At a Glance
We made it through June. However, in many places around the world, cultures are being discipled more by the new LGBTQ “religion” instead of by the church. Today, we interview Dr. Tom Ascol, pastor of Grace Baptist Church and founder of Founders Ministries. We ask him how Christians can regain their God-given commission to disciple their nations. One of the primary reasons many Christians stay silent during “Pride Month” is because they don’t understand the biblical framework for sex, marriage, and identity. Recently Dr. Ascol made headlines when he challenged U.S. Senator Ted Cruz over God’s laws about these critical topics. Join us as we discuss his conversation with the Senator, how the Old Testament law is still relevant in our lives today, and how critical it is for Christians to disciple their nations even at the expense of being labeled a legalist, Christian Nationalist, or someone with a phobia.
What You'll Hear
- Introduction (1:37)
- Dr. Ascol’s disagreement with Senator Ted Cruz about Uganda’s law (6:30)
- The DNA’s role in combating Uganda’s LGBTQ agenda (17:31)
- What does God’s law have to say about what “Pride Month” is promoting? (24:00)
- Should we uphold God’s moral law in our societies? (31:57)
- But isn’t it arrogant for Christians to say the biblical worldview works the best for societies? (37:40)
- What’s happening in our world today surrounding slavery? (42:40)
- How has the church abrogated its role resulting in a rapid growth in paganism? (47:41)
- What is Christian Nationalism? (54:53)
- Conclusion (1:01:46)
Dr. Tom Ascol has served as a Pastor of Grace Baptist Church since 1986. Prior to moving to Florida he served as pastor and associate pastor of churches in Texas. He has a BS degree in sociology from Texas A&M University (1979) and has also earned the MDiv and PhD degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas. His major field of study was Baptist Theology. He has served as an adjunct professor for New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in their SW Florida extension and has also taught systematic theology and pastoral theology at Reformed Theological Seminary and the Midwest Center for Theological Studies (now Covenant Baptist Seminary), respectively. He was also a Teaching Fellow at the Nicole Institute for Baptist Studies at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida.
Tom serves as the President of Founders Ministries, an organization committed to reformation and revival in local churches. He has written numerous articles for journals and magazines and is a regular contributor to TableTalk. He has also edited and contributed to several books and hosts a weekly podcast called The Sword and The Trowel. Tom regularly preaches and lectures at various conferences throughout the United States and other countries in addition to writing for Founders Ministries. Tom also serves as the President of The Institute of Public Theology, which aims to train a coming generation of pastors and Christians to know the times, preach the Word, believe the Word, and do the Word.
He and Donna have ten children, including four sons-in-law and one daughter-in-law. They also have sixteen grandchildren.
Using the link above, you can read the transcript, listen along, and adjust the speed of the podcast while you listen.
"What I've come to realize is that the most political thing a Christian can ever say is, ‘Jesus is Lord.’ Because once you say that, you're saying the state is not God. And the emperor is not God."
Tom (8:50)
Go Deeper
- Pastor Tom Ascol also recommends checking out his new 42-page booklet, titled The Perils and Promises of Christian Nationalism.
Why Social Justice is Not Biblical Justice: An Urgent Appeal to Fellow Christians in a Time of Social Crisis
By Scott David Allen
“Highly recommended!” – Wayne Grudem, PhD, Distinguished Research Professor of Theology and Biblical Studies, Phoenix Seminary
“I urge you to read and share this book immediately and widely!” – Kelly Monroe Kullberg, author of Finding God Beyond Harvard: The Quest for Veritas
“We have long needed a book like this. Every serious Christian—especially every pastor—should read and heed the wisdom it contains.” – Tom Ascol, Senior pastor of Grace Baptist Church (Cape Coral, Florida), President of Founders Ministries
“We are a wounded nation now, and Christians need to bind up wounds and not make new ones. Instead of scorning those who push for social justice, we should recognize that leftist ideologues have twisted the concept of social justice, and some Christians have naively gone along with the distortion. Scott Allen offers an alternative that’s crucial to consider.” – Marvin Olasky, Editor in chief of WORLD magazine
Prepare yourself to defend the truth against the greatest worldview threat of our generation.
In recent years, a set of ideas rooted in postmodernism and neo-Marxist critical theory have merged into a comprehensive worldview. Labeled “social justice” by its advocates, it has radically redefined the popular understanding of justice. It purports to value equality and diversity and to champion the cause of the oppressed.
Yet far too many Christians have little knowledge of this ideology, and consequently, don’t see the danger. Many evangelical leaders confuse ideological social justice with biblical justice. Of course, justice is a deeply biblical idea, but this new ideology is far from biblical.
It is imperative that Christ-followers, tasked with blessing their nations, wake up to the danger, and carefully discern the difference between Biblical justice and its destructive counterfeit.
Why Social Justice is Not Biblical Justice aims to replace confusion with clarity by holding up the counterfeit worldview and the Biblical worldview side-by-side, showing how significantly they differ in their core presuppositions. It challenges Christians to not merely denounce the false worldview, but offer a better alternative—the incomparable Biblical worldview, which shapes cultures marked by genuine justice, mercy, forgiveness, social harmony, and human dignity. Learn more or download the free study guide.
Quotes
- (7:25) “The church cannot avoid engaging the public square. We’ve lived through a time in the West, primarily in America, where we’ve been afforded a great deal of privilege to not have to engage where we didn’t want to because things were generally okay. And the reason that they were okay is because our forefathers engaged, and we were living off of what they did. Well, now those foundations have been eroded. And it’s not a question of whether or not we’re going to have religious principles that govern our society. It is a question of which principles–which religion–is going to exercise the greatest influence.” Tom
- (8:50) “What I’ve come to realize is that the most political thing a Christian can ever say is, ‘Jesus is Lord.’ Yeah. Because once you say that, you’re saying the state is not God. And the emperor is not God.” Tom
- (21:51) “because what’s going on, as you well know, is we are being moved, there is an aggressive agenda. It’s not live and let live.” Tom
- (25:19) “law comes from God, because this is God’s world. And Genesis 1:1–the most controversial, most important verse in the Bible for us right now, is that we’re creatures, God’s the only creator. And so he’s the one who’s made the world, he sets the rules for the world.” Tom
- (36:20) “Our motivation is not legalism, it’s that we want people to be free, we want them to be flourishing. And in order for them to flourish, and to be free–this is important–these laws are important, whether it’s the moral law, the ten commandments, or the creation laws.” Scott
- (50:46) “As a church, we’ve got to come back to the reality that we have failed. We cannot commend a holy God, when we are committed to an unholy lifestyle, or satisfied with an unholy lifestyle. And I don’t say that harshly. I think we have been swept along–the culture has been far more effective at discipling, than the church has. And we’ve been discipled into their standards, through the education system, through the entertainment industry…” Tom
