The Alex McFarland Show-126-Being Salt and Light on the Earth with guest Jonathan Saenz

The spiritual condition of America, politics, culture, and current events, analyzed through the lens of Scripture. Welcome to the Alex McFarland Show. In Matthew 5, 13 through 16, the Lord Jesus Christ tells the church that we are salt and light.

Hi, Alex McFarland here. We've got a great show today, and we're going to talk about the cultural involvement of God's people. Let me read this scripture, and then I'll queue up a very, very special guest who is a repeat visitor to our radio show. But in Matthew 5, 13 through 16, Jesus said of the church, Jesus said, You are the salt of the earth.

But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. In other words, we have got truth. We've got the Holy Spirit. We've got a mandate to speak truth to this world.

If we're not doing it, we're really not fulfilling our role. Now, Jesus went on in Matthew 5, 14 of the church, the Christians, those of us who know the Lord and know truth. He said, You are the light of the world. A town on a hill cannot be hidden.

Need to do people light a lamp, but put it under a bowl. And he concludes verse 16 of this important section. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Well, I personally believe that in our day and age, being salt and light is really a mandate for Christians, conservatives, constitutionalists to speak up and make a difference for the preservation of our nation. And someone who shares that is a very valued colleague that I met in the summer of 24. I was at the Republican Convention in Milwaukee, and I met Jonathan Saenz from Texas. And his website is txvalues.org, as in Texas values. He's with us now, and we're going to talk about what it means to be salt and light. We're also going to talk about an event coming up. But Jonathan, thank you so much for what you're doing for our country. And thank you for being with us again on the radio program. Well, it's great to be with you, Alex.

And boy, it seems like a little while ago when you and I first met, but it hasn't been that long. But there's a lot that's been happening in our country and certainly in the state of Texas and Lone Star State where I reside. No shortage of things to talk about, but a lot of interest in the things that we do, a lot of momentum building in a variety of ways.

And a lot of, I think, people just paying attention a little bit more, but also people trying to sift through things and figure out what do they really need to know and what do they really need to be thinking about this time of year. Well, exactly, exactly. And you know, you're right, it's only been maybe a little over a month you and I met. And of course, we each met hundreds of people at the convention. And I interact with a lot of people throughout all 50 states, a lot of great people. But one of the things I really appreciated about you is not only you care about this country, as we all do, but you do what you do for Christ. And I just knew in our conversations that you're a godly leader, and I commend you. But before we get into some issues that I want to pick your brain on, give us your story. What led you as a citizen, as a Christian, as an attorney, you know, to take your faith and values to the public square? How did you get to this point in your journey, Jonathan?

Well, I appreciate that, Alex. You know, look, I mean, there's always a personal testimony for so many of us, right, that find ourselves later on involved in such mission-focused work, such Christ-focused work. But we don't always know where the road's headed at the beginning of the journey, right? We take one step and we go as far as we think the Lord is leading us and then more is revealed.

And that certainly was the case for me, you know, born and raised in Houston, both thought to my family and my father's and my mother's side, deep roots in the state of Texas. And a lot of that comes with that background and that experience as hard work, you know, just traditional values, going to church on Sunday, spending time with family, praying often. But also realizing that there's someone above us, right, that we have a Savior and that, you know, we need to be aware of that. And that also translates to how we treat other people.

But I had experiences early on where I didn't think people always treated me the right way or maybe took advantage of people. And so I think that that really put on my heart this desire for truth and justice, to, you know, put good information out there, to stand up for other people, and sometimes to go up against, you know, mighty forces, right, you know, the government and other people in power. And so I heard Jay Sekulow on the radio, though, you know, that's why I love being on radio interviews, because I was driving around in my truck trying to figure out, you know, how I was going to serve the Lord and what I was going to do. And I heard Jay Sekulow, and we need more Christian lawyers. We need more people out there. And the cases were very simple in some ways compared to these days back then, right?

Could a kid pray over his meal at school and things of that nature? And Jay was like, listen, you know, every one of you, if you're listening to this broadcast, and, you know, he spoke straight to me, it seemed like, that day. And I was like, that's what I'm going to do.

You know, I listen to show a lot. And so things just went from there. I went to law school, got to work for a fantastic leader, Kelly Shackelford at First Liberty Institute. Oh, and then started focusing a lot of my work on state policy. But when I was in law school, I had to sue the university that I was at for the pro-life group I was leading for the free speech rights of that pro-life group.

And I didn't see that battle coming. I thought I was going to be a lawyer and then work on behalf of those type of cases. But there I was. It just reminded me how important it is to have good advocates and have people from a Christ-centered and a Christ-focused perspective that understand not only the value on our earth, but the eternal value of standing up for God's word in wherever we need to do it. So you sued your law school while you were in law school?

Yes, I did. Well, Jonathan, I was in college when I became a Christian. And it was during the mid-80s, and Reagan was going to run for reelection. And I began to be aware of the battle of worldview. You know, I was 21.

I really didn't know much about anything in terms of the government, the culture. But it just seemed like all of my college professors hated Ronald Reagan. And I guess I'm bringing this up because there's a brand new movie out about Ronald Reagan, Dennis Quaid. It's an amazing movie. And I'm very privileged.

I wrote a review of the movie, which FoxNews.com is running on their front page, even as we speak. But it just was a little question in my mind when I was a college student. Why did my professors utterly hate Ronald Reagan? I mean, it didn't mean I could be in math class or English. I distinctly remember a philosophy class I was in. It didn't matter what the subject was, the professors I was under would turn the conversation to their hatred of Ronald Reagan. And I realized, and I'd like you to speak to this if you would, it's not about personality so much. It's about principles and beliefs and convictions.

I know what you're doing with Texas values is so important, but really, the values, the morals, the convictions that have made our nation great, they have been and they are under attack, aren't they? Well, no doubt. And you know, look, I mean, I grew up during that time period, I think I was about to go into high school when Ronald Reagan was reelected, landslide victory. You know, to me, it felt like he was everyone's president, right?

I mean, he was so wildly popular in reelection and he just spoke in a way that you felt like he was talking to you directly. And as a matter of fact, I grew up in Houston when the Challenger Shuttle blew up and I remember it exploded and all those just wonderful, courageous people lost their life that day. And he was there in comfort, the families. And I remember he gave a speech in Texas at one point and he said these words, if we ever forget that we're one nation under God, we will be a nation gone under. He understood fundamental principles. He understood these spiritual foundational principles that were such a part of our country. And very few people doubted those things at times, even though you had some criticism.

The great communicator, as they called him. And so I haven't seen the movie yet. Dennis Quaid is a Texan and I'm looking forward to seeing him, but I've heard a lot of great things, too. I look, you know, I'd love for us to come back to that place in America. You know, if we will or will, we won't. We certainly understand that that is very important to the character and the identity of our country.

And hopefully that movie will remind people of the importance of this election coming up in November. Amen. And we've got to take a brief break. Alex McFarland here. We're speaking with Jonathan Saenz. He's the president of Texas Values. We're going to talk about the Texas Faith Fest, September 13 and 14 website, Txvalues.org. Stay tuned, folks. We're back after this brief break. Fox News and CNN call Alex McFarland a religion and culture expert. Stay tuned for more of his teaching and commentary after this. You know, Mark Twain said the man that won't read is no better off than the man who can't read.

Hi, Alex McFarland. When it comes to voting, I think voting is like that. The person who won't vote is really in no different position than the person who can't vote.

And here in the United States of America, we can vote. And I urge you to do so. Now, to help you in your decision making process about the persons with whom you should cast your vote, on my website, Alex McFarland dot com slash vote. I urge you to go to that. We've created a first time voters guide, Alex McFarland dot com slash vote.

We talk about the issues, really what the constitutional position is and even the biblical position. So please pray for the country. And I beg of you, don't passively opt out, but actively be informed, influence others, plan to vote. Download our free voters guide, Alex McFarland dot com slash vote. He's been called trusted, truthful and timely. Welcome back to the Alex McFarland show.

Welcome back to the program. Alex McFarland here talking with our friend and colleague, attorney Jonathan Saenz of the TX values dot org. And before the break, we were talking about that quote from Reagan. I remember Jonathan where he said, if we forget that we're one nation under God, we'll be one nation gone under. You know, whenever you mention nowadays, whenever I'm on a show and since you and I last talked, I was on a program with a liberal minister.

And he really tried to reprimand me, although we definitely dialogued of this. But if you mention morals or, you know, core convictions or even God right away, the left will say, oh, that violates the First Amendment. And of course, you know, we know how to respond to that. But are we to a point, Jonathan, where it's almost like the left has successfully cowered conservatives into not speaking up for truth, morals, family, God? That they've almost used, I would say misused the First Amendment as a billy club to silence conservatives. Would you agree? Well, look, we see a lot of evidence of that. You know, here in Texas, the football games on Friday nights are a big deal.

Right. And, you know, my daughter's in her first year of high school and last year I graduated son who played high school football. And it makes me think about the coach Joe Kennedy case, because here's the reality of what a lot of people are facing these days. If you stand up for truth, if you talk about being a Christian, if you dare to pray, if you say things publicly that are about traditional morals and values, a lot of times there's a government official or someone else that's going to make you pay a price.

Coach Kennedy had to go through eight years of struggle before he won his case at the U.S. Supreme Court because simply he took a knee at the 50-yard line after the game when he was a coach for high school and prayed on his own. You know, he's going to be speaking at our event, the Texas Faith Fest, on September 13th and 14th, but that's just one example. And there's so many more where these type of things have happened, and that's why so many people are afraid. You know, there's a group that routinely sends letters to churches in the state of Texas and probably around the country, the Americans United for Separation of Church and State, warning churches, you know, don't you dare say anything about elections and things like that, and putting the fear of them, not the fear of God, maybe some other fear that they're, you know, the fear of a lawsuit, that if they, yeah, that they do something.

And that's, and it's just not true. A lot of times those letters are filled with misinformation, so we come in and send a counterletter and say, that's not true. The pastor can talk about the importance of the election and even the difference in the candidates and things of that nature, but that's the climate, if you will, that we're in. A lot of times the people faith and so, you know, they're worried about losing their job or losing their livelihood, you know, ending up in jail. We've got a, you know, two people that are speaking at our event, one of them faces federal prison because he would dare to tell the truth that the Texas Children's Hospital was lying about procedures they were performing on kids related to sex changes. And so, sadly, there are a lot of examples of that, why people are afraid, but there's also a lot of times victory in those circumstances later on.

So, we've got to remind people of that. That's why our organization exists and many others, because we know that when we stand up, we can win, but it's not always easy to do it. And so, and look, a lot of that has to do with the leadership at the White House, at your state capitol.

You know, whoever's in government power and representing us can have a lot to do on whether your rights and your constitutional protection stay in place. You know, your event, September 13 and 14, and folks, let me encourage you, please, if you can, attend this. It's at Great Hills Baptist Church, September 13 and 14, the seventh annual Texas Faith Family Freedom Forum. Jonathan, a lot of your colleagues, like First Liberty and Christians Engaged, wonderful friends of ours as well. And I know so many of your speakers, like Governor Huckabee and Michael Knowles, and, of course, Debbie Wuth now of iVoterGuide.

It is an absolutely stellar slate of speakers. And, you know, the issues that will be covered, they're so important for people across the country to be informed about. What are some of the takeaways for the people that come to your event? What do you feel like some of their takeaway and calls to action will be?

No, absolutely. There are three things that we want to accomplish at this event. We want to educate, motivate, and activate people on the issues of faith, family, and freedom. And a presidential election year, and there's an election every two years that matters. There's elections every year at the local level that matter.

You know, but look, the presidential gets a lot more attention. That role has a lot of power. They put a lot of people in other positions. They appoint judges. They put people in the cabinet positions and so on. So there'll be issues all down the ballot. But people need to understand what the issues are that they're voting for. If you vote for this candidate or that candidate, if you vote for this party or that party, what could you expect?

What values do those candidates and parties stand for? People have to understand how real those issues are. We're going to talk about the issue of abortion. We're going to talk about the issue of parental rights, school choice, religious freedom.

We're going to talk in Texas about who's going to lead our next Speaker of the House. That's a big issue happening in our own state, maybe in your state as well. Some states are dealing with ballot issues on protection of innocent human life. So we're going to discuss a lot of those issues that are being talked about now.

I mean, look, can we protect women from having men compete against them in sports, the Olympics, and other places? We've done that in the state of Texas, but there still continues to be pressure on that. And people have concerns that they're going to face consequences if they show their public support. So we're going to cover a wide spectrum of these issues. But you're going to leave the event knowing more than you did before. You're going to have a better understanding of how to talk about it, and you get to decide. You know, do you want to engage in a more robust way? You want to listen more? Whatever the case is, you're going to have the ability to be more involved in important conversations that are taking place in our country, in our state, in our communities.

Or maybe you can help start the conversation. That's why we've got all these incredible speakers over two days. You mentioned Michael Nolan, Governor Mike Huckabee, Congressman Chip Roy from our state, who wrote a letter on behalf of these Texas Children's Hospital whistleblowers about the sex change operations on kids. He's going to be there speaking. We've got Mary Margaret Olinan, who now was with the Daily Signal, is now with the Daily Wire. She does a lot of tremendous interviews and a lot of media outlets from the area that are going to be there, some state elected officials. And so you get to hear from people that are actually involved in these issues and maybe pushing back against them. And we're going to have young people there.

We have a Gen Z panel, some young ladies from different perspectives that are leaders in their own right that we're excited about. And there's something to offer for everyone. Student tickets are free.

General Mission is only $25. It's hard to beat for a deal like this, but we want to make it affordable, but we want to pack the room. And then we want you to leave going, you know what? I know there are people on my side too, and I know I have a responsibility and a charge to go what's best, but all in the name of Christ. Amen. Amen. You know, I was looking on your slate of speakers, and listen, we'll be praying for you guys.

Having put on a few events myself, I know there are a lot of logistics to keep track of. But Melissa Oden, who survived a saline abortion, we've interviewed her on a couple of occasions. She's an amazing speaker.

She's on your docket as well. Folks, we've got to take a break here in a minute, but again, I want to say September 13-14, the Texas Faith Fest, the website Txvalues.org. Jonathan, I know we spent the majority of our time together talking about this event, but I want to have you back on because you are a wealth of information regarding the Constitution, the rights of Christians, but not only the rights, but the opportunity. We have an opportunity to make a difference. And folks, listen, please pray for our nation. Please stay informed.

Please be bold and influence others. And Jonathan, we've got to pull away right now, but I look forward to when you and I can talk again, and be assured that we're praying for great success in your Texas Faith Fest event. Great. Look, I look forward to seeing a lot of people there. There will be some limited livestream options, and I look forward to speaking with you again, Alex. God bless. God bless you. Folks, stay tuned. We've got a brief break. When we come back, we'll talk more about what it means to be salt and light as the Lord commanded us to be. Don't go away. Fox News and CNN call Alex McFarland a religion and culture expert.

Stay tuned for more of his teaching and commentary after this. In recent years, our nation has suffered greatly, and we seem to be on a rapid moral decline. We've rejected God, morality, and we've almost completely lost our sense of patriotism. It's no wonder that many are asking the question, is this the end of America? Hi, Alex McFarland here, and I want to make you aware of my book, The Assault on America, How to Defend Our Nation Before It's Too Late.

You know, our nation has seen politicians that are corrupted by greed, and they've got a vested interest in power, and many of our elected officials seem to care little about the country that they've been appointed to serve. Read my book, The Assault on America. We can stand up for our great nation and defend America before it's too late.

It's available everywhere. You can learn more on my own website, which is alexmcfarland.com. Read the book, The Assault on America, How to Defend Our Nation Before It's Too Late. He's been called trusted, truthful, and timely. Welcome back to The Alex McFarland Show. Welcome back to the program. Alex McFarland here, and we've been having a conversation with Jonathan Saenz of Texas Values.

But before we resume, I want to refer people to my own website. And first of all, I want to thank everybody for praying for our summer. Just as I record this, we've just wrapped up seven youth camps and then two others that I had the privilege of speaking at. Over the last few months, since the end of May, we were in front of 1200 teenagers, middle schoolers, high schoolers, more than 165 that prayed to accept Christ, that were all given literature, encouraged in their walk with the Lord, and then hundreds of others that came forward to pray and to commit their lives to obedient discipleship and reaching their friends for Christ, young people praying that their school would be a drug-free zone or their school would be a violence-free zone. And we teach the kids to say the Pledge of Allegiance.

And many teens have said that they've never really recited the Pledge of Allegiance, and some seem to not even be familiar with it at all. But folks, as you know, this ministry, we are all about the gospel, biblical worldview, but we're also about the United States of America. And I would encourage you to do two things if you would. Please go to my website and pray for my speaking tour whenever I'm coming to a place near you. And we've got a very full September. I'll be in Richmond, Virginia, the weekend of September 13, 14, 15. I'll be in Greensboro, North Carolina, for PrayNC on September 21, and then Silverton, Texas in October and many places around the country. I want to encourage you also, next summer, two things. I'll be at the Cove again for the 19th summer, the Billy Graham Training Center at the Cove.

Not only will I be teaching the Book of Job, but then I've never had this before. I'll be coming a second time next summer with my friend Jay Warner Wallace, Jim Wallace. And we'll be doing a session on apologetics. And so you can go to thecove.org or alexmcfarland.com and register. And then finally, next August, a year from now, in late August of 2025, we'll be having a major national apologetics conference in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina at the Coliseum. We've invited Eric Metaxas, Dinesh D'Souza, many great leaders. And it will take a lot of resources to help put this together. We, as you may know, in the last 24 years, we've done 50 Truth for a New Generation conferences all around America.

Anywhere from 500 people to 3500. And many people right now tell me that they are living for the Lord. They found Christ. They got encouraged to make a difference through these conferences. And so any amount that you can give, if you would partner with us and monthly give or give a one-time gift. And we can also take gifts of stocks or tangible gifts, and we can monetize those for the gospel. Everything that God entrusts to us, we understand God is giving us what we have to fulfill the Great Commission. So if you would go to my website, alexmcfarland.com, and you can donate online, absolutely securely donate at alexmcfarland.com. Or if you mail a check, you can just make it out to TNG, as in Truth for a New Generation, P.O. Box 10231, Greensboro, North Carolina 27404. We receive it gratefully.

We will use it diligently, I assure you. Well, as we were talking with attorney, Christian leader, elected official Jonathan Sands from Texas, there's so many issues, and that great event he's putting on, the Texas Faith Fest, it's a great event. But what hangs before us, no matter where you live, are issues like this, religious liberty, marriage and family, the sanctity of human life, is there legal protection for the unborn, and then laws about taxes, laws about the Ten Commandments being given to our children so that they will understand the philosophical foundation for the U.S. Constitution. And what about the rights of parents?

Could children, this is happening even as we speak, children in public schools without parental consent being coached and groomed towards transgenderism or sterilization? And, you know, having been in youth ministry and working with young people for decades, having done post-graduate work in developmental psychology when I was in my grad program at Liberty University, look, there's no way that a child, a preteen, or even an adolescent has the maturity and the understanding to know about transitioning, besides the fact as a Christian we know this is ungodly. But, folks, we have got to understand that our nation was not founded on moral relativism, that we can make our own reality, there is no objective truth, we just create our own reality, even to the point of denying human physiology. That is a delusion and it is spiritual blindness. And so we need to understand, and folks, this is not the gospel, the gospel of salvation, that's believing in Jesus.

I'm just talking about the moral foundation that makes for a civil, rational, lawful society. All of these things hang in the balance, that's why the Word of God tells us in 1 Timothy 2, 2-4, that we are to pray for kings and for those in authority that we may live a peaceable life in all godliness. Folks, the church, there is no other group but God's people, no matter what flavor of Christianity you are, we need to pray for our nation and we need to be bold. I want to call on my fellow clergy, pastors, and I have pastored two churches, I have spoken in 2,000 churches, literally. Pastors, you need to be preaching some sermons that potentially would get you fired.

And what do I mean by that? We need to be calling sinners to repentance. We need to be giving a clarion call, a wake-up call, that our nation hangs on the brink of lawlessness and absolute anarchy if we don't humble ourselves and return to Christ and ask forgiveness for our sins. And we need a Holy Spirit tsunami to sweep across our nation. So we have a prayer guide for America on my website, AlexMcFarland.com slash vote, a first-time voters guide. You know, I give God the glory even as we speak, I've got articles up on Fox News and the Lord has allowed us to have a platform.

But my friend, you have a platform, no matter who you are, where you are. Listen, we need to pray that God would send a true, genuine, and long-lasting revival. We need to pray that the Spirit of God would lead people of all strata to repent of sin. We need to pray that God would raise up bold Christian leaders and leaders from America's youth. We need to pray that God would quicken the minds of Christians and instill wisdom and discernment within the American church. We need to pray that Christians will be consumed with a desire for God to be worshipped and for people to be saved. And folks, with just a few weeks till our next election, look, this is not hard to figure out. We must pray. We must vote. We need God to rule and overrule.

And I close with this. 2 Chronicles 34-27. You know, we always hear about 2 Chronicles 7-14, if my people, and that's a great verse. But 2 Chronicles 34-27, this is a verse that I think is for our times right now. God says, because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself and wept before me, truly I have heard you, says the Lord. If we turn to Christ and pray for our nation and take a stand, God will intervene.

James 4-2 warns us, you do not have because you do not ask. If we want to have a free, safe, prosperous, godly America, let's ask and let's get involved. May God bless you, may God use you, and may God in His mercy and power bless and help America. at AlexMcFarland.com. You may also reach us at Alex McFarland, P.O. Box 10231, Greensboro, North Carolina 27404. Or by calling 1-877-Yes-God-1. That's 1-877-Y-E-S-G-O-D-1. Thanks for joining us. We'll see you again on the next edition of the Alex McFarland Show.