Wednesday, March 20th | Why Christians Should Care About Politics

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A healthier, happier you is just a click away. With that said, let's start the show. You're listening to Clearview today with Dr. Abidan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Ryan Hill.

I'm John Galantis. You can find our show online at Clearviewtodayshow.com. You can email us at the very same website, contact at Clearviewtodayshow.com. Or if you'd like to write it into the show, let us know how you're enjoying it, or have your questions answered live on the air, send us a text at 252-582-5028. That's right, we want you guys to take part in what we're doing here at the Clearview Today Show. You can keep the conversation going. You can do that by supporting the podcast, you can share it online with your friends and family.

Leave us a good five-star review on iTunes or Spotify, absolutely nothing less than five stars. Today is March 20th, which means our date, the word, is coming from Ephesians 3-20. It says, Now to him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us. I had this conversation with our student ministry a couple weeks ago, and I was challenging them to think about the way that they pray.

Because we've got great students, fantastic 6th through 12th graders, love them to pieces. But sometimes when they pray, they're very small, safe prayers. Like, God, keep us safe and help us to glorify you, and all that's good. But I challenged them, I was like, do you believe that God is capable of doing anything that you can imagine? And everyone was like, yeah, absolutely. I was like, do you believe that God is capable of doing more than you can imagine?

Because he's greater than you. And I pointed them to this verse, and they're like, yeah. I said, then pray for big things. Pray for big, specific things.

And I shared some of the things that I was praying for our student ministry with them, and their eyes got kind of big. They're like, you really praying for that? I was like, yeah, I'm praying for that. And I'm trusting that God's going to do it, because God is capable of doing even more than we think to ask. So the challenge for us, then, is to dream big, to think big, and to pray and ask God for those specific things.

We really believe that, you know, what Jesus said, you have not because you ask not. And so we, like you said, like Ryan said, we pray real vague, broad things. God, let your will be done.

Okay, fine. That's a perfectly valid prayer to pray. But one of the things that we do, especially here at Clearview Church, is that we make, like Ryan said, make our prayers big and specific. God, help the Clearview Today show touch the world. Help it to go into other nations. Help it to bring people back to Christ. We want this show, even though it's recorded in a little small town in North Carolina, to touch the world. And so people are like, well, you know, realistically, I don't think that's going to happen.

But God is going to make it happen if we ask for it. And we do ask for it every single day. And so that's one of the hearts behind this show. Ryan, a lot of people were writing in and saying that they liked our haiku game that we played last week. Do you remember? You guys enjoyed that, didn't you? That was fun.

Yeah, it was fun. If you didn't listen to the show, we did a game last week, or it might have been the week before, where I found two haikus written by professional poets, and I put one through ChatGPT, which is an online AI software. And I said, just write a haiku.

That's only the instruction I gave it. This time I did, I said write a haiku about the wind, and I found two professional haikus about wind. So this is like a common theme, because people wanted to see it again.

So I felt like we could play it again. I'm going to read you these three haikus, and I want you to tell me which one you think was written by AI. Just so you guys know, a haiku is a Japanese poem.

It's got three lines, five syllables in the first line, seven syllables in the second line, five syllables in the last line. Here's the first one. I think it is time, said the dandelion seed, to take on the wind.

Okay? Here's the second one. Whispers in the breeze, dancing leaves in gentle sway, wind's soft melody. Here's the third.

Like the wind you run, wild, free, and fearless you move, I shall be your guard. I'm thinking the AI-generated haiku is number two. Ryan, you're right.

Yeah, that's it. Write in and let us know what your thoughts on AI are. What is your experience with AI? Maybe if you use ChatGPT or something like Grammarly or some other AI source, write in and let us know how it's working for you.

2-5-2-5-8-2-5-0-2-8. Also, we did have people send in some haikus. Really? Yeah, we did. We did. Maybe we'll read them online.

Or on air, I should say. Very good. You can send those haikus in and we're going to play this game again. Yeah.

It's online at ClearViewTodayShow.com. We'll be back after this. 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.

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Amen. Let's hop back into the show. Welcome back to Clear View Today with Dr. Abbadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearViewTodayShow.com. If you have any questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text, 252-582-5028.

That's right. Happy Wednesday, my dudes. We are here with Dr. Abbadan Shah, who is a PhD in New Testament Textual Criticism. Dr. Shah, one of the segments that we had a couple of weeks ago really blew up.

People really like this game. We played it again with Ryan on the intro, wanted to play it with you. I've got three haikus for you, three poems of Japanese origin. Two of them are written by professional poets. One of them was written by AI in a matter of like 0.3 seconds. I'm going to give you all three haikus.

Why don't you just tell me which one you think is the AI. First haiku. I think it is time, said the dandelion seed, to take on the wind. Second haiku. Whispers in the breeze, dancing leaves in gentle sway, wind's soft melody.

Haiku number three, like the wind you run, wild, free, and fearless you move, I shall be your guard. The middle one? Yeah, it's the middle one. The listeners at home already knew, but yeah, it's the middle one.

What clue, Jen? It was just like, huh? It's trying. That's the thing with AI, it's a hypocrite. It pretends to sound just like a human, but it's like, you're pretending. Yeah, it's an imitation.

It's an imitation. And you can kind of tell, and that was the thing, the more you use it, you start to realize it. When you first start using it, it's like, wow, this thing is incredible. This thing really thinks and breathes and acts and feels, but then you use it more and more and it's like, I see the patterns.

You had a big thought, patterns of behavior. Full disclosure, the first time we did this, I was stumped. I did not get it even on a second chance. I didn't get it.

I didn't get it right. But this time I was able to pick it up. I think it also helped because they're all three about one thing. So the first time it was just three haikus.

This time I was like, write a haiku about the wind. I do feel like that made a difference. Yeah, yeah, because you're comparing them. True. Well, that's our game.

Dr. Shah, for today's episode, what is the daily encouragement you want to leave our listeners and our viewers with? Well, the thing I want to tell people is this is election year. And usually, the moment we say that in a Christian context, church context, people immediately change the subject or they will start... Set the bristle up, get a little uncomfortable. Yeah, and they will say, you know, well, yeah, well, I mean, and they kind of start whispering instead of speaking at their normal tone.

That's right. Because they don't want anybody to find out who they are, what they believe. Christians are scary people.

Yes. They're very scary. Yeah, they're like... Spooked over little things. And behind closed doors, they're like ready to fight, take on the world. But then the moment it comes time to fight, they're like, well, you know, but yeah, I mean, you know how I think.

You know how I believe. How many times have people said that to you? Like, now, preacher man, I'm going to tell you, you know me.

You know me. I would have said it. If I had been there, I would have said it. I knew one guy who would say that all the time.

Now, you know me. And I was like... Yeah, you would never say a word. Yeah, you would not have said a word. I mean, I'm sure God had to help me because I was about to, about to what?

Yeah. It's like, no, you should have said something there. It's like, well, I didn't want to, you know. Yeah, but you know me. I would have. I would have. You know that. No, you wouldn't have.

I don't know anything of the kind, brother. I don't know why Christians, why are Christians so scared of sharing their political views? Because we have been fed the lie that says we have to keep those two things separate.

We have to keep politics and religion separate. That's right. And it's a lie. And it's often used by the other side and sometimes even used by our side because they are misinformed. But you know it's in the Constitution, Dr. Shaw. No, it's not.

What? No, it's not. What do you say? Separation of church and state, that's the whole thing. I think that's the same thing as the First Amendment. Yeah, we the people desire the separation of church and state.

That's how it starts. It's in the Constitution, people. So it's really crazy that how many people actually think it's not only it means what they think it means, but that it's in our founding document. Yeah, it's not.

It's not. I mean, we have done videos onto this, helped people understand all these things that it is really a letter written by President Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist informing them. And in a sense, he's really telling them, I can't interfere in the state's rights. I can't tell your state not to have a congregational government, a congregational church.

So you've got to work this one out there because the federal government cannot get involved. And Thomas Jefferson was anti-federalist. Of course, as you know, George Washington in that era was the big government or at least everything under the central government. Jefferson and others came around and said, no, it needs to be the opposite.

The limited government is the better government. And so Jefferson began what we know today as the Democratic Republican Party. And in time, it was just the Democratic Party with Andrew Jackson type Jacksonian political views, which if you know your history, American history, you know, they were pro-slavery. That's right. And so later on came the big party and then came back to the Republican Party, which was taken from Jefferson's Democratic Republican. That's right. The Republican. That's right.

Just to to fight against slavery. Right. Yeah. And today's a great day to be talking about the Republican Party.

It's significant because today, March the 20th in 1854 is the date that the Republican Party was officially established. That's true. Now, there's controversy there. Really?

Yeah. There is controversy there as to which one is the exact date. So on July 6th, 1854, I found this article where Disgruntled Voters decided to name its first candidates to fight against the Democrats over this whole slavery issue. So July 6th is considered to be the date. And then there's also another date which is brought up, which is February the 24th, when a small group met in Ripon, Wisconsin, to talk about the whole Kansas-Nebraska Act, which was pro-slavery.

And they called themselves Republicans. So there's some controversy over which date. The actual date. And then the third one is a meeting was held on March the 20th, which is today's date, 1854, which was also in Ripon, where 53 people were recognized this movement within Wisconsin. So that's what I got from this article, that there were possibly three different dates. So it's spread across multiple different dates, but it's all happening in that same year, 1854. 10 years or so before civil war.

And most importantly, they're all centered around this idea of anti-slavery. That's what the Republican Party was founded on. And you're not going to hear that in today's media.

You're going to hear, in fact, the exact opposite. Right. And they will say that, yeah, that may be the case, but in the 40s, 50s, there has been a shift where the Democrats have become like the Republicans and Republicans have become the Democrats.

It's a great flip flop. Right, right. This big, this great event that everybody knows of seemingly, except not really, only the quote unquote. It never happened. Yeah, the elite intelligent few know that southern Democrats then are southern Republicans today.

Same people, just different names. That's what they'll say. And that's not true at all. Right. In fact, some of the policies that have been propagated by the Democratic Party still to this day are not in favor of African Americans.

Right. They're not in favor of those who are in the minority. It's not true at all. But that's the lie that's always propagated and people buy into that.

And if you are not educated, if you're not aware of the issues, I should say not educated in the sense of getting an education, but if you're not aware of these issues, then you will say, of course, yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, parties can flip flop. So I guess that's what's happened. Yeah. Did this did this rhetoric that the flip flopping of the parties, did that have a birthplace or a genesis that we can kind of point to?

Or is it sort of gradual over time? That's that's what is often claimed. So it's not it never happened. Right. The flip flop never happened. Right.

The party policies are still the same. But the impression that is given is that, oh, yeah, that's don't you know that? Right. I mean, these are these are racist people. Yeah. It's like, who?

Where? Right. OK, that's not true.

Do you think it has anything to do with, like, wealth, because the republic, because people in the Republican Party, I guess, saw the benefits of capitalism in business, they they became wealthy. And so because of that, people on the outside say, see, anybody who's wealthy has to have abused somebody in order to get it. But that's not true at all. No, I know.

There are a lot of there are a lot of Democrats who are extremely wealthy. Right. But they don't I guess they don't they they talk bad about capitalism while benefiting from it. Benefiting tremendously. Yeah. They take down capitalism as the evil that our society runs on privately.

It really helps me. They take every advantage of the loopholes and the tax laws and everything that we call a critical hippopotamus. What is that?

A hypocrite. Very nice. Critical. Have you used that before? I just just dropped it in my head right here. Yeah. Let's go ahead and patent that now.

Nicholas, if you call the patent office, I don't want anybody using that. And if you do use it, I want a quarter every time you say it. There you go.

It's a critical hippopotamus. That was pretty good. Way to call somebody a hypocrite without to their face.

That was pretty good, man. Just right here. People ask us all the time, Dr. Shah, are we a political show? Is this a, is Clevee today, is this a politics show? Not necessarily. We're just a Christian show.

Right. We're just talking about values coming from the Bible. And if that means that we need to stand for those candidates who support our values, does that make us political? No, I think, I think that makes us a concerned citizen. That makes us people who care about our freedom so we can worship according to the dictates of our conscience. That's what it makes us. That's right.

That's right. And I'm glad you say that because there's so many political shows out there that have Christian bent, whereas we're a Christian show who knows the importance of politics. And I think it seems like a, like a negligible difference, but it's not. In fact, I think it makes all the difference because your Christian identity, your identity as a pastor and as a leader in the community, you understand that because of that politics can't be ignored. It's not the other way around where you're a politician and you're trying to be a voice in the world of politics. So I need to pander to Christians.

Well, you think that political policy is not going to impact the way that you worship and the way that you conduct, you know, religious business. You're either intentionally deluding yourself or you're just woefully naive. Right. Yeah.

Yeah. I, having grown up overseas, I'm beginning to see, and I've been seeing it for several years now. So it's not like beginning like yesterday or this morning, but I've been seeing this for a while that we are becoming, um, sort of a minority and not because we are a minority. I think we are a majority. I think there are a lot of people who believe this and feel the same way, but they're afraid to speak out. Right.

They're afraid to, or there's some, some don't even get involved when 20% of your people vote in the election. That's bad. That, that is shocking, that is sad, that is, um, angering to me that how are we not voting? Right. Only 20%. Yeah.

That's crazy. And, and it's, it's worse because it's like, it demands an answer. Like why aren't people voting? Why aren't people taking this not only as a privilege, but as a duty, as a responsibility? It's not, it's not that you get to vote. You should. It's an, it's a moral ought.

You know what I mean? You ought to vote. Yeah. I can't think of a, I can't think of any possible excuse other than like I physically was unable to make it to the polls on that day. But even that, there's plenty of early voting.

There's plenty of opportunities for you to more than just the one day to get to the polling line. Yeah. I think you've said it. It's, it just shows where your priorities are.

Yeah. Because at the end of the day, the answer is you didn't care and that's why you didn't vote. I think it's, um, sometimes some people have been disappointed through the years with politicians. They've been disappointed with political parties and I get it. I totally get it because there have been candidates, there have been people who ran under an agenda or a campaign slogan, but they were not truly what they claim to be. Right.

And so what happened is people fought for them, stood behind them, voted for them, campaigned for them, canvassed for them, and then come to find out what, wait, they did that? Forget it. I don't care anymore. Well, it is what it is.

You know what? I'm just going to live my life and that's it. Yeah. But if every generation does that, we're just going to live our life and that's it. Don't think for a moment that things will be just it. Right. That's it. Because things will go downhill and they have been going downhill for quite some time.

In fact, uh, I would say in the past four years, it's, it's on a turbo speed. Yeah. I think it goes back to what we were saying. We either said it earlier this week or last week, but we said, you know, people mistake being passive for being good, for being virtuous. If I just do nothing, I can't mess up or I can't contribute to the problem. But someone's going to be active when you are passive.

Someone's going to take control and it's the people that we don't want. Right. And I'm aware of people unhappy with that sometimes.

I've had to face people who challenged me or call me names or, or, you know, judge my motives. And at first it was very bothersome. I was like, wait, I don't think like that. Right. I don't believe that way. I am saying what I'm saying and I mean what I'm saying. And it was very disconcerting for them because I don't look like the person they're describing.

Right. I say, oh no, you're pretending to be that kind of person. You're trying to ally yourself with those kinds of people. I mean, they're really saying, oh yeah, white, middle-class, middle-aged people.

People in power. Yeah. That's what they're saying. Yeah. Even though you're not it, you're still hanging out on that.

So you get the benefit of what they have to offer. And these are not, these are not like hypothetical conversations either. These are conversations that have happened right here in this building where people will will say horrible, horrifying things like this. And it's all disguised as moral virtue. I'm morally superior and I'm fighting for the little guy, the oppressed.

Yeah. And I want to say you're absolutely ignorant of history or current events. You have an ulterior motive. You're trying to get into some position somewhere. And so you're singing like a canary. You're singing the tune that you think those people that will back you up want to hear.

That's exactly it. And you're accusing me when I'm not even running for a position. Yeah. I'm a pastor of a church.

I'm not even running for a position. Yeah. I'm a pastor of a church. I have a radio show, but in some way I'm contributing to the moral downfall of the West.

How does this, how does this work? Or running for some position, some power. Yeah. Oh, so the people will come here and give.

I'm like, yeah, but they were giving without me even talking about it. Right. Right.

Right. I don't have to do that for them to give. I don't have to do that to attract people.

In fact, many times I have to go, is that worth sharing right now? Should I even address that from the pulpit? So I'm not like, let me say as many conservative slogans, Republican slogans, so that people will come flooding into the doors of this church and say, he looks Indian, but he sounds like us. So we should go here. Yeah. And we should put our money in the offering plate and just put it all down at the altar of conservatism with the guise of it being a church. This guy, he's not one of us and yet he talks like us.

That's what we need. And to insinuate that your goal is something that shallow. That's disrespectful. Yeah. Like what do you get? What do you get out of it? Right.

And that's the thing is like, well, I'm without it. We're doing great. Right.

So why should I do that? It's one of the reasons that we wanted to do this radio show, even like last year. How long have we had this radio show?

About a year and a half, going on two years. One of the reasons that we wanted to do it is because it can get tricky to speak convictions like that from the pulpit. Now we still do it and you still speak your biblical convictions, but people feel way more emboldened, I guess, to attack you or to come against you or just to hinder our ministry. But with this radio show, it has allowed us a freedom to speak the truth that God has put on your heart while also garnering support for people who actually listen to the show and actually support us and who do give through the show. Right. Absolutely. And we want people to give.

We want people to support, but we want people to understand that this is not a put on. This is not so that we can go back and read my articles. I've been writing this for 20 plus years. I'm so sorry that you just found that out, but I've been writing it for 20 years. I've been in the newspaper, I've written articles.

In my PhD work, we talked about this sometime back when it came time for me to take my seminars because there was nothing available in the field that I'm in, which is textual criticism because there was nobody else but me. So I was like, what should I take? And I said, you know what, I'm going to take an early American history.

I did PhD work, not dissertation work, but PhD work in early American history. That's how I know it. So I didn't read up quick points from some book and it's like, okay, so how can I say things that the conservatives would love me? Right, right. Yeah, we 100% appreciate every single donation that the Clearview Today show receives, but we still believe this whether or not. We want you to support it. I hope you will because we want the word to spread. Yes.

Well, the word is spreading. And I was going to say, do you want to talk about two of the really, really awesome things that have happened in the near past? Yes. Near past? In the recent past. In the recent past. In the recent past.

Because you got so excited. Near is not wrong, but recent past. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There was two really big ones. One, we got to pray with President Trump.

That's right. This was just not too long ago. And I got a phone call from people that said, hey, we would love for you to be there along with these four or five pastors, or six altogether, and would you consider doing that? I was like, me? Do you remember what happened when you got the text? We were eating lunch. I bit the side of my mouth. Because I was like, huh, oh, it hurts. I was like, hey, what happened? And he was like, oh, hang on one second. And then he pulled the napkin away, and I was like, oh, he really chomped his lip. I was like, what happened? And he was like, oh, that hurts. I was like, tell me what happened. What happened? You're not going to believe it.

Yeah, and then you read the text. I just got asked to pray with President Trump. I'm like, sure. And so, of course, I went backstage, and there was a lot of security, and all these people are everywhere.

It was just amazing. And then we waited, all the pastors, and these are great guys, by the way, great guys. And they even put me in the center and said, hey, let's take a quick selfie.

And I was like, OK, sure, we took a selfie. And then one of the aides came and said, OK, so the president is going to be here in a few minutes. And they said, what's going to happen?

This is what's going to happen. You pray, and then we can take a quick picture together with everybody. And I was like, OK. And sure enough, he came, and I was just shocked. First time to see him live standing there. And then his demeanor was so kind.

Really? Yeah, because you see him on the stage. You see him on television. You see him debating people. And he's ready to fight. Oh, yeah, he's at it. And then to see the same man come and say, hey, how are you? Thank you so much for being here. And I was like, oh. Not the first impression you were expecting.

No, I was like, oh, I can talk to this guy. So I'm like, Mr. President, we're praying for a great awakening in America. And we believe God's going to bring it.

And we believe that God's doing something in our nation. And we're praying for you. We're behind you. Thank you so much.

Thank you so much. I was like, OK. No, thank you. So I mean, it was a great honor. In the past month, there have been so many encounters like that. And it's evidence that God is doing something through this show.

God is really moving things into place. And I think that's a huge encouragement to me, definitely. And the freedom of religion is what we're saying. And that's what we need brought back in our nation and not underhanded attempts to curtail our freedom or to silence us or to find ways to harass people because they stand up for their faith and their convictions.

That's right. And we want to encourage you guys as well, share this episode, because these are not just Dr. Shah's convictions. They are Christian convictions. And so what he's standing on is found right in the Word of God. And this show, I'm telling you, I really believe it. Sitting here right now, I really believe God is going to do something huge through this show.

It's coming. And it doesn't need to just be us three and the team. And it can be you. You can be part of that as well. Yes. And one of the ways you do that is by giving and contributing to the show.

That's right. We tell you how to do this at the end of every episode. But that's how you go from just sitting and consuming the show to becoming part of what God is doing through the Clear View Today show.

That's our prayer for you, that you would click that donate button on our website, cleerviewtodayshow.com, and become part of this movement that God is starting through Clear View Today. It's not a strange thing. This happens all the time. There are shows that I've watched in the past that I never contributed to.

I never gave one red cent. And then they went on to do amazing things. And then I always would think back, because they would say, hey, I want to thank so much the people who got us here, the people who sponsored us, the people who believed in us.

And there have been many times where those companies went on to do great, impactful things for Jesus' kingdom. And I said, man, that could have been me. I could have contributed to that. That's why we want to say it here at the outset, that it could be you.

Yes. Make sure you visit our website, cleerviewtodayshow.com, and you can text us anything in the episode today struck a chord with you, maybe made you think more critically about where you stand on things. Write it in and let us know, 252-582-5028. We love hearing from you guys. Jon, what's coming up on tomorrow's episode? Tomorrow, we are talking about the cost of discipleship. Our salvation is full and free, but it costs Jesus very, very dearly.

So also with us, our Christian lives, it's going to cost us. We're going to talk about that a little bit on tomorrow's episode. Make sure you guys are there. We love you guys. We'll see you tomorrow on Clearview Today. Bye. We'll see you tomorrow on Clearview Today.