Free For All Friday

We've had a wonderful week of programs. I'm Stu Epperson, host of Truth Talk Live, and wow, what a great highlight of shows this week. On Free-for-All Friday, what you're about to hear, we'll go back in and talk a little bit about what we talked about, so those of you who missed it can catch up. And then we're going to get into some hot topics, not just from spillover from all the topics this week, but another hot topic that's been in the news everywhere, should a Christian attend a gay wedding? We have a special pastor guest on from Florida, Pastor Rob Passienza, of Truths that Transform and Coral Ridge Ministries.

You'll love meeting him. So stay tuned, be encouraged, on this special Free-for-All Friday edition, covering a whole lot of things, but from a biblical perspective, on Truth Talk Live. This is the Truth Network. Welcome to Truth Talk Live. All right, let's talk the truth. A daily program powered by the Truth Network. This is kind of a great thing, and I'll tell you why. Where pop culture, current events, and theology all come together.

Speak your mind. And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host. It's Free-for-All Friday, and it is a dandy.

We've got so much going on here at the Truth Network. I'm so excited about everything happening, and about this program, and about you. And I'm excited about my buddy Jason, who is listening right now on the new 93.7 FM in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Hello, Jason. Hello, Lynchburg. Hello, Toledo, Ohio. Station gets almost up to Detroit on 106.5 FM.

Forgive me if I said Detroit instead of Detroit. One of those is right, and only the Christian car guy knows the answer to that question. I'm Stu Epperson, host of Truth Talk Live. Free-for-All Friday, what does that mean? We talk about everything we've talked about this week.

It's also kind of Freedom Friday. If you want to share a testimony, please ring us up at 866-34-TRUTH. But I want to go over these week's shows.

I want to go over some of the big headlines. And we have a special pastor who you're going to love. Oh my. This guest who's coming up after the first break, Pastor Rob, is pastoring in the pulpit of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Coral Ridge, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Now, if you don't know this church and this history, wow, let me tell you something. Pastor Rob Passienza. Remember the radio program, TV program, Truths That Transform? Well, guess what?

It's still on the air. And guess who the pastor is now? On TV and radio, national radio, all across the Truth Network and other wonderful stations, Truths That Transform, Pastor Rob Passienza. He was personally discipled, mentored by D. James Kennedy, the godly, brilliant, amazing man of God who led that ministry, who gave us Evangelism Explosion. If you've ever shared the Gospel and asked this question, if you died today, where would you go? If you've ever asked that question, that came from Evangelism Explosion, where he takes you through the questions. If you were standing before God and God said, why should I let you into my heaven?

That is a Dr. D. James Kennedy question that... I'm just telling you, Pastor Rob Passienza is now the pastor of that church, and he is going to be on our show. And we're going to talk about this issue of, should a Christian attend a gay wedding? Oh my. Yeah, it's going to get hot here on Free for All Friday, and it's not going to ever be the same without you, our wonderful listeners, our wonderful studio audiences.

The audience is packed out. We must be in the South in the winter, because this week started with below zero temperatures, and today it's over 70. And I'm in short sleeves with, if you're watching this on Facebook, Nick, The Maestro, St. Nick, are we on? The Facebook Live, go to Dilmore's thing, I'll repost it to my Facebook site, Stu Epperson.

My Instagram, which is Stu Epperson there too, follow me, Twitter, I'll try to repost this feed, okay? But you can see my logoed, Truth Swag, which I have, yeah, and Jason's listening, he's already texted me back. Shout out to Jason Lynchburg, and all of you that are listening, thank you, and thank you for supporting our Truth Swag.

Some quick headlines and a quick review. Monday missions moment, what did we do? We talked, we stamped our passport to Lebanon. We talked to two amazing men of God who are part of the Bible outreach mission there, which is a seminary Bible college, which is equipping young men to reach Lebanon for Christ, a powerful ministry. Both these men have seen many people persecuted for their faith in Christ, but God's working in Lebanon, and many Muslims are coming to know Jesus, and so they share with us how to reach Muslims for Christ on Monday. Tuesday, Nikita Kolov, the Russian nightmare.

Nikita Kolov, by the way, was probably the most hated human being on planet Earth in, like, 1986, honestly. Rough, big, giant hulk of a man, pro wrestler, and he hosted this show. He sat in this seat and talked into this mic on Tuesday nationwide to talk about how God supernaturally healed his relationship with his father.

Isn't that cool? So he does these Man Up Minutes. He does a show called Man Up. You need to subscribe to that. It's on the Truth Network podcast network. And Nikita Kolov did a great job. I'm sure you were encouraged by that show. If you want to talk more about that, give a shout out to Nikita, you can.

If you can call us today on Free For All Friday, 866-344-TRUTH. We did Wednesday in the Word on Wednesday the Parable of the Soil, and how Jesus went out, a sower went out and sowed the seed. Jesus tells this parable. A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.

Jesus spoke a lot in parables. Powerful storyteller. You know, the story's compelling.

Think about that. The kids, the little wee ones, love hearing a story before bed. The master storyteller was Jesus Christ himself. And he told these parables. And the parables were to connect differently. You know, those who were hard-hearted and reject the straight gospel from Jesus, he would tell them parables.

He would veil it. And it might sear their heart further. But those who were tender-hearted, the parables would soften their heart. And so the Parable of the Soil is a beautiful picture of the Word of God going and growing.

Only one of the four took, though, right? You've got the thorny soil, you've got the hard pathways at the beginning that the bird snatched it, the foul of the air picture of the devil snatching that seed. And then you've got the rocky ground. It goes in and comes right back up, but then there's no foundation.

But then you've got the good soil. We did Wednesday in the Word and then yesterday the border crisis. People are flooding in. What does a believer do? How does a believer in Christ love the illegal alien, but still stand up for the law? And stand up for enforcing the border? There's a law on the books that says we should enforce—that doesn't say we should—there's a law that says there are to be no illegals that come into our country. There's a way to come and become an American, legally. In the studio is a young lady from Germany, Romania, somewhere in there.

Germany, who came to our country legally and went through a lot of stuff to do that. So we talked about that, the Christian view of that. All these, by the way, are available at our podcast site, just at TruthNetwork.com. Today, Pastor Rob's in the hot seat because we're going to go over these cultural issues with him. We're going to talk about what's on your mind out there, listening to the Truth Network, listening to other wonderful stations brave enough to carry Truth Talk Live. And the number is increasing, like all of our friends in the upstate of South Carolina, Greenville, South Carolina, listening to us on the new 96.9 FM. Hello to all my buddies there, Jerome and others who are listening to 96.9.

You can call us in at 86634-TRUTH, 86634-8784. Pastor Rob's coming in by phone from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It's almost as warm here as it is there today, because it's warm. Somehow or another, this heat wave came in. We'll take it.

It's been wet, then it's been hot, and then it's probably going to be below zero here in a couple days. But you can call in at 86634-TRUTH. We'll talk to Pastor Rob about how does a Christian pastor speak up about the border, about politics.

Should a Christian abstain or engage in politics, and should a Christian attend a gay wedding? 86634-TRUTH. More coming up on Truth Talk Live on Free For All Friday. Don't touch that dial.

It's Free For All Friday on Truth Talk Live. I'm Stu Epperson. A whole lot going on in the culture, a whole lot going on in the world.

This program kind of has three legs to the stool. Current events, pop culture, and theology. Very important. Theology, I believe, is the most important, because that weaves in the Word of God. What does God say about all this stuff? And that's why we do this program, Truth Talk Live. That's why we have wonderful partners like Truths That Transform, like Pastor Rob Pacienza, a warrior for Christ, a cultural warrior, but a man who loves Jesus and is trying to win our world to Christ and shepherd his flock and speak to these things in the media. By the way, we have a newsletter at Truth Talk Live and the Truth Network. If you want us to mail you information about what God is doing every month, it's growing.

I mean, people want to be on this thing. Just email newsletter—here's the address—newsletter-at-truthnetwork.com. Very simple. Just remember the word newsletter—newsletter-at-truthnetwork.com. Email that, say, add my name, my email to the list, and we'll send you our newsletter and updates from time to time of what God's doing and how to support our wonderful ministry partners and how you can be involved in sharing the truth across the world. We have a free app, truthnetwork.com. Download the free Truth app. Your smartphone's about to get smarter. You can listen anytime you want.

Yep, that's why I'm talking to you. You're about to get out of your car to go in to pick some groceries up. You could simply hit Listen Live on your Truth app right now and listen to everything you're hearing in your car and not have to be sitting in your car and idle your car and not go into the grocery store.

You can kill two stones with one bird. You like that? All right. So, Pastor Rob Passienza, what a man of God, what a friend, and so good to have you, sir, on Truth Talk Live.

Welcome. Great to be with you, Stu. And you are in sunny Florida, and I've got to tell you, I couldn't say this is sunny. Eighty-five degrees. Ninety-five. Well, we're not far behind you. We were at twenty-five degrees a few days ago, but today it's seventy.

Very close. It's seventy in North Carolina. What's going on, man?

You're climbing. They knew you were phoning in, and the weatherman did some things. But hey, listen, we are so excited to have you on because you are, I mean, Truth's the Transform. That is a legendary, for those listening that don't appreciate the history of the ministry God has put you in as the leader of, Pastor Rob, tell everyone the genesis of and the amazing legacy of Dr. Kennedy and Truth's the Transform. Give them a little backstory, I love this, and then we'll jump into some of these hot topics.

Absolutely. My childhood pastor, mentor and predecessor, D. James Kennedy, who started Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale in 1960, a few years later in 1974, started a nationwide media ministry. And before TV started, he started radio, and he started with a radio program called Truth's the Transform. It was a national radio program that talked about cultural events, all from a biblical worldview.

And when we were thinking about relaunching radio just a few years ago, and eventually did so just a few weeks ago, we thought, what a better brand than Truth's the Transform. It's something that links us to the past, reminds us of our legacy, but reminds us that God's Word is true, and those truths are timeless. Now, Pastor, let me just jump in here, because you are now in the preaching from the same pulpit, that venerated spot that Dr. D. James Kennedy filled for so many years, and you're saying that it's possible for a solid biblical pastor to preach the deep things of God's Word, but to still be evangelistic in casting the net, sharing the gospel, and still speak up in the public arena about things like abortion, about things like immigration, about things like homosexuality.

Are you saying it's possible to cover all that? It's not only possible, but the Lord blesses it. I mean, single-handedly, when I think about what happened in our nation in 2020, a deeply divided nation on all types of topics and subjects, and even seeing that division creep into the church, it was our steadfast commitment to God's Word and preaching biblical truths to every area of life that single-handedly not only kept our church together during all of the vision, but led to exponential growth in 2020 and beyond. We are a living proof, that faithfulness to God's Word. Not only does the Lord bless it, but people are hungry for it. People are hungry for biblical truth because it's God's design. It's God's answer for hope in a hopeless world. And so we are continuing the great legacy of casting that net out wide, as you said, through evangelism explosion, and calling people to salvation and repentance, and also calling our congregation to take God's Word and to apply it to every area of life, whether it's gender and sexuality, politics and government, economics, marriage and family. We're seeing people come alive because that's God's promise, that you shall hear the truth and the truth shall set you free.

We're seeing that happen firsthand. Wow. Okay, so that's the voice of Pastor Rob Passienza.

We have a couple minutes before we come to the next break. Pastor Rob, a whole lot swirling out there. I wanted to ask you about your thoughts on should a Christian attend a gay wedding. But before we go there, if folks have a question for you, we've got them on with us this hour on Truth Talk Live on Free for All Friday.

The toll-free number nationwide is 866-34-TRUTH, spelled out, that's 866-348-7884. Last time on this program, Pastor Rob, we talked about illegal immigration, and how the left and the current administration is vilifying anybody that speaks out. Like, even censoring people that say, hey, we should have border controls. It's as though, Pastor Rob, if you're a Christian and you're a pastor, if you say, I'm against illegal immigration, suddenly you're an immigrant hater, a migrant hater. Is that true of you? Do you despise and lo those people? Are you a mean, bitter person? Pastor, talk to me and give us some clarity from a pastoral standpoint.

Absolutely not. In fact, unfortunately, the progressive left will go a step further, and they'll take the Bible and use it against us, those that stand for border control and for a legal pathway for immigrants to become citizens. And they'll use passages like, doesn't Jesus call us to love our neighbor as ourselves? Well, the question is, how does the Bible define a neighbor? The Bible defines a neighbor as your nearer one, or the one who's nearer to you.

Well, my neighbor is the person who's here, that's in my community, that's literally living in my community or in my local neighborhood. And so we really have to think through, when the Bible talks about loving our neighbor well, what are we doing as a society to protect those that are just living around us? And unfortunately, they use our very own word of God, the Scriptures, and they use it as a weapon against us, they call us bigots or people that hate immigrants or hate the stranger.

No, the Bible is all about welcoming the stranger and the foreigner, but also loving our neighbors, making sure that our borders are protected, that our neighborhoods are safe, and that our children grow up in communities and societies where their well-being is not constantly being threatened. Wow, and what about the laws of our land? Like, from a pastor's standpoint, when you see our government—and yesterday we talked about Texas versus our government—in one corner, Texas, the governor of Texas is trying to protect his border from invading people from the Middle East, from Asia, China, Mexico, everywhere. They're coming in, they're flooding in 12,000 a day, and the governor of Texas is protecting. He's trying to enforce the law he's swore to uphold. Our government is suing him rather than helping him.

It's gone all the way to the Supreme Court. Pastor, we're at a break. When we come back, please tell us what you think about that, and then we'll try to tackle this idea of Christians.

Should a Christian ever attend a gay wedding? And the number, if you want to join in, is 866-34-TRUTH on this free for all Friday edition of Truth Talk Live. This is the Truth Network. All right, hello, YouTube, or should I say StuTube, and Facebook and all the folks that are listening to us there. Hello to the Truth Network listeners all over the place and other wonderful affiliates, and we'll have more affiliates coming online the first of the week listening to this program, because we've found a channel, a satellite, that'll carry this program everywhere.

So stations all over the country are welcome to carry Truth Talk Live. That means we can reach more people with the good news that a loving God sent his son to die for you, so you could be saved by believing on his name. As many as received him to them gave he the right to become the sons of God, even those who believe on his name. John 1-12. I'm Stu Everson.

This is Free for All Friday. Pastor Rob Passians is on us. I put you on the hot seat there, Pastor. We've got a caller on the line. Some more folks want to call in on the hot topic of the borders. Should a believer be in favor of enforcing the border laws, or should a believer support the government that's suing the only state that is enforcing the border laws? Now some 30 or 40 governors are supporting the governor of Texas, and it could be an all-out civil war.

It's getting bad and bloody down there. I've got to read this quote to you, Pastor Rob Passiansa, our special guest today on Truth Talk Live, the host of the popular national program, Truths that Transform, and he is with us now. And this is a direct quote from, I believe, Ken Paxson, who is the Attorney General of the state of Texas.

The U.S. Homeland Security, I wish they would stop wasting scarce time and resources suing Texas. I wish they would simply start enforcing the immigration laws Congress already has on the books. Your letter betrays a lack of on-the-ground understanding of what's really going on here. And it's very sad they're attacking Texas, and it's like, you know, Pastor Rob Passiansa, I mean, if the Alamo was all over again, with Jimmy Crockett and all those guys down there trying to protect our country, Davy Crockett and all those guys in Bowie protecting our country, you know, would our government attack them instead of support them? Pastor Rob Passiansa, what do you do when the government won't enforce its own laws, or do you side with the government versus Texas?

What say you, Pastor Rob? No, we have to stand with Texas. We have to stand with any state that enforces and understands the political reality of sovereign nation states and the ability to enforce their borders. As I said before the break, this whole idea that we're not loving our neighbor well by closing the border and forcing an immigrant or a foreigner to go through the proper channels to go towards citizenship is somehow unloving or somehow breaking the second commandment as it's presented by Jesus is absolutely insane. No, loving our neighbor well is loving our nearest one. It's loving our children well. It's loving the people that are in our community. And then for the state of Texas, it's loving the people that have been entrusted to them.

They will have to answer one day before God. They've taken an oath, whether they realize it or not, to protect and defend those that are under their care. And Romans 13 says the role of the government is to promote the common good and restrain evil. Well, that's first and foremost for the people that have elected them, for the people that have put them into office. We have a self-governed state here in America that we govern ourselves and we elect our leaders and we have a constitutional republic.

And all of those ideals were found in the Word of God, in the Judeo-Christian worldview that shaped how our nation would be run. So if we throw all the immigration laws out the window, come in, anyone, anytime, any terrorist. If a whole battalion of Russian paratroopers wants to come in, come on in. We'll feed you. We'll give you a free cell phone. We'll put you up at a nice hotel, feed you three squares while our veterans are sleeping under the bridge.

Come on in, guys. What other laws then, Pastor Rob, do we throw out too? Because these laws came from somewhere. The laws that our government says we're going to ignore that law, don't they come from somewhere? Someone smarter than us came up with these laws to protect us and to protect those on the outside too, right? So the migrants don't get exploited in sex trafficking, in fentanyl, in cartel, etc.

Well, you just mentioned it. Yeah, I mean, these are all the practical realities. So we ignore the laws. We ignore the idea of protecting our borders and protecting our own citizens. And here's the practical reality, the fentanyl crisis, the opioid crisis, the human trafficking crisis. I want to ask the federal government, are we loving our neighbor well? When we're allowing drug cartels to come in, when we're allowing the opioid crisis and the fentanyl crisis to expand, we already have a crisis in this nation.

I think the number is up to 70% of people in between the ages of 18 to 45 are dying in this nation because of drug overdose or poisoning. What do you think this is contributing to this already enormous crisis that's happening in our nation? We are not loving our neighbor well by having open borders. No, we need to close the borders and we need immigrants to go through, we need the foreigner to go in through the proper channels to embrace the American project as it's been established by our founders in order to embrace them well, to assimilate them into our culture and also to love our neighbors and our citizens well here in America. America has always been the opportunity place, arms wide open, come on in. But there's a legal process of vetting folks to come in. And it's already set up called legal immigration. Well, we saw the massive waves of immigrants in the beginning of the 20th century.

Yeah, we're all here because of it. And they'll all point to it that this has always been a nation of opportunity. The immigrants that came over to America and built America into the country that it is today and build off of this incredible legacy from our founders in the earliest 20th century, all came because they embraced the American project. They embraced the ideals of America.

They embraced that this was a nation founded on a Judeo-Christian worldview. You cannot make that argument of what is happening today on the southern border. So it's immoral that our government's breaking its own laws, it's disregarded its law, and now they're suing the one state between us and them and that's really protecting all of us that aren't in Texas.

They're suing Texas. Exactly. It's tragic. So we need to pray for all these folks. Of course these migrants are mission field, and we need to reach them with the gospel. And Christians need to lead that. But there's a bigger thing. What laws will they reject next?

And so the rule of law, very important. Pastor Rob, thanks for weighing in on that. Now we've got another caller on the line. Let's go to Bucksman, an Ohio caller, who wants to talk about Christians attending gay weddings. Go real quick, Bucksman, good to have you on. You've got to go quick because it's a pretty crowded morning or afternoon on Truth Talk Live. Good to have you with us. Thank you, Stu, and thank God for the Truth Network in Gaten, Ohio, 106.5. Thank you, Stu. Hey, God bless you.

Absolutely not. This is what Christians should do, in my opinion, if it was my friend or my child even. I cannot attend weddings, but I would be glad to have you guys over for dinner so I can share the gospel with you and show you the truth from God's Word, how much God loves you.

And hopefully that act would show you how much I, your father or your friend or whatever the case may be in that situation, Stu, loves you. And that's interesting because, Pastor Rob, the people that say, don't go to the gay wedding, which is our caller's position, and if you want to weigh in on this, should a Christian attend a gay wedding, please call us at 866-34-TRUTH. Typically, Bucksman would be accused of, well, you're just homophobic. Well, you hate the gay person. You hate the homosexual.

How dare you? You're a hate monger by not going to the wedding. Pastor Rob, what do you say to our caller?

No, I think he's right on. And what a beautiful balance of not ignoring them all together and pushing them off and inviting them into the home and showing them hospitality for the purpose of loving them and for sharing the gospel. I think we need to remember that God calls homosexuality an abomination. So can we also forget the ancient practice of attending a wedding? You actually showed up to a wedding to affirm what was happening.

You just weren't there for entertainment's sake. You weren't just there to show a nice gesture. You were there to affirm this union that was happening before a husband and a wife. So attending a homosexual marriage or a homosexual celebration just by virtue of you being there, we need to understand we would be affirming what is taking place. We also need to remember the definition of love by the apostle Paul. The apostle Paul specifically says in First Corinthians chapter 13, on the one hand, love is not arrogant or rude. However, it says love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but it rejoices with the truth. And so there's the beautiful balance that we're not arrogant or rude about it, but at the same time, we don't rejoice in wrongdoing. So attending a homosexual marriage is celebrating and rejoicing with wrongdoing. And there's ways that we can still be loving. We don't need to be arrogant. We do not need to be rude.

But at the same time, we do not need to be affirming of something that God condemns. Okay, that's our hot topic today on Free for All Friday, along with a host of other subjects we've been covering this week, from the illegal alien situation to the border wars and all those things. The toll-free number, if you want to weigh in, if you want to take umbrage with our pastor today, Pastor Rob Passienza of Truths, the Transform ministry, he has spoken. What say you, callers? A question?

Maybe you dealt with this in your own family. Our last caller talked about, hey, what if it came down to your own child? You know, it's interesting, and let me give the number. It's 866-34-TRUTH, if you want to weigh in on in. You want to give a quick yes or no, or you want to back it up with a scripture, like the pastor has done very articulately. Should a Christian attend a gay wedding?

866-348-7884. Now, let me double down on this, Pastor, because I'm talking to a guy earlier, who initially is like, of course not, of course not! But then, he said, but wait a second, if it's your grandkid, if it's your own child, your own flesh and blood, you raised it, how could you not go to their wedding?

How cruel, how mean! So, Pastor, respond to that. We're going to put some more meat on the bones here, and we'll take your calls at 866-348-7884 on this free-for-all edition, free-for-all Friday edition of Truth Talk Live. Truth Talk Live! This is the Truth Network. More fun than any human being should have on a Friday afternoon, 70 degrees in North Carolina in the middle of January.

Are you kidding me? I'm Stu Everson, this is Truth Talk Live. It's a free-for-all Friday edition of Truth Talk Live, which means you can call in and talk about anything you want to talk about. We've kind of had our hands full talking about this other stuff, like this crazy border stuff going on. It literally could be a civil war, and we just really need to pray for our governing officials. Pray they'll see the light.

It's systemic corruption when you won't enforce a law that is there to protect you and me as citizens, and protect those coming in from being completely exploited through all this bad stuff happening. And we've talked about that some this week. Go back and listen to yesterday's show. Some great callers yesterday, too, by the way. And then today, though, we're doing free-for-all Friday, talking about that, and should Christians attend gay weddings?

What does that communicate? Is there any upside to that spiritually, biblically? And with us most of the hour today is Pastor Rob Passienza, who's the pastor of the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. And he's the host of a very popular show that Dr. D. James Kennedy launched years ago, decades ago, Truths that Transform. That program is on the air, and we're so glad Pastor Rob is the host and a powerful man of God, a preacher who is not afraid to engage in public policy. I just heard one of your commentaries this morning, Pastor Rob. I just heard you this morning talking about, in one of your Truths that Transform minutes, the cultural minute, you talked about how Christians should run for office, and be redemptive, and be spilling the gospel into public policy.

Do you stand by that statement? If anybody should be running for Congress or political office, it should be Christians. If Paul himself in Romans 13 says, you, speaking of elected officials, are ministers of God. So if there's anybody that should be out in the public square representing people and representing cities and states and nations, it should be the people of God. Because it's the people of God that understand their role in serving a holy God and being accountable to him as they do. So rather than run away from it, Christians should own it.

Christians should be leading the charge and sharing the gospel. And I'm also, by the way, while this show is on air, you hear that background noise. I'll turn my volume down. We're also on YouTube streaming live, which is kind of cool.

And I'm about to share this with a bunch of buddies. You heard that noise when it was me following our own page. Thomas is on the air. Thomas, a caller from Raleigh, North Carolina. If you want to join in about Christians, this border issue, and should a Christian attend a gay wedding?

And I've got a cool article I want to share, too, about that in just a second. 866-34-TRUTH is our toll-free number nationwide to join the conversation on Truth Talk Live. I'm Stu Epperson. Special guest Rob Passianza. Pastor Rob is with us. Thomas, you're on the air on Truth Talk Live. Jump on in.

All right, thank you guys for allowing me to speak. Listen, I'm a Democrat. I'm a Baptist, African American.

And so I would like to say that I certainly, 1,000 percent agree with the comments of gay marriage. I would not. I have that situation I've experienced in my own family.

I have a granddaughter who has articulated that she was desirous of doing just that. And she was told on no uncertain terms that we would not support that. So I'm 100 percent behind what you're saying.

If I may just add that for 130 seconds. What bothers me most about maybe some of these talk shows is that the idea that there's the evangelical Christians are the only ones that have any kind of moral standards as it relates to biblical principles. So, like for instance, this border thing we're talking about. Well, we understand that there's some kind of agreement that's being made, but we know that our candidate or their candidate doesn't want that to happen. So what's more important, border security or the elevation of one individual? So those are the kinds of things that that bother me.

And like wokeness, let's say, this gentleman's from Florida. And so your governor says, we shouldn't tell people about slavery and about things like that. I don't understand how that's a Christian principle to try to lie about history. And so I don't want to belabor the point, but those are the things that really concern me about Christian talk radio sometimes.

Yeah, thanks for sharing that. Yeah, I like how you articulated Thomas. And by the way, I love your name, Thomas. Great, great apostle, man, from the Bible.

Great Bible name. Well, Pastor, what do you say to Thomas? You know, sometimes, and I think to his point, believers can be a little bit dogmatic and maybe a little bit too heavy-handed, you know, when they do engage in the public square. What are your thoughts, Pastor Rob?

No, I appreciate Thomas' comments, and he's right on. We've got to be very careful that our cultural engagement is not driven by political ideology, but by the Word of God. And I think to that point, we can stand for borders that are safe and secure. But on the other hand, this is where the love and compassion of Jesus Christ comes.

Churches, and I know many of them and other Christian nonprofits, are actually rushing to the border to minister to mothers that are separated from their children, and children that are abandoned at the border because they were brought in illegally by, you know, either a cartel or they were brought in just in order to cross the border because of the current state of the laws along the border now. So no, it's both. It's both truth and love.

So the caller is absolutely right. But I think that's where the Bible helps inform our understanding of politics and culture as a whole. And I think the Bible allows us to be able to say, on the one hand, yes, loving our neighbor well is securing our border, but also loving our neighbor well is rushing for the aid of those that are hurting in need. I think what we are saying, at least what I am saying as a member of the Evangelical Church in America, it shouldn't be the state making these decisions or the government making these decisions allow the freedom for people to have their own individual rights protected. And when it comes to caring for those that are hurting, allow the churches to come in and do that. That was the model in the early church.

It wasn't the state caring for the least of these. It was the church caring for the least of these. And so I think when the church can step in and care for the least of these instead of the federal government, everybody wins. And that's ultimately God's design for our society and for our culture.

But I think that's a way in which the caller was addressing that we can operate with both the spirit of truth and grace. Thomas, it would be nice if the church put the welfare system out of business, because the church was doing all that stuff. The church used to do that, didn't they?

The church led the fight against slavery in England, Wilberforce. Or the abortion crisis. I often say if every Christian got into the adoption ministry and supported it or participated in it or was an advocate for it, we'd solve the abortion crisis. But we can't shake our fists at an issue like abortion and not willing to get into the fight and roll up our sleeves and take care of these babies that are being born due to unplanned pregnancy. So the answer is the church. And that's how I think we can get over the divide in this nation, get away from partisan politics and really elevate the conversation. It's really about the kingdom of God. That really needs to inform our politics.

That needs to inform our cultural engagement. Well, Thomas, I appreciate your call, my friend. Absolutely.

Hey, Thomas? Okay, he's gone. I appreciate his call. We're doing a program soon on reparations, and so I want to address some of the racial things he brought up. I think it's real important we address that. And I've got a real interesting guest coming up. It's going to be extremely controversial, but I'm going to need Thomas' help when we do that show in the coming weeks. We have room for maybe one more call at 866-34-TRUTH, Should a Christian Attend a Gay Wedding? Thomas even spoke about a personal situation in his family, which I appreciate his transparency on a national radio show. 866-34-TRUTH, if you want to weigh in on the border, on the pastor with us who believes Christians should engage in politics, but do so biblically, 866-348-7884, if you want to comment on Christians and should a Christian attend a gay wedding. Now, Pastor Rob, I want to get your take on this, and you can disagree all you want, but this is from another author who wrote this.

This is from a gentleman who's a professor, Carl Truman. He says, In short, attending a gay wedding involves remaining silent when one should speak. Now, that's interesting, because if you attend, and they come to that point where you speak now, if you have any issue, if you're truly a Christian who believes the Bible, do you stay silent? And then he says this, It involves a concession on bodily sex that undermines any attempt to hold fast the importance of the biological distinction between men and women, and it involves a proving of a ceremony that makes a mockery of central New Testament teaching of Christ himself. That's a very high price tag for avoiding hurting someone's feelings.

And if Christians still think it's worth paying, the future of the church is bleak indeed. That's Carl Truman, professor of biblical and religious studies at Grove City College. Rob, how do you reply to Carl Truman?

Is he being too heavy-handed, or what are your thoughts about this as we get close to the end of the show here today? No, I mean, he's speaking his conscience, which I know Carl personally, his conscience is bound by the Word of God. And because his conscience is bound by the Word of God, he is seeking to uphold God's design for marriage and family. As I said earlier before the break, attending a wedding is not just attending for mere entertainment's sake. It has always been an ancient practice that when you attended a wedding, attended a ceremony, you were affirming that union by just by virtue of the attendant not even opening your mouth.

Just by attending that wedding, you were affirming what was taking place. And so the question for the Christian is, can your conscience on the one hand be bound by Scripture alone, but on the other hand, attend and affirm what is happening there, which is in completely contrary to God's design for marriage and family? And the answer is, of course not. So this is not about trying to protect your relationship. This is not about not wanting to hurt feelings.

This is, is your conscience truly bound by God and by his Word alone? And if it is, it doesn't make the situation easier. I mean, we're emotional beings and relational beings, but hopefully it makes the situation clearer. I heard a testimony of a young lady whose sister refused to go to her homosexual wedding. And that refusal, she was mad at her at the time, but later on, she came back to the Lord and left that relationship, and she thanked her sister for standing up and doing what was tough at the time. In actual testimony, there's countless of those testimonies. It doesn't mean you don't love them, right? And like our caller said earlier, have them over for dinner.

So I think that's a great word. Pastor Rob, give your website. Folks want to learn more about Truth to Transform, your ministry, that you need to hear your preaching.

They may want to reach out to you. What is that site? Pastor Rob, Passienza, Truth to Transform.

Yeah, absolutely. You can go to our website, djameskennedy.org, and that's where you'll find all of our radio programs, our television programs, and all of our incredible content that is helping to give the church a biblical worldview and a cultural chaos. That's djameskennedy.org. Another program powered by the Truth Network.