Rick Green [00:00:07] Welcome to the Intersection of Faith and Culture is the WallBuilders Show, taking on the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective. Rick Green, David Barton, and Tim Barton. And we're going to take you back out to the Pro Family Legislators Conference. If you missed yesterday, it's on our website right now. Go to WallBuilders.show. If you missed yesterday, and you can catch up by listening to that first part of Pastor Allen Jackson from Nashville, Tennessee. Of course, we've had Pastor Jackson on the program before, had a fantastic show with him just a few weeks back. He's somebody that that is a mentor and friend of my pastor, Pastor Jimmy Pruitt out in Fredericksburg, Texas, and has helped to train so many other pastors across the country and just has a he has a real handle on how churches and just individuals, how we as individuals should be responding to these big cultural events that are happening. So, we've blessed to have him not only a friend and to WallBuilders and you know guest on the program once in a while, but also this year being able to pour into the legislators that we gather once a year in November each year from across the nation. So, I think we had thirty-five or thirty-seven states represented this year, hundreds of legislators from across the nation. And as they're sharing and exchanging ideas, then they hear from guys like Pastor Jackson, and it gives them a chance to really dive deep into what it's gonna take to save the nation and then go back home and actually do that. So we'll have another early break today, like we did yesterday, and then when we come back, we'll pick up where we left off yesterday with Pastor Allen Jackson. Stay with us, you're listening to the WallBuilders Show. 

Rick Green [00:02:40] Welcome back to the WallBuilders Show. Thanks for staying with us. Let's jump in with Pastor Allen Jackson, picking up right where we left off yesterday at the Pro Family Legislators Conference. 

Pastor Allen Jackson [00:02:48] We saw the flex of an authoritarian state on a global level. We don't need to wonder what their playbook is. We have seen it. We use any tool we can, any deception at our disposal. We don't care if it puts your health or your families at risk. We intend to be in control. If you missed that, you better go back and read look at the notes that you made. But that wasn't the last birth pain. I think we had another birth pain on October the 7th. When the terrorists boiled out of Gaza into the southern part of Israel and committed some of the most heinous acts that are imaginable. I went to DC to the embassy and I watched some of the video footage, and it was unthinkable. Putting babies in microwaves. Abusing women in front of their husbands and their children. And then murdering the husbands while the women had to watch. And after that first wave came of the terrorists that had been trained and clearly identified with Hamas, if you kept watching 30 or 40 minutes later, the citizens of Gaza began to come. In their pickup trucks and on their bicycles, and beheading people with hoes. I watched them take cell phones away and put FaceTime on and look back at Gaza and say, we’re killing the Jews. As horrible as that day was and as unthinkable as it was, I can't say it was a tremendous surprise. Israel lives in a tough neighborhood. The hatred of those terrorist organizations is not new. The surprise, the birth pains that came, came in the days and the weeks and the months after that. I was completely unprepared for the hatred of the Jewish people that boiled up on the previously most elite college campuses in this nation. I don't believe we'll see them remain in an elite position. I don't believe you can take an attitude publicly in as much direct opposition to the purposes of God as they did with the protection of their administration and maintain the momentum that has defined those institutions. But I thought maybe we were done there, but the hatred of the Jewish people has persisted. Until now, it is all across the ideological spectrum. It's a conversation almost any place you go. I wasn't prepared for that birth pang. It was unexpected to me. There are some victories that have come out of that. I was in Israel a few days ago, and it's probably the safest Israel has been in two decades. Hamas, for the most part, has been decimated. Hezbollah, which was their enemy to the north, with more than 150,000 rockets that could reach the heartland of Israel, most of them either Iranian or Russian-made. Hezbollah has been dismantled. Assad in Syria is gone. Syria, as we've known it, no longer exist. High degree of probability there will be three regions of Syria: a portion with the Kurds, a portion with the Druze. It'll be different on the map than it's been in recent history. And then Iran, who has been flexing their nuclear intentions over the specter of the whole Middle East has lost that nuclear opportunity, at least for a season. The landscape has changed. The hatred of Israel hasn't changed. Turkey wants to fill the vacuum that's been opened up by Iran's diminishment. There's still challenges there, but the purposes of God are coming forth in the earth. But we're left with that shaking in our nation. There's a battle line being drawn. You're having to make a determination whether you'll believe the question about the Jewish people is not geopolitical. Please don't begin your decision-making about the Jewish people with an idea or an attitude about the policies of the current Israeli state. As Christ followers, we have to begin our understanding of the Jewish people with a biblical perspective. Countries and policies and governments make some stupid decisions. We don't have to go to Israel to find those. I'm not saying everything that the Knesset decides to do is godly or that when your plane lands at Ben Gurion Airport, that the first sounds you hear will be the flutter of angels' wings. Because it's not. Tel Aviv, they advertise, they publish, they market as the gay capital of Europe. They provide the women, all the young women after graduating high school serve in the Israeli military, and they provide them abortions. I'm not telling you every decision they make is godly. I'm telling you, God said that piece of land belongs to the Jewish people. And He will see that they return to that land. And He doesn't care what the United Nations thinks about it or anybody on any side of the ideological spectrum. It's the most improbable story that tiny Israel flourishes in the sea of hundreds of millions of people with enormous wealth and resources from petroleum committed to their total annihilation, and tiny Israel flourishes. There is no explanation apart from God. But don't begin with the politics or you'll get confused. They're every bit as divided politically as we are. Maybe more so. They have more Jewish attorneys per capita. Many of whom are my friend. There was the third birth pang, another episode of shaking, I was completely unprepared for, when Charlie Kirk was murdered. I mean, I understood there were threats. We live in that world, we're familiar with the language. But I wasn't prepared to have a Christian martyr in America in 2025. Charlie wasn't a pastor. He wasn't serving in an elected office. He was a young man that went to college campuses and had respectful conversations with students about a biblical worldview. And he was hunted and murdered. I keep saying that, because it's still difficult for me to understand, and it's very uncomfortable for me. And I think we have to grapple with it and pay attention to it, or they will keep hunting. We can't tolerate it. We don't have to be angry. I don't think it requires us to be belligerent. It doesn't require us to be violent, but we better use our voices. That is not acceptable. Our college campuses are places where I've been told my whole life we were intended to have a free exchange of ideas. That it was an important time in our lives to understand that the views we may have held are not complete. Our college campuses don't represent that any longer. We can't tolerate that. It was another birth pang. It was uncomfortable. It was a lesson for me on the sovereignty of God. I was watching that day in Butler, Pennsylvania, when God sovereignly intervened and spared President Trump's life. A fractional turn of his head. Inexplicable, really. In spite of everything being aligned against him, he survived that day. I don't believe it can be understood apart from the sovereign intervention of God. But if I'm going to be candid, I have to say with equal clarity that God didn't provide that same protection for Charlie. I'll have to wait to get that full story. I don't pretend to have an answer other than I trust God that He's able to bring an outcome about greater than the one I could anticipate. Aren't you glad there's a God and it's not you? I mean, I know you're glad there's a God and it's not me, but it takes a little more courage to say you know there's a God and it isn't you. But we have to trust Him nonetheless. 

Rick Green [00:10:58] Another break, everybody. We'll be right back. You're listening to the WallBuilders Show. 

Rick Green [00:12:09] Welcome back, thanks for staying with us on the WallBuilders show. Jumping back in with Pastor Allen Jackson at the Pro Family Legislators Conference. 

Pastor Allen Jackson [00:12:15] You know, I'm often challenged by the narrative of Scripture. We read it as if it's normal, but it's not a normal collection of unfolding of the purposes of God or the plans of God. God didn't let Moses take the people into the promised land. I mean, are you kidding me? Because he got mad and hit the rock twice? Really? After all the time, I mean, for real. Who wants Joshua's job? Who wants to follow Moses? Moses' face glowed in the dark because he spent so much time with the Lord. And God said, Moses, you can't complete this assignment, but Josh, I want you to do it. You'd have to be a real knucklehead to raise your hand for that job. And I would have much preferred Charlie spent several more decades with us on those college campuses. I've watched those videos; I've listened to him do that. I thought, I don't, I can't do it with the deafness you do. But God had another plan. And there was a victory that I didn't see coming from that birth pang. I watched that memorial service that day, and I heard the cabinet of the United States of America proclaim the gospel with a clarity that the pastors I know would not. It's amazing. Then we've had another birth pang. I didn't know this one was coming either. We elected to a leadership role in the largest city in this nation, a Muslim socialist. We can quibble about socialist communist, but I think we'll see it play out. There are still some checks and balances, I pray. I wasn't prepared for that. I wasn't prepared in a nation with a Christian heritage. In the city that had survived the attacks of 9-11. In a world where we had just bombed Iran, helping to eliminate their nuclear capability, who they were providing leadership to an enormous chunk of the Muslim world. So, there is more than a little latent hatred for America in the Muslim world. And the largest city in America, forget politics for a moment. You've been in this conference for two days. You have more than minimal spiritual awareness. The largest city in America, about a tenth of our economic output, invited the spirit of Islam to be the authority over them. That should give us pause. But as I've thought about it and prayed about it and reflected on it, I have to say I really shouldn't have been surprised. Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco. We could make a larger list. Nashville's moving in that direction if we if we don't have a change of heart. Have rejected federal law. They refuse to enforce federal laws. They demand federal dollars. They use whatever authority they have to resist the enforcement of federal officers. And in most of the cases, the governors of those states are supporting the mayors of those cities. Do you understand? That's just a hair's breadth away from the attitudes that led to civil war. So why would we be surprised when the largest city in America said, we will submit to the spirit of Islam? Birth pangs. Not a demonic flex. God is shaking the earth. What did he say we should do? We should be thankful. He intends to reveal that which cannot be shaken so that we can see with greater clarity than we've ever seen his eternal kingdom. See, I think we've imagined we've had so much, we've had so much abundance, so much freedom, so much liberty that we can solve most of our problems. And I believe God is bringing us to a place as the as believers in this nation to recognize that only the power of Almighty God can bring deliverance to us. We can't outwork evil. We can't outthink evil. We can't out-organize evil. We can't outspend evil. We are dependent upon the help and the power of Almighty God. We're still too divided. We're still too petty. A 34-year-old elected to be the mayor of New York with little, if any, business experience? Just imagine, if you will. Just close your eyes for a minute and imagine with me that we just elected a 34-year-old, very vocal, outspoken Pentecostal Christian to be mayor of New York. Never run a business, just a very charismatic character, with a very high-profile faith. What would the Christian communities that we know say about that? Well, I never trusted the Pentecostals anyway. Well, he's not really qualified for that job. I couldn't support him. I don't believe we would rally around that. We don't really have the confidence in our faith yet. We don't really, we haven't really built a foundation that says we believe God is our solution. We still think we're going to work our way through this. Now we can work our way through this, but only to the degree that we cooperate and yield to the principles and the values of Almighty God. If we will do that, we can have an extended season of a nation. What do you think has brought us the outcomes we have? Our military prowess? Our soaring IQs? Folks, we're a nation, we're a melting pot. And I don't mean it disrespectfully. My father was a veterinarian. When you took a new patient in, a dog or a horse, you always had to get the, you had to do the patient background. You know, what's the breed? You had to identify American. We're a mutt. We've come from the nations of the world, and we didn't come because we were typically so successful. We came because there weren't opportunities for us wherever we had been. What bound us together wasn't an accent or a skin tone or a shared heritage. We didn't have those things, but there was a set of values at the core of this nation that brought with them the blessings of God. We can return to that. We're not anti-immigration, we're anti-illegal. We need clarity. It's not compassion to encourage people to do anything that begins with illegal. Fierce times we're walking through. 2 Timothy 3, the first five verses. He said, In the last days, the times will, there'll be fierce times. The English language there is a little more gentle than the Greek. The word there is only used one other place in the New Testament. It's used to describe the demoniac that lived amongst the tombstones that could break the chains, and he's described as being exceedingly fierce. That's the word that's used here. In the last days, the times will be exceedingly fierce. And then Paul lists 18 characteristics of that season. None of them are political or economic or military. They're all about the human character. He said, the times will be exceedingly fierce because human character will fail. Three things he says there that people will, they'll be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, lovers of money, lovers of themselves. But it's his last phrase that should capture our attention in verse 5. He said that in that exceedingly fierce time when human character fails, people will have a form of godliness, but deny the power of it. They'll have ecclesiastical language and they'll gather for ecclesiastical services and they'll sing religious songs and have ecclesiastical architecture, but they'll deny the power of God. In Paul's thought and Paul's theology, the power of God is inseparable from the cross. He said, I decided to know nothing with you when I was amongst you to the Corinthians, except Christ crucified. To those who are perishing, it's foolishness, but to those who are being saved, it's the power of God. They'll have a form of godliness, but they're gonna, the cross isn't necessary. Sin's not that big a deal. Let's just love everybody. Gee, that doesn't sound familiar. So what do we do? 

Rick Green [00:21:02] Hang tight everybody, one more break today. Stay with us, that voice you're hearing is Pastor Alan Jackson from Nashville, Tennessee, speaking at the Pro Family Legislators Conference. But we got to take a quick break. We'll be right back on the WallBuilders Show. 

Tim Barton [00:22:13]  

Rick Green [00:22:20] Welcome back to the WallBuilders Show. Thanks for staying with us. A little bit more time with Pastor Allen Jackson out at the Pro Family Legislators Conference. 

Pastor Allen Jackson [00:22:27] If God's shaking the earth, If we've got more birth pains to come, it's not a time to be afraid. We've got to be thankful. God called us in this amazing season. I earned a degree in American history, and I always thought how fun it would have been. I like horses to have ridden the streets of Boston with Paul Revere. I didn't get that chance. I read the gospels and I always put myself into the narrative. I'm on the hillside while Jesus is doing the Beatitudes. Or I'm in the boat when Jesus stood up and said, Oh, be still. Or I'm in the crowd in Bethany standing outside Lazarus' tomb when Jesus said, Open it up. I didn't get that privilege. But I can tell you what I do have. He called our name at the beginning of the 21st century when he began to shake the earth in a unique way. I'm not wise enough to know the outcome, but I do believe that God will use his people to shape culture if we'll cooperate with Him. And that we can have the most remarkable journey through time. And that he will reward us for our faithfulness for all eternity. So I'm willing to face some change and some realignment. I'm a pastor, so I got to give you a to-do list. Okay? I'm going to do it really quickly, and I'll apologize. They're really simple. You know, under pressure, the outcome in your life, whether it's in business or sports or in the kitchen. Are going to be determined by your mastery of the fundamentals. In athletics, you want muscle memory. So, when there's tremendous stress and tremendous pressure, you don't have to think about it. You just do what you've been coached up on. Our grandson plays high school football and they're in the state tournament right now, and we get we got done with this last night and turned on the live stream, and they were in their second overtime. They won, but grandma couldn't sleep. Under that kind of pressure, when you're 16 or 17, you need to be coached up really well. 16-year-olds make dumb decisions on a good sunny day. So, I want to give you some things that have to be baked into your spiritual muscle memory. The first one, you know, you've got to read your Bible systematically, cover to cover, on a daily basis, or you got no shot. If you don't know the character of God and how God moves and who he is for yourself. I have a friend, he's a businessman, very successful and all entrepreneur, owns multiple restaurants, all sorts of things. He owns more toys than I can keep up with the catalog of. And his circumstances emerged last year in such a way that in a six-month window, he read through his Bible six times. And he and I get together for breakfast on a regular basis, and I sat down with him, and he was a different human being. He didn't go to some; he didn't take a course. He just invested the time in reading his Bible in a way that most of us would think, well, that's excessive. About 15 minutes a day, if you will read, you can read through your whole Bible, from the table of contents to the maps in a year. Make it a part of your routine. If you're too busy for that, you're too busy. And I like to be busy. Read your Bible. The second thing I would submit to you, it's equally simple. It's an invitation we've been giving to our congregation now for a few months. You know, one of the things we've I've listened to you in the last couple of days, I think we're all agreed upon, is in the family is under tremendous stress. And that's as true for the families in the church as without. 

Rick Green [00:26:10] All right, we're out of time. That was actually the second part. In a three-part series with Pastor Alle Jackson. So tomorrow we get the conclusion. Don't miss tomorrow. And if you're one of those folks that just happened to tune in halfway through the program today, you can get all three programs at our website, wallbuilders.show. Wallbuilders.show. And be sure and share it with your friends and family. We're gonna have more of these presentations from our speakers at the Pro Family Legislators Conference over the next few weeks. But as you can tell, it's just, I mean, it's powerful, powerful stuff. So special thanks to Pastor Jackson for joining us at the conference. Thank you for listening today. You've been listening to the WallBuilders Show.