Dr. Malachi O'Brien, thanks so much for joining us again.
You wanted to give some more commentary to what happened at the faith leaders
summit in Georgia.
And so tell me about these these two speakers that really stood out to you.
That was Eric Metaxas and Jensen Franklin.
What was the feeling like in the room and what were their messages that they had?
Absolutely. And thanks, John.
Honor to be back. And I hope everybody kind of caught the last video that we did
with Rabbi Jonathan Khan, which has seemed to gone viral now across the Internet.
His word to President Trump.
So I do hope they watch that.
But there were 23 different speakers that took the stage that day for three minutes each.
But there were two there were two that really did stick out to me,
two of which are personal friends.
But they had like an anointed maybe even a prophetic word for the moment.
One was Pastor Jensen Franklin, pastors free chapel there in Georgia.
Obviously, prolific author on fasting.
But there was just there was just a pastoral word there given
that was just amazing.
But God knew that America would be at this crossroad.
And he knew that as the pulpit goes, so goes the nation.
And he knew that he could have confidence in you, pastor,
that you would stand up for the truth of God's word.
We're not politicians, we're preachers.
And every time we get up and lead our flock down the path of righteousness,
the Bible is right.
The Bible is good.
The Bible is not hate speech.
The Bible is what sets captives free.
And honestly, even Pastor Jensen pastors, one of the largest churches in the nation.
And yet in these last several months, he has been bold, he has been prophetic.
He has taken a stand in this hour of history, especially leading up to the election.
So I hope everybody watches that three minute segment.
And then Eric Metaxas, who I believe is a modern day Dietrich Bonhoeffer,
took the stage and even with his voice being a little bit out, it was sharp.
It was powerful. It cut deep.
It was almost like the Lord gave us some of the most piercing, piercing words of the hour,
not so much because it was painful, but because it went deep.
And so I know when people watch those clips, they probably will be drawn to get on their face
and pray and be moved to action.
Some of you familiar with the story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Some of you know that the Lord called me prophetically to write that story in my mother's womb
for such a time as this.
It's a story of a man who tried to get the church to wake up and to stand and to be the people of God
and to speak out against satanic evil.
And most in the church said, no, thank you.
What was your response to?
Let's start off with Eric Metaxas.
What was your response to what he said?
My response is I wish more pastors were as bold as he is and actually had a discerning spirit
like he does for the hour that we are in and that we have to vote.
Like to not to vote is to vote.
And so I honestly, Eric Metaxas is like is like a shot in the arm that we need to be really stirred to action.
And I think Eric can do that with a level of humor and a level of just sharpness that is just brings clarity and chaos.
And so I thought that every generation deserves to have a voice like that.
And I'm grateful that we do in Eric Metaxas.
Yeah, not to vote is to vote.
That's really stuck out to me for sure.
Now, what what stuck out to you about Pastor Jensen Franklin?
You said that he's been very bold recently.
He's got one of the largest churches in the nation and he's been very bold.
What has he been bold about?
OK, so about a month, month and a half ago, he did a series of sermons, two or three on it's time to take a stand.
And he made it very clear that this next election, it's not about who you're voting for, but about what you're voting for, not who, but what it's the policies.
And he explained that in this next election, it's about Israel.
It's about the next generation.
And he used the reference that when when Peter stood up to preach on the day of Pentecost, there were others that stood with him that day.
And it's not so much the main person on the platform that needs to take a stand.
It's other people around that person that needs to take a stand.
Maybe there would be more bold pastors in this hour if there were men and women in the church to say, Pastor, when you take a stand, we will take a stand with you.
And so those sermons have been powerful.
And honestly, you know, it's kind of you don't expect that so much in this hour we live in from from mega churches and almost the sometimes the misnomer is to pastor mega church.
You have to kind of be soft on issues, but that's the furthest thing from the truth in this hour.
And that's definitely not the case at Free Chapel in Atlanta, Georgia.
Pastor Jensen, and he does it with an anointed voice, a revival voice and a pastoral voice.
Pastor Jensen, and maybe maybe on that day, he did more to encourage pastors in the audience that day.
There were three thousand people there. Thousands were pastors and ministry leaders.
I think he did more that day to give identity and encouragement to pastors than anybody else.
And so I am grateful for that.
It's great that there was so many pastors there.
And I know that they spoke about having a an office of for Christian relations.
Could you tell me a little bit more about that?
Absolutely. Well, in the last administration, there was the Office of Faith and there the President Trump established
they were able to bring ten thousand faith leaders through the White House.
And many times when they'd come into the White House, he would invite them into the Oval Office
because he very much desired prayer.
But he made it very clear that in the new administration, he will establish that office again.
It'll be independent from anything else.
It will report directly to him because he wants faith to influence every part of the government.
He wants faith leaders to have access to the people's house, which is the White House.
And so, as others have said in times past, Christians and pastors and ministry leaders are to be the counselors to the king.
And I really believe he invites that in. And so it's encouraging.
Again, we haven't had that in four years. We haven't had that kind of access in four years.
But we're going to have that access again.
And it's going to be access needed to move our country to righteousness and godliness, revival and awakening.
From what you're saying, it sounds like he's going to be even more open to church leaders and pastors and hopefully prophets and apostles and evangelists and teachers and pastors as well.
You know, the whole fivefold ministry involved there and not just people that are good at preaching on Sundays.
You know, it would be good to have that whole the whole council there. What's your hope for that?
My hope for that is that we do get people who aren't so much looking for a photo op, but they're looking to actually do ministry in and through the White House and then from the White House and their state and their legislature and their Senate and their city, their mayor.
My hope is that we can change the culture in the church that believes that politics are evil, that we can change the culture in the church that believes if you get involved in politics,
you're going to you're going to dilute the gospel and actually show people that being involved in politics is salt and light and that the church has the answer for everything society faces.
And that is the gospel. And that is men and women filled with the spirit of God that see signs and wonders in their city.
They can see it in their city. They can see it their state. They see it in the state. We can see it in the nation.
So my hope is that what happens there gets replicated in every state.
And what happens there stays in the White House for many more administrations to come.
Dr. Malachi O'Brien, thank you so much for joining us today and taking the time to tell us even more about the important things that happened at that faith summit.
Thank you, John. Appreciate it.