Should Christians Try to Legally Stop MOSQUES Being Built in Their City?! | Live Free with Josh Howerton

One of the most frequent questions that I've been getting in emails and DMs from just like Christians in the Dallas area Should Christians organize to legally try to stop a mosque from being built in their city? There's a bigger tension here than you might think Hey guys, welcome to a bonus episode of Live Free very frankly I am always trying to figure out if the time investment that it takes to do these is worth the time investment And so if this is helpful to you and you would like to see more of it If you could especially on YouTube like comment and share very frankly that lets me know that it is actually helpful And that people actually do want to see more of it So if you could do that that'd be awesome without further ado Welcome to a bonus episode of Live Free Let's talk about mosques Alright, let's go for it. Alright, let's uh this we realized that this there was so much here That we needed it in some bonus episode So by the way, I'll keep saying this these bonus episodes. I'm gonna shoot y'all straight. They're extra work and so if If you're like, hey, this is actually helpful. We like it. Keep it coming like comment share especially comment like on YouTube I'm gonna shoot you real straight. It is extra work and it's like I'm always like is it juice worth the squeeze? So that lets us know that it's actually helpful. Alright now Just one of you guys want to set up what precipitated the episode we're about to do We're about to split up the spotter man team. We're about to point that each other Alright, so let me do it. I got it. Okay. Okay. Okay. Alright, I guess I'm going to toss up the picture toss up the picture Trinity So for those who are unaware One of the most frequent questions that I've been getting in emails and DMs from just like Christians in the Dallas area Here's a question Should Christians Organize to legally try to stop a mosque from being built in their city I'm gonna tell you where this episode's kind of going because there's a bigger tension here than you might think Some of you are gonna listen to this and you're immediately gonna be like well, of course not we're religious liberty people Like the whole thing is that Islam is the religion of in position and Christianity is the religion of invitation Of course, of course not, you know first amendment. I'm gonna talk about the here in a second others of you honestly Even as I say it, I'm gonna get to what precipitated this here in a second others of you you're going Uh, duh You're going like you know like me I'm a dumb rural Kentucky kid with a Bible on my lab and we're like kind of against demon worship and You know overtaking cities where my grandkids got to grow up like duh idiots like that some of you so like Let me just start out. There is actually a tension here that I think Christians are trying to figure out what the heck Do I think about this And it precipitated things like this so This I'll read the headline and then Carlos. I'm gonna volunteer you to explain what precipitated Yeah, of course I love to okay, so this what happened in McKinney which we may or may not have a campus coming in McKinney soon You know may or may not Recently literally has become national news Which has precipitated in people asking this question. Here's what it is now here's how it was framed by a very Sort of progressive secular outlet how quote anti-Sharia that's in scare quotes It's like mocking the people who said that crusaders another word. That's a bit of a scare word. Yeah, turn to city council meeting into pure chaos The subtitle city council members unanimously approved the expansion of a nearly 30 year old mosque over the Yeah, that's mostly true over the objections of angry residents riled up by right wing messaging Dada that's how it's framed now Carlos you want to give the court? Do you want me to go to the clip that explains it? No, no go ahead. You keep going Bro freaking grog is not loading He was like I mean I could try but you know Man, that's you know, that's how right all my sermons Not true. That is Yeah, it's definitely not just a joke. Okay, actually. I'll just hear it So this is this is CBS news. I'm not gonna play a whole thing. Here's just a quick setup That's a great setup. Yeah, start McKinney tonight. This is where neighbors argued tonight full-throated over plans to build a new mosque And it all kicked off when he was congressman chimed in you heard him at the top there the property as it's Proposed would sit right near Virginia Parkway and crutch your crossing the McKinney Islamic association says it wants to build a dedicated prayer area Jim classrooms cafeteria in a community space the group wants to develop the new property to accommodate their growing community They say now boss. So that I mean, that's a good general over you know, wait, Trinney I'm gonna ask you to click forward here in a second so just stay right there. So what's happening? What happened that became national like mega-viral You know very much national news. I'm gonna let you just honestly click to like wherever you want about three quarters of the way through the video Because I just want to show people how contentious it became yeah 5.6 acres three buildings. It was gonna be a mosque Clot it is gonna be mosque classrooms gymnasium at this city council meeting Which you're gonna see in about 30 seconds became extremely contentious and let me just get this out there There were some Christians there who did not conduct themselves like disciples of Jesus Christ Let me just get that out there. I'll watch some of this stuff and I'm like hey man That is not that's not team that's not team Jesus character Even if you had convictions that you felt were on the on the right way. Yeah, it ended up there were over a hundred Speakers at the thing it lasted for four hours And the background on it is this actually just like I don't know like right there to do it right there Now really quick pause pop up a boss. You're gonna see a video Sorry, you're gonna see a video look at the dude in the front row left white shirt long hair Yeah, I'm gonna play a video this guy that guy is the thing that went like the most mega viral that guy came to this meeting because he is an Iranian Christian that escaped some you know Islamic leadership in his home country And what he said it honestly cush it shook folks So watch just watch that guy as this guy this talking I'll watch this whole clip the guy that's talking is actually speaking in favor of the of the proposal now just like a couple seconds. We need to play the whole thing Here's a McKinney Miss Islamic Association Sharia is understood as a personal religious framework that guides prayer fasting a lot charity marriage family life from personal What's the Iranian guy? Every culture Have its extremists and radicals and they should be condemned wherever they exist But that is not who we're talking about. That's no you can kind of give vibe like got a little rowdy And let me to say we just covered in a last episode. I do just want to gently say to Christians We are commanded in the book of second Timothy to quote correct opponents with gentleness and respect and to be people who conduct ourselves with a spirit of power and of love and of self-control So that's just a gentle thing. Yeah, okay now the reason if you're not from Texas like some people are Anyone or why they do an episode about this if you're not from Texas because of significant Muslim immigration somebody look up You Is Go ahead Estimated number of of immigrants from Islamic countries like I don't know do like the last 20 years in the DFW area Good luck with that. I got the reason that this is becoming a big thing especially in Dallas go and toss that picture up I've showed this on the Raman Ebrahim episode which was fascinating The reason it's becoming a thing is all that is that's the number of new mosques in the Dallas area From what I understand those are just the ones that have been constructed or renovated in the last three years So it's becoming like a Thing there it's actually two Church Church buildings that once were a significant churches that have been purchased and then have become a so This is resulting in a bunch of people asking a bunch of questions. What'd you got? Yeah, so population estimates There's technically no official senses regarding this but this is what data says 2000 roughly 15,000 people in the DFW area in 2015 and the years 2000 and in 2010 400,000 2020 300,000 current range between 340,000 and 500,000 depending on the source now Let me put that in perspective So let's say it's half a million yeah to put that in perspective the total population total estimated population of the DFW area 7 million so that's one out of every 14 people if my math is correct and my mom's math teacher So oh, oh, I got it right Okay, so here's the question The Christians that showed up at that meeting did they do the right thing or did they do? Posture aside, yeah, the question we're trying to answer is did they do the right thing or did they do the wrong thing? now I'm an idea of spot on the land and I'm not any I know that wherever that is will be a smidge controversial So cannot cannot just take a few minutes and kind of walk through some of the tensions Do you guys want to set up any of the other tensions that you think are here? Let's you do it first now there's but you hit the tension well in terms of man There's religious liberty and that's not just because of obviously first amendment Like again, this is a long-standing Christian conviction like you said we're a faith that does not impose we invite and so there's that stuff there But then also again, I think the posture is man. We've seen in addition to the fact that we should pose any kind of demonic worship or any kind of false worship. We have seen now thousands of years of history what happens when Muslims do eventually become the majority of a nation because they then do impose. And so I also see this, not just this sense of like, man, should we take a stand because we want to stand against false worship, but also just practically and strategically for our kids and our grandkids and great-grandkids, future and so on and so forth. So there's some tensions here and it's how do we resolve tensions? Yeah, Professor Josh, you also talked about the difference between the role of the individual and the role of government. This is going to be a huge thing right here, what you just said. But then what we're talking about right now, it feels like there's a little bit of also like an overlap between those two roles. And so this is where the tension happens is like, well, you know, should Christians in some ways leverage government to help, in this case, stop the building of or the expansion of these mosques or not because of what you're about to explain. Yeah, let me just set this up and let me start, I'm going to start working through some concepts. And let me just say, if you're a Christian, whether you like it or not, you are going to have to learn to think about things like this in the next 20 years. Yes. You are no longer afforded the luxury of not having an answer to this question. It's interesting, dude. I was talking to, I won't say his name because I don't have permission. But I was talking, texting with one of the, honestly, one of the most prominent pastors in America in the last, let's say, 20 years last night. And he was saying to me, he's like, hey man, when I first started doing this thing 30 years ago, pastors weren't, they didn't even know really how to preach a sermon about somebody that struggle with same sex attraction or how do I go to a gay way? They didn't even know. Nobody, that thing wasn't a thing. And he said, man, when I started doing my thing in the pulpit, he was like, what I realized was pastors were answering questions nobody was asking anymore. And they weren't prepared to answer the questions everybody was asking now. And honestly, man, I kind of feel like we're at a juncture in our culture where there's some new questions getting thrown at you. You do not have the luxury of not having an answer to these questions anymore. So let me start walking through these things. OK, number one, we're going to begin here with a legal question on this. And I did more research for this little bonus episode than probably was healthy. I just got interested. First of all, principle, the question isn't only what is legal for a Christian when they're evaluating things. I will point this out, both slavery and abortion via Roe v Wade federally were legal, free, enormous parts of our nation's history. Christians did not just sit around and go, well, you know what? Give it to Caesar, what Caesar's, Semita governing authority. No, no. Christians wisely went, that's an unjust and ungodly law. Martin Luther King Jr., by the way, in the letter of his letters from Birmingham jail, he specifically correctly points out that laws are only valid to the degree that they reflect the laws of God. So, you know, with Roe v Wade and slavery, we worked for 50 years to overcome what was federally legal, and we fought a war to overcome what was federally legal. So for Christians, the question is not only what is legal. Now, anything there? We good? Perfect. Okay, you're in a spot, you guys interject when you look at it. Now, here's the misconception. What makes this legal, what goes into this? So here's the misconceptions. What some people would say is, man, Josh, this is United States of America. We have the First Amendment, which I'm going to read here in a second, and in America, we believe in religious liberty, which means we treat all religions equally. Let me just go ahead and get this out, and this is where people would disagree with me, and they can be wrong. That is not what the First Amendment originally was intended to say. So let me read this to you. This is the First Amendment. So what I'm doing right now is I'm trying to logically walk you through the progression of thought that leads to an intelligent Christian answer to this question. Okay. The First Amendment reads this. It says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Okay. Now, the misconception is, oh, hey, Josh, that means in America, we have to treat all religions equally with no favorites. Okay. Now, if you want a deep dive on this, you need to go listen to the two episodes with Tim Barton. The concept of the United States government treating all world religions equally with no favorites. My brother in Christ, that has simply a historical. It's like not a thing. And we could spend entire episodes just on this. I'll just rapid fire some things. These are after the establishment of the First Amendment. 11 of the 13 states in the original 13 colonies had official state churches. 11 of the 13. I'm just going to, I'll just do this for this is just fun for me. For instance, Delaware, Delaware state constitution. I'm going to read it to you. Every person who shall be chosen a member of either house or appointed to any office or place of trust, shall make and subscribe the following declaration, but this will blow your mind. I, name, do profess faith in God the Father and in Jesus Christ his only son. And the Holy Ghost, one God blessed forever. And I do acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of the old and new testament to be given by divine inspiration. So in order to hold public office in Delaware, you had to do that. Here's Pennsylvania, and I won't belabor this. To hold public office, you had to swear, I do believe in one God, the creator and governor of the universe, the rewarder of the good, and the punisher of the wicked. And I acknowledge the scriptures of the old and new testaments to be given by divine inspiration. By the way, Benjamin Franklin helped write that. I'll just say that. You got stuff like what I'm trying to do here in just a quick riff is help a Christian listener understand. The government has all caps not historically interpreted the first amendment to mean we treat all religions equally. It has not done that. Up until, dude, I think it was the mid 1900s, or actually I think this actually went up past World War II. We had blasphemy laws on the books that prosecuted people for blasphemy against Jesus Christ. They did not prosecute people for blasphemy against any God for Jesus Christ. We had what, like, bro, like some of us, like we were alive when some of this stuff happened to our parents. There were what's called blue laws. You know what blue laws, Paul? It's not alcohol. Blue law. Well, but Sabbath laws. No, no, there were obviously we still have pro-heasling laws like Paul. Hold on, hold on. I just want to take a moment where I knew the answer to something about US history that Paul, I don't like it. Shaji Palsy Cunningham didn't. I know I'll go ahead. Keep on. Brock, we're awkward and a little faster. No! Bro, I did it. You're just from Park Jogan. Oh, I'm joking. I'm God. Okay. Keep going. There were laws on the book still, actually, not when I was a labo. Our parents, 1961, legally prohibiting, and do you not think some of these things, residual things are still around for this. Legally prohibiting people from being open on the Christian Sabbath in our nation. The supreme, bro, this is the one that blows people's minds. I love telling people this. It blows their minds. The Supreme Court has ruled multiple times on the basis of the United States, quote, "being a Christian nation." If you want to fund little Google, go Google the Holy Trinity versus the United States. This is the Supreme Court case. And they literally base their ruling on the sentence, "This is a Christian nation." The Supreme Court of the United States did that. We could do this all day. In the Treaty of Paris that established the United States as a nation, that was our treaty with the British, the Treaty of Paris literally begins in the name of the most holy and undivided Trinity, the United States government, Commission Christian Missionaries, to Native American tribes, Thomas Jefferson's school board after the establishment of the First Amendment, chose the Bible and Isaac Watts Himmler as the primary context they would use to teach kids how to reach. So anyway, all I'm pointing out is, the First Amendment was not, what are you smelling? - No, I'm learning. - All right, thanks. - That was a good stuff, bro. - That was good. - The First Amendment was, that's not what it meant. - Yeah. - So here's my point. The key to understanding, again, all this, I'm trying to walk you through this as a Christian. How should I understand legally and biblically? How do I answer this question? Should Christians legally oppose mosby construction? Okay. (clears throat) The First Amendment reads this. The First Word is, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment or religion." That amendment is about jurisdiction. Okay, here's what's important. It does not say, "The state of Texas shall make no law respecting an establishment or religion." It does not say, "The city of McKinney shall make no law respecting the establishment or religion." Okay, so if it kind of you zoom out, here's how it's been summarized. The founders of our nation, they wanted religious tolerance for all, but religious preference for Christianity. It was just sort of like the background assumption. That why are there laws about the Christian Sabbath and why are there blasphemy laws about Jesus Christ and why is the United States Supreme Court saying, "This is a Christian nation." What religious tolerance for all, but a generalized religious preference for like, "Hey man, it's like kind of obvious. Look around. This is kind of a Christian nation. It's kind of what they're doing." Now, all of that changed in 1947. Okay, now I don't have time to go into the details of this. us. By the way, in what I'm getting ready to say, dude, this is not, we're not trying to get people accused of getting political. We're just trying to ask biblical questions and we should apply the whole word of God to the whole world. And that includes the civic realm, right? Okay. What I'm getting ready to explain to you is why when people roll their eyes at you as a Christian for like caring about elections because presidents appoint Supreme Court justices, if somebody's ever rolled their eyes at you for that, what I'm getting ready to explain should make you very firm in your conviction that you're thinking correctly. All right. So until 1947, people generally understood, in general, understand correctly, that the first amendment was just like, hey man, we don't want to establish a national church. We seceded, it's probably the wrong word, from Britain because we didn't want a state church and we didn't want like Presbyterians fighting wars against Baptists. Like, hey, the nine of the 13 states have state churches. We don't want Delaware to start fighting Pennsylvania as like an Anglican versus Presbyterian thing. And I don't know if those were, but you get what I'm saying. All right. Now, there was a court case in 1947 called Everson versus the Board of Education. The whole, I read, I became a total nerd this week and read all about this. There was like a deal where in the state of New Jersey, they were using state money to help transport kids both to public schools and Catholic schools. And some guy who, you know, just had a sideways thing. He like sued the government like, I don't want my tax money. You know, establish them in a religion or tax money shouldn't be gone to get kids to Catholic schools. And basically what they did is the Supreme Court 1947. By the way, there was a Democratic president, put a party. I'm talking about party. FDR, FDR did some good, awesome things. How winning World War II, that's kind of a big win. Got like big fan of that. But then, hey, there's some things that maybe Warren is awesome. Hey, for US history buffs, the new deal thing like radically escalated welfare state. FDR appointed from what I understand understand seven of the nine, this one president appointed seven of the nine Supreme Court justices that did the everson versus Board of Education thing. Okay. Now, what that Supreme Court did is in this ruling, they reent for the first time in American history. They reinterpreted what the First Amendment meant. And they reinterpreted the jurist's diction of where the First Amendment applied. So number one, they reinterpreted the First Amendment to mean now, from now on, we're going to treat all world religions equally. And the government will have no favoritism toward any world government. Now, if you're a Christian, I'm just going to speak in a very blunt way. What that now means is that you're what they thought they meant is that your government is now legally required to treat religions of demons that are very, very bad for people in societies. In the same way that it treats the true religion inspired by the Holy Spirit that is very good for people in societies. And then it also reinterpreted the jurist's diction and it applied the First Amendment to every, basically to every level of jurisprudence in America. So it applied it to states and even local governments. Now, that one thing, dude, shaped the religious future of America more than almost anything in US history. Now, let me pause any thoughts or questions here. What did you do to the last year? 1947. 1947. 1947. Okay. We good stuff. This is a small detail to help people even understand of like what's going on in McKinney and other places because really this, that is about zoning. It's about zoning. And so the idea is, it's like not that they're going to say you can't worship, but specifically where you can build what things. And so there's this thing I looked it up earlier called the religious, land use and institutionalized persons act way too long of a thing. They got a short in these kinds of like it's yeah, it's abbreviated Relupa or something like that. Basically, the law of the prohibits local governments from imposing land use regulations that substantially burden religious exercise or treat one religious group less favor. Bingo. All that stems from 1947 ever sin. Exactly. So before 1947, people don't, people would have generally been like, yeah, of course, of course, the state can decide because the concern because the concern McKinney, like maybe right. So in terms of legally, you'll get to this here in a bit is they're like, well, hey, if we decide against them and people have made it simply because they're Muslims, we will get sued for that. We'll probably lose. We might as well prove it. That's what I just wanted to kind of give that context of why this is an issue in McKinney and other places. That's correct. Yeah. That's a, that's exactly right. I'll actually I'll go ahead and pull my punch. Now, you're, as you're going to see, I'm going to have a little more to say, but I'm going to go ahead and pull my punch. And I do from what I understand, there was probably not any currently legal grounds by which somebody could keep that from happening. So I'm just going to say that now. Hence the seven to no. Yeah, it was a seven to seven zero vote. And you even had city council members from what I understand saying things after we're like, guys, like, I'm not sure that's what I wanted, but I have to follow the laws that I'm supposed to, you know, do that kind of thing. All right. Now, so there's a legal question. But then there's the second question that Christian has is the biblical question like what should we want? Okay. I do this is where I'm just going to start pointing out some things that are a little uncomfortable for like a 21st century American who has never lived under anything other than radical pluralism. We treat every religion the same way religions that worship demons and religions that worship Jesus and are actually true, you know. So let me point a couple things out. It is interesting to me that in the Old Testament, God grades kings by the buildings they permit. I'll just point this out. You have Asa, Jehovah's the fat, Joach, Amaziah, Azaraya, and Jotham, who it specifically says this, they did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but the high places were not taken away. God specifically judges and disapproves how those kings governed on the basis of Hey man, you allowed the construction of things that facilitated the worship of false gods in the nation. Not awesome. God goes not awesome. Now I'll take take it a step further now. I'm going to have a counterpoint here in a second. So just track with me. Also, you got two kings. In fact, the only two kings, if I remember right, that essentially like Hey dude, they crushed it where God goes, they crushed it. Hezekiah and Josiah. And what is specifically mentioned as one of the reasons God goes, they crushed it. They quote removed the high places. In other words, they made sure that the worship of false gods was not facilitated in the nation. Okay. Now let me say one last thing. And again, dude, pastors don't have to try to be controversial. They just got to read Bible verses. And this is one of those. But let me just let me just if you're a Christian, I just want to encourage you with something. You need to decide in your heart, you will never apologize from something God says in his word. Yes. You're not embarrassed of it. So I'm not embarrassed. I am not embarrassed. You just need to decide that in your heart. A third thing that kind of goes into this is we need to speak plainly from the New Testament. Other religions are demon worship. I'll just read the Bible verse. Okay. In fact, let me say it like this. Here's what sometimes this will kind of shock people. If you were to ask me, Hey, Josh, of the 18,000 different gods people in the world claim that there are, which one do you believe in? Honestly, my answer as a Christian is all of them, all of them. Because check this out, whatever God creates, Satan counterfeits. God is a Holy Spirit and Satan counterfeits. God's Holy Spirit with thousands of unholy spirits. The Bible calls demons. Now check this out. First Corinthians 10 specifically says that the gods of other religions are absolutely real. They're really demons. This is first Corinthians 10, 20. What pagans sacrifice, they offer to demons and not to God. It's like, Hey, dude, you may need to rearrange some emotional furniture in your heart and in your mind. That's just what the Bible says. Yeah. And we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities powers and spiritual forces of evil in high places. Okay. Now anything here, how am I doing? All right. Now, let me give a counterpoint. There is a distinction between I think there is a distinction. There is one view that would disagree with this between what God says to the nation of Judah in Israel and the kings and the Old Testament and what he might say to the city of McKinney or the United States today. And it's that Judah in Israel were a covenant nation in a way that we are not a covenant nation. Okay. So for instance, in Judah and Israel in the Old Testament, you had God given a God given civil law, land, you had a priesthood that was intertwined with the God formed the nation, created the nation. And so this gets into we talked about this last episode. That's thinking that this gets into old covenant and new covenant discontinuity. How some people have said this now, if you're a Christian, keep your thinking cap on and track with me. This this is where like theology becomes actually important right here. Okay. Some people say I like this. So say, hey man, Old Covenant, New Covenant discontinuity. In the Old Covenant, God's people were one people in one nation state. In the new covenant, God's people are, first Peter uses the motif of exiles and there's stuff you can say about that that are scattered among every tribe tongue, national language. There's a difference. There's a difference, okay? Now this gets into the, so now you're kind of getting into the deep end of the pool. This gets into the question, how should new covenant Christians think that old covenant laws and commands, for instance, that forbid things like idle worship happening in nations. How should we think about whether or not or how those laws should apply in nations in the new covenant era? Yep, okay. Now, I'll just, for our Presbyterian friends, I'll just go ahead and get to this. The wet, for instance, I'm going to quote the Westminster confession. We're going to be nerdy. Ooh, we're going to be nerdy here for a second. But almost everyone, besides there's a theological position. Actually, go ahead and toss that chart up here, Trinity. These are the five different kind of generalized positions. Starts with something called theonomy. Theonomy is, and basically what I have right here is the theological camp, the core claim of the summary of the claim of the theological camp, and then how it would apply to, should a nation allow the construction of a mosque? That's great, that's helpful. All right, so what you got is, under the, theonomy is kind of the view, by the way, theos is god, nomos law. So it's basically just, hey, all of god's old testament laws are still in, even the civil law, are still in perfect effect under the new covenant era. So obviously they would go, well, no, man, like the god forbade, you know, the worship of false gods, theon ancient Israel, and all those laws still apply exactly the same today. It actually should be a civil crime. And then there's kind of like a, a spectrum you got here. You got classical Protestant, Protestant two kingdoms, that goes all the way back to Augustin, Baptist Catholic, and then Catholic integral, all this stuff. So for listeners or if you're listening, I encourage you to go over to YouTube. This is actually like a really helpful study, because I'm just going to tell you right now, this question is this theological question right here, in my opinion, is going to become one of the most pressing issues for the church in America in the next 20 years. So let me just say this is something on which you are not going to have the luxury of not having an opinion on. I'm just going to get, get that out there now. What, even if you do not fall in the what's called the theonomic camp, now let me just, again, I'm going to keep caviarting this. I am personally still getting my head around this stuff. I tell you how I'm thinking about this right now, I am personally still getting my head around this stuff. I've been for the last two years, been doing as much reading as I can to get my head around it. I'm not there yet, so I'm figuring it out with you. But what I will say is even if you don't fall in what's called the theonomic camp, old covenant laws applied under new covenant era to all nations. What the Westminster Confession says and the Westminster Confession is not theonomic from what I understand. I'm going to read it. It says, man, even if we wouldn't take the Old Testament civic laws and apply them in new covenant nations, we should still learn from the wisdom of the way that God gave civic laws because God's probably better at building a country than you. That's kind of, that's like the dumb Kentucky kid version of the Westminster Confession. I'm just going to read it to you. To them also, as a body politic, this is fun. He gave sundry. Ooh. That means many in like Old English. He gave sundry judicial laws which expired together with the state of that people that's talking about old covenant, new covenant, discontinuity, not obliging any other now. So in other words, those civic laws are not binding on nations in the new covenant era. This is Westminster Confession. But watch this. Then it says, further than the general equity thereof may require. And when it says general equity, again, I'm just dumb rural Kentucky kidding this review. What it means is, hey, God's probably smarter at setting up countries than you. And we probably ought to learn from even his civic laws in how Christian, this is, we're being theologically nerdy for a second. Especially the reform tradition, they'll talk about the civil magistrate. That's what that just means. It's about here that I'm like, I know a camp here coming. I know. I'm like, can you just say like governor? Somebody just in the government road, just talk normal. Talk normal. So that's what it's so it's saying, hey, man, if you're a Christian in government, you ought to still be open in your Bible and reading how God established the nation and trying to glean wisdom, which oh, by the way, let me just say this, the founders of our country quoted the book of Deuteronomy in their reasoning for a lot of the things they set up in our country more than any other source combined. What they were doing is gleaning from the quote, general equity of the way that God established his nation in the Old Testament. Okay. Is it, or we haven't fun or is this, or we're boring the heck out of everybody. What do we do? We're going to be, we're going to be, we're going to be, we're going to be, we're going to be, they're just, they're at least, at the very least they're lying to me in a curation way. All right. Now, I'm just telling you, listen, bro, I'm nerding out of this stuff because I'm telling you, dude, I'm telling you, these are the questions. People are going to be asking our country for the next 20 years. And real quick on this, help like two things and then keep going. It's number one, when you see these different views when we're talking about, part of this is to help people understand that there isn't only one Christian perspective on this answer. Because again, some people think, oh, this is obvious. Like, hey, there's multiple camps and it's not that they're not reading the Bible. It's that they could be reading it differently. So part of this is if we're going to have better conversation amongst Christians, we got to understand that there's different perspectives on this. They're like, there's very big different perspectives on this. Other than the other thing is really what we're doing is going back to what we said at the beginning is we're trying to struggle with these tensions of these competing tensions. And basically what you're working as through is these are the different tensions, but we're going to eventually get to a place of, hey, cut and dry. Here's some things that we'd say. I just wanted to connect those dots for people. Keep going. Thank you. Okay. Now, I'll say one other thing I'm going to give you another chart. Oh, another one. I got a chart. Come on. I got a chart, bro. Chassis, Paul, see you right now. Oh, man. All right. For instance, people have pointed this out. Another thing, Paul or Carlos alluded to this in the beginning of the episode. I'll be very honest with you. I'm going to cut to the chase. I'm going to go to the end and then come back to the middle here in a second. One thing, Christians are really, really bad. I'll be honest, this is one reason I think people like listening to live free. One thing Christians have become extremely terrible at is thinking in categories. And what I mean is, and you hear, if you listen to pod, you hear say this a lot, we are repeating for, we're doing repetition for emphasis, not repetition out of laziness. These are the questions Christians are going to be wrestling with in our country for the next 20 years. If you don't figure this next thing out, you're not going to know how to think about all the big questions in the next 20 years. It's called chaperian sphere sovereignty. We say this consistently, but let me apply it to this issue. God has created, so there's individual Christians. Like what are we supposed to do as disciples? But then what the Bible teaches is that God has established three institutions, each with their own unique roles. And that when those things stay in their lane and function in God-given ways, that results in the blessing and flourishing of the world and society. The three institutions are the family, the church, and the state. Now let me apply this to this, like the Muslim Islam mosque thing. What some Christians do is they'll take the role of the individual and the church, which oh, by the way, that's the great commission. Our primary job is to share Jesus Christ, the love of Jesus Christ with everybody everywhere. Send missionaries all over the place. There's a reason life points given away, like eight million bucks a year on mission. We are all in on the gospel to the nations. I don't care who you are, dude. You worship in a demon. I want you to worship Jesus Christ. We love you. I want to see you in heaven forever. So as a Christian and a church, that's our main role. Now obviously the church does have a role as quote, the pillar and buttress of truth in society. I'm talking about primarily. We're being super-theologically nerdy. Just stay with us. Now the role of the state, Romans 13 is again, it's to, hey, we need to reward the good and punish the evil. Then the obvious question is, well, who gets to define good and evil? God does. Romans 13 talks about how the state quote, bears the sword as the servant of God. So there's a lot we could go in here. What I'm saying is, here's what some Christians do. Now let me just don't do this. And then I'm going to keep going. And some Christians do is like, man, these horrible people who would ever think about trying to oppose a mosque being built through legal means, were supposed to be about evangelism. So that's the only thing Christians should ever think about is just evangelism. Well, actually, no, it's actually not true. As Christians and as a church, we should go, what's the role of a Christian and a church of evangelism? Yes. And we're also, we have to become, stop being children in our thinking and become mature in our thinking process. We also have to wisely ask the question, what is the role of the state? So what you have is you have some Christians who only think about the role of the individual in the church and they're like evangelism, nothing else matters. Look at these horrible Christians. Then you have other Christians who are more like politically and culturally minded. And the only thing they think about is, hey, man, Islamification and, hey, what does the First Amendment actually mean? The general equity, the Old Testament, is, hey, maybe demon worship spreading in our country isn't great for our country. And what about migration policies? And that's the only thing. I think of, and let me shoot you really straight, those Christians, they never develop the heart of Jesus Christ for the salvation of Muslim people. They become crusty, angry, heart, it's like they just don't got it. So what I would say if you're a Christian, you're listening, don't, like, stop being children in your thinking. Let's grow up, be mature. You can't let one lane of the spheres eat all of your thinking. Does that make sense? - It's something that's basically like, you can ask two questions or I go at two things at once. I can both say as a Christian, how do I slow or prevent the Islamification of my society as I also try to make disciples of Muslims? - Yes. - It does not have to be an either or. In fact, it can't be. It has to be a both thing. Pretty much what you're saying. - 100%. - That's what I mean. It's like, hey, we've got to do both. We've got to do both. - Not only can you, you are required by Jesus Christ to do so. - 100%. - I think on both points. - 100%. - On both points. So you got stuff like this, let me keep you on. A couple of Bible observations people have made. For instance, in Acts 17, I've actually stood where Paul was when he said this. Acts 17, it's a Mars Hill area opagus. That's stinking cool, man. Bro, you gotta go. Y'all gotta see this. - What are you doing? - Lord willing, you're gonna make it two and a half weeks. It says, he looks out at Athens and it's really awesome to you because you're on the area opagus and you can literally see the Parthenon. And I think, I took an eye fund. I think you can see 22 places where there would have been statues to demonic false gods from where he was standing and it says Paul's spirit was provoked with him as he saw the city was full of idols. Now note this, Paul's response to that moment was share Christ and plant churches. - Yeah. - That's important. - And that provoked, it literally means he was angry. - Angry. - He was angry. - Angry, but that's his flinch. - His flinch is, okay, share Christ, plant churches. Now, here's the counterpoint. Counterpoint is, well, how you gonna ask what a Christian ruler's duty is if there is no Christian ruler? So that's fair, that's fair, okay. Now, let me get down, let me start getting down to brass tax and then we can start landing on this episode and everybody can be mad at us. - Everybody, everybody. - Everybody's gonna laugh at you. - All right, so here, if I start applying this whole thing, actually let me say one last thing and then I'm gonna start applying it. So in a second training, I'm gonna call for that last chart and then I'm gonna show some stuff. This exact same thing that happened in McKinney, the opposite of it, actually, let me show the chart first. (laughing) Okay, here's the chart and here's where I'm like, right now, I'm figuring this out at the same time as you. I reserve the right to kinda go like, hey man, I'm gonna keep studying and try to figure it out. Here's where I land, okay. Actions that Christians should take. Number one, we have to be honest that Islam is false. Our goal is to share Christ with Muslims, warn people, hey man, be reconciled to God. Yep, that's your duty. Every Christian, everywhere I should do that, we gotta do name Sherik Khan that I've been texting with. He's asking, how you pronounce the name right? - Yeah, I'm sorry. - Yeah, thanks. Former Muslim dude in the DFW area, how to, seems awesome. - I really, I'll meet him next week. - Yeah, I did. Oh really? All right, we may need to have him on at some point. But that's this thing. Because I hate dude, I was converted to Christ out of Islam. Hey bro, let's get to gospel these people. All right, yep, all of us. Number two, say publicly that a mosque harms your city. And I gotta be honest, if you're a Christian who actually, like hey bro, just for, there's a lot of Christians who they say they believe this stuff, but at the emotional level, you're like, no you don't. - Hmm. - Like if you actually believe that Islam is the worship of demons, and that it's bad for people and societies. In one sense, with obviously there's some caveats you gotta bring in some other thoughts too. In one sense, opposing the, like you said, the Islamification of a society, if nothing else, that is a love your neighbor issue. - Yes. - It is not good for people and societies. So say publicly that hey bro, this is not good for our city. Yeah, you should probably be honest about that. All right, number three. - Also, Josh, I would say false religion is not morally neutral. Like at some point, ideas of consequences, we'll say this often, right? There's a reason why, again, this is not just a Christianity, it's not just a religion of like intellectual exercise. Like it flows out in your behavior. Same thing applies to a different religion that believes something completely different. At some point, that's gonna affect how men engage with women. That's gonna affect how families operate. That's gonna affect society, work. And hence Islam being a religion also, that at some point, it's not a private, if at its core, if you go back to the Quran, if you go back to Muhammad, at its core is not just a private devotion, hide at home, it's something that pervades every single aspect of society. So go ahead. - Yes, do it. Hang on, I'm gonna try to find something here in a second. Dang, and I price saved it too long ago. All right, now I wanna do it, find it. Yeah, in fact, let me point this out to what Carlos just said. Now, what we're trying to do is what is the intersection of faith and politics of theology and nation? Now, I'll just point out to double click on what Carlos just said. Okay, so what's the first line say? It says, "All men are created equal and endowed by their creator." We hold these truths to be self-evident, by their creator with certain in allee, but in allee and abl rights. Okay, great, awesome, awesome, awesome. But watch this, you can't just stop there. If everybody's endowed by their creator with certain in allee and abl rights, two questions arise. There's a creator, what's his name? And then number two, depending on your answer to that question, that leads to your answer to the question, which rights? Yes. I'm gonna shoot you really straight. - But the question? - Like in, if his name is Jesus Christ, as God, there's a specific, for instance, we're getting brass tacks. There's a specific definition of marriage that Jesus Christ has elucidated. Okay? If his name is Allah, well, you can have up to four lives. So you start getting, hey man, if there's a creator, what's his name? And his name is gonna have implications for what you believe are the quote certain in allee, abl rights that are endowed to people in a society. Yeah, all right. Now, so number three, should a Christian object at a hearing on, watch this, this is important. Oh, on land grounds, traffic drainage parking. I'm gonna get to this here in a second, where I'm at is I believe that it is appropriate, a Christian with good and good conscience could, and I'm actually gonna tell you how here in a second. That's what may actually get me in trouble, that a Christian can in good conscience oppose legally opposed the construction of a mosque based on things like land ground, traffic, drainage, parking, zoning issues. I believe a Christian can do that in good conscience. Yes, the law permits this. But here's the question number four. And this is the strategic mistake. A lot of people probably made a McKinney. Number four, could a Christian ask the council to refuse it because it is a mosque? No, you can't. That's illegal now and you're gonna lose. All you did was lose passionately. You just, that's right. (laughing) You lost in a blazing glory. You have a great ride. I'm a big fan of winning. I like winning. Me too. Now, let me just point this out. And here's why I say this. In my, again, I've got way in over my head. It's got super interested in all this this week. This exact same thing happened in reverse in January, 2026, so this year in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Literally the exact same thing happened and the city council did the opposite. So exact same thing happened. A bunch of people show up and they're like, "Hey, we don't want a mosque in our city. We don't want to re-law in our city." And the city council there refused the mosque four to one. On the basis of, I came out in emails. On the basis of, is a mosque. The Department of Justice, open investigation. By the way, that's the Trump administration. The White House Faith Office, who is generally doing really good work. Open investigation. And then the Islamic Society of Tulsa sued and they're almost certainly gonna lose. Okay. So here's the point. It's like, "Hey man, we need to be both wise as serpents and innocent as dobs." - Did they oppose it on the legal ground of zoning? - If I understand correctly, they were requesting a zoning change. If I understand it correctly. And the city council, if memory serves, they cited with the people against the mosque. But they did it. It came out in emails. On the basis of Islam. - It being a mosque. - Islam. You know, what we've seen Islam do in other nations, that kind of thing. And right now, let me just point this out again. Right now, because of the Supreme Court's interpretation of Evertson in 1947, I'm gonna keep emphasizing this. Like, "Bros Supreme Court matters for the societal inheritance you will hand your children and grandchildren." It matters. Because of the interpretation, reinterpretation of First Amendment in 1947. Right now, there's no legal grounds for somebody to oppose something simply on the basis of, to mosque. Can't do it. Now, you got anything else to say here? - No. - Okay. - Okay. Now number five, let me just point this out. Should Christians work on immigration policy? And again, I'll just point this out. Yeah, you should. And again, people, you can, this is one of the things that I obviously get blasted for online sometimes. But hey man, that stuff matters. It matters. Because again, via mass migration, Dallas now has one out of every 14 on average, Residence of Dallas, is, somebody from a predominantly Islamic nation. Now, do we want them to hear the gospel, of course? But is it civically wise for a nation to just dilute the nation with an anti-Christian presence that will actually undermine, you know, sort of actually, hey, Chris, text me one of those things, you sent about the Muslims vote with Muslims. Text me one of those things real quick. Is that wise to import millions of people who in many ways, they are fundamentally opposed to historic American norms and Christian consensus? Is that wise? No, it's not. And it's not a non-Christian thing to say that. Okay. - Yeah, it makes sense. - Yeah, Trinity, can you toss that up real quick? Now, let me show you why this kind of stuff matters. All right, so this is what I'm talking about. Thanks Trinity. So I just want to point this out, like care, it's a center for American Islamic something that ends with it. What's this ends with? - Our, what's the our stand for? Relations. So I just want to point this, they put this out. So this is one thing I'll be honest, dude, like Americans are not awesome at thinking this. People are like, like Americans don't, like it's not in generally in like a, well, I'll just say it like this, like Muslims vote with Muslims. Like you're, I just spit everywhere. You're importing massive voting blocks that vote specifically for people who embody their religion. - Yeah. - Makes sense. - Makes a lot of sense. - It's human. It's a human impulse. - It's normal. - See, but I mean, you can see it like 97% of New York City Muslim voters, or my mom, Mom Donnie 86% for the Spanberger person. And all these, as you just see in it, like, medics, it's extremely high concentrations, extremely high concentrations, OK. OK. So working on immigration policy, yeah, Christians should do that. Now go back to that chart, Trinity. And then here's the biggie, and this is like the long play. It's kind of like overturning row, took 49 years. This is the kind of thing that would take, it's going to take a minute. And there are people working on this, I ran across it this week. Over-turning, ever-syn, to return the question of these things to the states, yeah, dude, that's something that if Christians get a chance, yeah, we should probably shoot for that. OK. But if I'm understanding this correctly, now I'll just land on it here, and I'll just say a couple things. If you're like, ah, I don't know. There are two things I saw recently that maybe like, yeah, dude, like, we have to learn to think wisely from a spiritual perspective. So Philip Anthony Mitchell, he's pretty jolly, listen to, every now and then. He, honestly, dude, if people think that, that man, how are you going to be on a island over there talking about the Islam thing a lot, Philip's been on this for a minute. So like, Philip posted this a few months ago. He said, it's one thing to invade a nation by force. It's another one that nation invites her future persecutors into positions of power. Oh, America, our children will suffer the painful consequences of our blindness and spiritual apathy if we don't wake up. Lord, stir your bride. A religious takeover is coming and time is running out. It's Philip Anthony Mitchell. Now, if you won't believe a dumb or all Kentucky kid or Philip Anthony Mitchell or your Bible, I do just want to play this. And I'm going to play it. It's like a minute and 15 seconds. I'm going to play it in its entirety. This will send a chill down your spine. So that guy that I pointed out at the very beginning of the episode, white shirt, long hair, who had some emotion responding to the guy. He got up at the end of the night, and he was an Iranian Christian that escaped the Islamic regime in Iran. And this is what he said at the city council meeting. Check this out. Hello. My name is Erisa. I'm a Sharia law survivor from Iran. I'm here to tell you, this is a dangerous ideology you're along in their country. Every country that is Islamic now, he used to be a Christian country. And we will be worse off. That's a generalization. But it's all-- that is basically true. So a lot of people don't know this. Egypt, Turkey, North Africa, all of North Africa, etc. Bro, all those were Christian countries. Like when you go visit the seven churches in Revelation, they're almost all of them. They're in Turkey, which is an Islamic country. And they didn't become Muslim because they thought the faith was really compelling. That is not exactly what happened. I'm going to talk about that here in a second. Spain was under Islamic control for many years. Greece had to fight wars to get it back. So this is what he's talking about. That guy is-- that dude ain't-- he's not shooting from the hip. He's not an idiot. OK, now keep going. The ideology you're along in their country. And we were soft Christians and we allowed these people to come in, bring their sharia law. Now, some people would look at that and they'd be like, oh, man, look at this guy's way over the top. Dude, there's just a few-- what are you talking about, man? I don't talk about a tiny concentration, just a few, that kind of thing. I'm going to read you something here in a second that's going to help. Actually, I'm just going to read it right now. I'm just going to read it right now. Christians tend to think in terms of, like, decades. Muslims tend to think in terms of centuries. So check this out. Now, before we go on, keep it right there, Trinity. So what he's talking about when he says the word slowly, he's talking about the fact that Yemen, like, world political conquest, is endemic to the ideology of Islam. That has always been the thing. Shocking ran across this this week, for instance. In 2004, the FBI grabbed this, they raided this thing, and they found a document from the Muslim Brotherhood. That's now been labeled a terrorist organization by the American government. And they found this-- it was an explanatory memorandum. Now, again, do all Muslims think this way? No. We're talking about what happens at the macro level when huge numbers of people are imported into a society with general mindsets. What happens at the macro level over centuries? That's the question we're asking. So the FBI finds this-- it was called an explanatory memorandum. And this is how they described it on the general strategic goal for the group in North America. So basically, for Muslims in America, this is what they said. This is their document outlining the strategy. The process of settlement-- so it's talking about mass Islamic migration-- the process of settlement is a, quote, "civilization jihadist process," with all that the word means. The Iqwan, which just means brother, must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within. And sabotaging its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated. And God's religion talking about Allah is made victorious over all other religions. So some people might laugh at a guy like that and be like, use what a dumb little fella. We're just talking about just a couple, just that kind of thing. That guy has a home country native experience of-- no, no, no. There are certain people who they don't think like you. They're not thinking about the next 10 years. They're thinking about the next 300 years. And so when he says, he said, that's what I'm going to talk about. I'll keep going. Watch what he says. Allah, into their countries and slowly kill us off left and right. Let me make it very clear to you. Christianity is a personal relationship with God, where it says-- He's a Christian. Render onto Caesar's, what is Caesar's render onto God, what is God's. Islam is Sharia Allah, denudwa, religion and state, which is not even compatible with the American thing. When they-- No, what he's saying-- and I just want to keep pointing this out. He's pointing out the fact that Islam is not-- we just have to say, Islam is not just a religion. It's also a political ideology. Yes. So the thing I like to say sometimes is, progressivism is a religion masquerading. It's a political ideology. Islam is a political ideology. Masquerading is a religion. So there's more I could say here. That's what he's talking about. There is no such thing as Islam that does not have a vision for what it wants to take-- infiltrate, takeover and do at the political governmental leadership level. It will use tequila to lie to you, to manipulate you, because whenever Islam is little, they will lie to you and tell you they come and peace. This is a bad idea. And you're going to regret not listening to people like us who lived on the Sharia law. You can stop right there. So I'll just say-- here's how you might say it. Unrestricted and falsely interpreted concepts of religious liberty plus mass migration, plus Muslims are being discipled into clear political activity and strategy, while Christians are often being discipled away from clear political activity and strategy. That combination of my friends is a national suicide pact. That's what he's pointing out. Now, let me just land-- you guys got any questions here. We good? Yeah, questions, comments, slide remarks or otherwise. You want me to share thoughts now? Or do you want to wait 'til after you're done cooking? Share some thoughts now and then I'm going to say, that all finished just by like, here's what you can do. That's good, here's what you can't do. I just say it just a few comments, once an encouragement and then just a few things I'm wrestling with and just kind of even pecs some different things that you've hit on. I mean, just one encouragement, and we've said this before, but probably not frequently enough, is man, I think Christians have gotten better at engaging in politics at a national level or the last four to eight years where we have a lot of ground to make up is doing it on a state and local level. And that is actually where culture is formed in a real way in things like these. And so that's just one thing, it's just to encourage Christians that yes, Baal means vote national elections make your voice heard. But man, actually it's like in local school boards and city councils and votes like this, where you need to be just as active and involved 'cause this is where, if I'm playing a long game, I actually might work more at a local or a state level than at a national level to your point. Couple of things I got us even as I've been wrestling this week, Carlison, I've talked some offline, it's like man, I've been wrestling with this. It's like 50/50 out of their side because a few things that I've been asking myself. So I'm not trying to impose it on you, but this is just things I've been wrestling with. Man, there is just some, I don't call it simplistic, but there's just a straightforward argument. If like man, we should oppose demon worship. We should. The thing I've been wrestling with is, hey, if I'm going to do that with Muslims, would I also do that with other groups? 'Cause if I wouldn't, then I'm like, oh, there might be some hypocrisy in myself. It's like, I believe, Joseph Jehovah's Witness is a false religion. What I also oppose is zoning, and if not, I have to ask myself, but by the way, it doesn't mean I shouldn't oppose it. I'm saying that's more just a gut check in myself. If I'm going to use that argument, I should use it consistently. - Yeah, this is not disagreeing with you as adding. What I would say is that different forms of false religion have asymmetrical outcomes in how destructive they are to society. - So that's where I was actually going next, you hit it, because then I told her, "Okay, if there is something to mean, then I'm like, it's a strategic thing, and it's about the common good thing." Then when I've rest with this, like at a local city, kind of the thing, like, "Oh, should I oppose?" I'm like, "You do it wisely. "Do it in a way that wins." But here's one thing that I had to tell myself this week, is hey, if I were to go and do that, I have to also know that then they can play that game with us. So then what if a place that has majority most of the population of city council opposes a church being planted? - Or very frankly, we have the strategic launch network that plants, we've planted a hundred churches in extremely secular progressive cities. - Yeah. - I'll shoot you real straight. They vary frequently. - Yes. - Play the quote unquote, zoning issues game to keep churches from being built in those cities. Like, listen, very frequently. - And I'm not saying that we shouldn't do it. I'm more just saying that, "Hey, if we're gonna play that game, "we just gotta know they may play it back with us, "and we can't be like LeBron or Luca "where everybody fails us, but we never failed the people." Like we're good, like, "Hey, if we're gonna play, "we just gotta know it may go by first." And that's fine. Again, I'm just saying things that I'm - Bro, I'll try and figure this out. - I'm trying to figure it out. And that's where, that's why it's been so hard is like that I can see all the arguments, but that's from like, "Hey, if we do this, "we just gotta know it may happen back, "and are we willing to?" And if we are great, we just gotta know that. But I think again, for me, then it's like saying, "Hey, we gotta keep the tension." We've said this already, but I think just repeat. Then I'll let you get back to it, is saying, "Hey, man, it has to be a both-hand. "I have to think, I love the strategy, "late other things that we can do to take practical steps "and reversing the zlomification of society, "because we do need to. "And I want to reach them with the gospel, "and reach my neighbors." - Both. - Both. And so that's just where I'm at. I just want to share where I'm at, the things I'm wrestling with, and then I'll let you get back to it, man. - Yeah, we were talking about, you know, one, again, a lot of people are getting probably wrestling with this point to the New Testament, and they would argue, "Hey, but that's not what you're seeing "the New Testament Church especially, right?" And I think I have an answer to that, because I couldn't, right? Like, that's it. - That's it. - Like, that's it. - Literally couldn't. And you know, ignore the other parts of Scripture that you've laid out. So clearly about the responsibility of a Christian, again, to, we are Christians, not just in our private little sphere on Sundays, but every single aspect of society, that's our responsibility. And at the same time, when you look at history, I was gonna ask you, Paul, would you just give us like a quick, like, when you look at Christian history, have they been involved, have they not been involved? - Christians? - All throughout history. - Yeah, Christians. - We had this little thing called "Christendom" that we did for like a thousand years. - This is really simplistic, but I'll do this fast for you. - Yeah, yeah. - It's like, 'cause yeah, 'cause to your point, when the New Testament is written, they didn't have an option. But the thing that was always thing is, we're gonna make disciples, and guess what, we're gonna disciple people to obey Jesus and live out their faith in every sphere of their lives, including in their homes, but also including their workplaces. Well, guess what happens all of a sudden, when a Christian emperor becomes a Christian? He begins asking, "How do I live out my faith as an emperor?" - It's all about Constantine. - Constantine. - And in, I'm beginning, I'm way simplifying. - You get it. - But then all of a sudden, when you do have people in power who love Jesus, and they're gonna live out their life as a disciple and as a follower of Jesus, that includes the nurse, the role, instead of beginning to think, "Well, hey, if I'm learning this nation and this empire, I wanna do it in a way that aligns with my faith and values." And that builds over time, but then here's what's different today, is that we don't have an emperor, but man, I exert influence and political influence because I vote. I'm assuming it's a constitutional republic. And so I should be asking you as a Christian, if like, "Hey, as a disciple of Jesus, how should I wield my influence and how I vote as a disciple?" It's not a separate thing, it's part of being a disciple. So basically, Constantine got to do it, you don't know how to read others. Now as Christians, we carry that responsibility individually. It's kind of how we're gonna do that. - Yeah, let me say I'm gonna riff on what you just said, Carlos, and then I'm gonna finish this episode telling you like, "Hey, if you're a Christian in a city where this is a thing, here's what you are allowed to do." - It's good. - Because I actually like, worked on this with a lawyer. (laughing) So I just, if you wanted to hear your question, 'cause a lot of Christians are like, "Hey, that's not what they did in the Bible." And you're like, "Your response is the right one." Bro, they couldn't. There's 120 of them in the Roman Empire. (laughing) So what I would say is a couple things, Jesus specifically predicted that the kingdom of God would grow in the world like 11 through a lump of bread. So it's really, really small. And then over the centuries, it's gonna work on work on work on work on work. Okay? The other thing I would point out is Jesus specifically commanded people in the sermon of the mount to be quote, "The salt of the earth." He did not say, "I just want you to be at the salt of the church. Just keep the salt and the salt shaker." And just, you know, don't apply your Christianity in the public square. Don't ever do that. We lose down here, kind of. I got a thing. We know, no, hey man, go out. Jesus, Jesus actual title in the New Testament is King of Kings. (laughing) Like I do though. That's like his name. It's tattooed on his thigh. - That has more authority than a president. In our government. - The implication is, all the presidents should be bowing to me and doing what I want. (laughing) - That's the whole thing. - And then I mean, I can keep going. You get the, I won't keep going. Temptation in Jesus. All the kingdoms, all the things I can keep going. All right, so let me just land on this. If you're, here's what I think. I do, I think it would not be inappropriate for Christians in a city to buy legal means. If there is a legal and ethical means to oppose it and keep it from happening, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. There's two ways you can do that. I'll just tell you, number one, it's called in the state of Texas, it's called a formal property owner's protest. You just gotta get a land use lawyer. You gotta find somebody who owns 20% of the contiguous land with the proposal. This is when something needs a zoning change, is what it needs. And you just file a formal property owner's protest, but it cannot be on the basis of, well, it's Islamic. Or you have to be able to with integrity say, "Hey dude, traffic flow, "and you have to with integrity be able to say those things "and file it on that basis." Okay, so that's number one. If a zoning change is required, formal property owner's protest. Number two, if I understand this correctly, I think this is national, I think federal, but I'm sure that it applies in the state of Texas. I was textual with somebody in government leadership that would know the answer to this question, who shall remain nameless. They, he just honestly pointed out, hey man, a significant number of potential mosque developments are connected in some way to one of the two organizations, the Muslim Brotherhood or Care, and that's where the CAI are. And any of those two organizations and any affiliate is banned in Texas from owning land. So if someone can establish in any way, hey, that's, there's an affiliate relationship right there, in any way, it's not allowed on and done, it's done. So from what I understand what you do, is you file public records request on the potential developments, paperwork, non-profit status, non-profit status, and any connection to care of the Muslim Brotherhood. And if you establish it, boom, done, then you file that complaint with the Texas AG's office and it's done. So that's a little nerdy and weedsy. Now let me finish. I'm gonna finish by reading our brother, Shari Khan, the guy that converted out of Islam as a Jesus follower now, 'cause he said something about this that I think needs to be our final note of emphasis. I'm gonna read what he said, I like what he said. Everyone is suddenly paying attention to McKinney because of a mosque, a seven-o vote, and a political controversy. I work in McKinney twice a week, and here's what I'm actually seeing on the ground. The biggest problem isn't, so notice he's saying the biggest problem. He's not saying there's no other problem. He's saying the biggest problem. The biggest problem isn't that Muslims and Hindus are moving here, 300% more Hindus, by the way. It's that the church is largely absent. Now he's not saying, there's no good churches over there, and listen, we know, I know there's some great dudes over there. Yes, so I just wanna get that out there. People have moved here, built businesses, Bob. beautiful homes, raise families, and become part of the community. And too many Christians only show up when there's a political controversy. We have literally outsourced our evangelism, which is our strongest assimilation system, to a single morning where we storm a meeting and get really loud for five hours. The question I have is where were the other 364 days? Talk is cheap. And so I would just finish by saying, "Do not merely be here as of the word, and so to see yourselves do what it says." No. I'm going to go take Jan on a date. So Jesus, please give us wisdom. I have now prayed the episode is over. That was it. I'm going to get out of here.