Attack on America with Dillon Burroughs

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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. In the mid-19th century, Hans Christian Anderson wrote a very famous story called The Emperor's New Clothes. And many of you have probably read that story or you're at least moderately familiar with that story. By the way, Hans Christian Anderson probably was a Christian believer, but he put forth a lot of great moral teachings in his stories. And children especially love the story of The Emperor's New Clothes because there's an obvious truth being put across.

And we're going to get to that in a moment, but let me give you just a little bit of backstory. In The Emperor's New Clothes, there was an emperor and he was so vain and he liked fancy clothes and he spent money on clothes to the point that it endangered the kingdom. So these two people go to see the king and they claim that they are magic weavers and they've got a type of cloth that is just so special and unique that the king would want this. And they say, look, only ignorant people can't see these clothes. Only people that are stupid, ignorant, are unable to see the clothes. So the king allows himself to be dressed in these invisible, really non-existent clothes. And he parades proudly through town and none of the adults have the courage to call out the king and say the obvious. And finally a child, because children are very concrete thinkers, black and white, and if you're a hypocrite or if you don't keep your word, a child will call you out on it. And the child finally calls out and says, he's naked. He doesn't have anything on. And The Emperor's New Clothes really were just non-existent.

It was invisible. And I think about that story because when I think about today and people screaming out for tolerance and they're calling out for justice and yet they're doing things that are unjust in their quest for justice, smashing windows, engaging in vandalism. When people demand the right of law and justice and yet they do things that are lawless like pull down statues and vandalize property that's not theirs. And people cry for justice and they try to intimidate and bully their way into the public square by doing things that are grossly unjust.

It reminds me of the child crying out the obvious, hey this is wrong. And we seem to be living in a time of almost our own modern rendering of The Emperor's New Clothes. But Alex McFarland here, we're going to get to Psalm 39 in just a moment, but I want to welcome back to the TNG, Mike, my friend, colleague of many years, Dylan Burrows. Dylan, thanks for taking some time to be with us on the program today.

Great to be with you, Alex. Folks, Dylan and I are finishing up a book that's going to come out in September. And it's going to be basically titled, The Attack on America, What We Can Do to Save the Country Before It's Too Late.

You know, Dylan, as we were getting ready to do the recordings today, I just got first renderings of the cover art. And in this book, folks, we're talking about some of the things that are wrong with the country, how we got here, frankly, if some trends aren't turned around, how your future and mine is endangered, our liberties, our freedoms. And let's talk a little bit about that. But what we're going to do in the context of this radio show before the program is over, we're going to give you five things that you must face squarely at this moment in our history.

I mean, if not only our nation is to be preserved, America, our freedoms, our liberties, but frankly, your own security. So we're going to give you five points to bear in mind before this show is out. So Dylan, in working on this book about America under attack, and what we all have a vested interest in doing and praying about to save the country. I'll put it this way. You and I were creating some research and putting some things down that were in the news.

And it's almost like before you and I could even share files back and forth, new things would break forth in the news. And it's almost like, where do I begin to talk about what we need God to do to save our country? Did you get that feeling of being just a little bit overwhelmed?

Yes. And I think the average American is in the same situation. They are so overwhelmed by all of the negativity they see in today's headlines, whether it's online, on radio, on television, in the newspaper, that they don't even know where to begin to try to make things better. And that's one thing I want to encourage people is that just because the nation might seem to be falling apart, it doesn't mean your life has to be falling apart.

God could be doing great things in your life and in your community. But at the same time, we look at what's going on, for example, and one of the biggest concerns I see as I look at our culture today is this growing intolerance of those who claim to be tolerant. Let me give you a quick example of this during the George Floyd situation in Minneapolis, where we see this terrible video that is surfacing of a person who is dying unjustly. Many people responded emotionally, and that's understandable. But when people started destroying buildings, burning buildings, looting targets, suddenly people saw that this had gone too far. But it's one of those situations where you now have Minneapolis deciding they want to defund their police department, which is the very group of people that would and should be stopping the same vandalism that seems to be responding to an unjust police situation.

So it's this vicious cycle of let's defund police, and yet those are the ones we need the most to stop the destruction that's happening in some of our American communities today. You know, I'm a Christian. Dylan Burrows is a Christian.

I love American history. In any previous generation, I mean, I think the preachers would have been calling for fasting and prayer and let's seek God for a revival. And we're not hearing a lot of that now.

We're not hearing a pleading for spiritual awakening. And yet think about this year, just this the last one, two, three, four months, we've got the COVID pandemic, and we've got the quarantines and you know, people are dying. We've got the riots associated with Black Lives Matter and then questions about are the Black Lives Matter protesters, Marxist agitators imported. We've got the erasure of history with the pulling down of monuments and the revision of our history. Nancy Pelosi saying, quote, it would be wise to take down Mount Rushmore.

We've got the Defund the Police movement that you mentioned intolerance and selective tolerance, and then really just the rise of socialism. So we're going to have to take a break, folks. We're going to pull away. But when I come back, Alex McFarland here with Dylan Burrows Truth for a New Generation Radio. We're going to give you five things to keep in mind when America finds itself on the shaky ground of 2020. How do we move forward solidly, securely, safely with God's favor in the days ahead? Stay tuned.

TNG Radio will be back after this brief break. Alex has written many books to help you defend your faith. One of them answers questions from skeptics.

It's cleverly titled Ten Answers for Skeptics. Today's skeptics are looking for authenticity, integrity and straightforward truth. And in the book, Alex McFarland identifies the 10 most common types of skepticism that plague doubters minds and offers believers proven strategies for connecting intellectually and spiritually with those who are skeptical about the claims of Christianity. Learn how to answer intimidating questions. Identify the root issue behind those questions and dismantle the spiritual bombshells dropped by atheists.

Plus, find encouragement to face hostility by persevering in love. The ultimate apologetic Christians can offer as a witness to our loving God. Check out Ten Answers for Skeptics when you visit AlexMcFarland.com. If you're a Christian parent, you of course want to instill a biblical view of life in the hearts of your children. If you're a pastor, you want to offer ministry that draws young families to your church. This is Alex McFarland encouraging you to check out my new book and video curriculum, The 21 Toughest Questions Your Kids Will Ask About Christianity. I interviewed hundreds of children, ages 5 to 12, and we address actual questions from actual children, the spiritual issues that are on the minds of your kids. The book and video lessons are great for groups of any size and was produced with the goal of equipping kids to stand strong for Christ in any situation.

The 21 Toughest Questions Your Kids Will Ask, the book, study guide and video series, you'll find it at AFASTORE.net. That's AFASTORE.net. For apologetics resources, books by Alex McFarland, and to find out where Alex is speaking, visit AlexMcFarland.com. In Psalm 39, verse 6, it says, in some translations it says that every man goes about like a phantom.

Some translations say of Psalm 39, 6, surely every man walks in a vain show. Hi, welcome back to Truth For New Generation Radio. Alex McFarland here with our longtime friend and colleague Dylan Burrows. Let's talk a little bit about this. Before the break, we mentioned some of the problems. Look, we don't have to convince you that the world needs Christ right now. We all watch the news. But let's just pull back for a moment and talk about the mindset of man without God.

Dylan, I'm older than you, and the music I grew up on was a little bit different than a lot of the music you would hear on the Grammys of the top 40 today. The movies that I grew up on, and just the culture. I mean, we were raised to say, yes ma'am, no ma'am, yes sir, no sir.

And I remember what a scandal it was back in the 70s when candidate Jimmy Carter, when he was running for president, was interviewed by a magazine that some people felt like it was not appropriate for a presidential candidate to be interviewed by a certain magazine. Today, we're in a point where whenever we go to the store, I mean, you're likely to hear horrid curse words. I'm not even going to try to describe them. Anywhere you go, you're going to see things, you're going to hear things. Things that previous generations would have found shocking, absolutely unacceptable.

Profanity, violence, sexuality. We're a culture that seems to have lost the ability to be embarrassed or be shamed anymore. Are we, like Psalm 39 says, walking around in just a state of vanity, not living for truth, not serving God. We think we're large and in charge, but in a way we're just toxic, almost terminal with sin and carnality. Is America of 2020 like that dead man walking around in a state of vanity?

I think in many ways you've described it very well. We live in a culture where so many people who even claim to be Christian don't live a Christian lifestyle or hold a Christian worldview. And so it's very discouraging in some respects, but at the same time, God is calling forth a remnant of those who call upon his name and seek to live for him strongly. And one thing I want to encourage people is that when you see a growing level of apostasy and a growing level of sin in our culture, in some ways that's a fulfillment of Bible prophecy itself. So we should be encouraged that we are growing closer to when the Lord comes. You look in 2 Timothy 4, for example, where verse 3 says, for the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine instead to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. We can find plenty of examples of that today, even within the church, but within our culture at large, we have people who give the right words.

But if you look at our world, there's a lot of work out there left to do. Yeah, I remember, let's go back a little bit because we've watched the Black Lives Matter protesters and a woman who, this was in the news this week, that was shot and killed because she said, quote, �All lives matter.� Which is true. All human lives matter because we're all made in the image of God. This is one of the things that the Christian worldview brought to humanity.

Dylan, as you and I are working on the book Attack on America, which by the way is any day now a pre-order page is going to be online, and the book will come out in September, and I want you to read it, please, before the election. But Dylan, I knew this, but I was struck by how the Christian worldview brought human rights to the world. Two of the very first nations that were evangelized, one was Syria, the other was Ethiopia. And by the way, folks, there was a man from Ethiopia called Michael the Deacon, and he met with Martin Luther during the time of the Reformation in the 1500s, and Luther was surprised and pleased to know that there had been a very robust Christian community in Ethiopia going back to just a few years after the time of Christ. My point being that in a place where life was cheap and there was a lot of violence, and women essentially had no rights, women and children were owned like property, and children very often were sold into slavery and human bondage and trafficking, the Christian worldview gave human rights to humanity.

Why? Because we're made in God's image. Every human being has worth, value, and dignity made in the image of God.

If you're a believer, you're a person in whom the Spirit of God dwells. And so when I read about these people, and even some perhaps well-intentioned but misguided denominational leaders say, �Repeat, black lives matter.� They do, but let me say this, unborn lives matter. The baby in the womb of any ethnicity matters. All lives matter. And Dylan, is it fair to say that selective tolerance is intolerance?

I mean, right now, Christians in California are being told that they can't sing songs during their worship services. And I think this COVID has been a time of political leverage for a lot of people. I was just looking at a headline.

I'll say this, I'm going to throw to you. On the very same news page, one headline said the Black Lives Matter protesters do not cause an increase in positive COVID cases. Right under it was a story that 6,000 people at a Trump rally are responsible for an uptick. So Dylan, I mean, are we living in a time of selective tolerance? Well, yes, you really address two things. One is selective tolerance, where the left that claims to be the most tolerant of all Americans will suddenly, if you don't agree with their view of the world, will come and tear down your statues or do something else that may be opposing to your value. So there's this contrast between what they claim as being tolerant and how they will act if you do not do something that is tolerant from their perspective.

So it is very selective in that regard. But another thing you talk about there for a little bit is that idea that many times as believers, we see things going on in our world that we don't like, and yet we don't do anything about it. And there's this call to us in scripture to be bold and courageous and to stand forth strongly when we see injustice arising.

So we have to make a distinction between the two. When we come back, we're going to talk about five things that you must know in order to navigate the dangerous waters of 2020 here in America and the world. Stay tuned. Truth for a New Generation radio is coming back after this. The Lord has a 100 percent track record in keeping His promises, and He lovingly offers to help everyone prepare for life and for eternity. Join Alex McFarland at the Cove as he shares from the Old Testament book of Daniel and the New Testament book of Revelation, the two most well-known books of Bible prophecy. Each reveals things about world history and the future that only God could know. Their prophecies could be a source of motivation, warning and assurance. They can also be an apologetic persuasion for non-believers. Get clarity on which events today may relate to these two prophetic books and be equipped to answer the big questions and objections about prophecy.

Daniel and Revelation How God Wrote History in Advance with Alex McFarland, July 27-31 at the Billy Graham Training Center at the Cove. Find out more and register at thecove.org. As a group, millennials have more than a trillion dollars in purchasing power, so you know businesses are watching us. By 2025, we'll comprise 75 percent of the workforce, so employers are watching us. Despite these positives, millennials are losing our faith, so we know Satan is watching us. Engage Magazine is for millennials by millennials, and it speaks to faith, purpose and a closer walk with Jesus.

Because above all, God is watching us. Visit 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. In the midst of a culture obsessed with relativism, Alex McFarland is a voice you can trust to speak the timeless truths of Christianity in a timely way. You're listening to Truth for a New Generation Radio. Welcome back to Truth for a New Generation Radio.

Thanks for listening. Hey, before we give five things to keep in mind in the world today, I do want to say how excited I am. Just a week from now, I will be at the Cove, the Billy Graham Training Center at the Cove in western North Carolina. I've been prepping and getting ready for this for a year, and I know many people are traveling from across the country. We will be doing Daniel and Revelation – the book of Daniel and Revelation – all in several days, July 27th through 30th, and there may still be time. I talked to the Cove a couple of days ago, and I think they have room for about ten more people. Seriously, no fooling here.

Like, ten more people. So if you want to come to the Cove, or they have great speakers all year long, their website is thecove.org. Keep us in prayer. And folks, we are going to be making you aware of how to get the new book coming out, Attack on America, what to do to save our country before it's too late. And finally, I want to remind you that Monday, Wednesday, Friday, we are on Facebook Live and YouTube every day, 11 a.m. Eastern.

On the Facebook page, it's revalexmcfarlin, R-E-V, revalexmcfarlin. We're talking about just the news of the day through the lens of Scripture, and we appreciate all of your views and publicly sharing, and thanks for your prayers and engagement with Truth for a New Generation. Well, Dylan, let me throw some things out there and then let you and I discuss for a bit. I was praying this morning and thinking about, you know, what do we do? Hey, I'm a Christian. I've been a believer about 30 years. I like to think that Angie and I have been blessed to drill down pretty deeply in our relationship with Christ.

But even so, the news of the morning kind of unsettles my heart. So I want to give you some thoughts that I think might be some solid ground to stand on in these days, folks. Number one, make sure that you're saved. Make sure you have a relationship with Christ. Number two, know that your life here is not an accident. Your life matters. What you do for Christ is significant.

And friend, you are here in the world today by God's providential decree. Number three, be willing to live a life of Christian service and civic service. Number four, stop caring what anybody thinks and completely care what God thinks. And number five, pray. Learn how to fast and pray.

So Dylan, let's talk about these for a moment. Right now, more than ever, I mean, every person needs to have their house in order and know that they have a relationship with Christ. Well, let me remind people, there is no time that it is too late to follow the Lord until your final breath. I think of the thief on the cross, first of all, who was told today you will be with me in paradise.

I think of an old, of a relative in my own family who is 90 years old. She heard the gospel in a way that made sense to her and prayed to receive Christ at the age of 90 and then passed away three years later. And that was the first time at age 90 that she felt like she really knew the Lord.

So it's never too late. We've seen many people baptized in their eighties. No matter what stage of life you're in, God can still change you. God can still use you. We talked about purpose that God has made us on purpose and for a purpose. If you still have breath in your lungs, God has a reason for you to be here. He saved you to serve Him.

And then the next one, you mentioned this idea of serving even in the hard times. I can't encourage you enough to stand firm in the faith. So many people are shying away.

They're cowering away. They see the pushback that you get anytime you post on social media or say anything in society. It is your job to stand strong in the truth of God's word. Not every political opinion, but on the truth of God to affirm what is right in a culture where so much is wrong. And then the spiritual area as well of serving God and focusing on prayer. These are the essentials that you describe that we must have in living for the Lord today. We talk about being willing to live a life of Christian service, which Paul said in Romans, you know, that's our spiritual service or our reasonable service. When I think about walking as a believer, it's the least we can do because Christ died for us. We should live for Him.

But let me camp out on point number four for a minute. And I guess I'd love to get up on a mountaintop and shout it. Folks, stop caring what anybody thinks. If you're a Trump voter, don't worry that people publicly are going to be critical.

Listen, I remember well in late 2015 and all through the spring of 2016 when I began to speak out and I wrote for the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. And I said, I think Donald Trump is going to be the candidate. And I think that if he is, Christians need to vote for him. Look, I lost probably 20 percent of all my speaking engagements in 2016 from ministers who said, oh, Alex McFarland, I cannot believe that you are publicly supporting that, you know, loudmouth Donald Trump.

Well, I travel a lot. I knew he was going to be the candidate. And listen, folks, stop caring what anybody thinks and completely do care what God thinks. Keep the truth in love, but be vocal. Billy Graham said this. Billy Graham said, courage is contagious. So I want to challenge you to be a person of truth, conviction, courage, and let's speak up about America, speak up about our need for Jesus and let's make a difference.

But finally, and Dylan, I want you to comment on this. How important at this juncture, how important is prayer for the body of Christ? Well, I think about the Book of Nehemiah and it opens up with Nehemiah himself praying and fasting before the Lord.

And he didn't know what else to do. He was not in a position to change Jerusalem where he really wanted to be and to see the city restored. But it was through a time of prayer and a fasting and a spiritual seeking that God opened a unique opportunity for him to not only go back to Jerusalem, but to lead in a spiritual revival in a time when it was badly needed. You may not feel like you have any opportunity to turn things around, but if you pray and you fast and you seek the Lord, he can open a unique opportunity just for you to make a difference and an impact in this important time in our society. But you have to do the work of prayer. The battle is on our knees.

So take the time, pray, and see what God will do. Hey, let's pick up this conversation again really soon. Can we do that, Dylan?

I would love it. It's always great to be with you, Alex. Folks, I want to thank you for listening. And remember, remember that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. One of my favorite verses, 1 Corinthians 15, 58, after talking about the resurrection of Christ and how Christ rose and this confirms our faith and the security we have in Jesus. Look, Paul concludes 1 Corinthians 15 by saying, Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for you know your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

And indeed it's not. It matters, and it matters for all of eternity. Stand strong for Christ, speak up for truth, and we'll see you next time on the Truth For a New Generation broadcast. Call us at 877-Yes-God-1.

That's 877-Yes-God and the number 1. Or give online at AlexMcFarland.com. While you're there, listen to program archives, read Alex's blog, invite Alex to speak at your event, or contact Alex with a question or comment. AlexMcFarland.com. Thanks for listening today and join us again next time as we bring you more truth for a new generation on TNG Radio.