← Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey
Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey
Ep 1105 | Updates on Steven Lawson Scandal & Cru's Odd Diversity Letter
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Ali Stuckey
Campus Crusade for Christ or crew is once again showing their progressive colors. They sent out an email after the election to only their bipoc staffers validating their feelings of sadness that Donald Trump won. Also, we've got an update and a little bit of clarity on the tragic Steve Lawson situation. We've got all of this and more on today's episode of Relatable. It's brought to you by our friends at Good ranchers. Go to good ranchers.com code ali that's goodranchers.com code ally hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Thursday. Hope everyone has had a wonderful week so far. Just a reminder, we've got these awesome new mugs in this yard sign, our first ever yard sign. God's eternal plan of redemption is always going off without a hitch. On Monday, we're going to have this amazing conversation with a man who left the gay lifestyle, repented, is following Christ. And as we were talking about his story, I love our testimony episodes. They're so edifying to me, but edifying to you guys as well. And we were talking just about how God uses our stories, the testimonies of his people to then change other people's hearts and minds and how we we will never really know the full effect and the impact of our courage in sharing our testimony until we get to glory. And we will get to see revealed. I believe this constellation of lives and souls and hearts that were affected, changed by God through the power of the testimonies of his people and God's eternal plan of redemption is going off without a hitch because he chooses, doesn't have to, but chooses to use the often unseen and unsung simple obedience of his people. And that's also why we often say do the next right thing in faith with excellence and for the glory of God. Because that's really how it works. That's how it works in the life of the Christian. We think about doing these big grand things for God, these public displays of courage and boldness, and maybe God is calling you to that. But maybe the next right thing is something that's seemingly small, something that is private, something that no one will ever see except for God. But when it's done in faith, when it's done to the fullness of our capability, when it's done for the glory of the Lord, it matters not just in the here and now, but in eternity. There's an amazing book by Tim Keller and I know we've got some disagreements with Tim Keller, especially his commentary about politics in the years before he died. But I learned a lot from Tim Keller, especially when I was in high school and college. A lot of his work was very formative in my understanding of the fundamental tenets of Christianity and shaping my worldview. And every good endeavor by Tim Keller changed how I saw work. And not only work, it changed how I saw, saw every single action that I do. That every good endeavor that is done in faith and for the glory of God means something. That is the beauty of the life of the believer, that nothing doesn't matter. Everything matters. And that should change how we live. That should change our outlook. It should give us hope, it should give us joy, knowing that we operate as people who are looking forward to the full culmination of Jesus's victory. And so I just wanted to start the day with that encouragement. We've talked about some difficult things this week, some sad things, when we're talking about Lake and Riley's murder and the trial that we just saw. If you need a recap on that and the details, please go back and listen to or watch the past two episodes. And in light of what we just said, I do just want to read you part of a journal entry that was read yesterday in court before the announcement of the sentencing by her stepdad. Because even though what I'm about to read you, which is a prayer or actually a letter that Lake and Riley wrote to her future husband, even though it didn't manifest itself in an actual future husband, I do believe that God is using something like this for his glory. Something that otherwise would have always remained private, is now being publicized, and he may be using it to change hearts and minds as we see just the sweetness and the gentleness and the earnestness in this letter that Lake and Riley wrote to her future husband. And if you're unfamiliar with this concept, this is something that I did. I kept the journal when I wrote letters and prayers for my future husband. This is something that is, I would say, very prevalent in the church. And so her small group leader encouraged her to write this letter. And this is just so, so sweet. So here's what her stepdad read yesterday. To my future husband, I want you to know that I'm thinking about you. I'm working every day to become the best wife I can be. I'm working through my current relationships to best prepare me for ours and our kids one day. I'm focusing on God in what he defines as a faithful Christian life so that I can best embody those characteristics. I pray that you know it is with my full faith. And trust in God that I know this relationship has been handcrafted by Him. I pray that we continue to glorify the Lord, prioritizing Him in every aspect of our lives and raise our family, our future family, to be God fearing Christians as well. I pray God is at the center of our relationship as it is a gift from Him. I thank him for you before I even know you and can't wait to love you in the best way I know how. For the rest of our lives. I pray you know and feel the importance of my love and hopes for our relationship no matter what challenges we face. I pray that our trust in God and love for one another overrules the obstacle. May our relationship last forever. Your future wife, Lakin. And of course Lakin's life was ended when she was just 22 years old in our minds far too early and of course very unjustly by a person who should not have been here in the first place. And as I said yesterday, I just feel this burden to say I'm sorry to Lakin because we failed her in so many ways. The people who were tasked to protect our country, to keep us safe didn't. They failed. And let that be a reminder of the effect of policy that the politicians you elect and the priorities they have, the policies they believe in, they have a real effect on people, they have a real effect on people's lives. But I take comfort that somehow in the midst of this mess that God is glorifying himself. That God is going to use her faith and her joy to bring others to himself. Because that's what he does. What Satan means for evil, God uses for good. That's just how he works. He is in the business of redemption. He is in the business of bringing beauty out of ashes. And I pray that. I pray that he is glorified beyond what we can even comprehend. And I pray for her sweet parents, her mom. I saw the body cam footage yesterday. It's just so devastating. When they found out that she had been murdered. Oh my goodness. Just absolutely devastating. I mean I can imagine as a mom just the pain of what that was and the sadness that she displayed in the courtroom. Please, please pray for her family. Please pray for her friends who are understandably struggling and traumatized. Please pray that they would have the peace that passes all understanding. Pray that this would inspire courage in the American people. That it would inspire courage in our politicians to secure our border, to enact righteous policy which is to put the well being of your citizens first. That is their God given responsibility. Pray that they do that. Pray for this person Ibarra, who, while he showed no remorse whatsoever that I could see in the courtroom. Pray that God would turn his heart of stone into a heart of flesh, because God can do that. I mean, if Jesus can change the heart and the life of Paul from someone who delighted in the murder of Christians to the greatest evangelist that the world has ever seen, then he can change Jose Ibarra's heart. As I've said, he should get the death penalty. Someone should share the gospel with him and he should have the opportunity to respond. And then he should be executed. He's not going to be. As we talked about yesterday, he is going. He was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, and it is unjust that he gets to live out the remainder of his days until his natural death and Lakin does not. That is not justice. That he gets an upgrade from his life in Venezuela, funded by taxpayers, three free square meals a day for him, clothing, comforts, a place that is cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Not to say that prison is easy, but it's probably easier than the streets of Venezuela. And so really, he has been given a great grace and she has had to suffer and her life ended prematurely, while his will go on, presumably for decades. That is not justice. The God who is justice in Genesis 9. 6 says the death penalty is the proportionate punishment for murder because we are made in God's image. And one day Jesus is coming back in. Psalm 37 tells us that he is going to do away with evil and evildoers. And one day we will have no more injustice. One day we will have no more murder. We will have no more trials. We will have no more tribulation. We won't have any sickness or sadness or oppression or violence or injustice, because we will live in the fullness of Jesus's rule and his victory. And so let us have hope in that and let Lake and Riley's family have hope in that as well. All right, we've got several things to talk about today. We've got to talk about an update on the pastor, Steve Lawson. And this is not something that's fun to talk about, but as there have been some developments, and we talked about it a few weeks ago, I do feel responsible to follow up on this and to draw some lessons from what we have heard and what we have not heard from Stephen Lawson. But let me pause and let me tell you about our first sponsor for the day, and that is good ranchers. You guys know how much we love Good Ranchers in the Stucky home. We rely on it almost every night for the protein in our healthy meals. And I love their better than organic chicken. I choose the non pre marinated kind just because I like to decide the spices I put on my chicken. I use their ground beef probably the most. It's just so versatile. You can use it in pasta, you can use it in tacos and enchiladas and in quesadillas. If you can tell. I like Tex Mex and Good Ranchers helps me with that. They've also got amazing seafood, all kinds of stuff. All of it is from American farms and ranches. Also right now, if you buy any box, I encourage you to buy the Alley box because it's got all that stuff that I just listed and even more in it. It's really just like the box for moms. But if you go to good ranchers.com Ali you can get a free Thanksgiving ham with your purchase of any box. And that's amazing because that's like $110 value. So go to good ranchers.com use code ALI at checkout. That's good ranchers.com code ALI so if you don't remember or you weren't around when we originally talked about this pastor or preacher, rather Stephen Lawson, is or was a very esteemed name in the reform reformed Christian world. This is one of the last people that those of us who are reformed would have guessed would fall in this way, and that is in the way of an inappropriate relationship with a woman. We still don't have all of the details about that, but the story here is really how the church has handled it. And the fallout because of really the lack of clarity and the lack of transparency here that I think is owed to the Christians that have read Stephen Lawson's books that have benefited from his preaching ministry, have been attending his Bible studies worldwide and have really been following him and admiring him as a sort of father in the faith for a very long time. So let me just give you a recap on that and then we can talk about what has happened since. So in September, Steve Lawson, the 73 year old lead preacher at Trinity Bible Church of Dallas and president of One Passion Ministries, was removed from ministry after an alleged, quote unquote, inappropriate relationship with an unidentified woman. And that wording, as we talked about at the time, the PR statement that was put out by the church afterwards is very intentional. Every single word of those PR statements is crafted by a publicist, is crafted by a lawyer. I am Just assuming, because I know how those statements go and what we could deduce from every word of that statement is that this was an inappropriate but not necessarily sexual relationship because that was not said, it wasn't necessarily a sexual extramarital affair and that it was possibly still ongoing. The statement also read that they were hoping for Steve's repentance, which I think that we can easily deduce means that he had not yet repented. Some people argued with me about that, but I do believe that that is still the correct interpretation of the statements that were released both by Trinity Bible Chur Church and by One Passion Ministries. With more than 40 years dedicated to ministry as a prominent figure in the Reformed Calvinist Evangelicalism movement, Lawson formerly served as a teaching Fellow at Ligonier Ministries, as the Dean of Doctor of Ministry Studies at the Master's Seminary. So Ligonier was started by R.C. sproul, the Master's Seminary started as by John MacArthur, and as a frequent speaker with John MacArthur at the Master Seminary events and the Shepherds Conference. So here's a summarized update of what has happened since then. And then we'll dig into some of the details. As Trinity Bible Church has not released further information on Steve Lawson's removal from ministry, new details about the long term affair are surfacing online along with claims that Lawson was not a member of his church membership, thus nullifying the church leadership's ability to handle the discipline and restoration process. So let me clarify something because I know some, some people are going to say we shouldn't be talking about this at all. This is just salacious gossip. I am not going to include the things that are just hearsay. I'm not going to include the things that I think are just salacious gossip. There are plenty of things that I have heard that I have not repeated to anyone. There are plenty of things that I've read online that I cannot verify myself. And I will not share those things. I am only sharing the things that I think add clarity to a situation that affects all of the people who have been impacted by Stephen Lawson. And it also just affects the church, the global church, not even just his local church. And I think that we have something to learn about how this was handled. I personally had greatly benefited from Stephen Lawson. I listened to his sermons. I listened to some of his books on the reformers. I believe the last one that I listened to was about John Knox. He has a lot of very interesting historical resources on the Reformation and the reformers. And I have really appreciated him. I've met him before. I've listened to his sermons in person. And so I take zero delight out of this. This is someone who I consider like, firmly in my camp. And so this is incredibly disappointing to me. But I know people who attend his church, attended his church, and they are seeking clarity. And so I want to try to offer that as best as I can by summarizing the information that we do have. So this is what I especially think is important, that Lawson as the preacher of at Trinity Bible Church, was not only not the pastor because that was part of the deal. He said, I will come preach because they asked him to come preach because he's a famous preacher and he's a great expositor. He said, I'm not going to be a pastor. He had been a pastor in the past in the state of Alabama, and he said, I'm just not going to do that again. But I'll come preach and I'll continue to travel the world preaching to different churches, but I'm not going to be a pastor. But not only that, not only was he basically a performer, that's I, I, that's what I see. I see if you're a preacher at a church and not a pastor, you are doing a performance without having to get your hands dirty in the shepherding process. It's not that I think that everyone who preaches at a church has to be a pastor, but if you are the consistent preacher and expositor at a church, I do think that you should also have a relationship with the congregants to where you are the one that is shepherding them, like you are the one that is visiting the hospitals, like you are the one that is performing the funerals. You are the one that is in the nitty gritty of their lives. I think that changes how you lead a church. I think it changes how you preach. I think it also changes how you conduct yourself because your responsibility is not only to yourself and your reputation and your performance, but it's also to this family of believers that you have been tasked to steward and protect and to care for. Following the initial report About Lawson on September 20, several allegations about Lawson's affair have surfaced, including a report from Phil Johnson. Phil Johnson is the executive director of MacArthur's radio and TV ministry. Grace to you. He had an X thread that I'm not going to read because he deleted it in deference to the elders at Trinity Bible Church, hoping that they would carry out a process of transparency that would be helpful to everyone. And so I'm not going to read everything that he posted there. I assume because he deleted it he doesn't want it to be public, but there have been statements since that thread that detailed who this young woman was and how they started their relationship that have been made public that I can that I can read to you. Casey Stats is a follower of Lawson's or was a follower of Steve Lawson's. A supporter of Ligonier Ministries. She questioned Johnson's Phil Johnson's tweet thread, saying it seems that maybe this isn't the whole story, and she included an image of Stephen Lawson sitting next to a young woman with her face blurred out, originally shared and taken down by the Grace Community Church Crossroads Instagram account. Johnson and Stats then had an email exchange where Johnson defended his statements in that now deleted X thread and suggested that Stats contact him directly for further clarification. This following email exchange was reported by the Christian Post. So this is public. So Stats expressed her disappointment and emphasized the public's demand for transparency. Johnson replied on October 23rd in detail by reiterating that the woman does not live close to Lawson's Ministries and commented on the nature of the woman's relationship with Lawson, emphasizing that she was a consenting adult in her mid-20s at the time. He confirmed that she was a student at the Master's College during some of the time that they were engaged in this adulterous affair. Other sources said that she graduated from the Master's University in 2018 and was an employee of Grace Community church bookstore in 2021. And I will say that this has been confirmed. I I do know who the woman is. Her picture used to be on the website of these organizations and right after this news came out they were all removed and I saw that change happen in real time. Johnson added that this was not a case of pastoral abuse as defined by Texas law because the woman's connection with Lawson originally came from her family's relationship with Lawson and had nothing to do with her student status. He wrote that while he was not close to Lawson, he had no reason to suspect that he was living a double life and certainly no evidence that he was involved in such a sleazy affair. He also wrote that one Grace Church secretary observed over familiar behavior between the two. This girl had straightened his tie and combed his hair in a public setting. Yikes. And reported the concern to an employee of Lawson's ministry, one Pat, his ministry, one passion but did not report her concerns to any elders at Grace Community Church. And so from our understanding, summarizing what we know from reputable sources is that this was something that probably started as a friendship. A young woman in her 20s who apparently had been family friends with Lawson's family for a while, they had this overly familiar relationship. It is also reported that the father confronted him and basically said, what the heck are you doing? We don't have evidence of any kind of abuse. We don't have evidence of any sexual relationship or sexual relations in their, in the, in their interactions. However, from what we can read and what has been reported, it was at least on the edge of romantic and very clearly inappropriate and demonstrated a lack of discretion. But because it probably fell in some kind of gray area that would, and this is just my opinion, probably account for Lawson's seeming lack of repentance and lack of remorse and lack of response. We have not heard anything from Stephen Lawson. I haven't heard him or seen him come forward and apologize to all of the people that depended upon him. I don't know if his heels are dug in, if he really believes that he did nothing wrong at all, or if he is embarrassed. We don't know what's going on behind the scenes there. But I do think that the lack of clarity and transparency that we see and seemingly the lack of accountability that he had, that is a story and that is the problem. Let me pause and tell you about our next sponsor, Every Life. Every Life is a pro life diaper company. They put their money where their mouth is, their money behind their values. They have something called a Buy for a Cause bundle. If you go to their website, you can purchase this bundle of baby items for pregnant moms in need who are choosing Life. This just makes it easier for them to transition into motherhood and to celebrate the life of their child. They also make it super easy for their employees who are pregnant or adopting to do so, giving them a baby bonus to help them support that new little life. And if you subscribe to Every Life, you get that box of diapers to your front door every month. It makes your life a lot easier. Those are the diapers that we use in our home. They're really high quality materials that are used in the diapers. We love them. Go to everylife.com use code ALI10 for a 10% discount on your order. That's every life.com code ALI10. So here's a little bit more about Lawson's church membership. And I'm looking at my phone if, if you haven't noticed because I forgot my iPad today. On the With All Wisdom podcast, pastors Derek Brown and Cliff McManus of Creekside Bible Church in Cupertino discuss new information regarding Steve Lawson's role at Trinity Bible Church, which they have verified by multiple reliable sources. Lawson, as I said earlier, was not actually a pastor at Trinity Bible Church, but rather held the title of lead preacher. That was not a secret, by the way. That was something that actually always concerned me about Trinity Bible Church. He was also not an elder there. It is worth knowing that the original statement released from Trinity Reads the Bible was removed indefinitely from all ministry activities at Trinity Bible Church. He was removed from ministry activities, not a position, because he didn't really have a position. And not only that, he was not even a member at the church. The contacted Trinity Bible also said that the elders at their church are not the ones managing the process of Matthew 18 or managing the Matthew 18 process of discipline and correction with Lawson because he is not a member there. So lack of accountability from the very beginning, the prideful assumption, and I'm not trying to read into hearts, but I think this would be true of any of us. I think that we can just see the fruit of it and say that there was probably a prideful assumption that someone like him does not need the measures of accountability that others need because he was seen as so solid, because he was so theologically there. And you would just think that there was no room for compromise or to give in to temptation at all. This is important. This note that he is not a member is important because when the news first came out, many and prominent ministries told Christians to leave the situation to local church elders. But the elders actually didn't have authority to carry out this process. It has been over six weeks since the announcement and there has been no statement from Steve Lawson. Trinity Bible Church has not given a new statement or update since September 19th. So let's look at this ecclesiologically. So ecclesiology is the study of the church. It means assembly and word. It is the combination of those ecclesia and logos. So the study of the church. What is the purpose of the church? The purposes of the church is to teach biblical doctrine. It's to provide a place of fellowship for believers, observe the Lord's Supper. It's to pray. It is to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to send them out to defend the faith, to do apologetics for the faith, to evangelize to others. It is the place of comfort and equipment and the place to strengthen both from the shepherd and through encouragement of our fellow believers and of course, worshiping together. There is Such power and refreshment that comes from the corporate worship that happens in the local body of believers. And all of those purposes that I just listed for the church are to be, I believe, done under the direction of a shepherd. I think that the elder model is great. I think that there is a need for elders and for that form of leadership. But it seems to me that there should be an overseer. And for the reasons I listed earlier, I do believe that the overseer and the head preacher of a church should be one in the same. Because again, it changes, impacts your relationship with the flock that you are to be teaching. This is a very intimate, in the like relational sense, emotional sense, like relationship that a shepherd has with his flock. You are to love the body that you are leading. You are to protect them from the predation of false teaching. You are to mourn with them as they mourn. You are to rejoice with them as they rejoice. And that requires a kind of daily self sacrifice, a daily getting down into, when necessary, the muck and the mire of the everyday lives of your most significant and high tithing members and your lowest and most seemingly insignificant members. And when your position is just as an itinerant preacher, when your position is basically just to give an expository performance and to show people the knowledge of the Bible that you have, without that kind of intimate friendship and communion with them, I think that something is always going to be missing. And I am shocked by the fact that he was not actually a member and therefore the accountability factor was just not there. That is a huge indiscretion. That is the beautiful thing about structure and about order and about checks and balances and the different realms of authority within the church. Because we believe that the devil is prowling around like a lion looking for someone to devour. And it takes a lot of effort for us to keep each other accountable and to stave off temptation and to stave off sin as much as we can. And so the ecclesiology of Trinity Bible Church, I would say, was off. You can ride a bike for a while that has a spoke that is out of place, but not forever. Like eventually it's going to break down and the bike is not going to be able to go anymore. And it does seem like that's what happened here. And certainly I'm not trying to come from a place of judgment or perfection at all, but actually just a lot of sadness. And there's a lot of other things I could say, according to my opinion about this matter, that I am that I am not saying. I'm really just trying to stick to what we know and the deductions that I think we can reasonably make from that. But I I do think that this is a warning to other churches that no one, no one is outside of the possibility of temptation and lacking wisdom, indiscretion and every every caution needs to be heated in order to protect the leaders that Satan absolutely loves to tempt and devour. Hebrews 10:24:25 and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another. And all the more as you see the day drawing near, just the significance of the local church and one of the important one of the important aspects and purposes of it. James 5:16 Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working first Timothy 5:20 but those elders who are sinning you are to reprove before everyone so that others may take warning. So all of these have their different relevance to the story that we're talking about, but especially first Timothy 5:20 those elders who are sitting you are to reprove before everyone so that others may take warning. I have not seen much in the way of public reproof, but again, he was not an elder and he was not a member and he was not a pastor. So the typical mechanisms that are in place in the local body of believers to hold these kind of people accountable just aren't there. So I would say that is why we have not seen any more communication. That is not that is why we haven't received a lot of clarity when it comes to this issue. And it's really just a shame. And I really feel not only for his family, but for those who were deeply impacted by him, who were discipled by him. I I feel for them and potentially the crisis of faith that they are having right now. And I just pray that God would strengthen them and renew their faith in him who never fails us and never betrays us. Let me pause and tell you about our next sponsor before we get into some commentary on this. And that is Hillsdale College. Time is our most precious commodity. I've heard from so many of my listeners and viewers who have asked for my advice, how they can spend it wisely to improve themselves and the people around them. And one of the great ways that you can do that is to make sure that you've got the knowledge and wisdom necessary to understand the times that we're in and where we're headed. History, economics, the great works of literature, the meaning of the U.S. constitution. Maybe you feel like you don't have time to enroll in a class and to learn about all of these things thoroughly, but that's why Hillsdale is here. They're offering more than 40 free online courses in the most important and enduring subjects. You can learn about the works of C.S. lewis, the stories in the book of Genesis, the meaning of the US Constitution, the rise and fall of Rome, or the history of the ancient Christian church with Hillsdale College's online courses, all available for free. I recommend you sign up for American Citizenship and its Decline with Victor Davis Hansen. In this eight lecture course, Dr. Hansen explores the history of citizenship in the west and the threats it faces today. Go right now to Hillsdale. Edu relatable. There's no cost. It's easy to get started. Hillsdale. Edu relatable Josh Bice is the president and founder of G3 Ministries. He says preachers who refuse proper ecclesiology should not be platformed in conferences or seminaries to train shepherds for gospel ministry. Period. And I think that's important. I think we forget about the importance of ecclesiology and accountability for our leaders. So a lot to learn there. And we can still pray in hope. Pray and hope that he has repented and that God would restore him and would comfort his family during this time. And if there has been some big, huge misunderstanding, I pray that we would get clarity. I pray that there would be accountability here, not just for the sake of Stephen Lawson and Trinity Bible Church, whom I truly pray for and hope the absolute best for. That God would be glorified in that body of believers and that this would be a very hard lesson learned and that the steps would be taken to rectify this kind of error in the future. I pray the best for all of these things, but also just for the church in general. I mean, this can, of course, be used for good and God's glory, and it will. Romans 8:28. But like, it's a blight. This is. This is a really hard thing for a lot of people in Reformed circles. Okay, I want to talk about this crew, email crew, Campus Crusade for Christ. We have talked about their leftward drift for a while. We talked about their curriculum that we got access to, where they were basically presenting theological liberalism, political liberalism as a viable option for their ministry leaders. Things like pronoun politeness. They even presented affirmation of transgenderism, not as Cruz own position, but as a position that some Christians might hold. And of course they have been very supportive of the social racial justice movement over the past few years. And so there has absolutely been a progressive trajectory of CREW for a while, which is really such a shame because it's an organization that has positively changed very many lives. But after the election, they kind of played this mushy middle role that they've been playing for a while, pretending that voting for Kamala Harris is like a viable okay option for Christians and that we should defer to the sadness of Christians and feel for the sadness of Christians who are disappointed that Kamala Harris, who rabidly and enthusiastically supported abortion through all nine months of pregnancy, lost. So here's the summary of what went on in response to the 2024 election results, Cruz Oneness and Diversity National Team sent a letter to what is believed based on which staff members did or did not receive it, to be their list of minority and BIPOC staff members. Titled Oneness is a Truth and a Journey, the letter sought to help them with the spectrum of feelings following Trump's victory, but mostly focused on feelings of anger and grief. So the problem is first that they sent it out to racial minorities only. And this is just something that we see in the legacy of 2020, a lot of Christian leaders doing this, pretending that black and brown Christians have to get one message and it's a message of comfort and I would say coddling. And then the white members have to get another message. And that is a message of you bear all of the sins and the responsibilities of everyone who has roughly the same skin color as you. Not just those who live today, but also Those who live 200 years ago, whether you were related to them or not. And so on the one hand, you are giving white people all of the agency and responsibility in the world, and then you're giving black and brown people no agency whatsoever, not only for what their ancestors did or didn't do, but even for what they do or do not do. Which of course is just like not the gospel. The truth is, is that both sides need to hear you are responsible for your actions. You are not responsible for the sins of your ancestors. You're not responsible even for the victories and successes of your ancestors. You are not judged by these things, but you are judged by your own heart. And are you regenerate by grace through faith in Christ or not? You don't carry the burden of the actions of your fathers and grandfathers like that is the truth. But unfortunately there were disparate messages. Two different gospels that were presented to these crowds by Christians who claim to be building the bridge and claim to be advocates of racial reconciliation. And the idea was that racial reconciliation could only be accomplished if white people bore the sins of people who looked like them 200 years ago, and black people had no responsibility to take ownership of their own sins or their own bitterness or their own anger or their own resentment. And that was just never going to work. That was never, ever going to work. I've told you the rules in the Facebook group Be the Bridge, which basically told white people to sit down and shut up. And I've given the specific rules in my book Toxic Empathy, you can read. So I'm not just making this up. And I've written about it, talked about it before, but said that, you know, black and brown people, you can cuss and wail at white people, but white people, you can't respond in kind. You can't defend yourself. You can't say that you're not racist or that you did not intend something racially insensitive in what you said. You just have to take it. And black and brown people, you can say whatever you want to. That was some people's definition of racial reconciliation, and it's all hogwash. It is literally of Satan. That is a doctrine of demons. And I even heard the head of Be the Bridge one time, she gave an analogy. Her name is Latasha Morrison. She said, you know, if my. If you wrecked my car, I expect you to pay for it. Well, I didn't wreck your car. None of us did. So none of us are responsible to pay for it. That's the whole idea of reparations, that somehow white people, all white people of varying shades and varying backgrounds and varying ethnicities are responsible to pay money to people who are black or brown of all different backgrounds and nationalities and ethnicities. Like, by what standard? You're not going to find them a biblical standard of that. So anyway, I know that was kind of like a. A tangent unrelated to CREW specifically, but I just wanted to give you context for what that whole movement looked like, because it seems like CREW is still kind of playing a part in that idea. Oneness and Diversity Team is crew's effort to bring in staff members that represent diversity in ethnicity, gender, and generation. Their website reads. While real differences exist among Christians about how to approach questions of race, ethnicity, and culture, we believe there is much more that unites us as followers of Jesus. Oneness in our ethnic and cultural diversity reflects God's heart and the Bible. Provides the categories we need to navigate historic and contemporary challenges related to ethnicity, culture and race. At the same time, the Oneness and Diversity presentation of the 2022 Crew All Staff Conference also detailed their strategy for for multiplying BIPOC and female leaders so they are incorporating DEI racial gender quota, racial and gender quotas in order to reflect more diversity. It's interesting how diversity only applies to skin color. It seems like white people are diverse, black people are diverse in and of themselves. We all come from different backgrounds with different nationalities, different ancestors, different people, different socioeconomic classes. Why does diversity just of melanin count carry so much more weight? Obviously it has carried weight historically, unfortunately in certain forms of institutionalized discrimination. But when it comes to biblical reconciliation and oneness like we need the Gospel, which tears down all different kinds of walls of hostility. But this this DEI quota nonsense is not going to get us there. So here's the post election letter to this group that crew sent Donald Trump's election for the second time has likely brought up a number of feelings among many of you. We want to acknowledge the range of feelings that exist right now. No matter who you voted for or didn't vote for, what you felt since Tuesday night is valid. Why? See, this is also just psychotherapy nonsense, this idea that all feelings are valid. It's not true. Some feelings are valid. All feelings exist if you have them, but they're not all valid. Valid means rooted in truth. If you are seething with rage that Kamala Harris didn't become president, I don't think that's a valid feeling. You might feel frustration or disappointment. You might feel relieved. You might feel fear, betrayal, anger, or a number of any other emotions. These are all real emotions and we encourage you not to minimize what you're feeling feeling, but to process them in healthy ways. Sometimes the best way to process an emotion is to tell it. To submit to Jesus. To say, okay, my emotions might not be rooted in truth. My emotions might exist, but they shouldn't guide me. And they don't need to be stewed on. That is the problem with SEL today. It makes us think too much about our emotions to our own detriment and the detriment of others. Talk to safe people about your feelings. Safe people journal and pray. Unplug from social media. That's not the worst. That's not the worst piece of advice ever. We are one in Christ and also continually pursuing oneness with our fellow believers through the power of the Holy Spirit. The journey is not always easy and right out and Right now, it's flat out difficult. The letter also points to a devotional written by their spiritual care coordinators titled Heart Examination. The devotional begins with the a Bible passage on grief, Isaiah 53, three grounding and deep breaths and then a message on grief and anger. The letter ends, we love you, are and are in this with all of you. So the assumption there is that a tragedy has befallen the black and brown members of Campus Crusade for Christ. And to validate and affirm and even deepen their anger and sadness, I would not be opposed to a letter sent to everyone saying no matter how you feel about this election, our hope is in Christ and He rules. And that's what we are looking forward to. I mean, I even think they would say, like we celebrate that someone is in office who will protect our border. We celebrate someone who is in office who will allow states to pass laws that protect the lives of unborn children. We celebrate that the person who wanted to institutionalize men in girls bathrooms and sports and locker rooms lost. We celebrate the fact that the woman who believed in institutionalizing taxpayer funded abortion through all nine months lost. Like, I think that those would be biblical positions. I don't even think those would be primarily political. I'd be fine with that. But even if they didn't want to go there, either no email at all or just an email saying Jesus is king and we celebrate him for that and like we are moving forward with the mission of crew, I think that would be fine. But basically validating people's mourning that the person who enabled Lake and Riley's murder and gleefully prosecuted pro life journalists and tried to force pro life pregnancy centers to advertise for abortion lost. Like I. I just don't see the Christian basis for something like that. I simply do not. They have a history of problematic things when it comes to this oneness and diversity. Ethnic Minority and BIPOC Ministry Fund they created this ethnic ministry fund CREW did, where donors can specifically give money to fund the Ministry of Ethnic Minorities and BIPOC staff. This was contentious because it allowed minority staff members to receive supplemental funding rather than being required to raise all their on their own support regardless of their socioeconomic status or location. So for example, a white staff member from a poor community with on average less wealthy donors might struggle more to raise support than a black staff member from a rich suburb only because the staff member was black. So he got that supplemental funding because of this ethnic diversity fund, even if he was rich, even if it was one of Michelle and Barack Obama's daughters that decided that they were going to work for crew, like they would get this supplemental funding. Whereas the poor guy from Appalachia who didn't have any rich donors to go to for money, he wouldn't get the supplemental funding. So this is what I'm talking about when I am describing the partiality that CREW is playing a role in. A partiality that God hates, by the way. God hates partiality. The website says partners of the Ethnic Minority Fund play a crucial role in ensuring minority staff members are fully supported. Help us ensure we have the right ministers in place to serve people from diverse backgrounds. I'm not saying actually that there is not a need for someone who looks like a community to go there and to be their minister. I do think there's something to that. We can all say that there should wouldn't be. But I think that's just kind of human nature that maybe a black minister would be able to effectively minister to a black community better. Let me say that again. Maybe a black minister would be able to better minister to black community. I think there's something to that. But you're basically punishing white people who want to be a part of your ministry by not giving them extra funding. And I just don't think that's good. I don't think that that is the impartiality that God calls. That God calls Christians to all right, we've got a little bit more on this in just a second. Let me pause and tell you about our next sponsor for the day and that is Magic Spoon. So if you love cereal like Chief Related bro and I do, but you don't want to be eating all the sugar and all the carbs and all of that every time you want a bowl of cereal then you need to check out Magic Spoon. They have turned their super popular cereal into high protein treats that are light, crispy and taste just like those classic crunchy cereal bars. Magic Spoon's brand new treats are so delicious. They've already become one of my favorite snacks. They are awesome and I love their cereal too. I love mixing like their chocolate cereal with peanut butter. It tastes so good. The cereal has 13 grams of protein, 0 grams of sugar, 4 grams of net carbs. Magic Spoons brand new treats are crispy, crunchy, airy, easy way to get 12 grams of protein on the go. If you go to magicspoon.com relatable you can get $5 off your next order. Magicspoon.com/relatable. We're just gonna end on a little Bit of a light hearted note today. And this has to do with Taylor Swift, our girl Taylor Swift. Just kidding. I don't really mean our girl. Bri is not even in the room right now, so she doesn't have to know that you and I see the problems with Taylor Swift and the negative influence that she has on tens of millions of young women, especially with her like, innocent Persona. We understand it's very damaging. But she did suggest this story because she can, even though she is a Swiftie herself, she can laugh at the ridiculous progressive things that she does or the things that happen at her concert. So she kicked off the final leg of her long running Eras tour at the Rogers center in Toronto, Canada on Thursday. Before she hit the stage, this massive sign, we'll put the picture up appeared on the main screen which read this. We acknowledge that we are performing today at Rogers center, located on Treaty 13 lands, traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit. What? And the. Is that really what it says? Of the Credit and the traditional home of many other nations, including the Anishinaabeg, the Harunasani, the Chippewa and the Wendat peoples. We acknowledge the First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples whose original and treaty territories we stand upon. And then she comes out and she says, let's get started. Like, it's just so ridiculous. It's just a giant virtue signal. This doesn't do anything. And maybe that's why they do it, because they know that it's going to save them some, you know, some criticism by doing this kind of thing. Look, every single land on earth has been conquered at some point. The Indian tribes were warring each other long before Christopher Columbus came to America. They were stealing land from each other in very torturous and barbarous and violent ways. By the way, this idea that the indigenous people to the United States were these like peaceful groups that just honored each other's land and their territories is, is just not true. America was just another conqueror and a long land or a long line of conquerors. What difference does it really make if tribes are warring against each other for their land and a foreign invader comes in and wars for their land? I mean, it's not Christopher Columbus's fault that they were very, that they were far more equipped than the indigenous people. And so I just find this acknowledgement quite, quite silly. This idea that we've heard over and over again that we have to give land back to the indigenous people. Well, unfortunately, the reservations are some of the poorest and most crime ridden dangerous places in the United States. And you know who suffers from that? Women and children. Because alcoholism, the drug use, the abuse, the driving while intoxicated, that happened to many of these reservations, especially in places like Oklahoma. It's tragic. I mean, the child abuse is rampant in many of these places because they are not run by the same laws. They are not given the same kind of accountability as people who live outside of those reservations. That's something that the Supreme Court decided several years ago, and that was just a social justice move that they hoped would appease the indigenous people. And it's actually made their lives a lot worse. And that's because social justice kills, and children are always the unconsenting subjects of progressive social experiments. So on the altar of social justice, the lives and safety of kids and women on these reservations have been risked. You should go back and listen to a couple years ago, I did an episode about this with Naomi Riley. And we'll put the link in the description where she did a lot of research. What is really happening on these reservations and like, this rhetoric that we just need to give more and more land back, like, is that really benefiting these indigenous people? No, I certainly don't think so. And I don't think that the data bears that out. So just more silly virtue signaling by Taylor Swift. Brie is back. Oh, we only had positive things to say about Taylor Swift, Bri. Don't worry. We didn't say anything bad about her. Don't tell her. Okay, last sponsor for the day before we head out. America's Christian Credit Union is an amazing company that wants to partner with godly people like you to be your financial service provider. They are also partnering with Every Life to sponsor diapers to new moms who are choosing Life. ACCU will donate a box of Every Life diapers to a Christian pregnancy resource center for every new member who opens a checking account before January 31st. It's a monumental moment to come together and fight for the unborn. If you enter code ALI when you sign up, they will pay you a 100 bonus to your new account. Complete details are available@americaschristiancu.com Ali Enter promo code ALI when you apply. America's Christian Credit Union is federally insured by the nc. All right, guys, just a reminder, we will not be here next week. We will have a new episode on Monday, but then we might have a replay on Tuesday. I can't remember if we decided on that. But then no episode Wednesday or Thursday. And then we'll be back. We will be back. The next week, but the relatable crew is taking a little bit of a break. If you are looking for something to read over your holiday breaks, then check out Toxic Empathy. It's on Audible, read by yours truly, but it's also on Amazon. I'm very grateful that it was a New York Times bestseller. I underestimated how relevant everything in the book would still be after the election. We're getting a lot of propaganda, a lot of guilt trips from your progressive or mushy middle friends about why you voted for Donald Trump. Up. Well, if you want to be able to defend your beliefs, your conservative Christian worldview, then please get Toxic Empathy. And also I encourage you to get you're Not Enough. And that's okay. That's a more theological book, but I think it lays a really good basis before you read Toxic Empathy. And it's also a good one, a good starter for those who maybe aren't where you are politically yet you're trying to get them to kind of shift their thinking just about the world and themselves and morality. I would encourage my pink book first. You're Not Enough. And that's okay. All of them, both of them are available wherever books are sold. Okay, guys, I am thankful for you. I will be thanking God for you guys over Thanksgiving break. This has been just an incredible year. So much has happened. We've grown so much, and it's all because of the grace of God and y'all. So, so thank you for always sharing the arrows with me, for your encouragement, for your prayers and for your love. I've got the best audience in the world and I'm just praying that you would have a safe and wonderful, healthy and peaceful Thanksgiving. See you guys when we get back.