Abraham Hamilton III According to a recent study of hundreds of post abortive women, 60% reported that they would have preferred to give birth if they had received more support from others or had more financial security. And that's where preborn steps in. Preborn is there for women in their darkest hour, deciding between the life and death of their precious child. You see, the reality is women are being pressured to make this fatal decision and are being told that their babies are are just a clump of cells. Preborn welcomes women with God's love and introduces them to the beautiful life growing inside of them, which doubles their baby's chance at life. When you support preborn, you not only support women, you empower them. Your donation of $28 will help a woman to make a choice that she won't have to regret for the rest of her life and gives her the ultimate blessing. Life. Your love can save a life. Just dial pound 250 and say the keyword baby. That's 250 baby. Or visit preborn.com that's preborn.com. darkness is not an affirmative force. It simply reoccupies the space vacated by the light.
Abraham Hamilton III This is the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
Abraham Hamilton III It should be uncomfortable for a believer to live as a hypocrite, delivering people
Abraham Hamilton III out of the bondage of mainstream media and the philosophies of this world.
Abraham Hamilton III God has called you and me to be his ambassadors even in this dark moment. Let's not miss our moment.
Abraham Hamilton III And now the Hamilton Corner.
Abraham Hamilton III Good evening everyone. Welcome to the Hamilton Corner here on American Family Radio. I'm your host, Abraham Hamilton III, joined by our producer extraordinaire, Mr. Jeff McIntosh, the real J. Mac. And we're ready to rock and roll with today's edition of the program as we are here, 25 years after the worst terrorist ah, attack to ever occur on American soil. I remember just like it was yesterday where I was when this happened. I was coming out of my dorm room because I was in college at the time and walking by the lobby, the lobby in my dorm room at my university had ah, big screen TV in the lobby and I saw the news coverage, and then saw the news reporting the plane slamming into the towers. And it's, it's it's always been something that has grieved me deeply. But for some reason, it's hitting me a bit harder today, looking at our nation. I mean it's obvious that the locations that were selected to attack the Pentagon and the World Trade center towers were selected intentionally to make a statement, you know, as to what they thought represented the United States of America. And by they, I mean the Muslim m. Terrorists. And a. Part of the reason why it's hitting me harder today is because on this day, the 25th year of memorial, observance of that evil, attack. And I'm saying evil intentionally because, Islamic terrorism is demonically inspired. And I know that's not a politically correct thing to say, but I'm going to say it anyway because it's true. And, there are some who seek. Oh, let me say it this way. When you have terrorists who are acting on, Muhammadan instruction, they engage in their acts of terrorism in an effort to ultimately move toward having the world submit to Islam. That's their ultimate objective. and I look at our nation, then I remember, and some of you will remember this because I was in college at the time. I would fly often back and forth from NewSong Orleans to my college. And. And I remember my parents walking me to the gate. Y' all remember that. When you could actually walk to the gate in the airport, and you could pretty much park your car right outside of the front of the airport, take your keys, go inside and hang out with your family, literally until you board. Your family didn't have to have a boarding pass or a ticket. And, just our entire way of life has been adjusted now, following that. And. And as I am talking to you now, we have the things that have transpired in our nation since then. We have the Islamist in NewSong York City. We have the. The squad in Congress, and that includes Rashida Tlaib and, Ilhan Omar. We have, Abdul Said, attempting to secure the U.S. senate a seat in the U.S. senate from the state of Michigan. We have, what's happened with the infusion of the transformation of the Twin Cities area, or significant portions of it into something similar to Mogadishu in Minnesota. We have, the ascendancy of, a Shiite Islamic population in Hamtramck in Dearborn, Michigan, with Amtramck being the first majority Muslim city in the United States of America. Dearborn, moving increasingly, if not already achieving that status as a second. And it is grieving to me because, we m. Have some children who have not even learned what transpired on September 11th. I mean, you just had legislation passed in the state of Texas to allow the radical idea that the trade tower attack was related to Islamic terrorism. Like, that was a controversial thing to say, even though we know the motivation of the terrorist attackers themselves, and how in Gaza, there was massive celebrations on the streets on September 11th. Candy was being distributed, women were handing out cakes and pieces of cakes, and they celebrated as our fellow countrymen were murdered in that terrorist attack. I'm heavy hearted about this because, as I said a few moments ago, some have never even learned what happened on September 11, and some have conveniently forgotten. And both of those, in my estimation, reflect a, sad but sobering reality that they are features of what occurs when people turn away from the Lord. And so my hope and prayer for our nation is that we find our way back to the Lord in repentance and faith, not saying that we don't have a remnant. Praise God, I know there's a remnant in our nation. But if our nation is going to be great, that greatness must be the result of us humbly submitting ourselves and repentance and faith in Jesus Christ to the word of God we go. Judges, chapter 6. Judges, chapter 6, verses 11 through 14. This portion of Scripture is where the angel of the Lord, encounters Gideon. As the scripture bears out, Gideon did not yet know the Lord when he was intentionally encountered there. But this encounter began the development of Gideon's personal relationship with Yahweh. And this is what the text says. Judges, chapter 6, verse 11. It says, now, the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezurite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, the Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor. And Gideon said to him, please, my Lord, or please, sir, huh? If the Lord and most of your Bibles, you'll see, Lord is in all caps. There. All right. If the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt, but now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian? As I mentioned, Gideon did not yet know the Lord himself in personal relationship at this juncture, at this stage of his life? but I want you to notice something here. Gideon poses a question to the angel of the Lord. That question is, well, several questions. The first was, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened? Because this is at a time when the Midianites were oppressing the Israelites. But then the second question was, and where are all the Lord's wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt? That second question is what I want to present to you for consideration, because you'll notice it was not that Gideon was unaware of the testimonies of Yahweh provided to him by his fathers. Plural. And I will remind you, reading later on in this chapter, you'll find that as. As this encounter is transpiring, Gideon's own dad, Joash the Abite, has, altered to BAAL and an Asherah pole in his front yard at this very juncture. So when Gideon says that where. Where are all of, Yahweh's wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, he's including the ancestral heritage in Israel. In other words, what Gideon is saying he'd heard all of these stories about God, these stories. But, guys, can I tell you something? Hearing about God's historical record is not synonymous with walking with the Lord yourself, serving him yourself, worshiping him yourself. This passage of scripture really struck me in preparation for today's show because in many ways, people talk about America being a Christian nation. And is it that we have a critical mass of Christians in America, or is it that we've just. We've heard and recounted the stories our fathers have told us in other generations? In this example from the scripture, Gideon is saying, yeah, we've. We've heard about Yahweh and who he is and what he does. but. But where he at, though? I don't. I don't. I don't see that. I don't see. I don't see. I don't see it happening now. I mean. I mean. I mean, I'm threshing, weak behind a winepress. Pops has the astral pole in the front yard. You know, I heard about it, but what does that mean to me? And my concern is that we're in a similar place in our nation in the sense that, we have In God We Trust on our Federal Reserve notes, you know, in God We Trust is our national motto. We have a First Amendment that allows for religious freedom, to which I often consider. What is religious freedom? If we truly believe what the scripture says, there's only one name under heaven by which men must be saved. Which means, if that is true, the claim to the way of salvation is exclusive. Well, that means in an environment where religious freedom is available and people are placing their trust in a name other than the name of Jesus Christ, then they are believing Errantly in that errant disposition, as Jon 3:17 says, well, they're condemned already. I know this isn't comfortable, you know, for the syncretists among us, you know, for the. It's funny, Oprah Winfrey's name is taken from this phrase. Her mom misspelled Ophrah and Orpah from the Book of Ruth to name her Oprah. but she's the one that was one of the most prominent figures to popularize that there are many ways to God. Well, that's. That sounds cool. That sounds enticing and soothing until you contrast that with what Jesus said. Jesus said he is the way, not a way. So if we pound our fist to the table and, and lynch our wagons, so to speak, to religious freedom, are we lynching our wagons to a, disposition that says, well, yeah, you're free to believe your way or say it better to reject Jesus in your route to eternal damnation? I'm not saying that we need to challenge that constitutional framework. I'm digging deeper into the theological reality now. Jesus said there's only one way. Gideon represents an example of a people who had historical exposure to the ways, word and works of God that did not extend to a current relationship. Just because, as Gideon says, is the fathers told him about. Told him about Yahweh, doesn't mean Gideon knew him, doesn't mean the nation of Israel. By and large, at this stage in the scripture, we're walking in relationship with him. My prayer for myself, thanks be to God that the Lord has saved me. Thank you, Lord. My prayer for my fellow countrymen is that we turn to the Christ in faith and repentance. And faith. Because a robust military, a booming stock market, societal freedoms, those things do not make a nation great as the Lord said. As the Matthew recorded in Matthew 6:33. What is a prophet of man if he gains the whole world, yet lose his soul? The word of God must be taken seriously if we're going to have a great nation.
Debbie Wuthnow Are you ready to put your faith in action to impact our culture? For the first time in decades, younger generations are becoming more open to Jesus Christ and living out their faith. On Friday, October 2, believers of all ages will gather in Rogers, Arkansas for counteract USA's two date resolve to Stand conference to learn how to stand for the truth of God's word. There's not a moment to lose. Visit counteractusa.org to learn more and register. That's counteract USA.org.
Abraham Hamilton III Shining light into the darkness. This is the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
Abraham Hamilton III Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner. Abraham Hamilton III here. And I'm delighted to have back on the program again the host of the provocative new podcast, the Renton Rathbun Show, a podcast for parents with over 25 years of experience as a college professor in both secular and Christian institutions. Dr. Rathbun is a renowned. A, renowned. I'm sorry, expert in apologetics, sharing insights on biblical worldview training across the nation. He frequently appears on various podcasts, radio shows, and television programs throughout our nation. And he has a litany of degrees then. I'm not going through all your degrees, but you got a lot of them. but I'm grateful that you have, submitted your intellectual, capacity, your life, your devotion to the Lord. And I, I'll tell you, meaning, the audience here. One of the things I appreciate the most is that, you know, you have people who profess to be Christians, but when you meet them, not so sure. Well, I'm grateful that that's not the case with Dr. Rathman, because one of the things I personally appreciate is your humility and transparency, you know, to where you're not. You not only celebrate, you know, the Goliath decapitations, but you're willing to share, man. Hey, listen, these are the war wounds. These are the scars. And if this can help you, I'm willing to show you all of them. And so, I'm grateful for that. Thank you for joining me here on the program again, Dr. Rathbun.
Dr. Renton Rathbun thanks for having me. It's good to be here.
Abraham Hamilton III Yes, sir. Well, I want to have this conversation with you. I told you a little bit about it already, because we are in a weird place in our. In our country. Here we are 25 years after 9, 11, yet Islam seems to be on the rise in our nation. We also have, There was a time when there were people who kind of were Marxists, but they wouldn't say it out loud. They wouldn't say it out loud. what? Now you have people loudly, you know, pounding their chest. We are Marxists, and we are here. And then you also have this effort to cultivate a form of, kind of political conservatism, but it's godless with all of those things. It's very easy to want to highlight and to despise the darkness. but there has to be something available to us beyond merely identifying what's wrong. There has to be the ability to present an affirmative vision for what we need to pursue in Light of that, how do you distill all of those competing forces that are vying for devotion and affection and attention, that would dare rival the truth with a capital
Dr. Renton Rathbun T. Well, we're, I'm a pastor here in town at, In South Carolina. And,
Abraham Hamilton III Sorry I left that out. I should have mentioned that because I knew that. Oh, that's fun. Well, we're.
Dr. Renton Rathbun We're starting the Book of Jon. And, took us a year to get through Ephesians. So I don't know. Jon's 21 chapters. This might be longer.
Abraham Hamilton III Took you a year. Six chapters, man. Come on. I'm just kidding. I understand that very well. Yeah.
Dr. Renton Rathbun Well, Jon starts off with Christ, of course, at the very beginning, Christ, right? And he's not just with God in this intimate, you know, relationship with the Father, but he is God, and he made all things. And in him is life. And the life is the light. And from then on, you have this theme of light. And, you know, the darkness can't. And the. If you look at the Greek there, it could be, you know, couldn't comprehend it, you know, kind of. But the idea of the Greek there is to grasp or to try and master it. And so another way to look at that is that the darkness could not master the light. It could not overcome it. and that's important because if we just concentrate on the darkness and say how terrible the darkness is, what we're losing is the whole point of Christ and the Father loving us so much that he gives us Christ, that we're not seeing what the light is about and what the light is about. It's about the truth. But we gotta be careful that we don't think of the truth as we do in 2026. Oftentimes we think of the truth in 2026 as the right facts, right, the right data. And so, you know, AI might have some good data, but we gotta be careful. We gotta have the right data. And everything's come down to data points. Christ did not come into the world to give us the right data points. he came to give us the light. And what does that mean? Well, it means that he is able to give us an understanding of the reality context we live in and the reality future we are to have, and the reality now. What is the reality? And so even with Jon using the word Logos for Christ, in the beginning was the word. The Greek word there is Logos. That word was used. And Jon knew that, especially by the Greeks, the Logos was what is the underlining reality that holds all this stuff together. And you had philosophers everywhere trying to guess what's the underlining thing? If we could just figure out the thing, maybe it's water, maybe it's fire, maybe it's, you know, logic itself. And you had all these people coming up with these ideas. But Jon says, no, the underlining thing that's holding all this together, that is reality itself, is the light. And what's the light? It's Christ. And so I fear. And I just got back from a conference. When we get back from a conference, you're all psyched up. But I fear that we talk about how to be good people. We talk about what's wrong with the world. But our vision rarely includes the light of the world, which is Christ. we know Christ is there. We know Christ is important. But our vision for our children, our vision for our churches is. It is our vision Christ. And how do we distill that? I think is going to be the real question.
Abraham Hamilton III M. Man, I'm thinking so many different things because, you know, Romans talks about the earth, groaning and quaking in anticipation of the revelation of the sons of God. And what seems to be happening within our nation, around the world, certainly in different ways, but specifically in our country, is that people are trying to grapple with, their perception of life and reality, their perception of loss. There's lots of conversations about, you know, affordability and, you know, arguments. Yeah, Boomer. And I'm young and all of these other kinds of things, at the expense though of what you just described. But what is true, you know, we have a nation that has a historical reality of, the application of biblical truth in various ways. But I was reading before you came on from the book of Judges to where Gideon, when he first encounters the angel of the Lord, he says, well, where is Yahweh and all of these wonderful works and deeds that our fathers told us about, you know, so it's not like Gideon was unaware of descriptions of Yahweh historically, but they were not synonymous with him having an anchor in confidence and truth and dare I say, relationship rooted in him currently. is what we're facing similar to that in some sense in that we have this historical notions, these things back way, way, way, way back, you know, 250 years, you know, but they're not currently being grasped as truth and a proper valuation as to what truly we should value in a society.
Dr. Renton Rathbun Yeah, when you look at you brought up Romans, Romans really does give us an insight into what this is all about. You see, Christ is the light for all mankind. So everyone has this notion of the truth. Everybody does. Romans 1 is clear about this. So it says that everyone knows who God is. They know that he created all this stuff. They know it. The problem is they're suppressing it with their own unrighteousness. They hate it. So it's not ignorance. It's this hatred for the reality that they know is there, which is God made this. You're accountable to him. And that's why, you know, in Romans 1, it's very clear, there's no one that has an excuse. Everyone in hell, you know, is absolutely guilty. If I can put it this way, there is no one in hell that says, if I just knew. Everyone knows everybody. And here's, here's the problem. And let me make it more clear. I think this way. One of the. One of the most evil feats of skill I think that Satan has cast upon us is he has messed with even the church's view of reality. This is how we view reality. We view reality as, okay, well, I'm living with a bunch of problems. I have my family that I'm trying to deal with. I have a job I'm trying to deal with. And of course, yes, Sunday, we come on Sunday. And yes, I love Jesus. Jesus is a part of my life. The light is a part of my otherwise reality that I'm sure of. So I'm sure that I have problems in my life. I'm sure of what I can see with my eyes. I'm sure of all the issues that are going on. That's what I'm sure of. And Jesus becomes this part of my life that I'm kind of sure of. I have faith, and he's there as part. And that is the big lie that Jesus is part of your life. Christ is our life. In fact, in him is life, and that life is the light. And so what we have is this delusion we have that Christ has come and joined us in this reality. And the truth is we have been created into the reality Christ made. And so the reality is there is these principalities and powers we can't see. The reality is there is a, God we can't see. And the only things that we can know about God are through Christ. And, and so he is everything about reality. There is nothing that God adds to reality. God is the reality that we live in in Christ. And so I think we have tried to segment things, and that has been the big lie. That we've accepted, not that we, every single part of our life is in Christ. We have not accepted that.
Abraham Hamilton III So what would be the practical, outworking of that segmented, even compartmentalized approach that would probably be accompanied by a kind of a self soothing salve that results from my consistent church attendance? you know, I make a distinction between churchianity and Christianity, which I think this would apply to, that we sometimes can conflate church familiarity with that, with actually being in Christ. So what will be the practical outworkings of that segmented type of, ah, compartmentalized approach?
Dr. Renton Rathbun What's great is scripture gives us an outline, doesn't say to find time to pray. It says to pray without ceasing. it doesn't say that worship is to be exclusive to a Sunday. It requires us to worship at home with our family. It requires us to worship in our work. It requires us to worship at all times our God. And so that means work changes, what we do with our family changes. And this is another thing. I think we believe that, that we are here for the job that we have in life and then on the weekends we have a little break with church. And I think we need to reverse that. That church is the centerpiece of our life and we work so that we can support that centerpiece. because that think about, and this is Americans, right? Americans are so practical. We're so practical that we think, well, we got to make a living, we got to make money, we got to relax, we got to have a tv, we got to do these things. And then we add the church and we add a prayer here and there or we'll add some Bible reading. And we don't realize that the truth came into the world, took on flesh, and the truth was again, not segments of our life. The truth was the real, if I can put it that way. And what's the real? The real is my family isn't here for me merely to enjoy. My family is here that I might, if I'm a man head of my home, is to lead them into worship. M. My work is here so that I can support this very important centerpiece of my life, which is the church. Praying is not something I do when I'm worried about something. Merely prayer is the constant thing I'm doing because I know the reality isn't that I'm just getting in a car, going to work. The reality is I am fighting principalities and powers. I, I am in a world where everything is Christ. So if I'm Going to listen to a talking head. And that talking head might be very, very conservative and say things just the right way in the conservative way we really love. But he doesn't believe in Christ as God. well, that's a small issue. the big issue is that he really has his eye on Marxism. And of course I'm talking about the talking heads that everyone loves, like Ben Shapiro, you know, the Blaze tv, you know, all the different things that we have come to see as precious. We have come to see being Republican as precious or being conservative in America as precious. And we see Christ as an add on. In fact, oftentimes we have to steer Christ towards our conservatism instead of accepting the truth of Christ. That may clash with our conservatism will always clash with the left, but may not always be popular and may not always have to, you know, may not always drive us to what makes us feel best when we're frustrated. Frustrated.
Dr. Renton Rathbun And and I think that, you know, we do not want to live in a world where the light has come into the world and that light is to give us the true reality and context we're supposed to live in. We want other people to tell us
Abraham Hamilton III that, well, the music is disrespectful, so we have to come to a break. But what it seems like you're describing is a normalization and a comfortability with that age old word idolatry.
Building a strong biblical worldview can help our kids understand Christian values that are currently under attack. And the best time to start building their worldview is now. Activate Kids is an in depth worldview training course to help kids stand on the truth of God's word. Each unit includes video lessons, student workbook, parent leader guide, games, crafts and memory verses. Activate Kids is designed for kids 6 to 12 and it's available at activatekids.afa.net.
Abraham Hamilton III The Hamilton Quarter podcast and one minute commentaries are available at afr.net Back to the Hamilton Quarter on American Family Radio.
Abraham Hamilton III Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner. Abraham HAMILTON III Here Dr. Renton Rathbun is my guest and before we went to the break I asked him a question as to what would be the practical outworking of having this segmented and compartmentalized view and approach to Christ. And his description really, really made me think of, as I said it right before we got to the break of the age old biblical notion of idolatry. And idolatry is not merely, bowing down in front of statutes or worshiping relics, but ascribing devotion and commitment and veneration to anything other than Christ. That which should be. That which should be directed to Christ and Christ alone. And I say alone intentionally. because the Old Testament depiction of that idolatry is that the people of God didn't really, completely renounce and denounce Yahweh worship, but they simply added to their concept of devotion a little bit of BAAL and Asherah and the things that the Canaanites and the others did and put them all in one big pot and approach. Like Eryn said all the way back, oh, Israel, behold this. This is your God that delivered you from Egypt. You know, but the description you provided is, I believe, accurately provided, and it is a modern 21st century depiction of the biblical notion of idolatry. Is that an oversimplification of what you just described?
Dr. Renton Rathbun No, that is right on. If you look at Colossians 3. Five, boy, it was written, I believe, specifically for Americans. Put to death. Therefore, what is earthly in you? this is the constant mantra of both Old and NewSong Testament. This constant mantra of stop believing in the stuff of the world. There's someone that made all that. That's the one. Keep your eyes on the one that made it, not the, not the stuff. I mean, that is, you know, Colossians 5. Put to death. Therefore, what is earthly in you? Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and covetousness, which is idolatry. Now, I know a lot of that sounded like, well, I don't, you know, I'm not dealing with those things. But when you think of your passions, see, this is, you know, obviously we start thinking about what is, you know, what is it that's, you know, do I have sexual issues and things like that? But that, that word there is, what is it that you are fully, fully focused on as this is what life is about. You know, we, you see guys on, you know, talking heads that have their own podcasts, hundreds of thousands of subscribers who have made an idol out of their skin, where they have, they have revolted over the, the, what they think is the tedium of the, this racial back and forth of everything. And so now they're going to take it back. They've made an idol out of some eschatology that they like, and now they are, you know, the whites. The sins of the whites weren't as bad as the sins of any other culture that's out there. And you, you have that kind of thing, but then you have people that also are in their passions. What they, what they care about, what they focus on is what is really important to me, what makes this whole world go. And it usually goes into some politics. And they take on a modern day Pharisee. And I know I'm using, you know, words that are. Are charged. But you look at, you know, you look at Ben Shapiro, and you see a guy that is a modern day Pharisee. And the modern day Pharisee is like the Pharisee of the past. They are very conservative, culturally conservative people that say Christ is not God. And if they are saying that Christ is not God, any solution you have to the problems they're bringing up quite articulately and well said. And I like Ben Shapiro. But no matter how articulate the problems that he is developing in our nation are as a Pharisee, the answer will never be the light of the world. M. He will never say the answer is Jesus Christ. M. Because he cannot, he does not believe. Jesus Christ is the son of God, the light that came into the world. He is part of the darkness that wants to overcome it. Even though it is a conservative overcoming, he wants to overcome it in some other way. And I think if you start looking at things like that, there are talking heads that will no longer really be attractive to you any longer. when you look at Glenn Beck, who can articulate things so well, that makes you think, yeah, that is the problem. That is the problem. But Jesus Christ is not a created being who lived on this earth and lived a good enough life that he got to be a God too, just like you, if you live a good life. Mormonism is evil. It's an evil, horrible view of the world that makes God less. I can put it that way. And we fall for it. And I'll tell you, if we start thinking this way, we will be a people run by our passions. And what does James chapter four tell us about people whose passions have been pushing them? Well, they become very quarrelsome. Even within the church. Their passions become so strong that their desires, even when they come to the Lord to ask for stuff, those desires, those passions they have, they're going to ask wrongly, because they want to ask according to their desires, what they think, what. What they think is going to fix this world. And what does James call them in James 4? 4, you adulterous people.
Abraham Hamilton III M.
Dr. Renton Rathbun Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? And we would say, I am not friends with the world. I'm a conservative. That's what we would say. M. But friendship with the world is Saying even though they can articulate the darkness, well, the answer to the darkness is in Christ. And if they deny that you're Christ, if they say you're Christ is something your Christ is not, that is not just an issue over here. That I know that. And I'll keep that in mind as I listen to these guys. It's everything. Because what they're doing is they're articulating the darkness. And that's great. But the answer is more important than the articulation of the darkness. The answer to all that is Jesus Christ. And if we, as those who are supposed to be in the light, can't bear witness of the light because we have listened to talking heads that deny the light, we are going to be friends with the world.
Abraham Hamilton III Oh, man.
Oh.
Abraham Hamilton III What you're saying is so stirring. So stirring, because I don't think anybody has intentionally done this, but I think many of us have unintentionally aggrandized, just to say it plainly, the creation at the expense of the Creator. And the practical. The practical result of that is a normalization of a diminished view of Christ to where Christ is not all. Where we're willing to sing about him on Sundays, but he doesn't govern, you know, Monday through Saturday. And, I remember being a young boy having preachers. You know, my pastor would talk about that. But, And sometimes we reduce that concept to, like, behaviorally, you know, to where you'll behaviorally be devoted to Christ on Sunday, but Monday through Saturday, your behavior is not. But what you're talking about is a bit, elevated beyond mere behavior. But, dare I say, worldview, the way that the world is viewed is from a posture, even amongst many Christians, where Christ is diminished. So we end up, tangling, jousting, if you will, on an earthly plane with no concept of the preeminence of Christ and how that preeminence should be brought to bear in our real world. Oh, man.
Dr. Renton Rathbun And it comes down to what you. What you find attractive. I mean, you know, we. Satan is very smart, if I can put it that way. He's smart because he knows if I can make the evil evil enough. Where you have the LGBTQ community trying to go after our children to the point where that's what they're saying. They're literally saying, we are going after your children. There is a reason why the United Methodist Church has doubled down on this whole thing, and they have trannies coming in and speaking to kids, to the children. I mean, all of this is Satanic stuff. It's so evil, it's so awful that when you hear someone say, yes, that is awful, you're like, yeah, that guy. That guy agrees with me that it's awful. I mean, that's what makes this topic that you're bringing up so important. You're bringing up the topic that even though people are able to articulate the darkness well, that makes us attracted to them because they're able to say, that's the problem. That's the issue. And we're attracted to them immediately because someone is saying it. But then what we find ourselves attracted to are people that don't even believe in Christ. Jordan Peterson, does he articulate the darkness well? Yes. Does he believe that Jesus Christ is Lord? Not yet. I mean, if that's coming, we're still waiting. And we have all these guys, and we remain attracted to them as they begin to articulate the answer to all this M. And that is what really scares me, because as we're listening, we should find ourselves less and less attracted to their message as they spew out what the answer is. Christ did not come into the world so that we could have a better life as Americans with freedom for all. That is not why Christ came into the world. Christ came into the world because we were all damned, if I can put it that way, just without hope in the world. That's how Ephesians put it. You were cast off. All of you Gentiles were cast off. You didn't have hope in the world. But God, who was rich in mercy, with his great love, with which he loved us, made us alive together. Not just with a magic wand. He didn't make us alive together, just because he snapped his fingers, he made us alive together with Christ. And that is not just an interesting part of our historical view of Christianity. That is everything to reality. If I can put it this way, a few months ago, I had a dream, and, as you know, my brother died, a little over about a year and a half ago. And I had this dream that he was still alive. And in the dream it was normal that he was still alive and that he was, you know, doing that funny stuff he always did. He was always funny, and he always made me laugh. And. And I remember thinking that I need to call him because of, you know, I. You know, I just. I had a memory of him, and I need to call him, and I just got to remember to call him tomorrow morning. And then I wake up. When I wake up. And if you've ever had this experience, reality starts flooding in. I'm not going to contact him. He's gone. And the reality of it's been a year and a half since he's been gone. And the reality of, you know, I won't see him again on this side of heaven. And all of that floods in. We all want to live in a dream where we get to ignore the light and we want to be able to have a set world that we get to decorate ourselves like a dream. And we think that the Lord is going to ruin all that. M See, when I woke up, but I remembered was that as opposed to when I knew him before he died, when he was healthy, he did not know the Lord. And that that darkness inside my heart of I always worried about that and was scared about that when I woke up. The reality of his death reminded me that towards the end of his life he came to know the Lord.
Dr. Renton Rathbun And so, you know, reality does come with pain and difficulty, but it comes with great mercy. And we keep trying to decorate a worldview that we think is going to be the answer to everything. We think we can turn to Tucker Carlsen for the answer to everything, or Megyn Kelly for the answer to everything. But I am telling you, these are the talking heads whose solutions are not Christ. And we have got to let the light be the light and be the truth with all that it comes with. The truth has got to be the centerpiece of our hearts and minds. The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.
Abraham Hamilton III According to a recent study of hundreds of post abortive women, 60% reported that they would have preferred to give birth if they had received more support from others or had more financial security. And that's where preborn steps in. Preborn is there for women in their darkest hour, deciding between the life and death of their precious child. You see, the reality is women are being pressured to make this fatal decision and are being told that their babies are are just a clump of cells. Preborn welcomes women with God's love and introduces them to the beautiful life growing inside of them, which doubles their baby's chance at life. When you support preborn, you not only support women, you empower them. Your donation of $28 will help a woman to make a choice that she won't have to regret for the rest of her life and gives her the ultimate blessing. Life. Your love can save a life. Just dial pound 250 and say the keyword baby. That's 250 baby. Or visit preborn.com that's preborn.com. darkness is not an affirmative force. It simply reoccupies the space vacated by the light.
Abraham Hamilton III This is the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
Abraham Hamilton III It should be uncomfortable for a believer to live as a hypocrite, delivering people
Abraham Hamilton III out of the bondage of mainstream media and the philosophies of this world.
Abraham Hamilton III God has called you and me to be his ambassadors even in this dark moment. Let's not miss our moment.
Abraham Hamilton III And now the Hamilton Corner.
Abraham Hamilton III Good evening everyone. Welcome to the Hamilton Corner here on American Family Radio. I'm your host, Abraham Hamilton III, joined by our producer extraordinaire, Mr. Jeff McIntosh, the real J. Mac. And we're ready to rock and roll with today's edition of the program as we are here, 25 years after the worst terrorist ah, attack to ever occur on American soil. I remember just like it was yesterday where I was when this happened. I was coming out of my dorm room because I was in college at the time and walking by the lobby, the lobby in my dorm room at my university had ah, big screen TV in the lobby and I saw the news coverage, and then saw the news reporting the plane slamming into the towers. And it's, it's it's always been something that has grieved me deeply. But for some reason, it's hitting me a bit harder today, looking at our nation. I mean it's obvious that the locations that were selected to attack the Pentagon and the World Trade center towers were selected intentionally to make a statement, you know, as to what they thought represented the United States of America. And by they, I mean the Muslim m. Terrorists. And a. Part of the reason why it's hitting me harder today is because on this day, the 25th year of memorial, observance of that evil, attack. And I'm saying evil intentionally because, Islamic terrorism is demonically inspired. And I know that's not a politically correct thing to say, but I'm going to say it anyway because it's true. And, there are some who seek. Oh, let me say it this way. When you have terrorists who are acting on, Muhammadan instruction, they engage in their acts of terrorism in an effort to ultimately move toward having the world submit to Islam. That's their ultimate objective. and I look at our nation, then I remember, and some of you will remember this because I was in college at the time. I would fly often back and forth from NewSong Orleans to my college. And. And I remember my parents walking me to the gate. Y' all remember that. When you could actually walk to the gate in the airport, and you could pretty much park your car right outside of the front of the airport, take your keys, go inside and hang out with your family, literally until you board. Your family didn't have to have a boarding pass or a ticket. And, just our entire way of life has been adjusted now, following that. And. And as I am talking to you now, we have the things that have transpired in our nation since then. We have the Islamist in NewSong York City. We have the. The squad in Congress, and that includes Rashida Tlaib and, Ilhan Omar. We have, Abdul Said, attempting to secure the U.S. senate a seat in the U.S. senate from the state of Michigan. We have, what's happened with the infusion of the transformation of the Twin Cities area, or significant portions of it into something similar to Mogadishu in Minnesota. We have, the ascendancy of, a Shiite Islamic population in Hamtramck in Dearborn, Michigan, with Amtramck being the first majority Muslim city in the United States of America. Dearborn, moving increasingly, if not already achieving that status as a second. And it is grieving to me because, we m. Have some children who have not even learned what transpired on September 11th. I mean, you just had legislation passed in the state of Texas to allow the radical idea that the trade tower attack was related to Islamic terrorism. Like, that was a controversial thing to say, even though we know the motivation of the terrorist attackers themselves, and how in Gaza, there was massive celebrations on the streets on September 11th. Candy was being distributed, women were handing out cakes and pieces of cakes, and they celebrated as our fellow countrymen were murdered in that terrorist attack. I'm heavy hearted about this because, as I said a few moments ago, some have never even learned what happened on September 11, and some have conveniently forgotten. And both of those, in my estimation, reflect a, sad but sobering reality that they are features of what occurs when people turn away from the Lord. And so my hope and prayer for our nation is that we find our way back to the Lord in repentance and faith, not saying that we don't have a remnant. Praise God, I know there's a remnant in our nation. But if our nation is going to be great, that greatness must be the result of us humbly submitting ourselves and repentance and faith in Jesus Christ to the word of God we go. Judges, chapter 6. Judges, chapter 6, verses 11 through 14. This portion of Scripture is where the angel of the Lord, encounters Gideon. As the scripture bears out, Gideon did not yet know the Lord when he was intentionally encountered there. But this encounter began the development of Gideon's personal relationship with Yahweh. And this is what the text says. Judges, chapter 6, verse 11. It says, now, the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezurite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, the Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor. And Gideon said to him, please, my Lord, or please, sir, huh? If the Lord and most of your Bibles, you'll see, Lord is in all caps. There. All right. If the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt, but now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian? As I mentioned, Gideon did not yet know the Lord himself in personal relationship at this juncture, at this stage of his life? but I want you to notice something here. Gideon poses a question to the angel of the Lord. That question is, well, several questions. The first was, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened? Because this is at a time when the Midianites were oppressing the Israelites. But then the second question was, and where are all the Lord's wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt? That second question is what I want to present to you for consideration, because you'll notice it was not that Gideon was unaware of the testimonies of Yahweh provided to him by his fathers. Plural. And I will remind you, reading later on in this chapter, you'll find that as. As this encounter is transpiring, Gideon's own dad, Joash the Abite, has, altered to BAAL and an Asherah pole in his front yard at this very juncture. So when Gideon says that where. Where are all of, Yahweh's wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, he's including the ancestral heritage in Israel. In other words, what Gideon is saying he'd heard all of these stories about God, these stories. But, guys, can I tell you something? Hearing about God's historical record is not synonymous with walking with the Lord yourself, serving him yourself, worshiping him yourself. This passage of scripture really struck me in preparation for today's show because in many ways, people talk about America being a Christian nation. And is it that we have a critical mass of Christians in America, or is it that we've just. We've heard and recounted the stories our fathers have told us in other generations? In this example from the scripture, Gideon is saying, yeah, we've. We've heard about Yahweh and who he is and what he does. but. But where he at, though? I don't. I don't. I don't see that. I don't see. I don't see. I don't see it happening now. I mean. I mean. I mean, I'm threshing, weak behind a winepress. Pops has the astral pole in the front yard. You know, I heard about it, but what does that mean to me? And my concern is that we're in a similar place in our nation in the sense that, we have In God We Trust on our Federal Reserve notes, you know, in God We Trust is our national motto. We have a First Amendment that allows for religious freedom, to which I often consider. What is religious freedom? If we truly believe what the scripture says, there's only one name under heaven by which men must be saved. Which means, if that is true, the claim to the way of salvation is exclusive. Well, that means in an environment where religious freedom is available and people are placing their trust in a name other than the name of Jesus Christ, then they are believing Errantly in that errant disposition, as Jon 3:17 says, well, they're condemned already. I know this isn't comfortable, you know, for the syncretists among us, you know, for the. It's funny, Oprah Winfrey's name is taken from this phrase. Her mom misspelled Ophrah and Orpah from the Book of Ruth to name her Oprah. but she's the one that was one of the most prominent figures to popularize that there are many ways to God. Well, that's. That sounds cool. That sounds enticing and soothing until you contrast that with what Jesus said. Jesus said he is the way, not a way. So if we pound our fist to the table and, and lynch our wagons, so to speak, to religious freedom, are we lynching our wagons to a, disposition that says, well, yeah, you're free to believe your way or say it better to reject Jesus in your route to eternal damnation? I'm not saying that we need to challenge that constitutional framework. I'm digging deeper into the theological reality now. Jesus said there's only one way. Gideon represents an example of a people who had historical exposure to the ways, word and works of God that did not extend to a current relationship. Just because, as Gideon says, is the fathers told him about. Told him about Yahweh, doesn't mean Gideon knew him, doesn't mean the nation of Israel. By and large, at this stage in the scripture, we're walking in relationship with him. My prayer for myself, thanks be to God that the Lord has saved me. Thank you, Lord. My prayer for my fellow countrymen is that we turn to the Christ in faith and repentance. And faith. Because a robust military, a booming stock market, societal freedoms, those things do not make a nation great as the Lord said. As the Matthew recorded in Matthew 6:33. What is a prophet of man if he gains the whole world, yet lose his soul? The word of God must be taken seriously if we're going to have a great nation.
Debbie Wuthnow Are you ready to put your faith in action to impact our culture? For the first time in decades, younger generations are becoming more open to Jesus Christ and living out their faith. On Friday, October 2, believers of all ages will gather in Rogers, Arkansas for counteract USA's two date resolve to Stand conference to learn how to stand for the truth of God's word. There's not a moment to lose. Visit counteractusa.org to learn more and register. That's counteract USA.org.
Abraham Hamilton III Shining light into the darkness. This is the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
Abraham Hamilton III Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner. Abraham Hamilton III here. And I'm delighted to have back on the program again the host of the provocative new podcast, the Renton Rathbun Show, a podcast for parents with over 25 years of experience as a college professor in both secular and Christian institutions. Dr. Rathbun is a renowned. A, renowned. I'm sorry, expert in apologetics, sharing insights on biblical worldview training across the nation. He frequently appears on various podcasts, radio shows, and television programs throughout our nation. And he has a litany of degrees then. I'm not going through all your degrees, but you got a lot of them. but I'm grateful that you have, submitted your intellectual, capacity, your life, your devotion to the Lord. And I, I'll tell you, meaning, the audience here. One of the things I appreciate the most is that, you know, you have people who profess to be Christians, but when you meet them, not so sure. Well, I'm grateful that that's not the case with Dr. Rathman, because one of the things I personally appreciate is your humility and transparency, you know, to where you're not. You not only celebrate, you know, the Goliath decapitations, but you're willing to share, man. Hey, listen, these are the war wounds. These are the scars. And if this can help you, I'm willing to show you all of them. And so, I'm grateful for that. Thank you for joining me here on the program again, Dr. Rathbun.
Dr. Renton Rathbun thanks for having me. It's good to be here.
Abraham Hamilton III Yes, sir. Well, I want to have this conversation with you. I told you a little bit about it already, because we are in a weird place in our. In our country. Here we are 25 years after 9, 11, yet Islam seems to be on the rise in our nation. We also have, There was a time when there were people who kind of were Marxists, but they wouldn't say it out loud. They wouldn't say it out loud. what? Now you have people loudly, you know, pounding their chest. We are Marxists, and we are here. And then you also have this effort to cultivate a form of, kind of political conservatism, but it's godless with all of those things. It's very easy to want to highlight and to despise the darkness. but there has to be something available to us beyond merely identifying what's wrong. There has to be the ability to present an affirmative vision for what we need to pursue in Light of that, how do you distill all of those competing forces that are vying for devotion and affection and attention, that would dare rival the truth with a capital
Dr. Renton Rathbun T. Well, we're, I'm a pastor here in town at, In South Carolina. And,
Abraham Hamilton III Sorry I left that out. I should have mentioned that because I knew that. Oh, that's fun. Well, we're.
Dr. Renton Rathbun We're starting the Book of Jon. And, took us a year to get through Ephesians. So I don't know. Jon's 21 chapters. This might be longer.
Abraham Hamilton III Took you a year. Six chapters, man. Come on. I'm just kidding. I understand that very well. Yeah.
Dr. Renton Rathbun Well, Jon starts off with Christ, of course, at the very beginning, Christ, right? And he's not just with God in this intimate, you know, relationship with the Father, but he is God, and he made all things. And in him is life. And the life is the light. And from then on, you have this theme of light. And, you know, the darkness can't. And the. If you look at the Greek there, it could be, you know, couldn't comprehend it, you know, kind of. But the idea of the Greek there is to grasp or to try and master it. And so another way to look at that is that the darkness could not master the light. It could not overcome it. and that's important because if we just concentrate on the darkness and say how terrible the darkness is, what we're losing is the whole point of Christ and the Father loving us so much that he gives us Christ, that we're not seeing what the light is about and what the light is about. It's about the truth. But we gotta be careful that we don't think of the truth as we do in 2026. Oftentimes we think of the truth in 2026 as the right facts, right, the right data. And so, you know, AI might have some good data, but we gotta be careful. We gotta have the right data. And everything's come down to data points. Christ did not come into the world to give us the right data points. he came to give us the light. And what does that mean? Well, it means that he is able to give us an understanding of the reality context we live in and the reality future we are to have, and the reality now. What is the reality? And so even with Jon using the word Logos for Christ, in the beginning was the word. The Greek word there is Logos. That word was used. And Jon knew that, especially by the Greeks, the Logos was what is the underlining reality that holds all this stuff together. And you had philosophers everywhere trying to guess what's the underlining thing? If we could just figure out the thing, maybe it's water, maybe it's fire, maybe it's, you know, logic itself. And you had all these people coming up with these ideas. But Jon says, no, the underlining thing that's holding all this together, that is reality itself, is the light. And what's the light? It's Christ. And so I fear. And I just got back from a conference. When we get back from a conference, you're all psyched up. But I fear that we talk about how to be good people. We talk about what's wrong with the world. But our vision rarely includes the light of the world, which is Christ. we know Christ is there. We know Christ is important. But our vision for our children, our vision for our churches is. It is our vision Christ. And how do we distill that? I think is going to be the real question.
Abraham Hamilton III M. Man, I'm thinking so many different things because, you know, Romans talks about the earth, groaning and quaking in anticipation of the revelation of the sons of God. And what seems to be happening within our nation, around the world, certainly in different ways, but specifically in our country, is that people are trying to grapple with, their perception of life and reality, their perception of loss. There's lots of conversations about, you know, affordability and, you know, arguments. Yeah, Boomer. And I'm young and all of these other kinds of things, at the expense though of what you just described. But what is true, you know, we have a nation that has a historical reality of, the application of biblical truth in various ways. But I was reading before you came on from the book of Judges to where Gideon, when he first encounters the angel of the Lord, he says, well, where is Yahweh and all of these wonderful works and deeds that our fathers told us about, you know, so it's not like Gideon was unaware of descriptions of Yahweh historically, but they were not synonymous with him having an anchor in confidence and truth and dare I say, relationship rooted in him currently. is what we're facing similar to that in some sense in that we have this historical notions, these things back way, way, way, way back, you know, 250 years, you know, but they're not currently being grasped as truth and a proper valuation as to what truly we should value in a society.
Dr. Renton Rathbun Yeah, when you look at you brought up Romans, Romans really does give us an insight into what this is all about. You see, Christ is the light for all mankind. So everyone has this notion of the truth. Everybody does. Romans 1 is clear about this. So it says that everyone knows who God is. They know that he created all this stuff. They know it. The problem is they're suppressing it with their own unrighteousness. They hate it. So it's not ignorance. It's this hatred for the reality that they know is there, which is God made this. You're accountable to him. And that's why, you know, in Romans 1, it's very clear, there's no one that has an excuse. Everyone in hell, you know, is absolutely guilty. If I can put it this way, there is no one in hell that says, if I just knew. Everyone knows everybody. And here's, here's the problem. And let me make it more clear. I think this way. One of the. One of the most evil feats of skill I think that Satan has cast upon us is he has messed with even the church's view of reality. This is how we view reality. We view reality as, okay, well, I'm living with a bunch of problems. I have my family that I'm trying to deal with. I have a job I'm trying to deal with. And of course, yes, Sunday, we come on Sunday. And yes, I love Jesus. Jesus is a part of my life. The light is a part of my otherwise reality that I'm sure of. So I'm sure that I have problems in my life. I'm sure of what I can see with my eyes. I'm sure of all the issues that are going on. That's what I'm sure of. And Jesus becomes this part of my life that I'm kind of sure of. I have faith, and he's there as part. And that is the big lie that Jesus is part of your life. Christ is our life. In fact, in him is life, and that life is the light. And so what we have is this delusion we have that Christ has come and joined us in this reality. And the truth is we have been created into the reality Christ made. And so the reality is there is these principalities and powers we can't see. The reality is there is a, God we can't see. And the only things that we can know about God are through Christ. And, and so he is everything about reality. There is nothing that God adds to reality. God is the reality that we live in in Christ. And so I think we have tried to segment things, and that has been the big lie. That we've accepted, not that we, every single part of our life is in Christ. We have not accepted that.
Abraham Hamilton III So what would be the practical, outworking of that segmented, even compartmentalized approach that would probably be accompanied by a kind of a self soothing salve that results from my consistent church attendance? you know, I make a distinction between churchianity and Christianity, which I think this would apply to, that we sometimes can conflate church familiarity with that, with actually being in Christ. So what will be the practical outworkings of that segmented type of, ah, compartmentalized approach?
Dr. Renton Rathbun What's great is scripture gives us an outline, doesn't say to find time to pray. It says to pray without ceasing. it doesn't say that worship is to be exclusive to a Sunday. It requires us to worship at home with our family. It requires us to worship in our work. It requires us to worship at all times our God. And so that means work changes, what we do with our family changes. And this is another thing. I think we believe that, that we are here for the job that we have in life and then on the weekends we have a little break with church. And I think we need to reverse that. That church is the centerpiece of our life and we work so that we can support that centerpiece. because that think about, and this is Americans, right? Americans are so practical. We're so practical that we think, well, we got to make a living, we got to make money, we got to relax, we got to have a tv, we got to do these things. And then we add the church and we add a prayer here and there or we'll add some Bible reading. And we don't realize that the truth came into the world, took on flesh, and the truth was again, not segments of our life. The truth was the real, if I can put it that way. And what's the real? The real is my family isn't here for me merely to enjoy. My family is here that I might, if I'm a man head of my home, is to lead them into worship. M. My work is here so that I can support this very important centerpiece of my life, which is the church. Praying is not something I do when I'm worried about something. Merely prayer is the constant thing I'm doing because I know the reality isn't that I'm just getting in a car, going to work. The reality is I am fighting principalities and powers. I, I am in a world where everything is Christ. So if I'm Going to listen to a talking head. And that talking head might be very, very conservative and say things just the right way in the conservative way we really love. But he doesn't believe in Christ as God. well, that's a small issue. the big issue is that he really has his eye on Marxism. And of course I'm talking about the talking heads that everyone loves, like Ben Shapiro, you know, the Blaze tv, you know, all the different things that we have come to see as precious. We have come to see being Republican as precious or being conservative in America as precious. And we see Christ as an add on. In fact, oftentimes we have to steer Christ towards our conservatism instead of accepting the truth of Christ. That may clash with our conservatism will always clash with the left, but may not always be popular and may not always have to, you know, may not always drive us to what makes us feel best when we're frustrated. Frustrated.
Dr. Renton Rathbun And and I think that, you know, we do not want to live in a world where the light has come into the world and that light is to give us the true reality and context we're supposed to live in. We want other people to tell us
Abraham Hamilton III that, well, the music is disrespectful, so we have to come to a break. But what it seems like you're describing is a normalization and a comfortability with that age old word idolatry.
Building a strong biblical worldview can help our kids understand Christian values that are currently under attack. And the best time to start building their worldview is now. Activate Kids is an in depth worldview training course to help kids stand on the truth of God's word. Each unit includes video lessons, student workbook, parent leader guide, games, crafts and memory verses. Activate Kids is designed for kids 6 to 12 and it's available at activatekids.afa.net.
Abraham Hamilton III The Hamilton Quarter podcast and one minute commentaries are available at afr.net Back to the Hamilton Quarter on American Family Radio.
Abraham Hamilton III Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner. Abraham HAMILTON III Here Dr. Renton Rathbun is my guest and before we went to the break I asked him a question as to what would be the practical outworking of having this segmented and compartmentalized view and approach to Christ. And his description really, really made me think of, as I said it right before we got to the break of the age old biblical notion of idolatry. And idolatry is not merely, bowing down in front of statutes or worshiping relics, but ascribing devotion and commitment and veneration to anything other than Christ. That which should be. That which should be directed to Christ and Christ alone. And I say alone intentionally. because the Old Testament depiction of that idolatry is that the people of God didn't really, completely renounce and denounce Yahweh worship, but they simply added to their concept of devotion a little bit of BAAL and Asherah and the things that the Canaanites and the others did and put them all in one big pot and approach. Like Eryn said all the way back, oh, Israel, behold this. This is your God that delivered you from Egypt. You know, but the description you provided is, I believe, accurately provided, and it is a modern 21st century depiction of the biblical notion of idolatry. Is that an oversimplification of what you just described?
Dr. Renton Rathbun No, that is right on. If you look at Colossians 3. Five, boy, it was written, I believe, specifically for Americans. Put to death. Therefore, what is earthly in you? this is the constant mantra of both Old and NewSong Testament. This constant mantra of stop believing in the stuff of the world. There's someone that made all that. That's the one. Keep your eyes on the one that made it, not the, not the stuff. I mean, that is, you know, Colossians 5. Put to death. Therefore, what is earthly in you? Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and covetousness, which is idolatry. Now, I know a lot of that sounded like, well, I don't, you know, I'm not dealing with those things. But when you think of your passions, see, this is, you know, obviously we start thinking about what is, you know, what is it that's, you know, do I have sexual issues and things like that? But that, that word there is, what is it that you are fully, fully focused on as this is what life is about. You know, we, you see guys on, you know, talking heads that have their own podcasts, hundreds of thousands of subscribers who have made an idol out of their skin, where they have, they have revolted over the, the, what they think is the tedium of the, this racial back and forth of everything. And so now they're going to take it back. They've made an idol out of some eschatology that they like, and now they are, you know, the whites. The sins of the whites weren't as bad as the sins of any other culture that's out there. And you, you have that kind of thing, but then you have people that also are in their passions. What they, what they care about, what they focus on is what is really important to me, what makes this whole world go. And it usually goes into some politics. And they take on a modern day Pharisee. And I know I'm using, you know, words that are. Are charged. But you look at, you know, you look at Ben Shapiro, and you see a guy that is a modern day Pharisee. And the modern day Pharisee is like the Pharisee of the past. They are very conservative, culturally conservative people that say Christ is not God. And if they are saying that Christ is not God, any solution you have to the problems they're bringing up quite articulately and well said. And I like Ben Shapiro. But no matter how articulate the problems that he is developing in our nation are as a Pharisee, the answer will never be the light of the world. M. He will never say the answer is Jesus Christ. M. Because he cannot, he does not believe. Jesus Christ is the son of God, the light that came into the world. He is part of the darkness that wants to overcome it. Even though it is a conservative overcoming, he wants to overcome it in some other way. And I think if you start looking at things like that, there are talking heads that will no longer really be attractive to you any longer. when you look at Glenn Beck, who can articulate things so well, that makes you think, yeah, that is the problem. That is the problem. But Jesus Christ is not a created being who lived on this earth and lived a good enough life that he got to be a God too, just like you, if you live a good life. Mormonism is evil. It's an evil, horrible view of the world that makes God less. I can put it that way. And we fall for it. And I'll tell you, if we start thinking this way, we will be a people run by our passions. And what does James chapter four tell us about people whose passions have been pushing them? Well, they become very quarrelsome. Even within the church. Their passions become so strong that their desires, even when they come to the Lord to ask for stuff, those desires, those passions they have, they're going to ask wrongly, because they want to ask according to their desires, what they think, what. What they think is going to fix this world. And what does James call them in James 4? 4, you adulterous people.
Abraham Hamilton III M.
Dr. Renton Rathbun Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? And we would say, I am not friends with the world. I'm a conservative. That's what we would say. M. But friendship with the world is Saying even though they can articulate the darkness, well, the answer to the darkness is in Christ. And if they deny that you're Christ, if they say you're Christ is something your Christ is not, that is not just an issue over here. That I know that. And I'll keep that in mind as I listen to these guys. It's everything. Because what they're doing is they're articulating the darkness. And that's great. But the answer is more important than the articulation of the darkness. The answer to all that is Jesus Christ. And if we, as those who are supposed to be in the light, can't bear witness of the light because we have listened to talking heads that deny the light, we are going to be friends with the world.
Abraham Hamilton III Oh, man.
Oh.
Abraham Hamilton III What you're saying is so stirring. So stirring, because I don't think anybody has intentionally done this, but I think many of us have unintentionally aggrandized, just to say it plainly, the creation at the expense of the Creator. And the practical. The practical result of that is a normalization of a diminished view of Christ to where Christ is not all. Where we're willing to sing about him on Sundays, but he doesn't govern, you know, Monday through Saturday. And, I remember being a young boy having preachers. You know, my pastor would talk about that. But, And sometimes we reduce that concept to, like, behaviorally, you know, to where you'll behaviorally be devoted to Christ on Sunday, but Monday through Saturday, your behavior is not. But what you're talking about is a bit, elevated beyond mere behavior. But, dare I say, worldview, the way that the world is viewed is from a posture, even amongst many Christians, where Christ is diminished. So we end up, tangling, jousting, if you will, on an earthly plane with no concept of the preeminence of Christ and how that preeminence should be brought to bear in our real world. Oh, man.
Dr. Renton Rathbun And it comes down to what you. What you find attractive. I mean, you know, we. Satan is very smart, if I can put it that way. He's smart because he knows if I can make the evil evil enough. Where you have the LGBTQ community trying to go after our children to the point where that's what they're saying. They're literally saying, we are going after your children. There is a reason why the United Methodist Church has doubled down on this whole thing, and they have trannies coming in and speaking to kids, to the children. I mean, all of this is Satanic stuff. It's so evil, it's so awful that when you hear someone say, yes, that is awful, you're like, yeah, that guy. That guy agrees with me that it's awful. I mean, that's what makes this topic that you're bringing up so important. You're bringing up the topic that even though people are able to articulate the darkness well, that makes us attracted to them because they're able to say, that's the problem. That's the issue. And we're attracted to them immediately because someone is saying it. But then what we find ourselves attracted to are people that don't even believe in Christ. Jordan Peterson, does he articulate the darkness well? Yes. Does he believe that Jesus Christ is Lord? Not yet. I mean, if that's coming, we're still waiting. And we have all these guys, and we remain attracted to them as they begin to articulate the answer to all this M. And that is what really scares me, because as we're listening, we should find ourselves less and less attracted to their message as they spew out what the answer is. Christ did not come into the world so that we could have a better life as Americans with freedom for all. That is not why Christ came into the world. Christ came into the world because we were all damned, if I can put it that way, just without hope in the world. That's how Ephesians put it. You were cast off. All of you Gentiles were cast off. You didn't have hope in the world. But God, who was rich in mercy, with his great love, with which he loved us, made us alive together. Not just with a magic wand. He didn't make us alive together, just because he snapped his fingers, he made us alive together with Christ. And that is not just an interesting part of our historical view of Christianity. That is everything to reality. If I can put it this way, a few months ago, I had a dream, and, as you know, my brother died, a little over about a year and a half ago. And I had this dream that he was still alive. And in the dream it was normal that he was still alive and that he was, you know, doing that funny stuff he always did. He was always funny, and he always made me laugh. And. And I remember thinking that I need to call him because of, you know, I. You know, I just. I had a memory of him, and I need to call him, and I just got to remember to call him tomorrow morning. And then I wake up. When I wake up. And if you've ever had this experience, reality starts flooding in. I'm not going to contact him. He's gone. And the reality of it's been a year and a half since he's been gone. And the reality of, you know, I won't see him again on this side of heaven. And all of that floods in. We all want to live in a dream where we get to ignore the light and we want to be able to have a set world that we get to decorate ourselves like a dream. And we think that the Lord is going to ruin all that. M See, when I woke up, but I remembered was that as opposed to when I knew him before he died, when he was healthy, he did not know the Lord. And that that darkness inside my heart of I always worried about that and was scared about that when I woke up. The reality of his death reminded me that towards the end of his life he came to know the Lord.
Dr. Renton Rathbun And so, you know, reality does come with pain and difficulty, but it comes with great mercy. And we keep trying to decorate a worldview that we think is going to be the answer to everything. We think we can turn to Tucker Carlsen for the answer to everything, or Megyn Kelly for the answer to everything. But I am telling you, these are the talking heads whose solutions are not Christ. And we have got to let the light be the light and be the truth with all that it comes with. The truth has got to be the centerpiece of our hearts and minds. The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.
0:00 - 15:00. Judges 6:11-14. Gideon heard about YHWH, but didn’t know Him for himself initially.
15:00 - 31:00. Cursing the darkness is not Great Commission execution.
31:00 - 48:00. Should the LORD tarry for another 25 years, I pray we are in a better place than we are now.
Live
Did you know American Family Radio is listener-supported? Your monthly financial support will allow us to continue upholding Godly values through our numerous channels, like American Family Radio, One Million Moms, The Stand magazine, and many more.
Become a Great Commission Partner TODAY to help AFR transform culture by rebuilding the family. When you donate today, you’ll get access to:
