By Decision Magazine<\/p>\n\n\n\n One Texas Democrat was on a roll this election season:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGod is non-binary.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere are many more than two biological sexes. In fact, there are six.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cProphetic voices like Jesus have helped me reckon with my own whiteness.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf you deny your child\u2019s gender identity, that\u2019s incredibly harmful. \u2026 It\u2019s abusive for sure.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s always rich to me that defund the police is considered off limits.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis idea that to be a Christian means you have to be anti-gay and anti-abortion, there really is no historical, theological, Biblical basis for that opinion.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Those are just a handful of the comments<\/a> from Texas\u2019 newly elected Democratic senator, James Talarico\u2014a graduate of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary who professes the Christian faith while championing LGBT ideology and abortion. Though he has claimed to have walked back<\/a> certain comments (such as his 2021 comment of God being non-binary), throughout his campaign, he repeatedly bent Scripture to prop up positions that stand in open conflict with the Bible he cites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In his victory speech<\/a> Wednesday, Talarico cast his political agenda and supporters in the roles of David against Goliath\u2014and then of Jesus Himself:<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m reminded of that story from Scripture of a shepherd boy who goes up against a giant for 40 days. \u2026 In this race, we went up against our own Goliaths. \u2026 David wasn\u2019t as big or as strong as Goliath. He didn\u2019t have as many weapons, but he had hope. He had faith, and he had a slingshot. You were my slingshot. The people of Texas were my slingshot. And tonight we defeated Goliath. Scripture has taught me, my own life has taught me, always bet on the underdog.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026Through every underdog, through every David against every Goliath, through every Texan who believed in our state and believed in this movement. Now the real work begins. Two-thousand years ago, when the people at the top hurt His neighbors, that barefoot rabbi didn\u2019t stay in His room and pray. He walked into the seat of power, and He flipped over the tables of injustice. As this movement heads to the seat of power, as we head to the United States Senate, we know what this moment requires of us. Texas, it\u2019s time to start flipping tables.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n During his campaign and even now on social media, supporters\u2014progressive Christians and atheists alike\u2014have held him up as a model of \u201cfaith.\u201d But for Bible-believing Christians, the concern runs deep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe\u2019s an actual heretic,\u201d said<\/a> Josh Howerton, senior pastor of Lakepointe Church in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. \u201cA Biblically defined false teacher and heretic.\u201d Politicians have long twisted Scripture to fit their narratives, Howerton noted. What sets Talarico apart, he said, is that \u201chis whole platform is using the Bible to convince Christians to support godless things.\u201d Howerton warned<\/a> that what progressive so-called Christians like Talarico do is \u201chollow out your religion and wear it like a skinsuit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As others have noted, for more mature believers, the statements can be easy to dismiss. For newer or weaker ones\u2014or those who have never read the Bible for themselves\u2014the risk of being led astray is real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Joseph Backholm, senior fellow for Biblical Worldview and Strategic Engagement at the Family Research Council and Government Affairs Advisor for NC Values Coalition, put the dynamic in sharper focus. Pointing to a speech in which the crowd cheered after Talarico quoted Scripture, Backholm observed<\/a>: \u201cChristianity is not offensive because of the God we worship. Christianity is offensive because of the gods we refuse to worship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s always been this way,\u201d he continued. \u201cNebuchadnezzar knew that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego worshipped Yahweh. That wasn\u2019t a problem until their loyalty to Yahweh conflicted with their loyalty to him. When they refused to bow, they became a problem. So it is today.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n In Backholm\u2019s view, \u201cSecularists don\u2019t care if you call yourself a Christian, talk publicly about Jesus, and regularly attend church as long as you worship their rainbow gods of autonomy too. If you do, they\u2019ll hold you up as an example of one of the \u2018good Christians\u2019\u201d\u2014exactly as they are now doing with Talarico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus will be horrified, Backholm concluded, but the world will applaud it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I once made a business trip to Dallas, Texas for a week for a billing error deep dive project, and being a non-drinker, I cruised around Dallas eating out at night while the AT&T management was sucking down the free drinks at the hotel (kind of hilarious in that they tipped the bartender what drinks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world"],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Jason","author_link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/author\/jturning\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19359"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19361,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19359\/revisions\/19361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"talarico](\"https:\/\/harbingersdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/talarico-pulpit-endorsement-2-1067x600.jpg\" "\\"talarico-pulpit-endorsement")
\n\n\n\nSarah Holliday<\/strong> is an Assistant Editor for (Harbinger\u2019s Daily<\/a> Contributing Publisher) Decision Magazine<\/a>. She is also a Family Research Council (FRC)<\/a> contributor.<\/em><\/h6>\n\n\n\n