Submit your questions to MailBox Monday. 

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TRANSCRIPTION:

Hey, friends. This is Heidi St. John. How are you guys doing? We made it to Wednesday. Today is Wednesday, June 17th. This is episode 938. I’m going to be taking your questions today, treating it a little bit like Mailbox Monday because I got so many questions coming in, I’m having a hard time keeping up with them. Let’s talk about what’s happening today from the perspective of a Christian. Stick around, I think you’re going to be encouraged.

I hope you guys are doing good. I am so very thankful to have this platform for all of you who are listening to this. I know that you guys are struggling because I get messages from you literally every day. I hope that you’re encouraged by what God is doing. God is still at work. He is at work and I want you guys to be encouraged because I think the overwhelming… Remember, we talked about this on Monday? It’s very easy right now to feel discouraged. It’s very easy right now to look around, I mean, every single day.

I record these podcasts a couple of days in advance and sometimes by the time you guys hear this podcast, something else has happened in the world and occasionally I can come in and interrupt what was my normal flow of things and address it, but I often can’t. I think what we need to remember in this, no matter what happens, because the narrative changes every day, the news changes every day, politics is changing, things are shifting underneath our feet, right? We’re watching news from across the world, tensions between North Korea and South Korea. But the Bible teaches us that this is exactly what we should expect. Exactly.

I know that some of you are frustrated and discouraged, so today I’m going to take some time and hopefully take you back to the Word. God’s Word is sufficient. What’s funny is in the middle of the ‘rona, we’re still struggling with the things we were struggling with before: I get letters from moms whose husbands are addicted to pornography, I’m talking to parents whose kids are struggling with thoughts of suicide, even more right now than probably they’ve ever struggled before. We’re basically under spiritual warfare 101. I love to talk about spiritual warfare here and I love to talk about the rapture. Actually, I’ve been thinking lately, we should start talking about that more.

Bear with me, because I think we might do a little bit of a shift. I’m going to focus a little bit more on the second coming of Christ. I love talking about prophecy and I think it’s something for us to be talking about now because it’s encouraging, because we’re not going to hang out here forever. Those of us who believe the Lord and have read His word know that Christ is going to return, so in the meantime, I want you guys to be encouraged.

I told you, I’ve been telling you that the ‘rona has messed up my speaking schedule, right? Did I tell you that? Yes, I think I did. Well, some of the events that I’m speaking at have decided to switch to online conferences so that they can still meet their ever-growing needs of homeschooling families and some of the other conferences I’ve pushed out their dates and they’re rescheduling for next year to the end of the summer, even into the fall. I want you guys to watch my events page so you can keep up with my crazy schedule. Honestly, you guys, that’s what I’m doing, too. Melissa calls me and says, “Heidi, I moved a June thing to August,” or, “I moved an August thing to next March.” That’s happening a lot.

One of the online events that I’m going to be participating in this summer is called Reimagine Education. It’s the Reimagine Education Conference. It’s going to be hosted online July 27th through August 1st. Their goal is to help equip parents who are suddenly schooling at home because of the COVID-19, right? The speakers are going to discuss ways to find harmony at home while you continue a career, while you juggle the demands of parenting, right? You’re going to find great tips and resources for selecting curriculum, what to teach, how to teach, and more. Registration’s open right now and there’s a link to it on my event page, so check it out: heidistjohn.com/events. That’s where you can keep up with me. We’re doing the best we can. I’m actually excited about Reimagine Education. I think you guys are going to be excited, too, so check it out: heidistjohn.com/events. That online event is happening July 27th through August the first.

Well, there’s a couple of things I wanted to touch on today. Obviously, I can’t touch on all the questions that are coming in because they’re coming in, I mean, you guys are smart. You’re asking a lot of questions. I think I’m going to go back to the beginning and read some of the things that have come in lately and see if I can address them.

Here’s one of the letters that I got: “Heidi, I just started listening to your podcast and I love the truth that you speak.” Thank you so much. “I’m a senior at the University of Wyoming, who just released their plans for returning to fall semester.” I know where this is going to go. “This plan includes testing every student for COVID-19, mandating masks, social distancing in classrooms, shortening semesters, and removing breaks and taking each student’s temperature in every class. I do not want to be forced to comply with these rules. I understand I can choose not to continue my degree, but I only have one semester left. What can I do to stand up for our constitutional rights in this situation? Or do I have to lower my head and comply?”

First of all, can I just say my heart is going out to everybody that’s trying to get a college education right now? I don’t feel as sorry for everybody who’s in high school and grade school, because I think homeschooling is a much better option than almost everything that’s out there anyway, but for those of you who are trying to get your degree, this is a real problem. My son was finishing up his program and the Paul Mitchell School in Portland, Oregon closed because of the ‘rona and basically have disbursed their entire student body and he’s having a heck of a time finishing his program.

I’ve got another really dear friend who’s in a nursing program up in Seattle. They’re not taking students for clinicals right now, which is… The whole thing, you guys, it’s ridiculous on its face. What I would encourage you to do, first of all, I think you could reach out to my friends at the Alliance Defending Freedom in terms of your rights. I would want to know if you were just starting at the University of Wyoming, I’d be like, “Oh, no, no, no. I would not encourage my kid to go to that. They’re going to test you for COVID-19? Really? Are they going to test you for H1N1? They’re going to test you for the swine flu? Maybe they should test you to see if you’ve ever had tuberculosis.” I mean, his whole thing is ridiculous. It’s ridiculous on its face: mandating masks, social distancing, which I don’t believe in at all, the whole thing, it’s maddening.

But you’ve only got a semester. Since you have one semester and you’re going to be graduating, I guess if you were my kid, my child, my college student, I would say, probably, “I would bear with it.” You might even look into getting a medical exemption from some of this stuff. I know a lot of people have written to me and said that they have massive anxiety. That is an actual legitimate medical condition, you guys. Just say, “Oh, sorry, I can’t do the mask.”

I mean, this whole thing, I am so sorry. Like I said, for those of you in college right now, this is terrible. Also, I would just encourage you, there’s a phone number and I’ll link back to it in the show notes and you can reach out to places like the Alliance Defending Freedom and just say, “Here’s what’s going on. What are my rights?” Because obviously, this is massive overreach, right? They’re going to test you… Don’t even get me started. They’re going to test you for COVID-19? ‘Rona? That you? The whole thing, I mean, the whole thing.

You should ask them, “Why aren’t we taking the temperatures of the writers? Hey, before we give you guys your mask and your bricks come on over here so we can take your temperature, just make sure everybody’s fine. We’re going to put this giant Q-tip up your nose.” Hey, here’s an idea: I bet if they told the rioters that there would have to have a giant Q-tip shoved up their nose to test for COVID-19 because that’s what you got to do, we could probably cut the riots down by three quarters because I think most everybody, these are mostly just completely entitled little young people, brats, I would call them. We grew up calling people brats. I don’t think they’d do it. I think they’d go, “Oh no, no, no. Put your Q-tip away. I’m going home.” But you know, whatever. Apparently, the ‘rona doesn’t affect riots.

Obviously, they think the ‘rona is going to affect your education. I would encourage you, before you just throw in the towel and say, “No, I’m not going to do it,” you have a semester left. This is a horrible way to send us to spend a semester. I would be finding out what you can do to be exempt from any of this stuff. Call the Alliance Defending Freedom. I’m hoping that places like this will start to stand up for the rights of students who really are being subjected to ridiculous requirements just to finish their schooling. It’s something we can definitely be in prayer about.

Next question came in from a mom who said, “Heidi, there is such a political divide between white and black Christians right now. I believe President Trump and other conservatives are the best choice for Christians, but my black friends basically call every Trump supporter a racist and find it personally offensive for anyone to support him. I feel like I’m missing something. How do I navigate this?” Well, you are missing something, but it’s not you, per se, that’s missing it. What’s missing from the conversation that you are engaged in right now with these people is something I like to call common sense.

Years ago, I threw my support behind President Trump. Many of you’ve been listening to my podcast for a long time. I am a long-time conservative. President Trump was not my first choice. I was a huge supporter of Ben Carson. I still love Ben Carson, but I can see why the Lord allowed Trump to get into office. I remember when President Trump… Actually, I remember when he came down the elevator. I looked at my husband because I was in the kitchen making dinner and watching the news and I looked at my husband and I said, “The world’s on fire. President? This guy is going to run for president? Donald Trump is going to run for president?” We just went, “Huh. That is so bizarre.” Then I just ignored it. I thought, “He’s not going to get it. Carson will get it. Cruz will get it.”

But like I said before, the longer this goes on, the more I’m like, “We actually needed a fighter.” Can you imagine if there was anybody else in office right now? I just shudder to think what they would be doing to him because they’ve been doing everything they can to ruin and crush Donald Trump. When it became obvious that he was going to be the presumptive nominee, I threw my support behind him.

Immediately, I got a lot of hate mail. People said, “I’m never going to listen to you again. Trump is a racist.” He’s clearly not a racist. You guys, look at his history. He’s got tons of black friends. The only reason they’re saying he’s a racist is because he’s a conservative and the only thing that they can do to try to get support away from him is to cry, as Tucker Carlson would say, “Racist! You’re a racist.”

The whole racism thing, you guys have been hearing me talking about it. My friend, actually, Kathy Barnette, who is running for and I think has a really great shot at getting a seat in Congress, out of Pennsylvania, a black conservative, she’s coming on the show with me on Friday, you guys are going to want to hear her because what’s happened in the black community is from what I can see is that Christian… Not Christian… Well, no. Conservative, especially, Christian, too, but conservative black voices are stifled by the black community because it goes against the narrative. Blacks have traditionally in this country been Democrats, which I find amazing because if you look back to the history of the Democratic Party, they were the ones who actually promoted racism in the first place, not that the Republicans are guiltless, for goodness sakes, because politics.

I would say this: When I choose to vote and maybe this… I think, let’s move it as much as we can away from the discussion about race because the issues surrounding Donald Trump should never be steeped in racism because he’s clearly demonstrated that he is not a racist, but when I talk about politics to people, particularly people who say, “I can’t believe you support President Trump. He said mean things.” I always say, “Listen,” this is where I start…

Or people will say, “You’re picking between the lesser of two evils.” Yes, I am. That’s what we’re always doing and who you’re voting for. I mean, unless you’re voting for Jesus Christ Himself, you’re going to be picking, choosing between the lesser of two evils. We have to go back to platform. What we’ve done is and what the left is trying to do is they’re trying to make it strictly about personality. It’s not about personality. It has to be about platform.

As a Christian, I do not see how a thinking Christian can possibly support the liberal agenda, the Democrat agenda. Why? First of all, abortion. I’m one of those crazy values voters and if I can’t see eye-to-eye with you on the issue of abortion, I actually don’t want to hear your economic recovery plan. If I can’t see eye-to-eye with you on the issue of abortion, I’m not interested in anything else you have to say. Now, people can say, “Well, President Trump was pro-choice in the past.” I think that’s true. From what I understand, I think that’s true, but the point is, he’s not pro-choice now and frankly, he’s done more for the pro-life movement than any president who claimed to be pro-life in the years since he’s been in office. The pro-life issue is huge for me. Talk about the platform.

If you are interested in freedom for all Americans, if you’re interested in freedom of speech, if you’re interested in paying off the national debt, all of those things, this is the platform that is conservatism. When your black friends call Trump a racist, you can say to them, this is what I would say to my black friends if they said that to me, I would say, “Prove it. Show me that he’s shown me how he’s been a racist. Was he a racist when he appointed Ben Carson to be the Secretary of Housing? Was that racist? Was he a racist when he has spoken up against racism? Was that …?” I mean, he’s not a racist.

What’s happening is you’re seeing an attempt from people who just don’t like the platform. They know like you do and like I do that the things that are hanging in the balance for the next election are massive. We’re talking about the Supreme Court because we know Ruth Bader Ginsburg is not going to hold on for another presidential swing. She just isn’t. We know he’s for sure going to get one more person in the Supreme Court, he might even get two. You have the opportunity to change the Supreme Court for generations. This is what’s at stake. This is why you see the narrative being pushed in this country to divide us because the division that they seek is a division that will affect an election and that is what this is about. We need to keep our eye on the ball.

You guys have heard me say this for years: I believe that our nation will never be healed until there is repentance. Repentance has got to start in the church. So important that it starts in the church. I’m going to continue to say, Christians need to be involved in politics. This is why I’m so excited to have Kathy Barnette on on Friday, because Christians need to be involved in politics. They need to be up there saying, “No, we’re going to make decisions that are based on the good of all people that come, hopefully,” and they’re not going to be perfect, but when Christians get involved in policy, which is really what politics is, right, is we’re getting involved and we’re saying we want to be influencers of policy. Policy’s what’s determining what happens in our cities locally. I believe Christians need to have stronger voices in the political arena.

What happens right now is they try to shame you with it, right? They’re going to try to shame you because “If you support Trump, you’re a racist,” all this stuff. Just don’t listen. All right, I’m just going to encourage you, be kind, but you don’t have to listen. We absolutely want to be kind. That’s how we navigate it. That was a long answer to your rather short question, which, frankly, thank you so much for sending a short question, can I just say? Wow, I really appreciated that. That’s my long answer to your short question. I hope that helps. Focus on the platform and not on the personality, all right? I am thankful for President Trump and I’ll leave it at that.

“Hi, Heidi. I praise God for your fierce love. It encourages me to do the same. Thank you very much. This last year, I’ve been listening to your podcast and doing the MomStrong International Bible Study and I have grown deeper in my walk with the Lord. I am now seeing the sufficiency of the Bible truly is that: sufficient.” This is an exciting letter for me to read. I so love that you’ve sent it to me. “Currently, I’m a part of a group chat that will probably be departing soon because it is far from encouraging with Scripture. I hunger for the word in every situation. This group majority is more encouraged with dull, empty, worldly advice, and I can’t help but think of Ephesians 5:6. It says, ‘Let no one deceive you with empty words for, because of such things, God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient.'” That’s excellent.

“Recently, we got on the topic of sexual addiction and pornography, as a majority of our husbands struggle with it. One girl in particular shared that her husband may not be saved. I have a husband that is disobedient to the Word as well and I literally never share anything about his struggles unless it is with my mentor, but I encouraged her with what has happened in our lives and the importance of 1 Peter 3. I have seen a precious shift in my husband who is now more and more open to learning about the Bible and struggling less with pornography. Our marriage is just so precious and so loving, yes, even with a possible unbeliever.

“But the women in my group disagree with my testimony and the answered prayers that I’ve experienced and they feel that my husband, or at least I do need to attend some sort of AA meeting for sexual addicts. They back it up with the science behind the brain in sexual addiction. I would love to hear your thoughts on this matter. Would you encourage the wives with husbands who struggle with pornography, can a man overcome a porn addiction through a deepening relationship with the Lord and or biblical counseling, or do they need an actual sexual addiction course with therapists certified in that addiction?”

Okay, this is a really great question. I’m going to link back to some resources for you today. I will tell you right now, there are so many resources available to help Christians fight pornography addiction. One of the things that… Obviously, there are 12-step programs, there’s counseling. I am a fan of Christian counseling. If I was dealing with something in my marriage like this, or with a child, I would want to have my husband or my child and myself go to a Christian counselor because the battle that we’re facing requires a disciplined use of the armor of God, which we read about in Ephesians 6, right? An addict’s hope lies in the mercy of God and then yielding to the transforming work of the Holy Spirit, which is what it sounds like is happening in your husband’s life.

But as you yourself said, you’re not sure that he is a believer. If he’s not a believer, he doesn’t have the empowering help of the Holy Spirit. He has you who are helping him. I feel like I don’t know enough about your situation to say yes or no to the question of, “Does my husband need a sexual-addiction-trained counselor?” I don’t know, but I have seen the devastation that is caused by sexual addiction and I really appreciate your willingness, rather, to address it because the addict is in spiritual bondage, right? Addicts need the freeing grace that comes from the Lord.

Remembering that “the battle is against spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places,” right, that’s Ephesians 6:12, we come at it from that vantage point and we seek help from people who understand the spiritual component. Whether you decide to go through psychotherapy or through a 12-step program with a trained professional, I would say that trained professionals should be a Christian who can engage in this from a Christian perspective during therapy. I am not anti-therapy or anti-counseling, but I would say make sure that whoever you guys go to, that they come at this from a position of victory that comes from walking in right relationship with Jesus, because we know that ultimately, that is where healing is found.

I’m out of time for today. I want to tell you guys thank you so much for listening. I really, really appreciate your help in reviewing Becoming MomStrong and the other books I’ve written over at Amazon and other platforms and your reviews for the podcast. They mean a whole lot to me.

I also want to say, if you’re in the Portland/Vancouver area and you’ve not come by the Firmly Planted Homeschool Resource Center yet, we are literally exploding with new membership and people who are pulling their kids out of school. If you know somebody and you’re in the area and you guys need help, we’re open Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM, come and get a cup of coffee, come check out some curriculum. You can get an idea of the classes that we’ll be offering in the fall, as well as introduction to homeschooling, which we’re going to start doing those workshops again here really quick.

We love you guys. We’re praying for you. Thanks for listening and for sharing the podcast. Stay faithful, you guys. The Lord is still at work and he is not going to stop until the return of Jesus Christ, all right? I hope you guys are encouraged and I’ll see you back here on Friday with my friend, the amazing Kathy Barnette.