← Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey
Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey
Ep 1329 | Trump’s Threats, Paula White’s Heresy & Tucker’s Bad Take
01:02:23
Loading summary
Transcript27 lines
- [00:01]
Allie Stuckey
Paula White, Tucker Carlson, Franklin Graham, Donald Trump. They all had something to say about the Bible and Jesus and Easter and the world and history. I've got a response to all of it today, but we will also be looking at the faith of an astronaut and what space can actually teach us, not only about who we are, God's creation, but also about the Gospel. We've got all of this and more in today's episode of Relatable. It's brought to you by our friends Astronomy Good ranchers. Go to good ranchers.com use code ally at checkout. That's good ranchers.com code ally. Hey y'. All. Welcome to Relatable. Happy Wednesday. Hope everyone has had a wonderful week so far. Obviously we're a few days removed from Easter, but this is the first new monologue episode that I've done since Easter. So I hope everyone had a wonderful resurrection Sunday. I hope it was peaceful. I hope it was filled with worship. I hope you got to celebrate with your family and make lasting memories. We certainly did. It was a wonderful weekend in the stucky home with church and Easter egg hunts and lots of good food and family and all of that good stuff. And I'm just so grateful for it. And I'm grateful to be back here with you. If you have not listened to Monday's episode, which is an interview with a woman named Brittany de La Mora who was in the adult industry and then Christ radically saved her, transformed her life and she became a Christian, shares the gospel and shares her testimony with others, or Wes Huff's interview that we did over the weekend. Gosh, you guys responded so well to that. You love Wes Huff for very good reason. He is so good at giving evidence for the historicity of Jesus and his life and scripture. One thing I want to note about the testimony that I shared on Monday with Brittany and then a past episode that we did with Ashley Sheets. There is some chatter online among one segment of people who profess to be Christians who really want to deride sharing testimonies of women who used to be promiscuous or used to be a prostitute, as if it is trying to give cover to that kind of lifestyle or it's women trying to protect women. It's very weird. It's a very like woman hating crowd who always finds a reason to lambast women who have become Christians who have a kind of like imperfect, sexually immoral past. And I just want to say, first of all, we've had all kinds of people on this show share a wide variety of testimonies We've had detransitioners. We've had men who have left homosexuality. We have people who were raised a Christian their entire life. We have people who have left cults. We have people who used to be intellectual atheists until their atheism ran up against the evidence for Christ and his crucifixion and resurrection. We have shared such a wide spectrum of testimonies on the show, and it's one of my favorite kinds of episodes that I do because I am edified by those stories. And you guys obviously love them so much, and I'm so thankful to get to do it. But when I share this particular kind of testimony, which we don't very often do, of a woman who was in a particular industry and was saved, we just get a lot of chatter and a lot of criticism about it. And I. I just think it's odd. These people who profess to follow Jesus, who had these very intentional interactions with women who were caught in adultery, like. Like the woman who was caught in adultery and was almost stoned, like the woman that he met at the well, who had been married five different times, obviously sexually immoral. The woman of the night, or the woman of the city who poured out her finest oil and perfume on his feet, whom Jesus complimented for her faith. These people claim to follow that Jesus, yet have such a utter disdain for the women that he clearly attended to in Scripture. Now, Jesus praised them for faith when they had repented, called them to repentance himself, which is something that we should do. But clearly the writers of the Gospels, whom were. Who were inspired by the Holy Spirit to write these inerrant, infallible words, saw it fit to include these interactions with Jesus and these formerly promiscuous women. And I think that tells us something about the importance of this kind of testimony, the importance of highlighting it, but also the mercy that our Lord and Savior shows these kinds of women that we should emulate in our own lives. And if you are walking away from a testimony like the ones that we've shared on this show with, wow, they're really trying to make it seem like that sin is not that big of a deal. They're really trying to make people feel better about the sin of sexual immorality or promiscuity, then you've completely missed it. You are the older brother in the prodigal son story. You're missing it like you're missing the gospel. You're missing Jesus. There is no one, certainly on this show, trying to make light of any kind of Sin, especially the kind of sin against one's own body, sexual sin that hurts your heart, your mind, your soul, your body, and has repercussions for the rest of your life, even after you repent. If anything, we hope that these messages reach women in those situations and urge them to stop before they sell their bodies, before they're treated like objects, before they go into promiscuity. And to tell you that's going to lead you to darkness, that is going to hurt you. You are looking for love in all of the wrong places. There's a better way you can find love and satisfaction, the fulfillment that you're looking for in Christ. And he has a good plan for you, and he has good parameters for your body because he made your body and he loves you. That is the message. And it's also a message to people who have gone down that path to say, you're not too far gone. It's impossible to be too far gone. God's grace can reach you, can cleanse you. He can make you white as snow. That is what his sacrifice does by grace, through faith. And if you don't believe that, like, if you believe that there is some kind of immorality, that that can't be fully cleansed spiritually by Christ, then again, you have missed it. It's not the fault of podcasters. It's not the fault of women. It's not the fault of these women giving their testimonies. If you have other criticisms about someone's particular testimony, okay, then that's fine. But just to say in general that sharing the testimonies of women who used to be strippers or prostitutes or promiscuous in some way is wrong or is trying to make excuses for sin. You have missed the gospel and you don't understand it. And it's okay to just say that and wrestle with that, but don't take your anger and confusion out on other people. It's not pretty. All right, we got a lot to talk about today. We are going to talk about Paula White and what she said at the White House. I giggle. It's really not funny. It's just so ridiculous that sometimes it just makes you laugh, but in a sad way. And then also Trump's Easter message, what Tucker Carlson has to say about that. But then also some really good things coming out of Artemis, too. For example, we've got Christians up circling the moon right now sharing really good messages. So we've got some good news. And then, of course, some things to critique from the White House and the Public square. But before we get into all of it, let me just go ahead and pause. I'll tell you about our first sponsor for the day. It's Alliance Defending Freedom. So you might think that Alliance Defending Freedom, if you're familiar that they're only fighting battles here. They're fighting for our First Amendment rights. And that's true. They're fighting for the right of women and girls to have sex, exclusive spaces and sports teams. And that is true. But they are also fighting on the front lines for a hundred countries in 100 countries to fight for the right to worship freely and to speak freely. Right now, they have taken up the case of a woman in Finland who has been found guilty for the crime of sharing a Bible verse against homosexuality. We're going to be talking to her actually in just a few days. And so if you want to join the cause of protecting Christians, protecting their rights to share the gospel, to speak freely, not just here in America, but worldwide, you gotta partner with Alliance Defending Freedom. Every single bit of your support counts. If you go to joinadf.com ally you can donate today. Whatever you can donate helps and your donation will be matched thanks to a special grant. Go to join ADF.com ally. Paula White is Trump's spiritual advisor. She is the head of the faith initiative in the White House. Am I glad that there's a faith initiative in the White House? Yes. I know some solid pastors who have gotten to visit with President Trump, have gotten to visit with Paula White, have been invited to the White House. We have talked about the problems with Paula White's theology on this show many times. I believe her to be heretical. And while I am sure she is accomplishing some really good things that I as a Christian can be thankful for, I know that she is really pressing the cause of religious liberty to President Trump. Again. She's invited some solid pastors around him who have hopefully shared messages of truth with him and with her. But I can say that and say I'm grateful for that. God uses all different kinds of people and say that the messages that she preaches are heretical, they're just not true. Doesn't mean she's never said something true. But she often says things that are not true, that are anti biblical. And I think we need to be able to hold those truths at the same time and call her out when she is wrong. So the White House hosted an Easter prayer lunch last Wednesday. Lots of faith leaders were in attendance. Franklin Graham, Bishop Barron, who spoke during the event, and Trump himself shared the story of Jesus's death and resurrection.
- [10:14]
Franklin Graham
Here's that on Good Friday, the Son of God was nailed to the cross, crucified, and he died for all of us. It was a day of darkness, but it wasn't the end by any means. It was not the end. On Easter Sunday, the stone was rolled away and the grave was empty. Christians everywhere rejoiced, and we continue to rejoice. Easter is one of the incredible days. It was a miracle in all of history. The resurrection of Jesus Christ. It was one of the great. It was the great miracle, I guess.
- [10:54]
Allie Stuckey
Okay, I had no problem with that. I think that would have been fine if that had been, you know, basically all that was said at this Easter gathering. Not controversial for Christians. Everything he said was true. Now, we did see people saying that he was sharing the gospel, and at least in that one clip, maybe there was something else that he said during the speech that was. That's not the. That's not the gospel. That's part of the gospel for sure. And that's wonderful that it is the central miracle in all of history. Yes, and amen. However, he didn't talk about, you know, sin and repentance. And again, I'm not saying that he had to in that moment, but I think we need to be careful about what we call the gospel. Jesus loves you is not the gospel. Jesus died and rose again is not the gospel. In order to tell the good news of the gospel, it has to start with the bad news that we are separated from God because of our sin. And Jesus's death made a way for us to be reconciled to God through his sacrifice and for us to be made new by grace, through faith, because of his sacrificial death on behalf of us, on behalf of our sin, and because he died and rose again and defeated death on our behalf. And so all of those components about sin, the bad news, the separation, what Christ's death actually accomplished, have to be there for us to say, okay, he was sharing the gospel. So that's my only point there. We just have to be careful of what we say the gospel actually is. But he said some true things, and I'm thankful for that, very thankful for that. And then we have Paula White Kane, who, again, she's kind of the head of this whole initiative. She gets up and she talks not just about Jesus, but also about Trump in comparison to Jesus.
- [12:30]
Paula White
Mr. President, no one has paid the price like you have paid the price. It almost cost you your life. You were betrayed and arrested and falsely accused. It's a familiar pattern that our Lord and Savior showed us, but it didn't end there for him and it didn't end there for you. And I believe that the Lord said
- [12:56]
Allie Stuckey
to tell you this.
- [12:58]
Paula White
Because of his victory, you will be victorious in all you put your hand to.
- [13:07]
Allie Stuckey
I just don't like it. If that doesn't make you cringe. The comparison, the parallel to the Messiah that I'm not sure what will, and especially that prosperity declaration at the end that you will be successful in all that you put your hand to, we don't have any guarantee of that. We certainly don't know that. But we have no promise of that in scripture. We've been given no promise of that by God himself. I hope that Trump is successful in the things that are righteous and good. I hope that God gives him the help to have wisdom, to have strength, to have moral resolve and moral clarity, to make good choices both here and abroad. Extremely hard job that I am so thankful that I will never have, that most of us will never have. And I can absolutely appreciate that. The comparison to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords to Jesus Christ is just unnecessary and just not true. And there was a way, if you wanted to compliment Trump. I don't even think this was the time to compliment Trump. You could have done that, that you appreciate that he's hosting this, you're glad that he cares about religious freedom, which I think is true. He's maybe you could say he's trying to do the right thing in alignment with the wisdom of the people around him. I think that's true. Without comparing him to Jesus, let's just not do that and let's not name it and claim it at the end, because that's not something that we have the right or the authority or the guidance to do. So that's one reason I have a problem with this. I also have a problem with this for the of sake. Same reason that I have a problem with the he gets us campaign is that Jesus's life, his death and resurrection is not about you. It is for you. It is for us. Yes, and amen. But it is not about us. It is about him. Yes, we serve a high priest who sympathizes with our weaknesses, who in every way became like we are, yet was without sin. He condescended himself. He took on flesh. He suffered the way that we have suffered. He was betrayed the way that we have been betrayed. He felt so many of the things that we feel. He was tempted. He was tested like we have been tempted. And tested, all of that is true. But if you read scripture, trying to insert yourself into every story to the point to where you have made yourself the central figure of the Bible or of history, you've gotten it wrong. Not only is that isa Jesus, so you're reading a message into the text that is not there, rather than pulling meaning out of the text that is there, but you have made yourself the star. You are not the star. You are not the point. Jesus is the star. He is the point. The message that Trump needs to hear is not one of flattery, not one that says, just like Jesus is the spiritual messiah, you are the physical messiah of this nation. He might be accomplishing really good things, and he might be a part of helping get Western civilization back on the right track, but he is not a messianic figure. And I actually think that this inhibits Trump from understanding the fullness of the gospel and his need for Jesus. Because the more anyone, not just Trump, is pumped up to basically be made to feel like you are the Savior, like you can do no wrong and God has guaranteed you a successful outcome, the less, the less you understand the bad news of the gospel, that is, that preludes the good news of the gospel. The bad news, of course, like we said, is that you're in need of a savior. That's a bad news for everyone, is that you're a sinner in need of a savior. So on Easter, of all days, but every day, make the gospel about the gospel, make the story of Easter about the story of Easter, make Jesus's death and resurrection about Jesus's death and resurrection, not as a parallel to Donald Trump and everything that he has accomplished. That's a separate conversation. That's a legit conversation, but it's not something that needs to be front and center and conflated with biblical truth on an Easter celebration. So I just had a really big problem with that. And I think it's really important to understand, like, who Paula White is just a little bit more and really hope and pray that there is better leadership when it comes to the spiritual guidance and the spiritual initiatives that Trump is surrounded by. So we'll get to that in just a second. Let me pause. Let me tell you about our next sponsor for the day, and that is Seven Weeks Coffee. Seven Weeks Coffee is America's pro life coffee company. I love it so much. We drink Seven Weeks in our home. Not only is it great tasting, I love that it is sustainably sourced and that it is clean, that it is pesticide free, that it is Organic. And I love more than anything that it's, it's Pro Life. The reason why it's called Seven Weeks Coffee is because it's seven weeks gestation. That little baby in the womb is just the size of a coffee bean, yet he or she is fully made in the image of God and his or her life matters. And that's why 10% of every sale of seven weeks coffee goes to a Pro Life pregnancy center across the country. They've raised well over a million dollars for these pregnancy centers and Seven Weeks has only been around for a couple years. That's amazing. God is clearly blessing this very generous company and you can be a part of it. You can allow your coffee to serve a higher purpose. If you go to seven weeks coffee.com and use code ALI, you get an extra 10 off your order. Subscribe and you'll save 15 forever when you get that box of coffee every month. Go to seven weeks coffee.com code ali. And before we get back to the episode, just want to remind you to be a part of Blaze tv. Be a part of our community. It's wonderful and I love that you listen here, that you watch here. But there is so much content just for Blaze TV subscribers talking about exclusive investigations, documentaries, all kinds of commentary that is considered forbidden and could get Blaze TV censored. In fact, Blaze TV has been targeted by state sponsored, state sponsored censors just in the last few months. So if you want to protect conservative Christian commentary and you want to make sure that you still have access to what is considered by Big Brother off limits, then you need to subscribe to BlazeTV. Go to BlazeTV.com when you use code ALI. You'll save $20. BlazeTV.com ally code ALI. All right, just a couple things about Paula White. So I did an episode on Ms. White Kane on episode 1137 and we just talked about some of her false teachings and why she is a prosperity gospel peddler. So on her website in 2024 it said something like this, it said this. Are you ready to go to the next level in your finances? Are you ready to be able to do the next level ministry? Do you have next level dreams that require financial favor and acceleration? When we honor God first fruits, he will unlock the things for the remainder of the year. And in faith, 2025 will be a year of fruitfulness, blessing and abundance. And then of course the website then includes links to give your best first fruits offering, including a special bundle of first fruits books that will go to those who give gifts of $140 and $2025. Okay, so this is the health and wealth name it and claim it heresy that is pushed by people like Joel Osteen and many others. TD Jakes, we've heard Joyce Meyer also say similar things. And then Paula White is one of the biggest peddlers of this nonsense. There is absolutely no biblical basis for the idea that if you give a certain amount of money that God is going to then return you with financial favor. That's not how he works. Like, he's not a genie in a bottle. He doesn't owe you anything. And he never says, if you give this amount of money your first fruits, then I will give back to you something in return. He may, and there is a blessing to being generous, but that blessing may be completely spiritual. In this life, that blessing may just be the joy of obeying God. When he's called you to give of yourself, he never guarantees you monetary success. He may choose to do that, but he does not owe you that. So it is a very small and wrong view of God in a big view of the self. Which again, I think we saw in her sermonette when she was talking about Donald Trump. In episode 1162, I pointed out her Passover scam. She had this Passover scam to get a thousand dollars from each of her followers. It was the same kind of messaging. So your first fruits, God will kind of give you this in return. So go back, watch those two episodes that I just referenced. We'll link them in the description of this episode. If you're like, I need more examples of how she's a false teacher. She said something, a sentiment that I've referenced before from a lot of people who call themselves evangelicals and dispensationalists. She said, according to the Jerusalem Post, I do not want to convert Jews or send them to live in Israel for the Rapture. The plan for salvation for the Jews is gods. Yeah, like I also agree we don't. We shouldn't send Jews to live in Israel for the Rapture. But I do not want to convert Jews is troubling because Christians want everyone to come to the knowledge of Christ. That's why we share the Gospel. And that is what Jesus commanded of us before he left us. He said, go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Spirit. And that includes the nation of Israel. She also has some ties to the new Apostolic Reformation, or nar. She has called also for the angelic reinforcement from Africa and South America to intervene in what she calls the spiritual battle for the 2020 election sought three
- [23:18]
Paula White
strike and strike and strike and strike and strike and strike and strike and strike and strike and strike. Until you have victory for every enemy that is aligned against you. Let there be that we would strike the ground for you will give us victory. God, I hear a sound of abundance of rain. I hear a sound of victory. I hear a sound of shouting and singing. I hear a sound of victory. Angels are being dispatched right now. For angels have even dispatched from Africa right now.
- [23:56]
Allie Stuckey
Okay. Yeah. So many, so many things. Women 1 are not called to be pastors, but of course, there's a lot of men who are kooky and promote false teachings too. But I mean, this is an example of why that is just because of the utter nonsense which that was. And also the pretending of the speaking in tongues. It's just, it's very performative. And again, this conflation of the narrative of redemption that we are all participating in and the success of a particular election, I just find that, I find that troubling. So, look, I'm sure that there are good things that Paula White is doing and I know why. She is like the right hand woman of President Trump. It's because she loves President Trump up and because she is definitely going to pump him up. And I know that feels good. And I think to him, she probably does seem like a very wise sage and a good spiritual leader. But I also think it's the responsibility of Christians, even those. Yes. Who through Paula White, have had access to the White House that they would not have otherwise had to speak up and to say, this is not right, this is heresy. We're making a mockery of the gospel and we're actually demeaning Jesus by, by trying to draw this direct parallel to Donald Trump. And that's a really big deal. Even if she's on our political side, even if she's doing some of the things that we like, even if you keep getting really fun, awesome invitations to the White House, it is the responsibility of Christians to see past this moment, to allow our theology and our convictions to transcend, send our political alliances and to say, I'm sorry, but that's wrong. You don't have to be bombastic about it. You don't have to use clickbait. You don't have to be hateful, but you should, out of love for Paula White, out of love for Donald Trump, love for the audience, love for people in this country, be able to say, that is not True. And that's not good. And if you believe that message, you are going to be bound by lies. If you believe in the prosperity gospel, just like if you believe in so called progressive Christianity, you are going to be bound by lies. And the gospel is better than that and Jesus is bigger than that. Okay. I think that's our responsibility as Christians. I actually don't think it takes a whole lot of bravery to be able to do that because we do still live in a free country. Now. You might not get the invitation anymore. Like you might not be able to go to the White House because they might see that as betrayal. And that's gotta be okay. It's gotta be okay. Our alliance and our citizenship, while politics as you know, is really, really important, it's so much bigger than who is currently in the White House. And then we also, we have Franklin Graham, who, you know, we just talked about last week. He wrote this awesome letter to President Trump and I said that he was being a really good friend to President Trump in sharing the gospel with him, truly the gospel in a letter after Trump made some statement about not knowing if he's going to go to heaven. And I do believe that Franklin Graham, Phil Robertson, so many people have shared the trut gospel with Donald Trump. And here Franklin Graham compares Trump to Esther, which I believe is much, much better than comparing him to Jesus Christ. Stop for Father.
- [27:26]
Franklin Graham
You tell us in the book of Esther that the Persians, the Iranians, were wanting to kill every Jew woman, child and do it all in one day. But you raised up Esther to save the Jewish people. Today the Iranians, the wicked regime of this government wants to kill every Jew and destroy them with an atomic fire. But you have raised up President Trump. You've raised him up for such a time as this.
- [28:14]
Allie Stuckey
Okay? So you could, you could dispute some things that he's saying there. Certainly, if you were like that, we shouldn't be using Aster or the Bible at all to justify this war with Iran. Maybe you don't think this war with Iran is justified. Some of what he said is true. Iran does have an evil, evil regime. And the regime absolutely wants to kill all Jews. They also want to destroy the west and kill Christians, by the way. But again, you could think that Trump is not going about it the right way and you could think it's gross to use the Bible to try to justify that. Theologically, this is not as much of a problem for me as Paula, Paula White's message. You could say that he's wrong, but I, I don't think that this is blasphemous. Now, Tucker Carlson had a big problem with this. He talked about, you know, Paula White, some things that I agree with. But he also has a very, very strange take on the Book of Esther in his response to Franklin Graham. So we'll get to that in just a second. Let me pause. Let me tell you about our next sponsor for the that is Preborn. Right now, the voices in our culture are loud, but truth is often silent. And it shouldn't be like that. We shouldn't be the silent majority. We can't just sit on our hands and pray that God would put an end to abortion. We can't do that. We should do that. Absolutely. But he has put us here in this world to make a difference. And there are so many ways that we can do that to try to protect the most vulnerable. Yes, using our voice, using our, our, our actions, our energy to volunteer, to do what we can for add, to advocate for these babies. But we can also use our money. We can donate to these nonprofit organizations that are resourcing pregnancy centers that are offering free services and free resources to these pregnant women in need so that they will make the life affirming choice. One of those organizations is Preborn this April. Their goal is to not only save thousands of baby lives, but to have 11,000 gospel conversations and Preborn network clinics trusting God to bring the right woman into the clinic so that they can have these conversations, share the gospel and that God by grace through faith would save them. And so if you want to be a part of that, go to preborn.com ally make your donation today. Help them help save lives. But you're also making an investment in someone's eternity. Go to preborn.com ally. Here's how Tucker disputes what Franklin Graham said.
- [30:45]
Tucker Carlson
Top five Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham, shows up at the White House yesterday to pray over the president so he will have wisdom and restraint. No, to endorse the murder of civilians, which is a war crime. And it's in the Book of Esther, which you should read because it's interesting. It also happens to be, maybe not coincidentally, the only book in the Christian Bible, old and New Testaments, that doesn't mention God. There's no mention of God in the Book of Esther.
- [31:20]
Allie Stuckey
Okay. So he talks about how the Book of Esther is actually about the slaughter of the Persian people. That that's something that is basically endorsed in the Book of Esther. He talks about how Martin Luther didn't want the Book of Esther in the biblical can, but ultimately relented and included it in the 66 books. But there's some things that Tucker gets wrong there. So Esther actually tells a story of a thwarted plot to commit genocide against the Jewish people in Persia. Aster was a Jew living in Persia chosen as king Ahaz Ahasirius. I'm really going to try to say that correctly. Ahasuerus chosen as his new queen. Out of a lot of other beautiful women, she's chosen as the most beautiful and delightful. And then she also learns of a plot to kill the Jews in the empire engineered by a bad guy named Haman, one of the king's advisors. There is no. Not that I can read, not that I can recall, no genocide of the 75,000 Persians in the Book of Esther, as Tucker claims. Throughout the Persian Empire, the Jews successfully defend themselves, killing 75,000. But this is an act, at least as we are told in the Book of Esther, in the inerrant, infallible word of God, an act of self defense against their attackers, not a genocide of the Persian people. Haman is executed. The king issues an edict allowing the Jews to defend themselves if attacked. It says, and he wrote in the name of King Ahasiris and sealed it with the king's signet ring. Then he sent the letters by mounted couriers riding on swift horses that were used in the king's service, bred from the royal stud, saying that the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to gather and defend their lives, to destroy, to kill and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, children and women included, and to plunder their goods on one day throughout all the provinces of King ahasiris on the 13th day of the 12th month, which is the month of Adar, that's Esther 8, 10 through 12. Now it is al. It is true, I will say that there are no explicit references to God in the Book of Esther, which is really interesting, but it certainly refers to him implicitly. In its fourth chapter, Esther calls for all of the Jews to fast, presumably in supplication to God for the success of their mission. She says, go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days. I think she's telling this to her uncle Mordecai. I and my young women will also fast as you do Esther. 4, 16. Also, Esther's uncle Mordecai appeals to God's sovereignty when he asks her to intercede on the behalf of the Jews. Saying, for if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this. Now, a lot of commentators view, view commentators view Esther as an example to us of how God sovereignly works through people placed in government to accomplish his will. And in this way, Esther is a testimony of how God's sovereignty is still at work behind the scenes, even when things seem hopeless. And it seems like this is the comparison that Graham was making when he noted that Trump may have been placed in government for such a time as this. We know from Daniel 2 that God sets up kings and he brings them down. Times and seasons are in his hand, that God instituted government and does, does set up rulers. And we hope that those rulers define good and evil, how God defines good and evil. And I think largely this administration does. Again, whether or not you agree with their foreign policy, I'm certainly glad to have an administration that, for example, knows what a woman is. I am glad to have an administration that has someone like Pete Hedge, Seth, who routinely talks about the sovereignty of God and appeals to God. You've got people like Margot Rubio who seem to know the gospel extremely well. And so I'm thankful, I'm thankful for that. You can again go back and forth with Franklin Graham about whether or not the Iran war applies to this comparison to Esther Tucker implies perhaps that Esther shouldn't be in the Bible.
- [35:22]
Tucker Carlson
Franklin Graham is up there standing at the podium praying for that. Now, how do you do that? Well, by quoting something called the Book of Esther. Esther, which is in the Christian Old Testament, a controversial book. For a long time, Martin Luther thought it shouldn't have been there, but it is there. And it's the story, among other things, of a genocide.
- [35:48]
Allie Stuckey
It's true that Martin Luther was critical of the Book of Esther. He was also critical of the Book of James. He said, I am so great an enemy to the second book of the Maccabees and to Esther, that I wish they had not come to us at all, for they may have too many heathen unnaturalities. However, he was ultimately convinced, and this actually goes to show that it's not the Protestant Reformation that was first ignited by the 95 theses that were publicized or posted, if you will, by Martin Luther wasn't just about people wanting to tear apart the Bible and do things willy nilly, that ultimately convinced by history, convinced by logic. Martin Luther, with the help and the council of other scholars at the time said, yes, this should go in the 66 books, including the book of James. It wasn't just about driving his own personal ideas or theology. Josephus, a Jewish historian writing in the first century A.D. notes that the Jews celebrated the festival of Purim and gives his own version of the Esther story, showing it was widely accepted around the time of Christ. So that was one of the points that was considered when including it in the canon. More importantly, early church fathers like Jerome included Esther in their Old Testament candidate or canon rather. And so there is good reason, there is good reason why Esther was included throughout the Protestant tradition. Esther has been repeatedly affirmed in the biblical canon. In the 17th century, Esther was included in the Westminster Confession. So at this point, it's not really something that's debated. Now, you can have your problems with, with whatever you would like in the Bible, but ultimately, we defer to the inerrant word of God. Um, and so lots going on in the White House, a lot of commentary about what's going on in the White House. I think the most important point is that we get the Bible right, that we get the gospel right, and that we focus on that, and that Christians should focus on being as clear and accurate as possible when it comes to the reliability of the word of God and the bad news that precedes the gospel and the good news that the gospel brings and what the resurrection actually, actually represents. Really, really important. All right, I also need to respond to what Donald Trump said on. On Easter. So let me just read that before we get into our next ad, because it's so Donald Trump. It is so Donald Trump. And a lot of people wanted me to respond to this and had a hard time with what he said. Okay? So he said this on Easter Sunday. He said, Tuesday will be power plant day and bridge day, all wrapped in one in Iran. There will be nothing like it. Open the effing straight, you crazy bastards, or you'll be living in hell. Just watch. Praise be to Allah. President Donald J. Trump. All right, so a lot of people were like, can you believe that President Trump said praise Allah on Easter? That's crazy. I mean, I immediately read that, and I'm like, it's a troll. It's. He's obviously trolling Iran. He's trolling Islam. Now, I'm not saying that you should think that that's great on Easter Sunday, but it's so Trump. And I'm just surprised at the amount of response and reaction and emotion that people have in response to Trump and response to some of the things that he says online. I'm not saying you should like it. I'm not saying we should excuse it or justify the things that you don't like. But also like this, at this point, like, you voted in 2024, knowing that he was going to be like this, right? Like, we knew that. We've known that since before 2016 that he's gonna say stuff and he's gonna do some awesome stuff, and we should criticize him when he says wrong things and makes wrong decisions, and we should give him an attaboy when he does a good job on things. But the people who are like, okay, that's it. I'm done. This is the last straw. This is the last straw. He said worst things. Things. He has said worse things than this over time. Okay, you don't have to like it, but this is who Trump is. He's gonna say silly, ridiculous things on Christmas Day, on Easter, whatever. He doesn't really have the same sense of decorum and propriety that you and I do, and you could say that you missed that. Okay, well, we've just got a few more years. Trump is not going to be in office in 2028. But Tucker said this, which I thought was interesting. I thought this was an interesting takeaway and not something that I agree with plenty of things that you could have a hard time with when it comes to Trump's Twitter tweet. But Tucker says this. Sussex.
- [40:14]
Tucker Carlson
And so the morning of Easter is a uniquely joyful and peaceful moment, and yet that peace yesterday was shattered. That's not an overstatement. It was shattered for many observant Christians by a statement that the President of the United States put out at 8:03am Eastern Time on Easter morning. Did the President of the United States really just write that? And it is real. It is maybe the most real thing this president has ever done. Done, and also the most revealing on every level. It is vile on every level.
- [40:50]
Allie Stuckey
Okay, let's play Salt 7.
- [40:53]
Tucker Carlson
So, obviously you're mocking the religion of Iran. Okay, if you seek a religious war, that's a good idea. But by the way, no decent person mocks other people's religions. You may have a problem with the the. Presumably you do if it's not your religion, and you can explain what that is. But to mock other people's faith is to mock the idea of faith itself, and we should never mock that.
- [41:22]
Allie Stuckey
Okay, so many things. First of all, this shattered Easter for millions of Christians around the world. I just have to say if your celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ hangs on the truth. Social posts of Donald Trump, your priorities are so out of whack, okay? Like, you've got bigger spiritual issues going on. I don't remember if I saw this post in the morning, if I saw it in the afternoon. I wasn't hanging out on social media in the morning of Easter. You shouldn't have been either. And again, like, if you were doing that, then you were already sucked into a dark place anyway. It wasn't a peaceful moment for you because you were scrolling X. And if it really was this, like, peaceful moment and this peaceful morning for you on the morning of Easter, then you weren't watching Fox News and you weren't on social media, and you shouldn't have even known that Trump said this until later. And so your day shouldn't have been shattered. But if you did see it that morning, then it. You roll your eyes and you say, that's ridiculous. That's Donald Trump. He shouldn't have said that. And that's not really an appropriate thing to say, especially today. And you move on and you go to church with your family and you eat and you do the Easter egg hunt and you have a. Trump just doesn't have this kind of power in my life. He doesn't have the power to steal my joy. He doesn't have the power to steal my peace. He doesn't have the power to shatter my resurrection Sunday. And if he has that power in your life, I. I honestly think that you should ask why. And then the last thing he said I thought was interesting that you shouldn't mock Islam, because to mock a tenet of any religion is to mock religion itself or to mock faith itself. Well, that's ridiculous. Some things that people have faith in are wrong. And Laval. And again, you could say that it's not the right way to win over Muslims. I am worried about winning over Muslims. That's something that I want to do as a Christian. But that's not something that Trump is interested in. Okay? And he doesn't represent Christianity. He is not being an evangelist or an apologist in that moment. Like, he is doing what he does. He is talking tough so that he can threaten Iran and accomplish what he wants to accomplish. That might be what he thinks is going to do it. That kind of belittling language, again, you can take issue with that, that just in principle, Tucker is wrong. Like, if we look at Elijah and we look at how he was mocking BAAL and the prophets of baal, he literally said where is your God? Has he gone to the bathroom? Has he gone to relieve himself, to point to the power of his own God? So in principle, it is just wrong to say that mocking a tenant of a false idolatrous religion is always, always wrong. Okay, So I just think that's strange. Also, Tucker has mocked Christians in the past, and of course, he has spoken with absolute, utter disdain toward what he calls Christian Zionists. He's talked about dispensationalists in this way. People like Mike Huckabee. He apologized for it when he sat down with Mike Huckabee. Even John Quincy Adams said that Muhammad was driven by the fraudulent spirit of an immortal imposter, writing that the essence of his doctrine was violence and lust. And you could say, well, that was a legitimate criticism and he was speaking seriously. Yes, I agree with you. I would much rather something like that from Trump. But I know who Trump is, and Trump is not going to give us that. He's not going to give us a serious ideological and theological critique of Islam. It would be welcome. He's not going to do it. He's going to say something ridiculous like, praise be to all Allah. Now, I am much more offended by someone like Zoran Mumdani. While he gave his nice platitudes of celebrating Easter and talking about the resurrection, he said the Easter. You know, it's about new life and you know what they always do, New chances. Being reborn in some kind of vague way. Comparing the very real historical resurrection of the God man to some kind of abstract general concept that can apply to anyone, no matter what you believe, believe that's actual blasphemy. Like, that is the one true religion that you are belittling and that you are watering down so that everyone can agree with it. That's not what the resurrection is. It's not a metaphor. It's not an allegory. It's a real historical fact that God made flesh rose again and defeated death. And if you say that that's going to be very controversial. That's going to hurt a lot of people's feelings because of the implication that it has on your life and the demand that it has to die to see self. It is much more, much more of an offensive message than what Trump said about Allah. Honestly. Quick pause to tell you about legacy box. With Mother's Day coming up, this really is the perfect gift. This is how you preserve your home videos, your VHS tapes. Maybe they're on DVDs, or maybe you just have tons of pictures and Polaroids that your mom has in her closet in her attic. And you want to make sure that they're not destroyed somehow or lost in a move, and that they're actually passed down to you and future generations. That's why Legacy Box exists. They send you an empty cardboard box. You put all of your items into this box, you ship it back to them, then they digitize everything. They put it on an organized file. They send that to you as well as all the hard copies, and you're good to go. What an incredible service. What an incredible gift to yourself or to the mom in your life. If you go to legacybox.com ally, you get 60% off. This is their best Mother's Day sale ever. So go ahead and take advantage. That's legacy box.com/ally. Okay, so Trump has a deadline for Iran that ends at 7pm Central Time on April 7, 2026. There may be some developments on this after filming this episode and Trump said on Tuesday, so deadline for basically, you know, surrendering. Trump said on Truth Social a whole civilization will die tonight. He said that today. A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don't want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have complete and total regime change, we're different, smarter and less radicalized minds prevent prevail. Maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen. Who knows? He says in all caps. We will find out tonight. One of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the world. 47 years of extortion, corruption and death will finally end. God bless the great people of Iran. Russell Moore responds to that by saying that one can excuse or ignore this while claiming to be pro life is a sign of a seared conscience. God have mercy on us all. So do I want a whole civilization to die? Absolutely not. Do I want any civilian to ever die in any war? Absolutely not. I don't read this as Trump cheering this on. I see him stating it as a fact. And I'm not saying it's a good fact. I'm not saying it's a fact that we should support. But he does even say in there, that's not something I want to happen. I also think it's massive hyperbole. I think it's how Trump talks. You cannot like how Trump talks. You can think it's counterproductive. You can think it makes our job harder to try to excuse or like justify or figure out the things that he says. And you don't have to do that. You can just say, I think it was wrong to say that, or I really hope that doesn't happen. I think all Christians have to pray for good to conquer evil and for peace to ultimately and miraculously prevail for him to preserve life. Life. But also that our leaders would make good decisions, that they would have the restraint that's necessary. And that they would know, though, when force has to be used to conquer something that is evil. And I don't claim to know all of the answers to those questions. And I think we have to pray that the people in charge do. And again, I'm just not too worried about Trump's posts. That's the truth of it. I don't have to like them, but I'm just, I'm used to them by now. You could say that's a bad thing if you want to, but honestly, like, it is what it is. Trump is who he is. I got, I got other things to be really incensed about, policies that are really affecting the lives of people. I got actually bigger things to disagree with Trump about, like IVF and abortion. Generally we agree on abortion, but when it gets down to the policy and nitty gritty, he is not where I am. I really want his FDA day to reverse the Biden era regulation saying that abortion pills can be delivered by mail. That's killing thousands and thousands and thousands of image bears every day. I don't want to subsidize ivf, which kills thousands and thousands of image bears every day. Okay? So like, until I see someone like Russell Moore speak up about those things that are killing image bearers of God right now and not just the hyperbolic Trump tweet, it's hard for me, me, Russell Moore, someone who has tickled the left and punched right and has basically coddled people blatantly pro abortion people like Biden and Kamala Harris while going so hard after Trump. I'm not interested in what you think about the pro life cause because, like, you are not on the side of people who actually want to limit abortion. So, like, you're not really the one, Russell Moore, you're not the one to talk about. If you're truly pro life, you're not truly pro life. So I don't care about what definition of pro life is. But if you want to link arms with me, Russell Moore, and call out the Trump administration about some of the actual policies that they are implementing and putting forth or refusing to roll back that are actually hurting image bearers, then I am, I'm interested in that. Then we can discuss that. Until then, I'm just I. I don't care about what you think, about what is truly pro life and what's not. All right? I want to end, end on a positive note, okay? I want to end on what is happening in space right now. Now, space is not typically something that I talk about very much on this show because it's just not something that comes up very often. But right now we've got a Bible believing Christian in space talking about the gospel, basically from the moon, and that seems like a really big deal. On April 1, Artemis 2 successfully launched with four astronauts on a mission to fly by the moon. And y', all, I was so honored. Yes. Okay, we can play it. We've got the video. It's a silent video. If you're listening to this. So this is Artemis 2. And y', all, I was very honored. I was invited to go to the launch of this, and I just wasn't able to. But I saw Glenn Beck there, Michael Knowles there. Their footage was just incredible. It actually seemed like a very emotional, crazy moment. Just that our science and technology and innovation and work ethic and diligence were able to accomplish something like that. This so, so amazing. So far outside of the realm of things that I understand. But I love how God has gifted people so uniquely. At 1:57pm Eastern Time on April 6, the crew members broke the record of 248, 655 miles from Earth, set by the Apollo 13 astronauts in April 1970. The astronauts of Artemis 2 have now gone further, farther from the Earth than anyone in history. Later in the day, they reached their maximum distance from Earth, Earth that was estimated 252,756 miles. That is crazy. Okay, we have someone named Victor Glover. Victor Glover is a US naval captain. He's one of the astronauts on Artemis 2. He has been vocal about his faith not only during the mission, but throughout his career. Previously, a reporter attempted to bait one of the astronauts into a racial diversity response during a press conference. And it led to this unifying moment, which I thought was really cool.
- [53:17]
Victor Glover
So I. I live in this, you know, this dichotomy between happiness that a young woman can look at Christina and just physicalize her passion or her interest or even if it's not something she wants to do. She can just be like girl power. And that's awesome. And that young brown boys and girls can look at me and go, hey, he looks like me. And he's doing what? And that's great. I love that. But I also hope we are pushing the other Direction that one day we don't have to talk about these first. That one day this is just, just. And I listen to this, that this is the human history. It's about human history. It's the story of humanity. Not black history, not women's history, but that it becomes human history.
- [53:55]
Allie Stuckey
Okay, I love that. I thought that that was such a good, nuanced and true answer. In 2020, Glover, leading up to his stay on the International Space Station, stated that he'd be bringing communion cups and a Bible for his stay, which is awesome. In 2023, Glover made headlines for saying that there are no atheists and rocket ships.
- [54:15]
Victor Glover
11. My career is fed by my faith and not, you know, anytime I. I do something that's pretty risky. You know, I pray before I fly. Every time I fly. I fly airplanes a few times a week. Definitely when you go sit on top of a rocket ship in, in. In the military, there's a saying that there are no atheists in foxholes. There aren't any on top of rockets either, I would think.
- [54:37]
Allie Stuckey
You know, I saw this post, a Reddit post, of course, and it was as these atheists on Reddit complaining about how these astronauts, not just Victor, have been talking about God and how can we have come so far technologically, and how can we have the best of the best scientists circling the moon and still talking about religion? I'm like, oh, you are so close that maybe the people that see the intricacies and the vastness of creation are most convicted that this didn't all happen by chance. Chance. And in fact, it just takes so much more faith to believe that. To be looking at Earth and our ecosystem from space and to believe that that just happened, that all of this came from nothing. That is a fantastical religious belief. It takes actually far less faith to say, maybe there's an entity that's bigger than me whose intelligence transcends mind mine, that I'm finite and he is infinite. And he created this in a way that I can't understand. Like, that takes a lot less faith than the atheist belief. Um, Victor has more to say, and I love what he is sharing. I love that God has given him the platform to tell people, especially skeptics like that, about the truth of creation and the truth of the gospel. We'll get to that in just a second. Let me tell you about our last sponsor for the day, and that is Concerned Women for America. For nearly 50 years, CWA has equipped women at every stage of life. Life. To stand firm in their faith, both at home and in the public square. They train women to think critically about policy, understand how faith applies to real world issues, and speak truth with confidence. So I am asking you to partner with Concerned Women for America by donating 15amonth for the next three months. Just 45 super easy. But this helps them equip women to think rightly, to advocate rightly and righteously and courageously in their neighborhoods, in their school district districts, even on a state level to make sure that we are pushing forward what is good, right and true for future generations. Go to concernedwomen.org Ali commit to donating 15amonth for just 3 months. Concerned women.org Ally. He also he has a beautiful family. People have been circulating pictures of his family and he was asked what he's going to take on his Artemis 2 mission. He said that he's going to take his Bible and his family family's photo. Oh my goodness. So sweet. He just seems like such a solid guy, solid father and husband. He said that he was during this mission. Of course they're able to do interviews from space. And he said he was struck by seeing Earth just before Easter Sunday, Sat.12.
- [57:30]
Victor Glover
As we are so far from Earth and looking at, you know, the beauty of creation, I think the for me, one of the really important, important personal perspectives that I have up here is I can really see Earth as one thing. And you know, when I read the Bible and I look at all of the amazing things that were done for us who were created, it's you, you have this amazing place, this spaceship. You guys are talking to us because we're in a spaceship really far from Earth, but you're on a spaceship called Earth that was created to give us a place to live in the universe and the cosmos.
- [58:03]
Allie Stuckey
Cosmos, yeah, I love that. Created, created, created. And we shouldn't take that for granted. That's of course how we as Christians talk. But a lot of the world doesn't talk like that. They don't think about it being a creation. They think about it just being a thing that through a big bang just happened and it came from nothing. And so I'm just so thankful for his gratitude and his awe there. And then he also talks about aspects of the gospel slot nine Christians said
- [58:31]
Victor Glover
in response to what was the greatest command that it was to love God with all that you are. And he also, being a great teacher, said the second is equal to it and that is to love your neighbor as yourself. And so as we prepare to go out of radio communication, we're still able to feel Your love from Earth. And to all of you down there on Earth and around Earth, we love you from the moon.
- [59:04]
Allie Stuckey
So that is an aspect of the gospel. That is part of the gospel, of course, that we are to love God and to love other people. And God is love first. John 4, 8. And that is a very important aspect of the gospel message. NASA posted this photo on April 6, and it is the first photo from the far side of the mountain moon. I can't hear that phrase far side of the moon without thinking dark side of the moon from Mulan. I don't know if it's just being a 90s girl and Disney lyrics are still stuck in my head, but this is a beautiful photo. Absolutely crazy. What a wild accomplishment. I mean, just how science is always catching up with God and can actually lead us. Whether it's the intricacies of our DNA or in Adam or how Earth looks from space and the multitude of the stars and how everything works together in perfect harmony. Everything speaks to the handiwork of God, the majesty, the power of God, and it should just humble us immensely. And really, this goes all the way back to the wrong telling of the gospel that we talked about in the very beginning, the of. Of this. The wrong telling of the gospel, the wrong telling of what God offers us in Christ from people like Paula White and health and prosperity. Preachers makes us really big. It makes us the center of the universe. It makes history about us. But I think we're reminded as we go into space and we see how small and insignificant we are and how incredible it is that God would love us, that God would become flesh, flesh to save you and me. Like that should make us feel so small, but at the same time so loved. And that kind of mentality can just rightly orient us not only in our relationship with God, which is most important, but also our relationship with other people and our relationship with creation. So I'm so thankful for the perspective that we get not only from these pictures, but also from this astronaut. And gosh, I am so thankful for the gospel. And everything that Easter truly does represent. God is really, really good that he contin points us to himself and what is good, right and true. All right, that's all we've got time for today. We will be back here on Friday.