Transcript

Hamilton: God has called us to be ambassadors even in this dark moment

>> Abraham Hamilton III: 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 m our moment.

Welcome to the Hamilton Corner. My name is Abraham Hamilton iii

>> Abraham Hamilton III: And now, the, Hamilton Corner.

>> Abraham Hamilton III: Good evening everybody. Welcome to the Hamilton Corner. My name is Abraham Hamilton iii. I am the host of the program. Joined by the Corner contingent. Right across from me is our friendly neighborhood woodaholic, perpetually in recovery. As you know, he would leap tall stacks of birch, not leap over, leap to it with a chainsaw in order to get supplies. And our, producer extraordinaire, often imitated, never duplicated. The real J. Mac. Ladies and gentlemen, the real J. Mac is in the screening room and we're ready to rock and roll with today's edition of the program.

Watching oral arguments on birthright citizenship affirms necessity to live locally

At this very moment, many of you, if not most of you, are making your transition from your part time jobs where you generate an income, to your full time jobs where you cultivate an outcome. And as you do so, I want to remind you to do so with intentionality, recognizing the primacy that God places on family. We will never be able to out politic, out, vote out Supreme Court opinion. Whereas yesterday was a good day, today, oh my goodness. Hearing the oral arguments concerning the Trump vs Barbara case concerning birthright citizenship. Oh my goodness. guys, it simply, it simply, in my opinion, affirms the necessity for us to live locally, to bat down the hatches at home. Recognize what God requires of us in terms of the execution of his commission. That is a command of God. And that great, commission is to be executed within the context of the first command issued in scripture. In Genesis, chapter one, fruitfulness, multiplication, replenishing the earth and subdue it being the recipients of the delegation of authority to, be stewards of God's earth. And I'm saying it in that way intentionally because it's his. But much of what has befallen our nation, guys, is, is the cumulative impact of a lack of great commission. Get great commission execution right here at home.

You have President Trump's scheduled scheduled address tonight on NATO

Right here at home with all of the things that are swirling. And I'm telling you, you are talking about some big stuff. You have the Artemis 2 launch that is scheduled to occur while we're on the air about 16 minutes from now. with this Artemis 2 moon mission, we have President Trump's scheduled scheduled address tonight at 8:00pm Central, 9:00pm Eastern Time concerning the Iranian operation Epic Fury in Iran, I should say, will it be an announcement from the President concerning the end of the war? Will it be an announcement of something other than that? Will it be a, formal taking to task of NATO? We'll see. but that is happening tonight. That is happening tonight. I, will most likely have to. Well, I may be able to get it live. We have men's Bible study tonight at church, you know, so I'm going to watch it, I'm going to watch it tonight. But what time is the question? If our men's Bible study ends in time, I may be able to get to it and even thinking about, you know, our men's Bible study, the necessity for our brethren, the men in the Lord's church, to take our positions that God has afforded us man. It's absolutely necessary.

The birthright citizenship case before the Supreme Court heard oral arguments today

In addition to that, as already alluded to, the birthright citizenship case before the Supreme Court, oral arguments were heard today. It's remarkable how the ACLU lawyer attempted to assert that this, this case with this, the, the son of Chinese legal residents in our country, and from 1898 was the bulk of the conversation. In the oral arguments he, went to China, he was born in the United States of America, traveled to China, then tried to come back and they wouldn't let him back in the country. And the 1898 decision dealt with that. And the Supreme Court in 1898 ruled that the man was an American citizen within the ambit of the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment. But the ACLU lawyer continued to say that ah, it was completely irrelevant that the boy's parents were legally domiciled here in the United States of America. They say it's irrelevant. To which Justice Alito, for example, said that the parents domicile was mentioned over 20 times in the case. What are we talking about? It's irrelevant. Well, I have to tell you, if they end up ruling that subject to the jurisdiction thereof, the birthright citizenship, the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment says that a, person born in the United States of America is a citizen of this country if they are one, born in this country and two, that they are subject to the jurisdiction of our nation. That's not, that's not difficult to understand. It's not, it's really not difficult to understand unless you don't want that to be true. And the ACLU lawyer literally is saying that the legal regime we have in America that we have had, that we need to continue to have, is one that anybody born in this country is a citizen. That's what she. She said that straight up. With all of those things swirling. You and I cannot control those things. We can pray for them, but we cannot control those things. But guess what? We do have direct capacity to impact what goes on in our homes. And we must be about our Father's business starting right in our homes.

As America approaches 250th anniversary of Declaration of Independence, what made America great

To that end, let us turn to the word of God. Judges, chapter two. Judges, Chapter two. You know, one of the things, that Oz Guinness said in the conference I was a, part of in Fort Lauderdale, Florida last week, saying that as the United States of America is approaching our 250th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence, while it is appropriate to celebrate our independence, there's lots of conversations about making America great again, but there's not many conversations about, what made America great in the first place. How many people can articulate what made America great in the first place? And he said, and I agree with him, that the 250th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence should be a time for confession, request for forgiveness from God, and repentance. I agree wholeheartedly with him. Judges, chapter 2, verses 18 and 19. These two verses encapsulate what I describe as the cycle of judges, meaning the cycle of the Book of Judges. And this is what the scripture says, verse 18. When the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge and delivered them from the hand of their enemies. All the days of the judge. For the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed and afflicted them. But it came about when the judge died that they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers in following other gods to serve them and bow down to them. They did not abandon their practices or their stubborn ways. These verses encapsulate what I describe as the cycle of judges. Does this not seem to express what has happened in our nation? I'm, mindful some of you may remember a couple weeks ago, I read Benjamin Franklin's entire speech that he contemporaneously offered during our Constitutional Convention from the floor of, the State House in Pennsylvania. After four, about five or six weeks of an inability to accomplish anything at the Constitutional Convention, where the state sent delegates to try to formulate a new national or federal government to supplant and replace the Articles of Confederation. And. I'm sorry. And Benjamin Franklin stood up and addressed the entire Body making first acknowledgment to George Washington, who presided over the Constitutional convention and said, Mr. President, how have we arrived at this place? This is me paraphrasing what Benjamin Franklin said. How have we arrived at this place after five or six weeks of ineffective expression of a formulation of government with each other, you know, state attending to their local interests primarily, we're not able to resolve anything. How have we not sought the assistance of divine providence in the formulation of our national interest and national government? Then he said, I remember. This is what he said, I remember. And all of you who were here during that great conflict with Great Britain when we were in the sense of danger, daily. This is what he said. We are offered prayers and supplication in this room every day. This is what he said. But now, now, since we are in a time of peace where we can sit back without fear and danger and to formulate in peace what our government will be, have we forgotten that divine friend? He goes on to say, the scripture says that unless the Lord builds a house, they who build it labor in vain. Then he says this. I believe that. I believe that. He went on to say, if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his awareness, can an empire rise without his assistance? And he finally moved that daily prayer be offered in this room from henceforth. His motion received a second. The motion carried. And that led to three days of prayer in Pennsylvania. Those three days of prayer.

It was prayer that produced our Constitution, according to Benjamin Franklin

You want to talk about our 250th anniversary of our Declaration? I've, said repeatedly the Declaration of Independence is a mission and or vision statement for our nation. The U.S. constitution is the implementation vehicle for the vision articulated in the Declaration. It was prayer that produced our Constitution. And I say right along with Benjamin Franklin. And I'm pointing this out because this is a part of our national heritage. along the lines of what Os Guinness said, what made America great in the first place? I would contend one of the major things that made America great in the first place is that we have a constitution that's the product of prayer, a constitution that is a product of prayer. That as those who participated in the development of our constitution, they looked back upon the revolutionary wartime and said, there is no way we come out of that victorious without the help of Divine providence. Benjamin Franklin said, you guys know, you remember the various circumstances that transpired, that we could do nothing but acknowledge this cannot be anything other than the help of God. Fog appearing at certain times, ice breaking up at particular points. Man, come on. Yet have we gotten to this place in our nation's, our national juncture. It's a shame. It's a shame that we have popular discourse from people, you know, like Joe Rogan used to say. He's not saying that as much now, but. Used to say what? Mock people who were Bible believing Christians and try to pit the notion of someone believing the scriptures as being intellectually inferior. And then how many generations of Christian kind of tuck their chains in because, oh no, I don't want to be counted off with the rubes. So we become embarrassed not by bold proclamations of atheism, no, we become embarrassed by the fact that we believe the Scripture and the God of the Bible. Just like in Judges, when the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge and delivered them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed, and afflicted them. But it came about when the judge died that they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers and following, other gods, lowercase gathering to serve them and bow down to them. They did not abandon their practices or their stubborn ways.

Joseph Parker: We have no choice but to face spiritual warfare

With all of these things in front of us. Artemis 2 launching Operation EPIC Fury in Iran. Birthright citizenship being debated at the US Supreme Court. The United States of America must find our way to our faces in confession of sin, requests for forgiveness from God and, and commitments to repent because we could have the most robust fighting force in the world and in the history of the world. But a nation is not saved by his war horses. And as Benjamin Franklin said, unless the Lord builds a house. Not Benjamin Franklin. The scripture said it first and Ben Franklin confirmed it. Those who build it labor in vain.

>>  : a discipleship minute with Joseph Parker.

>> Joseph Parker: What if a person says they don't want to be involved in spiritual warfare? And what if a given person says they don't want to have anything to do with spiritual warfare? Tragically, none of us have a choice in the matter. War has come to us, like it or not. Since we have no choice but to face spiritual warfare in our lives, we, this is our choice. We can live like civilians and just become victims of the killing, abuse and problems and difficulties of war. Or we can choose to become well equipped soldiers and warriors, skilled and trained for war and spiritual warfare. The most powerful weapon in the world is the Word of God. Here are seven ways to use the Word of God. Every day, daily. We can read it, hear it, believe it, speak it, obey it, pray it, and Meditate on it.

>> Abraham Hamilton III: Shining light into the darkness. This is the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.

Abe Hamilton III welcomes his family to the Hamilton Corner

>> Abraham Hamilton III: Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner. Abraham Hamilton III here. And I am just overwhelmed in excitement because I have on the program with me my family, these are my people. I love them dearly. I'm grateful, to God for them personally, for the benefit they are to me and my family, but also, to their willingness to contend for the faith in the day and age that God has planted us in. I'm speaking of none other than my brother and my sister Will and Miki Addison, co founders of the Culture Proof Ministry, which includes a podcast between them, I, guess I should say together they have over 15 years of broadcast ministry experience before that, because I knew them before y' all knew them. All right, let's get that straight. years of ministry as evangelists and missionaries. Missionaries, including missionaries to college campuses in our country. You want to talk about a mission for you, while you have Antichrist forces seeking specifically to strip children born and raised in Christian homes from the faith, they, contended on the front lines for years, ah, making disciples of college students. And they are also, the committed, ministers to their family as they're rearing their children and nurturing and admonition of the Lord. Last time they were, they were here, you probably heard they had six children. Number seven is on the way. I'm just going to tell you, I didn't even ask if I can announce that, but, that's all good. Yes, I know y' all been announcing this, so I just took point of personal privilege. Number seven is on the way, but family, Will and Mickey, thank you so much for joining me here on Hamilton Corner. How are you?

>> Will Addison: We're great. We're great. Thank you so much for having us. Just salute to the AFR audience. Man, just a resilient, ah, group of people. So we're happy to be, you know, here with you, man, this is great.

>> Miki Addison: Yeah, thanks for having us, Abe.

>> Abraham Hamilton III: Oh, man, it is truly, truly, truly my pleasure.

Will: Much of what has befallen our country is byproduct of Christ followers

Well, you guys know, because y' all know me, beyond what I do on the radio that, you know, I speak quite consistently about the necessity of the local church being involved, or should I say obeying the commands of our Lord. You know, much of what has befallen our country is the byproduct of Christ followers really contracting in witness, I would say, both in quality and potency in addition to quantity. Like, you know, darkness is not an affirmative force, but it reoccupies the space that the light vacates. the scripture tells us plainly that the church is to be the pillar and ground of the truth. Yeah. Because that is the reality. And I'm going to start with Miki on this. Ladies first, Will. You know, that's cool. What do you see in terms of the necessity of the local church being engaged and obeying what God commands us? And then the corollary, what are the consequences for? I would just say, frankly, disobeying God's command in the local church through the local church context.

>> Miki Addison: Yeah. I think, the anemia that we see in the church today, can be attributed to us moving away from scripture and thinking that we know better. I think there was a popular influencer, culture that exists, and we've never seen anything like this before. Like, not on this level. You've always had sort of like a fandom in the church, which is why, you know, Paul had to rebuke, the Corinthians. They had their favorites. Right. So you've always had that kind of fan type culture. But I don't think the church has ever seen something to this magnitude where you can have people who really think that they are being discipled biblically. Right. When they are following detached influencers. And, and I think this grieves the heart of the Lord. I, I think that the body of Christ is, is described as a body and designed as a body on purpose. And that means that we are in community, that we're in fellowship with one another, that we are touching one another's lives, that we know what's going on. So that discipleship is not just the transmission of information. A lot of people think that, oh, I'm, I'm learning a lot of stuff and, and I'm being discipled. But it's more than that. It's living life together. So it's the practical application of the information that you're taking in. And the only way you know that that is successfully happening is that you're living with people like that. You are, that you are actively walking alongside people. You have, when you look throughout the history of the church, you have missionaries living among the people that they're endeavoring to reach for Christ. Even in the Scriptures, you see the Apostle Paul sending elders. You see the apostle Paul saying, to Titus, it's for this reason that I left you in Crete and then given him the parameters for how people are to be put in place and then what the expectations are of the believer. whenever the Christian moves away from the authority of God's word and starts to behave, according to what he thinks is right in his own eyes. Just kind of going back to what you were saying in your first segment. It does turn into a time of judges, A time of the judges. And, and one of the things that characterized that time was that you'd have God's people operate in rebellion. Then he'd have to spank them and they would get tired of the spanking, they'd cry out. Then he'd raise up someone to deliver them, they'd get comfortable and they'd go into rebellion, he'd have to spank them, and then so on. And you see this cycle kind of continuing. And I honestly, I think that's what we see happening in our country.

>> Abraham Hamilton III: So.

Will: I think we have redefined what it is to be successful

And I want to follow up with you on this, Miki, then I'm a pitch one to Will. why do we require such repetitive discipline? Like at some point I would hope, God would hope more than me that we would learn. What is it, ah, that you would think that causes us to continue to put ourselves in positions, just as the Judges lays it out as examples in Scripture, to require that repetition of spanking.

>> Miki Addison: Yeah, I don't think we recognize it as a spanking. I think that we have redefined, success. We have redefined what it is to be a healthy follower of Christ. And so I think the absence of God's presence or you know, all of the things that would be indicators that God has, has judged us as, as people, as a nation, that he's judging what's happening in the places that we call church. I think that we have shifted those things into something that is defined other than discipline. So we see it as success, right? So like if you have, you have a super mega, mega church, you have a large congregation, then we say numerically this is a successful church. but that's not how the Bible defines success, right? If you have, if you have, you know, thousands of people who don't know who Jesus is and don't know how to live for him, then that's a failure. And so I think the discipline is not even noticed or discerned because we've redefined what it is to be successful, right? So like if you're, if you're handed over to yourself, then you call that independence, right? Like, and so then it doesn't feel like discipline. Like, you know, we would, Scripturally speaking, we would call that reprobate. If you think that everything that you're doing is right. then, then that's a problem and that is judgment. But I think in our current cultural climate, we, we might call that living, like doing you just living your best life. And so when you redefine the discipline and make it some indication of success, you miss the whole point of the discipline. You detach yourself from it. Which again, I think I, I think is judgment.

>> Abraham Hamilton III: Now, well, we know the scripture, for example, Isaiah, chapter 5, verse 20 talks about evil being called good and good being called evil. And often that scripture is kind of projected onto society like it's a societal assessment. Like, I'm thinking about Jaden Ivey being waived after he has the audacity as a Chicago Bulls basketball player to say, yo, you guys are promoting unrighteousness. And this is what he literally said. So why can't somebody promote righteousness M. If we're talking about. And that got him released for a conduct detrimental to his team. Now I know a little bit about the basketball players, the basketball, you know, it's a whole lot of other conduct that I would perceive as detrimental to the teams. You know what I'm saying? But the good being called evil and evil being called good is not merely a societal proclamation, as Miki laid it out right there. It seems like in many instances the body of Christ are, are. Have succumbed. I'll say it this way, the professing body of Christ has succumbed to the same phenomenon because we're ascribing something as being successful that doesn't reflect what Scripture says. How do we get back to a scriptural understanding and cleaving to a scriptural understanding of what success is, will?

>> Will Addison: Well, I think it's our responsibility as the people of God. I think a lot of what we see happening in culture is the fault of the church. Now I love the church. You know, I'm not hating on the church at all, but I think we have shirked our responsibilities to preach the gospel, to truly live it out. And I think because of that, we see, we're seeing what we see, you know, and so I feel like the way that we get back or the way that we, we have to truly live out, the tenets of the faith, you know, we, we have to truly live that out. Not be cultural Christians, not be Christians who just blend in, you know, just to, Because we may have points of agreement with others who say that they're Christians, you know. No, we have to stay, fast, hold fast to the word of God.

>> Miki Addison: Amen.

>> Will Addison: And, and know that man partnership with, with darkness is not allowed. And so I think we, we partner with a lot of darkness, things that God would call darkness. And because maybe we have agreement on certain issues but man is detrimental and it caused a, like a glossiness when they look at us, you know, I feel like we have to have our, our stake in the ground. We have to say this, these are the standards and the standard is the word of God.

>> Miki Addison: Amen.

>> Will Addison: Once we get back to that, I believe that we can have a thriving church. But until then we're going to have all this flimsiness, all this stuff going on in culture and people don't have a clear view of what a Christian is because everybody's a Christian. So we have to get back to the Word of God. We have to get back to the truth of the Word and not have this mixture that we have going on now.

>> Abraham Hamilton III: In John's recording of the Revelation, Revelation chapter three, the scripture talks, addresses multiple churches and at one point, John, recording what Jesus is saying, offers a rebuke saying you have forsaken your first love. You hit a point there when you said that oftentimes the unholy alliances are being made because it's an issue based alliance. Concerning the stake on the ground that you mentioned, what would you urge and articulate as what should be the stake? If it's not issue based analysis, then what should be the stake that we plant ourselves on that would cause us to have the fidelity of the scripture and I would argue the God of the scripture as you explained, the God

>> Will Addison: of the scripture and the straight edge of the scripture, the Bible itself, the Word of God, we can't deviate from it because we may have some things that are similar that we, that we like, you know, and I think we've done that as evangelical Christians. We have said, okay, well we can partner on these issues because we have these same things in agreement. And yes, there, there are times we can work together on certain things but at the same time we can't give people an idea that you're a Christian too because we worked on these things that's not true. And, and I think when we hold to the Word of God, when we hold fast to the Word of God and we say, hey, this is what the Bible says, and I'm only saying what the Bible says, then we can find real truth because it's found in the Word of God.

>> Abraham Hamilton III: Mickey, the tagline for your podcast is when we resist the trends that rival the truth, then we are living culture proof. I know, at the Ark Encounter this year. That, and this is just my opinion, but debate me. I think one of the most important events that happens year round, or I'm sure I would say countrywide, is the Culture Proof Conference. what is happening this summer at the Ark Encounter? That.

>> Miki Addison: Yeah.

>> Abraham Hamilton III: Well, that will underscore the tagline for your podcast.

>> Miki Addison: Yeah. You know, Abe, we vet all of our speakers and we pray about who we are to invite. We pray about the theme of the conference every year. And it's something that the Lord has given us a burden for. We love our country and we think loving our country best means m living faithfully to the Lord.

>> Abraham Hamilton III: Amen.

>> Miki Addison: And that's, that's going to be the best outcome for our country. So what we have done is by, the leading of the Holy Spirit, we've put together speakers across three days. We'll be at the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter. Ken Ham will be there with us. Brian Osborne, both of them from Answers in Genesis, but also Del Tacket of the Truth Project and the Engagement Project. He's done a follow up project that is equally as important as the Truth Project.

The conference focuses on how Christians engage people with the Christian truth

So first you start with knowing the truth, and now how do you engage people with it? We are inviting people to be living epistles. Ah. This is the charge that we have, right, that if you say you are a Christian, then every way that you live should underscore, that, should highlight that people should be able to tell that not only just because you proclaim it, but also in how you live. So this is going to come down to the, the posts that you like and the posts that you share. Dr. Kathi Cook will be back with us again. We're super excited to have her. we're going to have, Eryn Lynam of Nat Theo because we want to engage our kids. Maria Hamilton, you may have met her once or twice. She is going to be there as well. Amy Warren. Yeah, she's your favorite speaker. I know she is, and that's fine. Abraham Hamilton III will also be there and we're super excited about that. Dr. Renton Rathbun will join us. We are equipping believers with a robust defense of the faith. So we're going to be discussing apologetics, but we're also going to discuss the spiritual implications of retreat. What happens in our nation when the Christians take a step back? when we, as you said in your first segment, when we tuck our chains in, that is not a fashion statement, that is a spiritual statement. And people have to understand that we are Losing our country. We are, and I don't say that to fear monger. We are losing our country because spiritually we're in decline, not politically.

>> Abraham Hamilton III: Amen.

>> Miki Addison: We, we're politically in decline because spiritually we're in decline and God is judging that. And so if we have any hope, if we have any hope for revival in our nation, and we live in a great nation, we've been blessed, we've been given this nation, but we're losing it generation by generation. So we equip kids at our conference because they're not an afterthought. They're, they're not, they're not a side thought to what we do. The reason we're losing our country is because we have generations of kids who, who have hemorrhage from the church because parents thought, oh, you know what, they may go off and explore the world and then they'll come back. And then they don't. They don't come back. They don't come back. So we're not willing to risk that. So we invite people to join us. If you want to be equipped now, if you just want to be entertained, you do something else. But what we are trying to do is equip the body of Christ to staying flat footed in our generation, our culture, there are all kinds of cultural trends that are shifting. And what we say is resist it and stand firm on the word of God. And so that's what we're going to do. Across three days, we. You'll have plenty of time to tour the Ark and the Creation museum and enjoy 10 speakers. Look, we don't want to waste your time or hours. So there's a lot of ground to cover and we believe that the Lord has empowered us to do that. Well, so, so we're excited about it.

What are the dates and where can people go to register for the conference

>> Abraham Hamilton III: We have about a minute to the break. Will, would you give us the details? What are the dates and where can people go to register for the conference? And the district has started, but you got about 40 seconds.

>> Will Addison: July 16, 17 and 18. that's the dates. Those are the dates. And you can go to cultureproof.net Would you, look and get to that site. You can see where it says Conference 2026. If you get on that page, go all the way down to the bottom to register. You can register there.

>> Abraham Hamilton III: So it's cultureproof.net cultureproof.net July 16th, 17th and 18th. The website is cultureproof.net As I mentioned, guys, you don't want to miss it. The theme for this year is Living Epistles. Now, I'm not saying this because Addison's are going anywhere, but I just want to make sure you, I'm talking about right now in the program, but I want to make sure you have the details because I'm just telling you plainly you, you, you don't want to miss it. It will be a time of equipping the, the objective is that just as Mickey said, not for entertainment, not to glad hand and shuck and jive, but for training and equipment so that we hit the ground running when we get back home on the 19th. More with the Addison when we get back from this break.

>>  : Hey, have you considered becoming a great commission partner? If you do, you'll be joining others who believe like you and are determined to defend against those who want to destroy God's institution of the family. You'll also receive some great benefits like full access to AFA Stream, a monthly subscription to our magazine, access to exclusive donor events and more. As our thanks for your support, please stop by afr.net donate today for all the details.

Tim Moore, senior evangelist on Christ in Prophecy, discusses Easter week

>> Christopher Woodward: Afr.net donate hi, I'm Tim Moore, senior evangelist on Christ in Prophecy. Can you see the signs of the times multiplying all around? Jesus is coming back and he doesn't want his people to be unprepared to stay up to date about unfolding events and get a biblical perspective on the signs of the times. Listen to Christ in Prophecy here on American Family Radio. Join us Sundays at 11am Central as we reveal the prophetic hope for those who believe in Jesus Christ as well as the Bible's warning about God's coming wrath to those who don't yet know Him.

>> Joseph Parker: Christ's Passion Week. This is David Wheaton, host of the Christian Worldview. While, most of the focus this week is rightly placed on Jesus crucifixion on Friday and resurrection on Sunday, there were other moments of great significance, such as his triumphal entry into Jerusalem on, Palm Sunday, cleansing the temple on Monday, and his Olivet discourse on Tuesday. Here's an set aside time each day this week to read chapters from the Gospels about Christ's road to the cross. And may this be your conclusion. It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Hear our most recent program on easter [email protected] and then tune in this Resurrection weekend for a special program on Christ the Redeemer, Christ the Victor.

>> Abraham Hamilton III: Listen to the Christian Worldview with David Wheaton Saturday mornings at 8 Central on American Family Radio,

>> Abraham Hamilton III: The Hamilton quarter podcast and one minute commentaries are available at afr.net back to the Hamilton corner on American Family Radio.

Abraham Hamilton III: Ministry has always been local and it has to be local

>> Abraham Hamilton III: Welcome back to the Hamilton corner, Abraham Hamilton III. Here we have liftoff in the Artemis 2 lunar mission flight. The question I'm asking is, will the Lord have liftoff in our nation through his bride? As we're witnessing what's happening in our country, my guests are none other, than Will and Miki Addison's co host of the Culture Proof podcast, co founders of the Culture Proof ministry, Straight Edge Ministries as well, by the way. Y' all don't know about that. Put y' all on some game. but before we went to the break, we were having a conversation around the reality of where the church is currently, as well as the Culture Proof conference, which will be Culture Proof 2026, which will be July 16th through the 18th at the Ark Encounter and the Creation Museum, this summer. And as we were having a conversation, we were talking about the necessity, for the local church because God has explained that his manifold wisdom will be made externally accessible through his bride. That's what God has said in His Word. What are some things? And I'll let you guys pick who jumps into this first, because we went ladies first initially. What, are some things in terms of being able to be effective in the local church context, in terms of ministerial investment that will aid in making disciples in the local church context?

>> Miki Addison: M. I think the first thing that we have to do is see the value of the bride. And I think that we have lost that as a conviction in this country. I think that we value platforms over people. And, we have this new definition of success that has removed us from a local focus. And I'm committed right now. I'm committed to, dismantling the detached influencer culture. I think it's time to, to return to, and for lack of a better way to describe it at this moment, return to the pat on the back for the woman who is discipling in her local church. You are successful and the Lord sees you and what you're doing is necessary. it's time for us to look at the moms who are taking care of their kids at home. But they will say to the young woman, hey, why don't you come over and have a cup of coffee at my table and let's start working through some of the scriptures here and see how we live for the glory of God that is successful. You. You, for lack of a better way to describe you're a Rock star. Okay. Like, that's what we need to be doing. And I think we've lost it. We think that the, Hey everyone, welcome to my channel is the only way. It's the only way for us to reach people. It's the only way for us to be successful.

>> Abraham Hamilton III: In that tone, Mickey. In that tone.

>> Miki Addison: Just like that. Because that is successful influencer culture right there. Like, and subscribe. Okay, and, and, and I've, I've reached my max of it, Abe. Like, I'm, I look around and I see it and, and look, we all have stations, we have calls. Like, we are called to digital media. We are, we are called to that as a ministry. It's something that we all hear, you know, right now in this moment that we've done for years. And so there is, there is a benefit and a blessing to that. But you do not think that that is the sole outlet for ministry. Ministry has always been local and it has to be local again. And so that's one of the things that I'm committed to kind of, making great again, local, church ministry that we focus on and that we love the body of Christ deeply and actively.

>> Will Addison: Yeah, I would say we have a beautiful thing in a body of believers. And there's something about being able to have those tangible, like, real conversations with people right in front of you that you can't get away from. There's no amount of digital access that's going to help us to disciple effectively like that one on one and even in small groups or Bible studies and things like that. Or, like, like you said, Mickey, inviting, ones over for coffee or whatever it may be. Those are the ways I think we're going to truly, do what God has called for us to do. Like, and so we got, we do have to live locally, we have to minister locally. We have to have a mindset that, man, I want to disciple one person that will disciple like two or three people. It just, it just, it increases, you know, and so we, with that mindset, I believe that we can definitely be on the right track.

>> Abraham Hamilton III: Yeah, it is, it goes back to what we were saying earlier. because if we have more esteem for God and his Word, we can be impervious to the world's expectations and standards. You know, like the apostle John. Right. Love not the world, nor the things in it. You know, being an effective ambassador of Christ in our homes and on our local church context is far more potent, enduring and successful than having millions of subscribers that you never meet, you never Meet. And having such a fanciful, wow, look how many followers. Followers, Followers. This person has, has, has events professing believers doing the opposite of what Romans 12 said. Instead of being transformed, it's being conformed. And then even having, having the perspective of, well, that is not an important ministry. If they don't have, they don't have this million followers. Yeah. Ah, and it shows. I'm supposed to be interviewing y'. All. This is sad.

>> Miki Addison: No, this is good. I'm loving it.

>> Will Addison: Please keep going.

>> Abraham Hamilton III: I feel like the Apostle Paul to the Galatians who has bewitched you, you know, with hands on right and left shoulders saying, wake up, wake up, guys. We've been seduced by the siren song of the culture. But if we would turn to what God has called us to, there's no question as to what can be done.

We often in the Lord's church exchanging interpersonal relationships for digital contact

We know sociologically, and this is, I'm building to a question sociologically, we're in the information age where we have social media. We are more connected as humankind today than we've ever been in the history of the world. While simultaneously loneliness.

>> Abraham Hamilton III: Is felt more than ever before. Sociologically. We know that digital contact is not the same as interpersonal relationships. Yet we're often in the Lord's church exchanging interpersonal relationships for digital contact. Well, what do we suffer when we supplant what God says should be valued and embrace the world's value system?

>> Will Addison: Well, I think when we do that, this example that you, you've given is when we see like, the great weakness in the church. We see, people who may attend churches but are not growing. And so, so what you have is you have babes, man, for years, then that will grow into adulthood because they've never been, disciple. No one ever has. Have walked alongside of them and said, hey, and just help them with the faith. And so what you have over time is a church full of babes. You know, people who should be past certain things, they're still dealing with those same things, shouldn't know this or, know that they don't know it. And, and a lot of times we think because of age, we feel like people should know that they should know it. They should, but man, they don't because they haven't been discipled. And we see that so often in our churches. It doesn't matter how old you are, if you haven't been discipled, you, you are, you look like a babe and you act like a babe. And I think we see that. And so the detriment is in that, like, we see that happen so often that, man, we are in a weakened state in the church because of it. And only way that we are going to correct it is that we just got to start doing the work, do what God called us to do.

>> Miki Addison: M. Yeah, it's amazing how many people are filled with knowledge and that, like there, there are a lot of depressed people who know a lot of stuff, right? Like, they are able to just kind of like drag and drop information, but they're still depressed. And so there are a lot of people who are suffering with, overwhelming anxiety, but they know a lot of stuff. And so what's the problem? Well, there's an emulsifier that the Lord has built into the body of Christ. So, yes, you have the word of God, and we're supposed to be applying the word of God, but you're also living in this world. And so God has established the body whereby we work together. So you can sit across from someone and not just have them regurgitate facts. You're not just looking at a person being able to tell you, you know, what the books of the Bible are. You're looking at, okay, so how are you living out what it is that, you know that is contained in scripture, and that involves knowing what's going on in people's lives, like being able to sit across from someone and be a counter weight or, be a counterbalance to some of the thoughts that are attacking them.

What you see immediately after the fall is, you see a corrupted mind

Just last night, you know, with, with the women at our local fellowship, we were talking about the renewed mind. And so we're looking at how the mind, like when God made man, he made him perfect. He made his mind and his body perfect. What you see immediately after the fall is, you see a corrupted mind. Adam goes from naming creatures without being corrected by God. He names his wife. Okay? And he is doing this like a boss to then after the fall, immediate death and corruption of the human genome.

>> Abraham Hamilton III: And.

>> Miki Addison: And what happens? He's now blame shifting. He's blaming God for the woman that God gave to him. You see, the mind is immediately corrupted. And so what do we do with that? Well, we say, listen, when you're living in this world and you're trying to navigate this world, the mind is constantly at war. There is a battlefield in the mind. Now, you can have all of those facts, but what you really need to do is be able to sit down with people as they walk through some of the issues that they're navigating, and you help recalibrate their mind back to the Word of God. That's the element that is missing. We have a lot of influencers, and we have people who have a lot of followers. Right. And that says an awful lot about what people think about people. But what we want to get after is what people think about God and how that transforms how they live.

>> Abraham Hamilton III: Amen.

Will: Digital discipleship requires friction between people to grow

So in light of that, and I'm not trying to throw shade on anybody or pick no fights with anybody, but in light of that, Will, can there really, truly be a thing kind of like a digital disciple

>> Will Addison: look? I don't think so. If you look at how, relationships are built and how people grow, there have to be an element of rubbing shoulders together. You know, how iron, sharpening iron, can only happen if there's some friction there, you know, And I think you can't get that kind of thing in digital discipleship now. You know, you can do a lot of great things online. You can share in an encouragement, but I mean, walking things out. I believe that the model we have from the Bible is that it's life on life, life on life. And so when we're living life together, that's where the growth happens, the transparency. You're able to see things, you're able to see blind spots that I might have. I can see ones that. That you may have, and we're able to address those things. You cannot do that in a digital format.

Dr. Del Tackett will speak at the Culture Proof Conference this summer

>> Abraham Hamilton III: Now, one of the things I'm looking forward to, and you mentioned him earlier among the 10 speakers at the Culture Proof Conference, July 16th through the 18th at the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum this summer. Please go to cultureproof.net to register. One of the speakers will be Dr. Del Tackett. And I'm looking forward to having the opportunity to interview Dr. Tackett as a part of the Culture Proof Conference. And he has the follow up to the Truth project that you mentioned, Miki. that is the engagement project. And in the engagement project, he discusses one of the grace spaces, if you will. That is the discipline of hospitality in its role in gospel proclamation and disciple making. Would you just share a little bit about that? the necessity of hospitality to be involved in the disciple formation process.

>> Miki Addison: Yeah. When you look at the early church, you find a group of people who were in one another's homes. They were living together, they were sharing life together. they were growing together, they were walking through challenges together. But there's also something that we overlook. Like, man, they were being persecuted together. Like, they were sharing these burdens with one another. They were rejoicing together. But when they Were also, like, hurting. They were hurting together. And I think that's something that is missing from sort of like the. And I want to say this carefully. The grand picture that we have of church, right, where we go in, we listen to a sermon, then we go out to eat afterwards, and. And we may never see those people again for, like, you know, six days or whatever. Maybe if you have a midweek service, you may see them. That's not the picture that we get from scripture. And so what Dr. Tackett has picked up on is that, man, you have a lot of people who have a lot of information, but now what are they going to do with it? They need to be trained to be neighborly. Right? They need to be trained on. On how to simply occupy. Live like believers, reaching out to those who are around you, having fellowship at your house. I think it was Rosaria Butterfield, who has a book that says the gospel comes with a house key, like, understanding the simplicity of just having a meal with someone where you get to know them, in an effort. In an effort to make much of who Christ is. This is foundational to what it is to be a Christian, to be a believer.

>> Abraham Hamilton III: Mm. Oh, man, you guys are stirring me up in so many different ways. plainly, guys, you do not want to miss this conference. And as I mentioned before, it's not just a conference. You know, to the point that you just made, Miki, about people having lots of information, I'm immediately drawn to the account in Acts when Agrippa is being appealed to by the apostle Paul. And the apostle Paul literally says, I know you know the scriptures. I know you know the scriptures. You know them, and I know them, and I know that you know them. But then Agrippa responds, do you think you could persuade me to be a Christian in such a short amount of time? Agrippa's, deficiency wasn't an informational deficiency. It wasn't an informational deficiency. It was a revelational deficiency. And, what you're talking about is the reality here in our country, man, we have a unique context to where we are standing as the inheritors of a society that has been forged with the Scripture at its foundation. Yes, application. Certainly not perfect, of course, but the foundational assumption historically was Christ is. Yeah. And now here we are, much like the Israelites in the book of Judges. You know that the Israelites were faithful to God in the days of Joshua and in the days of the elders who outlived Joshua. Then the scripture says there rose a generation in that same nation who did not know God. Brothers and sisters, I'm talking to our audience here. We're in a similar place in our nation. Though we have in God we Trust in our legal tender. It's about to have Trump signature on it, too, by the way. And it's in God We Trust in our national motto. By and large, we are living in a nation where our people do not know God. And there's only one remedy for that. We have to evangelize and disciple our way in reverse. July 16th through the 18th Culture Proof Conference 2026 at the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum. Go to cultureproof.net to register. Thank you, Will and Meeke the views

>> Miki Addison: and opinions expressed in this broadcast may

>> Abraham Hamilton III: not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.