Interview with Jason Dezurck

TNG Radio, where today's culture and timeless truths come together. It's reasoned relevant content apologetics, worldview, and answers to the questions that you need to know. From Alex McFarland Ministries, this is Truth for a New Generation Radio. And now, the man who preached in 50 states in 50 days, speaker, writer, and advocate for Christian apologetics, Dr. Alex McFarland. The apostle Paul said that he was set for the defense of the gospel. Prepared, committed, he was ready to present, explain, defend the gospel.

We're to have that very same calling and mindset as well. Hi, welcome to today's edition of Truth for a New Generation Radio. Alex McFarland here on the road.

And we've got a very, very special show today because I've got a friend here who I've only known really a couple of hours, I guess. But this guy has the fire of God in his heart. And he is serving the Lord in apologetics and evangelism in the upper northeast.

And we're going to meet Jason Dzurik. And I guess I'll give a quote here as I bring this dear brother to the microphone. Henry Ford, the great automaker, said, you can't change the world on what you're going to do.

In other words, good intentions. I hear a lot of people and they'll say, well, we need an awakening. We need a revival. We need to spread the gospel. Somebody needs to respond to the atheist and share the gospel. Well, when you meet Jason Dzurik, you're going to meet a guy that's not waiting on somebody else and he's not lamenting what he is going to do.

This guy is on the front line. And I wanted the TNG audience to meet this brother because in terms of evangelism, defending the faith, apologetics, and especially equipping an upcoming generation, he and I just are brothers in arms. So Jason, thanks for taking time to be with us. And tell us a little bit about yourself and the work you're doing.

Absolutely. Thanks for having me on the program, too. And Alex, I tell you, my wife and I, we've been married almost 22 years and we've been doing this ministry, World View Warriors, since 2007 full time. And we really felt called to equip students to impact this generation for Jesus Christ. And one of my heroes is General George S. Patton Jr., who said, nobody ever defended anything successfully.

There's only attack and attack and attack some more. And really what we do is we take that quote to heart when it comes to apologetics and speaking to people. Now, we need to get the love part right, absolutely. But with that, we need to be speaking the truth in love. And that's just something we do with our ministry. And that was one of the things that really attracted me to you. World View Warriors.

World View Warriors. I want to talk about that. But first, how did you come to know the Lord? And also, how did the Lord guide you to apologetics? Well, that's a great question. Well, when I was in seventh grade, it was the first time I was introduced to the theory of evolution.

And it's the first time I'd ever heard of it. And so going through confirmation at the church I was at, I went to the pastor who was asking questions. And it became obvious that he really didn't have the answers. And really his answer to me was, Jason, it really doesn't matter. As long as you get the Jesus part right, that's what really counts. He said, scientists are beginning to see that new things and refining new facts. And to be honest with you, Alex, that put me on a huge downward spiral.

I was a freshman when I really talked to him about that. And I just went down, well, the logical conclusion of that, which is, if the Bible is not right from the very beginning, then why do we need Jesus? Exactly. You know, I've thought about this. If you can't trust the Bible on our past, how do we trust the Bible about our future?

If God was wrong about our origin, how do we know God was right about our destiny? Oh, absolutely. So that took me down the path of death and destruction, to be quite honest, because I, again, I was like, you know what?

God must not be real. So I'm going to have my cake and eat it too. I'm going to suck the marrow out of life completely. And well, I just decided to go my own way. And I ended up moving out to Seattle, Washington, living out there for years, just doing my own thing, following my own ways instead of God's ways. Now, my parents were Christians and they did their best to try to raise me up in God's ways, but they were still fairly new themselves.

So they just didn't have answers really either. And so, well, my testimony coming to the Lord is I basically had a powwow with God for about four months in 1994. And I literally walked the streets of Seattle asking God to prove himself to me, because if evolution's true, and you don't prove yourself to me, I'm going my way. Wouldn't you say that evolution, over the last 150 years, because Darwin's book Origin of the Species came out in 1859, and you know, by the end of the 19th century, it had rocked the world. I mean, really, in terms of people trusting the Bible, in terms of people believing in God, certainly in terms of morality. Now, it took a while for it to trickle down to the street level, but already, if you read, you know, by the end of the 19th century, the beginning of the 20th century, people were saying, there is no moral truth. If God's not the Creator, God is not the foundation of ethics and right and wrong. Would you agree that Darwinian evolution has probably been a wedge that drove more people away from God and the Bible than just almost anything in church history? Oh, absolutely. I think if we can, in essence, take that out, that is going to be a huge, huge way for us to move toward helping people to find Jesus Christ. Because again, if death entered the creation before Adam sinned, then why did Jesus need to defeat death if the Bible is telling us that, well, he created everything very good?

So that would mean death is good, which it's not. Hold that thought. We've got to take a break. We're going to come back and continue our conversation with Jason DeZurek. This is TNG radio, Alex McFarland.

Don't go away. From I Am a Watchman Ministries, here's today's I Am a Watchman Minute. Are you ready for the rapture? Do you know what it is, what the Bible says about it?

Can you identify the signs that will proceed it? Do you know where the term rapture comes from or how long the tribulation will be and what those left behind will have to endure? A watchman for the Lord will know these things. He will know what God has done and what he is about to do. He will know the truth and will share the truth. To help you know the truth, the I Am a Watchman team has established a new website, amiraptureready.org. I encourage you to visit this site to learn more about what Bible prophecy notes will happen in the last days, amiraptureready.org. That's amiraptureready.org. Be bold, be faithful, be a watchman.

I am a watchman.com. First Peter 3.15 tells us to be ready always to give an answer for the hope we have. We're instructed to be prepared to defend our faith. This is Alex McFarland for the Life Answers Teams, students we train at North Greenville University, a leading Christian college in South Carolina. The Life Answers Teams are made up of students who will inspire and equip your congregation. These apologetics teams we train speak in churches to youth groups and train Christians of all ages to address key issues of our times from a biblical perspective. Like is there a God?

Is the Bible true? What about gender and moral issues? Call me at 864-977-2008 and we will arrange for the Life Answers Team to come to your church and give a presentation that will benefit your people for years to come. 864-977-2008 and always be ready. The TNG Unashamed Conference is coming to Richmond, Virginia, October 11th and 12th. Experience core truths that make for an unshakable faith with Tina Marie Griffin, Todd Starnes, Kamal Shalim, Miki Addison, Chuck Chrismeyer and William Federer.

Romans 1 16 says, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes. Come to the Truth for a New Generation Conference and get equipped, empowered and inspired to confidently share the gospel of Jesus Christ. TNG is committed to impacting our nation for Christ and the future and equipping you to be a Difference Maker. Register now by calling 877-YES-GOD1. That's 877-YES-GOD and the number one or visit the TNG website at truthforanewgeneration.com. The TNG Unashamed Conference, Richmond, Virginia, October 11th and 12th.

Dive deeper into your faith. Timeless Truths in a Soundbite Culture. Truth for a New Generation Radio. Welcome back to Truth for a New Generation Radio. We're having a conversation with a fellow apologist, Jason DeZurek. I want to resume your story, but as you and I are recording, outside the door there are several hundred teenagers at a youth camp. Isn't it a blessing?

We're in upstate New York right now on the road. You and I both are speaking. Isn't it a blessing and don't you have hope when you see these young people that are on fire? They're coming to Christ. They're learning how to defend their faith. There's a lot of bad news, but all is not lost. There is a generation in whom God has put the fire of truth. Absolutely.

The generation today that's the youth generation, I really believe, they're just sick and tired of playing games. And they just want to get on with it. Let's get to the truth.

Let's get to the truth of the matter. And one thing I was really encouraged about tonight is when you asked those two youth to come up and pray. And boy, did they pray.

I mean, it wasn't, you know, dear Jesus, thank you for this day. I mean, they were really praying, like speaking to a person. And the young man that prayed, I didn't know that he was 14. For those, we just had a massive altar call. We had a Holy Spirit night. I spoke on the return of Christ. I felt led to have a couple of youth come pray over the auditorium. And the young lady, I don't know, both of them prayed down heaven. That young man was 14. When I was 14, hey, let's just say, when you and I were 14, we weren't there, were we? Oh, I wasn't there for sure.

I can tell you that. I want to find out, how did you discover apologetics? Well, that powwow I was telling you about. So somebody actually discipled me before I was a Christian, basically.

We basically had a lot of what I call verbal ducamouts. And he was willing to walk down a path with me that he was probably pretty uncomfortable with. His name was Danny. And I was hanging out in the bars and doing things that I just shouldn't be doing. And he was hanging out there with us too. And he'd always be standing there with his Coca Cola. And one day I went up to Danny and I'm like, why are you here with us?

And he goes, why are you asking? I go, all you do is drink your Coca Cola. You never drink alcohol.

You never take a girl home. I don't see you doing any drugs. Why are you here? And he goes, do you really want to know?

And I go, yes, I really want to know. And this is what he said to me, because I'm a follower of Jesus. And I think if Jesus was here right now, he'd be with us right now. And so he was like, what is your biggest reason why you don't want to follow Jesus? And I said, well, the theory of evolution, it's proved that, I mean, that basically is the theory of evolution is true.

Why should I follow God? And he started pointing me, this was not before the internet really was taking off. He was pointing me to resources, creation resources and things. And he would always do this too. I would be fighting with him basically and just making my point.

Evolution is true because, and I just make whatever point. And he would go, really, how do you know that's true? He would never answer my question. He would ask me a question.

And then make me go find the answer. I mean, that's part of why we started the ministry we've started because I know that works. I mean, the way I see it is he was doing ministry the way Jesus did it.

And it just really moved me. I want to hear about your ministry because this is important. Now, everybody listening, no matter where you are across America, we need, of course, the simple gospel message, for God so loved the world. And we need prayer. But apologetics and worldview is something God is using right now.

Jason, I go to a publishing convention every summer. The fastest growing segment of Christian publishing is worldview and apologetics. And we've seen skeptics, atheists, agnostics, people caught up in egregious sin. We've seen people come to Christ. And very often, apologetics has been a part of this. So what you're doing is vital.

And you're out of Ohio, right? So tell us about what Worldview Warriors does. And it might be an inspiration for others to do similar things across America. Yeah, Worldview Warriors, we're a ministry that equips students to impact this generation for Jesus Christ. And how we kind of started out is we were like, hey, let's just go do a bunch of events and do all that.

Well, that takes a lot of money and time. And as we were starting, we realized nobody really knows who we are. How do we get that news out there? And so we started podcasting and blogging. And I do my own radio shows locally.

We have a little one minute snippet thing we put out. And God has just been, well, really blessing what's going on. And so with that is now, I don't want to say we have an online church because we don't have that. But we definitely have an online community where people can come. And it's not all Christians either. We have a lot of, like you said, atheists, agnostics, people that are just, well, defiant toward God. We have found, and it's been our privilege, and I will say truly it is a privilege, some of the skeptics we've dialogued with for years and prayed and we've interceded. And one by one we've seen people come to Christ.

I think there's a man I'm thinking of right now, and I've been just trying to love on him and talk to him and keep the communication going for nine years. And he will come to Christ. I mean, he's come a long way. But would you say, Jason, that in our culture, the pre-conversion gestation period for some people is longer than ever, isn't it?

Oh, yes, absolutely. And I think a lot of it has to do with because they have so much information at their fingertips. But the problem is when they find truth, a lot of times they're not open to it, meaning they're on the journey.

But when they find truth, they just kind of, you know, put it to the side and don't want to talk about it anymore. And I think that's a huge part of, well, why we see our country the way it is right now. And this is for those just tuning in. This is Jason Dzurik, who is with us. He is in, did you say Sandusky or?

Upper Sandusky, Ohio. Yeah. And what is your website? It's worldviewwarriors.org.

We're going to take a quick break. Another big segment on apologetics. But first I've got to ask you, for those that may be wondering, what is worldview? Give me a definition of worldview. Well, a worldview is you already have, whether you know it or not, you already have a preconceived idea of what the world really looks like.

Meaning, when you see facts, you're already interpreting them. And so you're looking at that through your worldview. You may have a secular worldview. You may have a biblical worldview. But if you don't have a biblical worldview, well, you're not looking at it through the truth. Well said. Stay tuned.

TNG radio with Jason Dzurik is back right after this. Christians don't necessarily agree with one another when it comes to questions of religious pluralism, homosexuality, the role of government, abortion and war. Too often we manage these disagreements by ignoring them. Yet we're called to engage the world for the sake of Christ.

How can we be effective if we avoid society's most pressing questions? In 10 issues that divide Christians, Alex McFarland challenges us to drill down to the biblical core of 10 current issues such as social justice, evil and suffering, pornography and environmentalism as he echoes the biblical invitation, Come, let us reason together. Only by engaging the scriptures deeply, thinking clearly and speaking truthfully can we and God's family address our differences and discover the peace that comes with unity of purpose. 10 issues that divide Christians.

Find this book and many others at AlexMcFarland.com. We care about justice and aren't afraid to ask hard questions. In fact, we care about a lot of things. We have passion for truth. We are engagemagazine.net, an online group of millennials brought together by a common goal to share truth, apply scripture and to get involved in our lost and hurting world. Engagemagazine.net, host discussions that help you apply a biblical worldview to your daily life.

Engagemagazine.net. You don't need to have a Bible degree from Liberty University to love, serve, pray, worship or obey God, but it can make life more vibrant when you do. When you're ready for a religious studies degree, you'll find more than 60 ministry degree options from a bachelor's to a doctor of ministry and you'll pay one low block rate for divinity courses at Liberty University where we train champions for Christ. Go to liberty.edu backslash explore to learn more.

That's liberty.edu backslash explore to learn more. For apologetics resources, books by Alex McFarland and to find out where Alex is speaking, visit alexmcfarland.com. TNG radio continues set for the defense of the gospel. Hey, before we continue our conversation with Jason Dzurk, I do want to remind everybody the fall is coming. Now listen up wherever you are, east, west.

If you're listening in the western hemisphere, this is for you. We're going to be in Richmond, Virginia, October 11-12. Mount Vernon Baptist Church, Pastor Josh Franklin.

Oh, we've got such great friends in Richmond, Virginia. I think about Bradford Howard. I think about John Seidenstricher. I think about Eileen and Charles Cochran. I think about the great Andy Redford at the Virginia Christian Counseling Center.

Amazing. And all of my big Richmond friends, you know who I'm talking about. But we're coming to Richmond with a Truth for a New Generation event, October 11-12. And it's a Friday night all day Saturday.

This is kind of our format. Friday night we have several speakers like Todd Starnes from Fox News and other great speakers, people like Miki Addison and Abe Hamilton III of the American Family Association. But Friday night is very evangelistic because we say, you know, you can't defend the faith if you don't have the faith. So before we go any farther, a Friday night TNG is very evangelistic. But then all day Saturday we do apologetics and how do you share Christ with an atheist?

What about creation versus evolution? What about the moral issues of our day? What about the Bible?

Can you trust that the Bible is the Word of God? And how do we in the 21st century, where America and the West has become really almost militantly secular, how do we present, explain, defend the Gospel? But then in November we're going to be in Ohio, November 15-16, Landmark Baptist Church, Cincinnati, Ohio. So you can go to the website truthforanewgeneration.com.

Truth F-O-R, truthforanewgeneration.com. Listen, we generally have people come from 25-26 states and this could be the event where people either come to the Lord or maybe even come back to the Lord. Bring a skeptic. Bring your kids. Bring your church staff. But go to Truth For New Generation and America, we want to see you as we close out a big year of ministry. Much, much the Lord has done in 2019. But we can't wait to come to Richmond. We can't wait to come to Ohio. And so pray, promote, plan to attend.

And let me say, this is just like my brother here. We've met at a conference. His name is Jason DeZurek with his Worldview Warriors. They are doing what needs to be done, rising to the challenge of 1 Peter 3.15 and helping people be ready to give an answer. Let's go back to apologetics.

Jason, did you have like an aha moment? You became a believer and you had questions, people you knew had questions, and suddenly you began to find this great, big world, this discipline of people that have made it their calling to defend the faith. How did that light bulb come on in your mind?

Well, again, for me, it goes back to definitely the origin story. And it helped me to see that everyone, when you look at facts, for instance, yes, you're looking at facts, but you are interpreting the facts. Whether you realize it or not, you are interpreting facts because you are looking through that worldview that you believe. Whatever it is, whether it's biblical worldview, secular worldview, doesn't matter. And I began to realize I had a major secular worldview, but I grew up in the church. And so I thought I had a biblical worldview. And for me, that just totally changed me greatly.

And it really helped me to see, I think that's how we need to reach the world for Christ. When we started, I was talking about death entering before Adam sinned. What people I think just forget, and this is something that I just think is super important, thorns and thistles showed up after Adam sinned.

Now, the Bible says that everybody, and this for me was just huge. What did the Roman soldiers put on Jesus' head? A crown of thorns. A crown of thorns. For me, the way I see that at least, is that was like one of Satan's ultimate up yours, Jesus, because those thorns are here because of Adam's sin, because of our sin against him. And Jesus is going, I love my people, though. I'll do whatever it takes.

But you're right. Thorns and thistles were part of the curse. That curse was put on Jesus, and the curse was resolved, that one day it will be removed when he returns. So let me say this. If you're just tuning in, we're talking to a fellow brother, defender of the faith. Give us an assignment.

Teacher, because you're here to teach classes, I want you to give us a homework assignment in terms of worldview and apologetics. So if you could give us some marching orders, what would that be? Well, one thing I think that's very important is that as believers in Christ, we spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

The Bible's clear, we need to be doing that. So I would encourage each person that's out there listening to really think in your life, who has spurred you on? And then I encourage you, literally write them a note and send it to them. And if you don't know what their address is, why not give them a phone call and say, can I take you out for a coke? Can I take you out for a walk?

And we talk. And then you just sink into their life and encourage them. And I know that that's not completely as a biblical worldview, but it is a biblical worldview. It's living out and being positive and encouraging, and not just Debbie Downer.

Exactly. Brother, I appreciate you. Give your website one more time. Sure.

Thank you very much. It's worldviewwarriors.org. That's worldviewwarriors.org.

And if somebody in a church is saying, well, how can my church or how can in our community we can incorporate apologetics into our evangelism and discipleship, you'd be willing to give them some pointers, wouldn't you? Oh, absolutely. Again, we've got a great online community going in. Also, I mean, great resources, blog posts, podcasts, lots of stuff. When you get there, you'll start seeing what I'm talking about.

And it doesn't take a ton of money or resources. I just think, like yourself, and the good news, Jason, I'm hearing all around America. I'm hearing sparks and upstarts of defenders and truth proclaimers like yourself. So it's a time to be, sure, there are concerns, but this is a time to be very encouraged, but even more so very involved.

Yes, I agree. And I think as believers, too, we need to stop fearing people, and we need to realize that we need to fear and respect the Lord. The Lord has called us to build disciples, so I think we need to be doing that.

And we need to stop fearing what others think about us. God bless you, Jason. Thanks for being with us, and thanks for everybody listening. Hey, the app, the Truth for New Generation app is available for all mobile devices with plenty of Q&A and answers to questions. Hey, thanks for praying, thanks for listening, and we look forward to seeing you when Truth for New Generation comes to your city. Thank you. God bless you.