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.
American Family Radio broadcasts live from Illinois Christian Home Educators Conference
Abraham Hamilton III: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Hamilton Corner here on American Family Radio. I am your host, Abraham Hamilton the Third, broadcasting live once again from the Illinois Christian Home Educators Conference, Iche here in Bourbon A, Illinois, on the beautiful campus of Olivet Nazarene University. This is truly, truly a beautiful campus. This is my first time participating in the ICHE Conference and it has been a tremendous, tremendous conference. what a, what a great time we've had here. We are still here in the exhibit hall on the Olivet Nazarene University campus and we plan to have an exciting show today. At this very moment, many of you, if not most of you, are making your transitions 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, to remind you, as is my custom, to do so with intentionality, understanding the primacy that God places on the family. I talked this morning in our plenary session here, about the family being God's primary mission station. That is not merely, ah, a circumstance for collegiality, for fraternity. It is a mission station and the primary vehicle that God has established to facilitate fidelity to him generationally, that you go from one generation to another generation as a result of the Lord moving one source, parental source, to pour into and to disciple their children. The corner contingent is still in the building to my right, right here off camera though, producer extraordinaire, the real J. Mac, often imitated and never duplicated. And back in studio, Mr. Bobby is manning the controls as is usual. We're excited to be with you yet again. You know, as you're making your transition, it isn't, it is, inestimably important to recognize what God has done and what he is doing in establishing the family. I say it all the time. We will never as a society out vote. We'll never out politic. We'll never even out church deficiencies that abound in the home. So often the world works feverishly to cause us to place importance and significance on everything except our families. And many times, many places People who you know well meaning even want to be salt and light want to do so at the expense of their own families neglecting their own homes in an effort to be faithful and fruitful in the world. And listen, we all should want to be fruitful and faithful in the world. Every believer should want to be fruitful and faith to be faithful and fruitful in the world, simply not at the expense of our families. Which is why I endeavored to recalibrate our thinking that when we leave our income generating capacities, that is when we're transitioning to our full time jobs. Because our full time commitment is an outcome cultivation. And by God's grace, he gives us the opportunity and the ability to do so starting right in our own homes. So no matter what station of life that you may be in, currently every believer is called to execute the king's commission. And if you're listening to me right now and you're like, yeah, yeah, Abe, let's get past all of the Christian stuff. Let's just get to the issues of the day. I simply would want to encourage you the same way the Hebrew writer would encourage you that as the Lord is drawing you, do not harden your heart. Do not harden your heart. the only appropriate response to the invitation from the eternal King of glory is to say yes and enter into the lifestyle of worship. So as you are making your transition, please do so with intentionality and make sure that our investments, your investment in your full time job is fully orbed, fully committed in Jesus name to the word of God.
Proverbs is in the wisdom literature genre in Scripture
We go. Proverbs, chapter 15. Proverbs, chapter 15 is where we're going to go. Verses 31 through 33. Proverbs 15, verses 31 through 33. Where we're going to go here. Proverbs is in the wisdom literature genre in Scripture. All right, and this is what the verses say. Verse 31. He who hear. Sorry. He whose ear listens to the life giving reproof will dwell among the wise. He who neglects discipline despises himself. But he who listens to reproof acquires understanding. The fear of the Lord is the instruction for wisdom. And before honor comes humility. M. Read that again. He whose ear listens to the life giving reproof will dwell among the wise. He who neglects discipline despises himself. But he who listens to reproof acquires understanding. The fear of the Lord is the instruction for wisdom. And before honor comes humility. One of the major things, all of it is what I'm going to focus on in Turn.
The Scripture says life giving reproof will dwell among the wise
But I'm going to start with that first. Verse 31 says, he who. Whose ear listens to reproof. Not just reproof generally, but the Scripture says life giving reproof will dwell among the wise. How often have we considered. How often have you considered that dwelling among the wise, being accompanied by the wise is directly con. Neck, directly connected in Scripture, Hm. To heeding life giving reproof? You know, yesterday I talked about, how the fear of death produces lifelong slaves. According to Hebrews chapter two. Here you have the one who would be wise, who would dwell among the wise, gives ear to life giving reproof. It's the fool who despises discipline and instruction. You know, Psalm 2 says, why does the heathen rage and imagine a vain thing? Guys, it is. It is absolutely necessary for the body of Christ to return to the reality that correction from God is an exhibition of his love for the one being corrected. And a part of maturity and in the process of maturing is being able to discern life giving reproof. If your inclination at first instance is to bristle against correction, I just want to say the proverbial wisdom indicates that you are placing yourself in a course of life that will foreclose you from being among the wise. This is why it is an exercise in immaturity and adolescence to reject correction. How many times have you had the experience where you're talking to someone but they're not interested in a dialogue? They simply want a monologue with an audience that, you are talking? No, there's a conversation that's supposed to be transpiring, but one person is talking and they speak. And then if you have the opportunity to speak, they're not listening to what you're saying. They're waiting for their opportunity to again say or to once again resume saying what they had been saying previously, not giving ear. But beyond assessing the natural phenomena that transpires, what does the Scripture say? And look at the phrasing, he who neglects discipline despises himself. That should provoke the question, how does one neglect discipline? And here it's not saying he who neglects to apply discipline externally to someone else. This is saying, he who personally neglects discipline being offered despises himself. So how do we then how does one neglect discipline? You know, the Hebrew writer, in describing, the Lord's love exhibited by his correction, he corrects those who he loves. He says, the one who is trained by the Hebrew writer says, the one who is trained by the correction will eat the peaceable fruit of Righteousness, which gives the communication that there will be some who refuse to be trained by the correction. Isaiah said, in another place, he who is often reproved yet stiffens his neck shall suddenly be destroyed. And that without remedy, the way that you neglect discipline, that you can suffer the application without applying one's heart and mind to the reasoning behind it. It's remarkable to consider, but it could all be employed. Yet the one who is the intended recipient of God's love ends up going without it. Not without God's love, but going without the application. Or should I say, the refusal to neglect discipline. But the same. The next verse, verse 30, 32 says, he who listens to reproof, acquires wisdom. He who listen, he who listens to reproof requires wisdom. So you have these multi layered features. One, God chastens or corrects those whom he loves. Two, the one who is trained by the correction eats the peaceable fruit of righteousness. Three, he who gives ear or listens to the reproof will dwell among the wise. That seems like a lot of biblical admonition to embrace and to be trained by the extension or the exercise of God's love toward us as opposed to bristling against it. And then the proverb concludes with the truest observation. Before honor comes humility. The Apostle James said it, God opposes the proud, but gives grace, Maison kairos, more grace to the humble. If you want to find yourself crossways with God, allow pride to be your fast friend. And contrary to what some may believe, but in real life practice, we know this is true. Professing faith in Christ does not absolve one from the capacity to cultivate a prideful disposition. It doesn't. It doesn't. God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. So what is the simple, nevertheless profound? And we should never complain, we should never conflate, simplicity with a lack of profundity. The truth is, the simple things of the Lord are deep when they are applied. You know, I've said before, you have people that often say, well, I'm looking for the deep things of God. The simple truth is the simple things of God are deep when applied. You know, simple things like he who controls his tongue masters his entire self. How many believers struggle with controlling the tongue? You know, a lot of times we focus on Hollywood sins, but we nurse pet sins. You know, things like gossip. Oh, I just want to make sure everyone is informed. Really? Does that, really, does everybody need to know all of that? I just want to make sure everybody understands what's going on. Why do you want to make sure everybody understands what's going on and we don't understand that there are things that are transpired within us and don't even realize how it is such a divisive mechanism that the unity that is supposed to exist and persists within the body of Christ is undercut because of the sin of gossip. What I'm saying, folks, very simply is what the word of God is saying. He who listens to life giving reproof will dwell among the wise. Will dwell among the wise. He who neglects discipline despises himself. Let us be a people who seek to be among the wise. One of the ways we do so is by giving hearty ear to life giving reproof, recognizing that the Lord corrects those whom he loves and there's not one among us. I'm, the first to throw my hand up to say, man, I know for a fact I am not perfect. And I am grateful to God for his correction and for the people he sent my way, especially men of God. He sent my way to help me by correcting me. He who gives ear to life giving reproof will dwell among the wise. A, discipleship minute with Joseph Parker.
Joseph Parker: What if God wrote a book? Would you read it? Well, the fact is, God did write a book, and it's called the Bible, and we have the privilege of reading it. The author of the Word of God is God, our heavenly Father. He used about 40 or so secretaries to write the Word of God, but God is the one that inspired every word of the Word of God. So it's a book by God about God. The Word of God is Jesus, and Jesus is the Word of God. And so from Genesis to Revelation, you're reading an autobiography, a book by God about God, and God continues to introduce himself to us. And more and more we come to know who Jesus is and his personality through the Word of God. We live in a world where people read lots and lots of things, but the most important book in all of the world for you to read is the book written by the creator of the universe, the precious word of God.
Abraham Hamilton III: Shining light into the darkness. This is the Hamilton corner on American Family Radio.
Bobby Hamilton: Part of the problem here is multifaceted
Abraham Hamilton III: Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner. Abraham Hamilton iii. Here. Man, oh, man, oh, man. So I. I didn't get into this yesterday. but what is going on? Or what was going on with this Elon Musk? Donald Trump spat. you know, it is. It's ugly. Is. This is public. It kind of. It makes me think that if Thomas Jefferson and John Adams had the artists formerly known as Twitter back before John Adams and Thomas Jefferson came to become fast friends. This is probably what it would look like because man, if you read some of the letters those guys exchanged back and forth, man, it was nasty. But I think a part of the problem here is multifaceted. So first we know that the whole doge effort was employed for the express purposes of endeavoring to cut spending generally, but more specifically to reduce the deficit by a trillion dollars. And so you can, you can rightly understand if there's a, there's a measure that's proposed that is expected to heighten the deficit and once again hike the debt ceiling. And if the work you've just been doing have been promulgated to eliminate that kind of deficit, then you can, would be upset. Another factor that I think is spurring this on is the complete lack of confidence. Individual citizens, in this case, not individual citizens, but the American people, the lack of confidence that we have and we have had, in Congress to do anything with the runaway, insane spending, the runaway spending on the, the Conversely, there's a reality of, and I said this like last week sometime or no, earlier this week. There, there is the desire to deal with the world as we would like it to be and dealing with the world as it is. As it is. The Republican Party has an extremely razor thin minority, sorry, a razor thin majority in the House of Representatives. They have a little bit more wiggle room in the Senate, but they do not have a filibuster proof majority in the Senate. So then the question becomes what can be done? Then you have the kind of inside hockey congressional literacy that's necessary. So I want to try to make sense of all of this, a part of the problem. And I mentioned before that there was a desire to see the Doge spending cuts as proposed, to see them codified into legislation. Here's the thing, and I still can't believe this, but this is what it is. The legislation is literally titled the Big Beautiful Bill Act. That is literally, literally the name of it. The Big Beautiful Bill has some things in it that I like. They have some things in it that I do not like. I've said that. That is the simple truth. All right. The facts are however, that the legislation is agenda legislation more so than it is a budgetary measure, simply because you cannot address or cannot cut discretionary spending via a reconciliation m measure. That, that is the rules pursuant to Congress and the reconciliation provisions. This is why the Reconciliation measure can proceed without regard for the filibuster because it's supposed to be a non discretionary funding mechanism. And I think that is where the frustration is. That's m. Where the frustration is. Because when you get into the weeds and recognize that, wait, a reconciliation bill is not where you address discretionary spending, then what immediately comes to the fore is, do you trust this Congress to codify the doge cuts in the discretionary spending later? And that's the whole rub. that's the whole rub. So you want. I want significant cuts in government spending. I mean, servicing the national debt is, is a. Outpacing our defense budget. Guys, this is insane. This is not something that is sustainable. No doubt about it. But you have these, this, this beef going on. And Bobby tells me I hadn't seen this because I've been, you know, speaking at this conference and navigating this. He says Musk has already come out and apologized for what he said. Okay, but there's some things, you know, some bells cannot be unrung, and certainly I would, I definitely want to see reconciliation between them two. That's, that's not the issue. But more importantly, I think the American people need to be apprised of the details of the process. There are many. And the American people are largely, can largely be frustrated, with a lack of understanding. Reconciliation packages don't include the ability to address discretionary spending. Now, here's the other thing. But weren't things like Obamacare pass through reconciliation? So you just have that palpable distrust of Congress undergirding all this. You have that palpable frustration and that palpable distrust undergirding all of this. The thing that concerns me more than all of it is that the movement that was refocusing the American populace on the far gone need to significantly cut spending is getting lost in kind of the soap opera of this spat. I understand that governing, especially within margins, is exceedingly difficult. I understand that. But at what point, and this is something I believe the American people share. American people share with me, at what point then do we do what was necessary? and we had a whole movement, the Tea Party movement, that was snuffed out overnight, if we want to be honest, by establishment Republicans. The Democrats helped, but establishment Republicans are the ones who largely did that. And so there are a lot of people who's like, man, we, we, we didn't have that. What's going on now? And so with all of this happening, the thing that is most disheartening for Me is just simply the lack of maturity, man. If you have a disagreement with a measure, that's fine. But the personal barbs, what is, what is the point of that? To which the immediate response is if, you talk about Donald Trump or personal barbs. Yeah, that's kind of the whole, that's a part of the whole scenario.
Congressional reconciliation bills are not the proper vehicle for cuts to discretionary spending
But what I wanted to make sure that this audience knows and this audience understands is that according to the congressional rules, reconciliation packages, reconciliation bills are not the proper vehicle for cuts to discretionary spending. It's not. So the question then becomes, okay, if and when this bill passes, if and when this bill passes, will there be cuts to discretionary spending? And, I think that question is a legitimate question to ask. It's a legitimate question to raise, and it's a legitimate issue to press, to press into the conversation. And, you know, all of, all of the statements that were made when Musk is campaigning for Trump, that this is, you know, Western civilization is at stake. What are we going to do? What are we going to do? Did all of that stuff just go out of the window? You know, do those things no longer apply? And I would simply say they do apply. You know, when we're at the place, when you have, you know, I've talked about this before. You have the Montgomery County School District in Maryland telling parents, including Christian parents, that we don't care if you have children that are elementary school age, as young as 4 years old. And we have these readers that include everything concerning, including the sexual deviancy, sociopolitical agenda, all this confusion, and say, no, we're not going to allow you to opt your children out. Yeah, yeah. I think these things are, are civilizationally threatening. No doubt about it. No doubt about it. Those things still persist. But the longer we have a populace who is largely ignorant as to all of these things, that type of nefarious activity will continue. Now, I want you to see something. This was interesting to me because you have this representative, Laura Friedman, and, she's, you know, a congresswoman from California. And she talked about this working group that lurks in the shadows in Washington, D.C. it consists of 70 to 75 members of the House of Representatives who will happen to all be in the same party with Representative Friedman, Democrat Party, and they meet with state AGs, and all they do is envision ways that they can fight against the Trump administration. That's literally all they do listen to and watch clip number one. Is it clip one? Clip number one. Go.
Speaker D: Every single week, we have a litigation working group where A large group of us. And I'm talking, there's maybe 75 members of the House sit down every single week with the ags to talk about legal strategy. This is all going on every single week behind the scenes. It is nonstop. Nonstop talk, non stop introduction of bills and legislation, nonstop being on social media as much as we can without being throttled and without the crazy analytics and doing all these things non stop.
Abraham Hamilton III: Every week they call it a litigation group. Every week non stop. This is all they do, man. This is what I'm. This is the kind of political gang banging I'm talking about. They're not meeting to see, what can we do for the American people? What can we do to go forward? How do we work with this? They're meeting non stop 70 to 75 members of the House of Representatives, along with state attorney generals, and they call it a litigation group. And yet when people like me said talk about things like lawfare, and you have the record number of, you know, lawsuits filed and you have district court judges making these nationwide injunctions, and when you see people like me saying, man, this is unconstitutional, how are we doing? Just so, you know, I don't know. Representative Friedman. All right. I didn't tell her to come out and say this. And in fact, she's speaking to a group that they're kind of proud of what they're doing. That's what we're doing. What are you doing? We elected you. You're getting paid, what? Tax dollars. What are you doing? Oh, every week we have, ah, a litigation group. And we meet every week for one purpose, one purpose only. How can we thwart this agenda today? And, I'm sharing this with you. Most of us know this. We envision these kind of things were happening, but have someone to come out and say this in a manner where it could be recorded. You know, the Internet is forever. And to put it out there just like that. I wanted you to see, see this, and I wanted to present this and pit it against what I previously was talking about. Because it, it fortifies and punctuates, really what I believe can be utilized as a distraction. As a distraction. Because the trajectory that we have been on as a nation is simply unsustainable. It cannot happen. You know, the whole idea, we're going to kick the can down the street, Kick the can down the street, Kick the can down the street. We ultimately will end up with no more street. We'll ultimately end up with no more street. And this is where we are, guys. This is where we are. So, you know, I hope and I pray that the whole musk trump tat spat rather is over. You know, and it really is bothersome to me. Not surprising, but it's bothersome to me that we'll just, you know. Yeah, you get a little upset. Just go, yeah, go ahead. Just, you know, talk about somebody's mama. Nobody did that literally. But that's the kind of stuff they were doing, you know, like your mama jokes, you know. You know, back on the block, someone I say something, you really want to try to shut down what's going on or you want to provoke or not? Not. shut down what's going on and provoke an escalation. You know, they drop your mama. And anybody from where I'm from, you hear that? You know what that means? What does that mean, Jeff? What does that mean? That means we've progressed. I'll, just. Here's the translation. We've progressed beyond the capacity to reasonably disagree about whatever substantive matter we have presented before us, and we've now progressed to the stage where pugilistic engagement is required. And this is what these dudes are doing. You know, you don't like my bill, Fine. I'm gonna cancel government contracts with this. Fine, you're gonna cancel my government contracts, then I'm gonna do this.
What happened to putting the country first? What happened to that
You just mad because the bill includes an elimination of these, you know, ev. Mandates. It's just. Guys, it's just. It's is sad and sickening. You know, what happened to. How about, let's put the country first? What happened to that? What happened to, you know, what's best for the nation? America first. It's just petulant immaturity, and it's on display for the world to see with some of the most powerful people in our country, the wealthiest man in the world currently, and the most powerful in the world currently, based on this position. Very, very galling. Very, very galling. So in light of all of that, what do we do? Well, I encourage you to do what I encourage you to do daily, because as you hear me say, what goes on in your house is more important than what goes on in the White House. What is going on in our homes? Are we prepared to navigate the storm that we're currently facing? You know, how is. How is we look, we look at the national debt. Where are we in our own homes in terms of debt? Can we sustain our lives and provide for our families going forward with, you know, record high inflation and other things of that nature? Or would we be overwhelmed by what is happening. When we see the craziness swirling around us, we shouldn't just, you know, stare at it and, you know, with gaped jaws going, oh, look at what's happening. We should be introspective simultaneously to recognize, wait a minute, God, what would you have me to do in light of what's happening there? How can I be fortified in what you've called me to do in the space where you have planted me? That is what should be provoked and as you've heard me say numerous times, live locally. We know that's going on in D.C. but what's going on where we live? That should be our immediate response. More when we get back from the break.
Jamie Sanchez is another Christian business owner who has been targeted for his faith
You're listening to the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
Speaker E: Without even seeing them show up, I could feel like the darkness.
Joseph Parker: Jamie Sanchez is another Christian business proprietor who has been targeted for his faith. His Drip Cafe was open to serve and help the homeless of downtown Denver.
Speaker E: We believe sex outside of marriage and homosexuality is a sin in God's eyes. And the enemy and his minions decided to use that as a platform.
Joseph Parker: Jesus told us persecution would come.
Speaker E: I would see them, just the rage and the hate. I pictured them doing that at the foot of the cross to Jesus. and I just remembered what he said. Forgive them, Father. They know not what they do. And so I had to position my heart that way.
Joseph Parker: The Jamie Sanchez story is one of the videos of the impact series@stream.aca.net it's.
Speaker E: Been a crazy, crazy ride.
Joseph Parker: See Jamie's story and much more@stream.aca.net Mental health industry missing the mark this is David Wheaton, host of the Christian Worldview.
One in five Americans have been diagnosed with a mental illness
The statistics are staggering. One in five people in America have been diagnosed with a mental illness. One in six are taking powerful psychotropic medications such as antidepressants, anti anxieties and stimulants. And here's the troubling part. The material brain and the immaterial mind are wrongly considered to be one in the same, which means wrong and harmful treatments are administered. God's way to assess mind is the right way. When we obey his command to be born again, we can then be, as scripture says, transformed by the renewing of your mind. Hear a most recent program with Greg Gifford, author of Lies My Therapist told me@thechristianworldview.org and then tune in this weekend as we discuss how to lead your family.
Speaker E: Listen to the Christian Worldview with David Wheaton Saturday mornings at 8 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.
Former White House press secretary Caroline Jean Pierre announces departure from Democratic Party
Abraham Hamilton III: Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner. Abraham Hamilton III here, man. Already in our final segment of the day, this is, this is, this is just funny to read. And it just confirmed with, with lots of people constitutionalists, have, have expressed, but, the former press secretary, Caroline Jean Pierre. Oh my goodness. As you know. Well, maybe you don't know this, but she's announced that she, she was so mortified by the way the Democrat party treated Mr. Joseph Robinette Biden after his June debate that she is leaving the Democrat Party. Okay. She felt, she, she said that it was a kill squad. That's as her words that descended upon the White House. All right. And come on in. That descended upon the White House. And she was just, she was just, just, just gobsmacked by it all. And so you had a bunch of staffers coming out saying, what, this woman is insane. She would have the ultimate meltdowns if anybody dared ask her a question that hadn't been pre programmed for her to answer. And so when people like me are saying, I can't remember the last time we had a press secretary who was reading, her answers to questions, they just confirmed all of that and saying that, wait a minute, this woman would have the total meltdown. So for her to come out and act like, you know, she's just courageous crusader by announcing her, her departure from the Democratic party is like she's selling herself out literally for the money, for the cash grab for a book. Because there's no other constituency, constituency in the country that's going to support her other than the Democrat party. And it's just, I'm not surprised. That's just been a part of who she has been for the longest. Which just made me chuckle because from the very beginning when I first saw her reading, I was like, this lady's not qualified for this job. And she's following. Circle back, Saki. At least circle back. Sake would say, let's circle back. I'm leave that alone for a moment because I have the privilege to have one of my favorite people in the world, frankly. best, selling author, a speaker, a host of the Heidi St. John podcast. Maybe I'm giving away who I'm talking about, who's a firebrand, who is a person. I believe with everything in me that God has, one of the people God has appointed for this particular time in our nation's history and in world history to help to calibrate us you know, one of the things that I often said, God dispatched people like Jeremiah to Judah prior to, Babylonian exile. People like Habakkuk who say, but said specifically by name, there's a people coming and they coming from Babylon, you know, and. But nobody listened to Jeremiah. He's called the Weeping Prophet because he wept so much, because no one listened to Jeremiah. But what he said was absolutely true. I pray that we have the wisdom and the prudence to listen to Heidi St. John. Heidi, thank you for joining me here on the Hamilton Corner, especially after I know you just provided a keynote presentation to the over 2,000 attendees here at the ICHE conference.
Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner. I mainly wanted to have you on for a few moments
Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner.
Heidi St. John: So good to see you. thanks for inviting me. My goodness, this is such a treat.
Abraham Hamilton III: No, the treat is mine. We're texting earlier. Are you here?
Heidi St. John: Yes, I know. I was signing books over there and I was like, shoot, I'm supposed to be over there with Abraham.
Abraham Hamilton III: Yeah, no, it's no problem at all. I mainly wanted to have you on. And we only have a few moments, and it's fine about 13 minutes. but just to, to, to one kind of share.
M. M. wants parents to keep their eye on the ball
What is God, pressing upon you at this particular moment? I know you have all kind of things going on, and so even you being here is just a testament to your commitment to serving God's purposes with the time he's given you. And, it's just, it's really encouraging, heartening to me. What are the things that are driving you?
Heidi St. John: well, I just have a passion for the rising generation of parents to keep their eye on the ball. Right. And so we're seeing a shift in the culture right now, and we need to read the room and not miss it. And, you know me, I have a tremendous love for politics. I want to see Christians engage in politics. I want to see us in the public square. But politics is not the answer. Jesus is the answer. And if we can engage this generation of parents, especially to, stay in the fight to raise their children to love and serve the Lord. I mean, I've got grandkids now pretty quick. I'm gonna have eight grandbabies. We're expecting twin grand girls any day. Emerson and Evelyn, how to make their way into the world. And, I got a lot to fight for. I got a lot to fight for. So, just gonna stay out there and just try to remind parents, like, every battle that we are facing right now is spiritual, spiritual in nature. Every battle you're struggling for your marriage, it's Spiritual.
Abraham Hamilton III: Amen.
Heidi St. John: You want to give up homeschooling? It's spiritual. M. Right. You got a prodigal. It's spiritual. you're afraid to go to a library board meeting is spiritual. All these things are spiritual. Fear not an emotion. Fear is a spirit. And, you know, I'm wrestling with my own. My own issues right now, obviously, and just to be reminded in my own life, like, we're not called as God's people to succumb to a spirit of fear because we know God's given us everything we need for life and godliness. Right. It's in his word, and it's by his spirit. Power, love, and a sound mind.
Abraham Hamilton III: Man, it's so profound. I want to pick up on that part.
You say people are searching for truth like they never have before
But also something you said earlier. There's a shift in the culture, and we, the body of Christ, need to be able to read the room. What is the shift that you see?
Heidi St. John: Well, I think people are searching for truth like they never have in, the last probably 75 years. Right. And so we see now an entire generation of young people starting to ask questions. I think the left has overplayed its hand. Absolutely. we're asking stupid questions like, what is a woman? And this young generation, particularly men, the white liberals, still having a hard time. White liberal women, I should say, still having a hard time. but young men especially, they smell a rat and they're looking for truth. And they're looking for it on our college campuses. They're looking for it, in the high schools now. we see a resurgence of it. And the church has to be here to be prepared to give an answer. And really, that's where we blew it. we haven't been prepared to give an answer. The church has not done that. And so that's what I mean by read the room. Let's give an answer for the hope that lies within us. Because everything that we need, God's, word is already addressed. And so the church has the answers. The question is, are they going to show up?
Abraham Hamilton III: Do you think the. The. Where you say, this is where we blew it, not providing an answer to those seeking questions. Do you think it is, you know, a feature of neglect, not answering? Or could it be that we've been in such a, I'll say it, prosperous disposition where. Where prior generations had to contend for truth as being a subsequent generation that simply could inherit truth, that our sharpness to be able to provide those answers have been blunted to a degree or.
Heidi St. John: Maybe a combination, I think it's a combination. you know, I'm gonna be, I'm just gonna be out there and say, I think a lot of it is just cowardice. I think, you know, we, you're right. Like we haven't had to contend for the faith in the public square, but also we gave it up, we ceded the territory. I mean, we did that in the 70s, right? We did that with Roe v. Wade in 1973. We've done that, you know, in the last, 50 years with the conversations we've had in this country, first around abortion, then around homosexuality, then around gay marriage. And, and the church has stumbled and fallen and it's like that commercial help. I've fallen, I can't get up. You know, that's how, that's how I see the church, how I've fallen and I can't get up. Because we live in a generation of Christians that have been spoon fed this sort of cultural Christianity that says that it's all right to sacrifice truth on the altar of mercy. We know all of the lyrics to all the modern worship songs, but we don't know God's word and we can't defend it. And it's a perfect storm, right, for the adversary to come in and go, you know, we probably should, we should probably have a conversation about what a woman is. Because maybe it's a social construct and the church is like, yeah, this is, this isn't our battle. Except for it is, it is. But when do you see the church addressing it?
Abraham Hamilton III: Yeah, when you said that, you saw me on my face, I went, you know, because I immediately thought about John, Behold him, full of grace and truth, you know, like, like what? Sacrificing truth for mercy, how that's not possible if we are following the lead of our Lord. Truth and grace, love, they go hand in hand. You can't have one without the other. Biblically.
Heidi St. John: And so what we've done and the reason I say that, that's my story, I'm sticking to it because I've watched the church in the Pacific northwest now for 40 years, say, well, because I love you and you do you. And I don't want to hurt your feelings and I don't want you to feel like I'm judging you. And, they feel like it's the merc to not tell the truth. And that's why I say, I think we have sacrificed truth on the altar of a misguided mercy, thinking that if we do that, they're eventually going to come to the truth on their own, how they're not. Well, they won't. And that's what's happened. We have lost. We have absolutely lost as believers. I think our place in the public square. We gave it up. We ceded the territory. We decided to get out of politics because it was dirty. We decided not to engage in the conversations around abortion and homosexuality because we didn't want to hurt anybody's feelings. And after all, isn't that your business? And what you do in your bedroom is your business. And I don't see how it affects me. Except now we see how it does. we have to be willing to tell the truth. Jesus did it. He operated in grace and truth. And when we operate in grace without truth, then we see destruction. And we operate, within truth without grace. Then we realize that all we really do is wound people. And the church has got to get this right. We have a moment to get it right. We see a shift in the culture. I think we need. It's time to read the room and voices like yours out there saying, hey, we actually can do, what God's equipped us to do because we were born for this time in human history. And if we'll just follow Jesus example, I think we're going to see major cultural, and spiritual change in the country. I really do.
Abraham Hamilton III: Amen.
Paul is writing to Timothy while awaiting an imminent, albeit uncertain, execution
You alluded to 2 Timothy 2, 7, when Paul said, for God has not given us the spirit of fear or timidity, but of power and love and a sound mind. And, you know, in our audience, may recall that Paul is writing this to Timothy while he's incarcerated, awaiting an imminent, albeit uncertain, execution. He knows it's coming and doesn't know when it's happening. Because we know from our vantage point in church history, Eusebius and others, Paul is ultimately executed in about 68 A.D. about a year after he's writing this to Timothy. And he's writing this to Timothy from jail.
Heidi St. John: Yes.
Abraham Hamilton III: You know, and I can tell you as a former prosecutor, there ain't no mail like jail mail. You know, it came from jail. There's no mistaking it. Even in the first century, you know, it came from jail. But Paul is writing to Timothy inevitably, because it's gotten back to Paul that Timothy, the boy he met, who's now an elder in the church at Ephesus, getting this jail letters from Paul is now. It's like, do I really want to do this elder thing? You know, it was all sweet when it,
Heidi St. John: Well, and he could sense. He could sense the fear and Timothy's starting to hedge a little bit, but the Roman emperor is killing Christians for sport.
Abraham Hamilton III: Yes, for sport.
Heidi St. John: So he knew his life was in danger.
Abraham Hamilton III: No doubt about it. And Paul writes to Timothy and the term he used for fear actually is a pejorative in the first century. It is basically saying, listen, I'm in chains. But God ain't call us to be punks. I'm just. It's literally Paul is saying, God has not given us the spirit of fear. Yes, I'm in chains. Yes, I am facing execution. And this is worth it.
Heidi St. John: Yes.
Abraham Hamilton III: And he says to Timothy in the Greek phrasing, and be a joint sufferer with me, because our cause is worthy, for God has not given us a spirit of timidity, of fear, but a power and love and a sound. And he said in that term, power and love. The potency is not diminished by the love and the soundness of mind, the capacity to hold multiple things, intention at the same time. yes. The reality is that my natural life may be required of me. Yes, it's worth it. The cause is worth it.
Heidi St. John: Two things can be true at once.
Abraham Hamilton III: Yes.
Heidi St. John: Yeah.
Abraham Hamilton III: And they must be true, because as you said, there are lots of things happen in our personal lives. We all have stuff going on. It's true. Is our Lord not worth it? Is the cause not worth it?
Heidi St. John: This is a time for boldness
And so I'm saying all of that to say in a roundabout way, how can people listening to the show now, watching it right now, listening to us right now, how can and should they respond in their neck of the woods in light of the moment that we're in? As you mentioned, there's a shift in the culture. People are clamoring for truth, maybe more than they have in the last, you know, three quarters of a century. How to respond to the moment?
Heidi St. John: Well, I think we. I think our faith needs to become a faith that speaks. I think our faith becomes. It has to be in the public square again. I think we have to be bold, and full of grace and truth. But this is a time for boldness. the only answer to a bold line. You know this, Abraham. The only answer to a bold lie is bold truth.
Abraham Hamilton III: Amen.
Heidi St. John: And so God's people are called to be bold. We are called to every sphere of influence. We belong in medicine. We belong in education. We belong in entertainment. We belong in politics. And as we've ceded the territory. And we saw this in the Rhona, Right? We saw this in Covid, as we, the church, as we succumbed to the spirit of fear, we lost our Power. We lost our love and we lost our soundness of mind. That's what fear does. This is no time for fear. I keep. I keep thinking of that phrase, you know, no country for old men. And I'm like, this is no country for cowards. God calls us to the front lines of the culture wars. We have got to be speaking the truth, boldly, without apology, remembering that at the end of this life, we don't answer to the people, people around us, we answer to the Lord.
Abraham Hamilton III: That's right. And he'll. He'll query.
Heidi St. John: That's right.
Abraham Hamilton III: You know, what have we done with the time he's given us?
Heidi St. John: That's right.
Abraham Hamilton III: Come on. This, this, this, this thing. And I want people to understand this. Boldness is not. Is not synonymous with volume. Just because you're loud doesn't make you right.
Heidi St. John: Yeah, you can be loud. Well, I mean, are you sure?
Abraham Hamilton III: You can be loud and wrong. But what God wants from us is to be bold and to be loud when necessary, not unnecessarily loud. Not to be, you know, obtuse and not just make noise for the sake of making noise. But I will say the spirit of God makes us bold as a lion. We're not trying to pick fights. We shouldn't be running from any either, you know, and the moment the culture comes and tells us, oh, no, we don't know what a woman is. A child doesn't know whether or not they're a boy or a girl. This is not a cultural conversation. It's attacking the authority of God's word.
Heidi St. John: It's a biblical conversation. And this is politics, too. People keep saying, oh, this political. I know, it's biblical.
Abraham Hamilton III: It's biblical.
Heidi St. John: 99.9% of the issues that we vote toward on the ballot are biblical. At their root, they're biblical issues. Spiritual battles require spiritual weapons.
Abraham Hamilton III: Amen.
Heidi St. John: Why in. Why in the world are we continuing to send people to the front lines of spiritual battles who cannot wield spiritual weapons? Why are we doing that? And we're watching what's playing out right with Trump and Elon right now, like a bunch of little kids in a sandbox. And I'm like, grow up. And then it remembers, oh, hey, spiritual battle.
Abraham Hamilton III: Heidi St. John, everybody. Visit Heidi St. John. Net if you want to hear more from Heidi.
Heidi St. John: The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.
