In an effort to help Christian families, we make our predictions for the new year in six categories: Church, Tech, Politics, Economy, Education, and Health. It’s more important than ever to make decisions for our families far before they are required which requires real critical thinking, awareness, and walking strong in the Spirit. Despite real challenges likely getting worse in 2023, we believe the remnant will continue to grow stronger and know God is completely in control. We should never lead our families in a fear-based way, but instead full of faith walking with confidence in God as we help our families thrive in increasingly uncertain times.

Main Points From This Episode:

• It’s vital to be proactive versus reactive decision-makers
• Church: Growing contrast of seeker-friendly/watered down approach with unapologetically strong Biblical teaching with churches. The latter may start considering how to drop their non-profit status to limit government control. People are starving for community and will take greater initiative to find it.
• Technology: Potentially section 230 will no longer be protection for social media companies against lawsuits more action will be taken to ensure free speech. Maybe we are optimists, but it’s hard for lawmakers to not act on facts Elon Musk has leaked about Twitter that inevitably were a reality at other big tech companies. AI will grow creating new potential problems like plagiarism. Transhumanism will be a big topic of conversation this year as neuro link plants its first chips in human brains.
• Politics: It looks like Desantis will run against Trump for President and this will create a lot of divisiveness amongst believers. Let’s not do this! Republicans will likely move towards adopting election dirty tricks from the democrats just short of actual election fraud. We wish the system could be fixed, but likely not this year. Isaac floats an idea of a class action lawsuit against the federal government for funding and pursuing election fraud (Twitter revelations). Violence isn’t the answer, but using the legal system could be.
• Economy: Greater recession ahead and while it’s a principled move to increase interest rates to the point where it hurts the citizens enough to slow spending, it will likely backfire into a worse situation. We hope not!
• Education: Homeschooling will continue to grow and it’s possible we will see more liberal states and countries try to limit it to preserve public school attendance and funding. Parents will continue to be more vigilant regardless of faith.
• Health: It appears controlling populations is important and the best way they have found to do so is to stoke fear. With so many becoming aware of this agenda, perhaps to regain and perpetuate more control something more deadly will come. We certainly hope not but the WEF is doing scenarios of a more deadly virus right now. We need to continue to be good at taking care of the health of our own families and being as healthy as possible.
• God is in control! He loves you, your spouse, and your children and has a plan. So while these topics are tough, we walk with joy knowing God and His eternal plan for us. Walking with strong confidence in the Lord during greater uncertain times shines His light even brighter. We hope people will come to know Jesus in droves and believe the remnant will continue to grow stronger!

Scripture From This Episode:

Revelation 3:1-6 – “And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”

Revelation 2:19-23 – “I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first. Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.”

Matthew 24:6-13 – “And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”

2 Timothy 3:12 – “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”

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Full Transcript:

Note: This is an automated transcript and misspells or grammar errors may be present.

Welcome to Courageous Parenting Podcast, a weekly show to equip parents with biblical truth on raising confident Christian kids in an uncertain world.

Hi, I’m Angie from Courageous Mom.

And I’m Isaac from Resolute Man.

We’ve been married for 21 years and have seen the fruit from raising our eight kids biblically. Based on the raw truth found in the Bible.

We can no longer let the culture win the hearts of children. Too many children from Christian families are walking away from their faith by age 18. And it doesn’t have to be this way. It shouldn’t be this way. Join us as we start an important conversation about effective parenting and the following. Hey, welcome to the podcast. Hey, guys, so glad you’re here today. We’re talking about really important topic in reflection to this next year and being parents, biblical parents, and really paying attention to what’s coming and make good decisions. So parenting in 2023.

You know, as this New year is beginning, a lot of people are doing a life audit, if you will. It’s one of the terminologies that Isaac and I have used for many, many years because it really is an audit. When you look closely at all of the different categories in your life and you look at what’s happening in the world and you make adjustments, sometimes they’re subtle adjustments, sometimes they’re really big changes, right? And so we’re going to talk about seven different topics or categories, if you will, of life that we kind of see some things happening in the world. And we’re going to bring in some scripture because we shouldn’t be surprised by this, but we should be exhorted by the word. So we’re going to be sharing some of our opinion in here, but we’re also going to be sharing some of biblical truth that we see and we’re going to exhort you guys in courageous parenting.

Hey, this is important because it’s the normal thing is to make decisions. When it’s obvious, you need to make them and create changes. But with the speed of change happening in the world, that that way of being doesn’t necessarily always work out super well. Because if you make changes just in.

Time, like reactionary.

Reactionary versus proactive changes, then you are caught in a tough situation sometimes, or maybe your finances are hit or maybe the health of your family is hit or these different things. So it’s really important that we’re operating in wisdom, but we kind of adjust how we’re doing things in a way where we make decisions way ahead of their need. And it’s just more important today than probably it’s ever been. So really important stuff. And we’re going to start by talking about the church, actually.

Yeah. So as we’re diving into this topic, you know, be reflective, Can I just exhort you to be reflective for a second and let’s be thankful. A few weeks ago, Isaac actually shared in a message that he gave at church about just our need as believers to not be divided or divisive, but to really value that the church anywhere that is preaching the true gospel of Jesus Christ is Christian and doing the work of God. And we need to be thankful for that, right?

Yeah, it’s the bride of Christ. And so we have to be very careful how we talk about the Bride of Christ. And while we might disagree with certain things, sometimes we have to remember that that’s Christ Bride.

Yeah, that’s right. And so as we’re talking about church, here we are heart just, you know, is in no way meant to be offensive to you guys regarding the church. But there are times in Scripture when God exhorts the churches because of sin that they’ve allowed to continue on. Right. And some of that is happening today. We are seeing a growing or increase of progressive ideology seeping into certain churches. We’re seeing a sifting, if you will. I’m sure you guys would agree that in the last three years especially, there’s been a massive sifting and a lot of people have changed churches because they’ve seen which churches are going to fall prey to manipulation by the government or which ones are going to go more woke, if you will. And so a lot of people have been there’s been a migration, right, of Christians changing churches a lot in the last three years.

And sometimes it’s just being silent where silence shouldn’t exist, like omitting certain parts of scripture because it’s offensive to groups of people. But hey, if it’s in the Bible, we should be able to preach on it. And that is something that is important. Now, what we’re seeing running a ministry together is that people are starving for community. Yes, this is coming at us like, what do we do? How do we find a church where I can build good friendships and all these things?

A lot of people are asking about Home church, too, just because that’s been our experience in the last seven years. We had there was a big gap a year and a half when we moved to Idaho, where we were visiting other churches and looking for community in that way and open to whatever God had for us. And then we felt this strong tug back to home church and our whole family was in alignment on that decision. And so we have a lot of people who have asked us about that as well, and we can talk about that a little bit. But, you know, a lot of it is that what are we going to see in the next year? Isaac, What do you think is going to happen with the church as a whole?

Well, I really I really believe that we may see it this year, in the coming years, that the nonprofit status is a challenge, that when you’re getting a benefit from the government of people being able to give and write it off on their taxes, that you’re also saying you’re yielding in a way to the government and there are rules around what you’re allowed to do. For example, there’s supposed to limit talking about politics and things like that. And I think the church needs to be involved, needs to take a stance on different issues happening in the world and needs to be a sounding board of biblical. Whole wisdom in respect to things happening. And, well.

Our faith really should be incorporated into every area of our lives, including how we vote, because so many issues that are biblical issues have now been made political, actually, right. Like even life.

So I think we may start seeing some churches move away from nonprofit status actually, and navigate and find another way to do that.

Another thing they might see as churches not moving away from it, but becoming more watered down and less likely to speak truth.

I agree with that. And then at the same time, the good news is that we’re going to see an increase of a portion of churches probably become more fearless in preaching biblical truth on the areas of marriage, gender, sex and everything else, and not admitting what Scripture says. So we raise up another generation of godly people with a biblical viewpoint on on all topics.

You know, it’s interesting because, you know, as people have come to us looking for community and they’ve been asking different questions, how do we do that? Our first answer is always hospitality. And I just want to talk about that for a second, because I know that a lot of you listening are like, Wait a second, you guys just went over that way too fast. That’s me. I’m starving for community. And so of course, our first encouragement or challenge, if you will, a courageous parenting challenge. If you are starving for biblical community and biblical friendships, get out of your box, stretch yourself, invite people into your home in practice, hospitality, that’s something that God actually commands all Christians to do. And it it’s like a muscle that we have to exercise, especially for people who didn’t grow up in a home where that was something that they had modeled for them or they were used to. Right. The truth is, is that we’re not supposed to be living a secret life that’s different than our public life. Our lives should actually be the same in both arenas. And sometimes when people are not willing to let people into their home, into their inner circle, it’s actually because they’re leaving, living a more secretive life that’s actually far different from what they’re portraying in reality.

And that’s a hard thing for them. And so invite people in. And can I just give you this encouragement that if you’re looking for people to reciprocate, which would be ideal, I know it would be ideal if people reciprocated. And I get it. As a mom of nine kids, do you know how many people don’t necessarily invite you over for dinner because there’s a lot of you? But the truth is, is that you can’t give with with attachments or strings. You have to be willing to give without expecting anything in return. Because the truth is, is that the majority of people are not used to walking in biblical fellowship. And so you actually have to be the one to step out in faith and show them what it looks like first. And in doing that, I just want to encourage you to keep on keeping on, keep doing that even when you don’t have people. And eventually there will come people who will reciprocate.

And if your conversations are at the surface and you really want to go deeper, then take initiative in going deeper by asking some deeper questions of your friends people are spending time with. And if you’re truly yourself and you’re a deep person, then you’re going to talk about things that interest you and you will naturally attract people that want to talk about that and detract. Unfortunately, people that don’t, then that just happens. But if you’re constantly staying at the surface and you’re frustrated with that about other people, maybe there’s something you can do about that by being the first to do it. So here’s the courageous parenting challenge on church, which is to stand firm for biblical truth. If you notice, there’s a sidestepping of biblical truth or there’s something just wrong with what’s being talked about in the church. It’s your duty to say something.

Yeah, and that might be difficult. And standing firm sometimes is also like to your kids, What are you modeling? Right? Like, if you’re talking about and you’re reading scripture with your kids and you’re talking you’re reading to them what the truth says, and then they go to church and they hear a youth pastor, or they hear somebody else in the church who has influence saying something that’s completely different than what God’s Word says. They’ll be confused. And so you need to be aware of like who the teachers are in your church and what their personal beliefs are, what they’re teaching. Because if it’s not in alignment with Scripture, then you either need to confront them or you need to go. And yeah, I said, you need to go. You may need to evaluate and audit the church that you’re a part of and go, okay, is there some progressive thoughts coming in here because that’s not Christian? And if I’m going to be a part of a church, I need a model for my kids by standing firm in truth and finding a like minded church.

Yeah, but we’re not to gossip about the church or anything like that. But you should go to the pastor, get a meeting and ask questions about what they think about the certain scripture, or, you know, ask them about more about what they preached. On if you feel like it was going against Scripture or something like that, or, you know, if it’s the kind of church. Where it really is. Everything is geared towards the new person that just showed up for the first time. That’s something you could address in love. I mean, in love is the key. We need to talk to each other in loving ways, encouraging ways and with appreciation. And I think that goes a lot farther. I think that’s important.

So the next topic we want to talk about is tech technology. Yeah. So, Isaac, you were sharing some very interesting things and what you think is going to potentially be happening either in 2023 or in the years to come?

Well, I think, you know, we have I don’t know if you’ve been following this, but Elon Musk, you know, took over Twitter and he’s been revealing a lot of things and those things that are naturally probably happening with Google, Facebook, even potentially Apple in these kinds of things, which is censorship of certain things, conservative things, and then.

Or Christian things too.

Well, Christian things or hiding, you know, left wing things that would hurt them in election times and things like that. And so there’s a lot a lot around the COVID stuff to hiding the truth about the myocarditis problem and different things like that back when this was really sensitive. And they’re driving vaccines, which is still happening, but not to the same extent. So these different things were happening. And as I look at that, there’s a Section 230, which is a law that gives protection against social media companies in particular to not be able to be sued for the content on their platforms. The problem with that is that they we should remove that because the idea of that law is that, okay, you have these platforms where everybody is allowed to express their thoughts. Free speech. Free speech. And as long as that’s happening, then you can’t be liable for this or that over here. But as soon as you start controlling what’s said, you actually start becoming a publishing company, in my opinion. And when you’re a publishing company, you are liable for anything that is said on the platform. So you either need.

To especially about other.

Pay completely free speech or you need to be on the hook for what said on your platform. And so Section 230, I think actually the Republicans now have the House. I don’t know if they’re capable of this or not, but Section 230 likely could disappear. I hope it does. I think that would be really, really helpful to hold accountable the social media platforms. They’ve gone awry. I think that artificial intelligence growth is is the one of the fastest growing areas of technology. By the way, I’m a fan of technology overall. I mean, things can be used for evil and things can be used for good. I’m a fan of guns, but, you know, they need to be used for good protection of your family, things like that, appropriately. But at the same time, I think that there is an element of evil and technology too, because we’re seeing an increasing use of it for challenging things. But artificial intelligence, something interesting is that plagiarism is going to be potentially a problem this next year.

So can you explain that a little?

Well, there’s new things. I get ads for it all the time. I’ve read up on a little bit. There’s new new programs that will actually write most of your blog post for you, for example.

That’s so crazy.

Or these different things. Of course, I’ve not used them. I don’t know how good they are yet, but looking at these things coming, it’s like, Wow, this is did you really write the book? You know, that could be a question people need to ask themselves three years from now if artificial intelligence gets really, really good or are they just prompting and then they’re taking they’re voicing some thoughts into this artificial intelligence and it’s spinning out a chapter.

Like a dictation.

Ai Yeah, I don’t know. So it’s so interesting stuff. But you also, as artificial intelligence advanced, I think we’re going to see some interesting things this year. Obviously, I like what Elon Musk is doing with Twitter. I don’t necessarily like what he’s doing with Neuralink, so I’m not so we’re.

Not a big.

So when I talk, when I post on Resolute Man or something like that doesn’t mean I’m like a fan of somebody. It means I’m a fan of this thing that they’re doing. Yeah, I think it’s important. We need to be able to differentiate that because Christians shouldn’t be afraid of promoting a good thing that happened by somebody that maybe isn’t doing everything perfect. Right? Right. So but Neuralink is going to put the first chip in a brain this year and, you know, transhumanism and these things. So we’re going to see an increase in transhumanism and that’s simply the emergence of technology with the human body.

Changing DNA, potentially controlling DNA, different things like that, right in the future.

So there’s something so this next year will be kind of an interesting year to see these things. I’m not for these things, but it’ll be interesting to see how that goes. And I think with technology we have to be protective of our kids. We have to look after them. We have to be what is good for them and what is harmful for them. You know, I think certain elements of technology is good for them. There’s things we can learn through technology, like in homeschool. Doing that are so valuable. They’ll be hard. Harder, right? There’s so many free tools out there and things like that. There’s also resources. And my my children, my older children, our older children are learning so many things about woodworking, building things, all kinds of things.

It’s incredible engineering type skills, all all sorts of things. So the courageous parenting challenge on the technology side is, you know, you need to really evaluate how are you going to handle things like social media or Internet usage, or are you going to have a monitoring system of some kind for that boundaries with the Internet and start teaching your kids first and foremost by what you model regarding those things and being alert and active. I just even think of like us, Isaac and I have never been on Tik tok. You will never see us on Tik Tok because we believe that it’s owned by China and that there’s a danger there for facial recognition and different things. And so we have encouraged and advocated that all of our kids stay away from that as much as possible. But you need to figure you need to do your research on these different social media platforms and on Internet and on websites and and like take it seriously, recognizing that this is an outside influence that will influence your children. It already has been influencing you with ads. Just think about that. You can literally say one word. My mom and I were just laughing about this the other day. She was like, Angie, I say something like, Copper sucks, and then all of a sudden I start getting ads on my phone and for this and I just start laughing because I’m like, Yeah, mom, this has been happening for years, you know? And it’s just it’s happening everywhere. And so recognizing the influence and the manipulation and the persuasion that comes through technology and then really praying about that and being intentional with what boundaries you’re going to have for your family and teaching your kids and holding them accountable to that is important.

Yeah, it is important. And even what search engine you use and so forth, right? Whether I think there’s something I think it’s called Brave I just heard about, you’d have to look up yourself. There’s DuckDuckGo and these kinds of things because as your children, when they’re older and they start doing searches, what gets kicked up will influence them. And there are certain search engines like Google who tee up a curated app based on their worldview and what they want people to believe versus just teeing up naturally what should be based on your search. Right. And so that really does influence their studies done where it’s a massive sway for political decisions, all kinds of things based on what pops up when people search for things.

So we wanted to share a couple of scriptures with you from Revelation, actually, where we’ve been going through Revelation with our kids. We just finished going through the part that’s talking to the different churches. And you know, we talked about churches the first point, but I really feel like they go together with technology. Actually, this this scripture that we’re sharing should be on the forefront of your mind as we’re going through all of our different topics, because really, like politics is influencing Christians and what’s happening in the world has an influence on the church and technology has an influence on the church, technology as an influence on the next generation, so does politics. And so all of this is really intertwined and God should be not he should never be compartmentalized out of any of these categories. And so let’s just go to God’s word in revelations chapter three, verse one through six.

It says, and to the Angel of the church in Sardis, right. The words of him, who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up and strengthen what remains and is about to die for. I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember then what you received and heard. Keep it and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief and you will not know at what hour will come against you. Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments and they will walk with me and white, for they are worthy. The one who conquers will be clothed. Thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the Book of life.

It’s interesting because, you know, in Revelations chapter one through I think it’s chapter four. God, really. I mean, John wrote the book, right? He had a revelation. But God is like exhorting these churches. This is like a warning. Right? And so there’s another one that we want to share with you guys. That’s in Revelations chapter two, verse 19 through 23, which I think is really it’s important for technology as well as the church, because there has been a movement of a progressive ideology or progressive thoughts and thinking that has been seeping into the church for quite a while, actually, I would say probably over a decade. And as you research more about it and you find out more about it, you start to see that they have there’s a waywardness, there’s sexual sins, for example, that are being promoted or or it starts out as tolerance and then it eventually goes into like promoting or even accepting it and and instead of being fully. Christian, which with Jesus. He loved those people. But he said, Go and sin no more. And they were set free from the bondage of sin that they were living in and they were able to become a new creation. Instead, people are coming as they are and they’re not changing, right? And then they’re just sitting in their sin and and they’re sifting in their sin. And there’s no that’s not what the church is supposed to be, right? Like God even talks about the bride being blemish free. So here in chapter two versus 19 through 23, this is another warning to a different church. It says, I know your tribulation and your poverty, but you are rich. And the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan or a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer, but behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested and for ten days you will have tribulation.

19.

Oh, I’m on the wrong verse.

Here you go. It’s all right. We’re not perfect.

Sorry, I started reading verse nine. So chapter two, verse 19 says, I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. That’s all good, right? But I have this against you. Listen up, Church that you tolerate that woman Jezebel. So God has this against us that we tolerate that woman, Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her into a sick bed and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation unless they repent of her works and I will strike her children dead and all the churches will know that I am He who searches mind and heart and I will give to each of you according to your works. But to the rest of you and Tira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan to you, I say, do I do not lay on you any other burden only hold fast to what you have until I come. And then it ends with This is so encouraging. It says the one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end to him. I will give authority over the nations and he will rule them with a rod of iron. It just continues on.

Hey, where we’re to love people. Well, but sometimes loving people well is caring about the body of Christ and that we’re not you’re not to allow you give warnings, but you’re not to allow this perpetual person that’s sinning to continue to be in the body of Christ. There needs to be change. Right. And the other scripture, the warning to the other church was you’re alive, you appear to be alive. But you are dead. And that that’s a warning, right? It’s like, is there maybe things appear to be outgoing and great, but are people growing in the Lord on an individual basis? That that’s what matters is like, is discipleship happening? Are people becoming stronger in their relationship with God? And that’s there’s an outflowing of their heart in the way they walk through life because of that.

Yeah. And I just even think like we were just talking about technology and social media and all of these things. And I just think about like the, the image of Jezebel, right? That’s teaching sexual immorality or influencing children. And I think about the attack, right, that has been on children with the Drag Queen library readings and all of the different companies that are coming out full force in support of sexualization of children and gender confusion and all of this stuff. And it’s largely pushed through technology. Can I just say that like I want to remind you, it’s largely pushed through devices of technology. And it’s a temptation like just even having your kids in a public arena of some kind and being exposed to other people’s phones and the devil is seeking whom he can devour. We need to remember who our enemy is and recognize he’s out for the kids. And so, you know, having your eyes wide open, rose tinted glasses off and viewing the world for the reality of what it is, it’s a fallen world. And recognizing these things and getting like the world is going to get it’s going to get worse before Jesus comes back again. And having that perspective, it should motivate us as courageous parents to make the hard choices to protect our kids.

So make sure you know what your children are doing with technology. Make sure you’re thinking through the church that you’re in and so forth. And the third one is politics. And we’ll just be brief on this. But as this next year, at least in America, you know, Trump versus. Desantis This kind of banter is starting to happen. I actually think there’s going to be a division amongst Christians on this issue. If DeSantis does decide to run for president, which it looks like he’s probably going to. And DeSantis is a great guy. He’s done an incredible job for Florida. I think that Trump has a track record of protecting America and the world from tyrants around the world and is proven to do so. So that’s something to be considered. I think that that is going to be a divisive issue. My hope is that people don’t only look for what makes them feel good. I think it’s important to look for in anybody that’s going to be the president of United States. If you’re praying from afar in other country, is that who is actually going to do policies in stand up to tyrants around the world that is the best for freedom of religion, freedom of speech, for liberty and for prospering well as families. And so I think that’s important not not who believes the things, but who’s going to actually do the things.

But I also do think that there is a need. I mean, one of the things that we’re bringing this up is because the divisions in the church is something that we need to guard our hearts against and not participate in that because it’s something that could create a disunity when this is a time more than ever that we need to have unity when it comes to standing up and standing firm in truth.

Right. Let’s not be divisive on these things. We can have differing opinions, but let’s not be divisive. But I do kind of think it will happen. I want to take a moment and give you something for free if you haven’t got it already. Is the date night one sheet? It is a beautiful document you can download that will have some key questions on it for your date night to just get in alignment about what’s most important for your family. No matter what time of year, it’s always important to recalibrate. You can get that by going to courageous parenting dot com and subscribing to our mailing list. Also, you can get all of our show notes and everything at courageous parenting dot com. And I also just want to share real quick about the parenting Mentor program. So many families are being transformed by going through this. It’s the six week self paced program with live engagement from us in even direct interaction. So if you want to join us, here’s a little bit more about it. You can find out more at courageous parenting dot com.

Steve and I realized that we were getting too comfortable with the world’s vision of how to raise our children. What Angie and Isaac have done in creating this is literally phenomenal.

This program provided awesome scripture based teachings and just some really great practical applications.

This class has just really rocked my world. It has given me a vision for not just the different things that we might focus on as parents who are trying to raise our kids biblically, like how our kids are behaving or what we’re doing with discipline, but also the things of the heart. We now have a game plan to how we want to raise our children. We have so many answers to the questions that have been in our mind. It’s not just these hypothetical situations or it’s not just this. Here’s what I think you should do. It’s let me show you where in scripture this is. Do your legacy a favor and your self a favor and just do it. One of the best things that we’ve done this year, one of the best investments we’ve made this year, and I could not recommend it more.

We’re no longer fearing dark days ahead, but we’re so excited to raise lights to be leaders for the next generation.

You know, I think unfortunately, I think the Republicans keep losing elections and they’re starting to realize that Democrats have a ground game, that I do believe there’s election fraud, by the way. But separate from that, they also have a ground game that’s kind of incredible, the ability to go and knock on doors and vote harvest and get all these things, which I don’t.

Necessarily been activated.

Longer. I don’t necessarily believe in their tactics. But unfortunately, I think that Republicans are going to start doing some of those same practices. And so I hope not. I hope we can just fix our election system. But I think that they are going to move towards that because they’re having a hard time getting.

Another aspect of that is that you’ve probably noticed since this woke agenda has become more apparent through social media, maybe you’ve seen people who once were far left wing coming more over to the right side in the sense and even changing parties. And so and they might not be fully like minded, do you know what I mean? And so they may not be believers. They may not have a conscience led by the Holy Spirit. They may just be against the sexualization of children. And so they’re leaving that party and coming over to this side. But they’re also bringing some of the dirty tactics with them, too. Right. And so potentially and so, you know, there’s this all stuff that we’re seeing happening and potentially will be happening more so this year.

And here’s an interesting thing, is that this Twitter thing back to that first second, the election fraud, which it is election fraud, if you’re suppressing Hunter Biden stuff right before the election, which is unbelievably damaging for Biden and his son. And then so you’re hiding that and then you’re only putting out negative things about the opponent regardless of what you think about the opponent. But that is in its government funded. Millions of dollars was spent given to Twitter employees and people former workers from the government are were working for Twitter. And so this was completely the government controlling social media company. Twitter is the only one we know about definitively, but I’m sure this is happening. And the other ones, that is election fraud. That is treason, in my opinion. So now what do you do about that? And I think that we’re all kind of like in America where like, well, there’s nothing we can do. We can pray, we can keep living our lives. We can do the best we can. We can be active on a local level. All those things are wonderful things. I wonder and this is a question I’m not an expert on this, but I wonder if there was a class action lawsuit by the citizens against the federal government for collude, trying to secure a certain party in office for president. Wow. Wouldn’t that be interesting if there was a class action lawsuit, millions and millions and millions of people that signed up and somebody led this thing and to say, hey, there’s now proof, there’s evidence of fraud and we’re not going to tolerate it. That’s just an idea.

It’s interesting because as Christians, you know, a lot of people just they read scriptures that talk about, you know, going to your brother and not dealing with things in the courtroom and and the whole don’t sue a Christian. We have to remember that the government is not Christian, and it’s specifically this administration and those who have been behind the evil of controlling the way that social media and big tech has been working. And so the truth is, is, you know, there is no like pastor that is over both parties in a sense, that can actually do any kind of mediation. And so you deal with people in their other world terms that they function under and what matters most to them. And truly, we know that they are motivated by money more than they are. Anything that is their God is money and extending their own life and their power.

So it’s important sometimes when we hear the word lawsuit, you you just kind of don’t even want to listen because that’s like, oh, that’s not.

That’s not.

Christian. But actually but actually it’s literally what it is, is using the legal system to accomplish something that there’s been no other way to accomplish when there’s a wrong right. That’s why the legal system has been set up. And so it’s not.

Like we can expect the this administration to get on national television and repent. Yeah, I mean, we can pray for that, but they’re not going to repent and go, oh, you know what? We’re so sorry that we’ve been censoring all of these conservatives and we’re so sorry that we did this and we’re so sorry. Like, that’s just not going to happen. We all know that’s not going to happen.

Well, anyways, we’re kind of talking about what might happen in this next year. Yeah, I think that might happen. That’s why I’m mentioning it. Is there something that came into my brain? I’m like, Whoa! Millions of people would probably sign up on that thing and it might work.

It’s interesting. So what it would be the courageous parenting challenge then for parents regarding politics and what is happening? The first thing that comes to my mind is that we need to educate our kids. We need to at least age appropriateness. We need to have a vision. And if you haven’t ever done this, you need to start now with thinking how you could be preparing and equipping your children to be activated citizens in their generation when they hit, when they launch from your home, when they hit that age category. Because the truth is, is we are going to need young people who are on fire for Christ, who are willing to stand firm, willing to take persecution, to do the thing that God has called them to do, to do the right biblical thing. Right. And so that starts with your parenting, that starts with courageous parents being willing to let the dishes sit for a minute so that they can have the deep conversation about what’s happening and teach their kids and maybe do an extra curriculum with their kids at home on the Constitution and and teaching their kids and giving them skills that are going to help them to be equipped so that they can be those people that are making change in their generation. I mean, honestly, a lot of people are talking about like, are you scared about what world our kids are going to be inheriting? We did a whole podcast on this, by the way. You should go listen to that. I think that was the one where I interviewed.

We’re not we’re not scared at all. I mean, we’re we’re excited because we’re we’re educating our kids. And this is the time God wants them to be alive. It’s it’s it’s his choice. And so we trust God and but we have a responsibility to equip and train up our kids, maybe at a level that hasn’t been seen in previous generations at a whole new level is needed. And so Matthew 24, six through 13 tells you why it’s needed. And you’ll hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you were not alarmed for this must take. Place. But the end is not yet, for nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes and various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. So this is the beginnings of the birth pains. And so I really and this is our opinion, but I really think we are in the early stages. I think we’re in the beginning. I know there will be people who disagree with that, but I.

Think but a lot of that comes from based upon what they’re personally experiencing in their part of the.

World. Sure. There’s definitely some of you in other parts of the country might be going, well, you’re in America, Hey, I get it.

But it has to be that bad everywhere in the world. Like, you know what I mean?

And we’re and we are very aware of the persecution in Iran, China and all over the world and the problems, geopolitical problems. And it’s just just we’re definitely aware we’re not living it out. So we can’t be in everybody’s shoes. But but I think we’re in the beginning of it. Who knows, though? Know it’s an interesting time.

He’s going to come like a thief in the night.

Amen. So. So our next one will be quick. But economy, definitely. We’re in a recession in America. Seems globally it appears.

And there’s definitely an induced famine. I would say that there’s higher ups that are navigating and and controlling things definitely seems that way. It’s interesting, the Bible doesn’t say induced famines, but, you know.

Well, I mean, there.

Is famines could be induced.

We know this. There’s a desire for a global currency. Right. There’s a there’s an organization called the World Economic Forum driving this.

You’re unapologetically using about they’re using.

Using climate change as a reason to take all kinds of actions that lower population in these different things. So we’ve heard the voices of these people do these things on record, Right? So we so if you know that stuff and then you go, Och, well the US dollar would have to be weakened. What’s interesting is, is although the US dollar has been weakened, the currencies around the world have been weakened more and so it seems like that part of their plan might be backfiring right now I’m not sure. But definitely the inflation that’s happening and the increasing rates that looks like it’ll continue until you literally have to hurt the population enough financially to get control of inflation. There is some truth to that, but I think it might backfire. I don’t really know. I’m not an economist, but I have this feeling that the economic conditions in this next year are going to be a lot more difficult for a lot of people. And so I really think it’s important. And one of the courageous parenting challenges would be, you know, what are your sources of income? There is a reason why, by the way, we’re being proactive with the ministry to launch coffee, for example, and.

And even the app.

In the app, right. We want a deeper community. We wanted to not be on Facebook.

We also didn’t want to have to deal with censorship.

But we also wanted a way for people to get way more value in their small fee to be part of that big value and and also help the ministry stabilize financially because it’s harder and harder for people to give and these different things. Right. So so as you think about that for yourself, you know, what are your sources of income? And you might need to have a marriage conversation about adding one source of income for this next year. You might have to because if you have a fixed income, for example, that means you’re spending power is getting depleted every month with inflation. I’m not trying to create fear or anything. This is just the reality. And so either you’re going to spend less or you’re going to make more. The best thing is find ways to spend less and make more. Right. So but what if you can’t in your current situation? Well, then you have to pray and think through how to change your current situation.

And that because you’re adding a source of income.

Adding a source because there’s only so much you can stop spending, right? You probably already there. So I think that we care about you. We care about everybody that listens and we feel like we’re one big family in a way. Like, yeah, this is a movement.

How can we help the courageous parents out there that are really like, they’re growing and they’re wanting to do what’s right, but they need leadership. They need people talking about the real things that real people deal with on a daily basis. And this is it. Like this is where the rubber meets the road. Right? And there’s an aspect of even with the economy, like the food situation, the shortages that we see. I mentioned the induced famine in the sense like formula has been vacant shelves for months and months and months here. I don’t know how it is where you are, but I don’t use formula. Zander has been nursed. The people need a lot of people who do who need that. And so to walk through the grocery stores and see the need or to see people on the next door app not able to find formula and asking if anybody has stuff. And and now the big thing is no cold medicine or Motrin or fever reducers for infants and children. Shelves are just literally empty everywhere across the nation. Really. I don’t know if it’s international, but that also seems like it’s somewhat controlled. Don’t know if it is, but it’s something that like the reality is for us, we looked at what happened during COVID specifically and we were like, okay, so what are like the majority of things that we need to have on hand and be prepared? Here’s your CP challenge. Here’s your courageous parenting challenge. Evaluate what things you think are potentially going to go missing. Pray about it. Be wise as wise. Just be wise. Look at what’s happened in the past and try to be prepared with the things that are the most necessity things for your family so that you don’t find yourself at a loss when you could have been prepared.

Here’s the mentality we have to shift is we’ve grown accustomed to being a just in time family like it just in time mentality, I guess.

I think that’s which is.

Which is I need bananas, right? I go get bananas within an hour. Bananas are at my home. Yeah. So that mentality needs to shift. So like.

What might I need in the next six months? I’m one of our kids might be sick and have a fever, so I should have that on hand before they get sick.

And how can you be resourceful? There’s no way to be resourceful. And I mean, there is a way, but it’s really hard for most of us, including us, to provide everything self sufficient for our own family, Right.

Especially with how.

Large it is. And so but picking some things and what can you do? And I think what can you do list is good not to be overwhelmed, but what can you start doing? You build upon that year after year.

It’s like a little more self sufficient is what you know, just on a sense of like, I’m not going to be dependent upon any man that that scripture like is talking more about job wise and having debts towards people. Right? But you could even think of it in sense of like, are you going to be knocking on doors because you’re in need? Like, how can we be prepared? And then taking it a step further, once you’ve been prepared as a family, being prepared so you can help other people because that is the great commission, right? Like Jesus met physical needs before he shared the gospel. That might be one way your family can be a part of the Great Commission and times.

Another interesting thing about the economy is right now they’re testing most a lot of not most, but several countries are testing C, B, C, D, I believe they’re called central bank crypto dollars. So having the US dollar as a cryptocurrency, having the yen in a cryptocurrency, right, these kinds of things are the US is testing it right now and this is a movement towards they say, you know, fraud prevention and ease and all these things. But what it has the capabilities of doing is massive control over people, right? If I don’t like as the government something you’re doing, then I.

Can.

Control your money. And so you’re purchasing power in these kinds of things. So just things to think about. Now, again, I know this can be sound fearful and things like that. We don’t want to be fearful, but but we’re not not going to tell you something because it might create fear. We need to trust that you’re going to lean into the Lord and not fear and trust God. But at the same time, it’s.

Going to motivate you.

Motivate to some actions. We can’t do everything. What is the answer to that? Isaac I actually don’t know the answer to that one. That depends.

On your hard one.

To answer. How do you handle that? If if you can only shop through an outside economy and you’re not using the digital system, I don’t know if that’s even.

Possible or you’re even quarantine to your home. Right. Like I even think of just different countries like Australia that weren’t able to leave their homes for long periods of time.

We have to endure as good soldiers of Christ and spread the gospel and have joy in our hearts despite circumstances and know that we’re going to be persecuted. And I just think we’re coming into a season where that’s more like how the Bible talks about.

It, right? So the next category is education and home schooling. Obviously, we see that that’s probably going to continue to grow in 2023 and over the next coming years. But you brought something up that was interesting today that because of the growth that’s going to potentially get lawmakers or people who like having control and understand the power of indoctrination, it could become that that that right to homeschool could become threatened.

Well, just put yourself in their shoes. Whenever you’re trying to understand what’s happening, you have to know kind of who your enemies are and you have to learn how they think. And the natural process is, if more and more people homeschool, then there’s less people in the public schools, there’s less control and less funding. And those people, their jobs and so forth, there’s less jobs in that area maybe, and there’s less funding, less funding towards it. So now there’s maybe a growing pressure to force people to be in public schools or to put laws to make it very, very difficult to homeschool, like have to have a teacher certificate and these kinds of things. What do you think California has done before?

And it’s still that way.

So certain states do that. And around the world, some places you can’t homeschool at all. I think Germany’s that way. Is that right? I’m not sure.

I feel like it was for a very long time. I don’t know.

Today, we don’t know. We’re not experts on it. But but you see what’s happened. You study the past. You understand your enemy and put yourself in the shoes. And what might happen is definitely in the United States, the blue states, more liberal states would be the first ones to kind of.

For them to have success in making.

Have success making laws like that. So living in a red states key, if you’re around the world, the more liberal the area you’re in, they’re probably going to want to control that if they see an exodus from the system. I don’t know for sure, but we may see we’re going to see an increase in home schooling. I mean, the last couple of years is probably the greatest, greatest increase in the maybe history of the modern world where we’ve seen a growth in home schooling. And I think that’s just going to accelerate, actually.

So, you know, our challenge for the education thing would be to audit the current education system that you are using for your kids. And can I just even say that if you’re home schooling, it still means you need to audit it? There are times where I’ve had to look through books like I’m just going to share something. There is a specific curriculum that I used with my oldest children. It was called Story of the World, and and there was four volumes. It was about history, and it was one of the most popular history curriculums with audios and activity books and these huge books that you could read to your kids aloud. And it was wonderful on many levels, but there was also just something about it, and I wasn’t 100% sold. So we tried many other things, but then this year, so this is like I’ve been homeschooling 19 years and this was out when and it was popular and had been out for years when I started. So it’s been out a long time. And I just read in an article that there are certain doctrinal things that are kind of, in my opinion, heretical that the author of those books believes. That’s my opinion. You’ll have to look into it. And I just remember thinking like, Whoa, and how did that impact? Because every book I do believe firmly and you should as well. I do believe this is a biblical truth that worldviews of every person impact their opinions and their thought process and what they teach. And I know that my worldview impacts what I teach. Your worldview impacts what you teach your children. And so if I’m reading a book written by a human being, then what they taught in that book is a reflection of what their world view was, right? And so realizing that they believe something that I think is false and going, Oh, wow, was that pushed through the curriculum? Now I’m like thinking back and going, I wouldn’t use that curriculum with my kids currently.

So I, I share that story with you because you do need to audit and you need to pay attention to what people are teaching. There have been many authors in the last decade specifically that I have like at one point bought a book that I thought I would like, and then all of a sudden they go progressive. And at the time I didn’t know what the word progressive was. Right. But then it’s like, Oh, I’m throwing those books away. I can’t promote that person ever again, or that gathering or that whatever. And it’s just sad that there’s so many tolerant or lenient. And then it’s just like you let you open the door a little bit for a little bit of deception, and then all of a sudden the wayward philosophies start coming in and people fall. So you just need to be very careful about the teaching and make sure that people are grounded in truth. So regardless of what education like, do you know what your kids teachers believe? Do you know what their worldview is? Because every single topic, even math, can apparently be, you know, racist, Right. And so you need to know what the personal convictions and worldview of the teachers are because they’re going to be pushing those convictions through every subject.

Well, the next one is health. And it’s I just think I watch Angie and the layering upon layering of knowledge about how to take care of the family in terms of health has been really wonderful to watch. And I’m so thankful for it because the natural path is awesome. And our philosophy and I think your philosophy too, is to take that natural path every time if we can. And at the point that we can’t and something’s not working, we go to the hospital and we believe in medicine and doctors and and so forth. But it’s important to try to solve this.

As as possible.

As much as possible. And I think that what what would be the next step in that direction. On another note is, you know, they’re already doing trials WEF on the scenarios of the next pandemic and they just did one with Bill Gates and so forth that tested this scenario that hit children harder and was way more deadly than the last COVID thing. So why would they be doing those scenarios? They did a scenario about COVID before COVID happened. So I don’t know. You can think what you want about that, but I think that it’s important that we’re in good health. Like it’s always been important. Our bodies are the Holy temple. God tells us to take care. Our bodies or bodies are not our own. You can look up the scripture on that. But we all know that. But it is even more important. I want to be around for the grandkids know we have one grandchild and I’m looking forward to a whole bunch more and I want to be here for my kids. I have young kids still and I want to be able to disciple, have fun, live life, and see this beautiful picture develop while at the same time I’m thrilled and super excited about heaven. It’s going to be amazing, even more amazing. So I think we need to take our health seriously. And if you haven’t been and you need the discipline or something, maybe you could ask your spouse to help you hold you accountable, hold each other accountable, create space for. I know it’s going to take time. I know I need to create space for Angie to be able to work out in these kinds of things. And and she also needs to create space for me. And we try to do that. But even even we need.

We’re going to have to get better.

We have to get better that we’re going to we have a meeting coming up where we’re going to be talking about these things for the new year and how how can we really take our health even more seriously not to make an idol out of it, but to to have a platform that God, the platform God gave us as our bodies to be able to do his work.

It’s for his glory to be here longer, to do his work longer. So here’s the challenge. Learn something new and do it this year. What is that new thing that you’re going to learn? Is it about nutrition? Is about your diet? Is it about working out? Is it learning how to work out for the first time? Maybe you’ve never worked out before. Is it learning about natural herbal tinctures and or is it maybe making your own right.

Plants in your.

House? Is it about. Yeah, Is it about houseplants? Is it about gardening? Is it about ways that what is it that you can learn that’s new this year that you could start implementing and just pick one thing to start and then once you master it, you’re going to be so encouraged to start another new thing. And I know that for myself, like that concept of like learn something new right now the thing that I’m doing that’s new is sourdough. And I know that, like for you guys, you’re probably listening going, Oh, Angie, it’s easy. I’ve been doing it for a year, but do you remember what it was like before you had done Sourdough? Like, that’s where I’m at with sourdough. Yeah. I may have been gardening for over a decade, and I may have had nine babies naturally, and I may have done all these other things that maybe you’re going, Whoa. But the truth is, it’s like I have to make space and time to do something different, and that just even making the space and the time for it is actually the biggest challenge behind it, right? Because you have to take time to read and learn and do. But it’s so life giving.

Hey, our final one, the most important one we saved it for last is God. God is still in control. God has an amazing plan. He’s working out.

And God loves you.

And your children and your spouse. And he is there for us. And he says not to fear.

And I would say, I just think that it’s a good reminder that God is unchanging, that he’s omniscient, he’s omnipotent, He’s he is are all in all truly. And so, you know, as you’re potentially at this time of year, this is when people start doing visionary and and stuff. And we did a really awesome podcast on this last week. So go back and listen to that podcast to what things five things you need to be.

Every parents must.

Reflecting on as parents. Right? And you should go listen to that. But I would just say to like if you’re one of these people that comes up with a word or something that you want to challenge people on, pray about it first and listen to the convictions of the heart and choose something. Choose the hardest thing Can I say choose the hardest thing. Because that hard thing that is maybe nagging you that you’re constantly thinking about it is clogging up brain power that could be spent on much better things that would bring God glory. So whatever that change is, what whether it’s you need to forgive somebody or maybe you need to walk away from a bad habit, or maybe you need to start something new because not doing something that God has called you to do is disobedience, whatever it is like, be honest with yourself and pick a word that is going to hold you accountable for that year. We want to wrap it up with this last verse in second Timothy, Chapter three. Verse 12 says, Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted while evil people and imposters will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Guys, listen, we know that an end days especially, of course, if you’re living a righteous life, you’re going to be persecuted for it. People are going to struggle with with things that are godly. And so if you are experiencing Percy. Confusion, betrayal. Losing friends. Or maybe you need to walk away some from some relationships that have been completely unhealthy for you. I want to encourage you because really, we need to be first and foremost faithful to God alone and his word and making sure that we are doing all we can to protect our children and raise them up in him. Thanks for joining us today.

Happy New Year.

See you next time. Hey, thanks for listening to this episode. For more resources, go to courageous parenting and courageous mom dot com for free online workshops, blog posts, and best selling courses. Also, we wanted to quickly tell you about our six week online parenting mentor program. Isaac and I created a powerful biblical curriculum. Here’s how it works. Each week we release a video with a downloadable parenting packet to make it easy for you to incorporate those teachings directly into your parenting.

This is an incredible, self paced program where we cover everything from obedience training to overcoming mistakes most Christians are making. But more than that, it’s a supportive community. You’ll have access to our private online group, live Webcasts and the courageous parenting text message line where Angie and I can send you weekly encouragement straight to your phone.

If you’re interested in joining our next online parenting mentor program, secure your spot now at CourageousParenting.com