Allen Jackson NOW

Allen Jackson: The challenge of taking our faith outside the church and living it without compartmentalization is not easily done because I think we understand intuitively, if not intentionally, that there's probably some resistance to that. I was working out the other day, and somebody stopped me in the gym and was asking me some questions around this bucket of things. They said, "Well, I've never had any pushback on my Christian faith."

I really wasn't in pastor mode, I was in hot and sweaty workout mode, and I said, "Well, just how many places have you taken Jesus in the public square? Do you talk to your friends about biblical views of marriage or biblical views of morality or sanctity of human life?" Their friends were standing there, and they're all shaking their heads no.

The goal of culture and Christianity is to live out our faith, not just inside the walls of the church or when we're having a Bible study, but to be advocates and ambassadors for Jesus. Thank you for spending a few minutes with us. There is a lot going on in the world. It's stunning, it really is. It's overwhelming. I think the speed and the magnitude of the change that's taking place—I want to talk about that for a few minutes with you.

Back during COVID, when we were trying to figure out what was going on in those early days when they told us there was a virus coming from China, and then we were told to shelter in place for a week and that we could go back to normal. We got about halfway through the week, and they said, "Well, we're going to need another week." Then they started putting in all the measures: social distancing, masks, plexiglass, and all of these things. It became clear pretty quickly that it wasn't science-based; there were other factors involved.

We came up with a little paradigm that we walked through COVID with: watch, listen, think, and act. We had to pay attention. We couldn't just be sheep and take what we were being told by the CDC or Dr. Fauci or whomever. We had to watch and listen and think based on the experiences that we had and the people around us that we felt were trustworthy, and then act accordingly.

We've used that little paradigm ever since. It's helpful in a world of turmoil and great change. It can be disorienting when there's this kind of discontinuity with the past. It is not simple to chart your path forward. I would invite you to that. I want to start with two or three verses of Scripture that highlight this.

The first is in the New Testament, the book of Hebrews, Chapter 12. It says, "At that time his voice, God's voice, shook the earth. But now he's promised, once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens. The words once more indicate the removing of what can be shaken, that is the created things, so that what cannot be shaken may remain."

I started saying it back in COVID, and I'm still of that opinion, that God is shaking the earth. What we're watching happen in the earth is not principally the result of demonic activity or ungodly activity or the principalities and powers and spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly realms, whatever language you prefer for the kingdom of darkness. There's no question that those spiritual forces are involved, but I believe God is the instigator. God is moving in the earth.

The author of Hebrews said to us that the purpose of that is to make evident those things that can be shaken, those things that are temporary, and those things that are not stable. So the outcome ultimately is that we will have visibility for the unshakable Kingdom of God. That seems to me to be a pretty accurate description of what we've watched since 2020.

Things that I thought were absolute bedrock of trustworthiness—whether they were institutions within our federal government or places within the church—wherever it may have been that I would have said to you prior to the beginning of that shaking that they were stable, dependable, reliable, and trustworthy, and they've proven not to be. That's very disorienting because then we start to look around and go, "Well, who do we trust, and what can we trust?"

That's more than a character issue with individuals. That's the way systems have been organized and structures have been put in place. The author of Hebrews was actually quoting the Hebrew prophet Haggai. I want to read what Haggai said because I think it's on point to this topic. Haggai 2, verses 6 and 7: "This is what the Lord Almighty says." You know God speaks into history, right? He didn't create the world and step back and just wait for the end result. He speaks into history, and he still does.

Haggai 2:6-7: "This is what the Lord Almighty says: In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I'll shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and then I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord Almighty." In Haggai's context, I think it's an application to what he was going to do with the nation of Israel. He would shake the heavens and the earth, and out of that would come a resurgence, a regathering of the Jewish people, and the outpouring of God's blessings upon that.

The author of Hebrews picked that up and gave it an application far beyond a single time period. It's one of the aspects of Scripture that I think we have to be aware of: that the Spirit of God gives expression to his word in different seasons. It requires of us some discernment and some knowledge of the character of God. The alternative is to step away and say that God's word is a closed book and it has no prophetic relevance for us today. I don't believe that's helpful.

The authority of the New Testament is the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament. I think we have to have the imagination that God is still moving in the earth today. I believe God is the author of this shaking. I'll add one more verse to it; it's from Luke chapter 21. Luke chapter 21 and Matthew 24 are parallel passages. Two different Gospel writers reporting the presentation of what they heard from the same presentation of Jesus. He's talking about the end of the age.

In Luke 21:11, it says, "There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven." Matthew 24 gives us a similar statement in the midst of that long prophetic discourse—it's Jesus' most lengthy prophetic discourse. You know, I presume, that Jesus is the greatest of all the Hebrew prophets. Greater than Isaiah or Jeremiah or whomever your favorite may be, Jesus stands atop that list.

Luke 21 is a part of Jesus' prophetic discourse. He makes this statement about earthquakes and famines and pestilences and fearful events and signs in heaven. The shorthand on that is as we approach the end of the age, earthquakes and volcanoes will increase. I did a little research, and I was surprised to know that the majority of earthquakes and volcanoes are below the ocean; they're hidden from view.

We typically think of volcanoes as these mountains with craters on top, and we see the lava spewing into the atmosphere and the hot lava flowing over the sides of the mountain. Those are certainly an expression of a volcano. But apparently, the overwhelming majority of volcanic activity is on the floor of the oceans. It's where those great tectonic plates are shifting. Those are the plates that form the surface of the earth, and they don't fit together perfectly. There's great pressure between them and they move and shift, and sometimes the magma, the molten rock, escapes.

The majority of the time, it's not visible. I think that's a helpful image in the context of what Hebrews and then Jesus was saying in Luke 21. I believe many of the forces which are shaping our world today are not visible. We see the outworking of that activity.

Guest (Female): This year, we celebrate 250 years of God's faithfulness to our nation. From backyard picnics and ball games to laughter shared with family and friends, we've been given so many blessings to enjoy together. In a world that feels increasingly divided, these moments remind us of what matters most: faith, freedom, family, and community. Allen Jackson Ministries wants to help you carry that message with you wherever you may go.

This outdoor blanket and canvas tote bag are simple reminders of God's goodness and a way to spark meaningful conversations about faith and the hope we have in him. Request your limited edition tote bag and outdoor blanket today with your gift of $100 or more at AllenJackson.com, or call 800-880-5102.

Allen Jackson: I have said and I'll say again that I thought COVID was an episode of shaking where God was shaking the earth. Far more happened out of COVID than a virus that came from a lab in Wuhan. It's changed our world in so many ways, and it continues to have repercussions for us. It had an enormous impact upon education in America—some devastating in what the children forfeited, but some very beneficial in that it revealed what was happening in classrooms that parents for the most part had been unaware of or blind to prior to COVID.

So there were good things that came out of the disaster and the death that that virus wreaked around the world. I think October 7th was another episode of shaking: the attack of Hamas at that music festival in the southern part of Israel and overrunning some of those settlements in that area. I believe that the murder of Charlie Kirk was another episode of shaking in the earth.

One of the things that's characteristic about these events was in real-time, I didn't recognize them as something that God was using to prepare his people. It was in the unfolding of the events and honestly, for me, in the weeks and the months following them that I recognized there was a far greater significance than I was conscious of in the moment when I was watching those real-time events happen. I went home and sheltered in place for a few days initially after hearing about COVID.

On October 7th, I was horrified. I have friends in Israel and friends that live in those villages where the terrorists came. I've visited their homes and had meals with them. Charlie Kirk was a friend. We didn't work closely together, but we worked together. In the days after those events, I realized there was a significance that seemed to far exceed the initial trauma or the initial disappointment or the initial shock of what was happening.

The impact of COVID reached far beyond a virus from China. October 7th, as horrible as it was to see that many Israelis and innocent people killed—nobody was really shocked that Hamas hates the Jews. It's a part of their charter. The annihilation of Israel is what they're committed to; it's their organizing principle. So when Hamas tries to kill Israelis, that's business as usual.

What I wasn't prepared for was the raging anti-Semitism that came boiling out of America's elite universities. Formerly elite universities, I believe they've all begun a decline that won't stop. I don't believe you can take a stand against the purposes of God in the way that they did and flourish. I think we will see those schools continue to diminish. Now, many of them have enormous endowments, so they have a great deal of financial resources and a great deal of influence, but their influence will continue to diminish.

That anti-Semitism has continued to grow until today. We see it on many sides of the more conservative ideological spectrum, which has been a surprise to me. In our own government now, we see significant blocs in Congress, predominantly Democratic but not uniquely there, that are no longer in favor of supporting the nation of Israel.

I don't believe we should blindly support everything Israel does. I don't believe we should blindly support everything America does. That's not the point; that's never been the point. But the Jewish people have a right to that piece of land established by God, and it's not subject to the opinion of the United Nations or the Supreme Court or you or me. God has established that, and it's foolish to take a position against what God has said he will accomplish.

I think we can make decisions around policies supporting certain aspects of current Israeli government life. Any sin you can find in any major American city, you can find flourishing in Jerusalem. I've been there dozens and dozens of times. When you land at Ben Gurion Airport, you don't hear the flutter of angels' wings. It's not that. But God did choose that people for that place and that part of planet earth, and it's in our best interest to support them.

After Charlie was murdered, I was horribly disappointed, but I think we all understood there was hatred directed towards Charlie. He was murdered simply for taking a biblical worldview into the public square, primarily college campuses, and having conversations with people who wanted to engage with him. He wasn't angry, he wasn't belligerent, he wasn't condemning; he would listen to everyone and listen respectfully to their opinions. He didn't always agree with them, but he didn't belittle them or demean them, and for that, he was murdered.

As heartbreaking as that was, I wasn't prepared for what came after that. The hatred for Charlie's family, for his widow, for his children, and for the organization that he had helped to build was unprecedented. We haven't seen that in American history. When we've had those high-profile figures who've been assassinated—John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr.—we didn't see that kind of corresponding hatred for their families.

I was a boy when John Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. I say I was a boy—I was small enough that what I remember is I was angry because there weren't cartoons on television that Saturday because of his funeral. I wasn't too interested in the funeral. But I have studied history since then, and Jackie Kennedy—Jackie Onassis later—she wasn't vilified and hated and held up to public ridicule and scorn after her husband was murdered in public. John Kennedy certainly wasn't the bastion of integrity and moral fidelity within his marriage.

But there's been a completely different attitude expressed towards Charlie and towards Erika and towards Turning Point. It's been appropriate in public spaces to mock them on college campuses in a whole variety of places. I wasn't prepared for that. It was a shock to me. It was another one of those aftershocks. I think it was a very clear expression of intimidation to anybody that would attempt to do what Charlie was doing.

I don't think he was doing much more than being a faithful Christ-follower. I think we have to take a biblical worldview to our college campuses and into the public square and the public arena. I would commend what Charlie was engaged in.

I have learned as a pastor there's a tremendous difference in a crowd and a community of faith. When people decide to step out of the crowd and invest their time and their resources, they become a part of a community, and it changes their lives. I want to give you that invitation. I'm grateful you're a part of the crowd who watch the ministry. I want to ask you to consider becoming a monthly ministry partner.

I believe if you'll make that regular commitment to what God is doing through this ministry, it will bring momentum to your spiritual life and it will help us reach more people than we've ever reached with the Gospel before.

America is turning 250 years old. That's something that should unify us. We have so much to celebrate; there is no place like America. Our freedoms and liberties are unmatched in this world. Everything that's good about America—our laws, our opportunities, the prosperity we've enjoyed—they've come to us because of our faith. We've created a series of emails celebrating 250 years of our country.

Find out how Christianity has played a role in this nation from its founding until now. You'll receive a new email each week throughout the series. Each one is designed to help you see our blessings and our heritage in a new way and how faith has played a powerful role all the way through. It's one way we're celebrating America's 250th. I hope you'll join us. You can sign up now at AllenJackson.com/250.

I have said and I'll say again, we may be outnumbered, but we're never overpowered because the Spirit that is within us is greater than the spirit that opposes us. The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you and me. We're not alone and we're not isolated. Scripture says God said he would never leave us or forsake us.

When we talk about this conflict in the earth—the shaking that's taking place, the things that are being peeled away, things that are being made visible that have been hidden—it leaves us uncomfortable. It leaves us feeling awkward. It's unstable, and in the instability, we recognize there is vulnerability. Apart from God, that's terrifying.

But we're not apart from God. We have his indwelling presence. We have the help of the Holy Spirit. We have the authority of the name of Jesus and the power of his shed blood. But we have to pay attention because we're called to be ambassadors. Very clearly, we have an ambassadorial assignment—not an assignment to sit in church and get our ticket punched to go to heaven, but to be ambassadors for the Kingdom of God.

My friend Mike Huckabee was appointed to be the ambassador for Israel. I don't think he imagined he was going to be as busy as he has been since he accepted that assignment and he moved from Little Rock to Jerusalem. He hasn't had a simple day since he arrived. But if we found out that Mike hadn't been doing his job—that our ambassador had been in Eilat on the Red Sea and he'd spent the last several months snorkeling, looking at the coral reefs in the Red Sea—we wouldn't just be frustrated, we would say he was derelict in his duty.

I would submit to you and me that if we don't pay attention to what's happening in our world and focus on what the word of God says and allow the Spirit of God to direct our prayers and our engagement in the world around us, we're derelict in our duty. This current shaking has captured a bit of my attention. Not in anxiety—I'm not panicked—but I recognize when the adversary is saying something we should listen.

I want to give you a personal invitation to join my podcast called Culture and Christianity. You don't compromise the truth, but you say it where the people know that you care about them. We're trying to understand how to take our faith outside the walls of the church and live it out in the marketplace. I just never understood the double standard because they punished me while my peers were allowed to talk about how devastated they were that Roe v. Wade was overturned.

I've brought in some friends, people that are trying to do this on a regular basis. They're never going to stop me because the truth is the truth. I'd rather be on God's side than be a coward. We've been living in a season of unprecedented deception, propaganda, and manipulation. Our best option was to run. We were timing ourselves. I was trying to think, "How can I protect my kids?" I want to be a part of seeing culture and Christianity intersect. I hope you'll join the podcast soon.

I believe the ultimate resolution is the advancement of the Gospel. I think we have to come back to our senses and become advocates and ambassadors for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In our families, in our family systems, in our neighborhoods, at the ball fields where we go with our children and our grandchildren, in the schools that our children attend, in the places that we work, in the hospitals, in the courtrooms, on the factory floors, on the job sites—we go as ambassadors for Jesus.

We've lost that momentum. We've been told that Jesus offends some people, so we've been quiet. If we take our faith or even take our Bible, or we have a public discussion or we wear some Christian symbol on our clothing and people were offended, we've withdrawn from that discussion. I find people who are advocates for a whole host of other worldviews haven't withdrawn from the public discussion.

We have Pride Month in June where the majority of American states celebrate the LGBTQ agenda, and the Christians quietly stand on the sidelines. I'm grateful to say that Tennessee and a handful of other states this year chose a different response to the month of June. But folks, we have been on the sideline long enough. We don't have to be angry, we don't have to be belligerent, and we certainly don't have to be violent, but we don't have to capitulate to wickedness.

We are advocates for the transformation of the hearts of men and women. That's the best possible outcome for human beings. It's not easy or simple, but it is worthwhile. I believe if we will do that, we will see God respond. We don't have to have the majority. God changes circumstances. He brings victories with minority responses. You know this if you've ever read your Bible.

God took Gideon and 300 men, and they overcame a vastly superior force—vastly superior by number. But Gideon and those 300 people with him—their battlefield tools were a clay pot with a candle, a torch in it, and a trumpet. With that as a beginning point, they had a powerful military victory. God will bring the victory to his people and his purposes if we will cooperate with him.

Simple language: stop tolerating in your own heart the dismantling of God's word. Don't accept it peacefully. Don't allow the Scripture to be diminished. Don't let the name of Jesus be mocked. Again, not in anger, not in belligerence, and not in criticism and judgment of others, but we have tolerated ungodliness. We have embraced it, we've winked at it, and we've nodded at it.

We thought, "Well, my salvation is unassailable, so there's no reason for me to be exposed or for me to take a position that will bring some kind of a reprisal where I might be rejected, lose invitations into social settings, or be reviled. It might cost me business opportunities." Often times I hear Christians say, "Well, personally I have a set of beliefs, but I have business partners and if I express my beliefs, my business partners may suffer."

They'll suffer more if you capitulate to ungodliness. Or sometimes we'll say, "Well, I don't want my kids to be caught in the rejection that would come to me because I advocated in public for some biblical position." Your children will be caught in far more than the rejection that comes to you if we capitulate to evil. What a privilege to be able to bear the name of Jesus. Don't be frightened. God is well able to watch over us and to take care of us.