Attack On Christianity, Strategies Christ Used For Culture Warfare

Attack On Christianity, Strategies Christ Used For Culture Warfare:Â In today’s episode we interview Senator David Howard on how we as Christians can move toward involvement and taking action against the war on Christianity while answering the often asked question, “What can we do?”. We discuss Senator Howard’s outstanding book, Attack on Christianity: Ten Strategies Christ Used to Fight the Culture War.Â Learn about the importance of being “worthy adversaries” and how we can have joy in the throes of the fight! Tune in now to learn more!Â

Air Date:Â 03/20/2018

Guest: SenatorÂ David Howard

On-air Personalities: David Barton, Rick Green, and Tim Barton

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Transcription note: Â As a courtesy for our listeners’ enjoyment, we are providing a transcription of this podcast. Transcription will be released shortly. However, as this is transcribed from a live talk show, words and sentence structure were not altered to fit grammatical, written norms in order to preserve the integrity of the actual dialogue between the speakers. Additionally, names may be misspelled or we might use an asterisk to indicate a missing word because of the difficulty in understanding the speaker at times. We apologize in advance.

Faith And The Culture

Rick:

Welcome to WallBuilders Live. This is the intersection of faith and the culture where we’re talking about the things going on in the culture. All kinds of things from policy, and faith, and different things impacting the culture. We’re always doing that though from a biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective.
We”re here with David Barton, America’s premier historian and our founder here at WallBuilders. Also, Tim Barton, national speaker and pastor and the president of WallBuilders. My name is Rick Green, I’m a former Texas legislator.

You can find out more about all three of us and the program right there at WallBuildersLive.com. It’s a great website, it”s actually got a list of all of our stations around the country, so when you’re traveling you can still listen. It’s also got archives of the last few weeks of the program. You can go back to those Foundations of Freedom Thursdays and Good News Fridays. And if you missed some of those, you’ll want to go back and listen to them online there.

Then also visit WallBuilders.com, our main website. That’s where we equip you with all kinds of great tools – books and articles, and DVDs, and CDs. Different things that will help to equip and inspire you and your family to be better citizens and impact what’s going on out there in the culture.

And, David, Tim, that’s really our topic today. How do you impact the culture when we’ve got this– we’ve talked about the fact that there’s a war on Christianity, there’s a massive amount of negativity towards our faith, and certainly judges tend to rule against Christianity every chance they get. So, we know that and really not going to question and debate today whether or not there’s a war on Christianity. But how do you respond to that? How would Christ respond to a culture war against Christ?

How to Respond to the Culture War

David:

I would say, Rick, it’s not so much how we respond, more as it is to say what’s the solution? Because I don’t think we need to restate the obvious. Anyone who’s not aware that there”s a culture war against Christianity only recently arrived on this planet or they have been living as a hermit for the last several years.

Rick:

Or they work at CNN, that”s the three–

David:

Well, that’s true too.

Rick:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

David:

You deny the obvious at that point or you don’t even know it exists. So, it’s not so much acknowledging what the issue is, it’s what are you going to do with it? And what are you going to do to make a difference? What do you do to change the tone, or change the direction, or provide a solution for it? And I think that that’s really the focus is, how do you find solutions? Because you really need to solve problems. You can complain about problems all day long, but that’s not the issue is identifying or complaining about them, but what do you do to solve them?

Rick:

Yeah, and in this case we’ve got a pretty good guidebook. We have the perfect example in Christ, how did He respond. And I would say, guys, if people heard my question in the beginning they– a lot of people in the church would say, “Well, He would just turn the other cheek and love everybody. He wouldn’t actually fight back, He wouldn’t actually stand up.” And I would say they”d have to be ignoring some pretty significant scenes there in the Gospels to say that, but that is definitely the response of a lot of Christians.

We Forget So Many Facets to the Character and Nature of God

Tim:

Well, there”s no doubt, Rick, you’re right that a lot of Christians say, “Well, Jesus was loving, He was compassionate.” But they forget there are so many facets to the character and nature of God. Where even Jesus– the Bible talks about be angry and don’t sin. And so there’s a level of righteous expression of even, in this case, righteous anger as the Bible would identify it, right, when Jesus looks at what’s happening in the temple and it”s supposed be house of prayer and He says, “You’ve turned it into a den of thieves.” And then you see Him overturning the tables of the money changers. You see moments where Jesus makes a whip and drives people out.

David:

That is a deliberate thing that He did. That’s not just a quick response off the cuff – that takes some time to do that.

Tim:

Yeah, the fact that you are making a whip, right, now I’m not a professional whip maker so I don’t know the extent of how long it takes. But certainly, generally speaking for a whip, your– there’s strands – whether you’re braiding it, whatever aspects you’re doing, there’s no doubt time involved consuming. And so–

Rick:

Wait, wait, I”ve got to say, isn’t it just cool that He even knew how to weave a whip? I don’t know how to weave. That’s a pretty cool talent.

David:

Hey, I just wanted to say that we just got back off a trip from Israel. And we were with one of the best Bible teachers I know and somebody who speaks the language. So, he’s always reading in the Hebrew Bible and then translating in English. But it’s really cool and he says the conception about Jesus as a carpenter”s son is not really accurate. He says, the actual word there is more of a handyman’s son. That the carpenter was the guy that really solved whatever problems needed. He said the best description of it is a handyman and then that makes more sense on how Jesus could braid a whip.

Rick:

Yeah.

Problem Solver for the Community

David:

Because he could do a little bit of everything. His dad was kind of the problem solver for the community.

Tim:

Well, and that’s probably not far fetched from his dad could do everything on either plane, right? So, physical father, earthly father–

Rick:

That”s right.

Tim:

So, how did Jesus know how to do this? Well, I think God knows everything, right. So, whether that was a human God, He was all in one. Anyway–

Rick:

Yeah.

Tim:

The fact that Jesus is making a whip– so often we forget the fact that He’s driving people out of the temple, right. This is not the Jesus loves me, so please get out of the temple. This is a whip driving you out. And Jesus did not sin, so there has to be some level of expression, some level of– whether we call it courage, fortitude, pick the correct adjective, whatever it is. Where, in His masculinity, which is not toxic at this moment, right, in His masculinity, steps up and goes, “No, we”re not putting up with this. We’re not doing this. I’m not going to let this happen.” And so He holds up a standard of righteousness.

And certainly, in the midst of finding solutions, so often we want to find the timid, the passive, the easy, let’s pray for them, let”s love them. And although those are biblical and those are responses that need to be in our life, there are times when it’s not just pray for them and love them. There’s times you know what, it might be time to make a whip and drive somebody out of here.

Rick:

Yeah.

How Does the Bible Tell You to Respond?

David:

Well, I would say that we even need to expand it a little bit beyond that. Because it’s not just how would Jesus respond, it’s how does the Bible tell you to respond? And there’s guidance in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. Because God’s people got attacked in the Old Testament. If you go back to Psalms 2, all the heathen rage against God and gather against– there”s responses all over the Bible on how to do this. And so we”ve got–

Rick:

And, David, I’m sorry I got to interrupt you because a lot of our listeners don’t know, especially our new listeners, don’t know that you started WallBuilders based on your study of this very thing in Nehemiah. That’s what the whole concept that you got out of Nehemiah was that there’s a response that needs to take place in the culture.

David:

There is a response. And by the way, WallBuilders has not started as part of the southern border operation on *. This goes back to Nehemiah and it’s a story that just a whole lot of Christians don’t know today, but it’s how to rebuild and restore what the enemy has torn down. Specifically in this case, rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem.

And as you travel across Europe, or if you travel across the Middle East, you see castles in Europe and you see Nehemiah”s literal walls in Jerusalem. And it becomes really clear that if you don’t have rebuilt walls, if you don’t have some level of defense, if you don’t have a castle with walls, you’ve got no way of preserving who you are. You become what everything around you wants you to be and they take over and they run what you are. So, the concept of having walls that God builds that make you distinct and make you unique, that’s really important and that’s what Nehemiah did in the book of Nehemiah in rebuilding the walls. Which is why we use WallBuilders.

Throwing in for the Wall

Rick:

Now, what people also may not know about you, David, is you’ve also built a few walls as a builder. So, if President Trump did call you and say, “Hey, I need you to throw in a few bricks, and get out your mortar, and get busy.”, you could probably still do that I bet.

Tim:

We might have to outsource some of that project. That might be a little more than the Barton family could handle. That’s a pretty big one.

Rick:

Yeah.

Tim:

But even to this point of the Old Testament gives some great indication as well as the New Testament. Not just to Jesus was, but what the Bible calls and tells us. One of the things that we certainly learn in the Bible is that the character, the nature, of God doesn’t change.

Rick:

Yeah.

Tim:

And so even though Jesus came in the New Testament to reveal more of who God was, Â what was kind of lost to much of the people at the time, Jesus says, “Look, this is who the Father is. I and the Father are one. I’m here to reveal the Father to you.” The bottom line is you can see the character and nature of God in the Old Testament and you see it through Jesus in the New Testament, but who God is doesn’t change. And God is a God of love and peace, but He’s also a God of war, and wrath, and justice. So, there’s these aspects to God and we can’t just look at one and miss the big picture.

But God has certainly, through His character and nature, through His word, given us solutions. And we ought to be using the solutions from the Bible in the midst of the problems we’re dealing with.

Rick:

In fact, when we come back from the break we’ve got a guest on that’s a legislator up in Montana, a state senator there, by the name of David Howard. He’s got a book out on exactly that – it’s called Attack on Christianity: Ten Strategies Christ Used to Fight the Culture War. And so we’re going to talk about what are the strategies to engage in the culture in a Christ like way, but still be in the battle, actually go fight in the culture war in a Christ like way. Stay with us, folks. Senator David Howard our guest when we come back on WallBuilders Live.

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Rick:

Welcome back. Thanks for staying with us here on WallBuilders Live. Our guest today is State Senator David Howard from Montana. Senator, good to have you.

Senator David Howard:

Well, thank you very much and God bless you.

It Isn”t Just a Clarion Call

Rick:

Hey, you as well. And thank you for writing the book Attack on Christianity: Ten Strategies Christ Used to Fight the Culture War. This isn’t just a clarion call to let people know that the attack”s happening, I think most people are beginning to realize that, it’s answers to the attack. It”s actually strategies and steps that we can take in the culture. So, looking forward to talking to you about it today. I got to first ask how in the world did you go to a school in California and end up still being a conservative senator in Montana?

Senator David Howard:

Well, it’s kind of easy. You grow up in a Christian home and then what happens to you is you get the honor of being an FBI agent, and then you start going all over the country and seeing all the different stuff that’s going on because of the tremendous culture war that’s going on. In about 2000 you start getting really concern for Christianity and you start going out and trying to teach Christians about what’s happening and what’s going on. Your first office was in Billings, Montana and you know you want to come back here to Montana when you retire and get a little bit older and that’s exactly what I did. Then I got back here and saw Montana starting to go the way of California. So, I ran for office to try to put a stop to it.

Rick:

Well, it sounds like a good path. That sounds like a path that makes sense as well and the people of Montana are blessed to have you there now. People outside of Montana as well because I think your book, like I said, it’s not just a clarion call to wake up, it really does have some great strategies and solutions. We appreciate your time to talk about it today.

What”s the best place, as we”re talking about this, for folks to go get the book?

Where to Get the Book

Senator David Howard:

Well, you can get it off amazon. Or if you want a signed copy, you can go onto my website FoxholeMinistry.com and you can order right off of there. It’s fifteen dollars, mail included, and I’ll give you and send you a signed copy.

Rick:

Awesome. We’ll have a link also to that for your ministry, Foxhole Ministries, as well at our website today.

Alright, Senator, let’s try to get to as much as we can because you’ve got– it”s power-packed and I just had to pick out a few of the chapters I thought would be most applicable in our short time today. And I’ll tell you, our audience is, tends to be, active and really plugged in. So, they get what you talk about in the first few chapters about the culture war and the fact there is an attack on Christianity in America.

Senator David Howard:

Well, the thing is you’re absolutely right. Many Christians today don’t know that when they took prayer out of schools, they also took our Christian heritage out of schools. And so most Christians are growing up today and they don’t understand that all liberty comes from Christ, comes from God. And then our Founding Fathers, what did they give us, unalienable rights. Well, what are those? They are God given, those are rights that don’t come from government, those are rights we already have.

And then we’re one of the very first governments that ever started, or countries even, that they were given those rights. By us having that liberty, that ability to speak into the public square, plus the ability of the fact that when we speak, we have the most powerful entity in the world, and that’s the Holy Spirit that backs us up.

The Truth of God Provides a “Theology of Liberty”

Rick:

I’ve got to, if you don’t mind, I’m going to read just two sentences here, actually three, from that that chapter. Because I think it”s that good. I don’t usually do this with a book. So, Senator you say, “Liberty is the self-evident and unalienable God-given right to live in a state of freedom from an arbitrary and tyrannical government. Liberty produces the unbound will to pursue happiness and frees our spirit to use our gifts of the Holy Spirit to expand our imagination and plan, create, and build our earthly destiny. The truth of God provides a “theology of liberty” that brings freedom to individuals and nations who are oppressed.”

That is the story of America right there. You’ve summed it up. That’s what our story is. We brought liberty not just to the people here on our land, but all over the planet.

Senator David Howard:

That”s right. And you know what, I read it myself, I hear you read it, and it gives me chills because I know God is behind it.

Rick:

No doubt, no doubt. it’s spot on, man. Really, really, well done. And you go on to explain more on that in the chapter. I also wanted to talk about our– because this is one that people probably they might even be hesitant at the language that you use here. I love it – I think it’s– I think it needs to be used this way. You say, “Are we worthy adversaries to evil?” What do you mean by that?

Senator David Howard:

Well, I mean by that is the fact is when we look at the life of Christ, and we look at what He did, and how He spoke the truth into the public square, and how He confronted the Pharisees and the Sadducees, which was a theocracy, okay, it was a political entity. And then as He was doing that He was a worthy adversary, He was someone they had to do something about. What did Christ tell us? He said that if we stand for Christ, what is the world going to do? It”s going to hate us.

Being Worthy Adversaries of Evil

Senator David Howard:

And what we’ve done in Christianity today is we don’t understand that we’re supposed to be that bold and to be able to speak into the darkness. And I tell pastors all the time, if we’re not speaking into politics, if we’re not speaking into the darkness of politics, we’re not giving the people in politics that are in those entities the chance to hear the truth so they can have the grace that God gives them so they can have everlasting life.

Rick:

Amen. Well, I thought about Reagan’s, President Reagan’s, first inaugural address where he quoted Joseph Warren, Dr. Joseph Warren, he was the president of the Massachusetts Congress. And he had said, “Our country is in danger, but not to be despaired of. On you depend the fortunes of America. You are to decide the important questions upon which rests the happiness and liberty of millions yet unborn. Act worthy of yourselves.”

And of course, Reagan, as only he could do well, said, “Well, I believe we, the Americans of today–“ Okay, that’s the best I can do on Reagan. He said, “–are ready to act worthy of ourselves, ready to do what must be done to ensure happiness and liberty for ourselves, our children, and our children”s children.” That’s really what you’re saying. We need to be worthy adversaries of evil.

Senator David Howard:

That”s right.

Rick:

We need to act worthy of ourselves and live out the liberty that we’ve been given.

Senator David Howard:

Exactly right. And then what we need to do is we need to use Christ”s strategies–

Rick:

Yeah.

Senator David Howard:

–the strategies that he used so that we can influence our culture. Chuck Colson said something really neat. He said, “Christians are in charge of the culture.” You see, we haven’t taken that responsibility and we need to.

Having Joy in the Throes of the Fight

Rick:

Yeah, no doubt. And you talk about how to do that. You talk about knowing your enemy, really studying and understanding what we’re up against. You talk about being shrewd, loving, but being shrewd, and loving, and remaining in Christ, you talk about unifying and standing together against evil. That’s something we desperately need within the church right now. Exposing the enemy’s immorality and beliefs, conducting righteous actions, keeping the pressure on evil, remembering that promised action is a threat, reacting to evil’s push back with joy – I love that part. Oh man, we”ve got to remember the joy of our salvation and how we can be in the throes of the fight and still have joy.

Senator David Howard:

Absolutely.

Rick:

You go on and on. Those are the kind of things we typically just want to complain and say, “Here’s the problem.” You don’t do that. You say, “Here’s the problem. Now here’s some strategies. If we model Christ’s example we can win the culture war”.

Senator David Howard:

Absolutely. Do something today, do something tomorrow, and do something the next day. Because we know God– when Christians act, He opens doors.

Rick:

Yeah.

Senator David Howard:

And so when He opens doors, we speak Christ”s truth into it. And I can tell you, it moves mountains.

Rick:

No doubt. You have a section in there about exposing false teachers, pastors, and priests. This is one we’re really hesitant to do.

We Have to Identify These People

Senator David Howard:

Absolutely. And we have to identify these people because the fact is is this – the Bible warns us in Peter, in John, and certainly in Revelations -the Church of Laodicea. We can read on there what lukewarm does. And we have a lot of different churches that preach what I call a “feel good” gospel – if you come to Christ everything’s going to be wonderful, it’s going to be great, it’s going to be kind, and, yet, part of that’s true. But the thing is is you have to realize that when we become Christians we’re just really well begun.

Now, we have to do the rest of our lives, now the other half of our lives is when we live our Christian life. Now we have to step into the public square and we actually have to represent Christ, we have to be his disciple. And as Paul says in Ephesians, we have to not only put on the full armor of God, but we have to be able to speak boldly as Christ”s ambassador. So, that’s what I want Christians should realize. So, if they’re teaching you how to feel good and they’re not teaching you how to be Christ”s ambassador, there might be a disconnect there.

We have to be very careful – we could belong to an apostate church, we could be supporting an apostate church. And actually, what is going to happen on that day of reckoning. I don’t know. I don’t have the mind to God, but I can tell you I don’t want to be there.

Rick:

Senator, I wish we had more time. You”ve got so many good things in the book. I think people have just got to go read it and it will equip and inspire them – I really believe that. It”s called Attack on Christianity— But here”s the part I want to emphasize – Ten Strategies Christ Used to Fight the Culture War. Get it, folks. It’s by Senator David Howard. You can get it, as he said, at Amazon or directly at his Foxhole Ministries website. And we”ll have links today at WallBuilders Live. Senator David Howard, keep up the great work there in Montana. We appreciate what you’re doing.

Senator David Howard:

Thank you very, very, much for the opportunity.

Rick:

Stay with us, folks. We’ll be right back with David and Tim Barton.

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Rick:

Welcome back. Thanks for staying with us on WallBuilder Live. Special thanks to Senator David Howard for joining us today on WallBuilders Live. Check out the book there at his ministry website and we’ll also have a link today at WallBuildersLive.com to get you there.

Back with David and Tim now and, guys, several examples here of things we need to be engaging in in the culture, how to engage. And part of it, I think it’s important we”ve got to point out when people who are technically on our side, if you want to say, because they’re Christians and they’re in the church, are actually teaching false doctrine. That’s what Peter warns about in 2 Peter.

David:

Well, that’s what you see in the book of Nehemiah as well. Because Nehemiah ousts those guys that are living in the temple, the sanballats, the *, the *, those that are among God’s people and doing things to actually hinder what’s moving forward.

Tim:

And, guys, let me also point out the people that Jesus corrected the most were the religious leaders.

Jesus Had the Most Conflict With Religious Leaders

David:

That’s right.

Tim:

Right. The majority of where he had conflict was with the Pharisees who were teaching according to their traditions and their beliefs. But He said, you’re missing the whole point of God, right, you’re missing the whole reason for these things happening. And so that was a lot of the correction. A lot of the names that were thrown by Jesus–

David:

Well, He said that you’re the blind leading the blind, you”re whitewashed sepulchers. He had lots of ugly names for them and He called them out on a regular basis. Which is one reason they didn’t really like Him because He’s the one that kept outing them.

And I was really struck with particularly three things the Senator talked about that really struck me in the way of attitudes, not necessarily tactics. But I think you get the right attitudes than it helps the tactics – you’re more likely to engage in. But the first is that we need to be a worthy adversary. And in the sense that, look, we’ve got to wake up and realize this is a spiritual battle.

We’re told and Ephesians we don’t fight against flesh and blood, we fight against principalities powers etc.. You are in a war whether you like it or not. You cannot hide from this war. It is coming to you. It’s already spiritually happening around you. You just cannot ignore this and pretend it’s not going to be there. So, since it’s going to happen, you need to engage. And if you’re going to engage you need to be a worthy adversary. You’re going to be in a spiritual battle and the enemy needs to know that they shouldn’t be messing with you.

Rick:

Yeah.

David:

That if they mess with you, they’re going to pay a price. Now, if you’re going to be a wimp and be easy to run over, you’re going to be an easy target.

Rick:

Yeah.

We Have to Get in Our Mind That This is a Battle

David:

It’s like the bully in the schoolyard. If you get bullied, and allow yourself to be bullied, you’re going to be run over. If you show some backbone and stand up, they’re less likely to mess with you. And so I thought that was a great point on being a worthy adversary. Because we have to get in our mind that this is a battle, this is an engagement, and you cannot sit at the sidelines on this.

Tim:

And even the concept of what “worthy” means in this adversary sense, right. So, worthy just means someone with backbone standing up. Because when I first heard that I thought, “Now, wait a second, I feel like as a Christian sometimes I don’t feel worthy.” Right? Which certainly we”re so thankful for the blood of Jesus, right, and it’s not based on works, it’s grace, it’s a free gift. But the worthy adversary isn’t even worthy in the sense of I’m a good enough fighter, I can compete with them. No, really, it’s just about the fortitude saying, “Look, just stand up and fight back right.” Right?

Rick:

Yeah.

Tim:

Don’t be somebody that rolls over. Stand up and do something.

Rick:

Be more like a Churchill than a Chamberlain.

David:

Yeah.

Rick:

I just saw Darkest Hour a week or so ago and it reminded me that same thing. There was a lot of people in England that just wanted to stick their head in the sand and pretend the war wasn’t happening, that Hitler wasn’t dominating these other countries. And Â Churchill was saying, “Hey, we’ve ignored the fact that the world is at war and we thought it wouldn’t come to our doorstep.”

It”s Almost Like We Want to Pretend This Isn”t Happening

Rick:

And that’s what the church, a lot of church leaders are doing now. It’s almost like we want to pretend there’s not a war against Christianity happening and a war for the heart and soul of our nation. And we’ve got to be much more like Churchill and recognize the enemy and then be an enemy they fear. I remember there was this great line in the movie where the king says to Churchill, he said, “I and a lot of other people were really worried about you becoming prime minister, but nobody more than Hitler was worried about it and scared of you becoming prime minister.”

David:

Yeah.

Rick:

That’s the way we want the enemy to say, “Hey, man, I don’t want those Christians getting engaged in the culture – we lose.” Because if they stand up for truth then the enemy loses.

David:

Well, the other two points that really stood out to me kind of go together. And one of them he said, when we don’t speak we don’t give the others a chance to hear the truth. And that reminded me of what God says once in Ezekiel and then again a second time in Ezekiel 33 He said, “Look, here’s the deal, if you do not tell, if you do not warn others, if you do not tell the wicked about their ways and they’re doing something wrong, if you don’t warn people they’re about to fall into a ditch, if you don”t tell them there”s a trap there–“

He says, “–they’re going to fall into the ditch, they’re going to hit the trap, they’re going to suffer, but I’m going to hold you accountable. If you remain silent on this and somebody else gets hurt out of it, and if you don’t stand up and fight when you could’ve fought and somebody gets hurt, I’m going to hold you accountable.” And I thought that’s a really powerful point.

Keep Quiet and You”ll Be Held Accountable

David:

And a lot of us say I don’t want to engage, I don”t want to get attacked on social media, I don’t want people calling me names. Great. So, you keep your mouth shut so if somebody else falls in the hole, God is going to say, “You could have said something and you didn’t and you’re accountable.” So, they’re going to get hurt out of the deal, but you also brought yourself into it now by silence. I thought that was a really powerful point because that’s the one thing we’re not doing very well right now – we’re not pushing back even vocally or verbally. We don’t have to do any physical pushing back, but we’re not standing up and showing and backbone.

And with that He said, “There is a day of reckoning coming.” And I think that’s the one thing that so many Christians don’t realize is happening right now. Jesus tells us in Matthew 12, “Every idle word you speak you’re going to give account of.” God keeps track of all that, we’ll have to answer for it. We’re told in Hebrews 4, every deed we do we”ll answer for.

We’re told in 1 Corinthians 4, every thought we think we’ll answer for. And sometimes we live like we’re not going to be accountable to God at some point and we just can’t do that in this culture. We have to recognize we will be accountable to God if we remain silent, or don’t do something, or we”re flippant about something when we ought to be serious. This really is a spiritual battle, this is a serious thing for the heart and soul of the nation and the nation’s people.