Trascrizione completa di Pastor Explains How a Marriage Amendment Reaches Into the Pulpit | Shane Bost & Jackee Andrews Ep. 016

00:04:55.199 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. 00:04:55.439 --> 00:04:57.120 Let's talk about point one. 00:04:57.759 --> 00:05:07.759 Protect the freedom to make personal decisions about prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion, miscarriage management, and fertility care. 00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:11.199 What is deceptive about that language? 00:05:12.079 --> 00:05:19.360 Well, it talks about protecting a freedom, right, for personal decisions about this prenatal care. 00:05:19.600 --> 00:05:27.199 What it's really saying is that should we allow and give permission to terminate a viable life inside the womb. 00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:35.120 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. 00:05:35.279 --> 00:05:36.319 Ever since Roe v. 00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:41.920 Wade, we have believed that the life in the womb is not really a life. 00:05:42.160 --> 00:05:45.759 That it's it's pitched on this idea called personhood theory. 00:05:45.920 --> 00:05:48.720 What the Supreme Court did back in with Roe v. 00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:51.600 Wade is they created a third category of person. 00:05:51.680 --> 00:05:53.680 They created a human non-person. 00:05:53.759 --> 00:06:02.319 And by doing that, it meant the life in the womb is no longer under the protection of the 14th Amendment of our Constitution. 00:06:02.639 --> 00:06:11.519 In so doing, they all they did not give then an um a framework of when that child becomes a person, becomes alive. 00:06:11.680 --> 00:06:13.680 Is it at three months in utero? 00:06:13.759 --> 00:06:15.759 Is it uh at the moment of first breath? 00:06:15.920 --> 00:06:17.759 Is it when the child is two years old? 00:06:17.839 --> 00:06:21.839 That there's no defining moment when it when the child, the baby, becomes a person. 00:06:22.079 --> 00:06:36.720 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. 00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:39.360 It's not, it's it, there's no value to it. 00:06:39.759 --> 00:06:44.399 Jackie, this this deception is clearly coming from the enemy, right? 00:06:44.480 --> 00:06:57.680 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. 00:06:57.839 --> 00:06:59.839 It's true for all, or it's true for none. 00:07:00.079 --> 00:07:10.079 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.

00:07:11.279 --> 00:07:18.959 And and here's the thing the amendment itself doesn't mention woman, it says individual. 00:07:19.199 --> 00:07:22.879 It doesn't distinguish between minor and adult. 00:07:24.160 --> 00:07:25.360 There are implications. 00:07:26.160 --> 00:07:27.759 Huge implications on that. 00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:34.000 So what this amendment does, if it passes, it removes all parental consent, uh all parental rights. 00:07:34.240 --> 00:07:35.839 So what this would look like. 00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:50.959 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. 00:07:51.199 --> 00:07:53.279 So parents won't even be told that this is happening. 00:07:53.360 --> 00:08:01.120 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. 00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:06.319 But not some, not a life-altering decision will the parents even be notified. 00:08:06.480 --> 00:08:08.399 And here's the here's the kicker on this. 00:08:08.560 --> 00:08:11.360 Say the abortion is botched or something happens, right? 00:08:11.519 --> 00:08:20.560 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. 00:08:20.800 --> 00:08:22.800 Part of the baby is still there inside the womb. 00:08:22.879 --> 00:08:26.240 And now the body's responding to it as though it's an infection. 00:08:26.399 --> 00:08:31.600 Um, we know that if abortion is done in improperly, it can result in death, right? 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:38.240 So if that abortion is done, the parents are never notified, the child then comes home, she's having serious consequences. 00:08:38.399 --> 00:08:42.960 The parent is like, I gotta get you to the emergency room, takes the child to to the emergency room. 00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:51.200 Jackie, the parent has to give uh uh consent, right, for the ER to provide care to the child. 00:08:51.360 --> 00:08:56.879 This amendment removes that for the child and parental rights, so the child can do whatever they want. 00:08:57.679 --> 00:09:01.120 And can be taken advantage of by just about anybody. 00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:01.679 Absolutely. 00:09:02.080 --> 00:09:19.039 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. 00:09:20.320 --> 00:09:36.159 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. 00:09:36.320 --> 00:09:40.799 There's no definition whether it's a minor or um or or an adult. 00:09:41.200 --> 00:09:41.919 That's exactly right. 00:09:42.320 --> 00:09:43.200 Oh my goodness. 00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:45.919 So let's let's go to point two. 00:09:46.559 --> 00:09:52.240 Protect doctors, nurses, and patients from being punished for this for these decisions. 00:09:52.559 --> 00:09:55.679 Now that sounds very noble. 00:09:55.840 --> 00:09:59.039 I think we gotta protect our healthcare workers and all these other things. 00:09:59.360 --> 00:10:10.080 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. 00:10:10.399 --> 00:10:10.799 Yeah. 00:10:11.120 --> 00:10:14.080 So there's there's a couple things about this. 00:10:14.480 --> 00:10:23.279 This this allows the possibility that you will no longer need to have a medical professional to perform the abortion. 00:10:23.600 --> 00:10:26.639 And you're going to go, well, wait a second, how how is that happening? 00:10:26.879 --> 00:10:33.919 What the amendment is attempting to do is to say it's looking to protect anybody involved with the abortion. 00:10:34.080 --> 00:10:43.360 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. 00:10:43.679 --> 00:10:45.759 Or a licensed physician, anybody. 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:46.480 Correct. 00:10:46.639 --> 00:10:54.720 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. 00:10:54.879 --> 00:11:08.960 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. 00:11:09.039 --> 00:11:13.519 And if something happens to the woman or the girl, there's no consequences. 00:11:13.679 --> 00:11:13.919 Yeah. 00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:21.360 There's no all all of those guardrails, all of that safety surrounding it that Virginia currently has, it all goes away. 00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:35.600 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. 00:11:35.919 --> 00:11:56.240 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. 00:11:56.399 --> 00:12:15.679 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. 00:12:15.759 --> 00:12:19.519 And what about if something goes wrong, there is no recourse. 00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:23.279 That's what I'm reading this to say, right? 00:12:23.600 --> 00:12:25.120 That's exactly what the language is in blind. 00:12:25.519 --> 00:12:25.759 Correct. 00:12:26.159 --> 00:12:38.720 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. 00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:45.600 That part, what does the actual amendment say about that? 00:12:46.159 --> 00:12:50.960 So, in currently in Virginia, abortion is already permitted in the third trimester. 00:12:51.039 --> 00:12:52.639 Uh it's really bad, but it is. 00:12:52.799 --> 00:12:55.120 But there are some guardrails that are around that. 00:12:55.279 --> 00:13:01.360 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. 00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:02.879 This removes that. 00:13:02.960 --> 00:13:07.200 And so you no longer have that guardrail uh in in place. 00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:16.000 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. 00:13:16.159 --> 00:13:21.679 It could be a mental health issue, it could be a physical issue, it could be all of these different different types of things. 00:13:21.919 --> 00:13:23.360 And the language actually says that. 00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:24.000 Correct. 00:13:24.080 --> 00:13:25.120 That's exactly what the language means. 00:13:25.519 --> 00:13:25.919 Mental health. 00:13:26.080 --> 00:13:27.039 It includes mental health. 00:13:27.200 --> 00:13:40.000 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. 00:13:40.159 --> 00:13:48.799 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. 00:13:49.039 --> 00:13:55.759 And the side of it here is this is also risking taking away the religious or the conscientious objections of doing this. 00:13:55.840 --> 00:13:59.360 So the nurses and doctors will go, like, hey, I would never want to be participated in that. 00:13:59.519 --> 00:14:01.120 It's removing that framework from them. 00:14:01.200 --> 00:14:08.799 They would be required to do something against their own belief or their own objections that that they would have. 00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:10.639 Isn't that very interesting? 00:14:10.879 --> 00:14:14.000 On point number two, it says it protects doctors. 00:14:14.080 --> 00:14:14.240 Yeah. 00:14:14.399 --> 00:14:15.200 Literally says it. 00:14:15.440 --> 00:14:19.279 This is what when you go to the ballot, you're you're reading, you're saying, of course I want to protect doctors. 00:14:19.440 --> 00:14:20.080 Doctors want to protect. 00:14:20.320 --> 00:14:29.840 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. 00:14:30.080 --> 00:14:30.320 That's right. 00:14:30.480 --> 00:14:33.360 Because abortion is intentional taking of a human life, isn't it? 00:14:33.679 --> 00:14:37.039 That's exactly what it would that's exactly what it's doing. 00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:48.000 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? 00:14:48.320 --> 00:14:50.879 So, what's what's included in fertility care? 00:14:51.039 --> 00:14:56.960 Fertility fertility care today now also includes gender dysphoria and gender transitioning. 00:14:57.120 --> 00:15:15.919 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. 00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:18.000 So now say this goes further. 00:15:18.320 --> 00:15:28.320 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. 00:15:28.399 --> 00:15:34.879 And what's significant about this, Jackie, in Virginia in particular, we have the really sad story of Sage of Sage, right? 00:15:35.039 --> 00:15:44.480 Sage Blair in Appomattox County, where she was walking through something like this uh with a gender dysphoria, and her story is horrific. 00:15:44.639 --> 00:15:48.720 Um, there has been an attempt to try and change, and Sage has even talked about this. 00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:55.600 The president highlighted her in her in his State of the Union address, bringing awareness to this very situation. 00:15:55.759 --> 00:16:01.200 There's been um prominent um voices that have been speaking out about some of these issues. 00:16:01.360 --> 00:16:11.039 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. 00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:14.960 This is not, I wish some adult would have stood up and have helped me with this. 00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:24.799 This amendment not only prevents that from happening, right, but it actually removes parents from being able to interfere at all. 00:16:25.360 --> 00:16:27.039 That is so tragic. 00:16:27.200 --> 00:16:37.759 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. 00:16:37.840 --> 00:16:39.200 I I think this is right. 00:16:39.279 --> 00:16:48.639 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. 00:16:49.039 --> 00:16:49.679 Quite the opposite. 00:16:50.080 --> 00:17:07.359 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. 00:17:07.759 --> 00:17:10.960 We were created for a self-governing society. 00:17:11.119 --> 00:17:11.440 That's right. 00:17:11.599 --> 00:17:23.920 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. 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:30.880 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. 00:17:30.960 --> 00:17:33.759 And that's kind of it's the double-edged sword, isn't it? 00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:46.400 Is that we are so powerful that nefarious and um conniving people, clever people, can actually use our power against us. 00:17:47.599 --> 00:17:51.519 And that's that's kind of that's what I see happening here, unfortunately. 00:17:51.680 --> 00:17:59.759 And I wonder if between now and November we have a chance to turn this around. 00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:03.920 I would hope that we would turn tur turn this thing around. 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:08.880 And this and this is and this is the thing, Jackie, is I've met with pastors across across the Commonwealth. 00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:13.279 Um, many of them don't even realize these things are even on the ballot. 00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:15.039 They're eat that this is even going to happen. 00:18:15.200 --> 00:18:24.559 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? 00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:26.319 Well, we should hear it from the church. 00:18:26.400 --> 00:18:26.720 That's right. 00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:27.519 And here's why. 00:18:27.680 --> 00:18:32.799 Paul the Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 10 um that we're in a war, right? 00:18:32.960 --> 00:18:34.559 We're in a spiritual war. 00:18:34.720 --> 00:18:40.880 Um and it says though, for though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 00:18:41.359 --> 00:18:48.480 For the weapons of our warfare are not of flesh uh of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 00:18:48.720 --> 00:18:50.000 Well, what are some of these strongholds? 00:18:50.160 --> 00:18:51.759 The apostle Paul goes on to define those. 00:18:51.839 --> 00:18:59.759 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against

the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ. 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:11.200 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. 00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:14.400 And Jackie, I I I I'll be very, very direct. 00:19:14.559 --> 00:19:20.400 If a pastor is unwilling to talk about life from the pulpit, he shouldn't be in the pulpit. 00:19:20.960 --> 00:19:21.920 He shouldn't be there. 00:19:22.079 --> 00:19:24.000 Because God has something to say about life. 00:19:24.079 --> 00:19:33.039 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. 00:42:29.840 --> 00:42:35.119 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? 00:42:47.679 --> 00:42:50.320 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? 00:44:07.679 --> 00:44:08.480 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.