Ancient Roots Of Cancel Culture: Part 1 of 3

We trace the ancient roots of cancel culture through the book of Acts and connect them to modern efforts to silence public faith. Ryan shares his own cancellation story, highlights documented cases of Christian censorship, and calls us to suffer for faithfulness, not foolishness.

• cancel culture and vulture culture defined
• Acts as a historical model for public witness
• personal story of publishing pushback and delays
• examples of everyday religious expression censored
• polling shows majority support yet minority rule
• voice your values with courage and restraint
• preview of Stephen’s martyrdom and key lessons

If you found any of what you heard today helpful, please share it with others who may benefit

And if you would like to support the content that we put out, please consider making a donation at reallifeministry.us

While you're there, check out some of our episodes
And together, let's continue to educate and encourage Christians to live free and live strong

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to Real Life Ministry, where we are dedicated to teaching and encouraging Christians to live free and live strong. Your host today is Ryan Rice, a Bible teacher, a pastor, entrepreneur, and a writer. Join us as we dive into various topics and how they relate to faith, values, and making a positive impact in America. Let's dive into it.

Defining Cancel And Vulture Culture

Acts As Historical Blueprint

Modern Martyrs And Cultural Tension

Lions Versus Scavengers

Personal Story: Book And Backlash

Islam, Persecution, And Publishing Roadblocks

Travel Update And Prophetic Outlook

America’s Silence And Acts 4

Documented Cases Of Christian Censorship

Cultural Double Standards And Restraint

SPEAKER_01 0:32

All right, guys, welcome back to another episode of Real Life Ministry. I am in the studio at home recording this podcast, bringing it to you from Mikasa to Sukasa, my house to your house. So whether you're listening to this in the truck or your home or wherever you are, thanks for tuning in. So today I am talking about the idea of this ancient roots of the cancel culture, doing a deep dive on cancel culture, disinformation, misinformation, character assassination, reputation destruction destruction, and the vulture culture we live in. So get ready. We're going to be unpacking one of the ancient manuscripts of this origins story of Christianity being persecuted, where the book of Acts unfolds the story where Luke is the historian. He takes and kind of unfolds as a paid uh historian by a gentleman by the name of Theophilus to record all the details and the actions of Jesus Christ in the Gospel of Luke and then the Acts of the Apostles in the book of Acts. The book of Acts is a history story. It reads like a narrative. There's 28 different chapters in it. In the very beginning, it's the formation and storyline when the apostles are told to wait in Jerusalem and wait on the Holy Spirit when the Holy Spirit would come to them. This is after the death, burial, resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit would come to them and they would be witnesses in the world. And it tells the story and the glory of the early church. And so in today's podcast, we're talking about the very first Christian martyr. I mean, you think about martyrs in our time, you think of guys like Martin Luther King, uh JFK, uh, you think of perhaps Charlie Kirk, and some would argue, oh, these, you know, though these are these are not true martyrs. Well, by definition of 250 years of word studies, I'd tell you, yes, they are. They're dying for what they believe in, and their ethics and their values, you know, came from the scriptures. At least I'll say that for Martin Luther King Jr. and for Charlie Kirk. I'm not going to speak on the JFK thing, but nonetheless, these are a martyr, is somebody who dies for what they believe in, whether it be a political or a biblical ideology. And so what we see in culture is this crazy cultural moment where all of this is going on. Ben Shapiro wrote a book called Lions and Scavengers. It's the true story of America and her critics. And when I'm talking about vulture culture, the idea of it's a class of people who are like scavengers. They they are constantly scavengers. These scavengers are they live off the work of others. They blame their failures on systems of power, and they treat success as a sin and failure as a virtue. And they feed upon and prey upon. These scavengers are parasitic, and they are vulture-like people who produce nothing and demand everything. And you know, this is where we live. And you know, we are as believers called to be like lions. The Bible says that we are the righteous are like lions. Like take up the mantle of leadership that God has given you. You're an ambassador of Jesus Christ, you're a witness to the world, you're light to the earth, your salt of the earth. Like you have a purpose, and there's power in that. And so today we're going to be uncovering this ancient roots of cancel culture. And we're going to be talking about this idea of suffering for faithfulness, not foolishness. So we'll see how this thing goes. This may be a two-part series. We'll get rolling into it and just see. So here's what I want to do before I jump into the the origin story of Christianity in Storyline. I mean, first, let me just tell you um as a as you know, kind of tell you my personal story. So, my personal story, I experienced something like this. Um, I'm writing a book, it's like almost out. It's called Thinking Biblical About the Geopolitical Israel, Iran, and America's Future. Like that woke you up. I'm telling you, like, I wrote the book a while ago. It was like last summer or something like that. Yeah, I wrote it on like just a summer vacation. I mean, that's what happened. I started writing. I mean, that's the thing is, and and for anybody who gives pastors a hard time for taking off time, like, dude, if the the pat if your pastor is a content creator, like he's constantly the what he that means is that he's constantly writing, constantly producing, constantly preaching. The only way to be good at that is read like a ninja. Ninja. Dude, I'm blowing your ears out, maybe, but you need to wake up because this message is for you. Listen, you will be under attack as a believer. There is a call on your life to be a witness and to never be silenced and to speak up. The problem with American Christians is that we vote our values, but we don't voice our values. And I read a statistic like something like 70% of the majority of Christians would affirm the idea of prayer in school, the Ten Commandments, you know, this keeping the phrase and God we trust on the coins. It would affirm that, but that same 70% does nothing about it. So it is the minority that is pushing to erase Christ in culture, God in culture, and erase that from the very moral fabric of our country. And so the strategy of the enemy has not changed. It's constantly silence the witness, silence the witness, silence the witness. And so we live in a day and a time where this is not just a Christian life, it's some playground, it is a battleground. And you need to figure it out to own it up and to live free, live strong. That's the theme of this podcast. So back to my story on the book. I wrote this book on uh a sabbatical, or not a sabbatical, a vacation, a couple of weeks in the summer. And uh then I came back and I actually decided, you know what, I'm gonna teach on it. Why? Well, because what was going on was, you know, we just launched an aircraft carrier, a bomber over to Iran and neutralized the nuclear facilities of Iran, and which, by the way, is housing some of the most radical Muslim leaders in the world, if I would say the most radical, the biggest bullies of the Middle East, some of the most dangerous people. They do not deserve to have nuclear powers. So we bombed their facilities. And I wrote in the book this idea that it was like grabbing a rattlesnake and then taking its fangs off, like taking it, but then tossing the rattlesnake back into the desert. And my prediction was well, that's fine, but they're just gonna grow back because that's what happens when you de-fang a rattlesnake, their fangs just grow back, and sure enough, they did grow back. And so that's why we went back, and we didn't just pull the fangs out of the snake. What we did is we actually cut the head off the snake, and so this is drawing attention all around the world, and there is a deep hatred for Christianity, there's deep hatred for the faith, and Muslims, I'll say Islamist to clarify, are the most the greatest aggressors against the Christian faith. And so I wrote about this in my book, and I sent it off to the publisher and sent it off for the editorial services, and they refused to write, refused to edit uh my manuscript. So they were like three quarters done, and then when I start writing about the Islamic extremism and all that was going on, and just doing the research about the most persecuted nations in the world happen to be where is it's like Islamic majority. So it's like very it's not coincidence, it's just that's a normal natural pattern of what happens when your ideology and your teachings from the Quran teach you that your way for mass evangelism is by fear and force. So, you know, that you basically convert or die is the message. And you know, it's sad because Muslims cannot find God to be a compassionate, loving God. What they find is a fearful, a God they fear only. And and don't get me wrong, there's that's one of the greatest commands in the Bible is actually to fear fear the Lord. But all with that throughout the scriptures, this compassionate, loving God, and our fear and reverence for him is a recognition of his honor and his glory and his supremacy and sovereignty, and our inadequacy, and his great surplus and abundance, and so there's this holy reverent fear that we have, but in Islam, it is like you fear Allah, you never know if you're gonna be truly saved or not. And if you do not convert, then you are uh rejecting Allah and Muhammad his prophet. And so it is an aggressive religion. And I wrote about it and I got canceled on it. They called it hate speech, they flagged it, labeled it, and so it delayed me tremendously. I probably would have had another book out, and so that just shows like on the personal side of this, like when I'm talking about this cancel culture and what's going on, then then you know, you just need to know, like, I'm feeling it firsthand, you know. So it's like I I I I remember them telling me they highlighted a bunch of stuff and they said, This is hate speech, we cannot edit this. And I'm thinking to myself, what? And they said, You fabricated lies. And I'm like, What? And so it really kind of startled me at first. Like, what did I do? Like, I did I do something wrong? Like, I felt like I was the kid swimming in the pool after hours, and then I'm like, wait a second, you guys are just a bunch of crazy liberals that are just gonna censor anything like that. So, anyway, I I took my business somewhere else, obviously, and a Christian publishing company picked it up, Suncoast Publishing, and it should be out really soon. So, FYI, I hope that you grab a book, grab a copy of it. It'll be on Amazon and Audible in the near future. I'll be sure to let you know. In addition, um, we are still doing our Holy Land trip. If you'd like to go check that out, just go to reallife ministry.us and you can sign up there. The trip is still happening. I just got word back from uh Israel, and so um they are obviously it's concerned with some of the things that have gone on recently in the news. However, their um signature tours, our team over there, they're they're never gonna host a trip or have a trip if it's not safe. So, end of story. So if it's not safe, they'll cancel the trip, you'll get your full deposit, refund everything back, and you'll be good to go. So let's go to the Holy Land. I think we are in the beginnings of Lord willing, Abrahamic Accords 2.0, where we're gonna see peace that has never been seen in the Middle East before. And by the way, I think this echoes into the end times theology that there will be a time of peace that will precede the tribulation period. There will be um the Great Tribulation, at least. And so, you know, there is there is gonna come a time of peace. And I think, I think, I think that's what is going to happen. I think there perhaps could be some of the greatest level of peace and prosperity over there in the Middle East in the days ahead. That is my prayer, that is my thoughts. So, all right, so let's talk about this, this cancel culture, this vulture culture that just preys upon people and picks apart their words and sound bites them. So there's there's there's no ancient, I mean, there's a couple things I'm gonna do. Um one, um I'm kind of jumping around here, but um I want to talk to you about America for a second, because this is an American podcast, uh, real life ministry.us. That's not dot us, that's dot United States. Uh so I want to talk about America, though, and the silence that is against seeking to silence the witness. And then we're gonna jump back into the book of Acts, and I'm gonna highlight to you one of the first martyrs of the day. I'm gonna read to you a path, it is a bit of an article. This is some source material that I found in a wonderful Bible called The Founder's Bible, The Origin, the Dream of Freedom. It's a really cool big fat dog Bible. It's uh David, I think Barton is the guy who kind of put it together. Uh you can find it, and it's got like uh stars and an American flag on it. Just amazing. It's just so many awesome articles in it. Like, let me just tell you like, buy one. Like, you're gonna love it. I mean, unless you hate America, then you're not gonna like it. But if you love Jesus and you thank God for our country, then you gotta have one of these. So um here's here's an article. It's it and it's it's like kind of like sandwiched into the book of Acts, chapter four. And it's like this classic section when basically Peter and John are arrested, and they're like, hey, we can't stop speaking about what we've heard and seen. Like, we're not gonna shut up. Like the they're not going to stop speaking about Jesus. And so they kind of put in this article right there, and um I love it. The the title of it is We Won't Be Silent. Psalms two, one through four um observed three millennia ago, uh why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand and their rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed. He who sits in the heavens laughs, and the Lord scoffs at that at him, at them. Uh that's a quote from Psalms two, one through four, and the article goes on to say that you know, it has happened in the past in regard to national Israel, and yet this passage also speaks prophetically about a time uh future when this will be true of Jesus Christ. And so when you think about it, is you remember the nations have, in a sense, come against Christ. That phrase in Psalms 2, 1 is why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, against his anointed one. And so this is a passage true of Israel back then, and it was true of Jesus Christ. It was a prophetic uh uh foreshadowing of what would be true of for Christ. And it's hard to imagine at some point, though, all the nations of the world will knowingly be aligned together against God. I think that is a future prophecy as well. So this is a very complex prophecy. It's like triple hermeneutic. It's like triple, like it, and it's very possible hermeneutic is study of the scriptures. There's there's there's multiple fulfillments to to happen in this passage. It was true in their day, it was true in Jesus' day, it's true in the future as well. Um, the world will turn against all of Christianity in the future called the Great Tribulation. So here we go. Um here's what's interesting. So in this article, the the uh author says, it seems unthinkable, and yet a simple review of some of the today's intolerance for public Christian expression makes you wonder if the stage isn't being set in measure for that very thing. So, in other words, that we're gonna about to I'm about to read through kind of like a just a sample of what's going on in our country for all this hatred and against Christianity. Here's here's the first one. And all these are they're these are documented, and I'm not gonna give you the sources of it, but here in the article it states the state employee in Minnesota was barred from parking his car in the state parking lot because he had religious sticker on his bumper. So he this guy couldn't park into the parking lot because he had a Christian sticker on his bumper. So because he was a state employee. So either take the sticker off or move your car. You know, it's like, dude, let me tell you, Christian, do not take your sticker off. Put your sticker on there. If they if they have gay flags and parades and turn the White House into a rainbow, come on, are you kidding me? You can keep your bumper sticker, Christian. So, and it's no surprise it's Minnesota. I mean, that's like the laboratory for Democratic, uh, dem Democrat ideas. Uh, literally, it was like a case study. And so, anyway, I just talked to a sheriff over there who was there with the George Floyd riots. He was a friend of mine, and he just said he he remembers the day they're unloading buses of paid rioters and activists. So I I don't know what to tell you, man. I just think it's crazy. Okay, here's another one. A kindergarten student in Saratoga Springs, New York was forbidden to say a prayer over her lunch and was scolded by a teacher for doing so. Scolding a kindergarten kid for praying? What? Here's another one a military honor guardsman was removed from his position for saying, God bless you and this family, and God bless the United States of America. This happened during a memorial service, and the family actually. Requested the guardsman to say those words, and this guardsman was removed from his position for doing that. It's crazy. Here's another one. Senior citizens meeting at a community center in Balk Springs, Texas were prohibited from praying over their meals. Can you imagine that? Your grandma and grandpa at the community center, they're told you can't bow your head and pray for your pray and thank God for your food. Dude. What? Geez. How about this one? This is super terrible. A library employee in Russellville, Kentucky was barred from wearing her necklace because it had a small cross on it.

unknown 22:57

Shh.

Polls, Public Support, And Quiet Majorities

Call To Voice Values And Part Two Tease

SPEAKER_01 22:59

A library employee in Russellville, Kentucky was barred from wearing her necklace because it had a small cross on it. That's ridiculous. A college student serving as a residential assistant in uh Wisconsin was prohibited from holding Bible studies in their own private dorm rooms. How crazy is that? And this is where it gets even more radical. All right, in Orange County, California, a pastor was arrested for quietly playing Christian music at his picnic table in a public park. That is wild. How about this one? Uh, two Gideons, uh the guys that pass out those little green Bibles and stuff, and my my uncle actually does that really cool. And they put them in all the hotels. It's a really cool Bible ministry. Two Gideons were arrested in Florida for standing on a sidewalk and giving Bibles to those who wanted them. Huh. Wow. You're arrested for handing out Bibles, but we have like story time with like transgender men dressed as women and lying to kids and saturate the libraries and the curriculum with perversion and a crazy distorted view of sexuality, and we call that tolerance, and we call that uh you know you know there's some kind of unifying idea of inclusivism. I'm sorry, man. You just have to understand that if you get your cues from culture, you're gonna blow up your mind. That's what you gotta do. You gotta blow up your mind. Like you you you have to just let go of logic and just go with it, bro. Just feel it. Your truth is your truth. Love is love. Sorry. Sorry for that. It sounded a bit mockery, I get it. But there is some level of just anger, and I'll just tell you, that is just anger. Okay? I'm not gonna unleash fury on like somebody that I disagree with or their their lifestyle in the sense of any, you know, verbal harassment, physical harassment. Never do that. Show respect or show restraint, but speak truth, be bold. It's okay to be angry, it's okay to be weirded out. I interviewed a lady that was a part of our church, she was an Amazon drip uh driver, and I talked to her about like I just get weirded out, and I'm labeled a homophobic. I get weirded out when I see two men holding hands, and I get weirded out when I see girls like looking like lesbians and acting different. And you know what she said to me? She said, It's normal to feel weird because that is not normal. That is abnormal. And I did the podcast, you should go back and listen to it. It was from like from gay girl to you know, uh, from from gay life to uh from gay wife. There we go. From gay wife to new life, and it was a cool story, it was cool. She's a believer, she's fired up, and she wanted to do a podcast, and we'll have to see if I can find her. And she she moved further out of the Phoenix Valley area. Um, but she wanted to do a podcast called No Half-Ass Christians because she started realizing like too many Christians are half-assed. So, like, when she came to faith in Christ, it like rocked her world. We had the privilege to baptize her, and she went public with her faith. It's so awesome, I'm so proud of her. So, anyway, go back and try to find that episode. You'll love it. Okay, so back to these two Gideons are arrested for in Florida for just standing on a side while giving out Bibles. And I'll just read like one or two more of these incidents and then get to my point, and then we're probably gonna have to go to like part two of this series. Okay, let's see. Oh, yeah, this one fires me up. Okay, a Christian father, that is me, was arrested in Lexington, Massachusetts for objecting to the public school teaching his kindergarten son about homosexuality and gay marriage. Here's what I say to you, Christian father. You go, dad. Wait a rock and roll, start a jail ministry in there. Paul did it. Say the chains are for Christ. Like, dude, go for it. Now, again, I don't know what he did. Hopefully, he didn't like do something real stupid, but he objected to the public school teachings, his kindergarten son about homosexuality and gay marriage. Like, what are you doing teaching a kindergarten about homosexuality and gay marriage? It's just bizarre, bro. So I so the modern hostility towards Christianity in America is unprecedented, but in general, but the general conflict is not new. It's been there, it's been there a long time. Throughout history, those who hate God have joined forces with one another to oppose God, his son, and his people. So here's what's crazy. I I made mention of this earlier. What's what's crazy is that after significant research and polling repeated repeatedly affirms the idea that public, and I quote, the pup that public approval for religious expression, such as prayer at schools or political gatherings, displays of the Ten Commandments or other religious documents, preservation of the national motto, and under God in the pledge of in the pledge, uh teaching creation in public schools, etc., is consistently, listen, at 70% or above. Meaning, other words, like in doing the research in the polls, it's like the seven seventy percent of the people that they have researched and did a poll with to ask this question about these things, they actually support it. They think it's good. So the majority actually still holds to what I would say a Christian Judeo values or Judeo-Christian values. Yet in each of these areas, the secularist and the god haters are prevailing in public policy. Why is that? That is because about seventy percent of the people who uphold this these values do nothing. They sit on their hands, they shake their heads, they might vote their values, but they don't voice their values, so nobody else holds to the value that they hold to, and we lose in the public square. So that's why I'm doing this podcast. Like, do you hear me? Please. Like, I can't dominate the pulpit with all this kind of communication. And the reason why is because I like I need to teach the Bible, but I'll teach these principles woven throughout the scriptures, and so you gotta go for it. All right, that's all I've got for you today. I just hopefully stirred the pot, and I'm asking you to come back, part two, and we'll unpack that story in the book of Acts about this guy named Stephen, and I'm gonna show you what it means to suffer for faithfulness, not foolishness. Because there's a difference. You suffer for being faithful, that means you're being a faithful Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ. Jesus said they if they persecuted me, they'll persecute you. So if you suffer for righteousness' sake, that's a good thing. But if you're suffering for foolishness, it just means you're an idiot. So or at least a fool. We'll just call you that. And I've suffered for both. And the good news is God forgives and restores and redeems those who suffer for for for uh being faithful and for those being foolish. So, all right, we'll see you next time.

SPEAKER_00 32:10

Thank you for listening to Real Life Ministry. If you found any of what you heard today helpful, please share it with others who may benefit. And if you would like to support the content that we put out, please consider making a donation at reallifeministry.us. While you're there, check out some of our episodes. And together, let's continue to educate and encourage Christians to live free and live strong.