moment and say, no, no, no.
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We're gonna stand for life.
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We have two amendments in Virginia that we will be voting on this November, and we need to know what those things actually say, what will happen if they pass, so we can make an informed vote.
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That's right.
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My name is Jackie Andrews, Regional Director for Citizens Defending Freedom, and I'm here with Pastor Shane Boast, our faith director in Virginia.
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Pastor Shane, tell us about these amendments and why we should care.
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They're pitched in such a way that it sounds really inviting, really like, yeah, why would I not vote for this?
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But we need to understand what HJ1 and HJ3 are actually saying and what they're doing.
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HJ1 is an abortion amendment that is attempting to enshrine abortion up to the moment of birth.
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I think we need to back up a second because it's not just a law that's being passed, right?
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This is a constitutional amendment.
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These things are very difficult to change.
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So if this passes, this will be very difficult to undo or to or to change.
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A constitutional amendment in Virginia, the founding fathers intentionally made it difficult, right?
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To not just willy-nilly change your constitution.
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But what happens?
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We are voting on this in November.
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It has done all of the steps it needed to do.
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Now come November, we were voting as Virginians to decide are we going to permit HJ1 abortion up to the point of birth?
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And we need to talk about this in detail.
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And HJ3, it's guys as a repeal and replace a marriage concept, but it actually is doing much more with that language.
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That's right.
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And why, like you're talking about the language.
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Why is the language so important?
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I think language is important because we see from God's word, God spoke everything into existence, right?
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He made a distinction in everything that he made.
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There's a distinction between light and darkness in the very beginning.
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There's a distinction between male and female, there's a distinction between man and everything else created, right?
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We were made in God's image.
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Words mean something.
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And so, what does the enemy do?
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Even in the temptation of Jesus, Satan tried using deceptive language to get Jesus to slip and to sin.
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And we see what does Jesus respond back with?
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Words, in particular the word of God to refute the deception the enemy was offering.
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Let's talk about the First Amendment, HJ1, the abortion amendment.
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And let's start where the language actually, why start talking about where the language is a trip-up for any Virginian who's going to vote.
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Let's talk about what it actually says in the amendment versus what it says on the ballot language.
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Yeah, so in H HJ1, this is um this is a pretty nefarious thing.
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They pitch it as a reproductive health care and freedom for women.
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The problem with that is those words are used in a nefarious, deceptive way.
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Um, one, we have to recognize that health care that ends and terminates the life of an individual is not really health care.
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That's not reproductive freedom.
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That is a licensing of murder.
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Let's call it what it is biblically.
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So, Pastor Shane, we both know what the abortion ballot summary says, what every voter is going to see on their ballot.
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Here's what it says.
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And it's a question.
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It says, should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to protect, to one, protect the freedom to make personal decisions about prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion, miscarriage management, and fertility care.
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Two, protect doctors, nurses, and patients from being punished for these decisions.
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Load full transcript
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And three, allow for restrictions to on access to abortion during the third trimester of pregnancy, except when the patient's health is at risk or the pregnancy cannot survive.
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Let's talk about point one.
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Protect the freedom to make personal decisions about prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion, miscarriage management, and fertility care.
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What is deceptive about that language?
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Well, it talks about protecting a freedom, right, for personal decisions about this prenatal care.
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What it's really saying is that should we allow and give permission to terminate a viable life inside the womb.
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Where this is coming from, it's coming from this idea of a culture of death that we've had in our in our in our culture for for for generations now.
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Ever since Roe v.
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Wade, we have believed that the life in the womb is not really a life.
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That it's it's pitched on this idea called personhood theory.
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What the Supreme Court did back in with Roe v.
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Wade is they created a third category of person.
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They created a human non-person.
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And by doing that, it meant the life in the womb is no longer under the protection of the 14th Amendment of our Constitution.
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In so doing, they all they did not give then an um a framework of when that child becomes a person, becomes alive.
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Is it at three months in utero?
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Is it uh at the moment of first breath?
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Is it when the child is two years old?
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That there's no defining moment when it when the child, the baby, becomes a person.
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So what this has done is it has created this thought, like in the mind, that not only is the life not truly a life in the womb, but it is also then said I should be able to do with that life whatever I choose to do with it, because it's just a clump of cells.
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It's not, it's it, there's no value to it.
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Jackie, this this deception is clearly coming from the enemy, right?
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When God's word says that we are all made in the image of God, that either equally applies to every human being ever from the moment of conception, from the moment of fertilization, or it's not true for any of us.
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It's true for all, or it's true for none.
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And what we have to recognize, this amendment is attempting to further this culture of death, further this culture of not recognizing the value of life.
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And and here's the thing the amendment itself doesn't mention woman, it says individual.
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It doesn't distinguish between minor and adult.
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There are implications.
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Huge implications on that.
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So what this amendment does, if it passes, it removes all parental consent, uh all parental rights.
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So what this would look like.
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If a child goes to school and this uh child says, Hey, I'm pregnant, I want to get an abortion, the school will then have the ability to take that child to go and get a procedure done on that child without notifying the parents.
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So parents won't even be told that this is happening.
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Now, here's what's ironic about this if a child needs a Tylenol in school, the school has to call the parent or have a form on file that they're permitted to give it.
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But not some, not a life-altering decision will the parents even be notified.
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And here's the here's the kicker on this.
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Say the abortion is botched or something happens, right?
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The parents were never notified, but when their little girl comes home and she's having complications, something there's um, you know, I hate to say it in terms like this, but something is still there.
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Part of the baby is still there inside the womb.
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And now the body's responding to it as though it's an infection.
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Um, we know that if abortion is done in improperly, it can result in death, right?
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So if that abortion is done, the parents are never notified, the child then comes home, she's having serious consequences.
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The parent is like, I gotta get you to the emergency room, takes the child to to the emergency room.
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Jackie, the parent has to give uh uh consent, right, for the ER to provide care to the child.
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This amendment removes that for the child and parental rights, so the child can do whatever they want.
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And can be taken advantage of by just about anybody.
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Absolutely.
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Because when it says individual, it also in the amendment, the language that the courts will use to judge between cases or whatever, it says that this individual right it's is a fundamental right and cannot be infringed by anybody.
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So if anybody is trying to advise the child or perhaps maybe dissuade the child, that could be interpreted as undermining or infringing on the child's right because it's an individual.
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There's no definition whether it's a minor or um or or an adult.
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That's exactly right.
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Oh my goodness.
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So let's let's go to point two.
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Protect doctors, nurses, and patients from being punished for this for these decisions.
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Now that sounds very noble.
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I think we gotta protect our healthcare workers and all these other things.
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But what does it actually mean when it comes to the implementation and execution of this part of that constitutional um um right, so-called.
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Yeah.
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So there's there's a couple things about this.
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This this allows the possibility that you will no longer need to have a medical professional to perform the abortion.
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And you're going to go, well, wait a second, how how is that happening?
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What the amendment is attempting to do is to say it's looking to protect anybody involved with the abortion.
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So meaning that if a non-licensed physician does an abortion, um, they can do one with impunity, if so, even if something goes wrong.
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Or a licensed physician, anybody.
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Correct.
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Anybody, anybody, and if we think about this in the most, you know, horrific terms, what about, and we this is a reality, there's a lot of sex trafficking that's going on.
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So what if one of these you know very evil people that are trafficking a girl or a woman, um, if that girl or woman gets pregnant, technically speaking, then that trafficker could perform the abortion.
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And if something happens to the woman or the girl, there's no consequences.
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Yeah.
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There's no all all of those guardrails, all of that safety surrounding it that Virginia currently has, it all goes away.
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So when it gives this pitch that it's about protecting the freedom to be able to do this, it's actually removing safeguards, very critically important safeguards, uh, around the protection for the girl and and the woman.
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So basically, you're taking all of the protection from the vulnerable party and we're you're offering it to the perpetrators or the person helping helping the vulnerable party to do something that will be completely consequential, that will be life-altering in their lives.
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They will be they will bear the consequences of the action because it's on their body, but the people who are all around making sure that this happens, the abortion happens, or whatever reproductive activity happens to any of their
reproductive faculties, there is no consequence.
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And what about if something goes wrong, there is no recourse.
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That's what I'm reading this to say, right?
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That's exactly what the language is in blind.
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Correct.
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So third part, uh the third point it allows for restrictions on access to abortion during the third trimester of pregnancy, except when the patient's health is at risk or the pregnancy cannot survive.
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That part, what does the actual amendment say about that?
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So, in currently in Virginia, abortion is already permitted in the third trimester.
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Uh it's really bad, but it is.
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But there are some guardrails that are around that.
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You have to get three physicians to sign off on it and say, yes, indeed, for the health of the mother, the abortion is needed.
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This removes that.
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And so you no longer have that guardrail uh in in place.
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So when it says, you know, um at the aspect of the of the health of of the in of the individual, that can imply anything.
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It could be a mental health issue, it could be a physical issue, it could be all of these different different types of things.
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And the language actually says that.
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Correct.
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That's exactly what the language means.
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Mental health.
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It includes mental health.
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So what this means, uh, because this would permit abortion up to the moment of birth, if the woman says, you know what, I got an argument with my husband, or got an argument with my boyfriend, or you know what, I'm just not sure about this.
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At the moment of birth, and the woman, if the woman says, I no longer want this child, the doctor would then be required to perform that abortion.
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And the side of it here is this is also risking taking away the religious or the conscientious objections of doing this.
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So the nurses and doctors will go, like, hey, I would never want to be participated in that.
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It's removing that framework from them.
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They would be required to do something against their own belief or their own objections that that they would have.
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Isn't that very interesting?
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On point number two, it says it protects doctors.
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Yeah.
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Literally says it.
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This is what when you go to the ballot, you're you're reading, you're saying, of course I want to protect doctors.
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Doctors want to protect.
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But it actually removes the protections for anybody who wants to protect human life, yeah, but then gives all the protection to the people who want to take human life.
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That's right.
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Because abortion is intentional taking of a human life, isn't it?
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That's exactly what it would that's exactly what it's doing.
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The the one of the things to also highlight about about this amendment, because it includes everything related to reproductive rights, that that final phrase in there is fertility care, right?
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So, what's what's included in fertility care?
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Fertility fertility care today now also includes gender dysphoria and gender transitioning.
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So here's what parents have to understand this removes all parental rights, all parental authority, all parental oversight, not just in terms of abortion, but if the child is struggling, and currently in Virginia, schools are not required to report to parents if a child is coming to school and struggling with gender dysphoria.
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So now say this goes further.
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Not only is the child struggling with gender dysphoria, the child can now also begin hormone therapy or life-altering bodily surgeries, and the parents would never be notified.
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And what's significant about this, Jackie, in Virginia in particular, we have the really sad story of Sage of Sage, right?
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Sage Blair in Appomattox County, where she was walking through something like this uh with a gender dysphoria, and her story is horrific.
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Um, there has been an attempt to try and change, and Sage has even talked about this.
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The president highlighted her in her in his State of the Union address, bringing awareness to this very situation.
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There's been um prominent um voices that have been speaking out about some of these issues.
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We've even had uh folks that you know really struggled with the gender dysphoria, started the gender transitioning, and now they're detransitioning, saying, hey, this was not ex this is not what it was told.
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This is not, I wish some adult would have stood up and have helped me with this.
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This amendment not only prevents that from happening, right, but it actually removes parents from being able to interfere at all.
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That is so tragic.
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And to think that Virginia voters are going to go and think that they're doing
something good, if they have not read the amendment, they'll think, oh, all this sounds so good.
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I I think this is right.
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We should protect the nurses, we should protect the doctors, we should protect uh the women, and quite honestly, it's doing exactly opposite the opposite.
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Quite the opposite.
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And unfortunately, our constitution, the founders envisioned a constitution that um or a country that we have a very well-informed citizenry so that they can make decisions to self-govern.
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We were created for a self-governing society.
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That's right.
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And unfortunately, when the language on the or the information is not properly and clearly um communicated to the decision makers, the sovereign of this nation, we are the sovereign.
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We get to make these choices and we get to decide what kind of country we want to live in, what kind of communities we want to live in.
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And that's kind of it's the double-edged sword, isn't it?
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Is that we are so powerful that nefarious and um conniving people, clever people, can actually use our power against us.
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And that's that's kind of that's what I see happening here, unfortunately.
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And I wonder if between now and November we have a chance to turn this around.
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I would hope that we would turn tur turn this thing around.
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And this and this is and this is the thing, Jackie, is I've met with pastors across across the Commonwealth.
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Um, many of them don't even realize these things are even on the ballot.
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They're eat that this is even going to happen.
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So when you talked about uh an informed voter base, what the founding fathers had had in mind, where are we to hear about these things that that that are going on?
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Well, we should hear it from the church.
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That's right.
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And here's why.
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Paul the Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 10 um that we're in a war, right?
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We're in a spiritual war.
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Um and it says though, for though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.
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For the weapons of our warfare are not of flesh uh of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds.
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Well, what are some of these strongholds?
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The apostle Paul goes on to define those.
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We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against
the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ.
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So this is imperative that the church, in particular through the shepherds, would talk about these things to help their congregation know here's what's happening.
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And Jackie, I I I I'll be very, very direct.
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If a pastor is unwilling to talk about life from the pulpit, he shouldn't be in the pulpit.
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He shouldn't be there.
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Because God has something to say about life.
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And there is no worldview, and this is one of the most beautiful things about the Christian worldview, one of the unique things that it begins with the premise of Imago Dei, that we were made in God's image.
00:19:33.200 --> 00:19:35.440
There is no other worldview that begins with that premise.
00:19:35.519 --> 00:19:50.000
So if we're made in God's image, that means every life, it is, it is full, it has inherent value, it has significance, it has um uh this dignity, this value given to it.
00:19:50.160 --> 00:19:54.720
There's no worldview that begins that that with that premise except the biblical worldview.
00:19:54.880 --> 00:19:59.200
So how could a pastor then not talk about that and say, here's the importance of life?
00:19:59.359 --> 00:20:03.359
It's because they'll often say, well, I can't talk about it because I have Democrats in my church.
00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:07.359
They're censoring themselves to not talk about the issue of life.
00:20:07.440 --> 00:20:10.000
And Jackie, pastors will be held accountable for this.
00:20:10.160 --> 00:20:20.880
The church will be held accountable for this, that in the moment of darkness, Proverbs uh in Proverbs talks about let us let us rescue those that are stumbling to the slaughter, that are on their way to death.
00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:21.119
Yeah.
00:20:21.440 --> 00:20:25.519
We need to be informed, we need to be engaged, and we need to vote our biblical values.
00:20:25.680 --> 00:20:31.680
This is a direct, nefarious, uh, truly demonic affront against Damago Day.
00:20:31.759 --> 00:20:37.519
And I'm at, and I'm wondering, church, are we gonna step up to the moment and say, no, no, no, we're gonna stand for life.
00:20:37.759 --> 00:20:40.799
This goes way beyond anything that it ever should.
00:20:41.039 --> 00:20:42.960
We will stand for life, we will vote.
00:20:43.039 --> 00:20:46.799
And Christians are notorious not to show up and vote, but we cannot sit this one out.
00:20:47.119 --> 00:20:49.039
No, I don't think we can sit this one out.
00:20:49.119 --> 00:20:50.720
And it's not just, yes, absolutely.
00:20:50.880 --> 00:20:55.039
Pastors have to talk about this uh because they are the advisor, right?
00:20:55.119 --> 00:21:12.400
So if we're the sovereign of the nation and and we see the pattern in the scriptures, I would I would venture to say, you look at um throughout uh the
Bible, throughout the Old Testament, you can see whenever there was a king, every king of Israel had a prophet, he had somebody who was advising him.
00:21:12.480 --> 00:21:18.960
David had his Nathan, um uh Saul had his Samuel, and you know, on and on and on.
00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:23.920
There was always the prof the prophet who could speak to the king.
00:21:24.079 --> 00:21:26.960
And in America, we the people are the king.
00:21:27.039 --> 00:21:32.400
We're the sovereign because we the people, in order to form a, you know, that's that's in our declaration of independence.
00:21:32.640 --> 00:21:38.960
So if we're the king, who's advising the king on the decisions about how to order our society?
00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:40.720
The pastors.
00:21:41.039 --> 00:21:52.240
So, yes, the pastors have um the obligation and the responsibility, but also I don't want to I I don't want anybody sitting in the pews to then say, well, that's the pastor's job.
00:21:52.559 --> 00:21:57.599
The pastor should tell me what to do, or and if he doesn't, then I don't have to worry about it.
00:21:57.759 --> 00:21:59.359
No, you're the sovereign in this nation.
00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:11.039
You are the nobility and you are to order, you're to take action, use your one vote to move society in the direction that you believe is for the most flourishing.
00:22:11.200 --> 00:22:17.119
And what is more flourishing than what God has already said, especially for believers.
00:22:17.440 --> 00:22:36.880
Um and honestly, if you live, the reason why America is such is so attractive to everybody in the world is because these ideas are the bedrock of our constitution, of our society, and they have produced a lot of flourishing and a lot of prosperity.
00:22:37.519 --> 00:22:46.640
And so we have seen how when a Christian civilization is working, people benefit.
00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:51.200
Those who believe and those who don't believe, everybody benefits.
00:22:51.519 --> 00:22:59.200
And so I feel like the compelling appeal, I want to compel an appeal to everybody.
00:22:59.359 --> 00:23:17.039
If you follow Jesus, if you say you're a follower of Jesus, then I think we should think very seriously about what we are putting into our constitution as fundamental rights because it will have far-reaching consequences far beyond our lifetimes.
00:23:17.359 --> 00:23:36.319
If Virginia says we want the right to end the life of the most innocent among us into our constitution, and by the way, it's not just into our constitution, it's into our Bill of Rights, in Article I of our Bill of Rights.
00:23:36.799 --> 00:23:45.440
So they uh they're adding a section 11 and they're putting these um this amendment, and here we are.
00:23:46.319 --> 00:23:47.759
Where do we go from here?
00:23:47.920 --> 00:24:11.519
So we want a constitution that actually does not value life, or do we do we want a constitution that values human life regardless of what legislatures may come and go and do with the laws and the policies, but the bedrock, do we want to overturn this idea that of Imago Day respected by our constitution in Virginia?
00:24:11.839 --> 00:24:28.480
That's huge, that's deep, and I think regardless of your political convictions, honestly, if you're a believer, you really, really need to think about what your responsibility is on this.
00:24:28.799 --> 00:24:29.440
That's right, right?
00:24:29.839 --> 00:24:30.960
This isn't a party vote thing.
00:24:31.119 --> 00:24:32.720
No, it's not this isn't a party vote thing.
00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:34.720
This is a value-based thing, right?
00:24:35.039 --> 00:24:41.759
This this uh the Christian has a moral responsibility to be engaged, but we have a biblical responsibility, right?
00:24:41.920 --> 00:24:45.279
We have we our citizenship is in heaven first, right?
00:24:45.359 --> 00:24:47.680
And then it's as Americans, right?
00:24:47.920 --> 00:24:53.920
But that biblical citizenship supersedes all other things, or at least it should, right?
00:24:54.000 --> 00:25:05.920
So therefore, if I look at my biblical, that biblical citizenship, I'm commanded in the scripture to seek the welfare of the nation that I'm in, because my welfare is directly tied to uh its welfare.
00:25:06.079 --> 00:25:17.440
So that is behooving me to be involved and engaged, to be be knowledgeable, uh, but not just knowledgeable for the sake of complaining, but knowledgeable for the sake of being engaged and involved.
00:25:17.680 --> 00:25:19.440
And so you you are exactly right.
00:25:19.599 --> 00:25:33.440
We have got to get back to the place where it's not just the pastor, the Christian themselves have a moral and biblical responsibility to be informed, to be engaged, and to be advocating for biblical values.
00:25:33.599 --> 00:25:33.920
Why?
00:25:34.079 --> 00:25:40.480
Not just for ourselves because it affects our families, but for the families that will be affected by these things for the negative.
00:25:40.720 --> 00:25:42.400
We need to advocate for these things.
00:25:42.799 --> 00:25:43.440
Absolutely.
00:25:43.599 --> 00:25:51.680
You are so right in saying that this is not a pro-life, pro-choice, or political binary situation.
00:25:52.319 --> 00:26:10.079
It it's actually a rule of law problem because if this passes, first of all, the the the amendment is super vague, super general, so then the courts, everything will have to go through the courts now.
00:26:11.519 --> 00:26:17.200
And the thing that we keep saying, we don't want black robed men and women telling us what to do.
00:26:17.359 --> 00:26:21.279
But that's exactly what we're setting ourselves up for if this passes.
00:26:21.519 --> 00:26:24.960
It's and also because it's so vague, it is not clear.
00:26:26.559 --> 00:26:36.480
The way law works, the way legal stuff works, is that a good law tells people clearly and in advance and what standard they're held to.
00:26:36.559 --> 00:26:36.720
Yeah.
00:26:36.880 --> 00:26:38.400
But
this one does not.
00:26:39.759 --> 00:26:44.240
And that's a good reason to vote down on it.
00:26:44.720 --> 00:26:45.440
Yeah, exactly.
00:26:45.519 --> 00:26:52.079
And what we're looking at here, when you know, when when I made the comment before that some pastors won't touch this because, like, well, I have Democrats in my church.
00:26:52.319 --> 00:26:54.079
Stop making these things political.
00:26:54.240 --> 00:27:02.640
Just because the world has infringed upon these values and call things these things political, we shouldn't let the conversation be redefined on us.
00:27:02.880 --> 00:27:11.039
We are the ones that should be leading that conversation and saying, no, you might call it political because politics are now engaging in some serious issues, but these are values.
00:27:11.200 --> 00:27:13.759
These are values and principles that we do not change.
00:27:13.920 --> 00:27:21.599
And this is where, like, pastors and churches and Christians, we shouldn't let the language get changed on us and just adopt whatever language is being given to us.
00:27:21.680 --> 00:27:30.960
These are values that we need to be articulating and recognizing we we need to be involved, we need to be engaged, and we need to vote biblically, but we need to know what the Bible says about it.
00:27:31.759 --> 00:27:35.759
We know what God says, and we need to know what these say so we know how to make an informed vote.
00:27:36.160 --> 00:27:37.119
100.
00:27:37.359 --> 00:27:40.400
Well, we've been talking a lot about the abortion amendment.
00:27:40.559 --> 00:27:43.039
Let's touch on the marriage amendment.
00:27:43.440 --> 00:27:47.119
Yeah, this so another bit of this nefarious type of language.
00:27:47.279 --> 00:27:50.799
It's pitched as a repeal and replace marriage amendment.
00:27:50.880 --> 00:28:00.880
And it's presented in this guy's like, hey, listen, let's just make Virginia's Constitution match the federal uh uh rules that you know anybody who wants to be married should should be able to get married.
00:28:01.119 --> 00:28:11.680
Well, what they have done with this, again, the the this the deception and the nefarious purposes, they separated out gender and sex as though these are two different uh categories.
00:28:12.079 --> 00:28:28.720
So, what this sets up is this allows then, this allows transgender ideology to be embedded across the Commonwealth and every facet of life, including church, including business, including the schools, uh with with government buildings.
00:28:28.799 --> 00:28:30.240
It's all encompassing.
00:28:30.480 --> 00:28:32.160
Um, this was intentional.
00:28:32.319 --> 00:28:35.200
Now, here's a little bit of the backdrop on this.
00:28:35.359 --> 00:28:47.279
When this amendment was first being discussed in caucus and talked about, there was a religious exemption clause in there that, like, hey, this is what we want to do, but there is a religious objection uh clause within there.
00:28:47.359 --> 00:28:54.240
So somebody did not have to go against their personal conscience or or clergy go against their biblical rules and values, right?
00:28:54.559 --> 00:28:59.519
So, but when it came to the Florida vote on Jackie, they removed that clause out of there.
00:28:59.680 --> 00:29:10.559
And then one of the delegates on the floor asked the patron of the of this of this amendment, hey, is your is your intention to go after pastors, is your intention to, no, no, that's not our intention.
00:29:10.720 --> 00:29:14.559
Unfortunately, this delegate then said, Okay, well, I'll change my vote and vote in favor of it.
00:29:14.799 --> 00:29:21.200
Totally failed in holding to the biblical values, in my opinion, uh, of what he espouses personally.
00:29:21.599 --> 00:29:26.319
But he specifically called them out on this and like, well, no, that's not our intention.
00:29:26.400 --> 00:29:28.160
Well, then why would you have removed the language?
00:29:28.319 --> 00:29:31.119
The intention is to create a conundrum.
00:29:31.359 --> 00:29:37.039
If this passes, Jackie, this amendment enshrines transgender ideology across the board.
00:29:37.200 --> 00:29:47.440
So, say, for example, a couple um comes to a pastor or even comes to, because there's other people that are licensed in Virginia to perform these marriages.
00:29:47.759 --> 00:30:07.440
And if they're a Christian and they recognize this is not marriage as defined by God, I can't personally, you know, do this, as a government employee, so like judges can do it and the delegates can do it and such, if they are sitting in public office, they no longer have a religious objection clause to fall back on.
00:30:07.599 --> 00:30:11.680
So they would be required in their in their seat to perform this marriage.
00:30:11.759 --> 00:30:15.759
Um so they they can't they can't um remove themselves from it.
00:30:15.839 --> 00:30:21.119
If they come, if they come to a pastor and a pastor goes, hey, well, the you know, this is what our doctrine is, this is what our theology is.
00:30:21.279 --> 00:30:23.359
I'm sorry I can't I can't help you on that.
00:30:23.519 --> 00:30:28.880
Well, state level, they will have the ability to sue that pastor and the church.
00:30:29.279 --> 00:30:33.119
And there is nothing anybody can do because it's the constitution.
00:30:33.519 --> 00:30:33.839
Correct.
00:30:34.079 --> 00:30:34.240
Right?
00:30:34.480 --> 00:30:34.720
Correct.
00:30:34.960 --> 00:30:35.839
And what does that mean?
00:30:36.000 --> 00:30:42.319
That means future legislatures cannot change the law, right?
00:30:42.480 --> 00:30:48.400
They can't say, well, let's change this because it's causing so much trouble, and let's back up a little bit.
00:30:48.720 --> 00:30:53.440
So this goes into the constitution, it's embedded, it's comes, it goes into the constitution.
00:30:53.920 --> 00:31:08.079
What happens when there is a constitutional change or something goes and supersedes all the laws that have been on the books, all
the the what what happens to Virginia the Virginia Code?
00:31:08.720 --> 00:31:24.720
Now you have to define sex and gender separately, and everywhere sex and gender appear in the Constitution has to reflect or in the laws, has to reflect what the constitution now says.
00:31:25.440 --> 00:31:34.480
It creates a snowball effect of other situations that we haven't even thought about, I I would imagine, in cases and situations.
00:31:34.720 --> 00:31:57.279
For instance, what happens when um to be when when a child, when a minor right, wants to forget, not not a minor, but what happens with a person who works for a business or who runs a business in my in your community?
00:31:57.599 --> 00:32:21.839
If you're a business owner and somebody wants you to call them by their pronouns, and you have a conscientious objection to your to that, like to calling your employee or employer by their preferred pronouns, which may not adhere to biological reality, what happens to you?
00:32:22.480 --> 00:32:23.519
So you can be sued.
00:32:23.839 --> 00:32:24.559
Hypothetically.
00:32:24.960 --> 00:32:46.960
Yeah, you can be sued because you you are um this what this amendment does is it it prevents you from acknowledging biological realities, it forces you to uh to live in this fabricated um world that a a person might be struggling with.
00:32:47.119 --> 00:32:52.559
Now, I I I have compassion for those that are truly struggling with with the gender dysphoria.
00:32:52.960 --> 00:32:56.000
But this must be too yeah, I absolutely.
00:32:56.240 --> 00:33:01.839
But in order to best help them and navigate that, you don't enter into that false reality with them, right?
00:33:02.160 --> 00:33:08.559
God never enters into a false reality with us and say, okay, let's carry out this sin a little bit longer so I can talk with you about this.
00:33:08.720 --> 00:33:13.920
No, he he doesn't change any any standards of truth in order to accommodate us.
00:33:14.160 --> 00:33:23.680
And so what this would be, what this would do is we would have to actually set aside biological truth, biological realities in order to accommodate a false reality and a false premise.
00:33:23.920 --> 00:33:29.599
That is actually then usurping my own personal type of liberties as well, right?
00:33:29.759 --> 00:33:37.279
Because if I say no, that's not accurate and that's not true, I'm forced to give up my stance in order to capitulate the person across the table.
00:33:37.440 --> 00:33:40.640
That this this is incredibly nefarious.
00:33:41.119 --> 00:33:45.519
Sorry, with the force of the law, with the force of government.
00:33:45.759 --> 00:33:46.240
Correct.
00:33:46.480 --> 00:33:49.279
Because now it's you're violating the Constitution.
00:33:49.519 --> 00:33:50.880
So so what does that mean?
00:33:51.039 --> 00:33:56.640
It literally means the biblical worldview will begin to be seen at enmity with the law of Virginia.
00:33:56.880 --> 00:33:57.359
100%.
00:33:57.759 --> 00:33:59.039
So what then is that set up?
00:33:59.119 --> 00:34:03.599
That sets up every church that then speaks about uh um male and female.
00:34:03.759 --> 00:34:06.720
God makes them male and female in his image he has created them.
00:34:06.880 --> 00:34:24.239
But when we're saying that that image uh that God created is the correct image, and when we say gender dysphoria um is is uh it's a mental ill, a mental um health issue, it's an illness that needs to be worked through, we're actually now violating what the state law says.
00:34:24.320 --> 00:34:33.119
So now a church, a church's theological stance, biblical stance, can now be seen as at enmity with with the law of the land.
00:34:33.280 --> 00:34:39.599
And this this goes this goes so uh Jackie, this continues to to to um to cross all sorts of boundaries.
00:34:39.679 --> 00:34:41.199
Like even inside of a church.
00:34:41.360 --> 00:34:45.599
If you know you hit our churches have male restrooms and female restrooms.
00:34:45.679 --> 00:34:47.119
Well, in a church, you won't be able to have that.
00:34:47.280 --> 00:34:51.599
A male will be permitted to go into the female restroom if he so desires.
00:34:51.760 --> 00:34:59.280
Um, if you have a daughter and you go out to eat, you might not want to let your daughter go to that restroom by herself because there could be somebody in there waiting for her.
00:34:59.440 --> 00:35:03.360
Because listen, this this is this doesn't even set any type of parameters around it.
00:35:03.440 --> 00:35:09.920
It's just whatever anybody feels or thinks, it is now protected under this constitutional amendment, and every law will have to adhere to that.
00:35:10.079 --> 00:35:17.599
Every business will have to accommodate that, every church will have to submit to that, um, every entity, schools, everything will have to accept this.
00:35:17.760 --> 00:35:26.000
So this means boys and girls' spaces, men and women's spaces across the board in every facet of society, hiring practices changed.
00:35:26.159 --> 00:35:34.159
Um, biblical worldview itself will be seen as a as a as a um as an evil against against against these people.
00:35:34.480 --> 00:35:41.440
That reminds me, it takes me back to Isaiah where it says, Woe is um the one who calls good evil and evil good.
00:35:41.519 --> 00:35:59.760
It's a total upside-down world where what is an anomaly becomes embedded into fundamentally into our constitution, and every law now has to follow that, except it doesn't align with reality.
00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:00.239
Yeah.
00:36:00.960 --> 00:36:18.960
And the deception, again, on on this one, when it was discussed on the floor in in Virginia, and the delegate is asking the patron of it, you know, is this intended to go after churches and pastors or people with a religious objection, right?
00:36:19.119 --> 00:36:20.400
Or a conviction.
00:36:20.559 --> 00:36:22.079
The patron said, no, it's not.
00:36:22.159 --> 00:36:25.840
It's not intended to do that at all because law such and such protects them.
00:36:26.079 --> 00:36:32.559
But you already highlighted when the constitutions change, all the laws then have to adhere to whatever the constitution says.
00:36:32.639 --> 00:36:41.039
So those laws that are currently in place, they will be seen as unconstitutional and will either be thrown out or rewritten to accommodate whatever the constitution says.
00:36:41.280 --> 00:36:47.360
This this nefarious act, this is where we have to see, Jackie, we are under a spiritual war.
00:36:47.840 --> 00:36:51.199
And that spiritual war is not being battled out in the flesh and blood.
00:36:51.280 --> 00:36:54.880
Like we don't hate the flesh and blood people, right, that are espousing these ideals.
00:36:55.039 --> 00:37:04.880
It's these arguments, as we read in 2 Corinthians 10, we recognize that there is an enemy, Satan, this Nakesh figure that shows up in the beginning pages of Genesis.
00:37:05.039 --> 00:37:07.360
He is so deceptive and he is so crafty.
00:37:07.440 --> 00:37:11.280
He is redefining everything that God has already instituted.
00:37:11.360 --> 00:37:25.440
And if a Christian can recognize every single cultural issue that we are facing is a direct affront to one of the first 11 chapters of Genesis, we will have a direct and immediate answer to everything that we're facing today.
00:37:25.760 --> 00:37:30.800
Every one of these issues we're facing, we find its origin in Genesis 1 through 11.
00:37:31.039 --> 00:37:31.679
That's correct.
00:37:31.840 --> 00:37:35.679
And so all we have to do is go back and say, well, what does God's word already say?
00:37:35.760 --> 00:37:36.960
But isn't that what Satan then says?
00:37:37.119 --> 00:37:38.320
Well, did God really say?
00:37:38.480 --> 00:37:47.679
And then we're willing to forfeit that biblical worldview in order to accommodate these evil practices with the guise of that this is helping people or this is loving or these kinds of things.
00:37:47.840 --> 00:37:50.000
Christians, we have got to quit being so duped.
00:37:50.079 --> 00:37:52.639
We have to realize this is how the enemy works.
00:37:52.800 --> 00:37:55.760
The majority of spiritual uh warfare is psychological.
00:37:55.840 --> 00:37:59.119
It's getting us to believe things that aren't true and don't align up with God's word.
00:37:59.360 --> 00:38:04.880
This is why Paul says we're to destroy these arguments that pit itself up against the word of God.
00:38:05.119 --> 00:38:06.480
This is a spiritual battle.
00:38:06.559 --> 00:38:15.679
And if I can, there's there's um um Charles Finney was a prominent pastor in the second great awakening.
00:38:16.000 --> 00:38:18.320
We need another awakening again, right?
00:38:18.480 --> 00:38:21.599
These issues that we are facing, they're they're they're they're so spiritual.
00:38:21.760 --> 00:38:26.159
But one of the things that he highlights was the was the decay of conscience.
00:38:26.400 --> 00:38:32.559
That the conscience has
decayed to a point that it no longer recognizes God's moral law.
00:38:32.800 --> 00:38:38.480
But he actually puts the onus not on just the culture, he puts the onus on the pulpit.
00:38:38.639 --> 00:38:47.519
And he puts that onus and he says, he um and he talks about this the degeneracy that is going on inside of culture.
00:38:47.599 --> 00:38:51.119
And he he he talked about this in 1873, right?
00:38:51.280 --> 00:38:55.840
So this is a long time ago, but less than a hundred years after our declaration of independence.
00:38:55.920 --> 00:39:00.400
This is a short time after they recognize the culture was quickly fading.
00:39:00.480 --> 00:39:02.159
The cult the culture was quickly changing.
00:39:02.239 --> 00:39:06.480
It was removing its moral framework that it was founded upon.
00:39:06.639 --> 00:39:10.639
Those bedrocks that you had mentioned talked about, they were beginning to be undermined.
00:39:10.800 --> 00:39:19.519
And he recognizes that ministers have ceased in a great measure to probe the consciences of men with the spiritual law of God.
00:39:19.920 --> 00:39:21.840
And he begins to break this down.
00:39:22.000 --> 00:39:35.840
I won't go through through through this whole thing, but he talks about that when we avoid that, when we avoid the true preaching of the gospel, he says the true gospel is not preached, where obedience to the moral law as the only rule of life is not insisted upon.
00:39:36.000 --> 00:39:38.800
So he is bridging moral law and the gospel together.
00:39:38.960 --> 00:39:41.119
He is he is linking those two together.
00:39:41.360 --> 00:39:52.800
We now we now have, and he goes on, he goes on to talk about this uh this milk kind of preaching that refuses to touch on to touch on these things, which I find so fascinating because it's applicable to the to today.
00:39:52.960 --> 00:39:59.760
He says, away with the milk and water preaching of a love of Christ that has no holiness or moral discrimination in it.
00:40:00.079 --> 00:40:04.320
We have to get back to this significance of the depth of God's word.
00:40:04.639 --> 00:40:10.880
It's the word of God that convicts a heart that the Holy Spirit uses to convict somebody to draw them to Jesus, right?
00:40:10.960 --> 00:40:17.519
The goal isn't just to have arguments over these, over these um competing value systems.
00:40:17.679 --> 00:40:19.760
The goal is to see the lost get saved.
00:40:19.920 --> 00:40:28.320
And unless we start from the premise of God's moral framework, we have given up any ground of absolute truth to be able to engage in that conversation.
00:40:28.480 --> 00:40:30.800
So we really have no gospel that we can present.
00:40:31.119 --> 00:40:35.440
The only gospel that we'll have is just, well, God just loves you, and so everything's okay.
00:40:35.599 --> 00:40:36.639
But everything's not okay.
00:40:36.800 --> 00:40:41.039
The gospel tells me that I am a sinner and there's nothing that I can do to save myself.
00:40:41.199 -->
00:40:43.519
I can only be saved by the work of Jesus Christ.
00:40:43.679 --> 00:40:45.119
Well, why did Jesus have to die?
00:40:45.280 --> 00:40:53.039
Because I've transgressed against a holy God and I've broken his moral law, and I stand in complete degeneracy and the wages of my sin is death.
00:40:53.199 --> 00:40:53.440
That's right.
00:40:53.679 --> 00:41:04.800
Unless I'm rescued from that death, I sta I will be raised to uh I will be raised and then I'll have to go through a second death in Revelation, what it talks about.
00:41:05.199 --> 00:41:10.320
So what he goes on to say, he says, brethren, our preaching will bear its legitimate fruits.
00:41:10.559 --> 00:41:15.280
If immorality prevails in the land, the fault is ours in a great degree.
00:41:15.519 --> 00:41:19.280
If there is a decay of conscience, the pulpit is responsible for it.
00:41:19.440 --> 00:41:24.639
If the public press lacks moral discrimination, the pulpit is responsible for it.
00:41:24.800 --> 00:41:29.440
If the church is degenerate and worldly, the pulpit is responsible for it.
00:41:29.599 --> 00:41:34.480
If the world loses its interest in religion, the pulpit is responsible for it.
00:41:34.719 --> 00:41:35.280
Listen to this.
00:41:35.440 --> 00:41:41.760
If Satan rules in our halls of legislation, the pulpit is responsible for it.
00:41:41.920 --> 00:41:52.960
If our politics becomes so corrupt that the very foundations, as you mentioned, the bedrocks, the very foundations of our government are ready to fall away, the pulpit is responsible for it.
00:41:53.119 --> 00:42:04.239
Let us not ignore this fact, my dear, dear brethren, but let us lay it to heart and be thoroughly awake to our responsibility in respect to the morals of this nation.
00:42:04.559 --> 00:42:11.920
So we've been talking for a while about this idea that Satan is the original deconstructionist.
00:42:12.159 --> 00:42:12.880
Break it down.
00:42:13.199 --> 00:42:16.079
Yeah, so this is an important reality to understand.
00:42:16.400 --> 00:42:24.079
The Bible in Genesis 3 says now the serpent, this Nakesh figure, was more crafty than any other beast in the field that the Lord God had made.
00:42:24.320 --> 00:42:29.679
This word crafty implies that this Nakesh was full of wisdom.
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He's he's quite he's quite wise, but he's using that wisdom for nefarious purposes.
00:42:35.280 --> 00:42:42.079
And so we see as this as this begins begins to uh unfold, he says to the woman, Did God actually say, right?
00:42:42.239 --> 00:42:44.320
So here he begins that deconstructionist mindset.
00:42:44.480 --> 00:42:45.599
Well, did God really say?
00:42:45.760 --> 00:42:47.519
What's this framework that God gave?
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You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?
00:42:50.559 --> 00:42:54.079
And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden.
00:42:54.239 --> 00:43:01.920
But God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it lest you die.
00:43:02.159 --> 00:43:05.119
But the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die.
00:43:05.280 --> 00:43:08.000
So here's that deconstructionist mindset continuing, right?
00:43:08.159 --> 00:43:11.280
No, listen, the parameters God gave you aren't really true.
00:43:11.440 --> 00:43:13.280
They're not right, they're not accurate.
00:43:13.440 --> 00:43:14.400
Listen to what he says.
00:43:14.559 --> 00:43:23.519
For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
00:43:23.679 --> 00:43:25.119
So here he is doing something.
00:43:25.280 --> 00:43:26.159
He's doing two things.
00:43:26.320 --> 00:43:28.880
One, the first, deconstructionist.
00:43:29.199 --> 00:43:39.519
He is re-um, he is challenging that design, that structure, what God has said from the very beginning here, but then he does something else that's, I mean, this is so crafty.
00:43:39.840 --> 00:43:43.039
He gets them to believe that God's oppressing them.
00:43:43.280 --> 00:43:48.320
That this rule and boundary that God has put in place, that that they are being oppressed by God.
00:43:48.480 --> 00:43:49.440
No, no, no, no, no.
00:43:49.519 --> 00:43:54.880
Here's why he's keeping this tree from you because God knows that if you eat it, you'll be like Elohim.
00:43:55.039 --> 00:43:58.800
You will be like God Himself, and He's preventing you from seeing.
00:43:59.039 --> 00:44:00.800
Well, what would what is Satan originally wanted.
00:44:00.880 --> 00:44:01.920
He wanted the throne of God.
00:44:02.000 --> 00:44:04.880
He wanted to be worship like Elohim.
00:44:04.960 --> 00:44:07.440
Now, what pitch is he given to Adam and Eve here?
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You'll be like him.
00:44:08.800 --> 00:44:09.920
He's usurping God.
00:44:10.159 --> 00:44:11.199
He is usurping God.
00:44:11.599 --> 00:44:22.480
He's usurping God because he knows that that that if he can get them to question that's right, then they now can trust him.
00:44:22.719 --> 00:44:22.800
Yeah.
00:44:22.960 --> 00:44:27.920
And he can tell them what to do and create a new world for them, which actually ended up happening.
00:44:28.159 --> 00:44:28.719
Yes.
00:44:28.960 --> 00:44:31.440
And that's how Satan became the God of this world.
00:44:31.599 --> 00:44:31.920
Yes.
00:44:32.079 --> 00:44:43.199
Because they handed over their power back to like what we've talked about, how he used their own power, their own energy, their own power against them.
00:44:44.159 --> 00:44:46.159
And they just handed it over completely.
00:44:46.400 --> 00:44:47.599
Handed over the keys.
00:44:48.559 --> 00:44:49.679
And they were handed over.
00:44:50.320 --> 00:44:51.840
This is like this was the perfect.
00:44:51.920 --> 00:44:53.039
They were in paradise.
00:44:53.280 --> 00:44:54.719
Like there was no problems.
00:44:56.079 --> 00:45:23.440
So if we think that
if we see that people who were in a perfect paradise had perfect power, had everything, and they were able to be deceived, how much more we who live in a fallen world and we have real legitimate things, you can factual things that we can point to and say, Yeah, actually, I'm being oppressed.
00:45:23.679 --> 00:45:25.280
I I don't want to be oppressed.
00:45:25.360 --> 00:45:31.840
Uh this pregnancy is oppressing me, or this marriage, uh the patriarchy is oppressing me.
00:45:32.159 --> 00:45:32.960
Whatever it is, right?
00:45:33.199 --> 00:45:38.480
Because human we we're fallen and we do do things that actually hurt other humans.
00:45:38.639 --> 00:45:48.880
And so we can legitimately say, yeah, um, so then do away with the whole construct, do away with the whole order and the the design instead of changing the circumstance.
00:45:49.199 --> 00:45:49.840
Yeah.
00:45:50.880 --> 00:45:58.639
What the enemy does here in getting in getting them to see this the tree differently, to see the boundaries that God has created differently.
00:45:58.880 --> 00:46:09.199
It says then that you know, when when she when the woman saw the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired.
00:46:09.440 --> 00:46:11.280
There was no desire there before.
00:46:11.519 --> 00:46:15.519
Now the tree was to be desired in order to make one wise.
00:46:15.920 --> 00:46:16.159
Right?
00:46:16.239 --> 00:46:18.239
She took of its fruit and and and she ate.
00:46:18.320 --> 00:46:21.039
She also gave some to her husband who was with her.
00:46:21.199 --> 00:46:29.039
Adam wasn't off somewhere, you know, strolling around the garden somewhere or pay petting a lion's mane or something, right?
00:46:29.199 --> 00:46:31.199
He was he was there, present.
00:46:31.360 --> 00:46:32.960
This is how the enemy works.
00:46:33.119 --> 00:46:36.639
He he he was trying to get to Adam, but he went through Eve.
00:46:36.800 --> 00:46:40.159
Because he knew Adam is with whom the covenant was made.
00:46:40.480 --> 00:46:48.800
So he knew, okay, what I need to do is to get Adam to eat eat the fruit, but I'm gonna go through a different avenue in order to get to him.
00:46:48.960 --> 00:46:52.079
So Adam, Adam does a does a couple things here.
00:46:52.239 --> 00:46:54.480
He he he's very passive here, right?
00:46:54.639 --> 00:47:05.360
He should have used his authority that God had given him as a leader of his home, as a leader of his family, um, to say, you know, you know, serpent, you are wrong and you need to leave.
00:47:05.519 --> 00:47:07.119
You need to go, be gone from here.
00:47:07.360 --> 00:47:09.599
For God has said such and such, right?
00:47:09.760 --> 00:47:11.440
We shall not eat of this tree.
00:47:11.599 --> 00:47:12.480
But he doesn't.
00:47:12.639 --> 00:47:17.199
He he's passive here and he avoids social responsibility.
00:47:17.599 --> 00:47:27.119
We still today, and particularly as men, I you know, and I and I to call us out, we've inherited this nature from Adam to avoid social responsibility.
00:47:27.360 --> 00:47:35.119
So we will allow children to go to the slaughter and not say anything because I might offend somebody saying something like, hey, that's a life, you know, inside of you.
00:47:35.280 --> 00:47:36.320
Hey, what's going on?
00:47:36.400 --> 00:47:40.239
Why you feel this is the only, like the only option that you have?
00:47:40.880 --> 00:47:45.280
We will avoid social responsibility and all the moral evils that are going on.
00:47:45.440 --> 00:47:56.239
But here's what the apostle Paul says the apostle Paul, literally using this as an example, he's writing to the church in Corinth and he said, he reminds them, listen, I betrothed you to one husband.
00:47:56.320 --> 00:47:57.920
That husband is Jesus, right?
00:47:58.159 --> 00:48:01.199
To present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
00:48:01.519 --> 00:48:15.360
But I'm afraid, listen to this, I'm afraid that that as the serpent deceived Eve, by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
00:48:16.400 --> 00:48:18.719
This is exactly what the enemy is doing today.
00:48:18.960 --> 00:48:30.079
He is undermining the very scriptures that the Christians say that they uphold, they value, that this is the sole authority of our faith and practice, yet we're not allowing it to inform us in every other aspect of life.
00:48:30.320 --> 00:48:30.960
My goodness.
00:48:31.119 --> 00:48:36.480
We're allowing that compartmentalization to say, you know what, I should be disengaged in the public square.
00:48:36.719 --> 00:48:38.559
Leave leave the loss to themselves.
00:48:38.719 --> 00:48:39.679
They'll figure it out.
00:48:39.920 --> 00:48:41.119
That's not that's not true.
00:48:41.280 --> 00:48:43.840
God has called us to go and reach the loss.
00:48:43.920 --> 00:48:54.639
And we seem to have forgotten what we're here to do, to be light in the darkness, that we are to engage and and and walk our faith out in the public square.
00:48:55.599 --> 00:48:58.400
The design has not changed.
00:48:58.719 --> 00:48:59.920
Design hasn't changed.
00:49:00.239 --> 00:49:04.000
And the way that it's supposed to be executed hasn't changed either.
00:49:04.239 --> 00:49:05.280
Nope, mission's the same.
00:49:05.679 --> 00:49:21.760
What when you were reading that part, that that Genesis uh account, what really kind of jumped out at me that uh I would like for us to unpack a little bit more is so you said Adam avoided social responsibility.
00:49:22.239 --> 00:49:25.199
That is so so on on point.
00:49:25.280 --> 00:49:32.800
It's so powerful because the conversation about the tree was had by God and Adam.
00:49:34.000 --> 00:49:37.760
Even Paul says the woman is the one that was deceived, not Adam.
00:49:37.920 --> 00:49:45.039
So Adam wasn't deceived, he just kind of was either indifferent or um afraid.
00:49:45.199 --> 00:49:53.440
What for whatever reason, he just
stood by there while his wife exaggerated God's instruction.
00:49:54.000 --> 00:49:58.000
Notice, she said, God said not to eat it, not even to touch it.
00:49:58.159 --> 00:49:59.440
God didn't say don't touch it.
00:49:59.519 --> 00:50:00.800
Yeah, he said don't eat it.
00:50:00.960 --> 00:50:01.440
Don't eat it.
00:50:01.840 --> 00:50:07.920
And Adam is standing there listening to his wife, misrepresenting God, perhaps.
00:50:08.880 --> 00:50:12.719
And I see this like in the way that we even behave today.
00:50:12.960 --> 00:50:14.159
We exaggerate.
00:50:14.400 --> 00:50:54.480
We say, Well, it's my right, and then we exaggerate what the we exaggerate what God might be requiring of us so that then we can say, I don't want to do it, so we can justify our own desire, and then that point about desirable, like she didn't know it was desirable, desirable until it was pitched to her that hey, it's to be desired, it's to be it's you're gonna make you lacking something, even though God had said everything he made was good and he was good.
00:50:54.800 --> 00:51:12.719
Here is his creation, then turning around and actually questioning his goodness, doubting his goodness, because a strange creature has walked in up to them and told them that God is holding out on you, he's oppressing you, you can have it better.
00:51:12.880 --> 00:51:14.239
Let me show you how.
00:51:14.559 --> 00:51:17.039
And right, just went into it.
00:51:17.840 --> 00:51:21.679
This carries over into the New Testament as well.
00:51:21.840 --> 00:51:52.800
Um, we wouldn't have time to unpack it here, but the way that Matthew lays out these these parables in Matthew chapter 13, Jesus is echoing back to this very premise from Genesis chapter 3 to highlight this nefarious purpose is going, uh this nefarious act is going to infiltrate its way even into the church to attempt to corrupt and make a powerless, feckless church that's that um disengages so that the seed that the enemy sows, he's able to sow and grow unabated.
00:51:54.719 --> 00:52:14.239
What the enemy wants is a church that's not um not aware, not aware of its authority in Christ, not aware of its responsibility, and in that way he can then continue to do what he wants to do because just like from the beginning, he is a usurper of thrones, he wants dominions.
00:52:14.480 --> 00:52:18.800
So he did this in the garden, and now he's doing it here in our world today.
00:52:19.119 --> 00:52:33.599
Satan wants the thrones and the dominions of our public square and our government because he desires to be worshipped, desires to be recognized, and this is why we see that when we get to the last days, what does he do?
00:52:33.920 --> 00:52:45.840
He takes full control of all dominions and all authorities and all kingdoms, and then he walks into the temple proclaiming himself to be Christ and demands, or proclaiming himself to be God and demands worship.
00:52:46.320 --> 00:52:53.760
This is what he's doing today, and unless the church realizes this begin this was in the beginning, so it's the same nefarious plan that is going to be carried out.
00:52:53.840 --> 00:52:56.480
But more gloriously, we have the return of Jesus Christ coming.
00:52:56.639 --> 00:53:15.840
But until then, we are to shine as that light and be that salt in our communities and in our uh and in our society, proclaiming the word of God, the word of truth, and most importantly, building up his bride to destroy these empty, deceitful arguments and philosophies that pit themselves up against the word of Christ.
00:53:16.320 --> 00:53:20.800
What a great way to conclude our conversation.
00:53:21.280 --> 00:53:27.119
Virginia is the longest-running uh legislature on the Western Hemisphere.
00:53:27.280 --> 00:53:37.360
So we're back to where we started, and may God have mercy upon our Commonwealth and upon us and give us wisdom to turn this around.
00:53:37.920 --> 00:53:40.159
The key is the pulpit.
00:53:40.400 --> 00:54:10.400
The key is those sitting in the pews taking action, going, making sure that they're registered to vote and educating themselves about these amendments and making sure that they vote to preserve truth and morality for the sake of our commonwealth and the flourishing of human life and families.
00:54:11.760 --> 00:54:12.559
Thank you so much.
00:54:14.400 --> 00:54:17.920
Thank you for joining us on this episode of the Defending Freedom Show.
00:54:18.159 --> 00:54:20.000
Look forward to seeing you on the next one.