And before I even pray, I just want to say what
a privilege it is, brother, to do this with you.
Likewise, brother. We get to do this. Father,
in Jesus' name, it's our heart to be before you
as open vessels. And we just say, Lord, fill
us, use us, anything that comes through us. We
want it to honor you. And so, Lord, we consecrate
our thoughts. We consecrate our opinions, our
ideas, even as we ideate about things that are
happening in our culture and our world right
now. I'm asking God that you would direct and
order the things we think, the things we say.
We know that words matter, and we've seen that
come to be true more today than any time. Words
matter. What we say matters, and we want what
we say to honor you and to advance the kingdom.
And for all of our listeners, whether they're
listening today, another day, or down the line,
or months away, Lord, if this podcast lands in
their player, Father, I pray that they will be
encouraged. They'll be lifted. They'll be not
only motivated, but even more so inspired. We
give this to you in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. It's
Wednesday, September 17th, 2025. We get to do
this. This is episode number three. We get to
do this. Hey, brother. How you doing? You know,
the song is starting to land with me. I hear
the promo on Hello Fred, and I'm like, you know,
yeah, it's there. I like the last line more than
any of it. We get to do this. Being a musician,
I can be a little snobby sometimes about music.
You don't say. I can't be. I'm snobby about my
own playing. So when you first ran it by me,
I was like. I love Jeff, man. So appreciate Jeff.
But I was like, yeah, it's kind of, but man,
the last line gets me. It sticks. And when he
sent them to me, and I didn't tell you that initially,
he said, I think that this is meant for you to
talk it up into the hook, into the vocals. Right.
That makes sense. And so you actually don't want
too much of a logo or anything happening in that
point. So it came with instructions. I was kind
of thinking something like, you know, along the
lines of the Hotel California. No, not Hotel
Cal. The Life in the Fast Lane riff. He just
rocks. You know what I mean? I'm old school.
I'm old school. By the way, you got a donut.
I'm not going to eat it. That's even worse than
it sitting here in front of me. I'm sorry. It's
painful. We can split it and we can eat it while
we're talking. I'm trying to block the view with
my coffee cup. I came into the church and there's
Naomi standing right there. Hi, how are you doing?
And she's holding a donut. She says, I have this
for you. I'm like, I said, I just ate, but don't
give it to me. Just give it to me. I can add
more. So the reason she has a lot of donuts right
now is they had 290 kids this morning show up.
Is that a record for Devo's and donuts? I think
we did over 300, but that had been going. This
was the first kickoff of the year. Not only is
it a new school year. But it's also a new school.
I mean, we built a whole new school since last
year. Big relocation. So they had to set up in
a different place. But they do this thing called
Devos and Donuts. And it's something that the
Lord gave Naomi back when they lived in Nashville.
They lived out in Tennessee, in Smyrna area.
And they started doing it at their kids' schools.
And it just took off. So when she came here.
The Lord just said, okay, you remember that thing
I showed you, Devo's and Donuts? Try it here.
And so they started it last year, and it just
got bigger and bigger, over 350 kids. That is
so good. Showing up to get totally pumped up
on sugar, you know, before. You'd think the teachers
would be like, don't do that. Reason number one.
Yeah, feed them, they'll come. But it actually,
the school, one of the greatest reports we got
back from the principal at the middle school,
Fredericksburg here, public school. was that
on the days that you guys come and do Devos and
Donuts, we got a worship team, they got a stage,
sound, everything. It's really cool, really well
done. A lot of volunteers. But he said, every
time y 'all come, we have the best days of the
year because y 'all are here. And I'm thinking,
man, it would have been like these teachers going.
Quit giving these kids donuts before class. And
that means that they're really calm and pay attention
in class. The best days they have. And one teacher
said, could y 'all come every day? Okay. You
know, we could teach you how to do this. We could
show you how to do some worship music and get
that going. I mean, I know teachers are busy,
but. It's pretty cool, though, when the public
school, which gets a lot of bad press these days,
especially from Christians. Yeah. And, you know,
unfortunately, it's been earned in a lot of areas.
But our school here in Fredericksburg, good things
are happening here. We're seeing we have a superintendent
who's already doing everything he can to get
the Ten Commandments. He was a bit controversial
in some of the school board meetings. A while
back he was. I think, you know, how you – the
message, it matters how you say what you say.
Of course it does. And I think sometimes things
were said with so much strength and so much intensity
that people who are administrators and leaders
and stuff, they tend to take a step back. I've
been in the public arena, the people business,
so to speak, for 42 years. And it matters how
people approach me. So if I see somebody come
in and they've got a pitchfork in one hand. And
a torch in the other. This is a good point. It
will literally cause me to shut down before they
ever open their mouth. And it kind of flows into
the obvious things we got to talk about today.
Absolutely. With the assassination of Charlie
Kirk, which was not great timing for our episode
last week because we had already recorded it.
I'll just put it out there. No, I'm glad you
did. Yeah, but it didn't feel appropriate to
go like, hey, listen to our podcast because it
has nothing to do with what you're talking about
right now. Right, right. Although I encourage
everybody to go back and listen to it because
it was good. Actually, I don't usually go back
and listen to things, but the week became a blur
with everything that happened. So my mind was
just all over the place. I thought, what do we
even talk about? So I went back and listened
to it when I was doing some errands running around.
And I'm like, wait, this is relevant, actually.
It really is on point. And so even though we
didn't directly address that because it was after
the fact, it's still on point. The principles
are still there. So anyway, I listened to it
and I thought, wow, this is uncanny almost. So
anyway. So the thing that I'm most concerned
about right now is, here's what came to mind
as I was thinking about what we're going to talk
about today on the show. And it's Corrie ten
Boom. You know her story, Corrie ten Boom? She
wrote a book. She was the other Anne Frank, if
you will, in the Netherlands. She didn't live
in Amsterdam, but she lived in Haarlem. And it's
beautiful. She wrote a couple of books. But she
actually went into the concentration camp with
her sister. Her sister died there. I think most
of her father died there. She got out, and I
mean, there's a whole bunch to her story and
how she just became a missionary for God, came
to the United States with no money, and just
has traveled the world based upon the grace of
the Lord. But at a certain point, I believe that
was, maybe I'm confusing books, but she met one
of the guards in a church. True, true story.
Where she... had been in the concentration camp
and she was just paralyzed for a moment. She
didn't know what to do. And then she just blessed
him. Yes. And right now it feels like we are
very far from that type of attitude. Right. Where
we are exclusively talking about the woke left,
the radical left, the left, left, left. Some
even say Democrats. While this may be a generalization
and not necessarily untrue, and we're not running
around tar and feathering people, the hatred
is very real, and it concerns me. And it was
actually something Charlie, because I've been
watching a lot of his videos, and something he
said, which comes back to Psalm 9710, you who
love the Lord hate evil. or Proverbs 8 .13, the
fear of the Lord is to hate evil. And people
are using this, and I don't know if it's correct
or incorrect, which is why, you know, even if
we weren't doing a podcast, we'd be talking about
this. Yeah, agreed. Hey, brother, tell me, how
do we handle this? Because all of the... you
know, love your neighbor, love God, love your
neighbor, like yourself. If your enemy is hungry,
give him to eat. If he's thirsty, give him to
drink. He'll be like pouring hot coals on his
head, but it doesn't feel like that's where we
are. And I just wanted to get your take on it,
what your thoughts are, because I have it too.
I'm like. you know, these, these crazy people,
finally, this is happening. And I have some other
ideas as to why this is happening and where it's
coming from, but just that at the top level,
how do we deal with this without, I mean, and
man, it's, it's triggering COVID trauma, you
know, vax, no vax, lockdown, no lockdown and
families have been split. Now we know Jesus said,
I come with the sword, you know, I'm going to
split families, but. How do we deal with this?
What's your thoughts about it? Well, initially,
the word grace comes to mind, and that means
having grace for one another, grace for ourselves.
People, it's like a crater. It's like an impact
of a meteor hitting the earth, right? There's
always initial damage, initial impact. It's all
very violent and chaotic in the beginning. And
then, as we would say, the dust settles. What's
happening right now, people are in a place of
outrage because it was so public. It was a public
execution, basically. Yes. And whatever the theories
abounding, and there's a billion of them out
there already. It didn't take long for that to
happen. Of who did it and why and all that. Put
all that aside. At the end of the day, a godly
man, a family man, got executed in front of a
bunch of kids. And then, of course, the videos
went viral on that. And then all the outrage,
the outrage came on both sides, which is frightening,
which is strange. Also good at the same time,
because there's a come together moment. And I
don't want that to slip away. Exactly. We don't
want to miss the silver lining and all of this.
And there's a lot. There's a lot of good things
happening in the hills of this. But again, after
that initial impact, people are grieving. People
are mourning. Yeah. And when you're in grief
and when you're in mourning. There's nothing
normal. And it's interesting because this is
like a cultural grieving. This is a whole massive,
maybe even half to more than the United States,
notwithstanding London, Madrid, all the different
places where all these things are popping up
everywhere. So there's a cultural grieving right
now. And sadly, as a pastor. I meet with families
on a very consistent base basis over 42 years.
And one of my things that I say to them is it's
okay to not be okay. Nothing's normal right now.
And it won't be for a while. And I say, if no
one has told you this, I say this to every family.
If no one has told you this permission to grieve
and we need to grieve fully. So right now we're
grieving a lot of people. And sadly, When you've
got a large number and enough people grieving,
there's a lot of bad things can happen. A lot
of things get said. We're all very sensitive.
So when you're down and you're grieving and you're
mourning this loss, and then you're doing something
you shouldn't be, which is scrolling your phone
24 -7, and you're seeing video after video after
video of people disparaging Charlie Kirk, disparaging.
His family, Erica. Which is not a coincidence
that this shows up on your phone, by the way.
Interesting, isn't it? Not a coincidence. There
is obviously some intent and agenda behind that
to try. I mean, they're following Saul Alinsky's
playbook, almost note for note. Was it the Handbook
for Radicals? That's it. Rules for Radicals.
Rules for Radicals. The guy who dedicated the
book to Lucifer, of course, in the front pages.
He literally did. Yeah, I got a copy of it and
I was like, oh. Okay. All right. Dedicated to
Satan. So all this is happening, but, but you
add to somebody who's already in grief, you know,
there's five to seven stages, depending on which
psychologist you follow, you know, either way,
we know there's a lot of stages and emotionally
it comes at you so fast. It's like, it's like
a hurricane where the waves are just coming.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Over time, they
come less often. And then. Maybe once ever, ever
a little bit. And then they diminish. But all
the intensity is up at front. So we are emotionally
triggered right now. Everybody. Yeah. Everybody.
Even those that didn't like him or hated him
are triggered in another sense. Of course. So
all this, of course, the enemy, and we're talking
about Satan himself, strategically is like, what
an opportunity here. It's a field day. Field
day for him. Oh, it is. releases his hordes throughout
the world, right? To say, all right, this is
a good time to seek and destroy, stir it up,
amplify everything. And so that's what we've
got. We've got that happening culturally. But
what has to happen is we need some sane voices
out there. And hopefully we'll be sane today
as we say, this is not the time to clap back,
snap back, you know, return a volley. That came
over the fence at you online. And the best way
to not do that is to not go looking for it. That
is to do that. That is to turn my phone over.
We don't have video, but yes, Pastor Jimmy just
flipped his phone on my Bible. Yeah. What's bigger?
But, you know, people, I think we've talked about
this. You know, the Internet is basically a big
self -pity promotion machine. So people are taking
their grief and sharing it. Which you really
need, that is not the place to share it. You
need to share it with your family, with your
friends. Your church community. Yes, exactly.
Anybody but out there on the network. I mean,
that is, that it's, and we can say this with
blue in the face. I know. Blue in the face. I
know. I don't know what it will take for people
to finally. realize that no this is just not
really doing it for me so you great you gave
a great line on no agenda last week and i went
back and listened to that first part we caught
it after you'd said that but went back and listened
and uh say that line because this is this needs
to be repeated often uh well i'll use your version
because you changed it slightly but i liked it
it was like it's time to put down our screens
and pick up our bibles i initially said phones
Actually, you said screens. Did I really? I did.
I took note of that. On purpose. Really? Because
usually you talk about phones a lot. Yeah. You
use the word screens. I use the word screens.
And it even caught me off guard because I was
expecting you to say phones. That's interesting.
Go back and listen. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Because
when you, and you repeated that in church, I'm
like, oh, wow. And I thought, but I said phones.
And I know that cause I had this written down.
Sometimes I write stuff down that I want. And
when it's a 90 % never gets used. I'm like, and
I, you believe me. So I said, screen like sermons.
That's well, then that, that was a Holy spirit
moment because it is so much. It's not. And it's
all screens. It is. It's broader. It's big screens,
little screens. Yep. I'm looking on our table
everywhere. Yeah, I know that was a simple, but
profound. And, um, Thank you for saying that.
I said it several times on Sunday. I've said
it since then. I was visiting with Rick Green
and Reagan and Faith out of the Patriot Academy.
We were talking about that, and I brought that
line back up. That is one of the solutions, because
what we've got to do is cut off this flow, this
input that we're getting. I caught myself a couple
of nights ago in bed, and Ed conks out as soon
as we lay down, and I'm like, I'm not ready to
go to sleep yet. So what did I do? I had my phone
out. I'm on Instagram and I'm seeing these disparaging.
It took me about five seconds to shut that down.
And all I did was turn my phone off and went
to sleep. I was like, I cannot let this get in
my mind. A great way to honor Charlie is to emulate
him and a few things he did. And I've learned
now that once a week, I think it was Saturday,
He would turn off his phone, put it in the drawer
and just be with his family. I'm not good at
this either. I am. I mean, and it should just
be. I think it's right. It should be screens,
not the phone, because I'll go and sit in front
of my computer. I'll do a little bit of programming
or whatever it is. That would be a great way
to really take a screen Sabbath. I just came
up with a great word. He called it a fast. He
called. Yes. He said, I think it's on Friday,
maybe Friday night to Saturday. OK. Yeah. As
I do a screen fast. OK. So that's not a whole
Friday night. Yeah. I'm not good at it. So, no,
I would be good for me, too. And I think if everyone
could just do that and what what a way it would
be to honor him to just take that time. But what
about FOMO? We might miss something. We may miss
out on something. Well, no, here's the bottom
line. Oh, yeah. You're missing out on all kinds
of stuff. You better believe it. Stuff that will
be there when you pick up the screen again. It's
not going away. This is a G -rated show, but
we're missing all kinds of stuff. Stuff. Yes,
it is. It's totally, it's stinky stuff. It is
stinky stuff. And it comes at us at a thousand
miles per hour. I like the way John Eldridge
talks about it. He says it's an assault on your
heart. It's not just on your mind. It's your
heart, which is the center of your mind, will,
and emotions. That's what the heart is. And it's
an assault on your heart. And scripture talks
about don't lose heart. Don't lose heart. Well,
one of the quickest ways to lose heart is to
give it away to a screen. Wow. Giving it away
to anybody. We give it away. We do that. We give
it away to people. We give it away to stuff.
But we really, these days, it's more screens
than anything. And I'm the pot calling the kettle
black here. So just true confession here. I mean,
I'm as part of it because being a pastor, I always
feel like I need to try to be in the know. I
try to want to stay up on the curve. If you ever
get behind the curve, you feel like you're, again,
fear of missing out. You feel like you're missing
something. You know, I do these cultural briefings
every Sunday morning, and I always feel like
I got to keep the input going. But it is hard
on my heart. Well, there's a couple of things
I've learned. If you post less and send less
email, surprisingly, you get less back. This
is a lesson I learned a long time ago. I used
to always be reply to an email, reply to an email.
And I've had to pull back on that because I get
hundreds of emails a day. And there's always
going to be one that's a gem that's important.
So I'm reading them all. And I've kind of gotten
into the habit of people who send me a lot. I'll
answer every fifth one with, hey, thanks. Because
when you answer, they're going to reply back.
It's guaranteed. And that's all right, because
people aren't thinking about your time and what
kind of time it takes. But the less you send,
the less you receive. And ultimately, I've always
experienced that as positive and productive.
Yeah, it's good. So now we're also in this revenge
mode. The prosecutor is called for the death
penalty. And this is kind of like a two part
track that I'm thinking a lot about. So one,
if you know, everyone want like, yeah, we got
to kill this guy. And let's just presume this
guy did it. And man, there's a lot of written
evidence that points to it, which, you know,
everyone's looking for. Right. For answers. Yeah.
And so you can go down the. Second shooter came
from the bottom, the grassy knoll, you know,
15 other people, the furries, the trans, you
know, you can go down this entire route. Everybody
wants reason. And I think for me, very quickly,
I'm like, okay, this is evil. This is just Satan.
And this is how this happens. And I can put that
on the side and leave that for myself. But there's
such a distrust of government. which again is
part of the trauma that we've lived through in
the past five years. And also this almost insatiable,
we've got to kill this guy. How do we approach
that as believers? I'm totally feeling what you're
feeling. I'm sensing that there's a part of my
flesh that's angry and wants a head on a platter.
I want evidence that. The justice has been served.
Right. But I have to quickly tamp that down and
go, no, no, stop. Stop it. And so on Sunday,
I called for us to pray for that young man. You
did. I appreciate that. Nobody clapped. Well,
it was quiet. Yeah. And I can feel a room. I
mean, I've been doing this a long time. I feel
the temperature of things. And I know that's
not a popular thing to say. I mean, basically.
It felt good to me, by the way. It felt, yeah,
that's what we're supposed to do. A kid needs
Jesus. He needs to be born again. He needs to
be saved. And if I ever let myself go down the
path of, no, he needs to rot in hell. And I've
read that statement a lot. I've seen people ranting
about things like that. And mind you, again,
grieving, you're not normal. Grieving, there's
no. No boundaries. All your all your guards come
down. The rails come down. You just go off the
rails and you don't before you even realize it.
So I'm trying to have patience to realizing a
culture is hurting and grieving. And at what
point do you stop? It's different for everybody.
But but at some point you got to make a choice.
Go, OK, I'm done. I had my rant. I railed to
my friend or I said some things to my wife about
this situation that. I may not say out in public,
but I need to be done with that. And now I need
to refocus myself on something positive and redemptive.
We think in terms of punitive and redemptive.
So we want punishment or we want something to
be redeemed for the good. As a follower of Jesus,
everything in us should be about redemption.
Natural, you know, there's there's natural cause
and effect, natural and logical consequences.
There's all those pieces that happen. And he
should if if it's if he is for sure the one and
all that, he needs to be prosecuted to the full
extent of law. But should Christians be yelling,
demanding the death penalty? And where's that
coming from? Yeah, I'm not anti death penalty,
by the way. I think there are there are situations
and scenarios that justify. I don't want to go
down that track too deep, but I'm just saying
my thought on this before I cry out, murder him,
you know, off with his head is how can his heart
be turned? How can he be redeemed? Is anyone
praying for him and for his family who are completely
devastated by this? And two, we need to think
through on a broader ripple effect or maybe a
broader circle, expand our search, so to speak.
Why was he thinking that way? What led him down
a track of growing up in a household one way
and then apparently within a year or around a
year's time getting what people are using the
word radicalized? What I want to know more than
just why he did it, because I don't think there
will ever be a real answer for that. Why he just
in that moment did it. But there will be answers
of why did he start down a track of thinking
and justifying murder? I have thoughts about
that. And I've thought about this for a long
time because I tend to always look at all the
options when things like this happen. OK, what
are the possibilities? You've taught me to do
that. And then sometimes when you say it out
loud, it's it's hard because, you know, people
be like, I can't believe you said that. So, you
know, I go through an entire, you know, what
was happening at the time. Is there could have
been the Israeli government or Mossad? Well,
you know, the M word, right? There's everything's
possible. So I go through all of these and I've
actually come at a point which has been staring
me in the face for a long time. I believe our
country has been under attack for 250 years.
And it never really ended when we declared our
independence. And it's not just people. This
is a cultural thing that has been around for
a long, long time. And we've been under attack
financially, how our financial markets work.
We've been under attack culturally. I think the
drug epidemic is also an attack. And ultimately,
it's all from the devil. But where is this coming
from? And I'm now looking more towards very old
networks, really bloodline networks like monarchies.
You know, people always say, well, you know,
the queen of England or the Netherlands or of
Norway or of Sweden. They're just ceremonial.
And I've never bought that. And I've met the
Queen of England before she passed. And I looked
at you. You're not supposed to look her in the
eyes when you say hi. And I did. And there was
nothing there, brother. It was darkness. There
was just dark, nothing in there. I've heard you
say that before. Yeah. And so as I was listening
to our vice president, J .D. Vance, he took over
Charlie Kirk's podcast, which is kind of interesting.
Very. He had Charlie's mic, which kind of brought
it all home. But of course, it's not really Charlie's
podcast. He just have one minute that I clipped
from it. Good. And he said something that to
me, it can be interpreted different ways. But
I, I feel it's well played. And I'll tell you
what I think about it. Welcome back to the Charlie
Kirk show. This is Vice President J .D. Vance.
Joining me now is Stephen Miller, White House
Deputy Chief of Staff. Dear friend of mine and
dear friend of Charlie Kirk's. And before I get
into the nitty gritty of what I want to talk
with Stephen about, you know, there's a lot of
questions about the investigation, where we are
in the investigation. I want to be respectful
to the FBI's process, but just know that we are
on top of this and the entire administration
is trying to do as much as possible to find.
everything that we can about what led to this,
about how we got here, and of course, ultimately,
how an assassin took Charlie's life. I wanted
to zoom out with Stephen a little bit and talk
about all of the ways that we're trying to figure
out how to prevent this festering violence that
you see on the far left from becoming even more
and more mainstream. A lot of people are very
worried about how we got here in the first place.
And you have the crazies on the far left who
are saying, oh, Stephen Miller and J .D. Vance,
they're going to go after constitutionally protected.
speech. No, no, no. We're going to go after the
NGO network that foments, facilitates and engages
in violence. So there's a couple of things he
said here. I don't like that he said the crazies
on the far left. And, you know, he's he's really
dividing this. I think that's unhelpful. But
what he said at the very end, which I've also
heard President Trump say, is we want to figure
out the networks that are fomenting this. And.
To me, that's a little bit of the turning the
tables moment where, hold on a second, we've
been under attack by networks that have been
financed that speak into our medical and pharmaceutical
communities, to our legal communities. It usually
involves money. So there's no one I want to point
to or no particular person, but I always follow
the money. comes really from overseas, not from
here. And I'm thinking more European, which is,
when you think about it, is not surprising that
there's been a, you know, once we declared our
independence, do you think that the, I'll just
say the British, I'm talking about the British
people. They just went, okay, you win, and they
went away? I've actually wondered about that
myself. So I'm doing a deep, deep, deep dive
and study on that. And I think that's really
good because where this radicalization, this
trans -Maoism, as I call it, It's it kind of
came out of nowhere. It feels like it. You know,
it just there was no coincidence that it accelerated
during covid. I feel this is a direct attack
from doesn't matter specifically who or what
network. But if you can follow the money, then
you can probably stop a lot of it. And it flows.
I mean, it is if you and I took a million dollars
and dedicated our time for a year, we could.
Turn so many people to Christ on the social media
networks just by knowing what to do and how to
do it. I mean, the governments around the world,
they know military psyops. It is the best place.
It is like if you really want to be programmed.
Be in an emotional mood and get on a social media
network and you will be programmed. I guarantee
it. It's true. I guarantee it. And we're never
going to get people off of that. The best way
is not to have your children go on it in the
first place. I adore so many parents here at
Bridge Church who have not given their kids any
screens, any devices. You know, they give them
the capability to text and that's it. And you
know what? Are these kids deficient somehow?
No. Are they really missing out on some incredible
aspect of life? No. They're perfectly healthy,
well -educated, well -rounded, well -formed,
intelligent, fun human beings. I'm working with
a couple of them right now. So there's no need
for it. But I do like that they're... That they
see the president, the vice president, I'll say
the president seemingly understands that we're
under attack from something. Now, he says it,
too. He's also going the radical left. We've
got to stay. I don't like that. It bugs me. But
it feels like there is a turning of the tables
in front of the temple moment. We say, OK, let's.
And it was the money changers. You know, let's.
Let's figure out where the real evil is being,
how it's happening, how this flows in, how we
can stop it at the root or at least cut the supply
lines, which is always going to be finances.
And we have to learn, and this is a tough one,
to trust the people who our elected representatives
have chosen. So I hear, well, you know, Kash
Patel, Dan Bongino, they're bought and sold for,
you know. There's no coincidence how the Epstein
files and all these things flow into it. There's
so much doubt and so much speculation. It's almost
like you can see the board in someone's war room
that says, OK, here's how we're going to pit
the Americans against each other. We tried it
with race. Didn't work that well. You know, the
Black Lives Matter thing didn't work out. We
tried. Didn't quite get there. We can do it with
this. And whether that's physical people or in
the spiritual realm and powers and principalities,
regardless, that's what we're dealing with. And
that's what we have to fight against. I love
it when you go looking for scripture. I can see
you're doing it. I'm actually looking up Saul
Alinsky's points because it's almost textbook,
isn't it? This is like a playbook. for how to
destroy, but really it's how to divide. Which
then makes it simple. It's a divide and conquer
kind of thing. And he has so many of these rules.
Here's some of the rules. And again, he dedicated
his rule book for radicals to Lucifer. Yes, he
did. Let's just be clear. Ridicule is man's most
potent weapon. So let's just ridicule. Let's
name call. And this is like the schoolyard bullies
did this stuff. We saw this in the fifth grade,
right? We were kids on the block. And it's exactly
the same MO. Ridicule is man's most potent weapon.
Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize
it. I mean, this stuff is like when you read
through these, it's really. to read through these,
but you can literally check the box on everything.
And it's not just the left. No, no. Exactly.
This partisan life or identity politics is something
that give him 15 Dutch sheets did a thing on
Friday called. I was going to read it on Sunday,
but I just completely ran out of the runway.
I had to stop reading Dutch sheets because it
got a little bit too much over the past couple
of months. Like. Just give me some Jesus love,
man. It's always political. I had to take a break.
He's a great guy. I love him. But he did a great
job on identity politics and talking about how
we fall in. It's kind of like you're going to
buy a new house. He didn't say this. This is
my example. And you can either build a house.
And spec it out the way you want. This is my
personality. This is what I want. Or you can
go to the other end of the spectrum is to go
buy a prefabricated home. Yeah. There's four
floor plans in the whole neighborhood and they
all look the same. I think of those old movies,
you know, that have like all the houses look
exactly the same. Track home. Yeah. So what's
easier? It's easier to buy a track home. Well,
what's easier in life? It's easier not to think
about anything. So I'm just going to pick this
side. Because I agree with most of what they're
saying. But I'm never going to question what
they're saying because I'm buying I'm swallowing
the whole pill. Does that make sense? Well, this
is what frightens me about identity politics,
where I will never question or I won't I won't
hold any of my elected representatives accountable
because, you know, I swallowed the pill. I'm
identifying with that. What can we as believers
practically say or use in everyday life when
we're with friends, with family, and they're
like, those crazy leftists, whatever it is, what
can we practically use and say that will, if
there is something, I'm praying there's something
that can at least maybe stop people in their
tracks and give them a thought without, Starting
a whole argument, you know, is there any scripture?
Is there anything that Jesus said that I could
say, well, I'm listening to Jesus right now.
And here's what he said in this exact example.
Give me a moment. I'll find something. I mean,
because that's what people need. From a principle
perspective, everything Jesus did. adds up into
this amalgam of principles. Yes. It may not be
a direct quote, but it's how you treat other
people. One of the things I always do when someone
brings an accusation against somebody to me,
my first question is, have you talked to them?
Yeah. Go directly to the source. That's Matthew
18. Jesus said, you go to the person and you
talk to them directly. I can pull that up. Because
what happens is we get into these broad stroke
modes and social media creates our tendency that
way. It feeds our tendency. We have tendencies
to do that. Those people, them and they. By the
way, that's not the place to do this. If you
post anything of that nature on social media,
you're just going to be answering people for
the next three days. I'm not ashamed to say.
I think this way or I'm treating the situation
this way because I'm a believer and a follower
of Jesus. If you want to ridicule me for that,
that's fine. But that's why I choose not to do
what you're doing or I choose not to participate
in this conversation in this manner. And I mean,
if we can't stand on our Lord and Savior and
say, and by the way, I have this problem myself
with my own people I work with. It's like, well,
I don't believe this because I'm a follower of
Jesus. And you get a scoff. I'm okay with that.
I'm really okay with that. So somehow I'd love
to give the people in our church some of this
ammo, if you will. It's like defensive ammo,
you know, just so you could say, well, I'm not
going to participate in this because here's how
I choose to address this situation because I'm
a follower of Jesus. And then if that person
scoffs and whatever, but I guarantee you it'll
end that particular negative conversation. We
call that de -escalation. De -escalation. When
I worked in the child care world, when I was
a case manager, we would have to de -escalate
a kid that was going off the rails emotionally.
And once you get to that spot, you're not thinking
clearly, right? You're clearly out of your mind.
Out of control. It happens with adults every
day online. You see this or, you know, somebody's
got a phone up in somebody's face and they're
ranting on something. There needs to be a de
-escalation. One of the ways you de -escalate
is exactly what you did. You're coming in. You
come with a different spirit. This is something
that a pastor once told my staff. I had him in
to kind of consult and visit with us. And he
came and he said one of the greatest things he
ever learned in terms of dealing with opposition
was always come in a different spirit. So whatever
someone comes at you with, return with a different
spirit. That's good. And that sounds simplistic,
but if you stop and think about it for a minute,
the Bible tells us a soft word turns away wrath.
That's a proverb, isn't it? I'm thinking it is.
I'll tell you in a few seconds. If it's not,
it's something we say in the old country. There's
probably a great Dutch saying for that. There
always is. Soft word turns away. But I love when
that pastor told us that we were like, that makes
sense. Come in a different spirit, because isn't
that how Jesus, he didn't fight fire with fire.
He know if somebody attacked him, which the Pharisees
often did, he would come at them with a question.
He'd come with a different spirit. And so it's
the Proverbs 15, one, a soft word turns away
wrath. Proverbs 15 .1. I love that. A gentle
answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs
up anger. It's very commonsensical, right? Of
course. A soft word turns away wrath, but a harsh
word stirs a different translation. It's like,
what? There's gambling going on there? Yes, it's
very, very simplistic, but so true. It is. And
so come in a different spirit. And that's something
I've had to learn through the years as a pastor.
When people come at me, you tell them people
how people are coming, you know, before they
ever open their mouth, you know, if this is going
to be a, quote, Karen moment or, you know, or
whatever it is, you know, or, you know, somebody
is going to come. And I love it when someone
comes and says to me. I'm not being critical
here, but I've observed something. And I'm like,
first of all, thank you. Well, thank you. I mean,
you started well. The person who comes and says,
let me tell you something. You are doing this
wrong or whatever. It's like, I'm gone. Whenever
I hear a but, I'm like, I love you, but. Love
you, Pastor. But. But. Yeah, that always. Hey,
I need to meet with you. I want to take you out
to lunch. But I have some concerns I need to
share. It's like, gah. Before I was saved and
I was clearly being influenced without even knowing
it, my partner, Dave Jones, we had an initial
partner. And this was years ago, not in Godcast,
but in a different project. And this partner,
it was not working out. And we had hour -long
phone conversations. And I was always amazed.
I was like, Dave. How did you how do you stay
so calm, man, at the middle of this? And this
guy's saying horrible things and he's being recalcitrant
and difficult. And and and Dave's answer would
be, I'm just approaching him with love. And I
always thought that was so admirable, so admirable
that. It is a part of my my my faith journey
is just I want to be like that guy. You know,
so that's why every morning I Lord Jesus put
me on as your earth suit. Let me let me feel
it. Let me be kind and gentle and compassionate
and loving and above all patient. This is the
biggest problem I have. I need patience, patience,
patience. So I'm just I'm just always looking
for a way that we can. Again, I don't mind if
someone says, oh, you and your Jesus talk. I'm
like, okay, well, you just ended the conversation.
It must be the answer is the church. I heard
that recently. Yeah. And I had no answer for
that because I was so taken aback. I'm like,
wow. I mean, I should have said, no, it's really
I follow my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. But
I don't mind it if people push back on me being
a believer. Right. That's to be expected. I agree
with that. It has been written. We know that's
coming. I'm good with that. I just always want
to try and do that. However, I will say online
is not the place to do it because it just won't
work. You're not on a playing field that has
any, the odds are tilted against you. that that
will have a good outcome. And you are more likely
to spend three days, you know, the old cartoon,
honey, I'm coming to bed soon, but someone on
the internet is wrong. You know, you're going
to be, you're going to be sitting there forever.
So that's just not the place that we got to turn
that, that part off. But when it happens with
our friends and our own family, this is where
we have to be careful. And, you know, I, I don't
have the scripture, the words, the answer, but
I, I, I do want to. Find ways to just say, well,
I follow Jesus and here's how I'm approaching
this. I love that, Adam. I think you're spot
on with that. It goes back to what I said. Let's
come in a different spirit. Whatever is delivered
to you, do not react in the same spirit because
that will escalate things. We're talking about
de -escalation. Proverbs 15, I want to read it
again, but I got a couple other verses here.
A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word
stirs up anger. That is the mantra of the Internet
right there. I mean, that is social media there.
James 119. This is one of your favorites. Everyone
should be quick to listen, slow to speak and
slow to become angry. If that's not coming in
a different spirit, I don't know what is. A person's
wisdom yields patience. It is to one's glory
to overlook an offense. Every morning, you know,
I say the Lord's Prayer. The minute I wake up,
good morning, Holy Spirit. Boom. I say it before
I even have my eyes open. That's just become
a thing. And that's really kind of automatic.
But then on my prayer walk, which I do with our
dog Phoebe, I expand it. And so when I get to
spots like... Forgive us our debts as we forgive
our debtors. I will think of a person who made
me mad, who said something horrible. And I'm
like, I'm forgiving this person. I'm forgiving
this person right now for what they did. And
you know what it does? I don't know if it does
anything for them, but man, it heals me. It really
heals me. Can I give you one on that? Because
I do the same thing you're talking about. I walk
out on my deck at night, let Mr. Chevy do his
business over there in the yard. Funny how dogs
are a big part of our prayer life. I know, they
sort of rule our life, don't they? No kidding.
That's funny, isn't it? So as he's taking care,
I'm staring up at this big cross on the hill
across the highway from us, which is just an
amazing thing at night. But I say my own version
of the Lord's Prayer. Sometimes I'll start with
the 1600 version, 1611. I'll do the King James
version. But then I do it my way. And when I
get to that section, Forgive us our debts as
we forgive our debtors. I say this, Father, forgive
my offenses as I forgive those who offended me.
Because that is like typically captures the essence
of what the culture we live in. It's really about
offense. I was offended by some words. It is.
Which, by the way, the word offend means you
can think of a fence. Oh, fence. A fence. And
tripping over it. The word offend means to stumble
over. Like, so someone threw up a fence and you
stumbled over it, like ran right into it, tripped
right over yourself. So, so this one, it's to
one's glory to overlook an offense. Here's another
one. Do not, this is a Ecclesiastes seven, nine.
Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit for
anger resides in the lap of fools. Boy, the wording
of that. Anger resides in the lap of fools. And
that was written by Solomon, right? King Solomon,
yeah. One of the richest men ever to live. Yeah,
dear to his glory. He learned what really did
and didn't matter. Yeah, for anger resides in
the lap of fools. There's so many Ephesians 4.
Get rid of bitterness, rage, and anger, brawling,
and slander, along with every form of malice.
Be kind and compassionate to one another. Forgiving
each other just as in Christ God forgave you.
Now, for the believer, that lands. It lands hard.
I have to say to myself, what have I been forgiven
for? So what can I not forgive others for? Do
you have a minute? If I get one of those legal
yellow pads, it's like I have 20 of them at least,
line upon line. So many. Here's another one,
Proverbs 29, 11, just kind of capturing what
we're seeing right now. And this is a strong
word of caution, I would say. Fools give full
vent to their anger, but the wise bring calm
in the end. I mean, this is just the Bible is
full of this. It just speaks. So another part
of the Lord's Prayer kind of folds into this,
which I was reading about this this morning in
Oswald Chambers, my utmost for his highest. Another
young man, another man who died young. Yes. Before
his time, 44. And it was about temptation. And
I think that. Because I pondered it, you know,
there was a lot going on this morning. Tina's
leaving, you know, we had a neighbor with a panic
thing I was trying to fix. I'm trying to get
out and I'm reading through. It's like, I got
to come back to this, the temptation, because
we think of temptation as just one thing. Like
I'm tempted to look at someone or I'm tempted
to eat something I shouldn't. I'd love to just
talk about temptation, how it applies, particularly.
with how we respond in social settings, in person,
and of course, you know, online. Wow. Okay. We
just did a pivot. Well, because we recite this
thing, you know, all the time. And it just also
like, yeah, temptation. Well, it's an interesting
line. Lead us not into temptation. That's an
interesting line. By the way, I changed that
to a different form when I do my personal. I
do the personalized one. I say, Father, thank
you that you never lead us into temptation, but
you do deliver us from evil and the evil one.
That's how I say it. Whoa, that's good. It's
a shift. It's a nuance, but it's a big nuance.
Thank you that you never lead us into temptation.
Scripture says the Lord never tempts us in the
book of James. I love James, too. He's very direct.
Subtle as a brick. Pretty straightforward. Didn't
write a lot. Well, what he wrote is good. Man,
a few words, but they mattered. And so that's
how I do that. He doesn't lead us into temptation.
God doesn't. No, we do. The world does. And even
James said we're tempted by our own flesh. Yes.
It's we have to. So you talk about it on a broad
scale, but we have to go back to choice, freedom
of choice, free will. This comes up a lot. Yeah.
A lot of scenarios came up Sunday. But God gave
us this amazing gift of choice. The upside is,
wow, we get to choose to love because that makes
it love. We get to choose. Annette and I chose
to adopt a child. That child is precious and
special because she was chosen. You know what
I mean? But there's a flip side to the coin,
as there typically is. The downside is, I mean,
it's kind of like acetaminophen. Taken right,
it can help you with inflammation and relieve
a headache. taking too much it'll kill your kidneys
right it'll damage you so so it's the same scenario
here so the the flip side of uh i lost my thought
temptation yeah i mean but the downside of free
will our choice is that we can choose and this
is what james was hitting on we can choose to
be tempted our flesh leads us into it so we have
to make a million micro choices a day yeah i
mean Everything we do has an up and downside,
correct? Yes. I mean, everything we do. I can
drive safely and I can be mindful of everybody
else on the road, including our furry friends
like deer and skunks and all kinds of stuff.
Squirrels. Yeah, I mean, I can be mindful and
drive safely. I can obey the speed limit, you
know, and I'm more than likely I'm going to arrive
safely at my destination or I can make some choices.
I can be frustrated and in a hurry and I can
step on the gas. I can risk going 15 miles over
the speed limit, creating a danger for myself
and others. Also incurring the wrath of the law,
getting a ticket, whatever. I can create all
kinds of havoc just by a simple decision. So
we have a million micro decisions a day to make.
And unless we have submitted our will to the
Lordship of Christ, we'll be talking about that
tonight. The Lordship of Christ. Yes. Lordship.
Our Wednesday evening here at Bridge Church.
Yes, that's tonight. And so we can either submit
ourself to his will and say, even though I've
got all these choices, my main choice, my first
choice is going to be, I want to be led by the
spirit. Right. Which means I now begin, I put
a governor on my choices. Now I'm talking about
not the governor of the state of Texas. I'm talking
about the governor on an engine. I remember our
yellow dog schooled up buses. You remember when
the speed limit went from 70 to 55? Yeah. Everybody
lost their minds. They literally couldn't go
faster. They put governors. They put governors
on those engines so they could only go a certain
speed. They did that with rental cars and vans
and all kinds of stuff. So it's the same thing.
We willfully choose to put a governor on our
choices. And so when I do that, then temptation
no longer has an empowered. It's not empowered
to draw me away. But I can choose to take that
covenant off. This is good to discuss this because
I don't think people, I certainly didn't, let
me speak for myself. You know, I think of temptation
like three things that I might be tempted by,
but it's not. All day long there are temptations
to snap back, to respond without thinking, without
being quick to listen, slow to speak. Oh, man,
I got to do that so many times. Quick to listen,
slow to speak. And it really, really has benefited
my life. Thank you, James. Well, maybe this will
help give people a new category for thinking.
Micro decisions. Micro decisions. They seem small,
but they actually have big effects, right? Yeah.
It's kind of like James talks about the power
of the tongue. It's a small thing, but it has
massive consequences. Yes, it does. Same way
with decisions. The little decisions we make.
Can be the first domino tip that leads to something
disastrous. It's the rudder of destiny for your
life, the tongue. And it's very uncontrollable.
I guess that's probably a good example of temptation
to use the tongue. Because, man, we do not have
that thing under control. Now, these days, we
use our fingertips, right? Because we've got
a keyboard. We've got a screen. I'm fired up.
I'm mad. I got baited. I love what one writer
calls it, the bait of Satan. don't take the bait
of Satan. He'll bait us with various things.
And now I have a choice as a fish, man, that
looks good, but it sure looks like there's a
hook through that thing, you know, but I'm hungry.
I'm going to go anyway. You know, I'm going to
take the risk and then we get caught, right?
Trapped, entrapped, the scripture talks about.
So this bait of Satan, we got to be careful because
what happens is when we're typing, our boundaries
tend to go away. There are no guide rails. Right.
When we're typing, because there's no instant
repercussion. If I was standing in somebody's
face and I called them something and then I get
punched, I get a left hook or a right hook. Well,
it's because we know there's natural and logical
consequences when you're face to face. But when
you're sitting behind a screen, the temptation
is I'm just going to fire off what I'm feeling
right now. I'll show them. And then you hit send.
And then 30 minutes later, you're going, what
was I thinking? Why did I do that? You know,
I've talked to Joe Rogan about this a couple
of times and I say, Hey man, do you ever read
the comments? He said, number one rule. I never,
ever, ever read the comments. It will destroy
your life. He said, I've seen so many celebrities
and mainly comedians destroy. their lives, their
reputation, their mental health by engaging.
He says, I do not look at it. I do not. If you
ever replied to a Joe Rogan Instagram, he did
not see it. I guarantee you he did not see it.
Take some real discipline. But he knows a lot
about discipline because, you know, the way he
lives his life in general with professional training
and UFC and, you know, taekwondo, whatever he
was doing. And he has his other he has his temptations
and his flaws. He's very he's well aware of them.
But be like Joe. Don't just don't. It's amazing.
I. I've been around for a long time. Before there
was a web, we were using Gopher, man. This stuff
was text. We had an internet and we had dial
-up modems. I had five at the house. And you
had one font. And two colors. That's right. That
was it. And we were happy. You were green and
greener. And we didn't have a mouse. We were
happy. Monochrome. And I don't engage with anything
anymore. And on the off chance, sometimes like,
I just got a fire back. Nine times out of 10,
I'll wind up deleting it. I have to be very careful
with email because, you know, people will just
in so insulting. And, and I've actually, there's
a temptation I've actually had to stop doing
because it was kind of funny to read those emails
on the show with the voice that I heard them
in. And it actually makes people very, very uncomfortable
because like, Crap, I've done that. I've sent
those emails. But I don't like it. I'm starting
to stop, you know, shy away from that. But just
don't. I mean, it's very possible. Just don't.
You're not going to win any prize, anything.
So this leads us to something else. You just
really just launched something in my head. What
is this sociological need that we have, sociological,
psychological, both? to fire something back or
feel like we always have to comment on something.
It's chemical. I mean, literally. Now, as a pastor,
I feel like there are things that I need to say
as a leader of a large group of people that people
want to hear from their pastor on certain things.
So like the Charlie Kirk thing, I wrote something
about it. I was not inflammatory. I wasn't calling
names or anything like that. I just wrote about
the impact of that. So I kept it in the boundaries
and on the rails. In the guardrails. But why
is it that every person feels like they have
to say something about everything? Addiction.
It's an addiction, pure and simple. It's got
to be. I've had all kinds of addictions. I still
have a nicotine addiction, although it's not
like crippling if I don't vape my nicotine, but
I like it and I like what it does. And I'm well
aware of it. Coffee, caffeine, you know, we're
all very aware of what it does. These are minor,
but we talk about it casually now because it's
been mentioned so often, the dopamine. Being
bored or having nothing to do is actually a good
human condition. We don't do well with boredom.
Because we have too many temptations at our fingertips.
And I've taken to standing in line at HEB and
just standing there, not reaching for my phone.
I do that too. It's really good. It's kind of
fun seeing the cover of the National Enquirer
and going, well, what is everybody talking about?
And I look at the person in front of me. They're
paying with a check. Oh, how cute is that? I'm
not getting upset by it. I'm just observing what
kind of, do they have printed checks? Do they
have colorful checks? I'm looking at the cashier.
I'm looking at the spelling of their name. That's
an interesting spelling. I'm just trying to be
present aware. And yeah, bored. I'm actually
bored. And it's a good condition. I got to say
this out loud. And I absolutely agree with you,
even though I fail at this often. Sure. Adam
Curry, you are good for me. And I want to say
that in the right way, because you constantly
remind me of how unnecessary this really is.
I mean, you do. And I appreciate it. I love that
you do that. So how can we help other people
who are finding themselves trapped in that temptation?
And that is to look at your phone. I forget what
the stats are. It's a ridiculous number. Oh,
eight hours a day. But what's funny, I'll laugh
at a stat and go, that's ridiculous. But if I
was to count how many times I pick my phone up
and out of boredom, I'm not talking about if
I'm actually getting a text from you or somebody
else or Annette or my friends. I just do it because
it's become this habit. And I would like, I'm
just kidding. I'm joking. There's nothing there.
I promise. I promise there's nothing there. I
was just thinking that's how we act though, right?
And I notice it more when I make these attempts
to stop doing it so much. It changes my filter
because now I'm noticing everybody else. Well,
that's, so I play this game. The game is. Look
at the robots. This is helpful, I think. Yeah.
Look at the robot. And I give points. So if someone
is walking with a phone and has a phone in their
hand, that's a point. If they have a phone in
either hand, you'll see some women actually have
two different phones. Or business guys. It's
more women than men. But yeah, that's three points.
If someone is standing still on their phone in
the middle of a public area, five points. If
someone is on their phone while walking in public
bonus, you're at 10 points and you tally those
points up. You'll have well over 150 at the end
of the day. Oh yeah. Now the thing I do is I,
you know, so these modern phones actually got
a modern phone. It's pretty interesting. I like
your phone, by the way. It folds. Well, it's
tiny. It folds. It's little until you unfold
it. So all these modern phones, you can put widgets
on your screen. And so I have a, on the main
screen, I have a widget with one thing here.
So you see there's nothing else. There's nothing
else on that screen. Well, actually, there's
a link there to talk to my friend who's in prison.
And it is actually a daily grind from my brother,
Pastor Jimmy. And it says, when fear rises, I
pray. In Jesus' name, I break any and all agreements
with the spirit of fear, and I receive your peace,
courage, and freedom. In the name above all names,
amen. Enjoy his peace. Now, sometimes I'll switch
this out for something else, but put a widget
on your home screen, move all your apps to another
screen, and whenever you pick up the phone, that's
the first thing you see. And just let it sink
in for a second. Wow, it's great. We can do this
with phones. And I love the... Yeah, all this
is customizable. I mean, I could literally...
And so here in the middle of my other screen,
I have... It's the widget for the U version.
Yeah, yeah. And it's the verse of the day. And
it's in your face. Rewind your mind. Great. And
when you do that, and then... I'm actually making
this one up on the spot. Leave me not into temptation.
Thank you, Lord, for leading me not into temptation.
And then put it down. If we can do that, man,
families are going to be better. You're going
to have a better relationship with the people
in your house. And by the way, working real hard
on this myself. It's difficult. It's difficult.
In a culture that this has become the norm. You're
a weirdo if you don't carry one. Another thing
is. So Tina and I were always together for breakfast
and Bible study. And, you know, I do a lot of
that on my phone. There's different devotionals
and the Bridge Men's devotional comes through.
But when my wife speaks to me, I put my phone
down. I try, at least. I'm getting better at
it. I'm like, I'm putting my phone down and I'm
looking at her. And making sure that I make eye
contact. I don't care what it is. I'm going to
have that conversation. And it's not easy. But,
you know, how many times have you spoken with
someone who's answering you while answering a
text? Drives me nuts. Happens all the time. And
not Annette, because she's good about not. And
may not finish their answer. Or, I mean, there's
all kinds. And we're all guilty of it. But I
think just being aware of it and really trying
to solve some stuff. So Annette does have a habit
sometimes where. If she's talking to Tina, it's
always Tina. She'll, I'll say something and she
won't answer. Oh, it'll come five seconds later.
And I'm going, hello. And I'm said, you're talking
to Tina, right? She goes, yeah, I'm trying to
finish. I'm trying to finish. Hang on just a
second. So it doesn't make me mad at Tina. It
makes me laugh, actually, because it's the dynamic.
I'm fully aware of the dynamic. So the reason
why I think this will help people is because
this leads to other things. We're talking about
a very fundamental response. We've been trained
like Pavlov's dog's ears, right? This is a Pavlov
moment. For vibration, I need to pick my phone
up. For almost 20 years, since 2007. Or if I
haven't looked at my phone in five minutes, I
feel the urge to check just in case something
came through that I missed. I mean, what if I
missed a call? I don't even use this thing as
a phone anymore, hardly ever. I mean, it's not
even a phone. That's when I got a call this morning
from someone who was in a panicked state. It
was a phone call. I'm like, oh, my Lord. What's
going on? Can you come and help me? This must
be an emergency. It has to be. Yes, exactly.
The reason why I think this will help people
is because if you can fundamentally change a
flesh response, you can fundamentally change
almost anything. Yes. I mean, because this is
almost the worst eating, the worst addicts of
the worst drugs, which, by the way, alcohol,
number one, food, number two. And then you get
all the heroin, et cetera. Right. Right. I know
a lot of people who've been able to get over
it and don't think that our addiction is any
less addictive. Right. It has physical qualities.
It has. chemical reaction qualities in our brains.
No doubt. And I'm thinking here like, wow, I
sound like I'm really holier than thou, but I
am not. Nor am I. But actually, this is just
good just to talk about it. This is good because
it will help people because if we can get control
of our appetites, whatever that is, it's amazing
how you can control other things in terms of
your own self -discipline. And I think that's
important, even as we're talking about the way
we respond. to the charlie kirk thing fundamentally
you got to go back to the to the basics and go
back to the foundations of why do i want to clap
back because i saw somebody wrote write something
or a video was disparaging of charlie kirk why
do i feel the impulse to get on my computer and
say something as though that would matter but
there it is fundamentally the common denominator
in every single issue that we have in our culture
particularly when it comes to violence the common
denominator is online because i was talking to
people and it's not like one just because someone
can talk to you that they're radicalizing you
per se it's the whole ball of wax it's the whole
thing it's just the and it's not just discord
or just x or just no it's the fact that you're
interacting with sometimes non -human entities,
you might not even know it, but you're just reacting,
interacting, and you are building up a chemical
reaction in your own brain that can lead to very
destructive things. And by the way, that's what
addiction does. So we're fundamentally changing
our neural pathways in very dangerous ways where
they become auto responses. Jesus, come soon.
We're screwed. Lord, Maranatha, come quickly,
Lord Jesus. That's the last verse of Revelation.
Yes. This is an important conversation, even
though people will not enjoy this conversation
because we don't like to be called out on our
addictions, whether it's food or phones. No,
of course not. We tend to want to. I know because
I am. But I actually enjoy talking about it with
you because it inspires me, not just motivates.
It inspires me to go, I need to curb this. But
here's the thing I notice. I know how addicted
I am by how ineffective I am to curb it on my
own. Yeah. So if I just make my decision, okay,
I'm going to leave it in the car. I'm going to
do this. I'll do it for a day. This is why we
have Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous.
It's very hard to do it alone. It is. It's very,
very hard. And I would say if any takeaway from
this conversation that we're having, dare to
be bored and take a, what did Charlie call it?
A fast. A fast. Fast from your phone, fast from
your screen. Technology fast. Even if it's just
Friday night to Saturday morning. What could
personally happen? I think his was Friday night,
Saturday night, like a Sabbath. But I'll start
easy. Let's do Friday night to Saturday morning.
Just nothing for that period of time. What could
possibly happen work -wise or anything? And I'm
not talking about your phone. I'm talking about
the TV, everything. And if you're bored, if you're
bored, pick up the Bible. Yeah. Put down your
screens and pick up your Bibles. If we can't
solve our boredom with some scripture, then maybe
we need to figure out why the scripture is not
hitting us. Wow. This is a challenge. Is it a
big challenge? What am I doing? I'm sweating.
I'm getting drops of sweat on my forehead right
now. We started with a podcast and now we're
giving, we got homework. We're doing therapy
with each other here. This is so powerful though,
because this is going to help people at a fundamental
level. where we are all missing the boat on this.
I know for me, when I'm bored, I tend to start
looking into nature. I tend to watch the clouds
more. I tend to notice where the sun is in the
sky and how the light's refracting off the grass.
I just start to notice textures in nature and
textures in life. I just start to see what I
haven't been seeing. I mentioned this at the
Patriot Academy. They talked about level one
through four. Yes, awareness. Level one is white.
And they gave the example of a guy walking down
a street looking at his phone. That to me is
probably hard. You're the most vulnerable. Very.
Yeah. You're a target right there. And a crook,
a criminal, anyone who's nefarious will see you
and they'll go easy pickings right there. Even
when you're at the airport at baggage claim.
Oh, my God. You're just waiting to be pickpocketed.
So I do notice this stuff because we fly a lot.
We flew last week. We're flying out in the morning
to Nashville. And I notice in airports how I
was sitting there. You know, you go sit in the
seats. You got, gosh, 30 minutes. We got a board.
So what do we do? What does everybody in the
airport do? Hop on the phone, baby. Immediately.
They're either on their computer, their tablet,
or their phone. Very few people are having any
kind of conversation. No eye contact. You're
either people watching, but people don't even
people watch anymore. They screen watch, especially
in an airport. So the last couple of times we've
flown, I've waited to get my phone out. I put
it in my bag when I go through check, you know,
TSA. I stick it in my bag and I wait for a while
to pull it out. And when I do, it's amazing what
I start to notice. There's a great book by Andy
Andrews called The Noticer. And it's a story.
It's part of his life story, but it was a man
that came into his life and he talked about what
it means to become a noticer, where you begin
to notice things in the world around you. It's
fascinating. There's no way you can notice it.
It's the opposite of boredom. It is. When you're
a noticer. And a lot of talking heads on mainly
cable news were saying, you know, so -and -so
said, go out and touch grass. That's the right
thing. But I'm like, no. Go out and marvel at
God's beauty, what he has created. Marvel at
every little thing. Stop and listen for a second
to the birds singing, to the dog barking, even
to the car with the muffler leak going down,
everything. But really, nature, smell, especially
out here in Fredericksburg, you can just smell
sometimes. You smell. Some cool smells. There's
good smells. I love doing that. But, of course,
we're old dudes now, so we appreciate this stuff.
It's like, the older we get. We have a homework
assignment. Challenge. Challenge. Friday night
to Saturday morning. Friday to Saturday morning.
Start there. And let's dare to be bored. Yes.
So you're going to a culture and Christianity
conference? We fly out in the morning. We're
going out to Nashville. The conference is in
Murfreesboro at Alan Jackson's church. Oh, fantastic.
By the way, I was with Rick Green yesterday out
at the Patriot Academy. He had just done. A podcast
is in the Tavern podcast with Alan Jackson. Oh,
wow. That'll be good. He loves Alan. So do we.
I'm curious with this conversation we've just
had taking that with you, how you will look at
a lot of the things being said at this conference.
I'll give a report. I'll give a report. And in
my airport experience. Yes. Travel report. Absolutely.
So we probably won't have a show next week because
you are traveling through the whole week. And,
you know. In my mind, it's like that's God is
telling us you could skip a show. We're going
to be fine. People seem to enjoy what we're doing.
Although Pastor Russ did say, instead of doing
the podcast, could you come and learn how to
run the board up here? Because we want a backup
guy. Forget that podcasting thing, podfather.
Forget that you invented that. I need you on
the board. Brother, I love this. This is so good.
And we get to do this. Thank you, Lord. We get
to do this. This is just, this is, this is like.
picking up the cross in a whole different way.
I'm really enjoying it. Have a great trip. Thank
you, brother. I'll keep you posted and I'll take
pictures. Yes, indeed. And we'll be back probably
in about two weeks from now. We get to do this.
We'll see you then, everybody. Bye -bye.