Ken Todd: Compassion Without Action Is Just Empathy

Episode 742 Transcript: Ken Todd - Compassion Without Action Is Just Empathy

Original broadcast: Friday, November 13, 2026
Host: Peter Vazquez
Guest: Senior Pastor Ken Todd, Harvest Bible Fellowship

Edited for readability from the station broadcast transcript. Commercials, station IDs, weather updates and promotional breaks have been omitted. Speaker identification is based on the broadcast context. The published podcast is edited from the broadcast, so original broadcast timestamps do not necessarily correspond to the podcast audio. Statements and statistics reflect what speakers said and have not all been independently verified.

Part 1 | Military Families, Faith and Service

Peter Vazquez: You're on? Yeah. And, You know something, ladies and gentlemen? There's November 11 where we say thank you to our men and women in uniforms. You know, the... Those veterans that served our nation with honor and dignity. But I wanna take one second because November also acknowledges, you know what? Those people behind that soldier, making sure that soldier is able to get up and do his duty, see, to his nation. And that means that this month in November is National Military Families Month. And I personally wanna say thank you. Thank you to my children. Thank you to the children of those veterans and members that are currently serving, you know, because without you, it is so difficult to stay focused when we're sitting over there and we're watching these, these bullets come overhead.

Peter Vazquez: You know, Ken, check this out. The Department of Defense said approximately two, 2,370,000 registered military family members support our active duty members. Isn't that amazing? That is amazing. That to me right there, whether they know it or not, is God, country, and family, ladies and gentlemen. Military spouses face 20% unemployment rate.

Other on-air voice: Wow.

Peter Vazquez: Isn't that insane?

Pastor Ken Todd: Yeah. Well, one of the things I noticed when my son was living in Killeen, Texas, which is a military town, the amount of homelessness amongst the soldiers. And, they wanna help. They wanna serve. They wanna continue after they're out, but they're kind of lost, just a little bit. But they love their country.

Peter Vazquez: They do.

Pastor Ken Todd: And they wanna do everything they can to help it.

Peter Vazquez: You know, I... And this is probably why I'll never be president. But I, you know, I think there's some validity in saying that young people coming out of high school, school, because high school is too important or school in general, serve in our in our armed forces.

Pastor Ken Todd: Absolutely. I think it'd be a great step forward. I think because of my travels around the world, I've been to about not as many countries as some, but about 12 countries. And you get a glimpse of when you get back to our own homeland, how blessed we really are and how many people take for granted the very blessings and the freedoms that we have. And people wanna gripe about what it is. It's not perfect by any stretch, but I challenge you to go see some of these other countries. Mhmm. And then you realize and get a perspective that, man, we have it. Our worst day is 10 times better than anyone else's best day.

Peter Vazquez: That's when you start realizing what poverty truly is, what socialism, what communism, what Marxism, what it means to truly have a king. You know something, ladies and gentlemen? I'm here talking to this guy who is phenomenal. He has called the show before. We have had him on here before. But, you know, this is the honorable senior pastor Ken Todd of Harvest Bible Fellowship in Henrietta. Excuse me. Yes, sir. Thank you for taking the time to come in today. My privilege. You know, it... It's rare. I don't wanna say it's rare because it's not as rare these days, although it kinda is not as it should be, that you run into a pastor who's willing to have a candid conversation, who's willing to defend the reasons why we should constantly focus ourselves on God, country, and family, and in my opinion, in that order.

Peter Vazquez: Ladies and gentlemen, this is the thing. You know, different people, different circumstances. Right, Ken? Right. But the thing is this. See? One underlying question always exists amongst all that, and that is the question that we ask is who are we as a nation and more and more these days as individuals, pastor. And the thing is we're living through an extraordinary... What I call an extraordinary contradiction. We have more technology to measure performance, more public money devoted to solving problems. Billies, we're gonna talk about it. It's in education. We're gonna see how that's impacting. Right? More institutions claiming to protect people and more ways to communicate, than previous generations, but yet the struggle to understand still remains.

Pastor Ken Todd: I think it's because of the entitlement mentality. I remember when I was just a kid, my... I wanted to take trumpet lessons of all things. I never advanced very fast at that. I wasn't very good at it. But my dad had this policy. If you wanna buy something expensive, you have to put some skin in the game.

Peter Vazquez: Mhmm.

Pastor Ken Todd: And I asked him one day. I said, dad, why are you making me pay for this trumpet? Why don't agents pay for it? He said, because if I pay for it won't mean as much to you, and you won't take as good a care of it. And I think that principle goes into almost every aspect of life. When we are handed things that we don't work for, that we don't, you know, look at as something that we've invested in, we take it for granted, and we don't take care of it. And I think that's a lot of our freedoms. That's a lot of the material wealth that we have. It's a lot of things that have been handed to us, and it cost us nothing.

Peter Vazquez: And it doesn't cost us much. and just to confirm, senior Pastor Ken Todd of Harvest Bible Baptist. I wanna make sure we know who you are. What's your website? Maybe people can check out, you know, your...

Pastor Ken Todd: It's harvest Bible rock. It's harvest Bible, bibleroc,.org.

Peter Vazquez: No. It doesn't say church anywhere, and it doesn't say Baptist or Catholic or Episcopal. I mean, a lot of these different titles that I see throughout different churches.

Pastor Ken Todd: Well, you know, I like to think of it this way. We are believers, and we have a fellowship of people who want to know and to live out their faith for the Lord. Nice. And, so we encourage everybody to come. If you're looking for a church, we'd love to have you. I think if there's one outstanding characteristic that has always brought to our attention is that, man, your people are friendly.

Peter Vazquez: And, we will we

Pastor Ken Todd: will welcome you with open arms.

Peter Vazquez: I showed up one day, and everybody just kinda looked at me, and they went right back to service. And that was it. You know? They talked to me a little bit afterwards. Like, we were friends, and I'm like, do they know us or something? Because, which was great, and it made it very comfortable. Pastor, you know, we hear a great deal about compassion, leadership. You talk about leadership a lot in your sermons. You talk about my... Or last night at the men's group, you were talking about that. Talk about doing the right thing. Right? From a biblical perspective, how do we distinguish genuine service from simply wanting to be seen as a good person? Because there's a difference between works Yeah.

Peter Vazquez: And doing something for Christ.

Pastor Ken Todd: Well, I think there's a phrase that I have, shared with our people many times, and it's basically this. Em, compassion without action is just empathy. Compassion without action is just empathy. And empathy doesn't change anything. You can see needs all around you. And if you don't, you know, you can feel bad about it, you can wish to do something. But until you take a step to meet a need, it's just empathy. And empathy doesn't change anything. So you feel bad. Big deal. Compassion puts action to what we're talking about, to what we're seeing, to what is visual in front of us. And I think that's the whole heart of God is that he says, I came to love.

Pastor Ken Todd: And he said the greatest commandment is to love. Well, my other little statement that I've used many times over the years is love is a decision that results in action and expects nothing in return. So first of all, I made a decision to love, and that decision to love requires me to put words to it, to put feet to it. And so I serve, and I am not doing it because of what you may or may not do for me. I mean, there's a lot of people that we serve that they have no ability to do anything in exchange, but we do it because it's Christ like.

Peter Vazquez: Tell me. Is is prayer without feet? Right? Is prayer without feet just politics?

Pastor Ken Todd: It really is.

Peter Vazquez: That's pretty How

Pastor Ken Todd: many people just say, well, I'm praying for you, and it really doesn't mean anything.

Peter Vazquez: No. None unless they're actually, you know, devoted to praying. Exactly. The thing is prayer... You know, pastor, pastor g from, gospel light, I believe it is, in case Mhmm. You know, would say, listen, man, and women, but listen, man, you need to get on your knees when you pray. And it doesn't mean that you gotta stop your car, get out of the car, and go knee somewhere. What it means is, you know, when you can, you do, but, you know, your heart has to be at a knees. You need to be humble in front of

Pastor Ken Todd: First Thessalonians chapter five, it says, pray without ceasing. That doesn't mean, dear Lord Jesus, I'm coming to you again. It simply means that no matter what I'm doing, no matter where I'm going, no matter what's on my mind, as I'm sitting here talking to you, I can be in the attitude of prayer and say, Lord, give me words to say. Guide my thoughts, you know, and so forth throughout the day in every circumstance.

Peter Vazquez: Can you imagine if every elected official... If every person that that took the title of leadership thought that way, Ken? I mean, what what would what would be... If if they all did... I mean, even if they're like, listen. I don't wanna believe in that whole Jesus stuff, that tall mumbo jumbo. But maybe I'm just gonna pray. If they just did that, the the miracle of God and God's power will work in ways then.

Pastor Ken Todd: We would slow down and think twice, which is also another biblical principle. The... You know, do you slow to speak and swift to hear? You know, that's a Bible principle that we live by is that we should think before we speak. And if we were to take a moment to pray before we make a decision, we might not make some of the decisions we would make. We might not respond in some of the ways that we would typically respond.

Peter Vazquez: I'm gonna I'm gonna... You have a great organization, outside of the church that you're working, and that's, providing clean water, in what part

Pastor Ken Todd: of Africa? Well, we primarily concentrate in West Africa, and I've really come to love the people of Ivory Coast. And by the way, they love Americans. I've been there twice. And, during the Bush years and even part of the Reagan years, America was very good to, Ivory Coast. And so they come to appreciate Americans. And what I realized when I went there is one of the poorest countries there is in Africa. Average man makes about a dollar 50 a day. Wow. And, one of the biggest problems they have is water. And so I formed in a not for profit organization called Another Step Solutions, and we provide wells for the people of Ivory Coast and other parts of West Africa, to provide clean, safe drinking water.

Peter Vazquez: Ken, take us to take us to that community where you're providing. So tell us what an average day. We get it in... You know, one guy can make about, would you say, a $150 a day?

Pastor Ken Todd: Dollar 50 a day.

Peter Vazquez: Or a dollar... Excuse me. A dollar 50 a day. But I wouldn't even put a gas in my car to get to work. But politics, family, God, I mean, they must be so unhappy that they turn to the government for everything and say, well, you know, this must be God for the purpose. Government.

Pastor Ken Todd: It's just a matter of... So when I was there up

Peter Vazquez: on government?

Pastor Ken Todd: I think they've given up on government. Interesting. Because of the idea, they've just gone so long without any help that they just... They know it's on them to provide for themselves, to take care of themselves, and so forth. And what I realized when I was there in Ivory Coast, there are parts of the, area that just really... They're... At sunrise, they're starting to dig through their garbage trash to find water containers or containers that would hold water that would leak.

Peter Vazquez: And all they have is faith.

Pastor Ken Todd: Yes. But there's a whole story behind that's really interesting.

Peter Vazquez: We have to make a show on that. Yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, once again, I'm here in studio. It is my honor to have Senior Pastor Ken Todd, Harvest Bible... Jeepers. Harvest Bible Fellowship. I was tempted to say Baptist for some reason. We'll be right back right here. Meet the lines that are open. 5853463008665521009.

[Station break omitted.]

Part 2 | Clean Water, Responsibility and School Sports

Peter Vazquez: You're on. Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. See and meet us. Shout out to YFC Rochester, yfcrochester.org. You know that Youth for Christ people, that old, a veteran over there, Senor Mike Hennessy, thank you for the work that you do. Ken, Todd, pastor, sir, I love you, man. I I love the work that you do. You're real. Like, you're like, listen. I'm me. Like me or don't like me, Jesus put me here with a purpose, and that's where I'm working. That's great. We we have Keith on the line. Brother Keith, senor?

Caller Keith: Yes. In a theological, spiritual way, the draft must be brought back. We all understand the thinking with the all volunteer army was that, from the military point, we really only want people who want to be here really in the military, but, the higher stuff, overthought it. People go in and they adapt whether they like it or not. The military is based on yes, sir, no, sir, and obeying orders. It doesn't matter in the least of some, Joe Schmoe soldier doesn't like an order. You do the order as long as it's, a good moral order. It's it's within the, protocols of the military to disobey if the order is morally wrong. There is that mechanism. Yeah.

Caller Keith: But all in all, what we fail to, understand is that when, the majority of our people... Because now, it's the lowest rate of citizen participation in the military. Only 1% of our population, really has anything to do with the military, and that includes all of our congresspeople. We used to have a much higher percentage of people in the congress who knew the military. Practically, no one, the state of Quigley, and congress today has that military heritage. So to sum this up, what would all of the, socialism, Marxism coming on, that could have been prevented if they had kept the draft going. Our young people all these decades since the all volunteer army, if they had been in the military, they would have not had the easy life that so many of these young people have today.

Caller Keith: They would have had decades under their collective belt of seeing what it means to be, a real life American and patriotic. And I wanna say in closing, if they were to bring the draft back, then we would see in our young people today, would they go in to the military? Would they accept the draft, or would they be rioting out of the street saying, no. We won't go. While it's gotten to a point to everyone in closing that, our young people, are they a certain percentage of at least one third that they don't care about the country. It was really put to them. Yes. You have to serve. Would they go? Would they show up at the draft places, the recruitment places, or would they refuse and riot and say, no.

Caller Keith: We will not be good patriotic Americans. That's the the test case. I say in closing, break back the draft as fast as soon as possible. We need these young young people to know what it means to be good, patriotic Americans.

Peter Vazquez: I agree a 100%. Keith, I appreciate the call. You know, pastor, I don't know if bringing back the draft at least where... Mommy, yeah, it would be right after high school. Mhmm. However, though, he asked about there being riot if we did that today. Absolutely, there will be. We... We'd have a nation in chaos. We have a whole generation that lost that patriotic nature, but let's not forget, though, the nine eleven, like, right after and when the war started, that first year or so of the war, what were we seeing?

Pastor Ken Todd: A lot of people who voluntarily stepping forward.

Peter Vazquez: Well, they act, but we also saw a lot of people who were... Who had to go in and act Yes. Duty, who said, wait a minute. I came in for the education. Wait a minute. I didn't come in to... I was a garrison soldier. And we weeded a lot of those people out, but, unfortunately, I do think they came back. Keith is right to draft. I guess that's exactly what it would be called.

Pastor Ken Todd: And I agree with him on the border. You know, I... As I said, I went to 12 different countries. And if I tried to do in some of those countries what's taken place here by the people coming in here, I'd be imprisoned almost immediately. Yeah. Immediately. Yeah. That's crazy.

Peter Vazquez: Alright. A day in Africa.

Pastor Ken Todd: Yes.

Peter Vazquez: Real quick, though, if you don't mind, because I wanted to make sure we... We'll do a show on that, though, because that's an interesting thing to me.

Pastor Ken Todd: So interesting enough was that I woke up at first light to noise outside my window. I was in a small home, what we would call a hut, but I was in that small place. And I heard people starting to, at first light, look around the streets. And, anyway, they were making their way down to the end of the road to where the garbage piles were. And what they were doing is they were looking for containers that were not broken or cracked so that they could go to the river to get water and bring back for the day. And the interesting thing about it was that they're going to get water that is absolutely contaminated. And so

Other on-air voice: what a lot

Pastor Ken Todd: of people don't know about the country of Ivory Coast specifically is that eighty five percent eighty five percent of every five year old child and below dies because of contaminated water. That's crazy. And so you think that, boy, if you can have a child and get beyond five years old, their system might be strong enough to overcome some of the contaminants that are in the water. But when we put in a well that gives water to about somewhere between 8,500 people, and, it's used in so many ways to help those that could not help themselves. And then a dollar 50 a day, how do they pay for $15,000 well? Yeah. Not gonna happen. The government doesn't do it.

Pastor Ken Todd: In fact, The US, if there is any holdup. So the only holdup is that government gets first dibs on the wells or the well drilling rigs. So this particular two wells back I did, we had to wait four months to get the government done with their projects so that we could get the company to come over to where we wanted to put a well privately. And they're not gonna turn down the government because there's consequences to doing that, and the government will pay them immediately so they get first dibs. Right. So it's not that they won't drill the hole... Drill, but they're gonna put them first, and they're only gonna put it on their personal places.

Peter Vazquez: Which makes perfect sense. But just tell me, does this go... Government provide any kind of substance for their, people there? Nothing at all? So it's just you got it. You're there using

Pastor Ken Todd: the support of the government. They're... What they provide as they would say, and you look it up on the Internet, chat, TBT, and all this stuff, they provide awareness and information, which once again, that's empathy, not compassion.

Peter Vazquez: Now that we keep seeing that here in this state here more and more. I look at politics, I always look at the consequences of it in a cultural perspective. Right? You know, how is it impacting us here at our local level in in our freedoms, in our ability to express our faith, to pray in public, those kind of things. I mean, I've done a lot of work with Mike Warren and Quest for Life and, you know, Lovelland... Or what is it? Rock Lovelland abortion. All these organizations when I ran the Frederick Douglass Foundation over... And the the abuse that we deal with is insanity to me. And I'm like, wait a minute. Do we live in a nation that is preaching from a young child, you know, to young children to love or to be accepting?

Peter Vazquez: And I wanna challenge you in that here shortly. But I wanna look at football for a little bit because, you know, our guy here in the back, Bob D'Angelo, who kinda make sure is that everything is running right,

Pastor Ken Todd: you

Peter Vazquez: know, he shared his football, a story with me that I kinda forgot about because it happened. And then I was like, yeah, whatever. It's almost normal. And it was where East High School and I think it was Palmette, you know, they had gotten into a fight. Right? And and there was a discipline that happened. Like, the teams couldn't play at all. And then, and then the section five athletes, they, you know, they... I guess, they looked at the evidence, and then they issued a statement and said that there's clear and compelling evidence that only certain students are... Easton Monroe. Easton Monroe got into the flight. And, you know, they they can play the upcoming games and so forth.

Peter Vazquez: Okay. So all that got settled, which I think is great. But but the question that I have in that whole thing, right, is what are our young children hearing and seeing in our society at home or in the street. Right? Because this fight isn't the first fight or a second fight or the tenth fight or the thirtieth fight.

Pastor Ken Todd: It is gonna be

Peter Vazquez: the last. And it's not gonna be the last. So what what are they seeing around them that is creating this violent nature within them?

Pastor Ken Todd: I think I think a lot of it is entitlement and pride. I I have to be right. I deserve to be right. And even if you're wrong, I... Even if I'm wrong, I still want to be right, and I want people to acknowledge that my opinion matters and very little willingness to concede because of our own selfishness.

Peter Vazquez: And that's, I think, what's being taught. Yes. So so I'm gonna say this in a in a... As humbly as I can. There there seems to be a contradiction because I remember I started by saying we are living in extraordinary contradictions.

Pastor Ken Todd: Yeah.

Peter Vazquez: In some cultures, all of us really, but, you know, when we look at where a lot of this violence is at, where we've got a culture that says men, you know, God is our foundation. We see that a lot in the black and brown communities, don't we? Yes. And not that it's exclusive. I'm not saying that. I'm just... You know, it's... We see that way. It... It's almost like it's talked about a lot. Politicians mention it. Right? I

Pastor Ken Todd: think God's word speaks to that. The Bible says in the book of Jesus Lucas be doers of the word and not hearers only, lest we deceive ourselves. Right? And so I think a lot of times, we know a lot of factual information, but we're not living it out. Right? That's a problem. We really do.

Peter Vazquez: But right now, in places like the state of Washington, they're saying things like, hey. We gotta approve a new approach to participation in girls' school sports, which is a whole another issue added to this.

Pastor Ken Todd: So getting back to the authority of the word.

Peter Vazquez: That's where it falls. Ladies and gentlemen, right, we have Pastor Ken Todd Mira Don't go nowhere. We're right here in the Voice of Liberty, WYSL, WLEA's next step show with Peter Vazquez. Hey,.

[Station break omitted.]

Part 3 | Conviction, Compassion and Public Standards

Peter Vazquez: Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. Yep. So I do have Peter Vazquez, a key and the voice of Liberty Network with my... A a person who I've come to have a lot of respect for, sir, and that's Pastor Ken Todd. Sir, thank you again for your time.

Pastor Ken Todd: Likewise. How's the family? Family is doing great. My youngest child just moved back from North Dakota, so I feel like the family is a little more complete now.

Peter Vazquez: Oh, yeah. Just a second. So much. The day that our kids leave. We're we're convincing them of a family compound so that we believe they can all just kinda go over this way. Hey. You know, right before break, I had mentioned, you know, the fight that broke out, and I was able to get some clarity on that. I'm glad I did because, you know, that brings a whole another layer of inconsistency and standards. And I had said that, you know, this fight that broke out on, it was, I believe, after the November 7 section five class b semifinals between East High World Inquiry and James Monroe High, two city, 200 city schools. Right? And then that they, that they as in section five, the Rochester City School District and the officials, from the NYS High School Sports Association, so the really long acronym.

Peter Vazquez: Right? You know, that they said that they incorrectly... But what what what I was reminded is that isn't a consistent type of decision that happened where they looked at videos and said, wait a minute. Because a few weeks ago, there was a fight between... Let me get this right. Earlier in the season between Pal-Mac and Clyde. Right? Clyde-Savannah, which are Wayne County teams. And the entire team was, forfeited from further games. And right now, as it stands, East High will be moving forward to play. So there is kind of a double standard there that

Studio voice: No. They just forfeited that one game.

Peter Vazquez: Forfeited the one game. Right. Right. I I I apply... If I implied the full season, just forfeited that game. So there's a goes.

Pastor Ken Todd: But, you

Peter Vazquez: know, that's what I mean by standards. And and when we look at it from a culture perspective, again, one has to ask, if two... Schools are doing their jobs, as leaders are influencing well, parents are allowed to parent, if we're allowed to be able to follow American standards, because, you know, we talk a lot about diversity. And that never made sense to me, bringing a bunch of different pieces together and saying, okay. Your differences are gonna, you know, make us, one. But the reality is, no. Unless you find common ground Absolutely. You're not united. And that's one of the reasons I think that we see. One of those things are women in sports or sports in general.

Peter Vazquez: We see football with the young men, is falling apart.

Pastor Ken Todd: I think we're gonna see even more of it. Our governor,

Peter Vazquez: I

Pastor Ken Todd: mean, our, mayor of New York City just recently said, listen. He goes, if you don't like it, change the law. But their ethics and morality has gone out the window. And what we realize is that law cannot change the heart. Law cannot change, you know, how people feel. It can make someone happy and another person sad, but, you know, morality and ethics cannot be solved by law.

Peter Vazquez: No. It definitely can. But politicians surely seem to think that they can. Right? And they've minimized God because they even pulled God out of school and and, I mean, that... That's an old age. We've been talking about that for decades. Yep. Washington state voters recently approved a new approach to participation in girls' schools. Right? The supporters of this, new approach, they say that girls deserve athletic competition built around biological sex, protecting fair, competition, opportunities for female only teams, were designate... You know, where it's designated to provide

Pastor Ken Todd: so on

Peter Vazquez: and so forth. Right? Opponents of this say, they argue that measures impose discriminatory participant, participation rules and requires medical verification, and that's just, you know, unfair, it's discriminatory, and it takes away rights. But a constitutional republic, right, it's not ruled by the majority rule No. Concept, is it? And for Christians, and we just talked about this a little bit, pastor, compassion. Right? I mean, compassion can't be selective, can it?

Pastor Ken Todd: It really can't.

Peter Vazquez: Okay. Now I'm gonna read something here because I I wanna discuss this for the few minutes, and I wanna challenge you a little bit because I wanna make sure, that this message is coming out clearer because we hear a lot. As Christians or if you went to Christian schools or even in church, you may hear about false prophets or people preaching or using scripture, and they always say, Satan is going to present himself with a sly tongue. El Sayed, Mandani, I'm I'm I'm... I can't see how... I mean, these people speak Yes. In ways that are causing people to say, oh, no. Trump's the problem. And I'm not, you know, like him or dislike him.

Peter Vazquez: I'm not... But did you... That's what we have. There's nothing that one person can say or do

Pastor Ken Todd: Correct.

Peter Vazquez: According to these people that's right.

Pastor Ken Todd: Mhmm.

Peter Vazquez: So so let me read this. Okay? For Christians, compassion cannot become selective nor should concern for one group require indifference towards the legitimate interest of another. Little confusing. But you're Sounds good, though. Doesn't it?

Pastor Ken Todd: Yeah. So one of the things I've said for many years is that we will often confuse love. I say I'll often confuse love. I say I love you as my brother in Christ or I love you as my child, my biological child. And we will often confuse love with condoning what they're doing that may be wrong. For example, let me just give you a hypothetical. I know people who say, well, I've got a homosexual child. And they say, I can't condone that. And I said, well, if that's against your biblical conviction, don't condone it, but you still need to love that child. Love is the greatest commandment. Is it not? I can love something I don't agree with or love someone I don't agree with without condoning what they are doing.

Pastor Ken Todd: For example, an alcoholic. Do you... Do we know an alcoholic or a drug addict or someone who's addicted to something that we think is very sinful and harmful? Yes. That doesn't mean I don't love them, but it does mean I don't condone what they're doing. And so we can't confuse con... You know, condoning what they're doing with how we love them. And I think if we are going to be a picture of Christ, Christ lived in the world, but he was not other world. There were people around him who used him for what they thought he... They could gain from him.

Peter Vazquez: Let me let me push you a little bit on this. See? Because, you know, when you talk to some people... And I'm... The political. When you talk to the Democrat side, you know, when you when you hear your, people like Kathy Hochul or or many of the local even elected officials who have a habit of visiting many churches Right. And maybe even saying a few words from the pulpit that sounds a lot like preaching. Right. Right? But when they do things and say, well, you know, James two, for example. Right? Verse one where it says, teaches, James two one, teaches believers not to practice favoritism. And then Micah six eight calls us to act justly, love mercy, and walk, humility walk in humility with God.

Peter Vazquez: Yes. Or humility to God. Right? Yeah. So when someone says, I'm transgender, and I want you to accept me for that. What does a Christian do? I think

Pastor Ken Todd: as I've had to do in my own family with not necessarily just that, but with other circumstances, say, listen. I love you, but I cannot condone what you're doing. I can't because it goes against my conviction of what I believe the Bible teaches. And that's where it comes back to every one of us has to have an absolute authority. If there is no authority, then everything... And according to Romans, everybody does what's right in their own eyes. Okay. And so we have to come back to what is our authority for all of our faith and practice. And for a child of God as someone who claims to be a Christian, it is the Bible. And so it's not me saying that I think you're in sin or wrong.

Pastor Ken Todd: It's it's God's worst thing. And if you don't like it, then you have to take it up with God. I'm his messenger. I will repeat what those... What his what his word says. And so if someone comes to me and says, hey. You have to accept me. I I will tell them I love you. I'll care for you. If you have a... If your car breaks down on Highway 90, you know, three hours away at three in the morning, call me. I'll give you... I'll... I will show God's love to you till I cannot show it anymore. But if you want me to accept your belief system, I cannot do that.

Peter Vazquez: Now... But doesn't that contradict the government? Okay. Let me stop for a second because we've got a lot of politicians that'll say stuff like that. Yeah. Then they vote on rules and policies that contradict that. And I sat in a church once, and I heard the parishioners... And this is in reference. I think it was, shortly after mayor Lovely Warren had been had been, first elected. Yeah. And the first two things, if you remember, she, moved her,

Pastor Ken Todd: I believe

Peter Vazquez: it was... She moved the city where it was paying for transgender operations in full. That's part of,

Pastor Ken Todd: you

Peter Vazquez: know, the city's self insured. And and what was... Oh, and she raised taxes. And I sat in there, and I heard these people say, well, you know, we have to trust that God knows what he's doing. 100% correct.

Pastor Ken Todd: True. True statement.

Peter Vazquez: Then... Because, you know, they said, well, if she raised taxes, she must have a reason to do it. They wouldn't address the issue of the transgender because I turned around and said, I understand it. But but she just said that your tax dollars

Pastor Ken Todd: Yeah.

Peter Vazquez: Are going to pay for something that were sitting in a in a building. So reading a

Pastor Ken Todd: book. To the authority of the scripture. So I asked... I had this conversation last night after men's Bible study, and I said, so the decision that you're thinking about making right now, does this decision cause you to do something unethical, immoral, or something that's contrary to scripture? If it's unethical, if it's immoral, if it's contrary to scripture, I cannot do that in a... With a with a with a clean conscience or in a good standing with what God's word says. And so at some point, we have to take a stand, and we have to stand on something. And the best thing we can stand on is the authority of the scripture. Otherwise, it's all subjective.

Pastor Ken Todd: If I could take ten seconds to... I was walking into a Sunoco gas station one time last summer, and, this guy, he looks at me, and he says, well, the Bible is full of contradictions. I said, well, share one with me. He goes, well, it's just full of them. I said, well, just share one. And after about three or four minutes of pressing him, he could not give me a contradiction. And he goes, well, I just don't believe parts of it. And I said, okay. That's a fair statement. You don't believe parts of it. I said, but once we start going down that road, well, I believe this part, but not this part, or I believe this part, but not that part.

Pastor Ken Todd: Well, I believe that part, but I don't believe this part over here. I said the entire book becomes subjective and based off my opinions of whether it's right or wrong. So I said, you either choose to put your faith in the authority of this book and believe it completely, or why should I believe it at all? And so from that standpoint, we always come back to what we know is true and what we know our authority is based off something that doesn't change.

Peter Vazquez: Mister, why aren't more Christians voting? And that's probably a long answer you can't give before I hit the bridge.

Pastor Ken Todd: Yesterday, I had someone tell me I don't vote because my vote doesn't count. It's on range.

Peter Vazquez: We gotta talk about that. Ladies and gentlemen, Peter Vazquez right here, see you on the voice of Liberty number... Network, w y s w l e a. Don't go nowhere. Lines are open. (585) 346-3000. It's 65521009.

[Station break omitted.]

Part 4 | Civic Responsibility, Education and Property Rights

Peter Vazquez: That's right, ladies and gentlemen. See, we gotta listen from Segundo. Uh-huh. Of a family affair. And there is one concept that I believe this artist, Mary J. Blige, got right. And the thing is whether you like this genre or not, you know, this kind of music, you can't preach that enough at any level. And that's what I appreciate. We have Pastor Ken Todd at Harvest Bible Fellowship. Ladies and gentlemen, check him out. He's out there on Sundays. You got a great men's group. You got a great women's group. You got a daycare center for children. That's leadership. Talking leadership, I do wanna bring up the Southern Tier real quick because there's a city out there called Hornell Oh, yeah.

Peter Vazquez: That is about as dynamic as they come, doing phenomenal things. And they got a strong leader, a mayor, a guy that's kinda elected. John Buckley, he actually has a show on the WLA stations and WSL stations as well. But he he found something, you know, that that was subtle, and I never noticed. And I traveled all these different towns, but he found and he brought to the attention recently, and he posted a letter on his mirror group on Facebook just yesterday. You guys should check it out. But, basically, he found that there's a discrepancy between the gas prices in some of these southern towns and some of their neighboring areas.

Pastor Ken Todd: Absolutely. And

Peter Vazquez: and he's been... And and check it out. I believe it's Brian O'Neil. Right, Bob? Yes. Yeah. The... He's gonna be talking about this even more so you can check it out.

Studio voice: On the pulse, 1PM on the weekend.

Peter Vazquez: WLEA.net later. It'll be on the pulse at 1PM in this weekend. But, Omido, this guy has been reaching out simply asking questions. He brought together that's

Pastor Ken Todd: a great thing because I... In the last two months, I've been to, you know, Texas and back. I've been to North Dakota and back twice. I have, traveled all over the state. I was, just yesterday across Pennsylvania, and I noticed there'd be upwards of a dollar difference between different states in different locations. And I'm thinking if it's all coming from the same source, why is there such a vast difference?

Peter Vazquez: In that state, we're talking, you know Even within our different towns.

Pastor Ken Todd: You know, I... Just yesterday, I got gassed in a small town, and I went up the road not one mile, and there was a 15¢ difference.

Peter Vazquez: That is something I'm gonna be paying close attention to. Yeah. And I'm gonna be... Ladies and gentlemen, I encourage you, listen to the pulse, you know, WLEA, WYSL. You can catch the streaming right there at, wysl1040.com. Check it out, ladies and gentlemen. We have about eight minutes or so left. Alan. And I wanna make sure that... Because I wanna talk education real quick, and then I got a clip regarding housing because both of those are two symbols that equal freedom and are biblically based in so many different scriptures. But we have Ellen. Ellen, thank you for calling.

Caller Ellen: Hi. I just wanted to explain the reason why people think that there's a lot of, contradictions is because when someone's reading James, that's for the nation of Israel. And when they're reading Paul, that was because Jesus, he rose on the cross and he gave Paul a message about the dispensation of grace, which was kept hidden since the beginning. And that's why a lot of the scriptures for the nation of Israel, even Hebrews all the way to Revelations. Because when the people that were prior to the cross come back, they're resurrected, they're gonna have to go through, revelations. They're gonna have to be guided through. And it's hard to explain all this in a matter of minutes, but it's called the dispensation of grace, which was given to Paul.

Caller Ellen: It's a separate gospel. And if you read the King James Bible, that's where you get the understanding in Paul's 13 epistles.

Peter Vazquez: Allen, thank you for that. Yeah. Any response, pastor?

Pastor Ken Todd: She's not wrong, and, I agree as much of what she said. I think, sometimes though in the application of what we're reading, how... We have to ask the question, how does what he's saying apply to us? And that... Especially in James chapter two, a lot of it applies to us in our everyday living. And so I'm gonna take what applies to me and do the best I can to live it out. And so I'm not just a hearer of the word, but a doer of the word. But I agree with... I love what she said. Yeah.

Peter Vazquez: The dispensation of grace is... And that is right. I like reading the King James Bible, but I found that sometimes it loses on air sometimes. So I try to use the new King James version.

Pastor Ken Todd: So if you look at the... You know, some people are either gonna fall and, like she said, there's not enough time either dispensationalism or in covenant theology. But in dispensation, we're in the age of grace.

Peter Vazquez: Yes. Before I break, I ask to white Christians don't folk. But I'm gonna add something to that.

Pastor Ken Todd: Okay.

Peter Vazquez: Okay. Recently, Betty Rosa, the New York State education commissioner, just a few days ago, actually, she said this state has to make a huge investment, in education. If we're going to monetize and transform education, she's suggesting that, measuring students through a broader range of academic experience, demonstrate... And demonstrate the skills. Right? Mhmm. But in in the church, in the home, or the classroom, what happens when we be

Studio voice: Five minutes.

Peter Vazquez: Concerned about making someone feel successful than preparing them to succeed, sir, which I think is one of the reasons why people don't vote. They lost hope.

Pastor Ken Todd: There's about five things going through my mind. But if I can say it quickly, I think we have shafted the responsibility to train our kids or redirected the responsibility of training our kids from the parent to the schools, to the youth pastor, to the church. You know, I've said for years as a youth pastor and then as a senior pastor, my job is not to train your kids. My job is to reinforce what's being taught in the home or what should be being taught in the home. And I think parents need to get back to instilling within their kids biblical principles and how to live. And if parents would do that, we wouldn't have to spend an additional millions of dollars in education at the school.

Pastor Ken Todd: If we taught them biblical principles at home, right, we wouldn't have to do that at school and force... And once again, I think if we're gonna put millions of dollars into an educational program, let's put it into, situations that not necessarily for more experiences because, you know, I mean, kids get all kinds of experiences that you and I never experienced as a kid growing up. The the opportunities for experiences are numerous. But the reality is, what are we doing for the parents to teach them to be parents, you know, and, to not shaft their responsibilities onto someone else or to something else and to blame it on circumstances. You know, there's so much to say there.

Pastor Ken Todd: I know.

Peter Vazquez: I know. We could talk hours and hours, but, see, I think that's critical. And, I mean, even, you know, simple... Not 10. They're not simple. But but previous leaders like Booker t Washington, like, Frederick Douglass, like, Martin Luther King, even in their... Even in whatever it is that they were doing that may have been worldly or sinful, they understood that there was a path that needed to be Yes. Understood and displayed. Okay? Now I'm not saying being fake or... Three. But education's important. Homeownership is critical. Yes. Government control, defines...

Pastor Ken Todd: I was reading an article just last week, and it said that our... This generation, this culture is spending more on Starbucks and $7 drinks. And if they would just cut something as simple as that out from their daily life, their savings personally could go up immensely.

Peter Vazquez: That that that is true.

Pastor Ken Todd: Does that not go back to our training of being good stewards of what we have?

Peter Vazquez: In part. Government overreach. Play cut one, please.

Recorded audio clip: When the owner of an eligible building decides to put their building up for sale, qualified entities will be notified first. They will have a twenty days to notify both the owner and HPD if they have an intent to purchase and seventy days to make a competitive offer. If no qualified entity makes an offer within those twenty days or if every offer is rejected by the end of that seventy day period, the property can be listed on the open market.

Peter Vazquez: It's called, that's Zara Mandani's New York City's new community opportunity to purchase act. He's got support even from, religious leaders in that area that are saying that housing buyers,

Pastor Ken Todd: that means you're one of the elites that's already got money.

Peter Vazquez: Listen. What that is, Pastor, that's a back door to government directed Yes. Ownership and control. And I bring this particular clip up in housing to kinda sum up today's show, sir, because I'm gonna go back to the question that I asked you before the last break. Why are Christians not voting? Why are pastors not not... I don't wanna say force, but leading their sheep to the voting booth.

Pastor Ken Todd: I think it comes down to... In a Greek language is a word called apatheo, from which we get our word apathetic. Yeah. And the word literally means not convinced. So when we say when somebody is apathetic spiritually, they're not convinced of what God is able to do. Transfer that into the secular world. We're apathetic because we're not convinced that anything's gonna change. We have no faith that it's gonna change. So why bother? We become apathetic, and we just accept the status quo. Say, well, it is what it is.

Peter Vazquez: It is what it is. And that is being said too often by too many leaders, and too many people are deciding to become followers of the wrong ideology because it is what it is.

Pastor Ken Todd: Yes.

Peter Vazquez: Pastor Ken Todd, Harvest Bible Fellowship. Thank you, sir. I appreciate you. Love you, brother. May God continue to bless the work that you and you do. The work that you do in your organization does.

Pastor Ken Todd: Thank you, sir.

Peter Vazquez: Mira, ladies and gentlemen, it's simple. Be a leader. Be a leader. Be a leader. God bless this United States Of America, Emera. Never let a second go by where you are not a voice from liberty.

End of Episode 742 transcript.