Podcast appearances and mentions of Robert Jeffress

The pastor examines the roles of Jesus Christ from past to present and future. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/619/29

Robert Jeffress is only one of many "pastors" who've gained power for themselves by supporting Trump and his unchristian policies. But he's a good case study. Pat Kahnke's Substack page: https://culturefaithandpolitics.substack.com/ Pat Kahnke's books are available on Amazon: "A Christian Case Against Donald Trump" (2024): https://a.co/d/iVSTqny "MAGA Seduction: Resisting the Debasement of the Christian Conscience" (2020): https://a.co/d/1KNX3uQ  

The pastor examines the roles of Jesus Christ from past to present and future. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/619/29

The author of "Jesus Revealed In The End Times" focuses on how we should live each day, regardless of coming events. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/619/29

Dr. Robert Jeffress, host of Pathway to Victory, discusses how believers can live out the message of the resurrection in everyday life and how understanding Jesus through the lens of end-times prophecy brings hope and deeper spiritual insight.

In this episode of LoveTalk Network, Co-hosts Kerri Brinkoeter, Cathy Endebrock, and Marlene McMichael interview Dr. Robert Jeffress, Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, and host of the "Pathway to Victory" broadcast. Dr. Jeffress shares his views on controversial topics, including his message for the Texas Governor’s Prayer Breakfast titled "No Time for Tolerance." He discusses the cultural concept of tolerance, the role of the church in today's world, and the importance of biblical truth. The episode also touches on Dr. Jeffress' ministry, which reaches a global audience through radio and television, as well as his extensive writing career. The conversation encourages listeners to uphold biblical values in society. The Governor's Prayer Breakfast will be held April 28th at Kalahari Resort in Round Rock. See ndpaustin.org for more information.

Guests: Dr. Robert Jeffress of "Pathway to Victory" on KFAX heard 6am and 10:30pm Monday through Friday. Also, Bob Zadek of BobZadek.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The author of "The 10" examines why the Ten Commandments offer a direct plan to live in peace and harmony with each other and with God. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/619/29

Rich talks about the latest in the fight against Hamas with Josh Hammer, Newsweek senior editor-at-large and author of "Israel and Civilization: The Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Destiny of the West." President Trump is expected to sign an executive order this week dismantling the Department of Education; we learn more from Corey DeAngelis, senior fellow at the American Culture Project. Plus, Dr. Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, was among a group of faith leaders who visited the White House on Wednesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dr. Robert Jeffress joins the show today to share about his new book Jesus Revealed in the End Times: Hope for Today from the One Who Holds Our Future. Dr. Jeffress is Sr Pastor, First Baptist Church of Dallas, TX and heard weekdays at 930am on "Pathway to Victory" on WFIL. Herb Murrell, baritone & original founding member of the Stylistics, also checks in regarding "Falling in Love With My Girl," the group's first new album in 15 years. Murrell also shares about the group's formation and their upcoming induction into the Atlantic City Walk of Fame. More info is available at www.thestylistics.org.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Past interviews: Dr. Robert Jeffress, author of "Are We Living in the End Times". Matt Staver, founder and chairperson of Liberty Counsel. Dr. Alex McFarland, public speaker, author, educator, and advocate for Christian apologetics. Eric Metaxas, author, speaker, and conservative radio host. Gregg TenElshof, Professor of Philosophy at Biola University.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Why Everyone is Converting to Christianity. ACU Sunday Series Commentary on and clips from Joe Rogan, Donald Trump, Nick Sirianni, Philadelphia Eagles, Jalen Hurts, Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs, Wes Huff, Billy Carson, First Baptist Dallas, Robert Jeffress, Paula White, and Voddie Baucham. Hello, I'm Mike, a Christian, husband, father, deacon, and software engineer. I do my best to make interesting videos in my spare time. Watch this video at- https://youtu.be/_cPkLgCFd5U?si=odxIoZC0Ea3ztqC9 Mike Stories 561K subscribers 151,940 views Feb 18, 2025 Help this channel reach more people by 1) subscribing, and 2) clicking on and watching the videos until the end. Thanks so much :). Newsletter for random updates! https://substack.com/@mikestories --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  From ACU- For Come Follow Me lesson manual and materials visit- Come, Follow Me For Individuals and Families: New Testament 2023 https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/come-follow-me-for-individuals-and-families-new-testament-2023?lang=eng For a list of 100+ episodes of ACU Sunday Series visit- https://www.podbean.com/site/search/index?kdsowie31j4k1jlf913=85cb8104bdb182c048b714ad4385f9e82a3aeb49&v=ACU+Sunday+Series+ Note- Click on “100 Episodes Found” in upper right corner.   For many different Podcasts based on the ‘Come Follow Me' program visit- https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=come+follow+me+   Subscribe to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the latest videos: http://bit.ly/1M0iPwY Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/churchofjesu... Twitter: @Ch_JesusChrist Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ChurchOfJes... Website: ChurchOfJesusChrist.org The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints   BYUEducationWeek Get a Free Book of Mormon | ComeUntoChrist Church of Jesus Christ https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org › requests › free-...   The Book of Mormon brings you closer to Jesus. Click to download a free digital copy of the Book of Mormon and learn about it with online missionaries.   -------------------------------------------------------------------------- For the Strength of Youth To help you find the Way and to help you make Christ's doctrine the guiding influence in your life, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has prepared a new resource, a revised version of For the Strength of Youth.   For over 50 years, For the Strength of Youth has been a guide for generations of Latter-day Saint youth. I always keep a copy in my pocket, and I share it with people who are curious about our standards. It has been updated and refreshed to better cope with the challenges and temptations of our day. The new version of For the Strength of Youth is available online in 50 different languages and will also be available in print. It will be a significant help for making choices in your life. Please embrace it as your own and share it with your friends. This new version of For the Strength of Youth is subtitled A Guide for Making Choices. To be very clear, the best guide you can possibly have for making choices is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the strength of youth. So the purpose of For the Strength of Youth is to point you to Him. It teaches you eternal truths of His restored gospel—truths about who you are, who He is, and what you can accomplish with His strength. It teaches you how to make righteous choices based on those eternal truths.13 It's also important to know what For the Strength of Youth does not do. It doesn't make decisions for you. It doesn't give you a “yes” or “no” about every choice you might ever face. For the Strength of Youth focuses on the foundation for your choices. It focuses on values, principles, and doctrine instead of every specific behavior. The Lord, through His prophets, has always been guiding us in that direction. He is pleading with us to “increase [our] spiritual capacity to receive revelation.”14 He is inviting us to “hear Him.”15 He is calling us to follow Him in higher and holier ways.16 And we are learning in a similar way every week in Come, Follow Me.   American Conservative University Podcast (ACU) is not an official representative for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. All opinions, selections and commentary are solely those of ACU.  We post a variety of selections from various Christian denominations.   ACU Endorsed Charities -------------------------------------------------------- Pre-Born! Saving babies and Souls. https://preborn.org/ OUR MISSION To glorify Jesus Christ by leading and equipping pregnancy clinics to save more babies and souls. WHAT WE DO Pre-Born! partners with life-affirming pregnancy clinics all across the nation. We are designed to strategically impact the abortion industry through the following initiatives:… -------------------------------------------------------- Help CSI Stamp Out Slavery In Sudan Join us in our effort to free over 350 slaves. Listeners to the Eric Metaxas Show will remember our annual effort to free Christians who have been enslaved for simply acknowledging Jesus Christ as their Savior. As we celebrate the birth of Christ this Christmas, join us in giving new life to brothers and sisters in Sudan who have enslaved as a result of their faith. https://csi-usa.org/metaxas   https://csi-usa.org/slavery/   Typical Aid for the Enslaved A ration of sorghum, a local nutrient-rich staple food A dairy goat A “Sack of Hope,” a survival kit containing essential items such as tarp for shelter, a cooking pan, a water canister, a mosquito net, a blanket, a handheld sickle, and fishing hooks. Release celebrations include prayer and gathering for a meal, and medical care for those in need. The CSI team provides comfort, encouragement, and a shoulder to lean on while they tell their stories and begin their new lives. Thank you for your compassion  Giving the Gift of Freedom and Hope to the Enslaved South Sudanese -------------------------------------------------------- Food For The Poor https://foodforthepoor.org/ Help us serve the poorest of the poor Food For The Poor began in 1982 in Jamaica. Today, our interdenominational Christian ministry serves the poor in primarily 17 countries throughout the Caribbean and Latin America. Thanks to our faithful donors, we are able to provide food, housing, healthcare, education, fresh water, emergency relief, micro-enterprise solutions and much more. We are proud to have fed millions of people and provided more than 15.7 billion dollars in aid. Our faith inspires us to be an organization built on compassion, and motivated by love. Our mission is to bring relief to the poorest of the poor in the countries where we serve. We strive to reflect God's unconditional love. It's a sacrificial love that embraces all people regardless of race or religion. We believe that we can show His love by serving the “least of these” on this earth as Christ challenged us to do in Matthew 25. We pray that by God's grace, and with your support, we can continue to bring relief to the suffering and hope to the hopeless. --------------------------------------------------------  

Most books about the End Times focus on the events described in biblical prophecy--wars, natural disasters, economic turmoil, and more--rather than the One who is revealed in those events. The result? God's people end up fearful about what is to come rather than hopeful about Who is to come. But the Bible's prophecies of the last days can fill us with joy and peace as we anticipate the return and reign of our beloved savior, Jesus Christ. Our guest, bestselling author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress, takes a radically different approach to prophecy, helping you see the end times through the lens of Jesus Christ. You'll stop fretting about future events as you start to know Jesus more deeply, see Him more clearly, and praise Him more joyfully.Become a Parshall Partner: http://moodyradio.org/donateto/inthemarket/partnersSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Most books about the End Times focus on the events described in biblical prophecy--wars, natural disasters, economic turmoil, and more--rather than the One who is revealed in those events. The result? God's people end up fearful about what is to come rather than hopeful about Who is to come. But the Bible's prophecies of the last days can fill us with joy and peace as we anticipate the return and reign of our beloved savior, Jesus Christ. Our guest, bestselling author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress, takes a radically different approach to prophecy, helping you see the end times through the lens of Jesus Christ. You'll stop fretting about future events as you start to know Jesus more deeply, see Him more clearly, and praise Him more joyfully.Become a Parshall Partner: http://moodyradio.org/donateto/inthemarket/partnersSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As anti-Semitism explodes worldwide, the global stage has reached a boiling point. But why are we seeing this sudden, intense hatred of Israel andthe Jewish people – especially in the wake of October 7th? Are we seeing the unfolding of the Last Days, and what does that mean for Christiansworldwide? In his new book, Jesus Revealed in the End Times, Dr. Robert Jeffress unpacks this very important question and challenges today's fixation on events. From the reestablishment of Israel to demonic forces at work in our world, discover a truth that breaks the fear off understanding the End Times. WATCH Stakelbeck Tonight episodes for free on TBN+ here. The Stakscast with Erick Stakelbeck podcast features host Erick Stakelbeck and special guests having candid, thought-provoking conversations on the state of America, the world, and the Church, plus powerful personal testimonies and stories. Tune in for deep discussions on the big issues that matter to you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're excited to tell you about our upcoming Spring Training, the annual spiritual disciplines emphasis at First Baptist Dallas. Our theme for 2025 is “Abide.” Over the course of five weeks, we'll meditate on John 14–16 and seek to abide in Christ through a daily reliance on the Holy Spirit. Ben, Nate, and Andrew discuss the church's heart behind this year's plan and what biblical spirituality looks like.  For an incredible library of biblical resources from our Senior Pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress, visit Pathway to Victory: ptv.org To financially support the mission of First Baptist Dallas, you can give online here: firstdallas.org/fbdgive   Dr. Ben Lovvorn serves as the Senior Executive Pastor of First Baptist Dallas. Nate Curtis is our Associate Executive Pastor. Andrew Bobo is our Associate Executive Pastor, Practical Theology. 

This episode is a recent sermon by Dr. Ben Lovvorn on Romans 12:1–2, preached at First Baptist Dallas on the first Sunday of 2025. God desires for you to experience a profound new beginning—one that so transforms your very nature that it becomes evident to everyone around you. Dr. Lovvorn challenges the church to reflect on what it means to make pleasing Jesus Christ our one desire. As Christ's disciples, we must all answer this simple question as we begin the year: What's your next step?   Dr. Ben Lovvorn serves as the Senior Executive Pastor at First Baptist Dallas.    If you need some help taking your next step, we want to help you! Go here for resources and to complete our online form: firstdallas.org/nextstep  For an incredible library of biblical resources from our Senior Pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress, visit Pathway to Victory: ptv.org    To financially support the mission of First Baptist Dallas, you can give online here: firstdallas.org/fbdgive

The illegals argue that Mexico was so bad which is why they fled to the United States. So, why are they waving the Mexican flag at their protests?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ever felt completely stuck, like there's no way out? That's exactly where we were—trapped in sin with no hope of rescue. But God stepped in, not because we earned it, but because of His incredible grace that we receive through faith.Hear previous messages and find our social media at https://WeirdDarkness.com/Church! Please share this podcast with your friends, family, and co-workers, and post a link to this episode in your own social media! Thank you, and God bless!MENTIONS, SOURCES, AND LINKS…Original message from Robert Jeffress: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/WorksGraceFaithHow To Escape Eternal Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/EternalDarkness(Over time links can and may become invalid, disappear, or have different content.)===Darren Marlar is a licensed minister through the Universal Life Church: https://www.themonastery.org. Find his other podcast, Weird Darkness, in your favorite podcast app at https://weirddarkness.com/listen. “Church Of The Undead” theme music by Epidemic Sound.==="I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46===Weird Darkness® and Church Of The Undead™ are trademarked. Copyright © 2025.Landing Page: https://weirddarkness.com/worksgracefaith

It's 2025! Mission 1:8 One Desire has begun. What is your next step in making Jesus Christ your one desire? How can you get started? We'll talk about Romans 12:1–2 together. Scripture calls us to live transformed lives as an act of worship to the Lord—in response to His undeserved mercy and grace. Ben, Nate, and Andrew discuss why we're encouraging everyone to focus in on one “next step” and what a next steps could look like at different ages and life stages.    If you need some help taking your next step, we want to help you! Go here for resources and to complete our online form: firstdallas.org/nextstep To listen to Dr. Ben Lovvorn's complete message on Romans 12:1–2, go here: New Beginnings and Next Steps | Romans 12:1-2 For an incredible library of biblical resources from our Senior Pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress, visit Pathway to Victory: ptv.org To financially support the mission of First Baptist Dallas, you can give online here: firstdallas.org/fbdgive   Dr. Ben Lovvorn serves as the Senior Executive Pastor of First Baptist Dallas. Nate Curtis is our Associate Executive Pastor. Andrew Bobo is our Associate Executive Pastor, Practical Theology. 

The show features musical performances by The Mylon Hayes Family and special guests include Mike Huckabee, Pastor Robert Jeffress, actress Sam Sorbo, actor Aden Pettet and Alisha Dean from Elvis Presley Enterprises. The show is co-hosted by Ben Deeter. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Lisa explores the true meaning of Christmas, contrasting its commercialization with its spiritual significance. Lisa introduces Dr. Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of the First Baptist Church in Dallas. Dr. Jeffress delves into the biblical significance of Christmas, emphasizing themes such as God's sovereignty, the humanity and divinity of Jesus, and the reasons for Christ's coming, including redemption and adoption as children of God. He underscores that Christmas is about celebrating Jesus Christ's birth, God's gift to humanity, sent to save us from our sins. The Truth with Lisa Boothe is part of the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Podcast - new episodes debut every Monday & Thursday.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Robert Jeffress, host of Pathway to Victory and author of “How Can I Know?” addresses key questions about faith and discusses how we can maintain a clear and confident belief in today's complex world.

Today we're wrapping up our One Desire series! We'll talk together about the end of Psalm 90, our prayer as we launch Mission 1:8 One Desire and make our two-year commitments to this effort. This prayer of Moses has so much to teach us! We're asking that God would satisfy us with His faithful love and establish the work of our hands.    To learn more about Mission 1:8 One Desire and to download a PDF of the One Desire Commitment Prayer Guide, go here: firstdallas.org/onedesire To watch our services and find additional resources from Dr. Ben Lovvorn and the ministries of First Dallas: icampus.firstdallas.org  For an incredible library of biblical resources from our Senior Pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress, visit Pathway to Victory: ptv.org To financially support the mission of First Baptist Dallas, you can give online here: firstdallas.org/fbdgive   Dr. Ben Lovvorn serves as the Senior Executive Pastor of First Baptist Dallas. Nate Curtis is our Associate Executive Pastor. Andrew Bobo is our Associate Executive Pastor, Practical Theology. 

This is the first of two episodes focused on our One Desire Commitment Prayer Guide. Through this resource, we're encouraging our church to pray Psalm 90 for 10 days before making a two-year commitment to Mission 1:8 One Desire. Dr. Ben Lovvorn will lead us through the first 11 verses of the psalm, and then we'll discuss what it means for us.    To learn more about Mission 1:8 One Desire and to download a PDF of the One Desire Commitment Prayer Guide, go here: firstdallas.org/onedesire To watch our services and find additional resources from Dr. Ben Lovvorn and the ministries of First Dallas: icampus.firstdallas.org  For an incredible library of biblical resources from our Senior Pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress, visit Pathway to Victory: ptv.org To financially support the mission of First Baptist Dallas, you can give online here: firstdallas.org/fbdgive   Dr. Ben Lovvorn serves as the Senior Executive Pastor of First Baptist Dallas. Nate Curtis is our Associate Executive Pastor. Andrew Bobo is our Associate Executive Pastor, Practical Theology. 

We're continuing our One Desire series! Today, we dig into the biblical basis for our ministry philosophy. Dr. Ben Lovvorn teaches through Ephesians 4:1-16, and we talk together about how First Baptist Dallas plans to "equip the saints for the work of ministry" over the next two years through Mission 1:8 One Desire.   To learn more about Mission 1:8 One Desire and to download a PDF of the One Desire Brochure, go here: firstdallas.org/onedesire To watch our services and find additional resources from Dr. Ben Lovvorn and the ministries of First Dallas: icampus.firstdallas.org  For an incredible library of biblical resources from our Senior Pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress, visit Pathway to Victory: ptv.org To financially support the mission of First Baptist Dallas, you can give online here: firstdallas.org/fbdgive   Dr. Ben Lovvorn serves as the Senior Executive Pastor of First Baptist Dallas. Nate Curtis is our Associate Executive Pastor. Andrew Bobo is our Associate Executive Pastor, Practical Theology. 

The ambition of our lives should be to please our Lord Jesus Christ. But what does that look like? How can make Him our one desire? We'll talk about these questions together, as we walk through the second half of our One Desire Discipleship Guide. Dr. Ben Lovvorn leads us through an exposition of 2 Corinthians 4:16–5:10, focusing especially on 5:9, which is our theme verse for One Desire.    To learn more about Mission 1:8 One Desire and to download a free PDF of the One Desire Discipleship Guide, go here: firstdallas.org/onedesire To watch our services and find additional resources from Dr. Ben Lovvorn and the ministries of First Dallas: icampus.firstdallas.org  For an incredible library of biblical resources from our Senior Pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress, visit Pathway to Victory: ptv.org To financially support the mission of First Baptist Dallas, you can give online here: firstdallas.org/fbdgive   Dr. Ben Lovvorn serves as the Senior Executive Pastor of First Baptist Dallas. Nate Curtis is our Associate Executive Pastor. Andrew Bobo is our Associate Executive Pastor, Practical Theology. 

We just launched our next two-year ministry plan, Mission 1:8 One Desire! This effort revolves around a core question that we need to ask ourselves… is Jesus Christ the one desire of our hearts? In this episode, we'll talk about what we can learn and apply to our lives from Parable of the Sower, found in Mark 4:1–20. This conversation, led by Dr. Ben Lovvorn, is intended to walk you through the first half of our One Desire Discipleship Guide.   To learn more about Mission 1:8 One Desire and to download a free PDF of the One Desire Discipleship Guide, go here: firstdallas.org/onedesire To watch our services and find additional resources from Dr. Ben Lovvorn and the ministries of First Dallas: icampus.firstdallas.org  For an incredible library of biblical resources from our Senior Pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress, visit Pathway to Victory: ptv.org To financially support the mission of First Baptist Dallas, you can give online here: firstdallas.org/fbdgive   Dr. Ben Lovvorn serves as the Senior Executive Pastor of First Baptist Dallas. Nate Curtis is our Associate Executive Pastor. Andrew Bobo is our Associate Executive Pastor, Practical Theology. 

This is the second episode in our two-part series on the Mission and Vision of the church. Dr. Ben Lovvorn leads an exposition and discussion centered on the Great Commission, found in Matthew 28:18–20. The church's mission is global, but it's vision is deeply personal. Transformation happens one life at a time, as we're conformed to Christ's image through submission to God's Word.    To learn more about the ministry of First Baptist Dallas: firstdallas.org To receive regular updates from the church about the Historic Sanctuary: firstdallas.org/sanctuaryupdates To watch our services and find additional resources from Dr. Ben Lovvorn and the ministries of First Dallas: icampus.firstdallas.org  For an incredible library of biblical resources from our Senior Pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress, visit Pathway to Victory: ptv.org To financially support the mission of First Baptist Dallas, you can give online here: firstdallas.org/fbdgive   Dr. Ben Lovvorn serves as the Senior Executive Pastor of First Baptist Dallas. Nate Curtis is our Associate Executive Pastor. Andrew Bobo is our Associate Executive Pastor, Practical Theology. 

In this first episode in our two-part series on mission and vision, we'll do a deep dive on Acts 1:1–11. This passage helps us understand the church's mission and how we're called to go about accomplishing it. Dr. Ben Lovvorn walks us through God's Word and reminds us at First Dallas why we have “Mission 1:8.” We seek to “transform the world with God's Word one life at a time” in obedience to the final instructions that Christ gave us!   To learn more about the ministry of First Baptist Dallas: firstdallas.org To receive regular updates from the church about the Historic Sanctuary: firstdallas.org/sanctuaryupdates To watch our services and find additional resources from Dr. Ben Lovvorn and the ministries of First Dallas: icampus.firstdallas.org  For an incredible library of biblical resources from our Senior Pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress, visit Pathway to Victory: ptv.org To financially support the mission of First Baptist Dallas, you can give online here: firstdallas.org/fbdgive   Dr. Ben Lovvorn serves as the Senior Executive Pastor of First Baptist Dallas. Nate Curtis is our Associate Executive Pastor. Andrew Bobo is our Associate Executive Pastor, Practical Theology. 

In this final episode of our series on 2 Timothy, Dr. Ben Lovvorn talks about all of the people Paul mentions at the end of his letter. Don't skip over these final verses! This is where we get a glimpse into the way Paul lived his life and did ministry. It was all about people. Ben, Andrew, and Nate also discuss some unsung heroes here at First Dallas, as well as a key takeaway each of them had from this study.   To learn more about the ministry of First Baptist Dallas: firstdallas.org To receive regular updates from the church about the Historic Sanctuary: firstdallas.org/sanctuaryupdates To watch our services and find additional resources from Dr. Ben Lovvorn and the ministries of First Dallas: icampus.firstdallas.org  For an incredible library of biblical resources from our Senior Pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress, visit Pathway to Victory: ptv.org To financially support the mission of First Baptist Dallas, you can give online here: firstdallas.org/fbdgive   Dr. Ben Lovvorn serves as the Executive Pastor of First Baptist Dallas. Nate Curtis is our Executive Director of Communications and Broadcast. Andrew Bobo is our Associate Executive Pastor, Practical Theology. 

Dr. Jeffress called in to answer the questions, "Why should a Christian vote for someone as flawed as Trump?," and, "What Kamala policies are antithetical to Christianity?"Support the show: http://www.wbap.com/chris-krok/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

God has given each of us a ministry. How can you fulfill yours? In this passage, we learn what it looks like to do what God has called us to do. It's not easy. But it comes with an incredible reward from our ultimate judge and king, Jesus Christ. Dr. Ben Lovvorn leads us in a time of teaching and discussion about 2 Timothy 4:1–8. To learn more about the ministry of First Baptist Dallas: firstdallas.org To receive regular updates from the church about the Historic Sanctuary: firstdallas.org/sanctuaryupdates To watch our services and find additional resources from Dr. Ben Lovvorn and the ministries of First Dallas: icampus.firstdallas.org  For an incredible library of biblical resources from our Senior Pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress, visit Pathway to Victory: ptv.org To financially support the mission of First Baptist Dallas, you can give online here: firstdallas.org/fbdgive Dr. Ben Lovvorn serves as the Executive Pastor of First Baptist Dallas. Nate Curtis is our Executive Director of Communications and Broadcast. Andrew Bobo is our Associate Executive Pastor, Practical Theology. 

Why is First Baptist Dallas “Built on the Bible”? The answer is found in 2 Timothy 3:10–17, which we'll discuss today. God's Word is God-breathed, inerrant, infallible, instructive, authoritative, and enduring. We'll talk about what that means for us and how God's Word should shape our lives.   To learn more about the ministry of First Baptist Dallas: firstdallas.org To receive regular updates from the church about the Historic Sanctuary: firstdallas.org/sanctuaryupdates To watch our services and find additional resources from Dr. Ben Lovvorn and the ministries of First Dallas: icampus.firstdallas.org  For an incredible library of biblical resources from our Senior Pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress, visit Pathway to Victory: ptv.org To financially support the mission of First Baptist Dallas, you can give online here: firstdallas.org/fbdgive   Dr. Ben Lovvorn serves as the Executive Pastor of First Baptist Dallas. Nate Curtis is our Executive Director of Communications and Broadcast. Andrew Bobo is our Associate Executive Pastor, Practical Theology. 

Scripture says there are two kinds of churches. The false church is a hollow shell, driven by disordered loves. The true church is built on God's truth, driven by the Holy Spirit's power. Dr. Ben Lovvorn leads this conversation on 2 Timothy 3:1–9 and helps us see from God's Word the kind of church that Christ is calling us to be.    To learn more about the ministry of First Baptist Dallas: firstdallas.org To receive regular updates from the church about the Historic Sanctuary: firstdallas.org/sanctuaryupdates To watch our services and find additional resources from Dr. Ben Lovvorn and the ministries of First Dallas: icampus.firstdallas.org  For an incredible library of biblical resources from our Senior Pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress, visit Pathway to Victory: ptv.org To financially support the mission of First Baptist Dallas, you can give online here: firstdallas.org/fbdgive   Dr. Ben Lovvorn serves as the Executive Pastor of First Baptist Dallas. Nate Curtis is our Executive Director of Communications and Broadcast. Andrew Bobo is our Associate Executive Pastor, Practical Theology. 

We're just about halfway through 2 Timothy! In this episode, Dr. Ben Lovvorn leads a discussion of 2 Timothy 2:14–26 and how it applies to us right now. Scripture calls us to purify ourselves, so we can become special instruments in God's service. Ben, Nate, and Andrew discuss how we can do this at a practical level. We have to prepare for God to use us, even though we don't know ahead of time how He ultimately will.    To learn more about the ministry of First Baptist Dallas: firstdallas.org To receive regular updates from the church about the Historic Sanctuary: firstdallas.org/sanctuaryupdates To watch our services and find additional resources from Dr. Ben Lovvorn and the ministries of First Dallas: icampus.firstdallas.org  For an incredible library of biblical resources from our Senior Pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress, visit Pathway to Victory: ptv.org To financially support the mission of First Baptist Dallas, you can give online here: firstdallas.org/fbdgive   Dr. Ben Lovvorn serves as the Executive Pastor of First Baptist Dallas. Nate Curtis is our Executive Director of Communications and Broadcast. Andrew Bobo is our Associate Executive Pastor, Practical Theology. 

In this third episode of our 8-part series on 2 Timothy, Dr. Ben Lovvorn takes us through 2 Timothy 2:1–13. We take an in-depth look at the models Paul uses for the Christian life—the soldier, the athlete, and the farmer. Ben, Nate, and Andrew end by discussing how to live a disciplined life completely focused on Jesus Christ.   To learn more about the ministry of First Baptist Dallas: firstdallas.org To receive regular updates from the church about the Historic Sanctuary: firstdallas.org/sanctuaryupdates To watch our services and find additional resources from Dr. Ben Lovvorn and the ministries of First Dallas: icampus.firstdallas.org  For an incredible library of biblical resources from our Senior Pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress, visit Pathway to Victory: ptv.org To financially support the mission of First Baptist Dallas, you can give online here: firstdallas.org/fbdgive   Dr. Ben Lovvorn serves as the Executive Pastor of First Baptist Dallas. Nate Curtis is our Executive Director of Communications and Broadcast. Andrew Bobo is our Associate Executive Pastor, Practical Theology.   

In the second episode of this 8-part series on 2 Timothy, Dr. Ben Lovvorn takes us through 2 Timothy 1:8–18. God calls us to stand courageously with Jesus Christ, to stand secure in our calling, and to stand guard for the truth. Then Ben, Nate, and Andrew discuss challenges to identifying with Christ in an ever-darkening culture and how we can rely on God's strength to endure and live boldly for Him.    To learn more about the ministry of First Baptist Dallas: firstdallas.org To receive regular updates from the church about the Historic Sanctuary: firstdallas.org/sanctuaryupdates To watch our services and find additional resources from Dr. Ben Lovvorn and the ministries of First Dallas: icampus.firstdallas.org  For an incredible library of biblical resources from our Senior Pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress, visit Pathway to Victory: ptv.org To financially support the mission of First Baptist Dallas, you can give online here: firstdallas.org/fbdgive   Dr. Ben Lovvorn serves as the Executive Pastor of First Baptist Dallas. Nate Curtis is our Executive Director of Communications and Broadcast. Andrew Bobo is our Associate Executive Pastor, Practical Theology. 

Over 40% of Americans believe we're currently living in the end times. But what will actually happen when the world ends? For this final episode in our Unapologetic Hot Takes series, Julia sits down with an expert on end times biblical prophecy: her dad, Dr. Robert Jeffress! Dr. Jeffress has studied the events around Christ's second coming for many years, and today he and Julia share that knowledge with listeners in a way that's hopeful, impactful, and easy to understand. During their conversation, Julia asks Dr. Jeffress the questions we all want answers to, including: why do the end times matter, do we need to be scared of this time in history (answer: not if you're a born-again Christian!), what does the timeline for the end of the world look like, and what role do the Jewish people play in these discussions. Dr. Jeffress answers each of these questions and more, lending us his invaluable knowledge of biblical prophecy to illustrate how Jesus's second coming is really the whole point of Scripture. The episode ends on a hopeful note as Julia and Dr. Jeffress both encourage listeners to put their trust in the Lord and look to the future with a hope that's secure in Christ. If you've ever wondered about the end of the world and how it might impact you, don't miss this relevant episode! Dr. Robert Jeffress's book—Are We Living in the End Times?—is available everywhere now! Connect with him at ptv.org or by listening to the Pathway to Victory podcast.

DESCRIPTION: Banning All Voting Machines - What do computers, voting machines & vote tabulators have to do with honest elections?  The answer: EVERYTHING!  Tina Peters https://tinapeters.us/ is a Gold Star Mom of a fallen US Navy SEAL, a cancer survivor, and was the former head of elections in Mesa County, CO.  Listen in as Tina describes what's happening to her "right now" for just upholding Colorado election law, and questioning the accuracy of the electronic voting systems in both the national 2020 presidential election, and a Mesa County local election in 2021.  You will not believe what's being done to her for merely honoring her oath of office.  Also, ... Teaching the 10 Commandments to Every Generation - Regarding the 10 Commandments, the Bible says "You shall teach them diligently to your children ..." (Deut. 6:7).  Dr. Wendy Patrick and attorney Larry Dershem interview Dallas, TX mega-church pastor, Fox News contributor and Pathway to Victory televangelist Dr. Robert Jeffress about his new book The 10 Commandments for Kids: God's Simple Rules for Living, and his recent book Choose Your Attitudes, Change Your Life.  Find out how to always keep a positive attitude about your circumstances, and how to cast your worries aside.  This is a must hear interview! https://ptv.org/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our church has endured a serious crisis, after a devastating fire destroyed our Historic Sanctuary. Now we're entering a new era of following Christ together. The book of 2 Timothy can equip us to think biblically about how to do this well. In this first episode, Dr. Ben Lovvorn talks us through 2 Timothy 1:1–7 and how it applies to us right now. Then Ben, Nate, and Andrew discuss the legacy of First Baptist Dallas and how we can each carry that legacy into the future.   To learn more about the ministry of First Baptist Dallas, visit our website: firstdallas.org To receive regular updates from the church about the Historic Sanctuary: firstdallas.org/sanctuaryupdates To watch our services and find additional resources from Dr. Ben Lovvorn and the ministries of First Dallas, visit: icampus.firstdallas.org   For an incredible library of biblical resources from our Senior Pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress, visit Pathway to Victory: ptv.org  To financially support the mission of First Baptist Dallas, you can give online here: firstdallas.org/fbdgive   Dr. Ben Lovvorn serves as the Executive Pastor of First Baptist Dallas. Nate Curtis is our Executive Director of Communications and Broadcast. Andrew Bobo is our Associate Executive Pastor, Practical Theology. 

Oklahoma school districts in revolt against state superintendent's order to teach bible, large churches are pushes small congregations out of the marketplace, Kim Davis is such a pile of poop, shocking abuse report out of New Zealand, class-action lawsuit forms against Mormon Church, why doesn't Robert Jeffress think god burned down his church, and do atheists need a symbol (something like the Christian cross, but not a murder weapon)?

It's Tuesday, July 23rd, A.D. 2024. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com. I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Kevin Swanson Hindus are beating up Christians in India Last month, on June 12th, a mob of vigilantes in Chhattisgarh, India knocked two Christians unconscious while three others were hospitalized with severe injuries, reports Open Doors. Before the mob banished Christian families from the village, the believers were forced into signing a statement that declared if they returned to the village, they would have to convert to Hinduism within 10 days. This coercion took place in the presence of and with the cooperation of local authorities. The Christians have now fled the village fearing that if they return they will be killed since they have no plans to renounce Jesus Christ as their Savior. In addition, on July 13th, a mob of more than 50 Hindu activists attacked a gathering of Christians organized by a local church in central India, reports International Christian Concern. Members of the mob beat those in attendance, including a 60-year-old woman who was punched in the face. Her face swelled up for more than three days. The Clintons, 16 governors, and 33 senators endorsed Kamala After President Joe Biden backed out of the 2024 presidential race, Bill and Hillary Clinton, 16 state governors, and 33 senators have thus far endorsed Kamala Harris for the Democrat Party nomination. Alexander Soros, the son of the well-known billionaire George Soros, and the Chair of Open Society Foundations, also endorsed Kamala Harris on X. He tweeted, “It's time for us all to unite around Kamala Harris and beat Donald Trump. She is the best and most qualified candidate we have. Long live the American Dream!”    According to Breitbart, Alexander Soros has visited the Biden White House 17 times.  However, holding off on endorsements are former President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York.  But Job said, “The Lord makes nations great, and destroys them; He enlarges nations, and guides them. He takes away the understanding of the chiefs of the people of the Earth, and makes them wander in a pathless wilderness. They grope in the dark without light, and He makes them stagger like a drunken man.” (Job 12:23-25) The financial shift from West to East World power is shifting from West to East The economic production of Russia, China, India, South Africa, and Brazil will grow from 16% of the total world economy in 1992 to an estimated 34% by the year 2028, reports GeoCapitalist.com.  Meanwhile, the Western G7 nations drop from 46% to 28% over the same time period. South America depending on China South America is moving towards more economic dependence upon China. Chinese trade with South America has increased from $18 billion in 2002 to $450 billion in 2022, reports The Economist. And China's trade with Brazil increased by more than a third in the first two months of the year, according to The Financial Times.  Venezuela: The economic disaster in South America Venezuela has become the worst economic disaster in South America. Since 2007, the country has been subjected to Marxist rule under President Hugo Chavez and his protégé' Nicolás Maduro. The nation's GDP fell from $316 billion to $114 billion since then. The nation will have an opportunity to elect another president this coming weekend, although doubts are high as to whether the current president will conduct fair elections. Venezuela has the lowest Gross Domestic Product per capita of South America — that's $8,500. Over 7 million people or 20% have fled the Marxist “paradise.” Proverbs 28:15 points out that ”Like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked ruler over a poor people.” America's $1.9 trillion deficit The Congressional Budget Office is projecting a $1.9 trillion deficit this year.  That's up $400 billion from what was originally estimated. And it's twice the average deficit spending under the 8-year-long Obama administration.   The average deficit spending under the Trump administration was $2.06 trillion per year.  The estimated average deficit spending per year under the Biden administration will be $1.75 trillion. By contrast, the average deficit spending under the Obama administration was only $817 billion per year. Rite Aid, Walgreens, and CVS shutter hundreds of pharmacies Since October, the pharmacy chain, Rite Aid, has closed 520 of its 2,111 stores.  And now, Walgreen's Chief Executive Tim Wentworth told the Wall Street Journal that his company plans to shutter approximately 2,100 stores, which amounts to about a quarter of its retail outlets. CVS has closed 600 stores since 2022, and plans another 300 closures this year. Coincidentally, CVS and Walgreens began selling the abortion pill over the counter in March of this year. Historic First Baptist Dallas sanctuary burned down The historic sanctuary of First Baptist Church of Dallas, pastored by outspoken Trump supporter Robert Jeffress, burned to the ground late last week in a four-alarm fire, reported Fox 4. An emotional Pastor Jeffress shared his thoughts. JEFFRESS: “This sanctuary has been around since 1890. It was the home for our church for a long time until we moved to our new Worship Center about 12 years ago. “This historic sanctuary was the site of many personal events, including my own. I was baptized there when I was six. I was ordained for the ministry when I was 21. It holds a lot of memories.” Pastor Jeffress was grateful that no one was hurt. JEFFRESS: “But we thank God that nobody has been hurt. We had just concluded Vacation Bible School with over 2,000 kids. They were all gone. So, God has protected us through all of this. “I'm grateful that the church is not bricks and mortar or wood. It's people and the people of God will endure. First Baptist Dallas will endure. And we thank so many of our friends around the country who are praying for us right now.” The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives sent investigators to assist in determining the cause of the fire which is still unknown. The newer worship center where the congregation meets is still intact thankfully. If you'd like to help support First Baptist, you can make a donation through a special link in our transcript today at www.TheWorldview.com.  And consider sending a card of encouragement to Pastor Robert Jeffress first Baptist Dallas 17 07 San Jacinto Street, Dallas, Texas 75201 3 girls save another girl from attempted kidnapping Three 11-year-old girls saved a 6-year-old girl from a kidnapping and perhaps worse at the Meridian Green Apartments in Kent, Washington last Tuesday. While the girls were walking towards an ice cream truck outside their apartment complex they confronted the man who was forcibly removing a little girl by the wrist.  They recorded the abduction with their phone cameras, and then asked him if he knew the girl. The man indicated he did, but the 6-year-old disagreed. Police subsequently arrested the man, and, at last report, the 40-year-old male, Hayder Albu Mohammed, has been charged with second-degree attempted kidnapping. Adam McManus on vacation And finally, I'm taking my first vacation from the newscast in almost 10 years with my bride, Amy, and our three children, Honor, Mercy, and Valor. We'll be flying from San Antonio, Texas to Virginia to visit my parents over the next two weeks.  Please pray for our safe travels and for God's healing touch on my mother, Harriet, who is 84, and my father, Mike, who is 83.  That would mean the world to me! I'll be voicing the newscast again on Thursday, August 8th. Close And that's The Worldview on this Tuesday, July 23rd, in the year of our Lord 2024. Join me Adam McManus, and my two sons, Honor and Valor, at the Colorado Father-Son retreat Thursday, August 15th through Sunday, August 18th. Go to ColoradoFatherSon.com.  Subscribe by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com. Or get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

What do we do when Christian leaders fall, or even closer to home, when our Christian friends or family leave the faith? On this first episode in our new summer series—Unapologetic Hot Takes—Julia asks Dr. Robert Jeffress these questions and more! Their hot take? Christians should be allowed to fail! From the Hillsong exposè to the documentary on the Duggar family, stories of ministries falling from grace are undoubtedly popular right now. As Julia and Dr. Jeffress dive into how to respond when Christians fall and how to heal, they challenge listeners to check their hearts when consuming media that exposes unfortunate circumstances for entertainment. Together they also talk through how to keep from becoming jaded towards our fellow Christians, guarding your life against temptation, and overcoming spiritual regrets. Towards the end of the episode, Julia shares part of her own prodigal story—encouraging listeners to remember that no one is ever too far gone to run back to Jesus. This is an honest and uplifting discussion you're not going to want to skip! Dr. Jeffress's book—Coming Home, which he dedicated to Julia—is available everywhere! Connect with him at ptv.org or by listening to the Pathway to Victory podcast.

God has forgiven us of our sins and therefore we are called to do the same with one another. Steve Diehl co-founder of Forgiveness Ministries joins the show to discuss the six basic principles of personal forgiveness and shares how applying them to our life changes everything. Later Dr. Robert Jeffress discusses his book "When Forgiveness Doesn't Make Sense" as he covers what a Biblical understanding of forgiveness is. Faith Radio podcasts are made possible by your support. Give now: Click here

Rich talks with Lt. General (Ret.) Keith Kellogg about the threat Iran poses to the world stage following the attack on Israel. Later, we discuss the stabbing of a bishop in Australia and the splintering within the Methodist Church with Dr. Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas and author of "Are We Living In The End Time?" Then, it's a look back on Day 2 of the "hush money" trial with Trump attorney Jesse Binnall. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pastor Robert Jeffress sits down with host Erick Stakelbeck and exposes prophetic revelations from his new book “Are We Living in the End Times?” How did the Hamas massacre of October 7th hasten the prophetic timeline? What are the spiritual forces at play in the erupting war in the Middle East? Does Pastor Jeffress see America eventually turning its back on Israel? Don't miss host Erick Stakelbeck's exclusive interview on The StaksCast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this podcast… Ben Shapiro wrote a rap song. After all that complaining he did about WAP, he decided to make a song that was surprisingly significantly worse. Oh, and it's a total ripoff of Eminem's Rap God. Buckle up. We're going to listen to some MAGA music. Robert Jeffress, historical trump apply, wrote a new book about the end. Apparently, any time something happens in Israel, everybody thinks the end is right around the corner. Let's take a look back at who this guy is and some of the dishonest and ridiculous stuff he's had to say over the years. DEI has gone too far. Not the diversity, equity and inclusion programs, but the propaganda being spread about DEI. Charlie Kirk and others are using it as the basis for the belief that black people are inferior to white people, and it's honestly wild to see it so brazen and out in the open. Trump prophet Julie green believes she has a successful prophecy on her hands. Since she's using it as a puff in her petticoat, let's talk about whether it was actually a successful prophecy, and some of her more glaring fails. We also take voicemails. If you want to leave a voicemail, the number is 1-800-701-8573. Become a youtube member: https://owenmorgan.com/fireside-membership Get my book (Understanding Jehovahs Witnesses): https://owenmorgan.com/book Email list: https://owenmorgan.com/subscribe Patreon: https://owenmorgan.com/patreon Twitter: https://owenmorgan.com/twitter Twitch: https://owenmorgan.com/twitch Telltale: https://www.youtube.com/@owenmorgantelltale Telltale Fireside Chat: https://www.youtube.com/@telltalefiresidechat Telltale Unfiltered: https://www.youtube.com/@telltaleunfiltered Telltale Reads: https://www.youtube.com/@telltalereads TikTok: https://owenmorgan.com/tiktok Discord: https://owenmorgan.com/discord PayPal: https://owenmorgan.com/paypal Teespring: https://owenmorgan.com/teespring Podcast on iTunes: https://owenmorgan.com/itunes-podcast Podcast on SoundCloud: https://owenmorgan.com/soundcloud-podcast Voicemail: 1-800-701-8573

Guest Bios Show Transcript How did loving your enemies—a command of Jesus—suddenly become a sign that you're “woke”? And why is “owning the libs” now the answer to “What would Jesus do?”  On this edition of The Roys Report, bestselling author and journalist Tim Alberta joins host Julie Roys to explore a disturbing phenomenon in American evangelicalism. Though once evangelicals understood that the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of man were separate, now the two are being combined into an unholy mix. And sadly, for millions of conservative Christians, America is their kingdom—and proper adherence to their political ideology is their litmus test for Christian orthodoxy! On this podcast, you'll hear Julie's compelling conversation with Tim, exploring how evangelicals got into this mess—and if, and how, we can get ourselves out. Yet Tim doesn't speak as an outside critic passing judgment, but as a practicing Christian and the son of an evangelical pastor.  Tim spent years sifting through the wreckage of American evangelicalism, interviewing pastors, evangelical/political activists, congregants, and scholars. The result is his new book, The Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory, which tells story after illuminating story of major players and institutions within the evangelical movement that have succumbed to political idolatry.  One example is Liberty University, founded in 1971 by Jerry Falwell Sr. Recent headlines have exposed how Senior's now-disgraced son, Jerry Falwell, Jr., made Liberty into a far-right, culture warring, money-making powerhouse. But is this mixing of the kingdom of God and the kingdom of man a corruption of Senior's vision—or, is it the culmination of it? And what does it say that everyone—the administration, board, and Liberty supporters—were all fine with it, as long as the money was coming in?  Tim also shares stunning admissions he got during one-on-one interviews with major evangelical/political figures, like Robert Jeffress and Ralph Reed. In private, these men confessed that they know mixing political advocacy with the gospel is misleading and wrong. Yet, as Tim documents, these men keep doing it! Yet Tim also offers stories of hope—like his chapter on Rev. Dr. John Dickson, who teaches at the flagship evangelical school, Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill. In it, Tim explains why Dickson has become a missionary to America—and how Christians can lose the culture wars yet live joyfully and winsomely among unbelievers. Tim's book also includes a chapter on exposing abuse and corruption, featuring Rachel Denhollander's work and our work at The Roys Report. On the podcast, we discuss why our reporting is so important and why this chapter is Tim's mother's favorite! This is such an important podcast for Christians wanting to remain true to their calling to worship God first and foremost, rather than succumb to political idolatry.  Guests Tim Alberta Tim Alberta is a staff writer for The Atlantic and has written for dozens of other publications, including the Wall Street Journal and National Review. He is the author of The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism and the New York Times bestseller American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump. He lives in southeast Michigan with his wife and three sons. Show Transcript SPEAKERS TIM ALBERTA, Julie Roys Julie Roys  00:04 How did loving your enemies, a command of Jesus, suddenly become a sign that you're woke? And why is owning the libs now the answer to what would Jesus do? Welcome to The Roys Report, a podcast dedicated to reporting the truth and restoring the church. I'm Julie Roys and joining me on this podcast is New York Times bestselling author Tim Alberta, whose latest book explores what happened to American evangelicalism. Decades ago, Americans viewed evangelicalism favorably. In 1976, author and historian Gary Wills called evangelicalism, the major religious force in America, both in numbers and an impact. And leading evangelical thinkers claimed that evangelicalism could no longer be regarded as reactionary but was vigorously and sometimes creatively speaking to the needs of the contemporary world. Fast forward to today and evangelicalism has become synonymous with Donald Trump, a thrice married vulgar opportunist who said he doesn't need to repent or ask for forgiveness. A recent poll by Pew Research found that the only religious group that views evangelicals favorably are evangelicals. And as Tim Alberta notes in his book in 1991 90% of Americans identified as Christians, but today, only 63% do. What happened to this once vibrant movement? And can it be saved, or has it passed beyond the point of no return? Un his new book, The Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory. Tim Alberta does a masterful job of exploring these questions, but he doesn't do it as an outside critic passing judgment. But as a practicing Christian and the son of an evangelical pastor. I found Tim's book eye opening on many levels, and I'm so excited to share this interview with you. Julie Roys  01:47 But before I do, I want to thank the sponsors of this podcast, Judson University, and Marquardt of Barrington. If you're looking for a top ranked Christian University, providing a caring community and an excellent college experience, Judson University is for you. Judson is located on 90 acres just 40 miles west of Chicago in Elgin, Illinois. The school offers more than 60 majors, great leadership opportunities, and strong financial aid. Plus, you can take classes online as well as in person. Judson University is shaping lives that shaped the world. For more information, just go to JUDSONU.EDU. Also, if you're looking for a quality new or used car, I highly recommend my friends at Marquardt of Barrington. Marquardt is a Buick GMC dealership where you can expect honesty, integrity, and transparency. That's because the owners there Dan and Kurt Marquardt, are men of integrity, to check them out, just go to BUYACAR123.COM. Julie Roys  02:51 Well, again, joining me is Tim Alberta, a staff writer for The Atlantic and the former chief political correspondent for Politico. Tim also is the author of The New York Times best seller American Carnage on the Frontlines of the Republican Civil War, and the Rise of President Trump. And his latest book, The Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory, explores American evangelicals in an age of extremism. So, Tim, welcome. It is just such a pleasure to be with you again. TIM ALBERTA  03:16 Yes, Julie, it is. It's great to catch up with you and come sort of full circle from where we were a couple of years ago talking about all of this. Julie Roys  03:24 That's right. We spent a couple of well, more than a couple of hours. I think it was supposed to be like maybe an hour and a half, and we got so into our discussion. I think we closed down one coffee shop and went to another. TIM ALBERTA  03:35 We did. I hijacked your whole day. Julie Roys  03:38 Oh, it was fantastic. And so, encouraging to me, but always fun to talk to a fellow journalist with similar convictions. And I was excited about this book when we had our discussion. I'm so honored, I have to say, you know, to get the galley of the book, and I figured because we spent so much time that I'd be in it, but you know, just what you wrote, and the way that you captured some things just so honored to be featured in a chapter with Rachel den Hollander. So, thank you so much for that. I just really appreciate it. TIM ALBERTA  04:07 I should tell you that is my mother's favorite chapter of the book. Oh, for what it's worth, because she's big into strong feminine Christian leadership. And so, she was particularly smitten with you and with Rachel. So, I thought you should know that. Julie Roys  04:21 Oh, wow. Well, I'm honored. I really am. And I should mention that we are offering your book as a premium to anybody who gives $50 or more to The Roys Report in this month. Again, this is just a way that you're able to support the work that we do, but also get this fantastic book. Just go to JULIEROYS.COM/DONATE if you're able to help us out and continue the work that we do, and also get what could be a great Christmas present for somebody or for yourself. So anyway, encourage you to do that. Well, Tim, as I mentioned in the open, you're not writing this book as sort of an outsider critiquing evangelicalism. You grew up evangelical, your dad was an evangelical pastor. And oddly enough, it was at your dad's funeral in 2019, that something sort of awakened you to the severity of what's happening right now within evangelicalism. Tell us a bit about that story. TIM ALBERTA  05:17 Yeah, so my dad, Reverend Richard Alberta, was an amazing, amazing guy. We were very close. And he had a pretty crazy come to Jesus story himself where he was actually kind of a hotshot New York finance guy. And my mom was kind of a hotshot, young journalist with ABC Radio. They lived in New York and my dad, despite having all of this worldly material success, just felt this emptiness. And he was an atheist. He grew up in an unbelieving home. And he, one day stumbled into this church in the Hudson Valley, and heard the gospel and he gave his life to Christ. And it was already a pretty dramatic conversion because he became completely unrecognizable to people around him, including my mom, who was not yet a Christian. Everybody who knew him just thought he was sort of losing it. Suddenly, he's waking up at four in the morning to read his Bible and meditate in prayer for hours. And they're all like, what is this guy doing? And then pretty soon after that, he feels the Lord calling him to ministry. And now they all think he's like certifiable, right? You know, but he follows the Lord's calling. And, you know, he and my mom who became a Christian, they sell all the possessions so he can go to seminary, and they basically they give up this pretty lavish lifestyle they'd had. And for the next like, 20 years, they just work in small churches and live on food stamps and serve the Lord that way. And then when I come along, some years later, we eventually settle in Brighton, which is a suburb of Detroit. And my dad builds this kind of small startup church there into kind of a mega church. And that was my home. It was my community. It was my whole life, really. My mom was on the staff there at the church as well. It was called Cornerstone Evangelical Presbyterian Church. I was raised physically, literally, inside of that church. TIM ALBERTA  07:11 And so, my dad dies a few years back. And when I came back to the church for the funeral, because of the work I've done in politics, and because I had just recently written this book about Trumpism and his takeover of the Republican Party, I was kind of in the crosshairs of right-wing media at that time, because of the book. And so, at the funeral or at the wake during the visitation, I had a bunch of people at the church kind of confronting me and wanting to argue about politics and about Trump and asking me if I was still a Christian and how I could be criticizing him this way. And it was pretty ugly. And as you said, sort of a wakeup call. Julie Roys  07:52 Yeah. And it is something isn't it when you don't support these people that certain evangelicalism believe you have to your, you know, I've got people praying for my salvation, because I've taken on John MacArthur, you know, It's craziness. But there is this tribalism now, within evangelicalism, and it's probably at its very worst when it comes to former President Trump and what he typified. It's interesting to me, you know, as I look at the evangelical movement, you know, I was a card-carrying conservative right? Before Trump came along, and then something really happened. And I feel like I was going back and reading a little bit of Chuck Colson's, Kingdoms in Conflict. Do you remember that book? TIM ALBERTA  08:34 I do. Yeah. Julie Roys  08:35 I mean, he was pretty even handed. I mean, he's very clear in there that being in the kingdom of heaven means it's not about ruling others, it's about being under God's rule. And yet something has tripped, where we're not saying that anymore. We're really become about this whole Dominionism. And he talks about the cultural mandate and things like that, but it's from a very, very different perspective. So here we are dealing with all of this Christian nationalism, and according to your book, a lot of this began, and it's funny because now, Lynchburg Virginia has become synonymous with the Falwell's and with Liberty University. But I've got to say, growing up in the 80s, you know, I knew about the Moral Majority, and some of that, but it just wasn't that big to me. And yet it has grown and grown, and I guess I wasn't even aware of the influence it had. But talk about how a lot of this has its roots really there, in Lynchburg, Virginia, and with what Jerry Falwell Senior. started in, like the late 70s, early 80s. TIM ALBERTA  09:42 Sure, in the context of the American church experience, it is Lynchburg, Virginia. It is the mid-1970s. And it is Jerry Falwell Senior who was a brilliant businessman who, you know, this guy could sell anyone on anything, and he was kind of a master entrepreneur, also a master manipulator. And what Falwell Senior. effectively did, he had already built out Thomas Road Baptist Church into a massive congregation. And then he had tapped into the relatively new medium of television to broadcast his sermons around the country. At one point, he became the single most telecasted program in the entire country. And so, he's reaching millions of people and he's raising a lot of money. This is pretty cutting-edge stuff at the time, but he's building out a mailing list with like more than 10 million names on it, and they are raking in money. So, then he already has his church. But Falwell, Senior is really almost the early archetype of the Christian nationalist. He believes that sort of fighting for God and fighting for America is one in the same and that if America falls, then almost God's kingdom on earth will fall. And so he recognizes that he needs something more than a church; that he needs kind of a cultural stronghold. So, he does two things. First, he takes this little Baptist College Lynchburg Baptist College, and at the time of the bicentennial in 1976, he rebrands it to Liberty University, and he changes the colors from green and gold to red, white, and blue. And basically, they do this whole patriotic rebranding exercise, which is aimed at tapping into not only patriotism in the church, but also tapping into the percolating low simmering at the time, fear in the church and grievance in the church. This sense that, you know, abortion is now legal. Pornography is prevalent, the drug culture is out of control. Prayer is banned in public schools. Secularism is on the march and they're coming for us like they are coming for Christianity in America. And so, Jerry Falwell turns Liberty University into this cause, and then piggybacks onto that with this new organization, The Moral Majority. So suddenly, he's got these three cogs. And he builds out this machine, Falwell Senior does, and it is incredibly effective. They mobilize 10s of millions of voters and sort of bring them under this banner of not just, you know, Christianity, not just following Jesus, but a very particular type of Christianity, a sort of subculture of a subculture. And in many ways, those seeds planted by Falwell 50 years ago, we are harvesting them now. And what we are dealing with, you know, the fracturing of the modern evangelical movement, I think you can trace it directly back to that period. Julie Roys  12:36 It's so interesting, because I think when you talk about Jerry Falwell Senior, and I've talked to a lot of people from Liberty, I've done a lot of reporting about Liberty. And a lot of folks look very wistfully back to the early days, and these are good people, you know, I've talked extensively to them. They're really good people, sincere believers. They look at what's happened to Liberty, and they're like, this isn't Senior. Like Senior loved the Lord and he really was sincere in his walk with the Lord and Junior just was like, we don't know how Junior happened, right? I mean, that's how they often talk about it. I'm going to have you come back to that, because I think what you present is a very, very different picture and honestly, one that I've begun to suspect myself. But let's talk about what happens with you know, Senior dies pretty abruptly right of a heart attack. And then Jerry Falwell, Junior, who is the lawyer, right? He takes over not Jonathan Falwell, who's the pastor, much more of the spiritual leader, but Jerry Falwell, Junior takes over. Very clearly, I'm not a spiritual leader. I mean, he really assued that whole entire title. But when he takes over, despite all the success that his dad had, the school was on the brink of bankruptcy at this point, right? And he kind of turns it around. 13:57 So, Falwell, Junior. is the yes, the UVA trained lawyer, businessman, real estate developer, who is a smart guy. He knows business. And he had really kept the church and organized religion at arm's length. His younger brother Jonathan was the preacher in the family. But Jerry Junior, he'd gone to Liberty for his undergraduate studies. And he says that, you know, he believes in the teachings of Jesus but rejects a lot of the other stuff that comes with it, including Liberty itself. Jerry Junior never wanted to really be a part of Liberty. And suddenly as he's working in the private sector, the school is about to go under. Jerry Senior has really badly mismanaged the finances and he tells his son that basically the school is on the brink of insolvency. And so, Jerry Junior kind of reluctantly comes aboard and he helps to stabilize everything, and he makes a lot of drastic cuts to the different programs and kind of rejiggers the whole balance sheet operation. And he saves Liberty in a lot of ways that, you know, his father gave him credit for that. And it's interesting though, Julie, that when Jerry Falwell senior dies, it's not an accident that Jerry Junior. takes over. That was the plan of succession. It's notable that here is Jerry Falwell senior, who is both businessman and culture warrior, but also a preacher. And he's got these two sons that exemplify one of each, right? He's got the son who's a preacher. And he's got the other son who's the kind of culture warrior businessman. And he appoints the latter to take over Liberty after he's gone. And that in and of itself, I think, speaks volumes. And then more to the point, Jerry Junior, as you said, he comes in and he tells anybody who will listen, look, I'm not a religious leader, I'm not here charged with the spiritual well-being of this school. I'm here to turn us into a powerhouse, I'm here to turn us into a highly profitable, highly influential organization that can sort of, you know, push back against the forces of secularism in the left in this country. But he doesn't, to his credit, I suppose. Falwell Junior, he doesn't pretend that he's something that he's not. And the irony of it all, Julie is that everybody was fine with it. They were fine with it. Right? They were, as you know, when the money was coming in, and the buildings were going up at a rapid clip, and the endowment was bulging, everybody was fine with it. Because he's Jerry Senior's namesake, and he's a Falwell, and the school is doing great. Clearly God is blessing this project. So, what's not to like? Julie Roys  16:47 Well, and you say everyone was fine with it. And it's true on a public face, everyone was fine with it. I will say I started hearing from a lot of people who weren't fine with it from I mean, obviously the Jane DOE's and now we know about who were victims of sexual assault, and their cases got just horribly mismanaged. In fact, not even reported. And you know, now we have the Department of Education looking into how badly Liberty bungled these cases and violated Title Nine mandates, and they could face like a 30 some million dollar fine, which could be one of the largest ever. So, this was percolating under the surface, but nobody knew about it at the time. And I also talked to a lot of professors who were like, the way this place is being run is abysmal. There's nothing Christian about it. The way the administration handles things, there's nothing Christian about it. And we know too, from some of the people you interviewed, it was less like a religious institution and more like a mafia like a mob boss. Like Jerry turned into I think Jerry is very, he's very likable when you meet him. I mean, obviously very socially gifted, even though he's an introvert. He seems like this kind of your good old boy that, you know, everybody likes. But he began to become very controlling, and lock that place down where Jerry ruled with really an iron fist. And by the time some of the stuff started coming out about him, that place I mean, am I right, that it was a lot less like a Christian institution a lot more like the organized crime syndicate? TIM ALBERTA  18:24 Yeah, well, and listen like this is so Julie. It's funny, because obviously, you and I are in the same line of work. We're coming at this from pretty similar worldviews, and we're having similar conversations, with some of the same people. And you're exactly right when they're using the term family business. You know, Liberty is a family business. They're not just talking about like the Falwell family. There's, you know, the implication there is like very clearly that there is almost a mafioso-esque quality to, you don't cross the Falwell's, the power is concentrated in a few hands here. If you get a seat at the table, you are just lucky to be there and you nod and you know, at one point, I think I make sort of an offhand smart aleck comparison to like the North Korean military where, you know, you stand and salute the dear leader and don't dare step out of line. And of course, that's tragic on a number of levels, one of them being that Liberty has been filled over the years with really good and godly students and good and godly professors who are there for the right reasons. Some of these professors who started to really see the rot from the inside., they chose to stick around because on the one hand, they could see the success around them. The kind of observable material success that you know that the campus is absolutely stunning. Maybe God is doing something really marvelous here and I just have to kind of see my way through this part of it. But I also think that there's a level of devotion, and a feeling for some of these people that they wanted to help right the ship, that they wanted to be a part of the solution. And obviously, those are some of the characters I talk to in the book who now have finally gotten to a breaking point where they say, you know what? I just can't do it anymore. And not only can I not do it anymore, but the world needs to know, the whistle needs to be blown here that like this is not okay. Julie Roys  20:21 What does it say about evangelicalism, Tim, that when the money was coming in, and the money still is coming in, that everybody was okay with how godless this place was? And anybody that was in administration knew and saw it. The Board, who it's astounding to me that when Jerry Falwell Junior, got embroiled in this big sex scandal, and he gets fired, that Jerry Prevo takes over. And we think that that is a change of the guard. This was the man who was the chairman of the board the whole time that Jerry was doing all of this stuff. It's shocking to me, but yet I see it so much in so many different Christian organizations. And so, what is it about us that we're okay with these things, with really what is just absolute rampant hypocrisy? TIM ALBERTA  21:15 I'm afraid that in many ways, we're actually worse than some of those secular institutions. Because of this idea of the prosperity gospel, it's almost become like this proper noun. And so, people feel like well, those are those people are crazy. I'm not one of them, I'm not a part of that, right? But the idea inherent to the prosperity gospel, right is that, well, if you give to the Lord, and if you serve the Lord, if you follow the Lord, then you will be blessed. But that is so conveniently and so easily reverse engineered by a lot of Christians, either at a conscious or at a subconscious level, where when you see any sort of material success around you, you then say, well, clearly, I'm blessed. Clearly, the Lord is blessing this project. And that creates a kind of a permission structure, I think, for a lot of us to then turn a blind eye to things that are very obviously wrong, or kind of downplay things that you otherwise would never downplay. And whether that's an individual church congregation, whether that's a big college campus, whether it's the President of the United States, this can manifest in a lot of different ways. It's so much based on that kind of material thinking that I think we are particularly vulnerable, particularly susceptible to it here in the American church. I think the saddest part about it is that many of us just don't see it, or maybe don't want to see it. I don't know. Julie Roys  22:44 Your book has a stunning quote, stunning quote by a former professor, Dr. Aaron Warner. And he says, and I quote, Jerry, Senior, was always a bit of a scoundrel, and Jerry Junior, perfected the art of using fear and hatred as a growth strategy. Christianity happens to be the thing that they used to build a multibillion-dollar institution. It could have been anything else. It could have been moonshine, but they chose Christianity. And it's gained them a lot of power and a lot of money; the two things these people truly worship. You talked to a lot of people, interviewed a lot of people at Liberty. Is that characterization fair? Or do you think it's a little too harsh? TIM ALBERTA  23:23 It's harsh, that's for sure. It might contain some traces of hyperbole. But I will say this, Aaron Werner is another guy who knows that institution very well. Went there as an undergraduate, has deep longstanding ties to Liberty And the stories he tells from the inside are stunning. One of the other quotes, actually, I thought it might be the one that you're going to read because it kind of runs right along in parallel to that one is from a current professor. Now, at the time of this recording, he's a current professor. My sense is that when the book releases and when this gets back to the administration that he could be dismissed and he's expecting that that will happen. But his name is Nick Olsen, and he's an English professor, very popular English professor there. Brilliant, godly young guy. And he's a legacy at Liberty. His dad was one of the first students at Liberty and a contemporary of Falwell Senior. And Nick has sort of agonized in recent years with this inheritance at Liberty and everything that he's seen and struggled with there. And he says to me, this is not quite verbatim, but he says this to me in the final chapter of the book, he says, Jerry Junior, thought that he was fulfilling his father's vision by assuing spiritual stuff and by building out this massive multibillion dollar like culture warring Republican institution. And he says, and it is heartbreaking, because that's exactly what he's done, and he did fulfill Jerry Senior's vision. And I think that piece of it, Julie is not hyperbole. I think that when you spend enough time digging through the archives and talking to people who were there in the room where it happened, so to speak, it becomes pretty self-evident. And by the way, you know, you mentioned earlier that there are people who will say, Yeah, but you know, Jerry Senior, he really loved the Lord. Yeah, well, these things aren't mutually exclusive. I mean, I'm not suggesting that he didn't love the Lord. But I'm suggesting that like many people who love the Lord, he got his priorities out of whack. And by the way, we are all susceptible to this. But it's very hard to evaluate the history of Liberty University, the decisions made there, the structure of the place and the personnel and how they've treated people and what the benchmarks have been. It's very hard to assess all of that and reach any other conclusion than the one that Nick Olsen reaches at the end of the book. Julie Roys  25:41 And yet Liberty continues to be the largest Christian university in the country. It still has this dominance, there's still a lot of people that I know sending their kids there. And it's heartbreaking to me. I mean, I just wonder at what point do we say enough, and we stand up to this? And I'm glad that people are starting to speak out. But sometimes I wonder if it's too little too late, when we have just these juggernaut organizations and it really has been a marrying of two kingdoms that should be in conflict, and we're trying to say that they can be married together the kingdom of this world, the kingdom, the political realm, and the kingdom of Christ. And Jesus never became a political leader. It's stunning to me some of these quotes that are in your book, that are just like you expect a lightning to fall out of the sky, the way that scripture and Jesus are being misrepresented. It's just so awful. Julie Roys  26:37 In your first section, though, I have to say there's always some redeeming thing in each section, which I'm like, Thank You, Lord. It's like a palate cleanser in a lot of just awful stuff. But you have this beautiful chapter. And it's on a guy, John Dixon, who I actually got to know in my reporting on Ravi Zacharias, because John used to be a speaker for Ravi Zacharias International Ministries. And he was one of those who, you know, pretty early in the game as things were starting to come out, recognized that there were some lies being told by the institution he had been a part of, and he quickly made a break, and he boldly took a stand. I mean, I really respected him for that, that he didn't seem to have this Oh, fear of, if I say something, what's going to happen to me? I mean, he just said what was right, and what was what was true. And now he's at Wheaton College, which is right in my backyard. And what I love is that he's so joyfully on the losing team. You know, we've got all of these people, all these Christians out there telling us we have to be on the winning team, we got to take America back. And here's John Dixon saying, No, we're on the losing team right now. I mean, eventually, when Christ comes back, we'll be you know, he will set things right, and we'll be on the winning team. But for now, we're kind of on the losing team. And it's okay, people. So, talk about John and what we can learn from him and his example, because again, he's from Australia, which is probably about 10 or 15 years ahead of us in sort of this post Christian era that, you know, is beginning to happen here as well. Julie Roys  28:16 And that is so tough for us. I mean, it's not tough for Chinese Christians to get this, right? I mean they get it right away. Because to be a believer means you have to get rid of everything, you can't hold on to anything, you're gonna lose all your power, all your position. But I think we've been, actually it's the curse of being prosperous. And being in a country where Christians have had the majority and where it actually was a plus, probably for my parents to be believers. I think it won't be for my children. But maybe that'll be a good thing. And maybe that's precisely what the church needs. We already think we're being persecuted, which is funny. We really aren't. But we may see it. And right now, I think most of the persecution we're getting is because of what you said that we're not because we're so holy, but because we're actually worse than the world in so many different ways. And we deserve it. TIM ALBERTA  28:16 John is really one of my favorite people I've met in all of the journeys that I was on, and one of my favorite characters in the book for exactly the reasons that you mentioned there. And the fact that he is not an American is, I think, a big part of his perspective, right? But I think also, there's something deeper embedded in the American psyche, about winning, about the need to dominate. I have a funny quote somewhere else in the book from somebody who had spent years living and studying and teaching in Canada, who talks about how Canadians just want fourth place, and then when they get the bronze, they're thrilled. And in America, if you don't get the gold, you're a total loser, right? And so, there's something, you know, about the American Christian experience that's so different. And so, John, one of my favorite scenes in all of this reporting that I did was, we're sitting in the cafeteria there at Wheaton College, surrounded by the flags of the world all around us in the cafeteria. And I say, Why did you come here? Like, really? Why did you come here? And he says, like, this is my mission field now, like the US is my mission field because of this, this stuff. Everything you and I are discussing right now. He said this stuff is like so toxic and so unhealthy. And the church is caught in this terrible pattern. That, by the way, is not new. Right? You go back to Constantine, there has been this obsession with worldly power this inclination to merge two kingdoms into one. So, what we're living through here is not new, in a lot of ways. And I think John is so brilliant in kind of illuminating the appropriate Christian perspective here, which is to say that if you care so much about winning and losing, then the good news is you've already won, right? The tomb is empty, Jesus conquered death, and you believe in him. So therefore, you're already a part of the kingdom. But this place, which is meant to be ephemeral, and unimportant ultimately, and just, you know, a step among the stairs, that if your identity here is wrapped up in winning and losing, then you can't really have your identity there. And he says, ultimately, you know, we're the death and resurrection people. Like losing, and losing well, is a part of the Christian experience. TIM ALBERTA  31:24 John Dixon talks about how there's sort of this inverse relationship historically, between the amount of cultural and social and political power held by Christians in a society and the health of Christianity in that society, right? In other words, when you hold the commanding heights, the Christian influence it actually tends to be pretty weak and pretty corrupted and pretty compromised. When you are at the margins and when you are truly countercultural, the witness thrives. And we've seen that throughout history. Another favorite character of mine in the book, Brian Zahnd, who's the pastor of a church out in Missouri, he talks about how difficult it is for American Christians to really appreciate how the Bible is written from the perspective of the underdog, right? The Hebrew slaves fleeing Egypt, and the first century Christians living under a brutal Roman occupation. Like they had no power, they had no influence. And yet they were so joyful, and they were so content because they had their kingdom, right? And it does give me unease even in my own personal life, just the things I enjoy the materials, the prosperity, the comforts; can I fully appreciate the baby born in a manger? can I fully identify with the vagrant preacher from the ghettos of Nazareth? You know, it's a hard thing. Julie Roys  32:42 And here's the reality; that message, which is Christ's message really doesn't sell well in America. Having your best life now sells in America. And what we're seeing right now, and this, you know, brings me to the second section in your book dealing with power, which again, we've got to take back, America, has become sort of the mantra that we're hearing from so many of these, you know, political rights. And it has just morphed into something where, and again, I said at the outset, I used to be very much politically engaged with the conservative movement. I am not anymore because I can't stomach it and what it's become. I felt like we were being salt. But now it's about dominating and doing it by any means possible, where we just get rid of our morality. And I was always brought up to believe and I think this is what Scripture teaches, that the means is as important as the end. And so, if we achieve a righteous end through an unrighteous means, then we've lost. We've completely lost because we have given up what makes us unique, and what makes us God honoring for something that we're saying is a God honoring, you know end. But again, this is what has happened in our country. And, and what's interesting in this section that just captured my imagination. I mean, I've wondered this, like, you take a Robert Jeffress, right? This guy's not dumb. He's a smart Southern Baptist preacher, clearly a savvy guy. He has built this mega church, but the things that came out of his mouth, especially when Trump was in power, but it's still there. The things that come out of his mouth, and I think, he's got to know that this is not in line with the Gospels. He's got to see this. And yet, publicly, you wouldn't hear that. But when you met with him privately, you began to hear some doubt in there and allowing you to see a little bit of vulnerability, although it didn't seem to last all that long. But talk about that, because I'm not sensing much doubt in the masses that follow these men. But when you get them one on one, tell me what you see. TIM ALBERTA  34:50 And it's not just Robert Jeffress, Greg Locke, Greg Locke, Ralph Reed. Yeah, yeah, a lot of these guys. It's the pastor who in my hometown, grew his church tenfold by basically turning Sunday morning worship services into Fox news segments. And giving a Nazi salute to Gretchen Whitmer from his pulpit. I mean, but then you get them one on one. And you press them a little bit. I mean, you know, politely, respectfully, but you press them. Suddenly, they not only back off a little bit, but they do a little bit of like winking and nodding at you to basically say, like, you're right, I'm definitely putting on a bit of a song and dance here for the masses. But I think that they will ultimately justify it by saying, Well, yeah, but look at all these people who are coming in and look at the opportunity, we have to reach them now with the gospel? So, you know, those ends really do justify the means. I think the problem with that, as you hinted it, is but look, I mean, there's a lot of problems with it. You know, Mark 8:36 is not a rhetorical question, right? Like, what does it profit a man to gain the whole world yet forfeit his soul? But I think for some of these people, some of these leaders, the thing that really grates at me and I know it grates at you, Julie, is like, they're the shepherds, they're the ones who are supposed to know better, because a lot of their flock, you know, and I'm not being condescending or patronizing when I say this, they don't necessarily know better, they are the sheep, right? They need to be shepherded. And instead of shepherding, a lot of these people have just themselves become wolves. And they become wolves for what? So that you can have a seat at the table? So that you can get on Fox News? So that you can raise some money? So that for what ultimately? You're so right, when you press them on it almost to a person, they will acknowledge at some level that what they're doing is kind of gross, and kind of anti-biblical, and then they just keep on doing it. Julie Roys  36:46 So, speak to the person who is listening. And we probably don't have a ton of these. But there may be some who are listening, who have bought this hook, line, and sinker that we do need to take America back. And Franklin Graham told us it's all for the Supreme Court justices, and we got the Supreme Court justices and Roe v. Wade was just overturned and, you know, look at what was accomplished. So, you know, politics is a dirty business, Tim. I mean, come on, if we're gonna win in politics, which, you know, we're talking about babies here, babies are being slaughtered left and right. And then, you know, some of these people would allow a baby to be born alive and kill it. You know, that's who these people are. So, I mean, come on. This is the world we live in, and we've got to fight the way that the world fights. What do you say? TIM ALBERTA  37:35 I'd say a couple of things. I think you can go round and round about Roe v. Wade, and about Trump and about Supreme Court justices. But be careful what you wish for in this space. Because the fact of the matter is that Roe v Wade fell, and the total number of abortions in this country went up. I live in Michigan, where prior to Roe v Wade falling, there were pretty tight abortion restrictions in Michigan. Now, it is the wild west. It is some of the most liberalized abortion laws in the country. And that is true in seven or eight other states that have had ballot initiatives passed since Roe v. Wade, dramatically liberalizing abortion laws, and it's going to happen in a number of other states next year. So, let's be really clear eyed and fact based when we talk about what our political involvement does and what it doesn't do. At the end of the day, if you want to win hearts and minds to stop the scourge of abortion, if you are a Christian, and you view this as your great crusade, then is voting for a candidate or putting a bumper sticker on your car, is that the way to win those hearts and minds? Because the fact is, if American evangelicals had put a fraction of the energy into the social side of abortion, of doing the hard work in the clinics, and helping the single mothers and doing the foster care that is needed to address this at its root, if they had been willing to do that over the last 50 years, my guess is that public opinion would be dramatically different as it pertains to abortion. And we wouldn't even be talking about Roe v. Wade, because the number of abortions would be so low in this country that it wouldn't even register. But we've sort of self-selected into this alternate universe where politicians are our savior, and that politics is the mechanism by which we right the wrongs in this country. And I'm sorry, but if you are citizens of another kingdom?, then you can't possibly believe that. You can't possibly believe that Donald Trump or that any other politician is the person who's going to ultimately right these great moral wrongs. But unfortunately, I think that's the trap we've fallen into. Julie Roys  39:51 You know, I used to be very involved in the prolife movement. I will say, almost all of the people that I knew when I was involved in the pro-life movement, were actually involved in reaching out to single moms and caring for them and caring for their unborn children. But I think what we've forgotten so much is that politics is downstream of culture. So, if you're losing the culture, which we clearly are to change the politics, if you've got a kid that's rebellious, a teenager who's rebellious in your home, locking down all the windows and the doors in your house, that's not going to keep your kid from sinning. What's going to keep your kid from sinning, is if you can winsomely love your child into relationship with Jesus Christ and to want to be like you and to want to adopt your values. But we've forgotten about that, we've become this, you know, Midas right. And I remember in 2016, writing a commentary, The Rise of Trump, The Fall of Evangelicalism, and I said, we may win this one, but we will lose in the long run, if we throw our convictions out the window, and we alienate everyone around us, by our you know, the way that we talk and the way that we relate to people. This is not how you win people to the Lord. That fell on, you know, really deaf ears. It actually lost me some key supporters too. But I just was stunned because I did not know who these people were that I thought believed the same way that I did and had the same values. And then I went, Wow, we are just on different planets, we really don't have that. Julie Roys  41:29 I want to look at one person, again, you have these palate cleansers within all of these sections. And one of them to me is Cal Thomas, who was very much a part of the right and so I can relate to that, because that was I mean, I used to be emceeing the banquet to raise money for you know, the political cause, or whatever it was. I don't do that anymore. Cal Thomas doesn't do that anymore. What changed Cal? TIM ALBERTA  41:58 It's so funny, Julie, because just a minute ago, when you were talking about what are the weapons of our warfare? I was thinking about Cal., because Cal for those who don't know his story, you know, he was Jerry Falwell Senior's lieutenant in the Moral Majority. And he was their spokesman for the Moral Majority. And the vice president of that organization, and, you know, was really heavily involved in the kind of crusading era of the Religious Right, he was a central figure. And then Cal really started to feel uneasy with what he was seeing around him. And he doesn't even sugarcoat it. We have this very raw conversation in the book where he talks about, you know, the corruption and the greed and the grift. And how he just couldn't justify it. He justified it for a while by saying, Well, look how many people we're reaching, and look at all this money coming in. So clearly, you know, God must be doing something here. And then he eventually just gets to a point where he says, No, this is a scam. It's just immoral. And he finally walks away. And then years later, he writes this book called Blinded by Might, where he kind of tries to atone. And he just says, Listen, I was a total believer in winning the culture war to protect Christian America, as you know, part of our duty, you know, to God's kingdom. And in fact, not only has it failed, but it has backfired spectacularly, that we have driven away so many people who need Jesus, but who won't have anything to do with us anymore, They won't even let us in the door to have a conversation because of the way we've treated them because of the way we've treated the culture. So, to your point about locking down the teenager in the house, right? Cal really eloquently and powerfully was giving voice to this when he wrote that book. And then, you know, in our interviews for this book, he's an older guy now he's 80. And he's looking back with such regret on those years and thinking about how did he in some way contribute to laying the groundwork for Trump ism as this kind of sub cult in the evangelical world. And what's most interesting to me from that whole conversation, and I said this to him, is that the more things have changed, the more they've stayed the exact same. I mean, this break that he's describing in the 1980s. And this kind of crisis of conscience that he's feeling is exactly what we're trying to address today. What I'm trying to address in the book now, which is that, listen, it doesn't have to be this way. You have a choice, right? We all have a choice. It was so incredibly unpleasant for me to write this book in a lot of ways, Julie. If I'm being totally honest, I probably couldn't have written it while my dad was still alive. It would have been too hard. Like I've had some people writing me emails this past week saying, oh, like thank you for your courage. Thank you for your brave, I don't feel courageous. I don't feel brave. I feel like a coward in a lot of ways that it took me so long and that a lot of ways took my dad dying and having those experiences at his funeral to finally be willing to acknowledge and use my platform, my relatively high profile journalistically speaking to address this thing that has been so clearly wrong for such a long time. And so, for anybody listening, whether it's in your individual congregation, your faith community, your family, whatever it is like, it doesn't have to be this way. And it takes people like Cal Thomas, kind of blowing up his own life, blowing up his tribal affiliations and walking away. It takes Pastor Brian Zahnd, who I write about in Chapter 15, who had a mega church of 5000 people, and they were making money hand over fist. And then he just woke up one day and had this like epiphany from the Lord that it was all wrong, and that it was so shallow, and it was doing such a disservice to the Gospel. And he blew up his mega church. He's got like 150 people who come every Sunday now and the sanctuary seats like 2000. And he made a choice, right? Cal Thomas made a choice. You've made a choice, Julie. And I just think like, at the end of the day, the people who make that choice and who decide to reckon with what this has become? I don't think they're going to regret it. I really don't. Julie Roys  46:05 I have not regretted it once being free of the whole evangelical industrial complex as it's called, and just being free to follow your conscience without thinking, what are the consequences if I speak the truth publicly? Like what's going to happen to me? Like I see so many Christians just living in fear that if they speak out, or they tell the truth that they know that something, you know, there will be bad consequences for me, and it just makes me wonder, do we believe the gospel, like do we believe the gospel? What gospel are we living on day-to-day basis? And I love Pastor Zahnd's story that was like one of my favorite stories. And it reminded me of the book because I just interviewed Scott McKnight and Laura Behringer and their book pivot, which talks about similar things, other churches that realized church is toxic. It's huge, it's successful, but I feel empty inside, you know, and I feel thin, and they made that pivot. And it may be to smaller church, it may be and it's interesting, though, you were saying how Zahnd's church is now starting to maybe even start to grow and become a little bit healthier. And so, when I hear that I say, it's going to take a while. But in this, you know, these ashes, do you see something growing that's beautiful there that can replace this ugliness that quite frankly, I think I just think it's doomed. I think it's coming down. I don't know that it will come down quickly. This complex that we've built, but I think it will come down eventually. It may take decades. But I think there will be a Christianity I hope this was my prayer that replaces it. And it's more organic and more Grassroots less big leadership and more the Body of Christ. TIM ALBERTA  47:48 Yes,  I do see something rising from the ashes. I can sense it, particularly among the younger generation. One of the things that consistently surprised me in all of my reporting, and it was a pleasant surprise, to be clear, was spending time with younger believers. They ideologically, culturally, politically, like they're really no different from their parents, like they check those boxes on paper. But then you kind of get into some of this with them. And they want nothing to do with Trumpism. They want nothing to do with Charlie Kirk, and I'm talking about like the serious believers. I'm not talking about like the very casual kids who identify as Christian, but then go to a Turning Point USA event. I mean, like, you spend time around Liberty, and like, yes, there are some MAGA kids at Liberty. But most of the kids you spend time with  at Liberty, including those who would self-identify as like, sure I guess on paper, I would be a Republican, because of abortion because of other issues, they will really eloquently and gracefully speak to these schisms. And they're so perceptive. I think that's the big thing, Julie, is that they can see it. Right? My generation, I kind of think of us as like the children of the Moral Majority. And we can now very clearly diagnose this in a way that my dad's generation probably couldn't, they were too close to it. They were too wrapped up in it. And I think, you know, in some ways, they almost I kind of tend to maybe just give them a little bit of a pass for that because they didn't have the appropriate distance to really assess it and analyze it in the way that I think I'm able to, and certainly in the way that the generations behind me are able to. They see what this is doing to the church, and they are saying no, thank you. Even at my home church, the guy who took over for my dad, almost run out of the place. He came very close to just quitting because it got so bad for him because he hears this young guy taking over this, this mega church congregation in a very conservative Republican community. And he's not particularly a conservative Republican. He's not like some big Democrat either. He's just a guy who like loves Jesus and who processes news events through the eyes of like the gospel, right? What's so interesting is that he lost a ton of his congregation. And then this past summer, I went back for the first time since my dad's funeral, and the place was packed, and I didn't recognize anybody there. And he comes out and gives this sort of fire and brimstone sermon, challenging them on the culture wars, challenging them on like, where are your priorities, really? What kingdom do you really belong to? And so that actually, I didn't aim to end the book on that optimistic note, but I was so encouraged by it, because it makes me think that in this market of supply and demand that you and I have talked about, and mostly we focused on the perverted nature of the supply and demand, that there is also maybe more demand out there than we realize for that true, pure form of the gospel. And so that is my hope, moving forward, and particularly with these younger Christians, who will demand something better than what we've seen so far. Julie Roys  50:53 I loved that I don't often read the epilogue, but in your book I did. And that was beautiful to read about Pastor Winans and the way that, you know, you kind of left them in the early chapters really disillusioned and discouraged. And then he comes back invigorated for the gospel, and preaching it so boldly and that really, pastors like that give me hope. And I know that there's probably a lot more of them than I encounter in you know, the line of work that I do, which usually means I hear about the worst of the worst all the time. Julie Roys  51:28 Let me just ask you about this most of your chapters are about political power and about the way that these kingdoms  and the power has sort of become an idolatrous thing. And then you turn your eye to corruption going on in the church and the abuse, the abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention, how that's been addressed recently, how Rachel den Hollander stood up to it and she went, you know, most people I'm sure listening know Rachel's story. But you know, one of the first gymnasts who came forward and told her story about Larry Nasser, and how he had abused so much of the, you know, US Olympic gymnasts team. And she went from being just Joan of Arc, I think you call it to being Jezebel, right? Or from Esther to Jezebel, because she spoke out about the evil in the church. And that's what I found. When I was at Moody Radio I was allowed to speak about Joel Osteen, right? Or I was allowed to speak about the liberals in politics. But when I turned my critique on our own tribe, man, I would get shut down, you know. That's one of the reasons I left Moody besides the others that I talked about. I couldn't speak out about the evil in our own house. And I feel that at this point, we have no moral platform as Christians to be speaking about the evil out in the world anymore, until we deal with the evil in our own house and the way that it's crept in. You know, judgment begins with the house of God. He doesn't expect, you know, the people who don't know him, to act any differently than they're acting, but He expects us to, and we're not. So, I appreciated that you put this chapter in the book, dealing with some of the abuse and the corruption within the church. But you could have easily left it out and just talked about the way that politics has, you know, really usurped the gospel. Why did you put this chapter in? TIM ALBERTA  53:28 One of the things that really bugs me, is how the New Testament model here and you were just alluding to this a moment ago. The New Testament model is not ambiguous. We are to treat outsiders with unlimited grace and kindness and compassion and forgiveness, because they don't know God, and they don't know any better. That is clear. And what is also clear is that we are to treat the insiders with the utmost accountability, and they are to be held to the highest standard because they do know God, and they do know better. That is the New Testament model. And we in the American church have completely flipped it. We have nothing but hostility, and animus and enmity towards the outside world. And we practice nothing but grace and forgiveness and cheap grace and cheap forgiveness inside the church. Right? And it drives me a little bit nuts. Because if you are the person out there in the world, who is sort of curious about Jesus, and you feel something missing in your life, what are the odds today that you're going to go to a local church and try to learn a little bit more? I mean, you know, you might say, Well, some people will, some people do Sure. But the statistics here don't lie, Julie. Like when you look back 30 or 40 years, the perception of the church among unbelievers in this country was incredibly positive. People who did not know Jesus looked at the church as a beacon of moral rectitude, of compassion, of social good. Even if they were never going to sit in the pews with us, even if they didn't believe any of the doctrine, they respected the church and they admire the church. And that has completely changed. It's just completely fallen apart. There are some people who will tell you like Robert Jeffers and I go back and forth on this in the book, he said, Well, that it doesn't matter, right? Those people aren't looking for the Lord. I completely disagree. I think the credibility of the church matters enormously. TIM ALBERTA  55:37 To your question of why did I feel compelled to include that chapter? Well, who's going to hold the church accountable? Is the church going to hold itself accountable? No, I mean, typically, institutions are not very good at self-policing. We know that from working in journalism, right? By the way, the media is not very good at self-policing. Actually, I could argue the media is terrible at self-policing. I mean, any big institution, it can't be expected to hold itself accountable. Okay, so what are the mechanisms for accountability here? If we care about the Bride of Christ, if we care about the credibility of the church, if we care about how the outside world perceives the church, which I think matters enormously, then what do we do to ensure that the church is on the up and up and is doing its duty before God and it's carrying out its purpose and its mission? You know, journalism has to play a role in that. I think, you know, the law has to play a role in that. I think that there are external forces, even, you know, gasp secular forces that have to play a role in that, because otherwise, we just leave these churches, these pastors to their own devices. And I'm sorry, but you don't need to read any other source then the Bible itself. You pick up the Bible itself, read from Old Testament to new and see how well that works out. We see it time and again. I there are not accountability structures in place, then things go very badly, very quickly. And so that's a long answer to your question. Julie Roys  57:06 Hmm. Well, I appreciate that. And I appreciate your book. And I know you're getting interviews all over the country. I saw you on CBS, Good Morning America; that was so exciting to see but really wonderful that you've gotten this platform to winsomely speak to the rest of society who I remember a couple of times, I got to be on NPR. They would ask me about evangelicalism, and they are always amazed, I think that I could even string two sentences together. And I was actually an evangelical right? But I am so thrilled that you are representing evangelicals because you're a face that and I don't know, do you still identify as Evangelical? TIM ALBERTA  57:49 not really, I don't fight the label, but I would not volunteer it for myself just because of exactly what we just described, you know. Somebody outside the church hears it, and they quickly shut down the conversation, because they don't really want anything to do with you. Julie Roys  58:01 I don't know if I would take that term, either. I'm kind of where you are, as well. But you're a Christian, and you love Jesus. And even when I heard you in that one interview recently said, How's your faith? and you're like, it's as strong as it's ever been. I thank you for that and for your witness, and for this book, and for giving me so much of your time. I really appreciate it. So, thank you, TIM ALBERTA  58:21 Thank you for all that you're doing. And thank you for saying that. It's very kind of you. We're ultimately playing some small part here in trying to get this thing back on track and doing it as humbly as possible. I hope that we can make a difference. Thank you for having me on. And I know that we'll continue to talk. Julie Roys  58:39 Absolutely. And thanks so much for listening to The Roys Report, a podcast dedicated to reporting the truth and restoring the church. I'm Julie Roys. And just a quick reminder, if you'd like a copy of Tim Alberta's book, The Kingdome, The Power, and The Glory, we'd be happy to send you one for a gift of $50 or more to The Roys Report this month. Again, we don't have any large donors or advertising, we simply have you, the people who care about exposing evil and restoring the church. So, if you'd like to support our work and get Tim's book, just go to JULIEROYS.COM/DONATE. Also, I want to let you know that next week, I'll be releasing another talk from the RESTORE conference. This one is by veteran church planter Lance Ford, who gave an amazing talk on the Christian addiction to leadership and why it's so toxic. I love this talk and I think you will too. So be watching for that. We'll release the talk as both an audio podcast and as a video at my YouTube channel. Also, just a quick reminder to subscribe to The Roys Report on Apple podcast, Google podcasts or Spotify. That way you'll never miss an episode. And while you're at it, I'd really appreciate it if you'd help us spread the word about the podcast by leaving a review. And then please share the podcast on social media. So, more people can hear about this great content. Again, thanks so much for joining me today hope you are blessed and encouraged. Read more