Changing Worldviews

Sharon Hughes: Hello everyone, thanks for tuning in to this edition of Changing Worldviews. Let me ask you a couple of questions. Should Christians vote for pro-abortion, pro-choice candidates in a national, state, or local election? Here's the second question: who will determine or should determine America's future?

Those are some of the very real questions that many Christians have and as a result, maybe not hearing thoughtful or even credible answers to those questions, basically stay out of the whole process of what goes on politically, what goes on culturally, and just stays focused on what goes on in the church.

So, today's show is part of a series that will address these issues and my guest who will be with me throughout the series is Pastor Shane Bost from Virginia, who as a pastor, addresses these issues and also he himself has gone into the fray, developing relationship with politicians, even the governor, being asked as a result of that to speak or pray at different government events.

I think you're going to find this very interesting because I think we've got to get it right. Every one of us have a filter system that we look through and that consists of not just our natural-born temperament, whether we're extroverted or introverted or those things we're born with, come out of the womb with, but also all of our background: how our parents raised us, if we were raised liberal or conservative or without any input politically or culturally at all.

Then, of course, a major part of the filter system that we look through and see the world is through our experiences. That includes everything from what we've read, what schools we've gone to, what we've studied, what organizations or even church that we belong to. All of the input into our lives as well as all of the things that we have experienced in life shape this filter system that we look through.

That's why whether it's in your neighborhood or at the workplace or even in your church, there will be people with very different, sometimes opposing views regarding the issues of the day. Even when told to measure everything against the Bible to see if a certain agenda or position or candidate's verbal communications line up with the Bible as our plumb line.

Our regular listeners know this, but for those of you who are new, let me just say up front so you know where I'm coming from. Back in the 1980s, I was very much involved as a Bible teacher. I was working on my degree in marriage and family counseling and then my husband was away at a men's retreat and he felt the Lord impress upon him that he should enter the fray, throw his hat in the ring, and run for office, which he did. He ran in 1992 for State Assembly here in California and then in '94 and '96 he ran for US Congress.

Needless to say, that was about a 10-year journey for our entire family. Our boys were still at home, junior high, high school, and it was clear that I was supposed to come alongside Dwayne and support him in these endeavors. I had all my classes in Bible College for counseling and the rest, theology and so forth. The only thing I was lacking was internship and so I never did get my degree in counseling and that's okay because where God took us during those 10 years was not only eye-opening to me of how important it is for every citizen, including every Christian, to not only vote, but at least vote, but to be an informed voter and to be engaged, especially on the local level, but to whatever level led by the Lord.

This show is not about that experience and sometime I might talk about some of the details of that journey and the people that we met and the Attorney General of the United States, Edwin Meese, endorsed Dwayne and that was amazing and just the friendships that we developed with people in government. The bottom line what came out of all of it was that I was invited to have a radio show in San Francisco, we affectionately call the "belly of the beast," and there was so much favor on that and I was so grateful for Andy Santamaria and KDIA and the whole team there that actually taught me the ropes because I had no degree in journalism or media or any of the rest of it.

Here we are, having been on the air for 22 years and that in itself has been an amazing journey. I give you that background so you know where I'm coming from in terms of should Christians be involved in any way, shape, or form in the political process. I think I've answered the question, who will determine or should determine America's future? Will it be people of faith who believe in God and want His will done, or will it be those that don't believe in Him, that don't follow Him, and what would the outcome be in either of those scenarios?

So many times Christians have quoted the verse in the Bible from 2nd Chronicles 7:14 that says, "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." I was talking with one of my new friends, Heather, she herself having a very amazing ministry to women, having been in media herself, and I agree with her when she said that for the church that we want to be careful that we don't make government or the political process, we don't let that develop an idol to where now we're looking to a certain candidate or a certain politician to save us.

We have to get right with God and pray, seek His face as I read, and then He will heal our land. Michael Medved, you might recall him, who's been engaged for decades and he said, "A war against standards leads logically and inevitably to hostility to religion because it is religious faith that provides the ultimate basis for all standards." He's saying whenever there's conflict on an issue, on a standard, on a moral value, that war, which is against what is right, logically and inevitably leads to hostility against religion. Those that don't want those standards have to be against the people of faith, against what the Bible says.

When we get back from this break, part one with my guest, Shane Bost, a young pastor who is so convinced of the Christian's role in culture, being a light in the darkness of unfortunately the political process because ultimately we know that the Lord Jesus said that we are to be a light, a light to the world that helps others see. How can Christians shine in a nation, in any nation? I think you're going to find this discussion very interesting whether you are a Christian or not, everybody is talking about this like never before. Stay with me.

Shane Bost: Unfortunately, it's pretty sad. The majority of Christians, from each survey that keeps coming out, it's shocking but apparently it's about half from everything I keep reading and seeing, keep saying that about half of regular-attending Christians will not vote. The majority of those votes come out in federal elections, but they are not as engaged within the local election or a state level.

Sharon Hughes: Our regular listeners know that we're not afraid to talk about the political and cultural issues of our day for the purpose of talking not just about the issues or giving our own thoughts about it, but rather the worldviews behind these issues to help us understand what the agendas are because there are agendas and there are, beyond that, even schemes, things that are on the darker side, even nefarious.

We want to shine the light, we want to bring the truth so that you can decide where you're going to stand or what you're going to do as a result of the issues we're addressing. Today we're going to be addressing bedrock issues and we will wind up talking about the interplay of the role of the church in today's culture which is huge and believe it or not, controversial in some circles.

Without further ado, let me invite Shane Bost onto our show. It's so good to have you, Shane. It was a pleasure meeting you when you were out in California where I got to hear your heart and what you're doing there in Virginia, not just as a pastor of your congregation but also in the culture there. Welcome to Changing Worldviews.

Shane Bost: Thank you so much. It's such a privilege to be on the program here with you. It was such a great time getting to meet you and your husband. It truly was one of those moments that God just sets up appointments that are such a pleasurable time. Thank you so much for inviting me to the program.

I'm married with three boys. They are a handful, but they are absolutely wonderful. The one thing that I've definitely learned is children significantly change your life and the amount of energy that you need. I've never known what exhaustion really felt like until having three boys, but they're so much fun.

I've had the privilege of being in ministry in different areas of ministry. I've been in youth ministry, camp ministry. There was a time where I was exploring I thought maybe God was calling me into military chaplaincy and so I served in that for a time as well. That was very enjoyable, but God made it very clear that I was supposed to be involved with the cultural issues within our culture at a local church. I've currently been pastoring a church in Virginia and it's been such a privilege to be able to do that.

Sharon Hughes: Our listeners know that we are fans and supporters of pastors. We know that it's one of the most fulfilling but also most challenging and sometimes can be exhausting roles that anyone can fill because you're taking care of the sheep and that's no small role.

Let's talk about what you said about you felt God calling you to get involved to be a light in our culture. Let me start with this. Joe Thomas, who is writing for the Virginia Daily Signal, said, "If we all had a dollar for every time we've been told this is the most important election of our lifetime, we could afford to get the graffiti cleaned off our Teslas."

However, before you tune out the election noise, he says, "Consider the impact of one horrific constitutional amendment in Virginia that will be decided in the next General Assembly session." We want to talk about that and I want you to update us. My understanding is that in January this year, the Virginia House of Delegates passed resolutions, as the left says, "enshrining rights to abortion, voting, and marriage equality in a critical step for Democrats hoping to amend the state's constitution."

If the abortion ballot measure is completely successful in making it a constitutional amendment, Virginia would become a rare Southern state to join a growing trend of states putting reproductive rights-related ballot questions to the voters. It's interesting that there's, of course, many lively debates and Republican Delegate Mark Early from Chesterfield, Virginia, described the resolution as a failure to recognize the image of God in fetuses. What's the update on that and how have you been involved and what the fervor and the fever of all of this has been about?

Shane Bost: These amendments are bellwethers to the greater issue that's at hand. I definitely want to begin by just reminding us that our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the powers and principalities of darkness. We know that Jesus told us very clearly that the enemy has come to steal, kill, and destroy. We know his objectives and what he's going to do and I think that we can sometimes forget that we're in a spiritual war.

As you referenced the article, it is true elections do matter and this is the result of the elections in Virginia. A lot of great things that the Trump administration is doing on the federal level, but this is where it's so critically important for Christians to be engaged in the local levels and their state level because it's unfortunately pretty sad. The majority of Christians, from each survey that keeps coming out, it's shocking but apparently it's about half from everything I keep reading and seeing, keep saying that about half of regular-attending church-attending Christians will not vote.

The majority of those votes come out in federal elections, but they are not as engaged within the local election or a state level. One of the direct results of that is what is taking place in Virginia. Before I get to this particular amendment to the constitution, I want to give a little bit of background of how this works. Virginia has a Republican governor that's in office currently, a Republican Lieutenant Governor, and an Attorney General that's Republican. Virginia did a full sweep for conservative and interestingly enough, they're all Christians as well.

Without getting directly into why that happened, how that took place, let's just suffice it to say thank you, Lord, that this has happened. It's been able to prevent some things and many really horrific bills have been vetoed by our governor, thankfully. The reason why the Democrats are now using a constitutional amendment is because it bypasses the governor's desk. What a constitutional amendment does, the founders were very brilliant in doing this, as it should be difficult to change an amendment to a constitution.

They made it difficult. The way that this works is that a legislative body has to pass a particular bill or the amendment has to pass both the House and the Senate. Then you have to have an election cycle. That amendment is brought to that new elected body, House and Senate, and if it's passed in the House and Senate a second time, it goes then to the people to vote.

This is a technique that the Democrats are using because they hold the majority in both the House of Delegates and in the State Senate. They're using this as a means to push this amendment through because it bypasses the governor. The governor, the Attorney General, they can do nothing to prevent or stop this thing and that's why this is going forward. The abortion amendment in particular passed purely on party lines: 51 Democrat, 49 Republican.

This is where elections have consequences because if the church recognizes what is going on, all they have to do in November in Virginia is change two seats and this thing will go away. Or if they don't involve, it's then going to go to the people to vote on. Because there's such a heavy population in Northern Virginia and the voter turnout is greater within the coastal areas, the larger cities, Northern Virginia, and much of the red area or more of the church-attending area of Virginia doesn't vote and engage in this, the constitutional amendment will pass. This is where the church has to get involved.

Sharon Hughes: Yes, and of course we're talking about the church as individual members. I think about the verse Proverbs 31:8 that talks about "speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves," and of course we know that the unborn cannot speak for themselves. We have to take a break here, Shane. We'll be right back as we discuss a very important issue.

Who is going to determine America's future? Is it going to be those who believe in God and want His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, or is it going to be people who do not believe in Him or are fighting against what God stands for? Each of us have to find out what it means to be a light in our nation or in any nation and of course we know that primarily being a light is shining the light on who God is and who Jesus is. But also He has told us to have nothing to do with the evil works of darkness but rather expose them. If there's no one exposing, if there's no one engaged to expose what's going on, well, the obvious will happen. Stay with us. We will be right back.

Shane Bost: Virginia currently is already an abortion tourism state. Of the Southern states, we are one of the highest abortion providers. People travel to the state to get abortions done because as it stands right now, shockingly, you can have an abortion in the third term. It's a little more difficult to get it in the third term. It requires doctor approval. I think it's three doctors have to approve and say, "Yes, for the life of the mother, the abortion is needed."

What is going on with this abortion amendment now that's being passed, this will enshrine abortion unrestricted up to the point of birth. It doesn't stop there. It allows minors to get abortions without parental consent. They could go to school, say, "I want to get an abortion," parents will never be notified, the school can take the child to get an abortion. Something else that's shocking about this is that it will no longer require medical professionals to perform them.

Just let that sink in for a minute. You no longer need to be a certified doctor to do this. When Roe was first passed, it was about keeping them legal, safe, and rare. That perspective is totally thrown out the window because the goal was "let's get people from out of the back alleys and doing this, let's make this a more safe, allow women to have what's called the reproductive rights." That's just a play on words to get people to think that it's a right to murder a life.

But the goal was to get it to where it was safer because some of these back-alley abortions, they were really bad and women did have problems with that, obviously. But now this bill is actually reverting back to those things. You no longer need a doctor to do it. For any purpose up to the point of birth, I would encourage those that are listening to look into how a first-term, second-term, and third-term abortion is performed. It is absolutely horrific how these things are done and I could talk about those if you would like.

Sharon Hughes: I think that's important because we hear so much from the left that it's all about the woman's rights and that it's just a glob of tissue. Those of us that are pro-life understand that's not the case. Why don't you go ahead and as briefly as you can, what that first, second, and third stage, if you will, abortion involves?

Shane Bost: During the first term, depending how far along the woman is in her first term, they can do it just through a couple pills and it's a chemical abortion. There has been millions of chemical abortions done. 66 million babies have been aborted since the passage of Roe v. Wade. The 66 million abortions did not include the chemical abortion. Chemically induced abortions that you can take pills are actually quite a bit larger. Some estimates are around 100 million. I don't know if that number is exaggerated or not, but that's an estimate because those ones aren't tracked the same way that a physical abortion was. So it's over 66 million because that was just physical abortion.

Depending how far along a woman is in her first trimester, she can terminate the pregnancy through these chemicals. If it moves a little further along into the first trimester, they actually will go in with a suction tube and it's a very invasive process and they will basically suck the tissue out of there. We know that anybody that has paid attention to all of these incredible things that pro-life groups have come out with showing the development of life in these stages, that that first trimester there is an incredible amount of development that takes place, including we're thankfully seeing a lot of states pass a heartbeat law.

All of that comes into the place in the first trimester. We are truthfully what the psalmist writes, that "we are fearfully and wonderfully made." It is phenomenal the development that takes place in the first trimester. The second trimester gets to be incredibly graphic because the baby has developed enough where there are fingers, there are toes and that actually takes place in the first trimester as well.

I wear a little pin on my lapel jacket when I meet with the congressmen during session and it's the size of a baby's feet at 10 weeks. They have their little toes, they have their little fingers, their fingerprints, their toe print. They have all of these things in their first trimester. Second trimester as the baby has developed more, it's too large for it to just pass in a natural-ish kind of way. So they have to physically go into the woman and they actually have to dismember the child to extract it from the womb.

It's incredibly graphic. There are some videos on YouTube of abortion doctors that did abortions for many years. They realized, praise be to God, what they were doing and they now talk about it in such a way, so "here's how it's done." Third trimester can be done in a few different ways. It's so disheartening to say but they'll sometimes jam a suction into the baby's skull to suck out its brains to try and prevent it from life.

Now they don't have to do it that way, but they can induce a labor because here's one of the sinister things that has been revealed that Planned Parenthood also does. They actually want to try to have the baby be born, they'll just call it a fetus, but let's call it what it is: it is a baby. They want the baby to be as intact and as much alive as possible because they harvest the organs. The organs will start to decay rather quickly if the baby dies.

So what they want to do is extract the baby as much intact and alive as possible so that they can harvest the organs and then sell them. This is all about money. This is a money-making machine for Planned Parenthood. Something that Trump has stopped as he stopped in his first term and he's looking to do the same thing across the board in his second term to stop taxpayer funding going to abortion. This is an unfortunate cash engine for Planned Parenthood.

I read one article that Planned Parenthood was paid over 700 million dollars in just government funding on top of what they get paid for to perform these abortions. The way Planned Parenthood performs abortions is the woman, depending how far along she is in her pregnancy, it's like a sliding scale. So if they're X amount of weeks when they come in, it costs this much, but if they wait longer to get it done and they go up a week, every week the dollar amount goes up, it's going to cost the woman more money to get the abortion done.

They do this in such a way because they know that oftentimes when women leave from the abortion clinic, they won't come back. So this is their chance to get them in the door and they do that by pitching, "Well, it's going to cost you more money if you come back if you're further along." They will never show a woman an ultrasound of that baby because often the case when a woman sees that ultrasound, they don't want to go through with it.

This is one of the things that's so critical for the church to realize. We don't say this from a judgmental place, any woman that's had an abortion they're a horrible person. This is where the church has to come in even more so and show love to them, show compassion for them because the fallout of what the emotional damage, the emotional destruction that a lot of these women have down the road when they realize what they have done, they are emotionally damaged. This is where we have to show there is forgiveness in Jesus Christ. There is forgiveness found in Jesus for what has happened here and He can bring you healing.

Sharon Hughes: Well, that's part one in this series with Pastor Shane Bost and I encourage you to look for next week when we bring you part two where he goes into more of what it is for the church to be able to shine in our nation, to be able to shine in any nation with the light of the truth, not only of salvation in Jesus, but also the truth about His will, what He values, what His heart is, how He views human beings, how He views the babies in the womb.

Be sure to tune in for that. In the meantime, I encourage you to go to our website changingworldviews.com. You can find links to our social media outlets. You can see what we are reading this month in our book reading club as well as this month's special offer. Until I see you next time, this is Sharon Hughes saying it like it is.