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Dr. Jim Garlow is a lifelong pastor who most recently served in San Diego, California, and now leads Well Versed, a ministry dedicated to bringing biblical
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Shocking Polls: Pastors Know But Stay Silent 0:01 Well versed small group series, chapter 1, why are we quiet?0:06 In 20 13, George Barna did a poll that revealed something really amazing. In that poll, he said that 90 percent of pastors agree that the0:18 Bible speaks to political and social issues of our time. But later on in that same survey, when he asked the question, will you, pastor, speak out on those issues?0:30 90 percent of the pastor said, no. We will not speak out on those issues that the Bible speaks out on. Why would that be? Another amazing survey came out the following year. That was in0:41 20 14. It was the Pew Research Poll. And it showed 2 lines that suddenly on the graph suddenly crossed. In fact, they weren't even sure if it was an aberration. What was this Pew Research Poll0:53 discovery? It was that suddenly, more people wanted their pastors to speak out or their churches speak out, political associations, than those who did not. 49 percent to 48 percent. The lines1:05 dramatically were changing and and actually crossed at that point. What was going on? And then in 20 15, George Barner released another poll in which when church attenders were1:17 interviewed, they identified 22 different topics, political and social topics, that they want their pastor to speak out on. More than 50 percent of congruence said, we1:29 have identified these 22 areas. These are political and social hotbed issues, and we would like biblical instruction on them. But 1 of those fascinating things about that particular survey was when they1:41 said these words, we don't speak out on the issues not because we're afraid we're gonna be called some name or put down or called intolerant or something. We don't speak out on issues because we don't1:53 know what to say. Now that prompted me to write this book called Biblical Answers to Today's Tough Issues to equip people how to speak out and understand what the scripture says2:05 to about 30 different political and social topics. And then, with it comes an audio book. It's about 7 or 8 hours of listening. You can go through the entire book and so you understand what these2:16 particular issues are. Why did the pulpit, why did the church go so silent? It all goes back to 1 date. This is the date that changed history in my opinion.The 1954 Johnson Amendment Muzzles the Pulpit 2:28 July the second 19 54. That right there is the date that altered American history. In fact, if you wanna know, let me put it bluntly, why we're in the mess we're in, it's because2:40 of what happened that day. On that day, Lyndon Baines Johnson had returned from Texas. He was a senator. He was in a tough election battle, for the Senate, and 2 businessmen2:52 opposed him using not for profit corporations to oppose him because they thought he was soft on communism. He got back to DC. There was an overhaul of the tax code going through the US Senate. He submitted what3:04 became known later as the Johnson Amendment. There was no discussion in the Senate on it. There was only a voice vote, but it e effectively censored or muzzled pastors and3:16 churches. Now, the the chief of staff for Johnson admitted, we didn't have churches in mind. We were just angry at those 2 businessmen and wanted to shut them down from opposing Lyndon Baines Johnson. But3:27 the IRS seized the moment and they started muzzling pastors and said, you cannot and and the rule kind of reads vaguely. It says, you cannot endorse or you cannot oppose a candidate.3:39 Now, the problem is that's vague. Let me give you an example. Suppose 1 person running for office is pro life. Let's suppose the other 1 is pro abortion. And a pastor says, you know, we really ought to be biblically pro3:51 life. That's who we ought to be supporting. Well, is that not a de facto endorsement of 1 candidate and, in fact, an opposition to another candidate? So the IRS cannot really say, what does the law actually4:02 mean? But a whole cultural myth developed around it, and pastors said, well, we can't be, quote, political. That's the buzzword. We can't be political. Put that 1 in quotes. And if a pastor does speak out,4:15 people in the pew might say, oh, you can't you can't dare speak out on issues. And what's interesting, that applied to 5 0 1 c 3 groups. There are 29 different categories4:27 that are 5 0 1 c. There's only 1, 5 0 1 c 3 that was silenced or muzzled by this. That happened to include all churches. What's the problem with this4:39 law, the Johnson Amendment? The answer is very simple. It's unconstitutional. And so pastors, I don't know how many, maybe around 3 or 4000 pastors, have intentionally violated the Johnson4:50 Amendment, recorded their sermons, mailed it to the IRS, and said, sue us. Because the Alliance Defending Freedom, a group of well around 3000 attorneys, say we're prepared to defend you because that law is5:02 unconstitutional. It's been there for 62 years. But the problem is of a cultural myth that's developed around it. And that cultural myth is the separation of church and state. Now,Debunking Myths and the Biblical Call to Speak 5:14 where in the constitution does that appear? Nowhere. Where in the Declaration of Independence does that occur? Nowhere. Where does it come from? It comes from January the second 18 o5:26 2. Well, actually, it's January the first 18 o 2. Thomas Jefferson was writing to a group of religious leaders, the Danbury Baptists, and he was guaranteeing them that the federal government would not lean5:37 in, would not try to do anything intrusive into the religious life of the people. And so consequently, the he used the phrase wall of of of separation. That phrase wall of separation5:49 got changed into separation of church and state, but it got twisted totally in its meaning starting with the 19 47 Everson case before the Supreme Court and other cases we won't have time to go into. But the bottom line,6:00 Jefferson's whole understanding of separation of church and state was the government has no right to intrude in the church. He didn't keep the church or biblical principles out of the government. How do we know this?6:11 When he was president, he approved an amazing thing. It was a weekly worship service held in the US Capitol building. A Christian, based upon the Bible, a Christian worship service held in the6:23 US Capitol building started in 1800. It continued all the way to 18 69. Guess who attended? President Thomas Jefferson. Contrary to the historical revisionist6:35 who liked to completely put a whole new image and spin on him, he was not an advocate of their definition of separation church and state. He recognized the validity of the Christian values and the6:47 Bible so much that sermons were preached in Christian services in the US Capitol building from 1800 to 18 69. And they they were stopped in in that year, and then they were picked up again. After6:59 145 years, our church had the privilege, Skyline Church in San Diego, where I pastor, had the privilege of partnering with Dan Cummins. He's a part of our church staff. And we moved him to Washington DC.7:11 He lives across the street from the US Supreme Court, and we relaunched services, weekly worship services in the US Capitol building. Some services are for member of con members of Congress and their staff, others are7:22 for the Capitol Police and federal employees. The point is and and by the way, they're called the Jefferson Gathering in honor, of Thomas Jefferson. In this book, I wanna I wanna go further.7:35 The the the scripture actually speaks to all biblical issues. And here's kind of the rule of thumb, that I follow. In some cases, the Bible speaks very clearly. In other cases, it just has overarching7:46 principles. In some cases, it's more by inference or implication. Sometimes, the Bible may, in fact, be silent on something. And so, if the Bible is silent, we're silent. But in all these other7:58 categories, if the Bible speaks, we ought to speak. Because you know what happens? If if a country and a nation operates by biblical principles, peace and tranquility come to that nation.8:11 Hi. My name is Alex, and I'm here with my friends Monica and Chris. And we're here to bring out some of the highlights, from our perspective on chapter 1. And for me, guys, the stat that said 90 percent of pastors know8:22 that the Bible speaks on social issues of today. And 9 out of 10 of those pastors won't speak up about it. That was fascinating to me.8:30 Absolutely. And the congregation is hungry for it.8:32 Right.8:33 The reality is the bible, it has all the answers. It's the living word to guide us through today's social and political issues.8:39 Thomas Jefferson established the wall of separation, but it has been misinterpreted as the separation of church and state. Yeah. But the original intent of that was to keep government out of the church, not God out of8:50 government. Yeah.8:51 Yeah. So these are our perspectives, from chapter 1.In this video 0:00 Shocking Polls: Pastors Know But Stay Silent2:23 The 1954 Johnson Amendment Muzzles the Pulpit5:13 Debunking Myths and the Biblical Call to Speak
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