Breaking Stereotypes
Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Revive Our Hearts is supported by listeners just like you, and I want to say a special thanks to our Monthly Partner Team for your regular donations month after month. I hope you enjoy this episode!
Dannah Gresh: Alisa Childers says the way Christians respond to those who are struggling with faith can be a powerful witness!
Alisa Childers: Break the stereotypes of whatever they think of Christians being these reactionary, fearful people who are too afraid of questions. Just have an attitude of like, “Bring your questions. Let’s talk about them.”
Dannah: I’m Dannah Gresh, and you’re listening to the Revive Our Hearts podcast with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, author of Lies Women Believe: And the Truth That Sets Them Free, for November 4, 2022.
Nancy: Friends or family members that you thought were Christians tell you that they no longer know what they believe about …
Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Revive Our Hearts is supported by listeners just like you, and I want to say a special thanks to our Monthly Partner Team for your regular donations month after month. I hope you enjoy this episode!
Dannah Gresh: Alisa Childers says the way Christians respond to those who are struggling with faith can be a powerful witness!
Alisa Childers: Break the stereotypes of whatever they think of Christians being these reactionary, fearful people who are too afraid of questions. Just have an attitude of like, “Bring your questions. Let’s talk about them.”
Dannah: I’m Dannah Gresh, and you’re listening to the Revive Our Hearts podcast with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, author of Lies Women Believe: And the Truth That Sets Them Free, for November 4, 2022.
Nancy: Friends or family members that you thought were Christians tell you that they no longer know what they believe about God or about the Bible. How do you respond? Alisa Childers has been with us the past couple of days talking with Dannah Gresh about some of the popular trends taking place among those who profess to be believers—movements such as “deconstruction” and “progressive Christianity.”
If you haven’t heard about those, you will, and others around you are grappling with those ways of thinking. If you missed the past two episodes, you can catch up on the Revive Our Hearts app or at the podcast section of our website ReviveOurHearts.com.
Today, Alisa gives us some ideas about how we can engage with those who are doubting their faith in a kind and effective way. Here’s Dannah to start off the conversation.
Dannah: Welcome back, Alisa.
Alisa: Thank you, good to be with you again.
Dannah: It has been just so fun to be with you this week. I have been so encouraged, and you’ve answered so many questions that I have about progressive Christianity, about deconstructionism, and how we respond to those who are in the process of doing that.
If any of you missed the last two days with Alisa, you need to go back. Two days ago we heard her testimony. Yesterday, we heard about how we should respond when friends we love, family members we love are starting to deconstruct.
It’s not probably what you want to hear, but it’s what you need to hear. Today we’re going to talk about how to engage with them. Alisa, can you define deconstruction and progressive Christianity, just very briefly, for those who missed those days?
Alisa: Yes, deconstruction is more like a vehicle. Deconstruction is the process a lot of people are going through who grew up in the church. Essentially, they’re dissecting the beliefs that they grew up with, that they never really thought critically about as adults.
But very often with deconstruction those beliefs are reinterpreted and, most of the time, rejected. So this is really a vehicle out of a historically Christian faith. That would be deconstruction. Now, progessive Christianity is one of the destinations people can go when they’ve deconstructed.
Sometimes people deconstruct into something like secular humanism or atheism or agnosticism or some type of broader spirituality. But many end up in what’s called progressive Christianity, which is really a movement of people growing up and out of the evangelical church who are basically rejecting core historic doctrines of the Christian faith but still retaining the title, “Christian.”
This would be marked by a rejection of the Bible being the authoritative Word of God, rejection of things like the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross and, largely speaking, progressive Christianity would say, “Hey, there’s no place really called ‘hell.’ It’s all going to be fine in the end; it’s all good! Whether it’s heaven or wherever it is, it’s all going to be fine; there’s no place of punishment called hell.”
Dannah: Is there a place of punishment called hell?
Alisa: Well the Bible teaches that there is, and Jesus certainly seemed to think so!
Dannah: It’s definitely one of those big conversations that’s unfolding right now. And it seems so politically correct to say, “Don’t talk about that! That’s scary and awful!” Well, it is scary and awful. That’s why you need Jesus; that’s why we want to tell you about Jesus!
Alisa: That’s right.
Dannah: Here’s the tightrope we’re walking: yesterday you said when we have a friend or a family member who’s in this process of deconstructing, one of the very important things we do—other than pray for them—is to maintain relationship. That it’s so important.
But when we get to that point where maybe they are starting to see some of the hypocrisy in the deconstruction movement, or maybe they have a transgendered friend who’s starting to show his or her colors and they see their dissatisfaction with their life and that some of the messaging that they’ve been sending isn’t consistent, and they start to have questions; how do we talk to that person without offending them?
Alisa: Well, this is an interesting question, because in many cases you will not be able to talk to them without offending them. We certainly know that the gospel is foolishness to those who are perishing. (see 1 Cor. 1:18) So it’s offensive; it’s a stumbling block to people, as we learn in Scriptures.
We know that that’s the case, but I think that there is a difference between giving a message that offends the person because they just don’t like the message—which, really, it’s because they don’t like God. They don’t like His ways; they don’t like what He’s revealed. That’s one thing. I’m perfectly willing to be offensive if it’s because of the message.
But we shouldn’t be offensive because we’re being a jerk about it, or something like that. So I think that there’s a distinction that needs to be made there. Because as Christians, we need to be willing to deliver a message that we know is not going to be received without offense, but we don’t have to be offensive in doing it.
Dannah: I believe Paul wrote in one of his letters to the church at Corinth, “For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to [the] Jews and folly to [the] Gentiles. . .” That’s from 1 Corinthians chapter 1:22–23.
You can expect that this is going to sound hard for some people and foolish to others. How do we do it so that we pick the right battles and we’re not offending them in ways that are unnecessary so that we continue to maintain that relationship? Yesterday you told us that’s so important, and woo them to the truth of the Cross?
Alisa: Yes, this is a great question. Of course, with each individual scenario, with each individual relationship, this is going to look a little different. I think it takes some diagnosis to say, “Okay, who is this person in my life? Is this somebody that I have a close relationship with? Is this someone with whom we talk on this level a lot? Or is this somebody that maybe I . . .” you know, maybe this is Suzy from small group who I’ve barely said three words to. But then I see a couple of FaceBook posts, and all of a sudden I want to ask Suzy out for a coffee date, and Suzy knows what’s up with that coffee date.
I think there’s wisdom that we can apply in each scenario. I do think there’s a bit of diagnosis as well, to say, “Is this person receptive to what I have to say?” Because there are people who do not want to hear it. They do not want to hear your Christian “thing” anymore.
I think that there’s even some biblical precedence, where Jesus said to the disciples, “If this is not received, shake the dust off your feet and move to the next town.” (see Matt. 10:14) So I think there’s an application for that as well.
I think that with people in our lives that we have relationship with, I think there are ways to ask questions. I think a powerful question to ask somebody is, “Help me understand.” This is something that Dr. Jeff Myers of Summit Ministries always talks about.
That’s a powerful question: “Help me understand where you’re coming from. I do really want to know. I want to understand you and, out of love for you, I want to hear your heart on this.” Another great question if somebody says something like, “Well, I think the Bible is abusive,” or “I think the Bible is oppressive,” ask clarifying questions to make sure we’re all defining words the same way. This is incredibly powerful! “What do you mean by ‘oppressive?’ What in the Bible do you find oppressive?” By asking questions like this, it can lead the conversation along without it becoming hostile.
There’s a way to ask questions. Jesus asked a lot of questions in conversations with people that led them to certain conclusions. We can use questions in a powerful way.
Dannah: He even answered questions with questions!
Alisa: That’s correct. I think that there’s good precedence for that. Say, “What is it that you find oppressive in the Bible? Can we talk about that?” And then if something is brought up, “Well, what about this is abusive to you?” or “How do you define that?” Just ask really honest, curious questions.
As Greg Koukl says in his book Tactics, it can put a little pebble in the shoe of the person. In fact, he’s even gotten up to speak before, and he’ll say, “I’m not here to change your mind, but I am here to annoy you if I can.”--speaking to hostile audiences.
Dannah: Yeah, you’re saying a couple of things that are really important. One is the relationship has to be tended to. My husband talks a lot in terms of “emotional deposits.” When we’re working with someone whose faith is frail or they’re struggling with sin, a lot of times we check in with each other.
I’ll say, “Bob, have you made enough emotional deposits in his heart to ask him that question?” He’ll ask me that same thing. We have to make sure that there’s enough in their heart for us to make a withdrawal that’s hard and that’s heavy. That is part of this conversation.
They’ll know we are Christians by our love. (see John 13:35) They’re going to see and feel our love, and whether we’re just trying to prove them wrong, or whether we really love them enough to help them see what is true.
When you’re asking those questions, you’re finding out what they believe. They don’t need us to tell them what we believe, they probably already know what you believe.
Alisa: Often when people are in a process of deconstruction, they’ve grown up in your church, they’ve grown up in your home. They do know, probably, how you’re going to respond. There are a lot of stereotypes about Christians that get embedded into the psyche of a lot of people who are going through deconstruction.
I think one of the main reasons for that is because in the deconstruction movement—as we see it emerging online—there are entire platforms that are absolutely dedicated to finding every wacky thing that any Christian anywhere has said or done, and then putting an amplification on that and saying, “Look, this is what Christians do. This represents all evangelicals.”
I think we’ve all thought about the danger of getting locked in an echo chamber. Deconstruction is a very, very strong echo chamber that pushes a narrative about Christians constantly, and then every time they find some wacky sermon somewhere, they push that out as if that’s the norm for Christians.
And so it’s really important to understand that when people get sucked into this deconstruction movement, they begin to have an idea of Christians that may or may not be accurate. And so, one of the most powerful things you can do is break those stereotypes.
If they think that every Christian is going to a church where the pastor’s preaching with an AR-15 on his back, don’t be that guy. (Not that I would have to tell you to not be that guy, because I know that people listening to this are not that guy.) But you know what I mean.
Break the stereotypes of whatever they think: of Christians being these reactionary, fearful people who are too afraid of questions. Just have an attitude of like, “Bring your questions. Bring it on, let’s talk about it.” I think that can be a powerful apologetic, too.
Dannah: Jesus used questions. I think that’s a good place for us to start. Start with understanding where they are. You can’t really know where to lead them if you don’t know where they are, so questions help you do that.
What are some other things maybe that Jesus did that helped them to discover the answers, though He was leading them to it?
Alisa: Well it’s very interesting that Jesus used some logical principles. Even sometimes with the Pharisees, He would use a tactic [like Matthew 22:23–33] where He would actually show where their view would lead if you traced it all the way down to its logical end.
It’s a logical concept called reductio ad absurdum, to show that the logical end of your line of thinking is actually absurdity. Jesus actually used this with the Pharisees. So Jesus was a brilliant logician; He was a brilliant conversationalist as far as drawing out people’s actual motives. He was so brilliant at it!
I think if we could even study the way He did this, I think we could learn so much about how to reveal the motivations that people might have. We talk about it being called: “the question behind the question.”
When people would come to Jesus and they would ask Him a question, there was always a question behind the question. I think we see the same thing. So if somebody’s coming to you like, “Well, what about the Bible? Is it really reliable?” Is that really the question?
Are they honestly asking, “Is the Bible reliable?” Or have they already decided it isn’t, and there’s a question behind the question? Can get out what’s underneath with some creative questioning?
“Why do you think the Bible would not be reliable? What is it that . . .?” And maybe you can get more to a sharper understanding of where this is coming from. I remember having a discussion with someone who kept asking the same question about the reliability of the New Testament.
I kept answering this question, and then this person kept rephrasing it. Finally it became very clear, “I don’t think this is the real question. There’s something underneath this.” And when I finally got to the bottom of it, this person had been persuaded that the Bible was written by a bunch of male chauvinists who wrote the Scriptures to control women.
Now once I knew that was the question underneath the question, we could dig out of it a little more accurately.
Dannah: I think that’s a question that comes up a lot with the young women that I’m counseling: they don’t like how their perception of the Bible treats women, views women, speaks about women. So when that’s the objection, where do you go? What do you talk to them about?
Alisa: Well, that’s one of my favorite objections, because I just see it so differently than that! If you read a lot of the ancient Near Eastern texts from around the same time (I actually have a book that’s a compilation of them) what you’re going to find is that not only are women so devalued and degraded in surrounding cultures, you find it is absolutely astonishingly unique in the Hebrew Bible how elevated women are, right from the start.
In surrounding cultures you have the whole human race—but especially women—being created as way less valuable than other parts of Creation, often created as a slave race or as people who are basically created to make sure that the gods have everything they need.
But then along comes the Hebrew Bible saying, “Not only are humans uniquely made in the image of One God—the monotheistic God—but you have females isolated out: male and female. ‘In His image He created them,’ it says in the Hebrew Bible.” This was astonishingly unique in that culture!
So right from the start, the Bible places men and women on the exact same level when it comes to their dignity, value and worth. Then, though, we have the Fall. So we have this fall where men and women chose to rebel against God.
Now, I think even before the Fall, we see that there is an order to Creation: Adam was created first and then Eve, and Eve was created as a helper to Adam. But, see, we have to understand what these words mean. I think in our modern context we think, “Oh, well, Eve was created as a helper. What was she like, a glorified maid or a nanny or something like that?”
No! Actually that word that is used for “helper” is the same word God uses to describe Himself over and over in the Old Testament Scriptures. This is a very highly valued role, but it’s a different role. I think that’s what our culture doesn’t like.
I think we have to untie some of the poison, frankly, that modern feminism has brought, because it’s convinced us as women that if we can’t do everything that men do, then we are less valuable than men. But this is not the case.
In fact, you don’t see men marching in the streets because they can’t bear children or they can’t breastfeed babies. Whereas, if you think about the high value God placed on women, to give them that role . . .
I mean, I always tell girls this: “Think about this: God entrusted women with all the new men that come into the world. All the new men who come into the world start with a mother, that’s who God entrusted with all the future humans—specifically all the future men. What does that tell you about the value God places on women?”
But we’ve been persuaded by our culture that, “Oh that’s something you do after you figure out your career and all that.” I’m not saying every woman has to go down that road [of motherhood], I’m just saying that’s what our bodies were designed for. That’s a high honor, in my view!
Dannah: It’s the best job you’ll ever have! Now I’m an empty-nester, and it’s the saddest thing when I go to the grocery store and I don’t need to buy big ketchup. It just makes me cry. It’s the best job!
In the New Testament we see women being valued, too. Just the fact that the women’s names are listed in the lineage of Jesus Christ, that didn’t happen in that literature.
Alisa: Yes, right. And there’s a prostitute in there, that’s pretty amazing, too.
Dannah: That’s right. God is a Redeemer. So, yes, I would say that many women who believe that the Bible doesn’t have a positive view of women haven’t compared it and contrasted it to some of the other documents of that same era and haven’t really fully understood how affirmed and uplifted they are.
Yes, we have distinct ways that we operate as women and men, but we are equally loved and valued by God. Another thing I think probably a lot of people are coming up against in terms of issues is sexuality. How big is that issue when it comes to deconstructing your faith? How many people are struggling with that?
Alisa: Well, I think 100 percent. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that the moral restraints God puts on our sexuality is the number one reason people either begin to deconstruct or continue in deconstruction.
Here’s what I mean by that. Certainly, we’ve heard stories where somebody might be struggling with their own sexuality and then they begin to deconstruct. That certainly is present. That’s not present in every deconstruction story.
But what is present in absolutely 100 percent of the deconstruction stories I’ve listened to and the deconstructions I have spoken to is that they have a preconceived idea that the Bible was wrong about sexuality.
So whether or not they themselves were struggling with it was sort of irrelevant. They had decided that what the Bible says about sexuality is oppressive, it’s harmful, it’s causing people to commit suicide and become depressed.
So that was at least one of the underlying reasons that they began to deconstruct their faith. I don’t think it can be exaggerated what a pillar that one is, of the deconstruction movement.
Dannah: How do we respond to someone who says that the Bible’s rules are out of date or oppressive? What do we say to them? Where do we start that conversation?
Alisa: Well, I think we have to start back from the beginning, because so often we start with the things you can’t do: “Here’s what you can’t do; here’s what’s a sin.”
Dannah: “Thou shalt not . . .”
Alisa: “Thou shalt not,” right.We have to start in the beginning. I remember talking with a young girl who was just in tears about some of these issues. I was a little bit puzzled as to where to go, how to show her God’s love for her as a woman.
I took her back to Genesis, and she revealed something that I think was very interesting. She couldn’t understand why God made men and women’s bodies different. I said, “Well, let’s think about that.”
“Think about the fact that you have an entire circulatory system just within your own body. Your body can circulate blood throughout your whole body by itself. You don’t need anything outside of you to do that. You have a complete nervous system, you have a complete cardiovascular system.”
“But God only gave you only one-half of a reproductive system. You’re a female, so you have one half. Males have the other half. So what does that tell you about what God intends for the reproductive system to have in place in order to work?” And I saw the light bulbs start going on in her mind.
And I said, “Not only does it take two to make a new human, but it actually takes a male and a female. It which really says God is trying to tell us something about what a baby needs, right? A baby needs a mom and a baby needs a dad.”
I think going back to that and realizing that. God is the One who invented sex. He’s the One who invented marriage, and He had a very specific purpose for those things. There are lots of benefits: sex is pleasurable, it’s enjoyable, it bonds people together, it makes them one flesh.
But the primary purpose of sex is reproduction, it’s to produce an offspring. There are guardrails God put around that because it is so sacred and so beautiful. I think maybe starting with the beautiful story and that, “This is beautiful,” is a good place to start.
I think it was G.K. Chesterton that said, “Don’t go tearing the fence down until you understand why somebody put it up in the first place. Fences are generally protecting something. That’s the same with sex. God’s guardrails around sex are to protect the beauty, the sacredness, and everything about it. But we have to kind of know that story first before we get to the, “Why you can’t do this other thing.”
Dannah: That’s right. And you know, one of the greatest purposes of sex in marriage is to portray the love of God. You can see this from Genesis to Revelation, but it’s probably most pronounced in Ephesians 5:31–32, where Paul writes: “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall be [united] to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”
And then, it’s almost like the apostle Paul has to add or something, some squirrel. Because in verse 31 it’s like he changes the subject, but he hasn’t. He says, “This is a great mystery, but I’m really talking about Christ and the Church” (paraphrased).
That marriage relationship has the potential—when we live it well, when we do it right—of being a picture of the great love that Jesus has for us, His Bride. And, you know, I think He didn’t just decide, “Oh, marriage, let’s make that a picture of Me.”
I think He designed it to be a picture of His love, knowing that we would forget it and the lost world would need something tangible so that they could see it and understand it. Marriage is that when we live it the way that God designed it to be lived.
If that’s the truth, Satan is obviously very motivated to see that picture disrupted and destroyed. No wonder he hates God’s design of gender and sexuality, no wonder that’s such a big part of deconstructing your faith. Because it matters, the picture of the gospel as we see in sex and marriage matters!
I want to ask one more question Alisa, and it’s this: tell me the story of somebody who you have walked through . . . They’ve deconstructed their faith, they’ve “progressed.” They no longer love the Scriptures; they no longer think they need the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
But fill us with some hope. Can you tell us of somebody that God has used your life to bring them back to the truth of the Scriptures and the love of Christ and His sacrifice?
Alisa: A couple of years ago I met a young man at an apologetics training. He said that he had deconstructed completely into progressive Christianity. He discovered my podcast and became persuaded back to the historic faith.
I’ve had emails from people who had drifted—maybe not all the way deconstructed into progressive Christianity, maybe without realizing it. It was just because I was able to give them language for what they were seeing and going through, that it was able to bring them back. I’m so deeply humbled and so thankful to the Lord for using that information in that way.
But I have people in my life who have deconstructed who have not come back, and that’s sort of where we’re in the waiting. That’s where I‘m trying to find every way that I can to show them love and to be an example of a real Christian in their lives.
There’s that tension in my own life, too, where there have been people who have been helped by what I’ve done, and people who don’t want anything with what I have to say. I hope that’s a comfort to people who might be listening, who have that kind of tension in their own life.
Maybe there are people where there’s been a lot of hope. And then there are others who you just think, “Man, is this ever going to turn around!?” Here’s the hope I would leave us with, though. I really don’t think we’ve seen the end of this story.
We’re seeing a lot of people deconstruct out of historic Christianity, but God is not finished with all of these people. I think that we are starting to see stories of people who get to the bottom of the deconstruction movement or they get to the bottom of progressive Christianity, which has nothing meaningful to offer them in the place of what it tore down.
And they’re saying, “Hang on a second, maybe I reacted too quickly.” I’ve seen a couple, two or three people just in my own sphere, come back when they got to the bottom of all that. There was just nothing meaningful or beautiful to put in the place of everything that was just torn down.
Nancy: I hope you’ve gotten a fresh infusion of hope today as you’ve listened to this conversation with Alisa Childers and Dannah Gresh. They’ll be back in just a few moments, but let me say first that Alisa has a lot of really helpful resources for those who are grappling with their faith, with whether they really believe the Word of God and the character of God.
You can find more about Alisa and her resources on her website. You’ll find a link to that in the transcript of today’s program at ReviveOurHearts.com. Alisa has a podcast, she also has a book that goes into more depth about what we’ve been talking about these last few days.
It’s titled Another Gospel?: A Lifelong Christian Seeks Truth in Response to Progressive Christianity. And again, we’ll link to that book and to Alisa’s website in the transcript of today’s episode. Just look for it at ReviveOurHearts.com.
Now, the way we distinguish the truth from the lies that are thrown at us is by anchoring our hearts in God’s Word. The Revive Our Hearts team designed our 2023 ministry wall calendar with this in mind. The theme is simply two words: Heaven Rules.
You’ve heard us saying that a lot in recent months and that’s because we need to say it a lot; we need to hear it a lot. We’re challenged to doubt that it’s true, but that’s why we need to keep affirming that it is true, that Heaven rules.
Each month of this year’s calendar has a verse from the Scripture as well as a quote from my book Heaven Rules that will encourage you to fix your mind on the truth, Heaven rules. And this year’s calendar has a feature we’ve never used before.
Each month you’ll find a photo of God’s beautiful and amazing creation that I had the privilege of taking on my own phone. These are places and scenes that are meaningful to Robert and to me, and this year we wanted to share some of those with you, our friends and supporters.
Every year the Revive Our Hearts calendar is in high demand and we usually run out, so I want to encourage you to get this calendar as soon as possible, and we’ll be glad to send it to you when you send a gift of any amount to Revive Our Hearts.
Your support means so much to this ministry, and this calendar is one way we want to say “thank you” for your generosity. In order to give, you can visit our website, ReviveOurHearts.com or you can call us at 1-800-569-5959. When you contact us, be sure to request your Heaven Rules calendar.
Now, you may have heard that there’s something important happening in the United States next week. Yes, that’s right. It’s pretty much all we’re hearing about these days—the upcoming election this coming Tuesday. It feels like our nation is just in political turmoil! So much anger, so much slinging of barbs, and so much contention going on. If you’re like me, you’re probably just tired of it!
But I want to say, what we most need to hear at a time like this is not about one candidate over another, or who to vote for. We need to be learning what people stand for and who to vote for, but even more than that what we need is to be reminded that our God is still on His throne. No matter what happens on the political landscape, Heaven rules. Heaven always rules! Heaven still rules!
Next week we’ll be hearing a powerful message that Pastor Chris Brooks gave at True Woman ’22. He’ll take us to the throne room of Heaven as we read about it in Isaiah chapter 6. So please, over this weekend and the days ahead, be praying for America. And I hope you’re planning to vote prayerfully on Tuesday.
But I also hope you’ll hear this timely message from Chris Brooks this coming Monday and Tuesday. Before we go, here are Dannah and Alisa to close us in a word of prayer.
Dannah: Well, Alisa, thank you for being with us. I know that there probably is a mom or a grandma listening right now whose heart is really burdened. She wets the pillow with her tears many nights, worried for a child. There’s probably friends who just don’t know how to talk to their friends who are deconstructing. Would you pray for them?
Alisa: Well, Father, we lift up to You every person who is listening to this, who has just cried out to You in dark times with tears and confusion and just hopelessness over what they’re watching in their lives. Maybe it’s adult children, maybe it’s younger children, maybe it’s moms of young children who have heard all of these things. They don’t know what to think, and they’re questioning whether or not what their parents are telling them is true.
Father, we know that we have the great hope of living and abiding in You. We have tasted and seen, and we know that You are real, that You are true, and that Christianity is the best explanation for reality. I pray, Lord, that we would have peace. I pray for every person listening that Your Holy Spirit would descend upon them right now with peace that passes understanding as they pray to You, as they give you these requests, as they bring people’s names before you who are deconstructing, and who are in their lives.
Lord, would you replace those burdens with peace, would You take those burdens? We trust You to work in the lives of our loved ones, we trust Your Holy Spirit to do Your work of conviction, and Father, we pray that we would be that place that our friends and loved ones could come to when the rubber meets the road and they really want to know the truth. I pray that we would maintain that relationship so that we can be there when that time comes. I pray that Your Holy Spirit would lead us and guide us with wisdom to know what to say, when to say it, and when not to say it, and what not to say. We trust You in all these things, and we pray that Your peace would descend. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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