Pastors, Protests and Politics! How, When and Why We Decide To Speak Up

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The more silent we are. All that battle that's raging out there is going to come, right? It's already done it. It's come to our doors and it's in our sanctuary because pastors haven't been willing to speak certain truths. Now you've got people sitting in our church that have differing views than us and are willing to get up and confront us when we preach truth.

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Hello and welcome to another episode of the Family Business with the Alessi's. I'm in the podcast booth today with Mary Alessi. That's right, and I'm Steve Alessi. So we have a great subject that we're going to be tackling today. Before I do, I just want to thank you for being a faithful and loyal follower and listener. We so appreciate what you're doing. We are at a place with all of our episodes. We're seeing over a million up to this point views on YouTube. So grateful for that. Very excited about it. And we're also, we're running up to about 250 episodes and it seems like we're going to celebrate our 250th episode about the same time our nation celebrates. Isn't that crazy?

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50th birthday. And if people don't know that in July we're turning, America's turning 250 and there's going to be. The celebration has already started all year round, but it's going to be pretty cool. And Alan told us today that we should be rounding the corner at the same time with the same amount, 250 episodes, which is crazy by the way.

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We've done 250 episodes. We'll hit this as time goes on for the celebration of our nation's birthday because we live in South Florida and there are so many that have come over from different countries, Mary. They love our country. They love what they're able to enjoy in America. So even for them, their history. They're learning more and more about our history. They're proud to be Americans and some of us who have been here our entire life, we just kind of gloss over it all. Yeah. We don't really appreciate or don't know how to appreciate the good that comes as a result of freedoms that we have. But anyhow, that's for another subject today though, grateful again for our listeners. Thanks for sharing. Thanks for continually downloading and sharing it, liking it, what you are hearing. Yeah. Because we want to go ahead and just stir up conversation and thoughts. Mary and I have our own very strong thoughts. But you know, they're not always embraced by everybody, and that's all right. But if it helps you stir up some thinking on your own to help come to a good realization of truth for your life, then that's a good thing.

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So today, babe, we want to get a little political.

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Yeah. And I guess we're coming at this from really. Because we do. We. We are pastors. That's our family business, church work with our kids and family and great staff communicators.

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But we are on the platform quite a bit. That's right. So a lot of our leadership for our church family comes from the platform.

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So when you look at politics and the pulpit and then preaching, we.

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We have to be sensitive. So we want to come at it, talk about that, because we don't want to ever offend somebody when they walk through our church doors. No, but I think what we wanted to talk about, too, is we say this. This is one of our taglines. We talk in the podcast booth things that we can't talk about on Sundays.

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It's not that we can't. It's that we choose, through wisdom, to be very considerate of the audience. So in the podcast booth, we. We can really be a little bit more open. But we, more than anything, wanted to share with our listeners what our process is about that. Because it seems like in the last two to three years. Well, let's just go back. Since COVID there has been. I don't know how many times that it's felt like there's been a rod in your back from somebody going, say something. Are you gonna say something, Pastor? Or don't say anything. Don't say anything. How dare he say anything? And I think part of it is because people come to church on Sunday and they don't want to be tense. They want to be free. They don't want to feel that thing that they're feeling all the time in the office when they get around their family members that don't agree with them, and they just want peace at church. And so we agree with that. I agree. We agree. I don't want to come to church to have to be in a battle with my people in the church pews.

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No, but we're used to that because we preach all the time issues that are biblical principles that people don't agree with. I got. But the moment you go political, you feel the stares.

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Yeah, you do. You start to feel the displeasure in people. Like, why you got. Like you said, some people are saying, don't say a thing. Other people are saying, say it. Well, what's worse, Steve? What's worse is this generation is saying, if you don't stand on my platform, I won't sit in your pew. So if you don't say what I think you ought to say, then is this what Metro believes? You didn't say anything. You were quiet. You were totally silent on this subject. This just happened in the world. The media covered it. It shook the earth. And you said nothing. Exactly.

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We said nothing. And that's what I think is gonna be good for our listeners and even for our church family that hopefully will listen for them to understand what our real convictions are beyond just politics, what we really believe, not just rules that you and I follow, that we've set for ourselves, but everything we do is based on biblical principles. It is. And there's two subjects that are going to tick people off. Politics and money. Yeah.

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And we're used to the money one. Yeah. We. We have to be able to wait in those waters. So from our standpoint, you know, how do we do that? What's our philosophy? How do we come at these things so that the people that were, you know, charged to minister and lead, how are we doing it in a way that is hopefully allowing them to make better decisions when they step into the voters booth. Yeah. Or they deal and have a conversation with somebody who is going through it or expressing political viewpoints that are different from their own. So here's why it's important that we address it.

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For one, we got to get it right. Yeah. Okay. The future of our country rests politically.

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And there's more politics being experienced by everybody on a daily basis, more today than ever before. The second reason we got to get this right, and this is, this is what really led me to wanting to have this conversation with you.

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It's because I don't like to be political from the platform. No, no, you don't. I try to preach the biblical principles, but I'm talking to a guy and the guy says to me, steve, we got to get engaged. Because from this point, for the rest of our life, every day of our life, there's going to be a president that's sitting in the White House. Very true. So you can't avoid it. You can't act like, well, the president is non sequential to me. It doesn't really matter who that person is and what he's doing. No, there's. There's a president that's leading our country. Not only is there a president that leading is leading our country, but bring it closer to home. We've got A governor that's leading our state, the governor at the state level with his state reps and the. The state senators that we have, every one of them are making decisions that affect our lives. Take it even closer to home. We've got local.

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Local mayors and we have council members. Right.

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The commissioners that are making decisions that are affecting our lives on a daily basis. And that just tells us somewhere along the line, if people are spending our tax dollars, people are making decisions that affect our children. Right.

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Okay. Their education. We should be one, praying for people in leadership. But even more than that, we should be activists. We should get involved and make sure that our voices are being heard. Right. Because what I'm finding in politics is sometimes what we're fighting over aren't really the main issues. Yeah. They're red meat. A lot of it. They are.

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They're what? Red meat. They're red meat. They're getting our attention over here.

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Yeah. Meanwhile, the billions of our tax dollars are what politicians don't want us talking about. No, it's true. No, I, but I. I think you use the word activism, and I think that that's a hot button word for some people. What does that mean? Do I protest? Do I. To what degree do I go as a Christian and as a person that's very, very passionate about my politics? And one of the things that we say all the time, politics or not, is the only thing you should really be the most passionate about is Jesus. And when we are more passionate about our politics, when our empathy is stirred up in a greater way over marginalized people rather than lost people who don't know the Lord, we're off. And we have to ask God to help us to have a spirit of discernment because we can easily be lured into deception. You just said it. We can be Christians and follow the red meat of the political waves. Look over here. Look at this. And it's a trap.

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It's just a. It's a. What do you call it? It's a diversionary tactic when the real important thing is happening over here and we do need to decide what is the most important. Well, I would say what's important is what's being taught to our children, what's being allowed in our schools. Yeah. And, yeah, we can have a well, just get your kids and homeschool them mentality, but not everybody can do that. Right. So what are we fighting for? Where are we activists in the area of our education?

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We in the 80s experienced when the government said Christians do not have a right to have A platform in our education system. And they got rid of the prayer around the flag we were raised with. I don't know if it was once a month where you would go to school and there'd be. All the kids that were Christians would go around the flag and they'd pray and we did the Pledge of Allegiance.

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All of that was taken out of our schools. No Bible, no God, no teaching, no respect.

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Only in the last handful of years have there has there been legislation to bring it back. And I go back to the day when I was quiet on that. Should we have been more outspoken? So if you, if you allow things in, in an, maybe in a season where you're like, it doesn't matter, it doesn't affect me. It doesn't affect me. Yeah, but it's going to. So where do we stand in that area of activism?

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Where should Christians get involved and where should they stay out of it? Yeah, sadly, many of the things that are going on today, where there is activism, demonstrating on the street and protesters, a lot of it is stirred up by one party against the other. And it's polarizing, funded by people that have negative plans, hurtful plans, destructive plans for our country. So you, you mentioned, do I protest? So you and I are talking the other day, I said, mary, do you know where the word Protestant came from? That blew my mind. And if you look at the word Protestant, it actually starts with protest. Yeah. So here the, the, the Christian church was founded, which would be the Catholic Church, with St.

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Peter, the church's first Pope, if you would, the Catholic Church, right after the death of Christ.

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Because now in that, that day, Catholics believed that no longer was God's promise for the Jews, but now in Christ, all are invited in. So now the new people, the promise is now the Christian.

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And that Christian at the time was really the Catholic Church. So this goes on and on, but then they, they get into this pay for play kind a scheme within the Catholic Church where now people are paying financially for positions that are in the church. So then you have Martin luther in the 16th century, 1600 years after all this stuff is going on, and he's like, you know, enough of this. Yeah. And he nails his theses on the church door.

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And that was the beginning of the Protestant religion, the Protestant faith, which we are a part, a part of today, where ours then started to be. Our Pentecostal roots started in the 19th century, 1900s, where the Azusa street revival broke out and we embraced that.

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But the word Protestant, Protestants, Protestants, wow. Started because somebody's like enough is enough.

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Yeah. So is it part of our calling to hit the streets, to be more active? Maybe we don't have to protest on the streets, but we should show up at the commissioner's chambers. Yeah. When they're going to have something as crazy as it was for a while.

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They were going to, they did. They, they, they ruled in South Florida that you had mixed bathrooms. Yeah. So there were genderless bathrooms. And that was something that was passed at the commissioner level. And there was a call for Christians to show up and say, hey, what's your voice here? Every time the, the school board in Dade county brings this up, every year, they vote on, will there be a national day of prayer in our public school system. Right. Well, that's when the church is called to show up at the chambers. So, yes, you're called to be active activists. You're called to protest Protestants on things that go against our godly values. If we don't, then those. It's, it's the squeaky wheel man. They, they get the oil. It's the, the barking dog that gets the bone. It's. Whoever's making the enough noise is going to get their way. And sadly, here's a challenge we have as a Christian. Our God is God.

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Right. We serve God. That's not. Not government. Not government, but not politics either. No. There's people that don't have a relationship with God and their politics are their God. That's see that more and more now. As passionate as we are about our God relationship, they're that passionate about their politics. And sometimes the weaker posture of the Christian is, I'm just going to pray for my leaders.

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That's a good posture. But that's not the only posture.

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I'm believing that even in our own influence, our realm of influence, that we have young men and women that are going to be raised up to be more involved in politics, starting at the local level, starting at the commissioner level, starting at the mayor level, starting then up at a rep. State rep. We have a wonderful couple of people in our church that are involved at the state level as representatives. That.

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Those are young people. They started in college here. They were presidents of the student body government over at fiu.

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Yeah. And they've stayed in that line of politics. We need more that share Christian values, ready to stand up and say, hey, that's something I can do. They have the smarts for it. They have the hearts for it. They should get involved.

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Now, does that mean we, as pastors, we should use our pulpit to also be Political. Well, we're going to have politics for the rest of our lives. Yeah. So you.

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You have to say something. Just like money. You're dealing with money every day of people's lives. Right. You have to say something to help them get on the right side of it.

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And that's why the pulpit does have to be a place where a political answer or political. Yeah. Answers are being given to questions that people are asking politically. Now, I've heard pastors, I've seen sound bites on social media, pastors around the nation, some in liberal states, most in liberal states that are very anti the president, they get involved, talking about the different boycotts and really stoking their audiences up for division. And I think that's where we as pastors, just from our perspective, as people with a microphone, one of the things that we have to be mindful of, and we are. We're very conscious of this especially it feels like the political climate is hot.

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Whether there's an election season or not, it does not matter. Election seasons, no election seasons. It used to be when we were growing up, it was just election season. It got hot. Now it's just like all the time. You're right. It's constant. Did you say something? Did you breathe in the wrong direction? You know, are you going to say something? Are you not going to say? And it's like, are you kidding me? But to speak about pastors and should they, shouldn't they. The truth is they shouldn't preach politics, but they have to preach truth. And there's no way you're going to preach the Bible and it not touch social issues.

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There's just no way. At some point when you're preaching about social issues or you're preaching Bible, you're going to cross over into, what would Jesus say about today? How would Jesus respond to this moment right now? So if we're going to preach honestly, it's going to touch culture.

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So in one regard, it might be the lgbtq.

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And when we're preaching about what the Bible says about sex, what the Bible says about marriage, what the Bible says about waiting on the Lord, all those things, somehow they end up. They're going to end up having some kind of influence. Our comments on someone sitting there that's struggling with one of those areas. So we're gonna preach Bible that is going to lead one way or the other. Now, if they're going to cut off the voice of the Holy Spirit, then what we're preaching, as far as truth, they're gonna try to navigate around because of their politics. And I think this is what scares me with Christians. This is the part that if I am burdened about, it's more than anything else. It's the fact that you let your political position breed in your heart a sense of us and them.

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And you stand behind your politics as if somehow you're a little God and you care more about the marginalized, the hurting, the people that America has not accepted, the people that America as a nation has hurt. You somehow are. You're the lone ranger out there fighting for all these marginalized people. And you're disregarding all of the groups, the charitable organizations, the ministries that are on the street, the orphanages, even things the government has done, things the government hasn't done, but what the church has done to give back to the community. And you put the church on the chopping block and you put your pastor on the chopping block. And instead of saying, if I turn on them, I'm going to lose my soul, no discernment for that. I'm just going to leave this church if they don't say something I like that doesn't agree with my politics. Well, good luck with that because you will not like where that ends. Because the most important thing for our hearts is to be in unity.

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And you said this this morning because we were talking about this today. You said the scripture verse, how can we walk together? How can a brother walk together with another brother unless they agree? Well, that really challenged me as we were getting ready for this.

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How do we walk together if we don't agree? How do we say, as Christians, we come in unity arm in arm?

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If we can't get past the Trumpism of today, how do we unite in the future when he's gone? Right. And, and things if the Bible is true get even worse. Yeah. If we can't agree now and see the forest through the trees and know what our biblical convictions are, I think that's what we are feeling.

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That conviction to call our people back to is not a political party.

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Be aware of the deception on both sides, but don't close your eyes because you think that one party is more of a savior than the other. Well, what are you ignoring in that party?

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Yeah, what are you saying? Well, that doesn't apply to me. Yeah, but you've yoked yourself up with a party that believes the complete opposite of what you say. You believe if you're a Bible based Christian. And that can happen in both camps, both political parties. But that's when you pull back and you say, what's the most important thing, I have to be united with my church, with my pastor, and with my brothers and sisters in Christ. None of that matters. If I am somewhere in my heart contentious, in a place of conflict, that it's tearing me away from the house of God and it's turning my heart away, away from spiritual leaders that need to be my primary voices. Yeah. Does that make sense? Yeah, it does.

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It does that. One of the problems with all of that is there are so many voices out there that people that are listening. Too many voices.

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Back a while ago, just, man, 20 years ago, it was more or less, hey, I'm in a relationship with my local pastor, and I'm. I'm aligned with him, and I learned from him. I'm open to what he's teaching, and I'm open to receive that teaching. Well, now you've got 10, 15, 20 different voices that you put right up there. And the spiritual leader in your life is just another one of those voices. And many times you're listening to those other voices more than you're listening to your pastor, because you only show up at church on Sunday, right, to get that spiritual nourishment and that leading.

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And somebody says, well, I don't need a pastor to lead me. Well, then, you know, I'm not sure your Christian values then are right. Are aligning themselves with the scripture because the Bible tells us, how will they know unless they are taught? And that's right. How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the good news. You, you need a pastor or you're going to have a disaster. Right? So in that sense, you, you, you have to be willing to say, wait, how many voices, though I may align with them in some environments, how many of these voices should I really be listening to? It's true. Because those voices that sometimes you align yourself with, I promise you, they're not going to be there on your wedding day or the day that you, you are in the hospital. Those voices aren't going to be there. You're just taking information. You're just allowing that information to influence you. And it could be a mistake because it's moving you away from godly values. Yeah, I, I love the Catholic Church, but the Catholic Church, their established authority is the Pope and the Church of Rome.

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Everything comes from the Church of Rome, right, to all Catholics, to all the parishes, all the priests, all the Catholics. So when a Pope is voted in, which happens, and that new Pope comes on the scene, the Pope could have different views than the previous Pope. And now those views, man, View change, it's its own little government from pope to pope, from then, from could be century, the century and so forth. Things change. So the Catholic Church, as beautiful as it is, has the church as its foundation. Right. The authority, the Christian church, what we embrace as followers of Christ is the word of God. Yeah. The Bible is the ultimate authority. The Bible is the foundation upon which we build not a man's throne belief system, but the Bible that the scripture says were pinned by holy men of God as they were moved by the Spirit.

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Yeah. So the Bible becomes our foundation. What does that guarantee us? It guarantees that us that what was written from the first chapter of the Bible is a book that's, that's truth and principle that to this day remains strong and solid. So it doesn't shift and change from person or pastor or church to church or from year to year or from season to season.

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It doesn't change. So what you're doing is you're able to prophesy your future with success and clarity because you operate in these principles in the Word that have not changed. That's right. From day one. So that's where people today, they, they want to align themselves with a changing theology, changing belief system. But if you're walking as a Christ follower, you got to look at his Word. Who's going to interpret that word for you? No, it's true. Hopefully a pastor is doing so and sharing principles, whether they rub you the right way or the wrong way. We can't have buffet Christianity. No. And it's not a sliding scale. No. It doesn't change with the culture. The Bible doesn't change.

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There's a voice out there right now and you heard him the other day, young man on the left, and you made a statement to all our guys. He is as dangerous as they come because of the way that he is literally contorting and perverting the Word to fit the social agenda of today. And what's scary is how many Christians can't discern that for themselves. Because some people just want everything to be right in the world. Can't we just all get along? So let's twist the Bible and, and make it fit.

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Our theology versus following Christ is hard.

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And we've gotta follow the principles that are in the Word of God from the beginning of time. Something that is our perspective that we stand on is that we would never tell anyone who to vote for.

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That's not who we are. But our job is to help people how to discern for themselves and to hear from the Lord.

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So One good thing is to listen to all those voices with a discerning ear, and when you don't know, be humble about it. Lord, help me understand. Is this voice. I like this voice. This voice is very passionate. I like what they say. I kind of agree. But, God, is that a voice I should be leaning into? And I give that as an example because a few years ago, a couple years ago, there was a voice that I really liked, and I thought this person was really cool. And some of it was sketchy in the beginning. And I remember you walked through the house one day, and I got so mad at you, you were like, you need to turn that person off. Do not listen to that person. There is something there. I don't know, Mary, but don't be listening to that person. And I'm thinking to myself, you've always done that kind of thing, right? And I don't know of a time you weren't right. So it irritated me because I'm like, shoot. This is a person that says they're a Christian, and I. I like what they're saying, and they're bold and they're argumentative, and it's kind of like a guilty pleasure to some degree. And if you're going to say that, I trust your judgment. If you're picking up on something, I'm like, darn it. Well, this can't be a guilty pleasure, because this is not good for my soul. What's interesting is I can't say I turned it off immediately, but with time, I did turn it off. Because I realized that the minute you made that statement, it was like this veil left my eyes and my ears, and I started hearing the little things that you were hearing that you just heard in a moment.

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And I went, this is not good for me. First of all, it doesn't do anything to edify me, to add to my faith. It's actually creating a little bit of confusion in me. And here's the thing.

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I'm smart. I have critical thinking. So here's what this is.

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This is a waste of time and energy. So since I'm smart, since I know what I believe, what I stand on, this is a waste.

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Well, it has turned out that person is cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

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Coo for Cocoa Puffs. To the point. People are like, is there a demon in this person? And at the time, that was not on the radar. Here's my point in saying that the reason that we need a pastor, and he needs to not be so political, but he needs to preach the truth without Being subject to the people because he's standing on the Word is because sometimes we, as Christ followers, we need our spiritual leaders to go, hey, wake up. Turn that voice off. That's an argumentative voice. That's going to affect your marriage, that's going to affect your children, that's going to affect your future. Turn that off. It has nothing to do with the fact that you might have the same political leanings as that person. That person's not edifying to your soul.

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Turn them off. And when you do and you listen, it has nothing to do with just who you vote for. It has what's being stirred up in you, whether it has a positive or a negative effect. So what does the devil want to do? The devil wants you to turn off the voice of your pastor. Yeah. Well, I'm going to tick off all the Democrats that may be listening to us, because the last election that put Trump in the White House, it was seen that the Christians got behind him in his presidency, and he embraced a lot of pastors on his way to the presidency and still does to this day. Right.

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But so they say that the church had a lot to do, pastors, Christians had a lot to do with getting him in the White House. Right.

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So look what the Democratic Party has done. Proven they want to. Now they've just tagged over 30 young men and women. Not young, middle aged, 40s, 50s. Yeah.

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That have their education in some school of divinity or theology.

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Wow. Okay. And they've now tagged them to be running for office in different communities across the country, different races, the Senate level, mayor level and such. I need you to say that again.

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I need to understand. I need to fully hear what you said again. Okay. Because I heard it. Did you? I did. Because this is very oxymoron. Well, for me.

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Well, what happens is I, I told Chris, I said, look, Chris, I've heard about different candidates that they run for office. I, you know what I just look at what's their experience, you know, what they've done and so forth, and what they're coming to the table with, what they built with their lives, different areas of community. And I choose that person based on some of their political views, but I look at who they are.

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Well, now, since reading this, that over 30 Democratic leaders have been tagged and now put into races all across the country solely because they have their education in some school of divinity or some school that is a theology. Like a Bible school. Well, yes, but a liberal. Right, right, right, right. Environment that started as a Bible college, Bible Bible university. But now is more liberal just because they have the term theology and so forth attached to the school. So they have a degree in Bible doctrine. Now they have this degree.

00:32:53.930 --> 00:34:08.820
So they can get up. And you mentioned the one individual. I won't mention his name because I, I, I don't want to do so right now, but I'm sure we'll have to pull it out. But he's out in Texas and he's now using his theological degree, or at least this degree from the school of theology to now tell us what really happened with the mother Mary and that encounter that she had with the, the angel of the Lord that said you'll have the birth this, this child. And because the Lord more or less gave her the choice at that time to either accept this or reject shows that there has to be consent on the part of the person that is impregnated. And if there's no consent on the person that is cons that that is now pregnant. Okay, then they have a right to end the pregnancy. And they use, he's using Mary, the mother of Christ as that example. No. So. Oh yes. And then he's also saying God's non binary and, and so forth, neither male, female and so forth. So now that is creating confusion in people who call themselves Christians.

00:34:08.820 --> 00:34:28.300
Absolutely. Because they're hearing from another theologian that's not really a theologian. Wow. And so the Democratic Party started there and they have just released 30 different candidates across the country to now counteract what the one party did that had the Christian support.

00:34:29.188 --> 00:34:55.188
Now they're trying to get that Christian support on their side of the fence. And they're, they're, they're, they're reading the tea leaves, they're reading a false. Yeah, but, but you know what? I, what I wonder again. And so babe, let me go back to what I was going to say. So yes, that when I read that, that was offensive to me. Yes. And now it's shocking. Now it's personal because I am a pastor. Right.

00:34:55.389 --> 00:35:43.059
And I did do the school. Yes, sir. I built a church. Buildings that churches, Christians come and sit in. My life is actually manifested something. And what you have is some people with huge degrees that are sitting in classrooms. They haven't built one thing, they haven't built a family, they haven't built a building, they haven't built a business. But they're sitting there on what they know, their knowledge and their education and they're messing up young minds. They're leading people the wrong way as though they are the final verdict because of their intellect. And now that you're going to start taking people that have some theological degree and combating the Christian principles that we built our life on and built other churches, other people's lives on, that, to me, is an affront to what I do for a living.

00:35:44.179 --> 00:36:18.159
It's war. Well, let me just say this. When I'm hearing, as you're talking, do not wake the giant of an anointed pastor with a microphone. And when a pastor wants to stay quiet out of wisdom and discernment and keep people around the riverbank of peace to hear from the Lord for their own lives and not get caught up in the passions of our political fires and perversions and everything that the party, whatever side you're on, is willing to do to win an election for power.

00:36:18.400 --> 00:36:29.760
For power. When a pastor like you is now at a place where he's going to leave that position because he knows he has to, you have the anointing on your side.

00:36:30.478 --> 00:36:48.500
You have the word of God, the knowledge on your side of 40 something years of preaching it. Not only preaching it, but watching it come into manifestation. The true, unadulterated word of God that we don't argue with God's word. We. We will lay our lives down.

00:36:48.739 --> 00:36:55.699
Listen, you talk about a mountain we'll die on. We're prepared to do that as believers and as pastors.

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I mean, we're going to go the full yards with Jesus all the way to the end and with God's word. Don't pervert it.

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Because the minute that starts to happen and it starts to infect the minds of people sitting in our pews, just get ready, because the anointed preacher's gonna take that microphone and the older he is and the more knowledge he has. I'm talking about you.

00:37:20.780 --> 00:38:31.929
When it is the time and it is the season, and the Lord says, now, Steve, the devil won't even know what hit him. And I know this is not our normal Alessi family podcast business thing, but I just think that we have young people, young couples asking us all the time, we what is our position? What is our position? What is our position? And our position has been we're on our knees before God. We humble ourselves. We don't act like we know everything. We don't. It's hard enough to just stay married and live your life and raise your kids, let alone, what do I think about the Iran Israel conflict? I don't know everything about the Straits of Hormuz. Yeah, I'm getting the reels on social media that are. That Are making fun of all that. I'm in the joke column, you know, because I don't understand. But this is serious business. And the Bible does have a lot to say in the end times about Israel. And just because you haven't spoken about it yet, doesn't mean you don't know a lot about it. No, no. Well, there was something. I pulled it up here just to quickly refresh my memory of it from the battles that were fought early on for what would be our country.

00:38:32.409 --> 00:38:35.289
They were called the Black Robe Regiment.

00:38:35.690 --> 00:38:46.570
Okay. These were pastors. This is during the Revolutionary War when a pastor would get up and he had dawn his black robe. Yeah.

00:38:46.889 --> 00:38:58.269
To preach to his congregation. But after preaching to his congregation. It's going to make me cry. He would go to the back and he put on his military garbage. That's just incredible.

00:38:58.269 --> 00:39:36.119
And he'd walk right down the middle of that congregation, out the back door to now go and fight in the Revolutionary War for the souls and for the life of our country. He was willing to put his neck on the line. I know people don't like pastors to be combative, but we're needed more than ever to make sure we're fighting for the souls of our nation. And, yes, this goes beyond just the person that's in the White House because we are in a cultural war where the loudest voices are sharing stuff. That Mary is just wrong. It is.

00:39:36.199 --> 00:39:53.480
It hasn't lived up to the test of time. When you're sitting there saying that a child can choose its sexuality. Yeah. At a young age. That's just gross. It's. It's. We look at our little grandson, hideous and evil, who loves to play with his sister.

00:39:54.280 --> 00:40:08.920
He puts her little princess shoes on and runs around the house acting like a little girl. He doesn't know. He's acting like he thinks he's making fun of her. But you've got some people who would take that and say, hey, let him be a girl. Hollywood is doing it at an alarming rate.

00:40:09.639 --> 00:40:12.840
War. How do we stay silent? That's right.

00:40:13.320 --> 00:40:16.900
Because after a minute or two, the more silent we are.

00:40:17.300 --> 00:41:15.610
All that battle that's raging out there is going to come. Right. It's already done it. It's come to our doors, and it's in our sanctuary because pastors haven't been willing to speak certain truths. Now you've got people sitting in our church that have differing views than us and are willing to get up and confront us when we preach truth. That's right. And our calling is not to clone our convictions into people. We're not trying to say these are our convictions and you need to be just like us. But what we are called to do is disciple them to be able to understand that they, too, have a conscience. And they do have a heart and a soul. And they need to know what the word says about all the soulless social issues that are out there. And if you don't see the enemy at work, then you're blind. And it's our responsibility as we preach the word for the truth to set you free.

00:41:15.849 --> 00:41:42.539
I once was blind, but now I see why. Because of a relationship with Jesus Christ. And there are a lot of Christians, and we see them, we see this next generation, the things they're arguing on, arguing about, getting stuck on. They don't realize it's such a waste of energy and time. Yeah. And you know, babe, what kind of troubles me when I think of that is people want this place, the. The world we live in, to be like heaven. Right.

00:41:42.539 --> 00:42:04.079
Oh, it's got to be peaceful. There should be no wars. There should be no fighting. And you got to take care of those who are weak and take care of those who are poor, take care of the homeless. And. And all of those things sound so good. But that. It's almost like it's utopia. It's almost like it's heaven. Yeah. And. And they forget that from the very beginning, there was hell on earth. That's right.

00:42:04.079 --> 00:42:29.599
Adam and Eve fought an enemy that came against them, and he won. And we lost that in that heavenly realm of earth. Yeah. Everything we have, somebody had to pay a price for our Christianity was purchased on the cross. A man gave his life for us. Those disciples were martyrs that went out and shared the gospel. It wasn't this peaceful environment.

00:42:30.159 --> 00:42:52.750
Jesus made a statement when you. You preached a couple weeks ago about oil, the woman taking oil and washing the feet of Jesus and Judas saying, well, we should have used that money for the poor. Jesus made a statement. It's. It's conflicting to me. And I got to write a message on it because it's. It's troubling. He says, the poor you will always have with you. Wow.

00:42:52.829 --> 00:43:04.159
Yeah. Well, he's saying, you're. This is not the perfect environment and it never will be heaven. No. So you can't come here as a believer and think life should be so easy. Right.

00:43:04.159 --> 00:43:44.429
Listen, we're losing the battle. We got to get out there and fight. It is going to be a fight that's worth winning. We're going to celebrate 250 years. How many men gave their life for the freedoms that we enjoy in our country? That's right. And when somebody's trying to take those freedoms from us and pervert a way of life that has been so American, so beautiful, then we better go out and fight for it. So how do we come to church and not be willing to say on occasion, hey, let's listen to something that has a political bent to it. Right. That's going to help us get it right in our life with our politics? And since when did you getting mad about something when was that bad for you?

00:43:44.829 --> 00:43:55.679
If it stirs critical thinking in you? When we only want our pastor or the people with the microphone to speak what we want to hear, there's a. There's a level of control we're operating in.

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Rather than being open, I can hear. I don't have to agree.

00:43:59.239 --> 00:44:13.559
But I also know that my pastor is somebody who's helping me learn to discern and decipher the word of God and to hear from God. So I'm open to it. That doesn't mean that that man can take the pulpit and, and cause division. That's not what we're saying. Or pick a side.

00:44:14.119 --> 00:44:47.519
But when you feel like as a pastor or leader, you can't hardly breathe in your pulpit, and we've had, how many pastors have we been around that. Oh, no, don't say that. Don't talk about abortion. Oh, don't talk about. Well, what then? What are we called to do? We're here to help people not destroy themselves and line it up with the word of God. And we're not reacting politically. We're responding biblically. And as long as your pastor does that, as long as we do that, we respond biblically. Then Jesus said it, render under Caesar's, what is Caesar's? Yeah.

00:44:47.920 --> 00:44:55.039
But unto God, what is God's. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I hope we can open, show our heart here.

00:44:55.199 --> 00:44:58.880
Yeah. We're not about a political party. We're about principles.

00:44:59.519 --> 00:45:14.250
And if one political party leans into those biblical principles, we're going to support those principles that happen to be also be carried by that party. Right. And I don't think that that's doing wrong. It doesn't have to be fair. No.

00:45:14.329 --> 00:45:34.969
But we have to get this right. We do. I don't want to be political, but I do want to help raise up nice men and women who will step into politics and know that they have the support that is needed to help them make the right decisions. Because we know some people that work even In Washington today, we pray for our president.

00:45:35.130 --> 00:45:46.570
Every week we pray for our president. We started under the Biden administration. We prayed for president regardless of the side. Kamala, we sure. We prayed for them. All right.

00:45:46.570 --> 00:47:08.340
We did it. And we even had people on our prayer team. Sadly, they said, you know what, this is one of the hardest prayers. We pray all week long because they have a different view. We carry that same prayer over into this present administration. We pray, but we just can't pray for the president and his, his cabinet and our state reps and our senators, our, our national. We just can't pray for them. We know some staffers. Yes. That need our prayers. Oh, man. That are spirit filled. Spirit filled. Godly believers leaving family members for months at a time to be in D.C. because they feel there's a window right now and we have to promote these Christian values. And one thing I will say about this president, his White House faith office is just steps away from his office. Yeah. It's incredible. Past presidents who've called themselves Christians have them blocks away right from the White House and their faith initiative, their faith. Well, the, the White House office, faith offices. Yes. We're not in the White House. They were down the block. The block at an, in an office. This guy has a. Steps away doors, two doors away from his office because he leans in. He wants to know what should I do in this? Pray for me. Help me figure this one out.

00:47:08.900 --> 00:47:16.260
So. Well, it must be effective if the other party now is trying to tag faith based people.

00:47:16.900 --> 00:47:20.099
They see the influence. They're reading the tea leaves. Yeah.

00:47:20.659 --> 00:47:27.460
So, wow. Hopefully we can get some other leaders to really take their place and say, you know what, I can do this.

00:47:27.460 --> 00:47:49.829
And in the meantime, in the meantime, what we're going to do is what God tells us to do. Yeah. If we don't speak, it's because the Lord told us not to. And if we do, it's going to be with humility and with grace and with wisdom to preach God's word. Yeah. So pastors should talk about. Yes, they should. Principles that will address biblical principles.

00:47:49.829 --> 00:48:18.590
Absolutely. All right, that's it. Appreciate you joining us for another long edition of the Family Business with the Alessi. If you liked what you heard today, share it with some friends. We want to go ahead and be a blessing to them. Take care. Thanks so much for joining the family business today. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to follow or subscribe. Share with a friend and leave us a review. We appreciate your support and can't wait to have you join us next time, because family is everybody's business.