Heidi St. John, host of The Heidi St. John Podcast, returns to “The Corner.”

Transcribed with OpenAI Whisper (base.en). Timestamps are approximate. Lightly cleaned for readability; quotations from on-air callers may include filler words. Use the audio player above for the authoritative recording.

1. 0:01Darkness is not an affirmative force.
2. 0:04It simply reoccupies the space vacated by the light.
3. 0:08This is the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
4. 0:12It should be uncomfortable for a believer to live as a hypocrite.
5. 0:16Delivery people out of the bondage of mainstream media.
6. 0:19And the philosophies of this world.
7. 0:21God has called you and me to be his ambassador.
8. 0:25Even in this dark moment.
9. 0:27Let's not miss our moment.
10. 0:29And now, the corner.
11. 0:35Good evening, everyone.
12. 0:36Welcome to the Hamilton Corner, Abraham Hamilton.
13. 0:39The third is my name joined by a produced extraordinaire
14. 0:42to my left, the real Jay Mac, ladies and gentlemen,
15. 0:46and at home base, Mr. Bobby, Hunter, Rosa.
16. 0:53And we are ready to rock and roll with today's edition
17. 0:56of the program.
18. 0:58You know, I should mention, I hadn't mentioned this yet.
19. 1:01Well, first let me say we're broadcasting again day two from the home school legal
20. 1:06defense associations, national leaders conference here in Denton, Texas, beautiful
21. 1:11Denton, Texas. And we're having an amazing time here. It's great to be here,
22. 1:17meeting with people, conversing with people, sharing what God is doing all
23. 1:20across the country. In the movement, really, of families taking the
24. 1:25responsibility and leadership and directing the hearts and minds of our own
25. 1:31children. What I was going to say that I hadn't mentioned yet and I need to mention is that coming
26. 1:39up this October, October 17th through the 19th, I will be returning to Farmerville, Louisiana. This
27. 1:48will be our second time there where we will participate in a family conference being hosted at Darbonne
28. 1:55Church of Christ located at 1148 Stirlington Highway in Farmer
29. 2:00Villowiziana zip code 71241. I'll say that again, Darbonne
30. 2:05Church of Christ. 1148 Stirlington Highway, Farmer Villowiziana
31. 2:12will be there October 17 through the 19th, Lord willing, that is
32. 2:17the plan to be there. So if you are in the area or willing to
33. 2:23come to the area. And this note, you are welcome to do so. I was told that I can invite you. So you
34. 2:35are welcome to come the last time that I was there. There were people who came not only from the local
35. 2:40church, but from the entire area. And so we will be returning there this fall October 17th through
36. 2:48the 19th. All right, at this very moment, many of you who are listening are making your transition
37. 2:55right now, many of you, if not most of you, are making your transition from your part
38. 3:00time jobs where you generate an income to your full time jobs where you cultivate an outcome.
39. 3:05And as you do so, I want to remind you to do so with intentionality, recognizing the
40. 3:10primacy that God places on family and welcoming that primacy to guide and govern how you engage
41. 3:18in your home.
42. 3:19I see some people asking me some questions that I hear information about past the voting
43. 3:24I'm trying to verify.
44. 3:26So yes, I have heard about that, but I'm not sure,
45. 3:29not certain just yet if this is 100% accurate,
46. 3:32trying to verify that.
47. 3:33It's gonna be a challenge to do while I'm on the air,
48. 3:35but yes, I wanted you to know that.
49. 3:38But as we are at this very moment, as I mentioned,
50. 3:42considering the transition from your part-time jobs,
51. 3:45where you generate an income to your full-time jobs,
52. 3:47where you cultivate an outcome,
53. 3:49and I say it in that fashion intentionally,
54. 3:51in an effort to recalibrate our thinking,
55. 3:54Because the world works overtime overtime to get us to think that
56. 3:59Everything else is important except what happens in our home and and actually
57. 4:04There'll be more you could expect more conversation about this this whole idea
58. 4:08To where we see cultivation of the mind for our children to the state
59. 4:13Actually, it's a relatively recent idea
60. 4:17Because as dr. Brian Ray said yesterday throughout the whole of human history the majority of our experience as mankind has been that families take the lead
61. 4:24and cultivating the minds and hearts of their children.
62. 4:28But this idea that this should be seated to the state
63. 4:31is actually one of the other things postulated by,
64. 4:34not surprisingly Karl Marx and Frederick Ingalls
65. 4:37in the Communist Manifesto, to make children children
66. 4:39of the state.
67. 4:41And so we shouldn't be surprised that we have
68. 4:43this proliferation of kind of a nihilistic worldview
69. 4:47where there is no meaning when we have children
70. 4:49who have been indoctrinated for multiple generations
71. 4:51at this juncture with the idea that there's nothing
72. 4:54sacred about human life. There is no intentionality behind mankind's existence. We are just the
73. 5:00random amalgamation of a, you know, gaseous explosion, not going to say how nothing exploded.
74. 5:07Y'all when y'all figured out, let me know there was nothing but it exploded somehow. All right.
75. 5:13And then some magic that water appeared on a rock and then
76. 5:20and then we can remove some kind of proteins
77. 5:23and it's just absurd.
78. 5:25But when you have that idea
79. 5:27foisted upon the American people repeatedly,
80. 5:32generationally, there's inevitable consequence of that.
81. 5:36There is a degradation of the sanctity of human life.
82. 5:40So, we, the only way forward is for us to reverse that.
83. 5:46And frankly, we've decided our way into the mess that we're in.
84. 5:50way to reverse it is to disciple our way out of it. Now that being said, let's turn to the word of
85. 5:55God. I've been chewing on this and I've been in in sessions during the conference listening and
86. 6:022 Timothy chapter 3, verses 16 and 17, a very familiar passage of scripture. 2 Timothy chapter
87. 6:083, verses 16 and 17, the Apostle Paul is writing to Timothy and he comes to this portion after
88. 6:16after making the observation that evil men and seducers
89. 6:19were wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived,
90. 6:24but it says to Timothy, you continue in what you have known
91. 6:27as you have been familiar with the sacred writings
92. 6:29from your youth.
93. 6:31And then Paul writes this,
94. 6:33all scripture, all scripture is inspired by God
95. 6:38and profitable for teaching, for reproof,
96. 6:43for correction, for training in righteousness,
97. 6:47so that the man of God may be adequate,
98. 6:51equipped for every good work.
99. 6:53I'm gonna read that again.
100. 6:54All scripture is inspired by God and profitable,
101. 6:58for teaching, for reproof, for correction,
102. 7:01for training in righteousness,
103. 7:03so that the man of God may be adequate,
104. 7:06equipped for every good work.
105. 7:09The Apostle Paul, when he employs the term
106. 7:11that's translated as the phrase translated
107. 7:14as inspired by God, he uses the Greek phrase, theonoustos.
108. 7:19This was the first time in any Grecian literature
109. 7:22that this phrase appeared, all right?
110. 7:25And if you're familiar with world history,
111. 7:26you know the reason why the majority
112. 7:28of the New Testament is written in coin a Greek
113. 7:30is because the successors to the global superpower status
114. 7:36from the Babylonians, from the Israelites,
115. 7:39frankly, then to the Babylonians,
116. 7:40then to the Medes, and the Middle Persians,
117. 7:42and the Persians, then you had the Greeks under Alexander the Great.
118. 7:46The Romans were successors in interest, if you will, to the Empire that preceded them,
119. 7:52that was the Grecian Empire.
120. 7:55Well as Alexander the Great sought to conquer the entire known world, he likewise spread the
121. 7:59Greek language as the dominant language of the Grecian Empire.
122. 8:02So when you have the Roman Empire, you had some Latin speakers, but you had more prevalent
123. 8:10Coinaid Greek speakers didn't even then you had Latin speakers in the Roman Empire at this time, which is why
124. 8:15The majority of the New Testament is written in coinaid Greek
125. 8:19but the thing that that I want to present for your consideration today is
126. 8:25What would our lives look like if we took the word of God?
127. 8:31Seriously, what would our lives look like if we took the word of God?
128. 8:37seriously. Now I want to be clear about something. I am not accusing anyone in this
129. 8:43audience of not taking the Word of God seriously. Because for many of you, you
130. 8:47might say my life would look the way it is because I take the Word of God
131. 8:50seriously. There are I'm sure there are others who are listening and who are
132. 8:54watching right now who would have to say, do I really take the Word of God
133. 9:00seriously? And what I mean by taking the Word of God seriously, I mean is the word
134. 9:10of God practically our ultimate authority.
135. 9:16Is the Word of God our ultimate authority in practice?
136. 9:22You know, there's some conversation and sometimes when we get into the realm of apologetics,
137. 9:29there is sometimes, and Dr. Rathbun was just talking about this in one session, an effort
138. 9:37In worldview circles, it's called evidentialism to where we say,
139. 9:41hmm, hmm.
140. 9:42Well, let me see if there's some external physical evidence
141. 9:46that will tell me whether or not the word of God is true.
142. 9:49Instead of using the word of God in the reverse, no, no, no.
143. 9:52Let me look at the word of God to see
144. 9:54whether or not what you're submitting to me as physical evidence
145. 9:57is actually true.
146. 9:59What we may not recognize that we're doing in the former example
147. 10:05is that we're subjecting the authority of God's word to man's capacity to make, you know, factual,
148. 10:16not factual, let me say it better, to make naturalistic observations, discoveries, and then
149. 10:24interpret them. And so we subject the authority of God's word to the interpretation of the naturalistic
150. 10:31discovery. Now, I don't think anybody intends this, but that is in effect, what happens. And no matter
151. 10:43how much we might try to do so, the reality of regeneration is a spiritual phenomenon. It's a
152. 10:53spiritual phenomenon. What I'm driving at is that all too often, all too often professing believers
153. 11:05attempt to ingratiate ourselves to the world around us, you know, to make ourselves seem
154. 11:10acceptable, if not even cool, to the world around us, making ourselves uncomfortable with
155. 11:16the idea that God has called us to be peculiar.
156. 11:20If we truly believed that the Word of God was authoritative, what would our lives look
157. 11:27like?
158. 11:29What would the witness of the body of Christ look like if we took God's word seriously?
159. 11:38If practically speaking, the word of God was our ultimate authority.
160. 11:46How would that affect our engagement?
161. 11:50I've seen a lot of people attempt to kind of create this, frankly, a false dichotomy with
162. 11:58saying that, well, it's either preached the gospel or engaged civically.
163. 12:01That's just a false dichotomy, guys.
164. 12:05Like you have to rewind the tape, who's the one that established our nation as a constitutional
165. 12:08Republican Democratic features? It wasn't me, wasn't you? You know what people tell me I'm an old soul,
166. 12:13but I don't date back to 1776. And I might have had like one of those little milk cartons and
167. 12:19expiration date before now if I did. But God did that. I'm a beneficiary of it and an inheritor of it.
168. 12:26And if again, if you believe the word of God, which you should act 17 explains that God
169. 12:32in his divine foreknowledge determined the boundaries of our habitation and when
170. 12:39we would live in the land of which we would live. God determined that. You think
171. 12:44God is surprised that we have a constitutional Republic of democratic
172. 12:46features. You think God would expect any less to believe is in our day than
173. 12:49what he expected of the Apostle Paul to use his Roman citizenship to advance the
174. 12:53gospel so that we have the the concluding thought from his epistle to the
175. 12:57Philippians when Paul writes, the saints of the Lord Jesus Christ greet you, including
176. 13:03those amongst Caesar's household. You don't have saints in Caesar's household if Paul,
177. 13:09as a native born Roman citizen, fully aware of the appellate laws in the system of justice,
178. 13:16utilize them in the face of an illegal, pre-criminal prosecution in order to exercise the ultimate
179. 13:25efficacy of his appellate capacity as a Roman citizen for no purpose other than to get the
180. 13:30gospel into Caesar's household.
181. 13:31You think God expects anything different from us in that regard?
182. 13:36The thing that I didn't expect this to become like a tagline for the show
183. 13:39But it became that is that darkness is not an affirmative force and merely reoccupies the space that vacated by the light
184. 13:45That's simply the truth the more those who profess to be children of light
185. 13:51Voluntarily absent ourselves we are leaving
186. 13:57Room for the ubiquity of darkness and so simply put I'm just tired of it if we truly believe
187. 14:04leave the word of God as many of us profess to do, and even offering intellectual assent
188. 14:10to it. But if we really took God's word seriously, what would our lives look like? What would our
189. 14:18communities look like? What would our families look like? Instead of kind of gazing in the sky
190. 14:24as Paul, as Jesus confronted the Apostles in Matthew 28, why don't we be about our Father's
191. 14:29business starting right in our own homes and in our own communities and in our own counties
192. 14:36and build out from there living locally because God is comprised his body the way he's designed
193. 14:42it with there being one body but many members. He doesn't want us to be identical clones of one
194. 14:47another. He wants us to be disciples of his and operated within the vein that he has called us to.
195. 14:52It is high time for us to be about our father's business.
196. 15:01A discipleship minute with Joseph Parker.
197. 15:04Here are seven ways to use the Word of God every day.
198. 15:08Daily we can read it, hear it, believe it, speak it, obey it, pray it and meditate on it.
199. 15:16All of these uses are related, but none of them are quite the same.
200. 15:21You can read the Word of God, but not hear it.
201. 15:24You can read the Word of God, but not choose to obey it.
202. 15:27You can believe the Word of God, but not choose to pray it, etc.
203. 15:32We'd be wise to strive to use the Word of God in our lives in all seven ways daily.
204. 15:37The written Word of God is a book of faith. From Genesis to Revelation, we're called to hear,
205. 15:43believe, and obey the Word of God. If we hear the Word of God, but don't obey it,
206. 15:47we deceive ourselves as James 1 verse 22. Let's us know. The Word of God is a book full of truth.
207. 15:54Your truth is always meant to be learned and applied.
208. 15:58Shiting light into the darkness, this is the Hamilton Corner, an American family radio.
209. 16:11Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner. I mentioned earlier I was trying to confirm whether or not this is true before I said anything, but it is true.
210. 16:23It is true, Vodibakam has passed away.
211. 16:27I saw the information first shared by his ministry,
212. 16:31on his ministry's page.
213. 16:34I don't know anything about the cause
214. 16:36or anything at this juncture,
215. 16:38but just says there was a medical emergency of some sort.
216. 16:44And he was 56 years old.
217. 16:51This is tough to learn
218. 16:54while on the air not really having much time to process.
219. 16:58And I was just saying I didn't even introduce my guest yet.
220. 17:02Just in our men's group last week,
221. 17:04before I came to, no, yeah, it was last week
222. 17:07before I came to the HSLDA conference,
223. 17:13we were referring to his book,
224. 17:15What He Must Be If You Want to Marry My Daughter.
225. 17:18We were talking to our men in our local assembly
226. 17:21about the role of a father
227. 17:23in the romantic pursuits of our children,
228. 17:26and our sons and our daughters,
229. 17:28and as one of the areas where I've gleaned
230. 17:30a lot of wisdom from Vodie Bakam from Vodie Bakam
231. 17:35and some of the books he's written.
232. 17:38And my, it's hard to even process this
233. 17:42while we're being live on the air.
234. 17:44I have here, not in studio,
235. 17:47but I'm in one of the conference rooms at the hotel
236. 17:50where the conference is going on into my right,
237. 17:53is my dear friend, the sister and the Lord,
238. 17:56who is an author of 10 books,
239. 17:58including Becoming Mom Strong,
240. 18:00How to Fight with All That's In You
241. 18:02for your family and your faith.
242. 18:05Her podcast, The Heidi St. John Show, or podcast,
243. 18:09whichever one you prefer,
244. 18:10has been downloaded over 24 million times and counting.
245. 18:16I feel like the Lord brought our past,
246. 18:19allowed me to cross paths with her
247. 18:20and her wonderful husband, Jay,
248. 18:22at a particular, at a specific time in my life,
249. 18:25in my wife's life, my wife's life.
250. 18:27And I'm honored to have you on the show with me.
251. 18:30Heidi, look, I haven't even turned my mic the right way.
252. 18:32Because I don't like looking at the camera
253. 18:34when I have guests to talk to.
254. 18:37It is jolting, quite a bit jolting after having
255. 18:42witnessed what happened to Charlie Kirk
256. 18:45in front of the whole country.
257. 18:47And there's Memorial Service Sunday
258. 18:48and then to get this news today
259. 18:50about Vodie Bakam passing away.
260. 18:53It's quite stirring but welcome to the Hamilton Corner again.
261. 18:57You know what?
262. 18:58It's good to see you.
263. 18:59I mean, it's always a delight.
264. 19:02This is hard.
265. 19:03Yeah.
266. 19:04I don't.
267. 19:05I mean, both you and I kind of get in the news at the same time and I was in my studio
268. 19:10when I got the news about Charlie I was recording.
269. 19:14And you're right.
270. 19:15It is difficult to process on the air for sure, but I imagine that people listening to air
271. 19:25feel the same thing.
272. 19:28What a loss for the kingdom.
273. 19:30What a loss.
274. 19:31Yeah.
275. 19:32Yeah.
276. 19:33Before, you and I had conversed about having you to come on to just talk about where the
277. 19:39body of Christ is.
278. 19:41Some people know you and I sit on the board for HSLDA together.
279. 19:45We've been in board meetings and a board meeting this week,
280. 19:48and that regard, and the first thing you said
281. 19:51when I saw you was, what a time to be alive
282. 19:55for the kingdom of God.
283. 19:55That's the first thing you said to you know,
284. 19:57I was listening when I was.
285. 19:58What a time to be alive for the kingdom of God.
286. 20:01Be careful what I say.
287. 20:02Yeah, you know.
288. 20:02You never know who's listening.
289. 20:03I listen, and I remember.
290. 20:07When you share that expression, and I,
291. 20:10because I know you, I know that that observation
292. 20:14hasn't changed because of this information.
293. 20:17But what percolates in your heart and in your mind
294. 20:22and in really in your core when you say what a time
295. 20:26it is to be alive now for the kingdom?
296. 20:29Well, there's a shaking.
297. 20:33There's a shaking happening.
298. 20:35My friend and yours, Ken Ham,
299. 20:38I was actually recording just a few minutes ago
300. 20:40with my friend Andrew Poodle-Wah down in my room
301. 20:42doing a show for my podcast.
302. 20:45And as soon as we got done recording, I checked my phone.
303. 20:46And it was just, of course, blowing up.
304. 20:49And Ken was just saying how sad he was.
305. 20:53And I think we're all still reeling
306. 20:56from the shocking public execution of Charlie Kirk,
307. 21:00who was silenced for the crime of telling the truth.
308. 21:06And now, Vodie's voice is gone.
309. 21:09And you have to wonder, I mean,
310. 21:12we trust in the sovereignty of God.
311. 21:15God is doing something and there's a shaking happening and a quickening, I think.
312. 21:24That's kind of what I meant when I saw you ahead of that board meeting, you know, to say
313. 21:28what a time to be a Christian, what a time to be a steward of the gospel message.
314. 21:36And we've lost some incredible voices this year, Dr. Dobson.
315. 21:41known to be a lord he was a friend of mine. Yeah. And yeah.
316. 21:48Yeah. I didn't know Dr. Dawson personally, but I've been a beneficiary of a lot of the things
317. 21:53he's done. Some people know some people may not be aware, but he is a part of the pioneering
318. 21:59voices who established family research council. Some people know that I'm an ally to turning
319. 22:04with Alliance of Indian Freedom. He was one of the pioneering voices. He was a lion. He
320. 22:08was a lion for the Lord. And it to me that these voices, that these men have been called
321. 22:19home, it's telling me Abraham that the baton is being passed and rapidly. And we need to
322. 22:28be ready. We need to be ready to pick it up and run with it. And I think the time for
323. 22:35our silence in the church, you know, I ran for Congress in 2022. I have a, and I,
324. 22:42largely this came from my friendship with Dr. Dobbs and who endorsed my run for
325. 22:46Congress. He, he came out and we've been, we've been transferred 20 over 20 years.
326. 22:52And sorry, I'm emotional.
327. 22:54No.
328. 22:55Um, and he said to me, at my, one of the very first times I ever met him in person
329. 23:00to record his show. Dr. Dobson, of course, ahead of his time. And so was Charlie Kirk.
330. 23:07And so was Vodie, I think, in many ways. And Dr. Dobson said, if the Lord ever gives
331. 23:14you the opportunity, if he ever blesses you with the ability, minister to the family,
332. 23:23because it will be the family that's under attack. And we never could have imagined that
333. 23:29we'd be having conversations in the culture that were,
334. 23:35in which we were discussing what a woman was,
335. 23:38like you could not have imagined how far we would fall.
336. 23:44And I think largely because,
337. 23:46and I hope this wakes people up,
338. 23:48I think largely because God's people
339. 23:51have abandoned the public square, we just abandoned it.
340. 23:55We left it to very few people.
341. 23:57There are very few Dr. Dobson's, very few Vodie Bockens, very few people over the course of the
342. 24:06last 30 years have had the courage and that's really what it takes, have had the courage to
343. 24:15stand for what we know is right in the Word of God, in the public arena.
344. 24:22we've relegated ourselves to the safety of our churches and we're paying a terrible price for it.
345. 24:30To see voices like Charlie Kirk now, I mean that is so shocking. It tells me that the Lord is saying,
346. 24:39all right, it's your turn. Step up. Even when you say relegating ourselves to the safety of our
347. 24:47churches, if you keep up with Dr. George Barners research, and I know you do, our church is not
348. 24:54really safe if you want our children your children reared in the
349. 24:57nurturing admonition Lord when he talks about the the posity of a biblical
350. 25:01worldview amongst children's ministry leaders and frankly even pastors it's a
351. 25:06scary phenomenon and and one of the things I attempt to assert repeatedly
352. 25:11there's a reason why we have the warning that we haven't do it around him yet I
353. 25:16think there are lots of people who might identify you know demonic activity like
354. 25:21in my hometown, I'm from New Orleans.
355. 25:23You know, you have Congo Square,
356. 25:25you have Voodoo Shamans, I've personally been praying
357. 25:28in Jackson Square and having people say,
358. 25:30get out of here, we can't see when you hear,
359. 25:32I've experienced that.
360. 25:33But then on the opposite side,
361. 25:35I think that many of professing members
362. 25:38of the body of Christ in our nation
363. 25:39have not been able to,
364. 25:40or have not exercised appropriate discernment
365. 25:43because they don't recognize demonic activity
366. 25:45if it manifests in a different way.
367. 25:47So in Deuteronomy eight, you have Moses warning
368. 25:49and preparing the second generation
369. 25:50wilderness is your light to say, hey, be careful when you've eaten and your tummy's
370. 25:54are full. Be careful when you have your flocks and your herds and their multiplying.
371. 25:58Be careful when you're serving your goat. They multiply because then you have the
372. 26:02tendency to forget God. Yeah, for sure. And I think what you're describing is that in
373. 26:08our nation, we've had freedoms that human, kind and previous generations couldn't even dream of.
374. 26:13Yeah. The very idea of being a citizen as opposed to a subject is a rarity in the scope of human
375. 26:18history, but I think it kind of seduced us into kind of as a result of a siren song
376. 26:23into a comfortable negligence. That is a negligence that manifests itself by a lack
377. 26:28of discernment, but it's induced by a comfort. Because you very rarely have
378. 26:32somebody praying, you know, when they have crises of foot. Very rarely have
379. 26:37people failing to pray when their tummies are rumbling. But very often, you can see
380. 26:41that and frankly say it doesn't care. If he can get you to forget God, he'll do it
381. 26:44through tragedy and disappointment in that regard,
382. 26:48or if I can make you comfortable to cause you to figure out,
383. 26:51and I think in our nation,
384. 26:52there's been a lack of discernment on that end.
385. 26:55And that comfortable negligence is kind of,
386. 26:57in many ways, cause us to lose our sharpened edge
387. 27:00of discernment that in many ways we've agreed
388. 27:03with the Father of Lies to allow the public square
389. 27:07to be not only populated but dominated
390. 27:10by people who hate Christ.
391. 27:12So with the shaking that you mentioned,
392. 27:13and your observation, and I think it's right,
393. 27:16when the Lord is saying, okay, what are you gonna do now?
394. 27:21What do you think is necessary for the church
395. 27:23to be able to rightly discern
396. 27:24and respond to the moment that we're in now?
397. 27:26Well, I think the first thing we gotta do
398. 27:27is take a good, hard look inward.
399. 27:31We hear calls for revival, and certainly,
400. 27:35I hope that that's the moment that we're in.
401. 27:38I hope there is a revival,
402. 27:39I think we're gonna know for several months.
403. 27:42But we need to look inward.
404. 27:44The revivalists do not come without repentance.
405. 27:47And it's so it's looking inward and saying like David did,
406. 27:51Father, search me, try me.
407. 27:52Is there anything in my life that doesn't bring you glory?
408. 27:55Is there any area of my life that I haven't yielded to you?
409. 27:59And I think we need to be very careful and very honest,
410. 28:01what are the things we're listening to?
411. 28:02What are the things we're allowing ourselves to see
412. 28:05in the privacy of our own hearts, our relationship,
413. 28:08just with the Lord where no one else is watching?
414. 28:11Are we crippling our own ability to be ambassadors of the message of the gospel because we just
415. 28:18can't get a handle on that glass of wine we're having or the third glass of wine or we can't
416. 28:22get a handle on the pornography that's on the computer or whatever it is.
417. 28:28These sins that really have gripped many, a lot of the church in private and it cripples
418. 28:36us and we don't realize it.
419. 28:37And I think we have opportunity to become the men and women that God would have a speed and
420. 28:43live lives that are yielded to Him.
421. 28:44I think one of the things that was so amazing about, I mean, I'm thinking, I mean, you can't
422. 28:52help but draw the parallel.
423. 28:53I mean, I'm doing this in real time, obviously, but I can't help but draw the parallel between
424. 28:58doctor, whose focus was on raising children in Godly homes and marriage and the importance
425. 29:07and the sanctity of human life, which is also the message of Charlie Kirk in many ways.
426. 29:13One of the last things that he said was get married, follow the Lord, have a bunch of kids,
427. 29:20and Vodie had the same message.
428. 29:23These were three men of different generations, Vodys my age, Charlie Kirk was my daughter's
429. 29:31age and Dr. Dobson was old enough to be my father.
430. 29:34So now you've seen three ambassadors from three different generations taken home to be with the
431. 29:40Lord.
432. 29:41And in my spirit, I just hear the Lord say, are you listening?
433. 29:49Are you listening?
434. 29:51And the amount of, I hate to say this, but the amount of cowardice that we have seen in our
435. 30:00pulpits in recent years in many ways has led us to this point.
436. 30:05It's a cowardice, non-wellingness to confront sin.
437. 30:08We got churches.
438. 30:09We got pastors saying that sin is not even a thing, right?
439. 30:12Boy, I pray the Lord brings us back personally and then corporately because there's work to
440. 30:21be done.
441. 30:22There's work to be done.
442. 30:23Yeah.
443. 30:24But you describe it, and I want to welcome you,
444. 30:26if you are inclined to do so, the kind of unpacked,
445. 30:30that unpacked even more what you're talking about,
446. 30:33kind of personal pet sins.
447. 30:36Because I think we unfortunately fail to recognize
448. 30:39how personal bondage hinders are the efficacy of our witness.
449. 30:45And I know we're getting closer to a break here about what,
450. 30:47two minutes, Jeff, to a break here.
451. 30:50but I guess we'll start it here if we need to carry it over to the next segment we will.
452. 30:54Some may not understand how the prevalence of personal bondage will actually hinder your
453. 30:59public witness.
454. 31:00Would you mind just delving into that a little bit more?
455. 31:03Well, it's rooted then in hypocrisy.
456. 31:05I mean, and how many times have you seen a pastor taken out because of, let's say, it's
457. 31:11adultery.
458. 31:12It's almost always that, right?
459. 31:14Very rarely do you hear somebody, you know, that guy lost his job because he was embezzling
460. 31:17my, you know, it's almost always a sexual sin.
461. 31:19started somewhere. It started with one thought that eventually was multitude of
462. 31:26thoughts and eventually manifest itself in action and physical action usually. Well,
463. 31:30the same thing is true in our homes with our children. The same thing is true in the
464. 31:36way that we become, I think, desensitized in our churches. This is absolutely true in
465. 31:41the Pacific Northwest where alcohol was used to be. And I'm not saying alcohol is a
466. 31:45sin, so no means to get mad at me. But we know for sure that the drunkenness is the
467. 31:49sin, right? But what I mean is we've accepted things that were previously unacceptable and
468. 31:55we've allowed it to sort of saturate the church. And this is completely true. I mean, I'm from
469. 32:01the Pacific Northwest. I live just outside of Portland, Oregon. And I can tell you our
470. 32:06Christianity is soft and it is soft because in the private places of our homes, we haven't
471. 32:11yielded those things which the Lord is asking us to yield. And I think it's caused us dearly.
472. 32:16You're listening to the Hamilton Corner. My guest is Heidi St. John host of the Heidi
473. 32:22St. John podcast. Pioneer Planter of Firmly Planet Homeschool Resource, Resource Center.
474. 32:29I apologize for the Herky Jerkiness of my speech at the moment because we're
475. 32:34just reeling from the news that is just really breaking now.
476. 32:38Vodie Bockam passing away at 56 years old. He's been a blessing to many. I
477. 32:45I actually worshiped at his church one time before he moved to Zambia.
478. 32:49And he has had an impact on the body of Christ around the world frankly.
479. 32:54Hamilton Quarter Podcast and One-Bitted Common Terrets are available at EFR.net.
480. 33:10Back to the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
481. 33:14Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner, Abraham Hamilton III here.
482. 33:18My guest is my friend Heidi St. John.
483. 33:21We're both frankly processing in real time the news of Pastor Vodie Bockham's
484. 33:25Brody Bockam's death that we basically just learned to confirm together.
485. 33:31Just before coming on the air, I saw something about it and you can appreciate trying to verify
486. 33:35it before saying anything about it publicly.
487. 33:37It's hard to do while you're on the air and talking and all of that.
488. 33:41But it has been confirmed.
489. 33:44And we were having a conversation before the break about how personal compromise and bondage
490. 33:49ends up having a direct and deleterious impact on a public witness.
491. 33:54I'm often reminded, especially in this line of conversation, about Daniel's friends, Daniel
492. 34:01before the lion's den and his friends before the fire refurnished and referred to them as
493. 34:07boys, but they were only boys in chapter one of the book of Daniel.
494. 34:09They referred to it as Yaled in Hebrew, but before you get to the fire refurnished, in
495. 34:14order to truly understand that, you have to go back and understand the 10-day table of
496. 34:18testing.
497. 34:19It was the resolve and the devotion to Yahweh in anonymity that sets the foundation for them
498. 34:28to be able to stand before the fiery furnace that by the time Nebuchadnezzar says, okay,
499. 34:32I'm hot at you guys, but if you're ready to compromise now, then all of you, all as well,
500. 34:38bygons we bygons will let it roll.
501. 34:40And as the scripture bears it out, they respond, oh, we're not careful to answer you in this
502. 34:43moment.
503. 34:44We don't have to wonder what we're going to do.
504. 34:46We know our God is able to deliver us from you.
505. 34:48And even if he doesn't, we still won't bow.
506. 34:51That kind of resolve isn't developed on the fly.
507. 34:55You don't hit game winners during the game.
508. 34:58You hit game winners because you've been hitting game winners in practice when there were no
509. 35:00lights camera in action.
510. 35:02And so it is developed and cultivated in anonymity is what the Lord draws from when you have the
511. 35:08public moments, public showing up moments.
512. 35:10But you were rightly pointing out that that public bondage has a direct and deleterious
513. 35:15effect. I mean simply put why don't we have more pastors talking about pornography and
514. 35:19churches? You want to be honest? Because you have too many pastors that's bound in
515. 35:22pornography. Let's just let's just keep it all the way real. Keep it above. That's why.
516. 35:26Why did you have more pastors talking about sexual perversion and adultery in
517. 35:31divorce? We got too many pastors that are bound in sexual
518. 35:33perversion and divorced. Let's just be honest. That's the truth. And it is it is
519. 35:38not until the body of Christ has a has our arms around the necessity to revere
520. 35:45the holiness of God, which is why I started to show the way I did. If we truly believe
521. 35:49the word of God was authoritative, how would our lives be shaped? You were making a point
522. 35:54hiding during the break about the necessity of discernment. If this is not a moment for
523. 36:00discernment, I don't know what is a moment for discernment. What were you attempting to,
524. 36:06what were you saying during the break to me about discernment and how we need it in this
525. 36:09time?
526. 36:10Yeah. Well, you and I were talking at dinner the other night, at the board dinner that there's
527. 36:15There's a lot of talk happening right now on the internet and lots of other places, people
528. 36:21with public platforms spouting every kind of conspiracy theory known to man about every kind
529. 36:27of thing in God's people going down rabbit hole after rabbit hole after rabbit hole.
530. 36:32We were talking about Spurgeon the other night.
531. 36:34It was Spurgeon who said that discernment was not knowing the difference between right and
532. 36:38wrong.
533. 36:39Disturment is knowing the difference between right and almost right.
534. 36:43And it matters because the right and almost right is the difference when saved and not saved.
535. 36:49The right and almost right is the difference when a faithful life and a life that doesn't
536. 36:54live up to the potential that God would have had.
537. 36:56I was thinking as you were talking about these men who have passed away, one another thing
538. 37:02that had in common is that they live faithful to their wives, faithful to their wives.
539. 37:09Neither of these three men that we've just talked about were ever broiled in some sort
540. 37:17of a moment in which they were released from their marriage bows, that someone accused them
541. 37:24of something salacious.
542. 37:26They were faithful men, faithful men representing three different generations.
543. 37:33And that is what God is asking us to do.
544. 37:35And we have to, I was saying, you know, when we talk about discernment, these men had discernment,
545. 37:41another thing that they had in common.
546. 37:43And discernment comes from being close to and walking with the Lord, being in His word so
547. 37:50that you are sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit.
548. 37:54And we've always told our children, you know, J and I have seven children, six of them are
549. 37:57grown now.
550. 37:58And we've always told our children, look, we want you to be able to be so close to the
551. 38:02the Lord, that when he speaks, you hear his voice above all the
552. 38:07other voices that are going to call out to you in the culture today.
553. 38:10Above all the other voices, about all the influencers on social media,
554. 38:13about all the people that are spouting all manner of absurdity into the culture,
555. 38:17you need to get along with the Lord.
556. 38:18And if you're not used to hearing his voice, you won't know what he wants you to do.
557. 38:22Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice and follow me.
558. 38:26And that is where discernment comes from.
559. 38:28It comes from listening to the Holy Spirit.
560. 38:30I immediately what immediate came to mind as you were talking is Romans 12 one and two the scripture plainly says this therefore I urge you brethren
561. 38:37By the mercies of God to present your bodies a living sack living and holy sacrifice
562. 38:42Acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship and do not be conformed to this world
563. 38:48But be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may prove what the will of God is that which is good and
564. 38:56acceptable and perfect. What Paul is explaining in its important for us to
565. 39:00understand, he's communicating this to believers in Rome that our capacity to
566. 39:06discern the will of God is directly related to the degree to which we refuse
567. 39:12to conform to this world. To say it more simply the more worldly we are, the less
568. 39:17discernment we will have. When you have people objecting to notions like
569. 39:21holiness as if it's an it's an archaic idea. These are people who do not understand the scripture and do
570. 39:27not know the heart of God because holiness is necessary for a believer to have discernment. But when
571. 39:34you have this kind of cultural practical syncretism happening and notice I say culturally and practically
572. 39:40because you have some people who might be able to articulate proper theology but don't have proper
573. 39:44practice. Their practice diverges away from scripture and very often you have this phenomenon because it
574. 39:50that is whirling is driving the conversation.
575. 39:53That's what you get instead of what must I do to be saved,
576. 39:56how much can I do and still be saved?
577. 39:58How close to the line can I get and still be saved?
578. 40:01And we don't recognize we are injuring our own souls
579. 40:04because we blunt our capacity for discernment.
580. 40:06It has a direct and correlative effect.
581. 40:10It's instructive for us and I want you to respond to this
582. 40:13that Paul writes this to the church in Rome
583. 40:16about the necessity of discernment.
584. 40:17He likewise writes to the church of Colossae,
585. 40:19I'm writing to you so that you wouldn't be beguiled.
586. 40:23That beguilement begins in verse four by the time you get to verse eight, it metastasizes
587. 40:26into full-blown captivity.
588. 40:27I was writing so that no one can take you captive through empty humanistic philosophy,
589. 40:33elementary deceit.
590. 40:34The potential for that captivity is being warned to believers.
591. 40:39And when I'm talking about captivity, saying strategy is too strong.
592. 40:42Keep you from the gospel if possible.
593. 40:43If you cannot do that, the second prong of your strategy is to limit your effectiveness
594. 40:48as a believer. Right back to personal holiness. Right back to personal holiness. He actually,
595. 40:55the apostles so clearly, the warning was very, very specific. A time is coming when people
596. 41:00will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will bend their hearts to whatever
597. 41:05their itching ears want to hear. And we've lived now generations of Christians who have
598. 41:11done that. And we've seeded so much territory to the enemy. When someone says to me that
599. 41:17They either don't care about holiness,
600. 41:18or that's an antiquated word, or it offends them,
601. 41:21or whatever, they think it's kind of stuff be in stuck up,
602. 41:23or whatever.
603. 41:24It tells me that they don't understand the stakes,
604. 41:26and they do not understand the battle that we are raging.
605. 41:29This is a spiritual battle,
606. 41:30and spiritual battles require spiritual weapons.
607. 41:33And we have a generation of people
608. 41:34who want to engage in a fight that is spiritual in nature,
609. 41:37and they can't wield a spiritual weapon.
610. 41:39And we will never take ground until we learn
611. 41:43to wield the spiritual weapons.
612. 41:44Our weapons are not the weapons of this world.
613. 41:46They are prayer and they are the knowledge of the word of God, walking in right relationship
614. 41:50with God.
615. 41:51This is what gives us power in the Holy Spirit so that we can listen to the word of God, discern
616. 41:55what he's saying and then walk out in obedience, what he wants us to do.
617. 42:00If we can't hear his voice, we can't walk in obedience.
618. 42:03And we have an entire generation of Christians, many of them in our churches today, many pastors
619. 42:07from behind the pulpit who are literally slaves to the world because they're not walking in
620. 42:13accordance with the spirit because their hearts and minds have been blunted either by unconfessed
621. 42:18sin or by cowardice. And as you rightly pointed out, you know, the last, the last chapter of
622. 42:23the book of Revelation, when the sins are being listed, this is, this is ultimately what's
623. 42:27going to do it. You guys are going to the lake of fire forever and ever. This is the second
624. 42:31death, the one that you're never going to come back from. You think, Oh, witchcraft's at the
625. 42:34top of the list. Idolatries at the top of this adult, no, it's cowardice, it's cowardice.
626. 42:40And we're living in a generation of cowardly Christians.
627. 42:44And I think now with the death of our brother, Vodie, and I've spoken opposite him many times
628. 42:49over the years.
629. 42:50I've shared the stage with him and incredible man of God.
630. 42:53And as I'm watching the chess pieces change, I am reminded that I have one opportunity to
631. 43:04live out this life in obedience to the Lord.
632. 43:08And none of us knows when we're going to go home.
633. 43:10of us knows and we're going to go home. And man, I hope, I really do. I hope that as Christians,
634. 43:17we remember that God didn't give us a spirit of fear. Power, love, and his sound mind. And
635. 43:22think about this a lot, Abraham, in COVID. What happened to the church when we succumbed to
636. 43:28the spirit of fear? We lost our love, we lost our power, and we lost our soundness of mind.
637. 43:33Why? Because we didn't have the discernment to notice the difference between right and
638. 43:37almost right. And this is the time for that. And I think it's an opportunity for God to
639. 43:43get a hold of his people, those who want to listen because he's calling us back and the
640. 43:48voice is getting louder.
641. 43:49I referred to yesterday on the show to begin the program when the Apostle Paul was writing
642. 43:56to Timothy again, unsurprisingly, and he said that the Lord has opened to me a wide
643. 44:01door for effective ministry. Then he said this and there are many adversaries. The presence
644. 44:07of adversaries did not cause the Apostle Paul to recalibrate his perception of the door for
645. 44:14effective service being wide. The presence of adversaries did not detract from his observation
646. 44:20and it goes right to your saying. The scripture similarly says that the righteous are as bold
647. 44:25as lions. Paul writes to Timothy, the scripture you quote, the second Timothy one seven for
648. 44:29God is not giving you a spirit of fear in the Greek word, there's de lea, which is a pejorative
649. 44:33Like basically saying,
650. 44:34God ain't make you no punk.
651. 44:35That's literally what he's saying.
652. 44:37Say, God ain't make you no punk,
653. 44:38because Paul is writing to Timothy
654. 44:40from the Roman prison.
655. 44:42That is, his execution is imminent.
656. 44:44This is one of the last few pieces we have from Paul.
657. 44:46He's like, he's being poured out.
658. 44:47Literally.
659. 44:48And so it's easy to talk,
660. 44:50yeah, I'm in the Lord's army, yes, sir,
661. 44:53when no bullets are flying.
662. 44:55But it's another thing when, you know,
663. 44:57the Apostle Paul is writing to Timothy,
664. 44:58and he's like, yeah, it was,
665. 44:59everything was sweet when I was in the made elder,
666. 45:01but now I'm getting jail mail from you.
667. 45:03You know, if anybody's ever gotten a letter from prison,
668. 45:05you know, it's jail mail, you know?
669. 45:07And Paul writes in that fashion because he's encouraging
670. 45:11Timothy to fan into a flame, the gift that God has given him,
671. 45:14because he had been intimidated.
672. 45:17Faith doesn't cause us to ignore the opposition
673. 45:20or nor the risk, it persists in light of it.
674. 45:23And one of the things that I champed myself
675. 45:25with an endeavor to ascribe to, and I would encourage others
676. 45:28with is living from eternity downward,
677. 45:31instead of allowing our temporal circumstances
678. 45:33to dictate our perception.
679. 45:35No, if heaven is our home and we know that,
680. 45:39to be absent from the bodies we present with the Lord,
681. 45:41don't want anybody to suffer.
682. 45:42And I can't help but think about Bridget
683. 45:45and their nine children.
684. 45:46Oh, I have devastating.
685. 45:47Vodie Bockham's wife and their children.
686. 45:48Well, you think about, I mean, Vodie's been around
687. 45:50for a long time and I think some people may miss
688. 45:52the fact that he was only 56 years old.
689. 45:55Yeah.
690. 45:55That's sitting on me right now.
691. 45:57I'm 55 and my husband's 57.
692. 46:01We just do not know when the Lord's gonna call us home.
693. 46:03And as far as Bridget was concerned,
694. 46:05they had many, many, many more years together.
695. 46:07And I just think, boy, guys, women, love your husbands.
696. 46:11Love your husbands.
697. 46:12You know, husbands love your wives as Christ of the church.
698. 46:15We have these relationships that are so precious earthside,
699. 46:19God gives those to us.
700. 46:21And I think we can take a look, I hope, that we do,
701. 46:24and make sure our priorities are in order.
702. 46:26These three men had their life priorities in order, right?
703. 46:28And we know them from God's word.
704. 46:29Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart,
705. 46:31your soul, your mind, your strength.
706. 46:32This is what happens when we mean the Lord.
707. 46:34And God's a God of abundance.
708. 46:35Out of an overflow of what happens
709. 46:37in the private place in my heart,
710. 46:39between me and the Lord,
711. 46:40I then pour into my husband, not into my children.
712. 46:43I pour into my husband,
713. 46:44because that's the primary relationship in our home.
714. 46:47Out of an overflow of what God does
715. 46:49between me and my husband of 36 years,
716. 46:51I then pour into our children.
717. 46:53And out of an overflow of a healthy home,
718. 46:55then we pour into the community around us.
719. 46:58Amen.
720. 46:59And we see it kind of backwards throughout,
721. 47:02many people who are in the public eye right now,
722. 47:03Christians who are in the public eye,
723. 47:05we've got to get this right.
724. 47:07We've got to get this right.
725. 47:08And these three men who've been taken home now
726. 47:10within months of each other, they got it right.
727. 47:13They got it right.
728. 47:14We have about a minute or so left,
729. 47:15and I want to toss this to you,
730. 47:17because some may be listening to us now
731. 47:18who might be reeling under the way to conviction
732. 47:21and saying, man, guys, y'all are talking well,
733. 47:23but my life is just a complete wreck.
734. 47:25We serve a God of grace.
735. 47:26If you saw a breath in your lungs, it's not over.
736. 47:28Is that an overstatement?
737. 47:29Or an interesting?
738. 47:30No, never too late.
739. 47:32as long as you got it because of God's great mercy.
740. 47:34Amen.
741. 47:35Nothing that we can do.
742. 47:36It's nothing that we've ever done, right?
743. 47:37It's the Lord who's saying, come back to me.
744. 47:40I love, I love the cry of the Scriptures.
745. 47:42You are there for my ambassadors.
746. 47:45Like we are ambassadors as if he's making his appeal
747. 47:47through us, come back to me.
748. 47:49Amen.
749. 47:50This is the Lord of Heaven's armies.
750. 47:51This is his heart for his people.
751. 47:53It's never too late.
752. 47:54And what would happen Abraham?
753. 47:55If God's people, if everyone who's like a marginalized Christian,
754. 47:59people living in the margins of Christianity right now,
755. 48:02we're listening to this and they can hear the Lord say
756. 48:04and come back to me.
757. 48:05Amen.
758. 48:06Come back to me.
759. 48:07I've got work for you to do.
760. 48:07Let's go.
761. 48:08Amen.
762. 48:09If you are listening to this show,
763. 48:10I want you to know for a fact that it's not a coincidence,
764. 48:13that it is a product of God's divine providence
765. 48:15and His grace that you've heard, not just what we've said,
766. 48:18but you've heard what God is saying to you,
767. 48:21appealing to you, my challenge and encouragement to you
768. 48:25is to heed that.
769. 48:26None of us knows how many more breasts we have.
770. 48:30Let's take full advantage of this moment
771. 48:32that God has given us for His glory.
772. 48:35Let's leave it all on the floor for the king.
773. 48:40The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast
774. 48:43may not necessarily reflect those
775. 48:45of the American Family Association
776. 48:47or American Family Radio.