WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.480 --> 00:00:06.059 Thank you. Thank you so much. This is a particular 2 00:00:06.120 --> 00:00:09.400 joy for me to come and share with you this morning. 3 00:00:09.419 --> 00:00:13.179 I always love to bring the word to my wonderful 4 00:00:13.220 --> 00:00:18.550 church family. But this particular topic is actually near and 5 00:00:18.589 --> 00:00:23.850 dear to me. Back in January of this year, beginning 6 00:00:23.890 --> 00:00:26.489 of the year, the new word for me was partnership. 7 00:00:26.550 --> 00:00:28.769 The Lord gives me a word every year that I 8 00:00:28.890 --> 00:00:31.410 walk out. And then as part of that, he said, 9 00:00:31.429 --> 00:00:34.530 I want you to begin to really pray for those 10 00:00:34.689 --> 00:00:37.789 people in your life and those that you know, family, friends, 11 00:00:38.450 --> 00:00:41.170 who are woke. I want you to pray for them. 12 00:00:41.689 --> 00:00:43.210 And so I've been doing that ever since. And then 13 00:00:43.229 --> 00:00:47.619 when Pastor Dwayne gave me the opportunity, I was like, wow, 14 00:00:47.679 --> 00:00:49.880 now I know why the Lord wanted me to pray, 15 00:00:50.119 --> 00:00:52.780 because he wanted to prepare my heart. You know, I 16 00:00:53.039 --> 00:00:55.460 can't tell you how much I love my woke friends 17 00:00:55.500 --> 00:01:03.329 and family. And I feel like this is for all 18 00:01:03.369 --> 00:01:06.810 of us, for God's instruction today, I get my inner 19 00:01:07.170 --> 00:01:13.060 nerd activated as well as at the same time, you're 20 00:01:13.079 --> 00:01:14.620 going to get a lot of data thrown at you. 21 00:01:15.400 --> 00:01:18.180 But on the other hand, I feel like it is 22 00:01:18.200 --> 00:01:26.939 a love letter from the Father to those who are woke, 23 00:01:27.819 --> 00:01:35.120 particularly his own children, I think we should pray now. Father, 24 00:01:35.170 --> 00:01:37.609 in Jesus' name, I ask that you would come and 25 00:01:37.769 --> 00:01:42.430 you would speak to us, that you would not allow 26 00:01:42.469 --> 00:01:43.950 us to have any walls to what you want to 27 00:01:44.030 --> 00:01:46.590 say to us. For those of us, whether we're woke 28 00:01:46.670 --> 00:01:50.010 or not here this morning or online, that we would 29 00:01:50.030 --> 00:01:53.349 be willing to hear what you might have to say. 30 00:01:55.010 --> 00:02:00.250 Bless the giving of the word, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, 31 00:02:00.290 --> 00:02:05.299 we live in a world today that has clashes constantly 32 00:02:05.329 --> 00:02:10.539 between worldviews, between ideologies, right? A bill recently passed by 33 00:02:10.659 --> 00:02:14.219 New York State was a bill that changed all the 34 00:02:14.280 --> 00:02:17.960 official documents and took out the words mother and father 35 00:02:18.780 --> 00:02:25.080 and replaced them with gestating and non-gestating parents. That's right. 36 00:02:26.759 --> 00:02:28.789 Right now, also, many of you know that the US 37 00:02:28.849 --> 00:02:37.460 Congress is currently involved in a fierce debate regarding bans 38 00:02:37.479 --> 00:02:41.939 on gender transition for children. So these are the kind 39 00:02:41.960 --> 00:02:44.900 of things that you can look on the news every 40 00:02:44.919 --> 00:02:47.180 day and you're going to pick up something else regarding 41 00:02:48.180 --> 00:02:52.280 this world view and other world views that are happening. 42 00:02:52.870 --> 00:02:57.030 We're going to talk about woke this morning, and woke, 43 00:02:57.210 --> 00:03:00.919 or sometimes people talk about wokeism, and what it is, 44 00:03:01.240 --> 00:03:03.419 it's part of the series of messages. I'm going to 45 00:03:03.439 --> 00:03:06.120 give you more of a global picture. I'm not going 46 00:03:06.400 --> 00:03:10.259 to dive into any particular element of it, but I'm 47 00:03:10.280 --> 00:03:14.229 going to give you a wide picture. And my title 48 00:03:14.409 --> 00:03:18.490 of my sermon this morning is, What is Woke and 49 00:03:18.509 --> 00:03:25.039 Does It Work?, And maybe you're here thinking, well, I'm 50 00:03:25.060 --> 00:03:27.150 not quite sure what woke is. This is for you. 51 00:03:27.490 --> 00:03:30.150 If you're here and you're sure what woke is, it's 52 00:03:30.169 --> 00:03:32.590 for you. Whether or not you're woke or not, this 53 00:03:32.669 --> 00:03:34.460 is for you. This is for every one of us 54 00:03:34.759 --> 00:03:38.199 because I believe God has something for all of us 55 00:03:38.300 --> 00:03:42.580 to learn this morning. So what is woke? Here's a 56 00:03:42.620 --> 00:03:46.020 definition I found online that I think is pretty appropriate, 57 00:03:46.039 --> 00:03:49.669 and we'll start there. Woke is a modern social and 58 00:03:49.729 --> 00:03:55.229 political worldview or ideology that views society through identity groups 59 00:03:55.669 --> 00:04:01.139 and power dynamics and sees systematic oppression as the root 60 00:04:01.319 --> 00:04:07.189 to virtually all inequalities. And, of course, it asserts that 61 00:04:07.229 --> 00:04:09.409 one of the most important truths or all the important 62 00:04:09.469 --> 00:04:14.090 truths about society can be found in group identities. And 63 00:04:14.110 --> 00:04:20.829 so whether it's race or gender or sexuality or sexuality. 64 00:04:21.360 --> 00:04:27.259 Woke originally meant being alerts to social injustice back decades ago, 65 00:04:28.230 --> 00:04:32.870 especially racism, but then it's broadened and deepened in the 66 00:04:32.910 --> 00:04:39.610 last decade or so. Over time now, it addresses systematic injustice, 67 00:04:39.990 --> 00:04:45.170 identity-based inequality, and see it as a moral duty to 68 00:04:45.550 --> 00:04:55.350 correct injustices. Okay? Okay? So we're challenging different norms like gender, sexuality, family, 69 00:04:55.389 --> 00:04:59.449 and identity. Those are being challenged by wokeism. And reevaluating, 70 00:04:59.490 --> 00:05:04.879 of course, historical narratives like slavery, patriarchy, colonialism. So those 71 00:05:04.939 --> 00:05:07.639 are going on right now as part of the woke vision. 72 00:05:08.459 --> 00:05:16.649 Wokeism is highly organized and it's very well-funded. And they're 73 00:05:16.709 --> 00:05:21.000 serious about this. And they're aiming for cultural, institutional, and 74 00:05:21.040 --> 00:05:25.699 political change. And so they're doing that through laws, through education, 75 00:05:25.959 --> 00:05:30.399 entertainment industry, through news media, and, of course, social media 76 00:05:30.790 --> 00:05:37.889 of absolutely every kind. Now, this worldview or identity, ideology, 77 00:05:37.949 --> 00:05:42.029 is held by many people. And pretty much any age 78 00:05:42.500 --> 00:05:46.339 group or educational level, places of power and so forth, 79 00:05:46.660 --> 00:05:49.600 it's strongly held here in the United States and, of course, 80 00:05:49.680 --> 00:05:53.620 many parts of the world, the Western world, and certainly 81 00:05:53.699 --> 00:05:57.870 here in Western Washington. We are particularly strong in that 82 00:05:57.930 --> 00:06:02.930 woke ideology. And for some, to be honest, it is 83 00:06:02.949 --> 00:06:08.949 a secular religion. It is... It's something that influences people 84 00:06:09.069 --> 00:06:13.319 as much as any religion might influence them. You and 85 00:06:13.379 --> 00:06:17.259 I have friends, we have family members, we have co-workers, bosses, 86 00:06:18.259 --> 00:06:23.199 who consider themselves woke or have some level of woke views. 87 00:06:24.060 --> 00:06:27.589 And you may consider yourself woke today and not hold 88 00:06:27.790 --> 00:06:31.689 all the views of wokeism, and that's certainly possible. But 89 00:06:31.730 --> 00:06:34.350 I'm glad you're here, no matter who you are or listening, 90 00:06:34.730 --> 00:06:39.379 watching online. Again, please listen with an open heart and mind. 91 00:06:40.300 --> 00:06:47.220 Colossians 2.8 is the center word for this morning. Here's 92 00:06:47.240 --> 00:06:50.579 what it says. See to it that no one takes 93 00:06:50.620 --> 00:06:56.500 you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on 94 00:06:56.600 --> 00:07:01.560 human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world 95 00:07:02.240 --> 00:07:10.069 rather than Christ. The Apostle Paul here is warning Christians 96 00:07:10.209 --> 00:07:15.709 in particular to not be led away from Jesus. We 97 00:07:15.750 --> 00:07:20.920 sang this morning about, we sang only Jesus, all about Jesus. 98 00:07:20.980 --> 00:07:23.660 And Paul's saying that here when it comes to what 99 00:07:23.699 --> 00:07:26.699 you believe, what you put your trust in in terms 100 00:07:26.759 --> 00:07:33.709 of philosophy, ideology. Two sources of truth. Human tradition is 101 00:07:33.769 --> 00:07:37.540 compared to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, whose revelation 102 00:07:37.600 --> 00:07:43.519 and foundation is truth. Hollow and deceptive philosophy. Paul is 103 00:07:43.579 --> 00:07:46.610 talking about teachings that are empty. They look full, but 104 00:07:46.639 --> 00:07:51.889 they're empty. And they mislead people away from Jesus Christ. 105 00:07:53.149 --> 00:07:58.089 Human tradition. It's the action and belief that people can 106 00:07:58.410 --> 00:08:02.160 change the world. That we have the power and ability 107 00:08:02.259 --> 00:08:07.199 in and of ourselves to change the world and without 108 00:08:07.259 --> 00:08:11.490 God or his word. Elemental spiritual forces of this world, 109 00:08:12.370 --> 00:08:17.990 these are the systems, the ideologies that have spiritual forces 110 00:08:18.069 --> 00:08:24.110 behind them. Believe me, they do. Every ideology, every worldview 111 00:08:24.149 --> 00:08:29.000 has spiritual forces working behind them. And either they are 112 00:08:29.040 --> 00:08:33.460 good or they're bad. Apostle Paul says, what is good 113 00:08:34.100 --> 00:08:38.830 is Jesus. So we ought to be careful about what 114 00:08:38.970 --> 00:08:41.710 ideologies we pick up along the way in our lives. 115 00:08:42.250 --> 00:08:45.330 Some we do consciously, some we do unconsciously. Some we 116 00:08:45.350 --> 00:08:47.889 do because culture teaches us that and we pick them up. 117 00:08:48.200 --> 00:08:51.200 There's a lot of different ways to do that, right? 118 00:08:51.679 --> 00:08:54.100 But we need to be careful because we can be 119 00:08:54.139 --> 00:08:57.299 taken captive, Paul says. We can be trapped, we can 120 00:08:57.340 --> 00:09:00.000 be stopped, and we can be led astray by them. 121 00:09:02.860 --> 00:09:04.419 So this week I woke up in the middle of 122 00:09:04.440 --> 00:09:07.740 the night and the Lord often does, wakes me up and, 123 00:09:08.509 --> 00:09:10.700 and downloads something to me. And I woke up in 124 00:09:10.720 --> 00:09:13.620 the middle of the night and, uh, immediately the memory 125 00:09:13.659 --> 00:09:15.740 came to me of something in my childhood when I 126 00:09:15.779 --> 00:09:18.679 was a young, a young teen, uh, an event that 127 00:09:18.720 --> 00:09:23.850 happened in my family. And I'm going to share that. Um, and, uh, the, 128 00:09:24.549 --> 00:09:26.970 it's a story that I call, uh, the mouse in 129 00:09:26.990 --> 00:09:31.000 the tuba. And, uh, You'll see in a moment why 130 00:09:31.019 --> 00:09:33.580 I call it that, but that was going to be 131 00:09:33.639 --> 00:09:36.639 my original title, but my wife Lori said, no, no 132 00:09:36.659 --> 00:09:40.600 one will know what that means. So stick with the 133 00:09:40.659 --> 00:09:44.240 woke title. So I did that, and I think that 134 00:09:44.279 --> 00:09:49.750 was wisdom. But I had a little white mouse. I 135 00:09:49.769 --> 00:09:52.960 had lots of different animals when I was growing up, 136 00:09:53.389 --> 00:09:56.110 pets and stuff, but I had this particular white mouse 137 00:09:57.230 --> 00:09:59.899 that I would take out and out of the little 138 00:09:59.919 --> 00:10:01.740 cage and play with and everything else I had a 139 00:10:01.779 --> 00:10:04.220 friend of mine who was over and you know we 140 00:10:04.299 --> 00:10:06.379 were two teens that had nothing to do we were 141 00:10:06.419 --> 00:10:10.220 just like had no time to spend yeah alright and 142 00:10:10.240 --> 00:10:14.799 you know that's a danger that's danger time and we're 143 00:10:14.820 --> 00:10:16.840 just like sitting about playing with the mouse and he's 144 00:10:16.879 --> 00:10:19.330 crawling up inside your shirt and we just had a 145 00:10:19.350 --> 00:10:22.440 great time And one of us had this idea, and 146 00:10:22.460 --> 00:10:26.860 the guilty party, who it actually was, is lost to history, 147 00:10:27.259 --> 00:10:29.779 and maybe I blocked it out. But I was still 148 00:10:29.820 --> 00:10:34.460 responsible because it was my mouse, it was my room 149 00:10:34.500 --> 00:10:37.460 we were hanging out in, and it was my brother's 150 00:10:37.879 --> 00:10:43.809 brand new tuba. And one of us had the idea, 151 00:10:43.870 --> 00:10:45.409 let's put the mouse in the tuba and see what 152 00:10:45.429 --> 00:10:54.929 he does. This, again, brand new E-flat-based tuba. And it 153 00:10:54.950 --> 00:10:57.450 seemed like a good idea at the time, right? And 154 00:10:58.389 --> 00:11:01.409 in retrospect, I understand it wasn't so smart. I wasn't 155 00:11:01.450 --> 00:11:04.710 thinking ahead. But we did. We took the mouse, took 156 00:11:04.730 --> 00:11:07.269 him over, and we put him on the edge of 157 00:11:07.289 --> 00:11:10.500 the tuba, a nice big opening. And he started crawling in. 158 00:11:10.549 --> 00:11:13.740 This was very inviting to him. It's darker. The more 159 00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:16.159 he went in, the darker it got. Mice like little 160 00:11:16.179 --> 00:11:25.480 dark holes to crawl in, right? So, you know, unfamiliar with, 161 00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:36.389 you know, tuba geometry and mouthpiece size, it didn't apparently 162 00:11:36.830 --> 00:11:39.330 occur to this mouse that he was going in a 163 00:11:39.370 --> 00:11:43.990 dangerous direction. A dead-end path, if you will, because the 164 00:11:44.029 --> 00:11:48.750 mouthpiece is smaller than the mouse. And so you get it. 165 00:11:50.330 --> 00:11:53.389 He kept going and going. He liked it so much, 166 00:11:53.929 --> 00:11:58.470 it was so attractive to him that he kept going 167 00:11:59.950 --> 00:12:04.809 until he got wedged in the tuba, towards the end 168 00:12:04.850 --> 00:12:08.029 of the tuba, towards the mouthpiece. He was probably looking out, 169 00:12:08.450 --> 00:12:13.169 seeing the end of the tunnel, but not being able 170 00:12:13.200 --> 00:12:17.909 to get there. we knew that he was stuck when 171 00:12:17.929 --> 00:12:20.870 we tried to blow into the tuba and we could 172 00:12:20.889 --> 00:12:26.990 get no air into it. And so we started shaking it, 173 00:12:27.110 --> 00:12:29.740 turning it, kind of bouncing it, trying to get him out. 174 00:12:30.250 --> 00:12:34.340 And everything we tried, nothing happened. We could not get 175 00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:40.539 him out of that tuba. This mouse was truly stuck. Now, 176 00:12:40.620 --> 00:12:43.179 this picture right here I want to give you is 177 00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:45.700 a picture that I think God wants to give you 178 00:12:46.090 --> 00:12:49.590 of what happens when we begin to follow the wrong ideology. OK? 179 00:12:50.789 --> 00:12:53.649 I'm going to tell you the end of the story 180 00:12:53.750 --> 00:12:56.009 at the end. So if you're irritated with me in 181 00:12:56.029 --> 00:12:59.080 the beginning, you'll probably still stick around to hear, because 182 00:12:59.100 --> 00:13:01.460 you want to hear the end of the mouse and 183 00:13:01.480 --> 00:13:07.480 the tuba story. But Colossians 2.8 says, be careful not 184 00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:12.960 to get captive, right? Proverbs 14, 12 hits us even harder. 185 00:13:13.519 --> 00:13:17.740 There is a way that appears to be right, but 186 00:13:17.779 --> 00:13:23.700 the end leads to death. Now, you can apply this 187 00:13:23.759 --> 00:13:29.639 verse to a mouse in a tuba, right? Or you 188 00:13:29.659 --> 00:13:35.750 can apply it to you. God is applying it to 189 00:13:35.840 --> 00:13:37.820 each one of us. He's saying, he's giving us a 190 00:13:37.899 --> 00:13:40.899 warning here. There is a way, it appears right, it 191 00:13:40.960 --> 00:13:48.899 appears good, but it leads to death. So about woke, 192 00:13:48.960 --> 00:13:54.940 does it work? I have five key questions. They're both 193 00:13:55.120 --> 00:14:00.279 biblical questions and logical questions. They're kind of Charlie Kirk 194 00:14:00.350 --> 00:14:04.039 style questions. but they're the ones that I believe the 195 00:14:04.100 --> 00:14:07.000 Lord has given me to share with you. And there 196 00:14:07.059 --> 00:14:11.529 are ways to evaluate any ideology, but we're going to 197 00:14:11.549 --> 00:14:17.149 evaluate wokeism. Okay? Can you put up the chart? The 198 00:14:17.210 --> 00:14:23.419 five criteria for evaluating social ideology. Here they are. The 199 00:14:23.919 --> 00:14:29.519 view of human nature. Real world outcomes. The openness to 200 00:14:29.559 --> 00:14:36.399 debate and correction. View of the individual and relationship to truth. 201 00:14:37.580 --> 00:14:42.139 We're going to apply those criteria with questions, each one 202 00:14:42.179 --> 00:14:46.759 of those, to wokeism. First, the view of human nature. 203 00:14:47.139 --> 00:14:52.710 The question, does this ideology have a realistic understanding of 204 00:14:52.789 --> 00:14:59.070 human nature? The woke view of the world, in that view, 205 00:14:59.230 --> 00:15:06.779 people are basically good. Well, in particular, people who are 206 00:15:06.970 --> 00:15:10.450 on the fringes, people who are vulnerable, people who are poor, 207 00:15:10.889 --> 00:15:15.470 people who are not in the center of power, people 208 00:15:15.909 --> 00:15:25.259 who are victims of victimizers. Those people are morally good. Now, 209 00:15:25.279 --> 00:15:28.419 the victimizers are not. The oppressors are not. They're the 210 00:15:28.539 --> 00:15:33.529 evil ones. But everybody else... is morally good. If you're 211 00:15:33.690 --> 00:15:38.570 poor or underprivileged or an immigrant or an ethnic person, 212 00:15:40.330 --> 00:15:45.149 you know, in woke's view, you are good. And pretty 213 00:15:45.200 --> 00:15:51.500 much most anything you do is okay. Bible's pretty clear. 214 00:15:52.440 --> 00:15:57.299 Jeremiah 17, 9. The heart is deceitful above all things 215 00:15:57.940 --> 00:16:01.779 and beyond cure. Who can understand it? We are all sinners. 216 00:16:02.840 --> 00:16:05.500 None of us are good. There's not a good person 217 00:16:05.539 --> 00:16:09.799 in this room or online right now without the goodness 218 00:16:10.039 --> 00:16:14.070 being imputed to us by Jesus Christ. Mark 7, 21 219 00:16:14.070 --> 00:16:18.710 to 23. For it is from within and out of 220 00:16:18.730 --> 00:16:23.490 a person's heart that evil thoughts come. It's from within. 221 00:16:24.289 --> 00:16:26.690 And he mentions all these different things there. You can 222 00:16:26.750 --> 00:16:31.549 read it. All these evils, verse 23, come from inside 223 00:16:31.629 --> 00:16:35.730 and defile a person. There it is. That is biblical ideology. 224 00:16:35.870 --> 00:16:41.500 That is biblical theology right there. See, wokeism misdiagnoses the 225 00:16:41.580 --> 00:16:48.340 root human problem and replaces sin with social oppression. Social 226 00:16:48.360 --> 00:16:51.200 oppression is really the only bad sin. You can go 227 00:16:51.279 --> 00:16:53.940 and do anything else. You can live your lifestyle any 228 00:16:53.980 --> 00:16:56.240 way you want. You can treat people any way you 229 00:16:56.279 --> 00:17:01.379 want as long as you don't socially oppress. That is true. 230 00:17:04.119 --> 00:17:08.950 So sin becomes privilege. It becomes bias. It becomes inequity. 231 00:17:09.309 --> 00:17:14.309 It becomes power imbalance in the woke ideology. But the 232 00:17:14.349 --> 00:17:18.529 Bible teaches that sin is rebellion against God. That's what 233 00:17:18.569 --> 00:17:23.130 it is. It's universal. It's personal. It's moral. It's social. 234 00:17:23.250 --> 00:17:29.069 It's not sociological. Now, systems can be unjust, but they're 235 00:17:29.130 --> 00:17:37.259 unjust because people are unjust. So after this first question 236 00:17:37.279 --> 00:17:40.240 in regards to the woke's view of human nature, I 237 00:17:40.279 --> 00:17:42.549 don't give them a very good big grade. I wouldn't 238 00:17:42.569 --> 00:17:45.359 give it. You can decide. Let's go to number two, 239 00:17:45.440 --> 00:17:49.779 real-world outcomes. The key question here is, does this ideology 240 00:17:49.859 --> 00:17:57.230 produce good outcomes when it is applied, especially for the vulnerable? 241 00:17:58.509 --> 00:18:04.269 A good sociological ideology would have good outcomes when applied, 242 00:18:04.589 --> 00:18:07.769 and it'd be especially helpful for the vulnerable, the ones 243 00:18:07.789 --> 00:18:12.539 that are trying to help. Intentions are not good enough. 244 00:18:13.720 --> 00:18:16.789 And I assume, you know, I've learned to assume, I 245 00:18:16.829 --> 00:18:19.329 believe it's the Lord's heart that we assume good intentions 246 00:18:19.390 --> 00:18:23.609 of people. Right? Because we don't know their hearts. God does. 247 00:18:24.309 --> 00:18:29.809 And so I go in assuming good intentions for woke ideology. 248 00:18:30.910 --> 00:18:35.529 Good intentions for people who have them. Okay? I assume that. 249 00:18:35.890 --> 00:18:42.289 But outcomes are the real test. Does ideology, does it 250 00:18:42.349 --> 00:18:47.640 produce justice and peace and flourishing or something else? This 251 00:18:47.680 --> 00:18:52.079 is what the Bible calls fruit. Right? The Bible calls fruit. 252 00:18:52.700 --> 00:18:58.309 Is fruit consistent with goodness and righteousness? James 3, 17 253 00:18:58.299 --> 00:19:01.759 and 18. The wisdom that comes from heaven is, first 254 00:19:01.799 --> 00:19:06.910 of all, pure and peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy 255 00:19:07.369 --> 00:19:13.930 and good fruit. impartial, and sincere. In Matthew 7, 16, 256 00:19:13.930 --> 00:19:17.990 by their fruit, you will recognize them. Do people pick 257 00:19:18.029 --> 00:19:21.509 grapes from thorn bushes or figs or from thistles? By 258 00:19:21.549 --> 00:19:25.119 their fruit. And so this is a great number two 259 00:19:25.200 --> 00:19:30.599 question here. It's a great one. And so woke ideology 260 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:36.609 gets something right, something very right. That is deeply biblical, 261 00:19:36.990 --> 00:19:42.619 Isaiah 117. Learn to do right. Seek justice. Defend the oppressed. 262 00:19:43.680 --> 00:19:46.490 Take up the cause of the fatherless. Plead the case 263 00:19:46.509 --> 00:19:49.970 of the widow. That is the right intention. That is justice. 264 00:19:50.519 --> 00:19:53.559 is right from the Lord's heart. It's in God's word. 265 00:19:54.660 --> 00:19:58.680 Micah 6.8. He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. 266 00:19:59.849 --> 00:20:02.089 And what does the Lord require of you? To act 267 00:20:02.170 --> 00:20:04.809 justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with 268 00:20:04.849 --> 00:20:08.960 your God. This is right. This is to do right. 269 00:20:09.019 --> 00:20:15.750 This is right. We know that. And social injustice is 270 00:20:15.829 --> 00:20:22.710 not right. But it is the method you use to 271 00:20:22.829 --> 00:20:26.970 attain a goal. It's not just having a particular goal 272 00:20:27.009 --> 00:20:30.710 that happens to be good. And that is the critical thing. 273 00:20:32.059 --> 00:20:39.190 Good intentions do not prevent bad results. Now, you might 274 00:20:39.210 --> 00:20:43.680 be surprised about, you know, if you take the good 275 00:20:43.720 --> 00:20:47.680 intentions of people who are woke, I found something very surprising. 276 00:20:49.299 --> 00:20:52.599 It turns out, and studies have shown this very clearly, 277 00:20:52.619 --> 00:20:56.680 it turns out that a woke person's on average, I'm 278 00:20:56.720 --> 00:21:00.190 not saying you or somebody you know, but on average, 279 00:21:00.269 --> 00:21:04.730 a woke person is less charitable, they give less, they 280 00:21:04.789 --> 00:21:09.839 volunteer less, they help the poor less than and they 281 00:21:09.940 --> 00:21:15.829 are less civically engaged other than online activism than the 282 00:21:16.150 --> 00:21:29.220 average person in America. So intentions alone aren't enough. Actions. 283 00:21:30.299 --> 00:21:32.599 So if we look at the actual behavior, does the 284 00:21:32.740 --> 00:21:38.339 ideology produce good fruit, good outcomes in life? Next chart. 285 00:21:39.240 --> 00:21:41.940 And now when I looked at this chart, this is 286 00:21:41.960 --> 00:21:46.440 the first half of two parts, I was surprised at 287 00:21:46.569 --> 00:21:52.950 how many key, not just minor, but key woke policies 288 00:21:53.630 --> 00:22:00.609 produce outcomes that have harmed many, many people. And maybe 289 00:22:00.630 --> 00:22:02.589 you just don't hear that in the news or you 290 00:22:02.630 --> 00:22:06.369 don't see a lot, but you can read it for yourself. 291 00:22:09.319 --> 00:22:12.359 Transgender policy in women's sports, we know how that has 292 00:22:12.599 --> 00:22:19.160 hurt women, girls. Youth gender transitions, we know how many now, 293 00:22:19.180 --> 00:22:22.579 it's how much is coming out of the hurt that's happened. 294 00:22:22.980 --> 00:22:29.109 It's just heartbreaking. Immigration and border policy, we know how 295 00:22:29.150 --> 00:22:34.220 much that's hurt our nation in the terms of... All 296 00:22:34.259 --> 00:22:37.220 the killings that have happened and all the crime that's 297 00:22:37.259 --> 00:22:43.250 happened and allowing groups in that have done... I could 298 00:22:43.269 --> 00:22:47.849 go on. I won't. Woke education and campus speech. This 299 00:22:47.890 --> 00:22:54.650 has affected academia. It's affected universities. It's affected our elementary schools. 300 00:22:55.230 --> 00:22:58.819 I mean, this... They've hurt the youth and children. And 301 00:22:58.960 --> 00:23:08.589 then part two... anti-Semitism on campus, victim of pressure framework, 302 00:23:08.630 --> 00:23:14.309 you can read it, progressive economic policies, defunding or restricting 303 00:23:14.329 --> 00:23:19.269 the police. These have hurt the people that they've wanted 304 00:23:19.289 --> 00:23:23.500 to help the most. The people in big cities, the 305 00:23:23.519 --> 00:23:30.009 people that are struggling with poverty, the people that need 306 00:23:30.089 --> 00:23:35.769 police in their neighborhoods. DEI programs, those have mostly generally 307 00:23:35.890 --> 00:23:41.650 failed in business. Mental health impacts on youth. There's higher anxiety, 308 00:23:42.319 --> 00:23:47.299 identity confusion, fragility. It used to be that youth grew 309 00:23:47.359 --> 00:23:53.119 up kind of tough. Today, we are training our children 310 00:23:53.180 --> 00:23:57.180 to be weak because we're making sure that nobody says 311 00:23:57.240 --> 00:24:00.509 anything bad to them making sure that they're safe in 312 00:24:00.690 --> 00:24:04.150 every possible way. And then, of course, culture and national identity, 313 00:24:04.190 --> 00:24:09.210 how that's divided us. This is sad. This is heartbreaking. 314 00:24:10.250 --> 00:24:13.369 I know this wasn't intended, but look how much damage. 315 00:24:14.809 --> 00:24:18.700 But what saddens me the most, what saddens me the 316 00:24:18.740 --> 00:24:21.599 most is that those who have been harmed the most, 317 00:24:23.500 --> 00:24:25.400 the group of people who have been harmed the most 318 00:24:28.130 --> 00:24:35.400 Next chart. These are the people who are the focus 319 00:24:36.920 --> 00:24:41.819 of woke ideology to help. These are the ones they say, 320 00:24:42.160 --> 00:24:44.920 these are the most important people and we want to 321 00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.539 help them. Their intention is to help these people. These 322 00:24:49.559 --> 00:24:53.380 are the people who have been harmed the most. Children, youth, women, 323 00:24:53.619 --> 00:24:58.049 the poor, ethnic minorities, immigrants with conservative values, and students 324 00:24:58.450 --> 00:25:02.990 in vulnerable environments. These are the ones that hurt the most, 325 00:25:03.049 --> 00:25:05.329 the one they want to help the most. So when 326 00:25:05.369 --> 00:25:08.230 you're doing something that your intention is to do it 327 00:25:08.309 --> 00:25:12.289 and to help these people, and you're putting your heart 328 00:25:12.329 --> 00:25:16.339 and soul into that, and instead those same people are 329 00:25:16.470 --> 00:25:27.059 hurt the most, something's wrong. Something's desperately wrong. So I 330 00:25:27.079 --> 00:25:32.400 wouldn't give them a very high score and good outcomes. Okay, 331 00:25:32.420 --> 00:25:35.609 third question has to do with openness to debate and correction. 332 00:25:36.009 --> 00:25:40.549 The key question is, can this ideology be questioned, debated, 333 00:25:40.630 --> 00:25:48.529 or corrected? Healthy ideologies welcome scrutiny. Unhealthy ones suppress disagreement 334 00:25:48.950 --> 00:25:55.180 and alternative views. Woke ideology supports things like speech codes, 335 00:25:56.579 --> 00:26:00.339 It encourages and been the prime mover behind cancel culture. 336 00:26:01.799 --> 00:26:05.880 Dissent has been punished. If you speak out at your 337 00:26:05.960 --> 00:26:10.859 job in the past, now the administration has changed that, 338 00:26:10.940 --> 00:26:13.920 but not long ago, you speak out at your job, 339 00:26:14.400 --> 00:26:18.160 you'd be let go. If there's against in any way, 340 00:26:18.220 --> 00:26:22.420 the DEI or against, believe me, and we all know that, 341 00:26:22.500 --> 00:26:26.309 I won't spend a lot, but I'll go on. Universities 342 00:26:26.390 --> 00:26:31.789 have been narrowed down and dumbed down because of limiting 343 00:26:31.910 --> 00:26:34.549 what can be taught, what can be studied, what the 344 00:26:34.650 --> 00:26:44.059 science is actually. Believe me, real science has been squished 345 00:26:44.099 --> 00:26:50.000 into one corner so that the full science has been 346 00:26:50.039 --> 00:26:53.150 pushed down. Okay, I don't have to go much further 347 00:26:53.190 --> 00:27:01.220 than that. Silence about unfairness. So if you're silent about unfairness, 348 00:27:01.299 --> 00:27:08.549 you're considered complicit in social injustice. Okay, it goes that far. 349 00:27:09.410 --> 00:27:14.670 And if you're neutral, you're siding with the oppressor. So 350 00:27:15.450 --> 00:27:17.670 I would say the dissent, debate, and correction is not 351 00:27:17.710 --> 00:27:22.150 very good. Proverbs 27, 17, iron sharpens iron, so one 352 00:27:22.190 --> 00:27:25.890 person sharpens another. We hold each other accountable, right? And 353 00:27:25.910 --> 00:27:28.900 that's how we help each other grow. Proverbs 10, 17, 354 00:27:28.900 --> 00:27:33.559 whoever heeds discipline shows the way to life, but whoever 355 00:27:33.700 --> 00:27:40.329 ignores correction leads others astray down the tuba. Proverbs 8.2, 356 00:27:40.329 --> 00:27:44.910 I added that. That's not God's word. Proverbs 18.2, a 357 00:27:45.089 --> 00:27:49.150 fool has no delight in understanding. They only want to 358 00:27:49.210 --> 00:27:57.240 express their own opinions. See, the wise ideology seeks the truth. 359 00:27:57.759 --> 00:28:02.319 welcomes correction, values honest debate. You know, Charlie Kirk debate, 360 00:28:02.599 --> 00:28:06.940 values those kind of things. A foolish ideology rejects correction, 361 00:28:07.079 --> 00:28:11.559 trusts only in its opinion, is unteachable, and leads blind 362 00:28:11.619 --> 00:28:15.329 people towards destruction or the small end of the tuba. 363 00:28:16.650 --> 00:28:20.890 An ideology that does these things undermines itself and its followers. 364 00:28:22.430 --> 00:28:27.289 So I would give that a low score. Openness to debate. Okay, 365 00:28:27.329 --> 00:28:30.410 number four, a view of the individual. Does the ideology 366 00:28:30.450 --> 00:28:34.339 treat people as individuals or reduce them to groups? Major 367 00:28:34.380 --> 00:28:38.440 dividing line between healthy and unhealthy worldviews. The ones that 368 00:28:38.680 --> 00:28:44.990 put them in groups. You could add Marxism, fascism, racial supremacy. 369 00:28:45.450 --> 00:28:50.390 Those put people in groups. Those are not healthy ideologies. 370 00:28:51.549 --> 00:28:54.210 Not ones you want to follow. The biblical standard says 371 00:28:54.819 --> 00:28:58.539 We're all in God's image, Genesis 127. So God created 372 00:28:58.660 --> 00:29:01.599 humankind in his own image. In the image of God, 373 00:29:01.640 --> 00:29:05.769 he created them. Male and female, he created them. We're 374 00:29:05.809 --> 00:29:11.930 all created equal. God shows no favoritism. Each person is 375 00:29:11.990 --> 00:29:16.269 accountable for their own sin, Romans 14, 12. So then, 376 00:29:16.569 --> 00:29:20.519 each of us will give an account of ourselves to God. 377 00:29:23.710 --> 00:29:28.299 That means God sees you as a unique moral agent 378 00:29:28.759 --> 00:29:34.500 with personal responsibility and dignity. Each one of you. Nobody 379 00:29:34.500 --> 00:29:39.019 gets off the hook in this thing. Woke world view 380 00:29:39.059 --> 00:29:42.619 has no place for the individual this came out of 381 00:29:42.759 --> 00:29:46.539 roots with critical theory and critical race theory where they 382 00:29:46.579 --> 00:29:50.609 put everything in groups based on race class gender and 383 00:29:50.650 --> 00:29:57.769 so forth group based moral judgment it leads to injustice 384 00:29:58.029 --> 00:30:03.150 it leads to resentment and division And so what happens 385 00:30:03.190 --> 00:30:07.519 is you get oppressor versus oppressed, victim versus victimizer, race 386 00:30:07.599 --> 00:30:11.960 versus race, class versus class, identity versus identity. And it 387 00:30:12.119 --> 00:30:20.099 inevitably produces resentment, polarization, tribalism, breakdown of society. So I 388 00:30:20.119 --> 00:30:23.480 don't think that one does it very well either. Number five. 389 00:30:25.660 --> 00:30:29.319 This has to do with relationship to the truth. The 390 00:30:29.339 --> 00:30:33.000 key question is does this ideology align with objective truth 391 00:30:33.640 --> 00:30:40.859 or does it redefine truth based on its ideology? Or 392 00:30:41.140 --> 00:30:46.180 I would add emotions or feelings. The biblical standard of 393 00:30:46.220 --> 00:30:52.049 walking in truth is that's the mark of genuine faith, right? 394 00:30:52.049 --> 00:30:56.670 3 John 4, John says, I have no greater joy 395 00:30:57.150 --> 00:31:00.160 to hear my children are walking in the truth. And 396 00:31:00.180 --> 00:31:04.160 that is God speaking through him. I want my children 397 00:31:04.240 --> 00:31:07.940 to walk in the truth. And this is truth that 398 00:31:07.980 --> 00:31:10.039 not just believe, but I want to walk them out. 399 00:31:10.079 --> 00:31:12.119 I want them to live the truth. So we're talking 400 00:31:12.140 --> 00:31:15.700 about living the truth here, not only believing it. Ephesians 4, 25, 401 00:31:15.700 --> 00:31:19.970