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The Harvester Podcast is brought to you by the Florida School of Preaching. Listen weekly to take a dive into biblical topics and thoughtful studies on things that matter to our eternal souls.
Welcome to season two, episode four of the Harvester podcast.
My name is Brian Kenyon and with me are
Forest Antemesaris
Steven Ford
And in this episode or this season of our podcast, in this episode, are dealing with the
season, we're dealing with cultural things, things that affect our culture or things that
we see in our culture.
And so we've talked about some things in the previous three episodes, particularly about
Christian ethics and God versus God system of ethics.
But today we want to, the title of this is Lies Disguised as Truths in Today's Culture.
and when you read that title you might think of well you know fornication homosexual i
things like that but these are really things to get behind and uh...
into me these are some of the things are like the reason why you have we got into the
point where we think it's okay for a man to claim he's a woman and then we have to abide
by that and use the pronouns and all that but how do we get to that point and there's a
lot of things involved with that but i want to start out and
i was turned onto a book called strange new world a couple years ago and so this material
is from that uh...
but some of it is not and so it it kinda gave me the idea of this and so i want to start
out with a quote from the mad hatter we remember the mad hatter from yeah wonderland is my
favorite cartoon disney cartoon even to this day but anyway uh...
he says if i had a world of my own everything would be nonsense
nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn't and contra wise what
is wouldn't be now that's very confusing when you think about that but me that's kinda
where we are uh...
in our culture uh...
with some of these things now we must be people who understand the times and and first
chronicles twelve thirty two and esther one thirteen
uh mentions people who knew the times.
And of course Matthew 10-16 says to be wise as serpents but harmless as doves.
And so we want look at some things uh in this episode here that has kind of shaped where
we are today.
And so we'll look at three lies disguised as truths.
in today's culture and we've already agreed that we might have to make this into two parts
for what you know when the time comes but anyway the first one here is the status quo is
oppressive status quo is oppressive now a lot of these things uh...
come from marxism which we've seen a rise in that throughout human history uh...
but even our country over the last couple decades maybe half a century or century maybe
even i don't know
but the status quo is oppressive basically what this how this comes out is get rid of
everything traditional you know traditional authority including the bible is nothing but a
tool for those in power to remain in control and have we seen this over the past couple
years or decades about trying to you know there is no authority uh...
whether it's bible
parental, government, whatever.
It's like everybody is allowed to do his own thing.
Yeah.
And I think, you know, the the I think part of this is this idea of we could never improve
society by going back to something like we always have to be going forward.
Like things always have to be changing.
There always has to be progress, etc, etc, etc.
I think that stands in direct contrast to, you know, what Jeremiah says, seek the old
paths where sure.
You know, history is not perfect.
There's people who send and made mistakes and there's been oppression throughout history.
But this idea of there is a way to go forward by going back.
And some of this traditional stuff is traditional stuff for a reason, because it works and
it's good.
You know, one man, one, uh, one woman in a household married, having kids like that, that
works for society.
works for people.
It works.
And it's what God commanded.
So, you know, the status quo is
I guess it depends on what you mean by status quo, but if you're always looking to change
things, unsettle things, overturn things, burn things down, scrap things, start over, it's
just going to be, you know, some of the chaos that we see around us right now.
And you're never going to get that.
You know, especially us, you know, our goal is to restore New Testament Christianity,
restore the Christianity we can read about in the Bible.
You're to have to go back to some things you can't just, you know,
go quote unquote forward.
Not all progress is progress, I think you could say.
And there's ways to maintain tradition with still having some modernity in there.
by that I mean to say, know, evangelism right now.
We don't all get on horseback and travel to places.
We use uh newer mediums.
People don't use the newspaper anymore to evangelize now.
We may use digital forms.
People are on TikTok.
have been convergence by way of TikTok.
But the ancient part of it, traditional part is we're still evangelizing.
There are some things that just don't need to be changed.
If you wanna lose weight, you don't say, hey, let's try something new.
Let's try to eat Doritos and Twinkies every day.
It's like, no, we still need to diet or exercise because that still works.
Now you may exercise in a different way at a different gym, using different equipment or
whatever, newer vitamins or whatever, but the traditional thing is it's gonna be diet and
exercise.
That's just it.
Yeah, and that's, uh you know, all of us have probably known people that it seems like
whatever's traditional, they want to change.
Right.
You know, even the good stuff, know, whatever traditional they want to change.
And this is where like the Marxism comes in with the status quo.
When a Forest, you know, asked a rhetorical question, you know, what is the status quo?
Depends on how you define it.
And so, you know, in Marxism, it worked out pretty much with land ownership is how that
all got started.
You know, the common people couldn't own land and all this kind of stuff.
And so
So how, you know, the status quo is oppressive.
And so that, so it has to begin, have to have a revolution in order to tear down so it can
be rebuilt.
They call that deconstruction and then reconstruction so that when you rebuild, you leave
out all the stuff that was oppressive and all of that.
But when you think about in the history of even America, maybe the, you know, feminist
movement and things like that, it was all based upon
deconstruct it and we'll get into critical race theory later on in this season and so
we'll talk about it then there too but it's like you know everything has to be taken down
and but rather with rather with building up taking out the bad stuff putting in good stuff
it's got to be a whole different system because that status quo is oppressive and we've
got to get out from under it and so to convince people that's oppressive you have to have
all these speeches and all this kind of stuff
tell you it's oppressive.
And then, you know, the rioting and all that, when you think about in Europe, know,
Marxism has worked because, you know, the riots and stuff will come along and they'll tear
down the system and build new systems.
But in America, it hasn't worked yet because, but you know, when you see all this rioting,
like with the George Floyd thing and all this stuff that they were allowed to go, uh
because the status quo is oppressive and you got to destroy the status quo.
and then course with the new administration and now it's a bit different but it's like
it's still and was his little bit different like they're not allowing people to riot now
you know where's before they would now why would they allow so many people to riot and
tear stuff up without any accountability even our former vice president offered to pay the
bail for some of these people because all in their mind the status quo the president
america is oppressive so we've got to do away with it and but it all comes
from this idea that status quo is oppressive, and that's the lie that's in disguise.
But as we know, the gospel, you know, can be lived in any culture.
It doesn't have to be democracy.
It can be a monarchy.
can be uh even a socialist.
You know, there'll be persecution and all that, but the gospel kind of transcends any
culture.
Well, and part of the problem is, know, this idea of getting rid of the status quo,
Christianity is lumped in there with the status quo and Christian principles.
know, like I just gave the example of, you know, a husband and a wife in their household
together with children.
But even that, mean, the problem is people want to build a society better than the one we
have now without the things that make society good.
Right.
So like we're going to have a society, without a traditional family.
We're gonna have a society but without Christianity.
We're gonna have a society but without religion.
We're have, you know, and then that's not, but you can't make a society that way, right?
If you don't have males and females that are procreating, I mean, that's literally the end
of society.
I mean, eventually it ends.
So this idea of getting rid of everything traditional kind of is like, obviously you're
gonna run into some problems.
But the irony to me is when you get rid of the status quo, all you do is build another
status quo.
And then in 30 years, that is oppressive.
And then have to, so it's just like this never ending destroy and restart.
But we need something eternal.
We need something everlasting.
We need something that's always gonna work, always gonna be good, always gonna create what
we need.
And that of course is the gospel, where no matter where you are, what culture you're in,
what time you're in, whatever, it applies and it's right.
It's always the right thing, you know?
Cause it's not a system of man, it's from God.
That goes back to our last episode about ethics and morality as a whole.
It's from God.
the thing about the tearing down of the status quo, I would ask somebody, what would that
society look like?
In envisioning that, what would society look like, you say, without...
whatever trappings that they think should be gone.
What does that look like?
How does it function and flow?
And of course, I think people always wanna look for the idealistic side of it, but if you
look, there is no fundamental nuclear family anymore.
You don't have uh distinct uh gender roles and assignments.
You don't have any of those things.
don't have any kind of...
rule of law governing those things, what would that society look like?
I think people would just say, everybody would just be happy.
No, but what does it look like?
And it doesn't look happy.
Because you can't even find it in the earth.
If it was this utopian sort of experiment, where does it exist on earth?
Every single society's ever had any sort of success at all, anywhere, it has started with
families.
And when that breaks down, generally speaking, the society breaks down.
Well, I think one of the great ironies too is, you from my perspective, you can't have
utopia on earth, obviously, because of sin.
But the closest thing you have to utopia is actually the church.
I would argue.
Like faithful Christians together, that's the closest thing you have to utopia.
But that's the thing, many people think you have to get rid of in order to usher in
utopia.
So, I mean, it's like you're shooting yourself in the foot to begin with.
And it is true, and what Forrest said a while back about the Bible Christianity that's
considered as oppressive, and it is true that through the ages, like people would justify
slavery, for example, on Scripture.
And so the Bible has been abused throughout the ages, but it's not the cause of every
wrongdoing and all that on the earth.
Sin is.
But the people that take this view that the status quo is oppressive, you know, since
Christianity in the Bible after all our country was founded on Christianity they say and
so forth because Because the Bible and Christianity has been part of our society and our
society is oppressive Therefore the Bible and Christianity got to go right and so that
that's that's where this you know The rubber hits the road on this best Christians of
course we know That there is no you know utopian Society here and what for said about the
church is awesome.
That's true, and that's come to think of it
i can be bummed out when i come to church services renewed and fired up again because i'm
with my brothers and sisters so i guess it is a close thing to tell me that on this earth
you know, just as an aside to that, even if you aren't lifted up immediately, even if you
come to worship and you do your best to worship God, but your circumstances are such that
you are still low when you leave, that is still a far better existence.
than without it.
Because at least then there's still hope of that next day.
There's still the fellowship of people who have a like mind and thinking toward God, let's
have your best interest in mind, who view you with value because God made you a value, all
those things.
Even if you aren't pumped up when you walk out the door, but I think most people would be
uplifted in some way, but even if you aren't, it still far exceeds the opposite.
Yes, very good point.
And of course, as Christians, we're taught to expect persecution anyway.
Oh, and so I mean, you know, Second Timothy 312, First Peter 416.
And of course, Jesus said, you know, in the world, you can have tribulation, John 16, 33,
but be of good cheer.
I've overcome the world.
We can't expect a utopia upon this earth.
And so the gospel does answer that about the status quo being oppressive.
Even if it was, we can still live.
Christian lives and practice Christianity.
All right, the second uh line, disguise, not only status quo is impressive, and this is a
big one here, and I'm have a lot of quotes on this, but uh self-expressed individualism is
necessary for your worth and identity.
Let me say that again, self-expressed individualism is necessary for your worth
in identity.
Now, a quote here from Carl Truman in his book, Strange New World, on page 22.
He says, �The modern self assumes the authority of inner feelings and sees authenticity as
defined by the ability to give social expression to the same.� That is, inner feelings and
inner feelings there.
And now when I first heard the term authenticity several years ago, well, I don't know, a
couple of years ago in this kind of a context, you what they mean by authenticity is not
what you and I mean by authenticity at first glance.
We mean by genuineness, that kind of thing.
Right.
But in their view, authenticity is going against the status quo to express inner feelings
and identity, going against
the status quo.
And of course this will come out in CRT a little bit, but that's why, like if a person
with dark skin um criticizes other people with dark skin that are in the CRT movement, for
example, they are ostracized.
Because if you're to criticize they're going against the status quo, you're not being
authentic.
You are just trying to fit into the status quo.
And the same could be said about, I know when the president was elected just now, I mean,
there were people on his side from the gay rights movement.
But the mainstream gay rights would reject them because they are saying, you know, it's
okay and all that stuff.
in other words, you can't be authentic unless you're going against the status quo.
And so that authenticity took on a whole new meaning.
and when the public hears that you know authenticity this authenticity that they're
thinking of genuineness in fact what really got me to to to really open my eyes on as I
heard a preacher very very popular preacher and at the time he was beginning a lot of his
sermons about you know outsiders want to see authentic Christians authenticity this and
authenticity that that's what attracts the younger people and all that yeah and my first
response was I mean I might be 60 years old but
I was no slouch when I obeyed the gospel.
mean, you know, I was looking for that too.
ah What I thought was authenticity.
But then when I learned some more things, I look back on that, it's like, no, that's not
the authenticity these people are talking about.
The authenticity they're talking about is going against what they consider the status quo.
You're not authentic unless you're going against all that.
Yeah, let's take a point.
And then of course, like that great irony is by being authentic, you're actually being
fake for lack of a better term, right?
Because you say, well, let's say I'm a man, but I say my authentic self is a woman.
That's the opposite of my authentic self, right?
No matter what my inner thoughts and feelings are, if I think I'm a woman.
That doesn't mean I'm authentically a woman.
I'm authentically a man.
Like that's what reality is.
Right.
But if I say, well, my inner thoughts and feelings override that.
And like what this is saying, unless I'm able to socially display that, then I can't
really be me.
No, you, the you that is legit is you're a dude.
Right.
But for whatever reason, authenticity is the bravery.
to say to buck against the status quo, sometimes the status quo is like objective reality
or nature or whatever, you know?
That seems like that would be alarming though.
I'm not authentic unless I can manifest it and demonstrate it socially where everybody
else can kind of see it and pat me back for it.
What if I were on the mountainside all by myself, can I be authentic there?
Or do I have to have the audience to concur with me and say, okay, all right, now you're
authentic because now you fit into
our status quo, but not that status quo that we're kind of going against.
It seems to be just disingenuine, I guess.
I see it.
Yeah, for sure.
And here's another quote, and this was by Robert Mbella in his book, Habits of the Heart,
Individualism and Contentment in American Life on page 333 to 334.
He says, expressive individualism holds that each person has a unique core of feelings and
intuition that should unfold or be expressed if individuality is to be realized, which
there's a certain part of that that's true.
Another quote by Carl Truman, page 25, if a person's inner identity is defined by sexual
desire, then he or she must be allowed to act out on that desire in order to be an
authentic person.
And when you see, and this several years ago, well, it was before COVID, we were just
talking about that, but we seem to relate time before COVID.
uh
We put a sign on our marquee, LGBT, means let God be true, which would have been pretty
cool, except I did put Romans 1, 26, and 27 during June, which around here is Gay Pride
Month, you know?
And we, Amanda, she called herself a youth minister, but I saw her pictures on Facebook,
and man, she, you know, I don't know, dressed.
Like a cartoon character, guess to be polite about it, just cussing all over her Facebook
and all kinds of stuff.
And I just thought, wow.
But then several years ago is when I came across this quote, you know, if your inner
identity is defined by sexual desire, then he or she must be allowed to act out that
desire in order to be an authentic person.
And so no wonder we have all these, you know, the people like they are.
wanting to be, because that's their inner desire, right?
And unless you act that out, you're not authentic.
Yeah, and then the church or Christianity is viewed as oppressive because it won't let you
be who you really are.
Yes.
You know, and who I really am isn't, you know, God's standard for me or how God made me
who I really am is who I want to be or what makes me feel good.
Yeah.
And unless you let me do that, you're oppressing me because I can't be my true self.
That's interesting.
It makes me have a lot of questions in a of different areas, because what you do and who
you are are vastly different.
Not everybody is who they are because of the job you have.
What if...
I'm a garbage man.
Does that mean I'm a garbage person?
And that's the only thing I can do.
I could be a garbage man and a philosopher by night.
Or a fisherman or whatever job.
Does my job dictate who I am?
Or is it just those base carnal sort of feelings that I wanna, and usually when it's kind
of in this sort of a thing about self-expression and those sorts of things, it usually has
some sort of base carnal drive behind it.
I wanna do drugs, I wanna have sex with as many people, I'll just say, I wanna have
unfettered sexual freedom and those sorts of things.
So it's just always, I wanna resort to this kind of a carnal-based sort of a desire for
myself.
It's not lifting myself higher.
It's not rising to a greater morality.
Usually when you hear this stuff, it's never, I wanna be expressive of by helping out the
old people in my neighborhood.
my neighbor.
my neighbor, I wanna go and help the homeless.
There are people who are in those groups that do those things, I don't wanna make it seem
like every person who's in those categories, they're just like demons walking around the
earth.
However, it seems like the primary motivation is always some sort of, I don't want God's
rules to apply to me, because I don't think that people would say throw the Bible out in
its entirety, I believe that most of the people would say there are good things in the
Bible.
Sharing, treat people like you wanna be treated, the golden rule.
except for when it's restrictive for their little activities that they want to engage in.
Right.
And I think this is idea that your inner feelings couldn't be wrong.
That's the crazy thing to me where it's like, okay, if I challenge your, like you said,
base desires or sexual fantasies even or whatever that you turn into your identity, all of
a sudden I'm the bad person or God's the bad person.
Right.
Where I think that's where you see the part of the requirement of humility is recognizing
that
Just because I have a feeling or a thought or desire does not make those things right.
I could be wrong.
I could be off base.
I could be misguided and I need God.
You know, my authentic self isn't found in me living however I want.
My authentic self is found in obeying God.
That's why I'm here.
That's the whole duty of man to fear God and keep his commandments, not to express
yourself sexually, not to live out whatever gender you think you might be, regardless of
what your physical identity is.
We're here.
to serve God were made in his image and likeness.
So, you know, that's where authenticity comes from.
It doesn't come from me doing whatever I want.
I mean, anybody could do that.
mean, that's like, that's, mean, animals do that, right?
This is, what if I'm called to something higher and I've got to crucify myself and take up
my cross and I've got to deny myself and I've got to, you know, and God gives me all those
things that are worth living for, worth dying for.
That's the core of the issue is that, and you said it just second ago, that individuals
define themselves by those base desires.
And so my desires, ah it's like,
My true self is not defined by my desires.
So just because I want to do something, that's not who I am.
It should be the exact opposite, that who I am should form my desires.
And so if I realize who I am, well, I'm a being that's been made in the image of a
self-existing creator god, well then I need to shape my desires to be in line with that
self-existing creator god.
And it shouldn't be, well, I want to be a sexual deviant.
Well then, that's just who I am.
You know, and so now I'm going to shape a personality and a reality based on deviancy.
It should be the exact opposite.
And that's kind of where, you know, I think we've just run amok.
For sure.
I think that's where, you know, I know we'll probably get to this later, but I think
that's where, you know, people in our government are trying to use the same laws used to
protect the citizens of black Americans to extend those to folks in the LGBTQ plus camp.
And what they're saying is like, Steven, you being black is as much a part of you as this
person being gay.
Well, that's right.
And they can't help it.
And if we don't acknowledge that and give them
their quote unquote rights, then we're denying their humanity.
So you're equating something like race with something like sexual preference, gender
identity, etc.
which is to me the highest of insults.
Color of my skin has nothing to do with my behavior.
Nothing at all.
You and I have different color skin, but I would say there's probably a lot of overlap in
what we do in life.
And what we desire to be able to do and accomplish in life has nothing to do with
anything.
But for people to say that, man,
I heard the person say that and it was a person that had the same color skin that I have
and I'm like, man, how could you come with that sort of a mindset to say, well, I want to
do this behavior and that's just the exact same thing of being black.
Right.
Yeah.
Where like you said a behavior becomes my identity.
That's exactly what it is, a behavior becomes your identity.
And that's wrong with anything.
It doesn't matter what it is.
A behavior of any kind should not become my identity because then I have a false sense of
who I am.
And what if I want to change my behavior?
Well then I have to change my identity a lot and it's not that way.
Exactly.
And I think that's some of the sticking point with trying to reach out to people in the
LGBTQ communities to repent is they feel like you're asking me to change who I am.
know, um and even then to a degree, yes, right.
I had to change who I am to a degree, right?
Because I, you have to be born again.
You have to be born a second time and you to be remade in the image of your creator where
There's, you know, habits, desires, etc.
that we all had that we have to crucify when we come to Christ, and nobody's exempt from
that.
Yeah, and behavior is always choice.
We have to choose behavior, skin color, color of your eyes and all that.
That's not in the same category.
We have no choice about that.
Right.
And of course, sometimes we can do something over and over again that becomes like second
nature.
I think that's the meaning there that you were by nature the children of wrath in
Ephesians chapter two, just you do over and over again and we can, you know, see our
conscious over it where we think that's right.
But somewhere along the way we
didn't behave that way, and then we did, and it was a choice.
Unlike skin color, anything like that.
And here's a couple other quotes that kind of go right along with this.
This one here's from Charles Taylor again.
The culture of authenticity is one where each one of us has his or her own way of
realizing our humanity, and that's true to a certain extent, and that it is important to
find and live out one's own as against surrendering to conformity.
which I'm going to insert here, which is the status quo, uninserted, back to the quote,
with a model imposed on us from outside.
In other words, we must not surrender to conformity with the model imposed on us from
outside by society or the previous generation or religious or political authority.
In other words, all these things were contributing, end quote back there, but all these
things were contributing to the oppressive society.
And then this quote kind of brings together what we've just been saying.
The modern self is one where authenticity is achieved by acting outwardly in accordance
with one's inward feelings.
And this is why, you know, questioning or criticizing someone's lifestyle choice, quote
unquote, is rejected.
Or even some people try to make it illegal.
because it's seen as denying that persons or maybe the community's right of individuality
or personhood or authenticity.
In other words, you have to let that person express his or her inward feelings or else,
Forrest had mentioned this, you're denying his humanist, his personality, which is kind of
ridiculous.
Well, even beyond it's not just you have to express your feelings.
You have to act you're allowed to act them out.
Yes.
And that's the thing that's really you could you could admit, hey, I want to do this or I
have this feeling, whatever.
ah But to say you have to let me act it out.
That's where we just we get into into chaos.
And I know that this should go without saying, but I want to.
ah maybe presumptuously speak for you guys, but I wanted to be stated that we are not in
any way saying that people should not have civil rights.
if you're a person that belongs to any letter group or what have you, we're not saying
that you should not have the right to ah safety, that you shouldn't have the right to be
able to go and have food and drink in a safe place to live.
We're not saying that you shouldn't have the right to drive and earn a living and all that
kind of stuff, have peace without being assaulted and all that.
That's not the case.
However, it's going far beyond that.
don't want rights anymore.
They want to impose themselves on us.
And so no matter what it is, people say, well, I don't want you to just let me be.
I want you to let me be where steps on your toes.
And I want you to let me encrouch upon what you're doing.
And I want to get to your children and I want to impact the way you have to speak to me.
I want to impact your words, your words.
it, you know, it's like, well, wait a minute, why can't you do any conforming?
And so as this goes back to tearing down the status quo, I want to tear down even the
status quo of language.
and identity as a whole.
Let's tear all that down and you have to call me anything I want and you have to do it.
It's like man, it really just erodes.
It goes back to the quote that you had in the very, very, very beginning, the opening
quote from the Alice in Wonderland, which I don't guess I've ever seen Alice in Wonderland
at all, so now I need to go back and watch it.
I don't know if it's in the Disney vault or not, but I can go back and watch it.
But yeah, it is.
it does get to a point where everything becomes relative and becomes nonsensical.
Because if I can make my reality whatever I want it to, then I can re-change it minute by
minute and you have to acknowledge it.
And if your reality can be changed minute by minute, well what then is real?
Right.
Right.
And I think it takes things that are virtues and makes them not good.
Right.
So if I have to live out my authentic self by, um, you know, outwardly acting out,
outwardly acting out my inner feelings conformity is a virtue.
In fact, God's goal for us is to conform to the image of his son.
And that requires me to have some inward feelings that I don't act out.
That requires me to have some desires that I wrestle with and conquer.
That requires me to fight things like temptation, et cetera.
And this way of thinking throws all that out the window, right?
If something crosses through your mind, do it.
If a feeling comes up, pursue it, all those different things where it's like, wait a
second.
I think it also goes back to how you view human nature, where we understand that
we all sin and fall short of the glory of God.
And there's not a man on earth who always does righteous and never sins, but as opposed
to, Hey, we're just animals.
Whatever thought you have, pursue it.
And that, that, that's a dangerous idea.
Okay, and so yes, this is, and Stephen mentioned this earlier about, you know, where do we
find our worth and identity?
It's not through, quote, authenticity going against the status quo.
It's not by our inner feelings, but as Stephen mentioned, and even more importantly, the
Bible talks about, we are made in God's image.
And so every single human being is worth more than the whole world and all those
resources.
And just by virtue of the fact that we're made in the image and likeness of God,
Also, our mind is to be renewed, so if our inner feelings, which are based upon our
thinking, if our inner feelings are not renewed, you know, can be, if they're not in line
with God's system of ethics like we talked about last episode, but if our inner feelings
are not in line with that, if our worth is not in line with that, we need to renew our
minds through the Word of God and have the mind of Christ in us.
as philippians to five states romans twelve to about renewing your mind and we realize
that god knows as god knows as he knows even though and i've i've thought about this in
the book of revelation we have a thing step to thirteen talks about a guy on the name of
antipas uh...
my faithful martyr he calls them now we would not know a thing about him except for the
barbara system and i think how many other people
The Bible doesn't mention, but God knows.
know, the time would fail me to tell of, you He goes on to mention some, you know, so God
knows what we go through.
He knows, and because of that we are of extreme value.
know, those seven letters written to the church as an agent, Revelation 2 and 3, every
single one of those, I know, works.
I know.
And so that's where our value comes.
That's where identity comes.
in being made in the image and likeness of God.
And as Christians, of course, we have the identity of Christ.
Your life is hid.
Colossians 3 verse 4 or Colossians 3, 3.
Yeah, hidden here.
Yeah, I think you know that really well, I think there's a lot of people who say that it's
impossible not to live out, know, these desires or these feelings that they have, but God
gives us a way to do it.
He'll help us, you know, to live our true authentic self, which is in obedience to him and
service to him.
You know, God gives us the grace and the strength we need, especially in Christ Jesus, to
be able to take up our cross and deny ourselves and to really
You true authenticity, which is genuineness and doing God's will God will help us do that
think a lot of people feel like they're stuck and they have to do their feelings and their
desires and their thoughts and they have to live that way and that's the best way to live
and Sometimes they admit it.
Sometimes they don't down the road eventually you're miserable.
Mm-hmm You're absolutely miserable because that's not the way God designed us to live, you
know, just um God designed us
to for so much more and to walk and and what he's what he's given to us in his word
Mm-hmm.
That's why we have to look at who we are, man, and not what we do.
If what we do defines us, then we're be all messed up.
It has to be what and who I am.
And I am a being created by God.
If it's only by my actions, I'm gonna stay messed up.
And well, that's because you're not a thing, right?
That's how we define things.
You know, like a mailbox.
What's a mailbox?
It holds mail.
You know what mean?
Because that's all it is.
Like there's nothing that trans.
And so if you just build yourself down to the things you do, it's like you're a widget or
like a gear and a gearbox or something.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Like you're just like a cog.
What does a cog do?
Goes into the gear, you know, like, OK, we're more than that.
We have we're not just these physical things we've got.
a spirit and a soul.
okay we are running out of time for this episode so we're going to say the third point
which is going to be sexual relations ships are inconsequential as a lie disguised uh...
want to close out this by and now this guy we used to be a faithful preacher long time ago
good preacher uh...
then he became one of the biggest change agents in the mid late eighties and nineties and
all that but he recently wrote a book about gender and about this transgender stuff
From what I hear is a really good book.
I just heard someone talk about it.
But he does have this quote in there that I think is very applicable to this.
And he said something like, I don't want to be authentic, I wanna be Christ-like.
So however we define authenticity, and in this particular case, it's going against the
status quo in this context here, but however we define it, shouldn't that be our goal that
I wanna be Christ-like?
I
think that's what we reach for.
Well, we appreciate your being with us today and we invite you to come back our next
episode where we'll finish this out, these lies in disguise.
Please join us and check out the FSOP website, fsop.net.