Thursday, April 24 | Shifting Values in the United States

You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abbadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Ryan Hill.

I'm John Galantis. And man, we have a great episode for you today. I'm excited to be here in the Clearview Today studio with Dr. Abbadan Shah, who's a PhD in New Testament textual criticism. Dr. Shah, I'm excited for this one.

It's going to be a great episode today. I am. I'm very excited and it's going to be an important one, especially considering the climate in which we live for the past 8, 10, even 20 years. And now things are changing. And typically we say change is not good, but here change is very good. This kind of change is very welcome. Oh yeah, things are looking up for the better. Let's start off the day right with a little bit of God's word. Dr. Shah, something very new today. The verse of the day is actually coming to us from a listener. Nice.

Yeah, this is coming to us. He did not leave his name. He left it, he texted. So all I have is his phone number, which I will not give out on the air, but it says, hey Clearview team, I don't know if you take requests for the verse of the day, but here's one that's been helping me lately. This Psalm 34 verse 18, the Lord is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. He says, I lost a friend to cancer back in January and this verse reminded me that I'm not alone, even if I feel alone.

Anyway, just wanted to share it, love the show and thanks for all you do. That's awesome. You know what's powerful to me about that verse is that it doesn't say the Lord fixes your broken heart instantly or it doesn't reassemble your spirit automatically, but when you are broken hearted and when you're crushed, God is near to you.

That's right. And then we have that promise one day that God's going to wipe away every tear from our eyes. The context for that Psalm, Psalm 34, it says, a psalm of David when he pretended madness before Abimelech who drove him away and he departed. So this incident was a very low point in David's life. Very strange episode in the story of the Bible. Yes, because he is there in Philistine territory.

They recognize him and they immediately go and tell Abimelech, look, this guy is an Israelite. He is the future king or so they say. He is with us.

This guy has killed his 10,000. We do not need him on our side. And so Abimelech is confused. He calls David up. And then of course, you know, David acts all crazy and has to be kicked away. And this is a very low point in David's life. He cannot go back home and even his so-called enemies don't want him. So he's destitute, man.

He's alone. And sometimes we find ourselves in those situations where we can't go to the left or to the right, but in those moments look up because that's where God is. And maybe God has taken away the props from your life, from the left and the right so that you will lean upon him. Great point. So that he will work in your life so that he will prepare you for greater things to come.

So even this incident or this episode in David's life was a blessing from God. Yeah, so good. I love that reminder.

Even if you can't look to the right or to the left, forward or backward, look up. That's right. That's where God is. Well, I love the way both of you two guys put that. It's like, it's not that the Lord is changing your circumstances. It's that the Lord is close, meaning his nearness is enough. Fellas, proverb or not verb is blowing up.

I don't know if you guys know that. People are really into proverb or not verb. Copyright pending.

There's a new game I want to try that Ryan turned me on to. It's called Pick It Up and Preach. We're not going to do it today, but I want you to know. That's not original to me, by the way.

That content has been around for a while. In my mind, you are the originator of Pick It Up and Preach. But today, but back by popular demand, seriously, is proverb or not verb.

So the way it's going to work is I'm going to go one by one. And you guys tell me if you think that this proverb appears in scripture or if it's a not verb. Now, if it's a not verb, it was written by chat GPT. So this is not me, but it will be either a proverb or a not verb. Things a little bit different today. There's a lot more and there will be more than one not verb. So before it's been four and then one fake one. Today there's like 15 and there's more than one not verb. Okay, here we go. Do we know how many not verbs there are or is that a surprise?

I'm going to say it's a surprise for now. Even in laughter, the heart may ache and the end of joy may be grief. Like one who grabs a stray dog by the ears is someone who rushes into a quarrel not their own. The one who guards a fig tree will eat its fruit and whoever protects their master will be honored. A silent tongue harvests no honey, but many words draw the bees. The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the heart. The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge for the ears of the wise seek it out.

A cloak of silence covers many shames, but truth walks bare before the guy. Number three, number four to me are not verbs. One, two, three. Number four was a not verb. Three is a problem.

Yes. The one who guards a fig tree will eat its fruit and whoever protects their master will be honored. That's Proverbs 2718. A silent tongue harvests no honey, but many words draw the bees. That's a not verb. Number four was a not verb. I have also done another not verb.

So I'll start from the first one. The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the heart. The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge for the ears of the wise seek it out.

A cloak of silence covers many shames, but truth walks bare before the gate. That's a not verb. Yeah, that one's a not verb. Yeah. I was going to say that, that is not, there's nothing about really God in there. So one thing I have noticed, the not verbs usually don't mention the Lord.

I might need to put some parameters in chat GPT. Okay. I'm going to keep going. A cheerful look brings joy to the heart and good news gives health to the bones.

He who waters the olive will eat of its fruit, but the lazy will thirst at harvest. The Lord of young men is their strength. I'm sorry. So sorry. The glory of young men is their strength.

Gray hair is the splendor of the old. Better a crust of bread in peace than feasting with violence. Is that a not verb? Yeah, that's a not verb. There's also one more not verb I've read. There's another one that you've read too. Yeah.

I'm drawing a blank. These are pretty tough today. They're good. All right. I've got three more.

I've got three more. How many not verbs have you read that we've missed? You've only missed one not verb.

The purpose of a person's heart are deep waters, but one who has insight draws them out. A fool's laughter is like sparks in the wind, brief and blinding. Is that a not verb? Yeah, that's a not verb. Sparks in the wind.

No way. Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent and discerning if he holds his tongue. Whoever shuts their ears to the cry of the poor will also cry out and not be answered. They're all proverbs. Those are all proverbs. So the only one that you missed was he who waters the olive will eat of its fruit, but the lazy will thirst at harvest. I thought that one because it talks about watering the olive but then thirsting at harvest. Yeah, you're not going to drink an olive. Yeah, that one was that one was I've also noticed that the not verbs almost never mentioned God.

Like I don't think I think they're scared to like try to make something scripture where it's not. Chat GPT can't comprehend a divine. That's proverb or never man. I got a bunch more of those games coming from the mastermind right here to my left.

Stay tuned. We're gonna have a bunch more but proverb or not verb is really taken off like that one a whole lot. I want to get I want to get where we have we have the we have our buzzers back. And when you guys you just buzz in. Yeah, that's that's the way it ought to be.

We're working on getting our sound effects back. Take that game home and play it right and let us know if you're playing proverb or not verb with your friends and family play with your youth group. Yeah, 2525825028. Don't go anywhere. We're gonna take a quick break and be right back with more clear view today. Hey, hey, you me?

No, not you. You listening to the clear view today show. You're here right now because you love Christian talk radio and I'm 100% down for that. But what if I told you that Clearview church also produces original music?

That's right. At Clearview, we're more than just a church. We're a vibrant family where everyone is encouraged to worship God right where they are. We wanted to make sure that your worship doesn't stop when you walk out the door on Sunday morning. Our music is more accessible than ever.

You can worship God in any situation in the car at home in the gym while cleaning your house, wherever you are, we'll be right there with you. You can check us out on Apple Music or on Spotify anywhere digital music is consumed. We got a few singles out right now we have an EP out as well. And right now at this moment, actually, we are working on our first ever full length original album.

Hopefully that's going to be out sometime this coming summer. Clearview worship on iTunes and Spotify is your 24 seven place for inspiration and worship. Follow us today and let God's message of hope, love and faith be a guiding light in your life. Amen. Let's hop back into the show. Welcome back to Clear View today with Dr. Abbadon Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Dr. Shah, we mentioned this a little bit in the intro, but a bit of good news in the world today. Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, if I want to be if I want to be accurate, right? She signed this new law that's going to allow religious adoption and foster agencies to be able to bypass same sex homes or other places that might conflict with their faith. Prior to this, if a same sex couple in the state of Arkansas wanted to adopt and a religious foster organization or a religious orphanage were to say, hey, we're not we're not comfortable doing that. That goes against our faith.

They could have been persecuted by the law. But Sarah Huckabee Sanders, I should say, knew it's kind of funny because I think of her as just Mike Huckabee's daughter. Huckabee is the name that stinks.

And I think about Mike Huckabee like actually being here on the show. But yes, she signed a new law into effect. It's called the Keep Kids First Act. It's House Bill 1669 in the state of Arkansas.

And guess what? It overwhelmingly passed. Wow. That's great. Overwhelming.

It was not even close. I'm so happy to hear what's happening in our nation. I mean, this is the this is a response to years and years of praying. This is a response to years and years of God's people standing up for what's right, speaking out. There are a lot of pastors, I unfortunately have to say, who have stopped speaking on this subject. They're afraid to offend. They think if I say something, you know, they're going to come against us and they're going to shut down the church and they're going to tax us or they're going to take away our taxes and status. All those are red herrings.

They are used by the enemy and the opposition knows very well how to do that to keep people scared and afraid. And someone like me, and I'm not the only one, praise God for that. But someone like me who speaks out on these issues are immediately told, you be careful now. You be careful now. And I asked them, who am I being careful from? Oh, there are crazy people out there who may want to hurt you.

And I said, that's true. People would want to hurt you no matter what. You stand up for truth and righteousness and for Jesus Christ, people will try to hurt you. But don't shy away. Don't be afraid. Don't cower.

Speak out. And so years and years of people standing up for what's right, teaching people in the pews or in the seminaries, the importance of children growing up in godly homes and homosexuality is a sin. And that we need to be teaching our young people to turn away from those distractions and temptations and the lures of the enemy, whether it's through news media or through entertainment or through social media, we've been teaching. And then to take our children, put them right into those settings. Nothing I believe could be more harmful on many levels, I would say, than putting children in those kind of homes.

I agree with you 100%. Your boldness in speaking out on this is something that, I mean, we as individuals, as a team, as parents appreciate that. When do you feel like that was instilled in you? Because like you said, there are other pastors who are very scared to speak out on this issue. Where do you feel like that was instilled in you?

The willingness to be bold and speak out? I grew up in a home where mom and dad were strong believers. Of course, dad was a pastor.

And if you know his testimony, he came from a Muslim background. He found Christ. He was radically transformed and his family disowned him, kicked him out and he had to survive.

He had to be out there in the streets. He was beat up for preaching the gospel. So many things happened, but God through his grace, through his providence, he sent the right people in his life. He sent missionaries. I mentioned the name of Fred Shellander, Dr. Fred Shellander, who sort of adopted him. He was not the one who led him to Christ, but he adopted him and sent him to seminary. But even there, my dad had to struggle and all that.

So I say all that to say, my dad was a great source of inspiration to me to stand for your convictions, to have convictions to begin with, to don't give in to the world, to walk away from your family is not only hard in the world, but especially hard in the Eastern culture. That's why I believe that it is very hard for the gospel to permeate like it has done in the West. I know not everybody in the West is a born again Christian.

I get it. But Christianity has impacted the West in ways that it has yet to impact the East. Right. You think that impact is still coming? I think it is.

I believe it will. I think it's going to be some things that will happen that will cause people to question whether their religions or their tradition, it's really a tradition. It's not like they're believing in this one God or something. It's more traditions and cultures is what they're holding on to. Do you think it's that, and I know this is a little off topic, but do you think it's that we have to try harder in the East or we have to do something completely different?

We have to do a different approach. No, I think it's going to have to be God all the way to open the eyes of these people because I grew up in that culture and I know how hard it is for people to walk away from their families, from their tradition. I mean, even in the West, if the challenge was given that if you become Christian, you're going to lose your family.

I don't know how many will still get saved. Here, you tell people, hey, invite your family for your baptism. And like two rows are taken up. And our rows are pretty long. Yeah, we got some big rows. Half the church is full because they're there for baptisms.

That's not how it is in the East. Unless you grew up in a Christian home and of course, you know, your whole family is there. But if you grew up in a Hindu home or a Muslim home or a Buddhist home, when you get saved, there is no family coming. In fact, they may be coming to hurt you.

Wow. I think you're 100% right. I think people would be a lot less likely to follow that path towards salvation or baptism if it meant that it was going to cost them family relationships, job opportunities, friendships.

I think we would see far fewer in the churches. Yeah, here we have the dating system. So if you like somebody, you can date that person and then you can propose to that person. And if both people are happy, you can set a date, your family supports you, you can be married.

Over there, especially I'm talking about in Asia, the family is so important because without a family, nobody's going to give you or your son or your daughter, their son or daughter in marriage. Wow. So if you don't have a family, you are in trouble.

I hadn't even considered that. Yes. That's the East. So if you come to me and say, I don't have a family, my wife and I have five kids, three daughters, two sons, and I would love to have them grow up here and maybe one day find somebody. I'm not going to say it to you, but inside I'm going to think, wow, you're going to be hard pressed to prove to people that you and your family and your children are good people and that they have solid roots and foundations because you don't have any of those things.

Is it because you don't have them here? I assume you were talking about like Ryan taking his family over to the East with his kids. And if he said, I have a good family, they're just back home. That would be different. If they just don't have them.

Yeah. If you left your family because you got saved, now you don't have a family. But one thing you said that did kind of catch my attention is they would attach that truth whether or not you have a family to whether or not you're a good person.

Or trustworthy person. Was there any difficulty for your dad when he was... Oh, yes. Because he had walked away from his family. Yes, because now I know we're kind of getting way off subject over here, but we're going to come back on track in just a second.

So hang with us, folks. When he came to the church, it was his future father-in-law who invited him as a pastor who had written the letter to the seminary that my dad responded to and then came to that church. The small church, instead of going to the big church, Cary Baptist Church, he came to the small church where I grew up.

Of course, it grew. The man who wrote the letter to the seminary telling them that this church is going to close unless you send a student to come pastor us, a graduate to come pastor us. That was Thomas Franklin. He had a daughter, Edith Franklin.

My dad came to that church and this was, I believe, 1963, 64, somewhere there. And my mom liked my dad. My dad liked my mom. But when that got to my grandfather, who I never met, by the way.

He died before I was born. He was not happy about that. So even though he was happy to have this young man come and be a pastor of their church where he was sort of lay pastoring, but when he showed interest in his daughter, he was not happy. Wow. So Christianity is like 0.1% of the population there. For this young man to come as a Christian in India and be willing to pastor, it's kind of like the golden egg just falling in my lap, but he still was like, I don't like this.

I'm not going to give you my daughter. That's a whole different issue. Wow. That's different. Wow. So it had to be my grandmother, Rebecca Franklin, who had to convince my grandfather to allow the marriage to proceed. And it was after much reluctance.

I don't know that it's family oriented, but I do see, and maybe you can tell me if you see this as well, a lot of these tactics that have been used in the East are starting to make their way over here. You said something in the intro that I thought, well, not in the intro, but a little bit ago, you said something where people would try to silence you and say, hey, don't talk about like that. People are crazy out there. They'll hurt you. And it made me think of like how a bully operates. A bully doesn't punish you for speaking out.

A bully makes you scared to even try in the first place. That's right. So it's like now that we're seeing people like you, pastors like you and other people who are speaking out, the retribution that the left and that people have threatened for four or five years at this point is not coming because their tactic was never to say, if you speak out, we're going to punish you.

It's, hey, we're going to make you scared to even try. Right. Now, of course, there are incidents that happen where there is retribution and people get hurt or, or get punched or things like that. I'm not saying nothing ever, ever happens. Of course, it can happen. It does happen. But the bully will keep you afraid to the point that you will never, ever try anything at all. That's what we're referring to. Not that there is not any repercussions.

There are repercussions, but overall, it's not that bad. But the enemy has us convinced. So we said all this about my dad and coming to our church and his future father-in-law not giving him his daughter in marriage. All that was said to help us understand that I grew up in that environment where dad and mom were bold, were not afraid, and they spoke with conviction, with authority, with boldness. And so I grew up with that mindset that you speak out. You don't have to be brash and hateful and just purposely start quarrels.

No, that's not how dad was. He was known in the community as one of the finest people. Get along with everybody, friends in all parts of the city, especially he had a lot of Muslim people who he tried to reach. Unfortunately not many got saved, but he tried to reach them and they loved him. He was one of them.

I just don't understand. Are we going to convert you kind of thing? But he was very friendly, gregarious person.

But when it came to standing for truth, he was never shy. This shift that we're seeing, including this bill by Governor Huckabee Sanders, do you feel like this is an isolated thing? Like can we expect culture to shift back in a few years or is this the beginning of positive lasting change? I think this is a pendulum swing to the other side. The pendulum has been stuck on one side, the leftist side for so long. And it's not just that it was on the left side. It was on the radical left side, the fringe movement side that nobody likes. That's why you see such rollbacks with all this DEI stuff. Nobody says, when I say nobody, I'm talking about colloquially, what I mean is most people are not racist.

Most people will not say, I don't want to hire somebody of a different color. Most people are like, yeah, let's give them a chance and see, but that how we were forced to fall in line with all this DEI stuff over the past 10, 15, 20 years, that got nauseating. That got frustrating to people and they just say, this is too much. Well, what I saw a lot, and I think you've pointed this out too, is that when there are radical people on the right, the majority of the right will say, that's not us. We don't believe that. We disavow that.

It's not good. Especially when it starts getting into like racial superiority, really wild stuff. It's like, that's very extreme and we disavow it. You don't see that on the left or you haven't. You see a lot of leftist extremists and then the moderate left who are like, don't, may not agree with it.

They don't say anything or the defendants say, well, you know, we've been oppressed by you for so long that you can you blame them for. So everybody sort of gets lumped in together and it becomes this big hodgepodge of people who may not even agree with it, but who are going along like sheep. I may be wrong in saying this, but I think most of the time the right moves on certain principles and values. The left moves more on an agenda.

I think you're right. There's a goal on an ideology and you must say, well, what is the difference? You're just using synonyms. No, what I'm saying is there's a value here versus an ideology here.

Value, value of life, value to let children grow up, especially in their formative years to grow up in as good an environment as possible. I'm not saying for a moment that in a heterosexual parented home that kids will have the perfect life. No, we know that's not always the case. Bad things happen.

Abuse happens everywhere. But on a wholesale, most of those heterosexual homes are good homes. They're stable.

Right. They're stable where you see a mom who is a female and a dad who is a male and you learn how to live in society because that home, that family is a little microcosm where you learn how to live. So you live out there again, again, again, I'm not saying for a moment that every home is perfect or problems don't, of course they come.

Sometimes some horrible, evil, gruesome things happen. I know that. But overall that microcosm is the training ground for how society and culture and civilization will be. That's true. But if right from the get go you put them in a home of same sex parentage, already you've confused them. Now somebody may say, that's not fair. It's not about fairness. It's about right and wrong.

That's right. So I know I'm not going to ever convince somebody who is diehard on that ideology of homosexuality is no different than heterosexuality or two men living together as a couple or even married are no different than a man and a woman living together as a husband, wife or just living together. There are no differences. I disagree. And we can go back and forth all day. I'm sorry. You're wrong. We are right.

That's right. And you're 100% right. You're never going to convince them. But this show is not for them. This show is for people who are trying to gain clarity. For people who know that at the end of the day, what you're saying is true and what you're saying is right. Right.

And I want to get on board with it. That's who this show is for. That's right. That's why it's called A Clear View. Maybe they can suggest the show to somebody who is on the other side where the pendulum has been stuck for so long.

And maybe they'll listen to this and go, you know what? This is not about fairness. This is about right and wrong. And then I have to now go back and question, is it really right that parents should grow up in a home where there's a mom and a dad, not two moms and two dads?

That's right. Now, of course, there are times there are parents who go through divorce and there's only a mom or there's only a dad. I get it. Those are not ideal situations, but at least those gender roles are intact and there's no confusion. And so I would say for the future of our culture, our society, even our world, it is wonderful what has happened in Arkansas. And I hope other states will follow suit and God will work in our children's lives, our lives, and help us to at least return for a while to biblical values. Amen. Guys, make sure you join us tomorrow, same time, same station. We're going to be diving into another great topic here on The Clear View Today Show. Thanks again to our sponsors for making today's episode possible. And don't forget that you can support us on iTunes by subscribing to the show if you want to re-listen. And you can always support us financially at ClearViewTodayShow.com. Jon, what do you want to plug as we close today?

Definitely just want to plug real quick Dr. Shah's new series, Discerning Doctrine, exclusively on Pray.com. Thank you to everybody who we just passed. I think we're approaching 35. 3.3. 3.3.

This is the last I checked. Let's try to get it to 4,000, baby, by the end of the week. We appreciate you guys following Dr. Shah on Pray.com. We appreciate you giving. We love you, and we'll see you next time.

That's right. We love you guys. We'll see you next time, and we'll see you next time, and we'll see you next time. We'll see you next time. We'll see you next time. We'll see you next time.