Latest / 4-Freedom Podcast / 158. Freedom from Cancel Culture: A Biblical Perspective

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158. Freedom from Cancel Culture: A Biblical Perspective · 4-Freedom Podcast

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I found my freedom in you. I found a toy I can't lose, and
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thank God it's true. You wrapped your arms around me
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and heaven broke through. From the moment she found me.
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I found. Welcome to the Four Freedom
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Podcast. This podcast exists to bring the
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freedom of the gospel for everyday Christians with
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everyday issues. Now here are your hosts, James
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Seyfried and Brett Martin. Welcome back to the Four Freedom
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podcast. It's great to be with you again
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today, jumping right back into our the topic of this woke
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culture of freedom from wokeness.
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But we've had a good week this week, good Sunday at church,
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been a good week. Met some people were planning a
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crusade here in our county. And so we've been contacting
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some of the local colleges, getting those, getting different
1:16
worship team set up for each night of our crusade.
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We've got Alex McFarlane from American Family Radio, he's
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coming to our crusade. And so we're just excited about
1:27
that. And, you know, things just are
1:30
going well. James, what's going on in your
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neck of the woods? It's doing good.
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We had a little bit of a the cold snapped.
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That's some warm coming in. Brett, have y'all had any
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sickness going on in y'all's area?
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Oh yeah, we definitely had a bug been going around people out it
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was COVID for a while, then when people got over COVID they
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started getting the flu. Yeah, some some type of
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norovirus or something. I got an alert the other day.
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So we had a little stomach bug go through our family just a
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couple days ago and I'm still, I sound rough, but it's just all
2:07
in my nose. It's been like that for the last
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couple days really. When it got cold, we started
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having some fires here in Western North Carolina.
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I think some of that, that spring weather, the, the
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pollen's opening back up. It's just affecting my allergies
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a little bit. So that's why the, the sound
2:23
today is, is like it is. But we are doing well, man.
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God's been blessing. He's been good.
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We, I was honored to be nominated for the North Carolina
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Baptist Board of Directors. And so we had our board of
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directors meeting this last week and I was able to be there for
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that. Heard a lot of great statistics
2:42
and numbers for what our conventions doing and a lot of
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even partnerships with our state legislator.
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The state of North Carolina awarded several $1,000,000 to
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our Baptist on Mission, our yellow shirt team for disaster
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relief, which was a awesome opportunity and a blessing to
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see that the state is recognizing the work that we're
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doing and how effective it is and they're funding it.
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So man, it was, it was good. It was good meeting, good time
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to hang out. Met some new guys and met some
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friends. We had a great little circle of
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brotherhoods that had a great cloud of witnesses over us as we
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had a little fire pit and a little glory to God smoking.
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And it was a good time. I enjoyed that and made some
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great new friendships, got some new contact information, got to
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talk about some things that we're doing.
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And so it was been. It was really good, man.
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I saw Trump came to North Carolina to assist the hurricane
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damage and I knew right away, I know you're humble, James.
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I knew right away what happened. You were at the inauguration, he
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said. Trump, here's what you need to
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do. You need to go check that out.
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And we appreciate you sending him down there to them.
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Yeah, he stopped by my house and asked for my signature and I
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told him I just didn't want to, I didn't want him to be elevated
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to that status yet by having my signature.
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So had him sign a couple things for me and local pictures.
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We. Tell him you're out of the Bible
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signing business. You're not part of that no more.
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Yeah, we, we, we smoked a Four Freedom cigar together.
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And he, he got, he got his, his religion right.
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And so it was a good time. It's a good time.
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He apologized to you for not putting his hand on the Bible,
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right? Right.
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I think he didn't. I think he didn't do that
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because it wasn't a 1611. Right, right.
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That's the reason why he didn't do it.
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Yeah, yeah. That's.
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Exactly. New King James No.
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No, that mess out of here, man, that's great.
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Good. Good to see some things going on
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and just God's been blessing in our family and my sons and my
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son and daughter have been playing basketball.
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It's been a great time to see them learn and grow.
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That season's coming to an and I'll be starting football
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practice here soon. We do a spring flag football
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program at my wifes school and I'm the coach and so man, it's
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been fun prepping for that. I've got an assistant coach
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that's coming in to help me and I, I tell people all the time
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we, we are busy people. I love being busy.
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I love staying busy and working. Man, I, I couldn't imagine just
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sitting around doing nothing. Was that a person's house last
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yesterday? An older man in our church just
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making some visits and, and studying the word.
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And man, it's been blessed. It's been great just to serve
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the Lord these last couple of years coming from COVID and, and
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really just the, the way the Lord has changed ministry and
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the way we do things, the way he's opened up my eyes and, and
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the way we do things. It's been great.
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And I'm just excited for what Lord's doing and is going to do.
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We, we meet every Wednesday. Brett, you can see behind me
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the, the, our local teams. I've just got my last helmet in.
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We meet every Wednesday morning. And this past week, we had like
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150 teenagers from the local middle school voluntarily showed
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up at the library. We prayed together, they went to
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class. That's like a third of the
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school. The school's like 450 kids.
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And so that was just, it's just a blessing.
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Every Wednesday we show up and that happens.
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And so we don't promote it. We don't have this like come and
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get a free cookie or doughnut or something.
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They just come and show up and we pray.
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And so it's it's been good. Amen, brother.
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That's a good stuff. Yeah, we're busy over here on
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this end too. The boys did have.
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We got involved with a home school basketball league and the
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boys have really had a good time playing basketball.
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We've been so busy this year we've actually had to cut a
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couple of things just, you know, a couple things we just, you
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know, we couldn't do. Usually we do Beta club and
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shooting sports and things like that.
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With basketball, we had to let one of those things go.
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But but yeah, things have been just moving right along.
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Things are going good at the church.
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We started an outreach team here at the church just to think
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about some different ways we can reach our community.
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I've been really focused on servant evangelism, on fun and
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ways we can go out in the community, you know, give out
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coffees or, or, or do, you know, change all things like that.
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Just things we can do for people.
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And just to be known, just we had to get where the lost people
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are. We congregate in our little
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spheres of influence. We hang around each other.
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And that's not what Jesus did. Jesus went to the wild weddings
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where they were, you know, drinking the wine and he went
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and he hung out with the prostitutes and he went to the
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dinner parties with the lost people.
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That's what he did. You know, we were, we're
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preaching on 1st Corinthians 5 last night and Paul said, look,
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when I told you to stay away from the immoral people, I
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wasn't telling you to stay away from the immoral people of the
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world. They're worldly, so you've got
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to expect they're going to be immoral.
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I was telling you to what To stay away from their moral
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people in the church. Paul understands that we can't
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blame worldly people for acting worldly.
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The only way you're going to reach them is if you go out
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there to them. We live in a post Christian
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society in our country and you know, the the how you're going
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to reach people today is, is more than just asking them, you
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know, a quick question on the on the sidewalk, handing them a
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paper track. You've got to build a
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relationship with them. So trying to be intentional in
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our evangelism in the church. Think through some things.
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I've got some ideas. I'm just excited to where God's
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going to send us. Absolutely.
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You know, in Acts, the Bible says go into all the world and
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preach the name of Jesus in Jerusalem, Judea, Samara, and
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none of most parts of the earth. Doesn't say go into your church
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always doesn't say go into, you know this one little believer.
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It goes into all the world. Go everywhere you can, preaching
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and teaching the name of Jesus. Now, the difficult part of this,
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My church here in Mississippi is literally in the middle of the
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woods. Yeah, we're out.
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It's not like we're downtown. You know, I got to drive 15
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minutes to get to the city, to get to that, to get to our local
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town. So we're out in the middle of
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the woods. And so it provides a little bit
9:30
more of a challenge, but it's it's not impossible.
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It's doable. Yeah, same here.
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We're in a rural community as well.
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The big cities are about 15 minutes away on both sides, 1520
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minutes. And but man, it's an awesome
9:42
opportunity for us to reach those that are around us.
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There's farmers that still need Jesus, there's chicken farmers
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that still need Jesus. There's there's mechanics that
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are around that still need to hear about Jesus.
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And so we have this awesome opportunity to do that.
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So Brett, things coming up. We've got meeting tomorrow with
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our contact point there in Israel talking about our 2026
10:06
date. We are looking at moving Israel
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again. We're hoping that the ceasefire
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works out and that everything there's already teams on the
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ground. I've got a buddy of mine here in
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Mount Airy that's going to be with a group in Israel.
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He's leaving this week and so we're excited about what we're
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seeing there and I'll be talking to him about how things were
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while he was there. But we are still looking at
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going to Israel and our goal is 1st of 2026 is what we're
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looking at. And we'll nail down some dates
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and times and costs and all that with her tomorrow and then we'll
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be letting you know. Exactly.
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And so, man, I can't wait to be back.
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Right now we're in our two year anniversary, Brett.
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We were there two years ago. And so I've been seeing Facebook
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memories and pictures. It's coming up on my time hop
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right now. We're in like our, our 4th day
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there in, in Israel and it's coming up on my time hop and
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it's, it's weird the time difference because it's, you
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know, my time hop goes our 24 hour period.
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But because of the time difference, it starts in the
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middle of one day and ends in the middle of the next day.
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But man, I'm just saying you have this.
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I am so ready to go back to Israel.
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Yes, I would have went to Greece and one day we will go to
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Greece. Probably the next trip will be
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to Greece missionary journey of Paul.
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But man, I'm ready to lead this group back to is back to Israel.
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Look that I, I told somebody last night we were talking about
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it. If you want to go to Israel, the
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next four years are going to be some of the safest 4 years that
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you're going to have. It's the best chance for you to
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go. You got Donald Trump in office.
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You got a man in office, you know, he's like John Wayne
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toilet paper. He don't take crap off of
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nobody. He is going to to be the man
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he's going to nobody's going to want to cross him.
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And so if you want to go, I'm telling you the next four years
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is going to be your best opportunity.
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Yeah, they named it. They named it Town after him,
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Brett. I mean they.
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From heights. I mean, they, they love the man.
12:14
He he's. Right next, right next to the
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Golan Heights, you have Trump Heights.
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I mean, I tell you, it's great. Oh, man, What?
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What else we got going on, Brett?
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What else do we have going on? We we've got our new adventure
12:29
with our cigars, man. Yes, I'm sorry.
12:33
Yes, we got the, the, the the for Freedom podcast and Cigar
12:39
Company. We've got our samplers coming
12:41
out. We're taking orders right now.
12:44
We're still working on our sweet cigar, but that's going to come
12:49
soon. But we've got some if you're
12:51
interested. We've got some.
12:52
OK. We got Father's Day coming up
12:55
and we might could do something for Father's Day, but go to our
12:59
website, go to our Facebook page, check out our cigar
13:02
company, check out our brand, try us out, get a sampler back
13:06
and put in your orders now. And we're definitely are excited
13:11
about this new venture that we're in.
13:13
Yeah, we we've had several that have have balked and have
13:17
reached out and contacted me after they smoked one and this
13:20
is what they've all said. Man, I've had some high end
13:24
cigars. This is some of the best cigars
13:27
I've ever had. And so I'm thankful for those
13:29
reviews. I'm thankful for these guys that
13:32
have been enjoying it. And hopefully you'll, you'll go
13:34
to our website there at 69 cigars back slash for freedom
13:38
and you'll see our products there.
13:40
We've got 3 lines right now. And now we're excited about it.
13:43
This is something that I've always dreamed about and excited
13:46
about the opportunity for us to be able to share just a little
13:50
bit of what Spurgeon said was one of his favorite things to
13:52
do. We'll smoke to the glory of God.
13:55
And so we're excited to be able to be in line with what Spurgeon
13:58
said was good. And so I I hope you.
14:02
Burning incense to the Lord. Yes, I like to say we're
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surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses when we do this.
14:10
So good. It's good.
14:12
So man, we're excited. Brett, we're talking about
14:14
cancel culture today. And so we're going to jump right
14:17
into our episode and hopefully enjoy the content that we have
14:22
for you today. We cannot.
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Truly worship God while we stay. Silent on injustice in all kinds
14:40
of areas. And I know as a white pastor I
14:42
have blind spots, so I am part of the problem.
14:48
James Paul elected to unhitch the Christian faith from their
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Jewish scriptures, and my friends, we must as well.
15:03
White people fear black men. That's not.
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Fair, but it's true. Jesus repents of his racism and
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extends healing to this woman's daughter.
15:16
I love this story because it's a reminder that Jesus is human.
15:19
He had prejudices and bias and when confronted with it, he was
15:22
willing to do his work. I believe in the non binary God
15:30
whose pronouns are plural. I believe in Jesus Christ, their
15:34
child who wore a fabulous tunic and had two dads and saw
15:40
everyone as a sibling child of God.
15:44
I believe in the rainbow spirit who shatters our image of 1
15:49
white light and refracts it into a rainbow of gorgeous diversity.
15:55
I believe in the Church of everyday Saints, as numerous
16:00
creative and resilient as patches on the 8th quilt, whose
16:05
feet are grounded in mud and whose eyes gaze at the stars and
16:10
wonder. I believe in the calling to each
16:13
of us that love is love is love. So beloved, let us love.
16:20
I believe glorious God help my unbelief.
16:25
Amen. This woke self loathing.
16:35
And we will never let the woke left take it away.
16:39
It's because they're putting woke ideology.
16:42
To a woke. Mob that can't even tell you
16:44
what a woman is. In this season of the Four
16:54
Freedom Podcast, we want to bring to you some enlightening
16:56
topics that deal with the wokeness of the church.
17:00
We want to bring to light some issues that are often
17:03
overlooked, and we hope that it'll be a blessing to you in
17:07
your listening experience. Hey, hi.
17:12
Hi, everybody. OK.
17:26
Imagine with me, a high school teacher named Sarah Parker.
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She is known in her small community for her dedication to
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her students. She decides to post an article
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on her personal Facebook page. The article is an inflammatory
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it's thoughtful and nuanced. It raised questions about
17:42
controversial social issues, encouraged open dialogue, and
17:46
even acknowledges different perspectives.
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At first, the post only gets a handful of likes and a few
17:51
comments from friends. But then someone takes a
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screenshot and shares it in a local Facebook group, labeling
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Sarah as an out of touch and accuses her of holding harmful
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views. Within hours, her post is shared
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hundreds of times. The comments start pouring in.
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How can someone like this be used and trusted by to teach our
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kids? She needs to resign immediately.
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This is unacceptable. Our school district must take
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action. By the next morning, parents are
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calling the school demanding answers.
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Some are threatening to pull their kids if Sarah isn't fired.
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Others are emailing the school board, insisting that her views
18:28
make her unfit to teach. The school district, overwhelmed
18:31
by the backlash, places Sarah on administrative leave pending
18:35
investigation. No one is interested in hearing
18:38
her side of the story or the intent behind her post, she
18:42
advises. She's advised to delete her
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social media accounts, stay quiet and let it blow over.
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But it doesn't blow over. The local news story picks up
18:51
the story, framing it as a scandal.
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People who've never met Sarah are now weighing in, attacking
18:56
her character and speculating about her motives.
19:00
Friends she thought she could count on begin distancing
19:03
themselves, afraid that they'll be associated with her by the
19:07
end of the week. Sarah's name is synonymous with
19:10
controversy in her small town. All of this not because of
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something she did in the classroom, but because of a
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single post on social media. Cancel culture in action.
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It's swift, unforgiving and relentless.
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Welcome back today to the For Freedom podcast.
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I'm James. You're here with your Co host,
19:35
Brett. Brett, how are you today?
19:39
Man, we're doing great, James. We're just really, I'm really
19:41
excited about today's episode and this one.
19:46
It really hits close to home for a lot of people.
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We're diving into cancel culture, what is it, how it
19:55
affects us, and most importantly, how we can live
19:58
free from its grip, rooted in a biblical view.
20:03
Yeah, absolutely, Brett. This is a something that in our
20:06
independent fundamental Baptist movement, cancel culture is sort
20:11
of synonymous, right? You begin to go through life and
20:15
you begin to wear pants or you begin to wear shorts if you're
20:19
men, or you begin to go through cutting your hair or changing
20:24
some things about you. And what does the independent
20:26
fundamental bias movement do? They immediately cancel you.
20:29
They immediately cut you off and label you as a heretic.
20:33
They label you as someone who is left the faith and you're
20:37
leaving the old paths and you begin to you're you're wicked
20:41
and you're, you know, you become a sermon illustration.
20:43
I know that was for me. I became many sermon
20:45
illustrations after my day. And it's it's one of those
20:49
things that it just it's you leave the fold, you become part
20:54
of the rebellion it. Took one verse, James it.
20:57
I posted one NIV verse and it's all it took for my whole IFB
21:03
world to shun me, to derail on me, to call me effeminate, to
21:09
friends I've had for years completely turned on me.
21:13
It just took one NIV verse for them to just completely dump me.
21:17
So I know what you're talking about.
21:19
Yeah, so dancer culture is a hot topic right now, right?
21:22
It's it's all over social media outlets.
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It's becoming even more crucial in churches.
21:28
People have been canceled for what they say, for what they
21:31
believe, for the things that they did years and years ago.
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And some of them may be legitimate.
21:36
They did something that they tried covering up.
21:38
But some of it could just be simple, a small issue, but it's
21:41
a complex issue in other areas. And as Christians, we need to
21:46
know how to respond when cancer culture happens.
21:49
And, and not just respond, but respond in a way that glorifies
21:54
God and points people to Christ. So we're going to unpack this
21:58
today. So grab your coffee, your Coke,
22:01
sit back, kick up your feet, take it off a double speed.
22:06
Listen to us in regular speed and let's jump into it.
22:09
Absolutely. Let's do this.
22:10
It's a Brett. Often times when we begin to
22:13
talk about something especially like this, and over these next
22:16
several weeks, as we talk through wokeness and what this
22:18
is, it's always good to start with a good working definition.
22:21
Words have meaning, and if we don't define words, it's hard
22:25
for us to ever know what we're talking about.
22:27
And so we'll start out by defining and talking about what
22:31
cancel culture is. Brett, how would you explain or
22:34
define cancel culture? So cancer culture is essentially
22:39
a societal mechanism where someone is ostracized or
22:43
publicly shamed, often for expressing an opinion or holding
22:46
beliefs that are deemed offensive or unacceptable by
22:50
others. It's like modern day
22:52
excommunication but amplified to the Max by social media.
22:58
I mean, you understand that that information goes so fast today
23:03
because of social media. We didn't have to worry about
23:06
this even 15 years ago. But this is every.
23:11
This is our reality today. Yeah, that's a great summary.
23:14
And, you know, it can happen to celebrities, it can happen to
23:18
politicians, it can happen to pastors, It can even happen to
23:20
everyday people. As we talked about in our cold
23:22
open with Sarah, We're just a regular school teacher in a
23:26
small rural town, did something and nothing was wrong with it.
23:30
And all of a sudden, she began to get canceled and ostracized.
23:34
So what makes it so intense is, like you said, the speed at
23:38
which it happens, man, it's a long lasting impact that can be
23:42
happening on someone's life in just an instant today, right?
23:46
Someone shares or says one thing, a politician has a word
23:49
slip. And all of a sudden, man, the
23:52
whole narrative of the whole country takes it in a completely
23:55
different way. And so the real question we have
23:58
to ask yourself is why has cancer culture become so
24:01
prevalent? Before I answer that question,
24:04
one thing that popped in my mind was maybe a couple years ago, I
24:08
remember this story on social media where you have this kid,
24:12
this white kid who was standing there.
24:15
And then there was this, this older Native American man who
24:20
was doing an American Native chant.
24:22
And the 32nd clip that you saw looked like this kid, white kid
24:29
had come up in this guy's face that was doing them the Native
24:34
American chant and was just staring him down.
24:37
But what it that was just 30 seconds of the clip.
24:41
But what had actually happened was that kid was standing there
24:44
minding his own business, doing his own thing, and this guy come
24:48
up to him. The Native American man came up
24:51
to him and started chanting in his face.
24:53
But you didn't see the whole clip.
24:55
You just saw the 30 seconds. But because of that 30 seconds,
24:59
that kid was quote UN quote canceled.
25:03
Even after the truth came out, people still blame the kid for
25:07
it. So that's how fast these things
25:11
can happen. You know, I to answer your
25:13
question, I think it's a mix of things.
25:15
On one hand, you've got this heightened sense of justice
25:19
where people want to call out wrongs, which, by the way, is
25:23
not inherently bad. But on the other hand, it's
25:26
fueled by lack of grace, forgiveness and the power of
25:30
social media to amplify the outrage.
25:33
Yeah, it's it's justice without redemption, right?
25:37
It's the in the biblical sense that's dangerous because it
25:41
removes God's design for justice, which always includes
25:45
an opportunity for repentance and restoration.
25:48
God is in the redeeming business, and so this is the
25:52
opportunity for us to do that. Exactly.
25:55
And let's not forget that cancel culture, it's nothing new.
25:59
It may look different today, but people have been canceling
26:02
others for centuries. Even in the Bible we see
26:05
examples of public shaming and rejection.
26:08
Think of women caught in adultery.
26:10
The the woman caught in adultery in John 8, the Pharisees brought
26:13
her out ready to Stoner. That's canceled culture in its
26:17
ancient form. Man, that's such a great point,
26:19
Brett. And Jesus responds response to
26:24
the situation is in a way that stands out to us.
26:27
He doesn't condone her sin, but what does he do?
26:30
He doesn't condemn her, but yet instead he offers grace and he
26:35
calls her to begin a new way of living.
26:39
He begins to say, this is what we should do instead.
26:43
Instead of condoning and condemning and, and crucifying
26:46
this person, let's encourage them to turn over a new way of
26:50
living, a new way of processing life.
26:53
And and you see, the grace that Jesus offers is the way that we
26:57
should model this in our life. This is the way we should
27:00
respond to these areas of our life.
27:03
Right, so let's dig into why cancel culture is incompatible
27:07
with the biblical worldview. First, it's rooted in pride.
27:11
When we cancel someone, we're essentially saying I'm better
27:15
than you. Your sin is worse than mine.
27:18
The Romans 323 minds us that all lives sin and come short of the
27:22
glory of God. You know there is none
27:24
righteous. No, not one.
27:25
We're all sinners. Yeah, I think when we remember
27:28
that, Brett, it's convicting for us because it helps us to remind
27:32
ourselves that we have also sinned, we have also done wrong,
27:36
and yet someone still offered grace and forgiveness to us.
27:40
Cancel culture thrives in unforgiveness.
27:43
Colossians 313 tells us bear with each other and forgive one
27:48
another. If any of you have been has a
27:50
grievance against someone, forgive us.
27:52
The Lord forgave you. So when we refuse to forgive, we
27:57
are not reflecting the heart of Christ.
27:59
Christ says forgive and begin to move on into a new way of
28:03
living. Exactly.
28:05
And then there's the issue of judgment.
28:08
Matthew 7, one through 2 warns us, do not judge or you 2 will
28:12
be judged from the same way you judge others.
28:15
You will be judged and with the measure you use, it will be
28:20
measured to you. Cancel culture often elevates us
28:24
to the position of judge, jury and executioner.
28:27
And we talked a little bit about this last night in church where
28:32
in once again in first Corinthians chapter 5, Paul
28:36
tells the the the Corinthians says don't judge outsiders.
28:41
Let let God judge the outsiders. You judge the people in in the
28:45
church and people think, oh, don't be judgmental.
28:48
You should be judgmental. But The thing is, the Bible
28:51
doesn't condemn, condemn judging people.
28:53
It condemns hypocritical judgement, right judgement,
28:58
righteous judgement is something we ought to do.
29:01
Paul would not judge anybody without applying the same
29:06
standard to himself that he applies to everybody else else.
29:10
And that's where this fall short because it applies standards to
29:15
other people that they don't apply to themselves, thus making
29:20
the judgment hypocritical. Yeah.
29:22
Oh, man, I actually absolutely agree with that.
29:24
As you were saying that it it sort of spurred on for me
29:28
another question that I want you to sort of go with.
29:30
Brad, I know maybe a lot of the listeners are asking how do we
29:34
respond when we're on the receiving end of cancel culture?
29:38
What happens when when we're the ones that's been cancelled or
29:41
even when we see others that have been cancelled, Maybe it's
29:44
a friend or a relative. How do we respond to those
29:47
things? That's such a great quick the
29:49
great question. I think the first step is to
29:53
trust in God's sovereignty. Romans 828 reminds us that God
29:57
works all things for the good of those who love him.
30:01
If we're being targeted, we can rest in the fact that God is
30:05
ultimately and sovereignly in control.
30:09
Amen. We do need to respond with grace
30:12
and truth. Jesus never shield away from
30:14
calling out sin, but he always did with so much love and
30:18
compassion and an invitation to redemption, right?
30:22
Jesus every time he he would go into a situation with so much
30:27
care, so much grace, so much compassion, especially when
30:31
there was someone in sin. Now we see in a different
30:34
situation where Jesus comes into those who have made his Father's
30:38
house into a den of thieves and what does he do?
30:41
He he sees retribution, he he sees vengeance and wrath upon
30:47
them. But in most situations, we see
30:50
that we can't let fear, the fear of being canceled, silence us
30:55
from speaking the truth of the gospel.
30:57
Too often in our in our world that we came out of, we see
31:03
someone getting canceled and we stay silent because we're afraid
31:07
if we defend them. Well, maybe that group of
31:09
people's going to cancel me as well.
31:12
And the fear of that is so powerful in our life.
31:17
How many pastors in evangelist? Well, let's do this.
31:21
Let's say evangelist. I can't tell you how many
31:24
evangelists are in the eye or missionaries.
31:27
Evangelist and missionaries both fall under this.
31:29
They're still in the IFB because if they step out of line, if
31:35
they don't tow the line, even though they might not agree with
31:39
certain things, they'll get cancelled.
31:41
I can tell you story after story.
31:44
Oh, you went to so and so's church that Belize different.
31:47
Oh, well, guess what I'm going to do?
31:49
I'm going to call all my pastor buddies and I'm going to
31:52
blackball you and blacklist you. And you won't go to their
31:55
churches either. And then you know that that's
31:57
kind of what happened to Phil Kidd.
31:59
Phil Kidd, he went and preached at Paul's church, his son's
32:03
church. People gotten out and Phil Kidd
32:05
don't give a RIP, but but he, but people got wind that he had
32:10
preached at Paul's church. And so they called around and
32:14
all their little buddies, they canceled his meetings.
32:17
But Phil, you know, that's happened to several evangelists
32:21
slash missionaries in the IFB. But you, you, you're absolutely
32:25
right. You know, we have to remember
32:27
we're also called to be peacemakers.
32:30
Matthew 59 says. Blessed are the peacemakers, for
32:33
they will be called the children of God.
32:36
When we see someone being cancelled, we can step in with
32:39
kindness and seek to restore rather than tear down.
32:43
Absolutely. Let's take a moment, just for a
32:45
minute, Brett, and talk about for Freedom, right?
32:48
The name of the podcast is Freedom and Eagle Screech.
32:51
That's right. For freedom podcasts for a
32:54
reason, right? True freedom isn't about
32:56
escaping cancel culture or pleasing everyone.
32:59
It's about living in the freedom that Christ has given us.
33:04
Exactly our our our text verse, our main verse, what we center
33:10
our podcast around. Galatians 51 says it is for
33:14
freedom that Christ has set us free.
33:16
Stand firm then, and do not let yourself be burdened again by
33:19
the yoke of slavery. Canceled culture can feel like a
33:23
yoke of slavery, but we're called to live differently.
33:28
Yeah, when we're free in Christ, we're not defined by the
33:32
opinions of others, Brett. We, we, our, our identity is
33:35
secure in him. We have the utmost freedom
33:40
knowing that nothing and no one can separate us from the love of
33:44
God. Whether you are cancelled from a
33:47
speaking engagement, whether you've been cancelled from a
33:50
church movement, whether you've been cancelled from your own
33:52
family, Christ said that there's nothing going to separate you
33:56
from His love and His care. I'm so reminded of that verse
34:00
there where it says that they either height, nor death, nor
34:04
persecution, nor famine, nor man, nor angels, nor nor
34:08
anything created in heaven or above or below heaven, will ever
34:12
separate you from the love of God.
34:15
Amen brother, That's good preaching.
34:16
They should put that in their tailpipe and smoke it.
34:18
I'm on now. Put that in the cigar and smoke
34:20
it, baby. And that, you know, and that
34:23
freedom allows us to extend grace to others as well, even
34:26
those who try to cancel us, Extending grace to people who
34:31
tried to cancel us. It's countercultural, but it's
34:35
exactly what Jesus. Did yeah.
34:37
So Brett, let's take just a moment here and let's add some
34:40
more context. And why do you think cancel
34:45
culture is so popular right now? Man, 1520 years when I was
34:50
coming up in college, when, when I was in the IFB, even in those
34:54
moments and in those years, there wasn't a lot of canceling.
34:57
There wasn't a lot of this bittering and backbiting.
35:00
It was just OK. They believe different than us
35:03
there. They may not be part of the the
35:05
Baptist Briders, but but we're part of this area.
35:08
And so we just sort of moved on and did our own thing.
35:11
Now, man, when when someone comes out and they're not part
35:14
of the King James only movement, it's like a whole sermon on
35:18
them. It's just still got to set this
35:20
example. Why?
35:21
Why is that so prevalent right now?
35:23
Dude, you bringing up Baptist brighter, that's such a niche
35:28
subset of the IFB. That's like an an insider call
35:32
out right there brings me back. But you took back to your
35:37
question. I think that's a great question.
35:38
And I think part of it has to do with the rise of social media
35:42
platforms like Twitter and Instagram, Facebook giving
35:47
everyone a voice and a platform, which is a blessing and a curse.
35:53
It's easy to amplify outrage and rally people against someone
35:58
with just a few clicks. And like we mentioned earlier,
36:02
30 seconds of a video, maybe even 5 seconds not getting the
36:06
full picture. Yeah, there's also this cultural
36:10
shift where everyone's wanting to be an influencer, everyone's
36:13
wanting to have followers, popularity and power and
36:18
identity in calling out other people, right?
36:21
We want to have the podcast or the platform or whatever it is
36:24
that people go to listen because we're the ones saying the the
36:28
risque cliche niche things. And when we do that, it's almost
36:34
like we substitute a real justice without any
36:38
accountability for grace and truth that actually justice
36:42
requires we become the our own judge, jury and executioner by
36:46
by us canceling someone else. And let's not overlook fear,
36:51
people. People don't want to be on the
36:53
wrong side of an issue, so they jump on the cancel culture
36:57
bandwagon to protect themselves or fit in.
37:01
And it creates this toxic cycle of fear and conformity.
37:05
And most people, I would dare say that most people don't even
37:10
care about certain things but jump on the bandwagon because
37:13
they want to protect their own name or they want to protect
37:17
their own brand. And if they go against the way
37:20
they know, they'll get cancelled too.
37:22
Yeah, that's a that's a great point that you make there.
37:25
But because as Christians, we're called to stand firm.
37:28
In truth, we're called to stand up for what is right, even when
37:32
it's unpopular, even when no one else is doing it, even when the
37:36
world says we're fanatics and we're crazy.
37:40
Cancel culture may be popular right now, but it's not eternal.
37:43
It's not something that's going to last forever.
37:46
We're told that there's one thing that's going to last
37:48
forever, and that is God's Word. God's word is the standard for
37:52
our life. It is the reason that we exist
37:54
and we we stand up every week and we preach the word because
37:58
it's it's not shifted by the crowds, It's not shifted by
38:02
man's opinion. It is firm on what the Bible
38:05
says. It's infallible, it's an error.
38:08
It is truth and it does not care what the opinions of the crowd
38:12
say. And so we must live by the
38:14
standard of God's word. So as we reflect on this bread,
38:17
I want to I recently read something that stuck out with
38:20
me. So this, it said cancel culture
38:23
at its core seeks to impose a kind of final judgment declaring
38:28
people irredeemable. But as Christ, as Christians and
38:32
Christ followers, we know that only God can make such a
38:36
judgment. You referenced it earlier,
38:38
Romans 323. All that sin and fallen short of
38:41
the glory of God. But it doesn't end there.
38:44
There is a hope and redemption through Christ.
38:48
It's so true because canceled culture, it thrives on a lack of
38:52
forgiveness. It's about shaming and
38:55
sidelining people, not not calling them the restoration.
38:59
But the gospel flips the script. It tells us that no one is
39:04
beyond hope. First, John 19 says if we
39:07
confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and
39:11
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
39:15
Yeah, cancel culture reveals something deep about the human
39:18
nature. It shows that people inherently
39:21
believe in the concepts of sin, right?
39:24
When when society cancels someone, it's a recognition that
39:28
certain words, actions, beliefs are morally wrong.
39:32
But here's the issue. Without Christ, there's no way
39:35
to separate sin from the Sinner, and there's no way to offer true
39:38
forgiveness. And so we must always and
39:41
constantly be bringing Christ in everything we're doing.
39:44
Exactly James the This reflects a deep human desire for moral
39:49
purity, a need to rid ourselves of what we perceive as wrong.
39:54
But instead of offering redemption and offering of
39:57
redemption, cancel culture often seeks to destroy the individual
40:01
along with their actions. The Bible gives a better answer.
40:05
In the Old Testament, the scapegoat was sent into the
40:08
wilderness to symbolically remove sin from the camp.
40:12
And in the New Testament, Jesus becomes the ultimate sacrifice,
40:16
taking our sin and offering us real cleansing and restoration.
40:22
Man, that's such a powerful truth, Brett.
40:23
I think when we can understand what that truly means, where
40:27
Christ becomes the scapegoat for us, it totally, radically
40:32
changes our life. Jesus was in a way, Brett, you
40:35
can say like this, canceled. He was rejected, He was cast out
40:40
and he was crucified. He was canceled by his own
40:42
culture. He came to redeem his culture.
40:45
He came to set up his Kingdom, and the ones that he came to
40:49
redeem canceled him so that ultimately we could be restored
40:53
back to God. Hebrews 13 through 14 reminds us
40:57
this profound sacrifice. 1311 through 14, it reminds us this
41:01
profound sacrifice, that through him we can be free from the
41:06
relentlessness and the unforgiving grip of the canceled
41:09
culture, and we get to live in true grace and freedom.
41:14
Breath. That's what we get to live in.
41:15
It's the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
41:18
So Brett, when when we begin to think through this, we always
41:22
like to end with sort of a positive note.
41:24
Cancel culture. It's, it's negative, it's hard,
41:26
it's difficult. Maybe you're listening and you
41:29
have been cancelled. Maybe you're listening and you
41:31
have been those sermon illustrations time and time
41:35
again in the world and in the churches.
41:38
What we want to do is we want to leave you with some practical
41:41
steps that you can take and live free from cancel culture while
41:45
reflecting a biblical worldview. You know, first, immerse
41:51
yourself in Scripture. When you know God's Word and you
41:55
abide in God's Word and God's Word abides in you, you'll be
41:59
able to discern truth from lies. Second, pray for boldness and
42:05
wisdom. It takes courage to stand for
42:08
truth in a cancel culture world and around people that don't
42:13
care about your family, don't care about your livelihood.
42:17
They want to take your house away, throw you out on the
42:19
street because of your beliefs, especially because you're a
42:23
Christian. You need to pray for that
42:26
boldness. You need to pray for that
42:29
strength. Sometimes we underestimate so
42:32
much the power of prayer, but it is so vital in the life of a
42:37
Christian and and if we want to win against a canceled culture
42:41
world, we've got to spend time on our knees in prayer.
42:46
Absolutely. I'll add to that two things,
42:48
Brett. Also, we need to build a strong
42:51
community. Surround yourself with people
42:54
who will encourage you and challenge you to stay rooted in
42:57
Christ. I tell people often as I go
43:00
through marriage counseling and I go through different things
43:02
with people. I tell the husband and the wife
43:05
who you surround yourself with will eventually become who you
43:09
are. If you surround yourself as a
43:11
woman who is around single women who dog their husbands or dog
43:17
the married life or talk about how bad their husband is, you
43:20
will eventually see all the mistakes that your husband
43:22
makes. But if you surround yourself
43:24
with the community of graceful women who love the Lord and love
43:29
their husbands, you'll begin to appreciate your husband.
43:31
Men, the same thing. If you surround yourself with
43:34
with men who constantly talk about how horrible their
43:37
marriage is and how their wife does nothing, you'll eventually
43:40
have that same attitude. And so who we surround ourself
43:43
with is a huge thing because we are created to be the manic
43:46
creature. We mimic what we are around.
43:50
We begin to grow closer to the things that were around.
43:53
And so surround yourself with godly believers who are going to
43:56
encourage you, challenge you, and ultimately Dr. you back to
44:00
Christ. And, and the last thing I'll say
44:02
is remember to lead with love. Remember that people may not
44:06
always agree with you, but they should see the love of Christ in
44:10
you and how you respond when you're cancelled.
44:13
Man, if you take the social media and you start a firestorm
44:16
back, they're not going to remember that you were canceled.
44:19
They're going to remember your response.
44:20
They're going to remember how you responded when those things
44:23
happen. I love taking Jesus as the
44:25
example here. When Jesus was canceled, when
44:28
Jesus was on his way to crucifixion and the soldiers
44:31
came and punched him in the face as they put a bag over his head
44:35
and said, tell us who who hit you if you're the Son of God?
44:38
And I said he spoke not a word because he loved them and he
44:42
cared about them and said when he was lifted up on the cross
44:46
and the soldiers were around and they they looked at each other
44:49
and the soldier said, we have never killed a man quite like
44:54
this. This truly is the Son of God
44:57
because of how he responded. He responded with grace.
45:00
He responded with truth. He responded with love.
45:03
And he said, Father, forgive them.
45:05
They don't know what they're doing.
45:07
You know, as you're talking and as you're talking about love, it
45:11
got me to thinking about tolerance and the the left
45:18
liberal ideology. These type of cancel culture
45:22
won't people, they're so incredibly intolerant.
45:26
There's no love there, even though they claim to be love to
45:30
love everybody. They're so intolerant.
45:33
And I want to get down to the, to the core of this thing, this
45:38
cancel culture woke mentality. They Trump's in office.
45:44
Guess what? They don't blame Trump.
45:46
OK, the Republicans voted for him.
45:50
Well, guess what? They don't blame Republicans.
45:53
You know who they blame? They blame the Christians.
45:57
They blame the church. Ultimately, the person they want
46:02
to cancel is the Christ of the Bible.
46:06
They want their own Christ. They want their own rainbow
46:10
colored justice centered Christ. They want to cancel the Jesus of
46:16
the Bible. That's ultimately who they want
46:20
to cancel. James, I think what you said is
46:23
about love is just so good. And we don't need to forget to
46:27
extend grace to them, even when it's hard, even when you want to
46:34
jump back at them and you want to retaliate and you want to be
46:38
the keyboard warrior and you've got something really witty to
46:41
say and something good to say. And you type it all out.
46:45
You write a novel in a Facebook post and the Holy Spirit says,
46:49
do you really want to put that out in the world until you start
46:53
deleting the post. Listening to the Holy Spirit
46:56
extend grace. We've been forgiven from so from
47:02
for so much. We are called to forgive others
47:07
as well, even forgive the people who are trying to cancel us.
47:12
It's not easy, but it's it's the way of Christ.
47:16
We have enjoyed talking this, this, this subject.
47:21
This is a great subject. I'm really enjoying this season.
47:24
James, do you have any blast things you want to say?
47:28
Yeah, a man and a man to that, Brett.
47:30
That was a great word and I appreciate that.
47:32
People, if I could give one challenge, I would say let's be
47:37
people who live in the freedom of Christ, especially showing to
47:42
the world around us that grace and truth are better than
47:46
judgment and condemnation. Thanks for joining us today.
47:50
If we need to live in that grace and truth, live in what God said
47:55
is true, live in a grace filled life, and live in a way that is
47:59
going to ultimately glorify Christ in everything we do.
48:01
So until next time, to God be the glory.
48:05
Great things he hath done. A new name found that good
48:11
grace, found that healing. And the tears fell down my face
48:15
when I found my beginning and has no ending.
48:18
I found that second chance, found my best friend, found my
48:20
forgiveness, found my happiness. I've been singing ever since I
48:23
found my freedom. Thanks for listening to the Four
48:40
Freedom Podcast. If you enjoyed our content, do
48:43
us a favor by liking, subscribing, or sharing our
48:46
podcast or whichever podcast platform you use.
48:50
Be sure to join us next time for the Four Freedom Podcast.