Senator Lindsey Graham passed away suddenly at the age of 71. What should we say about a politician's passing if we disagree with them on many issues? What can we learn from the life, and death, of prominent US Senators?

Welcome to Politics by Faith. It's where we take the news of the day and bring it to the Bible, so we can walk away with peace and perspective. New headlines every day can all be very overwhelming, cause a lot of anxiety, but Ecclesiastes says there's nothing new under the sun. So thanks for being here for the true story, the story of the day. Today, Senator Lindsey Graham has died. We have a video from just the day before he died. 

He was in Kiev in Ukraine. Now, Conspiracy theories are out there. People are quick to make up a story. Isn't that wild? The human brain, heart, something happens. What's the real story? 

Those are quick initial reactions. That's wild. But people's initial reaction was, oh, he was in Ukraine, and he's a big war hawk guy, supports arming Ukraine, so Russia probably doesn't care much for him, so maybe he was assassinated by Russia. I tend to believe the most obvious thing. like an Occam's razor approach to life. But I think the Occam's razor here is he's 71 and 71 year olds can have a heart attack. 

But maybe we'll find out more. The time will will come for that. President Trump said Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the greatest people and senators I've ever known is dead. He was always working and was a true American patriot. Lindsey will be greatly missed. So sad. 

The president went on a few of the new shows this last week and here to talk about Lindsey Graham. And, uh, you know, every reporter tried to throw in another question in there and he said, no, no, we're here only to talk about Lindsey Graham. I'm not answering any of the questions. Lindsey Graham became a Congressman in 1994, won the Senate in 2002. He was an air force jag before that. I feel bad saying much about Lindsey Graham, to be honest, because I only knew him as a caricature of the president. 

a caricature in the political realm. Like if politics was a TV show, he was a character in that show. And anything I could say about him is merely political. And that's not much of a ode. It's not much of a compliment to have someone die and then say, well, here were their political stances that they took on certain issues. That's all life is. 

That's all his life was. Gosh, I hope when I die, people say more than, well, He really thought we should reform H -1B visas, and he believed we needed to build a wall. Ah, yes. Really? Imagine that being on your tombstone. Mike Slater didn't really like the one big, beautiful bill, but I mean, there were some parts in it that he thought were okay. 

Yikes. I'm reading Plutarch, Plutarch's Lives right now. Probably one of the most important books ever written by this Greek historian, Plutarch. He wrote something like 48 short biographies, Alexander the Great, Caesar, Demosthenes, Cicero, guys like that. It was written in like the year 100. But what I enjoy so much about the book, and I think what's especially noteworthy about it is what he chose to write about it, what he didn't write about. 

This is in the introduction. He said, it must be born in mind that my design is not to write histories, but lives. And the most glorious exploits do not always furnish us with the clearest discoveries of virtue or vice in men. Sometimes a matter of less moment, an expression or a jest. and forms as better of their character and inclinations than the most famous sieges, the greatest armaments, or the bloodiest battles whatsoever. So I must be allowed to give my more particular attention to the marks and indications of the souls of men. 

And while I endeavor by these to portray their lives, may be free to leave more weighty matters and great, great tales to be treated by others. " I love that. So he says, listen, this biography is not a, on this date, then on this date, then on this date. This is more about their lives, their souls, maybe about the smaller things that have happened in their lives. but it's going to reveal their character. So in that spirit, because I could talk about Lindsey Graham's, you know, here's here on this date, he supported this political thing on others. 

Like I don't care, but I can say this about his character. Both of Lindsey Graham's parents died when he was 21 and 22. They died about a year apart from each other. Mom died from cancer. His dad had a heart attack. He was about 22 and his sister was 13. 

He adopted her. I never heard that before. That's that's commendable to step up like that for your sister. Of course, they remained incredibly close ever since. She told the New York Times back in 2015, Lindsey was always my parent. Lindsey Graham, by the way, was never married. 

He has no kids, but he taught his sister how to ride a bicycle. And they grew up together in like a single room behind their family -owned bar. They owned this bar and pool hall, and they lived in one room in the back. Everyone slept in one room. That was it. That was the room that they had. 

It's crazy. He was the first member of his family to go to college. and he was way across the board. And his sister said, I can remember the day my father passed away, standing in the living room of that room, absolutely scared to death. Lindsay wrapped his arms around me and promised me he would always be there for me and always take care of me. That will, well, I suppose you're defined before then. 

You're being made, I suppose. But if a decision like that, that should define you in really honorable ways. It's great. You're 22. Lindsey Graham, he also said, there's a lot of so -called self -made people in this world. I'm not one of them. 

My family, my friends, neighbors, and my faith picked me up when I was down, believed in me when I had doubts. You made me the man I am today. I love that point. To what extent is anyone self -made really? So politically right now, the governor of South Carolina names his replacement until the next election. And there's a Republican as the governor of South Carolina. 

And he's a supporter of Lindsey Graham. They get along, of course, so they got along. So there'll be a good Republican there for now. His re -election was coming up in November. And there's going to be a primary in August to pick. Obviously, it was just going to be Lindsey Graham. 

But now, just a couple weeks here, they're going to have to have an election to figure out who that is going to be. The Democrat, there's a front -runner Democrat. Her name's like, Annie Andrews or Bonnie Andrews or something like that. I don't know what her chances are. You know, when you get a race like against Lindsey Graham, who wins 70 % of the vote, usually it's like a throwaway race. So I don't know if this is a real serious contender in the Democratic Party. 

If someone can swoop in real quick and grab the seat or keep the seat, probably what one It is worth noting how fragile political majorities are. It seems like there have been more deaths or resignations this year than ever. And I looked it up, and the best I could find is that in the past five years, just five years, there's been 10 sitting members of the House. Senator Graham was a senator. But there's been 10 members of the House who have died in office. 

And 12 bailed out. I'm not running for re -election. I mean, just like, I'm out now. We're done with this whole thing. That's amazing. So you can think you have a majority, and then a couple of people die, and a few more resign, and then it's gone. 

But that's politics. More importantly, This is true for life. You can be fine one day and you get a sudden illness and then you're not alive anymore. And then everyone in your life gets that phone call and say, what? I talked to him yesterday. He's fine. 

We used to do Radiothon for Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego. And that was everyone's story. We'd have all these families come in and went to Rady. And that was their story. Every single one of them. Like, Oh, my son, he was eight years old and he was great. 

And then on the baseball field, one day he passed out on the field. And now he had cancer and that whole life has been different. Right? So you're fine, fine, fine, fine, fine. Then all of a sudden not. Lindsey Graham, Senator, Senator, Senator, all of a sudden, not. 

Now we're talking who's who's the replacement? What's the process for picking a new Senate? Like, so let's go to the Bible here. My first biblical point is for three, no one lives forever. We talked about this the other day. I know it sounds like a no slater. 

But do we do we know? Because if we really knew and we believed it, we would live differently. We would make different decisions. So yeah, I know Slater, no one lives forever. All right, well, how are you behaving differently knowing that? 

Because for almost all of us, myself included, as an outside observer, look at you and be like, oh, you think you're going to, you're acting like you're going to live forever. You're sure not. and you don't know when your day is, so no one's going to live forever. We talked about this just a couple episodes ago with the rich Silicon Valley tech guy whose goal, Brian Johnson, his goal is to live forever. Literally his life mission is don't die. And he spends millions of dollars a year on his health. 

And he just got diagnosed with an incurable stomach disease. And he's going to die, of course. So you can't live forever. Even if you're a senator, which is my second point, we tend to worship politicians, which is weird because we also don't like them. I don't understand how we can do both those things. We don't like politicians. 

We don't trust them. They can't get anything done or do anything right. They're generally not that skilled or talented at much of anything, probably. Some of them never had a real job. There's some guys now who've had a real job and they come and become a senator. Some of these guys have never had a real job ever. 

So they're not impressive. And then we worship them and we look up to them as if they're of a higher class than us. Like, ooh, a congressman is here. What? It doesn't make sense. So don't worship politicians, which leads To the most important third point, your life should not be defined by your political opinions. 

I feel bad distilling Lindsey Graham to a set of political opinions. He was a human individual person and this was his life, right? Cause he didn't have a wife and kids. He could spend all this time working and he did. And he said how much he loved it. I think I read a thing from JD Vance talking about that. 

Lindsey Graham would talk to him, how much fun this was. He loved it. And that's great, but I just want to make sure we live our lives in a way that when people have something to say about our passing, it's not, well, he had this political opinion. Okay. I find that shallow and transient. I know it's transient, no matter how important it is here on earth. 

It's shallow when it comes to eternity. Proverbs 10, seven says the memory of the righteous is a blessing. But the name of the wicked will rot. Yikes. No, I'm not, I'm not talking about the wicked here. Surely that's not, I'm not saying Lindsey Graham's wicked. 

I'm talking more about the righteous. Like that's the one that matters. Who are the righteous? The Hebrew word here means someone who is righteous in conduct and character. So they're, they're righteous as in they're justified by God. I should say by Jesus, to God, because that means you believe in Jesus. 

I mean, that's the legacy worth living for. You die and someone says, man, he loved God with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength. And he loved his neighbor as himself. That's what you want on your tombstone. That's what you want said at your funeral. We shouldn't be striving for eternal fame on earth. 

It won't happen. I know I just mentioned Plutarch's lives, people from thousands of years ago, but there's like 48 of them. All right. That's not going to be you or me. Also, how much of the people whose biographies he wrote, if they came back to life today and read it, they'd be like, that's not what happened. These are all more myth than anything else at this point. 

And like, some of the stories are like, and he was sailing down the sea and he a giant hand came and picked up the boat. It's all intertwined with myth already, even in Plutarch's life. That proves my point even more. Ecclesiastes 9 .5 says, For the living that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. We forget. 

We forget people. Maybe you can go, maybe you remember your grandpa. Great -grandpa? Maybe you know his name. Give me two. Give me two greats. 

Great -great -grandpa? Nothing. I got nothing. I don't know. That should be really comforting. Should be. 

It's kind of sad at first, but no, it's not, because God remembers his people. God knows his people. You will never forget you. Revelation 14, 12, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the spirit that they may rest from their labors and their works follow them. So we have this contrast here in revelation between the rest of the saints in eternity and the continual torment of the wicked. 

It's Revelation 14, 11, and the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever. And they have no rest day or night who worship the beast and his image. We don't want that. We want to die in the Lord. We want to die in the cause of God. It was Adam Clark in the 1800s. 

He said they die under the smile and approval of God, and they die to live and reign with God forever and ever. Psalm 34 says, blessed is the man who takes refuge in the Lord. Psalm 40, blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust. This is where we need to find our value. And any memory of us, however much it lasts on earth, any memory of us, Even as we die and after we die, even that should be bringing glory to God. YouTube . 

com slash at politics by faith. If you could follow us on or subscribe on YouTube, that'd be great. YouTube . com slash at politics by faith.

Democrat Governor Tim Walz went out of his way to protect this child molesting illegal alien from deportation. Why would he do such a thing? How could anyone defend this? We need to be a society that is much more severe against this sin and the people who enable it.

Welcome to Politics by Faith. It's where we take the news of the day. We bring it to the Bible so we can walk away with peace and perspective. New headlines every day. But Ecclesiastes says there's nothing new under the sun. So thanks for being here to get the true story. 

The story of the day today. Kids warning. Kids warning for today's episode. Alert. Alarm. Kids warning. 

This is not the episode for kids. You got kids listening now. Just give you a second. Turn it down. Press next. We have other episodes today. 

Kids warning. All right. Story of the day today. Pardoning an illegal alien. child rapist. Here's what happened. 

A man from Laos came to America illegally back in 1994. He was given some legal status of some sort after he came here illegally by the Clinton administration. For a four year period, he raped a 10 year old girl. It's from around the year 2000, around the year 2002 or so. He paid the girl $10 to keep quiet. When he was interviewed by police, he told the police quote, it's a cultural thing to marry and have sex with girls as young as 12. 

He also claimed that the victim was just as guilty as he was and should also be arrested. This caused him to lose his legal ish that he was convicted. So his conviction for this caused him to lose whatever legal status the Clinton administration gave him. So he's back to being an illegal alien again, but here's, here's one. He avoided jail time. This story is so awful. 

Every single thing about this story is crazy. He avoided jail time. He was convicted and went to trial. But because the video family didn't allow her to cooperate or they didn't cooperate and i don't know what this is i don't know if this is cultures protecting their own or whatever i'm assuming like maybe this girl also was from laos right so maybe there's um like uh i don't even know what religion they are maybe it'd be like if muslims would be like a sharia law thing or something where the woman has no say the girl has no say in court or something i don't know what cultural thing is happening there but the family didn't cooperate. And this is in my analysis, New York Times, New York Times says Mr. Vang had received a lenient sentence, 30 years probation, which is like in part because the victim in the case, who was then 12, was experiencing pressure from her family not to cooperate. 

So that's not me, that's New York Times analysis. So we have a child rapist walking on the streets of Minnesota, illegal alien, illegal, convicted, child abuse, first degree sexual abuse. He should have been killed or castrated right there in a sane legal system. Instead, he's walking around Minnesota as an illegal alien child rapist. Now, an immigration judge issued a final order of removal for this guy in 2006. He's back to being an illegal alien, right? 

So we're ready to deport him. We're ready to deport him. We're willing to deport him. Again, final order of removal, 2006. You heard that right. It's 20 years ago. 

I know 2006 kind of sounds like this year or last year. It was 20 years ago. We're going to deport him. What did the governor of Minnesota do? What should he have done? What would you have done if you were the governor of Minnesota? 

You would, of course, hand him over to the feds or allow the feds to come in and get him and remove him because why would you want a child rapist in your city? So he could have been helpful to the city. Like, hey, we're going to use our local police. We'll help you. What do you need? Where do you need to go? 

We'll help you get there. Whatever. Be helpful to get the child molester off the streets. He could have been neutral. Just gotten out of the way. We're not going to help you, but do what you got to do. 

But no, he went out of his way to make it hard. Tim Walz, out of nowhere, pardoned this illegal alien child rapist for the crime of child rape. Pardoned. I would like to know how Tim Walz knew that this guy was going to be deported. Because again, the final order of deportation was back in 2006. So how did he know that ICE was coming after him at all? 

How did he know that, right? Because the pardon comes out of nowhere. It's a crime from 2006. Why pardon now? Why pardon at all? So how did Walls even know that ICE was looking for him? 

But why did he pardon him? Because the reason he's now an illegal alien again is because of the crime. If you pardon him for the crime, then now he's not illegal anymore. He goes back to whatever legal status he had with the Clinton administration. and then can't be deported. That's amazing. 

42 year old guy from Laos, worse than a loser, like a total, like a force for wickedness and evil and destruction and abuse. And the governor of Minnesota decided to go out of his way and pardon him to protect him from deportation. That is an incredible story. Now that was a story as I shared it a couple of days ago on SiriusXM. The update of the story, why I'm sharing it here as well, is that Marco Rubio got wind about it. took it from the Department of Homeland Security, this issue, and made it a State Department issue and now he's gone. 

Marco Rubio said just weeks ago, foreign child rapist was freed to once again endanger America's children after receiving a pardon from Tim Walz. This guy admitted to committing heinous crimes against a 10 -year -old girl in Minnesota. He attempted to pay his victim for her silence, dismissed his acts of abuse as a minor thing. Americans should never have to live in fear that foreign sex predators shielded from deportation by their own elected officials could endanger them or their children. What an insane time this is. 

Tim Walz, by the way, in the pardon letter referred to this guy as a citizen of the United States. He is not a citizen. Marco Rubio said Americans should never be forced by their elected leaders to live alongside foreign sex criminals who have no right to be here in the first place. And this administration will always stand with the American people and defend them from violent criminals. Crazy. Okay, we talked about this last week or came up earlier in the week I should say on Sirius XM because we did a segment on Thomas Jefferson and Monticello and just learning about our history and the importance of learning about our history. 

And one of the reasons why it's important to know our history is because a story like this, it's bad enough, it's heinous, it's not enough, it's awful enough. It's even worse when you know our history and where we came from and how difficult it was to create this country in the first place. When you know who we came from, when you learn more about our founding fathers and the men and women of the revolution. When you have a deeper understanding of our past and their deep sense of justice, then things like this are intolerable. It's like a different level. It's like you hear about it first time and it's heinous and it's awful and terrible, but then it's like this next level of intolerable. 

I mean, the founders called these acts against us. the British, the intolerable acts, right? We need more things in this country to be intolerable. Tolerance has been the name of the game for decades, and it's gotten to not a laughable level. It's now a heinous, hideous, wicked level of tolerance. Gosh, I just saw a video the other day of R . 

C. Sproul. He was talking about how there's this perversion, this is an older video, about how there's this perversion that's working its way in the church where church leaders will tell people that God loves you unconditionally. It's like, oh, where's that? That's not in the Bible. God loves you unconditionally. 

Of course, that tells the unrepentant person that I don't have to do anything. I don't have to change in any way. God loves me no matter what I do. Guys, unconditional love. No, no, no, no. If anything, it's unconditional wrath. 

And the only way the wrath is allevied is because of Jesus. He paid the consequence for it instead of you. Tolerance. But you can see this, this idea of unconditional love turns into this idea of tolerance, no matter what, and tolerance to the end for anything. No, no, no. We need things to be intolerable again. 

And when you know where you came from, your zeal increases, your passion increases, your care and concern, your love increases, and you become less numb to it all, which is what the left wants you to be. They want you to be numb to the evil around us. That's what Satan wants too. But we can't be, we need to be more sensitive to evil. We need to be more passionate against it. Let's go to the Bible. 

We could talk about the age of consent, right? This guy's like, Oh, and my, where I come from now, the Bible doesn't have an age. Quran certainly doesn't, but it is a lot. There's a lot in there about who you should have sex with your wife. So this male from Laos can talk about in his culture. It's okay to have sex. 

with people, with eight -year -old girls. You're sick. But how about you find yourself a wife? The Bible says marriage is man and a woman, not a girl, becoming one flesh. We are told to honor God with our bodies and also with our wife's body. We're called to protect little ones. 

A millstone around this pervert's neck is too nice of a punishment. We're supposed to protect little ones, not use them for our own sexual gratification. My God, this is disgusting. The Bible is also clear about The state being allowed to punish crime, which the state of Minnesota did not do here. Romans 13 three, always worth a review. I know we bring this one up a lot, but rulers hold no terror to those who do right. 

But for those who do wrong, do you want to be free from one fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. For the one in authority is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid. For rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God's servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment to the evildoer. 

Not in Minnesota, they did not bring punishment to the evildoer. They failed. 1 Peter 2 .3 says, Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be the emperor or supreme, or to governors sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. Again, the government did not punish those who do evil. This pervert used this child. Children are a gift. 

They're a gift. Psalm 127 .3 says, Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord. The fruit of the womb is a reward. This is in that beautiful section about building a home. Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchmen stay awake in vain. 

" There's a beautiful scripture which we should bring up again about God's sovereignty and control over all things, but the reason that it goes to house and then is what good is building a house if you can't make it a home with family in it? The family is the most important building block of a society, which is why, among other reasons, why do we need to keep child molesters away from everyone always to the nth degree. And we hear, this is a bit of a sidebar, but we hear parents today, maybe online, you'll hear parents complain about kids. They're kids. They're a pain, they're annoying, they're a burden, they're a bother. 

I can't wait for summer to be over so kids can go back to school, get them out of my hair. No, no, no. Kids are a heritage from the Lord. They're a gift, not a burden. One is profoundly full of sin to use children for their own sexual pleasure, and they deserve horrific punishment. What we're called to do, we're called in Psalm 82, 4, rescue the weak and the needy, deliver them from the hand of the wicked. 

We don't have enough hatred of the child abusers. We don't. The punishment for child abuse in this country does not reflect the severity of the sin. And the fact that A Democratic governor in Minnesota would not only allow this person back on the streets, but then prevent him from being deported, all because of his TDS. That is sick behavior. Thank goodness we have an administration today that would not let him get away with it. 

I'd love to see some accountability for walls now and all the child abuse, child abuse enablers that we have in our country.

The One Big Beautiful Bill last year made some reforms to food stamps. It's now been a year, and the Washington Post searched for some sob stories about how Trump is cruel and awful. But what does the Bible say about food stamps?

Welcome to Politics by Faith. It's where we take the news of the day and bring it to the Bible so we can walk away with peace and perspective because there's new headlines every day and that can cause a lot of anxiety. We don't have time for that. We got a country to save here. No time for anxiety. Ecclesiastes says it's not the new under the sun, so we don't need to be scared or anxious about the news of the day and the headlines of every single day. 

So thanks for being here to get the true story. The story of the day today, Washington Post wrote an article, Trump's one big beautiful bill has cut food assistance for millions of Americans. SNAP benefits have plummeted by half in Arizona, a year after President Donald Trump's signature legislation. All right, what really happened here? The one big beautiful bill, remember that? As the Washington Post put it, part of the bill tightened eligibility for food aid and pushed states to do more screening. 

It turns out the number of Arizonans, that's the state that they really focused on, the number of Arizonans on food stamps was cut in half. That's 500 ,000 people, including 200 ,000 children, no longer on food stamps. I assume starving to death. Look for some death tolls coming soon. Now we need to be clear because the Washington Post does not. How did the One Big Beautiful Bill heighten eligibility? 

That's how they put it, right? It tightened eligibility. So you used to need to work until your mid fifties. Now you have to work in order to get food stamps. You have to work from the ages of 18 to 64. You also need to do something. 

This is for able bodied adults. Nothing in the One Big Beautiful Bill with food stamp reform affects disabled people in any way. Able bodied adults, important distinction here, have to work 80 hours a week. month, 20 hours a week, part -time job. You have to work, volunteer, or do approved job training to get by. To be clear, you don't have to do anything. 

You just can't get food stamps. If you're an able -bodied adult who isn't trying to get a job, like job training, volunteering, like helping the community in some way, or actually have a job, you can do that. You don't have to do this. You're not going to get taxpayer -funded welfare. Also, they changed the eligibility for parents. So if you're a parent, you don't have to work to get the food stamps. 

It used to be until your kids turned 18, but now it's 14. So they lowered that. So if you have a 14 year old who's at school all day, then you need to go get a job as well. They also tightened eligibility for non -citizens. Much harder to get if you're a legal alien or not here, or if you're just not a citizen. Remember when the one big beautiful bill was going around being debated? 

There were, you know, the left had all these sob stories that they were sharing and none of them were true because all the sob stories they talked about were for disabled people in some way. That's not what this is for. This is able -bodied adults. So I'm thinking, all right, Washington Post writing an article about it, like checking in a year later, like what sob story are they going to come up with? So my first thought is single mom, five kids, now they're 14 and older. So now mom's got to go get a part -time job. 

That was the worst scenario I could think of in my brain of who this article is going to be about. So who did the Washington Post find to pull on our heartstrings? That that's that's it. That was pretty much that story. But for kids, Michelle Flowers says it took eight months for her to get her food stamp benefits reinstated after they lapsed last year. And she only got it done, she said, because she was laid off from her job at a call center 

and finally had time. So part of this article is about how long it takes to just work through the system. I don't think that's that bad. I think applying for food stamps would be pretty miserable. It should be worse than the DMV. However bad having a job is, getting food stamps should be worse. 

It should be so painful. People are in line or on hold, and they're like, you know what? I'll just get a job at this point. I'll mop the floors here. I'm standing in line at the welfare office. I'll just mop these floors and you pay me in two weeks. 

How about that? Instead of me standing here, I'll be in line here for a month. So I'll just mop the floors. You pay me in two weeks and we'll call it even. Right. So I don't, I don't know if that's like, I don't know if it should be easy. 

The 36 year old mother of four was exactly the kind of person the supplemental nutrition assistance program was meant to help. Not really food stamps, like 36 year old mothers of four. One of the main problem with food stamps is that welfare has replaced the father. Without food stamps, I think men and women would make better marriage and mating choices. But for a few decades now, they haven't needed to do that. The daddy government will come in and fill the void. 

She said they're making the process too hard, Flower says, as she waited with a friend now navigating that system in a benefits office in Phoenix. So the Washington Post doesn't go into any details about Flowers, this woman's life or decisions or any details about anything at all. It sounds like she's a mom who had a lot of kids and doesn't have a job. And there's no dad around. I don't know how many dads, but there's no dad around. So she's got to do something. 

She's got to find it. And now the kids are over 14. So she's got to find a job. She's got to volunteer. She's got to do something already. get food stamps. 

That's it. That's the story. That's the end of their sob. There are no other sob stories. The one thing that was it. The Bible is very clear about this. 

Second Thessalonians 310. If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. End of story. There it is. I don't know if we've ever done anything more like clearly relevant, like a story that where the Bible is like right there. If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. Eat. 

That's the end. That's it. Now again, unwilling to work. There are some people who are unable to work. That's who food stamps should be there to help. We're talking about the unwilling to work. 

And that's what the Bible says to able bodied adults. When this is being debated about, you know, being put in the one big beautiful bill, the left is freaking out about all the disabled people who are on food stamps are getting kicked off. That's not what that was all lie. Like they're fine. This is for able bodied adults. All right, let's go to the Bible here. 

So what do we do with this? So you're so cruel. That's what the Bible says, I don't know what you want me to do. We are also commanded in the Bible, Deuteronomy 15, 11, for there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore, I command you, you shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor in your land. And Paul in Colossians 2 .10 says they desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do. 

Now, again, obvious distinction between the widow and the unwilling. Also, there are some people who are poor because of circumstances out of their control. And we need to have that discernment. And that's where church and charity come in and provide that discernment. The government can't. They can't provide discernment. 

And they've never even really tried. It's like, Trump is like the first attempt at being like, all right, let's tighten this up a bit. What would a church do? What standard would a charity have? As opposed to just the government handing out money to illegal aliens and everyone else that just asks. We used to also have a society with shame, where people were ashamed to get welfare. 

In the movie, it was a Cinderella man where the boxer goes after he wins a fight, he goes back to the welfare office and gives the money back to the welfare office. Not only have we made efforts to de -stigmatize, I think that should be stigmatized, but we, you know, we call it, instead of calling it food stamps, we called it WIC and now we call it SNAP. Sounds fun. And we've replaced the actual physical stamps. There used to be actual stamps with this digital card, so no one knows, but there should be some stigma on it actually. Here's what I want to talk about though, in light of this story. 

Sermon on the Mount. We are often told to Not judge. Don't judge. Can't judge. Judge not. Jesus said. 

Jesus says don't judge. I love when non -Christians tell you they'll do something horrific. And we're like, that's not a good idea. They'll say, oh, that guy in that book that I don't believe in says you can't judge me. Not allowed to judge anyone. Can't judge people for their behavior, for their actions, for their lifestyles. 

No judging ever. Jesus said judge not. But of course he did not mean to never have discernment. And we know that's not what he meant because the very next section says do not give dogs what is holy and do not throw your pearls before pigs lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you how do i know who the dogs are if i can't judge how can i watch out for people in sheep's clothing, for wolves in sheep's clothing who appear to be harmless and honest, but I can't judge if they're wolves or not. Jesus said, don't judge. 

Jesus said, you shall know them by their fruits, but I can't judge fruit, good or bad, not allowed to do anything. Of course, that's not what Jesus meant. Of course, we're supposed to have discernment. I like this insight from Mart Lloyd -Jones. This is a section he wrote about passing judgment, or I should say passing. It's like a different term. 

Having discernment within the church, among church members. He said, they show clearly that judgment is to be exercised in the realm of the church. This is worthy of an entire study on its own because owing to our flabby ideas and notions, it is almost true to say that such a thing as discipline in the Christian church is non -existent today. He wrote this in the fifties, maybe. He said, when did you last hear of a person being excommunicated? When did you last hear of a person being kept back from the communion table? 

Go back to the history of Protestantism, and you'll find that the Protestant definition of the church is that the church is a place in which the word is preached, the sacraments are administered, and discipline is exercised. Discipline to the Protestant fathers was as much a mark of the church as the preaching of the word and the administration of the sacraments. But we know very little about discipline, and it's the result of this flabby, sentimental notion that you must not judge, and which asks, who are you to express judgment? But the scripture exhorts us to do so. We're also told to be on the lookout for false doctrine, but we're not allowed to judge. So clearly that's not what it means. 

It doesn't mean you're supposed to turn off your brain. So what does judge not mean? Jesus says, judge not. What is he talking about? Quite simply, it means we should exercise discernment, judgment, but not assume the role of ultimate judge as in condemnation for eternity. We've been told don't judge. 

It doesn't mean turn your brain off from being able to think. No, we're supposed to think critically and carefully and distinguish right from wrong. And we could critique beliefs and teaching and conduct. But we can't pass a final judgment on a person's soul or their worth before God. That final verdict is for God alone. We also have to judge properly with humility and realize that you're no better. 

I'm no better than that person on welfare. It's easy for me to say, oh, you shouldn't do it. And maybe they shouldn't. But you have to say that with the humility of knowing that my entire ability to work, the situations that I've had in my life are all a blessing from God. So you can make a discernment and say that person has no work ethic. It's true. 

You can make a discernment, a judgment and say that person made terrible life decisions about having kids when they shouldn't have had kids, shouldn't have had relations with that guy again, right? Like you can make, you could say that, but also say with the humility of, oh gosh, God, I am so grateful that you gave me parents who had a work ethic to show me what it looks like. And God, I'm so grateful that you gave me an amazing wife and a wonderful family, right? So true criticism is thoughtful and fair and constructive. to them and to others listening. That's fine. 

It's good. I like this summary. Biblical judgment is discerning but humble, principled but charitable, careful but not cynical, and honest about error but hopeful about people. It is right and proper and biblical to say, no, you're able -bodied. You have to work if you want money for food from the government. That's not judgmental. 

We leave the final judgment, however, to God.