Hamilton: God has called us to be ambassadors even in this dark moment

Abraham Hamilton III: Darkness is not an affirmative force. It simply reoccupies the space vacated by the light.

Abraham Hamilton III: This is the, Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.

Abraham Hamilton III: It should be uncomfortable for a believer to live as a hypocrite, delivering people.

Abraham Hamilton III: Out of the bondage of mainstream media and the philosophies of this world.

Abraham Hamilton III: God has called you and me to be his ambassadors, even in this dark moment. Let's not miss our moment.

Abraham Hamilton III: And now, the, Hamilton Corner.

Abraham Hamilton: Discipleship is a product of intentionality

Abraham Hamilton III: Good evening everyone. Welcome to the Hamilton Corner here on American Family Radio. I am your host, Abraham Hamilton iii, joined by the real J. Mac. Often imitated, never duplicated, ready to rock and roll with today's edition of the program. At this very moment, many of you, if not most of you, are making your transition from your part time jobs where you generate an income to your full time jobs where you cultivate an outcome. And as you do so, I want to remind you to do so with intentionality. Intentionality. There is no such thing as an accidental disciple. You know, nobody's walking out of walking down the street. Where you going, man? I'm going, I'm going to the grocery store. You going to the grocery store where you man? I'm gonna give me some pack of water. Need to get a pack of water, man. You never believe what happened to me. I became a disciple. Never does it happen that way. Discipleship is a product of intentionality. Jesus commanded his disciples to make disciples of all nations. He instructed them to do so upon his authority. And he said that he would be with his disciples until the end of the age. The command to make disciples is one that applies to every generation of Christians. In order to facilitate the execution of his command, God blessed us with human institutions. The first of which he formed was the family. Before the New Testament Church, before modern iterations of civil government, the Lord established the family with marriage at the center. The first command God gave to mankind, he gave within the familial context. He did so intentionally so that we would understand and embrace his vision for his kingdom and his agenda for his kingdom, for which marriage is at the center. Family is at the center. Family is not peripheral to God's agenda for his kingdom. It is central to his kingdom agenda. Which is why I want to remind you that what goes on in your house is far more important than what goes on in the White House. If you study the Scriptures. Deuteronomy 6, for example, 1 of the foremost ingredients for disciple making is that it takes time. It takes time. One of the great challenges to the disciple making phenomenon is when we outsource the mind and heart cultivation to people who do not share our conviction and our commitment to obey the Lord's command to make disciples. And we find ourselves working against ourselves. But we must consider what God's ordinances are when we decide how we're going to use our time. And especially if you're in the life stage where you have young children who are still in your home. Guys, the simple reality is that we only have one shot at this. You know, we only have our children in our home for so long. And then after, the question is whether or not our children will be effective disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ in light of our example and investment or in spite of our examples and investment in them. That's the question we all have to wrestle with. It doesn't require perfection. It doesn't require a particular gift set. I've had conversations with people say, well, Abe, you know, I don't do this the way you do this. I don't have this capacity the way you have this capacity. And here's the beautiful thing, man. God knew how he made you, and he brought your children to the world through you. You have what your children need. I have what my children need. God doesn't want you to try to be a clone of anybody else. He wants you to be you Submitted to his lordship, and committed to obeying him. So as you're making your way to your full time jobs, man, do so with intentionality. You know, one of the most important ingredients that we seek to employ in my family is that we worship the Lord together as a family in our home. You know, we, we sing hymns together. We break open the word of God, the bread of life together. it doesn't have to be this long, drawn out service. You know, you can sing one hymn and just read the scripture together. The cumulative effect of that over time is that you have all of those minutes that turn to hours over the course of their adolescence, moving toward young, adulthood to where you spent so much of your family life, exalting the King of kings and the Lord of Lords and having the demonstrable commitment. Meaning that by my actions I've shown you that a priority for our family is worshiping the Lord. As you've heard me say numerous times, that worship is not merely an activity, it's a lifestyle. And the pinnacle of the lifestyle of worship is obedience. Let us seek to obey the Lord in all that we do. To the word of God we go. Romans, chapter 12. Romans, chapter 12. I offer this by way of Reminder, The Apostle Paul is writing to the Church at Rome as the Spirit of God is leading him, and he writes in verse one. Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies, a, living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may prove what the will of God is. That which is good and acceptable and perfect. Perfect. The life of a disciple of Jesus Christ should consist of the continued examination of ideologies, thought processes that have been derived from the world around us. And they should be examined in light of the white hot scrutiny of God's Word. That consistent employment of this examination is the means by which we comply with verse 2. Refusing to be conformed to the world around us. It means we should think about how do we decide to rear our children. I know there are ideas in the world. Let's see what the Word of God says. How will we educate our children? I, know there are things and ideas that the world says, even some things that I might remember from my parents. But I need to examine them in light of, what the Word says. How should I seek to function with economics? Using money, the resources that God entrusts to my care? Does the scripture have anything to say about that? How should I go about, relationships, friendships? What should I look for? I know there are things that are common in the world, but does the Scripture have anything to say about that? The Word of God should apply to all manner, all matters of life, doctrine and practice. But what happens, unfortunately, is that we have some professing believers who either refuse or neglect to do this very thing. And we end up finding ourselves just comfortably easing into and fitting into the prevailing cultural expectations and norms. And the practical effect of that is you have many professing believers who are really uncomfortable being peculiar. You know, we had a meeting with, the men in our church just this week, and, we invited the men to bring their teenage sons to the men's meeting because, we had had several meetings discussing the father's role in our children's romantic pursuits with sons or daughters. Does the scripture have anything to say about that? How should we navigate that? And so as we came to a landing point, with the fathers, we say, man, let's bring our sons in and have conversations about this. And one of the brothers mentioned said, man, you know, this is a peculiar approach.

Jeff Bennett: Christians should have expectation of peculiarity in romantic pursuits

This will even be peculiar amongst Christians. And I smiled and I said, let's lean into that a little bit. Let's think about that. Why is that? Why would this be peculiar amongst Christians? In many ways, professing believers approach the concept of, you know, romantic pursuits the way that the world does around us. And my simple question is, have we examined this in light of Scripture? That's the only question I'm asking. Because this journey of sanctification and following the Lord, it really can be described as the Lord showing us additional areas of our lives where we really have been conformed to the way of the world around us instead of being transformed by the renewal of our minds. And the additional question that I would ask is whether we are comfortable with being peculiar or do we derive our comfort from being normal according to the world standards? When I search the Scripture, I don't see it as being a remarkable phenomenon to have an expectation that our children remain chaste until they're married. Now I know what the world says, you know, I know was like growing up in New Orleans, Louisiana, where Berber street is the norm. But if I'm a Christ follower, should my norm be the prevalence of the culture around me? Should be my expectation for myself and for my children, or though I may have been born and raised in LA Nouvelle Orleans, Jeff, like that French La Nouvelle Orleans, I've been redeemed by the blood of the lamb. So as a result of having been redeemed by the brother, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, there's a new expectation, dare I say renewed expectation, that I should have. I'm using this. Simply try to make it plain what I'm saying, man. If we are members of the Lord Jesus Christ's bride, if we are followers of the Way of Messiah, we should have an anticipation and expectation of peculiarity. And our comfort level should be derived from being obedient to Christ, which will inevitably make us peculiar in the society that surrounds us. But too often, and you see this very often with kind of artists and different types, they profess to be Christians, but they really want to. They really want to have their claim of the world. And I'm just, I understand that, you know, human beings, people want money, people want to be, ah, celebrated for their work. But my question is, should, shouldn't even our desires be renewed? Why do I have to have the acclaim of the world to feel like I am doing well at what I'm doing? Now, I'm not saying if, you know, if you're being faithful and the world want to give you a Grammy for being faithful, but I kind of Wonder if the Lord will give you, I'm sorry, if the world is going to give you a Grammy for you saying, you know, there's only one name under heaven by which men must be saved. I don't know if you call people to repentance that they'll give you a Oscar for that, you know, and I'm not saying they won't, but I'm just saying for the body of Christ, our desire should be whether to get that or not. My utmost pursuit is well done, thou good and faithful servant. That's what I'm living for. That's what I'm seeking after. And so I shouldn't have to have conversations with Christians when I say, man, you know, one of the things that my wife and I are seeking to do is to help our children to walk upright before the Lord and they remain chaste until marriage. I shouldn't have to have a Christian come to say, well, hey, that's an unrealistic expectation. Because that really happened to me before, guys. I had a, purported, Christian to tell me that that was an unrealistic expectation. And I simply said, well, isn't that what the scripture says? It's God's expectation. Should we have a different expectation than what God sets in his word? Or was it an expression? Because that was an area where, through this conversation, God was revealing to this particular person that maybe you've been conformed to the world and your expectations on this point. What I'm driving towards with all of this, guys, is that transformation being mind, transformation via mind renewal should be normative for us and that minor renewal should have it to be welcomed for us to desire and to ascribe to God's standards in recognizing that he's called us to be a peculiar people, that it shouldn't be surprising when our manner of living kind of directly contravenes the prevalent culture around us. The word of God is true in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd centuries, just as it is in the 21st century. Don't be conformed to the world around you. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Are people basically good? God says in Romans 3:10 no one righteous

Alex McFarland: Are people basically good? God says in Romans 3:10, there is no one righteous, not even one. This doesn't mean that people are incapable of doing good things. It means that apart from God, our nature is bent toward self centeredness, pride and rebellion. We don't just make mistakes, we sin. And, sin separates us from a holy God. Read our people basically good by Dr. Alex McFarland at thestand.net.

Abraham Hamilton III: Shining Light into the darkness.

Hamilton Corner welcomes Dr. Renton Rathbun on the show

This is the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.

Abraham Hamilton III: Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner. I'm delighted to have on the program with me, a man, a brother in Christ, who I respect, I love, I appreciate. It's been a great blessing to me in person and from a distance, through his work and his ministry. And I was just telling him before we came on the air, I had the privilege of chatting with his wife for a long time at the Culture Proof Conference. I m. Am speaking of none other than Dr. Renton Rathbun, who's been a professor for over 25 years. Teaching experience includes both secular and Christian colleges and universities. He and his wife homeschooled their son Daniel, and, are now homeschooling their two younger children, Jude and Olivia. Dr. Rathbun has spoken for homeschool conventions and podcasts all over the nation, including our show right here. He holds a variety of degrees from a, bachelor's in English and master's degrees in speech, philosophy and theology, and a PhD in apologetics. Dr. Rathbun currently serves as the director of the center for Biblical Worldview at Bob Jones University. And he is the illustrious host of the Renton Rathbun show, which, if you haven't seen it or subscribe to his podcast, subscribe. You need to get with it. Dr. Rathman, thank you for joining us back here on the Hamilton Corner.

Speaker D: Well, thank you for that introduction. I like the illustrious part.

Abraham Hamilton III: Illustrious, yes. Illustrious, yes. With the unbuttoned top button and loosely fitted tie.

Speaker D: Yes. That is the shtick.

Abraham Hamilton III: That is the shtick.

Speaker D: You gotta have a shtick.

Abraham Hamilton III: The shtick. I gotta work on a shtick. I don't have a shtick.

Alex McFarland: Ah.

Abraham Hamilton III: I invited you onto the program. I've been enjoying your podcast. I have. Obviously, I've heard you speak several times. We've spoken together at several conferences, actually. I'm going to see you next week at the HSLDA National Leaders Conference.

Speaker D: That's right.

Abraham Hamilton III: Yeah. I'm gonna see you next week.

Dr. M. Rathbun allegedly murdered Charlie Kirk over identity and sexuality

but I wanted to have you on the show because as these, events have unfolded with this, according to the evidence, provided by the Utah county attorney, State Attorney, that this alleged. We have to say alleged, Dr. Rathbun, alleged murderer of Charlie Kirk, was clearly sexually confused. had a worldview that I can say this safely appeared to have rivaled the truth of Scripture. and according to the evidence, he killed. He murdered Charlie Kirk because he disagreed largely about identity and sexuality. The threshold question for our conversation Today that I want to ask you and kind of walk through with you is where must America go in light of these events?

Speaker D: M. Boy, boy. That is the question, isn't it? And this is the issue. I think they turning, point has received, I think from what last I heard, and I could be wrong on this with the numbers, but, 50 to 60,000 new, new startups that they want, that people want to be a part of that.

Abraham Hamilton III: Yeah, new chapters for the organization. Yeah, I've heard that. Yeah, numbers go ahead.

Speaker D: And that's, that's fine. I mean, you know, good for people that love. That love, politics and want to stand up and all that sort of thing. And that's great, but that's not the answer. That's not what's going to save America. That's not what's going to be our Savior. Charlie did a lot of really good things and defended Christ. I mean, all of the politics stuff, I don't really feel I'm in the place to defend or critique all that stuff. I didn't listen to very many of those, talks. I did listen to several talks where he was defending Christ. And that was interesting to me. But I feel like people like him come up out of the, you know, out of the community because we have failed in the church. the church should be, should be doing this work. The church should be standing up and speaking for Christ. People should be turning to the church for their direction and help. And the church should be the ones reaching out to the community saying, how do we, you know, how do we handle these difficult questions about Christianity? The church should be doing that. That's where I think this, that's where the answer is going to be. It's, you know, you can create more chapters and that's fine, but the real answer has got to be the one that Christ, put, put all of his focus on and said, this is my body and I am its head and the power is there. It's not that the, you know, the polit, you know, the Republicans of the world do not challenge the gates of hell. It's the church that goes against the gates of hell. And the gates of hell aren't strong enough to withhold itself from the church.

Abraham Hamilton III: Man.

The prevalence of parachurch ministries exists largely because of vacuum created by church

So many thoughts come to mind. so with the explosion of registrants for chapters or, those who are applying to make chapters, as you mentioned, to Turning Point usa, you and I were discussing before we came on the air, I made the statement that the prevalence of parachurch ministries exists largely because of vacuums that are created by the church. You know, the scripture says the apostle Paul articulated that the manifold wisdom of God will be put on display, would be basically publicized through the church. The same apostle Paul wrote that the church is to be the pillar and ground of truth. I know. Just having, followed the trajectory of Turning Point earlier on, Charlie Kirk didn't discuss Christ as prevalently as he did toward the latter part of his life. It calls to mind, why is it so often that public, advocacy for Christ, public representation of faith in Christ, often comes outside of a church context? Why has that transpired? And recognizing that the church is who Jesus says it is, how then do we make the adjustments where the church takes her rightful place? That God has planted us to be salt and light within the culture he's planted us in, in particular in our country.

Speaker D: So in. This actually has a whole history to it. when you look at the early 20th century, you see churches or denominations, if I can put it that way, catering to the customer. And so the customer was, you know, was not happy with the typical, orthodoxy of the church. And so you had people pushing back in these denominations saying, why do we have to believe that Jesus was born of a virgin? Why do we have to believe that Jesus even was God on earth? I mean, why do we have to say that sort of stuff? And then, of course, hell starts to be erased completely. And you have this push to meet the customer, to get them involved in the church. Well, you see another group of people watch this happen, and they're horrified by it. Say, this is what happens when you start caring too much about the community. We've got to isolate ourselves from the community. And so now you have the reaction to liberals trying to reach the community through a. Through false doctrine. The reaction is, let's isolate ourselves and build a wall around our church. And we don't deal with, you know, because this is what happens when you start getting into the community. You'll become a liberal. And so for a long time we've had that, you know, either you're a liberal and you're reaching out to the community, or you're good in doctrine and you just stay right, you know, in your own church and you have your choirs to preach to. What we need is to have faith that God's word, in all of its offensiveness and that Christ, who will be hated by the world, still needs to be brought out to the community and put on display and have faith that God will, Will bless our our work, I mean, and it's got it. And it may not be interesting, it may not be super exciting. It may not be a table that says, you know, change my mind or whatever it might be. It might be simple things of trying to reach the community. And it will be with an offensive message, with an offensive, you know, of an offensive God, if I can put it that way. but we have got to start working our way through holding God's word in one hand and reaching out to the community in the other. We've got to start doing.

Seems there is a reticence among many Christians to distance themselves from homosexuality

Abraham Hamilton III: Seems there is a, an evident reticence amongst many Christians to, distance themselves from the peculiarity that Christ following requires. You know, like, like you mentioned that the message of the cross is by necessity offensive. Now, our objective is not to offend. That is not the objective. But the presentation of the Gospel should not be one that's offered with the subscript and avoid offense. What do you see in terms of and why? I guess we also see this seeming reticence to, frankly be peculiar.

Speaker D: Well, what I have seen is a lot of pastors, have seen pastors do it poorly. So they'll watch a pastor out there saying all these mean things, you know, about maybe the LGBTQ community, and they're like, no, we've got to be. We've got to be gentle. And that's, you know, that's true. actually, being gentle is part of the qualification of being a pastor in First Timothy 3. And so, you know, yes, we need to be gentle, but then they take it just a little step further. Gentleness means being, accepting. How do I accept people? Well, now we get into a word that's really tricky. How do I be accepting? Well, what am I accepting? I can accept a person, but I don't want to accept their sin. But that's what has occurred. What we have is a culture that says, no, my identity is in this thing, but this thing is sin. And so if I'm going to be accepted by you, you got to accept this, or at least a version of this. And so what we've seen is that, they'll say, okay, well, homosexuality, we know is wrong, that act. And so I can't accept that. But maybe I can accept that you are same sex, attracted by nature, and that nature is not a sin. And so that same sex attraction is just who you are. And as long as you don't act on it, I can accept you, and I'll let you keep your identity in the sin that you have found comfort in. And I will allow you, and I will accept that you can find comfort in your sin and I will give you some comfort in God and you can have both. And I am telling you, that is where Satan, delights the most, is when we have allowed people to keep just a little bit of their sin so that they can be accepted. What I would say is we need a church that has learned how to love people, love them enough to say we want to help you construct yourself towards God. If you're a Christian and you're still holding on to that same sex attraction because you still feel your happiness lies in that identity, we, we do not accept that. But we love you. So come with us. We want to help you. If you are interested in, in ridding yourself of sin, we're interested in helping you do that and we will love you all the way through it. and, and I don't see why we can't do that. but what we have is someone saying, well, no one will come to you. No one's going to come to you if you say that because they believe their same sex attraction is who they are. And so they're not even going to come to you. And that's where I say, you got to be faithful and say, maybe the Lord will bring us the people and we will love them.

Abraham Hamilton III: The scripture bears it out. Ecclesiastes discusses what I described as the God void that he set eternity in the hearts of men. Very often. And I've had this experience, you know, I'm born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. I've been a part of evangelistic outreaches on Bourbon Street. We've had experiences where you've had people who would say this is how I have identified myself. But I have this drawing that is occurring and I don't know what to do with it. And so to walk with people through what you just described, we love you, but we do not accept your effort to coddle your sin. Nor do we accept your effort to redefine Christianity in your image. Because you are not God, but because we love you. We will call you to repentance and walk with you in the Christ oriented direction. But we will not affirm what Christ refuses to affirm. But what has occurred and largely we can go into some of the macro, ideals that have contributed to this. Satan's efforts are never promulgated to. Well, I'm going to destroy what you understand as church, what its efforts are promulgated to accomplish, especially in our time period is an Infiltration and a redefinition of what it means to be church so that you have what God established to be the pillar and ground of truth. Now it has a public facing presentation that says, oh, no, what you previously thought was truth is no longer truth. Now come with me. This is the way. Walk ye therein. Do you see anything, where I may be off in that assessment and analysis?

Speaker D: Oh, no, that's, let me give you, an image of what I think you're getting at because I've seen the same thing. So when I went into the military, I went in, in the 90s, early 90s, it was 1991. And the first time I was introduced to men that can show love to you in the most painful way possible was drill sergeants. Drill sergeants were. And I thought they hated us. I mean, I just did because they were so mean. I mean, they were throwing stuff around, they were yelling at us. They were making us get up at 4:30 in the morning. They were marching us around, they were making us do all this work workout stuff. And then. And nothing was ever good enough for them. We always had to keep pushing and pushing. But as time went on, what we realized is they were preparing us for war. if they were, if they were soft on us, it would be the most hateful thing you could do to someone to say, I'm going to prepare you for something that is so awful and so where things are exploding, people are dying, and you need to learn how to focus and take an order and.

Abraham Hamilton III: Let me, let me interrupt you. Cause the disrespectful music has come on. We're about to hit a break. We got about what, 30 seconds to the break. Jeff. I want to pick up right from there with your, example with the drill sergeants who are training you for war. They seem like they hated you. They were mean, they were never satisfied. But you came to the realization that they were training you for war. We'll pick, pick up right there when we come back from this break. You are listening to and watching. If you're watching the Hamilton Corner, My guest is Dr. Renton Rathbun. More after this break.

Jenna Ellis: Children, of course, are given to parents, by God, not to the state. Children belong to the state and we need to make sure that those lines are very clearly protected. And increasingly a secularized culture where, the government has, not only, tried to make the church completely irrelevant, but basically replace parents.

Speaker D: Jenna Ellis in the morning, weekdays at 7 Central on American Family Radio.

Abraham Hamilton III: The Hamilton quarter podcast and one minute commentaries are available at afr.net back to the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.

Renon Rathbun says Satan is trying to redefine what church is

Abraham Hamilton III: Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner. Abraham Hamilton II is my name. My guest is Dr. Ren Renton Rathbun, the director of the center for Biblical Worldview at Bob Jones University and host of the Renon Rathbun show, which you need to subscribe to. If you have not done so already, get with it. All right, Dr. Rathbun, you were in the middle of your story that I. And it's not my fault. It was disrespectful music's fault. So we're going to blame it there. You're in the middle of explaining how, your experience in the military is illustrative of what I was describing about Satan's efforts to infiltrate and redefine what the church is in order to realign professing believers according to his objective and purposes.

Speaker D: Yeah, so, you know, when we were in these, in basic training in the 90s, there was this focus. In fact, a couple of our drill sergeants, had served in Vietnam, so they knew what war could look like. They knew that they were preparing us for this horrible experience that requires a lot of focus when there's a lot of pain and a lot of craziness going around. So they created craziness for us so that we would know how to focus. They created pain for us, so we knew how to focus our energies towards accomplishing a mission instead of being overwhelmed by what was going on. Now, they did that because their belief about what they were preparing us for was very clear war, and they understood what that meant. You fast forward to the Biden administration and what the, what the military ended up looking like by the time Biden was, was putting all his efforts into softening the military. And, and you see all these limitations on the drill sergeants. They, they can't push too hard. They can't, they can't yell. they can't do very much, because, this might hurt the, you know, the hearts of the kids. And so are they preparing those kids for what the reality of war is? and I would say no. And I would say it's very unloving to do. Now, what does this have to do with the church? Well, it depends on what the church believes, what they're doing. if I were Satan, what I would want is I would want the churches to lose sight of the fact that they are preparing people for war. I would want the church to lose sight of the fact that they're already at war, lose sight of that. What you want is a church that believes they're at peace and at peace, there's so many things you can do. I mean, we don't have to, you know, we don't even have to push these people too much. We don't have to help them get away from this stuff. But because we're at peace, this stuff isn't even really that bad. And people are getting over the top, worried about things, and it's not that bad. And the two things that they've lost is number one, that we're at war, that we don't fight. We're not fighting flesh and blood. We're fighting principalities and powers. Powers that have been in place for a long time, trying to destroy what God has created in the church.

Abraham Hamilton III: That.

Speaker D: And not only that, but we have lost the idea that God is holy. So we've lost the idea of what our mission is in this war. And we've lost sight of who our general is, that he is a holy God and that we have to respond in kind to a God that is absolutely holy. Not that he has hoarded his holiness over us, but. But has actually provided a way for us to be like him through Christ. And think of how evil it is when someone comes in who wants to hold on to some of their sin. And there's a. There's a way provided for them to let go of their sin. There is power strong enough for them to let go of their sin, because that tiny little bit of sin that they're holding on to is that trespass in their heart that's dying to betray their God. And the best thing you can do for someone is get rid of that thing they're holding onto because eventually it will be used by the enemy to betray their God. And that's how Satan, I think, has changed the church. He has turned it from what you have described as a disciple making ministry into a child coddling. Ah, kind of club that makes you feel safe and happy as they escort you to the gates of hell.

Abraham Hamilton III: Man, your description and prognosis is it's dire.

What needs to happen in order for churches to be reawakened

what needs to happen in order for us to be reawakened. I would say to the notion that, guys, we are at war. I mean, here's a great example of what I'm talking about. Did you hear, and I didn't ask you this beforehand, so if you didn't see, that's fine. But did you see that ABC News reporter who described the Utah County Attorney's press conference and Said that, oh, who knew that? It was so very touching, with between, you know, Tyler Robinson and his sexually confused and identity confused roommate slash boyfriend and even Montel Williams on CNN talking about, oh, this was just a, this was a heartbroken love story. I mean this is, that's disgusting. That's disgusting. But it's indicative as to where we are, what needs to happen in order to reawaken us to the fact that yes, we are at war.

Speaker D: I think there's two things that need to happen. first of all, we need pastors that will be courageous. And what I mean by that is.

Abraham Hamilton III: Boring.

Speaker D: Old fashioned orthodoxy. Holding to it with all your might. Preaching through a book, not just jumping through topics, but preaching through books one verse at a time to help people understand how to understand how to work through their own Bible and be courageous about it. The courageous. This is where the courageousness comes in. When you start seeing people leave, when you start, when you, when you know you could get more people in if you just, you know, we're a little easier on this or that. But this courageousness also has to be your courageousness of your love for your people. if you, if you practice strict orthodoxy without love, you will be this resounding gong that will be this reminder to everyone why, why these old fashioned churches that just stick to the Bible are so worth, are so worthless because they're so mean there and they don't love anybody. You have got to have the thing that scripture and this is, you know, from my denomination. You would, you know, I would think that God would, would find more and more joy as he tells us to stay close to good doctrine. Good doctrine, good doctrine and end with good doctrine. But scripture never ends with good doctrine. It says you need to have good doctrine and, and it's always the, and, and love, love is always pushed. How do I love my people and how do the people love each other? I think that's number one, good doctrine and, and, and unrelenting love for each other, at the same time. And then number two is Obey Titus 2 we have for so long. Titus 2 tells us that that the older in the congregation need to mentor the younger. If you're an older woman in the church, you should be teaching the younger ladies in the church how to be good wives and good mothers. If you're an older man in the church, you should be teaching young men how to be temperate and not so crazy and sober minded and not stupid. But instead we're so, and this is the big temptation for A lot of pastors, we need young people in the church. We need young people in the church. We got to get young people in the church. And that's true. You do need them in the church. But this is what you need them for. You need them to learn, learn from the older. We have treated the older as if they are done. We don't need them anymore. We just wait for the, for the home going with these older people. And they are filled with wisdom, filled with knowledge of scripture that they have, they have had in their hearts for years and years. And we have wasted them because we have come to believe what, what the culture has told us about old people. If you don't know how to use a cell phone, you can't get through, you know, the Walmart self checkout fast enough, then you're a worthless human being. And so if you can't understand the technology, that tells me you are not wise. And so if I see you, you know, savvy to the technology, maybe I'll listen to you. And that's not where wisdom is. We have lost our ability to understand what wisdom is. And so we have lost our use of the older people in the church. So if we, you, know, if, if pastors can say to themselves, how do I love my people better? How do I stick to God's word? You know, with strictness? And then we can say, how do I use my older people in the church to minister to the younger? And I start becoming intentional about all three of those things. I think that's where we begin to see a difference.

Abraham Hamilton III: You know, what you said is so true on so many fronts. because of the whole, if you're not tech savvy, if you're not up with the times, then you have no, benefit here. Which has led to lots of older people attempting to defray their aging and to act like they're younger people. You see older people trying to wear skinny pants and all these other kind of, all this other kind of insanity. But it also requires, as you pointed out, there needs to be a deputizing, if you will, of. I call them our seasoned saints, you know, to say, listen, not only is there room for you in the church, we need you. We need you. We need you to understand that there are no big eyes or little you's in the kingdom of God, and you are intrinsic to God's vision for his kingdom. You know, it makes me think about, Jethro and Moses, where, Moses is recounting all of the exploits that God did in whaling, the Egyptians. And then Jethro watched Moses as he led the people of Israel. And then, and it's remarkable to read this, that Moses doesn't begin operating in really, public ministry until he's 80. You know, he's in his 80s. he's upwards of 80. And then after Jethro watched him, Jethro was able to interject. Now, this is Moses, who the scripture says, who communed with the Lord face to face, as with the man. This is Moses who led the children of Israel through a red sea and, on dry ground, pillar, cloud by day, pillar of fire by night. Yet when Jethro spoke, Moses listened. M. What was it about Jethro that caused Moses to listen? And then when Jethro gave him guidance and instruction, which our James Madison's notes at the Constitution Convention articulated, it set the foundation for our, appellate process and illegal proceedings with the Supreme Court, appellate courts and district courts. when Jethro gave Moses advice, Moses listened. In spite of all of his experience with the Lord, in spite of him having the position as deliverer, having this vaunted position in God, he was able to recognize wisdom, and he humbled himself and yielded to that wisdom. It paints a picture, in my view, of exactly what you're talking about as to how the body of Christ in our day has been underserved terribly because we've kind of been lost in the sauce of the cultural zeitgeist and kind of say, well, if you don't have 25 social media pages, then we have no need of you.

Speaker D: M. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. And we have redefined influence. And isn't that one of Satan's, little turns that he did to try and change what the church looks like? How am I going to be influenced? Because kids today are going to say, I will give you the stipulations of how I'll be influenced. And it has to be online. It has to be through a really cool way that they think is neat, and it has to be in the way they want it. I know that there's always been people say, well, if you want my respect, you have to earn it type thing. And I understand what that means. And I know that you don't just give your respect away just to anybody. But that has become the mantra of this, not just this culture, but this generation coming up, that if I'm going to respect you, it will be on my terms, and you will meet those terms. If you do not meet those terms, I will not respect you. And Satan delights in that. Because again, I think there has been a vacuum in the church teaching kids. These are the qualifications for someone to influence you, and they're from scripture, and you need to love that. And when you see someone with those qualifications from scripture, then you go for it.

American Family association needs vibrant, thriving church, says Dr. Rathman

Abraham Hamilton III: So well said. So well said. And it really, it comes full circle back to really where we started our conversation. say what you want, but the word of God is true. And while I am grateful for parachurch ministries, I mean, American Family association is a parachurch ministry. The scripture says that the church is the pillaring ground of truth. And so if there are people who are questioning where America. Questioning where America must go, what we need, frankly, we need a vibrant, thriving church, with unwavering commitment to the truth of scripture, biblical orthodoxy and sound doctrine, and simultaneously unwavering commitment, commitment to loving people. The scripture says, behold Jesus, filled with mercy and truth. Not one or the other, but both. And it may not be, you know, attractive. It's not the quote unquote sexy thing, but it's nevertheless the true thing that we need. Dr. Rathman, thank you so much for joining me here on the Hamilton Corner. And I look forward to seeing you and hearing you speak next week at HSLDA Homeschooling Defense Association's National Leaders Conference.

Speaker D: thanks for having me.

Abraham Hamilton III: Absolutely. My pleasure.

American Family Association still taking applications for ministry positions

All right, folks, until next time, continue to fight the good fight. Get off the couch. Ministry still taking applications. The views and opinions expressed in this.

Jenna Ellis: Broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of.

Speaker D: The American Family association or American Family Radio.

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